#because all the embryos were made at the same time
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Avatar’s First Braids
Neteyam x gn!reader
Summary: Just like Spider, you have your own avatar, though you had to wait until you were older before you could use yours. As such, to celebrate your new blue, the Sullys want to braid your avatar’s hair.
Word Count: 4.9k
A/N: Help, this was supposed to focus on Neteyam and it's just one big fic about his siblings instead, but I promise there's still a crumb of Neteyam. I really took my own liberties with some Avatar lore so it’s probably inaccurate lol. This is platonic/romantic, wrote it kinda down the middle. Neteyam is aged up to 20 here.
At fifteen years old, you could not describe the bizarreness of watching a tiny body, your body, float in an amnio tank. Your very own avatar, steadily growing at a pace beyond the growth rate of native Na’vi, twitched in a dreamlike state. Tiny blue hands curled around a chubby blue face. Small tendrils of nerves floated out of the base of the skull, surrounded by baby hair. You could not believe what kuru looked like before the braids. A bit creepy, if you had to be honest.
You weren’t alone. Spider stood right next to you with Tuk in front of you two. Lo’ak and Kiri stood on his other side and Neteyam was right next to you. His forearm rested against the glass of the tank as he leaned into your space, tilting his head to observe the baby. The Na’vi half of your group each had a rebreather in hand, inhaling from it every so often. All six of you watched the small twitches, mesmerized by the little thing.
It had only been a few weeks since you watched it grow from an embryo. You had been the most fascinated watching the rapidly growing progress of the avatar, coming nearly every day to watch. It led to Neteyam and Spider hanging around, then Lo’ak and Kiri, and finally Tuk could not be left out. You could stand around all day and watch. This was your avatar.
“So,” Spider spoke over the silence. “What if it’s an outie?”
Lo’ak scoffed, already biting back a smile. “Bro, that’s what you’re thinking about?”
Spider gestured to the umbilical cord attached to the baby’s stomach. He huffed in defense of himself. “You guys all made fun of my avatar having an outie.”
You snapped your head in his direction, offended that he lumped you up with the rest of them. “I didn’t.”
“That’s because you’re you, Spider.” Neteyam teased, leaning forward past you to make eye contact. He pressed the rebreather to his mouth for a breath. “Besides, yours was the first with an outie belly button.”
Tuk looked down at her stomach and traced her belly button. “I can’t imagine having my belly button out like that.”
“It’s not that weird,” Kiri countered. “Only at first, it was.”
“Bro, look at you. You’re fine.” Lo’ak reached over and stuck his finger in Spider’s belly button, earning a shout and a smack to the hand. Spider laid his palm over his belly button while Lo’ak laughed and straightened himself. “You know we didn’t mean it.”
Yeah, when Spider first entered his avatar after decantation, the immediate thing the Na’vi children noticed was the protruding belly button. It was then you realized that none of the Na’vi had outies, unlike humans who could have either innie or outie. While they could excuse the appearance of an outie on a human, given the many physical discrepancies between humans and Na’vi, they teased Spider for having one on his avatar. Just another physical difference on top of eyebrows and five digits on the hands and feet of avatars.
You rolled your eyes. “Can we stop talking about belly buttons?”
“Okay,” Neteyam agreed. He gestured with his hand above the amnio tank. “How long does this take, again?”
“Five years,” a voice behind caused you all to turn. Norm approached your group with a grimace. “Why are you all hanging around the test tube avatar?”
“So why couldn’t this avatar,” Tuk pointed at the tank while inhaling from the rebreather, ignoring the question, “grow at the same time as Spider’s? Wouldn’t that save time?”
“Unfortunately our resources are limited and we don’t have the space to incubate multiple avatars at a time.” Norm made a small gesture for which you all parted to let him through. He looked at the baby avatar, then at you six. “Now, can you please go hang out somewhere else? The lab is not a playground.”
Per his suggestion, you dispersed from the lab. The Sullys set the rebreathers back on the rack on their way out, Tuk bouncing happily ahead of you. Spider brought the conversation back to belly buttons and you groaned, telling him to move on. Doing what any teen did, you all flocked to another area of the camp to bother someone else.
Five years. That’s how long you had to wait.
+:+:+:+:+
You were going to throw up.
Well, you thought you were. Nerves knot your stomach tight, worsened by the butterflies fluttering in it. Your heart hammered in your chest. You laid your hands over your stomach, twiddling with your fingers. The overhead lights were bright. So, so bright.
Currently, you waited on the link bed to make your first connection. Sure, you waited years for this moment, but now that it was right in front of you, you dreaded it. Would it hurt? Would it make you more nauseous than you already were?
In the coming weeks, you pestered Spider about the sensation. You had to know every little detail. Question after question, the routine grew old fast and Spider eventually repeated the phrase don’t worry about it. Not the best advice you received.
To make matters worse, your friends were not there with you. Kiri and Lo’ak had grown too tall to comfortably stand in the lab with you and Lo’ak didn’t want Tuk’s unfiltered mouth to raise more panic in you. Spider decided to wait with them outside your avatar’s lab room. All to take in the first impression.
“Take it easy,” Dr. Max Patel said from the computer system beside you. His eyes darted across the screen. “You’re going to be fine when you wake up.”
You turned your head to face him. “Are you sure?”
A great question to ask the guy who’s been doing this longer than you’ve been alive. He glanced your way. You took that as your answer and returned to your original position, focusing on controlling your breaths. The link bed wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, at least.
When Max faced you to grab the hood of the bed, you moved your hands to your sides. He gave you a few more words of encouragement and you nodded, half listening. Really, you just didn’t want to throw up right now.
When the hood closed, you noticed how heavy you breathed. Your stomach twisted tighter and you screwed your eyes shut. You could do this. You could do this. As another wave of nausea hit you, you held your breath.
“Movement behind the eyelids.”
Someone called your name. “If you can hear me, can you open your eyes?”
You obeyed, opening them only to flinch and squeeze them closed. Damn, who turned up the brightness here?
“You okay?”
“The light is bright,” you supplied a bit groggy.
Behind your eyelids, the intensity of the lights lessened. Your eyes fluttered open carefully, finding that half the room’s lights had been turned off. You breathed a sigh of relief, stomach still in knots. A moment passed before you realized just where you were.
You sat up, immediately falling back down.
“Take it easy.” One of the scientists set a hand on your arm. “We’ll get you out of here as soon as we’ve conducted some fine motor tests.”
You blinked, ears twitching. Twitching. The sensation prompted you to cautiously raise your hand, brushing your fingers over your ear. A pointy Na’vi ear. It flicked back at your touch unconsciously and you let out a breathless laugh. This was weirder than you expected. Not to mention how seamlessly you connected to your avatar. Spider really could not have prepared you more for this.
“Can you wiggle your toes for me?”
You couldn’t say how long those tests took. A few minutes. An hour. It went by too fast but simultaneously dragged on longer than your poor heart could take. You wanted to get up and go go go but you didn’t want to fall over and embarrass yourself. When you got the okay, left alone to change out of the gown into something more comfortable, you made your way to the door.
The door hissed open, letting the bright light from the sun filter in. You squinted and raised your hand, blue as the sky, over your eyes to shield them. Your tail flicked at the minor inconvenience you felt.
“Whoa, check you out.”
You looked to your left. Lo’ak and Spider leaned against the wall of the shack. Kiri sat on the ground with her hands behind her as support. Beside her, Tuk sat cross-legged, picking at grass. No Neteyam, though. He had gone earlier that morning on a hunt with his father.
You smiled, dropping your hand to your side. “Like what you see?”
“You’re like us, now,” Tuk said, dropping her blades of grass.
Kiri smiled up at you. “How do you feel?”
“Weird.” You looked behind you. Your tail had a mind of its own, though you still felt every flick of it as though it were you commanding it. “Really weird.”
“You get used to it.” Spider shrugged and pushed off the wall. He was much shorter than you now, still human.
Lo’ak made a sound. “I can’t believe you can’t use your avatar right now.” His hand smacked at his thigh. “Do you know what we could be doing if you didn’t get hurt?”
“It was your recklessness that got us here.” Kiri looked between the two of them, moving to stand. “Spider’s avatar should take a few days to heal, then we can do the plan.”
Tuk pouted. “This was supposed to be the perfect first impression.”
“I know. I know.” Spider rolled his eyes. “Few more days and then we’ll pretend that there weren't any hiccups.”
You watched Tuk stand. She stood a little taller than Spider, shorter than the three of you. It was weird being taller than her. Well, now only Spider was the only drastically short one of your group. At least, until he got back his avatar.
“Should we get going?” Kiri asked before she took in the state of your hair and gasped. “Your kuru!”
“What about it?” You attempted to look behind you without any luck.
Kiri came up to you, directing you in front of her. “We have our braids around it as protection. Your hair is just wild and it's unguarded.”
“Oh.”
“Here, I’ll braid it. You sit down.”
“Okay.” You lowered into a cross-legged position with Kiri behind you.
She gathered a bunch of your hair, combing her fingers through the roots of it before beginning to twist strands over and around the kuru. The rest of your hair swept over your shoulders, tickling your skin as it did. Given how your avatar’s hair had not been groomed in its time in the amnio tank, it became wildly the length of the kuru. The long hair weighed heavy on your shoulders.
Tuk stood beside you, watching Kiri braid your kuru. You glanced at her out of the corner of your eye, wondering what she could be thinking about. She’d aged to a dreaded thirteen, filled with mischief and still figuring things out. Despite the age when other children sought their independence, she still clung to your ragtag group, not entirely eager to break off to her own friends. Things haven't changed much, you all had to keep a more keen eye on her, given the number of bad ideas she could come up with and act out on, now. Like right now, where her expression twisted in deep thought.
“Can I braid the rest of your hair?” She gestured to her shoulder-length braids.
You turned your head to see, only for Kiri to guide your head back into a straight position. “Don’t move.”
You found no harm in that. “Sure, Tuk. But I’m not sure I want it this long.”
“I can cut it.”
She pulled her knife out. The second she walked toward you, you flinched away from her. As sweet as she was, you didn’t exactly trust a child with a knife by your head.
Kiri forced you to keep still, catching you mid-cry. “Don’t move,” she repeated with an edge, not so much bothered by Tuk’s eager knife-wielding as she was your jerking.
You raised your hand, unable to properly block Tuk’s oncoming knife.
Lo’ak took initiative and intervened. He towered over Tuk and grabbed her wrist. “Are you crazy?”
Tuk pouted, fighting against his hold. as her voice raised in a whine. “I know what I’m doing.”
He took the knife from her. “Let me do it.”
Tuk stomped her foot. “I wanted to do it.”
“You can still braid my hair.” You tried to mediate. It did the job as she pouted off to the side but relented with crossed arms. She stuck her tongue out at Lo’ak. A shiver crawled up your spine from Kiri’s braiding. “You can make them look like yours.”
She smiled. An excited nod and she grabbed the ends of her braids, twisting them between her fingers. “Yeah, we can look like twins.” She spoke to Lo’ak, “don’t cut higher than the shoulders.”
“Sure.” He nodded, hunching down to his knees.
Lo’ak took bundles of your hair away from your face and held it away. He worked away the knife. Already, your head felt lighter without the extra weight. You relaxed, letting the siblings work at your hair.
Spider took his own knife out from where he stood. Since he had nothing better to do, he opted to busy his hands by flipping his knife in hand. You watched him flip and catch it with ease.
He hummed, “you gonna bond with an ikran?”
Your face twisted in horror. “Uh, no. I just got my avatar.”
Kiri agreed. “You need to take baby steps.”
“Yeah, or your avatar will end up like Spider’s.” Lo’ak teased.
Spider rolled his eyes with a nod. They weren’t necessarily wrong.
After Lo’ak had cut the hair on the other side, Tuk took her rightful place by you. Not before Lo’ak returned her knife and she sheathed it. She made some comments about your hair being softer than hers, a result of the amniotic fluid you guessed.
In a moment of excitement, by now half your hair had been braided, Tuk blurted. “you’re going to look just like one of us!”
You half-paid attention, too focused on your tail. It smacked at the ground, batting away a small amount of dirt with each lackluster slap. The sight hypnotized you, drawing you out of your stupor with each flick. You could not describe the sensation of having a tail, let alone one acting on its own. Reaching out, you brushed your fingers over your tail. Goosebumps littered your whole body as you shivered. More sensitive than you would have expected.
Your ears flick at the sudden commotion Lo’ak and Spider made. Looking up from your tail, you watched the duo roll on the ground in a playfight. Another of Spider’s attempts to catch Lo’ak off guard and win a fight against the Na’vi.
“You’re going to like being in your avatar,” Kiri said. Her hands neared the end of your kuru. “Once you get used to this, of course.”
You hummed, tearing your gaze from the boys. “Yeah, I won’t lag behind when we’re out.” You touched your palm, tracing the lines etched in it. It tickled. Your neck began to hurt from holding still for so long. “Too bad Neteyam isn’t here.”
“His fault,” Tuk said, her voice just a touch hurt and uncaring. She wanted her big brother here as much as you did.
Kiri finished the braid, tying a spare thread around the end. She ran her fingers down the braid once, admiring her work and ensuring it was compact. Her tongue clicked, quick to remind Tuk. “You know how he is with dad. He can’t say no.”
“But this is a big deal.” Tuk weaved her hands through your small braids, letting them swing around your face. “Done.”
You set your hands on the ground and pushed yourself to a stand. Your body swayed momentarily, supported by Kiri’s hands on your back. You thanked her, still getting used to the extra weight to balance. Then, you turned away and shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
Kiri would not buy it. She stepped around you to face you with her hands on her hips, head cocked in disbelief. “Don’t downplay this. Your first time in your avatar is important to you. So, it’s important to us.”
You relented, knowing better than to deny the obvious. Instead, you smiled and took her comment to heart. “Thanks.”
Kiri smiled back, nodding once in finality.
“Are you guys ready to go?” Lo’ak called back, getting off the ground.
Spider also pushed off the ground. Both of them were covered in dirt. “Yeah, we need to get going before the eclipse.”
Kiri glanced back your way. You nodded. “I’m ready.”
“Finally.” Lo’ak took the lead, waving his hand for you all to follow. “Don’t fall behind.”
He took off running. You followed, all laughing at your wobbly run. Despite his tease, Lo’ak never strayed far. The group of you dodged and weaved around humans and avatars alike until you reached the edge of the human camp. Then, the real fun began. Daring across the forest for the first time as a Na’vi. It was exhilarating.
Tuk, ever the youngest, called out to you guys as you ran across treetops. “Wait up!”
You leaped across a gap between trees, laughing loudly while your body buzzed with adrenaline. This was something you could get used to.
+:+:+:+:+:+
For the fifth time, you skidded to a halt, bending at the waist while your shoulders rose and fell rapidly. Taking big, deep breaths, you now understood why the scientists wanted you to take it easy. Not only did you stumble and nearly crash into anything and everything, but you also dragged the trip on longer than it needed to be.
Spider caught your hunched form out of the corner of his eye, hands on your knees and panting like an animal. “Hold up,” he called up ahead.
Lo’ak groaned, grabbing an overhead branch as he turned around. “Really? We’re going to get in trouble if we’re late. We’re almost there.”
“Don’t wait up.” You waved your hand dismissively, only for it to fall back to your side. “I’m good.”
The group took the time to wait five minutes, nonetheless.
By the time you made it to Hometree, the village had been gathered for mealtime. Heads turned in your direction, some Na’vi greeting you. They were certainly kinder than other times you’d come by. As you walked past to find the rest of the Sullys, you leaned down to Spider and spoke in a hushed whisper.
“This is weird.”
He shrugged. “Told you they treat you differently when you’re in an avatar.”
You stood straight and did your best to ignore the stares to the back of your head.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long to find the family. Neytiri and Jake smiled from where they sat, chatting amongst themselves while Neteyam lent them an ear, preparing the meal. Tuk ran ahead of you, crying about how starved she was. Lo’ak and Kiri soon sat, you and Spider sitting farthest.
“You’re late,” Neytiri said.
Lo’ak nodded his head in your direction. “A certain avatar lagged behind.”
Neteyam looked up from beside his mother. The Na’vi’s eyes widened, taking you in. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. His tail swished behind him. You merely smiled from across the fire. When he did find the courage to speak, his father beat him to the punch.
“You look different.” He smiled, looking you in the eye. It felt weird to be at eye level with him, too used to him towering over you. “How’s your first run?”
“I think I’m handling it okay.”
Spider laughed. “No way. You ran like a baby using their legs for the first time.”
“It was for the first time,” Kiri replied and shook her head. “We probably shouldn’t have rushed out.”
Jake raised his brow. “That bad, huh?”
Plates were passed around. Tuk dug into her food while you all talked. No doubt this was from today’s hunt. While you ate, Spider sat back and talked with Lo’ak and Kiri.
“You will learn,” Neytiri had told you between her own mouthfuls. “Jake had been no better.”
“And that’s without the years of training.” Jake shook his head. “Those were the days.”
After eating, you split off with Neteyam to catch up. The others understood for the most part to not follow, distracting Tuk before she could tag along.
For the most part, you walked normally. Without the pressure of running, you could balance yourself correctly. Neteyam was quiet, never moving past your side, letting you set the pace. You reached a section of Hometree untouched, quiet, and tucked away from the rest of the clan. When you stopped, Neteyam looked your way.
“Are you tired?”
“No.” You shook your head, tickled by the concern he displayed. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“Just checking.” He followed your lead and sat down beside you, overlooking the view of Pandora. His tail flicked patiently. “So, you think about what you want to do, now that you have an avatar?”
“Honestly-” You leaned back on your hands, humming in thought. “I never thought this far. It didn’t seem like this would ever happen. I mean, I had to wait five years.”
“Yeah.” Neteyam looked away. “We can figure it out on the way. There’s so much you’ll be able to do now that you have a kuru.”
“I guess.” You reached behind you, bringing your kuru braid forward. The tendrils of nerves opened, wiggling in the open air. It was an out-of-body experience, watching nerves that belonged to you wriggle in the air, feeling the sensation wave at nothing and near tasting the air deep in your nervous system, but unable to believe this was yours. You set the braid aside. “First, I have to master how to run. Can’t get anywhere around here by just walking.”
��We’ll build your stamina.” He smiled and nudged your arm with his elbow. “Then, we’ll get you an ikran.”
You grimaced. “Not for a while, I hope.”
“Certainly.” Neteyam grew quiet again. You turned to look at him, finding him already staring at you. His face was caught in a mesh of wonder and awe. He furrowed his brows. “Who did your hair?”
You blinked, thinking of the braids. “Tuk.”
“Tuk cut your hair?”
Oh. “No, that was Lo’ak.” You cringed, thinking how close Tuk was to committing to the act. “She almost did. Why is it bad?”
He laughed shortly. “It’s uneven.”
“How should I know?”
“Here.” Neteyam got up, moving to get behind you. “I’ll fix it.”
You realized he was undoing your braids in order to do so. “Tuk won’t like you ruining her hard work.”
He hummed. “She won’t know.”
“She’ll know.”
Neteyam’s fingers weaved through your tresses, unwinding them. Loose waves of hair cascaded around your face. Tingles crawled up your spine from the care and gentleness of his hands. You may have even closed your eyes to fully take in the sensation.
You twisted the braid of your kuru as he held your hair. His knife hissed against its sheath, your rather sensitive ears twitched at the sound. Inhaling deeply, you relaxed your shoulders. You trusted Neteyam, more than Lo’ak or Tuk, to cut your hair.
Truthfully, Lo’ak had done a moderately good job cutting your hair on the spot. Neteyam did not have much to work with, only fixing the small, unnoticeable imperfections in your hair. You wondered if it was an excuse to just touch your new, soft hair. His siblings seemed to love your hair.
“There.” Neteyam put away his knife. “Now, it looks even.”
You let out a half-hearted puff of air. It didn’t seem like that big of an issue. “Thanks.”
You heard the smile in his response. “You’re welcome.”
He took his time putting your hair into small braids similar to Tuk’s. With each new bunch of hair gathered, his knuckles would brush along your neck. Pinching your fingers over the braid of your kuru, you fought against the goosebumps that crawled along your skin. A rhythmic smack hit the ground, constant and unwavering. Out of the corner of your eye, you realized it was your tail, not Neteyam’s. It gave away your flush of emotions.
Your ears twitched and you forced another even breath, looking at the orange sky above.
Eclipse approached soon. Far in the distance, you spotted the flapping wings of wild ikran, flying as a group to another perch. Pandora, as much as you didn’t belong here, was your home. You could not imagine trading it for Earth, which you heard from Norm looked nothing like this. Pollution and greed had stripped away the beauty it once had, he said, but it had nothing compared to this moon light-years away. You agreed with his sentiment.
Soft puffs of air fanned the baby hairs on the back of your neck. You contained your shivers, letting your eyes flutter closed. His fingers were nimble, expert in the craft. Body heat permeated from him onto your back, the proximity throwing your heart to the ikrans. Your tail smacked at the ground playfully, betraying the excitement in you despite your trying to quell it. Neither of you spoke of it.
When all was said and done, Neteyam returned to your side. You let go of your kuru and run your hands through your hair, appreciating the work done by him. This time, your tail swayed anxiously as you looked him in the eye.
“Does it look okay now?”
His eyes roamed from your hair to your face. He was quiet, the sunset’s reflection casting a warm glow over his blue skin. A small smile broke onto his face and he nodded. “You look perfect.”
You returned the smile. Your tail once again whipped to and fro in excitement from the flattery. Neteyam’s smile grew, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a way you found endearing. Neither of you said anything, turning away at the same time to face forward. The light of day retreated over the horizon.
“Eclipse is bound.” Neteyam pushed off the ground with a grunt, standing on his feet. He extended his hand down to you. “Come on. Can't let you stay out too late in your avatar.”
You agreed and took his hand. With little effort, he managed to pull you onto your feet. In the five years you’ve waited for your avatar to grow, Neteyam gained muscle fit for his physique. The twenty-year-old warrior still stood taller than you, much like his father, but the height difference was not as drastic in your avatar.
On your way down the Hometree, you bumped into Kiri.
Neteyam regarded her. “Have you seen Spider-”
“He went back to the camp a while ago.” She looked between you two. “Better get going if you don’t want to be out late.”
“Right.” He nodded to her. “Thanks.”
You waved goodbye to Kiri and walked off with Neteyam.
Sticking to the high ground, you both made your way back to camp. The journey was quiet, apart from shared looks and quiet laughter, for no other reason than you both feeling a strange high. You returned to camp safely and sound as Neteyam walked up with you to the avatar sleeping quarters. Eclipse had just encased the land in darkness and outdoor lights illuminated the camp’s shacks. You stopped by your building, turning to him with a hand raised.
“I can walk the rest on my own.”
He smiled. “Can you?”
You rolled your eyes, unable to contain your own smile. You gently pushed at his shoulder. “Go. Or, will you get lost?”
He accepted your teasing with a flick of his tail. “I think I know my way.”
“Alright then.” Your expression softened. You had to stop or else you’d never let him leave. “Goodnight, Nete.”
His smile widened. “Goodnight.”
You waved him off before walking up the steps and into the shack.
Some avatars were still up. Others sound asleep. You made your way to the unclaimed hammock, reserved for your avatar, and climbed into it. Your smile remained even as you closed your eyes.
When you woke up in the link bed, moments passed before the hood rose and you could sit up. Max looked from you to the screen. “Was being an avatar scary like you expected?”
You shook your head, smiling again. “It was weird, but I liked it.”
Norm walked into the room. “Yeah, and next time, don’t stay out late without a head’s up. All avatars have to be accounted for.”
“I’ll remember that.”
You left after bidding them goodnight, heading to your sleeping quarters. For the rest of the night, you lay there, touching the base of your skull. You could feel it, the kuru, like a phantom. Turning onto your side, you closed your eyes.
Today was a good day.
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did john decide which of his friends would be the necromancer and which would be the cavs when he brought them back from the dead, or was that random?
I wish we knew for sure! John's friends ending up 50/50 adepts vs. non-necromancers is obviously one of TM's premises and was done for doylistic reasons first and foremost, but I don't think we have enough elements to conclusively interpret it as intentional in-universe.
Putting aside any kind of authorial intentions, this is what we know:
» The rate of necromancers as part of the population hovers around 30%. John's core group being 50% adepts is way off from that, and could point to manipulation, but also we're working with a very small sample size. Think about how it's very possible to get head five times in a row when flipping coins; probabilities are much less accurate on a smaller scale. I don't believe it's out of the realm of possibilities that a group of 10 people had exactly 5 necromancers in it.
» Harrow's birth. The Reverend Parents made sure she would be a necromancer by manipulating the embryo with thanergy. It's clearly not a known practice among the Houses at large, and John calls it "a sort of Resurrection" — implying that he could be able to do the same with thalergy. However, this doesn't confirm that he actually DID.
In the same conversation, John says, "This was all different before we discovered the scientific principles," which I think is also worth noting. The fact that he understands NOW how you could get an embryo to grow into a necromancer doesn't mean that he had that knowledge at the time of the Resurrection. It also doesn't mean that the same identical process would apply to making formerly-dead-people into necromancers as they got brought back to life.
It could very well be that necromancy was a generalised side-effect of the Resurrection that affected some people more than others; or it could be that John DID do something different when bringing back some people that conferred them necromantic aptitude. Even if it's the latter, I don't think we can take for granted that 1) it was intentional and 2) he fully knew what the side effects would be.
» Ulysses and Titania. Counterpoint! It's also worth noting that John's "test cases" turned out to be one (1) adept and one (1) non-adept. Like I said above, this could still be a random bi-product of the Resurrection... but given Ulysses and Titania's whole everything, their dichotomy reeks of control group. They are a big point in favour of the "John did it on purpose" column.
Still: I still don't think we can tell for sure that John knew from the moment of Resurrection that he was giving some people death powers, and how that'd turn out in the long run. Like I said above, he could have done something different when resurrecting Ulysses vs. Titania, but it doesn't mean that he knew what would happen.
(Obviously, this argument only makes sense if we assume that Ulysses and Titania were among the very first batch of resurrected. I personally think they were, but obviously it's not confirmed)
» The inner circle. From NtN
I could only trust the inner circle. My scientists, my engineer, my detective, my lawyer, my artist, my nun, my hedge fund manager. My diehards. The ones keeping the lights on.
Putting aside the fact that Lyctors exist the way they are because Tamsyn needed them to exist, and looking at the Canaan House necro/cav pairings from John's point of view: why not give ALL his friends magical powers? That's something I struggle to wrap my head around, for about half a dozen different reasons.
Mind, I don't think John picking and choosing who gets to be a necromancer is that far-fetched, but from a #character point I find it less likely than the alternative (he didn't do it on purpose but turned it to his own advantage). IF it turns out to be canon, I'd be really curious about what the watsonian reasoning for it, beyond "this needed to happen."
Most meta posts I've seen that take for granted John picked and chose his future necromancers ascribe him a level of foresight, knowledge, and long-term planning that I simply don't think he'd have had at the time (not to mention the mental lucidity). To quote HtN John again, "[he] had never been God" before. I truly think he was winging it at least 60% of the time.
#Anonymous#ask#tldr: I think it's possible this is the angle Taz is going with but I don't think it's a given with the elements we have so far#I think if it turns out to HAVE been intentional on John's part#it's gonna be one of these plot points that exists because the book needed them to exist and everything else took shape around it#like how everyone on the Ninth stopped making babies after Harrow was born although there was a whole generation of childbearing age#tlt thoughts#tlt theories#ejg#elle tlt posting#tlt
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Troublemakers and Pestcatchers
I had just finished saying “Don’t let her claw you,” when the cat’s paw connected with the waving head frills of my crewmate.
“Ow, that’s sharp!” Blip exclaimed, pulling her head back to a safe distance while her brother pointed and laughed. I didn’t see any blood, so that was good.
“I did mention the claws,” I said patiently, adjusting my hold on the barely-a-kitten who was intensely fascinated by all the motion in the hallway. I’d brought her out with harness and leash, taking turns acclimating the cats to more than just my room on the ship. So far they were doing well. Only clawing the really tempting stuff.
“You should know better than that!” Blop said, waggling his own fins from a safe distance. He made broad gestures with both arms, filling the space with muscles and flowy blue silks. “Don’t stick your face next to the tiny predator!”
“It didn’t hurt before!” Blip objected. She folded beefy arms in indignance, stepping farther away when this earned another swipe at her sleeve.
I caught the kitten’s paw and gave it a gentle squeeze. “The claws only stick out when they want them to,” I said. “See?”
The Frillian twins crowded close despite everything, and were quietly impressed. I let up on the squeezing but kept hold of the paw. When the twins stepped back, I stroked the kitten and murmured praises for holding still.
This one was my favorite, not that I would admit such a thing when the plans were clear that I had to find homes for all of them soon. I’d made sure to give them simple names for the most part, since their new humans would likely rename them. While the mom cat was Tapestry and the gray one was Mimi (named after our engineer), the others got names like Cloudy, Classy, and Casserole.
This one was Telly. Short for Teleporter Malfunction. Because she was one of the very few chimera cats I’d met in person: her face was a perfect split between orange with a golden eye, and black with a piercing blue eye. The rest of her fur was a fascinating mix of the two. I’d explained the rarity of embryos fusing in the womb to more than one alien crewmate, but none of them seemed to appreciate the striking beauty. All the cats were weird little predators to them.
“Have you found homes for more yet?” Blop asked. “There’s not many humans at this stop, but maybe at the next?”
I nodded. “I called ahead to put the word out to somebody I know, and I may have a taker for a couple at once at the big station. Soon I won’t have to kitten-proof my quarters anymore.”
“Have they fallen on your face while you sleep?” Blip asked with a grin.
“No,” I said, “Because I put a proper shelf there, instead of just the pipes. And more shelves so they can climb up without knocking anything off the wall.”
Blip nodded. “Wise.”
The intercom binged at that point, with the captain calling me specifically to help load up our next cargo. She didn’t specify why, but we all knew. I was the animal expert. This cargo had hooves.
“Have fun!” Blop said.
“Best of luck!” Blip added.
“Thanks,” I said. “C’mon Telly, back to the room with you.” I took my leave and returned the kitten to her family, most of whom were napping on my bed, then I hurried off to the cargo bay.
It was space goats again. Not the exact same ones, thankfully, since those had been masterful escape artists, but only time would tell if these were just as bad.
At least there’s only three of them, I thought as I joined Captain Sunlight and Mur. It sure would be nice if somebody provided their own livestock carrier, though. Mur was holding three leashes in three different tentacles, looking like a particularly grumpy squid while the captain finished signing for the delivery. The space goats ambled in circles, sticking their long necks in every direction and fondling anything within reach with the field of orange tentacles on their backs. It still looked like fur at a glance, even though I knew better. A very confusing glance.
“It’s a pleasure doing business with you,” said Captain Sunlight with a nod of her scaly yellow face. The delivery person, another Heatseeker with green scales, nodded back and took his leave. “Say hi to the family for me!” Captain Sunlight called after him. He waved. She hit the button to shut the cargo hatch.
It was a bit loud in closing, and the three goats immediately sent up a chorus of whining bleats that echoed through the ship.
Captain Sunlight’s tail drooped. “This is going to be a long trip,” she said. “Let’s get them to the pen. Are the vent covers still in place?”
“Oh yes,” Mur said firmly. “Fused the bars myself. And I checked the camera too.”
“Good,” said the captain.
“Here’s to a trip with no shenanigans,” I said. “Do you want me to carry the supplies?” I gestured to the box of food with a red ball that looked like a dog toy on top.
“I’ll handle those.” Mur thrust the leashes toward me. “You take these. I’m tired of being licked.”
I couldn’t argue that. My reach was longer and so were my legs; these beasties were small bundles of trouble. And of course they didn’t want to go. Not when they could do a maypole tangle of leashes around my legs instead.
“Is that an enrichment toy, by any chance?” I asked, stepping over yet another leash.
Captain Sunlight plucked it off the box and held it out to me. Definitely a dog toy. I held all three leashes tightly in one hand long enough to toss it down the hall. “Hey goats! Fetch!”
Tangled leashes or not, they ran for it. I did my best to keep up, with Mur and Captain Sunlight following behind me, trusting that I knew what I was doing.
I was definitely making some of this up as I went, but they didn’t need to know that. Alien creatures or not, these were still animals, and I knew animals. Reasonably well.
The ball rolled to a stop before we reached the right storage hold, and I managed to hold the goats back long enough to elbow the door-opener button, then kick the ball through. They bounced in eagerly, rebounding off three crates and getting more excited by the second.
While two of them were having a hilarious tentacle slapfight over the ball, and the other was chewing on it, I got the door open to the large clear pen that dominated the room. A nudge of the ball with one shoe was enough to get everybody moving into it. Throwing dignity to the winds, I knelt by the door, holding it mostly shut with one knee, but open enough for my arms to fit through and unhook the leashes. The goats bounced in excitement. None tried to climb my face to freedom, and I shut the door in triumph.
“Success!” I announced to Mur, holding the leashes up.
“Well done,” he said. “You get to put those back on when it’s time to offload them.”
“Ugh,” was all I had to say to that.
Mur chuckled as he stowed the box of food in a low cubby. “You know, the nicer models of that pen come with an airlock.”
“And they cost as much as a new set of thrusters,” said Captain Sunlight from the door. “Good thing we’ve got you to stand at the ready with a capture net instead, right?”
Mur sighed. “I look forward to it.”
The rubber ball thwapped against the wall of the pen, followed by tiny hooves. I turned see that these three had picked up the knack of skating across the anti-climb surface even faster than the last ones had. “Quick learners,” I said.
Mur just sighed again.
“I’ll keep an eye on that camera from the cockpit,” said Captain Sunlight. “Be ready to come running if they pry the bars off or something.”
“They will not,” Mur said, jabbing a tentacle in the direction of the goats, as if they were listening instead of enacting an elaborate low-grav roller derby.
“Here’s hoping,” I said. “Are we ready for takeoff?”
“Just about,” said the captain. “I’m going to check in with Kavlae now. We should be in the air soon.”
She left, and we followed, with the goats having a grand old time behind us. Blip and Blop peered through the open door in curiosity.
“That looks like a handful!” said Blip.
“Who spilled food?” asked Blop.
“What?” Mur demanded, spinning in place.
I spotted the pile of food pellets, right next to the bin Mur had just carried in.
Mur scowled. “That wasn’t leaking a minute ago.” He tentacle-walked over to glare down at the offending bin. Then he made a noise that was probably a swear word. It sounded more like a fart to my Earthling ears, but either way, it was rude in polite society.
And when I got close, I saw why. “Those are toothmarks,” I said.
“Toothmarks that appeared while we were standing here,” Mur said, pulling the box out and opening the lid just a crack. Nothing jumped out. He opened it all the way, then shut it and began looking through the cubbies. “Everybody grab a flashlight, and shut the door,” he instructed.
I hit the button while Blip and Blop hurried to a supply cabinet. “Any guess what we’re looking for? Is this station known for pests?”
Before Mur could answer, Blip called, “No, but they are!” She pointed at the space goats.
Learning something every day, I thought. “What kind?” I asked.
“Little fast things the same color as their backwhips.” Blip held her fingers apart for size. Dinky. “Grabbers for holding on, and they’re really good at chewing through stuff.”
“Great,” I said. “Hey, did we not scan these guys on acceptance?”
Mur shoved a crate aside, punctuating his sentences with effort. “No. Old client. Trusted friend. In a hurry. Gonna scan ‘em in the air. Never had a problem before!”
Blop shone a light into a far corner. “Captain’s gonna have strong words for that friend as soon as she hears.”
“Should we tell her now?” I asked.
“There!” shouted Blip, launching herself fist-first across the room to where something zipped along, an orangeish blur. She dealt the floor a mighty hammerblow with bodyslam to follow, but fell just inches shy. The thing scuttled to the door where it wriggled through a tiny gap that I hadn’t realized was there.
Blip pounded the floor again, then scrambled to the button that Mur was already pressing. Judging by the exclamations and lack of further violence, they didn’t see a trace of it out in the hall.
“Now we tell the captain,” Mur said. “I’ll go. Keep the door shut, and look for more.”
I looked back at the goats. “We should get Eggskin’s medscanner in here right away.”
“On it,” Blip said. She exchanged nods with her brother, then shut the door from outside.
Blop tossed me a flashlight. I caught it and started looking near the doorway. “I’m surprised there’s a gap here,” I said. “Did the door shut on something?” It looked slightly warped.
“There’s a long story to that,” Blop said, head in a cabinet. He stepped back and moved on. “But it can be summarized as ‘Pockap.’”
“Ah. Gotcha.” The former captain of this ship was an endless source of grievances even now. He’d probably wanted to run a power cord into the hall or something, and dented the door on purpose.
“There!” Blop yelled, then did a series of angry stomps the led to nothing more than probably some annoying echoes in the engine room. “Where’d it go?”
“I don’t see it,” I said, moving closer and shining my light around. The goats in the pen were bleating in excitement, but a glance showed them just watching us, which wasn’t helpful. “I’m pretty sure there’s a better way to do this.”
“Like what?” Blop asked.
Before I could explain my bright idea to him, Eggskin arrived with the medscanner that I hadn’t fully learned to use yet. Blip towered over the little Heatseeker, talking a mile a minute about the pests. Eggskin ignored her and went right for the pen, the picture of businesslike efficiency with booger-yellow scales. Eggskin was both the medic and the cook, very levelheaded.
“Hm. It’s a good thing this pen closes with a tighter seal than that door,” they said, nodding toward the entrance without looking away from the screen. “All three of them are carrying multiple external parasites.”
Various exclamations of displeasure filled the air just as Captain Sunlight joined us. “How many?” she asked as the door shut behind her.
“In this pen? Fourteen,” said Eggskin calmly. “Outside, I can’t say.”
“I saw one over there,” Blop rushed to say. “Plus the one the got out.”
“I’m pretty sure I saw it in the lounge as I passed,” said Blip, pointing to the right.
Mur said, “I feel like we would have noticed if any dropped off between here and the cargo bay.”
A distant shriek echoed from the hallway to the left. Paint yelled, “What was that?? There was a thing!”
Mur draped a tentacle over his face. “Or I could be wrong.”
I winced in sympathy, remembering Paint’s phobia of small scuttling things, and tendency to hyperventilate. “Do we have a way of catching these animals that I don’t know about?”
There was a heartbeat of silence, then Blip said “Smashing,” Blop said “Squishing” and Captain Sunlight said “Not a good one.”
“Next question,” I said, turning to Eggskin. “The medscanner has records from when we scanned the cats. Can you tell me if these pests would be toxic for them to eat? Or at least bite?”
There was a lot of conversation at that point, but I ignored most of it while Eggskin tapped buttons on the medscanner. They answered promptly. “Nontoxic. Assuming the cats don’t try to swallow any bones or such, I see no problems.”
“Excellent. Captain!” I turned and stood at attention. “Permission to put my roomful of tiny predators to their time-honored use.”
“With supervision, my permission is granted,” she said. “Just don’t make any new problems.”
“Understood! One room at a time, starting here.”
Captain Sunlight nodded. “Proceed. Everyone else, help by guiding the tiny predators, not by smashing.”
Blip and Blop grumbled, “Understood.”
“I can help narrow things down,” Eggskin said, waving the medscanner.
“I’ll check the camera records to see if I can spot when any jumped off,” Mur volunteered.
“And I’ll inform the rest of the crew,” said Captain Sunlight. “Blip and Blop, you guard the door to prevent any further spread of the problem.”
“On it!”
Everyone split and got to work. I returned to my room and scooped surprised kittens into the carrier with promises of exciting new toys to chase. They didn’t understand me, of course, but that had never stopped me before.
“You too, Mama Kitty,” I said to Tapestry as I lifted her from her nap spot on the bed. She protested sleepily, but there was enough space in the carrier for everyone.
I grabbed a bag of cat treats in case I needed bribes, then carried the awkward load back to the storage hold.
And there, I got to show my alien crewmates why humans had brought cats into their homes in the first place.
“Did you see that jump??” Blip exclaimed. “Right up the wall, then turning to land on its feet!”
“Oh, cats are masters at landing on their feet,” I said proudly.
A squeak and a scuffle behind a crate caught my attention, then Tapestry proudly trotted out with a small orange shape in her mouth. She dropped it in front of two kittens, who watched intensely. It wiggled, and she demonstrated pouncing technique.
They caught on quickly.
They also caught four of the pests in the storage hold, two in the lounge, one in the cargo bay, and five in the kitchen. And they found a pen someone had lost behind a table, batting it out into the open like the best of toys.
I doled out treats every time they caught something (ushering them away from decorations and electronics), and showered them with praise. All the crewmates were appreciative, even the ones like Trrili who had joked that the cats looked like food.
“Mighty predator,” Trrili said to Casserole, holding out the tip of her pincher arm to sniff. “You do your ancestors proud. And I hear you are skilled in attacking your human’s ankles with no warning; well done.”
I smiled. “This one’s a master of stealth, that’s for sure. Did I tell you about their larger cousins that have been known to kill humans by jumping out of trees at them from behind?”
“Magnificent,” said the terrifying bug alien, who was herself fond of jumping out at coworkers for fun.
“That they are,” I agreed.
Eggskin appeared at the doorway with the medscanner and did a sweep of the room. “All clear!” they announced. “I can safely say that every escaped pest on this ship has been dealt with.”
“What about those still on the hosts?” asked Captain Sunlight.
“I’ve administered a repellant to the animals in the holding pen,” Eggskin said. “To great success.”
“Did you need help keeping them from getting out the door?” I asked anxiously. “You could have called me.”
“Oh no, I just threw it in the vent,” Eggskin said. “It’s a gas thing. Perfect for this kind of pen, really, since it didn’t dissipate right away. All the pests loosened their hold, and got shaken off to the floor by some lively dancing by the host animals.”
“It wasn’t bad for them, right?” I asked.
“Not at all. Made for them. This is one of many things I keep on hand for animal cargos.” Eggskin turned to the captain. “We should bill the client for a replacement, by the way.”
“Oh yes,” Captain Sunlight said. “We will definitely be doing that.”
Something rolled past my foot that I recognized as one of Blip and Blop’s favorite shrimp sticks. A two-toned blur of fur tackled it and gnawed with vigor. Out in the hall, I heard Blip enthusing over another cat’s speed. We’d relaxed the “one room at a time” rule now that the whole crew had turned out to watch the kittens.
Telly trotted up to me with the shrimp stick in her mouth, showing off her catch. I scooped her up and gave her scritches, then held the stick for her to chew on.
“You know,” the captain said, “If for some reason it might be hard to find homes for all of them, it might not be a bad thing to have a pest-catcher onboard.”
I smiled. “They’ve certainly served my people well.”
“And they’re cute and fluffy? I understand that is a bonus.”
“Oh, for sure. One of the best.”
“Well then,” Captain Sunlight said. “See that they behave themselves, and who knows what the future holds?”
“I’ll keep a close eye on them,” I said, looking down at the kitten in my arms. It was definitely the shrimp dust, but she kind of winked at me. I winked back. I could see many good times ahead of us.
~~~
The ongoing backstory of the main character from this book. More to come!
#my writing#the Token Human#this one's a long one#back by popular demand: Blip & Blop and the space goats#animal shenanigans#cats#humans are weird#haso#hfy#eiad#posted later than usual because life is busy#but I doubt anyone other than me is keeping track#anyways; enjoy
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„You’re not alone, together we stand. I’ll be by your side, you know, I’ll take your hand…”
“Just stay strong, ‘cause you know, I’m here for you…” (“Keep holding on” by Avril Lavigne)
I decided to set a trigger warning on this post: Miscarriages, high risk pregnancies, ICSI treatments, traumatic wish for a child journey, hysterectomy. So, please feel free to skip the following x paragraphs, if you feel triggered by these topics. Thank you.
Those of you lovely people of Snapedom, who know me and my way of blogging about Severus and my personal hardships might have noticed, that I’m mostly venting about ME/CFS and the crumbs, which are left from my former life. Since I can’t do much about it right now, I decided to “fix” another one of my countless issues…an internal wound, which desperately needs to heal!
As some of you might remember, I’m a mother of three wonderful children. There are my eleven years old twins and then there’s my six years old daughter. My pregnancies were the result of a long and painful journey of ICSI treatments, several miscarriages, way too many tears, about ten surgeries - due to Endometriosis and myomas - which eventually ended in a hysterectomy four years ago.
My desperate wish for a child led me to some decisions and life choices, which I probably wouldn’t have made, if I would have been clearer…maybe more stable in my whole mindset. One of these choices was a totally over rushed marriage to a narcissistic man, who made me believe, that he wanted the same. Gosh…I’ve been so desperate and so fucking stupid! Well, at least I got my twins because of him.
I went to the appointment for the transfer of the embryos on my own. He didn’t want to join the procedure…and I should have known, that he was already saying “goodbye” back then.
The pregnancy was rough. I had to lie in bed from the 8th week of pregnancy until they were born as premature babies in the 29th week of pregnancy. The last 4,5 months of pregnancy, I had to stay in the hospital…fighting for my babies’ lives all on my own. The father of them had decided, that he didn’t want to be a father anymore…wow…
I don’t want to go further into details about this phase of my life…at least not yet. I commissioned my friend @alinearthp for this project and asked her for several drawings of the different phases of my journey to become a mother. This artwork will be the start of my healing process…and I’m incredibly grateful, that you’re doing this for me, Aline! I know, that you’ll need time to draw all these wishes of mine, but I’ll be patiently waiting for each of your breathtaking pieces of art, my dear!
So, for the next couple of months, Severus will accompany me on my path through this phase of my past…just like he did back then, when I spent months in a hospital bed in “Trendelenburg” position. During this period of my life - and to be honest, in so many other phases of the past 21 years, as well - I clung to my imagination of Severus in order to feel less helpless and alone. His resilience and determination have always been my inspiration to keep going through all these hardships, which life kept throwing at me. He’s the love of my life…and he will forever be the guiding light in my darkness.
🖤Severus & Julia🖤
🖤Sevy & Jules🖤
#Severus x Julia#Sevy x Jules#Severus x oc#twin mom#icsi#this will be my personal healing journey#mom of 3#fuck me/cfs#disappointment#I have to heal#horrible pregnancies#severus snape#he was there#at least in my mind#i love snape#snape#i love severus#pro snape#snape love#pro severus snape#snape content#severus snape art#snart#snapedom#severus fanart#severus snape fan art#snape art#mecfs#single mom experiences#commissioning artwork is my goddamn coping mechanism
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Desperately need to see more of Kon’s daddy issues shining through
“I will,” Superman promises the same way Clark makes a promise, certain and unshakeable and inevitable, and Kon loses track of time a little bit again after that. Superman just keeps using him. Kon’s pretty sure a machine couldn’t keep fucking him this hard and fast for this long, but Superman doesn’t even seem to notice the effort. It’s all Kon can do to try and keep up, but even when he can’t, it doesn’t matter anyway, because Superman still moves him just the same; because Superman doesn’t need him to keep up. He can still use him just as easily; still take his weight and move his body and do whatever he wants with him. Use him for anything he wants.
Use him like anything he wants.
Kon comes a couple more times, he’s pretty sure. It’s a little hard to tell, so completely overwhelmed and caught up like this, but–but he’s pretty sure he does.
Superman doesn’t, though. Superman stays inside him, hot and hard as molten steel. Kon has the hysterical thought that his cock might fucking burn him.
If he held onto anyone else as tight as he’s holding onto Superman right now, he’d have killed them. If he just held onto them half this tight. If he just squeezed his cunt this tight he’d either crush their dick or break the toy or–or–
“You’ll look so pretty when you’re all fat and full with my baby, Kon,” Superman murmurs against Kon’s ear, his cock still hard and thrusting and his breath just barely ragged, and a sharper stab of heat goes through Kon’s gut and his body shudders desperately. “Doing just what you were made for. A perfect gift, just for me.”
Kon comes again with a choked moan, his cunt tightening and whole body jerking with it, and Superman nuzzles into his throat and fucks his own orgasm right into him, spilling pulse after pulse after pulse of come inside him, and the aftershocks of Kon’s spike up even harder. Superman–Superman came in him. Like he promised. Like he–like he–
“Good boy,” Superman rumbles, low and approving, and Kon feels sick and fucking dizzy and isn’t sure he isn’t still coming.
He admittedly doesn't understand all the minute details of his own reproductive system, given the thing's an experimental build made by scientists with a severely limited understanding of the DNA they were working with, but he knows he can get pregnant the old-fashioned way. Knows he's . . . fertile like that. He can't get anyone else pregnant, but . . . but he was specifically optimized to be impregnated himself, and specifically optimized for carrying Kryptonian embryos.
And Superman is very, very Kryptonian. So statistically, he probably did just knock him up.
Kon hasn't even earned that fucking kiss yet.
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Black Sun, Shadow Moon
I don't have time to clean up my theories yet, but a while back I referenced that Kamen Rider Black's backstory is nearly identical to Sanji.
The quick summary of it is that Kamen Rider Black has an adopted brother who coincidentally has the same birthday as him, they both got experimented on to give them powers, but only the hero was able to escape. He has powers but still has a human heart. His brother lost his humanity, and became something like an "evil Kamen Rider". They got almost all the same mods, exoskeleton, power ups, etc. Except the brainwashed brother is stronger.
Basically kind of like Sanji and his bros, especially because despite being not blood related, having the same birthday almost makes them "like twins".
You can see the longer summary here, and pardon the rest of the post, it's super messy and incoherent. You can ignore the theory half of it honestly, just read the Kamen Rider part for context.
Anyway, my point is, while thinking of black and red being opposites I just remembered that it's connected to that Kamen Rider theory that I had. Kamen Rider Black was originally meant to be "Black Sun", but when he escaped he just used a different term (Kamen Rider Black) as his "hero name". His brother's name as the "evil Rider" is "Shadow Moon" as I wrote in the title.
Those names to me sounded like "solar eclipse" and "lunar eclipse" to me, and wouldn't you know, the science of it fits the Germa colours. A lunar eclipse makes the moon turn red, which people call "blood moon". A solar eclipse has the appearance of "the sun turning black".
I identify Ichiji as the lunar eclipse/Shadow Moon counterpart because of various thematic elements, but mainly because of this Japanese philosophy I mentioned, about red and black being opposites.
Not to mention in the Navagraha (the big circle with the 8 smaller circles around it), a symbol that is prevalently used in One Piece, the two eclipse "stars" Rahu and Ketu were originally one body that was split in half.
Again this "fits the science" in a way. Sanji and his brothers are identical quadruplets. It's somewhat a stretch, but you can say that identical multiplets are "one body" (zygote) that split into "multiple bodies" (embryos).
So, anyway, I have been holding a theory that Germa is connected to moon symbolism, and this just further adds to it. It's why I connect them to Wano, which also has very strong moon symbolism. It's all still a bit sporadic and too many what if, but anyway.
In Sanji's case the "sun" half of his eclipse image is Sora, but that's for later discussion I guess. I made reference to it here and there, but still hasn't pinned down where I want to go with it.
It'll be a while before I'm able to clean up the sun-moon theory properly, so that's why I'll just throw this out there for now.
#one piece#germa 66#vinsmoke brothers#vinsmoke family#theory#vinsmoke ichiji#vinsmoke sanji#ichiji#sanji#black leg sanji
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Some other grievances I've had with the 911 show. I just wanna get these out and be done with it. I wanna just sit back and love the characters without caring about the writer's choices but alas. Hopefully this will be all of my rants about this show and I'll be able to post only what I love about it from here on.
I know I've been very critical of Eddie so far and angrily so. But as much as I'm criticising him for being a very bad and careless romantic partner, i really really hope that when it comes time for him to get together with Buck, he will have learned from all his mistakes and matured and learned about his shortcomings and where they stem from and I hope he'd have worked on himself enough to not put Buck through any of the bullshit he put every one of his romantic partners through. Buck doesn't deserve that.
While I absolutely love Buck, I also have a problem with how he just kissed Lucy while being in a relationship with Taylor where everything was finally looking good, I knew from the moment Lucy was introduced and the way Buck looked at her, and the writers make him cheat on Taylor and ask her to move in as a way to deflect from that. Yes he tells her later, yes she forgives him and I was hoping they would last a little longer but no, the writers just kept her around long enough to make her do something bad to break them up, so then it wouldn't be his fault.
It's like the writers don't think cheating is that bad at all, you cheat? No worries, all forgiven, your partners love you too much to leave you over that. The question is, do the ones that cheat love their partners the same? Because when Hen cheated on Karen I was so pissed, like the lady did not deserve that, I'm glad they didn't break apart over it but still it was not a simple mistake. And then Buck cheated on Taylor and then the writers made her use a private conversation for a news story and stab Buck in the back. Like if they were going to break them up they should've done so when he cheated or let them remain together, I hate it that the writers made Taylor forgive Buck for CHEATING but Buck breaks with her over the first mistake she made in the relationship, I'm not defending Taylor's choices and I was angry at her for it, she could've gotten Buck in so much trouble which he didn't deserve but I hate it that she made one wrong choice and the relationship is over while Buck cheated and he was fine. I hate the writers for trying to dismiss cheating as no big deal.
I was also mad at Hen being all pissy when Karen was grieving the loss of her embryos and Hen had to feed Denny, and do some other things around the house that Karen usually does, I get it, Hen comes home late from her draining shift and it hurts to see that nothing's done but the that's the least you can do for your wife, not to mention one who left her opportunity to become an astronaut to raise a child with you as a family, when she's grieving the loss of your potential children, but Hen keeps complaining and gets mad at Karen for grieving instead of performing her motherly duties, like I feel like the writers of this show have a problem with women taking some time to themselves, whether it be to grieve, or go take care of your dying mother and then grieve, or having postpartum depression, the women are the villain for wanting, no, needing a break, mostly because of things they had no control over, if they deviate from their motherly/spousal duties because of any tragedy, they're not the victim but their partners are, [(I know chim tried his best and didn't deserve to suffer, but neither did Maddie. Chim's storyline after Maddie left literally made me bawl and I'm so glad they're back together, they need each other, I wish they never broke up) so I'm mostly talking about Eddie and Hen here.]
The writers just had to make it all about Hen, when Karen was grieving and staying in bed, all Hen did was complain about HAVING to do the things Karen usually does, Hen looked at it all like an inconvenience. The writers then made Hen accidentally kill that cello girl and justifiably Hen was wrecked with guilt and fear and didn't know how to handle it, can't blame Hen at all for the way she took it but I can blame the writers. Karen put aside all her heartbreak abd grief from her lost embryos and stood by Hen throughout, and I love her for it, Hen deserved Karen to be by her side at such a time, but just before that incident when Karen needed Hen to stand by her and support her emotionally, all Hen did was be impatient and basically tell Karen to wrap it up. The writers made a new emergency tragedy to make it about Hen and tossed aside Karen's grief and made her never talk about it again like it never happened. I hate the writers for that.
Again as a note, these are my opinions about the show, you're free to have your own opinions. I'm just trying to vent out my frustrations with the show on my blog. Don't come at me with your angry anonymous asks and justifications because at the end of the day it's a fictional show. I haven't spoken about what I love on this show yet that doesn't mean i hate it, I'm frustrated by some of the characters' choices because I love them. Viewers will have vastly different opinions about it, to each their own.
Do recommend similar shows to watch while we all wait for new episodes. Lone star is on my watchlist next.
#911 show#911 spoilers#911 eddie#evan buckley#eddie diaz#maddie buckley#chimney han#athena grant#bobby nash#christopher diaz#buck 911#911 opinions#911 abc
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On Cassiopeia the First, Grand Lysis and the Locked Tomb
Spoilers for Nona the Ninth: This may be an important theory for Alecto the Ninth.
In Harrow the Ninth's conversation where Harrow tells John about the Ninth House infanticide, John says something interesting-
[John addressing Harrow] "You generate too much light, or too much darkness, for me to look at you [. . .] You were awake during your first time in the River, and you performed necromancy, and believe me when I tell you the only one other person has ever done that their first time in. Keep in mind that she was an adult necromancer who went on to found the Sixth House. [. . .] How did they get you?"
I think John may have been speaking more literally about light and dark than I assumed at first. Gideon saw weird auras during one of the trials at Canaan House. But more importantly, Cassiopeia kept awake and used theorems during her first time in the River, too. But her connection to necromancy and death cannot have the same origin as Harrow's, because Cassiopeia was born before the rise of John as God and the death of the Earth. She was a lawyer and Nigella was an artist.
John is taken aback by Harrow's explanation. He wasn't expecting anything to do with eggs, birth, or possibly even thanergy:
"This was . . . all so different . . . before we discovered the scientific principles." "[. . . ] your mother and father committed a type of resurrection," he said. "They did something nigh-on impossible. I know, because I have committed the same act, and I know the price I had to pay. Thalergetic modification of an embryo is difficult enough, but to achieve the same thing with thanergy . . ."
Was Harrowhark Nonagesimus already a Lyctor? There's more than one type. Palamedes called his theory the Grand Lysis or megatheorem, and Harrow rejected it out if hand at first, possibly because she was already familiar with a similar concept and thought it couldn't be that. Her own existence would have been open for discussion if the joining of many souls into a true new soul was possible - so it can't be that, because she's an ordinary necromancer, right?
John ends the topic with:
"Harrow, nobody has the right to know," he said fiercely. "Nobody has the right to blame you. Nobody can judge. What has happened, has happened, and there's no putting it back in the box. They wouldn't understand. They don't have to. I officially relieve you from living in fear. Nobody has to know."
Is God panicking about Harrowhark revealing something to other people? Is God projecting some of his own justifications and anxieties onto Harrow?
The Body (Alecto) is very quick to tell Harrow to lie about her age to Mercymorn. This would have kept Mercymorn from asking questions about the plot to create a child of God to break into the Locked Tomb, but on the first read it's assumed it's Harrow's mind hallucinating a self-defense against investigating the infanticide. But if the true answer might have led to Mercymorn unraveling the success of Dios Apate Major, why would Alecto want her to lie? Why would Alecto want to hide a key to her Tomb? Alecto can't lie. Does Alecto like Harrow that much, to continue her own imprisonment?
Why?
What we know about Cassiopeia as of Nona the Ninth could barely fill a page. She:
Was gay with Nigella but had to keep it secret (why in near future 21st century NZ, though? The nun?)
Was in the original followers, witnessed everything at the cryo-lab, was resurrected, and had her memories erased
Married Nigella, as officiated by John, then turned right around an hour later and told John he was making bad choices
Was at Canaan House with the Lyctors and the Cavs researching how to . . . Lyct. The wiki said she worked closely with Anastasia (?), who had a more complete idea of Lysis, a tripod theory.
Ate Nigella and became the Fourth Saint
Founded the Sixth House, a research library
Left the Sixth House a note 6,000 years ago that eventually led to the Sixth House seceding from the Empire. (Blood of Eden made contact with the Empire 5,000 years ago.)
Is heavily implied to be another Lyctor source for BoE at one point (TV tropes, can't confirm)
Spirit magic and Resurrection Beasts were her specialty
Died in the River fighting a Resurrection Beast, lasting seven minutes under - except Palamedes while being ~mysterious~ implied maybe she didn't die
I'm wondering if pre-resurrection Cassiopeia (truth-teller, secret-keeper) made a note somewhere about how concerned she was about John's mood and possible actions. If she somehow found it again after the Resurrection. If the note was vague in hindsight and she didn't understand the full implications until after Lysis. If she was the first person to understand John was hiding something but also learned that he couldn't read their minds. If she created a moveable research facility and library that held itself separate physically and emotionally from the rest of the Empire, with the ability to move with enough stele, for a reason.
She wasn't like the rest of the Lyctors. She checked in on her House every now and then. She left them a note. Maybe she didn't have to avoid Dominicus like the others. Maybe she didn't have to fear the madness of a Resurrection Beast, where other Lyctors did. The first, broken type of Lyctor. Gideon the First and Harrow both managed to unintentionally make a bodge of their attempt at Lysis. Did anybody else? Would they know how to pick up the pieces and put them back - in a different way?
And was Cassiopeia doing something else during those seven minutes in the River?
There's a backdoor from the Tower in the River that connects directly to the Locked Tomb. Paul-amades thought he knew how to get to the Locked Tomb via the River. Harrowhark began walking towards the Tower as soon as her conversation with God ended. And in the conversation about her parents committing infanticide, Harrowhark told God:
"I am assured they had no previous research to go by. They came up with it themselves."
When her parents learned their daughter had brought Armageddon upon the Nine Houses, they reacted eerily calm. They killed themselves and may have expected her to as well. About a decade before, a person in a haz-mat suit appeared on the Ninth with a baby assumed to be named Gideon. Where did she land, outside of the airlocked Ninth? Who would have gone out to get her? Who gathered up the baby? Who eventually learned this was the same baby that lived through the nursery massacre?
"You remain - what you are," said Crux. "A worthless millstone hung around my darling's neck. You were born to make her suffer. You died as you lived, Gideon Nav - a disappointment to me - and to God."
Did someone put the idea in the heads of Harrow's parents that they needed a necromantic heir so assuredly they would risk the slow death of their house with no children? That maybe the survival of their House would soon not matter? Was there an indication using necromancy that way was even possible?
Mercymorn and Augustine had abandoned Commander Wake after Dios Apate Major. Space is big and stele are hard to come by. Was there someone transporting Wake to the Ninth? Someone with access to the River? Someone with the ability like Nona or Paul
Anastasia was locked in the tomb, as ordered by John. Samael died and Alecto was sorry for him. An oath existed to bind Alecto to Anastasia's blood.
What have Cassiopeia and Anastasia been planning?
#the locked tomb series#harrow the ninth#gideon the ninth#nona the ninth spoilers#harrow the ninth spoilers#alecto the ninth#i have no idea what im doing#tlt theories#john gaius#cassiopeia the first#anastasia the first#pyrrha dve#commander wake#harrowhark nonagesimus#gideon nav#marshal crux#horrible god man#oh yeah it's all coming together#nona the ninth#the locked tomb
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Hi! I have two questions! One on a more broader term in your JJK universe and one on the twin!AU! One: Are twins only considered one entity, two halves of a whole because they share the womb at the same given time? Does it not matter if the twins are fraternal twins and therefore actually conceived from two different eggs and two different sperm? Two: Did no one bother to check Satoru after they found his mother with a slit throat the next day? Slit throat is a pretty ritualistic act afterall!
So! Obviously we know that identical twins develops from one zygote that splits into two embryos, while fraternal twins develop from two different zygotes. In a purely scientific sense, fraternal twins are closer to 'two entities in a shared space' rather than 'one entity that splits into two' while they're developing in the mother's womb. Identical twins might be considered one entity in this respect, but fraternal twins are not.
However, it's highly unlikely that jujutsu sorcerers were aware of this in ancient times. Moreover, from the jujutsu perspective -it's not so much the mechanics of one or two entities that concerns them, so much as it is the fact that twins share the mother's womb, and are therefore 'competing for space and resources.' What would've nourished one child is now split between two, negatively affecting the future development and potential of both children -or so many of them believe.
With the known information regarding cursed twins in general, the Gojo Clan isn't willing to take the risk, not when it concerns their precious Six Eyes and Limitless. It's also another part of the reason why Shiki's death was hurried along and swiftly covered up -if it was made known that a fraternal twin was killed simply on the basis of suspicions, there would be others who disagree with it. Better to just take action and smooth things over, than run the risk.
As cursed twins, I thought it would be fun if Satoru's power really did depend on whether or not Shiki was around, which is the setting we've been running along with... although if Shiki's existence didn't impact Satoru's strength at all, maybe that would provide an entirely different layer of angst haha.
In regards to your second question! Gojo Hina was never 'formally' trained, so 'ritual' would not be the first conclusion that they jump to. A single cut across the throat can be overlooked -although if it was something like, a cut across the throat and four additional cuts over her wrists and ankles, then we'd be looking at a different story.
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ok Exordia review time (not spoiler free!) since i finished it a few days ago. this is long and rambling and unedited.
4/5 i love Seth's writing and im glad they got to play with scifi again BUT i think they needed a better editor OR to split it more cleanly into sections- in one of the interviews they said it was originally a series of novellas each from a single POV, and i think the constraint of that would have made it a much tighter story.
one of the best things about their Destiny lore is how much they do with so little- thinking of this section from the Beyond Light CE:
Disaster at the worksite. Clearly we will not be moving Clarity Control like we did the K1 artifact. It reacted violently to the attempt. I have entered 19 casualties into the log, since 19 engineers from the Hannu team were caught in its reaction...though there were many more than 19 bodies when it was finished.
I have sequestered the recordings. Especially the sensorium telemetry. Quite upsetting.
Yet I do not believe it was an act of hostility. Even this outburst carried themes of duplication...as if Clarity Control wanted to show it could help me.
which i was originally thinking of as a first run at Blackbird, but i think these may have been simultaneous? i'm not actually sure. i know Exordia was started after the first Baru book was published, but i'm not sure how much lead time there is for the CEs.
or the clarity of Unveiling compared to a lot of what felt like similar ideas that took much longer to get thru in Exordia. primes. pink noise. math. alright lets fucking gooo oh wait. five more pages of ethics first. okay sure i'll do that for ya Seth bc i love your prose. which also. a) conway game of life mentioned!!! b) this part from Exordia made me LOSE MY MIND:
But that was impossible. The whole universe came from the same source: the same designers.
I was part of one of them. If I could only remember...
We were arguing, I think. Or maybe we were the argument, because gods cannot do things, they can only be them. We were in contest over the morality of infinities: the cardinality of all possible souls measured against the mere infinity of souls to ever be born...
(this is the part from Unveiling, for the optimistically two people who will read this who haven't read Destiny lore):
Once upon a time,* a gardener and a winnower lived** together in a garden.***
* It was once before a time, because time had not yet begun.
** We did not live. We existed as principles of ontological dynamics that emerged from mathematical structures, as bodiless and inevitable as the primes.
*** It was the field of possibility that prefigured existence.
They existed, because they had to exist. They had no antecedent and no constituents, and there is no instrument of causality by which they could be portioned into components and assigned to some schematic of their origin. If you followed the umbilical of history in search of some ultimate atavistic embryo that became them, you would end your journey marooned here in this garden.
at the same time, idk what i would remove- at very few points was i reading something that dragged, with the exception of spending a LOT of time with Erik and Clayton in the middle (this is when i put the book down for a month and a half or so). and i know so many people were like sickos.jpg about them However their dynamic did sooo little for me and i don't think Rosamaria was given enough time on the page (and i think having her Be the ship was weird- i recognize that Blackbird needs to have a voice to make the plot go, but i don't think this was the best or neatest way to do it, and collapsed a lot of what i found fundamentally so interesting about Blackbird into something akin to a standard scifi Ship AI).
again i think the restriction of each section of the story being from a single POV might have been the restriction needed to end up with a tighter story- at no point were the multiple plot threads & POVs confusing, per say, but i'm not sure what the structure did for the story bc we could switch to whoever could tell us the most about what was happening whenever convenient, instead of having to piece things together from a limited POV. i'm thinking again of the BLCE, this time the part where Clovis is talking about Maya Sundaresh behaving erratically- i'm no Ishtar group expert but i believe we are supposed to put together that these are all different iterations of her from within the garden). oh- i also wonder if Aixue and Chaya are another run at Maya and Chioma to some degree...
anyway. i also think i am also less the target audience for this book because seth loooves their trolley problems and i simply do not have the patience for it! i loved the hard scifi and the first contact aspects and the character work (Seth's character work is, as always, spectacular. their characters always feel deeply real and flawed in very human ways, while still being exaggerated in the ways characters have to be to function as plot fulcrums), but this isnt something like Baru where i can be like yes you should read this to everyone i talk to.
I think the language in the book is DELIGHTFUL, as always, especially how Seth plays with the idea of an alien translator that sometimes can get an English equivalent to something and sometimes can't! i think that's very fun. because it's on my mind bc ive been listening to the Shelved by Genre episodes on it, it makes me think of Book of the New Sun, and how the "translator" figure of G.W. talks about picking words that are close but they aren't being used like we would use them now- e.g. "metal" in BotNS isnt the same thing we think of as metal! its used more broadly! but its close enough in purpose and point to work just fine. the destriers have horns. i need to know if Seth has read these books.
but back to Exordia. here are some specific prose parts i fucking loved.
this part of the full-page loving, detailed, and technical description of 40 alien nukes detonating in atmosphere:
In the band of thickening atmosphere twenty-five to thirty-five kilometers above the Earth, these gamma rays slam into atoms of oxygen and nitrogen, stripping their orbiting electrons. The orphaned electrons hurtle away at 90 percent of lightspeed. They want to go in a straight line, but hold on now, it's not so easy to leave home. Earth's magnetic field bends their course. They begin to spiral down.
When an electron moving near lightspeed has to turn, it emits synchrotron radiation. Poison light.
And beneath each bomb there are 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 electrons swerving at once.
The result is a blast of electromagnetic noise. No: not noise. A coherent pulse, spiking and faling in harmony. Shiva's own beat drop on electrical civilization.
An EMP.
This part. i love Anna and wish we got more of her.
He gives her back her Glock. She accepts it with resignation. "You'd better get your men ready," she says. "It's going to be bad."
"Women too," he says, trying for lightness. "The pilot's a woman. We've got a female forward surgeon, a psyops lead, a linguist- she's pretty badass, ran with SEALs in Afghanistan. And Lt. Gainer, she might have some advice for-"
"For what?" Anna says calmly. "Advice for what, Erik? How to get killed in a feminine way?"
Seth has such a good and specific way of writing metaphors. a little bit Douglas Adams:
The upshot is: the air around the engine exhaust beam explodes outward with a sound like a tuning fork hit by a Space Shuttle launch. Lung-jellying power. Anything in the beam path suffers the short, severe influence of a needle faster and hotter than a vajra thunderbolt. Anything around the beam eats fireball.
& this part. again. i wish more of the book was Anna and Ssrin's fucked up kismessitude. or whatever.
She slides the barrel of the weapon into the uppermost crater on Ssrin's spine. Slick pain makes Ssrin hiss in psuvoluntary fury: psuvoluntary because it is reflex subject to veto- she could quash it, but the feeling is deliciously wrong, and it is so good to bare her fangs and to unleash that ancient khai instinct of pain-as-motivation.
"Questionsss," Ssrin gasps.
"I want to know how this story ends."
Oh serendura. You'll wish you hadn't asked. You'll wish you'd gone in with your eyes shut and your tongue in your throat so you couldn't smell the poison til it was too late.
which also!!! that's something i love about the Ssrin POV like. Seth is always good at writing aliens and slipping in details that tell us about them. "tongue in your throat" to not smell the poison bc she is a snake alien and smells with her tongue!!! that rules!!!
#bookposting#exordia#this is sooo long sorry#before i reread this i am going to reread blindsight. bc i think a lot of it in in here.#also i cant believe i hadnt even finished exordia when i was writing the gunplay fic. that passage was sitting there waiting for me.#anyway.
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I've always wondered, why is it possible to revive a cranidos from a skull fossil but impossible to revive a cubune's mother's skull? Is there something special about the fossilization process? Thanks!
very good question!
while we call it revival, the process of bringing an extinct pokemon back to life is actually a process of cloning. we're only currently able to revive a few select species of fossil pokemon, because there's been a lot of hard work put in to piece together a complete genome for the species, from what tiny amounts are able to be gleaned from fossils, and much borrowed from extant (non-extinct) modern relatives and reconstructed into an entire genome.
when you bring in a fossil for revival, it's taken back and parts of it are actually dissolved away. what's left are tiny preserved cells, in which one can find fragmented strands of genetic material. this material is taken, sequenced, and where appropriate, added to the known genome for that particular pokemon. every fossil you bring in could provide a new part of the genome, making every subsequent reconstruction more accurate to the original animal. repeated sections of dna are also useful for creating genetic diversity within the revived pokemon, so they aren't all just genetically identical to one another, making modern-day breeding projects more safe from the pitfalls of inbreeding.
the reconstructed genome of the pokemon in question is then used to create an embryo, which is artificially incubated and rapidly grown to an age suitable to join a trainer's team. this entire process, from extracting dna to growing the pokemon, has been so streamlined that it only takes a few weeks to months to get your pokemon after you bring a fossil in.
this genetic modification is actually why all* the fossil pokemon you're able to train are rock type. rock types are hardy, and much of their body is often made of rock rather than anything organic. the process by which the "test tube baby" pokemon is grown would lead to weak, brittle bones/exoskeletons and other significant structural problems due to the extremely quick growth without the rock typing. so, the varieties produced for trainers have been modified with genes from related living rock types (ie. rhyhorn and aron lines for fossil dinosaurs, klawf for fossil arthropods, and so on) to allow them to sustain that. "pure"-typed fossil pokemon do exist, but are created via traditional cloning methods. this takes much more time and effort to create with a much higher rate of failure, and are therefore relegated only to academics studying those pokemon.
(*oh, and, uh. dr. cara liss, the scientist responsible for the reproducible genomes of the galarian fossil pokemon, has.. unique methods of combining genomes of pokemon she claims are the same species that lead to the bizarre mishmashes that are dracozolt, arctovish, and the rest. while she's obviously an incredibly skilled geneticist (note how the galarian fossils are not rock type like mentioned before but can still grow and live just fine, even despite being what they are), basically nobody agrees that these pokemon were ever real. their component parts, though, were, and have been restored in full in some labs around the world.)
so, to get back to your actual question: theoretically, you could take the marowak skull a cubone wears, and grow a pokemon from its dna. however, it would just be a new individual cubone, with the same genome of the marowak. it would not be the same individual deceased marowak, without any memories or anything like that.
[ooc notes below cut]
felt the need to put a few notes on this one since it differs a lot from the real world without much disclaimer- i like to imagine that the pokemon world is just a better timeline where dna is hardier and lasts much longer.
in real life, dna is incredibly fragile. it usually degrades in even very, very well-preseved remains on the order of hundreds or thousands of years, far from the dozens-hundreds of millions needed to sequence the genomes of animals like pachycephalosaurs (cranidos) (66mya) or anomalocaris (anorith) (500mya). there is some real old dna out there, though- i found out in researching this ask that environmental dna from about 2 million years ago was just published on a couple days ago, giving a snapshot into an entire ecosystem. that's unbearably cool.
however, in real life, we HAVE recovered actual soft-tissue preserved cells from even more ancient remains. that's what i based that dna extraction process on- people have dissolved away the mineral content of dinosaur bones to reveal actual osteocytes (bone cells).
oh, also the test-tube grow-fast baby thing isn't real either. irl clones are implanted into an enucleated egg of a surrogate mother the same species and born like any other baby. this is the "traditional" cloning methods mentioned earlier in the post.
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Hey there in reference to Wraith Lore and the Stargate Atlantis Legacy series I copied this from one of the author's LiveJournals ages ago pls don't ask for a link I have no idea about the Wraith and figure Id put it here instead of it laying about in notes. Enjoy!
Long ago, in the first days of the world, there were the First Mothers. Osprey was one of them, nine in all. Nine queens and ninety-nine men, blades and clevermen alike, for that is how people were made. That is how we were born in the ice of the first world, beneath the light of the moon. To each queen were given certain gifts, no two alike, for no two lineages are the same. We all count our names from them, from the First Mothers, and each tells its own story. […] She is queen of mists and shadows, strong in mind, weaving illusions to hide and deceive. She is a white flower, a white bird, a fog rising among the trees. She is the shadow of clouds trailing across the moon.
Q: "How is it determined whether a Wraith child grows up to be a blade or a cleverman? Is it through education and socialisation or is there a genetic component and the children are educated according to their talents?"A: It's based on their inclination and talents. An infant boy may grow up to be either blade or cleverman. It's an educational caste, not genetic. Except of course in the way that intelligence and temperament are genetic! Of course queen's inclinations are different too. In Secrets we'll meet a queen who, as she says, has the mind and interests of a cleverman, who would have chosen to study the Subcorporia if it did not interfere with her duties, sort of a Wraith Sam Carter! (A comparison Teyla does make!)
Q: "If it had something to do with genetics that would raise another question. If the Queen never mates with clevermen that would eventually result in the extinction of this caste and only the fierce and brave blades would survive. In that case, does the Queen have a means of control over her unborn children? Can she influence what disposition her children get?"A: Queens do mate with clevermen if they wish, though it's less common. It's extremely rare for a cleverman to become Consort however, as one of the Consort's duties is to physically protect the queen.
Q: "I'm asking this because in 'Homecoming' on page 34 there's a sentence that caught my attention for its interesting choice of words: 'She had honored him with a son, and then, as his utility had grown, with a daughter, …' If I'm reading this correctly it implies that Snow had indeed control of the gender of her children. I'm just thinking out loud now: we know female Wraith are very rare and no one knows why.”A: Without being too spoilery -- nine out of ten female embryos are inviable. The chances of a Wraith queen naturally conceiving and bearing a healthy daughter are very small. To that end most daughters are conceived by in vitro fertilization. Eggs and sperm are combined in the laboratory and the zygotes are allowed to begin their first divisions. They can then be tested and examined, and if the queen is trying to conceive a daughter, then only a healthy and viable embryo is implanted, while the nine out of ten that weren't viable are discarded. Otherwise a queen might miscarry nine times to bear a single daughter, a tremendous toll both physically and emotionally. The male embryos are more stable, and some sons are conceived naturally, while other queens opt for all their pregnancies to be in vitro, as the male embryos are still inviable at a much greater rate than for humans. Also, it allows queens who have a settled Consort and who do not wish to take a lover to vary the genetic material of their children. A particularly brilliant cleverman or a blade of a certain lineage may be selected to pass on their genes. Certainly it's incredibly unusual for more than two of a queen's children to have the same genetic father. It's far too important to manage the fragile gene pool.
Q. Do blades and clevermen get to interact much when off-duty?A. It depends on the individuals and the hive. Some do, some don't. Whether there are clevermen among the favorites of the zenana depends on the queen. It's up to her to admit whomever she wants. In The Lost, we see Dust and Quicksilver, who are both clevermen, in the zenana among the blades. And Michael (Lastlight) was high in his queen's confidence. But some hives don't value clevermen as much. The problem with that, of course, is that males can move from one hive to another, and a queen who treats clevermen badly will find it hard to keep competent engineers, healers, etc!
Q. Why are the clevermen beyond taking binding oaths? Does their independent thought preclude them from it?A. They aren't supposed to take part in combat, and so cannot be oathsworn to defend. Now, in real life there are clevermen who fight, as we saw with Michael! In The Lost we'll also see that Dust is armed, though he is emphatically not supposed to be! (And of course there are blades who do know something about the sciences, like Guide. Again, Guide and Sheppard. John's not a scientist, but he's no dummy either!)
Q. Cleverman Ember was singled out to be tested by Queen Death. Do Queens have a sense of an independent thought alarm, wary of Wraith who will not be so quick to fall in line with their rule, like Todd mentioned in The Queen?
A. Death could tell that Ember wasn't sold, and so she chose to make an example of him.
So why is Guide not sold either? Teyla asks him this later on. He's very old and very much in control of his passions, and as he puts it, "the memory of Snow is a shield." He has had the things that most blades only dream of, and that memory is not easily supplanted by momentary allure.
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Ladies, always keep stickers on you
China’s Surrogacy Debate Extends to Women’s Toilets
From universities to hospital toilets, women are finding themselves surrounded by small ads recruiting surrogacy candidates as well as customers. They, and some companies, are hitting back.
By Yang Caini
May 15, 20233-min read #gender#surrogacy
Women in China are covering up surrogacy ads in toilets with stickers and lipstick as they try to discourage other women from becoming surrogates or take up their services.
In late April, a video of an anonymous woman covering up a surrogacy ad with stickers in a women’s bathroom in a hospital in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region went viral online.
Her actions were widely praised, with netizens sharing similar experiences about covering up surrogacy ads they encounter: “I erased these sorts of ads in the toilet of a movie theater.” “I’ve seen ads like this in dorms and school bathrooms.” “They can be found in all three toilets in a Changsha shopping mall.”
These ads look to recruit surrogates as well as customers. They are usually made up of very few words, with a price and a contact number provided. Many also guarantee a son, the favored sex in China.
Five university students from five different cities told Sixth Tone that they’ve seen the ads “countless times” in toilets. Zhao Yifei, a master’s degree student at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, said that these ads can be found in almost every toilet on campus. She sometimes feels conflicted when scratching them out with her keys.
“On the one hand, I think (surrogacy) can help those families who cannot conceive because of physical reasons. On the other hand … the most likely result is that the rich use surrogacy in large numbers and exploit the poor,” said Zhao.
Commercial surrogacy is banned in China, together with all sales of gametes, fertilized eggs, and embryos. The prohibition has led to the emergence of black markets and cross-bordersurrogacy services that target infertile and same-sex couples.
Surrogate mothers in China can receive up to 280,000 yuan ($40,282) for their services, while customers reportedly pay up to 1.1 million yuan for a surrogate baby with a chosen sex.
The question of whether to legalize surrogacy in China is a heated debate. In 2017, state-run media People’s Daily published an article that discussed legalizing surrogacy to ease the country’s falling birth rate and help infertile senior couples. Opponents, however, decry the practice for exploiting vulnerable women.
Li, who insisted on only using her surname, has kept a marker pen and anti-surrogacy stickers in her handbag since 2019, when she first erased a surrogacy ad in a shopping mall toilet with her lipstick in her hometown of Zhengzhou, the capital city of the central province of Henan.
“I’m embarrassed to say it, but I was thinking about whether the lipstick can still be used afterwards. But this was only for a few seconds — after all, this matter is much more important than lipstick,” Li, 26, told Sixth Tone.
Afterwards, Li purchased anti-surrogacy stickers in case she ran into the ads again. Some of these stickers mention that they are 30 centimeters long, the same length as a needle used for retrieving a woman’s egg. She hopes this scares women thinking about surrogacy by showing what it will mean in practice.
Some women’s products manufacturers, including sellers of pads and skincare products, are supporting these anti-surrogacy efforts by gifting customers free anti-surrogacy stickers with their purchases.
SISCOM, an online vendor with over 40,000 followers on e-commerce platform Taobao selling feminist merchandise, began giving customers free anti-surrogacy stickers in 2021. “Surrogacy exploits women. It’s banned in China. You will be punished for it,” the stickers read, with a reporting hotline included.
Qiqi, co-owner of SISCOM, told Sixth Tone that she has seen many of these ads herself.
“Sometimes I can’t help but feel that the people who make these ads are so smart … The toilet compartments are so private that you can hardly catch them and ban them,” she said.
Women’s public toilets have been in the news before. In 2020, advocates launched a campaign to install pad-sharing boxes in women’s toilets, which swept across the country.
Editor: Vincent Chow.
#China#anti surrogacy sunday#Anti exploiting women#Babies are not commodities#Stickering#Couples are willing to pay more for a boy#Retrieving eggs uses a needle 30 centimeters long#Surrogacy exploits women. It’s banned in China. You will be punished for it
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Dp x DC Crossover Concept I think is fun but will never have time to properly write
Several years ago the scientist of the GIW were investigating the miraculous resurrection of Vlad Masters by ectoplasm. Their team managed to isolate the cause to a randomly mutated gene that he possessed which they dubbed “the ReGen Gene”. A project known as Project Phoenix managed to splice this gene into what was eventually just two viable human embryos made primarily of genetic material provided by the project’s Lead Scientist Sheila Haywood and one of her male friends. The specimens were implanted into the friend’s wife who had volunteered thinking it was part of a research project to cure something or other.
One of the junior scientists on the team [the future Dr. Maddie Fenton, in fact, although that was not her original name] had a crisis of conscience about the work and decided to tell the woman carrying the babies the real nature of the experiment. When the woman learned that the plan was to intentionally kill the babies to see if they could be brought back to life, she decided to go into hiding. With Maddie’s assistance, she convinced her husband to flee with her to Gotham City to protect the babies.
When the children were born, they decided that keeping the twins together would make them easier to find. The couple, under the assumed names of Willis and Catherine Todd, kept the older one and named him Jason. Maddie took the other, and moved her small family with new identities to a random town in Illinois, where she determined to raised Danny alongside her own young daughter as her son.
Things mostly happen the same as the original canons; Maddie and Jack continue their work in ectology and eventually this leads to 14 year old Danny unknowingly proving the experiment a success, replicating Vlad’s resurrection and acquisition of powers. Danny still keeps this from his parents so Maddie has no idea. Vlad’s obsession with Danny is fueled by the fact that he figures out Danny is one of the Project Phoenix subjects and is convinced that because Danny shares that *one* gene copied from his own DNA, he should be considered Danny’s true father. (If he found Jason he’d also try to steal Jason as his son)
Jason’s life follows the same pattern, except for the fact that Sheila Haywood (who was fired from the project for losing the specimens and went rogue trying to get them back) had been actively searching for signs of him, only to locate him after he’d been adopted by Bruce Wayne and was too well protected to simply be snatched away (she’s tried hiring kidnappers a couple of times, and every single time, either Batman or Nightwing or fucking Superman had been on their assess before they’d even made it out of Gotham. The woman just does not possess the resources to fend off the entire Justice League when they’re determined to protect the son of a billionaire socialite for some strange reason). Sheila does plant the other birth certificate in the hopes of him eventually deciding to come to her before resuming her still fruitless search for the other twin.
Unfortunately for Sheila Haywood, when her plan finally works and Jason seeks her out, he brings along the Joker and the Batman for the ride. Sheila tries to make this still work in her favor by making a deal with the Joker and arranging for Jason’s death so that she can then bring him back to life and finally prove her experiment a success, but that backfires and she is killed too. Jason’s corpse is taken away by Batman to be buried in Gotham.
Now, there’s not a lot of ambient ectoplasm in Gotham’s atmosphere. However the Lazurus Pit buried under the city has contaminated the soil with low levels of ectoplasm through leeching over the years. After some time, this is enough to revive Jason, but not enough for him to manifest powers or completely heal the brain damage he suffered at death before he crawls out of the grave. Talia shows up to whisk him away.
Not exactly clear on all the details, but Danny is eventually captured by the GiW and placed in containment to be studied as their successful experiment (the Fenton parents might be killed in the struggle to capture him maybe?). They also finally manage to locate Jason, and when they learn he’s already dead they send some people to retrieve his corpse to see if he can be reanimated too.
There is, of course, no corpse to be obtained, and they have to regroup and communicate with their bosses to decide what to do. Their activity drew the attention of Robin, who sets up surveillance of the grave site. That means when a couple of the GiW goons come back to test the soil for ectoplasm, Batman and Robin get a front row seat to their conversation regarding Project Phoenix, the fact that they’ve concluded Jason has been resurrected, and the fact that Jason’s long lost twin brother is currently being held prisoner in a high security facility and making himself a nuisance for his guards (one of the goons has spent time on Danny guard duty and has much to say about it).
Batman and Robin go rescue Danny!
Jazz and Dani were *also* trying to find and rescue Danny, using a magical tracker from the ghost zone that relied on using Dani’s blood to lead them to the one who shared her blood. Unfortunately for Dani and Jazz, the GiW facility is shielded against this type of ghost tracking. Unfortunately for Talia, who has just finished giving Jason his Lazarus Pit Bath (and unwittingly suppling the rest of the ectoplasm needed to properly give him his ghost powers), the League of Assassins is *not*
Basically, the two parties rescue the twin that’s not their own and then have to work to find and reunite with the other group without knowing the others are also actively on the move and searching, so they keep missing each other. Danny is freaking out because not only does he have a twin brother who also died and came back, the twin was apparently adopted by Batman, but Batman is helping him hide from the GiW so that’s cool. Jason is trying to learn as much as he can about his new powers from Dani while also protecting his two new sisters who keep trying to protect *him* instead even though he has actual vigilante training, except he can’t tell them that, and the League of Assassins AND the GiW are both after him and all he wants is to get back to his dad and the help them find this twin brother of his he just heard about. (It is important to note that the Jason, Dani, and Jazz party are all simultaneously convinced they are the most competent member of their contingent-Jason due to his training and history of survival, Dani due to her relative mastery of ghost powers and history of survival, and Jazz due to her age and perceived maturity—and are privately trying to take on the full responsibility of protecting the other two)
#dp x dc#dp/dc crossover#au idea#this keeps rattling around in my brain so I’m trying to get it out by putting it down here#i simply Do Not Have Time to write this one and never will#because I also have a plethora of material I want to write for the extended BGU [Bat Ghost Universe]#as well as a bunch of non crossover DC long fics#like my own take on the Jason never dies but Tim joins the family trope Excpet Tim also finds young Duke to bring with him#and a Tim can see Ghosts but not DP style ghosts au#and the fusion of DC with the All Souls trilogy because Vampire clan Batfam and Brightborn Damian.#and the Stephanie brown Green Lantern au that I didn’t know I needed until yesterday but now desperately want to do something for#and let’s not forget all the one shot ideas. yeah. I’ve got a lot of ideas and unfortunately this one is not just going to get written by me#so if anyone else is inspired to take any of this and run 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️#LmK if you post????
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So many interesting titles!!
Can you tell me something about Swapped Powers or Girls Night please?😊
Thank you!!! I'll tell you about both, because why not? XD
Snippets will be under the cut.
Swapped Powers
The premise of this is that Helen and John gained each other's powers from the Source Blood. (My imagination was not large enough to think that maybe all of the Five 'swapped' powers) So, Helen is the one that was effected by the parasite and became the Ripper. It follows John and Helen through the years, John building the Sanctuary Network from Helen's vision and raising Ashley.
Girls' Night
A fluff piece post-canon, in which Helen, Ashley, Abby, Kate, and Erika take a night on the surface just to hang out and bond. Lots of feels from Helen's point of view, because they're all close and she's never had that with so many other women at the same time. (Minor Teslen, but I don't plan on Nikola actually being in the fic).
___
Snippets:
Swapped Powers
(Slapping this on as a warning, because this is directly before forceful removal of Ashley's embryo)
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The house was a Sanctuary, but it was not a safe place tonight. It was a dwelling place of madness. Regret. Sorrow. Grief. Determination.
John struggled to hold on to Helen as she fought tooth and nail against him and Nikola, the two that had been tasked with holding on to her. He was taller and stronger and Nikola was a vampire, but a mad, desperate woman was matching them. They needed to make sure that she did not best them.
"No! Let go of me! Let go of me!" Helen cried, voice rising.
Her arm slipped out of John's grasp and she swung for Nikola. He barely managed to catch her again.
"You need to keep her still." James instructed.
John looked at his best friend, thinking it was rather obvious, but no mood to fight. Nikola grunted and they managed to force Helen to her knees. John was fighting not to look at her and saw James falter.
Gregory took the lead. There was grief in the man's eyes as he approached his daughter, rag in hand. John met his gaze, his emotions mirrored in the other man's gaze.
"Father." Helen begged, looking at Gregory with wide, distressed eyes. "Do not let them do this. Please. It is not theirs to do."
"I am sorry, sweetheart."
The man cradled his daughter's head in one hand and firmly pressed the rag with the specialized mixture over her mouth and nose. Helen fought it even then, but the fight started to go out of her.
Her body sagged and John was able to hold her easily for the first time since they had administered the first drug.
Gregory removed the rag and stared down at his daughter.
"I'll need your help, James."
"I am staying with her." John said stubbornly.
Now that Helen was unconscious, he was able to lift her into his arms. Nikola released her and allowed him to do so.
"No." Gregory said.
John clenched his jaw, staring him down. Helen's head was nestled against his chest, like it had been on so many different occasions. He wanted to hang on to her. Change his mind about what they were going to do. But it was something that they had to do, no matter what. It was too late for them to turn back now.
Helen herself had made certain of that.
"Son." Gregory said, voice softening.
John looked at Gregory then, because the other man had never addressed him in such a tone before and it was jarring compared to the violence of what had just happened.
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Girls' Night
In all her years, Helen had never had so many women on her personal Sanctuary team. Currently, not counting Helen herself, there were four. She rounded it out at five. With five women and three engagements among them, Kate had declared that they needed to celebrate.
So here they were, sitting in a booth in a rather rowdy London pub, drinking together. Helen had been reluctant to join in. It didn't seem like she belonged in the group. They were all younger than she was, all within a decade of each other. But they had insisted, so she had relented, because, honestly, it was nice to spend time with them.
Helen sat on one end, sipping a glass of red wine. Abby had a glass as well. Kate and Ashley, who had quickly bonded, both had beers. Erica was sipping a glass of cranberry juice.
Helen was glad to see that Erica was doing well, responding to the treatment to slow down the pregnancy to a level where she could handle it. A long pregnancy wasn't what any woman would have wanted in the best of circumstances, but Erica was handling it well. She was healthy and smiling and finally starting to show.
Helen knew that she had a special interest in the pregnancy, because Henry was her son, and the child was her grandchild.
The thought warmed Helen from the inside out, more so than any alcohol she could have chosen to consume this evening.
#fun fact i typed the first one out before i realized i could paste#truedairship#thanks for the ask!#my writing#wips#helen magnus#john druitt
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I'm not nearly eloquent enough to write a coherent essay about this but the parallels between HAL and dave are fascinating. So here's so rambling about space odyssey
Like. On the one hand you have HAL who knows exactly how important their mission actually is and he is literally testing dave by asking him if he has doubts about the mission. Dave on the other hand fears HAL might geopardize their mission and their crew's safety so he is making the decision to shut HAL down for their own survival so in return HAL decides to kill the crew to guarantee his own survival and the success of the mission. Sacrificing others to survive again comes into play when dave lets go of frank to enter the airlock. What's also interesting is that both of them convert back to an infantile state in the end with dave repeating the song he was taught in the early stages of his programming and dave literally reverting back to an embryo.
Control and how the characters, especially HAL, try to keep it is also very interesting. HAL uses the extent to how human he is perceived to be as a means to gain control. From the very beginning the audience is made to believe how human HAL really is. He is referred to by an anagram that's like a human name, he is literally called another member of the crew, but he is always watching, having total control over all the ship's functions. However, this also makes him suspicious in the eyes of the humans because the same can be said for frank and dave. When we are shown HAL looking at them through his cameras they are almost always looking back at him, putting an enormous pressure on him to perform well, to always be perfect or they might shut him down. So the moment HAL makes a mistake and he chalks it up to "human error" all parties believe it really was his mistake, even an error like this should be impossible for a machine to make. It was a human mistake by a machine that imitates humans to such a degree that mistakes seem plausible and that's what makes dave and frank so scared of how a creature like this might react to having its functions shut down and when it is eventually time to do so HAL once again appeals to dave's perception of him as a person by getting more and more emotional and trying to appeal to his conscience and it's still left beautifully ambiguous whether HAL's actions were out of pure fear and survival instinct or because he was programmed to execute the mission at all costs and simply could not afford any more "human errors"
#2001 a space odyssey#yeah i'm putting this in the tag so space odyseey tumblr can correct me#resi.txt
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