honk-honk-clown-noises

[yardsards]

opalite is such a lovely stone (or, "stone", cuz it's manmade like glass). it's different colours depending on what angle you look at it and where the light source is and what's behind it. in the light, it gets a cloudy yellowish colour like the morning's first weak rays of sun. but on a black background it practically glows blue. very underappreciated, tbh.

[fakeyellow]

Kamilah recounts how she and the others regrouped once Eden/MC became possessed by Rheya. Part 2 of “insane” Kamilah. Part 1 here. 

Final Part 3.

Summary: Since the First Vampire’s rise and fall 500 years ago, Kamilah Sayeed has moved into legend, a woman drenched in the blood of thousands.

Rosella has made it her mission to find out why.

An indeterminable amount of time had passed since Rosella’s capture and she found herself longing for Kamilah’s return. Her mind was going crazy with the countless possibilities of what might have happened and her throat was aching with thirst. How long had it been since she’d fed? Had Kamilah forgotten about her? 

When at last she heard the sounds of the opening doors, her head snapped up before Rosella tried to contain her eagerness. 

Kamilah stepped in, looking as perfect as she had that first time, dressed in that same blood-red suit but for once, Rosella’s attention wasn’t on her. It was on the blood pack in her hand.

Her head followed the movement of the bag as the woman walked near her, her fangs already out in anticipation. She felt the unlocking of one cuff and immediately, she snatched the blood bag with her free hand and began greedily sucking it down.

The bag now empty, Rosella licked the side of her lip where a small amount of blood was before gratefully saying, “Thank you.”

Kamilah, who had been unfazed at her nearly feral display of feeding, seemed surprised at the words of thanks before nodding once. Noticing how the vampire didn’t seem to be in any hurry to re-cuff her free hand, Rosella wondered if perhaps Kamilah knew that she wouldn’t run away even if she was set free (Or maybe it was because Kamilah could kill her in a second if Rosella showed even the slightest sign of wanting to escape).  

A silence had fallen over the room and Rosella felt the need to fill it with anything, to get Kamilah talking before she decided she was in the mood to kill her today.

“So, E-,” Rosella quickly changed direction when she noticed Kamilah’s eyes flashing dangerously at the first syllable, “Rheya. Once Rheya had control over a body, what happened?”

There was still so much that had happened between the First Vampire’s resurrection and the beginning of Kamilah’s ruthless campaign that Rosella wanted, no needed to know. 

It was silent for so long that Rosella began to lose hope. This was the day Kamilah finally grew tired of her and killed her.

Uneasy, Rosella began to fidget, accidentally letting her wrist come in contact with the rings of UV light emitted by the cuffs. The pain that flared up was instantaneous, so intense that she almost missed the soft words Kamilah began to speak.

—-

Rheya had killed all of the Order of Dawn soldiers down in the chamber before running away, leaving the massive headquarters to the four of them. They sat in one of the many debriefing offices and Kamilah wondered how many vampires must have been killed by plans made in this very room. 

The first to break the tension hanging over the room, Lily voiced a similar thought to which Jax darkly muttered, “Too bad most of the soldiers are scattered throughout Europe. Rheya could have killed all of them.”

Adrian looked up at this and sharply rebuked, “Jax.”

“What?” Jax said, throwing his hands angrily up in the air, “We’re all thinking it. The First Vampire’s walking again, she might as well destroy the Order of Dawn while she’s at it. Not that we’ll live to see the benefits of that, but if she’s going to kill us, she better kill those bastards too.”

Kamilah was tired. As one of the oldest vampires in the world, she knew that everyone would be looking to her for leadership in these tumultuous times. She had over two thousand years of experience, and yet it never seemed to get easier, it was never not her. Kamilah felt the oppressive burden of leadership weigh down her shoulders and she closed her eyes briefly, her only sign of weakness, before she snapped to attention. 

“We need to operate with the assumption that Rheya and Gaius are going to reunite and return,” she remarked and Lily, already looking pale, swore before sinking down in her chair.

“Kamilah’s right. We need to gather as many vampires as we can. Thanks to Vlad, Rheya has no shortage of vampires willing to join her cause,” Adrian smoothly picked up where Kamilah had left off even as Jax snorted.

“As if she needs willing vampires. She can probably just force them.”

“Jax!” They all turned to the source of the cry, surprised to see that it was Lily, uncharacteristically serious, “I get it. Everything sucks and I want nothing more than to hide in a bomb shelter and wait it out but we need to work on finding a way to beat them. Your Gloomy Gus act isn’t helping at all. Either offer some ideas or just shut up!”

Kamilah nodded approvingly, “I’ll reach out to all of my contacts. We can count on 300 vampires, maybe 400 if they can be convinced of their necessity.”

Adrian mused, “Not counting our overlapping connections, I think I can call in around a hundred. Jax?”

Jax gave a tired sigh, but he responded without any dark remarks, “If there’s anything I’ve learned, there’s a lot of Clanless still in hiding. I’d say around 1-200. Not including the Clanless who have already joined my clan.”

Lily added, “I’ll also have Fangbook display an announcement to every user. That’ll be able to get a lot of the younger vampires.” 

Adrian eyed Kamilah carefully before he spoke, “There’s still the matter of Rheya.” 

And here lay the crux of their situation, the problem that seemed to suck out all the oxygen in the room, the crisis they could avoid no longer.

The First Vampire was walking again. In Eden’s body.

The horror she had felt at that moment was greater than any she had felt in her life and Kamilah had been able to do nothing but dumbly watch as the woman she loved became but a shell for a legend. It felt like her heart had twisted itself into a tight knot and not relaxed since that very moment; how was it that each heartbreak she experienced was even more poignant than the last? 

It seemed that when it came to Eden, Kamilah was capable of nothing but failure. She had failed to protect her from Vega, Gaius, Kavinsky, the Order, the list went on and on until her biggest failure yet. 

Kamilah felt an urge to run out of the room and just chase after Eden, consequences be damned, but she pushed it down, pasting on an emotionless facade. 

At her silence, Adrian continued delicately, “We all saw Eden drink from the Tree but it’s not clear what happened afterwards. Her eyes flashed red like a vampire but she didn’t have fangs. If I had to guess, I’d say Rheya’s possessed her and given Eden her abilities but Eden’s maintained her mortal body.”

They all remained silent after Adrian’s declaration, processing what this meant for Eden. Jax slammed the table in frustration as Lily frantically tapped her leg, her brow furrowed in worry. And then Adrian and Kamilah both looked at each other and said in unison, “Serafine.”

Kamilah nodded, “Serafine’s the only person who might know what happened and what to do.”

Lily perked up, her eyes wide behind the thick frames of her glasses, “Do you think she can maybe do her mind control thing like Jameson and kick Rheya out?” 

“Perhaps,” she gave Lily. And seeing how Lily’s despondency completely disappeared, replaced with a fervent optimism, Kamilah envied her this. That she could be so filled with hope after one single word from Kamilah, that Lily trusted her unconditionally. There had only been one person able to pull her out from her feelings of numbness and shame, but she was far from her now.

“But we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves. Serafine might not know anything about this. We should be prepared for the worst,” Adrian interjected carefully and winced, “As the last resort, if there’s nothing we can do, we need to behead Rheya.”

“What?!” Lily jumped up from her seat, outraged, “So you’re just going to kill Eden?! Just like that?! What if she’s still in there?! You all saw how Rheya faltered for a second! Eden might still be in there fighting for her life! She never once gave up on any of us, but you’re not even going to give her a chance?!”

Jax avoided Lily’s glare of betrayal, “I agree with Adrian. We should still be on the same page if things turn for the worst. We can only kill Rheya using a weapon made out of the Tree, right?”

Adrian nodded and Lily looked desperately at Kamilah, in a fervent plea for help.

And although her heart was screaming at her to stop all this talk of death, Kamilah could not in good conscience fight Adrian and Jax on this. If worst came to worst, Rheya and Eden had to be killed for the greater good of the world… Right?

Feeling as if she were personally signing Eden’s execution warrant, Kamilah finally spoke, “We need to be prepared. But Lily’s right. We have to be careful, Eden may still yet be in there.” 

“We can’t give up on her. Not after all she’s done. We kill her when we can’t do anything else.”

--

Serafine still looked a bit worse for the wear, even though she had long changed out of the tattered remains of her dress from the night of the club massacre. But her spirit was wholly intact and she determinedly kissed everyone on their cheeks in greeting; imprisonment was no excuse for bad manners. 

Greetings over, Serafine became grave, “I’ve read through the Book.”

Serafine had been told about Rheya’s possession of Eden and although she hadn’t heard of anything like it, she had volunteered to research the Book. Even in the short amount of time they’d known each other, Eden had made an impression on Serafine, and if there was anything she could do, she would do it. 

“What did you find?” Adrian asked, and Kamilah let out the smallest of sighs, thankful he had asked first. She’d been fighting not to betray her impatience the entire morning although Serafine’s keen eyes already seemed to have picked up on her eagerness. If it had been any other time, Serafine would have poked fun at her old friend for finally having found a woman she truly cared for (no wonder Eden hadn’t seemed interested in Adrian and Jax). 

As it was, Serafine focused back on the tome in her hands, “I found several instances of vampires taking control over weaker vampires they had Turned, which isn’t exactly like Eden’s case but similar.” 

“And?” Lily asked, bouncing on her heels with excitement, “were they able to regain control of themselves?”

Serafine hesitated, “Well, in one case, they tried destroying the body of the maker and controller.”

“And?” Adrian prompted.

“Both the maker and the controlled dissolved into ashes.”

“What happened in other cases?” Kamilah quickly asked, moving on from the unfruitful example.

“The controlled person died in every single instance."

A bleak silence fell over the five of them until Serafine spoke up again, “But these were all vampire vampire situations. It might be different with a Bloodkeeper. She has mental powers that these vampires most likely didn't’ have.”

Jax scoffed dismissively, “Yeah but we’re dealing with the First Vampire.”

And cynical though his words were, nobody could deny the truth in them. 

Serafine wasn’t a particularly optimistic person but seeing just how broken and hopeless they all looked, she felt the need to speak, “You said Rheya faltered for a moment, right? That’s a good sign that Eden was even able to evoke a physical response. That means she’s still in there, she’s still fighting. If you can get me close enough to touch her, I may be able to help her.” 

Kamilah nodded in thanks but Adrian still seemed unsatisfied.

“If it doesn’t work…” he trailed off.

Jax answered for all of them, “She dies.”

—-

A/N: I’m an idiot and I need to be studying but I can’t get this idea out of my head. There’ll be one more part to this. 

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 04/04/2020

Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld (Alicization Awakening) EP#36 (12) - Ray of Light: With 30,000 American players having dived into the Underworld, they begin to relentlessly slaughter everyone from both armies. Asuna, Alice, Bercouli, Renly, and Sheyta work to combat the American players. Vecta spots Alice and commandeers a Dark Knight's dragon and flies towards her. Meanwhile, Iskahn is infuriated with the sight of his guild being mercilessly slaughtered as soon as they finished crawling across the ravine. With the seal in his right eye being triggered, he grabs the eye, rips it out, and destroys it. With a fit a burning rage and determination, he jumps across the ravine. Iskahn makes a deal with Asuna to fight with the humans if she builds a bridge for his guild to cross. As Alice pulls ahead of the rest of the knights, she suddenly finds herself in a dark void and loses consciousness. Vecta's dragon grabs Alice and flies off towards the World's End Altar, with Bercouli giving chase. While the Pugilists and the Dark Knights remain to fight off the Americans, the decoy force pursue after Vecta. Back in the real world, Critter prepares to deploy another 20,000 American players to surround the decoy force. Vassago decides to dive in again on a "special" account. Back in the Underworld, the Americans spawn around the decoy force, with Sinon appearing shortly after and annihilating almost all of them.

My Hero Academia U.A. School Festival Arc Season 4 EP#82 (19) - Prepping for the School Festival Is the Funnest Part: Class 1-A assigns roles for their performance at the school festival, and Gentle starts preparing his next scheme. Meanwhile, Deku is in One For All training with Toshi talking about using wind pressure with his fingers. Finally, Eri arrives at U.A. with a new set of clothes.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind EP#21 - The Mystery of King Crimson: Back on the boat, Bucciarati's crew wait for their leader while Giorno tracks the boss by following the ladybug. However, Giorno realizes that the group is experiencing erased time, with none of them remembering what had happened in between. Meanwhile, inside the church, Bucciarati lies bleeding from King Crimson's attack. Just as the boss is about to kill Trish, he is suddenly encased within a turtle made by Giorno's Gold Experience that replicates Coco Jumbo's Stand ability. Bucciarati drops the turtle through the floor into an underground stream. However, King Crimson quickly reappears and prepares to attack again, but Bucciarati uses his remaining energy to grab Trish and uses Sticky Fingers to lift them both to the floor above. Giorno finds them and heals Bucciarati; while Bucciarati's body appears to be deceased for a few seconds, he eventually begins moving again. Giorno signals the others, who arrive before King Crimson can reach Giorno and Bucciarati. The boss determines that he cannot fight them all without revealing his identity and decides to withdraw, allowing them to escape with Trish. On the dock, Bucciarati pierces himself on a metal spike but doesn't react in pain, confusing Giorno. Bucciarati explains his decision to protect Trish, and gives his crew the choice of following him or the organization. One by one they join him, with the exception of Fugo. Later, a mysterious person orders Squalo, a member of the boss's elite guard squad, over the phone for Bruno Bucciarati and Giorno Giovanna to be taken dead or alive.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Functional Recovery Training Arc EP#23 - Hashira Meeting: Tanjiro is pinned by Obanai but uses a breathing technique to break the ropes on his wrists and run to Nezuko, Giyū grabbing Obanai so he doesn't interfere. He stops by the porch and calls out to her, knowing he can't interfere directly. Nezuko remembers her family and controls her instincts, looking away from Sanemi. The Master takes that as proof she can be trusted and Sanemi stops, shocked. The Master tells Tanjiro and Nezuko to go out and defeat demons and prove themselves and Tanjiro declares the siblings will defeat Kibutsuji, though the Master gently points out he's so ill-equipped he'd better start with a Twelve Moon, embarrassing him - though the Hashiras warm up to him some, admiring his spirit. Two Kakushi take Nezuko (again in her box) and Tanjiro to the Kocho mansion. Tanjiro tries to come back to headbutt Sanemi for stabbing Nezuko again but Muichirō knocks him down with a well-placed pebble to the head. He is taken away again. As he leaves, the Master tells Tanjiro to give Miss Tamayo his regards, making Tanjiro realize he knows there are good demons. At the Butterfly Manor, the Kakushi look for someone to ask permission to enter and find Kanao, a Tsuguko (a swordsman trained by a Hashira). When they ask permission, she smiles but doesn't speak, confusing them. A Kocho girl interrupts them and escorts them to the infirmary. In it, Zenitsu is whining about the bitter medicine he must take to regrow his limbs, still deformed from the venom. Zenitsu and Tanjiro happily greet each other, and Zenitsu points out Inosuke, silently laying in a bed next to him. Tanjiro is relieved he survived and Inosuke hoarsely says not to worry, his voice damaged from the wounds he was given by Father. He's depressed and apologizes for being so weak. Nezuko is given a room of her own and she only makes it part way out of her box before falling asleep. Tanjiro affirms his promise to turn her into a human. The Hashira, meanwhile, resume their meeting. The demons are in an active phase right now and the Corps needs to recruit new members, and train them, as Mt. Natagumo made it clear the caliber of non-Hashira has plummeted. It's difficult to recruit in this era though as many don't believe demons exist and the more humans there are, the less unified they become. Only those who have lost loved ones to demons or those descendant from demon slayers are joining the Corps. The Master believes Rui's drastic actions confirm Kibutsuji is nowhere nearby as whenever the progenitor wants to hide something, he creates a diversion somewhere else that can't be ignored. After everyone leaves, the Master vows they will bring Kibutsuji down without fail.

Food Wars: The Second Plate Stagiaire Arc EP#36 - The Magician Returns: The next step of the Stagiaire reunites Soma with Shinomiya, who is opening a Tokyo branch of his French restaurant, Shino's. As the restaurant begins its first pre-open day, Soma witnesses firsthand the intensity of working in Shinomiya's kitchen and struggles to keep up with the rest of the staff. Thinking over his failures, Soma spends the rest of the week getting prep work done early so he can ask the other staff members for advice on how to become more efficient in the kitchen and learn new techniques. On the final day, Soma decides to enter a competition to create a dish for Shino's menu that he can call his specialty.

Black Clover: Elf Tribe Reincarnation Arc EP#112 - Humans Who Can Be Trusted: Reve prevents the exit doors from opening with chains. Luck suggests making Reve defeat herself by creating a doll that resembles Reve's human body, tricking her into thinking about and summoning a non-possessed version of Captain Dorothy Unsworth. Dorothy, who is normally asleep, turns out to be hyperactively cheerful within the Dream World. Meanwhile Asta finds it impossible to attack Droit while avoiding his lasers and Eclat's paralysing eyes. Henry throws himself at Droit and Eclat, draining their magic while sacrificing himself. Asta urges him to live and Henry realises he wants to live. He is saved by his friends while Asta manages to attack Droit. Droit recalls that when the elves were being murdered human royals used a magic item to steal their magic for themselves, and yet he realises Asta and the Bulls are nothing like the ancient humans and decides to allow Asta to nullify his and Eclat's reincarnations. As Gauche awakes he berates the Bulls for risking themselves for him when he only ever cared about Marie and not them, though the Bulls insist they consider him a friend anyway. Reve's Dream World begins to collapse from the magic of Reve and Dorothy colliding inside it. Dorothy disappears but urges Reve to consider that good humans exist, especially the Bulls. As the Dream World collapses, everyone reappears in the normal world and Asta nullifies Reve's reincarnation. With all the Bulls back together, Asta declares it is time to find Captain Yami.

Slightly Damned Page 957: https://www.sdamned.com/comic/957

[tokusatsumixup]

Saber Wars 3 - fgo original event

A long long time ago, seven Singularities and four Pseudo’s ago to be precise, our brave Master and their trusty Shielder servant Mash had helped restore order and peace to the Servant Universe.  They accomplished this with the budding king of knights, no more than a prince of squires at that point, and her teacher the mysterious hero, Mysterious Heroine X!   Now the Chaldean group has grown much since their initial adventures, they’ve made and lost many a friends and mentors.  Some partings more-so bitter than sweet.  One of their new friends is a saber from “before” one who is an alternative Artoria, he is the prototype of our wonderful and marketable Saber, with a worthy and kind smile.  But there is one thing he is lacking in, variations!  That is all about to change in...

SABER WARS 3

It begins as a normal day in Chaldea, with Artoria Lily preparing for rayshift with Gudako and Mash.  They were returning to the Servant-verse for the first time in almost three years, her heart was all aflutter at the concept of seeing how far she’d grown.  The group prepares for the rayshift, with something about a faulty condition before they go off.  

Mash and Gudako arrive in an empty desert, Artoria Lily nowhere in sight as monsters begin attacking.  A young boy runs up, sword in hand to slay the beasts as the Chaldea group helps him break the groups up. After the fight he introduces himself as Arthur Pendragon Lily.  Mash and Gudako seem taken aback by this, neither having thought he’d even exist, though after a moment of thought they calm down.  He offers to take them to his mentor, who he only refers to as “Granny”.  He takes them back to a small hut, laying his Caliburn by the door.   The Chaldean group is shocked to see that “Granny” is in fact Artoria Lily, who is equally as shocked to see them.   She explains that she’s been in the servant universe for almost 50 years, not aging because she is a servant not native to the Servant-verse.

She tells the others that a servant who’s true name is unknown has began taking over the servant-verse, this servant is only known as Calla.  The group rushes outside at the sound of crashing and cursing.  A man in a tracksuit is standing next to a broken ship.  He refers to himself as the Mysterious Hero Y, the ultimate Saber class, that is until Artoria Lily looks him over and points out that he’s a Rider class.  He seems to hit one of her buttons by referring her to a kid, and trying to wave off her comments, leading into a fight against him.  

After beating him he explains that he was on a mission to deliver plans on Calla’s new base to the Revolutionaries, a group fighting against Calla’s army, but his ship crashed.   Artoria Lily offers the help of Arthur and the Chaldea group in the effort of getting replacement parts from nearby enemies.  Mash and Gudako comment on getting flashbacks from their first adventure.  With almost no force the group relents and begins searching for spare parts.

When they almost have all the parts they need one of Calla’s bounty hunters shows up, much to the Mysterious Hero’s chagrin.  This Servant has a dagger hat seems to be glowing black.  He and MHY banter for a bit before the battle begins.  After getting severely beaten, the bounty hunter activates his jet pack, swearing they haven’t seen the last of Mysterious Hero Y Alter.  Mash comments on a trend seeming to start up.  

When they get back, they find Artoria talking with Mecha Liz, who was a robot on board the Prydwen.  She had a message from A royal held hostage by Calla.  The group gets the last of their salvaged parts and fixes up the ship, heading to the base of the Revolutionaries, Planelot.   They meet with the leader of the Revolutionaries, Mordred and find the message in Mecha Liz, a message from a young girl, Morgan Le Fay.  Mordred seems resigned to this, rolling his eyes and stating his displeasure with the situation.  But as a knight, and as a way to cripple Calla’s attack on Planelot he decides they have to go and rescue her.  Mash and Gudako get put on the rescue mission with Arthur Lily, and MHY, Artoria lily and Mecha Liz tagging along for the ride.

As the party approaches a large space station, one shaped like a large scabbard there’s a scene of a young girl cloaked in shadow.  She is talking to a woman who is speaking of her destiny and how the great Calla is the rightful heir of Planelot, their once and future king.  The girl nods, looking up, showing Calla’s true form, Artoria Alter Lily.  Alter Lily begins to explain the plan the older woman had for her.  There’s a shaking down below as the Prydwen lands in the docking bay of the station.    

The Chaldean group finds the entire space station is staffed by saberfaces.  This leads to Mash and Gudako putting on crudely drawn Artoria masks. And the group making their way to a command room, with Mecha Liz in tow.  Artoria Lily splits of to go and disable the shields while they do so.  More fights ensue as the group finds Ruler Artoria manning the communications room.   One of the prisoners was causing a ruckus and they manage to get her away, disabling all locks on the cells, letting the prisoners in question, Space Ishtar and Calamity Jane out to join the groups mission, recognizing Gudako and Mash from their adventures. 

After disposing of Ruler the newly expanded group makes their way to Morgan’s cell, where her eyes light up upon seeing Arthur Lily.  They begin to make their escape, before other Saberfaces chase them down.  They jump down a garbage chute to get out of danger, only to come face to face with a dragon.  Morgan steps up to help in the fight, taking a spot next to Arthur Lily.  After disposing of the dragon the walls of the garbage room begin to move inwards.  One frantic call to Mecha Eli, and one close call later they escape into the hallway.  They soon make their way back to the hangar ready to escape.

Alter Lily makes her way down to where the group is.  She locked eyes on Artoria Lily and challenges her to a duel, Artoria Lily letting the info that she was Alter Lily’s former friend and mentor slip.  This leads into a solo duel between the two, which ends with Artoria Lily being struck down and returning to Chaldea.  Arthur Lily sees this and grabs his Caliburn, finally unlocking his Noble Phantasm and blasting Alter Lily back into the halls of the station as they make their escape from the station, and back to the haven of Planelot.  

They report to Mordred, now they have more varied powers on their side, with Morgan, Jane, and Space Ishtar, Mordred begins to plan the offense.  They have little time, as their radar picks up Calla’s fleet heading towards Planelot.  Everyone begins to get into position, before MHY Alter lands in front of the group, ready for another fight.  Mysterious Heroine X lands behind him, taking him out with a single strike after a fight against the group.  MHX Alter appears behind her, sighing at having been dragged out of her room for a fight.  As everyone gets to their stations Alter Lily lands on the planet, ready for the final fight.  

The fight begins, Arthur Lily up against her in a solo fight at first, before having to use his Noble Phantasm to knock her away and give the others a chance to join.   As the fight begins again, Alter Lily seems on edge, blasting her Noble Phantasm every turn.  After they’ve subdued her Alter Lily seems frazzled, on the verge of tears even.  She explains this was her last chance, and she would be punished severely for failure this time.  

Alter Lily is shot with lightning before collapsing, as a woman walks forward, she looked like Artoria, but was dressed like Morgan.  She introduces herself as Caster Artoria Alter, the one pulling the strings this entire event, and shaping Alter Lily to do as she wished, and prepare their anti-saberface offensive after her last experiment, MHX Alter failed.   Gudako stands up, her command seals glowing as she punches Caster Alter.  Alter Lily glows and her wounds are healed as she stands up.  She declares that Alter Lily won’t be hurt by Caster anymore as they begin the final fight.  

After an uphill battle Caster Alter is defeated, Arthur Lily and Alter Lily redirecting her last blast of electricity with their Noble Phantasms, sending it into the station, destroying it with all their combined forces.  As the station crashes, a barrier appears around Camelot, stopping the impact, before the pieces of the station slowly fall to the ground afterwards.  Everyone begins to celebrate, Merlin appearing, and saying he was one of the ones who stopped the station’s crash, but saying something about a mysterious woman who helped him stop the crash.  

Chaldea finally gets in contact with Gudako and Mash again, with Saber Lily telling Arthur Lily she’s proud of him.  The event concludes with Gudako returning to Chaldea, when Morgan lily appears out of her shadow, Arthur Lily holding one of her hands, and her holding Saber Alter Lily with her other arm.  There’s a loud noise in the other room as the mom servants all snap to attention and try coming into the command room.

[hueynomure]

Summoning Disaster - Part Four: Battle Cry

In which two of my OCs end up in @fatal-blow 's Golden Verse. Set in an unspecified point before Defenders of Earth's prologue; You can find out more about the story on his wip page.

First part

Second part

Third part

Elise has dirty thoughts, and I manage to write an awful sentence with three characters whose name starts with the same letter. Yes, these are the only events in this part, really. (this part is more Sharaka-centric and as such it's rather bloody)

* * * * *

“Grey one, it’s Elphimas.”

“Roger Windfall,” Amp replied as he crushed the throat of the last living guard in Lab 1’s entrance. “Mist protocol lifted. Status.”

“Cornered, guards seem to be taking a breather,” Adamantine replied. “It won’t last.”

“Too many hostiles, retreating to Lab 3. Magic’s not working right.” So much for the distraction.

“We still need time to rig the building, they’d disrupt us. Their comms are still sealed.”

“Someone opened the front door, but the courtyard’s under control. Elphimas has been a godsend so far.” Windfall commented.

“My new acquaintance is lovely too,” Static chuckled. “Dents armor like it’s tinfoil. We’re free birds, moving toward Ad and co.”

“Adamantine, do you have space for Link?”

“Negative, too risky.”

“Static?”

“The whole experimental wing is desert.”

Amp took a deep breath. Quantum could keep a rigged building alone, and if Sharaka continued to be an asset the diversion team could easily hold a room for Link to portal to… The bigger picture was a problem on its own: this facility seemed to be somewhat detached from the Magics’ hierarchy, but they could take their intrusion as a declaration of war anyway. He frowned, refocusing on the here and now. “Static, get to Adamantine before guards can prepare another offensive, then secure an area for Link. I will cover Reaper and Ethereous, then we’ll portal to you or to the experimental wing.”

As it often happened, Amp wanted to be everywhere at once, but he forced himself to march back to the unhinged door. His nerves were taut as bowstrings: there was an air of danger he hadn’t felt in a while. No one had been wounded yet, but-

Amp noticed the killing intent too late. He jumped backwards, but the bullet caught him in the abdomen. He fell, skyrocketing his own anger to boost the adrenaline rush. He couldn’t pass out. Not now.

“Sniper in the northern sentry tower!” He snarled as he crawled back in the Lab. “Link, to me now!” Fergus broadcasted his location and got himself another anger burst to get on his shaking knees. His guts were a constant explosion of agony, but his legs worked. He started to bury the pain and the rage – hoping they hadn’t hindered the others - as he waited for Link.

The small, sudden void of the sniper’s mind as Windfall got them was a meager satisfaction.

* * * * *

Static’s fingers twitched when he heard Amp call for help. Well, growl for help. “I suddenly feel like jogging a bit.”

Sharaka sniffed toward a metal windowless door. “That was sharp rage, he’ll be fine.”

“As reassuring as you may have meant it to be, I’m still feeling the fitness kick.” Static started running, straining to feel hostiles on his way. It was of some relief to hear heavy stomps following him.

A minute later, Static felt people-like current behind a corner. He slowed down, gathering charge, and noticed he couldn’t hear Sharaka anymore. Which was why he almost fried her when she dashed past him at full speed. He stuck his head and a hand beyond the corner, ready to cover her.

Sharaka turned into a blur, tackling the armored guard into the wall at impossible speed with the sound of bent metal and crushed bones. An arc of fire caught the other two mooks in the face before they could lift their weapons. She clawed open the throat of the first, and her tail shot like a scorpion’s to crack the skull of the second. She started running again without a glance to the crumpling bodies or to Static.

He picked up a gun from a dead guard, then it was his turn to sprint to catch up.

* * * * *

Faizah gestured for her three teammates to take their positions, and cringed feeling the armor’s gloves hindering the simple movement. Not that she wasn’t grateful for the protection – it had allowed her to walk right through the bright pink barriers and even to shrug off a hit from motherfucking Static – but it was experimental equipment, so not exactly tailored for comfort.

The door seemed intact. Faizah crouched and nodded in Noah’s direction, who unlocked the door with his pass card. Faizah cursed the genius that had decided to make unlocking doors beep, and the magic blowhard with no field experience that didn’t want to cover her squad’s noise with fire. Nevertheless, they were two walls away from the Defenders, odds were they didn’t hear it: there were two doors to the archives, and all three Defenders had been seen at the other one. They checked the room with practiced motions and moved onwards.

When they approached the room next to the Defenders’ she heard low feminine voices. One fast and nervous, the other dry and confident. Ideally Faizah would have wanted to check the side rooms, but they had to pass right in front of the open door to do that so no such luck. She gestured for her team to be extra cautious and they slowly took positions to attack the Defenders.

“Shield!” Third voice side room fuck!

Faizah moved to shoot but a pink barrier blocked the bullets. A flashbang obliterated her sight and hearing. A shotgun got her square in the chest, and Faizah took her last moments to appreciate the tungsten balls it took to throw a flashbang at the last possible moment.

* * * * *

“Shield!” Someone shouted from the archive’s back rooms, followed by a deafening boom and gunshots. Good, Faizah’s team had fulfilled their scope.

Lei Fan’s magic coursed the inscribed staff in his hands, which in turn infused enough magic to the knife lodged in its end to turn the metal kill them dark red. He tapped the knife’s point to the wall and it just… exploded outwards, as if yes destroy hit by a wrecking ball, and the magic’s buzzing subsided a bit. He stepped away, allowing security to exploit the new path of attack, and shook his head to clear it from the magic’s unusually definite intrusive thoughts.

He gestured to a waiting squad to follow: “We’re going up, collapsing their escape routes,” and left the other firing squads behind. He had no delusion to overwhelm the Defenders’ strongest defensive powers yet, and as useful as his armor was it wasn’t designed to block heavy gunfire. It also was pretty heavy; he promised himself to start working out as he sweated just by climbing the stairs.

He was tracking down the Defenders’ position by following the sound of gunfire when something large slammed against a wall behind him. Lei Fan turned to see the squad decimated: the leader was crumpled against a wall, chest caved in, another was clawing at the horrible burns on his face and... his lizard?! ...was ripping something bloody from the back of a third. How? Why?

Lei Fan charged a Wizard’s Fire to throw at the lizard, but destroy the attack slipped from his hand before he could aim it properly. The lizard dodged easily and drove its claws knuckle-deep in the throat of the fourth member of the squad, using him as a shield. Its tail lashed out and hit the man with face burns, who fell with a whimper.

They started kill circling each other, Lei Fan with his weapon high to discourage a direct attack – the lizard hissed when it recognized the knife – and the lizard keeping the dying man at arm’s length. Lei Fan remembered the helmet’s visor was mirrored, and started the Black Maze’s incantation under his breath, his head ringing inexplicably as the spell took hold.

* * * * *

Sharaka was suddenly holding a shapeless mass of darkness in a dim-lit, flickering hedge maze. It all smelled strongly of illusion, plus the sharp stench of this plane’s mana; no contest with the finesse of vedalken magic. She could almost feel his illusion as a slimy coat over reality. She closed her eyes, focused on the burning anger and fanned it, fueled it until she started to shake with rage, fury overtaking all her functions, and felt the illusion flicker when her last sliver of control evaporated.

She flung the dead weight aside and roared, the world vibrating with her rage. She smelled her sweating prey, holding her weapon in front of it - as if it mattered, as if it wasn't already dead. She dashed, entering its guard before it could notice, and shattered its visor with her fist. The prey was sent flying, slow as a snail. She grabbed the weapon from its hands and slammed her tail on its chest so hard the ground shook when the prey hit it.

The following hit with her weapon turned the prey into an explosion of gore and scrap metal.

* * * * *

A terrified silence followed the roar, as everyone’s hindbrain screamed there was A Predator around and failure to locate it would mean certain death. Fortunately for the Defenders, hanging around Fergus had them somewhat tempered against sudden bursts of emotion; Siphon and Adamantine took down five hostiles before they could snap out of it. Fortunately for the Magics, five people weren’t going to matter in the long run: Siphon still had afterimages and ringing from the flashbang, and judging by Astral’s and Adamantine’s concentrated frowns the prolonged use of their powers was starting to take its toll. Reaper and Ethereous were retreating without cover. They hadn’t heard from Amp since he had been hit.

The whole building shook. Siphon looked up, cold sweat running down her cheek. No part of the ceiling seemed to be about to fall on their head. Good. She took aim and cracked a visor, stunning her target for the time Adamantine needed to finish reloading and turning their face into mashed beets.

Hearing electricity crackle made her dizzy with relief. Lightning took down every hostile in sight in less than a second, and Siphon wished she could ride Static there and then. She settled for savoring the familiar smell of ozone, and moved forward to make sure there weren’t armored hostiles left.

Four kills later, Static casually strolled in. “I hope it still falls under the ‘fashionably late’ category.” The magnificent bastard grinned his shit-eating grin, and Siphon felt the urge to shut his mouth with her-

“What was that roar?” Adamantine asked, interrupting Siphon’s train of thought.

“A friend, believe it or not,” Static replied, “I’d have gone for the ‘she followed me home’ line if she had actually come with me. Now unless you want to take a few more souvenirs, we have a Link to catch.” Static led the way to the experimental wing. All guards in the building were probably either dead or hiding in a broom closet, but the four Defenders swept the rooms properly because no one wished for more surprises, not even Static.

“Sharaka! Fancy meeting you here!” Static blurted as he checked a T-shaped junction, then slowly backed away. “…Sharaka?”

Siphon moved to see who Static was talking to and stopped dead in her tracks when two reptilian eyes met hers with an utterly inhuman stare. ‘Sharaka’ was half-crouching, as if poised to attack, her blood-soaked arm wielding some sort of spear with a bad case of magic buzzing and her tail arched like a scorpion’s. Siphon had no problems associating this… creature… with the blood-curling roar from earlier; she had to be even more dangerous than she looked, because despite the dozen paces between them Static’s fingers were flexing nervously.

“Nice to meet you! Are you Static’s new friend? Disclaimer: we taste terrible.”

Sharaka followed Astral’s voice and something sparked in her eyes. She blinked twice, as if trying to remember something.

“Amp said to get out of her way. I say we go.”

“And leave her like that? She was snarky ten minutes ago! The ‘can I keep her’ was supposed to be a joke. Sharaka, it’s me, ‘thank you for saving my sorry ass’!” Siphon’s brain failed to understand whatever Static was saying, but Sharaka’s mouth was moving, almost mimicking his speech. “Did you used up all your brain power for today?”

“Fuck you,” Sharaka replied with a raspy voice. She straightened her back, blinked a few more times and suddenly looked like a person. A very reptilian person, but still. “Next time you go after the mind mage and I take out the fodder.”

“Will do!” Static was beaming. “Care to come with us?”

“Sure, before Frigid Girl there has a stroke,” Sharaka replied.

Static marched onwards and kept staring straight ahead, probably to avoid Adamantine’s gaze.

[thingsarered20]

Jeremie Belpois and Jerlita

I’ve seen many characters get undeserved hate in fandoms and Jeremie Belpois is definitely one of them. 

(According to some in the fandom this is the face of pure evil)

it’s bad to the point where I can't even google Jerlita to find pics or just jerlita things without Jeremie hate popping up. So, I’m making this Jeremie and Jerlita appreciation post to give you my interpretation of him and the Jerlita relationship. Don’t lose all your life points and grab a snack and cup of tea folks, this is going to be a long essay that’s going to be a four -parter with each part focusing on a season. This part is going to focus on season 1, I’m starting chronologically with XANA Awakens. In XANA Awakens Jeremie stumbles upon the Supercomputer and with it Aelita. Its love at first sight and he decides to try to find her a way out of Lyoko. Ulrich stumbles upon him being shocked by the vending machine and later being attacked by his own robots in his room. Realizing he’s in over his head Jeremie lets Ulrich in on the secret and introduces him to “Maya”(the name he gave Aelita when she couldn’t remember her own). Odd and Sissi later enter the picture and when they are discussing the Supercomputer and Jeremie states he wants them to get “Maya” to the red tower which, at the time, he believed was the way to bring her to Earth.Ulrich at first disagrees and states “Too bad for Maya but its not like she’s human” and Odd earlier referred to Jeremie as “nuts” for “flipping for a program”. Jeremie states that “She(meaning Aelita) is still some sort of intelligent being, and that she has emotions like we(meaning humans)do”. From the start he saw her as a person whose life mattered rather than a packet of computer data and didn’t care that others viewed him as “nuts” for falling for a computer program.Yumi later joins the group and they agree to help Aelita (who figured out her name) deactivate towers so they can buy Jeremie time to find out how to materialize her. This is important because a commonly used argument against him is that he's solely at fault for XANA but the others consented to help him. They could’ve easily told the cops or principal that this crazy kid who fell in love with a computer program was a threat to global safety and had the computer shut down but they didn’t.

In Holiday in the Fog, Jeremie is not only willing to give up his vacation but he’s also willing to taint his reputation as a star student to continue his work on Aelita’s materialization. That’s devotion if I've ever seen it. His sharp tongue against Sissi when she starts prying about XANA was also very amusing to watch and unexpected. We also get a tiny Jerlita scene in which Aelita states “Jeremie, thank you. Thank you for everything you’re doing for me”. To which he replies “That’s ok”. He doesn’t care about putting his personal health him on the line as long as it means Aelita will be safe and free from XANA.

(Gurl if you don't get out of my personal space...)

Cruel Dilemma has Jeremie’s materialization program completed after a blunder by Odd and it is now operational. However, later in the episode, Yumi falls into the digital sea and Jeremie must face the titular Cruel Dilemma:Yumi or Aelita?.Jeremie chooses Yumi and states to Aelita that he is both “Happy and Sad”. She in turn states she knows Jeremie will get her to Earth one day and that she has faith in him. I felt the need to bring this episode up because it shows Jeremie isn’t so lovesick that it blinds him from making the right choice to bring back Yumi. It also goes against the “Jeremie is selfish” accusation that gets thrown his way. 

(The world’s most beautiful E.T reference or the creation of the world whichever you prefer)

Next episode I'm going to talk about about is Frontier, in this episode Jeremie is frustrated at yet another failure to complete his materialization program, and when Aelita states she did a modification Jeremie had already done prior, an already angered and stressed Jeremie takes it out on her and snaps. When he realizes his mistake he feels awful and apologizes but she logs off before he can say anything more. Still feeling horrible and wanting to apolgize to her in person. Jeremie asks Yumi to send him to Lyoko. Jeremie not going to Lyoko is another commonly used argument against him but in this episode he is perfectly willing to go. Not because he’s being forced to but simply because he wants to apologize for hurting someone he cares very deeply for. Yumi presses a button she shouldn't have and the transfer is screwed up and he is locked inside a place between Earth and Lyoko which is known as the Virtual Limbo, Jeremie and Aelita develop an intimate mental connection and are able to hear the each other’s thoughts and feel each other’s emotions.Once she has the scanner’s memory that she needed to save him Aelita is able to enter this virtual limbo and see Jeremie in person for the first time.They desperately reach out to one another and their fingertips touch for a brief single second before Jeremie is sent back to Earth and is found passed out in one of the scanners. His friends take him back to his room and wait for him to wake up. When he does wake he is giddy and states the experience was “FANTASTIC” despite the fact that he nearly died because to him nearly dying was worth that one touch with her. In the end, Jeremie and Aelita discuss relationships and Jeremie reveals that when she came to rescue him, he understood how she really felt about him. We already knew how Jeremie felt since Teddygodzilla, the very first episode, but in this episode we get the confirmation that Aelita feels the same and they now know how they feel about each other. The thing about Jerlita is they already know how they feel about each other after this episode, which is why I felt they never required some big love declaration scene. The scene in the void was basically their big “I LOVE YOU” scene that you’d see in Disney movies only no words were necessary. The moment was too beautiful to spoil with words.

(See what I meant about the E.T reference?)

(There was something different about you this ep Jer...did you get a new pair of glasses? Very hipster)

The next episode I'm discussing is Ghost Channel. While on a mission to Lyoko,Odd makes a mistake on Lyoko but makes a great comeback and states to Jeremie “Next time just enjoy the show and let the REAL pros get the job done, okay?” The implication being because Jeremie does not go to Lyoko he is not a real part of the team. Jeremie is cleary stricken by this and Odd’s “I was just kidding” justification falls flat and Jeremie slumps eyes closed in hurt at the computer chair. 

(As someone who suffered from poor self-esteem issues since I was very young and still has them now as an adult I feel you Jer...)

The next day, after the shock and hurt wears off Jeremie tells his friends they did great but learns they are missing not only from class but it seems they’ve vanished from the face of the Earth, there’s no trace of them in Lyoko or Earth.It is eventually discovered that they are trapped in a Coraline-esque world(I mean that in the it’s an exact copy of Kadic with copies of all the students and faculty to boot way). Jeremie decides without hesitation to go in after them and save them. Before he goes he takes a minute to tell Aelita that he’d “much rather enter a virtual world to find her there waiting for him” but after saying Aelita’s name he hesitates before saying the line. Was he about to verbally admit his love for Aelita but ultimately decided against it? It’d make sense since dropping an I love you on her before possibly dying and never getting to see her again is a burden he probably realizes she could do without. When he enters the world he is confronted with his fake Kadic counterpart. Who it turns out was being played by XANA himself! XANA states that the real Jeremie would never virtualize himself because he’d be “much too frightened” However, the real Jeremie tells his friends to decide which is the real one. His friends rightfully pick the real one and XANA confused by this illogical display of trust and friendship loses all restraint and turns into a twisted version of Jeremie. Aelita destroys the simulation bubble that was holding the world before any harm could really be done and everyone escapes unscathed with the other warriors sans Aelita having no memory of the event. Aelita does eventually explain the situation and the episode concludes with the warriors going to fight off an army of Bloks(I believe that’s how it’s spelled). This episode shows that just because Jeremie does not go to Lyoko it does not mean he is not willing to put his life on the line for his friends and that one does not need to fight off monsters and be able to punch out a giant in one punch to be brave and heroic. That’s actually a pretty superficial way of looking at bravery.

(As overly sugary as this part was, it’s still one of the purest moments in the show)

Come False Start the wait is over, Aelita is here on Earth with the rest of the group. However, she is still bound to the supercomputer and as such they need to break the bond( which was originally believed to be due to a virus). After finding out this information out, Jeremie walks Aelita back to Yumi’s house and what follows is an adorable scene of him introducing her to Earth things such as the cold,flowers, and photo booths. These times don’t last however, and Aelita must go back to Lyoko to deactivate a tower that was being used to materialize Kankerlats into the real word. Jeremie is hesitant at first but, ultimately lets Aelita go once again putting something else before his happiness. At the end we learn that despite the return to the past erasing the walk to Yumi’s the photo booth pictures survived.

(Was it the power of love that saved the photos? You decide!)

Part 2 will be put up sometime

[sol1056]

Your posts on clone Shiro have been really interesting - I hadn't considered why the Black lion would lead Keith to the clone when it knew where the real Shiro was (unless maybe it was thinking that Shiro's spirit needed a new body and hey, that one's close enough!). But also, since Kuron had all of Shiro's memories from the time he first escaped back to Earth thru the end of S2, does that mean Haggar's been spying on them via Shiro's arm from the beginning?

Judging from my inbox and comments on other posts, you’re not the only one asking that question. A few examples:

The saddest thing about Kuron is that he wasn’t even actually bad. ... He is compassionate when there are no witnesses. Haggar yells at him to stop resisting when she possesses him, and his screams of agony make it clear that the process is nonconsensual. 

i can’t see any [clone resolution] scenario being handled well. the worst one would probably be if keith (maybe lance) has to kill him … the only thing that could be even worse is if they have the clone commit unambiguous suicide. they can’t do that any justice.

If Kuron had wanted to kill the paladins from the beginning, all he had to do was NOT intervene when they were being destroyed in S4E1. It seems like he was a good guy who got brainwashed into doing evil against his will, so it wasn’t even his fault.

I was really disturbed with what happened to Shiro and clone. Do you think they’ll even address this in the future?

A clone plotline – like a brainwashing/personality implant plotline – will inevitably raise heavy-duty questions about humanity, individuality, personality, and how great a role memories play in who we are. Going in unprepared will result in a story crumbling under that immense philosophical weight – or alternately, providing so many conflicting messages that the readers react with a variety of concerns like the ones quoted above.  

So, let’s talk science, philosophy, and metaphor.

Behind the cut: cloning vs SF make-believe, the ethics of cloning, the question of souls, fictional metaphors for souls. I’ll do a follow-up that gets into the clues in VLD’s text, how a cleaner metaphor could resolve the clone storyline’s plot holes, and what tweaks could’ve unified the metaphor.

The only way to avoid these reactions is to think through the ramifications, and give the narrative a very clear opinion on the answers. You’ve got to do the worldbuilding and decide whether this story’s world is essentialist or existentialist, and how that will change the consequences. It helps to pick a metaphor, but it must be relatively simple (so you don’t need exposition hell to explain), and it must be consistent. The instant the narrative starts waffling on its opinion of its ‘truth’, audiences will sense this and suddenly all those philosophical questions are going to come down, hard.

real cloning vs SF make-believe

In 1885, Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch produced the first viable clone: a sea urchin. In 1902, Hans Spemann cloned a salamander embryo. It wasn’t until 1996 that anyone managed to clone something other than embrionic cells, when Dolly was closed from adult somatic cells. And now, in 2018, biotech company Stemagen has come up with a process that uses an adult human’s cells to create the embrionic material needed for an actual, human, clone. It’d still need to be implanted in a womb, and from there on follow regular human birth and growth, but yes. It’s a human clone.

A clone is not born full-grown. A clone has no memories of anything that gave it genetic material, any more than you remember a parent’s tenth birthday or first kiss. A clone is no more artificial than a baby created by in vitro fertilization. The only difference between Dolly and other sheep was her method of birth; in all other ways that matter, she was a normal sheep. She grew up, had kids of her own, and died. Once the person (or animal) is born, they are their own person, with their own experiences and memories.

A cloned being does not automatically look like its genetic parent; you can still end up with a crapshoot in terms of appearance. Sometimes genes switch on and off, as a body grows; even identical twins are not truly and perfectly identical. Also, injuries (including scars) do not convey. On a glossy level, what’s stored in the DNA isn’t the injury but the body’s need to create collagen to repair that injury. Think of it like a band-aid: even if the body records the need for that bandaid, the clone’s lack of injuries would prompt the body to dismiss the bandaid. 

ethics of cloning & the question of souls

Once you recognize you’re talking about a living creature, the ethics simplify into being the same as what you’d raise for any other living creature. Banks and banks of post-birth clones, even in stasis, are as much living creatures as any other. Slaughtering them is still murder. Enslaving them is still slavery. Brutalizing them is still abuse. Cool clone, still murder.  

Where things get sticky is when the issue of clones runs up against religiously-based beliefs, most of which lack a solid framework for this modern concept. (Some religions have addressed in vitro and cloning birth technologies, but the specifics aren’t really relevant here.) Since this show is American-made, I’m going to stick to Western concepts, since that’s the most likely influence on the various creators involved in VLD. But to discuss souls, first we have to talk about the two theories on how personhood develops.  

essentialism vs existentialism

In essentialism, essence precedes existence: the person’s essence comes before all other things, even the spark of life itself (or alternately, the essence is the spark that kicks life into being self-aware). Spirit, soul, whatever word you use, it’s some inherent and inviolable thing that forms the basis of the individual’s personhood. It maps roughly to the nature half of the nature-vs-nuture debate – but it’s bigger than that.

Essentialism, at its extremes, is a position of seeing that originating spark/soul as the entirety of a person’s truth. When you reduce someone to their gender, or their race, or some other facet of their birth, that’s essentialism; when you declare that someone born X at birth can never be Y, again, that’s essentialism. When essentialism mingles with religious beliefs, you get a concept of a soul that exists before birth, and continues after: the person’s true essence, for which the body is only a thing to put it in. It’s the ultimate Cartesian separation between the mind-that-is and the body-that-experiences.  

Existentialism is the opposite, and maps more closely to nurture-over-nature. Existence precedes essence: personhood is the culmination of all our experiences, our memories, our interactions, our successes, our failures. Everything you’ve ever done, known, said, thought, or dreamed: these are your interactions with the world, and they are the entirety of what has shaped you into who you are. If there is an essence in play, it is formed out of your existence, rather than informing it. We are each born a tabula rasa, and there is no division between mind as objective observer and body as the vehicle of experience. These things are basically one and the same, in existentialism.

This perspective can also be taken to extremes; at its worst, it’s been turned into a kind of AI-like philosophy, where culture, genetics, family, can be swept aside – along with any future paths. Nothing is true; everything is permitted – a phrase whose roots are deeper than any video game, in a murky muddle between François Rabelais and Hassan-i Sabbah (by way of Vladimir Bartol). If you’re curious, this is the best short explanation I’ve found. 

fictional metaphors for souls

I bring up those competing paradigms because for most religious worldviews, ‘what brings life’ can be hugely important. If the process of birth is defined as a soul exists, the body is created, the soul enters thus making life, does this change if a body is created intentionally? What SFF likes to ask is whether a creature could be only as the shell, lacking that pre-existing substance. (Existentialism bypasses all of this, of course – but that would make for a boring story. It’s just one more individual who is born, lives, and eventually dies.) 

The hitch lies in our real-world metaphors mapping to computers. I’ll walk through a metaphor based on real-world computing rules, and hopefully it’ll become clear how this contradicts with the Western religio-spiritual assumption of a pre-existing, unique, 'soul’.

The mind-body separation exists in the basic metaphor. Hardware is the body, which can run with little oversight; the software (the mind) can usually be updated without disturbing the hardware. Sometimes the hardware ages out and this impacts the software; extend this metaphor and you get the SFF premise of transferring to new hardware so the software (the mind/soul) continues to run. Sometimes the software demands too much and burns out the hardware. 

Overall, the computer-based metaphor plays neatly into the Cartesian system where the two (mind and body) are separate but co-influencing. Note that part about 'transfer to new hardware’ – this is where this metaphor breaks down. 

Remember that Cartesian (yes, 'I think, therefore I am’ guy) posits a separation, and lends itself to an essentialist view where the mind can exist separately and objectively from the body. The same is not true of computers. Ask questions about pre/post life and the computer metaphor swerves into existentialism.

To illustrate: let’s say you have a laptop running a Unix OS, and one day you uninstall Unix and install Windows. It’s now common enough to do fresh installs that the average audience-member will grasp the metaphor: the laptop is now Windows. There is no more Unix. If there is a ghost in the machine, it’s a newborn with factory settings. If you were to reverse your actions and go back to Unix, the original system doesn’t pop up out of nowhere; you now have a newborn system that just happens to be Unix. Unless you took other precautions, the original is gone.  

I mention precautions because there are real-world alternatives in the process, and those impact the metaphor. The first is ghosting to an external drive: that entire Unix setup was copied over to a secondary home, broken away from the hardware. It’s no longer interacting; it’s in stasis. 

Yet, from the perspective of the laptop, it’s now Windows and must start over. The computer has no knowledge of once being Unix. Its self-knowledge begins with its 'birth’ as a Windows machine. If the computer is then wiped and the ghosted Unix is returned to the hardware, the re-installation would have no record of what happened in the meantime, because from the OS’ perspective, there’s no break in its experiential record. It was Unix, it was in stasis, it woke and was still Unix.

The alternative is an OS split into two; memory (the database) and personality (the OS). This paradigm gained strength with the rise of large external drives for long-term storage, while the laptop acts like a terminal, storing little and retrieving as-needed. An uninstall/install will produce artifacts: tiny footprints of a previous OS. (In an archive moved from Mac to Windows, you can see this in the .DS_Store files in every folder.) You could say that the newborn Windows system arrives with clues to its hardware’s previous existence, but in this metaphor, those 'memories’ may make no sense to the current OS. Windows has no idea what to do with a .DS_Store file; it doesn’t need it, and can’t even read it.

the narrative needs to be certain of its opinion

Given those variations in the person-as-computer metaphor, it’s imperative that a story know exactly how its world works. Without that strong and settled opinion, a stray remark within the narrative can mislead readers into thinking they should be following a different version of the metaphor. 

If your story will stand or fall on the concept of a ghost in the machine, you’d better clarify that there’s a backup copy somewhere. If you want the memory without the personality, you’ll need to bring in the concept of external memory paired with a new OS. Otherwise you risk readers kneejerking at the notion that the unprepared, unsaved, and uninstalled Unix OS is just floating out there in the ether, waiting to return. You’ve broken your metaphor.

Next post: the clues in VLD’s text, fixing the clone-created plot holes, and some minor tweaks that would’ve unified the metaphor.

[vivcela]

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

“Forget what hurt you, but never forget what it taught you.”

The story begins with the funeral of Emily Grierson. The entire town attended her funeral in her home since they viewed it as an obligation and because they were curious to see the inside of her house which no one has entered for ten years. After this event, the story flashbacks with the narrator telling the story of Emily’s life. Emily was raised by an overprotective and controlling father who drove away all of her suitors because of his belief that none of them were good enough for his daughter. When her father died, she became poor and devastated. Colonel Sartoris, the town’s mayor at the time, helped her by suspending her tax responsibilities to the town. When new town leaders took over, they attempted to make Emily pay her taxes but she refused and told them to talk to Colonel regarding the matter. Unfortunately, Colonel has already been dead for ten years.

Despite of the difficult situation she has faced, Emily eventually recovers and meets a man named Homer Barron, a Northerner who came to town shortly after her father’s death. They became sweethearts but in the end, Homer told Emily that he is not the marrying type of person and left her. When Emily is seen buying arsenic from the local store, the townspeople are convinced that Homer’s declaration has driven her to suicide. In the end, the truth was discovered in Emily’s funeral when the townspeople break down the door to an upstairs bedroom in the old Grierson home. They found out that Emily killed Homer as they saw the interior decorated like a bridal suite but with the atmosphere of a long-ignored tomb, the decomposed body of Homer on the bed, and a single strand of long, gray hair placed on empty pillow next to him.

A Rose for Emily is a story that left me a lesson about getting over the past and overcoming struggles in life. It is clear that Emily struggled in coping up with her father’s death. I understand her because even I will suffer greatly if one of my loved ones died. Like Emily, I am also afraid of losing the most important persons in my life and if I experienced the same situation Emily has encountered, I am not confident if I can still be happy and continue to live. Nevertheless, the story made me realized the importance of being strong and finding solutions to one’s problem. I believe that if Emily found people whom she can lean on to especially in times of darkness, then her story would be different. Therefore, as we encounter challenges in life, we must keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with seeking for help for us to heal and finally grow.

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” - Montresor

The story is centred on a man named Montresor who decided to take revenge on Fortunato who insulted him. His plans was to meet Fortunato at a carnival, trick him regarding the barrel of a rare brandy called Amontillado, and bury him alive in the catacomb of his house. Fortunato’s drunkenness and interest in verifying the authenticity of the wine made it easier for Montresor to make these plans possible. In the end, Fortunato died being trapped in the hole and nobody has discovered his death even after many years have passed by.

The Cask of Amontillado taught me the importance of thinking first before doing or saying something. It is because words and actions are powerful to the point that it can damage one’s well-being if people are not careful at deciding what to say or do. The worst case is that we have already offended someone yet we were not aware that they were hurt because of us. As what the golden rule states, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If we want to be respected, then we should learn to respect other people to build and sustain a healthy relationship with other people.

Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

“We’re all human aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same and worth saving.”

– J.K. Rowling

The story is about a couple who stopped by at a train station in Spain, drank beer, and talked with each other. The man is convincing the woman to abort their baby by letting her know that the procedure is simple and safe although it was not really guaranteed safe at that time, reassuring her that he will be right beside her the whole time, and that abortion is the only solution to the problems in their relationship. However, the woman is indecisive regarding the issue.

Hills Like White Elephants emphasized the idea that we are all responsible for every action we have made. Yes, we are free to choose, but we are not free to choose the consequences of our choices. This is why we must think carefully and consider the common good not only the selfish interests. Reflecting on this story, I realized that we must learn to overcome greed in order to avoid cruel deeds.

God Sees the Truth, But Waits by Leo Tolstoy

“Obviously, no one except God can know the truth… only from Him should I ask help, from Him alone can I expect mercy.”

– Ivan Aksionov

The story is about Ivan Aksionov, a young merchant who lives in Vladimir with his wife Vanya. To earn money, he decided to travel and sell goods during summer despite of being told by his wife to not travel because she had a bad dream. Ivan met another merchant whom he drank tea with and shared the same room in an Inn. Then he found out that the merchant he met was murdered and he was the primary suspect of the crime because a knife with blood stains was found inside his bag. One day, Ivan met his newly arrived inmate named Makar and as they talked with each other, Ivan begins to suspect that Makar was the one who framed him for the murder. He even found out that Makar is digging an escape tunnel under the wall of the prison. However, he decided not to tell this to the authorities. This made Makar realize his mistake, confessed that he was the one who killed the merchant and framed Ivan, and asked for forgiveness. In the end, the authorities wanted to release Ivan but it is too late because he was already dead.

God Sees the Truth, But Waits showed me that a person can still have a strong faith in God even if he experienced a great suffering in life. I admire Ivan for being able to believe and trust God in spite of being imprisoned for many years because of a crime he did not commit. If Ivan can still believe in God in spite of what happened to him, then I can also do the same thing even if sometimes I cannot understand why I must experience so much pain and hardships in life. Furthermore, the story taught me to have the courage to be accountable for all of our actions. We must not be like Makar who let Ivan suffer the consequences of his wrongdoing rather we must be good people who do not want to destroy someone’s life and who do not only think of what will benefit us.

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“Look there, where the wind is so peaceful ... yes, over there, that's Esteban's village.”

- Narrator

The story tells the tale of a drowned man found on the shore of a small fishing village. The dead man, who is covered with seaweed, stones, and sea creatures, is unusually tall and incredibly handsome. The villagers named him Esteban and they begin to fall in love with him, treating him with religious reverence, and adopting him into their families. In the end, they returned the body into the sea without a weight attached, hoping that Esteban will float back someday on the shore. Even though they have freed Esteban, they promised to transform the village into kind of place worthy of Esteban.

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World taught me that a truly great person can influence people to inspire them and change for the better. Personally, I have met many great people who served as inspirations for me to strive hard and be a better version of myself. Amidst the challenges, mistakes, and failures in life, they saw the good in me, believed in my capabilities, and stayed with me. This is why whatever happens, I will continue to fight every battle in life and as I journey through an unknown road, I will carry in my heart the purpose why I am doing what I am doing.

A Father by Anton Chekhov

“It’s a big happiness to love and be loved.”

– Anton Chekhov

The story is about a father named Musatov who finds himself lucky because despite of being a drunkard and constantly demanding money from his sons, his children still loved and accepted him. They tolerated him and provided his needs even if he did not deserve these for all the troubles he caused them and for not effectively playing his role as a father to them.

A Father made me realized that when you truly love someone, you will never get tired of understanding and accepting him despite of his imperfections and mistakes. Just like those parents who sacrificed everything for their children and loved them despite of their wrongdoings and weaknesses, we must learn to unconditionally love those important people in our lives to avoid regrets in the end. I also realized that love is powerful to the extent that it can conquer anything and change bad habits into good ones.

[yetanotherbuffyblog]

This ISN’T the season finale??

Wait

How is this not the season finale?

Because...it’s all here. Yeah, there are some loose ends, but for the most part everything is resolved. I spent the last few minutes of the episode waiting for a dramatic cliffhanger. But there wasn’t. The story arc of the season is...over.

And yet we have one more episode.

I guess I should talk about this one though.

Riley is with Adam, but not by choice. See, apparently Dr. Walsh implanted in riley some kind of chip or programming that Adam now controls. O he has Riley held captive and goes into the Initiative’s Super Secret Evil Lab, that not even most of the Initiative knows about. There he has an undead Walsh and the head doctor guy he killed, brought back through weird science involving blood tubes. They’re not intelligent though, only workers. Unlike undead Forrest, who is now, like Adam, a human-demon hybrid. He’s all too happy to taunt Riley.

Spike, however, wants his brain chip removed as soon as possible. But Adam points out that yes, the Slayer is separated from her friends, she’s not in the Initiative yet, which is where he wants her. Spike points out that all she needs to do is talk to Willow; but as Adam points out, the plan necessitates them not talking, and so they have no way of letting her know where to go. Adam’s not happy with this.

While Buffy looks into the cave where she last saw Adam, she runs in Spike, who declares he’s just looking for a new place. He then asks if she’s seen the tapes he delivered, and tells her to get on that even if she and Willow had an argument. Buffy realizes that Spike, not having been there for the argument, shouldn’t know about, and rounds up the Scoobies and asks them who told them the stuff that got them fighting. When they all realize it was Spike, Buffy deduces he’s working for Adam and tried to separate them. Willow also has the information from the tapes (which decrypted themselves, probably because Adam wants them to have the info), telling them about Adam’s secret lab.

The Evil Plan as they understand it: Adam has had several demons and monsters purposefully get themselves inside by being captured. Then he hacks into the facility’s controls and lets them all out. The monsters and soldiers will all kill each other. Buffy has to be there to make sure enough monsters die too, evening the odds. And when it’s all done, Adam finishes off who’s left, then uses whatever’s left to build an army of demon/human/cyborg people.

Uh, okay then.

They’re kicking around ideas for a plan; they find an attack of some sort, like a spell, but it would need to be done by someone in Sumerian (which neither Buffy nor Willow knows, but Buffy does), and by a powerful witch (which Willow is, but no one else). Giles comes up with some other spell that would let them combine all their abilities into one person (Buffy wiki calls this the Enjoining Spell) but it would be dangerous as they’d be required to be physically near Buffy and in the fight. So they work it out, and go break into the Initiative...where they’re promptly arrested.

Also Adam, upon seeing that Buffy is with her friends, says Spike has failed and tries to have demon!Forrest kill him. Spike escapes, and Adam decides he has bigger fish to fry.

Dude in charge wants to hold the Scoobies hostage, even though they’re the only ones who know what’s going on. But whoops! Adam unleashes demon horde and locks everyone inside. The majority of the soldiers go off to fight, while the Scoobies escape their captors. They find Adam’s secret room behind the 314 lab. Buffy goes in, while the Scoobies set up their spell in the 314 lab.

Also the soldiers and monsters are all fighting and the soldiers are kind of incompetent.

Buffy finds a captive Riley, who can’t do anything because of the control chip in him. Forrest comes in, and along with the undead head science guy and Walsh, they team up on Buffy and nearly beat her. But from his captive chair, Riley manages to dig the control chip out of his...shoulder? Chest? Whatever. So he kills undeads, and holds Forrest so Buffy can go after Adam. That fight goes on, and Riley splodeys demon!Forrest.

And then Buffy and Adam FIGHT.

It doesn’t go well at first, but then the spell Giles, Xander and Willow are doing finally kicks in. Buffy goes full on God Mode, kicks the snot out of Adam, then rips out his uranium core. Adam collapses, Buffy crushes the core. And then goes back, and with Riley and the Scoobies go to help finish off the monsters.

Uh, okay.

The episode closes with the government going over the Initiative project, and deciding that it wasn’t worth it, the experiment was a failure, and shut the whole thing down and never speak of it again.

Notes I guess:

-Again, this felt like a season finale. Adam’s dead, his core destroyed, his plan thwarted, and the Initiative is shut down. I don’t know what one more episode would actually be about.

-That the disks Spike got for the Scoobies started decrypting themselves should have raised a lot of red flags for Willow, but she thinks maybe they’re just meant to decode after a certain amount of time. Because that’s how government computers work, right?

-In the fight between soldiers and monsters, it’s mostly in the main area and we see soldiers spraying bullets from assault rifles into crowds of both monsters and comrades locked in combat. And there’s a bit where we see the Colonel shooting his pistol wildly, at everywhere except at the monsters right in front of him. These guys suck.

-So for the spell, I thought it was putting all their abilities in Buffy? But they call on “Sineya” who Google tells me was the first Slayer, and while the spell is in effect she has glowing eyes, and is way more powerful than Willow or Giles, blocking bullets and easily piercing Adam’s skin. So...I dunno what that is supposed to mean.

-Buffy breaks Adam’s hidden blade! And then his other arm turns into a chain gun. That’s cheating man.

-Wouldn’t the chip controlling Riley be...in his brain? Or something? Adam calls it that in the beginning of the episode, a brain chip. Why is it in his torso? How would that even work at all?

-TV Tropes seems convinced that seeing that fuzzy werewolf-like monster that attacked the group of soldiers in Oz’s episode was cool foreshadowing, but...uh...yeah, it shows up here, gets zapped, then killed by Spike. That’s it. It’s not important at all.

-Was Walsh planning on doing a whole bunch of these human/demon/cyborg soldiers? Because...that’s a stupid idea on so many levels. It’s almost as dumb as creating a hybrid dinosaur that turns invisible for the military. If we’d gotten more motivation on why Walsh wanted to do this, I’d find it a better idea, but as it is we just have the military being monumentally stupid. Which I suppose happens, but...yeah….

-Spike’s smoking actually comes in handy! He takes his lit cigarette and shoves it in Forrest’s face, allowing him to escape.

-You’d think Riley and Forrest’s fight would be more emotional, considering. But we’ve got a lot going on, I guess.

-Oh and Anya admits she loves Xander. Yay I guess?

-I was actually fairly certain Riley would die or something in the the (not)finale…

-According to TV Tropes, the writers actually realized that Spike’s plan for dividing the Scoobies prevented Buffy from getting the necessary information to go forward with the Plot. Instead of rewriting the previous episode, they decided to play with it, showing that Spike wasn’t as much of a mastermind as he thought he was.

-So now that all that happened...what’s left? What could the last episode have to wrap up this season?

[esonetwork]

Timestamp #SJA1: Invasion of the Bane

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/timestamp-sja1-invasion-of-the-bane/

Timestamp #SJA1: Invasion of the Bane

Sarah Jane Adventures: Invasion of the Bane (1 episode, New Year Special, 2007)

  The triumphant return of Sarah Jane Smith.

Maria Jackson and her family are moving into their new home on Bannerman Road. After watching an advertisement for Bubble Shock soda, Maria briefly meets Sarah Jane Smith and finishes moving boxes into the house. It turns out that Maria’s mother has recently divorced her father, so it’s just Maria and her father Alan in the house.

Later that night, Maria sets up her room while the soda commercial plays again. She turns out the lights and goes to bed, but she awakens around 2:30 am to a bright pink light pulsing from Sarah Jane’s residence. Maria investigates and finds Sarah Jane communing with a floating alien that gives her a glowing stone device. Maria runs home in fear.

The next morning, she obliquely asks her father about seeing strange things. Their neighbor Kelsey Hooper stops by to say hello, and the girls decide to go into town after brief introductions with Alan. Further introductions are made as Alan meets Sarah Jane, but Sarah Jane seems rather intrigued by the girls and rushes off.

Kelsey gives Maria the lowdown on Sarah Jane: She’s a journalist who rushes around like a madwoman. The girls board a bus dedicated to the Bubble Shock soda and take a tour of the bottling facility. Sarah Jane rushes the gate and sneaks in behind them, taking some readings on a wristwatch device. The girls go through a supposed security scanner, but the data it takes is transmitted to a strange science experiment behind the scenes.

Sarah Jane continues to sneak around, using her sonic lipstick to open a locked door. She’s captured soon after and taken to visit Mrs. Wormwood, the woman who was working on the Frankenstein experiment. Sarah Jane interviews Mrs. Wormwood, drawing parallels between Wormwood’s operation and the Book of Revelation.

Meanwhile, the girls continue their tour and receive free samples, but Maria rejects the soda. Sarah Jane is also offered a sample, and she also rejects it. The company is very aggressive about wanting every person on Earth to drink their product, adding special emphasis on the ingredient Bane.

Sarah Jane smells an alien influence. She’s also a bit put off when Wormwood suggests that Sarah Jane’s life alone has been wasted. If she only knew the truth. When Sarah Jane leaves, Wormwood signals her assistant to kill the journalist, but Sarah Jane escapes. Meanwhile, Kelsey leaves the tour group and tries to use her mobile phone, but the signals awaken a creature and set off alarms throughout the facility. As everyone evacuates the premises, Maria goes in search of her friend.

Kelsey is soon found by the tour guide. The man smashes her phone and declares that the creature is his mother. In fact, it is the mother of them all. Maria tries to make a call and sets off the alarms again, this time causing a feedback pulse that awakens and frees the young boy medical experiment, known as The Archetype.

The Archetype finds Maria and they work together to elude the factory personnel by hiding in the ladies’ restroom. Sarah Jane Smith finds them soon thereafter, but when Wormwood’s team arrives they are gone. Sarah Jane, Maria, and The Archetype escape, but Kelsey is left behind with Wormwood. Maria confronts Sarah Jane about the events at the factory and those of the previous night, but when Sarah Jane tells her to go home, she leaves in tears.

Wormwood reviews her scans of Sarah Jane Smith and finds residual artron energy, the results of traveling through spacetime. When Kelsey remarks that Sarah Jane lives on Bannerman Road, Wormwood reveals her true form and the girl faints. Wormwood analyzes Kelsey’s knowledge and sends Davey the tour guide (and a recently mindwiped Kelsey) to Bannerman Road.

Sarah Jane talks with The Archetype, who claims to be everyone, but their discussion is interrupted by a male voice from upstairs. Sarah Jane scans the boy to find that he is a human boy but is only 360 minutes old and has no bellybutton. Meanwhile, Kelsey arrives back at Maria’s house and Davey assaults Sarah Jane’s home. The girls find out that Davey is there and they rush to help only to find a tentacled creature that pursues them inside. Sarah Jane and the kids rush upstairs to safety. Sarah Jane uses some kind of aerosol to repel the creature and make it transform back into Davey. Davey runs off, Sarah Jane analyzes the remnants, and Kelsey snoops around in the attic.

Sarah Jane reveals her secret to the kids in the room surrounded by alien artifacts, pictures of the Brigadier and K9, and artwork depicting the TARDIS. She tells them of the Doctor and her travels, and how after she met him the second time, she dedicated herself to investigating alien influences on the planet Earth. Speaking of K9, the daft little metal dog, he’s working to seal a black hole before it destroys the planet. The portal between K9’s work and the attic is a concealed safe in the wall.

Back at the factory, Davey pays the price for his failure: He is eaten by the Mother. Sucks to be him.

Sarah Jane deduces that The Archetype is an alien experiment. As Sarah Jane and Maria develop a friendship, they discover that the soda (particularly Bane) is alien in origin. In fact, it is part of the creatures that they have been dealing with. Sarah Jane calls on Mr. Smith, her supercomputer, to hack into Wormwood’s office for a one-on-one video discussion. Wormwood is unwilling to bargain and declares war on humanity by using the Bane in everyone’s systems to transform them into the newborn Bane.

Sarah Jane, Maria, and The Archetype rush to the factory to find a solution. Sarah Jane sonics the gates to trap the soda zombies but the main gates to the factory are deadlock sealed, so she uses the Bubble Shock bus to break through the walls. Wormwood introduces Sarah Jane to the Mother and then explains that The Archetype is a combination of the strongest elements of each scanned visitor to the factory. The intent is to use the boy to fine tune the soda formula so that every human would drink it, but since he’s no longer needed, Wormwood issues a kill command in the boy’s DNA.

Maria fights back using her mobile phone, but the Mother swipes it away. The Archetype produces the communication device that Sarah Jane received the night before and programs it with the specific frequency of the Bane’s communications. Using that painful distraction, the humans run and the factory explodes behind them. The Mother is presumed dead, but Wormwood as escaped while vowing vengeance.

Everyone returns home to find that the world is restored. Alan meets The Archetype who Sarah Jane declares to be her adopted son. Sarah Jane and Maria reconvene later and deliberate over the boy’s future. Mr. Smith created official adoption documents, and Sarah Jane finishes them with a proper name: Luke.

There’s a nice touch here with nods to the Brigadier and Harry Sullivan while trying to name the newest member of the Smith family.

Sarah Jane waxes philosophically about her travels with the Doctor as the adventure comes to a close.

  This is a wonderful pilot episode for the return of Sarah Jane Smith. It’s fantastic to see her continuing as a journalist with the added expertise of her travels with the Doctor. Knowing that this new series is designed with kids in mind, I find that the Bannerman Road Gang is easily relatable and adds a sense of innocence to the adventure. It’s almost as if Sarah Jane has become a mix of the Doctor and Torchwood, but with a much lighter tone.

It was nice to see Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny from the Pierce Brosnan era of James Bond, as well as Lady Rosamund from Downton Abbey) and I did love her turn as a villain, even with the over-the-top scenery-chewing performance. I also couldn’t help but draw a parallel between Luke Smith and Kyle XY, what with the lack of bellybutton as a tying characteristic.

One thing that I’m not a fan of is the tilted camera angles used in the factory. There are better ways to use the style and to inspire unease in the audience.

  Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

  UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Smith and Jones

  The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

[miajolensdevotion]

Women of the Bible - Deborah No. 2The Woman Who Was a Fearless Patriot

Judges 4  and 5;Hebrews 11:32-34

Name Meaning—Although we know nothing of the  early history of this prophetess-judge, it may be that her parents with a  knowledge of the unselfish and untiring service of Deborah the nurse,  gave their baby girl the same name which, as already indicated, means “a  bee.” This we do know that the practical qualities symbolized by the  busy bee were as necessary to Deborah as they were to the right  performance of the less conspicuous and humbler duties of the former  nurse Deborah. While Deborah the patriot gathered honey for her friends,  like a bee she had a fatal sting for her enemies as the Canaanites came  to experience. “Science confirms the ancient belief that, of all the  animal kingdom, the bee ranks among the highest in intelligence”  says Mary Hallet. “So Deborah stands out as among the wisest of all the  Old Testament women.”

Family Connections—We have no genealogy of  this female warrior and writer. The only personal touch we have is that  she was “the wife of Lapidoth” (Judges 4:4 ), whose name is the only thing the Bible gives us. Their  home was between Bethel and Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. The  palm tree under which Deborah ruled and possibly lived was a land mark,  as palms were then rare in Palestine. In honor of her works, it became  known as “The Palm of Deborah” (Judges 4:5 ). Although referred to as a “mother in Israel,” we have no  record of Deborah being a mother of natural children by Lapidoth.

Occasionally,  a strong-minded and unique woman breaks in upon human history and by  her exploits leaves the impact of her personality upon events and  secures for herself an imperishable honor. England, for instance, will  never forget the bolds deeds of Margaret of Anjou, who at the head of  her northern forces swept over the country like a cyclone, destroying  armies and tearing down thrones. In France, Joan of Arc, the patron  saint of her country, professed to have divine visions as to her destiny  to restore peace to her distracted nation by the crowning of Charles.  From school days we have known how she led 10,000 troops against the  English at Orleans, and compelled them to retreat, and of how other  victories followed as her consecrated banner struck terror into the  hearts of her enemies. Ultimately, she was burned at the the stake as “a  martyr to her religion, her country and her king.” Her ashes, thrown  into the Seine, were carried to the sea, and the sea, taking them around  the world became emblematic of her universal fame.

Similarly  gifted with superior spiritual, mental and physical powers to leave her  mark upon the annals of time was Deborah whom God raised up and endowed  with a remarkable personality and varied gifts for the deliverance of  His distressed and defeated people. A woman of unusual attainments,  Deborah carved out an enviable niche for herself. With characteristic   resoluteness she occupied several positions. She Was a Wife While nothing is said of her husband and home life, there is no reason to   affirm, as some writers do, that being born to rule, Deborah was master in her own home. Some writers feel that since Lapidoth was the husband of a prominent woman, that he was “hen-pecked” or that Deborah “wore the  trousers.” Wharton inFamous Women suggests that Lapidoth was a weak man  married to a strong-willed and a strong-bodied woman. “His very name is  in the original Hebrew put not in the masculine, but in the feminine  gender. I have no doubt that while by no means so great, he was yet ‘as  meek as Moses.’” Although meek, Moses was by no means weak.

We  prefer to believe that Lapidoth admired the ability and influence of his  more conspicuous wife. His name means, “torches” or “lightning   flashes,” and we can well imagine how in his quieter way he was the �� encourager of Deborah in all her activities. Although not so forceful   and capable as his wife, yet he was illuminative in his own way and   behind the scenes was as good and conspicuous in faith as the woman he   loved, and in whose glory he was content to bask. Many of the notable   men of the world have testified to the succor and inspiration they   received from their wives who walked with them in full agreement as they  climbed the heights. Perhaps the shoe was on the other foot in that God-fearing home. Deborah would never have become the dazzling figure   she did, had she not had the love, sympathy, advice and encouragement of  a husband who was happy to ride in the second chariot. She Was a Prophetess Deborah  is one of several females in Scripture distinguished as being endowed with the prophetic gift, which means the ability to discern the mind and  purpose of God and declare it to others. In the days of the Old   Testament, prophets and prophetesses were the media between God and His people Israel, and their gift to perceive and proclaim divine truth   stamped them as being divinely inspired. Such an office, whether held by  a male or female, was a high one and corresponds to the ministry of the  Word today. Can you not picture how hungry-minded Israelites found their way to that conspicuous palm tree beneath which Deborah sat,   stately in person with her dark, penetrating, prophetic eyes, and poured out wisdom and instruction as she declared the whole counsel of   God? As a woman, she had intuition as well as inspiration, which is   always better than a man’s cold reasoning. Had Pontius Pilate taken the advice of his wife he would not have signed the death warrant of Jesus Christ. She Was an Agitator As one meaning of “agitation” is to   stir up or excite public discussion with the view of producing a change,  then Deborah was an effective agitator who stirred up Israel’s concern  about its low spiritual condition. The land was debauched and well-nigh  ruined, and under the rule of the Canaanites liberty had been lost. The  people were dejected and afraid, for their spirits had been broken and  all hope of deliverance had vanished. But Deborah did more than  prophesy; she aroused the nation from its lethargy and despair. Hers was  a fearless and unsolicited devotion to the emancipation of God’s  people, and she awoke in them a determination to free themselves from  their wretched bondage and degradation. Out went her call and challenge to the help of the Lord against the enemy. Day after day, she  excited those who gathered to hear her words of divine wisdom with the  certainty of deliverance from a heathen foe if only they would bestir themselves from their folly and fear and go out and fight. She Was a Ruler Deborah  was the fifth of the leaders or “Judges” of Israel raised up by God to  deliver His people from the bondage their idolatry had caused, and   instant both in word and deed she fulfilled her role as “Judge,” at a   time when men tried to do right in the sight of their own eyes. As the   position of woman in those days was of a distinctily subordinate   character, Deborah’s prominence as a ruler is somewhat remarkable. All   Israel was under her jurisdiction, and from the palm tree bearing her   name, and elsewhere, called “the sanctuary of the palm,” she dispensed   righteousness, justice and mercy. After the victory over the nation’s   foes, she ruled with equity a land that had rest from war and captivity for forty years. She Was a Warrior Having  fought with words she went forth to throw off the oppressor’s yoke with  swords, and what a fighter this patriotic and inspired heroine proved  to be. Deborah sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam of Naphtali, and told  him that it was God’s will that he should lead her forces and deliver  the country. Long slavery and repeated failures made Barak hesitate, but  ultimately he decided to lead the army provided Deborah, the  brave-hearted and dauntless ruler, went with him. Barak felt he could  face the foe if his ruler were at hand, and out they went to meet  Sisera, a mighty man of war, who had terrorized Israel for many years.  Great were the odds against Deborah and Barak, for their army5:7 ). Commenting upon our Lord’s action in taking up little children  into His arms and blessing them as being a father’s act in Hebrew  custom, Bengel says, “Jesus had no children that He might adopt all  children.” Perhaps it was so with Deborah who, as far as we know, had  never experienced actual motherhood, but yet became as a mother to all  in Israel, and the source of this spiritual motherhood was her piety.   Above all of her remarkable gifts was her trust in God which is ever the  source of any woman’s highest adornment. As she sat under her palm tree  to rule in righteousness and translate the revelation of God, her heart  was filled with that “grace divine which diffused itself like a sweet-smelling savor over the whole land.” Hers was a brilliant career because of a heart that was fixed in God. Meroz failed God, and under a  curse, vanished, but Deborah is immortal because she served God to the  limit of her ability and capacity. She was indeed the female Oliver   Cromwell of ancient Israel who went out to fight the Lord’s battles with  a psalm on her lips and a sword in her hand. consisted of some 10,000 men. Sisera commanded 100,000 fighters, and had  900 iron chariots. When the eventful moment of combat came, the  dauntless spirit of Deborah did not quail. True, tremendous odds were  against them, but Deborah had God as her Ally and “the stars in their  courses fought against Sisera.” A fearful hailstorm overtook the land,  and the Canaanites were almost blinded by the rain, and were ultimately   overwhelmed in the swollen river of Kishon. Sisera escaped but was   killed by Jael while asleep in her tent. (SeeJael .) Thus Deborah gained undying fame as the female warrior who rescued her people from their cruel foes. She Was a Poetess The prose and poem of Judges 4  and 5  are associated with the same historic event, and reveal that Deborah  could not only prophecy, arouse, rule and fight, but also write. It was  said of Julius Caesar that, “he wrote with the same ability with which  he fought.” This observation can also be true of Deborah, who, after her  victory over the Canaanites, composed a song which is regarded as one  of the finest specimens of ancient Hebrew poetry, being superior to the   celebrated song of Miriam (seeMiriam ). This song of praise, found in Judges 5 , magnifies the Lord as being the One who enabled Israel’s   leaders to conquer their enemies. Out of the contest and conquest came   the moral purification of the nation, and the inspiring genius of it was  a woman daring and dynamic in the leadership of her nation. No   character in the Old Testament stands out in bolder relief than   Deborah—prophetess, ruler, warrior and poetess. Her song is immortal   because her life was dedicated to God and her deeds heroic and sublime.5:7 ). Commenting upon our Lord’s action in taking up little children  into His arms and blessing them as being a father’s act in Hebrew  custom, Bengel says, “Jesus had no children that He might adopt all  children.” Perhaps it was so with Deborah who, as far as we know, had  never experienced actual motherhood, but yet became as a mother to all  in Israel, and the source of this spiritual motherhood was her piety.  Above all of her remarkable gifts was her trust in God which is ever the  source of any woman’s highest adornment. As she sat under her palm tree  to rule in righteousness and translate the revelation of God, her heart  was filled with that “grace divine which diffused itself like a sweet-smelling savor over the whole land.” Hers was a brilliant career  because of a heart that was fixed in God. Meroz failed God, and under a  curse, vanished, but Deborah is immortal because she served God to the  limit of her ability and capacity. She was indeed the female Oliver  Cromwell of ancient Israel who went out to fight the Lord’s battles with  a psalm on her lips and a sword in her hand. She Was a Maternal Figure The last glimpse we have of Deborah is as “a mother in Israel” (5:7 ). Commenting upon our Lord’s action in taking up little children  into His arms and blessing them as being a father’s act in Hebrew  custom, Bengel says, “Jesus had no children that He might adopt all  children.” Perhaps it was so with Deborah who, as far as we know, had  never experienced actual motherhood, but yet became as a mother to all  in Israel, and the source of this spiritual motherhood was her piety.   Above all of her remarkable gifts was her trust in God which is ever the  source of any woman’s highest adornment. As she sat under her palm tree  to rule in righteousness and translate the revelation of God, her heart  was filled with that “grace divine which diffused itself like a sweet-smelling savor over the whole land.” Hers was a brilliant career because of a heart that was fixed in God. Meroz failed God, and under a  curse, vanished, but Deborah is immortal because she served God to the  limit of her ability and capacity. She was indeed the female Oliver   Cromwell of ancient Israel who went out to fight the Lord’s battles with  a psalm on her lips and a sword in her hand.

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 10/26/2019

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind EP#01 - Gold Experience: In 2001, two years after the events of Diamond Is Unbreakable, Koichi Hirose travels to Naples, Italy, having been asked by Jotaro Kujo to search for a young man named Haruno Shiobana. Upon arriving at the airport, Koichi is scammed out of his luggage by his target who calls himself Giorno Giovanna. Giorno escapes with Koichi's luggage by transforming it into a frog, but Giorno is then confronted by a gangster named Leaky Eye Luca for operating on his turf. Luca attempts to kill Giorno with his shovel, but finds the damage he deals to the frog is reflected back at him, knocking him unconscious. Later, Koichi catches up to Giorno and uses his Stand Echoes, but Giorno escapes by using his Stand Gold Experience, which has the ability to transform inanimate objects into living organisms. Koichi reports his findings to Jotaro and learns that Giorno is Dio Brando's son. Giorno boards a cable car and encounters Bruno Bucciarati who suspects Giorno of harming Luca, who was later killed by his boss. Bucciarati brings out the power of his zipper-generating Stand, Sticky Fingers, to extract the truth from Giorno.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba EP#03 - Sabito and Makomo: Over the next 6 months, Tanjiro trains with Urokodaki, improving his physical form and learning how to use a special breathing technique Total Concentration, to accelerate his stamina and speed. One day, Urokodaki declares that it Tanjiro can slice a boulder with his sword he will let him enter Final Selection — a survival test administered by the Demon Slayer Corps that will determine who can become a demon hunter. Tanjiro tries for the next 6 months, failing each time, while Nezuko continues to sleep. Worry over Nezuko and his continued failures push Tanjiro to the brink of giving up, until he is confronted by two children with fox masks, Sabito and Makomo. Sabito initially knocks Tanjiro out, reprimanding him for not ingraining Urokodaki's moves into his body, to help him train by sparring; while Makomo teaches and hones Tanjiro's skills patiently each time he awakens. Makomo reveals that the two of them are orphans raised by Urokodaki. After another 6 months, Tanjiro's blade finally reaches Sabito first during a match, slicing his mask into two. The adopted siblings smile and vanish. Tanjiro realises that his sword, which he thought cut through Sabito's mask, had actually cleaved the boulder into two.

One-Punch Man 2 EP#03 (15) - The Hunt Begins: Seemingly due to his frustration with Garou's reappearance, Silver Fang severely beats his only pupil, Charanko, and expels him from his dojo. Charanko goes to tell Saitama and Genos, and notices that King and Fubuki are also in Saitama's apartment. Genos correctly deduces that Charanko was kicked out because of the reappearance of Garou. While walking home one night, Charanko happens upon Garou picking a fight with Mumen Rider, the Class C Rank 1 Hero. Before they could fight however, Tank Top Vegetarian and his crew arrive to confront Garou. Garou easily defeats Tank Top Vegetarian again, but Tank Top Master intervenes, greatly exciting Garou, as he gets to fight an S-Class hero for the first time. Tank Top Master gains the upper hand, but before he could deal the finishing blow, Mumen Rider jumps in to take the hit, saying that heroes don't kill humans because it's wrong. Garou seemingly apologizes for his actions, but tries to attack again. Tank Top Master sees through Garou’s tactic and lands a strong blow, forcing Garou to use his trump card-the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, to counter it. With his initial compunctions against using the martial art due to it reminding him of Bang now out of the way, Garou uses it to defeat Tank Top Master, Mumen Rider, Charanko and the entire Tank Top gang before going on his merry way. Bang calls his brother Bomb to help deal with the Garou threat, and while walking they stumble across the Tank Top's crew’s and Charanko's beaten bodies. The next day, Saitama visits Mumen Rider in the hospital, and learns from Tank Top Master about Garou's martial arts. Garou finds a boy name Tareo who is reading a hero almanac that describes what each hero does and their movesets, and plans to take out Class A Hero: Golden Ball. Garou fights against Golden Ball, and defeats Golden Ball and fellow Class A Rank 28 hero: Spring Mustachio, who had come to assist his friend Golden Ball. Meanwhile, after hearing all about Garou's martial arts, Saitama decides he wants to see what martial arts are all about. Charanko gives Saitama a ticket to a mixed-martial arts tournament, but warns Saitama that the tournament will disqualify any impersonators, but Saitama doesn't listen. After beating up a pimp, Garou is walking around when he encounters Saitama, who is planning to buy a wig for the tournament. Mistakenly thinking that Saitama wants to fight him, Garou tries to chop Saitama, but his attack has no effect. Annoyed, Saitama chops Garou on the back of the neck, and Garou is knocked out. In the post credit scene Genos catches Saitama putting on his wig, so he asks Dr. Kuseno over his phone to implant artificial fibers to give Saitama the appearance of hair, much to Saitama's annoyance.

Dr. Stone Kingdom of Science Arc EP#10 - A Flimsy Alliance: While recalling the time he was first revived by Tsukasa, Gen is suddenly attacked by a mysterious assailant, barely managing to survive thanks to fake blood bags he had protected himself with. Learning that the culprit was Magma, who believed that Gen was the sorcerer instead of Senku, Kohaku reveals that Magma did so to win the Grand Bout, a tournament Kohaku has previously beaten him in to keep him from marrying Ruri and becoming village elder. As Kohaku, Kinro, and Ginro train for the Grand Bout, Gen gives a false report to Tsukasa after Senku promises to make him a bottle of cola.

Fire Force EP#13 - The Trap Is Set: Konro concludes his story and tells that after destroying the powerful Infernal, Soichiro Hague Captain of Company 4 offered Konro and Benimaru the opportunity to form their own Company, number 7. Back in the present, Konro and the others emerge to find the Asakusa townspeople people involved in arguments caused by multiple cases of mistaken identity. It is revealed that Yona, a Knight of the Ashen Flame, is using his powers to alter the appearance of Evangelist followers to cause chaos in Asakusa. The White Hoods then create a number of Infernals and use the ensuing confusion to attack Company 8. Shinra and Arthur pursue two of the White Hoods, Haran and Arrow, but have trouble cooperating and fail to coordinate their attacks. Eventually they gain the upper hand over the White Hoods, and in desperation Haran swallows the Infernal Bug. Meanwhile, Konro tries to get Benimaru’s attention to manage the evacuation of the townspeople, but Benimaru is still preoccupied with disposing of Infernals.

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma EP#16 - The Cook Who Traveled Thousands of Miles: With Fumio, Megumi, and Satoshi as judges, Soma and Joichiro are challenged to use ingredients from the kitchen to make a light yet energizing breakfast dish that will wake them up. Soma presents an apple risotto, which provides a crisp taste that changes with the addition of black pepper. Joichiro, on the other hand, presents the unusual choice of ramen which, despite its heavy appearance, turns out to be a mellow and warming vegetarian dish, providing powerful flavor without meat or fish. The judges unanimously vote Joichiro's dish the winner, though Soma's dish also receives some praise. As Jouichirou takes his leave, he leaves a message recommending Soma visit the Yukihira Diner during the holiday.

Lupin the 3rd Part 5 EP#19 - A 7.62mm Mirage: Lupin is "invited" by a psychotic millionaire named Zylberstein, one of his old acquaintances, to a solitary chess game for life and death. To increase the thrill, Zylberstein has hired an infamous female sniper named Mirage, a former partner of Jigen, to kill Lupin during the game. This results in a deadly hide-and-snipe match between Jigen and Mirage amidst a ruined mountain city, which ends when Jigen manages to critically damage Mirage's rifle just as she is taking aim at Lupin and the resulting ricochet hits Zylberstein instead. Lupin and Jigen discover the sniper is Mirage's daughter, who took the job to finance her sick mother's transfer to a better hospital. Lupin leaves the monetary stake Zylberstein left him (in case Lupin won the game) to Mirage's daughter, and Jigen dissuades her from pursuing a mercenary's life.

Black Clover: Elf Tribe Reincarnation Arc EP#92 - The Wizard King vs. the Leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun: Yami is revealed to be at Golden Dawn headquarters still waiting for Vangeance. Vangeance meets the Wizard King in secret and thanks him for all he has done for him since Vangeance was a child. He then expresses regret that he cannot choose between Julius and his lifelong partner and has opted instead to let Julius and his partner decide for him. Vangeance then transforms, his facial scars disappearing as he becomes Licht, the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. Julius, who had always harboured suspicions about Vangeance, is shocked to learn Vangeance had two souls within his body, one of them an elf. Licht explains that after the massacre of his people his goal is no longer peace, but the eradication of all humans, for which they need the last two magic stones in Julius' possession. They duel, Licht's Light magic against Julius' Time magic. Julius is wounded leading Licht to believe victory will be easy, until Julius reveals the true nature of his time magic, along with a minor ability to sense the future, is to steal the future time of his opponents for his own use, and heals his wounds by reversing time on himself. Julius explains his goal is a future free from discrimination and he plans to keep on living until his goal is realised. Licht attacks again but finds himself overpowered as Julius easily predicts each of his moves.