#there was SO much that had potential that just went under utilized

[mando-din-lorian]

Does anyone else thing the pirates in season 3 were severely underutilized?

Like, we had these guys with a vendetta against Din. They tried to space ambush him because he killed a few of their people. The Pirate King wanted Din’s head. They had a huge ship with more ships and who knows how many pirates in his employ.

I thought these guys were gonna be a real problem in the show, but like…

They were defeated so easily. It wasn’t hard at all. There were no stakes whatsoever. We saw them in the first episode, saw them again in episode 5 and defeated them that same episode. We didn’t even get to see the Pirate King fight! I wanted to see more of that mossy, seaweed face motherfucker! And then he just upped and died on his ship.

Idk just feeling salty tonight that they set up these great antagonists that looked so interesting, and then just…didn’t do much with them.

Honestly, it would’ve been interesting if the pirates were hunting Din much like the bounty hunters were hunting Grogu in season 1. Only this time it’s just Din they’re after. Hell, you know how interesting it would be if Din had gotten captured by them? Or cornered? Or something.

It’s just me being salty about season 3 hours

[nocturnesmoon]

-Archaic Blood Masterlist-

Thinking about TF141 and vampire reader, it's probably been done before but i can't get it out of my head. All the potential it has both fluff, angst and plot. Because listen listen listen

What if

You are a vampire contracted by the military, except the vampire part is a very well-kept secret. You're old, your life spans all the way back to when they burned witches at the stake. You were an ordinary person back then, careful and with your own beliefs and superstitions like anyone. The rumors and sightings of witches, vampires, and werewolves was things you didn't concern yourself with. At least until you sighted it yourself, and you got pulled in.

Taking slight dnd logic, at least in the sense that the vampire that turned you ended up in control over you. You were trapped there along with quite a few other vampire spawn, all subjected to the same type of abuse and torture over decades. You got used to it, the drive to get away was beaten out of you as you blindly obeyed your master.

You had lost hope of rescue or even just the sweet relief of actual death, until the castle got raided by military. You fought against them by command of the vampire lord, but in a moment of clarity you ripped yourself free from the clawing grip it had on your mind. You pushed against your master, and killed them in their already injured state, granting you the freedom you had wanted for so long.

You still had your immortal strife, but now a free vampire spawn, you finally had a sense of will again, you had hope again. You didn't know why the military decided to spare you, they had butchered your brothers and sisters along with your creator, but someone took interest in you.

And free from one prison you went right into another.

It quickly became clear to you that their goal was to make you something short of a super soldier. Your vampirism gave you a heightened set of abilities, and with a few drawbacks they could utilize you well during missions. Despite your attempts of escape, your newly granted freedom was put on a new leash. You were given a handler, someone to train you into obedience as if you hadn't spent decades being under the control of a single person.

It didn't matter how much you protested; they were insistent that you owed them for "saving" you. So reluctantly you leaned into it, you found that you actually had a lot of fun on these types of missions they would send you on. You did various things; a lot of your time was spent on hunting other monsters like yourself. Both werewolves, vampires, witches, and other mythical creatures since you were much better at sniffing them out.

You proved yourself time and time again, and eventually you became rather trusted. Eventually you would outgrow your handler, unlike them you weren't burdened with aging mortality. So, every few decades, an accident or event would stage your death, and you'd come back under a new name and skillset.

Every single persona you carried got known around the military for different things, though they all had the monster hunting specialty in common. The only people knowing the truth being yourself and a select amount of your higher ups that handled you.

Now you've found yourself settled in your life in the military, it isn't what you expected but you deal with it easily enough. Until the call comes that you're going to be working with a certain Taskforce 141, and the group you meet change everything.

You're paired up with them for an indefinite amount of time, the goal being hunting a cult of monsters that's been stirring up things and risking the public eye figuring out about the existence of monsters. Laswell contacted your handlers for your assistance and thereby sort of became your new temporary handler. In the start she was the only one that knew of your vampirism, and you tried to keep it that way, but it was hard when the others were quite observant of their new addition to the team.

You get along just fine with them, there's a distance between you all at first. A professional distance that doesn't allow you to get to know them all too well. It's a distance you try to keep up, try to maintain but quickly crumbles when you find you enjoy their company a lot more than normal.

Soap always finds a reason to talk to you, either inquiring you about what you're doing or info dumping about his latest find. You allow him to stay, listening to his ramblings with a gentle smile on your face, as you continue typing up your report.

Gaz likes to engage you in different activities, be it card games, video games, training together. It's often paired with Soap and creates quite the chaotic environment, but one that never fails to make you laugh like you've never done before. You even start to suspect that the two of them are teaming up on getting you to open up to them.

Price has his way with complimenting you, he observes your work and your determination with great interest. He notices how much hard work you put into the missions and even outside of missions. He appreciates having someone who's so dedicated, but he also knows you can't possibly be resting enough and finds himself pulling you away from your work to have rest together, however that might be.

Ghost isn't as quick to accept you as the others, he respects you from a work standpoint but other than that there's something about you that doesn't sit right with him. He chalks it up to you just being an unpredictability, an uneven equation to the stability he's used to with the other 141 members. He genuinely tries to get closer with you when he sees how much the rest enjoy your company, but that uneasy feeling is still something he can't shake.

Ghost is probably the first to start suspecting things, maybe even fully figure it out. Everyone probably starts to notice things every now and then, they're smart men, they're hunting a cult of monsters that includes vampires, they know of some of the behaviors.

It also gets harder and harder for you to mask your instincts, the more comfortable you get with them the more you forget to be careful. You start feeling too safe with them, forgetting the fact of who you are. They start noticing how you don't really eat, at least never with them. Every time they invite you to join them, you find some convenient excuse.

Another thing they start to notice is your adverse nature to light. Your room always have the blinds closed and lights off. You gravitate towards the shadows, you feel more welcome in them, and Ghost swears that one time he saw your eyes glow red in the darkness.

Every time you're out in the sunlight, you wear extensive gear or covering clothes. Full balaclava, sunglasses, gloves, almost none of your skin is ever shown to the rays of the sun. The one time Soap asked you about it, you gave the excuse that your skin is just very sensitive to the sun, that you get sunburns easily because of sensitive skin and just prefer the shade.

Your heightened sensitivity is something Price and Ghost notices quick. Your sharp movements, your overly quick thinking, your stamina, and strength don't line up with the humanely possible. Not to mention the way you stare at blood a little too intensely when you come across it.

Whenever Price asks Laswell about you, every bit of information he gets out of her is vague and doesn't always add up. Even when he gets his hands on your file, and goes over it with the team, despite how impressive your record is, there are things on it that doesn't make sense with how long you've supposedly been alive.

The breakpoint happens when Gaz finds your stash of blood packs. He didn't even mean to be nosy in your room, but he was looking for something of his that you had borrowed, and stumbled upon them. His eyes wide as he looks back at you, the things he's been thinking, and the small whispers he's shared with the rest about you, now all confirmed to be true.

You try to talk him down, but you know by the way he looks at you that you're starting to form as a threat in his mind. He tries to get away, maybe to get backup or find something specific to defend himself with, but you manage to tackle him down. Not exactly helping his griping fear. Only then do you manage to talk him down, assure him that you aren't a threat and that you won't hurt anyone.

He leaves it reluctantly, mumbling agreeance, but you're aware that he's not going to keep it secret. It's just about who moves faster now. You like the relationship you've built with the 141, you're even starting to get through to Ghost, and it wasn't something you were keen on losing. So, Laswell calls a meeting, it was time to let them know.

Everyone gathers, confused at the sudden emergency meeting, except for Gaz who is staring you down, his leg bouncing furiously against the ground. You do your best to not look threatening, to prepare yourself for possible worse reactions.

"They're a vampire spawn," Laswell tells them, ”And they've been helping the military control the remaining monsters in the world for a very long time now." she states as if it's most normal thing in the world to have a free vampire spawn on your team you're supposed to trust. Though their response surprise you.

"We know"

At first you think you weren't quick enough, that Gaz got to them before you did. But you quickly find out most of them have been suspicious for months, and eventually came to terms with it. Gaz's outburst just stemmed from shock and impulse thinking. They all have quite a few questions, ranging from trivial to stupid and some just plain curiosity.

You're most surprised to find that they don't want to view you any different than they already have, that they enjoy your company just as much as you've enjoyed theirs. They still want to work with you, they still want to be around you. It makes your unbeating heart flutter, and your nonexistent blood rush in excitement of the future possibilities.

They've accepted you into their own little pack, you don't know it yet, but they've already claimed you as theirs. If they could have it their way, and they will, you won't be working for any other taskforce again in a very long time, and you think that this might just be the most interesting decade yet, in your long, long life.

I really wanna write more about this, vampire tropes always have me frothing at the mouth-

Sorry for the word vomit but i had to get this out my head, i can't be the only thinking about this, the potential-

[cosmicjoke]

I'm posting this to my own blog, since @qafi told me in a DM they didn't want my reply on their post calling Levi a "failure". They suggested I make my own post instead.

Essentially, they claimed that Levi's sense of "guilt" is what drove him to want to save people, which is what led him above ground and what, in turn, led to him "sacrificing" so many people for a so-called better world, which is what led to Eren being able to enact the Rumbling. Basically, in a roundabout way, blaming Levi for how things eventually turned out with Eren because he was "too noble and selfless", driven by, supposedly, a sense of guilt for being a "bad man", and wanting to atone for that. They claimed that his desire to save people is essentially what ended up getting so many people killed, and if he had just stayed Underground, more people would have survived.

I didn't agree with any of that, so this is what I wrote in reply.

I wouldn't give so much weight to the idea of Levi being driven by a sense of guilt, nor would I call Levi a "failure".

Levi wants to use his strength to help others because he feels he's duty bound toward that end, having something no one else does. That comes from a natural inclination toward selflessness and generosity, which manifests in the form of protection.

It was Erwin who laid out a path that allowed Levi to utilize his strength to its maximum potential. But the desire to help others was always there in Levi, born of an innate empathy within him.

This quote from Isayama sums it up:

"It's that he found a place to make the most of what he can do, or rather, his own special abilities. Underground, where it was all he could do to stay alive, he had to live for that, but then he started to form relationships and began to feel that he could do things for others. And that's why he first went above ground... And then... he felt like he should make the most of what he can do. Or he was awakened to a sense of mission, I should say."

Erwin shows him the path toward utilizing his strength to it's actual potential, but the instinct to protect and help and save was always there in Levi.

We see this play out in "Bad Boy" with Levi's desire to protect his mother's memory. He only initially fights back against the men to protect Kuchel's honor. That's a sign of the empathetic nature in Levi, that even after years of lessons from Kenny in how to fight and commit violence and even to take lives, all to protect himself, Levi's instinct is to fight only in defense of another.

That isn't something learned, and we see this instinct in him displayed before he would ever have felt any sense of guilt from what the man in the glasses says to him. That we see that selflessness in him from the start shows it's not driven by or rooted in guilt, but simply a component of his nature.

The very fact of Levi taking Furlan and Isabel under his wing is also proof of an innate desire to help others. He didn't need to help them, and indeed, Levi would undoubtedly have had an easier time surviving on his own than with the added burden of two extra mouths to feed.

The thing one has to remember is that, Levi was of very limited means to help anyone Underground. He wasn't considered a citizen of Paradis, and he had no immediate means to make it up to the surface, and so had no recourse toward really utilizing his abilities on a broader scale than what he was already doing, that is, using his physical strength to defend those weaker than himself in a brutally harsh and cut-throat environment. That's what we see him do with his rescue of Furlan and Isabel. Again, that's Levi's natural empathy manifesting. But Levi had no path toward saving "more people" at that point. He could only do so much while trapped in the social status of being a resident of the Underground City. Being denied citizenry, he wouldn't have been allowed to join the military, for example. And Levi's own sense of imagination when it comes to using his strength is limited. We know this from Levi's own sense of directionlessness after Erwin dies. He relied on Erwin to show him what to do. So it wasn't so much a lack of desire to help others that kept Levi Underground, but a limited imagination, and also a lack of means.

Once he made it up top, we see that natural inclination to help others play out multiple times. For, example, when he saves the life of the solider who'd endangered his own by cutting him off mid-flight on the SC obstacle course. And we also see Levi display an empathetic concern for the scouts chasing him, before they ever even make it up top, hoping no one got hurt in their pursuit of him through the streets of the Underground. We also see Levi's concern for Flagon and the rest of his squad at the end of the story, not wanting Isabel and Furlan to come with him, in part, because he knew without them, Flagon's squad would be shorthanded, and thus, more susceptible to titan attack.

Levi didn't know what his strength could be used for up to the point he saved Furlan and Isabel because nobody ever showed him. Kenny abandoned him, and Levi was left without explanation for why he was so powerful.

His reaction to his discovery that he could use his strength to aid others was to then feel a weight of responsibility toward that end, and that in itself is a manifestation of his selfless nature. Because nobody ever taught him either that he should feel that way.

So I maintain that he never decided to use his strength to help others to sooth some sense of guilt in himself over disappointing his mother. If that were the case, Levi either would have vowed never to kill again, or he would have displayed an increasing sense of guilt and self-loathing over killing others, which we never see Levi do at any point in the story. He kills because he thinks it's necessary. As he tells Jean later, he doesn't know if it's right or wrong, just that it's a necessary act toward a particular outcome. There's no sense of moral quandary in Levi's acts of violence, no agonized worry or wondering over his actions being morally correct. He doesn't see it as a good thing, but neither does he see it as a bad thing. He kills and commits violence for purely utilitarian purposes. When it's necessary toward saving either himself or others. Questions of guilt or remorse never come into it. It's simply a question of factual reality.

Again, Levi didn't even realize his strength could be used to help others until he was essentially full grown. It was that discovery which compelled him toward that decision, not a sense of guilt.

That shows a natural inclination toward selflessness, just like him fighting for his mother, but not himself, does. That selflessness lead to him searching for an answer as to the reason for his great strength, this in spite of Kenny teaching him it was meant for his own power, which eventually lead to him realizing it could be used to help others. Once Levi discovered that, he was always going to be someone who used his strength toward that end.

I don't think Levi ever truly believed in a "better world", either. I think Levi always knew that the goal of the Survey Corps was a pipe dream, and that he, personally, never truly saw it as worth the lives of his comrades. But he supported it because it was what his comrades had chosen to give their lives for, and, again, Levi believed his strength was meant to support them in whatever way they chose to live those lives. His protective instincts found an outlet in supporting the scouts mission, for the scouts themselves, not for some far-off Utopian future.

His taking on the responsibility of Eren was also toward that end. Levi didn't want to use Eren as a weapon. It was Erwin's decision to bring Eren into the scouts, and Levi trusted in Erwin's judgement, believing he had a vision beyond Levi's own scope of imagination. Remember, again, how Levi wasn't able to imagine for himself a better way to utilize his strength beyond helping a single individual at a time, and even before then, he wasn't able to imagine that he strength could be used toward that limited end. And that ties back to Levi not ever truly believing in or seeing the possibility of a better world, but simply doing everything within his power to support and protect the ability of others to choose for themselves. Levi's mind is one of practicality and pragmatism. He isn't a dreamer. He let Erwin use him as a weapon because he trusted in Erwin's judgement more than his own instincts, and trusted in Erwin to make the best use of his strength. He believed Erwin could see something he couldn't.

And so Levi's disappointment in the end doesn't have to do with his own failure to realize the Scouts dreams, I don't think. Their dream was realized. A world without titans was brought to fruition. It was made reality. They succeeded.

Levi's disappointment in the end is because what he knew all along turned out to be true. Which is that that dream was never worth the lives they gave.

He supported them because it was how they chose to spend their lives, the cause they dedicated themselves to. But it was never something Levi himself believed in. There's a reason Levi never says "dedicate your heart" until near the very end, with Hange. Because Levi never believed in the ideology of an ideal or Utopian world being worth the lives of his comrades. He believed the opposite, that the thing his comrades sacrificed themselves for needed to prove its worth to them. His single salute at the end is for all his fallen comrades, for them personally, not the ideology behind the Survey Corps itself.

[appleflavoredkitkats]

do you have any headcanons on what russell went through during his time with the utopians?

HELLO ISSY!! im in the middle of plotting my version of ivywood so i have SOME things... but not everything is fully fleshed out! here r some of them (under the cut!)

since it's sort of implied that russell's been raised there since birth/childhood, i feel like his parents only joined because they were struggling financially, which the utopians would have aided

i do think russell would have HATED the strict regulations at a young age. like obviously, he would still grow to adapt to some things (ie. desperate need to prove himself worthy, because the utopians would have deprived that of their followers) but to me, russell is just too much of a curious child. he wouldn't have kept his curiosities at bay, especially since he loved learning about more mind-boggling things like cryptic codes, linguistics, the human brain, etc. at a young age

i think this guy! would have been a very lonely child! esp since he's austistic and trans! since he's afab, i feel like his autism diagnosis would have come in late (like maybe 10 years old?) and that's the same time he would have realized he was trans. so he basically became a disappointment amongst the utopians. like parents would tell their kids that russell would be the child NOT to imitate u get me

but i feel like as much as i think russell would come out of this with insecurities, i think his pride is one of the reasons that got him out of there in the first place? and i mean, call him egotistical all you want, but the last thing russell would want to do is doubt his capabilities because that's EXACTLY what the utopians would have wanted.

in my version of ivywood, i made "once upon a crime" happen AFTER "wild wild death" because i hc that trevor neuman was responsible for russell's interest in psychology. but don't get it twisted, he doesn't rlly like the kid- rather, the higher-ups in utopia saw potential in his intelligence and wanted to profit off of that. to me, russell might have possibly made the foundations for their brainwashing mechanism, but russell himself doesn't realize that it actually works

i do think russell was genuinely close to his parents, although they don't get along all the time because the two are depressed servants of the cult. i do think russell would have had a closer bond to his mother though. i'd like to think she actually helped russell escape at 16. the only reason she didn't go with him was because she wanted to convince jupiter to go with her, but he adamantly refused out of fear.

the higher-ups definitely knew that caroline (russell's mom) assisted his escape and so they would have murdered her and framed it as an accident. when this happened, they utilized jupiter's grief to make him stay in utopia even longer.

after hearing news about his mom's death, russell would have sneakily watched the funeral from afar. that's when he received the note that says he has nowhere to hide.

i need to flesh this out even more, but i definitely think russell reached out to the pbpd after he escaped. i think it would be funny if andrea assigned frank to look after him, at least up until russell finds a secure job to move out lol. there is a reason these two are at each other's throats all the time !

to return to the utopians though, i genuinely think that the fact russell was raised in a cult fucked up his sense of identity and vulnerability, in a sense that. this mfker HATES showing his true self to anyone in fear of it being used against him. his flirty, manipulative mask is definitely just. a mask. because it's a survival skill he developed after escaping !

moreover i do think he gets impostor syndrome sometimes because as much as he's a genuinely prideful person, sometimes he thinks he feels the need to grab everyone's attention because he was so deprived of it when he was young. so sometimes he does have to grapple with that, because he HATES thinking that a part of him is still disgustingly utopian

[your-local-simp-writers]

The Pleasure of Understanding

Word Count: 694

Warnings: None

Red Robin (Tim Drake) x Fem!Reader ︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

It was another night in Gotham, and Red Robin and (Y/N) were on a mission together. They had been partners for quite some time now, and their dynamic was undeniable. Both highly skilled, they worked in perfect harmony as they navigated the dark and dangerous streets.

After thwarting a group of criminals, they retreated to a rooftop to catch their breath. The adrenaline was still coursing through their veins, and (Y/N) couldn't help but feel grateful for the unwavering support she had in Tim.

"You're getting better and better with your moves," Tim complimented, his voice slightly muffled by the mask.

(Y/N) grinned, feeling a sense of pride at his words. "Coming from you, that means a lot," she replied.

Tim chuckled softly, a rare moment of lightheartedness for the usually stoic hero. "Well, I do have a knack for spotting potential," he said.

The two heroes shared a brief, knowing glance before returning their attention to the city below. (Y/N) appreciated Tim's ability to read her without needing to say a word, and she knew he valued the same from her.

"It's all in the report," Tim finally spoke again, referring to the thorough analysis he had prepared before their mission.

(Y/N) raised an eyebrow, playfully challenging him. "Have you ever seen me read a report?" she teased.

Tim's lips quirked into a smirk, his eyes meeting hers. "Then you should start reading the reports I write," he countered.

(Y/N) laughed softly, a warm affection for Tim evident in her eyes. "But then I wouldn't have the pleasure of listening to you telling me about it," she said.

His smirk softened into a gentle smile. "I suppose you have a point there," he admitted.

As they continued their patrol, (Y/N) found herself feeling more at ease with Tim than she had with anyone else. There was a mutual understanding between them that went beyond their roles as heroes. They had grown up together in a way, sharing their triumphs and struggles with each other.

"I remember when we first met," (Y/N) said, breaking the silence. "You were this scrawny kid trying to prove himself."

Tim's expression turned slightly serious, a hint of vulnerability shining through. "Yeah, I wanted to make a difference. To be more than just a sidekick," he replied.

"You've done more than that," (Y/N) reassured him. "You're a hero in your own right, Tim. Don't ever forget that."

He nodded, grateful for her words. "Thank you," he said softly.

As they continued their patrol, a sudden downpour caught them by surprise. Tim cursed under his breath, clearly displeased by the sudden change in weather.

(Y/N) couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "You look like a wet cat," she teased.

His eyes narrowed playfully, and he retaliated with a mock glare. "I'd like to see you handle a downpour like this," he shot back.

Without missing a beat, (Y/N) grinned mischievously and reached for her utility belt, pulling out a small, compact umbrella. "Always be prepared," she said, unfolding the umbrella with a flick of her wrist.

Tim stared at her, a mix of surprise and admiration evident in his eyes. "You never cease to amaze me," he said, a hint of awe in his voice.

As they huddled under the umbrella, their shoulders brushing against each other, (Y/N) felt a sense of comfort and closeness with Tim. It was moments like these that reminded her why she enjoyed working with him so much.

In the midst of the rain and chaos of Gotham, Tim and (Y/N) found solace in each other's presence. They understood each other in a way that went beyond words, a connection that ran deep.

As they continued their patrol through the rain-soaked city, (Y/N) couldn't help but feel a sense of gratitude for the bond she shared with Tim. They were more than just partners—they were friends, allies, and confidants.

And in that understanding, they found strength and support in each other. They faced the darkness of Gotham together, knowing that they had someone to rely on, no matter the storm.

[egg-emperor]

Hello! I hope you're doing well! I wanted to pick your brain over Eggman in Frontiers to hear your perspective.

I honestly found Eggman lacklustre in Frontiers. I was disappointed. I have a few questions to see if I'm missing anything and if you can put my mind at ease.

What were Eggman's motives for booting up the Ancients' technology? He mentions secrets but what for? Any other game story is a motive for world domination. How will the Ancients enable this?

I saw the relationship he and Sage had as uwu and sappy. I can't visualise Eggman as a father. I certainly saw him act paternal towards Sage. It's not to my liking haha. I preferred the original ending where he had to fight for his personal victory and bring Sage back online.

Why was Eggman laughing at Sonic being corrupted? I assumed he personally wants to finish Sonic off. I think of Sonic 2 8 bit in Underground Zone where he saves Sonic to finish him off.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing your analysis.

Hello! I'm doing pretty good thanks, much more positive now I'm no longer struggling with the difficulty of the update XD Feels like I've been needing to recover though because I've been tired af! Hope you're doing well too ^^

He definitely deserved to do a lot more. Final Horizon improved by giving him a bit of action but he was still sidelined hard. I still feel so teased by the MC texture pack of Eggman and Sage in Wyvern, that would've been so metal in game lol. Even having even just a side boss is always better than none. The more action the better! It's not boring for him to be a boss and the villain he is and get some action. Especially since they easily could've incorporated the Titans by having Eggman take control, or he could've at least been a mini boss.

But I actually like everything we did get and I'll be getting into a lot of why here! And I appreciate the interest and you asking me for my take on it. I hope I can possibly offer a new perspective but either way, thanks for hearing me out. ^^ But buckle up because it's gonna be a big one lol, I decided to really dig in!

----------------

"What were Eggman's motives for booting up the Ancients' technology? He mentions secrets but what for? Any other game story is a motive for world domination. How will the Ancients enable this?"

His interest in The Ancients is just the classic story finding about an ancient power and checking it out to see what he can do with it. He knew there was a civilization with impressive and valuable technology that was attracting the emeralds, and understandably went to check it out. The prequel comic sets it up like this:

While his initial discovery wasn't revealed, he learned about the islands where an ancient civilization possessed advanced technology and it started attracting the emeralds. So he goes on a trip there, looks around and sets stuff up as we see traces of his presence left behind with ships on each one and Death Egg robot on Chaos Island where he was farming geothermal energy from the volcano.

He came across the Cyber Space structure as a piece of that tech that intrigues him so he wants to override their cyber security to access and take control of it for himself, so he had Sage downloaded to the data pad thingy and uploaded her to it to do so. He was then was supposed to get tech like their soldiers and Titans under control and use them in his plans, then he could discover more of their secrets and find a way to use all of their advanced tech he finds as a tool for world domination.

Immediately upon merging Sage with Cyber Space to try to get past that security, it summons the soldiers and the Giganto is seen in the back, so there you already have potential new power for him to take control of so he was correct. If he did succeed in harnessing and utilizing it and uncovered all their secrets in his surveying of it, he could have total control of the islands, get himself new minions, and discover more about their technology with Cyber Space and all and use their power for his selfish gain.

But of course it didn't go quite as planned as it seems that Sage sensed the danger and decided to seal Eggman in Cyber Space as a protective measure, so he gets trapped in there instead.

When trapped in Cyber Space he's fascinated by how advanced it is to the point he admits it's more than what he's dabbled in before. He continues his analysis of what he sees and throughout the memos, he finds out he was right to be curious and with all the research he gathers about the capabilities of Cyber Space and begins questioning how he can use this power and knowledge to his selfish benefit. Classic Eggman 💜

Sage was also able to somewhat control the Titans, it's just something was blocking her from taking full control but she was able to use them against Sonic and Eggman was very pleased. I'm assuming this was part of his initial plan, to take control of their power and use it against Sonic, then explore the capabilities of the rest of the tech on the islands to utilize for his bigger plan in world domination.

He was always planning on taking control of their creations and using them against Sonic and exploring the islands, uncovering their secrets and analyzing and learning about them like the scientist he is, then using that knowledge to figure out how he can use it in his schemes.

He finds out there's even more about their tech that could be useful with the capabilities of Cyber Space throughout. And he starts taking interest in The End when he learns about it being an even greater more powerful force for being able to wipe them out despite their own impressive power and creations. Which had even more potential if could've found a way to handle it, like he displayed a willingness and confidence in being able to do because of his genius and skill.

( Gotta love how he spits in the face of The Ancients' being wiped out by thinking he can do better. Sure is super sympathetic towards them huh ;D )

So had he not been trapped in Cyber Space, he could've used The Ancients' soldiers, Titans, and The End and if had utilized them successfully, I'm sure he would've had a lot of power that could help him take over the world with some plan. He clearly believes they could've done so themselves, to him it's just a question of why they didn't go ahead beyond a few "piddly" islands because of course he'd do so in a heartbeat.

It's funny because it's also another example of how he's incapable of considering that they might not have that same greed and desire for world domination like him, he can't fathom it lol

So he already knew enough to be aware that they possessed power that he could use in his plans, so he went there to check it out and take control of their tech. Then he was going to find out what else he could do to use their tech to his advantage to achieve world domination. While a lot of this unfortunately fell apart, he still spends his time uncovering more and analyzing everything he finds out while trapped inside Cyber Space too, as we learn about in the memos.

It really shows how during the entire main game and even in the update with the island conversations, he was thinking about what he could do with their power. People saying he's morally gray in this game confuse me because of his obvious villainy and desire to scheme with the only things stopping him being trapped in Cyber Space and then in danger of The End. The intent and desire is still there from beginning to end!

And the potential was there too. Eggman had a reason to be interested in The Ancients' secrets and I would've loved to see him actually put all this knowledge to use. It feels like they teased it waaay too much to never have him actually do anything with everything he learned... so I wonder if there's a chance he'll actually do so in the future?

------------------------------------

"I saw the relationship he and Sage had as uwu and sappy. I can't visualise Eggman as a father. I certainly saw him act paternal towards Sage. It's not to my liking haha. I preferred the original ending where he had to fight for his personal victory and bring Sage back online."

I don't think the game did too bad of a job at showing what the real true dynamic of Eggman and Sage really is, ever since I paid closer attention in my second playthrough. I regret letting fandom influence how I thought and felt during my first because it ruined my first experience and made me believe things that weren't true. But now I love it because it's way different to fanon!

The most important thing to consider is the entire basis of Eggman's side of the dynamic and the specific reasons he comes to value and praise her at all, all said in his own words in the memos:

What kind of normal good wholesome caring parent brags that their child would be "loyal" and "perfectly effective"? Exactly. Those aren't things selfless, good hearted, good intentioned, genuinely caring parents expect of their child and that's the point. Eggman is already fucked up for that alone. Then to hammer it home, BOOM there it is:

The reason he recognizes, praises, and values these things in Sage as much as he does besides all the ways he benefits from them- is that he can take pride in being the one that made it all possible as she's a reflection of his genius- praising her is praising himself as her creator. And this is why Flynn said it was unsettling and that he warmed up to her for all the wrong reasons.

It's important to remember and consider this when analyzing absolutely every interaction between the two in this story.

In the prequel comic we see he specifically built Sage to protect him and he wishes aloud for a creation that will just once make him proud:

Upon hearing this, it may have prompted Sage to try extra hard to please him on top of her programming. And he was already calling her his "latest and greatest" like he does all his creations lol. So she also may have felt the need to try extra hard to live up to that high standard and expectation too.

Anyway, whether that's Sage's intention or if she's going purely by her stated programming, she does live up to fulfilling her programmed function and Eggman's wishes for a creation that will fill him with pride. She's loyal, efficient, and protects him multiple times throughout main story and Final Horizon.

Eggman takes note of her efficiency and her being crucial in his survival in the memos.

She shows true loyalty, efficiency in serving and protecting him as created, and prioritizes his safety and desires. She talks about saving him and the world for him to rule specifically, which he smiles smugly at like "finally somebody here understands it's all about me >:D"

All the times he praises her highly throughout the entire game are for doing exactly as she was created and asked to do, or surpassing those expectations in pleasant ways. But then every time she does something he doesn't want her to, even in cases where his best interests are still in mind, he snaps at her for it not being exactly what he wants: (Click through for better view/open in new tab on desktop, I don't wanna make the post even longer)

Also there's also him suddenly switching to being appalled, jealous, and pissed at her just for admiring Sonic

This all shows how conditional it is. He'll snap and yell at her and thump the Egg Mobile when she doesn't do what he wants in the exact way he wants one second, and praises her highly when she does the next. It's really represented best by these scenes:

First he was yelling at her for daring to suggest something he doesn't want to do, smashing his fist against the Egg Mobile in anger, and flying off. Then he was in danger of the G.U.N helicopters, she jumped in and saved him, and then he immediately switched to praising her highly and saying he was proud of her. What makes this especially significant is that you can get the second scene to play immediately after the other, if you trigger them right with the unlocking of the emeralds. Literally changes like the weather between her doing something he hates to something he wants.

I also want to bring up the flashback montage:

It shows Eggman doesn't actually do anything selflessly nice. All he does praise her for what she was created to do and she just applied love that she learned from watching Sonic and friends to those initiatives of loyalty and protection she was programmed with, the way Eggman praised her for fulfilling them, and to any likeness to family like him as her creator and Orbot and Cubot as his too, the idea of having a home, etc.

Eggman's side really is shown to be shallow, self-centered, and with his own interests and benefits in mind all along, while Sage's is more professional at first but becomes much deeper and more meaningful over time, as she witnesses what it means to be a family born of love from Sonic and co interacting. She looks to Eggman as her creator for that dynamic and applies the feelings of love she learned from them to it, even though their master creator and servant creation dynamic is much different to that. She doesn't have that but wishes she did.

Sage also clearly has doubts about him caring for her when she has to ask Sonic if he really thinks Eggman does, and it shows in her songs as she questions whether he'll be mad at her, or if she's asking for too much just to be with him, as I talked about here. This also shows that Eggman hasn't given her enough to convince her and we can really see that in the scenes. Even Sonic mumbles that Eggman "cares" for her "in his own way" because even he knows he isn't capable of loving and caring about people in the traditional conventional expected way.

They played some moments for the cuteness factor as they knew it'd appeal to a wider audience and it sure did but that part has no appeal to me. I instead like how the unsettling undertones are still there and make it interesting to analyze. And with the specific ways he praised her in the memos and the specific circumstances in mind, it makes sense as they're always the reasons that Eggman's side of the dynamic is built on.

It makes sense for Eggman not to trash her, he said she was crucial to his survival. Sure she pissed him off but so do Orbot and Cubot all the time and he keeps them around because ultimately they're useful and do their jobs (plus I also think he enjoys getting to boss them around and discipline them harshly as he does because it gives him a sense of power and control over others). And so does Sage, but with genuine enthusiasm, loyalty, and much more efficiency, and has his best interests in mind and a genuine desire to protect him. So why would he get rid of her and then not want to bring her back after her sacrifice? That would make no sense.

And it makes sense for him to praise her and be proud of her too. It's just like him being proud of Gamma. In fact, the way the scene of him yelling at her comes right before the one where he's saved and praises her highly and says he's proud of her, is a parallel to this scene where he was yelling at all the E Series calling them all dummies but then immediately changing his tune when he saw Gamma and saying he's proud of him for doing exactly what he wanted. I did a whole comparison here.

And it makes sense for him to take pride in her as an impressive life like creation, which he finds superior to organic natural life for it, and the ways he can benefit from her loyalty and efficiency. He can also take pride in her for being her creator/father, as she's a reflection of his genius and scientific skill and is useful to him. And by calling himself her father, it's also appealing to her desires for a familial bond which will also give her even more enthusiasm to serve him.

Eggman doesn't do any of this in ways that don't suit his character. He's valuing, praising her, and acting paternal on these conditions specifically, which is the only way it can work with his narcissism, ego, and selfishness intact. It's great that they didn't change him and instead found a way to further develop and solidify his already existing traits, by showing how a father daughter dynamic can work with these things in mind. It serves an an example rather than an exception to them, and this is what a lot of people are missing.

I also like The Final Horizon's ending as Eggman isn't the overly physically affectionate gushing and throwing arms around people type, it doesn't suit his demeanor and behavior and I'm glad to see that hasn't been suddenly forced with Sage. This isn't over the top and uncomfortable OOC like fanon.

It's a subtle and small gesture, extending his arm with hand out to her but looking away and forward. He's quiet, solemn, and reserved. His demeanor and body language is important. He takes a breath that seems like a "sigh well, here goes" kind of way then mumbles it, not much, just small words of praise towards her doing the very things he created and praised her for before- doing what he wants her to and serving her purpose as his protector like she protected him in the fight, and calling her his daughter also has the same effect in encouraging her and he knows it, as well as how it's appealing to him for his pride as he said in the memo.

It's very important to acknowledge he's not shy at all, that's the last word to describe him. He has the highest self esteem, self love, and confidence and it's all genuine. It's just that hyper affectionate super warm and mushy gushy-ness, be it through feelings, words, or actions isn't his thing. The most he's ever going to hype someone up close to it is in a performative manipulative way to urge them to continue doing what pleases him, and he forces it in some cases more than others, you get varying degrees.

But I like how it's on the more subtle side here a lot because it's even more telling of his true character. When he's acting like this it aligns with that reasoning again but with a new look at his style of showing it in a physical subtle manner, with his behavior being similar to the scene where she saved him in Cyber Space and said he was proud of her for it- only it was only through words then. We've now seen how he can show this verbally and physically and I like it a lot, it's the only way this can work and they did it.

I truly believe he doesn't feel the typical conventional idea of "love" for anyone but himself because he is the biggest egotist and narcissist in all of existence and is extremely selfish and people seem to be forgetting what that entails for his behavior and personality feelings, and mindset with his self absorption and low empathy. There are no sudden exceptions to this, Sage is literally just another perfect example of it, nothing has changed with him.

Also, think about the terms of which he's praising her in all of their "cutest" moments together:

Eggman is delighted that Sage has succeeded in getting Sonic's ass beat and hearing the battle reports. She's proving herself to be very useful and efficient, so he decides to take full advantage of that by properly giving her control of the Eggnet which is a huge promotion. So he uses it to butter her up to make it all the more inviting.

(again click/open in new tab for full view)

She is indeed a good change of pace from Orbot and Cubot as they're often less efficient and don't have the same enthusiasm. Sage brings everything they do but better in appealing to Eggman's interests and serving him well. And at first he takes a dig at them as he hates them immensely without an ounce of fondness but when Sage displays interest in them as being like family, he decides to play along with it and it pleases her, which is also going to make it even more inviting.

But when he first praises her most highly to her face beyond the offhand mumbling of her actions being "commendable" by saying he's proud of her, it's right after he was saved by her from the G.U.N helicopters. Then in The Final Horizon ending where he says she did good and held her hand, it's because he's saying she did a good job in protecting him from the line of fire in the final boss, helping him in destroying The End, and saving the world for him to conquer. Same goes for the original ending for the latter half, for him to revive her and say "that's my girl"

She's done exactly as asked, and he's praising her for it because it genuinely is a job well done and is exactly what he wanted and him reacting with praise encourages that. It's always because he got something out of it. It's not selfless, it's not sweet for the sake of it because he's just feeling sweet and fatherly and kind-hearted. There's always a reason in it where he has benefitted from it. It can be considered emotionally manipulative for that and very conditional too. She goes to great lengths with her actions and he rewards her with mere words- except for when it comes to her biggest accomplishment in The Final Horizon, he takes it a bit further. And what does he offer then? Just a small simple hand hold, while he looks away, seeming quiet and reserved. But it's enough for Sage and it works. It keeps her loyal and loving, he'll need to encourage it to keep her useful and enthusiastic in it.

These are all the specific reasons he praises and warms up to her, also for how calling himself her father is another way to take pride in her as her genius creator, as he said in the Egg Memos. It's all for selfish, self serving, self praising reasons. I like that a lot, it's very in character that way and how it's possible for such a dynamic to exist with his narcissism. Sage is the one giving things to him, protecting him, serving him, and showing loyalty, support, and respect for his desires while Eggman just takes. She does exactly what he wants as she’s created for and is willing and enthusiastic unlike a lot of creations of his. Eggman still hasn’t done shit for Sage, except praise her when she does what he wants but then becomes grumpy and snaps at her every time she does something he doesn’t.

So that's why, while I don't care for the cutesy way they're framed, I can see why Eggman would act that way to appeal to her desire for the family dynamic and encourage her to stay loyal and efficient. So now when it comes to the dynamic, I realized that I shouldn't just write off the entire concept as OOC. The question doesn't lie in "would this situation make sense for Eggman to do at all?", instead it's in "does this have in character reasons and basis for this to happen?" and in my opinion, it absolutely does, so it works.

------------------------

"Why was Eggman laughing at Sonic being corrupted? I assumed he personally wants to finish Sonic off. I think of Sonic 2 8 bit in Underground Zone where he saves Sonic to finish him off."

He does really want to be the one personally finish Sonic off. XD He does say this in the English version and in the Japanese version he says he wishes he could've been the one who bury him.

I absolutely love this scene because it really emphasizes that he does hate Sonic as he says, despite any respect he also has and any credit he gives where it's due for him being a formidable adversary. And it's the funniest moment in the game hehe 💕

I think he'll be happy about Sonic dying in any way, as long as it's not being stolen from him from someone else like the Deadly Six for example, so he saved him at Lava Mountain so he could destroy him with his Eggrobo instead. In the Sonic 2 8 bit, I imagine it's because him simply falling into lava also would've been an unsatisfying demise.

In cases where he wasn't the one to directly finish him off, if he still has some hand in it, he can accept it. This doesn't apply when just almost falling into lava like Sonic 2 8 bit or when lackeys of his almost succeed in killing him when they're no longer on his side, like the Zeti breaking the bridge and Sonic almost falling into the lava, so he saved him both times so he could try to kill him himself after.

But in this game, since he helped kick off everything, he's partially responsible for the corruption and can at least settle for that. While he celebrates his supposed demise, he voices that his only regret is that he couldn't finish him off with his own hands for the ultimate satisfaction. Still, it's good to have him out of the way either way, a victory is a victory.

Exactly when and how he wants him to die tends to change a lot though, it's like it depends on his mood lol. Like how sometimes he will very clearly try to kill him during battles as he threatens his life and yells at him to die, how he tried to shoot the capsule out into space, and how he even wants creations or lackeys to actually try to kill him. I guess as long as it's by his orders he can settle for that but again, I think he'd be slightly disappointed that he couldn't do it by his own hands after the fact.

It's kind of like how we know that Eggman would prefer to show him his completed empire before "banishing" him (definitely meant killing) in Forces, which is why he actually kept him alive and imprisoned for six months. Yet he'll always very clearly be out for blood during battles and want him dead there and then. So I feel it depends on how desperate he's feeling to get rid of him in the moment and maybe in the case of Frontiers, for at least one good thing to come out of it. But ultimately, he'll always celebrate his demise if he has some hand in it at all and gets to finally succeed in his goal!

----------------

I love Frontiers Eggman so much. 🥰💜 I love his characterization and what he did actually get to do and I'm really glad I gave him another chance after my initial disappointment. The only things I'd change are a couple of English lines because they didn't make sense or would've been more in character rephrased but in most of those cases JP fixed it- and I'd give him more action, though the update improved on it a bit and gave him a chance to go up against the boss. But I really enjoy the new directions they took him in as new interesting ways to further explore and solidify his already existing character. It made it a lot of fun for me to analyze too!

[hesawifebeaterdanusethegun]

Part Two of my as yet unnamed Dark City fic! EnjoyI Also here's Part One:

Part One

Part Two

            Doctor Schreber checked his watch. Almost midnight. Time to get to work.

He called them the Strangers. He’d been working for them for nearly three years. He could say working, but really he was a slave as much as any of the others in the City. Three years ago, he’d been taken by the Strangers. All he remembered was a bright light and then pain. So much pain. He hadn’t been the same since, as was obvious the second you looked at the poor fellow. He remembered nothing before the Strangers came to take him away. They beat him, forced him to create for them, forced him to erase his entire life. He hated them.

His job was to make memories. He created whole lives, rich tapestries of feeling and events, all the things that made a person who they were, through their memories. He did what he did under the threat of torture and death, and felt the coward for it, although nearly anyone else would have done the same, in his opinion.

The Strangers were searching for something that he personally felt they would never find: the human soul. A hive-mind, they never experienced anything of their own, had no memories of their own, no personalities of their own. When they observed humans and found each one unique, they set out to determine how this was possible, and what they could do to make it possible for them. So they created a city that they controlled entirely, a City that they fine-tuned on the daily (or nightly as it were) in their seemingly endless search for some sort of holy grail of humanity, changing people’s lives and memories as they slept as well as the City landscape that surrounded them and studied the results, hoping to find the source of human individuality somewhere in mankind’s memories.

            Doctor Schreber mixed and matched these memories for the Strangers, and one injection to the brain later, you had a whole new person in front of you. As much as he hated doing it, as immoral and unethical as it was, he couldn’t help but find it fascinating, he even sometimes enjoyed his work, reveling in his abilities and the chance to utilize them to their full potential could feel great at times, when he managed to forget what he was actually doing with all these memories he tinkered with.

The imprinting was the worst part, when he actually administered the new memories to their host. Seeing the person who’s life he was about to upend in real life was something he could never get used to, no matter how he tried to forget the implications of what he was doing, the sins he was committing in the name of science for a predatory species that thought of him and his kind as nothing more than lab rats.

But in the meantime, as he worked so closely with the Strangers, he was awarded some special privileges. While he had his memories erased at the start just like everyone else in the City, he was permitted to keep his scientific knowledge in order to help them. Unfortunately this meant that he also retained the memory of what he’d lost. He remembered nothing of who was before save his name, but he knew that those memories were missing, unlike the others in the City who went about their business oblivious to what they’d had taken from them. He supposed he considered this knowledge a blessing and a curse of sorts, but he’d rather know than be blissfully ignorant like the rest of them, however happy they may be.

He was also permitted some semblance of normalcy when he wasn’t hard at work in their laboratory, running his own practice, seeing what few patients he had time for, and performing his own experiments in his own lab.

“Not that one,” he told Mr. Book, the one who seemed to be the leader of the Strangers. “We can’t touch that one, I need her.” He spoke of course of Katherine, his newly hired receptionist and personal assistant, who over the course of a few weeks had made herself indispensable to him, quickly and accurately transcribing his (admittedly nearly illegible) notes, making and canceling appointments, and taking care of supply orders and anything else he might need around the office.

“Very well, doctor, we shall not touch that one,” he nearly spat the words in disgust, frustrated at the doctor’s insubordination. Doctor Schreber didn’t care, he only cared that he got his way in this, as far as he was concerned it was non-negotiable. She was not to be touched, he’d make sure of it. He hurried off to get back to work, satisfied that he’d gotten his wishes across thoroughly.

Part Three

[yuesya]

This same age au is growing like a weed and I'm here to inhale all of it💪😭

Riko becoming a Jujutsu sorcerer in this 'verse is something I didn't see coming but it make so much sense..? I wonder does she have innate cursed technique in this au and can awaken it and lear it? or will she went and fight utilizing cursed weapons a la Maki or she just went punches and kicks? I feel she's the support, long-ranged type of fighter who can fully utilize her cursed energy and CT if she had any. I guess Shiki isn't close with Kento in this verse? Must be awkward for them.

But I haven't asked the most important question in this au. So here is it. Since Riko is alive, wouldn't it means that Geto skipped his canon event and do not become a rogue hmm? become a teacher at jujutsu tech instead hmm👀

Maybe I'm pushing it too far, but let's say in another branch of this au, Shiki losing advantages of sight and relentless pressures from the clan, instead of becoming protective.. Shiki is spiralling(?) start doubting, becoming reserved and distant and start applying mask and walls against everyone, and along the way she was approached by a certain woman with stitches on her temple..? Years later after Shiki gone missing due to circumstances I'm unable to conjure up the explanations of, after Satoru too, went missing and where an accidental perfect vessel for Sukuna appears, Halloween happened, and Geto somehow found himself becoming the the last line of defence against reappearance of 'Gojo Shiki'?

Sorry if my ramblings kinda confusing, english isn't my first language and it's almost 3 in the morning, I can feels incoherence began to creeps between my brain's wrinkles. Just, thank you so much for sharing those snippets, it really made my day💕 Have a nice day!!

I agree, this AU does indeed seem to be growing like a weed haha. Glad you've been enjoying the ramblings!

I think... well, Riko probably doesn't have a cursed technique, since signs of cursed techniques are supposed to show up during childhood, and from what we've seen of her in canon, we haven't seen anything signaling a potential cursed technique. Unless it's something incredibly subtle, maybe? We'll have to put a pin in that.

But yeah, I was thinking that since she's the Star Plasma Vessel, surely there's something 'special' about her. And in the messy aftermath of everything following the mission for her merger with Tengen, it's Satoru and Suguru who declared that they'd protect her. Yaga never said it aloud, but he also heavily implied that he would be willing to protect Amanai Riko as well, so I think it would be a natural progression for Riko to end up attending the Tokyo school.

Somewhere along the lines, maybe Tsukumo takes Amanai under her wing! I think that would be nice. :D

Geto becoming a teacher and Shiki spiraling after losing her eye, Satoru going missing and Kenjaku taking over Shiki's body... I see that we've crossed over to the apocalypse AU haha. Geto's attention would be split between fending off Kenjaku-Shiki and finding out where and what happened to Satoru.

[frownyalfred]

Hello! Your fic "good in red" where Bruce finds Clark drenched in blood at the batcave, did remind me of a particular train of thought I had a while ago. It was about how Clark or any kryptonian with hyper-efficient senses, would react to sensory deprivation. Especially how he'd react to sensory deprivation tanks? I thought during his initial years when his powers were developing and fluctuating, he would love the idea considering it was very overwhelming to him at the beginning.

However I thought hypothetically if he were to try one, he'd go through a real bad panic attack and dissociate. Considering he's used to feeling, hearing and seeing too much all at once, the complete absence of sensory input would push him into a bad headspace and put his mind on a overdrive. Coupled with his issues and guilt complex, the idea of missing any call for help while being in the tank would make him feel tense and paranoid the whole time, defeating the whole purpose of being in a sensory deprivation tank. Maybe for a Kryptonian under a yellow sun, a sensory deprivation tank would serve the exact opposite effect of what it would help a normal human achieve ( you know like peace of mind, tranquil? a break from overstimulation and anxiety)

But BUT what if, he uses it as unhealthy coping mechanism? For instance, what if Clark in your fic, instead of going to Bruce, goes to the Fortress and just enters the sensory deprivation tank he probably redesigned from one of those cryostasis chamber with the help of the kryptonian AI there? What if he does this at times when a mission goes downhill and he just doesn't want to feel anything at all after being overwhelmed by the agony and despair of the aftermath? I had this image of him entering a sensory deprivation tank all bloody, inspired by your fic? Bruce who comes to find Clark after receiving only radio silence from him even when he called for him, only to follow the trails of blood to find him floating in a tank also stained red with all the blood, jumping to the worst conclusion in the opposite end of the spectrum unlike your fic. How Bruce would help Clark come back then? After all, there's a reason they don't let humans in those tanks for too long. Can you imagine how bad of a headspace Clark would be in after locking himself in for hours? Would Clark even become catatonic for some time?

Seeing how much it affects Clark, would Bruce think about looking up sensory deprivation for kryptonians in more detail from the point of using it as a contingency? Would he be disgusted to think of it seeing how badly Clark was affected and yet he can't exactly dismiss the idea considering if any kryptonian went rogue, he'd need as many aces up his sleeve as possible to be able to find a way to defeat them. And the potential of a sensory deprivation tank utilized as a cage, eliminates the probability of him having to use lethal means. And even if Clark or any rogue kryptonian escapes, they'd be instantly overwhelmed and in extreme scenarios even become catatonic from the sudden influx of sensations. It gives him time to strike once again. All this information obviously needs to be saved for references and contingencies, even if it makes Bruce nauseous. He probably has nightmares of Clark begging him not to put into the tank, not again please and wakes up from drenched in sweat.

Sorry this got too long! I was just so excited and wants to blabber about it to someone! I loved that fic of yours btw! Whump you write always ends up too good to be just read and left at it! Anyways have a good day or night! (Sorry if there's any errors 😅 it's like 2am)

agh, this is an amazing take and I agree 100%. I almost -- really -- want to write a second chapter/remix of the fic now where this happens, because I agree -- it's absolutely in character for Clark and Bruce would have a trial on his hands, bringing him back from the edge.

Plus, the visual of Clark slowly lowering himself into the deprivation tank -- sobbing and covered in blood that slowly sloughs off him in the perfectly-neutral water -- compels me.

god he would be so sad *clenches fists*

[leaveherwildliketheflowers]

Conversation with my therapist went like this:

T: We have had a lot of space between appointments this summer. How has that felt? Do you want to go back to a weekly cadence or do you think that it's better to space out our appointments going forward?

Me: Um, am I supposed to feel a certain way about that?

T: Well, yeah. You are in a different place than you were the last few years. You talk more in session than you used to. I know there are still things you don't bring up but you generally utilize your time better.

Me: .....

T: Think about it. We can discuss it more next week.

Y'all, I'm shook. This summer has been CRAZY with destination weddings, vacations, federal holidays and now being sick. As a result I saw T once from June 5th to today. I just assumed it was part of summer schedules and we would go back to our normal weekly cadence. Stepping down to once every 2 weeks wasn't even on my radar. Honestly, I feel like I'm just now adjusting from going from twice a week to once a week.

T is all in my head now though. Does she not think I need weekly therapy? Does she not have time for me in her schedule and this is her way of gently pushing me out of her case load? Is she just tired of working with me after 4+ years? Does she really think I'm ready to scale back on addressing my mental health?

Is this what happens if I make any sort of progress? I mean, in some ways I'm doing better. I have learned how to handle my grief with more success, though sometimes it still gets the best of me. My eating behaviors are under control at the moment. I'm generally being kind to my body. These are all the "safe" things that I talk to T about. At the same time I'm still really struggling in a lot of ways. My grief steam rolls me from time to time. My anxiety is the worst it's been in years, with frequent anxiety attacks happening at the moment. I'm still shit at recognizing and naming emotions, especially now that I have SO much distraction. These are things T knows and we have been talking about in the few sessions we have had this summer.

What T doesn't know is that I have been really, really struggling with suicidal ideation again. I haven't gotten myself to bring that up. I'm just not ready to address it, mostly because I don't know why it's back. I can't figure out why part of my brain is so desperate for an "out" right now, but it came on strong when I went back to work. Now I'm thinking, how in the hell do I bring this up without looking desperate for attention? Saying something now seems like I'm screaming, "I can't put more time between sessions, I'm constantly thinking about k*lling myself! Please don't leave me!" That really sounds pathetic doesn't it 🙃

Also, when I go long periods of time without therapy I block out my emotions because I don't have time to deal with them and without the accountability I won't make the time. Then when I realize, oh shit I'm finally accountable to report on how I'm doing, I panic and get flooded with it all at once. Then I spiral into an emotional panic or completely shut down and that's just not fun.

I'm probably over thinking this. Of course the logical thing would be to say all of this to T but I feel like I can't because any potential relationship conflict with her feels too scary. I really need her to be a safe place when I feel wanted, welcomed, seen and held. Normally I do feel that way with her but this simple conversation has triggered something inside of me. A child part that feels like once again we are being left to fend for ourself when all we desperately need is someone to sit with us in the dark while we cry. This little part is throwing an absolute fit because she is never understood or loved and she feels foolish for thinking anyone ever really cared. She feels abandoned.

Omg the fucking drama. All this mental gymnastics over one stupid question about how I want to spend my time and financial resources. Clearly I'm deeply insecure, I think everyone hates me, and I'm insane.

[crystalelemental]

"books-are-my-life-stuff: Maybe SS Leon, SS Cyrus, and Classic Elesa are meant to give people the illusion of "oh yeah Pokefairs might get a rerun or they might not" to make people more willing to pull for them, I dunno. I don't want for banners to get overwhelmingly dense every month than they already are, but I also want a rerun of the old pairs...it's confusing."

I think it's one of those challenging decisions, in the sense of yes, you want to enforce the idea of scarcity and FOMO, pull now to avoid potential calamity, so some have to go a while. But Masters takes absurdly long times to rerun some things, so much so that it has to be preventing profits when pairs that good get sidelined. Maybe it's because people only need one pair for them to function? SS Cyrus and C!Elesa, I mean. They're really fine at 1/5, so maybe that factors in? I couldn't say. But I think frequent reruns of older, well liked PokeFairs is a good way to address both the need for reruns and the increasing number of limited pairs. People don't really like Variety, but they would love some extra reruns. But then your whales don't spend much. So is that worthwhile from the company perspective? Without knowing more about the insider information, it's really hard to say what the correct call is on that front, but I do think reruns can be easily managed and not be a problem. But if the Mix Scout is anything to go by, given the presence of Variety Giovanni, Rei, H!Phoebe, and...the fourth one I forgot, they're more likely to rerun the really good stuff under that paid scout. Which is Not Great!

"books-are-my-life-stuff: I'm surprised they didn't mention 4/5 and 5/5 grids which I think also had a fair amount of controversy. A comment said those grids are optional and often not needed, but some units, like OG Gloria and OG Diantha, have pretty crucial grids that help them to catch up with modern units or patch up their glaring flaws. I still don't like it. EX roles did improve SS Serena and Paulo, but the introduction of it in master fair paid gems ruins it for me too I think."

I was always more positive on 5/5 than most, but then I had the means to make it work. I can see people getting upset with something like Gloria for sure. Her 3/5 sucks, and she doesn't get much until at least 4/5. But that's a higher investment than should be needed. In part, it's a matter of expectation. Had 5/5 grids always been there, I don't think anyone would bat an eye, just be mildly annoyed at all the good tools being at max investment, like how we get slightly annoyed when a pair only has good traits at 3/5. But I do think that this is easily circumvented. Take Cynthia and Lance, for example. As the only pairs with both 3/5 and 5/5 expansions, you get the sense that 3/5 is where all the traits to make them super strong went, and 5/5 is utility to make them easier to use. Even Diantha, good as she is, follows that pattern. You can actually deal better damage with all three with just 3/5 and pushing more power into sync, so they're far from unusable. Gloria's the odd one out, in that...had her tools been 3/5, I don't think anyone would've cared. But because it's only 5/5, it's damning. If she had a 3/5, and it also had good powerup tools? I think she'd be less of a problem. And the 5/5 tools felt like a nice incentive for whales; I've liked having them available, anyway. It was the least intrusive monetization angle they pulled, with the most benefit for players who bothered favoring a character that hard.

The EX Roles are also a bit an issue of presentation. I think his point of, if they hadn't done paid only Master Fairs for cake? People probably would've been fine. It's a neat mechanic! Maybe a little grumbling from people like me who wanted it to be customized and more available to older pairs, but far from the level of irritation. I actually love the PokeFair angle; that also feels fair and great. PokeFairs now come with rewards for pulling, and they have the added draw of "Why don't you go to 5/5 for the full cake?" incentive. They've had some really good ideas that are mutually beneficial. They're just wrapped around...really questionable ones, often interspersed with the good, and it muddies the waters.

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

So, I ended up watching all of Shezow because I’ve lost control of my life. Here are my thoughts.

I think it’s difficult for me to get a good gage on how well it handled its premise of “boy crossdresses into what is typically a female legacy superhero”. As in, I have difficulty looking at it and determining exactly how misogynistic/transmisogynistic it is. This is for a few reasons, principal of which is that the show itself is pretty badly written.

The episodes have a very round robin feel to its writing, and plots often feel very unstructured. There are a lot of episodes which run like a bizzaro plot. Taking a common stock action cartoon episode, and then just… going about in a very weird, unstructured way.

Maybe it does say something about the society it was produced in when the premise itself was hardly explored at all. For the most part, it functioned like a perfectly generic action comedy cartoon, with very little utility of its gender-based premise. Which is like. I feel like these things could be interesting to explore. When I watched it, I see gems of potentially interesting ideas, and a lot of them typically revolve around ideas of masculinity/femininity in the show.

Like, the one episode with the wrestler who was afraid of trolls had potentially interesting implications. Symbol of hypermasculinity and whatnot. Dudepow’s whole deal is potentially interesting. Any time Kelly’s interiority is explored, even for a brief moment, is potentially interesting. (Actually, for a show whose premise relies so much on gender, it doesn’t really go into Kelly’s thoughts on the whole deal a whole lot, which is like. There’s potentially really meaty things to say there!) The episode with the sexist superhero team *could* have been interesting had they not suffered from action-comedy cartoon’s idea of misogyny disease. (Which I found boring even as a child.) Even like, the kind of gendered way Aunt Agnes described Guy and Kelly (an “innovator” vs “a facilitator” who worked best running the operation from the background). That has interesting implications.

But it for the most part, did not. There was an episode where Guy got body spray sprayed on him and he started randomly transforming into Shezow throughout the day. I feel like a show which took its premise around gender more seriously would have probably had the episode premised around his getting through school that day while randomly transforming into his feminine alter ego. It didn’t happen. (He went to find a guru to get cured and that episode he learned to fly.)

So like, I dunno. Maybe it does say something about femininity or womanhood or whatever if we can have a show where “a boy who crossdresses into a female superhero” is enough of a premise to produce an otherwise unremarkable show that doesn’t elaborate much on its premise.

And I guess in that way I don’t actually regret watching all of it, because it’s bad, but in that way which I find helps me think of story ideas. If the team behind it were to make it, I actually don’t think I want them to write more about gender though. (I don’t think they’re good enough writers to make something engaging in that regard.) So maybe it was for the best that this was a little bit of a wasted premise.

And to the show’s credit, it did frame the Shezow persona as a source of strength, and even if his sister and his best friend did laugh at him initially in the first episode for crossdressing, that energy is not carried through the rest of the show. It got protested a lot by conservative groups for its premise of a crossdressing boy. So there’s that.

I think I have a difficult time writing about any misogyny/transmisogyny in the series at the end of the day. Because like, you can see it being produced under a sexist/transmisogynistic framework but it’s also kind of all over the place in that regard? (Boy in a dress = rare and notable, but also funny, but also it is a source of strength and power, but also haha this boy fails at femininity). I find it hard to describe because it is kind of incoherently written.

Both the original pilots are worse in that regard too. The Disney one had a few more sexist remarks thrown around than is standard for the show itself. And the initial adult cartoon pilot was uhh… fairly tasteless in an Adult Swim way. (I don’t recommend you watch it if you are easily triggered by transmisogynistic/lesbophobic tropes.)

Overall, thnks fr th mmrs (and the plot ideas). But so long and farewell forever.

[lilyblackdrawside]

With the weekend upon me, I took some time today to clear Trial 4 of the currently running Trials for Navigator. Which turned out to just be the easiest of all of them. Basic aside, I cleared the other three versions of it first try.

This one got a bit long. My impressions under the shortener.

Trial 1 - Survival of the Fittest featuring best guy Pancho Salas and Big Ugly + High Priest was actually kinda troublesome for me. Probably/Likely largely due to stubbornness, but I also really didn’t vibe with its Decoder Squad.

„Work Hard, Get Paid“ might be true in some parts of life, but when 30% of my squad is Standard Bearer Vanguards and all non-Vanguards eat all DP all at once, it really throws me off.

I liked it though. Good vibes in both stage parts, I should’ve probably just brought a Medic and Tank to tank Pancho instead of doing my damndest to burst him down. When an enemy punches even through Hellagur, I tend to throw out all notions of facing it in melee combat.

Trial 2 - Blood and Terror with Tola, Dikaiopolis and the Damazti Cluster was pretty alright. Wave 2 was the only one here that gave me trouble, mostly because it’s such a cramped space. I did clear Orientation and Spectacular first try, but it took quite some time both times because I let him refresh his phase one. Eventually brute force and some luck won out there.

Seeing Damazti Cluster as the third boss had me a bit worried, but there weren’t any problems there really. They just don’t do much damage and the Yan Decoder Squad bonus was well enough to cover any kind of desired healing.

On that note, this squad is just busted. You get three very strong operators and a super strong bonus that lets you fly without Medics or a defensive Limiter Unit, freeing up precious squad slots. (Not that I’d have brought Medics otherwise either.)

Trial 3 - Deep in Danger hosted by Bishop Quintus, The First To Talk and The Endspeaker actually kinda sucked, once again solely because of Wave 2.

The First To Talk is just really annoying. I made a good effort to stop the creep droppers in phase one from dropping their creep outside of the little box and it worked out pretty well on all versions of the trial. Had I not done that, I can imagine the dodgey fellas being quite annoying on Wave 2.

But then again, I did have Erato and Gnosis who bring very reliable control to handle them.

On that note: Erato. She clears this one. TFTT and Endspeaker are both not opposed to sleepytimes and with the Overcharge Limiter Unit, Erato has enough SP to permanently sleep an enemy. Just don’t give her +23 ASPD, that’ll ruin her rhythm. Due to that, Wave 3 was a total nothingburger. The Endspeaker aside, there's nothing potentially threatening. Maybe if they had enemies that spread creep, then the handsy guys would be stealthed and that's be rough.

The Rhine Lab Decoder Squad is probably really good, but I lack the operators to utilize it. For some people, this Decoder Squad might just be the most powerful. I could see a glimpse of its strength in Trial 3 and if you can load up your squad a lot of RL operators, it’ll probably go well.

Trial 4 - Path of the Faithful led by Father Agenir, Andoain and Zaaro wasn’t troublesome at all. I actually saw this coming, because Zaaro isn’t a big deal, Father Agenir is easy to handle too and Andoain once again sits on Wave 2 so in the worst case Scenario I could just optimize against him, beat him, lose on Wave 3 and then brute force him with the Entitative Program. But in the end I didn’t even have to do that, because the Yan Decoder Squad is that powerful. I went with a bunch of my usual Snipers as offense: May, GreyThroat, Totter and Fartooth.

Fartooth did a great job here both with handling Andoain, where she deals great damage even through his reduction field while bypassing evasion and for Zaaro, where she has two great sniping spots - one where he waits in the top left corner and one for his final approach on the right.

Totter was instrumental for handling the sneaky guys, and also helped out with damaging the bosses. He has good per-hit damage with S2 as long as there’s only one enemy, so he’s always useful.

May... does May things. With the Overcharge LU she has a perma slow on S1, which worked great vs Andoain to keep him longer in Fartooth’s range. I also sicced her on the dog in Wave 1 together with Totter and did it again with the big dog in Wave 3 who just gets nowhere while slowed like that.

GreyThroat... I mean, she just shoots people. She did decent damage to Agenir, not enough to kill him in Spectacular and Ultimate, and then did good damage to Zaaro Phase 1 where I slowed him with both May and Elysium (+ def debuff) to the point that she could unload two rounds of her S2 with only three tiles of Zaaro being in range. This was enough to clear his Phase 1 in all but Ultimate Trial, where he was left with some 10%. Good job.

As for the Limiter Units... I only used the Overcharge one. You get 0.5 SP/s per stack, so 1.5sp/s after a minute of being deployed and that’s just stupid.

There’s nothing in this lineup that has nearly as much value as this.

I did consider the Recovery Boost for Trial 4 before I went into it, because together with the Yan Decoder Squad you’d get some disgusting sustain but I stuck with Overcharge for looking at it and then I saw that the stage moves super far with each Wave, which would’ve made it impractical anyway. You’d only get anything out of it on Wave 3, but only for left operators and that’s just not the part of the map where you take damage. Offense always wins in the end. (Except for Kirsten, I’ll stall her for 20 minutes any day.)

Recovery Boost gets really strong at level 3 with 45% Sanctuary and 40% increased healing, but I found that I pretty much always pulled my whole squad after each wave with maybe one or two exceptions, which usually included Skalter who doesn't get anything out of it. Good idea, but not the right stages for this one.

Strategy Expansion seems neat, but I don’t think you need redeployment time reduction in a game mode where you can just strategically pull your operators before you end a wave so you have everyone available on time for the next one. You can also find enemies to stall with one operator to recover DP and redeploy time. Having +3 Deployment Limit is pretty good, but I was never wanting for it even with Ling. You’d have to go super Summoner mode to get anything out of this one. Not saying it’s bad, just the most niche of the four.

Experience Acquisition seems... limp. Like, you get +40% ATK. Okay, now what? While you’re sitting at +40%, I’m activating skills five seconds after they’ve expired and get way bigger buffs and utility from them because I’m using the Overcharge unit. And you have to work for your +40% buff too. Dunno, this one doesn’t look great.

Overcharge I’ve already talked about. It’s easily the best one here. You can’t argue with having 250% SP regen.

And that’s that. Quite enjoyable once again, looking forward to the next one hopefully being more painful!

[reading-wanderer]

A Compendium of Magical Artifacts

Chapter 31: The King’s Seal

Prompt: Coronation

AO3 Link

[The next newer-ish page isn’t far from the last one. In fact, when you skim through it, it looks like they might even have been written around the same time.]

Name: The Seal of the Infinite Realms, The King’s Seal

Description: Due to Pariah’s size, the Seal is five or six times larger than a human version of the same thing. The handle appears to be made of a dark wood with a greenish sheen while the actual imprint portion appears to be made of a black metal. The literature says that, when used, the seal would drip with the same acidic green color of unaligned/neutral ectoplasm.

Known Abilities: While a Human Realm king’s seal is meant to be used to show the kings approval on paperwork, Pariah’s Seal is a bit more Literal. The item allowed him to seal anything and everything he wished. It could prevent doors or letters from being opened by anyone he didn't approve of, it could bind the powers of magical artifacts and prevent their use, and he could even use it to bind the minds of the ghosts that made up his army.

Location: The item is held by the historians of Academic’s row. The only reason they’ve gotten away with keeping it is that the item can only be used by Pariah.

Notes: The Seal was said to have been created by the Infinite Realms itself upon Pariah Dark’s coronation. Because the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire were displayed proudly when Pariah razed the rebelling sectors of the Infinite Realms, the Seal often went unnoticed despite the key role it took in subduing his enemies and adding them to his army.

I only became aware of the item when telling the historians of Acedemic’s Row about the Coup Cleaver. It has been theorized by the keeper of the item that the reason the item wasn’t as well known was because Pariah could use it to seal their tongues and prevent knowledge of it from leaving those under his control. The item is fascinating to look at as the imprint seems to move as its looked at while pictures of it always show the same image.

I wonder if the item could potentially change alliance should a new king be crowned or even if one had access to both of Pariah’s items of power. The power in any one of those items, let alone all three, could be catastrophic in the wrong hands. The Ring is currently in Pariah’s coffin with him, the Crown is currently in my possession, and the Seal is here. Given that I keep the Crown with me at all times to prevent its theft, I can say definitively that the crown alone is not enough to activate the Seal. As I do not currently have any reason to utilize the Seal and because tangling with Pariah, even with only one of his items of power, is much more dangerous than I could handle currently. Taking the crown was difficult enough when he was still somewhat hindered by his centuries of sleep. Now that he’s been recently awakened, I don’t doubt he would react more quickly and violently from the start. Not to mention I haven’t been able to recreate Maddie and Jack’s power suit. Not that I couldn’t if I tried. It just hasn’t been necessary to concentrate on.

[A power suit? So they’re like inventors or something? That’ll help you make sure you have the right people just in case ‘Fenton’ was referring to someone else. Glancing at the clock, you can see it’s getting late, but you still haven’t found the mirror entry. You’re getting close to the end of the book so you figure you might as well keep going.]

[hesawifebeaterdanusethegun]

The Scientific Method - Part 2

Part 1

Part 2

Doctor Schreber checked his watch. Almost midnight. Time to get to work.

He called them the Strangers. He’d been working for them for nearly three years. He could say working, but really he was a slave as much as any of the others in the City. Three years ago, he’d been taken by the Strangers. All he remembered was a bright light and then pain. So much pain. He hadn’t been the same since, as was obvious the second you looked at the poor fellow. He remembered nothing before the Strangers came to take him away. They beat him, forced him to create for them, forced him to erase his entire life. He hated them.

His job was to make memories. He created whole lives, rich tapestries of feeling and events, all the things that made a person who they were, through their memories. He did what he did under the threat of torture and death, and felt the coward for it, although nearly anyone else would have done the same, in his opinion.

The Strangers were searching for something that he personally felt they would never find: the human soul. A hive-mind, they never experienced anything of their own, had no memories of their own, no personalities of their own. When they observed humans and found each one unique, they set out to determine how this was possible, and what they could do to make it possible for them. So they created a city that they controlled entirely, a City that they fine-tuned on the daily (or nightly as it were) in their seemingly endless search for some sort of holy grail of humanity, changing people’s lives and memories as they slept as well as the City landscape that surrounded them and studied the results, hoping to find the source of human individuality somewhere in mankind’s memories.

Doctor Schreber mixed and matched these memories for the Strangers, and one injection into the brain later, you had a whole new person in front of you. As much as he hated doing it, as immoral and unethical as it was, he couldn’t help but find it fascinating, he even sometimes enjoyed his work, reveling in his abilities and the chance to utilize them to their full potential could feel great at times, when he managed to forget what he was actually doing with all these memories he tinkered with.

The imprinting was the worst part, when he actually administered the new memories to their host. Seeing the person who’s life he was about to upend in real life was something he could never get used to, no matter how he tried to forget the implications of what he was doing, the sins he was committing in the name of science for a predatory species that thought of him and his kind as nothing more than lab rats.

But in the meantime, as he worked so closely with the Strangers, he was awarded some special privileges. While he had his memories erased at the start just like everyone else in the City, he was permitted to keep his scientific knowledge in order to help them. Unfortunately, this meant that he also retained the memory of what he’d lost. He remembered nothing of who was before save his name, but he knew that those memories were missing, unlike the others in the City who went about their business oblivious to what the Strangers had taken from them. He supposed he considered this knowledge a blessing and a curse of sorts, but he’d rather know than be blissfully ignorant like the rest of them, however happy they may be.

He was also permitted some semblance of normalcy when he wasn’t hard at work in their laboratory, running his own practice, seeing what few patients he had time for, and performing his own experiments in his own lab.

“Not that one,” he told Mister Book, the one who seemed to be the leader of the Strangers. “We can’t touch that one, I need her.” He spoke of course of Katherine, his newly hired receptionist and personal assistant, who over the course of a few weeks had made herself indispensable to him, quickly and accurately transcribing his (admittedly nearly illegible) notes, making and canceling appointments, and taking care of supply orders and anything else he might need around the office.

“Very well, doctor, we shall not touch that one,” he nearly spat the words in disgust, frustrated at the doctor’s insubordination. Doctor Schreber didn’t care, he only cared that he got his way in this, as far as he was concerned it was non-negotiable. She was not to be touched, he’d make sure of it. He hurried off to get back to work, satisfied that he’d gotten his wishes across thoroughly.

Part 3

[alecmagnuslwb]

What if... Alec was being deruned? Why? How would the gang rect and what would they do? What about Alec himself?

So on one hand the instinct is to say, his mother went through it and she'd support the hell out of him through it, but realistically for Alec to end up deruned the whole course of the series would have to change dramatically.

Progress was way too on the way, Alec was way too high up for the Clave to touch him by that point and they knew it. So it would have had to happen early on changing everything.

Let's go under the cut, cause again this got a little long.

I'd bet if he were deruned within the context of the show it would have been two options: after the wedding, the Clave sees him unfit for choosing a Warlock and takes dramatic immediate action to prevent further what they would see as uprising. OR Izzy's trial doesnt' go their way and Alec basically pulls a Hunger Games and volunteers to take her place.

Either way it's bad. It's very bad. And very hard for his entire family and for him.

I'm not big on the parabatai bond personally, but having that bond ripped away pretty violently would have messed both Alec and Jace up for a while.

Izzy would take it insanely hard, especially if it were the option where he took her place. She'd break all the rules without question, she'd maintain contact with him, she'd help him. She'd probably manage to get herself deruned in the long run because she'd end up breaking so many rules or I like to think she'd kick the Clave's ass and she and Jace would basically start a civil war to fix things for Shadowhunters and Downworlder's. Carrying on their brother's legacy.

If it happens in season one which it would have to, unfortunately I think Maryse and Robert would just sweep it under the rug. They'd tow the company line, say 'the law is the law' and just accept that their son was gone. Probably go on merrily acting like they never even had that eldest son, which would probably bleed right into Max who'd live on with the same thought process.

As for Magnus well at either of those potential deruned points he was all in on Alec and he definitely wouldn't abandon him. He'd put every spell on the planet on him to protect him from demons or Shadowhunters with a blood grudge. He'd show Alec all the finer delights in the mundane world and give him hope to keep going. They'd still fall in love (and maybe find a good way to make Alec the totally human mortal, immortal cause in every alternative world where Magnus is still immortal I'm making Alec immortal too.) and have a life. It'd would just start in a very rocky place where Alec was very depressed and lost.

Alec wouldn't take it well, he'd put on the brave face and say he doesn't regreat a thing and he did it all for the right reasons, which in the long run he'd believe, but everything he'd ever known: the mission, the path he was on, what he was supposed to be would be gone. He's a natural leader, a natural protector and he'd do a lot of dumb dangerous stuff early on especially.

He'd go out and still try to hunt demons without a single rune, just barefisted human fighting skills and probably get himself real hurt a few too many times much to Magnus' chagrin. He'd hate that he felt like he had no purpose, no path.

But eventually he'd find one. I like to think he'd build up enough ability to still hunt on the occasional, to still be able to proetect people. Maybe build up a little local myth of a man all in black that saves people, become a somewhat infamous vigilante in New York.

I also think he'd find a new passion outside of hunting, something that could utilize his ability to lead. Maybe go into teaching, I headcanon Alec LOVES to read, so maybe he'd use that and go to college, get a degree become an English teacher of some sort. He's also great with kids so it makes good sense.

He'd figure out how to live a very fufilled life with passion and purpose as a normal human.