#to know.. quite a bit out the program range.

[cosmic-dust-poltergeist]

Imagine an AU where the GIW are less Ghost Hunters and more scientific. Being Ecto-Biologists and trying to learn more with as little harm to creatures, but of course fumbling a bit because it's a new field of science.

Just, the GIW getting lucky and capturing Danny as Phantom, knocking him out in the process. No vivisecting or cruel tests happen. Instead he's put in a room they designed with the younger ghosts in mind, (here's soft toys and blankets, Legos, books for a wide range of ages, things of that nature) but it's not perfect because they didn't know who'd they get.

They feel terrible when Phantom has a full-blown panic attack when he wakes up and crams himself into a corner so he can see the whole room. They quickly send in the onsight psychologist to help him through the attack and explain his new situation. His reactions are way too real for them to be faked.

A few days later, while trying to let Phantom settle into his new environment, they catch a second ghost and learn he can tell they have someone new, but the other ghost can't sense him. Phantom's fear and depression turning into worry (for both the ghost and humans) and determination, his attempts to break out of his room increases significantly. It makes them realize Phantom is a very social ghost and probably needs to see his "friends" to be healthy, but since they know what "ghost fights" look like they can't allow it yet. They need to ghostproof a large area without destroying anything.

Cue the GIW catching a few more ghosts and realizing Phantom is a bit odd for ghosts. He's the only one that they NEED to send the psychologist in regularly because of panic attacks, and start to realize Phantom is getting sick. They're not quite sure what his obsession is, they think it might be either space related or protection related since he's very passionate about both, but the poor ghost is literally starving and it's devastating to the scientists observing him. They can't understand what makes this ghost so different to the others, whom they've all gotten settled and, while not exactly happy, content. They've gotten really good at providing what the other ghosts need and gained enough trust for them to talk to them about their species. It helps when the GIW explain that this is meant to be more of a catch and release program, they just don't have access to a portal yet and are using the time it takes to build one to understand them all better.

A good chunk of the other ghosts express genuine concern over Phantom when they're told he's been there the longest. No one is sure it's healthy for Danny to be ghost so long, but aren't sure how to explain without outing the Halfa.

Phantom ends up passing out and reverting back to Danny, outing himself, because of lack of food or water. He'd be less skeletal if he could indulge in either of his obsessions, but neither were plausible while captive in a secret government base. He wakes up very distraught in a ghostproofed medbay.

The GIW is VERY confused and concerned by Danny's everything, but several behaviors make sense to them now and they start providing for his human half instantly.

He ends up explaining his situation and how it happened the best he can. He realizes they weren't trying to hurt him or the other ghosts, but still feels better when they wheel him around the base to see the ghosts (he's too weak to walk or turn ghost currently) and the scientists are intrigued by how happy and concerned the ghosts are to see the kid still kicking.

The ghosts were more meh to see either other, but are literally vibrating with glee to see the kid. They later explain they tend to see the "little protector spirit" as a cute baby or annoying little brother.

The GIW aren't sure what to do with the kid now. They originally planned to send him through the portal with the rest, but he's part human? They are even less sure when they find out his parents are the FENTONS who definitely didn't know. The whole situation turns into a mess, but this is their kid now. They shall help him.

[neeeooon]

Hey can you do bllk boys reacting to an extremely introverted and shy reader confessing to them?

ofc!! thank you for the request, i hope you enjoy! 🤍

confessing to them ;

blue lock x extremely shy gn!reader

isagi yoichi

-> after school, instead of going home to study like you’re supposed to, you often find yourself sitting alone to watch the soccer players (isagi). he catches you watching sometimes and even tried talking to you once, but you ran off before he had the chance

-> finally, one winter, you’re walking home when you notice isagi kicking a ball around the frost-covered court. since it was the day before break, you pulled every ounce of courage you had to the surface and approached him

-> “oh? hi, y/n.” and you lost your train of though because he knew your name? “hi. what, uh, why are you out here in the cold?”

-> you spend the next hour kicking the ball around and talking together. it’s so surreal for you to feel comfortable around another person, and by the time your little game comes to an end, you find yourself saying, “you don’t have to say anything, but i have a crush on you…”

-> isagi isn’t exactly surprised, considering he’s seen you silently cheering him on at almost every practice, but he still blushes. “i can give you my number?” “yes! i mean, yes, please.”

michael kaiser

-> kaiser doesn’t usually have patience for people who waste his time, but he doesn’t see your anxious fidgeting and stammering as bothersome. he’ll gladly wait for you to put your thoughts together, his cheek in his hand

-> one day was different, because when you approached him with your fingers nervously knotted together, you weren’t smiling. “i need to talk to you… if that’s okay?”

-> he lets you pull him to a more secluded area, where you rub your hands together in an attempt to calm yourself down. kaiser can’t stop himself from grabbing your hands after a moment and holding them between his to catch your gaze. “take a breath. what is it you want to tell me?”

-> “i like you,” you blurted as your face immediately turned red. “i’m sorry! that wasn’t supposed to be so aggressive—“ “i like you too, y/n.” “…… me y/n?”

bachira meguru

-> bachira was the closest person to a friend you ever had

-> you really struggled to talk to people, so when a boy with a loud laugh and pretty smile asked you to partner up with him for a project, you were enamored

-> it was white day, and after years of following bachira around, you finally worked up the nerve to confess to him. you were too shy to say the words, so you spent the entire night before writing your feelings down in a letter and stuffing it in a package of presents

-> before class, you snuck the present into bachira’s desk. it wasn’t until the final bell rang that you realized you forgot to sign your name

-> panicked, you rushed to retrieve the gift, only to run into a grinning bachira. “y/n! i got your gift. so you really like me, huh?” you weren’t expecting to face him and immediately wanted to crawl into your jumper and die

-> “i, um…” “i got this for you!” and he hands you his own white day gift, which is a drawing of the two of you holding hands. “you’re cute when you blush. we should go on a date!”

itoshi sae

-> you were part of an exchange program for school and got to visit spain for an entire month. since your school was next to the prestigious soccer academy (which was also full of foreigners), your class got to watch them practice

-> sae always seemed so bored and disinterested to the point where you never even saw him smile. still, there something about him that made you want to talk to him, and that scared you since you weren’t sure how

-> desperate, you turned to the internet. how to tell a guy who doesn’t know you exist that you like him? surprisingly, there were quite a bit of responses from people in similar situations. you decided to go with the top-rated comment: make him food

-> that’s how you ended up in the practice arena at 4 am. you weren’t expecting anyone to be there that early. you were wrong to assume sae practiced like a normal person

-> “what are you doing in here?” “oh! sae! i, um… here.” and you practically throw the cookies you baked at him before he can react. you wrote a note, and he’s able to read it and catch up to you before you’re able to run away.

-> “no one’s ever…” he pauses, and your surprised to see that he’s blushing. that he’s just as shy as you. “have you eaten breakfast yet? i know a place nearby if you’re hungry..?” “that’d be nice..!” “cool.” “cool :)”

mikage reo

-> you got a summer internship at mikage corp, where you occasionally ran into the future heir, reo

-> you didn’t mean to develop a crush on him, but he was the only one who ever acknowledged you. maybe it’s because you were one of the only other young people, but he’d always smile and wave when he passed you

-> little do you know that reo finds you utterly adorable. the way you awkwardly return his smile or wave, or how you stammer over your words when he greets you by name. he had a whole plan to ask you out, but to his surprise, you beat him to it

-> you were wringing your hands out anxiously as you waited for reo by one of the meeting rooms. when you saw him you paled, but it was too late to turn back. “y/n, hey! are you free late—“ “ireallylikeyouandthinkweshouldgetcoffeesometimeifyourefree—wait, what?”

barou shouei

-> you didn’t understand why more students weren’t fascinated by barou, the self-proclaimed “king”

-> you were always too shy to say anything when you passed each other, but you couldn’t stop yourself from going to his games to watch him play. you didn’t think he noticed

-> you missed two days of school and one of barou’s games when you got sick, and when you returned, he was waiting for you before practice. “i didn’t see you at the game.”

-> “whaaa, me?” you manage, and he nods. “yes, you. the one who always comes to my games. where were you?” “sick.” “sick?” “yeah.. you know who i am?” “well, not your name, but i’m not an idiot. why do you come, anyway?”

-> you think, screw it! since you don’t know when you’ll get the chance again. shuffling on your feet and unable to meet his eyes, you say, “i like you… i mean, watching you! play soccer! not in a creepy way, just that you’re really good, and—“ “i’m barou.” “i know. i mean i’m y/n!”

[maxilsmaster]

au where eggman adopts sonic

now i know what you’re thinking, “there are already sonic villain aus out there”, but i’m here to tell you, this ain’t no sonic villain au! sonic is still a hero here! the difference is backstory.

the tl;dr is that eggman adopts sonic and tails but they’re not evil and he is, but he’s a good dad anyway

eggman finds little baby sonic (by baby, i mean somewhere in the 4-7 range) all alone on christmas island. the hedgehog doesn’t speak, when asked if he has a family all he does is shake is head, he’s quite obviously abandoned. so eggman adopts this little blue hedgehog! he learns sign language, teaches it to sonic, puts his kid in school, and overall is actually a really good parent. but there is one problem: he’s still evil. he still wants to conquer the planet. sonic disagrees with this. when he fails to convince his dad through words, he ends up taking action and destroying robots. eggdad is not pleased by this, but he supposes that it was inevitable that his kid might not turn out to be evil like him. he still continues his schemes of course, but sonic also continues to stop him. eggman does make sure to program his robots to not target sonic, too.

at some point, eggy creates metal to be an artificial brother for sonic. metal matches sonic’s speed, and is also mute. sonic is overjoyed at his new brother :)

and then he meets tails. the two immediately take a liking to each other, and sonic learns that tails’ situation is similar to how his own used to be. immediately sonic takes tails to eggy and demands he adopt the fox. eggdad accepts and now there are three brothers :)

at some point, sonic and tails arrive on angel island. sonic gets the emeralds punched out of him by knuckles, who has NOT met eggman and just doesn’t like intruders. when eggman learns about this, he’s pissed and steals the master emerald. after this whole situation is resolved, sonic tries to get eggman to adopt knuckles, but knux won’t allow it, so he’s an unofficial brother

at around 12 years old, sonic starts speaking verbally (though in periods of excitement or stress he’ll still go back to sign) (this is just how i headcanon sonic normally but it’s still relevant)

i have the plots written down for a lot of the games, so i’m gonna go through the mainline modern ones briefly

sonic adventure: eggman tries to keep chaos out of sonic’s way, fails miserably

sonic adventure 2 is a fun one! the beginning is mostly the same, eggman finds shadow, sonic gets arrested, etc, but then eggman finds out sonic got arrested and is PISSED, so he has shadow rescue sonic. sonic is pissed about the false arrest and fights shadow, shadow is forced to use chaos control to bring sonic to eggdad before the island explodes, and now sonic is with the dark story for the rest of the plot. eggdad brings sonic to space, tails, knux and amy follow, sonic learns shadow is technically his (uncle? second cousin once removed? it’s one of them, idk which), sonic is NOT launched off the ark bc eggy wouldn’t do that to his son. plot happens, shadow “dies”, and adventure 2 is done!

at some point, eggy finds shadow, and sonic and tails are aware of this. they don’t tell anyone shadow is alive though (and eggman doesn’t tell them about the androids)

sonic heroes happens bc metal thinks he’s better at being evil than eggman, now everyone knows shadow is alive yay, and also sonic and tails are immediately sus of this plan

rush happens too but i don’t know enough about rush to accurately change the plot, but i’m sure the plot changes at least a bit

we’re not gonna talk about 06 bc it gets retconned by itself

unleashed has shadow as the protag instead of sonic

colors is almost entirely unchanged except 1, yacker gets hypnotized in the one cutscene instead of tails, and 2, eggdad did his best to make the amusement park enjoyable for his kids :)

generations! hoo boy! eggman doesn’t get invited to the birthday party (it’s his birthday too) so he causes Issues! oh and shadow gens happens lol

lost world… oh boy. this one is traumatic for everyone involved. there’s less arguing involved, but sonic is still an impulsive dumbass (leading to tails getting kidnapped, which traumatizes sonic and eggdad) and eggy presumably falling to a fiery death (only sonic is around to see this). so sonic is having a Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day all around, and the zeti are also trying extra hard to kill him to spite eggface. luckily it all works out, except that therapy Will Be Required

forces is another fun one! for me ofc, not the characters. infinite betrays eggman early on, locking him up, then also defeats sonic, locking him up too. bc i am merciful, i am reducing the time the war takes down to one month (mainly bc really, that’s more than enough time for everything to go to shit). sonic and eggman are NOT tortured (bc that was just a weird translation thing), but more therapy will def be required. also rookie/gadget saves both sonic and eggman

at some point, eggdad creates sage. he does not intend for sage to become his daughter. but also sonic and tails both know sage from the start, which is relevant for this next bit

frontiers happens next, and really, the main issue is that sage Refuses To Properly Communicate With Sonic. eggy doesn’t want to put his kids in danger so he tells sage not to run any simulations where that happens. in the end though, sonic still has to get involved. and also now there is a Sister :)

tmosth also happens because i fucking love tmosth. the train is sentient which is why sonic gets knocked out

will add some links to character descs and stuff when i post more about this au (and i’ll also try to come up with a name while i do that)

[solar-exe]

^ reminder, the machine was made in at least the 1960s, they do not understand any new terms.

HIIIIIIIIIIIII

[maxdibert]

What do you think would be a fair punishment for James and Sirius, considering the werewolf attack (murder attempt) and Snape's worst memory (sexual assault)? In real life, those actions are crimes and they could go to jail, but things are a little different in the magic world.

We know they didn't get any punishment because the school either didn't care or covered up everything. But if the truth came out, what would be the best way to hold James and Sirius accountable for their actions? To me, expulsion would be a start, but it's still the bare minimum.

Okay, we should take several things into account. First, we’re talking about 15-year-olds, so they are minors, which is always relevant when issuing a judgment or requesting any type of sentence. We’re also talking about different crimes, so on one hand, I would judge Sirius, and on the other, James. Perhaps, aside from these specific crimes, I would ask the judge to consider the fact that they committed constant bullying. And then we also need to consider that they are British, so we should base it on the legal system of that country, which I vaguely know. Let’s remember that we are not talking about normal criminal law but juvenile criminal law, which is different because minors are never really judged with the severity of adults, and I’m not going to deviate from that script.

I like this question because I’m a criminal lawyer but not specialized in minors nor am I British, so I’ll be guided by what I know about this type of law as well as the specific laws of the country.

The first thing, obviously, would be to separate the charges I would request for each because the crimes are different.

For Sirius, taking Snape to where Remus was during a full moon, knowing full well what could happen, that’s attempted murder or at the very least reckless endangerment. He was putting Snape’s life at risk with a dangerous creature, which is no small thing. Even if Sirius didn’t directly mean for Snape to die, the fact that he acted with such disregard for Snape’s life would qualify for attempted murder under reckless disregard for life.

James is a bit different. We’ve got him on assault, battery, false imprisonment (by levitating and holding Snape in the air), and indecent exposure (since he forcibly exposed Snape in front of everyone). All of these are serious charges, especially the public humiliation aspect of the SMW incident, which would be aggravated by the bullying nature.

Given that they were 15, they’d be tried in the Youth Court unless the crimes were deemed severe enough to move to the Crown Court. For Sirius, considering the gravity of the attempted murder charge, I’d push for a youth detention order, which could range up to the max of 2 years for the most serious cases. The court might also look at an extended sentence under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, if they believe he poses an ongoing risk.

For James, we’d likely be looking at a community rehabilitation order, given the multiple charges but also factoring in that it’s not as severe as attempted murder. The focus would be on rehabilitation, but the court might also impose a youth detention period if they find the indecent exposure and public humiliation severe enough.

Both would have conditions attached, like attending counseling, educational programs, and possibly community service. The aim would be to rehabilitate but also acknowledge the seriousness of their actions.

That’s as far as general terms go. But if you’re asking me personally what I would do as the prosecution attorney and what kind of strategy I would follow, the answer is that I would go all out. Because I always go all out in criminal trials, and because I’m quite competitive and I like not just winning, but winning the best possible outcome for my clients. So, in a case like this, I honestly wouldn’t have much mercy, especially knowing that the defendants are rich kids. So, well, my prosecution strategy would be something like this:

argue that the actions of both Sirius and James were not isolated incidents but part of a prolonged campaign of bullying against Severus Snape. This ongoing harassment exacerbates the gravity of their specific actions — Sirius’s attempted murder and James’s assault and humiliation — and establishes a pattern of behavior that warrants harsher scrutiny.

Evidence and Arguments:

1. Constant Bullying: We would present evidence from witnesses, including other students and possibly teachers, who can testify to the frequent and targeted harassment Snape endured at the hands of Sirius and James. This could include verbal abuse, physical intimidation, and orchestrated pranks that go beyond mere schoolyard teasing.

2. Collaborative Nature: It would be crucial to highlight how both Sirius and James often acted together, using their power and popularity to target Snape, who was frequently alone and without allies. This demonstrates a systematic effort to harm and humiliate him, which should aggravate their charges.

3. Power Imbalance: We would emphasize the socioeconomic and emotional vulnerabilities of Severus. Coming from a less affluent background and dealing with family struggles, Snape’s isolation and lack of resources made him an easy target for the more privileged Sirius and James. This context would further paint the defendants’ actions as exploitative and cruel.

4. Psychological Impact: I’d call on psychological experts to assess the long-term emotional and psychological damage caused by the continuous bullying. This would show that the harm inflicted went beyond the physical, leaving lasting scars that justify a substantial legal response.

Of course i would also would show asistí on al charges.

• Aggravated Assault: For both, given the sustained nature of their actions and the mental distress caused to Snape.

• Harassment: Under the Protection from Harassment, showing a course of conduct causing distress.

• Public Order Offenses: For creating a hostile environment within the school, disrupting not just Snape’s peace but potentially that of others.

For Sirius, adding these charges could push the court to impose the maximum youth detention period, with a strong emphasis on rehabilitation programs designed to address violent tendencies and lack of empathy.

For James, the aggravated charges and public order offenses might lead to a combination of a longer community order, including mandatory participation in programs addressing bullying and its impacts, and a possible detention period if the court deems the public indecency and assault severe enough.

And of course I would seek financial compensation for Severus under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which provides payments to victims of violent crime. Given the sustained nature of the abuse and its psychological impact, we’d argue for a substantial amount, citing:

• Medical and psychological treatment costs.

• Lost educational opportunities due to the hostile environment affecting his learning.

• General damages for pain and suffering.

This compensation would serve both as a recognition of the harm caused and a deterrent for similar future behavior in school environments.

And yes, I would demand a large sum of money from each of their families. I would also require a public apology from both of them, apologizing to Severus in front of their peers. And, of course, immediate expulsion from Hogwarts and a prohibition on continuing their studies in a standard school environment unless they complete and pass all reintegration processes and programs.

I think that covers everything lol.

[panseemia]

Aigt so time to actually get my guys in order here some rain world ocs. its gonna be a long one xd

Across Delta Fields

-is the senior of her local group, being a center for the wealthy in her local group she was often pampered and praised and in a short was a favorite child within her group, more or less resulting in honestly kinda being a crappy senior who probably absolutely entitled.

-It wasn't until one cycle did she had a seriously malfunction and whether its by the sheer amount of karma flowers often gifted to her or some echo doing funny tricks the end result is of her remembering her past life as a surface dwelling ancient and as any could imagine remembering its quite a humbler!

-This more or less result her closing off entirely from almost everyone entirely in both regret and contemplation for her pass actions. Even when she did interact with the world outside she had some rather blasphemous stands, care for the environment? she gone mad! better social program for the low and middle class? insane! some even say she may not approve of ascension but of course such a opinion would be decommission worthy even for the favorite child...good thing there no confirmation of that!

-now days she mostly keep to herself as aside from a occasional health check as her duty as senior she is rather estranged from her local group as many are rather unsure of her new change in character or still hold bitter feelings for her (which fair enough). She is rather reserved and quiet now days with a dash of social awkwardness due to her isolation but she is sure to look out for others when she can.

-Tho as of recently she has begun to harbor a local colony of slug cats with some rather ability to produce electricity through friction! how unique!

(more blorbos below )

Splendorous Silver Sovereign (if ya know ya know)

-a iterator built in the frozen north as the first of many in a excursion to the north. however her construction marks the first foothold in the north, a outpost in a field of white. The climate has proven to be challenge, facilitating the construction of a massive generator to keep the temperature within viable range but the architecture has fail to account for the winter storms what would wreck havoc upon the city, resulting in quite a few causalities.

-As a result the curfew was placed upon the city but as moral dwindle in the sea of white eventually a captain was place as public figure a first shift in the government. It wasn't until the STORM occur did things really turned up, with most of the council frost bitten or dead the general public wounded and struggling it lead to a new change of the government in a form of totalism.

-she was given a mobile puppet for moral support of the public, a odd modification but one that serves its purpose well enough as having a visual presentation of their "god" helped quite a bit

-she was given combat training by the captain under the guise of "protection of the mighty iterator" but in reality the captain felt it was within their parental obligation to pass on such knowledge to their child, especially in such unfamiliar lands like these.

-over time she begin to place the survival of her city over solving the great problem, feeling more like the whole idea of ascension was something more akin to prayer for a better end in the frosted tundra land over time

-she had a few friends and acquaintances perished during the storm while she may be a iterator it was a loss none the less, after a few more similar storms pass she has begin to shrink away from her people somewhat but was always there as a pillar of support.

-near the public ascension a quiet overthrow was enacted upon the current council one that put her under much harsher restrictions to her chagrin.

-when it was time for the public ascension sovereign actually end up feeling quite betrayed by her people, seeing it as a cowardly escaped from the world their ancestors have try so hard to build. in the end she was ultimately powerless by administrative action but has since become bitter and cold, harboring quite a strong hatred for ancients as a result.

Tidal Corsucate

-part of Delta's local group, tidal corsucate was a experimental research iterator meant to study the deep sea of its ecological wild life and fauna. but to also study near by volcanic vents for traces of void related activities

-small for a iterator! her can is right above the sea after all but this kinda ended up in her taking the beating of neighboring iterator rain cycles but she also designed to handle that!

-gets a funky puppet cause they got a funky head engineer! shes somewhat insecure about it with her local group until the introduction of Six Nights of Sandtide tho so she not alone in being funky!

-while she was initially surrounded by excitement by what new frontier she could bring to the great problem but as it become clear she is as stuck as any other iterator on the great problem the excitement ultimately died down something that deeply hurt her after all the phrase and cheers she was surrounded by in the early cycles, especially for her unorthodox construction

-for this she hold some resentment towards Delta for some time, especially in her early years of senior ship but as cycles pass and delta had her sudden character flip she has since came around as a awkward friend of sorts. awkward but the two are ultimately well meaning in hopes to built a better relationship then they one they once "had"

-really wants to make a very pretty kelp forest, cultivate a secret garden of modified kelp within her laboratory and making sure the fruits it produce are very edible! tho currently twitting her thumbs on if to release these into the wild or not, plans on hold currently.

-personality wise she a easy going gal with a bubbly personality, looooooves to share critter facts and her discovery, more or less spewing her stream of consciousness out if you let her and she trust you. kinda non judgmental until you actively hurt someone/something so really if you get her mad thats one heck of a accomplishment.

[iamthekaijuking]

Gigabash Character Overview: MechaJURAS

Remember in the Pipijuras review where I mentioned that Passion Republic Games could add Pipi’s mechanical doppelgänger to the roster like they originally envisioned in order to add content?

This is so corny it’s great

I suppose it was a matter of time before they added it, although I’m surprised it’s free, then again maybe it’s a consolation for the fact that MJ was intended to be in the original roster.

Mechajuras is the fourth mech in the roster and is a bit of a tank (literally). It lacks a lot of movement options outside of the standard dodge and a rush attack you have to charge, and doesn’t have great air game. But MJ does hit decently well, has a grappling hook to bring in opponents from halfway across the arena, a ranged drill attack, and an anti-air attack (that aims a little low so it can be tricky to use).

Mechajuras also has rocket boosters that can allow for slight hovering and surprisingly give it one of the highest jumps in the game.

Design

In some ways Mechajuras was definitely easier to implement into the roster than other characters. As a scrapped fighter repurposed into a stage boss, PRG already had a model and many animations to work with, so they didn’t actually need to make something from the ground up. I will say though that playable mechaJ is smaller than the stage boss version, but is still very large compared to the rest of the cast. Also the tank treads don’t actually move so it sorta just glides along the ground, but I think we can give PRG a pass on that since they are a small indi team.

As for the character inspiration itself, it’s pretty obvious. MechaJuras is to Pipijuras as Mechagodzilla is to Godzilla. MJ specifically has a sort of bolted together steel look that showa MechaG had.

It might be worth mentioning though that as a mech with drill hands and tank treads, there might be some Moguera inspiration.

Here’s some concept art.

Also one of its skins turns it into a minion

Lore

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like that we had to wait for lore in a future update when the mighty dlc character pack came out, because we get character files for Mechajuras right off rip.

Apparently the playable MechaJ is actually the fully complete version while the larger arena boss is a prototype, both being products created by the Global Titan Defense Initiative. There’s actually quite a stretch of time between the creation of the two versions, with the project having been circling the drain for years and about to be axed by higher ups in the GTDI. But it was suddenly revitalized and given way more resources, and for a particular reason. Apparently the GTDI’s Giga Counters have been going crazy and picking up massive spikes in Giga Energy, meaning a bunch of kaiju might be waking up.

Now we don’t actually know when this is as the character files for MJ don’t have any dates on them. So production of Mechajuras 2.0 could have started at the beginning of the 2020s before the story modes started and Thundatross was revealed to the world, or it could have started after the decimation of the Aegis Program at the paws of Balzarr and by extension after the story mode. So either production started in preparation for the second kaiju crisis, or it was started in response to a future third one.

Creation of the fully realized Mechajuras was overseen by Dr. Adler, chief of weapons research and the person put in charge of the Pipijuras mind control program after Dr. Reiner left for OtamaTEC in 1998. The higher ups gave him about a year to get it done despite his begging for a 2 year roadmap, so the crunch time the MechaJuras department was facing must have been ungodly. An offhand comment even mentioned that new coffee machines would be given to the department just to speed things along. I have no doubt someone probably died working to death just because of these unfair working conditions.

But it paid off, and despite being the most technologically crude of the mechs in the game, it’s the only one that’s mass produced. The second character file is literally just a massive advertisement for MechaJuras, because of course countries have to buy their own mechs on top of paying the GTDI for other protections. I think the GTDI might be a little spiteful after the world made the Aegis program in an effort to be extorted less to rely on them less. The trailer also mentions that various weapons for MJ are sold separately too hilariously enough, so if you want any weapons on your MechaJ then you’re paying extra.

The Global Titan Defense Initiative is going all in on MechaJuras though because apparently they’re gunning for it to dominate all entertainment industries and have already agreed to five movies with Universal, or I’m sorry, Universell Pictures. It’s absolutely hilarious that GTDI is trying to pull a helldivers and make their mech some big patriotic thing everyone will be obsessed over.

Overall I’m glad I can finally pierce the heavens with Mechajuras’s drill and it’s pretty neat that we get it for free! Here’s to Passion Republic Games adding more characters to Gigabash!

[tarisilmarwen]

RobStar Week 2025, Day 2 - Vivid

(I had a little fun with this one, playing around with Starfire's alien nature.

The callbacks to 2016 Day 6's "Sunset" and to TTG#24 (the one where the Titans all switched powers) are also very deliberate.)

---

It was... difficult to explain to someone that was not Tamaranian just how she perceived the world.

Her vision was, by all accounts she'd heard so far, fairly comparable to humans'. Twenty millimeters at twenty feet distance was considered the ideal range for humans (in Tamaranian measurement it would have been ten gorbs at twenty paces). Her vision seemed to be very slightly sharper and clearer. Cyborg had measured it once on a whim with a homebrew vision test and found it to be about the equivalent of 20/18 in human measurement.

But it was her color perception that baffled them. Starfire saw hidden tints and gradients in seemingly matte swatches, everything was always brighter and more saturated for her, in the dark she could pick out things usually only perceivable to humans under a UV light.

And then there were the color auras.

Everyone had a default one, a faint glowing halo, almost imperceptible, around their bodies. It was most noticeable when they moved suddenly; there would be an imprint, a trailing wake of pastel behind them. The halo would flare up more intensely or with a slightly different shade based on what a person was doing or feeling.

Beast Boy was usually a bright yellow-green, rarely had she ever seen his aura grow paler though sometimes red undertones wormed their way into it. Cyborg was a soft white, with occasional cyan blue shades. Raven's aura was a complicated black hue with a dozen faint colors underneath but out of all of the Titans was the hardest for her to perceive. It made sense though, given the girl's emotionally reserved nature. Raven kept a tight lid on her emotions, hiding them well.

Ironically though, she understood Starfire the most about the auras.

"I don't perceive them as colors," she'd said, gesturing with her hands to try to explain. "It's more like... sensations. Warmth and cold, sharpness and blankness, intensity, vibrations, tingles, sound waves coming from a radio, if that makes sense."

Starfire thought it did indeed make sense.

Robin's aura was a warm red, slightly more orange than the color of his tunic. It darkened when he was angry, got more purple when he was sad; it wasn't as strong or obvious as either of the other boys but it wasn't as obscure as Raven's either.

She had tried to describe it to him once, searching through the limited English vocabulary she had for colors and dragging a color gradient in a computer drawing program over the whole range of red-orange shades but had never found anything that quite matched the correct hue.

"Robin," she asked curiously now, out of the blue. "I know you cannot perceive auras as Tamaranians can, but if you could..."

She nibbled a bit of pretzel stick from the red and white carnival snack box he'd bought her. (They were at the pierside carnival again for a bit of downtime, the rainbow lights and colors dazzling and vivid on her eyes.)

"...what would my aura look like?"

Robin scrunched his face up in cute concentration. "That's a hard one," he said. "I guess... for your default color it would orange. But like... orange-gold, sunset colors."

She nodded, agreeing with him so far, as they walked along the rows of prize booths.

"You'd probably have a lot of bright sunny yellow too, and... it's kind of cheesy and maybe a little too on the nose but neon yellow-green too, like your starbolts."

She beamed and ducked her head, flattered at his honesty and his embarrassed chagrin.

"That sounds quite lovely," she told him. "Would you perhaps be willing to show me more of what you mean, when we are back at the Tower?"

He smiled. "Sure! I'll fire up the Photoshop when we get home, see what I can do."

The urge was strong in her to grab and squeeze his hand but she was still unsure if that was an explicitly romantic gesture or not (apparently it depended on context), so she just walked a little closer, enjoying his company.

****

Her distress at being forced to see through Cyborg's cybernetic retinas was distracted by Robin's absolute glee as he floated above them, apparently unable to keep his feet on the ground.

"Oh wow," he said, plastering his face against the wide window of OPS. "You really do see in shrimp colors!"

In spite of herself, Starfire was warmed by seeing him so happy. Even more so when he turned to her with excitement.

"Hey Star! Star! Star!" he babbled.

A smile tugged at her lips. "Yes Robin?" she asked.

"I can see your aura!" he announced. "And guess what?" He floated in closer, bending at the waist, conspiratorial. "I was right!" he whispered, grinning widely.

Bubbles of delight rose in her stomach, and she felt almost light enough to lift her whole heavy mechanical body off the ground.

[mossy123302]

Ah yes, I am now deep in the KinitoPET brainrot. Why not combine it with my favorite pairing. So many au's...

Was inspired by the song "Everlasting Fun" by LongestSoloEver for this brainrot

Warning:

Implied Yandere & Horror

Missa's entire social life was admittedly....in flames. It was all bad timing that he just had to get into an argument with Roier about what happened to his cat, so now Roier won't speak with him and the fact Spreen just straight up vanished without leaving a message nor call. Missa wasn't very close with others, only knowing them via Spreen or Roier so ...what a way to spend his vacation.

Missa could catch up on his games, maybe teach himself to play another instrument than a guitar or...scroll the Internet and mourn his miserable non-existent social life. He sighed, running his hand through his hair which was a bit greasy...so he needed to shower, but first, maybe he should go on his computer and actually see if there were any indie games or something he could download while he showered.

Missa searched through the Internet, and searched through Reddit as well to help give him an idea of what game would catch his attention. The Adventure of Angel Death...

Hm.

Angel Death?

That sounds like something interesting, sounds like a horror indie game or something actually. However, to Missa's surprise, it wasn't a horror game but more or less like those ai pets that helps with browsing. It just happens to be more slightly advanced because it has built in story mode, it could do slight programming and vice versa.

Well ... It had its own story and it couldn't hurt to try something. He could delete it later if it's not much, since the ratings weren't really high for this one. Missa clicked download and with that, he headed off to take a much needed bath, unaware of his computer screen turning blue with multiple tabs opening.

Missa sighed, drying his hair with his towel, squeezing out all the water from his hair as he approached his computer. He was glad that the download seemed to be finished, as there was a tab open, awaiting for him to click some agreement terms, which he did.

He was not gonna bother reading through paragraphs of words, when it mainly repeated the same thing. With that out of the way, it seems he can now...finally play this game?

A crow appeared on his screen, seemingly looking lost for a moment with a green and white stripped bucket hat in its beak, until a figure appeared, seemingly chasing after this crow.

"Give me my hat, right now! Why are you always stealing my things!" The AI huffed, snatching it's hat back from the crow before looking up at Missa. "Oh! I didn't see you there, mate. Hello!"

Missa couldn't stop the smile growing on his face, and quietly hummed. Maybe the game won't be so bad after all? I mean this ...figure was really cute, or well looks like a better version of that anime character, that Missa cannot remember for the life of him. The developer must have gotten real inspired by the anime..but still added their own personal tastes to the AI, possibly to avoid copyrights.

Philza.

That was his name, and man, Missa hasn't had so much fun even if it was simple. Philza asked simple questions, like what is his name, his favorite color and hobby while he seemingly read a book that appears from thin air as Missa types his answers. Missa was honestly impressed with the programming, since Philza seemed to have full range control on his computer and was able to pull immediate results or answers when Missa typed a question into the search engine.

Now it seems Philza did have a story program set in him, in which he opens another tab for Missa. It was a simple game, he just had to do simple tasks assigned by his friends; Tommy and Techno.

Techno was quite easy, it was to decorate the cabin! He added a few wolves, painted the whole cabin in blue and purple and added way too many skulls. Philza had a good laugh out of that one, amused by the amount of skulls that Missa had added.

"Well, your room is certainly interesting" Philza laughed and Missa smiled. It's weird how this little ai knew how to make him smile or probably because he's just starved of actual contact

Speaking of that... Missa frowned when he spotted a message from Roier. He didn't realize how long he spent playing this small quest, the message was there for hours and Missa barely recognized it. He didn't know what to say exactly, in fact, he just wanted to ignore it entirely but...

"Hey mate, you've been distracted by that message for a while now" Philza spoke, his voice snapping Missa out of his thoughts. Missa closed the message browser and sighed.

"Good choice, mate" Philza said, a hint of amusement in his tone. "We have plenty of other tasks to do, surely you have enough time"

Missa did, so he followed the new instructions Philza gave him to add a new game mode it seemed.

Hide and Seek

Missa didn't know where he was, frankly. He was... somewhere, tunnels that closed in on him. He couldn't make out most of the tunnels, with how pitch black it was and all he had was this torch to guide his way. He faintly could hear humming and footsteps that clattered against the stone...

Missa peeked around the corner, and could see a red cape flutter and he immediately hid back, silently praying that he wasn't spotted or at least heard. He covered his mouth with his free hand, trying to keep his heavy breathing quiet.

"Found you, mate"

Missa shrieked, as he immediately sat up, his eyes immediately darting around and ... He wasn't in tunnels, where it was damp and cold. He was...back in his room, where it was safe and warm. The computer was still on...and Philza's persona was asleep, or at least shut down since it seemed Missa was inactive for a while.

"....Dios mios...That dream.." Missa sighed, running his hand through his hair as he tried to process what he just had. He winced when his neck slightly twinged, and he mournfully had to turn off his computer to actually get some sleep or else his neck will be the least of his worries.

Philza opened his eyes when he felt the computer turn off, and while Missa couldn't see him anymore. Philza will always still see him and he quietly sighed. He frankly hated these moments where Missa had to sleep, I mean, it's much better being awake and doing fun activities but ... He supposes that taking a moment to relax and wind down is admittedly nice to take. It gave Philza time to jot down future ideas, or references to the games Missa had in his computer and to delete the incoming messages from Roier and Mariana.

He admired their stubbornness, but it was starting to get on his nerves a little. Can't they see he's trying to have fun? He was so close, he finally got to tap deeper in Missa's own dreams...

Slowly, bit by bit, Philza will be the only thing Missa will remember. He doesn't need these other friends to make him happy, all Missa needs to do is enter his world...and be happy with him, Techno and Tommy. However, Philza is patient, he will...bite down the urge to pull Missa straight away. He needs more time to create the perfect world for Missa.

Just a bit more... information and soon, Missa will finally be in his arms.

"Just wait a bit more, my moon.."

"Soon, we'll have an Everlasting Fun in our beautiful world"

[captainsophiestark]

Nosy Best Friends

Tristan Flynn x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Based on this request from Anon! It was very fun to write and it gave me a second, related idea that I'm planning to post Monday, so thanks for sending it in! Hope you like it!

Fandom: Crescent City

Summary: Flynn's been disappearing a lot to spend time with his human girlfriend, and his friends have decided to finally figure out where he's been going.

Word Count: 2,219

Category: Fluff, Humor, maybe a tiny bit of Angst? But not really

A/N: This fic also has a prequel called Presentation Problems and a sequel called The Best Night Ever, but can also be read on its own!

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

Ruhn's POV

"Where the Hel are you going?"

Flynn barely stopped at the sound of my voice, half-turning back with an irritated look. I gave him the same one right back.

"I'm going out. Why do you care?"

"You've been disappearing doing Urd knows what for weeks. Come on, Flynn, what's going on?"

Flynn just rolled his eyes. "Nothing, mom. Just relax and mind your own business."

He turned on his heel and walked out the door without looking back. I watched him go, then turned to Dec on the couch.

"Something's going on with him."

"Yeah. Think it's time we do something about it?"

"Definitely."

****************

Y/N's POV

I sighed, rubbing my eyes as I tried to reread what I'd written for the thousandth time. I'd been holed up in my apartment for almost forty-eight hours straight working on a paper for grad school, and I'd started to go a little crazy.

The only reason I hadn't gone crazy about twenty hours ago was my boyfriend, Tristan Flynn. He'd been keeping me company, providing a stream of encouragement and my favorite snacks and helping me take a break when I really needed it, even if I wouldn't admit it. He'd left a couple hours ago to go do something he needed to do, and I'd come very close to hurling my laptop at the wall in his absence.

We'd first met in a similar situation, when I'd hurled my notebook across what I'd thought was an empty classroom. Flynn had been looking for somebody the Aux had followed to campus, and only his fae reflexes had kept him from taking my notebook to his head. If I hadn't been stressed out of my mind already, I would've been worried about having accidentally attacked a member of the fae Aux, especially as a human, but I'd hit my limit that day, so instead I'd shouted at him for interrupting my studying.

Luckily for both of us, once he'd recovered from his shock, he'd seemed to be into that. He'd tried to get me to leave for safety reasons, and I'd refused, so he'd stayed. We ended up hitting it off the bat, and the rest was history.

We'd been together for a few months now, and despite every warning I'd ever heard against dating a member of the Vanir, it was quite honestly the best relationship I'd ever been in. We hadn't told anyone else in our lives yet, mostly because we didn't want our little bubble of happiness being burst, but I had a hard time believing anything could ruin what we'd found together.

The few seconds I'd spent losing myself in memories had been nice, but the glaring light of my laptop screen didn't let me escape for long. I sighed heavily, trying to decide whether it was worth it to power through. I didn't entirely have a choice, unless I wanted to drop out of grad school, but maybe I could find something to do as a small break.

Somebody must have been listening to my silent pleas, because a moment later my phone rang. I smiled when Flynn's face popped up, a terrible picture of him that I'd taken when he wasn't ready. He always switched it back to a shirtless one he'd taken himself when he got the opportunity, and it had become a little silent war between us.

"You have amazing timing," I sighed as soon as I picked up. I could hear his smile through the other end of the phone.

"I always do. Come downstairs."

"...You know I shouldn't. This paper-"

"Is something you've been holed up in that apartment working on for way too long. You're driving yourself insane, and last I checked, you can't turn in anything if you smash your laptop to pieces against the wall. Besides, humans need sunlight. And fresh air."

"An expert on that, are you?"

"I sure am," his voice purred over the phone and I rolled my eyes, but I also felt heat rising on my cheeks. "Just come down here, and I'll show you how much of an expert I am."

I let out a long breath through my nose. Flynn was right. Sitting in this apartment driving myself insane wasn't helping anything. And besides, I really wanted to go spend time with him.

"Alright. I'm on my way."

"Good. I'll see you in a second."

****************

Ruhn's POV

"What in Hel is he doing here?" I hissed to Dec, trying to keep my voice down. We'd tailed Flynn to some apartment complex not far from the college we'd chased some monster down at not long ago.

"I don't know..." said Dec. "Maybe he's got a lead on something for the case? Or a new case, related to all that shit we dealt with last time?"

"You think Flynn's spending his time off work doing more work?"

I shot Dec a look, and he snorted.

"Okay, you're right. It's probably not that."

We turned back to watch Flynn, who had a full bouquet of flowers in his hands. He'd put on the nicest clothes he owned, and if I didn't know better, I would've thought-

"Oh! Tristan, holy shit!"

Dec and I stared wide-eyed as a human female came out of the apartment building, absolutely beaming at Flynn. She ran to him and jumped in his arms, hugging him tight, as he picked her up and spun her around. He kissed her, and when they pulled apart they stayed close, forehead to forehead, just staring at each other lovingly, something I'd never seen Flynn do with a female. I glanced at Dec to find him looking just as shocked as me, and when I turned back to find Flynn practically floating looking at the girl in front of him, I couldn't help my surprised shout.

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

****************

Y/N's POV

Tristan and I whirled around in sync at the sound of a loud shout from across the street. I found two fae males staring at us, looking absolutely outraged, and I started to get a little worried until my boyfriend shouted back.

"What the FUCK are you two doing here?"

"I take it you know them?" I asked, turning to Flynn and keeping my voice low. He shook his head, but the irritation in his eyes faded the second he looked at me.

'Yeah, sweetheart, I do. They're my roommates and my friends from the Aux. And they're absolute idiots."

I turned to find the idiots in question storming across the street and towards us, shouting at cars that almost hit them in the process. Unconsciously, I took a half step towards Flynn, and he immediately wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

Not a moment too soon. His friends finally made it across traffic to come to a stop in front of us, and my jaw literally almost hit the floor when I realized one of them was the Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae.

"What the Hel are you doing?" demanded the prince before turning to me. "And who is this?"

"I'm his girlfriend," I snapped, not quite able to stop myself. Both newcomers stared at me in wide-eyed shock, then whirled on their friend.

"Your what?"

"My girlfriend," Flynn said, an edge of steel in his voice that I'd only heard once or twice, usually in relation to Aux business.

The fae before us shared an absolutely shocked look, then whirled back around to look at Flynn.

"Why the Hel didn't you tell us?"

"Is that where you've been sneaking off to every day for the last few months?"

"What the fuck, Flynn?"

They shouted their questions at Flynn in sync, then without waiting for my boyfriend to get ahold of himself enough to answer, the one I didn't recognize turned to me with an apologetic smile.

"I'm Declan," he said, holding out a hand for me to shake. I stared at it for a minute, then slowly took it. "It's nice to meet you."

"...Nice to meet you, too."

"Ruhn. Also nice to meet you," said the prince with a chin nod of a hello in my direction. Then, he turned back to Flynn. "You know everybody's gonna lose it when they realize you've been keeping a steady girlfriend a secret from us, right?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Bunch of Aux members, a spy, and Bryce, it's your own fault for not figuring it out sooner. You should be better at your jobs than this."

Ruhn and Declan's mouths dropped open, and I laughed. I could see them getting ready for a comeback, so I stepped even closer to Flynn and fixed the other two fae with a bright smile.

"It's been nice to get to meet some of Tristan's friends, and I'm sure I'll see you both again soon. But right now, I was promised a break from my term paper by my wonderful boyfriend, and I don't intend to let anything get in the way of that."

"I'd listen if I were you," said Flynn, a massive smile on his face as he looked at me with the most lovesick expression I'd ever seen. It made my heart melt. "We met because she almost clocked me in the head with a notebook for interrupting her study session."

"Well technically I threw the notebook before you came in. And then I yelled at you for interrupting."

"Are you trying to say you wouldn't have thrown the notebook at my head anyway if it'd still been in your hands?"

"...No, I probably would've."

"I know. And I love it." He grinned, leaning in for a heated kiss. It still took my breath away, kissing him, even though it'd been a few months now, and he pulled away far too soon for my liking. "What do you say we get the Hel out of here for your distraction?"

"I say Hel yeah, let's go."

He gave me one last quick peck, then pulled back with a wink. His arm stayed wrapped around my waist as we turned to head off to whatever surprise he had planned, not bothering to spare more than a nod at his absolutely stunned friends.

"You get the weekend, Flynn!" one of them called after us. "And then we're having a party and getting to know this female you're so head over heels for!"

"Sure!" Flynn said, calling back over my head. "As long as she decides she actually wants to meet you!"

I snorted, and when I looked at Flynn I found a beaming smile on his face as we walked down the street together. He held out the hand that wasn't around my waist, finally presenting me with the gorgeous bouquet he'd first shown up with.

"For you."

"Thanks, Tris." I took the flowers and leaned into him, and we continued in comfortable silence for a moment. Then Flynn cleared his throat.

"So, do you... uh, do you want to meet them? My friends and everybody?"

"Well, that depends a little bit... why were they so shocked? Was it because I'm human?"

"No." Flynn's response was immediate, and he stopped dead in his tracks to turn me to face him. He put both hands on my shoulders, his warm brown eyes finding mine. "I would never voluntarily spend time with people who felt or thought that way."

"Okay... then why did they seem so surprised to see you with somebody?"

He grimaced. "You... might be the first serious girlfriend I've had. Ever."

My eyebrows shot up, and my heart skipped a few beats.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think my record before this was... seeing the same female for two weeks? Maybe?"

I couldn't help barking a laugh, and Flynn grimaced again. My heart, on the other hand, was soaring as I reached up to gently cup his cheek.

"Well, I guess I can see why your friends were so surprised then. I'd be happy to meet them. And I'm honored to be the first female you've decided to stick around for."

He grinned at me, making my heart race even faster, then slowly leaned in until our lips were just a hair's breadth away.

"I'm honored to be a fae male you're willing to date. Based on what another friend has told me, a human like you wouldn't be willing to give just any of us a chance."

I snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. But I'm glad I gave you one."

"Me too."

I gave Flynn a little smirk, then leaned in to close the rest of the distance between us. He wasted no time kissing me back, hard, and we quickly deepened the kiss. I let my one free hand wander up to tangle in his hair, and I was ready to lose myself in him right then and there, but after a few long moments he gently pulled back.

"As much as I'd like to continue this... I think you'll really like the surprise break I have planned."

I smiled, going in for one last quick kiss, then pulling all the way back.

"Alright. Let's go. As long as we can continue this after I finish my assignments?"

"If I ever say no to that, you should be concerned."

I laughed as we headed off down the street together again, hand in hand. I still had many hovering stressors, from school to finally meeting Flynn's extended friend group, but I knew I'd have him with me for all of it. I was starting to get the feeling he was in it for the long haul, and even though that brought plenty of challenges, I couldn't help being excited for it all the same.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

[shih-coulda-had-it]

WHUMPTOBER | Trust Issues | wc: ~1,000

a/n: This is from the 987reverse!au, but it's pulling Torino backstory from @/thisauthorisscreaming's Anachronism fic. What can I say. Torino is not in the market for healthy parental figures.

//

Training was probably the one activity that Sorahiko genuinely looked forward to now that he and Nana were enrolled in U.A.’s famous heroics program. He liked to run, he liked using Jet in creative obstacle courses, and best of all, Sorahiko liked being able to fight back.

What he wasn’t a fan of was when All Might joined the fray.

Nana could laugh and shout about a ‘springtime of youth’ all she wanted. The rest of them suffered a huge morale crush when the Number One Hero of All Time stepped into the gym and flexed his stupid muscles. Some days, they fought him as a whole class. Other times, in groups or pairs.

On the really challenging days, All Might took them on, one-on-one. He called it a tutoring session. Sorahiko considered it hell, especially because the rest of the students had to spar in tight quarters on the other half of the gym.

After Shimura, Suzuki. From Suzuki, Torino.

Sorahiko eyed the way Suzuki, cursing, slunk back to the mats. Keeping pace beside him and cheerfully lecturing all the while, All Might chattered Suzuki’s ear off with advice. “Young Suzuki, your flexibility needs quite a bit of work! Didn’t I tell you last time that villains won’t always be neatly taken out with a long-range attack?”

A towel dropped over his head. Sorahiko let it shut out the world for a split second before he scrubbed the sweat on his neck and whipped it off, just in time to see Nana drop to a cross-legged seat next to him. 

“You ready?” she asked.

“Eh,” he said, noncommittal. The answer was obviously no. Even if Sorahiko landed a punch or a kick on All Might--well, one, All Might was nigh-invulnerable to impact damage. And two, Sorahiko’s specialty was momentum, and trying to compensate for a lack of power with momentum.

“Ah, you’ve got it.”

“I don’t know where you got all my confidence.” He grinned when Nana laughed. Then Suzuki was promptly dropped off at a mat with Fujita, and All Might swanned over to theirs. The rictus of a smile eased into a genuine beam, which was the only reasonable reaction to have when a happy Nana was in hearing and seeing range.

“Young Torino! You’re up!”

Sorahiko checked the bandages wrapped around his wrists and ankles. It was the most support he’d get for his joints outside of hero exercises; gear was strictly limited for ‘work’, and no amount of complaining persuaded All Might that bare-knuckle brawling was untenable for twenty fifteen to sixteen year olds.

“Go, Sorahiko!” Nana cheered, pumping her fist into the air. “You’ll get him this time!”

“Yeah,” he muttered. He got to his feet and stared balefully up at All Might. The same damn quiver in his stomach rattled back to life. And it got stronger and stronger the further they walked away from the class to the empty side of the gym.

They faced each other. All Might had not tried to talk to him, but instead considered him with a look that made Sorahiko’s skin crawl. 

“Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Sorahiko bit out. He imagined violently smothering the ingrained terror, and he shifted his feet, readying a boxing stance.

“You might find better progress if we talked about your strategy,” All Might said, using as much delicacy as he was capable of. “Your speed--” isn’t good enough yet. Get on the track, boy. I know you can go faster--

He said, “Call it!”, and when All Might responded with a startled, “Go!”, Sorahiko lunged forward with a right hook and used the force of his spin to follow that with a kick, and it was a flurry of blows from there.

No point in trying to set up for a ricochet run. The last time Sorahiko went with that, All Might gave chase, and the visual of (frankly) a large looming figure honing in on Sorahiko made him witless with fear. He’d given up all attempts at a fight and went flat-out retreat mode. 

Sorahiko knew there wasn’t a point in trying to shove All Might. The jackass was literally famous for being a Pillar of Society or whatever, and Sorahiko was just sixteen. But as Sorahiko’s limbs started to ache and All Might showed no signs of being affected, Sorahiko let out a breathless cry, ducked closer to All Might’s core, planted both feet on the gym tile and Jetted. 

All Might’s hand grasped at Sorahiko’s shirt. Sorahiko was bodily lifted before he could cut the Jet. He flailed like a goddamned child as All Might slid his foot backwards and nearly let Sorahiko Jet himself into a wall. As it was, Sorahiko’s attempted Jet shot him against his own shirt, and he choked out a curse word.

“Easy there!” All Might chided.

Because Sorahiko was taking lessons from Nana’s school of ‘Never Give Up!’, he scrabbled for a new footing. (He was a child again, being grabbed by the collar and prevented from escaping.) He said, stupidly, “Take me seriously, you shitty old geezer!”, and lashed out with an elbow, a fist, all five nails clawing for a grip.

With casual ease, All Might tossed him to the side. “Young Torino, you really have to talk to someone,” he scolded. “You’re lucky young Shimura thinks you have the fighting tactics of a spooked cat. She’d be quite worried if she knew you were fighting through a panic attack every time you went up against me.”

Sorahiko rolled to his feet. “I’m not,” he snapped. He flinched back when All Might readied a punch, but he tried to rally anyways. Never give up and all. “Anybody would be scared shitless if you cocked a fist at ‘em! You’re known for smashing people to pulp!”

“I haven’t even thrown a student hard enough to break a brick wall,” All Might protested. He pinwheeled an arm, popping the joint. Sorahiko loathed the evidence that he hadn’t hit All Might hard enough to induce any sound at all. 

Before All Might gestured for a restart, Sorahiko went for his neck.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Stuck Between a Jock and a Metalhead

Summary: Nancy, on a whim, decides to visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy, which leads to her overhearing confessions from Steve that leads her to think about the decisions she's made. A few days later, she decides to come back. She finds him being hit on by the town freak. What's a girl to do? Oh, get stuck in a freezer with the both of them.

A/N: I imagine Colbie Smulders as Lily.

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Nancy sighed as she lay in bed, staring up at her ceiling. Technically, she was no longer grounded, and she could leave the house if she wanted to, but around this time, she would be heading to the newspaper. That was out of the question, considering she lost her job. Was she still fired? Tom was possessed by the Mind Flayer at the time. She closed her eyes and tried not to think about it or to feel guilty about all of the times she hated Tom. She also tried not to think about Hopper's funeral would be tomorrow. A soft knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

"Come in," Nancy called out.

Mike's head appeared in the doorway before he came all the way in. He looked downtrodden.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Mike said softly.

"I'm not really sure," Nancy said softly.

"Yeah, me neither," Mike said. "I still can't believe that Hopper is. . ."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Nancy said.

"We didn't get along, and I was rude to him, but he did help us out. I just hope he didn't think. . .," Mike trailed off.

"He knew how much you cared about him and how much you cared about El," Nancy said softly. "El was his only daughter, and I think it was her extenuating circumstances that made him on edge. I mean, you two have a lot in common. After you thought El was dead, you weren't exactly the happiest person to be around. You were very rude to Max and extremely protective of letting her into your group, kind of protective like Hopper was with El."

"Yeah, I guess so," Mike sniffed.

Nancy got up and hugged her brother tightly. She pulled back and smiled.

"You're getting too tall," Nancy said. "Asshole."

She was about to say something else when the phone on her beside table rang. Nancy spoke quickly and eagerly before hanging it up.

"What was that about?" Mike asked.

"I got my job back at the post!" Nancy grinned. "They got a new Editor!"

"Already?" Mike asked.

"Well, the one female reporter didn't want one the assholes to become the new Editor, so they called in a favor with a friend. The new editor is going to be a woman from a competing newspaper. The new mayor is hoping to clean house and reopen businesses that were closed because of the mall," Nancy said. "And he is hoping to clean up Klein's mess as quickly as possible."

"Man, Eddie's lucky he got to witness Joyce slug the guy," Mike said.

"I got to admit. I'm a bit jealous myself," Nancy said. "Anyway, she wants to meet me, so I guess I'm going in today."

After allowing her mother to drop her off, Nancy walked into the building and headed directly towards the editor's office. A woman with long dark hair and a powder blue pantsuit was unpacking her new office. A nameplate sat on the desk: Lillian Barnes. It matched the name on the diploma on the wall from Emerson College. Nancy stared at it for a while, imaging her own name there.

"It has a great journalism program," the woman's voice startled her out of her musings.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Barnes," Nancy blinked.

"It's Lily, please, and you never have to apologize to me for being ambitious," Lily replied.

Nancy realized that her eyes were just as blue as her pantsuit, and the woman was very tall. She practically towered over Nancy.

"It's a great school?" Nancy asked.

"The best, in my opinion. I might be biased. It was home away from home for me for quite a few years, and it certainly never let me down," Lily said and sat down before pointing at the seat in front of her. "And I love Boston. Do you have a particular college in mind, yet?"

"Not really, keeping my options open," Nancy said. "I plan on applying to lots of places."

"Smart. Well, if you plan to get a degree in journalism, then my suggestion would be to apply to Emerson as well," Lily said.

"I might just take your suggestion," Nancy grinned. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you bring to the table here."

"I bet you are," Lily said. "I bet it was frustrating working with people who are so misogynistic, not to speak ill of the dead or anything."

"It was frustrating, and I did come close to quitting, but then I realized that's probably what they wanted me to. I didn't want to give up this job, and I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me quit," Nancy said.

"Determined, I like that. What made you get involved with journalism?" Lily asked.

"My friend, Barb, she went missing a while back. Turns out her death was covered up by Hawkins Lab. It had been a chemical spill," Nancy said.

"And who uncovered the truth, I wonder," Lily said, her eyes sparkling.

"I broke into the lab and got them on tape admitting to the cover up, then I worked with a former reporter to reveal the truth," Nancy said and Lily laughed.

"Damn. I like you," Lily said. "Tell me, are you willing to use that same stubbornness that used for your friend to find the truth for other people?"

"Absolutely," Nancy said without hesitation.

"Well, it's definitely going to be interesting working with you. I'll be sad to see you go once school starts, but until then, I'll be putting you to work. Now, you'll still be an intern and do the usual things like answering phones, but I'm not going to waste your other skills either," Lily said.

"Thank you! You won't be disappointed!" Nancy exclaimed.

"I know I won't," Lily grinned. "I look forward to seeing what you bring to the table, Nancy."

A weird feeling settled over her as she started to work throughout the day. Slowly, but surely, life was moving forward, and it felt strange because it was still happening even without Hopper. Nancy knew it was strange to think that time would stop because he did, that the whole world would come to a complete crashing halt because Jim Hopper had died. But no, Jim Hopper had died, and the world kept turning. It left an odd, bitter feeling in her stomach. There was one less grown-up who could keep them safe, and suddenly, Nancy didn't feel quite so safe anymore. She had decided to walk back home after work. She made sure to call her mom and let her know. As she was walking she saw Otis's salon door open and Steve's car out front. Nancy started moving and walked in to find Steve playfully arguing with Robin. He brightened when he saw Nancy.

"Hey, Nance, my parents and siblings just left," Steve said.

"What?" Nancy asked.

"Oh, the Sinclairs and the Hendersons adopted Steve," Robin said.

"Well, that's good. You definitely deserve it," Nancy grinned.

She stepped into his space and pressed her cheek up against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"What's this?" Steve asked.

"Oh my God. You're so damaged you can't even recognize a hug," Robin said and Nancy giggled.

"Very funny, Robin," Steve said.

"I got my job back at the Post," Nancy said. "There's a new editor and she's amazing."

"That's great!" Steve said. "You deserve it, Nancy."

Nancy sighed, and she gazed up at him.

"I'm not ready for tomorrow," Nancy said softly.

"Neither am I," Steve whispered and kissed her forehead. "I think my lip has done enough healing to risk a little pain."

"Are you sure?" Nancy asked.

"Worth it," Steve said.

"Are you guys allowed to kiss without Eddie here?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Steve and Nancy scoffed.

"I wasn't sure how three people relationships work. Hell, I'm not even sure how people relationships work," Robin said.

Nancy grinned and moved to wrap her arms around Steve’s neck. She pressed her lips to his and sighed in contentment. Kissing Steve again felt a lot like coming home. It was warm, familiar, and safe. She giggled when she felt him smile against her lips. She pulled back when she felt him wince but stayed wrapped up in his arms. No, she definitely wasn't ready for tomorrow, but she felt like she could get through it with Steve there and Eddie. She knew, though, that Eddie would be there mostly for his sister. She burrowed deeper into Steve’s arms, trying to get the image of a sad El out of her head.

The next day dawned bright and early. Nancy woke up before anyone else in her house and sat at her desk, her journal open before her. She stared at the blank page, not knowing what to write, and she sat there until the sun finally came up. Nancy stared at the clock. Time to get ready. Her movements were slow as she showered and put on her black dress. How many times were they going to have to do this? The ride to the church was quiet, and Nancy sat in the back with her siblings, sharing looks with her brother over Holly's head. When they walked into the church, Nancy spotted Eddie standing awkwardly at the front. He was wearing a borrowed suit that hung off his lanky frame. Nancy moved forward to greet him. His eyes lit up when he saw her and immediately pulled her into a hug.

"Glad you're here," Eddie said with a smile.

"Where's El?" Nancy asked.

"Oh, she's in the back with Uncle Wayne and Joyce. She's not handling it very well, which is understandable. I was a basket case myself when my mom died. It helped having Wayne there, though. She hasn't been sleeping, and she tried to run away once because she thought she was being too much," Eddie said and ran his hands over his face, carefully avoiding his nose.

"You haven't slept either," Nancy said softly.

"How can I when I have nightmares of my own?" Eddie asked softly. "And when I'm not having nightmares of my own, it's El. It's back and forth so Wayne's not getting any sleep either. When I'm not having the nightmares, I lay awake at night trying to figure out how to help my own little sister with hers."

"I'm not sure if there's anything you can do except to let her know that you're not going anywhere," Nancy said softly.

"Yeah," Eddie said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Talking about your own will probably let her know that she's not alone," Nancy said.

"This sucks," Eddie muttered.

A moment later, El was coming out from the back of the church, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She approached Nancy and hugged her.

"Thank you for coming," El said softly.

"You're welcome, is there anything that I can do?" Nancy asked.

El shook her head and then she moved past Nancy when she saw Mike. They hugged tightly, El clinging to him as tight as she could. It was then that Nancy noticed Steve walk through the door with Robin. He moved politely through the crowd of people and made his way over to them. He hugged Nancy, kissed her cheek, and then hugged Eddie tightly. El broke away from Mike and moved to wrap her arms around her brother's waist. Lucas, Dustin, and Max arrived last. Lucas and Dustin were with their parents, but Max was by herself. She was by El's side in an instant and stayed there, ignoring everyone else. Nancy heart broke at the thought of Max suffering through her own loss, and she remembered that Max had to watch her own stepbrother die. They all went through too much shit.

Eddie, Wayne, El, and the Byers sat up front while the rest of the party sat behind them. The pastor stood in front of an empty coffin and spoke empty platitudes about a man he didn't really know. If only he knew what Hopper had really done for them, for everyone in this damn town. It was Joyce who stood up and spoke about the man she had known for years that drove the party to tears. It was Joyce who struggled to keep it together, and Nancy knew that this woman had one foot out the door. When they moved things to the cemetery, El had to be carried by Wayne to the grave site.

"What are we going to do now?" Dustin asked as they lowered Hopper's empty coffin into the ground.

Nancy shared a look with Steve, Robin, and Eddie. They realized at the same time that with one less adult in the know, these kids were going to need them now more than ever. What are they going to do if it all happens again? Suddenly, they didn't just lose the greatest man they ever knew, but in some way, they officially lost the last bit of childhood they had been clinging to. It was time to grow up now and make sure that these kids still had something to hang onto.

Chapter Thirteen

[nutcasewithaknife]

Ooh, I’d love to hear about MLC on ice!!!

And I would love to talk about it. forever and ever. You might have unleashed a beast.

The premise of this one has changed way too much to be a Yuri!!! on Ice AU anymore, so it's just an ice skating AU now. The basic premise is this: Fang Duobing, young ice skater who can't quite seem to find the right coach for himself and is coming off several unsatisfactory seasons, goes off to an obscure little town with a rink with no plans. There he latches on to Li Lianhua and soon recognises him as Li Xiangyi, who quietly retired and then vanished off the face of the earth 7 years ago after a terrible injury. The only course of action is, of course, to badger Li Lianhua into being his coach! Especially when Di Feisheng declares that the upcoming season is going to be his final one!

This is just like the first chapter or two of the fic, things go off the rails quite soon. There's the series of suspicious events 7 years ago that caused dfs, lxy and sgd to leave the season, the lingering effects of Li Lianhua's injury that limit his skating abilities severely, Di Feisheng who is determined to hunt him down and skate against him anyways, Qiao Wanmian (the first one to find Li Lianhua again in this AU) who tags along for the chaos and agrees to be Fang Duobing's official coach to keep Li Lianhua's identity a secret, so on. It swings wildly between crack and heartfelt emotional moments, domestic shenanigans and skating drama. Like I mentioned, I'm writing this with @istgidek1234 who is the real hardcore Yuri!!! on Ice stan and skating expert in this relationship. I went into a bit of a rabbit hole with ice skating a few months back, and it merged with the MLC hyperfixation we both were having, and this happened.

Tagging @istgidek1234 so she can ramble on a bit more about this au!! And here's a little bit of the chaos from one of my segments:

Li Lianhua was, overall, in good spirits on the evening the doorbell rang, just as they settled in for dinner after winding down post-practice. Then he opened the door, and said spirits went flying off with his peace of mind in tow.  He really needed to get a peephole put in. Di Feisheng scowled at him with the force of a… well, a Di Feisheng. Li Lianhua knew better than to try and shut the door on his face; he valued the fact that his door was securely hinged to it’s frame. “How did you–” There was no point in asking how Di Feisheng had stalked them back home. Of course he had. Li Lianhua had been a fool lulled into a sense of false security by his own complacency.  Panicked, he poked his head out and looked around, just to make sure. “Are you trying to get the world’s entire skating press here?” he hissed at him. Di Feisheng looked at him like he was a bug. “No one knows I’m here. I took care.” He better mean something more concrete and foolproof than the shades and mask sticking out of his pockets.  “What do you want now?” Li Lianhua asked flatly, resigned to his fate. “My head on a pike?” He was going to kill Fang Duobing for dragging him back into this world, and then Di Feisheng for hounding him immediately. He was going to flee the country with nothing but Hulijing.  That train of thought slowed to a halt as he noticed that Di Feisheng was… was he hesitating? No, he never did. If he’d shown up here, that meant he’d made his mind up about whatever it was already. He was taking his time though, fixing Li Lianhua with a look that was his usual stubborn battle-face, but more intense than ever.  And then he spoke. “Skate with me, Li Xiangyi.” Li Lianhua blinked, slowly, then a few times rapidly. “Pardon?” Di Feisheng’s jaw clenched tighter. Li Lianhua’s own hurt from just looking. “Skate a pairs program with me.” “A what!?” came the shout from behind. Li Lianhua shut his eyes and prayed for strength as Fang Duobing stormed up to the door, then pushed right past him, all the way out. “Di Feisheng!? What is he doing here? What did he just say??”

[incognita-soul]

hey, i saw in your bio that you work on tall ships and i was wondering if u had any advice.

i’ve been on 2 tall ship sailing trips before (+some dinghy sailing) and got my competent crew recently so i’m pretty inexperienced. on those sailing trips i’ve met young adults who were working on the boats as volunteers. i’d like to be able to volunteer on tall ships one day.

do you have any advice for the best way to gain experience and learn stuff? (if possible on a budget). i’m taking a gap year next year and i’d really like to take the chance to go sailing and get better at it. (i’m in the uk if that’s relevant.)

absolutely no pressure to answer and i’m sorry this is so vague and clueless! anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. your blog is cool :))

Heya! Thank you, and I'd be happy to give you my two cents! All of my boat experience has been in the US so take my advice with a transatlantic grain of salt, but here goes!

Firstly, two trips and some dinghy sailing and a competent crew cert is actually quite a bit in comparison to your average person starting out in the world of boats, so don't worry about feeling too inexperienced! You're already on a good track. I've been working on tall ships in some capacity for over 10 years and I still don't have any specific certifications (I've got a lot of experience and sea time, I just haven't had time to take any of my courses and exams for actual licensing).

Facebook is (unfortunately) still the best place to network, especially for international opportunities. There are a variety of groups that you can join. I'm personally in Schooner Bums, Tall Ship Opportunities, Women Who Sail, Crew Finder, and a few other private groups specific to the organizations I've worked for. A lot of organizations will post to these groups with job opportunities with specific requirements, so it's fairly easy to get the info you need. I'm sure there are a few groups specific to sailing in the UK. In the US, we have Tall Ships America, which is an organization that provides networking, training, and job opportunities for mostly US based sailors and boats. I'm not sure if the UK has an equivalent organization, but I do recommend even though you are UK based you should peruse their website, especially the Billet Bank, which is where job links are posted:

You're in the UK, so there are a shit ton of boats there but as far as I know most of them are museum boats that don't do a lot of sailing. I will say from personal experience that museum boats with a good volunteer maintenance program are great places to start for establishing a strong set of foundational skills (knots, understanding and maintenance of the rig, carpentry, etc.). You might not get much actual sea time with a museum boat, but you will learn the things that will make you a better sailor. I got into tall ships by working as a historical interpreter and then as part of the sailing/maintenance crew here:

https://www.jyfmuseums.org/visit/jamestown-settlement/living-history/ships#ad-image-0

Most tall ship organizations are based around education, both for the public and for the crew, so it's easy to find a boat with some sort of introductory training program relatively near wherever you live. These range from expensive pay-to-play working vacation type experiences, to paying a fee to participate in a structured comprehensive training curriculum after which you can become long-term crew, to volunteering weekends sanding and oiling blocks in exchange for the opportunity to sail.

Since you said you are taking a gap year, my advice is look for a short-term comprehensive live-aboard program that gets your foot in the door for staying on as regular crew, potentially even paid crew. Idk any specific ones in the UK, but here's the one that the last boat I worked on offers as an example of what i mean:

If you've got time before your gap year starts, try to find something local, like volunteering for a mueseum like I mentioned earlier, so that you get used to the vocabulary and foundational knowledge of boats. That way you can really get the most out of a more immersive program later on and you won't feel too much like an oversaturated sponge trying desperately to sop up more information even though your brain is leaking out of your ears.

I'm not sure if you're wanting to do tall ships longer term or just something one-off for the gap year, but if you're in it for the long haul just be prepared that it's a lot of hard work for not much financial return. I don't mean to discourage you, it's just good to know that upfront. On Lady Washington we have a saying that "we work on an 18th century boat for 18th century wages."

Unfortunately the tall ship industry is kind of hard budget wise. Most training programs cost quite a bit of money, most jobs are either volunteer or don't pay very well (industry standard deckhand pay in the US is about $1000/month), and most higher level positions require various levels of certifications (for which course and exam fees can run pretty high). You can do it on a budget, especially since most long term positions are live aboard so you don't have to pay for rent or groceries, but if you want to make a career out or it, it takes a lot of years of working for less money than you're worth before you start earning real money back.

Despite all that, working on tall ships is still an incredible and fulfilling experience that I recommend to anyone with a love of the sea and learning practical skills!

Sorry I couldn't give you more specific information, as I have yet to work on any UK boats. Good luck, and please tell me when you find a program that works for you!

[utilitycaster]

I don't think I've seen you mention this yet, but how do you think they might reconcile the ending of Downfall (which I loved, and honestly wouldn't change just to adhere to this) with FRIDA's memory, that seemed to indicate a much larger conflict around the Factorum, at least numerically, than simply a handful of godly avatars obliterating the machine?

Hi anon,

I am not going to copy over the transcript of 3x58 because it's somewhat long but I recommend reviewing it! the relevant portion begins at 3:00:33 on the YouTube video, and as always, the CR Transcript search is a wonderful and invaluable resource.

The quick summary which you can (and should!) verify is: FRIDA was fighting within Aeor but outside of the room, and realized the fighting was between Aeorian factions rather than an outside force. They turned down a hall and saw a beautiful room of pipes and tubes, and eventually reached what is assumed to be the Factorum chamber although the description is somewhat different than what we saw in Downfall, and someone yells "Protect the Factorum!" in Aeorian. We also see that the memory is a little fluid or dreamlike, with people in the hallways disappearing when out of range.

So: the fighting outside the chambers is actually totally compliant with Downfall. The divine avatars go through the rat tunnels to the scroll banks; we don't know the events outside of those two chambers.

As for FRIDA getting in - while the room descriptions are a little different in the memory, it could be that FRIDA came in with a group of mages and the avatars did not specifically notice them (and that FRIDA didn't specifically recall the avatars); the memory pretty much ends with "Protect the Factorum!" and things going white, so it's possible they entered at the moment The Emissary destroyed it.

There's also to be honest a little bit of known...not per se canon conflicts, but canon fuzziness. In Downfall it sounds like the Factorum had never been tested, but in episode 2x135 the writings about it that Caleb found indicated there had at least been some degree of testing, perhaps on a smaller scale. So I think it's worth being open to the idea that the Factorum Malleus was a controversial project within the Genesis Ward and that perhaps this was a memory of an earlier partial test in which there was considerable internal disagreement (we know Aeor was pretty fragmented philosophically; see also Cognouza) which would also explain the intensity of security even within the city; or that it's a mixture of multiple memories FRIDA has that aren't quite chronological. It's pretty easy to just retcon as correct in vibes but not precisely in reality; we know that aeormatons can be, to an extent, programmed to have false impulses or memory lapses. I guess we'll find out soon!

[consanguinitatum]

DT and His Appendicitis Scar: So When Did That Happen, Anyway?

I think I've mentioned in previous posts that I come across quite a few personal tidbits about a young DT while doing research for my sloooowly developing podcast. I think - well, I certainly hope! - I've also mentioned those sorts of tidbits are not going to be in the podcast? Well, if I haven't mentioned it before, I'm mentioning it now.

I see no reason to include these sorts of things because the podcast won't be about David's personal life (either then or now) but about his professional life. But while I tend to consider most of the theatre work he did between the time he entered the RSAMD Junior School at age 11 (and then got his Equity card and went on to drama school) and prior to his move to London in 1994 part of his professional life, technically they're really not -- because up until he took his first job in the 7:84 in 1991 for The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, he hadn't been earning a wage. And he's said in interviews Arturo was his first professional gig.

But I'm choosing to split hairs here. For the purposes of my podcast, I plan to treat his drama school years as if they were part of his professional career. I do this because I want to give them the same consideration and respect as the rest of his career, and feature them as the seminal experiences they were. They helped build the foundation of his professional life. Besides, he himself has said that attending drama school was essential for him to become the actor he wanted to be.

Because I consider them professional experiences (and because I'm acutely aware of his desire for privacy) the podcast will stay as much in the professional arena as I can possibly make it. He's talked quite a bit about this period of his life before, and I don't feel uncomfortable highlighting anything he's mentioned which happens to coincide with information I've discovered. Anything of a more personal nature which gets included in the podcast will have been measured against all of these factors before it gets added in. So all of that said, we come to an interesting bit of information about something David has definitely talked about and shared about it before - but which has no place in my podcast. So let's talk about it!

The lovely mizgnomer did a great little post a few years back which featured a photo set of David chatting about the near-death experience with appendicitis he had when he was a child (see below):

David's mentioned his appendix scar a few other times as well, and each time he speaks about it, the range of his age at the time of the attack varies by a few years - usually from age 8 to about 10. That's not surprising at all, of course, because for most of us, trying to narrow down some of the events in our childhood to specific time ranges can get a bit fuzzy. But I'm pretty sure I know when it happened.

Back in 1980, a society/organizational newspaper column entitled "Church News" appeared regularly in the Paisley Daily Express. This column often featured prominent figures in churches all over the community and were often framed as "One Week in the Working Life Of" these certain figures to debunk the myth that ministers only work on Sundays. One of these columns, published on 1 May 1980, featured a certain Rev. Sandy McDonald, the minister of St. Marks Oldhall.

That week, Sandy was busy recording a series of short services at his church which would later go out on STV. These were likely part of one of two religious television broadcasts he was a part of at the time: Late Call or That's The Spirit (both programs David has mentioned over the years).

The article goes on to document Sandy's busy week, speaking about his duties chairing festivals of praise and being principal speaker at church rallies and charity events. In between these duties, the article mentions, Sandy has to attend to all his pastoral duties, including meetings with his own church groups, and - and here is the important part - "visits to hospital patients (including his own son)."

The time at which this article was written implies one of Sandy's children was in the hospital in late April to early May of 1980. It's probably a safe bet to assume it was David: while it could have been either his elder brother or his elder sister, this does happen to fall pretty splendidly into the age range of "9 or 10" for his appendicitis scare which David has given in the past. David would have just turned 9 years old in mid-April of that year.

So there you have it. David was 9 years old when he suffered the bout of appendicitis - which burst, and brought him near death.

Thank goodness he made it!