tellescope - Tumblr blog

[tellescope]

//I've seen some older blogs being revived on my dash. Welcome back to the folks returning! I'm posting this for anyone among them who hasn't checked my blog to see it:

Aside from the rare exception, I am not here these days. I am over at @starlighttrain. If you still want to write with me I'd be glad to have you there! You don't need to know the fandom/media and crossovers are welcomed.

[tellescope]

They are already selling data to midjourney, and it's very likely your work is already being used to train their models because you have to OPT OUT of this, not opt in. Very scummy of them to roll this out unannounced.

[tellescope]

Since it's not always made obvious in-game, especially since some facts only come to light in BS2's multiplayer (which is ever harder to get a match in, let alone progress lore), and my Atlas is AU to begin with, I feel I should elaborate on what I mean when I say in his page that he's done some "horrific things" in his life.

This is long as I'm also providing elaboration for those unfamiliar with BioShock so they can truly understand the reasoning for and scope of these atrocities.

I reiterate before you read this that Atlas is now a changed man. He heavily regrets what he has done and is trying to atone.

First up, the Kashmir. This fancy restaurant reserved for Rapture's upper crust was the host of a grand New Year's Eve party meant to ring in 1959. This was known long in advance so the rich folks could make their reservations. Everyone who was anyone was going to be there, particularly since Andrew Ryan himself was supposed to give a speech.

Atlas was in prison at the time, locked up with his and Fontaine's followers in the Fontaine Department Store building that had been separated from the rest of the city, supposedly on charges of dissent. But Johnny had found a radio and with some work Atlas had learned the right frequencies to get info from his folks back in Rapture that hadn't been found out. He learned of the Kashmir's party plans. And he realized this was the perfect setup.

Rapture had been simmering, tensions between the upper crust and the poor bubbling away for a long time, finally coming to a head where if they didn't do something soon they'd never be able to. The upper crust needed to see that the class divide was bullshit, that Rapture was supposed to be a utopia away from all that, where everyone could thrive. And at this point the only thing that would ever open their eyes to the people they trod upon were drastic measures.

Sure, they could've tried peacefully. Stage a protest and blockade the party or something. But would that really have won them anything? Just annoyance and more sweeping under the rug. No, they'd done enough protests with no results. This was war. And his followers agreed.

His followers may have been the ones to plant the bombs, but the plan was his. So when they went off the blame fell to Atlas. And rightly so. Atlas was responsible for all the lives lost when the restaurant exploded.

And that kicked off the civil war in full.

"NEW YEAR'S NIGHTMARE -- Terrorists Bomb Kashmir … Death Toll Rising!" "'FOR FONTAINE!' -- Atlas Lays Claim to Kashmir… 'Ryan doesn't own us', declares Rebel Leader." "WAR!… Atlas Declared Public Enemy #1 as Fighting Takes to Streets!"

Rapture Standard newspaper headlines after the bombing. He would go on to take more lives during the war.

Next, the Little Sisters. These girls were the results of Tenenbaum's and Suchong's awful experiments. They had the sea slug that produces ADAM implanted in their stomach lining, as experiments showed that made the slug produce more. This process changed them, turning their skin a deathly pallor and their eyes a haunting yellow. They were conditioned, brainwashed, into seeing the city as a happy utopia where they would follow their fathers around to help the sleeping angels. In reality they were extracting ADAM from corpses by stabbing them with needle-like collectors to recycle it in their body so the city always had a fresh supply of the drug that gave people the upper-hand. They suffered and were used as tools in the war. As Elizabeth notes, "This world values children, not childhood."

It was godawful but unless you were spliced out of your mind on ADAM you left the girls alone. Their protectors, the Big Daddies, men turned to monsters forever stuck in massive diving suits armed with enormous drills and nothing left of their minds save for 'protect the girl', enforced that idea. Going after a Little Sister for her ADAM was not only suicide, but a monstrous thing; you're killing a child.

By this point in the war Moira and Patrick had been murdered as retaliation for the Kashmir and Atlas was seeing red. The only thing left in his life was this battle, and by god he was not going down without a fight. His followers needed ADAM. And they had people to spare.

He would map the vent system the girls used and periodically organize raids on common Big Daddy routes. He didn't see the Little Sisters as children anymore. Given what was done to them he saw them as monsters. He says as much to Tenenbaum directly in-game; ❝Took fine little girls and turned 'em into that, didn't ya?❞ So, if they aren't innocent little girls anymore, if they're just creatures who have ADAM, then it's fine. It's all fine. And his side has people to spare.

The raiding parties would go after Big Daddies to get at their Little Sisters. And it would cost them heavily. "We lost McGee, Epstein, and Valette." Diane once reported to Atlas after such a raid. And this was the norm. But in return they had captured a Little Sister for her ADAM.

Do you know how to get ADAM from a Little Sister? Ideally you'd wait for her to regurgitate it. But that doesn't get you much and you'd have to let her go again to get more. If you want a ton of ADAM and are short on time and morals, you kill the girl for the slug and get it direct from the source.

"How do you wage war against Ryan?… He is the Plasmid Industry… Atlas says Ryan's weapons only work if he's got ammo, but I'm afraid to ask what he means…" - Michael Tobet

Plus as he hinted at with Michael this method means that the enemy can't get any of that ADAM. You've taken it from them. A step toward victory.

Atlas was responsible for knowingly sending people to their death, and murdering children.

"CHILD KILLER!… Little Sister Attacks on the Rise … Atlas to Blame!" - Newspaper headline

In relation to the killing of Little Sisters, he also inadvertently drove a woman to suicide over it.

"I know we can barely feed ourselves… but I know I'll never forgive myself… What kind of mother abandons her daughter outside an orphanage?" - Elise Tobet "Michael saw Adelaide today… being led around by one of Ryan's metal monsters, drawing blood from the corpses outside the Bathysphere Station… What have they done?" - Elise Tobet "Atlas says the Little Sisters aren't girls anymore--they're Ryan's monsters… Does that make Adelaide a monster?… Because they don't sound like monsters when we take them… They cry… Lord help me, they cry…" - Michael Tobet "Everyone may cheer when we return from a raid, but no one says a word when those tiny, broken bodies start to burn." - Elise Tobet "She's watching me through the flames… The fire is too hot, Adelaide; you need to close your eyes… Stop looking at mommy… please stop looking at mommy…" - Elise Tobet "No one seems to know what happened… Atlas says Elise just walked into the fire… She didn't say a word… didn't even scream… not until the very end." - Michael Tobet

And finally, Jack. The young man whose strings Atlas pulled. You can find more details on the sort of experiments that were done to Jack over here. The most important one is the conditioning to obey any order given with a certain phrase; Would You Kindly.

Atlas did not set out to pull Jack's strings. I've established this. For a while he didn't even know what it did to Jack. It was just part of Atlas' usual lexicon and he used the phrase as normal. But after a few incidents of noticing odd behavior after it he paid more attention. He eventually figured it out. He may not have known why the phrase worked like that, why Jack obeyed anything accompanying those words without question, but he knew it happened. And he used that to his advantage.

He told himself it was only for emergencies. If the situation was dire and Jack really needed to get his ass in gear or shit was gonna go sideways, then he'd use it. Like when they were running out of air because Arcadia was dying; he used the phrase on an exhausted Jack to force him to get moving with the Lazarus Vector that would save them.

There were several other moments like this. It wasn't often but Atlas did knowingly and willingly use Jack's trigger phrase to control him. Around the last third of the game when Jack gets cured of his conditioning Atlas apologizes, but it caused a rift for a bit.

He still feels he owes Jack for that and has been attempting to repay the lad ever since.

As said on his page Atlas has enough skeletons that his closet is close to bursting. But he's changed since then. He truly regrets it all and is trying to atone.

But even so, he's still convinced he doesn't deserve redemption.

[tellescope]

     So that's the angle, then? Pity and a bleedin' heart? Christ. He's reminded o' Jackie and oh the effort it takes to still his tongue and prevent the usual reprimand; that kindness'll get ya killed. But this ain't Rapture, now is it? And Atlas ain't no splicer who'll turn on someone at the drop of a hat for a quick fix. If the doc wants to indulge that bleedin' heart then fine. Let 'em. It ain't takin' advantage if they offered.      The tray of drinks smells divine; he's always been a sucker for a decent coffee and Rapture's brands never quite hit the mark. Ingrained habit says take one. There's plenty, no-one needs that many bleedin' coffees. But the doc's likely got 'em for other mouths to feed (he knows the feeling) so he holds back, leaves the tray alone, and glances up when they return with some sort o' bread?      Well cherry ain't his favorite but beggars can't be choosers. 'sides, when was the last time he had fruit that didn't taste like the tin it was canned in? Or an actual goddamn pastry? The bakeries all fell apart when the war started. Most shops did. (and whose fault is that?)      Atlas warily eyes the food and the surprise coffee offered, (when things seem too good to be true—) but takes 'em anyway. Doc's seemin' more like Jack with every minute. Generous soul. Maybe they'll get lucky and it won't bite 'em in the arse.      A single bite and swallow before a sharp bark of a laugh at the question. He's soaked 'cause he had to run through a leaking tunnel to reach safety, but that question strikes true in different way.

     ❝In a sense.❞ 'Bout a decade o' swimmin' in that godforsaken city. And despite the friend he's made in Jack, it wasn't worth any of it. ❝Piece o' advice, lad? Stick to dry land.❞ A sip of the proffered coffee, savoring the sweetness of the caramel, before a somewhat judgmental question can't be held back. ❝Do ya always offer yer stuff to any poor sap that catches yer eye?❞

"I getta watch you eat something. You look like you could use it." Look, TK wasn't saying, you look super hungry actually, but the guy looked super hungry, actually, not to mention drenched, and TK did not mind collecting an excess of cherry danishes and an extra coffee. "Hey, wait there, OK?" the coffee truck was gonna pack up soon - TK ditched the tray of coffees he'd been carrying (the 126's morning run) on the bench beside the man, already palming his wallet and off at a jog in the direction of additional sustenance.

"Hope you like cherry," was how he returned not three minutes later, the golden pastry half-wrapped up in a brown paper bag he passed in Atlas' direction: "Coffee machine was off but you can have mine, I shouldn't drink that stuff anyway." Never mind that Atlas was dripping wet, TK collected his tray of coffees and sat down right beside him, comfortable, legs spread a little. He pulled out the offending coffee cup (a caramel oat something - not in line with Dad's current health kick) and set it down, eyeing Atlas thoughtfully.

Dude was, like, drenched. They were lucky it was summer.

"You, uh. You just get done swimming?"

[tellescope]

//On one hand I am so fucking excited thanks to the Death Stranding 2 trailer!! :D It looks confusing as hell and I'm so ready to learn how all that shit happened.

On the other hand, where is the crew from the first game?? I miss them already :( You cannot just take the Bridges family away from us, Kojima!

They were such a tight-knit found family by the end. I know Sam had attachment issues and went off on his own, but he wasn't the only glue in that group. You expect me to believe the rest of them just broke off after losing Sam? I don't buy it. I feel like they'd keep in very close contact with each other especially after that.

Fragile is prominent in Drawbridge and at least we get to hear from Deadman in the trailer, but there had better be a good explanation for where the hell Mama, Lockne, and Heartman are.

[tellescope]

//I'm gonna be officially putting the blog on semi-hiatus.

I have ideas and would like to do things but the muse just isn't there cause the hyperfixation has a bit of a stranglehold, and I'm honestly having a great time indulging it so I'm just gonna keep at it for now. I may post here occasionally if the muse hits, but for the foreseeable future please don't expect much of an activity increase from what's already been happening. This is just an official announcement to make it clearer.

Catch me on @starlighttrain. Crossovers welcome.

[tellescope]

//I'm gonna be officially putting the blog on semi-hiatus.

I have ideas and would like to do things but the muse just isn't there cause the hyperfixation has a bit of a stranglehold, and I'm honestly having a great time indulging it so I'm just gonna keep at it for now. I may post here occasionally if the muse hits, but for the foreseeable future please don't expect much of an activity increase from what's already been happening. This is just an official announcement to make it clearer.

Catch me on @starlighttrain. Crossovers welcome.

[tellescope]

//Updated Caliburn's human design so he doesn't look so young anymore and also gave him a Star Rail verse if anyone is interested.

[tellescope]

@adoranoia said: “count your breaths with me, okay? ready? one, two, three, four…” // not a game au, tommy @ gordon, obvs! tfw ur bestie has a panic attack bc shits fucked. sorry buddy.

>>From this meme

     It's probably unbecoming of someone who's supposed to be the leader, but honestly Gordon long ago ran out of fucks to give. He's allowed to have what Dr. Coomer called "a case of the crumbles". I mean, you try being in that situation!      It's kinda funny in a sad way though. Soldiers and aliens and whatever-the-fuck-else and he manages fine decent well enough to function, but all it takes to lose that held-by-a-thread sanity is a flicker of the lights.      The power had gone out. Not for long. Maybe a minute. The lights came right back.      Gordon hadn't.      A scream, a shot at the wall (thank fuck he hadn't hit anyone), and the others had found him when light returned having scrambled back up against a wall, left arm clutching his right, hyperventilating. Eyes blown wide behind cracked glasses looking but not seeing.      It's not gonna happen again.      They aren't taking anything else from him.      He needs to...      To...      "Count your breaths with me, okay?" A familiar voice breaks through. "Ready? one, two, three, four…"      Really? Fucking breathing excercises? Now is not the time for–for fucking therapy bullshit! Heart pounds in his ears and he swears he can see the damn skeleton in his peripheral, but Tommy gets his attention again and repeats himself.      Alright fine. Whatever. Not like he has any better options. With a shaky nod he tries to slow himself, following in and out with Tommy's numbers. One, two, three, four...      Again.      And again.      And it actually begins to work.      Reality fades in with every round and when he can finally register more than Tommy's voice, see the concern written in their features, Gordon slumps; head to hands resting on knees, eyes on the HEV suit curled beneath.

     ❝God. Fuck.❞ He's a mess. A clipped sigh as he comes back up, good hand running through messy bangs before looking up at Tommy. It's always Tommy. Like the universe is trying to smack him upside the head for his initial treatment. The one he judged most, doubted most, is the one to come through the most. It's always Tommy. ❝Sorry you had to–shouldn't have had to deal with, with whatever the fuck that was. I don't deserve you, man.❞

[tellescope]

     The Outpost is quiet for the evening, lights dimmed, low electronic hums the only sound in the halls. Normally KAI spins down his drives after Len retreats for sleep. But some nights there's something in him, some fragmented code, that drives him to the windows. The cameras in his projection device get him better angles than the station security ones.      There's something about the stars...      — it's why he joined this crew, to be out there among them —

     Hardlight body curls up in the windowsill, head leaning against the UV-blocking glass, internal camera and holographic eyes aimed out at the darkening horizon as the first stars begin to show. Logically there's no need to activate the hologram. The device cameras function without it.      But he prefers the body active.      Even if he doesn't want to acknowledge why.      Tonight, rather than spend it idling in low power, he'll watch sky pass by.

[tellescope]

     「A name is identification enough. I just need something to call you.」 He wasn't expecting official documents or anything. It's been long enough since the accident he's pretty certain the company isn't sending anyone their way. They've been written off. And yet they do their best to keep the place running. It's not a great life for their partner but it's all they've got.      「You could leave, you know.」 he'd once told Len. 「We still have signal to contact a nearby route.」      「Not without you.」      And so until the boy figures a way to separate him from the system, here they remain. But it's not always lonely. Especially not when visitors actually drop by! While triggering a security camera to scan Gio for comparing against their database of sentient species (it helps with accommodations and he's uncertain as to which race has a tail like that) KAI performs a short bow for his guest.

     「A pleasure to meet you, Gio! I'm known as KAI and I run the station. There's not much here anymore,」 At this his friendly smile falters somewhat but only for a beat. 「but I'm always happy to accommodate guests for however long you'd like to stay. Ah, let me show you inside.」 You shouldn't just leave your new visitor in the doorway, KAI. And so with a sweep of his arm further in he begins to walk toward the main living quarters. 「What brings you here?」

With it being dark, his eyes were glowing but when the lights came up they returned to normal, though the blue glow came as a surprise. It looked really cool, like something out of a movie... And then He took note at the figure before him, this must be what he was looking for. Sure fit the description well from what he recalled.

"Ciao! I'm Giobello Diavolo, I don't have identification... But I'd be happy to get to know you all the same!"

He smiled at the other, his tail swaying back and forth as he was pretty happy right about now. He wondered what kind of things this being could do. Maybe they could have fun together. He sure did wish his brother could see this.

[tellescope]

Me when… me when… the identity is horror. Who are you? Can you be replicated? Is that replication you? If someone looks just like you, acts like you and is interpreted by others as you, are they you? Do your thoughts count for anything? If everything you actually think stays in your head and never comes out then you die do people grieve you? Do you respond to your name or to any name?

[tellescope]

KAI sometimes gets flashes of deja vu. He can't leave the station and lives vicariously through stories from Len and any visitors they have. Sometimes these stories will cause a moment of corruption, where it feels so familiar as if he's done it himself before.

But that can't be true, can it?

This planet doesn't have snow so why does he know exactly how it feels? How does he perfectly remember the taste of a food he can't eat? Water is a scarce resource to conserve and yet more than once he's recalled laughter in a pool.

It's always simple things. He tries to ignore them and never brings them up to Len. KAI knows what the few undamaged files and the boy's attitude toward him imply. He would say he doesn't acknowledge it for Len's sake, to allow the boy to move on, but at least part of it is that those implications disturb him and he's not sure he wants to acknowledge them himself.

If you don't fully remember a life, did you actually live it?

KAI does not consider himself to be Kaito, despite being made of a damaged mind upload from them. A last-ditch effort to save the only other survivor. And it worked to some extent, but they aren't really the same person.

The flashes of deja vu, brief glimpses of Kaito's life before the Outpost, he can't control when they happen. The first few times caused a cascading glitch that temporarily shut him down from overload, but he's gotten better about handling the data, where to store it, and how to consider it without fragmenting.

These days he's taken to thinking of them like extra information uploaded, new knowledge to learn from, rather than a past he never had. Thank you former crew member for allowing him to understand foods he cannot eat, constellations he will never see, weather he will never feel, and so on.

[tellescope]

//Heartman vibes xD His AED would definitely do this.

[tellescope]

The holographic form isn't necessary, mostly for the benefit of Len, but KAI does sometimes use it on his own. Normally when Len is out of the station and there are no guests KAI spins down his drives and hibernates, but it's never a full sleep; just idling in low-power. And if Len is gone long enough a very human thing strikes KAI; boredom.

Some activities work best using the hologram as the device within has a camera that can go where the station's security cameras can't see. KAI cannot leave the outpost perimeter as he's part of the computer system, but he can step outside and float the holographic body up to the roof.

He enjoys watching the sky. Stars, sunrise, sunset. It's likely something he inherited, Kaito enjoyed the sky too, but KAI still considers himself a different person. Just with a lot of similarities. But I digress, he enjoys the sky and it's best enjoyed from the hologram device rather than the station cameras.

Sometimes if the weather is bad he'll watch from inside, not wanting to damage the device, but he'll position himself so his hardlight body is seated at a window. And sometimes he'll do this (or on the roof) even when Len is around or a guest is present.

It is possible to use the hologram device and see through its camera without projecting the body, but he prefers to do so. Perhaps another inheritance but it doesn't really matter. If he's not lurking purely in the system then he'll have the body active.

And over time he's coming to prefer that mode. It allows him to be more expressive with use of body language and expressions rather than just his voice, but also because it just feels right. And yes, he knows why that is, but would prefer to move past it.

[tellescope]

Pale as snow, as if he stepped out of a dream

[tellescope]

@talesimagination said: Curious little Gio is here to find the mysterious AI. He knew Mama would have liked to meet them but Mama was busy so he came to look for the being. He didn't know what he could do or how he'd act but he'd sure try his best.

*a snow devil for Originator*

     A guest? They haven't had a visitor to the station in so long that it's quite a surprise when the security system rouses KAI from low-power mode. He'd spun down his drives while Len was away, little else to do to keep occupied other than 'sleep'.      Hidden cameras activate a facial recognition scan but as always the only result is corruption. He does note the interesting attire of the visitor however. Such vibrant colors! With a quick command the darkness of the entry hall begins to lift as the lights come on one by one, blue glow shining against black metal. A warm voice calls out over hidden speakers, 「Welcome to PD Outpost. I'm sorry for the darkness. It should lift shortly.」      A quiet hum of machinery and a small device floats into view before the visitor. With a click a hologram materializes around it, forming a blue-haired young man with a smiling visage.

     「It's been quite some time since we had visitors. Do you have some form of identification?」