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whatgaviiformes · 3 years

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Firefly’s Glow 2/?

Part 1 | Part 2 You are Here

A/N: This chapter gave me a helluva time, but here ya go with the promised literal box that I almost scrapped. TW: Spiders - I’ve bolded the first two words that start and end that section if you’d like to skip. This should be the last of the main whumpy bits - I struggle a bit with that I think, but I have LOTS of ideas for the angst and H/C.

For @tsarinatorment and @janetm74 for the prompt :) and with thanks to @godsliltippy and @gumnut-logic for the support as I whined about this chapter, and then @bonsaiiiiiii who wanted a tag for more pocket!Gordon.

*Nervously sends out to the ether*

*****

Part 2

Gordon pressed his hands against the smooth glass.

“What is all this, Fuse?” Gordon asked, hoping his voice carried enough to be heard, though it echoed around the small containment. “What did he do to me? Are my brothers okay?”

Gordon was not expecting much of an answer, and it was rather obvious what happened to him. But the surprise in Fuse’s expression softened for a moment all the same, visible even through the distortion of the glass, and Gordon could recognize the conflict behind the silent pause.

“I shouldn’t be talking to ya,” Fuse said.

“Fuse. Please?”

“Mmm. They’re fine. He only captured you.” The bottle shook briefly under Fuse’s hand as he peered through it at Gordon’s hopeful expression. “Ah, shit, fine. Okay, so they’re coming. The Hood’s nervous – packing quickly.”

“Where are we?”

Fuse shook his head. That’s all Gordon was going to get. From afar, Gordon heard Havoc call her brother, and Gordon could see the momentary panic in the larger, obtrusive eye. The larger man hastily placed Gordon’s bottle back on the shelf and turned to answer her, even as Gordon pled for him to wait.

“Fuse! Don’t leave me here.”

But the man was gone. Gordon slammed his fists against the transparent walls of the makeshift prison with a frustrated growl, even as it gave the smallest of trembles under his hands. A little to close for comfort there. In his swift exit, Fuse had placed the vessel nearer the exposed side of the shelf – shifting off balance there would be a dangerous topple.

Okay, Gordo, time to regroup.

He’d still learned a few things. First – this wasn’t a main location and that explained the instability of his container if the intent was for it to be temporary. And he’d learned that his brothers were coming! That meant he wasn’t going to sit around and wait for the Hood to take him away to a new base or safe house. He needed to give his brothers the best chance of finding him.

One thing at a time. First, he needed to escape.

So no toppling out; how about toppling in? Gordon turned to investigate the new space his positioning afforded him. It would at least get him onto the shelf if he could put the right amount of pressure in the right place.

He carried with him a lot of important life lessons from his brothers. This one was from John: smacking the bottom was not actually the prime spot to get the ketchup out of a Heinz 57 glass bottle. And because it annoyed his older brother, he used to keep hitting the bottom anyway, even though he knew John was right. So, he would aim for where the 57 would be. His container wasn’t quite the same shape, but he could make a well-educated guess. He knew for sure that his reach was too low, so he’d need to jump.

Gordon gave his non-injured right foot a test bounce.

It wouldn’t be enough. Gritting his teeth, he lowered his left foot to the floor and launched himself upward to the imaginary 57 before he could think about the pain. His body collided with the opposite side of the container, and he started to slide back to the bottom even as the vessel tipped and then fell to its side with a delicate bounce against the wooden shelf, though it did not shatter.

Dazed, his breath came in gasps and fogged the glass below him.

Keep. Moving. Gordo.

He crawled his way to the opening and out, then stood.

There was little in this room that would give away that there was a prison below and that it was a hideout for the Hood and the Chaos Crew. Overlooking the space as he was now, it appeared to be a simple, lightly decorated lounge room with a mahogany coffee table in the center and a beige reclining couch across from him.

There was an empty cup on the coffee table, so this place at least seemed lived in. Behind him the wall was brick, even though the rest of the room was painted an off-white to complement the furniture. As he glanced over the side of the shelf, he saw that the dark stone extended all the way from the floor to the ceiling. The lingering scent of dusty wood smoke around the area told him his shelf was actually a fireplace, but the part he cared about was the stone. The cut was intentionally rough and uneven to give a rustic appearance to the inside of the home. He could climb down that.

The cold of the rock permeated his fingerless gloves where he dug his nails into a groove and swung his body to the left so his feet could find purchase on the ridges.

The descent was cautious and slow going without the safety net of a rope or a grapple or a spotter at his disposal. He felt the strain in his legs, his arms, his core, even his fingers, as he descended. Virgil – and he felt a pang in his chest thinking about him laughing that awful cackle – would be having a conniption fit if he knew what Gordon was attempting, especially with his ankle throbbing as it did.

He knew his position left him vulnerable, and as he approached the last few rocks before the floor, he was already planning his next move. He needed a rope – if he could get to the couch there was a blanket he could pull a thread from and repurpose. He also needed to hide. It depended on how close his brothers were.

Resources first? Hide first?

He never had the opportunity to decide.

“They’re here! Move!”

With an angry shuffle of feet, the floor vibrated, and though the stone held firm in Gordon’s capable hands, the shelf above him did not. The container, which he had so precisely calculated how to topple, finished its roll as it tumbled off the shelf into a free fall above him. Time moved quickly and ever so slowly all at once, Gordon’s terrified eyes wide as he followed its plunge toward the ground. And he couldn’t escape it, couldn’t move, couldn’t watch –

It shattered.

It landed beside him – too close - with a shower of glass that hurled shiny, translucent daggers into his hair as he ducked his face into the space between his arm and his chest in attempt to protect himself. But the accompanying sound of breaking glass hitting hardwood reverberated in a devastating banshee scream that consumed his body, and he fell stunned, his head spinning, his ears ringing, the soundwaves crippling him even as they coursed through him and carried his own screech aloft.

“Nice try.” Female. Havoc. He felt her grab him by his waist between her fingertips and raise him up. He blinked blearily at the blood that ran down his wrist, lacking the energy to fight or even look up at Havoc and Fuse at all.

“Is he ok?”

“Does it matter?” She fumbled to unlatch a box at her side. “We need to go.”

His vision started to clear enough for him to realize he was headed back into the darkness, and sure enough, the light disappeared once again with a definitive click of the latch somewhere above him.

~*~

The Earth deserved to be loved, appreciated, and respected – she gave live, she could take it away. But to be honest, the Universe was trying to kill him today. He was not sure what he did to upset her so much. After surviving in a cell for who knows how long, escaping the height of a fireplace, and then somehow managing to dodge an incursion of broken glass shards with only a few scratches up his arm, he knew he was either incredibly unlucky or quite lucky indeed (depending on how you spun it).

But this was getting ridiculous.

Spiders were not in his preferred field of study, but he knew enough to recognize the giant wolf spider, family Lycosoeidea, that shared his current space. It was the eye structure that gave it away. Two large black orbs dominated the hairy brown face, with four smaller eyes in a row below. Though he could only see a sliver of them from this angle below the creature, he knew there were two more medium-sized eyes above the main ones. Eight in total over three rows.

In any other situation, Gordon would have carefully captured her in a cup and taken her outside to feast on the pests there. Though wolf spiders would generally only bite humans when provoked, their venom could still be quite painful, and cause swelling and irritation. These, however, were not normal circumstances.

Here she was dangerous; half his size, but still giant. She was as much as prisoner as he was, and who knows how long she’d been in here without food. And worse, unlike their other arachnid cousins who relied on vibrations and movement to see, wolf spiders with their eight eyes could see quite well.

Hers were locked hungrily on him. At the bottom of her elongated jaw, two fangs pointed inward, poised to strike into Gordon’s sides. He had no human size to counter her venom; a bite would be his death.

He’d had enough of that already. And this time he had resources.

When Havoc released him into the box, he’d hit the contents of it hard, and everything was unsteady enough to jostle as she moved. Feeling around, a light was the first thing he found, small enough for him to hold in his arms and attached to a ring of a keychain. He was able to hit the power button with the palm of his hand. It would’ve been his thumb if he was the right size.

Next there was a pair of snips, which was about the same size as himself but clearly intended for delicate cutting based on the proportions of the dangerous edges and the grip.

A small, thin sewing pin there was as well, and a spool of wire. This was a portable diffuser kit for explosives, he realized.

Then, drawn by the light, came the eyes.

In the time it took for him to take stock of the tools around him, the world around them lurched again. He landed on his backside, and the spider was tossed to the other side of the kit. The movement gave him the extra seconds he needed to scramble for the sewing pin and to raise it upward like a rapier just in time to pierce the spider’s cephalothorax as she came down with a cry.

God, he felt that.

He shimmied out from under the creature with a wheeze, the world around him still sliding back and forth with Havoc’s run.

~*~

His heartrate settled, and he lugged the keychain light into his lap where he could easily reach the power button with his hands and started flickering morse code into the container walls, not even sure if the light would reach around the edges of the box.

Gordon had started by counting, but after a while all thought became the sporadic shifting of his dark world and the distorted CPR of his hands hitting the button, and he realized he had no idea how much time had passed since he was thrown into the box. Surely, they were long gone from the safe house by now.

Click Click Click.

Click.

Click Click Click.

The world shifted.

Click Click Click.

Click.

Click Click Click.

It shifted again.

Click Click Click.

Cli…

The world toppled, hurling him against firm metal as it spun away from the echo of Havoc’s groan.

He ducked his head between his knees, bracing for a crash landing that never came, though he felt the connection of the box landing in a new set of hands.

“What’s so important in here, I wonder?” He heard a voice say.

A voice that prompted all the adrenaline in his veins to dissipate in an instant, the voice of the clouds in the sky. Brother. Protection. Light flooded his chamber, and Gordon, covered in blood and ichor, wearily looked up at his much larger, cleaner, human-sized brother.

He stood up with a groan and brandished the sewing pin like a sword before sliding it to his side where he’d wrangled a piece of wire into a makeshift belt.

“Gord -?!”

“Hi, Scott.”

#Gavii Scribit #Firefly's Glow #Gordon Tracy #science!Gordon #half of the military!bros #thunderwhump #thunderangst #Gordon is having a really bad day

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strekkingur · 3 years

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MEET THE MUSE POWER HOUR!!

━━ take a seat and REPOST this detailed little bio with criteria to introduce the world to your muse. no reblog karma or tagging ━ if you see this on your dash, feel free to partake in it!

☆ ━ B A S I C S .

NAME:: Eiríkur A. Sævarsson / Republic of Iceland

NICKNAME(S):: Eiki with family, Ice by others (call him Ice Ice Baby and you get hit)

AGE:: 1,147 yo, stuck at 18 in human age

GENDER:: male, he/him

NATIONALITY:: Icelandic

☆ ━ A P P E A R A N C E .

EYE COLOR:: a very pale blue actually, but being an albino and having so little pigment in his eyes, the blood vessels of his retinas show through the iris and make his eyes appear almost violet in colour... his actual eye colour can be hard to tell

HAIR COLOR:: white as snow due to albinism

HAIRSTYLE:: short/medium length, usually tousled beyond hope. He has thick, straight hair (tho a few unexpected waves often appear here and there) that has a mind of its own. On top of that, his home country is known for its unpredictable weather and high winds so any of Eiríkur’s attempts to style his hair nicely will be in vain within a few hours. The end result looks as if he hasn’t brushed his hair in a few weeks

HEIGHT:: 180 cm / 5′11′‘

WEIGHT:: 67 kg / 147 lbs

BUILD:: lanky, very narrow frame, gangly and awkward with legs for days... you know that teenager stage where it looks like someone attached a string to the top of their head and pulled up? that what I’m trying to say is he’s like a noodle

TATTOO(S):: N/A

SCAR(S):: covered in burn scars thanks to being volcanic (plus a few “oopsies”)

PIERCING(S):: N/A

PREFERRED FASHION:: his beloved lopapeysas paired with black skinny jeans and a nice pair of boots (either ankle or knee high). Often wears all black or dark colours (dark blue, dark grey, deep mossy green, brown) and combined with his white hair and pale skin, ends up looking like he’s escaped from an old b&w photograph. He doesn’t care for accessories other than a pair of earbuds either plucked in his ears or looped around his neck. Usually wears two layers (wool can be itchy directly against the skin) and when the weather gets colder, he adds a furry-hooded parka and gloves to his ensemble but often skips other warm items of clothing like scarfs and hats

TYPICALLY SMELLS LIKE:: his asthma doesn’t handle strong smells so Eiríkur doesn’t wear cologne or use any scented soaps or shampoos, usually he only smells clean, a little musky, a warm vanilla kind of smell like an old and beloved book. Residual smells from his daily life may include wool, animals, coffee, rosin, etc. Sometimes he may carry faint hint of sulphur, again, thanks to being a volcanic nation

☆ ━ P E R S O N A L I T Y .

POSITIVE TRAITS:: allocentric || appreciative || calm || caring || challenging || charming || creative || compassionate || dramatic || efficient || focused || imaginative || liberal || loyal || neat || non-authoritarian || observant || witty ||

NEUTRAL TRAITS:: stubborn || perfectionist || sarcastic || confident || prideful || competitive || rash || unsentimental || artful || casual || complex || emotional || honest || outspoken || sensual ||

NEGATIVE TRAITS:: abrasive || argumentative || blunt || crass || cynical || egocentric || fatalistic || hesitant || indulgent || irritable || lazy || libidinous || meddlesome || moody || neurotic || passive || possessive || vague ||

LIKES:: animals (especially horses), reading books and studying, learning new things, Nordic Noir, true crime podcasts, sci-fi, listening to music, playing music, nice shoes (esp tall boots), feeeeesh (fish is dead serious business), coffee, pancakes, ice cream, liquorice, sweet pies, pastries, all kinds of sweets tbh, birdwatching, windowshopping, hiking, wide open spaces, having the newest gadgets, NatGeo documentaries, knitting his own sweaters, cheerful and optimistic people, dark humour, bad puns, witty jokes

DISLIKES:: being treated like a naive child who doesn’t know how the world works, feeling insignificant and unheard (read: being ignored), his family (depending on the day with Denmark but Norway is quite solidly on the black list), pretentious people (England), pointless decorum, dishonesty, indirect communication, power distances, deadlines, other people’s insistence to punctuality, and all other useless “hassle”, people who are busy just for the sake of being busy, people who call Icelandic horses ponies, people who diss his traditional food, judgmental people, people and things that (dare to) tower over him, people who pick on others, people who dislike animals and/or animals dislike them, snakes and spiders and other creepy crawlies with too little or too many legs (he feels very conflicted about Sleipnir), neckties... (cut for length)

PHOBIAS / FEARS:: being abandoned, being powerless, lacking a voice and a purpose in the world, getting attached to people, having his trust betrayed, death and dying (both his own and other people he unfortunately finds himself caring about), asphyxiation, needles (or any medical stuff really)

HABITS:: wearing earphones 24/7, always either listening to music and/or singing or humming under his breath, wearing all black clothes, speaking his mind regardless of any and all consequences, siding with the underdogs, showing up at least 15 minutes late to any engagements, reading ferociously about the topics that interest him so that when the conversation lands on those topics he can obliterate his opponent, getting stuck on wikipedia rabbit roles, second-guessing and arguing with himself, taking an average of three days to reply to texts (just call him if you need something), showing up to visit unannounced, baking about once a week, always having homemade desserts to offer to guests but refusing to say they’re homemade

☆ ━ R E L A T I O N S H I P S .

SEXUAL ORIENTATION:: demisexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION:: biromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:: something may be afoot with Sarafina ( @orkidpayanke )

☆ ━ H E A L T H .

CHRONIC CONDITIONS:: moderate allergic asthma, PTSD of abandonment, a few specific phobias, hayfever, dry skin and eczema (melancholic by nature but does not fill the criteria for depression)

ADDICTIONS:: caffeine; he can definitely be a bit dangerous to deal with without it

ALLERGIES:: dust mites, pollen, mould (main triggers for his asthma but almost any irritants can set him off: tobacco smoke, air pollution, ash/volcanic fumes, perfumes - please don’t wear strong perfume around him - cold air, dusty rooms, chest infections), also gets a rash around his face and neck from strong sunlight

☆ ━ H O M E .

PLACE OF RESIDENCE:: a house by the sea in the outskirts of Vogar

METHOD OF TRANSPORTATION:: by car if the destination is more than 5 mins away (or alternatively he’d like to commute by horseback but for some reason they tell him it isn’t “professional” and that he’s “making a scene” in the modern day)

PETS:: four Icelandic horses, two cats, and a dog

☆ ━ W O R K & E D U C A T I O N.

JOB:: government “intern” / eternal student, he reads over miscellaneous paperwork (sometimes he jokingly calls himself the PM’s spell-check) and travels for diplomatic missions. His govt is understanding of his physical youth and thanks to the peacefulness of his nation, are willing to allow him time to study and learn the ropes of nationhood (sometimes Eiríkur complains that they could give him more work). In his free time he also volunteers in the local Search and Rescue group

SCHOOLING:: he learnt the basics of survival, the ancient laws and etiquette from his medieval chieftains and later Norway. While living in Denmark he had various tutors and received the standard education of a noble boy for the era. In the modern day he’s enrolled in the local university and does online courses on various subjects that spark his interest. Has completed degrees in Icelandic Language and History at this point, and the rest of his credentials are coming along slowly

SPOKEN LANGUAGES:: Icelandic, Danish, English, German, French, Latin, Old Norse, and to a (much) lesser extent: Norwegian, Swedish (tho he might just be speaking Danish without the stød), Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, and Finnish

SKILLS:: playing the violin and piano, singing, chess, animal husbandry and horsemanship, reciting the sagas and medieval law forwards and backwards by heart, baking, story telling, braiding hair, knitting, quick memorisation of both useful and useless information, wilderness survival, can always point true north, and also has a truly spectacular talent for misplacing things and getting lost

☆ ━ R A N D O M .

QUIRKS:: miracle kid that honestly should have died more than a few times already (bc his own land is constantly trying to kill him), might just be indestructible at this point, now insists on having an opinion in everyone’s business (to not lead an empty existence), also insists on acting tougher than he is, covers up most of his emotions with an explosive temper, has a tendency to get into petty arguments (esp with England), never uses the word “please”, is a neat freak, had a Viking fanboy phase in the 1920s (rumours say it might still be brewing under the surface), cannot tie a necktie without almost hanging himself, actively rebels against all social rules both on personal and national level, and is always down to fight

RELIGION:: Protestant Christian (nominally part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, but mostly agnostic in practice)

THEME SONG(S):: Síðasta kveðjan - Árstíðir

#many are difficult to see through (headcanons)#major headcanons #me introducing my muses: and here we have a belligerent beanpole #the reason this took me so long is actually bc I had somewhat hard time thinking of stuff Eiki actually likes xD

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dailycharacteroption · 4 years

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Vessel of the Failed (Medium Archetype)

They say dreams and passion are what fuel the world’s motion. We see all sorts of great success stories, of those who rose to the challenge. However, for every great success, there are a thousand tales of failure.

However, that does not mean that the effort and desire of those who fell by the wayside went away, or that it meant nothing, and today’s archetype seeks to channel that desire in a very literal way.

In the Golarion setting, the mediums known as Vessels of the Failed are associated with the Shrine of the Failed in the city of Absalom. This shrine is dedicated to those who lost their lives attempting the Test of the Starstone, a legendary trial in which one either becomes a god, or dies before they ever reach the legendary stone.

While these countless hopefuls did not manage to achieve their dream, the echoes of their desire remain, and some mediums channel their spirits to gain a measure of greatness, albeit a volatile one, mirroring the risk and reward that the deceased measured themselves against.

Of course, outside of the core setting, one might see these mystics similarly inspired by others who chased incredible, foolish dreams and came up short.

Perhaps they seek to help such spirits fulfill even a small measure of what they set out to do, or maybe they merely empathize with them and use their power to achieve their own goals. Either way, they skirt the edge of disaster much like their bonded spirits, to great effect.

The most iconic ability of the vessels is their ability to hold onto themselves even when their bonded spirit has too much influence over them, retaining control over themselves at the cost of a sense, though they can choose not to resist, as each time they push their limits, they lose some of their effectiveness.

While they can use their spirit surge as normal to get a little more power and guidance from their spirit, they can also tap into even greater surges at the cost of greater influence. However, there is a small chance that these surges fail entirely, though the influence remains the same.

Normally when a medium does something the spirit hates, the spirit punishes them with greater influence and penalties. These mediums understand that compromise is necessary, and can cede a little more control to reduce the weakness afflicting them.

The more powerful mystics can draw upon the nature of their spirit when skirting the edge of control as mentioned above, gaining a brief mystical surge based on the nature of their spirit, namely powerful evocation magic for archmages, walls of slashing blades for champions, ultimate wards against magic for guardians, great healing or harming for hierophants, inspiring blessings for marshals, or sight beyond sight for trickster spirits. Each time they risk losing control, they gain a single use of such magic to use as they see fit before the bond ends.

Definitely for risk-takers, this archetype actually rewards you for skirting the edge of losing control of your character, granting bigger surges at greater cost, and bonus high-level spell-like abilities when they maintain control. This is definitely an archetype that rewards you for using spirit surge often. Just remember that when you do inevitably lose control, the spirit may not have the same goals as you, depending on GM fiat. I’d recommend building with at least a little bit in mind of negating some of the disadvantages of the first few control save fails, such as the blind-fight feat.

Just as these mediums channel a more volatile force, so too should the spirits they channel be more energetic than most. They might be highly driven, with clear desires and goals compared to other spirits associated with the class.

Though he hardly cares for the title, the so-called “Monk of Dreams” is an ascetic astomoi who is fascinated by the stars, not only for their astronomical wonder, but also in how they govern fate. As such, he has studied a technique where the ambitions of the deceased flow through him, seeking to understand how fate and desire intertwine.

Many a would-be hero has tried to slay beasts far beyond their capabilities, including the mightly leonine grogisnant, a truly legendary beast. Something of a cult has cropped up around the beast, revolving around the believe that echoes of the souls of failed slayers crowd around it, looking for an outlet in the form of those of daring spirit.

Karida the Mourner is something of a traveling priestess, though she follows no god. She does, however, paint herself as something of an usher of the dead. When she hears stories of adventurers or wanderers who never returned, she ventures to their last known location, seeking the truth of their fate, as well as guiding them to the great beyond if necessary. However, she always keeps a piece of these wayward souls with her, a little bit of their story and drive to achieve their goals.

#pathfinder #archetype #medium #vessel of the failed #astomoi #grogisnant #Disciple's Doctrine

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kytea · 4 years

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The True Nature of Deltarune

Deltarune Chapter 1 has been out for over a year now, and being the big UT/DR fan that I am, I’ve been slowly mulling over both games, reading many fan theories and putting together my own interpretation of what I believe the nature and goal of Deltarune will be. This will be a long one so grab some popcorn, put on your matpat hats and click to keep reading!

So what is Deltarune? Is it a sequel to Undertale? Is it a prequel? Is it an alternate universe? Is it the coming of age story of a bunch of teens? Is it a complex meta-narrative on the nature of video games?

The answer is yes to all of the above. And to begin delving into this we must first understand the creator of this game: Toby Fox.

I won’t toot Toby’s Fox’s horn too much, we all know how talented and hardworking he is, but he’s also very emotionally perceptive and empathic. His general disposition is reminiscent of avant-garde artists that push the boundaries of artistic creation in a medium.

Toby loves mysteries, and in the early version of Undertale there was an included file that disparaged hackers and went on to say that it’s difficult to add mysteries in games these days due to data miners and such.

Thankfully, this did not stop Toby from lovingly adding quite a few big mysteries to Undertale that have yet to be resolved. Knowing Toby and his strong desire to share his story, a story that according to him, kept him awake at night:

“For the past 3 years I've been waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep because I've been thinking about the scenes that happen in the game. Even though so many details are still hazy, I really want to show you the things I've been thinking about.That's really my only reason for making this game. If I don't show you what I'm thinking, I'll lose my mind.“

I don’t believe Toby will let these mysteries go unanswered, and it is here that we can begin to understand what Deltarune is about.

The Mystery of W.D. Gaster

Truly, the biggest mystery of Undertale is that of W.D. Gaster: former royal scientist, creator of the CORE and the Determination Extraction machine.

A player can go through the entirety of Undertale multiple times and never even hear word of Gaster’s existence. This is because all the events that pertain to him are hidden behind a value in the game’s files known as the “FUN value”. Outside of actually manipulating this file manually yourself, it is, to the average player, random. The FUN value can trigger multiple different events throughout the game, some of which include running into “Followers of Gaster” or even Gaster himself.

While the latter has nothing to say before he “boings” out of existence, the former Followers all tell an eerie tale of a scientist who fell into his own creation and was scattered across time and space.

But hold on. Time and space? Why does that sound familiar?

Ah yes, during the Sans battle he speaks about an “massive anomaly in the timespace continuum”.

And during this battle Sans says a lot of other cryptic things without context, for example, he laments not being able to “go back” somewhere. But where or when is he referring to?

He mentions how he and others were monitoring time-lines and their readings showed them stopping and starting, jumping left and right, and eventually ending. Who was he monitoring these readings with? This all seems incredibly scientific and sci-fi, I thought Sans was just a silly skeleton, is he some kind of time cop? (he does have a “badge” in his workshop) He also uses skeletal weapons known as “Gaster Blasters”.

What…? Gaster Blaster?

Okay, now we KNOW Sans DEFINITELY has some connection to this mysterious scientist W.D. Gaster, but what? Well, for starters W.D. Gaster is short for Wing Dings Gaster, a type of font that he also speaks in.

Who else is named after and speaks in specific font types? Sans and Papyrus of course!

Furthermore, in the concept sketches for Papyrus, Toby wrote and redacted parts of a message that says: “has a brother named comic sans and a [BLANK] named [BLANK]”.

Who is this mysterious redacted person and what is their relationship to Sans and Papyrus? The easy money is on a family member, and for sake of argument lets use the prediction most of the fandom has already concluded and accepted: that Sans and Papyrus have a father named Gaster.

So Sans and Papyrus have a long lost father that was a scientist. This explanation would begin to explain why Sans has a weapon named after him, and why he wanted to “go back” to some place or time, perhaps in an effort to save him from his fate.

There’s a hidden event in Undertale where if you reset after listening to Sans speak about LOVE and EXP in a pacifist route, and initiate the conversion a couple of times in a row, he’ll catch on by the expression your face that you’ve heard it before and will surmise that you’re a time traveller and give you secret code words to tell his past self.

This will lead to him giving you the key to his room which ends up just being a prank at first.

But then you find a key to the secret workshop/basement hidden behind his house.

Once you enter the workshop, you’ll find some blueprints written in symbols you can’t read (wing dings?) and a curtain covering a machine that doesn’t seem to be working, among other things.

Toby Fox tweeted a message regarding this machine a few days after Undertale’s release around the time people were figuring out FUN values and the secrets surrounding Sans and Gaster.

“You’ve all seen the happiest outcome. Neither of them could fix the machine, no matter how hard they tried. No one can.”

This tweet seems to imply that if the machine could be fixed that Undertale could have a happier outcome.

And this my friends, is the gateway to the nature of Deltarune.

Deltarune, according to Toby Fox, is a game for players that have completed Undertale. But what does it mean to complete Undertale, and I mean, TRULY complete it? Toby often expressed that he wasn’t happy with how people told others how to play the game, that it is best played completely blind. Having played Undertale blind myself, and having watched others do the same, the natural way the game is meant to progress is that first players will experience the Neutral Ending, followed by the Pacifist Ending, and Finally the Genocide ending. This is because the game cruelly plays against your expectations of how an RPG should work and this almost guarantees that you will kill at least one monster your first play through. As if the fact that the fight button is always the default position in battle isn’t enough, in the early parts of the game you are told that you may need to weaken a monster before you can spare them. This naturally brings to mind the systems of Pokémon, where you have the best chance to catch a Pokémon if it’s at low health. Well, if you try this during the Toriel fight, as most do, you’ll find that as soon as you get close to critical health, you’ll instantly kill her.

Poor goat mama..

Difficulty-wise, the neutral route is the most easy, because you can level up a little and gain more HP. The Pacifist route is a bit harder because your HP is lower, but with the experience you gain from the previous route, it should prove no problem. Finally the Genocide route is the most difficult because it takes a concerted effort that implies knowledge of the previous routes to kill every single monster.

So an ideal Deltarune player has knowledge of all three main routes of Undertale, and may have experienced or heard of Gaster.

Is this player you? If so, ask yourself, what would a “happier outcome” look like to you? And be honest. Many fans in the Undertale community have already answered this question in the form of fanworks. Some of the most common elements among them are as follows:  

1) Frisk and all the monsters are free from the Underground and living on the surface with humans.

2) Asriel is revived.

3) Gaster is revived.

4 )Chara is revived.

The revival of Asriel, Chara, and Gaster are the undisputed holy grails in terms of happiest endings that the UT community dreams of and creates endless fan works to explore the possibilities. Toby knows this well.

Using a speech pattern attributed to Gaster, Toby teased the release of Deltarune Chapter 1

“I LOOK FORWARD TO CREATING A NEW FUTURE WITH YOU.” stands out quite a bit to me as the prospect of a “happier outcome” is already tied to Gaster and Sans, now a “new future” is connected.

And when Deltarune released, and fans had a chance to play it, they found:

1) All the monsters are free and living on the surface.

2) Asriel is alive and well and living his best life.

3) A voice with the same speech pattern as Gaster (based on Japanese text) brought you to this world and attempted to give your own vessel before…

4)…a voice with the same speech pattern as Chara (also based on Japanese text) discarded it.

Right off the bat Toby seems to have given fans what they wanted, a perfect future ending. But as you continue to play, you begin to realize that this may not be the world you dreamed of.

First, while all the monsters are living on the surface, they aren’t the same people from Undertale, for example: Undyne has never met Alphys, and the amalgamates that went to live with their families at the end of Undertale are deceased in this world. And while Asriel is alive, it’s not THE Asriel we were so determined to save in Undertale.

Gaster’s presence permeates Deltarune so thoroughly it would take awhile to point out every example, but it seems clear that he’s present in some form.

And Chara? You only need to see the ending cutscene of chapter 1 to know that they are around in a similar fashion as when they possess Frisk in the True Pacifist after a Genocide ending.

But their presence is also present in subtle ways. For example, if you attempt to play the piano in the hospital in Hometown and then speak to the receptionist, she comments that Kris’ playing isn’t the same as usual (Likely due to our control), but it seems that Chara may be good at piano. Interestingly, on the cover artwork for the official Undertale Piano Collection 2 book, Frisk can be seen holding a knife playing a key on a piano in the judgement hall filled with bones.

So for better or worse, what appears to be the original Chara and Gaster from Undertale are present in Deltarune, in some meta form or another. And maybe that’s the key: “Meta-characters”. After all, you yourself as a player are a “Meta-character”. You can ask the inhabitants of this new world questions that only someone with knowledge of a True Pacifist route would have, such as being able to ask Undyne about Alphys. Asking her this only makes sense if you yourself completed a True Pacifist route before playing Deltarune.

Ralsei, the lonely prince.

Toby being the trickster dog he is, he didn’t just give us 1 Asriel and call it a day, no he gave us 2.

Ralsei is quite clearly meant to be a version of Asriel because not only do they have similar or identical dialogues, but he was also was meant to look more like him before Toby decided to give him his Black Mage look.

There are even strong parallels obviously meant to create an emotional response and connect Ralsei to the feelings people had for Asriel in Undertale by giving the players the option to hug him.

Ralsei is quite the mystery on his own. And while he’s most certainly sweet and lovable, there’s undeniably some disconcerting things about him such as:

-Why does he know Kris and Susie’s names?

-Who did he learn the prophecy from? “Foretold by time and space” isn’t a good answer (or is it?).

-What did he say to Kris when the player SOUL wasn’t present in the prison?

-When he’s KO’d in battle, what does he become? Apparently he can still eat to regain HP when in this shrunken form.

Ralsei seemed to be under the impression that violence wasn’t needed in this world, but upon nearly being defeated by the King after mistakenly healing him, Ralsei says “This isn’t a world where kindness always wins, is it?”

The way he says this seems to imply he knows of other worlds and that they have different rules. Perhaps he comes from a world where someone being kind to everyone they met had great results?

There are definitely things that Ralsei is not telling us, whether this means he’s up to no good will remain to be seen, however, I would like to take this opportunity to make a prediction based on the previous understanding that the original Chara and Gaster are present in this new world in meta forms, and assert that Undertale Asriel, the final piece of the perfect ending puzzle is present in Deltarune in his own meta-character form of Ralsei. Perhaps the form he shrinks into when KO’d is one we know well...

There is that unused Flowey face...

Add glasses and a hat and...

but that’s just a game theory!

And I can't help but wonder about the dark heart on Ralsei's chest and this merchandise in the Deltarune section of fangamer that specifically features a quote from Undertale about the prophecy of Delta Rune (that turns out to be about Asriel in the TP ending, and Chara in the Genocide ending) "There is a prophecy. The Angel... The One Who Has Seen The Surface... They will return. And the underground will go empty."

It's also the Deltarune game logo

Because the merchandise is called Darkheart, it made me immediately think of the dark heart on Ralsei's chest, and having an Undertale quote about Asriel/Chara makes it all the more mysterious...

Regardless, in just the first chapter of Deltarune, the elements of the “happier outcome” connected to Sans’ machine are present. But how do they all connect? Well, let’s look at the other characters in Deltarune, starting with:

Lancer

Oh Baby Santa Claus, how we love you so. It’s hard to overlook how similar Lancer is to Sans. They’re both hilarious in their own way, both ride bikes, have similar color-schemes, both have a love for tomato-based products, and both have some scientific/engineering affinity (Sans and his workshop, Lancer and his “Lancer Industries”).

But that’s not all, the door to Sans’ room is identical to the warp doors found in the Dark World that Lancer hails from, and Sans’ warp ability also makes the same sound effect as these doors as well.

Lancer is a member of the FUN gang (remember the FUN value?), that, as far as we know currently, has 3 other members besides himself: Kris, Ralsei, and Susie (with the possibility of Noelle and others in the future).

Speaking of Susie, her name (or a version of it) popped up in Undertale prior to Deltarune’s release when the game was released on the Switch. By speaking to the Gaster Follower “Clamgirl”, you can learn of a girl named “Suzy”, that you will meet her soon, and that “in life’s grand scheme, she might be why you came here in the first place...”

Upon receiving this dialogue, checking the drawers in Sans workshop will reveal a card with a drawing of 3 people smiling and the words “don’t forget”.

“Don’t Forget” is the vocal theme of Deltarune sung by Laura Shigihara, and the melody from the ending verse,“Don’t forget, I’m with you in the dark.”, is leitmotifed throughout the entire Deltarune chapter 1 OST. The connections between Sans, the FUN gang, Gaster, and by extension Undertale and Deltarune are quite apparent. Perhaps the actions of the FUN gang in the Deltarune world will have an affect on the FUN value in Undertale.

Based on all the evidence we have now, I am going to make a bold prediction:

Lancer is literally a younger Sans.

That’s right, Toby Fox made Baby Sans before Disney and Sega made Baby Yoda and Baby Sonic.

Deltarune’s Dark World is the past from the perspective of Sans and Gaster (or a recreation of it). How Lancer becomes Sans will likely be a very large part of Deltarune’s narrative, and once he becomes Sans, he will exist as a separate meta entity that can traverse different worlds, even if versions of himself already exist in some form there (similar to Ralsei and Asriel).

We’ve seen that if characters are exposed to elements that make it clear they live in a video game world, whether this be Determination for humans and Flowey, a time-space accident for Gaster, or a strange man whispering to Jevil, these characters become something wholly different, more powerful, and begin to become more similar to players with the ability to SAVE, RESET, or use abilities that seem beyond the scope of the game (e.g. Photoshop Flowey, Jevil’s ability to speak, etc). Undertale and Deltarune are video games about video games.

So if it is to be believed that Gaster is Sans’ father, and that Lancer is a younger Sans, then it stands to logical reason that whoever Lancer’s father is, that they must be Gaster.

No, not the King, there is another. A “Lesser-dad”.

Yes, Rouxls Kaard.

“GOD DAMNIT”

Rouxls Kaard, or “Rules Card”, or if you rearrange his name “A Dark Soul Rx”, wait, Rx as in prescription? As in a doctor? Dark Soul as in Mr. Darkness Gaster himself? Too much of a stretch? Maybe. Although you can’t deny they have similar appearances.

If Rouxls Kaard is Gaster, and therefore the father of Sans and Papyrus, then he’s undeniably similar to one of his sons. Rouxls Kaard seems to be quite passionate about puzzles, (despite not having a natural predilection to them). I could see Papyrus gaining an affinity for puzzles by being raised by such an individual, they both have quite flamboyant personalities. And let’s not forget that there are also hints that Rouxls Kaard may be inclined to creating scientific devices such as the “Control Crowne” he uses to control K.Round.

Hmm, controlling other people… sounds familiar to what we the player are doing to Kris… and who was it that was initially going to give us control of a vessel before we lost said control to Chara’s intervention? Control seems to play a big part in Deltarune doesn’t it?

Also, isn’t his manner of speech is reminiscent of a silly ye olde knight. Wait, wasn’t there a Knight causing trouble in the Dark World? Hm.

So something is going to turn Lancer and Rouxls Kaard into Sans and Gaster, respectively.

Now remember the CORE that Gaster built? This one?

It turns geothermal energy into magical electricity via an unknown means with one of the byproducts being ozone, which is corrosive and could potentially make someone very melty. This is what it looks like on the inside.

Lots of blues of varying hues with white accents. Kinda reminds me of Rouxls Kaard and the other “card” people’s color schemes.

What a coincidence! Oh and apparently the layout of the CORE can be re-arranged or something:

"I work at the CORE. The inside is a maze made of swappable parts... That means we can shuffle the layout at will." - Hotland NPC

Almost sounds like a sliding puzzle…

Finally, Gaster is referred to as “The man who speaks in hands”, likely due to his Wing Dings font that contains a lot of hand symbols, however, it isn’t a stretch to also apply that epithet to Rouxls Kaard, after all, the Rules Card speaks in hands as well. Hands of cards.

Susie

Can’t forget Susie. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can say about how her role in all this will play yet. If we are to believe that the “Suzy” that Clamgirl references is Susie, then it’s clear that she’ll be key, perhaps as a catalyst for all the big changes some characters will need to undergo...

I will say that I think it’s interesting that toby specifically has a character in Hometown comment that humans are made of blood (and implying the monsters are not),

and Susie says:

“Everybody bleeds, right?”

From our understanding of monsters in Undertale, monsters don’t bleed, they turn to dust. But, maybe Darkners can bleed. If we believe Sans is a Darkner, it may explain this:

It could be ketchup. It could be a Darkner thing. Lancer does mention blood casually. But if only humans and Darkners bleed, then why would a monster like Susie say “everybody bleeds”?

So what is Deltarune you ask? I think it’s:

1) A story about Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster’s past and future. We get to experience their past in the Dark World, and speak with their future selves in the Light World. But these future versions of Sans and Papyrus may not be as far into the future as the Sans and Papyrus we meet in Undertale. Remember, Sans had an Ice-E’s crossword in Undertale? Ice-E’s-P’E’zza is a restaurant in Hometown. Papyrus may also be younger than he was in Undertale because Sans, an adult who runs a grocery store, thinks a teen like Kris should hang with his little brother, and it would be “weird” if he were there with them.

2) A story about post-Undertale Asriel, Chara, and Gaster. Asriel/Flowey maintains his new form as Ralsei thanks to the power of the Dark Fountain. He now lives in what is/was Sans’ childhood home. Whether he knows this or remembers the events of Undertale is unknown, but it is my belief that he holds a deep connection to the Asriel we all wished to save. Chara resides within Kris in a similar manner as they did at the ending of a UT True Pacifist Ending after surrendering the red SOUL to them in a Genocide ending. Does this mean that Kris’s body or “vessel” is Frisk? This seems to be heavily implied by Kris’ outfit taking on the same color scheme as Frisk’s UT shirt while in the Dark World.

3) A coming of age story for a bunch of teens. Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, Lancer, and all the friends that may join on their adventures are still people regardless of what grand meta narrative is at play involving the nature of their reality. They still need to go to school, fall in love, and worry about growing up and going to university. Noelle will undoubtedly play a large role with Toby’s tease of her as “Lost Girl”, and considering how attached most of the community has already gotten to these characters, it hurts my heart to think about what may befall them as they try their best to live their lives. Does this mean Deltarune’s world is doomed? I hope not... but those save file screens sure are creepypasta...

“IT WAS AS IF IT WAS NEVER THERE AT ALL.”

4) A story about video games and the control (or lack thereof) we have over them. It’s quite clear that we, the player controlling the red soul, is able to influence this new world based on knowledge from Undertale that should have no barring. For example, we can name “Onionsan” who has forgot their own name. One of the options is “Onion”, but why? Is it because we know their name is Onionsan in Undertale? How do we even know if that is actually what this version of them is really named?

Deltarune is so close to the perfect Undertale ending we wanted, but it’s just a little bit wrong. Would it hurt to force Undyne and Alphys to meet and fall in love? To get Toriel and Asgore back together? To make Bratty and Catty friends? If you were given the option in game to do it, would you do it? What if it made their lives worse…? I believe that the fact we are able to influence inhabitants of Deltarune with our Undertale knowledge may have some unforeseen consequences, and perhaps, be what begins this whole situation in the first place. (Paradoxes are the best time travel stories!)

Toby Fox said that Deltarune was the game he originally wanted to make, but whether it was too ambitious or time consuming, his idea evolved into Undertale. Now that he’s creating the game he always wanted to, I believe that he will connect everything we know about them together and resolve the mysteries, after all, Gaster has been waiting for this chance.

And maybe, with a little luck and determination, we can create a new future with a happier outcome. If I’ve learned anything from Undertale, it’s that you must hold on to your hopes and dreams, because dreams are the goal of “Determination.”

#undertale #deltarune #spoilers #sans #papyrus #gaster #asriel #chara #frisk #kris #toriel #sans undertale #theory #the true nature of deltarune #noelle #fun gang #susie #toby fox

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shardweavers · 4 years

Text

Chapter Five - Questions

Squawk...

Shoto's ears twitched at the sound from above. Yuki blinked, then looked around for the source of the noise. Sumire had drawn his weapon and looked ready to fight. Ice blinked, as the sound had been odd, and Angel took a moment to realize something had happened; his thoughts still suck on the prior conversation. Shoto focused, then turned her gaze upward to the darkness of the vaulted ceiling; she was sure the sound had come from above. A moment later, she spotted it: a mass falling swiftly towards the floor. Her instincts kicked in, and she sprinted off as soon as she'd shoved her cup into Angel's hands; too quickly for him to realize what was going on. He shoved the last of his donut into his mouth to free his other hand for her teacup, but fumbled and missed it. Ice quickly caught the cup and saucer before it could fall to the floor, then looked to Shoto. Angel looked relieved, then finally noticed the falling mass as well... some sort of bird...?

Shoto reached out to catch the bird just before it could impact the floor; a grey-blue one, of medium size. It wasn't very heavy as it lay curled in her arms. The female Miqo'te slid to a stop, then turned back to the group with a confused look on her face. She had seen this kind of bird at least once before... in Kholusia.

"It's," she frowned as she looked down, "It's a shoebill." The healer in her instantly knew something was wrong. The Exarch blinked, then looked up to the ceiling for a moment. He tilted his head thoughtfully, as he looked back to the bird Shoto had caught.

'A bird that large certainly would have gotten my attention,' he looked over to Angel, as the White Mage carefully added his own empty teacup to the pile that Ice now held, then hurried to Shoto's side. The Exarch sighed quietly, then shook his head a little, 'I'm probably just being overly cautious... Lyna would certainly tease me for being so on edge over a bird.'

"It seems badly hurt," Angel frowned, and flicked his ears worriedly. Shoto nodded, then focused for a moment. She ran her aether over the bird's form, but all she could tell from a quick survey was that it had pretty bad internal injuries. She'd have to focus further if she wanted to fix it, and that might be better suited to her room rather than the Ocular. Shoto stopped her aether, then looked over to Angel.

"The poor thing is definitely wounded," she looked down to the bird again, "It must have flown into the Tower to seek shelter." Angel worriedly nodded in response, then the two healers headed back to rejoin the others. Shoto carefully cradled the bird in her arms as she stopped beside Ice.

"Is it dead?" The Warrior asked curiously, focused mostly on the bird.

"No," Shoto shook her head, "but it's definitely in very poor shape." She turned to look at the Exarch; Shoto was very much the archetypal healer, and was always eager to help if she could. Her tail curled happily as she thought of helping this bird fly again, "If it's alright, I'd like to take it with me back to my room at the Pendants. Maybe I can help mend it enough that I can get it flying again." Eos and Selene instantly appeared at the mention of mending the bird, then swirled around her excitedly. Shoto sighed softly, and said, "Not now, you two," which made the two fairies pout slightly, then immediately re-dismiss themselves. The Scholar then beamed a smile to the Exarch and hoped it would be okay. The Exarch seemed thoughtful as he stared at the bird for the moment.

Emet-Selch; or rather, the shoebill; waited for the pain of impact. He drifted in and out as he desperately tried to stay conscious. He didn't immediately realize that he wasn't still falling. It felt warm, like he was being held aloft. Only then did he realize his body wasn't still moving. He partly opened one eye to see the dark-haired, female Miqo'te looking right back at him. He was indeed being held... it was none other than her. The momentary silence was then broken by the Exarch's answer to Shoto's request; at which she looked up from him, to the red-haired Seeker.

"I don't see the problem with it. Just be careful, okay? Injured animals can be dangerous if they get frightened," he held up a finger to make a point, "If you should need any sort of medicine or require further assistance, I'm certain you can ask Chessamile in Spagyrics." He looked up to the ceiling again, thoughtfully, "I just hope there aren't more of his flock injured somewhere."

"Thank you," Shoto nodded excitedly, then looked back to the bird at the mention of assistance from Chessamile. She wasn't as sure about herbal remedies, so she just may seek her advice later. Angel took a half-step forward, then curled the tip of his tail as he looked at Shoto; he had a very similar desire to help out however he could.

"I-I'd like to help too, if you need me, Shoto," he looked to the bird, as Yuki shook her head.

"Must you two always be the ones volunteering to help those in need?" She looked over at Sumire, "Is this just a healer thing?" The purple-haired Miqo'te just replied with a laugh and a slight shrug.

"It's just," Angel shook his head, "it feels like a bad injury," he ignored Yuki's comments, then looked back to Shoto, "Though, I could be misjudging how bad, since it was just a quick glance." He paused, his ears flicked, and a quiet, nervous purr escaped his throat. Ice put a hand on his husband's head to settle his worried thoughts.

Sumire stretched, "I'm sure it's only late afternoon, but we should all probably purchase some supplies from the Markets before it gets too late," he flicked his tail pointedly, "Especially if we're heading out on two separate, long trips."

"Ah, about that," the Exarch took a step forward as he smiled, "I spoke with Bragi earlier when I bought the tea and food. He assured me that you would be welcome at any time to stock up on whatever you may need." He looked to his friends, then the bird. While he had told Lyna to make sure their rooms were ready, he hadn't anticipated the distraction of an injured bird. There would be no harm in waiting until tomorrow to head out. "Perhaps... as late as it has gotten, you should all take your time today, and prepare to head out on your journeys tomorrow morning. Your rooms should already be prepared for you."

"I think taking the rest of the day to prepare is a good plan," Yuki nodded, then looked to Shoto; specifically, the bird in her arms, "Especially with distractions." Her tone wasn't angry, but she'd kept it unclear. Sumire frowned at her, but said nothing about it. Ice's calming presence helped Angel focus. The White Mage still fidgeted a bit nervously, and was still torn on what he should do. He stumbled slightly over his own words, "I-I can... that is... a-afterrr we pick up some... supplies, I can... stop by... to check in? Y-Your rrroom is on the way... to ourrrs," his tail curled.

"That would be great!" Shoto beamed. Ice smiled gently and leaned over to look at Angel.

"You're overthinking it, Love."

Shoto nodded in agreement to Ice, "Sometimes a second opinion is helpful! You should go with Ice to get what you need, and I'll see what I can do in the meantime, okay?" Angel looked a bit relieved that she'd understood his fumbled offer, then nodded in reply; he let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. She grinned at him reassuringly, and Ice chuckled at his husband. The Exarch cleared his throat to refocus everyone.

"There's one last thing I wanted to give you before I let you go," he reached into his robes with his crystal hand. He withdrew it a moment later to reveal five small, blue crystal clips in his palm. "With Urianger's help, Beq Lugg and I combined Whisperweeds with small shards of the Tower to create something equivalent to Linkpearls. Although, I couldn't make them quite as small as I wanted to and still allow them to have the range I needed." He stepped forward to allow everyone to take one of the crystal clips as he continued, "Since my assignments are splitting you all up to such distances, I felt it necessary to come up with a way to contact you in case anything happened."

"A way to keep tabs on us, you mean?" Yuki teased as she took one for herself. Sumire grabbed one next, then looked it over to figure out how it was meant to work. The Exarch blushed a little, slightly flustered at Yuki's tease. Angel hopped forward and took two, then handed one to Ice, the other to Shoto; he then took the last one for himself.

"These seem like something the Crystarium Guard could use," Ice commented as he looked over the clip.

The Exarch frowned, "Whisperweeds have a limited range, and require relays among the guards, but they are easily replaced and quicker to distribute. I certainly wish they were much easier to make, but perhaps I can give the plan to Katliss for something more easily mass-produced." He shook his head, "Ah, I'm getting distracted. I have something else I must attend to before I return to work on the vessels. There's not much left in the basket, but you may have anything that's left if you would like."

"What about you, G'raha?" Angel worriedly asked as he held the clip against himself. The Exarch blushed a little, then smiled reassuringly.

"I promise I kept some for myself. I'll have some with another pot of tea this evening before I retire to bed. None of you need worry for me," he flicked his ears slightly, then gave a slight bow. "You're free to go now, my friends. I will speak with you on the morrow, unless something should arise."

The Exarch turned and hurried off. Yuki turned, then tugged at Sumire's sleeve.

"I'd like to drop my things off in my room before I go to the Markets. Perhaps you could do the same."

"That does sound like a better idea than dragging everything through the Markets if we're going to spend the night first," he stretched again, then looked down to his clothes, "Actually the thought of that long journey to Kholusia already makes me feel sleepy. I think stopping by my room first might be a good idea," his tail flicked thoughtfully. Yuki tugged his sleeve a bit more insistently, which got him to follow her out of the Ocular. Shoto had put the crystal clip in her pocket carefully, then readjusted the bird in her arms.

"It's okay, little guy, we'll get you all fixed up and flying again," the dark-haired female Miqo'te turned to head out towards the Pendants, which just left Ice and Angel. Ice sat the cups and saucers he'd been balancing on the cart, then leaned in close to Angel.

"I think this is our cue to get moving," Angel nodded slightly, distracted by Shoto's departure. "Maybe we should check around the Markets first?" Angel just nodded again. Ice noticed his distracted look, and lack of actual response. The Warrior's blonde hair swayed as he took a step around his husband to look more directly at him, "Shall we see what sort of troub--" He swiftly trailed off as Angel looked directly at him. The White Mage pouted disapprovingly before the Warrior could even finish his suggestion of finding trouble, "...I mean~, let's see if we can find... good deals! On supplies. And items. And food." He grabbed the last donut from the basket, flashed a grin, then started to head off.

"H-Hey!" Angel reached for the donut, then hurried after the Warrior with a determined flick of his tail; it seemed like Ice successfully distracted his husband with something else...

* * *

* * * Outside the Tower, it was very late afternoon; early evening; and the lights around the Crystarium were on. The sky outside the crystal canopies was a deep orange as the sun set for the day. Shoto still cradled the bird in her arms as she carefully made her way down the stairs. She didn't want to jostle him too much and risk worsening whatever injuries he had before she could even try to repair them. The shoebill didn't move much, it just continued to rest, and breathe quietly. The female Miqo'te took her time heading down as she felt distracted by the bird; it almost reminded her of someone. It was an odd thought, but perhaps that was why she'd felt the need to help it? She just smirked to herself as she reached the bottom of the stairs, then headed across the plaza towards the Markets and the Pendants.

The Scholar stopped halfway across the plaza, then looked to the side. She stared towards the Aetheryte Plaza; to the stairs where they first encountered Emet-Selch. The party just didn't feel the same without him around. Even after their battle, it still seemed like the Ascian would pop up with that smirk on his face and some sort of quip or remark at any moment...

...but he never did.

"Ah~! Here is the appointed hero of the hour," a male voice from behind her teased. Shoto's eyes widened and her heart hammered in her chest; could it be...? The Miqo'te turned swiftly towards the sound of the voice, but only found an Elf teasing a Mystel who looked to be out of breath; bent over and panting. She seemed to have rushed to meet her friend at the aetheryte shard, only to be teased by way of greeting. That ache that had been with her returned sharply, and Shoto did her best to shake it off; the pain still sat on her face, though. She turned toward the Markets again, then took off with a hurried pace to get to her room.

* * * Angel and Ice exited the Tower only a few moments after Shoto had started to make her way across the plaza. The blonde Miqo'te grinned at his husband, who'd managed to procure the donut somewhere between the Ocular and the front door.

"I'm surprised you didn't take some of the other sweets from the basket," he teased. Angel pouted as he took another bite of the half-eaten donut, then replied in a mumble with the treat in his mouth.

"I like Hanji-Fae's donuts." Despite his best efforts, his comment was still clear to Ice. The Warrior snickered, then stopped only a few stairs down; he'd noticed Shoto was staring at the Aetheryte Plaza. Angel continued to eat the donut, as he tried to finish it before they got down the stairs. Ice reached up to stop him from continuing. Angel blinked, then looked past Ice to take notice of Shoto, as the Mystel ran across the plaza from the stairs to the Amaro Launch and skidded to a halt beside the aetheryte shard.

"Ah~! Here is the appointed hero of the hour," the Elf commented, with a grin. Angel felt a shiver up his spine, which made his tail curl against him. He looked immediately to Shoto, and saw the expression on her face. It put everything together for him, and he frowned. Ice crossed his arms over his chest as Shoto turned to hurry off.

"Maybe you should go check on her after we hit the Markets," Ice flicked his tail, "We could get her something to cheer her up." Angel remained silent, which made Ice turn to look up the two stairs. He seemed confused, "Angel?"

"I think I understand what's been wrong with her," he responded, then gripped the strap of his bag across his chest.

Ice tilted his head, "I mean, I think I get that it has something to do with Emet-Selch. He always called us heroes instead of our names, and I remember that we met him at the Plaza stairs." Angel nodded, then took a few slow steps past Ice. "What I don't get is why she looked like--" he stopped before he finished his thought. Angel noticed the abrupt end to his husband's thought, then looked up, over his shoulder. Ice's expression looked almost apologetic.

"Looked like...?" Angel turned to face Ice, who then took the few steps to be beside him.

"Looked like you did, when we met," Ice frowned, then reached down to take hold of Angel's hand. The black-haired Miqo'te's ears fell to the sides at the wording.

"I'm sure it isn't quite the same," he gently squeezed Ice's hand, "But I think the reason she cried the way she did was because she felt something different than the rest of us in that moment." He looked back to the plaza; to the place they'd first met Emet-Selch. "If I had to take a guess, I'd say she's still not sure what to make of it, nor how to deal with it."

"...Well," Ice spoke quietly, "if that's the case, you may be the best one to talk to her about it." Angel fell silent, and blinked, then looked back up to Ice. The blonde tried to be encouraging; he gave his husband a small smile as he returned the squeeze of his hand. "You're right, it's not exactly the same situation, but wasn't she there when it happened...? She was the reason you were safe in Mist, wasn't she?"

Angel looked back to the plaza, thoughtfully.

Ice sighed softly, "C'mon, let's grab some supplies from the Markets. We can find something for her, then maybe you can keep her company for a while," Ice kissed Angel's cheek. The smaller Miqo'te nodded in reply, then immediately turned to bury his face against the blonde's chest and hugged him tightly. Ice blinked at the sudden hug; Angel shook slightly. He hadn't meant to upset his husband by reminding him of that trauma, he just realized that the two of them might be able to talk better than he could.

* * * Yuki finished putting her things away rather quickly. She took her coat off, then summoned her emerald carbuncle onto the bed. The soft jingle of the aetheric creature solidifying was a reassuring sound for the Viera. She smiled, then leaned down to point at the carbuncle's nose.

"Stay here and guard the room. I'll be back shortly, and I expect things to remain the way they are." The carbuncle tilted its head, nodded, then sat on the bed like a guard dog. Yuki nodded, satisfied, then headed out to pick up some things at the Markets. She hadn't gotten very far from her room when she saw Shoto stop in front of hers. The Miqo'te seemed completely lost in thought, then a moment later, she was crying again; it was the same expression she'd had a few times when she thought no one was around in the FC house. Yuki crossed her arms, then sighed. She turned her head to see if Sumire was coming, and found his door ajar. The Viera shook her head, then went over to his room. She gently pushed the door open, but didn't see the violet-haired Miqo'te anywhere. It was dim, only two small lights had been turned on.

"Sumire?" Her voice was cautious, as she took a few steps into the room. She was greeted with silence, to which she frowned, then looked around again. Nothing seemed disturbed in the kitchenette, nothing was missing or moved on the table, his bathroom was open and dark, the window was still closed, his dresser hadn't been touched...

It wasn't until she got around the screen beside the door that she found him. Still half sitting on the bed, he looked to have just fallen over asleep; he hadn't even dropped his bag. She sighed with both relief and frustration, then hurried over to him.

"Hey. You can't really be that tired, we've barely done anything" she grumbled, then reached down to shake him awake. He didn't stir immediately, which in turn, made Yuki a bit worried. She shook his shoulder a bit harder, then spoke a bit louder, "Sumire, if you're going to sleep, that's fine, but you should really get into bed properly."

"...eh...?" His voice was quiet, and he took a moment to register what happened. One pale green eye blinked open, then he shook his head a little as he pushed himself up. "Y-Yuki...?"

"Really, Sumire, you didn't even close your door," she stood up straight and crossed her arms over her chest, "Are you that tired? We've barely done anything today."

"W-Well, my room," he looked around at the dim room, then turned his head towards the bed he sat on, "My room's just... comfortable." He slipped his bag off and sat it beside his bed, then flicked his ears. He stood up carefully, "I'm fine," then straightened his shirt, "It was just a long trip to Mor Dhona, and the tea was relaxing. We have supplies to get for tomorrow, don't we?" The Dragoon smiled to the Summoner, who still looked concerned.

"Maybe you should stay here and head to bed then," Yuki shook her head, "I can get us both supplies." The Viera turned to head off; the Miqo'te quickly followed.

"But I wanted to go with you, Yuki." The Viera blushed slightly at his words, but continued out of his room, then up the hall without pause. Something about his words; his tone; they reminded her of why she left her village. That fear she felt when she realized the males would be coming back soon, and her mother would find her someone to marry. That life she realized she didn't want, and had run from. Such an odd thing to feel from his words, maybe she was also more tired than she thought.

Sumire felt confused, but hurried after her quickly. She had such long strides, he had to run to keep up with her. She only slowed as they approached the Markets; at which point she stopped to look back at him. He barely skidded to a stop in time not to run right into her.

"I saw Shoto go to her room." Sumire just tilted his head a little in response, it felt random, but Yuki continued, "She was crying again." He suddenly understood why she'd said it, then frowned.

"...Any idea if it's the usual sort of thing... or if something happened...?" He asked, worriedly.

"No," Yuki shook her head, "though I'd be willing to bet coming back here reminded her of a lot all at once. I'm sure she'll be okay with some rest, and Angel will be checking on her later."

"We'll be traveling with her," Sumire looked thoughtful as he looked over to the stairs that led to the Markets, "maybe we could get her something from the Markets to cheer her up?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Yuki nodded, then smiled a little. She had successfully distracted herself from unpleasant thoughts for the moment.

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primehorded · 4 years

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Biomechanical Horde

I came into watching She-Ra as someone pure and untainted by the old series. Everything I learned about the characters and the universe, I learned from this show, and I wanted to write a breakdown of all the is-he-a-robot-is-he-an-alien evidence we see from Hordak, his brothers, and Big Brother himself, Horde Prime. (IDK if it was in the original but - Big Brother is watching, big brother sees all...inch resting and not at all political. Insert eye emoji)

FIRST we meet Hordak. Hordak appears to be a humanoid of no specified race, sharing some attributes with other races depicted in the show, but having some characteristics reminiscent of a robot. He has hair, he has ears that move and reflect his moods, similar to Double Trouble and Catra in that regard.

He also seems to have some proponents that are distinctly unnatural-looking. There isn’t enough detailing to be quite sure - no metallic glint on his skull-shaped face, for instance. Yet his eyes very distinctly to glow with light, even in darkness, and he has markings on his face and neck that could be where plates of metal/whatever unnatural material might meet, seams between the different parts and pieces he is made up of. However, these neater lines that look like plate seams also flow neatly into curved lines indicative of more natural-looking facial features.

He has very sharply defined cheek-hollows the same darker grey as his neck - but also going into his ears, which do not seem mechanical.

Then we later start to get a better idea of what Hordak is, when Entrapta walks in on him changing (tee-hee). Here his unnaturally white skin seems to be changing color, affected by his declining health, the dark blue spreading like tissue damage. He also is physically frail and dependent on clothing engineered to hold him together and allow him to function. Also, he’s in a halter top here. You’re welcome.

After Entrapta nurses him back to consciousness, he admits to her that he is a clone, and reveals a series of pods where more clones seem to be growing. He says he was created with a defect, and cast out because of it. It is unclear if the clones are still growing or if they were failed experiments, but I’m leaning towards failed experiments. It is also not specified if Hordak was intending to clone himself in order to add to his army, or if he was trying to create a new body to somehow transfer his own consciousness into later. Horde Prime is shown to have gone through many vessels himself, and also states his brothers ��lend their life force to him” so that he can live indefinitely. Considering how expendable Horde Prime’s “little brothers” are to him, it seems doubtful that he would even bother allowing them their own indefinite lives through some sort of life-force taking or vessel changing. There is a possibility that Hordak might know a little bit about how Horde Prime’s process of doing so works, seeing as he seemed to be a clone closer to Horde-Prime before his defect was discovered. We are not given any clear answers on this. (I tried to find a cap of Hordak’s attempted clones but typing in anything like “Hordak’s Clones” into the search engine didn’t work cuz, ya know)

The only creation he seems to have successfully cultivated is the imp, pictured above in the lower right-hand corner. The imp also seems to have some biological properties - ears, hair, even eyebrows, as well as a distinct nose shape and seemingly natural wings. Flesh wings. Not metal wings or whatever. I don’t like referring to stuff as “flesh” though, my overlord says it really blows my cover. The imp definitely has mechanical properties as well though - glowing eyes similar to Hordak’s and, most notably, the ability to kind of tape-record things he can hear. When he catches Catra sharing some secrets and brings them back to Hordak, he doesn’t repeat them as if remembered or even imitate them, but just opens his mouth for the duration, like to allow access to a speaker in the back of his throat, and a tinny voice-recording of Catra’s voice can be heard. He also uses this ability to mock Hordak, because he’s a little asshole. Otherwise, the Imp doesn’t speak, other than a few vague noises like hissing. Do we ever find out what happens to the imp? I feel like we don’t. Rip

Entrapta creates a new kind of suit for Hordak, this time built like an exoskeleton to allow him to move and function beyond the ability and energy his original body can give anymore. It functions like part of his body, but isn’t surgically connected to him or anything. At least, that we see. Entrapta do be a freak like that tho.

When we finally meet Horde Prime, he too seems to share a mix of biological and mechanical aspects. He has the same snow-white skin, with markings that could resemble creases between plates/materials. He also has glowing eyes, as do his other clones, but he has white pupils that show in any body he inhabits when he moves his control/consciousness, as he seems to be able to fluidly among his clones and anyone chipped.

He has a few attributes that his clones do NOT share. He has extra eyes on his right side, with pupils of their own that are often looking other directions. This is the only part of him that is not symmetrical, and all of his clones are created and dressed in symmetrical clothing and features. He also has metal finger attachments on his index-fingers, which is very sexy but seems to cover a finger rather than replace them.

The other attribute he has that none of his other clones bear is them GLORIOUS, GLORIOUS LOCS. I mean I’ve heard of cyber locks, but this is ridiculous. Bad joke. At the crown of his head, his hair appears white, the same as his skin and the hair on the heads of all of his clones. There appears to be two beads or sections, one on each side at the parts of his hair that frame his perfect evil face. Further down though, the pseudo-dreads turn a medium grey, and then are capped off with sharp tips that DO reflect light the same way metal drawn in the show does. So do the metal creases under the tops of his shoulders - cheeky off-the shoulder armor, or metal joint?

He also has the ability to travel in the hive-mind network of every chipped being (including his clones), and access information like a file. Entrapta later “hacks” it like a software. Can you uninstall Horde Prime? Does he have ad-blocker?

We also see him utilize an unspecified green liquid, a pool of which he uses to make Hordak “pure”. Hordak alights in sparks when he enters it, like a toaster in a bathtub. This obviously effects him though in a very natural physical way, crying out in pain, and Horde Prime remarks that his suffering is necessary for his purity. If he was just throwing some water on him to short out his mechanical processors for a HARD hard reboot, he wouldn’t have any reason to have this lime green pool of...whatever. And whatever this substance is, it’s important enough to be the only color in or on Prime Horde or any of his clones. I’m gunna call it Horde Juice. It’s not the quenchiest.

Back to the hair. His “hair” is kept back and tied out of the way for most of the time, except for in the finale, when we see it being used to kind of funnel the Horde Juice straight into his brainicals. Horde Prime’s hair tubes connect into his back, with a few pieces left down cuz he’s a stylish ho. Now you can see very clearly some of the locs are actually CLEAR TUBES that only appeared light grey against his dark grey (skin?) and now they are pulsing with Horde Juice. However, we can ALSO very clearly see that not every tendril of his hair is alight with The Juices, indicating that some part of his hair are just that - hair, like his clones. It also has lit up a technical looking pattern along some creases in his body. His arms, his neck. His boobs.

There isn’t really a good point I can end this on, other than to say I thought it was a really creative and interesting design that was incredibly effective. It’s not easy to make a universe make sense with advanced futuristic weaponry and also medieval fantasy magic. The amazing design of the characters, weapons, architecture, and fighting styles made it look seamless, and Hordak’s design in particular really lead well up to introducing an insanely high-tech spaceship full of mind-controlled clones, dropped into a world filled with and dependent on magic. This was a spotlight specifically on Hordak/Horde Prime’s...race? Race.

I’m really curious for more information about the universe, even though from what I’ve heard the new She-Ra has changed a lot and the old She-Ra didn’t much prioritize world-building specifics. If I learn some more looking some stuff up on this series as well as the old one, and anyone is interested, I’ll add a part two and link it below!

#Also the only reason I really noticed all of this stuff is because I’m working on a cosplay for Horde Prime which is NOT easy.#Horde Prime #SPOP #spop spoilers #hordak #imp #she-ra #she-ra spoilers

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mycasandstarrs · 6 years

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SPN 5x18: “Point of No Return”

Quite the interesting song choice. “The Man Upstairs” by Kay Starr.

Bummed out Zachariah at a bar.

“That’s all they care about upstairs, ain’t it? Results, results, results. They don’t know. They’re not down on the ground, in the mud, nose to nose with all you pig-filthy humans, am I right?”

“Absolute—filthy what?”

lmao, poor guy catching what Zachariah said.

Another gif I’d seen often without knowing what the context was.

RIP Stuart and the bartender. Killed by Zachariah’s “boss”...whoever that is.

Dean-o.

Preparing to leave.

I”m trying to pause the screen to read this letter Dean is writing. I can make out the words “you’ll look after her” which is probably referring to Baby (tho I did initially think it was about Lisa, as he had told her last episode that “they” won’t get what they want from him without agreeing to something first...aka protection for her and Ben.) Also before that statement, it looks like Dean made a Back to the Future reference (which, of course he would) “Where we’re going, we don’t need no roads”

He also mentions someone (or something?) being an “honorary Winchester in my book” and I hope he means Cas.

[After episode edit: Supernatural Wiki is awesome and provides a transcript to a good chunk of the letter. It confirms most of my guesses except the “honorary Winchester” is Bobby; I ain’t even mad about that.]

It was about to be sent to Bobby.

“It’s not too hard to figure out the stops on the Farewell Tour.” Well thank god Sam knows Dean so well.

“How could you do that?”

“How could I? All you’ve ever done is walk away.”

“And I was wrong. Every single time I did.”

“You know I have to stop you.”

“Yeah, well, you can try. Just remember: You’re not all hopped up on demon blood this time.”

Dean delivering some low blows here...and he’s just getting started.

Cas!

Who is phenomenally pissed and staring daggers at Dean.

“But if Lucifer burns this mother down, and I coulda done something about it, guess what? That’s on me.” Huh, that’s still part of the reason Dean says yes to Michael in S13.

“You’re not my father. And you ain’t in my shoes.”

DEAN WINCHESTER, YOU TAKE THAT BACK IMMEDIATELY.

It would’ve been kinda hilarious if Bobby had shot Dean for that alone.

“That’s the round I mean to put through my skull. Every morning, I look at it. I think, ‘Maybe today’s the day I flip the lights out.’ But I don’t do it. I never do it. You know why? Because I promised you I wouldn’t give up!”

RIP 2 angels. Killed by Cas.

Will the real Adam Milligan please rise?

Cas wards Adam.

My god, Adam sounds so much like Dean.

Whoomp, there it is. Adm was brought back to replace Dean as Michael's vessel.

Cas shading Dean, lol.

“Why would they do this?”

“Maybe they’re desperate. Maybe they wrongly assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them.”

“Alright, you know what? Blow me, Cas.”

Adam even acts like Dean, whereas Ghoul!Adam was more like Sam...

“Please, just trust me. Give me some time.��

“Give me one good reason.”

“Because we’re blood.”

Yeah, that ain’t gonna cut it.

“No, John Winchester was some guy who took me to a baseball game once a year. I don't have a dad. So we may be blood, but we are not family. My mom is my family. And if I do my job, I get to see her again. So no offense, but she's the one I give a rat's ass about, not you.”

Dude, it’s not their fault they never found out about you.

Jeez, what a dick.

Not that easy to escape, pal.

“The one thing worse than seeing dad once a year was seeing him all year.”

“Do you know how full of crap you are?”

“What?”

“Really. You see, it was me and it was my mom. That's it. She worked the graveyard shift at the hospital. I cooked my own dinners. I put myself to bed. So you can say whatever you want about our dad, but the truth is, I would have taken anything.”

SERIOUSLY WHAT A MEDIUM BAG OF DICKS

Does Adam ever stop with the smartass remarks?

DEAN WHAT THE FUCK.

“I mean, think about how many people we've gotten killed, Sam. Mom, Dad, Jess, Jo, Ellen. Should I keep going?” None of those deaths were your own fault, you’re reaching for straws here pal.

“I just…I—I don’t believe.”

“In what?”

“In you.”

I hate Dean’s campaign of driving people away so they’ll let him go, I h a t e t h i s.

“You’re angry, you’re self-righteous. Lucifer's gonna wear you to the prom, man. It's just a matter of time.”

“Don’t say that to me. Not you...of all people.”

Omg, an almost direct parallel from “When the Levee Breaks”.

You made Sam cry, you asshole.

I love Bobby checking in on his sons :’)

How did Dean know Cas was gonna come down to check in on him? That crash was well timed.

And Cas actually showed concern for him!!

Dean, you fucking asshole.

“Cuff him to your chair.” lmao

Adam, meet Zachariah.

The other time where I can’t even argue against Zachariah...except for the “erotically” bit.

“Trust me, kid, when the heat gets hot, they're not gonna give a flying crap about you. Hell, they'd rather save each other's sweet bacon than save the planet.” Oh wait, there’s another time he’s just...kinda right. Tho I’d kinda argue that they’ve come a long way from that.

OOOHHH HERE IT COMES. ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES IN THE SERIES...and the reason I started shipping Destiel full time.

El Sol!

OOOOHHH IT’S DEAN BEATDOWN TIME!!!

It is so satisfying to see Cas beat the shit out of Dean after everything he’s said and done in this episode.

Also, how are NONE of the passing civilians noticing this fight???

I just...get a huge kick out of that scene.

And now, I attempt to explain why this scene (of all scenes) was the reason I started shipping Destiel:

To me, there were two stages of Destiel; 1. Dean’s in love with Cas and 2. Cas is in love with Dean. For whatever reason, this was the moment I realized Cas had very deep feelings for Dean.

The level of betrayal he was feeling from Dean seemed much more personal than just ‘I went to bat for the guy and he struck out, wah wah”.

Also, the fact that he emphasized that he did/gave EVERYTHING for solely Dean definitely came off more than platonic to me.

(Not to mention how close their faces were to each other; almost every time I watch this scene, I half expect them to start making out with each other.)

All I know is that from there on out, I looked forward to their interactions--well, even more than I already did-- and that I was looking at them in a different light.

“Bobby, what do you mean ‘Adam is gone’?”

“Should I say it in Spanish?”

lmaoo. Knowing Bobby, he probably could.

“What the hell happened to him?”

“Me.”

ayyyy

Unceremoniously dumped on the couch, lmao.

And I also kinda love that they asked about what happened to Dean only once, then proceeded to talk more about Adam. It may be because he’s the bigger fish to fry, but it kinda reads to me that Bobby and Sam are in silent agreement that Dean had that beating coming, so they won’t even ask more about it.

The Green Room.

Oh, Persephone move there bro.

“So you lied...about everything.”

“We didn’t lie. We just avoided certain truths to manipulate you.”

Adam, you poor fool.

i wonder who carried Dean down to the panic room.

“Word to the wise: don’t piss off the nerd angels.”

“Either it’s a trap to get me there to make me say yes, or it’s not a trap and I’m gonna say yes anyway. And I will. I’ll do it. Fair warning.” No, you won’t.

“When push shoves, you’ll make the right call.” Sam’s right.

“I—I don’t get it. Sam, why are you doing this?“

“Because… you’re still my big brother.”

I am like, Sam’s #1 fan when it comes to this episode. I am rooting like hell for him.

Van Nuys, California.

I love Dean’s reaction as Cas takes off his tie; he even looks over to Sam like “you seeing this?”

“Whoa, wait. You’re gonna take on five angels?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that suicide?”

“Maybe it is. But then I won’t have to watch you fail.”

RIP Dean, torn a new one by Cas.

Dean looked at Cas like he thought the box-cutter was for him.

RIP angel. Killed by Cas.

One down, four to go.

What a badass move.

“You came for me.”

“Yeah, well, you’re family.”

Awww.

Crap.

Zachariah’s just twisting the knife.

“Damn it, Zachariah. Stop it, please. I’ll do it.”

“I’m sorry. What was that?”

“Okay, yes. The answer is yes.”

You can literally pinpoint the moment Dean changes his mind.

“I said…before Michael gets one piece of this sweet ass…he has to turn you into a piece of charcoal.” There’s the Dean I love.

“Michael’s not gonna kill me.” Zachariah’s last words.

RIP Zachariah. Killed by Dean. Still such a satisfying death!

Whoa, just realized Dean watched Zachariah die...and he still has eyeballs.

Dean lets go of Adam to help Sam. That one little decision with such huge consequences...

“Dean! Help! Deean!”

Poor Adam. I really do feel sorry that he got caught up in all this. I’m kinda hoping they’ll address him a bit in S14.

“You think Adam’s okay?”

“Doubt it. Cas either. But we’ll get ‘em.” aww.

“So, what changed your mind?”

“Honestly? The damnedest thing. I mean, the world’s ending. The walls are coming down on us, and I look over to you and all I can think about is, ‘This stupid son of a bitch brought me here.’ I just didn’t want to let you down.”

ACCEPT THE APOLOGY SAM.

“Just...let me say this. I don't know if it's being a big brother or what, but to me, you've always been this snot-nosed kid that I've had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that that's not you anymore. I mean, hell, if you're grown-up enough to find faith in me…the least I can do is return the favor. So screw destiny, right in the face. I say we take the fight to them, and do it our way.”

That meant the universe to Sam.

HELL FUCKING YES DEAN. You are forgiven for the bull you pulled this episode.

#supernatural #spn summer rewatch #spn liveblog #spn 5x18 #point of no return #aka the episode i started shipping destiel full time

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reverseskydives · 7 years

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The Marketer’s Checklist for Establishing a Personal Brand

I remember when having a personal brand was reserved solely for big-name celebrities.

Back in the 90s, you had to be an Oprah-level figure to have your own discernible brand.

But the Internet has changed that.

It’s made personal branding viable for pretty much everyone, provided you put in the time and energy.

That’s why you see people go from relative obscurity to borderline celebrities quite frequently.

A good example of that is Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income.

I remember the time when he was blogging about basic online money-making techniques and had only a tiny following.

Now, he’s crushing it.

He’s writing books, giving lectures, running a podcast and has a massive following.

Of course, he creates great content, but I’d say his success is largely due to his rock-solid personal branding.

And when you get right down to it, the Internet is your vessel for establishing a personal brand.

You just need to know how to properly utilize it.

In this post, I provide you with an essential checklist for establishing your personal brand.

I’m going to point out specific platforms you can leverage to build your presence and get noticed.

I’m also going to outline the correct sequence you should follow to build your brand step by step.

Let’s get to it.

Establish a brand identity

Before you can do anything else, you need to know what you’re trying to achieve.

How do you want people to perceive you?

What do you want people to associate your personal brand with?

You’ll want to give plenty of consideration to this because it will shape your entire approach.

My entire brand identity is based around online marketing.

My personal brand revolves around helping other businesses grow.

I suggest pinpointing a few specific areas you want your name to be synonymous with and focusing on them.

Choose your niche

Seldom do you see individuals with huge personal brands having their hands in everything.

If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that spreading yourself too thin is often a recipe for disaster.

Instead, you’re better off focusing on a specific niche.

“Niching down” enables you to develop a close association between your name and a certain topic.

Take Marie Kondo for instance.

She’s known for her unique method of organizing and tidying—the KonMari Method.

She’s written books about these topics, created an app and is a consultant.

Marie has a very precise niche, and she doesn’t deviate from it.

I recommend taking the same approach.

If you want to branch out later on, that’s fine.

But initially, you want to zero in on a specific niche.

And ideally, it will be something you’re passionate about because this will help sustain you in the long run.

Find your unique voice

Let me preface this by saying it takes time to establish your voice.

I find it’s an organic process that unfolds over time.

But you’ll want to have a basic idea of what you’re going for right out of the gate.

Do you want to sound kind, compassionate and enlightened?

That’s pretty much the voice of Leo Babauta of Zen Habits:

Or are you naturally a little snarky and cynical and prefer to keep things a bit edgy?

That’s how I would define Ashley Ambirge of The Middle Finger Project:

I find you’re usually better off sticking with your true personality and letting that define your voice.

This makes it much easier to be authentic, which is one of the top things people look for in a brand.

It doesn’t really matter what type of voice you go for, just stick with it, cultivating it over time.

Design a logo

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.

Your logo is huge and one of the most vital branding elements.

I prefer to keep mine simple, like this:

But go with whatever makes sense for your brand.

If design isn’t your thing, you may want to find a professional designer.

Or use a free platform, like Canva, to create your own design from scratch.

You can choose from pre-made templates or set your own custom dimensions.

I also recommend reading this post from Creative Bloq for logo design tips.

Create a website

A professional, functional website is integral to your personal brand.

Don’t skimp on this.

Some people are reluctant to pay for hosting because they can create a basic website with WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr or a similar platform.

But I highly suggest you get your own domain.

After all, would you take me seriously if my website URL was neilpatel.wordpress.com rather than neilpatel.com?

Probably not.

Besides, you’ll have limited functionality.

For more on building your first website, check out this post I wrote.

Also, be sure your site incorporates the same color scheme as your logo.

Like this:

It typically takes five to seven impressions for someone to remember a brand, so it’s crucial that you keep it consistent and make yourself recognizable.

Choose your content mediums

I don’t need to tell you how much I love content marketing.

It’s easily the greatest marketing strategy of the 21st century!

It also “costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about three times as many leads.”

One of the best ways to establish yourself as an expert in your niche (or at least as someone worth paying attention to) is to create quality content.

That’s how I got to where I’m today.

I got into the habit of creating quality content—and a high volume of it.

But with so many mediums available, you need to pick and choose which ones you want to focus on.

For me, long-form blog content has become my bread and butter.

Seth Godin opts for short blurbs:

A big part of Tim Ferriss’ success (besides his books) has been his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show.

His podcast is one of the top-rated in the world and has helped him solidify his personal brand.

What I’m trying to say here is you should choose a few different content mediums to focus your attention on.

If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at some of the top content marketing trends of 2017.

Consistently creating great content kills two birds with one stone:

it brings exposure to your personal brand and

it helps create a strong association between your name and a particular area.

Choose your social platforms

Then, there’s the issue of social.

Of course, you’ll want to be active on at least a couple of networks to bring attention to your brand and to network with others in your niche.

However, you don’t want to be active on so many networks that you end up spreading yourself too thin.

Just be sure you choose networks that your target audience is most active on.

For instance, Pinterest would probably be a good choice if you’re in the fashion or culinary niche.

If you’re not sure which social sites are worth your time, here are a couple of graphs that show which networks have been most popular in 2017:

I’d also like to point out how powerful Quora can be in helping you build credibility and authority.

At the moment, it’s not as big as the juggernauts listed above, but I’ve found it to be extremely helpful.

And it’s absolutely perfect for attracting referral traffic.

I suggest checking out Quora and getting in the habit of providing high level answers to people’s questions.

Choose your social handles

There’s another small but crucial aspect of social you shouldn’t overlook.

Choosing uniform handles.

Ideally, they’ll be exactly the same across every single network so that there’s zero deviation.

Unfortunately, I had to use slightly different handles for my Twitter and Facebook.

For Twitter, it’s @neilpatel.

And for Facebook, it’s @neilkpatel.

I understand it might not be easy to have exactly the same handle across several different networks.

But strive to make them as uniform as possible so you can create uniformity and avoid confusing your audience.

Use a killer head shot

As I mentioned before, consistency is key.

This is why I can’t stress enough just how important it is to have a high-quality, professional head shot.

You’ll want to feature it on your website, your social profiles, email, etc. so that people can recognize you instantly.

Here’s the head shot I’ve been using recently:

That’s from my Twitter profile.

And here it is on my Facebook page:

Notice it’s nothing fancy.

It’s just my picture against a plain, white background.

Once again, I recommend keeping it simple.

For tips on getting a great head shot, check out this post.

Select a branded email address

There’s one last thing I would like to point out.

Your email address should include your name.

One option is to simply include it like this:

[email protected]

The other (and better option) is to use your name in the email domain.

It would look like this:

[email protected]

This looks extremely professional and will help reinforce your brand identity.

Check out this article from ProBlogger to learn how to set up an email account that uses your domain name.

Conclusion

Let me just say that effective brand building is a process.

There is no magic bullet, and it’s going to take time.

Sometimes, it even takes years, depending on the level you’re trying to reach.

But you can streamline things considerably by understanding the formula behind personal brand building and following it.

The checklist I covered here includes the essentials and should serve as a blueprint.

It’s not the be-all and end-all guide, but it will definitely get things going.

What do you think the most important aspect of building a personal brand is?

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