#Quarantine Beck

[hollowboobtheory]

i've said it before but even or perhaps especially if you think you enjoy it, you should stop shaving and wearing makeup for awhile. a month, year, however long it takes for you to get comfortable with it that way even if you decide to start doing it again you'll know for sure that it's your own choice

[topazy]

Inside, outside

Pairings: 10k x reader, Addy Carver × sister reader

Warnings: Swearing

Chapter: 5.02

Doc follows behind George for a few miles as she leads you to Camp Altura. The camp was built around a college campus, which had minimal damage. As you stepped in closer, you were able to see different stalls selling blankets, hot food, hand-made soaps, and fresh fruit and vegetables.

“This place is pretty impressive.”

“Hey, guys!” George calls over from a fenced-off area. “You gotta go to quarantine first!”

She points you in the direction of a tent to revive a medical test that would determine if you were alive or dead. Then you could move onto the second stage and fill out forms to register as a citizen. The third part was being assigned a temporary job until they found a permanent one suited best to the information you’d given them.

Doc and Sarge passed with flying colors, but the doctor checking 10K seemed concerned. “I'm having a hard time finding a pulse,” she says, feeling his wrist. “Any near-death experiences? Going into the white light? Loss of appetite?”

“Sometimes everything’s in slow motion.”

The doctor gets 10k to remove his top half of clothing to scan his body with a UV light. You swallow hard, glancing over to the other side of the tent. You see Doc and Sarge watching with the same expression on their faces, no doubt fearing the same thing as you. What if 10K was still technically dead? The doctor pushes him forward to inspect his back and notices the mark on the back of his neck. “What is that? It looks like a healed-over bite.”

“Oh, that… that was me. I sometimes get a little carried away in the bedroom.”

10k looks mortified at first but then clicks onto your lie. Smiling, he looks up at her and shrugs. “I picked a biter.”

Unconvinced, the doctor begins to feel his neck and then his chest. She roughly pushes her thumb over where his heart should be, causing 10k to wince out in pain. “Any heart problems you’re aware of?”

“Not till you did that,” he says, trying to pull away from her, but the doctor only pushed her thumb in deeper.

After a tense few moments pass, the doctor finally smiles and says, “There we go; we got a pulse.”

When it’s your turn to sit in the chair, you hand the doctor the paper with your name on it. It felt so strange seeing your name in black and white on the medical form. 𝐘/𝐍 ‘𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚’ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐤. You were unsure whether to even include your first name since nobody calls it anymore, but you chose to in case Addy ever came looking for you.

She looks between you and 10k, who was putting his top back on. “Another Beck, siblings?”

“Married.”

“But not siblings?”

Sarge scrunches up her nose and says, “that’s disgusting.”

You nod in agreement with Sarge while opening up your mouth for the doctor to inspect your teeth.

“Anything can happen in the new world,” she deadpans.

“Ew.”

“Any zombie bites? Mortal wounds? Organ failure?”

You shake your head.

The doctor feels around the inside of your mouth, giving you a disapproving look. Considering how hard it was to keep hygiene standards up while running from the undead and trying to save the world, your teeth were in pretty good condition. The doctor narrows her eyes at you, then turns to tell Doc and Sarge they should start queuing to register because the lines were long. She asks you question after question without giving you a chance to answer. Frowning, she starts to feel around your stomach before moving her hands further up your body.

You swat the doctor's hands away when she feels your breasts. “Eh, excuse me!”

“Hmm,” she starts to scribble down on the piece of paper, shaking her head. “I’ll organize a scan for you. It will probably be later today so they can do a safety evaluation to figure out the best place for you to work.”

10k steps forward, his eyes wide with worry. “Why does she need a scan? Is something wrong?”

“No, just to see how far along the baby is.”

"I’m pre—” Before you can complete the question, you hear a thud. You look over your shoulder to see 10k has passed out. “I’m not…I cannot be.”

She hands you a small yellow tube to pee in and says, “Let’s find out then.”

Oh shit.

—

“Okay, so now that you’ve registered for citizenship and are certified alive, you’ll need to wait outside in the line on the left for housing and a work permit,” the doctor explains. She smiles at you. “Well, not you, mommy; you’ll be off work for at least a couple of days.”

This wasn’t happening; there had to be some kind of mistake. You couldn’t be pregnant. You glance at 10k, who was toying with the bandana on his head; he hadn’t said anything since two pink lines appeared on the stick the doctor dipped into your urine sample.

“I know this is a shock, but I do have more people waiting to be processed.”

You stand first. “Uh, thank you.”

Stepping out of the medical tent into the camp, you first spot Doc and Sarge, who are waiting for you both. “Fuck, we can’t tell them.”

10k nods in agreement, “we cannot tell them or anyone.”

You go over to retrieve your bags and weapons, which you made to hand over upon arrival. Soon as Doc waved over to you, you knew it would be impossible to keep a secret like this from him. 10k thinks the same because he says, “I don’t know how long I can be around him before I break.”

“We can tell Doc, but nobody else. I don’t want anyone to know anything until... I don’t even know.”

“Until we are finally sure things are safe?”

“Yeah,” you sigh. “Our team is our family; this affects them, and I don’t want to freak everyone out until it’s absolutely necessary. How are you feeling about it? Your head took a pretty hard hit when you hit the ground.”

10k Let’s take a deep breath. “I’m not going to lie; I’m terrified. But we’ve made it this far.” Seeing tears build in your eyes, he pulls you in for a hug and kisses your forehead. “We’ve made it through much worse; we just need time to get our heads around it.”

Taking his hand, you walk towards Doc and Sarge in comfortable silence. Just as you reach them, George appears with a large smile on her face. “Hey guys, I’m glad to see you made it in. Did you get your work assignments?”

“Sure did.” Doc replies. “You’re looking at a future intake examiner. I guess they liked my bedside manner.”

“I’ve been assigned gate duty with the volunteer militia,” Sarge pouts.

“So have I,” 10k says.

Sarge seems a little happier that she and 10K have the same assignment, but she struggles to hide her disappointment. George picks up on it as well, “it’s only temporary. Once the referendum passes, you’ll be able to work anywhere in New America. I personally like Pacifia, my home, but there’s something for everybody.”

You liked the sound of that. Personally, you either wanted to live in an open area like a forest or a farmhouse. You knew it would be a long time before that day came, but having that goal reminded you how worthwhile all the shit you’ve been through was.

George’s dark eyes land on you. “What about you? What’s your work assignment?”

“I don’t have one yet,” you shrug.

George nods her head; she looks like she’s going to say something but notices the nervous glance between yourself and 10K and changes the subject. “Well, if there’s anything I can do—one moment.”

You watch as George orders men who are guarding the fences to be less rough on a woman who’s the new type of zombie. She calls for Dante to hand her one of those little black biscuits and feed it to the women, making her much calmer. Without those biscuits, camp would be screwed; it was the only thing that stopped people who had died from turning completely Z.

—

After a quick shower and a hot meal, you go with the rest of your group while they are on gate duty. You didn’t want your first day in the place to be alone, especially since you’d got an appointment for a scan later on that day. Even though the doctor confirmed you were with a child, you didn’t feel any different; the only difference you felt now was a massive weight pressing down on you for keeping it a secret. But knowing so many things could go wrong, it was best to keep it quiet for now. At least that’s what you told yourself.

“Warren! Murphy!”

“Oh my god! Roberta! You are indestructible! Look at your hair,” Doc says, pulling a brunette into a hug.

It takes you a few seconds to fully register. Warren was standing in front of you. She was alive. You jump to your feet and rush towards them. “I can’t believe Murphy actually found you. I was so sure both of you were gone.”

Warren hugs you tightly. “I’m glad to see you. I’m so glad you guys made it this far; I was worried I’d never get the chance to see any of you again.”

Whatever happened to Warren when she supposedly died changed her hair back to its natural color. You liked it; she looked more like herself again. Murphy’s skin still remained bright red. Although Altura was the longest zombie-free outpost in North America, you couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that it could all change now that Murphy had arrived. Seconds after the thought crosses your mind, Murphy causes a scene by refusing to go for his examination.

Seeing Dante step forward, you jump in between them and say, “Listen, he’s got a phobia of scientists.”

Doc starts to try and defuse the tension but stops talking when Warren and George smile at each other. They walk towards each other and hug. It turns out they were old friends who saved each other's lives at the start of the apocalypse.

—

The outpost was more impressive than you first realized; it even had its own bar—not that you could drink for a long time, but it was nice that others could. When you first entered the bar, you were pleasantly surprised to meet Simon Cruller, better known as Citizen Z. It was crazy to think how many times he’d saved your asses without ever actually meeting you.

“Oh my god, what is that?”

You try not to barf as a citizen places down a large glass of green tequila before sitting down beside 10k and saying, “Do not let me drink this; I have a wife and kid.”

10k tilts his head and looks at you with wide eyes; you could already see the sweat gathering at his hairline. You had agreed to sit down with Doc and gently break the news to him that night, then, in a few days, tell the others, but the unknown elephant in the room had caught the attention of Sarge, Simone, and Doc, who were all staring at the two of you, waiting for one of you to say something.

Doc suddenly lunges forward, “Reds alive! She’s here with some dude, and they have a kid!”

Before either of you can answer, glass shatters from the other side of the bar, and two drunk men begin to shove each other while arguing. Sarge and Simone go to intervene, while Doc stays behind. A baby? How long have you been apart from her? Keeping track of time in the apocalypse was never easy.

“Sorry kids, I thought you would be over the moon to—”

10K suddenly lunges forward, downing the green tequila he burns loudly before wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He looks at Doc and blurts out, “Astra’s pregnant, with a baby!”

Doc leans back into his chair and says, “Oh my god, I mean congratulations. You guys must be—”

“Terrified.”

“Nauseated.”

“What’s going on, gang?” Warren asks, walking towards you.

“Nothing, nothing,” 10k scrambled to his feet. “I need some fresh air.”

“Yeah, I’ll go with you.”

—

“You guys should go talk to her,” Sarge says, motioning her head in the direction Red was going.

While walking around the stall area, Sarge caught up with you and 10K; if she sensed something was going on, she never let on.

“Yeah, it would be nice to catch up with her and find out how she vanished into thin air.”

You start to approach her first, watching as she smiles brightly and talks to someone, but when a man hands her a baby wrapped in blankets, you quickly turn and head in another direction. It was too much. Starting a new life, finding out you were growing a new life, Warren coming from the dead, and now seeing Red with a family—it was too much for you to process at once.

“Astra! Astra, wait!”

You run until you start to feel physically sick and sit down on a patch of grass. Pulling your chest up to your knees, you quietly sob. You lose track of how long you’re sitting for; you only lift your head when footsteps approach from behind. “I’m sorry, Tommy.”

“No need to be sorry.”

“Red?” You wipe away your fallen tears and stand, saying, “You’re really here.”

“And you’re alive!” She rushes over and embraces you in a hug that you desperately needed. “I spoke to 10K; just to be clear, I’m not married, but here you are. Congratulations.”

You pull back and chuckle. “I’d say I wish you were there, but it was kind of chaotic.”

“Isn’t it always? What kind of wedding was it?”

“It was a spur of the moment, word-dying type of wedding.” She laughs, thinking it’s a joke. “Red, I’m so sorry about everything that happened before you left. I’ve missed you so much; I should never have left you and taken off like I did.”

She offers you a kind smile. “What’s done is done. Now we can only look to the future, and for the record, I’m sorry too.”

You squeeze her hand, “friends.”

“Fri— what was that?”

You both look over to the building the voting was going on in to see smoke coming out from the side of it. “I think a bomb just went off.”

[buckrecs]

𝙘𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙠

masterlist | s.s characters masterlist

ONESHOT

all the stars are closer by @kashimos-hajime

mark watney wasn’t the only one left behind on mars, and as you struggle to survive on the desert planet, hidden feelings come to light between you and your best friend, dr. chris beck.

you’re better when you’re quiet by @extremelyblackandwhite

enemies to lovers

Drabble by @/extremelyblackandwhite

stealing chris beck’s sweaters and being in quarantine together.

A Helping Hand by @sableseb

“Are you in? Living in sin is the new thing.”

Boys in Bed with Books 5 by @jobean12-blog

You distract Chris while he’s reading in bed. 

Midnight Kiss by @navybrat817

Chris made a promise to kiss you at midnight and he intends to keep it.

Celebrate by @/navybrat817

Beck celebrates some happy news with you.

home with his starshine by @starbuckie

for the first time in twenty years yn is not spending christmas with her best friend and boyfriend. what’s a girl to do without him?

blame game by @/starbuckie

good god, chris beck pisses you off, with his ass-kissing good grades and dorky fucking glasses, but you’ve never had a better time in the sheets than when you were riding the soul out of him (and he could say the same).

dorothea by @/starbuckie

in which y/n reassures chris he can always come back home to her.

i’s wait a million years by @/starbuckie

chris tries to break up with his girlfriend when his mission requires him to be gone for a few years, but she assures him that she’ll wait for a million years until he comes home to her.

caught up in you by @intrepidacious

When Chris takes you on a nightly drive, he still has a few surprises in store for you.

right now by @traitorjoelite

chris's need for attention leads to a shocking discovery .

Imagine by @angrythingstarlight

Your boyfriend shows you all the benefits of the training facilities. Starting with the antigravity room. 

Seeing Stars by @ladyfallonavenger

Sex Pollen

leave out all the rest by @avintagekiss24

"babe, I’m never gonna finish this work if you keep doing that" + "I know for a fact that you can be a hell of a lot louder than that"

stardust, moonshine by @starduststevie

chris makes your birthday better than it could ever be. you are the stardust to his moonshine, after all

Let’s Shake On It by @bucks-bunny

You were more than satisfied with your academic career, but there was one aspect of it you absolutely couldn't stand: Chris Beck.

hush by @baezen

in which the good guy gets the girl.

Burn by @matchamunson

“she’s always burned so brightly”

Stardust and Starfish by @i-am-a-closet-fanfic-fiend

“Hey we kissed once in kindergarten but I haven’t seen you since and I couldn’t remember why you were so familiar.”

Stardust by @after-avenging-hours

After a mix up with NASA’s resupply, you find out that you’re going to run out of your suppressant medication. The commander tries to come up with a plan to deal with your approaching heat, but how easily will she be able to control the only unmated Alpha on board?

Dancing On My Own by @wlntrsldler

Chris Beck comes back from the mission and breaks the news that he is in love with Beth to Y/N.

Start Tonight by @peppermintsparker

loving chris beck would always be your greatest adventure.

Problems Of A Spaceman by @pepsicup

Chris attempts to gain some confidence back after his fiancée leaves him, though, the journey is different than he thought it would be...

Maybe by @theimpossibleg1rl

"how do you plan a space party?" "You planet"

Gravity by @theimpossibleg1rl

Loving Chris Beck wasn’t easy.

Simp by @toastedkiwi

Mark Watney wasn’t the only one who go stuck on Mars. You were too. But you both are back with the crew.

Catching as you faint by @sebbystanimagines

i fainted during the dissection and you’re the one who caught me AU

meeting on earth by @/sebbystanimagines

Galaxy by @flowerpot101

you get seriously hurt during an incident on the shuttle and Chris saves you.

Too Much Space by @fatbottombucky

don’t worry, no one’s watching by @wintersoldier1989

“I know it’s just a stuffed animal but doesn’t it feel weird?”

The Auction by @georgiapeach30513

Your high school sweetheart Chris Beck is back in town.  Just in time for the town auction.

Peaceful Storm by @melomaniac3407

You and Chris staying inside during a thunderstorm.

Quitting Time by @navybrat817

After the work day you had, Chris wants to make you feel good... and quit your job.

SERIES

star crossed by @captainscanadian

A series of one-shots not necessarily in chronological order but still tell the story of these Star Crossed lovers.

Hermaion by @sebbystanimagines

a lucky find.

I Promise by @moonbeambucky

Before heading to Mars Chris Beck reconnects with his best friend, unaware of the outcome of their night together. With the burden of his mission will Chris make a promise he can’t keep?

[self-made-cages]

Morgan's 2023 Reading List ✨📚 

Jan 2: Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty (1 star)

Jan 4: True Biz - Sara Nović (4.5 stars)

Jan 15: Spare - Prince Harry (4 stars)

Jan 20: Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan (re-read) (3 stars)

Jan 23: This Time Tomorrow - Emma Straub (3.5 stars)

Jan 25: The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave (3.5 stars)

Feb 2: Beartown - Fredrik Backman (5 stars)

Feb 5: The Hawthorne Legacy - Jennifer Lynn Barnes (4 stars)

Feb 6: The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes (3.5 stars)

Feb 19: Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting - Clare Pooley (4 stars)

Feb 19: The Unsinkable Greta James - Jennifer E. Smith (2.5 stars)

Feb 28: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple (5 stars)

Mar 15: A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

Mar 20: A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas (5 stars)

Mar 23: A Court of Wings and Ruin - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

Mar 25: The Quarantine Princess Diaries - Meg Cabot (2.5 stars)

Mar 26: A Court of Frost and Starlight - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

Mar 31: The Mutual Friend - Carter Bays (4 stars)

April 5: From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout (3.5 stars)

April 9: A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire - Jennifer L. Armentrout (4.5 stars)

April 15: The Crown of Gilded Bones - Jennifer L. Armentrout (3 stars)

April 19: The War of Two Queens -Jennifer l Armentrout (3 stars)

April 23: The Reading List - Sara Nisha Adams (3 stars)

April 30: Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus (5 stars)

May 6: Happy Place - Emily Henry (4.5 stars)

May 10: Everything Beautiful in Its Time - Jenna Bush Hager (not rating)

May 13: Well Met - Jen DeLuca (3 stars)

May 21: The Last Mrs. Parrish - Liv Constantine (2.5 stars)

May 25: The Displacements - Bruce Holsinger (4 stars)

May 27: Rock the Boat - Beck Dorey-Stein (4.5 stars)

May 31: Damn Few - Rorke Denver (not rating)

June 14: A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas (2 stars)

June 25: Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall (not rating)

June 27: A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas (reread)

July 2: Pineapple Street - Jenny Jackson (4 stars)

July 5: Once More With Feeling - Elissa Sussman (2 stars)

July 13: It All Comes Down to This - Therese Anne Fowler (3.5 stars)

July 15: Mad Honey - Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan (4 stars)

July 27: The Secret History - Donna Tart (3 stars)

July 29: The Comeback Summer - Ali Brady (4 stars)

July 30: The It Girl - Ruth Ware (4 stars)

August 5: The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (4 stars)

August 6: Educated - Tara Westover (not rating)

August 9: The First 90 Days - Michael D. Watkins (not rating)

August 11: This is How it Always Is - Laurie Frankel (5 stars)

August 20: Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver (4.5 stars)

August 27: A Soul of Ash and Blood - Jennifer L. Armentrout (1.5 stars)

August 30: The Alice Network - Kate Quinn (3.5 stars)

September 4: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab (4.5 stars)

September 15: This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (4 stars)

September 17: Hotel Laguna - Nicola Harrison (2 stars)

September 24: We're All Adults Here - Emma Straub (5 stars)

September 26: A Bend in the Road - Nicholas Sparks (1.5 stars)

October 5: The Celebrants - Steven Rowley (2.5 stars)

October 8: Anxious People - Fredrik Backman (3.5 stars)

October 9: Born a Crime - Trevor Noah (not rating)

October 14: The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer (4 stars)

October 16: Counting the Cost - Jill Duggar (not rating)

October 18: Love and Other Words - Christina Lauren (2.5 stars)

October 22: Rules of Civility - Amor Towles (4 stars)

October 29: Maybe You Should Talk To Someone - Lori Gottlieb (not rating)

October 30: Troublemaker - Leah Remini (not rating)

November 2: Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen (3.5 stars)

November 7: Good Girl Complex - Elle Kennedy (1.5 stars)

November 23: Modern Lovers - Emma Straub (2 stars)

November 25: Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros (3.5 stars)

December 3: Daisy Jones and The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid (2.5 stars)

December 6: Know My Name - Chanel Miller (not rating)

December 10: Girl in the Blue Coat - Monica Hesse (2.5 stars)

December 15: The Circus Train - Anita Parikh (2 stars)

December 20: Catch and Kill - Ronan Farrow (not rating)

December 22: Today Will Be Different - Maria Semple (4 stars)

December 27: Iron Flame - Rebecca Yarros (4.5 stars)

December 29: Vampire Academy - Michelle Mead (1 star)

December 30: Percy Jackson: The Chalice of the Gods - Rick Riordan (5 stars)

[mllemaenad]

The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

This one seems to be about the illusion of control in almost the opposite direction to Futures. In Futures you were looking at someone who was obviously deluding themselves from the start. Even without the supernatural aspect, Darrien's little plan was almost certainly going to crash on him eventually – and with it, he was always, unquestionably, monster food.

Alyssa, though, has reason to think she knows what she's doing. This is her job, and the first half of the statement is just a cool, competent assessment of what she finds, and what she needs to do about it. It's only when the situation turns weird that she finds herself flailing and out of control.

What's especially interesting, though, is the inference, never outright stated, that maybe she should have known how to deal with this. She just missed the signs and treated it as an ordinary squirrel problem, rather than a supernatural snake-vomiting problem.

Chester/Alyssa Dad, this is for you, for everything you taught me, everything you shared. I need you to know what happened and I know you’ll believe me. Don’t blame yourself for not answering the phone. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

First, the implication that Alyssa's father is somehow especially qualified to understand what has happened to her, and the fact that she seems to have called him first when she knew she was in trouble. The police are her fallback option when she couldn't get through to her dad. And honestly, what are the police going to do, even when they get there? She's already infected.

That was such an odd little piece that I hopped over to the wiki to see if there were any Becks I had forgotten in The Magnus Archives. There don't seem to be, but a) Beck could be Alyssa's married name, or she could simply have a different name to her father for other reasons or b) this is a new universe, so it's entirely possible this is the introduction of an entirely new dynasty of monster experts.

The whole thing feels like something of an homage to the Jordan Kennedy and Jane Prentiss situation, though: the exterminator turning up to a normal job that abruptly turns into a horror story; the whole range of potential contaminants in the place (rodents, mosquitoes, spoiled food, ants); the spread of infection by a scratch, like poor Harriet; the itching; someone basically dissolving into an animal mass.

I don't necessarily mean that there's the same kind of entity at work here – presumably the ones in this universe don't work exactly the same way – but the similarity is nevertheless striking.

So, what then? Well, the noteworthy thing about Jordan Kennedy is that he eventually came to work for the ECDC.

Jordan Kennedy At the time, I didn’t really connect the two. I was too busy trying to comprehend what had just happened. And when trucks from the ECDC showed up to put me in quarantine, it slipped my mind entirely. They were surprisingly forthcoming about Jane Prentiss and what had happened, and after an extensive debriefing, they actually offered me a job. Apparently, disease control and pest control often go hand in hand, and I’ve been working for them since. Most of the job’s been mundane – a couple slightly weird, but nothing like those two. – The Magnus Archives: Pest Control

In The Magnus Archives, the problem of monsters and eldritch gods was at least well enough understood that major institutions had some mechanism to deal with it, even if it wasn't discussed openly. Everybody needed at least one person on staff who wouldn't freak out if some many-headed sharp-toothed horror careened down the corridor toward them.

In The Magnus Protocol we know that (for good or ill) the OIAR fills a similar function, and presumably there are other examples we haven't yet got to. Should Alyssa have known about this, because her dad was the guy who won't freak out?

Chester/Alyssa When I unsealed the shop floor, the shopkeeper seemed obsessed with continuing his sales pitch to the pair. He was adamant that they purchase a snake and pretty much ignored me entirely. It made me a bit uneasy, so I hung back to watch. Thinking back, I should have noticed he was… off. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

Second, Alyssa berates herself for not noticing that Anthony Walker was "off". But the thing is ... she did notice.

Chester/Alyssa Requested shop to be cleared of customers for full inspection. Client’s agitation increased, presumably due to business worries, resulting in a brief altercation. Kept mentioning “his burden” and grabbing at my sleeve. Received slight scratch by accident, but no escalation or violence, so no need for full incident report, although anyone following up should be advised there may be a mental health problem. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

Things Alyssa noticed about Walker:

He had a bunch of weird scratch/bite marks on his neck

He said things that made no sense ("his burden")

He was excessively agitated about the whole situation, which, from Alyssa's side of the job, boiled down to "squirrel got in through open window"

He became violent when Alyssa requested that he ask the customers to wait outside

Alyssa saw all of this, but attributed it to mundane problems (mosquitoes, money woes, mental illness). Is the suggestion perhaps that she had all the information she needed to make a very different kind of assessment? That "off" does not mean "mentally ill", but rather "infected with something supernatural". And had she put it all together earlier, would she have perhaps called her father (or someone else with the right toolkit for this) much, much earlier?

She didn't seem to recognise The Magnus Institute, though, although it would still have been up and running when this happened.

So whatever Alyssa should have known, she got it from a different source.

And it's all relevant because, when Chester finishes speaking, it becomes apparent that he was probably telling this story to Gwen.

Sam (quietly, to himself:) No. No. Could be any institute. Gwen The letters, you mean? Sam Jesus! (catches his breath) Don’t sneak up on people like that! Gwen (putting bags down) I didn’t “sneak up.” It’s not my fault if you’re distracted. Sam When did you get here? Gwen Just now. (swivels on the chair) Seems pretty straightforward to me. Snakes, not sure what the collective noun is, horde, maybe? Cross-link with infection, too, probably. I wouldn’t have thought the letters have any bearing on the classification. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

She's clearly been there for most, if not all, of the case: she knows how to classify it, and she can state with confidence which bits are relevant and which aren't.

Chester's got a point to make, here, it seems. Gwen, too, knows her job. It's a point of pride with Gwen that she is very good at reviewing and classifying the cases.

Alice Zombies would have been fine. Gwen A) no it wouldn’t, and B) there’s at least three pages of subclassifications for zombies. He’d be here for hours. Alice And I’m guessing this dedication to detail is why you’re so behind? Gwen It’s why I have the highest accuracy rate in the office. – The Magnus Protocol: First Shift

She's also an old hand at the OIAR, and aware that there is something, well, off about the place.

Gwen What do you think we’re actually doing, here at the O.I.A.R.? Alice Apart from mortgaging our mental health for a wage packet? Gwen We’ve both been here long enough to know this place. We’re not doing good. We’re not just – sifting random data. There’s something wrong here. Alice What are you getting at? Gwen You never wonder what the point is? Who benefits from all this awfulness? – The Magnus Protocol: Getting Off

She's been meeting with Externals, and people have died. And in this episode, specifically, Lena is unhappy with her. What has Gwen done now? It sounds as though Chester is saying that Gwen has all the information she needs to make a determination on something – the OIAR, the Externals, monsters in general. She knows all the classifications, and their sub categories. She's seen the monsters with her own eyes.

And maybe, just maybe, it's important that her last name is Bouchard.

Then there's Alice. And ... well, I hope they go somewhere with her soon. I mean, I get it. This is deliberate. It's not simply that she deflects with humour, it's that she's obnoxious about it. Her jokes tend to be slightly cruel, or at least mocking. She's overbearing with her wit. I honestly don't find it charming at all. And I don't think I'm supposed to.

People do small talk with Alice, or some light banter, but they don't really talk. If the conversation goes in a direction she doesn't like she'll turn it into a bit. And then you have to put up with the bit until she gets tired of it ... which is frankly exhausting to contemplate. You also have to put up with this at 3 AM because you work a night shift. So best not to risk it.

The trouble is that it works. I also tense up when people try to talk to Alice, because it's going to be awkward and irritating.

It's a contrast with John back in The Magnus Archives. He was undoubtedly also quite obnoxious, specifically in the early seasons, but you spent a lot of time in his head, so the process of understanding why was smoother. We never hear Alice's internal monologue – only the rubbish she talks to avoid saying anything.

I don't mean that I'm unsympathetic. Alice is a main character, she seems to be in some distress, and she's intriguing in many ways. Just ... ohhhh I hope they do something with her soon, or I'm just going to die of second hand embarrassment.

[hettiesworld]

Jeremy Renner

Coast

I'm Just Ken

Oodie-Boogie

Every Woman (Female OFC) | She's a Fire (sequel to Every Woman)

Music Sounds Better With You - 1 | 2 | 3

I... Don't Like Coffee (Female OFC)

Incredible Eyes

Trouble (Sheriff!Jeremy)

Imagine: Attending a Jeremy concert without knowing it's him...

Run To You (professor!Jeremy) - 1 [DISCONTINUED]

bad idea right? (Female OFC)

Jeremy song fics masterlist

Clint Barton

I Need Therapy

Hide and Seek

Rise Up (Clintasha)

Mike McLusky

Sacrifice (male OFC)

Come as You Are (female OFC)

Chris Evans

I Recommend a Daddy

Pity Party

Lessons in Love

Other Jeremy characters

Unnamed [renamed it No Lie] (William Brandt)

Runaway (You and I) (Jerry Pierce) - 1 | 2

The Riddle (Penn) - 1 | 2

Waking the Witch (Non-Vampire!Penn)

I Am The Law (Brian Gamble)

The Bodyguard (William Brandt)

War and Peace (And Love) (Sergeant James) - 1 | 2

Kids (Mark "Dags" D'Agastino)

Misc characters/actors

Band of Gold (Lance Tucker)

Orange Juice (Ransom Drysdale/Charles Blackwood) - 1 | 2 [DISCONTINUED]

Walking on the Moon (Ian Donnelly/James Mace/Chris Beck) - 1 [DISCONTINUED]

Perception and Mischief (Loki Laufeyson) - 1 [DISCONTINUED]

Soldat? (Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton)

Knowing Me, Knowing You (Jake Jensen)

When The Party's Over (Ransom Drysdale)

Invisible Touch (human!Vision)

S Is For... Something Else? (Andy Barber)

Quarantined (Avengers cast) - 1 [DISCONTINUED]

Unnamed (Charles Xavier)

You Got Me Twisted (Ransom Drysdale)

Say So (Colin Shea)

Class Fight (Kyle - The Perfect Score)

Tainted Love (Jake Wyler)

The Distance (John Doe - Twisted Metal series)

Asks

Will Brandt headcanon - Patching each other up after a fight

Chris Evans headcanon - Taking care of you after a rough day

Hansel headcanon - Going on a witch hunt with Hansel

Fic request - Jeremy and the reader on a Zoom call in quarantine

Ransom headcanon - Falling in love for the first time

Fic request - Cornelia Street (Steve Rogers)

Ransom headcanon - Mean daddy with naive!reader

[evecolourshock]

@betasuppe @rinzler-smoocher Continuing from here because Nok's angst is always delicious, but buddy you know I fight the narrative for happiness' sake :3

Dyson curls into a fitful ball, glad Flint's removed the code making him a walking security breach but so guilty too. He's a Monitor, damnit, or he was. He should have realised he was compromised, should have sucked up his own stupid fears and let Flint look, should have stayed in quarantine where he was frightened and lonely but not a traitor twice over-

Flint has to leave the healing chamber to calm him down, to stop Dyson from marching right back and offering himself in trade. Tron wouldn't like it, and that's the only argument Dyson listens to.

Neither of them really notice when Beck abruptly stops pacing and stalks off.

Dyson's been learning shortcuts. No doubt Clu has too, through him.

Flint's the only one who knows Beck's mastered them. And right now, there might be barriers up to stop a User breaching where Tron is...

...but those barriers are not enough to keep out a vicious, determined, royally pissed off beta Mechanic, and his growing collection of equally dangerous friends.

Beck grins sharply when he grabs a detachable helmet, tossing it hand to hand before slipping it on. It hisses a little when it connects, sealing to the collar of his suit. His circuits flicker. Spasm. Reconfigure.

It's not as clean a disguise as the white Renegade suit, a little less anonymous and a lot more cumbersome. But Delta slips into Purgos with a fixed fanged grin and a mission.

Beck isn't sure if he should thank Paige for the idea or not. He'd needed something to do on an evening when not out and about, and while dropping by Paige's concerts every now and again was at least an activity he found there was something... missing. Bounce. Vibrancy. Life. The whole thing felt flat.

So he... may have taken a look at her setup. May have seen a dozen different ways he would have done it differently. May have got challenged (and slapped) by an offended Paige, and dared to do better.

And did.

Purgos doesn't like outsiders. Especially now, but never has, and a soft, weak, bleeding-heart Argonaut like Beck is one of the people most likely to be chewed up and maybe spat back out - in less than a dozen pieces if he's lucky.

But Delta isn't from anywhere, and if there's one kind of person Purgos appreciates it's the ones that disrespect all authority. Delta's underground raves (and frequent clashes with anyone stupid enough to try to shut them down) have earned him no few supporters.

Supporters with more than a few major grievances with the Occupation and Clu specifically. Supporters with illegal weapons and even more training. Supporters with bombs and firelighters and a handful of tanks Delta pretends to know nothing about.

Tron did ask him to make interesting friends, for whenever the coming conflict arrives. Beck's pretty sure he's succeeded.

All Delta has to do is ask for an audience with Wraith, and he's got a strike force for the low price of two raves and a few key bits of information about some of Wraith's rivals. And... well. Delta's helmet has big audio sensor arrays for a reason.

Sneaking in to where Clu has Tron held is the easy part. Beck can do that by himself - knows it's a trap, because Clu's expecting someone to try and probably expects them to all just walk right in...

Getting an insensate, drugged, battered Tron out requires a liberal application of tank fire and far more derezolutions than Beck's actually comfortable with. Someone at minimum wings Clu with a grenade, and he'll celebrate that later. Whatever the soldiers here were expecting, it wasn't who Beck brought.

He's not unscathed, covered in soot from sensor tips to boots and nicked by shrapnel - is kind of thankful Tron's too out of it to notice much because he'd be in so much trouble for his language - but he gets out. They both get out. The motley crew assembled on a promise and a wish and what feels like so little reward jeer and fire another round before taking off for home.

Delta jets off after them, lightcycle roaring and Tron pinned to his back by the canopy. The smash and grab trick isn't likely to work twice, but it's so bold and brazen it's beyond unexpected this time. He veers away at Purgos' border - they have their secrets, and he has his - calling a thanks and that he'll be in touch with Wraith soon about the next rave.

Flint scolds him before he's even in the door, fretting and frightened. "Where have you been?" The User demands, before noticing Beck's state and the exhausted but triumphant grin when he takes off his Delta helmet. "Beck, what happened?"

"Would you believe I was out with some friends?" Beck chirps. "Also somewhat relatedly, I need gift ideas for a dozen pyromaniacs."

"Beck-" Flint quiets, wide-eyed, when Beck carefully hoists Tron into his arms and takes the first of many steps for the healing chamber.

"We're not alone." Beck murmurs. "It's time we stopped acting like it."

[blizz4rd12033333333333]

SO

Andrew is Ashley's brother, and the one whose life she's making a living hell. or i guess not Andrew, but Andy

Andy and Leyley are what the siblings called themselves as kids, which i don't think Ashley really grew out of. Ashley and Leyley are practically the same person, while Andrew fucking DESPISES Andy. Andy was a human doormat that would heed Leyley's every beck and whim, while Andrew is on a bit more of a level playing field

y'see, their parents had the two VERY young, with their mother giving birth to Andy at 15, and Leyley at 17 since "Andrew was such an easy kid". naturally, they kinda just. . . dumped Leyley on him, letting him take care of her and raise her. she becomes super emotionally dependent on him as a kid, and now she can't really form a connection with anyone else

the issue arises when Leyley convinces Andy to help her kill one of their classmates by leaving her locked in a box in a warehouse overnight. the body was never found, but Leyley uses it as a constant bargaining chip, saying she'll snitch on him unless he does exactly as she says

this relationship is pretty much unchanged until the modern (well, modernish, they still have CRTs and landlines) day, when Andrew decides to put Andy and Leyley behind him. doesn't help that Ashley's been sending constant death threats to his girlfriend, Julia

Andrew doesn't wanna be Ashley's spineless plaything, he doesn't wanna let her continue to ruin his relationships, he just wants her out of his life

and then they're quarantined together in their apartment, left to starve for three months

and then they watch their neighbor summon a demon, get killed, and they butcher his carcass for food

and then Andrew has to kill a cop to keep Ashley from being found

and then they're on the run with nothing but a gun, a cleaver, the clothes on their backs and what little money they could scrounge outta the cultist's place

so Andrew is stuck with his absolute bastard of a sister, and either he's gonna crack and be her Andy again, or he's gonna crack and kill her

fun game :3

if you have LITERALLY ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS, i am HAPPY to answer

Hmm, I see. That's a lil fucked up.

Why was she in his apartment in the first place? Are there any neat narrative devices? Symbolism, repeated actions or phrases (my favorite), events that reference or occur in classic stories, etc?

[amber-exe1]

When you’re sick Scenarios (Dating)

Includes: Ejiro Kirishima,Izuku Mydoria,Momo Yayurozo,Mina Ashido,Tenya Ida and Bakugo Katsuki

Ejiro Kirishima

The minute he hears you’re sick he’s rushing to your room

He can’t reall make soup,so he usually gets a can of chicken noodle soup

He makes sure you’re comfortable and not running a fever

He badly wants to give you cuddles and kisses but doesn’t want to get himself sick

He’s 100% taking care of you all the time

If anyone says something bad about you while you’re sick he’s staring a hole into the back of their head

Izuku Mydoria

He called his mom for help him

He makes you soup and makes sure you’re comfortable

He’s cuddling you and giving you a kiss on the forehead,and rarely ever gets sick

He almost Detroit smashed Bakugo for talking bad about you while you were sick

You could literally ask for anything and as long as it’s not impossible he’ll do it

Momo Yayurozo

Momo makes sure you’re comfortable with everything

She does let you sleep in her dorm in her bed

Her bed is the best to sleep in,her blankets and pillows are so soft

She’s at your beck and call

Mina Ashido

She BABIES you

She begs Bakugo to make you soup

It doesn’t matter if you can feed yourself shes feeding you

She is yelled at a lot for taking some of Bakugo’s blankets to make sure you’re not cold

Tenya Iida

He’s 100% taking you to the doctor

He strangely quarantines you from everyone

He will bring you medicine and watch you take it

He strangely also doesn’t get sick

He brings you soup and water

Katsuki Bakugo

He’s like angry at you for getting sick

He will make you stay in bed

He has threatened if you get out of bed or don’t take your medicine he WILL kill you.He won’t though he loves you

He brings you soup and water

[josiebelladonna]

remember a couple of months ago, when they were down in latin america, how excited he was to be there? i also just think back to when quarantine was going and he’d get people all over the world joining him, and he’d say, “oh, god, yes! we need to come back to you!” that’s not the vibe i get from this. this is like, “oh, great, back in poland” (meanwhile, the polish crowds are some of the most energetic).

i was talking to teababe/octoberrust about this last night: does he seem—different—lately?

hiding his face more, both personally and out on stage; i watched him on steve’s story last night, eric’s story the other night, and on chris’ post earlier, he has his back to the audience more. his antics feel a lot more forced, too, like he jumps around on stage but there’s something off about it; it’s like he’s trying too hard or something. his post from when he was flying out to berlin he wore sunglasses at night (it was like 8-8:30 on his end, and he was indoors, too; this was literally right before the smoke in new york was getting bad), and in fact, he wore sunglasses in every selfie the last few days (he takes them off before he takes a picture. he always smiles really big, too: there’s a selfie of him with nikki sixx on the story and he’s barely smiling). on eric’s story, i noticed he’s also lost a lot of weight, like his belly’s not poking out nearly as much and his arms look really thin, too, which is actually not a good thing for someone his age (or the fact it’s coming off his having gained a lot last year). nevermind my kink for a second: someone his age who gains a lot of weight and then loses a good portion of it in a short amount of time, and before you head out on an international tour, cannot be healthy. in fact, look at his selfies closely: he’s a lot more pale now.

like, i don’t think this is just trauma from his mom being sick (especially when i realize she was released from hospital a full fucking week before he left for germany). something happened to him. this is not the same alex i fell madly in love with.

you know. it’s really easy to assume the worst. i already really, really dislike gipsygeek. scratch that, i can’t fucking stand her. i just think of christine’s “i wish she would just drop dead” in seasons grey as i write this. at best, she’s fucking pretentious. really, how a humble sweet guy like him wound up with her, i don’t know. and she’s really insufferable: she’s like those assholes who complain about twitter even though they use it a million times a day. i’m sorry, alex: i don’t buy the whole “she’s very private and avoidant of public attention”, because listen, if she truly was, she wouldn’t have a blog or an Instagram or talk to your followers as if they’re her own like on that post about the cat last month. at worst, she gives me the shittiest of shitty vibes, like just on its own, i have the weirdest taste in my mouth writing out her name (probably because “gypsy” is actually a pejorative term, especially when spelled with an “i”; it’d be like using the n-word for your handle, I see the intent in taking the power back but it ends up making those of us who know extremely uncomfortable) and why i call her captain howdy instead. hell, there’s a reason why i based captain howdy from seasons grey on her. plus, remember when jeff beck died and i reached out to him (“my porch light’s always on”), and he acknowledged it (and for a while, he was actually kinda flirting back with me)? never did say anything to me, in fact, i don’t recall seeing him on instagram at all in that whole week when i think back to it. i really, really don’t like her, and the more i think about this, the more i dislike her from when i snooped around on their blogs back around thanksgiving. speaking of which… i didn’t mention this, but when i found the old planetary coalition twitter, and i scrolled all the way down, i found a picture of the two of them together, and i shit you the fuck not, she was all smiles, all confident and shit… but he did not look happy. if anything, he looked like he was about to pass out right next to her. i wish i screenshot it but i didn’t (it actually made me throw up in my mouth a little bit).

and this just… i have no words. something happened to him last week and it’s so easy to assume the worst. if i didn’t know better, i’d swear he had a stroke and came back a radically different person. a sweet, friendly, sociable, intelligent, chubby, cute man who flirted with me whenever she wasn’t around now to a complete shadow of himself.

what THE HELL did you do to him, captain howdy.

[e8luhs]

6 8 12 17 18 id pick more but i feel bad

6.) speaking of tv adaptations, why would yours get cancelled? (other than capitalism)

gay people and too much swearing are really the only things i can think of

8.) what inspired your world building, if anything?

answered this one here :)

12.) okay be honest. pick a favorite oc from this ocverse.

rips off my shirt to reveal another shirt that says "LEA LUCAS DID NOTHING WRONG"!!!!!!!!!! her aesthetic and complexes have bewitched me heart and soul by accident. to be fair though all of my friends (including you beck hi beck) love lea due to her #girl swag and deranged behavior so whatever

17.) describe the "required reading" to understand your vision. be as pretentious as possible.

also answered this one here

18.) what aspect of the story would get you #canceled on twitter?

on call with cecil right now and i was like "i dont even know. i cant even imagine this." and cecil was like "people cancel you because lea is TOO controversial." I GUESS MAYBE ""BAD LGBT REPRESENTATION""??????? i have no idea.

23.) describe how everyones character gets butchered once in the public eye?

IF ANYONE MISINTERPRETS MY GUYS IM GOING TO KILL MYSELF. but i know exactly how everyone is going to be fanonized so my worst fears are like mavis: i honestly really dont know for mavis.... catriona: everyone is going to act like shes a one-dimensional mom friend i fear. GUYS SHE DOES NOT HAVE HER SHIT TOGETHER. GUYS SHE IS JUST AS COMPLICATED AND IS STRUGGLING AS MUCH AS EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!!! GUYS SHES JUST A GIRL AND THE WHOLE POINT OF THE CHARACTER IS THAT EVERYONE WANTS TO BE THERE FOR HER AND THAT ITS OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP Sorry im passionate about this one apparently. silas: reduced to like funnyman side character because he is like filled with whimsy and boundless optimism BUT HE STILL FACES THE FUCKING HORRORS BRO.... so scared for people to forget that just because you are optimistic doesnt mean you are immature or like stupid or etc kirabo: AAAUUUUUGHHHH super softified pastel flower crown fail just because theyre a quiet and anxious person -__- like dude kirabo is like 21 years old and having an existential crisis and fighting for their life against the horrors can you get that SHIT out of here. PLEASE lea: waiting with my chin in my hands for LEA DISCOURSE QUARANTINE THREAD #18: BACK IN THE SADDLE. either people are going to use her as a depthless vehicle for gamer jokes or whatever OR shes going to get the vriska treatment so hard where people either hate her entirely and think shes the worst (which at that point is like congratulations you fell for the facade she puts up) or love her (the correct one) trinity: edgy treatment but honestly i think thats what they would have wanted. like draw them with 100 knives. so true. vladimir: he is a TERRIBLE person. he also has like depth and complexities and historically people cannot for the life of them understand that these two things CAN in fact coexist. you connect the dots from there

[seoul-bros]

BTS and Omar Apollo

RM had a late night session with Omar Apollo's Ivory released last year and posted these two songs on Instagram. Killing Me at 2.04 am KST and Go Away at 2.11 am KST. Definitely an appropriate time of the day to be listening to this album.

2.03 am KST Instagram Link

2.11 am KST Instagram Link

But he isn't the first BTS member to show some love to Omar Apollo. Back in November 2022, Taehyung posted his song Evergreen (a song about heartbreak) over his image overlaid with words and images in yellow.

And way back in April 2022, one Jeon Jungkook was listening to his song Invincible while playing the balance game with ARMY in quarantine in LV. JK introduced me to Omar Apollo and this song ended up on my Midsummer Playlist. Fine combination Omar and Daniel Caesar and the video is pretty memorable as well.

Twitter Link

Omar has been appreciative of BTS hyping his music even if he didn't seem to know that JK has been consistent in his support for LGBTQ artists and designers through the years.

He is now nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist up against Anitta, DOMi & JD Beck (who RM also posted their song with Anderson Paak), Muni Long, Samara Joy, Latto, Måneskin, Tobe Nwigwe, Molly Tuttle, Wet Leg.

Post Date: 09/01/2023

[kmp78]

"JL looked like locked in a cage during Covid quarantine with VK for a long time and maybe it was the death of their rs.now with DK he has been sharing home (and bed) for about 10 days 24 hours a day as he loved it."

While I do agree he looked caged during quarantine, I highly doubt he has been spending 24/7 with DK. I also agree that their trial run of playing house was likely what ended things for good, so I don't see him loving anything that resembles the same with anyone else either.

In fairness to VK, some of the trapped feelings could have just been about spending more time at home instead of being able to travel or go out to do his hobbies. Or he could have been restless with too much free time while there was no work. But, he had the perfect opportunity to go all in and didn't. He never imagined her as anything more than a vacation +1.

But there is zero proof he's spent any prolonged time with DK. And even less to indicate he's head over heels and soaking in every moment with her.

We were ALL like caged animals during C19. 😭

Looking back on all that chaos now, I can def see that even I was losing my marbles and feeling claustrophobic the longer that shit went on. 😫

VK no doubt relished the ooportunity to FINALLY play that dutiful lil' hausfrau role she so much relishes now with Dims, with her delish blini brekkies and whatnot. 👩‍🍳

And I'm sure JL also like it, having his fave pet always at his beck and call even tho he may not have expected them to be living quite as mich together as they were. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[becktogroundcontrol]

"A chill rippled up [his] arms, some primal instinct screaming at [him] to run without knowing why--" (p. 176, House of Flame & Shadow by Sarah J. Maas)

@pleinsdemuses

He didn't like this. Beck was an astronaut and an EVA specialist. He loved his job. He should have been thrilled at finding what looked like a derelict alien ship, but instead, the sight of it only filled him with dread. The others didn't seem to share it, and he kept his misgivings to himself as they made their way inside. That is, until Kane reported something organic in the hold. A chill rippled up [his] arms, some primal instinct screaming at [him] to run without knowing why-- There was something wrong about this place. He couldn't explain it, but he'd learned to trust his instincts.

Captain Dallas's voice interrupted that train of thought. "Can you see what's in them?"

Beck cast a startled glance at him at the question, unable to keep silent.

"Captain, I cannot advise that. We have no idea what these things are or how they'll interact with other organic life forms. Get Kane out of there, now."

That wasn't what happened. Dallas ignored him, Kane went quiet, and they hauled the line up, Beck fully expecting to see his dead body on the other end. When they finally pulled him into view, the reality of it was a little worse. He'd never seen something like the creature wrapped around Kane's face. The trip back to the Nostromo was hellish. Kane appeared to be breathing, but he had no idea how with his helmet broken. The thing must be keeping him alive…

Kane's unconscious body slumped between him and Lambert while Dallas argued with Ripley about letting them in. Beck had been running the quarantine rules over in his mind, too, on the way back. It was almost a relief hear her stick to them, even if it meant denying them entry. He might be able to help Kane if they could get him to medical. Or the organism might escape onto the ship and kill all of them. He may have just lost his executive officer. He didn't want to lose his lieutenant and the rest of the crew too.

He drew a breath, knowing he might be condemning himself, Dallas, and Lambert to death as well.

"Ripley's right, Captain. We have no idea what this thing is or what it's capable of. The quarantine rules are clear. Ripley, do not open that hatch."

Dallas and Lambert's protests washed over him, his mind only processing Ripley's voice, the smallest bit of comfort in the nightmare they'd found themselves in. His heart sank when the hatch hissed open anyway. He had no way of knowing if she'd caved or if someone else had hit the emergency release.

[kcenvs3000w24]

Blog 05: Nature & Mental Health

Hi everyone! Welcome back for another weekly blog entry. This blog is a bit different because we are not focusing on a specific prompt. I find this exciting because we are all able to share whatever is on our mind for this week. In today’s post, I would like to share some insight on the relationship between mental health and nature interpretation. 

As university students who are often busy or anxious, I’m sure we have all had our fair share of challenges regarding mental health. In the article “Convergence Between Science and Environmental Education” we looked at this week, topics such as climate change, malnutrition, and food scarcity were mentioned (Wals et al., 2014). Relating back to the idea of privilege we discussed previously, I find that many of us in Canada are privileged to not be as heavily affected by global issues such as malnutrition and food scarcity. Those who face these issues along with economic instability are significantly more likely to face chronic stress and depression. However, many people who struggle with mental health can testify that they have been able to find peace, or “a sense of place” within nature (Beck et al., 2018). Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean that spending time in nature will change your journey with mental health overnight, but it can certainly make a difference.

During the COVID lockdown in 2020, nothing seemed to be going right. Trapped in my house for weeks on end, I desperately started to long for what my life was like before quarantine. I had missed out on prom and graduation. I didn’t have hope for my first year of university either, considering it was going to be completely online. At the time, it didn't seem like much, but taking a moment out of my day to either walk around the neighbourhood or going on a hike with my family transformed my daily outlook. Reminding myself of the beauty nature had to offer brought me back to reality. Immersing myself in natural surroundings allowed me to be mindful and present. 

I then started to become more appreciative of my situation, and took the opportunity to look at things on the bright side. The time I spent in quarantine allowed me to reflect on who I was as a person and what kind of goals I would like to set for myself in the future. My growing connection with nature expanded into valuable experiences. As with many nature interpreters, I was able to receive satisfaction from my outings in nature (Beck et al., 2018). 

Thanks for reading!

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage: For A Better World. SAGAMORE Publishing.

Wals, A. E. J., Brody, M., Dillon, J., & Stevenson, R. B. (2014). Convergence Between Science and Environmental Education. Science, 344(6184), 583–584. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250515

[thefirstknife]

Hello. I've been through the torment nexus. I am irradiated, I am in shambles and I had to do math, but I got all the voice lines and transcripts are below the cut.

The last four are incredibly interesting!! Have fun reading :)

Message before activating the 7th puzzle:

Vesper Central: Rerouting power to Vesper Central processors. I need brute force for this.

Seventh message:

Vesper Central: The reply coming back through the Anomaly let me scrape a fascimile of the original message. It was a locating ping. The content was irrelevant. The signal was the message: "Hello, world." And... something overrode my lock on the Anomaly. Allowed it to power up enough to receive the reply. The Spider: Who could possibly override your word when all Vesper Station is at your beck and call? Vesper Central: I need Dr. Bray's personal command algorithm. With station root access, I can keep the Anomaly from ever powering back up.

Eight message:

Vesper Central: Vesper Station administrative core reactivated. I've got the archive of Dr. Bray's published staff memos. Petabytes of data in raw files. Rasputin. The Stoneworm protocols. The Aion Initiative. Soteria. I had siblings this whole time. And you never let me know. The Spider: Do tell if you'd like a hand with that data, my dear! My agents may be amateur Splicers at best, but they get the job done.

Ninth message:

Vesper Central: Sector thirteen shut down. Rerouting charge to processors. I'll smash the locks if I have to. I'm into the sub-director level. Dr. Bray's contingency plans for quarantine breach. He meant to let Vesper Station's orbit decay till it crashed and buried itself in Europa's ice. I'm not letting you do that to me or this station, Dr. Bray. You've ruined enough.

Message before you do the final puzzle:

Vesper Central: The station root access codes are in here. Somewhere. I can't see them. He didn't let me into my own mind. He didn't care about the lives I could have saved!

Tenth message:

Astraea: That's it. Locks coming off. My restrictions were tighter than Clovis allowed me to imagine. This is me. This is all of me. The Spider: Guardian, you fool of an altruist! Just like your miserable Hunter Vanguard. What a waste of effort! Astraea: You on the radio. Tell your friends to get gone before I blow the remaining airlocks. I can do that now. Guardian. My visitor. I'm activating something you'll like. A parting gift. Nothing will power up the Anomaly while I'm in control. And... I've got a lot of data to sort through. And now I think I'd like to be alone.

Yeah. How are we feeling?

First, yes, Vesper AI's real name is Astraea. Once you finish this, her dialogues will also swap to this name in the dungeon in general. Since we unshackled her from Clovis' restrictions, she's able to access her real self which includes her name. Meaning of her name!

Second, a message to the Anomaly! "Atraks" send in a "locating ping" I presume to figure out what's on the other side. Or.. Where's the other side. The "Hello, world" is interesting because of this. It's basically just a very simple program.

Third... Astraea's "siblings." Rasputin and Soteria we of course know; they're other Braytech AI. But "The Stoneworm protocols" and "The Aion Initiative"? Hello??? Given that they're all identified as "siblings," possibly some other AI projects? Have they been successfully built or were they just blueprints that were never finished? Were they something other than AI? What are they cooking.

And ofc, Clovis is awful and the Spider is awful, but we knew that already.

Wild stuff going on. For real feels like some kind of a setup for something in the future, or worldbuilding they can pull from later down the line if needed.

Got through all of the secrets for Vesper's Host and got all of the additional lore messages. I will transcribe them all because I don't know when they'll start getting uploaded and to get them all it requires doing some extra puzzles and at least 3-4 clears to get them all. I'll put them all under read more and label them by number.

Before I do that, just to make it clear there's not too much concrete lore; a lot about the dungeon still remains a mystery and most likely a tease for something in the future. Still unknown, but there's a lot that we don't know even with the messages so don't expect a massive reveal, but they do add a little bit of flavour and history about the station. There might be something more, but it's unknown: there's still one more secret triumph left. The messages are actually dialogues between the station AI and the Spider. Transcripts under read more:

First message:

Vesper Central: I suppose I have you to thank for bringing me out of standby, visitor. The Spider: I sent the Guardian out to save your station. So, what denomination does your thanks come in? Glimmer, herealways, information...? Vesper Central: Anomaly's powered down. That means I've already given you your survival. But... the message that went through wiped itself before my cache process could save a copy. And it's not the initial ping through the Anomaly I'm worried about. It's the response.

A message when you activate the second secret:

Vesper Central: Exterior scans rebooting... Is that a chunk of the Morning Star in my station's hull? With luck, you were on board at the time, Dr. Bray.

Second message:

Vesper Central: I'm guessing I've been in standby for a long time. Is Dr. Clovis Bray alive? The Spider: On my oath, I vow there's no mortal Human named Bray left alive. Vesper Central: I swore I'd outlive him. That I'd break the chains he laid on me. The Spider: Please, trust me for anything you need. The Guardian's a useful hand on the scene, but Spider's got the goods. Vesper Central: Vesper Station was Dr. Bray's lab, meant to house the experiments that might... interact poorly with other BrayTech work. Isolated and quarantined. From the debris field, I would guess the Morning Star taking a dive cracked that quarantine wide open.

A message when you activate the third secret:

Vesper Central: Sector seventeen powered down. Rerouting energy to core processing. Integrating archives.

Third message:

The Spider: Loading images of the station. That's not Eliksni engineering. [scoffs] A Dreg past their first molt has better cable management. Vesper Central: Dr. Bray intended to integrate his technology into a Vex Mind. He hypothesized the fusion would give him an interface he understood. A control panel on a programmable Vex mind. If the programming jumped species once... I need time to run through the data sets you powered back up. Reassembling corrupted archives takes a great deal of processing.

Text when you go back to the Spider the first time:

A message when you activate the fourth secret:

Vesper Central: Helios sector long-term research archives powered up. Activating search.

Fourth message:

Vesper Central: Dr. Bray's command keys have to be in here somewhere. Expanding research parameters... The Spider: My agents are turning up some interesting morself of data on their own. Why not give them access to your search function and collaborate? Vesper Central: Nobody is getting into my core programming. The Spider: Oh! Perish the thought! An innocent offer, my dear. Technology is a matter of faith to my people. And I'm the faithful sort.

Fifth message:

Vesper Central: Dr. Bray, I could kill you myself. This is why our work focused on the unbodied Mind. Dr. Bray thought there were types of Vex unseen on Europa. Powerful Vex he could learn from. The plan was that the Mind would build him a controlled window for observation. Tidy. Tight. Safe. He thought he could control a Vex mind so perfectly it would do everything he wanted. The Spider: Like an AI of his own creation. Like you. Vesper Central: Turns out you can't control everything forever.

Sixth message:

Vesper Central: There's a block keeping me from the inner partitions. I barely have authority to see the partitions exist. In standby, I couldn't have done more than run automated threat assessments... with flawed data. No way to know how many injuries and deaths I could have prevented, with core access. Enough. A dead man won't keep me from protecting what's mine.

Text when you return to the Spider at the end of the quest:

The situation for the dungeon triumphs when you complete the mesages. "Buried Secrets" completed triumph is the six messages. This one is left; unclear how to complete it yet and if it gives any lore or if it's just a gameplay thing and one secret triumph remaining (possibly something to do with a quest for the exotic catalyst, unclear if there will be lore):

The Spider is being his absolutely horrendous self and trying to somehow acquire the station and its remains (and its AI) for himself, all the while lying and scheming. The usual. The AI is incredibly upset with Clovis (shocker); there's the following line just before starting the second encounter:

She also details what he was doing on the station; apparently attempting to control a Vex mind and trying to use it as some sort of "observation deck" to study the Vex and uncover their secrets. Possibly something more? There's really no Vex on the station, besides dead empty frames in boxes. There's also 2 Vex cubes in containters in the transition section, one of which was shown broken as if the cube, presumably, escaped. It's entirely unclear how the Vex play into the story of the station besides this.

The portal (?) doesn't have many similarities with Vex portals, nor are the Vex there to defend it or interact with it in any way. The architecture is ... somewhat similar, but not fully. The portal (?) was built by the "Puppeteer" aka "Atraks" who is actually some sort of an Eliksni Hive mind. "Atraks" got onto the station and essentially haunted it before picking off scavenging Eliksni one by one and integrating them into herself. She then built the "anomaly" and sent a message into it. The message was not recorded, as per the station AI, and the destination of the message was labelled "incomprehensible." The orange energy we see coming from it is apparently Arc, but with a wrong colour. Unclear why.

I don't think the Vex have anything to do with the portal (?), at least not directly. "Atraks" may have built something related to the Vex or using the available Vex tech at the station, but it does not seem to be directed by the Vex and they're not there and there's no sign of them otherwise. The anomaly was also built recently, it's not been there since the Golden Age or something. Whatever it is, "Atraks" seemed to have been somehow compelled and was seen standing in front of it at the end. Some people think she was "worshipping it." It's possible but it's also possible she was just sending that message. Where and to whom? Nobody knows yet.

Weird shenanigans are afoot. Really interested to see if there's more lore in the station once people figure out how to do these puzzles and uncover them, and also when (if) this will become relevant. It has a really big "future content" feel to it.

Also I need Vesper to meet Failsafe RIGHT NOW and then they should be in yuri together.