#'why does he not just escape?' (he needs to take care of an old dying man and also he's completely given up)

[milfbro]

oh my god my writing is flowing this thing has a plot now

[idyllcy]

oops... i got married || TO THE CUTE DUDE IN CLASS?!

word count: 1.2k || Fic 4 of oops... i got married

summary: ... you do not understand how a man made god wants to marry you but frankly you don't care as long as you aren't dying to his hands

You get married as a joke.

Yes, there are limits to how much you can drink. Yes, there are limits to how insane you can get while drunk— but apparently getting married is not within that limit. You get married to some random guy— NOT SOME RANDOM GUY. SOMEONE YOU KNOW. WELL. KIND OF. You wake up to a legally signed marriage document and him in your kitchen, and you blink at the red booklet in your hands and then at your new lover at the door.

"You're going to be late for class."

"Oh. My. God."

"Yes, I am aware that is an expression of shock." Kamukura catches the mug that you've just hurled at his face.

"HOW ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE?"

"We are married."

You blink at Kamukura. "WHY DID YOU EVEN AGREE TO MARRY ME?!"

"Perhaps you will bring a semblance of amusement to my day-to-day life." He pauses. "Also because you would have asked someone else had it not been me, and I would not have trusted you to not ask one of the old men in the bar."

You sigh, throwing your head back into the pillow. He has a point. 

"Shall I let the professor know that you are skipping class?"

"No." You snort. "Tell him my head feels like it's been cracked open from drinking too much yesterday."

"Anything else?"

"Will you divorce me if you get bored?" You turn your head to face him. "I mean, I got drunk, no?"

Kamukura nods, door clicking behind him as you bury your head into the pillow, screaming. You married the class genius. How the hell did he even agree to marrying you? What does it even mean that he married you for some semblance of amusement? What does it even mean that you got him to agree to marrying you? In what world does this happen? You scream back into the pillow, deciding that this would be a problem for you to face after your nap. What a great day to NOT have anything to do.

Except Kamukura comes home and you find that there's an assignment due by the end of the day— which makes you seriously contemplate your existence right then and there. Your new husband refuses to help you, and he watches you struggle in silence, lips pulled into a fraction of a smile, almost as if he were enjoying the way you were fighting for your life. Maybe you will beat him up next time (you would not win). So, you stare at Kamukura from the couch as he stares back, unblinking, unbothered.

"Help me."

"You are simply being lazy."

"Okay and?" You huff. "Is a husband's duty not to help his spouse?"

"Oftentimes, it is used as an excuse to not do something. If I were to do it for you, there will be a second, and then a third, and eventually, I will be the one doing all of it for you. Then, you would—"

"It's an elective." You deadpan.

"Perhaps this is, but who am I to say that you will not abuse your new husband and make him complete your major for you?"

"Izuru fucking Kamukura." You deadpan, voice even. "Will you cosplay as me to take my classes? Will you put on makeup so you can look like your beloved and take my tests for me? Will you take on the task of double life so I don't need to do anything?" 

Kamukura blinks at you, unbothered. "No."

"There you go." You sigh. "Will you at least teach me?"

"That, I will do."

You go through the homework with your husband, brain fried by the end of it, eyes spinning, annoyed as he explains everything with eerie precision catered to you. 

"Next thing you tell me is going to be something like "I attended Hope's Peak High School" or something of equal insane value."

"I shall do you one better." He tilts his head. "I was created by Hope's Peak Academy."

You pause. What.

"They took a talentless kid," Kamukura coughs lightly, "and transformed him into me."

"So they— They basically rewired your past in order to create you? I knew you were suspicious for taking 24 units." You deadpan. "You're an escaped government spy, aren't you."

"Government spy, no. Escaped, yes." His eyes dig past your soul until you are bare before him, but you do not look away. "Hope's Peak can not own a person under the law."

You raise a brow. "So why then did you marry me?"

"That is something for you to find out."

You find that the answer is that people tend to steer clear of you when you are with Kamukura. Perhaps it is some sort of primal urge to mark their territory, or the primal instinct to stay away from predators bigger than you, but Kamukura next to you equates to individualism. You find that even his unofficial fanclub that used to bother you stays away. Kamukura might have just thought of you as some strange trophy... or just someone he would not mind spending the rest of his life with. 

The answer comes at home, perhaps.

You stare at the man at your door, Kamukura not home, and you tilt your head as you start taking your shoes off.

The man speaks up when you start opening the door. "Does a man by the name of Kamukura live here?"

You blink twice. "No? I live alone."

"You have men's shoes at your door."

"They are there for safety."

"What about the two bowls of rice on the table?"

"Rather rude to look inside my place, isn't it?" You start to shut the door. "You can not search my house without a warrant. Besides, you aren't in Japan, you know? Welcome to the land of guns and eagles."

"Duck."

Kamukura holds your head down as the sound of a gun rings out on your floor. You've never been so glad you actually threw your whole life savings into a penthouse. Yet, you try turning around, his hand covering your eyes naturally.

"Is he dead?"

"Leave it to me." He ignores your question.

You listen to him as he has you step into the apartment, door shutting behind you as you start eating, biting the chopstick and blinking at the door absentmindedly.

Kamukura comes home, clean of any sign of what could have been a murder.

You don't know if you want to ask what he was up to. 

He stares at you, almost as if waiting for something to come out of your mouth before he moves to do anything.

You rack your brain for what you could even say to him.

"Good job." You raise a brow, staring at him and then the seat. "Now hurry up and eat. What were they even here for? Was it enough to warrant a gun to their head?"

"Yes." He blinks. "They were here to find me."

"Isn't it more suspicious that they're dead now?"

"I have disguised it as a slip on the stairs."

"With a gun wound?"

"The probability of a bullet bouncing off a wall into your own brain is small but never zero."

Ah.

Well, you suppose at least your husband won't be killing... you.

[shinekocreator]

based on this amazing prompt by @ghost-bxrd (it's hella ooc, but if you wanted it in character, you wouldn't be here)

⚠️Tw: mentions of death, stopped heart, panic, fear⚠️

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

NO NO NO NO NO NONONONONO!

They weren't supposed to find out, at least, not like this.

His heart, which just a few moments ago wasn't beating at all, is now beating too fast, too loud, too strong.

He wants to move, to say something, to do something, but he can't. His lungs are still empty, so he starts breathing, too short, too fast.

This isn't good. They're not supposed to know, not supposed to see.

How could he let this happen? Why did he even agree to this stupid sleepover? Now they're all going to know.

All of them?

Panic creeps into his mind. What if he finds out? He can't find out.

He takes a look around the room, Dick is holding him, and he says something that Jason can't hear. Damian looks scared and on the verge of tears. Tim is in the corner holding Cass's hand, trying to reassure her that everything is alright, even if he doesn't believe so himself. Steph and Duke aren't in the room. He has no idea where they could've gone. Barbara is on her laptop, probably searching for a course of action.

"... Just breathe in slowly. " he can finally make out what Dick is saying. So he does just that, trying to slow his breathing and heartbeat, using Dick's voice as both a guideline and an anchor.

It works. He can talk now. He pulls Damian into a hug, which Damian doesn't reject. "I'm alright, Baby Bird, I'm alright."

Damian starts sobbing into his arms. "Your heart, it stopped, and you, you weren't breathing and I, and I don't know what to do because I don't want you to die again!"

"I'm not. You guys aren't getting rid of me so easily," he jokes, then kisses Damian's head. Damian doesn't flinch or move away. He must be really concerned then.

Jason turns to Dick "what exactly happened?"

"Just like Damian said, your heart stopped, so did your breathing. Does this... Happen often?"

Jason nods. He's not sure what to say.

Then Tim speaks "What the actual fuck Todd?! You have any Idea how scared we were? Why didn't you say anything?"

Jason slowly gets up and goes to hug Tim. He can't seem to find the right words.

Tim pushes him away with a horrified expression. "Dude, you're freezing cold!"

Hearing that, Cass brings him the warmest blanket she can find. "No more cold," her warm smile is radiant, Jason wants to hug her but knows he shouldn't.

Barbara comes closer and helps wrap the blanket around him. She doesn't need to say anything.

Jason pulls her into a hug, then brings in Dick, Cass joins them soon after, and so do Tim and Damian.

It's not as cold anymore, Jason feels warmth spreading throughout his body.

After they let go of him, Jason finally pays some mind to the absence of people in the room.

"Where's Steph? And Where's Duke?"

Dick rubs the back of his neck. NO NO NONONO!!

"They went with Alfred to calm Bruce down."

NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!

Jason removes his grip from the blanket, letting it fall to the floor as he attempts to escape and leave the manor altogether, but the presence of a man in the doorway stops him in his tracks.

Jason takes a step back, and right before he manages to turn around and run for the window, two strong arms wrap around him, pulling him in for a hug.

And Jason fully breaks down.

Bruce holds him while he sobs and whimpers, giving him a moment to let everything out and calm down a little.

"It's alright, I'm still here. You're still here. We're still here." Bruce says, whether to Jason or himself, no one knows.

Jason can feel Bruce shaking. He tries to grasp the fact that Bruce cares and wants him around. Tries to process that Bruce was scared, terrified of the thought of Jason dying again.

Jason takes notice of the tears running down Bruce's face, moving his hand up to gently wipe them away.

"I'm still here, old man, I'm not dying again."

That's the last thing he says before he allows himself to relax and hug Bruce back, after mouthing a quick "thank you" to Stephanie, Duke, and Alfred, knowing he's wanted and loved by his family.

[smallestapplin]

Alucard in dbd idea

Hi, castlevania dropped in dbd and I've been feral, please excuse my rambling.

Reader is a Belmont.

-

-

You and Trevor in the fog first and a month or so before Alucard shows up, and when he does he's glad to see his old friend and questions who the other Belmont is(you)

You're delighted to get to know him and Trevor more, as you have read so many books and texts about him from previous Belmonts, it's so nice to finally meet him! However, much like Trevor, there is a bit of a learning curve he has to go through.

Other survivors try to help him, but most aren't really easy on him, which is fair and you don't blame them! After all, in trials it's nerve wrecking, you can't exactly teach him with all the time in the world. But he picks up gens with ease.

It's everything else that trips him up.

Huntress landed one hell of a shot on him, he shouted surprised and pained by the hatchet that came out of nowhere across the map.

His shoulder now slashed, slowly dripping blood and soaking into his shirt and cloak. but ten minutes later as he was helping you on a gen, you noticed he looked to be in far more agony than anyone you've ever met, his skin sweaty, taking shallow breathes, he looked scared.

"Alucard?"

"I'm not healing, why am I not healing? Gods it hurts...what is this?"

You are swift to whip out your med kit and start patching him up, gently shushing his pained whimpers as you focus on healing him.

"There, good as new!"

He still looks so confused, and it makes sense, his own regenerative abilities always came in handy, he's never really need a med kit, and most of his human companions had a mage on hand for healing.

A match against Trapper was much the same.

Alucard didn't even notice the trap, that or he did didn't care, he just walked right into it and his scream was heard across the map, his second scream as he placed on hook sounded like he was right next to you he was so loud.

When you got him off hook and to a safer place, he collapsed on you, his forehead on your shoulder, which was growing wet, either from his sweat or tears you arent sure, but he held onto you as you patched him up, shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Why...why does it hurt so much? I...I shouldn't have gotten hurt from such a weak trap."

He sounds so tired, his voice is weak, small even.

"The entity's abilities it seems, in this realm you're nothing but a human."

"This is what you feel?" He moves, his watery glowing eyes looking up at your focused expression.

"Every match."

He's horrifed, all these matches where you've gritted your teeth and bared through, all these matches where you sacrificed yourself just to make sure everyone else lived, hell even the missions he knew you took as a Belmont- speaking of!

Your family goes on such dangerous missions, gets injured or even killed, and yet you still bare your family crest? His respect for you and your family grew, knowing first hand the pain of your injuries and yet you still choose to be so selfless.

Cue Alucard falling for you, the poor thing didn't even mean to.

It's just you pulled him off the hook, the bell rings louder, warning there isn't much time left, yet you still came back for him.

The second he was touching the ground, he looked at you, despite the pain he looked at you confused.

Your face was stern, filled with sheer determination as you grab his hand and lead him to the door.

"Why did you come back? You could have escaped instead of dying here with me."

You patched him at at the gate, just to be safe.

"Either neither of us die or we both die."

Your eyes locked

"I'm not leaving you here. Come on."

His own eyes widen.

Oh.

Oh.

........so this is how those dames in novels feel being saved.

Oh, Trevor is going to have his head.

He grows more skilled and knowledgeable the longer he's here, and is determined to help you (by proxy the others) he's noticeably closer to you, practically shoulder to shoudler with you by the fire, the first to help you off hook or to heal you.

Even his familar, which followed him here likes to hang off you and get scritches.

He can feel Trevor's side eye, knowing the older Belmont isn't fond of him cozying up to hos descendent.

But he at least knows Alucard would treat you right.

[thetrashbagswasteland]

Today only from a card carrying member of the Castis Vakarian Appreciation Squad, a refresher on canon since there's a not-zero number of people in 2024 who seem blissfully unaware of how much we know about this man in canon (including andromeda yes the game is canon go cry about it).

He's a cop. Yes Castis works for C-Sec, implied within the same unit/building as Garrus and to the contrary of his son, is implied to be both good at his job and well-regarded for it. (This will be important for later points try to remember it.)

He has alien friends. Castis is canonically one of Alec Ryder's best friends. They're good enough friends that he passes on rumours/heresay about the Reapers to him and reminisces about spending time with him on the Citadel. Any turian old enough to have been an adult during the FCW and who has human friends as of canon prolly isn't a miserable old xenophobe. Whilst no, working at C-Sec doesn't exclude him from having shitty thoughts about Krogan and Quarians, it's a fairly good sign he's not anti-alien on the whole if he'll befriend a human.

He's got a personality. How dare minor characters have those! But more seriously, acting as if Castis is portrayed as nothing but a rule-worshipping automaton is doing him a disservice. If nothing else, his willingness to befriend and hang out with Alec, who's very much of the opinion that rules are guidelines to be circumvented when at all possible, shows that he's capable of nuance and maybe even a dash of line-pushing of his own accord. Maybe he's comfortable within the system and trusts law and order as set out legally above all else but c'mon guys, you don't hang out with a guy who goes on to break AI law and get dishonourably discharged (and then remain friends with him after that when it's made damned clear few others do) without being able to see shades of grey.

He trusts his son. This one I suspect may be more contentious BUT let's be honest here, Garrus isn't an easy person to be around. We hear about the pair of them clashing on the job and within their personal lives about the spectres but here's the thing: Garrus winds up on a secretive mission with a human and xenophobic terrorist group, after running off to a lawless hellscape to play batman. He remains distant until done working with Cererbus and then returns home with a crazy tale about a dead human spectre, genocidal robots from the year dot and half his face missing. Castis not only believes him but does so willingly enough that he does everything he can to help him get the news to the right people, just in case he's right. Equally, whilst we don't have an exact date for when the call with Alec occurs, it's post-start of ME1 at the very least and within that he's already willing to take what Garrus is saying Shepard says at face value. Within that call, it's made patently obvious that no matter what, he still trusts Garrus on some level and is proud of him on top of that trust.

He cares deeply for the people around him. Perhaps this one's linked with 3 but whatever, my post, my rules; in the comics, the picture we're painted by (unreliable narrator) Garrus is that of a driven, cold man who doesn't care enough about his own family. This is why he doesn't come home when Mama Vakarian gets hurt, we're told, and we're expected to take that as face value even when she herself says that by the time he can get away from work and be back there, she'll be mostly healed. Kinda contrasted by the fact that he seemingly retires/takes time off from C-Sec to be with his wife when she's dying. Now, the details are kinda fuzzy on the whys and hows but during ME3, he and Solana escape Palaven together. Maybe the war's going poorly enough that they're able to finagle staying together through the draft, maybe they come across one another purely by luck, we don't know. Either way, rather than attempt to get back to the Citadel and to where he presumably still had a job and/or was needed, he sticks with his daughter. Can't do anything more to help his son but he's gonna stick with at least one of his kids to make sure she survives. As well as all this, the "do things properly or don't do them at all" lesson Garrus struggles with from him is (gasp) not bad advice for their situation. He's trying to teach his son important life skills and whilst there's no denying he's going about it wrong, a key point is in fact that Garrus learns to master the gun he's struggling to fire and it in fact becomes one of his specialities! He becomes an exceptionally good marksman! The lesson fucking worked! He still, regardless of the reasons for it, seems to support and be content with Garrus not fulfilling his mandatory 15 but instead joining C-Sec and (worse still) doesn't have too much of an issue with him consorting with Spectres. Perhaps he's not best pleased but he definitely comes to accept that that's how things are irrespective of his own feelings about them as either a concept or as people (his belief that Garrus being a spectre would be a terrible no good very bad idea is, in fact, backed up by canon as being entirely correct too).

Conclusion/TL:DR. Take a lesson from Castis Vakarian himself here, either write about this man properly or don't write him at all, I'm begging y'all. There's an awful lot more to this character if you think about him and put together the information canon gives us on him, so do so.

[loveinhawkins]

prompt from @teaspelledbackwards-blog: something featuring sick Steve being taken care of. prompt guidelines

It’s almost like a culture shock, adjusting to normality after everything is over: to not have to leap in front of others with arms outstretched, his whole body tightly coiled; to not have to always be ready to fight.

And most of all, to no longer need to worry about the big, life-threatening things. Even back then, Steve felt like he’d had a lucky escape compared to everything else they were dealing with—sure his bites still stung, but they were only in borderline need of medical attention.

“Borderline?” Eddie had wheezed through the high of morphine when Steve relayed this. “God help us for what your ‘real emergency’ looks like, Harrington.”

So when it’s just a run-of-the-mill day, and Steve’s head is pounding, but it’s not that bad, he powers through. It’s not like it’s pneumonia or anything; it’s not like he’s dying. It just mildly sucks. Well. Maybe more than mildly, but the point still stands.

He doesn’t really think anything of it, until suddenly Robin is pinning him with a shrewd look right in the middle of their shift, eyes briefly narrowing in a way that kinda reminds him of Mary Poppins—if she’d thrown away the nanny career in favour of putting ‘new in’ stickers on VHS titles.

“Let’s swap,” she says authoritatively. “You take your break now, I’ll take mine later, then I can do the closing shift instead.”

“Um, sure, if you—why?”

“You don’t know all the intricacies of my life, Steve! Maybe I need an empty store to practise for my secret opera star dreams. Maybe I’m having a clandestine affair by the light of the shitty computer. Don’t question me.”

She whirls him round and gently taps in between his shoulder blades, pushing him in the direction of the backroom.

He snorts. “All right, all right.”

It’s only when he’s actually stretching out on the threadbare couch that he realises she’d gotten him to distractedly agree while she joked around.

Then it’s like he blinks, and he sleeps right through his thirty minute break. It’s technically forty five minutes by the time he wakes and gets up. He pushes his knuckle briefly against the bridge of his nose as he heads back to the counter, but the ache still remains.

Robin doesn’t make one crack about Steve’s break running over. She doesn’t even take her own break until there’s no-one in the store, dealing with any of their especially annoying customers herself, including that old man who always insists on having a tangential rant about “kids these days.”

(She’d slid a note over to him halfway through said rant, a scribble in Pig Latin: ‘illkay emay.’ Ducking under the counter to stifle his laughter was a nice temporary distraction from his headache.)

When she does come back from her break, she tosses Steve his jacket and car keys.

Steve stops by the half-open door, stares her down. “Are you sure? I can—”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh my god, go. The literal only plan I had was watching a rerun of Headline Chasers with my dad.”

“But.” He clears his throat, and Robin’s grinning, he knows she’s only teasing, and yet… “But you love Headline Chasers.”

She softens, then sticks out her tongue before replying, “I know.”

And it sounds like I love you more, dingus.

-

He plans to drive straight home, but then he sees Dustin biking into the parking lot, and he stops mid-reverse, winding down his window.

“Thought you were closing?” Dustin says.

“Yeah, I was. Robin swapped with me.”

Dustin hops off his bike, looks Steve up and down. “If I’m, like, five minutes, could you give me a ride home?”

Steve raises an eyebrow. He can count the number of times Dustin’s actually asked that on one hand, used to finding him already in the passenger seat, waiting expectantly.

He shrugs. “Sure. I’ll fit your bike in the trunk.”

True to his word, Dustin is in and out of Family Video in barely even three minutes. Steve smiles when he spots that he’s rented out The NeverEnding Story again.

“Dude, just buy it at this point.”

“But then I won’t get the excellent customer service on offer, Steve.”

“What, Robin insulting you?”

It’s an unusually quiet but not unpleasant car ride. Steve doesn’t risk putting the radio on, the pain travelling until it’s a persistent band of pressure across his forehead, and Dustin, strangely enough, doesn’t complain about the lack of music.

By the time he pulls up to Dustin’s house, it feels like his bones are aching, his skin prickling and sensitive. He tries to suppress a wince as he parks, briefly rubs at one eye.

“Hey, Dustin, do you mind if I don’t—” He falters, not sure how to politely put, Normally I love chatting with your mom, but if I delay getting home any longer, I might scream.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dustin says, already getting out of the car. “Stay there, just a sec!”

And instead of slamming the door as per usual, he gently closes it.

Steve only just resists leaning his head on the steering wheel.

Then Dustin is running out of the house, carrying… Tupperware?

“Mom was baking,” he says when Steve rolls down the window again.

“Oh,” Steve says, taking the box, glancing down to see some chocolate cake. “Thanks, man. I should, uh.” He makes to undo his seatbelt, but Dustin waves him off.

“You’ve thanked her, like, a bunch of times, if you do it anymore she’s gonna ask why I’m not a gentleman like you.”

Before Steve can respond, Dustin’s already at his front door, waving as he shuts it and calling out a casual, “Feel better, Steve!”

But how do you…?

-

Steve knows that Eddie’s in his house by the way that the front mat has been left curled up at the corner from where he’s retrieved the spare key.

He opens the door, sighs in relief at the warmth hitting his skin; Eddie must’ve put the heating on.

“You’re being robbed!” is what he’s greeted with, and Steve chuckles, follows Eddie’s voice to the kitchen, and…

He stops in the doorway.

“You made me dinner,” he says, almost numbly.

Eddie looks over at him from where he’s boiling water on the stove, a jar of pasta sauce by his elbow.

“That’s a kind word for it, but okay.”

“You made me dinner,” Steve repeats, and he has to blink rapidly before he does something stupid like tear up. “Why are you even—did we have plans? Did I forget—”

Eddie smiles warmly at him. “Nah, just passing through,” he says, then laughs when Steve tilts his head, unconvinced. “All right, fine. I might have got a phone call. Actually, two: Buckley got there first, and then Henderson called, gave me shit about the line being engaged, he’s so—”

“You didn’t need to make me dinner,” Steve interrupts. He doesn’t exactly know why it’s this that he’s getting stuck on, but he can’t help it. “I could’ve made dinner.”

Eddie’s smile shifts, turns into something so obviously caring that Steve feels his eyes threaten to burn all over again.

“But I wanted to,” he says. He leans against the counter, eyes flickering over Steve’s face, a gentle kind of surveying. “Besides, you’re not feeling great, right?”

“It’s nothing,” Steve says automatically. “Seriously, I don’t even have a fever. It’s not like I need to go to the doctors or…”

He trails off as Eddie gets closer, kisses him softly on the mouth, then the temple; and there must be a salve on his lips or something, because the awful sensitivity on Steve’s skin feels, just for a moment, like it’s been soothed away.

“Doesn’t need to be the worst thing ever for it to matter, Steve,” Eddie says simply.

Steve affects a huff—Eddie’s always coming out with lines just like that, says it’s the DM’s curse, darling—but he melts against Eddie anyway.

“You use the bow tie shapes?”

Eddie grins, nods triumphantly down at the pot. “Only the very best for you.”

Steve smiles into Eddie’s shoulder. “Dork.”

Tonight he’ll lie on the couch after dinner, Eddie reading with the lamp on low so that it doesn’t hurt his head; will drift off thinking of him, of Robin, of Dustin—knowing that the world doesn’t need to be ending for them to care.

[therealdv]

During their third year Hermione keeps disappearing and reappearing at random times, acting like nothing's happened. Harry and Ron are starting to get kind of annoyed, Hermione is obviously keeping a secret and while Harry wants to let it go and respect her privacy, Ron has grown up with 5 brothers and has no intention of letting her get away with it. Everytime Hermione reappears Ron asks "Blimey! Where did you come from?" with the same exact tone. Everytime he does it Harry rolls his eyes.

After the first month Harry is honestly surprised Hermione hasn't caught on, either she's being oblivious on porpouse (Wich she isn't, she couldn't lie for her life) or she's so distracted that she actually hasn't noticed anything.

After the second month, and a week of Hermione's hair being even more impossible than usual and the bags under her eyes begin to show Harry and Ron start to actually worry. Ron starts adding food to Hermione's plate every chance he has (it's lots of chances, Hermione is always eating with her head in a book lately). Harry starts to send her to bed after ten o'clock every day, forcefully taking her away from her books to stop her from falling asleep in the common room. She gets a bit better for a while.

And then they fight over a broom.

Harry can understand where Hermione comes from, but he seriously doubts an escaped convict would have the means to buy a top of the line broom (Harry checked, he'd have to spend over half the money in his trust vault for it). Also he can't help but remember every time the Dursley show him new toys only to take them away and give them all to Dudley. He knows Hermione isn't like them, but those kind of scars are even more pronounced than the one on his forehead.

Ron just feels so angry. He doesn't know why exactly but it's been building up for a while now. Scabbers might not be the best pet ever, but he's still his pet, he's loved by the whole family in that kind of jokey but really strong way the Weasleys love each other. He knows Scabbers is old and his parents have already been open with him about the possibility of him dying. The last thing the poor thing needs is a cat trying to eat him every other day. And Hermione just doesn't care. The fight over the broom feels more like a spark igniting something that was already there. Ron is all too used to the idea of everything he owns belonging to everyone, but he's also fed up of feeling like every single thing could be take away from him by Ginny or the Twins and never seen again.

Hermione gets worse again after that.

Harry goes up to his dormitory every night wanting to first send Hermione to bed, but he's just so angry and hurt, and he deserves a "sorry" at least, doesn't he?

Ron sees her cheeks hollowing in the next few weeks and his hand itch to put some more toast on her plate, he wants to take away her books and tell her to eat, but he takes one look at Scabbers and Harry and he gets angry again.

Once the broom is given back to Harry the tension seems to abate a bit. They tether on the edge for a while: Hermione looks at them sometimes and starts to cry everytime; Harry feels awful about the whole thing but he's still hurt; Ron mostly tries to ignore the whole thing, he's still so angry.

Neville (bless his heart) is the first to take a step. He walks up to Harry one evening and stumbles his way trough what is obviously a reharsed speech about how Hermione is obviously more important than a broom. It misses the point entirely, Harry finds himself incredibly angry about it for a split second. Then her reminds himself that no one but him could know about the Dursleys. He hasn't really told anyone about them. Maybe he could try and explain it to Hermione. The idea of coming clan about the things he suffered sends his heart in a frenzy, but Neville is right about one thing at least: Hermione is important to him, her and Ron are like two pieces of his heart he never knew he was missing.

So Harry takes Hermione and Ron and finds them a secluded place in the castle. Somewhere no teachers or prefect are following him around in that suffocating way. He talks to them about the Dursleys then. He focuses on the way they never give him anything, on the way they taunt him everytime a gift is given.

Hermione and Ron are horrified. Hermione starts crying and sobs her way through an apology, she tells him she loves him and she's sorry about the broom, she just wants him safe. They hug it out and Harry feels a huge weight lift from his shoulders.

Ron is silent at first but Harry and Hermione would never just let him get out of this, so they coax his anger out. He shouts at them and kicks a chair away while he stalks the room. He lays it all out, about Scabbers and how scared he is that his pet might die at any moment. Hermione is crying again by the end of it. She heals the bruise on his shin from the chair and then hugs him too. She promises to keep Crookshanks at bay and apologizes for her callousness.

Then she takes a breath and comes clean too. She takes the Time Turner our of her shirt to show it ti them, explains what she's doing with it, how stressful it all is. How she feels like her head is underwater half the time now. She never gets enough sleep and never has enough time to study no matter how many hours she turn back. She's always so tired.

They work toghether from then on, they watch out for Scabbers, who gets lost over and over. They watch out for Hermione so she studies a bit less and sleeps a but more. They watch out for Harry so that he knows they love him and that he's never a burden.

They become so close that people start to whisper around them, but they don't care. There are more important things in the world.

Like friendship, and bravery, and love.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 9 thoughts

this day had aspects which i did not care for, which is why i am hoping that the thrilling tale of mulder escaping a gulag will bring light and warmth to my heart.

author’s note, post episode: i need answers i need answers i need those slugs destroyed. this episode vastly improved my day and i remembered the simple joys of being alive, such as watching silly TV shows where the characters have an indescribable bond. truly a pleasure to be alive despite it all. scully and mulder, you have shown me such wisdom.

excellent moments for both scully and mulder in this one, which i treasure deeply, and also their together moments made my heart soar. genuinely a good ep!

let us gather to watch this tale!

we begin with a “previously on the x files”. i really hate that shot of mulder squished under that wire cage; it’s deeply unpleasant and i imagine so was the filming experience.

after that, we journey to a convalescent home in florida. now. the last time we went to a convalescent home, i have tried very purposefully for forget what went down. so my expectations here are low.

someone just waltzed in at night and is looking at the old people sleeping with a flashlight.... is this allowed? it probably shouldn't be. is she looking for someone in particular? 

she finds auntie janet and says it is time, he is waiting. now what does that mean?!?!

so she takes auntie janet out and there is some man that she’s in the car with?? he’s hooking auntie janet up to various chemicals. she says she’s tired of the pain and the doctor-y figure puts the green stuff into her. ah, i see what is going on here, as auntie janet hugs this woman and says she is her angel of mercy. 

so it looks like she died, but instead of just dying and that being it, there are oily slugs coming from her nose and mouth. which…. i mean, it’s better for them to come out in a controlled environment and after her passing, right? that seems ideal, all things considered. except for the fact that the oily slugs will now crawl into these people, so that’s a bummer.

HEY! the changed the text after the intro. “E PUR SI MUOVE” <- is that latin? hold on

i didn’t want to figure out what the whole phrase meant because that was part of the fun!! but in trying to figure out if “muove” was latin or italian or portuguese or something, i learned what the whole phrase meant and that it is significant for being uttered by galileo. darn! well, if i had to learn it before i wanted to, you shall too, i suppose. although i imagine if you read this blog, you’ve seen all this before. hmm.

we are in st. petersburg. FORMERLY LENINGRAD! but no longer at this point. someone is knocking at an old russian guy’s door. a young gentleman tells this old guy that “the cold war isn’t over” 

damn. still rings true in 2024. 

and also he gives the old guy an envelope. 

mulder is sleeping in a jail cell. he’s very tucked into that corner. it's adorable, in a certain way. someone is whispering to him. mystery other prisoner guy who can speak english said that he has been lying there for hours, and that the first time (referring to his alien injection) is “bad, very bad”

he calls this alien injection the “black cancer” that lives in the rock. this mystery man used to be a geologist! he was there when they found the fragments! woah... a rock guy... and look what they have done to him :(

okay, so this black cancer comes from the tunguska rock. got it. i am tracking the lore.

so at least hundreds of people have died here, and they seem to be searching for a cure to the black cancer after they inject it into their test subjects.

well! it is almost comforting that maybe both scully and mulder will die horrific early deaths, but at least together, right? because. the actual cancer that she probably has. and the weird creature in his veins now. they’ll have each other, i guess?

sighs. this is not providing me much comfort.

“i’m not gonna die. i have to live long enough to kill that man krycek” <- YAAAAAS i cheered!!!! his dogged determination has now been set to bloodlust mode!! hey, whatever keeps you alive!!!

mystery man sneaks mulder a shank he made over two weeks. that is a very dedicated thing to do, and even more profound to spend all that time and then give it to someone else. “it is wonderful- the persistence of life” damn…. bro has me thinking…. life really IS a gift, huh

back to the USA, where scully is tending to the mysteriously ill dr. sachs, who if you need a refresher, was the guy who was cutting into the mystery rock before he was mysteriously paralyzed. his blood looks a bit thickened (gag) and also there is something in there. EW!!! EW 

EW NASTY WORMS ATTACHED TO A GLAND IN HIM?!?!?!?!

no no no don’t care for that thank you!!!

in virginia, some people get on a bus, including an old man who is eating an apple. they are going to charlottesville. 

also there are some horses. the apple man snuck onto a farm with horses. IS IT GONNA BE THE WELL-GROOMED MAN’S FARM???

is it the russian guy??? well, he introduces himself as “vassily peskow” which seems to answer that question. 

(in googling this to make sure i spelled his name right, i saw that he has something to do with "the syndicate"- is that the official name of the group i have been referring to as the UN alien people for 3 seasons now?!)

he is speaking to the woman who we earlier saw give that stuff to auntie janet, but he has come to see her! her name is dr. charne-sayre, and while i know nothing about her besides her willingness to euthanize her aunt, she seems to have handled a strange old man showing up and touching her horses quite well, because personally i would be throwing hands.

OH!!! HE STARTS CHOKING HER?? the horses are neighing with fury. 

what… did i just see…

scully! at home!!! so pretty….

skinner is behind her!!! he is MAD! he has been trying to get ahold of her all day! well, she was busy??? cut a girl some slack???

he says she owes him some answers about this mystery pouch. he is maaaad! he has to testify tomorrow!! he harbored a known felon!!! ooo he’s gonna get in troubleeeee

she very calmly explains that the pouch has a rock with some sort of creature in it that she has been trying to figure out all day. she handled his anger quite, well all things considered. never forgetting to say “sir”.

but she doesn’t know where it was supposed to be going. HOWEVER…. skinner does! it was going to dr. charne-sayre!!! 

scully knows who this is!! because she is a nerd. said with heart eyes. dr. charne-sayre is a virologist, who has looked in on presidents and also is an authority on “variola viruses” which means something i’m sure, but it’s a mystery to me

OH! it means smallpox! she has been trying to get people to destroy the last remaining smallpox vials. 

(WAIT IS THAT A THING?? is humanity really keeping some smallpox in some bottles somewhere???? i need to look something up after this and the adjust my levels of panic for biowarfare accordingly.

GOOD NEWS! wikipedia says the last vials were finally destroyed in 2015! that feels like it took too long...

wait. just kidding. it highlighted an irrelevant part of the article. another page says they are still out there, the ones in atlanta and russia that scully refers to in the episode. i feel no relief after all.

the ones that WERE destroyed were 350+ vials of smallpox that had just been lost????? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN???

damn. i need to go down a rabbit hole later that is going to teach me some unsettling things)

anyway, skinner breaks the news that dr. charne-sayre was killed, but blames it on a horse. and i saw what went down and it did not look like any hooves were involved, so idk how tf they came to that conclusion. a choking and hoof marks are not at all comparable??

back to da gulag. a guy kicks mulder and leads him out with a bunch of other men. i find myself wondering about all of the extras there that day, how the filming went. 

UH OH! krycek is up smoking with one of the bigwigs of the gulag!!!! what is he DOING??? the geologist prisoner who gave him the shank says mulder has one chance to kill him, and he pulls out his weapon. OMG HE’S RUNNING FOR IT!!! does he stand a chance?!?

that dude is absurdly fast bro. he gets two solid punches into krycek and steals a truck!!! where is he going!!!

horse vs truck race!!!! who will win??? i hope it’s the truck!!!

so he knocked krycek tf out and took him on the bed of the truck... that is hilarious

i hope all the other prisoners break out too :)

okay, the men on horses are shooting at mulder. krycek wakes up and is slamming the back of the truck. what i want to know is where mulder, who has a famously terrible sense of direction, is driving!!!

he’s trying to hit the brakes but it’s not really working!!! and krycek jumped off!!!! where does he think he’s gonna go 😭😭

no!!! mulder crashes the truck!!! ouch ouch ouch!!

well, instead of resolving that plot line, we jump to the well-groomed man (am i using his name right?) chatting with cancer man in the dark. cancer man bullies him for smoking, as if we don’t only know him as cigarette smoking man or cancer man, but well-groomed man is pissed at cancer man’s various failures!! and wouldn’t you be??

oh!! that person riding the horses- dr. charne-sayre- was well-groomed man’s personal physician! there’s some weird tension between these old men now that he needs the help of cancer man to figure out what went down

“were you sleeping with her?” csm asks, making us all uncomfortable. and well-groomed man doesn’t answer!!!!!!!! EW!!! nasty!!!! he put the mission at risk for his personal pleasure!

damn. hate when cancer man is right about things.

well, i guess they’re both flops at their job. that should unite them rather than pull them apart. 

cancer man asks well-groomed man (and that is definitely going to get confusing quick) to call off "the investigation", which he says he cannot do. but senator sorenson is an honorable man. do we believe him?

i do not. 

somehow, cancer man knows mulder was captured in tunguska and has escaped. i don’t know how this plays into their plan, but cancer man is smirking. suspicious... i hate his creepy smirk.

okay, back to russia. we see the truck that mulder crashed and a bunch of blood on the window, which are not auspicious signs. but no one is in there!!!! the men on horses are baffled!!!

krycek is in the woods, being surrounded by a bunch of people and speaking in russian, claiming to have escaped from the prison camp. they realize from his clothes he is lying about being a prisoner, but they believe that he was accused of spying and take him in?? i guess??

OMG!!! mulder was hiding under a ton of leaves while the men on horses looked for him!!! it was giving a real peeta in the 74th hunger games moment.

so, now we are where we started last episode, with scully swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help her god. and she is reading her prepared statement. people are passing notes as she does so. and then they are rude as hell and cut her off. 

skinner is watching all of this go down, and as she tears into the culture of lawlessness, he does look like he kinda wants to die. but i think she’s serving. 

OMG!!!! they’re taking her to jail!!!! she said idgaf i am NOT giving up mulder’s secrets and that is a REAL ASF FRIEND!!! she’s in jail in her kickass outfit and omggggg what a queen… crossing her arms as she stares out the window…. i love her so deeply 

back to russia, where some guy finds mulder under a ton of leaves, and yells at him for breaking his truck. sorry!! it was an accident. he didn’t mean it :(

the woman he is with is gonna tend to him though, because mulder has that sad puppy dog thing going on. 

she knows some english!!! woah!!! this is convenient for plot reasons and also fuels my determination to keep learning another language so i can be the cool side character that saves the day at least once.

she says that they kill everybody for “the test”, and that her husband makes deliveries, so they spare their lives. but now, no truck…

mulder says we need to get tf out of here, the smallpox scar is tracking you. she says there is an alternative, and gestures to her son with no arms. i do not think this is a good alternative. and the husband comes back in with a knife!!! are we gonna have some hand to hand combat…….

krycek is sleeping by a fire, but then a bunch of people come and get him. one of them has a heated knife!!! are we in amputation mode…

oh. he sure is screaming as that knife is going in… yes, it appears we are in amputation mode

scully is in jail, reading the works of dr. charne-sayre, because she is studious even behind bars!!!! i love that about her. highlighter in hand as she ponders. 

skinner comes to see her! “you holding up?” “i’ve got plenty to read” awwww :( skinner cares about her :( big old softie :( and she is gonna read her way through jail :( she’s just so :(

she clarifies that this is NOT just about mulder!!!! this idiotic commission is wasting time asking about mulder and not about the pouch, the murder, the rock, or anything ACTUALLY RELEVANT at all!!! 

“it is my experience that lawyers ask the wrong questions only when they don’t want the right answer” DAMN what kind of lawyers has she dealt with…? probably plenty in her FBI time. but still. she has seen things.

“it is my natural inclination to believe they are acting in the best interest of the truth” aww… she wants to assume the best of these obviously very shady men

“but i am not inclined to follow my own judgement in this case” <- she said y’all are so god awful not even my natural optimism can salvage this (and i love her for knowing her limits)

skinner makes a remark about following mulder’s judgement instead and i can’t tell if he was trying to be hurtful or not…

back to dr. sachs, dealing with his rock induced injury. NO! the russian guy vassily is here! with a needle!!! what does he need that for??? go away!! i like that rock scientist!!

he’s getting this orange fluid in a syringe and he sticks it into dr. sachs and BLEH i cannot look…………. but the slugs!!! the oil slugs!!!!! 

NO!!! he takes the rock and unplugs the machines dr. sachs was on!!! HE CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS 💔

cancer man is explaining that vassily was in the KGB… “how could this be? how could the russians know we were working on our own inoculation?” asks well-groomed man, “six of us knew!” 

an anti-alien vaccine! this could be useful,,, maybe? idk.

cancer man is tasked with finding vassily… but he says someone might save him the trouble

cut to scully back in front of the fancy congress slash senator slash corrupt government people…. she has had time to think about the question she was asked.

and she says she cannot answer! she keeps listing off things she can answer instead, but not about this!

OH! MULDER APPEARS!!! “answer the question miss scully!” (mulder voice) “what is the question?”

YEAHHHHH THAT’S MY GUY!!!

HER REACTION TO HIS VOICE… the little orchestral flourish… his beat up face… his stupid smirk. wait i have to rewatch this. LOOK AT HER FACE WHEN SHE SEES HIM!!!

she says that the death of the doctor was connected to the death of the man in skinner’s apartment, and dr. charne-sayre FOR SURE knew information about the virus. and while i am happy for her triumphant moment, skinner walks in and whispers something to her….

dr. sachs has died under suspicious circumstances!!

this is obviously very important, but in the background you can see mulder say something to skinner, and he reacts as if deeply annoyed. lmaoooo we are soooooo back!!

the bigwigs on the council go to recess, and the absolute MILLISECOND that gavel is slammed, these two nerds JUMP UP to see each other, it’s so cute oh my goshhhh it is for sure making my list of favorite moments this season

AWWW AND THEY HUG AND HE SAYS “good to put my arms around you” OHHHHH MY GODDDD OH MY GOOOOD THE WAY HE’S LOOKING AT HER (and the remark about still having both arms she obviously doesn’t understand yet!!!!)

(screaming into my pillow for a solid 30 seconds before composing myself)

skinner jumps in and says “some other time” when she asks how he got back LMAOOO he has had ENOUGH

scully says please skinner let us go to florida for 15 hours please 🙏 it should be quick but if it isn’t please stall for us please sir…. and he’s all “girl just go and be fast about it” (sternly)

okay! so why florida? because that is where one of dr. charne-sayre’s patients at a convalescent home died of a mysterious virus! yes, as we saw in the very beginning!!!!

NO!! vassily is here!!! can he just wander in?? is that allowed? why are people coming and going from this convalescent home…? is there not a sign in process…?

he’s going for the meds. he pockets some meds and replaces them with a decoy. 

“may we come in ma’am?” mulder asks, shoving his way in <- LMAOOOO god that gag gets me every single time 

so they need to look at the elderly, and scully reports that this dude she just walked up to is dead. and he sees another one with the slugs!!!

these people are test subjects, he says!!! and they have to deal this building right now!!

no!!! vassily was laying in a bed and heard all of this!!! what is this mischievous fellow up to???

mulder says all of this can be traced to one man. and scully…. oh my gosh, the side profile, my heart…… 

IS KRYCEK WORKING WITH VASSILY?

scully and mulder go to visit the leader of the militia they busted krycek with at the beginning of last episode. scully looks so good i’m actually going to gnaw my own arm off holy fuck. that blue trench coat and grey suit combo is lethal.

so this criminal is denying finding krycek in a missile silo, and said krycek came to him. looking for help to make “devices”, and talking about this black cancer developed by the soviets, and used in the gulf war. so how did he get out of the silo....

OH! mulder asks where the other “device” (bomb) ended up, and when the militia leader says “i ate it”, he punches this guy in the stomach and puts him in a headlock. and then he says some very out of pocket things i am not going to repeat, but the point is: krycek took the bomb and put it in a storage garage somewhere in terma, north dakota. ah! the name of this episode is finally understandable!

“scully, get on the phone and get the license numbers for any two-ton trucks stolen in north dakota in the last six months, then call canadian border authorities and have them stop any vehicle fitting that description” (said while gazing into her eyes)

(this line killed me for some reason and i can’t even explain it… just such an odd series of commands out of context!)

“someone used krycek, then krycek used us; someone who didn’t want that rock in american hands” ah. so this whole thing has been a set up. you see, i was too busy thinking thoughts like “i hope he gets out of the gulag” and also “man, i hope scully doesn’t go to jail” and “look at how they hugged!” to put that together. sometimes i am a simple viewer making no conclusions about the grander plot at hand! sometimes i am surface level! i am multi-faceted!

vassily is gonna put the rock back in the ground under the guise of fertilizer for his tomatoes 

WOAH!!! agents in a helicopter :0 they look so good….

mulder is trying to scream over the loud noise of the helicopter doing its thing, which i imagine had to be an awful time to film. scully wisely just nods her head instead of attempting to communicate with words.

haha his hair is all messed up from the helicopter… hehehehe…

so he’s looking in the truck for any sort of rocks or bombs or whatnot. he sees some pipes… he is forming conclusions…

scully disembarks from the helicopter, and her hair is all messed up too (my heart!) as she climbs over a fence to get into this refinery. one thing about these two is they are gonna climb some fences!

vassily sees this going down and hides…… mulder is reaching into the pipe…. trying to grab the hidden rock… he is covered in oil!!!!

and it blowed up!!!!!!! 

no!!!! scully sees the explosion,,, and vassily sneaks up behind her and puts her in a chokehold!!! he grabs her gun!!! he says he will kill her but he doesn’t want to? and that his work is done. 

damn, now she’s gotta get a new gun……

she’s RUNNING to mulder who is soaked in oil and has barely escaped the explosion. she is picking him up and then… cutscene to more testimony stuff.

GIRL IS HE OKAY???

i love when they save each other <3 i love when they have to pick each other up and drag each other to safety <3 i love the panicked screaming of the other’s name <3 i love the fast and furious assessment to see if the other is okay <3 i just love these things <3

scully has evidence to present: linking a number of deaths to a biotoxin brought onto US soil! and the man who delivered it also died! and that guy was the man who krycek pushed off skinner’s balcony!

“alex krycek, who is missing and possibly deceased” oh i know better than to believe his ass is dead

the council is whispering… 

they laugh at the idea of extraterrestrials, and mulder also comes to the stand… what is he gonna do…

“why is this so hard to believe?” he asks. hey i know you’ve had a rough go of it man, and there is literally an alien slug in your body, but she was doing so well…

oh! he’s going on and on about how obvious it is that extraterrestrial life forms exist!! and you need to understand this or else you are denying crucial evidence!!!

ah, i see now why the opening text. just as galileo spoke of the earth rotating around the sun but was scorned, so mulder speaks of aliens and is met with disdain. and yet, the earth continues to spin, and the aliens continue to be in his bloodstream.

“this is not why we are here today” “then why ARE we here today?” okay parallels i see you!!!

they recess… and cancer man stands up in the back……..

back to russia, where vassily is returning home, insisting he is retired to someone in his room.

OH! IT’S KRYCEK! WHO IS ADDRESSED AS “COMRAD KRYCEK” bro… he is congratulating vassily on a great job 

and omg… he’s got a prosthetic arm… they really sawed his arm off…

back at DC (home) the senator is reading files and passing them to cancer man, who is tossing them in a bin??? presumably to burn??

HUH! so much for an honorable man.

okay, so much happened here. let me go in order of which thoughts are loudest.

first of all… did they know this was gonna be what they did with krycek from the start? just asking because i want to know if “needs to be fluent in russian” was on the casting call for that role or if they sprung it on him later. because that would be wild.

krycek, working with the soviets… huh. interesting implications.

second. the alien!! there is alien oil slug in krycek AND mulder now!!!! what is that going to do to them? are they gonna turn into living flash bangs like that one lady did in that one episode?? is it gonna slowly kill him? will be and scully slowly die together? i can’t imagine such a horrible thing….

third. their reunion…. damn it, it was so sweet. the way they INSTANTLY got to their feet when the recess was declared… the way he wrapped his arms around her…. oh man. oh man. and the smiles… the smiles……..

so far, s4 has not really been my jam. but this episode was really good and has given me hope that soon we shall be cooking with gas, in terms of both very juicy plot advancement and special agent bonding moments. i mean, come on, lifting him out of that explosion while he was covered in oil??! i cannot get enough of that!!!

is he going to hide that he has an alien slug in him?? is he going to be that guy in the zombie movie who acts like he didn’t get bit?? or is he going to be honest and tell her?? will she try to find a cure? wait, does he even know what happened?? because he was knocked out when all of that went down…

and what about scully’s mystery illness!!!! is she going to be okay?? are they going to be terrified for each other??

okay, okay, one thing at a time.

so, there’s an alien virus in a rock that landed on earth during the tunguska event, and the americans were working on a vaccine to protect against it. but somehow the russians knew about it, and that is likely due to krycek, who was a double agent on like three counts. they killed the leading expert on the virus in order to prevent a vaccine from being developed, and have previously used the virus in biowarfare (so i guess gulf war syndrome is alien slugs in this universe?). the guy that krycek threw off of skinner’s apartment was the one who was meant to receive the rock containing aliens, but was killed, and said virus rock was intercepted by the russians, who are having a sort of cold war 2.0 moment. over alien slug virus. which, if exposed to, will eventually kill you; why it killed dr. sachs and not all of the other men who were at the gulag is a mystery. and to try and protect the americans against this virus, the leading expert, dr. charne-sayre was testing on the elderly. and cancer man wants to cover up all of the evidence which scully and mulder have presented linking all of the deaths to the rock. 

okay. i think i got most of the lore down.

i want to know what happens next!!! but i am no fool!! i know we will be given random monster of the week episodes which are also excellent but tell me nothing about the plot!!! and now that we’re dealing with alien slugs, i’m wondering, what about the actual little green men? where do they come in? is this a third type of alien? because we have the little green men we’ve seen glimpses of, sometimes mixed with human DNA; we’ve got the aliens that were clones from that species with the poison blood and can only be killed with the needle to the neck; and then these alien slugs. and also a few other random non-central to the plot alien life forms, like the ones in firewalker and ice.

where is the common thread?? how can they tie all of these up?? would tying all of these mysteries up even be satisfying?? or is it better to let some things be a mystery?? did chris carter have plans for all of this overarching stuff, or was he making it up as he went?

so many questions! but for me, basking in the warmth of their hug is my highlight 

[kabie-whump]

✧･ﾟRipe, About to Fall - Part 5 ✧･ﾟ

This is an 18+ slowish burn pet-whump story with added romance.

Title from ‘Liquid Smooth’ by Mitski

Series Description and Warnings Masterlist, First, Previous Chapter Summary: Ventis gets better, and Onthyes takes risks. Chapter Content: Pretty light chapter. Suggestiveness towards the end and general mentions of abuse, exploitation, and objectification. Fingers in mouth, mentions of choking/lack of gag reflex. Mention of wanting to die.

Onthyes does not belong to me. He was created by my wonderful gf @sapphicccici and I have kidnapped him.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

“I won’t do it.”

That was the conclusion that Athos reached after an hour of pacing Ventis’s bedroom, deep in thought.

“Releasing him may preserve his spirit, but he simply would not survive without me. He needs me. There must be other ways to heal his spirit, and I will find them.”

Onthyes just listened silently, pouring all of his energy into hiding his disappointment with Athos’s decision.

“Keep watching him, Onthyes. Alert me if anything changes.”

With that Athos swept out of the room, leaving Onthyes alone with Ventis.

Onthyes sat at the edge of Ventis’s bed, staring down at the genasi. He wondered how much of all this he had heard. Did he know what was killing him? Did he know that Athos was making the deliberate choice to not fix it?

“Ventis,” Onthyes whispered, watching the genasi stir at the sound of his voice. “I’d like to take you outside again.”

Ventis’s eyes cracked open, fixing Onthyes with a half-hearted glare.

“I know you didn’t like it, but… you were dying. I took you outside because I didn’t want you to spend your last moments in here. And then you got better, right before my eyes. Something about being outside fixed you.”

“It hurt,” Ventis rasped.

“I know. But it helped. You could die otherwise.”

“Then let me die.”

Onthyes’s breath hitched. He could see why someone in Ventis’s position might want to die, but he hadn’t expected him to say it so easily. “No. I can’t do that.”

Groaning, Ventis made a weak effort to sit up. Onthyes rushed to help him, placing a pillow behind his back.

“All you do is talk about how badly you want to save me,” Ventis hissed. Talking was taking a lot out of him, leaving his chest heaving for air, but he pressed on. “But you refuse to let me go. What I want doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match what you want for me.”

“Ventis.” Onthyes took his hand slowly, giving him time to pull away if he wanted. “I want you to live because I have hope for you. I believe that you can make it out of this; that you still have a chance of having your own life away from Athos.”

Ventis wouldn’t look at him. “You’re too late. It would be no different from freeing a statue.”

Onthyes could tell that he really believed that. Three years of constant drugging and conditioning had made him see himself as nothing more than an object.

“Would you let me try to prove you wrong?”

A long, painful silence.

“Alright. Do what you wish. I do not care.”

That wasn’t what Onthyes wanted to hear, but he would take it if it gave him a chance to save Ventis.

Athos returned later with a pile of books, declaring that all Ventis needed was some good old fashioned escapism. He took on the task of reading to Ventis, giving the characters voices and everything. Onthyes almost could’ve found it sweet if he wasn’t aware of every other detail of their relationship.

That night, Ventis got bad again and Onthyes picked him up as he gasped and shuddered and snuck him out to the beach again. It went similarly to the first time. First, Ventis got better, the wind and stars filling him with new energy. Then, he got bad in a different way. Every caress of the breeze against his bare skin made his breaths hitch on sobs and soon he bagan to beg quietly for Onthyes to take him inside.

Onthyes didn’t understand. It was so peaceful out here. Why was it causing so much pain?

He tried to hold out. Ventis got progressively more upset, but he also got stronger by the minute. Onthyes did his best to hold him and whisper words of comfort for as long as possible, but the constant crying got to him eventually and he carried Ventis back to his bedroom.

The next morning, Athos was overjoyed to see Ventis able to sit up and eat on his own.He had glowed with pride, going on and on to Onthyes about how his plan had worked and he might as well call himself a scholar on the ways of genasi. Onthyes and Ventis shared a knowing look, but they said nothing.

And just like that, Ventis started to get better.

Onthyes came to look forward to their little nightly escapes, especially as Ventis seemed to adapt to the pain of being outside until it seemed to be only mildly uncomfortable.

“It’s bearable now,” Ventis admits one night.

They’re sitting side by side on the sand, staring out at the waves as they kiss the shore in silver lines of foam. Ventis’s hair and scales glow brighter in the moonlight, healthier.

“It's just a reminder, I think. Of the things I’ve lost. I’d forgotten what the wind feels like. I didn’t know I missed it until it was on my skin. It’s like a physical ache. Here.” He gestures at his chest. “But it's bearable now.”

“You speak so informally when it’s just me around.”

Ventis tensed, his breath catching.

“Sorry,” Onthyes said quickly. “I didn’t mean… sorry.” He hadn’t meant to make that observation out loud. It was true though. Ventis’s speech - when he was allowed to speak - was always so formal around Athos or anyone else. But when it was just him and Onthyes he seemed to relax somewhat.

“It’s alright. I hadn’t noticed. You bring my guard down. No clue why.”

Onthyes couldn’t help but smile. “Sorry,” he said again. “I’m not doing it on purpose.”

Ventis returned his smile - toothy with a peek of fang, not anything like the sweet, demure smile he used on Athos. “Well cut it out anyway, Ventura. It’s dangerous.”

Onthyes’s heart did a strange little flip in his chest. Oh no. “I won’t hurt you. You can let your guard down with me.”

The wind carried Ventis’s laugh on it, not muting it but making it echo unnaturally. The signs of his elemental blood were nothing but visual inside the manor. But out here, underneath the vast expanse of sky, he seemed to meld with the breeze before Onthyes’s eyes.

“I know. It’s you I worry about. Athos can be… protective. And he’s already suspicious that you might be interested in me. If your father wasn’t captain of the city guard you would be out of here already I’m sure.”

“I’m not… interested in you. Not like that.” Sure, images of Ventis’s beauty kept him up at night, but he would never pursue anything. It would just feel wrong, knowing what he knows.

“Uh huh,” Ventis hums disbelievingly. “Everyone’s interested in me. It’s what I’m for.”

“No it’s not.”

Ventis’s eyes widened at the conviction behind Onthyes’s voice. “That’s very sweet of you to say, blondie. But it is my purpose. It’s undeniable. There’s a very long contract somewhere with my name at the bottom that lays it out quite clearly.”

“A contract?”

“It’s a piece of paper. A legally binding written agreement between two parties.”

Onthyes laughed, elbowing Ventis lightly. “I know what a contract is. I just didn’t realize there’s one between you and Athos.”

“What did you expect? Were you imagining some sort of violent kidnapping? I signed my own life away in exchange for drugs. This is all I am now.”

“He said he found you on the streets. You were high. You were vulnerable. He took advantage of you.”

“Please, Onthyes.” Ventis seemed to shrink into himself, pulling his knees to his chest. “Just don’t. I brought this on myself. It’s… easier to let myself believe that. It hurts less.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll drop it.”

Ventis’s fingers found the space between their bodies, pressing indents into the sand. He was quiet for a long moment before he broke the silence again. “Can we go inside now? I’ve had enough.”

“Of course. Let’s go.”

⋄✧⋄

A week later, Ventis was officially healthy again and Athos was considering publishing a book on genasi physiology. Onthyes was glad to see him feeling better, but at the same time he knew he would miss their nightly escapes. He felt like he had become privy to so many of Ventis’s secrets.

Ventis loved poetry. He’d always been naturally gifted at music and writing, but he couldn’t produce a sketch or painting to save his own life. Onthyes had made him prove it, asking him to draw a horse in the sand, and the product had left them both rolling on the ground, tearful with laughter. He used to ride, apparently. Dressage. His father hadn’t approved of such an impractical equestrian style, which was exactly why Ventis had practiced it. His horse’s name was Willow, but he had been forced to leave her back at his home kingdom and he didn’t even know if she was still alive.

Onthyes had asked him about his family. About if they knew anything of his whereabouts. Ventis’s expression had gone stormy, and he had quickly ended that line of conversation.

His eyes weren’t purple. They were a blue sky with pale pink constellations, and they blended to a plesent lilac from far away. His horns hadn’t always been so smooth and porcelain-like. Athos had had the texture filed away years ago.

Flashes of fangs accompanied by echoing laughter. Wrinkles that formed around his scales when he frowned. A scar on his arm from when he’d cut himself falling from a ladder in his family’s library as a child.

Onthyes was in trouble.

He stood at the edge of Athos’s lush courtyard, sweating in his armor on the hot day. Athos and Ventis sat nearby; Ventis at Athos’s feet like always while the man fed him fresh fruit by hand. Ventis’s lips lingered on Athos’s fingers, but Onthyes has learned to recognize the emptiness behind the look of mindless admiration he always fixed his master with.

“Come sit with us, Onthyes,” Athos called over his shoulder.

Onthyes did as he was told, taking a seat next to Athos on the couch.

“Would you like to feed him?”

Onthyes felt himself flushing under his helmet. “I’m alright, sir.”

“Oh please, I insist.” Athos held out the bowl of fruit expantly.

When Athos insists on something, there is no denying it.

Onthyes removed his glove and used a nearby pitcher of water to clean his hand off before he selected a piece of mango from the bowl. Ventis stared up at him expectantly, opening his mouth. His pupils were heavily dilated. Onthyes doubted he even knew what was going on, but that familiar emptiness was nowhere to be found as their eyes met.

Juice dribbled down his chin as Ventis took the mango and chewed with a satisfied hum. Onthyes wiped the sticky trail away with his thumb tenderly before he could stop himself.

Athos hummed, and Onthyes was unable to miss the disapproving tone. That had been a test. He hadn’t performed well.

“An interesting tidbit about air genasi for you,” Athos said as if nothing had happened. “They don’t need to breathe. It’s completely optional. And since they do not need to breathe, they also do not have an evolutionary reason to have a gag reflex. Observe.”

Athos took Ventis’s chin in one hand. Ventis opened his mouth obediently as Athos pushed two fingers between his lips until his third knuckles disappeared completely. Drool dripped from the corners of Ventis’s mouth, but otherwise he didn’t react aside from a flick of his tired eyes towards Onthyes.

Onthyes swallowed hard, pushing away a wave of discomfort from the display. “Fascinating, sir,” he said blankly.

Athos laughed, withdrawing his fingers and wiping spit on a cloth napkin. “Is that all you think? We’re friends, Onthyes. You may be honest.”

Another test. He could see that even without Ventis shaking his head ever so slightly outside of Athos’s line of sight.

Onthyes knew what he really thought. Despite his disgust with the way Ventis was treated, that information definitely invited some… images. He was only a man, after all. He hoped the redness of his face could be excused by the heat.

“I can imagine the uses of such a skill,” Onthyes admitted. “I’m sure you’re very proud to have him at your disposal.”

Athos laughed again, his teeth shining unnaturally white in the sun. “I will catch you lacking someday. Back to your post.”

Onthyes returned to his place against the wall quickly.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Part 6

Ventisposting taglist (aka a list of people who i want to bake cookies for):

@scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @yeetmyskeet @rainydaywhump

[bvlladonnas]

is that OSCAR ISAAC ? oh, no, that’s OLIVER AYALA, a FORTY-THREE year old OWNER OF INHERITED ESCAPES who uses HE/HIM pronouns. they currently live in CASABLANCA and the character they identify with most is OBI-WAN KENOBI FROM STAR WARS. hopefully they find their own little paradise here in el país de los poetas!

BASICS:

full name: oliver ricardo ayala  nickname(s): oli, ricky (by his mother)  age: forty-three gender: cis man  pronouns: he/him sexuality: very fluid, doesn't particularly enjoy labels  date & place of birth: june 30 in guatemala city, guatemala occupation: owner of inherited escapes faceclaim: oscar isaac piercings: one lobe piercing on each ear he got just to feel something at age 20 traits: kind, welcoming, wise, snarky, closed-off, pessimistic similar to: obi-wan kenobi (star wars), george bailey (it's a wonderful life), tony stark (iron man), dean winchester (supernatural), han solo if he had swag and calmed down a little, jim halpert (the office)  aesthetics: late night coffee, tea with milk, books with worn edges, round reading glasses, gold jewelry, merlot, baseball caps, & vintage cars

* warning for alcoholism, parentification, & parent death

BULLET POINTS:

– born in guatemala city, guatemala; had a lot of siblings and had to grow up pretty quickly to help take care of them, especially since they weren't the wealthiest and his parents had to work. – his main model of a relationship growing up was his mom & dad, which ... not great. his father was a mean, mean man, and drowned himself in a bottle most days. he left when oliver was twelve years old, and from then on oliver was considered the man of the house (this action will have consequences)  – had to sacrifice a lot of his own personal growth and happiness for his family. while his siblings, especially his younger brother, got to go to school dances, out with their friends, and even to college, oliver was stuck, stagnant – eventually (sometime around oliver's 25th birthday) his father contacted him and asked him to come visit him in chile, where he resided and had opened up a small bookstore (what would become inherited escapes as it is today) – oliver denies him immediately, but after mulling it over, he decides to go. it strains him and his mother's relationship, but it's fixable – his dad is dying, and the new family he created in chile is of no help. having fallen into the same patterns, he's created children who resent him, and a wife who no longer speaks to him unless necessary. he asks oliver to come live there, to take over the bookstore when he dies – again, oliver denies him, but it eats at him. the more he thinks the more he wants to go, to finally do something for himself. by the time his dad dies, the last of his siblings is nearing eighteen and he could, feasibly, make the move. – a blowout fight with his mom is what triggers him to leave; she says he doesn't do anything for them, that he'll leave them when they need him most. he realizes that with his siblings now adults or nearing adulthood, he doesn't need to play parent anymore (and realizes he never should have had to play parent in the first place). – up and moves to chile at 26, becomes the owner of his father's bookstore; his other family puts up no contest. – renames it to inherited escapes and fashions it into a booming business that people actually come to see when they hear about it. – now runs the business full time and lives in the pretty spacious apartment above. it's weird for him, to continue the legacy of a man he hated so much, but that's why he changed the name, right?

HEADCANONS:

— does not believe in love. how can he when his parents' relationship sucked so bad ? – as a child and young adult drowned himself in books and escaped to new worlds to forget his situation at home. could often be found under a sheet with a flashlight reading at 2 am – as a result thinks no love will ever be able to compare to what's written in stories – hosts the bookclub at inherited escapes ! – accidentally adopts little nerds all the time ... sorry about it – secret hopeless romantic – loves trash tv. could tell you everything about the selling sunset universe and why alex hall needs to be jailed – kind of sassy like ... calm down old man??? – dry sense of humor

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

— i'm plotting. i'm scheming. i'm masterminding (i don't fucking know i'll be back here soon) – actually i lied. here the fuck i am. who is going to verify his belief love SUCKS. could be sad and also a bit unserious – who is he adopting like a stray kitten outside of his store. who is the child he is giving free drinks and going "you'd like this book here take it" – WHO IS IN HIS BOOK CLUB.  – who is going to make him believe maybe love does exist .... ooooh drama .... – whose face is he playing in lmao. "i don't want anything serious" is his favorite sentence like ...

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Shenanigans at the pride parade

This oneshot I wrote for today is based on a little comic that I drew a year ago. Those of you who remember the comic might be familiar of the events in this story.

Read on ao3 or under the cut.

“Do we have everything with us?” Francesca asked.

“We got everything in my bag!” Violetta assured her. “Except for a change of clothes, cause it wouldn’t fit.”

“Aw, but if we don’t pack extra clothes it might be this specific time that we’re gonna need it.”

“Ok, but… it’s just a 10 minute walk, isn’t it? Worst case scenario, we have to go home and change.”

“True…” Francesca then turned to the kids. “Are you ready to go?”

“Weady, mama!” Carolina exclaimed. “Wook, I wew a wainbow!”

The three year old happily showed her little crooked rainbow she drew with markers on her arm. 

“That is very nice, dear.”

“Do we need a stroller?” Violetta asked.

“Hmm… it takes up a lot of space,” Francesca said.

“It does. Wait, I got a better idea!”

She picked up their son Oliver, who recently had turned 1, and put him on her shoulders. Oliver giggled at being so high up. 

“I wanna be up too, mami!” Carolina exclaimed.

“I can put you on my shoulders!” Francesca said, picking her up. 

“Now we’re just waiting for the four year old,” Violetta said.

“I’m almost five!” Elina shouted, running up to them. 

“Yes, you’re a big girl. We’re going now.”

“And I’m saying this now to you, girls,” Francesca said. “There’s gonna be a lot of people there, so I want you to stay close to us, ok?” She looked especially at her oldest daughter.

“Pwomise!” Carolina exclaimed.

“I promise,” Elina said, “But aren’t you gonna say that to Oliver, too?”

“Oliver is just a baby, and I will hold him all the time,” Violetta explained. “He can’t escape even if he wants to!”

“We need to go, chop chop!” Ludmila said, clapping her hands. 

“We want our child back, Cami!” Naty called.

Camila came out, smiling. “I have a surprise!”

She moved aside, to show Ludmila and Naty’s daughter Stella toddle up in a rainbow dress and flowers in her hair. Along with Stella was Camila’s kid Kim, who wore rainbow overalls, but also had flowers in their hair.

“I’m dying!” Ludmila exclaimed, almost forming tears. “Naty, get the camera!”

“Mama, what’s a pride parade anyway?” Kim asked.

“It’s a parade where we walk around with rainbows. We’re showing that people, and families can look different and that we have a right to exist!”

“Yes, did you know, a lot of years ago, two moms were not allowed?” Naty asked. “We’re celebrating that we can now, and showing people that it’s okay!”

“I weaw a wainbow!” Stella exclaimed, jumping.

“Yes, you’re so cute, darling.”

Maxi and Andres were nervous. This was the first time they were gonna go out on an event with their twins.

Their twin boys, Tommy and Daniel, were just six months old and their dads had dressed them up for the occasion. They had now put them in baby carriers as they finished their own outfits.

“Is this rainbow tie too much?” Andres asked. 

“Of course not! You look so classy!”

“I hope the boys won’t think I’m embarrassing…”

Maxi chuckled. “Andres… if they still poop their pants on the regular without a care, they don’t have the ability to feel embarrassment for you over anything.”

“You’re right. Also, speaking of that, I think I forgot the diaper bag!”

“Andres, we’re home, and I’m holding it. It’s gonna be fine.”

“They’re gonna be the fanciest babies there!”

“Yep!”

“She’s gonna be the fanciest baby there!” Yam exclaimed, holding up Charlie. She had sewn a special suit for her. 

“I don’t know if she’s much of a baby now when she’s 2,” Jim said. 

“Both she and Lola are babies!”

“I’m not a baby!” Lola yelled. “I’m four!” To prove her point, she held up four fingers. 

“By the way, Loli, I need to write on your arm,” Jim said, grabbing a marker.

“Are you gonna write something fun?”

“I’m gonna write our phone number.”

“Why?”

“In case you disappear from us. There’s a big crowd.”

“If you get away from us, please find an adult,” Yam chimed in, “Preferably someone with kids. They can see the number on your arm, and call us.”

“Okay…”

As Violetta and Francesca arrived with their kids, they tried to immediately find their friends.

“Cami said she’d be here somewhere…” Francesca said, checking her phone.

“Mami, I don’t want you holding my hand,” Elina said.

“I have to hold your hand so that you don’t disappear,” Violetta said.

“But I won’t! Mamiiiiiiii!”

“Wait a little bit, Elina. We need to find Camila first.”

“Girls!” someone exclaimed. Francesca and Violetta looked up. Camila was waving from afar. 

They went up to her. 

“Hi!” Violetta said, “Oh, you look great!”

“And me?” Kim asked, holding their mom’s hand.

“Yes, you look really good too!”

“Does your mom force you to hold her hand, too?” Elina asked Kim.

“I want to hold mama’s hand!” Kim answered with a grin. 

“Look at Oliver!” Camila said, “Oh, he’s so cute!” She tickled his chin. “Are you cute? Are you up on your mommy’s shoulders?”

Oliver giggled and cooed at her. 

“Hey, if anyone’s kid is the cutest, it’s ours!” Ludmila yelled, announcing her presence by saying that.

Everyone turned to her and Naty. Ludmila was proudly holding up three year old Stella. 

“Aww, look at her dress!” Francesca said.

“I made it,” Camila said with a wink.

“I WEW A WAINBOW ON MY AWM!” Carolina screamed, proudly holding up her arm.

“Yes, she drew a rainbow on her arm,” Francesca translated, if anyone couldn’t hear the toddler-speak. 

“That’s a nice rainbow!” Naty said, “You’re an artist, Carolina!”

“Hello!” Maxi called. Him and Andres walked up to them, their twins in baby carriers. 

“OH MY GOD!” Camila gasped. “Noo! Ok, you two won the baby pride outfits!”

“No, I won!” Kim pouted, stomping their foot on the ground.

“You’re not a baby, dear.”

“They look so peaceful in their baby carriers!” Violetta said. 

In the middle of the adults talking, Elina took this as an opportunity to let go of her mother’s hand. She then slowly walked backwards, hoping no one would see her.

“Woah, so many people here!” Lola exclaimed excitedly.

“That’s why you need to be close to us at all times,” Jim reminded her. 

“Tell Charlie that!”

Yam, who was carrying Charlie, put her down on the ground. Immediately, Charlie started whimpering and put her hands up, wanting to be held again. Yam picked her up again. “See, I don’t think we need to worry about your sister.”

“I wanna walk around!” Lola pouted.

“We are,” Jim assured her. “Just hold my hand, and we’re gonna go around.”

“I don’t wanna hold your hand!”

“Okay… but stand next to me.”

They walked around for a bit, looking at the other people there. There was a lot of cheering, a lot of rainbows and a lot of fun outfits. Lola was mesmerized by all of the outfits she saw people wear.

“Mama, can you make me that? And that too?”

“Of course, dear.”

Lola jumped up and down in excitement.

“She’s gonna fall asleep on the way home from all the energy she released today,” Jim told Yam discreetly. Yam nodded. 

“Hey, is that Luna?” Yam asked, pointing at someone further away.

“I think it is!”

As her moms were busy looking for their friend, Lola saw this as a perfect opportunity to run off.

“Wait, no…” Jim said. “That’s not Luna. But it really did look like her from behind!”

“It really did!”

“Now…” Jim looked around. “Lola?”

Yam turned to her. “Jimena, where’s our child?”

“She was… right here!”

They looked at each other worryingly.

Lola felt like she was as fast as Rainbow Dash - she had been seeing an old show called Friendship is Magic and there was a pegasus there named Rainbow Dash. Maybe if she ran fast enough she’d become her.

But she didn’t feel like a pony. She felt like a lion. A lion running fast.

Suddenly, and without warning, she crashed into someone. Another girl, around her age.

The two looked at each other for a moment. Lola was lying on top of her. They catched their breaths for a moment, before Lola came back to reality.

“I’m a lion!” she roared.

“Oh!” the girl replied. “I’m a cheetah!”

The two stood up and started to make animal sounds at each other. 

“I’m gonna get you!” Lola growled, while grinning.

“No, because I’m a cheetah and so I’m really fast!” 

“Rawr! We’ll see about that!”

Lola was about to jump on her, when someone grabbed her by her armpits.

“No running away!” Jim scolded her. “I’m gonna carry you for the rest of the day if you keep this up!”

At the same time, the other girl’s mother grabbed her hand.

“I told you to hold my hand!” Violetta muttered. 

“But-” the girl said.

“No buts, Elina. You’re coming with me.”

Elina. What a nice name, thought Lola.

Jim carried Lola away, as Violetta dragged away Elina.

But the two girls, like Kovu and Kiara in The Lion King 2, looked at each other as their parents got them further away from each other. Only that, instead of scaredly saying “goodbye”, they just smirked and stuck their tongue out at each other.

Lola hoped she’d meet Elina again.

Elina hoped the same. 

Their separate mothers considered putting leashes on them.

[vancilocs]

i think i have enough ideas for another lore dump (details subject to change obvi)

so. third kingdom. kinda turmoilic

about 30 years or so ago there was this violent thronestealing plot that happened. there was king, and queen, and the heir to the throne and probably some younger siblings, but in one night some usurper cousin or a more distant relative snuck in and slayed pretty much everyone; except the heir managed to escape with like a handful of servants (and her own porcelain bodyguard). she was like 13-14 at this point. also trans, but not out yet, except to her bodyguard. this is relevant.

(she had a bit of a teenage crush on him, not in any real way, more like youre really cool and nice and oh no puberty got my brain scrambled)

but the escape was really narrow and while trying to get out the servants got picked off and the bodyguard held his own final stand and stayed behind to let the heir escape. so she had to run off all by her lonesome.......

she wandered the countryside for a bit to get as far away as she could and through some avenues she ended up in contact with Skullface whos?? a general nogooder??? has a skull for a face??? (and she/he pronouns. whats her agab? its a secret) who promised that hed help her take the throne back and take revenge on her relatives, if shed in turn make him an advisor/give her another high rank in her court. she agreed bc why not, she was a tormented teenager who wanted revenge in any way

thus began the training. it was p easy to hide away bc the new monarchs goons were looking for a prince, the eejits, so she just went by the name she had already picked for herself (also skullface shaved off the horn over her eye/covered the mark and her dragon eye with bandages to further hide her identity. shes a poor injured girl leave her alone. dyed her red hair probably too, it was quite distinctive) and began training sword and magic both

maybe a decade passes and skullface has molded her into a right meanie, while also working on his own to collect willing people to help her overtake the castle. the new monarch wasnt very liked overall.

(now skullfaces original plan was to basically use her and groom her into being his puppet on the throne BUT he grew to genuinely care for her and now truly wishes the best for her and only wants to be by her side to help. not quite a surrogate parent, more like your parents cool sibling? theyre partners in crime)

so they storm the castle one night. princess stabs people and skullface blasts them with magic (first_4_notes_of_megalovania.mp3) and the peasants and knights theyve rallied help also. princess stabs her cousin/whatever to death and retakes the throne. yahoo

and in the basement they find her porcelain bodyguard. hes basically been there for 10 years (since he was 14 or so) for the castles new occupants to torment - basically chained him down there and gave him a sword and people would go fight him for fun. mans turned semiferal atp. but when princess shows up he recognizes her, knows her real name bc she told him all those years ago, and he does an argos from the odyssey and dies in her arms immediately after.

shes inconsolable obviously, that was the Only Thing remaining of her past happy life, her family is gone, her friends are gone, the usurpers destroyed all the stuff that reminded her of home, paintings burned furniture destroyed history books torn etc. also that was her FRIEND

so she delves a bit into necromancy with skullfaces reluctant help, and drags him back to the land of the living (not super well, but somewhat). hes mangled, needs some prostheses probably or at least joint braces, has nightmares and short-term memory issues. tends to cut off at his death and after that everythings a bit hazy. but he remembers his liege and loves her, appreciates her coming back like he knew she would, is her bodyguard again like the old times.

sometimes she kinda regrets it tho, was it fair to bring him back like that? she didnt ask him, hes been through so much, didnt he deserve to rest? but he seems happy so she guesses its ok. he says its ok. also wonders how long the magic will hold up, will he stick around forever now?

(hes doing ok. most people dont really like him bc hes a zombie but some dont mind. im p sure he even has a kid, but for some reason isnt together with the mom anymore. probably bc her family wont let her marry an undead. but im not entirely sure bc why would her familys opinion matter when she could just live at the castle since he has a very prestigious position anyways)

anyway shes slightly tormented. but she has friends. shes got bodyguard, and skullface as her trusty advisor and support, but also shes got a wife and kids, And shes fairly close with fenrir. him and konoe did offer support for her taking her old home back. konoe is a good help when it comes to political knowledge and aid, but shes had good talks with fenrir abt grief and how daunting it feels to suddenly be a ruler. when fenrir lost his kid she even came to visit to offer her condolences.

other ppl in the castle include a giant snake tail woman. mothman probably also.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep3: The Chute

I hadn't watched this one since it originally aired. It's not one I disliked, per se, it's just one I didn't enjoy, since it's not any fun to watch your favorite space bros get put through horrors. Looking at it through a more critical lens as an adult, though, I can at least appreciate it more than I could as a 9 year old kid, who was experiencing it more viscerally as something bad happening to characters I liked.

This was a pretty big episode for Harry, since most of the focus was on him for the first time since season 1. Less so for Tom, because he was basically dying from a stab wound for most of it, but their friendship was the main theme of the episode.

I didn't like the cold open starting right in the prison setting, since it felt like playing catch up to figure out the context of what was happening. I'm sure they were going for shock value for the audience, presumably because they thought it would mirror the characters disorientation, but the characters would have had some context for where they were from the events that preceded being sent there. I would have liked to have had a scene on the planet, so we get the sense of surprise and dread as one minute everything is fine, then the next minute they're hauled away. (And it really should have been an actual away mission- are they kidding us that it was shore leave?! Seriously?! The Captain just let the crew beam down to some unknown planet without knowing anything of their society or their laws?? Did everyone simply forget that time on the Enterprise when they did that, and a bunch of half-naked blonde people tried to kill Wesley Crusher for stepping on a plant?? Really?!)

But we just get exposition dialog instead, and find out about the implants in ther heads that make everyone more violent, and we find out that Tom apparently just carries a knife around when he goes on shore leave?? What?? Maybe he's meant to have stolen it from another inmate, idk, but that probably should have been explained, since that's very much not a Starfleet thing. (I mean, sure, he's been in prison before, but Federation prison seems more like a nice vacation than a gritty dog eat dog hellscape like this one lol.)

We finally get a little respite from gritty prison hell with some scenes on the ship with Captain Janeway and crew trying to find Tom and Harry (with bonus concerned B'Elanna- I love that she's become bffs with Harry and Tom now, aww).

Anyway, Tom saves Harry from becoming some other prisoner's bitch, I guess?? It's never actually clear what exactly the other guy wants Harry for, but in the context of actual prisons, one can imagine what they'd want the young pretty boy for, ew. But Tom makes it very clear that Harry is his bitch belongs to him (nope, still sounds pretty gay, lol die mad about it Berman!) and they plot an escape. Harry tries to rewire the chute they came in through, but Tom gets stabbed defending him, and 100s of whump fics on Ao3 were born now Harry is the one who has to take care of Tom.

They make an alliance with the resident crazy manifesto guy so he'll let them share his shelter (though why any of them need a shelter when they're indoors is a bit of mystery- y'all are all under one roof dudes, just pick any corner, you don't need a tent over you, it's not gonna rain inside a room!! The ceiling doesn't have weather patterns!! Lol wtf??) and he tries to convince Harry to give up on Tom and let him die to save himself, which Tom, who loves risking his life to save other people every other episode, does too. But of course, even starving and beaten and with an agression chip in his head, Harry would never do that to his bff. One of the things I feel worked in this episode was seeing Harry get put in this truly awful situation, and never break. For all he's the inexperienced baby marshmallow of the Voyager crew, we see him really grit his teeth and fight through it all with his Starfleet ideals held firm. There's a rather nice shot that follows him walking around the prison, and stays on his face as he goes through all the emotions of anger and frustration and doubt as he struggles to ignore manifesto guy's defeatism and stick to his course of saving himself and Tom. It's a really nice moment where we get to see that sweet little Harry actually has an iron will underneath it all.

And of course, the scene where he takes care of Tom while he's sitting there dying is just heartbreakingly tender. When Tom gets so sick that he stops being self-sacrificing and tells Harry not to leave him, it's hurts, for Harry and for us. Of course it spurs Harry on to take on an entire prison to protect him, but luckily, their mom comes to pick them up in the nick of time- Captain Janeway has been working to track them down, and when diplomacy fails, she opts for a prison break. She jumps right in there with a rifle to get her boys home- and it's honestly glorious. Prudently, she did bring back up, but tbh, you believe this one tiny woman could terrify a horde of violent men singlehandedly. All hail our badass space mom!

In the last scene back home on Voyager, Harry is visibly still shaken, as anyone would be. Tom is chatting away normally, as if he hadn't just been on death's door, because he knew he had Harry to get him through it. Which is very sweet, but honestly it felt a little too shallow, given the circumstances. Tom was mind controlled, starved, stabbed, and almost died, that's some pretty traumatic stuff he should be processing, it shouldn't be cutesy time at that point yet. If they wanted the cute ending, why do this story? Why did they have to go through hell just to say 'hey, I appreciate you being my friend and looking out for me'?? And if they really wanted to do this story- at least have the characters process the trauma, and like, give each other a hug, for crying out loud!

I couldn't get away from the feeling that this whole story was kind of predicated on an underlying toxic masculine sensibility that men can only express love and devotion to another man if one or both of them are dying. It reminded me of that art piece I've seen around, the one that says something to the effect of 'you construct elaborate rituals to touch the skin of other men'. Which also reminds me thematically of another Voyager ep that's coming up later, where Captain Janeway goes through this elaborate ritual and puts herself through trials she didn't really need to because she thinks you're supposed to suffer to gain the prize or knowledge you need. This episode felt like that, on a meta level- while I appreciated highlighting the unshakeable bond between Harry and Tom, why did we have to put them through hell, and mind control, starve, beat and almost kill them, to do it? It's not pleasant to watch, and I never have rewatched in all these years till now, because whatever good there was here- and there was some good- it didn't feel justified, in a way. I knew Tom and Harry loved each other and would do anything for each other already, without having to torture them to get them to show it. And I have to believe that by the 24th century, we'll have a better society, where men can tell other men how much they love them without having to suffer to justify it.

[oh-surprise-its-me]

MAC don't throw h/c at me and leave!!

I need more!

I need more of rin thinking he never escaped his father, he's still a young boy and his father will get angry because he's sick. Ron will never find the strength to leave, he will probably be dead in a couple of years if he's lucky, never meet Chris, the man he obviously dreamed because he's too good for him. He will never be that close to his tommy, he wants to, but he'll never get old enough for that.

But it was a good dream, a nice one, he would like to stay in that dream a little longer if he could. It would mean not waking up in the not dream life, and Tommy would be sad, but he likes the dream, and Tommy's there. tom and Chris are so terrified they don't know how to make him see that it's not a dream, they saw him feverish, but never like that. Never to the point he can't separate dream and reality

You know I’m always happy to write…

Tw! implied abuse/ some darker thoughts coming from Ron.

It’s only time until his dad forces him up. He guesses he might as well just stay in this dream. He’s warm in a way he never normally is.

Ron looks grown up when he looks around. There’s cowboy hats on the posts of the bed. Huh. Cool. He always did think cowboys were hot.

He keeps looking until he catches sight of a man. He flings himself backwards to escape. He assumes it’s his dad just waiting for him.

“Woah! Ronnie it’s okay baby! Tom will be back in a second.”

Ron starts to cry. Why does this angel sound so worried about him. Did he finally escape? Is he free?

There’s a bang from farther in the house. It makes him jump. Not free. Never free.

A taller blond man walks in with a mug. “Hey hon.”

Ron blinks at him. He knows that accent. “Tommy?”

The man grins at him. “Hey! You back with us?”

Ron stares at the man- no. Tommy. Looks at fake Tommy.

“I’m dreaming huh. Guess this is good as any. But please don’t make me go back I’m sorry.”

The sitting man smacks Tom’s shoulder. “What is he talking about.” Tom shrugs. “Back where Ron?” “Why are you sorry?”

Ron can feel the tears go down his face. “Home. Back to him. I can’t. I won’t. I’ll run. Try to come back here even if it kills me.” Fake Tom slides onto the bed to touch his head. It feels so close to being real.

“I’m sorry because I got sick. Not supposed to be sick. Weak. Can’t be weak. Wasting good time. Miserable disappointing kid.”

He gets a kiss brushed across his head. Ron grabs Tom before he can leave. Figures it might be his only chance to tell Tommy he loves him. “I love you. Always have. If staying here means I won’t see you again though I want to go back. I need my Tommy.”

“Baby you don’t ever have to be sorry.”

Ron turns his head to look at the other man. “You’re an Angel right? Sent to watch me?” The man laughs. “My name is Chris but sure okay.”

Ron nods. Good name. Cute guy for him to imagine up. “You’ll take care of this Tommy right? I’ve gotta go take care of mine. Even if dad might kill me.”

Chris smiles. It’s such a forced smile. The tears are streaming down his face. “Course I’ll take care of him. You’ll be back to help take care of him. Don’t you worry about it. Go to sleep yeah?”

Ron makes a grabby hand at him. “Wanna Go back with you two holding me. Sounds safer.”

Chris slides on the other side of the bed and presses a kiss to Ron’s head. “It’ll be okay. You end up living through it.”

Ron drifts off again. He fears the wake up he’ll get next but knows he’ll treasure this one forever.

—

Once Ron falls back asleep Tom sits up. He scrubs his hands across his eyes to get rid of the tears. He feels a hand brush over his shoulders. “Is he gonna be okay?”

Tom laughs. He can’t help it. “I don’t know. He’s not dreamed of his dad in years. The last time was probably when we were 20.”

Chris nods. He brushes a hand through Ron’s hair. “He’ll be okay. He’s got us.” Tom can only nod. He can’t shake the image of 13 year old Ron covered in bruises.

14 year old Ron almost dying.

17 year old Ron falling into the lake and crying because he wanted his grandmother.

20 year old Ron begging Tom to not take him back to his father.

Tom shudders. Chris pulls him over Ron’s lap. Tom puts his face into Chris’s neck.

“It’ll be fine. If the fever doesn’t drop by tomorrow night we’ll go to the hospital.”

Tom kisses the side of Chris’s neck. “Thank you for taking care of this.” Chris shrugs. “I don’t have the memories y’all are both having during this. It’s easier.”

-

They drift off like that. Ron’s fever breaks in the morning and he’s very excited to find that it wasn’t a dream. He actually doesn’t really remember thinking it was a dream. Knows they talked the night before but can’t remember what about.

Tom and Chris decide to not bring it up. They’ll protect him from his memory.

[fulcrumstardust]

Watch me breathe 👀

*hums every breath you take*

fun fact: it's not a wip, it's finished but I still haven't posted it because I don't know if I love it or hate it . . .

my starting point was an undercover meeting crossing moral lines but Jyn wasn't the one playing the honey pot for a change. In the aftermath they are forced to talk about their feelings, which neither was really ready for I guess. Happy ending still!

random snippets (sfw but serious themes involved):

The three of them slam their cups on the table, universal gesture of celebration. Jyn is eager to close on that deal and bug out. She can’t take much more of this pointless chit-chat.

“Is he yours?”

The unexpected question sends a cold shiver down her spine. The taste of alcohol lingers in her mouth, bitter and strong. She’s dying to reach for a weapon. Not to kill anyone, not yet. To occupy her hands—and maybe to illustrate the threat.

“He’s in my crew.”

“That’s not what I meant,” the Rainmaker mocks her, “and you know it.”

“Yes, he’s mine,” Jyn snaps, baring her teeth on the word.

“That’s too bad…”

The woman eyes Cassian like a candy she’d like to melt on her tongue.

He doesn’t react, patiently waiting for Jyn to handle it. He trusts her way too much, more than she trusts herself. Just thinking of those hands on him, stroking his hair like she did earlier, is enough to throw Jyn into a loop of blinding rage.

“He’s too old for you, forget it. Now, shall we get on it?” she urges, all attempts at politeness gone. “I’ve got places to raid and shit to steal.”

Jyn knows the look of a woman that isn’t used to being told no. Her gleeful expression cracks, showing signs of the fury underneath. For a minute there, Jyn sees the scene unfolding in front of her—and it doesn’t end well. But the Rainmaker doesn’t make the call. She flushes away her irritation and the soft, enticing manners are back. It’s chilling to the bones.

.

.

.

“We’re okay, Jyn.”

“Are you sure? What I did—”

“You didn’t do anything I didn’t tell you to do,” Cassian cuts in, mildly annoyed. “Now, drop it.”

“We should… talk about it, I think.”

“Why? What is there to talk about? Do you think I’m gonna break down because you touched my dick? Come on,” he sneers, “that was nothing.”

Something in his choice of words cuts deep. More than it should.

It’s not entirely her fault if she isn’t a well-adjusted adult—blame it on her upbringing, on the war, on the head injuries—so maybe she can be forgiven for the sudden anger swelling in her chest. Jyn doesn’t take elegantly being pushed away when she’s trying to use her words, for blasted once. Isn’t he the one lamenting that all she does is shoot first and talk later?

Jyn drops from the gurney, pulling her mother’s necklace under her tank top.

“Okay, good to know,” she says on the verge of hostile. “For the record, if you’d put your hands in my pants, I’d need to talk about it… But I’m glad you’re such a tough guy and nothing bothers you. I’m gonna get some sleep, good night.”

When she doesn’t hear footsteps coming after her, Jyn knows that they are, indeed, not okay.

.

.

.

“If the roles were reversed, I wonder how you’d feel.” At that, he winces, tearing his eyes away. “Yeah, exactly! I’m not going to pretend like I don’t care about you just to make it easier on you. And if you have a problem with that, you can fuck right off!”

“You’re still on my ship,” he roars back.

Jyn’s temper short-circuits. She straightens her back and reaches for the closest blade, throwing it across the cockpit with a furious growl. It lands in the middle of a reinforced panel that will now require additional maintenance before they can raise ship. Genius.

Cassian is livid, his neck and face a darker shade than usual.

“Did you just throw a fucking knife at me?”

“I threw it at the wall,” Jyn answers with just as much spite, showing teeth. “And don’t look at me like that. The day I throw a knife at you, you’ll need to patch the hole.”

A gasping sound escapes him, as if he can’t decide between outrage and incredulity. He gestures at the knife sticking out of the ship’s interior like a misplaced handle.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Loose screws, remember?” As soon as she says the words, a crushing weight lands on her chest, stealing the air away. She’s the one averting her eyes now, mumbling in a pathetic voice: “You loved it not so long ago.”

You loved me. But she doesn’t say it. Maybe she really fucked up this time. That’s just so like her, who is she kidding? She’s not good at this, not good for anyone.

“I still do.”

“Only when I’m not an inconvenience to you,” Jyn says, defeated.

Cassian starts pacing circles, going back and forth between the front seats and the sleeping compartment, hands linked on top of his head. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen him this… agitated.

“Blast! You keep poking at me and expect that I spill my guts to you as if I didn’t spend twenty years avoiding my fucking feelings!” he finally explodes, stopping dead in front of her. “Of course, I push back! What did you think would happen, uh? Tell me!”

That’s… a fair point.

[rzypl]

i need a shigadabi where dabi or touya whatever, is tomura's weakness, just let dabi be the damsel in distress pleasemaybe where touya is still a civilian and his life after the coma was that he had to stick with the todorokis but it's very complicated shit because there is no good relationship with his father and there is still comparison with shouto (and all the additional traumas, those never go away) but after a big fight with enji about how the situation is being dealt with after the big confrontation the heroes had with the villains and remarking to enj that it's unfair he leaves home very late and somehow he doesn't know he ends up straying down alleys he doesn't know and out of nowhere he sees a lump on the ground and touya's first instinct is to get out but then the guy on the ground groans in pain and and well touya reacts, then touya has the basic knowledge of wound care on his own but whatever happened to the guy must be more than what touya is used to because he seems to be in agony, he crouches down and tries to get him to sit against the nearest wall they have, that's when he realizes that this man is the same one who has caused catastrophes in just days, then he has shigaraki tomura dying in an alley and touya is the one who actually helps him, the reasons are the least of it, maybe out of simple selfishness towards enji or because he couldn't let someone die who could help, I really don't care and it all goes from there you have a resentful touya keeping tomura alive for some reason and maybe the first reaction when shiggy wakes up is to attack but then you have a pretty face with big blue eyes and he's just a man okay?everything is a blur from that moment on, touya explains that he found him in an alley and he didn't really have a reason to save him so he owes him his life (i'm paraphrasing) then tomura also tells him without being asked why he was in that alley without his people and they never stop talking as if they've known each other all their lives and somehow touya becomes everything to shiggy and tell me if it's not powerful that the same man who brings down cities with a touch is willing to give his life for ONE person to add spice to life, in the end the rumors that there is someone with the fucking tomura shigaraki spread like wildfire and touya is kidnapped and tortured to such an extent that they end up killing him and neither enji nor tomura can do anything to stop it and tomura no longer has anyone to feel sorry for, the world knows no peace since that day.

o o also one after the war where dabi gets pregnant (because there is too much need for more omega dabi fics) (but it's hard for me because i don't like omegaverse fics too much let me)

and then they have a crisis because he thought he couldn't have children but he wants children, that stability of being able to form a family (traumas) he tells tomura and although at the beginning he was also undecided but seeing the happiness of his omega is enough, practically they won the war so everything is fine until dabi is 4 months old, somehow the heroes have tracked them to where they are and there is a raid.

things go wrong very quickly, even though everyone in the league was unharmed they still got it very complicated, they have to escape but dabi tells shiggy that for a moment he looks like he is going to faint then there is blood running down his legs.

obviously this is a big shock, in the few years the two had become so attached to the fetus and then dabi has a miscarriage due to a situation that they don't control but that doesn't make it any more enjoyable. they have a very, very bad time and then they have another raid when shiggy and the others go to look for supplies and only toga and dabi are left and although toga does his best they end up taking dabi with him.

clearly chaos ensues

(as an extra point dabi has a twin pregnancy and only one dies so 😁)

everyone has a hard time here, don't worry