#this had a potential for a different ending but it was just and extra sentence so I cut it out

[noemilivv]

What the

HAZBIN HOTEL CAST

are like as …

PARTNERS !! (And before that!) (Pt. 2)

Also before I get into this, I would just like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for the immense amount of love I got on the first part of this!! I would’ve never thought I would’ve gotten so much love so quickly, so thanks a bunch for every like or reblog, they mean the world :)

Including: Vox, Velvette, Rosie, Cherri

Warnings: Sexual references (no smut), swear words, possible spoilers to S1

Vox

Crush!Vox had a crush on you before he even met you lmfao

You were a performer, a performer he really wanted to market, and he spent so much time gawking over you and that opportunity before he even met you

But once Crush!Vox got the opportunity to work for you and officially meet you, he was stoked, but don’t let that fool you, he kept his cool…on the outside

And, still, he spent more time gawking over you…

But now, that time Crush!Vox spent fangirling was now spent in his office. He would have to put so much concentration into not short-circuiting, he would not be able to catch what your saying.

After a few months of working with you, he invites you to a ‘business dinner.’

Yeah… ‘business dinner’ turns into fucking…

It took a few weeks after for Crush/Situationship!Vox to turn into BF!Vox, and to be honest, he isn’t sure where to start…

Sure, BF!Vox has fucked around quite a bit, but honestly… he’s never been in an actual relationship with a label, it’s a bit of a heavy weight and he’s scared to do it, but that doesn’t mean he won’t.

His love language is definitely physical touch and acts of service, he’s not great with his words, he actually sounds like a dick in most sentences that fly out of his mouth, so actions are the only way he knows how.

BF!Vox fucks up his words a lot when he isn’t using his business persona, because he’s not used to talking like that, he genuinely has to keep a mental checklist to make sure he doesn’t fuck up his words — especially if you’re upset.

BF!Vox tries to show it through actions (in more ways than one) instead, whether it be a hug while your upset, doing an extra bit of your work if you’re having a rough week so you don’t have to worry about it, physical intimacy, the list goes on.

Overall, he may not be all he’s built up to be, but he genuinely has so much love for you, he just wishes he could tell you.

Velvette

Crush!Velvette is the kinda girl to absolutely stalk your ass when she likes you (not actually), whether it be checking your location every five minutes, digging into your social media pages (especially with the help of Vox), and so much more.

Crush!Velvette decides to DM you about a potential ‘business offer’ (gotta keep the name clean, yk?) to start out, and you guys meet for lunch to discuss it, yeah uh.. turns out you guys hit it the fuck off immediately!

Once you and Crush!Velvette really get close, you grow close to the other Vee’s too, sorta making you and honorary Vee member.

Your off with Vox and Val, and Val’s bitching about god knows what, until he slips about Velvette’s feelings for you.

“Oh yeah, fuckin’ Velvette is just SO into you now, like excuse me bitch?! What the fuck am I to you if you think so HIGHLY of THAT? No offense… But anywa-” Val rants off as you three cruise the street, without Velvette’s presence.

“VAL.” Vox glitched, cutting off Val mid-rant, gesturing to you beside him, before Valentino mutters a “Shit.” under his breath.

Yeah… Velvette found out, and she was livid, but only for a short period because she got sidetracked when she found out you felt the same.

Now GF!Velvette LOVES spoiling you, she’s also constantly getting you business opportunities with either her or one of the boys, tailoring you custom outfits no one else has, spending a shit ton of cash on you, she’s basically a sugar mommy…

GF!Velvette’s love language is gift giving. She could for sure spend several hours at the mall picking out gifts for you, from all different ends of the extreme, one day she’ll come home with a small, cheap trinket from HellMart that was stupid but nonetheless reminded her of you, and the next day she’ll come home with some expensive ass designer clothes and bag.

GF!Velvette thrives off of princess treatment, especially because of how she was treated with the Vee’s before your relationship, so she kinda expects it cause then she feels kinda empty inside without it, and she can get a bit bratty about it, but baby girl means well💕

Rosie

Crush!Rosie notices right away, and she’s pretty smart about it. She spends time with you, but not too much. She’s nice to you, but she pulls back to tease slightly. She gives you a taste of what life would be like with her, but not a big enough taste so your left wanting to know whats next.

Crush!Rosie catches onto the fact that you just might feel the same way, so she decides to just suck it up and ask.

After realizing you two feel the same about each other, you share a lovely conversation over tea about what you two want out of this, communication is very important to Rosie so she thinks if she gives it to you, you’ll give it right back, right?

You two decide, yeah, a relationship would be cool, and GF!Rosie is through the roof!

GF!Rosie is a very open and honest gf, communication is very important to her, it’s one of her top things she expects out of a partner, she tries her best to have an open mind when it comes to her partner, even if you two have a problem, and she expects the same from you — She’s very vocal in a civil way about her feelings and expectations — but don’t let that scare you, she’s a sweetie!

GF!Rosie’s love language is quality time and words of affirmation! Rosie doesn’t expect anything extravagant, (although it is nice, and she surely doesn’t mind it), but being with you is simply enough— and as stated before, she’s not afraid to speak her mind around her partner, so she thinks you look good? She’s gonna say it. She thinks you’re amazing? She’s gonna say it. That’s just how she is, and she hopes you can get used to it because she’s sure as hell comfortable with you.

Cherri

Crush!Cherri will be completely oblivious to the fact that you like her, it could be right in front of her face, and she’d have absolutely no idea. Unless you flat out suck her face off, she’ll have no clue. Which kinda stops her from confessing for awhile.

But after having a talk with Angel, she decides to go for it.

“Cherri, you’re telling me your a badass hoe, who can chuck bombs like it’s nothin’, but you can’t tell someone you wanna bang?” Angel goes off to Cherri as they watch the romcom on the TV infront of them.

She thinks for a moment. “Huh. Yeah. You’re right. I’m gonna tell them!” Cherri announces, marching off,

“Wait now?! Yous leaving me ‘n Fat Nuggets alone!?”

And then, you get a knock on your door at 1am, and it’s Crush!Cherri, with bed head and peejays, going on and on, you didn’t understand a lot of it, you were fucking tired! But bottom line is, you got out ‘We should date’ and you did not pass that opportunity.

GF!Cherri tries to push you out of your comfort zone, and sometimes that leads to accidentally pressuring you, she won’t know unless you tell her (again, not the most aware person), but if you do she ends up feeling really bad, but she’s glad she knows now!

GF!Cherri’s love language is so quality time, it doesn’t matter if you guys are shooting bitches or cuddling on the couch or fucking, as long as she’s with YOU, she could care less

She may not be the best girlfriend ever, but as long as you stick by her side, she’s content.

[emojiglyphics]

Emojis aren’t Hieroglyphs. But they could be. Because I have insomnia.

🌊📰🐍 1     🦉🥞📰⬇️   🦉     🎵🐶📰👕🕛     🐶🐰🐰😩

🌊💡🕛      🦉🚶       🥞📰🐶🐰🐶🤔  

🌊🦘😩        🦉📰🐶       🌊🐰😩

That’s the opening to Poe’s The Raven. It doesn’t represent the story, it says the words. Those are two different things, and I can prove it.

Two presidents ago, when a large segment of the population was still acting like emojis had just been invented, people used to call it “modern day hieroglyphics.”

And I got very “akshually” about it because part of why we’re able to read hieroglyphs is because it is a written language, but emojis, of themselves, are not.

Sure, you can “tell” a story with emojis, but you can’t read them the same way you read a sentence. Everybody who looks at them is going to say a slightly different explanation, whereas with a written language, everybody will say the same exact sentence when reading it aloud (in theory, there are valid exceptions).

It’s not that I’m afraid to put emojis on a pedestal, but rather that I think it diminishes the Egyptian language.

But anyway, it did get me thinking about how it might be possible to actually write English using emojis, treating them like Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Modern languages are generally written with characters that represent sounds, or characters that represent whole words at once. Even in written languages that use both (like Korean and Japanese) generally use separate sets of characters that are either phonetic or logographic.

But Egyptian was a little more free-form. The exact same character can be used to stand for a sound, a broad concept, or a narrow concept, and even a whole word by itself. And the phonetic ones might represent one consonant, or they might represent two, or three! And sometimes, if you have a double or a triple, you can tack a single at the end to remind the reader of what the extra sounds are. So you can’t even save space that way. Go figure. But then again you’re usually not worried about space because there are no vowels! I know that we’ve all been told that the Vulture is an A and the reed is an E, but this is not really the case. These letters are consonants for sounds that English does not have. So we make it kind of a fairy story that lets 1st graders write their name in “hieroglyphs”. It also makes it more convenient for Egyptologists to pronounce them.

But how on earth does this work? With each letter potentially representing so many different things, how do you read it? Well a typical Egyptian word will be constructed like this:

1. A group of glyphs acting as consonants, usually the shape of the glyph is a clue to the sound it makes

2. If needed, some extra single-sound glyphs to act as a reminder if the word happens to have any doubles or triples

3. A glyph which gives a general idea of what the word is probably about

So for instance, if you saw something like: “grp (food)” you’d be like, “guh... guh-ruh-puh, grup-- grape!” Of course, educated Egyptians wouldn’t have to sound words out like that because once you have spellings memorized, reading is basically reading.

So now we come back to The Raven. Let’s say we wanted to respell some words using emojis in a hieroglyph-like system. We want it to be consistent enough that readers can pick up new words, but no system is perfect, especially not for a language with as many trap-doors as English.

Let’s break down the first word in the Raven, “Once”, looking for consonants, concepts, but not vowels.

The first consonant is W. And it’s definitely a consonant and not just the “oo” sound. Don’t believe me? Try making the “w” sound without raising the back of your tongue. Now make a real “w” sound and leave your tongue in place while trying to say “too”. Doesn’t sound right. So now we scan through the available emojis, and we see 🌊 , the wave. Wave starts with a W sound. That can be our W emojiglyph.

The next sound is N. We see  📰 , the newspaper. Perfect.

The final sound is the non-voiced S. So we need to find an S emoji. Some of you may be wondering why we’re not looking for a C, and the answer is because we don’t really care how the word is spelled in English. That’s just the 1st grade swap again. We care about the sounds in the word. And the sound at the end of “once” is S.

We find  🐍. The snake. Love it. The word snake starts with an S sound, and snakes hiss. Very easy to remember.

So now we have 🌊 📰 🐍. But it’s missing something. We just have W-N-S. That could also spell “wince” or “whence” (in most accents). We need to add a determinative, a conceptual glyph to let people know what the word is about and narrow it down. In this case it’s easy because the concept is the number 1.

🌊 📰 🐍 1 

Boom!

Next word: Upon

Little bit of a tricky point here: If we are super strict about the rules, we will have a word which is spelled P-N. That’s just too vague for my tastes. Let’s bend the rules and give ourselves a clue that the word begins with a vowel.

And what rhymes with vowel? 🦉Owl. BOOM. For the moment, the owl is only for indicating vowels at the beginning of the word. I don’t want to deviate from how hieroglyphs work too much. But even just an initial-vowel indicator hugely improves readability. .

Going through the process again, vowel-P-N (downward)

🦉🥞📰⬇️

🌊 📰 🐍 1 🦉🥞📰⬇️ 

Once upon

BOOOOM.

Something else that the rest of my spelling has in common with egyptian: exceptions. Not all the words above have a determinative at the end. Sometimes the spelling alone seems clear enough.

One final thing I want to make clear; for something like this to work in the real world, it would need to be made consistent. Right now, it feels kind of like a sandbox for creating puzzles, but a written language should not, by design, be puzzling. A language is a contract we enter into. You and I agree that Apple means Apple and sounds like Apple and is spelled Apple. Although there’s no shortage of exceptions, that’s what languages are usually trying to be. So although there’s no reason to necessarily pick the Yarn over the Yin Yang for Y, or the Newspaper over the Nib for N, it’s something that a formal system would want to lock down.

[thefirstknife]

do you have an interpretation of the Tessellation lore? more references to Unveiling have me Charlie Kelly-ing this with the Witness origin cutscene and other things we know about the Gardener & Winnower

I currently don't! It's a really interesting lore tab. Maybe it requires some extra context from TFS and the space we're going to. For example, the flavour text references a "monolith" which is also the same name used in the showcase for the Witness' big castle in the Pale Heart location:

The monolith is hewn; the monument is built.

It absolutely has throwbacks to Unveiling, but I feel like there's some differences in the tone of it here. Hard to say, as the Witness is known to be able to switch the tone it uses.

Once, nothing became something. There was a game of possibilities. Patterns emerged that could—would—flourish or fail, wax or wane. And in the gaps between, there was nothing.

Either way, this is a clear reference to Unveiling, specifically the bit about the game of possibilities and patterns.

I also felt like this part might be referring to the Witness cutscene and its people:

There were a people of potential and promise, of galvanizing growth. By their tools, their grand intention, the happenstance alignment of infinite years and atoms were as sculptor's clay, that which becomes the finest of statuary. Purpose carved from meaninglessness; the chance generation of the universe crafted into beauty, intentionality. That which served no reason ceased, randomness elided by the sculptor's art.

This part is strange though:

All that dies is only ever transformed, abscised and swallowed by wilderness, returned to infinite metamorphosis. To excise from that rich loam of transformation requires no less than perfect certainty.

To frame death as a transformation is not something I would expect from the Witness. After all, the entirety of Unveiling and the sword logic and everything the Witness represents is about the right to exist and how those that die never earned their right to that existence, and are therefore irrelevant. To suggest that their deaths had meaning through transformation in the grand scheme of things is odd.

The ending sentence is also really interesting:

Here is the secret: a ploughshare and a sword have never truly differed.

This puzzled me until I googled and found that there's a phrase about this:

Swords to ploughshares (or plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications.

Now it still puzzles me, but knowing that this is a phrase makes things a bit less strange to me. I just don't know from which side to read that statement; is the statement in the lore tab meant to tell us that no matter how much we want a sword to be used as a ploughshare, it will always remain a sword (a weapon for killing)? That no matter how much we work on transformation and change, things will always stay exactly as their original single-minded purpose?

Very intriguing! Looking forward to seeing other interpretations and possible context later in TFS!

[literaticat]

I'm struggling with one particular aspect of professional envy. I know that not every book is for everyone and rejections just mean not the right fit. But then you hear stories like how Tomi Adeyemi had 12 agent offers and how Rachel Khong's new book sold in a 19-house auction and it does make me think... huh, maybe some books really ARE the right fit for a lot more people? Which means they objectively ARE better than books that only had one offer? Ugh such a dumb question sorry

Basically, if a publisher thinks a book is likely to perform well, they are likely to want to publish it. BUT ALSO, publishers don't KNOW what will perform well, so a lot of it is just guesswork -- they do a fair amount of bet-hedging, "just trying things out to see if they stick", etc -- few books are a Sure Thing. A book can only get one "yes" and still end up being extremely popular - just like a book can get lots of initial excitement and end up flopping. (Publishers get this wrong ALL THE TIME, in fact!)

TBQH, I haven't read either Tomi's or Rachel's books nor do I have any special insight about them, so idk about those in particular, but if I had to guess, I'd imagine that they got a lot of "buzz" in terms of agents / publisher interest because they are some combo of well-written, hooky, broadly appealing (strong epic fantasy! strong family saga exploring "what it means to be American"!) but "different" enough from what already exists to stand out and feel extra-intriguing and Fresh. Add in charismatic authors and hefty doses of good luck and being in front of the right people at the right time, and hey. I can see why agents and publishers would be interested, and once a few are interested, well, the others might get into competition mode and decide they should try, too, because what does SO-AND-SO know that I don't know, you know?

To your question: Yes, some books definitely ARE the right fit for a lot more people. But No, that doesn't make them objectively better -- that makes them more commercial, easier to market, and/or have (or SEEM to have, at least) the potential to be widely popular.

An example: Coke is more popular than Dr. Pepper. Is it objectively better? No, taste is subjective, some people are passionate about loving Dr. Pepper, it's their very favorite, and they would not say that Coke is better at all. However, Dr. Pepper is a more divisive taste - some people LOVE it, some people HATE it, lots have probably never even tried it, but few people would consider it a "neutral" choice, whereas Coke may be your fave, or not, but probably the majority of soda drinkers consider it just a basic standard thing and not be put off by it, almost everyone has tried it, it's usually the flavored soda that is in cocktails and whatnot, if there can only be one kind of dark soda on a flight, it's probably Coke/Diet Coke and not Dr Pepper/Diet Dr Pepper -- it's just everywhere, liked or tolerated by most, despised by few.

Some of this is for sure just down to marketing and name recognition and longevity and tradition/nostalgia, of course -- so while many Big Name Authors have those things going for them, too, it's not a perfect comparison -- I'm just saying, something selling more doesn't actually make it literally BETTER, it just makes it appealing to a wider variety of people.

Let's bring it back to books: When The DaVinci Code was at its peak of popularity back in 2003, I was a bookseller. I cannot tell you how many copies of The DaVinci Code we sold. Any adult (or even teen) customer who walked in the door, regardless of class or creed -- little old lady to businessman to mom on the go to 16-year-old lacrosse player -- if they were like "do you have--" I could finish their sentence by handing them The DaVinci Code. Most books do NOT have that broad an audience.

Is the DaVinci Code technically, objectively a "better" book than any other book? No. Like -- it's literally NOT good, actually, in terms of prose stylings. What it IS, though, is pretty gripping and fast-paced and fun. I read it -- I might have been mocking it, but I still read the whole thing in a night!

AND, it was undeniably, irrefutably, OBJECTIVELY more popular than any other novel that year, probably from a combo of:

-- marketing -- but it isn't JUST marketing, the product has to actually resonate with people for marketing to be effective

-- having a "hot topic" that struck a chord with a lot of people in a post-9/11 world where lots of folks were into conspiracies and desperate for diversion (JESUS! CONSPIRACY ABOUT JESUS! SCANDAL? ABOUT JESUS!!!???)

-- being grippy and (frankly) easy-to-read enough for a wide swath of Americans, and people around the world -- even people who don't often read novels -- to get into and enjoy and tell a friend about, and

-- luck / timing / "lightning in a bottle" virality

It was probably some people's favorite book - but MOST people likely just thought it was fine and diverting. Good/fun/entertaining. Neither the best, nor the worst. Something that can be understood by all, which will please most people and strongly displease few. The Coke of the bookstore, if you will.

Are either of the books/series you mentioned likely to be THAT popular? Not at all. One in a million books are likely to be THAT popular, almost nothing is in this world. Are they "objectively better" than books that had fewer offers? I'm gonna guess no! Are they broadly appealing and likely to do quite well? Clearly, the publishers were betting "yes" -- and luckily for them, that has been proven to be the case.

[bittybeanie]

serizawa hcs pt. 2

okay elaborating on the concept of Low Light Vision and just general night time serizawa bc i'm stuck on a longer fic rn and i keep getting distracted by the potential for soft domestic moments like-

you're never sure if he's home yet or if he's asleep or what, so you always call out that you're home in the quietest voice you can manage. sometimes he really isn't home and you get to take your shoes off in peace, but more often than not it's a guessing game of how bad he'll scare you by responding from WAY closer than you expected

serizawa taking your hand to lead you through your own apartment bc it's absolutely pitch black. if you had to you could probably navigate through sheer familiarity but he can actually see where he's going and it's just so much faster this way (especially if you're just looking for an object. he thinks it's so silly to turn on a light just to grab something when he can just tell you where it is. won't admit that he likes the way it makes him feel useful)

having to learn to navigate his apartment by feeling along the wall because half his lightbulbs blew out a while ago and he never thought to replace them because he just stopped turning the lights on. the one time he actually remembers to turn the light on because you're there and you literally don't know where you're going, you've never actually had the light on, so you end up moving along the wall anyway. (don't worry, he thinks it's endearing. he keeps the lights off from then on.)

he's used to not making a lot of noise for a couple different reasons, but mostly because he's up at all sorts of ungodly hours and never wants to wake anybody else up. also he just… doesn't move a whole lot? like obviously he moves around while he's doing stuff but if he's focused on a task he sits pretty still and doesn't realize he hasn't moved until his legs are asleep when he tries to get up or walk away.

he uses this to his advantage in order to surprise you in the morning with lots of different things. he folded all the laundry without having to turn on the light, so now your whole closet is sorted and nice and your outfit for the day is ironed and laid out. he stood perfectly still while making breakfast so that you didn't hear him shuffling around, and now he's presenting you with breakfast in bed.

of course, he also uses this ability to stay up late and play video games because, well, old habits die hard, but the benefits far outweigh the few times that he's sworn at the tv a little too loudly and actually managed to wake you up

i also just love the idea of you naturally starting to wake up around the same time every night because you know he'll probably be awake out in the living room. you used to try to coax him back into bed, and he would go willingly, but it was pretty obvious he was having a hard time actually falling back asleep. he would just… lie stiff as a board and stare at the ceiling.

so now if you wake up to an empty bed, instead of making him awkwardly lie there bored out of his mind for hours, you just grab an extra blanket and shuffle out to the living room to join him on the couch. if you say anything, it's usually only a sentence - maybe asking what game he's playing if it's one you haven't seen before or commenting that he finally made it past a part that was giving him trouble. most of the time, though, he just wordlessly lifts an arm up so you can curl up against his side and fall back asleep.

he knows you would gladly cuddle with him in the actual bed where it's probably way more comfortable, but something about the lack of pressure to fall asleep makes it so that he can trick his brain into actually making it happen. not long after you doze back off, he'll get hit with a sudden wave of sleepiness, and he'll just pause the game and set the controller on the table, leaning his head on top of yours and letting himself relax. he never sleeps for very long that way, considering it's a pretty painful angle on his neck, but he doesn't really wanna give it up either.

sometimes, though, you'll stay up with him and the two of you will end up in one of those conversations you can only have in the pitch black in-between of early morning. existential questions about your futures or pointless hypotheticals or arguments about which character in his game would be most likely to do something or laughing fits over bad dialogue and buggy movements.

these are the only times you really get to hear about his time at claw. it's not like he doesn't want you to know about it, but it's not something he can bring up in casual conversation either. he'll always hold you a little tighter while he talks, and you do your best not to interrupt and listen for him while he drags his thumb along the back of your hand, squeezing just on the wrong side of too tight, voice stiff with something you'd have a hard time labeling as anything other than dread.

he never asks "what if?" but the question always lingers in the air between you. you never answer. you don't see a need to when you have him here in your arms, breath shallow but steady, shoulders shaking but strong and solid as ever. instead you tell him what is in the form of your fingers lacing through his hair, pressing closer against his side, light kisses to his cheek, and the fact that the first thing he sees when he drifts back awake - no memory of falling asleep in the first place - is you.

[greekbros]

"greek-Bros": moo.

*Heracles, Perseus and Achilles are lounging in Olympus trying to solve another fascinating problem*

Heracles: ...how about Jason? He clearly has the gumption to join our guild.

Perseus: nope, Zeus and Hera says due to his actions, he's forbidden from being pulled from Tartarus.

Heracles: hmm.....Caster and Pollux?

Achilles: no! Too similar!

Heracles: oh goodness why?

Perseus: Surprisingly Heric, he actually can't tell the difference between the two...plus considering his injuries I doubt he'll want to.

Achilles: *grumbles to himself on the confounding nature of two twins who wear completely different outfits*

Heracles: ........ Odysseus?

Achilles: :D ! *Hopeful*

Perseus: nope. Apparently he's enjoying his afterlife retirement. Can't say I blame him.

Dionysus: *walks by with a huge amphora of wine* hey what's up?

Heracles: oh greetings, Dionysus.

Perseus: Oh hey Dio, we were wondering....you know any other demigods willing to join me and the guys? We were planning on making a guild.

Dionysus: hmm...I heard Atalanta is available?

Perseus: uggggh would you believe she refused to join us? Said we would "cramp her style"...

Dionysus: ah women, sometimes they're just right about stuff hehe. Just the other day, Ariadne told me that she would teach her older brother, Asterion, how to do certain things with his horns so he didn't bump into things and she found out that on-

Perseus: wait hold on....your wife has a brother?

Achilles: horns? :L

Heracles: ....what a minute, who's Asterion?

Dionysus: yeah and you'll never guess who he is. Seriously when she told me I was like "NO WAY!" and she was like "Yes way and THATS just one of many reasons why I'll NEVER forgive Theseus -"

Achilles, Heracles and Perseus: *look at each other in confusion* you don't mean!?

Dionysus: oh but I do!

*later*

Hades: ....you want me to do what?

Heracles: *hands Hades a hand written appeal for Asterion 's release from Tartarus* please oh glorious one, he deserves a second chance at reaching his potential as one us.

Perseus: besides the guy got the short end of the shit stick on the first try it's not like it's going to kill anyone to give the guy a break.

Achilles: *gives his own appeal for Patorclus* ....paper.

Hades: *reads Achilles 's appeal* ...my sincerest apologies Achilles, Patorclus is serving his eternal sentence in Elysium as a guard. I'm afraid you'll have to pass on to join him.

Achilles: *slumps down and whines*

Hades: ....just to say I am not unfair, I shall release Asterion on the bases he has had a tumultuous starting life.

Heracles and Perseus: *hi-fives each other*

Achilles: *still understandably upset*

Perseus: By the way, how's Theseus? I heard he's gotten the royal treatment last time I heard?

Hades: ah yes, I'm not surprised his list of wrong doings out weighted his accomplishments...the life of governing and riches will do that to a soul.

*later*

Hera: *working on some needlework*

Heracles, Achilles and Perseus: *try to sneak a supremely confused Asterion to the baths to clean him up*

Asterion: *groans while bewildered at his ascendancy to Olympus* moo.

Perseus: shh.

Achilles: SHUT THE FUK UP!

Heracles and Perseus: D:< .... Achilles!

Hera: ? *Looks around* What's going there? And who sacrificed a cow? I hadn't heard of any recent ceremonies. *Stands up and turns the corner and sees the three heros and their hulking minotaur* oh my goodness!

Heracles: Lady Hera, I can explain.

Hera: No need. Looks like someone extra special needs to be taken good care of. *Goes up to Asterion and marvels at him* oh look at you, you poor thing. Oh look at you, what a sweet creature you are. *Loving gives Asterion a huge hug*

Asterion: *although not actually use to kind of affection, really does appreciate this considering he hasn't felt a mother's love in years* mmmmoo

Heracles: His name is Asterion, it has come to our attention that he is actually lady Ariadne's brother.

Perseus: Making him one very interesting in-law.

Hera: Well! I see she comes from good stock after all. I've always had a deep admiration for the Minoans and their culture anyway. Who's a sweet boy? *Gently holds Asterion's muzzle*

Perseus: so you're not mad?

Hera: oh Perseus you silly fool of course not, bovine are extremely special to me and the fact I was never told of him offends me. Speaking of which, where is Theseus? He told everyone that he killed a monster and yet all I see is simply a misunderstood soul.

Achilles: Theseus dead. He's in Tartarus now. C:<

Hera: good. Of all the demigods I've had the displeasure of talking to, I'm surprised Athena didn't smite him from the start.

Heracles: My lady, if I may, we planned on letting Asterion join us. We have your blessings I presume?

Hera: Oh of course. *Scratches Asterion behind his ears* all he needs is to freshen up and he'll be good as new.

Asterion: *wiggles his ears in joyful glee* fr-f--friends!

Perseus: Oh shit he talks?

Achilles: moo.

Heracles: No Achilles you can't trade speech patterns with Asterion.

Achilles: hehe

[paradoxcase]

QuCheanya post 3:

I have added an extra tense:

"Sideways" tense is for talking about things in other timelines. What I've discovered when trying to write this story is that this tense is actually quite necessary. You know the gay fanfiction problem? Where you have two participants in the sentence, and they both use the same pronouns, and sometimes it becomes hard to figure out which pronoun refers to which person? Well, time travel stories have an even worse version of the gay fanfiction problem, which is that sometimes two participants not only have the same pronouns, but also have the same name because they are both versions of the same person from different times, or different timelines, or something. I never realized it until now, but Homestuck actually handled this so seamlessly I never realized it was an issue. We have all the pesterlogs where people are specifically labeled with whether they are from the past, or the future, or the present, and we have people talking about "past Karkat" or "future Karkat", etc. which is basically exactly what QuCheanya does with noun tenses. And then in another place, we have an alternate timeline Dave being referred to as "feltsuit Dave" (ok, I can't remember if that term actually existed in canon or only in fandom, but he was identified in canon by the outfit he was wearing), Dave who comes back from the doomed timeline becomes Davesprite, Jade's dead dreamself becomes Jadesprite, etc. I remember people joking about how Homestuck was just all about coming up with new modifiers for "self", e.g. "dreamself", "past self", "spriteself", whatever, but the thing is, it needed to do this in order for all the time travel to make sense. And then at the end, we had that conversation between Vriska and (Vriska) which had the potential to be extremely confusing, but Hussie utilized a fandom meme to make it clear who was speaking when. Anyway, I digress. The point is, the noun tenses solve this gay time travel fanfiction problem pretty well.

I now have actual interlinears explicating the tense system:

Those are the simple past/present/future tenses. I think that use of rinu may be new content, but we'll get to that part later.

Here's an example of the time travel tenses in action:

Imagine, you're asked to design a conlang, and the next day someone shows up with a grammar of your conlang and the example sentences are actually about YOU.

-me indicates a noun is a title, so, neaSapfita just means "priestess" with a little p, while neaSapfitame means "Priestess" with a big P that has to precede someone's name. You can also stick on the back of regular names to mean Mr. or Mrs.

Here is an example with an embedded clause with a different tense:

And here is the "I don't like you" example spelled out in the document, complete with a sideways tense example:

Side note at this point, that I'm now no longer using tables to make these interlinears and instead using the dedicated package for linguistics examples, expex, which is why they look so much better, and why there are more of them. It's great.

That's it for today.

[somuchbetterthanthat]

Mag 162 - A Cozy Cabin

Again, it's such a lovely episode, and I adore what it shows us about Martin and Jon so much. Jon getting frustrated and angry and still hurting himself by pressing the rewinding button to hear Gertrude say "I don't think so" several times about fixing the world!! Martin JUMPING on Jon deciding to go, showing he was preparing the whole time for this specifically!!!! Jon being utterly endeared and charmed by Martin's pratical travelling pack! And the very small uncertainty of Martin when Jon decides to bring the recorder -- good. The JM food keeps on being very lovely. Jon deciding to let go of Gertrude, Martin ready to fight the world and burn evil to the ground if necessary - all so good.

I really like the Gertrude and Gerry also because: 1) I love Gerry and we needed so much more of him. 2) Shows us Gertrude was a bitch til the end, even to those she did feel affection for. 3) It sets up Gerry as potential archivist too. I had forgotten that, but it's so interesting, since the previous episode set Sasha for it. Gertrude notably says it's a bad idea, but Gerry doesn't seem disinterested. But of course Elias won't consider Gerry's application: Gerry knows too much and has known too much since he was a kid.

So, in my ideal season 5, I would keep the whole Gertrude/Gerry scene and I would most definitely keep the charming JM ending. However. Look at me, i'm starting to change things.

Get rid of the Tim and Sasha scene. Look, to me it brings nothing to the table - it's more deep cutting irony for sasha, I guess, but it's already too late, we've already been mourning Sasha for several seasons. We already established Sasha as potential archivist beforehand, and we already kind of realized they could be a bit mean to JM in the birthday scenes. ALSO IT RUINS TIM AND JON. The whole point was that they WERE friends, they DID trust each other. It ruins the whole tragedy of their downfall relationship. Plus, we've done Jon bashing all S4. Been there, done that. Just take it away.

REPLACE IT WITH A S1 JON AND ELIAS SCENE. That's the kicker! it's not Sasha who was chosen, it's not Gerry. It's Jon. Show us S1 Jon, alone with Elias. Arguing about the state of the archives? Asking about Gertrude? If we want to keep the fire metaphor thing, talking about the extra security for Prentiss? I like that one because it would be an occasion to show early S1 Jon arguing with Elias expecting Elias to act and protect them, which Elias would "agree to" at the end; it would show Jon's ignorance, specifically the thing that Gerry said was too dangerous, but also Jon's stubborness and desire to know more to protect himself and the people "who are his responsability". For extra, extra tastiness, make it a conversation where Elias enquires about Martin, shows Jon's guilt about it, and get a whole genuine intimate relationship that goes beyond boss/employee. Get us the impression that S1 Jon thought Elias was someone he could confide in in private. and then. AND THEN-

Have the tape crackle as the tape!Elias repeats Jon's voice. Differently this time. Stronger. Have a cool sentence that's not coming to me right now like "Jon, Look at it." or whAtever. Or "It's only the beginning, Jon" or SOMETHING. Something that could both be from the discussion in the tape but also not. Keep Jon's little "what?" and then, bam, statement.

I'd go even harder with the statement cabin showing all the Fears Present, although relistening i realize lots of them are here already. But also i'd make it more clear maybe that it's not the "cabin" so much as Jon and Martin being a storm of all their fears feeding from each other, more than "the cabin".. If that makes sense. But that's not HUGELY necessary, the statement is lovely as is, except at the end, makes it "The Eye doesn't want you to stay here" instead of "doesn't want me to stay here". Makes it all crackle up a thousands. Makes it clear Jon's voice is Elias' voice.

It would make even more sense that Jon was getting furious at Elias, hence why suddenly this all popped up, and also have Jon trying to say something about it Martin without being quite able to explain what just happens and since Martin jumps on the "let's go" train, the thought falls through, at the same time.

[realcatalina]

Necklaces of triangles-Part 2: Woman with cross

On left is portrait which Trinity College, Oxford(UK) has for over 400 years labelled Elizabeth Pope, neé Blount. (They have 3 copies of it and they are really hard to tell apart).They truly believe it is wife of one of their founders. There is just one problem with it. On left is portrait which Indiana University Art Museum(USA), has labelled as Mary I.  Clearly this is a same woman!

Either one is wrong or both are! So who is right? British university or American?(the sentence to start a fight.) Let’s find out. 

 Imo both might wrong at least partially. Both universities think their painting is based upon 1550s fashion. But I’ve done some digging and it can be as early as c. 1547-1548(which tbh was bit of surprise to me. But ok, chronology is once again shifted a couple of years.) So both are wrong in assuming it must be later. Then being wrong by only couple of years happens a lot in portraits. Let’s cut them so slack, they were not 20+ years away. 

Indiana University Art Museum has it theirs labelled as Mary I, c.1550-1560 by Hans Eworth:

Link:https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2001.39

Given that slight yellowish hue, this looks more like hazel eyes to me than grey.

Which is important because all 3 royal ladies in question had grey or hazel eyes. Not brown, not blue, hazel or grey.  (I say three because obviously, this is not Anne of Cleves. It’s not her features.)

I am unsure if this smaller painting is original painting or not. And reason for it is you cannot see where dress and parlet end-which is wrong, not historically accurate.

However there is painting of Mary, where seemingly there is no difference too, untill you brighten it(as i did on left):

I tried it on Indiana version of our unknown lady. No partlet was revealed. But it is possible it was overpainted. Thus potentially a later alteration made painting appear non-original, even thought potentially it might be. This kind of alteration would be really hard to spot.

But can we even tell if it is a royal? There is that pearl necklace forming triangles and looks bit alike the one Elizabeth probably was wearing as Queen, but it is not conclusive it is same(or originally same altered by time of Elizabeth’s reign). 

But I am also wondering if perhaps each royal lady got her own-slightly different from others. 

But is not only piece of jewelry in the painting you should focus on. This cross, seems as unimportant accesory. A chest jewel showing that person is of christian fate and nothing more. And perhaps I am wrong and this exact shape of cross is mere concidence.

But if I am right, you’ve all seen that cross before. But you’ve probably didn’t study details in Whitehall Mural and questioned the shape of Elizabeth of York’s ruby cross:

What is different? Bottom pearl and 4 extra pearls on it. 

Imo it could be Elizabeth of York’s cross. I cannot rule it out. 

Would Mary wear such old jewelry? 50+ years old?

Well I told you in past that Mary during her reign wore this: 

it’s called Tablet of Bourbon and experts have traced it in royal inventories all the way back to reign of Henry V. I didn’t mispell that. Henry the Fifth. He died in 1422! When Mary got depicted with it as Queen, that jewel was 130+ years old. So merely 50+ years old jewelry, she could definitely wear that! 

(Wearing old jewelry by royalty is showcase of stability and continuity of line. Even nowadays royals do this and royal watchers discuss which royal lady wore this tiara/necklace/brooch before.)

Now let’s take a look at the second painting.

Trinity College, Oxford’s painting labelled as Elizabeth Pope, neé Blount. (They have 3 copies of it and it is really hard to tell them apart!)

Link to right one(i hope):

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/elizabeth-blount-lady-thomas-pope-c-15151593-formerly-basford-later-paulet-219507

Elizabeth Pope was wife of founder of the college. Lady of great ambition, and love for jewelry. Her husband was very rich, and at times very powerful.

And in no way his portrait matches his supposed wife:

Both have dark background and are dark to degree, but he has drappery( fabric hangings) behind himself(though it is not very visible), she has solid background. He wears lynx fur, his wife no fur. He wears no jewels(except rings), she wears SO much of it!

This amount of jewelry on non-royal?! Don’t get me wrong-in Elizabethean times-certainly possible and such pearl chains often occured in those days in portraits. But prior?! Not normal at all in 1550s nor 1540s.Should hit you as weird! Immediately. The crimson velvet should hit you as weird. 

Yeah I know that guy funded college and was very rich. But in those days unless you were royal, you needed to show some restriction with how you were portrayed. Henry Howard’s got executed mainly because of his portrait! This is meant to be painted after...yet no restriction from those people? 

Overall if I look at it together:

This jewelry+crimson+difference with alleged portrait of husband, don’t favour Elizabeth Blount that much. 

But what do we know about her husband? Thomas Pope was one of Mary’s council members and favoured by her. (That could potentially explain why his wife could be allowed to wear something she’d normally be not entitled to. We had such case during Henry VIII’s reign.)

He founded the Trinity college as catholic college. During Mary’s reign. His action certainly would please her. Even if she wasn’t official patron, she was in favour of this. And old universities in UK have many lesser known portraits of Tudor royalty, hidden among many other old paintings. They get overlooked.

And if Henry VII could have been mislabelled as Richard III already in 16th century, Mary could have been mislabelled as Elizabeth Pope in 16th century also. Especially given it is atypical depiction of her(possibly). Hence it could certainly be Mary given painting’s history. 

But if you look at both paintings, one thing is off. The height of brows is very high for Mary. Every other feature i can find in some portrait of her, can explain by different artists taking on her features, by her health issues, weight loss/gain. 

Here look how same the shape of eyes is:

But not the brows. They are too high. It oculd be certainly that artist made mistake and her grandfather’s depictions sometimes have brows very down sometimes very up. So this is explainable.

(And certainly it looks more like her than that portrait in Met Museum. At least to me.)

(She could ahve same shape of eyebrows, which in slightly different angle and tilt of head just look very different.) And especially in copies this can happen. I cannot rule it out. It could simply be that it is poor likeness. 

Or it is isn’t her. But Elizabeth of York’s cross and amount of jewelry points to royalty. Alive in 2nd half of 1540s or sometime in 1550s. It’s not Anne of Cleves. But who then?

I’ll be honest here. I do not know it is. I don’t. At least not for sure.

And I am sure many of you will say Mary...that it has her mouth etc...but knowing what I know about Scrots and Eworth...I cannot rule out some of these are artistic similiarities. The artist’s style in which all people, regardless of their actual features, looked alike. 

That being said, there is aditional thing which we need to consider here.

The damage to the Illianois painting. It’s not obvious at first glance, unless you look in HD. But there is unfortunately damage to the face, which might mislead you great deal.  There are dark patches where shadow shouldn’t be, smudges etc. And it is obvious to me, that those are not how the sitter is supposed to look. The painting’s face was just not restored to get rid of these.

And imo due to this the woman looks maybe even decades older than she actually is. All those supposed wrinkles are actually damage to the painting if you focus on it. Thus...if you remove them, she looks much younger and with nose which at least from en-face or nearly en face, looked much straighter(than the damage makes it appear so).

Probably like this(it’s photoshoped-i wasn’t able to fix the nose entirely):

But how young is this woman? Is it 18? Is it 35? It’s hard to say.Mary looked still very young up to cca time of her father’s death(such were genes on her mother’s side of family), and who knows maybe Parr also looked very young.

I think dating for this fashion is c.1546+(after that it is hard to determine due to Mary I’s returning to fashion).

So could it be Mary or Parr in c.1547, or Elizabeth during her brother’s or sister’s reign? Yes, to all three. 

But we also know Parr resembled Mary to great degree with main difference being more arched/higher brows. 

But i am not confident to say it is her. Because as you know, only original we have is not great and we are not 100% sure about her basic features.

Resemblence between Elizabeth and Mary was also pretty good. More than you’ve been told! She is good candidate too. She had hazel eyes-not brown as you imagine her, featurew-wise she would be pretty good fit. 

And we lack depictions of her from 1540s and 1550s-where she is on her own. she is in family portraits. Of course Mary has way more because she was ruling Queen and Elizabeth also was not in favour plenty of times in those years. Still there are just cca 3 painting of monarch’s daughter/sister in period of 20 years...(and 2 are based upon family portraits too). The amount is odd! There are bound to be more depictions of her we are not aware of!

Neither is excellent fit. Neither is bad enough fit for me to rule them out. 

But while figuring sitter could be younger is good to know, me photoshoping the image and only then comparing faces was bad idea. Because I removed something which is damage and I only realised later.

It’s the way cheeks are shaped. With prominent edge to it?(would I call this wrinkle? probably not). It’s kind of similiar to cheeks of Henry VII, but his were of course way more prominent due to age.

And it got me thinking. Could this detail help us narrow it down who it is?

Mary’s cheeks are similiar, but in comparison she has this bulge sticking out of her cheeks. But perhaps that is due to some health condition. I don’t know about her reign but prior Mary had problems with her teeth few times. Could cause swelling in that area.

Elizabeth’s depictions if she had it as young woman, her youthful portraits don’t show it(they are idealized). But some of her portraits as old woman show her cheeks resembled that of her grandfather.

However I cannot rule out possibility Parr had it too.

I will be frank. I don’t know which one of them it is!

I’ve been trying to figure out for months now! And I keep changing my mind over whom i think it is. I have finished most of this post in winter. But I kept going all over their portraits, known depictions, features and I keep changing my mind about who i think it is, and then i changed it back and yet again! I’ve done it 6 or 7 times. I have to surrender and admit defeat. 

I simply don’t know. At the moment you can take your pick-Mary I, Elizabeth I, Catherine Parr. 

Go for it! Who do you think this could be?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this, because for me this was frustrating as hell.

PS: I know some of you speculate if it could be one of Henry VIII’s nieces. But I would like to caution you. if we are talking relatives vs relatives, it can be very hard to determine. You might be sure you found perfect match in features in some depiction of person you like...and still it might not be that person but their cousin who just happened to look very alike. Remember my post about Henry VII vs Richard III. Distant cousins-very similiar face. 

 Especially given the condition of the American painting, be cautious. I am not sure if nose can be restored properly-i hope so. But we might be looking at issue of flattening nose. And when that occurs it is very hard to tell who it is, because it is such defining feature. So it would be very easy to accidentally identify these portraits wrongly and sometimes it is better to leave it not identified, than wrongly identified.

[rielzero]

Marvel's Midnight Suns Deserved Better

I finally finished my second playthrough of this game, with all the dlc. On stream, and after a disaster dumpster fire of the game and stream obs lagging as hell, I just want to jot down all my thoughts.

Marvel's midnight suns is a perfect example of the modern gaming scene and why it's failing so many gamers.

The core concept of this game, the story, voice acting and gameplay are great and fun- but it has so many fucking problems.

From being visually buggy as hell- to optimization issues in the final fight- characters having soulless faces and textures going missing at random.. To the DLC and the price tag.

If you buy legendary edition, for 99,- (season pass, plus all the extra cosmetics) I'd say its not worth it.

The dlc add 4 characters, one of which has a bugged steam trophy- It adds extra story missions (which are fun, but they don't add much more than there was) and some more cosmetics for those characters.

Out of every dlc character, Storm felt the least developed. Storm has a similar problem to Steve in this game- in which their personalities are not really shining, and reduced to a singular character trait they have. The voice acting not being the problem- but the writing. While I can remember Venom's story, Deadpool's banter, and Morbius' emo shit making me laugh and tear up like hell- Storm really deserved better. All I can recall is saving the morlocks and doing one final mission were she happened to also be.

Steve is ''Mr leadership man''- Storm is ''hold your emotions in'' Lady.

Villains and dialogue- all the little things in the cinematics. It was great. You really care for Wanda- You worry about Hunter and their horrible family dynamics. You're concerned for Tony and the avengers when the Hulk gets caught- You mourn with the midnight suns when Wanda screams ''You will never hurt me again''

Corny superhero banter (which i love, but sometimes repetitive mid-battle lines get old.), cute evil devil doggo. Very sexy mephisto. Magik is frigging awesome. Blade x Captain marvel- Epic frigging final moves- and cool fighting animations. This game has so much going for it.

Sometimes dialogue will not match the subtitles, I assumed at first this is because you have a female / male voice actor depending on the bodytype you pick- so the dialogue must be different yes? But no- even all the other heroes have mis-matching subtitles to different dialogue lines. It's minor things usually- Like a word or sentence being said very differently than how its written.

But its essentially a cashgrab with texture bugs, deadpan doll expressions- visual glitches (enemies not disappearing after they're slain sometimes), copypasta idle animations and bodytypes- the further you go in the game, the more there seem to be of these little things. First they're funny- then it gets a little too distracting.

This game had all the building blocks of a great game, but it comes with the typical dlc problem too- and just doesn't deliver. It feels very empty promises eventually. It drops a nice typical after credits cutscene that teases Dr Doom and a potential sequel. And I wonder if there's even going to be one at all. Or an expansion instead.

I love each and every character brought into this game. (except for Steve and Storm, they just weren't done much justice.) This game made me like Captain marvel while otherwise I dislike how she is portrayed personality wise in other media.

The final mission should've felt like the most epic conclusion- and by how laggy and sparkly it is it feels like it just explodes in your face with what its been build up towards. A child and mother reunite- but they meet an open end. All after defeating the longest- laggiest- spammiest battle.

It's quirky, it's silly. It's got all the feelings. It has cool things in it and yet it feels very cheap. It should've been cheaper. But its still treated as a finished product. It did not feel finished. Even if I loved and enjoyed this game to the end.

My stream recording literally contains frozen visuals while the audio is in tact. I can't even. Sure my pc isn't the best but this is beyond absurd.

Voice acting 9/10 Majority of characters are great- everyone has a fitting voice. Some lines could've been better. Characters will banter and sometimes have unique dialogue for certain team combinations but not much.

Writing 7/10 A bit corny and predictable at times, but enjoyable nonetheless. Flawed stories tend to be easier to absorb and follow- Superhero stories follow such recipe. Wish they added pronouns- To save on voice line costs they made hunter standardly nonbinary regardless of bodytype- so Hunter only has ''they/them'' pronouns. Isn't referred to as son/daughter, only child and gender neutral terms. This is completely fine, but I personally like to be able to customize my character more. This game offers no romance- but hints that Wanda may have a crush on the player character. You can't tell her you're not interested but you can joke that you're a couple with one dialogue option.. (I tend to make my PCs gay because I am a gay dude myself.) The lore they used for this game was really intriguing. Chthon and Atum have some more appearances in the comics from what I can remember, so learning about The Blood and the Old gods mythology in particular in the game's universe did make me really like the backstory they gave the PC. Caretaker x Agatha lesbian witch moms. The hunter has three mothers canonically if you don't think too hard- but both Caretaker and Lilith are horrible people lol. Wanda is definitely the best character in this game, if not for the rest of the midnight suns- (Nico, Robbie, Blade and Magik are AWESOME) The avengers are here too, but they don't outshine the rest. Oh- and spider-man gets kind of adopted into both groups.

Gameplay Loop 6/10 Combat! It's fun and challenging sometimes but gets eventually and quickly repetitive. At some point you'll get more and more copypasta enemies with just different textures slapped on and similar animations. The DLC enemies are not worth it and don't offer much more. The dracula boss fights were the most interesting and felt a little rewarding once dealt with. Exploring the abbey with stale walking / running animation does not feel smooth. Crafting potions or items doesn't feel like it adds much sometimes. I've not used items often in my gameplay. The chests make me wonder if at some point they wanted to put more micro transactions in this game.

Pricetag 2/10 Honestly- Get it on sale. Big sale. Legendary edition is not worth it. DLC does not add much to the core gameplay unless you really want those character interactions and dialogue. The side missions are fine story wise, but they aren't attached to the main campaign. Deadpool and Eddie have the most additional dialogue during abbey time and other interactions- Morbius has unique dialogue during a very few main story quests- and Storm just has the least. They slipped in the morbin' time meme.. I just.. PFFF its time to morb everyone- 20 bucks worth at least. If not less.

TLDR Game funny, characters great, fun but very repetitive, very buggy, not worth 99 euros- 20 maybe, stop making dlc with texture swap enemies please. I love deadpool. Great design but very unpolished in places.

[jonathankatwhatever]

It’s 24 May 2024. It’s 4:26 in the morning. I’m sitting outside on the tiny back porch because it’s hot inside and because I hope something good comes to me. The contrast between where I am and where you are has never felt so great. I keep wondering when the delusion will end. It’s not like I can stop it: the understandings amaze at every step. And it isn’t much that I worry about you, because if the identification of you is correct, then worrying gets in the way of work. It’s the contrast has reached Dorian Grey levels.

I seem to be picking up your referential habits, unless you picked them up from me. Or we inherited them.

I just had a vision of a bT reached its scale. I tend to think in terms of the two legs shrinking. Or more accurately, I start at the feet and work my way up. That generates an inside an outside, which cannot to each other on the surface because the progress is of Ends along the legs. That for some reason has switched to general relativity and this is why LIGO works: a slight difference in the Ends transmits over the 1Space, so we measure the weight of that difference, the amount of gsProcess which travels how? If it’s gsProcess, then it conveys its character over an Extent, meaning the extra gsProcess is an MB, a Metaphoric Bundle, because it Attaches at the Extent level. We detect the MB’s of gravity waves because those are the MB’s emitted and generated out of the Actuality of events. There’s more to it, but I can’t get it out.

The movement up the legs to an End is also movement the other way, from the End of the V to the feet. And where you count from matters or varies because these legs are 1-0Segments, so they can begin inside 1 or at 1. This connects to the big constants which define counting from 1 to 2, meaning e, and the Boundary of Things, meaning Pi. So that gap is counting of a Start difference, which transits the Extent, which is preserved in the Informational Limit because now we see there’s a mechanism by which gsProcess attaches to Actuality, meaning to tObjects, meaning to Things because Things are the combination of the visible, meaning the entire Actuality which generates the wave, like Krakatoa, meaning the whole story, and that which is not visible because it occurs beyond the Informational Limit, and thus beyond our perception.

This extra processing occurs ‘mostly’ in higher dimensions, but it expresses close to us in the potential of any situation. Like how something can suddenly be a horrible or wonderful surprise. I tried to not load that to the negative: that was an example of spin generating a Pathway. It acts through, believe or it or not, the act of choice, which to me is not so much an axiom as a description. Like the CH, because they both express how 1Space relates to 0Space, with the concept of choice developing out of the imposition of resolution by gsProcess as it generates finite existence, discrete existence into gsSpace, which is the Euclidean+ space of our reality, and which we describe as D3-4//4-3. Maybe do it as [D3-4] to mean the expansion to D3-4//4-3 and thus [D3-4//4-3] to indicate the entire bidirectional flow.

BTW, I was startled yesterday to realize that the work about bidirectionality was correct. I’d given up on it, even though I’ve bought into Emanation and Inmanation as expressions of the I//I process, and also acting as Identity testing. As in, what Emanates and Inmanates is Identity tested, is I-t, is It.

I’m getting cold. Of course.

Amazing how this process works, isn’t it? This is I-t, the method of Identity testing in a nutshell, which is also these nuts’ hell. Funny and true.

This is now saying that this is why we experience compression and expansion of time: the amount of gsProcess within countable sections of external, meaning on the 1, not inside the 1, all related to and through the Thing that is you. That sentence took a lot of years to write. I first remember hearing the idea back in the garage in Cincinnati when I must have been 2. I remember the clear voice describing exactly why I as the object of the game was disconnected from the game, down to hearing the whoops of the other kids outside as I waited to be discovered or switched because the game had no actual rules or play other than whatever each kid expressed at that moment. That’s how leaders identify, how skills identify, etc. in play: the letting out within contexts. Sidetracking.

I remember the words about external to 1 and within 1, that to them the counting of this time was a series of excited bursts of energy, which was exciting, while to me the counting was experiencing those without experiencing them because they were happening to others, which is outside the 1 of me. Took like 65 years to translate that.

[stars-in-a-jam-jar]

Don't have Tears of the Kingdom, don't know if I'll ever buy it. I know the intro/tutorial, have no idea what happens in the middle, and know the biggest ending twist— and it's so weird seeing people being all sparkly and excited about it when my enthusiasm for and interest in it kind of... evaporated? With the majority of the things I learned? And I never wanted that to happen, but it did anyway and now I just feel like a curmudgeonly contrarian fuck. Like I'm about to go into some Capital S Spoilers and general 'I hate this thing you probably like' so you've been warned.

I already don't like the basic setup; I hate it dearly. I hate that Link starts the intro walkaround with all his hearts and a full stamina wheel and then has that physically ripped out of him via magical infection onscreen only to get his arm amputated *and replaced* in a fade to black, like it's one thing to say when Link wakes up 'That infection would have spread to the rest of your body and you would have died so I had to just amputate the arm while you were unconscious, I'm sorry.' But replacing his arm with the arm of a dead man from an entirely different species is A WHOLE OTHER FUCKING SENTENCE????

I hate it. I hate it I hate it I hate it. I hate all of that badly. It doesn't matter why they made that decision from a gameplay perspective, It Literally Does Not Matter, I Still Hate It Knowing Full Well Why They Did It. I don't like it, Make A Different Excuse to take all the BotW buffs away. If you're chopping off his fucking arm, have a fucking cutscene or something where he says yes, I want you to replace the arm I lost. It Is Not That Fucking Hard.

I hate spending the entire first game building up Link's abilities and sense of self and connection to Hyrule and gearing up to rescue Zelda only for this game to open with her falling down a fucking hole and now she's in some indeterminate danger. Why does Almost Nobody recognize Link??? What was the point of the first game then? New players will NOT be confused by townsfolk from the first game addressing Link by name, I Promise. I'm like, fine with the ending twist being that Zelda was the mysterious extra dragon all along and pretty safe generally speaking floating around up there, that's neat I Guess, but I also hate everything else about the leadup to her disappearance so much that I can't actually think 'Wow, that's a good twist, I like that' without ALSO thinking 'I don't think it would be worth going through the rest of the game to get to that twist.'

Why is the Sheikah Slate gone? There is No Reason for it, and it's Just Annoying.

I hate the underground areas. I'm fine with spacious caves and tunnels in most contexts. I like bioluminesence and pretty glowy crystals. I hate these underground areas. I hate the new monsters in them. I hate like 90% of the crafting system, I think it's STUPID! The only part of it I like is the potential to make carts and carriages and shit!! I honestly. Kind of hate the sky islands, I don't find them interesting or valuable. Breath of the Wild had you climbing mountains and swimming through oceans and shit and if you wanna get up to a Sky Island you either teleport to a shrine or use that arm thing that I already hate to zap a rock and try not to fall off it as it floats you up there and I hate that!! I hate that the ground has a goddamn ceiling now!!!! I Hate That!!!!!!!

Of course I didn't want Tears of the Kingdom to just be Breath of the Wild: But Again, but none of it makes me happy and Breath of the Wild DOES. The only thing I've learned about TotK that actually makes me want to play the damn game is that you get Sidon and the others as spirit buddies. I've SEEN gameplay of Tears of the Kingdom, and I hate it. Knowing the parts of the game I think are neat and would want to engage with doesn't make the rest of the game feel worth it.

And I hate that. I hate that I hate it and that I don't think it's worth me buying it.

[galunacycheckyourheadtour]

Playing diagnosis roulette and hitting the jackpot.

The sun was out yesterday, as I drove along the seafront to a medical appointment that I had been dreading - I was hoping it was a good omen. For a nice change, it was…

As you will know, my mental health has been bad for a while now. Things really came to a head a couple of weeks ago, when I had to admit myself to the mental health crisis care team, because I was having some seriously bad thoughts. Still one of the scariest moments of my life. My mood has been all over the place some days I was good, some days I was sky high, some days bad and some days I just don't remember. But, I was also suffering from a variety of baffling other symptoms, including restless legs, severe muscle aches/pains, bloating, cognitive issues; not being able to put sentences together out loud, not remembering simple facts, getting hurt, upset and paranoid about the tiniest things, spotting and the insomnia has been wild - 3 hours sleep per night, max for the past 3 weeks. I honestly thought I was starting to go mad and I did not know what the end would be. Since then, I have been having a barrage of blood tests, scans, daily check-in calls, referrals and everything in-between. I was cleared for several cancers, ovarian cysts, a hysterectomy was suggested and several other things. It was exhausting, each of these potential diagnosis/ solutions really took time to process and scared the shit out of me. But onwards I went, each time I would see someone new, have to go through the whole story again and then I would lurch into the next load of tests and theories. It was like a merry go round or shitty go round in this case. I had started to think maybe everything was in my imagination or it was simple just my wonky headedness, just being extra wonky. During this time, devastatingly, I had to pull out of a job that I was so excited about, as I was just not well enough to cope with even the most basic of things. I was taking it hour by hour, literally - I would note every hour down on a post it and score it off. In all honestly hoping that external forces would interfere and it would all end for me. It felt bleak again - back to square one, letting people down again. A complete and utter failure. I did not know how to tell my friends and family, so I didn’t. I just panicked about it, I really started to doubt I would ever get a job again. All through this, the NHS has been my constant and I was so lucky to have them. I am not sure I would be sat here typing this if it wasn't for certain individuals on the team. Anyway, to the appointment, I met with a mental health specialist who took me through all the results, and listened to me. She really listened - for a whole 45 minutes. She was incredible, calm, pragmatic, kind and just made me feel heard. I had bought my journal with me which had dates when things had been especially bad and we started to put the pieces together. The list of symptoms, everything.

She explained that she believed that I have a condition called PMDD, which is basically a severe form of PMS. (How typically Galun that I would have an extreme of something!!! )It is a condition I had never heard of and was intrigued. She went through the symptoms line by line - and everything just fit - absolutely everything. That on top of my pre-existing mental health condition, it all equals the perfect storm of wonky headedness!! So the answer, firstly is I go on medication and this could all be managed very easily in a couple of months. It might not be straightforward, but it is manageable and with diagnosis comes options. She talked about other patients (not by name obviously) who were very similar who had suffered for years - got the diagnosis and were different people in weeks. There is hope and frankly, I will take hope because that is something that I have been seriously lacking recently. The path has been far from straightforward to diagnosis. I had not even heard of this condition before yesterday, but it so common, just not talked about very much. I got home and typed it into google - I saw a link to the Mind website. There it all was in black and white, everything, including testimonials from other women who were saying exactly the things I was going through the - suicidal thoughts to thinking that they had gone loop the loop,two weeks good, two weeks bad - everything. I had a big ugly cry, as I think there is a comfort to diagnosis but also a stark moment, where you realise that this could have been diagnosed years ago. I think this has been going on for a long time with me.

It is very easy, in a stressed system for anti-depressants to just be chucked at anything mental health related and hope it all goes away. I had to persist hard with the other symptoms, as I knew something else was going on. But it was hard and I felt several times like I was fobbed of. In a stretched medical system it is very hard to give something the full symptom check that luckily this doctor did and I will forever be grateful. My counsellor was the person who encouraged me to journal and keep mood diaries and I am so glad that I kept that up. It meant we could put the pieces together and see the link to the disorder. So feeling grateful, I walk into a new phase - it could be a rough month ahead with the new meds but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

[mercy-burning]

Roommate Agreement

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!Reader x Luke Alvez Summary: After about a year of living with Spencer, Y/N gets excited when he introduces her to a new potential roommate. Category: SMUT (18+) Content: Free use, threesome, cum play, penetrative/unprotected sex, creampie, oral sex (male receiving), rough sex, dirty talk Word Count: 2.3k

MASTERLIST

NOTE: I was gonna write this as a blurb, but it got a little longer than I anticipated lol. I’ve been super into this kink/fantasy lately, so uh.. this was just pure indulgence 🥰✌

———

Apartment hunting and living on my own sucked, which is why Spencer Reid coming into my life was the biggest blessing I ever could have hoped for. He was handsome, kind, welcoming... And he let me live with him for free.

Well, not entirely.

But regardless of our little agreement, I still slip him some cash when rent comes up because it's just common courtesy. I'm grateful that he lets me stay with him and provides me with what I need (and then some), and if there's any way for me to return that favor, I'll do it.

He gets annoyed with me whenever I do it, but I always know how to get him to forget about it...

Just thinking about last night brings a smile to my face as I put away the last few glasses in their respective cupboards.

The heavy padding of Spencer's feet behind me makes me turn around then, and I nearly clench my legs at the sight of him, dressed and ready for work, except his dick is out and hefty in his right hand. It's hard, leaking, and by the look on his face I can tell he's about ready to let go.

"Give me your panties, sweetheart."

Before he even gets out the whole sentence, I make quick work of lifting my shirt out of the way and opening up the fabric, pulling it away from my body and giving him an opening. He walks up with a hungry kiss to my jaw as he jerks himself off, right into my panties until he's making a mess of them. I sigh out happily as he hums against my skin.

And when he's done, he kisses my cheek chastely and uses my shirt to clean up a bit before tucking himself back neatly into his pants. I adjust my panties and feel the warmth spread over my skin while he grabs his bag from the back of the chair to leave.

"Have a good day, Doctor," I call with a cute smile, my hand dipping down to feel the mess he made and wishing he didn't have to go.

"You too, sweetheart," he returns with a wink. He turns to leave, but before he's at the door, he throws back, "Oh, and make sure you're dressed properly when I get back, he's coming over with me after work."

"Wait, really?" I ask brightly, my heart starting to race.

"Mhm. He's excited to meet you."

I’d had plans to run some errands today, but as soon as he tells me the good news, I know I won't be able to get anything done.

———

The second I hear the door, I'm waiting like a dog with a wagging tail, excited for extra company and eager to make a new friend. I flatten my tiny skirt, though with how frilly it is, it really makes no difference— I think that as excited as I am, I'm definitely anxious about potentially adding a new person to our dynamic.

My hands reach behind my back and clasp together as I rock slowly on my feet, ready to welcome them when they come through the door.

Spencer, as always, looks positively delicious, and it only amplifies when he sees me and smiles, reaching out for me. "Somebody's excited..."

In his embrace, I laugh and welcome his hand as it slips up the front of my skirt to make sure I've followed his instructions. He quickly runs his middle finger through my opening, a smile forming on his lips— I can feel it against my neck. "Good girl."

"I couldn't help it," I tell him earnestly, refraining from whining in protest when he removes himself from me entirely. Then I look over his shoulder to see our guest of honor, Spencer's co-worker Luke Alvez. With a shy smile, I reach my hand out to shake his. "I have a new guest to impress."

Luke accepts my hand with a smile all his own, accompanied by wandering eyes that make me feel warm from head-to-toe. It reminds me of how I felt when I first met Spencer while apartment hunting last year. Luke's eyes are just a few shades darker but regardless of color, the hunger swimming within them remains plentiful.

"Nice to meet you, Y/N," he says smoothly. His voice makes me feel a whole new sense of ease and the overwhelming need to submit to him entirely. "I've heard great things."

With introductions out of the way, Spencer ushers Luke into the apartment and I close the door. "Let me show you around a bit," he says, and the two walk off, leaving me to follow behind.

We tour the whole apartment, Spencer taking his sweet time with the walking and the talking... I swear he's doing it on purpose, to make me wait and get me riled up, but regardless I stay patient and involve myself in their conversations as normal. Actually, it would have all felt like a completely normal apartment tour in the first place, had I not been thinking about how the men accompanying me would use me in the future...

Spencer saves the living room for last, and once we make it to the couch, I pray that he's ready to start showing Luke the added benefit of choosing to live here rather than in an apartment by himself...

And he knows me so well, because he pulls me aside with a cheeky smile, his hand resting firmly on my ass and under my skirt. "So, Alvez, you wanna give her a whirl?"

"You're uh... You're sure this is alright? You don't mind?"

His concern is sweet, but I can see the lust sparkling in his eyes as he looks over me once more.

Spencer laughs a bit, squeezing my ass with a nod. "Of course. Look how happy she is to see you... So ready to be used up..."

Luke's tongue darts out over his bottom lip at my roommate's words, his decision becoming more clear.

Still, I help out. "It's true... When Spencer first mentioned adding a new roommate to our arrangement, I couldn't wait... And you're perfect.

"So what do you say?" Spencer asks once more with finality.

Luke strides over to me slowly, my head tilting higher with each inch he gets closer. He looks down at my lips and smiles before bringing his thumb gently to my mouth. "This pretty little mouth has been calling to me since I walked through the door..."

I hear Spencer laugh beside me as Luke slips his thumb past my lips and over my tongue. I suck it into my mouth with a tiny groan, flitting my eyes up at him and arching my back as Spencer's grip on my ass gets tighter.

"Get on the couch, sweetheart," he says, letting go and giving me a small spank.

Luke's thumb pops out of my mouth and I stumble to the couch, getting on all fours so my hands are on the arm and my knees are buried in one of the cushions.

The unmistakable sound of their laughing fills my ears and makes me even more eager, though I know better than to tell them outright what I want. Unless either of them asks me to, I'm not going to beg. I mean, I'm not sure about Luke, but I know that Spencer prefers when I use visual signs in our daily routine. He likes to hear me use my words, sure, but that's only on occasions where he's in a happier, more giving mood. Most of the fucking we do is when he comes home frustrated and needs to take. No questions asked.

And truthfully, I like that more. Which is why I'd agreed to be his roommate in the end.

Spencer does seem to be more giving today, moving this right along and taking his pants off before walking over to me while his friend follows suit, but I follow our rules anyway, wanting to make a good impression on Luke (though I'm positive I've already secured that bag).

Luke's pants come off too, though he waits until he's right in front of my face. I'm looking up at him with my bottom lip between my teeth, and when he starts to work at his belt, I look down to see.

Meanwhile I feel Spencer's weight dip down behind me, and it doesn't take long for him to slide right in, spreading my legs further and beginning to fuck me steadily. He gathers my hair from my face and into a makeshift ponytail with one hand while the other rests at my hip. "You gonna be a big girl and open your mouth wide, or do I have to make you?"

I respond in kind by slacking my jaw and welcoming Luke, his hands coming down to tilt my chin and slide his thick, hard dick into my mouth.

"That's right, sweetheart," Spencer praises, giving me another small spank and a slight tug of the hair. Meanwhile Luke is slowly fucking my throat, pushing himself deeper with each thrust.

Eventually, the two of them are fucking me with perfect rhythm. Each time Spencer goes in, Luke goes out, and their force is even the same. It's building and building with each second, and I can feel my whole body start to go numb with pleasure. My knees are tingling from the couch, my ass is surely red from how many times Spencer has spanked me, and my throat is bruising beautifully.

Spencer's hand releases my ass and reaches out to my throat. The way he's bending forward gives him a deeper angle inside me, and I can't help the choked whimper that comes out of my mouth because of it. He can feel it, too, because his fingers rest just under my chin.

"His cock feels so good down your throat, doesn't it, baby?" he coos, driving into me harder.

I squeeze my eyes shut for a few seconds to blink away the tears that blur my vision, and when I open them I look up at Luke, pure unadulterated bliss painting his features. He looks down at me with awe and lust and need, and I can tell that it won't be long before he snaps.

"When he comes, you're gonna keep it in, okay? I wanna see it..."

I clench around Spencer at his words, and my orgasm follows shortly after. As soon as I start to come down, Luke holds himself still at the back of my throat and comes with a shout, his hands rooting in my hair. I try my hardest to keep it all in, meanwhile Spencer starts to stutter as well. And by the time Luke is pulling himself away from me, his friend is coming inside me, just like he's done so many times before.

It's a familiar, wonderful feeling, though this time it's even better because I know I have cum filling both ends of me. I feel so full, so warm and numb and fucked out, and I never want to go a single day without it that way.

When Spencer pulls out and leaves the couch, Luke makes room for him in front of me. He steps into view then, reaching his hand out to pry my mouth open and examine his friend's work.

"Oh, sweetheart, you look so pretty with all Luke's cum in your mouth... Doesn't she look pretty, Alvez?"

The other man muses, his hand coming down to graze my cheek. Both their hands are on either side of my face, and they're gazing down at me with such wonderment that I swear I'll do anything to feel this way again— to make them feel this way again.

"She sure does," Luke says, and I nuzzle into his hand. "Just like a proper cumdump."

Their words and their eyes and their touches send butterflies soaring through my whole body and bring an open-mouthed smile to my face.

"You can swallow now," Spencer says, tapping my cheek. I do, and immediately afterwards he leans down to kiss me deeply. I lean into him and flutter my eyes closed, the feeling of his cum dripping out of me and down my leg only adding to the blissful state I'm in.

He pulls away, and I glance over at Luke, who has his dick in his hand and an amused smile on his face. "Damn, I could almost go again..."

I can tell he only means it as a way to keep the mood light, maybe as a joke, but in hopes that it will make him more comfortable with the idea that he can quite literally use me whenever he wants to, I smile as sincerely as I can. "That's what I'm here for," I offer brightly, getting up off the couch and trying to stand on wobbling legs.

I somehow manage, Spencer helps to steady me, and then he laughs, kissing me on the cheek. "You two have fun. I'm gonna shower, and then I have to take care of some errands. That okay with you?"

Luke and I give our approval, Spencer kisses me once more, and then admires me for a few seconds before throwing his friend a wink and heading off to the shower.

The moment I'm alone with Luke Alvez, he takes my hand and gives it a kiss. "You really are something special, princess..."

The nickname, while not entirely new since Spencer had mumbled it a few times with my mouth wrapped around his dick, sounds absolutely delightful coming from Luke's lips.

"Thank you," I purr, leading him to the couch and pulling him on top of me. "But there's still so much for you to discover..."

He hums amusedly, tracing my mouth with his thumb again. This time I take it gently between my teeth before he slips his cock inside me, which inadvertently makes me let go of it in favor of a whimper.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing I'm moving in..."

———

PERMANENT TAGLIST (tags not working are struck out): 

@elldell1204​ @muffin-cup​ @calm-and-doctor​ @slutforthegubes​ @rainsong01​ @yourmisosoup​ @liveloudwriteloud​ @reidsconverse​ @la-vie-en-amour1​ @edgycowboy666​ @averyhotchner​ @centiaaa​ @lizziechaseee​ @coffeeandendlesswords​ @usuck​ @spenxerslut​ @goldensonlyangel @emilyprentisslittlewhore​ @takeyourleap-of-faith​ @reidyoulikeabook​ @spencerreid9​ @b-a-utiful​ @jareauswifey​ @flipperpenguins​ @pansexualthing​ @donald4spiderman​ @awesomebooklover17​​ @shemarmooresfedora​ @izraahh1​ @bakugouswh0r3​ @singularityjc​ @xoxospencerreid​ @thatsonezesty13​ @big-galaxy-chaos​ @mggskneescrews @youabitchhhh​ @spencersjello​ @moonlight-2-6​ @starrylang​ @foreveryoungxx3​ @spencerreidscoffeecup​ @morganwilliams​ @emilyprsntiss @this-is-doctor-and-its-calm​ @gubswh0re​ @mrsobrien888​ @loveeee2134 @umbreonwolfy​ @ayla-1605

If you would like to be added to or removed from the taglist, feel free to message me or leave a comment and I’ll get on it right away!

[yesimwriting]

This Time it’s Different

a/n spider-man no way home spoilers all through this, like major spoilers even in the first sentence of the summary, so i’m putting everything below the cut,, so dont click ‘keep reading’ unless you’ve watched NWH or you’re okay with big spoilers! ive done my part lol, so i wont feel guilty if this spoils it bc you’ve been warned :) 

also i really wanted to get this out tonight bc i felt so inspired and all that and im leaving for a family thing tomorrow so i dont know if i’ll be able to get a lot of writing done, and this fic is going to be so much longer than i thought it’d be so this is going to have to be done in 2 to 3 parts so that I can give it as much as attention as i want :)) 

so yeah, if you like this lmk if you want to be tagged in the other parts or if you want more marvel stuff!! i love marvel!! 

also ive had a lot of writer’s block lately so if this is bad im so sorry, im trying and im growing after some personal issues :)) 

other a/n: also ive been really into marvel lately so if you wanted to send in requests about anything that has to do with any of the spider-men (specify if you want it to be set in their universe or in the MCU bc i can potentially see a fic where reader is friends with Peter and ends up liking one of the other spider-men) or any marvel character!!

----

Summary: Only a few hours after the tragic death of his aunt, Peter not only meets two different versions of himself from different realities, he also learns two important things about the girl he never wanted to become friends with. Y/n, the girl who’s been his academic rival for years and accidental ally during the chaos that happened after Mysterio, was always meant to matter in his life. Both Spidermen that are in the wrong universe recognize her easily, and the Peter Parker of this universe learns that his y/n is meant to die. 

Also there’s no good way to distinguish between the Andrew’s Peter and Tobey’s Peter in the beginning, so this is just a reminder that at first, Andrew’s Peter is in a spiderman suit and Tobey’s Peter is just wearing regular clothes. 

----

The last hints of sunlight still hang in the sky, pale slashes of orange and pink fighting against the darkness of night. It’s such a normal display that a part of me is uneased by it. How can everything fall apart so quickly and the fundamentals of the universe stay the same? 

Actually--the fundamentals of the universe are apparently not the same, because until like an hour ago, only one Peter Parker existed. And sure, that one Peter Parker has been a pain in my ass since eight grade debate team, but he was him. He was him and then after our class trip to Europe, it was revealed--by a vindictive liar--that he’s Spider-Man. 

The news made me feel sick at the time, because while Peter Parker is the kid that’s made me push myself academically to a level that will get me into Harvard, Spider-Man has been a kind of...secret, celebrity crush. The revelation that Peter Parker (who has always been objectively attractive, even though I’d never say it out loud) and Spider-Man were one in the same was understandably soul crushing. I think the only person that was left more upset than me was Flash. 

But I adapted to the news. I pushed aside the fact that knowing that Peter Parker is Spider-Man makes the fact that he’s objectively attractive so much harder to ignore because I needed to. The world is falling apart because of some strange spell that Doctor-freaking-Strange cast, so I’m going to move on from this incredibly weird situation.

MJ, Ned, and original Peter need my help. The details of the plan have been incredibly vague, because I kind of stopped answering MJ’s texts after she told me that there are now two extra Peter Parker’s in this universe. But I came back to Midtown High, just like i was instructed to, because this is bigger than me and what completely freaks me out.

I pace in front of the door to the chem lab. I’ve only ever been in here for AP Chemistry, now I’m supposed to step in there and help save the multiverse. And pretend that working with one Peter Parker, let alone an additional two, isn’t completely out of my nature. 

My phone buzzes again. A text from MJ. Are you almost here? We can’t finish building the things we need to cure the villains from another universe without you. You kick Peter’s ass in chemistry, even if he’ll never admit it. Despite myself, I smile slightly. I’ve always liked MJ, and to hear someone say I’m better than Peter is always nice. Another text message comes in. This one’s from Ned. You’re team Spider-Man now, we need you. And the two other Peter thing isn’t that weird when you get used to it. Also I have magic now, not to freak you out, but I can’t stop thinking about how cool you’ll find it. 

Ned has magic now?! He should have led with that. I sigh, quickly texting them both back before pocketing my phone and moving to open the chem lab door.

“She’s in the building.” MJ reads my text, summarizing it for the people in the room. 

“Who’s coming, again?” The question comes from an unknown voice. Another Peter? 

Ned answers, “A friend.” 

“And she’s trustworthy?” Another unknown voice chimes in. 

Silence. Really, they’re not sure I’m trustworthy? When the news first came out and the Daily Bugle was basically hunting him, I hid him in my apartment during an emergency. Because who would think that Peter Parker would be at my house? No sane person. 

“She’s a genius.” Aw, MJ. 

“And she’s loyal.” Aw, Ned. 

I push the door open, walking into the room with a confidence I don’t feel. “Really, Parker, you don’t know if I’m ‘trustworthy’? We fight over grades, and ever since your secret got out, I’ve had multiple opportunities to sell you out, and I didn’t. So stop being petty that my flashcard game is better than yours, and own up to the fact that I’m not as terrible of a person as you think I am.” 

Peter is leaning against the lab table that used to be mine. He takes my baseline level of hostility the way he always does, but there’s something so heavy behind his eyes, I regret not coming in more quietly. The strange feeling that I’m missing something hits me in awkward waves. 

“You’re humble, too.” At least his words are easy. “And my flashcards are objectively more productive than yours.” 

“Well mine have been used as templates by like half of my teachers, so...” I drop my gaze, feeling a little awkward. “But your review guides are more thorough.” Okay...this is awkward. “But that doesn’t matter right now, because it’s not like we can study the multiverse problem away, so I think I should just--I should just do the thing that I came here to do.” Wow, I’m making it worse. I look around the room, nodding in MJ’s direction and waving at Ned. “I um still don’t actually know what it is just that it involves some type of chemistry and...” I look around the room, turning enough to see two men--one dressed weather appropriate, and another dressed in a Spider-Man suit. “The other Peter Parkers, which you two must be. Nice to meet you, by the way, I’m y/n--” 

“l/n.” I don’t know how the Peter in the Spider-Man suit manages to cut me off when his voices comes out so low, so fragile. 

The stranger is watching me with an intensity I don’t understand. I want to shrink beneath it. I let my gaze shift towards the other unknown Spider-Man. The Peter dressed in regular clothing is staring at me with just as much focus. Okay...this is somehow weirder than I thought it’d be. Maybe the me in their universe has an even more intense rivalry than my Peter and I have. Maybe in their universe we actually, truly hate each other. 

“So you know me?” Stating the obvious hasn’t helped. “I guess that’s not so weird, considering that I know y--” 

The Spider-Man in the suit has run out in front of the chemistry table he was working at. His arms are wrapped around me in a hug before I realize what’s going on. “You haven’t changed at all, l/n.”

He knows me. And he...he gets along with me. I open my mouth, but I have no words. He’s hugging me like I’m about to disappear. I don’t think there’s anything I can say to such an emotionally charged reaction. “I um...” The other unfamiliar Spider-Man comes up to me as suddenly as the first. He joins in on the strange hug. 

“So you guys know her?” My Peter’s words seem to snap everyone back into back to reality. Both Peter’s let go of me. 

The one that hugged me first replies, “Yeah, she was a...I know her.” 

Strange reply, but what about today isn’t weird?

“I haven’t seen my y/n in awhile,” the other Peter says. “And I didn’t--I didn’t think you’d be here. Or look so much like her.”

Okay...this is weird and not getting any less weird. “Hear that, Parker? There are at least two other universes in which you know me.” 

He looks away from whatever it is he’s working on. “I’m not surprised.” The multiverse must be beyond repair, because Peter Parker--my Peter Parker--just said something unnecessarily friend-like to me. “You’re like the bubonic plague, impossible to get rid of. Leaving the universe isn’t enough to get rid of you.” 

Oh. The addition is normal enough, but something about the way he says it doesn’t sit right. His words are more bitter than usual, yet he lacks significant fight. Again, I’m overwhelmed by the feeling that there’s something even darker than everything I’m aware of going on.

I swallow back the surprising lump of concern in my throat. I didn’t find out about the Spider-Man thing like everyone else in this room, but I’ve never seen Peter look so hurt. Physically. The emotional weight I’m seeing through some kind of blurred lens has to be in my head. Everything that’s happening is upsetting, but he didn’t seem to find all of this personally before. Or was I not paying enough attention? 

It’s not like I pay attention to Peter ever. I’ve...I’ve come close before, but I always manage to stop myself. He’d be a distraction, and not a worthwhile one. We’ve never been friends, let alone... 

“I think the fact that you feel the need to bring up the one history essay you did better than me in every chance you get says more about you than me. It was freshman year and I wrote that essay after getting my tonsils out, okay. Let it go.” 

Peter leans against the chem table. “Do you think the Harvard admissions board went for the tonsillitis argument?” 

I roll my eyes. “You don’t know if I got in or not.” 

“If you had gotten in, you’d never stop talking about it.”

He’s right, but that doesn’t mean anything. Who wouldn’t not shut up about getting into Harvard? “I haven’t been rejected.” I cross my arms in front of me. “Not yet--Harvard has rolling admissions, so they can tell me at any point this month. But that doesn’t matter, because there’s other stuff going on...” I gesture towards the other two Spider-Men. “Clearly--and that’s the one thing I’m putting all of my energy into not thinking about, so if you could just tell me how I’m supposed to help?” 

Peter blinks twice, his expression still uneasy. “Um...Peter--that Peter, not ‘me’ Peter, is working on an anti-serum, he’s made it before, but we kind of need to be fast...and you were always so--efficient in chemistry.” 

Efficient? He skipped out on the chance to call me a tyrant. Yeah, something is definitely really wrong. Like personally wrong. “Yeah.” I should say something, right? “I’ll um...I’ll make sure it gets done efficiently.” Why is this the most awkward interaction I’ve ever had with him? 

I walk over to the Spider-Man that’s in costume. He’s combining some chemicals with expert ease. I’m not sure he needs my help, but there’s always room for improvement when it comes to chemical bonds. An exact science can always be enhanced. 

“Hey...” There’s no need for me to be awkward around another Peter Parker. But after that hug thing...Okay, you know what--if I can let go of the whole multiverse thing, I can let go of the hug thing. “So you’re making an anti-serum?” 

He looks up at me, a faint trace of something weighted coloring his gaze. “Um--hey.” This Peter steps back slightly. “Yeah, yeah--I’m making an anti-serum for Norman Osborn. I don’t know how much you know, but he’s the green--” 

“Goblin, yeah--I was around for that part. I missed out on the whole multi-Peter Parker thing.” 

This Peter lets out a sound that’s a combination of a laugh and awkward scoff. “No...I would have remembered seeing you again.” He notes his mistake instantly this time. “Seeing you.” He turns back to look at the chemicals he was combining. “For the first time, because you’re--anyways, I’m sorry about the whole hug thing. That must have been really weird for you.” 

The third Peter looks up from whatever his task is, “I’m sorry too. That was--” 

“You guys are good.” I mean that--too much is going on for me to be bothered by something that small. “I think I was more surprised by the fact that you guys get along with the me of your universe. Peter and I are--um, our friendship’s really specific.” 

The two Peters exchange a look that doesn’t go unnoticed. Maybe they’re remembering some fights they had with other me. I wouldn’t be surprised. Peter and I are always arguing about school stuff, but I can’t picture an argument big enough to make us never speak again. But they must have experienced it.

“What?” 

They both shake their heads, practically at the same time. The Peter I’m supposed to be working on turns back to the beaker full of not-quite-anti-serum. “Nothing, I’m just trying to watch the way these chemicals combine...I’ve made it before, but there’s no room for mistakes.” 

“Yeah.” I wipe my hands on my jeans. “Just tell me the kind of reactants we’re working with.” 

Making the anti-serum isn’t as hard as one would think. The anti-serum Peter is really good at explaining things, and with my help, we’re moving through the process at record speed. Though, to be honest, we’d be working faster if this Peter was less entertaining. 

“And we’re done.” 

Oh...that worked out a little too well. “We’re done?” 

He raises his hand, offering me a high five. I take it, smiling slightly. “We’re done.”

“Awesome.” 

“Yeah, awesome.” After he drops his hand to his side, he watches me for a long second. “I think you should go see if Peter--your Peter--needs any help.” 

My Peter has never wanted my help ever. But that’s never stopped me from forcing it onto him before. “Okay.” 

I walk towards my Peter’s temporary work station. “Hi.” He nods in reply. Something about him is so off. “So you’re working on--” 

“An arch reactor--technology, it’s not really your thing.” 

He has a point. “Well, I could probably figure it out enough to help.” 

Peter raises an eyebrow, and I can’t even get mad at him for not believing me. The version of me from before these last couple of days would have...but now, showing this tiny bit of vulnerability isn’t as earth shattering as it would have been. “I could probably figure it out enough to hand you the tool you ask for...if you make sure to point at it.” Peter drops his head, but not fast enough to hide the smile he’s fighting. “Don’t laugh!” 

“I’m not.” 

Yeah, right. “You’re a terrible liar, I’m surprised you didn’t accidentally reveal your own identity.” 

“You believed me.” 

He has a point, but I still shrug it off. “I--” My phone buzzes before I can get my response out. Normally, I’d ignore it, but I know what’s at stake. I pull my phone out of the back of my jean pocket and check my notifications. An email from Harvard admissions. “I just got an email from Harvard admissions.” 

“Open it!” A surprisingly enthusiastic reaction from MJ. I give her a confused look. “I um...I mean, if that’s what you want--the timing is kind of terrible, but the multiverse is falling apart, so why not just...open it?” 

I look at Ned. “You have to open it.” 

Squeezing my phone between my fingers, I will myself to unlock my phone. “I don’t--I don’t know. So much stuff is going on right now, and it’s more important than this--” 

“Open it.” Peter’s input--my Peter’s input--is completely unexpected.

I can’t...I can’t. “Okay.”  I take a deep breath as I unlock my phone. Clicking on the link to my email, I try not to freak out as the screen loads. “Dear y/n l/n, we congratulate you on your acceptance to Harvard University!” Holy shit. “I got in!” 

The room erupts. Ned is the loudest out of the four of us. 

“You got in!!” My Peter walks around the table and pulls me into a hug that’s so unexpected I have to take it. The last time he hugged me is when he found me crying over an AP calc test. “You’re going to Harvard.” 

“I know!” My hold on him tightens. He winces and I instantly pull away. How hurt is he? “Sorry--I didn’t--” 

“It’s fine.” He’s quick to assure me. “A Harvard student’s never hurt me before.” 

Ah...a Harvard student! That’s me!! “It doesn’t have to be the last time you say that.” That was weird. “I um--Harvard’s super close to MIT, so if you ever need anyone to help you make superior flash cards, we could...” I scratch the back of my arm. “I could...” Okay, I need to shut this down. “The point is I’ll be around.” 

Peter nods once, his features softening slightly. “I’ll be around too.” 

“Good, I um...I need someone to compete against.” I squeeze my phone again. “I should probably call my mom.” 

“Yeah--yeah, you should.” 

I nod once again, stepping out of the room. Oh my god. I got in. 

----

Narrator’s POV 

----

“So she’s going to Harvard.” Ned watches the door close behind y/n. “She’s going to be like walking distance from us if that MIT lady pulls through.”

“I knew she’d get in.” 

Peter hesitates. “Between us, so did I.” The two Spider-Men in the wrong universe exchange a grim look. Something that the Peter of this universe notices. “What?” 

“It’s nothing.” 

Sighing, Peter sets down what he’s working on. “Don’t tell me it’s nothing when you two have been acting weird ever since y/n showed up.” The two stay silent. “C’mon, please. I don’t know how this plan is going to work or what the future is going to look like, and I--I just lost May. I’m tired of losing people and I’m tired of being confused and--and angry, and I just want to know.” 

The Peter not in a Spider-Man suit breaks the lingering silence that follows Peter’s rant. “My y/n got into Harvard, and then her life changed with no warning...and it was great. Really great.” He swallows, fighting the lump in his throat. “And then it all fell apart.”

The last Spider-Man can’t bring himself to look away from a blank spot on the wall in front of him. “My y/n got into Harvard, but I don’t think anything fell apart until she got those powers.”

“My y/n also got powers before she died.” 

Ned’s eyes widen. “Y/n gets powers?” 

“Like superpowers?” MJ adds. 

Y/n’s Peter feels his stomach twists with the agony of unbearable grief for the second time this night. “She dies?” The other two Spider-Men watch him cautiously, pitifully. “No--no, maybe our y/ns look alike and maybe--maybe they got into the same college, bu that doesn’t mean that the same--she doesn’t have super powers. And there’s no way for her to get them, and there’s no way I’m going to let her...” 

“It happened this way in my world. Y/n gets into Harvard, there’s an accident, she gets powers, and you start to think that things will work out forever because she can protect herself now. And then...” Peter’s voice breaks. “Then you find yourself pulling her body out of the water. And you hold onto her, and you-you try to wake her up, but she doesn’t.” He feels the tears against his skin, but it’s too late now. He can feel the cold dampness of her skin, the stiffness of her body as he begged her to wake up. As he promised to never be late again. “And then you have to tell her mother, you have to explain why you couldn’t save her daughter.” 

The story is strangling Peter. He grips the counter to avoid running out into the hallway and...and doing what? Telling y/n how he feels? Telling her how he’s felt since the eighth grade spelling bee when she incorrectly spelled ‘poignancy’? 

“My y/n was drowned in front of me.” 

Silence crowds the room, pushing against each of them with enough force to break them. “I can’t lose anyone else.” Peter breaks the silence. “I can’t lose her.” Peter takes a sharp breath, desperate to ease himself. “This time it’s different. It-it has to be, okay?” 

----

Y/n’s POV

----

Maybe I should have waited before calling my mom. She’s happy, of course, but that’s the problem. She wants to me home so that I can call of my relatives and tell them the news. Obviously, what I’m doing right now is more important, but she can’t know that I’m involved in this whole thing.

I open the door to the chem room, walking back in. “Hey, guys...” All eyes snap in my direction. Wow...weird energy in this room. Why do things get so dark when I’m not here? “Bad news--my mom wants me to come home so that I can call all of my relatives and tell them the news with her. I told her I was with friends, but she said that it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.” I take a deep breath, shoving my phone into my pocket. “I’ll go and be as quick as I can and I can come back...or meet you wherever you guys or--” Everything is going to be fine. It has to be. “I know this is really inconvenient, but I can’t exactly tell her what we’re doing. So I’ll just go by myself and I’ll be right--” 

MJ pushes herself off of the chem lab counter. “You shouldn’t walk around by yourself with all that’s going on. Peter should go with you.” 

I look at my Peter. “You have too much to do right now.” 

“N-no. We’re basically done and there’s three of me now.” 

Okay...this is such a small thing. Peter walking me to my apartment. It shouldn’t feel this weird. “Okay, let’s go.” 

----

taglist: @alexa135 @gabiatthedisco @bimboshaggy @hoe-4-sebstan @deadphantomsociety @angie1djonasgg @callmebyyourhoe

@shirtwithnobrim 

[astrojoy]

How Will Your Life Be 5 Years From Now?

I made 4 different song aesthetics

Choose 1 that you are drawn to 》》

Pile 1 - Coffee Breath

Pile 2 - Your Text

Pile 3 - Chinese New Year

Pile 4 - Crush

PILE 1

OML YOU GUYS I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU PILE 1 🥺 CAN I JOIN THE PARTY???? 🤚🤡

Ok lets cover this! WOO my energy is happy and just so positive so much love and, HAPPINESS. Like wow, what!? So for you guys I got a sentence that popped up in my mind during this saying "Answering your calling" For a lot of you, you could be feeling stuck right now or something, I'm seeing maybe some of you guys could be studying something? Maybe you are planning to go to college or are in it atm? You are saving money wisely and acting responsible with it as well. 5 years from now I'm seeing you take a risk, you are gonna have to take that leap of faith, you are aiming towards what suites you best! What do you want? What will you receive? Well instantly I'm seeing a home, a house, a new place. Some of you will be moving or purchasing some land and a home! For the people in cities, this could be an apartment too! You guys right now could feel lost I'm seeing, maybe you don't have any direction? A maze, with walls and endings every path you go.. I'm seeing a lot of free spirits. I love your souls, so spontaneous and beautiful at heart. I'm actually seeing the heart chakra, it will activate as well, you are following the path that makes you happy, not what doesn't. You are legit gonna fly out of that maze and make your own path for yourself!! I'm seeing soooo many birds, even a dog? You may have one of these as a pet, and if not then you will surely get one in 5 years. Some of you who are in unhealthy relationships or are always having sad past memories of one brought up, will be leaving this fully behind. You are saying "HECK NO" and just letting that memory fall off a cliff. Some gaurdian/guide of yours is really behind the scenes and making some magic happen for you. Oml just such a whole new path. Some of you could be going to somewhere foreign too? Travel is definitely here. I'm seeing a lot of butterflies as well! This will be a big transformation for you in your life. You will finally be free! Actually random thought, if someone has a family remember in prison or confinement, something, then they will be seeing them again 🥺. I asked for a message from my guides to help you guys better understand what awaits you, and I legit had the "Pleasure" card fly out! Its a girl holding her arms out with light all around her, ready to take on the world! +18 - some of you could actually be losing your virginity too btw, just saying. I specifically got a picture of a female with blonde hair and a white dress? Idk why, maybe this is a guide of someones? Anyways, HAVE FUN PILE 1! INVITE ME TO THE CELEBRATION BESTIIEE! 🥳🎉

PILE 2

OOOKKKK so pile 2, I got soooo many different messages and outcomes so plleeaase bare with me. This is gonna take a hot minute lmao! So first off I'm gonna point out extra info and if it means anything to anyone who reads this group then hopefully it helps? Yes! -> colors pink and green, 18, 333, cosmetology, drawing/painting, art, college, fashion, hairstylist. Ok so I'm seeing a TON of artists in this pile, whether it be fashion/makeup/painting. I also got animation?? So I'm seeing for some of you, you could definitely be moving away from your home. During this you will be quite antisocial, in fact, you could be now! Some of you could be doing online school. You aren't happy about this so you will meet some new friends! I'm specifically seeing 2 besties 👀 Ok now onto the college part, IF you are in college as you are reading this, then you could be unhappy with it, or feeling very stressed. I'm seeing you leave it behind at some point and meeting 2 new people, one in particular could be a potential love interest I'm hearing for someone. Now the next scenario, someone out there reading this will unfortunately have to say goodbye to friends or family and leave off to college. But for sure everyone reading this group is gonna meet new people. These people are going to give you new beginnings! I legit even got "joy" and "pleasure"! Man these friends are fun! So I also asked if there was any info that my spirit guides could give you all as help, and they are saying "Create, be creative, work hard so that everything can bloom into fruition" They are cheering you on! 🥺💖 LMAO RANDOM MESSAGE, so someone or a few of you could go to a waterpark with these friends and you will have a legit blast! 5 years from now you will become more social, extroverted, laugh more etc! It's a nice time in life for you to pamper yourself 🥰

PILE 3

Ahhhh... ok. Sooo I'm gonna put a warning here. I keep everything authentic, I'm not going to ignore what messages I was given, so if you do not enjoy darker subjects then please leave, you discretion is adviced. Ok so for only a few of you, someone could be ill in your family, I'm getting a lot of literal death significance (ill go over the non literal death meaning in a minute) and for some of you I actually got a story, it's possible for one person here tbh. But whoever plans on going hiking or in a mountain, most likely with 1 or 2 people, be careful I am seeing 2 people falling, and specifically a cliff. Yes. It is very morbid I know. I'm seeing it's because of having fun but be cautious and stay safe. Some people actually just might loose someone due to natural causes as well. But anyways, let's move on. So I am seeing a non literal death. For a lot of you, you will be transforming, a lot of you are introverts and reserved but 5 years from now you will finally be opening up. You will be moving into the unknown, I'm seeing a relationship! Wow! Beautiful OML I SEE IT OK. SO. Someones getting married for sure. Some people are going fishing at a pond, lake or waterfall!! How fun! 🥺 take me with you some people will be letting something go, actually for some people who are already married, if you aren't happy then you will get divorced, this is your will, this is your way. I'm seeing a lot of you dealing with bad karma during this (If you believe in it, karma is basically things we either got from passed lives or things that were left unfinished. Im seeing this is "deserved" karma in some way for someone🤚😭) but I'm seeing everyone here taking time to try and stay balanced! So here is messages from my guides "This will be a time of challenge or new territory. You are strong and resilient. You will get through things" btw you guys could get an animal in 5 years, a new business could start up as well for some of you entrepreneurs. Here's some extra info if it resonates for some of you -> Capricorn, Libra, Will, Freckles, jewelry, asian. Ok finishing this off, DONT LET THE DEATH PART BOTHER YOU, THIS IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. This could even not resonate, who knows? You're gonna transform for the better though, it will help your path! I love ya all and stay blessed loves! 🥰

PILE 4

Oh ok! So intertesting! 5 years from now you will be in a place of solitude. You will be going through some sort of spiritual journey. Im seeing books and reading glasses, someone reading? Do some of you guys enjoy reading? Another pile who enjoys alone time huh? Some of you are gonna be in college, that's what those books and glasses could have meant lmao! Someone is gonna have a storm come by and they are gonna need to clean the yard and/or house. I feel like you guys are gonna have a lover/family who you will feel disconnected with. You are gonna be wanting to see them, wishing even 🥺 maybe actually your lover or you will be leaving for awhile abroad to go study or do things? Either way it will feel as if you are alone or time had went through a deep freeze of some sorts. During this time you will be thinking a lot, learning more spiritual subjects, LMAO MAYBE MORE ASTROLOGY/TAROT?? But what you guys won't see what is actually happening, is behind the scenes things are happening quite quickly. The clock is always still ticking so please don't forget that and tell that to your future self! I asked my guides if there are any messages they wanted to tell you and I got, "Stay balanced, this will help you stay stable. Have patience, you will see them again ❤ carry hope and faith wherever you walk" ALSO A SUPER SWEET ONE THAT REALLY MAKES MY HEART MELT, I got the "protection" card. Your angel/spirit guides are literally watching over you and protecting you 24/7 I got the representation of a bird so much for this. "We are with you every step of the way" "smile" 😭🥺 talk to your guides when you feel lonely! This will help. Extra info that could resonate for some people -> Video games, Sharp eyes, Water zodiac signs, Round face, Glasses, Long hair, Loving clothes