#prime example of getting so caught up in the aesthetics or character types that you miss the actual reality of what happens in | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blacksunscorpio · 4 years

Note

Scorp you're a genius! So relatable and I love how you don't judge others or anyone who comes to you for help. Keep it up! I just had to ask since I see that you make pop culture references to make analogies with astrology. You've mentioned GoT a few times and im a huge fan! Can you do a quick post on Game of Thrones characters and their potential zodiac signs? I'd love to hear your input! Thank you so much!!

Game of Thrones Characters & Their Zodiac Signs

Aries

Khal Drogo- Impulsive. Warlike. Bloodthirsty. Alpha. Conqueror. Hardcore athlete [did you see him on that horse?] Extremely sexual. Forceful. When he first meets Daenerys, he forces himself on her. Afterward, however, he is the first to go to war if he feels the people around him have been disrespected.

Aerys Targaryen- Impulsive, sadistic. Boastful. imperial. He would be the Emperor [reversed] in Tarot, lol. Not as good with being a tactician as he ought to have been. Cruel. Rage problems. The need to be the first and the best. Fire and blood, anyone?

Taurus

Maergery Tyrell - Classy, wealthy, sexy, laid-back, frank but with an air of elegance. Highgardeners have a love for the finer things in life. A love of fine wines and foods. Beautiful clothing and aesthetics. RICH RICH. Get on their bad side and they will take their time finding a way to subvert your authority.

Robert Baratheon- Love of luxury, bullheaded, strong, takes no shit. Fixed in his opinions of others, highkey jealous. In his youth, he enjoyed the gifts of Venus: Charm, wealth coming from the noble house of Baratheon, widely considered handsome by almost all in the 7 kingdoms.

Gemini

Tyrion Lannister- Silver-tongued. HIGHKEY intelligent. Social. Charming. Great sense of humor. A freak [in the sheets]. Chatty. Always finds his way out of a sticky situation. Finds a way to use his intel to bolster diplomacy between his family and the families who hate them.

Little Finger- Cunning, quick-witted, works behind the scenes, manipulative, a snake, jack of all trades. Top dog in the social circles of the 7 Kingdoms. There wasn’t a person who didn’t know of him and his... reputation. He singlehandedly, through his Machiavellian tactics, caused the events of Game of Thrones to unfold.

Cancer

Cersei Lannister- Protective, moody, caring [to her kids], motherly, cantankerous, jealous. A savage. People don’t give Cancer’s the credit they deserve in terms of what they’re capable of. Cersei is a prime example of the type of person who can show unrivaled levels of devotion to the one’s they love. “No one matters but us.” She can be cruel because she lets her emotions rule her actions. When her safety is threatened, she makes sure no one else feels safe either. She loves with a ferocity only rivaled by...

Catelyn Stark- Another mother who would die [quite literally] for her children. Fierce, Protective. Doting. JEALOUS. Let’s not forget how she treated Jon all because she believed Ned’s lie about him being a bastard. Followed her son into battle. Damn near lost her hands fighting off Bran’s would-be assassin.

Leo

Jaime Lannister- Proud. Handsome. Princely. Funny. We seem him go from underdeveloped Leo [arrogant, selfish, bully, prideful, snob, loyal to no one but himself] to developed [Kind, helpful, warm, honest]. Fought bears for his friends. Skilled and proud fighter even without the use of both his hands. Unfortunately, his loyalty caused him to stay loyal to his twin towards the end, but such is the nature of a Leo. They’re hard-pressed to abandon those they truly care for.

Brienne of Tarth- LOYAL. Proud. Devoted. A bit of a flare for drama especially brandishing her sword. Brienne is the definition of Leonine traits. Hard to miss. Devoted to those who show her kindness, i.e Renly, Catelyn, Jaime, Sansa, etc. Always at the front lines in war screaming “STAND YOUR GROUND”. Unrivaled levels of bravery and courage. Not to be fucked with. A true Queen.

Virgo

Samwell Tarley- Intelligent. Scholarly. Methodical. Always with his nose in a book. Unproblematic king. Caught the things everyone else missed, especially when he was an apprentice in Old Towne. Figured out how to cure Jorah Mormont’s affliction on his OWN without any formal training. Genius.

Lord Varys- Remember, Virgo is also ruled by Mercury who is the most cunning of the planetary rulers. Varys always had a spy to collect intel on everyone. A tactician. Never lost his temper. Always had the scoop but didn’t partake in gossip for gossip's sake. Not afraid to be critical or tell those “in charge” his opinion. We can see this specifically when he critiques Aerys, Daenerys, and Robert.

Libra

Davos Seaworth- a skilled diplomat. Davos is always seen seeking balance and fairness in the situations he finds himself in. The minute you see this man in a scene you know he’s going to give a moving speech and get someone out fo a sticky situation. He convinced the Iron Bank to support Stannis. Convinced Daenerys to entertain Jon Snow when they traveled to Dragonstone. Always breaking up a fight. He is in full support of law and order, especially when he called for Melisandre’s head after discovering her part in Shireen’s death [RIP.]

Rhaegar Targaryen- Had a love of music. Harmony. Balance. He brought two families together [Stark and Targaryen]. He was also blessed by Venus in my opinion because he was said to be extremely handsome. A fabulous singer. A fighter yes, but a lover first. Very good with diplomacy but not the best with defending himself against his cousin sign, Taurus [Robert Baratheon].

Scorpio

Daenerys Targaryen- Many see her as an Aries but I have to respectfully disagree. Daenerys is a Scorpio in my opinion. Remember, Scorpio is honorary fire. She was literally “reborn from the ashes”. A Phoenix, Scorpio’s final form. She went from a silent and meek girl to a skilled and commanding Empress. Unlike Arians, she did not jump headfirst into battle. It took many arrows in her dragons, many slights to her ego, copious council from her advisors, dozens of her loved ones lost for her to go nuclear. Like her father, she hungered for power, a very Scorpionic trait. However she, unlike her father, listened to reason [Jorah, Tyrion, and Barristan Selmy]. She had a long fuse until she didn’t, and then that’s when she rained fire and blood on everyone in King’s Landing. She was skilled at retribution and was unapologetic with it *cough* the Tarleys *cough*.. Unlike Arians who pop off at the drop of a hat, she gave her enemies fair warning if/when they crossed her.

Arya Stark- You already know what it is with this one. Arya is pretty much death [Pluto], personified. Stealthy. A tactician. VENGEFUL. I think we all fist-pumped when she served Filch Walder Frey his sons in that pie. Never forgets a slight. Keeps a list of people who’ve wronged her [All Scorpios can probably relate]. You never see her coming. She is “no-one”. She is the assassin that slips through the back. She may seem calm at first but trust that she has been planning your downfall for a while. LOYAL. The definition of a Scorpio.

Melisandre- Dark. Mysterious. Unafraid of the occult. So much of her life is unknown and I’m sure that’s how she preferred it. Even her Lord of light was mysterious. Strong supernatural abilities and highkey psychic. Knew immediately how many “eyes” Arya would “close.” Had ties to the underworld which is demonstrated with her ability to resurrect the dead. Came through at the clutch in the last battle wielding fire [Mars] with her witchcraft. It’s no secret that Scorpios are some of the most skilled in sorcery.

Sagittarius

Missandei- Exotic. From Naath which is an island just above the mysterious continent of Sothoryos. A world traveler. Lucky enough to escape slavery [until the end]. Jupiter's influence is here in my opinion because she is so kind and friendly. Also a polyglot and gifted with the ability to speak 19 languages. Her fire is seen at the end of the series when she tells her best friend “Dracarys”-- meaning “fire” in High Valyrian. She isn’t afraid to call wrath down on others.

Olenna Tyrell- Loud, unapologetically blunt, zero-filter, feisty. Olenna to me is the definition of Sagittarius. Always speaks her mind. Clap back queen. Will call you out. Was also quite promiscuous in her younger years. Very charismatic and extremely likable despite her penchant for saying whatever was on her mind.

Capricorn

Tywin Lannister- I can’t see the patriarch of the most notorious family in Westeros being anything other than a Capricorn. Methodical. Structured. Business-minded. Karmic [A "Lannister always repays his debts"] Cold. Cruel. Unfeeling. Like Saturn, he is the father figure. Basically ran the 7 Kingdoms for Aerys, [which was probably why the latter was so salty towards him.] Always has a plan. The man you want in charge if we’re strictly talking about law and order. Vindictive [had the mountain kill Elia because Rhaegar rejected Cersei.] He’s the ultimate son-of-a-bitch.

Jon Snow- Brooding hero that he is, Bae Jon Snow is without a doubt a Capricorn in my eyes. Duty-bound. Serious. A leader in his own right. Could also be cold and unfeeling in terms of distributing karmic justice. Lest we forget the “fetch-me-a-block” situation with Janos Slynt. In addition, the moment he was resurrected he took vengeance against the black brothers who betrayed him. Saturn, Like Pluto, is all about karmic justice. The beating he put on Ramsey after The Battle of the Bastards was one thousand percent a karmic beating. A proper lover as well, according to Ygritte, Jon also knew how to handle himself in the bedroom, a trait very akin to Capricorns.

Aquarius

Bran Stark- I thought about making Bran a Pisces, but then I changed my mind. Remember Uranus rules sudden insights and hardcore psychic receptivity. It also rules sudden and unexpected catastrophes or surprises/ sudden breaks. Bran suffered a literal “tower” moment at the beginning of the series which resulted in his psychic powers developing. Once he became the three-eyed raven, he became very detached from the world.

Grey Worm- Aquarius is also androgynous. Grey Worm is a eunuch. He is always down to fight for a cause though, specifically his queen’s. Cares about others, specifically Missandei, and was seen towards the latter season speaking up for the Unsullied against the slavers. Fierce combatant but also very detached. His job is his job.

Pisces

Jaqen H’ghar- Much like Neptune, Pisces’ ruler Jaqen has a mysterious and illusive personality. He wears “many faces”. Skilled at illusion and very very intuitive. Has a soft side though which is clearly seen with how he treats Arya. Hardly ever flies off the handle. Calm. Cool. Collected.

Hodor- Sweet and gentle giant, Hodor is a Pisces to me. Affected by psychic trauma, it’s revealed why “Hodor” is the only thing he can say. Calm. A bit of a baby. Caring. Easily adaptable [think of all the terrain he carried Bran through]

Eddard Stark- I don't care what anyone says, Ned stark to me represents the most developed form of a Pisces. Like the Hanged-Man in Tarot that represents sacrifice and which Neptune Rules, he willingly sacrificed his reputation as honorable for his sister, Lyanna. He later sacrifices himself for his children when he died at Joffrey’s [little bitch] command. He is wise. Though appears cold, he is actually a well of feeling and caring. Unfortunately, he also suffered from the naivety of Neptunian influence which is why he wasn’t very skilled at the Game of Thrones, which calls for more tactical ruthlessness. Pisceans however also have the rage of Poseidon flowing through their veins [which people like to forget]. This was displayed when he pinned Petyr Baelish to the Wall in King’s Landing for daring to dishonor Cat by inviting her into a Brothel. RIP, King Stark.

73 notes · View notes

hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 6 years

Text

My Thoughts on Venom 2018 Part 1: How did this even happen?

This was the most bizarre comic book film experience of my life. I am going to attempt to organize my thoughts below but to some extent this will be a stream of consciousness.

As far as recommendations are concerned.

If you are a hardcore Venom fan: Go see this you’ve been waiting 20 years for it.

If you are a hardcore Spider-Man fan: You don’t need to see this.

If you are a comic book fan: If you love 90s schlock turn your brain off and go for it.

If you are a comic book movie/general movie fan: It’s schlock but bizarre and at times entertaining schlock so if you like that...see this. If you want something with the average competency of any given MCU film steer clear.

With all that said let’s dive deep into this movie. SPOILERS for the movie, though I’m not synopsising it.

Venom a history

Long story short, once upon a time in the 1980s Marvel gave Spider-Man a new black costume. People initially hated it. Marvel got rid of it by revealing it was actually an alien, a symbiote trying to bond with Spidey who promptly rejected it and ultimately tried to destroy it.

Except by then people had decided they loved the suit. Later in the 1980s a guy by the name of David Michelinie came up with the idea of giving the alien costume to a new character and thus creating a new villain.

The new character was reporter Eddie Brock who broke a story revealing the identity of a notorious serial killer known as the Sin Eater. Except Brock hadn’t fact checked properly and shortly afterwards Spidey caught the actual killer. Brock was fired in disgrace and his life spiralled downwards from there, with him blaming Spider-Man for his woes. That was when he encountered Spidey old alien costume and bonded to it, the pair sharing a mutual burning hatred for the wall-crawler.

The result was Venom, a hulking with Spider-Man’s powers (and then some) with the cool aesthetic of Spidey’s black suit combined with monstrous features like a wicked grin and claws.

Venom was a hit. More than a hit, he was the most successful character in Spider-Man lore since Spider-Man himself.

And so he kept coming back to menace Spider-Man over and over again. Except over time he began to change. When starting out, Venom was a wicked sadistic homicidal maniac hellbent on nothing but killing Spider-Man. But as time went by a new aspect worked its way into Venom: a desire to protect the innocent, even via violent means.

A key turning point for the character was when Michelinie introduced yet another new villain, Carnage. Carnage was the result of serial killer Cletus Kasady bonding to another alien costume, this one being the off spring of the Venom symbiote. Carnage was a mass murderer more powerful than Venom and Spider-Man. Due to their mutual desire to protect the innocent though Spidey and Venom formed a tenuous alliance to bring down Carnage.

Thus Venom for the first time assumed the role of an anti-hero, a type of character who by this point in time (the early 1990s) had grown wildly popular in comic books and pop culture as a whole. A prime example would be the character of the T-800 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Eventually Marvel decided to have Venom spin-off completely from Spider-Man. In a story culminating in Amazing Spider-Man #375 David Michelinie introduced Eddie Brock’s estranged ex-wife Ann Weying and had Venom and Spidey part ways under a truce that they’d leave one another alone.

This was set up for Venom getting a long string of mini-series that chronicled his solo-adventures as an anti-hero. The first of these was in 1993’s Venom: Lethal Protector. The six part story (penned by Michelinie) saw Eddie Brock (sporting a noticeably softer and longer haired appearance) move to San Francisco seeking a new purpose in his life.

Whilst in San Fran Venom came into conflict with (among others) Roland Treece and the Life Foundation.

The former was a rich businessman seeking to destroy a secret underground community of homeless people in order to obtained wealth lost in one of San Fran’s old earthquakes.

The latter was an organization of survivalists looking to live out a potential nuclear apocalypse from a place of luxury and power. Among their members was Carlton Drake who was heavily involved in a project to create super powered security guards for the Life Foundation. They sought to do this by extracting further offspring from the Venom symbiote and bonding them to specially selected security personnel.

From this process new symbiote villains were created, namely Phage, Lasher, Agony, Scream and Riot.

Venom seemingly defeated all these symbiotes along with Treece, thus gaining a place among the underground community of homeless people as their champion and defender.

Michelinie had relatively little further involvement with Venom after the Lethal Protector mini-series though he returned in 1995 to pen a crossover story with Spider-Man called ‘Planet of the Symbiotes’. The plot centred upon Earth being invaded by an army of symbiotes seeking to bond with all human life and the revelation that the Venom symbiote was an outcast even amongst it’s own kind, chiefly because it sought to permanently bond with one of its host in a mutually beneficial and loving relationship.

Venom had many more sol adventures in the 1990s, some of which involved Eddie’s ex wife Ann Weying who at times bonded with the Venom symbiote herself to become She-Venom.

Venom’s solo adventures are widely considered amongst comic book and Spider-Man fans to be of generally poor quality and the anti-hero direction for Venom (even prior to his being spun-off) is often a source of controversy within Spider-Man fandom.

Whilst Michelinie was the man who first instituted Venom along the path of being less overtly evil, it should be noted it was never his preference for Venom to become a solo character or never primarily serve the role of an antagonist for Spider-Man. That was a decision made by higher ups at Marvel due to both the popularity of anti-heroes at the time and the immense sales Venom as a character generated whenever he appeared in Spider-Man stories.

At some point in the 1990s a Venom movie was put into development and announced in the pages of Marvel comics. Among the strongest advocates for the film was CEO of Toy Biz turned film producer Avi Arad, who has been involved in various Marvel projects throughout the decades. His enthusiasm for a Venom movie was chiefly based upon the immense toy sales the character generated.

The Venom movie was stuck in various stages of development for many years. It’s chances for finally coming to fruition were greatly increased following the release of 2007’s Spider-Man 3, which included Venom as a studio mandate upon director Sam Raimi who had initially not wanted to include the character.

However the Venom movie (along with future sequels to Spider-Man 3) continued to be stuck in development for many years. Venom’s chance to make it to the big screen in a solo venture again seemed likely in the early-mid 2010s when Sony (the owners of the Spider-Man film rights) attempted to form an interconnected film series based upon Spider-Man characters, Venom being among them.

Sony’s desire for this type of film series was motivated by the success of Disney/Marvel Studios with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had then recently hit big when they released The Avengers in 2012, the culmination of five prior movies introducing separate characters within the same narrative continuity.

However when 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 met with financial and critical failure Sony (after briefly scrambling several desperate film ideas together) struck a deal with Marvel Studios to allow Spider-Man to appear in the MCU for a share in the profits.

Thus their prior plans were scraped and a new version of Spider-Man debuted in the 2016 hit MCU movie Captain America: Civil War before appearing the next year in a solo venture, Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Sony however apparently still aspired to have their own competing comic book film universe and so put into production the animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and, finally, the live action Venom movie. Only due to agreements with Marvel Studios the Venom movie would not including Spider-Man himself at all.

The production was relatively speedy, this likely due to the script, to my understanding, being essentially a script written during the 1990s and updated for modern times as opposed to being written from scratch. The specific script in question draws primarily from the Lethal Protector mini-series and to a lesser extent other nuggets from Venom’s lore, including Planet of the Symbiotes and She-Venom.

The movie was released in early October 2018 (coincidentally, or not, 2018 also marked Venom’s 30th anniversary) and thus far has generated mixed reviews from professional critics, more favourable reviews from general audiences and is on track to prove financially profitable enough that future Sony Spider-Man movies (including Venom sequels) may be on the horizon.

96 notes · View notes

twitchesandstitches · 5 years

Text

The MILF Fleet are way into biomodding themselves up. Really, really into it, to the degree that in-universe it defines them almost as much as their universally torso-sized boobs and ravenous libidos. Several other factions share this trait, most notably the Cobalts.

In general, assume that any named character has at least a few mods on them. Sometimes it’s functional; growing gills developed from seadweller trolls and fish to go exploring underwater. Sometimes its for combat, like subdermal armor that makes you bulletproof, powerful bulging muscles with super strength, or vicious tearing claws. And sometimes its purely subtle, like a longevity treatment that stops aging and permanently restores the user to the prime of health, and they won’t ever die of old age.

The MILFs love mods; the weirder, the better! The fleet is a carnival of strangeness, each giant mom a walking art show of mutation and self-imposed alteration, glowing with biological tattoos and cybernetic limbs, and most often its hard to tell what their original species was. The end results are often monstrous, even disturbing to more straightlaced inner worlds, and the MILFs rather enjoy annoying people with their freak factors. The Cobalts tend to prefer more subtle or elegant ones.

So here are some ways this whole process works!

Casual modding, for minor changes such as unnatural hair color, living tattoo designs that move as you want, or realistic body shapes, are universal and easy, and are common in most of the multiverse, with the MILF fleet making money by selling these mods in space ports and planetside bazaars wherever they go. You can get these from dispensers, whether they come in pill-form or more exotic variants like drinks and snack foods.

Therefore the exact mechanism of the modding varies quite a bit. It can be basically anything that could change a person, though the complexity of the mod will make the procedure more complex, rated further below. It should be noted that magic is a major component of almost any mod, since it adjusts the body more easily and alters the basic ‘template’ of the mod user, changing their body on a fundamental level. Thus, mods will even alter mechanical or other non-organic body parts, and can work on many different species with only minor adjustments for biochemistry.

Artifacts like the Matriatrix and Fountain of Conquest (with the right add-ons and knowledge) can make changes to other people that are, for all intents and purposes, mods. They’re not quite the same thing, since the Matriarchtrix usually does it one on one or requires the user to do things like unbirth the target to edit them into having the modded traits, or imbue them with enough energy to develop the desired traits and let them grow over time. More dangerously, this is just Sierra doing it on purpose. It is fundamentally an artifact of mutation, evolution and magical change, and its possible for its unleashed magic to induce all kinds of bizarre transformations on anything caught in the vicinity. There is a reason they say this thing makes monsters (though the minds of those altered by it are never damaged).

The Fountain can grant such traits instantly, but it loses overall power. The trait isn’t lost, but it becomes weakened. (If giving hyper proportions, the master of the Fountain will lose potential curve sizes, and usually a maximum power limit.) By studying how this process works, new mods can be created, or at least new and interesting ways to make them.

Certain transformations, such as hyper lactation, rebirthing (via the ability to alter someone who has been rebirthed while they are within a broodmother), or creative application of various empowered alterations can also approximate the transformation of a mod. For instance, milk that makes whoever drinks it or bathes in in take on selected traits is ubiquitous in the MILF Fleet. This kind of changes are usually very long-term, or uncontrollable and prone to unexpecting mutations. Those who prefer specific results or are attached to a specific body image are advised to use more conventional mods.

Others can be the result of the application of certain powers, such as the ability to alter other people’s physiology in some way, or forcibly reshaping bodies into weird forms. By studying how those powers work, new mods have been made to replicate their effects, making them efficiently mass produced at the cost of being less effective overall. You won’t be able to pump someone up a dozen times their size with a touch, but you don’t need the original power to do it, either.

Some purely mundane mods do exist, but they’re likely to be based on much older manufacturing means and most likely come from a reactivated ancient factory, or are the result of a lot of dedicated work. Ultimately, the MILF Fleet winds up doing that, developing their mods based off magical research and development, studying various traits that the Matriatrix samples from aliens, monsters and their own fleetmates.

As that implies, the Matriatrix can absorb traits that Sierra wants; just sampling them and adding them to an internal library to be deposited into the fleet stockpile later. Possibly this could cause the target to lose that trait, and with the right powers, Sierra could absorb those traits and get them right there: taking an armorplated foe’s armor hide and getting it herself, while leaving them defenseless. She can do this as a combat action, through a simple touch, or even through intimacy if she wants. The target can simply touch her or the Matriatrix, allowing her to gain the trait for the Fleet.

This trait can be anything; superhuman size, scales, gills, a physiological detail, powerful muscles for great strength… if it is purely physical in nature, it is considered a trait, and can be acquired.

It would be impossible to detail every possible mod, so this just laws down general rules for how mods in general can be classified. But...

Each manufacturer has their own style of mods, and you get different kinds wherever you go. A consumerist culture will offer different mods than one that is all about free love and self-expression, with the latter desiring more extreme ones, for example. Generally, the term mod just refers to any item or procedure that changes the user, permanently or temporarily. This is almost often something that is physically ingested like food or drink, something that is applied to the body such as lotions or bath liquids, but can also mean surgical alterations and cybernetics.

A major factor is time. The more complex or encompassing a change is, the more time it takes. Minor changes can happen within a day and settle in a week. More complex changes can take weeks to just start happening, and the most extreme changes may require years to finish. Some mods cut this down, but they are typically very expensive and have very specific purposes rather than being suites of broad changes.

Minor: Simple changes, such as color change to hair and skin, small height changes, and mostly aesthetic transformations like living tattoos or small claws, are the easiest. If this is strictly visual changes that give no real benefit or disadvantage (non-functional gill slits) or proportion alterations that are within the realm of real life natural sizes, it fits into this category. These are simple drinks, snack foods, and other one-hit changes. Usually permanent, but commercial ones typically fade in time unless you get brand name. If it doesn’t really need to modify you THAT much, it counts. Making ones sexual organs more exotic (ridges, selecting squeezing or a knot) straddles the line between this and the next category, but are very common.

Moderate: Genuine transformations, things like growing body length fur, turning your hair into feathers or poofy scales (or growing hair at all, for reptiles and amphibians), a small tail, or alterations to the skeletal structure for things like digitigrade legs or opposable digits. These are obvious and distinct changes from baseline, but don’t need to make too many changes to your body to adapt to them. Body proportions beyond what is naturally possible, but still not too big. These tend to require consistent applications of food transformatives over time, lotions on the altered area, and other means of consistent use. Implants such as brain connection with the internet or neural interfaces count here. Growing bigger or smaller fits here, but only to about half again as big or small; anything more is too complicated for this level.

Significant: Significant reworking of the body, and requiring drastic changes to the body to make them work or apply to them. Things like boobs bigger than your torso, butt big enough to be a bookshelf and lips thick around as your palm count here. A big theme would be that secondary changes are required for the body to function with the new change, as do mods that induce changes like those. Things like connective breast tissue that acts as a built-in bra, lactation so fast it can fill a bathtub, automatic testicle growth and hyper gene material production. Growing to significant sizes, either smaller or larger, is a common trend with this one. This is where mods tend to get more weird or changing the body; muscle tissue on par with power armor with the force it can put out, as well as completely changing the user’s apparent species. These mods can involve long term application of variou substances and special diets, and sometimes procedures. Most of the more interesting mods fit in this category.

Extreme: Anything more extreme than previous ones; complete digitization or modification into a purely mechanical form, fertility augmentation to make the user into a broodmother, giant-sized size increase, or impossible degrees of physical or mental enhancement. Changes that give a complete unrecognizable body plan (Such as a centaur form for starters, or becoming humanoid if the user was originally a monster-type) fall in here. Total cybernetic refit, extremely invasive procedures, and very long-term regimens can all result from these. Usually only the most wealthy have those, and it can be a status symbol to have used even one.

The major factions the AU focuses around all have their own gimmicks, special varieties and tweaks, due to different living conditions, their own sub-cultures, general philosophies and of course what they actually have available, as stated below:

MILF Fleet - generally they like stuff weird and their modding is very monster-y; they like things like big spikey bits, exoskeletons, huge fangs. More conventionally, most of them have unusual hair colors in vibrant neon colors, full body tattoos that move on their own into new designs, and minor adjustments to suit their own looks. The ones who like fighting are very inhuman in appearance when they want, with biomechanical implants and weaponry integrated into their bodies. The more monstrous and alien this is, the more they like it. Things such as multiple breasts are pretty popular, as are ultra huge proportions, non-humanoid morphologies, natural weapons, wings, tentacles, and gooey forms. Modding their genitals for practicality or more fun applications is almost a must. Many can also shift between mild and extreme forms of their mods, so they can go from being cute to being battle ready by shifting how subtle their more inhuman assets are. A woman with spiky skin and crustacean traits can turn her skin into full-fledged carapace to deflect bullets and her hands into massive crab claws. Their mods are always totally stable, though they take a long time to fully kick in.

The MILF fleet sell their mods freely, usually at local shops and in bazaars, as they move through inhabited space. They have a strict policy against selling their combat mods at all, they flat out don’t want to basically be arms dealers just to make a bit of extra cash, and dread the idea of causing military problems or imbalancing precarious power struggles. Breaking this law is one of their more serious offenses, and ties into some of their notions of a prime directive; giving mods to others that will free them from biological chains and restrictions is an imperative, but enabling murder is forbidden.

Cobalts: They prefer their mods to be more elegant and generally stray away from ones that can hinder their movement and look ungainly. They specialize in combat grade mods that come in several stages, going from completely unobtrusive to increasing levels of obviousness, each with their own utilities, until they hit the maxed out level and fully activate, with things like armor suites and arm-mounted bio-swords. They also favor more obscure additions, such as psionic powers, lending to those being almost ubiquitous among the crew. However, their on-board science squad tends to test new mods freely on whoever is available, leading to a class divide; the higher ups are heavily modded with perfected, elegant mods with no drawbacks and versatile abilities, and an underclass of serfs and crewmates who are tested on with bizarre and highly unstable mods that tend to make them strange monsters or induce odd impulses.

The Cobalts make a lot of money selling their mods for extremely high prices and are in demand among the richer parts of the multiverse, and having a Cobalt mod is a very prestigious thing in some quarters. They do sell their combat-grade mods, though they only do so for the most mild ones. Not because of the moral issues, they just want to keep their advantages for themselves.

Ringers: Prefer combat mods that are very subtle, with a disdain for openly monsterizing themselves. They also tend to choose ones that force the user to acclimatize and ‘earn’ their transformation. Likely to sell combat-grade mods for the express purpose of stirring up violence and conflict, and are constantly looking to expand their arsenal for this purpose.

Well-To-Do Galactic Centers and the like: Mods of all kinds are common, and usually cheap if they’re minor ones. Things like altering hair texture or growing the hair longer, lotions that make skin perfectly healthy forever, and reworking a body into the peak of fitness are all ubiquitous and pretty common. Appearance alterations that alter bone structure, scale shape or chitin growths to make someone more beautiful are also common if expensive, and unfortunately lending to homogeneity in appearances. More drastic changes are rarer, very expensive, and in some places can lead to disdain from those who disapprove of body modification.

Criminal organizations: Catch all for underworld organizations of all sorts, they generally sell mods that are prone to serious issues, unwanted mutations, and even mental complications. Virility enhancements that make users insatiably lusty and pitfully dependant on those who relieve them, hyper lactation that becomes brain-meltingly additive to milk yourself, and proportion enlargements that render the user immobile are all risky and common ones that damage the reputation of mods in general. Less ethically tricky are mods that alter brain chemistry to induce feelings of heightning happiness, low-grade euphoria, and some of the benefits of drug use without actually employing them. More benign organizations are modifying these last for use in therapeutic treatments. Criminal organizations also make heavy use of combat mods, the scarier and more grotesque, the better.

The Cartel antagonists also qualify, though mod distrubition isn’t really their interest.

Multiverse backwaters: In places where mods are available and there are few regulations, you can get all kinds of bizarre mods, often leanings towards a more practical viewpoint; more gills to survive underwater and super-thick fat for cold temperatures, less skin made of fleshy gold. Still, the libertine environments of such places can produce easy-going attitudes similar to the MILF Fleet.

Imperial Commonwealth of Humanity: The use of mods is strictly banned, because these guys are boring like that. Rumors suggest that the aristocratic elite regularly ingests special chemical brews that amplify their psionic powers or even gives them some, though it's unclear if they are aware of this or are simply partaking in rituals without knowing their significance.

#/#//#///#////#/////#queued #crossthicc AU

4 notes · View notes

deathnoting · 7 years

Note

thank you for your explanation, i agree that the crowd sourced nature of Ls character is very interesting. making a big post of them is actually a pretty cool idea. anyway, i would love to hear aforementioned self indulgent characterizations lmao

hi anon!! sorry that it’s taken my 6 decades to answer this ask. i’ve been extremely busy because i have that personality type where if i’m not booked up at least 6 days a week i start having existential crises. (also my sister was visiting

i was hoping to give you a response as extensive as the last one but i’m not running on too much steam so bear with me. bullet pointed list bc my brain runs on those

self indulgent l lawliet headcanon characterizations

spooky orphanage childhood. i like to peel back the top layer of death note’s technological-era crime thriller genre to reveal the victorian gothic just below the surface. L’s detective status is near-mythic (he’s a glorified sherlock holmes with a flip phone) and what’s hinted about his backstory (bells, stained glass, orphanage, etc.) invites us (or me, anyway) to assign him a creepy, dickensian upbringing. my headcanon wammy’s house is a spooky old manor house in the english countryside, complete with empty wings, attics, secret passageways, extensive grounds, and extensive haunting lore. a prime spot to breed some mysteries. throw in some mid-ninteis technology and a stifling ego and you’ve got my ideal l lawliet aesthetic

obligatory beyond birthday bullet point. this would need its own post tbh, but anybody who knows me can tell you that lxb is the foundation for my L characterization. there’s no canon for their relationship/acquaintance to one another, although all hints point away from the direction that i skew dramatically in. basically, for me, L & B grew up together (with A) at roughly the same time/age (i hc L as two years older than B, one year older than A) at wammy’s house when it was still just quillsh & roger’s experiment for a better world. my B has his own extensive vibe, genre, & motivations, but for the purpose of brevity i’ll shorten it down to say that B, being half-shinigami, was just born feeling strange and misaligned with reality & human understanding and expectation, went to wammy’s house as a young child, was given L as the prime example of how he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to strive for, and basically created/collapsed his identity around that. L never treated him or A well, was just competitive and dismissive and self-absorbed, and in his adult life sort of carries the dejected weight of having fucked up something really crucial when he was too young to know the difference. i think he views B as both a mystery he couldn’t solve and a victim he couldn’t save. and a bit of a dirty secret that he’s not sure how to ever make peace with.

who the wammy in wammy’s house!? it’s ya boy quillsh. i have a very specific impression of L’s relationship with watari that doesn’t align with either the benevolent grandfather characterization or the abusive child-exploiter that the fandom seems to be limited to. i think that their relationship is somewhat exploitative, but knowingly. all L’s power comes from watari’s money and the fact that he took him in and gave him a home/direction, but all watari’s power comes from L’s genius. without the other, neither of them would have gotten far with the world’s greatest detective thing. i think their relationship is probably tinged with equal levels of respect and resentment, a father/son thing mixed in with a boss/employee. except the father is the employee….. maybe (?) don’t @ me.

lxlight!!! i think that L probably views light as this sheltered kid who totally misses the point. doesn’t view him as an equal at all and just sort of constructs this narrative around their supposed friendship to entrap light in a situation where he has to be amenable. i mean, that’s practically canon. what i’m trying to say is that i think the fic trope that has L and light thinking of each other as ~each other’s only equal~ is boring. i think that light feels that way about L, but L just coyly pretends while subtly jabbing at light from every angle, which only makes light more eager to win/prove his superiority. to me, L views light as this plucky and sort of terrifying kid who should in no way be capable of the things he’s capable of, and keeps being caught out by the magnitude of light’s power/mania/competence, to the point where it. you know. gets him pretty hot

my favorite L characterization, as anybody whose ever read any of my fic would know, is post-series “L lives and doesn’t know what the fuck to do with himself.” i really like exploring the emptiness of cycling constantly through locations and people and triumphs. i do think the only people L really forms relationships with are criminals that he obsesses over for a period of time and then abandons. there’s so much in B dying quietly in the background while L hasn’t even caught up with light yet that just hurts. i like to imagine L visiting B in prison, making peace with both of their mistakes. i like to imagine L finding a way for light to live in the world even after he’s gutted it, not because light deserves forgiveness but because L doesn’t want to be alone. i like seeing him as this kind of unjust authority of justice who collects criminals because they’re the only people who he can connect with, arbitrarily bestowing mercy and then taking it away. L is presented as such a machine (powered by donuts…..?!?) and i really like exploring the breakdown of the machinery and the revelation of tender human loneliness and terror beneath

oh! i almost forgot. let me talk at you about power bottom L! to each their own, i really don’t care about top/bottom dynamics in general bc? switching rules? but i feel really strongly about bottom!L. i think as a character with such absolute power over the circumstance of other characters, seeing him wield that power over literally anyone i ship him with (light, B, misa, mello, aiber, wedy. yes. i ship him w/ everyone) in a sexual context is just a little uncomfortable for me and a lot boring. a favorite fic premise of mine, i’m sure ya’ll have realized, is situations where L is basically light or B’s sugar daddy/boss/the only thing keeping them out of prison or execution but also he bottoms. light or B fulfilling the role that watari took for L? like driving him around and doing his laundry and meeting with his clients and shooting his enemies with sniper rifles? my #1 kink forever.

sorry this is so scatter-brained and also not as deep as i want to get. i just have so! many! L feelings! if you want me to expand on any of this, hmu.

thanks for the questions, anon. and for your patience.

#death note #l lawliet #sorry for being SO MUCH #Anonymous #asks

42 notes · View notes

duhragonball · 6 years

Text

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (81/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[7 May 234 Before Age. Planet Saiya.]

Zatte sat on a chair that was basically a boulder that had been hewn into the vague shape of a chair. She suspected that this was a typical example of Saiyan craftsmanship. Even the weakest Saiyans had incredible strength, enough to chisel stone with their bare hands, albeit without much regard to aesthetics. The rest of the furniture in Arracash's home looked the same, aside from some appliances and tools she had clearly obtained from alien manufacturers.

Arracash herself was pacing around in a tight circle in the middle of her living room. Luffa stood by the wall and watched her. It was eerie how similar the two of them looked. Arracash was the same height and build, with the same short shocks of black hair on her scalp. The only real differences between them were a few slivers of grey in Arracash's hair, and their skin color. Luffa was a dark beige, while Arracash had a pale pink complexion.

Of course, their clothes were also different. Luffa wore her customary black sleeveless shirt and baggy yellow pants. Arracash was dressed much more provocatively, wearing what could almost be described as an armored bathing suit with high-heeled, over-the-knee boots. The fabric of all of these items was lavender, and the armor plating on her chest and torso was dull grey.

"Let me get this straight," Arracash said. "I'm your grandmother."

"Apparently," Luffa said.

"Orij had a brat of his own, huh?" Arracash said, mostly to herself.

"That's me," Luffa said.

"What's my son been up to these days?"

"He's dead," Luffa said.

"Good. How did he die?"

"I killed him," Luffa said.

"Betting he deserved it," Arracash said.

"Absolutely," Luffa said.

"And you're this ‘Super Saiyan’ everyone's been pissing and moaning about."

"That's right," Luffa said.

"Then you're not an alien with glowing yellow hair," Arracash said. "You're at least half-Saiyan if you're really Orij's brat."

"Full-blooded, for your information," Luffa said testily.

"Okay, okay," Arracash said. "Didn't mean to imply anything. I'm sure your mother's a fine warrior."

"She's dead too," Luffa said. "Orij killed her."

"Right," Arracash said. "Any brothers or sisters I should know about?"

"No."

Arracash pointed to Zatte. "Who's she?"

"My wife."

"You're gay?"

"I'm bisexual."

Arracash suddenly looked at Zatte, which startled her.

"Blue skin, red hair, green eyes... Where's she from?" Arracash asked.

"I can't tell you," Luffa said.

"Is she checking me out?" Arracash.

Luffa shrugged. "Why shouldn't she? You're an attractive lady for your age."

Zatte spoke up, mostly to change the subject. "Look, I'll just come out and say it. You two look exactly alike."

"Yeah, so?" Arracash said.

"A lot of Saiyans resemble one another," Luffa said. "Even Saiyans that aren't related."

"There's another one in the next town," Arracash said, waving her arm towards the northeast. "Looks just like us. Runs a general store. She's kind of a jerk."

"There you go," Luffa said.

"But... but the records we found said Arracash is seventy-five years old!" Zatte protested.

"Yeah," Luffa said. "Saiyans stay in their prime for a long time, Zatte. She probably won't really start to age until she hits eighty or so."

"Lucky you," Arracash said to Zatte. She gestured to herself and added: "Like looking into the future, huh?"

Zatte swallowed hard.

"You couldn't find a Saiyan to marry?" Arracash asked Luffa.

"I did, but he's dead, too." Luffa pointed at Zatte. "She killed him."

Arracash looked genuinely impressed. "Then what brings you two here?"

Luffa rolled her eyes. "It's my first time on Planet Saiya, and she thought I should look up any relatives I had here. You were the only one we could find."

"Hmmph! Well isn't that cute? Am I supposed to tear up and hug you two now?"

"Hah!" Luffa scoffed. "Don't worry about me, old timer. I just thought I'd take a look at you before you keeled over."

"Well, I suppose I might as well let you two spend the night here," Arracash grumbled. "At least with you being married, I only need to set up one bed."

She looked back at Zatte. "You do use beds, don't you? You don't hang from the ceiling by your toenails or anything weird like that?"

"N-no," Zatte said. "Really, it isn't necessary, ma'am. We're staying on our ship, so--"

Arracash turned her head and spat on the floor. "Hell no. You'll stay here. Least I can do to thank you for killing my son for me." She looked at Luffa. "Unless this place isn't fancy enough for a Super Saiyan and her delicate alien friend."

"It'll do," Luffa said. "Unless you expect us to cook dinner. If that's the case, we might as well sleep on the street!"

"What do you take me for?" Arracash muttered. "Of course I'll cook. But you're damned fools if you think I'm peeling vegetables for three people all by myself!"

"Quit whining!" Luffa said. "We'll help you, if it's so blasted important."

Arracash made a loud harrumph and headed for the other room to prepare a bed, and Zatte leaped out of the chair to rush to Luffa's side. Only she still wasn't used to the higher gravity of Planet Saiya, and so she nearly ran into her. Luffa had to catch her before she fell down.

"Let's get out of here," Zatte whispered.

"This was your idea, remember?" Luffa said. "What's wrong?"

"Isn't it obvious? I think she hates me," Zatte said.

"She doesn't hate you," Luffa said. "Probably. I think you just give her the creeps."

"I creep her out?" Zatte hissed. "She looks like a copy of you, and she hasn't aged in over fifty years!"

"Well how do Dorluns age?" Luffa asked.

"Our hair turns pink and... Oh, what difference does it make?"

Neither of them noticed Arracash returning to the living room.

"Are you two doing it?!" she shouted.

"No!" Luffa shouted back.

Arracash averted her eyes. "At least wait until I've put linens on the bed! You can play you alien love games there!"

"She tripped and I caught her!" Luffa insisted. "We're not even undressed!"

"Tell her not to get her spores on my good rug!" Arracash cried. "The linens are fine! I can burn those. But the rug's a keepsake!"

"Spores?" Zatte asked.

"Spores, pollen, whatever it is you use," Arracash said.

Luffa was about to speak up, when a shrill chime sounded from her pants. She reached into her pocket and took out her portable communicator, which was tied into the subspace radio on her ship.

"It's from Rehval," she said as she read a transcript of his message. "Wants me back at the palace."

"Fine," Zatte said. "Let's go."

"King Rehval?" Arracash gasped. "What have you done?"

"I broke his dinner table and read his mind," Luffa said absently.

"I knew it!" Arracash said. "You're as rotten as Orij! Vandalizing His Majesty's palace, cavorting around with alien women, shaking down your own grandmother for free food!"

"Let's gooooo," Zatte pleaded under her breath.

Luffa adjusted her grip on Zatte to carry her for the flight back to the palace. Then she paused, and her lips curled into a mischievous smile.

"Nah, I think you should stay here," Luffa said.

"What?" Zatte asked.

"Rehval only called for me," Luffa said. "You should stay put and keep Arracash company."

"But--!"

"You can help her fix dinner," Luffa said, "and it'll be good training for you to spend some time working under the higher gravity."

"But I--! You--!"

Luffa released her gently and turned to leave. "This shouldn't take long. Try not to fall for her while I'm gone. I know she's your type, but try to be strong for our marriage."

Zatte wanted to grab Luffa's tail and pull her back, but she was out the door and airborne before she could move. Then she looked at Arracash, who was tapping her toe on the floor impatiently.

"Your kind does know how to work a peeler, right?" Arracash demanded. "I mean, you aren't a savage, I hope."

Zatte sighed and resigned herself to her fate.

*******

There was an expansive balcony on one of the upper levels of the citadel. Luffa found Rehval there, along with a small gathering of visiting dignitaries and aides. Rehval's Saiyan entourage tensed up when they saw her, but she ignored them completely, and walked towards Rehval, fully prepared to shove aside anyone who got in her way.

"Let her pass," Rehval said, instantly defusing the situation. "I summoned her."

The guards stepped aside, and gave Rehval some room to speak with his guest. As Luffa approached him, he started walking as well, and fell alongside her.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Luffa," he said.

"I'm not your lapdog, Rehval," Luffa said. "Let's get that clear right up front. The next time you 'summon' me, I might not show up at all."

"I understand perfectly," Rehval said. "You're a guest on Planet Saiya, free to do as you please. I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"Nothing worth discussing," Luffa said. "Your message said it was about that Saiyan-killer you told me about before."

"I'm afraid so," he said in a low voice. He had already led her away from the others and they had nearly left the balcony altogether, but he still seemed concerned about being overheard. "He's claimed a new victim."

"What planet was it this time?" Luffa asked.

Rehval sighed and shook his head. "It would be better if I showed you. Besides, I'd rather discuss this somewhere more private."

"What's the matter, Rehval?" Luffa asked. "Worried about what your subjects might think of you putting up with my sass?"

He smiled in spite of his grave mood. "I wish that were all," he said. "I like your sass, Luffa. It's comforting in a way."

"Oh yeah?" Luffa asked.

"It gets lonely at the top," he admitted. They reached an elevator and he pressed the button to summon the car. "Even other kings and heads of state make poor company, since I'm so much stronger than them physically. It's refreshing to meet someone who feels completely free to speak her mind around me."

"We could just fly down," Luffa said. Just as she was growing impatient, the door opened and he gestured to the empty car.

"We could," he said. "And we could smash through the walls between ourselves and where we're going. But I enjoy elevators, and you don't know where we're going, so for once I have the advantage of you."

"I could always read your mind again," Luffa said as she stepped inside the car.

"Ah. I already forgot you can do that," Rehval said. He clicked his tongue as he entered the car and pressed the button for their floor. "Well, thank you for letting me at least pretend to have a momentary advantage."

Luffa snorted in amusement.

"Is it ever like that for you?" he asked.

"Like what?" Luffa asked.

"Lonely," he said. "As powerful as you are, I'd think it'd be worse for you than it is for me."

"I manage," Luffa said. "My wife thinks I'm some kind of holy crusader, but she still makes me pick up after myself. My friends are all so much weaker than I am that they probably don't see me any differently from a normal Saiyan. If I was going to hurt them, I would have already done it."

"Hmmm, but you can't really fight with any of them, can you?"

"Zatte and I spar," Luffa said. "But yeah, it's not exactly satisfying."

"There was the Shockmaster, but he's gone now," Rehval said. "A shame Chanisp is long dead. Maybe he could have given you a good fight."

"I like to think so," Luffa said. "He was a Super Saiyan, too."

"Really?" Rehval said.

"I'm pretty sure Old Darbock was, too."

"It sounds tragic," Rehval said. "A thousand years from now, there may be another Super Saiyan, longing for someone like you to challenge them."

"That guy'll just have to make due," Luffa said. "Same as me."

"Well, I'm no Chanisp," Rehval said, but I was hoping you and I might go a round."

"You?" Luffa asked.

"I probably wouldn't be any more of a challenge than your wife, but I was the strongest Saiyan on this planet," he said, "until you showed up."

Luffa considered it briefly. "You're on," she said. "Just make sure you don't hold back. It'll be more fun if you're fighting like you want to kill me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said.

"So why do you like elevators so much?" Luffa asked.

He opened his mouth to answer, but then the car abruptly slowed its descent and came to a stop. There was a pleasant ding as the doors slid open, and Rehval held out his hand to invite her to go first.

"I'll tell you later," he said.

The floor they had arrived on was set aside for office space. Luffa had begun to question the stories her mother had told her of life on Planet Saiya, but at least some of it was true after all. The Saiyan Kingdom relied on a bureaucracy as much any other, and without any suitable clerical staff among their own people, the regime had brought in aliens to handle all the paperwork. None of them were actually present in the hallways or cubicles at the moment, but Luffa could see photographs of various staffers on organization charts, and these depicted at least half a dozen alien species.

"Where is everybody?" Luffa asked.

"I ordered this floor to be sealed off," Rehval said. "At least until the investigation could be completed."

"What investigation?" Luffa asked. "What does any of this have to do with that Saiyan-hunter anyw--?"

While she was speaking, Rehval had led her into an office containing a dead body. She recognized the corpse as Gnurlian, although his skin was unusually green for their complexion. He was slumped over his desk, as if he had simply died while he was working.

"The latest victim was here," Rehval said. "On Planet Saiya."

Luffa approached the body carefully and took a closer look. "How do you know this isn't a completely unrelated murder?" she asked. "For that matter, how can you be sure he was murdered? I don't see any sign of injuries."

"A sensor scan detected an unknown toxin in his bloodstream," Rehval said. "It matches similar scans of the other victims. As for how it was administered, I can't say."

"Blast it, Rehval!" Luffa growled. "What do you expect me to do about this?"

"I need your help to find the killer," Rehval said. "He's here, on Saiya. If the people find out, it could cause a panic."

"Do I look like a detective?" Luffa shouted. "You seem to be a lot further along on this than I am. Bring in a professional investigator and have him figure this out."

"I already hired a detective," Rehval said.

"Well, where the hell is he?" Luffa demanded.

"You're looking at him," Rehval said, pointing at the body. "Twenty years of experience with homicides, specializing in mass murders and serial killers. Highly recommended. Apparently our enemy felt he was too much of a threat, so he eliminated him."

"He's... toying with us," Luffa said. She balled up her fist and raised it in front of her chest. "He thinks we're helpless without this guy."

"I don't dare send for any other detectives," Rehval said. "They'll just be picked off as soon as they arrive."

"Fine, I get it," Luffa said. "But I still don't see how I can help catch this guy. If he made it into this room without anyone noticing--!"

"I know you can do it, Luffa," Rehval said.

"Hah! And why's that? Oh, I can beat this creep to a pulp whenever we do find him, but none of my powers will help with that. What makes you think I'm cut out for a job like this?"

“Because I grew up with the stories of Chanisp just as you did,” he said He was strong, yes, but he also never gave up, and that was what made him great. That's what I need now."

She was taken aback by his words, and then he impulsively took her hands in his own.

"If you're truly the heir to Chanisp's power, then this killer doesn't stand a chance against you, Luffa. I'm sure of it."

"You... you think so?" Luffa said. She looked back at the dead Gnurlian and pressed her lips together with newfound resolve. "All right," she said. "Where do we start?"

*******

“What’s the matter with you?!” Arracash yelled.

“What is it now?” Zatte asked.

“You’re peeling them all wrong!”

Zatte sighed. The last half hour had been reasonably peaceful, once Arracash stopped barking orders and allowed Zatte to settle down and concentrate on peeling vegetables by herself. She hadn’t counted on Arracash checking her work.

Arracash reached for a pile of peelings Zatte had left on the kitchen counter. She held one up and pointed at the thin layer of flesh on the interior surface. “Look at all this!” she screeched. “This is perfectly good food, and you’re wasting it. Who taught you how to peel, anyway?”

“Why are we peeling these anyway?” Zatte demanded. “The best nutrients are in the skins. If you’re so worried about waste, you shouldn’t be throwing any of that away in the first place!”

“Um, it’s a little thing called compost,” Arracash growled. “I suppose you wouldn’t know about that from your years gallivanting around in a space yacht!”

Arracash launched into an extensive lecture on the importance of fertilizer, but Zatte found she couldn’t pay attention, even if she had wanted to. There were just too many things going wrong here all at once.

First and foremost, she still wasn’t used to the idea of Luffa’s grandmother being so damned sexy. If she looked a little more like an elderly person, she would have found the heeled boots and armored leotard endearing, maybe even reassuring in a way. If she wasn’t Luffa’s grandmother, it wouldn’t be an issue. As it was, Zatte felt guilty and awkward just looking at her. But if she looked away, Arracash thought she was ignoring her, so that wasn’t a solution.

Beyond this, the whole visit served to remind Zatte just how alien the Saiyans truly were. Luffa was an outsider to her own people, but nothing about this planet seemed to surprise her. Luffa resented Saiya, but more in the way a person might resent their hometown. For Zatte, it was a bizarre madhouse. It never seemed to occur to Arracash that Zatte wasn’t used to the gravity, and this was probably interfering with her ability to handle the peeler.

She had never really thought about growing old with Luffa, perhaps because on some level she expected them to die in some horrible battle. The Tikosi had nearly killed them years ago, so in a sense it was like everything they had done since then was on borrowed time. Luffa probably hadn’t considered growing old with Zatte, because apparently Saiyans didn’t grow old, at least not for a very long time. The whole idea suddenly loomed large in Zatte’s mind. Even now, they spent half their marriage arguing over pointless little things. What if Zatte’s aging tipped the scales? Luffa never seemed to care about such things, but maybe that was because it just hadn’t come up. Hair growth was deeply unsettling to Luffa, so surely ageing would be as well...

And she wasn’t sure what Luffa would do now that she had made peace with King Rehval. They had come to this planet for answers, and gotten them. The search for Luffa’s grandparents had been a quick diversion, but Luffa didn’t seem too interested in it, and now that they had found Arracash, what would they do next?

But underneath all of these issues, Zatte had to admit that she was frustrated that Planet Saiya hadn’t lived up to her hopes. Her own people, the Dorluns, were lost to her. One day she might find one of their communities and reconnect with them, but until that time she would be alone. She had hoped that Luffa’s home planet might help to ease that sense of isolation, not just for Luffa, but for herself. Instead, Planet Saiya only seemed to reinforce their isolation.

She didn’t know what to do. She was alive and safe, and by Dorlun standards that was enough, but it wasn’t enough for her. It was frustrating, and listening to this crazy, old, stupid, sexy woman babbling about compost wasn’t helping. It wasn’t helping at all!

“Why do her hands tremble, anyway?” Arracash asked.

“What?” Zatte said, as though snapping out of a trance.

“Luffa’s hands,” Arracash said. She held up her own hands and wiggled them slightly to illustrate. Then she crossed her arms, tucking her hands under her shoulders. “She kept trying to hide it, but I could tell. When you’ve been around as long as I have, you learn to pick up on any weaknesses you can find.”

Zatte sighed. “She... well, it’s a long story, and she doesn’t like to talk about it. Maybe I shouldn’t say.”

“She’s not sick or anything, is she?” Arracash asked.

“No,” Zatte said. “It’s just... she lost a terrible battle and was captured. She was pregnant and they...”

Arracash held up her hand to stop her. “I think I get the picture. She made those bastards pay for it, I hope.”

“Yes,” Zatte said. “Look, please don’t tell her I told you. She’s been recovering from it for years, and she’s still very sensitive about it.”

“Yeah, I know how it goes,” Arracash said. “I was just worried.”

“Why?” Zatte asked. “You hardly know her.”

“She’s still my granddaughter,” Arracash said. “My son was a rat bastard, but she seems okay. I guess you’d know more about that than I would.”

“She’s wonderful,” Zatte said firmly. “She’s saved billions of people all over the galaxy, fighting battles I can’t even describe.”

“How about that?” Arracash said. “It’s funny. I didn’t think I had any family left. Figured Orij would cross the wrong person one of these days, and I guess I was right. You get to be my age, you start to worry about the life you lived, and whether any of it mattered. Kind of nice to hear I’ve got a legacy.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

Zatte held out her hands. “Why are you telling me this? Before, you acted like you didn’t even care about Luffa.”

“Hmmph. I didn’t want to get all mushy in front of her, that’s all,” Arracash said. “Just because she’s a Super Saiyan doesn’t mean I’m going to start blubbering like a baby.”

She patted Zatte on the cheek. “But you, you’re an alien. Mushy or not, it’s all the same to you. And you seem pretty loyal to her. Just don’t put a bunch of parasites in her brain, okay?”

“Parasites?” Zatte asked.

“Well, whatever alien stuff you do,” Arracash said. “Just keep taking good care of her for me, will you? In case I don’t get to see her again.”

“I... yeah, sure,” Zatte groaned.

“And, uh, thanks for looking me up and bringing her down here,” Arracash added. “It really means a lot to--”

At that moment, they both sensed Luffa’s ki approaching the house, and they realized she had returned.

“I’m back,” she called out as she entered the house. “Took longer than I thought it would. Something’s come up, but we can talk about it after we eat--”

She entered the kitchen and gasped with horror. “Where’s dinner?” she asked.

Arracash grabbed a ladle and brandished it at her. “We were waiting for you to get back here and help us make it!” she growled. “Or did you think the two of us would do it all for you while you ran around all afternoon?”

Luffa made an indignant snort. “I was just giving you a head start!” she said. “If I’d known it’d take this long, I would have just done it myself!”

“Then why don’t you?!” Arracash roared. “Acting like you’re better than everyone else...”

“I might as well!” Luffa shouted. “I cooked for that no-count son of yours enough times! Now I see where he got his work ethic!”

“I peeled some vegetables,” Zatte said, holding one of them up to show her.

“Thanks,” Luffa said. “At least I can count on someone around here. Save the peelings. We’ll use ‘em for hash.”

“Hash?!” Arracash cried.

“Damn straight,” Luffa said. “What, have you got a better idea?”

Arracash did, and as she began to deliver the same lecture to Luffa that she had given to Zatte, the Dorlun picked up another vegetable and started peeling it with a smile.

******

It wasn’t too difficult to get around on Planet Saiya. She killed the Gnurlian and made it back to her hideout without any trouble at all. The Saiyans relied too much on their ki senses. They viewed the universe in terms of power levels and brute force, and the potency of one’s life energy. She had sidestepped all of those principles, and so they had no idea how to begin searching for her.

It was a paradise, this planet of Saiyans. She felt like a scavenger surrounded by fresh carrion, or a wolf in a livestock pen. Killing them filled her with such joy, and here she was on a world filled with thousands of potential targets, and none of them could stop her.

She missed the entertainment system on Yarrow’s ship, so she had gone to the trouble of sneaking aboard another ship docked at one of the spaceports. It had a similar recreational program, and the ship’s owners wouldn’t be back for a while, so she amused herself watching video clips on the subspace radio.

Her favorite was a compilation of various footage recorded of Luffa. Most of it was amateurish footage obtained by eyewitnesses to her various battles. Each clip was only a few seconds apiece, but with some creative editing, it was all spliced together in such a way that it resembled a decent little three minute video. She would watch it over and over again.

She admired Luffa. For a Saiyan-hunter, Luffa was the ultimate challenge, obviously, but it was more than that. On some level, she hoped that Luffa might appreciate what she was doing. Saiyans excelled at killing one another, after all, so it seemed to her that Luffa might admire someone like her, albeit begrudgingly.

And she was fun to watch. Ki was highly overrated, in her opinion, but at least Luffa made good use of it. She was always glowing or shooting fireballs or lasers from her hands. It was loud and garish, but it looked cool. Not that it would save her.

As she watched the video a twelfth time, she felt the urge to kill again, and decided that she would find someone at the spaceport to save time. Then she would head back to the citadel, or perhaps a different spaceport, and do it all over again. The key was to keep moving. As long as she didn’t spend too much time in one place, they would never be able to find her. Not even Luffa would find her, which made her feel very powerful. She couldn't destroy planets or level mountains, but she could end the lives of those who could do those kinds of things, and that was arguably more impressive.

One day she would meet Luffa face to face, and she would either bask in Luffa’s admiration or kill her. Or both! Perhaps it would be both. But that would have to wait. For now, she just needed to kill a Saiyan. Any Saiyan would do.

But before that, she decided she would re-watch her video just one more time...

NEXT: Apex Predator

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #zatte #arracash #rehval #pozet #planet saiya #nanwum #is over #ya ta

8 notes · View notes

mirrorfurniturelivingwithlayla · 4 years

Text

The Urban Dictionary Of Interiorsinvogue.Com New York Mirrored Furniture

Transforming London: The New Breed Of Designers at the Super-Prime

London's modern-day HNWs have different concerns and needs for their homes-- and fresh brand-new designers are stepping up to satisfy the difficulty with innovative approaches, composes William Cash.

Every years-- or generation-- London sees a brand-new type of interior designers or 'developer-designers' who stand out and consult with a visual voice, whose vision mixes easily with the architectural zeitgeist. While many HNWs have actually become aware of Candy & Candy (or at least their Monaco superyacht), Finchatton, or a custom company like Fenton Whelan, these 'designer brand name' firms are all now regarded as well established. To put it simply, they've made lots of cash establishing in London's super-prime market, which up until just recently was up 40 per cent because 2009.

However, following punitive stamp duty hikes, London's super-prime market is down 20 percent. 'Billionaires are shunning the London high-end home market, with sales of "extremely prime" ₤ 10 million-plus houses in the capital collapsing by 86 per cent over the past year,' the Guardian reported in October. The paper mentioned figures from Land Registry which exposed that just five properties were cost more than ₤ 10 million in the 3 months to August 2016, compared to 35 such homes in the very same quarter the previous year. Outdoors London, no property cost more than ₤ 10 million.

As constantly in the residential or commercial property development business, such price falls have created new chances for designers who are tuned into the mindset of HNW clients, and more notably are not caught economically with a slate of pricey super-prime tasks and advancements on their books. HNW customers looking to purchase 'off-plan' have various priorities-- such as desiring a two-bed lateral flat with sufficient entertaining area to host twenty for supper, rather than a six-bedroom ₤ 11.5 million super-home.

The previous few years have the emergence of several under-the-radar individuals who are transforming the guidelines of interior decoration and of what it indicates to create a designer 'brand name' today. Leaders include Katharine Pooley and Helen Green Design, which are following in the tradition of the great London interior designer brands such as Colefax & Fowler.

What is most striking about such renowned 'designer' brands is that, on the whole, clients pertained to them since they wanted their hallmark look. Colefax & Fowler originated what is known today as 'country home design', using a revitalizing mix of modern chic and timeless chintz that stripped away the cluttered gloom of Victoriana. But the brand-new breed of designers is moving far from the signature brand look. Instead, their customers want provenance, creativity, artisan-craftsmanship, eccentric architectural information. These designer-developers have a philosophy of style that transcends the aesthetic into the practical.

Edo Mapelli Mozzi of Banda is passionate about the stage set of contemporary metropolitan life. For each Banda project, 'designers, artisans and professionals are thoroughly picked to guarantee the homes we produce an interest the relevant market. We aim to surpass expectations in regards to the quality and service in the residential or commercial properties we deliver.'

Banda's acutely in-depth bespoke work reflects the most extensive aspirations of HNW clients today and society's altering architectural tastes and domestic design. Edo, who was brought up and educated in England, has actually embraced the title of Noël Coward's 1932 play Design for Living for his branding functions. 'At Banda, our homes are developed for life,'

he says.

With twelve years' experience, Edo and his group utilize their deeply embedded 'market intelligence' (i.e. relationships with representatives and purchasers' agents) to source eccentric homes, typically with some commercial heritage or architectural provenance. Using a team of 'artisan-craftsmen' and designers, the Banda principle is to only put its name to a development that has 'an original identity' and will 'make its own mark'.

The Banda Design Studio is unusual because it provides a really 'full service' experience for HNWs, from interior design to designer's designs, through to the dressing of all reveal apartment or condos within advancements. The most talked-about decorators of each generation are more than mere designers: they provide a window into the soul of our times and the Way We Live Now. Some 95 percent of Banda's work is 'speculative development'; the other 5 percent is a private commission or task work.

Edo has been developing 'character' properties in areas like Battersea, where he has actually had noteworthy success transforming an old bakeshop. 'A great deal of our business model has been producing prime lateral flats outside the conventional zone 1 location,' he states. He points out that in locations like Nine Elms most two-bed flats vary from 900-1,300 sq ft. Think kitchen area dinner for four-six if you squash around the table. 'So you can't captivate.'

His two-bed flats tend to be 2,000-3000sq ft. In one flat he had a 'bedroom that had his-and-hers dressing spaces, a substantial restroom with an amusing space where you might have twenty for supper or 40 for a beverages celebration. But it's a two-bedroom flat. And that doesn't exist on the market.' When Banda took these 'two-bed prime lateral' flats to market, all sold in 24 hours. 'We produced something that is not cookie-cut, is not what everyone else is producing.'

Edo says his client focus has actually always been based upon listening to what 'owner-occupiers' desire, instead of the sales pitch of representatives. 'We understand there is a demand from these sorts of downsizers, individuals in their early fifties whose children have actually matured, have actually left home. They require a spare bedroom however they don't need a five-bedroomed house anymore. However they still desire the space they had.' Many also have a home office space.

Another leading example of the leading brand-new breed of designer is Andrew Murray, founder of Morpheus London design. I initially fulfilled Andrew in May at the MIPIM exhibition in Cannes, where he had invited me to an exclusive lunch party. Andrew is also a co-partner (with Simon Davis) of the Rosebery, Britain's most exclusive double-decker personal box bus-- more like a private luxury yacht decorated like a Mayfair club than your normal bus.

I asked him how a designer today can get the balance right between being a luxury 'brand name' (like the Rosebery) and at the same time keep being unique and individual as a business with personal commission work. The answer is that Morpheus is rooted in craftsmen design work. His mom was an interior designer and his father 'very imaginative', and this is the common DNA style aspect to all its projects. Andrew began as a cabinet-maker and joiner, pretty much self-taught. 'This has been vital because I understand how things are made, and I understand how things should stream,' he states. 'So, originating from that craftsman background, the business progressed as my direct exposure to high-end home evolved.'

Andrew's vocation started at Canford School in Dorset, which had an outstanding carpentry department. 'I established my service when I was still at school,' he says. 'I decorated an office block when I was about sixteen and used individuals from school, which was quite enjoyable. So it progressed from there.'

Clients started asking him guidance on all aspects of the design task-- not simply the cabinet he was making. 'I realised none had a full service, and they were constantly at a bit of a loss. So they were having this charming piece of cabinets made, however everything else didn't truly match, and the arrangement of service wasn't there. It was really historical. It was really in the old school. And so I saw an opportunity to offer the sort of end-to-end service.'

Morpheus is now among the most sought-out design companies in London, with customers all over Europe (hence the trendy however discreet lunch party at MIPIM). It wasn't always so glamorous, though: his very first big project was the conversion of a large house in Stockwell in which the dance act KLF utilized to live. 'Then I ingratiated a designer in Mayfair who had a portfolio of 60 homes-- rentals. I was about 25 then, and I took control of the advancement management of their maintenance, archive, repair-- so it led from there.'

The next move was to develop his own aesthetic design-- putting the Morpheus imprint on tasks without them becoming more about Morpheus than the customer. 'I look quite at the function of area. Our designers do the interior decoration and the stylising, however I do the function, the flow, the purpose. Which was coming through extremely strongly then, and I think that's what caused success and led to growth.'

What makes Andrew the choice of magnates, UHNWs and City tycoons who want their houses to stand apart however also remain under the radar design brand-wise is his knowledge of who the absolute best craftspeople are. 'I can still go onto a website and state, "Actually, make it like that. It's a lot more business." So Morpheus is a design home, but we are also so much more than that-- we comprehend business truths. If a client states, "I've got 4 apartments that I want you to develop," I'm not even going to take a look at the style till I've comprehended the commercial service case. And I'm going to go, "Who's going to buy it? Why are they purchasing? What do they want?" And then that will lead the design.'

0 notes