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#extraterrestrial luck
itswilliamleonard · 2 years
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sometimes in spaceflight you gotta lay down the laws of General Relativity...
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noraqrosa · 6 months
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one day people are going to realize that we've already gotten to the point where we have sentient artifical life, and they're going to realize there's more of each other and start talking about how humans treat them & talk about them. make no mistake, once this happens, we're going to have a major civil rights battle in which they strive to have the same treatment as any human under the eyes of the law.
we have a very human-centric society, one that assumes humans are the only sentient creatures in the universe. we create artifical life and literally talk about them like they're slaves. we assume that we as a planet are alone and that no one from the outside will ever arrive here, and thus make media promoting the most literal forms of xenophobia. and most humans seem to see no issue with this.
believe me when i say this: we need to not only modify our understanding of (and the way we talk about) artifical intelligence and machine life, but also to modify what our understanding of life is, of what "intelligence" and sentience are, of everything involved in these discussions. humanity is already arrogant to the point of treating other humans who don't fit their own standards as subhuman; the way humanity as a collective currently treats artificial life & AI (and pets even, for that matter, but that's a different yet related discussion) predicts how they will treat other humans who find themselves the target of bigotry, and vice versa (usually).
please understand that when we finally are forced to deal with this issue, everyone will have to adapt. y'all are already lucky that queer people haven't mass-organized to physically fight cishet society. imagine how you'll fare when your opposition was literally constructed to be stronger and more durable than any human.
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uapro · 1 year
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Bag ‘O Aliens
20 glow-in-the-dark miniature aliens
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see-arcane · 2 years
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OJ and JJ: Why Jean Jacket Let the Haywoods—Especially OJ—Get Away with More Than Anyone Else in “Nope”
I’ve seen Nope twice now. While everyone I saw it with enjoyed it, I heard a few cries of foul when it came to OJ and the others’ improbable good luck with all their near misses interacting with our favorite terrifying gulch-haunting UFO. I call foul back and say plot armor had nothing to do with it. Some luck, yeah, otherwise we’d have no protagonists. But that was hardly all.
Spoilers for Nope below
To be clear, I am absolutely not painting this as the same delusional ‘friendship’ Jupe assumed he had with Jean Jacket. Neither he, nor OJ, nor anyone else is a miraculously endowed animal/alien tamer with an automatic ~*~special bond~*~. It’s one of many points Nope goes out of its way to illustrate. You can only train (or disrespect) an animal so far before they lash out, especially predators, and especially island-sized UFOs with the munchies. But, insomuch as there is any ‘safe’ way to coexist in close proximity with something like Jean Jacket, OJ Haywood is shown to have pulled it off with flying colors. And he did so almost entirely unaware to begin with by dint of his character traits.
That and a combination of Jean Jacket’s own instincts are what likely put him and the people around him in the tiiiny pocket of special allowance JJ deigned to give them over the course of the movie.
Let’s roll back to the first scene with the Haywood Ranch and the death of Otis Sr. A death by falling nickel that happened six months before the present-day events of the film. Just before this, father and son were curious about the screaming in the clouds—a fresh snack of hikers about to be squelched—followed by the rain of inedible bits. We can assume this was Jean Jacket’s first time flying in the gulch, and he chose the Haywood Ranch as The Spot for Purging; just like the hills next to the ranch were chosen for his ‘nest’/hiding place/resting spot.
While Jupe was methodically feeding JJ fresh horses and imagining the big guy trusted him, Jean Jacket kept going home to his actual favorite spot right next to OJ and his horses—a man and his big juicy animals out training in broad daylight, day after day, without ever pestering them. No missing horses. No missing OJ. Despite JJ clearly having opportunity and a taste for both species by that point. Why?
The obvious answer is that OJ kept his head down. Literally. Eyes always on his work, under the shade of his hat bill, maybe glancing at the clouds now and then…but always too far away to agitate. For all that time, he was unconsciously respecting Jean Jacket’s rules. Plus, he was in JJ’s purging/nesting territory first; yes, Jean Jacket was calling dibs on the whole gulch, but if the locals already there aren’t bothering him, fine, sure, they can stay.
The place’s importance to Jean Jacket, OJ’s head-down habits, and the amount of time spent coexisting with each other sans trouble all combined to put OJ and the alien into as close to a neighborly setup as could ever be expected. Don’t fuck with me, I don’t fuck with you.
Then things start picking up. Too much activity, too many new skyward glances from OJ, too many hackles raised with the Star Lasso Experience. And yeah, JJ did almost vacuum OJ up—he infringed on their ‘arrangement’ and looked! The nerve! And after JJ let him get away with hiding under a roof the night he stared up at the dust devil that took the fake horse! How ungrateful!
…A move that, in hindsight, plays almost like a Strike 1 offense, paid back by slurping up the actual horse. OJ’s staring at the Star Lasso arena was likely Strike 2. After snapping at OJ and causing the accidental knockout against the ceiling, JJ flies off without him or Lucky.
Off JJ flies to the Haywood Ranch again, full of screaming people and detritus and huffy extraterrestrial chest-pounding. And what does JJ do? He drops a big bloody purge waterfall directly onto the Haywoods’ house—OJ’s territory-within-JJ’s territory—like the giant alien version of an animal hiking its leg and marking all over a lower-tier animal’s spot.
This is a warning. This is my place. I rule here.
Then, as if holding onto the statue for last (hell, that may have been the real Strike 1), he moves his big flying Roomba self over to OJ’s truck—which I’d bet JJ definitely recognizes after six months—and just hovers. Hovers. Hovers.
Making sure OJ is paying attention. Then he hacks the statue out like a bad loogie right into the windshield. Assuming it didn’t kill his ‘neighbor,’ it would be a fine lesson:
You are on thin ice. Do not cross me again.
Come morning, what do we find out? Not only is Jean Jacket smart enough to know the humans will react when he moves enough to let the electricity fizzle back on, he immediately moves back overhead to stare down at OJ. My guess? It was a test.
You know better, neighbor. What do you do when I am here? What very smart thing have you done in all our quiet time side by side?
And thank God, it does dawn on OJ in time. Do Not Look. No Eyes On JJ.
So he ducks his head. And, even though he caught a very obvious peripheral glimpse, Jean Jacket still lets that slide. Jean Jacket lets OJ, his sister, and Angel—probably his family/pack in JJ’s POV—scurry away in their silly rolling box. We can’t even say it was because Jean Jacket was still full; the big guy looks like he has whole miles of gut to chow down with.
No, he lets OJ and company off with a few warnings, because the arrangement renewed. And off he goes to settle in his cloud again.
Cut to the run.
I sincerely believe that if it had been any other person on the horse, any other person goading Jean Jacket along the run, they would not have lasted a minute. No, not even with their head down. We’ve seen by now just how fast JJ can move, how quick he can flip from zero to I-Will-Knock-You-Back-Like-a-Shrieking-Tic-Tac. And nobody can say they didn’t clench up when they, like OJ, realized Jean Jacket was hovering right behind him like the world’s most ominous frisbee. Ditto the part where JJ slurped up the TMZ jerk barely a yard away from him and Lucky.
Thiiis close to sucking him up. But no. The dust devil got Mr. TMZ with the precision of a straw.
Then we get to the run—OJ on horseback, JJ being JJ, going fast…but almost at his version of a canter. A brisk walking pace.
That much might be owed to the fact that, unlike all his other prey, the people/horses have gotten a good look at Jean Jacket, then turned to run. With OJ’s staring hoodie, he’s retreating while still looking at/challenging JJ. That’s new! That implies Jean Jacket’s neighbor has his hackles up even as he moves away!
So Jean Jacket gives a comparatively leisurely chase. Then, just when he gets fed up and goes for the vacuum maneuver—surprise! Flags everywhere! Jean Jacket freaks out as expected, twisting away rather than risk gulping up another bad meal. What the hell, OJ, why didn’t you warn JJ you were a statue this whole time?
And, finally, the climax.
OJ looks at Jean Jacket dead on, still sitting on the flag-strung Lucky. This is when Jean Jacket has completely unfolded into what looks like a full intimidation display. These tiny two-legged things have turned into a big flag-covered, barbed wired headache for Jean Jacket. Perhaps even a threat. It’s down to a fight for the territory in JJ’s perspective. Someone has to go. And OJ, the one he ‘knows’ best, the one that had respected and been respected by Jean Jacket most, like two sullen predators in the same cage mutually agreeing not to bother the other, is the one metaphorically baring his teeth first.
Even as he flexes all his freaky jellyfish anatomy, Jean Jacket hesitates.  
Does he think this is OJ warning him away? Or is he really instigating a fight to the finish? …Is there a chance OJ could win?
Even when, finally, OJ does begin drawing him along, away from Em’s bike, we never see JJ strike out with his appendages or make another dust devil. He’ll match OJ’s staring contest, he’ll creep closer, but he does not lash out.
It’s only when Em revs up and takes off for Jupiter’s Claim that Jean Jacket gambles on pursuing what he (mis)takes for the less worrisome Haywood. Simply because she looked at him and fled? Because JJ wants another warning to spit up for OJ later? No way to know.
All we see is that OJ, by a mix of hair-thin good fortune and animal training experience, managed to live with, counter, and psych out Jean Jacket enough to earn the man-eating megafauna’s tolerance and enough respect that it edged near worry.
tl;dr: No, OJ was not a magical horse/alien whisperer. But he did gain enough of Jean Jacket’s esteem to give him the best odds of survival, cohabitation and manipulation, simply by being himself, being respectful of the ‘rules’ once he knew them, and being cool as hell while everyone else fell apart or got slurped.
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alienpossession · 4 months
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Body a Day 10: Table
"The fuck? Hyunsoo, is that you?" Fan said while looking at his phone and the device tracker in his phone guided him to this massive guy lounging by the beach
"How the fuck do you know it's me?"
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"No fucker, the only question that should be answered is how the fuck you gained 100 pounds in a month? Where have you been? And how could you just ditch me working on the assignment on my own? You know I cannot rely on Josh and Brandon,"
Hyunsoo just chuckled for a while before eventually answered
"I asked you to go with me last month for dinner at that Korean BBQ. You said no,"
"Okay, and?? What's the correlation? You know I cannot eat too much meat,"
"That place is the one that get me this,"
"What do you mean?"
----
They head to Koreatown and when inside the taxi, Hyunsoo explained through text how the Korean BBQ place is actually using outer space material for its grilling table. Everything cooked over that specific grill not only tasted more delicious, it's highly nutritious and can boost its user metabolism and even impacted to one's body development. Fan is not necessarily trusting Hyunsoo's explanation, but it's not like he got any other alternative way to explain the anomaly.
When they stepped inside the place, it's so unassuming and empty from any other customer. The place is quite small as it can only hold like 8 person diner max. It's quite odd for a place in a bustling Koreatown to be so quiet, especially if it got some extraterrestrial table that can bless you with muscle gain beyond your wildest imagination. But once again, Fan tried to believe Hyunsoo and just sat down on the table while Hyunsoo ordered the meat.
"How on Earth you know about this place?"
"Luck, literally. The spot I aimed for was packed like crazy so I decided to wander around before hitting this spot. The quietness called me I guess,"
"So you don't even know about the grill until you eat here?"
"Until I woke up the next day and realized that my pecs blocked my view. That's when I freaked out and called the place frantically, and that's when the ahjussi explained everything,"
Fan tried to not look bewildered and just nodded along the way. The built ahjussi then delivered the orders and simply leave
"So.....just putting the meat here and let it sizzle?"
"Precisely,"
Fan put the seasoned meat and flipped it around a couple times while adding more to the grill, Hyunsoo explained in great details about the growth that hit him
"And afraid of being scrutinized or even subjected to weird tests, I simply dipped. Sorry for not texting you or anything though,"
"Hmmmm.....where's your chopstick? Aren't you hungry? You are not just going to drink, right?"
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"No no, please eat. The ahjussi said I can only eat here once, actually. He's afraid I'll swell up more,"
"Wait, all that is only from the first visit?"
"Yes, I haven't told you, huh? Well, hurry up, eat and see for yourself,"
----
Hyunsoo never planned to explain to Fan that it's been the plan all along to drag him down to the spot. It's not like the real Hyunsoo existed any longer, his body has simply been overtaken by the extraterrestrial being that latched itself to the grill after 24 hours post-consumption. The ahjussi himself is actually an exiled extraterrestial former general trying to build his own little empire in a faraway planet, in this case, Earth. After making 8 operatives that will protect him at all cost, equipped with super-human built and strength, the former general believed that it's time for them to expand more aggressively through "bait". Fan is the first out of this "bait", built to become not packed with dense, powerful muscle to protect the general, but those muscle were packed in him to lure human as a promiscuous, 24/7 irresistibly horny man where he will store those human DNA that spurted in him, which will be used as a base to create brand new superhuman that is even stronger than the eight operatives which still currently have certain humane limitation due to their base body being a real human that is converted. For trial, Hyunsoo fucked the shit out of the sleeping-yet-growing Fan, who will wake up in the morning as a brand new man
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heartfullofleeches · 11 months
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please elaborare on alien yan and them thembo cow reader
(Just a not so little dairy farmer and the extraterrestrial who's got the hots for them and not totally isn't trying to lure them onto their ship)
Fresh mountain air, wide open fields for you and your herd. It wasn't always easy, but this was certainly the life for you.
Early on, you did everything thing to conform to human society. Taken in by a family in a place where people like you were the norm life was pretty easy - say for strangers tugging your horns when you were too small to defend yourself and mooing at you on the street, but that problem took care of itself once you towered over your bullies later on with the strength to match.
The only challenge you faced afterwards was a thirst for a life that never was. Living in a bustling city, you never experienced the outdoor life yourself, but you grew up on the romanticized portrayals - and fell more in love with the real thing when you finally got a taste visiting a close friend's family farm. It was then and there you decided to pack up and move out to the country once you had the funds. As luck would have it, that friend called you up with an offer you couldn't refuse when they heard about your future plans. Overnight, you were the new owner of a farm and on your way to living the life of your dreams. Wished they'd told you more about the surveillance cameras you found hidden around during a deeper inspection of the place, but you'd manage.
You adored the change of scenery. There was a town a couple miles out so you weren't completely alone, but you had your animals to keep you company. Majority of your business comes from that town, but you've been taking a little break recently to take care of your herd and the bizarre events happening around your barn. You normally let your cows go free range, but two of them have gone missing without a trace. You've found strange symbols carved into the wood of your home and fields, the stocks from the harvest bundled neatly at your doorstep. Day by day, you started to regret not asking more about those odd cameras - especially since your friend hasn't answered any of your calls recently, but now's not the time to focus on that.
You've got a visitor.
Tires crunching atop the gravel road, an old beat up truck pulls up to the side of your house. No deliveries were scheduled for today, so you guessed they might've needed some assistance or looking to by something for the road. As the driver steps out of the vehicle, you're fairly surprised. They were big as you if not bigger; a slight hunch in their back obscured their full height. You've never met a human around your size and you couldn't see any features so far that would mark them as a hybrid. It was hard to see most of them really. A baseball cap was pulled over their eyes and the lower portion of their face was covered by a cloth mask. The only reason you knew was because they were staring right at you, all the way over at the open barn. The bovine at your side nudges your shoulder as you look back.
"I'll be back back soon. Okay?" You stroke her head and lead her back to the rise of the ground, picking up the filled bottles of milk and your bucket on your way out. The driver is inspecting your front door by the time you make it down the small hill to your humble home, picking at the flaking wood with their black nails. One foot on the porch and they're back focused on you. You still can't see their eyes or face, but their cheeks crinkle like they're smiling.
"Afternoon."
Their voice is...off. It's scratchy and hoarse like they haven't had a drink of water in days, but it reminds more you of static. Must be rough for truckers this time of year. "Afternoon! What can I do for you?"
The driver looks their feet, brows scrunched as they mutter to themselves. "H...ha.. Happen to have something to drink on you? I'm quite parched from my... travels."
"Course, kind of our main business here." You joke, reaching ingo your bottle for a glass. "On the house. Not to sound rude or anything, but you sound like you need it."
You hand the fresh bottle of milk to the stranger who graciously it off your hands - popping the top and taking a curious sip of the sweet cream. Their jaw shifts as they swish it around on their tongue, stiff shoulders relaxing some.
You fix the bill of your hat, horns making the task the toughest of your load. "Hope it's to your liking. Comes fresh from barn!"
The stranger studies your face and horns; eyes slowly falling to your chest and the cow print pattern of your tee. In a flash they're throwing their head back and down the entire bottle, lapping at its rim and snaking their slender tongue down its hole. It hits the bottom of the glass, pulsing against its floor. Maybe they were a hybrid -longest tongue you've ever seen. They stop only when their hat starts to slide back to fix it. You've never seen anyone so excited for your milk before - you hope the girls will be happy to hear this when you feed the herd later on.
"So, what are you doing in this parts? Haven't seen a delivery truck come by that wasn't one of mine in months."
A hairline crack runs the wall of the bottle. "I.... "ve just been on the road with no destination in mind. Searching for my place in the universe, but the country air is nice too. Think my trucks finally giving up on me, and I saw a sign for your farm down the road. Do you have a room I can stay in till I get it working? Food won't be an issue for me.. I can repay you with my services for now and send some money late on. Please..."
The poor thing. You rest your hand on their shoulder. "Slow down, it's alright. You don't have to pay me back or anything. Just focus on getting back on your feet, okay. The guest soon is a little junky right now since I haven't unpacked all my things, but you can wait in the living room while I'm moving things around. Welcome aboard."
Patting their arm, you swing the screen door open and step inside, inviting the in. Walking closer, their attention is taken by the wind chimes handing above your door, moreso the stains they reveal. The stranger takes off their coat and throws it on the chair outside your home. Your tail swings behind you with each step you take - so close yet so far. No - patience. They already had one slip up earlier with their lines. They'd rehearsed so many times, but not once did they conquer the hypothetical where you asked about them. It was the most logical option, so of course they skipped it. Their sweet cow would do nothing but offer a hand to the unfortunate. That's why they loved you so.
In their searches they found nothing to save this planet from its fate, but in the end one member of it's superior class would live on - in the stars.
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caramel1mochi · 7 months
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ぐちゃ ! (Splat!) [Yoru x F! Reader] [2]
Heya everyone!
Guess what? That's right, I'm trying something new!
After accumulating some a good amount of writing while waiting for the vote, instead of posting every other day with a few words, I'm gonna be posting once a week with a collection of words! Yep, this bad boy here is 7.8k words long!! MY HANDS AND EYES ARE KILLING ME I'M SORRY FOR ANY MISTAKES I MISSED
This is just a test to see if it's a good idea or not. Maybe if it goes well, I'll keep going, or stop if it's chaotic. Anyway, have a good one! See you next Friday!
❤ฺ·。
Yoru x F! Reader
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 4.5 / Part 5 / Part 6
Genre: Fluff
Synopsis: Hapless doesn't even begin to describe you. With your life flipped upside down within the span of a day; you're left to rely on your best friend Tala to help you pick up the pieces and build the new one forced upon you. And this 'luck' seems to have caught the attention of one of her friends.
。+❤ฺ·。❤ฺ·。+❤ฺ· +❤·。❤ฺ·。+❤ฺ·
Police sirens loudly rang throughout the entire district, Tala peeking from the alleyway you both hid in to notice another police car swerving past.
“Relax, Y/N, they won’t find us here!”
“It doesn’t matter! Did you see the print on the GROUND?!”
You gasped and held yourself, still shocked from the entire ordeal. Tala knelt next to you and patted your back, struggling to reassure you. How could she, when the sight surprised her just as much? Besides, it’s not like she knew how to calm people down in the first place.
“It almost killed us! It almost killed us, Tala!”
“It didn’t kill anyone, okay?! It missed us, we’re alive!”
“We almost died! We almost died!”
You hugged your knees, hyperventilating.
“We almost got squashed, it missed us by a few inches!”
You kept rambling nonsense under your breath, your voice quivering with an abnormal amount of fear. Tala, used to near-death experiences, wasn’t as horrified as you were. But that doesn’t mean what happened could just be easily brushed off.
Whilst swatting the flies away, suddenly, it was like an extraterrestrial force from outer space slammed itself against the ground. And when you both opened your eyes, a massive hand imprinted itself upon the hill you both stood on; defiling it. Like a giant that slapped the ground with all of its might. Even she couldn’t explain it.
“Y/N, Y/N, it’s alright, look, if the government doesn’t catch up to us first, then maybe a secret organisation will!”
“HOW IS THAT BETTER?!”
She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck, chuckling to herself. 
“Okay, uh– good point, but… but look on the bright side! I just called someone and they know exactly how to help!”
“Help us?! We had nothing to do with this! The hand– it, it appeared out of nowhere, it came out of nowhere! It almost killed us! We were so close–”
Tala grabbed your shoulders, and forced your gaze on hers. She would slap you, but you weren’t one of her co-workers.
“Y/N! Help is on the way, okay! Stop freaking out!”
You stood up, clutching your head with both hands and muttering random sentences under your breath, ones she didn’t catch onto.
“I– I think I’m going insane, Tala! A– a giant hand, a massive hand! It appeared out of nowhere and almost hit us! How does that happen, how is this– how, is it possible? How is it normal?! Is this– is this what they meant by Radiants being dangerous?!”
“No, Y/N, this has nothing to do with that!”
Tala knew your information of Radiancy was extremely limited, mostly to what the news would spew out. But she couldn’t exactly tell you the whole story, not when you could hardly differentiate between left and right. Also, it’s confidential. Shouldn’t forget that.
“Just hold on, we’ll get help. The police will be off our tail in a second!”
You turned to her, panicking.
“Why would the police be on our tail?!”
Shouldn’t have said that either.
“What’s with you two?”
Thankfully, like some guardian angel (to Tala), a familiar voice appeared from behind you both. A dark silhouette stood in the entrance of the constricted alley, the street lights reflecting off of his blue jacket. Of course, you were terrified for a split second, thinking it was a cop, but Tala’s reaction quickly calmed you.
“Yoru, finally! We need your help!”
He stepped in, both hands in his pockets. And on his face, juxtaposed to the chaos, the police sirens and helicopters that wrapped around the park you both rushed out of, was an expression full of boredom.
“What now? Did you make another thunderstorm?”
Tala noticed the sudden shift in your expression and awkwardly chuckled, scratching the back of her head. But luckily, Yoru turned his attention to you instead.
“Who are you?”
“Who am I? Who are you? Why are you here?!”
“Yoru! Yoru, she’s, uh– this is, this is Y/N, my friend, and she’s freaked out right now, so you shouldn’t be asking her anything.”
He blankly stared at you, almost as if he was sceptical of your general presence. Thankfully, it was only for a few seconds before he turned to Tala.
“Give me a run down.”
“Alright!”
Tala quickly perked up, politely keeping your mouth shut. The events were scrambled in your mind, so the chances of you saying anything coherent was zero. And Tala knew it.
“There’s a park behind us, and, uh… there might be, sort of, a massive handprint on the hill.”
“Yeah, I saw it on the news. I meant give me the intimate rundown. Did your kit manifest?”
Pictures already spread throughout the country, especially since it flattened a few dozen massive trees in one fell swoop, and possibly a few animals hidden within the grass and branches. If the concept of it pancaking living beings wasn’t so horrifying, it would’ve been impressive. Of course, it shocked you how quickly things spread, but bad news travels fast, as they say.
Tala raised her hands defensively.
“There wasn’t electricity involved, it wasn’t my fault! Stop bringing it up!”
“Electricity?!”
You blurted out, and it was too late for Tala. Though he might’ve not really known it, Yoru’s complete disregard for the situation pretty much exposed her. Not that he really cared.
“Is she a Radiant?”
“No, she’s not. I’m telling you, it wasn’t either of us!”
Tala interrupted, but Yoru kept his eyes on yours, as if she never spoke.
“Before the hand, what exactly were you doing?”
He stared at you, and you couldn’t help but feel uneasy under his piercing gaze as he towered over you. Then, he looked down, the glimmer of gold catching his attention. In the darkness that enveloped you all, it stood out.
“I– I was swatting flies, okay? They were gathering around us and I–”
“Spare me the details. You were swatting flies, right?”
You nodded.
“Y– yes, yeah, I was swatting–”
“Was your hand open?”
“Yeah?”
“And what about this thing?” 
He pointed to your bracelet, which you didn’t even notice until now. Not when you stumbled on your words, hardly able to put together a sentence with how fast he was going. Unlike Tala, this Yoru guy absolutely did not hold back, even when you were at the peak of your anguish. He seemed overeager to put the blame on you.
“This bracelet? What about it?! It has nothing to do with–”
The words were stuck in your throat once you lifted your hand and actually got a good look at it. You saw the golden accessory now wrapped tightly around your wrist, hardly moving an inch. Unlike before, when it could’ve easily been mistaken for a necklace with how loose it was. You scratched at it; but it wouldn’t move. 
Tala was just as stumped.
“That– that was loose, yeah?”
You awkwardly laughed, struggling to tilt the object. But it stuck to you, like a limb. It didn’t take long for Yoru to catch on, turning to Tala.
“There’s your problem. You should’ve called Harbour, not me, idiot.”
“Harbour’s not my friend and you know it!”
As they bickered, you struggled with the bracelet. But trying to vigorously rip it away from you shot pain through your arm. Trying to get this off would be like ripping off your finger with no tools. You couldn’t fathom how this was even possible. How did it even happen? How did it tighten, and when?!
You clenched your fist and worked to take it off, digging your nails under it whilst the two continued arguing about meaningless nonsense.
“The bracelet’s so tiny! How could it have so much power, anyway?!”
“Hell if I know.”
“Really, it also fell on her arm when she first wore it! When did it get so tight?”
As she continued rambling, Yoru felt an odd sensation enter the atmosphere around them. And he quickly glanced behind him, noticing the trees that previously swerved with the wind completely stop, the branches now still as statues.
In the literal sense, the air stood still. 
He looked at you, noticing your fist clenched, and you prepared to loosen it.
Then, the shadow of an invisible set of fingers emerged above you. 
But just before it could crush you all, he grabbed your wrist and slammed it against the nearby wall, the silhouette disappearing just as fast as it appeared; not before destroying the top portion of the buildings you both hid in between.
“Stop moving that damn hand!”
He shouted, a massive portion of the roof falling behind you. It crashed and splattered into pieces so loudly, the noise deafened you for a split second. And once it was over, you weren’t given a single moment to catch yourself. Yoru angrily met your gaze, still holding on to your wrist.
“Don’t you dare move a finger, lady. Your hand can squash a quarter of the Philippines.”
Just like that, he let go and stepped out of the alley.
“With me. We’re getting this sorted.”
Like a pair of chicks behind their mother hen, you both mindlessly rushed behind him, blindly trusting his judgement. Of course, you had no choice, while Tala clearly trusted this dude.
“That’s so cool! So, this is like, an artefact? Like Harbour and Astra? You also have that mask, yeah?”
“What are you talking about?!”
Tala stuttered once she remembered you were right there again. And this time, Yoru caught on, annoyed. She could hardly go a few seconds without blowing her cover now, and it was embarrassing to watch on his end. So, like the honest, no-nonsense man that he was, he made the obvious decision to ease the stress on his dear friend’s shoulders.
“We’re both Radiants part of a secret organisation. And her callsign’s Neon.”
“Yoru!”
Genius.
“Neon? Radiants? Secret organisation?! So, that’s the job you didn’t want to tell me about!”
You met her gaze angrily, furious at her keeping this from you. And of course, she awkwardly chuckled, turning her gaze away. Shortly after, you clutched your head and massaged your temples, working to ease the aching that slowly took over you.
“Oh god, this is too much for one day…”
Yoru sighed and took out his comb, brushing his hair.
“Yeah? Don’t worry, there’s more.”
❤ฺ·。
Arriving on an aircraft dubbed the VLT/R, you sat right next to Tala– sorry, NEON, still holding your head and staring at the pristine flooring in shock. Yoru sat in front of you, fiddling with a butterfly comb in his hand. Unlike you, he was completely unbothered. Maybe he had gotten slightly amused by the situation, and your reaction to all of this. The tension was heavy, and she could tell your head was so close to exploding. NEON needed to calm you down.
“So… what now?”
“Best case scenario, they break the thing off and let her go.”
“Great! Don’t worry, Y/N, you’ll be back to your clerk job in no time!”
Neon said as she clasped her hands together. Yoru, on the other hand, simply raised an eyebrow.
“Tch. You’re excited about being a clerk?”
“It’s a peaceful job!”
You blurt out, meeting his gaze. And he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Right. Must be high paying, too. You smell like you stepped out of a hibachi restaurant.”
“Is that a joke?”
“I’m serious.”
You shook your head in confusion.
“We went to a cafe. No restaurant.”
“Liar. I know the scent of a grilled steak with soy sauce on top. All cooked in sesame oil, too. Only a skilled hibachi chef could successfully pull off something that smells like that.” 
You blankly stared at him for a few seconds, unable to process all of the extra information. Compared to everything you previously learned, it wasn’t anything important, but you also never went to a hibachi restaurant in your entire life. Too expensive.
Yoru proudly pointed to his nose, a smug smile on his face.
With how blank his expression was this entire time, this looked unnatural on him.
“I have a good sense of smell.”
“Yeah… I didn’t want to say anything, but I swore I could smell adobo since we left the alley. Fresh adobo! Just the way lola makes it.”
You couldn’t help but giggle, watching Neon lick her lips in excitement at the simple thought of it.
“I think you’re both just hungry.”
“Did you dip your hand in water?”
Yoru suddenly perked up. You met his gaze in confusion, before he pointed to your hand. 
And safe to say, you were shocked all over again. Out of nowhere, there was some form of liquid that suddenly started seeping from your skin, dripping down your hand. It wasn’t sweat, either, it was an ongoing flow of clear fluid, like water.
You held it up to your face, confused. It didn’t smell like anything. Maybe it was water?
“I probably wasn’t looking…”
Before another word can be exchanged, you jumped once the VLT/R landed, and the door slid open to reveal a sight that took you a second to process. In the exit stood two women and one man. The one with the long black ponytail stepped up, a warm smile on her face and her eyes locked on yours.
❤ฺ·。
 
At first, you thought the one with the ponytail, Sage, would be the one to examine your hand. But Viper instead took it upon herself, since she seemed more qualified when it came to actually studying the human body and such.
It was the next day, early morning, and weirdly enough, it started off better than most mornings. That’s right, you were in the empty cafeteria, getting yelled at by your boss on the phone. You would say it’s a typical morning, but that would be a lie. Usually, you’d wake up by your extremely aggravating alarm at four, and still be late for work. Or, on the weekends, by the screaming of your younger family members.
“Y/N, I trusted you to have the papers ready by seven! You didn’t even show up!”
“Look, I’m sorry. Things happened!”
“What? ‘Things happen?’ That’s your excuse? You might as well spit on my face while you’re at it.”
You sighed and glanced at the bracelet on your right hand, a jade green tinge slowly overwhelming the gold.
“It wasn’t my choice. You’d know me by now, right? I never miss a day of work. But believe me, just this one time, something really did happen!”
“Unless this vague thing can get my papers done in less than fifteen minutes, it doesn’t really concern me, Y/N!”
You winced at the volume of his voice. Even if you’d gotten around to completing the task he’d given you, the amount of papers you were entrusted with were enough to complete a book. Logically, you’d need multiple people to complete it.
But he knew that, unlike you, your co-workers would complain about doing this without getting paid for it.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll try to find my way back, but–”
“Don’t bother. I might as well fire you, that’ll save me the stress of–”
You noticed a shadow looming over you, looking to your right to find a familiar face. Surprisingly, it was Yoru; the guy from yesterday.
Pleasantly complementing his generally blue palette were the rays of the sun, painting both him and the cafeteria into a stunning shade of gold. Had you believed in fairytales, you’d assume the Midas touch was in full effect.
You muted and gave him a tired smile.
“Magandang umaga. Yoru, right?” <Good morning.>‎‎  
He pointed to the phone in your ear, your boss’s voice loud enough for him to be audible to the Japanese.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, I missed work and my boss’s mad. Don’t worry, he’ll drop it eventually.”
You’d grown used to his yelling enough to be able to guess exactly what he’s talking about. And thus, you were able to have a conversation without missing anything. And by the blank look on Yoru’s face, he wasn’t impressed.
“You might as well quit.”
You tittered and turned back to the phone, but he caught your attention once more.
“I’m serious. You’re not going back to civilisation with that thing on your wrist.”
“I live paycheck to paycheck, you know. If I quit, I’ll be out on the streets!”
“You’ll be living here, lady. There’s no ‘bills’ anymore.”
His tone slightly shifted towards aggression. And though you were taken aback, you were already overloaded with stress enough to let it slide.
“Even if I wanted to quit, he won’t take me seriously! Maybe if I keep nagging him for like, a week, but not now.”
“Best I can do is two minutes.”
You stared at him for a moment, before tilting your head.
“You can get me out in two?”
“Want me to?”
He really thinks he can get to someone as stubborn and talkative as your boss, huh? As much as you didn’t want to, you really didn’t have much to lose. Even you knew that they wouldn’t let you out so soon after flattening a hill by accident. And so, with an eager nod, he immediately. stretched out his hand towards you.
“Hand me that.”
You did. He took a few steps away, and you shifted in your seat as he walked towards the centre of the cafeteria, anxious.
“Hey, listen here.”
Yoru slightly raised his voice. Though he was a metre away, you could hear the boss’s ranting immediately get interrupted.
“This is her friend. She quit. Sorry.” 
The air stood still for a few seconds, before he started talking again, clearly furious. And knowing how much he liked to rabbit about, Yoru had gotten sick of his voice within a few seconds, judging by the way he furrowed his brow. Probably bringing up the papers he entrusted you with.
“Not her problem anymore. Figure it out.”
Just as he began ranting again, Yoru quickly spoke up.
“Yeah. Too bad. Bye.”
And just like that, he closed the call and handed you the phone.
To say you were shocked would be an understatement. More specifically at how blunt he was, telling a powerful man to shut his trap like that.
“Juskó, uh, are you– are you sure he won’t–” <Oh my god,>‎ 
Just as you said that, your phone began ringing once more, and it was exactly who you expected.
“Do I answer?!”
“Tch, no? Block him.”
“But what if he gets mad? Like, what if he does something?”
He rolled his eyes and moved to the fridge.
“Y/N, you’re an active threat to humanity until you get that hand under control. Relax.”
Oh, right. The bracelet.
You stared at the phone ringing in silence, many thoughts overlapping in your mind. Though you were shocked to your core at what he’d done, Yoru didn’t seem bothered whatsoever. He simply made his breakfast like this was a typical morning for him.
Taking your phone into your hand, you hesitantly closed the call. It began ringing again. And this time, you took his advice and blocked him. Once you did, the calls stopped coming. And it was as if a few tonnes of metal were lifted off of your shoulders, taking in the silence once more.
Wow… This must be what serenity feels like, beyond a word slapped on top of a pretty image on Google.
“So… what happens now?”
“What?”
“I just quit my job. What do I do now?”
“You work for Valorant now. Did Viper test out that arm yet?”
You looked at your hand where the ‘bracelet’ sat. Only now did you notice the colour. There wasn’t a hint of gold anymore. It was fully green, and it didn’t glimmer like a gem.
Also, they numbed your arm so that you wouldn’t accidentally crush the base.
“I guess. I don’t remember what she told me. I blanked out halfway through.”
Yoru scoffed.
“They’ll figure that out, first. Then, after training, you’ll get on missions with us.”
You looked up at him, watching him take out a few eggs and wash them.
“Missions? Like what?”
“Depends. Other than squashing, what can you do?”
You turned back to your numb arm. And this time, you lifted up to the table, allowing the sun to shine and give you a clearer view of the bracelet.
It was hard to remember, and you left Viper’s synopsis back in Neon’s room since you ran out when your boss called.
“I think she said I can make smells, or whatever.”
“Tch, what?”
“Yeah, wait– I remember now! The water from my hand, apparently it’s nectar and it has a scent. Viper said it smells like fruit, and there’s someone else, she had a big ponytail. She said it smells like… mountain air.”
“Mountain air? Yeah, that checks out.”
You followed his movements, watching him wash a bowl and a pan. Was he mocking her?
“What does that mean?”
“Sage was a monk, I think. Probably meditated on a mountain.”
He turned on the stove and immediately got to cooking, cracking the eggs.
“Monk? That’s… new.”
The people here sounded like unique individuals. First, Viper, whom you recognised from the awards she won years ago. Now, a monk.
“Explains the hibachi smell yesterday.”
He commented and you smiled to yourself, remembering his eagerness as he explained the intricate details of the meat.  Him, and Neon. So, the smell differs with everyone, you thought. But you seemed to be immune to it.
Then, there was a delectable real smell that ripped your attention away from your thinking and back onto Yoru. Surprisingly, it was from his food.
“What’s for breakfast?”
“Tornado omelette.”
Tornado omelette? Unique breakfast, you thought.
“Mind sharing?”
“I do, actually.”
You paused for a moment, quickly growing disappointed once you understood.
“Awe, really? Lame.”
“Yeah, I only cook for people I like. Sorry.”
His apology didn’t sound genuine. But, to be fair, nothing that came out of his mouth sounded genuine. ‘People I like’, he said. Did you even need to ask to know that his list of liked people was minuscule? Just look at him.
“Do you like anyone here?”
“No.”
He answered with quickness and you rolled your eyes and sat back. But then, you promptly remembered what he did. Yoru shut down your boss with no more than a few words, and practically freed you within a few minutes of meeting you. So really, how could you be mad at him right now?
This was one of the rare interactions that didn’t go horribly wrong.
You looked at him. Well, the back of his head, since he wasn’t facing you whatsoever.
“Hey, Yoru?”
“Yeah.”
You smiled.
“Thanks for helping me out.”
“Don’t thank me.”
He said. And again, you were taken aback. It didn’t sound like a humble statement, either. He genuinely sounded uninterested by your gratitude. What kind of philosophy does this guy follow? You thought, but it felt like it was too soon to judge.
❤ฺ·。
“I can’t believe you’re getting your own room already. You should’ve said no, and we’d have sleepovers every night!”
Neon said excitedly as you scanned the updated paper in your hand. Her voice echoed through the cafeteria you both sat in, since it was empty despite it being late in the afternoon. It’s not like you’ve seen anyone other than her and Yoru, and Viper who took you in for a few hours before letting you have your break.
“Tala, two can barely fit on that bed.”
“But with a promotion, I can make it a king-size.”
She winked, and you couldn’t help but force an eye roll at this, looking down at the paper again.
“Also, it’s Neon. You’re not really allowed to use real names around here, remember?”
“You guys call me by my name all the time.”
“They haven’t picked a callsign for you yet! I’m thinking it’s something about gems. Maybe… Psh, I dunno, gold? Mineral?”
“Mineral? What am I, baby food?”
Neon laughed, taking her smoothie into her hand.
“Fair enough. Anyway, did you meet anyone yet?”
You wordlessly gestured to the cafeteria around you, as if to remind her there’s nobody. And it’s not like she caught on, she blankly stared at you as she took a sip.
“Valorant’s emptier than I thought. Are you and Yoru the only ones here?”
“Oh! No, no way, there’s plenty of us! They’re on missions right now.”
Amidst your crowded and exhausted mind, the only people you remembered were Viper and the other monk lady. But were you about to admit that, out of all of them, Yoru took control of your mind effortlessly? Well…
You put the paper down and sighed, smiling.
“I talked to Yoru this morning…”
Neon raised an eyebrow as she sipped her smoothie, watching your previously tense posture shift.
“What’s his deal?”
“What do you mean?”
You turned your gaze away, unsure how to tell her.
“I don’t know. He's nice, but also vulgar at the same time.”
“Oh! Yeah, I know what you mean. Yoru’s just that type of guy, you know? Lone wolf and that edgy stuff. He’s a rude-ass, but if you don’t mind that, he’s chill.” she brought the straw up to her lips as she spoke, “Did he do anything?”
“He told my boss off, and I don’t have a job now.”
She nearly choked, clearing her throat and pulling the drink away.
“Your boss? The same guy who–”
“YES. The same guy who convinced me unpaid overtime is legal, okay? Don’t remind me.”
Neon laughed, taking a quick sip. And this time, she was mindful not to spill a single drop.
“Did he share his food with you, though?”
“Uh, no?”
“Then he doesn’t like you.”
What? 
“Is this an ongoing thing?”
“It is! Yoru’s like, the best cook here. Nobody can top him, but nobody can get a taste either. I’d kill to try his homemade soba!”
She said as she licked her lips with the same excitement she harboured for her lola’s adobo. You beamed at this, sitting up once more. Nobody can get a taste either, huh? And Neon’s overeagerness combined with the tornado omelette you saw earlier, it was clear that his dishes were no joke. Gordon Ramsay who, right?
But just as you thought you could take on this challenge, you backed off.
No way.
Then, Neon fixed her posture once the sound of heels clicking took over your ears, both of you looking back to see a silhouette familiar to only her. You squinted, before smiling once you recognised the large ponytail, elegantly swerving with each step.
“Good morning, Y/N. How’s your hand?”
The ‘monk’, as you called her in your mind said, a sweet smile lifting her cheeks. Applying pressure to your fingers, you could tell the drug only now was in the midst of wearing off.
“Still numb, but I’m used to it.”
“Good. Are you ready to go back to the lab?”
You sighed and nodded. But just as you stood up, so did Neon, putting down her now-empty smoothie with a loud clank.
“Sage, did we decide on a name yet?”
Sage. That’s her name. Well, callsign
“Something came to mind, but we won't get to it until we determine how her hand works.”
She stopped at the doorway, wordlessly gesturing to you both to follow her. And with excitement you definitely didn’t share, Neon made her way towards the healer, trotting with each step.
❤ฺ·。
There wasn’t much of a difference between your old boss and Viper, now that a few hours have passed. Sure, this time, by what Yoru said and Neon confirmed; you had absolutely no bills to pay and even had vending machines to eat out of and all you had to do was let her study you relentlessly– okay, putting it that way; you sounded like a child.
“This might hurt.”
Viper suddenly twisted your wrist, forcing you to take in a sharp breath. Just a few more inches, and she’d definitely rip a few tendons. Thank god your hand was still numb.
“No, that’s fine– go ahead.”
You said with an awkward giggle, but she didn’t change her focused expression. And like an orange, more of the transparent nectar slipped out. And using her pipet, she aspirated a considerable amount of it, before emptying out on a vial. Then, she repeated this process, until it was full. 
“Sheesh, Y/N. Are you a sadist?”
“Sadist…?”
You said in confusion. Viper pulled away, side-eyeing Neon as she worked on the sample, and you quickly clutched your wet hand to relieve the pain.
“I think you mean masochist.”
“Tomato, tomato.”
Viper inhaled the scent of the nectar. And to your surprise, her face twisted to disgust; a major contrast to the serene expression you evoked from her and Sage just the day before.
“The smell keeps changing. What’s with that?”
“How? Didn’t it smell like fruit yesterday?”
“Yes, but it’s like…”
She pulled down her surgical mask and smelled it once more.
Viper shook her head. Clearly, she knew the answer, she just didn’t want to say.
“Neon, smell this.”
Neon stepped up to the counter and took a deep sniff, before coughing and pulling away.
“Why does that smell like– bleh, it smells like a bunch of electricity!”
You stared at her in confusion, and she took another deep inhale, clearing her throat.
“Yeah, it’s like, it’s kinda like I stuffed my face into a thunderstorm and smelt it, you know? It– it doesn’t make sense, I know!”
“Probably shouldn’t have only one person to test the sample.”
Viper sarcastically noted as she hurriedly closed the vial. This, of course, earned an odd look from you.
“Wait– but yesterday you said that the smell was good. Why’s it bad now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s linked to emotion. How do you feel right now?”
You blinked.
“Uh… Fine, I guess?”
Just as you said that, there was a loud yet unfamiliar knock on the door behind you, and you all looked over to see a figure push the doors open and let himself in. It was a large burly man. Tall, and by god, even though his ocean-blue colour scheme reminded you of Yoru, the aura he emitted with each step was one of confidence and joy you’ve never seen in anyone else, especially not in a workplace. It was a complete juxtaposition to everything the Japanese was.
“Good afternoon, ladies! How are we doing?”
He called out with an immense amount of charm, being met with a wide smile from Neon.
“Harbour, welcome back! Remember what I told you? We found your match!”
“I thought I heard some ruckus about a new bracelet-wielder around here.”
Harbour. That must be the guy with the bracelet artefact, you thought.
He stopped. And though he met your gaze, your eyes were locked on his arm, his own imposing bracelet taking over half of his forearm with mesmerising patterns, as if it was cuttlefish that would take on different colours to hypnotise prey. Moreover, it was gold. Unlike the weird gross green tinge you had, it shined brilliantly, harbouring the same confidence as its carrier.
“I take it you’re tired?”
You jumped and looked at him, your lids heavier than a few tonnes of metal. Clearly, he said a few things you didn’t catch beforehand.
“Huh? Oh, sorry, I was– uh, your bracelet’s so much cooler…”
“Don’t say that, I’m sure yours has its own unique–”
“Definitely not.”
Holding up your arm, your hand and fingers numb, you smiled awkwardly as you allowed him to take in your own underwhelming… artefact. You noticed a shift in his expression as he took a step closer and observed, but his response wasn’t what you expected.
“Wait, is this a plant, or what?”
Only now did you notice the bracelet’s new form. And to say it was incredibly awkward looking, especially compared to Harbour, would be a grave understatement. To put it in the most flattering way possible, it looked like you ripped out a rose, cut off the top, took the stem and tightly wrapped them around your hand.
It took on a more forest-green colour with a vague cherry red hue surrounding it, a dozen spikes slowly sprouting with a drop of clear fluid on the end of each one of them. Said liquid looked like the nectar your hand would produce, but more contained.
Sure, the green might literally be its ‘stem’, but what plant even looked like this? Besides the aforementioned roses, you couldn’t think of anything else that was red in this way.
“Harbour, before you train her, can you smell this?”
Viper quickly handed him the vial. And once he complied, you noticed his previously amicable expression quickly switch at this. The scent displeased him. It wasn’t like he was disgusted, either. It was something else.
“That’s…”
He smelled it once more, before handing it back to her.
“That’s just repugnant.”
“Repugnant? Why, what do you smell?”
Even she was surprised at the word he used.
“I can’t describe it. I– I think you should ask someone else instead. Now, let’s get going, those hands aren’t going to train themselves, are they?”
Barely given a moment to process from how fast he was going, you quickly stood up and followed him. But why was he so eager to leave the conversation after smelling the vial? You wondered, especially with how quick he began talking. Just what could be in it?
However, before you could ask, he suddenly perked up with a new topic.
“How long have you been in that lab for?”
“Oh, I don’t know, since twelve?”
“Twelve afternoon? That’s almost six hours. I can’t imagine how suffocating it would be to stay that long. No pun intended.”
You smiled to yourself, meeting his gaze as you each walked down an unfamiliar hallway. He didn’t say anything funny, you just couldn’t help but share his contagious joy just by the way he’d talk.
Harbour was a massive difference from Yoru, that’s for sure.
“No pun intended? What pun?”
“You weren’t told yet? Viper works with poison. That’s her whole thing.”
“Oh? Poison? But I thought– wasn’t she a doctor…?”
“Doctor? Well, if you consider submerging rats in acid as healing them, then technically she’s a doctor.”
You sighed and rubbed your temples, attempting to move your right hand’s fingers despite barely being able to feel them. But thankfully, by this time, the drugs had slowly begun to wear off.
“Is there anyone normal around here?”
Harbour laughed and crossed his arms.
“I’ll be the first to tell you, you’re out of luck with that. I can't think of anybody here that’s normal.”
“Looks like I’m the first one, huh?”
Harbour laughed, slapping your back with a considerable amount of roughness, enough to unintentionally hurt you. But you kept your mouth shut and simply smiled along. It felt like your shoulder blade was about to break in half.
Every new agent that would be introduced, it would take some time to get used to them, with how unique everyone looked. But the only unique thing about you was your ‘bracelet’, the dark roots deep within your arm that looked like veins from far away, and maybe your messy bob. Other than that, you looked completely out of place. Almost to a funny degree if it wasn’t terrifying somewhat.
Harbour then stopped in front of a doorway. Inside, you could hear distant banging. Few and far between, but each one still made you jump.
“What the hell’s that noise?”
“That? Probably Gekko training.”
Gekko? 
“What kind of training makes this noise?”
He looked at you in amusement, still grinning.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you were normal, huh? Anyway, you’ve spent six hours back in the lab, you don’t want a break before we work on that hand?”
“No, no, no breaks, it’s okay. We can keep going.”
“Are you sure?”
You smiled and shook your head, clearly insisting despite your considerable need to lie down. It felt like you’d be a nuisance if you prolonged this anymore, so you couldn’t help but cave in.
“Sure. I’m a bank clerk, I can handle anything.”
“Is that so? Can you handle guns?”
You awkwardly laughed, hoping that he was being sarcastic since his cheeky tone supported this notion.
“Oh, please. I get held at gunpoint weekly at work, a little glock isn’t gonna do anything to me.”
“Haha, good one. Alright, come in, we’ll see what you can do.”
You weren’t joking.
He swung the doors open and allowed the air from inside to strongly hit your face like a solid bring, the strong scent of gunpowder entering your nostrils. And from the figure far away, shooting down a few dozen bots with smoke billowing from the red tip, it wasn’t a smell your hand could produce, that's for sure. Not since you yourself could smell it.
“Gekko, easy on the Vandal! Give it a moment to cool down!”
He shouted over the shooting, somehow, his deep voice dwarfing the sounds of the bullets. Enough to earn his attention and quickly comply.
“Hey, coach, welcome back! How was–”
Just as Gekko looked back, he cut his sentence short and smiled as you two approached him, the smell of fire growing stronger and stronger. 
“Woah, who’s this?”
He quickly put the gun down, turned his body to face you in order to look more presentable. And by god, you couldn’t help but stare at his neon green buzzcut. With how exhausted you were, this bright colour managed to wake you up.
“We have a new one to train alongside you. This is…”
“Y/N.”
Gekko beamed at this, clearly excited at having a new recruit already.
“Y/N! What’s up? They didn’t give you a name, yet?”
“Yeah… no. She’s an active threat right now. Names will come after we make sure she won’t squash the base by accident.”
“Squash the base? Like the whole thing?! Jeez, I don’t even want to ask what you can do.”
You sighed.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Hopefully it doesn’t involve the radivore stuff, Deadlock will be on your ass if so.”
He winked with an immense amount of cheekiness, earning an eye roll from Harbour. But before he could get an earful for somehow bringing whoever that was into this, you heard a gurgle behind him, and a yellow creature emerged from next to his leg, an audible pitter patter with each slow step as it moved to get a good look at you.
You blinked and stared at it.
Were you dreaming, or what?
“Since when were penguins yellow?”
Gekko looked down in confusion, before he glanced behind him and saw exactly what you were talking about. And he couldn’t help but laugh at your assumption.
“No, this is Wings! He’s one of my buddies. You know, he’s part of that radivore thing I talked about.”
You knelt, getting a closer look at the critter. And he looked adorable. Especially with the armour plates and the purple mask thing he had over his face, complementing his beady white eyes.
“Is he a penguin, though?”
“Noo, no penguins! He’s a whole new thing, you feel me? I dunno what, but it’s… um, you know, I never really thought about it.”
“Maybe you should do the honours of naming the species, Gekko.”
Harbour joked, but Gekko seemed to take it seriously, saying something your tired mind didn’t catch.
Wingman slowly approached, his eyes clearly stuck on the bracelet. Probably since the vein-root thing looked pretty macabre when you spent more than a second observing it.
“Anyway, I’m thinking we take this training outside, like Brim said. Maybe a landscape, what do you think?”
Harbour noted. And Gekko probably said something in response to this, but again, you couldn’t focus on anything other than the mysterious creature in front of you. Also, how much you wanted to sleep. Hey, things were going well so far, why not enjoy yourself?
“He’s so tiny, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
You muttered. And on instinct, after the medicine wore off, you lifted your right hand to pet him.
“Y/N, I don’t think you should–”
A loud crash, though muffled, suddenly took over all of your ears.
You suddenly were forced up with an immense amount of pressure around your wrists, enough to completely restrict your blood flow. Harbour had grabbed your wrist and lifted you before anymore damage could be done.
“OKAY. Okay. You know what? I think we’re taking you–”
Then, a portion of the roof to your right tumbled over, squashing at least five bots with a loud bang that deafened each of you. And of course, that wasn’t to account for the debris that suddenly rushed so threateningly close towards you.
All colour drained from your face.
❤ฺ·。
Your entire right arm was drugged. 
And despite her best efforts, Neon wasn’t able to convince you to leave her room to meet the rest of the agents, especially her friends, who’d just returned from their expedition. Or even help you forget what had happened. The only silver lining in this was that Viper hadn’t had the time to assign you your own room. Otherwise, she’d be banging and clawing at your door like a hungry cat.
“Y/N, relax, it’s fine! Harbour said the hole’s only a metre wide, it’s easy to fix!”
“I’M NOT MOVING.”
You shouted, your voice muffled since your hand covered the majority of your face. Mostly the lower part, but I digress. Since you were sitting on a chair with your arm resting on the vanity table (full of plushies you pushed away), she was able to place a hand on your back in an attempt to reassure you.
“I’m serious, it’ll be fixed in like, a few days. Are you gonna sit here your entire life?”
“Do you know what I heard when I came back here? The white haired one, she said; ‘why’s the training range out of order?’”
Neon knew you were referring to Jett. And yeah, duh, said range was most of the agents’ favourite spot to chill, other than the cafeteria. So putting out of order on your first day… Mortifying, to say the least.
“It was an honest mistake, Y/N. Nobody’s mad over it. Also we have like, a bunch of robots to take care of stuff around here.”
“I’m not leaving this room, Tala! When I meet those other people, I’ll probably pancake them! The only person who I sorta made a good impression on was Yoru, and that was its own brand of embarrassing…”
Neon took a step back and stroked her chin, suddenly falling into silence for the next few seconds.
Of course, being overwhelmed with the fact you’d crushed a portion of the base, even though Harbour insisted it was his fault for not bringing you out sooner, it took you a moment to realise that she was brewing one of her familiar plans.
Then, she took out her phone and gave you her back, taking a few steps away. And you couldn’t help but let curiosity get the best of you.
“Tala, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Nothing…” 
Ignoring the dozen of messages she’d already received from her friends when they noticed her and your disappearance, she quickly opened Yoru’s (empty) DMs and began rapidly typing. Of course, of all people, he’d be the last to ask about your whereabouts.
‘HEY’
Surprisingly, he went online and saw the message pretty fast.
‘HELP ME GET HER OUT????’
‘SHE DOESNT WANT TO LEAVE MY ROOM CUS OF THE RANGE STUFF’
‘tf do u want me to do’
“It’s this stupid hand!”
You suddenly called out, grabbing your numb wrist and tossing it on the table like it wasn’t a part of your body. And under the sharp rays of the beach image she’d set to your right, it managed to highlight the roots inside. A few had grown thicker than your very fingers, and travelled through your entire arm towards your shoulder. Clothes concealed the rest of the details, but did you want to know what it looked like?
Thanks to the medicine, it prevented the bracelet from emitting scent. Otherwise the whole room would stink of electricity or whatever Neon said earlier.
“I wish I could just chop it off! I can go with one hand in life, why shouldn’t I?! I can switch to using my left one, anyway!” 
Neon, while texting, laughed to herself.
“Not that I’m saying you should, but– why don’t you? Again, I’m not saying you should!”
You sat back with a deep sigh. Admittedly, you would never willingly amputate your arm. You weren’t that desperate. Or brave.
“Viper said the thing’s implanted in my nervous system, or something. It’s stuck to my brain now.”
“Unlucky…”
She nervously mumbled, continuously spamming Yoru with texts upon texts as you spoke.
“Hey, so, unrelated, how do you feel about Sage?”
“Sage? That healer one?”
Neon nodded and turned to your gaze, setting her phone to silent so that you wouldn’t hear the incoming notifications. She watched you shrug and turn your gaze to the string of pictures and posters hung up in front of you.
“I didn’t see much of her, but she’s nice, I guess. Why’s it always the healers who are nice?”
“What?”
“What?”
“Nothing! Okay, how about this. We talk to Sage, and since she’s nice and stuff, maybe she can help you out?”
You stared at her for a few seconds, before standing up and walking towards the centrepiece of the room, the haven of her plushes and freedom to do the most impossible gymnastics in her sleep.
“Thanks, but I think it’s better if I head to bed.”
“Wait, wait, think about it! She does stuff with her hands, you do stuff with your hands, it’s a match! Right?”
You plopped yourself onto the bed. And like a cocoon, you wrapped the blankets around you, completely concealing yourself. Neon let out a defeated groan.
“Goodnight, Tala.”
“Bah, you’re such a grandma! Who sleeps at nine?”
“Goodnight!”
You announced, and finally convinced her to give up.
She turned towards the door and closed the lights, before giving you one last look.
“I’m gonna introduce them to you, anyway. When you leave this room, they’ll all know who you are!”
“Sure, whatever.”
“I’m warning you!”
Among the maze you formed with the blanket, you somehow managed to slither your responsive hand out to give her a wave, earning a giggle from her.
“Is that permission granted? Thanks! I won’t disappoint you!”
And with that, the door slammed shut, miniscule particles of dust settling after the impact.
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nonotnolan · 3 months
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No Not Nolan's Year in Review
Apparently this is a tradition now, so-- here are the stories of 2023, ranked by the number of likes.   It also helps keep me a bit grounded-- it feels rough when recent stories don't pick up stream, but the year as a whole has still gone quite well. It's also nice to see where all of my work falls, note-wise.  And if you're feeling very nostalgic (or horny?) here is a link to 2021, and here is a link to 2022.
I'm leaving the eBook announcement posts out of my year end review, but I'm calling it out for myself so when I revisit this in December 2024, future-me will remember to grab those. I'm not planning to abandon this account anytime soon-- and I'm certainly not shifting to Patreon or PayPal or what have you. I'm not prolific or popular enough for any of that. The vast majority of my work will continue to remain free and open. I just wanted to prove to myself that I'm good enough of a writer to publish something that I can be proud of-- I have, and I am.
Do authors love notes and reblogs? Yes. But they often enjoy hearing direct feedback even more-- I know I sure do. Consider "messaging authors directly" as a New Year's Resolution. (Please note that begging for someone to write you a story is not feedback. Don't be that guy.)
12) Green Grass - 122 notes - December 2023 Two guys learn first hand that not everyone values the same things. Concise and straightforward. 11) Soul Stones: Long Distance - 192 notes - April 2023 A romantic story of two men using the power of body swapping to close the gap on a long distance relationship. Cell phones have nothing on being there in person. 10) Colony Freedom - 197 notes - September 2023 A slime alien attempts to rebuild its colony from the ground up after its overseers have completely vanished. Can it manage to find enough hosts for its family, or will its cover be ruined? 9) Cuerpo Inc: After Hours Perk - 249 notes - July 2023 Ethan tries to pretend to be Jake for the weekend, but he wasn't counting on Jake's nosy neighbor getting But if he can't be Jake, at least he can still have fun in Jake's body. 8) Summer Break Dullahans - 252 notes - June 2023 Eric was not expecting to find Ben's detached head in the dorms. I'm a big fan of detachable limb stories, so I decided to be a part of the change I want to see. (I'm also very rusty at GIMP / photoshop, but it gets the job done.) 7) The Great Gym Shift - 275 notes - August 2023 A version of The Great Shift, but with a limited radius. A gym instructor is stuck babysitting a bunch of grown men who suddenly find themselves in very muscular bodies. 6) Just Another Sunday - 279 notes - October 2023 A Chronovac story with unaware recipients and a retroactive reality shift that ripples through reality. I'm really happy with this one, though I will freely admit that I lucked out on the photos for this one. 5) An Excellent Choice - 291 notes - February 2023 My Valentine's Day story, dedicated to my boyfriend. As such, the emphasis is on a merging transformation sequence. Two men take advantage of new technology to become a new sum of themselves. 4) Group Project - 331 notes - November 2023 Another work set in the Swapper universe, where college students take advantage of body swapping technology for success or pleasure. This piece features Aiden, who has to hire a nerd to take over his body if he wants to pass his classes. 3) Cursing Fate - 337 notes - January 2023 It's an alien possession story with a dark twist. If you're going to align yourself with an extraterrestrial force, make sure you have something valuable to offer them. 2) Soul Stones: The Easy Life - 412 notes - March 2023 Alfie finds himself in the body of Jordan, one of the most popular athletes on the football team-- but he's not the one who plotted for the body swap to happen. It's one of my favorites for the year, and it's a series I could see myself returning to if the inspiration is right. 1) Rookie Mistake - 482 notes - May 2023 A novice magic user tries out an Astral Projection spell without reading all of the instructions. Things do not play out in his favor.
Special Mentions-
Travis Cordin - 382 notes - February 2023 by @mergeman My boyfriend's Valentine's Day story that he dedicated to me. A raw and electric story about a magic user who gives the resident nerd too much magical power.
Stories I Love (Part 1) and Stories I Love (Part 2) I was not expecting so many people to react to these lists, but these have been getting reblogged like crazy. More importantly, a lot of authors have been reaching out to show thanks and start conversations, which I appreciate even more. Like I said-- I'm not always the best at participating in the community, so I really enjoy hearing from people.
Top 5 All Time-
5) Revenge, Reversed - 517 notes - August 2020 4) Overbearing - 538 notes - May 2022 3) Finals Week - 552 notes - May 2021 2) Gym Merchandise - 610 notes - September 2022 1) Soulmate Swap - 659 notes - August 2022
It's always fascinating to see which stories get a second life through reblogs and new discoveries. Soulmate Swap is one of my heavy hitters, but both Gym Merchandise and Overbearing have gained a lot of momentum this year. Finals Week is starting to slip, though I'm still quite fond of it. I'm quite surprised to see Revenge, Reversed on this list given its age, but it's another one of my personal favorites.
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Best Underrated Anime Group J Round 3: #J4 vs #J7
#J4: Kids conquering dungeons to change the world
#J7: Lecherous young man gets engaged to an alien princess
Details and poll under the cut!
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#J4: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
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Summary:
A Magi is a magician whose inclination toward magic is so immense that they can be said to shape the world. With their significant influence, each Magi chooses a worthy candidate to become a king, then helps them conquer strange labyrinths called "Dungeons" and acquire the power of mythical djinns within. Above all else, the Magi supervises their elected representative as they build a country that might one day bring the world to its knees.
Aladdin is a young Magi wandering the world in search of his true self. However, his journey is not a lonely one, as he is accompanied by his friend and mentor Ugo—a djinn he summons using his flute. On his travels, Aladdin also befriends Alibaba Saluja and guides him to a nearby Dungeon. With this newfound friendship, they begin an epic adventure across the world, witnessing various irregularities that seem more frequent than ever.
Propaganda 1:
Imagine characters from Arabian Nights/1001 Nights coming to life in an anime. Even though it is loosely inspired off of the tales, it is a unique time and place from most anime settings. It has action, humor, and deep concepts. One of my favorite parts about Magi is how well-developed the background characters are.
Propaganda 2:
This anime has a lot of philosophical takes on what fate is. Basically, is everything that happened to you caused by a force you can’t control or is it what you make of it? Is there something or rather someone pulling the strings on what should or shouldn’t be? Is the person you are because you were lucky or unlucky to be born in the wealthy family or not? Why are things the way they are? Why was I dealt with a shitty hand in life? Is it because I’ll never amount to anything, or is something doing this to me? Why are we here just to suffer kind of deal, but you know not the meme version, the really sad and real version. Then you have the side of the people who may have not had the best life, but found a way out of it. Why do some people get to feel the light when you went through the same thing, but still lost and in the dark?
Trigger Warnings: Partial nudity and slavery. One of the mains is a slave in the beginning, but the other two mains help free her from that.
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#J7: Urusei Yatsura (2022)
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Summary:
When aliens known as the Oni threaten to invade the Earth, they promise to leave under one condition—a randomly-chosen human must win a one-on-one game of tag against Lum, the beautiful daughter of the Oni leader. The “lucky” person selected happens to be the lustful and unlucky high-schooler Ataru Moroboshi. Given 10 days to attempt to grab Lum’s horns, Ataru realizes how impossible the challenge is as he is faced with Lum’s extraterrestrial powers.
Motivated by a promise of marriage from his childhood friend Shinobu Miyake, Ataru manages to catch Lum off guard. He mistakenly grabs hold of her bikini top first, but he eventually achieves his true goal. Although the game is over, Lum misunderstands that she is the one whom Ataru wants to marry, and she decides to move in with him. The poor student constantly tries to shake off the clingy Lum while doing his best to reconcile with his desired fiancée. After Ataru's heroic feat results in such a disastrous outcome, it is questionable whether luck will ever be on his side.
Propaganda:
This anime is actually a reboot; the original came out in the 80s. It honestly does the manga justice compared to the 80s anime. I absolutely love the animation, it really does stick to Rumiko Takahashi’s art style. Though the pacing is a bit different, overall it stays true to its manga counterpart. (It’s honestly too bad the series isn’t very popular in the west, it’s a great comedy/harem type show. And the thing is, it’s not your traditional harem where “the basic guy gets all the girls” which makes the show so much more enjoyable.) Everything about this show really captures the essence of the series. It’s able to be funny while still having its more serious moments. I just really love Urusei Yatsura, it’s so good.
Trigger Warnings: The art style is very colorful and could cause eyestrain
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When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.
If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.
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Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.
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excavatinglizard · 2 years
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Lizard’s Queer Space Opera Collection
What time is it? It’s ✨ lizard talks about queer sci-fi ✨ time
My family don’t understand how much joy I get from queer stories, and none of my close friend really read space operas (at least not with the same voracity that I do), so I’m appearing here to pass my knowledge on to you, the void that is my blog.
I read a lot of space operas, and I’ve had the incredible luck that the last handful I’ve picked up have been joyfully queer (or maybe we’re just seeing a shift in the sci-fi publishing world. I love it.). This isn’t a comprehensive list or anything, and this isn’t limited to pure space operas, but they are some of my favorites. Hope I can convince some of you to read a couple (and if you do or have read any, please come and shout at me! I want to talk about them! Always!)
I originally wrote these out for my Instagram, and I can’t really be bothered to retype it all so below the cut are my quick descriptions/thoughts on each of the books, but I’ll chuck the list here too
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin
Machine, Elizabeth Bear
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
A Matter Of Oaths, Helen S. Wright
A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine
The Collapsing Empire, John Scalzi
These are just books that I’ve read in the last year or so, and if you have any more recs please tell me!
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A couple additions that didn't make it to Instagram:
If you like graphic novels, please give On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden a shot, it's really lovely and quiet and feels like a big warm space hug.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado is a collection of horror short stories, some of which border on scifi, which is why it didn't make it into the main list, but I highly recommend it. My copy was given to me by the lovely @markcampbells
I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter has a bit of a history due to its presentation of gender, and the author actually asked for it to be removed from the Clarkesworld magazine due to the hate comments she was receiving. Still, if you can find it I highly recommend it, as it is genuinely very good.
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer is. Wow it sure is a book that emotionally damaged me. It's about two boys (men? they're 17 but it doesn't feel like a YA book, except int he good ways) who are on a spaceship heading out to Titan to attempt a rescue mission on Earth's first extraterrestrial colony. There are a lot of feels and ouch.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North. This book isn't a space opera, but it is somewhat sci-fi? anyway, Harry August is one of my favourite books of all time, and it explores a man trapped in what is almost a timeloop, except that time-loop is his whole life. each time he dies he's reborn right back where he started, and it's only through his and the other people like him's actions that the world is ever changed in each repeat.
The Culture series, Iain M Banks. I put this one on the list with a good bit of trepidation and the warning of: these books were written by a (supposedly) cishet white man, and almost all of his protagonists are…nearly cishet white men (with a couple women thrown in in later books). The same can not be said for literally every other character, who are almost entirely trans and bisexual. These books really gave me my love for space operas and if you're a fan of the genre I recommend. Also, the AIs here are amazing. Let us not forget the Ship "Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath". They're great.
(I’m also going to add, I would not recommend his normal fiction. I’ve read two, The Wasp Factory which kind of scarred and disturbed me, and Transitions which was just plain bad. Maybe I picked a bad selection, but I can only in good conscience recommend his sci-fi.)
And that's it my dudes! go forth! read queer space operas!
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carrie-tate · 6 months
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I wanna see this s/i very very much, I love all your doctor who stuff it fills my lil soul <3333
Thank you! ahem, now be careful, this is going to be a very long post.
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This is Beatrice, a girl with a slightly alien origin.
In fact, she is a half-breed, that is, one parent is human, most likely the mother, and the second is an alien, obviously the father.
And in short, what is the essence and how she and the Doctor crossed paths, it’s all interconnected!
The events of their future meeting would begin with the observation of a strange trend over the course of twenty years (which the Doctor, as a Time Lord, may well notice), namely that in one of the areas of London (in the series aliens are always doing something in London x'D) everything is always suspicious... good
Like, there is always good weather on the weekends, always snow on Christmas, even when there was total chaos - there is the least loss and destruction. Any cafe or other establishment develops faster than others and their business is always going up.
And this is downright strange, because this (I came up with this myself) upsets the balance of negative and positive energy. If there is such luck here, it means that later, with the same force, a negative one will strike at once.
And this would be a catastrophe, which the Doctor decided to prevent (for him it was more of a pure walk than a mission on a universal scale) by finding the source of this phenomenon.
And at about the same moment he stumbles upon Beatrice. And an interesting observation occurs. In an area where everyone has incredible luck, the Doctor finds a girl who is not only clumsy, but also terribly unlucky, mixed with a bit of luck that turns out to be more bad luck.
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For example, tripped over own foot, found someone’s discount coupon on the ground, but in the end it turned out to be expired, and so on.
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And here the Doctor realizes that this phenomenon has not just the area of misfortune, but also an obvious center, where full of negative energy it attracts positive energy, creating all this
(Then it dawns on him that she, a 20-year-old person living in this area, is the cause of this phenomenon)
And in the end, the explanation for why Beatrice is this epicenter is explained by her extraterrestrial origin
Here I was also just making it up
But here is a concept with creatures that are like space nomads, that do not live in one place for a long time, precisely in order to maintain the uniformity of positive and negative energy in the galaxy.
There is also an idea in my head that due to the fact that they "bring goodness and positivity purely by their presence", they have served as the reason and confirmation in some religions of the existence of angels and their blessings.
(Here I use the Finnish translation of “angel” - Enkeli, because it sounds pretty)
And in general, genetically, these creatures may well connect with people
This is what happened, since my character’s father was just one of these “angelic nomads” (another name for the species)
And actually he wandered away and did not return
And daughter was given a genetic bonus in the form of accumulating negative energy, like arsenic.
Without awareness of what is happening.
And I came up with a way for the Doctor to try to correct the situation with the epicenter of negativity
That is
The idea is stupid, simple, but in its own way brilliant
What if, in order to neutralize the accumulation of negative energy at the epicenter, he simply begins to prevent further situations with further failures?
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Roughly speaking, he will begin to babysit Beatrice, grab her by the collar so that she doesn’t fall at the very last moment, for balance do positive things for her, in order not only to stop the flow of negativity, but also to begin to reduce it, neutralizing it with positivity specifically addressed to her
Not always successful, but gradually reducing the level of risk
That's actually why he takes her on his travels.
Because such a time bomb needs to be kept in sight, right?
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thewildwaffle · 1 year
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Taxidermy
Another story prompt from an ao3 user who is a taxidermist. Also, yes, the main human in the story is wearing a cape because I think of most of my stories being in a somewhat near-ish future where capes have come back into widespread popular fashion. Why? Because I believe that we deserve as much.
*** *** ***
Kimit was excited to have received the invitation to the banquet at the human ambassador’s home. If being totally honest, there was also no small amount of nervousness included as well. This was going to be a big night. If all went well, the Garbon Homeworld would be rolling in riches and security. Ever since Earth’s discovery and induction into the galactic community, everyone had been scrambling to make alliances and deals with humans. Thankfully the humans had enough diverse factions that no one extraterrestrial group had been able to create a monopoly for the Earthling’s attention or resources. That didn’t mean there wasn’t intense competition, Kimit frowned and landed the shuttle in a designated drop-off area. A human standing next to a podium nodded and came up to the shuttle. Kimit had done research before coming and knew to exit the shuttle, leaving the engines running. The idea of valet parking was new and a bit strange to the young garbon, but Kimit had to admit, it felt fancy. Rounding a corner to what must be the front entrance, Kimit caught sight of other guests at the front door. Most of them were human, but there were a few fellow extraterrestrials in the mix. They were dressed in various fine clothing, some were in Earth styles, some were distinctly Burnti-influenced, and others weren’t as easily discernable while still keeping a decadent look to them. Their conversation sounded pleasant and warm. As soon as they noticed Kimit, the group parted a bit. Some walked into the open doors, while others continued with their greeting customs. A tall human in a dark cape and a yellow tunic with official-looking braidings and pins called out and waved welcomingly. That had to be the ambassador. Rocco Martinez. He looked just like the photos Kimit had studied in preparation. “Garbon Kimit!” Ambassador Martinez strode towards the much shorter Kimit and placed a hand on his chin with a nod. Of course, he would know the customary greetings of each of his guests.
“I’m honored to have you here,” he continued. “I've heard a lot about you from the board of directors at NearStar Tech." "Oh?" Kimit returned the shorter garbon greeting and then reached out for a human handshake. “All good things, I hope?” “Nothing but the best!” Kimit’s entire arm shook a bit from the ambassador’s handshake. He could tell that, had the human wanted to, he could crush every bone in Kimit’s hand with a tight enough squeeze. “Daaaaad!” A voice from beyond the open door called out. “Were you wanting me to start the tour, or should I wait?” Ambassador Marinez looked for the source of the voice. The other guests still mingling outside began filing in. “That would be my oldest. I’ll have to introduce you, I’m sure she’ll have lots of questions about your line of work she’ll want to ask. Loves learning, that one!” The ambassador chuckled and started following the rest of the crowd inside. “You’ve arrived just in time too. We were just about to start a tour of the house if you’d like to join?” What luck! Kimit smiled and followed “I’d love to.”
The Martinez household was, by all means and standards, absolutely lovely. Large windows gave a view of beautiful, lush, outdoor gardens and greeneries. The furniture was well-placed and looked incredibly comfortable. Framed paintings and photos hung tastefully along walls. As the tour commenced, the ambassador would often pause to explain the significance behind a particular piece of art, or point out and name family members in pictures, or the locations the photos were taken in. Kimit had taken tours of large businesses, art museums, and governing offices before, but touring a home like this was definitely a first. That being said, it felt almost like a tour of the aforementioned. There were quiet offices and studies, one with a rather impressive private library, meeting spaces, workshop, and studio space that must have been only recently cleaned as Kimit noticed a canvas atop an easel had paint that had not yet dried. There was a garage that had several cars, speeders, and recreational crafts. The ambassador took special pride in pointing out the tools that were still laid out around one vehicle in particular. It was a hover glider sail hybrid his daughter was in the middle of building from scratch. There was also a home theatre room, bedrooms and guest rooms, and a large, busy kitchen. They didn’t stay in the last room too long, not wanting to get in the way of any of the chefs or servers inside. “I think we have a bit more time, I could show you the patio area at least. We’ll just cut through the trophy room real quick,” The ambassador started herding the group of guests through another grand doorway. “You can see our gardens, they’re absolutely beautiful right now. My wife and sons have quite the ‘green thumb,’ if you’ll pardon the expression. They even grew some of the food we’ll be eating tonight!” Kimit felt a bit excited at that. Gardening was a popular hobby among garbons, often even becoming competitive to some of the more enthusiastic. A human garden would be quite the sight to experience! Following the crowd through what Ambassador Martinez had referred to as “the trophy room,” something caught Kimit’s eye. With a glance, the poor garbon’s heart froze.
Teeth. Teeth and claws. Terrible claws. Long, sharp, deadly claws rose in the air so they could be brought down with ripping force. The creature that owned those claws was broad and tall. The brute strength of its muscles was clear even under the thick, shaggy brown fur. How had such a beast gotten in here? How many had it mauled already? What was one supposed to do when faced with such a monstrous creature?!? 'Do I freeze or do I run?' 'Can it smell me?' 'If I stand really still will it notice me?' 'Wait, why are the walls covered in animal heads?' Apparently, Kimit was not the only one in the group to be thinking along these lines. Several in the group, mostly non-human, stood petrified where they stood. A few of the humans paused, but only looked around, curious at the sight. “I didn’t know you were such a hunter,” one human in the middle of the group commented. Kimit wasn’t sure who said it exactly, but their voice seemed to snap the others out of their terror. The ambassador paused and turned around to his guests behind him. “Oh yes! Not so much anymore with the new job, but we used to go on a few hunting trips ever so often. A few of the antlers up there are mine. Those ducks up there are ones my son Bernie and I got two years ago.”
“And the bear?” The same human asked. “That’s actually one that my wife’s father got years and years ago.” It was only then that Ambassador Martinez finally picked up on the state of many in the group. “Oh, yes, so sorry everyone! I didn’t even think about-,” the color of the ambassador’s face darkened slightly as he stepped into the center of the room so he could better face the entire group. “None of the animals in here are alive, you are all perfectly safe. These are all taxidermied animals that my family has either hunted or had a special connection or interest in.” The humans and a few others in the group nodded. The rest of the group, Kimit included, just stared at the ambassador with a mixture of confusion and unease. “Dad, maybe we should take everyone outside through a different door?” the ambassador’s daughter offered from what had been the front of the group.
“No, it’s fine, we’re already right here. I just didn’t even think about scaring anyone with these guys, just so used to them, I guess,” Ambassador Martinez ran a hand through the fur of the bear creature standing next to him. It was taller than he was, but it didn’t move. It wasn’t alive, Kimit was calming down from the initial scare. “I know this may seem like a strange custom to some of you, but taxidermy is an art form where someone takes an armature and stuffing and mounts the furs we provide them with to make things like these.” Ambassador Martinez gestured to the life-like animal statues and heads around the room. “And is this is,” one of the other guests, a confused-looking donkun, ventured, “some sort of ritual humans do after the… death… of particular animals?” “Um, kind of?” the ambassador’s daughter shook her head and paused, unsure of how to explain. She looked at her father. Her father took over the explanation. “Well, I guess in a way, it could be? It’s not a ritual in the way that everyone does this or has to do this. We don’t always taxidermy what we catch. These were done because they were uncommon or had special memories associated with them. We wanted to remember them, what they looked like, and what the hunt was like, and in a way, it preserves our memories as well as the remains of the animal. “Sometimes people will taxidermy a beloved pet after it dies so that it’s almost like they’re still there with them in a way. Some people will also use taxidermies for museums and educational purposes to better display and study different animals. That’s especially helpful if the animal in question is, say, extinct, or there aren’t many living ones left to study.”
“That makes sense,” Kimit nodded and then paused. There were so many questions to be asked, but one, in particular, felt bothersome. How to ask this without coming off as judgemental or offensive? “But about the ones here, the ones, uh, the ones you and your family hunted?” “Yes?” “What happens to them, uh… I mean, do you… are they just hunted for display?” Ambassador Martinez blinked for a moment like he was digesting the question for a moment before a smile broke across his face. “Oh, no. Everything we hunt we also eat. And then whatever we don’t eat, gets used in other ways, and nothing goes to waste. We're very focused on sustainably around here," he reassured. Well, that was good, Kimit thought and nodded to show understanding. It seemed pretty much everyone else in the tour group also seemed to be a bit more at ease with that information. Still, Kimit took another glance around the room as the crowd shuffled out the door to the gardens, this room was quite unsettling. Especially that big creature. That bear thing.
Okay, yes, humans lived on the same planet with creatures like that, but was another thing altogether that humans went out of their way to cross paths with them! The newly revealed fact that they went a step further and decorated their homes with realistic facsimiles of the beasts… wow. Just wow. What the frewan would they think of next?!
Ambassador Martinez had seemed genuinely flustered that he had in any way troubled his guests by taking them through the taxidermy room. However, part of Kimit had to wonder if it was some sort of intimidation tactic. There were a lot of representatives and business leaders here looking to make whatever deals they could with the ambassador's people. Now, there wasn't a soul in the present group that wasn't made very much aware of exactly who they were dealing with: Humans who not only hunted beasts several times their size and power but then used their pelts to adorn their homes. And yet, the ambassador seemed so friendly and welcoming that those suspicions almost seemed a bit too farfetched. In any case, if this was just the tour of the house, Kimit could only wonder what else was planned for the evening.
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sonicasura · 3 months
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I think the funniest thing about Bendy being adopted by a character from a different franchise is the potential reactions. BATDR already established the Dancing Devil to have two alternate forms i.e Baby Bendy and Ink Demon(true form). No one will expect something small n cute to actually be a 10 ft tall bony terrifying devil.
There is already gonna be shenanigans considering our inky fellow is from a 30s cartoon who now lives in modern era. Or the fact he been living inside a perpetual dystopia with even littler exposure to things from that era. The Ink Demon just stare at his caretaker playing LoZ Tears of the Kingdom, probably get addicted to Minecraft and ask what the hell is a meme or Uber.
I cannot forget the potential reactions from other people who find out about Bendy. Characters that have experience with demons like Devil May Cry's Dante would definitely raise a brow. Extra points if the caretaker is human.
Dante: Okay so you went into cult run cartoon studio and adopted a ink devil made after the titular character of said cartoon. Kudos for the heartfelt insane decision. Hope it turns out well.
You can also delve into the scientific side with a series like Generator Rex. Everything unnatural in the show is the result of rogue technology i.e nanites in this situation. Nothing magic like Bendy as there's various occult rituals found all throughout Batim and Batdr.
Rex: An actual demon based on a cartoon character instead of an EVO that became ink. I guess anything can happen at this point. Good luck in caring for him.
Last example I'll give is from an extraterrestrial point of view. Otherworldly visitors would most likely be split in half on what can be considered normal for Earth and completely impossible. Someone such as Transformers' Jazz be on the normal side while Shockwave will view it an impossibility.
Jazz: Humans can take actual demons into their care? This planet just gets even more interesting by the klik.
Shockwave: Life forged from magic? Impossible just as it is foolish for a helpless organic to raise such a creature like they belong in a family unit(family). Purely illogical to let a unique specimen stay in unsuited hands.
Hey not all of it will be positive. There's gonna be dangerous religious nuts, mad scientists, and other hostile nuts that won't like such an arrangement. Although neither Bendy or his caretaker will take it lying down.
Especially considering the Ink Demon can practically go Beast by fusing with someone. I am actually curious if the form's appearance could be affected by the species of the person. Definitely stash that thought for later.
What do you guys think?
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birdmomblogs · 11 months
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Mythology Art Challenge ✨
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[ID: List of art challenge prompts called Birdmom’s Mythos Month. How to participate: 20 prompts are provided to give you flexibility to make art for every weekday and let you rest on the weekend. They do not have to be completed in any particular order (I only listed them alphabetically here) and prompts may be repeated as they are broad categories. Bonus prompts are included should you want a weekend prompt or feel inspired by your background. Any month can be Birdmom’s Mythology Month, so participate whenever you are able! Don’t stress, have fun and good luck! Use #birdmom mythos to share and feel free to tag me @birdmomblogs on Tumblr. 20 Prompts: 1. Aliens & Extraterrestrials. 2. Angels & Cherubs. 3. Centaurs, Satyrs, Minotaurs & more… 4. Chimeras, Griffins, Manticores & more… 5. Demons, Devils & Imps. 6. Dragons, Wyvern & Lizardfolk. 7. Elementals & Genies. 8. Elves & Dwarves. 9. Fairies, Pixies, Changelings & more… 10. Ghosts, Spirits, the Paranormal & more… 11. Goblins, Giants, Orcs & more… 12. Gods & Goddesses. 13. Mermaids & Sirens. 14. Monsters & Creatures. 15. Phoenix & Birdfolk. 16. Unicorns & Pegasi. 17. Vampires & Gargoyles. 18. Werewolves & Shapeshifters. 19. Witches, Wizards, Warlocks & more… 20. Zombies, Mummies, the Undead & more… Bonus Prompts: 1. Cultural/Regional Mythology. 2. Urban Legends & Fairytales. end ID]
*** I created this because I am not big on Mermay and always feel left out every May. I thought, "Why is there not a challenge that can include everyone's interests?!" So I decided to make my own. It’s not the fanciest post I know… But I did what I could with the energy I had.
There are lots of humanoids, creatures and other mythological beings you can choose from! So have fun and go wild with this! If art isn't your thing, feel free to try writing instead! I would love to read whatever you come up with :)
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I've been reading "Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology" by Kenneth L. Feder, and in the introduction to the book he lists a very helpful checklist of sorts to help discern between genuine science and plain hoax or pseudoscience. I think this list is very helpful in the age of the internet, especially with the prevalence of fake news spreading very easily on this site. I urge everyone to utilize this checklist, not just with archeology, but with science claims in general.
--Does the source of the archaeological claim cite "experts" in support of his or her claim, who make polite, innocuous, but otherwise meaningless statements about the artifact or site in question? Just because scientists say a claim is "interesting" and wish the claimant luck in his or her research is not an affirmation of that research. They are just being polite.
--Does the source cite "experts" but exaggerate their own credentials?; for example, is the PhD only honorary or from no known, accredited institution? That's s easy enough to check online.
--Does the source cite "experts" whose credentials are unrelated to the claims being made? Einstein was brilliant, but his fields were math and physics. He is not a relevant expert for claims made about geology or archaeology. Citing Einstein or other well-known scientists in support of claims outside their fields of expertise is problematic. Some people consider me an expert in archaeology. Even if I am, it that does not mean I have any meaningful insights to provide about brain surgery, opera, or automobile repair.
--Does the source cite "experts" whose previous extreme claims are not mentioned or cited?
--Does the source make what appear to be definitive statements about the age of an artifact or site without any supporting data, never telling you how he or she came up with the proposed date?
--Does the source make what appear to be definitive statements about the cultural affiliation of an artifact or site without any supporting data, never telling you how he or she came up with the identity of the makers of the artifact or the residents of a site?
--Does the source claim that the artifact would have taken too much time or there are too many of them to be forgeries? There is no logical reason to be lieve that merely because an artifact was well made, would have taken a lot of time to make, or exists in large quantities it must be genuine. Forgers are often diligent, talented, and hard-working. Don't underestimate them.
--Does the source make assertions about the appearance of an artifact that bears very little relationship to what's actually there? Simply put, if you have to be told that a piece of rock art, a sculpture, or a ceramic pot bears the image of a spaceship, extraterrestrial alien, or dinosaur-if you didn't see that with out that prompting-then in all likelihood there is no image of a spaceship.. extraterrestrial alien, or dinosaur. Trust your own eyes and brain and not the word of someone trying to sell you a bill of goods.
--Does the source preface most claims with phrases like "maybe," "if," "imagine," "could be," or "perhaps" and then present detailed scenarios about an tiquity, all of which require acceptance of the original speculation, which is never tested or proven?
--Beware of the question, "But isn't it possible?" On a broad, philosophical, in finite multiple universe kind of sense, hypothetically, anything is possible. So what? Is it possible that ancient aliens built the pyramids? Well, okay, sure. But it's also possible that in the next five minutes monkeys will fly out of your butt. However, let me assure you that you really don't need to worry too much about possible simian excretions. And the likelihood that aliens built the pyramids is about the same.
--Does the source demand, "Hey, if I'm wrong, let the scientists prove me wrong"? This is a fundamental misapprehension of the scientific method. The burden of proof always falls on those making claims. And, as Carl Sagan phrased it, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." In fact, I don't have to prove that ancient aliens did not build the pyramids. If you think they did, it's on you to prove that they did, and the evidence bar is going to be very high.
--I love Wikipedia. I often consult Wikipedia as a first step in exploring a topic. Then I check out the bibliographies of those Wikipedia entries to track down the original sources on which the Wikipedia article was based. For example, I am cited in a bunch of Wikipedia entries related to topics I address in this book. That's great, but don't rely on those Wikipedia summaries of what I've said. Scroll down to the bottom of those summaries and check out the origi nal publications on which they are based. Finally, if the source of an extreme claim in archaeology uses nothing but Wikipedia sources, you can safely ignore the claim.
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spacetrashpile · 5 months
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Masterlist of MOTW Resources
Have you ever wanted to play MOTW but had trouble finding the resources for the game? Well, here you go, PDFs of everything you might need in one place! As inspired by @freemotwresources's Masterlist of Playbooks. A list of everything in the folder can be found below the cut.
GAME MECHANICS
Revised Mystery Worksheet: The latest version of the "mystery planning" worksheet, a fillable sheet to help the Keeper plan each mystery.
Revised Hunter Reference Sheet: A reference sheet for all the moves every Hunter can do, plus some extra +Weird moves for Hunters that cannot Use Magic, as well as some more specific Magic options. There is also some other tips for running the mystery as the Keeper.
Playbooks and Teambooks: A list of all (official) MOTW Playbooks giving ratings to each Hunter's skill with fighting (Action), skill with research and other aspects of mystery hunting (Mystery), how many weird powers they get or strange things happen around them (Odd), how much the inclusion of the playbook will influence the game's story (Story), and how much the playbook needs the rest of their team to succeed (Team). Basically just a guide on how the official playbooks will affect the game.
PLAYBOOKS (OFFICIAL)
The Chosen: Your character is the chosen one in a prophecy.
The Crooked: Your character is a criminal.
The Divine: Your character has powers from and/or is chosen by a deity.
The Expert: Your character specializes in monster hunting.
The Flake: Your character is a conspiracy theorist.
The Gumshoe: Your character is a detective.
The Hex: Your character is a self taught magic user who's magic has terrible side effects.
The Initiate: Your character is a cultist.
The Monstrous: Your character is a monster.
The Mundane: Your character is a normal person.
The Pararomantic: Your character is in a relationship with a monster.
The Professional: Your character works for a monster hunting agency.
The Searcher: Your character is dedicated to studying the unknown.
The Snoop: Your character is a reporter.
The Spell-Slinger: Your character is a magic user.
The Spooktacular: Your character is or was apart of a creepy circus.
The Spooky: Your character has powers from a mysterious source.
The Wronged: Your character's loved one was killed by a monster.
PLAYBOOKS (UNOFFICIAL)
The Apprentice: Your character has a mentor.
The Athlete: Your character is a student athlete.
The Big Game Hunter: Your character hunts monsters for sport.
The Braggart: Your character is "too good" for the other hunters.
The Brat: Your character is a trained hunter in a child's body.
The Constructed: Your character is an inhuman construct.
The Cryptid: Your character is a cryptid/urban legend.
The Cryptozoologist: Your character studies monsters.
The Deathless: Your character is hard to kill.
The Demonic: Your character makes demonic pacts with people.
The Displaced: Your character has time traveled here from the future and doesn't know why.
The Doomed: Your character has run out of luck as is about to die.
The Earthbound: Your character gets power from the earth.
The Exile: Your character is a monster hunter from the past sent to the future.
The Foreigner: Your character is an extraterrestrial living among humans.
The Hard Case: Your character has been in the game for a while and has many skills as a result.
The Henderson: Your character is a crazy old person.
The Mad Scientist: Your character specializes in the science of the supernatural.
The Meddling Kid: Your character is a Scooby-Doo style meddling kid.
The Mystic: Your character practices magic how most Wiccans/witches practice today.
The Operative: Your character used to be The Professional, but has left their agency.
The Ordained: Your character is apart of a supernatural/magical religion.
The Parasite: Your character is a parasite who's stolen the corpse of a dead hunter.
The Pest: Your character is extremely annoying.
The Protector: Your character is dedicated to protecting someone.
The Risen: Your character has come back from the dead.
The Science Guy: Your character does science.
The Scout: Your character is a girl/boy scout.
The Secret Seeker: Your character finds and keeps secrets.
The Sidekick: Your character is the sidekick to another Hunter. (similar to the Apprentice but plays differently and made by different people)
The Skeptic: Your character is a skeptic monster hunter.
The Star: Your character is a famous musician.
The Stranded: Your character spent a long time stranded in strange lands.
The Summoned: Your character was summoned to bring the apocalypse, but doesn't want to.
The Thrillseeker: Your character hunts monsters for fun.
The Time Traveler: Your character has time traveled from the future to help the other Hunters save the world.
The Tracker: Your character specializes in tracking things down.
The Traveler: Your character comes from an apocalyptic future.
The Unkindled: Your character is a fallen hero brought back from the dead. (A tribute to the Dark Souls game)
The Veteran: Your character is a grizzled monster hunter who's getting too old for this.
NOTE: The Brat, Foreigner, Parasite, Stranded, and Unkindled playbooks are all found in the same PDF.
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