#I’m kind of losing my mind right now about the terror

[damianbugs]

with all this gotham war stuff (most recently the comic sc you posted on your twt with jason and bruce), can u explain what is actually going on? like, i’m not that far so i haven’t read it, but… like is it actually bruce saying all that stuff about the kids? or is it this zur person people keep talking about?

oh my friend, it's crazy around here, but i will try my best to explain it!

A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO BATMAN IN GOTHAM WAR:

firstly, the comic reading list to catch up with gotham war is: as of 01/10/23 (the ones in italics are core issues to the story)

for some background on what happens leading up to gotham war:

Batman (2016) #125-136

(Optional) Knight Terrors: Batman

(Optional) Knight Terrors: Catwoman

and then the actual gotham war story:

Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Battle Lines

Batman (2016) #137

Catwoman (2018) #57

Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Red Hood #1

this is everything that is out right now, but from the third of october to halloween we will also be getting: Batman #138, Catwoman #58, Gotham War: Red Hood #2, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Scorched Earth.

secondly... who is Zur En Arrh.

Zur En Arrh taking over Bruce, Batman (2016) #126

zur en arrh, in the simplest way of explaining, is this alter ego/personality (it's unclear) bruce created for himself should batman (bruce wayne) ever be psychologically compromised or brainwashed. it's not him, but a more sadistic and crueler person that is the "ultimate batman" who doesn't care about anyone or anything but getting the mission done.

during Batman #125-130, zur takes over the role of batman because bruce was losing very badly to the robot Failsafe (which is zur's own creation, that bruce has no memory of making). after getting vaporised by failsafe and sent travelling through dozens of alternate universes, losing his hand and fighting a flying shark (Batman #131-135), bruce returns to gotham incredibly mentally unstable.

During a peaceful dinner with his family, Bruce suddenly imagines the entire world on fire, Batman (2016) #136.

during everything, bruce managed to mentally fight back and kind of... merge their ideals together in order to survive and win in the moment.

and then successfully trapping failsafe back into his mind where he can no longer take over!

Bruce uses some sort of mental technique to lock Zur away in his mind, Batman (2016) #136.

except he didn't succeed! at all!

you see, when travelling through all those universes, bruce somehow brought back every single version of zur en arrh with him. now all of then combined, plus his already deteriorating and weak mental health from the last few years, bruce is currently operating under the impression that he's locked zur away, when he actually hasn't.

zur is the one partly, or even entirely, in control. right now, he's just pretending to stay locked away so bruce continues to do what he thinks is 'right' despite them being incredibly out of character for the run.

During his eight week coma, Bruce sees Zur 'locked away' and he is, apparently, not alone, Gotham War: Battle Lines (2023)

an example is when zur referred to robin as batman's solider, bruce mentally fought back to make it clear that tim was his son. but then, a few issues later, bruce refers to his children as his soldiers and that they've all betrayed him, implying that zur has always had control and isn't locked away.

Bruce and Zur get into a fight inside his mind about Robin [Tim Drake], Batman (2016) #127

so yeah, zur is not bruce! they're both batman, but zur en arrh is like his somehow unimaginably even worse twin. if you're interested more in him, i would suggest giving his character history a read! be warned it gets changed A LOT and is definitely not everyone's cup of tea (personally i hate him and need him shelved for another forty years).

now that that's all done and explained, the current state of gotham war is Bruce (thinks he's okay) fighting everyone else (except Damian) because in his (Zur's) point of view, they're all against the mission and therefore are now his enemies (he's lost his mind). totally not convoluted.

to answer your original question, yes, this is all bruce saying and doing these things but he is being HEAVILY influenced by Zur. we can't tell for certain how much of this is bruce and how much is zur, but we can definitely prove zur is partially or completely controlling him again.

even jason points it out after bruce implants that fear toxin chip into him in Batman (2016) #138:

like we can see the intention is to keep jason out of this, because compared to everyone else, jason was the most directly opposed to bruce. but zur is twisting how this concern gets expressed, since forcing jason into feeling fear everytime he gets an adrenaline rush is hardly the reformation bruce is usually encouraging. the other batfam members also talk about how uncharacteristically violent bruce is being.

"He's out of control." / "He's gone [In more ways than one.]" Batman (2016) #137

as the story progresses we see more and more of zur replace bruce, but because he can't have bruce trying to stop him again, zur is playing along and convincing bruce he's locked away. so really, bruce is at war with not only his entire family, but also his own mind. just another average tuesday for batman. he's being tricked and is unknowingly doing exactly what he was trying to prevent.

to understand what the actual war in gotham war is, give the comics listed above a read! if you find the story boring/ridiculous/stupid, don't worry, it is! the social commentary leaves a lot to be desired, as does most of the characters writings (especially selina's).

bruce and his one sided battle with zur is sort of an overarching story happening alongside it (along with a bunch of other ongoings. i don't even understand how detective comics and batman and robin are going to tie into this once it starts up again).

sorry the answer isn't a simple one, but unfortunately nothing is ever simple with bruce. also apologies in advance if any of the future gotham war comics come out and completely debunk all of this! who knows what will happen in this dramatic family drama.

#bruce wayne #gotham war #dc meta #saki anons #saki comic talks #i have such a toxic relationship with this run #i have nothing but complaints and hate for it #but its so terrible i cant wait to see how it all crash and burns #the most “it gets worse before it gets better” storyline for batman i have EVER seen

[playername-player-of-games]

@chrisrin‘s gemcyt au !! “Pearl” is actually Joel here :3

//

Well. Running was stupid.

The Human Zoo is absolutely not set up the same way as the palace- all confusing hallways and rooms that have doors at both ends, usually nice for escaping but now annoying as he’s been cornered twice now, only escaped because he’s willing to poof other gems- he’s feisty, for a pearl. At least for today. He knows he’s going to be shattered for this, he may as well go down fighting.

Left, left, left, he’s going in circles. Rubies shout behind him, five voices becoming one when they fuse. They’re faster now, but he’s got a head start, and he goes right this time, immediately crashing into a quartz on the turn-

He looks up, eyes going wide-

“Etho! Etho- poof me!”

He doesn’t have to ask twice.

//

Pearl isn’t usually aware of the happenings outside of his gem when he’s recharging. It’s dark when he poofs, he’s whisked away somewhere quiet. On a good day it takes him fifteen minutes to Reform, but today he stays quiet, stays put, in Etho’s pocket.

He catches bits of conversation- shouting, alarms, running. Etho gives vague answers to any questioning, and soon enough the rubies move on. Pearl stays put, though, for hours, until gentle hands put him back in open air- until he hears the gentle tap of his gem being set down.

“It’s safe to come out now,” Etho says.

Pearl reforms, swift and effortless, on the floor of a closet full of weapons. He looks up at Etho and confesses, “I’m going to be shattered.”

Etho’s eye widens- he’s not very talkative, for an amethyst, but he talks to Pearl sometimes- “why’s that? What did you do?”

Pearl buries his face in his hands- it’s one thing to commit treason and an entirely other thing to admit to treason. Etho helped him, though- lied for him, took him somewhere safe. He owes him, he thinks.

“I-” it’s terrifying to admit. He does not move his hands, does not speak louder than a whisper “-I fused with Pink Diamond.”

Stars- he’s really going to be shattered for this.

“Ah.”

“I’m going to be shattered,” Pearl says again, with rising terror, “they’re- they’re going to find me, and they’re going to shatter me, and they’re going to shatter you too, an-”

Not just shattered, he’s going to be space dust! If he’s lucky maybe he’ll become a star in about seven trillion years-

“Woah, woah, hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Etho interrupts. He guides Pearl’s hands away from his face and holds them tight, mismatched eyes calm, somehow, despite everything, “you’re going to be okay.”

“And you’re not?”

“I’ll be okay too.”

“How?”

“I know a guy. I’ll get us out of here,” Etho shrugs. Before Pearl can lose his mind over that particular string of words, Etho questions, “how’d you end up fusing with a diamond?”

Pearl freezes. This is really just- not a conversation he wants to have. Etho rubs his thumbs across the back of his hands, grounding- it’s nice.

“We were in the garden,” Pearl confesses, supposing that the floor of a closet isn’t the worst place to confess to being a criminal, “and she ah- she was excited about the humans, and her smile was-”

He swallows, ducking his head.

“-she was dazzling,” he admits, a little breathless, “she was- so excited, and it was beautiful, and they were playing with these little things called otters and one did a flip, and she- she gasped and grabbed my arm and it just- it just kind of-”

He’d fallen out of the fusion only moments after they’d formed. His Diamond had been staring at him, her mouth agape in pure shock. The other guards had been horrified. Every instinct then told him to run, so he did, and he’d been chased, and now-

He wants to hide again, but alas Etho is still holding his hands. He looks up- Etho’s mismatched eyes hold no judgement. He’s smiling.

Pearl scowls. “What?”

“Congrats,” Etho says, calm as a glittering starscape, “fusion’s a special thing.”

Pearl sputters, “It’s treason!”

“That too,” Etho agrees. He squeezes Pearl’s hands and turns serious, “I can get us out of here, but you’ll have to be poofed, and you can’t reform until I say so.”

Oh stars- he’s- he might not be shattered.

“Okay,” he whispers.

“Promise.”

“Etho, I owe you my life,” Pearl retorts, “anything you need me to do, I’ll do it. I promise. I swear it. I don’t want to be shattered.”

Etho nods, and pulls Pearl to his feet. He’s shaking, but only a little, and Etho steadies him with a hand at his back.

“Wh-where are we going?” he asks.

Etho smiles, “you’ll see.”

Pearl vanishes into dark and quiet once again.

#gemcyt #idk how else to tag this 👍👍 #obsessed with this au !!!! two special interests smashed into one can only go well sksjdjd #my brain went. hmm if Joel is Lizzie’s pearl how could he possibly get to earth and be a rebel. oh I know!! treason!! :D /silly

[herbeloved82]

Home under the falling snow

Daniel looked outside the window and an uncontrollable shiver shook his whole body. Winter had been his favorite season for a very long time, since he could remember he had enjoyed the falling snow that would cover the ugliness of the city, at least until the dirt turned it as gray and impure as everything else.  

In his mind as a child, Daniel had thought that under the immaculate blanket, everything that was wrong could be hidden and forgotten. Then he grew up and saw how cars and the dirt of the streets beneath the white would soon pollute the snow, turning something beautiful and pure, into a mess of waste and decay. 

That had been when he began to realize that nothing beautiful could last in a world that was made to destroy everything that was weak and fragile. 

“Come back to me, my love,” awarm voice said from behind him as a powerful chest pressed against his back. 

Oh how easy it would be to lose himself in Marius’ arms. To allow the older vampire to take away his pain and substitute it with lighter thoughts. Marius always had a healing power about him, his mind the safest and calmest place where Daniel was allowed to recover and rediscover himself again. 

“I’m right here.” Daniel said, hoping against all odds that Marius wouldn’t realize how that wasn’t the real truth. His body was there, obviously, but his mind was far, far away, in streets he hadn’t visited for decades now, in cities he couldn’t even remember.     

“Your mind is not, and I’m afraid I can’t follow where it is wandering now.” 

That was always an obstacle between them. Daniel’s terror of having his mind violated and Marius’ refusal to go sneaking there even when it appeared to be the only way to calm him down. 

“It’s nothing bad, I promise,” Daniel continued. He knew Marius  constantly worried for the people he loved. For Lestat and his fledgling, for Armand, his own beloved cherub, broken and twisted into something he was never meant to be, for the Sacred Parents who were no more, for Pandora and Bianca, even when too much happened between them and their love couldn’t be anymore. Daniel knew that and he was still shocked, every day, that he could be counted among the people Marius held close to his heart. 

“It’s just - winter reminds me of home, but I don’t know where home is anymore.” 

Daniel knew if there was someone who could understand what he meant, it was Marius. Who else had lost so much, time and time again, and still kept standing, a beacon for their kind and everyone who was lost? 

Not for the first time, Daniel wondered who had been there for him when he had needed a moment to rest to lay down the burden he always carried and rest? Sadly he knew the answer even if he didn’t want to think about it. 

“Home is such a strange concept, dear one. When I was young, still human, home was where the Penati laid. When I grew up and became a Senator, home was Rome and where she could reach. When I was taken and became the guardian of the Sacred Parents, home was their shrine. Then home became a person and I think only then I realized home is almost never a physical place.” 

Daniel slightly turned in the embrace, to look at Marius, and he realized his lover had now the saddest expression in his eyes and hated himself for forcing him into misery. He didn’t have to ask to know who Marius’ home was. 

Without thinking, Daniel opened his mouth once again, as his eyes closed, too scared to keep looking at Marius in case the man rejected what he wanted the most. 

“Would you be my home?” 

He felt Marius tensing behind him and for a moment the slow and rhythmic beat of his heart rushed, like Marius was still human, or at least maintained the human’s nature of being surprised.  

“It would be an honor.” Marius answered after a moment of silence. The time he needed to really understand what Daniel just asked and to realize that yes, he wanted to be Daniel’s home, he wanted to provide him with what had been taken from him by life and the choices he made. Perhaps, like that, they could both really begin to heal. 

As the snow kept falling outside and the world was once again hidden under the white quilt, Danuel turned in Marius’ arms and kissed his lover, hard. 

Sharp fangs cut into the perfectly shaped lips, drawing blood they shared. The fire burning in the hearth was the only witness of this moment of tenderness between immortals. 

END      

#De Romanus Coven events #Marius/Daniel Appreciation week 2023 #Marius/Daniel

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

Putting my thoughts under a cut because I have so many feelings, but I am going absolutely feral with love for kagami right now. I am winning so much

She wants to be able to win love, to train and study until she grab at it with her hands and knows without a shadow of a doubt that it is Hers and that she is Worthy of it

She aches for anyone who will love her,,,, who will need her like they need to breathe, who will fight and claw their way to being loved like she does,

Someone who will pursue her with so much unstable, explosive devotion that they would burn the entire world down to keep her warm,

Because that? That is the kind of fierce, agonizing love that she feels, that burns and simmers and crackles in her chest, that refuses to be stifled, refuses to cool down or be quieted

And she’s tried so hard to change herself, to communicate, to be brave enough to be honest about the ugly parts of her heart she can’t suppress

But still, no one ever returns it, not the way she craves

So many people tell her she’s incredible, so strong, so brave. Her mother tells her she’s a good shiny trophy, her friends say that nothing could ever come between them

And that’s nice! That’s so sweet! And she WANTS it to be enough.

But it doesn’t change how much it hurts. Doesn’t change the dissatisfaction, the cold truth that even if they love her as much as they could love anyone, they don’t feel the same way she does

They wouldn’t drop everything and break every tie they had for her if she cried. they wouldn't immediately change their entire worldview to fight by her side even if they knew she was wrong, they wouldn't risk their life and their future and their honor to scream to the world how in love they were,,,,

and she KNOWS thats unrealistic

but she also knows she WOULD do that for them,,,,

and as much as she tries to tone it down,,,,

as much as she tries to accept that her own love language is built on a foundation of years of trauma and unhealthy coping mechanisms and desperation and pain and terror,,,,,

she still CANNOT stop loving in her “so-intense-it-is-violent-and-sharp” way ,,,,,

shes so scared she’ll lose the friendships she DOES have because she cant even LOVE in a Caring, Trusting, way,,,,

but the love is just too strong to hold back,,,,

she’d rather cling so tight she rips her relationships to shreds than pretend to be unaffected when shes NOT.

And yet she STILL tries SO SO hard to be soft and tender and understanding. because she WANTS her friends to be happy. she never wants to burden them or hurt them ever ever ever,,,,,,,

she just doesnt know what to do with all the love in her heart

And I have always known this, have spent over four years of my life with her in the back of my mind, trying to figure out a way to give her closure and peace. Imagining how to weave s narrative where she learns how to be herself while also accepting others, where she learns how to trust and love without constant fear

And words cannot describe how DELIGHTED i am right now. I feel so STUPID for missing it, but I’m not even mad because I’m too busy jumping up and down with glee

The answer was so simple ,,,,, she CAN have it all actually,,,,, just give her the worlds most unstable supervillain boyfriend,,,, someone who will go “omg your mom made you sad, do you want me to kill her for you?” And not wait for an answer

This could not be more ideal. Im thriving more than I ever have. Love wins. And so does incredible violence and rage!!!! So proud of my girl, proving me wrong,,,, living her wildest fantasies.

I love you feligami,

#ml spoilers #miraculous ladybug #feligami #felix fathom #kagami tsurugi #ml s5 spoilers #ml emotion #ml pretension #ml kagami #ml felix

[ofstoriesandstardust]

same mistakes-verse timeline

the chronological timeline to our beloved same mistakes-verse, along with brief notes of important moments. it’s important to note that the masterlist is laid out in the way you are intended to read it, but this is in chronological order, meant to keep track of the timeline

last updated 04/19/23

light

i need some sleep

rivers and roads

winner takes all

terrors of the night

waving goodbye with an absent minded smile

right here, right now

getaway car

brutal 

Rebel’s time at UCSD and coping with the fact that Bradley left

safe inside

when she loved me

everybody tells me i was born an old soul

my tears ricochet

the early years of Rebel and Rooster’s separation

fortunate son

seven o’clock news/silent night

the christmas Maverick was declared MIA

how do i say goodbye?

on a dime, your whole life can change

will i take it all for granted? (and be leaving empty handed)

best bud, you alright bud?

the progress of Coyote and Rebel’s friendship told over the course of two years (overlaps with the original trilogy)

war is over

the Christmas Rebel spent with Coyote 

and who says love should break us when we fall?

a character study of Rooster na dPheonix’s firendhsiop and how she views Rebel, stemming from the early days in the Navy to the brink of the suicide mission

and that’s when i lost it

Coyote gets his Iraq orders

same mistakes part i

same mistakes part ii

in case you don’t live forever

the in between 

moments of the time between part ii and iii, told by Maverick

the lost moments

same mistakes part iii

for the love of a daughter

a conversation from part iii, told by Maverick 

so long, daisy may

a peak into Rebel’s issues from the beginning

a slice of life

the team learns about The Incident

hiding in the shadows

one thing i like about me (is that i’m nothing like you and i never will be)

The infamous investigation into the Green Vipers

soulmates

of holidays and homesickness

Rebel and Rooster’s first Christmas together

these secrets i keep

Coyote comes out and reveals his relationship with Hangman

fever dream

heart made up on you

don’t blame me

mine

 - the above all take place in the first year and a half-ish after the og trilogy -

and i don’t mind if it’s me you need to turn to

hey brother 

hope ur okay

it's just a tattoo, charlie brown!

it’s a good thing we’re each other’s kind of crazy

the great war

 - takes place around the second year mark after the og trilogy - 

 - the following take place just before and just after the three year mark of the og trilogy -

chasing stars

Rebel decides it’s finally time to address all over trauma and ghosts from her past

until i found you

Late night dancing in the kitchen with Rooster and discussion of the future

dog days

Rebel gets a dog named Buddy.

everything that led to this

second chance part i 

Rebel’s mom reappears and Rooster asks his girlfriend a very important question

my heart is wherever you are

have yourself a merry little Christmas

give me back my girlhood, it was mine first

i hear your s-o-s

and by morning, gone was any trace of you

you’ll lose your faith for a bit and question if she’s you

we could leave the christmas lights up until january

second chance pt. ii

you raise me up

#same mistakes

[buddieisgoingtohappen]

Buddie Gets Hit By Lightning fics

Path Of The Lightning Bolt

When Eddie and Buck are both injured after they're struck by lightning and thrown off the truck, the team rallies around them. Meanwhile, Eddie figures out that he's in love with his best friend.

No grave can hold my body down

“I - they - they wouldn’t let me stay with you. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t - I couldn’t leave you, Buck. I couldn’t.” And then Eddie - Eddie - is weeping. An anguished, wretched thing that echoes through Buck’s body like a siren call. It burrows under his skin, seeps into his blood, and his bones, and his marrow.

in a flash

buck has a near death experience, ruminates on the past, and thinks about his future.

I need to feel his heartbeat

Eddie is distraught as he watches Buck's heart stop beating after being struck by lightning. Although Eddie is also injured, no one can stop him from going to Buck.

leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream

“He saved me. He saved me and all I did- All I could do was pull his line. It’s my fault. I should have… I didn’t get there quick enough. I should have gone up the ladder for him, Buck doesn’t like heights that much-”. “Eddie.” Hen interrupts, unable to hear anymore of this spiel. “You saved him. That’s how he’ll remember it.”

wake up, stay with me

Buck is struck by lightning on the ladder, and Eddie does everything he can to keep Buck with him, to bring him back, and he spends more hours than he can keep track of just praying that he comes back to him so he can say all of the things that he now realises he's been holding back

And if I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes, too

When Buck is gravely injured in a lightning strike on a call, Eddie is left to deal with the immediate fallout, including breaking the news to a devastated Christopher.

My Superhero, Buck Flash

Christopher visits his father who’s in a coma and wills him to wake up using superhero talk!

The couch is right there

Eddie saw that lightning bolt hit Buck, he saw Buck fall off the ladder, he himself tried to get him down but was struck too, and now when he awakes, his first and only thought is ‟Buck”.

You were bigger than the whole sky

When Buck wakes from a vivid coma dream, he feels like he's lost everything he's ever wanted, and he doesn't know how to get past it and go back to living his reality. 6x11 spec fic

I don't know what's real and what's a dream. It's all so confused.

After the lightning strike. Buck wakes up from the coma and doesn't know what is real and what he has dreamed. He mistakenly thinks Eddie is his husband. They're not even a couple. Everything plays along to help Buck recover. Except Buck's parents.

broken pieces fit together

When Buck gets home from the hospital, he stays with the Diazes - and stays in Eddie's bed. Maybe Eddie isn't the only one getting comfort from it.

Terror and Time

Based on the image of Christopher sitting beside Buck's hospital bed. Eddie's POV and emotions.

I've known it from the moment that we met (no doubt in my mind where you belong)

Buck wakes up from a coma and he and Eddie find comfort in each other in the hospital.

“You’re my angel… oh angel” (Eddie prays)

Eddie can’t lose Buck, his angel and the love of his life. After Buck’s wheeled into the ER, Eddie goes to the hospital’s chapel to ask, no plead for him to live.

Can you hear me screaming (please don't leave me)

He can feel Buck’s ribs creaking under the force of his compressions - how strange a thing, when Eddie has only ever wanted to keep Buck from harm. But now his bones are cracking under Eddie’s weight, under his desperation to keep Buck in this world with him.

I’m afraid of what you’ll see, right now

After Buck recovers from the lightening strike, Eddie is distant and trying to be stoic. One night Buck shows up for impromptu movie night. Chris is thrilled while Eddie barely holds it together. During the moving Chris lays his head over Buck's heart and listens to the beat, and then tells his dad to come and do the same. Before Eddie can protest Buck's pulling him in. The steady beat fills Eddie's ears and he finally looses it spectacularly, full emotional catharsis. Love ensues

Please Don't Take Our Sunshine Away

Staring down at Buck Christopher felt his heartbreaking as he looked at the man he had come to see as his second dad. "Buck, I know you can hear me and I know that you are fighting to come back to all of us. We miss you and we are all lost without you. Dad needs you to come back. I need you to come back to us. I never got the chance to tell you that I love you so much pops. That I hoped one day you and dad would realize what we all know that you two are meant to be. You love each other so much. Dad and I aren't whole without you, it is like the sun has hidden behind the clouds and it won't come back out until you wake up. Please pops come back to us." Christopher begged his shoulders shaking with his sobs. Buck's family waits for him to wake up.

In My Head, I'm Yours

While in a coma, Buck dreamt that he was married to Eddie. When Eddie finds out, he freaks out, thinking Buck found out about his unrequited feelings for Buck.

You promised not to leave me

Buck is in a coma and Chris reacts unexpectedly. He yells at the unconscious man and says he hates him. Eddie talks to his son, who desperately wants Buck back. Chris apologizes to Buck and tells him to keep swimming. As a reminder of how they survived the tsunami. After a while, Eddie understands how Buck must have felt after the shooting. The feelings overwhelm him.

Chris talks to “his Buck”

Chris talks to “his Buck/second dad” while Buck's in a coma.

To Say It Better, Although We've Said It Before

Eddie takes care of Buck during his recovery from the lightning strike.

even if we're married?

eddie really needs to stop dropping life-changing news on buck in hospitals

if you fall, i'll fall with you

Eddie makes a few confessions to get Buck to truly understand how important he is.

like the peel clings to the pomegranate

Buck recovers and doesn't quite realize what he means to others.

the safest place you've found

“That’s not—” Eddie starts, but cuts himself off as he snaps his mouth shut. “It’s different, Buck.” “How?” Buck asks, cheeks a heady pink. He steps into Eddie’s space, the anger nearly evaporating into something more quiet and devastating. “How is it different?” And this. This is what breaks him. “Because,” Eddie nearly yells, “you were able to save me from the line of fire, but I couldn’t pull you up the ladder!”

Flashes

Buck is in a coma and Christopher's not handling it well.

Wishful Thinking

While in a coma, Buck dreams of a life where he and Eddie are together. When he wakes up, still stuck in the dream, he kisses Eddie, only for reality to come crashing down on him.

fever dream high in the quiet of the night (it's you)

buck visits coma dream eddie aka angry guy™ in that alternative universe and when he wakes up, some conversations are had and they step a little closer to what they really want.

just the memory of your face

Buck and Eddie watch a movie and Eddie has a panic attack as he watches the main character mourn his love interest.

Lying, among other things you shouldn't be doing to a Firefighter

what if Buck gained the ability to tell when people are lying after the lightning strike? and what if he completely denies the existence of said ability?

It's no coincidence that your hand fits perfectly in mine

Buck gets hurt on a call, and Eddie isn't prepared to see him in a hospital bed again so soon after the lightning strike.

My Kind of Happiness

When Buck is struck by lightning, he wakes up as a 14 year old kid who thinks he's still in Pennsylvania, alone after Maddie left him. Although his parents try to take him back, Evan decides to stay and learn about the life he built in California. And what an amazing life it is.

Lightning Strikes Twice on Nights Like These

Eddie shows up at Buck's loft, dripping wet while a storm rages around him. There's lightning in the distance and Buck knows why he's here without having to ask. You're here because I died on a night like this. So when Eddie parts his lips to ask to come in - Buck steps aside. For on a night when lightning strikes, he could use the company.

Recovery

Buck wakes up in the Diaz home after the lightning strike to find himself surrounded by family.

Last updated: 12/12/23

#buckley diaz family #buddie 911 #buddie #eddie diaz #911 on fox #eddie diaz x evan buckley #evan buck buckely #evan buckley x eddie diaz #911 spoilers #evan buckley

[asachuu]

I was going to post this yesterday as soon as I became aware of the new update, but I forgot about it and passed out. The sentiment is the same today as it has been for the past few months, though, and thank goodness I’m a bit more awake for this because there are…things to say.

I mostly reserve from some kind of lengthy, in-depth commentary because I genuinely don’t have the time or ability to go through Fifteen and the manga separately to point out even half of the most general things that are so incredibly jarring, all I’ll say is just. Why.

I would have complained about this ages ago already, had I not been entirely convinced I’m just losing my mind and I’m seeing things that aren’t there, given the manga does follow a lot of the dialogue of the light novel as opposed to its abysmal anime adaptation, but I suppose it is common knowledge that when you’re drawing a manga, or really any kind of story with both a text and visual element, the readers will not be focusing exclusively on the text. The visuals are just as important, if not more at times, and they can heavily change the feeling or mood of said story. With that being said, I think you can understand what I’m trying to get at here, and more specifically, why I’m very tired seeing yet another adaptation imply Arthur is some kind of cold-hearted monster to be feared even by the audience. I won’t be using any specific examples beyond this point, but all I’ll say is that I’ve had this in the drafts since the moment I saw the panels of Arthur getting accused of betraying the organization, somehow managing to get the text correct and yet make him look either completely lifeless or annoyed, as if he weren’t confused or clueless at all, unlike what the LN itself states. It just went downhill from that very moment, and for a hot minute, I convinced myself that the panels at the end of the same chapter were him either panicking or just giving up upon being found out and having that emphasized through the artwork, but looking at everything that ended up following, I don’t think that was actually meant to be the case, I think he was meant to look more deranged than sorrowful in those parts— and every other part in which this was supposed to be the opposite, that too.

This is not to say I have an issue with the artstyle itself, as that’s mostly the element emphasizing it, I believe everything could have been done so much better— with it, no less— but since this manga, and subsequently the style, has been so heavily focused on every single dark aspect that isn’t even there half the time, just like in Arthur’s interrogation by Dazai, exaggerating the wrong things to no end, that’s not the case right now. I’m not here to say Fifteen isn’t full of dark subjects and situations, it absolutely is, but they’re not everywhere all the time, and especially not in relevance of Arthur as an antagonist. I don’t know if it’s the fault of a concept that every BSD antagonist just has to invoke terror no matter what, the fault of focusing too much on Arthur’s power to the point it overshadows the character beneath it and renders him irrelevant, or the artist took some inspiration from our dearest beloved BSD anime season 3 and just decided to drag it in the same exact direction using different approaches, but needless to say, it really isn’t…that much better at the moment, and considering none of this is going to get remade, it simply won’t be.

Perhaps that’s a harsh judgement on my part, but again, the dialogue truly isn’t everything. Season 3 discarded it altogether and took their own spin on everything that was going on, ultimately creating a completely different piece of media than what Fifteen actually was, and even though the manga didn’t do the same, trying to hold onto the source material for once, I’m not going to even try to pretend that anyone would read it and come out thinking Arthur was meant to be a tragic character who found himself on the completely wrong path that ultimately led to his inevitable demise— no, everyone would immediately assume he’s a horrifying force of destruction who does everything in his own favor, no matter the cost, without any regard for anyone other than his lost partner. I am yet to see the end of the fight between him, Chuuya and Dazai, as well as the section where he reveals his past, but having seen what impact it had in BSD S3— even ignoring all the bits they cut out— I don’t have any hope that it’ll make him seem a bit more likable for those who don’t really enjoy heavily implied morally corrupt villains. And hey, I’ll admit I love those myself, but Arthur is not one of them, never was and never will be, and to portray him as such is to once again erase the very foundations of him in the original novels. I truly wouldn’t mind if that were the actual antagonist of Fifteen, but it just isn’t, and two entire adaptations so far seem to be dead set on making him into such a thing.

Honestly, with both this and S3, I’m not even surprised people are slowly starting to fall back into misinterpreting Arthur as a character completely, and although that technically never went away, from what I’ve seen, this is certainly not going to do anyone any favors. No wonder some people seem to believe he chose to become a government agent for near to no reason, had zero remorse about both his job or the events of Fifteen, is nothing more than one half of an assassin duo with nothing redeemable about either of them, and sure, I can blame this on many different things, but at this point, I’m sure these adaptations are just as responsible for it, because let’s not lie to ourselves— in a choice between reading a book, a manga or watching an anime, the first will often be people’s last resort, and while in the past, I could have dreaded a wave of anime-only people never having read the LN and running with those events as original canon, now I get to dread manga-only people as well, if not a combination of both, which is just amazing for those who want their beliefs about Arthur being a total psychopath to be solidified. Not for the rest of us, though.

Keep in mind that none of this is meant as some kind of personal attack or insult to Hoshikawa-san themselves, this is just my personal frustration with yet another thing which looked promising, but ultimately got shoved back onto the pile of Fifteen adaptations and interpretations which for some reason seem to despise Fifteen’s Arthur as a character, else he wouldn’t have been disregarded over and over.

Anyway, I hope I won’t have to come back here to add more things later because this really isn’t meant to be a dissection, but that’s my take on this whole manga so far. If I am to say something good about it for a change, at least it does actually try to keep some remains of the original LN in it, and new official art of Arthur is something I’ll begrudgingly appreciate, but I really can’t say I’m particularly overjoyed when the outcome of it won’t be much different to the outcome of S3 regardless.

#I could’ve predicted this from the day they took away Arthur’s blanket #I will never be over that let it be known I will fight for the sake of Arthur’s lost blanket #bungou stray dogs #bsd fifteen #bsd manga #bsd arthur rimbaud #randou #asachuu #if only I had the time and skill #I would try to redraw every scene Arthur appears in

[logicalbookthief]

If you're accepting owl house prompts then 37 with Willow? (or whoever strikes your fancy)

37. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Prompt from this list

So… Anyone remember how messed up it is that Gus knows about the grimwalkers and what Philip did to Caleb?

“Augustus,” Willow greets, sliding in next to him on the couch. It’s a rare moment when they’re alone in the Noceda household. No Hunter keeping a watchful eye on his self-appointed charge. No Amity leaning on her, a familiar tether in an otherwise strange world. “Mind if I sit?”

Gus narrows his eyes. “I guess,” he replies, utterly skeptical. “What’s wrong?”

Busted already. What gave her away? Too casual in her approach? Or too careful? The pitfalls of having a friend who knows you better than you know yourself. 

Two can play at that game, though. “Why don’t you tell me?”

Willow doesn’t have much to do these days besides worry. Worry for her dads, who she misses like a whole half of her heart. Worry for everyone they left behind in the Boiling Isles.

Worry for Gus, who — while he has improved since that initial night of heartache and terror — can’t quite shake this shroud of despair that he wears when he believes nobody’s watching. 

Of course Willow notices. Not much else for her to do while they’re trapped in the human realm.

Predictably, Gus scoffs at her question. “It would be faster to list what’s not wrong with our lives right now.”

Willow can’t force herself to disagree. Her positive attitude is a far cry from Luz’s tireless optimism, but it’s served her well as a coping mechanism, even on some of the worst days of her life. Only it’s difficult to imagine a situation worse than this.

Even the loss of the smallest things — her plants, her bed, her cozy socks — sting like a thousand papercuts. The more she touches the memories, the more she aches.

“You’re right,” she admits. “And it freaking sucks, because we can’t do anything right now.”

Gus remains silent, staring straight ahead at the television. Usually, he watches cartoons with Hunter or Luz, but this time it’s a news reporter on screen. She wonders if it reminds him of his dad. Another memory, another cut.

“But,” Willow points out, nudging her shoulder with his. “As someone who felt helpless for a long time, I’m not really a fan. So I figure, why not try focusing on what we can do for each other?” 

It isn’t dissimilar from what she told King, what feels like an eternity ago. And oh, Titan, does that make her chest quaver. To think that he might’ve taken her words to heart, taken them to mean he should help by staying behind while they fled—

“Thanks, Willow,” Gus whispers, derailing her one-way guilt trip. “But you don’t need to worry about me.”

“No can do. Worrying for my friends is part of the deluxe Willow Park friendship package,” she states firmly. It earns her a slightly exasperated side-eye, which she responds to with a wink. “No returns, exchanges or refunds.” 

It does the trick. Gus snorts out a laugh, some of the tension in his shoulders loosening.

Emboldened by the small victory, Willow presses on. “Okay, we’ve established that apparently I have no reason to worry. Are you ... worried about anything?”

Lips pursed in a tight line, Gus shrugs. Completely noncommittal. Willow would call it childish, but it’s nice, actually, to see him finally act his age. Still, it means she’ll have to prod further to get him to speak.

“Does it have anything to do with why you’re avoiding Hunter?”

“What?” Gus snaps. “I’m not avoiding him! Kind of impossible to do, when we literally share a room.”

“You’re avoiding something with Hunter,” she revises. True, they’re as joined at the hip as ever. When Hunter isn’t paying attention, though, that’s when Gus stares at the older boy, all wide-eyed and wounded. 

Originally, Willow chalked it up to the fear of losing someone else, the way his gaze tracked Hunter’s every move. As the bags under Gus’s eyes grow darker, she can no longer let it slide.

“I’ve noticed you stealing glances at him—”

“I do?” Gus interrupts. It dawns on her that he may not have even been aware. “I’m looking at him weird? How??”

Taken aback, Willow stammers out, “Well, you.... you look at him like... Like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Gus pales, taking on the shade of a ghost himself. His voice is a frantic whisper. “Has he noticed?”

“I don’t think so,” Willow replies, slowly. Carefully, like she’s navigating a field of thorns. “Gus, is... Is there something you haven’t told us?”

Opening his mouth, Gus hesitates. The words catch in his throat, so he swallows them back again. “You don’t need to worry about me,” he insists.

Even though he can’t articulate it aloud, Willow hears what’s unspoken. Her minds flashes to Hunter, who was still in...  Survival mode, for lack of a better term. Where she felt herself faltering from time-to-time, Hunter remained steady.  Always ready to do a chore for Mrs. Noceda, or comfort Gus, or give Luz tips on rebuilding the portal. Never stopping long enough to process what’s happened, focused only on his future goals.

It’s a defense mechanism, to be sure. And it’s just as sure to backfire on him, eventually. Nonetheless, Willow can’t deny that part of her is envious. At least Hunter’s way of coping allows him to move forward, and be useful, instead of stagnating or feeling sorry for himself.

“I didn’t realize that…” Gus sighs, the words coming unstuck. “When you use the mirror to show someone their worst memories, it... It shows you their worst memories, too.”

Her eyes widen, the seed of dread in her stomach blooming into full-blown horror.

“Oh, Gus,” she gasps, her hand flying to cover her mouth.

“Yeah,” he huffs, that not-quite laugh brimming with self-deprecation. “That’ll teach me to pocket magical artifacts from creeps like Gray.”

“Are you okay?” Willow asks. Her gaze sweeps over her friend, as if she can pinpoint the place he’s hurt, as if it isn't already embedded inside, somewhere she can't hope to reach. “Seriously, I can’t imagine what would scare a monster like Belos—”

“He had a brother.”

And that, that of all things, is not what Willow expects to hear. Belos was always this larger-than-life concept looming over the Isles, more of a myth than a man. To know that he was once just a human is one thing. To know that he was a human with a life, family? Even a—

“A brother who he killed.”  

Her chest constricts, her pulse fluttering in shock. Her hand reaches out for Gus’s arm, as much for his comfort as her own.

Now that the dam's burst, the words won't cease. Gus clutches at the chain around his neck, his eyes clouded, distant.

“A brother who looks exactly like Hunter.” He chokes it out like a confession, like some dark, terrible thing he’s been holding back, but it’s finally broken free to the surface. Tears spring to his eyes, but he doesn’t stop, not even to take a breath.

"Willow, I saw— I saw it, this hand, it was clawing its way out of the dirt, and Belos, he was so— He was devastated, and alone, but he was so, so angry at Caleb, too—"

Caleb.

Her heart leaps to her throat. Caleb. Just a name, not a ghost, right? A harmless lie, a cover story for Hunter. But who had suggested that name? It was Flapjack, wasn’t it? Flapjack, who Belos had seen, and then he screamed, his rage a force of nature as he went in for the killing blow—

"What do I do?" Gus croaks. He isn’t asking, he’s pleading, turning so they’re face-to-face, and Willow sees the full extent of his sorrow. “How am I supposed to tell Hunter that h—he’s a—”

And for all she’s three years older, Willow has no idea what to do. She wraps Gus in her arms, and embraces hard, like she can squeeze the hurt right out of his heart.

She holds Gus, waiting until his shaking to subsides, his sobs drying into hiccups, and she worries. It feels like all she can do nowadays.

#the owl house #toh fic #willow park #gus porter #hunter toh #caleb wittebane #philip wittebane #grimwalkers #fic prompts

[teeelsie-posts]

Have any commentary about the Winterhawk fic where Clint rescues Bucky and they're escaping hyrda through the forest (can't remember the name). The rock climbing scene was so intense!!!!

So, Once Lost (Now Found)...

This fic was prompted by the lovely @drgrlfriend for Whumptober with the prompt being winterhawk and blind.  This is putting a lot out there for me, but I don’t know how to talk about this fic without talking about how it was personal for me in a way that no other fic has been.  I learned about 18 months ago that I’m losing my vision.  With luck it will be a long, slow loss but there’s no knowing at this point.  When I saw the Whumptober prompt list and saw that one of the prompts was ‘blind’, I thought about saying that I wouldn’t write for that one. But then I thought, well, there are basically 124 different prompts (each day having essentially 4 options), so what are the odds that someone will choose that?  Haha, jokes on me!  😅 I thought about telling drgrlfriend I couldn’t do it, but then I decided to put on my big girl pants and deal with it. It’s not like I can hide from reality so I might as well confront it, right?  In the end, maybe it was a little cathartic.  Jury’s still out on that, but I will say that while there were moments it was difficult to navigate, it wasn’t as traumatic as I feared it might be and in the end, I’m just fine.  😊

So, more specifically about the fic... I wanted to do something a little different with the Clint/bucky relationship than I’ve done before with my winterhawk. I guess I try to switch things up from fic to fic in terms of what Clint and Bucky’s relationship is at the start and the one thing I hadn’t really done yet was to have them actually antagonistic toward each other – so more of an enemies to lovers kind of thing.  Initially, I tried to make it work that they were exes, and this fic was going to be them getting back together. But I just couldn’t quite make it work in plotting the fic out, and then this idea started to form, so I ran with it. 

I felt pretty bad for poor Bucky, because I always knew what was in his head and why he was behaving the way he was, but the readers didn’t, and some were (temporarily) kind of mad at him.  That was really the reason I felt like I needed to insert that Bucky POV chapter in there, because I couldn’t figure out a way to get across what was going through his mind without having him vomit a lot of wordy emotion, which just didn’t fit with the way I see these guys.  Like I said in a previous ask, for me, less is more when it comes to discussing feelings and emotion.

I’m glad you liked the climbing scene (or I’m assuming that was an ‘I liked it’).  It was kind of intense to write, so I’m glad the jeopardy and fraught-ness of it seemed to come though.  Putting myself in his shoes, I kind of could feel the terror of being so vulnerable and having to rely 100% on someone else when you are used to being able to do things by yourself.  Honestly, that was probably the hardest bit for me to put on paper.

Thanks for the ask, nony!

Director's Cut ask game.

#winterhawk #Clint Barton #Bucky Barnes #fanfic #my fic

[titisorriso]

Chapter 8/ The Steel Island (Wild Skies AU)

  So, things weren't going well.

 The south was officially at war with Berk. The north was also trying to get a piece of that viking action, claiming there were "precious metals" in the arquipelago. Razorwhips were disappearing sporadically, and the Wing Maidens were blaming it on Berk. Heather had finally gotten fed up with Hiccup and allied herself with Dagur to strike the dragon hunters more violently. Alvin was losing control of his turf, the Outcasts aching for a fight, and to top it all off, Valka was also considering joining Dagur in this crusade.

  To sum it up, the arquipelago was at war, and Hiccup had a broken heart. Sure, one of those was infinitely more important than the other, but still, he was not really in the "Let's be kind to each other!" mood. He was done with diplomacy, but he was also done fighting, and this tangle of strings that he found himself in felt hopeless.

 Blind dragons, huge dragons, green ooze, machinery and metallurgy he had never seen before, the dragon hunters getting bolder; everything felt like a puzzle with no final piece.

  He threw his pencil on the table, stretching against his chair with an annoyed grunt. He stole a look at Toothless.

 - ... You wouldn't happen to have an eye-opening, crucial bit of information, would you?

The dragon looked at him confused, misunderstanding the attention as an invitation to play. Quickly, the dragon pounced his friend, licking his face as the man laughed and pushed the beast away.

 - Okay, okay! I get it! Not the political sort! Here, catch!

He took off his leg, throwing it towards the outside, the dragon flying out the open door.

Hiccup sat himself again. A smile still lingering on his lips until he looked at a necklace on the wall. The betrothal necklace almost taunted him.

A sigh echoed the empty, peaceful cabin. Astrid was all that occupied his mind. He, the silent protector, the dragon rescuer, a guy that unified so many islands and tribes, now reduced to a babbling mess that couldn't even convince a girl that he loves her.

  He got up, leaning against his chair. Staring around his hut, trying to clear his mind, only to be reminded that this place was infested with memories of her as well.

  The bed, the beam she punched, the displaced floorboards that once hid her axe, the fish waiting to be cooked, the sound of her feet pacing the cabin while regaining her strength.

Flustered, his entire body reacted to the embarrassment of longing for someone that utterly rejected him; but he couldn't help it. She was gorgeous, exciting, fierce and smart. She was the perfect viking, more of a viking than he ever even thought of being, and that came back to the root of the problem.

Astrid killed dragons. She killed one just three days ago right where he could see. Sure, he was spying on her, but it was still jarring, gut-wrenching.

Toothless came back, Hiccup's leg slobbered and a bit chewed, but still usable.

 - Awn, bud, c'mon!... It's so nasty...

Toothless growled in joy, doing his unique, and a bit concerning, laugh. Snapping his leg back into place, he started petting the dragon, who affectionally hugged him.  

- You know, bud, Astrid doesn't seem to have a problem with you anymore. She didn't even acknowledge you.

Hiccup remembered their first "meeting". Her blatant fear and distrust of the beast, the side-eyes and murderous glances, but all of that was before she found out who he was. That seemed to be ages ago, a time where Hiccup's sole worry was if Astrid's wounds were healing well.

A nudge from Toothless snapped him out of it.

- It's alright. I'm not going into my "no eat, no sleep" phase again. Don't worry about me.

Reminiscing on the past reminded him of the dragon hunters that day. The flames, all the screaming, the unusual timing on their appearance. It was a huge coincidence, the same moment Hiccup was moving a herd of Terrible Terrors down east, a Berk scouting ship appeared and started shooting towards an unfamiliar vessel, flying no colors on their sails. Hiccup remembered the ballista made of complete steel, the fully armored and trained soldiers that seemed resistant to the dragon's fire. They scared him, a lot of them getting too close for comfort, some actually managing to hit Toothless.

- Never saw them again...

Hiccup stared at his friend:

- How possible is it that they were the only ones, and we'll never see them again? Is it too much wishful thinking?

Toothless growled.

- Yeah, that's a given.

He started the process of saddling up his friend, preparing a bag for a relatively long trip. If those hunters were going west when they ran in with the Hooligans, then that's where he needed to go.

The sea was never-ending.  In multiple moments, Hiccup had traveled this way, looking for something interesting, but relenting apparently way too soon. Instead of turning back once he reached a particularly desert island, he continued towards the horizon.

- Hey, since you can fly, at least we won't fall off the world, huh?

The beast answered by spinning on the air in excitement. Both relishing in the opportunity to fly just like old times. Once they reached the edge of the familiar place, Hiccup started counting the seconds, mentally marking the distance as they kept on route.

It didn't take long for something weird to happen.

They watched as the blue ocean slowly turned a sickly green, a smell that they could only describe as burnt rotted flesh making them flinch. Hiccup put his helmet and mask on, the stench quickly turning unbearable.

- Are you alright with this, bud?

The dragon replied shortly, as if saying "i'm okay". That made the rider feel comfortable in speeding up. The clouds, once white, turned grey, and then took a similar green to the water. Even through his mask, the rider felt his eyes water with the smell.

- Dear Thor, i haven't smelled something so awful since Dagur's spit roast.

Toothless whined, Hiccup petting his side as he reassured:

- Don't worry, bud. We'll just see the source of this and then leave.

Hiccup noticed the waters were vile enough that nothing could be seen moving inside them. He wondered if the creatures that were once here would be able to find a new home, or if there even was a possibility that they escaped this rot.

- Who did this?

He whispered to himself. This was exactly like the green ooze back in Broken Helm Island, but in way bigger quantity and more viscous than anything.

- Get closer to the water, bud. I want to take a sample home.

He pulled a small glass vial from his bag, quickly getting what he needed and pulling Toothless away from the water immediately. Some of it had gotten on his gloved fingers, he observed as, like acid, the fabric was eaten and then stopped.

Several dragons appeared in his mind as he observed the reaction, but the obvious one took the main stage. This was a Sliquifier's acid. But how? How did it get so spread? How many would it take to infect the whole ocean? Could it be only floating on the surface? But what about the clouds?

As if to answer all his questions, Toothless groaned, snapping him out of his investigative state.

There was the source.

It was like a vision of Helheim. The green mist and clouds erupting from the metal construction on the middle of the island, holes of fire and explosions burst inside of it as metal houses spread all around its shore. A metal wall, with fire erupting from the main beams kept the "village" isolated. On the water, packs and packs of ships sailing purple colors were slowly boarded and equipped with guns.

- Eir's sweet embrace, what is that?...

Toothless stared, his eyes going thin as he sensed danger. The rider was about to ask what was wrong, when from the water, a huge mouth flew towards them. Hiccup startled, opening Toothless's tail fin too wide and almost falling inside the beast, but quickly fixing his mistake as he took one of his personal "dragon knocking" concoctions from his bag and threw it down the beast's throat. The rider instructed his friend to fly up, but as soon as Toothless smelled the inside of those toxic clouds, the dragon started shaking and flailing around. The unknown dragon disappeared inside the waves once more, Hiccup assuming his potion worked, but too busy to celebrate.

Toothless roared and flailed, Hiccup’s keen sense of direction and control being the one thing keeping them in the air.

- GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, BUD!!

The dragon turned his stomach towards the sky, Hiccup only not falling thanks to the security leash chained to the saddle. The rider heard the characteristic high-pitched noise, and soon, Toothless shot towards the sky.

The clouds ignited in flames, the explosion hitting Toothless in the stomach and burning his tail fin, the shock throwing him towards the water and taking Hiccup with him, the man trapped beneath the beast.

They hit the water.

Instantly, Hiccup felt his clothes getting eaten by the liquid, the parts of his skin that were exposed turning red. The rider forced his eyes closed; he could deal with rashes if this truly was a Sliquifier's toxin, but becoming blind wasn't on his bucket list. Toothless's weight still dragged him down, the man unable to find the leash that kept him chained on since the panic clouded his senses. The toxins were really starting to sting as they found ways inside his armor.

Was this it? This is how he was going to die? If this was it, he deserved it.

So many people he left behind, so many friends he turned away, so much help refused, it was obvious this would one day happen. The only thing that weighed in his mind was that he took Toothless down too. The last of the Night Furies would die and it would be his fault. He was careless, he should have turned back as soon as the water looked weird. He should have let this go and just let everyone fight each other, at least then Toothless wouldn't have to die.

He should have let Astrid tell everyone... But why did it always have to be Astrid?

Why did he always need to have someone doing what was truly difficult for him? Why would he ask that of her when she already had so much on her plate?

"Because i don't want her to forget me." His own wavering heart answered.

His mind was blurry, the darkness behind his closed eyes scared him. He felt Toothless start reacting and moving, thinking the dragon was okay, that he would fly away, and they would be fine.

The net that caught them pulled them up, a hard, scaley floor hitting Hiccup as he felt the dirty air hit against his face, taking a deep breath and snapping his eyes open as he forcefully pulled off the mask and helm. He coughed with the deep breath of the toxic air without the mask; noticing his leash had finally snapped, and that Toothless laid beside him, passed out, but breathing. Relieved, he touched a hand to his friend's back.

- Well, that's a unique catch!

Hiccup recognized that voice, turning to assess the full situation.

They were in the back of a titan wing Sliquifier, the gold hue of his scales and the glowing wings giving it away. In front of him, stood Johann, the man he saw getting kicked out of Berk, the leader of the dragon hunters of the south. He was unable to hide his scowl as Johann smiled triumphant.

- The lost heir of Berk, standing helpless and at my mercy. I wonder what i did to receive such gift!... I'm kidding, this wasn't a gift! I planned this very carefully and you fell for it!

The dragon hunter approached Hiccup, who tried to jump forward, only to notice his body was now frozen. Johann kicked the man in the chest, the rider falling limp against Toothless as he breathed rapidly and panicked.

- Did you like my creation? A little Flightmare's toxin mixed with Sliquifier's acid... It lasts twice as long and hurts thrice as much. Oh, what am i saying, you can't answer me!

Hiccup let out a weak grunt, the burning of his skin making his panic heighten. Johann did not care, living in his own, twisted world, he kept his little victory gloat going, signaling to two other dragon hunters to tie Hiccup and Toothless up, one of them removing the rider's metal leg.

- Now, now, i would love to regale you with my tale of greatness all day until the poison runs out, but the plan is not quite finished yet. Afterall, you pesky brat, you are merely bait.

Hiccup knew what he was talking about, Astrid's name popping in loud letters in his fuzzy brain, he couldn't let it happen.

- So, Hiccup Haddock... This is the moment you go to sleep.

A strong hit against his head, and everything went dark.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Okay, so while i was editing i realized that this chapter was REALLY long, so i decided to shorten it by putting this part separetely and making it a cliffhanger. Hope you enjoyed!

#Wild Skies AU #wild!hiccup #wild!astrid #httyd #how to train your dragon #fanfic #fanart

[darkthingshappen]

May 26th "I don't know what you mean"

@themerrywhumpofmay

Gambling | Drugged | Paranoia

The pet knelt next to his owner, head bowed obediently and absolutely silent, the muzzle helped, but it wasn’t necessary.  The pet was very well trained. 

Master’s card game had grown late and tense.  The man he played against, the only two left at the poker table, was a sort of rival.  The pet wouldn’t call them friendly, but maybe competitive. 

If the pet had thoughts of his own, he would be afraid of the other man.  His master was often cruel, but the other man had a hungry look in his eye every time he saw the pet kneeling obediently.  The look made his skin crawl. 

Nearly all the chips were in the pile at the center of the table.  In fact, all his master’s chips were there.  Surely that meant that they would be going home soon, right?  He was tired from being so still and quiet and his knees ached.  Master hadn’t needed a single thing for the last couple of hours. 

“I’ll raise you another ten grand,” the other man said.

“You can clearly see I am out of chips,” his master responded.

“I see you have a pet.”

“I’m not gambling my pet.”  His master reached over and stroked his hair, sending a warm feeling through the pet’s chest. 

“How about renting?  Say, one weekend?  That would be enough to cover it.  And hey, if you win, it won’t even matter will it?”

His master stopped petting him.  The pet held his breath waiting to see what Master would say. 

“Fair.  Okay.  One weekend.  Hell let’s make it this weekend.  It’s Friday night.  That’s plenty of time.  But I’m not going to lose,” his master said smugly.

The pet could barely manage to keep the tremors at bay.  He’d just been made into a bet.  A fucking bet against the man he feared more than all of his master’s other acquaintances.  The wolf in sheep’s clothing.  He’d learned enough as a pet to see it even when they thought it was hidden, the hungry look, the lust filled stare. 

“Fine.  Call.  Cards on the table,” the wolf said, gleam in his eye. 

The pet glanced up at the table, he was high enough, just barely, to see the cards and the bet that would decide his fate. 

His master had four of a kind.  A good hand to bet on.  It could only be beaten by two things.  A straight flush and a… oh fuck.  A royal flush.  Damnit.  Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!  The wolf… of course the wolf had a royal flush. 

The pet dropped his gaze to the floor immediately.  He wasn’t supposed to know that.  How the hell did he know that?  His master gave a low whistle. 

“Welp.  Teach me to count my money before my debts are paid.”

The pet watched from his peripheral vision as his master reached across the table and shook the wolf’s hand.  “Now about this bet.  I expect him to be returned in useful condition.  Nothing permanent.”

“Of course.  I’ll take excellent care of him.  He won’t want for a single ounce of care… and all the pleasure I can give him.”  The wolf winked at the pet, sending a shiver of terror through his body, which only served to widen the grin on the wolf’s face. 

The pet had to stifle a whine.  His master leaned over and kissed the top of his head before standing. 

“Up!” Master ordered.  His master handed his leash over to the Wolf.  Master took the pet’s chin in his hands and made him look at him.  “Be a good little pet for him.  You’ll be okay.  It’s only a few days.  I’ll see you Sunday.” 

The pet’s eyes pleaded with him.  He didn’t dare beg here.  He was not supposed to speak in front of humans, only his master.

The wolf smiled his wolfish grin as he ran his hand across the pet’s shoulder, down his back, over his ass and squeezed there, as if appraising livestock. 

“You’ll do just fine,” the wolf said at the pet’s panicked whimper and terrified glance toward his master. 

“Now don’t look at me like that.  He won fair and square.  And you know I always pay my debts, don’t I?”

The pet nodded and didn’t resist when he felt the wolf tugging on his leash. Still, his pulse raced, and he couldn’t keep the paranoid dread out of his mind.  Every fight or flight sense in his body was telling him to turn and run to his master and beg for him to save him. 

He turned and the best he could do was give his master one last guilty glare as he was yanked through the door and towards the wolf’s lair. 

#the merry whump of may #gambling #paranoia #lost in a bet #noncon touching #human pet #muzzle #implied future noncon #fear of noncon #whump #whump community #whump writer #pet whump

[sebastianwallows]

anon, as someone who has attempted to take her own life before and came very close to death, i regretted it so much. i can not even begin to describe the feeling of waking up in the hospital, knowing what i tried to do, feeling relieved that it didn’t work, and having a newfound gratitude of just being alive. that was 4 years ago. when i think about everything i’ve experienced since then that i would have missed out on, i’m so glad i’m here. it makes me so sad to think i almost wouldn’t be here and my life would have ended that long ago. i still have moments where i feel depressed, but now the possibility of doing that never crosses my mind. on one hand, it did make me value and appreciate my life and the things i enjoy so much more, but i don’t want anyone to have to experience that in order to value their own life. that one phrase about not knowing what you have until you lose it (or almost lose it) is so true. another quote i love: "Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final."

please allow yourself to have the opportunity to heal and grow, especially if you’re young. i was 18 then and now i’m almost 23. the amount of mental and emotional growth/maturing i’ve had since then is insane, and i’m sure i’ll be saying the same thing in a few more years when i look back at myself right now.

some kind words for nonnie or anyone who needs them, thank you <3 i definitely need these words myself sometimes

#anon #tw: depression #tw: sui mention #tw: sui attempt

[specialofficerlemons]

It's Like a Nuthouse Here

Summary: Somehow Palpatine Agent Maine survived the final fight and the fall off the cliff at the end of season 8 and after the events of season 10 he drags his body, keeping The Meta at bay in his mind, to Valhalla to find some people he recognizes and some people he doesn't recognize, but recognize him Don't think about it to hard. (Work will not be finished but I wanted to put it out there anyways)

Rating:G (T?)

Warnings:After-effects of trauma, ableism in regards to Maine and Donut's facial scars

Pairing: MaineNut (Agent Maine/Franklin Delano Donut) (This is the reason for the cheesy title), Tuckington is there, but not really a focus

Notes: I'm going through all my drafts and posting a bunch of things that I wrote the first chapter of decided to never post because I didn't ever finish, but I feel like posting them now! This was inspired by a post that had the headcanon that both Maine and Donut had similar facial scars- Maine from being shot in the throat a bunch (the popular headcanon at the time was that this affected his face as well) and Donut from the sticky grenade directly to the face/helmet. Someone also made a joke post that Blue team got the last two Freelancers so Red team deserved to get this one if Maine ever came back.

Word Count: 3564

Maine lost track of how long he'd been journeying. He still wasn't fully Maine, every now and then he would lapse back into The Meta and lose time. But he starved himself, only taking what was left of his amphetamines and eating what he could forage. He'd survived on worse. He had to get used to his body again. It had been so long since it had been his. And the pain- it was unimaginable. The Meta didn't need to worry about silly little things like physical distress, but Maine was human. He didn't care. It helped him remember who he was. He wandered on auto-pilot. He recognized his surroundings, but couldn't place it. They might have been The Meta's memories. But it was better than nothing, and he had nothing else to go on so he pushed forward, following the memories that weren't his to a place he had never been before.

Who knew how long it was, but his destination relieved him. It was some simulation trooper bases. He could get through to command, find out what happened. He wasn't sure if there even was a command at this point, but, like everything it seemed, it was better than nothing.

The first soldier he came across felt familiar in that same way. How could he not remember bright pink armor. That's the kind of thing that you notice, that sticks in your memory. The soldier was…gardening. He swayed his hips side to side and was humming some catchy tune as he kneeled awkwardly, in full armor, in the dirt. He looked over his shoulder when Maine approached.

"Hey, Simmons w-" he stopped his sentence short and let loose and earsplitting scream. Maine growled. Of course, working off of the Meta's memories would put him with people that had been terrorized by the Meta. He put up his hands to show he meant no harm, but the soldier kept screaming. He got up, stumbling, trying to run away. Maine grabbed his arm in a vice grip. He did not need to deal with this right now. "Help! Help! Please don't hurt me!" the soldier screamed and sobbed, covering his head with his free arm. Maine rolled his eyes. That was a sim trooper for you.

Maine figured if he looked less like The Meta it would help, so he pulled off his helmet with his free hand. Of course it wasn't until after that he realized that his face might only terrify the man further. It had been a while since his face had been pleasant to look at. The surgeons had done what they could to repair the damage to his face after he'd been shot, but there was only so much you could do. One side of his face was a mass of scars and staples. Sure, there was technology available to fix that kind of thing cosmetically, but he was a soldier, a freelancer, he didn’t need to look pretty. The soldier stopped screaming and, presumably, stared up at his horrifically marred face. Maine was wondering whether he was too scared to move when the soldier moved to take his own helmet off. He had his curly, red hair held back by a pink sweatband, shining brown eyes, a long, proud nose, and a strangely bright smile- at least on one side of his face. There was no hair growing on the other side. One of his eyelids was closed, the skin sagging, suggesting there was nothing behind it to hold its shape and his smiling lips were interrupted by thick, puckered scars; his entire right ear missing.

"Twinsies!" he squealed, pointing at his own injuries. It was like all fear had vanished. "I never knew you were like me, of course I never got the chance to really get to know you when you were trying to kill us and all."

Maine let go of his arm now that he was calm started to sign to him in UNSC military standard signals that he was not an enemy. The soldier clapped his hands. "Ooooh! Charades! Okay, let me think…antelope?"

Main rubbed his temples. He kneeled down into the dirt and wrote "Agent Maine =/= Meta" with his finger.

"Well gee you look just like him. I mean, your armor does. Like I said, never got to see his face."

Maine continued to write in the dirt. "Call Command, Director of Project Freelancer."

"Oh that old guy? He's dead. Project Freelancer was brought down aaages ago. I totally helped." Maine raised his good eyebrow. "It's true! We fought this crazy robot army and everything! Anyways, so it's a no go on the Director, but I'm sure Carolina and Wash would love to talk to you! I mean, I think so. Interpersonal relationships among freelancers seem to be…complicated. Either they'll love to see you or try to kill you, or maybe both!"

Maine tuned out the sim trooper as he rattled on about his theories on freelancer relationships. Were Carolina and Washington really still alive? The last he'd seen of Wash was when he'd gone in to get Epsilon pulled out of his head. The last he remembered of Carolina was ripping Eta and Iota out of her head and throwing her off a cliff. It was one of the last things he remembered at all before all the AIs in his head coalesced and completely took over and became The Meta.

He stood up from where he'd been kneeling, his finger absently tracing the metastability symbol in the dirt. He kicked dirt over it with his boot. He put on his helmet and signaled to the soldier to start moving and stop talking. He started moving, but he did not stop talking.

All the way back to base he chattered, introducing himself and telling Maine all about growing up on the farm in Iowa. He wasn't listening, but Donut seemed to like to hear the sound of his own voice.

His reunion with the pink one's comrades was…interesting. It took a long time to calm everyone down and reassure them he was not the Meta. It didn't help that he could only growl at them and had to rely on Donut to "translate." Carolina had come out of the base to see what the commotion was. She immediately put a bullet in his shoulder and another in his knee. He signed to her frantically and she calmly holstered her gun, approached him, gave him a once over, then pulled him into a bear hug. She thunked her helmet against his and patted him on the back casually. She shouted into the base that they needed an extra five servings of lunch.

"Five?" came a familiar, squeaky shout from the base. "Why? Are we feeding Grif again?" The sight of Agent Washington wearing civvies with an apron on to boot made Maine growl with laughter. The look of intense panic on his face made him go silent. He saw how he trembled, took note of all the new scars and grey hairs and wrinkles. Everyone was still and silent. Wash moved towards him on shaking legs and gently removed the helmet from his head. Maine held still and let himself be examined as Wash searched his eyes for any sign of Sigma or the Meta or anyone else. When he was satisfied he replaced the helmet and silently returned to the base. All the onlookers let out a collective breath of relief. Carolina gave him a sympathetic shrug and signed 'Give him time.'

"Clean up for lunch boys, I'm sure we all need it."

"Are we having a picnic?" one of the blues asked excitedly.

"Sure, Caboose, why don't you find a good spot and carry everything there. I'll go call a "truce" with Sarge. Maybe we can all eat together."

"Oh my god a picnic!" Caboose shouted, running off across the canyon.

"Oh that would be just lovely!" Donut added. "I'll go whip up some snicker salad!" he threw over his shoulder as he jogged off.

Carolina motioned for Maine to follow her into the base. He noticed that they were avoiding the kitchen. He didn't want to upset Wash anymore that he was sure he already did. "You can bunk with me," she told him gesturing to the second bed in her room. "The young ones will probably be too scared to share a room with you."

"Wash?" he signed.

"He bunks with them. They like him, they look up to him. He likes them pretty well too." She leaned against the wall and pulled her helmet off. Her hair was the same as he remembered it, if a little more practical. Her face…was different; older, more wrinkles, but there were laugh lines that hadn't been there before. "He's okay, Maine. I know you're worried about him, you always were. But he's okay. He's getting better."

"Epsilon?" he signed next.

"It didn't work out," she told him in a way that was more casual than it was sugar coating. Maine appreciated it. That was the Carolina he remembered. He started to feel more at home in his own skin. "Epsilon unraveled in his mind, he saw all of Alpha's memories…They pulled him immediately."

"Excuse you, wow, talking about a guy like he's not in the room," a small hologram projection appeared above her shoulder.

Carolina rolled her eyes. "Speaking of which, he was recovered later and is currently the only AI fragment still in existence."

His ears started to ring, his vision pulsed. The Meta within him hungered for this AI, to absorb it, to rip it away from the human host and put it where he belonged. He put one hand to his helmet, his hand tense, forcing himself to look away. He was not going to let The Meta come back, especially not now. Carolina was already trusting him. He couldn't hurt her again.

"You okay there, buddy? I shouldn't be, like, afraid for my life, should I?" the AI half-joked.

Maine pulled off his helmet. He couldn't breathe. "Fine," he signed, "need fresh air."

"Good, now listen up," Epsilon told him. "I waited until we were alone to see if you were gonna take a go at me. I don't trust you. I know that you're not all back yet, okay. I've got memories of Sigma and he is practically clawing his way out to try and get to you. Considering my experience with people who should be dead and aren't, I'm willing to bet my robot body that you've still got some freaky stuff going on in your head." The AI sounded startlingly like the Director, but in a way that he'd never known him. Casual, but still intelligent and firm. "You can stay, but only so we can keep an eye on you. Anything suspicious and I won't hesitate to take you out. Or, well, y'know, get someone with a physical form to do it. Are we clear?"

"Affirmative," he signed.

"Okay. Cool. Let's go eat lunch," the AI continued in a lighter tone. "A bit of advice? You might want to ditch the armor. It'll probably make everyone feel more at ease not to see that suit walking around. I think Caboose might have some civvies that'll fit you, if you don't mind jelly stains."

Maine didn't feel the need to say anything back.

Carolina left him to change while she went to go set up their lunch arrangements with the local reds. It made sense that they wouldn't continue fighting each other after the Project was brought down. He wondered why they were still at their bases. Why didn't they return home to their families? He wasn't sure if he admired their resolve and dedication or if they were just stupid. He was leaning towards the latter.

He followed the blue-armored sim trooper, Caboose he thought, who was carrying a large picnic table under one arm and hoisting a big bag in the other. He was surprised at his strength and wondered if he would make a good sparring partner. Unfortunately, everything clattered to the ground when Caboose spotted him and he shrieked with surprise and fear.

"Monster!" he shouted. Maine tried to keep the irritation off of his face. He didn't need to scare him anymore than he already had.

"It's okay Caboose," a familiar sing-song voice comforted him. Donut was approaching, a large bowl balanced on one hip and a red checkered tablecloth draped over his arm. He was dressed down to only his leg armor. It was impractical to wear armor all the time, but even more impractical to be dressing in and out of it. If Maine wasn't completely confident that he could take down every single sim trooper here regardless of armor he would feel naked. It was strange to be in regular clothes again. It had been a very long time. "He's totally nice now, really."

"Um, are you sure that someone can be nice if I am so afraid of them?" Caboose asked, fidgeting.

"Have I ever steered you wrong?" Donut asked, bending to pick up the large bag and putting it back in Caboose's arms.

"No…"

"Then there's nothing to worry about!"

Maine lifted the table in a show of good faith and Caboose looked at him curiously. "You look like you could give Church a piggy-back ride…I guess if Pillsbury Dough-boy says you're nice then that's okay."

Maine wondered who Church was considering the Director was dead, but followed the two sim troopers to the picnic spot and set the table down. Donut spread the tablecloth over it and set down his bowl, then helped Caboose set the table with dinnerware and cutlery from the bag.

"I can't believe they think I would sit down and take a meal with a no good, dirty blue!" came a gruff voice from the direction of red base.

"Technically, sir, he's not a blue. He's a freelancer."

"Hey, I'm not happy about it either, but eating with the blues means more food. I'll take the risk."

"Not to mention, we eat with the blues all the time."

"Those are covert training exercises! Not casual meals! The best way to get them to trust us is through their stomachs."

"Sarge, trust has nothing to do with it."

It was the other three members of red team. Maine let them stare him down without reacting. They were dressed down similarly to Donut, the orange one had removed his chest and back piece and the maroon one his helmet. The standard issue red one was still fully armored. Maine couldn't blame him for being wary. He also carried a tray of brats with him. Maine wondered where they were getting all this food.

"Oh Sarge! I knew I could trust you to handle my wieners," Donut said and clapped, taking the tray from him.

The other three reds just sighed.

Carolina came next, carrying more of their meal. "Caboose, why don't you go help Wash and Tucker carry the rest of it."

"Okay!" shouted Caboose as he bounded off back to blue base. Carolina uncovered a large pot of standard issue macaroni and "cheese" rations. The smell reminded Maine of how long it had been since he had eaten and his stomach growled audibly, causing everyone to stare at him. Carolina covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

"You'll find you have some competition for being the bottomless pit around here now that you're up against Grif. He'll give you a run for you money," she joked. Maine relaxed around her, put at ease with her jokes. Epsilon reappeared above her shoulder.

"Yeah, he doesn't look like much, but I've seen this guy put away an entire all-you-can-eat buffet," he said.

The orange one, Grif apparently, puffed out his chest. "The Vegas Quadrant didn't stand a chance against Dexter Grif," he said proudly.

"Yeah, neither did their sewage system," the maroon soldier needled.

"Not my fault. Taco eating contest." Grif had already started dishing himself some mac and cheese and two brats, covering all of it with ketchup. Maine made a point not to get in between him and the food. "Hey Donut, this snicker salad you made…"

"I set aside a bowl without any fruit in it just for you," Donut answered, handing over a smaller bowl.

"Grif, without the fruit it can hardly be considered a salad. You're literally eating candy and cool whip!" one of the other's groaned. "I'm glad you're treating my arteries well."

"Can it Simmons, if I'm about to be murdered by a freakish freelancer, I want to die with a full stomach."

Simmons sent a worried look in Maine's direction. Maine shrugged. They were smart to be cautious. He himself was still scared of The Meta, lurking in the back of his mind, waiting for a chance to take over.

Washington and Tucker were coming up over the hill, followed by Caboose. Wash was staring at the ground and Tucker was watching him with worry. Caboose seemed obliviously happy. They had brought with them one of the barrels of water, but Maine suspected It wasn't just water. Caboose was carrying a small pot and pinching his nose.

Everyone took a seat at the table, Maine waiting for everyone else to sit first and choosing his seat as far away from Washington as possible. He was next to Donut who immediately pushed a bowl into his hands. "You have GOT to try my snicker salad, it is delish!" The bowl was followed by a plate loaded with mac and cheese, brats, boiled spinach, and a beige looking brick that passed as "bread" in the UNSC. He declined the mug of home brewed booze from the water barrel. He didn't want to be under the influence of anything. He needed to stay alert.

He could feel everyone's eyes on him, but he couldn't help immediately stuffing his face. It had been so long since he'd had a meal like this. The last time was probably on the MOI. It seemed everyone collectively decided he wouldn't kill them while he was eating and started in on their own meals.

"Caboose, I saw that," he heard Wash say.

"Tucker did it!" Caboose whined.

"First of all, I'm over here, second of all, why would I take your spinach?"

"Caboose, you need to eat your vegetables," Wash told him.

"But I am allergic to things that I don't like how they taste!"

"Caboose, if you don't eat your spinach, you don't get any brownies."

"What! But, but, how come Church doesn't have to eat any spinach?"

Epsilon flickered into existence next to them. "Really dude?"

"If you want dessert you have to eat your vegetables," Wash scolded. "And I will know if you don't so don't even try it."

"Yes Mr. Washing tub…" Caboose relented, pushing the green mush around on his plate.

Maine was astonished. Of all people, Wash was being mothering? It was hard to believe what he was hearing.

"Anyone want to address the elephant at the table?" Grif asked, ruining the mood.

"Yeah, how do we know that he's not dangerous anymore or that The Meta's really gone?" Simmons added.

Maine looked to Carolina. They were fortunately across from each other, so he signed to her and she translated. "The Meta isn't gone." Cutlery clinked against plates at that revelation. "I've been holding it back, but I don't know if that will last forever. Is the Director really dead?"

Epsilon answered him. "Yeah and the Project is finished too."

"Good," he signed. "No more meddling from them."

"It's not that simple," Epsilon continued. "The Chairman of the oversight sub-committee, Malcolm Hargrove, was very interested in the research from the Project. We may get some trouble from him."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Grif interrupted. "What do you mean 'we'?"

"We're not turning him in," Carolina answered, staring him down. "He's staying with us."

"But The Meta-" Simmons started.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Carolina shut him down.

There was silence at the table for a minute.

"Dibs," Grif said.

"What?" Epsilon complained.

"Dibs. Blue team got the last two freelancers, we get this one."

"I don't know about this," Simmons said anxiously.

"Nonsense, Simmons!" The standard red soldier who had been silently appraising him this whole team finally spoke up. "What better way to keep an eye on him? What do I always say? Keep your friends close…"

"…And your enemies in range of you primary firearm," Simmons and Grif recited in unison.

"Whatever you say, Sarge…"

"Great. That's settled. Now, I do believe someone mentioned brownies?" Grif said, rubbing his hands together.

Maine sent a quizzical look to Carolina but she only shrugged and smiled. 'Probably for the best,' she signed.

"Oh this is going to be so fun!" Donut cheered. "You can bunk with me. Grif and Simmons' room is atrocious and Sarge needs his own room. I'm so glad to finally have a roommate! It'll be just like camp!"

"Yeah, Maine," Epsilon teased while Carolina covered her laughter. "Just like camp."

"It'll be like a sleepover!" Caboose added excitedly.

"I do have to warn you. Caboose likes to come over on occasion, but don't worry, he doesn't snore."

Maine stared into his empty bowl. What the hell was wrong with these soldiers?

#my fic #red vs blue #rvb #mainenut #agent maine #franklin delano donut #Maine deserved better #abandoned work

[badatusernames]

the entire insect squad (kamakiri, mitsubachi & chouchou) & the surviving cursed swords trio (azekura, konayuki & kiguchi)

DAM YOU MAKING ME WORK FOR MY LIFE HERE

hope you like these squares

i'll be putting the rest under a read more but...here we go

KAMAKIRI

was kind of astonished i didnt get a bingo but. god. god. don't look at me. this man and his pals put down 20 minutes of screentime as a down payment to live in my mind for the rest of eternity. once again fallen victim to the Dead Side Character Curse. written so much about this bug man. i am insane about him.

EDIT: REALIZED JUST NOW I SAID NOTHING I LIKE ABOUT HIM + HIS SQUAD IS CANON BUT THAT IS. NOT TRUE THINKING ABOUT IT it's just the overwhelming ratio of non-canon stuff ive crafted to the stuff that initially drew me in oops

MITSUBACHI

re: fans? not like he has much but anyone who doesnt recognize the nuanced balance of Polite and Sweet v. Little Shit v. Absolute Badass Terror bc they see a soft spoken pretty boy can eat rocks

in retrospect might have been better to change 'i would marry them' to 'i would be best fucking friends with this dude' but whatever it would be of convenience and we'd have a nice time.

and of course. why does he fucking look like that.

CHOUCHOU

WIFE GUY SUPREME MY LOVE

honestly i feel i actually COULD carry him like a tiny dog but only bc he'd allow it, and he would because he's the chillest little dude out there.

AZEKURA

DAM ITS OUR GUYSSSS

listen. is a suit of armor that is Technically a Sword absolutely insane and goofy? yes. does he make it work? absolutely.

look if a massive pirate man with a dolphin helmet talks about being fundamentally anti-government, anti-establishment and you don't stan him instantly idk what to tell you

KONAYUKI

thats my FUCKIGN DAUGHTER RIGHT THERE. i’m so glad she ended up okay by the end of the show bc my god she really been through it...

sure would be nice if there was a concocted found family cooked up and ready to be made an amazing dynamic eh? wild. 

KIGUCHI

the elegance...the earnestness...the SKILL....the unexpected cute side....she’s EVERYTHING. really turned what could have been an irritating concept of an episode into something so enjoyable and memorable... (alongside togame constantly losing her mind that’s always good) she deserves the WORLD but you know she wouldn’t take it....so humble....sighs.....

#they speak #scalporie #katanagatari #SORRY IF THESE GOT SHORTER I JUST. SHORT CIRCUIT WITH LOVE SOMETIMES #my guys...my fucking GUYS #sorry--OUR guys #<333

[dusterson]

rules & ooc (mobile)

this line it not to be edited as to maintain the integrity of the post’s URL. please inform the mun if any directories to this post do not work properly.

Mun is over the age of 21, muse is under the age of 18. Mature themes concerning violence, trauma, abuse, death, etc. will be present. Romance will not surpass mild PG-13.

THE RULE OF LAW

01 : DON’T BE A DICK.

godmoding metagaming etc. ain’t cool, ooc drama is even less cool, don’t reblog IC posts you’re not involved in, yadda yadda yadda, i’m crossing my fingers here that i won’t need to make an entire encyclopaedia of regulations here i have faith that you’re smarter and more mature than that.

i like anons throw em my way ic or ooc, but misuse the anon function and you lose the privilege of being a faceless horror-terror that gives Dustin nightmares.

i’m not going to say no drama because humans as a species are the biggest drama-mongers of the earthly organisms. but i will avoid engaging in it like the plague. i do not tolerate hateful and/or aggressive behaviour. i don’t care why, to who, or what about. calm. down. this is a fucking hobby.

02 : DON’T BE A PUSHY DICK.

the muse is not the mun, if my answer’s no then it’s no. if you pester/nag me after saying no, i’ll just block you. my post length will vary and no i don’t expect you to match or vise versa. i don’t really fancy up posts for rp replies that’s too much effort i’m here to write you know?

i am disabled physically, neurologically, and psychologically; that along with other IRL circumstances mean that i will be slow. i may need to take breaks from rping, not have the focus for this specific muse, and i might forget things. i don’t mind the occasional poke if you feel i’ve forgotten a thread or an ask etc, but please be patient with me.

do not get angry with me that i roleplay to my comfort. if i don’t meet your expectations i don’t want to hear it, just find another cove to sail.

03 : DON’T BE A GROSS DICK.

dustin is a minor in official canon and in my canon. i ain’t shipping him with anyone outside his age range, and i sure as fuck ain’t shipping right off the bat. i don’t know you, therefore i don’t trust you, to write that kinda dynamic with you. any romantic/affectionate content will be light PG-13 if not straight-up PG. if you try and sneak in suggestive or NSFW shit i will thanos snap your creative motivation. and block you.

i may unfollow blogs that have a highly frequent amount of such content on their blog.

DON’T LET ME BE A DICK!

any commonly triggering content will be tagged (example tw), such as gore, abuse, suicide, etc. but don’t be afraid or ashamed to request i tag something specific for you. i’m grouchy, not judgemental.

don’t hesitate to let me know if you’re losing interest in a thread, don’t know how to respond, or even that you’re no longer interested in rping. honestly if the third’s the case you don’t even need to explain, yeet to freedom my sweet bird good luck out there and for the love of god enjoy yourself and feel no shame for it.

THANK YOU FOR NOT BEING A DICK!

that’s why i’m saying the don’t part, cos i’m trusting you (kind of) not to be one, cos like you got this far so you can’t be one see? here’s some apple cider, thank you for coming on the tour, now let me introduce myself.

So now all THAT’s out of the way, ‘sup. You can call me Saahs or J. I’m a 28 year old artist, writer, and lover of horror. Any pronouns are fine with me. RP has been a major part of my life for 99.9% of it, I started playing AD&D before I could properly write, and I’m not letting this strain of hobby go any time soon. Like I said I probably won’t be a highly active rper due to chronic illness and IRL issues, but my messages, askbox, are always open! And I’m happy to give my Discord if you’d like to chat over there as well. The rules are a lil snippy I wrote em at 4 in the morning initially then it only got worse cos and I’m a jaded animal but legit I don’t assume You are gonna break rules or anything there’s just been too many times man. Like I’m a shy guy and I don’t like having to deal with conflict so don’t make me ok

#mobile rules #mobile ooc

[amtrak12]

Lucifer Rewatch Liveblog: Ep 1.01

Oh god the NERVES I have over doing this. It’s so stupid. Anyway before hitting play, let’s give a little backstory about how I stumbled ass-backwards into watching Lucifer.

It was September 2021 and the sixth and final season was about to drop on Netflix. Both my spouse and my mother were rewatching the series in preparation of this and both had reached S3 when we were visiting my parents for my mom’s birthday. So Lucifer became the de facto show playing in the background of the visit. All I knew about the show going in was a) it was about the Devil, b) he ran a nightclub in LA, and c) it had at one point been canceled by a traditional network and then ‘saved’ by Netflix. Oh and d) I had absolutely no interest in ever watching it.

But circumstances change don’t they? Because between the time that I first heard about Lucifer and the time when it was playing in front of my face while I visited with my family, the following events happened:

the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the world

Anxiety and depression set in making new shows feel like too much work to watch

both my spouse and I rewatched old favorites instead

I got a shih tzu puppy which confined me to the living room for months until she was fully potty trained.

Now, for my spouse, these go to TV rewatches included The Originals and Frasier. And friends, I got hooked on both. Two shows I never had any interest in watching. Two shows my spouse played in the living room so we could still be in the same room while I raised a puppy. TWO SHOWS I GOT FUCKING HOOKED ON AND HAD TO WATCH ALL THE WAY THROUGH TO THE END.

So of course the same thing happened when they played Lucifer right in front of my face. And like The Originals and Frasier, I merely picked up where my spouse was in the rewatch and refused to go backwards. ‘You should really watch it from the beginning--’ NOPE! We’re starting here. Just fill me in on backstory when it’s relevant.

Which is how my first experience with Lucifer was scattered S3 episodes and then S4-6 straight through. I loved it! It was fab! But it was months before I got the itch to go back and watch S1-2 and when I did oh boy.... OH BOY.

Well, I’ll share those thoughts live. :P

*hits play on the pilot*

OMG this little text intro they do during S1 is so trying to be edgy but is instead just cheesy.

I hate this opening scene. I mean I understand it. It does it’s job. Lucifer hates rules but enjoys punishing people! He can pull out people’s desires! Cops aren’t here to protect anyone! Just take money from the rich and terrorize the rest! Oh wait they probably didn’t mean that last one.

Weird move then to open with a dirty cop in a cop propaganda show

I am too asexual for this show in general but I’m especially too asexual for S1

I do love how Amenadiel is nearly always introduced in S1 with time slowing down. It’s a fucking awesome power! Shame he stopped using it.

Though I cannot take early Amenadiel seriously because he is so I’m Super Serious and I have seen S4-6 okay? This version of Amenadiel is a total hilarious lie.

I do love Delilah. Also I lose my mind every time that like 8 minutes into the pilot, they foreshadow the show’s end game of Lucifer helping the souls trapped in Hell to confront their guilt when he calls in his favor with Delilah to tell her to get her life together. It means nothing with the pilot alone, but when boosted by the next six seasons, it becomes a nugget of gold.

And RIP Delilah :( You should absolutely not think about how the poor thing was definitely stuck in Hell until Lucifer had his series finale revelation. :( Definitely don’t think about that.

Cool trick to pull back a very recently deceased soul to talk to it. I understand why that never really happened again (because he wasn’t usually there when future murder victims died) but since I’m a sucker for all kinds of ghost/afterlife stories, I kind of wish it had been utilized again.

~Ooo~ narrative mystery. What’s Palmetto Street????? What’s the deal with these two cops????? I wouldn’t actually care if this was my first experience with the show. Oops.

Now, they did not show that Lucifer’s supernatural charisma draws everyone to him before introducing Chloe but that’s okay. It’s the pilot. In general, they’re doing well with the plot and characters.

And by well, I mean I only like S1 because it’s hysterical after knowing where they all end up. Don’t get me wrong! I completely agree that this is the cast’s starting places. But who they all are before meeting each other and growing together is repulsive to me so in that sense S1 is terrible.

Ooph the anti-black racism in this scene with 2 Vile. I mean it goes hand in hand with cop propaganda but WOW. The rap bashing and pretending that liking blues music means you’re not racist. Wow.

I do love Chloe’s backstory of being an actress who had a nude scene in a movie because that’s the kind of thing that is so far outside my lived experience that I never would’ve thought of that for a character in a million years. But it works absurdly well in the context of this show. So kudos to the writers there.

Okay now we’re starting with the real Lucifer and Chloe banter that we know and love. I had nothing to say during their intro scene because I kept seeing all the fanvids who splice it with the series finale callback to it but here’s the actual good stuff.

“I just threatened his life. He would’ve said, trust me.” *long blink of disbelief* “You did what?” -- Oh Chloe you have no idea what a headache the next six years are going to be for you. (And also the rest of your life because I met Rory, okay. That girl is not going to be easy to raise. Trixie is your easy child.)

“Yeah, isn’t that illegal?” -- “Uh, little bit, yeah.” Finally! Chloe has an excuse to arrest Lucifer for being an ass!

Which lasts all of 0.2 seconds because Lucifer can get out of handcuffs. Which Chloe for some reason was not expecting.

Like I know through internet osmosis that sex handcuffs and police handcuffs are two different things, but c’mon Chloe. Does this not strike you as the kind of guy who would experiment with police handcuffs too? Even not believing that he’s the Devil, I feel like you should’ve seen that one coming.

Ah here we go! The mojo demonstration again... that utterly falls flat because Chloe is a gift from God.

(Oops! Spoilers! :P)

Heh heh heh. That may be the first time Lucifer forgets Chloe is a trained actress and falls for her playing him, but it won’t be the last! lol

TRIXIE! TRIXIE! TRIXIE! TRIXIE!

Lucifer calling picking up her daughter an ‘errand’ is like the 4th time Chloe pictured herself shooting him.

LOOK AT HER TWO FRONT TEETH MISSING!!! *sobs* SHE’S SO ADORABLE!

Why is this fifth grader bullying a first grader? I just feel like fifth graders have better things to do like pick on each other in preparation for the ruthless ‘every child for themselves’ warzone that is sixth grade.

Poor Trixie sticking her fingers in her ears while her parents fight :(

Dan really does earn his douche title in S1. RIP Dan.

The cynical part of me that’s bought into purity culture is dismissing Lucifer defending Chloe as dumb hetero ‘This is the couple you’re supposed to ship!’ nonsense, but the rest of me that’s remembering it’s okay to like boy-led shows and junk food can actually analyze it and see that this is just him keying into behavior that isn’t justified and therefore should be punished. It’s not special to Chloe just yet. He does already like her. He is already intrigued by her, and he’s even already slightly charmed by her daughter. But he genuinely cared about Delilah too and wanted to see her turn her life around. The whole pilot is driven by him wanting to punish those that took that opportunity away from her, and I really like that. Again, it’s set up for the S6 end game of saving the souls in Hell.

“Isn’t he funny, Daddy?” followed swiftly by asking Chloe “What’s a hooker?” is some dichotomy. LOL

Oh, Chloe. Just wait until Trixie befriends Maze. ;)

(Just wait until Dan meets Maze ROTFL Okay I will definitely have to keep liveblogging so I can rewatch that ep. OMG it’s hysterical.)

“Daddy will tell you. :)” Oh this separation is not going well. I mean that’s been pretty obvious from every scene that Chloe and Dan have shared so far, but that line really cements that. lol

Chloe and Dan both being different shades of shocked that Trixie likes Lucifer is fab. Chloe is just ‘huh’ about it and Dan is like ‘I want to kill this guy so bad’ x2.

OH I LOVE THIS EXCHANGE OUTSIDE OF LINDA’S OFFICE!

“Planned... sort of.” -- Dude you can’t say that kind of shit to me. I wouldn’t ordinarily care, but this show is already bonkers so now I want the gossip. The full story. What do you mean by ‘sort of’ in this sentence? I *will* pry.

“Did my father send you?” -- !!!!!! NOPE! DEFINITELY DIDN’T! DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT! CHLOE IS DEFINITELY NOT A GIFT FROM GOD!

(Did the writers know already? I mean, presumably they did if they’re dropping giant anvils like that. But writers also sometimes write characteristics like ‘is immune to Lucifer’s desire power’ without having the explanation ready to go in the pilot because it gives them freedom to flesh things out later. But this really feels like they had that explanation formed from the beginning.)

LINDA! LINDA! LINDA! LINDA!

I’m excited for her. I am not excited for this scene. This scene where Linda nearly jumps Lucifer is where I would’ve walked out on the pilot episode. If you had even convinced me to sit through more than that intro scene, that is. This pilot and I are very different people who live very different lives :S

However, it is hilarious in retrospect. Utterly ridiculous LOL

“Oh no he’s horrible! So square jawed, so handsome, so vanilla” -- THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LET ME SUFFER THROUGH CHLOE AND CAIN IN S3! YOU COULD’VE STOPPED IT, LUCIFER! YOU COULD’VE SAVED US ALLLLLL THAT PAIN!

I mean it wouldn’t have made the Devil revelation any less shocking to Chloe and so S4 would mostly be unchanged BUT STILL! MY EYEBALLS! PLEASE THINK OF MY EYEBALLS!!!

Lucifer really doesn’t understand how a movie set works, does he? Just walks right into the middle of a massive and expensive practical stunt and then gets confused why the lead actor isn’t doing the stunt.

“You know you’re gonna have to get much better at lying if you’re going to be President?” -- “I know, right?”

“Why else do you think I’ve been sleeping with Bobby?” -- This marital fight is hilarious, I’m not gonna lie. They do not have a healthy relationship!

“Despite your proclaimed revulsion, you can’t deny that there’s a connection between us.” -- Because she can see that spark of genuineness in you which doesn’t make sense with your everything else, and she’s trying to figure out why that contrast isn’t as conflicting as it should be. You’re both puzzles the other is trying to figure out.

(You two are also a walking, talking soulmate AU which is a quickfire way to make me feral -- but that’s a conversation for a different season.)

It’s always about the money. :/

“I told you, it’s fine. I’m immortal.” -- But that poor band member isn’t, Lucifer! Dumbass.

PFFFTTTT! A fan vid cut Delilah being shot side by side with Chloe being shot here in the pilot and I LOST MY MIND ABOUT IT! I never realized that was a full proper parallel with the falling back onto shattered glass and everything until I saw that fanvid. So good!

This show LOVES using parallels and by god they do it well.

(Except S3. That’s still a hot mess, but I think they were trying for a foil there and not a parallel. Keyword is *trying*.)

TRIXIE! And then Lucifer drops her right on top of Chloe’s wounded side. Good move, Lucifer. A+ lol

“Look forward to seeing you soon, Chloe.” -- “I don’t.” Adorable.

“Glad you’re not dead.” -- my GOD when people splice that with Chloe’s S5 death in fanvids, it makes me tear out my hair. I love it!

And once again, I cannot take Amenadiel or this ‘tense brotherly stand off’ seriously. They’re just babies squabbling in comparison to where they end up. It’s nothing but comedy to me.

Bad news, Maze. Humanity is about to rub off on you too. *Jean-Ralphio voice* You’re gonna get a SO-OUL! :D

And we close with Lucifer going back to hold up his end of the deal with Linda and strike a new one with her: sex for therapy. Which thankfully, she switches to ‘money for therapy’ like a normal person at some point in S1. I mean, sex for therapy -- that’s the kind of thing that can get your license revoked. *glances at S2*

In conclusion, this was fun! I think the act of liveblogging helped my enjoyment of the show. It certainly got me to watch a full episode again. I did keep pausing to write things down which interrupted the flow. Fine for my third viewing of the pilot, but that’s going to bug me for later episodes. I’ll have to either be less wordy or take the bare minimum notes of what I want to say and then go back after the episode and flesh everything out.

#Amber watches Lucifer #All the procrastinating and pausing means I am wrapping this up at midnight #which is a big mistake a week after DST and I'm struggling to stay awake in the afternoons #however I was smart enough to do this on Saturday night and not Sunday night so I have time to catch up on sleep before the work week begins #so good job to me on that part at least