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mercyisms · 2 months

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necro elysium: director's cut

in which i tell you bonus things about necro elysium (yuck!!).

genesis:

i'm not exactly sure how i came up with the idea, other than it was probably 2022 and i had been playing a lot of disco elysium. i was also thinking a lot about mercymorn, as is my terminal condition. i'm sure i talked a lot to ave about it. i also know i had a conversation with ama, where i soft-pitched a disco adaptation where certain skills would be in cristabel's 'voice.' it seemed like an interesting way to dissect lyctorhood. posts had been circulating about the parallels between harry du bois and harry nonagesimus, but, i'll be honest with you, i think i have very little capacity to write either harrow or gideon. but writing mercy seemed a) something i could pull off, b) a way to gesture at the harrow/mercy parallels without requiring me to leave my zone of interest, and c) there is something about mercy that seemed much more in line with harrier. i think they are both porous, both lacking a certain kind of filter, i felt like if mercy was given a disco skillset, it would really wrestle within her. augustine, i think, would be a bit more a kim. something that at least made pretenses of cohering. (more on augustine later, ofc.) possibly this was also, bc, for the purposes of this fic, i am a subscriber to cristabel having quite a big personality. also, following the release of nona, which gave us some cristabel (!!!) but also kind of dashed my cristabel oct is an e-girl (at least pre-res), I was keen to try and bring my cristabel characterization in closer synthesis with what was now in the text. also, once i realized the obvious semi-pun of "necro elysium," i knew i'd have to write it, if only for the wordplay alone.

anyway, i wrote 1,000 words, dashed off a bit of fanart, and then rolled away.

the skillset & mechanics:

as my fanart attests, the first mercymorn disco skills i pitched were not where we ended up! exclamation and discontent merged into indignation; scrutineer felt distinctly covered by the perception skills; i really wanted to keep acupuncture, because it was by far the funniest, but as i wrote the fic, anatomy was getting significantly more play and i waffled on merging them.

i wanted the skills to still retain a lot of the disco roots, but we weren't trying to have perfect fidelity. we were also integrating the presence of cristabel (more on that later). still, i wanted to be true not only to mercy's 'build,' but also the fact that she is a baby lyctor at the moment of the fic. because she's a just-ascended scientist, her skills are very blue (disco's "intelligence" set) coded. i initially also wanted to give her a skill called "scientific method," but didn't want to upset the balance of skills 'speaking' & so i hope some of mercy's methodical inclination come through in other ways. i planned for her to have very low artistry (a canonical disco skill), but the staging opportunity didn't present itself.

it was important to me that mercy failed some checks, because that feels true to the character & the spirit of disco elysiums checks & how harry interacts with his world. you will notice that mercy fails maybe ever composure check. this was absolutely intentional.

as for acupuncture, it clicked into place once i recategorized it from a 'blue' skill to mercy's sole 'red' (physical) skill. i very much see acupuncture as anatomy applied. canonically, we know mercy & cristabel contributed spirit magic to the megatheorum (see also: the eighth house's reliance on soul siphoning). her pivot to an anatomist also struck me as something born out of repression and grief, and so acupuncture is there to sort of illustrate this shift. the beginnings of a 'brute force' skillset she will continue to grow. in any event, it let me not kill my darling and keep both anatomy and acupuncture in, which felt right.

the art:

now we have to talk about the art because i'm always talking about this art. this art! when i was 80% of the way through the draft, i pitched the wonderful ama/smapis on drawing something for the fic. this was mainly bc ama is one of my favourite tlt artists ever & her mercy and disco elysium art rules. she was beyond kind enough to indulge me, at which point i sent her the draft & left it all in her immensely capable hands.

ama dignified my very silly fic to a level i couldn't have imagined! you may note that also encoded each of mercy's skills to different bodily systems (circulatory, muscular, skeletal, digestive, etc. are all accounted for), which is? genius?? her artistic vision elevated the whole thing & made the synthesis between lyctorhood and whatever's going on in harry's head so much more rich and meaty and nuanced. i cannot praise it enough. it's so good. i gaze lovingly upon it every day.

the unwanted guest:

"You can't admit what's happened here because you're fixated on this idea of the soul as inviolate and inviolable—this perfectly solid, impervious thing, the diamond sitting in the glass of wine. But souls are permeable. When they rub up against each other, they bleed—they mingle—they contaminate each other."—Palamedes Sextus, "The Unwanted Guest"

i started writing & had the thematic beats of necro elysium in 2022, long before we knew "the unwanted guest" was a glimmer in tamsyn's eye. but can you believe? can you believe how prescient i would've looked if i had a) finished a tlt playtext fic and b) also finished a fic about soul permeability? alas, it was not to be. but the publication of "the unwanted guest" did make me want to return to necro; it gave more weight to the reading i was using disco's format to impart.

i will say my personal reading is not that mercymorn is pious because that's cristabel as-a-nun inside her. i think mercymorn is pious because she was literally resurrected by her friend who literally has god-tier powers. when thinking through cristabel's skillset, i was thinking of aspects of mercymorn's personality where cristabel's would be most at home, would maybe latch onto, emphasize. i think of her as a bold and underline, as a different inflection into the lyctor's personality. some were obvious: now that i knew cristabel was a nun, piety was a clear fit; joy was another non-negotiable, as it was the guiding characterization of cristabel we get in harrow the ninth (john saying the saints were to be named after their cavs, augustine calling her a "twerp" and likening her to a child also, through the dark prism of augustine's mind, implied to me someone more exuberant). then i also wanted cristabel's "master of the sword" characterization present and to put the cannibalized cav swordfighting skills in purple (psyche), which is mostly "cristabel" coded skills, but also is, for me, anything gained through lyctorization. hence death's presence.

when we finally meet cristabel, a little, pre-res cristabel, in nona, she's much more utiliarian and practical than the cristabel i had spun out pre-nona. drawing from the way she counsels john, rigour seemed like the driving force. someone who achieves mastery through hard work, through discipline, but also joy is also v present in any sword-fighting scenes to balance it out & suggest that cristabel mastered swordplay partially out of duty & partially out of sheer joy.

one way my fic's use of disco elysium's skillset departs a little from disco elysium's is i wasn't as concerned with creating hyper-distinct voices for each skill. this is partially due to my own limitations and partially because some sets are meant to be, as i say, inflected with cristabel's personality & thus coherent to each other (hence: the whole climax where her voice comes together across traits). one could argue, this is to illustrate the permeability even between these seemingly separate traits. one could also argue i was just not very imaginative.

whatever souls are made of:

i also wanted to note that i sort of see all three of tlt fics in conversation with each other, but whatever souls are made of especially mirrors necro elysium. astute readers (lmao) will notice i hit some similar beats or ticks. is this because of my own limitations?? maybe! but also i do have readings of these characters i'm attached to & am interested in furthering.

i think there's something sort of fun and pleasing and characterizing about how much of whatever souls are made of, which is filtered through augustine, is collaged of references and quotations. it's also a cacophony of voices, but for augustine they're cribbed and for mercy, they're positioned as a fracturing internal monologue. i do think this is consistent with augustine's performative and also deceitful relationship to lyctorhood and the repression surrounding it & to mercymorn's more tortured self-image and inescapable emotional honesty.

the bigger parallel (if we can generously categorize it thusly) is that alfred and cristabel say very similar things to their necomancers. again, i have a beat!! but i hope people will forgive the symmetry for its slight differences. alfred says to augustine that he 'never wanted to be without' augustine (possibly, also, a longing to be included); cristabel hopefully speaks with a bit more righteousness, 'i could not have you stopped...least of all [by] myself.' cristabel's, i hope, adds in an element of someone who believes in mercy's 'greater' destiny, to the wider divinity of the world john is building, who believes that it is loving to propel someone forward. this is also, ofc, connected to how pre-res cristabel propels john forward. is that ethical??? is it good??? maybe not, but it is love. it is a kind of love.

okay this is much too long!! but tysm for reading. i received a few very, very nice asks about other specific parts that i am keen to blabber about, but i will do those in separate posts to give us some breathing room. everything will be in my fanfic tag.

but tysm for reading the fic & ty to the few kind anons who indulged me in this director's cut. <3

#the locked tomb #m: tlt fic #mercymorn the first #cristabel oct #augustine quinque #harrow the ninth #💖💖💖

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a-wartime-paradox · 8 months

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Paradox of the Thirteenth, or "There's a surprising amount of Faction Paradox in Series 11-13"

Despite not being many fan's top choice, the Thirteenth Doctor's era shared concepts with the Faction Paradox series surprisingly often. Some of these were explicit, such as The Paradox Moon featuring Siblings Same and Different (although these Siblings' Faction is otherwise unrelated to the FP Faction, as of 2023), whilst others are simply similarities in creative choices, again varying in how obvious they are, from the "Ashad" (Series 12 - The Timeless Children) resembling FP's technosapiens, to Time Lords "binding" time in Once, Upon Time (part of Series 13/Flux)

So, here I will attempt to list every possible connection between the Thirteenth Doctor/Chris Chibnal's era of Doctor Who and the Faction Paradox mythology

Firstly, an explanation as to why this is all happening...

Explanation as to why the Thirteen Doctor is meeting Faction Paradox-esque entities.

The War has been ended for a long time, and the Great Houses have finally, actually, fallen (see The Timeless Children) leaving no one to hold up their imposed metastructure of history. Why didn't anyone invade in Series 1-7, before the Time Lords returned?, you ask. Well, it's not because The Day of the Doctor is a bootstrap, as I don't believe in perfect bootstraps, but rather because well... They did. During Series 1, the Reapers arrived, explicitly due to the lack of Time Lords (Father's Day), and so did a lone Dalek (Dalek), and finally the original Dalek Emperor's last Time War fleet (The Parting of the Ways). Then in Series 2, the Cult of Skaro arrived (Army of Ghosts/Doomsday), followed by Davros (The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)- who along with the Supreme Dalek, somehow survived the Crucible's fall (The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar)- and then the New Dalek Paradigm emerged, from survivors of the War (Victory of the Daleks). All this interference from War-time participants is what's preventing pre-Anchoring entities entering the Third Universe, as it echoes the status quo which was so hostile to their very existence.

Oh, and "Dvapara Yuga" means "the Dark Times, as understood to not be an early period of universal history, but rather the state of history metatemporally predating Rassilon's anchoring of the thread"

She is born out of an interaction with a past Doctor (Twice Upon a Time) - if it wasn't for acausal (and unintentionally) intervention of the First Doctor, the Thirteenth Doctor never would have existed. This is a bit of a stretch, as interference forwards in a timeline is much less paradoxical than the reverse, but this is her first appearance so...

The Solitract, from It Takes You Away, is an intelligent & conscious universe, exiled from the main universe in order to allow for it's creation. "Creation" here probably refers to Event One/The Big Bang, but, if one is on the train of "the universe before the Anchoring of the Thread didn't have a beginning, and the Big Bang was retroactively added by Urizen [Rassilon]", then this is very easily re-interpreted as a mention of the early Sun Builders (a.k.a Time Lords) cleaning up their area of spacetime in preparation for imposing rationality on it. To be even more bold, I may suggest that this isn't a universe at all, but instead an intercreational, a class of being first mentioned in The Book of the War, although one type was first mentioned in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Taking of Planet 5, as a "Swimmer". I propose that the Solitract is not a Swimmer, or a Leviathan, but rather a smaller intercreational, perhaps growing out of the Third Universe (the main DW/FP universe), before being banished by the Great Houses. See Explanation as to why the Thirteen Doctor is meeting Faction Paradox-esque entities at the top of this post.

The Ux, from The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, are clearly some gods from the Dvapara Yuga.

Orphan 55 features a future version of Earth which deviates heavily from most other depictions of it. Speculatively, this means the Thirteenth Doctor travelled to an aberrant timeline, or that the Ghost Point has somehow worsened since the degradation of the Great Houses's imposed metastructure, rather than healing.

During Fugitive of the Judoon, the Doctor interacts with Gallifrey's distant past. I can't really explain this even by the standard explanation at the top of this post. However, one thing interesting to note is that the ancient Time Lord "Gat" considered "Mutter's Spiral" to be a "tiny galaxy". This is notable because Gallifrey is basically always said to be in the centre of Mutter's Spiral - that is, the Milky Way - and naming a galaxy as "tiny" kind of implies that you aren't from it. Maybe Gallifrey wasn't always in Mutter's Spiral, and got moved? Or maybe Gat and the Division come from some alternative Gallifrey? I don't know, just interesting to note.

The novel At Childhood's End (written by Sophie Aldred, actor for Ace) featured Ace meeting the Thirteenth Doctor, and descriptions of the former's fractured timelines. Notably, the next time Ace and the Doctor met (in The Power of the Doctor), neither one of them mentioned this, almost as if the timeline in which it happened had fractured...

Rakaya and Zellin from Can You Hear Me? are clearly some kind of pre-anchoring gods like the Ux. In Time Lord Victorious short story The Guide to the Dark Times, it was confirmed that they were, specifically, Eternals (not the MCU kind), and another Time Lord Victorious text, a novel called The Knight, the Fool, and the Dead, claimed that Eternals were among the other inhabitants of the Dark Times, the "Old Ones". Interestingly, multiple Eternals do indeed appear in the "classic" series of Doctor Who, implying that the Anchoring did not fully remove them, but as they didn't appear in NuWho until now, I feel safe in speculating that the War somehow barred them from it - perhaps they'd joined the conflict, on the side of both the Time Lords, Daleks, the Enemy, and others, "helping out" wherever it benefited them?

Ashad, first appearing in The Haunting of Villo Diodati, and then in the following serial Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children, is an "emotional Cyberman". Any readers of Faction Paradox could immediately draw the connection between this and Faction Paradox's "technosapiens", named as such partially to avoid infringing on the BBC's trademark, but also because The Book of the War showed that many sects of posthumanity had become cyborgs, but many were not emotionless and evil like the Cybermen.

The Timeless Child, first appearing in The Timeless Children, is vaguely reminiscent of the idea hinted upon in The Book of the War that the Great Houses stole the power of regeneration from another species, in The Book of the War being the Great Vampires, and in The Timeless Children being the titular Timeless Child. This note of continuity was expanded upon by the writer @aristidetwain in his short story Out of the Box introduced the "Child-That-Was-Taken", intended to be a member of the Yssgaroth species, and to be the Timeless Child itself. Additionally, this Child was the motivator for the Great Vampires' war with the Great Houses, the Eternal War (a.k.a First War in Heaven).

In The Timeless Children, Tecteun is shown alongside Rassilon and Omega. Previously, the figure alongside Rassilon and Omega was the Other, a version of the Doctor from before he was the Doctor. My personal fix for this, which I admittedly took from @/aristidetwain, is that there were many Others, assisting Rassilon and Omega at different points in time. Other Others may be the human Dr. Who from the novel Human Nature, the Eleventh Doctor "Cheesemaker" (The Lost Dimension), Osiris (in his car future), and the Sixth Doctor (The Scrolls of Rassilon)

In Shadow in the Mirror, the Thirteenth Doctor released Aphasia / Daughter of Mine from her mirror of entrapment, despite the fact that Aphasia mentioned a "ginger haired doctor" who "believed himself to be the last" (likely Muldwych/Merlin), meaning that the Doctor had been interacting with Aphasia out-of-order, which is... Reasonably dangerous.

Throughout Flux, the villains "Swarm" and "Azure" attempt to remove the Mouri from the planet Time, effectively de-anchoring the thread. They're method, strangely, is to try to destroy the entire universe using "the flux".

Village of the Angels features the first instance of Weeping Angels being shown to posses proper intelligence, as they ally themselves with Tecteun, presumably in exchange for something, and even more interestingly, they have a rogue member, suggesting power structures in their ranks. This isn't particularly Faction Paradox -related, but it feels like it is, and I hope Faction Paradox writers use Weeping Angel - analogues to continue to explore this.

Eve of the Daleks features the Doctor "resetting" the TARDIS, causing a localised time loop. However, perhaps more notably, the Daleks which appear in this episode are "Dalek Executioners", which make their debut in Time Lord Victorious.

The Power of the Doctor won't be mentioned here, perhaps I'll grant it a full post going over all of its batshit-insanity (affectionate?) some other time.

This post was made after I saw @familyparadox remark at the high amount of Faction/Thirteen content

#faction paradox #doctor who #dweu #thirteenth doctor #jodie whittaker #chris chibnall #ashad the lone cyberman #eternals #long post

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steam-beasts · 4 months

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Snowy Sea Rescue!

Most of the time, Brendam Docks was quite busy with many dockmen shouting out orders, cargo being lifted and loaded on to ships to and fro, trucks being shunted by Salty as he bantered on with Cranky or even Carly like usual.

But in winter, it was significantly more busy than ever with the Christmas rush, so there are fragile and brittle gifts being held in multiple boxes that are carried out to sea.

Salty's driver's wife had presents which were amongst many gifts that arrived by boat to the docks, and his driver was eagerly anticipating its arrival until today...

____________________________________________

"Fourth cargo ship coming up! Get ready lads... and lass!" The Dock manager called out.

The three dock cranes were hard at work, unloading multiple crates of different gifts on to flatbeds. Salty was also hard at work, shunting as many flatbeds as possible to the right places.

Carly groaned "ANOTHER one?! That's the eighth one today!"

"It's the Christmas rush, Carly. It's a normal thing around 'ere..." Cranky creaked "Anyway, why are YOU complaining? Haven't you ever had a Christmas rush back in Southampton?"

Carly sighed "Yes, but...ugh, I never had to multitask unloading FOUR boats at once! Even a couple years back, it wasn't THIS intense!" She panted, sliding over to another boat. Down on the rails, Salty cackled at the portal crane's groaning "Hahar, sounds like ye are a wee bit rusty in the joints, lassie!" He said.

Big Mickey chuckled quietly "Trust me, you two. Be glad we aren't at Tidmouth Harbour. Over there's probably twice as busy compared to here, since it's the biggest harbour on the island!"

"Couldn't 'ave spoken truer words, me hearty. We'd ALL be tired out if we worked thar. Har....though, t' be truthful, it be takin' it's toll on me as well" Salty admitted a sigh, the work had been a bit straining with Porter away for his big sleep. Cranky and Carly exchanged nervous wide-eyed glances before silently going back to work. They couldn't bear the thought of being at Tidmouth.

Salty's driver poked his head and looked over at one of the ships "Oi, mate! Are there any red crates over there?" He yelled. One of the dockmen securing the crates looked back "Nah, can't say there are any. What about it, pal?"

"It's for me wife!" The driver yelled. Salty's interest peaked when he heard that "Did ye get a present for yer wife, driver?"

His driver smiled "Yep, four rather large ones to be precise. M' hopin' she'll like 'em"

"Oh I'm sure she will" the Dockside diesel chuckled. Just then, a chilly breeze swept through the docks, causing Salty to shiver, his frame rattling. Salty's driver exclaimed and kept a tight grip on the handles "Woah, ol' boy! Easy!"

Salty grunted "I get cold, driver. We diesels don't 'ave fur like the steamies!"

The diesel driver sighed and patted Salty's cab "I know, it's not really your fault. It's the winter! Everythin' around you gets as cold as ice, even the sea!"

Carly shuddered "Couldn't have said it better, Chuck! I took a dip in the water to find fish this morning, and it was freezing! My fins felt really numb and sore!" She said, flapping one of her fins "My operator had to hand-feed me fish"

Everyone murmured in agreement, including the Dock manager who was there to listen. The manager then walked over to Salty's driver with a schedule board "Alright, your crate should be here very soon"

"Hmph! It was supposed to be here yesterday!"

"Sorry. Bad sea conditions were causing the delay, I'm afraid" he shrugged before turning heel and leaving. The driver groaned, shaking his head "This damn weather" He muttered under his breath.

Salty let out a small dog-like whine at hearing his driver's dismay. Christmas Eve would be coming soon, so it made sense why the man was grumpy about it "Don't worry, driver. It will be here soon..."

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It was around 2:00 when the workload had thankfully died down, there were less ships coming in to the docks, and Salty had significantly less flatbeds to shunt. So, the cranes were able to get longer breaks and so did Salty, which was a relief! Working was ok, but admittedly a bit harder being one shunting engine short. But other than that, at least they could rest.

However, the peace and quiet was disrupted by a loud ear-splitting BANG!

Salty's whole body arched upwards like a frightened cat, and he even shrieked like one. Cranky, Carly and Big Mickey all nearly screamed at the loud noise, their poor sensitive ears!

"Flare spotted!" Big Mickey's operator yelled, pointing out into the ocean. Everyone immediately looked to where he pointed, and they all gasped in horror – it was a sinking cargo barge, and its crew were waving frantically for help and shouting.

"They're sinking!! Call the bloomin' Search & Rescue centre! Anyone!" The Dock manager barked from his megaphone. A workman spoke up "We can't! It'll be half an hour until they get 'ere in THIS weather! Those men will be down under by that time!"

The Dock manager was silent for a moment before looking up at the cranes "Do you think one of you three could get over there?"

"We would, chuck! But we're all sensitive to icy water! I got all numb and sore from a swim this morning! I was only in for a few seconds too!"

"Well, we need to get those men out of there somehow !"

Everyone murmured uncontrollably, no one knew what to do...except Salty.

Salty hummed thoughtfully to himself "Hmm...it be dangerous" He thought. Even if it was dangerous, SOMEONE has to risk it! Those crew members' lives were on the line. That's it. He MUST do something.

Salty's driver was on the diesel's footplate, nervously squeezing his handle bars when Salty suddenly jerked him off "Wha–?! Salty!" He exclaimed, landing on the ground with an oof.

Everyone watched with surprise as Salty jumped off the rails and went into his beast form. The monster diesel snarled and darted towards the ocean before jumping off the edge with a big SPLASH!

"Salty?!" Cranky and the diesel's driver gasped, the cranes spinned around to see him swimming towards the sinking boat. Salty wheezed and shivered as he paddled through the water, he was going to save those men no matter what!

His three pairs of limbs ached and clawed at the water, his finned tail giving him a boost. The crew on the sinking barge noticed the engine swimming towards them and all cheered and waved for his attention. Salty grunted and growled, trying to shake off the exhaustion as he reached the barge and its crew.

"Climb aboard, mateys!" He shouted hoarsely, the cold water had seeped into his vents. The crew didn't need to be told twice! They all crawled on top of Salty and held on tight as he bobbed about. Once he made sure everyone was one, Salty was about to leave until something caught his eye – something red.

It was the red crate his driver spoke about, floating on a single, small wooden platform. Conveniently, it was right next to him. Salty's eyes widened and without word, he quickly pulled it towards his buffers and pushed it along as he paddled towards the harbour.

Everyone from the docks watched in amazement as the diesel shunter rescued the whole crew "Salty's doing it!" Big Mickey cheered, and everyone followed suit. Salty's driver smiled "Go on, ol' boy". Despite how things looked from their perspective Salty panted tiredly, his body was numb and aching from all the paddling and the workers' small, but added weight along with pushing the crate was not helping.

Finally, the dockside diesel reached the harbour and found a ladder for the crew to climb. As soon as they all got off, Salty was wheezing and straining his breath, the cold was NOT good for him. Black spots were clouding his vision, along with a mild dizzy sensation, the struggle to breathe properly worsened from the water getting through his vents. It was then he soon realised it – this may be the end.

But he didn't fret, he instead smiled and chuckled wearily "Well, at least I did somethin' brave afore I go... har"" then in a flash, everything went black. The muffled yells from above silenced, and everything went numb...

He hoped everyone was safe.

____________________________________________

The darkness seemed it would go on forever. The silence was nearly deafening. But Salty wasn't afraid.

"Do...do you think he'll wake up, Sir?" Someone piped up. They sounded worried

"I can't say for certain, I'm afraid. We'll just have to wait" someone sighed. They sounded a little anxious, but they were also trying to remain calm.

The darkness then got brighter, big and small blobs taking form. Salty winced and watched as the smallest blobs were shuffling about, their shapes soon gathering more detail as the minutes went on.

"Wait...I think he's waking up..!" One voice exclaimed.

"Thank the lord for that..." another sighed, sounding relieved.

"Well? Step back, all of you! Give Salty some space!" The same voice from before boomed. Finally, Salty's vision fully returned, he could finally see where he was;

Salty was in the Dieselworks! A dim light shine over him. Surrounding him were the employees, and in front of him were none other than his driver and Sir Topham Hatt. Both were relieved to see him awake, as it seemed.

"Salty, ol' boy! Thank God you're awake!" His driver cried as he jogged over. Salty smiled "Ahoy, driver..." he replied tiredly, his driver then scratched under the dockside diesel's chin. Salty purred in response and leaned into the affection, his tail softly thumping against the ground. As soon as that was over, Salty asked "So, uh...wha' happened t' me?"

Sir Topham Hatt then stepped forward "You were a really brave and useful engine, Salty. You fainted right after getting those men back on land! Luckily, you were escorted to the Dieselworks as soon as Carly pulled you out, and the employees here spent 3 hours trying to clear out the water from your insides"

Salty's eyes widened "Well, blimey..." he then looked to his driver, and it was then he remembered the red crate. He didn't remember it being pulled up before he lost consciousness "But...I didn' save me driver's crate o' presents fer his wife..." he said in a quiet, guilty voice. Sir Topham Hatt's gaze softened and he looked to Salty's driver, who said "But you did"

"Aye?"

"After you were taken here, Cranky fished out the crate. I can't thank you enough for getting it..." he explained with soft smile. In return, Salty smiled back.

"Salty...." The Fat Controller began "For your bravery, you will be repainted into a colour of your own choice!"

"Oh, thank ye sir!" Salty said happily.

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A day later, Salty returned to the docks in a clean new red livery that would definitely get James feeling jealous. His buffers still had their oil weathering, but he didn't mind at all.

The cranes and dock men welcomed him back, and all congratulated him on rescuing the crew men.

Salty was very glad that day that he saved the crew, and his driver's crate of gifts. But asides from that, he was just happy to be by the sea, no matter how chilly it could get.

"Ooooh.... don't take me away from the sea, boys! Oooh....doooon't take me away from the sea! Harharhar!!"

#thomas and friends #thomas the tank engine #monster engines #ttte salty #ttte cranky #ttte carly #ttte big mickey #short story

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kariohki · 7 months

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BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! Review

This anime review needs to start with some personal backstory.

I've been a fan of the Bandori franchise since 2018, which by standard metrics means I'm ancient around here. I've seen the addition of two other bands to the original five the franchise (re)launched with, both with their issues in being folded into the story well. When MyGO (I'm not typing out five exclamation marks every time, I'm sorry) was revealed to be the eighth band in this universe after existing for a year IRL with no information where they existed in the franchise, I was extremely pessimistic. When they were revealed to be first year high schoolers (for the most part), I was pessimistic because the franchise just made the large step of graduating its oldest characters into university, opening up the story to new experiences. And shortly before the anime debut, when they were revealed to be getting added to the mobile game, I was pessimistic because the game's writing has been relatively poor in character development and even event distribution and focus for the past two years.

So saying I was going into this anime looking at it with as much dislike as I held for Aqours at the end of the µ's era is an understatement. I didn't expect much - just wanted a decent narrowly focused show akin to season 1, showing how a new band gets formed.

From the first episode, my expectations were met. From the third episode, they were blown away.

The premise written, about a girl, Chihaya Anon, who starts the school year late because of reasons revealed later, wanting to join a band when everyone else is already in one, except for their class "weirdo", Takamatsu Tomori, doesn't even scratch the surface of what happens. From the beginning that shows the result of what happens when a band has a catastrophic break up, how that affects every member involved there, to Anon who walks into this minefield and attempts to navigate it stepping on multiple mines along the way, to what's needed for this band to actually form in the end - it takes the entire season, but the feeling of the the payoff is immense.

On to the characters. Each one of these characters is flawed and human. Tomori can't communicate her feelings or words well in speech, and feels everything that goes wrong is her fault. Anon runs away at the first sign of any extra work needed to succeed. Taki's overprotectiveness of Tomori and initial inability to accept others help cause her to become combative to others. Rana only sticks around when she finds things interesting, later revealing she's been trying to find another place to belong after her grandmother's live house shut down (yay season 1 callback!). And Soyo, who looked at older characters Sayo, Chisato, and CHU2 who were all disliked by the fandom at their introductions and said "hold my tea." Soyo's arc takes up the majority of the middle portion of the series, the threads of her arc being hinted at along the way before her turn, her mask cracking, and her eventual acceptance of what has happened in her life post-CRYCHIC.

And that's only the characters in MyGO proper. This story couldn't be told without five others, the girls that eventually form the group Ave Mujica at the end of the season in the final episode. Sakiko, probably the new most disliked character in the franchise, drives the plot train of "why did she break up CRYCHIC?" that started the series, leading up to the final reveal of her situation in life currently. Mutsumi, her friend, Soyo's friend, someone who has been strung along and used by others. Uika, a popular singer in an idol group, who is also Sakiko's friend, and the one who spurred Tomori to perform again. Umiri, Taki's classmate full of snarky banter, who also gave Tomori her best wishes. Nyamu is the character who just "exists" the most, but her two-faced influencer personality is setting up for trouble.

There are little bits here and there to remind existing fans that this is taking place in the same universe at the current point of the timeline, which I appreciated as it was not heavy handed. Of course the girls would run into Saya and Kasumi at Livehouse RiNG, as both frequent or work there. Of course they would meet Afterglow at a live, be inspired by Morfonica, or see the Roselia posters in the old astronomy club room. The only band to not have any representation is Hello, Happy World!, which while on one hand makes sense with the overall melancholy of the series, but as they are still a band that exists here, some showing would've been nice - Misaki at school, a Michelle sighting in town, Kanon at the aquarium, basically anything grounded for them.

As this is a music-themed franchise, the use of music is of course important. Most importantly are the use of the vocal songs - typically in these series you get the short cut and just assume the groups performed other songs off screen. Instead, MyGO uses multiple full length songs, where some were even re-recorded from the anime to sound rougher if needed - Hekitenbansou in episode 7 being the main example of this. This does make a couple of the episodes be half performance/song, but in the first case it's their first performance as a group and sets up Soyo's arc, and the second case in episode 12, it's their first performance as a true band.

The camera and scenery work is top-notch and a great example of what CG animation can do. Sanzigen levels up with every series they do, and comparing Bandori S2 to D4DJ First Mix to this demonstrates how they've started blending in more 2D for more varied expressions and movement, and improved their lighting in backgrounds. Stand out moments are every time Soyo is framed in slight darkness, the varied spacing and views of characters in rooms to show distance or discomfort, and the entirety of episode 3 being from Tomori's first person POV - the most unique way to do a flashback episode that I've ever seen in an anime.

The only flaws I have with the series are relatively minor - the opening sequence, while a great song, doesn't have too many interesting shots compared to previous Bandori seasons (the second version of Kizuna Music is one of my favorite OPs ever). Episode 13 is more of a victory lap for MyGO, before heading face first into a prologue for the upcoming Ave Mujica anime, which if you're not invested in that group can feel like a non-ending. Additionally, there's a few non-Sakiko related loose ends between MyGO that have probably been saved for the mobile game, which if you don't play that, tough luck, go wait for other people to play it and upload stories to Youtube. For English server players it's an even longer wait as MyGO isn't being added to that server until spring 2024.

This is the sleeper hit of the summer 2023 season, the one that'll be always called criminally underrated and brought up as something worth watching in future threads about animes you love but no one talks about. Which is a shame, as it deserves to stand next to series like K-ON! and Bocchi the Rock that are some of the most frequently recommended music anime. Rating: 9/10

#bang dream #bandori #anime #mygo #bang dream! it's mygo!!!!!#anime review #review

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cringecorekitty · 10 months

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There’s a couple of groups that I don’t have photos of, but I’ll give their names because they’re amazing.

Sixth foster: Heath, Reeses, Clark and Baby Ruth

Seventh foster: Wall, Window, Door and Balcony

Eighth foster: Baby C, Desiree, Chester and Ocean Eyes

And then for our technically-ninth foster, we have Window and Wall back, who’ve been renamed to Timon and Rafiki, so here’s them.

That’s all I have! I hope you didn’t mind all the asks- I really did mean it when I said it would be spam, haha.

-aves anon

i don't mind all the asks at all, thank you so much for sharing them!!! I love the themed names so much. all these kitties are wonderful, and you're wonderful, too, for helping them out until they could find furever homes!!! thank you for your hard work! you're an honorary cat as far as im concerned!

#chat noir #cats

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delicatuscii-wasbella102 · 2 years

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Harry Smith’s Collection of Paper Planes Found In New York City, 1961-1983 Found: October 29, 1980: Broadway and East 23rd St. Found: March 17, 1979: West 28th St., between Fifth Ave. and Broadway. Found: September 8, 1983: Eighth Ave. and West 29th St.

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hayquetenerpatience · 8 months

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An illegal alien who arrived in New York City two months ago from Venezuela has randomly attacked at least three strangers and two cops, and gotten arrested and released six times on 14 different charges police and sources said Daniel Hernandez Martinez, 29, arrived on June 27 and committed his first crime the following day. Martinez's crime spree started at a Costco at 976 Third Ave. in Brooklyn. Martinez stole a jar of Nutella, slippers, sneakers, hats, Gillette razor blades, and Dove body wash, cops said. He was charged with petty larceny and released on his own recognizance.

On 6 July, he hit a Duane Reade in Columbus Circle in Manhattan, this time stealing a "tool kit." The next day, he escalated from shoplifting to assault cops said. A security guard at a Duane Reade on West 35th in Manhattan tried to stop him from pilfering a bag of chips and toothpaste. He "pulled out a large knife and advanced toward an undercover officer" while yelling unintelligibly, court documents show. Martinez was charged with menacing this time, but again released on his own recognizance because the charge wasn't bail-eligible.

Three weeks later, on July 31, he attacked Jeffrey Bradac, 52, out of the blue with a bike tire in front of the Row Hotel, a migrant shelter in Times Square, according to authorities.

On Aug. 21, he violently attacked a woman in Midtown, cops said. He "grabbed a stranger by the hair, dragged her across the floor and kicked her," and smashed her phone on West 45th Street around 1 a.m., court documents show. He was charged with menacing, assault, criminal mischief, and weapon possession, and placed on supervised release, according to court records.

Three days later, he was arrested for menacing with a weapon and harassment after threatening a stranger with a chain in front of 701 Eighth Ave, cops said. He was again released with no bail.

Then, four days later, on Aug. 28, he was arrested for using a large metal pipe to break locks to steal bicycles in Times Square, police said. Cops charged him with petty larceny, criminal mischief, and possession of stolen property and burglary tools.

[THIS IS ALL PART OF THEIR PLAN]

#illegal immigration #illegal migrants #immigration policy #biden immigration policy #Daniel Hernandez Martinez #crime #delinquency #illegal aliens #unvetted migrants #nyc #sanctuary city #migrant crisis #fake crisis #planned crisis

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idontlikeem · 1 year

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I’ve seen a lot of people talk about wanting to change the playoff format to 1v8 but haven’t had much luck figuring out what the playoff format is now?

If the pens get the first wildcard spot they play Carolina and the second they play Boston, is that right? Would it would be better to stay in second, then? It seems like they’ve come close with Boston a couple times but get hammered by Carolina every time. 😂

hi anon! sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this. thanks for the question, i like this because there isn't really a right answer, it's a matter of opinion and priorities—of course i happen to think my opinion is the correct one (and sid agrees with me!) :D :D

so the current playoff format is as follows:

each conference has two divisions. the top three teams in each division automatically make the playoffs, followed by the two teams with the next-most points regardless of which division they're in (these are the wildcard teams). what this means is you could have five teams from one division and three from another, and the three teams from one division could all be significantly worse than the teams in the other division, but they're getting in by default because of the setup.

in the first round of the playoffs, the top team in the conference (winner of one of the divisions) plays the second wildcard team (the worse of the two wildcards). the winner of the other division plays the first wildcard team. the second and third team in each division plays each other. the second round is divisional, so for example whoever comes out of the winner of the metro vs their wildcard opponent will play whoever comes out of metro spot 2 and metro spot 3. the third round is the conference finals, and then the stanley cup is the winner of the east vs the winner of the west.

what a lot of people want, and what it actually used to be, is 1v8 format. so instead of each division getting three teams + two more teams, it's just the 1-8 top teams in a conference, with the top-ranked team playing the eighth-ranked team, the second-ranked team playing the seventh-ranked team, and so on.

how does that play out? let's use last year's western conference as an example so we can see the differences:

last spring, the avs won the western conference after the regular season, which means in round one they played wildcard 2 (nashville), and the flames won the pacific division, which means they played wildcard 1 (dallas). minnesota and st louis were 2 and 3 in the central and played each other, and edmonton and los angeles were 2 and 3 in the pacific.

so here were the matchups:

colorado v nashville

calgary v dallas

minnesota v st louis

edmonton v los angeles

in theory, the purpose is to promote divisional rivalries. however, what ends up happening is two very good teams that might have otherwise both gone far and met up in a later round, leading for higher stakes and MORE of a rivalry, end up playing in the first round, and one of them gets knocked out earlier than they maybe should have.

in 1v8, here's what the matchups would have been:

colorado v nashville (1 v 8)

minnesota v dallas (2 v 7)

calgary v los angeles (3 v 6)

st louis v edmonton (4 v 5)

the purpose of 1-8 is to reward teams that achieve in the regular season—matching them up against lower-seeded teams gives them more of a chance to move on, which they've earned for exceptional performance throughout the regular season. it makes the regular season victories mean more because you're fighting for a more favorable opponent in the postseason, and it means two quite good teams have a chance to meet later in the tournament, not right away (i like to use the wild vs the blues last season as an example of this).

i understand why the league tried out this wildcard divisional setup. but, it leaches meaning from the regular season. it doesn't reward elite teams with more favorable matchups unless they literally win their conference. and forcing three minimum from each division can sometimes means teams that are not in the top 8 of their conference make it into the playoffs. some divisions are more competitive than others. that also harms the final product, because it means there are good teams that aren't getting in and not-so-good teams getting in on technicalities.

i wrote this very quickly so i hope it makes sense! if it doesn't please let me know i and i will try to clear up whatever i wrote poorly for you! :)

#nhl #nhl playoffs #hawkey tawkey

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lam-ila · 1 year

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via @ muslimgirl on instagram

[image description: four screenshots of an instagram post. the first reads “A Muslim woman was slashed in the face and called racial slurs after rejecting a man on the NYC subway.” the second reads “ The woman slashed on a Manhattan subway — and a harrowing attack that also left a good Samarion injured — had just rejected the suspects advances before he pounced on her wall, shouting, anti-Muslim slurs, police said Wednesday. The knife-wielding brute, who remains on the loose, apparently got enanged when the woman ignored him on an Eighth Ave.-bound L train at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, cop said. He then slashed her in the face, in what police said could be classified as a hate crime.” the third reads “ ‘Roughly six in 10 American muslims report facing religious discrimination in the past year.’ ” the fourth reads “ ‘For visible, Muslim woman carrying what the West perceives as today’s symbol of Islam on their heads, the stakes of tokenization, racism, and sexism are much higher.’ ” /end ID]

#tw islamophobia #islamophobia tw #knife tw #tw knife #islamophobia #signal boost

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sergeifyodorov · 1 year

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Who's In A Playoff Spot?

as of Jan 29, 2023

The beginning of the trade season approaches, but before it gets here, we are in what I like to call the Dark Times. The pre-dawn twilight, if you will. The first half of the season has separated the wheat from the chaff, the All-Stars are announced, and NOTHING interesting is going on. The average team has played 49 and five eighths of a game, which would put us at seventeen and a half minutes into the second period. Anyway, if the playoffs started today, these would be the first round matchups:

Eastern conference:

Bruins-Penguins (1-WC2)*

Leafs-Lightning (2-3)****

Hurricanes-Capitals (1-WC1)***

Devils-Rangers (2-3)***

Western conference:

Stars-Avs (1-WC2)*

Jets-Wild (2-3)*

Kraken-Oilers (1-WC1)*

Golden Knights-Kings (2-3)*

A star * indicates the matchup has not changed since last week. A star is added for each week the matchup stays the same.

Additional notes:

While none of the actual matchups have changed, the Western seeding has, slightly -- Kraken-Oilers was the 2-3 matchup last week, while it is the 1-WC1 matchup now, and the Golden Knights-Kings matchup has gone in the opposite direction.

The Penguins are firmly aboard the struggle bus. While neither team has games in hand, they are only one standings point ahead of the red-hot Sabres, who may, actually, genuinely, make the playoffs this year. This would be quite an achievement.

While the Avalanche are only tenuously holding on to a WC2 spot -- constantly fighting with Calgary and Edmonton -- they are also surprisingly close to the Central 3 spot, having taken a brief hold of it during the week until Minnesota reclaimed it.

The Stars seem to play a game a week at a time -- last week they had three shutouts, this week three overtime losses. Still good enough for best in the West.

The Lightning are picking up steam. While it's incredibly likely they won't catch Boston, they might sneak home-ice advantage over the injury-plagued Leafs.

The Bruins hold a twenty-four point lead over the Penguins, the second wild card team. If this lead stays steady, they'll clinch approximately Tuesday, March 21st.

#nhl playoffs 2023 #consistently impressed with how i manage to say both a lot and absolutely nothing in these #boston bruins #tampa bay lightning #toronto maple leafs #dallas stars #colorado avalanche #pittsburgh penguins

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petterbrorson · 1 year

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Belyst av solen, akvarell, 12x17 cm

Den åttonde lilla målningen från naturreservatet Kilsravinerna.

Den här visade sig vara en större utmaning än vad jag trodde. Jag gjorde ett första försök som jag gav upp och tände med i spisen. Det här andra försöket...jag kan inte bestämma mig vad jag tycker om det. Vi får se om jag bestämmer mig för att ge motivet ett tredje försök vid nåt tillfälle, för att se om jag kan få till några av de sakerna som jag skulle vilja göra bättre.

Lit by the sun, watercolour, 12x17 cm The eighth small painting from the nature reserve Kilsravinerna.

This one turned out to me more challenging than I thought. I made a first attempt that I gave up on, and used to light a fire in the stove. This second attempt...I can’t quite decide what I think of it. We’ll see if I decide to have a third go at this subject at some point, to try and sort out some of the things that I would like to do better.

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imminentinertia · 1 year

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Noe av det jeg er aller mest oppmerksom på når jeg ser på asiatisk QL er at jeg går uvegerlig glipp av forferdelig mange nyanser. Interfans var av og til frustrerende i SKAM-epoken, når de tredde sin egen kulturelle referanseramme ned over norsk språk og kultur, og jeg prøver hardt å ikke være en sånn overfor andre. Heller slå opp noe og prøve å følge blogger som kan mye enn å sitte og lalle om at vestlig konsept x er så flott illustrert i BL y (series Y y? Unnskyld) når det blir åpenbart bare man tenker seg litt om at nei, det er asiatisk konsept z.

Og det er ikke bare vestlige konsepter. The Eighth Sense får skryt for hvor innovativ og uvanlig den er for koreansk BL, men har man sett en håndfull koreanske litt indie filmer har man sett disse visuelle valgene før og hørt denne bruken av musikk før. Det er ikke supervestlig, og koreansk kultur er flettet inn hele veien i T8S, til og med jeg ser det.

Det hjelper sikkert på bevisstheten om det at jeg kommer fra et bittelite kulturområde selv.

@spyld

#speak your language day #bruk ditt eget språk #jeg hadde lyst til å poste noe så dette er halvfordøyd men i det minste norsk

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hannahs2cents · 7 days

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Living in the Moment: A Manifesto

Today is the day we begin living in the moment instead of the past or future. We cannot obsess or worry about what may have happened in the past or what might occur in the future. Living in the present and enjoying what’s happening today will create a happier and more fulfilling life for us. The past and present cannot be changed, so energy should not be wasted on worrying about events out of our control. It is time we start pursuing a more satisfying life by living in the moment.

In the Photographer’s Eye assignment, I analyzed five photos of nature from my camera roll. Through this assignment, I wanted to convey the importance of nature. Nature and our surrounding world are some of the most overlooked parts of our lives because day-to-day responsibilities and commitments get in the way. We need to worry less about the small inconveniences in our lives and understand that there is a greater and more powerful world around us. At the end of the day, we must live in the moment and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. It’s not worth it to spend time fixated on the past or future.

The Poetic License assignment allowed me to analyze and appreciate the poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay, by Robert Frost. Nothing Gold Can Stay is a great reminder that everything good in nature and life must come to an end. Although Frost's poem seems to have a negative connotation, he wants us to realize and understand that the nature of beauty, youth, and life itself is fleeting. Keeping this in mind, we must be mindful and take advantage of our current life. If we were to fixate on the past or future, we would miss the beauty surrounding our lives in the current moment.

During the Public Art assignment, I was fortunate enough to analyze a piece that changed my mindset on life. For this assignment, I decided to analyze a sculpture from the fire station located on Eighth Ave Street in Naples. After researching the fire helmet sculpture, I learned that it was a tribute to Anthony “Tony” Christensen, a firefighter at Station #1 who lost their battle to COVID-19. This was a reminder to me that life is not guaranteed and that we, myself included, need to focus on being present and happy in our current life. We are all put on this earth for a short period so we need to make the most of it and live in the present. We will never know when our last day is going to be, so we shouldn’t spend it worrying about the little things outside of our control.

For the Representative Work assignment, I chose to discuss Anaïs Nin’s poem titled, Risk. A part of living in the moment is taking risks, which is reiterated in Nin’s poem. The main idea of her poem is that risk-taking is more fulfilling than staying in your comfort zone. Risk-taking enables growth, stimulates creativity, and opens up new opportunities. Although risk-taking and being present are seen as two separate ideas, they go hand in hand. Despite the fact that risk-taking can lead to possible failures, it also has the opportunity to lead to positive, wonderful experiences and outcomes. Living in the present and only focusing on the present will be a catalyst for risk-taking.

Overall, we must take one day at a time and focus more on the present. We spend so much of our time worrying about what we didn’t get done yesterday and what we need to get done tomorrow, that we lose sight of today. As a result, we are not fully present in our day-to-day lives. With that being said, we must live our life to its fullest potential, and we need to remind ourselves to not live for the past, to not live for the future, but to live for the present.

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