#118 survival guide

[rockspider556]

THE OFFICIAL TEMP & PROBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR STATION 118

(Or: How to Survive the Most Dysfunctional Yet Effective Firehouse in the LAFD.)

Introduction

So, you’ve been assigned to Station 118. First off, we’re sorry. You must have angered someone in upper management.

If you’re reading this, you are either a temp firefighter, a probie, or you lost a bet. Regardless of how you got here, you’re in for an experience that will leave you questioning everything, including basic physics, firehouse professionalism, and whether two men can be so in love that an entire station just collectively decides to never say anything about it.

You will get attached. You will get confused. This guide is here to help you survive the madness.

Rule #1: Don’t Question it

Did you just see a firetruck jump a freeway divider? Did a firefighter just bench-press another firefighter for fun? Did the captain just predict an emergency call before it came in?

Yes. Yes. And absolutely yes.

It’s best if you just roll with it.

Rule #2: The 118 attracts weird calls- Accept this

You’ll see things. Terrible things. Confusing things. Things that should not be physically possible. Examples from past rotations include:

✅ Someone flushing a baby down the toilet

✅ A fighter jet in someone’s living room

✅ More natural disasters than statistically possible

✅ Situations so baffling even Bobby Nash, the most experienced firefighter here, will have to take a deep breath before dealing with them.

Just accept that this station is cursed and move on

(If you hear the words “raccoon” and “rescue” in the same sentence—walk away. We do not talk about the raccoon incident.)

Rule #3: If you cant find Buck, look for Eddie

If you can’t find Eddie, look for Buck.

If you can’t find either, follow the noise.

🔹 Loud crash? They’re there.

🔹 People shouting their names? They’re definitely involved.

🔹 Unnecessary heroics? Yep, that’s them.

Do not attempt to separate them. That is above your pay grade.

(Exception: If Bobby tells you to separate them, congratulations! You’re now part of the problem.)

Rule #4: If someone says “PROBIE, CATCH!” - DO NOT CATCH

Just duck- trust us

🔹 If Buck yells it, it’s already airborne.

🔹 If Chimney yells it, it’s a prank.

🔹 If Hen yells it, catch it and don’t ask questions.

🔹 If Bobby yells it… it’s probably too late.

Rule #5: Be nice to Christopher

Christopher is Eddie’s son. He is the unofficial mascot of the 118 and the only person who can tell Buck to shut up and have it actually work.

Christopher is amazing, and if you are even slightly rude to him, you will be immediately ejected from this station, either professionally or physically.

(Seriously. If Buck finds out you’ve upset Chris, you might just get yeeted out of the firehouse. You think we’re joking? We are not.)

Rule #6: Hen knows everything

You cannot hide anything from Hen.

If you did something embarrassing, Hen already knows.

If you have a dumb question, Hen will answer it—but with judgment.

If you think you can outsmart her, you are wrong.

Your best course of action? Accept your fate.

(Bonus Tip: If you ever need good advice—about firefighting, life, or avoiding Chimney’s latest scheme—ask Hen. She’s your best hope.)

Rule #7: Chimney is either your best friend or your worst nightmare

You will never know which until it’s too late.

If Chimney is laughing at you:

🔹 You fell for a prank.

🔹 You are about to fall for a prank.

🔹 Something ridiculous just happened, and Chimney has already made it his personal mission to bring it up forever.

Do not trust him if he says, “Hey, Probie, can you do me a favor?”

That’s how it starts.

(Exception: If Hen is also involved, run.)

Rule #8: The unofficial married couple energy is strong

They’re even co-parenting a child

At some point, you will witness the following:

🔹 Buck and Eddie bickering like they’ve been married for ten years.

🔹 Buck casually doing things for Eddie like an overenthusiastic husband.

🔹 Eddie rolling his eyes but secretly loving it.

🔹 A conversation that consists entirely of looks, and yet somehow they both understand exactly what’s being said.

Do not ask if they are together. Do not point out that they should be together. This has been an ongoing, slow-burn situation for years, and apparently, we’re all just waiting for them to figure it out.

(Side note: If Chimney is also in the room, he will absolutely narrate their moments like a nature documentary.)

Rule #9: Expect unnecessary displays of strength

Someone at 118 will, at some point, decide that carrying you, the ambulance, or possibly a full-grown cow is a totally normal thing to do. Don’t fight it. Just nod, say “Wow, that’s impressive,” and move on.

Rule #10: Never underestimate Bobby

Captain Nash is somehow aware of everything at all times. If you break a rule, he already knows. If you get involved in nonsense, he saw it coming. If you think you’re being sneaky, you’re not.

Just be honest. It’s easier for everyone.

(Exception: If Buck tells you to do something, assume it is not captain-approved and proceed with extreme caution.)

Rule #11: You will never be the “Alpha” here

It doesn’t matter how strong, fast, or experienced you are. The 118’s hierarchy is absolute and was forged in a trial-by-fire (literally). The sooner you accept that, the happier you’ll be.

The pecking order usually goes like this:

🔹 Captain Nash – Sees all, knows all, somehow controls all.

🔹 Hen – The mom friend. Respected. Will roast you if necessary.

🔹 Chimney – The chaos gremlin. Somehow both responsible and unhinged.

🔹 Eddie & Buck – The human embodiment of “Do first, think later.”

🔹 Bobby’s Cooking – It has its own level of authority. Respect it.

🔹 You – The probie/temp.

(Note: If Bobby ever calls you by your full name instead of your nickname, start updating your résumé.)

Rule #12: You will not leave the same as you arrived

If you survive your rotation at the 118, congratulations! You will now find every other station shockingly boring.

Common side effects include:

✅ An instinctive sigh whenever you hear something crash, followed by, "What did Buck do?"

✅A strange desire to always check on Christopher, even though you are no longer responsible for him.

✅ Uncontrollable frustration that Buck and Eddie still haven’t figured it out.

✅ A deep, unshakable feeling that, despite the madness, you kind of miss it.

If you experience these symptoms, don’t fight it. You’ve been claimed by the 118.

🎉Welcome to the weirdest, most dysfunctional family in the LAFD. 🎉

And remember: If they ever actually kiss, you were here first.

May Bobby Nash have mercy on your soul.

[between-two-fandoms]

Do you guys think the spouses/romantic partners of the 118 have a group chat where they share advice on how to survive being a romantic partner of someone in the 118?

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Fic rec for my BFF, pt. 1

My best friend is currently watching 9-1-1. I've been trying to get her onboard the Buddie ship and she is graciously tolerating me. She's asked for some fic recs and so this is what I came up with! I did have to work with a few parameters to fit her taste, the most important one being nothing post season 3 cause that's where she's up to and she didn't want spoilers.

Hope you enjoy these bestie!

Canon to Canon Divergent

Things We're All Too Young to Know by Daisies_and_Briar / @cal-daisies-and-briars 

Canon S1-S6, S7 Spec | 123/? | 379K | Mature

This is a love story. Even if it doesn’t always look like it. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it. A look back on Eddie and Buck's lives up to now, and what led them to each other, interpreted from the current 9-1-1 canon.

THE canon fics to end all canon fics. I know it's still a WIP and it spans up to post-S6, but if you want a canon fic, that's the one to go for.

Leading with the Left by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels 

Canon Divergent, Different First Meeting, Stripper Buck | 84K | Explicit

When Buck said he was a "bartender" in "South America" what he actually meant was "stripper" in "Mexico." And when Eddie said, "What's your problem?" what he actually meant was, "Is this about the time you gave me a lap dance?" In other words, there's a few things the 118 doesn't know about Buck. Or Eddie. Or Buck and Eddie's relationship.

One of my most re-read fics. The smut is impeccable. The angst is so good. Absolutely love this fic!

Your Scars and Your Lonely Heart by Taste_is_Sweet

Sentinels AU, Canon Divergent - Tsunami | 82K | Teen

Clara Williams just wanted to visit Pacific Park during her layover in Los Angeles. She never expected to find a young, exceptional Sentinel dying for lack of a bond. Actually, what she really never expected was a tsunami, or the same Sentinel to save her life. But Clara's a Guide, so now she's on a mission to keep Evan "Buck" Buckley alive until she can get him to Eddie Diaz, the Guide who should have bonded with him, but didn't. Because Clara can't bond with Buck, no matter how much she wants to. There's just one problem: Buck's convinced Eddie doesn't want him, and he might not survive long enough to find out the truth.

Another one of my most re-read fics! I had never read a Sentinels AU before and I fell in love with the concept!

the distance to the stars by cloudydaisies 

Didn't Know They Were Dating, Post-S3 | 27K | General

“Didn’t know you were seeing someone.” Buck just laughs. Like, honest to god giggles. Eddie is stuck fighting off doubly massive waves of butterflies and confusion, all while Buck just gazes down at him. “That’s cute,” he hears Buck mumble, just before climbing into the truck, calling Eddie after him. - or, everyone knows eddie is dating buck except for eddie, literally.

Don't know if you knew this, Marie, but Buddie is the #1 most tagged ship in the "Didn't Know They Were Dating" tag cause they're such idiots <3 and this is one of my favorite ones!

the weekly bet (but the forever kind) by theleftboobgrabber/ @theleftboobgrabber 

Late S3, Getting Together | 49K | Explicit

“Thanks,” Eddie mumbles, hiding his face deep in his pillow, even if Buck can’t see him in the dark. “What for?” Leave it to Buck to be confused about something so obvious. “Being you, idiot.” “And again with the name calling,” he answers, content and sleepy. Nights like this, Eddie feels like asking for a miracle. But to the team, it wasn’t a matter of if Abby would take him back, but when. A matter of days. When the squad bets on how long it will take for Buck and Abby to get back together when she comes back to LA, Eddie is forced to reconsider keeping his feelings for Buck a secret.

Top tier pining + oblivious Eddie = 👌

Always, All Ways by ashavahishta/ @tevankinkley

A/B/O AU | 85K | Explicit

“Buck is very dear, Mr Diaz. Not only to me but to the pack. You’ll find that if you treat him with anything less than utmost respect you’ll have a lot of people to answer to.”   Eddie swallowed. It was clear that in the absence of a mate, this omega had found himself a very protective pack. “Understood, sir.” Or: Buck’s the only omega in the 118. He’s got secrets, and walls a mile high. Eddie’s the alpha determined to knock them down.

There's not a ton of A/B/O fics in this fandom, and I should really try to read more of them, but this is probably my favorite one so far!

I Hit the Accelerator (But the Car was in Reverse) by extasiswings/@extasiswings, letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/@letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

S3, Friends With Benefits, BDSM | 68K | Explicit

When Buck is forced to confront the truth about his breakup with Abby, having casual sex with his hot new coworker seems like the best rebound idea. Unfortunately, that hot new coworker turns into his best friend. But best friends can keep having sex with each other, right? There's no way this could possibly go wrong.

THE friends with benefits fic! (ok lbr there's a ton of great ones, but this one is S2 focused iirc)

AUs

My Blood on Your Skin (My Rose on Your Snow) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

Mythological AU, BDSM | 80K | Explicit

When Eddie needs cash and fast to take care of Christopher, his LAFD Academy buddy suggests a job as a bouncer at Elysium - an exclusive sex club in downtown Los Angeles. Eddie doesn't care what goes on there, so long as he's paid, but he finds he cares a lot bout the club's enigmatic owner, Evan Buckley, and it's not long before the two of them are violating every boss-employee rule in the book. But there's something different about Buck and the club, something not quite... human. If Eddie wants to keep Buck, he's going to have to delve into the world of immortals, and all the risks that implies.

You can expect amazing smut by this author as always, but also really interesting worldbuilding and characters!

All My Shattered Oaths by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

Vampires AU | 107K | Explicit

Eddie wants to stay away from his family’s legacy and give his son a normal life. Buck’s desperate to find a way to get over the love he lost. Fate has other plans for both of them.

SO GOOD. The canon divergent reincarnation vampire AU you didn't know you needed!!!

a bleeding sun on a silver screen by rarakiplin (gmontys)/ @hoediaz 

Actors AU, Friends With Benefits | 130K | Mature

One day, Buck will tell an interviewer that he would be happy to make movies with Eddie Diaz until the day he dies. But first, years before that, he sees Eddie for the first time on the set of Chimney’s fifth movie.

An epic tale of movie making and enemies to friends to FWB to strangers to lovers!

The Truth of Love (Amas Veritas) by allyasavedtheday/ @littlespoonevan

Practical Magic AU | 20K | Teen

Bobby opens his mouth like he wants to argue but decides against it. “Walk me through the logic here then. How will this make sure you never fall in love?” “Because I’m making someone who doesn’t exist,” Buck explains, glancing from the half-full bowl to Bobby. He can’t work out what the look on Bobby’s face means so he pointedly elects to ignore it. “They’ll have brown hair,” he starts, clipping another petal from the rose bush. “And brown eyes-“ “Lotta people out there with brown hair and brown eyes, kid,” Bobby says lightly and Buck rolls his eyes. “But not many that can ride a horse backwards,” Buck counters. “And whose favourite shape is a star and who’s got…two scars,” he decides, plucking a basil leaf and dropping it in the bowl. “One on each shoulder.”

Because Practical Magic AUs always make me think of you <3

I'll Scrawl it on Every Wall I See by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

Canon Divergent, You've Got Mail Fusion | 29K | Teen

When Eddie joins the 118, he and Buck don't exactly hit it off on the right foot. Or continue to walk on the right foot. In fact they kind of can't stand each other. Good thing they each have a beloved anonymous pen pal to share their daily woes with, someone completely unlike their insufferable coworker.

I do love some good romcom vibes!

[dailydemonspotlight]

Ixtab - Day 118

Race: Reaper

Arcana: Death

Alignment: Dark-Neutral

October 2nd, 2024

While the last spotlight was pretty lighthearted, this DDS will speak explicitly about self harm and suicide. Please don't read on if these are triggering to you. Trust me, this was probably the hardest DDS for me to write, personally, so I fully understand. Take care of yourself.

Among the scariest concepts in the world, death is probably the most common fear one can have. However, when one is welcoming of it, it can feel like a comforting embrace, and the ancient Mayans were fully aware of that, given the desperate times they resided in. Sometimes, in ancient times, people saw taking their own lives- suicide- as the only answer they had, and today's Demon of the Day was the goddess who'd take care of and guide those departed souls to the afterlife- Ixtab. While I'm not scared of Ixtab herself, I am scared of what she represents- not just death, but the willing embrace of death. At the very least, she represents the last gasps of comfort to those tortured souls who took their own lives...

Ixtab herself was a psychopomp, and didn't oversee or explicitly lead people to suicide- instead, she guided those people into the afterlife, being representative of the cold embrace of death. As referenced in 'A Dictionary of World Mythology', Ixtab was portrayed as the slightly decomposing corpse of a hanging woman, with "her cheeks [showing] the first signs of decomposition", as the book states. However, her domain wasn't exclusively over people who died from suicide, as she took in several kinds of suffering souls, not just suicide victims; she guided sacrifices, warriors who died in battle, and women who died during childbirth to their final resting place as well. She seemed to be a genuinely kind figure who would help these suffering souls reach some form of absolution that they weren't able to attain in their lives.

Ixtab's first (and only somewhat reliable) reference can be found in one of the works of 16th century inquisitor Diego de Landa, a guy who was famous for fucking destroying several primary sources from Maya! Dude!!!! God, that aside, though, he had quite a famous text in the form of Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, a collection of several stories he had gotten from Mayan civilization. I only gave the Wikipedia link because I fucking hate this guy even though he's the only main source we have for knowledge about the Mayans. I dunno, maybe if you didn't burn the fucking books, we'd have more, huh, DIEGO??? HUH?????? Ahem. Among the book's pages, he makes reference to Ixtab in a passage about the gods of Mayan culture. The passage is, to quote a translation from this paper,

They said also and held it as absolutely certain that those who hanged themselves went to this heaven of theirs; and on this account, there were many persons who on slight occasions of sorrows, troubles or sickness, hanged themselves in order to escape these things and to go and rest in their heaven [gloria], where they said that the goddess of the gallows [la diosa de la horca], whom they called Ix Tab, would bring them.

While this is a pretty good summary of what Ixtab actually was, another reference to her can be found in some of the few surviving Mayan papers, the Books of Chilam Balam, where they make a brief and obscure mention of her in reference to hangings and death that's rather hard to quote or translate due to the way the Mayan language worked. However, in spite of how obscure she is, Ixtab quickly became a rather popular character from the Mayan pantheon, with many references to her being found in many areas. Her role seemed to primarily be that of freeing those who died in great agony, after all, and it was that kindness that inspired her popularity.

However, the existence of Ixtab has been disputed by some scholars, and they point to her as what may have once been a hunting god due to a number of comparisons between her and some language weirdness, such as her name that translates to 'hangwoman' possibly being in reference to hunting snares. Her existence as a suicide god may have been sensationalized and used to essentially talk about the high rate of suicides in Yucatán, used to excuse and talk about a suicide cult instead of touching on possible issues with the area itself.

...God, I need to lay down. I'm sorry about this one being such a downer, though it's unavoidable given the topic. I love you guys, and I hope you're all safe and happy /gen. Thanks for reading, and I'm gonna take a nap given how heavy this was for me ;-;

[florasearlethirdyear]

Unwell Women By Elinor Cleghorn

Ancient Greece-19th Century

Chapter 1:

Page 7: 'From the exemption of women from swathes of clinical trials and studies until as late as the 19990's to the failure to examine how heart disease, certain cancers and AIDS/HIV manifest differently in female bodies, there have been decades of medical advancements that failed to take women into account.'

Page 11: 'Since the 1960's, feminist health campaigns have fought timelessly against drug side effect suppression and systematic gender and racial bias in clinical research, from both inside and outside the medical establishment'.

'Women forced changes in law and practice by campaigning from the ground up'.

'Feminist social reformers denounced medicines perpetuation of women's 'natural' inferiority from the eighteenth century onwards. Grassroots activists in the 1970's empowered women to reclaim the ownership and enjoyment of their bodies from man-made medical mystification, and charted knowledge for women, by women.'

Page 25: (Hippocratic Corpus theories)

'But, in their difference, women possessed the most useful and mysterious organ of all: the uterus'.

'Women's health was entirely defined by their uteruses'.

Page 29: 'Medical writings that survived the fall of Rome were closely sanctioned by the church, so those very men who proselytised that women were universally deviant were also the ones in charge of teaching texts that claimed the female body was inferior, defective and always governed by the whims of the womb'.

Page 30:

Book called 'Gynaecology' held some of the less dramatic views on women's health.

'Part practical guidebook for midwives, part treatise of the many and various disorders of the uterus, Gynaecology derived from Soranus' more balanced, holistic view of human health'.

Chapter 1 Research Points:

Look into AIDS Campaigns, Feminist Social Reformers, Grassroots activist and the Gynaecology book

Chapter 2:

Page 37: 'The Book of the City of Ladies'

Page 39: 'Secrets of Women'

Page 45: Talks of witches and how they were blamed for inflicting sickness on other women.

'Mavelus Malefaction' or 'The Hammer of Witches' Book

Chapter 2 Research points:

Look into witch hunting campaigns, whether they mention the blame for women's sickness and infertility. The Hammer of Witches may contain this.

Chapter 3:

Page 60:

'Galen's 'turned-outside-in' vision was replicated in anatomical illustrations in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries'

'Disease Woman'-Guide with illustrations

'On The Fabric of the Human Body'-illustrated book. Page 62: 'He wasn't able to properly explain the physiology of menstruation'.

Page 67: 'The History of Man' book avoided female genitalia entirely

'Mikro Kosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man' By Helikah Crooke was detailed with illustration that upset John King, the Bishop of London.

Chapter 3 Research Points:

Look into 'Disease Woman', 'On The Fabric of the Human Body', 'The History of Man'. Contrasts to 'Mikro Kosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man' as well as contemporary representations of female biology.

Chapter 4:

Page 74: Anne Greene's story in 1651 included a pamphlet

Page 75: 'Self help books addressed specifically to women patients appeared from the earlier decades of the 1600's'. The Sick Woman's Private Looking-glasse By John Sadler in 1636.

Page 84: Quote from feminist Wollstonecraft: 'Women could become so much more than the delicate, flimsy accessories that society-and medicine moulded them into'.

Chapter 4 Research Points:

Anne Greene's 1651 pamphlet, The Sick Woman's Private Looking-glasse By John Sadler in 1636 and self help books in early 1600's.

Chapter 5:

Talks of breast cancer and racism surrounding pain tolerance.

Introduction of chloroform and Queen Victoria's approval of it. Maybe look into ads that pushed the use of chloroform at this time?

Chapter 6:

History of the speculum and surgery on clitoris

Page 118: Victorian health manuals 'encouraged patients to be vigilant for clues that their daughters had succumbed to 'insidious contagion'.

Page 121: Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act was an early feminist campaign

Chapter 7:

Surgeons Hall Riots

Page 128: 'even in best-selling home-health manuals, a menstruating woman was instructed to strictly control her 'conduct', lest she fall foul of 'hysterics'.

Chapter 8:

Page 139: 'Seneca Falls was a call to arms against the many 'customs' that decreed women should be subservient to men'.

Page 140: 'The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman'.

[homerforsure]

Whumptober No. 21

bleeding thru the bandages / pressure / blood-matted hair

Whumptober No. 31

disaster zone / trauma / prisoner

Tour Guide Buck AU

(This one is a little messy, I’m afraid. I used it to play with the vibes I might use for Eddie in this fic and also I let the night get away from me so I’m a smidge sleepy)

*

It’s chaos in the wake of the wave. So many voices are begging at once, screaming, trapped, dying, that they start to blend together, a symphony of suffering. The streets that Eddie is finally starting to recognize are suddenly familiar in a different way. He can feel his gait change as he moves through the city. No longer just single-mindedly charging towards a lone emergency, Eddie has his head on a swivel, constantly scanning for victims. For danger. Like slipping on an old coat, he’s Staff Sergeant Eddie Diaz again. 

Because it’s exactly who he needs to be, Eddie doesn’t fight it. The ABCs he learned in paramedic training give way to the MARCH of the army as the 118 responds to trauma after trauma: crushes, lacerations, compound fractures, traumatic head injuries, and more than one impalement. There are an uncountable number of drownings, all of them over and final by the time they arrive on scene, and the hopeless bodies they leave behind in pursuit of ones they can save are going to haunt Eddie for years. 

Despair is paralytic so he puts it aside for now, refuses to allow the anger that would make him reckless and unfocused to kindle in his chest and falls back hard on his training. Tourniquets and pressure dressings, bags of fluids and piles of shock blankets. None of them know when any of these people are going to see a real hospital or a real doctor so Eddie’s job is to give them the best chance of living long enough to get there. 

“Good save, Eddie,” Bobby says, clapping him on the back as Hen and Chim work to stabilize the teenager that Eddie saw buried under what used to be the brick façade of a bookstore, only his fingertips visible and moving under the rubble. His praise is fainter when Eddie climbs a half-uprooted tree to untangle a woman trapped in the upper branches and then performs a needle thoracostomy to decompress a pneumothorax. By the time he’s performed an emergency tracheotomy on a man with severe facial trauma who can't receive oxygen any other way, his captain’s mouth is pressed in a thin line. 

Eddie thinks he knows what Bobby’s seeing. He knows the way he gets in a warzone, the way he has to get to survive it. There’s a ruthlessness to field medicine the same way there’s a ruthlessness to a surgeon’s scalpel. It’s not just leaving your feelings about a case at the hospital doors, it’s never letting them in at all. Terrified last breaths and bloody faces and mangled limbs are the purview of nightmares. Eddie can’t process them, can’t see them, right now or he’ll never be able to do his job. And Bobby sees Eddie not seeing them.   

“Get some air,” he says finally, after Eddie responds to a case of secondary drowning at the field hospital. The kid is young, younger than Christopher, and there’s a moment when Eddie thinks it’s too late and all of his careful detachment slips and Bobby sees.

“Cap-”

Bobby fixes him with that gaze that’s less captain and more dad and says, “Eddie, this shift isn’t going to end at seven. We’re going to be on search and rescue for days and it’s not gonna get easier. Call home. Rest for an hour, okay?”

It’s a direct order which means that Eddie says, “Yes, sir,” instead of “I’m fine.” 

He goes outside, but it’s too late to call home. He shoots a text to Carla, asking if she can get Christopher to school in the morning and back home again after and hopes he can keep enough charge on his phone to follow up when she replies in the morning. 

After that, Eddie should lie down. Rest is essential and he’s learned how to grab it at any time and in nearly any condition. But he can’t stop scanning. He’s watching other first responders rushing around, treating the victims that just don’t stop pouring into the field hospital, grabbing each and every one and directing them to the type of help they need most. There’s something soothing about it. Like LA’s a giant ant hill that got washed out by the wave, but here its people are, out and rebuilding right away. That’s the part that was missing during his service. The thought that there might be an end to it. 

He sees something. 

Eddie doesn’t quite know what it is. He’s scanning and then something trips his senses so he scans backward. Forward. No one is moving in panic. The scene is chaotic, but in a predictable way. Nothing really stands out as-

A flash of orange. 

If he hadn’t spent so much time looking for that flash in a crowd at some of the busiest tourist attractions in LA, there’s a chance it could have escaped Eddie’s notice. But his heart lurches and he knows he’s not imagining it. 

Eddie loses sight of it in the crowd as he leaves his position next to the tent and he raises himself up on his toes to see over them. He starts panicking, thinking he lost him and then the crowd parts and Eddie almost loses his breath. 

“Buck.”

His voice is too soft and Buck doesn’t hear him. He looks a little lost in the crowd. Worn and disheveled and, fuck, he looks beat to hell. That ridiculous orange tour shirt is ripped and filthy, wrinkled beyond belief. 

“Buck!” Eddie calls again and Buck just gets his head up before Eddie makes it to him, his blue eyes bewildered and cloudy.

“Eddie?” he asks. 

There’s a child on his back. A girl in a purple t-shirt, less than ten and just as exhausted and bruised as Buck is. She’s clinging to Buck’s neck, her legs around his waist, and Buck is somehow holding both of them upright. But not for long. He takes a staggering step forward, saying Eddie’s name again and Eddie grabs for Buck and for his radio at the same time.

“Hey, I need some help out here.” 

“I think she twisted her ankle,” Buck says. “It doesn’t look broken but I-I-I don’t really know how to tell.”

“Okay,” Eddie answers, cataloging the deep gashes on Buck’s face, the red soaked rag around his arm, and the painful stiffness to his walk. When he gets close enough to take the girl in his arms, he can see that what he thought was just water dampening Buck’s hair is actually blood, half dried in places, but still oozing a little from the part in his hair. 

“It’s okay, kiddo,” Eddie says to the girl who protests as she’s shifted from one perch to another. “You’re safe now. We’re going to take care of you.”

Buck seems to fade as the weight is lifted from his back, like that purpose was the only thing keeping him upright and he says, “Violet. Her name is Violet.”

Hen emerges from the tent at Eddie’s call. She finds him quickly, taking in Violet, listless in Eddie’s arms and noting Buck staring at both of them from a few feet away. “What do we have?” she asks. 

“This is Violet,” Eddie answers, passing the child over again. “Can you take her inside?”

“Where are her parents?” Hen asks.

At that, Eddie looks over at Buck who shakes his head. “Missing,” Eddie replies. “Check out her ankle, okay? Buck thinks she might have sprained it.”

“Buck?” Hen says, looking up at him with a different expression on her face. “Is he-?”

“I’ve got him,” Eddie answers. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Violet whimpers in Hen’s arms and that’s the end of the conversation. She hurries away with the little girl and Eddie watches them go until he sees Buck start to crumple in his periphery.

“Whoa, easy, I got you,” Eddie catches him just in time and Buck sags against him, boneless and shaking. Gripping tight, Eddie bears him up and says, “Don’t worry, Buck, I got you. Can you walk with me a little bit? I gotta get you inside, okay.”

It takes a phenomenal effort, but Buck puts weight on his feet again. He’s still leaning heavily against Eddie, but he lets himself be led slowly inside toward one of the few empty cots left. As Eddie helps him to sit, Buck groans pitifully and tries to lay down. Eddie doesn’t let him. 

“Hey, hey, hey, stay with me, Buck, okay? I need to check you out before you can sleep. Can you tell me what happened? Can you tell me what hurts?”

Buck looks up at him and his expression is distant.

Concussion, Eddie thinks. Exhaustion. Blood loss. It could be anything. His skin is cool under Eddie’s hands and everything is so wrong. Buck shouldn’t be here like this. He’s meant to be happy and carefree, shining in the sun and not limp and broken.

“Where’s Violet?” Buck asks, frantic without warning. “She was just here. She-”

“She’s okay. My friend’s got her right over there and she’s going to take good care of her.” He points out where Hen has Violet on a cot across the way, lying down as Hen listens to her chest. Buck sees and relaxes a little and Eddie keeps talking, “Where did Violet come from, Buck? What happened to you out there?”

When Buck lifts his gaze to Eddie’s again, it’s all Eddie can do not to reach out and stroke his fingers gently over his matted hair. He settles for gently turning his head to take a look at those gashes on his cheek and confirm that they don’t reach all the way to Buck’s eyes. As he does, Buck answers, “We were on the pier.”

“The pier?” The pier is destroyed. There is no pier. There aren’t any survivors from the pier except for the few they managed to pluck from the ferris wheel. 

But Buck nods, “Santa Monica tour. The water left all at once and I told everyone to run. Her dad, Max, he handed her to me and said he couldn’t run. He said I had to get her out. Eddie, the water. It came so fast. I lost them. I lost all of them.” 

“Not Violet,” Eddie answers. “You got Violet out.” 

Buck looks toward the girl again to reassure himself and then back at Eddie. He frowns, “What are you doing here?”

Somehow, Eddie actually laughs, “I’m here to take care of you.”

“Okay,” Buck answers. “Good.”

Someone gets him a med kit and Eddie gets fluids into Buck’s arm right away. Buck blanches at the needle, but he lets Eddie do it, just like he lets Eddie clean his wounds and check his pupillary response. Buck’s a quiet and compliant patient and every little flinch he gives, sends a matching prick of pain through Eddie’s chest. The head wound is especially nasty. It opens back up again as Eddie tries to clean it and the fresh blood trickling down Buck’s cheek makes him finally moan a little. 

“I know. I’m so sorry,” Eddie says, encouraging Buck to fall against him, running his hands over his back and whispering soothing nonsense into his ears. “We’re almost done. I’ve got you. You did so good today. You’re so good, Buck.”

He can’t imagine it. Buck crossing the city, escaping the landing site of the tsunami, and carrying a little girl on his back the whole way. Eddie knew that Buck was someone special and finding out that, actually, he’s a real-life hero isn’t that surprising. But there’s a price to be paid for heroism. Buck’s seen all of the carnage that Eddie’s seen today and then some; it’s no wonder he’s exhausted. All Eddie wants to do is gather him up and take him home. To shelter Buck from any more horrors. 

Against his chest, Buck is trembling. His fingers are wound in Eddie’s shirt and his head is tucked into the crook of Eddie’s neck. There are other things to do, other patients to treat, but Eddie doesn’t let go until Buck’s grip on him starts to loosen. 

“Where’s Violet?” he whispers again.

Eddie turns to look and he doesn’t see Hen anymore. He doesn’t see Chimney either or Bobby. But Violet is asleep on her cot, a rough blanket tucked under her chin. “She’s okay. She’s sleeping.”  

Nodding, Buck pushes himself back a little to look at Eddie’s face and Eddie can’t help it, he reaches up and brushes a thumb over Buck’s brow. “You should sleep too.” he says.

“You have to get back to work?” Buck murmurs, his eyes drifting closed.

He does. His shift won’t be over for another four hours and, like Bobby said, they’re days away from this being over. But with Buck drained and hurt in his arms, Eddie doesn’t think he can drag himself away.’

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says. And when Buck’s entire body shudders in relief at the words, Eddie knows he’ll do anything to make them true. He scoops Buck close again and kisses the unmaimed side of his head. “I’m staying right here with you.” 

[abimee]

The Pleiades (/ˈpliː.ədiːz, ˈpleɪ-, ˈplaɪ-/),[7][8] also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45, and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the most obvious cluster to the naked eye in the night sky.

The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.[9] This dust cloud is estimated to be moving at a speed of approximately 18 km/s relative to the stars in the cluster.[10]

Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula.[11] Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.[12]

Together with the open star cluster of the Hyades, the Pleiades form the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic.

Contents 1Origin of name 2Folklore and mythology2.1Subaru 3Observational history 4Distance 5Composition 6Brightest stars 7Age and future evolution 8Reflection nebulosity 9Possible planets 10Gallery 11See also 12References 13External links

he distance to the Pleiades can be used as a key first step to calibrate the cosmic distance ladder. As the cluster is relatively close to the Earth, its distance should be relatively easy to measure and has been estimated by many methods. Accurate knowledge of the distance allows astronomers to plot a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram for the cluster, which, when compared to those plotted for clusters whose distance is not known, allows their distances to be estimated. Other methods can then extend the distance scale from open clusters to galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and a cosmic distance ladder can be constructed. Ultimately astronomers' understanding of the age and future evolution of the universe is influenced by their knowledge of the distance to the Pleiades. Yet some authors argue that the controversy over the distance to the Pleiades discussed below is a red herring, since the cosmic distance ladder can (presently) rely on a suite of other nearby clusters where consensus exists regarding the distances as established by the Hipparcos satellite and independent means (e.g., the Hyades, Coma Berenices cluster, etc.).[3]

📷Animation of proper motion in 400,000 years—cross-eyed viewing 📷 (click for viewing guide)

Measurements of the distance have elicited much controversy. Results prior to the launch of the Hipparcos satellite generally found that the Pleiades were about 135 parsecs (pc) away from Earth. Data from Hipparcos yielded a surprising result, namely a distance of only 118 pc by measuring the parallax of stars in the cluster—a technique that should yield the most direct and accurate results. Later work consistently argued that the Hipparcos distance measurement for the Pleiades was erroneous.[3][4][5][40][41][42] In particular, distances derived to the cluster via the Hubble Space Telescope and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting (so-called "spectroscopic parallax") favor a distance between 135 and 140 pc;[3][40] a dynamical distance from optical interferometric observations of the Pleiad double Atlas favors a distance of 133 to 137 pc.[42] However, the author of the 2007–2009 catalog of revised Hipparcos parallaxes reasserted that the distance to the Pleiades is ~120 pc and challenged the dissenting evidence.[2] Recently, Francis and Anderson[43] proposed that a systematic effect on Hipparcos parallax errors for stars in clusters biases calculation using the weighted mean and gave a Hipparcos parallax distance of 126 pc and photometric distance 132 pc based on stars in the AB Doradus, Tucana-Horologium, and Beta Pictoris moving groups, which are all similar in age and composition to the Pleiades. Those authors note that the difference between these results can be attributed to random error. More recent results using very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) (August 2014) and preliminary solutions using Gaia Data Release 1 (September 2016) and Gaia Data Release 2 (August 2018), determine distances of 136.2 ± 1.2 pc,[44] 134 ± 6 pc[45] and 136.2 ± 5.0 pc,[46] respectively. The Gaia Data Release 1 team was cautious about their result and the VLBI authors assert "that the Hipparcos-measured distance to the Pleiades cluster is in error".

[shh-im-fangirling]

"When you know you matter"

Fandom: 9-1-1 (TV)

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)

Characters: Evan "Buck" Buckley, Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Ravi Pannikar, Hen Wilson, Bobby Nash

Summary: Buck is partnered with Ravi. During a call, something goes wrong and Buck gets angry with him because he put thier lives in danger.

It is a split second. The beam seems to fall in slow motion, and Buck can see his life run in front of his eyes. He sees his parents and their judgmental looks, Maddie and her way to try to cheer him up. His family at the 118: Bobby and his paternal way to scold him, the teasing of Hen and Chimney. And he sees Eddie and their bond, Chris and his smile and courage and strength.

Then he jumps away from the beam trajectory, but not fast enough: it hit him in the right hip. For a moment, he loses his breath, then Ravi's hands take him by the shoulders and help him stand up. There is guilt in the Probie's eyes, and Buck can only feel his heart in his ears and a growing anger. He instructs Ravi to find the exit and they go as fast as they can, walking through the fire and the smoke that is becoming stronger by the minute.

When they are outside, Buck takes off his mask and starts to cough. Ravi, by his side, seems terrified.

“Buck, I'm so sorry. I-I...it was a second and...” he stutters when they are outside, clearly aware of how much he risked.

He went back inside the house because he thought there was another person trapped, but another team already pulled everyone out and Ravi didn't hear it from the radio. The house was collapsing and Bobby already gave them the ultimatum to evacuate, but Ravi went inside and Buck had to follow.

Buck shakes his head, eyes shining with anger. “That second could have cost my life! You can't risk like this. I have a family to go back, I don't want Bobby to have to tell them I didn't make it out alive because you acted reckless!” he yells, pointing an accusatory finger to Ravi.

The young firefighter backs away, evidently scared. Eddie moves a step, ready to intervene, but Hen stops him.

“Okay, you two, we can solve this thing at the fire house. Now you both go to Hen and Eddie to let yourself check.” Bobby injects, tone that doesn't allow replicas.

Ravi nods and Hen guides him in the ambulance while Buck storms to Eddie avoiding Bobby.

“I'm fine.” it is the first thing he says to Eddie.

Eddie helps him unbutton his turnout gearand starts check his ribs. “Does it hurt here?” he asks, pushing a little in his abdomen.

Buck hisses a little. “I said I'm fine.”

“I am the medic here and I say if you are fine or not!” Eddie scolds him. “Now, you stay still, let me check and you answer me honestly when I ask something.” he adds, gently caressing his hip.

Their eyes meet and the only thing Buck can do in front of Eddie's order is to nod. Eddie analyse his ribs, where the beam hit him, then he checks his pulse and his reflexes. They don't talk apart from the questions Eddie asks him to see how much pain he feels. The final diagnosis is that he has no broken ribs, but his hip has already a big bruise. No head injury or breath problem.

“As soon as we arrive at the station, you change and go home.” Bobby instructs him after Eddie tells him his response.

“But, Cap, I still have two hours to do.” Buck protests.

“And we can survive two hours without you. You go home, put some ice on that bruise, rest and cool down. Otherwise, I will bench you for the next shift.” Bobby threatens him.

Buck looks at him incredulously, but doesn't dare protest any further. They all set in the truck after settle the scene. The ride is silent, but the tension can be felt in the air. Buck is staring outside, but his hand is settle in Eddie's and the other guy is stroking his thumb in his back to calm him down. Ravi doesn't dare to look anyone, tears in his eyes. Hen exchanges a look with Eddie and he nods “I'll get it” he mutters. Hen nods back, because she knows that if someone can fix that situation, that someone is Eddie.

When they arrive at the station, Buck runs in the showers. Eddie follows him while he sees Bobby guiding Ravi in his office.

He finds Buck sit in a bench, arms in his knees and head between them. It feels like he has a weight on his shoulders, a weight of stress and sorrow.

“Does your rib hurt?” he asks him.

Buck shakes his head. “No, luckily.” he pause, like he is trying to calm himself. “That was so stupid to do. We could have been dead. He didn't even think about the consequences, he just run inside and risked our lives.” he blurts out, anger strong in his voice.

“He reminds me of someone else.” Eddie gives him an accusatory but soft look. Buck looks at him.

“You know why I used to do it. And I would do it again if it means that the people I love won't be in any danger. But every time I consider the risks, I have never put myself in danger just because, I did it with a valid reason and I didn't involve anyone else.” he point out.

Eddie nods. He goes to sit next to him and starts stroking his back. “Yeah, I know why you did it and I know you always tried to do it safely, but maybe the Probie thought the same. Or maybe he doesn't know how to consider the situation.” Eddie pauses, trying to smooth Buck's anger. “Maybe he just needs guidance.”

Buck sighs deeply, closing his eyes and considering Eddie's words.

“Listen, go and take a shower so you cool off. I wait here so I can put some cream in that bruise.” Eddie says, smiling softly at him.

Buck nods and stands, taking a towel from the locker and going to the shower. He undresses, hands still shaking from the adrenaline. Imagines from the accident burning as he closes his eyes: that was a close call. He has had plenty of close calls in the past, more that any other person can bear, but this time the feeling was different. He wasn't sacrificing himself for the good of the people he loves, he didn't know the risks because he didn't choose to save the day. He was lost and he was terrified.

When he goes back to the locker room, Eddie is there as he said. Buck sits beside him and shows him his right side.

Eddie's fingers analyse the bruise with gentleness. “I think we can put some ice so it can start to swallow faster.” he says, and then opens the lid of the cream and starts to apply it on the bruise.

For a moment, there is only silence. Buck looks as Eddie puts the cream gently and feels the warmth of his fingertips. A lot of thoughts go in his head.

“I'm sorry. I didn't want to do it, but I had to do it for Ravi. I'm so sorry.” he says, voice cracked with pain. “The only thing I could think was that I was leaving you and Chris. That I couldn't have been able to be by your side and see him grow. It was terrible.” Buck whispers, while Eddie gently caresses him.

He has never felt something so big in his whole life: the pain to leave someone who loves you with every inch of their body. He has never felt that love for anybody, and he knows that anybody never felt it for him. With Eddie and Chris he knows he has something to lose and someone who would mourn him. He knows he can't do reckless stuff like he used to do because now he has a family waiting for him. It has been a long process, but now Buck know that he his loved and he matters.

Eddie puts a finger under his chin and smiles at him. “I'm glad you finally see how much you matter. I'm proud of you.”

He brushes his cheek and Buck leans on the touch. He feels so intimate yet so natural. Like Eddie is meant to calm Buck as Buck is meant to calm Eddie. Like they balance each other and rely on each other like perfect partners. That's why, for Buck, it feels so wrong to work with Ravi and not with Eddie.

“I miss working with you.” he whispers, sighing.

Eddie smiles. “Yeah, so do I.” he pauses. “But now you are working with Ravi and he needs all the help you can give him. He did what he did because he is a good firefighter, and you did what you did because you are a good firefighter too. You need to guide him to avoid those risks; you have to let him know when is worth it and when is not. So you can both go back home at the end of every shift.”

Buck shrugs. “I think yelling at him is not the best way to guide him, is it?”

“No, I don't think so.” Eddie chuckles.

Buck sighs again to recompose himself. “I have to apologise to him.”

Eddie nods. “And then you go home. There's Carla but I'm sure Chris will be thrilled to see you. And when I come back in two hours we can have dinner together and watch a movie.”

Buck smiles brightly and nods. “Deal.”

Eddie squeezes his shoulder one last time and then let him stand up and go to find Ravi.

The Probie is in the loft eating something while Bobby supervise him like he obligated him to eat.

As soon as sees Buck, he stands up. “Buck, I am really sorry-”

“No, I am sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you.” Buck stops him. “I should have explained the risks to you and let you understand why going back this time could have been a sentence for us and not a rescue. I have to help you grow and consider the chances and this time I failed. I hope to do better next time.” he finishes, offering a hand to Ravi.

The younger firefighters takes the hand and smiles at him. “You are a great mentor and I'm really honoured to work with you.”

Buck feels his cheeks flush. “We-we will work great together.” he says.

Ravi nods and then he goes back at the kitchen counter to eat. Buck looks at Bobby, he nods at him and smile proudly. Then he goes to sit in one of the couches where Eddie is waiting for him with a cloth with ice in his hand.

“Put some ice before you leave.” he says, gently.

Hen, sits on the other couch, looks first Eddie and then Buck and she shakes her head. “Look at you, Buckaroo, wise and confident. If someone had told I would see it happen I would have laugh at them.” she teases. “And now you are here grown up and responsible, with an husband and a son. Wow, I'm impressed.”

“Shut up, Hen.” Buck strikes back, throwing a pillow at her.

He looks at Eddie, both aware of Hen's comment, but he doesn't feel like it is totally a lie. Eddie smile at him like he is okay with it, and Buck knows that they will have to talk about their relationship.

But not now. Now they laugh with Hen, Bobby and Ravi. And they are a team ready to save lives. They are a family, with ups and downs, but they always love and support each other.

[juleswritesthis]

My Thoughts: 911 5x14 Dumb Luck

This episode was called Dumb Luck focused on accidents that occur because people are “dumb” but then are saved by sheer luck. However, if you dig a little deeper maybe it wasn’t luck, maybe it was fate? Or skill or maybe a combo of all 3?

Let’s take the first couple, who thought it would be wise to make out against the upper balcony of a high rise building (I was just shaking my head at the sheer stupidity) only to have the wife fall onto an awning instead of the pavement (by sheer luck).  The 118 is on the scene and Bobby because he is the best captain ever immediately assesses the situation and guides his team to action with Lucy/Chim several stories below the lady, Buck on the roof, and Hen on the lookout. When the lady slips Lucy acts quickly because she is smart, well trained, and yes with an element of luck catches the lady midfall. Like she said 9 out 10 it shouldn’t have worked but if Bobby hadn’t directed the team to the right places, Chim hadn’t unhooked the window and if Lucy hadn’t reacted instinctively, no amount of luck would have saved the woman. What about fate? We find out later that the lady is actually one of the top trauma surgeons in the city and thus she is able to save the stop sign-stealing teenager. Lucy saves the lady, the bick-riding woman directs Athena to the teens stealing signs, where one of the teens is injured, and the lady Lucy saves then goes to save the boy. Luck? Skill? Fate?

Now how does this tie into Eddie’s arc? He is dealing with PTSD, survivor’s guilt and having a full on existential crisis. Why is he always dying but keeps getting saved? Why is his entire team dead even after he sacrificed so much to save them? Why did he get an award if he didn’t actually save anyone? Does what he does even matter?

I like how they tied different parts of Eddie’s story to different people. He is working through his trauma as Chris worked through his during the tsunami. His survivor guilt is linked to Bobby who survived not only the death of his entire family but over 100 people he couldn’t save in the building fire. And finally, the meaning of what he does is linked to Buck who is able to provide him with a little clarity.

The question of the episode is does what we do matter or is everything just luck? Buck shows Eddie that yes it does matter. If Eddie had died in that helicopter crash, or by his subsequent injuries, or drowned in that well, then Charlie may not have survived. And who knows who Charlie will be one day, who he will save, how he will change the world. We don’t exist in a vacuum, what we do, what happens to us affects others and thus it all matters. I really loved how the episode unfolded to show it doesn’t matter whether you describe it as luck, fate or skill, at the end we matter, it all does, you just have to look beyond the pain to see that.

I really love how they are taking time with Eddie’s arc. They are portraying therapy as exhausting & difficult, not a quick fix. How they are bringing in different characters to move the story forward. Such as Chris asking if he makes his dad sad (so heartbreaking). Eddie’s nightmare so well done especially Chris’ remark of “you’re always dying” in that detached tone. How they are showing the strength of Buck and Eddie’s friendship in the way Eddie is completely open with Buck, leans on him for support and trusts him implicitly to take care of Chris. Buck is really an incredible friend, his concern over Eddie and finding ways to show Eddie he matters. The show continues to use these different stories to prove that the 118 is a found family!

I think Bobby Nash is the greatest. The way he was there for Eddie and his concern for his wife and the way he is always taking care of his team, feeding them, and supporting them. The Bathena scene was lovely and touching especially how Athena recognized that the teen who almost died could have easily been Harry (the link with the shoes was wonderfully portrayed). I’m glad to see Maddie and Chimney connect and support each other at the hospital. But really show can we give Maddie and poor little Jee a break please?

Jonah is still super suspect. The way his face just changed when Lucy mentioned Hen calls him Monday. Dude is gonna come back for revenge isn’t he? In all seriousness, I do think the way he was transferred to another team was unfair. I don’t really know what the city rules are about personal leave, but it was clear in 5x11 that Jonah was fully hired to take over Chimney’s position then Chimney is back, and boom Jonah has to go? Seems like a total HR nightmare to me.

I do like the humor in this episode too. Anytime Athena uses that exasperated tone like the way she said "idiots" makes me completely crack up. Karen’s complete bafflement of how Lucy caught the lady, and that she can’t figure out the physics behind it (oh so happy to have that intelligent lady on my screen again)! Hen finding that dude in the clothing drop box (their faces!). Buck’s heart drawing, I literally guffawed and rewatched that scene 3 times. He misunderstood the assignment! LOL. Only Buck.

Another banger of an episode. I’m really, really, really loving 5B and looking forward to the final 4 episodes!

[indiguus]

first lines of last 20

@stellarm tagged me. i got a feeling it'll be a bunch of very short simple sentences for first lines. 😅 btw, i'm skipping those ficlet collections. guidelines: list the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all.) choose your favorite opening line, tag some friends!

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20. why don't you kiss me? [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] After months of hellish training and strict diet, Buck got into the best shape of his life. And more importantly, he got his spot on the LAFD firefighter calendar. Some might think it vain but he felt accomplished -- challenging himself and succeeding with discipline he didn't even know he was capable of. Nobody could take this victory away from him.

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19. floating [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] "I'm going on a coffee break!" yelled Buck, without turning his head as he stepped out of the tent.

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18. speeding [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] It was a small sip of wine that Buck almost choked on. If it was to happened it would be a great deal more embarrassing than getting choked by a piece of bread. And yet across from him, Maddie reacted like this was well within the confine of her expected outcomes when those words left her lips.

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17. fighting [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] It was a regular medical call for the 118. Hen & Chim was treating a woman for dehydration and what appeared to be a severe migraine attack. Buck was distracting the woman's 5 year-old daughter trying to keep her calm.

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16. feasting [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] "Mi querido, Evan!" Buck was spotted the moment he walked and immediately got pulled into a tight hug, as the restaurant owner ambled over to him. Without missing a beat, he guided Isabel over to a nearby empty booth to sit down, with a hand on her elbow and settled himself opposite her.

---

15. cleaning [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] Buck wasn't a sloppy guy. He put a lot of effort into keeping his apartment clean and comfortable, because after a 24-hour shift he would like a clean bed with fresh sheets to pass out in. Or maybe a comfortable couch with no crumbs to pass out on after 6 hours of Fortnite.

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14. soaring [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] Evan Buckley did not like to fly. No matter what the statistics said, he did not feel comfortable stuck in a metal tube floating thousands of feet above the ground.

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13. Can we not rewrite our history? [9-1-1, Eddie/Buck] "What the fuck are you doing here?" Buck growled low, once everyone else cleared out of the locker room after Bobby introduced Eddie to the team, with Buck's back facing outward and his head seemingly stuffed into his own locker.

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12. ko `u `uhane [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] "Could you tell the story again please, Danno? Pleeeeeeeeease?" Even with Danny's resolve, it was impossible to give in to Grace's pleading accompanied by her earnest stare.

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11. Quiet [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] In contrast to Danny, Steve didn't make much noise. He wasn't quiet but neither was he talkative. Utilitarian, one might even categorize Steve as when it came to spoken words – unless he was arguing with Danny. In the physicality sense, Steve carried himself with a feline grace gliding between spaces without making much sound. And when he stood up to or someone, he would become a towering 12-feet thick steel reinforced concrete wall – imposing, unmovable, and most of all silent.

---

10. The Menace [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] If anyone asked, Danny had a well rehearsed presentation about his partner completed with visual aids if required.

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9. Solus [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] Car ride with Danny was many things -- entertaining, frustrating, or aggravating. Boring though, it never was. Nor was it ever quiet.

---

8. Boxed [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] It took Steve hours after the fact to realize. There was a game on the TV for background noise, as Steve sat down to process the day's events while having a Hapa Brown Ale. It was unfair to compare the hand-to-hand combat skills between Danny and him, but Danny could fight with the best of them and Steve had unadulterated faith in Danny having his back. Normally Steve would be too engaged in subduing other perps to observe Danny, though today was different.

---

7. Agreement [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] Freddie tilted his head back eagerly exposing more of his neck to Danny, silently begging for lips, tongue and teeth, at the same time Danny's two well-lubed fingers breached him. It was a deftly practised dance for them, this familiar foreplay. With the tip of his tongue, Danny traced the often traveled path from clavicle up to earlobe humming softly while savoring the salty tang of Freddie's skin.

---

6. Frayed [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] His body and his story keep moving forward. There is no stopping or slowing down. However that inhale of air filled with slightly spicy musk has been locked away in the sensory vault in the deepest recess of his mind. That moment in time, a pair of strong arms embracing him before he left the tiny motel room, propels him forward and gives him the will to survive.

---

5. When I Climb the Stairs and Turn the Key [Stargate SG-1 & Stargate Atlantis, Cameron Mitchell/John Sheppard] "I'm too old for this shit," Jackson muttered from his crouched position behind a nearby boulder. Cam shot him an exasperated look while spears, arrows and darts continued to rain down on them. Because Jackson always said things like that - how he should do more research and fewer front line missions, but at the first mention of a Maya-like civilization, he jumped on-board immediately. All previous declarations conveniently forgotten. So, the chance of him ever feeling too old for field trips through the gate was slim to none.

---

4. Proximity [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] Danny rants. It's an irrefutable truth like humans need oxygen to survive. Danny rants and complains like nobody Steve has ever met. Danny even rants about things that not necessarily bother him but he does it anyway just because he can. To dissect and discern which ones really matter, is something Steve has learned early on.

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3. More Than Three [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] "Seriously?" Steve grunted in mild frustration, trying to lock his face down to military blank because he didn't need more names to his expressions. He didn't have faces.

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2. Faded Memories [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] Swallowing down the rest of his beer, Steve set the empty bottle on the bar top behind him without looking, his attention homed in on the blond across the empty dance floor. It was early evening on a Wednesday, and this man was the best in the club at the moment -- not that he wouldn't stand out in a full house on a Saturday night. A good half foot shorter than Steve, the man's shirt might be covering his skin, at the same time it enhanced the display of his musculature.

---

1. Downward Dog [Hawaii Five-0, Steve/Danny] Danny's hiding something. Steve is sure of it. He's certain it's nothing to be paranoid about because he knows Danny, trusts him implicitly; but the thing is, Danny's hiding something.

---

tagging: @tari-aldarion, @agentlemuse, and @finduilasclln.

[ssfghfrrggf]

Family

An alternate end to the scene where Buck wakes up after his leg surgery in 2.18 for @buckleystrand. I hope you enjoy! It’s kind of short tho, sorry.

The doctors aren’t very thrilled with the idea of flooding Buck’s hospital room with the better half of the 118, but after a great amount of finessing and no small amount of flashing their firefighter charm the doctors finally give in and let the team join Maddie in waiting for Buck to wake up. The air of the room is tense, there is relief too, but it’s mostly pumped full of tension. There’s a lot to be grateful for, Eddie knows that, but there are also so many unknowns. He survived. His leg survived, but the doctors made no guarantees about how recovery would go with it. He could be fine or it could be a career ending injury. The thought of having Buck no longer on the team with him makes Eddie stir uncomfortably where he stands at Buck’s bedside. He’s known Buck barely a year and the guy is already one of the closest friends he’s ever had; he’s more than that really. He’s family, family that needs to stay with the 118.

“Where’s Christopher?” Maddie asks, tearing her gaze away from Buck. She seems to be noticing just now that all three of the people who would normally be watching Chris are all right here in this room.

“Carla dropped him off at his abuela’s,” Eddie says nodding toward Carla who’s sitting next to Maddie.

“You didn’t think he’d want to see Buck?” Maddie asks. “I know Buck’ll want to see him.”

“This can all be a little scary,” Eddie replies and rocks on his heels. He really had thought about having Carla bring Chris, but he’s definitely had enough trauma in the past few weeks. All this worry and Buck unconscious in a hospital bed would just give the kid even more to be stressed and worried about. “I’ll bring him once Buck wakes up.”

Maddie nods understandingly and doesn’t say anything else.

***

Buck comes to, to the soft buzz of hushed voices. He waits to open his eyes and just listens; everything is rather muddled, probably from the painkillers he most definitely on, but he can make out Hen, Chimney, Athena and Bobby’s voices off his to his right, and Maddie and Carla’s hushed warm whispers to his left. The only person’s voice he can’t make out of all the quiet talking is Eddie’s, which makes sense. If Carla’s here that probably means Eddie his home with Christopher, and that’s fair. Buck too would rather hang out with Chris than stand around in a hospital room waiting for him to wake up.

Buck sucks in a deep inhale and opens his eyes only to find himself looking up at Eddie who is standing by his bedside.

“Guys he’s awake,” Eddie says, effectively silencing the room as he and Buck make eye contact.

 Buck doesn’t remember much of happened after the truck blew up, but he does remember Eddie being there next to him holding his hand the whole time. He opens his mouth to thank Eddie for being there with him, but before he can get the words out Maddie is grabbing his hand and guiding his face around so he’s looking at her.

“Hey Buck,” she breathes. There’s relief in her voice but it’s tinged with fear and concern.

“Hey Madds,” Buck rasps, and is a little surprised by how gravely it comes out.

“You had me worried there for a bit,” she says, smiling through tear filled eyes.

“You had us all worried,” Bobby reiterates, coming to stand next to Eddie.

“But I’m okay, right?” Buck asks and adjusts his position in bed to look up at his leg. He turns his gaze to Bobby. “My leg is gonna be fine, right?”

“Yes,” Eddie says before Bobby can open his mouth. “Your leg is gonna be fine and you’ll be back to work in no time.”

“Yeah,” Hen adds encouragingly. “It’s only been a few hours and I already miss you being a pain in the ass.”

“Come on,” Buck groans through a laugh. “I’m awake for two seconds and you’re already busting my balls?”

“Take one for the team, sleeping beauty,” Chimney jokes. “You’ll have a break while you heal, but she’s gonna be extra brutal to the rest of us while you’re gone.”

“You know we’re only kidding,” Hen says lovingly. “We all love you and already can’t wait to have you back.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Eddie agrees and gives Buck’s hand a gentle pat. He locks gazes with him. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you having my back for the next six weeks. I need you man.”

Buck twists his hand around so he’s grabbing Eddie’s. “I’ll always have your back, Eddie, and thanks for taking care of me back there.”

A ghost of a smile crosses Eddie’s face. “Always.”

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Favorite Buddie Fics (so far!)

Hi 911 fam!

This has been way, waaaaaaay past overdue. The weewoo show got a hold of me last May and, for some reason, I resisted making a fic rec blog about it. I think I was kind of in disbelief that I, a serial long-term monoshipper, had adopted a second new ship in less than a year 😆 But it seems like I'm a sucker for a good Best Friends to Lovers, Found Family, Trauma Bonding vibe!!

I figured I ought to start off this blog with my favourite fics I've read so far. These are the ones that are, to me, the most memorable, that I've already re-read once (or twice!) in the last few months. I absolutely love them!

I'm going to try and start making recs here a bit more often! In the meantime, if you want more fics I've enjoyed, you can have a look at my ao3 bookmarks here. You can also find me on Twitter and Bluesky @/epicficrecs !

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think about those fics and what are YOUR all time favourites? 😊

Being Eddie by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Time Travel, Post-Season 6, Getting together | 80K | Teen): When Eddie starts seeing a new therapist, he’s presented with the opportunity to revisit several days from his past and right regrets that still bother him. OR: Eddie goes through the time travel therapy process of the 2009 Canadian TV show Being Erica.

Evan Buckley & The Coma-Verse of Madness by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Coma AU, Multiverse | 58K | Teen): After being struck by lightning on a call, Buck experiences a plethora of alternate realities showing him different directions his life could have taken. Fighting hard to get home, Buck learns what, or who, is important to him in every lifetime.

Your Scars and Your Lonely Heart by Taste_is_Sweet (Sentinels AU, Canon Divergent - Tsunami | 82K | Teen): Clara Williams just wanted to visit Pacific Park during her layover in Los Angeles. She never expected to find a young, exceptional Sentinel dying for lack of a bond. Actually, what she really never expected was a tsunami, or the same Sentinel to save her life. But Clara's a Guide, so now she's on a mission to keep Evan "Buck" Buckley alive until she can get him to Eddie Diaz, the Guide who should have bonded with him, but didn't. Because Clara can't bond with Buck, no matter how much she wants to. There's just one problem: Buck's convinced Eddie doesn't want him, and he might not survive long enough to find out the truth.

let the world have its way with you by fleetinghearts/ @shitouttabuck (Post-Coma AU | 54K | Explicit): or, a bucket list that’s really about buck needing to make a change and an eddie who’s ready to do anything to see him fall in love with life again. it takes some crossing off for eddie to realise—the thing at the top of the list in his own heart? it’s been right here all along

Leave the Light On (I'll Be Coming Home) by HMSLusitania/ @hmslusitania (Canon Divergent, Amnesia AU, Post-Season 5 | 44K | Mature): An accident on a call leaves Buck with custody of Chris after Eddie is... missing presumed. While they navigate their new family circumstances -- and fight to stay together, despite Eddie's parents' best efforts -- a John Doe wakes up in a coma ward with no memory of his own life beyond the knowledge he has a son named Christopher and, somehow, he needs to get home.

Leading with the Left by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Canon Divergent, Different First Meeting, Stripper Buck | 84K | Explicit): When Buck said he was a "bartender" in "South America" what he actually meant was "stripper" in "Mexico." And when Eddie said, "What's your problem?" what he actually meant was, "Is this about the time you gave me a lap dance?" In other words, there's a few things the 118 doesn't know about Buck. Or Eddie. Or Buck and Eddie's relationship.

for all the haunts and homes of men by euadnes/ @kananjarus (Canon Divergent, Post-Apocalyptic, Station Eleven Crossover | WIP | 9/? | 69K | Mature | Warning: Violence): The year by the old calendar is 2025. Home is gone. Home is a failed rescue mission and an echo of a memory. Home is a lost boy living in a wooden house by the sea. But first, there was a promise. Christopher, when it's safe, I'll take you back to your father. Buck had all but given up on keeping it after the world had died and everyone in it. But just as some oaths refuse to be forgotten, so the same can be said about the endurance of love.

(yes I put a WIP there because it's just that good)

[thenokami9]

This is part of a trade I’m doing with la-24 doodles, just a small sweet one shot.

A light wind blew over the Emptiness stirring up dust as it blew, sheltered inside a once grand church lived a clan of stitchpunks, protected by two wolves and a fox they lived comfortably, threats from machines rose for the group now and then, but they survive, banding together is one of the greatest strengths they knew would be key to live through the destroyed city that was now their home.

117 was one of a few that had made the old church her home with her pack along with her mate 110 and her young daughter 118, the pack was growing when everyone learned that 117 was pregnant, a hope both her and mate held onto so they could have a complete family.

117 looked out of the Emptiness to keep looking for 110, he had been sent out scrapping with 9, 5 and 14, with Kaien to help protect them and carry anything large back home, the Emptiness wasn't as safe as most thought, dangers lay hidden and a fallen god's fury wasn't quelled. 117 worried for her friends and her beloved when he had to leave, her fears of her two children would grow up without 110 and she would be alone once again.

“I hate it when he has to help with scrapping, it always makes me nervous, I know I'm not due for another month but....I still wish he's stay here.” 117 told herself as she sat on a brick, holding and rubbing her enlarged stomach that held the new soul within her.

“As much as you'd want him to stay you know he needs to help, not only for your pack, but for your growing family.” an elderly female's voice spoke. 117 jumped when she heard it and turned to see Fala standing near the door.

“Oh Fala, I didn't know you came by.” said 117 as she calmed down.

“11 told us the good news, thought I stop by for a while and offer my blessings to you and 110.” Fala said as she walked over to sit next to the young mother. 117 smiled at her friends comment.

“T....thank you Fala, this hasn't been easy, my temper dose not help my mood swings though, 1 made a crack and I punched him.” 117 told her. Fala laughed at the vision of what she was told, she knew 117 had a temper if angered enough but she knew when to use it to her advantage.

“Really? Knew it was a matter of time before that old goats mouth would cost him, wish I could've seen it.” Fala chuckled. 117 lightly giggled.

“Beta did laugh pretty hard.” said 117. Fala calmed down from laughing, she turned to 117 with a small smile.

“But I bet you and 110 must be very excited for your new little one, I know how much you both have wanted this. I know 110 must be over the moon.” said Fala, 117 gulped as she looked down at her stomach, her hand resting on top of it/

“We both are, 118 can't wait...” said 117, Fala noticed a change in her friends voice, her mood was changing as well.

“You don't sound as joyful as I'd hope.” said Fala.

“I'm....I'm nervous if anything...” 117 told the elder. Fala nodded as she turned more to 117.

“Oh that's normal dear, those feelings go away in...” Fala started to say.

“It's not that!” 117 cut her off, Fala was taken back a bit, but when 117 looked at her she could see the fear and worry on her face and in her optics, Fala also heard the fear in her voice when she spoke, 117 shuttered as she held her stomach carefully. “Dear...” Fala started to say.

“There are so many thoughts and questions going through my mind it's overwhelming! Wi....will the baby be alright!? Will it live!? Is the delivery going to go okay!? Can I really do this?! What if something goes wrong?! What if....” 117 felt herself breaking down, then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Alright first of all, take a few deep breaths and calm back down.” Fala told her. 117 followed Fala's orders as she tried to calm herself, have a little trouble Fala took the young mother's hand and turned her face to face her own.

“117 dear, please calm yourself. I understand how scary having a baby can be, I would know, I know the 'what if's' and 'maybes' can be very scary and there's no telling what will happen when the time comes for your child to enter this world, but you're not alone.” Fala told her. 117 calmed down more with Fala's words.

“You won't be going through this alone, you'll have myself, your husband, your daughter and everyone here, even your old grouch of a leader.” added Fala.

“B-but Fala...” 117 started to say, but became quite when Fala moved her hand from her face to her shoulder.

“I've seen you face down beasts, bring down the mightiest of beings, even faced down a fallen god and this scares you? I know you're much stronger than this, many of us are. I can't say for sure if it'll go easy, and trust me when I say it WILL hurt, but the end result is well worth it when you and 110 are holding your new baby.” Fala told her.

“Take it from me child, everything will work out in the end. The two of you have done such a wonderful job with 118, there's no doubt in my mind this new little one will have the best parents the ancients can give.” she added with a smile. 117 gave Fala's words thought, she let out a deep sigh of relief as she pulled her friend into a hug.

“Thanks Fala, guess I needed some words like yours right now.” said 117 as she pulled away from Fala.

“It's normal to be scared the first time, I speak from experience, but that fear goes away in due time.” Fala told her.

“Trust me dear, everything will fine.” she added as she guided 117's back down to her swollen stomach, suddenly Fala felt a tiny bit of pressure from 117's stomach. 117 felt it as well, the mother knew the soul was kicking.

“Goodness, the little one is a bit of a kicker, like their mother.” said Fala. 117 lightly laugh as she felt the light kicks once again once Fala moved her hands away.

“She doesn't kick much at night.” said 117 as she looked at her stomach. Fala raised a brow.

“She? You know you're having a girl?” asked Fala.

“We won't know for sure, but it feels right to be calling them a she, until they get here we won't really know for sure, but, I can hope for a girl.” 117 answered. Fala smiled and nodded.

“Good outlook, what does 110 hope for?” Fala asked once more.

“When I asked, he said it didn't matter, as long as the baby was okay and healthy.” 117 answered again. Fala smiled, this showed 110 was a good soul, she knew he wouldn't love 117 any less if she gave him a daughter or son, as long as the child was okay that was enough for him.

“Good for him, speaking of your husband I think I see him coming back.” said Fala as she looked outside and noticed a light black wolf returning with four male stitchpunks. 117 looked outside and noticed the color of fabric of one of the male with them. “He is back.” 117 gasped with joy as she looked down at her stomach.

“Your father is home now little one, shall we go see him?” 117 spoke to her unborn child as she tried to stand up only to stagger a little. Fala placed her hand on 117's back and help her steady.

“Let me help you get there my dear.” said Fala.

“You don't have to-” 117 started to say but Fala raised her hand to quite her.

“I asked 110 to find something for me anyway, it's no trouble, now let's go greet your husband.” said Fala as she and 117 walked down the main area of the church.

The light black wolf Kaien laid down while 9 and others unloaded his saddle bags with all the supplies that was needed. 9 doubled checked the bag for anything that might have been left in there.

“That should be everything.” said 9 as he stepped out of the bag.

“Got more than we need though.” 5 pointed out as he looked at the pile, 110 pulled out some fabric and green thread from the pile.

“But Fala will be happy with this.” said 110 as he looked over the fabric to make sure there were no extra tears.

“She asked you to get that?” asked 9.

“She told me it was for something, but what it is I don't know.” 110 answered.

“It's a little project I've got planned.” they all turned to see Fala standing with 117. 110 smiled as he walked over to them.

“Ah Fala good timing, here's that material you wanted.” said 110 as he gave the fabric and thread to Fala, the elderly female smiled as well when she took the supplies.

“Thank you so much dear, but I only came with someone who really wanted to see you.” said Fala as she turned to 117. 110 lightly smiled when he saw his mate, Fala stepped out of the way as 117 walked past her, 110 opened his arms to his wife.

“I'm so glad you're back.” 117 told him as she hugged him, the couple embraced being careful of the life that was held within 117.

“You know I always come back mera neelam, I know you don't like it when I leave, but you know I need to now and then.” said 110 as he cupped his wife's face, 117 took in his warmth then she looked back at him.

“For all of us, I know.” 117 said to him as she welcomed the warmth when he held her.

“I missed you.” said 117 as she kissed 110's cheek, 110 brushed her face with his finger before making their way to her womb that carried their child. He smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I did too mera jaanam.” 110 said to her. Suddenly 110 felt tiny bits of pressure on his hand, 117 looked at him with a smile on her face.

“Seems the baby missed you more than me.” said 117. 110 looked down at his beloved's stomach.

“Well, I'm home now little.” 110 told his unborn child.

Fala, 14 and 11 belong to LadyAbigail24

117, 110, Kaien belong to me

[himbo-buckley]

idk if you've talked about this before but the complete shift in how they wrote buddie in s3 compared to s2 still gets me it just is so Obvious

Hello friend 🥰

Puh, I don’t remember either tbh?

(Sometimes when I look for sth specific I go through my blog and have these, „huh, wait, I wrote this?“ - moments, so maybe we just forgot)

(I know I messaged with some people about it and I know @chimbuckleys answered an ask about it not too long ago, though I can‘t find it right now)

(Also I will talk about it a little in „The big buddie guide“ though by the time that is finished we will all be old and grey and unable to read any longer, sigh)

But as you said: it‘s very noticable!!! They feel a lot lighter and more fun in Season 2 and a lot more emotionally involved and soft and romantic in Season 3, right?

Part of it is that the topics and the things happening between Buddie and to Buck and Eddie are far heavier so the writing of their relationship is reflecting that

Part of it is that they know each other better by now so they don’t have to ... fumble around the heavy shit I guess? They know each other now and their relationship has been tested and it survived so they are far more secure to do and say shit

Part of it is that early Buddie? Mostly shot from Buck‘s point of view, I mean if Eddie and Buck are in the scene, than the focus always went: Buck > Buck seeing Eddie (our whole intro to Eddie was through Buck, in the first four episodes we got exactly 2 scenes and 1 montage of Eddie that didn’t involve Buck somehow and two were about Eddie and Chris)

If I had to assign themes for Buddie I‘d say:

2a: flirty coworkers

2b: friends who‘d fuck each other if the chance arose

3a: #mutual pining,

3b: familyTM

I have to say, for me the big shift happened with Eddie?

Even though we had scenes like the hospital scene in 2.13, their relationship was still fairly light and mostly just a normal very close friendship

Like, if 2a was Buddie narrated by Buck then 3a is Buddie narrated by Eddie because here HE is the driving force behind their relationship, he is the one setting the pace, even in 3.06 when he is avoiding Buck, he is the one who decides: jup, okay, I‘m ready to listen now, I do wanna talk now

While in 2a it was Buck setting the tone, it was Buck who initially didn’t like Eddie but followed him into the truck anyways, it was Buck who asked about who Eddie tried to reach, Buck who followed Eddie into the skyscraper and drove him around and introduced him to Carla and so on

I also think that sometime during 3a, beginning with 3.03 in particular and ending somewhere between 3.09 / 3.10 where Buddie went from coworkers and best friends and part of the firefam to a family of their own and an „us“ separate from the rest of the 118?

In „the big Buddie Guide“ I like to call it „the ambiguous us” and basically what I mean is that a few times throughout the season 3 Buddie refers to “us” and to “family” and while it is always with other people around the subtext can very easily be read as “you and me” and not “you, me and everyone else”

There is also a great focus of the relationship between Buck and Christopher in Season 3 which we didn’t have in Season 2 either, like, we had Buck reference Chris a few times and interact with him but always with Eddie around

Season 3 on the other hand side gave us a relationship between Chris and Buck that was separate of that of Buck and Eddie, which also informed the way Buddie was written, right? Because it gave us all this coparenting and Buck being fatherly toward Chris

I mean, puh, friend, it’s so crazy obvious?

I know that Timbo isn’t sure yet and all but he has definitely been writing Buddie in a way that keeps that door wide open and he has definitely been testing the waters with how far he can go in Season 3

In my opinion if they keep the progression of Buddie going this way - which they have to unless they do sth to break them up in Season 4 or they say “fuck character development” or the SOMEHOW and against everyone’s expectations manage to introduce love interests for the two of them that would realistically work - romantic Buddie is the only way it can end

Which tbh is why I am so for them getting involved with someone else? Because the way they have been written and the way these two characters work they would be each other’s endgame - but it also has to be a slow progression (for me at least) to stay in tone with their relationship and their development, so dating someone else for a bit and then figuring out: oh, it was you all along! is the only way I can see these two develop right now?

So yeah, these are my thoughts on the Buddie shift between Season 2 and 3!

Hope it all makes sense and please ignore all grammatical errors I made here and in the past few days in general, it seems the more I write in english, the worse it seems to get but also I am typing on my phone and I can barely text in german, sooooo

[fanciful-of-life]

Rubber Ducky You’re The One

Bobby stood at the kitchen counter cutting up the vegetables for the stew to simmer for the dinner he was making that night.The December Fall Season had vastly approached the Los Angeles area and it was a particularly chilly day.

It fit the mood of the firehouse.

Hen, although under mandatory investigation because of the parents of the young girl in the car wanted one, was not her usual sunny self but still able to take shifts. She may put up an armor of unbreakable badassery but on the inside she is just as fragile as any other caring human. It was an accident. Green light or not. Unfortunately not everyone understands the law of clearing the way for emergency vehicles. Either that or they’re just not listening out for them. She had her fire fam to lean on, most of all Athena. Karen was trying but she still had her own depression to work through. He wasn’t worried as much about her though. Although he cared for all his subordinates the same, he knew she would pull through because that was what Hen does because she learned a long time ago it’s what she had to do to keep surviving. He did have soft spots for certain ones though. Hen being Athena’s long time friend being one of the reasons she was one of his.

Chim, bless him, was doing his best to up his regular Chimness for her.

Buck, it was the the kid he was worried about the most though. He has been way too quiet the past month. Unnaturally quiet for Buck. He’s been there for Hen. Supporting her, talking her back behind the wheel of the ambulance, sitting in the passenger seat as he goes on non-emergency test drives with her.

It had finally come to a head when “The stubborn little shit” to quote Hen, said he’d be happy to drive as Buck got behind the wheel ahead of Chimney when the call siren blared. Hen’s reply of “Like hell are you driving my baby” ended with him riding in his usual spot of the front passenger seat with her instead of the truck had done it as she told Buck in Chimney’s words “You’re an annoying little ass.”

It was that moment Bobby realized what Buck actually brought to the team. Eddie had joked in the truck Bobby’s dad was showing, not even realizing he had a proud dopey smile on his face before schooling his features and going back into Captain mode but Eddie smiled at him saying he was proud of Buck, too.

Bobby had many realizations about Buck this past month.

When he turned around after they pronounced the girl dead, with Athena holding onto Hen as her wails made a symphony of grief in the wind, he saw his eyes. Haunted. Like he knew Hen would never be the same. He’d seen those eyes in the mirror before but never on the kid. That was the moment he learned more about Evan Buckley than he had in the two and a half years he’d been working with him. Even after the lawsuit and a morning in the ER before going to breakfast. It was a moment Buck let his guard down and Bobby learned what a good actor Buck truly is.

All three were surrounding the kitchen island as he chopped. Buck even helping peel and cut potatoes. Bobby learned another thing about Buck in that moment as he snuck a peak as he used the peeler at breakneck speed. Buck was letting his guard down and forgetting to act the part Bobby finally figured out he created.

The look on Maddie’s face at Thanksgiving when Buck jokingly called Athena Mama Nash made Bobby pause thinking maybe it wasn’t really the joke Buck was trying to make it out to be.

Evan Buckley knew his way around a kitchen. There was a story there. One Buck had not and maybe would never share like he had the bartender and Navy Seals.

He suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. When two of the same three were surrounding the kitchen island but that time it was Buck they were concerned about. This time he knew it was Eddie that was on Buck’s mind.

Eddie wasn’t in just yet, his counseling session scheduled for this morning. After their talk Bobby offered him the day off but he refused. He needed to work. In that moment he sounded just like another certain one of his boys. Bobby started sautéing the meat in the crock pot and without hesitation Buck tossed in some flour.

Now Bobby was really worried. He never taught Buck this recipe. He was starting to wonder if the “cooking lessons” Buck wanted a few years ago was just really the need of some one on one time. He was also starting to wonder after that conversation in the ER about Buck feeling like his firefighter uniform was a costume that made him feel like he was making a difference was a cry much like Eddie’s. When was the kid going to finally figure it out? Bobby had told him he didn’t need a costume to be a hero, two people were alive because of him. The idea that Buck single handily helped keep so many people alive during a tsunami. Bobby couldn’t have been prouder. Which lead to the fiasco of a dinner after Buck made Fire Marshall, deciding light duty was better than no duty.

He knew he shouldn’t have lied to Buck. The department had cleared him to return but it was Bobby himself that suggested light duty. The picture of Buck lying under a fire truck giving him nightmares. After seeing him on the crutches in the cast the day of Eddie’s party he felt the guilt punch his gut, Buck had been a liability to his past which lead him to say to hell with it, life is is too short, and going home to Athena to get married right then. He also swore Buck wouldn’t be another liability because of him.

Bobby had been waiting for it for a month now. Knew it was coming. Chim had already mentioned it to him on many occasions. He had seen the looks Buck would throw towards Eddie. Even before Bobby found out about the street fighting and their talk.

“Something is going on with Eddie.”

And there it was, finally.

Buck was taking his frustrations out on the potatoes. Which impressed Bobby how perfectly cubed they were and maybe scared him a bit at the speed the knife was going. Trust. Bobby maybe worried but he had to show trust to rebuild trust lost. Plus, the kid knew how to hold a knife the right way. By the end of the blade where it connects to the handle with his thumb, fore and middle finger grasping it and not wrapping his hand around the handle itself for better control. He never showed him that. Or how to keep his fingers bent on the other hand to use as a guide.

Yeah, the kid did some time in a kitchen. Buck was still a wet behind the ears twenty something when he came to the 118 that let his emotions get the best of him, or so Bobby thought. That was what made Buck, Buck.

Bobby should have known better to think that the kid was just ego tripping and on a mission of self destruction. Known the moment Buck’s fist hit the table that he had made a grave error. The memory of Buck’s face when he helped him with his tie before his date with Abby. Like nobody had taken the time to ever show him they cared.

Maddie had lost touch with her brother, that much he knew. They barely spoken for long periods of time. Chimney let him in on that Buckley family acknowledgement. Maddie had been mum so far on any other family knowledge. Part of it had been Doug. Part of it had been Maddie leaving when Buck was still a young teenager. He could fit the pieces together. He knew enough people with shit dads. Like Eddie had told him. He didn’t feel like he was enough. How did he miss that with Buck when he himself had gone through the same thing?

That’s the thing with trauma though, isn’t it? Everyone’s is different but in the end the results are the same. It’s why Buck “the little shit” got Hen back behind the wheel. No matter how many talks she had with Athena, trauma causes scars. Buck didn’t want Hen anymore scar tissue than she already had.

Bobby wished he had thought about that the day he talked to Buck in the hospital and how much scar tissue had been added from his actions. Buck may have the dumb act down to a “T” but Bobby wonders sometimes if the kid isn’t smarter than he is.

Much like that conversation he had with the three about Buck that warm day, with him staring Eddie in the eyes that time. This time it was Buck looking at him like he had all the answers. When did he miss that? Too caught up feeling betrayed. When did he miss the fact Buck saw him as the dad he should have had?

“Eddie has us and he has people that care about him enough to help him understand they care.”

Buck looked down for a moment, then back up at Bobby. Nodding his head that he got the message. It was Buck’s turn to push this time.

A week later Eddie walked into the station. He’s had two sessions a week with the counselor and goes every other day to talk to the priest Bobby introduced him to the day they talked. Sitting his duffle down he sees a rubber duck, the kind a kid would play with in the bath tub on the top shelf of his locker by his helmet.

Letting out a chuckle and finding himself smiling, he picks it up sitting on the bench as he tosses it from hand to hand.

“Well, that’s something I haven’t seen in weeks.” His smile grows wider as the one person he knew would leave a gift like this voice comes from behind him.

Straddling the bench he half turns to look at Buck, already in uniform, hands in his pockets. Eyes surveying his face, what skin he could see, his knuckles, noticing he can turn but mostly Eddie’s movements. Eddie’s long sleeve henley and jeans covering his arms and legs.

“Christopher is going to Love this.” Eddie says standing back up he gently sits the rubber duck back by his helmet as he takes off his shirt. He can feel Buck’s eyes on his back, it clicked with Eddie then. Buck was looking for bruises.

“It’s not for Christopher.”

Eddie pauses with the shirt covering his face and a muffled “What?”

Taking the shirt off, Buck does a quick survey of Eddie’s chest as he does so before slipping on his button up.

“It’s for you.”

Eddie is used to changing in front of Buck and he knows something is up so he kicks off his sneakers and drops his jeans, showing no bruises on his legs.

Pulling on his pants Eddie buckles his belt asking “And just why do I need a rubber duck? I’m a little old for bath play time.” Okay, that sounded a bit more suggestive than he meant.

Buck smirks “Who could possibly be in a bad mood when holding a rubber ducky? Rubber Ducky, you’re the one.” Buck sings the last part. Fairly well to Eddie’s surprise.

Eddie is back in the bench tying his boots when he pauses. “Bobby?”

“No. Whatever you confided in him he didn’t share. I know signs of fighting when I see them. Plus, the bruised ribs at Halloween.”

“How did you know? I made sure not to change in front of anyone.”

“You pulled away.” Buck sat down next to Eddie. “I was hoping you would tell me yourself about the street fighting. I kept dropping hints with everyone. Saying I think something is going on with you, hoping it would get back to you and you would come talk to me. I didn’t realize how much I screwed that up, even if you forgave me. You used to tell me everything.”

“How could you tell I was street fighting?”

“I’m observant.”

“Evan….”

“I know what street fighting looks like.”

“Evan Buckley.”

“I wanted to be a pediatrician. I got into the pre-med program at Pen State. Full scholarship. It was my out from home. I love kids. Wanted to help them. While other kids partied I read every medical book and journal I could get my hands on. I had to hide them though.”

“Buck why are you sitting in a fire station instead of being in a residency program?”

“I used to be really skinny. Wasn’t very athletic. Played the guitar and piano. I was hoping I could give Chris lessons. He should’ve have limits. He told me on the pier the day of the tsunami he wanted to be a firefighter. I know you hated me during the lawsuit but I swore to myself even if he were only a Fire Marshall I would move heaven and hell to get him on the LAFD if he still wanted that. I’d support him in anything, you know that right?”

“I know and those music lessons, that sounds like a good idea.”

“Piano. He’d be good at the piano.”

“Okay and why do I have a feeling you already bought him one for Christmas?”

“Because much like I know you, you know me.”

A moment of silence.

“I was jealous. Of Shannon. One day she just appeared and you were back with her. Even though I was holding onto Abby when I knew I shouldn’t have been. That need to not let things go. To hold onto something. Hope for something, even if it isn’t there. I even started dating Ali to get my mind off you with Shannon. When she asked you for the divorce and you called me that night wanting to meet up I was a selfish prick that was glad she was going to be out of yours and Christopher’s lives. Real asshole move. Then I saw her on the ground at the accident sight and I knew what it would do to you. I’m not in a residency program because my dad found the Pen State letter. Laughed at me. Told me I was an idiot to think I could ever make it as a doctor. Being first in my class, skipping a grade. Still wasn’t good enough for him to stop calling me worthless every night at dinner.”

Eddie looked at Buck’s profile thinking about the lawsuit. How on Halloween he told Buck he made Cap out to be the bad guy when in Buck’s mind it was reliving a father figure telling him he was too worthless to be a firefighter. Those emotions of his getting in the way of rationality. Reality was Eddie ended up doing the same thing. Just in a different way.

He listened on as Buck started up again. “I had this one friend, Jefferey, Jeff. He got me. My dreams. My mind. Everything. Maddie had stopped checking in as much by then. I already knew what Doug was doing to her. I wanted to protect her from him but my skinny ass couldn’t even protect myself. One night Jeff came over to study and he kissed me. I liked it. Of course that was when my dad decided to come into my room. He threw Jeff out. Forbade me to see him. Took me to church to “pray the gay away” why I do go now, haven’t stepped in one in years. They sent me to a “special” summer camp. Convinced me I was screwed up. So, I started to sleep around with any girl that would put out. Until Abby. After my father burned the scholarship letter from Pen State I just said screw it. Got odd jobs when I was supposed to be in school clubs. I graduated. Packed my bags and the day I turned eighteen I took the cash I had saved up and left while my parents were at work. You see Eddie. I get it. That feeling of not being enough. I wasn’t enough for med school. My parents. Even Abby, I know she loved me but I wasn’t enough for her to stay. Enough for Ali to get why being a firefighter is important. I wasn’t enough for the Navy Seals. Top in my class except my emotions kept getting in the way. I know about street fighting because when you’re a bartender in South America you see shit. The guy in charge helped me learn to fight but he never put me in the ring. Told me I reminded him of his son. He died before I left. The only time I stepped foot in a church. One of the fighters decided he wanted to be in charge and killed him. So, yeah I was worried shitless about you. When I got back to the states, I was in Texas, helped out a fire company one day. The Captain of the squad told me I had a gift. Somehow I ended up here. Went to the academy. Came to the 118 acting like a dumb jock. Then all the sudden I wasn’t enough for the 118 anymore. I heard Bosko call you Diaz, saw her name taped over mine. Then I was at dinner with Cap and Athena but in my head my dad was sitting there and I was a teenager again. You don’t have to tell me you started fighting because you didn’t feel like enough, Eddie because I know you.”

It was then the call siren rang. Eddie stood up grabbing his gear as Buck did the same. When he turned around he saw a stoned face Bobby watching Buck’s back. Bobby shook his head no at Eddie, turning around to get in the truck.

It was the standard car accident. Bobby worried about Hen but Buck was already on it being an annoying little brat around Hen. He was distracting her. Both drivers made it out alive, although the one at fault was a complete ass. The other being transported to the hospital with Hen asking Chimney how he could want to be related to Buck on purpose one day. Bobby and Chim exchanging knowing looks.

When they got back to the station Bobby went to check the stew while Buck and Eddie put away their gear. Eddie was having that craving to fight. He would have to visit the church this afternoon. Then he saw it, sitting on the top shelf. The rubber duck and he could feel himself smiling. The craving disappearing. Rubber Ducky you’re the one suddenly jingling in his head.

Buck had told him he was enough.

“So, does that make you Burt and me Ernie?” Eddie asks him.

“Dork.”

“Come over for pizza. We can pick out a place to put that piano you bought my kid without asking.”

“Like you would have said no.” Buck huffed.

Bumping shoulders with the rubber duck in Eddie’s hand, he felt a warmth in his chest. Buck made him feel like enough. His counselor had called him out on it once but he changed the subject.

Now it was his turn to return the favor.

Buck was more than enough for him.

And when they started calling each other Burt and Ernie on occasion, nobody really questioned it.

[mobius-prime]

186. Sonic the Hedgehog #118

Oh boy, we've got a big one on our hands, guys! First of all, it's worth noting that for the next seven issues the comic kind of had this "magazine cover" gimmick going on, where every story was described on the cover in a humorous, pseudo-tabloid manner. And second, every story in this issue is highly significant, two of which have a huge impact on future storylines, and one of which resolves a problem I've been salty about for a while. So without further ado, let's jump right in!

Robotnik's Return

Writer: Benny Lee Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

“Benny”, I've noticed, as a writer has an unfortunate tendency to solve any conflicts in the plot extremely suddenly, often in a very deus-ex-machina manner that contrasts with the "long game" approach that Penders usually takes toward his stories. For those who don’t know - I was unaware as well at first - “Benny Lee” is a pseudonym that Karl Bollers took on for some of his stories after receiving criticism for his writing. (However, I’m listing him as a separate writer just for the sake of consistency, as clearly he didn’t want certain stories associated with his real name.) For whatever reason, his stories as “Benny” seem to be choppy and full of fix-it gimmicks that, instead of gently guiding the story along a natural path, blindfold it and shove it violently into the next plot point without mercy. This story is no different. Eggman and Snively have managed to finally restore themselves to new mechanical bodies without any pesky Mobian interference, and what's worse, these bodies are free of the virus that caused Eggman's data on the location of Knothole to be corrupted. He's delighted at the opportunity to find its location at last and launch an attack, but, you guessed it, right at that moment the Freedom Fighters burst in, having tracked their location.

Suddenly, the forms of Eggman, Snively, Sonic, and Tails all begin to dissolve, with Nicole confirming to a shocked Sally that they've been unexpectedly teleported somewhere else. But where might that be?

Yes, that's right, they've been randomly abducted by aliens! Now, I have to point something out about this page. You can see that at first, the aliens are speaking in some kind of alien language before they presumably switch on a translator or something. Except, that's not actually just "some alien language"! Look closely at it. Notice anything unusual? Anyone who's ever been to Disneyland in California should recognize exactly what they're looking at - the symbols used in the aliens' speech are in fact the same symbols used in the carvings on the walls of the Disneyland Indiana Jones attraction! I recognized it immediately - I grew up going to Disneyland my entire life, and it's still my favorite theme park in the world. So, I took the liberty of translating exactly what these aliens were saying using one of the old decoder cards that they used to hand out in line! For anyone hoping for some intelligible speech, you're going to be disappointed - it looks like they might have just keysmashed on a keyboard and then "translated" the results. The first dialogue bubble says, approximately, "Denite idlothxo vhry muph i," and the second one "Viuyhkvqj efsqr." I say "approximately" because the letterer appears to have taken a few liberties with the symbols, which don’t all exactly match the ones on the decoder card. It's honestly a very strange but funny homage to the ride - clearly, whoever was responsible for the symbols being included is a fan of Disneyland, and as a fellow fan, it gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside to see these symbols in the place I would have least expected them.

Anyway, the aliens explain that they've beamed the four of them up here for a little experiment. They use their technology to transform Sonic and Tails into mecha bodies, while transforming Eggman and Snively back into their flesh and blood forms, and inform the four that they will be made to battle each other, and the winners will be reverted to their original forms while the losers will be made to keep their new forms permanently. This seems like a rather pointless experiment, if you ask me - I mean, what is even being gained from this apart from some perverse entertainment? - but the four test subjects are beamed into a holographic recreation of Robotropolis and begin to battle it out. Eggman and Snively immediately plop themselves into a robotic mech, but Mecha Sonic and Mecha Tails easily blow it apart. Eggman runs for his life and Mecha Sonic gives chase, while Mecha Tails guards the terrified Snively to ensure he doesn't run for it. Mecha Sonic easily spots his quarry with infrared vision and shoots a net to capture him, winning the "game."

The aliens keep their word and return everyone to the planet, with Sonic and Tails back in their normal bodies, and Eggman and Snively now reverted back to an organic form. Sonic and Tails return to Knothole where they explain everything that happened to the others, and while they're a little skeptical they ultimately accept the story, though they're nervous that since Eggman is now flesh and blood once more, it will be harder to track him. You see what I mean about this being a deus-ex-machina resolution to the Robo-Robotnik problem? It's good for the story to have him be an organic being once more, so that he has to work harder to protect himself from harm instead of weathering explosions and the destruction of his various bodies like they're mere inconveniences, but just… random aliens being the cause? I dunno, man. It is quite interesting, however, to see Eggman's reaction to being transformed back into an organic being, as certainly while in his own zone he existed for the first forty-odd years of his life as an ordinary Overlander, he's remained a robotic being for decades by now. That will be hard for him to adjust…

Heart to Heart

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Jason Jensen

Ever since Eggman's capture of the Secret Service and their subsequent infection with his nanites, the remaining members have been in treatment, with Dr. Quack unable to find a proper cure. However, with Rotor's help, a fix involving aggressive nanomachines sent in to attack the nanites has been developed, and everyone is finally cured. Sally welcomes Geoffrey's return to active duty as the leader of the Secret Service, but he seems dejected and uninterested as she walks away. Hershey asks him what's wrong, and he explains his actions up till now - that as a boy, he always greatly admired his father's sense of duty and sought to emulate it, which evolved into his no-nonsense, humorless personality of today. However, he was always jealous of Sonic and wanted to prove that he was better than him, which was why he convinced Elias to accept his "help" in ruling the kingdom in the king's stead.

Now this is the Geoffrey I like. Up till now, he's been alternately somewhat charming and likeable, and a complete jerkwad. This is the turning point where he goes from a self-centered jackass, to a genuinely focused individual who actually respects those around him, including his rivals. It seems that some time in isolated treatment has given him lots of time to reflect on himself, and in the end Hershey brings out the best in him. With his resolve renewed, he approaches the king and asks for permission to take some leave from his position and go in search of the missing Elias, which the king approves, so together he and Hershey leave to find him. This is honestly the best ending to Geoffrey's asshattery that we could get, because not only does it make him a much more likeable character, but it actually pairs him up with someone who is, well, his age, instead of him creepily pursuing a fifteen-year-old as his beau instead. Hooray for character development!

Ultimate Power (Part Four)

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Dawn Best Colors: Jason Jensen

We've reached the ultimate confrontation - the culmination of everything the Green Knuckles Saga has been building up to this entire time. Knuckles faces off against Mammoth Mogul, his finger on the button ready to disconnect Dimitri from life support. Mogul reveals that he was able to obtain his own version of the Chaos Syphon due to having actually met Dimitri once before, when he was still an ordinary scientist developing the device. Despite the danger, Knuckles refuses to listen to Mogul, determined to save Dimitri while preventing Mogul from taking his powers, and begins to pulse with light which reflects across the whole city, drawing Remington, Julie-Su and the Chaotix, and Lien-Da to his location like a beacon. Mogul, furious that Knuckles is refusing to submit, hits the button to disconnect Dimitri's life support, and Knuckles immediately leaps into action to prevent him from dying.

…okay, Penders, a word of advice, writer to writer. If you ever make your character say "Not if I go into overload mode," you have just ensured that no one will take him seriously and will immediately begin to meme the hell out of it. Also, when the hell did Mogul find the time and energy to build an entire Chaos Syphon room in the middle of Echidnaopolis? Knuckles, in his efforts to save Dimitri's life while resisting the Chaos Syphon, begins to expend energy at a rate he's never reached before, bathing the entire city in his green light. This rapid release of energy causes Mogul's facility to explode violently, leaving a crater in the city where the building once stood. Everyone rushes to the site of the blast, worried about what they might find.

Oh, did you think this very important main character was going to survive this altercation? Well think again, 'cause Knuckles is deader than dead! While all of this is going on, a rededication ceremony is happening across the city, to honor the return of the island's inhabitants to their homes after the firing of the Quantum Beam. The speaker is confused about Knuckles' absence for such an important gathering, but Lara-Le nervously tries to insist that he probably has a good reason. I'm sure she didn't expect the reason to be that he's really, super duper dead!

Yeah, I wasn't joking, guys. For those of you who hadn't read the comic up till now and were unaware, yes, Knuckles has actually died in this issue. There's no mistake, no trickery. He's gone. And that's the note that this issue decides to end on! I guess we have to say goodbye to Knuckles as one of the comic's main characters, because there's no way a comic book would ever temporarily kill someone off only to bring them back a few issues later…