#aliens. aliens underwater. dead alien body underwater.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 17 "tempus fugit" 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!

[lumieveeeldee]

Keith isn’t doing anything special when it hit him. He’s seated next to Krolia, peeling some strange alien fruit when his insides catch fire.

It starts in his fingers and travels up his arms, boiling his blood in his veins and freezing him over all at the same time. A presence in his head, one so familiar, a scarlet feline yowling in pain, in mourning.

Krolia is in front of him. Her mouth is moving but Keith can’t hear her, he’s deafened by the ringing in his ears and the pained caterwauling of Red throbbing behind his eyes, and his vision blurs—

Keith pitches forward, and the world goes dark.

~

He’s underwater, and he’s not alone. There’s someone else just up ahead. Their lips are blue and their face is slack. Their eyes are closed, and Keith can tell they’re not just sleeping. They are someone Keith knows, someone he loves.

Bubbles erupt from Keith’s mouth as he kicks his feet desperately, hands outstretched, reaching for the body suspended in front of him.

As soon as his fingers graze their wrist, they dissolve, and the world he finds himself submerged in shakes with a grief-stricken roar.

~

Keith shoots up with a strangled gasp, nearly slamming his head into Krolia’s. He’s back in the cave, he realizes, on the space whale, the Paladins light years away.

Red’s guilt and grief form a steady pulse in his head, and the realization crashes into him with all the force of a plummeting meteor.

He scrambles to his feet, ignoring Krolia’s worried exclamation of his name. The blood rushes to his head and threatens to throw him off balance, but Keith sprints out of the cave anyways, eyes burning.

Ever since his father’s death, Keith has rarely cried. He cried the first night in foster care, and he cried when Shiro was declared dead on the Kerberos mission.

That was it. He hadn’t even cried the second time Shiro went missing, because he knew he’d find him again.

Now, though, the tears burn grooves down his face as he runs through the foliage, not stopping until he trips at the edge of the riverbed where they get their water.

A sob rips its way out of his throat as he pinches himself, certain this must be a dream, because Lance wasn’t—Lance couldn’t be—

But the mournful wails of Red in his mind forced him to see the truth.

Lance was gone. Lance was gone, Lance was gone, Lance was gone.

~

He’s too exhausted and devastated to acknowledge Krolia when she approaches.

He’s on his side at the riverbed when she finds him, having long cried himself out. His eyes burn and his throat stings and none of it compares to the gaping wound that has been torn into his heart.

She doesn’t try to talk to him, just hooks her arms under his knees and shoulders and hoists him up.

Where there should be embarrassment and anger, there is only cold, endless nothing. She presses his head to her shoulder, and Keith barely registers that it’s happening.

She’s humming something as she walks, a tune that’s painfully familiar, but the memory is too far away for him to grasp.

His mother is cradling him. He hasn’t allowed himself to think of her as anything more than Krolia until this point, but he’s too hurt to further deny himself the comfort of his mother.

He thinks he knows why Lance missed his own mom so dearly, now, as he falls into a fitful sleep.

~

Red mourns for days, and Keith feels like a hollow shell that only has room for grief.

His days are filled with repeated movements and silence. He doesn’t talk. He wouldn’t know what to say if he did.

His dreams are filled with crooked smirks and freckles skin, and the image of hands gripping Red’s controls as electricity shoots from the dashboard into Red’s pilot, stopping his heart.

Keith can’t tell where his own anguish ends and Red’s begins. He can hardly tell that time is passing at all, each aching moment just an echo of Lance.

There’s an emptiness in Red’s presence, and Keith can feel it in himself.

Lance is gone.

Krolia doesn’t push him about it, and if Keith were anything more than an empty husk, he’d be grateful.

It isn’t until the eighth day of being stuck in his sorry state that Red’s mournful cries turn hopeful.

Keith freezes, and Krolia tenses beside him, hands hovering around him like she’s scared he might topple again. Keith holds his breath, feels the way the empty presence of Red suddenly becomes full again.

The energy is familiar, playful like the morning tide and comforting like the feeling of warm water sinking into aching muscles after a long day.

The energy is Lance.

Lance is alive.

Keith collapses backwards into Krolia with the force of his joy and shock, a tearful laugh slipping past his lips.

“Lance is alive.” Speaking the words into existence makes it feel all the more real, and Keith sags with relief, the wound in his chest stitching itself closed.

“Lance is alive.”

[sh0rtcakesrecipies]

ghost pepper • m.g.

“going ghost!”

First meet haunt

Dealing with the supernatural had become a daily occurrence for Mark Grayson. Aliens, underwater monsters, creatures from other dimensions, talking wolves, you name it.

One thing he hadn’t encountered yet was ghosts. That was, until he was sent to a random town called Amity Park.

“Cecil, it’d be a lot easier if you told me who I’m looking for.” Mark spoke into his earpiece.

The earpiece crackled for a moment. “I told you, Mark. You’ll know when you see her,” Cecil’s voice came in.

A few moments of silence passed as Mark surveyed the town. It seemed bland and boring, like any other area outside the city. As he was staring down at the quaint town, he felt a shiver pass through his body.

“Looking for me?”

Mark let out a girly scream manly sound of shock. There was a head peeking out of his chest. A head!

It’s safe to say you freaked him out with your “party trick”. You felt a bit guilty and apologized (while holding back a laugh of course).

When Mark finally calmed down, he asked your name for confirmation that you were who he was looking for. You answered and told Mark about your problem.

Ghosts were leaking into the world at a faster rate than normal. To close the leaks, you needed someone strong and durable enough to withstand the ghosts’ attacks.

Mark tried not to give you a weird look. He had seen too much to be weirded out by ghosts, but still, having one pop out from your chest is not fun.

He helped you fight against the ghosts (he was surprised by his ability to hurt them) and you successfully sealed the big leak. The ghost stragglers left out quickly dispersed, not wanting to be caught by you just yet.

“Ah, just let them go. I’ll get them eventually,” you said when you noticed Invincible looked like he was going after them.

He nodded and turned back to you. He stared for a moment, a curious look on his masked face.

“So… what’s with the ghost thing? Are you like- actually dead?” Invincible let his question spill out without thinking.

Crap. Maybe that’s offensive to ask!? He thought when he saw your frozen expression.

You started laughing and Invincible’s eyes widened. He felt his heart race when you laughed, maybe you were some kind of ghost siren!!

“No, I’m not dead.” You finally answered. Mark and you landed on a nearby rooftop. Mark covered his eyes and looked away when a bright green flash of light emitted from you.

“See, alive.” Mark opened his eyes to look at you. You were wearing different, more civilian clothes and you were less… translucent than before.

“What the fu-“

* ੈ✩‧₊˚ baker’s note

sorry guys i didn’t know what else to write so sorry for the abrupt stop lol. anyways, i actually love Danny Phantom so much and the voices were getting to me.

if y’all have any suggestions i’m open to any!! hope you enjoyed

masterlist

[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

[emeraldscript]

alien max au

pt. 3 (pt. 1, pt. 2)

daniel wakes up sometime before 8am despite his blackout curtains being drawn because the neighbour's cock won't shut the fuck up. 

after willing himself to go back to sleep for 10 minutes, he finally gives up. he kicks his blanket off and half rolls, half slides off the side of the bed. his side. even though the other one has been inhabited for months now. there's not even been any visitors. 

he tried once, just before christmas. everybody was back in town and the bar was packed on christmas eve. he was funny, laughed at daniel's stupid jokes, had kind green eyes. daniel wasn't sure if he'd recognised him or not. after a bummed cigarette, he'd leaned in. daniel had reciprocated. the daniel from before wouldn't have hesitated to flag the next taxi down. the daniel of today had slowly let the kiss fizzle out. had separated himself from him. had pressed a parting kiss to his jaw, whispered a quiet sorry through a pained smile and left. 

so yeah, the other side has been empty for months. 

daniel pads his way to the bathroom, half in the dark since his curtains are at least half closed all over the house to keep the suffocating heat out in the height of summer. 

he flips the toilet lid up, pushes his boxers down and starts aiming when he hears a sloshing noise behind him in the bathroom.

the waistband of his boxers snaps back up as daniel swings around to get his back against the nearest wall. his eyes search for the source of the noise until he finally notices movement in the bathtub. 

it's max. almost entirely submerged in a full bathtub with only his eyes above the surface. 

daniel is in disbelief, blinks once, twice, three times. max doesn't move, doesn't seem to be breathing either. there are no bubbles coming to the surface. 

"shit, shit max, max!" daniel curses, skidding across the tiles to get to max.

"hey, hey, max. oh my god please don't be dead. fuck!" daniel chants, shaking max's shoulder once he reaches the edge of the tub. 

max's eyes look kind of clouded over, like he has some sort of film covering them. oh fuck, how the fuck will he ever explain this to anybody. fucking e.t. is in his fucking bathtub unconscious, possibly dead. 

with daniel's shaking, max's body starts twitching slightly, and within a blink, the film over his eyes disappears, blue eyes clear as water once more. 

max's gaze finds daniel's, recognition colouring his features. he pushes himself above the surface. 

"oh thank fucking god, you're okay. don't scare me like that again, okay?" daniel huffs out, relieved, and let's his body slump backwards onto his ass next to the tub. 

max looks around a bit blearily. 

"i didn't mean to alarm you. i was just sleeping as you told me to get some rest," max explains calmly. 

"sleeping? mate you were underwater, not breathing. when i said rest i meant on the bed in your room!" daniel clarifies exasperated.

"i'm really sorry, i must have misunderstood. i tried to sleep there but the air was too dry to be comfortable. my skin was getting dry and itchy so i came here. i was also breathing just fine, daniel."

"breathing how?" daniel asks confused.

max doesn't say anything, just dips his head halfway underwater again. he points towards his neck just under his jaw where two little slits are flapping very slightly in the still water. 

"you got gills, mate?" daniel asks.

"yes, i think to you that's what they are. at home we live half in water, half on land since we can breathe in both. it's also very humid on my planet."

"sick, man! can i touch em?" daniel asks, clearly very excited but this development. 

"ehm," max hesistates, "they're very sensitive so watch out if that's okay?" max says quietly. daniel almost thinks that max's skin looks a bit blotchy and pink under the water's surface but undeterred he raises his hands towards max.

he gently runs his fingertips over max's skin, trying to feel for the little ridges. he can only barely make them out, they almost completely disappear into max's skin in the air. he sees max's adam's apple bob out the corner of his eye. 

"woah, they're barely there at all. is it different underwater?" daniel asks.

max nods his head slightly under daniel's hand.

"yeah, they actually work then and are my only source of oxygen. pushing them closed would be like applying pressure to my neck above water if that makes sense," max explains. 

daniel nods entranced as max slowly lowers himself further into the water. the gills starts fluttering slightly and daniel once again gently runs his fingers over them. it feels very smooth and daniel can actually see and feel the difference in the water. 

"this feels so weird, man but it's so cool!" daniel says, continuing to run his fingertips back and forth gently. 

max closes his eyes for a moment before gently grabbing daniel's wrist and stopping his movement. he pushes himself above the surface again and says "i think that's enough for me now, daniel."

"oh shit, was it painful, i'm sorry," daniel apologises.

"not exactly," max returns, searching daniel's face. 

daniel notices that it's not just max's chest that's blotchy underwater now, his cheeks are pink all over, too. 

daniel swallows the lump in his throat down and removes his hand from the admittedly cold water. 

"ehm, do you want any food? you're probably starving,"

"sure, daniel. thank you. you're very kind to me," max says, ducking his head towards his chest and pulling his legs towards himself. 

"just come down to the main area when you're done, there's towels there," daniel says and pushes himself up. 

once daniel's in the kitchen, he contemplates what to even make for max. god knows what they eat on his planet. daniel decides to just keep it simple and scramble some eggs and pop some bread in the toaster. 

eventually max appears, wearing daniel's old t-shirt and slightly damp looking shorts as he wore them in the tub.

"good morning," daniel says. 

"good morning," max returns, looking around curiously. he stays rooted on the spot in the middle of the kitchen, looking at daniel expectingly.

"go ahead and sit down," daniel says, motioning at the bar seat.

max nods and climbs on the bar stool.

"food’s ready," daniel says as he pushes a plate at max along with some cutlery. max picks the cutlery up to inspect it very closely, poking at it with his fingers, trying to bend the tongs. before max can hurt himself with the butter knife, daniel reaches across to stop him.

"watch out with this one, please, it’s quite sharp, yeah," daniel explains.

max nods, puts the knife down and turns his attention to the plate. daniel thinks he did a pretty good job. the egg looks fluffy and nice, loaded onto the sourdough bread. he even put some chives and a couple of cherry tomatoes on. 

max takes the tiniest amount of egg onto his fork and tries it, tongue sticking out of his mouth. he seems to deem it acceptable enough and moves on to takes a half cherry tomato in his mouth. he seems to really like that, since he goes for a second one. then max starts separating the egg from the bread, moving the tomatoes to one side and picking the chive pieces off the egg one by one. satisfied enough, max starts cutting the bread into tiny identical pieces and eats them one by one.

daniel watches on as he slowly chews on his own bread, fascinated. 

"so, do you all eat stuff like this at home?" daniel asks.

"no, just me. my mother of course always told me off about it but i prefer it this way," max says matter of factly. 

"fair enough, now that i know i can keep it separate for you," daniel suggests.

"you would do that?" max asks, eyes wide.

"yeah, no biggie," daniel says smiling at max. he’s kind of really endeared by this strange man or not man in his house. 

in response, for the first time since he pulled max out of the wreck yesterday, max’s expression changes to anything other than neutral. his wide mouth stretches upward, his eyes turn into crescents and the skin around his eyes wrinkles adorably. he’s smiling at daniel. 

daniel can’t help but count it as a win, smiling back brightly at max.

"so you can show emotion after all, i thought you were half machine man. could’ve fooled me," daniel jabs.

"of course but you seemed very stressed about everything yesterday, judging by your scent, so I thought it best to keep things neutral around you. you are very high strung, daniel," max says matter of factly.

"it’s not everyday you pull e.t. out of a wreckage and he nearly drowns in your bathtub, now is it? i’ve been very cool and relaxed about it all, i’ll have you know," daniel protests. 

"e.t.? i don’t understand that reference," max says.

"oh maxy, we’re gonna have to change that." daniel responds. "also what do you mean my smell?

[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.

[thebeetleguy]

Quick warning: there are images of arachnids towards the end of this post.

Something about Subnautica’s biology has me really really normal about it as of late. In anticipation for the release of Subnautica 2 I’ve decided I’ll dedicate a portion of my time every day to studying the physical anatomy of Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero’s more interesting fauna because they’re interesting and weird!!!!!! Love them.

My opening thoughts are the Chelicerate. It’s classified as a Leviathan-Class creature in Sector Zero of 4546B. There are two types of Chelicerate. The main one you meet is the red one pictured above. Though, if you go beyond the natural limits of the map, you will encounter the Void Chelicerate at the edge of the sector.

General assumption and geographical analysis leads one to the conclusion that Sector Zero of 4546B and the main zone we play in in the original Subnautica game are separated by a large expanse of ecologically dead waters. The only two creatures we know to be capable of surviving in these waters are Void Chelicerates and adult Ghost Leviathans, a species from the prior game that I’ll discuss at a later date.

Now, the Chelicerate is a large predator, albeit on the smaller scale for Leviathan-Class fauna, that uses its four mandibles to trap prey and keep it from escaping. The game’s official databank entry states the following:

“ These large mandibles of the chelicerate are composed of a bony material that crushes and saws through bones and muscle with ease. The mandibles open up while the backward facing teeth dig into flesh and prevent easy escape. The prey is pulled towards the chelicerate's mouth and devoured.”

As we can see, the chelicerate hunts aggressively with a “trap and catch” method of hunting we see in real-world marine fauna like the monkfish, which uses it’s mouth to trap and hold prey. This hunting method is brutally effective when scaled up to a creature the size of a chelicerate, especially considering their lightweight, maneuverable build. This also allows the chelicerate to grasp objects, like Robin’s submersible vehicles, and damage them.

Rather uniquely on 4546B, the chelicerate sports a segmented exoskeleten with flexible plates that allow it to maneuver and move with agility through the water while also protecting it from the pressure of 4546B’s gravity. Very cool!

> “The chelicerate’s body is made of a thick segmented exoskeleton. The exoskeleton grows in flexible overlapping plates. This provides protection from the atmospheric pressure while giving the chelicerate the maneuverability to easily pursue prey.”

I think the thing I liked most about the chelicerate when viewing its in-game model and animations was that it moved like a whale, with horizontal tail fins that pushed it through the water with an up and down movement of its tail rather than a side-to-side movement we’d see in modern fish and shark species. This really feels right for them especially considering the way the plates of the exoskeleton overlap and lay on each other which would (reasonable assumption) make much side-to-side movement restricted and awkward to pull off.

Subnautica is infamously good at drawing inspiration from real-world animals and applying design aspects of those animals to these alien creatures in a way that feels familiar but unique and fascinating in its’ own way. The chelicerate is no exception. Named after the subphylum “chelicerata” they, fittingly, resemble species under the chelicerata subphylum like horseshoe crabs or eurypterid. Their four-pronged mandible-jaws remind me of the camel spider, as well. See here:

As we can see the solifugae also have these four, claw-like mandible structures. Fascinating!

The chelicerate seems like a fusion between the eurypterid and camel spider if it was dunked underwater for a few million years and turned big and red. I really love this creature and I think about it often.

This was my attempt at wordvomit analysis of the chelicerate… yay.

[coolcattime]

The Birth of a Messenger

Characters: Captain Capsize, Lady Ianite

To be gifted a title by a god is to be reborn as an extension of them.

AO3 Link

It started off as merely a headache. A tiny bother to Capsize in her everyday life. One easy enough to write off as simply not taking care of herself enough as she found herself working jobs intended for those far older than her when she was not yet an adult – even if that would only be true for a few more months.

However, despite her attempts at self-reassurance, the pain is persistent and only grows worse. By the time she’s on store leave months later, Ianerea getting ready for the autumn equinox celebration, the pain is enough that she can’t leave her own darkened room without feeling like she’s going to collapse.

Her memories of this time are hazy and tainted with fear. She was sure she was dying, a sudden sickness like had taken her aunt, as terrified as she was lost in the unfairness of such a thing striking her when the rest of her life was still meant to lay ahead of her.

She remembers people visiting. Healers and any others trained in medicine she was sure. Bitter tasting concoctions eternally staining her tongue and throat. But there had also been priests. Always visiting, asking questions that she had no idea how to answer, having hushed words with the healers who seemed to take great offense to whatever was being said.

None of them had been able to help her.

When the day of the celebration had come, she had been unable to even eat or drink as the slightest movement worsened what was already a nausea and pain filled half-wakefulness. Her only saving grace in the situation was the silence of her home, her brother having been dragged away to the festival by a friend.

Said grace became a nightmare as the pain suddenly became blinding. Less the migraine that had been growing and haunting her days and more like a creature gnawing and clawing its way inside her skull. Something attempting to hook itself inside her and take over.

Outside of her own body, she had heard screaming and only when she blacked out realised it was her own.

Asleep or dead, she found herself floating in a void. An endless black filled with blue and green lights she imagined might be stars. It felt like sitting underwater, her hair and clothes heavy but floating around her as if that was the case, but she breathed as if it was air.

Across from her, sitting as if on a throne that Capsize could not fully say was not there, was Lady Ianite. She stared with tilted head and eyes that bore into her skull just as the pain had. She spoke; the first words that had not caused Capsize pain in weeks.

The pain is over now. We are bonded.

Capsize had tried to respond, but her words had turned to mist – like the sort she’d seen depicted in paintings of her Lady’s dragon. Ianite had laughed and hushed her as if any of the words had actually been said.

You should awaken now, my messenger. The celebration is over now, there is work to be done.

She had shot awake as if in a new body, alien from the lack of pain and weakness that had been plaguing her for months. She was not in her room, but one she recognised as intended for prayer deep within the temple.

She was soaked, her hair and clothes stinking of oils and incense she had only smelt before at funerals. And again, she wondered if she had died but awoken anyway due to some miracle.

Until the head priestess had entered, flanked by other preachers. They had looked to her and greeted her as messenger just as the goddess had in her dream. And they asked for the word of their Lady.

In a voice she had barely recognised as her own, Capsize had been more than happy to gift it to them.

[tia-amorosa]

Episode 31: Meet the Smith's (Part 2) FEAT. Ophelia

(long Part)

Later. “You're back already? Didn't it go well?"/ ”oh, of course, Chloe set the reminder to tickle a few regions in Bella's subconscious. But there's no one hundred percent guarantee that it will actually work"/ ”there's no such thing anywhere… Shall we go for a swim?” Jenny asked him, tilting her head and glancing at him a little seductively. “Is our son asleep?"/ ‘yes, finally’/ „well then…“

Using the time together. And when you have such a spacious pool in your own garden, cooling off is always welcome. And there's a sporting aspect to it too. Polli may be very old, but he's far from frail. “hihi, what's the matter, is that wet?"/ ‘I want to be able to use my eyes for a while longer, you know they're a bit sensitive’/ ‘Oh come on, close your eyes and go on, hihihi…’. The two of them chased each other through the pool, playing catch underwater, until it got too cool for them again.

The sun ensured that the drops of water running down their bodies quickly evaporated again. . “I love your body, Jenny, it's so beautiful and flawless ”7 ,,and it will age faster than yours. I'm afraid of the day when I'll die and you'll be there for so many more years and our children."/ ”I have a lot in my hands, but I can't make you immortal. I won't be around one day either, but I will love you beyond death"/ ‘hn, now my knees are weak’.

Jenny met Pollination shortly before she started studying medicine. It was actually a negative encounter at first, as he was the one who abducted her father and “impregnated” him. But after the second abduction and he had to explain himself, the ice was quickly broken and she developed feelings for the man from another planet. Why shouldn't there be love between two individuals who come from different worlds? Love can overcome so much and, above all, unite.

Shortly after 2:00 pm. School is out for Johnny, Pollination and Jenny's first-born son. He wanted to spend time with his girlfriend Ophelia after school. Tank walks ahead of him. The two boys have big deficits, mainly because Ophelia has chosen Johnny over Tank. This annoys him every day because he can't stand aliens. His father is a general in the military and the boy aspires to be like him.

Johnny was waiting for his girlfriend on the bus, “Sorry, I had to go to the D-Rex” / “Something serious?”/ “No, I'm just supposed to take something to the town hall before class in the morning. Tell me, do you also have the feeling that these bus drivers are all androids?"/ ”They don't make a face, don't say a word… No, not androids, just boring people“/”hm, yeah, totally. I'm glad you're coming along"/ ‘There's not much going on at home’.

Ophelia lives with her aunt. She literally has several corpses in her cellar, or rather in her own graveyard. Some of them are husbands, others are former residents of the town. It's not for nothing that the address here is 13 Dead End Lane. “So, have they come out again?“/”No, it's quiet at the moment. You wouldn't believe how much I'm looking forward to the day when I can finally get away.“.

“Why don't you sit at the table, my sweet?“/”It's enough if I have to sit at the table with her for dinner. Have you looked around? Everything here is so… Cold and loveless. I have a teddy bear in my room, it's from my parents. My only friend besides you….. Can you help me with task 5, it's so hard"/ ‘of course’.

“Shall I tell you something? My aunt has already hooked the next one and he's not even half her age“/ ,,and who's going to get a nice place in the garden next?”/,,very funny… It's Ajay…"/ ‘Really??’/ ”Yes, I wonder how it came about with those two. Sometimes I wish she was dead and my mother was still here”.

“Can I ask you something, Ophelia?“/”Yes, what?“/”Why did you choose me and not Tank?“/”Because you're different, Johnny“/”Because I'm an alien?“/”To a small extent, yes, but the biggest part is because you got good qualities from your father. Tank only has bad ones“/”he hates me because I'm different…"/,,Yes, and that's why I want to be with you, I don't want a boyfriend who doesn't like others. I want a kiss when we're done”.

Aunt Olive comes home and is in a bit of a bad mood. “They've really raised the prices in the supermarket, what do they think? That I can borrow the money out of my ribs? Oh, why aren't you at work, Johnny?"/ ‘I'm off today, …’/ ‘Oh o.k.’. She went to the bookshelf and took out a book.

“How was school, Ophelia, did you work hard?"/ ‘I always work hard, as hard as I can, Aunt Olive.’/ ‘Good…’/… Even though Olive is not a bad person, her heart is a lil' bit cold, and there is a reason for that. But she will probably take this secret to her grave herself one day.

Aunt Olive remembered that she had forgotten something else, so she left the property again. And the teenagers were alone. “Can I have my kiss now?"/ ”You can have two or three, Ophelia. But next time we'll go to my place, all right?"/ ”mhm. I like being with you, your parents are so nice and I get on with your little sister too. I haven't even seen your little brother yet…”. “He's tiny, like a baby looks when it's just hatched“/”just hatched, thihi. Tell me, will our babies be… Be like you and your dad?"/ ”You've seen my little sister, she's nothing like us. So there's a 50 percent chance that a child will also be normally human. Would it be bad if it was…“/”No, then it would be special, Johnny”.

Johnny enjoys spending time with his girlfriend. And he often has plenty of it. Sometimes they even meet secretly at night when everything is asleep…. they haven't gone any further than kissing and stroking… But it doesn't have to yet… For now, it's nice to have someone….

Later. By now it's evening and Johnny is back home. “You're making macaroni?"/ ‘Yes, you like it, don't you?’/ ‘I like everything you cook, mom’/ ”hnhnn, nice. Have you been to Ophelia's?"/ ‘Yes, we were doing our homework and her aunt was there briefly and left again straight away.’/ ”Oh yes, Olive…who knows how long she'll be there. She really loves Ophelia, even if she doesn't show it like that"/ ”I know… Still, Pheli would rather have her mother back”.

While his mother prepared the meal, Johnny went upstairs to see his little brother. “Hey, are you all right? Fine… We're going to spend a hell of a lot of time together, many years… Centuries, maybe even millennia. Later on, I really want to develop something that can be administered to people so that they live longer. Oh, now the macaroni is burnt, she'll have to do it again, hehe… What do you think about visiting other planets at some point? I'd like to go to Redrock Heaven, I hear there's a lot going on there and lots of different alien races living there… with a spaceship, whoosh…haha, it's okay, I'll stop, otherwise you might get sick”.

At dinner. “I'm really terribly sorry, I don't know what's going on today either. Normally the macaroni ALWAYS turns out well"/ ”I'll have a look at the stove. I don't think it's you, my dearest"/ ‘yes, mom, don't worry, salad is fine too’. of course Jenny didn't have to worry about her family finding fault with her food. Family life was harmonious and Polli was not easily upset.

Later in the evening. It's well after 11pm. And there is something special about the aliens in this city. They need little to no sleep. And so some nights you stand outside on the terrace and look into the distance or occupy yourself with other things. Johnny still has a lot planned for his life and is sure to meet some interesting people. The night passes and an important day lies ahead.

@greenplumbboblover , @solorisims , @honeywine-sims ⭐

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s1 episode 24 "erlenmeyer flask" 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!

[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.

[wavyskies]

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Horror medias (will probably be prioritized to be honest) ((video games have a * next to it)): Underwater, Scream, The Shining, The Babysitter, M3GAN, Trick R Treat, 13 Ghosts, The Thing, Jennifer's Body, Jeepers Creepers, House on Haunted Hill (all adaptions), Ready or Not, Abigail, The Ring, Us, NOPE, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Host, Happy Tree Friends, Happy's Humble Burger Farm*, Dead Silence, Underwater, Studio Investigrave games*, JAWS, Phantoms, Imaginary, Crimson Snow*, Hello Puppets*, Little Misfortune*, Fran Bow*, Shipwrecked 64*, My Friendly Neighborhood*

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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.

[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

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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.