#(yes YES I KNOW THIS. A happy ending IS possible bUT)

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Hii

I'd like to request some arsonist Neil/firefighter Andrew, I missed last wipw and also them

Happy belated birthday and have a good week <3

WIP Wednesday (9/18) | Arsonist Neil / Firefighter Andrew AU (Part 237)

When Andrew rings him back, his first words are, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Thought you said that was me.”

“...It’s still dumb.”

"It's original.” Neil argues. “I've never seen anything like it. And it's lifelike! It genuinely looks like a couple of you guys fighting a fire. Very neat."

"Neat perhaps, but they're missing the sneaky little arsonist slinking away to his car."

"What should I do, knock and tell them they forgot me?" Neil asks, earning a laugh that turns into a yawn. He imagines that scenario wouldn't exactly do wonders for his already problematic social anxiety. But it would be hilarious.

"Yes, you definitely should. The scene is not complete," Andrew says matter-of-factly. "Not lifelike at all without the cute little arsonist."

Neil pumps the brake much harder than he means to, the car lurches back and forth, and he very nearly bangs his head into the steering wheel. After all this time, he assumed he was more rigid than a crash dummy. But apparently not. Neil rubs his ear and wonders if Andrew really said that or if he's hearing things. After waiting for a couple of minutes, Neil decides Andrew isn't going to take it back and that has him a bit flustered. He doesn't remember if anyone's ever called him cute before.

He can't recall whether Andrew's ever said anything similar to him. He doesn't think so. He'd remember it, wouldn't he? Neil thinks for a second. He vaguely recalls Andrew asking whether arson was somehow about sex and Neil had denied it saying he didn't have any sexual desires, unmet or otherwise. But... He never asked Andrew whether he was into men or women. He never felt the need to, since he wasn't interested. But... He thinks he may be interested now. Neil considers asking him then he hears something like a snore from the other end.

"Are you asleep?" Neil asks, making Andrew's breathing hitch into the receiver.

"Huh? No, shut up." The firefighter answers. Neil allows himself a laugh and decides to ignore the ‘cute’ thing.

"Hey, you know... It's late. And you have work tomorrow."

"I'm aware."

"Then go to bed."

"I'm in bed." Andrew claims. Neil hears a sort of rustling sound that could be a blanket. But he can't see him. (Goddamn, he has to get a smartphone. As soon as possible.)

"Then go to sleep."

"Fine, if you insist." Andrew says. "Goodnight, firebug."

"Night, Mr. Firefighter."

[darkwing-ramblings]

What makes a happy silmaril?

For context we must consider that the silmarils are written as living is not intelligent beings in a way and that they were derived of trees and so are a probable never-before-seen-gem-plant-hybrid-creature-with-opinions-just-no-mobility. Also I am @darkwinganimus by another name, to be clear, and this moves a previous discussion @eri-pl and I were having in the replies of one of their posts over to a format with no restrictively frustrating word limitation.

As @eri-pl puts in their Silmarillion reread part 6: "They loked like diamonds, so canonically white-ish. their fire is made of mixed Treelight, so I would assume warm white is canon.

They shone like stars of Varda but had real life inside — I really need this in English! OK, I googled it.

OH. Something else but: "he pondered how the light of the Trees, the glory of the Blessed Realm, might be preserved imperishable" — It may be me jumping on things + Tolkien's poetical wording, but this seems like a strong suggestion of "Fefe wanted to jump higher than his head" (he was not the first one) and sheds a light (pun intended) on his sttitude towards the Silmarils later.

Anyway back to that part about life: "and yet, as were they indeed living things, they rejoiced in light" So they are living things, not just "like" living things. Silmarills = baby Trees is canon! (OK, somewhat canon? but they *are* alive, and by logic they must be bred not made-in-the-strict-sense by Feanor)

So they glow by themselves with warm white, but also they are iridescent like diamonds. Beautiful indeed."

(Opinions such as disliking Morgoth then Carcaroth enough to burn him when the former wore them in his underground torture fortress Angband and the latter rudely ate them).

Anyway, the discussion points I actually want to raise are below, now that the nature of the silmarils are established as probably-living- beyond the possibility of poetic and figurative language along those veins merely sounding cool- is explained:

@eri-pl Hmm, okay, so per your reply attached to this post "Melkor (to be precise this was his name at that point :D ) wanted to kill Feanor anyway. He thought Feanor would be home too, iirc from the book. And still, Fefe could have worn them to a well-guarded situations, at least. But he was too paranoid." let's imagine Feanor takes the measure of no vault and just wears the silmarils everywhere, because he's pretty sure no one else distrusts Melkor enough to be sufficiently on guard. Melkor now has no reason to attack Formenos during the party so I don't know waits to ambush Feanor travelling on the road back from it, directing Ungoliant at the trees for a distraction etc and stealing the silmarils+killing Feanor as planned. Good for Melkor he achieves all his goals.

I humbly ask how this then might end up in your opinion better for the silmarils in question, aside from more time outside out and about Aman in sun years per your "Feanor wearing them might have ended up better for them anyway. At least he could have worn them to well-defended occasions (like That One Party), but he didn't because he was paranoid about the normal Valar too.". Because without Feanor and with Finwe alive there a question of if the flight of the noldor even happens afterwards- which they were agitating let's assume so and skip the how-that-happens/goes for now- and about the oath.

Now the oath is terrible for most beings involved, yes, but is it terrible for the silmarils themselves? It's a force of dedicated warriors specifically trying to retrieve them from Melkor their evil abductor- a force of dedicated warriors who make their retrieval from Morgoth so fraught a topic Thingol invokes it in an arguably rash and spur of the moment to Beren arguably meaning "I-would-see-you-dead-before-I-give-permission-for-you-to-marry-my-beloved-daughter-go-die-to-Morgoth-and/or-the-feanorians-over-a-silmaril".

It sees one of them get out of Angband in the hands of Beren and Luthien and enjoy free-range-ish years in the open then ultimately make it to Earendil upon Vingilot's prow. Earendil and Elwing's arrival with said stolen silmaril also helps petition aid from the valar in the war of wrath successfully leading to one ending up in the ocean (not terrible for pseudo-plant-gem-creatures as an environment) and a random volcano that maybe also got swallowed by the sea (at least there's no Melkor and it has possible gem-friends in its volcano). If there is no oath all of the latter is in question and whilst things could end better for the silmarils probably (and definitely those who died because of the oath on both sides, but that's not the focus here) they could also end up worse.

Now, Feanor's son's swear the oath of their own initiative when he begins to but on their own with him dead it's not exactly assured say Kanafinwe is going to see to it a very similar one is made.

I understand entirely that it is a lot of words however so won't be offended if you'd rather call it a day/don't actually read this all. Either way putting it together in one place has pleased me greatly whether any response, staggered yay or nay, results.

[coulsons-fullmetal-cellist]

Dieter gets bitten by The Viper (figuratively)

(Dieter x horror loving female)

Words: 572

Summary: Dieter acquires a new piece of clothing, a rather famous piece of clothing… Inspired by this post

Warnings: mild swearing, mild spicy suggestions, references to Game of Thrones including spoilers that are ten years old, Dieter being Dieter

Check out masterlist here

“Dieter, what did you do?”

The look of guilt on his face was so readable that no amount of Oscar winning acting could hide it.

“Honey cakes, remember this was a charity auction.”

“How much did you end up buying?”

“It was just the one thing.” He put down the box that you somehow only just noticed, possibly you were too distracted by those puppy dog eyes. “And I didn’t go over my intended limit.”

“Well good, I don’t want to have to rethink our already reasonable wedding budget.”

“I did however pay twice the intended target price.”

“What?”

He took off the lid, revealing a stunning gold material embellished with even more golden embroidery.

“It’s a shame I already have my wedding suit because I would love to wear this.”

“Is that…?”

He nodded, “Yup, it’s the robe that handsome guy from Game of Thrones wears.”

You looked at him in surprise, “Dieter, you’ve never seen an episode of Game of Thrones in your life.”

“I tried,” it was like a child trying to be brave. “Everyone said I’d like it because it’s very sexy. But I watched the first five minutes, and it scared the ever-living crap out of me.”

You tried to remember what happened many seasons ago, “Oh yeah, it was pretty scary for you.”

“I know. But people say I say I kind of look like him,” he shrugged. “I don’t know why; I don’t see the resemblance.”

“I see something familiar in the gait.”

He lifted the beautiful robe out of the box, the embroidery shimmering as it moved. “Now honey cakes, I don’t have a robe.”

“You have several bathrobes in various colours.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have a fancy one I can just lounge around in feeling spectacularly melodramatic in. Maybe with one of those long-handled cigarillo things.”

“I don’t have a problem with you getting one.”

“Really?”

“Really really. Although those feathers…”

“Yes, the feathers. All the more reason.” He held the robe up against himself. “Don’t you think I’d look good in this? Then we could pretend that…I have no idea, what does he do?”

“He’s a prince who’s bisexual and he spend a lot of time being a big slut.”

Dieter gasped, “Oh my god! He’s me! Does he end up with that dragon queen?”

“No, he doesn’t last the season and dies a very memorable death.”

He gently put the robe back into its box. “Well, we’re not doing that.”

“No, it sort of dampens the mood.”

“Can you be the dragon queen?”

“You think I could pull off being a queen?”

He looked as if he’d just been insulted, “Of course you can be a queen. You’re my queen and I’m your prince.”

“You don’t want to be a king?”

“Nope, quite happy to be the prince that worships his queen.” He started his initial worshiping, starting with your neck.

“Dieter,” you paused his wandering hands. “You can’t wear the robe when you’re doing the worshipping.”

“Fuck no, not with what I paid for it.”

“Just look pretty in it then take it off.”

He smiled, “I can do that.”

Very gently, he led you towards the bedroom, leaving the box on the coffee table.

“Wait, you’re not going to wear it now?”

“Well, we haven’t worked out a roleplay and I really want to get to the worshipping,” he picked you up bridal style. “Dieter horny.”

“Fair enough.”

Lovingly tagging @galaxyedging @simpingcowboy @ellenmunn @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi @chaithetics @myloveistoolittle @cevans-is-classic @glshmbl @cupcakehp @gswizzsstuff @readingiskeepingmegoing

[zottower]

❗Warning : rant about FF4 the Years After, don't read if you don't want to ruin your mood ❗ Let's face it : I'm a real crybaby when it comes to Cecil Harvey. Proof is that it's been two months since I stopped playing TaY after beating his evil alter ego. And that's dumb because I know there's a bunch of cool challenging bosses after that. But just after beating the dark knight I couldn't go on. I was so disappointed by the story. I don't like Evil Kain and Evil Cecil in this game. There are some cool stuff in TaY, but after Evil Golbez in the first game being that epic villain so powerful it's just cheating, clever to the point it should be illegal, with megalomaniacal ambitions including opening a path to the moon and so on ... Evil Kain and Evil Cecil have so mediocre goals, so little wits ... After overcoming their dark side, they could just say this famous Squall line : "I dreamt that I was a moron". The thing is that reading Evil Kain's lines just made me roll my eyes and I was happy to put an end to this part of the story to have a Holy Dragoon Knight, because I think teal suits him. But Cecil ... I would like to use him in my team, but I can't. I just hate him in this game now. Who thought it would be the coolest idea to make his dark side a loser who attacks his son and his wife if they don't obey him just like the first patriarcal idiot who comes along ? I don't think it's fun. I think it's small, to say things nicely. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that it's impossible for Cecil to relapse, but not that way. There could have been better possibilities. Will I ever get over this ? I don't know. Maybe just posting that will make me put things in perspective, maybe ruminating on this just makes things uselessly worse. The only thing that I know for sure is that yes, I'm taking this character too seriously. ._.

[softspace-fics]

hi idk if u write this kind of fic but could u try a fic with little!bucky being cared for by cg!steve after a nightmare?

sorry if u dont write this type of fic <33

Nightmares.

A/N - Heeeyy yall- I'm alive! I'm so sorry for the absenses in posts. I've had so much going on in my personal life and I've had terrible writers block. Thank you to this anon for this idea, it helped me bring back some of my love for writing. I hope you guys have a wonderful day/night and I hope to post more <33

Warnings⚠️: Mentions of nightmares, general fluff

________

Bucky tumbled and turn, mumbles and sharp inhales cut through the air like a knife. Steve woke up when he felt Bucky violently shaking the entire bed from fear, and Steve quickly got up to go get a big cup of water before setting it calmly onto the nightstand.

Steve softly starts rubbing Bucky’s tense bicep, working to slowly bring Bucky out of his nightmare as easily as possible. Despite his best efforts, Bucky shot right up and looked like he had seen the worst death of his life. Whatever he was dreaming about really rocked him this time.

Steve immediately pulled Bucky to his lap, carefully cupping the back of his head, and tightly holding Bucky to his chest. Bucky clinged onto him tightly, the attempt to break through the terror in his little head not going over so well.

Bucky tried to tell Steve he wasn’t big, tried to mumble anything to give him a idea, anything at all, but nothing came through his mouth, like he was suffocating in a puddle of words that he couldn’t quite make out.

Steve could tell from the look of pain and lack of words that Bucky wasn’t doing well with his words, so Steve just started to ask yes or no questions, something to help Bucky communicate.

“Little?” Bucky nodded.

“Thirsty?” Another little nod.

Steve gently brought the cup of water he collected earlier to bucks lips, helping him to drink before he takes the now half empty cup and wipes Bucky’s lips softly. He gently kisses Bucky’s forehead before he softly starts to rock Bucky. He didn’t know if Bucky would end up going back to sleep, or if it was going to be a day where 3am was their time to be up. He just knew that his baby needed him.

Bucky clinged to Steve like his life depended on it. Like the nightmare was going to become real and Steve was going to be ripped away from him. There was no way he was going to let Steve out of his hands or out of his sight.

This how the duo stayed even after sleep lulled them both back to sleep. When they both awoke again, little Bucky was still out and about, but Steve was nothing but happy to be able to take care of the love of his life.

The times Bucky had nightmares wasn’t ever going to be easy, and it could very well be the rest of his life, but Steve would be there every time to be able to reassure him that he’s safe and sound.

[baeshijima]

it's you

despite everything,

it's still you

[desultory-novice]

Apologies AU - Good Ending Drop

Hey, everyone. It was my goal to finish Apologies in tandem with the Tournament, but for health reasons, I won't be able to as I planned. Because I tied the story to the tournament and don't feel like untangling it again and making everyone wait more, I'm going to give you all the ending spoilers, as I promised I would if I became unable to finish the story.

What I'm about to describe is THE Good Ending. The True Ending I had planned out almost from the beginning!

-

In the main-verse...

Susie, who sees too much of herself in Adeleine, decides to take matters into her own hands to bring the girl's older brother back.

She takes the vial of Dark Matter Swordsman DNA that was harvested from King Dedede. Meta Knight catches up with her and argues against it. It's foolish, dangerous, and liable to be nothing but painful to all parties involved. But Susie anticipated interference and asked Zan to bodyguard her. When Zan arrives (late) to the lab, the argument has caused the vial to begin to react to all the negativity in the room. Zan recognizes its contents as Dark Matter and insists on calling Lord Hyness, who in his own quirky way, analyzes their problem and suggests that while the contents are too weak to survive on their own, a resurrection could be possible, using Void's powers to mimic a hive queen, supplying whatever creature emerges the power to survive on Popstar without burning up into ash...

-

In the tourney-verse...

White-Haired Noir is at peace with his life and has come to accept the death of his precious little sister many years ago, but...a part of him still wishes to make Adeleine happy.

Using his fairy-born dimension sight, he discovers an Alternate Noir who is 98% percent compatible with main-verse Noir. This is the Purgatory!Noir from the Re_Birthday post. And he drags this unstable, utterly clueless Noir out of this peaceful void without his permission and secretly "volunteers"  the massively confused, un-alive but un-dead teen boy for the Kirby OC Tournament.

It is White-Haired Noir that is the "good" voice on phone and in Noir's head, encouraging rationality. His goal? Get Noir some friends. Get him to face up to/open up to people about his past. And get him caring about his life enough that he wants to live...! 

White-Haired Noir has seen what the main-verse Star Allies are attempting and knows that the odds of them actually bringing "Noir" back instead of just an emotionless monster are low without a compatible "Noir Soul" (haha) to inhabit the new vessel.

Over the course of many in-tourney events, including Noir learning to have faith in the sibling bonds he built with Gooey despite being Dark Matter at the time, learning to separate himself and Adeleine as individuals instead of clinging to her to his own neglect, privately opening up to King Dedede, who put the pieces together post-possession, about some awful stuff Noir put up with for years in secret from Raquelle's father (who privately loathed Neichel AND her kids and took it out on Noir) to "pay" for Adeleine's good life...

And lastly, using the power of wishes to interrogate if THIS Noir's true wish is to die and be free, to have never been born, to have had a normal "perfect" life, or if he simply wishes for a second chance to be with those he cares about... White-Haired Noir determines that Tourney!Noir is ready and reveals his plan to him. Noir confesses to him that he really does want to live and be with his family again and offers up his stronger soul for Susie and the gang's vessel.

-

Back in the main-verse...

The experiment is a success! They have brought, well, something back. It is not quite like Dark Matter Swordsman in form, nor is it exactly a human boy. It looks a little bit like a spiky haired-Gooey.

After some tense questioning of the emotionless, memoryless, unresponsive goo, it...suddenly seems to awaken. With the voice of a deeply shaken and scared young boy, the violet-eyed blob questions the mad scientist, cultists, and masked man surrounding him... Where the hell is he? And where are his little brother and sister?

Meta Knight welcomes Noir back to the world of the living.

Later, after Noir has time to dress himself in an appropriate scarf, Adeleine and Gooey are brought in and it is a happy and tear-filled reunion all around as Noir confirms that, while this form is strange, it's not dangerous and he's not in pain. He is then re-introduced to King Dedede, whereupon it's revealed that even though Noir likes him, he's still a snarky teen punk at heart, as he sasses the king horribly. (Dedede has gained another kid, but at what cost? XD)

...And that's it.

That's the ending to Apologies I've held onto for nearly a year.

For reading through all that, here is a short comic I drew a while back of the reunited family having a snowball fight in White Wafers.

-

(Not to unnecessarily over-explain the story but because the comic is a little vague, I have to tell you that no, Noir does not ever return to human after his revival. I meant it when I wrote in several places that their parting on Shiver Star was the last time they'd see each other "...in this form." This is merely meant to depict a moment in which Adeleine, seeing her brother alive and smiling and laughing and having real fun for the first time in so long, is able to imagine his old self smiling and is at peace that her brother is finally free from the hurt and misery he bore up with for so long.)

(...And yes, he has a long, silly tongue just like Gooey. Which is why he hides all but his eyes behind the scarf. Gotta keep up that cool older brother look even as a little goo creature! While Noir can't become human - frankly, he doesn't miss having a human body, given the stuff in his adolescence and being over-stressed, underfed, under-slept and just overall sick all the time in his later teens - he does eventually acquire the ability to shift into his old "Swordsman" form for short bursts of time.)

-

(Lastly, you might wonder how I could have had this exact ending in mind from almost the beginning when so much of it is tied up in recent posts like the tourney? ...Well, originally what was going to happen to allow Noir to be properly resurrected into the Dark Matter Goo body is that the Dream Rod from Star Allies was going to appear in response to a grieving Adeleine's wishes to see her brother again, bringing Noir-as-Swordsman back. At least for a LITTLE while, as it would be revealed that with Zero dead, Noir, who was entirely composed of Dark Matter at this point, couldn't survive on Popstar. Every moment he was there, his body was burning.)

(Still, he lasts long enough to have one final talk with Adeleine that helps heal him from the torturous events of DL 3 - in which we learn a highly disappointed Zero drove Noir to the absolute breaking point, shattering his mind and his newly regained soul. Adeleine also tells Noir she has finally realized everything he did for her during their childhood and apologizes to him for not seeing it before. With dawn on the horizon, Noir asks to look over Adeleine's sketchbooks with her before the end... He dies one last time, peacefully, while Adeleine finally gets to properly mourn him.)

(Then, all the "main-verse" sections proceed to happen as stated above!)

-

(...Okay, okay. One last thing. There was also an alternate ending planned where Magolor, taking advantage of the fact that Merry Magoland was built on a nexus point, finds a way to reunite Adeleine and White-Haired Noir - still a teen in this version - using his theme park as a union point, as special birthday gift for Adeleine.)

(I was kinda fond of this one for reuniting the timelines, but it opened up a lot of questions such as, if Magolor made it so that Noir and Adeleine from two different dimensions can see each other as long as they're both in Magoland, could others from the WH Noir-verse see the main-verse this way? It invited too many questions, so that's why I scrapped that one and just let White-Haired Noir grow up instead.)

[jayswing101]

The doctrine of discovery is one of the core concepts used to justify colonialism, especially of the settler variety. This is what the Canadian Museum of Human Rights says about it:

The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal and religious concept that has been used for centuries to justify Christian colonial conquest. It advanced the idea that European peoples, culture and religion were superior to all others.

The doctrine of discovery comes from a series of declarations from the pope in the 1400s that suggested christianity and christian cultures were superior to all other religions and cultures, and basically said that christian europeans had the right to invade and claim land and resources from non-christian people, and also had the right to subjugate and convert those populations. It's literally at the very core of colonial history and the myth of white supremacy and christian supremacy.

When the pope was visiting Indigenous communities in canada last summer, more than an apology for the catholic church's role in residential schools, what people were asking for was the overturning of the doctrine of discovery. An apology is meaningless as long as that doctrine stands.

Today, the vatican formally rejected the doctrine of discovery. It's a symbolic gesture, sure. But it's still a sign that things are changing. Space was held for Indigenous voices, and the vatican of all places listened to them.

Obviously, there's still work to be done, and colonization didn't just suddenly end because of this announcement, but this is still huge news, and it feels like we're a tiny step closer to Land Back.

[fangsandfeels]

Going through all the ascended Astarion stories, where Tav either breaks up with him and reconnects years later, bringing the messiest “divorced couple” vibe along, or becomes his spawn and ends up being completely miserable and at the complete mercy of the vampire lord, I got a vision.

(Short outline: spawn!Tav goes to Avernus to avoid being trapped in a relationship, badassery, horrors, and deep existential issues ensue. Full description of the cringe can be found below)

- Tav agrees to be turned into Spawn by Astarion, ignoring the red flags because they really wanted to believe him and didn’t want to leave him alone. However, after they do, they get slapped with way too many red flags in the face (the “as long as you remember who you belong to” phrase during the second encounter with Araj, the command to shut up after mentioning Cazador’s name, the deceptive reasoning behind why he isn’t making them a full vampire), Tav grows very aware of eternity that awaits them after they defeat the Netherbrain. And it terrifies them. They understand that they don't want to find out what being his consort means. They are no longer sure about anything.

- When Karlach starts burning, Tav talks her out of it and jumps on the opportunity to go to Avernus with her  (and Wyll), before Astarion gets to react and use compulsion on them. They aren't sure it would work, but it does. Small mercies.

- Between fighting off Zariel’s hordes and getting used to their new condition, Tav goes through heartbreak, oscillating between being angry with Astarion to missing him to feeling sorry for themselves. It's a cycle of angst and mental gymnastics, interrupted by battles and stirring trouble in the Hells.

- Ultimately, Tav reflects on the choices and actions that led them to this path. And when they find a way to fix Karlach’s heart, making it possible for her to go to Faerun for good, Tav chooses to stay in the Hells. Not even because they aren’t eager to confront Astarion and get controlled by him, but because they feel they belong there. Cazador might have planned the ritual, and Astarion might have completed it, but it was them who helped him do it -- they can be angry at Astarion all they want, they can tell themselves it's no longer him. They can spend years guessing whether he really wanted it, whether he is happy or not right now. Maybe they did fail him. It all doesn’t matter. They are as guilty for condemning these souls to suffering in the Hells. So, the question is: what will they do about that?

- Basically, a story that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Astarion, and is mostly focused on a vampire spawn Tav, who navigates hellish landscapes, occasionally helping whatever poor souls they can, learning sad stories of victims who got lured into horrible deals, musing on existential questions and wondering how should they take their life when their luck runs out on them, and they get captured by Archdevils.

- While they avoid signing any contracts or any deals and focus on honing their skills and new vampiric abilities, they do seek ways to modify their body, so they could increase their chances for survival (yes, I freaking love Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, how can you tell?).

- For an extra Divine Comedy (and angsty) flavor, Tav talks to an imaginary Astarion (the one they remember so fondly before his Ascension) -- the habit that started from a random “what the Astarion I knew would have said about this?” thought and kinda became a way to stay sane in this place.

[binders-and-beanies]

Pondering bottom surgery in the tags I mf guess

[softquietsteadylove]

A very rare Pokémon accidentally (gets spooked) poisons Gil, while he observed it and took some notes. and because this Pokémon is usually not here the berries and medication in the poke Centre are not helping him. Thena sees his notes and tries to find a antidote for him, while Gil’s health gets worse and worse by every hour!

It’s time for some drama and angst 😳

Thena ran her hand over the crescent moon in Teddiursa's fur. He was finally asleep after a harrowing couple of hours. She couldn't blame him for being upset, of course. He had been a mess of tears when Gil came into the medical wing for poisoning.

She had been at the ranger centre already to check in on her little cub, busy on a day of junior ranger duties. They had both been told that Gil was on the way back from the field with an undetermined cause of poisoning.

Dragonite had brought him in, carrying him in its arms and letting out distressed moans like a suffering Wailord. It hadn't seen what poisoned Gil; they didn't know if it was a pokemon, a plant, some kind of spore, a latent effect, an attack etc.

"Chansey," the nurse tending to Gil turned to her. The doctors had done all they could, and the Chansey and Blissey and Audino were administering antidotes and psn cures and pecha berries every half hour. They had even turned to using Heal Bell and Calm Mind on him, but nothing seemed to be working.

If anything, he just kept getting worse.

"Thank you," Thena whispered, nodding to the Chansey on its way to attend to the rest of the patients in the medical wing. Gil was privileged to have a private room, and she was grateful for it.

She stood, leaning over him to look at the continual damage the poison was doing. His lips had a bluish undertone, his skin was pale and sallow despite his high fever. The only reason his face wasn't contorted in pain was because he was sedated so heavily by not only medication but she had even asked Gallade to use Hypnosis on him.

"Oh, Gil," she whispered, tucking her hair behind her ear as she ran her free hand over his cheek, around his oxygen mask. She leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek.

"Teddi?"

"I'm sorry, Luvdisc," she whispered as Teddiursa turned to look at her, rubbing at its eyes. He was tucked into Gil's side. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Ted?" he looked up at her with watery eyes.

"No, I'm afraid not," she sighed. Teddi looked at Gil and then up at her, holding out his paws to be picked up. "Oh, come here."

Teddiursa had actually put on a very brave front when Gil had first arrived in his condition. He was a junior ranger, after all, and so followed procedure. He notified the rest of his team, checked in with Dragonite, informed the scouting team of the approximate region where it happened.

Only when Thena had brought him in with her to see Gil had he broken down into tears, wailing into her shoulder.

She had told him he was being a very brave little bear. But every time she thought it, she dreaded to think that she might have to tell him that more and more. She might even be the only one to ever call him that from now on...

"Teddi," he turned his face from her shoulder to look at her, swiping his paw pads - careful of his long claws - against her cheeks. "Ted-Teddi."

Thena sniffled, letting him brush her tears away, "thank you, darling. I'm sorry, I won't cry."

"Teddiursa."

"You're right, he will be," she agreed, no matter how out of reach that optimism truly was for her at the moment. She picked up Gil's notebook again.

They had all scoured it, looking for any clues as to what could have caused this. His condition was worsening because they couldn't narrow down the effectiveness of a cure. They needed more information.

His ranger team couldn't make heads or tails of his notes, turning to canvasing the whole route where he had been and collecting all the samples they could. Dragonite was heading that team, all of them with the case details in their ranger dexes.

Dragonite had left Thena the actual notebook, determined that if anyone had a chance of deciphering them, it was her.

Thena unfolded the little notebook again with a sigh. They had at least narrowed down the particular route within the valley where he was. He had drawn some truly horrendous pine trees, and a few blobs they had determined to be Oddish and Gloom. All of his notes were such a loose stream of consciousness, they weren't very coherent.

wild flowers!--pick some for Thena

Thena sniffled again but blinked her tears away. They weren't helping anyone.

There were a few musical notes drawn in the corner. The rangers had discussed which bird pokemon they could be referencing, but she had said that he would have just drawn the pokemon if that were the case. She was willing to bet that it meant it was windy wherever it was.

Pine trees and a lot of wind - as well as dense enough forest for Oddish and Gloom - indicated the north eastern cliffs, housing a lot of grass and bug pokemon.

someone DROPPED in to see me!

Gil loved silly jokes like that. They were stupid, and dumb, and by all the legends alive did she love them. She hated the idea that she would never get to tell him that.

Was it a Spinarak? Or even bigger--an Ariados? He hadn't been bitten, though. Maybe it was a poison sting, but they couldn't find any actual barbs in his skin when scanning him. Maybe it was toxic, but he wouldn't be incapacitated, he would be shaky and sick to his stomach and flushed with fever.

"Dropped in," she sighed, looking over the last filled out page again, and again and again. She hadn't stopped looking at it, until she was so frustrated that she wanted to start screaming.

There was a little drawing in the corner that looked like...well, it could look like anything. It could be a tomato berry, or a colbur or a babiri berry, for that matter. But they wouldn't be in that location, let alone high enough to fall on him. The little bumpy ball could be a Cascoon/Silcoon, a Ferroseed--even a Koffing or a Whirlipede would make some sense. Honestly, it could be a terribly drawn Quilfish or Goomy, they were desperate enough.

"Dropped in," she repeated again, running her thumb along the drawing he had made on the side of the page in the margins. It just looked like a blob on a stick, really--like a cattail blowing in the wind.

Dropped in; something had fallen down and spooked him, or he had spooked it. He had been able to write that note down, and sketch the thing before it attacked him, or he touched it, or whatever had happened. It wasn't Poison Sting, or Toxic, or even Pin Missile. All of those would have physical evidence on him.

What if it was something that dissolved?

Thena stood and leaned over him again. She tilted her head this way and that, looking for small details--constricted veins, bloodshot eyes, signs she could recognise when her pokemon experienced them. She run her thumb along his bluish lip before pulling his mouth open just a little. "Purplish tongue."

"Teddi?" Teddiursa rose from where he had been leaning against her in her visitors chair.

She opened the book, angling the drawing as right side up as she could guess it was drawn. "What does that look like to you, sweetheart?"

"Ted?"

"Please, honey, just think," she encouraged, ruffling the fur between its ears. "If you saw this pokemon, what would it be?"

Teddiursa made a face. It wasn't like any pokemon it could remember seeing. "Teeeeeeeeeeed..."

Thena stayed crouched down, holding out the picture, "I think it's a bug, or at least a poison type. I don't think it attacked him--I think it was a defense mechanism. Maybe he tried to pick it up and it had effect spore?"

"Ted-Ted," the little bear tilted its head at the funny drawing. He was trying to determine if it was hanging down or standing up. "Teddi?"

"A what?"

Teddiursa jumped down from the chair, mimicking first a little ball, and then splaying out his paws and claws and flailing them. "Teddi!"

"Drops from the trees," Thena narrated as she tried to extrapolate what pokemon Teddiursa was describing purely from young memory. "It's a ball?"

"Ted!" he waved his paws around again.

"But when it drops, it opens up," she guessed, and he pointed a claw at her. "So it's not a Ferroseed, or even connected to a Ferrothorn."

"Teddi!" he continued, now spinning around on his paw.

"Spins," she groaned, searching through every pokemon she could think of in her mind. Kids these days had it so easy with their pokedexes right in their pockets or on their wrists. "A little ball that drops down and spins...spins?--Rapid Spin?"

"Teddi! Teddi...ursa!" her little cub described, miming and Explosion.

It used Explosion and Self-Destruct. They weren't looking for a poison barb, they were looking for a defensive pokemon. One that didn't have much attack power and relied on high trees for its habitat. It dropped down when frightened and could only defend itself in close proximity (no limbs).

Thena reached for Gil's ranger gear, calling Dragonite. "It's a Pineco!"

It asked if she was sure, which she could understand.

"It's a Pineco--it dropped out of a tree when he found it," she continued, looking at the drawing that was now so obvious: it was a bagworm. The little blob was the Pineco itself, but the other drawing was because Pineco wasn't the pine cone pokemon, it was the Bagworm pokemon. "Sometimes they can know Toxic Spikes when they're young. Toxic Spikes are proximity based, and they dissolve into the skin once they've made contact."

Dragonite let out a roar on his end, directing the rangers with it to the area with Pineco in the trees. It let out a softer howl to her before signing off.

Thena dropped her head, letting her tears fall freely. They had an answer--it wasn't a solution yet, but it was a hell of a lot closer. "Thank Arceus, thank Celebi, thank anyone out there."

"Teddi?" her little cub latched onto her ankle as she hunched over Gil's bed.

She sniffled and smiled, picking up her little bear and pressing kisses to his furry cheek. "You deserve the medal of honour, you brilliant bear, you."

"Teddiursa!" the cub laughed as she tickled him. He didn't know what he had done, but he was glad to see her tears fade.

"Audino?" the nurse for the next treatment poked its head in.

"Please," Thena waved in the Hearing Pokemon. "I just called Dragonite's team. I think it was a Pineco with Toxic Spikes that did this."

"Aud!" the nurse gasped, its ears fluttering and snapping its fingers(?) at the realisation.

"It makes sense, right?" Thena sighed, to which the medical assistant agreed. She nodded, "Dragonite will be back with a sample as soon as possible. But if we know it was Toxic Spikes, then-"

"Aud-Audino," the nurse assured her that they could use a more specified - effective - treatment, even before they started synthesizing the antidote. It went to Gil's equipment, making a few adjustments to certain levels of things (whatever they were). "Aud!"

"Thank you," Thena nodded as the pink pokemon left to alert her colleagues to the situation. Thena leaned all the way over the bed, pressing her tears into the shoulder of Gil's shirt. "Thank Eternatus you're okay."

Gil's eyes fluttered.

"Sh, sh," Thena cooed, not wanting to wake him if he was just going to feel awful.

He blinked at her, "hey."

Thena blinked as tears started streaming from her eyes again. "Hey."

Gil moved his eyes around a little (the most movement he could muster at the moment). "Is...am I dying?"

Thena shook her head, kissing his forehead, "not anymore."

[theramblingsofadork]

Tragedy can sometimes ignite a spark of fresh genius. ⚡️

[clownattack]

Whenever i am told thangs abt the leech i just go. What an embarrassing person gosh

[ayyponine]

two months into volunteering at the museum and a guy who works there permanently goes “you know theyre looking fr people in communications right” wwyd

[varjopeura]

.

[ineffablefool]

My household just finished watching Bullet Train (2022), and I cannot remember the last time I’ve felt such sheer *delight* at a new-to-me movie.  Everything keeps happening so much, and it shouldn’t all work together but it does, and Brad Pitt plays a secret agent codenamed “Ladybug” who is the exact opposite of no chill.  Like, all the chill that other people are not?  It’s because he took it.  He has a very good therapist.

The movie is a huge pile of potential triggers (bright flashy things, lots of gunfire, blood and what I consider a small but non-zero amount of gore, so very many onscreen deaths including those of major characters...), but if anyone watches the Netflix preview trailer thing and thinks “huh, there’s no way this can actually be as delightful as they’re trying to make it look”?  No, it is.  It is a zillion miles away from being in the Soft Zone(TM), but it does involve the use of Thomas The Tank Engine characters as a way of reading people.  Apparently one shouldn’t be a Diesel.