#Delta 9 White Out

[lyjen]

Connection | Eddie Diaz

Summary: After Eddie saves a woman named Lila from falling down a building, she keeps on stopping by the firehouse every time when he’s on shift. When Eddie tells her to stop doing it, she storms out. When (Y/n) leaves the firehouse from visiting her husband, she gets attacked by Lila, making Eddie pay for the things he said.

Request

Taglist: ( @oliviah-25 @shauna-carsley

9-1-1 Masterlist

______

With his eyes locked onto the giant white building, covering a large amount of blue sky, Eddie hopped out of the fire engine. A woman was dangling on a sign, hanging on the a side of the apartment building of twelve, maybe fourteen levels high.

“Yeah, what's the plan?” Buck’s voice brought Eddie back to reality as he quickly closed the door shut behind him and got a bag with a harness and rope out of the compartment. 

“Eddie, Chimney, I want you on the floor below. Kick out that window so we can bring her through there.” His captain was shouting orders as Eddie and Chimney waited for him to finish explaining their task. 

“Copy that, cap.” Eddie confirmed their task as he and Chimney made their way inside, getting to the eighth floor. 

Chimney and Eddie entered the apartment with the window on the Alpha side of the building. 

On calls like this, timing was incredibly important. The woman was already hanging some time, so how much longer can that woman hold her own weight? 

So keeping the team, and the captain updated about where you were, what you were doing, was necessary. 

“Just entered the unit cap.” Eddie said through the radio. “About to anchor off and remove the window.” He added as he let go of the speech button, while walking towards the Alpha side of the building.  

“Copy that” Their captain's voice sounded through the radio again to confirm that he knew what Eddie and Chimney were up to. 

“Okay so, you harness up and I’ll pop out the glass.” Chimney said as he pointed between the two of them. “Copy that” Eddie confirmed as he shrugged off the strap of the bag off his shoulder. 

Eddie got out a line and quickly scanned the room for the best suitable point to secure his line on. His eyes fall onto a large concrete pillar on the corner of the Alpha to Delta side of the building. 

That’ll have to do. 

He opens the black bag and fishes out the bright blue line. He quickly secures the line around the concrete pillar and tightens it, while Chimney tries to carefully pop out the window. 

“Just finished securing the lines, cap. I’m all harnessed up.” Buck's voice sounded through the radio as Eddie stepped into the harness, making sure he was safe and secured. 

“Coming down now.” Buck added. 

Eddie placed his helmet onto his head and clicked the two pieces together. 

Just as Bobby copied to Buck’s update, Hen’s slightly, yet also calm voice came through the radio. “Cap, we have a problem. We got to move now. That sign is not secure!” she said through the radio, while Eddie secured the rope to the anchor point.

There was something about these kinds of calls, the ones with time pressure, where Eddie could never get used to. He may look calm and all, but on the inside his stomach made a dozen kinds of backflips. 

“Alright thirty seconds, Buck’s coming down.” Bobby tries to keep calm through the radio. “Chimney, how is that window?” he asked as soon as he finished that last sentence. 

Chimney was holding both glass removal tools on the glass window, ready to move it, as he used one of his hands to speak through the radio again.

 “In progress” Chimney said, as he grabbed both tools again and carefully removed the glass from the window frame. 

While Eddie saw Chimney carrying the window towards the other side of the room, he put on his last glove and moved towards the window. Ready to guide the woman inside as soon as Buck got the rescue strap around the woman. 

Eddie walked towards the now glassless window, as he caught some screaming in combination with Buck's calm voice. 

What the hell was going on? Buck was within reach now he guessed, especially after Cap told Hen that he needed thirty seconds, and he already crossed those. 

He placed the palm of his hands on the window frame as he took a glance, to get a vision of what was happening a few floors above him. But just as he popped out his head through the window frame and stepped with his feet onto the window sill to get to even height, he could hear the woman screaming in agony. 

He could hear a loud scream coming closer, and closer. That’s when he realized. 

She was falling. 

Eddie immediately opened his arms, as he could see the woman coming closer towards him. Before he knew it, the woman had her arms locked around his neck, as his arms were locked underneath her armpits. For a split second it felt like he was playing god. 

His stomach was being crushed by the window frame he was hanging out. He could feel the woman starting to slip away as gravity was doing its job.

 “Chimney!” he groaned as he tried to keep himself and the woman from falling down. With one foot he was standing on his tiptoes on the windowsill, the other was trying desperately to find some kind of ground to be placed on.

“Geez!” Chimney’s voice shouted as he realized Eddie was holding the falling woman through the window. He quickly dropped whatever he was holding and ran towards the window to guide and assist Eddie and the woman inside. 

Eddie could feel Chimney pulling him back by the back of his harness. But as soon as Eddie felt that he was falling towards the inside of the window, he couldn’t find his balance. His legs gave in on the weight he was carrying and he fell down onto his side. 

“Oh my god, oh my god” the woman gasped through her cries, holding onto Eddie like she was the only thing that could save her. How did he pull this off? Chances like this are one in a million, maybe a billion. 

The woman finally let go of Eddie, trying to remember what the hell just had happened.  Eddie pushes himself up with the palms of his hands, trying to catch his breath.  “You saved me!” she gasped as she took another look at Eddie. She fell into his arms again, curling her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her body, nearly crushing him. “Thank you! Thank you!” she panted. 

Eddie awkwardly padded her back softly, “Just doing my job, ma’am” he says, trying to suppress the groan in his voice, her arms pushing all of the air out of his lungs. 

Her arms loosened around his neck, as she placed her hands onto both his shoulders firmly. “Please, call me Lila” she said with a smile on her face. “Thank you..” she said questioningly, as she waited for Eddie to tell her his name. “Eddie” he added. 

“Thank you Eddie” she sighed, pulling him into one last hug. 

______

“I swear, she shoved me at first, then pushed me and punched me in the chest when she saw me.” Eddie told Buck as he walked out the kitchen, towards the couch where Chimney and Hen were chilling in between shifts. 

”You’re kidding right?” Buck answered as he jumped over the back of the couch, taking place next to Hen as he grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl on the table. 

“I mean I get it, Karen would’ve done the exact same to me. It’s not everyday when your husband gets held hostage in an ambulance.” Hen said as she locked her eyes on Eddie. 

Eddie sat down on the armrest of the couch Chimney was chilling on. He could hear Bobby coming up the loft as Buck shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. “But everything between the two of you is okay, right?” Buck asks, with a mouth full of popcorn. “Yes, I explained everything to her and now we’re good.” Eddie said, as he felt two eyes burning into his skin.

“Eddie, you have a visitor” Bobby’s voice sounded as he joined the group on the loft. Eddie’s brows furrowed in confusion, who was asking for him? It couldn’t be his wife, right? Normally (Y/n) would ask if she could come over, she would never pop up unannounced. 

But when Eddie read Bobby’s face, he knew immediately who it was. 

“Speaking of the devil..” Chimney laughed as he threw one piece of popcorn into his mouth. “Oh! Is it (Y/n)? I’ve been dying for that cheese cake she made us last time.” Buck asks Bobby. But he didn’t answer, Bobby’s eyes were locked onto Eddie.

Eddie’s expression morphed into an annoyed one as he thought about the woman who was downstairs. “No. It’s Lila.” Eddie’s voice sounded low as he ended the answer with a sigh. 

“You still didn’t tell her to stop coming here?” Hen asks as Eddie placed his hand on his chin, thinking about how he was going to handle this. He shook his head, “I hoped it would blow over.” he admitted. 

He hoped this was some kind of phase that would last two or three days. But right now they were on day six. Even someone from B-shift told Eddie that some woman was looking for him, and it turned out to be Lila. Somehow, she found out when he was working. Or maybe he was going insane, and it was pure coincidence. 

 “Wow, what chapter did I miss? Who’s Lila?” Buck asked as he looked around the room, waiting for someone to answer his question. “Lila, is the woman that Eddie saved through that window.” Chimney added as he kept his eyes on the news.

“Anyways, the shift after that call. She stopped by, thanked me and gave me a box of cupcakes. Last shift she was here too, but I told her to leave because we were ‘busy’.” He said as he quoted the word busy with his fingers. ”I heard she even came over by B-shift, looking for me. But I guess she figured out my schedule.” he added.

He stood up from the armrest, “This is the third time.” Eddie said as he folded his arms over each other. He didn’t want to be rude towards her, but this was getting weird and annoying. Everyone was welcome, walking in if they needed help, but she didn’t need help. Not anymore. He got that she wanted to thank him, but one time would be enough. 

“This has to stop. I need to end this” he said determinedly as he gave himself a nod and walked towards the stairs. 

As he walks down the steps of the stairs, he spots the woman standing between the fire engine and the fire truck. With a plastic container in her hands, looking around the firehouse, taking in the environment she was in right now. 

When she spotted Eddie walking towards her, a wide smile spread across her face as she sent him a small wave. 

Eddie didn’t want to be rude, so instead of doing nothing and completely ignoring her, he pressed his lips into a thin line and awkwardly pushed the corners of his mouth up. So he gave a kind but simple sort of smile. 

“Hi” she said softly when he was close enough, standing across from her. “Hi” he quietly greeted her back. “I made you some new snacks” she smiled as she held the Tupperware box filled with brownies a little higher for him to see. 

After the incident with the marijuana brownies a few years back, they decided to throw everything they’d get from strangers right into the trash bin. And since Lila was still practically a stranger, they’d do the same with her homemade products. You’ll never know what they’d put in it.  

Eddie tried his best to be polite, “Oh, that’s sweet of you” he said, as his eyes wandered from the box back to the woman’s face. “Um, can we talk?” he asked, Lila nodded and answered his question with a small “sure”. He motioned with his head to her as a sign to follow him. He held out his arm to guide her into the right direction, which was in front of the fire engine, out of the line of sight for his team to see them. He had nothing to hide towards them, but still, if he wanted to help this woman to get out of this dream she was having, he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

With his hand placed partly over his mouth, in some kind of thinking spot, he was figuring out what he wanted to say.

A sigh left his mouth as he dropped his hand and folded his arms over each other. “Lila, what are you doing here?” he asks, already knowing he was going to get some simple answer to his question. Her eyebrows narrowed, “Just stopping by to say hi, and dropping off some snacks” she said with an innocent smile, as she gave him a look like: duh. 

“Why?” he instantly reacted, he felt this kind of storm inside of him. He needed this nonsense to stop, but with her acting so innocent, he was starting to lose his patience. He had his lips pressed into a thin line, once more, telling her that he wasn’t particularly happy with her visit. 

“I wanted to see you” she said, as slowly her smile disappeared from her face, at the sound of him sounding that serious. She didn’t expect him to be like this, she just wanted a small conversation just like the other two times she came here. 

Eddie shook his head as he placed his hands onto his hips now. “Lila..” he sighed as those words left his mouth. “You can’t come here.. I’m at work.” he continued his sentence as he tried to get through to this woman. 

“I just wanted to talk with you.” she said, with that same innocent look spread across her face. Maybe his point didn’t get through, or she didn’t want it to come through to her. The number of times she was visiting the 118 was becoming annoying and weird.

Another sigh rolled off Eddie’s lips, he looked at the ceiling, asking the gods why. Why was this woman becoming so obsessed with him? Why did it have to be him catching Lila? Why couldn’t she just leave him alone? Why…

“Look.” Eddie started as he clapped his hands together. He was going to break that dream she was in, and get her back to reality. “This is the typical hero story, I save you, you are so happy that I saved your life and now you think you’re developing feelings for me.” he continued as he pointed at himself and back at Lila. 

“But those feelings you’re experiencing, aren’t real Lila.” He added. It sounded harsh, cruel, maybe even vicious. But he needed her to understand what was going on, and being all nice wasn’t going to get her out of that reality she made up for herself. 

She was silent as she let those words come down on her. 

With her eyes locked on Eddie, he could see her eyes change. “I thought we had a connection..” she spoke as she found her voice again. 

Eddie shook his head instantly. “No, there’s not.” he said, as folded his arms over each other again. He just added a harsh refusement to her words. “I was only doing my job, that’s it.” He continued, as he watched her gaze locked on something or someone else that wasn’t him. 

It almost looked like she was zoning out, but he needed to keep going. Explaining that this was never, ever going to happen again. Otherwise she would just keep popping up. He moved his head so he was in her vision again, and he knew when her eyes moved back to him. “This whole, stopping by the station to see me, needs to stop. There’s no connection between us, and there never will be Lila.” he explained. 

With her lips pressed into a thin line, as she was thinking of a response, she nodded. “Well, that was straight to the point.” she said. Her voice sounded emotional, as if Eddie touched the right snare. 

She shook her head as her tongue was placed on the upper part of her teeth. “Here” she said bluntly, as she shoved the Tupperware box filled with the brownies into his hands, harshly. 

She started walking towards the garage doors of the station, but just as she passed Eddie she mumbled silently “You might regret this”. Words Eddie couldn’t catch, he just stood there, with the box in his hands, as he turned on his heels to watch her walk away, out of the firehouse. 

She was going to make sure he was going to regret this.

______

“Delivery for firefighter Buckley!” (Y/n) called through the firehouse as she walked through the garage doors of the 118.

Eddie told her that Buck had been begging for that cheesecake she made for the team the last time she came over. And it had been a while since she visited the firehouse and the team. Of course, she would see them at parties Bobby and Athena would throw at their house, or special occasions, but that was it.

She was a teacher, and whenever she had time over she loved to bake. It was kind of a hobby that’s gotten a little out of hand.

The last time (Y/n) came over at the firehouse had been, maybe like a month or two. She didn’t want to bother her husband when he was at work. She thought it may give the impression towards the other firefighters that she couldn’t be alone, and besides, Eddie would text her from time to time when he was on shift, or call whenever he could.

But since Christopher was now at a friend's place, having a sleepover, (Y/n) figured this was the best time to make a cheesecake and deliver it personally to the firehouse.

Her eyes found her husband who was placing items into the compartments of the firetruck. As Buck was cleaning the outside of the fire truck with a rag.

Eddie’s head shot up as the sound of his wife’s voice infiltrated his ears. His eyes started to sparkle as soon as he saw his wife walking in between the engine and the truck, with a plastic container in her hands.

“Mi amor, what are you doing here?” he asked as she stopped a few feet from the two firefighters. “Well, I had some time over so I thought, why not make a cheesecake and deliver it personally?” she said as a smile spread across her face.

“Ah yes! You’re the best!” Buck said as he got rid of the rag filled with dirty stains, which he placed on one of the compartment boxes. “That’s sweet of you” Eddie smiled as he walked over to his wife and he took place next to her, placing his arm over her shoulder, and pressed his lips onto hers.

Eddie rubbed his thumb lightly over her upper arm as he placed her chin between his index finger and thumb with his other hand.

Someone clears their throat. “Shall I take the box from you?” Buck’s voice asked as (Y/n) felt like she was getting lost, lingering into her husband’s eyes. Just like a snap of two fingers she came back to reality as her eyes wandered towards Eddie’s best friend. “Sure” she said, and Buck took the plastic box from her, and walked away to give the two of them some privacy.

“Estás preciosa” Eddie whispered into her ear, meaning: you look gorgeous. It was one of the little things of the Spanish words or sentences she knew, because of Eddie. His warm breath was tickling her skin, giving her goosebumps as her stomach filled itself with butterflies. The way those Spanish words rolled so easily from his lips, almost made her weak at the knees right on the spot.

He retrieved his arm and placed both his hands onto her waist as he took place in front of her. With a small smile projected on her face, she locked her arms around his neck. It almost looked like they were about to shamble on a dance floor.

“I needed to see you” Eddie mumbled as he looked into her eyes. A small laugh came from her mouth as she let one hand on his neck and with the other one she went through his hair on the back of his head. “Long shift?” she asked softly as she almost felt herself drowning into his deep brown eyes.

“Too long. It feels like this shift isn’t coming to an end” he said, as he pushed a lost strand of hair behind her ear. “But I’m happy you stopped by.” he continued as he planted a small kiss onto her forehead. Something he always did, the forehead kiss.

Eddie slid his hands off her waist as he took her hand. “You want to say hi to the others? Maybe get a slice of your cake?” He asked as he motioned his head towards the loft.

A small smile appeared on her face. “I was just stopping by to drop it off, I really have to get to my doctor's appointment. Which is in…” she stopped as she took a look at her smartwatch, “thirty minutes.” She finished her sentence.

He gently squeezed her hand, “Are you sure?” He double checked with her, looking at her with almost puppy eyes. She nodded, “I don’t think my doctor would be amused if I canceled my appointment because of a cheesecake.” she laughed.

She knew Eddie was just trying to keep her longer to his side. He was only on hour number seven of his twenty four hour shift, so he had a lot more hours to go.

“Call me when you’re done?” He asked her, on which she nodded. “Yes, I will.” she said softly, barely audible.

He smiled as he pulled her into his chest again, pulling her into a hug. With one of his arms wrapped around her neck, he placed a kiss on the back of her head. “And remember-“ he murmured against her hair.

She pulled her head away from his lips, breaking their connection, as she looked into his eyes. “Yes.. yes, if you don’t pick up, you’re on a call. I know, I’m not ten Eds.” She said, placing both her hands onto his chest, trying to create some distance between them.

“Are you sure?” Eddie asked, with a smirk and his eyebrows furrowed. She gasped, “Puto” she said as a laugh escaped from her mouth and she pushed him in his chest, breaking free from his hold.

Eddie laughs as he places his hands onto his chest pretending like he was hurt on the spot where his heart was. “Oh te amo," he grinned as he watched his wife stepping backwards, wanting to make her way out of the firehouse.

But just as she took one or two steps back, she quickly stepped back towards her husband, and planted a quick kiss onto her husband’s lips. Her hand was placed on his cheek, “Love you” she said, as she now for real turns around and walks towards the exit.

She lets out a sigh as she walks between those two giant trucks again, she needed to get the last groceries to make dinner. (Y/n) walked through the bright red station doors as she looked both ways to see if it was safe for her to cross the road.

(Y/n) quickly ran towards the other side of the street where her car was parked. But as she unlocked the car and grabbed the door lever, she noticed something was off.

Her eyebrows narrowed as she became a kind of FBI agent on the spot. She walked a little circle around her car, and noticed all four tires were flat like a pancake on the ground.

When (Y/n) crouched down on the sidewalk, she took a look at her tires. She placed her hand onto the rubber inspecting what made her tires flat. “You’ve got to be kidding me..” she mumbled as she could see and feel the large split in the rubber of her wheel.

It looked like someone had cut through the tire on purpose. This couldn’t just happen because she drove through glass or something. The split was on the side of the tire, the part that never even touched the asphalt.

“Fuck..” she whispered to her self as she grabbed her phone from her purse. She wasn’t going to ask her husband to help, even though he was just across the street. He was working and she didn’t want him to focus on anything but his work, which was already tough enough.

Still crouched down she scrolled through her phone, searching for the right contact. “Can I help?” a female voice suddenly asked. (Y/n)’s eyes wandered towards the female voice, the woman was standing just on the side of the sun, making her look like a silhouette.

The woman was wearing a beige cap, she had her dark coloured hair in a ponytail and she was wearing a set of sports clothes.

“Only if you have four spare tires..” she sighed and squinted her eyes closed to try and see through the bright light of the sun.

“You got a flat tire?” The woman asked immediately as soon as she had eye contact with (Y/n). She nodded, “Someone slashed them.” She concluded as she took one last glance at the tires and let her hand slide over the rubber.

“Looks like I pissed someone off really bad, unintendedly.” she sighed as she stood back up, and placed her free hand onto her hip. She was trying to figure out some kind of plan inside her head.

(Y/n) started scrolling through her phone as she tried to find the number of the garage she used to bring her car to. “No doubt about that” the woman mumbled, as she was just observing (Y/n).

“Excuse me?” Her eyes furrowed at the mumble of the woman she heard. She didn’t hear what she said, but there was something that didn’t add up. “I was just saying my cousin is a mechanic, if he knows how to fix this I can too.” She lied quickly.

“Mmm.. I’m sorry, who did you say you were? I didn’t quite catch your name.” (Y/n) asked, as she scanned the woman with her eyes. Maybe with a little bit of a judgemental expression over her face.

“Oh, I’m Luna” she said with a smile that almost seemed too happy. Maybe she was too enthusiastic, maybe that was her character. (Y/n) didn’t know.

“I’m going to take a look in my trunk. I think I still have a car jack and a wheel brace!” Luna said, as (Y/n) tapped on the phone number of her own mechanic from the garage.

“Oh, you really don’t have to do that, I’m about to call my garage.” (Y/n) said as her eyes wandered back to the slashed tires. Crouching down, she inspected the wheels once more. Who would do this to her? Who did she piss off?

With the phone ringing against her ear for the third time, her hopes were starting to get lower by the second. Why weren’t they answering? Should she just go back into the firehouse? Asking her husband for help?

“The number you’ve tried to call is not reach-” a sigh left her mouth as she clicked on the red button displayed on her phone. Just as she wanted to stand up again, a cold, hard object connected harshly with her eyebrow.

A small yelp fell off her lips as she lost her balance and fell onto her bum on the asphalt. The phone she was holding fell out of her hand. Her hand instantly reached out for the painful spot just above her eye.

She touched the painful spot around her eyebrow carefully with a finger tip, but as she looked at the finger she realized blood was coming off the wound. The wound stung, and was throbbing, which made her hiss at the feeling.

It felt like her eye was almost trying to come out of the socket. She tried to regain her vision back as she looked into the sun, where Luna was standing. “You have something that doesn’t belong to you.” she said.

What the hell did she mean? (Y/n) didn’t even know the woman? What could she possibly have that wasn’t hers but Luna’s? She should’ve listened to her gut feeling and just walked right back into that firehouse.

“What?” (Y/n) gasped as Luna crouched down grabbing a handful of (Y/n)’s shirt and pulling her roughly towards her. Lifting her upper body from the asphalt. Adrenaline was spreading itself throughout her body as she kept a cold face expression projected on her face.

“That little romance you’ve got. He’s mine.” she hissed dangerously close to her face. She could smell the woman’s breath, which made her squeeze her eyes closed out of fear.

Eddie? How did she know about him? Hell, how did she know about them? Even if she had never seen her before? There was this fire roaring inside of her as soon as (Y/n) realized who she was talking about.

(Y/n) had to get out of here.

She wanted to call out for her husband so badly, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t find her voice and the volume to yell.

She didn’t think this time and yanked her leg up, causing Luna to lose her balance and fall on top of her. Luna let go of (Y/n)’s body to try and catch her own body, but before she could react, (Y/n) already made her next move. She grabbed Luna by the shoulders as she pushed her weight onto her, making them switch places.

But before (Y/n) could hit Luna in the face, she got pushed off of her by Luna’s foot. She got kicked into her shoulder, making her tumble backwards.

She didn’t have a second to be hurt, she needed to get up and fight. Slow but steady (Y/n) got onto her feet again, as did Luna.

Luna’s eyes were looking like she was ready to drink (Y/n)’s blood. She was pissed. But had that terrifying smile on her face, the one you’d see in horror movies. She fished out a small black folded pocket knife as she yanked it open, popping out the knife part.

She didn’t have anything to protect herself. And besides she had never fought before, she didn’t know her own powers, her weaknesses. But everything to survive, right?

A sigh fell from her mouth as she placed both fists on both sides of her face. She just needed to get across the street. She could do that.

Luna gets closer towards (Y/n) as she quickly points the knife multiple times towards (Y/n), which she manages to avoid. Just as Luna walks towards (Y/n) again, making a slashing move towards (Y/n), she turns on her heel and kicks Luna just underneath her armpit, hitting one of her ribs she assumed.

Luna’s hand immediately reached out for her side, bent slightly forward. She gathers herself back together, “Oh you’re going down” she hissed.

Once more, (Y/n) got into the fighting position. Just when Luna lashed out with the hand including the knife, (Y/n) kicked high enough to hit her chest.

Luna fell down on one knee with both her hands resting next to the knee, trying to breathe.

This was her moment. She had to run, otherwise she’d end up the one who lost. She didn’t think twice as she ran past her. But just as she passed Luna, the pocket knife found her skin.

She pushed the knife into her stomach and pulled it out quickly, almost unnoticeable. But the stinging, sharp pain and the red stain through her white shirt was a dead ass give away.

(Y/n) couldn’t stop now. She whimpered and gasped as she just blindly crossed the street, hoping no one would run her over. She pushed her hands against the stab wound as she saw those oh so familiar red station doors came closer and closer into frame.

She stepped over the threshold as she walked between the fire engine and the fire truck. Trying to keep her legs from buckling, she held the engine as some kind of guide.

“Eddie!” She called out for her husband. Her voice sounded like she was being killed, it sounded terrifying, like a scream straight out of a horror movie.

As soon as Eddie heard his wife calling out his name in a way he’d never heard before, he felt something was wrong. She never screamed that way for her husband.

Eddie pushed open the door of the locker room as he stormed down the sound of (Y/n)’s voice. “(Y/n)?” he called out, hoping she’d answer him.

But as his eyes fell onto the space between the truck and the engine, his heart dropped down to the floor.

His wife was standing there with an arm locked around her shoulders and the blade of the knife pressed down on her throat.

“What the hell?” he mumbled as he stopped in his tracks, changing his direction towards the two women.

He scanned the situation with his eyes, but as he took a step forward, the woman yelled “Stay back!” As she pointed the knife out towards Eddie and after a few counts back on his wife’s throat.

Lila. It was Lila who was holding that knife to her throat.

There was an ugly wound just above (Y/n)’s eye, and a red blood stain was soaking into her shirt.

“Eddie.” Bobby warned him as Eddie put his hands up slightly, nonverbal telling her that he wasn’t armed, and didn’t mean any harm.

Eddie could see movement on the engine, Buck had moved from the compartments to the top of the fire engine to clean, since there were some ashes spread on top of it. He made quick eye contact with Buck, somehow with one look, his best friend knew what to do. It just took him one second of eye contact.

“Eddie, help” she cried softly, it sounded like she couldn’t breathe. (Y/n) had her hands slightly raised up in the air, and her head was pushed back due to the knife pressing into her skin as tears poured down her face.

“Shut up!” She hissed as he pushed the knife in her skin a little more, so to the pressure a red line would appear.

“Lila.. what is going on?” Eddie asked as he tried to start a conversation with the woman.

Lila? So her name wasn’t Luna, her gut feeling was right. How the hell did Eddie know this woman? Was he the reason she became a target?

“Lila, you need to let her go.” He said as he took a small step forward, hoping he’d get closer to his wife. Lila pressed her lips into a thin line as she shook her head. “No.” She said determined.

It stung. The wound that was made because of the knife she was stabbed with. It stung, it was like the wound was giving her micro shocks. With every breath she took, her breathing became more trembling.

Meanwhile Buck silently climbed off the truck, trying so hard to keep his boots silent and not squeaking in the ground of the firehouse.

He squeezed his eyes closed as he touched the lever of the compartment box where the medic bag was and tried to softly pull it open.

“She didn’t do anything, Lila.” He goes on, trying to get her free. Eddie could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins. How was he going to get her as she was being held and threatened.

“You’re wrong!” Lila yelled back at Eddie, fire was burning in her eyes and her voice was filled with aggression. “She took something that isn’t hers” she added as she came dangerously close to (Y/n)’s face.

(Y/n) whimpered as she tried to turn away her face from Lila’s. “You’re upset.. I get it-“ Eddie spoke up as he took some more steps forward, as she was focussed completely on (Y/n).

Buck had opened the medic bag successfully, without making a sound, as he took out a needle, filled with Versed. A medication they used to sedate people who were a danger for themselves and for others.

“Shut the fuck up!” Lila snapped at Eddie as he tried to get inside of her head. “You don’t know what it’s like!” She continued as she grabbed a handful of (Y/n)’s hair, making her stand awkwardly with her back bended.

A yelp fell off (Y/n)’s mouth as she hissed at the pain that was spreading on her head. Eddie could feel the scream of his wife going through bone and marrow.

“When you feel a connection with someone and they come and take it away from you” she hissed as she kept her eyes on (Y/n).

“Lila, please. This isn’t you.” Eddie said. He needed to touch that one sensitive spot. “Listen.. sometimes you’ll feel something for someone..“ Eddie continued as he could see movement in the corner of his eye again.

Buck was crawling underneath the fire engine, with the prepped needle in his hand. When he finally reached the end of the engine, he waited for Eddie’s sign.

”And the feeling might not be mutual.. but there’s someone out there who feels the same way.” Eddie promised.

When the entire expression on Lila’s face went from thunder to a little more calmer, and she was clearly thinking about the words Eddie just told her.

Eddie nodded in the direction of Buck as Lila was unfocused again. Buck yanked himself a little further from underneath the truck and stabbed the needle into her ankle. Pushing the meds through her veins, she was startled by the sudden pain in her ankle, brought by Buck.

For safety Buck quickly pushed himself back underneath the truck as he got out underneath it on the other side.

“What did you do!” Lila screamed as she pushed (Y/n) onto the ground out of reflex. (Y/n) tries to break her fall with her hands, when her body was met with the floor.

“Just something that will help you calm down” Buck said as he walked around the truck. Lila’s eyes began to roll as she slowly was losing her balance and consciousness. She dropped her knife to the ground, as quickly the rest of the team ran towards Lila, catching her before she could hit the ground.

Eddie made his way towards (Y/n), sliding both his knees on the ground, he placed his hand on her back to silently tell her he was there. “I'm here mi amor” he said as he quickly scanned the situation.

He could hear her breathing heavily, with her hand she searched for his arm, when she found his forearm she placed her hand onto his skin. Small sobs falling from her mouth as she realized what was happening finally came to an end.

She tried to crawl her way into Eddie’s lap, placing her head onto his thighs. Eddie couldn’t do anything else than soothing her, telling her she was okay, that he was there for her, and rubbing his hand over her back and the other one over her arm.

“Can you stand up? I need to check you out” he asked as her breathing calmed down. “Can you do that for me?” he added as he didn’t receive an answer to his first question.

She slowly disconnected her head from his lap as she nodded just as slow. Eddie grabbed with both his hands, both her forearms to support her as she stood up. She hissed at the sharp pain in her stomach as she was on her feet again.

“Let’s sit you down okay?” he said as he helped her walk slow but steady towards one of the benches. The ambulance was out, since Hen and Chimney needed to drop Lila off at the hospital, where she’d be under supervision by the LAPD. Which meant Eddie had to use the medic bag from the ladder truck and maybe some first aid boxes from the firehouse.

He gently helped her sit down. Just as she was seated, he ran towards the truck and came back with the medic bag. He placed the medic bag onto the floor, with one knee connected to the floor and one leg in ninety degrees, he took place between her legs.

Eddie got some gloves from the bag and put them on. “Okay, let me see this” he said softly as he pulled the fabric that was clinging to the wound off, making (Y/n) groan at the pain. She took the fabric from Eddie, holding the t-shirt high enough so he could do his work.

“Eddie.” she groaned through the shots of pain, making him look up at her face, but she was looking at the ceiling, trying to keep strong. She was saying his name only because of the pain.

He grabbed an alcohol wipe from the bag as he started to clean the wound. Making her body shocked at the connection between the alcohol and her wound. With her free hand she grabbed Eddie’s shoulder, pinning her nails into his skin as he cleaned her wound. “Sorry” he said as he looked up with his big brown eyes.

“So, you know her?” she asked as she got used to the pain. Eddie placed the wipe next to her on the red bench. “Yeah, unfortunately I do.” he said as he got another wipe, and tried to clean the wound on her forehead. Gently he dabbed the wipe on the wound. “Lila, she’s the one I saved from falling off that billboard. With some dumb luck.” he continued as he got the wound on her forehead all cleaned too.

“And?” She knew there was more to the story. His eyes fluttered up from the wound he was focussed on. “No sign of internal bleeding, but you’ll still need to make a stop at the ER to get some stitches.” he concluded as he grabbed a piece of gauze from the bag.

(Y/n) looked at him with a face expression that said: really? He knew she was asking about Lila. When he heard her becoming quiet, his eyes fluttered up to her face again. He sighs as he places the piece of gauze on her skin, “She came here a few times when I was on shift. Last shift I told her to back off..” he sighed as he took four pieces of tape and pasted them on the sides of the gauze, to keep it in its place.

“I guess that explains all of this..” she said as Eddie cluttered through the bag, searching for a band aid. When he opened the packaging around the bandaid he held it between his fingers. With his elbows he leaned down on (Y/n)’s knees, “I’m sorry I let this come so far.. I should’ve told you” he said with his head down.

“Eddie..” she sighed as she let a hand go through his hair, making him look up again so their eyes met. “You did your job, it isn't your fault she turned out to be a psycho” she added. She wasn’t accepting an excuse from her husband, he didn’t do anything wrong.

“But she found you because of me.” he answered, looking like a little boy apologizing to his mother. She tried to smile through all the emotions she felt, and let her hand wander back to his cheek. “Hey.. don’t be so hard on yourself..” she said as she rubbed her thumb against his skin.

Eddie laid his hand onto the wrist of the hand she used to cup his cheek with. “I’m just.. disappointed in myself, for not telling you sooner.” he admitted, and placed a kiss into the palm of her hand.

“It’s okay..” she whispered, looking a few moments into her husband's eyes. Eddie let go of her hand as he pasted the bandaid onto the wound on her forehead, and placed a small kiss on it.

“Now.. get your el culo to the ER” he said, as he patted her thigh with his right hand. “Yeah, about that..” she awkwardly smiled, as Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed at the sudden change of her tone.

“You might want to call a tow truck.”

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference archived on our website (Thousands of reference, news reports, and more! Daily updates!)

Yet another showing that even a mild infection leads to lasting cognitive impacts. Mask up. Stay safe out there.

Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection often involves the nervous system, leading to cognitive dysfunctions, fatigue and many other neurological signs that are becoming increasingly recognized. Despite mild forms of the disease accounting for most cases worldwide, research on the pathophysiology driving mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has received little attention. In this respect, recent evidence has pointed out that around 30–40% of non-critical, mild-to-moderate severity COVID-19 survivors may display cognitive disturbances several months post-illness. Hence, the impact of COVID-19 on the brain structure and function, through potential neuropathological mechanisms underpinning cognitive alterations in post-mild COVID-19 infections, remains largely unexplored. This retrospective multicentre observational cohort study, entirely based on a healthcare worker sample (n = 65; 55% females, aged 21–61), investigated the cognitive status and the structural and functional brain integrity among non-hospitalized individuals who developed mild COVID-19 symptoms during the occurrence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants Alpha to Delta, compared with healthy controls tested before the pandemic onset. All evaluations were performed at an average of 9-month follow-up post-infection period. Participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and structural and functional MRI exams. Radiological inspection sought to detect the presence of white matter hyperintensities on axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images. Global and regional grey matter integrity assessment, analysing changes in grey matter volumes and cortical thinning, and functional connectivity alterations of resting-state brain networks were also conducted. Regression analyses tested the relationships between the presence of specific cognitive impairments and potential structural and functional brain findings. Our results revealed that clinical, cognitive screening and neuropsychological examinations were average between both groups, except for specific impairments related to executive functions in the mild COVID-19. Compared to healthy controls, mild COVID-19 subjects exhibited increased juxtacortical white matter hyperintensities, thalamic and occipital volume loss and diminished resting-state functional connectivity involving the left precuneus and cuneus in default-mode network and affecting the right angular gyrus and left precuneus in the dorsal attentional network. Reduced thalamic volume was the only variable selected in the final model explaining the observed executive function impairment in mild COVID-19. The presence of cognitive, structural and functional brain abnormalities over time suggests that the action of widespread neurovascular and inflammatory phenomena on the nervous system might also occur in mild forms following COVID-19 infection rather than permanent brain damage linked to the direct or indirect action of the virus. Our findings emphasize the need to pay attention to the long-term brain-related consequences of mild COVID-19 infections during the original stream.

[euijoosorangeslice]

Story of a College Succubus p.3

warnings: alcohol and drug abuse, jake and Heeseung kiss, slight manipulation? non-con touching, filler episode.

You angrily laid in your bed, arms crossed. That little shit really did that to you. Such an asshole. Anyway, you decided to talk to the person you trusted the most. Your dear old mother.

“Y/n, finally you call me! How is it going at school sweetie?” She happily answered, making you laugh. “Hey, mom. The boys here are pretty good to feed from, except I just need to be more careful.” You spoke quietly, not wanting to alert your neighbors. “Well, that’s good to hear. Check your pendant, sweetheart, and tell me what color it is.”

You looked at the necklace on your neck and answered, “Red, but there’s white cracks in it.” You heard a light sigh, and suddenly your mother’s voice was hushed. “Sweetie, you are growing up. You know every life phase it changes, and you’re 18 now. You’re going to start having to feed directly from your targets. So dream hopping still works, but you’ll still be hungry.” You should be happy at this news, that you’re changing and growing, right?

But it only angered you further. Life was shitty right now and it was getting difficult to keep up. “Okay, mom. I’ll try.” You whispered, mind fogged with anger. “You know, your birthday is coming up soon. It’s already Tuesday, okay? On Saturday you’ll be turning 19. If you feel anything weird, call me. Your body should be going through transformation and you’ll be put into a very…needy phase.”

You blushed at the newfound information. “Try and find a partner to settle down with for the weekend. It’ll make it easier, and we both know college boys love to have sex. Shouldn’t be that hard.” You heard a loud shout in the back. “I’ll call you back, sweetie. Your idiot father hurt himself.” Your mom hung up, leaving you with a smile.

Find a partner, huh? Shouldn’t be too hard.

-

You checked your phone in the middle of class, seeing someone had sent out a group message with an invitation.

__________

party, delta kappa delta house

9:30

(courtesy of the sports club)

bring 🍃,❄️ and 🥃

(or hot bitches)

- sh

__________

Wow, so inviting. You closed out the message, hearing your teacher rant about kids these days and their phones.

Maybe you could closet shop for an outfit after class. It was already 3pm, so you’d spend the rest of the time getting ready anyway.

-

You took a shower, taking a couple more photos before you began to get dressed and do your makeup. You settled on a slight smoky eyed look, accompanied with a sexy black outfit with a skirts and a tight see through top, along with some black boots with silver accessories.

You struck a pose in the mirror, smirking to yourself. If the goal was to find a boyfriend, then you’d do just that tonight.

-

You walked into the fraternity house, seeing a nice, pale but very handsome man dressed in a black tight t shirt and some black jeans. “Heh, so there’s the beauty.” He spoke loudly, walking closer and closing you into the wall. “I’m Sunghoon, pretty much the president of DKD. Nice to meet you, sweetheart.” He smiled teasingly, making you raise an eyebrow. “Nice to meet you too, Sunghoon. I’m Y/n.” You replied, Sunghoon grabbing your waist. “Let’s go for a walk, okay?”

You complied, letting him walk with you on his arm. “So, Y/n. How’s it going for your first week here?” You scoffed at the question. “Well, everyone at school had seen my naked body. So not too great!” He sensed the agitation in your voice. “I think you need to…calm down a bit Y/n.” He whispered, pouring a shot into a cup. “Fixes all my problems anyways.”

You looked away, watching as a short young boy wandered around cluelessly. He was adorable, but he looked like the definition of social anxiety.

-

While you weren’t paying attention, Sunghoon pulled a pill out of his pocket and crushed it in his hand. He poured it into the cup, stirring it into the cup.

-

A girl strutted towards the young boy, a smirk on her face. “Hey, Harua.” She flirted, leaning against the counter. “O-oh! Hi. What’s up?” He answered cheerfully, making the girl chuckle. “We should like, make out. I think you’re really cute.” He blushed, fiddling with his fingers. “I- I’ve never kissed anyone before.” He mumbled, her playing with his hair. “That’s okay. I can teach you.” She blew him a kiss, pressing his cheek. It was obvious to anyone in the room that she was going to play him, but for Harua it wasn’t so obvious.

You sighed, wishing that you could tell the boy his future. But you were a stranger. Why would he listen to you?

-

“Here you go, beautiful. Now hurry on upstairs, everyone’s waiting for you.” Sunghoon smiled, taking your hand and leading you upstairs. He opened the door to a room, gasping loudly. You looked in, seeing Jake and Heeseung’s lips intertwined. “Dude, what the fuck are you doing?” Sunghoon shouted, making Jake jump in his position. You had to admit, he looked really hot with messed up hair and plump, swollen lips. You stopped questioning why it felt like your vision was closing in.

“Experimenting, why?” Heeseung said, laughing and it was obvious in his tone he was drunk. “Well, I brought a new toy to play with.” You looked at him in confusion, lacking vision for a blink until you felt yourself fall into his arms. “She’s such a pretty girl. I can’t wait to get inside her.” Jake whispered, caressing your forehead.

You wanted to fight back, but you just let your body slip into unconsciousness.

-

You awoke to the sound of guys arguing, seeing the boy you had met on campus earlier getting into an argument with Sunghoon. “Dude, what the fuck?! Just because she’s hot doesn’t mean you can roofie her!” Nicholas shouted, Sunghoon rolling his eyes. “Fine, just take her. I’m not even that horny anymore.” He pushed past Nicholas, who walked up to you and grabbed you bridal style. “It’s okay, Y/n. We’ll go to my place.”

You softly smiled, still too weak to talk and leaned into Nicholas’s touch.

prev//next

[piratesexmachine420]

piratesexmachine420's Amateur-Researched Omega Guide to Identifying Space Shuttles:

0. Some Nomenclature:

When you see a Shuttle on the launchpad, there are three main parts bolted together. The 'orbiter' (airplane bit), the 'external tank' (ET, big orange cylinder), and the 'solid rocket boosters' (SRBs, the two thin white cylinders either side of the ET). This assembly is known as a "stack".

Regardless of what others might tell you, there are six orbiters: Enterprise (OV-101), Columbia (OV-102), Challenger (OV-099), Discovery (OV-103), Atlantis (OV-104), and Endeavour (OV-105). If you're not a deep lore space nerd, you've probably not heard of Enterprise. The short of it is: she never went to space, never got rebuilt into a space-capable vehicle, and never flew anything other than Approach and Landing glide tests. Check out her Wikipedia page for the medium of it, and spend decades reading crusty pdfs for the long of it.

Space Shuttle missions are given numbered designations starting with the acronym STS, for Space Transportation System (a name with a long history I won't go into here), and then followed by either a number or a number followed by a letter. It goes STS-1 to STS-9 in order, then switches to a bizarre system where the first digit is the last digit of the fiscal year the mission was initially scheduled for, the second digit indicates the launch site (which was only ever “1” for Cape Canaveral), and the trailing letter indicates the order within that fiscal year and launch site the vehicle is intended to launch, all the way from STS-41-B to STS-51-L out of order; then it goes back to just numbers (except also internally for...reasons...STS-26 through STS-33 were suffixed “R”, e.g. STS-27R) but still in order of scheduling, not flight order, from STS-26(R) to STS-125; then finally from STS-127 until STS-135 missions went back to being numbered in order of flight. Aaaahhh! (Oh, and also the aforementioned Approach and Landing Tests get ALT- designations from -1 to -16 in order, but they’re not typically included as “Space Shuttle missions”.)

1. Distinguishing Orbiters By Major External Features:

The easiest way to do this is to just read the name printed on the side, of course. But that’s not always possible. Fortunately, there are other distinguishing features!

Enterprise (OV-101): Enterprise is very easy to identify, maybe even the easiest. She never went to space! Any picture of an orbiter with either 1) a big spike coming out the nose, 2) a cover over the back end while free-flying, or 3) a heat shield (black and gray bits) that looks “painted on” is Enterprise.

Columbia (OV-102): Columbia is also very easy to distinguish from her sisters. For one, she’s got way more black tiles than any other orbiter. Note the black “shoulders” (chines) of her delta wings, and the large black section at the tip of her tail. Another Columbia tailtip difference is the big black Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing (SILTS) pod. No other Shuttle has that!

Challenger (OV-099): Yeah, the numbers go in a weird order. Look it up if you wanna know why. Challenger is trickier to ID than her older sisters, but she’s still not too hard. Her tail is still quite distinctive, for one, and like Columbia she has white LRSI tiles on her wings and nose. Finally, of dubious usefulness: the pattern of black tiles around her hatch is quite distinctive, though any good shot of the hatch will almost undoubtedly also include her name.

Discovery (OV-103): Now it starts getting difficult. Discovery is in almost all respects identical to both Atlantis and Endeavour, save for one small detail: a small grouping of black tiles by the center-starboard cockpit window.

Atlantis (OV-104) and Endeavour (OV-105): Atlantis and Endeavour are essentially identical. Let’s hope you can get a peak at the name!

2. Distinguishing Orbiters and Missions by Orbiter Evolution:

Alright, from now on when I say orbiter, I’m pretending Enterprise doesn’t count. Space or bust!

Airlocks: Columbia and Challenger only ever had internal airlocks; Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour all began with internal airlocks but would eventually be upgraded with external airlocks/docking ports for the Shuttle-Mir and ISS programs. I'm a little fuzzy on the specific timeline.

External Tank and SRBs: If the ET is visible and painted white instead of bare orange, it’s Columbia on STS-1 or STS-2 – or Enterprise performing a fit check for the same. You may also want to take a look at this fantastic PDF by Alfonso X. Moreno which goes into great detail beyond just “white or orange”.

Ejection Seats: If it’s an interior cockpit shot and ejection seats are visible, it’s either Enterprise, or Columbia on STS-9 or earlier.

Drag Chute: If it’s a shot of an orbiter landing and there’s a parachute coming out the back, it’s sometime after Endeavour’s first flight on STS-49. If it’s Columbia, it’s STS-50 or later. If it’s Discovery, it’s STS-53 or later. If it’s Atlantis, it’s STS-66 or later. Challenger never received a parachute.

Launch and Entry Suits: If it’s an interior shot during launch or landing and the crew are wearing Shuttle Ejection Escape Suits, it’s Columbia on STS-1, -2, -3 or -4. If they’re wearing blue flight suits, it’s sometime after STS-4 and before STS-26R. If they’re wearing the orange Launch Entry Suits (LES), it’s anywhere from STS-26 to STS-90. If they’re wearing the very similar-looking Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES), it’s sometime after STS-65. IMO ACES can be most easily distinguished from LES by the glove gasket. On ACES, it’s a big metal ring, on LES it’s...not.

Orbiter Markings: Once again outside my wheelhouse: take a look at this fantastic PDF once again by Alfonso X. Moreno! It goes into so much detail about the evolution of the markings on the outside of the Shuttle orbiters. More than just meatball vs worm, etc. etc.

Flight Deck Switches: I don’t profess to know much of anything about the intricate details of a Space Shuttle orbiter’s instrument and switch panels. I’d recommend taking a look at this StackExchange thread for more details. I'll also mention that the fleet received a “glass cockpit” upgrade (digital displays instead of analog ones) sometime in the late nineties, but I’m fuzzy on the timelines for individual orbiters.

Thermal Protection System (TPS, aka the Heat Shield): I’m even more out of my depth on the visual evolution of the orbiters’ TPSes, so I’ll defer to this CollectSpace thread on the topic. It’s probably unlikely that you’ll just come across a contextless photo of an orbiter’s underbelly in the wild, though.

3. Distinguishing Orbiters By Payload:

Pictures omitted because there’s frankly too much to possibly cover it all.

Canadarm: Not every mission flew with one! If you can see the payload bay, check for the presence of a robot arm to help narrow your search.

Station Modules or MPLMs: If there’s a space station module (I’m not gonna going into how to identify those here) in the payload bay of an orbiter, it’s either Discovery, Atlantis or Endeavour. Challenger and Columbia were both destroyed before they could be upgraded for station ops.

Spacelab: Could be literally any orbiter. Missions that flew the pressurized laboratory of Spacelab includes a crew tunnel between said lab and the crew cabin, helping to distinguish them from space station modules. Look at the Wikipedia list of Spacelab missions to narrow down the specific configuration.

Spacehab: Could be any orbiter besides Challenger; but statistically it also probably isn’t Columbia, who only flew Spacehab once on STS-107. Pressurized Spacehab hardware also included a crew tunnel for access. Look at the Wikipedia list of Spacehab missions to narrow down the specific configuration.

Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU, big space jetpack): It’s either Challenger on STS-41-B or STS-41-C, or Discovery on STS-51-A.

Solar Maximum Mission (SolarMax): It’s Challenger on STS-41-C.

Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF): It’s either Challenger on STS-41-C (deploy) or Columbia on STS-32R (recovery).

Magellan: It’s Atlantis on STS-30.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST): it’s either Discovery on STS-31R (deploy) or any orbiter other than Challenger (servicing mission 1 [STS-61], 2 [STS-82], 3A [STS-103], 3B [STS-109] or 4 [STS-125]).

Galileo: it’s Atlantis on STS-34.

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO): It’s Atlantis on STS-37.

Ulysses: It’s Discovery on STS-41.

Wake Shield Facility (WSF): It’s either Discovery on STS-60, Endeavour on STS-69, or Columbia on STS-80. If the WSF is free-flying, it’s one of the latter two.

Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER, small space jetpack) on free-flight: It’s Discovery on STS-64.

Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO): It’s Columbia on STS-93.

Miscellaneous Communications Satellites: It’s probably an early Shuttle mission of some kind, likely sometime before STS-51-L in 1986.

Other: Try looking for a mission patch on any of the equipment. The Wikipedia List of Space Shuttle Missions has all the Shuttle mission patches. You might also find a payload-specific mission patch – you’ll have to dig deeper for that info.

4. Additional Context:

Angle: If an orbiter is in space and being photographed from far outside, it’s probably either a flight to Mir, a flight to the ISS, or a mission with an untethered EVA. There may have been robotic spacecraft that took from-a-distance photos as well, I don’t know for sure.

Landing Site: If the orbiter is landing somewhere arid instead of a runway, it’s either one of many missions that landed at Edwards Air Force Base; or Columbia on STS-3 landing at White Sands Space Harbor. If there’s vegetation on the ground or a drag parachute is deployed, it’s the former.

Launch/Landing Footage: If all else fails and you just need to brute check every launch or landing around a specific date, try this playlist. It’s helped me before!

5. Other:

There are two Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), tail numbers N905NA and N911NA. N905NA was purchased from American Airlines, retained their livery up until 1983, entered service in 1976, and has five upper deck windows. N911NA entered service in 1990 and has two upper deck windows.

Most/many photographs of the Shuttle are directly from NASA and widely documented. Reverse image searches like TinEye work very well for ID’ing so long as there aren’t too many edits.

Enterprise was initially planned to be named Constitution. If you see an under-construction orbiter labeled with this name, that’s why.

If it looks really weird, and you’re sure it’s a real photo, that’s probably a Soviet Buran-class orbiter. Different program, though obviously “inspired” by the US effort.

Several test articles have received orbiter designation numbers, including the Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA-098) and the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL, aka OV-095). Space Shuttle Challenger was constructed from a similar structural test article, and was thus formerly known as STA-099. Identifying these test articles is an exercise for the reader.

There’s also Space Shuttle Inspiration, a wooden mockup built in 1972 as part of Rockwell’s bid for the Shuttle construction contract, and the retroactively named Space Shuttle Pathfinder built in 1977 for fit checks. (Confusingly, Pathfinder is sometimes referred to as “OV-098” by unofficial sources.)

The Space Shuttle only ever launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. There are photographs of Shuttle stacks at another launch site in Vandenberg, California (SLC-6), but these were only fit checks, not actual launches. SLC-6 was cancelled in the wake of the Challenger disaster.

[catboy-autism]

Make Way For The Mogai Mitlas...

[PT: Make Way For The Mogai Mitlas... /PT End]

♡♡ Mitla Therian, Transspecies, Alterhuman, Nonhuman, and Otherkin ♡♡

[PT: Mitla Therian, Transspecies, Alterhuman, Nonhuman, and Otherkin /PT End]

Terms and flags for when one is a mitla therian, transspecies, alterhuman, or nonhuman.

Coined by both @novaurora and I in collaboration for @rwuffles and @vampitsm 's Mogai Team-Up Event!

Our prompt was: Free Day!

tagging: @radiomogai @jiiamp @dixons-mogai @the-astropaws (ask to be added/removed)

[ID 1: A 7-striped flag. From top to bottom the colors are dark grey, brown, grey, fluorescent light green, grey, brown, and dark grey. The 2nd, 4th, and 6th stripes are thinner than the rest. In the center is a brown theta delta overlaid over a light grey shadow of itself. ID End]

[ID 2: The same flag with a different center shape. There is a light grey circle outlined in fluorescent light green. Within it is the transspecies symbol, an abstract 4-pointed star extending out of a circle-like shape. Within the star is another, smaller 4-pointed star. ID End]

[ID 3: The same flag with a different center shape. In the center is a brown alt key symbol, the alterhuman symbol. It is outlined in light grey. ID End]

[ID 4: The same flag with a different center shape. In the center is a light grey circle outlined in fluorescent light green. Inside the circle is a square diamond shape with a small circle in its center. Within that is a dot, on the top or bottom of the innermost circle are two small lines. ID End]

[ID 5: The same flag with a different center shape. In the center is a light grey circle outlined in fluorescent light green. Within it is a brown 7-pointed otherkin star. ID End]

[ID 6: The same flag with no shape. ID End]

[ID 7: A thin brown line, in the center of it is an orange tabby maine coon mix laying down, staring to the side of the viewer. ID End]

[ID 8: A rectangular banner. The background is transparent. On the left side, in 3 different fonts, it reads "Tina and Sol". All the words are outlined in and off-white color. Respectively, their inner colors are duty brown, sage green, and muted coral. On the right side is a png of the first drawing of a mitla. ID End]

[ID 9: A rectangular banner. The border of it has a gradient of orange to pink. In each corner are 3 strawberries and 4 strawberry flowers. Within the border is a light tan rectangle with text. From top to bottom the different blocks of text read, in all caps: "Do not involve my flags or labels in discourse", this is colored red and underlined; "Anyone can use my flags and labels", this is also red; "But I do block freely", this is colored pink. There is a line of small cartoonish strawberries, each separated by little leaves. On the center bottom is a pink to orange gradient rounded rectangle. Within it is a red text in all caps that reads "This blog loves mspec gays and lesbians". On the left of the rectangle is the mspec lesbian flag and on the right is the mspec gay flag. On the left and right of the main rectangle are drawings of calico cats stretching. There are muddy paw prints scattered across the banner. ID End]

[mylifeisactuallyamess]

Sanctuary part 2

Chapter 10: Traitor

A/N: They’re all getting so close to being reunited 🥲 see the end of the post for Mando’a translations and a little Legend Clone background.

Warnings: 18+ mentions of canon torture, blood mentions, memory loss, canon violence, mentions of death, lots of Legends references in this and some dodgy Mando’a.

Word Count: 6.3k+

Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11

Masterlist

Niner sat on the edge of his bunk, staring into the face of his helmet. His heart clapped in his chest and an anxious sweat, he never usually experienced, slicked his skin. It had taken months of planning, careful footsteps, subtle words — manipulation that Kal Skirata would have been proud of — had swallowed up the whole of his existence, with a single goal in mind.

The most nerve wracking had been his transmissions off base. The pressure of being discovered, of exposing his helpers, was a heaviness he’d rather do without. Now though, was the time to act. To see if everyone’s hard work paid off.

With a sigh, Niner flipped the helmet to stare at the inside. He was doing the right thing. He didn’t like how long it had taken him, but he was meticulous and this operation needed the utmost delicacy. A datapad lay on his bunk, showing him the live camera feeds from the lab you were in. He had been keeping a close eye on you, doing his best to hide his visible interest so Scorch did not reassign him.

Except now…everything had changed.

The Emperor was coming and you were going to be presented to him.

Hemlock’s force wielding success.

Guilt ate away at the clone, it had been since the moment he put you in that machine. Hu’tuun, you had screamed at him with wild fear in your eyes. He deserved that word.

For years he had fought blindly for the Republic, and for what? To slide effortlessly into the Empire, to hunt down traitors who used to be friends and lose all his brothers. He had covered that hole in his heart by following orders, doing as he was told, letting others think they owned him.

However, since he had faced you in that room, with a fighting style that took him straight back to Kamino; he had silently questioned every order. You awoke something in him, a feeling he had let be stamped out by the ones controlling him. He wanted to talk to Scorch but the ex-Delta was even more lost than he was. Clinging to the dredges of a life that was slipping through their fingers, desperate to hold onto some…purpose.

It was all they had left.

Take away a clone’s armour, his orders, and he has nothing. Bitterness coated the back of Niner’s throat making him grimace. The taste of guilt was something he couldn’t escape from, but the curdling of realisation made it worse. Realisation that he had been used all his short life, nothing but a piece on a vast game board.

Recently, he found himself thinking of more, what ifs. A normal life for him was within reach, it was so close he could almost taste it.

He slipped the bucket onto his head, blinking against the brightness of his HUD that flickered to life. He had to report for duty…and then the deception began.

He had made it through the barriers and into the vault without being challenged. The armour he now wore smelled slightly different but noticed he received less stares in this set. Because it was white, not his usual black. The lab doors loomed. He couldn’t use his access to unlock the doors, it would give away his movements. So he approached a fellow commando.

“I am here for Doctor Scalder.” That was the beauty of being a clone, he didn’t need to act or sound like anything but himself. Only Scorch would be able to pick him out of line up, the rest didn’t have a clue.

The door was opened and Niner strode in like he belonged. You had been confined to a small lab. Hooked up to machines that read your brain activity, vitals and many other things Fi would probably have got excited over. The female scientist was taking another blood sample from you and Niner frowned at the marks on your skin. It looked like they had tried to bleed you dry.

Hemlock had been relentless with you, putting you through things that made you scream until blood lined your throat and tears didn’t have the strength to fall anymore. It made his chest ache.

Not that you remembered the very worst of it.

You were a shadow of your former self. Eyes that he remembered being feisty and active were dull and still. You barely spoke, body limp and complacent. There was no fight in you, especially as you were still recovering from the mental strain of the day before.

Niner approached the gurney you were on, not being able to resist looking down at you before he spoke. You surprised him by snapping your gaze to his visor and he swallowed harshly. He felt as though you knew it was him.

“What is it?” Scalder snapped.

“Doctor Hemlock has requested your presence before the Emperor arrives.” Her eyes narrowed at the datapad and he squeezed the blaster that rested in his hands. He was prepared to fight, except he didn’t want to start so early on, it decreased his chances of succeeding.

“I cannot leave the specimen.”

Niner frowned but managed to keep his voice even. “I shall stand watch until Doctor Karr arrives.”

“Then I shall wait for her,” Scalder made a motion to dismiss him and he clicked his back teeth in irritation. Something he was usually unaware of doing but it was a tell his brothers had pointed out more than once.

“I have my orders ma’am, and you have yours.” He let his sergeant voice come through, leaving no room for doubt. He needed this woman to leave. His window of opportunity was closing fast.

“Fine. The specimen is your responsibility. If anything happens, I will have your designation and you will be sent for reconditioning.” Her threat was empty, he had no intention of being here in the aftermath. He didn’t release the held breath in his chest until the door closed behind her.

“What do I do?” He breathed into his helmet, eyeing the screens that flickered and glowed all around you.

His internal com crackled slightly. “Another 30 seconds.”

“You sure this is going to work?” Niner worried. “Will I be able to at least get her out of the room before an alarm sounds?”

“You doubt my skills, vod?”

“I am trying not to,” he whispered, blinking his eyes and wishing he could wipe his face.

“The plan will work.” Niner glanced at you on the gurney. Your eyes were now closed, hands bound, wrists swollen and angry but your body was relaxed. “Now.”

Niner moved, switching the screens off and then reached to remove the pads from your skin. You let him, tensing up whenever he touched your skin.

Finally your eyes reopened, glaring at him. “What are you doing, Niner?”

“The Emperor is coming,” he told you. “That’s bad news for you, it’s bad news for me,” he whispered through the vocoder. “We are on a tight schedule, work with me and I’ll see you are free. Away from here.”

“Damn vod. How can she refuse an invitation like that?” Niner clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ached. He could almost feel the seconds slipping past. Your eyes darkened and he caught the tremble that afflicted your hands. You noticed at the same time, curling them into fists.

“You have a plan?” He grinned behind the helmet, mostly nerves because he still wasn’t sure this plan would work. But he was out of time.

“Yes. We have to go. Now.” You slipped off the bed. He could see you were agitated, nervous, with a racing heart but you joined him at the door. “Whatever happens, follow my lead.” He got a single nod in response.

This was like any other mission when his life was on the line. He had been in worse situations and come out unscathed…of course he had three others with him for those missions.

“You need to move vod, times a-ticking. Buir doesn’t fancy stepping foot in that place, but he will so he clip you round the ear and berate you for not sticking to the plan.”

Niner pushed a button on the control panel which opened the door. Most of the troops had been pulled to fill the corridors of Tantiss, to ready themselves for inspection before the Emperor arrived.

He marched you down the corridor, arriving at the next set of doors and hoping no scientists were wandering round. He activated the large door which set off the chain reaction in the red barriers. You flinched at the sound of them, cast in the blood red glow until you both reached the other side. The doors next lot of doors opened and you were faced with a hive of activity. The sound of marching feet, the clack of plastoid, the hum of blasters all became background noise to Niner.

Both your footsteps were quiet and swift in the bustling corridors. Keeping your head low, letting him guide you completely. He knew you were struggling, trying to keep your breathing level and unhurried. Act natural, he told himself. Always act like you are in the right place, act like you belong, Ordo had told him.

He felt a pang of apprehension. This entire mission hinged on him and him alone. Everyone, including you, were relying on him pulling this off. So many odds were stacked against him. Knowing that no one was outside, no one was in the ship waiting for him…they were parsecs away in a location they couldn’t reach him from. This was his last chance to break those chains that held him. If he failed this mission, well, either way, it was his last.

It was an effort to keep his strides even. Not rushed but not too slow. His nerves chafed when he had to pause to let some clone subjects go past. No one looked in your direction, no one stopped him and no alarms were sounding. Yet.

He could see the door he was aiming for and carefully steered you towards it. “Clear?” He whispered to his internal com.

“Clear.”

“In here.” You didn’t hesitate, slipping into the small room that could only be described as a cupboard. Niner pulled the top off a crate and revealed a brand new set of TK trooper armour.

“Get dressed,” he demanded. You held out your hands so he could remove the bindings. “You stand a better chance to escape with me. Copy?” There was always the minute risk you’d run off, he hoped his behaviour over the last few months had built some solid trust between you. He was genuinely sorry for being a part of your torture, hearing your screams still woke him from a dead sleep, coated in sweat.

“You know how to make the ladies swoon,” the voice chuckled in his helmet, distracting him.

You gave him a nod, your shoulders relaxing a little. A soft hiss escaped between your clenched teeth as you inspected the welts on your skin. He turned his back to you and watched the door while you deftly put the armour on. He had expected you to ask for help, but within a time — that would rival himself on the edges of combat — you had fully geared up without a plate out of place. He handed you a blaster, wordlessly putting it in your hands and pressing it against your stomach.

“Like this. All the time unless you’re required to shoot.”

“Yes, Seargent.” Your voice was still tinged with the pain you had suffered. A faint rasp that had never been there before.

“Let’s move.”

“Vod, unless you want that crusty, yellow eyed old skrill on your hands. You. Need. To. Move.”

“I’m sticking to the plan,” Niner ground out. “It’s slow going because there are so many extra troops around.” Squads of commandos and TKs were roaming the corridors at regular intervals now. The closer the Emperor got, the harder it became to escape. “We are heading to the hangar…”

“Wait,” the voice breathed. “Osik! Vod. The Emperor is already on approach, the alert has gone out about his shuttle. Which means...”

“All shuttles have been grounded.” They had missed the window. He had failed.

Niner could hear something being thrown in the background, a couple more voices muffled and angry. His heart ached. How could he have been so stupid to put them all through this for so long? Why didn’t he leave while he was still on Coruscant?

“Buir says use the backup plan.”

“Wing it?” Niner muttered.

“They will notice her absence soon. Bard’ika said so.” Niner wanted to pound the walls with his fists. He raged and screamed inside, all the while not giving away how he was feeling on the outside. He knew this would be a risk, a huge risk. But he was not leaving you behind. “I know you won’t leave her, vod. We know. Buir admires that about you. Even if he said it makes you his stupidest son.” Niner choked on a rough laugh. Not out of amusement, but pain from not hearing those words from Skirata himself.

Suddenly his attention was redirected when you stumbled into him. He reacted, catching you in his arms and then he froze, the pair of you had caught the attention of a passing commando.

“Is there a problem here?” Niner shoved you back upright, acting like you were a hassle to him.

“TK-757 here is feeling out of sorts. I have been tasked with escorting her to the medbay,” he reported.

“Where should you be stationed trooper? I hope your posts are not left unmanned?”

“No, sir.” Niner drew himself up, channelling his cadet days while trying not to bristle at being subservient to someone of lesser rank. You sagged into Niner and he felt the way you trembled against him. “Just following orders.”

The commando dipped his head, clearly listening to his internal com and Niner sneered behind his helmet. That was the first thing him and his brothers learnt, how not to give away they were communicating to anyone outside the channel. To his relief the commando dismissed them. “Move along. Then report back to your Commander.”

“Of course, sir. Come on TK-757. Pick up your feet.”

“Incoming, third corridor on the right.”

“Is it Sunshine?” Niner asked into his com. The last thing he needed was to run into Scorch right now.

“I still find it hilarious that’s the name you chose for someone with no sunny disposition at all. And no, but take the turbo lift on your right. It’s the aiwha-bait and the torturer.” He had no idea where the lifts were going to go, however it was his only choice. He pressed the button and stood between them.

“Take the left one,” you breathed. “It goes down.” He had witnessed the power of the Jedi and how they worked. Sometimes they knew things before they really knew things, so he took a chance on you. The left turbo lift was there, doors opening at the press of a button. As soon as you were sealed inside you sagged against the wall. “Can you f-feel that?”

Niner sidled up beside you, holding back to the urge to rub your back. It was pointless in the armour anyway. “No. Feel what?”

“C-cold!” You removed the helmet, the sound of your chattering teeth came through Niner’s helmet. Your body was shivering so badly you could hardly get yourself to stand upright.

“Steady, ad’ika.” Niner hauled on your arm, puzzled at your reaction because he felt fine. It was hardly ever that cold within the compound.

“Vod.” A new voice sounded quietly in his ear.

“Bard’ika.” Emotion threatened to strangle him, it had been so long since he’d been with his family. The deeper he went with you, the more he felt his chances of leaving this place were slimming and the further they all slipped away.

“She is reacting to the Emperor’s presence. Which means he can sense her just as easily.” Bardan sighed down the com. “There isn’t much we can do from here, vod.”

“I know.” The lift doors opened and you were both immediately greeted with the sound of blaster fire, except it wasn’t aimed at you.

All thoughts emptied out of Niner’s mind as he shouldered his blaster, bursting into the kennels where the lurca-hounds were kept. What he found, was utterly unexpected.

He dodged the first aimed bolt, then the second. Noticing this clone’s shot was off and easily avoided. Niner stayed his hand when he recognised who was shooting at him.

The defective clone that had resisted reconditioning…from Clone Force 99. He’d never worked with them during the Clone Wars, only hearing about their escapades from others or in the mission reports. They had been trained separately on Kamino away from the rest of the clones because of their special talents.

He didn’t want to shoot this clone, but if he carried on firing, Niner would have to neutralise him. How had this clone got out? How did he have a weapon? What was he doing here?

“Stop!” Niner ground his teeth at a child planting herself between the two clones, hands outstretched, glaring at both of them. He swiftly came the only conclusion that made sense, breathing into the com.

“Are you seeing this? Are they trying to escape too?” Niner hissed.

“Yeah, vod. Buir has gone to get some Mantel Mix.” Niner appreciated the attempt at levity, he also realised the Nulls used it no matter the circumstances. More like everyone was gathered silently around the screens rigged up wherever Jaing was hailing him from. “Who are they?”

Before he could respond the girl’s gaze landed on you. “Stitch?” She asked incredulously, unable to believe her eyes. Now he remembered. Omega. She’d been brought in to keep Nala Se complacent, and as a clone, to further whatever crazy osik Hemlock had going on here. “Stitch, is that you?”

Niner didn’t shift his attention from the clone — CT-9904, if he remembered correctly — however he could feel the way you stepped closer to him. Jaing was unhelpfully silent in his ear, no doubt trying to decipher what was happening.

Omega stepped forward, her eyes never leaving your face. “Stitch, it’s been so long,” she whispered.

You stared at her. You had no memory of her and it showed.

“I sorry…” you whispered, a look of pain crossing your face.

CT-9904 sneered. “Don’t move, Omega.” The clone narrowed his stare at Niner, holding his blaster surprisingly steady considering he couldn’t shoot straight a few seconds ago.

“Have you been there this whole time?” Omega’s eyes were glued to you. Her whole expression showing joy and sadness at the same time, right before she launched herself at you.

Your arms splayed out awkwardly, the force of the her motion knocked you back up a step and you looked helplessly at Niner. It went against everything in his blood to relax, to lower his blaster and take off his own helmet.

“Don’t you dare! Niner!” He was highly aware of Jaing threatening all sorts through the internal com, but he’d made up his mind already. Maybe his only chance to leave had been that moment on Coruscant over a year ago. But then, if he’d taken it, he wouldn’t be here right now. Doing the right thing.

“They can be your way out of here.” He sighed, casting a hand over his tired face. “I can’t get you out anymore. The plan failed.” Those words killed him, numbed him to a husk. The tall clone pursed his lips, his eyes glittered with anger but he didn’t deny they were escaping. It did look fairly obvious.

“I don’t know them,” was your instant reply, causing Omega to gasp.

“What?” She looked up at you, quickly wiping a tear off her cheek. “What do you mean? Stitch. It’s me. Omega.”

“She’s not the same person you remember,” Crosshair gravely told his companion, his gaze flickering off Niner for a moment.

Omega frowned, looking between Crosshair, you and then Niner. “No. No…how?” She backed away, mistrust filling her gaze.

“We don’t have time for this,” Crosshair reminded them all.

“Will you take her with you?” Niner asked them. “She was once your squad.” He berated himself for not making the connections sooner. He had read you were running with CF99 before that little shabuir Boba had managed to drag you in here.

“She was never part of my squad.” Omega shot Crosshair a glare over her shoulder before responding.

“Of course we’ll take her.”

“You are meant to come with me.” Your words tried to be firm but he heard the uncertainty behind them. Niner did not meet your gaze, he couldn’t look at the fear he had put there once more. The helmet felt heavy in his hands. As though his entire family’s disappointment was a weight that grew and grew.

“Getting you out was my main objective. After what was done…what I helped do to you.” He heard CT-9904 scoff lightly, which Niner ignored. “Out of the two of us, you are the one that should leave this place.”

“You have family.” He watched you reach out a shaking hand to touch his vambrace. “I have no one. Where am I supposed to go?” you whispered. “I don’t even know who I am.”

Omega put a hand over her mouth, concentrating on the datapad screen that lit up the fresh tears in her eyes. Even Crosshair was frowning as he watched the interaction between you and Niner.

“You have family. Go and find them.” Niner steeled himself for what was to come, pulling away from your touch and turning to the clone. “What’s your plan?” To his surprise it was Omega who answered, tapping on the datapad she’d no doubt stolen, her voice trembling but strong.

“We are using the kennel chute.”

Crosshair’s frown went even deeper. “Shut up, Omega.”

But she continued. “They lead outside. Protected by a timed ray shield so we have to move fast or we’ll all be trapped.”

Crosshair looked ready to kick Omega if she had been close enough. “You’re telling him everything.”

“Shoot me,” Niner demanded, pleased to see he finally got the clone’s attention again.

“I was going to anyway,” Crosshair threatened heavily, his words backed by the sound of the blaster powering up.

“Just stun him, Crosshair,” Omega said. “Then he can’t tell them our escape plan.” She sounded hard but Niner could have sworn she gave him a small watery smile.

“She’s right.” Against all odds, Niner was impressed by the kid. “By the time they find me, you’ll be long gone.” Niner’s gaze drifted to you. The expression of worry was evident, wracked with nerves, chewing your bottom lip watching the whole scene unfold before you.

“Akaanir partaylir.” He almost relished that look of surprise on your face, the one that told him no matter what Hemlock had done to you…the heritage you had grown up with was still there. “Tell Fi, I’m sorry.”

“Who is Fi?” Niner smiled. He still remembered the way you pilfered his memories, either on purpose or by accident. The one with Fi, you had lingered on it as though you knew him.

“You’ll know, trust me.”

“Enough of this.” You cried out when Crosshair shot the stun blast and Niner fell to the floor in a heap.

The silence was loud, not even punctured by the noises of the hounds anymore. They stood in stoic silence, as if realising this was a monumental moment.

Omega visibly gathered herself. Wiping at her eyes again before pushing some buttons on the datapad she’d slid into the socket. “We can use Batcher’s empty kennel. Be ready.”

“Wait!” You called out, but the kennel door was already open. You had sensed her too late. So preoccupied with what Niner had said to you, you’d been ignoring the approach of someone from behind.

“SP-25. Omega.” Crosshair went to shoot Dr Karr but Omega grabbed the blaster at the last moment and the shot went wide. It hadn’t been set to stun anymore.

“Don’t!”

“You should go back to your room,” Emerie suggested, pulling a pair of cuffs from her pocket. “You too, SP-25.” You liked Emerie but the sight of those binders made you want to back away.

“Her name is Stitch.” Omega corrected the Doctor firmly.

“You’re not thinking clearly. None of you are. It’s not too late to fix this. Come with me and no one needs to know about this.” The welts on your wrists began to hurt and uneasiness churned your insides.

“We won’t do that.” You glanced at Omega fiercely standing up the Emerie, stirring a distant feeling of something inside you. Just a shadow, untouchable and indefinable. “I spent most of my life confined to Kamino, and Stitch spent years put to work as a slave. I won’t let us be trapped here too.” Emerie hesitated, allowing you to feel the confusion that she harboured. “You’re a clone, Emerie. Help us.”

The shift in her presence was palpable. The need to do what was right, what was expected of her, won over everything else. “Escape is not possible, Omega. This is for your own good.”

The blue-white blast was bright, forcing you to squint at the harshness of it. Everything had happened so fast. Your escape, the intense numbing cold that had crept over your body and stole your breath. It still lingered, digging icy talons with splintering sharpness. You had to get away from here. Niner, Emerie, Crosshair, Omega…too many people, it was too much. Forcing it all down, your gaze was dragged to the white light that blinked on Emerie’s com.

“She triggered an alert,” you pointed out the blinking light.

You felt a jolt of fear from Crosshair. “We have to go.”

Omega pushed the last button, retracting the ray shields and taking the datapad from the wall. “Come on, Stitch.” You cast one last look at Niner sprawled out on the floor before darting after the others and putting your life in their hands.

Breaths echoed in the chute. Footfalls blended together, drumming on the alloy as you followed a child and a clone you didn’t know. The claws in your chest buried further, the tightness made breathing difficult. An alarm blared, red lights flashed and you felt the first barrier hum to life behind you.

“The shield’s not supposed to activate yet!” Omega cried, risking a glance behind you.

“They know we’re in here,” Crosshair gasped. “Move faster!”

Adrenaline threaded through your body. The terror of being trapped again made you react. Your fingers flexed outwards, releasing a pulse that shoved Omega and Crosshair out the end of the chute and down the slope. You followed, rolling to a stop in the dirt as you took the first breath of real fresh air.

The sky wheeled overhead. Stars glittered in the velvety dark that smothered the sky. “Wow.” Your whisper went unheard by the others. You knew outside had existed, but in there, it all seemed like lies. The ground was alive. The trees breathed. It soaked into you, connecting with everything around you.

“Stitch! Are you hurt?” Pulling yourself free from the headiness of it all, you managed to shake your head and stand up.

“What direction is the crashed shuttle?” Crosshair asked, not caring if you were injured or not. He felt, complicated. He was shocked to have made it this far. There was a hint of admiration for the child and a steadfastness that assured you, nothing would get in his way of leaving this place.

“Not sure,” Omega admitted.

“Oh, great,” he snapped sarcastically. The sound of a ship engine drew his attention. It was coming to land in the hangar. A cold wind pierced your flesh, needling under your skin like a thousand pins, making your entire body shiver. “We’ll follow the flight path.” Crosshair took the lead, leaving you the choice to stay here and be found, or to follow.

Omega grabbed your hand. “You don’t know me,” she whispered hurriedly. “But you can trust me. Stitch, I promise.” She was telling the truth. It lit her presence up like a beacon, so you nodded, forcing a little smile. “Come on.” The pair of you ran into the dark.

Barely five minutes of blundering around in the jungle had passed, when alarms tore through the quiet night. The tiny hand in yours held on tightly, fear made her breath shaky but she carried on running, not faltering once.

The datapad began to beep in earnest, so the three of you tucked away behind a wide tree trunk. “I’m picking up something. I think it could be the ship. That way.” Barks and snarls sounded from the direction of the compound. A memory rose in your mind, hazy and faint. You had been chased by hounds before. The knowledge was intense, but it felt like it had happened to someone else a long time ago.

“Oh, good.” Crosshair drawled. “The killer hounds.”

Omega took your hand again, pulling you through the trees, watching the screen of the ‘pad to check the direction. “It should be up ahead.” Suddenly she was ripped from your grasp. She cried out as the hard ground came to meet you both in a rush. You slammed into a tree root, knocking your head with such force your vision went double. Panic alone got your body to react, picking yourself up and crawling to Omega who was being helped up by Crosshair.

Each breath you took filled the deadness that was in your ears. The jungle hadn’t been this quiet before. Had you knocked yourself that badly? But in the silence, a shadow rose. A growl grated through the air, pulling up from a beasts chest until you could feel it in your own. Crosshair hooked his fingers under your spaulder, dragging you closer to him and Omega, his blaster lifted half heartedly until he saw the full size of the creature.

Rage scorched, rage from the beast at being disturbed by the alarms, the hounds and having you in its territory. Red eyes glowed like hot coals, teeth gleamed in the moonlight that streaked through the trees.

You wouldn’t let it happen like this. To escape and get so far, only to be killed by an animal in the jungle. It rose at your thoughts, pressing under your skin ready to be released and you lifted your hands to shove the beast back, like you’d done with Omega and Crosshair just a few moments again.

It was going to leap. Tear you limb from limb…when a smaller shape launched into the creature. Two swipes and it had taken out two hounds. But more followed, their sights set on the animal they had been trained to protect the compound from.

Crosshair hauled you upright, awkwardly tugging on the spaulder until you had your feet back under you. “Go!” He barked at Omega who took off again.

The kid led you right to the ship. The flora had tried to claim it and you had doubts it would fly. But she had asked you to trust her. So you followed her into the ship, ducking into a crouch near the inside of the open hatch, swallowing air in great gulps. Your whole body was alive. Your skin almost vibrating with everything that was happening, the fear, the pain, this power you had been forced to harbour.

The lights in the ship blinked on, highlighting the frown lines that marked Crosshair’s face. “Anything?” He snapped.

“It’s not working! The comms are completely dead.” She sighed, frustration glittered in her eyes as she looked around. The sound of ships approaching made you tense, eyes searching the sky. “Here.” You flinched when Omega shoved a backpack at you and a blaster, then she shouldered her own.

“They’re coming,” Crosshair warned, making a motion for both of you to go right and huddle down the side of the dead ship.

The blaster in your hands clicked. Your fingers moved with a memory you didn’t know you had and it hummed to life in your grip.

“I’m sorry!” Omega started, sorrow making her words quiver. “I thought this would work!”

“You got us this far,” Crosshair replied. “And we’re not done yet.” He eyed you for a moment before addressing Omega again. “Did they teach plan 72?”

“Mm-hmm. Tech had me memorise all the plans.”

Tech.

Tech.

The name swirled like a pleasant flavour in your mouth. A warmth blossomed in your chest and you wanted to ask Omega who Tech was. Did you know him? Niner had said you once belonged to a squad…confusion clouded and you grimaced to yourself. Now was not the time.

“Of course he did,” Crosshair murmured.

“What do I do?” You whispered, unsure of what plan 72 was.

“We’re going to hijack one of their shuttles,” Omega breathed.

“Cover the kid,” Crosshair ordered you. His mistrust was obvious, he didn’t think you had it in you and there was nothing you wanted more, than to prove him wrong. “Make sure she gets on that ship. At all costs.” Even your own life.

“Copy.” Crosshair frowned but motioned for the group to split. Keeping low to the ground, you followed Omega. The ship lights flooded the clearing showing troopers beginning to disembark using cables. Commandos and TKs filled the space, encircling the crashed ship, clearly expecting to find you all inside.

Shots rang out on the other side, red streaks exploded in the group troopers and all their attention fixed on where Crosshair was firing from. In the reigning confusion, you followed Omega to the cables still hanging down.

“I’m right behind you.” She nodded and went to climb up.

A blaster dug into the back of your head, making you freeze. “Stand down.” The trooper grabbed the blaster from your hands and pointed it at Omega.

“Oh, hello,” she said nervously.

“Move away from there,” he ordered briskly. This was it. The moment you were going to show them all what you could do. It gathered in the wake of your fear, coalescing, swirling, gathering in your sense of self as you let out a controlled breath. Your heart beat once, a dull thud in your chest as a second slid past.

Then the pressure of the blaster left the back of your head. The trooper cried out, flung away from you both by a lurca hound that snarled aggressively. The trooper went to shoot but Omega tagged him first with a stun blast.

“Batcher?” The hound turned, tongue lolling from between its teeth. It was…happy to see Omega. “Stay close!” The hound ran off into the dark and you retrieved your weapon.

“I’ll get Crosshair.” Omega gave you a little wave as she was dragged up into the ship. You followed the sound of blaster shots, taking out any troopers you came across. It was easy for you, sensing their whereabouts and shooting before they even realised you were there. Their deaths were still jarring, your awareness of their passing was something you couldn’t shut out. So you absorbed them, tucking them away to deal with a later date. If you survived.

The ship swung heavily in the air just as you skidded into place where Crosshair was taking cover. He’d lost his weapon and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. You both watched the ships gun open fire, ripping up the ground and scattering the troopers.

“Go! I’ll cover you.” He nodded, heading to the lowering ramp and you covered his retreat. He jumped, hauling himself over the lip of the ramp to then turn and look at you over the side.

“Blaster!” He demanded reaching down for it. You took a last shot and threw the weapon at him. He snatched it out of the air, shouldering it like he’d been born with one in his arms. The ramp felt parsecs away. Willing yourself to reach when your feet left the floor, colliding with the edge against your chest and crying out from intense pain that spiked suddenly in your side. It was effort to drag your body onto the ramp, your arms were weak, your lungs winded, your whole body was crying out for rest.

Omega jumped out of the lift, her blaster fire filled the lull when you took the weapon back from Crosshair and he disappeared into the ship. The pair of you steadily moved up the landing ramp until you were within the walls of the ship.

“More ships are coming,” you muttered, noticing the dots of light leaving the hangar in the distance.

Omega let out a piercing whistle and called for the lurca hound. She leapt aboard at the last second, the ramp started to close and air swirled into the hold of the ship.

Shots hit the outside of the ship. Batcher whined, tucking herself into a corner when the ship banked sharply. Omega wordlessly vanished to join Crosshair in the cockpit. You went to the hound, dropping to your knees and placing a hand on her head. She snarled at first but soon swallowed it, gazing up at you with wide eyes.

“We’ll be ok.” The ship rocked, smoke began to slowly filter into the hold. Batcher nudged you, making you wince from the movement. “That’s inconvenient.” With a shaky arm, you gingerly lifted to check the wound. A well placed bolt had got the weak space under your arm, between the plates of armour, scorching your skin with a painful burn that now seared deep. “That hurts,” you whispered to the hound. “Don’t tell them.”

The ship gave a shudder, a lurching sensation grabbed your stomach and pulled it out behind you for a moment. The ship had jumped to hyperspace. You could hear Crosshair and Omega talking, well shouting, over the alarms. Lights flickered. It was obvious the ship had taken damage.

You couldn’t just sit here. Using the hull, you pulled yourself upright, squaring your shoulders and trying to ignore the fierce burn in your side as you went to help before the ship crashed.

Translations:

Hu’tuun - a very severe insult for a mandalorian. Translated it means coward but it’s very shameful to be called that.

Buir - father

Vod - brother

Osik - loosely translated, basically the Mando equivalent of shit

Aiwha-bait - is a derogatory term the Nulls (legend clones) used to refer to the Kaminaons

Ad’ika - means little one. Usually used affectionately between family members or with children

Shabuir - is like motherfucker 🤣

Akaanir partaylir - fight to remember

Clone story time!!

Niner was Fi’s sarge in Omega Squad (legends.)

Jaing and Bard’ika and Kal Skirata are also all from legends. Jaing is a Null class clone, Bardan is an ex-Jedi turned mandalorian and Kal Skirata was one of the Cuy,val Dar that trained the clones on Kamino. Jaing refers to Kal as Buir because he adopted all the Nulls and Omega Squad as his sons after Order 66. Giving them a family and somewhere to go when the war “ended.” Darman and Niner never got off Coruscant in the wake of O66 and continued to serve in the Empire.

[puffyducks]

DCRC Week #21

Aight y'all we're playing a little bit of catch-up this week cause I went on a big trip to Disney World which ironically left me with no spare time to sit down and read Disney comics. So we're reading PKNA #17: Shooting Star and we're all gonna pretend this was posted on time!!

Guys look Xadhoom is back!! And she looks like she's doing really well too :D

Ok but listen I know this cover looks scary but hear me out - the cover for chapter #9 showed Xadhoom protecting PK, but then in the actual comic she ends up attacking him SO, if this cover shows her straight up attacking PK, obviously that means the opposite is true and she's gonna protect him this time!!! The math checks out trust me guys

okay nevermind maybe she's not doing well

guys she's meditating

One of many instances where the triplets allegedly exist but we never actually get to see them, we're just constantly getting jebaited 😭

Also housewife Donald moment

I'm kinda interested in Uno's reluctance to let Xadhoom know about the secret floor cause like, sure he wants to stay incognito, but who is she even going to leak the information to? She just said like 10 pages ago that Donald is her only ally lol

zapped him so hard he straight up turned into a dognose in the last panel </3

laughing my ass off at this panel sorry why does she look like that. she hit the O=O

WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?????

Guys stop flirting this is SERIOUS. There is a super scary alien on the loose that is totally not in the room with us right now

Imagine getting left on read by an AI, L + ratio

Crying what the FUCK is going on with the crime in Duckburg bro, why do they have flamethrowers 😭

Actually can we bring back those weird LARPing gangs from Trauma? The guys roleplaying as Roman soldiers? I miss them

omfg she can noclip through walls we are so fucked

It took Uno several days of complex scientific analysis to determine that Xadhoom is completely out of her fuckin gourd when he probably could've watched her on camera for longer than like 20 seconds and come to the same conclusion lol

Love the look of the black and white panel on the right, and also shoutout to Mary Ann for being a real one

oh my god they KISSED!!!! EEEEEEEEEEW COOTIES 🤢🤢🤢

Okay so MAYBE I was wrong about Xadhoom protecting PK and maybe she just attacked him for a second time but HEY!! This time it was sort of an accident. Not really but like she was clinically insane so I think she gets a pass. Anyways I like this comic but I think a lot of it is my Xadhoom bias, I just think she's neat ok! I like reading stories about her. I will say that the art leaves something to be desired and also I don't really know what the point of having Gamma and Delta here was? But like believe it or not they do come back later (for some reason) so I guess they're sort of relevant. I'll be back with the next chapter soon ✌️

[pawseds]

Helvetia's Branch 4 agents (turned Kill Team 9): the party for the Delta Green campaign I'm currently in.

From top to bottom, left to right are agents Hrothgar (me!), Tatsu @mintrhine, Yona @inkysatell, Melydice @katastrofish, and Amaia @daruqin, with our lovely handler being @theroyalzealot!

I'm pretty happy happy with how I managed to translate the 3 other artist's artstyles into my own. And I'm mostly happy with how the inks turned out, too! Especially how the white bits in the blacks turned out, since I don't have a white gel pen and had to manually outline every white stroke there before surrounding it with black.

Here are some alt versions, including the inks and the raw scan, and a bonus meme:

[the-iron-shoulder]

Happy anniversary to the greatest headline in a school paper

Oh shit it’s October 2nd, I should tell this story

so many years ago, one of my dearest friends was teaching an introductory computer science class at our university. He would often grab the school paper on the way in and glance at the headlines, making a comment or two as he deemed to be interesting before starting the class.

well, this particular headline got him to stop, read the whole thing, and then share some feelings with his class:

”9 arrests made in milk-vomit crash”

basically, a bunch of literal frat boys decided that it would be a stupendous idea to stand on a footbridge over a busy street, then chug milk until they threw up into traffic. One of them hit some poor driver’s windshield and caused her to crash (everyone lived), and THAT got the cops involved, resulting in that glorious headline.

my friend read that and then looked at his class, saying something like “so the next time you see those fraternities out there recruiting while wearing professional clothes and talking about networking and all that, just remember: nine arrests made in milk vomit crash.”

Several years later, I had taken up cross-stitching, and while I’m no @theshitpostcalligrapher, I deeply respect the art of Shitpost As Interior Decoration, so I ended up making this friend the following gift:

[image ID: a cross-stitch of black text on white cloth. The text says “Nine arrests made in milk vomit crash” in a dramatic font. End ID.]

I’ve made a lot of cross-stitch pieces but this remains one of my favorites just for its sheer shitposty simplicity.

anyway happy milk vomit crash day everyone!

[writersstareoutwindows]

throwback ahead of season 2 to the Victoria McClary playlist that I put so much thought into, w/ tracklist explanations below the cut

Devil’s Spoke - Laura Marling

“I am yours ‘til they come.”

Let’s be honest, this is here because Jane used it on instagram for a Deadlands post. It has the pace and cadence of a beginning song, tinged with Victoria’s devotion-as-romance that can only end badly.

2. Devil’s Waltz - Good Morning Bedlam

“I lifted your body and screamed at the gods.

Half of my soul is what our love cost.”

Here is the romance, and here it is ending badly. But Victoria, of course, won’t let it end there; here, also, is the promise that she will claw her apocalypse back from death.

3. Chasing Twisters - Delta Rae

“I can taste you in my rage and in the sweat upon my brow.”

For Victoria alone. Crying out to the lost husband, the child never realized, no company but her own betrayal and grief.

4. Dust Bowl Dance - Mumford & Sons

“There will come a time I will look in your eye.

You will pray to the god that you’ve always denied.”

Grief and fury clarify into a plan. Trapped in a dusty, one-horse town, she dreams about the day of justice. I also like to think that “the only son” can stand for the son that Victoria claims her friends killed, i.e. the new world that would have come out of armageddon.

5. God’s Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash

“As sure as god made black and white

What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light.”

Victoria is so sure that she’s right. Righteous, even. And, to some small extent, she is; her friends have become monsters of greed and cruelty, and they will be punished for it.

6. Hell’s Comin’ With Me - Poor Man’s Poison

“I am the righteous hand of god.

And I am the devil that you forgot.”

I know it’s a TikTok song but it IS that good. The realization of Victoria’s justice and her vengeance. Her friends thought they’d stripped all her power, they left her mortal and they forgot about her. And now they die regretting it.

7. Pale White Horse - The Oh Hellos

“It was a pale white horse, with a crooked smile.”

Well. Finally our wild cards realize just who, exactly, they’ve been dealing with.

8. The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse - Tom Morello

“You made the mess, but I’m gonna clean it.”

Crazy how this song exists to be about her. Last of the horsemen, the only one who remained steadfast. Returned to full power at last. (And then, stripped of it—but a kernel of that devotion remains, that part of her that believes in a better world. She’s not there yet, but she’s getting close…)

9. Heaven’s Gate - Dawn Landes and Piers Faccini

“Show me the way to heaven’s gate, now that I forgot.”

A redemption song, because I’m a soft bitch. Given the space to imagine a happy ending, I will do so. Reduced to mortality, Victoria begins to learn that the way to a genuinely better world isn’t a single moment of beautiful annihilation, but a long and winding road. Still, it’s one worth walking. In fact, it’s the only thing worth anything.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

have been putting together Iliaster Pokemon Teams off and on fooooor the last couple months or so... I always like to put way too much thought into teams so under the cut I have all my reasonings for these choices. I like Pokemon and I like these characters a Perfectly Normal Amount <3

BRUNO/ANTINOMY:

Lucario: feels just very much like a good partner Pokemon for him...same shade of blue, very noble and loyal, EXTREME SPEED!! something something Lucario's innate aura reading and ability to sense emotions and thoughts vs. Bruno's complicated quest to figure out who he is. I think they would be friends!!! It gets amnesia too in whatever funny Pokemon AU Bruno's situation happens in

Skitty: obligatory Bruno kitty cat pokemon <3

Armarouge: T.G. Halberd Cannon/Blade Blaster type vibes, its pauldrons literally turn into a cannon, fire type echoing the sun in the Antinomy/Yusei duel, also a very loyal Pokemon. Plus bonus counterpart to Primo's Ceruledge >:3c

Rotom: silly little guy who likes motors and electronics and machinery!! Also Bruno having a ghost type and being. yknow. a robotic copy of a dead man. I think it suits him.

Yanmega: T.G. Recipro Dragonfly, it literally has eyes covered with a red visor, it's super fast and its design echoes a vehicle (aircraft rather than motorcycle, but still.)

Registeel/Regieleki: in Tag Force 6 Bruno uses and seems to really like Machina Fortress, so I wanted to give him a big 'ol bulky Steel Type. Antinomy gets Regieleki as a counterpart because it's literally The Fastest Pokemon, probably great for Delta Accel Synchro <3 Also Modern Age/electricity/android type invocations...

Porygon/Porygon2: Bruno needs a boxy little computer friend!! Antinomy gettin the evolved form since a big part of Porygon2's lore is that it was made for space travel...thinkin bout that duel again. The Porygon line, Porygon2 especially, also has a really similar color palette to Bruno's various forms!

Miraidon: ok ive seen people give Jack Miraidon and i get it, it's his color palette, BUT LIKE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BRUNO POKEMON EVER. literal robot motorcycle from the future who washes up on the beach with limited memories!!! it has a silly goofy friendly form and a badass powered up fighter form!!! it can be the perfect counterpart to Yusei having a Koraidon!!! LISTEN.

LESTER:

Skarmory: Meklord Emperor Skiel of course!!! Violent metal bird moment!!

Wingull: in the Tag Force games Lester really likes the Stuffed Seagull Plush item and I think that's just so cute

Zorua: Little red-haired mischief-maker that can create illusions and false appearances?? IT'S PERFECT FOR HIM.

Klang: From the episode when he infiltrated the twins' school, he used Gear Golem the Moving Fortress....gotta give him some gears.

Durant: Skiel Guard! Little weird metal bugaboo :]

Iron Bundle: challenging myself to give all the Iliaster members (aside from Z-one) Future Paradox Pokemon...Lester of course gets the Bird one. It even shoots a laser like Skiel does!!

PRIMO:

Bisharp: god his whole team is just Mean Blade Guys but like. Look at Him. That's Primo. the way Bisharp commands an army of Pawniard the way Primo commands the Diablo also relevant.

Ceruledge: This is kind of the Primo Pokemon of All Time For Me--haunted grudge-powered knight that "cuts its enemies to pieces without mercy" with sword arms infused with "the lingering resentment of a sword wielder who fell before accomplishing their goal"--like... COME ON. DUDE.

Mega Beedrill: gotta shout out the iconic bee commentary of course, and also it's Another Violent Pokemon With Sharp Dangerous Blade-like Arms.

Melmetal: MEKLORD EMPEROR WISEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scizor: Metal-clad evolution of a blade-armed beast, also violent and merciless. And it does the thing where it uses its pincers to look like it has three heads--funny for one of Aporia's components~

Iron Valiant: ANOTHER PRIMO POKEMON OF ALL TIME FROM GEN 9. LIKE!!! White robot with a big dangerous sword, created by a mad science supposedly, "said to be cruel enough to take its brilliantly shining blade and cut down anyone confronting it without hesitation"... THEY CANT KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT

JAKOB:

Mega Aggron: Granel <3 Big fuckoff metal monster. I also thought it would be fun to try and give the Three Nobles each a pure Steel type Pokemon for the Robot Funsies.

Barraskewda: For Granel's bizarrely fish-like canons and components--Barraskewda also being based on a projectile weapon a bonus, too.

Skeledirge: GOTTA give one of the Nobles something that ties into their sub opera singer namesakes, plus Skeledirge's Spanish influence is perfect for Jakob/Jose. And its an aquatic-based animal like all of Granel's components, too :^)

Alolan Golem: For Jakob's big old beard and eyebrow, PLUS it's a grumpy stubborn beast that launches electric rock blasts. Just suits him imo.

Ursaring: gave myself the added challenge of giving The Three Nobles each an unevolved Pokemon that Aporia has the fully evolved form of.... Jakob gets Ursaring for their matching surly expression and eye(s) plus the Guts ability boosting Attack when inflicted with a status effect is perfect for the Gaining Power Through Suffering motif of these guys <3

Iron Hands: Freakishly powerful big bulky electric robot monster!!! Yellow color motif like Granel!!! probably one of the most Meklord-y Paradox Pokemon, to me.

PARADOX sidenote it's so fucked up he just doesnt have a tag force sprite. sad!

Origin Dialga: Since his whole deal in BBT is having a deck of stolen Legendary Iconic Dragon Cards, i GOTTA indulge and give Paradox a bunch of Legendary Dragon Pokemon!!! Origin Dialga is for the time travel and also it's just a bizarre creature that feels on par with Malefic Paradox and Truth Dragon tbh. Plus it was created by Arceus, and Pdox was created by Z-one <3

Zekrom: GEE PARADOX WHY DOES YOUR MOM LET YOU HAVE TWO UNOVA DRAGONS... he's got that whole black and white color motif with his mask/the Malefic dragon armor. And Zekrom's got an engine...like a motorcycle...

Reshiram: Beautiful long haired bishie of a dragon plus the aforementioned black and white motifs. Also the concept of wanting to make a true AND ideal new future is really fun and kind of Very at play with Paradox~

Espathra: A.) im a Psychic Duelist Paradox truther, I rly wanted to give him a Psychic type, B.) Espathra is a violent weirdo that literally has his hair color palette/style. In my mind's eye this was his partner Pokemon originally ....Paradox with a Flittle is so funny to me.

Roaring Moon: if anyone deserves an Ancient AND Future Paradox Pokemon it's... WELL. THIS GUY. Malefics are almost all Dark Dragons so give him the freakish vicious Dragon/Dark that's like a twisted version of an existing monster (much like how Malefics are twisted versions of existing cards ;])

Iron Treads: Successfully continuing to give all the Iliaster guys Future pdox 'mons...Iron Treads is a big robot tire effectively which works great for a guy who motorcycles through time!!!

SHERRY:

Lunala: For that freaky Soul Binding Gate skeleton door, also a Pokemon that is brought under Necrozma's (Z-one's) power. Sherry having Lunala and Aporia having Solgaleo also just makes me a little insane.

Florges: FRENCH. FLOWER LADY. EASY PICK.

Rapidash: For Horse of the Floral Knights/Sherry's horse shaped duel runner...i love that she's a horse girl 🥴

Teddiursa: For that TEDDY BEAR!!! And also, again, her having a Pokemon from the same line as Pokemon Aporia has is just a fun detail for me.

Tsareena: 100% female. Floral Knights/Chevalier le Fleur. Kicks and fights triumphantly.

Iron Leaves: in general Virizion is already a perfect Sherry 'mon (grass horse, based on French literature, etc.) and I imagine she originally had one before it somehow Became an Iron Leaves when she joined Iliaster :^)

APORIA:

Solgaleo: i mean. He Just Looks Exactly Like One!!!! Also Steel/Psychic is a really good type for this big miserable monster lion angel robot. Plus it can be controlled by Necrozma.

Kingambit: Evolved form of Primo's Bisharp, a powerful and intense leader that fights primarily with brute strength. It's also got an ability that boosts its power the more of its allies fall (die <3) Power through suffering!!!

Silvally: Synthetic chimera of mishmashed fused parts created in a lab :) Can only evolve and reach its true potential through friendship :))) also giving him Silvally and Z-one Arceus just to make myself a little sick in the head.

Klingklang: Evolved form of Lester's Klang, mechanical 'mon that echoes the Ark Cradle's Sun Gear(s) that Aporia protects

Ursaluna: Evolve form of Jakob's Ursaring, hulking powerful bear with big claws and a back sail that looks exactly like Aporia's big metal halo.

Iron Jugulis: MEKLORD ASTRO DRAGON TRISKELION!!!! also a hydra like Aporia's duel runner >:D

Z-ONE:

Necrozma: first of all it kind of looks like Z-one's freaky life support+huge claws contraption second of all something something Infinite Light vs. Necrozma being a light consuming monster third of all the way it can dominate and lord over Solgaleo and Lunala. pounds my fists on the pavement.

Celebi: HE'S THE BIG BAD HE GETS AS MANY LEGENDARIES AS HE WANTS and he needs Celebi of course. Time Angel :)

Omastar: Freaky ancient Pokemon that resembles the nautilus shape of Z-one's contraption...also there's something about fossils being kept alive in there somewhere I'm sure.

Mimikyu: this is like. perfect for him tbh HDHGSDFG Wears the guise of another Pokemon and pretends to be it (and I would definitely give Yusei a Pikachu,) reacts with violence and panic when pushed into a corner, Fairy type (like all the Timelords are), competitively can fill the niche of being Difficult and full of underhanded status effects and tactics and I think that's just lovely for Z-one <3 In my mind's eye I like to think this was his partner Pokemon from even before The Yusei Factkinning Event.

Bloodmoon Ursaluna: Well it's literally got the odd 'device' clamped over one of its (weird glowing) eyes and also. For Aporia <3 That's Aporia <33 Z-one's giant time-displaced apex predator with a big weird circle on its forehead <3333

Arceus: THAT'S GOD BABEYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rabbitcruiser]

Alaska Highway, CDN (No. 2)

The road was originally built mostly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a supply route during World War II. In 1942, the Army Corps of Engineers assigned more than 10,000 men, about a third of whom were black soldiers, members of three newly formed African-American segregated regiments. There were four main thrusts in building the route: southeast from Delta Junction, Alaska, toward a linkup at Beaver Creek, Yukon; north then west from Dawson Creek (an advance group started from Fort Nelson, British Columbia, after traveling on winter roads on frozen marshland from railway stations on the Northern Alberta Railways); both east and west from Whitehorse after being ferried in via the White Pass and Yukon Route railway. The Army commandeered equipment of all kinds, including local riverboats, railway locomotives, and housing originally meant for use in southern California.

The official start of construction took place on March 9, 1942, after hundreds of pieces of construction equipment were moved on priority trains by the Northern Alberta Railways to the northeastern part of British Columbia near Mile 0 at Dawson Creek. Construction accelerated through the spring as the winter weather faded away and crews were able to work from both the northern and southern ends; they were spurred on after reports of the Japanese invasion of Kiska Island and Attu Island in the Aleutians. During construction the road was nicknamed the "oil can highway" by the work crews due to the large number of discarded oil cans and fuel drums that marked the road's progress. The construction crew had also passed through an Indigenous village known as Champagne (Shadhala-ra) which they used to set up camp. Unfortunately, disease spread and nearly wiped out the indigenous population of the village. After the war, the survivors left the village to find work, leaving the location a ghost town.

Source: Wikipedia

[lordkingsmith]

February lyric Prompts 2024

1. You know I'll fight my corner/And that/tonight I'll call ya/After my blood is/drowning in alcohol/No I just wanna hold ya-give me love by Ed Sheeran

2. We lay down in the riverbed/Rest in the silhouettes our fathers and mothers laid before/Restless souls in the desert sand/Dream of another land that heroes/and villains claimed before-kings and queens and vagabonds by ellem

3. Oh, my love/What have I done?

4. There's nowhere left for us to run/And now we're standing in the sunlight/And I can't bear the sight of you- and so my heart became a void by Annaca and Frederick Lloyd

5. Tragically we fall just like the arrows/You will hear our voices echo/We are the hearts/We will never be bought and sold- we are the hearts by EXGF

6. Now I'm in love without you/Please don't still love me/I'm in love without you/But you still find a way inside my dreams - I’m in love without you by FINNEAS

7. But you need your rotten heart/Your dazzling pain like diamond rings/You need to go to war to find material to sing/I am no mother, I am no bride, I am king-king by Florence and the machine

8. You black out/I search for more

9. You fall in love/Don't waste it all/It won't be long/But if I can't make it back/Will I know you're not alone and fading? - Search for more by From Indian Lakes

10. Cross my heart and hope to die/I think I lost my appetite/God and lonely ain't the same/God has lovers, you got blame-Gods&Lovers by YONAKA

11. Try to catch the pieces as they fall/I was fighting your love, now let me fight for it all/Find your way to me, darling/Now that we're falling kites in a hurricane/Hold on tight to me, darling-kites in a hurricane by HAEVN

12. Dry bones broken in your hand/You bring me back to life again, oh/I feel the secrets on your skin/I need your heart to let me in/All my life, when I close my eyes/It's always been in black and white/But tonight you make me dream in color-Dream in color by HALIENE

13. Somewhere after midnight/In my wildest fantasy/Somewhere, just beyond my reach/There's someone reaching back for me/Racing on the thunder/And rising with the heat-Bonnie Tyler

14. No damsel in distress, don't need to save me/Once I start breathin' fire, you can't tame me/And you might think I'm weak without a sword/But if I had one, it'd be bigger than yours-kings & queens by Ava Max

15. Just as it was, baby/Before the otherness came/And I knew its name/The love, the dark, the light, the flame/The eyes at the heights of my baby/Let's hope at the fight of my baby/The lights were as bright as my baby/But your love was unmoved-As It As by Hozier

16. The doctor said I was born under a bad sign/I always had trouble walking in a straight line/I was raised by a cold hand/I was made in the image of a dark man/I wasn't born to behave/That isn't how I was raised/Defiance on my brain/Violence in my veins-I Wasn't Born To Behave by Black Hydra,City Wolf,Easy Mccoy

17. A birth and a death on the same day/And honey, I only appeared so I can fade away/I wanna throw my hands in the air and scream/And I could just die laughing on your spiral of shame-twin skeletons by fall out boy

18. you're a lover, you should know/The lonely moments just get lonelier/The longer you're in love than if you were alone/Memories turn into daydreams, become a taboo/I don't want to be afraid/The deeper that I go/It takes my breath away/Soft hearts, electric souls-house of memories by panic! At the disco

19. Love, electricity, shockwave central/Power on the motherboard, yes!/Push up, overload, legendary heavy glow/Sunshine, thunder roll, keep this on/Yes, the lantern burn, burn that easy-stylo by gorillaz

20. Remember when you said you loved me?/Remember when you said that it would all work out?/We packed up and we left one morning/And everything you promised didn't happen, and now/I'm swirling softly/Drifting like the cream in your coffee/And you're talking calmly-scared by delta Rae

21. Touch the rain and feel the summer breeze/Say the things we've never said/… I will keep you from the world outside/I will never let you go/I will be the thing you dream about/Come to me and you will know/… I adored you-adore by Jasmine Thompson

22. You're estranged/You're the same/You'll never change/And I am walking away/Don't chase me now, I'm taking my crown/I'm living the life that you never let go/Actually thought that you could bring me down-crown by Jinco & SVNAH

23. 3 a.m., Mustang speedin'/Two lovers, headed for a dead end/Too fast, hold tight, he laughs/Runnin' through the red lights/Hollerin' over, rubber spinnin'/Big swig, toss another beer can/Too lit, tonight, prayin' on the moonlight-John Wayne by Lady Gaga

24. Look down from your tower on the high /And take in the night /Look her right in the eye she'll listen-star mile by Joshua radin

25. Wanna be your lover, not your fuckin' mother/Can't be your savior, I don't have the power/I'm not gonna stay/and watch you circle the drain-circle the drain by Katy Perry

26. So blessed be/I'm making peace with my mortality/Won't burn while up in flames/In the holy water I won't drown-witching hour by Kerli

27. We would say anything just to hear what we want/Right or wrong/Then we lie to be forgiven/We would sell anything just to buy who we're not-kill our way to heaven by Michl

28. And I'll shiver like I used to/And I'll leave him just for you/And I'll shiver like I used to/Just for you/And if we turn back time/Could we learn to live right?-shiver by Lucy rose

29. Baby, I wanna touch you/wanna breathe into your will/See, I gotta hunt you/I gotta bring you to my hell/Baby, I wanna fuck you/I wanna feel you in my bones/Boy, I'm gonna love you/I'm gonna tear into your soul/Desire, I'm hungry/And I hope you feed me-Desire by Meg Myers

30. Don't fall in love with the man on stage/I'll be on in a minute, then sweep you away/Don't fall for the monsters in this maze/But I could love you forever if you'd meet my gaze-neon Medusa by the midnight

31. In the morning when I wake/And the sun is coming through/Oh, you fill my lungs with sweetness/And you fill my head with you-bloom by the paper kites

[captainhattersvoyagerstuff]

Caretaker Part 1

Okay, so I just finished Caretaker, the 2 part season premiere of Voyager. It's been a while, so there's stuff I forgot was there. Some of it was good. Some of it was, omg. But let's see if I can post my review, which is a series of notes I made while watching. I hope for more discussion later.

That thingy you're running into means you're screwed, Chakotay

Star Wars Crawl

Okay we start out with words on a screen. There’s this group of federation citizens called the Maquis who didn’t agree with Starfleet’s moronic treaty that are fighting the Cardassians and some say they are heroes and the Federation says they are outlaws.  Yay I saw the Maquis on Ds9!  I can’t wait to see more of them. (cough)

Scene 1: Maqui Ship. Chakotay and Maquis crew trying to outrun Cardassians.  Yay!  Chakotay is a really assertive leader here.  I’m excited. We have a coherent tetryan beam.  I hate those incoherent ones.

Wave hits them and light and we have Voyager credits.  Good theme song. Love the orchestra.

Scene 2: Federation penal colony.  In New Zealand?

That's right, bitches, I'm here.

Janeway shows up at the penal colony to find Tom Paris who could maybe find the Maquis cause he served with them before they kicked him out just like Starfleet did.

I'm really tough. I don't have Daddy issues.

She tells Tom he is an observer and he whines about being a good pilot. Except for the pilot error that got three people killed, oh nevermind. Just wait five minutes, Tom.

Scene 3 Tom is annoying on the shuttle to Voyager

Okay I have a question. Tom is wearing a Starfleet uniform. Why do observers still wear a uniform?  Don’t you need to earn that?

Also: Pretty Betazoid Ensign Stadi (don't get used to her) informs Tom that Voyager has bio-nueral gel packs.  They are so much more efficient.  Unless there is cheese on board.

Scene 4 Harry is nearly conned for first time on space station ds9. Harry's theory: get con artists off your back by buying everything. Tom saves him cause he's as big of a con as Quark.

Oh, hey, is that Quark from Ds9 that other show you should watch?

Scene 5 Tom and Harry meet the Doctor

The Doc is super bitchy to them. I met he's gonna make stuff hard for Tom.

Scene 6 Janeway talks to fiancee

His name is Mark Johnson. Really. Unknown Truth: Tuvok's real last name is Smith. Anyway, the show has a few minutes to tell us who Mark is and why Janeway loves him. So they talk about her dog.

Nice knowin' ya, Mark

Janeway's dog is named Molly. She is expecting puppies. She likes her doggy bed. I am officially more invested in her dog now.

Scene 7 Junior High mess hall

Doctor and First Officer Cavitt, two of the most nondescript white guys ever (doctor isn't even named), gossip with Harry about what Tom did cause it's junior high and oh no these guys don't like Tom what will he do?

Scene 8 Wonder why it's called the Badlands

Plasma storms, more coherent beams, stuff is fine. What could go wrong? What's that bright light?

Scene 9 Voyager go boom

This is going to take FOREVER to fix!

Ship is transported 75,000 light years to the Delta Quadrant and they hit the breaks kinda hard. The ship is all messed up. So is Janeway's hair.

Where is my HAIRSPRAY?

A couple of shots later:

Seriously? It's hair magic!

Turns out that all command officers (including that pesky doctor and first officer) except Janeway and the entire medical staff are dead. What kind of bad karma does Janeway have? They get scanned and beamed off the ship.

Gonna stop here for a break so it's not so long. Stay tuned next time for Farmville and the evil corn on the cob lady.

[arcsimper5]

Actions and Consequences - Chapter 1 Resolute

Delta Squad are forced to seek help from within the fleet for their injured Jedi, Jerra. Mixing with the GAR general is... an issue.

Pairing: OC!Jedi Jerra x Delta Squad Warnings: Descriptions of injuries, some blood, language. Rating: M (Explicit content in later chapters, minors DNI)

Kix huffed as the hangar medical alert rang out into the med bay, the low buzz of it echoing through his skull.

It had been a long day already, the Resolute in orbit above Pravada 9, a large group assault on droid production bases having been ordered by the GAR while data was gathered by a specialist assault team.

Looking at the chrono, he frowned in confusion; the last of the teams from the 501st and 212th had returned hours ago, with no reports of lost ships or units. Everyone deployed from the ship had been accounted for.

So why, then, was the medical alert sounding if all troops had returned?

Grumbling in annoyance at the inevitable extension of his shift, he grabbed his medkit and made the short journey to the hangar, looking around for his new patients.

There were a few groups of troopers milling around, but none that seemed to need attention. One lot of four were playing sabacc on some nearby crates while another small gathering of softshells were working on a gunship which had taken quite a bit of damage in the incursion.

None of them seemed to need his attention, his annoyance growing further.

“Anyone call for a medic?” he asked loudly, several heads snapping in his direction.

A murmuring response of ‘no’ and ‘not me’ came from the troopers, Kix letting out a growl of annoyance.

“Then who the kark is wasting my time by calling me down here?” he snapped, some of the sabacc troopers exchanging concerned looks.

He was about to head back to medbay and file a false alarm report when a gravelly voice called across the hangar, a large, imposing clone in distinctive armour appearing from the end of a gunship, a large sniper rifle in his hands.

“I am,” the trooper called, the entire hangar silent now, watching the interaction.

Kix raised an eyebrow, looking the trooper up and down. He could tell by his bucket, which was still firmly in place, that he was a Commando. His bulk on its own was intimidating, but the paint job on his armour completed the picture, the white plastoid flashed with red on his legs, arms and midsection, what appeared to be a bloody handprint covering the area around his visor, giving the impression of it being fresh and dripping.

“You’re not 501st or 212nd,” Kix huffed, the sniper letting out an amused huff.

“What gave it away? You a medic or not?”

Kix stared at the Commando for a moment, caught between actions.

“You’re not on my treatment compliment,” he stated firmly, the sniper staring back. Even under his visor, Kix could practically feel the coldness of the look.

“But you are a medic,” he growled in return, “and we need you.”

“For what?” Kix questioned automatically, the larger clone almost certainly rolling his eyes.

“A fifth for sabacc. What do you think, di’kut?”

Kix was about to offer a sharp retort when another Commando appeared behind the sniper, his posture communicating his impatience.

“Sev! What the kriff is taking so long?”

It only took the other man a moment to register Kix’s presence, his size matching this so-called ‘Sev’, though his bucket was off, exposing a frustrated expression.

Even though he looked like a clone and his hair was slightly longer than regulation, the Commando armour he wore, mostly green with a white flashed chestpiece, he gave off the air of someone much more superior.

“You, medic! We’ve been waiting on you! Get your shebs back to the ship!”

Kix frowned, his frustration growing.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” he huffed, “but I’m assigned to the 501st. You can’t just turn up on a republic fleet ship, call a medic and demand medical attention without registering first.”

“Oh, look, the little shiny doctor doesn’t know who we are,” Sev chuckled lowly, the other Commando rolling his eyes and glaring at him.

“Can it, Sev. This is about Jerra, not you.”

“Look,” Kix sighed, shaking his head, “let me call the on-call medic. I’m sure they can…”

“No time!” the unidentified Commando cut him off, shaking his head, “Our Jedi is injured. Now are you gonna do your job or not?”

As Sev chuckled, Kix felt the urge to decline simply on principle, but hearing there was an injured Jedi piqued his interest, not to mention his innate need to help was kicking in. Whether it was in his genes or in his heart, he couldn’t fight it, relenting with a long suffering sigh as he trudged towards the commandos.

“Ugh, fine! Just… register after, okay? I need to record all treatment.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” the Commando nodded, waving behind him in a gesture for Kix to follow.

“What Battalion are you even from?” Kix asked as they weaved through the gunships, most in various states of battle damaged, towards the rear of the hangar.

“Battalion?” Sev rumbled, his tone amused, “That’s cute.”

“We’re Delta Squad,” the other clone responded tightly. “I’m Fixer, this is Sev. Boss and Scorch are still on the shuttle with Jerra, our Commander.”

“Delta Squad?” 

Kix froze in place for a second, Sev almost walking into him, barely dodging his stock still form. 

“The Delta Squad? The ones who ran the demo job on Geonosis during the first battle of the Clone Wars?”

“History lesson later,” Fixer urged him, reaching back and grabbing his arm, the medic stumbling a little as he was pulled along, “first, medic stuff.”

“But… You guys are… You’re a myth! You’re not… You’re not supposed to exist!”

“And yet, here we are,” Sev chuckled, a hiss sounding as he reached up with one hand, unclipping his bucket and pulling it off.

Kix took in his features, surprised. Again, although he looked the same as the rest of his brothers, Sev had a certain… severity to him, as obvious as it would seem.

Two large scars ran across his face, one down from the top of his hairline to just below his cheekbone over his right eye, the other across the same eye, from the bridge of his nose to the curve of his face. It looked oddly like a crosshair.

His hair was thick, tight curls cut short, shoots of grey showing through. Light amber eyes stared back at Kix, a wicked smirk tilting at chapped lips.

“Got an issue?” he grinned, Kix immediately shaking his head.

“N-No… Kriff… Rex is not gonna believe this…”

Turning to Sev, he hesitated for a moment. “Is it true the four of you took back an entire republic cruiser from trandoshan pirates on your own?” 

Sev smirked, raising an eyebrow at the medic. 

“Is that what they tell you?” he teased, the low tone of his voice sending an uncomfortable shiver down Kix's spine. 

“Like I said,” the other commando huffed from in front of them, “history lesson later. And to be fair, it was mostly Boss.” 

Within moments, they were free of the field of battleworn gunships, the path to a beat up looking attack shuttle appearing. Another Commando was waiting outside, this one with a white chest piece, grey and gold covering his arms and legs.

“Took ya long enough!” he yelled as they approached, his voice somehow softer than the average clone’s, “What were ya doing? Teaching him how to practice medicine?”

“Can it, Scorch,” Fixer snapped, releasing Kix’s arm as they approached the ramp, Scorch’s face scrunched in an unimpressed expression.

His hair was much longer than the others, thick curls pulled back into a loose braid at the back, a few ringlets falling around his face. He leant against the ship with his arms folded over his chest, eyes scanning Kix suspiciously.

“How’s she doing?” Sev quizzed Scorch, the expression on the slightly smaller clone’s face faltering a little.

“In pain,” he replied quickly, looking pointedly to Kix, “Boss is with her. He’s been pushing bacta, but you know how she is with supplies.”

“You,” Sev grunted at Kix before nodding to the door, sharp eyes locked on him, “inside.”

“Going, going!” Kix assured him, drawing in an attempt at a steadying breath as he pushed through the doorway of the ship, the insides dimly lit.

It was a modest set up in the shuttle, a bunk room off to one side, labelled as such on the door. A small refresher was marked at the back, top and rear gunner mount positions visible from the main gangway.

Looking down towards the rear, Kix soon found his target, watching curiously as he crept closer.

The Jedi, Jerra, was sat on one of the navigation seats, her left hand supporting a limp right arm, face twisted with pain as she let out a hiss.

She was human, at least she appeared to be, warm skin over tight features. Her eyes seemed to dance with a green light in the darkness, focused on the Commando in front of her, the clone kneeling as he looked over her knees, one of which was exposed and covered with a bacta patch.

Her long dark hair was pulled back into multiple braids that trailed down her back, pulled together with a gold band. The clone in front of her was helmetless, hair short and mussed, curls spilling onto his skin haphazardly as he rested on one knee, hands gentle as he rubbed bacta in a nasty looking cut on her leg.

Visibly, it seemed to be her only other urgent injury, save the small cuts that littered her face. They looked like shrapnel wounds, ones that Kix was, unfortunately, all too familiar with.

“Not long now, mesh’la,” he grumbled lowly, his accent thick and low, a warmth to it that made Kix raise an eyebrow, “we’ll get some meds into you.”

“I can wait,” Jerra replied with a forced smile, adoration clear on her face as she looked the commando over, letting out a huff of laughter, “you shouldn’t be wasting bacta on me, Boss, I told you…”

“Hush,” Boss ordered, his voice stern, though his smile betrayed his tone, “bacta can be replaced. You can’t.”

A moment stretched between them, intimate and deep, simply sharing a connection, and for a second, Kix felt like he was intruding on something private.

“Uh… Sorry to interrupt,” he managed, his voice cracking a little as Jerra’s intense gaze turned to meet him, Boss’s smile fading entirely as he stood back up to full height, “I’m Kix, the medic from the 501st.”

“About time you got here,” Boss grunted, stepping back to allow Kix access to Jerra, “does ‘rapid medical response’ mean something different in the fleet?”

“Boss,” Jerra chastised the Commando gently, Kix trying his best to keep his expression set as he approached, the large clone’s white and red armour adding to his intimidating presence, “leave him be. It’s not like we were announced.”

“Still,” Boss huffed, his eyes softening a little as Kix placed his back at Jerra’s feet, offering a weak smile.

“Sorry about them,” Jerra grinned softly, “they can be a little demanding. I hope they weren’t rude to you.”

“No more than any of my other vode,” Kix smiled back, earning a huff from Boss. “Now… the others mentioned you being in pain?”

His eyes travelled over her, noting the bacta patch on her leg and the way she still held her arm.

“Do you mind telling me what happened?”

“Big ass explosion!” a shout came from the doorway, Scorch leaning around it, watching intently, “Got caught in the shockwave. Uh… sorry, again, about that.”

“Out!” Boss yelled, stamping towards the ramp, his face set. Jerra simply rolled her eyes and let out a breath of laughter, focusing back on Kix.

“We were infiltrating one of the maintenance facilities while the battle distracted the main forces,” she explained as Kix reached up, flattening his palm for her to lower her arm onto it, “our objective was to take it out and get intel on the newer battle droids they’re pushing out. Things got a bit heated, more security than intel thought there’d be, and I got pushed off a walkway by one of the breach blasts. Boss caught me before I fell all the way down, but it jarred my arm some.”

Kix hummed as he listened, eyes now intently fixed on her arm as he rolled the fabric covering it up as gently as he could. Her robes were a dark brown, the tunic underneath faded greens and greys, all tattered and smelling distinctly of explosive residue.

“Lucky escape,” Kix smiled, Jerra wincing as he tried to straighten her arm, hissing in pain. In his peripheral, he saw Boss turn sharply at the noise, trying his best to focus. 

The skin around the joint was purple and black, bruised badly. The swelling was quite severe, but there seemed to be no obvious deformation.

“I can’t tell from just looking, but there’s some bruising and irritation around the joint. Did you hear a pop or crack when you were caught?”

Jerra hesitated for a moment, looking towards Boss, her expression caught.

“I need you to be honest,” Kix explained softly, “or we might miss something that could cause complications in the future. We can heal whatever it is, I promise.”

With a long exhale, Jerra closed her eyes and nodded, something close to shame echoing across her features.

“It dislocated when Boss caught me,” she murmured, gaze averted to her feet, “and I popped it back in. Hurt like a jawa-kriffer, but it let me keep going.”

“Mesh’la…”

Boss’s call cut through the silence, the pain in his tone apparent.

“You should have told me… I’m…”

“Don’t,” Jerra frowned back at him, watching cautiously as he approached, “you did what you had to. I’m alive, we’re all here, that’s what matters. I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d worry.”

“Damn right I’d worry,” Boss glared back at her, “It’s my job to look out for you all!”

“And you did!”

“But you got hurt…”

“Instead of falling to my death!”

Boss considered her words for a moment, hovering over her as Kix looked between them, the tension growing.

“Well, uh, there might be some small fractures in the elbow joint,” he explained quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation, “but I’d need to do a scan to be sure. It might also be good to look at the rest of your joints too, mainly your shoulder. A force like that can dislodge things or pull other muscles. It’s nothing that a bacta wrap won’t fix overnight, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“No,” Boss growled, Kix’s gaze darting to Jerra as she rolled her eyes, letting out a huff, “we have orders to be back en-route by oh-four-hundred. We’re only here for medical attention, resupply and refuel.”

“And you’re getting medical attention,” Kix replied sternly, releasing Jerra’s arm back to her as gently as he could, gathering his pack and standing, “and I’m telling you she needs more treatment.”

“We’re not leaving without her.”

“Then you’re not leaving at all,” Kix frowned, gesturing at Jerra. “If you want to deny her treatment and possibly aggravate what is currently a minor injury, be my guest. But if it is broken, bone fragments could shift and damage both muscle and tissue, not to mention the pain will only build. She needs rest and recuperation, and as a medic, I am able to pull individuals from active service for that.”

“Need a hand, Boss?”

Sev’s deep voice echoed through the ship, two other faces also peering in, their expressions stern.

It was clear that they were willing to step in if there was an argument, Jerra huffing in frustration as Kix stood his ground, shouldering his bag.

The Commando and the Medic stared each other down for a long moment, Boss’s eyes searching Kix’s face.

After what felt like an eternity, Boss let out a frustrated huff and stepped back, allowing Kix to pass.

“One rotation. No longer,” he growled, looking back to Jerra, “and one of us is always with her.”

“Boss,” she protested, quickly cutting off her own reply as he glared back at her.

“That’s an order.”

“I outrank you,” she shot back, hissing again as she stood up, following Kix as he made his way through the ship, though she made no further argument.

Boss looked her up and down, putting out a hand against the durasteel wall on the other side of the galley, blocking her path while the medic disembarked, his intense gaze finding hers once more.

“Boss,” she breathed again, swallowing hard when his free hand moved to her face, tracing his knuckles down the side of her face, “I’ll be fine.”

“You should have told me,” he grumbled after a moment, the guilt in his eyes making her chest constrict. “I hurt you.”

“You saved my life,” she reminded him, stepping into his space, tucking her head under his chin.

Taking another deep breath, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tenderly, taking the upmost care not to put pressure on her arm. “Better broken than a pile of goop on the floor of a maintenance facility.”

Boss let out a soft chuckle, his expression softening once more. Pulling away slightly, he looked down at Jerra, a sigh escaping his lips.

“I’ll make it up to you, cabur,” he promised, voice little more than a whisper, “we all will.”

“I’m holding you to that,” she teased gently, shivering at the sensation of his breath ghosting over her cheeks, “it’s been too long, Boss.”

“I know, cyare,” he smiled, leaning down to brush his lips over hers, drawing a whimper from deep in her throat, “but what was it you taught us about patience?”

“Gar chayaikir,” she moaned softly, growling as he pulled away, “you’re going to pay for this.”

“Hey, riddurok’la, your medic is getting twitchy!” Scorch shouted from the doorway, leaning in with a sly grin on his face, looking over the scene with amusement. “Gar me'dinuir, vod?”

“Mir’sheb,” Boss growled in response, moving towards the door, Jerra following with a blush on her cheeks. “Come on then, my lady,” he teased bowing as he reached the door, “your medic awaits.”

*-*-* Translations: Di’kut - idiot Shebs - Ass/Butt Mesh’la - Beautiful Cabur - Protector/Guardian Cyare - Beloved/One who is beloved Gar chayaikir - You tease Gar me'dinuir, vod? - You share, brother? Riddurok’la - Married Couple (rough translation) Mir’sheb - Smartass

[your-anime-boyfriend]

THE TIME HAS COME. Last Wednesday I ended one of the few anime I watched weekly without any delay, it's "Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! 2nd season" time.

Everything we knew was that this season it would be about Volume 3 of the light novel, which was the Lawless City and the Credit Crisis.

I loved every fight in the Lawless City, Cid saw that there survives the strongest ones and he really said "let's fucking go". He beat every fucking person he handles. He kicks ghouls by thousands.

He went to the Crimson Tower and literally split in two the man who tried to killed him. He blew Crimson without letting him ended his phrase.

We found out that Beta, 664, 665 and 666 are fighting for their lives against Elizabeth in order to protect Claire. It seems that Vampire's blood and possesed blood has some origin in common, also Claire had something to do with Violet aka Aurora aka Diablos, okay. They were struggling until Cid came to scene and he ended up healing all of them, Claire, Elizabeth, Beta, etc.

Then, we learn that Mitsugoshi is using a credit system, Cid knew what would happen and decided to fuck the girls and earn all the money he can, blowing up Mitsugoshi and the Great Trade Alliance. He met Yukime, ruler of the White Tower, to spread false bills and blow the credit system they created.

Never forget Gamma fighting, she is really OP, but she has the same ability to fight that a frog.

He faced shadow garden a few times during these events because he was protecting the load under the name of John Smith. The most important are Delta and Alfa fights.

He faced Delta who is literally a monster, she only stopped when she smelled Cid. He order Delta to end up Juggernaut, one of the three rulers of the Lawless City, just for fun. She did it and we can see how she left the Black Tower after the fight.

Alfa was a threat. In the anime we can see that he was injured by Alfa, not a lot of people can do that, but he used her feelings to defeat her quickly. In the manga Alfa did cause more damage to him, he was struggling, but ended up winning the fight.

Shadow Garden was really sad because of Shadow's betrayal. Cid and Yukime finally stole all the money from the Great Trade Alliance and the credit crisis was at Mitsugoshi's door. Shadow Garden found out the money left by Shadow and the used it to solve the crisis, which lead to made peace with him somehow, even Shadow didn't know how. They recruited Yukime and the Lawless City, because she is the last ruler.

Shadow misses the money and while Yukime fights Gettan, he kills Gettan because Shadow thinks he is the thief. Whatever.

We thought it was everything, but... THERE HE GOES, VOLUME 4 OF LIGHT NOVEL. The volume 4 takes the events on Oriana Kingdom.

I first thought it was going to start the story and nothing more, but THEY ALMOST ENDED IT.

We learn in Volume 4 that Rose left Shadow Garden to protect her mother, that her mother fucks Perv Asshat and that they drugged the King for years. Cid steals the ring that invoke demons from other realities and gave it (without knowing the side effects) to Rose. She ended up being Queen and Mordred kills Perv and her mother during the wedding. Beta and Epsilon beat his ass and meanwhile, Shadow crushes without any effort Ragnarok, the ruler of another world.

It was all good until Shadow was isekaid, he was teleported to his previous world. They said that we'll have a film, can't wait for it.

My only complain is that they did Volume 3 and 4 in 12 episodes, we even had a filler episode. I would love to develop more the fight with Alfa than doing a beach chapter. However, the music was amazing and we had once again "NOTHING TO HIDE" by Kenichiro Suehiro and I live for it. The story was really good, the animation was good, the music too.

I want to apologize, but I don't find a lot of images of this season, well.

Let's give it a solid 9 out of 10. I think it could have been better, but I love the result.