#blunt force

[ejzah]

Blunt Force, Part 11

***

“You know, I’m not a big surprise guy. I kind of like to know what’s going on, particularly given recent developments,” Deeks commented. Kensi had arrived at his apartment early Saturday moment, armed with a hot cup of coffee just the way he liked it, a donut, and instructions to get ready for an excursion.

Normally, he’d have a few questions, but three weeks out from his TBI, cabin fever had started to set in. The worst of his concussion symptoms had resolved, but he still wasn’t cleared for most activities that would he’ll pass the time. Definitely not surfing or running, which he’d relied on a lot to deal with both frustration and boredom.

So, he’d changed into jeans and a t-shirt, grabbed his phone, and let Kensi drive without any idea of their destination.

“Deeks, relax, I’m not kidnapping you,” Kensi said now, calmly driving along a road lined with a mix of gas stations, apartments, and retail establishments. He dipped his head to glance out the passenger window.

“Well, two minutes ago I wasn’t too worried, but this does kind of look like my old stomping grounds. Please tell me you didn’t stage an intervention with my mother.” He intended it mostly as a joke, but the surrounding area did look pretty familiar.

“Deeks, I’ve never even met your mom.”

“Really?” That surprised him after the amount of time they’d spent together since his injury. He started to ask why, but Kensi signaled to turn into a parking lot with a strip mall, which contained several chain restaurants, a boutique, and supplements store from what he could see. ��Did you have a sudden craving for the Chinese buffet?”

“No. Though the crab Rangoon from that place are amazing,” she said.

“I know. I used to come here all the time when I lived in the area,” he told her.

She flashed him an odd look, but didn’t say anything else as she slowed in front of a nondescript gray building and parked towards the back of the parking lot.

“Kensi, where are we?”

“Do you trust me?” she returned, fingers clamping and unclamping around the steering wheel.

“Yeah,” he said without much thought. She hadn’t given him a reason not to.

“It’s a firing range.”

“That’s what I thought, which leads to my next question. Why?”

Putting the SUV in park, Kensi sighed and turned to face him. “We spent a lot of time practicing and training, so I thought being in a familiar environment might, I don’t know, bring up some memories. And if not, it’s a good bonding exercise.”

“And we could do that at the buffet or a walk in the park. Literally, anything else,” he said. Kensi pressed her lips together, staying silent for several seconds.

“Do you trust me?” she repeated, more softly this time.

He narrowed his eyes, but didn’t call her on the blatant manipulation. “Ok, let’s go shoot stuff,” he said unenthusiastically.

Kensi rented two lanes for them along with ear protection. When the attendant asked if they needed weapons or ammunition, she said they had their own.

At this time of day, there was only one other patron at the far end of the room. Deeks instantly felt tense at the muted sound of gunfire, the smell of gunpowder.

Once they were set up in their lanes, Kensi removed a gun from her waistband. He instantly recognized the model thanks to way too many cases involving firearms.

“This is your preferred service weapon at the moment,” Kensi explained, offering it to him with the muzzle pointed towards the floor. “You switched from a Smith and Wesson a while back. Here, take it.”

“Guns aren’t my favorite thing,” Deeks drawled, side-eyeing the weapon with distaste.

“I understand, but I’d bet a month worth of dish duties that Hetty will ask for a firearms demonstration, so…” she presented the gun to him again.

With extreme reluctance, Deeks took the gun by the handle. The weight and coolness of the metal didn’t surprise him, but the vague sense of familiarity did. He hadn’t held a gun of any kind in his bare hands in over a decade. It felt odd, not wrong exactly, but certainly not something he enjoyed.

“Why don’t you take a shot?” Kensi suggested.

“Or I could just watch you.”

“Deeks.” Coming up behind him, she cupped his elbows, physically adjusting his arms and hands into the appropriate position. When she stepped back, he missed the warmth again his back. He automatically shifted slightly in a way that felt more natural. Raising his hands a little higher, he pulled the trigger, and the bullet pinged off a piece of metal outside of the target.

“Yep, I’m a natural,” he commented.

“It’s going to take a minute,” Kensi assured him. “Though I’m going to remember how bad that was later on.”

“Sure, keep making fun of the concussed guy.”

“Yeah, you poor baby.” Moving over to her own lane, she removed a second gun from her waistband, adjusted her headphones, and aimed with an impressive amount of speed, shooting several bullets in a row.

She casually stepped back with a smug smile and brought the target forward.

“Wow, that’s impressive. And kind of terrifying.”

“Thank you. Now it’s your turn again.”

“As delightful as your demonstration was, I don’t think I’m going to be any better this time around.” He tried to hand the gun back, but Kensi shook her head.

“Close your eyes and visualize yourself aiming the gun and shooting,” Kensi instructed him, and he followed along as she kept speaking. He’d never taken Kensi for the type to buy into this kind of thing. “You’ve done this a thousand times before. It’s second nature at this point. It’s easy.”

He focused on his breathing, letting his thoughts drift with the sound of Kensi’s voice. He imagined the times when he’d wished he could defend someone over the years. The little girl who got bullied by kids twice her age, the eighteen year old boy hurt in a carjacking, the terrified mom just trying to protect her children. Eleven year old Marty Deeks.

Deeks’ eyes sprang open and he raised his arms, gun held between his hands; everything stilled around him as he aimed and pulled the trigger six times. He lowered the gun, breathing as hard as if he’d just finished a race.

Beside him, Kensi reeled in the target, revealing six bullet holes clustered around the bullseye.

“Wow,” she commented. “I guess that muscle memory kicked in after all.”

Shaking, Deeks pulled the headphones off and shoved them into Kensi’s hands.

“Yeah, it’s fantastic,” he muttered.

“Deeks,” he heard her say, but he pushed past her, ignoring her repeated calls.

***

A/N: Was that too much?

[whumpookies]

Whumpingo: Blunt force trauma

Kan çiçekleri knocked out from behind.

Hey look @99point9percentwhump I got 1 line 🤣

[wombywoo]

/my head is bloody, but unbowed/

[venaacavaa]

This is so real

[adobe-outdesign]

Pokemon Legends Arceus: if you fall too far you'll break both your legs and die

Pokemon Legends Z-A: I'M PARKOURING ACROSS THE ROOFS WITH MY IPHONE FUCK YOUUUU

[strawberrinoz]

i made a new save file to fully experience 1.6. here’s a farmer redesign (click for better quality if you’re on the mobile app… 🙁)

she goes by ruru. she has rbf. she’s an aspiring crazy cat lady and she has no concern for her well being

ok that’s it ty

[gremmlingamer]

[bee-ina-boat]

I have a vision

[funkervogt]

Im not good at project zomboid at all but heres my girl her name is Tiffany Grace and she loves her life so much

[ejzah]

Blunt Force, Part 8

Kensi woke up with a terrible headache and feeling completely unrested. It took her a moment to remember why she felt so awful, then it came back to her with awful, stunning clarity.

She’d kissed Deeks. Or he’d kissed her. Either way, she hadn’t stopped it.

Honestly, Kensi couldn’t say exactly why she’d decided to cross that boundary. Maybe it was a desperate attempt to connect to Deeks when he couldn’t remember anything about their relationship. At least that sounded better than taking advantage of her recently concussed partner’s memory loss.

The last time they’d kissed had been fleeting and underscored by the immediate danger of their undercover operation. This time, she’d had enough to remember and appreciate the feel of Deeks’ lips on hers, the softness of his hair between her fingers, and the overwhelming desire that filled her. Then, after admitting how much she’d wanted to kiss him, she’d run off like a lunatic.

Groaning, Kensi rolled onto her stomach and pushed her face into her pillow. She’d just made their already complicated relationship that much messier. Their next interaction was going to be incredibly awkward.

She sat up suddenly as she realized the sun shone brightly through her open curtains. Ignoring the pain that spiked through her forehead, and grabbed her watch.

“Dammit!” she hissed. It was after seven, which meant she’d left Deeks to fend for himself for over twelve hours.

Fumbling for her phone, she checked for any new messages. Realistically, she hadn’t expected Deeks to contact her, but she was still disappointed when her only notification included a meme from Nell. Normally, Deeks would have sent her half a dozen messages, pretending nothing awkward had happened.

After a few moments of hesitating with her thumbs hovering over the keypad, she typed out a simple message.

Hey, how are you doing?

Kensi waited a full five minutes for a response. When none came, she put her phone to the side, and slid out of bed. He was probably just sleeping and didn’t need her hovering over him.

She managed to forget about Deeks for approximately two minutes straight while getting ready. As she brushed her hair, her thoughts started to spiral again.

What if something had happened to him? He could be sick from another bout of vertigo. Or god, what if the doctors were wrong and he actually had a brain bleed?

That last thought stopped her mid-brush through her hair. She couldn’t risk it. Throwing her still-damp her back in a clip, she pulled on the first pair of shoes she found, grabbed her keys, and texted Nell on her way out the door to say she’d be running a couple hours late.

***

Kensi knocked in Deeks’ front door for the third time, waiting impatiently for some sound of life. Again, images of Deeks passed out in the middle of the floor assaulted her and she started to reach for her keys again, intending to use the emergency key Deeks gave her during their first year as partners.

Just as she started reach for the lock, she heard a bolt being thrown and the door opened a few inches. Deeks’ face appeared in the opening; he squinted at her, wincing against the morning light.

“Kensi?” he said after a slightly too long pause.

“Hey.” Now that he was in front of her, clearly alive, if not completely well, she felt a little foolish.

“What are you doing here?”

“I—um, I just wanted to check in on you. I didn’t hear from you all night,” she explained, automatically doing her own assessment.

He looked awful. His skin had that slightly grayish tinge she associated with sickness with darker stripes under his eyes.

“I am so sorry,” she apologized, and Deeks gave her a confused look.

“Why?”

“For abandoning you. I said I’d stay with you and then I just left, and now look at you.”

“I’d be offended if I didn’t feel so terrible,” he said, and Kensi’s guilt surged. He opened the door a little wider, turning away as he waved her through with a grimace. “Come in. It’s too bright out here.”

All the blinds and curtains were drawn inside, leaving the living room as dark as it could get during the daytime. The coffee table had a few cups that hadn’t been there yesterday and a collection of random objects that made Kensi think Deeks had been trying to distract himself.

Making himself comfortable on the couch, Deeks rested his cheek on his fist, suppressing a yawn.

“Do you want some coffee or tea? I can make some. Or breakfast. I mean, I don’t really cook, but I can pour cereal or go out and get you something,” Kensi offered.

“Coffee sounds nice,” he sighed. “But you don’t have to wait on me.”

“I don’t mind.” She hurried off before Deeks could question her motives or she could say or do anything else to embarrass herself.

It took about ten minutes for the coffee to brew, and like a complete coward, she didn’t leave the kitchen the entire time. She poured them each a cup, carrying it back out to the living room.

Deeks had switched from one side of the couch to the other, an arm thrown over her face. She thought he might be sleeping until he peeked out from under his elbow, sitting up enough to accept the coffee.

“Thanks.” He inhaled deeply and took a cautious sip.

Kensi stayed standing, acutely aware of the uncomfortable silence, but not sure how to break it.

“So, are we going to talk about why you left last night?” Deeks asked, cutting right to the chase.

“I don’t know, I was kind of hoping we’d ignore it. Go on with our lives like it never happened,” she joked.

“Ouch.” The word didn’t have its usual snap behind it, but once again it was such a Deeks thing, her Deeks, to say, she found herself moving closer. “Obviously you can do whatever you want, but it doesn’t seem particularly healthy.”

Well, that was the understatement of the year. Sitting on the other side of the couch, Kensi heaved a sigh. It was so hard to dent Deeks anything when he was hurt and confused.

“We have a ‘thing’,” she explained, gesturing expansively with her hands to encompass their unique relationship.

“A ‘thing’,” Deeks repeated dubiously.

“You know, we flirt and probably have way too much physical comments, but never actually talk about how we might feel and mostly pretend nothing’s going on.”

“That sounds…confusing.”

“Yeah, well, we’re kind of a mess,” she admitted, and Deeks laughed softly, his grin lazy, and a little slow.

“So when we kissed last night—?” He gave her a questioning look and she ran her hands over her thighs before facing him fully.

“It was the first time.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” She offered him a grim smile, clutching her mug of coffee like it would solve all her problems.

“Where does that leave us?” Deeks wondered.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with any of that just yet.” She gestured again to indicate the kiss. “I do know I’m not going anywhere, I mean unless you ask me to get out.” Deeks smiled again and it gave her the courage to continue. “You’re my partner and friend and I will be here with you and for you as long as I can.”

“I think I can handle that.” Holding out his free hand, Deeks waited for her to bridge the gap between them and take it. When she did, he squeezed with just enough pressure for it to feel like a promise.

[faunandfloraas]

They have a way with words.

[givemedamage]

YOU LOSE!!!!!!!!!!

[hehe-etc]

sketching the blorbos <3

[crowhoonter]

A brute is rampaging in the Brockton Bay downtown area by my apartment, causing a general ruckus

Me, a thinker 3: Well well well, look at this. Another Brute class thinking that because they are big and strong means they're better than everyone else. Would you be surprised to learn that I'm a thinker? Do you even know what that means buster? My mind is running a thousand calculations a minute to beat you, to turn every move against yourself. Your silly little musclebound tantrum cannot begin to compare to my genius intellect, truly brains are better than braw-

He hits my body once with a single finger, turning me into a fine red mist

[rxttenfish]

hm hm hmmm. redesign liam sketches for the day.

vampirism, in the context of the redesign universe, is a magic-derived virus that ends up "regurgitating" the "memory" contained in the traces of the magic that makes it up to alter its hosts' features. its very poorly understood why the virus does this, or if there are any benefits at all, as usually the results end in simply killing the host. vampirism specifically is a bloodborne illness, felicitated through blood-blood or blood-saliva contact, and has been known to have a major non-symptomatic foothold in populations of blood-eating insects, as well as many animals that are also known rabies vector species.

every vampire was born a human, and still fundamentally is one in every way. they don't get any special abilities from the illness — liam has to wear a medical corset because his ribs moved upwards and began to fuse together, so his diaphragm is weak and he requires the additional structure, as well as having braces for his hands and knees/hips. they aren't a separate species, and if you ask one, they will call themselves human.

however, due to stigma, there is the preconceived notion in other humans that vampires have ceased to be one.