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troquantary · 3 years

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Edward Cullen: That Boy Ain’t Right

So I was doing a reread of @therealvinelle 's collection of Twilight metas, as one does, and in "Edward, Denial, and a Human Girlfriend" she mentions that she doesn't believe Edward is sane. I thought, "ha, yeah, he's definitely not," and also, "but wait, what does that mean exactly, please say more about that." But since she's already inundated with asks, I've decided to use my own head-muscle and explore this idea. (TL;DR: I start out more or less organized, synthesize some points Vinelle has made across several posts (and have hopefully linked to them all where relevant but please tell me if not), touch a little on narcissism, then take a hard left into the negative effects of being a telepath.)

Just a couple things to note at the outset, though. Theses have been written already (probably) about Edward as an abuser. Edward being insane doesn't negate that at all; he's definitely an asshole and just...a disaster of a human being. (I find it more funny than anything, but YMMV.) I'm also going to try to avoid talking specifically about mental illness and how it relates (or doesn't relate) to abusive behavior -- that's territory I'm not really equipped to discuss, like at all. My starting point is "Edward has a deeply warped perception of reality," not "Edward has X disorder."

So: deeply warped perception of reality. The evidence? Goes behind a cut, because my one character trait is Verbose.

Vinelle provides a great example of it in the post linked above, which I'll just quote because she does words good: "[Edward] keeps acting like his romance with Bella is a romantic tragedy, and all the cast of Twilight are actors on a stage making it as sublime as possible." Edward's the one to pursue Bella, but he does so with the full belief, from the very beginning, that it will never last; Bella will "outgrow" him, go on her human way, and he can spend the rest of eternity brooding magnificently over his too-short romantic bliss. [Insert premature ejaculation joke.] Turning her is never an option, even though Alice, Noted Psychic, says that romancing Bella will either end with her dead (exsanguinated) or dead (vampire).

This framing, where he's a dark anti-hero in love with -- but never tainting! -- the pure maiden and eventually leaving her in a grand, tragic sacrifice to preserve her soul? It's fucking bonkers. Bella isn't a person to him in this scenario. As Vinelle points out, Bella's never really a person to him at all; he falls in love with his own mental construct, cherry-picking from what he observes of her behavior and her responses to his 20 (thousand) Questions to convince himself that she is the ideal woman.

Bella's not the only one who gets the projection/cardboard-cutout treatment. Edward sees everything and everyone through a highly particular, personalized lens. He filters his entire reality, which we all do to an extent, but the thing with Edward is that he starts with his conclusions and then only pays attention to the evidence that supports those conclusions. Often that evidence consists of what he admits in New Moon are only "surface" thoughts -- but recognizing that limitation doesn't keep him from taking those thoughts as representative of what people are. Edward then becomes absolutely convinced by his own "reasoning" and won't be swayed from what he has decided is Objectively True. It's obvious with Bella; it's also painfully obvious with Rosalie. (Vinelle explains this and brings up Edward's raging Madonna/Whore complex in the same post, so refer to that again -- she's right.)

He also catastrophizes. Everything. Bella's just vibing in her room, rereading Wuthering Heights for the 87th time? She's gonna be hit by a meteor, better sneak into her room while she sleeps. Bella's going to the beach with the filthy mundanes their human classmates? She's gonna fall in the ocean. Jasper's cannibal pals are stopping by for a visit, but know not to hunt in the area? DISASTER, DEFCON 1, ALSO FUCK YOU JASPER FOR EVEN EXISTING IN MY AND BELLA'S SPHERE YOU UNSPEAKABLE BURDEN. Edward must believe that Bella is vulnerable and in near-constant peril, to support the reality he has created in which he is the villain turned protector and maybe?? hero??? (!!!) for his beloved. So when the actual, James-shaped danger arrives, he goes berserk, snarling and flipping his shit and generally not helping the situation. His fantasy demands that Bella remain human, so instead of doing the very thing Alice, Noted Psychic, assures him will neutralize the threat (and not just a threat to Bella, either, but to Bella's family and any other human James might decide to include in the "game"), he vetoes it immediately, no discussion. Bella Must Not Turn, and he sticks to those guns despite James nearly reducing her to ground beef, despite leaving Bella catatonic with depression (but human! success!) in New Moon, despite Aro's order and his family's vote and, let's not forget, Bella's clearly and repeatedly stated desire to be a vampire. It's going to happen. But he doesn't accept it until Renesmee busts out of Bella like the Kool-Aid man and the poor girl's heart finally, unequivocally stops.

Sane people don't behave this way. I don't want to slap labels on Edward, but I can't help but note that he comes across as highly narcissistic. He's the only real person in his universe, the lone player among us NPCs. That probably has a lot to do with him being frozen in the mindset and maturity of a seventeen-year-old boy, but I think it's also just...him, on some fundamental level. His failure to connect with others and recognize them as full, independent beings with their own wants and priorities isn't like Bella's failure -- she's badly depressed. Edward is...something else, and I get the sense that his sanity has been steadily deteriorating over time. And a cursory google of narcissistic traits turns up some familiar-looking stuff. He's self-loathing, yes, but also grandiose; he hates himself for the monster he is (and hates most vampires besides Esme and Carlisle for their monstrosity, too) but still feels superior to humans, to the extent that he felt entitled to human blood and resented Carlisle for depriving him of his "proper" diet. He eventually returns to Carlisle, but he's far from content -- the beginning of Midnight Sun finds him in a state of ennui, bored and dismissive of (if not outright disgusted by) everyone around him, that has apparently persisted for years and years. He doesn't play the piano, he doesn't compose, he doesn't enjoy anything...at least until Bella comes along and then he becomes obsessed to a disturbing degree with her and his new, romantic tragedy spin on reality.

[Next-day edit: I’m not sure where else to fit this in, but the way Edward casually contemplates violence against people who have, at best, mildly annoyed him is...chilling. I have a hard time writing off his strategizing how to murder the entire Biology class as a result of bloodlust -- it’s so calculated, nothing like the blackout state of thirst Emmett describes when he encountered his own “singer,” and that is probably the default for when a vampire is extremely thirsty. But even ignoring the Biology class incident, Edward still does things like consider, with disturbing frequency, how he might grievously injure or kill Mike Newton, all because...Edward considers him his romantic rival (despite Bella barely giving the kid the time of day). He thinks about slapping Mike through a wall, which might be an amusing slapstick image, except as a vampire Edward’s actually capable of turning this boy’s skeleton to a fine powder. So it’s, y’know, kind of sick when you think about it.

But even worse than that, when Bella tells Edward about how she flirted with Jacob to get at that sweet, sweet vampire lore, Edward chuckles and then, after dropping Bella home, flippantly observes that now that the treaty’s broken, why not genocide? I’m not even kidding, it’s right there in Midnight Sun; he seriously thinks about the fact that he’d be technically justified now in wiping out the entire tribe because a teenager tried to impress a girl with a spooky story. That is fucked. Remember, Edward was there with Carlisle when the treaty was first established. He knows how remarkable it is that they even came to a truce in the first place, that it was only ever possible because Carlisle is...well, Carlisle, and that it marks a pretty significant moment in supernatural history. He doesn’t care; he doesn’t respect it, or he’d never think something like “Ha ha, if I went and killed them all, I wouldn’t even be wrong. I mean, I won’t do it, but I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be wrong.”

Again: not the thought process or behavior of a sane person. (Or a person that respects life in general -- sorry Carlisle, big L.)]

Finally, whether he's a narcissist or not, I think the fact that Edward has constant, unavoidable access to everyone's thoughts is a powerful contributing factor to his instability. He can tune out the mental noise to an extent, but he can't stop it -- so he comes to rely on it like another sense. This causes issues with disconnect and lack of empathy, of course, but there's another facet to this shit diamond: he's basically experiencing a ceaseless flow of intrusive thoughts. His narration in Midnight Sun suggests that he "hears" the words people think, can "see" what they visualize in their mind's eye, and can sense the emotional "tone" and intensity of their thoughts. Therefore, perceiving Jasper's thirst through his thoughts makes Edward more aware of his own, "doubling" the discomfort. This would be a lot to deal with even from just his immediate coven members, but Edward gets all of this pouring into his head like a firehose on a day-to-day basis because the Cullens live right alongside humans. I know Meyerpires have galaxy brains or whatever, but that's a ton to process.

Besides the compounding effect on his own thirst when he "feels" the thirst of others, Meyer never suggests that Edward has difficulty separating his own thoughts from other people's; even when he was newly turned, he recognized Carlisle's "voice" in his head as Carlisle's. That would create a whole different host of issues around identity, but it looks like Edward's escaped that particular torment. However, I can easily imagine that what he does experience is just shy of unbearable nonetheless, with an eroding effect on his sanity over decades. He can't sleep to escape it; he's on a dishwater diet and probably (like the rest of his family) experiencing a perpetual, low-grade physical discomfort due to his thirst never being fully satisfied; and he's around far more people than is the norm for vampires -- even discounting all the humans, his own coven is unusually large -- meaning more noise.

Honestly, it would be weirder if he were all there, considering.

And even though I feel like I lost a sense of structure around where I started ranting about telepathy, I've written like 1.5k words about Edward fucking Cullen and I think that's enough for one post.

#twilight #twilight renaissance #twilight meta #edward cullen #i stared too long and the twilight abyss gazed back #long post #major credit due to therealvinelle for having basically all the ideas already #theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin too since they agree and build off each other's metas a lot #idk how people who write meta can just crank these posts out i've been here for two hours #edited to add stuff i forgot to mention about edward's disproportionately violent fantasies

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staysaneathome · 3 years

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This Was Not A Dare, Reigen

Jon glares at each of the— the suspects traitors in front of him, tape recorder clutched tight in one hand.

Martin, wringing his hands uselessly, eyes wide and beseeching. Tim, fists clenched hard enough for his knuckles to go white and returning his gaze with a death stare of his own. Sasha, arms folded to form a barrier between Jon and herself, expression a perfect mask of concern. Reigen, radiating disappointment in every one of his gestures and quips. Elias, eyes weary, fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Some intervention this is turning out to be.

Jon wants to scream. Wants to reach out and shake someone, anyone, until they admit he’s making sense and it’s the rest of the world that’s gone mad.

Every single one of them (except Martin) could’ve killed Gertrude. He knows he has no proof that they did, but he has no proof that they didn’t either, can’t they see that? If they don’t want him to suspect them, it should be easy for them to actually give him proof of their innocence (like Martin did), instead of just repeating platitudes of “you know this isn’t acceptable adult behavior, Jon” and “you’re better than this, Jon”.

Who cares about knowing better or acceptable behavior when it’s your very life on the line? He’s half tempted to throttle the con artist, see how dignified or adult he is when he’s the one with a murderer on his tail!

…Not that Jon is a murderer. It’s just the principle of the thing, is all.

“Jon,” Elias says, tone soothing in all the ways he doesn’t want it to be. “This is absurd. This goes far beyond an unhealthy work environment. I’ll admit it’s partly my fault for letting it get this bad, I should have intervened earlier.”

Reigen cuts in with a hand gesture that is as effusive as it is dismissive. “That doesn’t make his behavior okay, Bouchard-san. It may be bad here, but Jon chose to follow me, Tim and Sasha, and yell at Martin, rather than going to the police or paying a detective, like Herlock Sholmes or something.”

Jon sputters. “Wh- It’s Sherlock Holmes, not—and he’s fictional!”

Reigen blinks sleepily, one eyebrow raised. “Oh? That doesn’t sound right. Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Jon all but shouts, rapidly reconsidering his stance on braining the sardonic little git with his tape recorder. “Don’t you even—an-and you’re deflecting again! Just like with your ridiculous ‘haunted gun’ nonsense!”

“I’m not!” Reigen says, clearly deflecting. “I’ve seen this kind of thing loads of times as the number one psychic. When a weapon kills lots of people over 100 years, the bad energy gets bigger and bigger until the gun grows an evil spirit and is hungry—”

“I refuse to believe Gertrude Robinson was murdered by a sentient blunderbuss!!”

“Be that as it may,” Elias interrupts, shooting them both a stern frown. “This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, Jon. Given how badly it’s affected your work ethic, I will be taking direct action to ensure it does not continue.”

Jon can feel his shoulders hunch almost against his will, dread pooling in his stomach at the thought of whatever punishment is about to be unjustly inflicted on him.

Only Martin looks half as worried as he feels, glancing between him and Elias nervously. By contrast, Tim looks downright triumphant, smirk nasty and vindictive. Sasha’s somewhere between those two, not openly celebrating his soon-to-be-downfall, but not acting like she’d lift a finger on his behalf either, though he’s unsure why that feels like it should surprise him. She’s always been as neutral as Switzerland.

Reigen, oddly enough, has more in common with Martin than with Tim. He’s staring at Elias like he’s waiting for a bit of news he knows he won’t like.

Jon thinks he’d appreciate that more if he wasn’t about to be unfairly lambasted simply for trying to stop a murderer and bring justice for an old woman who probably died frightened and alone. Much like Jon probably will once he’s been hobbled by whatever Elias is about to say next.

“Such as by restricting access to the archives from members of the public who are ultimately doing you more harm than good.”

…Wait.

What?

“What?!” Tim, Martin, and Sasha echo.

Reigen glances between them all, blinking in confusion.

Jon shares the sentiment entirely. His punishment is…for someone else to be removed from the archives? Someone he doesn’t employ or even like that much, no less?

He must have misheard, surely.

Though maybe not, given how Tim looks aghast, glancing between Elias and Reigen. “Okay, no, Reigen’s clearly not the problem here—”

“I’m very sorry, Tim, but Jon has made several remarks about the disruptive nature of Mr. Arataka’s presence in the archives.” Elias sighs. “From the arguments like the one we just witnessed to the nonsensical purchases of oddities inspired by his presence, such as Duolingo subscriptions,” Meaningful glare at Jon who resists the urge to clutch his phone guiltily, “That are now billed on the Archives’ expenses, it unfortunately seems as though he is dragging down productivity for all of you as an active stressor.”

“But we’re much better equipped to take statements from people who don’t speak English because of that!” Martin protests, stepping forward. “Isn’t it an advantage to have a more, more international perspective for our work?”

“One positive in a sea of negatives does not an advantage make.” Elias says, sounding infuriatingly like he’s misquoting something. “And really Martin, how realistic is it that this would help in more than a few isolated cases? I expected better from you.”

Martin’s face crumples, and his shoulders hunch, making himself smaller.

Jon finds his own mouth opening to—what? Say something? What would he even say?

Luckily, Sasha intervenes before he can dig his own grave further. “That’s as may be, but he’s a wonder for morale. He and Jon are funny, not anything serious, and I don’t think we’d have come to you about Jon‘s behavior unless he encouraged us to—”

“Which only fits into the delusion where Jon feels an outsider is rallying his subordinates against him, which is not good for his paranoid outlook.” Elias replies calmly. “And it’s never a healthy work environment when one employee feels the others are making them the butt of a joke.”

“I’d say that’s not as bad as when the boss feels he has the right to violate everyone’s privacy whenever he wants to just ’cause he’s feeling sad!” Tim growls.

Elias begins to answer, before Reigen finally speaks up.

“Sorry,” The con artist says carefully. “But you are…«I know this one…» banning me from the Archives? Yes?”

“That is the long and short of it, yes.” Elias says, grudgingly

“Why?” Reigen challenges, eyes hard and searching. “What have I, personally, done that’s wrong here? What behavior do I need to correct?”

There’s a moment of silence. The whirring of the tape recorder sounds uncomfortably loud.

“Mr. Arataka, are you currently under the employ of the Magnus Institute?” Elias asks, brow furrowed.

“Ah, no, no, but—”

“Are you looking to become employed by the Institute at this point in time, as a prospective member of the Archival Staff?” He fires off rapidly.

“Su-Sorry, but if you could just go a little slower—”

“Then I am afraid that unless you’re looking to fill out an employment contract or a Statement form, we cannot help you, Mr. Arataka.” Elias spreads his hands wide. “We are an academic institution, a place of research and learning. The Institute cannot allow for social dalliances on company time, especially not when those visits are negatively contributing to the work environment and the wellbeing of our staff.”

Tim throws up his hands, “I-I cannot believe this!”

Reigen’s mouth works soundlessly for a moment.

“Arataka is my…what do you call it? First name?” He says, at last. “Using it in this context is…inappropriate. Please call me Reigen, if you would, Bouchard-san.”

“Of course. My mistake, Mr. Reigen.” Elias does have the decency to look somewhat abashed. “Though, regrettably, I am going to have to ask you to leave the premises within the next twenty minutes, or I will be forced to call security.”

Reigen nods, jerkily, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Jon almost wants to call out to the fraud as he turns to go, grab him by the shoulder, pick another argument, something. He knows he should be happy, be glad that this thorn in his side will finally stop bothering him, but instead he just feels—befuddled. Off-kilter.

What happened to the man who once spent three hours arguing for the “spiritual effectiveness” of entirely performative and useless rituals, saying that ensuring his clients left his office fooled and contented was better than actually uncovering genuine supernatural forces and learning all there was to know about them? Why is he going so-so easily now, when he’s made Jon fight tooth and nail in every debate he’s had with the so-called psychic?

At the door, the con man pauses.

“Bouchard-san. You said I could come back if I had a statement to give?”

Elias shifts in his seat, looking bemused. “W-well, yes. That is a service we do provide. Of course, the statement would have to be genuine, and verifiable as such before we let you back into the Archives.”

“We don’t even do that for most of the rubbish we do take,” Tim mutters under his breath, and though Jon is glad he’s not the one being shot a quelling look, he does have to agree.

The con man turns back.

He’s got that smirk on his face that immediately puts Jon’s hackles up on instinct, prepared to argue against whatever inane point he’s come up with now to defend his phony psychic title.

“Gotcha.” Reigen says, far too cheerfully. «Ja ne.»

Then he strolls out of the office, as cool as a cucumber.

Jon could even swear he hears him whistling as he makes his way down the stairs.

There’s a moment of stunned silence.

“I’d do him.” Sasha pipes up, unhelpfully.

“Sasha!” Martin hisses, scandalized. “D-don’t you have a, a—”

“Oh, I don’t have to worry about that.” She remarks, far too blasé for someone in a newly committed relationship. “Tom’s heard about him too, and he agreed he’s just our type.”

“And I’m not?” Tim jokes, but there’s a hard edge to it that Jon’s found himself increasingly familiar with in the past few weeks.

Sasha shrugs with a mischievous little smile, as if that mattered very little to her.

Elias coughs. “Right. Well. Whatever your relations to Mr. Reigen are, please try to limit them to outside the workplace in future.”

The rest of the intervention is surprisingly subdued. Elias gives Jon access to the footage from the cameras in the rest of the Institute, and Tim bodychecks him on the way out of the office, muttering about how nice it must be to never face any consequences for his actions. Sasha follows, the way she won’t meet his eyes a condemnation in its own right.

Even Martin doesn’t say anything to him, just bites his lip and hurries past back down to the Archives. It doesn’t sting. It doesn’t.

Even as he settles in to watch and rewatch the CCTV records of Gertrude’s last week alive, Jon can’t shake the ridiculous feeling of foreboding that’s dogged him since Reigen left.

Most of him wants to say it comes from the fact that despite the fact that Reigen has not appeared in any of the camera records for the Magnus Institute before he started his term as Head Archivist in 2016, isn’t banning him from the Archives just letting the con man run around London with impunity, with no way for Jon to ascertain his movements or motives? That instead of solving a problem, Elias has just given a potential murderer free reign to escape?

But a small part of Jon, one that never could deny the sensation of being watched, that is frozen in second-hand terror whenever he reads a Statement, knows, Knows that it this stems more from the idea that the fraud will actually accomplish what Elias has unwittingly challenged him to do.

The illogical but pervasive surety that he will do so.

Jon’s not sure if he’s more afraid that Reigen Arataka will vanish entirely, another unfortunate victim become an unsolved mystery.

Or that he’ll come back, and bring whatever he’s managed to unearth on his insane quest with him.

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secondhello-moved · 2 years

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Okay ok so umm like black jack nd rock in psychonauts is a fun idea im gonna type some junk I made up hope u guys enjoy...smiles

I think rock is a very skilled psychic but as he got older he started only using his abilities to get what he wanted. I think a level in rocks mind would have a lot to do with the clairvoyance ability nd how its used to see the world through another persons eyes. Raz (the player) could wear like a pair of rocks sunglasses in the level to see people how rock does - this is both a cute concept to me but would also be a huge function in the level. The end of the level would be a boss fight against a version of rock that she sees herself as - this would be semi similar to the archetype level in pn2 except instead of being rocks archetype its fully based around clairvoyence nd seeing things differently. In rocks mind there would be doll versions of multiple characters hes effected in other manga, most of which see her as some nuisance. Only one who doesn't is the bj one - each section would probably be based around a different character (minus bj who I think will come around nd possibly be a part of the boss fight) raz would take the role of a detective finding evidence to convince rock the way he sees something is skewed or incorrect, I feel like this would be raz convincing rock ppl dont hate her entirely lol. Still pointing out flaws but not that its simply purely black and white - this also goes for the bj one as hed only see her in a positive light. The entire level is like a puppet show I think, or like a kid playing w their toys (sticking w the fact everyones a doll here) obviously I think this person controlling everything is the version of rock he sees himself as - which I mentioned earlier as the level boss. The boss is some altered version of rock thats just plain out evil, nd raz has to defeat them alongside rock to convince him shes more than just a demon in peoples lives. I think this boss would use the bj doll in the fight directly showing that rock thinks hes using bj . Lol. Once again raz has to show rock this isnt the case nd rock herself points out that this isnt what its like finally ending the boss fight.

Okay so originally I didnt know if bj in universe would be a psychic but considering I stand by the idea being psychic in psychonauts is just a stand in for being neurodivergent hed obviously be psychic - though probably repressed that fact, but unlike other characters in pn whos whole character is based around repressing their abilities I dont think that would be the main focus on bj but rather the fact he represses everything. The level would be similar to lobotos in pn2 where its a mix between an office building and the inside of a mouth however with bj its some enviorment mixed with the inside of a body. Bj explains to raz that theyre doing exploratory surgery on himself but cannot pin down where the pain is - raz suggests getting help from the outside nd bj shrugs this off. I think theres mental versions of kei nd rock here who act like the angel nd devil on your shoulder - psychonauts has never played w this idea nd so im doing it lawl. Obviously the two are just parts of bjs mind, kei is focused on healing and fixing while rock is more into just going along with the issues. Originally rock is made out to be the morally wrong one but as the level goes on it become clear rock also just wants Whats best for bj. Each part of the level is based around a specific body part till you reach the heart where the final is, idk what a boss in this level would be but I think itd be funny if raz had to actually do surgery - perhaps while hes doing it he has to avoid landmines inside the body which can cause a game over. In the end raz reaches the final dignosis nd its that bj cant fix whats wrong inside himself but should instead open up and seek support from others and that he shouldn't have to hide away so much of himself. Anyway.

#I KNOW. NONE OF MY FOLLOWERS UNDERSTAND BUT TRUST ME ITS COOL I SWEAR #therpy the game...#jalcabckk #explosion png

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mst3kproject · 3 years

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The Astral Factor

This movie has a great deal to offer the MSTie. It was written by Arthur C. Pierce, who did the same job on The Human Duplicators, and it can boast the presences of Leslie Parrish of The Giant Spider Invasion, Frank Ashmore of Parts: the Clonus Horror, and Rayford Barnes from Mitchell. The premise is ludicrous but presented with a perfectly straight face, and the whole thing just oozes 70’s-ness.

Roger Sands is a man of many talents, the most important of which for our purposes is his ability to become invisible in a shower of disco sparkles. This allows him to escape from prison, argue with his mother’s ghost (who apparently throws bangin’ parties in the afterlife) and go on a killing spree. The cops know who they’re hunting because he’s left fingerprints all over the place, but they have no idea how he’s moving around unseen. Fortunately, the prison psychologist knows some psychics who might be able to help them out… but will they be in time to save the various celebrities Sands is stalking, women who remind him of his own neglectful mother?

The main impression one gets from The Astral Factor is that it’s a parade of clichés. The first victim is killed in a bubble bath. Chuck the detective gets dragged out of bed to come investigate the case, which makes his girlfriend pout because she was hoping for sex. The killer is obsessed with his mother. Dogs and birds can sense Sands’ presence when he’s invisible. Chuck’s girlfriend is a terrible cook. That sort of thing. None of this needs to kill a movie, of course… clichés become clichés because they work.

Much worse for the movie is that it isn’t very interested in its characters. Sands’ backstory is that his mother was a movie star who thought it would ruin her career if it came out that she’d been briefly married and pregnant at the age of seventeen. She therefore distanced herself from him, leaving him feeling unwanted and invisible (insert giant blinking neon sign that says METAPHOR) until he finally got fed up and strangled her. This isn’t a bad setup for a movie’s serial killer, but the narrative doesn’t do much with it. Sands has a list of women he wants to murder, but we never find out what makes them good potential victims beyond simply being famous blondes. Surely there should be some moment of recognition, some sin they’ve each committed against their own families, but apparently ‘famous and blonde’ should be enough.

Opposed to Sands is, of course, Chuck the detective. He comes across as kind of a jerk but he does seem to love his empty-headed girlfriend Candy. I think his arc is meant to be that he starts off skeptical of the paranormal but is eventually forced to believe, but this is pretty badly mishandled – when the prison psychiatrist talks about Sands’ interest in psychic phenomena, Chuck seems bored rather than disbelieving, and when a man demonstrates telekinesis in front of him, he accepts it but looks entirely unimpressed. He never seems to be really affected by the phenomena he encounters. Instead of a man whose worldview is shaken to the core, Chuck appears to be merely annoyed that this is yet another thing he has to deal with.

The other possible arc Chuck has is that Candy suggests he get a job with ‘normal hours’ so that she no longer has to make coffee for his co-workers when they come to tell him about a murder in the middle of the night. He says he’ll think about it, but there’s no follow-up.

Finally, there’s Christine, the potential victim that we’re supposed to get attached to and worry about. She’s a spoiled trophy wife who hangs around in her mansion drinking while her husband, who lost all interest in her once she turned thirty, is out of town. The problem with her is that she doesn’t have much by way of a personality. In one scene she’s grateful for the cops protecting her, in the next she’s telling them to piss off and let her go shopping in peace, and then suddenly she’s sobbing in her room. Are these supposed to be mood swings? It feels more like neither the writers nor the actress cared enough to figure out who she is.

I guess that brings us to the movie’s misogyny, which is as rich and gooey as the inside of a lava cake but does not taste like chocolate. First of all, Sands’ problems are said to be his mother’s fault – she abandoned him, leaving him no choice but to murder women who remind him of her! The prison psychologist specifically absolves Sands of responsibility for his own crimes. He cannot be reformed, he cannot be helped, he must be locked up because his mother’s selfishness (more interested in her own career than in raising her son) destroyed his mind. Never mind that there are people with neglectful or even abusive parents who don’t grow up to be serial killers.

The women Sands kills are celebrities – models, dancers, actresses, socialites – because they remind him of his fame-obsessed mother. But as I previously mentioned, they’re not really all that like her. We don’t see any signs of any of them having families they neglect. The only one who even seems to have a husband is Christine and it’s him who neglects her. Perhaps the point is supposed to be that Sands has misjudged them, but we don’t see any signs of them being better than his mother in this respect, either. Most of them seem to have avoided children in order to focus on their careers. Perhaps in the mind of a male writer in the 70’s, this is itself a sin.

Certainly the movie is not interested in these women as characters. I’ve already discussed Christine, but there are others. The first one comes home, takes a bath, and dies. The second one is working on a painting when her dog runs off – she chases it, and she and the dog both die. The third is the dancer at her rehearsal. She has the creeps for no reason, does her rehearsal, and dies. The emphasis is always on their bodies: they’re sexy, then they’re dead. The sequence with the dancer is particularly weird, with her male partner representing the devil dressed in some kind of bondage getup.

The most frustrating thing about The Astral Factor, though, is that it really doesn’t know what to do with its premise. It keeps bringing up interesting ideas about what a psychic murderer might be able to do, and then just drops them.

The opening scene, in which Sands escapes from jail after telekinetically beating up his cellmate with furniture, seems to promise us a much more exciting movie than we get. After escaping, Sands visits the cemetery and his heart-to-heart with ghost mom is interrupted by a security guard. Sands uses his powers to push the guy into an open grave and bury him alive! I wanted to see more of this kind of thing, but after that Sands seems to forget he can do anything besides the ‘becoming invisible’ thing. Later victims are either beaten or strangled, as if they were killed by some loser who doesn’t have any psychic powers. Perhaps he has to strangle the women because that’s how he killed his mother, but he does the same thing to bodyguards and boyfriends when we know he has more creative means at his disposal.

The rest of the movie is also at odds with the title, which suggested this would be a movie in which Sands sits in jail the whole time, astral-projecting himself into his victims’ homes to strangle them. This idea is discussed, but it is in no way what happens so I’m not sure why they brought it up. There are a couple of reasonably effective scenes, as when it’s implied that Sands is invisible inside his first victim’s apartment but we can’t be absolutely sure until he starts interacting with objects. The bit where the dancer is strangled onstage and people don’t intervene because they think it’s part of the show… that’s another cliché but it works all right.

The Astral Factor also has no interest in how psychic powers work. They’re shown to require great concentration for the guy demonstrating them at the institute, but Sands seems to throw things around effortlessly. Why is that? Where did he get these powers? Just by reading about them? Can anybody learn to do this or just certain people? If the latter, what makes Sands special?

In trying to catch his invisible killer, Chuck shows very little creativity. I can think of a bunch of ways to try to thwart an invisible man. What about filling a room with mist or smoke? What about scattering flour on the floor to show his footprints? What about physical tripwires? None of these are ever suggested. Nor does anybody ever come up with the idea of fighting back psychically. If anybody can learn these powers, that could have been a cool thing for Chuck to have to do – not only come to terms with the fact that this exists, but having to figure out how to do it himself! Or if only special people can do it, why not hire one of those psychics the scientists were working with? If a parrot knows there’s an invisible man there, surely another psychic could figure it out!

The way they do eventually catch Sands is by having Christine speak to him as if she is his mother, which prompts him to reply, and the sound of his voice tells the cops where to aim their guns. This works, but it’s not nearly as interesting as some of the other possibilities and does not reveal anything new about Sands himself.

Watching people get ‘strangled’ by something invisible is always fun, and The Astral Factor has a couple of really funny special effects (I especially like the cellmate pretending to be in a fight with his mattress), but mostly the movie is a disappointment. It had potential to be way scarier and way more fun if it were willing to explore its premise a little more deeply, but all it really wants to show us is blonde women getting killed.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #the astral factor #70s

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bamfdaddio · 3 years

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X-Men Abridged: 1968

The X-Men, those ever-so-slightly exhausting mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 40 - 51) - written by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich and Arnold Drake. Drawn by Werner Roth, Don Heck, George Tuska and Jim Steranko

Did you know Frankenstein’s monster was an android, sent to earth by aliens as an ambassador?

My English Lit professor LIED TO ME! (X-Men 40)

Whereas last year served up a cohesive narrative by making it all about Factor Three, 1968 gives us a hodgepodge of clumsy and confusing storylines. This might be due to the different writers at the helm: last year was all about Roy Thomas, this year we’ve got three dudes pulling it in different directions.

What doesn’t change is the prose. So much purple prose.

Anyway, this year is all about THE DEATH OF PROFESSOR XAVIER and THE RETURN OF MAGNETO! (If you think this is terrific foreshadowing and not something that kills all narrative tension, boy howdy, you’ll love reading comics from this era.)

The best kind of foreshadowing drags you into an alley, punches you in the nose and steals your shoes. Fuck subtlety and proper twists. (X-Men 41)

Anyway, Xavier is acting all out of character: cranky, angry, impatient, barely using his powers for immoral purposes… He pushes the X-Men to the brink and continually sequesters himself with a troubled Jean.

Meanwhile, Bobby and Hank’s date with Zelda and Vera is interrupted… again. At this point, I just have to believe that Zelda and Vera are embroiled in some torrid lesbian relationship, while Hank and Bobby serve as their beards.ANYWAY, their date is interrupted by the Grotesk, the last remaining heir to an advanced subterranean species who have recently been slaughtered by an earthquake machine of human making. Look, how many underground societies does the Marvel Earth even have? Did these Grotesks live next to the Molemen? I…

In defense of Grotesk, spinning him around like a fucking bola is one of the top three things I´d like to do with Angel too. (X-Men 42)

The X-Men try to stop the Grotesk from sinking the Eastern seaboard into the Atlantic, and in the end, the Professor sacrifices himself to stop him, paying pays the ultimate price!

OR DOES HE

To make it even more tragic, apparently Xavier was dealing with some mysterious illness that neither human medicine nor mutant powers could cure. But before he died, he somehow transferred his powers to Jean. (Either pretend this happened or retcon it him awakening Jean’s latent telepathy.) Anyway, Chuck wanted to prepare them for the return of… Magneto. (Also Pietro and Wanda.)

Quicksilver crashes Xavier’s funeral, unsure whether he should ask the X-Men for help. He doesn’t. Meanwhile, Magneto somehow has duped some hapless time-displaced TikTokker into filming the grisly affair. (X-Men 43)

What follows is a sort of confusing crossover with the Avengers where the X-Men mostly get sidelined in favour of some drama involving the House of M. Wanda has some temporary mental damage that only Magneto can cure? Also, Pietro hates humans now, which, given the state of the world in general, I can only concur with.

Magneto captures the X-Men in customized cages, designed to be unescapable, but Angel escapes by simply pushing the right button. He flies off to get help, stumbles upon a weird and ultimately meaningless side quest and finally returns with the Avengers!

But! Magneto turns the X-Men against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Just kidding: the X-Men pretend to go along with Magneto’s mind games, but this was all a plot concocted by the heroes to make Magneto feel like he’s winning. Instead, the heroes attack and drive Magneto back. Toad, who finally is fed up with Magneto’s abuse, emancipates himself and defies Magneto, kicking him out of the helicopter he, Wanda and Pietro flee in. Magneto seemingly falls to his death in the water.

OR DOES HE.

First of all: why would Magneto just make a non-ferrous aircraft? Second of all: why would he then BRING IT ALONG? Big mad. (Avengers 53)

Following Xavier’s death, Foggy Nelson reads his will. The Professor bequeaths the school to the X-Men! Fred Duncan, Professor X’s FBI liaison is also there! And then! Juggernaut briefly returns from the dimension of Cyttorak, stirs up trouble and is then sucked back into the ruby of Cyttorak thanks to a Professor Ex Machina from the grave. This somehow convinces Fred Duncan that the X-Men should split up, fearing they may be too big a target for evil mutants and thinking they might be better at responding to threats spread out over the continent.

Yeah, Angel will be so much more effective when he isn’t part of a team of much more powerful individuals. (X-Men 46)

So, the X-Men split up! In NYC, Bobby and Hank battle Warlock, the most forgettable villain ever, when he interrupts their date. They also get into a fight with hippies because of… poetry?

Yeah! Put the slam in poetry slam, odd beatniks! *aggressive finger snaps* (X-Men 47)

Jean and Scott ‘go undercover’ in California, with Jean becoming a model and Scott ‘pretending’ to be her superjealous boyfriend. So, instead of actually forming a relationship, they just pretend to have one? Fuck, these two are exhausting. Jean also forgot she attends a university, apparently. Which is just as well, because it means boring Ted and his boring brother disappear from the narrative.

They are attacked by an increasingly silly string of villains and it’s obvious that nobody really knows what to do with this book. They even skip an issue: the preview for issue 49 is something completely different than what we’re getting.

The year ends of a sort of high note, however, introducing two familiar faces. Mesmero,a hitherto unknown follower of Magneto, is amassing an army of would-be mutants by… hypnotizing them? Through their… X-Gene? Among them is a curious gal named Lorna Dane, who is rocking the brown hair. Bobby saves her from her drone-like state and keeps an eye on her while the rest of the X-Men investigate Mesmero.

Lorna meanwhile takes a shower, washed out the cheap dye and is revealed to have green hair. (Fuck yeah! But also maybe buy better dye?) Bobby and Lorna are captured by Mesmero and his cronies, and Bobby warns the other X-Men telepathically. They let themselves be captured by Mesmero too, figuring it’s the easiest way to find his lair. There, Mesmero awakens Lorna’s latent magnetism powers, and bestows on her two sweet titles:

Somewhere in Kenya, Storm is upset and doesn’t know why. (X-Men 50)

And, in another shocking twist (gasp²), Magneto’s alive!

You say ‘aura of unspeakable evil’, I say ‘prime dom top daddy’. (X-Men 50)

He fights the X-Men while Polaris tries to determine who she holds allegiance to: the father she just met or these other randos she just met. You’d think she would maybe not want to hang out with the raving demagogue, but hey. Maybe it’s magnetic attraction. The X-Men flee, forced to regroup, and we end the year there, with the ‘innocent’ Lorna Dane under Magneto’s thrall.

Didn’t you take Art History? Oh! Issue 50 has the familiar logo for the first time, created by Jim Steranko!

So one cape tassel goes over the shoulder and one goes under it? Why is there a little skull with horns in the middle? Why the strappy sandals? Mesmero, sashay away. (X-Men 50)

Ugliest Costume: It’s a toss-up between Mesmero and Polaris, but since I assume Mesmero designed Polaris’ outfit, we’ll just give it to him.

Best new character: I didn’t think she’d earn it, because I’m not the biggest fan of Lorna Dane (most writers use her as a plot device, rather than a character), but otherwise this would go to Grotesk and that’s never going to happen.

Most audacious retcon: Jean is able to psychically penetrate Juggernaut’s helmet, which used to protect him from Charles’ influence.

It’s also kinda funny how after years of retcons where Polaris, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver sometimes are and sometimes aren’t Magneto’s kids, how it is right now is the same as when it started: Lorna is Magneto’s daughter, the twins aren’t.

What to read: Nothing. This is not a great year.

Death proof: ‘Chuck’ kicks the bucket for the first time.

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melissart · 3 years

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Say One Thing, Mean Another (Kaidou Shun/Saiki Kusuo)

Summary:

Reading thoughts and reading feelings were two completely different abilities. Most people had a monologue always running in their heads, conveniently narrating their every experience. Call it spotlight effect, call it middle school syndrome, call it romanticization—whatever you called it, Saiki would know, because he could simply read your mind. But some desires were so unconscious that even Saiki couldn’t read them.

No one was more repressed than the self-deluded cram school mama’s boy: Kaidou Shun.

AO3 link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28999770

Read below

No one was more repressed than the self-deluded cram school mama’s boy: Kaidou Shun. Kaidou thought “first base” was holding hands, and even that thought reduced him into a blushing, stuttering, face-hiding mess. He couldn’t even access objective reality half the time, much less access his deepest feelings. Saiki couldn’t even imagine how Kaidou might handle such overwhelming emotions, given how easily at the slightest of confrontations. He once saw Kaidou cry at a convenience store because he couldn’t decide between two compelling brands of instant noodles (Best around or best in town? Around? In town? Around? In town? Aroundintownaroundintownaroundintown...) Needless to say, Kaidou was the most likely candidate to be hiding a dark secret.

None of that Dark Reunion fantasy bullshit. Saiki meant a real dark secret, the kind of revelation that could make a mute man gasp. Just because Kaidou cried when someone tried to tell him a “yo mama” joke doesn’t mean he can’t hide his feelings when it mattered the most. Growing up with a strict mother ruined his values for honesty. Kaidou’s lying was almost on a pathological level, with boundless creativity that showed in the character sheet journals hidden under his bed. He was sometimes so good he fooled himself, but glimmers of the truth shone through in unexpected moments.

It started with a fit of laughter in their lunchtime group. Nendou swore he could handle chopsticks up his nose with enough dexterity to pick up a cherry tomato. Admittedly, he almost succeeded, but Aren flinched away in disgust because he didn’t want to have his lunch contaminated by Nendou’s nose-chopsticks, and the sudden movement accidentally led to Aren’s elbow shoving one of Nendou’s nose-chopsticks too far up, which then caused a ridiculous-looking nosebleed down the chopsticks and into Nendou’s rice.

Saiki’s first thought was ew, but then he caught a quick glance from Kaidou while he was bursting into tears laughing, and suddenly, he couldn’t stop himself from exercising the stiff muscles around his lips into a smile. Kaidou was checking if Saiki thought it was funny, too, as if he needed permission to continue laughing. Saiki didn’t care about pride and certainly didn’t prescribe to any notions of toxic masculinity, but the thought of being the alpha male with Kaidou gave him a good feeling. A feeling that just felt… good.

Saiki still couldn’t read feelings well, not even his own, but he had a strong sense for logic. Kaidou was smaller, weaker, with a kind of reckless yet innocent boyish charm that made him hard to look away from at times. Anyone’s instincts would tell them that Kaidou must be protected at all costs and Saiki, with all of his godlike abilities, was obviously the most qualified person to protect him.

Again, Saiki was bad with unconscious desires. He found himself following that instinct to protect Kaidou in the smallest of moments. Although Saiki protected all of his friends (and humanity) from danger, even Nendou started noticing Saiki’s special treatment of Kaidou.

“Th-Th-The hellfire th-that the Dark Reunion has c-c-cursed me with a-a-always keeps me w-warm,” Kaidou bluffed, on an especially frigid winter day.

What he meant was that the puffy pink jacket his mom tried to send him to school with was too embarrassing, so he lied and told her the weather was supposed to be warmer later. Honestly, Saiki didn’t even need his clairvoyance to predict that. He immediately shoved the extra coat he brought to school at Kaidou. Kaidou got sick too easily, especially with the long nights he spent studying and the longer nights he spent writing fanfictions. Saiki even pre-heated the coat with his pyrokinesis.

“E-Eh? That’s for me, Saiki?” In hindsight, Kaidou was a little too eager to accept Saiki’s coat and he must have definitely sniffed it to see if Saiki’s scent was on it while he thought nobody was looking. “Ah, it’s so warm!” All talk of the Dark Reunion was dropped. Kaidou beamed at Saiki brightly. “Thank you, Saiki!”

The pure look of elation in Kaidou’s crimson eyes as he smiled at Saiki, just Saiki, specifically Saiki, gave him that good feeling again.

Nendou glanced between the two. “You brought that extra coat just for him?”

“That’s just because—” Aren started, but then stopped. “Huh. Nendou’s right. That is very considerate of you, Saiki.”

Saiki didn’t usually slip up and cause himself unnecessary attention, but he brushed it off and convinced himself he was only acting in self-interest. Seriously, it would be a pain if he had to put up with Kaidou calling him in the middle of the night to complain about his symptoms. Kaidou always called him at odd hours of the night, usually to spew some cryptic warnings about lurking enemies, and every time, Saiki delayed his sweet REM cycle just to placate him. It made no sense to call a mute man. (But it made even less sense that Saiki always picked up.)

“Saiki is always reliable,” Kaidou argued. “That’s why, when the Dark Reunion strikes back—”

Then, Kaidou proceeded to plagiarize the plot of the Star Wars episode “The Empire Strikes Back”. Saiki was too busy watching the self-insert adventure inside Kaidou’s mind to question the extent of his admiration of Saiki. Out of everyone, Kaidou’s thoughts were the most interesting to read. Kaidou’s imagination came in full technicolor, with exciting camera angles and cinematography professional enough to be entered in film festivals. When there was nothing good on TV, Saiki sometimes tuned into Kaidou’s thoughts for entertainment. Kaidou managed to distract everyone else from Saiki’s strange favor, too.

Saiki should have realized earlier how powerful Kaidou’s redirection was, effective enough to rival Chouno’s magic tricks. Kaidou was easy to underestimate, but the sheer amount of lies he told on a daily basis was proof of his true manipulative nature.

No, “manipulative” was overshooting it. Kaidou was just conditioned by his social anxiety to lie in everyday situations to preserve his self-image. Saiki knew that struggle better than anyone else, just in the opposite direction: dedicating his life to feigning normalcy. Yet, even though Saiki was the one who regularly erased memories, time traveled, and rewrote reality to maintain the status quo, Kaidou was still the one who went overboard in comparison.

Saiki and Kaidou were walking home together one day, just the two of them, because Aren usually took another way home and Nendou had baseball practice. Kaidou was filling Saiki in about the latest addition to the Dark Reunion saga, complete with a mini movie in his mind to accompany his narration: Kaidou had tamed a wild beast that was terrorizing a small village, which later warmed up enough to become his consort, but the beast had been mind-controlled by the Dark Reunion the entire time as a spy to figure out Kaidou’s whereabouts, which then led to Kaidou breaking the beast free from its mind control using his own forbidden knowledge of the dark arts and returning the beast into the wild.

In reality, the “beast” was a chihuahua that was bothering a kid, but then started following Kaidou home. Kaidou wanted to keep the chihuahua, but his mother said no, because the chihuahua probably belonged to someone else, even though it had no collar. He had to kick the chihuahua out of his house in hopes that the small dog would eventually find its way home. Saiki was sure the entire mind control fabrication was some type of coping mechanism to help Kaidou feel less guilty about kicking the dog out onto the cold streets.

Then, Kaidou’s knuckles accidentally brushed against Saiki’s and Kaidou’s internal alarm rang loudly in both of their minds:

Wrong! Bad! Stupid! Just ignore it, just ignore it, just ignore it!

Kaidou was screaming so loudly in his mind that Saiki instinctively covered his ears, even though there was no external sound to cover his ears from. All of Kaidou’s thoughts had instantaneously spiralled into a frenzy of self-loathing, overwhelming to the point that Saiki couldn’t even decipher what exactly Kaidou was ashamed of. The situation caught him so off-guard that he ended up doing what any normal non-psychic person would do—he asked Kaidou what was wrong. With telepathy, of course. It was easy to get away with using telepathy for conversation since Kaidou was too ashamed to look at Saiki at that moment.

“N-Nothing’s wrong!” Kaidou’s blushing face said otherwise and he knew it. He suddenly stopped in his tracks. “No… I can’t lie to you any longer, Saiki. You deserve better than that. The truth is—”

And then Kaidou told another lie, this time centering around a growing imbalance between light and dark forces of the universe that, according to an ancient prophecy, only Kaidou could heal with the great power sealed away in his right hand that he still had yet to fully control. He went into full detail about the brutal training he endured, the battles of wit against his enemies, the secrets he had to keep from his loved ones to protect them from evil—all of which ironically described Saiki’s life more than Kaidou’s—and how lonely it was carrying such burdens, as heavy as the world on Atlas’ shoulders. The vivid montage played in Kaidou’s mind, returning his mental space to its usual deluded state. As usual, Kaidou went overboard with preserving his self-image.

Good grief…

Saiki kept walking and Kaidou had to run to catch up and everything was back to its usual rhythm, with Kaidou’s behavior matching his thoughts again. That was another weakness of Saiki’s. He was so insistent on keeping his boring life boring that he overlooked something important.

Kaidou never actually admitted what was bothering him.

Daniel Kahneman said, “When faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.” Saiki asked Kaidou, “What’s wrong?” but accepted the answer to “What’s your made-up hero’s burden?” without noticing the substitution. Saiki wanted to protect Kaidou, but he couldn’t cross any boundaries. What if Kaidou was put off by Saiki’s insistence and gossiped about how pushy Saiki was? What if Kaidou took it the wrong way and it caused a falling out between them? What if Kaidou just started crying and all the passersby assumed Saiki had just said something awful to his own friend? There were too many risks. If Kaidou refused to think about what was bothering him, then Saiki just wouldn’t know.

It was better that way. Kaidou had a right to his privacy, which was limited enough by Saiki’s mind reading. Saiki didn’t have a right to any of it—Kaido’s thoughts, Kaido’s secrets, and especially Kaido’s friendship. He was sure Kaido would’ve been better off without a killjoy mute friend that constantly invaded the personal thoughts of everyone around him. The less they knew about each other’s lives, the easier life would be. It was a simple formula that guaranteed success.

If only life were actually that simple. The only law Saiki’s universe followed was Murphy’s Law.

Kaidou’s screaming thoughts started coming more frequently and it was always Saiki that set it off. When their eyes met from across the cafeteria, when they were the last ones awake during a late night group study session, when they reached for the same cafeteria item at the same time—screaming. Kaidou was getting better at not letting it show on the outside, but that only made the self-loathing episodes louder and longer. And still, even with psychic powers, Saiki had no idea why exactly Kaidou was in so much anguish when he was near. All he knew was that it was getting worse.

Saiki was a psychic, not a psychologist. He had to use his logic for situations like this. Kaidou felt awful around him and Saiki didn’t want Kaidou to feel awful, so obviously Saiki just had to avoid Kaidou to resolve the issue.

So, he did. He didn’t want to. He wanted to share an umbrella with Kaidou when he left his at home on purpose to avoid being made fun of for using his mom’s frilly, pinky parasol with roses, he wanted to answer Kaidou’s phone calls at 2 AM to comfort him after his recurring nightmare of drowning in the ocean, he wanted to proofread Kaidou’s fanfiction for any grammar or plot holes, he wanted to part the clouds and let the golden sunshine follow Kaidou’s every step so he never had to complain about gloomy days, he wanted to be there for Kaidou—of course he did! He didn’t know why, and he didn’t care to know why, because he just did and couldn’t because the most important thing he had to do was to protect Kaidou. He would gladly transfer schools to Siberia if it meant Kaidou could be happy and that’s all that mattered.

Of course, things never went Saiki’s way for too long. Kaidou came ringing at his front gate not too long after Saiki started avoiding him. Mikoto would say it’s all a balancing act, making up for Saiki’s intervention by having it all come back to bite him in the butt—strangely reminiscent of what Kaidou previously mentioned about the imbalance of light and dark. It made Saiki wonder if there had always been grains of truth in the lies.

He let Kaidou in and led him to his room. Even now, he could hear the tumultuous chaos in Kaidou’s mind.

I shouldn’t be here! This is stupid! I’m so awful!

Saiki internally sighed. Why are you here, then? Good grief.

Saiki sat on his bed and waited for Kaidou to conjure up whatever nonsense he thought could justify his visit. He was already used to people’s actions not aligning with their thoughts. This was no different.

I should tell him, already.

Instead, Kaidou became fixated on the first distraction that caught his eyes. “Geez! It’s so dark in here, Saiki! You’ll get vitamin D deficiency if you just spend all day in the dark, you know.” He opened the blinds.

I need to stop stalling and tell him, already.

Opening the blinds ended up spreading dust everywhere. Kaidou sneezed. “When was the last time you cleaned, Saiki? It’s so dusty!”

Why am I stalling even more! I really need to get it over with and tell him that… Or maybe it’s better not to tell him?

The suspense was killing Saiki. He knew he wasn’t entitled to Kaidou’s thoughts, but he was so used to knowing everything about everyone that he couldn’t handle the suspense anymore. Why couldn’t Kaidou trust the safety of his own mind to directly think about what he wanted to say? It made no sense! Nothing made sense, anymore! Good grief, tell me WHAT?

“What?”

Oops. Saiki accidentally sent that thought telepathically in frustration.

Tell me what your day was like, I mean.

“Oh. Um…” Kaidou sat down next to Saiki. But not too close. “Nothing really happened, actually.”

That’s a first.

“Can I tell you a story, though?”

Saiki hoped it wasn’t another plagiarized episode of Star Wars. Go ahead.

“So, I have this friend, with a problem…”

Saiki wondered why Kaidou wouldn’t refer to the friend by name, given they had the exact same circle of friends, but Kaidou was too busy admiring the particles of dust glimmering in the rectangles of sunlight filtering through the blinds. He compared the dust particles to the yellow glow of fireflies dancing in a forest, then to the twinkling stars against violet-blue cosmos, then to the grains of sand slipping through an hourglass. He thought of the various colored pieces that made up the image in stained glass windows and the tiny paint dots in Impressionist paintings and the fact that everything was just a collection of the same subatomic particles under a powerful enough microscope. He felt small. Too small to say what he means.

“... This friend is scared all the time. Maybe he’s just used to being scared because his mom always yells at him for the slightest of mistakes and has high expectations he can never reach. He doesn’t know, and neither do I, but that fear keeps leaking into everything he does. Like an inky black stain, blotting out everything until there’s nothing left. There’s just—so much ink.”

Kaidou’s fists are clenched at his sides. Saiki knew this story about Kaidou’s friend must pain him to tell, but still, Kaidou’s thoughts betrayed nothing. Kaidou was thinking of how much warmer the room was with the sunlight pouring in. He thought of temperature like mercury, pouring into the room through a crack in the window, silvery-white liquid with shiny ripples that poisoned everything in contact, suffocating them in metallic vapors.

“But, when this friend is around a certain friend, he feels like everything is bright again. It’s such a precarious feeling though, because getting closer to that brightness also puts the ink closer. It makes him think that him and the ink are the same and that anything good he touches will only get stained.”

Kaidou blinked away wetness on his lashes. He briefly acknowledged the dull ache of his heart wrenching, but only as a passing thought as he reminisced at the last time he was alone with Saiki in his room, which was after a festival, then went on to recall the fireworks. Crimson bursts of chrysanthemums popped into the night sky, golden sparkles crackling below, then streams of white and orange whistled. The smell of gunpowder and sulfur mixed in with the aroma of fried food from the concessions.

He remembered how loud the fireworks were, deep booms that resonated into his chest, louder than the pounding of his heart as he stole a glance at Saiki. He loved watching the different colors of light flash onto Saiki’s expression, a rare look of serenity, but the moment was too brief. Saiki could always tell when he was being looked at, even from far away, almost as if he were actually psychic, and every time, Saiki would look him right in the eyes and smile like he knew exactly what Kaidou was thinking, then purposefully look away again so Kaidou could resume staring in peace. That was the beautiful brightness Kaidou was enchanted by.

Saiki was used to seeing a glamorized distortion of himself in the mind’s eye of people who had a crush on him, complete with shoujo sparkles and iridescent bubbles and blooming roses in the background, but Kaidou’s perspective was unfiltered. Kaidou saw Saiki exactly the way he existed in his life and that was already enough to make his heart skip a beat, no romanticized fantasies needed.

“My friend’s problem is that he’s selfish. He wants to be with that precious friend, who makes everything fade to white. He wants to ruin everything, just for those few milliseconds of happiness. I guess, what I want to say is…”

Kaidou’s thoughts suddenly went silent. Saiki wondered if he had lost his powers, somehow. The usual background noise of every thought within a 200 meter radius was hushed, as if he had just slipped on his geranium ring. All he could hear was the rustle of fabric bunching up in Kaidou’s fists and his own pounding heart.

“What I mean is—do you think it’s worth it? Should he ruin that friendship?”

Saiki understood everything, now.

Is he scared?

“Always.”

Then, I don’t think he should.

“You’re right...”

Saiki’s hand brushed against Kaidou’s, except this time, it was on purpose. He clasped his hand over Kaidou’s.

I’ll ruin it for him.

Saiki brushed a tear away from Kaidou’s cheek. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling fondly. He usually avoided prolonged eye contact at all times so he could get away with telepathic conversation, but Kaidou had always been hard to look away from. That was a cute expression he had on his face, right now—warmed by a blush, with those shining red eyes peering up at Saiki under his long lashes.

Saiki met his lips with Kaidou’s, fingers interlaced. It was just a gentle first kiss—sweeter than coffee jelly, warmer than pyrokinesis, softer than Saiki’s bed. Kaidou melted into the kiss and could only think of how the milliseconds passed like centuries, like he was an immortal witnessing several lifetimes of glory. Their friendship was ruined, but their romance had only started.

They eventually had to part, for air. Saiki looked straight into Kaidou’s gaze. He couldn’t get out of using his real voice, but he didn’t mind.

“What I mean is... I like you.”

Of course, Kaidou broke into a sobbing mess right then and there. It didn’t take a psychic to predict that.

“I like you too, Saiki!”

#saiki no psi nan #kaidou shun #saiki kusuo #kaidou x saiki #saiki x kaidouu #wtf is their ship name #kaidou shun/saiki kusuo #fanfiction #cross-posted on ao3

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empatheticagent · 3 years

Text

psychic training

Marco was quiet as he observed the training session, Cassie sitting in a chair nearby. She had only been to a few sessions before, which had mostly been physical training.

This one was different. This was practice for a technique Marco had been trying to help Ray with, hoping they could get Ray to a point where he had a level of control that meant that unless Ray wanted it to, his powers would only be triggered by contact with his exposed skin. So far in previous training sessions, it had been mostly meditative, to help Ray focus and relax.

Then they had moved to having Ray practice keeping his focus to see if he could stop the powers triggering as soon as someone bumped him. It took weeks for them to move on, training almost daily by then. Next they worked on the issue of handshakes, working to a point where with Sterling’s suggestion of gloves, Ray was able to avoid accidental triggers.

Being able to do simple things like shake hands, or hug someone without being flooded by someone else’s emotions or an unwanted awareness of where they went afterwards was a huge relief. A sense of normalcy he hadn’t had since supposedly going through the terrigenesis he remembered little of, besides passing out and waking up sometime later.

Nic was slowly working through the usual tests with Ray; a hand on his shoulder, his arm, his back, and asking each time if anything had happened. Each time, Ray shook his head and quietly responded “no”. Soon, he assured Nic he was ready to try without the gloves and slowly removed them.

“Are you sure?” Marco asked. “We haven’t tried it before— ”

“I want to,” Ray quietly insisted.

Marco glanced at Nic who shrugged, his expression reading along the lines of ‘if he insists’.

“Alright then, give it a go,” Marco said, giving Ray an encouraging smile. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Ray couldn’t do it. It was more a concern about whether he was ready or not to handle it. The best way to find out though, was to go ahead and try.

Ray took a deep breath and reached out to hesitantly grab hold of Nic’s bare hands with his own. He took in a sharp breath as he felt the familiar flood of emotions that weren’t his; a hint of nervousness tied in with excitement and optimism. Ray leaned back a bit, curious about what kind of colours would be present around the man. Most prominent were a bright yellow and orange, which made him wonder if those were the colours he would have seen around Clay, if the ability had triggered sooner. There was something else there too, lingering just under the surface. Ray should have let go and tried to switch off at that point, but of course he stubbornly wanted to keep testing.

He closed his eyes, wanting to remove any chance of visual distractions as he focused on Nic’s emotions. It was funny, really, just how little of his ability had actually been tapped into under Bancroft’s guidance. That man had tried so hard to expand Ray’s abilities but had only succeeded in making Ray feel unwell and miserable. Under Bancroft, Ray had done little more than scratched the surface. Now though...

Now that Ray was entirely focused and his eyes were closed, a different kind of visual awaited him. He knew it wasn’t his physical body that had been transported elsewhere, yet Ray found himself standing in a black space. No breeze, no noise. He felt a hint of his own fear at the new experience before his natural curiosity pushed him to explore as it usually did. Looking around, Ray found he was standing in what looked like a shimmering water, though he didn’t seem to be getting wet and the so-called water he quickly recognised. It was the shimmering yellow and orange of Nic’s excitement and optimism that Ray had seen surrounding the man earlier.

This must be some sort of psychic representation, Ray realised. The longer he stared at the shimmering ‘water’, the more Ray became aware of other, darker colours lingering below the bright surface, just as he had suspected there had been back out in the real world. Cautiously, Ray reached a hand out, as if he planned on crouching to touch the water. Before he could do that though it seemed to slowly, somewhat resistantly part on it’s own.

“Ray.”

The voice seemed distorted and far off, like he was hearing it from underwater. Ray was vaguely aware of his physical body tensing in response to the reveal of the darker coloured water. These were emotions he was painfully familiar with. Ones he hated seeing in others because it made him wonder just how dark his own colours would be. A dark red anger was swirling below those happy surface emotions, along with a dark blue-grey of grief. If this was Nic’s, years later when he seemed so happy, how bad then was his own? Ray found himself incredibly glad he couldn’t (or at least never had been able to) see his own. Not liking it, Ray intended to step back and pull out of the place, but found himself stuck.

“Ray?”

His breathing turned short and sharp as he struggled to pull out of the strange emotional centre he had found himself in, but somehow found himself sinking deeper. Nic’s hidden grief and anger didn’t seem to be the only thing beneath the surface. Ray cried out as he seemed to be dragged deeper, Nic’s hurt from his amputated leg threatening to overwhelm him. That awful loophole that unwillingly allowed Ray to feel the physical pain of others.

No, no, no. I need to get out.

“Ray!”

Ray looked up, the bright surface seemed to be getting further and further away. He struggled against the dark emotions and the pain, reaching upwards... Everything seemed to be clouding with shadow, before it all went black.

...

Ray slowly came to, disoriented and feeling like the room was spinning. Yet he felt like he was lying on the cold floor of the training room. He took in a sudden, deep breath and sat up, coughing as if he had been rescued from real water.

“Ray! Oh my God, are you alright?!” Cassie was kneeling beside him and started to reach out before Marco put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Not until we’re sure it’s safe and he’s had a chance to calm,” Marco said gently before turning to Ray. Rather than touching him with bare hands, Marco reached out with one made of shadows and gently pushed Ray prompt him to lie back down.

“Rest,” he said firmly.

Instead of lying back down, Ray carefully shifted to sit leaning against the wall he’d been laid beside. He was still struggling to relax his breathing and couldn’t get out the question he wanted to ask and let out a frustrated huff before trying to use ASL and sign instead. In his panicked state however, Ray found himself struggling to recall the correct sign and tried spelling instead, only to keep messing up and using wrong letters, or mixing them up with the Australian variants. He only succeeded in getting himself more worked up. It didn’t help that he could still feel Nic’s pain in his own leg. He could still feel the emotions lingering, keeping him from calming down. Angry, Ray lashed out and struck the ground beside him with the side of a closed fist, warm tears running down his face.

“Shh, Ray, it’s okay,” Cassie said gently, handing Ray his gloves before gesturing to his hands. “Use Australian signs. That’s what I’m here for.”

Having his gloves back helped Ray feel a little more in control and the simple act of stopping to focus on putting them on helped distract him from the after effects enough that he could start calming down a little. Slowly, he started signing to her.

“What happened?” Cassie said, making sure that was what Ray had intended to sign, she waited for him to nod before saying anything else. “You looked like you were struggling... or, hurting? Marco used his shadows to pull you away after you cried out—”

Hurting, Ray signed. Could feel— Where is N-i-c?

“Oh...” Cassie said slowly, looking hesitant to answer him.

Where is he?

Cassie sighed.

“Resting,” Marco told Ray, shifting aside.

It turned out he and Cassie had intentionally picked where to sit in order to hide Nic from Ray’s view. He looked pretty worn out, pale and barely conscious as he laid there on his side.

“He’ll be alright,” Marco reassured Ray. “I’ve seen you looking worse. Now, what happened on your end?”

Ray tilted his head to one side, carefully thinking about how to word it, without verbalising. In recent times the signing had become more regular than words, rather than a back up. He didn’t bother trying to use the American signs, instead turning to face Cassie and continued to use the Australian version to save himself the stress.

Cassie patiently waited for Ray to explain, signing a few questions of her own to make sure she understood properly before updating Marco. “He said something new happened with his powers and couldn’t break the connection like he usually would when he hit negative emotions...” She explained, trailing off when Ray reached out and tapped her arm to get her attention before signing again.

“Nic’s hurting?”

Marco frowned. “I did tell him to warn me beforehand if he was having an off day. I’ll have to remind him later,” he sighed. “Rest Hartell. I’ll get you both some water and ask medical to have someone drop by, just in case.”

He added the last part knowing both of them were stubborn when it came to medical related issues. Odds were they’d be fine after rest, but Marco preferred to be safe, especially when they were working with psychic powers.

#drowning tw #just in case bc it vaguely parallels it #set some time post kidnapping #so theres hints of whats to come #empatheticagent headcanons #because its power development

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laufire · 3 years

Text

Supernatural s1

my dash: decries Supernatural every five posts.

me: time to watch it seriously for the first time in my life.

-First thing first: it’s an amazingly well-crafted season of tv. I’m a character-focused watcher, not a plot-focused one; I never connected emotionally to the Winchesters (still haven’t and likely never will, as interesting I might find them as character constructs), so I feared I’d be bored and would want to skip scenes. Nuh huh. I was many things, but none of them were bored xDD. Each episode was a lesson in good pacing and the entire season another in proper build-up. There are one or two or a few dozen tv-writers I would like to show it to, ngl.

-Another thing it excelled at was in its portrayal in abusive family dynamics. The way Dean went mellow and so unlike himself when John gave an order (and what a SHOCK it is in the later episodes when he finally stands up to him!!). How Sam said HE would apologize to his father when they saw each other again, or how he made apologies for his father because “it could have been worse” (at least John didn’t beat them up, like it happened to that poor kid!). John showing Sam more “““respect””” (as far as he’s able at least) simply because Sam already proved he’s capable of leaving him; the way John controls the information he gives them and when and how and how much and how small they feel when they reunite with him. Dean knowing his father had been possessed by a demon because it wasn’t reprimanding him and belittling him. Dean’s psychic shapeshifter (?) expressing his resentment towards Sam for getting to escape. Dean’s quickness to resort to violence when Sam says something that makes him angry, or how he tries to severe ties between Sam and his college friends, or how he guilt trips him when Sam says he plans on returning to his studies, or how he minimizes Sam’s experiences with John or how Sam criticizes Dean’s compliance... (I don’t think Dean’s being consciously manipulative. I think it’s intuitive. Which is far, far scarier. He’s the Elena Gilbert of Supernatural and a walking red flag for controlling behavior). How it’s paired with ~honeymoon periods. The way they use the families around them to highlight their issues. It’s... chilling and terrifying and I can’t look away. I won’t get into the shit John pulls in 2x01 because that’s for the s2 POV, but oh my god I’m so happy he’s dead.

I wasn’t all that sure of how self-aware the creators were about this trend (especially because of how centralized and validated Dean’s POV is in his conflicts with Sam IMO. OTOH... characters like Dean and actors like Ackles are the type to take over a show by charisma alone tbf. The way he swoops in in the pilot and starts disrupting everything, including Sam’s relationship, reminding me of both Angel in BTVS and Chuck in Gossip Girl, Doylist-wise. This comparison is going to make sense to like three people I talk with regularly xDD). At least on early seasons, since certain spoilers about the later ones make me think it grew over time. I’m still unsure but I think they are a little self-aware because of this quote:

Eric Kripke said of Buffy: “I loved ‘Hush’ and ‘Once More, With Feeling,’ but overall, Buffy really taught me about effectively using metaphor in genre. For Buffy, it was ‘high school is hell (literally),’ and Joss Whedon did such a masterful job of grounding his horror and fantasy concepts in this notion, and ultimately telling allegories about high school, which turned what could’ve been B-Movie material into an all-time classic. I used that same philosophy on my run of Supernatural, with the mantra ‘family is hell (literally),’ and always grounded my horror episodes around the notion of families, to the show’s benefit. So thanks, Joss Whedon. I owe you a beer. (Credit: The WB)

everyone wants to be Buffy lol.

-My absolute favourite thing was how competent the Winchesters are (I’m even reluctantly including John here. That bastard). They’re sneaky with local authorities, crafty about fake IDs, credit scams, research abilities, DIY supernatural detectors xDD... I loved the lack of an audience proxy, the fact that the story throws you into the deep end with people that already know their shit. And that the other side is competent too, like when Meg & YED’s plan to trap John relied on the Winchester being competent; on Sam immediately going into the defensive because, what are the chances of finding that cute weird girl a second time, miles away?; on John suspecting it was a trap and only revealing himself after Meg appears to be dead... Another scene that I loved in that sense, from 2x01 (I watched until 2x03, I wanted to see Sterling K. Brown’s first appearance lol) was how upon discovering Reapers are shapeshifters, Dean immediately knew that cute ghost he’d befriended was the one after him. I get the feeling this aspect will get lost in future season and it’s a pity, tbh.

-Related to that, some of my favourite moments: Sam straight up bribing a guy to get into the morgue when Dean’s arguments are failing (with Dean’s money!); Dean’s plan of “well, if this guy is haunting the house and there’s no other way to kill him, we burn the house. No house no haunting”; Dean telling that kid to fake appendicitis to get his parents out of the house; John blessing the tank of water knowing he’s walking into a trap with demons... I dig this stuff.

-I get whiplash sometimes, with the show making a point of (very briefly) telling you racism, homophobia or pro-life attitudes are Bad(TM) and the brothers are Against them (the Racist Truck episode, the one where a woman used a Reaper to exchange “virtuous” lives for those of sinners...), when the rest of the show is err... what it is lol. Dean is toxic masculinity’s poster boy (I was so disgusted by how he acted with Jess omfg), in s2 we don’t get the monsters’ perspective on hunters until we’ve conveniently met our first black one (I love the episode AND the character but it’s fucking true)...

-I need to make a note of paying attention to the writers credits/Bts stuff because I find this show’s progression fascinating on a metatextual level. The only problem is that audience reaction seems to have played a big role (which is a problem on one or two different levels imo xD), and tracking that down is sliiiiightly more difficult lol. Oh well (I don’t even think I want to see too much of this fandom, even to satisfy my curiosity. Some of the glimpses I’ve caught of it are disturbing to the extreme).

-The detail about dead people’s blood being toxic to vampires is SO COOL OMG. I’m tempted to steal it xD

Some random stuff:

-The monsters of the week were some legit creepy stuff.

-I love that Meg has her own hellhounds. Is that still a thing when she returns?

-Dean: you and dad are reckless and I’m going to have to be the one that buries you. / Me, with the power of foresight: 👀

-Also Dean: sometimes it scares me how good I am at killing. / Me: it scares the shit out of me how good you are at killing, too, fam.

-I get the impression Sam loses his demonic-in-origin powers later on, right? What a waste, I love those.

-I’m pretty sure at one point it’s implied John used Dean to honeytrap monsters (when he sends him as a trap for the lady vampire that stole the Colt) and I really don’t know what to do with this information.

-Cassie was GORGEOUS and even make Dean likeable for me while they lasted xDD. But given this show’s track record I’m considering the lack of more appearances a blessing.

-So many guest stars. Everyone’s been on SPN. Especially if they were on the Buffyverse first (I totally get the impulse of casting Buffy actor after Buffy actor lmfao).

-Funny how Luther Hargreeves is exactly who a lot of fans think Dean was (Dean is far, far colder imo), and yet one is constantly called pathetic and evil and the other woobified. Very Funny Indeed *coughs* (funnier still that the character I often see Dean compared to is Wynonna Earp when the parallels are kids-pool deep at best and offensive at worst. Dean is not a Wynonna. Again, Dean is an Elena Gilbert xDD).

-The two paranormal investigators were dumb as rocks, but their motto was “What Would Buffy Do” so I like them (if they ever change that to What Would the Winchesters Do or something like that I’m going to be furious lmao).

-When I want to ~chill I dress about exactly like Dean (minus the flannel I’ve seen in later seasons, you can’t pay me to wear flannel). Like, I think I have a couple of shirts that look exactly like ones of his. I don’t know how I feel about this xDD

-IDK how I’ll feel about Bobby later on (I get the impression every long-term character on this show has their hateful phases xD), but in his introduction he said the last time he saw John he threatened to shoot him (“he causes that reaction in people”), so he’s so far the most relatable character around lol.

#talking to the void #my thoughts #spn thoughts #the writing tm #sam winchester #dean winchester #john winchester #and others #abuse mention cw #here be negativity warning lol #spn s1 #the winchesters get to have a tag I GUESS

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alternate-pokemon-next-gen · 3 years

Text

Frontier Brain Trivia

Facility Trivia:

~The idea of Lazarus' Frontier Brain being similar to the Gym Challenge came to me as I thought Lazarus would want to think outside the box.

~Yes, a lot of the members are female. That was intentional because I thought it would be funny for Lazarus to recruit a lot of girls by accident.

~Lazarus is the mock Champion of his Battle Frontier, it was decided that because he created the idea and he is the owner of the facility. The others can challenge him for his title, but they have no desire to take his title.

~There's no order to battle the mock gym leaders but most challengers are recommended to battle Midnight first since she has everyone battle using Rental Pokemon.

~The order to battle the mock Elite Four are Lydia, Holly, Gracie and Priscilla in that order.

~Each member has a specific room and battle field they and their challengers battle on that matches their personality, theme team or type.

Midnight's Trivia:

~Midnight uses rental Pokemon because of how much her father influenced her when she was younger.

~If I were to give Midnight a proper team, she would probably use Pokemon with high speed as a reference to Marley being the Speed Stat trainer.

~Midnight was given a Gothitelle as her only Pokemon because of how Gothitelle's design is based off of the Gothic Lolita style.

~Midnight will sometimes doze off at random times due to not getting a lot of sleep.

~Midnight doesn’t get a lot of sleep due to her wanting to have all of her machines in working conditions.

~When she refuses to sleep, Gothitelle will pull her away and use Heal Pulse to calm her down enough to fall asleep.

~Midnight’s Gothitelle is a little taller than a normal Gothitelle, she’s also a bit darker than a normal Gothitelle.

~When she isn't battling or training her rental Pokemon to battle, she's either tinkering with inventions or helping Lazarus' assistants with repairs in the Battle Frontier.

~Midnight’s room is based off of the Gothic Lolita style but there are computers and a machine that disputes rental Pokemon to both Midnight and her challenger, her battle field is a standard battle field.

~Midnight’s favorite color is black.

~Midnight’s favorite food is Pelmeni and her favorite drink is tea.

Hana's, Iclyn's and Priscilla's Trivia:

~Hana, Iclyn and Priscilla are based off of the trope "Beauty, Brawn and Brain". Hana is the beauty as in the games some Beauty trainer class used Grass type Pokemon. Iclyn is the brawn as her birth father stars in action movies. Priscilla is the brain as Psychic types are known for using their heads.

~The idea for them having different parents came from how with someone thought that having Sabrina combine her Psychic abilities with Erika's good nature and Brycen's natural strength, they would become strong trainers.

~Sabrina, Will, Brycen and Erika were okay with the idea and everyone agreed to train each child separately so each of them could focus on one ability.

~How Sabrina was able to get Erika pregnant is something both of them refuse to say.

~Hana and Iclyn are mock gym leaders because their parents are gym leaders.

~Priscilla is a mock Elite Four as a bit of a reference to how the Psychic type was overpowered in Generation one.

~Hana's team from weakest to strongest is Lurantis, Leafeon, Lilligant, Tsareena, Victreebel and Serperior.

~Hana’s Leafeon looks a lot different than a normal Leafeon, she has sharper and narrower eyes due to her aggressive nature, her leafs and fur are a lot darker due to being in the sunlight a lot and the leafs on her head and tail are sharper than normal Leafeons.

~Hana’s Serperior left her previous trainer because their training method didn’t sit right with her.

~Hana’s Serperior has a scar on her back from a battle when she was with her old trainer.

~Hana’s Lilligant has freckles across her face, she was embarrassed about them as a Petilil but when she evolved she learned to like her freckles.

~Iclyn's team from weakest to strongest is Alolan Sandslash, Glaceon, Alolan Ninetales, Dewgong, Weavile and Beartic.

~Iclyn’s Beartic is a foot taller than normal Beartic.

~Iclyn’s Glaceon always has her fur spiked up mostly to avoid being touched by others.

~When Iclyn’s Alolan Sandslash first met Garnet’s Kantoian Sandslash, he was very confused as he never saw a Kantoian Sandslash before and thought something was wrong with him.

~Priscilla’s team from weakest to strongest is Alolan Raichu, Jynx, Hatterene, Mr. Mime, Slowking and Gengar.

~Priscilla has a Gengar as a reference to Ash’s Haunter in the anime.

~Priscilla’s Mr. Mime’s battle style is a reference to the Pokemon Adventures Manga where Sabrina’s Mr. Mime created a house from barriers during its battle against Bugsy’s Heracross.

~When they aren’t battling, Hana is talking with the other girls and having tea with them, Iclyn is training and honing her ninja skills and Priscilla is meditating with her Psychic type Pokemon.

~Hana’s room is a garden/greenhouse that’s full of flowers, berries, flower arrangements, perfumes that she makes, aromatherapy bottles and some tea. Her battle field is the grass field.

~Iclyn’s room is basically a room full of ice, training equipment and various ninja skills, as well as posters of movies her father starred in. Her battle field is the ice field that includes a pool and stream of water so Dewgong can battle on land and in the water.

~Priscilla’s room is a fancy theater-like room that includes colors like dark pink, purple, indigo and gold. Her battle field is a plain field.

~Hana’s favorite color is pink.

~Hana’s favorite food is Kaiseki and her favorite drink is matcha tea.

~Iclyn’s favorite color is white.

~Iclyn’s favorite food is onigiri and her favorite drink is water

~Priscilla’s favorite color is dark pink.

~Priscilla’s favorite food is Karaage and her favorite drink is green tea.

Garnet’s Trivia:

~Garnet’s appearance and personality is a bit of a take of how when Ruby was when he was five before the Salamence incident.

~Garnet having a team based on Pokemon who benefit from weather is a reference to how the concept of weather appearing in the over world of the games started in Generation Three, where Hoenn made its debut.

~Despite how different they all are, Garnet gets along with his younger sister and their father and he always watches his sister when she’s performing in a contest.

~Garnet and his mom often go and play around in forests when they have the time to.

~Garnet often acts as the group meteorologist when all of them are training outside, they trust his judgement since he’s the one who has a team based on weather.

~Garnet’s team from weakest to strongest is Glalie, Sandslash, Tangela, Castform and Goodra.

~When he isn’t battling, Garnet is often catching up with his family or spending his time in the forest befriending wild Pokemon.

~Garnet’s room is based around the different weather effects and seasons, one corner being spring and having light rain, one corner being summer and having strong sunlight, one corner being fall and cloudy and the last corner being winter and hailing. He also has a machine that creates a lightning effect that will go off sometimes. His battle field often changes to the rock field, the grass field, the water field or the ice field for each new trainer he faces and he allows the challenger to pick the field they battle on.

~Garnet’s favorite color is crimson red.

~Garnet’s favorite food is Yaki-udon and his favorite drink is soda pop.

Clarice and Cole’s Trivia:

~Clarice and Cole being twins that master Ghost types is a reference to The Shining and how some horror movies have creepy twins.

~When they’re about to face a challenger, they’d say together “Come battle with us” while holding hands.

~Both Clarice’s and Cole’s eyes are fine, they wear the eye patches for fun and to make themselves look more intimidating.

~They both like wearing clothes that are similar to each other that match their colors such as Clarice wearing purple with a black secondary color while Cole would wear black with a purple secondary color.

~Clarice was born three minutes before Cole.

~Clarice and Cole aren’t afraid of Ghost type Pokemon and Ghost type Pokemon love being around the twins, even wild ones.

~As they do double battles, the pairs are Mimikyu and Golett, Alolan Marowak and Cursola, and Gourgeist and Trevenant.

~Clarice’s Mimikyu has a lot of disguises he’ll put on. So far he made the Eeveelutions, baby Pokemon like Cleffa, Togepi, and Smoochum and other cute/popular Pokemon like Clefairy and Jigglypuff.

~When they aren’t battling, the twins either spend their time together, go out to find Ghost type Pokemon to play with or play pranks on others at night.

~The twins’ room is based on a haunted room that includes floating furniture (thanks to the wild Ghost types who use Psychic or just make the furniture float on their own), old toys that they played with as kids, will-o-wisps (again, thanks to the wild Ghost types) and their room is a bit dim, mostly to give their challengers a challenge during a battle. Their battle field is a plain battle field.

~Clarice’s favorite color is purple.

~Clarice’s favorite food is sour Mushroom Medley curry and her favorite drink is lemonade.

~Cole’s favorite color is black.

~Cole’s favorite food is Decorative curry and his favorite drink is lemonade.

Sophie’s Trivia:

~Sophie’s team being based on Pokemon known for dancing was based off of how Rudy would teach his Pokemon how to dance and Melody doing a traditional dance on Shamouti Island.

~Sophie will often give Lazarus a kiss on his cheek when she sees him.

~There’s no romantic feelings behind each kiss, she just does it to say hi to him.

~Sophie enjoys singing as well as dancing but she still prefers to dance more.

~Sophie still does wish to be an official gym leader sometimes, but she’s still happy that Lazarus gave her a spot in his Battle Frontier.

~Sophie’s team from weakest to strongest is Spinda, Oricorio, Hitmontop, Galarian Mr. Mime, Kirlia and Altaria.

~Sophie heard that her Altaria can mega evolve but she isn’t looking into having Altaria mega evolve.

~Sophie’s Spinda has a star shaped spot on her stomach, a small spot on her nose, one spot on her left eye, a spot on her right cheek and spots on the tip of her ears.

~When she isn’t battling, she’s either dancing with her Pokemon or hanging out with the other girls.

~Sophie knows how to play various wind instruments, her favorite is the flute.

~Sophie’s room looks like a dance studio filled with instruments such as a flute, a drum set, a piano, a harp, a violin and other different instruments. She also has pots of red, yellow, purple and pink flowers for her Oricorio to change her form before a battle and packets of seeds for each flower so she can grow more or them. She battles on a plain battle field.

~Sophie’s favorite color is orange.

~Sophie’s favorite food is pineapples and her favorite drink is fresh water.

Melantha’s Trivia:

~Melantha being a Bug type trainer was planned at the start.

~The pink in Melantha’s hair was there when she was born, some people don’t believe it when she tells them so she shows her baby pictures as proof.

~Melantha sometimes wears the Team Skull grunt female uniform when she’s homesick.

~Melantha really loves rainy days because it reminds her of Po town.

~Melantha is will sometimes rap or rhyme when she’s in a bad mood, everyone thinks that habit of hers is funny.

~While Melantha likes to portray herself as a gangster, she doesn’t like bullying or picking on others weaker or smaller than her and will defend them without hesitation.

~Melantha loves Poison types as much as she loves Bug types and will always defend people who make fun of Poison and Bug types.

~Melantha’s Team Skull pendant is actually a locket that Guzma got for her on her tenth birthday, the locket has a picture of her and her family when she was ten.

~Melantha carries the Dawn stone that Guzma kept as a good luck charm as her own good luck charm.

~Melantha’s team from weakest to strongest is Vikavolt, Araquanid, Accelgor, Frosmoth, Ribombee and Scolipede.

~Melantha’s room is similar to Guzma’s room in Po Town, littered with graffiti on the walls and is incredibly messy but she does have a picture of everyone in Team Skull hanging up behind her makeshift throne. She battles on a plain battle field.

~Melantha’s favorite color is black.

~Melantha’s favorite food is sweet potatoes and her favorite drink is Tapu Cocoa.

Kyan’s Trivia:

~Kyan’s role being similar to Darach’s role for Caitlin came to me as soon as I saw SteelShipping.

~Kyan being a girl but pretending to be a boy is a reference to Hun’s gender being different in the Japanese dub and sub of the anime.

~Kyan specializing in Steel types is a reference to her parent’s shipping name, the fact both of them used Steel types and how her role is something like a knight.

~Kyan had very long hair before she had cut it to her current style.

~Kyan does have romantic feelings for Catherine as she was the one who didn’t push her away despite how harsh she was.

~Kyan was supposed to have Hun’s hair color but it didn’t look right so she was given Attila’s hair color.

~Kyan gets very into battles and has to stop herself from going too far.

~Kyan had to take a lot of lessons on how to be a proper butler to Catherine, she doesn’t say how bad her lessons were but she says she sometimes wakes up in a cold sweat remembering those lessons.

~Kyan having a Steelix and a Corviknight is a shout out to her parents.

~Kyan’s team from weakest to strongest is Aegislash, Excadrill, Escavalier, Bisharp, Corviknight and Steelix.

~Kyan shares her room with Catherine since she battles for Catherine.

~Kyan’s favorite color is grey.

~Kyan doesn’t have a favorite food but her favorite drink is tea.

Catherine’s Trivia:

~Catherine’s battle frenzy is a reference to how Caitlin would act in the Pokemon Adventures manga when she got excited about a battle.

~When Catherine does battle, a lot of people are terrified by how different she acts as opposed to how gentle she is outside of battle.

~Catherine has strict rules by Lazarus to only battle when the facility is under attack.

~Catherine does have Psychic abilities but she can only use them for emergencies.

~Catherine doesn’t mind not being allowed to battle normally, she knows how creepy she can get when she’s in a battle and always apologizes for scaring someone.

~Catherine knows about Kyan’s feelings toward her and fully welcomes her to be her girlfriend when she’s ready.

~Catherine can be calmed by her parent’s voices or by Kyan or her Indeedee serving her tea and macarons.

~Catherine was given Indeedee because they are based off of maids and butlers.

~Catherine’s and Kyan’s shared room looks like a royal chamber where everything is purple, Catherine sits on a balcony overlooking the battle with her Indeedee by her side. The battle field is plain.

~Catherine’s favorite color is purple.

~Catherine’s favorite food are macarons and her favorite drink is tea.

Lydia’s Trivia:

~Lydia was technically born from a one night stand Oleana and Chairman Rose had.

~Chairman Rose saw no problem with it as he thought Lydia would inherit his legacy.

~That went down the drain when Lydia was put in foster care because of the Darkest Day incident.

~Lydia hasn’t seen her parents since she was born, but she doesn’t mind as she could care less about her parents after hearing what they did.

~Lydia does know about her uncle Peony and her cousin and they do visit her and her foster family on special occasions.

~Lydia will occasionally bow to her opponents.

~Her Roserade follows her lead when he’s out of his Pokeball.

~Lydia’s team is both full of beautiful Pokemon and Pokemon based around flowers.

~Lydia loves red roses and likes having accessories that include red roses.

~Lydia’s team from weakest to strongest is Cinccino, Florges, Vileplume and Roserade.

~Lydia’s room is a black room with red curtains with various fancy decorations that include red roses and some parts of the wall have gold trimmings. She battles on the plain battle field.

~Lydia’s favorite food is Galarian Pancakes and her favorite drink is milk tea.

Holly’s Trivia:

~Holly was originally going to have a team of three Ice types and three Dragon types, but the idea was scrapped in favor of a full team of Dragon types.

~Holly’s cape was given to her by Lance for her birthday.

~Holly gets along with Ash despite being a lot younger than him.

~Holly having her team since she was young was planned after remembering that Dragon types are some of the hardest type to train.

~Holly enjoys making voodoo dolls during her free time, no one knows if they are real or not so they try not to cross her in case they are.

~Holly can get wild Dragon type Pokemon to fight with her if she focuses enough.

~Holly’s team from weakest to strongest is Noivern, Flygon, Haxorus, Hydreigon, Salamence and Dragonite.

~Holly’s room is a red and blue decorated room with different statues of Dragon type Pokemon, as well as a throne for her to sit on while she waits for challengers. Her battlefield is the rocky battlefield.

~Holly’s favorite color is black.

~Holly’s favorite food is Tonkatsu and her favorite drink is green tea.

Gracie’s Trivia:

~Gracie’s design is meant to represent angels due to how Diantha’s design looked.

~Gracie’s original team was supposed to be Pokemon that resembled angels but they idea was scrapped.

~Gracie’s new team was then based on Pokemon that are related to myths or legends because of how Cynthia enjoyed looking at myths in her free time.

~It took Gracie about four years to non-verbally command her Pokemon like her Diantha could.

~Gracie knows Ebon and has talked to him a few times about small roles she would be good at.

~Gracie knows her surrogate father and sees him on occasion.

~Gracie’s Pokemon from weakest to strongest is Torterra, Empoleon, Dusknoir, Musharna, Infernape and Absol.

~Gracie’s room is a fancy white and gold room with various bookcases full of things from Pokemon mythology, as well as a picture of her and her moms. Her battlefield is the plain battlefield.

~Gracie’s favorite color is yellow.

~Gracie’s favorite food is Syrniki and her favorite drink is Moomoo Milk.

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thewolfisawake · 3 years

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Since I’m in this brainrot alone, of course I’m just gonna end up thinking of a Hypmic AU with muses and their friends because I’m trash like that. Anyway, to avoid spamming my discord with the ideas, I’m just writing it on here. So a couple muses and those from @arcxnumvitae and @shxtteredillusions.

Starting with Kesil just because he honestly doesn’t fit with the rest. His actually came first as I thought of him with his friends from a different platform. He would be rolling with his delinquent/probably doing some illegal shit friends. Their style is more like MTC with the rough and tumble, down and dirty sort of thing. His MC name is actually Shinigami because I gotta stick with his ‘thing’ no matter the AU! I do not know what his mic nor speakers would end up like. I think most of his themes are related to him as a killer as he in this verse likely only learned and became good with a hypmic just because it’s the only weapon he could have. I mean...he probably could sneak one regardless but since most weapons were phased to mics, he probably learned. His rap ability would probably be something like Death Reversal, basically he could deny himself or his comrades of being knocked out as it fits with his actual ability of death force manipulation. Of all the guys I think he’s most like, it’s probably Rio as I don’t feel he’s overly expressive. Not because of lack of feeling but just that cool under pressure sore of thing

Anyway onto the Bastion Kids because they’re my faves to mess with

Ofc Lucien’s the easiest to think of this crap for. I do not have a MC name because unlike the creators, I have shame. But probably something wolf related. I feel his mic would be pretty old so look like a carbon microphone (because I think I’m funny) and be pretty simple. Don’t know what his speakers would be like. I think his themes are actually rather mundane when outside of battle. But in battle, cutthroat bastard. He’s like absolute annihilation of his enemy, his words are like the maw of a beast, he’d rip you to shreds. His ability is Cornered Counter, basically as his energy dwindles, his attacks get more powerful. Basically you gotta be decisive with him because the longer he lasts, the more dangerous he is. So obviously his is most like Samatoki’s as it fits his aggressive tone and no back down attitude.

I have a feeling he probably pissed off the Party of Words and thus if they had the chance to deal with him, they would’ve. Maybe he and his fam had differing views as to how to take this change in the world. I feel like he preferred the old ways but had to adapt to using a hypnosis mic in order to survive. And survive he did.

Katarina’s was somewhat easier to do because she’s very clear in her presentation. I debate if she’d just straight up use her name or if it’d be something like Prima (either by itself or being Prima Donna), something denoting her regality. Her mic is likely a stand one fashioned like crystalline ice. Her speakers kind of hard to describe other than like a metallic feminine figure that kind of looks like a warlord, armed to the teeth with swords. Her themes are of betterment of the state of her surroundings, how she’ll change it with her own hands and utmost confidence of herself. Her rap ability I am still working on since while the idea currently works with her actual ability...what it ends up doing runs counter to her personality. It’d be called Dazzle and would basically redirect an opponent’s attack to someone else. However the issue is Kat can’t choose who it goes to. Since there’s not much I can draw from with the ladies of hypmic, I would go with CL for her sound although I found Chanmina while searching and thought this hits me for Kat. But if I had to choose a character, it’d be Ichijiku.

I actually think her mother might’ve been a good soldier for the Party of Words but then she kinda sorta ended up falling in love with the enemy. Whoops. Except like the Party of Words didn’t know she did (supposedly). And so she left and went to be with Kat’s dad, who was a resistance member but wasn’t able to use a mic. So Kat is like the kid that was like...y’know we could live in peace if we’re not super oppressive. I feel like Petra taught her how to rap as it’s the only viable weapon for Kat so that’s what she uses.

Crowe’s is a pain because he’s a pain. I don’t have a MC name either maybe Shadow? Too basic? I dunno. His mic either a headset or futuristic kind of shades he wears. I’m sure everyone finds it odd. His speakers look more like cameras and briefcases with like a dicey looking umbrella. It’s huge frickin’ homage to spy stuff y’all. And you’ll figure out the function of them when he turns his speakers on you. Electric volt briefcases, umbrella gun, that kinda stuff. His themes are pretty pessimistic, the secrets of others, the ability to get his hands dirty and what those dirty hands can and can’t do. His rap ability I feel would be based on his gorgon blood so likely named such (Gorgon) or Eyebite and would work where he paralyzes an opponent from taking their turn. Who I draw most for him is actually Jakurai although obviously his voice is no where as deep.

If there had to be a traitor, it’s probably Crowe. He isn’t particularly happy about it but at the same time, it’s not like he’s brave enough to deal with his overlords. Not when he knows the things they COULD do. Or maybe he’s doing spy stuff on Chuuoku and is in a continuously perilous position but can’t or won’t talk to anyone about it. Basically he still has his paranoia but for a different reason.

Hmmm Taylor’s giving me a lot of problems because I just can’t pin down a lot for her. I don’t have a name for her nor any idea what she’d go with. Maybe something food based? The only ones coming to mind are Red Velvet and Matcha. Her mic? I think she’d use a hand held mic. Kind of like the ones you do karaoke on in terms of shape. Her speakers? * confused noises * Her themes mmm....I think hers are rather upbeat although not without bite! Her rap ability still eludes me. If I’m thinking of sound, I would put it as something like Calliope although again her words are lighter than hers.

I feel like Taylor’s family ended up with her parents not surviving the war and thus was left with Rhett to try to keep his siblings from being separated from him. She didn’t view a need to learn how to rap--after all a lot of the population doesn’t seem to--but her mind was changed after being kidnapped for ransom and subjected to the effects of a hypnosis mic. She ended up saved by then then ragtag kids and wanted to learn so that she was never in that position again.

Hooo boy, Emil has that instinctual attention to tone shift going mad. Oh god. I do not have a MC name for him either. I feel Prince would be far too on the nose. So something else. I think he’d have a stand mic, I think his would be like I think it’s a certain kind of ribbon mic? Like this? Makes me think of like old school announcers that fits with his lively personality. I feel like his speakers would be more like ice fragments that feels like they should be falling but don’t. His themes are like half light-hearted and inviting, about having a good time with others. But the other times it’s about masks and charades. He is the kind that has that tone drop and you can tell it’s another ‘presence’ to Emil. One that is vicious and will have you sinking. His rap ability is Frostbite, which would essentially have any battle of his become a race against time. His ability starts sapping the energy of his opponent and of course if they drop...it’s game over for them. His sound when light-hearted is more like Hifumi in like vocal tone but with Ramuda’s flow. Yet I feel like the perfect sound for his is Gentaro’s verse in Stella (Emil, I hope you know you are the biggest pain in terms of style) in terms of like how he sounds in alternating between cutting and light.

I feel like his mom had stayed in the Chuuoku under the Party of Words but had seen Emil’s dad while outside of the ward. And then she fell pregnant and was in love with Emil when he was born despite him being a son than daughter. And when faced with either handing Emil over to his dad or leaving Chuuoku, she chose the latter. This was her baby. Emil had grown up with both but his mom passed away...his father suspecting it to be Chuuoku’s doing, moved away far from the ward. However Emil grew curious of the hypnosis mic that his mother had used when she was alive and so he ran off near Chuuoku, where he met a...unkind mentor (basically his grandma in normal verse stuff) that did teach him but did affect his candor.

Cipriana I have also am having some trouble thinking things of. I do not have a MC name but I think it’d be cool if she chose one that’s like...reclaiming and being proud of her ‘runt’ status. Also am not sure about her mic. I think she’d have a handheld one though. As her mic, maybe they’re in the shape of spools with like threads all around and at least one connecting her her mic. Her themes I feel would be a bit like that somber hope? Like it sounds a little sad but it’s ultimately about a better day eventually. Which contrasts to how she is in a battle as I imagine she is very loud in presence since this is more or less a fight and she isn’t getting knocked down again (her mindset of chasing down Lucien absolutely frightens and intrigues me). I just thought of her ability being like By a Thread, where she essentially she cannot be ringed out and can be a little harder to knock out. Her set up kind of makes like a net or wrap around her to keep her from falling (also makes her look like a doll in some aspects, oooh callback). I think of her sound very much like Nemu.

I do not know how she runs in this story except maybe that she was normal and just simply ended up in the whirlwind of hypnosis mics. Although sitting here now, I’m thinking if Arsenio had a mic and had used it against her--since it’s basically inflicting psychic damage--on her even though she didn’t have one (which is illegal btw). And Vini had it with his shit and used his own and having the same mindset as in her original verse, she actually took one of their mics and used her words against Vinicio, still causing their original rift...just worse. A lot of the same plotting from there maybe? Eventually she meets the rest of the kids.

Aspis has been rather hit or miss. I am still thinking on his MC name but Yaksha has been in there. I am thinking of his mic to be handheld and I can’t think of anything particular for its design. I think of his speakers looking like demon masks with the speaker part within the mouth. It’s kinda intense looking especially since you know he’s so sweet. Gotta keep his contrasting aesthetic somewhere. His themes are usually about mundane things as well. Musings about those of his past and present. I feel he’s the least biting towards others in battles? Like a lot of battles are attacking something about your opponent or about one’s own ability. I think Aspis would rely less on tearing someone down. Not saying he can’t but I feel like it’s gonna be a bloodbath if he does. His rap ability would be called Katashiro, where he links to another person (usually an opponent) where when he is injured, that damage is shared between him and the opponent. Which coupled with his odd endurance, could drop whoever he linked with before he falls. If I think of his sound, I think of Kuko’s flow but also Ichiro’s lyrical way.

I feel like Aspis gonna have all the crap things of being a war orphan for himself. Pretty self-reliant and not one to take help because he kinda doesn’t know how to. But I think music saves him, I think Daza might be a DJ who even if she didn’t have a mic, she got him understanding of flow and the like. And it was just a comfort for him. She probably helped him obtain a mic. And he was friends and the like with Yukina until she went with the Party of Words.

Aya’s is like Aspis’ hit or miss in terms of what I can think of. MC names are harrrrdddddd. I feel like her mic I alternate between it being the kind you see a cabaret singer use or a handheld. Maybe one of the first that does both??? I can’t think much in design other than ‘shimmery.’ Not like gaudy but like you watch her move or light hits just right and you see it shine...like her. Her speakers looks more like a theater. With like velvety curtain backdrop and everything. And her attacks look pretty until they hit you. I’m thinking like razor flower petals sort of thing. Her themes...mmm, I feel like overall it’s just ‘pop-y’ and light. It’s nothing like her battling. I feel she just sounds pleasant but then has some serious cutthroat bars. Despite this, I think of her rap ability being Renewal, being able to make others’ attacks stronger and cutting the damage they take. Super supportive skill which she probably took a while to figure out about. I actually found her sound while looking at other stuff. Which I think is Jeon Soyeon easily.

Also not quite sure where she would be in the story other than I think Meg would’ve procured her a mic for her protection. And I think she cultivated her rapping to have a rap ability. And I feel like Meg was worried about it and wanted Aya away from eyes that would witness it. Because although it has no offensive power for Aya herself (at least not that anyone’s made her come to that point), it is useful for like...a team or ally situation. So useful for the Party of Words and what Meg wants to avoid. But she can’t really stop Aya from doing what she wants with her mic.

#long post #oh god #so long #and there's still holes #{Hypmic AU}#probably gonna come up with snazzy name later #but for now it's done #;wishlist

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annsparksthegmr · 3 years

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Pokemon Black Nuzlocke - Part 3

Continuing on with my Pokemon Black Nuzlocke for those interested. For a quick summary of my Nuzlocke so far in a nutshell: “I’ve got no Flying-Types and I swear Critical Hits are happening to me every other turn. Also by the way, can I mention how nearly all my Pokemon are females and I’m usually used to getting males?” But there had been progress made if you want to read it below. Because, quite a bit happens as I start off with Route 4.

So back to Pokemon Black Nuzlockes I go and my next encounter in Route 4 as a Darumaka. Never got to use one, let alone a female one. Her nickname is… well… *looks up random names that might fit*. Let’s call her Ramona. Who shall now be replacing Ghost Girl since as Liepard is not really pulling any weight. Also I kicked Cheren’s butt. Thus I fully went onto journeying through Route 4. Quick notes shall follow if anything of interest happened.

Fighting-Type Pokemon are the current bane of my party. I got no Pidove and thus no Flying-Type or anything super effective against them. Which is troubling when it comes to dealing with Timburr.

Went to visit the Desert Resort and get some encounters there. Just in case I suddenly have Pokemon faint during the upcoming battles. And I think giving Pebbles the Quick Claw is worth it, as having a Roggenrola who can outspeed others is fun. Captain finally evolved from a Tympole to a Palpitoad; meaning also I know have a Pokemon who is only super duper weak to Grass. My encounter for the Desert Resort turns out to be a female Sandile. Who I quickly just tossed the Quick Ball. Her nickname shall be Cassandra and she’ll chill in the Box in case I need.

Now considering the fact I could theoretically catch a Volcarona later on during the post game (depending on whether or not I decide to Nuzlocke post-game story.) I just decided to use Repels for the castle. But I managed to find the person with the fossils. And as much as I wanted to get the Tirtouga, I was considering getting Archen in case I could not find a Pokemon capable of using Fly later on. But I decided to screw my luck and took the Cover Fossil. Bias and planning be damned. (I shall revive it when I need the Pokemon and once I can learn Fly.)

I did some more grinding to get everyone up to Level 25 before heading into Nimbasa City. Pebbles evolved into a Boldore. Making her the last main evolution for the journey to Nimbasa City. But upon arriving in the city after getting free Ultra Balls, Team Plasma appeared harassing an old man. Which I had to beat up and got the bike! Hooray for faster travel! Got the Strength HM and decided between going to the Amusement Park and Bianca, I chose to ride with N in the ferris wheel. Because that sounded more exciting and as much as I’m poking fun at things, I really enjoy this game.

The ferris wheel ride ended as I faced off against N. Which could have been a challenge… if I didn’t have Captain. Like he quite literally just swept most of his team. Though I had Zigzapzop finish off the Sigilyph. Then I amused Bianca with the Pokemon Musical stuff. (Look, this was my jam back in the day. I used to be a master of these when I was younger. Too bad it doesn’t do anything in terms of Nuzlocke from my memories.)

Exiting the building is the sweet scene with Bianca, her father and Elesa. Like these moments are what I live for which Sword and Shield did not give me. Which is unfortunate. But in other news I decided to venture into the Big Stadium and Small Court to level my team up just a bit more for the upcoming Gym Battle. I was pretty confident with the current team I had. And getting them just a few more levels and getting some Amulet Coin boosted cash would work for my preparations. As Elesa literally swept my old team as a child. Which, since I mainly had Zipzagzop, Captain and Pebbles on my team, I was feeling pretty better about my odds.

With overconfidence and just now remembering Emolga is a Pokemon which exist, I waltz into the roller coaster Gym leading with Captain and Pebbles to take down Elesa. Which is troublesome considering the damage Volt Switch Emolga do. Though having Power Gem just fling out super effective moves does work out pretty well. Not to mention how Power Gem avoids the Static from Emolgas. Can I just say that the RNG Pokemon loves to toy with my emotions by having a Volt Switch nearly bring down Pebbles to 3 HP from a CRITICAL HIT. Poor Pebbles she did not deserve that. So for the second Emolga, I switched into Captain to prepare for the Zebstrika. He took it down with a Round, since Pebbles weakened both flying squirrels. Which left Captain to face down her ace Pokemon. And thankfully, because of the Water/Ground typing, made it a quick sweep of Captain defeating her Zebstrika. Plus it did help Elesa for some reason decide to waste her Hyper Potion on her Emolga.

Securing the fourth Gym Badge, needless to say I felt so proud of both Pebbles and Captain for cleanly saving my team from losing anyone else. I never got to use either Pokemon in my original run and I can’t help but be proud of them. If only I could say the same for Puppy. Sadly, a policeman on Route 16 decided it would be funny to take out my own Herdier with a CRITICAL HIT Take Down. Poor baby, I didn’t mean for her to take the hit but alas there goes my second death. I personally feel hurt about losing her to a random Trainer battle.

My Route 16 encounter was actually a double-battle one. But one was a Liepard - which I had. The other was a female Trubbish - which I chose as my encounter since I didn’t have one. I gave her the nickname of Trashie because I suck at nicknames at times. Though I don't have any real reason to truly keep Trashie around. Because looking at the moves she learns, she won’t be a decent-enough Pokemon to add for type coverage. All she’s good at is taking out Grass and Bug-Type Pokemon. Which, I have Ramona for. So I’ll deposit her into the Box for safe-keeping. But for HM Cut sake, Ghost Girl is returning to the team to fill that spot. And I don’t want to really teach that to my Starter Pokemon.

But inside of the Lostlorn Forest, I got another encounter. Being that of a Male Cottonee! Catching him, I named him Lowen. He now rests in my box since I already have a Grass-Type. Missed out on getting a Tranquill but I’ve managed so far without a Flying-Type. I just hope to get a Pokemon capable of learning Fly soon enough.

Then I had the match with Cheren on Route 5. Defeated him, chatted with the Champion before we bullied two children on his behalf. Zigzagzop evolved during this process as well. What I once feared as a child is now at my side. And on Route 5, at first I got a dupes Liepard which I chose to skip over. Though in a random trainer battle I lamented how I long my Puppy, as she was my main counter to Psychic and Ghosts. And I still have no plans of using Ghost Girl. Then came the dupes Trubbish. Which I also skipped. And after some more dupes of Liepards and Trubbishes, I got another double encounter. This time with another Liepard and a female Minccino. Who, despite how doubtful I am of being of use, I nicknamed Lady. Lady will be in the PC until I have a need for her. That or she’ll just chill out in there for the rest of the run.

Driftveil Bridge was opened up thanks to Elesa. And thanks to that and a bit of checking, a female Ducklett finally appeared!!! Finally giving me an encounter on the bridge (or at least I think is a proper encounter) which may grant me a Flying-Type to add to the party. I caught her immediately and named her Odette. Who shall be added to my team as soon as I arrive into Driftveil City. Clay was there to meet us and I already remember why I liked him. But I kind of have some fears about facing his team in a Nuzlocke.

And here’s where I’ll end things for this update. Going to probably grind a bit before continuing on with the story. But I will say some of my team is a bit higher than I thought. Considering I have to fight Clay and his Excadrill, though, I got a feeling I’m going to have to be very cautious. Because I have heard Clay is a run ender with his Excadrill. Though hopefully it won’t stop me! Here will be the team updates regarding what has befallen everyone. Next time, I plan to at the very least defeat Clay and depending on how that goes, hopefully reach Chargestone Cave for what I believe is to be the N fight. That is the plan but who knows what will happen.

Until next time, thanks for reading this lovely experiment of a Nuzlocke!

Team Recap:

Queen - Female Servine (Lvl 26)

Pebbles - Female Boldore (Lvl 29)

Zigzagzop - Male Zebrastrika (Lvl 28)

Captain - Male Palpitoad (Lvl 30)

Ramona - Female Darumaka (Lvl 25)

Odette - Female Ducklett (Lvl 22)

In Box/Reserve:

Ghost Girl - Female Liepard (Lvl 20)

Cassandra - Female Sandile (Lvl 21)

Trashie - Female Trubbish (Lvl 22)

Lowen - Male Cottonee (Lvl 20)

Lady - Female Minccino (Lvl 23)

Deaths: 2

Fountain - Male Sampour (Lvl 15)

Puppy - Female Herdier (Lvl 25)

#pokemon black #pokemon black nuzlocke #personal rambling #considering doing art of this #would anyone be interested in that #like Pokemon nuzlocke art or mini comic #because I'd be down to try it out.#also I plan to link back to previous parts once this nuzlocke has reached its conclusion

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srprincess · 4 years

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Hey look, it’s me! Still on my bullshit!

Chapter 18 of the Spookydoo Au

Fictober (Hahaha remember October? We used to leave our houses back then) Prompt 20 - “you could talk about it, you know”

Shitty breathlessly made his way back to the group and handed the, now handily dog attached, leash over to Lardo. “Haven’t fuckin’ run like that in years,” he managed to huff out as he leaned against the building, hunched over.

She smirked, “Maybe next time you'll go running with me when I ask.”

“Not likely,” Shitty told her with a wheezing laugh. He tilted his head toward the dog. “Next time he bolts I’ll let you can chase after him though.”

“You’re too kind.”

“I assume this is Sammy?” Will squatted down to dog level and held out his hand for inspection before giving the wild haired dog some pats, and getting an enthusiastic face lick in return. Laughing he told the dog, “nice to meet you, little fella.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he might have heard Nursey mutter about it being a nicer welcome than the one he had gotten.

“That's what we're calling him right now,” Lardo told Will, while she gave the dog a couple of scritches behind the neck. “Had to call him something, and he didn’t have any tags, so-”

“-Figured, Samwell crew trip- Sammy,” Shitty explained, breath thankfully returned.

“I like it,” Nursey said, sneaking his hands in for a couple of pets of his own and asking the happy dog, “Is Sammy a good boy? Oh yes, he is.”

“You and your nicknames.” Will shook his head fondly. “So you just got him? Unconventional souvenir, I’d say.”

“Well, he’s not actually, technically, ours,” Shitty admitted.

Will looked from the dog, with his shiny new collar and leash, back to Shitty and Lardo. He pulled himself back upright, suddenly suspicious. “You didn't steal him, did you? Please tell me you didn’t just make me an accomplice to dognapping.”

“No! Not stolen, found,” Lardo rushed to assure him.

“Rescued even,” Shitty insisted.

“When did you two have time to rescue a dog? We just saw you last night.”

“You know how we were at the cemetery, right? Well, we weren’t getting anything there, even looking in the right spot, so we wandered around a little more and there he was. Hanging around to edges of the trees, a little spooked but I think he was hungry enough not to run. We stayed longer to lure him out-“

“-earn his trust!”

“Yeah, Shitty, earn his trust,” Lardo agreed. “And then this morning we took him into-“

“-Petcetera.” Will finished, as things clicked into place. “I did hear something about you two being over there earlier.”

Of course. That explained the phone call that morning. He had been fishing, Will frowned at the pun even though it was hidden silent in his own head, to see if he could take off and leave the dog handling situation to someone else. At least he had called before taking off for his own fun, but still. He couldn't have just been upfront about it? Said why exactly he was calling? Maybe ask if he'd mind handling this for him? Ugh.

It was probably for the best he didn't hang around that guy much anymore because the next time he saw him he was going to have to murder him.

Okay, maybe not murder. Murder was messy. Also incredibly illegal.

Sink his boat? Hmmm. No. Less messy, slightly, but still illegal.

Let it drop to his mother about how he heard her son was sneaking around with that girl from the island again? Oh. Yes. That would do. Almost guarantee a talking to at their next family dinner. Sweet revenge for duty shirking.

Will knew that his own mother would have said eavesdropping wasn't something to be proud of, but damned if it didn't come in handy on occasion.

Oblivious to the vengeful thoughts racing through Will’s mind, Lardo went on, “Yeah, Petcetera, you know it? The waitress when we stopped for breakfast said it was the best place to try and find his owner.”

“The only place really.” Will told her. “That's our vet, animal control, adoption, and pet supply store all in one. Used to be run by Old Owen, but he passed it on to the younger a few years back.”

“Makes it easy I guess, keeping everything together. Anyway, no chip but he was going to check around. See if anyone is missing him or find him a family. Owen’s supposed to get back to us in a couple hours so we can drop him off either way.”

Will blew out a breath as he pulled himself back to standing. “About that...I can almost guarantee he’d already run through all his guesses about who this little guy belonged to before you even left the shop. He is animal central after all.”

“Maybe he was just waiting to find a place for him then?”

“Or he already found one.”

“Then why-” She looked at him with confusion, and checked her phone screen. “He hasn't called yet. You think we should go back over there?”

“No point, he was headed out fishing.” Will sighed, “probably can’t even see him from shore by now.”

“But if he found a place-” he could see when it clicked in her head, even before Lardo said, “Oh. You’re saying us. He found us.”

“Yep.”

“So he just fucked off?!” Shitty asked. “Who does that?”

“Owen.” Will deadpanned.

“Look, in general, he means well. He cares about the animals. Tries his best, usually. If he didn’t, then the business wouldn't have been passed to him. It's just, sometimes,” Will shrugged, “I don't like to be mean or speak ill, but-”

“Really,” Nursey scoffed, “you don’t like to ’speak ill’? Huh, could have fooled me.”

“Ha-ha funny.” At least Will hoped he was joking. Regardless he had to admit facts. “Fine, Owen’s kind of a flake. He’s been an expert at accomplishing the most while doing the least ever since we were in school. He is good people though. He wouldn't have left the dog if he wasn't sure that he would be taken care of. Assuming that's the reason for the call to me.”

“So, just like that, we have a dog now?”

Shitty looked at her, seeming excited at the possibility of them keeping the dog. Lardo didn't seem entirely against it, as evidenced by the frequent pats and scratches, but did have a look of someone on the edge of overwhelmed at the idea. Not quite sold. Yet.

“You could talk about it, you know?” Will told them. “You’ve still got, what, another day or two here? Take some time to think about it, talk it over. Either way, it’s up to you. And don’t worry, even if you want to leave Sammy here when you go, I’ll make sure he finds a home and is taken care of.”

Shitty and Lardo looked at each other.

“It’s not like we planned on getting a dog anytime soon-”

“But we didn't plan not to either-”

“You did spend all that time earning drawing him in last night-”

“And you always say it gets lonely at the house when I'm working so long.”

As if he knew they were talking about him, Sammy sat back and wagged his tail. Like he was trying to look his absolute cutest, turning his head back and forth and panting, as they discussed his fate.

“We do have a decent size yard-”

“Big empty yard, that we're doing fuck all with.”

“Truth. Could be nice-”

“Coming home to this cute little happy face?“ Shitty stooped down to the dog’s level and looked up at her hopefully.

“Yours or the dogs?”

Shitty smiled wide up at her, “Both, of course!”

“I meant what I said, don't let this pressure you. Either way, I’m going to have some words with Owen. If you need longer to think about it, I can-” Will started to offer again.

He wasn’t particularly looking for a pet, content to throw the odd stick across the beach for any loose dogs that escaped for a run. All the fun, none of the responsibility. He just wanted to make sure they didn't take on something they'd regret, most people had more time to work up to and decide on this kind of commitment. Then he saw Lardo and Shitty look down at Sammy one more time before smiling at each other, and he knew the decision was made.

“You want to come home with us little dude?”

Sammy hopped eagerly between them, and just like that it was settled.

“Congrats,” Will told them, “looks like you two just got a new dog.”

“For better or worse,” Lardo laughed out.

She made sure Shitty had hold of the leash and then turned to Nursey. “Need to borrow you real quick.”

“Oh. Just let me-”

“Now.” She dragged a wide eyed Nursey away by the arm. She started before they were quite out of earshot, “You two? That looked very, well, I hope I didn't interrupt anything.”

Nursey ducked his head down before answering, which had the unfortunate side effect of muffling his voice, and then they were too far for eavesdropping.

Will sighed, hoping he wasn't in for an interrogation of his own, but Shitty seemed happy to go on about the dog. How the pup had been shivering and scared when they found it, but a bag of his favorite jerky - a worthy sacrifice - was enough to bring him in.

“Think the tent might be lost cause though, some things you just can't clean out. Bitty’s gonna freak. Thing’s green couch bad, bro.”

Will nodded, like he had any idea what Shitty meant by that.

A few minutes had passed and then Nursey walked back with Lardo, Will tried to catch his eye. He wished for the psychic ability to find out what she had asked him. And know what the reply had been. But he wasn't a mind reader and all Nursey did was smile. Well, at least he still looked happy, not any worse for the wear, so that was likely good. Almost reassuring, he told himself.

“You tell him?” Shitty asked Lardo. She looked back, lost, and he added, “About Chow?”

“Nah,” Nursey answered for her. “Holster called earlier though. Said Chowder, ummm, got called into work early. Jack and Bits running them to the airport?”

“Yeah, Chowder and Farmer said to give their goodbyes and they'd see everyone at the-” Shitty faltered, “uh, conference? In October. You're still planning on going, right?”

“Course I’m going. Cait’ll be there too?”

“Should be, said she'd try her best at least.”

“Nice,” Nursey said. “So, no car?”

“Not for a couple hours, after lunch at earliest.” Lardo told him.

Will pushed back his questions about what sort of conference would have all their varying jobs called together, and instead offered up his truck to run them wherever.

“Your place again?” she asked. “Ransom said he had somethings to show you. Could get him and Holster over too.”

“Yeah? Sure, why not.” Will told her as she was already dialing.

“Tell them to grab Sammy’s food from the room,” Shitty said, leaning over her. “And us food. Sandwiches!”

“From that place by the pier!” Nurse loudly added. “With the peppers and-”

“Could you let me-” Lardo huffed, as she shoved them aside to get some quiet to finish the call.

Will looked at Nursey in disbelief. “Hungry already? You, literally, just rejected muffins.” He gestured at their, now cleared, table.

“Wasn’t muffin hungry. But sandwiches though.”

“Whatever.” Will rolled his eyes. “Think they could grab a club for me too then?”

“Hmmm maybe. I don't know if they should. You literally just rejected a muffin.”

“Oh, fuck you.” Will shoved him lightly. “Shut up and get in the truck.”

To Lardo, Shitty, and by extension Sammy, he said “You guys-”

“In the back, got it.” Shitty offered Lardo a hand, but she had hung up and was pulling herself up and over the gate already. Sammy quickly followed over with an excited bark and a leap, and they were off.

#spookydoo au #omgcp #nurseydex #fic #fictober19 #because time is fake af #and i realize updating this week of all times is just asking for this to buried in the tags BUT here we are #I thought the world could use a little more (hopefully) quality dog content #and it has been An Age since I've updated #and it gives me an excuse to reblog later #after all the update excite has died down a little #Lou (you know - the ghost in the ghost story) will reappear next update #until then - have some more nonsense!#or - once again - linking to the fic on a03 means i'm not even showing up in the tags #thanks tumblr - so helpful #so reblog if you like it!#otherwise I shall hang out here in the fandom shadows

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toast-the-unknowing · 4 years

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Lmaoooooo “when I grow up I’m going to have so much amnesia” pls just post whatever you’ve written over the last ten years I am so INTRIGUED

Well, the subject line is a Futurama quote, I can’t take credit for that, alas.

I am fond of several of the jokes in that story, but at the end of the day, it’s a mystery and I wrote 20k words of it without ever deciding what the answer to the mystery is. The odds I’ll ever bother figuring it out now are slim, especially since I look back and realize...you know...I’ve become a much better writer than I was 10 years ago and most of those 20k words aren’t great.

But some of them I like! So what the hell, why not, here’s some of my favorite bits from a Star Trek 2009 fic that will probably never otherwise see the light of day:

The whole thing with Kirk and Spock losing their memories on the same away trip is funny for a total of three seconds before it becomes utterly terrifying.

Okay, maybe there's about five minutes of Hikaru making himself sick trying to hold in laughter at the stunned stupid look on Kirk's face as he steps onto the bridge, the way that Spock mutters "what an ingenious invention" after they're beamed back to the Enterprise, but hey, Hikaru's only human. And now so is Kirk, stripped of that cockiness that comes from knowing he's survived all kinds of crazy shit that he shouldn't have, and so is Spock in a way, since he seems to have forgotten all his Vulcan mind-master training along with everything else.

And that thought is what wipes the smirk off Hikaru's face and has him exchanging sideways glances with Chekov, because they're right on the edge of Klingon space, Kang had sworn eternal vengeance against the entire crew the last time they'd seen him, and without Kirk's impossible ability to get them out of everything he gets them into, Hikaru doesn't like their odds of escaping a skirmish unharmed.

McCoy skips right over the part where anything about the situation is amusing and even skips over the "utterly terrifying" part and opts straight for angry yelling before the doors of the turbolift have finished opening to allow him onto the bridge.

"What the devil are you playing at now, Jim?" McCoy demands, striding up to Kirk and waving a tricorder at him that he can't possibly be reading, since he's too busy venting at Kirk's face to look at the machine.

The effect of this is apparently lost on the amnesiac Kirk, who looks over his shoulder trying to figure out who McCoy is talking to.

Right. No one told the Captain his name was Jim.

"We're doomed," Chekov whispers to Hikaru, who wholeheartedly agrees.

"More tests?" Hikaru asks Chapel. Hikaru hopes he sounds world-weary but in all likelihood he just sounds like a kid whining about not wanting to go to the dentist's. At least when he was a kid his parents would give him some candy to make the whole experience more bearable.

"You've failed them all so far," Chapel tells him.

"Doesn't being healthy count as passing?"

"Not in his Sickbay." She gestures over her shoulder at McCoy, who is ranting to the nurses that he washes his hands of Hikaru, complete with actually physically washing his hands, because McCoy has no concept of subtlety.

Maybe it was just the terrible psychological burden of working too long under McCoy that had made her a sadist. Hikaru had helped the med staff repair and restock Sickbay after a disastrous encounter with Romulans, and after two days of McCoy's crazy-eyes drilling into the back of his skull, he hadn't felt terribly generous toward his fellow sentient beings. Kirk, who always had to be perverse and do the opposite of what a normal person would do, had been invigorated by the experience and set some kind of mountain-climbing record on the next planet they stopped at.

McCoy must be having a field day, wherever he is; nothing makes him happier than a legitimate reason to be unhappy.

He winces and walks over to answer the door, to find Chekov's curly head bouncing around with an upbeat energy that makes Hikaru feel a thousand years old.

"What?" he asks. "Communicator doesn't work?"

"You didn't answer," Chekov points out, which is probably correct. Hikaru hadn't been aware of anything, much less the chirp of a communicator.

"You know," he tells Chekov, stepping back into his room so he can change into a fresh uniform, "when someone is annoyed with you, telling them how it's their fault doesn't make them like you any better. It just makes them more annoyed."

Chekov blinks big, hurt eyes at him. "You are annoyed with me?"

Hikaru just sighs and lets it go. "So what do I need to be told so badly?" he asks, slipping on a new pair of pants and pulling his shirt off. "I'm guessing that if it were good news, it could wait."

"We have Klingons," Chekov tells him, completely matter-of-fact, and Hikaru is never going to share with anyone, least of all Chekov, the fact that his immediate response to this was to think Russians really are that stoic.

His next thought is that he has to get to the bridge, now, so he sets off at a run with Chekov following along behind.

His third thought, that he never did finish getting dressed, takes its own sweet time occurring to him, specifically waiting until the doors to the Bridge open and Uhura looks at him, blinks her eyes at a momentary loss for words, and then smirks.

In retrospect, it will feel pretty good to have made Uhura happy about something in the middle of this whole clusterfuck. At the time, Hikaru just wonders how bad it could really be to eject himself out the nearest airlock.

"Had a disagreement with your uniform, Mr. Sulu?" Uhura asks. "Or have your just decided that today is a good day for swashbuckling?"

Hikaru plays it cool, because there are only so many options available for you when you show up to battle without a shirt on, and because there's an appreciative look in the eyes of more than one person on the Bridge that reminds him that his shirtlessness is not, in and of itself, anything to be ashamed about. "I wanted to be on hand as soon as possible to help with the situation, sir," he tells her, voice completely smooth. He falls into a formal at-ease position that draws the muscles in his chest tight, causing someone to whistle lowly.

The Acting Captain is actively fighting back laughter at this point; Uhura is going to give him shit about this for the rest of his natural life, but then again, Klingons, so Hikaru can't begrudge her trying to make the most of it now in case the rest of his natural life is only another ten minutes. "Mr. Chekov, please restrain your dramatics in the future," she tells him, and the ensign takes on a look of righteous outrage that is decades older than his face. "Perhaps you could have communicated to Mr. Sulu that another second or two's delay would not have been fatal."

"I thought it obvious, sir," Chekov says, primly. "No Russian would charge into battle in such a state of unpreparedness."

"Because they'd freeze to death on a summer's day," Hikaru mutters.

"How?" Uhura asks, with that same fake innocent tone she uses when she's trying to convince everyone at the table that she's got a shit hand, and dammit, Hikaru has fallen for that bluff too many times. After which he was often divested of an article of clothing, oddly enough, so the whole thing is starting to feel really familiar.

Kang is even willing to deal with someone who isn't Kirk, as long as Kirk is there to have accusations and insults hurled at him, which is some kind of horrible metaphor for command but Hikaru is still trying to force his jaws together and doesn't quite appreciate the many, many cosmic jokes that are unfurling in front of him.

Every single person on the bridge of the Enterprise who still has a brain freezes and darts their eyes to the view screen at the exact same second. Later that simultaneity would make Hikaru wonder why the hell the dancing had been so uncoordinated in the crew's performance of Pirates of Penzance, since clearly they are all psychically linked to each other. Or perhaps psychic connections require substantial motivational force. Few things are more substantial or more motivating than enraged Klingons, and – as every eyeball except two immediately takes in – they have one hell of an enraged Klingon on their hands.

"WHAT CHARADE IS THIS," Kang demands, spitting out 'charade' like it's the dirtiest word he knows. Apparently Klingon honor doesn't have much time for theater. Hikaru wonders what Klingons do for embarrassing social bonding in lieu of Pirates of Penzance.

"Oh, good, so we can tell them that we aren't responsible, they'll listen to that and act reasonable," McCoy mutters, before jabbing Kirk with something on the pretense of getting more brainwave readings. McCoy has been dragging Kirk around the ship with him all morning for reasons as yet unexplained. Hikaru's torn on thinking it's to cause more havoc, since every little thing that happens inspires a thousand pointless questions from the deposed captain, and thinking it's so he can stab at Kirk like some stress relief toy. It doesn't seem to be working, but modern science has not yet found a conduit big enough to channel McCoy's stress, so that would be asking a bit much to ask from a guy who needed help going to the bathroom earlier. (Hikaru made Chekov do it. That's what ensigns are for, right?)

Chapel had proclaimed the whole thing hogwash and said she would get around to it when she had a minute, and implied that that minute was going to be a long time coming, because apparently that attitude was handed down with command of Sickbay like the crown of a hereditary monarch.

Besides, there's the Klingons to consider, and even Scotty can't make hooch so strong it wipes out the memories of people on other ships. Probably. Hikaru will ask him about it when his memory is back, and they will write a paper together, "A Transwarp Theory of Moonshine", and it will ruin both of their chances of ever advancing up the command chain, which would probably suit Scotty just fine and would be the best thing to ever happen to Hikaru if it means he never has to deal with a mess like this again.

"When we get to the point where we're recruiting untested specialists from alternate dimensions to solve the problem, just leave me brainless," Chapel scoffs. "I don't want to know."

Hikaru scribbles a note to himself. Evil clones running the Enterprise becomes Plan Y; stealing versions of themselves from other dimensions becomes Plan Z. He thinks they have a better chance of un-fixing the teleporter to make clones again than of making it pull people from other dimensions.

Chekov bounds down the hall at him – speaking of teenagers – and apparently the gloom is rolling off Hikaru thick enough to strike down an enthusiastic ensign at fifty paces, because the spring goes right out of Chekov's step when Hikaru looks at him. His faces turns somber and he tugs on his uniform shirt like he's worried about wrinkles. Or maybe he just remembered that this is a catastrophe in the making and a little gravity is called for.

He nearly takes it too far, though, going for a salute and Hikaru thinks that if Chekov salutes him right now he will actually go insane. He intercepts Chekov's arm on the way up and drops it back down like its covered in nettles. Chekov looks a little confused about how to proceed from here, but hell, the kid's always telling them he's a genius, let him figure something out.

He picks up Chapel like a leech; when he refuses to stop in Sickbay she just attaches herself to him and starts talking every bit as rapidly as Hikaru is walking. He can't tell how she's breathing. Maybe she isn't. Hikaru feels a little bit like he isn't breathing, either, or that might just be his flair for the dramatic.

He gets distracted, too, by the nurse who is accompanying Chapel, holding several PADDS and a medical tricorder and struggling to hold it all and drop nothing and keep up on her rather short legs. Maybe they could slow down for her, but hell, Chapel's her boss and isn't worried.

Hikaru can't remember the nurse's name. That's a panicky moment, but no, it's just that she's new. Should he ask her name, he wonders, or would that be rude? As the captain, however temporary or inglorious the title may be, he should know everyone on the crew already.

At least the crew is making that easier on him by shrinking.

"Stress is every bit a real, medical problem, particularly among young men in high-pressure situations who think they're immortal." This comes with a side order of meaningful look.

"I assure you, Nurse, I am well-aware of my failings."

"And I'm seeing drastically heightened stress all over the ship. Heart rate, blood pressure, shaking, forgetfulness -- not amnesia -- emotional outbursts -- "

"Maybe the crew doesn't like having medical personnel hovering all around them." Hikaru jumps as the short nurse waves her tricorder over him, presumably getting a reading of his own heart rate, blood pressure, and emotional outbursts. "I'm open to any suggestions about how to lower the crew's stress levels, up to and including Ensign Chekov going door to door singing Russian lullabies."

"I'll put that down as Plan Z," Chapel says, and holy shit, can she read his mind? He makes himself think profusely repentant thoughts for his attitude the last two days and also for that time he sneaked a look at her hand at poker, just in case. Also, he probably shouldn't play poker with Chapel anymore, honest or otherwise, if she can read his mind.

That, that right there, is apparently what Chapel looks like when she is truly outraged and not just annoyed or sarcastic or feeling superior, which is a valuable piece of information and Hikaru files it away in the very sincere and fervent hope that he never sees it again.

"You know, just, some people," the Acting Captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise mumbles into his shoulder.

"How did we get here?" Hikaru mutters. He's barely even realized he's spoken, so it's doubly alarming when Chekov jumps up and grabs his shoulders, shakes them violently.

"Sulu, no, you cannot have amnesia, too," the kid starts babbling. Why is it that his accent gets easier to understand when he's worked up? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Unless, hang on, has the kid been faking his accent this whole time? "Then I will have to take command of the Enterprise and while that is a thing I have dreamed of doing, it is no good to me if no one is around to admire."

#not a fic #my work #Anonymous

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ober-affen-geil · 5 years

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Alright. Today I want to talk about Max Evans, and I want to do it because I see a lot of people (in my corner of the fandom) who give him grief that I don’t think he’s earned. Max has flaws, that is undeniable, but so does every other character on this show.

Importantly, overall, it’s emphasized several times in the show that a lot of Max’s behavior we see is unusual for him. Liz appearing in town after 10 years of absence and then getting shot literally upended his life, and almost everything that I’ve seen people up in arms about is fallout from that. Also importantly, Max acknowledges he’s done wrong almost every time he screws up. While I know that his apologies don’t magically fix everything, he is sincere in them and they mean he’s thinking critically about himself and is willing to change his behavior.

*I want to make it clear before I get going that I do not condone Max’s problematic actions. I DO, however, think I understand why he does them and that’s what I’m going to talk about here.*

The way I see it, most of the reasons Max does something problematic can be put down to two causes: he’s protecting someone (usually Liz or his alien family), or he’s being negatively affected by alien stuff. Sometimes it’s both. (1x05 and 1x07 present exceptions, but I will save those for last.)

Negative alien stuff first because I think that’s what brings out the worst, most obvious examples.

We know, from dialog cues, that healing Liz in the pilot heavily affected Max. And we also know that his being “off” doesn’t change until he lets off a massive power surge at the end of 1x03 and knocks out the town’s electricity. Which means that everything Max says and does between healing Liz and blowing out the power is said and done under the influence of that “wrongness”.

This includes telling Michael he “never did anything for anyone” in the pilot, yelling at Isobel in the pilot (which he immediately apologizes for in the moment), punching Michael in 1x02, attacking and attempting to kill Wyatt Long in 1x02, accidentally zapping Liz in 1x03 (which she herself admits she provoked), yelling at Isobel again in 1x03, and getting territorial about Liz with Kyle in 1x03.

It is also specifically noted in show dialog in 1x02 that Max’s aggressive behavior is out of the ordinary. Isobel comments on it multiple times (What, you’re hitting him now?/Something is wrong Max. I can feel it and so can you.), and Max himself admits it both in 1x02 and in 1x03.

Then there’s what happens in 1x13 with Michael’s hand. I have already talked about this briefly, but Max is so far from his right mind after he kills Noah it is not even funny. He is high on power and everything about his body language and actions screams it. Noah specifically states in 1x12 that taking a life makes them stronger, gives them a boost. Makes them feel good. Here, Max has not only taken a life, he did it while being hopped up on lightning. Literal lightning. From the sky. x

After he kills Noah, Max is a hyperactive mess. His speech is rushed and giddy, he’s incorrectly reading Isobel’s tone/mood, he brushes aside perfectly valid and logical statements by both Michael and Isobel, and he outright ignores Michael’s obvious protests about healing his hand. All of this is out of character for Max. There’s no dialog between Michael and Isobel deliberately addressing it but their expressions and body language, as well as traded looks with each other, tell us that this is really unusual behavior.

It’s clear from dialog early in the show that Max doesn’t use his powers all that often, if at all. Not in the recent past. He has spent his life trying to repress his alien nature, this means he has had no chance to experiment with his powers or see how they affect him. He has no way to anticipate or combat the ill effects of healing because he has nothing to base anything off of. This is all happening to him for the first time.

Now it is true that Max’s aggressiveness when he’s affected by alien stuff doesn’t seem to be present when he’s around Liz, which might appear to indicate he does actually have some amount of control over it. But he says to Liz in 1x02 “Ever since I healed you I’ve felt wrong, like there’s a tornado inside me and I can’t fight it and I can’t run from it - except when I’m with you.” Max is calm around Liz because she is the only person who can bring him peace simply by being present.

Which brings me to the other reason Max acts out: protecting Liz. And his siblings, to be fair. To be clear, this is not a product of something that “happens” to Max beyond his control. This is a part of his nature and his personality which is positive, but causes him to misguidedly commit negative actions.

Protecting Liz is the reason Max abuses his position as a police officer to go after Wyatt Long in 1x07, twice, which both Cam and Liz call him out on. It’s not a “bad” action necessarily, but protecting Liz is the reason Max goes after the hospital shooter alone in 1x10, which Cam point out is uncharacteristic. Protecting Liz, combined with bad alien effects, is the reason he tries to kill Wyatt Long in 1x02. Protecting Isobel, and by extension his and Michael’s secret, is the reason he covers up three murders when they were 17. Protecting Isobel is the reason he kills the drifter when they were children.

Protecting Liz and Isobel is the reason he pulls a gun on Michael in 1x12/1x13. Note that it is not that Max values Michael less than Isobel or Liz, it’s that Michael in that moment was trying to help Noah. Michael is not the threat, Noah is. This is why Michael is absolutely correct when he says Max won’t shoot him. He shoots the serum in Michael’s hand, which is the real problem for Max in the scenario.

Max loves Michael; Michael is his family. He says as much several times throughout the show. Max loves Michael just as much as he loves Isobel, they’ve just becomes distanced from each other over the last 10 years. Incidentally, the deep love he has for both his alien siblings leads directly to his negative actions in 1x05/1x07, which are the only examples I can think of where Max does wrong while not being driven by protectiveness or being under the influence of alien somethingorother.

The actions I’m talking about are when he yells at Isobel and throws Michael against his truck in 1x05, and when he disowns Michael and tells Noah that “people like [him] deserve better than people like Isobel” in 1x07. (Yes, horrifically ironic in hindsight.)

This is Max after finding out that Michael and Isobel got Liz to leave town 10 years previous. Max, at this point, is completely free of any alien influence other than his normal levels. He is also not reacting to the fact that Isobel got into Liz’s head without her consent. This is personal for him, this is about Michael and Isobel separating him from Liz and letting him think it was his fault. Max here is deeply hurt and angered by what he sees as a betrayal committed by both of the only two people he loves and trusts most in the world.

It is because he loves both Michael and Isobel that his reaction is so strong; “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” He throws Michael against the truck because Michael tried to dismiss the incident as being in the past. He yells at Isobel because she tried to tell him she didn’t know the depth of his feelings when they have a psychic connection. He slams his hand against the truck next to Isobel and yells again because she is in that moment (as he sees it) once more trying to keep him from Liz. (Also because he suffers from Male Privilege and in this instance fails to recognize the severity of the effect of his physical aggressiveness, but that is for a future meta.)

He tells Michael to get off his property and throws Alex in his face because Michael again tried to explain that his and Isobel’s actions were for Max’s own good. (I talk more about that scene here.) And he tells Noah that he “deserves better” because he sees Noah in that moment as someone else who loves Isobel that she lied to.

It should be noted that the second Max finds out about Liz creating a serum that she herself describes as a “weapon”, he circles the wagons. Everything he said to Michael about him not being “family” goes out the window when his siblings are threatened. It does not excuse his actions or words (as I said at the beginning, that’s not my goal here), but his apology to Michael and his immediate willingness to literally abandon his life in Roswell to protect Isobel (and Michael) shows his true feelings on the matter.

Max Evans is honest-to-goodness a really good guy. This season we see him get a lot thrown at him very quickly and he doesn’t always manage to deal with it with the best solution possible (understatement). Which doesn’t make him a bad guy. Ironically, it just means he’s human.

#roswell new mexico #rnm #my roswell meta #max evans #screencap is mine #tw consent #just in case #list #a riley special

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hasansonsuzceliktas · 4 years

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Spiritual Movies that Nourish Your Soul

One night in 2003, while channel hopping on TV, I came across a movie named Interstate 60. I read the summary and it looked appealing. The movie then started, and after I finished watching it, I watched it again. (That channel had a repeat function.) My mind was blown, my smile was wide, and I felt great. I had never watched anything like it before. That’s when my interest in spiritual movies began. Four years passed and then The Secret came along. It was also mind blowing for its time. Although it has its controversial aspects now, it was a revolution in spiritual documentaries. Oh, there was also What the #$*! Do We Know?, but it takes my interest only after The Secret. Afterwards, I became deeply interested in spiritual movies and watched many of them. I made recommendation lists for my followers in Turkey, and now I want to share them with you. I don’t want to give details about the movies, though, because you can look them up on IMDb or whatever. I want to instead share the reasons for why I recommend these particular movies. First let me be clear about one thing, though. What is a spiritual movie? Everything is spiritual. The life we live is spiritual, because everything comes out of the spirit. If we looked at it from this perspective, there is a vast number of spiritual movies. You can see the spirit in many such movies. For me, though, a spiritual movie is one that expands your view, your perceptions, your world, and your being. After finishing one, you do not feel like you are the same person that you were two hours ago. It has touched your soul and made you think and feel deeply. Some of them even blow your mind. Such movies have similar effects on others too. That is what I call a spiritual movie, so I selected movies based on that criterion.

Classic Spiritual Movies

These are the ones where I could say, “Haven’t you watched it yet? How can you call yourself spiritual?”

The Matrix You may well say, “Oh, come on! Starting with The Matrix? We’ve all watched it a million times. Give us something new!” Yes, I know. I also said it many times while checking the spiritual must-see lists of others. But last week, I watched the whole trilogy again because I wanted to find clues about “the loop.” By this, I mean the loop in our minds, which we may call dharma. I was thinking deeply about how I could get my mind out of the worldly plane. I then started to watch the trilogy and realized that The Matrix is about the trinity of mind, body, and soul. The machines could not understand love and therefore the soul, so the movie gives the message that the best way to get out of the worldly plane is through love.

Celestine Prophecy James Redfield’s novel was one of the first books I read in my spiritual awakening days. It is still marvelous, but the movie could have been better I think.

Peaceful Warrior Dan Millman’s marvelous book was adapted into a great movie. It touched many people’s souls, as I have witnessed many times. You have to read the book after watching the movie, though. The book has much more, as you can no doubt imagine.

Conversations with God We all love Neale Donald Walsch, author of the Conversations with God series, and this movie is about his life. It is a good movie.

Interstate 60 For me, this is the best spiritual movie of all time. In my mind, it’s a timeless classic. Yet when I checked other people’s lists on the web, I didn’t find this movie in many of them. It may well be that you still haven’t watched it yet. If not, prepare yourself for a spiritual feast. Even after watching it 30 times, like I have, you can still find many messages. Believe me when I say you can watch it many times over without ever getting bored of it.

What the #$*! Do We Know? This early spiritual documentary was labeled as talking heads (i.e., many experts coming together and talking about something). Quantum physics meets with spirituality and good drama in what is still a must-see documentary.

The Secret Ah! The Secret. We can still argue that it represents the law of attraction, but it is still a great documentary. It gave rise to the term “secret-like” when describing spiritual documentaries. Nowadays, when you mention The Secret, many people deride it, but it has still a special place in my heart.

Fight Club “The first rule of fight club is you do not talk about fight club.” Okay, I won’t, but I had to put it on the list.

Avatar If I feel like an avatar living on Earth, being controlled by someone’s conscious in another place, it is because of this great movie. I had to watch it again.

Groundhog Day A funny, classic movie about being stuck in a time loop. No doubt you have seen it already.

Baraka – Samsara Movies without words but with many deep meanings. Many years of work went into Ron Fricke’s movies, which are not just spiritual classics but also works of art.

Lesser-Known Movies

These great movies are adored by many, but maybe you haven’t heard of some of them

Nossolar Do you want to know how the afterlife is? Based on the channelings of Chico Xavier, Nossolar is a great Brazilian movie about the afterlife.

Bab’aziz This is the most beautiful movie about Sufism ever made. Nacer Khemir’s work is outstanding, and you can feel this great movie fill your soul. The soundtrack is also magnificent.

Chaotica Ana This is one of the best movies about reincarnation and the goddess. Ana, a Spanish art student, meets Said in Madrid and they fall in love. After Said disappears, Ana starts to undertake hypnotherapy and finds out she has lived many past lives. You can find out the rest in the movie…

The Man from Earth This very beautiful classic movie starts with a boring discussion between six university professors and turns into a great dialogue when one of them confesses that he is 14,000 years old. Still not watched it yet?

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring You cannot forget this movie, even after many years. Korean director Kim Ki-Duk uses the symbolism of the passing seasons to tell this story of a young Buddhist monk’s evolution from innocence to love, evil to enlightenment, and ultimately to rebirth. Please watch it in HD on a big screen please. It is a Buddhist poem conveyed through cinema.

Powder IMDb describes it as follows: “An off-the-charts genius who is home schooled and shunned after his last relative dies shows the unconscious residents of his town about connection awareness and the generosity of the spirit.” It’s the story of an albino boy with psychic powers. It is a classic, and I will never forget the scene with the hunter and deer.

Defending Your Life This movie is also about the afterlife, but its story is told in a much funnier way. It is about love, karma, and rebirth. You will remember this movie from the scenes of a Japanese restaurant in Heaven.

Serendipity A romantic movie about love and coincidence starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.

Sliding Doors Just one door staying open can change your life in this Gwyneth Paltrow classic.

Little-Known Movies

If you’re saying, “Come on, we all know these movies. Give us something new!” Okay, here you go.

Valley of Flowers IMDBsays, “A great Asian love story, an unforgettable tale about passion, death and reincarnation. A mesmerizing Himalayan epic that spans two centuries, from the Silk Route of the early 19th century to the bustling metropolis of modern-day Tokyo.” It’s the most passionate story about soulmates ever made, and the love of Jalan and Ushna will take your breath away.

Looking for Muhyiddin A man (played by filmmaker Nacer Khemir, who also directed Bab’aziz) returns home to Tunisia to bury his mother. Following the burial, his father gives him an amana to take to a Sheikh named Muhyiddin. The man immediately sets out on an epic journey to find the long-lost Sheikh and deliver the amana to him. Throughout his journey, he is guided by a mysterious spiritual master and many friends of the Sheikh who he encounters along the way. As the adventure unfolds, we learn about the rich life of this Sheikh and his uncompromising love for humanity, for under his teachings, different beliefs, faiths, and ways of life can only converge and become one. The more we learn about the Sheikh Muhyiddin, the more we understand why he is so venerated across cultures and continents. Looking for Muhyiddin is a deeply lyrical odyssey into the soul of Islam through the life and the works of one of its most beloved mystics: Ibn Arabi. This is one of the best Sufi movies you will ever watch.

Happenstance Everyone knows Amelie, but did you ever hear about this other movie with Audrey Tatou. It is about coincidence and chaos theory, possibly the best one on the subject.

Un Buda IMDb says, “Un Buda follows two brothers orphaned as children when their parents were taken by the military during the ‘Dirty Wars’ of the 1970s in Argentina. Tomas is now a drifting and withdrawn young man who experiments with ascetic practices and has an instinctive compassion for others. His older brother Rafael is a university philosophy professor, detached and alone. Their struggles with each other and the world around them in Buenos Aires take a dramatic turn when they find themselves at a rural Zen center.” It’s a great spiritual movie from Argentina

Now and Forever If you want to watch an unforgettable spiritual love story, do not miss out on this one. I watched it many years ago, but some scenes still stick in my mind. IMDb summarizes it like this: “Against a backdrop of clashing cultures, John Myron and Angela Wilson find each other and over the years form a powerful bond. One tragic night, John rescues Angela from a wicked act of betrayal. Faced with its aftermath, Angela flees town, unaware that she has put into motion a dramatic and intense string of events that will forever change the course of their lives. Harboring a secret, John guides Angela to a shocking realization that will uncover the past. Now & Forever is a dramatic contemporary love story combining elements of spirituality, heart and integrity. They say sooner or later all love stories will end; Now & Forever is the exception...”

An… This Greek movie is so special for me. We watch a choice and then the consequences in parallel universes. Demetris is a handsome man with a dog. One night while out with his dog, he meets Christina. In the alternate universe, he doesn’t go out with his dog, so he doesn’t meet Christina. We watch both sides of this simple choice. But fate says, if you are destined to meet someone, you will meet him or her whatever. Why is this movie so special for me? In one great scene, Demetris and Christina sit with a coffee and share love. I later found this coffee when I visited Athens and sat with my own love. I will never forget either that experience or this magnificent movie.

Storm If you loved The Matrix, watch this Swedish version. It starts similarly when a man meets a mysterious woman with an evil man chasing her. The story then turns in a different direction. Please just find it and watch it.

Ink Ink, a mysterious creature, steals a child's soul with the aim of using it as a bargaining chip to join the Incubi, a group of supernatural beings responsible for creating nightmares. It may seem like a horror movie, but it’s not. The less you know about it, the more you will enjoy it. I know many other movies could be added to this list, but this is just a selection to start you off. There are also many spiritual documentaries, but I will share a list of these in our next issue… Read the full article

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