#bc it’s what his book counterpart did so there’s a high chance

[fluffypotatey]

Uhh Fluffy. Alright firstly, I was just sitting here going bonkers over the insanity of S5 yet AGAIN bc half the time I seriously think there's two fake monkeys going around pretending to be SWK and Mac, and they each fought a fake before finishing the fight with each other, and Ik I said this but the perspective is too weird! Wukong pleading for Mac to not make him do this was either outside that vision OR part of the vision and that is NOT something you say while flying down with a punch and a yell(?) hard to tell voices apart in the Chinese version for me. I'm not used to them, but I'm guessing the yell his. Mac did impersonate him but in HIS flashback he was on the receiving side, while in this one, Wukong seems to be 😭 It's so confusing omgg. Sorry okay secondly, and this one will REALLY make you crazy, is that someone pointed out that in that S3 EP 4 scene with the zodiac compass scene to free LBD, apparently Mac is SHIRTLESS and you can see scratches and scratches on him. So uh, if this is post-revival and post fully clothed Mac tied up in his own shadows, WHO UNDRESSED MY BOY BC WHEN I GET YOU- I cannot BELIEVE that theory that Wukong stole his old scarf so Mac had to get a new one might actually be true!! Wukong you are NOT a grave robber so what GIVES. I can't buy it. Did the bugs eat it. Do I need to dedicate a good portion of fic to writing decomposing Mac and give him trauma for that. Bruh, sure I imagine fabric decays quickly but also, that would mean he'd sincerely been there for awhile before LBD had to revive-heal him or just make a totally new body, this guy isn't really the real Macaque and he never will be!! No wonder he'd be all naked afterwards if the flesh had to literally regrow over old bones. Fluffy this is HORRIFYING. And looking at it, even in the scene with Mac's arms spread out and LBD descending like some angel, he is shirtless! You can see by the lack of color bro wears bright YELLOW he sure isn't there and there's torn scruffs by his pant waistline. Perhaps I am actually subscribing to LBD possessed him during this fight, and then the blue chains and shadows tried to bury him underground, and then you see him clawing his way out and there's HEAPS of blood splashing all around, and THEN you see LBD cast it all away. When Wukong fought LBD, instead of her pretending to be a bunch of villagers, she could've very well been inside of Mac the whole time. Remember the whole, our old friend the Lady Bone Demon- bit? What if they were actually on okay terms on the journey, Wukong killed LBD two times, and then on the third try she crawled into Mac and Wukong couldn't figure out why he swapped personalities so quickly. Maybe there was another LBD (like what she did to the Mayor, so she still has HER form but also him.) And hosting a piece of herself inside Mac was insurance for failing yet another fight with Wukong. Why ELSE would she do this to ensure "Mac would free her when the time came" unless if she was expecting to get sealed/lose to Wukong again? Mac has always had that motif of blue chains clinging to him. This is why. They've been there for centuries.

while i do like the idea of Macky being stripped bare in death and revived physically vulnerable, i do think he was wearing clothes

let’s just examine these two:

here’s our lovely boy pre-death (i think) but post his battle with swk

so, dully noted here is he is very much clothed here but in considerable pain/anguish (why? well it’s either because Wukong did what had to be done struck him down OR someone pulled a little spell and did the deed instead of Wukong)

anyway, here is our lively boy post-revival

from my eyes, it does look like he is wearing pants and a torn shirt (notice the two marks on the arms are almost symmetrical to indicate the end of the sleeves). like it’s less clothes than before, but there’s still something.

it’s a cool theory but i do doubt that it’ll hold. lmk does leave a lot to speculate about the specifics on Macky’s death and revival (though since s5 it has been pointing closer to Wukong pulling the trigger 👀) but lmk also likes to play with characters’ memories and leave a lot of the past unreliable

we heard the Samadhi Fire story about three to four times and yet every one has its own variations about what it was, how the rings were split, and stuff. and then you even have MK skewing Wukong’s point about the group being mortal compared to the Monkey King’s own immortality in 3x02. Azure’s story he told MK also wasn’t 100% true

however, what we are shown in the memories are supposed to be the characters’ deepest and darkest memories. ones they do not like to share or think about often. the Hundred Eye Demon never skewed or manipulated the memories; rather, it was him scouring through them for his own self gain

so like, there’s a very high chance that what we heard in 5x07 is something Wukong said to Macackle during their battle in jttw. there’s also laughing in that memory, so idk what Wukong would be laughing about which makes the “don’t make me do this” line be Wukong’s rather than Macracker’s

[negligenceatbest]

Where we Start is Where we End. (Where we Live is Where we Die.)

Summary: You lost everything in the apocalypse. Everything you ever cared about, that is. After bouncing from survivor groups to other survivor groups you decide you can't live like a rule book anymore. So, you decide to travel the map and end up in Baltimore, MD.

You expect nothing more than to find a place to lay your head down and sightsee for a few months before keeping it going to the next place, like you had before. The apocalypse was a free vacation Afterall.

Maybe it'll start to cost you one day.

Relationship(s): Yandere Cult leader Hannibal Lecter x Reader

Chapter Five: Anti Fruit Snack Association.

Words: 2.2k

A/N: this took me forever to post it was basically done but was sitting in my drafts bc i had to rewrite some parts. to those still reading this series ty for ur patience and without further ado let’s get into it :))

Sometimes, you wonder what life would be like if the apocalypse didn’t happen at all. If on that spring evening so many years ago, the sun didn’t fall, and the human race didn’t turn where you would be? And though, it’s inevitable and probably (certainly) nothing you could’ve done to stop it, what if you could have? What if someone could have?

To be known as the hero who saved all of mankind. And to be known as the hero who helped. What would that have been like? You didn’t know and wouldn’t know in this life, but it was still fun to think about. To be looked at differently than who you once were. Then who you were now.

But even if it wasn’t you, and there was somebody else, somebody with more credentials and more experience or maybe just somebody who looked better on screen to say that they saved the human race… What kind of life would you be living right now, in that universe?

You would probably have finished high school and would have made something of your life. You would have traveled like a normal person, maybe meeting that guy you met the other day and his dog like a regular person. Making blatant conversation that did nothing but further your relationship that was yet to come. Then, you could’ve been regular friends. Like regular people in regular situations. Maybe become something more like regular people do.

That would be your preferred normal future.

You wouldn’t have had to scavenge for your food, visiting stores with high claims secretly just so you could get your fix not to starve. You wouldn’t have to wear the same outfit for days on end just to ensure you had enough clothes before you could find some place to wash them again.

There were many things you wouldn’t have to do again, and vice versa. You wished you were in that universe now.

But unfortunately, you aren’t and will never be. You will grow old on this planet that houses living corpses that seek food in their warm counterparts. They will always seek you out, cold eyes gazing into your warm ones. You will keep moving and they will always be slightly too close behind. Always a little too close for comfort.

You, a warm counterpart, will keep killing until you die. Whether it be for self-defense or for food. It’s a kill or be killed world and you will never have the hands of a saint.

*****

Lightning bugs only coming out during the summer was one thing you were regretful to learn multiple years ago, their tearful existence leaving you like the seasonal apple trees your grandmother used to plant in her field over the acreage of her farm.

You had only seen them a couple of times in your life, their beauty lighting the dark and bringing you to a path of wonder you would follow blindly on your own accord, a trail of bright light following behind you as you went. These bugs had lit up the dark and you had experienced fireworks in your own hands. These bugs were wonder and faith, you would wait plenty more summers if it meant having a chance to see them again. Even in the apocalypse.

Right now, you sit in a tire swing far from the house you squat in, humming a song you grew up listening to and reading the journals you just couldn’t seem to stop reading. This time, the writer, Will Graham, talks of his childhood. Nothing too explicit, and nothing too subtle. Mostly of his adoptive father and this Hannibal character. You were growing curious if the writer would ever come back to the house. You would like to put a face to the penmanship.

Most of the writing in these journals were comedic in a sense, but you can tell the writer has struggled. You shook your head at the thought and realized that everyone alive had struggled now. Still, it wouldn't be fair to pity someone who didn't ask for it.

Your legs kick slightly as you swing softly in the tire and chew on some fruit snacks you had gone to find the other day. They tasted a lot like if fruits were chemicals, but they were still good, so you didn’t care. You turned the page with your free hands pinky and thumb and read that page as well, hoping you wouldn’t finish these journals all so soon and if you did that there were more somewhere else.

Maybe reality shows were onto something when tv was still a thing. People really were interesting sometimes.

You continued to read one page after another, never growing tired of what they had to say. On one page you had read of Will finding an abandoned dog he named Winston, a male dog who was terribly hurt and not much of a people person himself. The writer had gotten close enough by feeding him and being as non-threatening as possible. Soon, after Will gave the dog treats, they became inseparable. You wondered if it really was the treats or if it was true animals could tell good people from the bad ones.

You counted back the date, thinking of the already older dog being even older by now. Winston probably was already a senior citizen by now in dog years. It would be nice to meet the dog before you left if you could.

If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t be so surprised either. It wouldn’t be the first time something didn’t go right. You really started to wonder about the owner of the house now, thinking that maybe he had moved elsewhere.

It would be sad, but plausible. You had done so as well, why couldn’t he? You shrugged to yourself subconsciously.

Tires rolling over gravel halted your thoughts as you fell out of the tire swing and back onto your blanket that held your booklets and fruit snack wrappers. The ground was soft as you fell with an ‘oof.’

The house seemed farther away now that someone was here and you kind of sighed as you wished you had brought your binoculars. It was probably the owner anyway so you weren’t that worried, but you hoped they wouldn’t be that freaked with someone lounging in their house.

You mean, imagine if you came home and someone was sitting on your loveseat reading your diary entries laughing at your painstaking memories and was eating fruit snacks that you weren’t even sure we’re safe to consume. To your defense though, they were the good type so that does kind of make it better. Anyways, you suddenly really wanted to hope the owner would be a good person.

Maybe you were too nonchalant about staying in another survivor's house. You should have just looked elsewhere. Somewhere without a fireplace or hot water or plumbing. Yeah, no. You would take your chances fighting off the anti-fruit snack homeowner (if they were anti-fruit-snack.)

You doubted it.

You slowly made your way back to the rustic house and trying to put on a welcoming face. You thought about how you would tell the person you had been staying in their house for days without them getting mad. You didn’t know if they would take that well at all, so you decided to just not add any more fuel to the fire and not tell them about reading their diaries.

Hopefully, it all goes well.

*****

After Will had finished talking to Hannibal in his office, he decided to look for Kylo. As tired as Will was, his dog was more important than sleep. He was family. Family doesn’t leave each other behind.

If Will was being honest, the temptation of a silk duvet and matching pillowcases to rest his head on were something he had all but wanted to say no to. He had all but wanted to decline Hannibal's invitation, but he concluded long before that the safety of his dog (his family) was more important than sleeping like a king. Will would rather sleep in his dog stuffed barn, covered in fur and kisses and warm as a coat than to even choose leaving his dogs behind for a one-night arrangement of velvet comforters and feather pillows.

What good would a night of comforters and cloud like wonder do if after all that, his dog was nowhere to be found or even worse? If he had took that offer, if he had even thought for a second that it would be something worth more than finding his dog alive, then Will would have truly succumbed to the world he lives in now. Will would then know that he was better off being dead then ever being compared to anyone in this stupid suburban hell.

But Will wasn’t that person, not yet anyways, and somehow he knew he wouldn’t be-even if it was only for awhile.

The night was pitch black and cold, drawing a shiver from Will as he walked in silence. The small amount of light illuminating from street to street was sadly only coming from inside the curtain covered windows. It had shown a pathway, all the way down to the third to last house before the street ended with a turn, it was the only house without lights on and Will had known that that was Arleen’s house. If not because of her upkept garden he could slightly see, then because of the sleek cruiser parked out front that hadn’t been driven in years.

Damn, Will thought to himself, that is one hell of a ride.

And it sure was, too. Though Will wondered if there was any way to get it back up and running again. It wasn’t a priority in the first place so he didn’t care. Will had made it to the house, walked around to the side door and knocked once, twice, thrice before he stopped and looked around, still on edge. He waited a while, before he knocked again and heard a hard bark.

Will sighed as he heard that bark, a relieved feeling swaying over his nerves. A feeling almost like he had been high and was as relaxed as ever. His adrenaline crashed downwards and he felt himself sway as he stood. He was so tired. Will soon saw the porch light and urged himself awake for a little while longer. He would be asleep soon, it’s fine, he told himself.

The door opened and Arleen peeked over in her white night dress and curler filled hair, she sighed in relief finding it was Will. Not even saying anything she urged him in and pushed him into the living room, guiding him to the sofa. She guided his sitting figure to a laying one and pushed off the extra pillows to where he only had one for his head to rest.

Will followed blindly, trusting her undeniably and opened his mouth to speak as she left the room for a moment. She came back in less than a minute with a comforter and thick blanket to stack on top of each other. Will took them from her and just as she was about to leave and turn the light off he had called out to her, noting how everything went so fast.

“Mrs. Bradshaw?” Will queried.

“Yes, William?” She turned around with a small smile, she could tell his night hadn’t been well and she hated seeing the boy like that. Such a sweet child who’s only flaw was having one too many dogs, it didn’t matter though because as she saw it, he was doing them a blessing.

“Uhm..” He hesitated, “Are you not gonna ask me why i’m here?”

“I already know. It’s written all over you.” She laughed, “Plus it wasn’t like I wasn't expecting you since I woke up with Kylo scratching at my door.” She finished. Will nodded in understanding and assumed Kylo was in the house somewhere. He let out a small hum and opened his mouth to say something else before he was interrupted by a tired voice.

“Let’s talk in the morning over breakfast, okay? Beauty sleep is required of those over 50.” Will nodded, sinking further into the warm blankets. “Now, goodnight.” She said and Will returned the words and blinked as the room turned black. Soon, Will was laying down staring at nothing in particular except for the dark and only then did it occur to him how drained he was. He felt like he had never slept, and his only hobby was seeing how long he could go without blinking.

His eyes burned and he closed them, cuddling more into softness. It’s okay, he knew it, Hannibal would take care of the mess he made, and maybe he would finally kick them out. No it wasn’t a maybe, Will thought, He would.

It was handled in a different way, obviously. But We all know that.

[julia-drusilla-xii]

How would Caligula react if he found a demigod Girl who is a spitting image of Julia Drusilla.

Hello anon! Sorry I haven’t responded earlier, tumblr didn’t send me a notif and I didn’t notice till a post was liked a few days later 😔

To answer your question, I suppose it depends 🤔 This is about to be lengthy bc I tend to get off track 😅

Rick looks like he was aiming to have him similar to his ancient counterpart with giving nods towards his sister. Like with the whole naming 50 cruise ships after her despite him living a millennia after that time. My Roman Empire history may be a little rusty atm, but he had other siblings. Older brothers along with another sister besides Julia Drusilla but his brothers died and he favored one of his sisters more than the other. So in summary, he def still cares enough within this century.

But he also leans towards practical. Controversial as this take may sound, Rick finally goes and adds death in the series with TBM. HoO could even been more high stakes but everyone either dodges death or died and comes back. Like technically, Jason could’ve had a much shorter character arc bc he saw Hera’s true form early in the series, if I remember correctly, Piper’s charmspeak stopped that. And we thought that either him or Leo could’ve been the one. There’s also Percy & Annabeth coming back from Tartarus which I know people would rioted if they were the ones to die.

He could’ve introduced another character along with Meg starting in Book 1 and there would have been impactful meaning still bc there would still be time to get and attached and watch them interact. Crest was introduced in that same book and he had a particularly sad end imo. I’m not saying Jason’s death was the perfect solution but no one liked him in a lot of fics I read before that point and if it were anyone else, it wouldn’t end well. I wish Jason got the chance to live for himself. Not just being the perfect Roman soldier for the camp, but something more. I would say I want background for the Roman camp if it weren’t for the camp they tend to get done dirty.

Anyways, Caligula is practical to a fault bc of how after he was unconscious during his life in the ancient era, he thought a lot of people were going to betray him. So that poses the question, after all the years, would he have enough emotional attachment to be drawn towards someone who isn’t his actual sister?

The hypothetical demigod and his sister could share a look but unless they’re like a reincarnation and have the same mannerisms as well, I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve made this account and read the series tbh (and I have yet to read tsats). Maybe he could be effected. Had it been Commodus, the answer is pretty easy bc he was still bitter about being betrayed and what used to he. But historical Caligula and book Caligula aren’t quite the same. I think Rick took the angle of everything he did that was out of ordinary was intentional and done to piss the senate off. Julia, Incitatus, the whole bridge out of cruise ships are the three most memorable things that relate to his past self. But as he is portrayed in the book, he sounded respectful enough to Medea and despite being betrayed by someone, they appear early in the book to deal with Apollo (forgive me for not remembering who it was atm).

So I’d say he could be helpful. Maybe pull a Nero and adopt the demigod. Caligula is technically his uncle. And he adopted a daughter in Roman history that he would’ve likely given the title too. Maybe Nero has some learned mannerisms from him? That demigod has the possibility of living a lavish life on the sole condition of them never betraying him or giving any signs to. After all, looks don’t mean two people are the same but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss his sister.

[mythomagically-delicious]

Okay so in a better world au ford and fiddleford created the Institute and made up, right? What happened to stan?

The point of that first post about "the twist" was this: what if Stan and Ford switched bodies and stans was sent into the portal with ford inside, and Stan in Ford's body remained behind. Stan immediately tries everything to turn it back on, to no avail. He went thru hundreds of papers and notes trying to understand ANYTHING and he got some general idea that ford had had a research partner out here who knew things- knew ford, knew the portal, he could help!

Stan in Ford's body races to town instead of staying isolated in the cabin for four weeks, and finds fiddleford. Fiddleford looks confused and stranger than the notes suggested but it matches up. He begs fiddleford to help him, and despite the falling out fiddleford has enough fondness for his old friend remaining that he is swayed. He doesn't get his full mind erased by the society bc he isn't abandoned fully and left wandering the town to be targeted by blind Ivan in his power grab.

Fiddleford and Stan (in Ford's body) go back to the shack and stan starts to take him to the basement when fidds starts freaking out, yelling and crying about the world-shattering consequences. About the things he saw, rhe demon, and more. Stan calms him down, takes him back upstairs. He's frustrated to high heaven and back but he knows he could never do this alone.

(He hasn't told fiddleford who he really is. Yet. He will, he just needs some help first. Who would help a loser like stan? But ford has a friend, he can be ford for a little bit to work the angle and get his brother back.)

It takes time. Way too much time, for Stan, but fiddleford slowly recovers enough of his sanity and calms his nerves enough to go down to the basement and not freak out. Stan admits to anything fiddleford asks him about, anything he saw from Ford's notes and makes it convincing that he's asking for a second chance. Maybe they could rebuild it, better? Without demon assistance?

Fiddleford helps tear it to shreds. They mark every part as they dismantle it and fiddleford searches for the reasons it opened a portal to nightmares. He doesn't follow schematics blindly, any more, no more blind trust to his friend. But he does help. Stan is learning on the job. He isn't convincing in the slightest of being a genius but fiddleford is too frazzled to notice. He's got his own shit going on.

They tear it down. Stan is afraid and angry and desperate but he holds his shit together. Fiddleford regains more of himself as they go. Stan learns more about ford and fiddlefords time together as fiddleford recovers memories and tells them to Stan. Stan makes his own notes, of how to Be Stanford Pines.

In time, they get to a stable place of living in the shack together, Stan trying to learn as much as he can about this science shit, pretending he was hit by the memory gun into forgetting himself when fiddleford questions it. Fidds is afraid to go confront the society, and can't remember where they are anyway. Stan doesn't care about it as long as his cover isn't blown. He hasn't told fiddleford yet. He will! But not yet.

They begin to plan a new, stable trans-dimensional vortex. It takes a whole hell of a lot, but they slowly build it anew. Still in the cursed basement, not even a skeleton of the old machine left after they destroyed it the first time.

Stan is flying less by the seat of his pants. Taking a leaf from Ford's book and staying up to radically terrible hours of the night studying and trying to understand all the science and math shit to make this work, to keep stringing fiddleford into helping him. Fidds takes time for his own projects and Stan doesn't bug him about it, saying if it makes money to split it, and when fiddleford hits a big invention that also happens to patent well and spread? They use the money to help their new portal.

It takes ten years to do it, but they recreate the portal, this time to a place they can control thru careful calibration. Fiddleford writes a scientific paper about it, publishes it with ford as a co-author, and they get international renown. Stan knows how to work a crowd and he uses their leverage to get people invested in investing, so to speak. It's not cheap to fund the energy required to turn it on, so they expand the building and create the Institute of Oddology, given enough time and building and circumstances lining up just right.

Fiddleford runs the teams and the day to day stuff. Stan handles finances and resource allocation and scheduling tours, interested parties, rivals, anything business side. He and fiddleford go to the first stable dimension together , though, and Stan uses all of the science gizmos at their disposal to search for ford while they're there.

He doesn't find him. He still hasn't told fiddleford. Its been too long at this point, right? What if he takes the money and fame and everything and kicks Stan out for lying? He mostly rode fiddlefords genius to get here, there's no way he'd not be mad about this.

They go to many dimensions. Stan takes samples and learns scientific process thru osmosis over the years and contributes to publishibg written works to the greater scientific community.

He looks for Ford. He finds nothing. He tells no one his true purpose for everything he's achieved to that point. He lies and wears Ford's face and shakes hands and is a sham.

One day Fiddleford races to his office, frantic and eyes wide and hands shaking slightly like Stan hasnt seen in years. It's been 30 years since ford was lost to the portal. And fiddleford comes to him and says there's a parallel you, Stanford, in conference room B, we need to send him on his way immediately, you remember what happened to Ernie on that trip 8 years back?

And Stan ignores this, heart pounding, and knocks fiddleford out, locking him in the office, racing to conference room B.

He bursts in, and sees a version of his brother. One he doesnt see in the mirror. A real Stanford Pines, 30 years older than the kids they were when they fought beside the portal. Apparently no universe is fair, if ford ends up inside in multiple dimensions.

Stan is speechless. The portal!ford is on the defensive, but interest is clear in his face. He keeps his distance, cognizant of parallel!fiddlefords warning from before. Of counterparts meeting in a dimension of origin. Annihilation.

Stan cries. Ford looks shocked to see his own self in such a state. He doesn't know what to do. Stan surges forward for a hug and Ford tries to dodge, afraid of the consequences. Stan traps his hands to his sides and sobs on Ford's mysterious black coat, calling him brother. Ford's inner alarm bells go off even as he clenches his eyes shut against the incoming total destruction.

When nothing happens except for a wet patch to grow on Ford's clothes, he opens his eyes and studies himself. They look scarily similar, truth be told. His counterpart heartier than he, an interdimensional fugitive. That makes sense. Parallel ford is apologizing into his jacket and clutching him hard enough to leave bruises.

Ford dodges out of the grapple his counterpart has him in. He demands answers in a clipped tone. Stan does his best to reign it back in as he confesses what transpired in this dimension to this dimension traveling ford. How he hopes his own brother, trapped in stans body, is still out there, still surviving, still where Stan can find him.

Ford starts a fight. Stan defends himself but it gets physical and he doesn't have the same instincts to take down he did when he was younger. He remembers the last fight he had with his brother, and doesn't want that to happen again.

Fiddleford eventually gets free of the office and runs in to see parallel ford beating the shit out of his ford. He stuns ford with a device on his belt and brings things back to some semblance of order, getting a first aid kit out to tend to them both. P!Ford's knuckles, mainly, and stans face.

The truth comes out, ugly and stained and fiddleford forgives Stan immediately. He turns to parallel ford and helps him out of the room, promising help with his weapon and more, later.

Stan is left with the knowledge that all these years later, no matter what he does, his brother hates him.

Fiddleford helps ford with his weapon. If ford can destroy bill cipher, more dimensions will open up to be explored. If his and stans ford is still alive out there, they'll have a better shot if Bill is out of the picture. They send parallel!ford off a few days later. Fiddleford goes to Stan that night and calls him by a name that hasn't been spoken in 30 years. Stan can barely look at him. Fiddleford gives him time and space, but tells him he understands.

A month and a half later, a ripple is felt thru thousands of dimensions at once, the death of Bill cipher in every iteration is making its way thru the multiverse. Celebrations are happening as people cheer and laud thr name of the one who saved them, spread in a cosmic understanding by some greater power. Stanley Pines, shatterer of Bill Cipher.

4 years later, they find Ford. Ford in Stans body is old, ragged. He's missing an eye and an arm and so much more of who he used to be. But they bring him home. He doesn't want to switch bodies back.

Stan feels guilt eat at him, but ford is different than the other traveler they'd met. He's more settled. He thanks Stan for finding him. Doesn't blame him for how long it took. Didn't think he'd be come for anyway.

It's strange and rocky but slowly strides are made to bridge the gap of decades and become people they want to be, again. Brothers, friends, explorers. They never body swap again, but they settle into themselves and own who they are.

[goldentournesol]

The Receptionist and the Profiler (One)

Chapter One: Wins and Losses

(Spencer Reid x f!Reader)

Series Masterlist

General Masterlist

If you’d have told high school senior Y/N that she’d be working at the FBI after graduating college, she would have never believed you. Not only did she have zero interest in law enforcement, she also seemed to lack any athletic skills to back her up. She was nothing like her fiancé, who’d had his heart set on joining the bureau since middle school. She and Grant Anderson were friends in high school and ended up getting together during their junior year. Anderson proposed to Y/N during her second year of college. She’d graduated almost two years ago now, but the wedding date was unknown. They’d been dating for four years and engaged for another four years with the wedding nowhere to be seen. He’d been the first and only boy–and man, to ever pay her half a mind. To her, that was good enough. Hell, she’d been with him for eight years, if she’d wanted to leave him, she’d have left long ago. Right?

Imagine her surprise when he’d told her that his new boss, Aaron Hotchner, was looking for a receptionist for the BAU. Fresh out of college, landing a secure job? That was a miracle, and she really did have to thank her fiancé for it. But everyone around her was so cool and she was just…there. Her job was basically to sort through files, organize Hotch’s meetings, among other things like making reservations at the hotels the agents stayed at on their cases. 

The Agents of the BAU.

They were essentially the coolest people she knew.

First comes Agent Gideon, one of the founders of the BAU. His ability to read people scares her sometimes. How can one man’s beady little eyes have the ability to read people like they were some kind of book stowed away on a dusty shelf? A shelf only he can reach.

Then, comes Agent Hotchner, the unit chief. A stoic man with an even more stoic face. He’s a man who, to put it lightly, takes his job very seriously. On more than one occasion has she met his wife, Haley. They made a beautiful couple in her eyes and they’d just had their child, Jack Hotchner. She never knew how a baby’s face could be so wrinkly–yet so cute. Haley and Aaron were high school sweethearts, much like she and Grant. But that seemed to be the only aspect they shared. Despite his suffocatingly hard shell, Aaron was a loving man. That much was obvious. She wondered if Grant had ever looked at her the way Aaron looked at Haley.

Agent Derek Morgan, where to begin? He was tall, dark, and every bit handsome. His charming nature made all the ladies of the sixth (and fifth, and seventh, and eighth and–) floor swoon over him anytime he walked by. He is one of the bravest men she’d ever known. His ability to put himself in the place of the unsub was something she’d only heard stories about–but it gave her chills every time.

Next comes Agent Elle Greenaway, one of the most headstrong women Y/N has ever met. Her bluntness can come across as harsh, but she knew a woman in law enforcement had to stand her ground to be treated with as equal respect as her male counterparts. She admired her strength.

Agent Jennifer Jareau, or as Y/N knew her, JJ, was a kind hearted, compassionate woman who’s way with words absolutely blew Y/N away. The way JJ handled the media with such finesse was simply astonishing. She knew she could never string together the right words like JJ seemed to, up on those podiums, in front of all those nosy reporters. It was mind blowing to watch her in her element.

Penelope Garcia, or otherwise known as literal sunshine embodied in a technical analyst. She was the best at what she did, hacking, searching, filtering. It was a science, and Penelope Garcia made it look easy. She and Y/N had grown close since both of them stayed at the office while the other agents flew around the country, solving cases. They’d often spend endless lunches together in Garcia’s ‘batcave’ as she called it and was practically hellbent on teaching Y/N how to use Photoshop every chance she got.

And last but certainly not least, Dr. Spencer Reid. She’d never met a man with a more brilliant brain. He was known as the resident genius, the expert on well–everything. The man had an eidetic memory and the ability to read 20,000 words per minute. Is that not the most impressive thing on the planet? Nope, he just has to have three PhDs in three of the most complicated fields of study: mathematics, physics, and engineering, achieving all three before reaching 22 years of age. 

He had joined the bureau about a year after Y/N had started there. She could remember their first interaction like it was yesterday. 

He had been in and out of meetings before spotting Y/N at her desk, where she usually stayed during her lunch break, at least for the first year she was there. She was halfway through a cup of mixed berry yogurt when Spencer came up to her desk to ask where the breakroom was. Y/N directed him to the room and followed his gaze to the yogurt container in her hands before he left.

“Did you know that the origins of yogurt are pretty much unknown, although historians agree that there was no mention of it before 5000 BC? It’s thought to have been invented by the Mesopotamians.” He said as he pursed his lips and raised his brows, as if realizing he made a mistake too late.

“No, I didn’t know that! That’s super cool. You must be Dr. Spencer Reid, right?” She said, giving him her full attention, which made him slightly more nervous than he had been previously. He nodded, a shy smile on his face.

“And you’re…” he looked for her name holder, “Y/N Y/L/N.” 

She giggled and the sound activated some kind of blood rushing mechanism right up into his cheeks, “Yup! I’m the BAU’s receptionist slash Agent Hotchner’s assistant, you know, nothing fancy but I like to think I’m pretty good at sorting through files.” She raised a brow and gave him an adorable smile and suddenly Spencer wasn’t so nervous to talk to her. 

She seemed way more interactive and easygoing than just about 98% of the people in the building. He wondered if it was because she wasn’t an agent. Spencer also wondered if gaining a title like ‘Supervisory Special Agent’ would make him cold like the others, but then he remembered he has three doctorates and already introduced himself with the honorific. 

She picked up on his silence, “You know, you have nothing to worry about, I overheard Agent Gideon talking about you landing the job with Agent Morgan.” She nodded her head towards a tall, muscular man, who Spencer gathered must be Morgan. Spencer smiled back at her, her words easing even more of the tension he collected in his shoulders.

“I wouldn’t be so sure, you should see the massive list of exceptions they have to make to let me into the field.” He said with a ghost of a smile on his face. She had to physically repress a laugh. And right then and there, the seed of a beautiful friendship was planted.

Fast forward to two years after that interaction, Spencer and Y/N became pretty much attached at the hip whenever he was actually in the office and not flying around the country catching serial killers. Their desks were quite far from each other, hers right near the glass doors of the BAU and his across the room right near the railing that had Hotch and Gideon’s offices as well as the conference room. It gave them both perfect views of each other, which they used to send each other encouraging smiles throughout the day, maybe a funny face or two. He always had a way of making her smile, she hadn’t felt the fuzzy feeling of friendship in years. Besides Garcia, Spencer was the only person who had made an effort to get to know Y/N. In the past two years, she’d say Spencer knew her better than anyone else, possibly even Anderson, but that was surely because he was a talented genius profiler…

Budget meetings at the FBI were definitely the most boring types of meetings in the world. She had to be there because she was the one making all the reservations at the hotels, but once they began talking about the jet and fuel consumption–Y/N totally spaced out. Spencer enjoyed the meetings, though. It definitely had nothing to do with the fact that Y/N would sometimes space out and let her head fall against his shoulder. The weight of her head brought him inexplicable comfort and joy. He hates it when people come near him, when did it become so endearing to him for her to trust him enough with such a simple gesture? He found himself attending the meetings and sitting next to her whenever he got the chance, hoping that one day, maybe, just maybe she’ll allow her head to rest upon his shoulder again. Perhaps it was pathetic, but he found himself feeling overjoyed at the thought of budget meetings, they became the only thing he’d look forward to. 

He wondered if this was how Anderson felt when she rested her head on his shoulder, but then his knee would start bouncing and he’d practically feel the envious monster growing in the pit of his stomach, so he’d stop. It certainly didn’t make it any easier to stop when it was so easy to look over and find Anderson leaning against her desk and flirting with her. Technically, he has every right to flirt with his fiancée, but that didn’t stop jealousy from coursing through Spencer’s veins violently.

The team had just landed last night, they were coming back from a case revolving around the famous actress, Lila Archer. Apparently, she’d had a stalker. Y/N couldn’t wait to hear the details of the case, she had watched almost all of Lila’s movies. She eagerly awaited Spencer’s arrival. Just then, she heard the ding of the elevator and saw a very sheepish -and flushed- Spencer with a very playful Morgan hot on his tail.

“Morning, pretty girl!” Derek halted his seemingly incessant teasing to greet her as they walked towards her. Spencer was oddly quiet as he tried to pass by, offering her a small, awkward wave instead of his usual smiley ‘good morning!’, but Derek grabbed him by the strap of his messenger bag. He made it his mission to embarrass Spencer as much as humanly possible when he woke up this morning. What Derek didn’t know was that Spencer wanted Y/N to be the absolute last person to know of what happened. Spencer shifted uncomfortably and was positive he was sweating more than he ever had in his 24 years of life.

“Morning, Derek! So, tell me all about it! Did you meet her? Of course, you met her, duh! What was she like? Was she a stuck up diva like her character in Wins and Losses or was she more down to earth?” Y/N questioned curiously with a hint of excitement.

“Oh, I think pretty boy here has all the answers you could ever wish for. After all, it wasn’t me who made out with a hot movie star in her own pool.” Derek laughed, eyes squinting as he clapped Spencer on the shoulder proudly. Neither of the two men caught the way Y/N’s face dropped. Spencer was too focused on looking anywhere but at her and Derek was too triumphant to look anywhere but at Spencer’s -alarmingly- red face. He attempted to clear his throat when the few seconds of stunned silence became much too suffocating. Derek turned back to Y/N just in time to see her collect her jaw from off the desk and morph it into a smile.

“Spencer Reid, you did what?!” She attempted to laugh in order to lighten the mood, hoping the two profilers wouldn’t pick up on her dis-ingenuousness. 

They hadn’t, thankfully.

Spencer’s shy eyes met her curious ones as he tried to imitate Derek’s proud smile,and he could have sworn he saw a sort of unfamiliar heaviness in her gaze, but it disappeared as soon as it came. 

Could it be? Was she feeling jealous? There’s no way, she thought. But what else could be behind the not so subtle burning feeling in her chest? 

“Um, yeah. She kind of pulled me into the pool with her…” he recounted with a small voice, scratching the back of his head nervously.

“And?” Derek said in anticipation, despite already knowing.

“Alright! We kissed a few times, what’s the big deal?” He huffed, turning to look at Derek and resisting the urge to punch him in the face for embarrassing him in front of Y/N.

Garcia suddenly appeared next to them, catching the looks between the two agents and Y/N’s shocked expression, “Oh! Are we talking about boy wonder locking lips with miss Lila Archer in her pool?”

Spencer’s face dropped, “How do you know about that?!” he all but screeched.

“I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere.” Garcia wiggled her eyebrows at Spencer before sharing a knowing look with Derek which led to a prompt punch to Derek’s arm from him which then led to an over exaggerated yelp of pain.

“I’ve also got photos!” Garcia said, quickly pulling out her PDA and showing Y/N.

“Garcia! How?!” Spencer exclaimed, but it was too late. Y/N was already scrolling through the photos, laughing.

“Spencer, you sly dog!” She laughed, though the situation awoke an unprecedented, seemingly underlying feeling of envy. Spencer rolled his eyes in embarrassment and stormed off in the direction of his desk, leaving the three of them behind. 

The rest of the day went by smoothly, although Y/N had to keep fighting against the way her chest felt tight every time she remembered those photos. She had a feeling she was never going to watch Wins and Losses ever again.

next chapter

feedback is always appreciated!!

[cotea]

i just finished shanheling and i have Thoughts. i will NOT be brief.

i don’t think i’ve ever been this sad to be done with a show in my life. i never expected to love it as much as i did? my pre release expectations for shl weren’t low, they were just purely non existent. when the first “serious” trailer came out in feb, i thought it looked good and i was genuinely excited since i was waiting for that adaptation for so long, but part of me was still disappointed since i just assumed they got past censorship by changing tyk to purely focus on the armory plotline. and then shl actually got released and promptly murdered all my assumptions in cold blood. i loved it, genuinely enjoyed every moment of it, even the ways it deviated from the source material. is it perfect? no. did it still hit every single one of my trope sweet spots? did it still score one hell of a touchdown with the most comforting, romantic, relationship that put unwavering faith and understanding at its forefront? yeeeh buddy.  

(again, i won’t say it’s perfect and that i wouldn’t change anything about it, this is not a household that believes that censorship leads to better art. but that’s a much longer, more complicated conversation for another day. and its hard to take the negatives against the show (pacing towards the end and editing/cgi mistakes being most commonly called out) when a lot of that can be attributed too how little resources the production received. it was still a very solid production despite how cheaply made it was.)

i’ve seen so many negative takes on shl characterization vs tyk for wenzhou, and it was absolutely a big change. especially with zhou zishu, who was a ‘tsundere’ to the very last chapter. it ultimately didn’t bother me—it was going to be an obvious modification from the get go. wen kexing doesn’t even need to be said, but shl tempering zzs was just as much an inevitable move for much of the same reasons the untamed shifted a lot of the causality from wei wuxian in favor of making a more clear cut villain out of jgy. 

censorship, for one, the mc can’t be a unrepentant mass murderer. and in tyk’s case that title belongs to both the mc and the ml. priest leaned into the gray morality hard with qi ye and tyk, some serious moral whitewashing was gonna have to happen before that show saw the light of day. but censorship aside, the changes with zzs were inevitable for the simple fact that he is not an mc that easily endears himself. and with the direction shl wanted to go in it was absolutely crucial for storytelling that he needed to be a character people could sympathize with. 

i spent most of qi ye and tyk wanting to fuck his shit up and he’s actually my favorite. tyk isn’t zzs’ redemption arc-my man was simply late 20s going on 65 and wanted to drink away his 401k. he fully believed that there was no point in dwelling in remorse. he’s not heartless, there are moments in the novel where its obvious that he is to some extent haunted by some of the things he did, but none of that changes the fact that he still stands by his choices and believes they were justified for a greater cause. what’s the point in wasting time when his expiration date is nearing and he hasn’t gathered near enough merits for his next life. tyk!wz were terrible people— in a cool motive still murder way. their book antics are far from la friendly. shl got around that by stressing them as more victims of circumstance. which lead to wenzhou both being much softer in comparison to their novel counterparts. which is great for me, because novel (high chaotic gremlin energies, sticky leech vs aspiring hermit) and show (hurt and comfort, us against the world tropes galore) give me two different dynamics that i really enjoy. 

i don’t have the energy to be a book purist, not when i’m trying to enjoy a bl adaptation that has to get dissected to hell and back by NRTA standards and is still in danger of getting pulled even after it's approved for air. 

(the shixiongdi thing...honestly just embrace it for what it can be: a vehicle for shixiongfucking)

shl was never going to be a loyal adaptation, that’s just unrealistic. censorship against lgbt media aside, you’ve got a budget that’s essentially loose change, timing constraints, small crew, and next to no backers—they had a lot of odds stacked against them and did the best they could despite. it wasn’t a loyal adaptation but it was still one that was done with so much respect and care to the original ip. 

there’s really only one thing that i can point out and wish was done differently or that i’m disappointed deviated from the novel and that’s the ending. bc as happy that i am that wenzhou achieved their happy ending together, i don’t think it would’ve been the future either of them would have wanted. their first choice is always each other, of course. but zhou zishu telling wen kexing that he plans to live in four seasons forever and that its a home wen kexing will always have open to him? or telling cao weining that he’d rather travel the world with his soulmate while he enjoys good wine? they were robbed. and its disheartening to think about why some changes had to be made that cheated them of that ending. 

if there’s one thing i will be grateful to this show for: it’s the respect and love had for the original work that led to there being no doubt—even if you know next to nothing about tyk prior, or even the reason why it has to be labeled a “bromance”— that shl is a romance. directed, acted, edited with the knowledge that it is a romance. it not said outright but it’s shown. in the way that it’s only around zhou zishu that wen kexing allows himself to be the kid that he never got the chance to be. it’s shown in the complete 180 transformation zhou zishu went through— from the withdrawn, wake me up inside officer zhou we establish him as to the softer a-xu he becomes as he slowly starts opening up to wen kexing. they show it in how, more than once, zhou zishu states that it wasn’t until he met wen kexing that he began to want to live again. 

shl makes sure that if there’s anything to take home at the end of the show, it’s that for wenzhou the rest of the world has no meaning to them if they can’t share it with the other.

[yukippe]

with one glimpse

this is inspired by and for @silima bc i saw her reychel art yesterday and went oh!! ao3

reyna meets rachel at the worst possible time. 

she’s losing her influence over the people that she’s done her best to hold onto at the seams for years. her sister has dealt with coups before, but there is something to be said about being a twenty two year old queen who has never had her authority truly questioned before versus a sixteen year old praetor on her second year of her term that has constantly been filled with thinly veiled insults and redirections to the opinions of her male counterparts. 

she is the only one willing to see rachel elizabeth dare, oracle of camp halfblood and her companion grover underwood, the apparent new lord of the wild. she does it because she knows that something is wrong. the greeks may have attacked camp jupiter, but it never felt right. 

reyna meets rachel at the worst possible time. rachel leaves an impression, of course, she is a legitimate oracle and all reyna has known when it comes to fate and prophecy is whatever octavian does with the teddy bears he cuts up. and, well. rachel is also someone that likely leaves an impression everywhere she goes. her bright red hair and paint stained jeans and nails with chipped, multicoloured polish make a clear picture in reyna’s head. if things had been different rachel wouldn’t have been able to leave reyna’s thoughts. 

but, it is a war and reyna is trying desperately to hold everything together when all the legion seems to want to do is follow the words of a power hungry augur who has never won a sparring match. and then the message rachel dare and grover underwood came to deliver sends reyna all the way to greece.

after everything, reyna knows no lost love for eros or venus, both deities having wreaked pain for her and nico. nico, however, reyna thinks is better than a godsend. 

seven months after the end of the giant war nico visits camp jupiter with the promise of setting her up on a blind date. 

at first reyna is skeptical. nico is a fourteen year old boy who spends every other weekend in the underworld and the rest of the time avoiding reyna’s questions about whether or not he’s going to high school. but, nico does have a very nice boyfriend and he claims that will has “an infinite supply” of lesbian friends her age. so reyna agrees to one blind date, on the condition that nico tours the campus of the high schools in new rome with her. percy likes to cut it on their iris messages to say things about how annabeth is going to have a high school set up in no time, but reyna always reminds him that not even new rome was built in a day.

the two of them are getting hot chocolate in reyna’s favourite cafe by the park with cherry trees that reyna likes to watch and keep track of the blooming patterns. nico is texting will under the table while reyna pretends to be interested in people watching the passerby on the other side of the window they’re seated by. a little girl spies reyna’s purple shirt and the golden laurel in her hair and waves, reyna winks at her. 

“ha, you spying new recruits?” nico asks, evidently finished making fun of whatever will sent him. 

reyna raises an eyebrow at him, “you were at the senate meeting where frank and i raised the age of voluntary service to sixteen. if she is interested in the legion, i will likely be long retired by the time she’s old enough to join.”

nico makes a face at her. reyna sticks her tongue out in return. most of the time she behaves better, but nico’s company makes her act like a child. could be the shared trauma, or the fact that they were both gay. nico’s phone buzzes again and saves reyna from embarrassing herself further in public. she looks over at the display of pastries at the front of the cafe and considers them carefully. hm. she walks over and orders a chocolate croissant for herself and an oatmeal raisin cookie for nico. his tastebuds are strange, but reyna’s learned better than to try and help him in months of their friendship. 

when she returns to their table she plucks his phone out of his hands and pockets it. she ignores his protests and grabby hands, “so. this blind date.”

nico retracts his hands and grins, she doesn’t trust it at all. “she’s going to be holding a blue hairbrush,” he pauses to snicker for no apparent reason. “and she’ll meet you at the library. she told me she’s going to pick a really weird statue to stand next to so you’ll have to make conversation while it’s staring down at you.”

reyna blinks at that. all the statues near the library are odd, so that won’t help very much. but the blue hairbrush should be enough to identify her. 

“what’s she like?” reyna asks. nico shrugs at her, so she pulls out the cookie she hid under a napkin and waves it at him. 

“she likes art and loud noise,” nico tells her as he reaches over the table and grabs the cookie from her hand. reyna lets him because she doesn’t feel like fighting him in the cafe for it. besides, by nico’s cagey standards that’s a decent amount of information.

she asks him if any of the friends he’s made at camp half blood would be interested in joining them on the tour they’re taking of high schools in new rome in a few weeks and he shoves his cookie into his mouth to avoid answering her. reyna lets him avoid her questions as she tries her croissant.

weeks later after a successful tour of colosseum high school with ten of camp half bloods young and at risk to monster attack teenagers, nico hands her a library book he forgot to return that she’s supposed to use for the girl he’s setting her up with to recognize her with.

“you’re going to get your library card revoked,” she tells him. “do you know how long it took me to get you one? you don’t even live in new rome yet.”

“i don’t like the sound of ‘yet’,” nico says. reyna bares her teeth as she smiles at him, but then she leaves him with his friends and a map to wander new rome for the rest of the day and makes her way over to the library. 

reyna has only been on a date that mattered once before. before the unsettling conversation she had with venus, she had tried to feel things for the boys who she knew she should like. no demigod will heal your heart. she is not thankful for venus, the goddess had been cruel and cruelty is not what reyna had needed when the goddess of love had pulled her away after reyna had risked everything on hope and her faith in her ability to survive. 

after the war, though, venus’s words had haunted her. reyna has never had time to think about attraction in depth, but piper’s reassurances that she might love a mortal or a god did not seem to be what venus had been alluding to. reyna has no interest in letting someone else heal her heart, and even less interest in any immortal figure. and. reyna had pieced it together with the help of her inability to tear her gaze away from piper’s beautiful brown eyes that fundamentally she couldn’t love a boy. 

she’d gone to lunch with a centurion who had a pretty singing voice and liked card games. it had been fun, but the other girl hadn’t really been able to separate reyna as herself and reyna as praetor. 

nico’s friend is from camp half blood and reyna has found since the giant war that she is very fond of the looseness of the greeks. she doesn’t like to jinx things, but reyna thinks today will be at least a day of fun. 

rachel elizabeth dare, oracle of camp half blood, is sitting at the feet of a particularly ugly statue of emperor constantine holding a blue hairbrush. reyna pauses in her tracks. a memory of the shape of rachel’s mouth as she said reyna’s full name the first time they met, months ago, plays in the back of reyna’s head. 

reyna met rachel at the worst possible time. nico’s given her a second chance. 

rachel is tormenting the pigeons near her when reyna walks up to her. rachel’s hair is cropped shorter than it was the last time reyna saw her. her nails are less chipped, and it looks like they’re painted in a rainbow pattern. 

“hello,” reyna says. she feels awkward, but she wants to try her best to be charming. everything about rachel is breathtaking. 

rachel looks up from the pigeons she was making faces at and sways. reyna reaches out to steady her. “are you okay?” reyna asks, concerned. 

“uh,” rachel laughs lightly and reyna wants to hear that sound many, many more times. “yeah! i’m find. nico didn’t seem to think to tell me it was you.”

reyna doesn’t quite understand why that made rachel swoon but she smiles at her, because she really wants to smile at rachel and it seems like it fits. “i tried to get nico to tell me who you were going to be, but he can be a bother when he wants to. i have to return a library book of his, but i’ll be right back.”

rachel grins back at her, “sounds good. hey, do you know who this unfortunate statue if of?” rachel points up at constantine and mimes a sick face. 

reyna can’t help but laugh, “yeah. emperor constantine.”

“wonder what he did to piss off the artist,” rachel muses. reyna laughs again and does her best to rush to return nico’s book without looking like she’s running to get back to rachel. 

when she returns she and rachel decide to walk though the park nearby and then go for something sweet after. rachel tells her she’s vegan and reyna plots a path in her head that will lead them to a gelato place. 

“so,” reyna says. “nico said you like art and loud noise?”

rachel blushes, it’s a little splotchy and it hides some of her freckles. reyna wants a picture of it. “uh yeah, i paint a lot and i think i’m going to apply to scad and some other more realistic schools.” she gestures to her denim shorts and reyna looks closer to see paint stains similar to the ones rachel wore when they first met.

“what do you like to paint?” reyna asks her. she wants to know everything rachel wants to tell her. 

rachel smiles at her and reyna can tell she asked the right question. as they walk rachel tells her about how they realized she was meant to be the oracle of delphi because she started to paint the future. now, rachel paints things to send a message or make people smile. reyna gets rachel to show her an oil painting she did of annabeth and thalia that percy commissioned her for for annabeth’s birthday. “he’s paying me in baked goods,” rachel tells her. “his mom’s blue chocolate chip cookies are better than ambrosia.”

reyna pauses her at that, “can you eat ambrosia?”

rachel winks at her, “no!”

rachel proceeds to ask her about her dogs, and reyna loves to talk about aurum and argentum. she’s telling rachel about how they like to steal her food even though they’re made of metal when rachel plucks a blue flower and tucks it into her braid. reyna trails off as she watches reyna, and her breath catches when rachel’s hand brushes against her jaw. 

rachel’s hand drops to her side and she meets reyna’s eyes. “reyna,” rachel asks, her eyes sparkling and her mouth quirking at the side. “this is a first date and all, but can i kiss you?”

reyna remembers how to breathe, somehow and nods. “yes,” reyna says, smiling. “i’d like that. i like you.”

rachel blushes again, and she places one hand gently on reyna’s cheek, and the other on rachel’s shoulder. reyna puts her hands on rachel’s waist and hooks a finger into one of rachel’s belt loops, she pulls rachel closer and she thinks rachel must be able to hear her heartbeat. 

gently, rachel presses her lips against hers and reyna sinks into the touch. reyna can’t think of anything else other than rachel. 

they break apart and reyna can feel a giant grin fill her face, it grows even more when she realizes rachel’s smile is just as big. rachel’s hands drop down and reyna lets go of rachel’s waist so she can hold rachel’s hand. 

“what’s your favourite flavour sorbet?” reyna asks her. 

rachel blinks, “hm?”

“we’re headed to a gelato place,” reyna says. she pulls rachel along the path. rachel laughs as they go and they talk about rachel’s strange taste in music and reyna’s guilty pleasure of badly made action movies. rachel’s hand is soft and reyna thinks the feeling of it against her skin is maybe the best thing ever.

[wolfsrainrules]

*crashes in* random but when you're in the mood- HCs on my Us-verse Class 1A? Particularly Us! Deku, Kacchan, Hitoshi, Monoma and Aizawa meeting the canon Class 1A and/or 1B? Oohhhh or Canon All Might and Canon Izuku realizing that Us!Kacchan is the bearer of OfA? Or just thoughts on meeting a Deku that's a DRAGON (particularly if HTTYD is a famous franchise in canon as well as Us). Or- anything really XD.

Ooooo hell yeah, here we go. I love this AU (LINK) for those curious, it’s an AU wherein Izuku is hit with a quirk while saving katsuki that turns him into- essentially- a Nightfury and it is FANTASTIC.

--Izuku would like to know why it’s always him. Like. Every time.

Kacchan, Hitoshi, Monoma, and Aizawa would ALSO like to have words with whatever is Targeting Izuku, b.c nine times out of ten, they get dragged along WITH him, and some of this stuff is RIDICULOUS 

Falling though a dimension portal is not fun.

--Thankfully Izuku can fly, and everyone involved is rather good at adjusting themselves midair for NightFury Flight Acrobatics, and everyone is relatively safe when they glide to the ground (Izuku still isnt fully grown, and handling FOUR people at one time, three larger, hero course fit males, and one full grown pro hero male was NOT as easy as it someday would be.

--But they all land, and no one is dead so NAILED IT.

--And then they see the others.

The other students. The Other Aizawa-sensei. The other Them. Everyone is frozen, staring at each other, both aizawa’s moving in front of their students, and eyeing each other for anything threatening, but the students?

-Izuku, Katsuki, Hitoshi, and Monoma are frozen, staring at the student to the side of the Other Aizawa. The student with green hair and eyes, who sparks like Katsuki does in their world, and they can’t breathe.

--Katsuki almost bursts into tears. That’s Izuku. THATS IZUKU.. THAT’S A HUMAN, GROWING IZUKU WHO DIDN’T SAVE HIM AT THE COST OF HIS HUMAN FORM.

That’s what his best friend, his brother, is supposed to look like

That’s what he would look like, if Katsuki had been faster-

--Hitoshi stares. He’s seen the very rare baby/childhood photos from Before of Izuku. He’d eventually earned the right to be shown them. Seeing Izuku human was...strange. When he scanned over the class in front of him he noticed a few things:

One: He was not present

Two: Monoma was not present

Three: Katsuki was much more...aggressive and angry. He wasn’t...balanced, wasn’t as stable.

Forth: From the sparks coming of Human!Izuku, he was the one who has Toshi’s One for All.

--Aizawa has never been so glad for Nedzu’s stupid code lessons for UA teachers. Now if only he could be certain they held true here, wherever here was.

“It’s a code TL-2377-D.”

Small mercies,  the other him straightens up after a moment where he can see himself flipping through codes. (Time Lapse 2377-Dimensional)

“Forced or Accidental?” 

Aizawa growls “Forced.”

--They don’t get much further than that when the air above their heads rips open, and the villain who had forced the dimension hop falls through.

--Izuku lets out a territorial, furious shriek and all the Others flinch at it, but the travelers react to it as they are meant to.

Aizawa turns, body braced, Monoma falls back to his side, hand  out and pressing into Aizawa’s neck, to copy his quirk. Katsuki throws himself up with his explosions, even as Izuku launches himself into the vertical climb that is still just as impressive as always. As soon as Izuku has enough lift and straightens out a bit, Katsuki falls into place on his back, and Hitoshi’s scarf flies upward, caught in a paw, before he hauls himself into his place at Katsuki’s back.

-They are focused and devastating. Monoma and Aizawa have their fair share of fighting too, capture scarf, carefully timed Erasure between the two of them, so that the villain never has more than a small moment of free quirk use.

Afterwards  you are totally right there’s a FLIP OUT when it comes out that Deku is a NIGHTFURY, bc HTTYD IS totally a famous movie set in this verse.

Deku rants about the quirk opportunities, as he is always liable to do, and Izuku rants RIGHT BACK and kacchan and Hitoshi and the others despair bc theres TWO OF THEM, and they’re both at Max Mumble speed but they can understand each other (bc at this point Dragon Izuku has TOTALLY got a high tech voice-corder thing from Mei that  can keep up, and BONUS he will later have vocal recordings of what his ACTUAL VOICE is/was supposed to sound like, you bet he’s gonna use that later) 

(On that note, Katsuki has a mental emotional upheaval the first time he hears DEKU”S VOICE- he’d almost forgotten what it sounded like WHEN HAD THAT HAPPENED, when had he FORGOTTEN- b/c he hasnt heard the RIGHT voice, IZUKU’S VOICE since they were children and this is....a lot)

Two Izuku who can BOUNCE IDEAS off each other at light speed with their genius minds able to follow the other’s leaps of logic are TERRIFYING for EVERYONE INVOLVED.

--Katsuki takes this time to have a TALK with his counterpart, b.c he recognizes all the rage, and spite and everything he had come to HATE about his younger self in this teen version of him. He can see it’s improved, but it’s....horrifying to see what he could have been without the things that happened to him, and if he can save THIS version of himself from having to suffer like he did to learn it? He’s going to. Even if he has to beat it into his own skull.

--Hitoshi takes this chance to talk to the OTHER Aizawa, ask if he was mentoring him HERE as well (answer is yes, NICE) and then offer advice. He can’t say THIS him wouldn’t be different, Probably would be, since he didn’t appear to have the support system Hitoshi did, but he can still offer it.

--Monoma takes a moment to chat, and learns very quicky that THIS version of him is still ABSOLUTELY suffering the complex of his younger years, with no Monster Trio to knock him out of it, and welcome him anyway.

He hands out advice on how to handle him, and answers what questions he feels he can, just in case this world is much different than his own. Hopefully SOMEONE can knock him out of it in the trio’s place since he’s not here for Monoma to do it himself.

--Basically everyone takes this as a giant learning opportunity and Izuku gives everyone who’s brave enough to ask a ride on his back, bc he gets it. 

Dragon.

NIGHTFURY.

(Look, even though he’s a nightfury now, Izuku still loved the movies and books too, so he can just imagine what these guys feel like in a world where Izuku never got turned into a night fury, and he’s not well known.

Everyone wanted to be hiccup.)

He....also possibly maybe manages to get the Other Aizawa to SLEEP for a while using the power of Full Body Purring.

Shhhh.

[waxeight06-blog]

Theories of aging

Simple single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, such as bacteria, are the earliest forms of life on earth, and still abundant today. Much later evolved the more complex, but still single-celled organisms called eukaryotes. From those humble beginnings came the multi-cellular life forms called metazoans.

All animal cells, including humans, are eukaryotic cells. Since they share a common origin, they bear a resemblance to each other. Many molecular mechanisms (genes, enzymes, etc.) and biochemical pathways are conserved throughout the evolution towards more complex organisms.

Humans share approximately 98.8% of their genes with chimpanzees. This 1.2% genetic difference is enough to account for the differences between the two species. It may be even more surprising, however, to learn that organisms as far apart as yeast and humans have many genes in common. At least 20% of genes in humans that play a role in causing disease have counterparts in yeast. When scientists spliced over 400 different human genes into the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, they found that a full 47% functionally replaced the yeast’s own genes.

With more complex organisms, such as the mouse, we find even greater similarities. Of over 4,000 genes studied, less than ten were found to be different between humans and mice. Of all protein-coding genes – excluding the so-called “junk” DNA – the genes of mice and humans are 85% identical. Mice and humans are highly similar at the genetic level.

Many aging related genes are conserved throughout species enabling scientists to study yeast and mice to learn important lessons for human biology. Many of the studies cited in this book involve organisms as diverse as yeast, rats and rhesus monkeys, and all vary in the degree of their similarity to humans.

Not every result necessarily applies to humans, but in most cases the results will be close enough that you can learn a great deal about aging from them. While it is ideal to have human studies, in many cases, these simply do not exist, forcing us to rely on animal studies.

Theories of aging

Disposable soma

The disposable soma theory of aging, proposed originally by University of Newcastle professor Thomas Kirkwood, holds that organisms have a limited finite amount of energy that may be used in either maintenance and repair of the body (soma), or in reproduction. Like antagonistic pleiotropy, there is a trade-off: if you allocate energy to maintenance and repair, then you have fewer resources for reproduction.

Since evolution directs more energy towards reproduction, which helps propagate its genes to the next generation of organisms, the soma after reproduction is largely disposable. Why devote precious resources to living longer, which doesn’t help passing on the gene? In some cases, the best strategy may be to have as many offspring as possible, and then for the individual to die.

The Pacific salmon is one such example, as it reproduces once in its life and then dies. The salmon expends all of its resources for reproduction, after which it tends “simply to fall apart”. If there’s little chance that a salmon would survive predators and other hazards to complete another round of reproduction, then evolution will not have shaped it to age more slowly.

Mice reproduce quite prodigiously, reaching sexual maturity by two months of age. Subject to heavy predation, mice allocate more energy to reproduction than to fighting the deterioration of their bodies.

On the other hand, a longer lifespan may allow development of better repair mechanisms. A 2 year-old mouse is elderly, while a 2-year-old elephant is just starting its life. More energy is devoted to growth, and elephants produce far less offspring. The gestation period of an elephant is 18-22 months, after which only one living offspring is produced. Mice produce up to 14 young in a litter, and can have 5 to 10 litters per year.

While a useful framework, there are problems with the disposable soma theory. This theory would predict that deliberate calorie restriction, by limiting overall resources would result in less reproduction or a shorter life span. But calorie-restricted animals, even to the point of near starvation, do not die younger – they live much longer.

This effect is seen consistently in many different types of animals. In effect, depriving animals of food causes them to allocate more resources to fighting aging.

Further, the female of most species live longer than males. Disposable soma would predict the opposite, since females are forced to devote much more energy to reproduction, and so would have less energy or resources to allocate to maintenance.

Verdict: It fits some of the facts, but has some definite problems. It is either incomplete or incorrect.

Free radical theory

Biological processes generate free radicals, which are molecules that can damage surrounding tissues. Cells neutralize them with things like anti-oxidants, but this process is imperfect so damage accumulates over time, causing the effects of aging.

Yet large-scale clinical research trials show that antioxidants vitamins like vitamin C or vitamin E may paradoxically increase death rates or result in worse health. Some factors known to improve health or increase lifespan, such as calorie restriction and exercise, increase production of free radicals, which act as signals to upgrade its cellular defenses and energy-generating mitochondria. Antioxidants can abolish the health-promoting effects of exercise.

Verdict: Unfortunately, a number of facts contradict it. It too is either incomplete or incorrect.

Mitochondrial theory of aging

Mitochondria are the parts of the cells (organelles) that generate energy so they are often called the powerhouses of the cell. They are subject to lots of damage so they must be recycled periodically and replaced to maintain peak efficiency.

Cells undergo autophagy and mitochondria have a similar process of culling defective organelles for replacement called mitophagy. The mitochondria contain their own DNA, which accumulate damage over time. This leads to less efficient mitochondria, which in turn produce more damage in a vicious cycle. With adequate energy cells may die, a manifestation of aging.

Muscle atrophy is related to high levels of mitochondrial damage. But in comparing energy production in mitochondria in young and old people, little difference was found. In mice, very high rates of mutation in mitochondrial DNA did not result in accelerated aging.

Verdict: Interesting but research is very preliminary and ongoing. Arguments can be made both for and against it.

Hormesis

In 120 BC, Mithridates VI was heir to Pontus, a region in Asia Minor, now modern-day Turkey. During a banquet, his mother poisoned his father to ascend to the throne. Mithridates ran away and spent seven years in the wilderness. Paranoid about poisons, he chronically took small doses of poison to make himself immune. He returned as a man to overthrow his mother to claim his throne and became a very powerful king. During his reign, he opposed the Roman Empire, but was unable to hold them back.

Prior to his capture, Mithridates decided to commit suicide by drinking poison. Despite large doses, he failed to die and the exact cause of his death is still unknown to this day. What doesn’t kill you, may make you stronger.

Hormesis is the phenomenon in which low doses of stressors that are normally toxic instead strengthen the organism, and make it more resistant to higher doses of toxins or stressors. Hormesis itself is not a theory of aging, but has huge implications for other theories. The basic tenet of toxicology is ‘The dose makes the poison’. Low doses of ‘toxin’ may make you healthier.

Exercise and calorie restriction are examples of hormesis. Exercise, for example puts stress on muscles causing the body to react by increasing strength. Weight-bearing exercise puts stress on bones, which causes the body to react by increasing the strength of those bones. Being bed ridden or going into zero gravity, as with astronauts, causes rapid weakening of the bones.

Calorie restriction can be considered a stressor and causes a rise in cortisol, commonly known as the stress hormone. This lowers inflammation and increases the production of heat shock proteins. Low levels of stress increases resistance to subsequent stressors. So, calorie restriction satisfies the requirements of hormesis. Because both exercise and calorie restriction are forms of stress, they involve the production of free radicals.

Hormesis is not a rare phenomenon. Alcohol, for example, acts via hormesis. Moderate alcohol use is consistently associated with better health than complete abstention. But heavier drinkers have worse health, often developing liver disease.

Exercise is well known to have beneficial health effects, but extreme exercise can worsen health by causing stress fractures. Even small doses of radiation can improve health where large doses will kill you.

Some of the beneficial effects of certain foods may be due to hormesis. Polyphenols are compounds in fruits and vegetables, as well as coffee, chocolate, and red wine, and they improve health, possibly in part by acting as low-dose toxins.

Why is hormesis important for aging?

Other theories of aging presuppose that all damage is bad, and accumulates over time. But the phenomenon of hormesis shows the body has potent damage-repair capabilities that can be beneficial when activated. Take exercise as an example. Weight lifting causes microscopic tears in our muscles. That sounds pretty bad. But in the process of repair, our muscles become stronger.

Gravity puts stress on our bones. Weight bearing exercise, such as running causes micro-fractures of our bones. In the process of repair, our bones become stronger. The opposite situation exists in the zero gravity of outer space. Without the stress of gravity, our bones become osteoporotic and weak.

Not all damage is bad – small doses of damage are in fact good. What we are describing is a cycle of renewal. Hormesis allows breakdown of tissue like muscles or bones that are then rebuilt to better withstand the stress placed upon them. Muscles and bones grow stronger. But without breakdown and repair, you cannot get stronger.

Growth vs. Longevity

Hormesis, like the disposable soma theory, suggests that there exists a fundamental trade-off between growth and longevity. The larger and faster an organism grows, the faster it ages. Antagonistic pleiotropy may play a role, in that some genes that are beneficial in early life may be detrimental later.

When you compare lifespans within the same species, such as mice, and dogs, smaller animals (less growth) live longer. Women, on average smaller than men, also live longer. Among men, shorter men live longer. Think about a person who is aged 100. Do you imagine a 6’6″ man with 250 pounds of muscle, or a small woman? Obesity, caused by excessive growth of fat cells, is clearly correlated with poor health.

Comparing across different species, however, larger animals live longer. Elephants, for example, live longer than mice. But this can be explained by the slower development of larger animals. The relative lack of predators for large animals has meant that evolution has favored slower growth and slower aging. Small animals, for example bats, which have fewer predators than other animals the same size, also live longer.

Aging isn’t deliberately programmed, but the same physiological mechanisms that drive growth also drive aging. Aging is simply the continuation of the same growth program and is driven by the same growth factors and nutrients.

If you rev a car’s engine very quickly, you can reach high speeds, but continuing to rev the engine will also result in burnout. It’s the same essential program, but different timescales (short-term performance versus long-term longevity). All the theories of aging point out this essential tradeoff. This is powerful information because certain programs may be beneficial at certain times of our lives. During youth for example, we need to grow. During middle and older age, however, this high-growth program may cause premature aging, and it would be more beneficial to slow growth.

As the foods we eat play a large role in this programming, we can make deliberate adjustments to our diet to preserve our lifespan as well as our ‘healthspan’. For more about healthy aging, check out my new book, The Longevity Solution.

— Dr. Jason Fung

Also published on idmprogram.com.

Source: https://www.dietdoctor.com/theories-of-aging