The photo above is the closest humanity has ever come to creating Medusa. If you were to look at this, you would die instantly.
The image is of a reactor core lava formation in the basement of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. It’s called the Elephant’s Foot and weighs hundreds of tons, but is only a couple meters across.
Oh, and regarding the Medusa thing, this picture was taken through a mirror around the corner of the hallway. Because the wheeled camera they sent up to take pictures of it was destroyed by the radiation. The Elephant’s Foot is almost as if it is a living creature.
Friendly reminder that this blob of core material was so hot and dense, it melted/burned through three floors of the building before coming to rest in the lowest basement.
And there’s now a unique species of black mold that feeds off the gamma radiation it produces.
Is no one else seriously freaked out by that mold? No? Just me, then?
Here’s an interesting point of characterization I’ve seen in TAZ: Taako’s passivity, and how it defines him and his arc.
Now, Taako isn’t lazy. He’s described as “never satisfied” by the judges in cycle 65, he goes out of his way to learn new things – he taught himself magic when he’d forgotten he knew it, he invented surfing, he learned an entire language from scratch on the animal plane. However, he can come off as lazy because of one catchphrase: “Taako’s good out here.”
I would say that isn’t laziness. That’s passivity. Taako does not want to initiate anything. He doesn’t want to start a fight, he doesn’t want to get into trouble, he wants to keep himself safe. That’s perfectly in character for him. It’s set in contrast to “Magnus rushes in.” It makes sense – he stays where he is, he doesn’t move.
Which is what makes his moments of action that much more powerful. Think about Arms Outstretched – instead of remaining passive, Taako takes action, flinging his soul out of his body towards Magnus. Even running across the sapphire mirror to Kravitz is a moment of action that’s special – he cares about these people, so he actively goes to them.
But his most powerful moments are those that the combine action and passivity, and I want to talk about two of them, both in the finale.
The first is when he’s explaining his idea that will save everyone and everything, and he says –
Taako: Listen, all that thing wants on Earth, the thing it wants more than anything else, we have been basically trolling it for a hundred years. The only thing it wants, is to pick us up and absorb us into itself. And I don’t know about you all, but Taako’s good out here. (via @tazscripts)
There it is – his trademark catchphrase of passivity, but here, it isn’t about a lack of action, it’s about staying steadfast and standing strong. What has been a signifier of Taako’s caution and wish to keep himself safe have expanded to a stance of protection – a radical idea, a deconstruction of a world of tar or a world of ash into there’s a third option. They don’t have to choose between running or hiding. Taako’s option – the option, ironically, of rushing into the Hunger – is staying and standing and fighting. Instead of staying back and not engaging, Taako’s unmoving posture here is standing firm and saying no, you move.
Which brings me to the second moment, from the last episode.
Griffin: Holy shit. Alright, here’s the scene. Merle and Magnus, you see Taako step up and say bye, and stick out the KrEbStAr in front of him, and from his glaive, a column of green wind launches outward and connects with John. And you see John screaming and you—it almost looks like he is being peeled out of that portal as this wind is just kind of tearing him apart. But you also see Taako and it looks like the power and fury of this attack is knocking him off of his feet.
[Arms Outstretched music plays]
Travis: I put my hand on Taako’s shoulder to help brace him.
Clint: I throw myself down to wrap my arms around his legs to hold him to the ground.
Justin: I reach into my fuckin’ bag and grab my Immovable Rod. I’m not going fuckin’ anywhere. (via @tazscripts)
Significant in this scene, first of all, is the fact that Arms Outstretched plays over it. As I said previously, Arms Outstretched is a scene of Taako’s action, a scene where he puts himself in danger, throws himself into the fray, so to speak, to rescue Magnus.
This moment is a pinnacle of the combination of that action with Taako’s now-established standing firm. He’s at the front, casting a spell that is destroying the avatar of something they’ve all been fighting for over a century, and he starts to be blown away, but his friends grab on and hold him fast. He holds himself fast.
Taako isn’t running away. He isn’t staying at the back. He’s right there in front, but his power isn’t in rushing in, but standing firm. Taako is Lup’s anchor, and there’s a good reason for that. He knows who he is, and he, in this moment, is fully himself. In this moment, he is the most Taako he could be. He is multidimensional, a fully realized creation, and he isn’t going fuckin’ anywhere.
Lonely and bored, you developed a secret language, that you consistently use to talk to yourself. One day, when you mutter something under your breath, a stranger replies with ease.
The important thing here, you think, is to stay calm. You smile at this stranger who’s looking at you with anticipation. It’s clear that they’re a figment of your imagination. Just a figment.
A figment that your friend, standing next to you, can see, but a figment nonetheless.
“Take a right,” you reply in your secret language, gesturing ahead. “Straight down Sunset Blvd. The theater will be on your left, you can’t miss it.”
“Thank you,” the stranger says in YOUR secret language. They smile, showing off perfect, white teeth. Are their canines too sharp? You can’t tell. “May your enemies bleed freely and your friends drink with plenty.”
You don’t know what to say to that so you nod. This seems sufficient and they stroll away from your date like they haven’t just obliterated your world.
“I thought you were speaking gibberish,” your friend says. He sounds impressed. “You should have told me you were bilingual!”
You are actually a polyglot, you realize. Able to speak more than three languages. The problem is that, before today, you were pretty sure that that fourth language didn’t actually exist.
“I have to go,” you tell your friend. His brow furrows with hurt and you wince. You might have worried about upsetting him in the past, but time has shown that he gets upset often and easily. It’s starting to get tiresome, if you’re honest. “I’ll call you later.”
You leave your friend standing on the corner of Lankershim and Sixth to hurry after the stranger. What does this mean? Have you somehow intuited an entire language? That’s not possible.
Is it?
You find the stranger standing outside the theater you directed them too. They are speaking quietly into a box. When they catch sight of you, their mouth splits into a big grin.
Those canines are definitely too sharp.
“It’s so rare to see one as young as you familiar with the old ways of speaking,” they say to you, sounding pleased. “English is an infestation, wouldn’t you agree?”
You stare at them. You’ve heard that phrase before. Your grandmother used to say it just to make your grandfather laugh.Cautiously, you offer your grandfather’s response. “There are bigger insects to be concerned with, I think.”
The stranger actually nods as if this makes sense. “ You’ve sensed them too. The return of the Valkanas.”
You don’t think that sounds at all good. You nod and say nothing.
The stranger looks grim. “Of course, that’s not anything for you to be concerned with, young as you are. I would like to speak to your cluster, however. It’s been so long that I’ve lost touch with everyone and we have much to discuss.”
Your mind races. You are suddenly afraid of your ruse being discovered. You say, “Is there a number they can reach you at? An address? They have, um, disconnected. For a while.”
The stranger smiles another flash of teeth. “Ah, your language is slipping. It is not disconnected but hibernated, yes?”
You pretend to be sheepish. “It’s been a while speaking for so long in this language.”
The stranger laughs. “It is good to practice then! And I do have a number though it was a journey trying to figure out what a cell phone is. Humans! So inventive.” They pull a business card from their wallet and hand it to you. “Sooner rather than later, please.”
“Of course,” you say, taking the card. You lick your lips. “May your enemies bleed freely and your friends drink with plenty.”
“And good fortune to you as well!” they say with delight. “I look forward to speaking with the head of your cluster.” They stride away before you must lie anymore, into the alley beside the theatre. As you watch, they grasp the brick wall firmly and pull themselves up by their fingertips alone, scuttling out of sight.
I need to call my grandparents, you think faintly. You have recently taken up parkour. You realize that your “special” skill may be more genetic than anticipated.
i am so fucking tired of seeing ‘q slur’ on this fucking website. queer is not a fucking slur, it’s an identity. people are not slurs! stop telling people that their identity is a slur!
it may have used to be, but has since been reclaimed, literal DECADES ago. by calling it a slur again, you’re just giving power back to the people that want to use it to harm!!
Kravitz watches out his window with idle curiosity as a pair of new tenants move into his apartment building. They look to be siblings, similar in looks even from his third floor perch. The elf with the longer hair stands on the sidewalk, eyes shaded behind white sunglasses, and takes a sip from his strawed drink.
concept: an austen-inspired tabletop rpg where there are five classes
single man in possession of a large fortune who is in want of a wife
young woman with low connections who must marry so that she can secure her future
cad whose main goal is to convince someone to elope with him
wealthy, scheming woman whose goal is to ruin the happiness of the aforementioned young woman
tiresome & vulgar elderly busybody (can be either a man or a woman)
I’m gonna split this out a little farther, because I feel like we’re blurring the lines between classes and stats. First you should pick your Austen class:
Bachelor/Bachelorette
Cad / Floozy
Husband/Wife
Matriarch/Patriarch
Busybody
Then you roll for your stats across the 6 basic Abilities:
Money
Intelligence
Connections
Manners
Looks
Snark
10/10 would kickstart
I’ve written this up as a quick-play version! You need a d6, a d20 and 3+ friends who are as into Jane Austen as you are, or at least willing to have a go.
I’ll make it up into a proper printable with illustrations if I get a chance next week, but in the meantime if anyone wants to playtest it I’d love to know how it goes!
Random Fandoms Archive 