#aliens. aliens underwater. dead alien body underwater.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 17 thoughts

hey guys. i need answers…. i need them.

but i have a strict “one episode a day” and “post the thoughts from last episode before starting the new one” rule and!!! i must follow the rules.

i wish this episode relied less on the assumption that the audience knows how planes work. but. i digress.

back to who i was before this episode....

a lot of you may know that it is scully and mulder time. 

ohhhh i’m reading the episode description and i see what is going on here… a two parter!!! well, i am prepared to handle this, yes i am. we have been due for a two parter, so i look forward to learning about this UFO.

let us open with a pretty shot of the sky… we are somewhere over upstate new york… a good place to be

in a plane. this guy seems drunk. i do not care for how he looked at this woman.

“you could fly every day for the next 26,000 years before you’d have an accident”, says drunk guy that will most certainly manifest a plane crash

shaggy redhead sitting next to drunk man seems very afraid of the dude on the back of the plane in a suit. uh oh! let me guess…. alien bounty hunter?

(author's note: nah. it was a good guess, though!)

suit man just locked himself in the bathroom and pulled out the spring in a pen to a dramatic flourish. is the pen spring supposed to indicate something to me? because i do not associate them with danger.

oh! he made a little gun out of pieces. huh. kinda neat. even if it is terrifying. just from a DIY perspective.

sometimes i forget that before 9/11 you could just do stuff on planes and no one really gave a damn

but now the plane is shaking. man with gun is watching all the screaming and jostling go down. redhead seems very scared while bright lights shine into the plane. oh! and then a window/door thing gets sucked outside??

deeply unfortunate.

(cue spooky intro)

WAIT! we are at a restaurant with mulder and scully and someone is bringing out a cake??? and they are singing happy birthday to her!!! oh my gosh, is it her birthday or is this a ploy by mulder to get free cake?

“I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY, SCULLY” <- JDHDJJDJD IS HE REALLY ABOUT GETTING THAT FREE CAKE LIFE????

no, no, it IS in fact dana scully's birthday, a remarkable occasion indeed. however. there is no funnier thing than faking a birthday to get cake at a restaurant. and maybe i need to write that fic someday.

oh my gosh, she says he has never once remembered her birthday, so he says something about it being the way he likes to celebrate them, every 4 years...... THIS IDIOT 😭😭

i cannot believe this man... he can remember any myth he read when he was 11, but he cannot keep his best friend's birthday in his head. and while that is a tragic flaw and indication of his ahab-ness, the fact that he knew scully was sick so he stepped it up still says a lot.

oh he brought a GIFT shut up!!!!!! and he pulls out a tiny little box... she says “oh you have GOT to be kidding me” and he jokes about turning the alien implants into earrings but it’s an apollo 11 keychain 😭😭😭 STOP this is so sweet!!!!! oh my gosh he wanted to make sure she knew she was loved 

(her birthday is in february so i’m not sure i see the connection to her and apollo 11 beyond her being a general nerd, and i think her birth and the moon landing happened in the same year, but i digress)

someone is talking to them! “oh promise me this isn’t leading to something embarrassing” she says <- HDHSJDHJE 

but no! this woman- sharon- confesses to have followed them there??? well that is very creepy. and that she was told to talk to them if something happened.

GIRL!!!! LET HER HAVE A NICE DINNER 😭

sharon says that her brother, max fenig, was bringing them something that night, but the plane he was on went down.

and how did he know where they were going to be? i am going to assume that he is simply a stalker and not that mulder arranged for a UFO information exchange on scully's birthday. no ma'am. i refuse.

(also, i was distracted by mulder chewing on something this whole scene. at first i thought it was a cigarette, but then clearly it wasn’t, so maybe a lollipop? looked too big to be a toothpick. oh god, don’t tell me he’s a toothpick guy)

anyway. plane crash time. let's go to the conference where the plane people discuss such news.

initial reports say no survivors. people are smoking in here which is crazy. i understand that this show takes place in the 90's, but sometimes i lowkey forget until i see stuff like that and go ohhhhh right right.

this has been a sad turn to date night!!!

they’re listening to the last audio recording from the plane, and the pilot is yelling “my god!” and “mayday!” which is not inspiring any warm and fuzzy feelings

so mulder asks if there was any evidence that the plane was intercepted, because we heard the voice say it was, but plane guy who is in charge of this meeting says hmm, nope, not that i know of.

(is the pilot saying that there was an interception.... not evidence... of an interception??)

mulder says well, there was a famous alien abductee on the plane. which gets the crowd giggling.

scully is watching like ohhh my god and when plane guy asks if this is an official FBI position he turns and looks to her and then says no. plane guy says he is trivializing this tragedy. WHICH I DISAGREE WITH!

IF there was a man claiming to be abducted by UFOs, and the plane he was on mysteriously went down, and the pilot said it was intercepted, but for some reason the fact that the pilot SAID THAT is being disregarded- i'm sorry, my red flags would be going off. for multiple different reasons. if i were plane guy i'd be thinking, gee, maybe this max character was a government target- i mean, if he got famous off of UFOs, who is to say he wasn't up to more shady activities? maybe he was planning a coup in the dominican republic, or smuggling government secrets of a nature that is still important but less outlandish than UFOs, or embezzling, etc. all i am saying, from my reasonable skeptic point of view, is i would think hmm, that's odd. we'll have to note that for our investigation, mr. mulder. maybe max was targeted for a specific reason, aliens or no aliens.

of course, this plane guy claims there WAS no max fenig on the plane, but it seemed pretty easy to lie pre-TSA

“sure know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday” HDHJSJDKSJDJDJDJDJ 

nooo... i feel bad for birthday scully :( why is he always up to some sort of alien shenanigans instead of cherishing her? :( i GET it, i get his life's mission, etc etc but cherishing your friends should be mandatory, especially when it is a friend as lovely as scully

at the crash site, things are looking very very very sad. many bodies are in bags. 

but where is the plane??

poor scully has to shout due to all the helicopter noises, which had to be a pain to film.

what would finding max fenig prove? mulder doesn’t know. but perhaps that 1 life was worth sacrificing 133 others. 

damn. that’s a downer. and we started on such a high note!!!!

the guy who had the DIY gun on the plane has been entirely cut in half. but one of the people from the IIC (and what the hell even IS the IIC?) took his gun!! it was the guy with the big mustache! and they’re spraying him with some stuff? that can’t be normal practice, can it?

scully sees a watch on a corpse’s arm :( mulder sees some glasses :(

they each find a watch!! and the watches from the victims say 8:01, but the time of the crash was listened as 7:52!!!! so… what is the truth??

“nine minutes, scully. do you remember the last time you were missing nine minutes?” <- is that a rhetorical question or a throwback to the pilot

mulder seems to think now that perhaps max was on the plane, but did not finish the journey with the rest of the passengers… hmm… like they shot him??? what do you mean, cryptic man???

oh! one of the people from the crash is alive!!! get a medic NOW!!!! scully is here!!!!! she is telling you what he is going to need and you had better get it quick!!!

now scully is waiting for a plane in the cold. what!!! she is cold!!!! get her inside!!!

she was waiting for sharon from before, who brought all of her letters from her brother max. scully says that they think she isn’t telling them everything, and that she had better do so. NOW. she is not messing around.

oh!!!! the man who was alive has burns that are associated with a high level of radiation!! see, i assumed he just was hit by a piece of flaming sky junk. that foreshadowing went right over my head. 

it was drunk man from before who was burnt!!! so is it whatever max had on him that was radioactive??? they confirm that it was max, he was just using a pen name, which he had a lot of. 

max worked at job with plutonium and uranium. well. maybe that could do it. not sure what he’d to do with all that or how it got on a plane. maybe it could have caused the crash.

mulder is launching into his “max HAD to have been abducted” theory and about how no one will ever believe him and it will go unsolved forever. scully keeps trying to cut him off…

max is back!!!! where from???

oh. he is dead. that is how they found him.

mulder still doesn’t think the crash is explained.

sigh. you just want to have a nice birthday dinner with the guy you've thought was cute for the last 4 years, and he never once remembered your birthday until now, but then he gets an alien call and slips into ahab mode. scully has truly suffered so much.

sharon is reading many many many letters when a flashing and shaking occurs!!! more aliens???? oh man. this is intense. 

CUT TO BLACK??? rude as hell. where did sharon go!!!

(i think i know where sharon went)

okay, now mulder is walking among the many bodies recovered from the crash scene. he finds max and unzips him. and in his pocket he had mulder’s business card!!! despite it being covered in blood, he puts it in his pocket, and seems very sad. it cannot be an easy thing to see. but still. blood-borne illnesses, man.

he is now unzipping more and more bodies. what do you think, you beautiful tortured man?

he is furious that the IIC is going to claim that they don’t know what went on. and i still don't know what the IIC is. maybe they don't even know about the alien stuff. not everyone has CSM levels of alien knowledge.

(side note... why do you think deep throat was snitching to mulder?? was it part of CSM's plan, or did the fight? was it toxic old man yaoi?)

back to the matter at hand. “mulder, why can’t you just accept the facts?” (with his hand on her back, walking her away) “because there are no facts, scully. what they’re telling you, what they’re going to report, they’re the opposite of facts- a claim to ignorance of the facts” oh man, he’s yapping! but he has a point.

“claimed steadfastly, ignorance becomes as acceptable as the truth” <- he’s lowkey right though… he ate with that one thing

still pissed he cannot remember birthdays.

he points out that all of the watches have been stolen that show the difference in 9 minutes between the reported and the actual crash time!!! and that somehow they need to figure out what happened in those 9 minutes. hmm. is this a possible task?

well, with a rental car, you can go anywhere, including to this military base.

oh no!!! someone already came and asked this military man (later revealed to be named louis frish) about the crash, the night it happened! oh no… someone else has a lead

hmm….. hmm…. some discrepancies in stories are occurring here. it must be CSM.

uh oh... the minute they leave, louis frish says to his buddy that he told them “what he was supposed to say”… there is STRANGENESS afoot!!! this other guy says if they come back, he’s gonna tell them the truth.

back to the motel…. well, sharon is no longer there!!! surely you recall the lights and the shaking, etc etc! the landlord seems to think that she trashed the room and dipped, and is telling our agents they MUST pay for it. she was making her 5 seconds of screen time COUNT.

“okay scully, hit me with your best shot, what do you think happened here?” (deep sigh) “i haven’t a clue” <- i love when they admit they don’t know wtf is going on. i think it’s very endearing.

plane guy shows up!!! mulder is being snippy with him about the lack of evidence, but he comes with evidence in hand!!! he won’t make an announcement though, because he’s afraid he’ll sound as crazy as mulder. woah… plane guy redemption arc??

the plane had wear and tear marks, but the gag is it was a brand new plane!!! and all of the cracks radiate from the door they think was blown off!!!

big shoutout to mulder for trusting his door launching instincts. 

back at the air force base….. the one guy who said he was gonna snitch has a bullet hole in his head!!! and three cars are rapidly approaching!!! including one with shady mustache man who was spraying drunk guy’s body!!!

louis frish is hiding on the roof. hmm. hope they don't climb up there to check.

mulder is rocking back and forth, listening to the audio from the flight. then he busts out a rotary phone and spins it with great determination. another forcible reminder of the 90's. also, him rocking back and forth was funny. it was giving old man on a porch energy.

he’s calling scully!! she sounds very sleepy and points out that they have been up for over 36 hours, but he asks if she can please come over, as he thinks he has heard this voice before

yayyy, they can say they know who the voice belongs to, and then fall asleep all cuddled up <3 and everyone lived happily ever after- the end!

NO!!! when she gets out of her room, someone GRABS HER!!! this guy is closing her mouth and saying not to scream, which really makes a person want to scream more, i can imagine.

it’s louis frish??? saying he caused the plane crash???

girl. i was ready for some snuggling.... gtfo with this nonsense.

ooooookay, so it was frish whose voice they heard on the recording! frish says he was ordered to lie about what happened to the flight…. and now he’s fessing up that he saw a second aircraft shadowing it, then an explosion, then the disappearance. 

plane guy is saying that this guy must be a liar. but mulder says there has to be a THIRD aircraft, shot down by the intercept aircraft, which caused this crash. so there has to be a second crash site.

man, i was still thinking about them cuddling, but sure. sure, we have 3 aircraft now. i'm getting lost but i'll just roll with it.

plane guy says that if there is a second crash site they need to find it. i cannot get a read on him. also, frish the whistleblower needs to be kept somewhere safe because the military is clearly gonna kill him.

time to head out…. but cars are approaching!!! can a man who hasn’t slept in 36 hours do a high speed chase? well, he sure can, but the question is more about the ethics than the actual possibility. 

mulder’s crazy idea is to drive straight into a landing plane which just BARELY works and scully straight up was looking death in the face. 

plane guy goes to the OG crash site and sees a UFO!!! it has a beam it is scanning down on the wreckage!!!! he seems entirely gagged and runs towards it, which is not what i would do in that situation. i would be hiding. and then it wooshes away!!!

NO!!!!! it is above him now!!!!!! the beam is shining upon him…. but it wooshes away again. phew. that was very close.

however, a woman is wailing in the trees. SHARON??? is that you??? plane guy is running toward the voice!!!! and it is sharon!!!

plane guy holds sharon as she sobs and begs him not to let them take her again…….. which is a lot of responsibility to place on a random guy, but clearly she has been through a lot.

mulder and scully and frish are trying to get on a plane now. but mulder says what if there IS no second crash site because the second aircraft never fell??

well, i was just getting used to the idea of there being a second crash site, and now it has been taken away from me!!! but i assume he is saying that the UFO must have gotten away fine???

(author's note: no! no, i assumed wrong, for he surmised correctly that it crashed underwater? again, was i supposed to be following that? because i wasn't)

scully does not want to take frish back to DC by herself, and who can blame her? that’s a long drive with a strange man! and surely now mulder is going to run off and engage in some sort of antics!! probably to get himself kidnapped and all that!!!!

aww, but he waves goodbye as their airplane takes off. and then he sets out into the night. 

he drives out to the lake where he thinks maybe the UFO got away, where some guy is telling him there is a hovering light flying over every now and then

scully brings this frish guy back to her HOUSE??? she says she needs to get some stuff before she talks to her agent in charge and i’m thinking no!!! what if he’s lying!?! you brought him into your house!!! what if he gets you?!?

he’s having a crisis of faith on if he’ll get arrested for lying about the plane crash, and i’m sorry to hear he has to live with that guilt, but let’s do this in a place where she doesn't live. 

she says she will do her best to tell his story to someone who can help him. which is very kind of her. but again. let us not bring strangers to our residence.

and he asks to make a phone call to his girlfriend and say he’s safe but i’m thinking noOooOoo why does it have to be on HER phone???? i don’t trust this man at all!!!!!

mulder is sailing out into the lake with this random guy. oh he’s gonna scuba dive. you see, that isn’t something you should do without experience, but here he is. that's the kinda crazy fox mulder brings to the table.

scully takes frish to a restaurant, and who is here but PENDRELL!!! yelling about her birthday. he tries to buy her a drink, and she points out she is with somebody. he laughs and says well let me buy him one too. good for him! 

BUT MUSTACHE MAN IS HERE. he is trying to SHOOT frish. and pendrell is bringing his drinks over and HE GETS SHOT as SCULLY SHOOTS MUSTACHE GUY.

oh my god. is she gonna watch PENDRELL DIE RIGHT THEN AND THERE???

well i thought he was a bit weird, but i didn’t want to see him BLEED OUT!!!

mulder is diving. into god knows what. i’m scared he’ll get the bends or something. or run out of air. or any other horrific scuba related phenomenon. 

but there is something down there!!! something big and metal. i’m scared some sort of evil creature is going to jump out. 

BAH! ALIEN!!!!

okay, he didn’t jump out, but he was unexpected. 

and the light is back!!!! it must be the UFO!!! come to get the alien and maybe the mulder in the process!

end scene.

woaugh…. 

we started with birthday dinner and ended with dead alien and dying pendrell. what a piece of TV.

honestly, the episode was good, don’t get me wrong. but there was so much happening so quickly that i was a little lost. can you blame me? first we had two aircraft and then three and then two crash sites and then one and then two but the other one was underwater. and it was going really fast. 

i firmly believe that in media like this when the world is always about to blow up, you need to take time to make me care about the characters living or dying. you can't replace character development with a ticking time bomb or blow after blow after blow and expect that to be compelling writing. and while i think in the past seasons there has been an excellent balance of character development to character torture or fighting the end of the world, this season has been very heavy handed on the character torture. and i want to make it clear: i am an angst enthusiast. but also, after a certain point, it's like, are we here to just watch these guys suffer? is that what brings us before the TV screen? you don't need an even ratio of character happy time to character sad time- a small amount of character happy time can go a long, long way, so i'm glad we started with some today- perhaps the first all season?

what i'm trying to say is that the opening is going to to get me through a lot of hard times. but still... mulder doesn’t remember birthdays………. this man... i want to shake him like a rag doll and knock some sense into his head.

oh pendrell... how i wonder where your story will go next!

[dezertvideogames]

The Subnautica of other fears

Subnautica is a game infamous for it's almost all ocean planet, underwater worldbuilding, and deep sea gameplay. It's also the bane of all thalassaphobia peeps.

So here's the subnautica of other phobias

Claustrophobia Fear of Tight/Cramped Spaces - The Forest Series : After a plane crash leaves you stranded in a strange forests, something increasingly becomes... wrong. The caves around don't help.

Scopophobia Fear of being watched or the center of attention - Brighter Day : A weirdcore horror game where something is definitely watching you and definitely following you.

Entomophobia/Arachnophobia - Grounded : You play a group of kids who are stuck in a "honey I shrunk the kids" incident. They are forced to venture across their yard, and survive the various common insects around.

Megalophobia Fear of very very very big things - The Utility Room : An experience. More of an experience then a game and fever dreamish, worth it, and mysterious all the way. It's almost as if the universe accidentally left one strange dev room behind.

Nyctophobia Fear of darkness - Amnesia: The Bunker (from the Amnesia series) : It's a first-person survival horror. You play a French man trapped in a bunker during WW1, while being hunted by something inside its darkness.

Autophobia Fear of being/feeling alone - Firewatch : You work in a national park in order to watch out for fires. Traveling across the Wyoming wilderness takes a complicated turn.

Hemophobia Fear of blood or bleeding - Iron Lung : What awaits you in the deep of a strange moon. Trapped in a submarine you have no choice but to find out.

Amaxophobia Fear of car accidents or being run over - Decimate Drive : After freeing yourself from a kidnapping, the world you wake up to is full of hostile cars.

Final Boss Games:

Lethal Company

Fun with friends :D

Genre: Indie Comedy Horror

Takes place on alien planets in outerspace

It's multiplayer, and very fun, but as soon as it hits the fan the sound design works hard to immerse you in the sudden loneliness. The games sound design is one the major players of Lethal Company's fear. As soon as a friend walks away the proximity chat teaches you just how separated you now are.

Before you know it you have had something unfriendly following behind you, and finally finding the silhouette of a friend in the dark you are betrayed by the creatures of the Lethal Company universe.

Fear of Darkness

Fear of Loneliness

Fear of Being Watched

Fear of Outerspace

The Metro Series

Genre: Survival Horror Shooter

You play the beautiful and amazing Artyom Chynornyj in the post-apocalyptic world of Metro. Developed by Ukrainians and based off the Russian book series + Polish fanon writing community.

The world of Metro is unfair and unforgiving, full of mutated creatures, and the leftover souls that the destruction of humanity left in it's wake. Crawl across the underground of Russian cities, or panic across the even more dangerous world of the destroyed above.

Fear of Darkness

Fear of Wild Animals

Fear of Deep Water

Fear of Ghost/The Supernatural

Fear of Insects/Spider

Fear of Heights

Fear of Dead Bodies

Fear of the Cold

No Man's Sky

The scariest game I've ever played. I don't know why, but this game freaks me out. I know the picture I chose was harmless, but I did that on purpose.

This game is beautiful, but don't let that fool ya. This world will leave you no hesitation lost in the unpredictable randomly generated horrors of space. From planet that are all water, to colossus creatures you see for only a split second, to the infinite colorless expanse of space.

Megalphobes and astrophobes, this is your subnautica

Fear of Outerspace

Fear of Darkness

Fear of Cramped Spaces

Fear of the Unknown

Fear of Very Very Very Big Things

Fear of Deep Water

Fear of Loneliness

Fear of Caves

Fear of the Supernatural

[salamispots]

watched alien romulus, liked it, spoilers below :0

I...liked it? like there were some really nice things about it, like the opening scenes of the movie/maybe first half? and then idk the parts where they start interacting with the xenomorphs themselves didn't really feel that tense

-I DID really like the demon baby scene/buildup a lot

-like going down the ladder to find this normal sized baby and watching the foot/hand prints get larger and larger and the first reveal they show you is this weird thing crouching in the shadows and when it steps out it's like o H D:

-andy going up to the sister and when he turns around it's like all the sound cuts out and it took my brain a couple seconds to figure out what I was looking at but oufughdhgfjhg creepy very very good

-ALSO A+ for andy's dad jokes :'D and acting

-the characters are all young looking (not necessarily bad?) but they weren't as compelling compared to others in other movies

-sound design at the beginning when you're settling in is really nice, esp. when they're taking off to space; set design too is gorgeous

-the scene where they first enter the ship and somebody throws a flare/the camera tilts is neat haha

-the little slip in of david's theme/music when the other android's talking about the black goo goOD

-hmmm thinking about it or maybe just me imagining the gore/body horror scenes (for the most part) felt kinda held back? (not talking about the uh wall vagina egg or the xenomorph aspects haha)

-like the scene where the wall egg is dripping blood on the guy

-I think what makes me fond of prometheus and covenant is the fact that they run around on these weird/dead planets and the whole thing with the engineers

-noticed similarities/mashups from the other movies in this one which isn't necessarily bad but it did break immersion a little or made me like 'oh! third act pregnancy like prometheus or a cargo hold battle sort of like covenant, or alien resurrection where the alien gets sucked out into space through that tiny hole

-idk how I feel about the offspring design, will need to watch/see it again; it's a little goofy hahah (again not a bad thing) but I do like that they have the engineer/marble statue alien face and how the hips were a bit off/twisted

-the part where it was grinning was creepy; also when it was hovering over the sister with the mouth retracting I thought they were gonna do a very strange/fucked up version of breastfeeding but it doesn't look like they did? or at least couldn't tell

-edit: oH according to reddit it did happen dfghjf plus they mentioned when she draws her hand of her shirt with weird goo on it

-also slappy slimy facehugger proboscis >:'D

-some of the action scenes reminded me a little of the alien movie that had the underwater alien fight scenes haha

-will need to rewatch in general (movie theatre audio/words getting eaten up in the sound + no subtitles) it's good but I think covenant and prometheus still win out for me

edit: this also makes me wanna go back and watch the movies in chronological or timeline order haha

[space-blue]

so uh do you think the recombinants have human rights? or are we just going to see the rda doing human experiments cause they are “only” copies of people

Heya anon. Interesting question to get out of the blue.

I don't see why recoms would have human rights. Not only are they not "human" and giving them rights would be a slippery slope to giving the Na'vi rights, they are the explicit commercial creation of a private company.

The genre of the Avatar franchsie can be confusing at times due to the optimistic vibes, pretty setting and time spent on exploration with the natives of Pandora, but the human side is extremely rooted in cyberpunk.

The RDA is a company.

Imagine if we discovered a sentient race of underwater aliens on Europa, and the people interracting with them were from SpaceX, on a SpaceX agenda, and not NASA, ESA or JAXA. Worse, since the RDA is all about mining, imagine they were kitted out and working under an executive of Glencore! Shipped by SpaceX...

IDK if the world of Avatar has more info in novelisations, games or comics reguarding the state of laws in space, but I very much think that if people like Quaritch signed a contract to allow the use of his DNA and recorded memories, and the RDA creates recombinants off their own tech at their own price, for their own security team... Then no court of justice has any say in that.

I doubt the RDA's HR department on Pandora will be reporting anything back to earth if the recoms have complaints... By the way, canonically if your cryopod malfunctions during an interstellar trip with the RDA, you die, because they don't keep enough resources on board to let human live the length of the trip, so good luck having any humane law at your back.

On the other hand, I don't understand what you mean by human experiments.

The RDA is not interested in that, and they don't seem to be needed. From the films, we know they want rocks and oil. That's it. They do mining and hunting. They aren't set on Pandora to do human experiments.

A1 already has the ability to use avatars, and those avatars are created on earth and mature over the course of the flight. So clearly the creation of hybrid bodies has been going on for decades (since Grace has been at this for a long while!) and there's no hint of it being human experimentation.

Again: recombinants aren't human. That's what makes them so fascinating. They are a mostly Na'vi and human chimera, with a memory imprint that forces a personality on them. But they can't live natural lives on earth, don't have any legal identity (Quaritch and his men are DEAD. They died. They were clearly labeled KIA so the RDA could make the recom contract kick in).

Even their qualia, the way they experience consciousness, is not human. Humans aren't that size, that build, with tails and swivelling ears. They may remember being a human, but they aren't anymore.

Which creates enormous room for angst and fantastic reasons to rebel and join the locals. The memories of humanity are used as a leash. IDK if they are even copies of people. Q is clearly missing memories outside of what was recorded for him.

I don't think there will be "experiments" on them. I don't see the point. Q & co. are also not used in that way in the story of A2. They are fearsome but easy to dispatch villains for a setting that doesn't tolerate humans anymore.

I don't think that recoms being "remade" would be an experiment or a torture. I think it would be the cold calculations of a cyberpunk mega-corp.

But don't forget there is no process to speed this along. So either the company already made several copies of each recoms, or they'll need years to make new ones. They're also very expensive, so who knows.

I really enjoy the idea of Q going rogue precisely because he's given a new crew of the same recoms to work with and the inhumanity of it finally breaks him. He'd be bound to realise there's more of him in storage and nothing he can do will be meaningful in that way.

[im-getting-help]

You guys remember IT 2019? I just finished watching an alternative ending or directors cut idk, BUT LET ME TELL YOU 💀

First, english is my second language...

So, everything is exactly the same until the last like 30min? They're fighting Pennydumb, and you remember the scene where Richie is caught by the deadlights and Eddie spears Penny and saves Rich but he has to kiss him to wake him up like Ben with Bev in the first movie? Well, in this version Eddie spears Penny and falls with Richie but instead of kissing him he just shakes him a little? And Richie wakes up 😂 but then out of nowhere Pennydumb SKEWERS EDDIE WITH ONE OF THE ARACHNID/CRAB CLAWS RIGHT THROUGH THE CHEST??? Me and Bev literally screamed at the same time. So Eddie is bleeding all over Richie, blood comes out of his mouth as he says his name... and Richie is literally like 🧍🏻‍♂️ and then Pennydumb lifts Eddie with the claw and I'm watching in 4KHD how Eddie flies tf out while everyone is screaming his name. I SWEAR TO GOD I'M NOT KIDDING. At this point I'm laughing and crying at the same time, cause like, wtf is happening?? So the Losers run to wherever Eddie was thrown and THIS MF IS SOMEHOW STILL ALIVE? Then, like in the original ending Eddie tells the Losers how to kill Pennydumb, but is like super depressing, Eddie is coughing blood, so all but Richie and obviously Eds go bully the alien spider. Eddie is dying, and he says "Richie, I gotta to tell you something" and I'm thinking, alright, a little bit too angsty but ok. BUT THEN, HE DOESN'T CONFESS? HE LOOKS RICHIE IN THE EYES AND SAYS "💫I fucked your mother💫" AGAIN, I'M NOT KIDDING. And so Richie is like "heh 🙂🥲" Eventually Richie leaves so they can finish IT, lmao. They kill Pennydumb the same, they say "clown" a bunch and he perish. Then they go back to Eds who is obviously fucking dead at this point, and I'm still laughing a little cause I know that now is when Maturin appears and the Losers ask her to bring back Stan and now Eddie too i guess... WELL In this version Maturin doesn't exist apparently???????? So Eddie dies and Richie is crying over his dead body anD THEN BILL AND BEVERLY TELL HIM THAT THEY HAVE TO GO AND LEAVE HIS BODY DOWN THERE???? AND I'M 😶 SPEECHLESS.

They drag Richie out of Neibolt 😶 he's is screaming and crying and I'm screaming and crying with him. They get out and the house collapses. And the whole scene is fucking tragic, like, I'm sobbing, Richie is still screaming Eddie's name, Mike and Ben are holding him back and Bill and Bev are literally like 👀 Suddenly they're on the quarry, same scene minus Eddie and Stan. BUT IT'S SO SOMBER. They jump and they're washing themselves in silence, and Richie is CLEANING EDDIE'S BLOOD OUT OF HIS GLASSES. And Eddie is not there to be yapping about infections so Ben is like "Eddie would hate this" and they start talking about what Eddie would say if he was there, and I'm thinking 'why tf would you kill him but not write a better scene?' but I'm promptly shut up cause Richie starts crying again and everyone goes hug him, and now I'm really sobbing. But then, then they do something I can only describe as the worst possible thing you can do in front of your mourning gay friend. Richie loses his glasses like in the original but Stan is not there to give them back so the rest of the Losers start looking, and then, and I swear to god I'm not lying, Ben and Bev find the glasses but instead of giving them back they start kissing eachother. RICHIE IS BLIND AND CRYING WHILE THESE TWO KISS UNDERWATER. And I'm like NOw?????? Don't get me wrong, I love the kiss in the original, but this version is so sad and that kiss feels so out of place. After that, there's the scene in the street with them as kids, Richie and Eddie bickering and all that, and I'm ready to go wash my face BUT they added an extra scene. So in this scene Mike calls Bill whose already out of Derry, and Bill asks why they're not forgetting this time, and Mike says "Maybe cause IT is dead... or maybe because we have more we want to remember than we want to forget". AND I'M LIKE WDM?? ALL OF THIS IS FUCKING TRAUMATIC. And then Mike asks Bill if he got the letter, and apparently Stan left a fucking suicide note 💀 and it's SO FUCKING SAD YOU GUYS. They show adult Stan writing the note but you can hear young Stan reading it, and they show the Losers as adults after Derry 2.0, and everyone is happy except Richie?? Like, Bev and Ben are on a fucking boat with a dog but Richie is on the bridge going over the R+E carving while crying. And it ends with Mike smiling driving out of Derry. Is literally the worst ending ever. Like, I don't hate it just because is so depressing is kinda funny, also you guys know It 2019 is goofy af. Anyways, if anyone else saw this please message me so we can make a support group or something idk.

[critter-of-the-day]

23rd of October 2024: Advhena magnifica

Today we’re staying underwater and going even deeper, this time looking at a deep-sea coral, Advhena magnifica, who doesn’t officially have a common name, but in the media coverage surrounding them was often termed the “E.T. sponge” or “E.T. coral” [1].

They were initially discovered in 2016, one being recovered just east of the Marianas’ Trench at a depth of over 2 km. Their main body is actually just around 14 cm in diameter, but they sit on top of a long peduncle (essentially a long stalk-like extension) [2]. They are a type of glass sponge, named such because their skeleton is made of silica particles. The specific microstructures of their skeleton were also necessary to determine they were a new species [1].

In 2017 researchers went down again and this time took video of what they termed “Forest of the Weird”, which included Advhena magnifica as well, showing them all oriented in the direction of the current. They also found groups of dead Advhena magnifica which they attributed to likely be because of a water-borne pathogen [3].

They are a monotypic genus at the moment, meaning they’re the only species in the genus. Advhena derives from the latin for alien, while magnifica comes from magnificent, thus essentially calling them magnificent aliens [2].

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [Image] 

[silverwings22]

Song of the Sea: Chapter 5: Starlight

Chapter warning: mind control, dead body, profanity, Series warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a

Previous chapter:

Next Chapter:

Tech had been gone a long time. They'd been on missions, back to back, and Shiani tried to be understanding but the wait between comm calls was agonizing. He'd told her when he'd left last that he'd come see her immediately when he returned, but she'd seen his heavily modified ship just a few days ago come in and leave in the span of a few hours. 

Tech never lied to Shiani. There had to be a reason for the sudden departure without a word or even comm, but it still stung slightly. She wasn’t so immature as to blame him for it, since he had a duty to attend first. Still, when she saw the Havoc Marauder docking again only a day after it last left she didn't feel like being patient and waiting for him to call for her. This was as good a time as any to face her fears about the hangar bay, and since his batch knew about her she could just slip onto the ship to spend some time with them all. She’d surprise him, and maybe he’d let her look at the engine up close so she could recreate it.

She waited until the hangar was empty of regs, shifting her form and slipping on the pair of red cadet pants he'd given her months ago. She didn't hate wearing them as much as she used to, the rough fabric more bearable when it was dry, and he'd given her a waterproof bag to carry them plus a few tools in for her exploring. Once the coast was clear and the sounds of hangar crew faded, she put the backpack on and crept up into the hangar bay. It was a frightening experience, being so close to the long necks and the city, but she told herself the hanger was still outside so it didn't count. 

Big, shiny ships were docked everywhere. She wanted to explore all of them too, but the risk of capture was too great. It wasn’t just her own life she gambled with if she was caught, but every siren in every city below. Longnecks had long memories and genetics technology at the time of the Great Flood, there had to be records. If anyone who’d seen them saw Shiani, the hunt could be on. She hadn’t given up her place among her people because she hated them, she couldn’t risk endangering them just because she was desperate to see the only friend they’d left her.

His ship, the heavily modified Omicron, was easy to find between the other models she’d learned to identify on sight. She settled behind some crates near it, curling her tentacles around herself and doing her best to be unobtrusive. No one was looking for her or at her, so she just waited.

Feels weird here. Felt weird for days… She fiddled with her own claws as she waited. There had been a lot of noise one night, sounds of blaster fire and yelling that quickly stifled itself. She'd been more than a little worried about it and the clones inside. They were just men, human men that were fragile and easily killed no matter how strong they were. They couldn't breathe underwater or squish themselves into convenient hidey-holes like she could. They didn't have suction cups to climb or fangs and claws to defend themselves. Without their tools and blasters, they were vulnerable. 

What if something up here was trying to hurt them? What if it tried to hurt Tech? She was willing to fight for him now, but the rules of engagement were so different above water. She couldn’t just throw herself at everything until she knew what was really an enemy and what was a circumstance she could solve with words. Sometimes she wondered if she’d fought her brother for Tech’s life years ago, if things would have been different. Maybe more clones would know sirens, and more friendships could bloom… The sirens could have helped the clones with the way the longnecks treated them. Tech would spare her details, usually engrossed in something else, but she knew there was a reason he thought of himself as expendable. And she didn’t like it. 

She ducked a little lower when two regs carried a litter into the hangar and set it in the corner. "Just leave it here for now. They'll send a team for disposal." One was saying through his helmet. The other gave a quick motion, hand coming up to his head and back down. That’s what he calls a salute. That means the other is a superior officer. 

When the regs had gone, Shiani inched over towards the litter. Tipoca city insisted on dumping its trash outside her front door, so if whatever this was turned out to be useful maybe she could save them the effort. It wouldn’t even have to get dented on it’s way down if she took it… it wasn’t stealing if they were throwing it away, right? 

She pulled up the white sheet and almost screamed.

It was a togruta woman, full of blaster holes. Her face was frozen in a look of shock, body limp and cold with blood underneath her. By her orange hand was a cylinder, a hilt of a weapon Tech had shown Shiani pictures of at the same time she'd seen a holo of this exact togruta. 

This was Jedi Master Shak Ti, who oversaw training on Kamino. Dead. 

Shiani scrambled back, skin turning near white with terror. “Jedi are generals… friends.” She whispered to herself. Something was wrong, and all the shooting before… Had the regs killed the Jedi? Why would they?! Tech had told her countless times how much the clones respected the Jedi who led them. He’d had a glowing review of Generals Skywalker and Kenobi especially. This didn’t make sense… But now Tech’s concern the regs might hurt her was weighing heavily on her mind.

She had to get away from here, but if Tech was in trouble she had to help. Tech was too important to her… she raced back to her hiding place by his ship and shivered. Maybe she could comm him, Tech would have an explanation. He always had an explanation for her. 

Shiani pulled up her comm, but instead of an answer she heard a buzz in the crate she was leaning on. She frowned, leaning up on her toes and doubling over the open top face first. Tech shouldn’t have been inside a box, but then again the entire trip up to the hangar had been confusing. If he was, she’d just have to pull him out and ask her questions directly.

It wasn't Tech, but it was his very distinct armor. Shiani frowned deeper, picking up his helmet. If he wasn't here…

She heard the hangar door open and scrunched down further inside the crate, closing her eyes. She was going to die, she was sure of it. "Quick, get your gear. We've got to go back for Crosshair." Someone said, and a half-heartbeat later Shiani recognized that the voice wasn't a reg. She’d heard it on recording a dozen times, if never live. She’d never actually spoken to any of Tech’s brothers face to face, only signing through the glass. She only knew them through his recordings and stories.

Her head popped up immediately, laying eyes on the tattooed face of the Bad Batch's leader. "Hunter sergeant?"

He jumped, pointing a blaster at her reflexively. "Shit! Shiani?"

Shiani nodded vigorously. "Came to find Tech, but I found a dead Jedi." She whispered. 

A hand behind her scooped Tech's helmet from her hands. "You should not have come to the surface. You could be killed." It was Tech, in just his blacks, giving her a stern look. She wilted a little.

"I got worried. Heard blasters a few days ago, and then you didn’t comm when you landed…"

Tech sighed and helped her out of the crate. "This is extremely dangerous. We just escaped from a cell, and Crosshair was taken away. We must find him, and get off Kamino immediately."

Shiani nodded. "I can help."

"Do you know how to fire a blaster?" Hunter grumbled, racing to get his gear on. 

"I know how to strangle." Shiani shrugged, looking around. Wrecker was dressing in a hurry too, searching for something in the crates. Next to him, looking lost, was a small blonde girl. Shiani leaned over her curiously. "Baby?"

"I'm Omega, miss…"

"Baby Mega." Shiani nodded, wrapping a tentacle around her. "Don’t be scared. I’ll keep you safe, I’m Tech’s friend."

"Tech, get the ship going. Wrecker, Echo, and I will go back for-" Hunter started, until the doors opened again. A group of regs, led by a figure in black armor, stepped out. 

Shiani flinched as a sick feeling hit the pit of her stomach, and she pushed little Omega behind her. "Crosshair found us."

"Give it up, Hunter." The sniper drawled, and there was something not right about the energy around him. Or the way he was looking at the gathered group. "You know I never miss."

"We're going to have to leave him." Hunter whispered. "He's too far gone."

"He will pick us off before we can get into the ship." Tech hissed back as they scrambled for cover. 

Shiani peeked hesitantly over the edge of a crate. "About how long will you need to get the ship started?" She whispered. He was going to leave, and she was scared she'd never see him again. But he had to make it, because if she saw him limp and broken like the dead Jedi… it would be worse than just dying. Tech was her best friend. He was the only good thing on this planet, and if she had to give him up to keep him alive then she’d do it and die happy. 

"About 45 seconds, but he will close the hangar doors before we can make it out." Tech frowned. "Why?"

Shiani picked up a discarded reg helmet with her tentacle. "I can make a distraction."

"You will be killed." He groaned. "Just keep your head down."

Shiani scrunched her face at him. "Hunter sergeant? Break that hangar door." She hissed, before hopping up and hurtling the helmet as hard as she could. Directly at Crosshair’s face. 

Hunter took the cue and shot the door controls, forcing the hangar back open. The flying helmet required Crosshair to bail out of the way unless he wanted to be decapitated, and Tech made a break for the ship. Hunter grabbed Omega under his arm like a duraboard cutout and followed, Wrecker was unlucky enough to take a shot to the shoulder before he could get inside. Shiani froze for a split second as the sniper leveled his blaster on her. 

"That was a cute trick, squid. Your last one." He sneered.

"Shiani!"

Tech was yelling her name from inside the moving ship, running to the ramp as Echo got them accelerating out of the hangar. She looked at the sniper, then slung two sucker-studded limbs against the Havoc Marauder. 

When his shot hit where she'd been standing, she was already airborne and slithering up the ramp. 

"Son of a bitch!"

Hunter was rubbing the bridge of his nose hard, looking like the galaxy was going to crush him. Echo was bandaging Wrecker’s shoulder, now that they were in hyperspace and out of the line of fire. Tech was seated in one of the deck chairs, leg bouncing, as Omega squished herself closer to Hunter. 

"That was reckless, Shiani. He could have shot you." Hunter finally said.

Shiani, who'd been nervously huddled by the ramp access, looked down. "Sorry.." She whispered. "Just… wanted to help."

"You are not much help if you are dead." Tech shook his head. 

"Go easy on her. She saved our asses with that bucket chuck." Wrecker, much more agreeable, smiled for a minute before wincing. "Ow, Echo!"

"Nobody told you to get shot." The corporal huffed. "But… he's right, Hunter." 

Hunter groaned. "Yeah, yeah. Look, Shiani. If you're going to stay with us, you've got to understand something. We're soldiers, you're a civilian. You follow instructions from now on. Deal?"

Shiani peeked up. "I can stay?"

"We're not just going to dump you off somewhere." Echo assured her. "But we're traitors to the Empire now. It's a dangerous new galaxy."

Shiani nodded. "I didn’t know the old one, really. At least I’ll only have to learn one set of rules…"

Hunter snorted, but it hid a small smile. "Since he's known you longer, Tech's your new buddy. You listen to him. He listens to me and Echo. Got it?"

The siren nodded. "I like listening to Tech."

The bedraggled sergeant sighed. "Come on, let's figure out where we're going… we need to disappear."

Tech nodded. "Then I suggest Salucemi."

Hunter nodded. "Set the nav. Wrecker, go lay down. Echo, you and I will check the supplies… and find Omega a place to sleep."

They split up, Omega giving Wrecker his back stuffed tooka doll she'd been holding. 

Shiani sat on the floor a little longer before getting to her feet and wobbling her way to the cockpit after Tech. 

He was sitting in the pilot's seat, his brow wrinkled with thought for a long time while the siren looked at him. "Yes?" he finally sighed.

"Are you mad?" She looked at her bare feet on the durasteel floor, shuffling a little. 

"I am frustrated, yes."

"At me?"

He blinked, turning his chair to look at her. Her coloring was dull, hands fidgeting in front of her and tentacles squirming like she didn't know what to do with them. "Why would you believe I am angry with you?" 

"You told me to keep my head down, and I didn’t listen."

Tech sighed. "No, my frustration is not because of you." He softened his voice a little, since she looked about ready to bolt. "It is just a… infuriating situation. The Empire, and with Crosshair."

"What happened to him? He didn’t… feel right. Something was wrong with him, it was in his eyes." 

Tech nodded. "When we were imprisoned, Omega told us that there are inhibitor chips in the brains of all clones. For unknown reasons, none of ours activated. The regs, and Crosshair’s, did."

"Is that why the regs killed Shak Ti?" She got a little closer, getting back down on the floor next to his chair and resting her head on the armrest to look up at him. 

"Yes, and apparently the rest of the Jedi all over the galaxy. I am sorry you had to see that. I'm sure it was very upsetting."

"I was scared I’d find you dead too." She mumbled. "Glad you’re safe."

"Yes, I am unharmed. And I am grateful you are as well." He smiled as one of her head tentacles wrapped around his vambrace, leaving puckers on his armor. She was trying so hard not to overstep how much she wanted to snuggle into his side. It had been a frightening situation, and she wasn’t a soldier. He was actually impressed with how well she’d held it together so far. "This was not how I intended to show you the stars."

Shiani tore her eyes away from his face to look at the streaking lights through the windshield, smiling a little at last. "They still look perfect." She whispered. "Glad you showed me, no matter how it happened."

"There is much more to see." He murmured. "Though, I will need to get you some proper boots, and a shirt that will not dry and fall off you."

Shiani groaned. "More clothes."

"Unless you wish for all my brothers to see you topless?"

She huffed, headbutting his arm like a grumpy tooka kitten. "Fine. I’ll wear it, but don’t laugh at me if I look silly."

"I would not dream of it."

[farceargon]

Gordon rounded the corner slowly, disappointed by the equally dark corridor that spanned ahead of him. Since the cascade most of the lights were shot, gone dark thanks to the disaster in the chamber.

He enjoyed cave-diving in his spare time when he could afford it, but swimming through the halls of Black Mesa was a different experience. They weren’t supposed to be flooded, pitch-black or filled with unnerving ambience. The water was supposed to stay in its respective rooms and outside the facility.

Holding his harpoon close and ready, Gordon used his other hand to flick the HEV suit’s flashlight on. For the last while he’d been relying on the few flickering lights overhead or sparking machinery along the walls, cautious about giving his position away to… Well he didn’t know. Just in case.

After a resonance cascade he had every right to be paranoid.

Debris drifted lazily past the flashlight’s hazy beam as he scanned ahead. Broken machines and scattered office supplies littered the otherwise empty hallway—

At the far end, where the corridor met another, he saw it. 

The body of a scientist lay crushed against the floor by rubble. He imagined the face would be one contorted into dead terror, only he couldn’t make it out. Curled around and across the corpse were strange growths, like the fluffy tentacles of an oversized jellyfish.

Aiming the light up hesitantly, Gordon recoiled in the water and gripped his harpoon tightly in both hands.

Another scientist, body beyond mangled. It was almost comical with the way their tie floated in the water, seemingly untouched by the rest of their horrific mutation. A semi-translucent blob encompassed the space where the head should’ve been. Two small tentacles waved back and forth in the flooded space, while he could barely make out another two embedded into the scientist’s chest.

The arms were long and gangly, ending in absurdly elongated clawed fingers. Webbing had burst from the sides, connecting them together in a means of underwater locomotion. 

Trailing back down to the legs, a conclusion was reached. 

They cut off at the knee, twisting and contorting into the tentacles wrapped around the unfortunate soul below. The creature was still as if content. 

It was feeding.

-

Half-Life: Shores and Half-Life: Depths are my AU! Essentially the plot of the original two games but taking place on an Earth that almost entirely flooded. Few landmasses remain as small islands. Floating settlements and cities on stilts dot the oceans, housing the last of humanity.

Black Mesa's experiments sought to discover a different, empty world where they could drain the sea to reclaim the continents. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned, opening to the complete opposite. A huge, abyssal void called Xyn.

The entire facility promptly filled with water. Not just that, but alien monstrosities from Xyn as well.

-

These beasts are called Headclumps thanks to how they clump together in hallways and latch onto the heads of unfortunate victims.

They're a form of deep-sea Cnidaria who live a parasitic lifestyle. Where they come from, Headclumps let off a small glow to lure in unsuspecting predators. Once close enough the parasites will latch onto the heads of large fish, digging their rearmost tentacles into their nervous system.

After releasing a paralyzing toxin the Headclumps will assume control of the host. It will hunt and feed as normal, though the nutrients will be absorbed by the parasite instead.

When the creature dies (usually as a result of the parasite) the Headclump will lay its eggs inside the corpse before unlatching. The young will consume the body for sustenance after hatching, so the cycle begins anew.

They weren't really designed for... Human hosts.

-

LOTS OF WRITING SORRY. This AU has just been on my brain for a whiiile and I've finally made something for it :]

Sneak peak at another beastie on the page too.

[wavyskies]

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[bears-ao3-blog]

(TF2 x TLOU) Dead Mann Walking - Chapter 2: Exchange

Prologue

CW: Body horror, Death

“Cmon! Ya fuckin’ piece of shit radiator, piece of shit cuffs-“

Jeremy’s wrists ached, the skin surrounding the metal rendered blotchy, raw, and red beneath his hand wraps. He’d been tugging at the chain for hours. His mind couldn’t handle being in the same place with nothing to do for so long. He had been able to bring one of the only things he kept from his old home with him: his trusty baseball, and he had been able to keep himself sane, knocking it against the wall and catching it. That was, until it was taken from him by a guard who liked waving around his pistol a bit too much. Apparently it was annoying or something, not that Jeremy cared; their fault for kidnapping him and keeping him hostage. Besides, he was quite used to pissing people off.

What he was not used to was being locked in a room for 16 days – and counting. Jeremy huffed, hitting the ground with a thud, legs buckling under his weight. He knocked his head back against the radiator, eyes trailing up to the shabby-looking ceiling, pieces of plaster fallen to reveal rickety wood underneath. He willed his mind to find it interesting to look at. The cracks, stains, and mold allowed his creativity to wander, and he began to see shapes within them: a face or two; a fucked-up looking dog; and that splotch right there looked just like a squid. It was a miracle he even knew what squids were. He remembered seeing a picture of one in an old, tattered book, horrified by its appearance. He remembered thinking it was an alien before an old teacher of his rolled her eyes and corrected him.

“It’s called a squid, Jeremy. They live in the ocean."

Were squids still around? Probably. He figured nothing has changed much for the lucky bastards who lived underwater.

His inner musings were stopped short by the rattle and creak of the door opening once more. Jeremy flinched violently, not expecting to be caught off guard, and he huffed. Must’ve been the surveyors again. He shifted to stand up once more.

Except it wasn’t the surveyors.

Jeremy froze, still sitting, but on guard. He recognized the man at the door as the creepy-ass dude who never took off his facemask and was always in a getup a bit too fancy for the apocalypse. He reeked of cigarettes so badly that Jeremy was sure he would be able to smell it on the older man even if there wasn’t one lodged in his mouth. Come to think of it, out of the few times he’s seen the guy, he doesn’t think he was ever not smoking. Sheesh. Cigarettes were as valuable as gold and here this guy was, sucking down about a pack a day by the looks of it. Must be a hell of a hotshot.

The man was holding Jeremy’s bag, and Jeremy watched with a blank look as he gently raised it in a smooth motion, before tossing it his way. Jeremy lunged forward and grabbed it harshly, awkwardly – his hands were attached at the wrist – but violently unzipping it. He rummaged through it, scrutinizing every square inch his eyes landed on to make sure all his belongings were present. His hands clasped around a familiar, worn fabric, and Jeremy pulled out his trusty cap. It was one of the only things that had stayed with him for most of his life, a treasure he has kept around for over a decade. A small wave of comfort and reassurance washed over him as he affixed it to his head with a firm tug. He always felt a bit more secure with his cap on.

Jeremy could hear the creaking of the hardwood beneath the masked man’s feet as he slowly, carefully, but with purpose, approached Jeremy before sitting down in front of him, uncomfortably close; well within the range of the chain fixing him to the wall. Jeremy tilted his head up slightly to see him from under the brim of his cap, his brows threading together slowly as his nose scrunched.

“I may be cuffed but I can still beat the tar outta ya from ‘ere, y’know.”

“You will do so such thing, and we both know it.”

Scout’s lip curled at his accent. It was odd: guttural and with an strange lilt. In all his years being raised to be one of MANN’s perfect little soldiers, he only ever heard a couple other accents. Most were simply other Americans, (apparently, folks born and raised in Boston – rather, the Boston Fortress – even had their own), but on occasion he’d get ones that sounded a bit weirder. The word drifted into his head, slowly and fuzzily coming into view in his mind’s eye: “European”. Yeah, European sounded about right. The other man spoke again.

“…No ‘thank you’s?”

Jeremy huffed out a laugh, disbelieving.

“For fuckin’ what? For nappin’ me and keeping me locked in here for two goddamn weeks?”

The other man’s slightly amused expression turned grave, his voice grim and serious, stripped of any humor that may have been present in it before.

“You would rather me have let my men shoot you? I was the one to call them off, if you recall. So I kindly request that you drop this childish attitude of yours so we can have a proper conversion. Maybe then I’ll consider getting you out of those handcuffs.”

They both stared at each other intensely for a beat, before Jeremy sighed, relaxing a bit; silently yielding. He gingerly spoke again after a speculative moment.

“...why did ya stop them?”

The man across from him hummed.

“That is a discussion for later.”

He then shifted closer, reaching for Jeremy’s hands, and the younger man instinctively pulled them away, the chain attached to them rattling loudly against the radiator.  The older man lifted his hand to reveal a small key and exasperated expression, and Jeremy eyed both warily. He then slowly, hesitantly extended his hands, offering up the cuffs for the other to unlock, his posture still laced with apprehension.

The other gracefully lodged the key in and turned it, and Jeremy slightly melted in relief once the overbearing restriction of the metal cuffs loosened and gave way to freedom. He shook his wrists and rubbed at them with a slight grimace as the masked man gently set the cuffs down with a soft clink.

“So, Anthony. How are you feeling?”

Jeremy stretched his arms, reveling in the feeling of his hands no longer being attached to each other. There were nasty knots littering the expanse of muscle in his shoulder blades, and he hissed quietly as he worked at them. Jeremy pondered the question for a moment before shrugging.

“The same. I’m not gonna...it’s not gonna happen, no matter what your guys think. Look, man, why don’t you just let me go? I won’t tell no one about any of this, I promise-”

“Where, exactly, do you plan on going? Those drifters you were with are long gone by now. Back to MANN’s military? Do you wish to be a soldier that badly?”

Jeremy shot him a steely look, head tilting as the other spoke.

“Fuck off, don’t talk about ‘em like that… and you think I chose that place? They put me there when I was a freakin’ baby. It’s for orphans.”

“’They’ didn’t put you there...”

The man’s face morphed into an oddly smug expression as he leaned in a bit to finish his sentence in a quieter voice.

“I did, Jeremy.”

Jeremy looked at him with wide eyes and a mouth slightly agape, incredulous, his brows slightly furrowed in confusion.

“...You my fuckin’ dad or somethin’?”

The other’s jaw clenched slightly and he looked away, making Jeremy bristle before being cut off with a firm:

“No. I am no such thing. I just...made a promise to keep you from harm, in the past.”

Jeremy’s eyes squinted in skepticism, and he felt the urge to press further.

“Ok? Then who the hell are you?”

“I am the leader of the Fireflies in the Boston Fortress. You may call me ‘the Spy’. Not an appropriate title, I must say...it dates back to my previous career, but it is one I am the most accustomed to.”

“Ok...why would a terrorist dump me with MANN?”

Spy’s diplomatic disposition quickly faded into irritation as he cut him off with a cold response.

“Because that is where you would be safest, and you were safe there until you decided to sneak out...and ‘terrorist’? Was Chelsea a terrorist, then?”

A fire suddenly lit in Jeremy’s eyes and his hand sailed forward to dig into that stupid charcoal grey suit coat and haul Spy so close that Jeremy could feel the heat of the other man’s cigarette against his cheek. He spoke with a dangerous hiss.

“If you know what’s good for ya, you won’t EVER fuckin’ bring her up again, you understand me?”

Jeremy shoved him away, his gaze averting as his fury died down and fizzled into a quiet, withheld sadness. He slumped back against the radiator with a sigh. Regardless of his anger at the question, he still answered with a shake of his head after a moment.

‘No, she wasn’t’

He cautiously looked back at the other, who surprisingly didn’t look upset. He instead held a look Jeremy couldn’t quite place at all, actually. Jeremy spoke up again, his voice quiet but pressing, a slight edge still tracing his words.

“...Why didn’t you let ‘em kill me, Spy?”

Spy’s brows were taut, and his lips pressed together before he replied.

“...because you serve a greater purpose than any of us could have ever imagined.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened once more in quiet shock as the other continued.

“So, we’re leaving tonight. And we’re taking you with us.”

The door opened once more, and the same lady with the clipboard popped her head in.

“He’s here.”

Spy barely turned his head to reply with a curt, firm:

“Five minutes.”

The lady swiftly pulled her head out and shut the door quietly, and Spy looked back at Jeremy with such intensity it made the younger squirm under his gaze. The other’s voice was deadly serious as he spoke.

“What I am about to tell you cannot be repeated to anyone, because if you do, I assure you, you will die. Do I make myself clear?”

Jeremy swallowed thickly, brows tweaked in fearful confusion, before he nodded.

“...yeah. Crystal.”

»»-——— - ———-««

Mick could hardly hear anything over his own breathing being guided to his ears from his mask, but he still listened intently for any signs of danger that could come their way. His flashlight swooped over their surroundings with expertise gifted only by years of paranoia as they slowly made their way through the grime-infested tunnels. Wooden beams and metal bars propped up the earth above them, and every once in a while, if Mick listened close enough, he could pick up the quiet groan of the weight above them. Frances led the way, as she knew these passageways better than anyone else in the Fortress. Mick personally struggled with the confusing, winding paths. They were maze-like; complex, unpredictable, and incredibly unstable. They put Mick on edge. Then again, so did anything else.

As they continued, Mick noticed the particles infesting the air thicken, hung in the air; a quiet menace. Couple breaths of that stuff and you’ll find yourself the perfect fit for a mycological terrarium, and scarily fast, too. Mick figured it wasn’t long before they encountered the source.

And he was exactly right.

A body lay on a pile of rubble. Sprouts of green-yellowed fungus riddled and surrounded the figure in groves and long-reaching roots, binding it to the rubble below. Its brittle skin was rippled and warped from where the fungus sprouted, tearing through dry flesh and wilted clothing. The fabric lay lost beneath the leathery disks that turned what was once a person into a husk; a bed to lie in, to grow in. A particularly nasty growth protruded from the body’s head, and Mick swallowed thickly as he pictured the fungus cracking open that skull with ease to free itself. To keep growing. To keep spreading. The corpse’s mouth and eyes were open wide, as if they had spent their last moments in utter terror. Mick let out a breath.

“Well, there’s our culprit.”

Frances hummed, examining the body with cold, calculated eyes.

“This one’s done for. Still relatively fresh-looking for a fruiter, though. Wonder what happened to the guy.”

Mick shook his head.

“Wa’n’t careful, I’d say. Reckon he was a newbie or the like.”         

“What can you do…let’s keep going.”

They pressed further on, the air clearing a bit of spores, but enough lingered to warrant the masks remaining on.

They came upon a bend, and froze as they heard the low murmur of a voice in the near distance. Frances and Mick pressed themselves against the wall adjacent to the turn, pulling out their guns. Frances gave him a look, Mick nodded back, and they quickly spun around the corner, guns raised and eyes frantically searching for their target. Frances gasped quietly as their eyes trailed over to a woman. She was pinned to the ground by a large chunk of concrete and dirt. A section must have collapsed on her; simple, bad luck. Mick grimaced as the woman whined and whimpered and sobbed, writhing in quiet agony. Her noises were muffled by a mask half-attached to her face. Mick watched her head slowly rise as her attention was caught, and she spoke hoarsely.

“M-My mask- my mask broke.”

She coughed pitifully, wheezing, lungs constricted beneath the overbearing weight. Mick’s face tightened further.

“Don’t leave me to turn, please.”

Mick’s fists clenched. He glanced over at Frances, who looked as if she had turned to stone, frozen in place. Mick nodded understandingly, noticing her slightly trembling frame. He walked over to the woman, crouched down, and placed a comforting hand on the woman’s head. The tortured soul sobbed in relief. Mick slowly, smoothly brought the barrel of his gun to her head before the deafening bang of a single shot rang in Mick’s ears, reverberating dizzyingly throughout the tunnel.

Mick stood slowly, head slightly hung, before he turned around to look at Frances. She stood there for a moment, staring at the corpse of someone she very well possibly knew. Mick felt a churn in his gut. Then, as if nothing had happened, she began walking once more. Mick jogged to catch up. He spoke quietly through his mask.

“Frances, she would ‘ave-“

Frances swiftly raised a hand to command him to stop talking, her shoulders tense. He obeyed.

She didn’t speak for the rest of the trip through the tunnels.

Or when they made it to the surface, free to remove their ventilation masks.

Or when they reentered the fortress through the walls of interconnected, long-forgotten ramshackle buildings, trailing through decrepit brick and rotting wood and dusty carpet.

Or when those buildings slowly transitioned into a bustling market of illegal wares; where friendly smugglers struck up conversations with her that were swiftly ignored.

Or when they had to, once again, slip into another well-hidden entrance to delve deep underground, shooting the woman guarding it a steely eye, whom immediately allowed them passage with a nervous energy. Greg had chosen a particularly hard spot to get to. Of course he would. The man was paranoid, and rightfully so. Not that it did much to dissuade the reasons he was so scared.

Mick didn’t say a word either. He simply followed her lead until they finally approached a rickety metal ladder at the end of a dark, dusty hallway, bathed in darkness cut through by Mick’s returning flashlight. It ran up a cramped passageway, and Mick felt a twang of discomfort at how high the ladder seemed to go. They carefully climbed it, and found themselves standing on a loft leading access to a single door.

It was only then that Frances finally spoke.

“Alright. This door should open into the hallway-“

Frances’s brows slowly folded together as she pressed against the thin wood and it didn’t budge. She pressed again, firmer, confusion riddling her features. The wood only bent slightly beneath her weight. Mick’s already cocked brow only raised further as she paused and sniffed the air in a slow pull of air, before she turned to him.

“…do you smell that?”

Mick took a couple quick breaths in through his nose before his face fell. It was a smokey, firey scent he knew all too well: gunpowder.

Mick angled his flashlight at the door to get a better look, and the circle of light trailed down until it landed at the crack just beneath the door. Frances took a slight step back, realizing her foot was mere inches away from a steadily growing pool of blood. The crimson, blackened by the shadows surrounding the area trailed tellingly from the other side of the door. Mick pulled out is 9mm.

Frances threw her weight against the door with a small grunt, finally earning a give from the other side, a weight relinquishing quickly and making her slightly stumble. Mick felt a spark of concern and protectiveness flicker within him at her just trudging in and he hissed.

“Frances!”

But Frances wasn’t listening. She was staring at something from behind the door that Mick couldn’t see. It was only after he gently shouldered her aside so he couldn’t make it through the door that he realized why she was frozen in silent shock.

It was Greg.

There was a clean hole in his right cheek, and several more littered his torso, staining his light shirt a familiar red. Frances examined the hallway around them and let out a small breath at the sight before her. A low light pooling in from the window on one end of the hallway illuminated several more men, slumped against walls or splayed out on floors, riddled with their own gunshot wounds. It was only when her gaze returned to the body of their betrayer that she noticed the small crate next to him. Beneath thin wire securing it inside was a car battery. Mick took notice as well, and directed his light at it as they both took a good look. Corrosion covered it from head to toe, plain to see. Frances shook her head in disbelief.

“The battery was no good, and he still tried to sell it…twice.”

Mick scowled, eyeing the dead man beneath him with fury.

“You greedy wanker.”

They both fell silent, heads snapping in the direction of a quiet groan of pain in the distance. Frances quickly stood and they both raised their guns, rigid arms directing their firearms accordingly. Mick quickly overtook Frances, guarding her with his own body as they slowly made their way further down the hall shuffle by shuffle, trying to remain unheard as they investigated. Mick listened intently and jumped slightly at the sound of another pained gasp. He turned back to give Frances a questioning look, who simply returned the expression.

They slowly approached an intersection of hallways, and a door lay at the end of the one they were walking down. Mick cautiously peeked his head out from over the left corner.

There was no one there.

He didn’t even have time to turn his head the other way before he heard the door in front of him open, and someone came barreling at him. Mick instinctively stepped further out and grabbed the attacker by the shirt. He easily overpowered them, using the momentum to whirl them around and slam them against the wall bruisingly hard. They let out a painful cry mixed with a choke. Mick swiftly brought his gun up to press against their temple. He felt a stinging coolness against his own neck; a knife.

It was a man in front of him. Young-looking, barely dipping in his twenties, by the looks of it. He had bright blue, wild eyes that glared up at Mick dangerously, and buck teeth that peeked from behind a curled lip as he growled under his breath.

“Fuck…”

Mick glared back, pressing the gun harder against the other’s head and breathing in quick to bark out a question, but another voice pierced the air instead, interrupting him.

“Frances? Mundy?”

Both looked back over in the direction the voice came from, and Mick’s nose scrunched in confusion at the sight of none other than the leader of the Fireflies himself. His dark suit was stained darker with blood, and he was pressing at the wound in his abdomen with a weak pressure. He was leaning against the wall to hold himself up, breathing shallow, face twisted in pain, and it was clear he wasn’t doing so good. Regardless of all of that, he still held a gun up with his other hand to point directly at Mick. Frances had acted accordingly, resting her aim on the masked man in response. The man Mick had against the wall let out a breath at the sight.

“Oh, shit. Spy-“

Spy’s eyes flicked over to the young man, and he spoke warningly.

“Let the boy go. Now. Point the gun at me, not him.”

Mick gawked at Spy, baffled. What was so special about this guy that a revolutionary leader was urging him to do something like that?

The young man’s eyes returned the leader’s gaze, breathing still quick, and Spy held his gun out to gently lower his arm with a splayed hand, urging him to settle down. Jeremy’s head snapped back to Mick, eyes squinted in anger, but Mick felt the blade against his neck retreat. Mick’s shoulders relaxed slightly, and he, very hesitantly, lowered his gun from the other’s temple and directed it towards Spy. He still held the man firmly against the wall, his guard refusing to come all the way down. Spy gently lowered his own firearm in response.

Frances spoke to herself as her suspicions she had been silently carrying with her were confirmed.

“It was you Greg tried selling the battery to…”

Her next words were a bit louder and much more matter-of-fact.

“Your war must be going pretty poorly on your end for you to be buying from con-artists like him…and you aren’t looking good yourself.”

Spy sighed, looking off in the distance.

Yep, right on the money.

“Yes, well…he did not provide what was promised. The knave got what he deserved, in the end…but I have lost enough men…and I have only been losing more.”

Mick piped in with a stern voice.

“What do you need a car battery for?”

“A much better reason than you do.”

Spy’s sigh was intercepted by a grunt of pain and he clutched at his wound a bit tighter.

“MANN will be on their way soon…hard to miss a gunfight.”

He looked down at the ground, as if thinking to himself, before he spoke again.

“We were going to move Jeremy out of the fortress tonight…but that is not something I can do on my own…especially not now.”

He silently referenced his wound, his voice sounding grim, and continued.

“So…you will do it.”

Both Jeremy and Mick did not like the sound of that, talking and shouting over each other.

“The hell we are-“

“What-, I’m not goin’ with this guy!”

Frances stayed eerily quiet, and Mick was quick to shoot her a look.

“Frances…we don’t have time for this.”

Spy scoffed.

“Oh, you don’t have time?”

Frances spoke.

“…Who is he?”

“To you? He is merely cargo.”

Mick made an annoyed growl that trailed into his words.

“No, no, no. We do not smuggle people.”

Spy, obviously speaking to the more receptive Frances, completely ignored Mick.

“There is a crew of Fireflies waiting for her at the Capitol-”

Mick was about to cut in, but Spy caught it.

“I know what is out there, we were going with an entire squadron for that very reason….but now I do not have a truck, I do not have a squadron, MANN is five minutes away, what I DO have is you…and I am perfectly aware what you two are capable of. For better or worse.”

Jeremy eyed the man in front of him before looking over at Spy, quietly muttering.

“…what are they capable of?”

Spy ignored the question.

“If you get him there safely, they’ll give you everything you need. Not just the battery; a fully fueled truck, weapons, supplies, all of it…I give you my word.”

Mick gave him an unconvinced look.

“I give you my word.”

Mick and Frances looked over at each other, silently weighing their options, before Frances gave him a small tilt of her head.

‘Lets talk about this.’

Mick trailed his eyes over to Jeremy, who looked a bit more apprehensive. Mick’s eyes landed on the butterfly knife he still clutched in his hand, and in a quick motion shoved himself away while snatching the blade, leaving Jeremy completely defenseless. The young man hissed bitterly.

“Bastard!”

And Mick joined Frances to walk a bit further down the hall. They leaned in close to speak quietly.

“Do you trust him?”

Mick answered with tight lips and a glance at the men down the hall. Jeremy was at the man’s side, and they were speaking quietly to each other as well, by the looks of it.

“Yeah, I don’t either…but he looks desperate.”

“…if what he’s saying is true…we’d be set for who knows how long out there. The second we hand that bloke over-“

Spy spoke up.

“Not to dissuade you from making a proper decision, but please do remember that I am bleeding out.”

Frances’s eyes squinted as the gears in her head turned, before she suddenly turned around.

“Alright. Here’s the deal.”

Both slowly walked back over as Frances spoke.

“We’ll get him over to your team at the State House, but before we hand him over we get everything we want. If not, we kill him. Right then and there.”

“Deal.”

Jeremy looked between the two with wide eyes and huffed out.

“Ya freakin’ kiddin’ me? That fast?”

Spy shook his head slightly.

“You are all that matters. My team will not jeopardize that. Remember what we talked about?”

Jeremy swallowed thickly, eyes darting between Mick and Frances. Spy continued.

“Go grab your bag.”

Jeremy shot Spy another apprehensive glace.

“Now, Jeremy.”

Jeremy huffed and trudged through the door he had popped out of, and a few seconds later he returned with a bag slung around his shoulder. He glared over at Spy, who eyed him sadly. There was hurt in the young man’s eyes. He stood there, planted in the hallway. Frances had already turned to start walking, muttering a quiet but commanding:

“Let’s go.”

Spy nodded, urging Jeremy to do as told, and after a tense moment obeyed, turning towards Mick who had waited behind patiently. Jeremy held out his hand expectantly, and Mick cocked a brow before remembering the knife he had taken from him. He gingerly placed it in Jeremy’s hand, and it was only then that Jeremy began walking down the hallway, shouldering Mick roughly as he passed.

Mick looked back at Jeremy, brows furrowed and a slow, composing breath escaping through his nose. He could already tell this Jeremy guy was going to be a nuisance.

“Mundy?”

Mick looked back over at Spy. He had clear worry etched in the features hidden beneath his balaclava.

“Failure is not an option. See to this properly.”

The dead seriousness in the older man’s eyes made Mick itch. He did not offer a response, he simply turned and walked away in the direction the other two had gone.

[mediamixs]

Top 10 horror video games to play at night

Here are ten of the best horror video games to immerse yourself in during the dark hours of the night:

Alien: Isolation This game stands out as a masterclass in horror, placing players in the shoes of Amanda Ripley, who navigates a space station haunted by a relentless xenomorph. The game captures the tension and atmosphere of the original film, with exceptional sound design and AI that keeps players on edge.

Until Dawn A narrative-driven horror experience that plays out like a slasher film, Until Dawn allows players to control multiple characters, making decisions that affect their survival. Set in a snowy mountain lodge, the game features quick-time events and suspenseful moments that are best experienced in a dark setting.

Visage This psychological horror game is known for its disturbing atmosphere and realistic environments. Players explore a haunted house filled with the memories of its deceased inhabitants, creating a genuinely terrifying experience.

Dead Space (2023) The remake of this classic sci-fi horror game revitalizes the terrifying narrative of Isaac Clarke, who must fight grotesque creatures aboard a derelict spaceship. The game's dark ambiance and jump scares make it a perfect choice for late-night gaming.

Little Nightmares In this visually stunning platformer, players control a small child navigating a nightmarish world filled with grotesque creatures. The game excels in creating tension without relying heavily on jump scares, making it a chilling experience in the dark.

Darkwood This top-down survival horror game emphasizes atmosphere and tension over traditional jump scares. Players must gather resources during the day and defend themselves against nightmarish creatures at night, making it a uniquely terrifying experience.

Dead by Daylight A multiplayer horror game where one player takes on the role of a killer while others try to escape. The game's blend of strategy and horror elements creates thrilling moments, especially when played with friends in a dark room.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent A cornerstone of modern horror gaming, this title immerses players in a first-person experience filled with psychological terror. The game's atmosphere and narrative depth make it a must-play for horror fans, particularly in the dark.

The Mortuary Assistant In this unique horror game, players take on the role of a mortuary assistant who must prepare bodies while encountering supernatural elements. The unsettling atmosphere and engaging gameplay make it a perfect choice for late-night sessions.

SOMA From the creators of Amnesia, SOMA combines horror with philosophical themes. Set in an underwater facility, players face existential dread and terrifying creatures, making it a compelling experience best enjoyed in a dark environment.

These games not only provide spine-chilling scares but also create immersive experiences that are heightened when played at night. Whether you prefer psychological horror, survival horror, or multiplayer thrills, there’s something here for every horror enthusiast.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s1 episode 24 thoughts

aka SEASON FINALE! wow, one full season with these nerds... time flies <3

this episode was super fast-paced and full of twists and turns, straight from the beginning. we open on a very jerky chase scene that was hard to watch and which set the mood as a guy was shot and then jumps into some water and no one can find him

!! the title sequence changed !! it said "trust no one" rather than "the truth is out there"!! surely this means something, but what? i'm spooked!

mulder is sleeping on his couch again. can we please start a fund to get his ass a mattress. it's getting serious.

looks like he fell asleep working on a case when a phone call from deep throat wakes him up, telling him to change the channel where he sees the news of the opening car chase and records it on his VCR (how vintage!)

he shows the footage to scully who is basically like why do we trust this deep throat fellow- a valid question, as mulder trusts almost everybody like a little baby duckling- but scully referring to him as "deep throat" means they've discussed the subject before, which is interesting

we then visit a scientist who is working on monkeys. scully, for some reason, wants to say hello to the monkeys- perhaps we can chalk this up to her innate goodness

the scientist is like "leave those monkeys alone" and she says "i'm sorry, i thought they were friendly" scully, you should know that monkeys are NEVER friendly! they tried to bite her but thank god they missed because these are, after all, no ordinary monkeys, but Alien Monkeys

after the monkey business scully is pissed because they have no leads and she says we need to wrap this up! we've learned nothing! ohh i wrote this next part down word for word because it gagged me:

mulder is so trusting of deep throat and scully says he's stringing mulder along for some unknown purpose...

to which he says: "you think he does it because he gets off on it?"

and scully replies "no, i think he does it because YOU do"

oh i gasped and yelled at my screen! she got him! valid question though, why is this guy leaving them little clues beyond his earlier in the season confession of alien murder guilt? it IS suspicious.

mulder and deep throat confront each other and play more sick and twisted mind games which is fine; deep throat insinuates that mulder doesn't care as much as he used to which is rude but it spurs him on his quest for answers

next the monkey scientist kicks the bucket which obviously means his monkey science was deeply important

the guy who was doing the running during the car chase confessed to being underwater for 3 days after he was shot which obviously has implications but we aren't given a whole lot of time to explore them

back at the monkey lab, now a crime scene, mulder hands scully a flask of mysterious liquid and says "what do you think this is". she says "i don't know" then runs on a quest to go find out because he asks her to. god, dana scully has really had to endure SO much with this man, and now a mystery liquid from the monkey lab? again i ask where her compensation is

mulder breaks into the dead scientist's house, which revealed another basic and universal truth akin to gravity: if no one lets mulder in a house, he Will find a way to break in. he cozies up to the dead guy's desk and starts flipping through his stuff, and the runaway underwater alien guy calls and he picks up the phone like this is a typical day for him. alien guy is emitting some sort of gas that hurts everyone which is unfortunate.

scully fell asleep on the couch of the microbiology department which was soooo <3 but then the lab scientist comes in with the plot twist...

monkey liquid reveal: it has some sort of secret bacteria... with a new base pair! which means it HAS to be some sort of extraterrestrial life!

mulder tracks down a storage unit that is filled with bodies in tanks, and he looks like a kid in a demented candy store while some crazy orchestral stuff goes on in the background. then he is chased by some people but leaps over a fence with astonishing agility.

scully realizes that the monkey liquid is actually Very Important and they meet up to explore the tanks and she says she's sorry for doubting him. "i should know by now to trust your instincts" she says, to which he replies "why, nobody else does" and they both smile and it is not emotional at all, shut up!

"you know, i've always held science as sacred. i've always put my trust in the accepted facts. and what i saw last night... for the first time in my life, i don't know what to believe" <- banger scully line

(i don't believe that this is the first time she's questioned it, though. she's been on edge the whole time, this is just the most she has been. she was thrown off by the psychic who quoted her dad, and by the alien bites in the very first episode. regardless, character development!)

((also, love that she talks about holding science as sacred while wearing a cross necklace in every scene. she's got that "raised catholic" aura about her))

gasp! just as i knew it would be, the room of tanks is now entirely empty, all cleared out except for... deep throat? he reveals that this is the place where the first alien-human hybrids were developed out of terminally ill patients, who got better, but developed superhuman strength and the ability to breathe underwater. a valid tradeoff, in many ways, and exactly what has happened to our friend who was shot and hid underwater and now gives off noxious gas. so now they have to find him before the Others do.

mulder runs back to the dead guy's house, which he seems far too comfortable entering, and finds the alien hybrid man. alien man tries to choke him out, but mulder still says "i'll protect you"

(man, i love that line. we Will be psychoanalyzing that at a later date)

but alien man is shot by an intruder, and his noxious gasses burn mulder while he's tied up. poor scully has been blowing up his cellphone, to which he mumbles "i'm a popular guy"

(always with the damn one liners while he's beaten within an inch of his life; you are popular to one individual, mister mulder, but granted she's a very special one)

deep throat says scully can get into a high containment facility and trade the alien tissue for mulder which okay. sure. why not? she guesses the mystery password and gets into the building and. well. this was my reaction:

"she's opening a mystery container and i lowkey expect a frozen head but NO IT'S AN ALIEN THINGY AUGHHHH IT'S LIKE A BABY"

gross!

only 6 minutes left in the episode at this point and i was stressed! scully's got a box full of alien, is meeting deep throat on a bridge, and refuses to hand the alien box over because. again. who tf is this guy? he gets all mad and says that she NEEDS to hand the box over because these guys that they're dealing with took some of the alien tissue and injected it in children.

and this maybe was supposed to get her to hurry up but she was just like. nah why the hell would we give them the alien back? so we can get more alien children?

to save mulder, of course! because they are the only two who can shine light on what is really going on!

(don't talk to her in such a condescending manner, deep throat, i will bite you. she has perfectly valid reservations about handing ur mysterious ass a box full of alien. but she finally does)

and then as he hands the box over to the mystery people HE IS IMMEDIATELY SHOT! i gasped so hard here i actually hurt my mouth which is still recovering from surgery and so all of us had a bad time around this point. they do toss mulder from the back of a car, though, and deep throat's dying words are to "trust no one"

(so is it really mulder that we have back? if we can trust no one, does that mean someone has hacked into mulder? and scully doesn't know that? that's what i'm guessing here. sort of a winter soldier-ish situation)

13 days later, mulder calls scully in the middle of the night and says the fbi is shutting down the x files and they're being reassigned, but he won't give up, he can't give up. he says someone named "skinner" made this decision. i am unfamiliar with this individual but have a feeling we will become acquainted.

the season ends with the alien being placed in a mysterious room. to this i wrote the following:

"alien baby in formaldehyde in an archive i would kill to get my hands on it let me see it let me see it let me see it NOW"

(i bet they also have JFK's brain in that archive!)

so what a whirlwind of an episode! we certainly can't trust anyone moving forward, but does that apply to the trust between mulder and scully themselves? what will they do now that the x files have been shut down? somehow i have a feeling they will come back, a sort of hunch to do with the 10 more seasons of this show.

will they meet up for coffee during their new assignments? who is skinner? so much awaits us on the other side of this season, but i still need to process all i've seen so far!

[sr-8eep5]

Here’s the lore of my series Magic & Melodrama. (Although I might repost with art later.

The Big Ragnarok

After eons of floating through space, the creatures we to used to call Gods found a planet overflowing with delicious primordial magic, and covered with tiny people. For thousands of years, they watched and drank magic, until the tiny people died out.

Using their personal reserves, the Moonbeast magically reshaped the world and added new creatures of their own design, influencing their new creations with Godwhispers and gambling on entertaining outcomes.

For unknown millennia, the Moonbeast would reshape the world, play with their creations, and reform new worlds from the old, either when everything died or when things just got boring. These magical apocalypses would, of course, kill everything on the planet, and the act of rebuilding a new world from the old made the magic emanating from the core of this clay toy planet evermore volatile and unstable, creating separate dimensions: imitations of the previous worlds.

When the Zephtacea of a former world retreated in their underwater mountains, our world, known as Terreztriall, was born on top of theirs.

With magic more potent and wild than it had ever been, Moonbeast sought to create their most entertaining show yet. We call this period of time the First Era, or The Imperial Age.

It was an age of tyrant kings, slave armies, and shackled sorcerers wielding violent explosive magic, waging ceaseless war goaded on by the Godwhispers of the Moonbeast. But they made shocking discovery.

The Zephtacea of the Former survived.

When they came to the surface world, they spoke of the realms of broken worlds they found linked to their waterhomes, how the Moonbeast toyed with us for their own amusement, and how the tyrant kings communicated with them for personal power.

It was at this point the gods knew they fucked up.

This lead to the Big Ragnorak; a series of worldwide magically cataclysmic uprisings against the cruel leaders. Where millions of newly liberated people toppled the empires and city states of god-backed kings and their few loyal servants. The world basically turned into a churning cauldron of raw magic, oozing the bones and bloods of anything living, making us stronger, smarter, taller, and jigglier.

The ghosts of the past found away to have physical bodies and woke back up and went to work on connecting crypts to make this huge network of mausoleum cities.

This is also when half-kin started to appear, like the half-haemo half-elzen Relmers, or the half-elzen half-bijen Dwellers, and the Dragonkin got new looks too.

Blood magic got created, using the magic in us to shortcut all that wrist and finger stuff to cast spells.

Speaking of spells new ones were learned every week, like to transmute metals: that helped calmed the dragons and made the leftover kings money worthless, then you got morphing someone’s body, reviving the dead, and cloning yourself.

So in short, the Moonbeast lost control of their masterpiece. And since they couldn’t create a new world, they transferred their remaining reserves of the power onto 5 kin. They hoped that receiving god-like powers would cause them to take over Terreztriall and return things back to the messed up status quo. But they fucked up for a final time as they can’t even Godwhisper their intentions, so that plan backfired stupendously.

Now, they’re stuck on the moons starving and powerless, as everyone and the new demi-gods, toppled the remaining empires and were ready to bring an era of equality, prosperity, and love.

And then the Fae arrived.

Creatures willing themselves into existence from the raw magic. The Fae were devious, alien, and cruel. When the northernmost castle of the Imperial Era fell, the ugly fortress of Euphorasm, the peasant armies had no time to rebuild their vision of a utopian society, and fled by the millions south; harassed and attacked on all sides by Fae creatures.

Until, finally, after thousands of miles, the peasant armies found a new home.

Sadly that wasn’t the end of the bullshit, we kinda didn’t realize at the time but we caused climate change to get worse.

Realizing the effects of climate change were exponential and devastating.

Not only we had to rebuild basically everything but had to deal with famine, crazy weather, and many things going extinct.

So, any sort of governments we had gathered all the scientists, architects, engineers, and wizards to get everything on track.

First, genetic engineering tech got better quickly because all ethics were thrown out. This lead to the Forced Bio-evolution Project. We ended up with entire food chains made from older species to handle the new world, new crops, and the earliest chimera treatments.

Second, funding solar tech let us power damn near everything we use; robots, cars, cargo ships, and even cruise liners. So, charging stations got place everywhere for them and to swap out batteries.

Thirdly, we started to work with the undead to build an underground bunker network for everyone to live in. They had everything nuclear reactors, hydroponic farms, and first stem-spa vats to heal anything.


Finally, we tried to battle against the hurricanes and monsoons by getting them into reservoirs, added with desalination plants too, so that a huge irrigation system can be placed to keep the Back Alleyway green.

It wasn't enough.

People were upset cause we were starving, dying, and overall just despairing over everything.

After a couple of years, the population had been shot down to about a third of what it was. Desert got absolutely everywhere. The majority of people were displaced nomads with no ties to their host cities.

People were getting desperate with little food and no shelter, so resentment grew as the pseudo governments had none to offer.

Then, the Zaibatsu stepped in.

The land of the Alleyway wasn’t that valuable outside of potential tactical military plans. So, the majority of imperial stuff here were fortified dungeons and military ports.

But these guys were thinking ahead, despite the rebellions some laws still held power.

The remaining wealthy people and businesses bought massive tracts of land, so they can offer the starving masses an ultimatum; work for us or starve. It was a bold proclamation but not a hard decision, it was backed by licensed advances in hydroponic farm, patented genetically modified crops, and a new gemstone currency.

Any sort of nationalism was drowned out by hunger and desperation, we traded governments for Holdings Companies. Who can fill the bellies and pockets of their billion-strong followers.

Megacities were built in important strategic or resource locations, housing millions of people. They were designed to be built higher and wider as the need for space grew without evacuating bunkees.

Massive agricultural projects placed in the majority of the western continent and south of the east one.

All the people had to do was sign away the rights of their and future generations' lives for a hot meal and a cool pillow.

Meanwhile, a forgotten paranoid rich guy financed and built what is known as the Star Citadel, modular ring of inter-connected space stations orbiting the planet. This amazing thing contained the wealthiest, brilliant, and most influential people off-world as the world heals and to keep an closer eye on the Moonbeast.

Once the invitees were onboard, the Star Citadel's leader offered its seats to anyone who could afford the exorbitant cost. These costs were for a rocket flight to the ring and the expensive annual subscription fees to pay for maintenance and one's own luxuries.

Years passed, more cultural groups became Zaibatsu and their subsidiaries became known as Peers. They became ever more powerful, their wealth ballooned astronomically, but invitations to the Star Citadel became fewer and fewer. Shareholders and the ultra-wealthy walled off the launch pad leading to the Star Citadel, creating what's known today as The FiDi Port. The area acted as a large fortified gated community, allowing its wealthy residents to wait for their turn on the rocketship while keeping the riffraff out.

Over Five hundred years passed since events of the Big Ragnorak, the desert has ceased expanding, and after a handful of near economic collapses, zombie incursions and dragon attacks, Terreztriall is finally finding its feet. The world is a dangerous place, filled with monsters, bandits, pirates and fae creatures, so adventurers and mercenaries are in high demand. The few remnants of the Imperial Age are now quaint hidden relics of the past; tomes filled with ancient knowledge, fragmented technology, armors, and weapons, toys, entertainment, and the occasional piece of jewelry.

But across Terreztriall, morale remains high, perhaps because no one answers to a higher authority than their own carrier.

The gods are starving and silent, and what few towns exist outside the megacities are led democratically and Zaibatsus placate the masses with bread, circuses and automation allowing more leisure, and with the fates of the last kings taught to every child.

The population is booming, thanks to inter-kin breeding, Zephtacean techniques, Reborn industry, and a little bit of magic has allowed almost every home in the world a few creature comforts, such as running hot water and refrigeration cellars.

[amaryllisthegheist]

Stardust in Her Eyes - Snippet 2

Previous

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Riot lifted her head coolly, keeping her chin just out of reach of the hands gripping furiously at her upper arms and clawing at her wrists. If there was one benefit to having four arms, it was that those with only two tended to struggle against a superior grip. She watched the fury burning in Ms. Power’s eyes steadily growing fainter by the second as salty ocean water flooded her lungs, bubbles streaming from her nose as she struggled. Frankly, Riot was impressed by the tenacity the woman was showing, determined to the very end to kill another member of her species. How typical of a kaladorian.

Finally, her struggles grew weaker, her super strength seeming to fade into the normal powers she would possess on any other planet. Riot’s lips curved into a dangerous smile, happily showing her fangs to the rapidly fading woman. She wants this bitch’s last memory to be of her fucking smiling while her vision grew darker and darker.

The winged woman made sure to keep her underwater for another minute after her struggles back, trying to ensure the drowning was as thorough as possible. Her skin may have been unblemished, the flesh unable to be torn because of the enhancements earth gave the waste of space, but her lungs were as vulnerable as any other gas breathing species in the galaxy.

Serves her right for laying a fucking finger on Namielle.

She gave the corpse one last, fierce and sharp little shake to startle her awake if she was faking. Satisfied that she was dead, she left the body floating for a brief moment in time to pop back onto the shore to retrieve a pair of large, fairly heavy rocks and thick-braided ropes. She made quick work of wrapping it around Ms. Power’s body, releasing it in the center of the ocean. She watched it slowly begin sinking to the bottom of the ocean where it would rot and decay and, crucially, Becky wouldn’t find out until she was grown up enough to understand the situation. Riot cocked her head as it finally vanished from sight.

“Hmph,” she grunted, and promptly buzzed up higher into the air. She kind of wished that she had the same strange, levitation style flight that Wordgirl and Ms. Power did – her wings were so loud when she moved. Especially so when she was moving quickly – she was just lucky that Hairiel sending her off on various missions over the years had primed Becky to hear her buzzing around the edges of the city, which kept her from investigating.

Riot touched down lightly on the sand, her antennae waving around in the air, picking up even the faintest scents in the area. She kind of wants to do a study of the effects that the strange radiation from earth has on various aliens – kaladorians seemed to gain immense super strength, flight and breath abilities but lexiconians got that, laser eyes and super hearing. Then there was Riot – her natural flight had been boosted and though she hadn’t gotten any breath powers or eye lasers (how come Becky got all of the coolest stuff?) but her second stomach usually reserved for honey had begun producing other honey with… interesting qualities. One was essentially a form of acid, another was mostly just glue.

Another feature had been her sense of smell.

Hearing had never been very important to her people – the sensitivity of their wings often alerted them to those approaching them, the force of their steps vibrating them while allowing the scales of their wings to tremble in time to their movement and their antennae typically picked up on any of the scents released by a potential predator. Between the two, hearing just wasn’t the greatest necessity for them – and she figures that’s why the planet chose to enhance her sense of smell.

She was thankful.

Because when Cuddlesworth sprung from his hiding place, shrieking and screeching in – what she was willing to admit was justified anger for her cold eyed murder of its caretaker – she was able to grab it by the throat with her upper arms, watching it with a slightly tilted head.

“Loyalty is an admirable trait,” she told the creature, watching it steadily become alarmed. A pang of sadness resonated throughout her chest, a soft sigh leaving her chest at the creature’s angry beady eyes. This creature was the same species as Hairiel. This was another hakuchan. One totally and completely brainwashed, fully dependent on the same species that drove theirs to functional extinction. She lifted a palm from her lower set of arms, stroking his face gently. “I hope you’re rewarded endlessly for it wherever it is you go when your kind moves on.”

Then she walked it to the shore and repeated the process.

Maybe Power has an execution-blaster in her ship, Riot mused to herself thoughtfully. She almost hoped so – it wouldn’t bode well if she did, given what it would mean for a kaladorian with executioner’s equipment to be on earth, but it would help them out in situations like this. If there was a proper-advanced blaster, she could give it to Hairiel to reverse-engineer and perhaps modify to work regardless of any superhuman resistance the field around the earth granted them. It would make her feel better about executing hakuchanians, whose only true crime was that they’d fallen for the lies and revisionist history fed to them in the carcass of their ruined planet.

At the very least, their lung capacity was nothing compared to a kaladorian’s. Riot had held Power beneath the salty shores for what felt like an eon before she finally weakened and was counting passing clouds waiting for her to finally succumb to drowning. And Gigglecheeks’ arms weren’t long enough to get in her way, no matter how much he clawed.

When the life finally left the creature, she dug up a shallow grave and dumped the corpse inside. As much as Power deserved to die alone, Riot would at least begrudgingly respect the concept that Gigglecheeks would probably like to be dumped into the same part of the sea as she was. So the rhalochyrril would – reluctantly – toss him out to be with her later, once he’d rifled through the ship.

Stepping away from the buried creature, she made her way back towards the ship – the true reason Hairiel had sent her out to search through it for signs. Signs that Power wasn’t the only kaladorian in the area, signs that she and her colleagues had been watching the earth for a while – signs that there was trouble brewing. She did her best to ignore most of the junk scattered throughout the ship, various bits and bobs from her conquests pinned to the walls and displayed proudly upon the shelves in a vile mockery of the various species whose worlds they destroyed.

“Bastards,” she snarled, scowling as she ran her palm across a silken-cocoon. The suffering that poor nymph must’ve gone through, boiled alive in their own chrysalises because some self-centered jackasses wanted their cocoon and refused to just use the cocoons of already pupated nymphs. Still, might as well not waste it – as an imago herself, Riot could no longer spin silk, and she’d been wanting to give Nami- Becky, something nice for her up-coming fifteenth birthday.

She tucked the bundle of unused fabric beneath her lower left arm, as she crouched below the mainframe. Kaladorians prided themselves on advanced technology, but experimental ships like the one Power was apparently piloting were often sloppily put together, meant to be private models used to design even better ones. So it was nymph’s play to remove the bottom panel and simply rip out the cords associated with the ship’s broadcasting system, preventing it from sharing its location. She fiddled around in the wire mess for a bit longer, checking for anything suspicious - black boxes weren't common on test ships like this one, but they weren't rare either.

“Nothing,” she murmured to herself, sitting up. No blaster, no black box, not even a miscellaneous inventory tracking chip from what she could tell. It was like Power had fished the machine out of a dumpster somewhere far on the ends of the galaxy. She used her secondary arms to push herself back into standing, “Power must not have been as high ranking as we thought…”

If anything, the picture the rhalochyrril was beginning to get was that Power was an exile. The small test ship, no back up swooping in when Wordgirl fought back, no frantic message from Hairiel that he'd found other marks - it seemed Power was alone. And her irritating desperation for awe and worship were the hallmarks of an exiled kaladorian. The idea should've soothed her, but instead it made her worry - the presence of exiles tended to draw the attention of full status kaladorians looking to swoop in and steal what little glory could be obtained by those removed from the hierarchy. Sometimes they even placed inconspicuous looking bugs within the ships so they could track them across the galaxy.

“Fuck,” Riot said, running her fingers between her antennae. Ship mechanics were far above her know-how. She only knew the basics of repairs, like any regular spacer would, but tiny, unnoticeable tracking chips? She barely knew what was standard on a kaladorian ship given she spent most of her life around lexiconians.

Which meant she had to turn to the expert.

It was time to bring Hairiel into it.

[teamprettystevie]

A little bit of angst and a sprinkle of some hurt/comfort to get through the week

1. (Some People Say) You Can Never Go Home Again by  chicklette

Steve lets himself be held, lets the thick arm embrace him as he presses his face into Bucky’s neck. “I don’t want to do this without you,” Steve says, not caring that he’s getting Bucky’s shirt wet, not caring about anything more than holding on and never letting go. “Please don’t make me do this without you.”

Bucky goes back into cryo after CA:CW. Steve does not win at coping.

2. They're Blue For You by  Kian

When Bucky's memory starts returning, Steve is advised to keep his distance in order to protect Bucky from people who might think Steve's judgement is compromised if they knew how they used to be. Natasha picks up the slack in helping Bucky adjust, which Steve both appreciates and tortures himself over. Bucky is confused and worried, but doesn't know how to get through to Steve. Thankfully, one can always rely on Tony Stark to put his foot in his mouth in ways that eventually turn out for the best.

Or, the one where Steve hurts himself unnecessarily to protect Bucky from shadowy government types, gets super jealous of Natasha, Clint plays a deeply grumpy Cupid, and Bucky eventually puts an end to all this tomfoolery by bludgeoning all opposition with the brute force of his personality.

3. Now wait, wait, wait for me by  CoeurDeFaux

And Steve Rogers will ignore it all, he will run until he can't breathe, until the tears blur and everything he is and has become falls away and he reverts back to that barely five foot, one leg in the grave, piece of nothing he started as.

4. Breathe Underwater by StilesBastille24

“He’s had it tough,” Steve forced himself to say. “Stuff like that changes you. I think – I think for him I’m just a bad memory now.” It was gutting to say out loud. It was Wednesday and Steve was miserable.

Natasha studied Steve for a moment, the way she studied a tactical mission. Finally she shook her head. “That sucks.”

It was Wednesday and Steve was blindsided by how much he appreciated Natasha Romanoff’s friendship.

5. Like the Dead Sea by  StilesBastille24

It cut Bucky to the core and he hated that more than anything. That as much as he could let Steve down, as he could get things wrong, he was still Bucky Barnes enough to care so very much about Steve Rogers.

“Steve,” Bucky said with a tired sigh, “please not tonight. I can’t do it tonight.”

“Can’t do what?” Steve asked.

“I can’t pretend tonight. I can’t be someone I don’t remember how to be, not tonight. Try me again tomorrow. I’ll muster it up, I swear. But tonight, I am so tired, pal.”

6. why are we always stuck and running (from the bullets, the bullets) by  inevitablemeow 

“I’m tired, Buck,” Steve whispers, like it’s some heavy, shameful thing that he doesn’t want to breathe life into. “I’m tired.”

Bucky rakes his eyes over Steve’s face, catching on all the little things that have started to change as their bodies approach sixty together. The white of age shows in Steve’s hair and beard, now, blending with the blond to make it lighter than it’s ever been. He’s got the hint of crow’s feet, too, made more pronounced by the tired frown his face is pulling.

And Bucky knows he looks much the same. Short brown hair streaked with white, stubble that grows in more gray than anything else. The crinkles in the corners of his eyes are deep, now.

Old men, the both of them. Even with as slow as they age, the fact is they’re over a hundred and twenty years old. It’s an awfully long time to be alive.

--

or; It's time.

7. Put it in the Smithsonian by  Whendoestheshipsail

After Bucky falls from the train, Steve gets Bucky's letter. In 2012, Steve's therapist suggests he writes one back.

8. Give This Man a Hug by need_more_meta

Thor strolls into the Avengers Compound with a load of beer, and no one can refuse an impromptu party. He also brings a flask of alien liquor for certain superhumans who are immune to earthly alcohol.

Which is how they all learn a secret about Steve Rogers, namely: how much this man needs a goddamn hug.

9. I Still Love You, I'm Sorry by  Sam_Haine

Bucky and Steve have one of their worst fights ever. Bucky goes no contact, while Steve spirals in his guilt for what he'd done. It's not pretty for either of them and as it turns out, therapy might actually be a good thing.

10. If You're Reading This, Steve Rogers by  fallendarlings

Nobody tells Steve it's okay to cry.

Nobody touches him.

Nobody remembers Steve Rogers is a person under the mantle. It's okay. He hasn't felt like a person since he watched Bucky fall.

[scribblesbyb]

Writing Game Week #1: Use These Prompts to Get Back Into Writing!

Prompt 1 Prompt 2 Prompt 3 Prompt 4 Prompt 5 Rules: Sharing randomly generated prompts every day for a week. Create sth with it in only an hour (time yourself). Don't edit or proofread till the very end. Just. Write. A/N: a bit late with this one because I was renovating my room last night and went waaay over schedule. Anyhoo~ prepare for some weird, cartoonish vibes with this one. WC: 1488

Prompt 5:You are swimming in a super large and deep lake. You’re a little winded so you try to float. Suddenly your entire body starts to cramp. You're quickly sinking to the bottom of the lake when an undertow sucks you straight down. You panic as you drown but then see a bright light and get sucked into an underwater city. Confused as you enter you…

“The first human has arrived, hurry!” 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The awkward-sounding voices around you sound unfamiliar to your ears. As you lay there, half-dead, unable to move a single muscle never mind open your eyes, you try to recall the last thing that happened.

Memories of a swimming trip to Wyoming with your best friends spring to mind. You remember begging the guys to come join you for a quick afternoon dip in the lake but not one wanted to tag along, claiming jet lag got the best of them. 

Even more vividly, however, your mind recalls dying.

You were sure you had drowned—or at least was close to. An inexplicable cramp—inexplicable because when has your whole body ever cramped up like that?—paralyzed you as you lay there afloat. Before you knew it, an undertow was sucking you in before you could figure out a way to keep your head up. 

A quick flash of light blinded you as you sank. You thought that was it. That was the light indicating the end of one’s life. For a second, you hallucinated an image of some murky, polluted city, but it disappeared as fast as your brain conjured it. You were unconscious, presumed dead, for who knows how long.

Now though, your ears were alive and still picking up on alien voices talking nonsense around you.

“Prepare to confront your owner.”

“Does everyone remember their speech?”

“No funny business, Dom, you hear me?”

You try again to move your body or open your eyes, but the pressure on either is overwhelming. You feel clumsy, tiny hands touch your tanned bare skin, lifting you only to lay you back down on a cold slab. The change in temperature sends a shiver down your spine but you still don’t wake up. Next, you hear chains rattling before the cool steel is wrapped around your limbs. 

You begin to panic. Is this real? You think. Am I in hell? Have I actually died? You implore your muscles to move, to struggle against the chains. They don’t comply. 

“Bring Poly in here! It’s time.”

You hold your breath, your stomach twisting into knots. You’re convinced you're about to be punished, whipped, and God knows what else.

A strong, overwhelming minty scent—one that reminds you of your favorite deodorant back when you were alive—hits your nostrils. It effectively wakes up your body, breathing life back into your limbs. Slowly, your eyes open. With a blurry vision, you blink them a few times to focus on your surroundings.

What the–??

You’re greeted by an army of uncannily animated creatures. The image you had seen before you died was real, you conclude, that picture of an overly polluted city now stood at your feet; a hue of disgusting green and gray shades. Everything seemed tiny in comparison to your massive frame. The biggest building went no further than your knees. 

Is this hell? You ask yourself again. The stories don’t seem to do it any justice. You joke facetiously.

You’re trying to make sense of what’s happening when a voice too close to your ears makes you grimace.

“The human is awake, Your Highness! We’re ready!”

You feel something jump off your shoulder. You look to see an animated deodorant tube; your go-to deodorant tube nonetheless. You don’t know just how many of these you must’ve used in your lifetime. Something about seeing it made you feel safe…but only for a second. Its awfully realistic and reddish eyes, twisted body, and the fact that it had no cap made your stomach turn further.

“Then let us not dwell any longer.”

From the masses of animated garbage crowding around your feet, a tall glass bottle emerges. It brings up a memory of the first alcohol bottle you ever drank. A rich red wine you stole from your mother’s no-no cabinet to impress a girl. This alien creature reminded you much of that same bottle.

“Welcome, human.” Its mouth has no teeth. It moves similarly to a badly lip-synced video; like there’s a delay in your connection. This is crazy, you think, what is this place?

“You must wonder where you are,” the bottle with glaring black eyes states. “This is your landfill. A testament to your grotesque crimes on Earth.”

You shake your head. What? You go to speak, only to notice the paper face mask on your mouth, angrily boring its big blue eyes at yours. 

Face masks. Quarantine. 2020.

The words run through your mind. You look back at the glass bottle. It’s moved aside, gesturing with its nozzle at a clearing that splits the crowd of garbage in half.

Breath held in anticipation, you watch as an aluminum can hops its way to your feet.

“I am Soda.” It says, so matter-of-factly. For a second, you think it was rolling its eyes at you.

Instead, you just stare at it in disbelief. Your favorite brand of fizzy drink was so casually introducing itself to you. 

Sighing, the can click-pops itself open with jarred aluminum shards. “I’m here because you never bothered to recycle me.” It grips its pop-top in those weird aluminum hands it has and carries on angrily. “Well, unless there was someone around for you to show off to.” 

“Thank you, S,” The glass bottle nods its nozzle at the can and then calls on the next witness. “Bring in Dom.”

Out slithers a condom. Eyes widening in shock, you swear the condom was looking at you with a cheeky grin. 

“Hi, big guy!” It greets you, but you can only focus on how grossly sticky it looks. “Actually, no, I’ve been there so let me rephrase.” It flops around, and you assume it’s clearing its throat. “Hello, small fellow!”

“Dom.” The glass bottle seemed to threaten. “We agreed to behave.”

“In my nature, Your Highness.” It bops its latex-pointed head at the glass. “There’s nothing more to say than the usual speech I give to the likes of you. It gets boring, really.”

“Every. Time.” A sound in the back sighs.

“In his nature, he says?” Another voice piles on. “If any unbiodegradable material is to be cheeky, it would be me.”

I must be on something, you think. Maybe one of the boys gave me something at our party last night. Maybe that’s why my body cramped. Maybe that’s why I’m having this feverish coma dream.

Down the line hurdles a mass of more animated everyday items. You recognize them all. Crumpled paper you’ve thrown out without second thought. Torn clothes you’ve thrown away; too lazy to donate. Plastic—oh, God, too much plastic—plastic bags awkwardly floating through the water, plastic cans plopping their way to you, and plastic bottles nozzle-flipping down the garbage-infested road.

Beside you, your mother’s wine bottle exhales. “I can’t be the immortal one here and also have none of your respect.”

“Please,” The condom pshaws, “being immortal in a land of un-biodegradables is no big deal.”

“Dom. Behave.”

“Oh, what’s the point, Your Highness?” The deodorant tube that woke you up exclaims. “They forget all this the second they wake up anyway!”

 “See? Poly gets it.” Dom agrees then turns its snake-shaped head around. “Who else?”

Claps and cheers overwhelm you. You fist your hands against the chains, begging for release. If you’re dead, so be it. But let this not be the fate you’re going to spend eternity in.

“The coward!” Soda yells, its fizzy liquid bubbling out of its hole. “He wants to escape! Can’t handle facing the truth of his crimes!”

“I may just be a piece of plastic,” A plastic bag adorned with the logo of your go-to grocery store jumps in, “but I think I speak for everyone here when I say we should kill them instead of teaching them a lesson.”

“Hear, hear!”

Your fists struggle against the chains more. There was no logic behind trash, of all things, killing a human, but you didn’t want to stick around to find out. 

“If we can drown them, we can kill them!”  A pair of lace, worn-out shoes yells, excited.

They’ve been drowning us? You shake your head in disbelief. Did they make me cramp earlier?

That’s insane. How?

“Listen up, trash!” The glass bottle shouts. “I’ve been alive longer than most of you and was the first to arrive here. I don’t know how they do it in other landfills, but this one doesn’t condone murder!”

“No one’s gonna miss him, trust me.” The condom says, snarkily. “Let’s go, trash!”

Defenseless, years of abandoned, discarded, and unrecycled garbage pulls you down to their level. They swarm your body with their sticky, polluted parts, the sensation dreadful and invasive.

Ironically, your life chooses now to flash across your mind. But not to look back on the good memories or lifetime regrets. Instead, it's searching for the dangerous, toxic trash you've thrown out. That which will now kill you.