#wow this post ended up long

[eviltothecore13]

OK so...Wesker is a weird person in a lot of ways (and I love him for it), we all know that, but...I do find it strange when people write him as if he’s literally from another planet and arrived on earth yesterday?

Like, I see portrayals of Wesker where he acts like a robot or a Vulcan and is immediately offputting/weirds people out even when he’s trying to act normal and blend in, and where everyone at STARS sees him as suspicious, cold, unfriendly, unlikeable...even though canonically he was well-liked, trusted and respected by the whole team, and according to Kenichi Iwao he was admired and seen as cool. And what we see of his interactions with the team while he’s still pretending to be on their side are...not overly formal or unnatural or in any way abnormal for a boss talking to subordinates in an organisation such as STARS?

Sometimes in fic he’s depicted as completely unfamiliar with all slang, even slang that existed when he was a teenager, or even phrases that aren’t really slang but are just slightly casual. And no, he wasn’t kept locked up in a lab for his entire childhood/teenage years...he got a PhD at 17, which means he was at university pretty much from age 11 onwards. (Even before that, the files don’t actually suggest he was literally raised in a lab, just raised and supervised/monitored by Umbrella employees...he shows far more skills in interacting with people than someone who was isolated throughout their childhood would be, and considering that leadership and skill in manipulating people were both valued by the project, and that they wanted to raise ambitious kids who could be successful in whatever field they chose, and apparently succeeded in this goal, it’s likely that the kids got a lot of practice at interacting with people from an early age.)

University involves interacting with people--working with them, living with them, and spending time around them for any extracurriculars (you can’t tell me this dramatic bitch wasn’t a theatre kid) or sports (which I believe some background info or writer comments somewhere say he excelled in? I can’t see him playing team sports, but even non-team-based sports involve interacting with other people, especially at university and especially if you’re good enough to compete...).

Wesker talks *fairly* formally most of the time himself (and he seemingly can’t say “fuck”), and I’m sure there are plenty of phrases he would be unfamiliar with (especially ones that didn’t exist when he was a teenager, or more regional stuff), but the idea he wouldn’t understand a single colloquial phrase and needs everything worded like a lab report at all times is just too far. (And is contradicted by how we see him talking to people in the games...the guy makes a “cops are pigs” joke in RE1, come on, he won’t be totally lost every time someone uses a phrase that’s not really formal.)

...Talking of jokes, he has a sense of humour. Both in terms of sarcasm, and truly terrible puns like “your future HINGES upon this fight!”. He’s not 100% grim and humourless and serious all the time, he’s not going to get angry with people at STARS for displaying the slightest hint of a sense of humour (remember, he was a “moderate and fair” leader).

(So, yes, Wesker probably would say “apartment complex? I find it quite simple”, but because he has a terrible and painful sense of humour--not because he’s never heard of an apartment complex.)

He’s also not totally clueless about pop culture--far from it, given that he’s one of only two Capcom characters (the other being Viewtiful Joe whose entire personality is based around being a fanboy) to recognise the Marvel characters in MVC3 (this was pre-MCU, too, so this ACTUALLY makes him a nerd and not just someone who doesn’t live under a rock)--and you can’t tell me him stealing moves from Street Fighter and The King Of Fighters, or starting to dress like a Matrix character after getting Matrix powers, is a coincidence. Netflix show canon adding Star Trek to that list is honestly quite fitting. (This is of course in addition to him being very familiar with non-pop-culture, referencing things like mythology and having a lot of books in his office at STARS, playing piano offscreen in Lost In Nightmares, etc.)

Occasionally I’ve even seen him depicted as totally unaware of anything that goes on the world (e.g. politics, even though he shows quite a bit of awareness of that at least as it relates to his job and I feel like it’s more in-character for him to want to keep up with the news and be aware of stuff, he’s not someone who narrowly focuses on just his research, he’s someone who likes to be knowledgeable in a wide variety of areas) and unable to function outside of a lab. Like...no, that’s Will if it’s anyone...Arklay was only accessible by helicopter for a few years, true, though it later became more accessible e.g. by train from Raccoon City (by the time of the mansion incident, files like the keeper’s diary mention Arklay employees visiting partners/family/etc on days off, so it doesn’t seem to have stayed totally isolated for long), but...they still have phones, they have computers, and Wesker as chief researcher likely travelled to Umbrella conferences etc, not to mention spending 6 years in the army, and anywhere else he might have travelled to on missions as an intelligence agent...he’s also definitely not living at Arklay while he’s at STARS, he’s only there occasionally, he almost certainly just lives in Raccoon City at this point. (Comics!Wesker also has a wakizashi on his desk, making it quite likely he’s been to Japan...obviously that’s not canon, but it was present in concept art for the games, I like to think the only reason it’s not there in RE2 is that he took it with him.) There really isn’t much evidence for him being extremely isolated/never having left Arklay.

And there’s a lot of evidence for him being very skilled at interacting with people, as a leader (officer in the Army; trusted and well-liked at STARS; managed to get a bunch of older/more experienced scientists to listen to and obey him as chief researcher when he was just 18) and in terms of manipulating people, rising up through the ranks at various organisations, etc...he’s pretty much an expert at getting people on his side, getting them to like him, gaining their trust, it doesn’t make sense for him to act like an alien who just landed on earth/someone who lives under a rock/etc in social situations.

(Some of these fics also make him extremely awkward or repressed when it comes to sex and uh...we’re talking about someone who dresses in tight leather outfits with a COLLAR, has lines like “I’ll play with you” and “Submit” in MVC3 along with some almost as Interesting lines in the games, generally said with the kind of smirk that suggests he knows EXACTLY what he’s saying. I’m not a fan of the versions of him that are having sex with every other character in the series either, I think he considers most people to not be worth his time/attention/interest on that front, but I don’t think he’s repressed.)

[bixels]

I'm glad nobody's questioned why Sunset's personality is so different in the AU, but I'll explained anyways. AU Sunset basically has Tempest Shadow's personality. I decided not to adapt Tempest because too many redeemed villains, she doesn't play an important role in the overall story, and her broken horn is so cool and unique to her as a unicorn that any adaptation wouldn't do it justice. So I fused the two together. Sunset's backstory and hotheadedness with Tempest's tired, jaded, anti-social disposition and fighting skills.

Anyways, I hope it's not too jarring of a change. The more I develop Sunset, the more you'll probably notice how OOC she seems. I'll probably end up adopting Sunset into an OC once I'm done with the AU, since she's basically a completely different character.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[werewolfsmile]

re: "All I’m saying is the fact that someone isn’t talking to me about Eliot Spencer every second of every day is very unfair and borderline illegal." & tags - if you want to, can you elaborate on your werewolf!eliot ideas?? i’d like to hear about it!! if not all good tho :)

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Yes I would love to elaborate! (buckle up because i have Thoughts)

(wow this really got away from me so uhhh .... warning for 2k of ranting about Eliot as a werewolf?? list of headcanons under the cut)

From the moment I first met Eliot Spencer, I knew he was werewolf-coded. Aside from his insanely fantastic fighting abilities and the absurd amount of punishment he can take, there are many other factors that contribute to his werewolf status.

Eliot needs a pack Our boy is out here working on his own for years and look at all the good it did him! None! He carries severe trauma from his family life because he blames himself for how it all went down and doesn't think he'll be welcomed back. Plus something probably happened during his military days or early PMC days to put him off working with others. Could have been the pain of losing people all the time, could have been something more. Either way, Eliot working on his own is a defence mechanism - but a self-destructive one.

Wolves thrive in packs - like duh, they're pack animals. As my username suggests, I'm into werewolves and, by extension, wolves. I've done research for my own werewolf novels in the past, so I know that in an average wolf pack, each pack member will have physical contact with the other pack members on the regular. Like, several times an hour! (gosh if I can find the research paper this info came from I'll link it but honestly it's been years) That's a serious level of physical contact required to keep the emotional bonds of the pack healthy!

Flick back to Eliot. He loves to fight, he loves the violence and the pain, yes. He hates the killing and the blood on his hands. He actually tries to leave the assassin world behind after he meets Toby (which is before he meets Moreau, as per early dialogue in The French Connection Job). He bonds quickly with Toby. Show Eliot a little love and care and he's yours for life! He moves onto retrieval work, then somehow ends up working for Moreau.

Now, when we see Eliot and Moreau in The Big Bang Job, Moreau says, "You work alone." Which means that Eliot had that reputation when he came to Moreau. He probably only took contracts to start off with. But he accepted job after job from Moreau and was so good that he was highly respect and it's inferred he ended up as Moreau's top bodyguard/assassin. Why the hell would Eliot end up that close to a man who brings out all the worst in him? Because Eliot's a werewolf and no matter how toxic, Moreau fulfills the need for a pack bond that he's been missing all this time.

Fast forward to Eliot meeting the rest of the Leverage team. One job only - my ass. He saves Hardison's life after Hardison brought a gun to their little meeting - and we all know how Eliot feels about guns.

Wolves are designed to live and operate in packs. Eliot says it's one job only but is bonding with them all from the get-go. Werewolf trait confirmed.

Eliot needs physical touch Now, I know what you're thinking. Eliot canonically avoids physical contact with the team. He refuses hugs, especially from Hardison, growls at Parker poking his bruises (don't get me started on the growls), and shoves people (ahem Parker) out of his personal space. So why would he do all this if he needs physical touch??

Because he's one gigantic ball of angst and self-loathing and guilt.

Eliot doesn't think he deserves forgiveness or love or family, etc. That is a whole other rant, but he denies himself the physical contact he needs with others as a way of punishing himself.

However, as the series progresses, we see him become more comfortable with physical contact! He hugs Hardison several times, he doesn't move away from Parker, etc. Why? Because he's bonded with this team (ahem pack) and there's only so much he can suppress his instincts. The more time he spends with them, the more naturally the contact flows.

Eliot needs to protect others Whenever we get a scene of the team walking as a group, where is Eliot positioned 90% of the time?? That's right, at the back of the group. He lets the others walk in pairs and falls back to bring up the rear. He's keeping them all in his line of sight and constantly scanning for threats ahead, along with protecting the team from any rear attacks. It makes sense for him to do this given his military background, but it also makes sense for a werewolf to do this.

He's the only werewolf in the team. His instincts revolve around keeping the pack safe and protected, so he does that in the best way he knows how.

Not to mention how feral gets over kids!!

Wolf life is all about the pack and the family structure. Pups are integral to the pack's survival and future. Eliot doesn't have kids of his own. But that doesn't stop his instincts from blaring every time he interacts with a kid, be it on the con or off. He takes time out every time to help that kid in an attempt to calm the raging storm of instincts inside his body.

Eliot needs to feed others It's another werewolf instinct that rears its head when they're in the safety of their headquarters (ahem den). Protecting the team/pack from physical threats is just one aspect of taking care of them. Feeding them is the other major one.

None of these idiots can cook to save their lives - except Nate, but he's also drowning his liver 90% of the time, so Eliot has to compensate for that, too. The team can't operate at full capacity if they're not consuming good nutrition. So Eliot makes sure to feed them.

His humanity recognises that these are independent people - coworkers - and he can't control every meal of every day. But he can cook for them, once a week or once a job, which is just enough to satisfy his instincts that he's doing his part to care for them. Plus they love his cooking, and the praise he gets from it is an unexpected but pleasant bonus.

Eliot and team sports/kitchens This ties in with my first point about Eliot needing a pack, but all the times we see Eliot go super hard and get absorbed in the role he's playing are when he's on a team sport or he's in the kitchen. Both of these fulfill super important instincts for him - being in a team/pack and providing food for others.

Think about The Tap-Out Job. Eliot's playing a fighter but he's not pretending to be on a team. He doesn't get over-invested in the role. But what about when he's a baseball player? A hockey player? He falls into those roles hard because he's working with another team again, and this little werewolf is built for that environment. Same in The French Connection: the kitchen becomes his den, the students are his pack mates, and he goes hard at investing in them and protecting them. Never mind the personal aspect of Toby.

Same for episodes like The Fairy Godparents Job when we get a scene of Eliot teaching a bunch of girls self-defence. Team setting + protecting kids = happy werewolf instincts.

So, werewolf headcanons? I have a lot of different origin theories but the main one I like for Eliot is:

he became a werewolf either for a covert military op, or was bitten by Moreau (choose your own angst flavour)

if it was for the military, they were trying to engineer supersoldiers and he was deemed a failure; he has werewolf instincts all the time but only has enhanced strength, healing, etc on full moons

if it was bitten by Moreau, there's a psychic-style bond linking them, which is why he was so loyal to Moreau for so long, and also why he is so reluctant to go after Moreau

(wow this is too different theories already and i said this was my 'main one' whoops)

Eliot can only shift easily on the full moon; shifting outside of a full moon can only be caused by extreme stress and is ridiculously painful

he suffers an insanely high prey drive all the time and is so strict about his control because he doesn't actually wanna rip out the throat of Random Guard #3

he used to chain himself up for full moons so he didn't hurt anyone, but since the team found out about him, Hardison and Parker have taken it upon themselves to 'puppy-sit' him every full moon

this involves no chains but an obscene amount of dog chew toys. Eliot is never impressed. He also never chases or chews the toys. The video evidence Hardison has was obviously doctored.

Hardison and Parker found out the truth when a con went sideways and Eliot was trapped in a room with them during the full moon

he was terrified he was going to kill them - or worse, bite them - but his instincts recognised them as pack so instead he just tried to wrestle with them all night

Hardison had a major freak out when he discovered Eliot was a werewolf - it's one thing to be obsessed with sci-fi/fantasy, it's another thing entirely to see your best friend transform before your eyes

Parker was not even remotely phased, being all like, "pfft of course werewolves are real, I thought you knew that Hardison, you talk about your elves and orcs all the time!"

"Woman that is completely different and you know it!"

"What else do you think is fake? The tooth fairy?? Ha!"

Eliot is Done With Their Shenanigans

Parker only ever refers to Eliot as Sparky when he's in his wolf form

Sophie didn't actually know about werewolves before the reveal but she pretends that she did

Nate knew about werewolves before Eliot, he just chooses to pretend that they're Not A Thing

werewolves generally don't make good hitters, because the constant exposure to violence ramps up their hunting instincts aka they find it hard not to kill

of course, this doesn't matter if you're someone like Moreau who specifically wants killing machines and thus turns his top hitters into werewolves, to ensure loyalty and enhance his strength

the only other werewolf hitter not under Moreau's control that Eliot knows is Quinn, who most certainly did not pull his werewolf strength punches when they tousled in The First David Job

Quinn doesn't have a pack (werewolf or otherwise) and genuinely doesn't seem phased by this, which pisses off Eliot to no end

however, after they work together in The Last Dam Job, Quinn deems himself Eliot's Best Werewolf Bud and keeps popping up randomly to hang out on full moons, etc

Parker and Hardison are a bit weirded out (and a little jealous) of Quinn's attention initially, but soon get over that when they discover that two werewolves on a full moon absolutely play for hours like 6 month old puppies - especially with the tug rope

Eliot is Extremely Susceptible to belly rubs even in his human form, which is half the reason he pushes people out of his personal space a lot - his reputation would never survive anyone finding out

of course the entire team figures it out and take to ambushing him with belly rubs whenever he's being stubborn or annoying

belly rubs are also the only way he will relax enough when he's injured so they can treat his wounds

despite the incessant dog jokes, the ever-growing pile of dog toys, and the bowls labelled with "Sparky" and cartoon bone symbols ... Eliot absolutely adores the pack he's found himself in and wouldn't change them for the world

One of these days I will sit down and write a thousand fics for werewolf!Eliot! Till then, I'll just keep churning out the headcanons ;)

[chickenfingerswithasideoffries]

thinking about ais rn....i wonder if they'll play with the idea of you somehow getting rid of ocudeus. but because ais has had them in his head for so long hes just. not the same person he was beforehand.

[spinjitsuburst]

ramble about ur favs i wanna hear abt ur thoughts -zaptrap

HAN’S INFODUMPING ABOUT JAY... START!!!!

so like sgdkdhdkdhd I say Jay and Lloyd are my “favorites” but honestly it’s so hard to pick favorites out of this skittles squad like I love EVERY character for a variety of different reasons. I was going to also infodump about Lloyd but then I started talking about Prime Empire and then this post got. Long. So. it's just Jay I may infodump about Lloyd another day especially since I'm very Conduit Brained Rn but yea yea!

this is long so i'm putting most of it under the cut so y'all don't kill me for making a huge long post

I considered putting Zane and Sora on here as well since I’d also consider them my “favs” but like this is already gonna be. A lot of. Infodumping (also i typed THIS part before I even started and decided not to yell about Lloyd because this already got long enough). Maybe I’ll make a separate post for those two hmm hmm much to consider but for now MY (technically) FAVORITE NINJAGO CHARACTER: JAY WALKER

THE SPARKPLUG WHO INVADED MY BRAIN LIKE A PARASITE

so hey his name is a pun this makes me laugh ridiculously hard every time I remember he is named. After a misdemeanor HSKSHDKFH

Jay is such an interesting case of a character for me because I started out the show not liking him. Which is. Stares at my entire account I think my feelings have changed somewhat

Jay starts out as an asshole I don’t think anyone can disagree with me there (although honestly they’re all assholes in early ninjago they bullied a ten year old and left him dangling several feet off the ground) but over the course of the show you can see him start developing into a much more interesting character. He goes from being so insecure he's faking everything about himself to someone who knows who he is and is so genuine about it

now yea we could argue about whether his character was too uwu-ified post-season 10 but this is the FUN HAN POST SO WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT the point is you can SEE the growth that Jay has gone through and I am going to show you that growth through what I call

✨ The Skybound to Prime Empire Effect ✨

I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THE IDEA THAT PRIME EMPIRE WAS WRITTEN TO BE A DIRECT PARALLEL OF SKYBOUND AND WAS CENTERED ON SHOWING HOW THE NINJA ESPECIALLY JAY HAVE GROWN THROUGHOUT THE SEASON

when season 12 rolls around we are at the point in Jay's development where he is CONFIDENT in who he is. He's a fun-loving jokester with the power of lightning and the drive to help people whenever he can. He uses jokes and humor to help alleviate tension and get people through whatever's happening. And when on his own what does he do?

BECOME AN ENTERTAINER BABEY

i like to think jay's club in prime empire was a safe haven for anyone stuck in the game who figured out hey. we Can't Leave and felt freaked about it. Also Jay would generally try and spread the word that hey something ISN'T RIGHT HERE which would lead people to want to stay with him

(totally plugging my friend's fic but this kind of thing is explored in would you like to enter prime empire by @finn-m-corvex y'all should check it out cool cool)

also the prime empire shorts which i watched all of in the midst of typing this video cuz i love them go watch them please please please jay was publically fighting the red visors which I imagine may have raised some red flags for some players

THIS SOMEHOW TURNED INTO PRIME EMPIRE INFODUMPING LMAO ANYWAYS Jay's confident! He becomes an entertainer because it's who he knows he is! And it's something that will get people hyped and having fun, which is very in-character for Jay to do! He uses those kinds of things to mask the Bad Things going on and get people remembering what's good

I've talked about this sort of thing before but that's Jay's whole philosophy as early as season 9! Which is a DIRECT contrast to how he views it in season 6, as Nadakhan puts it scarily accurately

"You make jokes to mask the fact that you're afraid"

(i was gonna grab a screenshot for that like i did with the hunted scene but netflix has bloCKED THE ABILITY TO TAKE SCREENSHOTS THE WAY I USED TO and i don't have them already and i'm too lazy to grab them from elsewhere so alas trust me he says it)

making jokes to hide your fear and using humor to remind yourself of what's good and coping with the bad are two VERY different outlooks on it

so I think this outlook is what drives him to make this glamrock persona in the first place - this is a bad situation, one he's in with other civilians, and what better way to keep him and themself safe until the others get there than throwing a big performance at a safe place!

also it's just so gender okay I want to look like Superstar Rockin' Jay so badly

it's also interesting to see his outlook on his parents change over time! In season six he finds out Ed and Edna aren't his birth parents and feels upset about it, not understanding why his birth parents would've abandoned him. In season twelve, that outlook changing is EXACTLY why Jay's able to get through to Unagami

"I was abandoned by my parents, too!... I never understood why, and I never had the chance to even ask. But I always hoped there was a good reason. What if there's a reason?"

(again curse you netflix i wanted SCREENSHOTS whatever whatever)

It's this scene that gets Unagami to calm down long enough for Milton Dyer to get there, and presumably is what stops him from just. Flattening him and Jay like a pancake.

to piggyback off of this i absolutely adore how Unagami and Jay consider each other adopted brothers in that one book I still haven't read and I hope he's in Dragons Rising at some point Unagami is my favorite "villain" (no longer a villain) in the whole show he deserves more screentime

like this is where i found out about this and it's plagued my mind ever since. i need to read. this book just for them

SO YEA OKAY Prime Empire is "Who is Jay as a Person Post-Skybound" to me also it opens up so many fascinating things about Jay. I rest my case

so backpedaling a little bit. JAY CARES SO MUCH ABOUT HIS PARENTS GUYS IT'S SO SOFT AND I'M sobs

like yea the first episode with Ed and Edna in it has Jay avoiding them like the plague but this gets explained very easily when you remember he was bullied for his home life before he became a ninja. It makes a lot more sense why he wouldn't want them around his new friends, assuming they'd react the same way. Also how was he supposed to know literally all the rest of the groups parents were either dead, presumed dead, or had a toxic relationship with their kid lmao

(Cole calling his mom kills me. Cole's mom is dead. I know they probably just didn't think that far ahead when writing the dialogue but it's so funny mans pretended to call his dead mom to get on Jay for not appreciating his parents iconic behavior)

anyways literally every episode Ed and Edna are central to (except like the one in skybound) Jay stops at nothing to protect his parents and it means the absolute world to me he's so much like them!! They raised an inventive little nerd and he will stop at nothing to make sure they're safe and it's. It's SO IMPORTANT TO ME OKAY

ALSO this is an excuse to clip my favorite piece of dialogue possibly in the entire show. Except Netflix won't let me now. So you just get the text dialogue

Jay's just fallen from the sky with a messed up eye and is incredibly distraught that all his friends are captured. And his dad just. The woRLD IS FALLING APART AND HE'S EATIN' SOUP-

Ed i love you

anyways

anways anyways this just turned into me rambling about prime empire and then Ed and Edna and a lot of disjointed other stuff but thank you for this opportunity i was going to also ramble about lloyd but i put this post in a word count and

yea i think that's enough for a tumblr post anyways! If anyone wants any like. More logically thought out and direct thoughts about characters feel free to send me asks this was fun thank u @zaptrap for this opportunity to scream about jay

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

Finished series, Fall 2023: Akuma-kun (2023)

"What is happiness to all humans? Are they happy if there's ample food, clothing, and shelter? Do they want self-fulfillment? Recognition from others? The psychologist Maslow said--" "Hold on. Hey, Ichiro. What is happiness to you?" "To me?"

[herebecritters]

First of all, let me start by saying, Geshtu is absolutely, completely, and irrevocably insane.

Of the three, he is the least sane. Now this isn’t me saying “HAHA HES COOKOO HAHA WOW WHAT A MANIAC” No it’s not like that at all. You see, the thing about Geshtu is that he doesn’t seem “insane” at all, in fact, compared to Nergal and Dumuzi he comes across as perfectly put together.

The thing about Geshtu is that he is completely convinced by his own delusions. And he has convinced himself so fully of these delusions that he has not only sold them to himself but also to others. The voices he hears, to him, are completely real. He believes so wholeheartedly that he is a vessel for Theias voice that he puts on this complete and divine demeanor. He seems more sane than the others because he carries himself that way.

Dumuzi knows she has problems and she hides from them. Nergal definitely knows he has some screws loose but he embraces it. Geshtu, meanwhile, instead of pushing down his insanity like Dumuzi or embracing it like Nergal, he strides side by side with his.

Now let’s go back to the late Cretaceous where Geshtu grew up. Small groups of family camps were common throughout the Mesozoic, even moreso than villages such as where Cro, Dumuzi, and Nergal were raised. These groups would travel to trade with other family camps, exchanging information, intermingling, ect. But afterwards they’d return to their own family burrow to live their lives. They were foragers and hunters. Geshtus family in particular specialized in fishing and insect hunting.

Geshtu was still Geshtu. He was always a little more quiet and methodical than his other siblings, traits he’s kept with him.

So I’ve mentioned on the backstory posts before how most mammals during the Mesozoic lived nocturnally for their own safety. The large reptilian predators at the time were mostly diurnal so there was less risk of being ripped apart and eaten at night. But there are always exceptions.

One night, as the family was waking to begin their evening routines, there was a scratching above the burrow. And then the ceiling fell through.

A pack of stenonychosaurus, a species of Troodontid, had dug their way into the burrow. They had been invaded. The Stenonychosaurus pack flooded into the burrow and made short work of maiming and devouring the entire family.

Geshtu got hurt, not horribly but enough to cause him to fall and become temporarily disoriented. He would be next if he did not find a place to hide. As he frantically looked around, he noticed a beam of moonlight breaking through the torn overhead of his families burrow. The light washed over a bundle of rocks and debris that had fallen from the ceiling and there was a small gap between them. Small enough for him to fit.

While the troodons were preoccupied with their current meals, Geshtu managed to crawl over to the small opening and discreetly push himself inside it undetected. And he hid there, unable to do anything but watch and wait as his family was torn apart in front of him.

Eventually the troodons finished feeding, were filled, and left. Not much was left behind, save for a few bodies still intact. Geshtu cautiously creeped out of his hiding spot after the coast was clear and went to check on what bodies he could, hoping to find survivors. He found one body that seemed fairly intact, he dragged it out of the pile of death and tried to lift it up into a sitting position. It fell back over with a heavy thud. Blood was everywhere, his tail dragged in it, it coated his hands. No one but him was left alive among the wreckage.

Realizing the hopelessness of his endeavor he backed up against the burrow wall. He covered his eyes with his hands, hoping that by not being able to see the wreckage anymore, it would disappear. Maybe when he removed his hands it would have turned out to all be a nightmare. But when he did, everything was still as it had been.

The moonlight shone down on him from the burrows exit. Its guidance had saved him from the slaughter, so he decided to follow it again. He limped out of the burrow into the open night and made his way to the family creek that sat just outside to wash the blood off his hands. It was then that he caught his reflection in the water. The blood from his hands had marked his face and he could see it now. And, reflected above his head in the water, he saw the moon. Full and bright and comforting. He took this as a sign that the moon had marked him, and he was reborn under it. So he ceased washing it away, stood up, stared at the moon, and began to follow it.

And so Geshtu walked. And walked. And walked. Staring up at the moon the entire time. He needed to understand. He needed to know why this happened and why it had saved him. He walked for a long time. And when the moon dipped below the atmosphere and the sun rose, he’d slink into whatever shelter he could find to rest. But when the moon arose again, he’d come out, and continue his pilgrimage, always staring directly at the moon, resulting in him moonblinking himself.

The more he walked, the more the pain faded. He grew more at peace the longer he walked and stared. Like the moon herself was taking away all the hurt for him. His circumstance began to feel less like a tragedy and more like fate. Eventually, he could hear her singing. First just a light humming, but eventually he began to hear words along with it. Crisp and clear and ringing throughout him. She spoke her name, Theia.

He walked for a very long time. Probably a few years. Just him and the moon. He traveled far, restaining his markings whenever he had the opportunity. He was born in blood and would be forever stained by it. On his journey, he’d occasionally run into passerby’s and other burrows, but these meetings were short and fleeting.

One night though, the moon led him into a small village. And when Geshtu entered, he knew he heard Theia say, “Here.”

At first the villagers were unsure of him but helping other mammals traveling through was not unheard of for him. And Geshtu looked rough. He was a strange foreign vagabond with even stranger markings. But he showed them no hostility and they took him in and fed him. He was quiet but otherwise was grateful and polite.

Eventually he started murmuring prophesies to the people there. Little ones like “theia says the ridge to the west has the best seed gatherings” or “Theia warns not to go near the badlands on this night, there’s something malicious there…” and, by complete chance, almost all of these ended up true.

So now people were convinced that he really could hear the moon speaking to him and that the Theia was their friend. She was looking out for the little creatures of the night, who lived hiding in fear of the monsters of the daylight. And so Geshtu became trusted as the Villages Shaman, sent by Theia herself. He was the one people went to for divine advice

And that’s how he found his place there. He was convinced that his family HAD to die for this greater purpose. It was all supposed to happen. He was meant to come here and he was meant to save these people. The voices guide him to protect these creatures of the night, he is simply an agent of Theia. He believes wholeheartedly in everything Theia tells him. And…they say if you believe something hard enough the energy can manifest itself into reality. And so they eventually would. He, Dumuzi, and Nergal would eventually will themselves into godhood and bring forth a horror unlike any other.

[solradguy]

Do you crazy cats know about Paolo Girardi, the extremely physically powerful and artistically powerful metal band album cover artist & wrestler?

He's an icon, honestly. I'd almost remake an Instagram account just to keep up with him.

King shit. I could look at his work for hours. It's all oil paint, he doesn't work digitally at all. Here's an article with more information about him and some works that can't be posted on social media (they're nsfw): dangerousminds.net

He's on Facebook and Instagram as paologirardipainter.

[hillian-sketch]

Please, rant to me about whatever is on your mind.

Whatever is on my mind? Ok

The deferent type of demon in my world and how to identify them explained by Hillian, here you go Hillian *give Hillian a mic*

H:thank you Mx creator

H:ok so there 3 comment types of demon there's the imp the succubus and the demon

H:the imp is the weakest type of demon they aren't as physically strong as a demon or as magical as a succubus, how to identify an imp

H:imp's are relatively short with the tallest an imp ever gets being 5,0ft, they have red skin and white or black hair/horn, and their eyes are a bright yellow

H:succubus are stronger than the imp's and weaker than the demons but they are more magical, how to identify a succubus

H:the succubus is usually about average height, with their hair, skin, horn, eyes and wings colour being the same colour, they have ater bat like wings or bird like wigs

H: demon are the strongest type of demon, being stronger than both the imp and succubus, but being weaker in magic than the succubus

H: how to identify a demon, demon are usually taller than the average height of humans, they have normal human skin colour and their hair and eye colour are dependent on their rank,

H:the ranking system of hell works like this, even before birth you are already given a rank and your eye and hair colour shows what rank you are, the rarer the eye and hair colour the higher the rank

H:while the horn tail and wing colours are dependent on which rings of hell you are born in

H:•Red is for pride

•Orange is for wrath

•Yellow is for gluttony

•Green is for greed

•Blue is for lust

•Dark pink is for envy

•Purple is for sloth

H: and that Ms Mr and Mx are the type of demon and how to identify them

H:if you have more to ask or have something specific you want to ask please do so I'm always here to answer them for you

[nono-uwu]

First oc post i am shaking crying throwing up for multiple reasons and also anxious as hell- anyways, meet the man, the failure disaster gay, the forever doomed ginger(derogatory/lh)

I forgot to add his birthday omg, it's march 13th

Lore utc (i wrote a lot lmao), the uh post ch 134 stuff will be elaborated on later (or if asked. Actually, ask me anything about him. And my other oc's once they're posted. Please. I will answer in great detail. I also need a distraction. Pls.)

So basically, among the first few vampires (a 4th progenitor to be percise) turned by Shikama was a woman who showed great potential for spells and magic. She had a loving husband and child which she tragically lost in an accident. Upon turning into a vampire, her family was still the only thing on her mind. She accepted to help Shikama in his endeavors to revive Mikaela since she hoped she could revive her own family in the proccess. Unfortunately it didn't work. Disillusioned, she abandoned vampire kind and started searching for the possible reincarnation of her beloved husband, whom she may be able to have a child with and have family again.

Fast forward a a lot, and I mean a lot, of years and she arrived in 60s japan. None of the people she had hope for turned out to be the reincarnation of her late husband until that fateful day. She encountered a (rather pathetic may I add) man in his late 20s and it was like a miracle. The woman cornered the man in disbelief and from this awkward first meeting blossomed true love. Then everything went to shit lmaooo

The first problem was that the mans family didn't approve of the woman. Tough this didn't stop their love. Next was the issue of bearing a child, something that a vampire simply can't do. Well, an ordinary one but this woman was anything but ordinary. By some impossible miracle she bore a child. A biological child. (GIRL HOW?? We will never know and frankly, i don't want to think about it💀)

The child was, as expected tbh, kind of a disaster. Already born with pointy ears and sharp fangs. The child needed both human food and blood to properly sustain themselves. Drinking blood outside of their family would permanently stop their aging. Despite this, the couple was overjoyed. (And then named their child "mistake" bc that would help /s.) They named him "Machigai". Why tho?? I dunno man something along the lines of "a mistake but the best mistake of their life" bruh

So after Machigai was old enough to walk, but not old enough to remember, the mother diappeared, leaving father and child behind. The father did his best to raise such an... extraordinary child but it was understandably kind of impossible. Machigai grew up alone and isolated from his peers. He was always wearing a hood of some kind and rarley opened his mouth to talk. In high school, he met a girl who he became good friends with but she is another oc I'll post about sometime adlf,wpl.

Anyways! Come Machigai's high school graduation and 18th birthday, his father... disappeared. All he left was a note saying, that Machigai now owned the apartment and that there is enough blood in the fridge to sustain Machigai's thrist while he could grow and mature. To an already depressed and disillusioned Machigai this obviously didn't help. Throughout the next years he became a shut in, who only left the house if absolutely necessary. All he did all day was play video games, watch tv and later be on the internet. Once he ran out of his fathers blood was when things changed. He had to go out and actually find a new source of blood. Welp, sorry to unlucky bastards who went into dark alleyways at night bc these types of people became Machigai's source of blood. (That's when he stopped aging)

On one of these nightly escapades, Machigai was greeted by a large man in a neat black suit who called himself "Saito". Saito claimed to have known Machigai's mother and offered a deal: Machigai would offer up his unique constitution to the Hyakuya sect's research and in turn get a well paying job and a guaranteed source of blood. He agreed. "Welcome to the Hyakuya sect. I look forward to your performance"

Machigai was practically a lab rat for the development of cursed gear. Thanks to his half-n-half physiology he could tank wounds from cursed gear/magic n shit while still providing useful data to how effective it is. During this time Machigai aquired knowledge of vampire culture(?), became familiar with magic and it's quirks and learned how to perform simple spells and whatnot.

Around 2011, when the internet was already fairly well used, Machigai came across a forum dedicated to paranormal sightings. Various users claimed that a secluded spot in Kyoto was home to vampires. (Ferid was the one spreading these rumors btw) Most would have dissmissed this as someone wanting attention, yet Machigai was intrigued. He was well aware that vampires existed across the world but he mever knew how to actually contact them. Perhaps out of morbid curiosity, perhaps out of a genuine want for connection with people like him, he went to check out the spot. There, he met none other than the eccentric Ferid Bathory who specifically manufactured the rumor to meet Machigai (extra much?). He was well aware of Machigai's work for Rígr "Saito" Stafford and was trying to one up his father by stealing his most prized lab-rat. Machigai declined, not trusting a single thing out of that vampires mouth. Ferid left, already proclaiming that one day Machigai would be working for him.

Machigai stuck around that area as it was already well into the night and public transport wouldn't start up until the early morning. There he met another vampire: Crowley Eusford. Their meeting wasn't planned or meticulously calculated, it was actually rather awkward. Their chat was meaningless and short but in the end leagues above whatever Ferid likes to plan. Crolwey has already unwillingly heard about this curious being from Ferid and seeing Machigai himself left him wanting to learn more about him. Machigai was left a little hopeful, that perhaps it's not too late for him to look for connections.

So the apocalypse rolls around-

Machigai makes a deal with Saito that in exchange for his freedom (*eagle screech*) he would keep his mouth shut about anything the Hyakuya sect discovered while Machigai was there.

Machigai seeks out the Demon Army where he successfully keeps his half vampire identity a secert until someone on his squad gets blackmailed into revealing it. Before that, he gets a cursed weapon, a pair of daggers. And lo and behold, the demon possessing the daggers is his own mother. Unfortunately since the now demonic mother didn't witness Machigai growing up, she falsey believes to be able to still shape Machiagi to her will. After getting locked up by the army, Machigai completley gives up, only wishing for his miserable existence to end (spoiler: It won't! Ever. :) ). He ultimately loses any and all trust he has in humanity or just anything in general.

After about half a year of grueling torture and some experimentation, Machigai gets freed (kidnapped) by Ferid and promptly brought to Kyoto Sangiuem. Krul Tepes, finding Machigai to be useful in her fake-ish war against humanity and whatever she's planning with Yuu and Mika, lets him be part of the japanese vampires under Ferids faction. Ferid found himself unwilling to deal with the often uncooperative and irritated new "recruit" so he did what he does best and made it Crowley's problem.

After a rather agressive and disrespectful first impression, Machigai was officially a... coworker? of Crowley and thus also Chess and Horn in Nagoya. The three got the additional task by Ferid to somehow domesticate this feral and angry stray animal and get him to open up. At least that's how Ferids orders were phrased. Shenanigans, Drama and FeelingsTM ensue.

(How did I write so much??)

[berisims]

The Three Sages.

"Ÿ̶͖͙̦̄̒ͅo̵͓̓̅͗̈́u̷̠͖͔͆͜ ̷̨͙̞̅͛̏͆m̷̡̙̘͖̽̈ü̶̱͂s̴̜͌̽t̷͚͛́͆͊ ̴̱̮̠̭̎̒̽b̴̮̑ư̴̼̱̦̈͝r̶̳̮͕̦͊͂̈n̵̡̲͍͒̇ͅ ̷̮͔͓͊f̶̳̩̺̌̄̕ơ̵̯̽͂͝r̷̫̔̓̓̔ ̵̧͈̾̈́̊͝w̵͔̎̅̉h̷̡̡̙͗̂͛ä̵̙́t̵͈̩̭̺̀̿̊͐ ̸̟͓̲̉̀̕̚y̷̦̘̞͗̎͆o̷̟̒͛u̸̻̿͑'̶̲̣͊̋v̸̨͌͛̐ę̴͖͑̔͗ ̵̧̬̘̈̈́͒̋ͅb̴͎͙́ę̴͕͒c̶̻̋ö̷̰́m̵̡̪̯̪̾͊̆e̵̢̛̮̘̬̊͝͝"

--- / / ---

Poses: @helgatisha | @sciophobis | @akuiyumi | @starrysimsie | @honeyssims4 | @roselipaofficial | @cazmari-mods

[soma-shitposts]

Hello!!!!!!!! Hope you're having a nice day!!!! I'm insane about your SOMA au, it's so nice to see an au where Simon is spared from The Horrors

Your au has so much potential and I think that's really neat, was anyone there when Simon woke up? Imagine how scary it must be if you're a pathos employee just chilling and then one of the dive suits gains sentience and starts freaking out, I'd hate to be the one to explain to him that he's not human and he's 100 years in the future

You said in one of your posts that he becomes the poster guy for robot rights, what did he do to become that popular? I'm genuinely curious about what some guy at the bottom of the ocean can do to become a major figure in what sounds like a civil rights movement

*emerges from the salt marsh covered in conference presentation abstracts and barnacles* oml I haven’t thought deeply about my beloved Paranoid Android of Pathos II AU in too long… I’m so glad that goofy little concept has been fun for you too!

1. Was anyone there when Simon woke up?

Kind of? In my head the diving suit+scanner was an abandoned pet project of Catherine’s that was quite literally shoved in a closet somewhere when other projects began to take priority. (The world isn’t ending; research is just Like That sometimes.) The closet happened to have a structure gel leak which contaminated the suit and bam! Simon is Very Confused and concerned about suddenly being in a closet. Catherine is in her office at the time, so hyper focused on her work she doesn’t really hear him come out of the closet and when he asks where he is/what’s going on she kind of assumes he’s a technician that got lost until she turns around and promptly Nopes Out. Explaining to him that he’s not human and 100 years in the future is Ross’ job (AI psychologist - that’s kind of in his job title, right?)

2. Why does Simon have international acclaim for pioneering android rights?

I’m not gonna lie that was a joke based entirely on the crack premise of him getting arrested for stealing from the on-station Panera Bread restaurant (which is entirely my own ridiculous invention for silliness purposes). I guess the reason why the world would care is because like…you arrested a robot. Does the robot’s ‘creator’ get prosecuted or does the robot? I imagine the case was dropped because it was so absurd and had never happened before but it technically set the precedent that a) AI scans are independent of their physical ‘creators’ and b) are entitled to basic rights insofar as the legal system and its proceedings.

A bit of a stretch to call it a civil rights movement since Simon is the only scan that’s ‘awake’ although I’m sure the Carthage Industries Ethics Committee is having a hell of a time figuring out if they need to stop using such scans/should they try to make more androids like Simon for profit/etc. Bad day to be in the corporate offices.

…although I reiterate that factoid was born from the joke premise of Simon stealing from Panera. A restaurant on Pathos II. At the bottom of the ocean. Because Carthage Industries has taste. So this is all a goofy crack scenario anyway lol

[cirrus-grey]

I know it's kind of the point, the passions of man versus the indifferent cruelty of nature, but it is amazing to me how much the Whale in Moby Dick just does not give a fuck.

The whole book sets it up as this malicious, intelligent demon that has it out for humans and wants to kill them all, and then when the Pequod finally catches up to it it's just... puttering along, enjoying the weather, having a grand old time. Even after they attack it and it destroys one of the boats it just kind of sits in the water nearby swatting at debris with its tail and ignoring them. Even at the end, the final destruction of the ship and deaths of all the crew, it kind of just has this attitude of like. Hey. You. I thought I told you to fuck off. Like -

Ahab: From Hell's heart I stab at thee!

The Whale: Oh, not you again. 🙄

[bunny-banana]

Hey, sorry to be random but what did Gregor do? I am a bit out of the loop it seems

hey bestieeeeee, sit back and enjoy the ride

Okay, I assume you know about the classics like the whole inapproriate suicide jokes about Finland thing, and the whole Ukraine war is a "war of two people" thing and that time he told someone to stop being greedy on ig.

But what I'm referencing tonight is his latest story from their gig. The caption said smth like "are any girls ready to rock tonight?" Many people found that 1) bit odd because that implies the entire JO fanbase is made up from underaged girls. like sir, I'm older than half this band wym "girls". and more importantly 2) its uncomfortable that he's singling out "girls" specifically. He could have said "is everyone ready to rock" but he didn't. its girls, specifically.

What I also found out today is that he apparently he texted some fans back in May his location for an upcoming JO gig and how the boys might be there too. The thing is, most of these things are minor mishaps if at all. Yes, the suicide joke was undoubtedly inappropriate, and that one time he told fans on IG to not be greedy was also rude. But all things considered, its nothing really huge yet. But there's just an uncomfortable atmosphere in the room nevertheless. He's becoming way too chummy with fans, way too involved with them through DM's which in itself is becoming.....odd. The whole "i'll text you our location thing" is also just strange, because what would the potential circumstances be? you arrive at some location, with him alone. the boys MIGHT be there (but also they might NOT be. and if theyre not, what will you do????) And the story from today à "are any girls here ready to party?".... y'know "girls" implies younger fans, who in turn are also more impressionable and manipulable. Maybe some 17 year old would have replied with "yes!! im right here!!" And on another note, as the band's PR manager, I just dont think you should say all that shit on your public profile. You're a public person, this isn't your private IG account where you can have all sorts of banter with ur mates. Saying some insensitive shit and/or fucking things up with the fans will also reflect badly on the lads even if they aren't the ones at fault.

in summary: even if he genuinely only has good intentions in mind is almost irrelevant because it just comes off as sketchy and creepy.

[bookish-library]

The Underworld stretches before a ship that seems starkly out of place, vibrant in color and teeming with a life that the abyss did not have. The crew peers around the ship, mist obscuring any hope they had of a clear path. Screams echo throughout the cavern, seeming to not only come from the river below, but also from around the ship, putting the crew on edge.

"Help me!" they beg, "Please, I was not meant to be here!"

But the crew, steadfastly following the orders of their Captain, carry on, glancing warily around at the mist around them as if they expected the screams to gain a body and leap at them. Some glances travel ahead to land on the captain, heading the ship from the bow. His gaze scans the misty landscape in hopes of finding a path to the prophet Tiresias, the only hope of getting back home.

Home. That was a place he thought of often. Everything I do is for them. In his mind's eye, an oft-remembered scene plays. His wife, his beloved, holding in her arms the reason he went off to war. Telemachus.

Wait for me, my loves, I am coming.

His longings for home are interrupted by a piercing scream, one that tugs at his heart and makes his breath skip.

"CAPTAIN!"

He turns to face his crew, cloak nearly catching on the railing in his haste. His eyes dart over his ship, landing on each of his crew members, but nothing seems amiss.

"CAPTAIN!" the disjointed cry comes, echoing around, above and below.

The captain rushes to the side, fearing the worst. But what he finds are not the cries of a crew member fallen overboard, callused hands reaching to other members of the crew for rescue. Instead, peering out from the misty river below, are faces.

Faces, once known and treasured, are now disfigured and almost unrecognizable, appearing in the sea of faces one moment, only to melt into the crowd and be replaced with another the next. Ghostly hands reach up towards the ship, only to be pulled down and quickly replaced with another. As the captain stares in horror at the sight below him, his ears begin to make sense of their keening cries.

"Captain! Captain, you left us! How could you let the thing that killed us live?"

"I have a wife and daughter, I just want to see them again!"

"Captain, please, help us!"

"You've become a monster, taking mercy on things that have none!"

"You mock us! Ruthlessness is the only MERCY!"

The captain staggers back, hands raising involuntarily to block out the screams of his dead crew still rising all around the ship. His eyes squeeze shut in some desperate hope that that would help erase the sight of his crew’s fate. 

As the ship continues on, the screams begin to quiet. But to the man on the bow of the ship, there is one that remains, a reminder of that fateful night. An echoing cry that rings only in his mind, bringing to mind the image of a child, wrapped in cloth. 

A touch on the shoulder startles him back into the moment. The first mate says nothing, only gestures to a ghostly stone wall that has appeared to the right of the bow. The captain, cries of a child unknown and a child loved echoing in his mind, steps forward to analyze this new obstacle in their path. The echoes of metal clashing can be heard faintly in the distance, seeming to come from behind the wall that stretches ahead and behind without end. 

In the distance, there is a figure on the top of the wall, shoulders hunched with the weight of the bundle in its arms. The captain can do nothing but watch as the figure raises up the bundle and, with a ghostly sigh that seems to come from all around, lets it fall. Withdrawing an outstretched hand, the man given the responsibility of captain clutches his cloak to his chest in a desperate bid to keep from echoing the cries that have faded from his ears but not his mind.

The man’s legs shake, threatening to give out. He reaches for the railing, knuckles white. Heaving breaths consume him as he tries to hold his composure. Nononono, I did this to get us home, I did this to make us safe. Mind spiraling, the words that float through the air are nearly missed. The ghostly words seem to dispel the wall and wrap the ship in a ghostly embrace. 

“This life is amazing, when you greet it with open arms…”

“Polites…” the whispered name slips out of the captain’s mouth, uttered for the first time since the man’s death. 

“Whatever we face, we’ll be fine if we’re leading from the heart…”

Spinning to face the direction of the voice, the captain rushes to the other side of the bow. In the distance, a figure slowly becomes clearer, a hand lifted above its head in a greeting. Hand moving almost automatically, the captain returns it as the ship moves closer. Can it be…?

Surrounded by lush greenery and standing on a sandy path, the figure looks content, even in death. A smile on its face, only slightly obscured by the mist, the figure reaches out, not in a cry for help, but as if to invite its listener in.  

“No matter the place, we can light up the world, here’s how to start: greet the world with open arms…”

The captain chokes back a cry, as he lays eyes on a man he never thought he would be able to again. The ship, nearly past the figure, continues on, the captain nearly hanging off the side as he listens to the figure’s fading last words.

“Greet the world with open arms!”

The silence left by the figure is filled only by the rocking of the ship, then, a broken whisper, “Polites…”

The captain, a semblance of a goodbye said, inhales, turns his back on the ghost of his friend, and stops short at the sight of another spirit wandering past, ghostly call echoing throughout the cavern.

“Waiting, waiting…”

It can’t be. Please, no! 

“Mom?” The man’s voice cracks at the sight a child never hopes to see but knows one day must come. 

“Waiting… Odysseus when you come home, I’ll be waiting…”

The figure, a woman, wanders through the river, hands cupped to her face as if to help amplify her message to a son that could never hear her in life.

“Even if you’re the last thing I see, I’ll be waiting…”

The captain rushes to the bow of the ship, calling in desperate hopes of being heard over the spirit’s echoing “waiting…”

 “I’m right here, Mom! Can’t you see, I’m waiting!”

The spirit calls on, the echo of the captain’s call seeming to never reach it. 

I’ve been gone too long, the captain despairs, I ventured too far. Oh, forgive me!

In spite of, or perhaps without knowledge of, that her son would never hear her in life, the spirit continues calling, desperate to comfort the son she would never see again. 

“I’ll always love you. I’ll stay in your life, waiting…”

“Waiting…”

“Waiting…”

“Waiting…” the captain echoes, voice trailing off, unable to bear the thought of the figure’s broken heart.

But as the reverberations start to fade, the spirit turns, not in surprise, but with acceptance written on her face. Lips parting in a sad smile, eyes full of love, the spirit raises her hand in farewell, her call echoing in tandem with the captain’s whisper, “waiting…”

Her figure, once again becoming enshrouded in shadow, turns to begin its wandering once more, its call silenced in the peace of knowing it has been heard. 

“Goodbye, Mom.”

The silence that the two spirits brought is shattered as screams once again pierce the air. The man, taking a deep breath to fortify himself in the peace of a goodbye he didn’t know he needed to make, once again dons the mask of the captain and turns back to the bow of his ship, leaving the screams to echo behind him.

“Please, help!”

“Have mercy!”

“Don’t leave us!”

“Captain!”

Your past is always close behind, down in the Underworld!