#so anyway. love to talk about locusts!

[freetheworms]

Tell us more about locusts!!!

I DONT KNOW IF U KNEW WHAT U WERE SIGNING UP FOR BUT THANK U FOR ASKING!!!

they’re insane! they’re grasshoppers! or they were before they got too buddy buddy with the other grasshoppers while trying to eat food when it’s scarce as hell in the desert. very “you’re not you when you’re hungry,” except snickers never did an ad campaign on the dangers of locusts…

anyway. grasshoppers usually travel alone. the saying is “lone wolf” but really it should be “lone grasshopper,” okay? okay. but, when food is scarce, they’re forced to gather together in one spot to eat, getting so close to each other that they bump their little leggies together constantly. this sounds harmless right? a little cuddle never hurt anyone right?? wrong! in about 20 of the 7000 known grasshopper species, something about rubbing their little leggies together triggers what’s called a “gregarious phase,” which is a hilarious term to me but that’s not important. they get greggy. and WHEN they get greggy, they undergo a whole chemical transformation basically overnight!!

a greggy boi will transform magical girl style, from tan (best to blend into the desert when alone) to bright yellow and black (which might signal they’re toxic — interestingly enough, when they get greggy, they start to change their diet to ingest local toxic plants that they used to avoid) and actually become slightly smaller than their grasshopper counterparts. their legs and wings become stronger though, so they can fly super long distances with their buddies and. well. yknow, destroy vast fields of crops cause they looove carbs now! and unfortunately so do we, hence why a plague of locusts has been a major problem since the dawn of time :)

but wait! there’s more! i bet you’re wondering how these plagues of locusts get so big and only come around every so often, right? well. turns out that these species of grashopper lay their eggs in damp soil. so, when there’s a lot of rain in the african desert, there’s a lot of free real estate for these hoppers to make massive amounts of hopper babies! except, those hopper babies have to eat, and BOY CAN THEY EAT. so they’ll eat and eat all the new vegetation that came with those Rains Down In Africa that Toto was talking about, and then what? well, if there’s enough rain and enough vegetation like there was a few years ago, then there’s enough time for potentially more than one generation of grashopper to procreate before the vegetation finally can’t keep up with their appetites. each generation can grow exponentially by about 20 times the previous gen, and a generation cycle only takes 3 months! which means, many months later when they finally do have to gather together to eat the last vestiges of food? there’s JUST. SO. MANY OF THEM. just an insane number of grashoppers in one place, getting soooo greggy. and that leads to what you may call A FUCKING LOCUST STORM OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS COMING FOR YOUR GRAINS. BAD NEWS BEARS.

so anyway, africa has a locust patrol of dudes just out there in the desert, looking for signs that grasshoppers are about to get greggy and destroy everything AGAIN, so they can proactively poison them and save the crops, but. sometimes they slip by like they did in 2018 and things get real bad.

also, if you have a greggy breed of grasshopper, you CAN trigger their transformation yourself by rubbing their legs enough, which i find endlessly fascinating.

and um. yeah! i’m likely forgetting lots of stuff in there because i just woke up but. there you have my very brief rundown on locust basics

[floweryprosegarden]

About me

• Turkish/Kurdish

• English Major

• Introverted perfectionist

• Lover of art, classic literature and aesthetics, morally grey fictional characters, novels with lots of gloom and doom

Writerly Habits

• I write in the same font as most legal documents—Times New Roman (bland, I know)

• Single-spaced forever—I like big chunks of text

• Fountain pen enthusiast

• Could spend the rest of my life at the desk

 Wips (some of which fill me with dread to continue)

• Yellow Houses /// adult lit-fic novel. Unhinged university students vandalize houses, painting them school-bus yellow, then write about wondering who did it in the local paper. Hmm...

• Liquor and Locusts /// adult modern fantasy novel. TW because this is a pandemic story! A squatter crashes at a countryside manor during a pandemic, befriending an elderly gardener and his very emo apprentice. There is somehow also a talking locust who loves brandy.

• Red Pleather /// lit short fiction. A teenage girl’s relationship with her older brother who constricts her from the world outside their crowded apartment complex. Warning: a lot of stair climbing and internal monologues in this one.

CURRENT PROJECT: PROJECT ISTANBUL

lit fic? Thriller? Noir Novel // Heavyyy dark academia aesthetics // Set in Istanbul, Turkey.

You would like this if you enjoy reading about morally grey journalists, secret clubs, etc.

***

Note: Wanted to say that this is an updated blog introduction— I’ve been away for some time,,,, but anyways! I’m back here now to share my current wips, writerly frustrations, and general artsy aesthetics.

That said, other writeblrs! Please interact so I can read all of your beautiful wips~

Also, I attached a random illustration I made for the Project Istanbul MCs, as well as a link to the wip intro. Hope you enjoy!

See link above for the wip intro!

[shiroisotto64]

Carmine Headcanons

Benjamin

He’s always been described as green. Aka he follows the rules..mostly. Everyone has their moments am I right? Ben is respectful towards everyone and has a very eager air about him.

You wanna teach him neat military trick? He’s in. This leads to Ben and Baird spending a lot of time together. Imagine how much fun they’d have setting shit on fire? Exactly. And Baird finally has someone who actually tries to listen/understand his science talk.

He’d been real fun to be around. If your friends or together? He’s down to do things you like. Even if he hadn’t found it all to interesting before hand he’ll at least try to get into it for you. You like collecting antiques? He’ll save up to get you something whenever he can.

Gets real giddy when genuinely complimented. You noticed his tracking is getting better and say something about it? He’s touched! You think he’s getting real good at unjamming his lancer? Why thank you! He’s eats it all up and uses it as fuel to keep going.

With a s/o

Very respectful of boundaries. He won’t do anything without your explicit consent before hand. Including hand holding. He gets real shy when it comes to affection. He doesn’t mind it…but growing up with locust running around to kill you doesn’t leave a lot of time to get used to touch.

Ben would be super excited to genuinely spend time with you as well. Wanna walk around the yard? Sure, let’s go. Wanna eat lunch together? He’s damn there skipping to the hall. It’s so cute but the others definitely tease him for this. Marcus is just shaking his head in the corner but look closer he’s almost smiling!

Anthony

He needs to be put on a leash. He’s such a nerd. He’ll rant for hours about all the cool shit Marcus has done if anyone would let him. It’s funny how much he knows really.

Eager to train and get on the field. You can find him in the gym or shooting range. He likes the rush 1 and 2 he wants to stay sharp and be useful when called out. Rambles on the coms to. Marcus is normally the one to scold him to “shut the hell up!”

I feel like for some reason…he’d know a LOT of gossip around base..idk I can just feel it. Before you even tell him he already knows how the mission went. Luckily he’s open to talk about his missions too especially if he did something cool!

With a s/o

Likes no LOVES to show off. But he loses his cocky attitude when his gun fucks around and jams and oops he dropped it….ANYWAYS everyone has their days.

But lord help you cause it has to be nerve wracking being with him, he’s so eager and reckless at that. At least Ben follows orders Anthony just kinda forgets or gets wrapped up in the moment. He means no harm but still.

Clayton

He’s quieter than his brothers. Clayton just kinda chills there till he feels he needs to say anything. He’s more introverted prefers to keep to himself. He does have a sense of humor though. Albeit it’s a bit dry it’s there.

Clay cared a lot about his family especially his brothers. His affection is generally more quiet and shown through actions. A pat on the back here and a good job there. That’s his style even after the war he’s still kinda stiff.

He likes keeping his weapons in top shape. He’s found cleaning his guns and tags around the end of the week or right after a messy mission.

He’s not really picky about food or anything none of them are but I bet Clayton is the heaviest eater out of the carmines. Make him a hearty bowl and he’ll eat every last drop!

With a s/o

Wanna know if he likes you? Easy ask that man for a piece of his bacon. Regardless if he fussed about it or not if you get the piece at all you’re good.

If you’re the touchy type he’ll try to accommodate you. Like I said it’s not like they don’t like touch they just aren’t used to it.

He’s the touchiest when he’s tired. All of a sudden you’re being dragged to bed to cuddle. He’s a real heavy sleeper to! So good luck. Those big strong arms mean business once he’s got you there’s not escape.

@pink-apollo mentioned something about Clayton and dogs and I agree. I could totally see him with at least one large guard dog. But what’s better? A big dog and small puppy. LMFAO imagine the grub killer sprawled out on the couch with a yorkie or something. Adorable.

He’s not the jealous type but he is protective. Anyone giving you a hard time he’ll get it through their skulls don’t worry.

He does need a quiet moment to himself though, so if your the real clingy type he’ll get agitated if your constantly trying to hang off him, however he won’t yell he’ll just remove himself for you until he’s ready to be touched again.

[ursaius]

🌲🐻About Me🐻🌲

🐻Howdy hey, my name is Ursaius(Ursa if you wanna get casual) I'm a 20 year old idiot from the United states(I'm from the south if you wanna get specific with it, but i live in the Midwest right now) I am a white transmasc Nonbinary butch lesbian. I'm not here to argue the validity of queer identities if you start with me I'll run you in circles while I laugh and troll you, I grew up in the deep South your not gonna say anything to me that I haven't already been told. I'm also 2 inches tall (5'4) and I have evil in my heart(I'm a Capricorn sun, Libra moon, and, Capricorn rising)

🌲I am butch4all, AND I'm currently seeing someone :)))

🐻 I'm not gonna say that I'm disabled as I'm not diagnosed with anything except anxiety and depression that I got diagnosed with when I was 13. There is however something wrong with me mentally in many different and fun(sarcastic) ways. So I just ask you please be patient with me and have some compassion if it appears I'm freaking out and live blogging an episode. Feel free to arm chair diagnose me everyone always does and I love a good guess. And I don't have proper health insurance so a diagnosis is out of the question for the time being.

🌲🐻 about my blog🐻🌲

🌲 I'm a huge nerd and overall dork. I have a wide variety of interest including but not limited to: Cooking, DND, The locked tomb, Interview with a vampire, what we do in the shadows, Pokemon, raggedy ann and Andy, Dungeon Meshi, Moomin valley, studio Ghibli, Bears(the animal sorry gaymen I stand with y'all in solidarity tho), cows, any animal with antlers, especially moose i love moose, Fish, lizards, SNAKES(BALL PYTHONS SPECIFICALLY), bugs, CRABS, other crustaceans, the ocean, ghost and other paranormal stuff, Fantasy stuff, renfairs, rodeos, poetry, writing, nature(if that wasn't obvious), witchcraft, Greek mythology, Celtic mythology, the fae, probably a bunch of other stuff I'll add later

🐻 I'm into a lot of different music my favorite genres are folk, bluegrass, goth, showtime, ragtime, swing, and cunty pop music 😌 I love you forever and ever Kesha. Some of my favorite bands and artists are the bridge city sinners, charming disasters, Florence and the machine, amigo the devil, Mitski, Fiona apple, Holy locust, the oh hellos, Ayesha erotica(just her music), Kim Petras(again just like her music), the aforementioned Kesha, will wood, Hozier, Tyler the Creator, Willow Smith, caravan Palace, and a lot more.

🌲 I post about a lot of nonsense usually what's ever on my mind and I reblog shit that makes me laugh and I feel like sharing with the class. I post art I do sometimes when I feel like it, I'm probably gonna try to get the confidence to post some of my poetry, and short stories, probably DND stuff, and Cooking and recipes so TW for anyone that can't handle looking at food and stuff idk block me probably I know some people with ED have a hard time with it I don't mind. Um I'll talk about anything really I'm a big yapper. I'm also a silly guy that likes to show my face so I post selfies a lot ummmm. Idk what else to say cause I don't really know what I might do later 😕 I'm not very consistent with stuff I post.

My tags are

Selfies or pictures of me- #ursaius irl

Answering ask- #chattering

Replying to questions or people bothering me- #responding

Talking into the void- #yapping

Claudia catfishing BS- #sweethartfemme is catfish, #claudia is a catfish,

DMS and ASK ARE OPEN

I like talking to people feel free to DM me about anything

I have two side blogs and two side blogs only

@ursaiusminor this is where I reblog silly stuff I don't think fits my blog

And one where I'm unabashedly horny but you gotta dm me for it's

🖕DO NOT INTERACT 🖕

If you support any of the fucking genocides going on in this fucking world Free Palestine, free the Congo, and free Sudan. If you're a Terf fuck you, pathetic losers. If you are racist, pedophile, proship, zoophile, ableist, bigoted, or hateful in anyway you disgust me. Cishet men you can stay but you are on thin ice behave.

I want this to be a safe space for me if you ruin it I will deal with you firing squad style

[rapha-reads]

OOooooh my goodness, Doctor Who goes full mythology *full body shiver*

I'm aware it's not the first time, but from what I'm reading, Sutekh appears in only one TV serial before today, and all of his other appearances are in audio, comics and prose. And without doing too much research (edit: I ended up doing too much research), every episode that somewhat touched on the spiritual/mythological before never put the deity at the center of the story (except the pantheon of discord, but the Tardis Wiki article on it isn't very long and I already have done enough research for today). Like, "The Satan Pit", remember, who cares that Satan was chained on an asteroid somewhere in space, that wasn't the point. Interesting to note, "The Satan Pit" was not written by RTD, but did you notice how Carla Sunday was the first one to name Sutekh before anyone else, and call him "The Beast"? The Beast being one of the name of the Devil? And the Egyptian God Set, or Sutekh, having been conflated with the Devil when Egyptian religion met Christianity...? Clearly RTD and his writers have done their research. By the way, the Devil article on Tardis Wiki is fascinating. But unless I read too fast, none of the several Devils, Satans and Beasts the Doctor has encountered are part of the Pantheon of Discord, though Sutekh does use the name Beast too. Go figure.

Anyway... Not really a point to my ramblings. I don't want to do a full review of the episode just yet, I want to wait for the second part. But Set was my favourite Egyptian god as a kid, I've always thought that he's too easily cast as the evil god when polytheist pantheons usually do not have a single figure of evil, but gods representing concepts that can be used for evil (the way Loki in Norse mythology is a trickster god but his representations today turns him into a demon, demon here holding the monotheistic, abrahamic meaning of the word; note to self: check out the academic literature on comparisons and parallels between Loki and Set - how much syncretism at work here?).

Ahem. I don't know where I'm going with that. To revisit later, when I've had time to put my thoughts in order. Things to point out:

Carla calling the shade surrounding the Tardis "The Beast" before anyone else could start to guess anything - something fishy is going on with her.

Mrs Flood. Everything about her.. Is she a Sutekh cultist, like in the old episode "Pyramides of Mars"? Is she another Harbinger? Is she another, last surviving Time Lord?

Is the storm only coincidental, or is it going to be important in the next episode? By which I mean, is it a normal storm, or are we talking locusts and cricket plague storm? (Or sand-of-time-storm, ba dum tse)

Speaking of Harbinger, kinda sad Harriet isn't an actual character, she was cool.

So does this mean that this Susan was another Harbinger, or an avatar of Sutekh, who took on the name to mock the Doctor? EDIT: checked the Tardis wiki, she was an actual woman who was later possessed by Sutekh and turned into his puppet. Okay, one mystery solved.

The way Kate looked at the Doctor after the death of the security officer in the Time Window. Oof. That. That hurts.

The way Mel is not surprised at all by the Doctor's meltdown, and knows exactly how to stop him from spiralling down and getting back up. That's Companion Experience here.

Ruby and Rose immediately becoming the best of friends. Yes please!

Oh, music talk! Did y'all notice that the Saxon theme was played when Susan's prompter started going haywire? I recognised the melody but couldn't put my finger on it, just knew Murray Gold was playing us a throwback, until I read the Tardis Wiki page about the episode. Quite nice!

Okay, I already have 10 different Tardis Wiki tabs opened, I'm gonna calm down before I start writing an entire thesis about Doctor Who and Mythology. .. Do you think there's already thesis like that? I would love to read that.

Apart from all of that, it's kind of a weird episode, though, isn't it? The Doctor usually never seeks out trouble, and they hardly ever ask for help. Like, they don't just pop in for a visit, or to use UNIT's tech unless a crisis has already begun, or UNIT themselves called them in. At least in New Who, main TV episodes, I can't remember one instance of the Doctor appearing in UNIT's HQ or where their former companions are of their own volition (in Class, he appears in Coal Hills, because the Shadowkin are already here; in the Sarah Jane Adventures, I haven't watched it, but Tenth comes to help Sarah Jane because she's trapped in a Time Loop, and later Eleventh is a plot point himself; same in "Day of the Doctor", UNIT calls him in, crisis already ongoing). The Doctor appearing in UNIT HQ, saying "alright, here are two mysteries that I want solved today and y'all are going to help me", that's very new. And maybe very welcome...? If it makes the Doctor reconnect with former companions, and start popping in for tea and scones, that would be nice.

[dippable]

hey gang! haven't posted in a while. so let's talk about the boiled one phenomenon/TOE, that webseries with the character that made me unable to sleep correctly for a few days.

okay, so, i do believe that uh. thing with the hands. his name's locust. i'm not very sure how he ties into the story, but i do know a few things. when he gets a victim, he hollows them out- making it look as though nothing happened- and takes their heart (or, in the title, a "love thumper"). i'm not very sure how TOE (the organate enterprises) fits into it, but based on what i'm seeing, it seems to be the company behind the nature broadcast, the ad for the star candies, and whatever showed up after the ad for the star candies. do i know what this means? of course not

okay here's the part that i'm definitely sure of. there's lots of references to the bible, and locusts. i'm not christian, or even that interested in the bible, so if anyone wants to correct me here, do it. however, the locusts in the bible eat everything they come across. also, locust is mentioned in revelations (which i will talk about in a minute)

the boiled one's introduction has heavy, HEAVY references to the bible. mostly, i saw the sky opening up and the trumpets in the ears of the victims as VERY biblical sounding. however, when zamperini's (his name is likely a reference to watanabe matsuhiro, who was in the japanese military and a known war criminal) laying in the bed while being interviewed, we see the sign about jesus turn into "i can see you" above him. we can also see the uh. hair? spikes? whatever? of the boiled one in the window. personally, i see it as very similar to how god watches over people- all-seeing, all-knowing, etc etc. plus, most of the events in the fetal fanfare part (sky opening, trumpets) tie directly to revelations. plus, the "tree of heaven" part ties to it as well... but i don't know about a tree of heaven. maybe it may tie to the garden of eden? but i'm unsure. anyways, time to focus on zamperini, the war vet.

job zamperini, while being a reference to the events of prisoners of war in japan, also references job's suffering in the bible. again, not a christian, but job's story involves god taking everything from him. plus, the ephrata branch (according to comments under emortalmarcus's video) is named after a town in pennsylvania. ephrata, while being a town in PA (which may tie to why it wasn't placed in zamperini's original hometown) sounds similar to efrata/efrat, which is an israeli settlement, believed to be the original location of bethlehem- more ties to religion and christ.

overall, i personally believe it's leading to a focus on zamperini and watanabe. zamperini turned to christ to deal with the pain and suffering he endured while a prisoner of war, and watanabe died in 2003. i do believe the boiled one is watanabe's ghost coming back and using biblical imagery, themes, and events to torment him further. however, i'm not very sure how my boy locust ties into this (and i haven't even SPOKEN about that creature that follows you after the lights turn off) or how TOE ties into that and all. overall, i need me some more lore to figure out if doctor nowhere is focusing completely on zamparini's story, or if he's using it as a symbol of war (like one of the comments on the original series said)

overall 10/10 series i saw the boiled one on a thumbnail of a video and genuinely shat myself

[strongsuits]

Who is Moltar?

Moltar is this guy.

Originally from the 1966 Hanna-Barbera 'Space Ghost' cartoon show, He was....some sort of Lavamancer, I think? He had a magma ray, I'm pretty sure. But that's not important. No one gives a shit about 1966. What we do give a shit is 1994, when Cartoon Network produced it's first ever piece of Original Programming 'Space Ghost: Coast to Coast'

It was a parody of late-night talk show programs, with Now-retired Superhero Space Ghost as the host, And his former foes Zorak and Moltar as the co-host and Cameraman, respectively. It's a very interesting show that really deserves it's own post, since it essentially formed the foundation for not only the style of surrealistic humor that Adult Swim, and to a lesser extent, Cartoon Network overall, would be known for, But also, sort of, you know, the network itself. The show was made on a shoestring budget using Live-action interviews with real-ass celebrities, and repurposed animation from the Hannah-Barbera Library, which Cartoon Network had free access to. (Something Future shows such as Sealab 2021 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force would continue to do)

But as I said, explaining SG:C2C is really it's own post. Back to my Main Man. Moltar.

Moltar during the show largely hangs out Backstage, in what I tend to refer to as 'The Moltar Cave', a red-rock cavern that just oozes 'Re-used background from Johnny Quest even in 66'. He brings the guests up on screen for Space Ghost, does various technical shit, and snarks back and forth with Space Ghost and Zorak. While Space Ghost is the Cocky Host, and Zorak is, as he puts it, 'THE LONE LOCUST OF THE APOCALYPSE', Moltar can kind of wind up being the Punching Bag. 'Off-Camera', in terms of the In-universe 'reality' of the show, often the butt of the joke about how 'No one cares about the Camera Guy', but, His typical response is to just tell them to screw off, go on with his day, and make casual smalltalk with the guest star down in the moltar cave, usually during the halfway point of the 12-minute show. Moltar felt like the kinda guy you could just sorta hang out with, yknow? He has his moments of insanity, naturally, but, dude just wants a bit of respect, a smoke break and to set his boss's teeth on fire? How can you argue with that? He was also the first host of Toonami, before T.O.M took over, and my first Toonami Host, too, so, I've got fond memories of him-

IN GLORIOUS 90S C G I! Anyway, yeah. Moltar's my boy. I love dudes in cool helmets, what can I say.

[adhdo5]

For the second meme, 5, 15 and 18 for cwl and 3, 12 and 20 for your pick from o5ver?

5. What’s one hill your OC will die on (anything from a guiding moral position to a strong opinion about combining mint and chocolate)?

The thing about Clockworklocusts is that ae consist of Arron Gears, who only knows how to double down, and the locusts of the Swarm Record, which is ontologically a discoursemonger. Ae will die on literally any hill. Including hills ae don't actually believe in but found aemself on anyway. Ae will die on a hill that journaling is immoral and ae will be unhappy about it because that's literally not even true but what are ae gonna do, say "we were wrong"? Hell no

15. How does your OC take up space? What do they do with their hands when they talk, or how do they sit in chairs?

You've activated my trap card

Arron, whose body language tends to predominate bc he's usually fronting and it is after all his actual body, is generally stiff and closed off. Ramrod posture. He crosses his arms a lot to self regulate, especially he is upset, or content, or afraid, or secure, or contemplative, or in need of moral support, or understimulated, or overstimulated. He's tall (6'1" flat with up to 6" heels), ominously ticking (the clockwork...), and has an unhappy-looking resting expression and vocal tone even when he isn't actively unhappy (which he frequently is, especially in public), so he tends to come off as stoic and intimidatingly standoffish rather than overwhelmed (in reality he is both). He also doesn't tend to look at people unless he's trying (and lbr probably failing) a last ditch effort to figure out what the hell is going on; most of the time he massively prefers severely surveying the floor, opposite wall, clouds, dishes, et cetera. Basically he's standing in the back of the club arms folded because he doesn't agree with the music selection

His movements are deliberate and forceful, and he is not usually visibly rushing anywhere, in part because he prefers aer chestplate to aer elytra for walkable distances. He is fucking striding(/sprint jumping). Those movements though are currently significantly less coordinated than they used to be – he has a very clear idea usually of where he wants to be, but is not always able to execute. He has been trying to get out of the sheep pen for forty full seconds. He is trying so fucking hard to hold it together. He has locked his fucking arms across his chest and is leaning his forehead against the wall with his eyes closed muttering swear words in Broken. He is sitting down on the floor for the next ten minutes and if you try to move or touch him his maxed out Thorns armor has things to say about that

Graphite is in several senses much flightier. It generally doesn't love fronting and also is acutely a guest in this body but it does influence elytra flying especially when it proves necessary – it is not exactly helpful but it likes the task significantly more than does Arron. Outside of that its influence is mostly fidgety; when she's really co-con-y Clockworklocusts does a lot more twitching and looking around, more varied/actively mobile stimming, and noticeably more facial and vocal expressing When it fronts outright it is generally quite noticeable because it moves almost completely differently from how Arron does lmao

Not only is Graph like grotesquely expressive to the point of it coming off as caricature in expression and voice it is also anything but stiff and closed off; it emotes very clearly and with aer entire body and its vocal tone ranges from "hysterical" to "contemplates the meaning of life" to "hysterical /neg" to "hysterical /whisper shrieking version as it attempts to confide in you" and it will absolutely walk up to people and get in their personal space, sometimes excessively so

It's always fidgeting and sometimes twitching. It is constantly jumping in place to punctuate sentences, or doing laps around the room or crouching/bending in half at the waist to lean over to you. Every movement is ten movements. It sits down and stands up constantly and it sits with its legs up on the chair. She is punching the air and you and the floor and picking up blocks and putting them down. Some things are holdovers, too: it rubs at aer eyes a decent amount on reflex and is also constantly running aer hands over walls and items in ways that would have left pencil marks were crown in crowns own form. Crown's at crowns least coordinated when left alone in front, even on the ground and with Arron's heels collapsed; crowns modes of on-foot travel are "frenzied pacing," "skipping," "stumbling," and "some combination of the previous". It is also, true to its existence, near constantly chattering. It's annoying and COMMITTED to being such

18. If they can or would drive, what would their car be like?

Arron in a beautiful world has the world's most street-illegal custom car that he strives to make more street illegal every single day and be a holy terror with it on the road. This is in fact the case for Arron Startup but cars don't exist in Minecraft so the guy he plays in Minecraft just runs around being vaguely bitter that minecarts are obsolete

Graphite meanwhile. Well it is basically driving whenever it fronts and brother it does NOT have a license

^ Arron says this to Graphite every single day

[penultimate-step]

JJK S2 Livewatch: Eps 8-12

Hello, everybody! Sorry for taking so long to continue this live reaction. Since this is the part where the fights start in earnest, I had a lot less to say about the show's specifics and more general rambling thoughts I had as watching. It made me unsure about how to write this part up, and I ended up taking way longer than I should have (I watched these eps weeks ago!) Not sure if this will make the livewatch more or less entertaining to read along. But at this point I am going to post and hope for the best. Hope nobody is disappointed.

So, following up the end of the last ep, Gojo is called out to the danger zone. It's emphasized how much he's the one guy who matters and can do anything here. Which does kind of make me have thoughts about the worldbuilding.

Ok, so, what is the size of the jujutsu world, exactly?

Between Gojo and Tengen, we have multiple individuals who apparently single handedly hold the jujutsu world on their shoulders. That is so many points of failure, so many points where things could just go catastrophically wrong at any moment, presumably dooming the world. I know that this is primarily in order to place the plot focus on the important people. but it feels less like the jujutsu world is an institution or a world on its own, and more like a small club. Which could be fine, but its established that curses appear constantly, all over the world. It's hard to believe that a group small enough to need a handful of people to hold critical roles could cover the whole nation We know there are only 2 jujutsu schools in japan, and its unknown how many elsewhere but presumably an equivalent amount. We've seen most of the students at the school competition arc, and there were less than a dozen altogether. So....what's going on here? It just seems kind of arbitrary, and makes the world feel more constructed - which, of course, it is, being a fictional world, but generally we prefer when the guiding hand of the author is less obtrusive.

Some comparisons that can be made are to Naruto, the manga which I am almost certain is JJK's biggest inspiration, and to Chainsaw Man, a contemporary peer. Naruto's worldbuilding is large and sprawling, with plenty of named organizations, locations, and events offscreen. out of universe info books and spinoffs help add detail to this, but aren't necessary. There, it is believable that any given character exists in the context of the world because the world exists as background. in contrast, chainsaw man shares a much tighter focus with jjk. much less exacting detail, minor characters, etc; a greater focus on a small cast. There is no greater detail, readers know nothing about the structure of hell, the goings-on in the US or USSR, or even other divisions and areas in japan. but there is enough there to maintain an illusion that the world exists - mentions of foreign countries, occasional shots of hunters or political leaders. Sure, it's not the same as actually detailing in the world, but there's no need to go that far - enough has been sketched in that the readers can imagine the characters getting on a plane and flying to another country, even if they don't have any details about the destination, it feels like they exist in a real world with real places that the camera just doesn't turn to.

This might seem like I'm being overly harsh to the setting. it is clearly an intentional choice to have Gojo be the lynchpin of the world, there's nothing inherently wrong with it. But as someone who loves urban fantasy as a setting, it does sometimes bother me when I feel like the world exists only for the convenience of the main cast. It's a world close enough to our own that I feel like it should make sense.

Anyway, that's enough of that. Moving on to actually talking about the events of the episodes. I did warn you at the start that I had less to say about this set, though.

The fight between Yuuji and the locust curse isn't a bad fight to reintroduce us to the main protagonist. It's smoothly animated, outside some hiccups when jumping through walls, and the fact that both fighters use fully physical techniques made the whole thing seem very even and straightforward.

It's outshone completely by the Gojo vs villain gang battle at the end of 8 and through 9, though. I love when hidden world fantasy type settings use the clash between the normal world and the fantastical, setting these fights in a crowded city subway was a cool enough idea already, but the villain plan to use ordinary citizens to box gojo in, the use of trains in the battle, all hammered it in. the way the battle goes on around them while they can't even see most of it is interesting.

The almost wild, ruthless way Gojo speaks and fights in this battle make it clear he's been pushed very far. Between this and the flashback eps, S2 hasn't been shy about showing Gojo struggling and on the edge, a stark contrast to the way he was essentially the plot device "I win" button in his season 1 appearances. Where many of his memorable moments then had him floating at a distance to his opponents, untouchable as his technique, this fight is brutally physical. The moment he grabs at Hanami's branches was visceral. I was actually really surprised to see Hanami die. When he had Hanami against the wall, I started saying out loud "You know, the ruthlessly strategic thing to do here would be go for the killing blow on the weakened enemy. I just know Hanami is going to come back and cause trouble in future arcs. But it makes sense the author wouldn't want to waste a villain with so much buildup like that." And then he actually did kill him. Okay! Message received, Gege! I'll stay on my toes a bit more!

Also, as an aside (much as the show does,) I really liked the villain interludes. Seeing them messing around playing games in their free time did a lot to add to their characterization, even if it was just a way to exposit their plans to the audience.

While I'm giving praise, the sound design and music team did a great job. There's so much that wordlessly conveys the emotions going on mid-scene without having to stop and actually demonstrate them. the ominous overlay on the villains, the frenetic piano as gojo rushes to use his domain, and the most evocative of all, the soft and emotional tunes of shock when Gojo sees Geto again.

Also, this is the part where I have to embarrassedly admit that I was already spoiled on present day geto being fake. Rather, I was so spoiled that I assumed it wasn't a spoiler and was revealed in S1, until seeing the big reveal scene made me realize someone must have told me about this years ago. Whoops. Apologies if any of my followers were waiting for my reaction to that bit :(

Ep 10 is mostly a bridge and setup for the next portion, but I do have some brief thoughts on the new characters to touch on before moving on. The drinking old man is not endearing himself to me with his flippancy, the curse user with the hand sword from season 1 is back, and still kind of annoying whenever he's on screen. The unnamed white-haired girl with him seems cool though. also, this may be kind of a late moment to say this, but I really do like mahito as a character. Some of his transfiguration stunts were genuinely unsettling, and the way he alternates between that kind of cruelty and his general playful attitude makes him pretty fun to have on screen. He's far and away my favorite of the present day villains.

Skipping ahead to the fights in eps 11 and 12. The montage of murders by the curse users actually disgusted me. Which is kind of funny to contrast with the appearance and fighting style of the man who fights Yuuji and Megumi in this episode. His face and movements are different than most of the cast, reminding me more of some kind of demonic looney tunes character, jumping around and letting hits bounce off him. The fight is a cool showcase of 10 shadows, as well as giving some fun interactions between Yuuji and Megumi.

Actually, as I look back on it, I'm somewhat more impressed by this bit than I was as I was actually watching. None of the individual moments are super impressive or thought provoking, but as I come in to write down thoughts I realize that this two episode span seamlessly transitions between 4 different fights, done well enough that I didn't see it as an interruption, and only realized while writing this about it afterwards.

I don't want to dwell too much on the Nobara and Nanami vs hand guy fight, because that guys icks me out. Mei Mei's fight is mostly offscreen, but I do have a meme about it, because I cannot stop my brain from making unfortunate connections. The fight between the masked sorcerer (I don't remember if we got his name?) and the pair on the rooftop, though. It starts pretty slow - I don't think either of their powers or the way they use them are very interesting - but things tick up immediately when Toji shows up. Just like in the flashback arc, he just grabs the attention in every scene he's in, an

While I'm on the topic, one thing I noticed is how efficient the flashback arc was. Pretty much every element from there makes a direct return now, not even 10 episodes after the fact. Geto and Toji are shown off in the past right in time for them to be introduced in the main plot, not wasted elements. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing but it did feel noticeable. Possibly this ties back to the stuff I was talking about at the start of this, where JJK keeps making the tradeoff of telling a tighter and more focused story while cutting lose any elements that could be seen as extraneous, for better or for worse.

Anyway, that wraps up that watch session. It was pretty good, I didn't enjoy it as much as I liked eps 1-5, but much more than I liked 6-7. as a whole I think I can start to calibrate my expectations for how good this seasons is going to be now, very well executed but much more straightforward than that first arc would suggest. Less exploration of world and characters, more cool fights and action scenes.

I feel like I said a lot without actually saying very much, I worry that this was almost entirely recap of things any watcher knows already. I'll try and write the next section much faster, and hopefully I'll have more interesting things to say about that one.

[ask-cloverfield]

Assorted SHOCKER thoughts

I apologize for the length there are over 5 villains and I loved all of them

Also just to clarify I am using the aug abbreviations from the soundtrack because KUA-1 is quicker than typing Spider-Aug

Shin Kamen Rider has 7 villains if we count the Locusts as one villain and fucking astonishingly manages to pull it off

In this iteration SHOCKER was formed by a depressed reclusive billionaire who desired to find a way through AI to attain human happiness. He creates 3 AI “I” who is implied to serve as this iteration of the Great Leader, “J” a Kikaider esque bot with little screentime which later upgrades itself to “K”

The billionaire later killed himself and entrusted K with helping humans attain happiness

K is... surprisingly not that different from his show counterpart. Basically taking his uncomfortable elements of neutrality, agreeability and not especially strong moral compass to its logical conclusion.

He isn’t exactly evil, he’s just an AI who will find anything understandable if it helps humans attain their happiness. He doesn’t really give a shit about the conflict, he mourns the AUGs he was fond of (including Ruriko) and talks entirely nonchalantly with Ruriko as she goes to kill KUA-1

When Takesh and Ichiro die he merely leaves the base without a word

Also like the fucking Shocker Aug leitmotif is the same song with different backing instrumentals or vocals, with KUA-1′s being this rapturous cheering, KOA-1′s being this vibrant and excited bit of jazz and HAA-1′s being this steady techno backing  it is so fuck

It is established that the AUGS are partially controlled by causing them to feel perpetual euphoria (which also is used to explain why they are such bombastic villains)

Each of the AUGS are used to establish a different element of SHOCKER’s whole evil schtick

Oh KUA-1 my beloved KUA-1.

He has 4 arms and it is so sex

“Terminate all traitors. This is my task”

KUA-1 (Spider Aug)  is about blind devotion to their cause

KUA-1 hates humans and for sake of all Augments who forsake their humanity he shall kill humans. He is perhaps the most devoted to the cause of SHOCKER, and views the augmentations as a great gift. While he knows he must kill Hongo he is also one of their “beloved augments” and wishes to see his “glorious lethality” in action.

In their fight after seeing Hongo kill his way through the Low-Class AUG combatants he tries to connect with Hongo about the joys of killing and when Hongo doesn’t reciprocate he begans strangling him asking

“You are also Augmented? How can you not understand this happiness”

His final words are the fucking amazing “Oh darn, I can’t fight him effectively here”

KOA-1 or Bat Aug

Uh fucking epidemics his thing is he really fucking likes epidemics

KOA-1 is a paranoid “old bat” who has been working on a “bat virus’ that will allow him to control the populace. Basically a more research orientated take on the original Bat Man

He dresses snazzy and has a flare for the dramatic

He doesn’t trust the combatants so he exclusively has barely useful automatons to guard his base. When Ruriko makes quick work of him and tries to make him a deal to go into custody he reveals she has been exposed to the virus as she falls limp before Takeshi arrives in an attempt to help

The Bat has the automotans take on the appearnce of Ruriko as they flood the stadium and he makes a show of how he can easily kill her if Takeshi doesn’t take listen to him

He forces Takeshi into a sadistic choice to expose himself to the toxin and kill Ruriko... Only for Ruriko to reveal that his virus won’t work on Augments like her and Takeshi and pulls out a shotgun and shoots his wing out.

He promptly flies to safety and takes comfort that Kamen Rider can only jump 66.90 meters high which if memory serves is from the original show. So anyway Takeshi fucking points the Cyclone boosters down and sends himself launching into the sky where well

A Jump to the Sky turns into a Rider Kick

I do not remember his final words

SAA-1 (Scorpion AUG) represents... Fucking something I don’t know, the inherent eroticism of fight scenes

Okay in all honesty she represents SHOCKER’s reinterpretation as being for Humanity’s Happiness and is about the euphoria or “ecstasy” they feel

I am going to be blunt. I was dreading her. In the prequel manga she was... awful without getting into specifics because I will tangent about how much I hate that manga

If you don’t take extended universe bullshit she is just a fun bombastic character who is there just to have a fucking amazingly choreographed fight with Anti-SHOCKER Alliances agents with a nice song.

She slit people’s throats with her high heels

I know it was fanservice but it was also cool as fuck

Her henchman came in with ballistic shields and some dance choreography as they blocked the bullets which was fucking awesome

Anyway she gets killed moving on

Her final words are “Flop”

HAA-1 or Wasp Aug

She represents the classic goal of SHOCKER subjugation

And also Yuri

HAA-1 has made a small town her test run for her “wasp hive” in which using a server connected to something I cannot for the life of me remember to have complete control over the civilian populace.

Before Ruriko managed to defect SHOCKER was something of a family, with Hiromi being Ruriko’s only friend and understandably Ruriko isn’t exactly enthused about the situation

Ruriko attempts to convince Hiromi to leave SHOCKER which she doesn’t... exactly respond well to. Namely by pointing out that the guards aren’t SHOCKER, but random civilians who “Ruri-Ruri’s” “Guard Dog” probably wouldn’t want to kill.

During this Hiromi explains more of SHOCKER’s philosophy and in case you were worried Kamen Rider wasn’t killing fascists this movie, don’t worry! Because she starts explaining her plan to enact eugenics and ensure only the the most fit survive

So Takeshi and Ruriko jump out a window.

(I would like to add that Neon Genesis Evangelion promised window  jumping and never delivered so that is one thing Shin Kamen Rider has over that)

Ruriko approaches her again (alone) in hopes of appealing again to her former friend. Hiromi counteroffers with Ruriko to join SHOCKER and points out that her guard dog probably should be here for if she refuses. Ruriko simply states

"I told you, I'm well-prepared."

Hard cut to a plane flying over head

Followed by Takeshi jumping out and fucking slamming into the mind-control- server blowing it to fuck as Falling Velocity sexily blares

Ruriko again asks Hiromi to leave SHOCKER

And Hiromi replies that she now wants to make Ruriko cry by killing her “pet”

She and her henchmen have a brief sword fight against Takeshi, but when it is a stalemate she absorbs her henchmen to “Henshin” and tosses Takeshi a sword

And this fight scene kinda fucks really hard

She has superspeed and just starts beating the shit out of Takeshi Hongo who is just desperately trying to block her attacks only gaining the upper hand when her sword gets stuck in his armor.

Takeshi refuses to kill her because Ruriko doesn’t wish it and Ruriko again pleads with her to leave SHOCKER

Before the Government Agents Takeshi and Ruriko teamed up with walk in, state “What a profound sentiment” and shoot her

Her last words are, “Ruriko, I wanted you to be the one to kill me”

Next is... well next is Ichimonju but I will ramble about him later because oh my god Ichimonji

No instead we go over K.K. Aug or Kameleon Mantis. K.K wants revenge for his brother in arms KUA-1 and after Ruriko deprograms Ichimonji (who is stunned) proceeds to stab her in the back as Takeshi watches with a broken leg.

He represents SHOCKER perpetual hidden threat

He mentions that is made by the “Death’s Angels” (Likely lead by the show’s Dr. Death) subgroup of the organization which is why Ruriko had no knowledge of him as he prepares to finish her off

A rather high speed Ichimonji Hayato kicks him from off-screen and that is pretty much all that can be said for K.K aug as Ichimonji just kinda beats the shit out of him as K.K. aug is baffled as to what the hell is happening

His final words are “I’m sorry, brother Spider-Aug”

He also serves as a nod to Gel-SHOCKER’s hybrid monsters in the original show and is basically just a warmup for the birth of Kamen Rider 2

And also the point where Takeshi and Ruriko’s survival looks increasingly unlikely

Next is an adaptation of my favorite arc of the manga and Oh this scene was made for me specifically

Next is not one Aug. It is 12

The SHOCKER RIDERS

The SHOCKER Riders represent the horrible fate that awaited our Kamen Riders that they only barely escaped.

They do something really fucking interesting

Ichiro, the SHOCKER Commander of the movie announces to Takeshi Hongo who has gone on to face him alone to fulfill Ruriko’s will encounters 12 Riders in the tunnel

And he explains to Takeshi that when Grasshoppers swarm they become more ruthless, their carapace turns black and they become Locusts, as opposed to being singular beings they are gregarious

Takeshi the 13th Rider, will soon die

Thus begins a hectic desperate chase set to millet as Takeshi desperately shields himself with the Cyclone, burns them with its thrusters and goes between Cyclones desperately trying to keep up before they overwhelm him, pin him under one of their bikes, circling him as the on pinning him unloads a submachine gun into his head.

In a moment that I genuinely giggled in joy at this is a recreation of Takeshi’s death scene in the original manga (albeit he survives here due to having his helmet)

Enter Ichimonji, with his help Takeshi and Hayato are able to outmaneuver the Riders, before managing to destroy their bikes because Hayato GOAT that he is brought semtex.

Hayato and Takeshi’s rapidly proceed to defeat them with a Double Rider Kick to a sex orchestration of Let’s Go! Rider Kick

All in all I was fucking happy

Ichiro Midorikawa is too much to go over in this already long thing

However he represents SHOCKER’s roots

That of being an organization that started out of a desire to find a solution to human sorrow before it snowballed horrifically.

He’s just a young man grieving his mother and his solution to fixing the corruption of human hearts is simply too horrific for him to be allowed

Despite everything he still blatantly loves his sister, to the point where he allows Takeshi to leave with a headstart just because his sister has finally found someone she connects with 

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, Kasumi’s loyalty mission:

-Needed to recruit Mordin first so I could research upgrades, but Kasumi’s up next so I can get the locust.

Omega:

-If you go paragon when speaking to the Patriarch after Aria’s asked you to get him to safety, you hear the first mention of a krogan’s krantt.

Krantts are a fantastic addition to the world building for krogans. They add some much needed depth to how they relate to each other beyond killing.

-It’s a shame the Patriarch doesn’t come back in ME3. The quest positions him as potentially regaining some influence if you go paragon – he could have been leading a rebellion against the Cerberus forces in the Omega DLC or the like.

-Aria’s past is built up in ME2, but again nothing comes of this. Just vague hints that major shit went down.

-According to Gavorn if you go renegade, slavers regularly kidnap vorcha to sell. Lovely.

Bekenstein

-As many have noted, its ridiculous that a garden world so close to the Citadel was left unclaimed until humanity came along. The game doesn’t even try to justify it.

-General observation: Why are women in Mass Effect normally in dresses for casual wear?

The exceptions I can think of are outfits for Shepard and colonists. But on the Citadel or Omega, the casual wear for all women are dresses.

It stands out to me given that I’m far more accustomed to seeing women wear pants than dresses or skirts.

Also, I’d like an option to put femShep in a suit for formal wear.

-As many have have noted, it’s strange Kasumi didn’t dress up for the mission. Honestly, the real reason Hock didn’t let her is because she probably didn’t meet the dress code.

-It says something about Mass Effect that guests to a fancy party are permitted to keep pistols. It’s the norm for everyone to be armed.

Unless you’re a human refugee in the Omega slums, apparently.

-I do appreciate how ME1 and ME2 had several missions that did not involve combat. Or at least parts of missions. ME3 could have used more of those.

-There is transient dialogue at the party about how Shepard is dead.

Seriously, what was up with Jacob saying that the general public doesn’t know they’re dead? How did that line make it to production?

-The mercs are Eclipse, but the ones at the party are all human. Given that Eclipse is primarily Asari and Salarian, that’s notable.

-And nearly all the guests are human too.

-Does Hock have ties to Cerberus?

He’s shady, involved in several questionable activities, and signs point to human supremacist. It’d be natural for him to be connected to Cerberus.

-You’d think an alarm would go off when the power to the barrier for the vault is disabled.

Sure, Kasumi may have taken care of that too but there’s no indication to it.

-Why does Kasumi hack the first security door, but then leave me to hack the second?

She’s definitely laughing at my struggles.

-As others have noted, the krogan anime playing in the security room is interesting.

I really want to see in universe media of Mass Effect. Can you imagine Mass Effect anime? It’d be a trip.

-You don’t even need to pass a speech check to get Hock talking if you flirt with him. He just goes off.

-Why does Shepard need to speak to Hock, anyway? Couldn’t she just linger around him while he speaks to other guests? Study the fish or something.

-There’s a statue from Illos in the vault. It’s labeled a prothean statue. Given this is from Shepard’s point of view, it indicates Shepard at least believed that’s what protheans looked like.

-Why does Hock have so many statues of krogans? There’s four or five.

-Why is turian art unusual outside of Palaven?

Is it because no one else vibes with turian art? I don’t think so – Kasumi said it may be the most valuable piece in the collection.

So the implication is that turian art is rare.

That feels unlikely; it’s pretty typical for large governments to commission art pieces to show them off. If only to one up other governments.

I suppose turians could just not value art, but outside this line there’s no indication of that.

Give me more cultural world building, Bioware!

-Why is the locust on the same podium as the gray box? Why is the gray box even on display in the vault among a bunch of statues? Where are the rare books, etc.?

I’m grateful for the opportunity to see all these statues, but logically the gray box would be stored somewhere else. And not with a submachine gun.

-I am not enjoying my insanity playthrough of ME2. I just ran through all my ammo for the first time.

How are thermal clips superior to ME1 overheating again? Is there some reason I can’t keep a gun that uses overheating on me as backup in case I run out of thermal clips?

-Thank goodness that there’s a checkpoint in the fight with Hock’s gunship. Once Kasumi destroys the shield, if you die you reload at that point.

-I debated whether to have Kasumi destroy or keep the graybox. I’ve always let her keep it before.

I think it’s healthier for her to destroy it, but it’s not really my call to make.

Also, ME2 mechanics at play here. I need to make sure I have enough paragon points to resolve the Tali/Legion quarrel later. So let her keep the graybox it is.

Normandy

-Emily Wong assumed Shepard’s “death” was them going undercover. If I recall correctly, a few others believe the same.

Again: Everyone knows Shepard was dead. What was Jacob talking about?

-And the Blue Suns offered to take over the security for Mordin’s old clinic. Fortunately, Daniel told them no. Hopefully he lives long enough to make it stick.

-Early Mass Effect 2 is heavily weighted to tech. I already have two, plus the decreased cooldown time they unlock.

I don’t think you get any upgrades for biotics until after Horizon, if my memory is correct, unless you play the firewalker dlc.

As someone who always plays biotics, this is painful.

-Miranda has no new dialogue, oddly enough.

Jacob

-I do not understand why Jacob is with Cerberus. This is starting to feel like a toxic relationship.

Past experiences with Cerberus make him assume the worst of everyone. He’s wary of friendly overtures because they’re normally false. Not trusting other people is the norm.

Jacob, why are you here? Do you assume TIM will kill you if you leave and don’t trust Shepard enough to tell them that?

If so, kudos to you based on ME3 but I wish that had been discussed at some point.

Talking to this man feels like trying to gain the trust of a feral cat that’s accustomed to being kicked.

-He says that the Alliance doesn’t people handle their own problems and Cerberus is the same, but puts more effort into hiding that they’re spying on you.

I’ve lost track of how many times it’s come up that the Normandy is under surveillance. Does Jacob consider this subtle? What does he consider blatant?

-Once again, it feels like threading a needle to not trigger a romance with Jacob. And once again, he makes it very clear that he’s not interested.

Shepard has the opportunity to tell Jacob that since they’re interested, they’re going to assume Jacob’s down for it too.

The romance with Jacob is both incredibly icky and very hard to avoid. I don’t know what Bioware was thinking.

Mordan

-Just like Wrex, Mordin dismisses the concept of a krogan scientist.

It would have been hilarious if we had recruited Okeer and the two had to share a lab. We would have been down one teammate.

-Now Mordin opens up to you and tells you about reinforcing the genophage.

He claims it’s because he wants you to know that he’s willing to do what’s necessary, but it comes off as wanting reassurance that he did the right thing.

As much as he insists that it was necessary and not genocide, his guilt is obvious.

-Interestingly, going paragon nets you 6 paragon points. Going neutral earns you 4 paragon points.

Neutral doesn’t push back against the genophage. It just validates Mordin telling you about his work. Bioware could easily have had it provide no points, but gave you the opportunity to earn paragon points without opposing the genophage.

[rlaehrwk-37]

<CH 555. EP 1. DO NOT TAKE PRIZES FROM SUSPICIOUS MEN IN WHITE COATS AND SUNGLASSES.>

translation by @lee-hakhyun <33

• This starting scene had me quaking in my boots even the first time i read it.

So, Han Sooyoung is now talking to the readers across the universe who read her story (ugh why not me?)

“her unlucky tone” ORV has a lot of ‘unlucky’ things if I put my mind to it. specially a certain reader’s unlucky smile. even thinking about it makes me want to punch a wall, so let’s forget about it.

So apparently Sooyoung sent a short story to the cloud. I wonder which side story it is? Bc this side story is totally not gonna be short, unless she’s comparing it with ORV or TWSA. Hm I wonder which one…? (It would be insane if it was the Mia side story)

So a “foreign war” (is it a war between universes eh????) is about to begin. We’ve no fucking clue what that means. But ty for this bomb Sooyoung, im totally not worried for Lee Hakhyun now…

• A-Are you telling me Gilyoung has the capacity to eat locusts?? (Not that I doubt it, ofc)

And ofc Joonghyuk got his boots from Doc Marten’s (I’ve never shopped for boots so idfk what I’m talking about)

Protagonist swag 😔👊

Reading this passage makes me feel some type of way I can’t explain. So I can’t write for it. eugejdhwjekdjuduw.

• One reader asks Han Sooyoung about Kim Dokja, the question that we’ve been dying to know the answer to. But in typical cliche fashion, the screen blanks before she can answer.

Hm it’s interesting how LHH compares his feelings to HSY’s. He claims that if she was real, she’d be feeling the same thing as him even though her mental health is probably far worse than ours atp. It’s gonna get worse bc HSY belittles any “self-proclaimed writer” she meets and calls them a faker bc they do not have the avatar skill. But LHH equates his emotions to her level. My boy…

• Anyway, the hosts have prepared a quiz for the readers. Just like how Kim Dokja received a “gift” from tls123? So fucking sus istg.

The readers answer some weird questions like “How many times did ◼️ appear in the story?” and “what’s the significance of the number 1863?”

Of course, both Lee Hakhyun, and me had no fucking clue what that meant but the readers did.

“1863 is the year the world’s first subway opened, and it symbolises Yoo Joonghyuk’s repeated return to the moving subway.” <- is the response by a reader.

Honestly I was dumbfounded when I googled it up and saw this :

WHAT THE FUCK SINGNSONG???? I thought the answers didn’t matter and they just wanted to kidnap the readers but holy shit???? It’s actually real?!?

I love how SNS are actually dropping in little trivia abt the story and their thoughts thru this side story. I love all this new information. It’s so… mind blowing. They thought it out so well!!

• Hmm Representative Kim Dokja’s analysis… this guy really did all that and is also a part of an organisation that kidnapped readers from a different worldline.

Also Lee Hakhyun immediately acting like he knew tf that was LMAOO 🤣 he’s such a prideful liar i love him,, what a little shit.

• LHH : “Can I say I love this story more than they do?”

Me, absolutely not crying : ugh shut the fuck up shutupshutupshutup

This story is making me more emotional than it should. I’m so sensitive…

• Eventually Ji Eunyu, the editor, answers a question bc she doesn’t wanna be left behind (honestly so relatable…)

Readers crying :’))) bc the story has now ended. They can face reality now. At least they’ll get their prize..?

I’ll never get tired of thinking of LHH thinking deeply about KDJ… something about his attachment to KDJ, him thinking “what would Kim Dokja do?” to face a problem in the scenarios… looking around to find Dokja, bc he’s their shining star in the face of calamity, their saving grace.

And oof, the question asked to him, “Who is the heroine of ORV?”

Can I say Kim Dokja? XDD

Well seriously speaking, i could consider Han Sooyoung… but it is a trick question.

• But LHH answers this. I’m a little conflicted? We know ORV is not supposed to be a romance novel. (which I love about it!!!! abolish romance!!! XD)

But ORV is a love letter from KimCom (and Han Sooyoung primarily) to all of Kim Dokja across the Universe.

“Compared to other main characters, the proportion of appearances was not high”. Uhh is he thinking about Sangah here? I’m honestly lost lmao but to me personally, I can’t see KDJ with any woman other than HSY. Alongside YJH, she’s the one who understands and forgives him. (Not to undermine the significance of his relations with the rest of KimCom bc that’s not the thing I’d do, but HSY plays a pivotal role even later in the side story!)

LHH apparently created this character for KDJ, and there’s… so much to unpack from this statement alone 🤐🤐

• UGHHH STOP.

(she or he or they idc I wanna know who’s his fav character)

Honestly I was clutching my phone so tightly at this point…

• those seats are not going to be empty for too long…

I cant believe ORV has managed to even traumatise me with THEATRE SEATS.

readers collecting snow… bc it snows on Kim Dokja’s bday 🤧🥺🥺 ugh this part is so…

[The Fourth Wall] glimmering on the screen. The readers walked through this Fourth Wall from the Theatre to get into ORV and back to the Theatre they’ll return, although what Theatre it’ll be… we’ll see :)

• Lee Hakhyun’s nickname on the tag is [■■■] :)))

Lee Hakhyun wanting to write a story even for one person who’s left behind ToT I’ll need to make a separate post for this uwaaaa

• and so, Lee Hakhyun is isekai’d into ORV, and this shitshow begins once more, folks.

[flowerfan2]

Apples and Honey

Ok, Rosh Hashanah was last week so I’m a little late - but here is my fourth annual high holidays fic (on A03 here).  Star Trek, this time.  Enjoy, and best wishes for a sweet new year.  

*******

Jim watches quietly as Spock undresses down to his briefs, admiring his graceful movements as he moves about their dimly lit quarters.  Finally Spock finishes his tasks and slides under the blankets, moving carefully so as not to disturb Jim’s rest.

“Hey there,” Jim murmurs, moving closer and tucking his chin over Spock’s shoulder.  “Everything okay?”

He knows it probably is, he can feel Spock’s gentle hum of contentment through their bond.  But he likes to talk about it anyway.

“My evening went as expected.  The conflict between the engineering officers has been resolved.”

“Hopefully without landing anyone in the brig?”

“So far.”

“A successful mission then.”  Jim stretches and snuggles closer, one knee coming up over Spock’s leg as they fit themselves together.

“I apologize for waking you.”

“No apology necessary.  I’m glad I’m awake.”

A pause, and then, “I admit I am glad of it as well.”

Jim chuckles softly and strokes his fingers through the wiry hair on Spock’s chest.  “This is the best part of my day, you know.”

“Going to sleep?” Spock asks, so innocently Jim thinks he might not actually be teasing.

“No.  Being here with you.  Together.  Just… cozy.”  Jim props himself up on an elbow, catching Spock’s gaze.  This may be one of those times that Spock needs reassurance; Jim will spend the rest of his life giving it, if need be.

“Even when we are not engaging in coitus?”

“Even when we are not engaging in coitus,” Jim replies seriously.  “Sex is great – sex with you is fantastic, mind blowing, to be honest.  I think you probably can tell how much I like it-”

“Indeed,” Spock confirms, the edge of his mouth twitching up.

“But this is better. The best.”  Jim nuzzles at the warm skin of Spock’s neck, sending thoughts of safe together love always  and receiving back simply t’hy’la.

Spock guides Jim closer and they trade a few gentle kisses.  After a minute or two, Spock pulls back and clears his throat.  “I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful gift,” Spock says.

“Gift?”  Jim struggles to focus his brain, full of nothing but his lover’s presence.

“The apples and honey.”

Jim smiles and dances his fingers down Spock’s side.  “That was just an afternoon snack.”

“Coincidentally delivered to my lab on Rosh Hashanah?”

Jim shrugs.  “Coincidences do happen.”

“How did you know?”

The lack of precision in Spock’s question might be a sign that Spock was feeling some kind of emotion about Jim’s gift – which he definitely is, Jim knows him well enough that he can easily see it – or it might just reflect that Spock is enjoying their warm, drowsy conversation as much as Jim; enough to let down his walls and truly relax.

“I knew it was Rosh Hashanah on Earth today because Lieutenant Edelstein mentioned it.  She and her partner were hosting a festive dinner in one of the rec rooms.  She also gave me that honey, by the way.  She called it locust honey, which seems odd – but Bones said it wouldn’t kill me, so I tasted it – basically just tastes like regular honey, more or less.”

“It is not made from locusts, Jim.  It is created with the nectar from black locust trees, also known as false acacia trees, and is known as acacia honey or locust honey.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.  Honey made from locusts – ugh.”  Jim gives a little faux shiver and Spock shifts in his arms, kissing his scrunched up nose.

“Regardless, it was a lovely gift,” Spock says.  “But how did you know it would be meaningful to me?”

“Come on, how long have I known you?”

“Three years, two months, seven days, and four hours.”

Jim laughs, as Spock intended, then cups Spock’s cheek and brings him close for another kiss.  “And how long have we been bondmates?”

“One year, six months… to the day.”  Spock pauses.  “Have I forgotten to acknowledge an important anniversary?”

“Nah, that’s just a coincidence – really a coincidence this time.”  Jim skates his hand along Spock’s shoulder and down his arm, finding his hand and twining their fingers together.  “I’ve known your mom was Jewish for a long time.  It came up after the attack on Vulcan, when Pike was working on the memorial services.  I don’t know if you ever celebrated, but I figured you’d at least know the significance of apples and honey.”

Spock turns to lie on his back, and Jim lets him, acknowledging his need for a little space.  But Spock keeps their hands linked, holding Jim’s loosely against his chest and stroking their fingers together.

“My mother observed the Jewish holidays most frequently when we lived on Earth, and occasionally we traveled to visit her family during the high holidays.  Even when we were on Vulcan, she noted their passing.  Despite the fact that it was yet another way she was different than others, she felt it was important to maintain her cultural traditions.”  

“How did you feel about that?” Jim asks, and counts it as a win when Spock doesn’t protest that Vulcans don’t ‘feel.’

“I found the traditions interesting.   She grew a small apple tree in our garden, which required far more water and care than native Vulcan flora, and she looked forward excitedly to harvest season.  She often received holiday ‘care packages’ from her family on Earth, which were tempting to me as a child.  Her observances gave her pleasure.  As for the fact that she refused to assimilate in this small way, when she was already making so many accommodations to conform to Vulcan norms… I did not want my peers to find out, as I believed they would use this as yet another way to accuse me of illogical behavior and slander my mother.  At the same time, I was proud of her for not giving up this part of herself.”

“I know I’ve said it before,” Jim says quietly, his throat tight, “but I really wish I had been able to meet your mom.  I think I would have liked her a lot.”

Spock nods in response, and Jim wraps his arms more tightly around him, holding him close.  Spock still has a love-hate relationship with his own perfectly acceptable emotions, and Jim won’t make it worse by drawing attention to it.  Still, he’s glad that Spock feels safe enough to grieve with him.

After Spock catches his breath Jim relaxes his hold and brushes Spock’s bangs away from his face.  “I’d be happy to celebrate more Jewish holidays with you, if you want.  I mean, I did some research, and they seem to involve a lot of really good food.”

Spock laughs wetly.  “That would be acceptable.”

“I think I can program the replicator to make latkes pretty easily, and Lieutenant Edelstein claims she has a prize winning rugelach recipe.”

“I prefer sufganiyot for Chanukah,” Spock says.  “Although if you make the rugelach with chocolate, I would be agreeable.”

“So we’re taking having a sweet new year literally, then?”

“With you, ashayam, I have no doubt.”

[incarnateirony]

Your blog is an education in of itself FYI lol. I was curious though if you don't mind me asking in regards to Destiel. What drew you to shipping Dean and Castiel? What do you like about them as a romantic pairing?

Ironically i kind of didn't?

like I had an S12 post called "people keep asking my view of destiel". And I'd had older vlogs where I discussed, um. like nobody was crazy but, not going anywhere for long arcane tv magic reasons people loved to argue with me about on ratings etc. How digitals worked then etc.

Anyway I was like its in market testing (and the fandom akrida started shrieking for 3 years in denial) but its probably not moving but they're fighting, anyway put a pin in berens. It was gonna be a spectator sport for me, for years, but I say Never Too Late hit the ship trash fire. Hence my first video being that. Which. Again. You could say caused funny spirals.

But moving forward, it was just. you know. appreciating berens' work and the room starting to move with him, as seemed to publicly reflect and even then was a deeper seed than that if you listened. But few did. Just locusts buzzing buzzing so much white noise and static around here.

But my puns for the future aside, s15 was when i flipped the switch to, they're running the ball. For magical reasons. And then we go down this fandom's noisy hole of arguing and deleting it and just never listening back. Funny how it works out. Sometimes we lose sight of The Future.

But Berens ran the ball in a way again not appreciated. I caught so much shit talking about the spiral, about the path, about the tree, about the cards and the doors, and that started shrill screeching of cult or whatever, or yelling just meta to downplay it, or spending 5K to be wrong and forget lmfao. And so on, again, down the rabbit hole.

Why am I in full-chested now? Because Berens stunted every motherfucker that wasn't paying attention and quite literally coded Destiel into the universe structure. I don't even mean mytharc. like the journey was the mytharc for cas and was pretty loud and its. Its just glued in there if we're ever touching shadows and heaven again, what being and emptiness is, what fears are and [gestures at that whole 'heaven meta but it's actually just all thought boxes' quarter of my blog]

why ship it, bc it's The Whole World, and we're about to find that when we revisit 15x18 as The Truth it was once named for, instead of Despair. The Rupture, The Trap, The Truth. Where are dean's darkest traumas hidden, what made it loud, why is he still liminally there in that trap, and with his final breath, then what, what do you think is happening, I'm going to let fandom rub its thinky cells together on this one.

[thistle-and-thorn]

Self rec time! Rec one of your fluff fics, one angst, one multichaptered, one AU and send this to your favourite writers 💟💟

okay okay hello hello i am here this was so hard. oh my god. i hate talking about myself (this is demonstrably not true XD but STILL self-recs are the hardest of the recs) okay okay:

Fluff: so, here's the thing. i don't really. like. do fluff. XD XD the closest I have is if our cascades ocean blue comes which i have been told by authorities in this matter is not, in fact, fluff. but it's the best i hAvE. basically, depressed sansa goes on vacation to casterly rock. :)

Angst: i have a real fondness for crows + locusts which is part of the wasteland, baby series. it has a vaguely southern gothic setting and is set during a famine and is all about...faith and hunger and sex and i love it very much

Multichaptered: omg omg okay...i think i have to rec for the lady is risen which is my first fic ever and is a mess but was written with the most amount of love and joy that a story could possibly hold.

AU: okay i'm going to rec the other two installments of wasteland, baby. The first is this is the serial number of orbital gun which is about Tyrion being a Cold War spy. the second is a gentle madness which is a dark academia beauty and the beast au set in the zombie apocalypse.

Anyway. Thank you for this. I'm going to go hide and blush behind my hands now. What about you? What are your favorite stories?

[tianshiisdead]

A little twisted.

// warnings for discussion about violence and hate crimes. It's very emotion-driven, primarily discussing hate crimes against asians and sinophobia from a western perspective and base. Basically, it's venting.

Jackson Wang is trending, but let's not talk about him.

Around the same time, a 56-year-old woman attacked an 18-year-old Indiana university student on a bus, stabbing her numerous times for looking Chinese. This is a direct result of propaganda - the woman said there would be 'one less person to blow up the country' as the reason for her attack. This isn't particularly surprising or special, the rate of sinophobic hate crimes has pretty consistently risen this past while.

Okay, next topic. So, one thing I've noticed is that liberals and conservatives in certain places both love invoking past wrongdoings of the communists when Chinese people say things they don't like. 'Tiananmen, great Chinese famine, great leap forward, cultural revolution' the list goes on. It's a little confusing to me, do they think Chinese people don't know what our parents and grandparents went through? It's just surprising to me that people who revile China so deeply that seeing a random Chinese diaspo posting about their own culture makes them flip with rage would even care about the people who died in these events. They were, after all, Chinese. The same Chinese some of you call locust, and commie spies, and yellow dogs, or bat eaters. Anyways, I don't like how often these things are invoked anyways, it's brought a normalization of suffering, this idea that China has always been a faraway authoritarian hellhole of mass death, that our death is only a statistic for you to win an internet battle with. It's not unique to China, the death and suffering of all the people of the global south are often normalized, but they're normalized in unique ways and this is one of the ways Chinese death is normalized.

Well, what did I expect from twitter, right? But twitter isn't isolated, it's filled with people from society. After all, some of these people are out there calling me ch/nk on the street, or tailing my parents (out on a walk) in their car, all while yelling for them to go back to China, or punching the head of some innocent easian international student in Ottawa, or, yk, stabbing people for looking Chinese. To be honest, if you're in the west, you need to understand the lives of Asians here aren't acceptable collateral damage in geopolitical struggles.

Lastly, in the replies to the tweet about the hate crime, someone said the following, disgusted by the racist white woman's violence: 'Someone should ship her to China or Russia'

:/