#so they've been preparing themselves to what comes after that

[reginrokkr]

𝐂𝐗𝐈𝐕. The second apocalypse, Fortuna and the Neohuman Project.

On the second Apocalypse.

It's important to describe what exactly makes an apocalypse be considered such and not described by other name (like cataclysm) if both are events harmful to Teyvat itself and the living beings that inhabit it. For this, I will make a comparison between Phanes' arrival to Teyvat and the Second Who Came + Nibelung descent with forbidden knowledge.

In the former, although it's unquestionable that the war waged between Phanes and whoever fought alongside him (if any), and the Dragon Sovereigns must've scarred Teyvat one way or another (we know from Sapientia Oramasdis II about the consequences it would take if Apep passed away by releasing all the Dendro energy within it as well as we know that some dragons perished in the combat be it during the first, the second fight when Nibelung brought forbidden knowledge and the Second Who Came arrived or in both, which must've led to consequences on a planetary level), it isn't stated to be in a relevant way worth mentioning. Here, the outcome was clear: the winner would inherit the right to reshape the world, whereas the loser would be subdued. Such was the dynamic between Phanes as the former and the Sovereign Dragons as the latter, and so Teyvat was recreated which caused it more hospitable for the soon-to-be created humans after that.

In the latter, however, it's different. Not only the fact that Nibelung, in all his wish to dethrone Phanes and the Saints, brought forbidden knowledge worsened matters both to himself, his fellow dragons and everything else— but the Second Who Came's presence as well made it so that the entirety of Teyvat as a planet was endangered and it ran the risk of being dying. Not the living beings that inhabit it alone, but the world in itself too. Among the consequences that have been stated, it's known that: forests turned into sand in Sumeru, there was an immense flood that drowned the unified civilization (Enkanomiya fell into an extraplanar conjunction point between the Human, Light and Void realms) and a breakthrough of the plague brought to this world (presumably Abyss energy-related). In order to mend this, Phanes dropped sapphire nails to prevent the world from crumbling so these would purify the land, thus destroying adjacent civilization as an undesired side-effect to his determination to protect Teyvat. Because of the importance of events that befell and what nearly caused to the world, this historical event would be more accurate to point as an apocalypse versus the former discord.

Given everything we've learned about the Cataclysm, even if one could argue that its relevance and what it caused to the world was negative and harmful (which it was), it wasn't on the same level as the apocalypse.

Although it has been teased before that in Snezhnaya it's known that the world will face a new Long Night (or at least among the Fatui, Harbingers and the Tsaritsa) and in René's notes that a catastrophe must be avoided at all costs, this patch of Fontaine shed more light onto what that means: the coming of a second apocalypse. An apocalypse described as a world where no more flowers will grow, a disaster defined for seeing a pool of blood past one's ankles, a world in which after a few hundred years, all birthing waters will dry up and after that, the world will be devoid of light with destroyed civilizations and a shattered sky that can be seen via two methods: through the Book of Revealing or the Looking Glass.

Whatever will lead Teyvat to this state remains unknown, but the Abyss Order's intentions are tellers of an outcome for the world far from desirable given their determination to plunge the whole world to darkness and overthrow Celestia with the power of the Abyss. In essence, the Abyss Order may not be any different than Celestia is due to their determination to potentially change the threads of fate in a similar fashion as there seems to be a divine control over fate that not all gods have access (the Archons) for their own purposes. Even if forbidden knowledge has been erased, there is still a latent star-devouring darkness that endangers Teyvat. Tsaritsa's involvement alongside her Fatui and Harbingers may also lead to undesirable consequences that could lead the world to its downfall, or Celestia's awakening and action may assist in that as well. Perhaps it's all three deeds at once.

This second apocalypse has been prophesied by René de Petrichor and Jakob Ingold, which is not an unlikely thing to happen. A relatively recent element, the Sign of Apaosha, is said to reflect the Abyss and corrupt the land around it (the sign), and it's believed to be a reflection of the "reality" beyond Teyvat's skies. Given that as per René's notes it's known that research on the Abyss [energy] was being conducted as well as other future research that I'll mention briefly, it's not impossible to have witnessed a catastrophe to come. Moreover, according to the Book of Revealing written by René, it's implied that other ancient civilizations might've been aware of this fact (at least the one of the Nameless City or underground palace in the depths of the Chasm, given that these ruins are displayed in the prophetic vision of the future).

On Fortuna.

Fortuna [that which happens without design, remarkable occurrence] (or world-formula, as termed by René) is described as the phenomenon that takes place when a civilization is destroyed and a new one is born from its ashes. Besides prophesying a second apocalypse to come in centuries (since 400 years ago), calculations made in regards of this subject reflect the outcome that no new civilizations will be born unless new variables are introduced "from outside the system". This would increase the magnitude of this catastrophe bound to come.

On the Neohuman Project.

This is the chosen variable by René de Petrichor in order to face the incoming crisis, or better said, ensure humanity's survival in the context that this apocalypse will take place no matter what, hence Teyvat will become an inhospitable world incompatible with life. Starting first with himself and then with Jakob Ingold, René's discoveries led him to learn that the composition of their bodies (changed as a result of these experiments) are closer to that of the Abyss and the Khvarena, paradoxical as it may be. Their bodies don't need nourishment like normal humans do and they possess terrifying self-recovery properties (fact-checked by extirpating ingrown organs close to vocal chords [albeit not for this purpose] and watching them regrow in a matter of few days) and in order to grow stronger, these bodies are nourished with the blood of fell beasts of the Abyss (Elynas in Jakob's case, albeit it was discovered that the Crimson Agate of Dragonspine and Elynas' blood share the same properties). In the present day, Jakob, in the body of an adult human, has been seen taking the form of an Iniquitous Baptist.

This project is seen as a manner of human transcendence in order to adapt to the hostile world that Teyvat will become if the prophecy becomes true. When the neohuman project proved to be difficult and a failure on a new experiment, a new variable has been introduced. Experiments were conducted in more humans and, albeit anti-intellectual and counter-intuitive, it's presumed that in order to transcend one's physical form and personality must be shed and lost and thus a gestalt where memories and other human souls are merged together similar to the principle of merging Oceanids into one by returning to the primordial waters. Ancients (presumably those of the Nameless City) have been already successful in this in the past. René, as the first subject in more modern times (400 years ago), was successful and he was able to see the memories of those human subjects that took part in this project.

[himexyandere]

Imagine a group of three mermen find you, a human, stranded near their waters. They've never seen a human before, let alone one so cute! You're dehydrated and starving, so they take it upon themselves to nurse you back to health. They get you everything you need even before you need it, making sure you're always comfortable and satisfied. Once you're able to start walking again, the mermen start bringing you presents ranging from pearls, pretty shells, and large fish. You accept gifts from all three of them, to which they respond with confused expressions and clicks that you can't understand. They don't speak your language, obviously, but you've always been able to communicate through hand signs and pointing. They all start acting a little odd and you can't keep up with their conversations.

"She accepted all of our gifts! Does that mean she wants to mate with us all?"

"That must be it, there's no other explanation."

"She seems happy with all three of us as mates, but... Can a human truly handle our offspring..?"

The following evening, the biggest out of the mermen approaches you, cooing softly and clicking as he caresses your legs and thighs. It doesn't take you long to understand what he wants, especially when he starts spreading your legs and prodding his nose at your pussy. He eats you out with his long tongue reaching deep, webbed hands keeping your thighs spread wide so he can enjoy your cute little cunt, gushing and leaking for him. After he's made you come twice, he retreats a little, causing you to sit up in confusion. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the thing emerging from a slit located below his stomach. Not only is it long; it's also thick, curved, and intimidating. It isn't until you see that the other two mermen have appeared behind him, cocks also exposed, that you finally understand what's about to happen...

"Did you prepare her?"

"Yes, I think she's ready."

"She's our pretty mate, I'm sure she can take all three of us!"

[manicpixiedckgirl]

one thing you have to get ready for as a trans woman who's about to come out is certain cis people are going want nothing to do with you afterwards. we all know this, we all talk about this. transphobes going transphobe

but what i dont think we talk about enough is you need to be prepared for a second wave of this. it will come later. it's not tied to anything body change or surgery or whatever.

trans women are treated so poorly by society that we inevitably shrink. we learn how to exist in the spaces that will have us, even if that means cramming ourselves into boxes that don't really fit, being treated in ways we often don't like, doing things we often don't like doing, often even fucking people we don't want to fuck.

at some point, you're going to learn to stand up for yourself. i don't say this to scare you into thinking you'll become a 'mean trans girl' or whatever. but just like transitioning in the first place, it's change or die. you found the first safe harbor and fashioned your anchor to it but you can't go on living with people who don't respect you, working a job you're too smart for, living a life you don't really love.

and when you do, there will be cis people in your life who only liked that meek, quiet girl who would do as she's told. some of these people were malicious, doing it on purpose because they've known enough trans women to know who's vulnerable. some are doing it unintentionally, believing themselves to be a good ally, you've just gotten angry and bitter (this one hurts the most). and some just plain won't like the person you really are, having only known the people pleaser they got to know.

but it's change or die. if you're not you, you're not living. there are so many better people just waiting to love you, but you won't find them chasing after cis approval. and girl, i promise you, you deserve so much more than what you're getting right now. be strong. you've been strong before. i love you.

[lushlovers]

arms, J. Burrow

summary; as joe's preparing for the upcoming season he just gets thicker and thicker in all the best ways

warnings; a little subby joe😋, smut, oral (m receiving), little slut-shaming, pet names, teasing gaaaassssppppp.

word count; 950

note; okay, he's been looking extra good and I just wanna eat him all the way up, I hate this, the abrupt ending yuck, nd also dunno how it went the way it did but it happened so...

"Can you put me in a headlock, baby?" Joe choked on the bite he had just taken, not only at what you'd just said but at the look of pure seriousness on your face. He's still in that tight in all the right places sleeveless shirt, shorts that made his ass look incredible, and the snap-back that had the perfect amount of his hair falling onto his forehead. It's taken you months to get him to grow his hair back out finally and now that you've succeeded you're begging to pull at it while your legs close around his head every chance you get.

After his miniature coughing fit comes to an end you're smiling at him ever so innocently from across the kitchen as he sips his water eyeing you curiously, "I'm sorry, but that's an interesting, request, sweet girl," you shrug, still keeping this faux naive demeanor, and the bedroom eyes you're throwing his way has jokingly him shaking his head and rolling his pretty eyes.

Kissing your teeth as you walk around the counter revealing the fact that your legs are bare in contrast to the sweatpants you were wearing when he had first got home is now an afterthought, he cocks his head slightly to the left, raising his eyes brow, "what brought this on?" However, he's not entirely shocked this is an everyday thing. Holding his welcoming hands out and spreading his legs for you to tuck yourself into him, which of course, you do. "just the slutty, compression shirt, tight shorts combo, also tiktok edits!" you state completely honest, leaning into him and when he doesn't reply with anything other than a snort, you find yourself kissing up his neck, to his jawline, and back down till you meet his shoulder searching for even the slightest reaction.

He sighs, soaking in the feeling of your lips and tongue moving sloppily over the delicate, sensitive spot on his neck that you locate out of sheer muscle memory, absolutely sucking a dark hickey into the skin running along his jugular, "It's not a no, mama. Whatever you want, wanna make you happy." Now, you're smiling against him at just how breathless he sounds over a few sloppy kisses, "No one makes me happy like you, Joey."

as your lips find themselves grazing his bare shoulder, you lace your fingers together, "We better head upstairs, 'fore my mom and dad get here for dinner," when your eyes meet his you find that they've glazed over and his tongue darts out to lick his lips. Suddenly it is so damn hot in here, feeling like you need to come in and get some air conditioning after hours in the Ohio sun.

Whatever you were making, now somehow you have completely forgotten what it was, is in the oven, you two have a bit of time and you will be using every millisecond of it to your advantage. Before you both know it, you're on your knees in front of him running your palms lightly over the tent in his shorts as he sits on the edge of the bed watching even your tiniest of movements. He takes the hat he has been wearing and gently places it atop your head, smiling down at you and your teasing fingers, lifting his hips into your touch.

He catches on to the slight tug at his shorts and lifts his lower half for you to remove both items of clothing separating you from his dick, you watch intently as his face contorts and his abdominals flex when your hand wraps around him. He groans from deep in his chest and you absentmindedly press your thighs together, "More, please."

His tone and actions completely radiate submission, and it's rare to see this side of him, and you sure as hell relish in that as you spit in your palm, focusing your attention on the tip alone as he ruts against your hand searching for just a bit more. Using both hands now, one on his cock and the other raking your nails down his thighs leaving goosebumps in your wake. You keep up your teasing and Joe's lost all control, completely unable to sit still and the only thing leaving his mouth is stuttery, 'so good's, moans, and grunts.

The sound of the oven beeping downstairs falls on deaf ears but the obnoxious timer that sounds from your phone does not, completely breaking you from the trance you had seemed to be in, "Oh, there's dinner, maybe you should freshen up, sweetheart," You stand above him momentarily awaiting his reaction, as his jaw goes slack, "baby, two minutes, please? Was so close." Shaking your head, you slip into the walk-in closet finding one of his college football tees and some sweatpants.

"Mom and Dad, remember, Joey?" Upon your exit you find him tugging up his briefs as he heads in the direction of the shower going out of his way to avoid even your hands brushing his, you catch him by his shirt pulling him back toward you, "Tonight, I'll make it all up to you, I pinky promise," poking out your smallest finger, waiting for him to loops his with yours and he does. You step up on your toes to kiss him on his lips, then his cheek, his chin, his jaw, and just before you make it to his collarbone, he grabs your waist pulling you back to prevent any further torture, "'Kay tonight, you fuckin' tease."

As you descend the stairs and head into the spacious kitchen, you hear the shower turn on and exhale a breath you didn't know you had been holding in. Coming to the realization that you both managed to receive the short end of the stick this time, you've gotta finish cooking something nice enough for his mother and he needs a cold, cold shower.

[radiance1]

Bruce has been chasing after Damian for years now, the once child now a young adult. He's missed 5 years of his son's life, due to a conversation where they both said the wrong words which resulted in Damian running away and somehow managing to evade all of them for so long.

He has to get to his son, before Talia sucks him right back up into the league.

They managed to track his location down to a nightclub, apparently, he was participating in a regularly held event that's been going on ever since 6 years ago.

So they went to the city the nightclub was in, disguised themselves in the crowd and was told to let each other know if they've found Damian.

He didn't expect to meet Talia and the same nightclub, but it made sense. If he was able to find Damian, then it makes sense for Talia to be able to do so as well, even after years hiding from the both of them.

He was keeping an eye on Talia, and she was keeping an eye on him as well, when the event started. The most popular-and only- DJ appeared and played music that had the civilians going wild, and then an entire stage sprang from the ground, multicolored lights coming to life.

This was an event in which multiple dancers had to compete against each other, for what was previously the chance to battle Wraith, the champion who also acted as the DJ, but that changed when Demon came around, overthrowing Wraith and yet, the two seemed to be evenly matched, taking the champion title from each other over the period of 5 years.

Now, who ever got far enough had the option to pick between the two, the Wraith or the Demon.

===

Danny, or otherwise known as Wraith, managed to find a place for himself after losing everything to the Nasty Burger explosion, with the help of Vlad to get him back on his feet, he managed to find a place for himself in a nightclub in another city.

It was in that same city, that he didn't expect to see his twin, Damian Al Ghul, by himself. He explained that he left his father, and was on the run from their mother, Damian didn't know what to do with himself anymore.

Which-as much as he wasn't on a cordial relationship with Damian- reminded him of himself after the explosion of Nasty Burger. So, he took him in at his pretty decent size apartment, fully prepared to do what was needed for his older brother until he got back on his feet.

Then Damian followed him to the nightclub one day, and then the next demanded that Danny teach him so that he could earn his keep.

And Danny did.

He didn't expect for Damian to progress so fast that he was able to dethrone him, though. But he gave credit where credit was due, and if Damian was hellbent on doing this for a living, then he had to wear a mask to hide his identity, from you know, some types of fans and the League as well.

He asked Vlad for another neon mask- he had one himself- and Vlad gave him one surprisingly easy, and then he gave that mask to Damian.

And that, was how Wraith and Demon became regular champions that dethroned each other, until the manager told them to stop because no one else would be able to display their skills and instead made them both champions.

Either pick one or get two.

Their lives fell into an endless motion of DJing, dancing to earn money, and then going back home to a messy apartment, eating and then passing out.

It was a perfect routine that neither of them whished to disturb.

Then Danny saw Talia, and Damian saw Bruce, and suddenly that peace was threatened. Neither of them wanted to go back now, not after establishing this little thing for themselves that they carved out with their own two hands.

But it would be okay, as long as their masks stay on they would go unnoticed, after all.

They wouldn't even think that their children were dancers, would they?

[essektheylyss]

@widogast-ta I hope you don't mind but these tags just hit me like a train because you are so right:

#also for me all this debate is ignoring the weave mind ready to invade as we speak #the debate of how to handle the gods should probably wait until after we sort that out ya know

Ludinus claims he doesn't want to rule, and I even believe him! He's been content to get what he wants from the shadows for a long time, even when he was in a position of considerable power. He's incredibly single-minded in his goals, and I don't think that's a front that he's putting up.

But there are people who do want to rule once the gods are gone. We know who they are and what they're capable of. We've seen the fear of those who they've already subjugated—and they have subjugated the entirety of the realm that they have access to. We know that they intend to do the same to Exandria, once they get there.

This is why Ludinus's arguments, even those that are logical or technically factual, can be dismissed. Currently, the gods are not a threat to Exandria. Predathos, while it is still caged, is also not truly a threat to Exandria. Perhaps it is possible to allow them all to fight amongst themselves without harm coming to Exandria (though even in that best case scenario, the side effects would likely cause sweeping chaos).

The Weave Mind is currently in the process of preparing to invade and subjugate Exandria, aided and abetted by all of the work Ludinus has done since at least Molaesmyr, and he says nothing about it, because doing so furthers his singular aims while obfuscating the primary, tangible threat to the mortals of Exandria right now.

[eriexplosion]

Tech Lives: An Ungodly Long Essay

(AKA: Turns out that my Tech Lives compilation post comment was actually a threat.)

There have been hundreds if not thousands of posts since Plan 99 aired wondering if Tech might have made it after his fall - it's probably been brought up more than any other hanging plot point, even after season 2 scooped up Omega and left us on a massive cliffhanger. Now that season 3 has started, though, Omega and Crosshair are home (for now) but we have received an almost aggressive lack of Tech info. So, I've gathered up some of the stronger Evidence for why Tech might be fashionably late but still on his way back from The Void!

THE LEAD UP

So to start, let's go back to what came before the whole Incident. This will focus mostly on season 2, seeing as that was definitely Tech's season to shine, but with bits about plotlines in season 1. Which brings us to our first bit, that's not really evidence so much as some gentle push-back on a common argument.

Doomed By Character Development?

We've all seen this particular situation before - a character is slated for a tragic death, so just before it happens the writers gives them a little extra relevance to the plot to make sure the audience really feels it when the time comes. The Clone Wars was especially good at this, giving characters like Fives an arc of his own that ended in his tragic death. Season 7 gave us a better look at Jesse, first in the Bad Batch's intro arc and then again through the Siege of Mandalore, all to bring us to the chip activation that led to his ultimate death.

When season 2 started off with one of the two intro episodes spotlighting Tech and our first breather episode of the season also spotlighting him, people started to get worried. So is it fair to say that his spotlight in season 2 was setting him up for a permadeath?

Looking at it, I don't think so, for multiple reasons. For one, Tech didn't just get a spotlight episode, his development dominated a good chunk of the whole damned season, often taking priority over the other characters that wouldn't be dropped into the mists. While giving a little bit of character development to a doomed character can be a good move, giving ALL your development to a doomed character ends up feeling like a good portion of your season was actively pointless.

The Bad Batch is not an open ended show. It seems to have been planned for the three seasons it got, and they would have gone into it knowing they had a set amount of time to work with. Dedicating so much time to developing Tech in preparation for a character death takes away all of their opportunity to develop, well, anything else.

But, along with the amount of time that was dedicated to Tech as a character through season 2, they also didn't develop him in the ways that most often get used for a doomed character. Namely...

That Sure Is A Lot Of Open Plot Lines

And not one of them got tied up. Currently, Tech has two open plot lines to himself, both started in season 2, as well as a key place in the overall show narrative arc. As the overall show narrative arc takes precedence, we'll start with that.

The Bad Batch sets up a few different narrative arcs very early. One is if clones can be more than soldiers - this is the central thing that we see them struggling against from the start, they've been created to be soldiers and don't know much else about how to function in the world. Theoretically this arc can be fulfilled with one or two of them still dying as soldiers, as long as a few of them make it to find a new life for themselves.

The arc that can't be fulfilled without everyone though is the ongoing thread of reuniting the batch. Much of the show is geared towards making the viewer want this specific end result, as soon as they talk about Crosshair, Omega says they'll just have to get him back and complete their family. The end of season 1 teases us with this only to pull it away at the last moment, then season 2 teases us with it again only to yet again pull it away, this time seemingly permanently.

Ending one of your key narrative threads you've been using to draw audiences in only 2/3rds of the way into the show and without ever resolving it... well it would be a choice. If Tech is gone for good then the last time we saw everyone together would be the end of season 1. Rewatches would lack impact because something that was made to seem so vital ended up going nowhere, and the series finale would never quite reach the height that hearing the full batch theme kick in over the team fighting droids together did. It absolutely destroys the central narrative to leave him gone without ever having reunited the family.

And then there's his personal plots.

Let's start with the obvious one. Tech got a whole potential love interest this season and they absolutely did not resolve a damn thing about it.

Again, this takes a trope that we all know - the young army man that's going to go home and finally marry his girl, who has his whole life ahead of him, but dies tragically in his final mission - and seemingly intentionally subverts the beats. Because what makes the trope work is that the plot line is resolved as soon as that young man decides how he's going to move forward. He can't die uncertain of if he's going to marry his girl, he has to make a decision, and the longer we spend on the relationship to his girl the stronger the decision has to be to consider the narrative line resolved and free him up for some tragedy.

Tech/Phee is a tentative little 'will they or won't they' romance. They're flirting, they're feeling each other out, they're seeing if they're compatible. To tie up this narrative line we would have to find out if they are or not, get a yes or a no on the question. Will they or won't they? We simply don't know because the writers didn't put a resolution in.

We do get the traditional pre-mission scene with them, which would normally be when we get the first kiss or perhaps the promise of a date, either of which would have had me digging Tech's grave for him to fall into from the second it happened. Or even a 'we can't do this right now, but maybe some day it will be the right time' which would have been a kind of lukewarm resolution but would have at least represented a decision.

Instead we get a scene that almost aggressively refuses to resolve anything. They have an awkward interaction, but not one that says they won't get together, no promises are made for the future, no decision point is reached, and the plot line is still dangling wide open when Tech falls to his supposed death. If we truly leave it off here, well, what was the Tech/Phee subplot for? Why did we spend precious time on it when it could have been spent on something else, if it was meant to make Tech's death hit harder why did it not go further?

A second subplot with Tech is that he certainly made the most progress on seeing options outside of the Empire - it starts early on in Ruins of War when he meets Romar and gets his eyes opened to the idea of cultures that existed unconnected to the war. Serenno existed before the war and before the separatists, and Romar introduces Tech to that idea of an ongoing culture. He gets a taste of racing in front of a cheering crowd, leans further into his teaching of Omega and gets new insights from her regarding their lives as soldiers, his relationship with Phee picks up right when he finds out that she is interested in the preservation of cultures. It's a quiet little subplot, but Tech was seeing the full scope of what the galaxy contained beyond being a soldier in a war.

But, like the Tech/Phee, it never resolves. He never decides to settle down, he never chooses to stop being a soldier or even openly discusses the idea of what life will look like after. Rescuing Crosshair isn't positioned as a final mission that they have to complete in order to give up their lives as soldiers. Without that decision point being reached, the plot stays open, we never find out what he Would Have Done so we don't get a sense of the future that he would lose by dying, which is what the purpose of these types of plots is for a planned permadeath.

The Kaminoans don't create without purpose and writers working on a three season timeline don't typically write without it either. So if we spent the time on Tech/Phee but Tech is dead before it ever went anywhere, if we spent time on Tech's relationship with being something other than a soldier but he never really pursues it, what is the payoff?

Too Much of a Survivor To Die?

There's also the matter of how they chose to build Tech's character this season. Namely they beefed that man's skills up incredibly high making it intensely unbelievable that he's dead without seeing some sort of concrete proof. Things we know about Tech as of the end of season 2 include:

Incredible pain tolerance - Tech fractures his femur in Ruins of War and seems shockingly unbothered by it. The femur is frequently listed as one of the most painful bones to break. This is not a broken toe the man is hobbling around on, he fractured the strongest bone in the body and kept going through the woods. He physically fought and killed a man with that busted femur.

Lightning fast mental processing - this is of course on display nowhere so much as Faster where he's put up against droids and wins by taking calculated risks that no one else is willing to try.

A cool head in stressful circumstances - this one is hilarious because he outright says it, but Tech does demonstrate time and time again that when it comes down to it, he's able to keep calm no matter the circumstances.

Essentially, we spend the entirety of season 2 setting up why Tech is the perfect person to drop out of the sky and have him survive. He has the ability to keep calm and come up with a plan in seconds and he has the grit to keep moving even if he's grievously injured once he hits the ground. When you set a character up like this, you can still kill them, but you have to work harder to do it convincingly. Leaving Tech not at the moment of death but with probably at least a minute to act in and then not showing us the body is the exact opposite.

We have a moment in The Crossing showing us Tech's precise aim, and it comes up again to brutal effect when he shoots out the connection on the rail car. If moments through the season were used to set up that particular instant of the finale, then we can't discount the numerous scenes demonstrating his survival skills as being irrelevant to his chances.

Plus, looking back at Ruins of War - one of the big moments in the episode is towards the end, where Romar tells Tech, "I'm a survivor. Remember?" The camera then lingers on Tech for a long moment. It's not the kind of action that demonstrates his capabilities as above, but it works to associate the words with Tech in the viewers mind. Romar is a survivor, and Tech is a survivor too. And when you intend to kill someone off, it's kind of an odd choice to spend that whole season setting them up as a survivor.

THE FALL

Which brings us to the scene itself. Plan 99, implied to be one of the last ditch plans that they have. It's absolutely a heartbreaking scene, and one that can be tough to analyze when it's so well done, because it's rough to watch repeatedly. But, it's worth doing, because the scene itself is FULL of questions, some structural others more based in the visual presentation.

What is Plan 99?

Well, that's just it, we don't actually know.

We know what it's implied to be, a self sacrifice plan where one of the batch gives their life for the others to get away. But in show it's never actually defined, leaving the full meaning of Plan 99 up to interpretation. It could be as simple as what it's implied to be, but that brings up questions like 'why not provide any lead up or foreshadowing for it?' and 'does killing yourself actually count as a plan?'

Removing the assumptions from it gives us room to speculate. Is the plan actually that they leave him behind, dead or alive? Hunter ordered them to do so without a plan number in season 1, but he is the sergeant, so plan 99 could easily be something that bypasses his authority - if a batcher calls a plan 99, you go and you don't question his decision. It's certainly closer to a plan if there's something they are supposed to be doing from their end rather than just an announcement of intent.

It's not strictly evidence one way or another, but it is something of note when Tech's entire sacrifice is based around a plan that we're not privy to the details of. TBB has hidden its twists in ambiguity before, so it would not be the first time that it let us assume something only to pull the rug out later. But ambiguity is not the only thing that makes this scene stand out in the raising questions department.

Pacing Goes Out The Window

Generally speaking, a self sacrifice is the climax of an episode. Think Kanan, Hardcase, Gregor, Hevy, etc - Even a minor character sacrificing their life tends to make up the most climactic portion of any given episode, let alone one of the characters from the title squad. It gets to be the big central moment, the big rush of music and feeling, the pinnacle of the viewers attention.

Tech's sacrifice is not. It happens around 5 minutes into the episode, is rapidly moved past with barely a moment to think, and then the actual climax is Omega's capture on Ord Mantell. They even repeat the music when Omega is captured, except much stronger this time, making it clear that this is the emotional crux of the episode, this is the scene that is supposed to stick with you.

The opportunity to make it the climax of an episode was certainly there. The storyline could have been adjusted to put Tech's fall at the end of The Summit, allowing more time in Plan 99 for processing his loss and making it feel final. The pacing choice is one that doesn't allow the viewer to process the loss, only giving us maybe a couple minutes of time with actual emotional reactions before we're barreling off to the next plot point. Why was Tech's death de-emphasized within the episode if it is indeed our last moment with this central character?

Tarkin, Eriadu, & Saw Gerrera

A lot goes into the set-up for Plan 99. We have Tarkin's base on Eriadu as the setting they're working within, going up against Tarkin for the first time since early season 1. This is the big leagues, and something that's come up in multiple interviews is that when going into the den of one of the franchise's big bads we have to have consequences, something to demonstrate that Tarkin is not to be trifled with.

Sounds reasonable enough. Except Tarkin doesn't actually do anything in either of these episodes. The thing that actually threw them off was Saw's planning mixing in with their own.

All Tarkin does upon finding out that the batch is stuck on the rail is order an air strike and ignore that this would kill many of his own men. This is certainly evil, but it's standard Imperial evil. Rampart would have given that order. Hemlock would have given that order. The guy in Tipping Point that we know for 5 minutes before he fried himself would have given that order.

So if the point of this finale was to demonstrate Tarkin's power, then bringing Saw in both complicates the plot and devalues what they're claiming they are trying to show. So is the point to get them to Tantiss? No, because they fail in that. They don't plant the tracker, they're no closer to finding Crosshair than they were before.

By all accounts the point of the whole endeavor is in fact just to drop Tech off a sky rail for reasons unknown and injure Omega to force them to go back to Ord Mantell. These two things could have happened anywhere in any way of course, so why choose Eriadu and why choose to complicate the plot by introducing Saw rather than letting Tarkin handle the job?

They're questions we don't have answers to yet, but they're very hard to get answers to if Tech is dead and completely out of the picture. Having a dead body on Eriadu is fairly useless to the plot, having a living Tech on Eriadu though? That has potential to move them huge leaps forward in a very short amount of time once we bring him back in. Especially given his conversation with Saw prior to everything going downhill - Tech was in favor of gathering intel from the facility rather than destroying it.

And what about Saw, anyway? If he was genuinely there to cause problems and fly away, again, that's a plot wrinkle that isn't needed and took time away from everything else. If he's there because they needed someone to pick Tech up though? There's potential there.

Did Tech's Sacrifice Mean Anything?

In universe, Tech's sacrifice means everything, of course. It's a decision made in the moment to risk everything to save his family. It's a noble deed and one he does without hesitation. But pulling away from that narrow scope of an in universe perspective, what did we accomplish narratively with his fall?

Well... not much actually! They got over the bump in the road that they encountered all of five seconds ago and promptly crashed headfirst into another, different bump in the road. Tech's dramatic sacrifice didn't allow them to escape unharmed, it didn't allow them to find Crosshair, it just allowed them to move a few steps forward, after which Omega is almost killed and then captured, which is a fairly weak reason to sacrifice a whole major character.

But not every character death is exclusively about narrative, sometimes it's about the character arc itself. So does this close out anything for Tech's character development? Again, not really. Tech has always been completely loyal to the squad and would have risked anything for his family. He never had a choice not to fall, it was either just him or the whole team, and he is an endlessly logical actor. The action would have played out the same had it happened in the series premier or the season 1 finale, or any other time in the show. If anything it's a backtrack on his character by putting him solidly back into the soldier box that the show is trying to let the clones grow out of.

Maybe it's not about Tech's character though, maybe it's about everyone else's! Does his death change anyone's trajectory? Again... no, not really. We'll get into season 3's lack of mentioning Tech later, but in the immediate aftermath of his fall, no one's course or actions is majorly changed because of his loss. Hunter wants to go back to Pabu where it's safe, the same thing he wanted to do before they ever left for this mission. Omega puts herself in danger to save her brothers, which has been one of her defining traits since season one. Wrecker is following Hunter's lead, same as he always did. (We get very little of what Echo hopes to do, but the opening of season 3 reveals that they went back to work with Rex, exactly like they were doing before.)

So narratively nothing required him to die, the character's arc isn't completed, and the other characters aren't motivated to change. If Tech dies here, it's the picture of a shock value death. It doesn't complete or inform his character, it doesn't need to narratively happen in order to put Omega on the path to being captured, and thematically it exists just to give the viewer an unnecessary gut-punch when just the failure to rescue Crosshair and the loss of Omega would have been enough.

Framing is Everything

In a death scene there's nothing more powerful than our final shot of a character. The very last we'll ever see of them, the image that will linger in our minds when we think of that character from then on. This is especially important in animation where everything has to go through several iterations before deciding on what that final look will be. You want it to be impactful, you want the audience to have one final connection to the character before they're gone for good.

So why does Tech die with his helmet on?

If there's one thing TBB is good at, it's their expression work, and a death scene is a perfect place to show off their full range, which is why most deaths meant to have a heavy impact occur with faces unobscured. Crosshair loses his helmet and takes Mayday's off so we can see both of their faces as Mayday dies, Slip, Cade, even Clone X and Wilco, all die helmetless. Looking into older series you have Kanan dying without his mask, Fives, Hardcase, Waxer all dying helmetless with one last good look at their faces and expressions.

And while Tech's helmet gives us a good look at his eyes, the rest of his face goes unseen, and Wrecker's face as he watches this happen is completely obscured. We're denied a look at a lot of their expressions as the decision is made and Plan 99 is executed, rendering it less personal than it otherwise could have been. Tech could have lost his helmet in the blast that knocked him from the rail, Wrecker could have had his helmet knocked off at some point to give us a good look at his expression. TBB isn't known for pulling its punches, so why leave our final look at Tech's face back in The Summit and not here?

Then there's the framing choices. We get some absolutely amazing shots of Tech during the fall, from taking the shot to falling backwards towards the cloudy cover - but here's where some interesting choices are made. Rather than letting our last shot of him be a face up shot that keeps eye contact with the camera as he falls, they make the choice to have him flip over, and we hold the shot as the rail car goes down after him, partially obscuring him.

Which means instead of our last glimpse of Tech being something like this.

We end up with something closer to this.

Which, while we all love those Tech crotch shots is somewhat less impactful emotionally. These frames go through multiple departments and get multiple eyes on them before going through final animation, and no one thought that leaving him face up and unobscured until he disappears into the fog would stick more firmly in the viewer's memory?

The Flip Might be Intentional

And I don't just mean out of universe, as every detail of animation is often intentional, but in universe as well. If you look closely at Tech as he falls, he seems to roll his shoulders back in order to begin flipping over. It was a specific enough detail to send me searching for a reason and I found it in instructions on how to survive a long fall - the first thing that you're supposed to do? Get into the arch position like a skydiver to slow and control your fall.

The flip was important enough to not only include but to include the small detail of Tech intentionally flipping himself over into said position. It's not a confirmation but it's an interesting detail, and one that has very few other reasons to exist.

THE AFTERMATH

Image chosen because even thinking he's alive I didn't want to pull from Omega reacting to the fall on Ord Mantell. Looking at her makes me Sad. So the fall has happened, the rail car has rushed forward and crashed, and Omega fades in and out of consciousness until finally waking up on Ord Mantell to the bad news.

"What if he's hurt?"

Omega is our POV character for the show. We may sometimes see things she doesn't, but emotionally she remains the center of the narrative, the character that the target audience will see themselves in. Her ultimate thoughts on a situation are the closest we have to a clear indicator of our intended takeaway.

So it's interesting that the first thing we hear out of her, having heard that Tech 'didn't make it,' is a firm denial. He can't be gone, he might be hurt, he needs them and they need to go back for him. And, despite Hunter continuing to talk with her about it for a bit, we never actually hear Omega explicitly take it back or verbally acknowledge Tech as dead. The closest we get is 'lost' which she also uses for Echo in The Crossing.

Now, here's where the interpretation between the adult and child audience will likely differ. From an adult perspective, this is a reasonable reaction for a child her age. It comes off as very natural that she doesn't want to accept it and that she doesn't have time to really process that it's true before the scene moves on. It makes sense from an in universe perspective.

However, the main audience is still children who actually are Omega's age and who are being presented with her as their window into this world. And their takeaway, seeing that same scene, is likely to be that Omega is correct. They don't know that Tech's dead, just because an adult says it doesn't make it true and just because Hemlock says it DEFINITELY doesn't mean it's true, they have to go back and check.

If they wanted the main audience to think that Tech is dead for sure, they could have had Omega be the one to say that he's gone, with Hunter simply confirming it for her. Alternatively, Omega accepting it when Hunter tells her would also function in the same way - ultimately, as the POV character, if Omega doesn't accept it there's a strong possibility much of the audience won't accept it either, especially without other evidence.

No Body?

And, as we all know, we simply don't have other concrete evidence. Not only are the batch given no time to look for Tech's body or any confirmation that he died, but we get a whole scene with Hemlock and the goggles where he also confirms verbally that he doesn't have a body either. There's very little reason to have him say this outside of putting a bug in the viewer's ear that he might not be gone for good.

Not only do we have that verbal confirmation, but we have multiple places where a body could have been included or implied without adding much to the runtime.

Easiest place would probably be when Omega passes out - there's a trooper's corpse right there in front of her, and it would have been very easy to make that identifiable as Tech. Have one of the boys check his pulse like Crosshair did with Mayday and then be forced to leave after confirming he's dead. Would it require a little bit of fudging the details of how he landed so close to them, sure, but it would have been narratively streamlined and easy.

Have Hemlock bring his helmet rather than his goggles (and damage it in a way clearly incompatible with survival) or confirm that he did find a body but has no use for the goggles.

Put the body in Hemlock's lab when Omega is brought there at the end of the episode. Have a sheet covering him even if you want and just one of his hands hanging out, especially the one with the distinctive light on the back of it. Give us her reaction to that.

These are just the ones that don't involve adding scenes or making major changes - instead, in a franchise known for bringing back everyone and their grandmother especially if there's no body, they chose to leave it extremely vague.

Reused Score

The soundtrack for Tech's sacrifice is fantastic, I don't think anyone can argue that. In fact it's so good that it's used occasionally used as a reason for why he's dead for real. If it's a fakeout, why go so hard on the music?

It almost sounds like a reasonable argument, except that the music isn't even unique to Tech's fall. We get the same motif later in the episode with Omega's capture, and it actually comes in even harder and more impactful there than it did with Tech falling.

Reusing bits of the music has two results. It lessens the impact of hearing it with Tech if it is in fact his Death music, because it makes it clear that he is not the central feeling of the episode but rather, Omega's capture is. As mentioned before, deaths are usually the climax of their own episodes partially to avoid them being upstaged by any other plot points, but here Omega's capture is fully prioritized over the loss of one of our central characters.

The second result is that it changes the meaning of the music. It's no longer meant specifically to underscore a tragic death, but rather a more general one of loss and separation. And if it's simply about that separation, then it no longer requires Tech to be dead to have that same impact. They're apart from each other, and that's painful enough.

SEASON 3 SO FAR

Which of course finally brings us to season 3! We're five episodes in as of the posting of this, so a full 1/3rd of the season down, which gives us a good idea of how they're handling the whole grief aspect of this scenario.

They Aren't!

That's right, we simply have not directly acknowledged or dealt with the whole 'watching your squadmate fall to a presumed horrible death' thing even once in five episodes. Tech has been mentioned by name twice, we've seen his goggles once, and Wrecker makes one sideways reference to him having not made it back.

In universe, there is a several month timeskip and it seems to be implied that the majority of the grief milestones happened in that gap. For example, we don't see Crosshair finding out from Omega, we don't see Omega grieving her brother, we don't see Phee finding out (more on her in a bit) despite her fledgling romance. Months of grieving and processing skipped over and what comes out the other side is single line mentions that go by in seconds.

This is especially apparent after episode 5, where we got something to compare it to. Crosshair has a long, painful moment of grieving with Mayday's helmet when they return to Barton IV. It's deep, personal, and intimate and we take a minute with him gathering up the helmets of Mayday and his men to set them up on the crates the same way that Mayday had honored them.

Mayday is a one episode character that was important to only a single character, Crosshair - Tech is a core member of the team present through two full seasons and shown as close to every member of the squad. Yet the single scene grieving Mayday is longer and more emotionally gripping than every short mention of Tech so far in season 3.

Narrative Grief

Seeing characters grieve their loved ones onscreen is about more than just the characters themselves. It's also part of the viewer experience - through the characters' grief, we're able to process our own grief at the loss. It makes it feel real, it makes it feel personal, and the amount of grieving needs to be proportionate to the character's importance in the story.

This is especially true in a show written for children like The Bad Batch. Kids don't typically have the same experience with death as adults, and a well written main character death within a children's show will need more time and energy spent towards making the loss feel real. We see this with deaths like Kanan's; it wasn't Jedi Night that told the viewer that Kanan was really, truly dead, it was Dume, where the characters mourned him and dealt with the aftermath.

Currently, with Tech, we do see holes in the team that make us miss Tech but they remain completely unaddressed by the characters. We see Tech's goggles, but Hunter isn't looking at them, he's looking at Lula. Omega mentions Tech having taught her all the plans, but without any real sadness on her or Crosshair's part. The closest we get to actually bringing it up are Wrecker saying 'not everyone came back' and Echo mentioning the datapad would be difficult without Tech, and both of those are only seconds long before moving on. They don't serve as any kind of catharsis for the viewer, relying more on gut punch impact and keeping the wound open rather than allowing it to heal. The difference between the treatment of Tech's death and Mayday's just makes it more stark.

How Do You Like Yearning?

Interestingly, though, it strongly resembles the writing team's handling of another situation: Crosshair's departure from the team in season 1 vs Echo's in season 2. The show even drew a lot of flack for the lack of discussion on Crosshair's betrayal, as outside of a couple conversations the matter often went unremarked on. Echo leaving, on the other hand, got a whole episode dedicated to processing the loss immediately after it happened.

So what was the difference? Crosshair's departure is part of a long term plot point. We're supposed to want him back, we're supposed to want the team to talk about him, anything that would ease the tension. The writers on the other hand want that tension to remain until it's time to actually resolve the plot. So we get those slow drips in between bigger encounters, we get opportunities for Crosshair to come home that he doesn't take, and we don't get the catharsis of the team actually talking about any of it. We're left to want and imagine it, using the yearning to keep it on people's minds more than anything.

If Crosshair had been discussed on screen long enough for the characters to actually come to terms with his absence, though, that would have made the plot feel more settled and resolved early on. It might be conversations we want to see, but it doesn't keep the viewer on edge and craving a resolution. Best case scenario we're just not as desperate for Crosshair to come home - worst case scenario we accept that he won't be returning and find the fact that he eventually does to be unrealistic.

Echo on the other hand gets their absence processed immediately, because their absence from the team is not meant to be a huge plot point. It's something the team has to deal with, yes, and the viewer wants to see them again just like Omega does, but Echo returning isn't meant to be a maybe, and it's not supposed to keep the viewer wondering and worrying. It's a when, not an if.

Similarly to Crosshair, Tech has never felt like a resolved plot point. We don't get confirmation on his death, we don't get any long term grieving, and we get drip fed acknowledgements that pry the wound back open. If we actually see the team discuss and come to terms with their grief and loss, the plot point closes, the wound closes and we begin to fully accept a team without Tech in it, which makes it harder to reinsert him into the storyline if he is in fact alive.

If he's truly gone for good, what is the point of denying closure to the audience? We know that they are capable of writing an intense mourning moment that feels completely in character for otherwise emotionally repressed men such as Crosshair, so why not give us that with the team mourning for Tech? A memorial, an intimate moment with the goggles, a short scene of Crosshair finding out about the loss, or anything at all really? Once again it's something that makes sense if he's alive and we're simply not being shown yet, but makes very little sense to not capitalize on if he's dead.

What's to Come

We have ten episodes of season 3 to go, and a lot to cover. Reviews have indicated that Tech is not explicitly brought up in the first eight, so the earliest we could possibly have a survival reveal is in episode 9. Will it actually happen? Maybe, maybe not. Though interestingly episode 9, The Harbinger, is almost exactly one year after Plan 99, just like The Return aired almost one year after The Outpost. Could mean nothing, but they do enjoy their anniversary dates.

One thing we do know for sure is coming up is Phee's inclusion - she's seen in the official trailer, as well as briefly in a recent twitter spot. This is interesting as Phee is, of course, Tech's teased love interest, and her connection to Tech has been emphasized multiple times, including on her Databank entry and the official 'what you need to know about season 3' guide. When she comes onto the scene, it's very likely that more information about Tech will too.

MARKETING, INTERVIEWS, & SOCIAL MEDIA

I wanted to keep this mostly focused on what can be seen within the show itself, but it's impossible to talk about whether or not Tech is alive without pointing to the absolutely bizarre messaging from the cast and crew, as well as the marketing choices surrounding his sacrifice. (Example: the Instagram Mourning Filter they layered over him in the official trailer, as seen above) I won't get quite as detailed here as in the above, but it does have to be mentioned.

Constant Focus

In between the end of season 2 and the posting of the season 3 trailer in late January, there were several posts on various official Star Wars media. The majority of them were about Tech and Plan 99. In fact, I don't think I ever saw anything mentioning the giant 'Omega's been captured' cliffhanger, just Tech. Over and over again.

Once a character is dead, marketing generally stops caring about them. They're forward focused after all, they want you coming back for what's to come not lingering on what won't be relevant again. So why the constant focus on Tech?

And it wasn't just the social media either - a huge portion of the trailers and reels included old footage of him too. For the most part this was from Plan 99 and bringing up his fall again to rip open those old wounds, but in one case they included action footage from The Summit. This was an interesting case, because the majority of people watching wouldn't have recognized it immediately. Fittingly, the entire comment section was full of nothing but 'Was that Tech?' style comments, which they would have known was going to be the case to start with.

So why are we so focused on a man that's supposedly dead? If he's genuinely never going to show up again why keep putting him in? Everything? While not even bringing him up all that often in the show? If he's dead, this is a truly bizarre marketing decision.

Never Say Die

In interviews or in official material. For several months the word 'dead' was never used for Tech anywhere, not in interviews, not in official material, nowhere. It took until January 23rd for all of the databank entries to be updated, and among all of the main cast he's only referred to as 'killed' once, and it's on Hunter's page not even his own. Then, the Friday before the premier, an interview came out referring to him as dead - on the part of the interviewer, not the creators themselves.

Everything else seems to use a variety of euphemisms. His sacrifice, his absence, his loss, he 'plummeted out of sight', he 'fell from a tram car', he did absolutely anything it's possible to do except outright die apparently.

It's an odd choice when there's known controversy over if he's dead or not. The standard operating protocol of course, in a planned comeback, is to refer to them as dead anyway and allow fandom to fuel its own speculation, but with a fandom as devastated as TBB's was, it's quite possible that the odd behavior had to be introduced just to keep speculation going. The only interviews that sound remotely final came out right before the episodes started coming out - if they had done that from the beginning, the chances of people outright refusing to come back to the show likely would have been higher.

Much like the marketing, this is not necessarily proof of anything - but in combination with the multiple odd things in the show itself, it's certainly suspicious. Speaking of suspicious...

What an Odd Thing to Say

The cast and crew themselves have not been skimping on making strange comments when it comes to the Tech situation.

There is of course the well known Joel Aron (lighting director for the series) tweet that came out the day of the Celebrations panel (AKA when the Tech trauma was at an all time high) and in direct reply to a fan that was having a hard time with Tech's death. It's hard to take it as anything but a reference to Tech given the timing, and it was certainly taken as being about Tech in the quote tweets. If it's not about Tech, why tease the fandom with it? And the specification for it being a mid s3 episode as well...

Also from the day of Celebrations, and from the panel itself, we have Michelle Ang saying in front of God and everybody, that Tech "doesn't come back... in this episode, at least." At the time there was a possibility she didn't know and was just leaving it open, but with that only being ten months ago and the extremely long timeframe of animation, it's almost certain that she would have been done with all primary recording by that point. If you know he's not coming back, how do you accidentally imply that he is with no one correcting it?

Dee Bradley Baker, when asked for a farewell message from Tech at a con, came out with "the life of a soldier is fulfilled by fulfilling his mission and supporting his brothers. And this was the end of mine. And that's a good thing." Which was a perfectly serviceable goodbye right up until he said that the end of Tech's (life? soldier's life? mission?) was a good thing.

During an instagram interview we have Deana Kiner, one of the composers, in response to the interviewer talking about the final episode containing a major loss, saying, "It's kind of a loss... It's complicated." The claim on twitter was that this was about Omega, because everyone knows that when someone mentions the major loss in Plan 99 they're definitely talking about Omega.

So is Tech alive? Is Tech dead? We still don't know. But while one or two of the above might be a coincidence, having all of them at once coalesce around this single character death is a lot to chew over. The Bad Batch team has shown willingness to address grief and loss prior, as well as a willingness to show us death onscreen and front and center. So why, with such an important character, sidestep it all in order to keep it vague? Why keep it from sounding final for so long, if the intent the entire time was for him to be dead for good?

We won't know until he either shows back up or the show ends. If Tech's alive, all of the above starts to make sense. If he's dead... well a lot of things will just never quite add up. I feel that this team has shown enough willingness to follow up on their trailing plotlines that they've earned my trust. Fingers crossed for a satisfying resolution for all of us, and for our boy Tech, whatever that resolution may be.

[vro0m]

the whole thing around how drivers will race even when injured and/or sick for the sake of their teams and the championships rlly gives me the ick honestly, especially bc of the message it's sending to kids in junior series, which is that they should be willing to sacrifice their health and wellbeing if it means they go up in the standings or whatever. f1 historically being a dangerous sport probably hasn't helped this idea, esp taking into account the glorification of things like niki coming back after his accident in '76 to keep on fighting for the wdc and senna's death, but the fact that it's persisted this long honestly can have some really dangerous implications. yes, these injured drivers go onto win races and championships (niki only losing the wdc at the last race in '76, max winning races and eventually the wdc 2021 despite blurry vision following silverstone, lewis winning formula a with a broken wrist (at 15 too which is properly mind boggling honestly), lewis getting pole in german 2019 despite having a 40ºC fever, carlos winning australia after appendicitis, oscar winning hungary with a broken rib) but imo it's setting a borderline dangerous precedent for other drivers and kids coming up through the junior formulas.

What annoys me about it is that the athletes themselves can't say no, in this sport or any other. They can't and won't say no because they've been taught to not listen to their bodies and to push through and sometimes that they are weak if they need a break* and that the chance they have to be where they are is fleeting and they need to be on top all day every single day to not lose it. So they won't say no.

Remember Qatar 23? Some of these drivers reported losing vision in the corners due to the heat and the effort and they didn't stop. Ocon threw up in his helmet twice and he didn't stop. George said he almost passed out before the end of the race. He didn't stop. Only Sargeant stopped.

Noah Lyles ran the 200m with covid and he might or might not have permanent damage from doing so. And he still went.

What all of them and the ones you cited have in common, is that nobody around them said no for them. No one in Lyles entourage said man that's a bad idea. His girlfriend spent the night turning him around in his bed because of how much he coughed and she didn't say maybe you shouldn't go. No one said maybe it's a bad idea even though he had severe asthma in his childhood. Carlos was in horrible pain from appendicitis and no one told him maybe sit this one out. They gave him painkillers and sent him back out. Oscar had a broken rib and they sat him in the car all the same.

And sure these are adults, not puppets, not victims, they are responsible for themselves as adults and they do have some responsibility in these decisions. But truly even if they wanted to, which I'm not convinced they do, these people can't say no. The people around them should say no for them. They won't because they're greedy. The athletes don't see it because they've been primed not to see it and/or they also are greedy (for money or other things). No one is there to say no. I'm betting if people (doctors) are saying no, they are ignored. Someone needs to say no.

*btw remember that Lewis, who did not race in Qatar 23 because of the contact with George, said a whole thing about how that's just how it is and if the drivers suffered they had to train more because they weren't prepared enough. they are all part of this culture and very few seem to even notice it.

[lunarw0rks]

HIIIIII I'm new to your blog and I'm already your fan 😩😩💓

I have a request!! The reader has a scar from surgery near groin, and feels very insecure about it :(

and then Ghost discovers this and helps they feel more sure of themselves? *wink wink*

And btw, I'm using the translator because I'm terrible at English 🤐

warning(s): nsfw (18+), established relationship, scar mention, softdom!simon, angst/fluff to smut, oral sex, fingering, praise, fem!reader

꒦꒷ MAIN MASTERLIST ꒷꒦ GHOST MASTERLIST // have a request? ˗ˏˋ ASK BOX ˎˊ˗

“You have to come out of there sometime, love.”

His voice came muffled through the bathroom door. On the other side, you were running your fingers over the scar near your groin. Sure, he had seen you naked before — but tonight was different. His hands roamed right over it and they lingered too long, effectively reminding you of the lasting mark you were insecure about.

It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t even yours. But something about it ruined the mood, and you couldn’t just shut that out.

Finally, you stepped out again, facing him after minutes of brooding. He could tell, based on your expression, that this was a deeper issue. One he wanted to fix; in more ways than one.

"What is it? Something I did?" His arm snakes around your shoulder, guiding you to the edge of the bed.

You shake your head defensively, hands folded in your lap. "It's nothing, it's... My scar. It's always bothered me."

"Don't do that," Simon whispers, holding your chin gently to keep your gaze. There's truly nothing about you he disliked, especially when it came to scars. He harbored them everywhere, some from service, others from childhood.

He rotates his arms, exposing marks and healed scrapes everywhere. "Look at me, sweetheart. Bloody have 'em everywhere." Next, he removed his tee, where the deepest, most noticeable blemishes were etched into his skin. Some were burns, others from blades or shrapnel, bullets, too.

You watched him show every inch of what he had been through, the permanent reminders that he had to live with. It made your scar seem minute, effectively easing your heavy heart. The insecurities, you might never get over, but it's an unbeatable feeling to be appreciated so deeply — just for you, imperfections and all.

Before you could get in your head again, he was cupping the sides of your face, using his knee to push you backward on the plush mattress. "Nothin' to be ashamed of," he mutters against your lips, whilst his hands untie the robe wrapped around you, "especially on you."

"Thought I ruined the mood," you whisper when the next kiss pauses, holding his waist.

With tender haste, he removed your wrists from his waist, placing them at your sides, which allowed him to scoot down further. "Takes a lot more than that to scare me off, love."

With fumbling fingers, he gives the fabric one more tug, exposing your nightwear underneath. Before you've come up with a response, he fills the void by pressing his lips to your inner thigh. It's a silent gesture, but one that speaks volumes. Simon multitasks, keeping you entertained by peppering kisses, while your panties have been pulled to the side. You're on full display now; aroused and sensitive again, like you were before you ran off to the washroom.

Instinctively, you reach for his hair — but you've been repositioned again.

"No, no, hands at your sides. Good girl." His hot breath tickles your wet heat until he's closed in on it. Pressing his lips to your clit, leaving calculated licks along it until you moan from the repeated movements.

The only 'touch' you're permitted is the squeeze of your thighs around his head, though he'd much prepare to have you spread and on full display. But tonight wasn't about him, nor was it often. His focus was on you, only you.

His thick fingers find your slit, easing in until they've filled you, reaching the deepest spots inside you. Simon's heavy breaths only stimulate your nerves further, adding to the feeling of his thrusting fingers.

"So fuckin' perfect."

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˚｡──divider cred. cafekitsune

[feroluce]

So I saw this post yesterday about whether Belobog had had phones before the Astral Express landed, or if the Trailblazers were the ones who brought them and distributed them to Jarilo-VI for the current characters. There were some mixed views and guesses in the comments.

And the answer is actually....both!

If you look at the text messages from a lot of the Belobog characters, most of them will actually allude to not knowing how to use a phone, which isn't something you get on the Xianzhou Luofu, even though they have the jade abaci. Oleg even specifically says that March 7th gave him his.

And there's also this line from Gepard and Serval's companion quest:

He's so cute I love him

Meanwhile Sampo has been running scams with selling supposed ancient relic mobile phones to the rich nobles up topside- tbh I think he could sell ice cubes in Belobog if he really put his mind to it, so he could probably make this work no matter what, knowing him. But a scam like this would not work NEARLY as well unless the general populace didn't know anything about cell phones or how they work.

(It's extra funny when you remember that he's not even a Belobog native, man has probably been hiding a phone from everyone for however long he's been there, and he absolutely knows how they work slzjkskwms)

I'm going to shove him through a meat grinder (affectionate)

While it's possible it would be way harder to get signal out there, we know from the When Business Comes Knocking adventure mission (the fact that THE TRAILBLAZER is the one who tipped off the IPC about Jarilo-VI's revival, and over something so stupid, thus leading to the invasion during the Solwarm Festival in 1.4 fucking KILLS me fjkdlsajfkdlaj) that phones CAN get some kind of signal even as far out as Everwinter Hill. So it makes this line from Serval's online introduction seem like even stronger proof that Belobog had no phones, because there's no way Gepard and Serval wouldn't text each other to at least occasionally check in while he was out in such a dangerous place.

The final nail in the coffin is actually from an IPC worker out near the Pillars of Creation, who says the Astral Express brought phones to Jarilo-VI (they say it's just a rumor, but no yeah I'm sure it's real given everything before this haha) and then admit they've been using the technological gap and lack of knowledge to make money on the side.

So. Belobog didn't have phones when the Express landed. But. But!

They did 700 years ago.

In one of the daily missions, you can encounter this echo in Backwater Pass, who shows you pictures on his phone. He mentions Alisa Rand, the very first Supreme Guardian, and the war against the Antimatter Legion, but he doesn't know what the Fragmentum is. So we know this had to happen only shortly after the Eternal Freeze came about.

And I've seen people complain how ridiculous it is that the surrounding areas of Belobog have so little flora or fauna, and how real snow tundras don't work like that. And it has been a very long time since then, but. I'm not quite sure how much water that holds, because that's not what happened here.

The Eternal Freeze didn't slowly move in. This wasn't some natural process. It just happened.

This was an environmental disaster on a planetwide scale. There was no time to prepare and most of the wildlife couldn't even live long enough to adapt or evolve. All of Jarilo-VI was on the verge of extinction; the Antimatter Legion had them at the precipice, and Alisa Rand had to make a choice. It was a desperate decision under dire straits and it didn't come without cost.

And you can see just how devastating the effects were from that previous conversation- the man regards his own phone as a pre-war relic. His wife died of illness due to the cold. His son was forced to take up a career he didn't want. Everything was put on hold. Everyone who managed to survive had to fully devote themselves to the cause.

Belobog lost entire eras of knowledge, because they were all scrambling for survival. Whatever kind of mobile phones they had before the war and the Eternal Freeze, they were lost in the ensuing chaos, until the Astral Express landed and brought new technology for the first time in 700 long years.

So- the answer is both!

[bon2bonn]

Boooo! , the grid's chilling adventure .....

22!F1 grid X female!driver!reader

Words count : 3.3k?

The grid's local crack-heads are up for a haunting adventure!

*warnings : grammar, cursing, ghosts and creepy clowns, haunted places, (haunters : scare actors), a short change in pov where the cameras malfunctioned .

The camera was pointing slightly to the side framing some of the drivers as they stood before what looks like a deserted two storey building, some of the windows were missing, some were covered with cardboard slaps and the rest were creaking with the wind .

The working crew were going back and forth , sitting cameras and adjusting the drivers monitors as they were preparing for the intro of the video , it was a bit blurry but the sound was clear due to their already working mics as it caught them mid conversation .

Y/N's voice called " I'm just saying, if we got caught , I'm ditching you guys and saving my ass " lando could be heard sassing back " you have to have one to begin with " a smack sounded followed by lando Groaning in pain , Y/N retorts back " I hope Annabelle gets you first " . Max could be heard next as he complains " why am I here again? " Charles answered him " you , are lucky enough to hang out with us " Carlos asked incredulously " in a haunted building!? , I'd rather do more sim hours " Max agrees with a humm but Daniel cuts him " just admit that you're both cowards " Max called him out " says you ! , you screamed about ten octaves higher than an ambulance siren the last time Y/N scared you , lando did too " lando protested at the bashing " I didn't say anything! " Max shrugged " you were about to " lando looked away refusing to deny the accusation , Y/N looked at the building behind them before turning back to her friends " I have to give to them this time , this place creeps me out " they agreed as Charles nods pulling his sleeves over his hands " why is it so cold around here!? " lando replied in an ominous voice getting their attention as they all turned to listen " they said this place was built over an old boarding school , they shut it down after students starts to go missing and they couldn't find anything of them but their shoes, all found in the main dining hall , they say the other students would hear their steps going around the corridors at night looking for their missing shoes and whoever dares to go out would meet the same fate " everyone was looking at him in silence untill they all burst in laughter dismissing his attempt , Carlos clapped his shoulder " yeah , nice one" , Charles agreed " I almost believed it " the crew called for their attention as they stood in line facing the camera , the director gave them the ok after she counted down .

••••••••••••

The camera cuts off to them greeting in one voice " hello! " each introduced themselves and their team , Y/N carried on after everyone was done as she explained " tonight we are doing something a little bit different as you could see " she pointed to the building behind them " our teams couldn't get rid of us legally so they've all decided to sacrifice us to the dark side and hope for the best " lando looked at her in question " wait , what !?" , but Daniel nods as he carries on " yeah , today we're doing a haunted night in a building challenge , we'll be divided into teams of two each team will take a different entrance, each have the task of collecting clues that leads to the way out " Charles piped in an exited voice " the winners gets a three days weekend getaway in a place of their choice " Max spoke next " aaaaaand, the bragging rights of being the bravest in the paddock " Carlos gave a thoughtful nod " not bad " .

The director told them their teams already been set but they protest with Y/N reasoning with " but where's the fun in that !? , come on losers rock , paper , scissor, the winner of each round teams up with the winner of the next round , incase of two winners in one round ,they play one round together and the loser gets back to play with the others " the first winner was lando who paired up with Charles, followed by Max who got Carlos , and that left Y/N to team up with Daniel , the director asked " so , what do you think about your line up ? " , Carlos nods " I think we have a pretty good team " max agreed as he looked to the other teams " I think we have more chances than the others to win this " laughing as the rest booed at him , Danny scoffed " you won't be saying that when we beat your asses " , lando shrugged " not gonna happen with your team mate , I mean you'll be lucky if you could get out " Y/N didn't hesitate to call back " speak of yourself, Charles is the definition of clumsy and you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached to your body " they went on arguing about who'd win and who's going to lose .

The director had enough and called out " alright enough with the shit talk! " And chimed in before they could start heading in " before you go , there's one more thing to know . Whoever get caught earn their team a penalty point , which requires a side task to do in order to move on with your task of collecting clues, in the end the team with less penalty points win and the one with the most lose automatically " Charles looked at lando laughing " now we're definitely doomed" lando nod back laughing as well but both moved on to their door as the rest did the same , all waiting for the count to go down to one before they got in .

The cameras inside showed each team and followed them as they ventured through the three separate hallways , each holding a flashlight and a head mounted camera for more coverage , they crept slowly looking for clues and trying to avoid getting the attention of wandering haunters who roamed in and out of the rooms , even turning their flashlights off when they hear someone close by .

•••••••••••••••

Things with Charles and lando were going surprisingly well as they proceed to look for their second clue , they end up in a storage room at the back of the first floor the both went damaging through boxes and looking through shelves not noticing the figure standing by the door and when they found it they read the instructions " seek and you shall see , which way it might be , where one turns to 100 and where voids are filled with noise " Charles made a face as he reread the clue over again trying to think of something to connect to theses words . (( the clue leads to the copy/printing room 🖨️ on the other side of the floor)) .

Lando turned around to look once more around the room for more insight but froze once he came to see the masked figure standing in a torn dusty suit with a baseball bat in hand , he poked Charles shoulder but he kept repeating their clue unaware of their current dilemma , so he ended up smacking him hard earning a shout of surprise out of him as he face lando " what was that for !? " Only for his partner to point at the figure , all Charles could say is a small " Oh " lando grimaced at him with a " oh indeed! " Charles ignored his tone whispering back " I'll go left " lando nods as he whispered back " and I'll head right , on three " Charles braced himself as he waited for the count but was left in shock as lando screamed " three ! " And made a run for the door , leaving a flabbergasted Charles back as he sprinted down the hall , the masked figure turned to Charles raising his bat and swinging it around as he stepped in , making Charles let a high pitched scream that startled everyone in earshot range and resonated through the whole floor .

•••••••••••••••••

Max and Carlos both looked at eachother at the sudden scream, both laughing as the thought the same thing " Charles got caught" , before going back to making their way to look for their third clue in one of the conference/meeting rooms on the second floor, both dodging as a clown walked by the door holding a long iron rod , skipping down the hall in a creepy dance/walk , a creepy giggle leaving him as he turned the corner . Carlos turned to Max with a shudder " that'll fuel my nightmares for two months ahead" Max gave him a teasing smile " I just figured out what I'd wear for Halloween this year " Carlos groan at him " you're insufferable!" His friend laughed " it's better me than N/N " both shuddering at the memories of being scared shitless by said driver .

••••••••••••••••••

Thing were going relatively good with the last team , collecting clues efficiently , their last clue lead them to an archive unit of sort , the kept looking around before they spotted their next clue peeking out from a file holder on the top shelf far from their reach , they ended up with Y/N on Danny's shoulders with him standing on a chair to finally reach it " imagine if i accidentally dropped you ?" She gave him a sticky eye " bitch! , if I fell down you bet your ass you're going down with me " he snorted " it's my glorious arse , you should be honoured to be in the same capacity " she rolled her eyes at him , yanking at his ear from her place still on his shoulders " yeah, me and the vengeful ghosts are truly blessed " he feigned confidence as he claimed while looking up at her " Casper and his friends can kiss my arse , I'm not scared " she pat his shoulder after she got down safely " mmhm , of course you're not " ignoring him in favour of reading their clue " look twice before you flee , one step , two steps and you may see , for it's your only way out , or it may be " both hummed in thought as they head out and down the hallway , she smacked the side of her head " I swear I'm losing brain cells with every clue ! " Daniel turned around looking for something to connect with their clue but couldn't find anything, after a while they head out , looking through the other room down the Hallway , and as expected they didn't find anything useful to aide them .

They creeped out of the hallway reaching what looked like a break room, and to their luck they found one of the haunters looking around, Y/N crouch down signaling for Danny to follow her , he gave her one look and knew exactly what she was about to do, shaking his face in a grimace he yell in a whisper " but why!?" She shrugged with a wicked smile " why not!? " , she then stomped her foot loudly getting the haunter's attention as he walked back into the hallway unaware of the crouching driver , and just as neared the corner she sprung out with a shout , scaring the wits out of him , causing him to stumble back before falling into the floor, he looked at her with wide eyes as she cackled at his stunned face , but she quickly backtracked with giggles as she kept apologizing as he got hold of himself and got back up with a hammer in hand . Daniel grabbed her hand as he turned to make a run for it .

••••••••••••••

They bot ran away with the poor figure chasing after them hammer held high and face full of vengeance , all three unaware of the stunned Max and Carlos who stood on the side of the hallway eyes wide at the scene that passed by them , both frozen until the three turned a corner and disappeared out of sight .

she let out a scream as she stumbled " I can't run! My legs are killing me!! " Danny scowled at her with a shout of his own " and who's fault is that !? " She answered not missing a beat " it's God's fault for giving me short legs " , he rolled his eyes as he found a cracked door and he was quick to shove her in getting behind her and shove the door to leave it cracked a bit , leaving enough space so they could see what's going on outside, both held their breath as he stood right before their door , he looked around with his back facing them , both driver's eyes widened when they caught their final clue , but much to their luck it was stuck on the back of the haunter's jack , the same haunter who's now looking for them , Daniel looked at his partner with a glare , she gave him a cheeky grin as she whispered " I have no regrets" he rolled his eyes again shoving her head lightly " of course you don't" she snickered before looking out only to find the figure walking away , so she turned to look around room they were hiding in, she found thin blocks of wood and an old ax thrown aside , Daniel shook his head at her " No we're not doing that , I won't trust you with an ax ! " She huffed and picked the wooden log instead, " ok , now what? " , Daniel thought for a moment as he came up with an idea.

••••••••••••••••••

Max and Carlos were seen again in another hallway, both frozen as a loud ruckus was heard down the hallway followed by a bang and footsteps running , another pair of feet were heard before they appeared, now with the haunter running away followed by Danny who was carrying a Y/N on his back and she have a long wooden stick shouting " coward !, get back here !! " They screamed as they rushed at them but didn't stop as they once again passed by them in a sprint , Carlos looked at his partner who shook his head " I for once don't wanna know " he nods in agreement " some things are better left unknown" , they turned and moved on . But stopped once the came face to face with a tall much scarier version of Annabelle, red hair falling all over her face with her hair ties tangled up on the sides , the bottom of her dress is covered in mud and the sleeves are torn with some parts seems to be burnt , they turned slowly to the way they came from and tried to run but got cornered by the clown from earlier, Carlos groaned " come on, not the clown!! ".

••••••••••••••••••

After a long chase they finally got their clue , leaving behind a traumatized haunter that they managed to corner in one of the storage rooms . now they made their way to the exit as the clue turned to be an instructions leading to the way out through the main lobby, both done with their tasks along with the penalty for technically getting caught ( they're the ones who caught/cornered to haunter but they did it anyway ) , Daniel was dressed in a bright pink tutu along with a yellow feather boa and Y/N with matching green boa and a big mustache drawn over her lips with a marker that Danny forgot to mention that is permanent ink .

On their way they came across Charles wearing a balding wig paired with thick glasses as a penalty with lando nowhere to be seen , he shrugged " he ditched me, and I ditched him back " both nods , agreeing with his logic but they stopped as they say lando rounding the corner, wearing A very fluffy clowns wig and a red nose to go with the look , he gave Charles the finger as he approached them , Charles gave him one back " you did the same thing " lando kept his scowl " yeah yeah , whatever, still , fuck you ! " . The camera glitches for a moment before it turned off along with the mics which gave a loud screach before they stop working all at once .

••••••••••••••••

(Third POV):

They all were about to head out but stopped as light foot steps were heard down the hall , they waited as the steps got closer Charles thought aloud " maybe it's max and Carlos" Daniel agreed but they were greeted with a little boy not older than 12 walked out of the dark , his face bale with dark circles framing his blank eyes contrasting his complection, the eerie thing beside his old fashioned and dirty school uniform was the way he walked, his bare feet dragging on the dirty floor and a pair of old worn out dress shoe is held tightly in his small hands , he suddenly came to a stop as he tilted his head looking directly at them causing the drivers to scoot back discreetly . He opened his mouth and asked in a hauntingly innocent voice " have you seen my shoe ? " They grabbed Y/N who was crazy enough to take a step towards the boy all three giving disbelieving looks as she made a protesting sound Daniel shook her shoulders " where in hell do you think you're going!? " She casually pointed at the standing boy " to look for his shoe ? " Lando shook his head " hell no! " Charles hid behind Daniel as he shouted at her " have you lost your mind !?" She shrugged as they turned back to the boy who was standing there looking at them waiting for an answer, lando shook his head as he answered " no we haven't seen any shoe " the boy stood still for a while but eventually gave a creepy smile as he said " okay " turning to leave, walking through the wall and out of sight, but his steps echoing down the hall before they disappear .

The drivers eyes widened in shock , their minds trying to comprehend what they just saw , Charles pointed at where the boy stood looking around unable to voice his thoughts, lando nods , he was looking like he saw a ghost, well he did see one moments ago, Daniel didn't waste time as Y/n tried to step back in to see where the kid go , so he scooped her up turned around and made a run for the door , making the other two follow his lead as he made it out in no time .

(End of POV)

••••••••••••••••

The video ends with them now lined up once again to announce the winners , lando readjust his wig " before any announcement I have one thing to say, It's rigged!" Charles shoved him , scratching beneath his balding wig " if you didn't ditch me we could've won " the director called the results " it's a technical draw between two teams with one penalty each , and the third team with 4 penalties " Carlos asked in confusion as his glittering hight top hat tilted to the side "what does that means " the director answered with " it's a technical draw between the teams because Y/N and Daniel weren't supposed to be penalized but they did serve the penalty so it's counted......" Danny called out in shock " we could've won !? " Y/N gave him a glare " I told you we should've ditch it !!!" They eventually agreed to compromise and share the prize with the other two .

Daniel made a pose while throwing his boa around his neck dramatically giving the losing team a smug look " eat dust , losers!" His partner doing the same as she throws an exaggerated kiss their way. But lando didn't let that faze him as he said pointing at her fake moustache " laugh all you want , but that's a permanent marker" she snapped her head towards Daniel who backed away " I didn't know!" Running away as she charged at him " get back here ! I'll stuff these feathers down you throat you piece of...... Get back here !" .

Max ignored them pressing on his attachable moustache and pushed back his relatively too big cowboy hat, tilting his head back a little to look at the camera as he finished the video " that's it for this time , I hope you enjoy it as much as we did" the three remaining drivers made faces of disagreement shaking their heads but he ignored it as he waved them off " tune in next time for more challenges and haunted establishments to rent , if you're interested call the F1 haunted hotline for more informations , bye " the rest waved as well minus Carlos who was rubbing Charles balding wig as he laughed " this would be us in the next three years " , Y/N and Daniel joined them eventually waving at the camera as the video ended .

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: A Draft Through the Door

An unnatural gloom creeps over the countryside, the shadows grow long and the dawn seems slow to rise. The townsfolk grow increasingly listless, and have asked your party to investigate the mage's manor across the lake, which seems to be the origin of this miasmic melancholia. Your journey will not be an easy one, as the landscape grows ever more eerie, and things are seen to move in the drifting banks of mist.

Of the many reasons that wizards take on apprentices (passing down knowledge, having a sounding board for new theories, an extra pair of hands to prepare spell components and do the sweeping up) one of the less discussed ones is how vital it is to have a second pair of eyes on lookout for when something magical inevitably goes wrong.

It makes sense when you think about it, a proper wizard's mind is too full of brilliance to bother with things like making sure that week's batch of potions don't boil over in the cauldron or that the stacked tomes of lore present a firehazard if they're not put away.

So it was with the mage Milghram Brightstaff and his precocious apprentice Adaline, who lived a quaint existence in the manor by the edge of the lake filling their days with scholarship, experiments, and attending to the problems brought to them by locals visiting from across the countryside. That was until mage Milghram decided to pop off to his extra-dimensional storage unit by way of a shadowfell portal in the manor's basement. He thought he'd only been gone a few hours, but neglected to apply the protective charm required to spare himself from the memory-sapping defences guarding his vault. now Milghram wanders the land of shades in a perpetual state of "why did I come into this room?" while the essence of that dread dimension leak back through his unclosed portal.

Adventure Hooks:

The party might've been sent to seek out the wizard, or visit town on their own buisness. Either way nothing's getting done so long as the countyside is blanketed in memory erroding fog and creatures from the shadow realm stalk through the murk. After several nights worth of exposure the town's defenders have had the wost of it, having forgotten what they're guarding or why they've established barricades.. it'll take some guile or calm negoitation for them to let the heroes past the gate.

When the party eventually gets to the manor they'll not only find the place locked, shuttered, and in many cases barricaded, but also protected by a slew of arcane defences ranging from animated objects to teleportation traps that will hurl them out into the lake. Two thirds of the way through their magical B&E and likely expecting a mad wizard to emerge from the shadows and begin a villain monolog, they'll instead find an exhausted teen running through the manor hurling heedless spells at a fleeing bug-thing demanding they help catch it before it gets too big.

For a girl of only fourteen winters beset on all sides by living nightmares Adaline is handling herself marvellously. She's activated the manor's wards sealing the worst of the cursed mist in the basement (or atleast she had until the party chopped their way in) and has been using a borrowed wand to hunt down most of the shadow creatures that have begun to infest the manor grounds. She's deeply worried about her teacher however, and blames herself for the series of distractions that led the old man to forgetting to throw on his protective charm. Depending on how they play it, they can either have her charm them and venture into the portal looking for the errant mage, or attempt to distract her long enough to close the portal themselves and leave the old wizard for dead.

Art

[fateisfiction]

From these prompts I give you:

Summer Kiss ft. Gaz

Soft vibes, sfw

It's not often you get to take a vacation with Kyle, but they've just finished up a long mission and Price has *promised* not to call anyone in for the next two weeks. As soon as you heard, you took it upon yourself to book a room in Portugal to spend a week with Kyle. Some nice warm weather, white sand beaches, and no plans sounded like just the thing you needed to reconnect with your boyfriend.

Of course, Kyle just can't keep his mouth shut, so you have to keep the whole trip a surprise so that Johnny and Simon wouldn't invite themselves along, injecting themselves into *your* relationship. So when you tell Gaz to pack his bags, he has to play a guessing game for what to pack.

"Do I need a coat?"

"Maybe."

"What about boots?"

"You'll bring them whether I say yes or no."

"Can you just tell me if it will be warm or cold?"

"Nope."

You don't even look up from the magazine you're reading, an issue of National Geographic with a story about Antarctica featured right on the cover. Kyle hopes that's not a hint, but he packs his heavy winter coat, just in case.

When you finally leave for the train station, Kyle has 3 full bags, prepared for any situation, and all you have is a little rolling suitcase and your makeup bag. You almost feel bad and tell him to leave what he doesn't need in the trunk of the car, but maybe this will finally teach him to keep his mouth shut. Though, you've been thoroughly entertained listening to Johnny try to figure out where you're taking him away to, making suggestions on what to bring, almost all of them missing the mark.

Just this once, you want to be able to relax with Kyle on the beach and not have to go rappelling down some cliffside to see "the most beautiful waterfall they've ever seen." For once, you want to have your boyfriend to yourself.

When you finally get to the hotel, Kyle practically collapses in the bed, taking you with him. You really couldn't tell him to bring his swim trunks? He thinks the only thing he wasn't prepared for was a beach vacation. That's fine though, you can always run out and grab whatever he forgot to pack.

That evening, the two of you find a little restaurant right on the beach, a candlelit table not far from the sand. Pleasant music fading to the background with the soft crash of waves as you chat, laughing about how you had him convinced that you were dragging him off to Switzerland or Austria, or even the southern hemisphere to get out of the heat.

That evening, the two of you walk along the beach, hand in hand, as he carries both of your sandals. The cool salty water coming up to your ankles as the tide rolls back in.

He can't help but notice how stunning you look in the moonlight. In an attempt to pull you closer for a kiss, he knocks you off balance right as a larger wave crashes ashore sending the two of you tumble into the sand. Laughter fills the air as you lay on top of him, both of you soaked to some extent. He pulls you in for a kiss and the two of you bask in the moment. A perfect getaway. He could almost see himself getting down on one knee, finally slipping the the ring he's been carrying around for months onto your finger. Finally asking you to be his wife.

He supposes that will have to wait. Another wave crashes into you and you rush to get up, running out of the water for drier land, laughing as he stumbles along after you. Yeah. Maybe it was worth keeping this for just the two of you.

COD Masterlist

[stalkedbytrains]

We call with the seven for the magic circle to...

The autumn night was very cold and very blustery. It was a perfect autumn day if it wasn't so damn frigid.

June had been dreading the text that was coming all day. She knew it was. She knew what day it was. It seemed like everything in the world had gone out of it's way to remind her that today was October 6th.

Finally the dreaded text came.

"Olivia finally found a sitter. We're meeting at 8pm tonight."

The last text from Lauren was from exactly one year ago, it was almost the same thing. And again from the year before and the year before that.

June never replied.

Now well into her 30's June friends often sent texts that were less demanding or certain. More along the lines of 'hey we're thinking of maybe hitting up a happy hour sometime next week? when can you make it?!"

But this meeting. Tonight was mandatory. It was as required as any ritual.

Everyone must attend.

She wished they could let the dead ghosts rest and banish them to leave her in peace.

But she'd felt the creeping cold, the claws at her back all day. She knew what day it was before she even woke up in the morning after fitful sleep and terrible nightmares.

No matter how scalding the shower was, how busy and demanding the job was, she would not be warm until the 7th.

June couldn't forget.

It was October 6th.

That night, after the sun had set, June set out to meet with her five other friends.

Well, to be perfectly frank, to call them friends now was nothing short of a misnomer. They were acquaintances at best. They had been friends, once. But no longer.

Not for years.

But they still had to meet every year on the same day. Every year for the last seventeen years.

June walked into the darkness of the forest preserve.

The girls all used to wander deep into the woods, as far as they dared away from the civilization and the safety of the parking lot.

Not anymore.

They were all older and more careful and lazier.

It was barely thirty feet into the woods, the lights of the parking lot could still be easily seen.

Hell, this year they had it set up on a picnic bench.

June was thankful, she didn't want to sit on the ground, her knees were already sore from this long, cold day.

This year was colder than all the others. It seemed that every year for the last seventeen years October 6th was setting records for the coldest day on record.

June, as always, was the last of the girls to arrive.

She took the open seat.

There were a smatterings of quiet greetings.

No one wanted to be here. They wanted this over and done with so they could leave and be on their way to somewhere else, back to their lives.

Lauren pulled out the chalk from her large purse.

"Everyone ready?" she asked as a courtesy. She didn't wait for a response and was already drawing the magic circle.

No one answered. It was the sixteenth time they've gathered to do this, they knew the ritual very well.

As Lauren sketched the circle and the patterns and the runes, each woman took out their candles. Each had prepared their candles according to the old rules and placed them at the indicated portion of the circle, with one space absent at the head of the table.

Three women on each side of the table. Six candles.

One empty space.

"Alright, done," Lauren said without need.

There was a collective intake of breath as the women prepared themselves.

Lauren as always started the ritual. She let her candle with the tiny extension of what small reservoir of magic she had left.

"With this magic and this meeting there is one for the light."

June instantly felt the temperature drop. She felt the shadows grow.

Olivia went next and let her candle with a snap of magic, causing the light to flare and burn brilliant for just a split moment before settling into a soft, cold, light. "With this candle and these gathered there are two for the sight."

The darkness grew by another large measure. Another snap of cold and wind rustled the dying leaves on the trees.

June's heart was in her throat. Something felt different this time.

But she couldn't stop the ritual. Better to get it over and done with as fast as possible.

She snapped her finger and lit her candle. Her candle didn't burn nearly as bright, nor flare as big.

"With this circle and this pattern there are three for the Night."

She had to choke out the last word. It felt like she was trying to push out a word as a physical object from where it lodged inside her throat. It hurt to physically say.

Sweat beaded her forehead as the ritual continued despite the fact that she could no longer see the lights from the parking lot. They should have been so close, but they were miles away now, distant pinpricks in the dark forest.

Her breath misted in front of her as the temperature dropped again.

She was shaking, both from the cold and because of the other thing.

Jessica was next. She lit her candle, but she grimaced as she did so, almost like the act physically hurt her.

"We call with four for the silver," she said as she dropped a small silver coin into the middle of the magic pattern Lauren had drawn.

The coin smashed into the table with a loud thud. It didn't bounce or move. It was like it was magnetically pulled right to the center.

The area was totally dark now. The only light came from the four lit candles. June could see the breath of the other women. All coming out in shallow clouds, all at the same time.

She swore she saw something moving in the pitch black forest behind the girls on the other side of the table.

She couldn't move. She couldn't say anything.

Too quickly, without stopping or realizing what was happening, Fiona went next. She lit her candle and it barely burned.

Her hands were shaking with the cold.

She dropped a gold coin that slammed into the table, denting it as she said, "And five for the gold."

June swore she heard another voice speaking in tandem with Fiona. Somewhere at the head of the table where... no...

She tried to move, to do something, to call out, to stop Rachel from saying the next part.

But the candle was already lit. This time blazing high and bright like a railroad flare.

June swore she saw a dark figure standing behind Rachel.

Her mouth was frozen shut, from fear, from the cold, from the other thing in the back staring at her over Rachel's shoulder.

Two voices this time. "We call with the six for the secrets, never to be told."

For the last sixteen rituals, this is where it would have ended. This is where it should have ended. But this wasn't like the last sixteen. This was like the first one.

This one was the real magic. The Deep Magic. The Old things that they never should have meddled with.

The darkness should have snapped away. The candles should have gone out. The parking lot should have beckoned sweetly. Home and safety.

When the ritual was not completed because their seventh had been missing these last seventeen years, it should have ended.

Then the voice spoke from the entity that was hiding in the shadows.

"We call with the seven for this magic circle to," it said with a slow, deliberate tone. There was a harshness there, a rawness, like a voice after a concert of delightful yelling, but worse. "Hold," the voice finally finished.

The ritual was close to being completed. For the first time in years.

"NO!" June yelled, but she was too late. She couldn't move fast enough. She couldn't stop the last candle from being lit.

What looked like the edge of a knife reflected the soft candle light as the seventh candle materialized and was lit with a cold blue flame.

The paralysis that took over all six women finally broke as the darkness retreated slightly.

Standing at the head of the table, dressed in something that June could only think of as a battle nun outfit (some kind of form fitting black habit, pieces of steel or iron armor clinging to arms and chest and head) was a worn, scarred, and tired looking, much older Natalie.

"Sisters," she said in her worn voice, with a smile that had no warmth, "so good to see you again. Thank you for joining me."

Olivia was the first to recover. "Natalie! You're alive!"

She moved to get up and presumably hug their long lost friend, but Natalie moved a single finger and Olivia was slammed back into her seat with an overwhelming force of Natalie's magic.

"This is not a happy reunion for you," Natalie said as she reached behind her to produce some object from the darkness.

She dropped a black mass of something on the table in the middle of the circle, on top of the silver and gold.

After a moment, the candle light illuminated a grotesque form, the severed head of some kind of horrible amalgamation of goat, man, lizard, and bird.

"One of you sold me to this demon, the Lord of the Frozen Wastes, Farimelligion. Unfortunately for you, I did not die. I fought off my captors for these long years. My powers grew and grew until I was able to slay him and free myself from your spell. I intend to find out, exactly, betrayed me. And I will collect my pound of flesh."

To illustrate her point, she dropped the sword she was carrying, a cracked and bitter looking silver blade covered in frost and radiating cold.

"I regret to tell you that forgiveness was something that was taken from me out there. There is no repenting. But I will spare anyone who turns on their sister like they turned on me."

i have a kofi

[nobodyfamousposts]

Another Miraculous Crossover Nobody Wanted (DCxML)

In the midst of so many Batfamily/Miraculous crossovers, the thing I feel so many people forget is that the Waynes are...well...themselves.

Sure, they're awesome vigilantes. Trained in martial arts and with great mental fortitude to help them against the likes of Scarecrow's fear gas, Joker's venom, and Mad Hatter's manipulations.

...the problem is that Hawk Moth is a whole different ballgame.

He doesn't target their fears or dreams. He targets ANYTHING. Like petty annoyances. Frustrations. Sleep deprivation. Obsessions. Things the Batfamily generally try to ignore on a regular basis.

If he can akumatize and reakumatize the same man over his love of pigeons and people who feel they've been wronged over silly reasons, there's SO MUCH that could come from the complete dysfunction/emotional constipation that is the Wayne family. Remember, ANY frustration or annoyance or upset counts. 

Meaning Ladybug and Chat will be having their hands full with the Waynes until they leave.

And given that Hawk Moth comes up with the silliest costumes and powers...

...the others would never let them live it down.

...

It was a beautiful day in Paris. And an absolutely wonderful vacation to the City of Love, where everything was peaceful and nothing was wrong.

Dick stood at the window looking out over the city.

Tim was on his computer doing some reports. Possibly Wayne Enterprises work, but more likely mission work.

Damien had apparently gotten tired of grumbling and was focused on sharpening his sword—which Bruce really shouldn’t have let him bring. But given the situation, he couldn’t argue against letting Damien have something that would help him stay calm.

Cass had found a magazine to occupy her time, though she seemed somewhat confused as to the male teen model that kept appearing in nearly every line.

And Jason…

…he was grinning. And watching Bruce with such anticipation, looking downright hopeful as he waited. Not helping was that he was holding what appeared to be a brand new camera, fully prepared to start recording.

Bruce knew why.

But he would not give him the satisfaction.

Because nothing was going to happen.

Absolutely nothing.

Bruce twitched.

SNAP!

And his pen cracked from the sheer amount of pressure he was putting on it. Which was admittedly an annoyance, but wasn’t that big of a deal…

…if it wasn’t the 15th pen he’d broken in the past three hours.

It was fine though.

Nothing was wrong.

He was calm.

Calm.

Calm.

A muffled voice could be heard from outside despite the room being on the seventh floor of a building. Which of course was a coincidence and not because someone was actually right outside the room….and the building.

And perhaps if Bruce tried really hard, he could convince himself was just someone singing a line out of “American Pie” and not someone talking about butterflies.

No.

Because there were no butterflies outside. Because he was fine!

Not the slightest bit upset!

At. All.

“That’s thirty-three…” Dick counted.

…

…

…

…Dammit.

Bruce sighed.

“Did she come back to the roof?”

“Actually, she never left.” Tim confirmed, not even looking up from his computer. “She stopped leaving after the last incident and has just been standing there for the past couple hours now, catching them as they come.”

A long pause.

“How…?”

“Her partner has been bringing her water and snacks. And keeping watch whenever she has to leave to hibernate or use the little bug’s room.”

Bruce groaned.

Why couldn’t it be a villain? Or a fan or stalker? He could deal with those. He dealt with them all the time.

It was the well intentioned young superheroes that he had a harder time dealing with. The ones that wanted to help but were misguided in not understanding that their help wasn’t necessary.

“Gotcha!”

“Thirty-four.” Dick droned.

…no matter how many magical butterflies implied otherwise.

“Maybe we should do what the nice Ladybug hero asked and finish up our business in Paris?” Tim suggested.

“I refuse!” Damien shouted, jumping to his feet. “This villain has made a mockery of us and it must not be allowed to stand! I will not leave until he has been caught and my sword has tasted his blood!”

“Damien, we don’t kill, remember?”

“I wouldn’t kill him.” Damien said, looking away with a pout. “Just…dismember him a bit.” He frowned, consideringly. “Maybe cut off his arms. He can’t continue villainy then, right?”

Tim sighed.

“So that’s a no on going home early then.”

They heard a noise from the roof.

“Is she leaving?” Bruce asked, trying to hide how hopeful he was.

“Nope. It’s her catboyfriend back again.” Dick replied, blithely.

Bruce sighed.

“Do you think they’re dating?”

“Dick.” Bruce warned.

“Because the city seems to be really hamming up the romantic angle between the two and it’s kinda hard to not see.” Dick continued. 

“Dick.”

“Even if it is kinda weird that they’re essentially shipping teenagers.”

“Speaking from experience there, Dickie Boy?” Jason cut in, cheekily.

“Stop it. Both of you.” Bruce ordered. “The goal of coming to Paris was supposed to be to deal with the emotional terrorism from Hawk Moth.”

“A little hard with all your emotional constipation there, B.”

Jason smirked.

“Or should I say ‘Justice Man’?”

Bruce twitched.

[malk1ns]

"Everyone is convinced you aren't actually dating" would be so funny for sidgeno

oh i LOOOOOVEEEEE this one.

reverse trope prompts are here :)

When Kris laughs, Sid seriously considers punching him in the face.

"Good one," Kris says before Sid can do more than clench a fist. "Is this because of the Rossi article from last week? Oh, we're the best of friends, we know each other better than we know ourselves, all those embarrassing quotes, so now you're carrying on with it and pretending you and G are actually dating?"

"No, we—" Sid starts to protest, but Kris just laughs again and hangs up.

Baffled, Sid stares at his phone, then looks over at Geno sitting on the other end of the couch, whose brows are drawn together. "I don't..." he says uncertainly. "He's not believe?"

Sighing, Sid gets up and settles himself into Geno's lap, tucking his head against Geno's neck. "I guess not," he says, muffled, wiggling to get comfortable as Geno wraps his long arms around Sid's torso and pulls them flush. "He saw the article too and thought I was playing along."

Geno hums disapprovingly. "It's not very good story, not very good joke," he mutters. "You call back?"

Sid closes his eyes. They have the windows open to let in the late afternoon breeze off the lake. His home in Halifax is always peaceful, and with the breeze and the summer heat and the distant lapping of the lake, Sid's feeling drowsy. "Maybe tomorrow," he mumbles into Geno's jaw. "Let's take a nap."

--

Sid's phone blows up the next day. First Flower, because of course, but then Dumo, and PO, and Kuni, and Pascal—guys that are on the team, guys that haven't been on it for years, all of them texting to laugh at him for trying to fake being in a relationship with Geno.

"I don't get it," Sid says, baffled, as yet another text lights up his phone. "That article...I thought we were busted. It was so..."

Geno's tapping gloomily away at his iPad. Sid wisely isn't asking what Ovi's sending him. "Yes, it's like, have to say it first to friends before they read. We practically tell them how long we're together in it, like, why they're not believe?"

They'd forgotten they had agreed to a joint interview for the Athletic until they'd woken up, had sex, and decided to get high. They'd just started feeling it when Geno's phone had gone off with the appointment for the interview in 30 minutes. Sid had gone into the basement while Geno stayed in his office so they couldn't hear each other, but the situation had been so bizarre and only gotten more so as the edibles kicked in that by the end of it Sid was barely containing his laughter, and Geno was no better.

When the article came out a few weeks later, Geno had gone white and Sid immediately called Pat for damage control. They all assumed the worst—Geno's blatant tender emotions for Sid, the way Sid talked about their time together, there was no way nobody would pick up on it. Sid figured they'd get the first inquiry within days, and he and Pat and Geno and JP had sat up on a conference call all night strategizing.

Sid had never really thought about coming out publicly as more than an abstract, but with a plan in place he felt good, prepared.

And then...nobody asked.

A few days went by, and Pat reported all-clear every night when they checked in. Somehow, impossibly, they were going to get away with it.

Sid and Geno had talked, though, and they decided they wanted to tell their friends. Hence the call to Kris, who had apparently decided to text everyone they've ever played with to tell them about Sid's "great joke".

"I have no idea," Sid replies, frowning at his phone as he turns it off. "I mean...maybe..." He hesitates.

The problem is, he kind of gets it. He and Geno have been joined at the hip since 2006, but they didn't actually get together until 2015. By then, they'd heard it all, and vociferously denied it—to friends and family, to their respective girlfriends, and to themselves, until after they were bounced out of the playoffs and Sid went to Geno's house and finally, finally kissed him.

Sid had pictured sneaking around, trying to explain away why they were spending so much time together alone, but...nobody said a thing. Nobody noticed anything different. It really forced Sid to confront just how long they'd been into each other.

So, yeah. Maybe they shouldn't be surprised that nobody believes them.

Geno sighs and tosses his iPad aside. "Whatever," he announces, "they get it soon. Hey, you want to go upstairs?" He wiggles his eyebrows at Sid.

Sid beats up into the bedroom, but it's close.