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yostresswritinggirl · 3 years

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Albedo. I just rolled him and finished his quest.

I would love to talk about travelling with him, or at least being someone who brings in the ingredients for alchemy. Someone who goes out of their way for him and gets the best. Maybe the only gardener in Mondstadt to grow alchemical roots and grasses.

I'm happy for you, rolling the cute alchemy boyo ywy I only rolled in his banner to get Bennett in five rolls I'm sorry Albedo, my primogems are for Xiao and Hu Tao- *shot*

Back to business! I really, really like this cute idea awww thank you for distracting from the angst fics in my head haha (TUMBLR DIDN’T SAVE IT PROPERLY AND SO THE POST IS HORRIBLY SHORT WAIT- FIXED IT WOOHOO)

Albedo's Personal Botanist

Background

Most ingredients in alchemy usually come from ores and liquid ingredients formed by chemistry methods. Stuff like Tuttia, Bismuth, all that shindigs-

So while plant life can be useful for alchemy, not everyone recognizes its utility straight away, and provide for the common plants for arrangements rather than scientific inventory

I can imagine that you'd be a normal gardener at first but very passionate of their properties.

Might be a Dendro vision wielder too, the Dendro archon loves those who wield the power of knowledge, more so when they use it on nature.

You carry with you a lil book about all the plants and shrubs that you've personally cared for, down to their finest detail and properties. But you're a gardener, not a master of Alchemy, so some parts of the notes you couldn't really figure out yourself.

The first time you met Albedo, he was around a year into staying in Mondstadt. He was forced to go out and take a breather because of his workaholic schedule, and instead of relaxing in a bath, he ended up drifting to the market area to get more ingredients local to Mond.

Unlike the other flower stalls, he was pulled into yours because of the wide variety of your wares. Roots, grasses, shoots, plants you couldn't just find outside of the walls.

You were tending to your mini greenhouse in the back and left your botania book on the shelf outside, and this LIL SHI- Albedo, having no proper training for social interactions, straight up just opened that shit and read it all.

"Oh, hello there, mister- HEY, THAT'S MY STUFF, WHAT THE HECK"

Flustered, confused and alarmed, Albedo tried his best to quickly reason with your garden-spade-wielding self. And with his pretty boy self, you managed to calm down and listen.

You may or may not had smacked him with a bouquet of horsetail for good measure.

"Such vast knowledge and detail orientation, why waste away your talents in selling productive fauna when you can wield them into something more?"

Master Phytologist of the Knights of Favonius acquired!

Working with Albedo!

Your greenhouse in the Knight of Favonius HQ is most definitely connected to Albedo's laboratory! And very spacious too.

More than one occasion, you've seen the Chief Alchemist casually sneaking around the area, plucking a Flaming Flower or scraping dandelion seeds from the pot while you were busy tending to other flowers on the other side of your area.

65% of the time you caught him red-handed and you will be met with the rare sight of a fumbling, queasy Albedo.

30% of the time you just find out something is missing after checking inventory for the day, usually ends up with you hunting and shouting for Albedo. Because the guy seem to have a sixth sense as to when you find out his thieving adventures.

5% of all of that, Kaeya would be the one stealing from your 'safer' floras to woo a random citizen in Mond. And as a master of botany, your precious babies are always in tip top shape. Top quality bouquets all day, all night.

Those moments are the ones Albedo hate more than getting smacked with your spade. Those are your flowers, and by association, his. Grown to their maximum potential by your calloused yet gentle hands FOR HIM-

Kaeya: *reaching out to pluck a perfectly healthy glaze lily*; Albedo: *his short ass of a shadow looming over him*

NOW IT IS HIM WHO WIELDS THE POWER OF THE GARDEN SPADE

The atmosphere of your work area is significantly different from his own messy laboratory. The glass walls and roof that lets in just the right amount of sunlight, with a perfect view of the scenic landscape of Mondstadt and beyond.

When Albedo reaches a wall on his research, he picks up his sketchbook and just- waltz in to your workshop through the door connecting your workspaces.

The fresh air, the soft kiss of the sun, your humming, it was all a symphony of heaven concocted just for him.

He’ll find himself sketching your babies, dozen or more times you are included.

Your notebook’s illustrations are mostly courtesy of him, and he greatly basks in your pure admiration of his drawing.

To help him focus, you once took on the great task of organizing his laboratory, to no avail. Even if you manage to fix and align his inventory, it’s gonna go back to chaos after three days minimum.

It’s okay tho, it’s normal for him, more excuse to visit you-

Guilty, he wants your spacious and refreshing greenhouse and often asks for a redesign of his laboratory to share similar workspace with you.

Acting Grand Master Jean had to decline this idea just because it costs more than a million mora.

He’s definitely gonna sulk in your greenhouse after that, back leaning on the warm glass wall as he does nothing but sketch you and your plants the whole day.

Don’t stop him

Just admire the pout

Actually Working with Albedo! (Finally)

Whenever Albedo discovers/explores a new area, you’re always sure to tag along whether willingly or by force

YOU BET YOUR FROZEN ASS YOU’RE COMING WITH HIM TO DRAGONSPINE

DEFINITELY BY FORCE

I imagine that despite being his assistant/student, Sucrose and Timaeus are more focused on research and the application of Alchemy, so they’re not much of the resource gathering type. That said, Albedo is very thankful of your existence, it’s a breather to his already full schedule.

Albedo is both considerate and inconsiderate unconsciously : While he may run off to experiment on the traveler and leave you scouting the area yourself, he doesn’t willingly set you on fire from the inside.

Every time he comes back to camp after finishing the step by step experiment with/on the Traveler, he makes sure to check up on how you are doing.

TAKE NOTE: Our prince is very occupied and busy with his own work a lot, so he’s never really seen you in action when you go out to get the the materials he needs-

So he is purely horrified when he saw you hanging off the cliff with nothing but a rope around you to keep you safe, carefully investigating a petrified tree branch up close.

Suddenly, elevator.

Again, Imma bet, he’s gonna be accompanying you in all your expeditions after that. He’ll need to know where and how you acquire every ingredient outside of your greenhouse.

Does it require you to climb a mountain? Are there any Hilichurl camps nearby? Maybe mobs that are attracted to that type of flower?

He would be very attentive of your inventory reports and would recognize if a dangerous gathering journey is near. He’ll be right there with you.

Violetgrass x1000

He’s gathering more than a month’s worth just to make sure you don’t go back to make that dangerous trip. It’s very impractical, but let him rest his heart.

You and Albedo: Resource Gathering Expedition; Other Knights: Outdoor Dates Disguised as Work-Related Outings

Flower crowns are good and all but have you heard of flower bracelets?

Omg so cute hhh imagine a Flaming Flower Stamen bracelet for his Dragonspine expedition- it’s not gonna last forever but it’s so precious he’s definitely keeping that shit even when the heat already dissipated from it gah-

“Paimon wonders, what’s that thing around your wrist?”

“A flame bracelet, made to keep the cold away.”

“Woah! Sounds very useful! Sure would be handy for exploring, you think we can borrow it-”

“No.”

Something angst-y: Albedo has yet to make a Dendro affinity potion and he’s really, really devastated about it and himself. You’ll have to forcibly pull him out of his self-deprecation, force him to get a breather.

Overall, Albedo greatly appreciates not only your utility but also your consistent company. He values your tenacity and comfort, sharing unadulterated curiousity as you both venture the great unknown. There’s a lot of stuff he can pray about to thank whichever archon has graced you. And despite his Vision lacking the function to actually help in the advancement of his research, he is now thankful for it, for he has found with it a greater purpose: Ensuring the safety of his precious Gardenia.

I CANT BELIEVE IT, THIS THING WAS 30 TIMES LONGER BUT TUMBLR DIDN’T SAVE THE DRAFT PROPERLY AND HAD TO GET EVERYTHING BACK THROUGH MEMORY, AND MY MEMORY IS B A D. I’M SORRY I KNOW YOU JUST WANTED TO TALK BUT IT ENDED UP BEING SUPER LONG AND LOOKS LIKE A HEADCANON THAN ANYTHING, MY FORMATTING IS REALLY LIKE THIS AAAAAAAA- I hope you enjoy ywy I like your brain, it brings good ideas and gives me good ideas too!

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact albedo #albedo #albedo x reader #exile.goblet #ahahahahhahaha #this is so long and disastrous #im sorry skskksks #my first ask!#there's a double 'the' here somewhere #I just can't find it wth #exile.flower #gender neutral

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diyunho · 4 years

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The Joker x Reader - “Incubus”

Incubus is a special type of metahuman that can enter people’s mind and the only one known to possess such abilities is Y/N. Captured by an underground agency and forced to obey orders, she has a new task today: to get inside The Joker’s head and find out where he stashed half a billion dollars after he pulled what everybody calls “the heist of the century”.

“Regression will begin shortly,” one of the doctors announces on the intercom. “Prepare for countdown.”

You lay on the cold metal table next to the Joker’s body: he’s medicated into a dreamless sleep, ready to have you purge his mind for the answer to the burning question: where did he stash half a billion dollars?

After being arrested two weeks ago, The King of Gotham refused to speak and disclose any information to the authorities; they tried everything: drugs, blackmail, best intimidation tactics and psychologists without success.

J didn’t crack.

Fed up with the puzzling mystery, CIA decided to use the top secret research facility operating under the grid where the infamous Incubus is held prisoner.

“A few reminders,” the flat voice echoes in the sealed laboratory. “Do not attempt to elude us, we have your little girl! If you aim to play us we’ll revoke visiting time.”

You blankly stare at the ceiling, upset they repeat the same rules when you’re forced to use your powers; the 15 minutes you’re allowed to spend with Mia on Saturdays is all you live for since they incarcerated both of you six months ago.

How you wish you could kill them but they found a solution to prevent you from rebelling.

“Please note that in case you plan to get inside our brains and compel us to stop breathing, your daughter will die. Confirm acknowledgement.”

“Confirm,” you bitterly reply because it hurts to have your child endangered; you could end them right this moment if it wasn’t for her.

Unfortunately, they found a way to subdue your terrific ability: the crew assigned to project Incubus carries portable heart monitoring devices 24/7; they resemble wrist watches and if just one individual’s pulse deactivates, it will set of the explosive in Mia’s collar. The 5 years old has no clue that what she believes to be a cute necklace is actually a device meant to eradicate her.

“Countdown to regression,” the clinician reports and the speakers carry his words around the room. “Five, four, three, two, one. Initiate!”

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

You walk in the darkness, surprised you didn’t bump into memories yet: usually that’s the first thing you stumble upon when invading a person’s subconscious. He’s been under your spell for 10 minutes now and the void proves his twisted mind is probably worse than anyone thinks: The Clown is lost in the maze of his own insanity.

A couple more steps and you finally distinguish four doors ahead which means you’ll be able to analyze The Joker’s recollections.

First Door

The little boy cries in the middle of the room and you slowly approach, wondering if you should interfere or just observe. But tears fall from those innocent blue eyes and the fact that he’s maybe your daughter’s age makes you decide.

“Why are you crying?” you kneel by the young Joker and he wipes his face with the sleeves of his raggedy shirt:

“My mommy died.”

“Did she? I’m sorry… Do you miss her?” you manipulate the conversation since warping his thoughts might lead to your quest: discovering where the money is.

“U-hum,” he nods and asks. “I don’t like it at the orphanage, I want to go home…”

“Perhaps I can help,” you pull him in your arms and he whispers:

“Who are you?”

“Your worst nightmare,” Y/N sadly concludes because it doesn’t bring her joy to distort an already broken mind, nevertheless she‘s here bearing a clear purpose. “It’s ok,” you hold the child and soothe him. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

The little boy whimpers, clinging to the stranger showing him kindness then vanishes in thin air: you got rid of a painful memory and replaced it with a nicer one.

Now The Joker will remember that someone comforted him when in reality it never happened.

Second Door

The young man is standing in front of the burning cottage while the firefighters are struggling to put out the blaze. He’s covered in ashes and his lips are barely moving; you can hardly discern what he keeps on repeating:

“They’re still inside… they’re still inside…”

The 24 years old Joker is numb and all you can conclude he seemed so different back in the day.

“Who’s inside?” you inquire and he glimpses your way without realizes he’s in shock.

“My wife and son. I couldn’t save them… I didn’t make it to the second level, the flames were too strong…”

You bend over and grab the blanket resting at his feet, placing it around his shoulders.

“I’m sorry they’re gone, you did everything you could.”

He glares at the Incubus for a split moment before disappearing: you just lift the burden of a horrifying experience and now The Joker will remember that someone offered consolation when in reality it never happened.

Third Door

The man is sitting on the floor with his back against the padded wall, tightly confined inside his straight jacket. He keeps screaming, then maniacally laughing and sobbing in the same time while straining to escape the garment.

“Calm down,” you slide near him. “You’ll hurt yourself if you continue.”

The 27 years old tries to articulate a couple of coherent sounds before reprising his yelling.

“Stop squirming,” you cup his face and make him pay attention. “Look at me. Relax,” you caress his cheeks. “Deep breaths, ok?” you plead with the madman. “Sssttt, it’s fine…” Y/N stares in his eyes and the shouting gradually dies out. “There you go,” you brush your forehead on J’s prior to him fading away: you switched a terrible incident into better conclusion by mimicking sympathy when in reality it never happened.

Fourth Door

You’re surprised to notice The Joker talking to shadows: a woman and a little girl judging by their silhouettes; he resembles the most wanted criminal lying 10 inches apart from you in the secured establishment pushing you to accomplish their instructions.

A recent memory? Does it mean he has another family?...

You want to come closer and the sight of the contours disappearing is intriguing; The Clown rubs his temples and you can tell he’s distressed.

“What’s going on?” you dig in his brain for responses.

“They took my Queen and my Princess!” he grinds his teeth with resentment.

“Do you know where they are?”

“Yes,” J grumbles and evaporates saying a baffling phrase: ”I have to find the perfect plan in order to reclaim what’s mine!”

So weird the memory dispersed before you misled the truth in your favor … What the heck is going on?!...

The Cell

No rooms left and you stroll in the murkiness again, angry your scheme didn’t lead towards a better result: oddly enough The King of Gotham failed to unveil extra hints that could have aid you in discovering where the fortune he snatched is.

“Hello sugar,” the raspy intonation halts you in your tracks.

Y/N detects the heavy bars forming this square shaped cell containing what she suspects to be a version of The Joker; it’s difficult to restrain her astonishment since she’s witnessing a rare phenomenon: nothing less than a mind prison.

Jackpot! If he buried something deep inside and locked it even from himself it could mean you reached your destination.

“It’s nice to have visitors,” the eerie apparition chuckles. “It gets lonely.”

“I bet,” you pout. “Why don’t you break free?”

He kicks the bars, enraged he has to explain:

“I’m sure a superior creature such as the lady joining me knows a mind prison can only be opened from the outside!”

He’s self-aware! This is absolutely unbelievable: humans are never conscious within the deepest layers of their psyche.

“You are correct: you can only open it from the outside,” you agree. “What’s your name?”

“Joker. What’s yours?”

“Y/N.”

“Duh, I know,” he snickers and lets his tattooed arms hang loose outside the bars. “You have a kid, right?”

He sees your doubt and his gratification builds up to new highs.

“Yes.”

“What’s her name?”

“How do you know it’s a she?!” you counterattack with a quiz.

Damn, this whole charade is getting more and more fascinating by the second!

“I know soooooo many things,” the entity yawns. “For example I’m sure you wonder how I ended up in here.”

No sign you would deny his rambling thus he enlightens the riddle:

“Some are born with certain “gifts”, some develop them after a traumatic experience. I’m the lucky recipient of the latest, although I was locked in here from day one. If I had someone shatter the seal and by someone I mean you,” he points his finger at the smirking Y/N, “I could help you run from the place you hate. Tell me I’m wrong, but aren’t you trapped also?”

“You’re sneaky, I’ll give you that,” you laugh at his attempts to influence your actions.

“And you’re too powerful not to realize what’s going on! Snap out of it!!!” he hisses. “Are you single sugar?” the anger building up makes Y/N frown.

“None of your business!”

“Humor me, I beg,” he emphasizes the words.

“Yes,” you scoff and his demeanor doesn’t lower your guard.

“Are you 100% certain you’re not married?”

“What’s this nonsense?!” you sneer at the stupid conversation.

“Maybe you don’t remember because you created your own mind prison where you chained crucial data in order to protect the ones you love after you were captured. What’s your daughter’s name?” he sulks and you grumble.

“Mia.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am; do you think I don’t know my child’s name?”

“And you think I don’t recognize my own wife standing in front of me??!!!!” he snaps at your hesitation. “Set me free! Set me free and I’ll show you! I can get inside your mind and unlock your cage: you’ll remember everything!”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?!” you growl at the absurd sentences: like his devious tactic would work on you!

“I’m talking to the Incubus, am I not?”

Your mouth opens in amazement since there is no way in hell he could know that.

“Do I have your attention now?” the beast reprimands. “Good! Here’s what you deliberately forgot: nobody knows that we’re married, it’s better that way; yet a woman with your capabilities is bound to attract unwanted attention anyway. When we got together, we had a deal: you’ll never get inside my head and you consented. No? Doesn’t ring a bell?...” he cracks his joints. “After they took you and Emma from me…”

“Who’s Emma?” you interrupt, more and more convinced there’s something fishy happening inside The Joker’s subconscious.

“Our daughter, her name is not Mia, you just replaced it after you were both kidnapped in order to sever all connections with the past. Can’t blame you: it’s a great strategy given the circumstances: create a mind prison, hide everything connected to protect me and her. Last thing you needed was for them to find out we are actually acquainted in the most intimate way. That would have been a disaster! Do you know why I stole half a billion dollars and let them catch me? I knew that if I do that they’ll use everything possible under the sun to make me spill the beans. When all fails, won’t they flaunt the last ace in their sleeve? That’s how I got here sugar, it was the ultimate goal. I can’t function without my girls so I came to get them!”

“Listen here,” your menacing attitude takes over. “Who do you take me for?! Your fictional tale is starting to piss me off so I advise you to quit before I make your neurons crumble to pieces!”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it,” the feral beast sniffs the air. “You always kept your end of the bargain and never got in here before to poke the past. I respect that, sugar. Now I had no choice besides letting you in.”

“Stop it! Stop your lies!! You’re nothing more than a projection of The Joker’s mind!”

“Ahhhh,” the evil grin flourishes behind the silver teeth. “I am so much more than that. Do you want to get out of this facility? I suggest you set me free and I will prove I’m telling the truth!”

“Bullshit! What can you do anyway?! I can kill everyone and run, but my daughter will die!”

“Not if I help: you can make them stop breathing and I could keep the hearts beating until we get the key that unlocks Emma’s collar! It’s a dual team mission.”

“Her name is Mia! How do you know about the collar?!” the dumbfounded Y/N mumbles.

“Weren’t you listening? I know a lot of things!”

“Even if we assume you aren’t lying, how will you keep their hearts beating?!”

“Set me free and I’ll show you! SET. ME. FREE!!!!!! Or we are fucking doomed! Set me free!” he punches the bars. “Set me free and I’ll open your mind prison! You’ll realize each word I uttered is genuine! You’ll remember all of it! SET! ME! FREE!!! What do you have to lose, huh? Nothing! Do it!! Do it!!!!”

“How could you get inside my mind?! I’m a metahuman!”

“Goddamnit! SET ME FREE AND I’ll SHOW YOU!!!!! Do you want your daughter to perish in this place?! Do you???!!!”

You definitely are beyond skeptical; still… at least he’s correct about this: you have nothing to lose; you approach with caution and part the bars enough for the trapped entity to squeeze outside.

“Thank you honey,” he clumsily bows and before you can react he snatches in his arms and kisses you.

Y/N feels this electrifying sensation taking over, stupefied to understand what it means: she just unleashed another Incubus. And she always thought she was the only one!

You gasp for air and open your eyes, processing all the recovered memories rushing through your brain: your own mind prison was opened as promised.

You tilt your head to look at The Clown and he grabs your hand, panting:

“Are you ready sugar?”

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

People keep falling to the ground, each step bringing you closer to your freedom. Emma’s face is buried in your neck as you jump over corpses on the way out of the underground laboratory:

“No peeking!” The Joker scolds and her little hands hold you tighter while obeying.

“Ok daddy.”

“Don’t be scared,” you kiss her cheek and continue the rampage towards the exit.

Screams intensify around the three detainees escaping their faith: the adults can’t afford any weakness or grant mercy to the ones that showed them none.

In the end, what is more terrifying than one Incubus that could plunge the world into complete darkness?

The answer is simple: two of them.

Also read: MASTERLIST

You can also follow me on Wattpad and AO3 under the same blog name: DiYunho.

#the joker x reader #the joker fanfiction #the joker imagine #the joker jared leto #the joker suicide squad #the joker #joker #joker fanfiction #joker imagines #joker leto #joker suicide squad #mister j #dc #dcu

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meimikana · 6 years

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A Beginner’s Guide to Caring for Your Luminary: Chapter 3: AO3 Previous Chapters: Ch1: AO3 | Tumblr | Ch2: AO3 | Tumblr Fandom: Dragon Quest XI Pairing: Erik/Eleven (eventually) Rating: Teen Summary: Follow along as Erik meets, gets to know, and slowly learns how to properly care for his Luminary.

Notes: Hello, and welcome to another exciting episode of "Wow, that sure took awhile to update. What gives?" Alas, this chapter was meant to be finished about two weeks ago, and then the flu happened. Spent about a week being absolutely miserable, and then when I felt marginally human again, I discovered that the flu had put a dent in my shoulder recovery. Spent another couple of days absolutely hating everything ever, but here we are finally, back with the dumb boys being cute. o7

P.S. The chapter is under the cut for people who don’t wanna go to AO3 for whatever reason. Cheers~

Ch3: Take Him to New Places

They spent the last few hours until dawn back at the little church in the foothills. The pews served as beds well enough. They hadn't dared to wake up the old nun, or rather, Erik hadn't. He just wasn't in the mood to get chewed out by a little old lady over some imagined, or not so imagined, slight. He wasn't leading Eleven down some dark path of illicit activity, or whatever sin she'd dreamed up for them. It wasn't at all his fault that Heliodor's upper crust were completely nuts and apparently wholeheartedly believed in some garbage about the Luminary actually being the Darkspawn or whatever. It was ridiculous. Erik had only known Eleven for about a day and he could already wax on at length at how absurd the entire mess was. Darkspawn. Really.

Surprisingly enough, the old nun didn't rise before they did. A small blessing. Erik gave his silent thanks for a myriad of reasons and then they were off. That's when things got… interesting. Yes, interesting was a good enough way to put it.

Making their way into the Manglegrove had ended up being something of an adventure in and of itself. From the foothills below Heliodor there really was only the one pass to get through, but boy did that turn out to be a difficult task, more so than Erik had initially assumed. It was the season, apparently. The season where there were baby animals all over the place, and in this particular case: sabrecat cubs. Or sabrecubs, if you would. There'd been a veritable pack of them all over the pass leading down to the Manglegrove. Or was pride the proper term to use here? Pride, pack, eh? Whatever worked. The end result was lots of cute, excessively annoying kittens underfoot where no one in their right mind would want them. Sabrecubs were vicious, playful little beasts, but they only came up to the ankle. They weren't the real problem. Their parents were the actual problem. Because where there were babies, their much larger, murderous parents wouldn't be far behind. Erik's plan had been to keep to the trees and skirt around that disaster in the making. And it had worked for the most part, up until Erik had tripped over one of those stupid stump monsters. Not his finest moment. Thankfully, they'd managed to dispatch the irate branchling without attracting further attention, but Erik got the feeling that Eleven had been quietly laughing at him the entire time. Not that Erik could really blame him if he had, it had been a rather comical situation.

Either way, they finally strode into the Manglegrove proper around midday, sharing a simple lunch between them of some bread Erik had swiped on the way out of Heliodor and some of those berries Eleven always seemed to know how to find. A stream not too far in provided some fresh water to wash it down with. Eleven also took the time to top off a small canteen he kept in that bag of his.

The Manglegrove was quiet… and wet. It was also incredibly overgrown, but that was to be expected with a name that incorporated "mangle" in it. The shadows cast by all the trees and vines were so deep and dark in places that it might as well have been nighttime. Great place for predators looking for a snack, not such a great place for tourists on their way through. Every now and then, a hulking stone structure would peek out between the overwhelming greenery, as if to remind anyone who came through that this place used to be something else. What that might have been, Erik wasn't entirely sure. His forays into local history had mostly been for useful stuff: good places to hide and valuables to liberate. The rise and fall of prior civilizations hadn't really mattered all that much at the time. Didn't really matter all that much at the moment now either, it was just something of note, he supposed.

What mattered was getting through the Manglegrove in one piece, more or less. A goal which was somewhat hampered by the fact that everything was wet. Erik couldn't recall it having rained the night before. Sure, it had been damp when they'd left the church that morning, but that had been from the morning dew. There hadn't been any sign of rain. The Manglegrove on the other hand was just super saturated all over. What the heck? There hadn't been a cloud in the sky when they'd finally escaped the kitten disaster. Sure, he couldn't really see the sky all that well thanks to the over surplus of trees that put the grove in the mangle, but from what little he could spy, it looked clear enough. Maybe it had some weird self-contained weather system? It wouldn't be the strangest thing he'd come across, that's for sure. He could do without the ground squelching under their feet though. Once they were out of this yuck, Erik might need to beg that bottle of water off of Eleven just to clean his shoes. Ugh.

A little further in, the path opened up abruptly on a sheer drop down into a deep gorge. Huh. Erik had known it was rocky in this area, but he hadn't quite expected this. To be honest, he wasn't all that familiar with the Manglegrove for obvious reasons. That whole "mangle" thing kind of discouraged folks from ever wanting to come here, thus very little information ever got passed around about it. But be that as it may, this might actually prove to be a problem. Humming to himself, Erik walked up to the edge of the cliff, crouched down, and surveyed the area below. There were some nasty looking plants down there, but they weren't what really drew the eye. No, it was the cyclops patrolling alongside the water down below that was the real kicker. No thank you. "We are not going down there," Erik stated plainly as he glanced up at his companion.

Eleven vehemently shook his head in agreement. Excellent, that was another thing Erik wasn't going to have to worry about then. Eleven was young, sure, but he was also the Luminary too. A heady combination if anyone took the time to actually think about it. That made Eleven a young hero. Erik had heard enough stories about heroes to know that young heroes were the absolute worst about anything that might be perceived as a "challenge". Good to know that Eleven wasn't the type. Though Erik supposed he should already have figured that out, since Eleven had been smart enough to run from that stupid dragon. Still, it never hurt to have a little extra confirmation for well developed common sense.

Unfortunately, Eleven being sensible didn't help them get across this little roadblock, but that bridge Erik spied a ways off to their left probably would. Most folks didn't come this way, but apparently someone did. And- Erik stood and turned towards Eleven, about to point out his find when something else grabbed his attention. What the heck? He blinked several times, hoping that the phantasm situated a few feet behind Eleven would right itself. But no, reality remained the same and the mirage continued to stand there, merrily chewing on the greenery. What was a domesticated cow doing in the middle of the Manglegrove?

And that's when everything went sideways. The cow, because it was most certainly a cow, raised its head, looked right at them, and spoke. "Good moofternoon!" It even sounded cheery. How?

Erik couldn't really properly describe the next few minutes. At most, he could say he probably had an out of body experience. Either way, his brain took a more clinical approach to current events than it ever had before and swiftly catalogued the facts that the cow sounded like a girl, was probably a dairy cow by the look of her, and that her greeting was a terrible play on cows and hellos. In conclusion, the next few moments of his life were likely to be full of terrible cow puns. And why was Eleven just waving at the talking cow? Was this normal for him? Did they have talking cows in Cobblestone? Inquiring minds didn't actually want to know, but it was better to think about that than the fact that there was a talking cow. Right here. In front of them. Why was there a talking cow?

"Would you like to hear the latest forecast?" What?

"You know the weather?" Erik asked dumbly.

"Well, of course I do. I'm a mooterologist. It's my job." The cow sounded very proud of herself. How did a cow manage to sound proud of themselves? And mooterologist? That just sounded- No, actually no, Erik just wasn't even going to think about it. This encounter was surreal enough as is.

Erik glanced over at Eleven, took note of the polite smile Eleven was directing at the "mooterologist", then turned his attention back towards the cow. "Sure, lay it on us." What did they have to lose at this point? Their collective sanity had probably already taken a leave of absence.

"Moooo. Let's see what we have here." The cow tossed her head and stomped her front hooves in what appeared to be excitement. "Around midnight we should have an udderly delightful rain shower, but it looks like the skies should start to clear at dawn! It'll be perfect weather for adventuring, so grab the bull by the horns and get out there! Moooo!"

Erik just blinked. He had a sneaking suspicion that Eleven was doing the same. "Those puns…" he started, but had no idea of how to finish. What did a person say to a talking cow who threw out cow puns?

Was… Was it his imagination or was the cow blushing? How in the world did a cow actually manage to blush in a visible manner? Weren't they covered in hair, fur, or whatever? "I know. I know," the cow spoke in obvious embarrassment, "My sincerest apologies! I'm afraid I'm still a little awkward with my delivery. It's my first day on the job, you see. But don't you worry, I'm certain that with a little practice I'll be delivering the weather report as well as any veteran mooterologist!"

"Oh! It's your first day? Well, congratulations," Eleven finally spoke up, saving Erik from having to try and parse the cow's statement. "You're doing a fine job. Keep up the good work." He even sounded believable. Erik was almost envious. In fact, he would be envious if he could just get past the whole talking cow concept. Alas, he brain was still stuck on that.

The cow thanked them profusely and wished them well as Eleven bid her goodbye, tugged Erik around, and pushed him towards that bridge he'd spied earlier. Ah, so Eleven had seen it too. Good. That was good. Why was there a talking cow? "Is that normal?" Erik asked once he figured they were out of earshot of the cow.

"Is what normal?" Eleven asked placidly.

"Talking cows."

"Never seen one before in my life," Eleven answered easily enough.

"You don't say," Erik muttered as they drew abreast of the bridge. It looked sturdy enough, but there were no railings of any kind, not even a rope on either side. Did no one around here have any respect for safety? "So that was a first for you too?"

"Mhmm."

"You were awfully calm, all things considered," Erik pointed out absently as he tested the first plank on the bridge. Hmm, it felt solid enough. They should be fine to cross.

"I was just following your lead."

Erik stopped halfway across the bridge, turned around, and grabbed Eleven by the shoulders. "I wasn't calm at all."

Eleven smiled sheepishly and ducked his head. "Neither was I."

Erik nodded gravely, then pointed in the direction of the talking cow. "That did happen though, right?"

"Yes," Eleven said earnestly. "We both just met a talking cow who told us the weather."

Erik nodded again before turning back around and continuing their trek across the bridge. "The Manglegrove sure is a strange place," he offered once they were back on solid ground. Eleven laughed at that, and Erik couldn't help but grin back at him in return. This was already turning out to be the weirdest journey, but so long as they could laugh at it, Erik figured they'd be okay.

The far side of the bridge was, for all intent and purpose, a cliff island. There was a very comfy looking campsite nestled on one side with a nice view, and Erik was loathe to not use it. Unfortunately, they still had more than enough light left in the day to get out of this crazy place if they kept their current pace up. A well made wooden cabin accompanied the campsite. No owner in sight though, but Erik supposed that was just as well. While he highly doubted that news of the "terrifying Darkspawn" had reached this hole in the wall, it was best to not take any chances when at all possible. A covered well was situated on the far side of the cabin… along with a wrecked bridge. Erik should have known. Asides from the sabrecub and stump monster fiasco, things had been going far too well for something to not go horribly wrong. There would be no getting across the wreckage either, too much of it looked to be burnt to the point of ash. Erik might be light on his feet, but that much structural damage would have even him going splat down into the marsh below.

"We're still not going down there," Erik stated flatly as he looked over at Eleven.

Eleven just shrugged in acknowledgment. They both spent several minutes staring despondently at the trashed bridge, then Eleven glanced back the way they'd come and absently reached up to tap at his chin in thought. "Wasn't there a little pass through the cliffs back behind the house?"

Erik perked up. That's right, maybe they weren't as screwed as it appeared. "Yeah, let's go check it out."

It wasn't exactly a small opening in the cliffs behind the house; and it certainly didn't look like either of them would need to squeeze through anywhere. That was good, at least, but the considerable land bridge that spanned over the entrance did not fill Erik with much confidence. It looked a little too much like the beginnings of a cave. Sure, there was sunlight shining through not too far in, but still. Please don't be a cave. A two-tone mutt of a dog met them at the entrance, and after the cow, Erik was just so done with normal domesticated animals. "Please don't be a talking dog," Erik told it in no uncertain terms. It whimpered at them, but thankfully did not talk. It did follow them though. Erik didn't particularly care for that, but he wasn't going to be mean to a dog that wasn't being mean to them. It was fine, it was probably just curious at what they were doing. That's all.

Unfortunately, this little detour lead them to a dead end. There was a clearing at the end with a weird vine plant growing in the middle of it and that was it. Wonderful. If they couldn't find a way through the Manglegrove, then they'd have to double back through Heliodor. And that was very much not ideal. Erik could sneak them both back through the city, of that he had no doubt, but with Hendrik and his men waiting on the other side, there wasn't much point to it. If they couldn't get through here, then they weren't going to get through.

The dog whimpered sadly at them again, and Erik couldn't help but sigh in shared distress. "You and me both, Rover."

And that's when things got weird again. Eleven hadn't seemed all that concerned about their predicament. In fact, his attention had been wholly captivated by that strange plant. Which had started to glow - What? - when Eleven took a step closer to it. "Hey-" Erik started, reaching out towards Eleven even as Eleven reached out towards the plant. There was a flash of golden light, and then reality faded out only to be replaced by some bizarrely tinted scene of the cabin they'd just left. How did they-? The scene played out as a stout, bearded, little man passed by the house, singing a happy and absolutely atrocious jingle about cutting trees as he headed towards the wrecked bridge. He was far more surprised about it than they'd been, and angry too. Oh, he'd built the bridge himself. That explained it. The diminutive devil that popped out of the wreckage also explained some things. And then when the woodcutter got turned into a familiar looking dog, Erik just didn't want to know anything else. Sadly, his wish was not granted. They got to watch the devil going off to set up his next prank too. What joy.

Then they were back in the clearing with that weird, glowing plant. Well. That had been a thing. Right? So. Oh hey, the sigil on the back of Eleven's left hand had been glowing again too. Well then, it had to be some Luminary ability that let them see the past or whatever. Okay, Erik could deal with that if it was a Luminary thing. It might be weird, but if it was Eleven then Erik would trust in it. Anything that could help Eleven out was good. Right. What he didn't want to deal with though was the dog that was standing right beside him. Alas. "Well, at least you can't talk," Erik muttered as he looked down at the man turned canine. The dog, thankfully, did not whimper at him again.

"We have to fix this," Eleven said decisively.

Erik couldn't help an almost goofy grin at Eleven's heroic statement. It was kind of silly really, but he couldn't help but feel a touch of pride at Eleven sounding so noble already. They were just now starting out. Who knew what the world had in store for them? But if this was Eleven at the very beginning, then Erik couldn't wait to see what he'd be like at the end. First thing's first though, they had a tricky devil to track down and a beatdown to deliver. "Yeah, let's," Erik agreed heartily, then looked back down at the dog and shook his finger. "No following us, Rover. There's no telling what that bratty monster could still do to you."

Thankfully, mister pooch appeared to agree with them. Or at least he didn't try to follow them back across that first, still intact bridge. Why hadn't the devil burnt it down too? What an odd exception. There had been a river gorge near the treasure chest the devil had been plotting over in Eleven's vision. That was probably the waterway used as a border between Heliodor and the Costa Valor… which meant they'd be passing by the talking cow again. Great. Oh well, needs must.

Much to Erik's relief, they did not stop to have another chat with the cow. Eleven did wave at her though, but only after she mooed at them in greeting. Erik got that being the Luminary probably meant that Eleven had to be nice, but honestly, Eleven was just a little too polite for his own good. Sometimes it was best to just ignore the talking farm animals. Quicker too. The treasure chest was right where Erik suspected it would be. Good thing neither of them needed to go to the Costa Valor though, since it looked like that annoying little pest had trashed that bridge as well. What a bother.

The tricky devil shot out of the chest like a jack in the box as soon as they approached. Neither of them were impressed. In fact, Erik couldn't help but taunt the little guy. The entire display was dipping pretty deep into loser land. Just not threatening at all. The shapeshifting beam was easy enough to dodge too since they'd both been expecting it, but boy did that make shortstuff angry. The devil flat out attacked them after that, and even in this, it was pretty sad. Overall, this tricky devil seemed to favor fire spells, but they just weren't enough in the face of Erik and Eleven's teamwork. Now that was something to be proud of. They'd only known each other for what, two days now? But Eleven could already tell when Erik wanted him to feint and draw attention for a back attack. The devil was dispatched posthaste and the only real damage they took was a barely there singe on the hem of Eleven's coat.

Before they had much of a chance to celebrate their victory, the sound of footsteps racing up the slope behind them had them both turning in tandem, ready for the next possible attack. It was just the guy from the vision, thankfully, huffing and puffing as he skidded to a stop before them. "Oh look, it's our pal the pooch," Erik said with a smirk as he surreptitiously sheathed his dagger.

The old guy huffed out a few more labored breaths then grinned up at them in obvious joy. "Not any more! Thanks to you, I'm back to my old self!" Introductions were traded after that with Flint, the woodcutter, being incredibly thankful to them both for dealing with that horrible pest. Shame they had to kill it, but a monster was a monster, and there wasn't much else a person could do with something that was trying to set them on fire. Flint asked them if there was anything he could do for them, which led them back to Flint's cabin with the older man running around here and there, checking up on his supplies and whatever else he'd need to repair the bridge for them to get across. Erik and Eleven both offered to help, to speed things up if nothing else, and really, Erik wasn't going to leave some poor old guy to do all the work when he was right there. But Flint refused on the grounds that they'd done the most difficult work so far, what with fighting that monster and all that. He wouldn't even let them help him prepare dinner once it started to get dark out.

Once their bellies were full, and after Flint had thanked them yet again for what they'd done for him, Erik begged off on bunking in the cabin for the night. The sky was clear and he was loath to miss out on enjoying the comfort of the adjoining campsite. Eleven stayed behind for a short while, seeming to want to speak with Flint about something or other. Erik was a tad bit curious, but figured Eleven would tell him whatever it was if it turned out to be something important. The campfire was crackling merrily, and Erik had laid out some blankets he'd snatched for them, by the time Eleven finally joined him.

To be honest, Erik wasn't entirely enamoured with the stars. Most times, given the choice of places to sleep for the night, he'd pick whatever was most convenient. Whether that meant he slept underneath a roof for the night, or bedded down beneath the sky, well, he just tended to leave that up to whatever circumstances occurred at the time. Tonight though, he kind of just wanted to look up at the stars and be still for awhile. Eleven smiled at Erik before settling down on the blanket laid down across from him. That was good. He liked seeing Eleven happy, especially after all that crap he'd gone through in Heliodor. What a mess. But no, Erik wasn't going to think about all of that tonight. No, tonight he was going to decompress and try not to think about how crazy everything was right now.

Erik wasn't all that concerned with the direction his life was currently taking. It's true that he hadn't really believed a word the Seer had told him, but no one could blame him for that. Prophetic dreams were still just dreams, and no one could really say whether they were real or not until whatever had been prophesied actually happened. But it had happened, and Erik saw no downside to it. Eleven was a nice kid and Erik knew without a doubt that he was doing the right thing for once in his life. That… was such a relief that he couldn't even think of how to put it into words. He didn't regret his life of thieving, not one little bit. The world wasn't all sunshine and roses, and sometimes you had to take what you needed to get by in it. He did kind of regret thinking so badly of Derk, even if it had just been for a short while, but the threat of backstabbing was just par for the course in his trade.

Derk. Now that had been a surprise. Derk had always seemed to enjoy the adventure and threat of danger inherent in their line of work. But the man had opened up a shop, settled down, and even gotten married. Heck, he'd even looked respectable. Sure, he'd said he'd done it all to help Erik out, but it had been easy enough to see that his old partner had been enjoying his new direction in life. Erik couldn't fault him for that. To be happy with your life… That was the ideal, right? Well, Erik had a ways to go before he could say anything about that, but it sure felt like he'd taken the first initial steps to getting there. Maybe…

Eh, he was beginning to sound maudlin, even in his own head. Taking the time to be still and catch his breath after an intensely grueling two days was good, thinking about the past to the point where he started getting soppy about it was not. The sky was clear, the stars shown brightly above them with Erdwin's Lantern twinkling down upon his successor, who was already asleep by the sound of it. Oh, Eleven didn't snore (thank god), but Erik had a good ear, and the cadence of his Luminary's breathing had deepened a short while ago. Sleep was a good idea, they had their work cut out for them on the morrow. There was no way he was just going to sit around and twiddle his thumbs while Flint did all the work of getting that bridge back up into working order.

---

In the morning, it took less wheedling than Erik thought it would to get Flint to allow them to help. Then again, he didn't suppose anyone had the ability to stay strong in the face of Eleven looking like the most innocent angel on the face of the planet. That pretty face of his was lethal when Eleven had the mind to put it to good use. Flint only let them help in transporting the wood he'd need to rebuild the bridge though, so it wasn't too big of a victory. But Erik would take what they could get. There was another bothersome issue though…

"So… What do you do about the cyclops?" Erik asked curiously as Flint went about setting up a professional looking rope and pulley system for getting up and down the cliffs.

"Not a single one of them is a morning person," Flint answered affably while he continued to work. "As long as you get back up before midday, you have nothing to fear."

"Really? Wow, that's handy to know," Erik said as he watched Eleven hand Flint another rope. Eleven's apparent youth and obvious interest in what the woodcutter was doing was apparently enough to get him farther along on the "helping out" bandwagon than Erik. Not that he was complaining. Learning new things, even just by observing the proceedings, was always a good thing.

"Yep," Flint declared cheerfully as he nodded his thanks to Eleven. "They're a pretty lazy lot. No too much of a bother. Though I suppose if you do see one out and about in the morning, then something pretty bad must have happened. Probably best to just go hide or something if that's the case."

Erik nodded agreeably as Flint waved Eleven off and started making his way down the bridge's framework. Erik and Eleven spent the rest of the morning lowering batches of wood down when indicated, and then just watching the woodcutter work in the meantime. Flint definitely knew what he was doing, and was finished repairing the bridge's struts and supports with time to spare before midday. They spent the rest of the morning hauling around the rest of the wood the older man would need to finish the job. By the time lunchtime rolled around, Erik had worked up an appetite, and was certain that Eleven and Flint were also to the point of starving. Flint surprised them with a hearty stew he'd left simmering on a flame the night before. Good stuff, though Erik wondered over the wisdom of leaving a flame lit in a wooden cabin overnight. It just seemed like a bad idea to him overall. But oh well, whatever worked, he supposed. It was Flint's house, after all, and if the man didn't think it was a risk to cook inside, who was Erik to tell him otherwise.

Night fell again before Flint had finished with the bridge, and they ate the remainder of the stew for dinner. The sky was clear again. The stars twinkled and Erdwin's Lantern continued to glimmer far above them. It was peaceful, and Erik just let it wash over him. In the morning, they'd finally be on their way, back into danger and adventure and whatever else they'd end up tripping over. Erik would go back to being the thief who stole from the king and Eleven would go back to being the Luminary whom Heliodor thought was the Darkspawn. Thing were probably going to heat back up pretty fast, best to enjoy this while they could. No telling when they'd have something like this again.

---

Flint was chipper as you please as Erik and Eleven watched him put the finishing touches on the repaired bridge the next morning. The woodcutter wished them well once he was done, and then regaled them with his theory about Eleven's little trick with the glowing plant. The "Guidance of Yggdrasil" made a tremendous amount of sense. Eleven was the Luminary, and the Luminary was the hero, being Yggdrasil's favorite little leaf seemed like a no brainer in light of that. Still, that glowing vine plant being one of Yggdrasil's roots seemed pretty… odd. Yggdrasil floated high up in the sky. None of its hanging roots reached the ground. How did one of them actually get to the Manglegrove? And why was it poking up out of the ground? That… that was weird. Flint's apparent envy of Eleven's hair, on the other hand, was pretty amusing.

They gave him their farewells and headed out across the bridge, their steps unburdened for the time being. Once on the other side, Erik found that he still did not care for the Manglegrove. There was another cow. It looked exactly like the cow they'd met before. Why was there another cow? Or was it the same cow? Erik wasn't sure he even wanted to know, but Eleven, being his ever so polite self, had already decided on their next course of action. The cow had looked their way, and Eleven had waved at it before heading over to… speak with it. Sure. Okay. They could get the weather. It never hurt to know if rain was coming.

"Good mooooning," the cow greeted them cheerfully. "Would you like to hear today's forecast?"

"Are you the same mooterologist we met on the other side of the gorge?" Eleven asked her curiously.

"Oh no," the cow replied in the negative, though she sounded delighted at the recognition, "that would be my twin sister. We were assigned to different areas of the Manglegrove. The weather here is very odd and tends to be different on the opposing sides of the big gorge."

"That's fascinating," Eleven said, and he did actually sound interested. "Is this your first assignment as well?"

"Oh no!" The cow shook her head in denial, though she still sounded incredibly enthusiastic. "I joined the Mooterology Network several months before my sister applied. I was assigned to another area until she finished her training. Once she was ready to get out there and take the bull by the horns, we were both assigned to the Manglegrove. It's been quite the experience."

Erik just… let Eleven continue on with the rest of his conversation. The forecast was clear skies until the afternoon, and then there would be more rain, but they should be done with this lunatic asylum by then. She did mention something about a heavy smell of fresh ash on the breeze, but Erik figured that was just from all the burnt bridges. He probably should have paid more attention to that.

He really, really ought to have paid more attention to that.

Notes: I shifted around a few events in the Manglegrove, mostly because it seemed kind of stupid for them to enter in the middle of the night. Ergo them hitting the campground right as they find it just didn't really work well at all. I've also not written the Fun-Sized Forge in because it's not really relevant or dumb enough to include except in the whole "Where exactly were you keeping that, Erik?" angle. If Erik has a subspace pocket in his pants, then I just don't want to know.

#Dragon Quest XI #DQXI #DQ11 #fanfiction

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daydreamer0078 · 4 years

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10 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time You Must Watch

Space, Future, Technology, Apocalpyse. These all come to the Scifi genre. Every movie lover likes a particular genre. Some people like action thrillers, some people like rom-coms, some special people like the SciFi genre. Scifi genre has a special place for every movie lover even if they like other genre. Perhaps, it's because of complexity that SciFi movies have. Sometimes, we may not understand what we are watching. Suppose, let's take Inception movie. A lot of people in their first watch didn't understand what they are seeing. But, when you start perceiving the film, you're gonna go into a different world. That's called SCI-FI. Sometimes, we want to experience how the future could be. We want to know how technology is gonna explore in the future and we want to know how space looks like and how it works. That's why we all have sci-fi movies. Scifi movies give us an opportunity to go into a different new world and experience for 2 hours. Scifi is always special and let's discuss what are the best SciFi movies you must watch if you haven't seen. 2001: A Space Odyssey - 1968

2001 A Space Odyssey is one of the old space sci-fi movies that represents the epic adventure in the space. The movie was released in the year 1968 which is too old. But, still it is one of the greatest SciFi films you have to watch. Keir Dullea did a phenomenal performance in this film and well-directed by Stanley Kubrick. The Climax is very ambiguous that has several meanings to the film. You may need to adjust with the quality of the movie. But, still a great watch :) IMDb Rating: 8.3/10 Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and more.. Plot: After discovering mysterious remnants underneath the lunar surface, humanity sets off on a quest to find the origins with the help of artificial intelligence. WATCH NOW Blade Runner - 1982

Blade Runner 1982 was released in 1982 with a new great future concept. It is one of the well-made sci-fi movies of all time. The movie depicts the future and blows our minds with the concept of the movie. Recently, this movie has got a sequel in 2017 as Blade Runner 2049. The sequel has received positive reviews from people liking the movie. However, this is the first scifi movie that introduced how future could be. We may not recognize the difference b/w humans and robots ( known as replicants ) in the future. These kinds of movies still scare us that the world would completely be controlled by artificial intelligence eliminating the freedom for humanity. Although, if you haven't watched this epic sci-fi film, watch this film right away. IMDb Rating: 8.1/10 Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and more. Plot: A man who is an ex- retired officer assigned to work again known as ( blade runner ) to track down four replicants ( robots ). WATCH NOW Back to the Future Series - 1985- 1990

Back to the Future Trilogy is one of the greatest SciFi movies released in 1985. I guess this is the first sci-fi movie has made in the cinema world. In 1985, this trilogy had an immense impact on cinema, and people have watched this film curiously to know the specialty. I think this movie is also the first time movie that introduced the concept of time travel. Many time-travel movies may come and go but, this series is a masterpiece classic that have a separate fan base. Even I'm a huge fan of this series as a sci-fi movie lover. I've enjoyed the whole trilogy with twists, comedy, thrilling, and eagerness to watch what happens next. Though, If you're still haven't watched this fantastic series, Don't call yourself as a sci-fi movie lover. You will understand why I'm saying this after you finishing the trilogy. IMDb Rating: 8.5/10 Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and more. Plot: Marty Mcfly, high school students accidentally sent back to 30 years back in time travel machine invented by his old friend Doc. The trilogy is about how he confronts the consequences and corrects them for a better future. WATCH NOW The Matrix - 1999

The Matrix is one of the greatest Scifi movies released in 1999. But still, it stands out one of the best Scifi movies you can watch right now. I think, a lot of people ignoring this excellent movie saying it is an old movie released in 1999. But believe me guys, you should watch this film if you haven't looked at this yet. Keanu Reeves has done a fantastic performance along with Lana Wachowski and others. In 1999, this movie made a huge impact on movie lovers and has a separate fan base for this series. IMDb Rating: 8.7/10 Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and more.. Plot: The matrix is about "A computer hacker learns mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and he fights many enemies to set humanity free. WATCH NOW Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - 2004

Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind is one of best romantic Scifi movies made in 2004. If you're both rom-com and sci-fi movie lover, this film is perfect choice for you to watch it right away. The film has a unique concept that will remain in our minds for a long time. Especially, the way Michel Gondry brought to the climax is extraordinary. You'll never expect how the ending would be. I was amazed with the climax and screenplay narrated by him. I think this is the first sci-fi movie that I have watched and loved the genre. Don't miss this beautiful Scifi movie. IMDb Rating: 8.3/10 Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, and more.. Plot: When a couple decides to end their relationship, they undergo a medical method that allows erasing both each other memories from their brain. WATCH NOW Avatar - 2008

Of course, Everyone knows Avatar film. But, still few people haven't watched this epic sci-fi film. Avatar was released in 2008 directed by one of the creative directors - James Cameron. He is best known or his works- Terminator and Avatar. Avatar had made a huge impact on box office numbers shattering all records and made the top 1 film on the list. Of course, Avengers Endgame recently has overtaken this great film which had remained the top 1 movie for 10 years. So, you can understand the greatness of the movie. James Cameron currently working on Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 as well. Avatar movie is well known for the visual effects produced by Cameron and how he introduced a new experience to the audience. This is the greatest achievement for James Cameron producing this epic film and bringing to people in 2008 where there are low technological resources. Though, if you haven't watched this epic sci-fi film. What the heck are you doing then? IMDb Rating: 7.8/10 Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and more. Plot: A disabled Marine dispatched to Pandora planet on a mission. Apparently, he feels pandora as his home and becomes conflict b/w humans and pandore species. WATCH NOW Inception - 2010

Inception is also one of the greatest sci-fi movies made by Christopher Nolan. Just like he did with interstellar, he killed this movie with his unique concept. This movie has a separate fan base and admires Christopher Nolan for his brilliant work in this film. It's because of the reason that it has distinctive concept that you didn't see in any other movie. Leonardo DiCaprio did a phenomenal performance and other major roles did the same. If you're looking for a really different sci-fi film. You're highly recommended to watch this excellent movie. IMDb Rating: 8.8/10 Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, and more.. Plot: Inception movie is about A thief who steals secrets through dream-sharing technology is given the task of inserting an idea into CEO'S mind for business purposes. WATCH NOW SnowPiercer - 2013

SnowPiercer is also one of the greatest sci-fi films directed by one of the greatest visionary directors - Boon Joon hoo who is well known for Parasite. The movie sets in post-apocalypse depict the politics and discrimination between the humans. I was amazed and thrilled while I was watching with the ambiguous climax. I thought Boon Joon hoo decided to put that ending referring to the early story in the bible. However, if you haven't watched this fantastic post-apocalyptic sci-fi film. Watch this film right away. Chris Evans did a great role in this film which is completely different from Captain America we've seen in Marvel. Ps. Despite of negative reviews, this film is so good that you can watch it. Don't know what's wrong with the reviewers. IMDb Rating: 7.1/10 Cast: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, and more.. Plot: In the post-apocalyptic future, the lucky humans who boarded the train that travels around the globe emerge class groups. WATCH NOW Her - 2013

Her is one of the best Scifi movies made in 2013 depicts the role of artificial intelligence in the future and how it could destroy the nature of humanity. Joaquin Phoenix did a fantastic performance in this film. Her movie tells us how artificial intelligence influences relationships in the future and how it works. It is one of the unique and well-made sci-fi movies you should watch if you haven't seen yet. Spike Jonze, the director of this movie perfectly represented and narrated the storyline to the audience. IMDb Rating: 8.0/10 Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, and more. Plot: In the future, a writer develops a relationship with artificial intelligence. WATCH NOW Interstellar - 2014

Interstellar is one of the best sci-fi movies that has made in Hollywood. It is directed by one of the greatest directors - Christopher Nolan. He is very well known for scifi genre movies. Lot of scifi movie lovers admire and adore his work. Personally me, he is one of my favorite directors. He is one of the best directors in Hollywood who have not won oscar yet. The specialty about movie is the way he represents time, space, and relativity concept. Matthew McConaughey had done an excellent job with other leading roles. You may not comprehend what you're watching for the first time. But, once you start grasping the film, you're gonna enjoy the whole movie. It's one of my favorite sci-fi movies. If you're a sci-fi movie lover, I would highly recommend you to watch this. IMDb Rating: 8.6/10 Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and more.. Plot: Interstellar is about a team of astronauts travel through a wormhole to explore the survivability of mankind on earth. WATCH NOW

Honorable Mentions for Best Scifi Movies :

The Martian Gravity Mad Max: Fury Road Arrival Blade Runner 2049 Annihilation Source Code Although, these are the best scifi movies you can watch and enjoy. Let me know what is your opinion and your favorite movie. You can drop down your suggestions if you would like to. If you're looking for the best thriller movies : 10 Best Thriller Movies of All Time You Must Watch if you haven’t watched some best 2019 films and want to finish them. Check out : 10 Best Movies in 2019 that You Must Watch If You Haven’t Seen If you're looking for Netflix series : 10 Best Netflix Series of All Time If you love the genre of action and adventures : 5 Best Action Movies and Franchises of All Time You Must Watch I think this is the perfect time for you to start MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE : MCU Timeline – Watch Every Marvel Movie in Order Read the full article

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sciencespies · 5 years

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A 3-D printed telescope: The analog sky drifter

https://sciencespies.com/space/a-3-d-printed-telescope-the-analog-sky-drifter/

A 3-D printed telescope: The analog sky drifter

Credit: Robert Asumendi

A unique 3-D printed telescope named the Analog Sky Drifter may spark a revolution in amateur telescope making.

In past years, the price of serious backyard telescopes has dropped considerably. Back until the 1960s, a six-inch aperture Newtonian was a ‘big scope,” and the only option to gain access to something larger was to build it yourself. But the advent of two innovations that came on the scene in the 1970s—the Dobsonian mount and the Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector—put serious optics in the hands of backyard observers.

Now 3-D printing technology may just bring things around full circle. So why build a telescope today? Often, constructing your own telescope can give you those one of a kind features that aren’t available on mass-produced telescopes.

In the case of Robert Asumendi, his quest began with looking for a telescope that addressed his severe astigmatism. The result: The Analog Sky Drifter, a unique binocular telescope constructed almost entirely of 3-D-printed parts.

Guiding people to the eyepiece in the dark is always a continual challenge at star parties. We’ve found that after more than a half-century of observing, reduced night vision, “floaters,” and an overall aging of our “Mk-1 eyeballs’ have also taken their toll. Binoculars do add a more comfortable way to enjoy the sky, but they bring their own challenges, including diopter spacing (the distance between the pupils of the eyes is slightly different for everyone) individual focusing for each eye, and more.

The Space Age-looking Analog Sky Drifter, in the zenith position. Credit: Robert Asumendi

Robert’s innovation addresses these with brilliant results. And he didn’t even start with a workshop; he outsourced the designs on 3DHubs at first, before getting his own 3-D printer. And heck, the design just looks futuristic, as well.

We caught up with Robert recently, and asked him to explain some of the finer design points to the Analog Sky Drifter:

What inspired you to 3-D print parts for your telescope design?

Robert: 3-D printing allows you to imagine something entirely new and hold it in your hands a few hours later. I found there were no existing off-the-shelf telescope parts to meet my design goals, and discovered the geometry of some of those parts would be really challenging and expensive to machine. Woodworking, machining and other traditional telescope manufacturing processes were not in my skill set, my garage, or really even appropriate for the task. As someone with a graphic design background and some experience in 3-D modeling, I realized the only thing standing between me and the giant space binoculars I dreamed of was learning a CAD program and the 3-D printing ropes.

Note: The design uses a tertiary, or three-mirror system. This isn’t seen often in modern telescopes, but was once employed in older Nasmyth focus designs in the 19th century. The key advantage with this system is that it keeps the eyepiece level through one axis of the telescope, versus a traditional Newtonian, which often puts the eyepiece high up when viewing at the zenith.

The forward view of the optical design for the Analog Sky Drifter. Credit: Robert Asumendi

The other thing for binoculars—a major factor in why you don’t see these commercially—is that you have a mirror-image left and right side for many components. So it’s more expensive to produce traditionally; twice the molds, twice the tooling, etc. With 3-D printing, you just click the “mirror” button and print the other side. 3-D printing has allowed me to both imagine new parts and keep iterating the design, sometimes dozens of times, until it works really well. It’s an exciting tool that will enable a whole new generation of telescope builders.

What were the biggest design challenges that you had to overcome?

Besides none of the parts already existing? Keeping six mirrors perfectly aligned from horizon to zenith is a more complicated dance than the usual two, especially since the scope collapses in half to save space for transportation and storage. Balancing factors like stiffness, durability, light weight, manufacturability and user interaction while maintaining that alignment is a tug-of-war. Then giving people the ability to touch up the alignment without rage-quitting is something no one had really addressed 100 percent.

How does the Analog Sky Drifter differ from standard ‘bino-scopes’ of the past?

The headline feature is the instant eyepiece and filter swapping. Neodymium magnets turn a three to five minute chore into a 10 to 15 second non-issue. With binoculars, you have to do everything twice, so every task needs to be fast and painless. This leads to a really joyful stargazing experience where the tool disappears and you’re just exploring.

A close-up cut away view of the 3D printed eyepiece holder, with the tertiary mirror. Credit: Robert Asumendi

The 8″ f/5 primary mirrors mean we are collecting enough light to really enjoy deep space objects, but adding 2″ eyepieces means getting all that light in a wide, 2+ degree field. So these wide and bright views through two eyes are incredibly unique to a handful of scopes that have ever existed.

Really though, the Drifter’s biggest breakthrough is the ability to share the views. This scope is an outreach beast. I have two young kids and love doing public star parties, so I really wanted to be able to share these views with everybody. Different people have different pupil distance between their eyes. With hand-held binoculars, everyone knows you just pull the eyepieces apart to fit your head, but this hasn’t been the case with binoscopes. There’s usually a fiddly set of knobs nobody understands in the dark, and then this changes the focus, so you have to refocus for each person. Then people grab the eyepieces and try to move them anyhow, which throws the alignment out and the scope is down for half an hour. Look, people want to grab the eyepieces and move them, so let’s make that the way we adjust PD.

I’ve had the Drifter set up at star parties where 50 people cycled through the scope one after the other, and everyone was able to get a sharp, beautiful view with minimal or no instructions.

How well does the Analog Sky Drifter work out in the field?

It’s pretty amazing to set up a scope equivalent to a 12-14″ truss Dobsonian in 60 seconds. Busy dad lifestyle, check.

A closeup view of the Analog Sky Drifter’s eyepiece holder. Credit: Robert Asumendi

It’s pretty amazing to get a “wow” (or muttered curse) from amateur astronomers and telescope makers with 30, 40, 50 years of observation under their belts. Totally new way to look at the sky, check.

It’s also gratifying when people with vision problems like macular degeneration, astigmatism, or just extreme myopia look through the Drifter and say things like, “Wow, I’ve never been able to see anything like this through one eye,” or “I was thinking of quitting astronomy because my vision has gotten so bad, but this gives me hope.” The true advantage of binocular vision is the image processing power of your brain. Accessibility, check.

The thing people love about binocular astronomy is this: You look up at the night sky with your naked eyes, think “I wonder what’s over there?” or “How’s the Double Cluster look tonight?” and then you just hold up the binos and stare at that spot with both eyes wide open to the gentle rain of ancient photons. It’s the most direct connection to the cosmos. The Drifter extends that same experience from 30x past 200x with serious aperture.

So it invites stargazers back to a relationship with the sky that feels more like exploring. For me, as a 38-year-old, the best analogy is the way the world map from Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda was etched forever into my brain: Through free-form exploration, no prompts, creating my own familiar routes, elective challenges, seeking hidden treasures, always with a feeling of adventure and delight. Looking at the night sky is just a lot more fun that way than scrolling through targets on a hand controller. The map above all our heads is part of our shared humanity, and everyone should get to know it as well as they can. The Drifter makes a great companion.”

How is the crowdfunding campaign coming along?

The campaign is still under development. The funds will build up high-quality 3-D printing capacity, set up an actual manufacturing space, test more accessory configurations, and put in wholesale orders for a couple hundred mirrors. It will also discover a brave crew of 10 beta testers who want to help steer us toward the final production spec. The goal is to launch toward the end of October, so there is a mailing list to keep people updated (a Kickstarter campaign is also in the works) Analog Sky is on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter in addition to the development blog.

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An easy view though the Analog Sky Drifter. Credit: Robert Asumendi

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nellie-elizabeth · 7 years

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Supernatural: Who We Are/All Along the Watchtower (12x22/23)

Uhhhhhhhhh okay. I remember last season's finale was a big ol' anticlimax, although it did set up some potentially interesting ideas. This season finale was... is... I mean... not an anticlimax, let's just say that. Yikes. I'm going to review both episodes in this same post, but I'm going to break it up into sections.

Who We Are

Cons:

I know I complained about this in last week's review, but it bears repeating: Sam and Dean being trapped in the bunker really doesn't make sense. We didn't get any explanation here as to why Ketch thought that was a good idea. Like. What. Of course they got out. They just blew up a small part of the bunker, and they were free and clear. Oy. This felt like a bit of a wasted opportunity, also, in the sense that it took all of ten minutes for Sam, Dean, and Toni to escape from their near-death. There could have been more material with this, if they were going to go this route.

Toni agrees to help Dean try and un-brainwash Mary, but only with the promise from Dean that he'll let her get a head start so she can try and escape. Cool. Unfortunately, while Mary and Dean are both unconscious and hanging out in Mary's brain somehow, Ketch shows up and kills Toni. We don't actually get to see it happen, we just see Dean waking up and he notices Toni lying there with her throat slit. All of the baggage that they built up with Ketch and Toni... leads to nothing. I feel like this should have been a bigger moment somehow.

Pros:

For practically every season of this show up until now, I feel like the brothers have had to take turns being the myth-arc lead. Being the one who has to do the awesome thing to save the world at the end. The last two seasons have been Dean, Seasons Five and Eight were obviously Sam... you get what I mean. This year, Sam and Dean both had different quests, and they both pulled out major victories, sharing in the glory of winning the day. It was so refreshing to have Sam lead a battle, while Dean tapped in to his emotions to free his mother. Neither task felt more important than the other, and both were done with great pacing and care.

The opening scene where Sam, Dean, and Toni work to break out of the bunker was pretty cool. The way that this premise came about was obviously stupid, but whatever. I like how Sam had a solution that involved magic, and then when that didn't work, Dean came up with using sledgehammers, and then when that didn't work... the grenade launcher. The fact that they've been planting that all season is just so hilarious to me. Chekhov's grenade launcher. I love that Dean got a chance to finally do what he's been wanting to do since he laid eyes on that thing. So great. We also got a lovely little brother moment, where they despair at their lives ending in such a way. They always thought they'd go out in a blaze of glory. Dean laments the fact that recently, he thought they had it all. Cas, Mom, each other... and now it's all gone. This was a good way to establish their despair, so that the victories they achieved later in the episode had greater weight.

Once they escape from the bunker, they get a call from Jody. Their mother showed up to kill her. Luckily, Jody, with an assist from Alex, managed to subdue her and tie her up. God, I love Jody. I didn't think they'd be stupid enough to kill her, but after what went down last week with Eileen, I figured anything was possible. It was so great to see Jody and Alex, and we even got a mention of Donna (although, hey, where the heck was Claire during all of this?). The famous "kick it in the ass" line is said by Alex to Jody, as she wishes her adoptive mother well on her quest. Even better, Jody's presence in the episode is more than just a cameo. Here, we get to the part where Sam and Dean each have their own tasks to complete.

Sam rallies a group of hunters to take down the British Men of Letters, giving a rousing speech about how the American hunters are in the right. They know to follow their guts, and that hunting is more than just killing. This is a great moment of leadership for Sam. He falters a bit at the beginning, but then gives a speech worthy of Buffy Summers. I love all the callbacks here. We see earlier Dean on the phone with Garth, we get Walt and Roy showing up to help in the assault... apparently there are no hard feelings for the whole murder thing.

Sam and Dean have another emotional moment, when Dean says that due to his leg injury from the grenade launcher, he's not going to go with Sam and the others to take out the British. He'll stay behind and try to save Mary. The brothers share a hug, with Dean telling Sam to come back, and Sam promising that he will. They exchange a Winchester I love you: "Bitch." "Jerk." I love this moment because it encompasses so many things about their relationship. Dean knows Sam can handle this on his own, and so he takes a step back. He trusts Sam to do it right, and that's something Dean has had a really hard time with over the years. There's also the fact that this whole British Men of Letters plot started with Sam getting shot and tortured by them. It's very satisfying to me that in the end, Sam gets to be the one to lead the strike on their headquarters.

And it's a pretty bad-ass take-down, I gotta say. Some of the hunters do indeed fall on the assault, but the remaining ones manage to breach all the way through to Madame Hess, who tries to stop Sam from killing her by saying that he'll need the British Men of Letters to help take down Lucifer. Sam is shocked to hear that Lucifer has escaped, and that Crowley is apparently dead, but after only a moment's hesitation, he declines the offer to keep working for these lunatics. Hess reaches for her gun, but before she can do anything, Jody shoots Hess in the head, dropping her instantly. So. Cool. I'm glad Jody got to take the shot, since it shows just what an awesome hunter she truly is.

Meanwhile, Dean gets Toni's help hooking himself up to Mary's brain to try and break through her conditioning. The way they do this is just brilliant. Dean shows up in his childhood home. He sees baby Sammy, he sees himself as a toddler. And he sees Mary taking care of them. Dean talks to her, but she doesn't react. Dean eventually discovers that Mary is choosing not to acknowledge him or respond to him, so he forces her to acknowledge him by giving her this amazing speech. He tells her: "I hate you." He blames the entire messy life he and Sam have lived on the fact that Mary made that deal with Azazel all those years ago. He had to be a father and a mother to Sam in order to keep his little brother safe, and that wasn't fair. Eventually, however, he says that while he hates her... he also loves her. He can't help it. And he forgives her, because he's made deals to save the people he loves. He knows what that's like. He begs her to see him, to turn around and really look at him. They can start over. They can move past this and be a family again. Mary does seem to acknowledge Dean. They are then both pulled out of their connection by Ketch's arrival, and just as Ketch is about to kill Dean, Mary shoots and kills Ketch instead. Yes!

What's so brilliant about Dean's speech is that it's the buildup of his emotions during this whole season, and yet I don't think any of us really understood how he was feeling until this moment. His whole life, he felt abandoned by Mary. And knowing that she had been responsible in some way for her own death made it that much harder. And then Mary has miraculously returned, and what's the first thing she does? She leaves them again. This speech was also amazing because it mirrors what Mary must be feeling about herself. This is why she stayed away. She wanted to help, but she didn't want to be around Sam and Dean. She was just so ashamed of what she had done to them. Jensen Ackles knocked it out of the park in these scenes. Great acting. Great emotion. A+ resolution to the Mary Winchester story-arc of the season.

And things get even more lovely from there. Sam shows up as Dean and Mary are talking about moving forward as a family. Mary is worried that Sam won't be able to forgive her, but Sam quickly assuages that fear and pulls her into a hug. Dean, relieved and proud that Sam is back, goes in for a hug as well, and the three of them stand there in the bunker in a group hug. My heart exploded.

Ultimately, the first half of this finale was a better episode than the second. It may have been less of a finale, in that it didn't end on a giant cliffhanger, but it was good because it gave agency to Sam and Dean in a way that they've been missing for most of the season. They worked together, they worked separately, they both succeeded in their missions and came together at the end victorious. It was exactly what we needed to see before jumping in to a second hour, where things were ripped from their grasp quite firmly once again.

All Along the Watchtower

Cons:

I'll start with the smaller complaints before getting to the biggie. Another off-screen death of a recurring female character. Rowena is apparently no more, and judging by the charred remains, I'd say this one's going to stick. I feel like killing Rowena was pretty unnecessary, but more than that, it sucks that we don't even get to see her put up a fight first. Just like Ketch and Toni had all of this relationship drama that we didn't get to see play out, here we have Lucifer and Rowena, another fraught sort of partnership, and we don't get to see that resolve. Feels like a wasted opportunity.

I kept waiting to understand Crowley's motivation for keeping Lucifer out of the cage, and I feel like we never really got it. Sure, Crowley talked about how Lucifer humiliated him or whatever, and there was a nice moment where we learn that Crowley hates his job, as if we didn't already know that... but at the end of the day, Crowley came across as a total dumb-ass for not being able to handle the Lucifer situation.

Kelly never really solidified for me as a character. She spends the episode lamenting the fact that she'll die never getting to be a proper mother for her child, who she has named Jack. She paints his room, builds him a crib, makes him a video where she tells him she loves him... I get the sense that I'm supposed to be moved by all of this. Cas and Kelly have this relationship where it seems like Cas is really coming to care for this woman who is inevitably going to die. All of it feels lacking, somehow. I can't make myself care about Kelly, and I can't make myself care about Cas caring about her.

The episode ends with Sam running in to the room to see that Kelly is dead, sort of as an afterthought. He then follows some weird burning footprints up to the baby's room, where he sees a fully grown man with strange glowing eyes sitting in the corner. I'm not sure if I'm all that thrilled with another baby-turned-insta-adult. Didn't we just do that with Amara? Sigh. I'm trying to reserve judgment until I see what they do with this guy next year, but... c'mon, guys.

Supernatural is a show with many weaknesses, and one of those weaknesses is how it treats death. Let's just... talk about that for a second, here. I think for the most part, the characters who died in this episode are going to stay dead. Kelly is out. Rowena, probably out. Even Crowley... I think that actually may have been the end for him, and it was a good one. But Cas? I don't know if he's dead-dead, or just dead-for-now. And that's a problem. Am I supposed to be shocked and crushed that Cas has been killed? He's died several times on this show already, and he's always popped back up when the story wanted him there again. So there's a paradox, right? Because if I'm not supposed to believe that he's really gone, and he is really gone, then that death moment wasn't big enough to be a sendoff. And if he's not really gone, then I won't be surprised, and the effect of the moment itself doesn't work. I want Cas to be alive. Very badly. And if they do kill his character off permanently, I'm going to want something a lot better than what we got here.

Because, yeah, this is another thing - Why did Cas even bother going in to the alternate universe in the first place? Sam, Dean, and Crowley had this plan to seal Lucifer away in an alternate plane, and it looks like it would have worked. But at the last second, Cas comes storming in to pointlessly stab Lucifer. He comes back into our world through the rift, everybody smiles for half a second, and then Lucifer shows up again through the rift and stabs Cas, killing him. What was Cas doing? Why on earth would he have thought that a puny little angel blade was going to do anything against Lucifer? His motivations were totally unclear and completely stupid. I hate the idea of Cas dying because he made another bad decision. That seems to be the pattern. Cas does something dumb, it goes poorly, and everybody pays a price for it. If this show kills off Castiel, then it has got to be a lot more meaningful and epic than what I just witnessed.

Pros:

In the first half of the finale, Sam and Dean were able to take real initiative and be agents in the story for the first time in a while. In the second half, they were back to reacting to everything. Oddly, it worked perfectly. After an hour of triumphs, of defeating a season-long foe and getting the family back together, Sam and Dean watched as everything crumbled around them. They had a plan. They nearly executed the plan. And then they lost Crowley, a long-time ally, Cas, their dearest friend, and Mary, their only recently restored mother, all in the span of minutes. Frankly, it was chilling how much they went through in such a short amount of time. Having them be so helpless in all of this was a great way to set things up for next season. To have peace and victory so very close, and then have it all ripped away... ouch, ouch, ouch.

As I said, Kelly never did much for me as a character. However, I did like the moment when Mary and Kelly are sitting together while Kelly is in labor. It gives us a chance to see the bond of motherhood. Kelly is scared, but at peace with her death, as she is willing to die for her son. Mary knows what that feels like.

So, the real wrench in the proceedings comes into play as we introduce an alternate realty. Somehow, the unborn nephilim creates a portal that Cas goes through into an alternate post-apocalyptic wasteland. Cas later brings Sam and Dean in, and they meet an alternate version of Bobby, one who doesn't recognize them. Turns out, this is a world where Sam and Dean were never born, and they therefore didn't save the world. Sam, Dean, and Crowley quite cleverly perceive that this would be a way to trap Lucifer away from their world, as what Lucifer is after has already happened on this alternate plane. What I love about this is the possibilities it brings for the future. If Jack the nephilim has the power to open a portal to another dimension, could he do it again? Are there infinite dimensions? Could this be a way of bringing back virtually every character that has ever died on this show? If so, yes please. I remember when we were first introduced to the Darkness. I was hoping that we'd end up in a post-apocalyptic world for the next season, and really force things to the next level. That didn't happen. But maybe this time it will. Maybe this time we'll actually spend some significant time interacting with realms different from the original one. That could be really fascinating.

Also, Bobby. Just... Bobby. I'm so glad he showed up. He was as ornery and delightful as always, and his gun was named Rufus. Please let him reappear next season. Please.

Before we get to the serious stuff, a brief break to talk about my favorite comedic moments of the episode. We get a mention of "The French Mistake," the crazy world where Sam and Dean were actors, and as Dean remembers and says to Sam "you were Polish." Their line delivery was just great. Also, lots of funny moments with Crowley. When he first shows up, Dean just immediately punches him and is about to kill him, when Sam stops Dean, a bit half-heartedly. Dean and Mary both say "seriously?" Later, as Dean is despairing in the craziness of their situation, he says: "I don't even know where to start," and then suddenly Crowley just appears out of nowhere, and Dean says "Oh, come on!" Another great line read from Jensen. Humor is always very important to lighten the mood when it comes to such serious episodes.

Before all this shit goes down, Dean has a line where he says: "I have faith in us. You, me, mom, Cas, and... Crowley. Sometimes." This line is all the more depressing when you realize that Sam and Dean are about to lose all three of the other people that Dean just listed.

Cas. God, Cas. I wasn't thrilled with all the stuff with him and Kelly in this one, but I still really do love him. I love the fact that Cas and Dean basically act like lovers in the middle of a fight who are both trying to stow their crap to get on with more important things. Cas heals Dean's leg sort of off-hand, and Dean says that they'll work out their problems, just like they always do. It's lines like these that make Cas' death all the more difficult to bear. Setting aside my own hangups about this death, I did really appreciate Dean's reaction to it. Just... dead inside. Just... drops to his knees and doesn't even know how to keep going on. Again, we contrast Sam and Dean in their behavior with Cas. When Cas rushes through the portal to attack Lucifer, Dean is the one who shouts Cas' name and tries to run forward, while Sam pulls his brother back to the portal and to safety. After Cas dies, we have Sam, who looks terribly sad but then rushes off to figure out what happened inside the house with Kelly, and then we have Dean, who doesn't even make a move to follow Sam inside. He just stares at Cas and drops to his knees. This just breaks my heart.

Mary gets to punch Lucifer in the face with brass knuckles, and it's super awesome. She also gets trapped in an apocalyptic wasteland, which is less awesome. But does this mean we get to see Mary and Bobby team up in an alternate reality next season? That would just be everything I never knew I needed. Honestly. I don't have much to say about Mary in this second episode. She's amazing, and I hope that now that all her insecurities are behind her, she can come out the other side of this whole apocalypse thing a stronger person than ever.

Crowley. I love Crowley so much, but I really do hope that this is the end for his character. Because if so? Amazing. So amazing. To start off with, he goes to the Winchesters for help in defeating Lucifer, because he knows that he can count on them above all others. And then he ends this episode by killing himself to protect the world from Lucifer. Or, probably more accurately, to screw Lucifer over in his own personal vendetta. But do you know what? It's still a noble sacrifice! Earlier in the episode, he promised Sam and Dean a reward if they helped him stop Lucifer: he'd close the gates of Hell, meaning none of them would ever have to deal with another demon again, other than Crowley himself. He has realized that he hates his job. He's spent so long fighting to keep power that he forgot to notice how much he actually hated having it. I couldn't imagine a better resolution to this character we've known for so long. I've been saying for seasons and seasons now that Crowley should either become the final big bad, or die heroically in the quest to stop the final big bad, throwing in a last-minute redemption as he exits. And that's what this was. His final words are to say goodbye to Sam and Dean, which just... rip my heart out, why don't you? I know I'm supposed to be more emotionally connected to Cas' death, but it was Crowley's that tugged at my heartstrings. This truly feels like a fitting end to his character.

So... uh... yeah. Let's do a little death tally on these two episodes, shall we? How about just named recurring characters?

Toni Ketch Hess Rowena Kelly Crowley Castiel

Yikes? Especially yikes to Crowley and Cas, obviously. I've complained above about the impermanence of death in Supernatural. But even keeping that in mind, killing off two main characters in a single episode is very ballsy, especially with a show like this one, where the cast is so very teeny tiny to begin with. It's a risk that I really appreciated, and as I discussed above, I actually do hope that this is the end for Crowley. It would be such a fitting way for him to go. For Cas, I'm less convinced. I don't like the idea of him dying because he made yet another ill-advised move. It happened too quickly, and I think we all deserve a lot more out of the departure of this show's main non-Winchester character. Obviously, Sam and Dean will do what they can do to get Mary back. But what about Cas? I'm trying not to freak out, since I have to assume they can bring him back... Gosh, I don't know. I guess I'll leave it at that.

I'm glad we're getting a Season Thirteen. I'm not sure that Supernatural has actually been a good show in a very long time, but it's a show I take great comfort in. I still feel really connected to the characters and what happens to them. I'll be with this show til the bitter end, whenever that may be.

9/10

#review #supernatural #supernatural review #spn #12x22 #12x23 #who we are #all along the watchtower

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