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pinknerdpanda · 4 years ago

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Sunset

Word Count: 2,649

Characters: Bucky x Reader

Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Language, feelings of abandonment and hopelessness (but it gets better!!)

SSB Square Filled: “The man on the bridge, who Was he?” (bolded and italicized below)

A/N: This was written for my beautiful Name Twin - @amanda-teaches Writer + Reader Challenge (prompt bolded below) and also @captain-rogers-beard Flex Your Writing Muscles Challenge (photo prompt in the title graphic is from 6/4). It also fulfills a square on my @star-spangled-bingo card. This began as something rather therapeutic for me, and it became a whole lot fuffier than I expected. So...yay?

Beta’d by: @shy-violet-soul who always encourages me and showers me with love, and @princessmisery666 who has helped me with this fic in more ways than I can even describe. Everytime I hit a wall, she was there with help, support, love and ideas and I am so thankful for her.

It felt wrong.

The sunset was spectacular - fiery hues of crimson and amber evening kissing the brilliant blue of the fading day; ashen shades of violet and lavender the only evidence of their embrace. The last remnants of sunlight danced across the rippling surface of the water, painting the gentle waves in warmth as they lapped against the shoreline.

Salt hung heavy in the air as it whipped loose strands of hair around your face. The taste lingered on your tongue like a lovers’ kiss as you tried in vain to brush the wayward locks from your eyes.

So wrong.

Soft laughter punctuated every dull crash of the tide upon the sand. You watched the dwindling groups of people hold onto what little remained of their peaceful beach day. Though as the warmth of the day vanished, so did the people.

Being here was supposed to be a homecoming; a celebration of the person you were and the life you’d lived. It should have been a gasp of oxygen after surfacing from a deep dive; sustaining, energizing and life-giving.

Instead, the tranquility of the scene before you only seemed to underscore the pain boiling deep behind your ribs. Even as the sky turned to ink and the stars blinked down at their reflection in the water, the anguish seared your lungs and stole your breath.

It was unsettlingly unexpected.

A fresh wave of tears prickled the corners of your eyes and you clenched them shut in an attempt to keep them at bay. It might have worked, if you hadn't been immediately met with the vision of him behind your eyelids.

It wasn't his fault. Not really. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. Seeing him today - even from a distance - was like pouring salt on a wound. The elation on his face as he'd grinned up at the little girl perched on his shoulders felt like a dagger straight to the chest.

The soft sound of bare feet on sand caught your attention. You sniffed, shifting to pull your knees up to your chest as the footsteps stopped beside you.

"You want some company?"

The gruff voice was soft and despite wanting to hate your new companion for lacing his words with such obvious pity, you couldn't. Your pain had been dealt by hands less sure than his, so you shrugged instead. There was something warm and comforting in his presence and your soul cried out for more. The feeling multiplied exponentially as he dropped to the ground beside you, his knee grazing your thigh as he folded his legs underneath him.

"'S'pretty here."

You nodded once, weakly. Even a broken heart couldn't make you think otherwise. Once upon a time this spot had been your own, personal oasis. Well, as much of one as a public beach could provide. But you didn't need much. Life had been simple, then. Now? Now, 'simple' sounded like a fairytale. Another on a long list of things you dreamt about, but didn't dare hope for.

“The man on the bridge,” Bucky began, his voice gentle. “Who was he?”

Brass tacks. It was one of the things you admired most about him; his ability to cut straight to the heart of the matter without poetry or pretense. It wasn’t a question borne out of irritation or obligation; instead patience and comfort reigned in his words. He could read body language and facial expressions better than 99% of the planet, but you knew even the other 1% could have plainly seen the pain in the heart so cruelly branded onto your sleeve.

“This was,” you cleared your throat as best you could with your heart taking up space there. “I used to live here. I always wanted to live by the ocean, so when I lost my job due to budget cuts, I decided ‘what the hell?’. Packed up, cashed out my savings and started driving. As soon as I hit the city limits, it felt like home. Had a hell of a time finding a job, but I did eventually. I met him there.”

You sniffed, stretching out your legs and leaning back with your palms in the sand behind you. Without having to look you knew he was watching you; waiting until you were ready to continue.

“I never believed in love at first sight; still don’t, because that’s not what it was. He was sweet, funny,” you smiled despite yourself. “Kind to a fault. The type of kindness that infuriates you because it makes you realize how selfish you actually are. But he loved me. I don’t know why, but he did. He loved me fiercely; even when I couldn’t return it and sure as hell didn’t deserve it.”

Bucky’s breaths matched the roll of the tide; calm and gentle and unwavering. You felt him shift, his shoulder grazing yours as he matched your position.

“What happened?”

The air between you vibrated with the low timbre of his words. Not that you noticed - not really. Remembering was always the worst part; remembering just how easily you’d been forgotten.

“The blip.” Your voice was so faint it barely registered in your own ears, but you knew he heard it. You knew from the way he inhaled deeply as he shifted; from the feel of vibranium fingers sliding gracefully across your own.

“I don’t blame him. He couldn’t know we’d all come back. I couldn’t expect him to live out the rest of his days mourning my ashes.”

The tightening in your throat and the tingling at the corners of your eyes cut off any other words you might have said. If the roles had been reversed, you wouldn’t have known what to say to yourself. But true to form, Bucky did. Brass tacks and all.

“Still hurts.” Not a question, because he knew. His words were meant every bit for himself as they were for you.

A humorless chuckle broke from your lungs and you nodded.

“It still fuckin’ hurts,” you agreed.

"So that's why you wanted to come here." Not a question, but an acknowledgement.

Biting your lip, you narrowed your gaze at the calm waves. "I guess I just wanted closure. I missed this place. Missed the memories I made here. I knew seeing him was a possibility, but I'd hoped.." you trailed off.

Bucky hummed in understanding of words you couldn't find.

You looked at him then, the sliver of moonlight above casting him in a sort of macabre splendor. Chestnut waves rendered a dozen shades of grey and gaze focused on the heavens. Trying to ease some of your burden while still obviously saddled with plenty of his own, he looked peaceful; tranquil in a way that felt contagious.

You sucked in a breath, hoping to provide him the same respite he offered you, willingly or otherwise.

“Coming back from that place - that state of nothingness - was jarring enough. But then having to face the five years worth of reality you left behind? It’s a wonder any of us are still alive today to mourn it.” Shifting again, you crossed your legs and turned to face him, his hand enveloped in both of yours. “But we are. You, me, Sam...all of us. Finding the love of my life had become a husband and father without me; it was the hardest thing I’ve ever faced. But I did - face it, I mean. And in some fucked up way, it led me to you.”

Bucky tilted his head toward you, his gaze narrowed and his eyebrow raised.

“You’ve been watching too many Lifetime movies, sweetheart,” he deadpanned, though his eyes sparkled with affection.

You shrugged. “S’true.”

Even if you’d had a second to process the mischief in his expression, you still would have been startled by the quick tug of your hands as Bucky pulled you into him. You squeaked, landing with a muted thud beside him. He caught your hands just as you tried to flick sand at him, and held you close instead.

“You’re getting sappy, ya know that?” He sighed, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head.

You rose enough to see his face, blinking sweetly down at him.

"I’m sorry, what were you saying?” You purred, in feigned innocence. “I keep getting lost in your eyes.”

Bucky grumbled, his grip on you tightening as he lifted you both off the ground. “You’ve done it now.”

You giggled as you twisted away from the ticklish prodding of his fingers, though it was no use.

“Put me down, you neanderthal.” You shouted in mock protest, trying and failing to wriggle free.

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that, doll,” Bucky crooned seconds before tossing you - rather ungracefully - into the shallow water.

Scrambling to your feet, you couldn't help the giggle that escaped your lips. You kicked at the water, aiming for Bucky's face, but he anticipated it. Of course he did. He dodged deftly out of the way before grabbing your waist and pulling you both into the waves.

Coughing and sputtering, you shoved half-heartedly at his shoulder as a genuine smile bloomed on your lips. Neither of you seemed bothered by the water that lapped over your still entangled bodies.

"Thank you, Bucky."

"For what?" He scoffed, an incredulous but warm look moulding his features.

"For this," you waved a hand in the air. "You didn't even ask why I wanted to be here, you just offered to come with me. Never asked for details or tried to pry. You could be off saving the world...again." Bucky rolled his eyes. "But you're here saving me, instead."

Bucky's eyes dipped to your lips as the air began to crackle with unspent energy.

"You say that like it's two different things, doll."

The heat you felt under his careful gaze only intensified as the weight of his words settled on you.

Bucky stood before you could respond, holding his hand out to help you to your feet. He didn't let go as you strolled away from the water, instead he laced vibranium fingers with your flesh ones. Just as you reached the boardwalk that would take you back to the hotel you’d rented, Bucky glanced sideways at you before redirecting his steps. Smiling, you allowed him to lead you further down the beach, unwilling to let go of the bubble of peace you’d found just yet.

“Ya know,” Bucky murmured, his thumb stroking your knuckles gently. “It took a long time for me to reconcile my past with my expectation of the future.” He paused, noticing your questioning look before continuing. “What I mean is, my past is so…” Bucky shook his head and stopped walking.

You wrapped your free hand around his bicep reassuringly, encouraging him to continue but you waited patiently until he was ready to go on.

Bucky cleared his throat. “For a long time, I believed my past dictated my future. It’s full of so much pain and regret and things I can never undo. I always figured my future would be more of the same; a kind of comeuppance for everything I’d done.”

“Bucky…”

His lips curled into a half smile as he squeezed your hand gently. “I know. It’s taken a lot of therapy and literal reprogramming, but I know. It wasn’t me. Not really. Even accepting that though, I still always wondered how it would frame my life going forward.”

“Your past is just that, Bucky. It’s in the past,” you cocked your head to one side. “Your future is what you make of it.”

Bucky’s smile grew and he reached out to brush the damp hair from your face. “Yours is too, ya know.”

There he was, cutting straight to the heart of the matter, with as few words as possible. Again.

As your steps resumed, you kept your grip on his arm, snuggling in close as the temperature dipped slightly without the sun to warm the air.

“When I first met you, I had no idea what to make of you,” Bucky chuckled. “Honestly, you were a little intimidating.”

You scoffed. “You were intimidated by me?”

“Well, yeah,” Bucky sighed. “I was so irritated that Sam signed me up to be part of that support group - without telling me, mind you - but then you were there. You were funny, gorgeous and kind. You were so quiet, but there was this fire behind your eyes, and I wanted to know why you kept it locked up.”

The memory of that first meeting made your stomach twist. The plan had been to bide your time in silence so you could at least tell your therapist you’d gone. You’d wanted to be anywhere but there, until he walked in. The whole room had recognized him - if the quiet gasps and whispers were anything to go by - and it had been painfully obvious how uncomfortable that had made him.

Bucky laughed. “I’ll never forget the way you plopped down in the seat beside me, threw a bottle of water at me and glared at Frank and Donna until they stopped staring.”

“They were being rude.” You shrugged.

“They’re nice.” Bucky countered.

You shrugged again. “They are, but that night they were being rude. Nothing screams ‘Welcome to our blip support group’ like oogling the new guy.”

“Alright, well my point is,” Bucky stopped again, this time turning to face you, his hands gripping your shoulders gently. “I knew from the moment you shot icy death glares at them, that whatever my future held, I wanted you to be a part of it.”

Blinking, you opened and closed your mouth a few times before frowning.

“Remind me again who’s been watching too many Lifetime movies, Buck?”

“I’m serious,” Bucky chuckled lightly. “But, I get it. The wounds are still fresh, and I don’t expect anything, but I just want you to know that I’m here. And I’ll continue to be - in whatever way you’ll let me - until you send me away. This place?” Bucky waved a hand. “This is your past. But just remember that it doesn’t get to decide your future. You do.”

You bit your lip, allowing his words to envelop you with peace and warmth and - for the first time in a long time - hope.

“I think,” you paused, furrowing your brow, “Sometimes our wounds stay fresh because we keep picking at them. I think I’m ready to leave the past where it belongs.”

Bucky hummed, thumbs rubbing circles against the balls of your shoulder.

“And for the record, Barnes? I don’t plan on sending you away any time soon. So it looks like you’re stuck with me.”

Throwing his head back, Bucky barked a laugh before sliding his arm around your shoulders and pulling you close. You felt him press his lips to the top of your head as you snaked your arm around his waist, relishing his warmth.

“Well, lucky for both of us, doll. There’s no place I’d rather be.”

As you continued walking down the beach you’d once considered home, wrapped in the arms of the man who wanted to be your future, it struck you. The beauty of the setting sun had felt wrong because you’d been looking at it through the warped lens of your pain. The resplendence of the day drawing to a close wasn’t a mockery of the life you’d lost, it was a crimson and amber colored reminder that every day draws to a close and there will always be beauty to be found in the ending.

But the hope of the morning - when the sun will begin it’s reign once again, overpowering the darkness with it’s warmth and light - is where the true splendor is found.

You glanced up at Bucky - the man offering you the same promise of the rising sun, and for the first time in a long time everything felt right.

Like what you see? Want more? My SPN Masterlist is here, and MCU is here. Thanks for reading! :)

A/N 2: I am using my new and improved taglist. If you want to be added, see this post.

Weirdos:

@hannahindie @amanda-teaches @ellen-reincarnated1967 @feelmyroarrrr @masksandtruths @princessmisery666 @jamielea81 @foxyjwls007 @becs-bunker @super100012 @shy-violet-soul @emoryhemsworth @impandagrl

Heroes:

@arrowsandmixtapes @bethbabybaby

#flex your writing muscles challenge #star spangled bingo 2020 #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #MCU fanfic #panda writes #panda writes MCU #Bucky Barnes #bucky angst #bucky fluff

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mychemicalficrecs · 5 years ago

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sorry to bother you but do you know of any fics like the unholyverse??? i read it and absolutely loved it & would like to read somethinh similar lol

Hi there!

Tbh I kind of haven't (yet) 😅There's a whole bunch of fic with religious themes, horror and/or supernatural elements though, I'm sure you'll find something interesting!

Here's a link to the Unholyverse series again for everyone interested.

And just for the record: you're not a bother, I love making these lists!

If You Liked Unholyverse...

Not A Saint by happilyappled, Frank/Gerard, 6k, Explicit. Father Way is not just a priest and Frank is not just any other man.

Tell Me I'm an Angel by SeraphStarshine, Frank/Gerard, 205k, Mature. Gerard thought that committing suicide would finally end it: no more pain, no more sorrow - nothing. The last thing he expected was to wake up in Hell, reborn as a demon under Lucifer’s control. He is planning on ending himself - for good this time - when he runs into an angel named Frank. Even though it is forbidden, he can’t resist spending time with him, and before he even realizes what is happening, he has fallen in love with this mysterious angel. Little does he know that their innocent romance is a part of something much greater which could ignite an all-out war between Heaven and Hell.

Father Way. by Frnk, Frank/Gerard, 6k, Not Rated. Father Way was the youngest priest in the parish, he had only joined a few months ago and Frank completely stopped going to confessions. Its not that Father Way was some old man, it was the opposite. He was around 25, fresh out of training when he joined the church.

Won't You Light My Way? by FallOutFromGrace, Frank/Gerard, 6k [WIP], Explicit. The land of the living became all the more interesting when one of the humans he was trying to turn to his own desires happened to have a spark of the divine. Well, for Gerard, at least. To everyone else, it was a horrific disaster and possibly and end to an era ruled by the spirits and entities down below. To him, it was an improvement to a boring existence.

Hunting With Bullets by Oni216, 21k [WIP], Mature. Having a band is the perfect cover to fight evil that lurks in the dark. It provides distraction, a reason to live, and decent lyrics for no one to fully understand. And it takes its toll. It always takes a toll.

From Grace by blood_infexions, Frank/Gerard, 40k, Explicit. “The connection a guardian angel will have to their human surpasses anything mortal man could fathom. It is pure, untainted love.” Frank is Gerard's guardian angel... until Gerard attempts suicide. Consequentially he is sent down to earth to live as a human again.

Desecrated Kids by wellthisisprettyrisque (collettephinz), Frank/Gerard, 144k, Explicit. Everyone moves into a new town and thinks it's strange. Stepping out of the car with a weird feeling tingling down the back of your neck isn't actually that unheard of, but finding that unmarked grave in the woods behind your house is. Frank Iero wonders if his mother moved him here so he'd disappear off the face of the planet, or if she actually wants the body to be found. All he knows is that this town has some horrible things happening to it, and no one seems to care enough to lift their heads and actually see. He has no idea what's going on, and is one of the few people that wants to find out. Luckily, Gerard is a few steps ahead of him.

Howl (Frerard Werewolf AU) by FrerardAndTheAssbutts666, Frank/Gerard, 18k, Teen And Up Audiences. In a small village, the townspeople all live together in harmony. But when a young woman is found dead, a wave of fear washes over the former peaceful village. Especially when signs of Werewolves, and Witches are linked to the murder. 17 year old Gerard Way is a young man who is well liked by everyone in the village, partly due to his families status in the village. Despite the fact that his village is a God fearing one and he wears dresses. And when another murder is committed, showing the same signs as the first, the village turns to full blown panic, and reinforcements are sent in to help. A Werewolf hunter and his son have traveled to help save this village from the belly of the beast, all while Gerard begins to question everything. The only person he could truly trust during this time of fear, is his boyfriend and lover, Frank. Frank and Gerard have been having a secret relationship, fearing they would be condemned to death if anyone knew. But as more blood is shed and more bodies hit the ground, Gerard begins to piece together that the beast is closer than he thinks. (Loosely based off Red Riding Hood with Amanda Seyfried and Gary Goldman...Okay more like its pretty based off it :p.)

Written in the Sand by Scarlet_Cross, Sarah/Brendon in a later fic, 28k, Teen And Up Audiences. Desert is brutal, it gives no second chances. It demands respect, sacrifice, and blood. (It's set in a super AU danger days pre-music videos universe. Mostly centered on the MCR boys, but there will be cameos, references, and side shoot offs into different bandom areas.)

The psalm of David by ratfromasewer, Frank/Gerard, 6k, Teen And Up Audiences. There's the world that's "after" and there's the world that's "before". After the slippery road, the accident, the almost-becoming-an-angel.

Stairway to Heaven by fleurdeliser, tuesdaysgone, Frank/Grant/Gerard, 58k, Explicit. Father Way accidentally taps into the memories of an angel, and stumbles into the middle of a millennia-long doomed romance.

Shadows In The Parking Lot by cellphonecharm_au, Frank/Gerard, 61k, Explicit. In which there’s a mass grave under Frank and Ray’s apartment complex, Frank doesn’t believe in ghosts, & Frank’s ex-boyfriend is, conveniently, a paranormal consultant.

Shadowplay by theoretically_yours, Frank/Gerard, 74k [WIP], Explicit. Malimore is a small town in Southern California where ghosts are as common as any other household pest and vampires come out to steal the souls of humans at midnight. Frank Iero is a young paranormal investigator whose interest in the supernatural began after the bizarre and untimely death of his parents. One day, when he and his partner take on a particularly gruesome case, all hell breaks loose with Frank caught at the very center. This is the story of how it all happened.

When Both Our Fates Collide (Frerard) by A_A_Dolan, Frank/Gerard, 11k, Mature. Frank Iero is a loner traveler who is a demon hunter. He is part demon due to him having to sacrifice part of his soul to save the life of his son, Miles, after losing his wife and twin daughters to demons. Along the way, Frank has a quest to save the life of someone who can save humankind from death and destruction. A man by the name of Gerard Way. Frank ends up finding Gerard...as a professional, exotic dancer in the bad part of town. Gerard is special and unique and it’s Frank’s job to protect him at all costs. Eventually Frank discovers that Gerard is an angel and has powers stronger than all demons combined...when that news gets out, all demons and angels are on the search for Gerard.

Love will scares us apart by francoantoniohierro, Frank/Gerard, 56k, Mature, Explicit. Haunted House AU. Frank Iero is looking for answers after the death of his best friend. The only people willing to help are the Way brothers. On the other hand, the Way brothers are two paranormal experts looking for amusement.

Famous Last Words by SaskiaK, 22k, Mature. The Paramour Mansion is not for the faint-hearted. Mikey recalls some of events that almost tore him apart

Stay out of the Light by orphan_account, Frank/Gerard, 10k, Explicit. Reserved bookworm Gerard, and arrogant, conceited boyfriend Frank are best friends, though they share little in common. They share even less in common when Frank mysteriously gains an appetite for human blood. As their classmates are steadily killed off in gruesome attacks, Gerard must uncover the truth behind his boyfriend's transformation and find a way to stop the bloodthirsty rampage before it reaches his own brother Mikey. Jennifer's Body AU

The Brandy of the Damned by Nokomis, Gen, 15k, Teen And Up Audiences. An ill-advised detour leads My Chem to a town populated by the dead.

Get Up and Kill by MontyKarl, 10k, Teen And Up Audiences. The zombie apocalypse is upon us. The Way Brothers may well be our only hope...or at the very least their only hope.

In The Walls by thesamefire, Gen, 72k, Teen And Up Audiences. When My Chemical Romance move into the Paramour, they get a lot more than they bargained for. All they want to do is write an epic album, but Mikey is falling apart and Gerard isn't sure what to do about it—or about the fact that they're trapped inside the house with no escape from the increasingly strange and terrible things that are happening to them.

Break The Walls (And Kill Us All) by tabulaxrasa, Frank/Gerard, 27k, Mature. Frank owns an antique store, but he's not very good at it. About the only thing he IS good at is having a crush on his best customer. Until Frank unknowingly unleashes something into his shop— something that doesn't like him very much. And it's not going away any time soon.

the house that dripped blood by addandsubtract, Frank/Mikey, 11k, Mature. “When do we leave?” Mikey asks, and Gerard steps back. “Two weeks,” he says, and Mikey sees flashes of empty hallways and open doors as Gerard pulls his fingers away.

#fic rec list #frank/gerard #frerard #frank/grant/gerard #gen #frank/mikey #frikey #unholyverse #alternate universe #religious themes #horror #supernatural #also i'm sorry this took so long #i was on vacation

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allstarsstorymode867 · 4 years ago

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All-Stars -Story Mode- CHAPTER 16 Part 3 (FINAL PART)

As promised, I will give you a third and yet, a final part of this chapter, I am serious about it in the previous post today and the reason why I was inactive is because I had gotten the Resident Evil 2 Remake game and I am on the second run right now.

But other than adto, give credit to my friend’s artwork and like before, they are mentioned within the part that you are going to read right now so give them credit for their artwork and enjoy the story!

The Doctor had opened his eyes with a silent gasp, he looked around as he realized that he couldn’t hear or see the infant queen anymore and then he looked down and saw that he was in his old clothes again.

Richtofen looked around the familiar place, he looked that he’s in the hardware shop again and saw that Ultimis Dempsey was pressing his back on the wall when he looked at the Primis Richtofen and then asked: “Slept well?”

The Doctor said nothing but looked around to the rest of the store: Diego was boarding up the windows of the office (which it also leads into the storage unit that connects to the rest of the mall) with Ultimis Takeo who is handed Diego another wood panel board with a vine, he is hesitant but he took and then he then nails it with the other wooden boards with nails and a hummer, forming a barricade.

Scarlett and Shaw are talking with the Medic and Miss Pauling with the plans on how to get out of this dimension as soon as possible and maybe try to figure out what is going on.

Primis Nikolai and David Tapp are talking to each other about the situation they are currently in as the Detective had hardy believed that he and his teammates had come here by muitinterdimental creatures and before that, they had fought a group of humanoid soldiers from another planet and before THAT; they had combated corrupted creatures and zombies that had been turned by the 115th element in the periodic table.

Pyro is sitting on the floor with her legs crossed as they watched people do their part to making the store into a fortress, a one that can withstand an invasion of zombies so they are in the background with their hands supporting their head.

Amanda Young, lastly, was looking at the bear traps almost too directly and thinking what to do with them that Scarlett had looked back to see her with a little bit of suspicion before continuing to talk with Pauling, Shaw, and Medic.

Richtofen was quiet when he recalled fallen asleep before this, he sat there with his arms by his sides before turning to Dempsey and then questioned “How long vas I asleep?” as he looked at him.

“About three hours since it happened, all of sh!t had happened while you’re asleep.” Ultimis Dempsey answered as he crossed his arms while he looked at him as the Doctor yawned.

“Und zhe survivors?”

“I am pretty sure they had got away,” Dempsey said to the Primis Richtofen as hearing another nail being hammered with the wooden plank. “Vho? Zombies?” the German asked.

“No, survivors from the Entrance Plaza,” he concluded as he looked at the Engineer with Pyro, appearing that he was modifying his shotgun rifle, the gun he was modifying was a large pump-action coach gun-style shotgun with a wooden stock and ornate engravings on the metal receiver and he was attaching a strange device on the metal receiver then it clicked, he was attaching his team-colored cylindrical capacitor with an antenna is attached with Pyro and Spy by his side just watching him build a weapon of his own. The weapons he is building are personally from his grandfather, Radigan Conagher, the Engineer's grandfather.

The weapons his Grandfather had made consisted of Wrangler, Southern Hospitality, Gunslinger, and the Golden Wrench. He wished that he would’ve known the Golden Wrenches wouldn’t last for much longer after his little Update but he is surprised that he can still use it after the end of life of the Golden Wrench.

Spy lets out a puff of smoke before saying quietly so no one will hear them, “You have a good memory of building this gun.”

“The file had contained the blueprints that mah Grandfather had drew and he had it buried with him but somehow I had contained it from Redmon to fix the machine under one simple condition: If ah find anything else of interest, it is to be brought directly to him and to not build it but-”

“You went ahead and built them anyway?” Spy concluded as he held the cigarette in between his fingers. “And never told any of us, even our employer about this?”

“More or less went ahead with mah idea of getting or creating new weapons for mahself and ah knew ah was mettling the payroll ah am on but when the Devil is going to be beating on his wife, ah am sure that he will beat onto me with her tears as well.”

“But if they do?” Pyro softly mumbled.

“Ah had to leave the country or kill to protect the family tradition for it,” Engineer answered as he put in the final touches on the gun with a screwdriver to secure it safely onto the rifle. “And like how Stanton had said twice while we barricade the whole darn hardware store, “Timing is everything.””

He places the screwdriver down as he has finished the new primary weapon that his grandfather had built.

*The Engineer had crafted: The Frontier Justice!

“Now since we are in an outbreak in a little town like this, ah think it’s time we do this, Texas-style,” he smirked as he cocked it back a little. Spy wrenches in disgust as Pyro opens and lit a lighter, igniting a small flame as they chuckled.

“Are you just about done now, Señor Conagher?” Diego asked as he took a little break from barricading the window winch. By now it’s halfway finished, the Texan looked over his shoulder as he walked over to the Mexican Spy and then placed his hard gloved hand on his shoulder with his other hand as the rifle rested on his shoulder.

“Finished it right on schedule.” Engineer said then looked at the entrance that is barricaded with one wooden board across it with the support of metal brackets that he and Scarlett had bolted to the wall to ensure that they are safe from the outside world.

“We are armed to the teeth, but I am sure that we will find a way outta here and back on the ranch in no time.” Engineer said as he cocked it back as Nikolai and David walked up to him.

Nikolai looked at the gun and then commented “You had made quite a shotgun rifle.” as he crossed his arms, “Ah called it “The Frontier Justice” as its name.”

David was little intrigued to see the gun in the Engineer’s hands, something that police could but he is saddened to think if Jigsaw could have his hands on the talent the Engineer had for future crimes he would commit yet, he is going to go far to stop him… If he finds a way back to his home that is.

“So, what is the plan now?” Nikolai asked out of his own curiosity as the Engineer was then alerted to hear him say that, “We need to figure this out together, find out the root to all of our problems, undo it all and that’s it. But not until we figure out how to get back with the others first.” Engineer answered absentmindedly.

“How are we gonna do that?”

“Ah had no clue on how except we had known that zombies had taken over the mall by now.”

“And that is the best plan you can come up with?” David asked as he crossed his arms and eyebrow raised, Engineer sheepishly scratched the back of his neck as he held the rifle in his other hand.

“Uh…” he was beginning to say when there’s was banging at the door when Engineer had come to the door and removed the wooden board from the metal brackets and then before he knew what was going to happen next, someone had apparently burst in as the Engineer hadn’t had time to react at the moment that this stranger had closed the door.

Engineer raised his rifle up to scare someone off when he sees a man in his 50’s or so, with a light blue long-sleeved jean work shirt and dark brown pants with black hair with brown eyes, is a six-foot and one inch taller than Engineer.

The Texan had cleared his throat as he aimed the rifle at the stranger, he then saw his hands… Well, his hand and a mechanical one, it looked like it had been made from old video game console accessories and Erector Set parts, and he had wielded a chainsaw to that mechanical hand while in his normal organic one was a short-barreled shotgun.

For something that could be a reason, the Engineer still trained the Fountiar Justice at the aged man before him, Primis Nikolai, David Tapp, and everyone else in the store. If you like to care to know more, let the pictures do all the talking.

[Four pictures are drawn @sampoststuff on Tumblr]

*New All-Star: Ash Williams!

The Engineer was surprised to see this man had killed a zombie with a short double-barrel shotgun in one hand as the zombie’s blood was pooling around where it laid after being shot through the mouth, a man of his age was incredible to boot as well. He may be an old man but he still got it.

“Now can you at least one of you know what was going on??” the old man suggested as he rested the weapon, one on his good hand, onto his shoulder once again as he looked at the group.

“But first off, who th’ hell are you, stranger?” Engineer answered with a stern and seriousness in his voice toning the sudden urge to fight this middle-aged man before him.

“The name Ashley Williams but you just call me Ash and I can tell the deadites had already caused panic around and no one trusting one of the others.” Ash introduced himself as he got the shotgun off of his shoulder and then just let it hang on his side.

“Deadites?” Amanda said in confusion, even Spy nodded as well while he looked over his shoulder, “You do mean Zombies, right?” Spy said as a cigarette dangles from his mouth as he turned around to face the newcomer.

Ash’s eyebrows raised a little bit at this as he thought “I guess they are just called zombies in this one, not Deadites.” and then said, “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

“How did you get here?” Ultimis Dempsey said as he pointed at Ash and what he is looking at the most is a chainsaw, red chainsaw that was attached to his left arm, right where his other hand was and it was being held by something mechanical.

“I had no idea,” Ash simply answered, “I had just woken up in one section of the mall with a Vietnam soldier nicknamed “Bill,” he may be an old man but boy he can fight! I had to find a weapon in this plaza but it is worth it.” with a smirk and then twirls that weapon back onto his shoulder, trying to look impressive with three women in their group but Miss Pauling had seen one small hole in his story, however.

The woman dressed in purple and glasses had asked “That’s nice and all Ash but did Bill know where you were when you’re gone?”

The confidence Ash had was gone within an instinct with the realization of what he had settled in as he cursed loudly “Oh sh!t!! I had left him in Wonderland Plaza! One of those deadites could be there!!”

“Zombies” Japanese man reminded him as he looked at Ash.

“Whatever!”

“Easy there Amigo, this “Bill” character is a soldier if I am correct?”

“Yeah. So?”

“I am sure that he will be fine as old as you claimed he is. He’ll be alright, you’ll see,” he said with a smile but Ash didn’t smile with the same thought.

“You had no idea what this deadite was,” Ash stated as looked at everyone, “This one was like a shapeshifter but a one that can consume and assume someone’s identity after he killed them. He was another normie but his skin was very pale and looked like he had been sick for a while along with-”

“Stop right there, Ashley,” Takeo halts him with his hand raised a little bit to his neck and head level as he asked “Does he wore plain gray hoodie, a black leather jacket with a red interior, two horizontal white lines on each sleeve, and a red tribal design on the back?”

He was a bit taken from what this man said but did answer “Oh yeah.”

“You had encountered that Alex Mercer.” U!Takeo concluded as he placed the wood boards down on the floor and then picked up his samurai sword from its place laying on the wall as Ash protested “Wait a minute, you are going out there? To fight a shapeshifter? Buddy, you had no idea what he’s like.”

“I don’t and it is true but I knew from the feeling I sensed he is no good when we met him,” he explained as he straps the sheathed sword to his belt and turning heel and then going towards the door where Ash came in but Diego Shaw was right on his heels at the moment he is going to go through it.

“Uh, Takeo, are you sure that you want to fight a broke like Alex? If it’s true to what Ash said about him being a shapeshifter and able to consume-”

“I may die but a warrior spirit doesn’t, Shaw.” He turned to look at him, already annoyed at this point and would not hide if there’s a demon that is worse than zombies, this “deadite” that this man is calling him may actually be a threat after all.

Ash then got in front of Takeo and spoke up “Hold on there pal, at least let me handle this guy so you can stay-” but Takeo walked past Ash and then continued on his way to where he said this last sentence “Here?!”

“Takeo!” Spy was the first one to go after the imperial captain as Ash gets out of the shotgun again and then goes after them. “Lock the door! Don’t open it until we come back!” Spy yelled as the door slowly closed on its own.

P!Richtofen got back on his feet as this had transpired, Dempsey, the Ultimis version if you, my dear reader had forgotten about that, had then asked “What the hell just happened?”

“I do not know but if Takeo is true about Mercer being a shapeshifter zhat consumes…” Richtofen began as he trailed off as he looked up at the ceiling with Dempsey looking at him as he said “Hey, my Tak’s had plant powers so he should be fine.

“I hope you’re right Dempzey.” Richtofen muttered as he looked down at the floor away from the ceiling, he was going to lose it by this point. But for now, they need to remain here until the solution to their problem is found eventually.

6:39

Ultimis Takeo has basically ignored the pleas of Spy and Ash as he made his way to Wonderland Plaza with the two of them behind him following the trail of blood he had made from the zombies he had slain as he walked towards the designated area of the mall, mostly acknowledge one fellow survivor’s saying thank you when he killed one of the undead when it was going for him with the intention of eating him too.

“Slow down there, uh.. Takeo?” Ash guessed as he got out the shotgun from its hoister and then blew up one zombie’s head off with it as it happened to be nearby. “His name is Takeo? Right?” he asked the RED Spy as he was walking right beside him while the Frenchman was reloading his revolver.

“Correct, he is right now ignoring us and we are following him to where Bill was last seen thanks to your negligence.” Spy answered as he finished loading a new round of bullets into the gun he is clenching on tightly, this is strangely new to him somehow as he had never been this intense before, not in the Gravel Wars or anywhere more than here before like in the past or future.

“Hey, I wanted a boomstick, I didn’t know that I-” Ash was then cut off by Takeo as he said “Silence, are we close to this Wonderland Plaza?” as he was heading out of the North Plaza now and entering a new one with Spy and Ash behind him.

“We are entering that Plaza right now, Tak-” Ash had answered but Takeo had stopped with his fist raised that made both the Frenchman and the Chainsaw-wielding man stopped in their tracks. Ultimis Takeo was silent for a moment as he looked around the plaza for any signs of anyone or zombies around the Wonderland Plaza.

Spy raised his gun a little, preparing for what was going to come as Ash unhooked his “boomstick” and then unloaded the shotgun shells and then loaded in new ones that are in a strange reloading type device into it and then hooked the gun back on.

“What is that?” Spy muttered as he watched this man put it away before he responded “Just something that will help me reload my boomstick so you can shut up.” as he aims to where Takeo is looking at.

He then moved slowly as he slowly moved forward with Spy and Ash behind him while they looked around and then within 5 seconds into the patrol, the Samurai whispered “Stay sharp for the demons but mostly, look out for Mercer if he is here.”

“Hai, roger that Takeo.” Spy nodded as Ash took note of the order but hardly paid attention to what Takeo had said to them as they slowly go forward until they heard a woman screaming at her lungs as she stumbled out of the nearby corner and running into several things before collapsing into U!Takeo’s arms as several zombies slowly came out of the corner as they stumbled into view of the three men.

They moaned at they marched forward from where they came from as they took a stand back as they are ready to fight the undead but-

WRA-BANG! WRA-BOW! WRA-BLANG!!

The undead had been hit by a bat so very hard it killed them, an old man was behind the horde and he seemed like a soldier but it was different from what Takeo believed to be an American uniform.

“Don’t stand around here, you three, they are everywhere in this mall.” the Old man had said to remind the group when he spoke, Ash then recognized the old man right away as he said “Bill!”

“Stay sharp, Ash!” Bill said as a zombie came in from behind but Ash already knew what he meant so he quickly turned around and pulled a trigger of his Boomstick.

Blood flew when the head had exploded into pieces, wet red and pinkish-white pieces of what was once its head and onto Ash’s face, printing it in crimson red. Ash wipes his face off of it as Bill was walking into view of the others.

What this old fighter is wearing is somewhat similar to his Dempsey, Takeo had taken note of the William “Bill” Overbeck character as Ash he told them about.

This aged man must’ve been caucasian and had blue eyes and white hair, the uniform he was confusing; it was different from the one clothing that Ultimis Dempsey had worn.

The warrior was trying to connect the dots as Bill had walked up to Ash and then said “I thought I told you to stay by each other, Ash.” as he glared at him as he put a bloody bat down onto the floor.

“I needed an upgrade, Bill.” Ash sheepishly excused under his breath as he placed his boomstick back to its hoister on his back as the veteran had stopped in his tracks, Bill didn’t seem to take the excuse seriously as he adjusts his slightly worn beret little. “Well, that word “Upgrade” is what made you left me here to fight off these slow mother humpers. When I say stay, you’ll-” “Are you with the special forces, Bill?” Spy calmly interrupted the veteran as Overbeck stopped and then turned to look at the Frenchman, an annoyed look on his face as he hadn't slept in a good number of days that had gone by.

“How did you know son?” Bill questioned as he walked over to the group, “From what I can tell, you are wearing the 1st special forces uniform from the 1950’s and from your age…” The Red Spy paused as he put away his weapon and then pulled his cigarette case to pull one out when the old man asked “May I have one?”

The mask hesitated before handing one to the soldier before giving one to Bill as then he got out a lighter and then lit his and then Bill’s, sharing a smoke.

The woman was crying in the U!Takeo’s arms, he had forgotten that he had the woman in his arms until now, he gently lets her go as she was a sobbing mess on the floor but her eyes weren’t matching the feeling she had, they are cold but familiar as he looked at her and he knew right away.

“Thank you…” the woman sobbed in hysterics as Takeo muttered, “You are welcome.”

“Are you-” Bill was going to ask the woman but it happened so fast, sword flying through the air and then blood flying and the woman’s corpse laying on the ground as Spy shouted “Takeo!”

“Takeo!? What in the hell is wrong with you!?” Ash yelled at the Samurai as he took two steps back from the corpse and he said “Rait and you rill see.” as he clenched onto his sword tightly and stared at the corpse for a moment.

Spy and Bill were confused but then they saw it; red, black, gray, and white mass had surrounded her and a familiar shape began to form around the body.

She turned out to be a ‘he’ as Alex Mercer had transformed back into his original form as the mass on his body had faded away after Takeo had attacked.

“That clever…” Bill muttered as he gritted his teeth and glaring at him, Ash looked at the man laying on the floor and asked “Is he dead?” but U!Takeo used his sword to block Ash when he was coming to check the body but still had his eyes trained on Mercer's body.

The wound the warrior had made had begun and finished healing on Alex’s chest. He didn’t move at first but then his eyes opened with a gasp. He then got up and then glared right at Takeo as he as found out by the attempt

“Good call…” Alex couched as he slowly got up from his feet, U!Takeo didn’t move but did reply “I didn’t make a call but I knew it was you, deep down…”

Alex Mercer had got back on his feet and then chuckled as he wiped the blood off of his lip from what Takeo had done to him, he wasn’t used to that attack, Alex had been fired at and bullets riddling through him before in his dimension and they all flooded out of his holes from where they had made their mark.

But this time, this is strangely different to him suddenly when he had felt that pain that had forgotten how that felt but this Japanese man had made him remember that pain.

“You do realize that you are going to pay for that, do you?” Alex grunted as the ‘biomass formed over his arms, both of them as he clenched his fist as he looked at the samurai with intention. “I do, Demon.” Takeo growled as he clenched on this sword tighter than ever as others had gotten ready as well.

“Neenie…” Broken had sensed this was going to happen but she didn’t expect a fight to happen sooner, she had to pick something out and fast. “Meenie,” she is scrolling through one after another screen for a perfect battle map for the confrontation between Masaki and Mercer, it was starting to get good but how can she be so careless to neglect the choice of a map for this fight. “Mimi…” until she found it, looks it’s time for a virus-like Mercer to learn that it’s time to play fair when he is face to face with a superhuman that controls and feels plants like Ultimis Takeo Masaki as what she found is a jungle, best for a map suited for a battle as she announced “Mo!”

She pressed onto the screen and a light flashed when she pressed it with a wicked grin.

Alex, U!Takeo and others didn’t realize that the mall had suddenly turned into a jungle but strangely only two of them are there, just Ultimis Takeo and Alec Mercer but Spy, Ash, and Bill are not there as they are standing in the large branches of the big jungle trees.

“Ash? William? Spy?!” Takeo shouted into the trees but he didn’t have the time to react when Alex ran up to him and then he and Takeo were sent flying and then falling from the above.

Alex threw five good punches but Takeo had fought back as he kicked him and then punched him a few times, hitting him as hard as he could muster but it wasn’t enough as Alex was getting the upper hand as he uses both his legs to push the Captain into the moist ground of the jungle so hard no man could survive the fall like that.

Mercer, on the other hand, landed gracefully on the ground with a thud, he then got up and then walked over to the supposed body of the warrior, his eyes were closed and the sword was planted into the ground beside him, signs of the impact was tremendous but the body was still intact in all honesty.

Mercer was looking at him for a little moment longer but he didn’t get up back on his feet, the virus, Alex Mercer, smirked at this and then spoke with ignorance “Hate to break to you but I hate losing too.” before turning to walk away from the body until he felt something… going through his back and out of his chest.

It’s a thorn-riddled vine, covered in his blood and he’s impaled by it, he was then lifted into the air with a vine before it begins to threw around wildly, smashing him in the trees, the ground and then coiling around him and then squeezed him so tightly he was exploded but he was spared when he was thrown too hard into the ground with a yell.

Alex couched as he was on the ground but then noticed the vines slithered over to Takeo and then one of them carefully coiled around his wrist and then lifted him upward with one vine, glowing green flower attached to it as U!Takeo was positioned upright but his head was down as the vines holding didn’t mind much as the green flower blossomed with a needle-like thorn within, revealing to Mercer in full view and then the flower quickly injected the thorn into the side of his neck.

Whatever green liquid that vine is putting into him has begun to heal him, the substance is glowing as it is visible through his bloodstream and the veins in his neck and face.

Ultimis Takeo wasn’t moving at first but then, with a gasp, he was relieved from the danger of dying. The vine that was holding Takeo had lowered him down to the ground and then had him on the ground on his fist, foot, and knee (I am trying to make this epic, believe me, I do.)

He was panting until he had his hand to feel a vine still in his neck and then he forced it to let go as it was painful when he did that; hurting both the plant physically and him mentally as he felt the vine in pain.

It was too painful but instead, he then focused on removing the vine from him and it did; the flower removed itself from his neck for U!Takeo to see. Seeing the needle-like thorn within the blossom of the flower and then he felt for the mark from what the thorn had made.

The warrior looked down with the thoughts he had never once thought; Mercer had tried to kill him!

He had never felt this mad before he looked at the Blacklight virus with eyes that Alex had realized that isn’t human; his eyes were normally golden brown but they are golden yellow and orange colored as he stands up back his feet while he had ordered the vines to get his sword, vine wiggled the samurai sword out of the ground and then returns it into his opened hand and he had clenched it tighter than ever.

Alex Mercer had fought mutilated corpses in New York when he had released the virus but this does take the cake! This man can control plants!

“Aw hell, this is going to be a pain…” Alex thought as vines rose from behind Takeo, ready to take any command.

Begin! Ultimis Takeo Masaki vs. Alex Mercer

Voice had announced out of nowhere as Alex looked around but the vine shoots out of nowhere and he was able to avoid it this time, he jumped onto the branch on the high point but Ultimis Takeo soon followed with the help of vine that threw him to the virus, with the force of the speeding bullet, U!Takeo had then sliced his arm off and then he landed wonderfully on his feet.

“You rill pay!” the samurai barked out as the vines hidden in his sleeves slithered from under them to reveal them that he had the smilax rotundifolia on both his arms, “Sh!t…” Alex muttered as the biomass started to cover his right arm and then created a sword made from meat and bone.

They both stood there on the branch that supported both of them under their feet, waiting for one of them to make the move, minutes felt like hours to them until…

U!Takeo dashed at him as Alex Mercer did the same with his feet beating the wooden ground with the arm-like blade shedding it a little while the thorns on his vines had grown sharper and ready to kill anything with just a touch.

With the sparks flying, blades of both steel and bone met at the force with both of them struggling to gain strength to overpower the other as U!Takeo had used the vines to support his body from being pushed over while Alex uses his own but inhumane version of it to shove the plantsman to the ground, 6-feet under even.

Eventually, Takeo uses his free arm with the thorned vine to smack the shapeshifter away from him, it was a brutal force from the vine and that sends Alex flying to the other tree that made a little crater in it, U!Takeo growls in pain as he feels it in his chest. “I need to be careful…” he muttered under his breath. “It hurts…”

Broken is enjoying the show from where she is as the Samurai and the Virus continued to battle it out.

[Collab between Icefir (Me) and TikTak ( @this-person-is-slowly-dying on Tumblr, give her thanks guys! ;) )]

Mercer was running on a large vine after jumping from the previous one, running as fast as he could to avoid the incoming vines coming from each direction, from each tree and from each plant that Takeo had control over.

He had used his body and the virus itself as the weapon; he is simply known as the Blacklight virus, able to absorb the organic matter of all living creatures and converting it into newer biomass that he can manipulate at will, being able to sustain and regenerate the injuries of a great number, able to create weapons with his physical form to attack his enemies and even generate armor for himself to endure the most extreme of most brutal blunt traumas but now here he is.

He is battling a person that is almost like him but he is like the Japanese version of Poison Ivy from Batman except that he is more unlike her. He was bitter and silent and more likely to kill anyone who did him wrong.

“Is that all you got!? I had fought a girl better than you!” he mocked him in the bark but that only angers the captain more; with a roar, vines are shooting from everywhere as Alex took noticed and tried to run to get out of the way but they were too many of them to avoid them and he was soon found himself being trapped inside the vines and soon felt the life being squeezed out of him with the force of a mutated bona constructor by the vines as U!Takeo’s morals were suddenly absent at this point.

All his heart had felt was rage, the red-hot rage within all he could do now is to kill this virus, squeeze and crush the life out of him for what he wronged him for as he-

“Takeo, this is not you. Please remember the code you learned.”

Ultimis Takeo had heard this unrememberable voice echoed throughout his head, it was frightening and strange that it reasoned to him and that made him think about what he was doing to Alexander Mercer.

He had his fist clenching tightly to control the vines to strangle the crap out of the virus but now he is reconsidering it; what if his family found out? Was he a demon or a man, was there any honor in this?

The more he thought about it, the more his tightness on Mercer had losen, and the more the vines began to untwine, the more freedom he felt. Eventually, Alex was released from the cruel crushing of the snake-like vines and allowed him to greedily breathe in air as much as his lungs as he could.

Pause!

Takeo Masaki was lost in his thoughts as he subconsciously remembered Alex at this moment as he got up and had turned his both arms into claws, sharp claws to chop a man apart but ten noticed that U!Takeo wasn’t ready to fight and felt like something was off. Alex knew why it felt; has reason and mercy gotten to him?

“What has gotten to you, flytrap?” Mercer mocked him again, Takeo looked at him but didn’t say anything except he did say a few words that made the Blacklight virus confused.

“Can’t you hear her?”

“What?” Alex muttered in the confusion of this man and what he said about “her?”, “Who are you talking about?” he continued as he let his guard down a little bit. “I heard her voice but it was unfamiliar, how could you not hear her?”

Alex looked around the wild for anyone, nothing, he turned to look back at the man before him and said: “There’s no one here but us!”

“Maybe it is a spirit…” Takeo muttered that made Mercer even more confused, meanwhile, Broken who had been watching the fight is now visibly upset that someone had stopped U!Takeo before he could kill Alex.

“It was getting good!” she cried out of a fit of anger, “It was just getting so good but Knight had to come and ruin it! She had ruined the best part!” she continued to shriek out loud at the top of her lungs before she covered her face in rage while one of the Hallow had crawled up to her and then rubbed its head on her shoulder.

Broken had remained idly like that for a moment until an idea popped into her, a wonderful idea, oh she has a beautiful deadly idea…

“I think we better spice things up a bit.” Broken announced with an insidious tone in her voice, as she got up on her feet and then turned to the rest of the Hallows who were looking at her for a moment.

“You!” she barked and pointed at one of the Hallows in the area, this Hallow she had called over seemed a bit scared at first but then one of its fellow Hallows just simply slapped it on the back of its head, making it go forward a little.

“Yeah you!” she confirmed as that Hallow walked forward to her and she said “Since I know that you are different than the Alpha Hallows as you are able to take the form of any All-Star after you ate the 100th soul so I am giving you this!~” as she opened her gloved hand and a heart-shaped ball of light, a soul, and then handed it to the strange Hallow with a hole in its chest and if you can see it closely; the one thing missing in it was the heart, only organs and two or three heart valves in the hole.

The Hallow, a False Clone, greedily grabs it and holds for a moment as Broken ordered “And as for the two in the jungle; you know what to do.” while had the Jack-O-lantern grin as she looked at the screen and grinned wider than just a grin.

The False Clone nodded as it ran towards and then jumped into a screen that overwatches the postponed battle between the samurai and the virus.

Back to them, a roar had echoed out in the jungle while they were arguing to each other, which made them look around the area around them, staying quiet and unmoving, hoping to see anything with legs as they now knew that they were not alone in this map.

“What the hell is that…?” Alex muttered as he balled up his claw into a rock-like fist and looked around the area. “I sensed evil here... “ U!Takeo answered as he raised his sword up in his one hand as he looked around before he finished with “Other than you, virus”

Alex let out an annoyed chuckle as he shook his head a little as he scoffed “Yeah, other than you.” as turned back to look at him with the fist raised but then heard a twig snapped just on the left of them. They turned to look at what it was and there it was, a False Clone, a vex type of a Hallow.

By looking at that, he growled “You!” as he stands ready to fight the False Clone with Alex Mercer now standing by his side as he asks “Friend of yours?”

“One of them is the reason why we are here.” Ultimis Takeo answered hurriedly, he was ready for any more tricks from this Hallow as Mercer got himself ready to fight this Hallow as well.

“That’s a creeper-looking ****er, isn’t it?”

“That’s a creeper-looking ****er, isn’t it?” the Hallow repeated what Alex said in… his own voice?! Both of them are in shock at this creature, did it mimic his voice?!

“The demon had mimicked your voice, Mercer?” U!Takeo had questioned the confused man- creature beside him when the False Clone had repeated after him but with his voice this time, “The demon had mimicked your voice, Mercer?” before it giggled and then reached over to it’s back and then pulled out a soul as it held it in its greasy paws.

“What’s that…?” Alex muttered but Ultimis Takeo in a hashed whisper “A soul…?” as it raised over its head with its tongue licking its jack-o-lantern lips before opening its mouth and then letting go of the soul and letting it fall into its mouth as it’s mouth snapped shut.

It slid down its throat and soon the soul appeared in the hole of its chest, they watched for a moment until it was lit on fire and soon it screeched in a howl as its first annettas was lit on fire, soon arms and then legs and then it was fully on fire.

Takeo and Alex had to shield their eyes from the sight of the fire, glowing and ember flying everywhere as the False Clone changes shape and form into something that is merely human; It was turned into a form of a human as this clone was wearing a traditional palette swap ninja attire with bone-like structures lacing his uniform, two swords bore on his and his kunai and katana sword attached to a rope tied to his belt. He wore a mask different from anything that the warrior had seen before.

The False Clone of Scorpion was on his knees as he clenched on the chains that appeared to be red hot as he slowly got up with his head down as they noticed that another kunai was attached to the metal chain wrapped around his hand.

His eyes were glowing yellow as he gripped tightly on the iron chains as his hand were lit on fire, he and Alex had known it the moment his fist was in flames as they both took a few steps back a bit as the False Scorpion advanced towards them.

“Do not panic.” U!Takeo whispered but not afraid as he held the sword in front of him, “I am not panicking Takeo…” Alex harshly forced to whisper a reply as he looked back at him.

“We may be able to take him together…” but then noticed that the creature wasn’t beside him, Alex Mercer had fled and left him there to fight this hellspawn! Ultimis Takeo cursed under his breath at this excuse for a human had run from the battle for him to face this Hallow!

The False Scorpion then got out and sent his kunai towards U!Takeo but he quickly jumped out of the way but he had accidentally jumped off the branch as he shouted “Damn it!” but he was saved by a moving vine that coiled around this waist.

The vine gently uncoils around Takeo and lets him stand on it as he looks at the False Clone with interest, “A Ninja…?” He said this to himself, “This demon took the form of this ninja?” as the False Scorpion took out his blade.

U!Takeo grips tightly on his sword as vines that were hidden in his sleeves revealed themselves as they slithered out of them as he shouted “Face me, Hellspawn!�� as the vine lowered downward, ready to throw him into action as False Scorpion is doing the same and getting ready to pounce. “I will send you back to hell, one piece at a time!” he yelled as he was launched onto the tree branch and then the False Clone took charge at him.

They both ran towards each other and then both blades met in a headlock and they both were glaring at each other as U!Takeo gritted his teeth and used the vine to smack the False Clone away and crashed into the tree that made the samurai groan through his teeth in pain. The False Scorpion growled and said “You will pay for that, with your life!” before he got back up but he didn't want to or had no time to wait and see what he did next so he whipped his vine into a branch and then he jumped to get out of the way. As he swung onto the new branch and landed onto it, he turned to the previous tree branch he was standing on with the sword ready but there’s no False Clone on it.

Confused, he looked at the tree to see if he’s still right there but he’s not there either and he had suddenly felt something warm coming from behind him and he had to turn around to look too late.

“You-!!!?” he gasped as a kunai was pressed against his throat, as it turns out that False Scorpion had teleported behind him before getting a kunai out to use the moment of vulnerability against him as he had U!Takeo pinned to the tree where the branch they are stand on was.

U!Takeo had looked around for an escape route but noticed a vine under this man and was thinking of a plan but False Scorpion somehow knew that so he pressed the blade harder on Takeo’s neck, maybe enough to draw blood as he hissed “Do not think it.”

Alex Mercer in the meanwhile had been hiding in secret as he watched the fight progress through and he was silently interested that the False Clone was doing the work for him as the warrior was on the verge of defeat.

“Heh, the creepy bastard is doing me a favor.” He thought as he watched the tension rising from this, “I can’t blame him for that though…” as he began to remember one regret about something in his past.

He had remembered that a mutant, a Leader Hunter had kidnapped his sister, Diana, as he was trying to rescue her but he was stopped by the other hunters and had lost sight of them. He was helpless to save her at this point as he was shouting her name.

Alex had pressed his hand to his forehead as he said “And… then I would feel guilty for not saving him. I had to-” but a kunai was thrown towards him as Mercer had realized but he was able to dodge the attack from the False Scorpion as he shouted “sh!t!” and he used his claw to latched onto a tree that caused to both it and to U!Takeo as he coiled in pain.

False Scorpion had still had his blade against U!Takeo’s throat while he looks at where the virus was, “You really shouldn't talk so loudly.” as he slowly got his sword out from its sheath.

“Better than killing a plant pulling it by the roots,” Alex growled as he looked at the False Clone while he was holding onto the bark of the jungle tree. “But you, you are nothing but ashes!” he shouted to finish that sentence that only angered the Clone even more, and with one swift move, he stabbed the sword under him that caused further pain to Takeo with the length of it.

With one choke of breath through the suffering, he had half-remembered that he had tricks of his own and the vines he felt were writhing under his undershirt sleeve so in a swift choice he made and he used the vine swiped the False Scorpion with full force away from him.

The relief of the blade away from his neck was good enough to allow the Captain to breathe easily for now as he kneeled down to the vine that was under the False Clone and he wasn’t sure that he was doing but he quickly began to treated the stabbed vine right away as Alex jumped downward in front of the man before him as his arms were gone back to normal.

Mercer watched as the vine was restored to a healthy version, a scar of the sword blade stabbing through it was there as U!Takeo’s hands slowly drew back with vines and retreated back into his sleeves. The visible black vines on the right side of his face had slowly faded and disappeared as they returned to normal.

Ultimis Takeo Masaki had been looking at the healed vine before he looked up to Alex and asked one question from his mouth: “Why did you come back?”

Alex Mercer seemed to be unresponsive for a moment but he realized that this man had said something to him, he shrugged and replied “I didn’t, I was just standing by.”

Then, a fireball just came out of nowhere and it was launched towards U!Takeo, he looked at what was heading towards him; survival instincts had kicked in and he ducked at the last minute before that ball of fire could hit him.

He turned to find what it was and with no surprise, it’s False Scorpion whose hand was covered in smoke. U!Takeo’s eyes had changed again as he weakly stood back up from his stupor with his family sword still gripping tighter in his hand that he believed he was ripping through the skin and drawing blood from his palm.

He is not going to lose today, he is not going to as Alex Mercer had stood ready to fight the Hallow while vines are slithering towards the warrior, like snakes before rising upward behind him. False Scorpion said nothing but he jumped high as they both watched him go up and then descending back down and then performed a roundhouse kick to the virus that successfully knocked Alex out of here with a burst of fire coming from this as U!Takeo stood ready to continue fighting this demon.

[Traditionally drawn by Icefir]

U!Takeo growled as he launched vines towards this False Clone but the clone was cutting through the vines to get to him but the samurai gritted his teeth as he kept on throwing the vines at the Clone until one of them got him by the arm soon the torso and soon the False Scorpion was trapped in the twisting vines.

“Stop…” he growled as his eyes were once again orange and yellow but the False Scorpion said nothing as he continued to struggle to break free from the snake-like vines. U!Takeo watches on at this failed attempt, he almost feels ignorant at this substance of the False Clone as he said “I do not think you can get out-'' he felt it before he could finish the sentence. He felt the vines were on fire and the scorching hot aura coming from the very place where he had trapped the False Scorpion.

He turns to look at the False Scorpion in shock and see that he is clenching his fist to raise the greater flames, he hisses in pain as he tries to resist through the suffering to what the fire is doing but it was no use, False Scorpion had burned through the vines as he yelled: “Now die!”

The fire had made it worse; U!Takeo was grown weaker from the burned vines, both physical form using the vines that resulted in them going through the torment and mental for feeling them being burned alive from what the False Clone had done to them.

He was panting on the wooden ground where he was kneeling on with his hand to his chest, trying to soften the pain as False Scorpion walked over to the defeated man with his sword in his hand before stopping in front of him.

U!Takeo looked up at him as he still had his hand close to his chest and watched him raised his blade up high for the sun to shine on it, ready for the kill and U!Takeo had shut his eyes as he was ready to feel the blade but when it was being put down on him at full force, something had stopped him from doing the deed.

A woman with a blindfold had come out of nowhere and blocked the blade with her staff with U!Takeo looked at her in shock and was astonished at what he saw as he was losing consciousness.

"Do you also wish to die!?" False Scorpion said with bitterness toning his rage.

The blindfolded woman said nothing but did say this:

Finish Him.

The False clone was confused about what she meant until he felt something going through his back and out of his chest.

He looked down to see a blade sticking through his chest as Alex Mercer had come back on his feet and had gotten his blade power since he was biomass and had come from behind the False Scorpion. He looked at the blade in shock as Alex declared “Go back to hell and tell the Devil he’s next when I get there!” before twisting it to greater the pain that he caused as cracks are forming around him before he screams in agony and then explodes into pieces as souls that the False Clone had eaten were freed and flying away.

Alex Mercer watched as he stood where he was a while the souls were from 5 to ten to 50 and then a hundred of them flew everywhere and disappeared into the trees while most of them flew into the sky. His thoughts were derailed when he heard a thud from in front of him, he turned to see U!Takeo had passed out from the mental suffering of the pants he had used against the clone but the woman who had defended the warrior had disappeared, like suddenly as she appeared only to never be seen again within instinct.

“Where the **** did she go?” he thought as he walked over to his unconscious body but stopped when he noticed the same vine that healed him before as he was going to reach him to grab his shirt. He backed up when the vine approached Takeo’s neck again and then opened up to reveal the thorn in its blossom again and then stick it into his neck again and once more, his vines glowed green.

Ultimis Takeo’s HP restored. Alex looked at the text above him for a few moments until he noticed the surroundings around him and the man was changing before them as the vine repeated itself from his collar bone and disappeared from existence.

The light dimmed a little as his eyes adjusted to the settled and then looked around the area and slowly began recognizing where they were before, they were back in the Wonderland Plaza and much to his surprise; a very few zombies were coming in. Mercer stood there for a moment before his eyes trained onto U!Takeo again, doing what he was going to do earlier; he grabbed him by the collar and then held him while he prepared to assimilate his cells or… for a better word of this: consume him.

“Alright then,” he muttered, “where were we?” as he balled up his fist and raised it in the air but hesitated when he heard someone yelling from the distance, “Follow me!” a man yelled and heard footsteps heading their way. Alex growled on his breath, “Not like this when I was…” he looked at where they are before slamming U!Takeo back down onto the floor.

“I’ll be back for you later.” the last words he said to Ultimis Takeo before he ran off quickie as Frank West was bringing more survivors that had managed to protect themselves from the horde of zombies. He was getting the hang of killing the undead but he knew the story is more important than just killing zombies all day long and since he had gotten Brad’s and Jesse’s permission to cover this story incident to which he will call it a zombie outbreak in Willamette- no, maybe an undead incident- no… Guessing with just the Willamette incident as he already pictured himself on the news about it.

But it was interrupted by one of the people he saved who had said “Look, there’s another guy and he’s passed out!” as he looked at who they pointed at the unconscious Takeo Masaki on the ground. Frank had taken off running to his side as he got out a walkie talkie and hurriedly talked to Jessie right away “Jessie, I found another one but he’s knocked out.” he said as he placed his two fingers on his neck, checking his pulse as Jessie answered with concern in her voice “He is knocked out? Is he alright Frank?”

[This is drawn by SamPostStuff on Tumblr]

“He’s unconscious but he’s all right.” he answered when he felt a pulse from his neck, he’s breathing softly but not life-threatening much to anyone’s relief. He then talks to Jessie again, “Get him back here now! We have to help him!” as he or everyone had been aware that a vine is slowly slithered back into his sleeve.

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lswritingdesk · 4 years ago

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3. Close Quarters

Spock was on a call with his mother and father when a sharp wail sounded from their side of the connection. It was followed by the muffled sounds of...tearful singing?

“What is that sound?” Spock asked.

“Young Lialyah is protesting the terms of her confinement,” Sarek replied.

“Lialyah? One of Ambassador Calla’s daughters?”

“Yes. She sings when she is confined,” Sarek said, closing his eyes for a moment. Amanda translated.

“We’re still living in very close quarters, and it is quite stressful on everyone. I help Calla with the girls, but it is clear that they want their mother back. They do not understand, and Calla doesn’t know what else to do. Lialyah in particular has been breaking rules left and right for attention.”

“Perhaps Ambassador Calla should give her attention instead of punishing her, then. At the very least, it might result in more quiet.” Amanda frowned at her son.

“Spock, it is not your place to judge how a parent does or does not discipline their child.” It was Sarek who said this.

“She’s doing the best she can. She’s exhausted.”

“I see,” Spock said, but he still thought she should comfort the child instead of punish her. “I want to talk to the child.” Amanda looked to her husband and then back to Spock.

“Spock, I don’t think that is the best idea right now.”

“If Ambassador Calla is in her quarters, please ask her if I might speak to the child.” Amanda frowned more deeply, but she got up and went into the living space. Calla was on the couch with her other daughter, Soraya, and looked up when Amanda emerged from her bedroom. She winced.

“I’m sorry. I did not mean for my child to interrupt your call,” she began to apologise.

“Spock wants to talk to her,” Amanda said flatly.

“I’m sorry?” Calla said dumbly.

“Spock wants to talk to Lialyah.” Calla closed her eyes. Great, another person dragged into my personal mess. She waved a hand, her other arm wrapped around Soraya.

“Tell him I said good luck.”

Amanda entered the smaller bedroom, and the singing abruptly stopped when Lialyah saw Amanda.

“‘Manda. Am I allowed to come out now?”

“No, sweetheart. But I have someone who wants to talk to you.” The little girl perked up, looking at the PADD in Amanda’s hand. “Is it mother?”

“No, we’ve talked about that, remember?”

“Oh.”

“This is my son, Spock,” she said, sitting on the small bed next to the girl. “Just like you are Calla’s daughter. He wants to talk to you.” A small, tear-stained face appeared on Spock’s screen.

“You’re not on a planet, are you?” the little girl asked earnestly. “Planets are dangerous!”

“No, Lialyah, I am on a ship. Why were you crying?”

“Mama put me in my room alone. I was angry.”

“Are you angry often?” The little girl thought for a moment.

“Yes. I want my mother, but everyone keeps saying I can’t see her. They say she is gone, but if she’s really gone, why can’t we take her to the Fragment? When my grandfather was gone, they took him to the grove, and he came back the next cycle.”

“Your mother was Vulcan, Lialyah. Vulcans do not go to the Fragment or come back after they have died.”

“But mother was mama’s partner. They let partners of Furlings go to the grove all the time.” Spock was very close to sighing.

“You know that a body must be taken to the grove, right? And you know that your home planet was destroyed? You said that planets were dangerous.” Lialyah nodded. “Your mother was on the planet. They could not retrieve her body. There is no one to take to the grove. Your mama has explained this to you.” The little girl’s lip began to tremble.

“But I want her.”

“I know that you want your mother, but you cannot have her. I am sorry. The...Eternal Alchemy has taken her back.” Spock fumbled with the words, wondering if he was saying the right thing.

“I thought that my mother was gone, and I was very angry and upset, too.”

“But you are a Vulcan,” Lialyah pointed out.

“I am half-Vulcan. I experience emotion deeply like you do, Lialyah. And your mother experiences emotion perhaps even more deeply than us. She is very upset over losing your mother, too. She needs you to be brave and good for her right now so she can help the other Vulcans start a new colony. Did you know that you are in orbit around a new planet now? Before long, it will become your new home.”

Lialyah looked panicked. “I do not want to go to the surface,” she said, her voice breathy. “What if it collapses like Vulcan did?”

“I promise that it will not collapse, Lialyah. We stopped the person who made Vulcan collapse. He will never hurt you or your family again.” The little girl did not look convinced. “You must be good and brave for your mama. And you must tell your sister to do the same. Do you understand me?”

Lialyah slowly nodded. “Yes, Spock.”

“Go to your mama and apologise, and she will let you out of your room.” The little girl practically leapt out of the bed.

“You better hope that Calla actually lets her go, Spock, or else she’ll be very angry with you,” Amanda commented.

“She is five. Her memory of me will be limited.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that.” Calla entered the room, and Amanda offered up the PADD wordlessly.

“Spock. I suppose I should thank you for silencing my child’s wails, but her punishment was not over, apology not withstanding.”

“I apologise, Ambassador Calla. I merely thought that if she apologised-“

“She’ll make it up another day, I have no doubt. I don’t know what you said to her, but thank you. I was not expecting much when you asked to speak with her, to be honest with you.” Spock noted how tired Calla looked and hoped the little girl would give her mother some respite.

“I will let you get back to your parents in this rare bit of silence,” Calla said, handing the PADD back to Amanda and letting the woman exit the room. Calla herself flopped backwards on the bed and covered her face with her hands, allowing herself a moment before she went back out to her children.

#star trek #star trek aos #star trek fanfic #star trek headcanon #star trek imagine #ambassador calla #calla #spock #spock x oc #amanda greyson #sarek #star trek kelvin timeline

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ty-talks-comics · 5 years ago

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Best of DC: Week of August 7th, 2019

Best of this Week: DCeased #4 - Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo and Saida Temofonte

This book went out with a bang and it’s only been four issues of the six!

Captain Atom is one of the strongest heroes of the DC Universe. He’s right on par with Superman and under the reigns of the government, he’s an asset that they have complete authority over. The Atom, likely Ray Palmer, has dived into the body of an infected girl to see if there were a way to solve the crisis before it gets any worse, but then he goes dark. Captain Atom tells Amanda Waller to just way for The Atom to chime back in, but she orders him to go outside and clean the mess up.

He does so, but soon realizes that something is horribly wrong. The next thing we see is The Atom tearing his way through Captain Atom's body, infecting him with the Anti-Life Virus.

We cut to the aftermath of the last issue with Clark bringing Martha Kent to the Daily Planet, crying about Jonathan as the entire Kent Family embraces each other over the loss. One of the big themes of this issue is the loss of family as there will he two big examples later on, each feeling more devastating than the last.

Soon after Superman returns, he's ready to go back out there and rescue more people, but Dinah reminds him of the danger everyone could be in if he were to become infected. He counters that with the fact that he's been using x-ray vision to counter the effects of the virus as it's transmitted through screens. Lois makes a transmission to any hero or villain still alive and tells them to all come to the Daily Planet building.

It's one of the few bits of hope that we get in this issue as we see that some people have boarded up their homes, some of the Titans are still alive and even Lex Luthor is listening in. Best of all, the transmission makes it to Themyscira and Wonder Woman makes her presence felt as she tells her mother and an arriving Mera that she's going to Metropolis.

In Keystone City, Superman and Green Lantern Canary find Flash and Kid Flash who are doing their best to stay down as them becoming infected would be a nightmare for the world. In Gotham, Harley is being rescued by Ivy, who kills the infected versions of Catwoman, Huntress, Batwoman and Batgirl. I really liked this because, on top of finally getting one over on the Joker, Harley is saved by the true love of her life, albeit in a gory and bloody manner that I'd hoped I'd never have to see for some of my other favorite characters. But they do make for a really adorable couple.

Back in Metropolis, however, things have taken a horrible turn for the worse. Hairsine struts his stuff in an amazing double page spread that shows an infected Giganta tearing her way through the city like a Kaiju. She looks absolutely monstrous with a giant scar running down her face, eyes and clothes caked with the blood of untold tens or hundreds of people that she's likely killed or eaten. With only Black Lightning, his daughters, Green Arrow, Robin and Superboy to defend the Planet, things look incredibly dire.

That is, until a surprise Batwing appears and distracts her… only to get knocked out of the sky, but saved by a returning Canary, Superman and the two Flashes. Wonder Woman also appears and prepares to cut the head off of the infected Giganta as she is knocked over by Superman. However, he stops her, pleading that there may still be something left there.

The little bit of hope that he may have had is crushed as Cyborg reappears and blows a hole straight through her head, explaining that none of them are alive anymore. While it's a mostly clean shot, the few bits and blood that do fall out feel gnarly as hell and her dead eyed expression is enough to send chills down the spine.

While the other heroes are talking, the Batwing's hatch opens and Damian somehow expects it to be Batman only to be met by Alfred. He hugs his grandson and tells him Bruce's last words before his untimely passing and we're brought back to another tearful embrace.

*HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD*

But this somber moment doesn't last as Hawkgirl appears, crashing down into Diana's arms, telling everyone that Captain Atom is infected and that he's about to explode. Superman and Wonder Woman do their best to contain it, but the sheer power of Captain Atom proves too much as his eruption destroyed Washington DC, then Baltimore and eventually...Metropolis where Black Lightning tells his daughters to close their eyes as he embraces them, the bright light engulfing them all.

*SPOILERS OVER: PRESS ON*

DCeased has gone way beyond the gimmick that a lot of us thought it might have been. Exploring themes like the loss of family, love and hope versus hopelessness, we see these characters placed in a new light where they have to adapt to a harrowing situation that no one was prepared for. Black Canary taking over as Green Lantern after Hal gets infected is a new and fresh take for her and she absolutely fits the role like a glove. Superman having to dissociate in order to keep himself focused on saving people gives him more depth as it clashes with who he is as a hero. Diana is far more willing to cut the head off of Giganta where normally she would try to talk her down or knock her out, she’s ready for the high stake over the situation. Also seeing Damian actually show his feelings, crying as Alfred hands him the briefcase of Batman’s gear, gives a lot more humanity as he’s been showing a lot of it because this is legit one of the first times he’s been truly afraid and didn’t have a plan.

Trevor Hairsine’s art by itself is enough to sell the book on. It has a flavor of horror that hearkens back to some of DCs Vertigo stories, but also has the color and flair of normal superhero stories. The feelings of despair are very clearly shown and the gore, for how little there is in this issue is still unsettling to see. It’s all very high quality and appropriate for the story. Unlike most Marvel Zombies books, I’m actually scared for everyone here and I love it. High recommend.

---------------------------------------------------

Jarro is the best new member of the Justice League and I will not be persuaded of the otherwise.

Runner Up: Justice League #29 - Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Bruno Redondo, Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano

Since the events of No Justice (2018), the Universe has been without Starro, the sentient and powerful telepathic starfish that served as the Justice League's first ever villain. In an uncharacteristic act of heroism, the conqueror sacrificed his life in an effort to save the universe from being destroyed. All that was left a small part of him that was kept in a jar and maintained his sense of heroism, becoming Batman's newest son, Jarro.

Jarro is the epitome of "doing his best" as this book involves him single handedly taking on the Legion of Doom.

Lurking in the shadows of the Hall of Doom, listening to their top secret plans, lies Jarro dressed as Robin! He waits for the perfect moment and strikes at Lex and the others! They're all stunned that someone had the knowledge of their location and the gall to attack them. They all think that they can overpower him, but forget that Jarro still has all of the memories of his former self and creates an energy weapon that knocks them all back, including Sinestro and his constructs.

Though things take a turn, even after Jarro manages to take control of Braniac for a moment, and Lex gains the upper hand, pinning Jarro to a wall. As he's about to lay the final blow, the Justice League arrives to save their companion!

Throughout the book, however, there are numerous questionable things that makes it seem like it's just too good to be true. Jarro is referred to as Batman's favorite Robin by Sinestro. How did Jarro even find the Hall of Doom and how did the League track him? Hell, when Batman sees Jarro, he SMILES. That's a huge red flag.

When Jarro begins to spawn more stars and takes over the minds of the Legion, Batman chides him for his actions and eventually realizes that he's had a star on his face the whole time. Jarro had been showing the good guys a vision where the League wins after deciding that control is the only path to victory after the shared vision he had with Starman in the last issue.

It's all very reminiscent of any time that the Black Mercy plant is used and while what Jarro did was horrible, Batman manages to convince him that everything will be okay. So he releases the hold on everyone, jumps on Batman's shoulder and tells the others to prepare for war.

What this book does best is simply allude to the idea that not everything is as it seems. It has little hints planted with things that only a could would say about themselves or their parents thoughts. Told through Jarro's perspective, it's good to see that Batman has raised him to be a being of hope and a cute one at that. Even his little Robin costume made me absolutely giddy and excited for the little guy.

Once again, it's Batman that has to save the day because he's always the most sound of mind. Though what this story does is shine a light on just how powerful Jarro could be. He managed to take over the minds of the Justice League without anyone being the wiser and shows just what an asset he is. It's even implied that he has a potential that even he can't see yet and I'm excited for his future.

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jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets · 6 years ago

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Lost in Translation

Title: Lost in Translation

Fandom: Star Trek

Pairing: Mckirk

Rating: Lemon

Tags: minor character death, hurt, little bit of self destruction, stranded, possible smut down the line, FLUFF!!!

Summary:

“Attention citizens. This is the crew of the Enterprise asking for your aid. On Stardate 2264.78 a shuttle manned by our captain and fourteen cadets was ambushed by an unknown source and chased out of sight of our ship and into open space. Those cadets as well as our captain, James Tiberius Kirk, are still missing. We are asking anyone with any information on their whereabouts, or regarding the attack, to please contact the Enterprise immediately. Our family would appreciate any assistance you can give.”

AO3 Link

Masterlist

Special Thanks: wanted to give a huge shout out to my girl Katie, AKA @goingknowherewastaken for being a huge inspiration for this fic as well as for being a huge help (especially when it comes to putting up with my frantic ramblings lol) you're awesome boo <3

A/N: So this is a work in progress but it’s basically finished and I’ve been making great headway with this recently, so this will be the first fic I’ve ever finished! Woohoo!! And I'm thinking that I’ll probably stick to a Sunday post schedule.

Also a little note for y’all to keep in mind while reading. I have tagged this fic “possible eventual smut” and that’s because right now I don’t have any planned buuuuut… I'm going to leave that option up to you guys! Between the readers here and AO3, if you're still with me by the end of this fic, leave a comment and let me know if you would be interested in an epilogue or end scene with smut. I’ll post a reminder at the end, but keep it in mind while reading.

And if anyone is interested in being tagged for future posts for this fic or any others I may post, please let me know and I’ll add you to the list! Thanks for reading <3

AN: Sorry this is so late... I’ve had a shitty shitty weekend. But now it’s up and I cant wait to see what you guys think of this one!

SO MUCH FLUFF IN THIS CHAPTER! SO MUCH FLUFF!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6

“Damn it kid, look what you do to me.”

Leonard ran his thumb gently across the back of the hand he was still holding. He remembered waking up that day in the sickbay, he remembered his conversation with Uhora, remembered the feeling of acceptance that washed over him but also the fear of possibly never being able to admit that to the person who actually mattered.

He looked over to Jim still unconscious in the bed, as lifeless as he had been when he was being rushed through the sickbay after Spock had finally found him.

“Jim,” he began, nervously, “kid… you gotta wake up. You heard the log, I’ve got a lot of things to say and I want to be able to say them to your face. I don’t even care if you don’t… if you don’t feel the same, I just need to say it. I need you to know the truth. I don’t want another chance lost on us like this Jim, I-”

Tears clouded his vision and a lump filled his throat as he squeezed Jim's hand a little tighter. What were the words worth if Jim couldn’t even hear them?

The padd in his lap prompted him with a new log, this one belonging to Jim again, and a shaking finger touched the screen allowing Jim's voice to fill the room.

“Kirk’s log, stardate 2264.97. I buried them today Bones, all of them. I buried fourteen rookie cadets, kids, in the sand, on a planet we don’t even know, a planet that’s not even federation! Kids, Bones, they were all kids!” Leonard heard a muffled sound through the padd, he was sure it was a sob Jim was trying to cover, “I couldn’t just leave them lying there like that, it didn’t feel right. So… so I took a piece of metal from the wreckage and used it yesterday to dig out fourteen graves. The metal tore up my hands pretty bad but… a small price to pay for the indefinite price those cadets paid. And I don’t know if I’ll ever be found, but at least this way, whatever happens, I know I did my best to make sure those kids have some kind of peace. And if you do find me, Bones, or if somehow this comm makes its way back to you, will you let their parents know that I tried. I tried my best to keep them alive long enough but I just… I couldn’t do it. Not with the supplies I had, I just… god, Bones. Kids, they were all just kids…”

~~~~~~~~~~~

After a full day of digging fourteen graves, Jim laid down for one last sleep in his battered shelter, surrounded by his fallen crew members. The next morning he woke with the sun and began finally laying his cadets to rest.

He started with the first fallen, Trever, their pilot. Then moved on to the second, VooHook, then Amanda, and Kent. One by one he pulled their lifeless bodies into their far too early graves, with ripped apart hands and still limping on his injured knee, until all fourteen graves were filled. And one by one he filled in each and every one of them.

When he was finished it was mid day and Jim stood panting before the graves in the blazing hot sun. He stared down at them, the fourteen bumps of freshly turned ground at his feet, and fell to his knees in a crying lump. “I'm sorry,” he choked out around the uncontrollable sobs, “I let you all down and I'm so sorry. I’ll never be able to forgive myself for this. You all deserved better then me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

After Jim had said his goodbyes and cried until he couldn’t cry anymore, he gathered what little he could from the shelter, shoving it into the now empty medkit, and started making his way towards the lonely mountain.

As he was walking he pulled out his comm and began talking, trying to keep his mind off of how far the mountain really was. “Kirks log, stardate 2264.97. I’ve started walking, Bones. I'm making my way towards the only other thing I can see besides desert, the single mountain. It’s definitely going to take me much longer then I was hoping with my injured knee, but I'm trying not to think about that so much.”

Jim paused, continuing to limp towards the mountain as he thought back to better times. To his times in the academy after Pike had finally set him straight, and to think on it now Jim realized he had a lot more then his captaincy to thank his mentor for. He thought back on meeting Bones on that shuttle in Riverside, to the first time he laid eyes on that grumpy old doctor who seemed to worm his way right into his closed off little heart in the blink of an eye. To the ship, his ship, and the crew that came with it, his family. To the good times and the bad times, and the times he managed to drag Bones’s argumentative ass along on away missions, just so he could hear the doctors ever present negative outlook on whatever crazed idea Jim had come up with. In fact, now that he really thought about it, a lot of his memories involved Bones.

“Hey, Bones,” he chimed, glossy eyed as he sunk back into the memory, “remember when we first met? You were hiding in the bathroom on the shuttle in Riverside. I was bruised and covered in blood after Pike just pulled my ass out of an epic whooping, and you were drunk off your ass and fighting with the attendant on the shuttle, rambling on about your aviophobia.” He scoffed as he continued, “You know, I’ll never get over the fact that a man as terrified of flying as you ever joined Starfleet to begin with… but I'm damn glad you did. And on the bright side, you never did throw up on me.”

He chuckled at the thought. The entire flight to the academy was spent listening to the man beside him ramble on and on about everything and anything that could go wrong in space, sharing the flask the man had hidden in his jacket pocket, and praying that he wouldn’t end up with a lap full of the mans lunch by the end of it. But regardless of the fact that he was the most down trod man Jim had ever met besides himself, he couldn’t help but feel right away that they fit together better then any two beings in the entire universe. And he missed him so much right now.

“Remember,” He laughed trying to remember the exact words, “remember what you said to me that day, Bones, how you described space. You said, “space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence,”” he did his best to imitate the mans gruffy southern accent and looked around him at the vast amount of nothing before him, “ain’t that the truth. But no matter how this ends, Bones, I want you to know that I am thankful for you. I'm thankful for everything that brought us together in the end. For your ex wife who took the whole damn planet in your divorce, for the flight attendant who forced you to sit next to me on the shuttle, for the rooming snafu that ignored your request for a single room and landed you with me as a roommate instead, for being suspended and having my pouty ass hypoed and snuck onto the Enterprise by you. I feel like every being in the universe was always trying to bring us together, Bones, and by some god damn miracle we finally managed it after all those years. I just hope… I hope it doesn’t end on this sour note. I hope we pull off another miracle and I can find my way back to you. We’ve got a lot to talk about that’s for sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Bones.” It had only been a few hours since his last log, but his injured knee was starting to ache even more with the walking and Jim needed some kind of distraction, “Remember first year, it was second term, and you were all riled up about passing the shuttle exam? And you killed me in the shuttle crash?! I know I never let you live it down but you have to admit it was pretty damn funny.” He trailed off, laughing at the memory of it. “It was when we were just starting to become really close, closer then we already were at the time. And despite the fact that you crashed our shuttle a bunch of times it’s a really great memory for me. When we were in that shuttle together, alone, just the two of us, it was the first time we really touched, we… we held hands for the first time. And when we were in there together, I thought for sure… Bones, I thought you were going to say something, I thought you were going to tell me that-” he sighed, still not quite able to say it yet, “but you didn’t. Anyways, I uh, I was just thinking about that memory. I hope you remember it, Bones.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Just ease the shuttle out of the port, Bones.”

Jim sat beside Len, the two of them in their casual grey academy sweats and matching oversized hoodies, just the two of them after class hours. Len was in the pilots seat, hand wrapped around the control stick in a white knuckled grip as he did as Jim said, and tried to ease the shuttle out of the port. Jim gripped the arm of his chair as the shuttle stuttered out of port, past the few docked shuttles around them, and into open space.

“Good,” he nodded, “a little shaky, but good. Now, accelerate forwards at a nice pace and head for the planet’s surface.”

Len nodded without taking his eyes off the view screen, focused on his task while trying not to have a mental break down mid flight, like he had while his instructor was in the passenger seat a few days prior.

The shuttle continued at its slow and not so steady pace, and Jim was sure the planet was actually getting further away from them instead of closer. “Speed up a bit grandma or else we’ll die of old age before we even get there.”

Len's fingers gripped tighter around the control stick as he ground out around clenched teeth, “Jim, this is stressful enough as it is!

“Easy there, Bones” Jim chuckled, “but you do need to go a little faster, we’re in open space, and stop shaking so much, everything’s fine.

Len tried to take a steadying breath but what came out was more like a stutter. He chanced a glance down at his hand still clenched tightly around the control stick and noticed just how much he was shaking.

He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. “You know I hate flying, kid. It’s not as easy as you make it sound to just relax while I'm holding not only my life in my hands, but now yours as well.”

Jim let go a small smile as his eyes travelled over to Len’s still shaking hands. Before he could stop himself he stretched his arm across and let his fingers trail gently down Len's arm, starting at his elbow and stopping at his wrist. He let his fingers linger on the back of Len's hand for a moment, tracing small circles on the skin there, before wrapping his hand around Len's and running his thumb soothingly over Len's and pushing the stick forwards into a slightly faster speed.

Without looking up he spoke to Len again, in an almost whisper, “You know I willingly give you my life, right, Bones.”

Len scoffed, “As a doctor, yes, but as a pilot you shouldn’t.”

“It wouldn’t matter the situation, Bones, I would trust you with my life regardless.”

“Kid,” Len shook his head again, “I'm the worst pilot the academy’s got. You’d be better off never getting into a shuttle with me, it’d probably be a hell of a lot safer.”

“You're not a bad pilot,” he continued to ease Len's hand forwards bit by bit as he continued, “you're just a little too high strung at times and over worrisome. You’ve just got to learn to let things go, whatever’s going to happen will happen, and as long as it happens with you and I together, then I'm ok with it.”

For the first time since they entered the shuttle Len took his eyes off the view screen to look at Jim. He didn’t know exactly what to say…well that was actually a lie. He did know what to say, but what he struggled with was how to say it. “Jim…”

Jim still refused eye contact, eyes focused on their hands as he whispered barely audible, “Yeah, Bones.”

“Jim, I-” before he could get it out the shuttle rocked violently to the side. Len's eyes widened in panic and Jim sat straight up in his chair. He removed his hand from Len's and kept his eyes fixed on the view screen. “Jim, what was that?!”

“You’re the pilot, you tell me.”

“I thought you were supposed to be helping me!” Len was in full panic mode. His hands flew across the controls, trying desperately to locate the source of the hit, and stop the deafening alarms from going off around them.

“I am helping you, Bones,” Jim’s voice remained calm and collected, and it flustered Len even more, “this is a great time for a lesson.”

“It sure as hell is not!”

“It sure as hell is!” Jim shot back full of enthusiasm, “Now tell me what's happening, and quick before we’re hit again.”

Len's hands continued to move across the controls before he sat back, face pale and eyes wide, “We’re in an asteroid field!”

“Yes we are!” Jim sat back and crossed one leg over the other, turning slightly towards Len, “Now what do you do?”

Len turned to Jim, annoyed at the very collected and undisturbed kid beside him and growled, “How are you so calm?!”

Jim merely ignored the question and asked the same one again, “What do you do, Bones? I know you know the answer.”

He huffed a breath and searched his memory, thinking back to class and what his instructor had told him before stuttering out, “I… I pull up a view screen of the field to help navigate through it and then… land on the nearest safe surface until I can get aid.”

With out so much more than a nod Jim said, “Then do it.”

Len turned back to the controls and brought up the view of the asteroid field on the screen, and quickly tried to navigate a path through the debris towards the planet he was originally headed for. His frantic movements caught Jim's eye and he reached over and placed a firm hand on Len's shoulder.

“Relax, Bones.”

“Kid…” Len was sure that if he gripped the control stick any tighter with his right hand it would mould to his skin, but he just couldn’t bring himself to the calm level that was Jim Kirk.

Jim gave his shoulder a light squeeze, “You wanna get through this asteroid field then you have to have a calm steady hand and a clear mind. Just breathe.”

“Kid…” Len could feel every muscle in his body tensing despite Jim's words, “We’re gunna hit that huge asteroid!”

“Reverse thrusters, Bones, you can get through this field easily.”

Len found himself completely frozen as the asteroid was coming closer and closer. He couldn’t move any part of his body no matter how hard he tried, no matter how loud his brain yelled at his hand to reach across and activate the reverse thrusters, nothing was working. All he could do was stare straight ahead and think about the inevitable.

“Kid…” was all he could manage to choke out.

Jim gave Len's shoulder another squeeze, leaning closer to him, “You know how to do this, Bones, reverse thrusters.”

“Jim!”

With Len completely locked up, the shuttle crashed hard with the large asteroid, shaking the entire shuttle as the view screen went black. The shuttle around them filled with a deep red hue and the alarms were replaced with a robotic female voice.

“Away mission to class M planet, Maldova, failed. Shuttle destroyed on impact, all life forms aboard perished. Simulation end.”

The red hue was then replaced with the normal glow of artificial light as Len slumped back into his chair with a huff, rubbing at his eyes with both hands.

Jim shook Len's shoulder where his hand still held him tightly, as he breathed with a smile, “It’s ok, Bones.”

“No, no it’s not, Jim!” He threw his hands up in frustration, “I have another simulator test coming up in two weeks, and if I don’t pass this one I won’t be allowed to move into the next semester with you. I’ll be held back until I can pass this god forsaken test! Not to mention if this was a real life situation I would have killed you!” he sighed, “I'm a doctor damn it, not a pilot! Why do I have to learn how to fly?!”

“Every member of a ship has to know how to fly, no matter what their position is, everyone has to be certified. It’s Starfleet regulation. If something happened and every crew member was unable to fly except you, then we would all look to you to pilot.”

Len groaned, not even wanting to think about such a mess, “I'm never going to pass this test. I'm going to be held back and you’ll move on without me.”

Jim shook his head, “Not a chance, Bones.”

“Jim,” Len began in a firm voice, “you are not halting your education or dream of captaincy because this old man can’t pass a damn simulation test. It just means we won’t graduate together.”

“I'm not walking that stage without you.”

“Kid-”

Jim stopped him, looking Len directly in the eyes as he spoke his next words with sincerity, “Bones, I meant what I said before. No matter what the situation, I willingly lay my life in your hands.” Len could only stare at him in awe as he continued, “I would never give that trust to anyone else, only you. And I can’t do that if I'm in space and you're still grounded. No one else on any ship, or anywhere in the universe, would be worthy enough of that trust, and I don’t want anyone else, I only want you. And if that means that I have to stay here with you for another year and wait while you pass the test, or two years, or ten years, even if we never leave earth, I will wait right here beside you, Bones. I am not going into space without you, do you understand?”

Len didn’t know what to say. All he could do was stare and nod to let Jim know that he did understand, but what he wanted to say was how much Jim's words had meant to him. After a hardened childhood and a shitty marriage followed by an equally shitty divorce, Len was starting to think he would never know compassion again. But sure enough, Jim Kirk had some how managed to flip his entire life view around and flutter his heart like a love sick teenager, despite the hard exterior he worked so hard on.

“Good,” Jim smiled, leaning away from Len, “but I'm not going to let you fail. We are going to work on this until you feel comfortable with it.”

While Len continued to stare at Jim, he turned away and started rebooting the simulator to play a random mission. While his hands worked the controls Len reached forwards and caught Jim's hand in his, holding it firmly, linking their fingers together and giving them a squeeze. Jim stopped all movements and looked to Len, waiting for him to say something.

“I...” He began, “Thanks, Jim, for sticking with me, it means a lot.”

Jim returned the squeeze and smile, and when Len let go they both found their hands feeling very empty. A want to pull back and never let go washing over the both of them, but neither knowing how to go about that. So Jim decided instead to turn back to his work and busy himself with rebooting the simulator, and less then a minute later they found themselves looking through the view screen at the now very familiar port.

“Ok, Bones,” Jim settled back into the chair once again and explained Len's new mission, “this time you're rescuing a stranded four man crew stalled in open space. You’ve got to locate them, bring your shuttle to rest beside them without jostling them further into space, and engage the boarding tube so they can safely leave their ship and board ours. Got it?”

“Got it,” he confirmed with a nod.

“Great.” A smirk quickly found its way onto Jim's face as he turned to face Len, “And this time don’t forget to watch out for oncoming debris or danger, don’t get distracted while ogling my fine self again.”

Len just reached over and gave Jim's shoulder a shove. Jim burst out laughing, and as much and Len tried to give the kid his signature scowl he just couldn’t, and ended up laughing along with him. He spared him one last glance, Jim's face bright with laughter and Len couldn’t help but think how much he loved that smile on Jim kirks face, what he wouldn’t give to have it always there and only for him.

As the shuttle pulled further out of the port he returned his eyes reluctantly to the view screen. Taking the shuttle out into open space, this time with more confidence and less of a shake to his hands, as Jim's laughter beside him filled the shuttle.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Len ran his thumbs over Jim's fingers, his hand still tightly held in his while Jim still lay unconscious beside him. “How could I forget, kid,” and how could he.

He remembered that day perfectly, as if it were yesterday. The day Jim had not only sent a whirlwind of shivers through his body with his touch, and held his hand, but it was also the day that Jim had given his whole self to Len. After knowing Jim for close to a year at the time, Len knew that Jim was not one to trust others easily if even at all, and for Jim to openly and completely give that trust to Leonard was a feeling he could not explain. Jim's declaration of trust meant more to him then the universe itself.

Looking at the padd revealed yet another one of Leonard's logs. He pulled Jim's hand into his lap, still not letting go, and opened the next file.

“CMO’s log. Stardate 2264. 98. Its been two days now since lieutenant Uhura found me in a heap in my room. One day since I woke up in the medbay an absolute mess. I will admit that… that Jim's disappearance has taken a huge toll on me. I’ve never been this long without the kid and once we get him back, and we will get him back, I will do everything in my power to personally make sure Jim never leaves my side again. Protocol be damned! But after yet another hard day with news of another planet coming up empty, it was the lieutenant’s words that helped me get through the night without another incident. Uhora was right, we can’t help Jim if we can’t even help ourselves.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I warned you... FLUFF!!! ok, getting into some flashbacks now as Jim’s journey across the empty planet begins... more good times to come XD

Let me know what Y’all think <3 Love you guys!!

Tags: @goingknowherewastaken @weresilver-in-space @medicatemedrmccoy @bi-e-ne @flaminglupine @resistance-is-futile81 @0dannyphantom0 @haveyouseenmymind @jimboy-mccoy

If anyone wants to be tagged let me know <3

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douxreviews · 6 years ago

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Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Context is for Kings’ Review

By Mark Greig

"We are creating a new way to fly."

After last week's extended prologue, this was our first glimpse of what an actual episode of Star Trek: Discovery will look like.

Welcome aboard the USS Discovery, a mysterious ship full of mysterious people doing mysterious things mysteriously. Thrown into this, under suitably mysterious circumstances, is Michael Burnham, six months into her life sentence for mutiny and sporting a new curly prison hairdo. Now something of a Ro Laren/Tom Paris-ish figure, Michael's not interested in getting involved in whatever mysterious shit the crew of Discovery are up to. She just wants to keep her head down, go back to prison and serve her time. That's what she says, but that isn't what she does. She wasn't even on Discovery a day before she decided to break into the secret labs and have a nose around, which was exactly what Captain Lucius Malfoy expected her to do.

It is clear from these first three episodes that Discovery is not going to strictly adhere to the pure Utopian view of the future that Gene Roddenberry envisioned and nothing seems to encapsulate that more than the character of Captain Gabriel Lorca (played by the always wonderful Jason Isaacs). In previous Star Trek shows the captain was always a reassuring presence, the emotional and moral centre of the show, and the one person we could always rely on to do the right thing (or in Sisko's case the wrong thing for the right reason). But in Lorca we have a captain who is untrustworthy, manipulative, militaristic, probably a dark wizard, maybe has his own personal torture chamber, and could potentially end up being the real villain of this entire series. In short, he is everything that Roddenberry would not want a Starfleet captain to be. And that is by no means a bad thing.

One of the many reasons Star Trek shriveled and died as a television franchise more than a decade ago is because the people making it became unwilling to embrace change or innovation, allowing the franchise to slip into stagnation. To add insult to injury, much of the former talent went away and made the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, which made Star Trek: Enterprise look practically archaic. It also didn't help that the idiots in charge (Rick Berman and Brannon Braga) thought the only way to keep people interested was to treat their female characters as nothing more than scantily clad figures of lust for horny fanboys. Under Berman and Braga's odious leadership, Star Trek went from being groundbreaking and thought provoking to lazy and embarrassing. It is fair to say that no one misses them.

Which brings us to Discovery, our latest hope for the second coming of Star Trek. We thought it would be the new movies but they really do not stand up well to repeated viewing and after the muted critical and box office reaction to Beyond I doubt we'll be seeing another Star Trek movie anytime soon. Which I really think is for the best because, for me at least, Star Trek has already worked better on the small screen. Television allows for more scope, more variety, and more chances for the secondary characters to shine. Can anyone think of anything memorable Geordi or Crusher did in any of the Next Gen movies?

When Discovery was first announced I hoped that it would be a show that combined the character drama and strong storytelling of DS9 with the clever sci-fi ideas of TOS and TNG. I wanted a show that would be faithful to Roddenberry's vision in spirit, but at the same time unafraid to question or even outright challenge it. I wanted a show that understood that Star Trek needs to change and evolve if it is to survive and thrive in the current TV landscape. 'Context is for Kings' is an episode that does exactly that. I'm not saying it is up there with the very best of those shows, but this is exactly what I was looking for from a modern Star Trek series.

One thing I really liked about this episode is how it explored the inherent contradiction of Starfleet itself. This is a military organisation with a military hierarchy that's stated mission is one of peace and exploration. Starfleet officers are meant to be explorers first and soldiers only when necessary, but we see how quickly that gets switched around when the existence of the Federation is threatened. In peace time the Discovery (and its late sister ship) would've been a ship of pure research, but in war time it becomes a mobile Manhattan Project, pushing scientific boundaries to give the Federation the edge in the war with the Klingons.

One thing I didn't like was how quickly they rushed through the mission on the Glenn. They could've done a whole episode about Michael, Stamets, Tilly, Commander Cylon and the red shirt Mulder and Scullying their way around the dark, blood splattered corridors of Discovery's sister ship. Instead, the whole thing was over and done with in barely 10 minutes. Because of this, the entire mission felt shoehorned in just so Michael could have a selfless hero moment and slip in some Fringe style body horror. Mind you, I did find that shushing Klingon a lot funnier than I should've.

Where Were They Then

Seeing as Discovery is set ten years before 'Where No Man has Gone Before' I decided to skim through Memory Alpha and put together this handy little guide of what all the major Star Trek characters alive at the time were up to.

— James T. Kirk was 23 and an ensign in his last year of a five-year officer training program at Starfleet Academy. After graduating Lt. Kirk would be assigned to the phaser station aboard the USS Farragut.

— Spock was 26 and serving as science officer aboard the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.

— Dr. Leonard McCoy was 29 and had recently ended his relationship with Nancy Carter ('The Man Trap').

— Montgomery Scott was 34 and serving as an engineer in Starfleet.

— Pavel Chekov was 11 and no doubt learning about how everything ever made was Russian.

— It is unknown how old Hikaru Sulu and Nyota Uhura are during this period or what they were doing, but it is likely they were both in high school.

— The Dax symbiont's current host was either Emony or Audrid.

— I haven't got the foggiest idea how old Guinan was or what she was doing, but I imagine it involved the buying of lots and lots of really big hats.

— And Q was no doubt off annoying some species somewhere.

Notes and Quotes

— The design of the Discovery has been tweaked since the first teaser trailer was released. The ship's look was based on Ralph McQuarrie's redesign for the Enterprise for the unmade Star Trek: Planet of the Titans.

— For those of you interested, the Discovery is a Crossfield class ship. — Amanda's fondness for Lewis Carroll comes from the animated series episode 'Once Upon a Planet.' — As well as Captain Lorca, this episode introduced us to two other members of the main cast: Paul Stamets, an astromycologist and your typical asshole genius who is not at all happy about being press ganged into the Federation's war effort, and cadet Sylvia Tilly, the offspring of a rainbow and sunshine. Because she's so adorable, and her friendship with Michael shows a lot of promise, I'm willing to overlook the fact she is a walking collection of nerd cliches. — Loved Saru showing Michael around while munching blueberries. — One of the things that has always bugged me about every Star Trekseries is how the crew always beamed into hazardous situations in their regular uniforms. I am happy to see that this show is dispensing with that. — Tilly with her hair down made me think of T'Pau and I don't mean the Vulcan. — I'm assuming the reason the ship isn't swarming with them is because Lorca had his Tribble neutered. — The uniforms have pockets. Pockets!!! Now that truly is revolutionary. — I don't trust Commander Cylon. — Anyone else think the black badge dudes are connected to the ones from Wynonna Earp? I know they are probably Section 31, but what if black badge and Section 31 are one and the same? Then when can we have a crossover and see if even the universal translator can make sense of what Doc Holliday is saying. Lorca: "No matter how deep in space you are, always feels like you can see home. Don't you think? Maybe it's just me. Forgive the lighting. The lack thereof. A recent battle injury. There's nothing they can do if I want to keep my own eyes, and I do. I have to suffer light change slowly. I like to think it makes me mysterious. No?" Tilly: "Wow, is that a book?" — Somewhere the ghost of Rupert Giles is weeping. Three out of four Beatles' cover bands.

#Star Trek #Star Trek Discovery #Michael Burnham #Saru #Sylvia Tilly #Paul Stamets #Gabriel Lorca #DIS #Disco #ST:Disc #Star Trek Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews

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bonkybornes · 6 years ago

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The Road So Far: Phantom Traveler Pt.2

"Thank you for taking our survey." Sam said, "And if you do plan to fly, please remember your friends at United Brittania Airlines. Thanks." He hung up the phone with a sigh. "That takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway, they're not flying any time soon." Working Man played in the background as the two spoke, Dean keeping his eyes on the road.

"So our only wild card is Amanda Walker, the flight attendant." Dean stated, praying to whatever God may exist that they wouldn't have to get on a plane.

"Right, her sister said that Amanda's plane leaves at eight tonight, it's her first night back on the job." Dean internally groaned, he was completely screwed.

"Just our luck. Call Amanda again, see if we can catch her." He told his brother, gripping the wheel nervously.

"I've tried like four times, I left voicemails but she's not responding. Dean, this is a five hour drive, even with you behind the wheel." He pointed out.

"We'll make it." Dean insisted, pressing down on the gas pedal.

Sam frantically looks around as they enter the airport, hoping to find some information on the flight, "There! It's boarding in thirty minutes." The fear grew quickly in Dean's chest.

"Alright, we still have some cards to play. Where's a phone?" He muttered, spotting one a few feet away. He picked up the receiver and talked to the secretary, "Hi, gate thirteen? I'm trying to contact Amanda Walker on flight 424, she's a flight attendant." Sam desperately hoped this would work, he never liked lying to get things, even when it was necessary. "Hi this is Doctor James Hetfield from St. Francis Memorial Hospital, we have a Karen Walker here?" Dean covered his face with his hand, a headache forming.

"Karen?" Amanda wondered.

"Yes, she got in a minor car accident. No serious injuries but-"

"Wait, that's- that's impossible!" She exclaimed, "I just got off the phone with her." Shit. Dean thought.

"W-What?"

"Five minutes ago, she was at home cramming for a final. Who is this?" She said suspiciously.

"Uh, well there must be some mistake." He tried his best to keep his composure, failing miserably.

"And how would you even know I'm here?" The gears turned in her head. Sam snuck around to the other side of Dean to listen, "Is this one of Vince's friends?" Dean licked his lipe, getting into character.

"Guilty as charged." He lied easily.

"Unbelievable."

"He's really sorry." At this point Dean was just pulling things out of his ass and hoping he wouldn't have to go any higher than the ground.

"Well tell him to mind his own business and stay out of my life." She gritted her teeth.

"Wait! Come on, you gotta see the guy! Really, he's a mess. It's- It's pathetic." He bullshitted.

"Really?"

"Yeah, totally." His face was screwed up in concentration. Amanda sighed on the other side of the phone.

"Just, tell him to call me when I land. I have to go." She softened. Panic took over his voice, but she was already hanging up the phone.

"Dammit! So close." Dean exclaimed. Sam sighed shortly.

"Alright, time for plan B." He declared, "We're getting on that plane." Dean widened his eyes, the panic showing clearly now.

"Woah, wait! Just hang on a second. There's gotta be another way!" A nervous laugh left his lips.

"Dean, if we're right, that plane is gonna crash. It's got over a hundred passengers on it!" Sam argued.

"You're right."

"Okay, I'll go get tickets, you get stuff out of the trunk, whatever will make it through airport security." Dean looked to the side nervously, "You okay?"

"Not really." He admitted.

"What is it?" Sam rushed, they didn't have time for this.

"I kind of have this problem with-" Dean trailed off.

"With flying?"

"Yeah." Sam gave him a bitch face.

"You're not serious?"

"Well it's never been an issue until now! Why do you think I drive everywhere?" Dean asked him, nerves taking over.

"Fine," Sam sighed at his brother's fear, "I'll do this one on my own."

"No!" He exclaimed.

"Well we don't have another option, Dean!" Their speech was getting faster, either from nerves or lack of time.

"Come on!" Dean shouted. He was going to have to get on this plane.

"Are you humming Metallica?" Sam asked. They had taken their seats on the plane and Dean was near a panic attack, his breathing heavy.

"Calms me down." He rushed, trying to picture himself anywhere but there. When that doesn't work he picks up the pamphlet on how to stay safe if the plane crashes, if anything happened he needed to be prepared.

"Just try to relax." Sam advised, pissing his brother off.

"Just try to shut up!" He shot back childishly. Sam took a deep breath, preparing himself for what would surely be a stupid conversation.

"Look, I know you're nervous, but you've got to stay focused." He told his brother calmly.

"Okay."

"We've got thirty two minutes and counting to stop this thing or the plane goes down." Sam reminded him.

"Yeah, on a crowded plane. That'll be easy." Sarcasm shot out of Dean's mouth like spit, covering the sentence with a snarky tone.

"Let's just take it one step at a time. Who's it possessing?" Sam tried his best to guide him trough the panic and into the case. Dean swallowed thickly.

"It's usually gonna be someone with a chink in the armor, something the demon can worm through, someone with an addiction or some type of emotional distress." Dean rambled, sounding like a page out of their dad's notebook.

"Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash, if I was her I'd be pretty messed up." He suggested, an idea popping into his head, "Why don't you go check on her, see what you can find out?"

"What if she's already possessed?"

"There's ways to test that." Sam offered, "If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God."

"Oh, nice." Dean nodded, standing gingerly to head towards the flight attendant.

"Dean!" Sam whisper yelled, "Say it in Latin!"

"I know that!"

The younger Winchester sat in his seat as Dean headed off. He wondered why Jay had to go, why it had to be him. It's almost like he was cursed or something. Everyone around him keeps dying. He continued on this train of thought until Dean reappeared beside him.

"Okay, she's gotta be the most well adjusted person on the planet."

"You said Christo?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. There's no demon in her, there's no demon getting in her." The plane hit a patch of turbulence, shaking Dean to his soul, "Come on, that can't be normal!" His anxiety was through the roof.

"Hey, it's just a little bit of turbulence." Although Sam was scared by it too, he was able to keep his fear under control, mostly.

"Sam this plane is going to crash okay? Stop treating me like i'm friggin four!" Dean's knuckles were white from clutching the armrests, his body was pressed to it like he was trying to glue himself to the seat.

"You need to calm down."

"Well, I'm sorry, I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"Dude, stop with the touchy-feely, self-help, yoga crap. It's not helping." Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Listen, if you're panicked you're wide open to demonic possession. So you need to calm yourself down. Right now." The older Winchester blew air out of his mouth slowly, trying with everything in him to relax his body. "Good, now I found an exorcism in here that might work." He angled the book so Dean could see it. "The Rituale Romanum."

"What do we have to do?"

Lights are flaring from all over the plane, Dean pressed himself against the wall as the nose of the plane dipped down towards the ground. If it was possible, his eyes were wider than before, almost popping out of his head. Sam took charge of the situation, searching under every seat for John's notebook. The demon had kicked it away in it's struggle to escape. Aha, He picked up the book and started reading again. Still sprawled out on the floor, he manages to finish the exorcism and send the demon back to Hell. Dean slumps to the ground as the floor levels.

"You okay?" Amanda asks him. Dean nods, his breathing getting closer to even.

~ "Nice work back there Sammy." Sam and Dean were in the Impala, driving away from the airport. They had given some crap statement to the police, they'd never figure it out anyways. Sam scoffed and put his head down a bit.

"Yeah, just another day at work." This sent a chuckle flying out of their mouths.

"I'm serious! You did a hell of a job back there. when did you learn Latin?" Sam fished a beer out of the cooler by his feet and opened it, shrugging.

"I didn't? I totally bullshitted all of that pronunciation." He said through laughter. They sat in silence for a minute, maybe more. The rumble of Baby's engine, and the soft rock coming from the radio was their only company.

"So theres this thing in L.A., June I think." Dean started, "It's called a- A pride parade." A smile broke out on Sam's face. "What's that all about?" Dean cleared his throat after he spoke.

Sam turned to his brother with an amused smile on his face. "Dean, you dont have to do this."

"What!" Dean lifted one of his hands off of the wheel, "I- I really want to know more!" Sam laughed at his brother's awkward state.

"Alright, if you really want me to I'll tell you. It's a celebration, kind of. Everyone in the LGBTQ+ community gets together and marches. They march for freedom, rights, to be proud of who they are." He trailed off with a fond smile.

"The LGBTQ+ community, that's-"

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and every other sexuality and identity there is." Dean nodded, not fully understanding but trying to, for the sake of his brother.

"Sounds fun. We should go." Sam damn near spilled his beer all over himself.

"What?"

"Yeah! Why not?" Sam scoffed a bit.

"I don't know, I guess I just thought you wouldn't be that into it." Their faces fell a bit as they remembered the day Sam left.

"Sam, I'm- I'm sorry." Sam's head perked up at his brother's voice, "I should've stuck up for you, should've said something. Dad was a dick, to say the least."

"No, there's not a ton you could've done, he did what he did. Nothing can change his mind, you know that." Sam kept his eyes trained on his lap.

"Yeah, but I could've at least said something."

"Dude, it's fine. I'm not gonna hold a grudge." They both stared at the long road ahead of them.

"Alright, bitch." The two grew smiles on their faces.

"Jerk."

#supernatural #Supernatural fanfic #destiel #sabriel #dean #sam #winchester #lgbtq #gay!sam #bisexual!dean #the road so far

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yvonneshan · 3 years ago

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This Is Why Tiny Things Make Us So Happy

Have you ever found yourself wandering the kitchen supplies section and gravitating toward exceptionally small whisks or spatulas, wondering how anyone could possibly find a use for them—and yet, feeling strangely compelled to buy them? Or maybe you don't consider yourself a "baby person," but find yourself letting out an involuntary squeal upon holding your friend's child for the first time and noticing its tiny fingers and toes? If so, you—like many other people on this planet—have been on the receiving end of the effects of cuteness psychology.

The "psychology of cuteness" might sound made up, but it has roots in research going back more than 70 years. Here's what to know about the science of cuteness and why tiny objects—both natural and artificial—have the ability to make us happy and comforted.

The Origins of Cuteness Psychology Even if you don't recognize his name, you're probably familiar with the work of Konrad Lorenz, a German ethologist who introduced the concept of the baby schema ("Kindchenschema") in 1943. The "baby schema" is the theory that certain physical features that are typically associated with babies—like a round face and big eyes—are so irresistibly cute to humans they will prompt us to not only feel delight, but actually desire to take care of someone or something.

"The psychology of cuteness is the idea that we find things cute that require parental care," Amanda Levison, a licensed professional counselor from Neurofeedback and Counseling Center in Harrisburg, Penn., tells Real Simple. "This happens to elicit a response out of us to take care of the babies or baby animals that need to be taken care of. Seeing something small and cute stimulates bonding behaviors and the need to take care of it and protect it."

And while this tidy evolutionary explanation makes sense, our attraction to small objects isn't entirely a result of a primitive desire to act as a parent and/or do our part to propagate the species. In fact, more recent research has indicated that our reaction to cuteness isn't necessarily directly related to some sort of instinctual need to nurture, but rather more of a general, positive feeling that can influence how we socially interact with other people. Here are some of the ways that can play out.

Our hormones are at it again. Part of the whole helpless-but-irresistible, big-eyed baby narrative is that seeing these adorable tiny humans or animals releases oxytocin—aka the "love hormone"—which is involved with forming emotional bonds, explains Varun Choudhary, MD, a board-certified forensic psychiatrist. But again, this goes beyond laughing babies and yawning puppies, and also applies to our affection for all things tiny. When the body releases oxytocin, this "makes us feel in love with the object we are attracted to," says Pareen Sehat, MC, RCC, a registered clinical counselor and certified mental health professional practicing in Vancouver, Canada.

Oxytocin is not the only hormone involved. "Dopamine is one of the most important hormones that triggers happiness and any positive emotional response," Sehat says. "Whenever we see tiny things we find cute and attractive, our brain releases dopamine and makes us feel happy."

This is another example of evolutionary biology at work, according to Sam Von Reiche, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in Paramus, N.J., and the author of Rethink Your Shrink: The Best Alternatives to Talk Therapy and Meds, "The human brain is designed to love cute, small things by rewarding us with a shot of dopamine—which makes us feel very happy—whenever we behold them, to help guarantee we will be drawn to our tiny babies and want to take care of and protect them," Von Reiche say. "This ensures their survival and, in turn, the survival of our species."

Stay on top of the latest PE bag prices with zxprinter's page.

Small things bring back the comforts of childhood. There's a reason why we were all turning to the music, movies, and TV shows of our youth during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic: Nostalgia can be a great source of comfort. But it doesn't require a global crisis for us to be drawn to objects that remind us of childhood. "People may experience different emotions to an object depending on the imprinted emotions that may be attached to a memory," Dr. Choudhary says. "For example, a young child receives a Mickey Mouse watch from her parents and later associates tiny Mickey Mouse figurines with a sense of comfort and security."

By the time we're adults, we have decades of experience forming strong emotional attachments with external objects, something Dr. Choudhary says is part of our neurodevelopmental process. "Psychoanalysts call them 'transitional objects' because they are a source of security while we process and understand our world," he explains, noting that these items are usually small, like a doll, blanket, or ball. But, as we've learned from the plot of every Toy Story movie, there comes a point when children outgrow their playthings. "As we grow older, this need to find external security diminishes as our internal world becomes more prominent," Dr. Choudhary continues.

While this makes sense, so does the idea that in times of stress, we return to things that gave us comfort at an early age. And it doesn't need to be the exact same teddy bear or toy we played with as a child—or even a toy at all. It could be a miniature version of an item. "Subconsciously, we positively associate tiny objects with the security and comfort they brought us in an earlier time in our lives," he says.

We experience awe and wonder. Our brains are often drawn to the unique and unusual. "Miniatures—tiny objects—draw our attention because they are extraordinary; the mind knows that the object is highly unusual as to size while being familiar as to design," says Carla Marie Manly, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Sonoma County, Calif. "Thus, the mind finds the tiny object appealing—cute and adorable—as it evokes a sense of normalcy and oddity at the same time."

There's also what Gail Saltz, MD, a psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine, refers to as the "awe factor," or wondering how in the world something that's usually so big can be made in such a small size. "Seeing a marvel or feat that reminds us how amazing, talented, creative people are makes us feel good," she says. "Seeing something that makes us use our imagination, and is so original [that] it gives us pleasure can, like art, [be] a creative wonder."

They're nice and nonthreatening. As humans, we like to feel a sense of control over at least some aspects of our lives (even though, in reality, we don't really). This is another part of the appeal of diminutive items, according to Brian Wind, PhD, a clinical psychologist and adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University, who explains that our fascination with the teeny "could also be linked to the fact that often we have a greater sense of control and power over smaller things."

Along the same lines, Levison points out that we're drawn to "their helplessness [and] inability to pose a threat to us." So not only do tiny things make us feel safer because we don't find them threatening, they can also give us the confidence boost that comes with feeling in control or dominant (even if that feeling is triggered by one of those airplane-sized bottles of Tabasco sauce).

They're symbolic stand-ins for the real thing. On another level, some people may gravitate towards miniatures because they don't have the money or access required to obtain the real-life versions. "While we might not be able to obtain certain items such as a live owl, an expensive race car, or a giant statue, a miniature copy can offer incredible emotional rewards," Manly explains.

This is also one of the reasons people purchase and then gift or collect cheesy souvenirs when they're out of town. "Certain tiny objects from one's travels—for example, a tiny Eiffel Tower—can bring a sense of connection to important life events and the people who have shared our journey," she adds. "Depending on one's inner needs and attachment to a certain item, a miniature object can bring a sense of pleasure, satisfaction, and even emotional relief."

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lennapo · 6 years ago

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AO3 Fanfiction masterpost *updated*

Hey!

I’m bringing back this masterpost with the newest works. You’ll find a few different fandoms, like Wayhaught, Trimberly, Sanvers..., even A couple of Faberry fics. I hope you enjoy them!

*I’m currently writing a Deanoru oneshot*

And if you have a prompt for any of those fandoms, feel free to send them my way.

WayHaught (Waverly Earp / Nicole Haught - Wynonna Earp)

Stupid (great) decisions

Nicole gets drunk and starts playing with her phone when she shouldn't. But that might not be such a bad thing.

A Tumblr prompt: "Haught... did you just thirst follow my sister?" College AU maybe and wyhaught share a class? saw you receiving prompts :D

It’s always her

With the demon's ring in her hand, Nicole remembers. Dozens of lives, dozens of faces, but always her.

Another Tumblr prompt: Wayhaught + "Its always gonna be you" (or/in somekind of soulmate AU or that thing were they are reincarnated and can sometimes get their memories from previous lives or not)

Time and Time again

They've had a lot of lifetimes together, and every single one of them counts.

This is a sequel/prequel to "It's always her", so I strongly recommend to read that one first.

Keep the tie on

Nicole has a new uniform.

Sanvers (Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer - Supergirl)

And then I’ll ruin it all by saying something stupid (like I love you)

Maggie gets to know the flirty side of Alex Danvers and realizes that, maybe, she’s being an idiot.

Assumptions

Maggie really should stop making assumptions about Alex Danvers.

The hidden face of the moon (is a masterpiece)

There’s a lot of people that cares about Alex Danvers, even if she’s a little oblivious about it. (Or the one where everybody is a little in love with Alex)

Codename: ARTEMIS (ongoing)

*Better if you previously read The hidden face…*

After Alex is badly wounded, scaring the hell out of all her family and friends, Winn decides that it’s time to do something about it.

Giggles

The DEO agents aren’t used to a happy Alex Danvers.

Out of juice

When you run away from an alien planet without enough time to bring your new gun’s charger with you.

Inevitable

Alex’s thoughts have been piling up inside a box under her bed for a long time, hidden in the pages of her notebooks for only her eyes to see. Until the day she decides to share them with the world.

Waiting for you

*Read after Inevitable. Maggies point of view.*

Since her parents kicked her out of her home, Maggie has always felt alone. She only finds some comfort on the stars and the poems of someone she found by chance on Instagram. Until she moves to Midvale and meets Alex Danvers.

Of questions and bets

There’s a hidden board at the DEO’s break room full of dates and names.

I Don’t Wanna See You With Her

It’s been months and her words from that night still echo in her head, like a wound that never heals. I can’t do this anymore.

You are my tree, my destiny.

Sometimes, Maggie needs to hug her soon-to-be-wife like her life depends on it. Some other times, she just likes to embarrass Alex in front of the others.

Beware of the Danvers sisters (and their lack of self-preservation)

Maggie is used to it. Lena just stepped into this mess without realizing.

Supercorp (Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor - Supergirl)

You make my heart feel like it’s summer (When the rain is pouring down)

Lena just sent her mother to jail and she feels alone in the world. But Kara won’t let her believe that. Post 2x08

Leo, the friendly dog. Leo loves to make friends at the park. Albert and him are a match made in heaven. Alex doesn't seem to think so.

Hollstein (Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein - Carmilla)

Eternity is a lonely word

“And what about eternity? What if I find that someone and want to keep them forever?”

Based on that little moment in 3x17 when Lafontaine catches Carmilla stroking Laura’s hair.

Trimberly (Trini/Kim - Saban’s Power Rangers)

We are a thunderstorm (ready to strike)

After the battle, they are one, glued to each other, always together. They just need a little permanent reminder of that bond. (Or the one where they all get tattoos).

You make my whole world feel so right when it’s wrong (That’s why I know you are the one)

The first time it happens, Kimberly is a second away from doing something stupid (like erasing that fucking smirk from Amanda’s face with her fist), before Jason puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Or how Trini keeps having suspicious encounters with Amanda, and Kimberly feels like she’s stepped into the Twilight Zone.

The enemy of my friend is my friend (or something like that)

Sometimes, Trini misses the days when she was still invisible at school, when she didn’t have any friends and people simply ignored her. It’s not like Trini doesn’t love her little team of misfits, she’s just not used to all the attention that being friends with the two biggest pariahs at school has brought to her life.

You've got a friend in me (as weird as that is)

There must be something in the water... Or the one where Amanda starts acknowledging Trini at school and Harper thinks she's going mad.

When the past comes knocking

There's a reason for Trini's policy against kissing cheerleaders.

Never you

Kimberly makes a decision that takes her to Trini's door on a rainy afternoon.

Tumblr prompt: Trimberly + "I regret many things but not you, never you"

In the middle of the night

In the middle of the night, in a dark, cold lake, Kim is not alone.

Okay, so @youcanbemysanity on Tumblr asked for someone to write a Trimberly fic based on the chorus of Taylor Swift’s Ready for It, and suddenly I got this idea in my head and I couldn’t not write it.

I’m not even sure if it works well with the song, but at least I tried. Also, it’s slightly NSFW.

Friday Nights

Trini loves horror movies, but there's a line she won't cross.

Another prompt from Tumblr! you choose the ship, "im not watching IT" "is xxx scared of clowns?"

Unexpected Knights

They've had a really public coming out, basically in front of the whole school, but things seemed to be going well, until they return from Winter's break and there's a new guy who won't leave Kimberly alone. But Trini has made some unexpected friends that will jump to the rescue, even if is just to avoid having Trini throwing punches around.

Answering a prompt from Tumblr: I got a trimberly prompt, Kim and trini have their relationship exposed to the school, it's mostly positive and things go good. However as they are leaving school they start getting harassed by bullies, before either can do anything they get rescued (more like helped by) surprise heroes: Bulk and Skull.

Faberry (Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray - Glee)

On songs and how she came to realize

After their argument at the auditorioum, once Rachel is gone and she’s alone again, Quinn has a revelation. Set after the ‘piano scene’ on Original Song. Faberry one-shot.

Sharing

Tina and Mike are getting married and their house is full of people. There's one only bed to share, which forces Quinn to face something she regrets doing months ago.

Another Tumblr prompt: your feet are cold, keep them away + faberry maybe ?

#ao #fanfiction #masterpost #multifandom #wayhaught #sanvers #supercorp #trimberly #faberr #hollstein #fic #my works #fanfic #writing #writing prompts #ao3

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toolatetofall · 4 years ago

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Before

Okay, I am so fucking excited. I’ve finished the first draft of part 1 of 6 of my mass effect fanfic. Going long-term, it’s going to be a ShepShep fic, but I think I’m going to characterize their relationship more as queerplatonic than sexual. It’s a 2 Shep AU (obviously) where male Shep is the “main Shepard”, but it’s told from femshep’s POV.

Anyway! It’s in second POV for femshep, and the events in the prologue are prior to joining the Normandy. She has the Earthborn/Sole Survivor background. This is a rough draft, so I haven’t posted it on AO3. To that end, I’d really appreciate hearing thoughts on characterization, writing, any minor mistakes, etc. Please feel free to message me!

I’ve never done a TW before, so if I miss something, please tell me and I will add it! I think the things that need a TW have to do with the backgrounds, so death, physical violence, gang activity. Again, if I miss something, PLEASE tell me.

Before

The memory of your mother is a hazy one. You know you loved her- her face is harder to conjure. You have the vague memory of citrus perfume, too-blonde hair, shoulders shaking with laughter. You have a holo from her case file, and you suppose you look enough alike, mostly around the nose, but you just... you can’t place her in your childhood.

It was a Tuesday evening when you found out she was missing. You’d been staying with your neighbor while your mother was at work, parked in front of the TV munching crackers as the characters on screen sang a song about friendship.You can remember every stupid word.

Amanda, your neighbor, had been getting testy; your mom was late. It was almost three hours past when she got off work when Amanda got a call and chaos broke.

The rest of the evening comes only in flashes now. The itchy, pink and yellow jumper you’d been wearing with snot-drenched sleeves. The worn, leather seats in the back of your caseworker’s car. An unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar place.

It’s a blur; you didn’t understand completely what was happening. You were six. You knew that mom was gone, but you didn’t understand where or why. You asked when she was coming back.

They didn’t have an answer.

----

Your mother was never found. Maybe she died, either back then or since, maybe she’s still alive somewhere, a survivor of the Reaper war. You have no idea, and frankly you aren’t sure that it matters. At least now. It mattered then.

Because your mother wasn’t declared legally dead, at least until you were fourteen, you couldn’t be adopted. You didn’t have any family to take you in either- not your mom’s family, she’d never talked about them, and certainly not your father whose name wasn’t even on your birth certificate. Instead, you floated from home to home every few weeks, months, years, hauling all your worldly possessions in trash bags along with you. Some placements were better than others. There was one where you’d only lasted two and a half weeks, but there was another that was almost 18 months.

The Shepards. You’d liked them; Nick and Silas. They were an eldery couple that you’d moved in with after your 9th birthday. They moved off-planet when you were ten. They’d petitioned to adopt you and take you with them, but your mom was still legally alive, and you were moved.

You found it hard to settle after that; nothing was comfortable. It couldn’t be. The moment you got comfortable was the moment you’d be moved again.

The Reds were different. You don’t remember how you fell in with them, not specifically, but you do remember having that aching need to belong somewhere, and that they fulfilled that need.

You were useful to them. You could crawl into places that the others were too big to get into. You could get into a building and squirrel away cargo, or let others in. You weren’t a bad pickpocket either. You were a child; if (when) you got caught, you could play innocent, not like the others. You could claim ignorance, youth. The Reds protected you. You were indispensable.

Until you weren’t.

----

Your biotics announced themselves with an explosion of blue light. You’d been in the middle of a job with Miller, trying to sneak some cargo out of a warehouse outside of Vancouver. He’d said something (you can’t remember what now, but it had pissed you off), and suddenly there was a flash of blue, he’d been thrown into the shelves a few meters away, and the bones in your arm had wrenched themselves apart. You’re sure you screamed, that both of you did, but you don’t remember. The pain had been so blinding that you’d passed out in seconds.

When you woke up in the hospital, you weren’t alone. Your caseworker, Cecil, was there, accompanied by a dour faced person in navy blue. Sargent Blake, Cecil had told you. Sargent Blake was there to invite you to the Alliance.

The System’s Alliance needed biotics; they’ve always needed biotics, and the state wasn’t really equipped to handle them. The Alliance had a program for biotic children. They’d taken care of the criminal charges you’d faced, and they would provide food, lodging, and education. You were a ward of the state, and the state transferred your custody while you’d slept. Invite. Feh. Like hell. The decision had already been made.

Still, you were luckier than Miller. You found out later that he was comatose for almost eight months, and arrested after he awoke. To say the Reds would no longer welcome you would be an understatement. They would’ve loved to get their hands on you.

Didn’t matter. The Alliance had you.

----

“Jane Shepard? The doctor will see you now.” You’d hesitated before following the nurse out of the waiting room. Shepard. It felt so odd. You hoped the change would keep the Reds from finding you, and you knew Nick and Silas wouldn’t mind.

Still, there were a lot of changes in a short amount of time. New ability, new name, and now new place and new species. Well, new to you anyway. As your salarian nurse took you to your exam room, you’d tried hard not to stare as they ran you through a standard medical battery. The alliance had brought you and all of their other new trainees to the citadel to get your physicals and your implants. It was surreal. You’d never seen an alien before, at least in person. Everything was so new, you’d never felt so... off balance before. But this was your new normal, and you had to adjust eventually.

----

You officially enlisted in the Alliance on your eighteenth birthday, to the surprise of no one. You’d already been engaged in their biotic training program for almost two years, and you were close to completing your secondary education under the program.

Every single teenager in that program ended up enlisted. Sometimes you guys liked to think of what you guys could do outside the Alliance; teachers, writers, cops, scientists, everything, but for the life of you, you’d never been able to imagine anything else. The Alliance felt inevitable; biotics weren’t exactly welcome in civilian life, and you didn’t have the money or support system to try to strike out on your own.

Basic was split, biotics separate from the others. It was weird. In this place of training and strength, there was an underlying understanding. The biotics were more dangerous. They had had training before. They didn’t need a weapon; they were weapons. But at that point you weren’t sure how to be anything else.

----

Nomination for ICT wasn’t a surprise. You’d worked your ass off for the Alliance and anyway, if there was a push for biotics to join the military, there was a shove to get them into special forces. You’d been a good little biotic; kept your head down, temper in check, taking and conquering even the most basic assignments without problem or complaint.

Despite the competitive atmosphere of Vila Militar, you’d ended up making friends for the first time in years. Or maybe they made you. Shaw, a too-energetic, puppyish engineer, was never going to let you shrug off his friendship, he was too damn persistent. John Shepard had also been pulled into his orbit, and the two of you had bonded over your exasperation with Shaw, mutual love of shit beer and competition, and frustration at sharing a name.

The three of you were an odd group, but it worked. Shaw was excitable and personable, keeping you together with sheer will. John (not Shepard, you’re Shepard) was responsible, a group mom through and through, trying in vain to keep you out of trouble. And you? Well, you’ve always been a bit... brusque, but they balanced it well.

They were family, or the closest you’d had in a long time. The rest didn’t matter.

----

John-fucking-Shepard, the big-fucking-hero. Of course he was on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, and of course he kicked ass to the point he was getting the Star of Terra, not to mention his damn N7 commendation.

“Just in the right place at the right time,” he’d said sheepishly when you and Shaw had caught up with him after the ceremony. You’d never rolled your eyes so hard. John always had a lucky streak a mile wide and it wouldn’t end anytime soon.

“That’s okay,” Shaw had replied with a grin as you pulled John into a headlock and messed his hair. “We’ll get you next time.”

He’d laughed because of course he did. “I look forward to it.”

----

When you had landed on Akuze with your unit, you’d expected pirates. Slavers. A straightforward explanation to the missing colonists. Instead, the only thing to greet you were empty, undisturbed buildings. It was like everyone just got up and left.

Your platoon, all 49 of them plus you and Shaw, searched the colony on your commander’s orders, but there was nothing. The terminals were all wiped clean, the data pads were gone, there weren't any tracks. Hell, there wasn’t even dust.

You all made camp nearby as the sun sunk below the horizon. None of you would say so but there was something eerie about the lost colony. Haunted. Like the planet was holding its breath.

The first maw came near midnight, announcing itself with a roar and with trembling ground that shook you out of sleep. They caught you by surprise. You may have had guards and scouts, but there was no warning.

You don’t remember much of the attack, dammit, you don’t remember. There are flashes of chaos- gunfire, screams, thresher maws pulling whole ground transports full of soldiers beneath the Earth. You remember running so hard your breath was just quick gasps, the cobalt corona of your biotics expanding around you, flashes of Shaw’s face contorted with resolution, the red of viscera everywhere you look.

You’re not even sure if those are real memories, or just echoes from your nightmares. Maybe it’s your brain filling in the gaps from what you’ve been told.

You were found 11 clicks away from camp, splattered with blood and armor corroded from acid, and passed out from pain (or so you were told. You don’t remember). Both of your arms had broken during the ordeal, likely from over-extending your biotics. You were alone. No platoon, no Shaw, not even a single body. The team that found you said that the colony was in a maw nest, that six thresher maws had attacked the camp. They destroyed the colony, the camp, and your platoon. In return, the unit only managed to kill two of them, but the bastards had the element of surprise.

You didn’t put it together until you were in a hospital, but something was wrong. More wrong than losing your whole platoon, losing Shaw, to fucking worms. They’d said the colony must have been destroyed by the maws, that they must have killed the colonists, but that’s not right. Those buildings were spotless. There were no bodies. There was no anything. The maws didn’t kill the colonists. They’re not that clean.

You tried to tell the brass. They’d given you your N7 commendation for surviving that hell; you thought that meant they’d trust you. They didn’t.

“You’ve been through a lot,” they’d told you at the memorial. “Maybe you need to take some time.” Maybe they were right, but you still knew what you saw. If you wanted answers, you’d have to find them on your own time.

----

You hit a lot of dead ends fast, and used up most of your leave following up leads that took you nowhere. It’d barely been a year before you only had one path left. The Shadow Broker.

It took every last credit you had, but they agreed to send an agent to meet you.

John agreed to go with you to the meet up point on the Citadel, in some hole in the wall cafe. It felt like time was slowing down as the agent approached. You were finally going to get answers. Then time stopped with a loud CRACK, and the contact fell dead, a hole left in the middle of their head.

You were paranoid; you’d always been paranoid. That day, it’d saved your ass. You’d been trying to get the fuck out of there when another bullet ripped through your barrier, bruising your back but, mercifully, nothing more.

You’d been far from the door. There had been two shooters, above, out of sight.

You and John didn’t say so after you’d escaped, but it had been a warning shot. Any snipers worth their salt could have killed you.

Stupid, you were so stupid.

You’d returned to your apartment, head pounding. Before you said a word, John had pulled you against his chest, squeezing hard. You remember looking him in the eyes, seeing the naked fear there.

“Stop looking.”

You’d promised you would.

You didn’t.

----

Well, at least not intentionally. When you contacted the Shadow Broker again (or their intermediary anyway), you were informed the price for the information had doubled. You were already broke, you couldn’t afford the information. You tried to double back and get your hands on the report from that day in the cafe, but there was nothing solid to follow, no leads.

What you got instead was a new assignment.

Operation Adrestia. The words tasted odd in your mouth. It’s internal affairs, sort of. Monitoring and chasing leads on operations led by humans that would wreck Alliance credibility with the Citadel. Monitoring and thwarting fringe scientists, extremists groups, keeping tabs on category sixes...

You didn’t do the investigation, just acted on information the brains gave you. If you were honest, you actually liked it. At least it was more interesting than your service had been. Lead to some good stories at least.

Disrupting a Terra Firma attack on a predominantly salarian transport.

Stopping colonial governments in the Traverse from antagonizing batarians to trigger Alliance/Hegemony conflicts.

Even the less ostentatious operations like quietly discharging an Alliance attache who’d looked a little farther than legal into AI.

It kept you busy, but it was work you loved.

----

It was 2183 when you were contacted by Admiral Kahoku. He had found out his squad was lured to their deaths with a false distress signal in the middle of a maw nest and correctly assumed you’d be interested in following the thread. Akuze was common knowledge, and Kahoku was the first member of the brass to even humor your idea that it was anything other than a tragic accident.

He’d gotten in touch with the Shadow Broker. They’d given him a name and a location.

Cerberus.

Binthu in the Voyager Cluster.

Finally, a chance for answers.

He was planning to go and wanted back up. Probably smart, considering how Cerberus disrupted your previous contact with the Broker.

It was quick and quiet, like everything you did for the Alliance. Scans of the planet reveal three active Cerberus strongholds.

The two of you decide that time was of the essence, that you needed to be quick to get information before they noticed you.

You decided to split up.

That was a mistake.

#mass effect #fanfiction #commander #shepard #femshep #shepshep #wip #2nd POV #kahoku #akuze #earthborn #sole survivor #pre mass effect #pre ME

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henisadventures · 5 years ago

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Psalmodie.

It started back in august, when I randomly came down from my room to show Sophie a song, I believe it was Pieces by Amanda Lindsey Cook. She told me she really liked it, and that if I like these kind of songs, one of here college friends is singing in a choir, in Lausanne. "Wait, I am gonna show you videos, we even have a CD! Do you want to sing in this choir? " —she asked.

At that point, I had no idea of what I am gonna get myself into. I never in a million years thought that this choir is going to give me friends, social life, unforgettable memories but most importantly it is going to evolve my love for the Lord. I said yes. I said why not, as Emily Wilson thought me.

Yeah, so we were watching the videos, and she told me to decide quickly if I would like to join or not because the first repetition is right around the corner. Also, even though I had like 0 language skills in French,I was like why not.

The first repetition day comes, I was SO nervous, you cannot imagine. I changed outfits at least 3 times, I was barely able to eat, but I had to, cause we were to leave after luch to meet Anouk.

Anouk is now my Psalmodie mommy, I love her to pieces. She’s been the helping hand I always needed, the reassurance that it is gonna be okay, and that „no, no problem if you dont know all the songs” that I replayed in my head every single time I had a doubt in the project or in myself.

Yeah, so we are there, going to Lausanne, I am about to meet 60 new people, there goes the social life hiatus, I am about to make friends there! Aha, yes. But it needed a bit more time, that I expected.

I enjoyed every single minute of every repetition. We started with the warmups, and the „I am so happy, Jesus is my salvation!”, was the first one that I understood. The other one, however I still have no idea about, honestly, what is the lyrics of the do, mi, so, do, do, so, mi, do thing?

Moooving on. We started to sing a new song, Christ est tout pour moi. When I tell you, this song is THE song for me. It was the first one, when I actually felt like I am in a movie. It was the best feeling ever, and we were just practicing. I felt like above the clouds closer to God every single time.

Okay, I have a confession, whenever JD or Marc was talking I didn’t understand 90% of them. Even during the concert, exept, when Marc was speaking in English which was the weirdest thing ever cause I got used to not be able to understand him.

Yeah so we were preparing for the CD recording. I had like 3 weeks to learn seven songs in French and luckily none of them was Garde ma bouche. Who am I joking though, I love that song now.

So, the recording days. I kind of knew a few people, but I was just guessing some names or faces. Oh gosh, it was a very hard but very precious two days.

When we were singing Vase d’argile, that feeling is something I will save into a bottle. It was the best thing ever. The whole two days were a blessing even though I was like extra extra sick a day before. It was a wild ride, but every single minute was worth it.

I am gonna be on a CD!!!!! I still get very happy about it whenever it comes to my mind.

Yeah so back to the repetition phase, we were finally singing Christ est tout pour moi again. I was missing it truly :( Then all the other songs I didn’t know about, AND that was the time I realized we are gonna do CHOREOGRAPHIES. Just imagine. I am concentrating on the lyrics, the melody, the correct time to sing, hand gestures (clap or snap) and then my feet. I was like ok ☺ No worries. Hahahhha, I was very worried.

Shout out to everybody who supported me during the preparation of the concert. Honestly, without you guys (and the Creator) , I wouldn't be able to survive.

Yeah, so the concerts were last weekend, a week ago Nathalie came over to help me with the songs, because 3 days before there were 2 songs that I had no idea about. Eh, lol. c’est la vie.

Thank you Nathalie again!!!

So the weekend comes. What a weekend.

I was barely able to eat. Literally I ate like 3 spoons of lunch after I was suffering with Rigo Jancsi in the kitchen for 2 hours. It was worth it though, everybody loved it.

Then Anouk and Samuel came to pick me up and we were on the way for the concert. My hand was shaking so much, I was either near of these three: crying, stroke or passing out. Only one of them happened, and it was not the stroke or the passing out. I was wearing the scarf and honestly I felt like a Bella. A Psalmodie Bella. I literally went to Giulia and shouted to her that ARE WE THE PSALMODIE BELLAS YES OR NO??

So I was trying to ignore the fact that I don’t know all the songs as much as I was able to, and I am not gonna lie, at some point I was able to. Because the atmosphère of the concert was sooooo so so so magical.

Let us see those concert songs, shall we?

✨Car toi seul est Dieu✨ The intro song, so amazing, I loved it very much. Little backstory, I was listening to this song every time I was cooking on Monday nights. I found a version on Spotify, I knew the alto and there was the perfect music for cooking. Alas! What was the thing I absolutely forgot? The 2nd verse. Haha. I knew the song perfectly exept for the second verse. I realized it exactly where you guessed: during the concert.

✨Bien compter nos jours✨ Ehhh. The song, that I had no full picture in my had until the Wednesday before the concert. Long, long song. I was genuinely frustrated but I acted like I knew all the words and the ending is very epic, 10/10.

✨Oui je crois (Le Crédo)✨ Another epic song, the standing up is just soooooooooo cool, I loved it but I absolutely forgot about the hand-moving part at the 2nd verse, lol. I thought I knew this song, but I had to realize that I was wrong…during the concert.

✨Christ est tout pour moi✨ This song could be my anthem for real. This song is a little more special than the others because it was the first song that I rehearsed really and honestly I felt like above the clouds. Still do, whenever I think about it. Tears of joy, feeling the touch of Heaven.

✨Vase d’argile✨ Oh wow, this song is just wow. When we were doing the recordings, I will never forget that 3 seconds of silence after we finished. This song is also everything we evern need to know. I love it so much. Now I see.

✨Jour de jugement✨ The third very very epic song. I didn’t know all the verses, but as before, I acted like I did. Very deep, very well built up. „la malédiction”… was just…wow.

✨Joie promise dès l’origine✨ This contrast was kind of weird for me, we had the 3 songs before, all very deep, all very epic and dramatic, and then, there comes this bundle of joy with 6 different instruments, all happy, after we were singing about Jugement day. We just casuallytold the people that „hey, actually, no worries, because there is somebody who was promised to save us the scary things!!!!”. Honestly I don’t know if it was intentional, but in my opinion it was brilliant like this.

✨Plus grand que tout autre nom✨Oh well, this song was the „I wish I was just over it song” for me because I was so freaking scared of this, honestly. Lyrics, feet, snap, when to stop, when to snap, when to change snap to clap and just in general sing correctly, etc, etc. It was the most stressful song for me but I loved it, it is a very nice song, and the improvisation on the 2nd concert was a very precious moment.

✨Le saint nom de Jésus✨I knew the refrain, that’s all. Very thankful that JD was singing with us because as I learend in my past 12 with the Gyermekkórus in Szeged, if you just look at the mouth of the leader, it is gonna be fine. Köszönöm szépen Nagyi!!!

✨Un Pére pour l’orphelin✨You repair the broken hearts and make dreams reborn. Thank you Nathalie for this because I had an extra smile on while singing this. I didn’t knew I like this song but is just such a nice and fun song, I realized cannot not like it.

✨Jamais loin de moi✨This was a very special song, because this is the eldest kid’s favourite. When we are walking home from school, or even just randomly playing we just randomly start to sing it. He loves it so much and I am so proud of him.

✨Ta bonté✨ This song was stuck in my head whenever I saw the sunrays through the clouds. It is just so beautiful, with all the instruments and just in general the meaning of the song. It is about the endless love of God. My favourite part in the lyrics was the ooooohhhhhhh

✨Garde ma bouche✨ The Goliat to my David. Guys. If I could learn the 75% of this song, than literally anybody on this planet is able to. There is no impossible. I will never forget, when on one of the repetitions, Marc was telling something like „Yes I know it is fast…” and at least 5 people looked at me with either laugh or pity… I was like „hahhahhahah yeah i know hahahahahha”. It was the time of true hopelessness. But. I aint no quitter, so I learned it. Second by second, word by word. And it became one of my favourite songs.

✨Bénis Dieu✨I have really ten thousand reasons to say this. One of them is Psalmodie.

✨Ne crains rien✨The baby-guitar song. That’s how I call the ukulele because it just looks like a ba-by-gu-i-tar. Okay so I didn’t know the lyrics, but luckily there were some oooooooh-s and the other parts – I gave them to the Lord.

✨Abondance de joie✨This song is just again a bundle of joy. And also epic. I loved SO MUCH when during the repetition before the concert we just kept on singing it without Marc. That was very funny.

✨Yahwe✨ I went to the concert of Collectif Cieux Ouvert and I heard it once. That was all I knew about this song, and because has been singing it since ages and everybody knows it by heart, we didnt rehears it so I was like, ok, I am just gonna follow the chef. It was amazing though.

✨Alleluia de Noël✨The last song. And also a very special cause the middle child has been singing it at home for so long. She loves this song so much. So do I. This song is the soul of Christmas. Here is the Saviour, he is born. And the way we were singing when we came down the stairs. I am forever thankful that we have a video of that because that moment is too beautiful to be only saved in our memories. Whenever I watch that video, my heart is filled with joy.

I cannot be thankful enough for this choir and these people who I am lucky enough to call my friends. I learned so much from them in this past few months, it is crazy. I love every single one of them. I didn’t know I needed Psalmodie until I found it.

Here comes the cheesy part:

Shout out to Lea for being my crazy friend, to Giulia for being the nicest Bella ever, to Nathalie for being there when needed, to Aurelie for the helping words and the notes, to Sebastien for not talking to me haha, to Anouk for being my Psalmo mama, to Lauraine for always smiling and talking, to JD & Marc for being awesome awesome leaders, to Theo for the magic tricks, to Marc for the cow-jokes, to Estelle for being the first person I ever talked in Psalmodie, to Vanessa for the unforgettable car-rides and honestly for every single person who is talking to me in English because I know it is hard just look at me struggling with French. This is an unforgettable experience. I love every second of serving the Lord this way.

I could go on for hours but that is all for today, if you read all that, you can come to collect your friendship award, I appreciate it very much, thank you for your time. 💛

Bénis Dieu oh mon âme !!

Á toute,

Heni

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tatooine92 · 8 years ago

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MEA: From the Ground Up - Part 2

Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda Pairing: Amanda Ryder x Reyes Vidal Rating: T Length: 2 parts so far (Part 1 here: https://tatooine92.tumblr.com/post/159231311635/mea-from-the-ground-up-part-1) Spoilers?: Depends on your definition of spoiler. It’s set post-game. Summary: Mandy Ryder enjoys a night in with her best gal pals, Vetra and Suvi, when lo, a suave smuggler interjects himself.

"And then he tried to kiss you?" Vetra asked, staring at Amanda over the top of her drink.

"Yep," Amanda said. She took a long sip from her drink, which was the closest Andromeda equivalent to a Long Island iced tea.

She, Suvi, and Vetra were sitting in the kitchen aboard the Tempest as it orbited Meridian, trying to have some kind of girls' night in. Cora was busy training colonists in basic defense and survival, and Lexi was busy with the thawing process. Peebee, of course, was nowhere to be found, adventuring around the planet. Maybe it was for the best. The kitchen wasn't exactly built for a large group.

"Oh, that's embarrassing," sighed Suvi. The steam from her tea curled up from the mug, framing her face. "How unfortunate."

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," Vetra said. "What of it, Amanda? You want me to shoot his kneecaps or something?"

"Bit drastic, don't you think?" said Suvi.

"I dunno. Seems about fair to me. He breaks her heart, I break every major joint in his body."

"That's okay, Vetra," Mandy said. "I don't want him dead or maimed or anything."

"Just saying. Wow, what a jerk. See, you should've demanded a title while you had a chance."

"She might still have a chance," Suvi remarked. "He tried to apologize, at least. That means something, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, if I want to get back with him." Mandy took another long drink and sighed, letting the buzz warm her. "Look, I don't know. He was great and all, but maybe I just made a mistake. It's okay, it happens. You make bad decisions, then you deal with them."

"I was really hoping he wouldn't be trouble," said Suvi. She gently patted Mandy's arm. "May I make you some actual tea instead?"

"Nah, but I'll take another one of these."

"Coming right up." Vetra stood, collecting her glass and Mandy's to make another round at the counter. "Don't even ask how I got the ingredients for this."

"Wasn't planning on it," Mandy said with a smirk. "Unless you plan on telling."

"And give away my contacts and techniques? Never."

Mandy laughed, already more relaxed. She wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the warm presence of the two women on the Tempest who were most like sisters to her. She'd spent her entire life being Aaron's big sister; it was nice to have Suvi and Vetra be that for her.

Suvi busied herself making another cup of tea while Vetra mixed the drinks and warmed up some snacks. Mandy sat at the table and scrolled through photos she'd taken with her omni-tool. There was Cora, being all serious—ever the squad mother. Jaal, meeting a kitten someone had smuggled into their cryo pod with them (though how it survived, Mandy had no idea). So many good memories and pleasant—

Ding! An email notification blocked a picture of Liam posing so that a distant monolith rested on his palm.

New email from Reyes Vidal

Mandy's stomach jumped halfway up her throat.

"Uh... guys?"

Vetra and Suvi turned in a heartbeat.

"What, you want me to shoot his kneecaps out now?" Vetra asked.

"I--I don't know. He just... emailed me...?"

"Ooh, maybe it's an apology!" Suvi grabbed her tea and sat back down next to Mandy. "Read it, please?"

"Nix some of the enthusiasm, maybe," Vetra told her. She handed Mandy the second drink, complete with a little paper umbrella that really had no reason being in a Long Island iced tea.

"I can't help it. I just want her to be happy, with or without Reyes, whatever works for her. You know?"

"...yeah, okay." Vetra sat down with her own drink. Mandy was still staring at the notification. Her hand shook a little. "Want us to leave you alone?"

"No," Mandy said. She gulped. "I'd like you guys here if I try to punch something."

She tapped the notification and took a deep breath as the holographic screen expanded. She skimmed the lines, chewing her lip.

Amanda, my dearest,

It occurs to me that all our past communication has been incredibly one-sided. I find this unfair and highly unromantic. Please accept this humble attempt to speak my mind and sing your praises in the spirit in which it was intended.

I have never confessed that I fell in love with you. I hinted, but never said it in those words. So there they are. Someone once told me that if you write something down, it becomes true. Or maybe it just more accurately reflects truth? I'm not sure.

Just the same, there are the words. I fell in love with you. It was entirely by accident. I walked into Kralla's Song to meet the lauded Pathfinder, not the most magnificent woman in either of the galaxies I have called home. Did it feel like a vid to you? Perhaps I am overstating the emotion of the moment.

How would it go if it were a vid? There he is, the dashing and debonair smuggler, and there she is, humanity's last best hope. They look up. Their eyes meet. He realizes she has the most beautiful blue eyes, like a nebula. And he thinks, oh shit.

I cannot say if it was love at first sight. I think it was interest at first sight. But I spoke to you, and you were as smart and witty as you were beautiful. I could not wait to spend every waking moment near you. And I have not felt that way with anyone.

I hope one day I may actually have that opportunity.

Yours, Reyes

"Holy shit," Mandy breathed. She was still shaking. "It's... it's a love letter."

"Is he for real?" Vetra snorted.

"How endearing," Suvi murmured. "That's very sweet."

"Yeah, sweet like poison dipped in chocolate."

"Vetra!"

"Wow, guys, okay, we've got the full spectrum of emotions here," Mandy interrupted, closing the email. "Geez. I, uh... wow."

She chugged a lot more of her drink than maybe she should have at once. Both Suvi and Vetra watched her with concern.

"What are you gonna do?" Vetra asked.

"I don't know," Mandy replied. "I'm not gonna write him back. That's... nope. Not gonna happen."

"Probably wise," Suvi agreed. "I get the feeling you'd scream a lot if you tried."

"She'd scream, I'd scream, he'd scream for his mommy by the time I got done with him," Vetra said. "Look, Amanda, you're like a second sister to me. Which means anybody who hurts you gets the full brunt of my wrath. So just say the word and I'll arrange a few convenient accidents."

"Thanks, but no. Glad you view me as a sister, though. Now I feel all warm and fuzzy."

"Well, that might be the booze, but you're welcome."

Ding!

"Oh my God, he emailed me again!"

"Ladies, I believe we have a stalker on our hands," said Vetra.

Mandy opened the email and quickly read it to herself. "Wait a sec, Vetra."

Amanda,

It occurs to me I may have laid it on a bit thick in that last message. I got carried away thinking of you. I'll try not to startle you with such profuse declarations of passion in the future.

Yours ever, Reyes

"Yours ever," repeated Suvi when Mandy had finished reading the second message aloud.

"Profuse declarations of passion?" Vetra said. If she had an eyebrow, she would have been raising it.

"He's not Shakespeare, that's for damn sure." Mandy closed the second message and finished her drink. "It's... kind of sweet, I guess."

"Hard to be nice to him when he went months without even saying hello," Vetra said, pushing the plate of snacks closer to Mandy. Mandy took one--it was something vaguely cheesy, but wonderfully greasy--and chewed thoughtfully. "So... what now?"

"I think I'll keep quiet and see if he sends more," Mandy said. "I don't really want to jump to a response. Other than that... I don't know."

"Smart girl," nodded Vetra.

"Agreed," said Suvi. "I know I would want a lover to send me nice words until I got sick of hearing them."

"You're a romantic at heart," Mandy told her. She just didn't confess So am I.

Apart from those two dramatic emails, girls' night ended calmly, and everyone went to their own rooms. Mandy shuffled to her bedroom, buzzed almost to the point of replying and pounding out an email in response. She just barely resisted as she flopped on her bed, omni-tool lighting up her dark cabin as she reread the first email. Something about it wrapped her in warmth, like a tender hug--or like being held close while dancing.

"You definitely have style," she mumbled.

She just wasn't sure if style would be enough.

#steph writes #fanfic #mass effect andromeda #me:a #f!ryder x reyes #amanda ryder #reyes vidal

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olehistorian · 8 years ago

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Almost unrecognisable from her role as the dowdy housekeeper in Downton Abbey, Phyllis Logan is starring in an exotic new medical drama. She talks to Judith Woods about seizing the day and those Downton movie rumours… 'Obviously I never had a career to speak of before Downton Abbey,’ says Phyllis Logan drily, raising an eyebrow for further effect. ‘I sometimes wonder how on earth did I fill my time?’ It’s not true, of course, but we all know what she means: sometimes a jobbing actress is swept away by a juggernaut of a role that takes her a very long way from where she used to be. The Downton effect has had an impact on the career of every member of its award-winning ensemble cast. Lily James has starred in the BBC’s War & Peace and the movie Cinderella, Michelle Dockery landed a role as a criminal in the gritty US show Good Behavior, Joanne Froggatt played a serial killer in the ITV series Dark Angel – and now Phyllis is set to star in a new ITV drama series, The Good Karma Hospital. But it’s her years in service to the Crawley family that have made her a poster girl for ladies of a certain age who refuse to accept that life holds no more adventure. When her doughty but warm-hearted character Mrs Hughes finally found love with the pompous but kindly butler Mr Carson, it struck a blow for midlife love. In those days ‘Mrs’ was an honorific title bestowed on senior female staff, regardless of whether they had ever wed, so Mrs Hughes’s comical angst about whether he would be expecting ‘a full marriage’ struck a chord with any woman over 40 who has ever fretted about going to bed with a new partner. ‘Mrs Hughes was aerated about the sex thing because she probably hadn’t had much experience, but that turned out to be the least of her bloomin’ worries,’ acknowledges Phyllis. ‘God preserve us all from nitpicking middle-aged men who can’t abide change.’ In the phenomenally successful series, which ran for six seasons, Mr Carson (played by Jim Carter) turned out to be irrevocably stuck in his ways – the routines of the big house where he had been serving for many years. Ironically, it was his new wife’s performance in the couple’s kitchen (as opposed to the bedroom) that proved his greatest source of disappointment. Eventually, with affectionate pragmatism, the pair decided he should eat his meals at the Downton kitchen, cooked by Mrs Patmore, as before. ‘It’s a very identifiable scenario,’ says Phyllis, 61. ‘When a more mature couple makes a life together, each brings certain expectations and baggage and of course there’s always need for compromise, which some men in particular find difficult. Phyllis, once best known for playing posh totty Lady Jane Felsham in the 1980s and 90s series Lovejoy, was a late starter herself when it came to settling down. She met her husband, Pirates of the Caribbean actor Kevin McNally, in the 1993 miniseries Love and Reason when she was in her late 30s, but they didn’t get round to tying the knot until she was 55. ‘I had always sworn I would never have an actor in the house because they are so much trouble and so vain, but you can’t legislate for Cupid’s bow,’ she says. When she got together with Kevin, theirs was not a series of careful compromises but a classic coup de foudre. ‘I never thought real love – the sort where your blood tingles and your world explodes with joy – would happen to me at my time of life. I believed I had missed out. But I’m ever so glad it happened.’ A couple of years later, aged 40, she had their son David. He is now 20 and studying music and music production at university in Leeds. Once upon a time, reaching six decades was a milestone to be dreaded rather than celebrated, but, in well-cut jeans and a flattering floaty top, her burnished hair hanging loose, Phyllis provides incontrovertible proof that though life may not begin at 60, it sure as heck continues at a rip-roaring pace – as long as you have the right attitude towards the rollercoaster. ‘We packed David off to university not so long ago and as we drove back to our house in West London we were listening to the Elaine Paige show on Radio 2,’ recalls Phyllis. ‘She played Peggy Lee singing “The Folks Who Live on the Hill” and as soon as I heard the line “and when the kids grow up and leave us” I burst into absolute floods of tears and spent the rest of the journey splashing about in the passenger seat. But since then I’ve thought a lot about empty nest syndrome and how once your chick flies the coop it gives women the freedom to stretch their own wings once more, too.’ And as fate would have it, Phyllis’s new role in The Good Karma Hospital has allowed her to do just that and will doubtless prove a source of inspiration to a great many female viewers in a similar position. Set in India, the series features another estimable actress, Amanda Redman, 59, who plays an eccentric expat running a ramshackle cottage hospital, which is short on resources and long on compassion. ‘It’s a cross between Holby City and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel but with dark secrets, so it should be right up everybody’s street,’ says Phyllis. ‘I play Maggie Smart, who has come to India for her daughter’s wedding and becomes unwell, so ends up in hospital and falls deeply in love. Not with a man – she already has a husband – but rather with the community, the culture and the way of life. She’s a fascinating character who has such humour and joie de vivre and it was great to play a woman finding herself and connecting with a wider spirituality.’ Phyllis spent months filming the six-part series on location in Sri Lanka. She, too, found herself smitten with the place and the people and at one point Kevin flew over from the US where he is in the cast of the US television series Turn: Washington’s Spies and they managed a 12-day break together. ‘We stayed in a hotel on the beach and it was bliss. The majority of the population are Buddhists and seemed so calm, open and thankful for whatever life gave them; I think we could all learn from them.’ All the same, Phyllis isn’t entirely convinced she believes in karma as a concept. ‘It would be nice to think that if you are a decent human being then eventually things will turn out right,’ she says. ‘But fate can intervene and pull the rug out from under you without warning and there might be nothing you can do.’ It is something she and Kevin can speak of from personal experience. Phyllis’s mother died from a dementia-related illness aged 90, but it was the agonisingly slow decline of Kevin’s mother over many years that proved more devastating. ‘Kev’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in her early 60s and from then on his father became her carer and it was so hard for him. She reached the point where she didn’t recognise her own son and was agitated and upset because she had no idea where she was or who she was; that was heartbreaking to witness.’ Phyllis is an ambassador for Dementia UK and does what she can to support the charity’s work. ‘It’s such a cruel disease. I am aware there’s a genetic component so I do brain-training on my phone every day. Will that help stave it off? I have no idea; I think of Iris Murdoch – such a clever woman who dealt with words and complex memories all her life, and yet all those things that made her so creative and unique were taken while she was still alive. Ultimately, all you can do is cross your fingers and make the most of every day.’ Phyllis is certainly doing that. Last year was a veritable Air Miles bonanza; as well as her sojourn in Sri Lanka she went to Sydney for a Downton DVD launch, Los Angeles where the ensemble cast of Downton won yet another Screen Actors Guild Award, and then to New York to receive the prestigious Great Scot Award from the US branch of the National Trust for Scotland (previous recipients include comedian Billy Connolly and actor Alan Cumming). She wore a dress bought in John Lewis embellished for the occasion with a tartan sash and matching ribbon. ‘I’m not interested in fashion,’ Phyllis confides. ‘It’s just not on my radar. Whenever I’m doing a contemporary role, the wardrobe mistress will usually say, “Let’s go to Selfridges and get a personal shopper.” Most women would probably love it, but my face falls because I absolutely hate trying on clothes. One of the things I loved about Downton was the fact I had two outfits and maybe a coat if I got to go into the village; the girls in the Crawley family kept having to go for fittings every time there was a big dinner, which would have driven me mad.’ Logan loves… Reading Alan Bennett’s Keeping On Keeping On. I love him; my husband Kev played him in the stage version of The Lady in the Van. Listening to The Today programme on Radio 4 and Classic FM. Watching I do enjoy a good nature documentary. Planet Earth II was spectacularly good. Guilty pleasure A whole bag of Kettle Chips with a crisp glass of Picpoul de Pinet. Beauty product Boots No7 moisturiser; it’s not fancy but it does the job. Desert island luxury A karaoke machine, stage, lights and all the songs from the 70s. I’ll make a row of coconuts for an audience and there’ll be no stopping me. The ongoing international popularity of Downton means Phyllis and various other cast members are still asked to appear at events to meet the fans and launch DVDs. She’s often asked about her wigs and whether she kept one; she had three identical hairpieces all of which she affectionately dubbed Elsie. ‘People ask me if I was tempted to take a wig or that big bunch of keys I carried, but that would be theft, because these things aren’t my property,’ says Phyllis emphatically. ‘Besides, if there’s a Downton movie, which I hope will happen, all the props and costumes will be needed.’ Ah yes, the Downton film; rumours still swirl but so far there’s been no confirmation. According to Phyllis it may yet happen if – and it’s a huge if – the cast members can ever be gathered in one place long enough. ‘It’s like herding cats!’ she laughs. ‘We’re all so busy and in different countries, but it would be such fun to get together again. The camaraderie on set was extraordinary.’ Phyllis was in every episode of the family saga. Her husband even appeared in a handful of episodes as Horace Bryant, the stern father of an army major who fraternised with housemaid Ethel (Amy Nuttall), getting her pregnant before he died in action. Horace persuaded her to hand over his grandchild to him, which was brutal but necessary as she had been sacked from Downton in disgrace and had taken to prostitution in order to survive. ‘I was quite miffed that the producer had offered Kev a job without even consulting me,’ laughs Phyllis. ‘I wouldn’t dream of queering his pitch – although I do think I’d be great as Johnny Depp’s mother in a Pirates of the Caribbean film [in which Kevin plays Joshamee Gibbs]. And every lad needs a cuddle from his mother now, doesn’t he?’ Her eyes glitter with the sort of mischief Mrs Hughes would most certainly not approve of, but now Phyllis has emerged from the shadow of her fictional alter ego, she is keen to push boundaries. Last summer she resolved to challenge herself by taking on a theatre role in a dazzling touring production of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, alongside Samuel West. ‘The prospect of going back on stage was a bit frightening, but that is exactly why I embraced it,’ she says. ‘I can be a bit of a scaredy-cat so I have to push myself and I was so very glad I did. It took me right back to my early days as an actress: booking my own digs, sitting on the seafront on my day off eating fish and chips. I also got to see fascinating places such as Canterbury, Cambridge and Brighton.’ Seeing the world – be it near or far – is something she gently urges all women to do once the kids have left. ‘Travel does broaden the mind and fill the senses,’ she says. ‘It gives you a new perspective and there are so many beautiful regions in Britain that I can think of no better way to spend time than exploring them because you’re a long time dead – so carpe diem, ladies!’ The Good Karma Hospital will be on ITV next month. Phyllis is an ambassador for Dementia UK and is supporting its campaign timeforacuppa.org Styling: Natalie Read. Hair: Alex Price at Frank Agency. Make-up: Lucy Gibson at Frank Agency using Clinique. Table and vase, both Habitat Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-4128572/Interview-Downton-star-Phyllis-Logan.html#ixzz4WSbvI2CF Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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