#At least I know where to get vaccines at due to some help and the internet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[sidetongue]

I don’t know how to start this. First of all, I’ve read all of your message and comments and I appreciate each of you. I wanted to step away from this platform because it feels so wrong being here without Mil. For 8 years, sidetongue.tumblr.com has been a place where Miller has existed not only in my life, but in the lives of people all over the world. Her memory, her story, and her existence are etched into the walls of this blog and I feel like a traitor carrying on without her.

A comment stuck out to me though, and it said something like ‘you’ve built this community and we’re all here for you’. And that’s right; there is such a sense of community here, years worth of friendships, and it would be so unfair to shut you all out. I know many of you cried along with me, and many of you grieve over this little blue dog like she was a close friend. Let me fill you in.

On Thursday (Day 5) I had the day off from work but went in anyway to help put an NG tube in Mil. My vet had spoken to vets up north (where lepto is more prevalent) and they had said that clinical symptoms don’t improve until day 7 at least. That gave us a bit of an explanation as to why we hadn’t seen improvement yet. It gave us some hope. We had to buckle in and get her to day 7. Of course, we needed to get food into her, so a NG tube was needed so we could stop force feeding her with a syringe.

She was such a good sport for her tube. She didn’t fuss or squirm or complain. Her nose bled and I cried. She told me not to worry about it. I told her I loved her and I’d see her later.

At around 4:30pm I got a call from my vet. She said “you know how you asked me to tell you if it was time?” I knew what that meant. It meant something had changed, things weren’t okay anymore, it meant Miller was suffering. I rushed into work.

They told me she had collapsed a little while ago. They ran bloods, and her clotting time was abnormal. She was going into DIC. When I saw Mil she looked so tired. The vet said she’d carry her out onto the grass, but Mil wanted to walk. On shaky legs she dragged her tired body up and walked beside me as we went outside.

Mil got to feel the wind on her face, smell fresh air, see blue skies, and have green grass beneath her feet. I hysterically refused to put on a gown, gloves, and face shield. I didn’t care about getting sick, I didn’t care about protocols, I needed her to feel all of my love in her last moments. And selfishly, I needed to feel those velvety ears, run my fingers through her fur, and feel her warmth beneath my hands.

I buried my face in her neck and clung to her as she fell asleep. I squeezed my eyes shut and for many moments I couldn’t sit back up. Couldn’t open my eyes to a world without Miller in it.

It has taken me over a week to look at and edit these few photos. The SD card had been sitting heavy, holding the last two adventures we ever went on. It filled me with dread, knowing I’d have to sit and look at Miller being happy and carefree in these photos. If I didn’t look at them, then there would always be a little bit of Mil still alive and safe. But I knew, in order to feel closure, I needed to go through them.

My heart shattered over and over again as her bright eyes stared into mine through the screen. So full of life, so unknowing of what was to come. The beach photo was taken on the morning she was admitted, a mere hour before she walked into the vet clinic. Never to walk out again. She had been a little quiet; staying by my side and not venturing off with the rest of the dogs. That’s what prompted me to take her to work. That’s why I only got the one photo, after a seagull tempted her to half-heartedly chase it.

I will never understand why this happened to my little blue dog. My boss has clarified that we STILL do not recommend lepto vaccines and that they are still not indicated due to how very low the risk is. That’s a whole other level of pain. That it was a one in a million chance, that my best girl was the horrific anomaly and we’ll likely never see this disease again.

Thank you all again for your words of support. The other dogs are doing well, no one is sick, and Trickle is still with us. The foster program that Trickle is through has called up the clinic and paid the entire amount for Miller’s cremation; a huge gesture that took off some of the financial burden.

I feel so privileged to have shared Millou with you all - she had more friends than she could possibly ever know, which is saying something because she was just. So comically abrasive. I hope she’s found someone unsuspecting to bark at up there. I hope she’s climbing mountains and eating dead kangaroos. I hope she’s found the equivalent of grandma’s armchair and is snoozing peacefully. I’ll miss her forever.

[meirimerens]

Hi Ersher anon from a bit ago I’ve come with another question, do you have any thoughts on artemy’s mother? What she was like etc.

oh my god you do well to come back i had forgor💀 to reply again. you get a two for one deal.

as far as artemy's mother: she's [here]. i need to redraw her one day but she's one of the three p2 mothers i've drawn (her, stamatina, and dankovskaya). clay type of woman. even if she was a capital/western transplant to the town (as most of the non-Kin people used to be before they started popping out kids. orphans mostly. who didn't start off as orphan due to the Being born thing) i think she really quickly adopted the whole mother earth customs even without fully believe in them because Makes More Sense than sky father being father of everything and woman being born of man's rib, due to the She Can See Kids Are Born From Her. her clay (pottery) work kinda existed in this continuun of Creating Stuff, so was gardening. i think she did a lot of the plates & bowls & cups & whatnot that can still be found in the burakh's lair, all these little cups for mixing tinctures... i think she might even have made a first alambic prototype with a clay body, something like this.

i think she was weakened quite a bit by ersher's birth, and the second birth killed her.

i will not lie to you i don't think much about ersher because i love this ambiguity of it. i love that we know nothing about him except his bonds (burakh's brother, likely burakh's parents' son due to the Family thing), we don't know what he died of, at what age, and if artemy ever knew him. "My older brother. He died young." (artemy's quote) does not even tell us if he even knew ersher. it is implied they must've have at the very least cohabitated for a while, but maybe artemy just knows him from being told about him, but holds him dear enough that he calls him "older brother".

considering kids around 15yo are ruling the town, forming gangs and discussion politically-motivated loveless alliance marriages, i take "young" to mean "under 14", even younger than that. to me, ersher died around 10. i like the number 10, because it is the one who keeps coming back in p1 (10 years since the last outbreak). equally for that numerology grind, i think he and artemy have 5 years difference, for 5 is the number that comes back in p2 (last outbreak). so ersher died at 10 when artemy was 5. i'm not sure what i want him to have died of (.......... very strange formulation but you know what i mean). on one hand, i could see the steppe swallowing him. just straight up doing that. the steppe refuses to eat the elder burakh (cannot be buried, beginning of P2) because he has unfinished business at the surface, swallows the eldest son, refuses to eat the youngest because he must stay on the surface, he is the tether at the surface. i need to check the geology of that part of the eurasian steppe but this ^ would be inspired by something that happens in a land i love, where basically it's a mountain of sometimes-hollow limestone, covered with soft ground, and sometimes a hiker can fall through that soft ground into a big hollow, and never be found, or be found at hunting season when the hunting dogs sniff out the corpse. scary stuff. my other thought is he died... of something "stupid". something that now is very preventable, even easy to help with, but wasn't for a long, long while. cold. flu. some kind of vitamin deficiency. poisoning. tetanus (not "stupid", very dramatic and scary, the vaccine is from 1939). actually i might go with the tetanus thing: it's a really nasty, scary disease (like the pest), but not transmissible. it can happen from getting a wound infected. i think he was handling his father's tool, maybe to learn to butcher; got a cut; got infected; died.

i think artemy was not shielded from seeing this, even if his mother really insisted he be. i think he doesn't remember much, if anything of it; seeing illness does not trigger memory of his brother, but he has this. apple seed of grief inside of him. lodged somewhere all bitter and dark. i think it made him be a little morose as a person, which he still is, but it has been so long it has become his "baseline". i think artemy has very, very little memories of his brother; basically his brain is blank from 5yo and back, most of his core memories come from 7 & up, where he truly bonded with the friends he still has (still tries to keep). i think ersher's death devastated his mom, who was already weakened from the birth, and grief + weakness during the second birth killed her. now i could get into how isidor has made plenty of selfish choices which are are not yes no if you see it that was if you don't see it that way Selfish and he tries to justify and he doesn't and he knows and he doesn't... and what it could have meant for him to try to have a second kid when his wife was like that... because she's not the virgin mary that thang did not pop up like that... there is stuff to say there isn't. she wanted artemy too she did. she just didn't make it to see him.

ersher in my mind didn't get to like. be much of a person due to the Dead At 10 thing, but he was more jolly that artemy has ever been (also i think bc the second son was raised in more morose of an atmosphere, with a dad having already lost a son & his wife). he was a brunette ☝ in my mind mom's blonde & isidor was brown-haired (even if Bald), artemy got mom's blonde & ersher had dad's brown. i think he had his hair longer, And i think stakh, who knew him just a bit longer because barely older than artemy, because he has his whole. gestures. cain and abel if they (tried to) slayed (each other)/wants to be isidor's son sooo bad started growing out his brown hair for that. his problems and issues notice how i keep making it about him. stakh always at the scene of the crime.

basically yeah 👍 thank you for enjoy his mom i miss her so bad

[alarajrogers]

There's going to be an impact from COVID, too.

In the beginning, COVID hit blue states hardest, where the big cities are. But as the pandemic progressed, it became a bizarre mark of cultural allegiance for Republicans to refuse to wear masks or get vaccinations, which resulted in red state governors passing laws that made it impossible for people to protect themselves. COVID has always been more deadly to senior citizens than most other groups of people. So in the second half of the 2020-2021 pandemic season, before the vaccinations were out, and then the entire time that vaccinations existed, the pandemic has been disproportionately killing and disabling Republicans. Specifically, Republicans who want to virtue signal about their loyalty to the MAGA brand by being deliberately stupid about protection from COVID.

Even leaving aside the ones who died... how many people who now have long COVID, or who nearly died, realized how they were betrayed by those they put their faith in? How many of their Gen X and Millennial children, who saw them die or saw them suffer and become disabled, turned on the MAGA contingent? How many are enraged that their families are now in poverty, their breadwinners unable to work, and the leaders they voted for are too busy posturing over trans people and abortions and the bugaboo of Critical Race Theory to do anything to help them?

How about the heat waves? Those have been most destructive in the South, where most of the Republican strongholds are. How many people have finally thought, shit, this is fucking awful, this isn't like the summers of my childhood! Maybe these climate change people have a point!

Worldwide, it is the people who have done the least to cause the climate disaster who are suffering the most. But in the US, it's the South that is suffering the most, and the South is where the majority of climate change disbelievers who stand in the way of progress live. (It's also where many, many innocent people who have effectively no voice due to gerrymandering and voter suppression live. This isn't an excuse to shit on the South. This is pointing out that the people who have been standing in the way are disproportionately affected by climate change, not that they're the only ones.)

So we've got an incoming wave of young people who are energized and ready to vote. And we've got circumstances that have been disproportionately handing out karma to Republican voters, most of whom have not died of it... but they may have woken up and changed their minds because of it. (And while the number who have died is probably negligible in total next to the number of people who vote... in places with low populations that got hit hard by COVID, it's gonna be the anti-vaxxers who died more often than the people who wore masks and got vaccines, and politically we know how that plays out. We may see some red states swing blue and some congressional districts do the same because only a small number of people were needed to push the needle one way or the other, and that small number might be the number of antivax Republicans who have died.)

Not to mention the clown show with Trump. If he is allowed to run, many Republicans who have become disgusted with his antics will stay home. If he is not allowed to run, because he is convicted of insurrection, he will probably do his best to sabotage the Republicans because no one is allowed to win if he can't, and his MAGA groupies may write him in anyway, dividing the vote and taking it away from whoever does win the Republican primary.

I am so, so nervous because the stakes are so damn high, and I thought for sure Trump would lose in 2016 and he didn't. But he won by a narrow margin, and every vote since then, Democrats have gained more ground. (Yes, we lost the House in 2022. This is usually a blowout; when one party wins the Presidency it almost always results in the other party winning the House in the midterms. This didn't happen in 2002 because the Democrats were being such spineless Republican-lites at the time, and while it did happen this time, it happened by much, much smaller margins than anyone expected. Meanwhile we won the Senate, though Kyrsten Sinema did her best to fuck us over anyway.) Almost all the Republican gains of the past two years have been at the state level or caused by the Supreme Court, which we now know the justices on the conservative side to not only have bad opinions, but incredibly corrupt and doing pay-for-play for big conservative donors.

I am, cautiously, beginning to have hope for 2024. If we win the Senate by a margin large enough to claim a supermajority, if we win the House back, if we keep the presidency... and we might actually do these things... then maybe we can start to undo the damage. Maybe even make progress for once.

This is how the dominance of older white voters ends ... per https://digbysblog.net/2023/07/19/a-cool-balm-in-this-hot-summer/

[eimearkuopio]

I will never understand why Young Earth Creationists, who claim that God created everything but evolution is a lie created by humanity, can also insist that it's perfectly normal for vaccines to need to be updated every year in response to viral mutations; but our limited and finite interpretation of the Word of God must be frozen in time, never updated, never re-examined for errors due to our own interpretation or our unwillingness to get a booster shot.

We are a collective entity made up of cells - or, I believe, several gestating entities sharing a womb. If the cells of one entity run the risk of destroying every potential life, those cells should be removed for the greater good. Otherwise, we maybe trust the automated processes of the immune system to do their job. We treat what festers while leaving as much of the good as we can, and doing everything possible to aid recovery. But we must love our neighbours and our enemies if we want to avoid being the target of some external treatment.

Catholics believe God is three in one. The People of the Book believe we were created in God's image. I can interpret that in many ways, but right now I want to talk about three broad categories: science, religion, and everything else.

Science tells us how. Religion tells us why. Sometimes their answers are incomplete or even entirely incorrect. "Everything else" lets us keep asking those questions in some capacity as a species; lets us keep moving forward to complete answers, that we are not yet ready for. My finite and infinite selves both really hope we can move in the right direction, that will lead us along the best path from where we are to where we want to be. The only new thing I have to offer you as a finite self is a new interpretation of what you already have. Science is for the mind. Religion is for the soul. Everything else is for the body. Christ chose to be a Shepherd, and called you His sheep. He also called you to be shepherds; to nurture the physical aspect of our developing self, on behalf of our infinitely loving parents who care for us in ways we cannot yet comprehend. Find a balance as a species. Stop deriding those who excel at a skill that you were never meant to have. Stop rebuking yourself for failing to be the person that other humans tell you is the only person you can be. God knows you. Trust Him, or Her, or Them, or however your finite self meets Their Infinite Selves.

If this message doesn't work for you: don't worry. That just means it's not for you, and there's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone needs to be crucified; or at the very least, we should all take turns helping Jesus carry His cross, instead of clinging to our own and doubling His burden, because He cannot keep Himself from sharing whatever burden you apply - either to yourself, or to the least of His sheep.

[watery-pancake]

Doctoral Neglect

Sorry for the third entry today. It's been an eventful day, so I have a lot on my mind.

I'm just remembering a time at my doctor. I begged him to write me a prescription to see a doctor about my gut issues. All he did was speak to my mother, not the patient. She said how all I eat is junk and never vegetables, a lie to make herself seem superior since it's all she eats. It's why I was having gut pain to make me feel sick, and only craving junk food. I would wake up some days and cry and wail and hold my abdomen in crippling pain. I would sweat, and be unable to stand due to my shaking. All he did was listen to her, and ignore me and tell me to eat more vegetables and exercise more and eat less. He took a blood test, and gave me a vaccination shot that day. The receptionist came in to assist him. My mother continues berating me, calling me fat and stupid for daring to complain despite my shitty diet. He assisted in it, saying how fat I am and pointing out my rapid weight gain. I gained 40 lbs. in a year, which is highly unusual considering how my diet never changed, but yet it was still my fault. I began to tear up, and I held it back successfully. Until the receptionist, looked in my eyes, saw the tears welling up, saw me not even saying a single word, and giggled at me. She giggled at my berating. I cried, and cried on the way home. At least he allowed me a fecal test, which passed with flying colors. To him and my mother, it indicated I was lying and making it all up, and with diet and exercise I would be healthy again.

Look where I am now. I was right. I wasn't lying. Turns out, when you have a health problem, and the test you do comes out clean, it doesn't mean there was never a problem. It's like seeing someone throw up blood, but when there's no cancer, it means they're just being dramatic.

I know he'll never read this. I hope he never does, considering all my other entries. One day I want to thank my endocrinologist. My gynecologist saw my constant periods and said I should lose weight or get on birth control. I told her how tired I was and how I was gaining weight despite the same diet, and she just told me diet and exercise. I've been telling my main doctor the same symptoms since I was 13, and he said the same. Diet and exercise. It's only with a blood test for hormones that I had to beg 3 times for from my gyno, that we finally see. Proof in paper I'm not crazy, since that's what it takes.

Even when I complained of thyroid pain, my mom just said I slept wrong. I told my endocrinologist all my symptoms, and he listened! My mom tries to shit on me to make me seem like it's my fault (hormones off due to poor diet) but he completely dismissed her since she's not the patient!!! I AM!!!

I want to thank him, for being the first doctor to believe my verbal symptoms and not just the ones on paper. I say my thyroid hurts? Ultrasound. I say I'm tired despite meds working? He gets a reorder of my blood and gives me legitimate advice to be healthy. My mother tries to steer the conversation towards herself? He just yes's her until I speak, to which he gives his full undivided attention. He actually looks in my eyes when I speak! He doesn't even look at her!

I wish I could properly thank him. I just wish it wasn't so late. I wish I could get this help sooner. I have a feeling I was too late.

[at-the-end-of-days]

So while I have a fairly pessimistic outlook on where I think the world is headed politically, economically, spiritually, I don’t delight in the suffering of others and believe that we should do what we can to help our fellow man. I just think that suffering is inevitable, how we react to it is what defines us as people.

So while I think that earthquakes will happen, will continue to happen, for not just scientific but also inevitable reasons? We should still do everything we can to help the survivors and to rebuild.

I think we should get vaccinated, even if “pestilences” are going to spread. I think we should follow mask mandates as they are issued. I think we should respect each other, even if we disagree with the actions of others.

I also think that we are headed towards a global conflict.

And I think that the situation is a little more complicated than a cut and dry, black and white sort of fight.

We all know that the BRICS nations comprise of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and that they have banded together as a resistance of sorts against western influence, namely, USA backed influence.

The USA, who has some 750 foreign military bases, and over 1,000 foreign sites according to a quick google search on September 9, 2023, has repeatedly flexed its military and economic power in the world. Imposing sanctions, taking action, a modern day empire under the name of Super Power.

Can you blame other nations for shying away from such a force? The largest military in the world? From trying to pull away from the US dollar? But economics, a common goal, doesn’t necessarily make these nations friends.

India and China have had a long running border dispute, and recently China’s leader failed to attend the G20 meeting in New Delhi.

And while his lack of attendance is speculated at, one supposed reason is due to ongoing border disputes.

But all of that is to say that as it stands, the public knows one very straight forward story.

That Russia invaded Ukraine, and was asked to wait until the Winter Olympics were over to do so. That the invasion did happen, is currently happening, and that Elon Musk apparently committed a war crime. That Russia refuses to stop the invasion unless they’re essentially given something for their efforts, while facing issues with conscripting troops, and while the world looks to Taiwan and China… and North Korea continues as they have been. Poland is stockpiling arms, Australia and the west are supporting Ukraine, going so far as to use cardboard..

And everyone is waiting for someone else to be the one to escalate things. Putin continues to threaten this escalation, whether it be because of Ukraine moving forward in Crimea, or nukes being stored in England.

And the USA seems as though they will continue to back Ukraine with supplies… at least until the next election.

But to go back to India.. while there are some alliances that are explicitly expected in the upcoming conflict? England and the USA, China and Russia, not everyone seems to have declared outright allegiance. Despite the optimism in the Taipei Times that India will side with Taiwan in a conflict… why should they? Russia and China are neighbors. Even though they don’t share a direct border with Russia, they have a lot to lose from siding with the USA. But they also stand to lose a lot siding with China as well. What I mean to say, is who can blame them for trying to get a feel for both sides? For trying to back a new economic system?

Because in the next global conflict, while there will be major players, all the world will suffer. And many nations, regardless of whether they have billions or millions of people, or hundreds of thousands, will need to consider what side will best serve their interests. I’m interested to see how big a role India takes in BRICS, and whether or not they do decide to support Taiwan more fully, as that would put them in direct conflict with China, with whom as stated, they’ve been disputing a border with.

And I want to see whether or not BRICS is able to replace the US dollar as the world currency, especially as the world faces a recession and a food shortage.

But unless all this posturing from Putin actually turns to a spark? Or unless someone else starts the blaze? It’s all speculation. Until it isn’t.

[thebiggestmenace]

Yes I completely agree!!! I understand where Ellie is coming from, she had such intense survivors guilt, and It doesn’t help that every time she tried to get him to tell her the truth he kept lying. But 2 years just felt so excessive. After everything they’d been through- the bond they had?? Just thrown out for two years.

Like she lived in his back yard. I know they saw each other all the time. It hurts so much to know that Joel missed out on her life for years. She was his second chance and he had to watch from a distance. And the show is going to hurt so much more since he opened up to her about the suicide attempt after Sarah.

At the University (in the game) Ellie starts asking Joel about how they’ll make the cure. It’s pretty obvious she has no clue how science/medicine works. I wish someone would’ve explained to her how hard making vaccines actually is. By getting rid of the only immune person they would’ve had no extra evidence to test

I have so many thoughts anon

first, we shake hands!! 2 years does seem excessive! especially with the fact they still live near each other! like, yes, I totally get being mad at him due to her survivors guilt, but 2 years?? you live in his backyard. surely you could've had a conversation? even though he did brush her off every single time. which could've been why it was 2 years, honestly. maybe ellie didn't want to be mad at joel for that whole time, but he kept brushing her off and lying to her. mmmmm more to think about.

yeah! I'm so very worried for season 2 because of the p a i n. I live in constant fear for how it's gonna play out. cause show joel and ellie are so much closer? at least it seems that way, because he did open up to her about his attempt and then let her know that she is what healed him ("it wasn't time that did it" EUEUEUE). so I'm hoping he'll let her know what really happened, but the creators like to stick closely to what actually happened, so the hopes are not that high. but! if he actually told her? I can see her forgiving him before he dies. totally. she'll still hold a resentment for him, but there'll be some forgiveness. and for him missing out on things? don't get me started, it makes me so sad. he missed her being with cat, probably missed the whole burning and tattoo as well*, and her becoming friends with jesse, and then her with dina D: I need the conversation between joel and ellie about dina. *he probably didn't entirely miss out on it, but he definitely didn't know about it until it happened.

and yes! she doesn't know how it works :( I hope someone explained it to her. maybe someone at the clinic. that way, she knows they are being truthful about what that process actually is. (and I think they briefly discussed it in the show, too! I think it was around the campfire because she tried to use her blood to heal sam). like, if joel had just told her what happened and it was still bugging her, she could've gone to one of the people at the clinic and asked what the actual process to getting a vaccine is. maybe don't even ask them, just try to find a book about it cause I'm sure there's at least one in the library. hopefully.

and mmmmmm killing off the only immune person?????? for a POSSIBILITY. there's no redo if you fuck it up. if you somehow contaminate the "samples," you can't take more and try again. you are killing the only immune person. the only person in 20 years. no one knows how she's immune. the fireflies have no way to know what makes ellie different. we, the show viewers, can take guesses, but we still don't even know. is it because anna was bit when delivering ellie? is it because anna cut her umbilical cord with infected blood? or is it a third thing, like there's something in anna's blood that somehow made ellie immune? but even with all those possibilities (the last one is very doubtful, I know), we still don't know, for sure, what made ellie immune. there's no way in hell the fireflies knew. so to kill her off? presumably without taking blood or anything else? just taking a scan of her brain and deciding to take it out? that is such a huge risk. and also????? did they really think about what making a cure would mean? how would they start civilization back up? none of the buildings are safe anymore, but the equipment to make them safe is very hard to get to and also the gas isn't good anymore. and did they stop to think about how the people are? how fedra higher ups are full of themselves and how no one is trustworthy or that trusting of others anymore? there are too many variables at play, and then to not be sure it would even work???

[merriclo]

OKAY SO RABIES IS A virus transmitted by bodily fluids, most often saliva and blood. while the entire chain would be susceptible to rabies, you’re right in saying that Twilight would be especially susceptible. this is primarily because as a wolf he fights with his jaws. if he bites a rabid animal or person and draws blood, then swallows, he would become infected.

it’s also likely that, as a farmer, he would be painfully aware of rabies. any warm blooded animal can fall victim to rabies (not just dogs and bats) so it’s not a reach to assume he’d know the signs and symptoms and how to deal with it. rabies is one of those viruses that man has known about for centuries. it’s also one of the few that man has always known a decent amount about, including where it came from. mad dog bites man, man goes mad, mad dog and mad man die. it’s pretty easy to follow.

anyways, twilight would probably know he’s infected, or at least be able to string it together once the symptoms surface. all of the Links would probably know, actually, considering the abundance of Keese and how many of them are from more rural areas.

the thing abt rabies is that as soon as you show symptoms, you’re as good as dead. it’s a virus that ravages the mind, destroys the brain and central nervous system. the moment you’re rabid, you’re dead. it has a near 100% mortality rate. i can’t stress enough how dangerous this thing is.

it comes in three stages: the prodromal phase, the excitation phase, and the paralytic phase. if you want to find in depth information on each phase (like many symptoms, what happens, etc.) then here’s a link to that.

what primarily happens, though, this that they get symptoms similar to the flu, they undergo personality changes, they are likely to become mad, they experience extreme difficulty moving and using their muscles, become paralyzed, and eventually die (most often due to asphyxiation from the diaphragm paralyzing and preventing breathing.)

death by rabies is horrific, and for centuries the most humane way to treat it was either suicide or a backyard murder. there were attempts to treat it before Louis Pasteur created the vaccine, but they were rudimentary and rarely worked. it wouldn’t be insane to imagine that maybe the sheikah had created a vaccine, or that the witches had a potion to cure it. hell, you could even make a loz equivalent of Louis Pasteur and put him in Hytopia!! make twilight the first ever patient under the rabies vaccine instead of that little boy who was tragically mauled.

but, again, once you show symptoms, you are dead. the “good” thing is that rabies can have a long incubation period, allowing time to prevent any damage.

so would twilight be able to survive rabies? maybe, depending on the world building in the fic. would it be fun? absolutely not!! the process of preventing rabies fucking sucks!!! and the terror that comes with an encounter with a rabid animal cannot be understated.

so uh yeah i hope that kind of helps a little bit. if you want more resources or have any questions please please please ask i love talking about this sort of thing. for some damn reason rabies and other prominent diseases and viruses throughout history are some of my favorite things to research, so if i don’t already know the answer i will be very willing to find it <3

Guys I’m not a writer but I do know writing fics take motivation but I have noticed a max or twilight angst fics which makes me very sad because twilight is such a good boy he deserves to feel a emptiness in his chest that comes closer and closer until he starts crying too and I have had a little thought come to me after I watched the new hunger games movie and it’s that Twilight could get rabies easily (maybe idk I’m not a biologist or whatever it’s called) AND I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN LIKE HOW THE WHOLE CHAIN WOULD REACT BECAUSE GODAMN TWILIGHT U CAN TAKE A LOT BUT CAN U TAKE RABIES???

[fkinavocado]

Lhh or daddy prompt... reader or OC forced to do 14 day covid quarantine at a hotel. Totally sucks, except WHO is this ridiculous specimen of a man who has the room/balcony next door??

Quarantining with a view

soooooooo i decided to combine a few of the prompts since i felt they went well together 👀 could've just been an excuse to turn this into a longer one-shot because 😅😅 apparently i can't help myself.

❗just a quick disclaimer: obviously, this isn't intended to instigate against covid regulations in any shape or form! just for the sake of reiterating a point: both characters are fully vaccinated, tested, been super safe this whole pandemic, etc you name it and are just quarantining due to standard precautionary procedures when visiting an area where the number of cases has spiked up.

Warnings: 18+, smut, slight pain kink

Word count: 4K 😅

You couldn’t believe your “luck”. What were the odds that your company would prove to be this insanely idiotic. You were sent “on field” out to another state, and your business trip had been arranged weeks ahead. However, this respective state had fallen under a higher incidence of covid cases just before you had to leave, and you thought to yourself they’d cancel it. But, nope! They still sent you! Even if it meant having to spend 14 days quarantining there on arrival, and another 14 when you returned home.

Which was absolutely baffling to you, but hey. You got paid for those 4 weeks of lying around because it was work related, after all, and that was almost a whole month of getting paid for doing nothing.

However, you still had to quarantine, which meant self-isolating at a hotel and then at home, and at home at least you had a whole post-pandemic routine you’d worked out. The hotel however was another thing altogether.

You sighed, dropping your bags at the entrance. At least it was a nice suite. They’d showed some mercy in that regard, considering you’d have to be spending 14 excruciating days there. All you could hope for now was that they had decent room service. If not, you’d have to order in and that would complicate the whole thing since your company would be paying for that also- having it all on the hotel’s bill was much easier.

But after 3 days you already felt poorly, to put it mildly. You felt imprisoned. The mere thought that you couldn’t step out of the suite (using your room card-key would show up on their surveillance, and you were meant to be quarantining there by law) really took a toll on you. You’d not had to quarantine before, and during lock-down you’d still had the possibility to step outside for a bit of fresh air on the daily using those damned forms, this however was another thing entirely and knowing that even if you did try to sneak out just for a bit of a walk after midnight when not a living soul would be disturbed, it would show up on their surveillance, and it made you turn on Netflix and re-watch Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. And it definitely hadn’t been the wisest decision you’d ever made.

On your 5th day, you finally caved in and ordered cigarettes up to your suite. You’d quit years ago, but this was a fucking emergency. You’d have lost your mind, otherwise, you were sure of it. You debated whether this “business trip” would turn you into a raging alcoholic by the end of it too.

You didn’t even bother turning on the lights when you stepped outside at 2am onto the open balcony, the only way you could experience some fresh air. Sure, you went out there mainly to smoke, but still. You sighed as you sat on the sunbed and lit your cigarette, looking at the stars- it was a clear sky. Of course the weather had to be perfect while you were isolating, but just watch as it’d for sure take a turn for the worst the minute you stepped outside at the end of those two weeks.

You chuckled to yourself and rubbed your face “Oh, God…”, you were losing your mind and it was getting to you, obviously.

“What’s so funny?” a deep, quiet voice asked from out of nowhere. You sat upright on your sunbed, what the fuck?! Surely you couldn’t hallucinate from cigarettes? Or were you so removed from civilization that you were turning into some sort of psychiatric experiment, you were starting to hear voices.

“Hm?” the voice sounded like it came from closer and before you could process it you turned your head to the left and saw a head peek from behind the balcony partition.

“Jesus, fuck!” you coughed “You scared the crap out of me!”

The man chuckled, and you knew he was a man just by the sound of his voice, you couldn’t really make out his features, all you really saw was that he had long, wavy-curly hair.

“M’sorry. But you were talking to yourself just then, right?”

“What the hell? Just mind your own business!”

“Ohh… feisty. What’s gotten your panties in a knot?”

You gasped “Excuse you? What gives you the nerve…? Sir, kindly step away from the partition. I’m quarantining”

“Sir? I mean. Whatever floats your boat” you could hear him smirking and you had the sudden urge to take that short step to the railing and yank on those curls of his “M’quarantining too. It’s only my second day though, looks like you’ve been cooked up in here longer. Will I also end up talking to myself and laughing at my own jokes by the end of this?”

“Ugh. I don’t know but maybe you’ll learn about personal space and boundaries though”

“Maybe. Can I have one of those?”

You looked at him for a long moment, you’d been avoiding doing so all this time and now that you saw him a bit more clearly you couldn’t help but notice the arm he’d flung over the railing and over to your side, his bicep flexing as his fingers rasped against the partition. His skin was glowing in the moonlight and you could see his whole arm was lettered in tattoos that you couldn’t quite make out.

You grabbed the pack and held it outstretched but he pretended like he couldn’t reach it, even though you knew he could stretch just a bit further, tall as he obviously was. You rolled your eyes and sat up, taking the necessary step towards the partition.

You waited for him to fish out a cigarette and immediately retreated earning a chuckle “I don’t bite, sweetheart”

“No, but covid does”

“I took a test just before I got here, I’m fine. I’m sure you did too. This is just an extra precaution, the quarantining. C’mon”

You knew he was right, but you also knew these things were done for a good reason so you didn’t really feel like opening up the subject just in case he was an anti-vaxxer or something.

“I’m also fully vaccinated. I’m super careful. I’m clean. Relax.”

You shrugged nonchalantly at that and watched him give you a quick once-over.

“Can I have the lighter too?”

You scoffed, sitting up again and he perched the cigarette between his lips, waiting for you to light it for him “Seriously?”

He just shrugged and you could see that smirk even with his lips busy holding the stick. You lit his damn smoke and before he could make another smart remark you went for the balcony door “I’m turning in, have a good night”

“Good night, scaredy cat”

Your mouth went agape hearing him call you that, but you didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing your reaction.

The next day you were more than aware of this long haired man’s presence on the opposite side of the wall. You’d never heard anyone the days prior, so you had a sneaking suspicion the two of you were the only ones on this wing of the hotel considering how thin the walls turned out to be. You could hear him sing in the shower (and his voice was spectacular, if you were being honest), you could hear his electric razor afterwards, you could hear him talk over the phone even though you couldn’t make out the words, and as much as you wanted it to irk you, it was actually comforting knowing there was another living, breathing person on the other side of that wall.

You knew you were being a bit dramatic, a week was almost over, you were half way through, but you still felt extremely isolated, and, well… lonely. You’d facetimed friends, you’d been on social media, but you just missed having the freedom of doing whatever you felt like doing. Truth be told, you probably wouldn’t have done much had you just been there on vacation, apart from going to the beach maybe, getting a tan, you’d have ended up spending most of your days cooked up in the same hotel room. Single life was harsh, although you were used to it. You’d been single for a year and a half and you were sick of third wheeling with your friends that were all either married or in a relationship. There was literally no other single friend left for you to go on fun city breaks with. Did that mean you were not going to be going on trips just because you were single? Hell no. You did go, and it was… sort of fun, but it was more than just staying at home.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of your “next door neighbor’s” voice that you could now hear a bit more clearly, since your door to the balcony was ajar and he’d probably stepped out into his own.

“Yeah? How wet? Tell me” his voice held a playful note and something told you he wasn’t talking about the weather back in England, since he was clearly British.

Your ears perked up at that immediately. You stood on the edge of your bed and heard him hiss “Got that wet just thinking about me, huh? And then you just had to send that nude, didn’t you?” he tsked and your mouth fell agape once again. Was he having phone sex?

You gently stood up, tiptoeing your way to the door to the balcony after switching off the nightstand lamp as well as your TV. You didn’t want to blow your cover, and you wanted to hear him properly. You were about to listen in on someone have phone sex. Were you ashamed of yourself? Maybe. Were you going to stop? Hell no.

“...know you’re tight, but you’re gonna have to push in another finger for me, yeah? Yes you can. I know you can, you can take me, after all” he chuckled and you rolled your eyes. What a cocky bastard. Even though you knew he was probably rightfully so. Suddenly you heard him walk back into his room, although he’d left the door to his balcony open, so you had to step out onto the balcony entirely in order to hear him. You made sure you didn’t make any sound as you gingerly stood on your sunbed, listening intently. His voice was a bit more muffled, but still, you could hear him.

“No! No you cannot. M’not there yet” you could hear through gritted teeth and you gasped realizing he was touching himself. You listened in even more intently and sure enough, you could hear the sound of him abusing himself and you literally felt like clutching your imaginary pearls. The man was a menace. At least have some decency and shut the damn door!

Not that you wanted him to.

“Yeah, I wanna hear yeh. Louder. Louder!” he grunted and before you could really brace yourself, as though you had any reason to, he was coming and he wasn’t making a secret of it. He groaned loudly and you could hear him panting. Then he must’ve ended the phone call because, suddenly, way too rapidly, you heard him walk out onto his own balcony and you froze.

You had to make sure you didn’t make any noise at all, lest you blew your cover, but you were also panting heavily yourself- for what reason, you had no clue!

“Any chance I could have another one of those? Haven’t had one after sex in a long while”

Your eyes widened looking at him lean across the railing from behind the partition yet again, and instead of acting like a deer caught in the headlights you decided to play it cool. He’d caught you. There was no use trying to deny having heard anything.

“I don’t think phone sex qualifies for a post coital cigarette, since there was no actual sex” you kept a steady voice and you could see his eyebrows shoot up at that.

“That’s just a technicality. I still think I deserve one, got the job done, didn’t I?”

You scoffed, walking over to him like last time, holding out the open packet “‘I’m sure your girlfriend is thrilled that you “got the job done” “ you air quoted and before he could pull a stick out, you retreated the packet “Wait, did you wash your hands afterwards?”

He just stared at you for a second before a smirk made its way across his face yet again and he just leaned in further and you stared at him for a beat too before you clumsily placed a cigarette in between his waiting lips. You also lit it for him and after he took the first drag he clarified “Not m’girlfriend”

“Wife?”

He laughed out loud “Hell no. We just fuck sometimes”

“Lovely. Well, I’m heading in. Good night”

“Already? It’s just past 10”

“Yeah, uhm… feel like turning in early tonight”

“Got something you need to take care of?” he raised an eyebrow, that same smirk playing on his lips as he took another drag

You gasped, this time having not turned away quick enough for him to miss your reaction and he laughed, wishing you a good night just as you closed the balcony door shut behind you.

Now that you were officially into your second week you felt better, mentally, knowing that most of it was behind you. You noticed the sun hit the balcony just right at around 5pm, when the rays weren’t that set out to burn you, and you decided to make the most of it and try and get a tan. You had those sunbeds in there and it would’ve been practically a shame not to use them at this point.

You had a bathing suit packed since this was a city with a lovely beach, after all, you still had 4 full days after quarantine for work and whatever you felt like doing in your spare time, and since you loved the ocean you were dying to finally be able to go. In the meanwhile though, you could build up your tan out there on the balcony.

You hadn’t even finished listening to 3 entire tracks on your spotify when you heard something over your earbuds and you opened your eyes, your head automatically turning to your left.

You pulled the earbuds out. Watching your “nextdoor neighbor” roam his eyes unashamedly over your body. You were only wearing that skimpy bikini and it certainly left little to the imagination “... What now?’” you scoffed, irritatedly

“I… forgot what I was going to say, if’m being honest” he picked at his lower lip and you rolled your eyes, resuming your position on your sunbed “Aren’t our suites supposed to be the same? How come you get not one, but two sunbeds and I only got a crappy chair?”

“I requested them”

“Good thinking” after a beat he asked “Mind if I joined?”

You opened your left eye, shielding your face from the sun with your outstretched arm “Huh?”

“I’m getting kinda antsy by myself here. How’d you survive this far?”

“I deserve a fucking raise” you mumbled

“You’re here for work?”

“Yeah. Fucking geniuses they are...”

“So… can I? Your balcony looks big enough for… social distancing” you could hear the smile in his voice even though you’d gone back to keeping your eyes shut, your arm got tired from keeping the sun from going into your eyes.

“How do you know I’m safe?’

He chuckled “You can just say no if you don’t want to”

But you kinda wanted him to, now “I don’t mind, you’ve been here long enough and seem perfectly healthy to me. But they’re gonna know if you use your card key”

“No need for that” you barely got a chance to furrow your brows at that before you heard shuffling and a loud thud and you sat back on your elbows looking at him hovering over you in that small balcony, that was, in fact, clearly not big enough for social distancing.

“Ok?” you couldn’t help but laugh “Guess you got it covered” He shrugged smilingly and then he went for his belt and you furrowed your eyebrows back “What are you doing?”

“Getting a tan?”

“I mean… yeah. Ok, I guess?” you tried your best to avert your gaze but when he dropped his jeans your eyes went straight to his tattoo on his thigh- was that a tiger?... This man. Fuck’s sake…

He then took off his t-shirt and your breath hitched. You hadn’t expected him to be this… muscular. And all those tattoos…. The laurels… the butterfly…

“Enjoying the view?” he smirked

You raised an eyebrow “You’re one to talk. You were practically ogling me just then”

“Never said I wasn’t” he winked as he made his way over to the other sunbed and plopped himself onto it unceremoniously.

You could feel yourself blush, so you turned over onto your stomach so that you could hide your face in your folded arms. You heard him hiss and you involuntarily turned to face him and caught him staring at your behind. Yeah. It was a bikini. Had he never seen ass cheeks before?

You meant to make a sarcastic remark but then your eyes drifted to his own crotch and you couldn’t help but notice the prominent tent in his briefs.

Your eyes lingered, against your better judgement, you just couldn’t help yourself. Maybe you were just sex starved, but this man was a work of art and you were merely mortal. Before you could talk yourself into looking away, his arm outstretched and grabbed the edge of your sunbed pulling it towards him so that both ended up perfectly aligned. You shrieked in surprise, exactly how strong was this guy? You couldn’t imagine that being easy.

“I’m done social distancing” he looked at you intently, his brows furrowed and you momentarily got lost in the proximity of him. He was so… simply, but effectively put, hot.

When your eyes dropped to his mouth he wasted no time, closing in the now small gap between the two of you, pressing his lips to yours and you felt all your senses catch on fire.

His skin was cooler against yours, which was now warm and toasty from staying out in the sun, and when his palm went to the small of your back you felt goosebumps all over your skin. He caressed the skin there, as his lips worked yours and you were surprised at yourself when you pushed your own tongue inside his warm mouth, desperate for more already. He hummed audibly and tugged at the strings holding your bathing suit’s top in place “Is this ok?”

“Yeah” you breathed against his lips and undid the strings at the nape of your neck as he pulled on the ones on your back. You then pushed yourself on your knees and let it fall on the sunbed eliciting a loud groan for him

“Fuck! C’mere. Want them in m’mouth” he held out a hand for you as you eagerly threw a leg over him, effectively straddling him and he waited no time in doing just that- grabbing your breasts firmly but gently and taking them in his eager mouth, one after the other.

You whimpered looking down at him, the sight was too good to be true. How did you ever end up across the wall from this adonis? He was truly spectacular, and those long locks of his were absolutely beautiful on him. You couldn’t help it when you reached out and threaded your fingers through his hair and when he sucked intently on your nipple you instinctively tugged at his roots

“Yes! Just like that. Ah, love the sting” he mumbled against your breasts as he stuck his tongue out flat, maneuvering each breast against it sloppily, coating them thoroughly in his saliva.

To that you couldn’t help yourself anymore, and you scooted down his body until you could feel him against you. Fuck, he was massive. You could feel it.

“Stop teasing” you said, out of breath “Been… social distancing for too long”

“Yeah? No holding back? Fuck!” he slapped your ass sharply earning a surprised yelp from you “Get me my jeans, will you, love?”

“You seriously carry them in your pants while self isolating?” you threw his jeans over at him and watched him fish out a condom from the backpocket

“You’re gonna be real happy I did in a minute. C’mere” he gestured in a come hither movement with his forefinger and you sat back on your own sunbed as per his instructions. He removed his briefs, his cock springing right up, hitting his navel and you bit your lower lip in anticipation.

“Gonna need you to take those off, sweetheart, hm?”

You hooked your thumbs into the sides of your bikini bottoms and discarded them, then spread your legs eagerly as he gave himself a few pumps over the condom.

“Fuck, you’re dripping” he hissed taking in your glistening core. The sun was still shining and you knew there was no use trying to deny it, yes he’d ruined your bikini from the moment he jumped over the partition.

He grabbed his length and drove it through your wet folds, and you rolled your eyes back. He was going to ruin you. He repeated the motion a couple times, applying firm pressure against your clit every time and you shuddered, your legs jerking reflexively.

“You’re sensitive, aren’t you kitten? Hm? Bet I can make you come just from this alone” he licked his lips as he watched almost as if transfixed as he ran his cock through your lips.

“Please don’t tease me” you repeated your earlier request, you were dying for him to drive into you already

He tsked “Not teasing if I get you off, hm?” he then smacked your clit sharply using his tip and you mewled pathetically “Love how responsive you are. Gonna have fun watching you come over and over”

“Please” you squirmed, trying to get closer

“Be patient. Gonna let you come in a moment. Wanna get you really worked up first…”

“I’m gonna burst” you huffed, impatiently

“Oh, I’ll make sure of it” he chuckled when he saw your eyes widen and then surprised you by landing his fingers sharply against your clit

“Ah!”

“Like that?”

“Yeah. Do it again” you begged

He smacked your pussy again and you couldn't help the loud moan. If there were any other residents in this hotel wing, though you doubted it, they were in for a show even if just audibly. He pushed you higher on the sunbed so that your torso was more upright “Pull m’hair. Love the pain, too”

You grabbed a lock and twisted it around your finger before tugging at it sharply and he ground his cock even harder against your throbbing cunt. You were beginning to think you really were going to come from that alone, and soon.

Watching him roll his eyes to the back of his head with each tug had you pull on it with both hands. Not enough to cause any breakage but definitely enough to make it sting.

He then tapped his cock rapidly against your clit and your heart rate escalated quickly “Ohh!!”

“C’mon, kitten. Come for me so that I can fuck you good. Come for me, beautiful, c’mon!” he commanded with one last smack to your clit using his hand and you arched right off the sunbed. You shrieked at the intensity but before you could even make sense of any of it you felt his lips wrap around your clit and he sucked intently, prolonging your orgasm considerably. He didn’t let up, even when you came down from your high, and even though your hands made their way back into his hair to try and pull him away from you, that wasn’t working in your favor as it only spurred him on.

You were definitely overly stimulated but after a few moments of discomfort you quickly skyrocketed into another fastly approaching orgasm “Oh my God! Oh God!”

To that he sunk a finger deep inside of you and pumped intently, his mouth never leaving your clit and you barely had time to register what was happening- you were coming again, faster and definitely harder.

He finally sat back on his heels, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand “Guess you did burst, didn’t you, kitten?”

You looked at him through hazy eyes and as the realization slowly hit you he was grabbing your thighs from under your knees, scooting you back lower on the sunbed “My turn” he bit his lower lip as he raised an eyebrow. He positioned himself at your entrance and stopped just before he nudged inside, adding with a smirk “M’Harry by the way. Just so you know what name to scream for this next part”.

lhh Masterlist

A/N: whew. ok. barely an one-shot but i tried!!!!! man... i can't keep it short, can i? 😅 trying my best with these next ones though

💕 like & reblog if you enjoyed this, lovelies, and most importantly, please come share your thoughts on it here 💌

🦋follow me on wattpad to get notified whenever i post something new/update!🦋

[thedawningofthehour]

This may be strange question, but how are Aprils parent dealing with everything going on? How much do they understand what Donnie means to April and how do they still feel about it all?

Guys, there are no strange questions! We're all weirdos here. Embrace it. Love it.

April's parents know the whole scoop by now. At first I just had her tell them because I realized that April was going to be heavily present and it was either constantly reference the various excuses she uses to keep them out of her hair or just make it look like they ignore the shit out of her, and I didn't care for either of those vibes.

I think of April more as a latchkey kid than truly neglected-I mean, yeah, her parents leave her alone a lot, but they've also raised her to handle that responsibly and will absolutely drop everything for her if she needs it. They just work a lot. They knew that April had a group of friends she was very close to that they couldn't meet for whatever reason. And like...they were suspicious, but they also wanted to trust her. (Some people have commented that without context it really looks like Splinter is running a cult, with his color-coded children who don't go to school and aren't vaccinated and shit, and goddamn they are right)

Keep in mind, the story starts mid-March and Mystic Mayhem happened in like late summer/early fall the year before, so there have been mutations happening all over the place for at least six months by the time April tells her parents that the reason they haven't met her friends is because they're mutants. And they're like, "oh thank god." That was the most harmless explanation they could think of. (they didn't actually think that April was in a gang, but like...there's only so many explanations that fit) Also they're New Yorkers. So April tells them that there's a magical city underneath New York and they're just like, "yeah, that makes a lot of sense."

I can't remember how much of this actually made it into the story and how much I cut, but hearing what April had been doing actually really freaked them out. They're proud of her, of course, and they have faith in her capabilities, but they had no idea. I mean, their daughter has a crane license. They didn't know she could do that. It really made them reevaluate their priorities. That's part of the reason why Carol started working on the mutant town up at Todd's-she realized that she was giving so much of her life to her job and it just wasn't worth it. She feels awful for what the Hamatos had to go through due to their mutations and she feels way better spending her time making sure other mutants don't have to go through that.

As far as the boys go-they fucking love them. I wasn't joking when I said that they're socializing parenting. Splinter told them that he's always wanted a daughter and kind of considered April a bonus child, and they were like, "fuck you, we get bonus kids out of the deal too." The boys really activate that Parental Instinct deep inside them, especially after hearing how isolated and neglected they were. (they really don't blame Splinter for this-like, they had one baby and there were two of them, along with extended family/daycare/etc and that shit was still hard. They understand what an absolutely impossible task Splinter had been handed. Frankly, they're impressed that all four of them are alive) It also helps that Mikey was the first one they met, so they were instantly charmed. April's their priority, but they do genuinely love the boys.

And they haven't met Donnie, but they know that he and April were the closest, they've heard so much about him and seen the things he's built. They already love him and want to meet him so badly. I also wasn't going to confirm that her dad worked at the same research center where Donnie hatched, but I have thought about her dad getting all Emotional about it (it was a bad year and very few of the hatchlings survived-everyone was sad when the one guy they were all rooting for was seemingly eaten by a hawk or something) and showing Splinter Donnie's baby pictures and shit. Splinter would probably cry. Donnie would be so fucking done.

All in all, April's parents are like 90% of this fic where I didn't plan for anything to be A Thing and a narrative just grew when I wasn't looking.

[missluckycharms]

can you do a imagine where y/n plays volleyball and she gets hurt and h take care of her?

A/N: hiii! I hope you like this! I also had to look up some details about volleyball as it’s not really that commonly played here in Ireland, if I say something wrong pls ignore it I tried my best. The vaccine is kicking my ass rn, I got my second dose so if this sucks and there’s mistakes pls ignore that also 😭 Enjoy !!

This is college!Harry and Y/N I hope you don’t mind !!

Warnings: talks of smut, strong language and Harry being a sarcastic loveable asshole.

Today was not Y/N day.

First of all, she woke up late, giving her only twenty minutes to get ready and make her way to college, which is usually a thirty minute drive without traffic. She was like a lightening bolt running through her apartment, falling over Harry’s shoes that were just abandoned around her room and trying to find any clean clothes as Harry came over last night and as usual, he distracted her from doing what she needed to do, which was her laundry.

He was asleep while she did all this, her small huffs and puffs picking up his shoes and throwing them into the corner didn’t even cause the lazy log in the bed to move once, his body tucked up under the covers as his face smushed against her purple sheets as he let out small snores, she looked at him and silently wished that was her. She was lucky she packed her gym bag last night before he arrived over, all of her clothes, her ankle braces, her knee pads and her favourite trainers she wears for games all packed into her bag and all she needed to do was pick it up and throw it into the trunk of her car along with her book bag.

She kissed Harry’s forehead and again, he did not even move, he may of given out a slight hum for a grumbled word but Y/N didn’t have time to contemplate what he said, she was rushing out the door wearing clothes that were probably Harry’s as the joggers were nearly falling off her as she ran. She didn’t care though, she needed to be in her first lecture or her grades would go down. She made it to campus with only thirty seconds to spare, she doesn’t know how she wasn’t pulled over for driving faster than the speed limit when she saw the campus come into view. Her body ran through the halls, dodging anyone in her way as she dragged herself to the lecture hall where her professor was probably already starting lesson, his usual morning introduction as everyone set up their laptops or notepads for the hour lecture ahead.

She got a disapproving look from her professor when she slide into a row, flopping down onto the seat and apologising as she rummaged through her bag looking for her laptop. Her professor was already going over what they would be covering today when she realised she doesn’t have her laptop. Then she remembered where it is, it’s in her apartment in the bathroom.

Harry insisted they had a bath last night to relax her after she took some exams in college that day, the pair were soaked under the bubble filled hot water with her laptop propped up on the sink playing a show on Netflix as they relaxed and spoke about their day. She grabbed her notebook and pen and immediately began to scribble down the notes she would have to transfer onto her laptop tonight, if Harry doesn’t distract her again. She knows he might not, he has classes of his own today, his starting later than hers and his classes only being on four days a week instead of five like Y/N, yesterday was his day off, hence why he was being a needy little shit and clinging to Y/N like his lifeline until they fell asleep.

The day dragged out for Y/N, her usual one hour classes feeling like four hours, her notes taking for ages to write up as she tried to keep up with what was being displayed on the board, her lunchtime consisting of her bumming off her friend for a few dollars to get something to eat as she left her purse at home, her friend didn’t mind but she felt awful for asking. When the day finally ended she was relieved, all she wanted to do was get into the gymnasium and play some volleyball with her team to get all the anger she felt today, she was not having a good day and the only things that can help her with that is Harry or volleyball, and because she had training today over their at home game being played next week, she was relieved she could get some stress reliving in before going back to her place where she knows Harry will be — he hates his own apartment as he shares, Y/N only having a one bedroom one that she snagged and Harry being left with a flat thats shared between four people, there’s no privacy there, none.

“You’ve been tense all day, is everything okay?” Abbie, Y/N best friend asks as they begin their warm ups, the two sat on the floor side by side as the stretch their legs and arms getting warmed up for practice.

“Today wasn’t my day, woke up late, forgot my laptop and purse and now I have to go home and type up nearly fifty pages of notes onto my laptop — Who’s idea was it for me to study Biochemistry?” She laughs out, stretching her arms behind her head as Abbie follows suit, the pair watching as the coach shows them what to do, the pair sat at the back to avoid being yelled at for talking.

“I think that was your idea, I certainly didn’t force you to do that. If it helps, environmental studies isn’t easier, I swear I’m constantly writing up lab reports and giving presentations each week” Abbie rolls her eyes, the pair now doing lunges as they continue to chat.

“Shit! I have a presentation next week, I totally forgot” Y/N groans, squeezing her eyes in frustration as she hasn’t even started yet, her mind immediately going to how she has to type up the whole presentation while probably having Harry hang out of her. Harry is studying sports science, in hopes to one day set up his own personal training business. They usually have study sessions together as Harry has just as much work as Y/N, but Harry isn’t as much as a perfectionist as Y/N, he’ll slap together a presentation and call it a night while she has to make it look pretty and aesthetically pleasing.

After a fifteen minute warm up, the girls are already playing a mini match for practice, six players per team, Y/N being up nearest to the net with three other girls. She’s been named as one of the teams best scorers, her jumps are high and her force hitting the ball is something that scares opposing teams when they play competitions. She’s been on the college team for nearly two years now, her whole college course is five years long — she’s aiming for a bachelors degree in Biochemistry, she’s so happy she has something else to do while in here, she knows she would of went crazy if she didn’t have something to calm her down.

They play three games, Y/N’s team wining the first game and the teams tying on the last game due to the positions being switched and she was put to the back to give other players the chance to spike the ball up. She’s back up front on the third game, her body now rested from the small water break they were given in between the games, her body full of adrenaline and ready to play. The game is playing out as usual, Y/N jumping and spiking the ball up and over the net with the help of her team mates, the other team just as good as them as they all battle it out on the court. In the last two minutes is when it all goes downhill, Y/N jumps up to spike the ball, when she lands, she wobbles and falls over, her ankle rolling as she cries out in pain on the court, the coach blowing the whistle to stop the game as everyone rushes around her.

She tries to stand up, she falls back down again, Abbie and another girl holding her up as she shuts her eyes in pain. The coach takes off her ankle brace and sock with her permission, she’s now sitting on the bench as her ankle is iced and checked over by the coach, Abbie helping Y/N by refilling her water bottle when needed, her ankle now propped up on a chair with ice on it as the rest of the team begins their warm downs.

“It’s definitely sprained” Abbie says looking under the ice at her ankle, Y/N wincing when Abbie presses down lightly, jumping when she lets out a small cry.

“Yep, definitely sprained” she says putting the ice back on and sitting down next to her friend as they both laugh a little, the pain easing off with the ice as Abbie distracts her with stories and jokes.

“Y/N, do you have anyone to take you home?” The coach asks, allowing the rest to leave as Abbie stays seated with Y/N.

“I’ll call my boyfriend, thank you for your help” she says as the coach pats her on the back, telling her she can take all the time she needs off while also still being allowed to attend the games to support. She’s devastated about it, but at least she can support her team from the sidelines.

“What happened?” Harry asks running out of his car, the door slamming as Abbie wheels Y/N out in wheelchair given to them by the coach from the injury room.

“Fucked my ankle, doesn’t surprise me honestly, today wasn’t a good day” she sighs s Harry laughs a little, helping her out of the wheelchair and guiding her towards his car that’s parked only three steps away.

“You’re okay now, let’s get you home and rested, yeah?” He says laying her down on the back seat, picking her leg up and resting it on the seat as she winches in pain a little as she adjusts herself on the seat.

“Thanks for all your help, I’ll have Niall come and pick her car up later” Harry says to Abbie, closing the back door and smiling at the girl who’s waving in at her best friend who’s mortified in the back of the car, laughing masking the pain she’s feeling.

“If you both need anything give me a call” she says as Harry nods waving her off as he sits into the car, turning around to look at his girlfriend who’s looking back at him holding in her laugh.

“Only you” he shakes his head laughing as Y/N lets out a loud cackle, knowing he’s right, only her would end up fucking up her ankle even with a brace on it, it’s defiantly a Y/N thing to do.

The car ride home is filled with laughing and a few sing songs as Harry tries to distract her from the pain. He helps her into her apartment by carrying her bridal style up the flight of stairs and placing her down onto the sofa, propping her leg up on the coffee table, raising her ankle up on a pillow as he races to the freezer to find something to put on the injury.

“Okay, all you’ve got is frozen peas” he says placing the green packet down onto her ankle, the picture of peas hilarious as it rests on her skin, the swelling gone down since the gymnasium which is good, as Harry says.

“I’ll run to the store to get you some bandages soon, right now, you need some tea, the sugar will help with the shock you got” he says immediately snapping into Mum mode with her, Y/N smiling at Harry in the kitchen behind her, her head turning and resting on the back of the sofa as she watches him saunter around her kitchen.

“Do you have any homework you need completing? I got all mine done in library period we had today, I’m free to do yours if you have any” he says fiddling with the kettle and switching it on, placing a tea bag into her favourite purple polka dot mug.

“I have to transfer handwritten notes onto my laptop, I can do that” she says as Harry turns around, waiting for the kettle to boil as he looks at her.

“Nope, I’m doing that for you, you need rest! I’m here to help you, I’ll be your nurse” he says turning back around to pour the boiling water into the mug.

“I’m fine Harry, it’s just a small sprain” she fights back, Harry shaking his head as he walks in with her mug filled with warm tea, passing it to her as he sits next to her wrapping his arm around the back of the sofa.

“I’m not leaving you here alone, if you fall what will you do? Get up and walk?” He says sarcastically as she rolls her eyes laughing, resting her head back on his arm as they begin watching the TV before them.

“Also, I expect the same in return if I ever get hurt” he jokes as she slaps his arm playfully, laughing loudly as Harry wiggles his eyebrows at her.

“You’re on top for the next few weeks Styles” she says sipping on her tea as Harry laughs, reaching over to kiss her check.

“I’m always on top, darling” he whispers to her as she pulls back looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Babe, please can you be on top? I had a leg cramp this morning and it might come back” she says lowly, imitating Harry and his deep British accent as he looks at her rolling his eyes.

“I don’t sound like that” he says taking her mug from her and sipping a little from her tea as she takes it back off him with a loud groan at what he just did — he always does it to annoy her, or he’ll dip some biscuits into her tea when she’s not looking.

“Oh yeah, must be what my other boyfriend sounds like” she says riling him up, his head turning to her as she looks at the TV screen laughing behind the rim of her mug.

“You’re lucky you’re injured m’love, if you weren’t you would be over my shoulder and thrown down onto your bed and I’d show you who’s your boyfriend, or daddy as you like” he says wiggling his eyebrows as she groans into her tea.

“It was one time! I said it by accident!” She shouts, turning bright red as Harry laughs loudly, kissing her cheek as she pouts looking down at her mug.

“You know I liked it, it’s okay baby” he says resting her head on his shoulder as she cuddles into him, her empty mug on her lap as she pulls the blanket down from the back of the sofa, placing her empty mug on the floor and throwing the blanket over them both.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you” she says feeling sleepy, her day catching up on her as Harry helps her nurse her injury, his hands fixing the frozen peas on her ankle if they move a little.

“You’d probably break your neck or something” Harry says as she groans looking up at him, his dimples popping out as he laughs at his own joke.

“I’m being nice!” She says as he bends down to peck her lips, their smiles against one another lips as they pull away looking at one another.

“I know m’baby, I don’t know what you’d do without me either!” He says sighing in contentment as she rolls her eyes squishing her face into his chest.

“Harry!”

[starwrighter]

Major Subnautica spoilers!!

Beware!!!!!

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!

…

…

Okay, Hopefully I’ve scared off the people who don’t want spoilers (Why don’t you want her? :( she’s awesome ) Were going mostly off what I know from the first subnautica game and only taking bits and pieces of what I’ve heard of the second game.

It’s the sea emperor leviathans were the ones who cures Kharaa a lot of them died when Kharaa showed up on the planet because it killed off a lot of their food source. The only living ones we see in the first game is the adult who is held in a precursor facility researching a cure for Kharaa. The other ones are the five babies we help hatch and free them before the mama dies.

The Sea emperor leviathan are immune to the Kharaa Bacterium due to their natural production of enzyme 42. They are the only source of enzyme 42 on planet 4546b. Precursors studied the last remaining sea emperors hoping to find a cure to Kharaa but due to mama’s old age and or illness it was not a usable source of enzymes 42. The enzymes Mama produced were unstable only reversing symptoms temporarily The precursors couldn’t find a way to hatch Mama’s eggs naturally. They experimented on Mama and her eggs dissecting and killing at least two of them and artificially hatching at least one. Baby sea emperors that were hatched artificially didn't produce suitable enzymes either leading to the precursors setting the remaining eggs up in a incubator to keep them alive while they searched for ways to hatch them.  After this the research facility is destroyed releasing Kharaa into the planet when previously it was contained in the disease research center. Precursors had brought Kharaa to the planet searching to create a vaccine or cure. they went about this by experimenting on the local wildlife infecting them with the disease and studying their reactions (ya know Like arseholes would do)

Anyways the Research facility is destroyed by a sea dragon (Different from the sea emperors) Who attacked the base trying to save it’s stolen baby. Unfortunately you find the skeletal remains of the poor parent near the base :( 

This is what unleashes Kharaa onto the planet decimating the ecosystem and leading to the eventual emergency quarantine of the planet. From what I remember pretty much everything died from this I think there was a plot point of everything on the planet already being infected. This event was a thousand years or so before the Aroura crashed.

( An explanation of what I know of Kharaa. It has 143 billion confirmed kills This number is a thousand years old by the time you read about it; I'm unsure if it’s only counting people. Kharaa can Kill rapidly, the infection rate varies as seen with the medical officer of life pod 12 where It’s recorded that he showed visible symptoms of Kharaa in merely three hours while our game protagonist and other crash victims took much longer to show symptoms and eventually die of it. Not all creatures show visible signs of Kharaa (I.E glowing green cysts that grow larger and glow stronger as infection progresses) This includes all the other leviathans but it’s implied if not stated  that some of the leviathans and larger fauna produce digestive enzymes similar to enzyme 42 giving them resistances. It causes flu like symptoms, skin irritation and an increase in aggression. There are 4 stages of infection 1: Incubation period 2: Immune system suppression 3: Mutations to the hosts biological structure 4: Complete shutdown of of executive function, aka u dead. It spreads through the skin and respiratory system and maybe eating infected meat.)

Now! After Kharaa breaks loose from the Facility Mama manages to get the peepers to carry around her unstable enzyme 42 to the surface through vents. This allows life to survive on the planet by suppressing infection and in some creature making it dormant. 

That’s the Subnautica info dump completed!

Now back to the Dpxdc Bits

I don’t think we should just slap already existing leviathans onto each and every member of the batfam but I do think we should stick to the theme of them being asymptomatic carriers if we create new ones or modify old ones. The increased aggression would fit with the prompt in a Kharaa sense and a trauma sense. Each and every member of the Batfam were alive for the whole precursors being dicks Damian might’ve been to young to remember everything. But they were there when all the food practically died out, for the experimentations and they were and still are there for the horiffic infection that is Kharaa! 

They protected each other the best they could from the precursors and stuck together as a pod when things were tough. Overall Bruce, Dick and maybe Jason were the only ones who were around before the Precursors touched down on the planet. They’re protective as hell towards everything and did not take to kindly to the crash especially when they find out about the baby. The Fam think that despite him being the the last to hatch and how unbelievably little he is Danny was the strongest out of all the babies. He was also the least blood thirsty and mean. This hatchling was fast and shy from what they could tell. He always flitted away into hiding before any of could even get close enough to croon at him. Their hatchling was obviously much different than any of them but he’s still too young to be out of the nest >:(

As for the Kharaa bit... Maybe Kharaa variant of ectoplasm? Like something allows it to become hyper condensed to the point no ghost can form and it starts to effect the living to grow stronger. It could explain Danny being Immune to Kharaa since getting blasted by the entire infinite realms is as condensed as condensed ectoplasm could ever get. Maybe the precursors experimented for an easier power source and mixed in some genetically altered bacterium to some ecto not knowing how rapidly it would mutate, Maybe Danny produces his own version of enzyme 42 and Danny’s body is kind of directing the Mutations to be stable and more beneficial towards him?  It that’s the case is it his core a big part of it. Do the mutations effect his human form a little too?

Because having a core that is maybe one to two years old at max decide your new appearence doesn’t exaclty make him look any less baby to the giant death reapers that are stalking him.

A DpxDc prompt because I <3 all of you but am too shy to talk in the discord.

The Subnautica au I promised! (I might make two of them)

Okay, so Danny is around 14 or 15 in this. He is still a halfa but the portal has been temporarily closed for plot reasons. So the portal is closed and Danny has no clue what to do now. Due to the portal being closed Danny's grades have improved exponentially enough that he gets an work offer from Altera (ignore the child labor it's the Giw/Altera's shady business practices fault)

Danny is ecstatic because he's finally getting the opportunity to go to space! He knows if he waits the portal will be reopened and he'll never have a chance like this again so he takes it. In less than a month Danny has been trained and is shipped off to the Aurora. He's heading towards planet 4546b with very little information on the planet itself.

The crash happens and Danny doesn't use his powers to save the ship because something around the atmosphere was preventing full accessing his powers in full. Danny scrambles to the life pods and ends up being the only one in life pod five. The whole life pod scene happens with Danny being knocked out by the panel flying off the wall.

He wakes up with the life pod on fire and quickly uses what he can of his ice powers to put it out not realizing there's a fire extinguisher. Danny exits the life pod and realizes that a lot of people he talked to on the ship not even a day ago were probably dead. Judging by his inability to go ghost, he wouldn't be reuniting with them in the ghost zone any time soon.

He is devastated but goes about exploring and trying to find any other survivors. His hope of finding survivors near the crash zone dies when the ship explodes and starts leaking deadly radiation. Danny of course rushes to try and fix this. It's easier for him to get there because he can stay under water for an inhuman amount of time and has a built up immunity to radiation as a halfa.

Now to the DC part of this. Let's stick with only the batfam existing in this universe. The entire batfam are classified as leviathan's. All of them have two forms with one of said forms being semi humanoid mer like appearance. They are still pretty big in this form, think 7-8ft at the smallest (aka Damian) The other form is something I like to call

Big f-ken fish™

Which is full on terrifying reapers (we'll decide what each of the fam specifically look like later) and a lot of them are chilling in the crash zone when Danny is fixing the Aurora's reactor. Danny has not yet been spotted by the reapers.

Now they're already pissed off because a big arse ship just crashed into their planet and destroyed a great deal of it. They don't exactly know what a space ship is but they do know that the technology is advanced and the only thing remotely close on their planet is from the precursors who were a bunch of pricks.

Before the explosion the fam kept an eye on the weird creatures that crawled out of the metal eggs They watch them almost immediately start dying from predators or Kharaa. They were there when the ship exploded and started leaking radiation and killing the local wild life much to Damian's despair.

So the Fam are pretty pissed off at this point and are circling the ship. They immediately noticed when the ship stops leaking radiation and spot Danny swimming away from the reck quicker than any of the other ones that crawled out of the eggs.

Granted most of the other ones from the eggs immediately died and didn't have faces (the wet suits looked weird and Danny refuses to wear them no matter how much easier they would make things >:(

They start watching him because obviously there's something odd about this thing it looks kinda like a much smaller version of their smaller forms. Danny is getting pretty ticked off that his PDA keeps making false alarms of leviathan's. Duke, and tim are the ones monitoring Danny in the safe shallows. Jason and Dick in the crash zone. Barbra and Stephanie in the kelp forest. Cass and Bruce are patrolling the grassy plateaus.Damian is by himself at the quarantine gun/ sunbeam landing sight.

Danny sets up base near the quarantine gun™ because for some reason even though he's not infected he can't turn the damn thing off. So Damian is the only one currently capable of watching him. Damian has a theory that he 100% sure is correct. As a 1600 year old leviathan he's not a baby he's almost an adult and doesn't remember being a baby. This thing crawled out of an egg and is super tiny so it is obviously a baby and a very smart one at that. While it didn't have the claws, gills, tail, or scales they had it was super fast, could freeze things, had super strong hands despite looking dull and frail, it could take useless scraps and rocks and turn them into complex structures. It was obviously a new type of leviathan the ship carrying eggs. Danny was the smallest of the babies but he was also the strongest, and smartest; surviving long enough to have eyes and hair. This baby was young enough that he still needed to surface for air he needed to be protected.

Danny has no clue he's now being stalked by a group of reapers that decided he was their new baby brother/son

[misterewrites]

Wrap-up: The Salt-Irons Case

Hello! E here with the next chapter, little late but I had to deal with a head cold and i freaking hated it! Yay! So here we go the finale of Finn's case and the start of the next arc. Who will get the spotlight? What's going to happen? Find out soon!

I hope you are all doing great, being safe, keeping your loved ones safe and all that jazz. Keep wearing masks because no, despite what everyone wants, the pandemic isn't over especially for a lot of places that need the vaccine. Stay safe, keep your loved ones safe, get vaccinated if you can and stay extra safe if you can't. Push for global vaccinate because a lot of places still need it. Keep Ukraine in your hearts, in your thoughts even if it gets a lot to keep track of. I get it. Also keep your eye on any bullshit somebody is trying to pull cuz right now a lot of places are trying to fuck over everyone but if you want to just exist, i get it. I do I really do. Just keep your health in mind alrighty?

That's it for me! Seriously I cannot thank you all enough for reading my story, for taking the time out of your day to give this a read. I am so surprised and happy how many views this story gets and I am so grateful for them especially since it's an original work i know how really hard it is to get any success out of it. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Tell your friends, recommend it, comment likes, reblogs I love them all! and appreciate every single one. Stay safe, have great days untill the next time I post and thank you for reading. You're the best!. E is out!

So we’re at the part of the tour where I shamelessly plug myself. Yes I know but I have to or else no one will read. I gotta try at least you know?

If you want to read my story on a more user friendly site that doesn’t hate me and where, fun fact, i sometimes correct my work typos and all, here’s the link right down here 

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/30599756/chapters/97939368

If you need a refresher cuz holy snap it’s been a month. I meant it to be two weeks you can click right here https://archiveofourown.org/works/30599756/chapters/96221044

If you are curious about what this is or bored and need something to do, here’s the story from the beginning. I promise it’s actually not bad. evidently. Who would’ve guessed! not me I’m way too modest for that.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30599756/chapters/75486005

And here’s link to my page where I have various different stories ranging from some Vi/Cait from Arcane, a story involving Jinx, Soul Eater, Genshin Impact, Owl House and some Red Hood among other stuff because I like to write and let me tell you I do it way too much yet not enough.

https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrE42/pseuds/MrE42

And that concludes this portion of the tour. if you are disembarking here have a great week and be safe. take care of yourself. 

For those of you joining us beyond the keep out sign, enjoy!

Summary:  Still alive, Finnrick meets up with Eden and Garrus to debrief the M.R.R.D on what happened and answer any lingering questions. Due to his injury, however, he'll be forced to sit out the next adventure which may be sooner than anyone hopes. Luckily there's someone who can help with that. Probably.

-----

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“I am, in fact, not.”

“Hey ya’ll” Maddie cut the conversation with a soft smile, a long line of plates running up her arm in impossible fashion “Make room so I can feed you.”

Given it was a typical day of cheery chatter and utensils hungrily scraping plates to ensure every last bit of food was consume, it was fair to assume Finnrick had survived his deadly encounter with the being from another reality.

The detective awoke several hours later under the care of Doctor Carmichael, a cleric of Altruism and close family friend. Despite both he and Casey’s best efforts, Finn’s injury hadn’t been a clean enough break to mend properly by either cleric. Healing magic, while powerful, included certain requirements to be used safely. So until the bones realigned properly to heal with magic, Finn was on mandatory vacation which meant arm in a sling and no cases for at least three weeks.

Finnrick did not like that but there was little he could do as when he reached to take his plate Jaime smacked his hand away.

“No.” She said firmly “What part of taking it easy do you not understand?”

Finnrick chuckled softly “Jai it’s a plate of eggs. I think I can manage.”

“Mhm. Like you managed to walk out of the cemetery on your own.”

Finnrick opened his mouth to argue but Jaime continued “Because you did not walk out of there on your own. Case and I had to carry you out.”

“Well…” Finnrick tried to chime in.

“You got fat.” Jaime nudged his stomach playfully “Too much of Ma’s food.”

Maddie pretended to be scandalous “Mind your tongue or I’ll take back your French Toast and eggies.”

“Sorry ma’am. No disrespect meant.”

The other occupants of the table began to let out a cheery laugh as Jaime smiled sheepishly.

Maddie pinched her cheeks lovingly “Only joking sweetie.” Jaime let out a sigh of relief “Oh thank god because after the fucking scare my brother gave me I need to treat myself.”

“You.” Maddie pointed accusingly at her “Are just as bad as him. Every day you used to be in here and now I hardly see you!”

“Why we picking on me? He’s the one that did something dumb.”

“Stones and glass houses dearie. Casey, honey, here’s your order.”

Casey smiled gratefully as he carefully leaned over Finn to take the plate.

“And officers: Miss Eden and Mister Garrus. Your orders as well.”

Finn felt an odd mixture of annoyance and gratitude as his closest friends and allies were surrounding him in a protective cocoon: Casey and Jaime on either side of him with Garrus and Eden sitting across. It was unlikely someone would attempt to take a swing at the detective in his current state. Injured or not, he remained a powerful spellcaster but people weren’t always logical and sometimes a bad idea was too tempting to pass up.

Jaime had been allowed to take time off until Casey could properly heal him in few weeks time and Casey, who couldn’t take as much time given he was the entirety of the Neighborhood Watch, at least agreed for today. Eden and Garrus claimed they chose Ma’s so Finnrick didn’t have to come all the way down to City Hall for the debriefing but the detective wasn’t fooled: Between two clerics, a wizard, a sharpshooting badass and Maddie herself, Ma’s was probably the safest place at the moment.

And given the fact Eden insisted that they pay for everyone’s meal meant they probably felt guilty about Finn’s injury.

“I can’t believe it.” Garrus mumbled unhappily, his silver-gray eyes still wide “He transferred his soul into another body? Are you sure?”

Finnrick gave a quiet nod, digging into his meal.

Garrus ran his hand through his hair nervously “How is that possible? Drift, how is this possible?”

“I was surprised myself when I confronted him. I was expecting a simulacrum with his personality copied over, an imitation thinking he was the original. I wasn’t expecting….”

He could still remember the dangerous glint in Richard’s eyes, the spark of insane creativity only humans could achieve. Copies lacked the flame of existence, the drive that burned bright in living creatures and it always showed.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting but it sure wasn’t that.”

Eden scoffed in disbelief “Come on don’t be so fucking modest Finny. You must have some idea. You’re Finn! You know everything!”

“Yeah no.” Finnrick chuckled lightly “Fun fact I do not actually know everything. I’m only human guys.”

“But….you’re a detective. Isn’t your job to detect, to know everything?”

“Well yeah but sometimes I just don’t know.”

“But you’re Finn.” Jaime shot him a sideways glare “You always know. That’s like your thing.”

“No.” Finn corrected, playfully tugging his sister’s cheek “It’s not my thing. Guys I’m very good at my job but I’m not a bloody psychic.”

“But you’re Finn....” Eden couldn’t keep the confusion off her face.

“You know most of the time I have the case solved like 80% but for some reason everyone thinks I know everything so by the time I confront them, they assume I already have their entire plan in a notebook somewhere and just blab. It’s honestly very refreshing. Makes my life way easier.”

A hush fell over the table, a quiet realization as everyone present began recounting all the times they just casually revealed their secrets to him under the assumption it was pointless to hide as he would discover it sooner or later.

Eden was the first to recover, eyes narrowing in mock fury “You are so ground…”

“Any theories then?” Garrus cut in gracefully. Eden openly threw a death glare at him but he paid it no mind.

Finnrick paused for a moment, digging into his wizardry knowledge for an answer.

“I suppose...”He started slowly, ideas still poking and prodding at his half formed thoughts “The soul of something could be made out of an energy we don’t understand. I guess with the right spells and tools one could theoretically transfer it into a body though it’s probably insanely dangerous. Too many factors like keeping your sense of self intact, making a human body, souls getting rejected. I mean spirits and ghosts are real but they’re still the person they were in life and don’t require a body to stay in this plane of existence but possession is a thing. Spiritualism isn’t really my cup of tea. I have a friend I could call. Maybe she figure an answer for us but as of now I have no idea how the fuck that works or how to even begin to answer that question.”

“But Richard did.” Eden answered darkly.

“Good thing he’s dead.” Casey replied in kind.

“Worse than dead.” Finnrick corrected.

Garrus glanced out the window thoughtfully.

“Da?” Finn asked, his concern clear.

Garrus took a deep breath, his voice dropping to a whisper. “When I was growing up Mister Valka was very...adamant about certain things. Souls were one of them. I suppose I am just curious how angry this news would make him. I admit it’s affecting me more than I was expecting.”

Eden and Finnrick shared a look, a quiet understanding passing between them.

“So.” Eden cleared her throat loudly “What were the creepy dolls for? Creepy shit right?”

“Oh totally Ma. He was using model art dolls to get his new wooden body’s movements down. Probably freeballed it the first go around and people noticed.” Finnrick explained while popping a piece of bacon into his mouth.

Garrus snapped back to reality “What about the creature getting here? Any ideas on that mystery?”

“Amos” surprisingly Casey was the one who answered.

Garrus shot him a curious glance.

“Sorry.” Casey grinned nervously “Felt a little left out. No I didn’t figure it out” he quickly added “Finn told us on the way. We kinda pestered him about the case too.”

“Amos?” Eden raised an eyebrow “Wasn’t aware he was in town.”

Finnrick gave a hearty chuckle “We’ve long theorized that the Fae Realm is probably whatever connects all the different realities together. To get any other existence means you gotta through the Fae. Amos had been tracking a fae folk creature in London and he told me when he tackled it through a portal and landed here. Distance and time are funky in the Fae so it’s possible the creature was just waiting there, looking for some way in.”

“And the little bit that attacked you outside the Salt-Irons? Inkwell is the name you gave. What about it? Any chance it’ll get punted out of this reality?” Garrus asked hopefully.

“No” Finnrick answered honestly “It seemed to have its own sentience, its own existence. Big daddy ink was aware I fought it but didn’t seem to know where it ended up. My guess it was ‘born’ here so it’s native and reality won’t kick it out.”

Eden straightened up, a bit of professionalism seeping into her posture “Is Inkwell going to be a problem?”

“Well…..”

-----

Somewhere hidden in a forgotten alleyway long thin inky tendrils spread out like spider webs, clinging onto any and everything it could grab: bottles and empty bags, discarded newspaper and bits and parts of random junk. The ink shimmered and pulsated.

Inkwell was weak but soon it would be strong. Soon it will be strong.

All it had to do is wait.

-----

“I’m sure it’s fine.”

It was impossible whose stare was more deadpan: Da or Ma’s.

“You really believe that?” Their voices spoke as one.

“No. but there’s not much I can do about it, is there?” Finnrick gestured to the sling “Besides the city’s huge. There’s no way we can check everywhere and be sure we did. As much as we hate it we’re going to have to wait for Inkwell to make its first move.”

Neither Eden or Garrus liked that answer but they knew Finn had a point. Until Inkwell showed up it was a waste to hunt for it.

“There’s one thing I’m curious about.” Casey piped up after a moment of silence.

Jaime stared at him with a playful grin “Only one?”

“One that I’d admit to yeah.” Casey stuck his tongue at her before continuing “Why did you go alone?”

Finn could feel every pair of eyes fall on him, their gaze half irritated half expectant.

He cleared his throat theatrically “Well it was better that way: It could shatter my shields with little to no effort so taking you Case wouldn’t have been ideal. You’re not exactly graceful on your feet.”

Casey opened his mouth to argue but Jaime had beaten him to the punch “Hey! He’s an excellent dancer and you know it!”

“Naturally” Finnrick agreed “But in an uneven graveyard with fog everywhere? Way more cause to trip up.”

“True….” Casey mumbled unhappily.

“And you Jai.” Jaime jumped back in surprised as her brother whirled around to face her “You are more than agile enough to hand the terrain but you don’t have much experience fighting stuff out of this world. I can’t be worrying about you tucked away in some corner and trying to make sure I don’t get skewered. Either of you actually. Without my shields to cover you I’d be too worry to focus. Better to take less targets than getting everyone killed.”

“And you two.” He faced the officers as they opened their mouths “Red tape. All the fucking red tape. No signal to call out there and no time to wait.”

Garrus and Eden frowned but said nothing.

“And there are my perfectly legitimate reasons why none of you could come with me.” Finnrick gave a short nod, allowing a smug smirk to grace his face.

“Fuck you son.”

“I still think I should’ve been there.”

“I was worried all fucking night bro!”

“With my rifle I could’ve been in the forest. No one had to know.”

“Guys, guys.” Finnrick raised a hand in surrender “It’s over. It’s done and everyone is safe. If a dislocated shoulder is the price I have to pay for it, so be it. Now we gotta get a move on.”

“Another case son?” Garrus stared disappointingly towards the detective.

Jaime scoffed “Not with me on watch. He’s going to get a lot of rest but he wants to make a stop first.”

“I have an idea where to find our little helmeted vigilante.” Finnrick admitted “Going to drop something off and then head home. I’m sorry what my injury is going to do to the streets.”

Garrus waved him off “We’ll do our jobs. Same as always. You get better.”

Casey let out a sigh of relief “Thank god. I got the monthly Watch meeting tomorrow. I need to ask Evan if he could watch the neighborhood.”

“Bye kids!” Eden gave a friendly way at the departing trio “Don’t get into trouble but if you do make sure to kick its ass!”

“Why must you encourage them?”

“Builds character” Eden answered with a smirk “Now pay the bill.”

“Why do I have to pay the bill?” Garrus mumbled grouchily “You’re the one who invited the kids for breakfast.”

“Yes but you’re their ‘father’. You need to show some responsibility for them.”

“Pfft you’re the one that adopted them.”

“We, we adopted them.”

“Then you should pay for our ‘children’.”

“Oh what’s that? Sorry Maddie’s calling me. I’ll just be over here.”

As Eden began making her over to the counter, Garrus shot her a halfhearted glare before pulling out his wallet, a small smile gracing his face as he shook his head in disbelief.

-----

It was 11 at night when there was a knock on the office door.

Frankie, a younger member of the Troll’s Toe Neighborhood Watch, was on call. At first she thought it was the soft pattering of the rain hitting the pavement streets but the tap became increasingly louder and louder, uneven with the torrent outside.

It wasn’t uncommon for members of any Watch to answer calls at all hours of the day but Frankie wasn’t used to anyone seeking help at this time. Most people in the Midtown magical neighborhood were already cozily tucked into bed especially with the sudden thunderstorm.

Frankie drew her weapon, a large wrench she kept under her desk, and slowly inched her way towards the convenient store styled door of the building. She tried to peer outside to see who it was but the shifting shadows from the storm made it impossible to see.

Boom!

Without warning, thunder echoed impossibly loud out of nowhere, rattling the office violently as a streak of lightning bolted across the sky and lit up the figure standing in the doorway.

Frankie screamed at the sight of the tall shadow that stood before her: Covered head to toe in a long black riding cloak with ghostly green eyes peering at her with a soulless gaze. Chains wrapped around their torso tightly as a large stone slab simply hung on their back. Long, wild gray hair hung in front the stranger’s silhouetted face. One hand was outstretched to knock again while the other held onto some sort of walking stick as a rusty faded unlit lantern hung from it and swung menacingly in the breeze.

“Back!” Frankie’s voice squeaked, raising the wrench high in both hands “I armed and not fear to use!”

The figure reached for their hood and Frankie could feel her heart drop at the sight of how toned and muscular this stranger’s arms were. In a straight fight Frankie didn’t like her chances.

The figure pulled back the hood and shook the hair out of her face.

Her face?

“Hi!” the woman smiled brightly as she gave a cheery wave “Sorry to bother you I just got into town.”

“What?” Frankie let the wrench fall out of her hands.

The woman gestured to her ear “Yeah sorry I can’t hear you. Can you open the door?” she pointed at the door between them.

Frankie nodded and opened the door to let the strange woman in.

“Much better” She let out a sigh of relief as the warmth of the office filled her bones “Sorry about that. I just got in and I was told this is where I could get some help.”

“Umm…..what kind of help?”

“Well you see.” The woman began hurriedly “There’s a powerful spiritual disturbance here. I could feel all the way in India!”

Frankie opened her mouth to say something but all she could do is stare at this tall, freckled faced green eyed woman who carried some kind of stone strapped to her back.

“And as The Gravekeeper of Souls, I take my job very seriously. I mean if it’s that powerful that I felt it on another continent, it was going to be bad!”

“Excuse me.” Frankie finally piped up “I’m sorry I don’t follow.”

The woman gave a cute sheepish grin “Oh right. Sorry. I travel a lot so I forget who knows me and who doesn’t. I’m Yorrick! Yorrick the Gravekeeper of Souls!”

“Okay. And you are here….?”

“Oh.” Yorrick gave a little nonchalant gesture “Some powerful spiritual entity is about be unleashed and probably raze your city to the ground.”

“WHAT?!” Frankie could feel her blood pressure rise.

“Raze. You know destroy, obliterate, consume. Hee consuuuuuuume. Fun word.”

Frankie’s face paled “Are you serious?”

Yorrick smiled brightly “As the grave. But I’m here so it’ll be okay. Probably. Anyway I need to call a meeting of the Watch. Can I do that here or…?”

“There’s one tomorrow.” Frankie weakly answered.

“Excellent! I’ll come back then. Good night! Thanks for all the help!”

and just like that, Yorrick vanished into the storm, swallowed whole by the dark though Frankie could hear her excited laughter amid the rain and thunder.

“This is going to be fun!” Yorrick’s voice called happily from the shadows.

Frankie decided it was better to sit on the floor.

For the rest of the night.

[garc-i-a]

Why JATP Is Taking a While to Get Officially Renewed

Thought I would put my thoughts into words on the renewal situation. We know that the show was released on Netflix on September 10, 2020. As of today, it has been 242 days (10 May 2021). Julie and the Phantoms was released under Netflix Family, marking it as a children’s show on the streaming service. It was released in the middle of the second wave of the coronavirus (in the US) that has swept the world over. The show was created by Kenny Ortega, legendary choreographer and director.

To start off, we have to acknowledge that we ARE in a pandemic. Due to that, things have been touch and go in so many industries. That includes the TV/Film industry as well. The US and Canada, the two countries involved in making the show, have to follow the rules and laws related to COVID regardless of what people in the industry want. With that, we have to pay attention to what is going on with the pandemic to know how to go about filming. 

As of right now, Canada still has closed borders from the US to nonessential travel. To get into Canada as a foreigner you have to be going for a specific reason and follow all the Covid related travel rules. To read more about this, you can go to canada.ca and type in for traveling during the pandemic. Not to mention that for a lot of areas in Canada, they are still essentially in lockdown because of the now rising numbers in the country. Charlie’s home province of New Brunswick is still pretty restricted. 

Regarding vaccinations, although the United States has been slowly getting people vaccinated, Canada has had issues with getting vaccinations and don’t nearly have as many vaccinated. It is only just a few days ago that New Brunswick started administering vaccinations in the last few days. The vaccinations are only for people who are 50+ who fall into specific medical condition guidelines. For British Columbia, where the show is filmed, vaccines started getting administered the third week of April. It is believed there is a chance of getting all* adults vaccinated by mid June. My source for this information is from a native New Brunswicker and a CTV News article.

For the cast, getting vaccinated is paramount. Owen is already vaccinated. Madison’s dad is also vaccinated so it is likely she is as well or part way there. Now for people who are NOT vaccinated yet, most vaccines are administered in two doses. The doses are done about three weeks apart (I am partially vaccinated and my first dose was already done and second is next week). This knowledge is important as people need to be aware of the timing of these things. The amount of time between vaccines and for everyone in the cast and crew is essential for everything to go smoothly with filming.

One of the big things that I have seen a lot is the outrage at other shows on Netflix being renewed before Julie and the Phantoms. There is a two fold answer to this. To start off, we have to remember that because of this pandemic, things take longer to process to be extra diligent and that more money is be used to cover for reconstructions and accommodations due to Covid. Knowing these two things, let’s delve into the renewals of other shows.

Some of the other shows that have been renewed are Fate: The Winx Saga, Bridgerton, Ginny and Georgia, and Emily in Paris. The big difference between these shows and Julie and the Phantoms is the fact they are not in the Netflix Family category. They are considered content for adults or young adults. Netflix has different rules on their shows that are put out on the regular platform versus the family section. Netflix Family rarely posts when a show is renewed so far from its premiere date for the next season. So in that respect, Julie and the Phantoms wouldn’t be given a huge announcement for the next season’s renewal if it follows the pattern of Netflix Family’s marketing.

Tying into this the matter of where the rest of the shows are filmed and the backing behind them in regards to production. The Winx show and Bridgerton are filmed in the UK, Ginny and Georgia is filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Emily in Paris is filmed on location in France. The reason that this matters is because these places have different rules for working during this pandemic, the vaccinations levels, and the threat of getting sick from Covid. These shows are also connected to larger properties or influential individuals*. Vancouver is a popular city to film in, of course, but it has been dealing with an uptick in cases as well as in a different province than Ginny and Georgia, and as such has their own rules. We cannot take into the likes of Riverdale or other shows that are filming right now in Vancouver. Lots of these shows were renewed and set to film already when the pandemic hit. They do not factor into things.

The last part of this is the production costs for making the show. As mentioned before, Vancouver is a popular city to film in. Due to the pandemic, it costs more to film because the need to have extra precautions, regular Covid testing, and etc. We know that there were shows that were initially renewed by Netflix but then canceled after the fact. The reason for this is that Netflix likely realized the cost to produce the shows would be too much and not in the best interest of the cast, crew, and any companies involved in the middle of such a huge reaching pandemic.

Compared to other shows in the Netflix Family section, Julie and the Phantoms has a high production level. I did some research on the Netflix originals in the section and the shows on there are either very low budget or have a backing from a franchise/company (ex. Baby Boss, Fast and Furious, Jurassic Park). Julie and the Phantoms does not have that. It is not connected to an established franchise or a large company. It is simply made by the likes of Kenny Ortega who does not skimp on anything in his productions. Kenny has stated that he is not willing to let the grandness of the show suffer because of the pandemic. The show has many crowd scenes and dancing sequences that require a lot of people. The show won’t be what it is without this. Based on this, we know that Netflix wants to be absolutely sure they can go forth with filming before announcing a renewal.

And there you guys go. All the information that I looked into and checked for this piece. I hope this helps many people understand what is going on why it is taking longer for the show to get renewed. It is not that Netflix doesn’t want to renew it. It is a matter of HOW and WHEN. If that makes sense. If you have any questions about what I wrote, you can leave a comment or DM me.

all*- Some individuals may not wish to be vaccinated

influential individuals*- There are people connected to some of the shows that have a standing within the media and the finances or awards to warrant being a part of the show or it being made at all.

Amendment

I was informed by my source in New Brunswick that vaccines have been administered since January but the qualification for who is eligible for the vaccines can change from week to week.

Amendment 2

Reuters has reported that children aged 12-15 are able to start getting the vaccine today (13 May 2021). So that means that Jadah and Sonny (15 and 13, respectively) will be fully vaccinated by the middle of June.

Amendment 3

A few days ago a local upstate New York newspaper wrote about Canada starting the process of opening up borders again. The process is in the beginning stages so there is no announced date(s) on the border reopening but it is in the works.

Amendment 4

A show called Firefly Lane has been renewed for a season 2. This is important because Firefly Lane is filmed in the same area of British Columbia as Julie and the Phantoms. British Columbia is getting better in regards to vaccinations and so this proves good news of a season 2 announcement for Julie and the Phantoms.

Amendment 5

It was reported on 21 or 22 June 2021 that Canada will relax quarantine rules for vaccinated Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and foreign nationals for essential work. This new system will go into effect 5 June 2021. If you are fully vaccinated and pass rules set by the government, you will NOT have to abide by the hotel quarantine steps when entering the country. That means that the JATP cast and crew can get to filming right away instead of quarantining beforehand. To read more about this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lonelyplanet.com/amp/articles/canada-border-reopening

Amendment 6

On Charlie’s live yesterday (28 June 2021), Madison said that she got the second dose of the vaccine earlier in the day. In 14 days, she will be good to go on going out and such. Hopefully Jadah and Sonny have gotten at least their first dose. Gets us closer to being able to have the cast and crew together for the show.

Amendment 7

The National Law Review published an article on 2 July 2021 saying that fully vaccinated individuals will be able to travel between Canada and the US on 21 July or possibly sooner. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he wants 75% of Canadians to be fully vaccinated before allowing the border to be opened. With current numbers, it is believed this will be achieved in a few weeks time.

Amendment 8

The New York Times just reported that fully vaccinated Americans could be allowed into Canada by mid August and that people from other countries could be allowed to enter by September.

Amendment 9

It was just reported about two hours ago that Canada will allow vaccinated Americans in on 9 August. That is exactly 3 weeks from now on a Monday. Now all we have to focus on is protocols for safety while in Vancouver while filming.

[zintranslations]

Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 120

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Novel Updates

Chapter 120: The Thirteenth Door

Right after the new year, it came about time for Gu Longming to enter his door.

Ruan Nanzhu selected a sixth door hint slip, and on it was a name familiar to all—Minotaur. A monster from ancient Greek mythology with a bull's head and a human's body that guarded a maze.

In the myth, it was a creature of an extremely violent temperament born of a human and a white bull. Shut away in the Labyrinth on the island of Crete, it ate seven pairs of boys and girls each year. Then it was killed by a bastard son of Athens, Theseus. Point was, there wasn't much intel to gain about the door from a hint like this. Only once they went in and encountered the actual situation could they connect it to the hint on the paper slip.

Lin Qiushi also showed this hint to Gu Longming ahead of time. After Gu Longming received it, he expressed his thorough gratitude for Lin Qiushi, and Lin Qiushi too was forthright with a vaccination—he said that in this door, he could not be responsible for Gu Longming's life, and Gu Longming ought to prepare himself accordingly.

Gu Longming agreed to every stipulation, and said he had already prepared himself for never coming out.

Their time of entry was roughly the tenth of the lunar new year, when celebrations were trailing off, leisurely vacations were coming to an end, and everybody grew busy again.

Lin Qiushi readied everything and began to wait for the door.

The tenth quickly came. It was a bright, sunny afternoon, and few people were in the mansion. There was only Lin Qiushi sitting in the living room eating Lu Yanxue's freshly cooked pumpkin seeds. Lu Yanxue's culinary skills were, as usual, the best; the pumpkin seeds she fried up were flavored with the five spices and fragrant as all hell. Lin Qiushi could pass an entire afternoon with just a handful of the stuff.

Ruan Nanzhu had already gotten changed and was waiting upstairs. Lin Qiushi saw that it was about time, and so hoisted his hefty backpack and headed upstairs to go look for him.

Due to their last door, Lin Qiushi intentionally stuffed his bag with a great number of food items. Daily necessities from outside could be brought inside, but weapons that were more against the spirit of the doors were not. Guns and other firearms, for example, could not be brought inside.

Once you'd entered the doors, of course, there might exist some special limitations, like in the sanitarium door when the NPC told them the rule where they could not eat food brought in from the outside. The reality was that these kinds of limitations were rare, but all Lin Qiushi wanted to achieve was the principle of Better Safe Than Sorry. At any rate, the condition from the tenth door where they had to open a chest if they wanted to eat had left quite the shadow on his psyche.

Lin Qiushi entered Ruan Nanzhu's bedroom and sat with him on the bed for a while. Then he felt the atmosphere around him change. It took only the time of a blink for Ruan Nanzhu, who had been sitting right beside him, to disappear without a trace. Lin Qiushi pushed open the bedroom door in front of him and saw that what had originally been the hallway was now a series of twelve black metal doors. What a familiar sight.

He walked to the sixth door and gave it a tug. The next moment, Lin Qiushi was sucked in by an immense force. The scenery around him was also altering dramatically, and by the time he opened his eyes again, he could feel a faint rocking beneath his feet.

Lin Qiushi took a closer look, and discovered that he'd appeared on a large old ship. It was just about sunset, and there were black clouds frighteningly low in the sky, as if they were going to smother the horizon at any moment. Inky seawater tossed before him, blown into violent waves by the winds.

Lin Qiushi smelled the gamy salt of the ocean, and because of the excessive waves, the ancient deck beneath his feet was ceaseless in its swaying. He saw that on the floorboards, there were seaweed-clung creatures clutching at the wood, making for an immensely uncomfortable sight.

Lin Qiushi took a few steps forward and saw in the ship cabin a dim-glowing light. He followed the corridor to the interior, and heard miserable wailing coming from inside.

"Uwaaaa, why am I here? What the hell did you all do to me?!" It had been a while since he last heard these cries of a newbie—Lin Qiushi was actually a bit surprised. He spotted the crying person immediately. It was a young woman, wiping at her tears with her hands. "You goddamn perverts, you guys must have kidnapped me. I'm going to call the cops and have you all arrested!!"

Most people were listening to her sob in silence. Newbies, after all, only ever reacted in so many ways: most cried; some tried to run; and some, of the truly psychologically frail sort, came in and pretty much had an immediate meltdown.

Lin Qiushi stood where he was. He noticed that around this girl were a few people who didn't look so good, who also seemed in various degrees of panic. They clearly weren't prepared to enter a door, and were likely newbies like the girl. But at least they weren't wailing endlessly like the young woman, and were still calm in comparison.

Lin Qiushi's gaze searched through the crowd and very quickly found its target—a woman seated in a corner and smiling at him.

The woman wore a long dress—the same outfit Ruan Nanzhu wore before they came in.

Lin Qiushi had the script in his head, and he took his time approaching the woman and holding out his hand: "Yu Linlin."

"Zhu Meng." The woman took his hand and smiled. "The red thread of destiny found us inside this door, let's cherish this meeting."

Lin Qiushi couldn't help but laugh.

"Indeed. Let's cherish this meeting."

Really, this little drama queen of his—putting on a show even when there was no stage to be had.

Just as the two were talking, a young man came tumbling in through the door. Though his face was unfamiliar, his clothes told Lin Qiushi his identity—it was Gu Longming, who'd agreed to meet with Lin Qiushi over the internet.

Gu Longming was entirely soaked. Once he came in he began to curse under his breath: "fuckers, throwing me on a lifeboat—why don't you just throw me into the ocean huh? Goddamn jealous of my beauty or what—"

Though he kept his voice down, Lin Qiushi's hearing was superb, and so could easily hear all the crap he was spewing. For a moment, Lin Qiushi himself didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Of course, he didn't laugh. He only cleared his throat once and covered his mouth with his hand, swallowing down the urge to smile. Gu Longming's eyes lapped the gathered people and very quickly fell upon Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu. He came over with a bright grin, greeting the two as if they'd just met completely by coincidence.

As a matter of act, this little trick where they faked a chance encounter was only useful for the earlier doors. Once in the later doors, that old fox-spirit manifested in everyone, and not having a partner actually made you the odd one out.

As for whether or not somebody would identify them as part of the same crew, Lin Qiushi used to worry about that. Now though, not so much.

The cabin of the old ship wasn't big, nor was it bright. The only lighting equipment was a handful of tiny kerosene lamps overhead, flickering periodically with the sway of the ship.

The sky grew darker outside, and the number of people kept increasing. Finally, it stopped at the count of fourteen.

Everybody assessed their surroundings as they met up with their own teammates. The crowd seemed to be very quickly divided up into teams, with the handful of newbies left out. Without much choice, they had to make up their own team.

Just as the crowd grew noisy with discussion, a middle-aged man came in from the outside. His get-up looked a bit like a medieval pirate, and he carried a swaying kerosene lamp in his hand.

"Welcome to the Black Skerry," the man spoke. His voice sounded quite raspy, like the effects of long-term drinking or smoking had brought about irreversible damage to his throat. "I hope you all have a good time here."

After he finished saying this, he laughed like a maniac, and his high-pitched laughter, like fingernails scoring a chalkboard, sent goosebumps rising along the skin.

"In ten days, the Black Skerry will reach harbor," the man said. "Our voyage will end then, so please enjoy our wonderful time together."

Just as he finished speaking, somebody rushed out of the cabin. Lin Qiushi first thought that this person had gotten scared, but not long after, there came from outside the sound of violent vomiting—it seemed that some unlucky bastard was seasick.

"Where in the world are we?" The sobbing young girl had also been scared by the man before her, and she spoke: "are we filming a show? I'm really, really scared, can I please quit? I don't want to play anymore, I'm begging you…"

The man completely ignored her. He merely went on watching the crowd with a cool gaze.

The girl seemed to want to go up and take hold of him, but when she got to his side she suddenly stopped, face draining of all color. She then backed up a few steps, as if she'd seen something truly terrifying.

Lin Qiushi's eyesight wasn't as good as Ruan Nanzhu's, and due to the dim lights he didn't see a thing. It was Ruan Nanzhu who quietly explained the situation to him:

"That person's covered in some sort of black insect."

Gu Longming shivered.

"Is he dead or alive then?"

"I don't know," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Doesn't look too good either way."

Under typical circumstances, only the NPC who provided them with the key information was somewhat normal. If even that NPC wasn't normal, then there really weren't any normal people to speak of.

Lin Qiushi hadn't imagined that their door this time would be an ancient ship. And by the looks of things, the time limit was ten days.

"Come along, I'll take to to where you'll sleep," the man said. "It'll be dark soon…and it'll rain."

After this, he began that manic laugh again, and the group was even more disturbed.

The man brought them to the guest cabins and began divvying up the rooms.

Most of the rooms here were doubles, with a rare triple here and there. At first, Lin Qiushi was assigned a double, but Gu Longming brazenly went and found a man to switch room numbers with, strong-arming them into a triple.

"You'll bargain for even this sort of thing?" Lin Qiushi shot Gu Longming a look of admiration.

"Well I'm scared of dying, aren't I…" Gu Longming said. He didn't want to sleep alone, and though it wasn't quite right to be a third wheel, being a third wheel was much better than being dead.

Ruan Nanzhu’s smile was inscrutable.

"That's fair."

They'd planned to inspect the entire ship, but because the night was already so dark, moving about outside would be too dangerous. They would rest first, and wait until tomorrow to make plans.

And so the three got their key and went to their room, getting into bed after quickly washing up.

When Ruan Nanzhu went to change, Gu Longming took the opportunity to poke at Lin Qiushi, whispering, "yo, not cool man, how come you didn't tell me you had such a pretty girlfriend?"

Lin Qiushi answered a vague: "…mh."

"Oh she's stunning," Gu Longming said with a sigh. "If I had a girlfriend like that I'd want to stick around her every day too."

As he spoke, he looked to Lin Qiushi with an expression that was both envy and admiration.

Lin Qiushi watched him back and wondered how he would react if he knew Ruan Nanzhu was drag queen. Of course, it wasn't something he could tell Gu Longming now. Gu Longming was not yet part of Obsidian, and the fact that Ruan Nanzhu wore drag was Obsidian's biggest most vital secret…

After Ruan Nanzhu got changed, he came back inside.

"What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing," Lin Qiushi answered in brief. "He said you were pretty."

Ruan Nanzhu replied with a meaningful oh.

Gu Longming: "…" Why did a chill suddenly go down his back?

The beds on the ship all emanated a damp smell—very uncomfortable for the people lying on top. At this point, the waves and wind were getting bigger, and even the sleeping quarters were beginning to rock. Lin Qiushi remembered that ridiculously seasick, endlessly vomiting pal of theirs from earlier and thought that that guy was pretty much done for.

The sky outside gradually darkened in entirety, leaving only the bellowing winds and the sound of waves beating against each other. With his eyes shut, Lin Qiushi grew drowsy—but before he could fall asleep, he was woken by a sudden crack of thunder. It was like lightning had struck right above their heads. With the loud boom, all three of them awoke in an instant.

After that, it was the pattering pour of rain. The rushing rain and the howling wind—they seemed on the verge of destroying everything.

Their quarters rocked even harder. Lin Qiushi sat up in his bed.

Through the window, he looked to the black evening outside. He saw, however, two illuminated lights. It seemed like the only light sources on deck were kerosene lamps, but how did these lamps stay so bright in the middle of a thunderstorm…? Just as Lin Qiushi wondered this, he suddenly felt that there was something off about those two lights, and Ruan Nanzhu, sitting behind him, spoke up quietly:

"Don't look anymore."

Lin Qiushi, "hm?"

"Those aren't lights," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Those are eyes."

A pair of yellow, inhuman eyes. The owner of the eyes spied through the darkness with malicious intent, as if a beast looking for its prey.

Lin Qiushi instantly looked away, and asked, "what is that thing?"

"I don't know, I can't tell," Ruan Nanzhu said. "The shape is humanoid, but it doesn't seem to be human."

Lin Qiushi's brows lightly furrowed, but by the time he looked out the window once more, the eyes were gone.

Thunder rumbled on and on, and that stench of ocean salt grew thicker and more cloying.

Ruan Nanzhu climbed into Lin Qiushi's bed, and holding each other, the two very quickly returned to sleep. However, the only bachelor present Gu Longming didn't have such luck. Lying beside Lin Qiushi, he stared with plaintive eyes, thinking that in the following days, he'd be fed enough dog food to bloat.

The rainstorm lasted until dawn, and though the rain let up, the weather did not turn any sunnier. Black storm clouds still hovered over the ship, and when the alarm rang, Lin Qiushi actually thought it was not yet morning. He checked the time, however, and saw that it was 8AM. It was just still dark outside.

"Good morning," Ruan Nanzhu greeted Lin Qiushi.

"Good morning. It's so dark outside today."

"It's probably going to keep raining," Ruan Nanzhu said. He walked out onto deck with Lin Qiushi and watched the black waters roil underneath the ship.

Looking up, they couldn't see any land, only the endless swath of sea. Only the old ship beneath their feet felt like any sort of reality.

This sort of isolating environment was easily taxing on the psyche. Even for Lin Qiushi, the scene before them was discomforting.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast," Gu Longming called to the two.

"He's pretty thick-skinned," Ruan Nanzhu commented after hearing Gu Longming's call.

"Yeah," Lin Qiushi said. "His nerves are petty good."

Inside the doors, you didn't have to be too smart, but you definitely had to be brave enough. Before terrifying situations, fright could make a person abandon a large part of their cognitive abilities. The smartest person could lack a strong heart and still do worse inside the door than the obtuse, oblivious Cheng Qianli.

The three went to the dining area and found there an atmosphere that could very well be called lifeless.

Lin Qiushi didn't know why at first. After he saw the menu, however, he couldn't help but also feel a touch of depression.

All the ship offered was fish. And it wasn't even fresh fish—Gu Longming poked at a dead-eyed staring head with his chopsticks and said, "is this thing even edible?"

It was disgusting just to look at.

"It looks gross," Lin Qiushi said. "Try a bit?"

Gu Longming took a bit of meat from the gills and gave it a taste. His expression twisted.

"Fuck, did they deduct the food budget for this door or what? It's disgusting. It's like they’ve had it outside for three days. You try it?"

Lin Qiushi, "oh no, no thank you."

Gu Longming: "…"

The breakfast served in the dining room was, for the most part, stale fish. Aside from that there was only flavorless noddles and peas. The environment had already been vicious enough, but the food in front of them now was salt on top of the wound.

But Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu didn't care at all. After seeing the inedible breakfast they snuck back to their room and fetched from their bags the food they'd prepared.

Gu Longming watched as they pulled out a bottle of chili sauce, eyes bulging out.

"You guys even brought Lao Gan Ma? Did you come here to picnic?"

"Want some?" Lin Qiushi drizzled the Lao Gan Ma over some noodles they'd brought out of the dining hall.

"Yeah yeah yeah. More please." Gu Longming's expression was shameless.

With breakfast finally done, they got ready to search the ship.

There were a total of three decks in the ship, constructed a bit like the sailing vessels of the great nautical era of the Middle Ages. It was extremely old, was all, covered in the marks and traces of times past.

Beside that NPC, they didn't see any other crew members on deck; there was likely only the one NPC on the entire ship. Wait for the ship's return was the mission the NPC left for them this time, but Lin Qiushi had thorough reason to believe that if they couldn't find the door in ten day's time, this voyage of theirs would cycle back and repeat—and they'd experience the ten days all over again.

When Lin Qiushi climbed onto the second deck, he heard a sort of thumping sound, and was uncertain if Ruan Nanzhu and Gu Longming had heard it as well. So he asked, "did you guys hear that?"

"What?" Gu Longming didn't seem to have heard.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "I think I did, but not very clearly."

"I think it came from the corner…" Lin Qiushi followed the sound forward. "Let's go see."

But before they could get close, Lin Qiushi was hit with a thick, fishy stench. It was disgusting and nauseating to smell; fortunately Cheng Yixie wasn't here, or he might have passed out immediately upon smelling it.

The source of the sound and smell was the same room, and they were close enough now that both Gu Longming and Ruan Nanzhu could hear the thumping noise as well.

The three of them slowed their steps, and through the window, looked into the room.

It was a kitchen with knives and other tools hanging inside. The most eye-catching thing, however, was the dense masses of dead fish hung up on hooks all over the sides.

A person in an apron stood in the center of the room with their back towards them and head down. They were chopping something. After some observation, Gu Longming almost gagged, and said, "don't tell me he's making our breakfast—"

Ruan Nanzhu was very calm.

"It's possible."

Gu Longming did gag. He'd even had a bite of that fish that morning.

Lin Qiushi gave Gu Longming a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

This person in the kitchen, however, was the second living NPC they'd found on the ship.

The three of them stood watching in the kitchen doorway for a while, and saw that besides chopping fish, this person didn't do much of anything else. And so they decided to go see elsewhere first.

Very soon, they discovered a more peculiar room. This room was locked, and curtains were drawn over the window. It was quiet inside, but they could still smell that thick waft of stale fish. Lin Qiushi initially thought the smell had clung to them from the kitchen, but after a careful sniff, found that it was coming from inside the room.

"Do we go in?" Gu Longming was pressed against the window trying to look in, but he could see nothing.

Ruan Nanzhu gave this some thought, before saying, "let's try," and getting out a hairpin to pick the lock.

Watching his adept motions, Gu Longming's eyes widened. Then Gu Longming glanced at Lin Qiushi.

"Is this…is this a basic skillset that y'all come with?"

Lin Qiushi grinned as he joked, "yeah. You have to learn to pick locks if you want to join us."

As he said this, there was a click. Ruan Nanzhu really got the lock open. But oddly enough, after he unlocked the door and gave it a push, he found that though the door lock was undone, there was another lock hanging on the inside. The chain on that lock held the door closed, and they could at most manage a crack—it couldn't be opened at all.

"Wait," Lin Qiushi suddenly said, stopping Ruan Nanzhu from going up and pushing the door. "Stop for a second. There's movement inside."

Ruan Nanzhu halted, and just as he stopped mid-step, a hand, sharp-nailed and covered in scales, reached out of the door. And through that crack in the door, a pair of yellow eyes looked out, peering at the world outside with malicious intent.

Translator’s Note:

The name of the ship could more simply be translated as “Black Reef,” but “Black Skerry” sounds more like a ship name? Let me know if you think otherwise (or know if it’s a specific reference to something).

Lao Gan Ma is a brand of **hot sauce (edited: 7/26), as you can probably tell from context. The original next never uses “hot sauce” though, and just call it Lao Gan Ma in both the prose and the dialogue.

[Ch. 119] | [Ch. 121]

[autumnrory]

okay well she prescribed some lidocaine gel or something for my back and i’ll be able to make an appointment with a physical therapist there so that’s nice since it’s a convenient location and I’m glad I pushed this time bc last time it had been a few months of neck and shoulder pain which i KNEW was not normal for me because usually doing anything wonky would last at most a few days and not this badly (like sure i am not nineteen years old but still it is Too Much) so now it’s been a year and i was just like no it is not a muscle thing stop trying that with me

and i did get my blood work done which is nice so i don’t have to go back for that, but ofc i am nervous about my cholesterol and last time a couple of my vitamin levels were low and they prescribed those for a few months when i was like i would rather just take a daily vitamin that has this stuff which i should’ve done in the meantime but i didn’t so. they might still be low but i want as few presciptions as possible ya know, plus they’re checking my thyroid again and honestly i hope it IS low enough that they put me on something for that bc that might help my weight a bit and energy levels as well, she also mentioned testing for diabetes i think when she asked about my dizziness like they tested that last time because of the numbness and i have had dizziness issues for most of my life at this point i don’t think you’re gonna find anything that wouldn’t have been caught long ago if there were a real cause for it, the dizziness was just temporarily worse last year when i had the weird (possibly sinus) headaches and like. that isn’t the issue it was for that horrible couple weeks where i could barely function and i think that was the combination of probably having had covid and then getting the covid and flu vaccines when i maybe still had something in my system even though i was no longer sick

and of course she mentioned being due for the vaccines and i care so much about getting vaccinated but i don’t want to risk that weirdness again i mean at the very least i would do a large gap between them instead of both at once but STILL like the majority of last year was just nonstop feeling bad or weird which i guess is still true since my neck pain has never gone away either but yeah i just don’t want anything to add to my horrible feelings because i really am so over my body being insane, though again i do think it probably did all start with covid lol not the direct cause for everything but those weeks of being sick are the origin imo

why can’t one go to the doctor without the mention of weight