#but i hope we see firefly's crew in game Tumblr posts

[ruii-cha]

i'm not the only one who thought the new firefly trailer is a /whole/ lot like evangelion right-

artwork-minus-poster under the cut! and some other things. anyway yeah hope someone likes this! actually kinda proud of this but also they all look so similar how do i distinguish these four-

look guys come on it's evangelion- ooohhh i should have added fireflies- no i took like 5 hours plus to do this. nooo. artwork here:

[musubiki]

how was playing hsr? was there anything that you liked in the game and the story?

ITS BEEN AMAZING AS EXPECTED!!!!!!!!! i actually havent played genshin in a while since starting it, i have no motivation to do the filler event while a perfectly good star rail is sitting there waiting to be played :')

but for mechanics, i love they have auto battle so you dont have to nessecarily sit there and invest in every little battle you gotta do....and i love that the resin (resin??) system is a lot more forgiving with a higher cap, lower cost, and allow for overflow...thats nice...i also love that the mc and starter units are very useful. im so emotionally attatched to the star rail crew so im glad they never have to leave my team !!!!

storywise im LOVING IT SO FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i started playing it at the beginning of spring break 2 weeks ago and im almost all caught up!!! i went through belabog and penacony and now im just doing those leftover intermission main quests which im only now realizing i shouldve done before going to penacony LMAO

and of course.....danmarch....im so soft for them......and also i love sampo i cant wait to see what they do with him

[oh-my-may]

LET'S TALK HSR PENACONY 2.1 (or rather, have my impressions and thoughts on the main quest and some other stuff)

First of all, I went out of it with so many thoughts and emotions. This is not gonna be spoiler free (duh).

ACHERON IS SO FUN TO PLAY. Like, really really fun. Finally Simulated Universe is not an annoying pain anymore, and much quicker too. Thanks to a good friend of mine her relics aren't too bad either. She's already so fun to play with Black Swan, can't wait for a Kafka rerun now 💀

Aa for the story now: I FUCKING KNEW MIKHAIL WAS THE WATCHMAKER. I KNEW IT. Now to wait for them to confirm that Misha is connected to him, either as a ghost of his past self or a child or some sort. It's the only way.

It's also really refreshing to see that HSR is giving 4star characters significant roles in the story. First it was Tingyun, now it's Gallagher (and maybe Misha? I'll die on this hill).

Loved the pacing. Story was quite long and lots of gameplay but didn't feel overwhelming at all, probably because we didn't just stick to the MC the whole time. The characters split up and we didn't just follow the express crew but also Aventurine, I really loved that. It felt so dynamic and immersive.

WELT AND ACHERON INTERACTION. BRO. The way I gasped the whole time. We still don't have a canon confirmation of how Raiden Mei and Acheron or just generally HI3rd and HSR are connected but it's sp clear that Acheron is by far the closest connection yet. So sp excited to find out more about this. Raiden Mei, I'll love you in every universe.

Aventurine and Ratio are also very interesting to me. What does Ratio gain by involving himself in all of this? What does he get out of it? Anyway, their little journey through the mansion was nice. GIGANTIC RATIO. The kinda stuff my dreams are made of tbh.

Generally the whole Aventurine story got me right from the beginning. He's generally one of the most interesting characters to me (although this game has plenty of them). I gotta admit of course I was suspicious of him (as one should be of all Penacony characters) but I liked him nevertheless. This patch supported my feelings, my GOD HE xkdjjdjdjd. The way I cried. Since I played the story so late ofc I saw some spoilers/screenshots of his backstory but I never expected it to hit me this hard. Just wow. His ending, too. It's so bitter. Kinda hope we get to see him again, since he'a mot really dead, right? Just in some limbo.

His boss fight was really something. Not a lot of different patterns, but I still had to try a bunch of different teams, since you're kinda fucked even with just a single single target character in your party. Had to unbench Clara, and I gotta say, she came through for me. I might not have used the most meta team, but it worked soooo...

And just as I was glad I had managed the fight they hit you with that big cut scene, woah. AND THEN WITH THE FIREFLY SCENE? AND SUNDAY????

First of all, apparently it was common knowledge among the community since last patch that Sam was Firefly. Yeah, I gwt it bc of the leaks and stuff. But I'm just so confused as to HOW. Like HOW and WHY and just generally HUH. I can't wait for them to explain this connection (if you're reading this and you wanna spoil me with non-confirmed stuff then leave it, please, I might as well wait another 3 weeks).

And then Gallagher and Sunday... Just as I was admiring Sunday's beauty because he might legit just be one of the most gorgeous male character designs... THEY KILL HIM. When I tell ypu I was SHOOK. Mouth agape and all. Didn't know what to do. What a cliffhanger.

Now I don't have a real theory as to what I think will happen. If I remember correctly they said the main story will stretch until 2.3, right? I really wonder what else will happen, the story already seemed so huge this patch and I really wonder how it'll conclude. There's still so many questions and stories. Might add on to this post later when I have more thoughts.

Also Aventurine's banner just dropped but as of writing this I haven't pulled yet. Might add a little post later about it.

For now, have some screenshots I took during the story:

ALSO I GOT AVENTURINE. SECOND 50/50 WIN IN A ROW IN THIS GAME HAVE I FINALLY BROKEN THE CURSE. Now for the long and treacherous road of farming his trace mats and relics ... Since I never really prefarm 🥲

A pic I took in my excitement. Forgot the screenshot button exists.

[sun-marie]

xoti for character breakdown <3

How I feel about this character: I like Xoti a lot!! With all that goes down with the Gods in PoE1, I think it was very bold of them to feature a very faithful cleric in the second game and explore how she keeps her faith to Eothas/Gaun despite.... All That. I also like how she contrasts Edér and shows a darker side to the Eothasian faith, and the game never feels like it's out to "prove her wrong" for her belief, just to push her to explore it. Her design is also very good, it bridges the gap between monk and cleric very nicely!

All the people I ship romantically with this character: She's real cute with Maia imo, even if it sometimes veers a little into "manic pixie dream girl" for me (sometimes). Their relationship feels like they're finding a calm in all the storm and I really really enjoy that. And Firefly is an adorable nickname <3

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Honestly, with the exception of the obvious no-go's like Maia+Tekēhu and Xoti+Pallegina, I feel like the entire Deadfire crew could fit this spot for each other. For Xoti specifically, I think Edér is an obvious choice, I like how her infatuation evolves into genuine respect once they learn more about each other. In addition, I also love her friendships with Serafen and Aloth, I love the moment when Serafen looks into her mind and is like "uhhhhh HEY, watcher?", and the mentor-esque role Aloth fits into feels so cozy. She and Tekēhu also give me huge sibling energy, for better and for worse lol.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Again, no idea how popular/unpopular this is in the PoE fandom, but I personally really hate her accent. Like deeply. Like it's an issue I have with all of Deadfire actually, because in that game they decided to give nearly every Readceran a rural/southern American accent (including Adaryc who definitely did not have one before) and for me it dips into stereotype territory that I could really do without. Like, "oh the group of people with a strong belief in their "dead" god, who's all about forgiveness and redemption, and who are generally seen as uninformed suckers except when they're seen as sleazy religious cult-leading con-artists? yeah let's give them American Southern accents" like fuck offfff fr. At best it feels just kinda lazy when nothing else about Readceras really reads as "southern" (Xoti's name for example more brings to mind Chinese than Texan), and at worst I find it kind of offensive! It doesn't help that almost none of their accents sound very natural or well-researched, just kinda generic hollywood "cowboy accents" and that I've already heard plenty of that from CR's Imogen and FCG

It specifically bugs me with Xoti bc she can be both naive and super flirtatious, which imo is fine on it's own but those two traits + the accent rub me the wrong way soooo bad.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I hope we see her again, either in Avowed somewhere or in a future Pillars game <3

GIVE ME A CHARACTER: and I’ll break their ass down:

[zippy-reacts]

Sonic the Comic Liveblog: Issue 23

An Easter issue huh? Doesn’t feel that long ago we were covering the Christmas issue

So Amy, who was rescued in the last issue has gone missing again? I’ve heard good things about StC Amy, but I hope she doesn’t have a long string of stories of being the damsel in distress before reaching that point.

Wait… is that the official name for the firefly badniks?! …when I hear the word flasher something different comes to mind

New character! His crew all seem to be animals, but I can’t really tell what species Plunder himself is supposed to be.

Not counting the sentient extra life capsule, I think this might be the first non-Robotnik affiliated antagonist in the Sonic comic?

Everyone has a little oops moment like that every once in a while

I imagine that was a little awkward when he first appeared as a ghost. They appear to be buddies now though

Pretty clever of you Amy. Hopefully this points to her continuing to have a more active role in future stories.

The news section has a little snippet on Virtua Fighter. It’s so funny to read old articles that call these early 3D graphics realistic, when nowadays on some games you can practically see every skin pore of the characters

[urfavbooblover]

If your requests are open I would like Abby x female reader were the reader Is a firefly and she and a few others are in the city and Abby and the salt lake crew sees them and they talk and Join the fireflies

Hi, thank you for your request! It took me a while to finish this imagine, cause I got quite a lot requests rn, but I hope you like it!! Btw, I changed the “Salt lake crew” to Lev, because they searched for the Fireflies, at the end of the game, and I thought it fitted a bit more, so I hope that’s okay :))

Fireflies || Abby Anderson x female/non-male reader

Warnings: fluff, cursing

(remind me if I missed any)

- The last of us/pt2: masterlist link -

Y/N’s pov:

The warm summer breeze hit my face, as I walked through Santa Barbara. I’m with a few others from the crew, just patrolling.

I was a bit ahead of the others, not wanting to talk to anyone right now. I’m just trying to enjoy this weather a bit more, before autumn eventually starts.

My eyes were exploring the nature, as I suddenly heard a screech. I stopped in my tracks, and looked behind me. The others have seemed to noticed it too.

My hand lowered to my weapon belt, ready to grab my gun. We slowly moved forward, before the screaming zombie came in our vision.

We were about to get closer to the creature, but there was suddenly a gunshot, followed by the dead body dropping to the ground.

The rest of my people caught up with me, as we all watched a woman and a small boy, not so far away.

“Do you think it’s them?”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘them’”

“I got told, that there was someone getting in contact with us, over a radio. Their name is ‘Abby’, who’s searching for fireflies. They also said, it would be two of them to join us.”, I answered the question of my crew mate.

“Well, that would explain why they’re here.”

I turned around, seeing them already starting to trail off again. “Come on! We should talk to them!” I ran after them.

“Hey!”, I shouted, before slowing down, waiting for them to face me.

That’s when I finally got a closer look of these two… and holy shit, was she fine. I tried not to show my shock, playing it off.

“I’m not a treat! I just need to ask you guys something.”

The muscular woman gave me first an unsure expression, till her eyes dropped down to my necklace.

A frown formed on my face, when I realized I’m wearing my firefly charm. Fuck… what if they recognize the symbol? I mean, not everyone liked the fireflies back then.

“You know what? I think you’re the one we’re searching for.”, she muttered.

“What do you mean? Wait… are you-“

“Abby. Yes.”, she chuckled, her face now lighting up with happiness.

“Oh man… so you guys were the ones from the radio, right?”

“Yeah! That was me.”

We couldn’t believe, we found each other this way. My teammates seemed to be confused though. They’re just standing further away, watching with confusion written all over them.

“Usually here’s almost no human being out there. We were pretty surprised, when we saw you two wandering around.”, “I must admit, we got really lost, but now that we’ve found you, we should definitely return, right?.”

“Yeah, forget our patrol, new people joining our small group, is much more important anyways!”

On our walk back to the fireflies place, we kept on building a conversation with each other. The boy wasn’t very talkative, but I at least got to know his name. He’s called “Lev”.

Our base also wasn’t that far away, and we eventually arrived. I helped Abby and Lev get to the sign in, and the boss was very exited, about them being here.

I waited in front of my bosses office, when suddenly the door opened. Abby and Lev walked out, making my attention go back to them.

“How did it go?”

“It was going really well! He gave us keys to our rooms, explained everything, and tomorrow we’ll get some gear ya know.”, “But… she also suggested, that I should ask someone to show me around.”, she continued.

Her face already told me who she was thinking about.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there whenever you need help, newbie.”

____________________________________________

It’s been like a month now, since Abby arrived with her little company, and we already began a great friendship. We often hang out, whenever we could, and met up at night when we couldn’t sleep.

I can’t even see her as a friend anymore, I actually felt a little more than that. Anytime she’s around, I feel this little tingling in my stomach, and I know I like her.

But is it even worth it, falling in love in this world?

Maybe live doesn’t have to be so bad, I don’t need to make it worse than it already is. I should enjoy the moments I have, and spend them with someone who I truly love.

But I only want it, if it’s with her.

I didn’t realize me zooming out, until a certain person brought me back to reality. “What are you thinking about?”

I quickly looked to my left, seeing Abby standing right next to me. “Oh, just about random stuff.”, I shrugged my shoulders, giving her a kind smile.

Please let go of this theme-

“Well you seemed pretty ‘into it’, huh?”, she teased, with a laugh escaping her lips. Shit.

“Uhm… really it’s nothing.”, I chuckled awkwardly. “Sure…”, she nodded her head. I know she’s not believing me, but as if I’m going to tell her about my actual daydreams.

Especially if they’re about herself.

“By the way, I was thinking you and me, tonight. We could meet in my room this time. I found some stuff on patrol today, and you need to see this.”

“I’ll be there.”, I smiled, as she gave me two thumbs up, disappearing again.

I let out a sigh, after finally getting this conversation over. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely enjoy talking to her. I could do this for hours, but right now was just fucking awkward.

I watched the clock the whole evening, waiting for it to hit 12 am. That’s the time we always meet up.

And let me tell you how damn slow time went by today. I just can’t wait to see her again.

I made my way over to her little apartment, and knocked on the door as quiet as possible. No one knows about us visiting each other this late, and it should stay this way too.

“Hey there.”

“Hey.”

She moved to the side, letting me in.

“Okay… so what was what you wanted to show me?”, I asked with true curiosity. She hid something behind her back, as I furrowed my eyebrows.

And that’s when she showed me a bottle of… alcohol.

“Oh come on! Alcohol?! That’s what got you so excited?”, “It’s my favorited! Plus it’s pretty hard to find!”, she defended herself, as I could only shake my head and laugh.

“So… you want a glas?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Your loss.”, she shrugged, making me roll my eyes playfully.

I watched her take a sip, as her expression changed to a very pleased one. I never understood how someone could be so happy about this shit.

“Your face tells me you’re enjoying the company of alcohol more than mine.”, I remarked, hoping she would also just take it as a joke.

“Your company is the only I truly could not get tired of… okay, and maybe Lev’s.”, she grinned. That’s a nice compliment actually.

We laid on our backs, looking at the ceiling. Gladly, she only drank two glasses, I don’t wanna hang out with a drunk woman. Never could handle drunk people…

“Abby…”

“Hmm?”

“Did you ever like somebody? And how was it feeling in this fucked up world?”, “Pff…you’re funny, Y/N. But to answer your question, yes.”

“Oh, really? When?”

“Right now.”

My stomach dropped, as silence took over the whole room. No one said a word anymore. I don’t know how to feel about this…

I don’t even know who it is, it could literally be everyone.

“You’re not going to tell me, right?”

“Believe me, I want to.”

“Then, what’s stopping you?”

Her head turned to me, while she wore a serious expression. “Well… would you find it easy, confessing your feelings to the person you like?”

“But- you just did?”

“Huh? Oh- shit…”

I couldn’t hold in my laugh, after I saw how dumbfounded she looks right now.

But it didn’t last for so long, when I suddenly was pinned down on her bed. She held deep eye contact with me, before I placed my hands on her cheeks.

“Don’t be embarrassing Abby… I like you too.”, I whispered, and pulled her head more down.

Our lips almost touched, as I felt a smile forming. I was proud of myself, getting a woman like her all flustered.

“You should see your face.”, I chuckled.

“You should see yours, after this one.”, she mumbled, when she all of a sudden closed the gap between our lips. Well… she wasn’t wrong.

I melted into the kiss, her lips moving passionately on my own. If we wouldn’t be running out of breath so fast, we wouldn’t have pulled apart so soon.

She pressed her forehead against mine, glaring at me with loving eyes.

“I wanted to do this for so long…”, she said, in a slight raspy voice.

“Yeah, me too…”

[carnationcreation]

Could you write a Firefly imagine where reader is a little extra reckless on jobs and around the ship just so she can go to the resident doctor with her minor injuries and see him more often?

TITLE: Accidents (Simon Tam x reader) 

✌🏻Masterlist Taglist, Requests, and Works in progress!

Please check bio to see if requests are open before sending any in! 

Request: Could you write a Firefly imagine where reader is a little extra reckless on jobs and around the ship just so she can go to the resident doctor with her minor injuries and see him more often?

Prompt/summary:  Reader isn’t too careful around the ship resulting in many visits to Doctor Tam

Word Count: 664

Authors note: Sorry it’s super short but I just started writing for Firefly and haven’t found my style for it yet. Regardless I hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How did you even manage to do this?” Simon sighed. 

His patient on the table let out a light giggle as he pressed a cotton round onto her shoulder. The gash looked nasty, running from her collar bone down to the top of her bicep.

“I told you, I was helping Kaylee with the engine.”

Simon rolled his eyes, “Let’s just hope you won’t need stitches.”

(Y/n) lifted her arm up so the doctor could wrap a bandage around the wound. 

“Thanks doc!” (Y/n) said hopping off the table.

“You’re welcome,” he said, he yelled as she ran out the door, “Don’t go near the engines again!’

 She tried this time. Really really tried to keep herself out of trouble. And this time it technically wasn’t her fault. The crew was playing calvinball in the cargo bay to pass the time in between planets. 

Everyone knew I always played to win during these games, and as I turned to make the shot I got an elbow right to the nose.

“GAH!” I yelled, pulling my hands up to my face and covering my nose. The others kept playing. I pulled my hands away from my nose to see bright red blood on my finger tips.

“Uh, guys?” Kaylee said, bending down next to me.

The others didn’t hear her and continued trying to score.

“GUYS!” Kaylee yelled. Finally getting their attention.

“Are you okay?” Inara said, rushing over to me.

“Yeah,” I said, wiping blood off my face with my sleeve.

Simon gently moved Kaylee to the side and helped me stand up, “Let’s get you to the med bay.”

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held it against my nose.

The walk to the med bay was quiet except for the light hum coming from the engine room. Everyone had dispersed to other areas of the ship after my blow to the nose, leaving the ship quiet. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, “Just a nosebleed Simon.”

“Who elbowed you? Jayne?”

I chuckled, “Not sure, doesn’t matter much anyhow.”

Simon shook his head and helped me onto the examination table, “I hate these violent games.”

“They’re not that violent.”

“You’re bleeding (Y/n)-”

“Yeah and it was an accident. Accidents happen.”

Simon rolled his eyes, “Yeah and they always seem to happen to you.”

“And I have an amazing doctor to help me out when I get hurt,” I smiled.

He sighed, taking the handkerchief off my nose and looking up my nostrils with a flashlight.

“You really need to be more careful,” he said, “I think you have a slight nasal fracture.”

“I try to be…”

Simon reached for a cold compact and placed it gently on my face, brushing hair away from my head. 

“We’ll give you some pain meds, I don’t think it's bad enough to need surgery but if you’re breathing becomes worse we might need to consider it.”

“Alrighty doc.”

He turned and grabbed the bottle of pain meds. After getting out the dosage he gave them to me to take.

“Well, try to be more careful. I hate seeing you on this table,” he said. 

With a gentle kiss on my forehead he turned to leave, leaving me shocked with my face heating up against the ice pack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*If you signed up for my taglist but don’t see your name please message me!

Taglist:  

@thebookwormlife @talksoprettyjjx  @coolreallyfuzzystudentuniverse  @igotabadfeelingabouteverything @larrystylinson-sus @lovesanimals @aunicornmademedoit @thexhotmess @ssprayberrythings @registerednursejackie @nicolewithasoul @homealone200 @hemmingsness @persephonequeenofthedead @bookfrog242 @itz-jas @smol-book-nerd @thewifeofhades @igotissuesmister @carnations-red 

[cosmiccandydreamer]

Stability Chapter 11

Otis Driftwood x Reader

Masterlist is here.

"You listen to me, and you listen well! I am gonna kill every member of your family! I'm gonna hunt them down like the animals they are, and I'm gonna skin em' alive! They are going to feel the pain and suffering of every last victim!" A disgusting squishy sound-filled the empty void of the cell. Sheriff Wydell had stabbed Mama Firefly in the stomach and twisted it until the light left her eyes. 

He was done playing this cat and mouse game. Mama's last taunt and laughter that ran through the station after more questioning pushed him over the edge. He had grabbed a large knife from his office and stabbed her in the stomach. As she fell to the ground he stood and took in the scene of what he had done. There was no turning back now, people like these people are monsters he thought to himself and the only thing monsters fear are other monsters. He had discovered through the interrogation that his brother was indeed murdered by Mama herself when he had come to investigate the cheerleader's disappearance.

 Sheriff John Wydell's eyes widened at the sight of his dead brother getting up from the couch he was sitting on, he began stuttering "I'm, I'm walking the line on this brother. I'm... I'm walking".George Wydell scoffed and answered sarcastically "Well, mother pin a rose on me, that is so great! I want these motherfuckers dead! Kill 'em!" John Wydell jumped up in a cold sweat… oh it was just a dream he thought, or was it? It couldn't be this hard to be signed by his brother that he needed to avenge him. "I'm brother, I'm trying," he thought to himself. 

"Why are you over here all by yourself handsome? Married or not you don't gotta be all alone"... Candy had slinked over to where Otis was laying on the couch downing a bottle of Jack Daniels. The rest of the crew was partying with the ladies at the brothel. Otis wasn't in the mood to party though. He wanted to get out of here and get moving. 

He felt guilty which was surprising for someone like him, that he was here enjoying a safe environment for the night without knowing where you were. "What do you want woman" he scoffed and attempted to get up.. "now now lay down You look like a mess Is your back hurting or something I can give you a massage I am a masseuse Well at least I can give a good enough massage that feels like I'm a masseuse" Candy said in a sultry voice twirling her hair, "listen here woman I said I ain't fucking you so go on and get" Otis said shooing her away with his hand.

 "Hey now no one said anything about fucking! How about I help you out friend to friend? You just must be tense worrying about your old lady out there". She sat next to him on the couch, he slowly got up to face her, "just a massage right No funny business or I'll throw your ass through the window". "Duly noted" she laughed and helped him stand grabbing his arm. She led him to a soft mattress on the floor. 

Sheriff Wydell on the other hand was not having the best night either, he was racking his brain on what was the next step to take for finding the four of you. He found himself staring at himself in the mirror talking to himself "You know I got to tell you, that's some catch phrase you got there, Devil's Rejects. What? You got something to say to me clown, huh. I bet you scare lots of folks, don't ya? Yeah, regular fuckiin' killer. You want a piece of this motherfucker? You want a piece of this? Huh, what you got! What you got! Lord I am your arm of justice. Lord I am your arm of justice. Lord I am your arm of justice. Your righteous sword of vengeance. Let my blows be true. From the illusion leads me to truth. From darkness leads me to light. From death leads me to eternal life." 

"Ah sir? That guy you asked for is here" his deputy Ray Dobson knocked on the door to his office breaking him out of his trance.  It was his deputy, who made the connection that  the aliases the family members usually went by and their connection to the old Groucho Marx films. He also discovered that the Fireflies were associated with the local clowns celebrity Captain Spaulding. Hoping to gain some insight into this connection, Wydell brought in film critic Marty Walker for consultation. 

The over the top Marty illustrated how each of the killers named themselves after characters played by Groucho Marx throughout the course of his career. Things between Wydell and Walker quickly became unsavory when the critic made a remark about Elvis Presley. Marty head scateched his head while looking at the clues pinned to the board "that goddamn fucking Elvis Presley." Sheriff Wydell looked up at him with his eyes wide and full of rage. 

"What'd you say about the King?!" Marty was clearly taken aback by the sudden tone change and looked around at everyone else in the room before sputtering out "I said he died three days before Grouch…" Wydell walked very close to him, looked him deep in the eyes and slowly said "Marty... if you ever say another derogatory word about Elvis Aaron Presley I WILL KICK THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU!". 

"Boss don't you remember we had to run in with that guy Charlie not too long ago didn't he stay around with the guy named Spalding?" Ray quickly replied trying to defuse the situation. "Well goddamn you're right Ray… let's go pay Mr. Charlie boy a visit" he backed away from Marty and grabbed his hat. "Be seeing you Marty" 

Spalding had told Charlie that if he went and bought some fresh chicken He whipped them up some fried chicken on the house as a thank you for letting them hide out there. Unbeknownst to Charlie Sheriff Wydell had spotted him leaving the funtown and heading towards the chicken stand. He corners Charlie and demands that he give up the three of them and if he had any information on where you were he needs to give that information up to or it would not end well for him.

 He also asked him if he catches Otis in any compromising situations if he could snap a photo. It would be in his best interest. "I was also wondering," Wydell said, closing the car door a bit more on Charlie. He had closed his car door on Charlie's hands after instructing him to approach the vehicle once they cornered him in with their vehicle. "Is this girl with them by any chance? and I'm only going to give you one chance to answer me honestly" he held up a picture of you, Charlie shook his head viciously "no no naw she ain't with them gods truth man god's truth".. "god's truth hmm well you know where she is? I would like to have a little chat with her" Wydell replied. "Oh c'mon what's that lil girl gonna do" Charlie attempted to chuckle. "Hmm" Wydell said "looks can be deceiving, anyways tonight midnight I'll be seeing you". He released his hand and drove off in a cloud of dirt and smoke.

Back at the house unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it for Otis, Candy was actually a very good masseuse and actually did just give him massage without reaching for his penis which is what he assumed was going to happen. His back was killing him from the hours of driving and that shit van they had stolen from the family back at the motel. 

He also was holding a lot of stress in his shoulders from the anxiety of the plan not going his way and not having any word from you now for multiple days. Unfortunately now she wouldn't stop following him around which was starting to piss him off because one she was annoying and two his back was still hurting and he could have used another massage. "You sure you don't want another one I mean you passed out during yesterday's massage just let me do your shoulders just a little more" she said skipping toward him.

 He wasn't sure if she was just trying to be nice or she was trying to wear him down to fuck her or something. He sat cleaning his knife while staring off into space thinking about you and when you gave this knife to him. You were in town with Baby and wandered into an antique store. You knew as soon as you saw it you had to have it.. he was overjoyed at the knife and vowed to never go anywhere without it. 

"What took you all so long? You said you were just heading into town for some supplies tonight" He asked , slamming the screen door behind him and walking out towards the car. You had insisted on driving your mustang into town with Baby on a girl's trip while he was in the middle of a project. He was hesitant but he allowed it because he knew that you two could probably use some girl time, he wasn't the easiest to always be around. 

"Oh shut up Don't know why you always got to be rushing people" Baby replied flipping her hair and strolling past Otis. "Fuck you" "no fuck you" "no fuck" "Hey!!" You yelled waving your hand in his face. "I took so long because I got you something, I saw it and I couldn't pass it up". You pulled out a dark paper bag and handed it to him. He looked inside and got silent, it was a large beautiful knife. Taking it out the bag he held it in his large hands and studied it closely. "Shit darlin this, this is beautiful..for me huh?" "Yeah of course!" "Why though?" He asked looking back at you with general confusion on his face. You walked over and stepped up on your tippy toes to softly kiss him. "Just wanted to do something nice because I love you". You said patting his chest and walking inside after Baby.

 He stood there for a few more moments looking at the knife and tucking it in his boot. Once inside he grabbed you by the waist and kissed you deep. "Thanks.. ah.. I just don't know how to accept gifts, not used to 'em." "Well I'm glad you like it" you smiled up at him "had me worried for a second I was starting wonder if you didn't like it" "naw I love it it's going everywhere with me always" he said wrapping his long arms around you "just like you". 

"Stop hovering woman!! If I need anything from you I'd ask now get" he huffed at her looking back to his knife. She stood for a moment and turned on her heels and headed away. Charlie headed back to the house trying to swallow the anxiety in his throat. He didn't want to betry the group but he also wanted to protect his business and livelyhood. He stopped at the liquor store and grabbed a bunch more bottles of Jack Daniels, might as well get them drunk and make this shit easier. 

[abbystanaccount]

I wrote a new TLOU fanfic I’m gonna post here because it’s a different pairing and it’s little pointless but whatever it’s kinda cute

Anyway it’s rated T, it’s a Leah POV one-shot with some Leah/Jordan in it plus appearances from members of the Salt Lake crew. It was kinda hard to write her as a pov versus a side character but I tried 🤪

they don’t get it

It was near 1AM and the party was winding down. Manny and Nick were still trying to beat one another in some card game in the other room, and Mel and Nora had just left because they had hospital shifts the next day. Abby had come with Owen and actually seemed to be having fun for once and done quite a few shots, but she must have been exhausted from all the intense training she’d been doing recently as she’d seemed to have fallen asleep on her boyfriend’s chest. Abby had been asleep for nearly fifteen minutes but he didn’t seem in a hurry to wake her, holding her on the couch as she peacefully slept.

They were so cute together, Leah thought. She’d always been rooting for them, but she knew Abby had her issues. Losing your dad would be hard on anyone, Leah had lost hers long ago. Then in that hospital massacre that brought the eight of them so close, she’d lost her uncle and many friends. At least she still had her mom, who managed to become an English teacher here at the WLF, she’d done some teaching before the outbreak. It’d been quite the change in lifestyle for all of them since they’d first arrived a year ago.

Leah’s boyfriend was outside, smoking a cigar with one of the guy friends he’d invited. It was supposed to be just an ex-Firefly party, but he’d decided last minute he was going to stick around come too, despite not being really in the group. Leah had hoped he would have decided against it, he sometimes made situations weird among them all.

She could hear him laugh from outside. Her boyfriend, Frank, was a Seattle native. He was a bit older than all of them in his mid twenties, and he worked as a mechanic for the WLF. Leah’s friends were polite around him, but she could tell none of them were that big of fans. Leah wasn’t completely sure why, he seemed a nice enough guy.

When they first started dating six months ago, Nora had joked he was a spy from Isaac and Mel had made a face.

“You guys are dating now?” Mel had asked her with raised brows.

“Yeah! He’s really sweet and helpful,” Leah had responded. Frank had come to her apartment the week before to fix the refrigerator in her apartment and they’d gotten to chatting.

“I don’t get why he works out so much and he’s not even a soldier,” mused Nora, taking a sip of her drink.

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive,” retorted Leah, feeling a bit deflated.

“Like you’re gonna do all that and not help out?” chided Nora. “We have to prove ourselves and our loyalty so much and guys like that get away with doing the bare minimum. Not to mention I’ve seen how he acts with his friend group and he’s a prick.”

“You can do better,” Mel added.

“At least I’m putting myself out there,” Leah had said somewhat bitterly. She’d seen Mel give Abby and Owen the stinkeye, she knew that she was jealous of them. Mel should be doing what she was doing and meet new people, but Leah wasn’t about to piss her off and say that.

Leah’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Frank slamming the door from outside open, coming in laughing with his friend. Abby jolted awake on the couch, and Owen gripped her arm to keep her from jumping up.

Maybe I need another drink, Leah thought. She sighed and went back to cleaning up the party, the guys in the other room seemed to be entertaining themselves enough, but she was sort of ready for this to be over and go to bed.

Looking up, Leah Owen and Abby approaching her, his arm around her waist. The girls had gone in with shots a few hours ago, but it’d mostly worn off for Leah and Abby had drank more after that.

“We’re gonna head out. You need any help cleaning up?” Owen asked her.

Abby looked like she needed a bed ASAP, her braid falling out in pieces and head leaning on his shoulder. “No, no I got it. You get her home.” Leah smiled to him. 

They were using her and Frank’s shared apartment. She’d only moved in a few weeks ago but it was hard to get used to. Frank wasn’t even there much, and when he was, he tended to leave her a mess to clean up. It was like she moved in to be his maid.

Owen and Abby left, and it seemed Frank had somewhere to be too. Her boyfriend came up to her across the counter, saying he and his friend were going to head to another one of his friend’s apartment to catch another party for an hour. Leah sighed but smiled at him, giving her boyfriend a kiss. Then when he’d left, her face dropped as she went back to wiping down the counters. Leah was all for being an optimist, and the peppy one, but this kinda sucked.

At that, she heard the door to the other room crack open. Luckily, it was just the person she’d wanted to see.

“Did Frankenstein leave?” asked her friend, Jordan. 

‘Frankenstein’ was Jordan’s not so nice name for Frank because of his name and somewhat wide forehead. It wasn’t a very nice nickname, Leah wasn’t sure why Jordan had it out for Frank.

“You shouldn’t call him that.” Leah scolded, putting the last of the dirty cups in the sink.

“Because he’ll get mad again? I’m not scared of him.” smirked Jordan, running a hand through his dark brown hair. He’d been growing it out, it used to be so short when they were Fireflies, as had he. The eight of them had all been teens or just about when they’d been Fireflies, Jordan grew half a foot in the time since they’d joined the WLF a year ago. Maybe it was the good food.

“We get it, you’re taller than him and you go out and kill Scars. Big whoop, me too.”

Jordan leaned his chair back, “Yeah, you are taller than him, you have to lean down a bit to kiss him.”

Leah smirked, “I’ve noticed, Jordan.” He was giving her that look again, with the knowing smile. 

They probably shouldn’t talk about Frank when he wasn’t here. Plus he couldn’t change his height, so that wouldn’t be a nice thing to make fun of. Frank wasn’t even that short, it’s just Leah was quite tall. 

She changed the subject. “So uh, Manny lent me some of his mangas the other day. They’re pretty interesting, I guess. It’s weird to read backwards.”

Jordan grinned at that. Leah knew he and Manny both liked that Japanese stuff. 

“You did, huh? Which one?”

“Fullmetal Alchemist.” 

His hazel eyes lit up and his mouth opened in shock. “That’s my favorite one.”

Leah ducked her head down and pretended to be cleaning something. Her face was hot, which was dumb because she didn’t need to feel embarrassed or anything. 

“I know it is.” 

Leah could just tell Jordan was grinning. “Well you said it was good!” She exclaimed.

“It is, it is, it’s great. We can talk about it later.”

“Sure.” She agreed. Though then her mouth skewed at a bad memory, and Leah tried to push it away.

“What’s up, Leah Beah?” Jordan asked softy, using his silly rhyming nickname for her that didn’t even make any sense.

Leah shook her head, “I don’t wanna say anything bad.” She looked at the remaining party leftovers she had to clean up and felt all motivation leave her. Maybe she’d do it later. Sighing, she grabbed an empty stool and sat across for Jordan.

“It’s just, I love hanging out with all you guys. You’re all my best friends and we all... we get each other, you know?”

“Yeah, for the most part, I guess,” said Jordan, scratching his chin. “No offense to like Mel and Owen and Abby all them, but sometimes I wonder what goes through their brains.”

Turmoil, jealousy, deep rooted issues from trauma… She thought. Leah was thankful she was able to push stuff like that down.

“I know Abby and all them can sometimes be a handful, but like, we get why. And only we would get why,” said Leah quietly. She didn’t like to think back to that day. At least her mom made it out alright, some of them had their families destroyed.

“Yeah, I can’t stand the fucking side eyes from the people are here,” growled Jordan. “Like what do they want me to say? That we’re all traumatized from seeing our friends and family slaughtered? That we lost everyone? That I lost everyone?” 

Jordan was getting upset, Leah could tell by his voice. He’d lash out at times and Manny or Owen would try to calm him down, with varying results. On the road to Seattle, Jordan had told Leah about what had happened to his family, that he’d lost everyone years ago but his older brother. Then when his older brother died in the hospital attack, and he was with a lot of the younger teens trying to hide, he’d felt so guilty he hadn’t helped.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Leah took his hand in hers. He was shaking a bit, but it stopped after a bit. She could feel the pulse of his vein through her thumb. 

“We don’t need to talk about that. Nothing can change what happened. We just have to focus on the positives we have in life, that’s what I do” 

Jordan rubbed his face with his other hand and took a deep breath. “You’re right, sorry. I don’t want to blow up on you for no reason.” His anger faded then and he melted a bit, looking meek. “You’re probably my favorite person, Leah.”

Leah looked him in the eyes and gave him a small smile back. Her instinct was to say to back, but she realized dully that wouldn’t be fair to Frank. Jordan was just her friend, even though she cared about him so much and was maybe the his closest person he had left.

She settled instead with, “I’m here for you, whenever you need me.”

[felassan]

🔍👀 Ok, what are we looking at here? Concept art for the next Mass Effect game? I don’t remember ever seeing this image before.

Planetary exploration not unlike what we’ve done before in the Mako and the Nomad, only with a bigger than usual vehicle (well, more like shuttle). Alternatively, our ship this time around is smaller than the Normandy and the Tempest were, and it lands directly on explorable planetscape surfaces like the Tempest did in MEA. A squad of 4 (or 3+PC), or a crew roster of 4?

The image filename says that the vehicle is a “mud skipper”. The environment looks like mud flats or maybe salt flats, but it’s hard to guess what they intend the surface the figures are standing on to be due to the size of the right-most celestial body. The mudskipper has “XT8″ emblazoned on the side - Normandy SR-2, ND1 Nomad... Mudskipper XT8 / XT8 Mudskipper? Mudskipper could be a ship name or a class/type of ship. Mudskippers irl are amphibious fish that can survive both in and out of water. They live in swamps and estuaries and on mud flats and are noted for their ability to climb, walk, and skip about out of water. I wonder if this ship is also amphibious in capability?? I’m reminded a bit of the underwater chase scene in The Phantom Menace. “XT8″ doesn’t seem to bring anything to mind or bring up anything on the Mass Effect wiki etc, though I did find some non-ME-related telescopes [irl] with XT8 in the name (e.g. Orion SkyQuest XT8) which, while probably a coincidental thing, is interesting as the space connection is self-explanatory.

Picked my astronomer friend’s brain bc I couldn’t resist (@breezytealy. thanku!!! ♡) and they think that: from left to right the celestial bodies look like a moon, sun, and planet (possibly a gas giant) respectively. The planet looks too big in the sky when taking realism into account, so its size is likely a function of artistic license etc (as in like, it’s the artist’s impression of a planet in the sky, it’s big because it looks great that way). The figures then seem to be standing on another moon. If the big planet is big enough, it could be a double planet system or triple planet system that we’re seeing here. And if the big planet is a gas giant, the moon could be an Earth-like moon; a gas giant with a habitable moon is a sci-fi trope, like Pandora in Avatar and the forest moon of Endor in Star Wars. I wonder then if there are any known systems in the Milky Way or Andromeda which have a gas giant with 2 moons or a gas giant with 1 moon and 1 inner planet? For an Earth-like moon, if it’s following irl astro ‘rules’, we’d be looking for a Saturn- or Jupiter-sized planet in the star’s habitable zone. It could be that the moon is tidal-locked, so the planet hangs in the sky, but as there’s likely a second moon maybe not. Looking at the planet size it’s like if Jupiter was where the moon is from Earth. There’s some issues with this we think as there’d likely be strong tidal forces which would cause massive volcanism, especially if there’s a second moon, but artistic license.. I feel some ME wiki-crawling coming on, in case there’s any potential candidates for matching these kinds of criteria.. Breezy is leaning towards gas giant with two moons. 👀 (Hope this paragraph makes sense because I’m pretty sure I’ve garbled Breezy’s explanations)

The right-most figure is definitely a Salarian. Next to them it could be a drell. I’m less clear about the other two. The Salarian and the drell don’t seem to be wearing helmets so perhaps the atmosphere is breathable, survivable? Jack-style breather-facemasks are a possibility though, we probably wouldn’t be able to see the outlines of those from the perspective we’re viewing the figures at imo.

Overall this image has a smaller-scale-story, ‘exploring frontiers’-type feel going for it, as opposed to something massive and galaxy-saving in terms of stakes and scope like the Reaper War. It kinda reminds me of the Serenity and its crew from Firefly actually.

[lilsunshiny]

Thoughts on The Last Of Us Part II

WRITING (creative process)

the game’s storyline is straight to the point, you can see from the trailer that it’s going to be a timeline about revenge. the whole game happens around joel’s death in the beginning and I guess that’s the whole reason why people are upset. but guess what? neil druckmann’s goal was to make you upset, angry and nostalgic. he accomplished his goal and that’s why you’re feeling the way you are.

you not liking the the way things went down does not mean the game’s writing is awful, it just means you were expecting something and got another. not liking something isn’t a crime and it’s totally ok as long as you respect the creators and don’t use your hate to put others down, it’s a valid opinion and that’s it.

what makes a story good is the writing and the thought put into it to make the player/reader/viewer feel a certain way, and the developers did an incredible job to do that. we feel frustrated, anxious and weird the entire gameplay and that’s exactly what they wanted from us, which means they won. I’ll talk more about my opinion on the storyline far ahead.

the graphic visuals of this game are RIDICULOUS, they’re perfect. every detail is insane to look at, they worked so hard to get it right and it was so worth it. every time I entered a new scenario I would just go into photo mode and appreciate the art because that’s what makes the game unforgettable and groundbreaking. the red lighting scenes were so perfectly made and so badass, the sky when ellie goes outside the farm with JJ is breathtaking just like every other view in the game. by far the most beautiful game I’ve ever had the honor to play.

STORYLINE (joel’s death)

the first game gave us a story about love and hope, making us guide joel into taking ellie to the fireflies looking for a cure based on ellie’s immunity. we spend the whole game thinking we’d get to the fireflies, make a cure and live happily ever after but that never happened in those terms. the gameplay made us slowly fall in love with joel and ellie as characters, joel for his tough personality that would fade under the influence of a little girl and ellie for her nativity and innocence as a young teenager who really wants to help other people by making a cure. that’s the whole situation of it, joel getting attached to ellie while she developed a paternal affection for him but in the end joel ends up doing an unforgivable thing, basically destroying the hope for a cure and ruining all hope for the world to heal from the outbreak, so he decides to lie to ellie blaming the fireflies for everything so he doesn’t lose her trust and love.

I do understand liking and loving joel as a character, myself included, because they made the game thinking about it and they knew the audience would develop a major caring for him and ellie as daughter and father, that’s how it was supposed to go and it worked it.

now let’s talk about joel’s death. I think we were all surprised to watch him die so early in the game but considering the game time and storyline, it would have never happened differently. his death was brutal, violent, merciless and inhuman, abby and her crew tortured him until he couldn’t take it anymore and he obviously suffered with ellie being held to the ground begging them to stop. I agree that it was a horrible death but we can’t just pretend joel was a sweet innocent hero because he wasn’t, the audience portrays him as a hero when he literally stopped the human race from being saved, killing the fireflies and acting out of pure selfishness. joel isn’t the angel some people paint him as, he’s not a good person and if ellie herself could never forgive him for what he did, who are we to do so? she said she would try but she never got the chance to and it took her years to even come to terms with it.

most importantly, it’s obvious that people forget these characters are human beings, not real people but they’re real in that universe and technically speaking, they run and feel the same way we would feel if we were in their shoes. they’re people, every character in the game is a person, with feelings, a background, a past, a personality and thoughts. they’re no different than us except for them living in a post apocalyptic world were morality and ethics aren’t taken into consideration since there is no law or living lifestyle.

for us to understand this storyline, we need to step away from our society’s view of morality and wrong or right, because that does not apply to them, everyone in the game has killed people and/or have done something morally questionable in their life since it’s the apocalypse and there is no wrong or right, there’s only how the characters feel about certain situations and how they act on them, which is basically what guides the entire game to happening the way it did: human feelings.

joel obviously changed after the first game, since he starts living in jackson and having to raise ellie as a daughter in a relatively normal town with other people, he’s not the same person as he was in part I, now he turned into a father and a friend, not a merciless mercenary who doesn’t care about others. we see that when he and tommy decide to help abby, a complete stranger who was about to die in the hands of infected, and maybe that’s what led people into hating abby with their heart. but ending this topic, joel’s death was bound to happen, you can’t just expect someone to destroy the world’s hope for a cure and leave with no people being angry at him and wanting revenge, that cure could’ve saved many people’s loved ones but he chose to save his loved one. if joel is indeed a terrible person or not, that’s up to you to decide, that’s more of an internal turmoil within yourself that is different for everyone depending on their experience from part I and how they view joel in the end. it’s kind of messed up if you think about it, would you let the only person you care about die for a not confirmed chance of a cure in a world that is already doomed? that’s a question for yourself.

joel’s death happened so you could see things from multiple perspectives, which is the whole fucking point of the game. there are multiple sides to every story, it’s the same world we live in except in different circumstances. your actions affect others, people have feelings and if you hurt them they might act a certain way, those characters are no different than us because they were based on genuine human thoughts and actions.

ELLIE (growth and development)

ellie is one of the most well written characters I’ve ever seen in my life. she’s the symbol of badass but fragile woman and that’s so amazing to me. as the game goes by we start seeing many sides of ellie, she slowly starts to turn into a completely different person after joel’s death and her urge for revenge. killing abby becomes her main priority the second she leaves jackson and that’s clear in the way she acts and treats others. I’ll have to play the game again to pay more attention to ellie and abby’s behavior throughout the timeline. ellie is the reflection of how the excessive amount of effort you put into a negative thought, the more it will bring you and your loved ones down. watching ellie during the story is such a nice experience, there are times where you love her to death, others you get annoyed with her or don’t agree with how she acts, and that’s exactly how the creators wanted you to feel. revenge takes ellie’s soul from the inside out, from her not being able to forgive herself for letting joel die to her going after abby for nothing but hate for herself in the end.

ellie’s journey is exciting to play and to witness as her relationship with other people (specially dina) starts to fade away and being consumed by hate and regret. we were manipulated into loving ellie since part I and I don’t think she’s a bad person, she lost everything in the hands of other people and went through a lot, losing joel was a deal breaker for her but she just didn’t realize soon enough that killing abby wasn’t going to make things better. ellie’s gameplay was meant to make you reflect on losing a loved one, grief, mourning and revenge, she’s not the lost kid from part I anymore, she’s a grown woman who just lost her dad and she doesn’t even know exactly why. the funny thing for me, which is what makes the story realistic, is that ellie didn’t fully forgive joel yet she still suffered from losing him and went after abby for revenge, when not even herself could forgive him, that’s pretty realistic in my opinion. it’s the human uncontrollable instinct of still missing someone you’re mad at and not being able to say goodbye.

for me, ellie is the perfect and most detailed reflection of revenge and what it can do to you. the game is much more than “revenge is bad don’t do it”, we all obviously know it’s bad but we still have an urge to fight back against it and make the person who hurt us suffer too because it’s not fair for us and it wasn’t fair for ellie until the very last moment.

ABBY (point of view and perspective)

by far the most controversial character of the game. I’ll star off saying I actually like abby and I think the people who hate her so deeply just didn’t understand how things go. hating abby is no different than hating ellie, they’re in the same situation for almost the entire game. abby lost her father in joel’s hands, she was still a teenager and seeing her own dad die for trying to save humanity isn’t easy, just like ellie watching joel being tortured and killed wasn’t easy. being fully honest ellie would’ve done the same thing abby did if joel was the doctor and we can’t deny that.

on the other hand, I do think the ellie and abby gameplays could’ve been distributed better, maybe switching from ellie to abby and back and forth so it wouldn’t get too tiring or confusing since we don’t know the exact timeline when we first play it. that’s the only slightly negative thing I have to say about the game.

I do think abby is a great character, they built her perfectly to make the audience hate her in the begging, painting her as a sadistic monster only to show her side of the story later on in the game and make you realize that you have been wrong all this time, making you see the bigger picture and understand that ellie isn’t the only person in the world, she isn’t loved by everyone, she’s just a girl in the world and so is abby. they both have fucked up pasts and they both lost a lot, and in terms of personality, they’re actually quite similar. we love ellie because we got to see her grow up and WE know that deep down she’s not a bad person, the first impression we had of abby was of her recklessly killing joel with a golf club when ellie was begging her to stop, since that we tend to think abby is a horrible person and that ellie is an angel, but it’s not like that at all. obviously ellie didn’t do anything wrong up to that moment to justify that happening to her, but ellie isn’t the best person in the world either.

the duality in this game was created on purpose and with a deeper meaning, ellie is ellie, abby is abby and the cycle of revenge goes on until both parts understand that it’s useless to keep going. abby let go before ellie could and let her and dina live because of lev, killing joel didn’t change abby to the better, lev changed her. tommy couldn’t change ellie, jesse couldn’t change ellie and not even dina could do it, ellie had to change and forgive herself alone. the point I’m trying to make is that abby is no better than ellie and ellie is no better than abby, they’re both emotionally drained women who are not wrong or right in the end of things.

DINA (support and reflection)

dina is the only character I will 100% defend because she’s flawless and did absolutely nothing wrong during the whole game. in my head she represents ellie’s good side, dina is the constant reminder that ellie hasn’t lost her humanity and hasn’t completely changed into someone else because of revenge, even when she has her downs (example: calling her a burden when dina says she’s pregnant). dina is the most forgiving and loyal character, she loves ellie more than anything and it shows. the sad part of it is that even with dina’s huge amount of love and affection, that doesn’t stop ellie from going in the wrong direction, which brings us to another life lesson: loving someone is a choice you make everyday and nobody can control your choices when you’re determined to do something.

ellie decided to go after abby, dina followed and supported her the whole way through, then she took that for granted and left dina and JJ behind to go after abby again (after abby let her and dina live) officially breaking dina’s heart. that was a choice, dina obviously cared so much about ellie, loved her so much but she couldn’t change ellie’s mind. but the point here is that dina is a reflection of ellie’s bright side, she keeps ellie sane until the very last moment, saving her life multiple times, going with her in a revenge journey, “you go, I go, end of story”, telling the wolves to fuck off and staying by ellie’s side, constantly putting her life at risk while being pregnant, she has loves ellie for such a long time even before getting with jesse (you can read ellie’s journal where she says cat told her dina is jealous of their relationship) and she probably took ellie back when she came back from santa barbara (a theory that I believe in because it makes sense).

dina is one of the few positive ends in the universe of the last of us, highly optimistic, funny, beautiful and an amazing support system for ellie. if it weren’t for dina, ellie would’ve become a monster.

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION (ellie x dina and lev)

it’s 2020 and people are still talking shit about the game just because of queer characters. that’s why I say people who hate the game are people who either didn’t capture the story or just didn’t even try to pay attention because of a closed mindset bigot sandwiches. representation is the best path to general acceptance, making people see different stories and realize that someone’s gender or sexuality does not influence on the quality of art.

ellie is a lesbian, that’s clear in the game when she says she’s “not into jessie’s type” (such a nice dialogue by the way), she talks about her ex girlfriend and clearly has had a crush on dina for the longest time (probably the reason why she broke up with cat).

dina is bisexual, in my opinion she always had a crush on ellie but maybe she lost motivation to to after her when she started to get close to cat and started talking to jessie because of that and it ended up working.

now dina and ellie’s relationship is probably the only thing that keeps us sane throughout the game, when we sit down to think “thank god ellie has dina, that means she’s not alone”, which is basically the whole concept of it, ellie not being alone because dina is there to hold her to the ground and stop her from becoming someone she doesn’t want to be.

lev being trans is something I can‘t have an opinion on, I have seen both sides: people saying it was a good approach and others saying it wasn’t an accurate representation. I’m not trans so my opinion isn’t valid and I can definitely see why many people think it was a bad reach but I also can see the other side, so I won’t comment on that.

the nice thing about representation in this game is that they brought it up as a normal thing, the only moment the focus is sexuality is when seth was being a dick and called dina the d-word, ellie got defensive but dina stopped her from getting into a fight. even then the main focus of that situation was how ellie dealt with joel saying she didn’t need his help. the point was never ellie’s sexuality, never, not even in a single moment, because it was never an issue. in a post apocalyptic society people don’t pay much attention to being homophobes (unless they’re in a fanatic religious cult or just assholes like seth).

the game approached the subject very bluntly but in a normal way, not making it that huge of a deal but it is a big deal for those who seek comfort and/or are dealing with their sexuality in a way. if a character they admire ends up being part of a minority group, they can relate to that and feel more comfortable in their own skin. we’re here, we’re real and we exist even in a fucked up infected world.

ENDING + THOUGHTS (moving on)

the last of us part II is a story about revenge, being completely different than part I which is a story about love and surviving. what happens in the second game are the consequences of the first, the choices joel made reflected upon himself, saving ellie costed everything; the cure, people’s lives and maybe a brighter future. people who are bashing the game for it’s storyline and how things went down need to understand that it’s not because we love joel that his actions didn’t matter to others. joel is a human being, so is abby and those who got harmed by joel’s choice to save ellie. joel killed abby’s dad, abby went after him for revenge, a predictable and reasonable thing to do if you just try to see it from her point of view, keep in mind that ellie would do the same exact thing.

if you can’t get yourself to see things from other people’s point of view, you missed the whole point of the game. the storyline isn’t summed up in “revenge is bad don’t do it kids”, it’s just based on the fact that death can never and will never bring you any sort of relief.

the game is the reflection of the cycle of revenge. abby going after joel for killing her dad, ellie going after abby and killing all of her friends in the process, abby finally breaks the cycle letting ellie and dina live but ellie couldn’t get over the guilt and went after abby again, yet she ended up letting her ago and officially breaking the chain for good.

the whole concept of the game is how seeking someone else’s suffering can lead to full destruction of someone’s character and values.

if ellie had killed abby she would’ve turned into the monster she was fighting against and she would lose literally everything she hadn’t already lost: her humanity. I don’t actually know the exact reason that compelled ellie to let abby go, maybe it was losing her fingers and realizing that she’ll never be able to play guitar again, which was her very last memory of joel and what he taught her. it could also be thinking of lev and how he’s the only thing abby has and vice versa, which is what she had with joel and what was taken from her, therefore she didn’t want to turn into the person who put someone through the same pain she was going through. technically if she killed abby she would have to kill lev to avoid him coming after her and continuing the cycle and doing that would kill ellie even more.

to make this shorter, abby moved on earlier than ellie. mostly because abby actually got her revenge killing joel but you gotta look through things before you put all the blame on her. ellie lost everyone in her life, her parents, riley, tess, sam and then joel, going after abby was a defense mechanism since she couldn’t have done anything to save those she lost before, but losing the one who took care and raised her was something she couldn’t bare, specially when she thought joel was the only person she had even though they weren’t in good terms and she and dina weren’t a thing yet.

ellie needed to revenge joel at all costs because that’s what she thought he would want, but in the end she realizes he would want her to move on and be happy, because that’s what he always tried to give her: the best shot in life that he couldn’t give sarah. ellie thought that by killing abby she would be able to let go, when in reality she would just feel more guilty for leaving lev alone like she was having no emotional relief concerning her PTSD. ellie got to that beach fully aware that killing abby wasn’t going to solve any of her problems, but a single memory of joel made her make the decision that she wasn’t going to let her go without a fight. their final fight was silent, in the middle of nowhere, they had absolutely nothing to say to each other because they were both fighting for nothing but excessive mental emptiness. they both knew that nothing would bring their loved ones back and they were ready to move on.

what the game wants to teach you is that nothing good comes from searching revenge and other’s suffering. ellie gets consumed by her own view of justice and ends up losing herself both inside and outside, when she comes to terms with the fact that killing abby won’t bring joel back from the dead, it’s already too late. she lost jessie, her friendship with tommy, her good memories with joel, her fingers which results in her not being able to play guitar anymore, the love of her life and her son.

in the last of us part one ellie says that her biggest fear is to end up alone, and the saddest part of all is that her actions led her to making that fear come true. the ending is ambiguous, it can mean something different to different people depending on what you choose to interpret things and how you view the characters. for some, ellie could just end up alone looking for a life purpose that doesn’t involve anyone from her past. to others, ellie returned to jackson and proved dina that she loved her and that now she’s ready to fully commit because she let go of her anger and is at peace with herself and her inner struggles. but that’s all up to you to decide what you want to believe in.

at the end of the day, this storyline is beautiful, heartbreaking, breathtaking and emotionally draining. it makes you think and open your mind to new perspectives, which is honestly one of the best things art is able to do, create a new universe for you to deep your thoughts in and take your own conclusions. the last of us didn’t have a bad or good ending, it had a realistic ending. just because they didn’t make this the way you wanted it doesn’t mean the writing is bad, it means you’re probably disappointed and that’s fine, but hating on it isn’t the way to make a point.

I can only thank everyone involved for creating this world and making me so invested in it, connecting me with these amazing characters and emotions that I never experienced playing a game before. there is nothing more to say except: endure and survive.

[of-tatooine]

mercy. | chapter 6 - life

you shoot first and ask questions later.

Obitus.

Death. It had been one of the first basic Latin terminology you had learned all those years ago in nursing school, back when you had thought memorizing ancient words related to your studies was the hardest thing ever. Waking up early for clinical trials and cramming through the tests, sometimes crashing on the library couch were most you could remember from those simpler times but above all the memories, etched deep within your very soul and mind had been your remarkable professors - how much they valued life.

Human or not, all forms of life had always been sacred and should have been protected at all costs - those were the teachings they all tried to instill into young minds, doctors and nurses alike. People who were going to dedicate blood and sweat into treating others in need. The recurring doctrine echoed in your mind relentlessly through the years - if you were going to save lives, you were going to do so by not harming life itself first. Every single medical procedure performed, no matter how unimportant and mundane they seemed, had to do with protecting and letting prosper, and thus was sacred in some way of thinking. If needed, and it often was, you were always ready to completely sacrifice your own health and well-being if it meant doing good for the ones suffering.

Nothing ever came close to the pure happiness and wonder, knowing that you saved the patient in the operating room who would die had it not been for your help - an almost daily feeling back in a better time.

It seemed like you took more lives than you helped live these days. The sacredness of the profession you had chosen for a lifetime had slipped through your fingers when you had first pulled a trigger on a human being, the very creature you had sworn to protect, turned or not. Killing became the new norm in the cruel world, and it contradicted the very essence of your soul. Saving lives had been a losing game in a world full of bloodshed and mayhem, you would learn over years of pain. One you could play only for so long before you succumbed to your own demise.

For the time being, it had to be another one's death in exchange for your life.

It was just the way the world worked.

"Fuckin' hell!"

The residual echoes of the loud gunshot rang in your ears combined with the panting and gasping of the other man. Waiting only a split second to see the guy on your right crumble down on the ground with a sickening thud, blood and brains splattering around the cream walls, you ducked back to cover fast. Faint smoke rose up in gentle waves from the barrel of your gun, your chest heaving up and down in anticipation of what was to come next.

It would have been great if you had a fucking clue yourself. The honed survival instinct within you had screamed less heads the better, and it was a rule you had found yourself following often lately which explained the freshly-dead, bleeding body somewhere in the living room. What the instinct did not tell you immediately was how to deal with a damn Firefly whose best friend you had just murdered in cold blood, who maybe knew you or about you - neither of them increasing your chances of survival against this enemy. Seemed like you would have to improvise once again, you had been doing that an awful lot lately that led you to this fucking mess to begin with - yet you had no other choice but to trust your muscle memory and the leftover bullets in your handgun to get you through this.

The lingering soreness in your injured thigh was making that trust run out in a pretty steady pace.

Mutters of the approaching man could be heard as he took a couple of steps that made the hardwood vibrate, no doubt glancing at his fallen friend for any vital signs. Not finding any hope, you would hear him cursing out again, frantically breathing as a metallic click sound echoed.

“I'm gonna find you, you fuckin' hear me? Come out!”

The knuckles clutching around the revolver in your hands became white from exertion, the grip becoming vice-like as the creaking sound of the wood under his heavy feet made stealth impossible. Coming closer and closer, you could hear his rugged breath - terrified because of the unknown source of death looming.

Holding your breath in haste of what was to come, the adrenaline coarsing through your veins was what made you slowly slide up the wall and land a violent, well-placed kick to the man’s calf as the toe of his boots showed up through the archway, sending his gun go sprawling off with him collapsing in a loud growl.

The blow to his tibia would not be enough to break it, but it was a well-executed one to send him to his knees. Eyes sparkling with determination, a couple grunts of your own slipped past your lips from sheer effort as you took quick steps approaching the man clutching onto his lower leg, left panting, one hand trying to reach towards his gun over at the edge of the wall.

“Alright, now,” slipped out of your mouth, words rather uncharacteristically laced with some form of cruelty as your military boots pressed onto his wriggling fingers in a sickening crunch which made him scream his damn lungs out for all the neighborhood to hear.

“You fuckin’ bitch! I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you!” he drabbled in his last stand, spittle on the corners of his mouth, body twisting and turning, trying to claw at your leg. He did manage to, his hand reaching up to tear the bandage on your wound, dirty fingers digging into the sore ache of a scab through the fabric, sending you howling in pain. Without thinking, you would slap the butt of the handle onto his tugging hand through gritted teeth, your leg buckling and threatening to collapse. Your supporting one swung in a desperate attempt to kick the guy in his guts, landing and knocking the air out of him for only a second, giving you enough time to sit yourself down on his stomach, straddling him with a hand viciously pressing against his windpipe.

The pain in your leg as you knelt was fucking killing you, sending warm waves of agony all over your body. You prayed the wound did not pop open again - if it did, you were worse off living than dead. It had been no time to lick your wounds and worry about possible blood infection - with the cold barrel of your gun pressed against the man’s throat, your hand cutting off his circulation bit by bit. He must have been a new recruit, somewhat young - his face did not ring any bells from your old days and maybe it was for the best.

“Here’s how this is gonna play out,” you ordered, voice dripping in dark, dark venom, eyes boring daggers into his terrified expression. “You’re gonna tell me who the fuck you were searchin’ for around here,” the words continued, causing the man to gulp and cough dryly, his foot tapping onto the ground helplessly. 

“Or you can join your little friend over there.”

In a matter of seconds, his blue eyes seemed to be damn near exploding out of their sockets as he took a good look at your face, making you raise an eyebrow ever so slightly as you clenched your jaw. “Please let me go,” he started to beg this time, frantically, the taunts he used to throw your way long gone, writhing under your grip. “Promise I won’t fuckin’ give anything away… not a word outta me. Just let me go.”

Not able to comprehend just what the hell the man was rambling about, you did what you knew best to do - pressed the barrel tighter against his neck, tilting your own head as you inched closer to his face. 

“What the fuck are you squirmin’ about? Give what away?” you asked, your patience growing thinner by the second. The hand on his windpipe eased just the right bit to allow him to form words.

“We were lookin’ for you,” he confessed after a moment of silence, beads of cold sweat descending his cheeks, voice cracking and hoarse. The shock on your face no doubt readable from his stance. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, you would let out a growl, pushing the man more.

“Who the fuck sent you?”

“Who the fuck do you think? Marlene. She said she needed you and sent us over,” he gave out, pressure the barrel on his neck making the veins bulge on his temple. “There. I gave you everything. I swear to God I don’t know nothin’ else. Let me go,” the man would plead, not even giving you a moment to reflect on the new information you acquired that dumbfounded you, to say the least. He would stare at you from his position, see the unbelieving glints in your eyes.

What on earth did the Fireflies want with you again, let alone send men to gather you up? It seemed like you were pondering for a moment, mouth agape only for a second before you came to your senses and gave him a firm nod of your head.

“I believe you,” you would say before you pulled the trigger, sending one right through his throat as red splattered on your face from the impact, sending his head limping backwards as he gargled on his own blood in a relatively quick death.

“Christ...” you muttered to yourself, your brain running a hundred miles a second as you lifted yourself up and away from straddling the dead Firefly. It previously occurred to you that once you left the compound and got discharged from their service, you had been a free woman. That the Fireflies had way more to worry about than a surgical nurse who had escaped from their group. You had managed to get by on your own years after you left, and figured it would always be this way, only hearing about your old crew from the bombings in zones and the wanted posters. Why did the Majesty herself need you so damn badly, then out of all the moments, to the point that she sent actual men after you to your last known location?

Your thoughts were interrupted right away as the tall man and the small girl, who let out a loud fuck the moment the door swung open, stood in the doorway with Joel’s arm shielding her lightly from going further - until he was sure all danger had been gone, his other hand pointing his own revolver. His face that scanned the room intently, was a mixture - shocked, relieved, somewhat disappointed, and scared. It was some expression you could not discern but it gave away more than his usual demeanor - it did not take you much to realize they had stepped in after hearing double gunshots, maybe checking to see if you were dead and if they needed to finish the job themselves, though you had this hunch he had an eye on you as you infiltrated the house, watching from the windows.

It was ironic that a part of you wished you had been killed right there and then, after all. Any demise would be considered paradise compared to getting hunted down by your ex-kin, with you outnumbered and alone.

Yet the lone-wolf survivor in you, no doubt still running high off the pumping adrenaline, told you to put one in between both their eyes and just drive the fuck out of there, it was a good chance as any, but one quick lingering glance at Ellie who stood rigidly alert behind Joel - halted you.

Instead, you took deep, heavy breaths, with a bloody hand clutching onto your overworked recovering leg, all you could do was send a shaky, wide-eyed nod to the pair.

“You’re safe,” you would announce the visible fact in a breathy voice, as if you were trying to make yourself believe in that rather than them. “The keys should be around somewhere.”

Only after those words echoed in the house now littered with fresh corpses, Joel would lower his gun only slightly yet did not holster it, letting Ellie move a little move freely as he tossed you a brief nod.

Replying with a nod of your own directed his way, you let the pair rummage through the empty living room while you made your way back to your latest victim, kneeling beside. Crimson oozed in a lazy haze down what was left of his throat, coating the hardwood, the smell of copper sulking. His outstretched hand left in a sickening angle due to his broken fingers under your firm step. It was routine to search corpses for any goods that could help you survive, but this time, it scared you to death knowing what you could find inside those pockets of his.

“Found it,” you would hear Ellie announce with her innocent voice that should not belong in a world full of sins, the jiggling of a metal key ringing in the air much to all comfort.

Just as she found something in the means of her survival, you would come across the bane of yours, something you tried to bury so desperately in your past. From the breastpocket of his jacket, with trembling hands, you extracted the chain, its familiar twinkle surrounding you as the round pendant partially covered in dry blood rested in your palm before you tucked it in your pocket hastily.

And it proved all your fears, seeing that it had your name carved on it, in capitals.

next

[ohmightydevviepuu]

the red queen [1/1]

to @profdanglaisstuff​ for the suggestion; to @katie-dub​ for the gut-check and encouragement; to @thisonesatellite​ for existing.

happy (belated) birthday to a beloved friend.  i feel so lucky that we have found each other.

this is a continuation of my space pirates AU, sanguine, adj. ‘hopeful’.  (it also means bloody).  if the earlier parts were a premise pilot...think of this as a procedural.  shamelessly inspired by “the train job” (firefly 1x02) and “the three-card monte job” (leverage 3x09), because i think i am hilarious (sometimes) and i have a writing crush on john rogers.

proximity alert cell block 1138 a good day

AO3

The man was tall and dark. Broody type, scruffy-looking, but he walked into the bar like he owned it. Slid onto a barstool, let the length of his battered greatcoat hang behind him and looked around with piercing blue eyes that missed nothing. Within two seconds he was followed by a woman, tall and broad, beautiful with black hair that curled and hung nearly to her waist, just above the gun she kept holstered there. Their movements had the ease of old reflex: he walked ahead, ready to encounter whatever might come at them first. She stayed close, but behind, ready to watch his back.

The bartender eyed them warily, watched the man’s gaze take in everything. He turned to the woman and asked, “What’ll you have?”

“Whisky,” she said. “Straight.”

He turned to the man and repeated the question.

“Actually, mate,” the man said, with a wink directed not at the bartender but squarely at the vidcam placed over the bartender’s shoulder. “Is it okay if I just sit here until a gorgeous blonde walks in?”

Will Scarlet spit out his drink, drops splattering on the commscreen in front of him.

Where he was watching them, of course. No way was he letting that cheeky asshole off coms or off cams again. Ever.

Ursula snorted.

The bartender rolled his eyes. “Whatever you want, mate,” he said, pulling a bottle from the counter to pour Ursula’s drink. She threw an extra couple of credits on the bartop and shook her head in commiseration.

But the door opened and in walked an objectively good-looking blonde woman. Her hair was shorter than Ursula’s, a bit awkward really, not that Will knew anything about women’s hair, but it was still closer to Federation regulation-length than anything else and it was tied back in the sort of tight tail that the Feds encouraged for anyone with long hair.

She had green eyes and she stopped when the man’s landed on her, cocking her head and smirking.

“You’re kidding me,” Will muttered, taking another sip of his drink. “Smug bastard.”

“Hello, beautiful,” the man said. The woman stepped up to the bar and the man took her hand in his, bending over it to place a kiss in her palm. “Captain Killian Jones, at your service. Can I offer you a drink?”

The bartender’s jaw dropped.

Ursula shook her head and took another sip of whisky, ignoring the scene playing out next to her.

The woman’s eyes glittered. “Listen, Jones--”

“I prefer ‘Captain’,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

“I bet you do,” she murmured, leaning closer to him until her head was just above his ear. “Touch me again, Captain, and I’ll have you arrested for assault.”

“Is that a threat?”

The woman brushed her red leather jacket so the flash of metal at her hip gleamed and Will saw the bartender take notice. “It’s a promise.”

So did every other patron of the bar.

“Dammit, Killian,” Will groused.

Emma Swan turned and, with a wink of her own, nodded at Will in the camera. The bartender poured her a shot and turned back to the Captain.

Emma drank off the shot and left.

Will exhaled.

“How’s it going?” Robin Locksley walked up behind him, taking a seat in the co-pilot’s chair of the cockpit.

“You know, the usual,” Will muttered.

“Oh god, oh god, we’re all gonna die?” Robin smiled.

“Not yet,” Will said. “Give it time.”

Killian Jones, Captain, looked at the bartender. “A shot of rum, if you please,” he said, and the bartender sighed. Killian was fiddling with something in his hand as he fumbled for the requisite credits and then all of the blood seemed to drain from his face as he went very still, and very pale.

Next to him, Ursula tensed. Reflex.

She looked quickly to the camera and shook her head and Will drew in a deep breath.

“What’s up?” Rob asked, leaning toward him.

“Dunno.” Will shrugged. “Nothing good. You had to go and jinx it.”

From the end of the bar there was a sound.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

It was slow. It was the dripping water of a faucet.

Killian’s jaw muscle twitched and he turned.

The man had long hair, down to his chin in waves, run through with silver. His moustache and beard framed his mouth and tapered off at the sides.

He had piercing blue eyes.

“Hello, Dad,” Killian said.

Will was silent, his mouth hanging open. Next to him, Robin was still.

Emma’s voice crackled over the comm. “Did he just say--”

“Fuck,” Will said.

--

“Hello, dad,” Killian said, keeping his voice calm but feeling the twitch in his jaw and the itch in his fingers. He willed himself to be still, to look the man square in the eye for the first time in--

“I got a out, you know,” Brennan Jones said. “A while ago, in fact.”

Twenty years.

That’s how long it had been since his father left.

“Didn’t see you, though, at the prison colony spaceport waiting to pick me up in that fancy ship of yours,” Brennan said.

Twenty years since Brennan had left, twelve years since he had got caught running cons and games on rich marks on the central planets. The Federation, as Killian knew only two well, did not take kindly to larceny and thieving unless they were the ones doing both and Brennan had been caught, tried--and shipped off to ‘Neverland’.

They said it was a place where time stood still for its inmates, stuck while the world passed them by.

Twenty years.

“Yeah,” Killian said. “Yeah, I was kind of busy. Visiting my mother’s grave, you know. Visiting Liam’s grave.”

Brennan clucked his tongue in a noise that made Killian cringe. A noise that haunted his dreams on his bad nights, of his father’s disapproval, his indifference. Killian hated that noise and hated even more that it still held sway over him.

“All your life,” Brennan said, “you thought you were better than me. Never showed any respect.”

“What, exactly, did you do to deserve respect?” Killian said.

Twenty years, but Brennan still knew about the Jolly Roger, knew where to find him, knew exactly what buttons to push and strings to pull to make Captain Killian Jones feel like an angry child.

What else did he know?

Brennan turned to Ursula and said, with a tip of his head in affected gallantry, “Would you give us a moment? I’d like to talk to my son, here. My good-form, never-break-the-rules-son. Look at him now, yeah? Nothing but his own personal balls-and-bayonets brigade, living off the raggedy edge on the wrong side of the law. Nothing but a pirate, a criminal like his old man.”

Ursula ignored him, looked at Killian. Killian nodded. “Head back. We still have a job to do.”

His hand tightened around the crinkled piece of paper Emma had passed him.

The one with the name of their contact on this job.

Brennan Jones.

He thought of her and he tried to summon the feel of her fingers against his skin as if it would give him strength or hope or succor.

Maybe it did. Ursula’s eyes were black stones of judgment as Killian ran his hand through his hair and met her gaze and then, finally, she nodded.

“Pleasure meeting you,” Brennan called to her retreating back. “Now, about that job--”

--

“Run it,” Killian growled, his voice low and weary.

Emma looked around the cockpit, from Will to Robin to Nemo to Ursula and even to Ariel, who fidgeted visibly, more uncomfortable than Emma had ever seen her.

Whale stood off to the side, his arms crossed, shaking his head.

“Maybe we should discuss it first,” Emma said. “I know I feel a little weird--”

It was more than weird. It was downright uncomfortable. For the first time since she’d stayed with Killian, with the Jolly Roger and its crew, she was unsettled.

(Former) Federation Operative Emma Swan did not do unsettled.

“I don’t.” Killian bit down on the consonants, hard, each one clipped and harsh and as if they were spoken by a stranger. “Come on, Scarlet.”

“Sir--”

“Killian, sometimes you just need to stop and question--” Emma and Will spoke at the same time but then he stopped and looked at her. Emma took a breath and said, “Sometimes you just need to stop and think for a minute--”

“What is this, mutiny? An insurrection?” His eyes hardened. “Don’t ever tell me what to do on my--” Emma hissed, a warning, and Killian took a deep breath. “It’s a job like any other.”

If keystrokes could have emotions, Will’s were angry.

“Stop looking at him as my father,” Killian said.

“Can you?” Emma asked, walking up to him and putting her hand on his cheek.

He jerked away.

“But this isn’t, as you say, a ‘job like any other’,” Nemo pointed out. He was the only one in the galley who looked relaxed, his posture upright as always but with an air of ease that Emma desperately wished she felt. “And not because of who he is. Because of why he’s here.” Nemo gestured at the screen Will had projected on the wall and turned toward Emma. “What’s your professional opinion here, Operative Swan?”

Will had brought up a list of the charges against Brennan Jones: theft, fraud, bribery, smuggling, all across multiple systems.

Child endangerment.

Child abandonment.

Emma looked at Killian.

Killian looked away.

“No way he’s out of Neverland after only twelve years,” Emma said. “So--” her eyes were still on Killian “--trap?”

“Aye,” he said. His eyes flashed with relief and his jaw muscle relaxed. “Set up by someone else to do the dirty work. Blackmail, maybe. That’s how a lot of the big syndicates do things now. Quasi-government entities, some of them. Don’t want the dirty work putting them on the Feds’ radar and interfering with their legit scams. Keeps the blood off their hands.”

“So what’s Brennan’s game here, Captain?” Ursula asked.

Robin scrubbed a hand down his face and drew in a deep breath. “I imagine he’s got a chess board set up just like yours, sir.”

Killian’s answering look was murderous. “More like three-card monte. Keep the cards moving until he’s ready for you to see the queen.”

“Nah, he’s the one on the move.” Will turned around in his chair.

“How in the bloody hell do you know that?” Killian snapped.

“Facial scan, sir.” Will glared. “I tagged him and put my web-crawlers to work on the Cortex. And he just got a call. Sounds like he’s got sources planted across the world, and this one’s tapped into a Fed outpost. Core access across the entire sector, including SOS, maintenance, alarms. Brennan’s pushing him to tamper with it, cross the signals or some such.” Will squinted at his screen and crossed his hands behind his neck. “Your dad, he is not a nice man, is he? Must run in the family.”

The galley was, for one interminable moment, silent.

Robin smacked Will across the back of his head.

“Captain? What’s our play?” Ursula asked.

“Um, I have a question?” Ariel raised her hand. Emma stifled a laugh, and Ursula sighed. “If Brennan did all of these terrible things, blackmail and the like, why did he come here and hire us? If he’s so bad--”

“--what are they using against him,” Emma finished. “Against us. You.” Everything Killian cared about--was here. On the ship.

It was Nemo who answered. “This is about Liam?”

“Isn’t he--” Robin started to say, but stopped.

Dead. Liam Jones was dead, killed in the operation that Killian had fled with the Jewel of the Realm.

Slowly, minutely, Killian nodded.

“You think someone has your little brother?” Nemo spoke slowly in a soothing tone, as if for a small child.

Whale nearly fell over. “The hell--?”

Emma felt her mouth open. She closed it.

Unsettled. She did not like it. She did not like not having all of the information queued up and ready for her and this was something she should have known.

Something Killian should have told her.

A quick glance around the galley suggested that she was not the only one for whom this news was a revelation. She looked at Ursula, who blinked in surprise and looked at Will, who shrugged and looked at Robin, who shook his head. In unison, they all turned to look at Nemo.

“Younger,” Killian corrected him softly, almost as a reflex. “Aye.”

Nemo had eyes only for Killian, his eyes full of care and concern and quiet authority.

“Killian,” Nemo said. “It’s not your job to take down your own father.”

Emma took two steps across the galley and reached for Killian again.

This time, he did not pull away.

“You’re right about that,” Killian said. “It’s my gorram pleasure.”

His fingers tightened around Emma’s until she couldn’t feel them anymore.

--

“Killian, I don’t think we have enough information on your fa--on this guy. Not yet,” Emma said.

There were other things she could say. Maybe too many other things.

How Brennan had found them.

Killian’s younger brother, Liam Jones.

What Nemo knew that she didn’t.

But she didn’t say any of them. Not yet.

They stood out on the pavement in the middle of the city, or near enough--a city that was just big enough to boast the kind of multi-level skyscraper that was normally more prevalent across the Core worlds, but not so big that any of the buildings were in particularly good repair. They stood in the middle of a fair bit of traffic--pedestrians, land speeders, even personal shuttles buzzing in the sky for the gentry who wanted to show off, but not so much or so little that the five of them and their two Mules were memorable.

Emma, Killian, Ursula, Ariel and Robin stood in front of a building rendered completely invisible by virtue of its resemblance to every other building.

“We don’t even know if this is the right place,” Emma said.

Will’s snort made the earpiece crackle and Emma winced.

“I’m sure,” Will said. There was a beep in the background and Will’s voice was serious this time. “Okay, I think I may have an ID on a potential bad guy.”

“We’ve got the bad guy, Scarlet,” Killian said.

Which was part of the problem, as far as Emma was concerned. Brennan had backup and Killian’s instincts seemed to come from a pretty deep gene pool and that made Brennan one very dangerous guy with potentially more dangerous allies. Emma looked at Ursula, who shrugged.

Ursula was always going to back Killian’s play; well, so would Emma.

“Whatever you say, sir, but this guy Jefferson Chepalier has an interesting story to tell. They say he’s some kind of magician, just making things disappear from one place and appear in another. Weapons, credits, pharmaceuticals--you name it, he’s moved it.”

Nemo’s voice chimed in. “I’ve heard of him. Even the Federation is one of his clients.”

Robin’s eyebrows went up in silent admiration and Emma sighed. “I’ve heard of him, too,” she said. “He knows a lot of the right people in a lot of the right places.”

What did Nemo know?

Why hadn’t Killian told them?

Why hadn’t Killian told her?

“Well, seems like they had a bit of an ugly breakup,” Will said. “Busted last month and lost twenty million in merchandise.”

“Sounds like the kind of guy who could get someone out of Neverland,” Emma said.

“Sounds like the kind of guy who needs a big score,” Robin said. “Guys that desperate--”

“Yeah, it’s bad,” Emma agreed.

“Speaking of bad,” Will said. “Here’s some bad news: the system here is old-school. Too antiquated for me to tunnel in and hack.”

Emma rolled her shoulders and moved her neck from one side to the other. But this was nothing they hadn’t expected.

“I didn’t know some of these specs even existed anymore.” Will sounded offended, as though he expected more from his adversaries. “Getting into this would be like hacking a museum exhibit.”

“Which you’ve done,” Robin said.

“Nothing you can prove,” Will said. “In fact--”

Ariel giggled.

“In fact,” Killian interrupted, “it means we’re not going to able to stop him.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It means we’re going to have to help him. Just like he planned.”

“We’re on it,” Ursula said as Emma pulled a pair of cuffs out of her inner jacket pocket and stepped toward Robin.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Will said. “You just--happened to have those on you?”

Emma rolled her eyes.

“Do you always have those on you?” Will asked. “Because--” he paused, presumably watching Emma put the cuffs on Robin “--you are weirdly comfortable doing that.”

“Don’t I know it,” Killian muttered.

Ariel’s mouth dropped open.

“Ariel.” Ursula brought her back to focus. “You’re going in the back. Hook us in manually.”

“And Scarlet,” Emma said, “you keep your mouth shut unless you want me giving Belle pointers when she gets back from Persephone.”

There was an intake of breath over the comm and Killian said, “Shut up, Scarlet.”

“Okay, but--” Robin was resigned as the cuffs clinked into place “--what are we doing here, exactly?”

“All the alarms for the entire Andromache system run through this building,” Will said. “Banks. Private homes. Government systems. Transpo networks. Everything. My guess, Brennan wants to control which alarms get through and which don’t.”

“It’s what I would do,” Killian said. He did not look happy about it.

“It isn’t,” Emma said. “You wouldn’t have gotten us here in the first place.” She wanted to reach for him, to take his hand, to press a soothing palm against his cheek. But she had Robin Locksley in her handcuffs and, apparently, the fate of Killian’s heretofore-unknown younger brother in their hands.

Killian didn’t answer. Didn’t look at any of them, just stared upward at the facade of the building they were about to infiltrate.

“Sir?” Ursula prompted. “We don’t have to do this.”

“We’re the only ones who can,” he said. “Anchors aweigh.”

Emma looked at Ursula, who nodded and gave Robin a shove as they went through the doors.

--

Not only was (former) Federation Operative Emma Swan weirdly comfortable using handcuffs, Robin Locksley was weirdly okay about being cuffed. The whole thing was really weird, Will decided.

At least until--

“Can we hurry up? Being handcuffed in a Fed outpost is a recurring bloody nightmare of mine.”

Never mind, Will thought.

“Scarlet,” Ursula said. “How do we look?”

Will tapped a few keys and leaned forward to peer at the screen. “We will rule over all of this land,” he said. “And we will call it--’This Land’.”

Ariel chirped, “That’s a good thing, right? We’re shiny?” She was breathing slightly heavily from inside a crawlspace, where she had physically tapped the network while Emma, Ursula and Robin distracted the Feds.

“Means we’re tapped into every piece of wire and tech running through that place. We can block alarms, we can set alarms, we can track alarms, all through our own comms network. Nice work--very shiny.”

Ariel clapped her hands in glee.

“Now get the bloody hell out of there--”

The comms broke squelch with a burst of feedback so sharp Will had to shut down the system for eighty-three seconds.

And Killian, that rat bastard, did it on purpose.

Urusla’s voice was the first to break through when he got them back online. “Scarlet?” She was, as ever, sharp and focused. “Where is he?”

“He’s gone,” Emma said, sounding certain.

“Seriously?” Robin said.

“He’s gone,” Will confirmed.

--

“So,” Killian said, “let me tell you what I did.”

He was back in the bar, where Brennan Jones did not seem at all surprised to see him. Papers were spread out across a table in the corner and the bartender kept deliberately not looking their way.

Brennan smirked. “Oh, I already know what you did,” he said. “You let my repairman loose, fine. You think I don’t have another contact? You really think you can beat me? You’re not tough enough. You’re not ruthless enough. You don’t have what it takes, even with your interference--”

“Using a civilian was a dumb brute-force move.” Killian pulled his earpiece out of his ear and a small black box out of his pocket and held them up. “Rigged to the Fed systems. I control it now. I can destroy it. You were saying?”

“Well.” Brennan looked, for the first time, surprised. “That’s--well.”

“You’ve done your homework. You know that I stole the fastest ship in the fleet right out from under the Federation’s nose, so you should also know that I broke into Robert Gold’s space station and broke back out again. Severed his hold on the Federation council. Walked away after he tortured me. If I can do that, imagine what I could to you.”

All of that was true and yet--it had been easier to be tough in front of Gold than it was in front of his own father. He’d been doing that for Emma.

He wished she was here.

They were better as a team.

But she didn’t need to be a part of this. Not this. Killian didn’t want Brennan Jones even looking at her. More importantly, he didn’t want Brennan’s allies--whomever they were--knowing who she was.

“I did my homework too, dad. Where’s Liam?”

Brennan cleared his throat. “You’re being a wise guy with me?”

“What was it you used to say? ‘You’re too much of a planner, Killian. You have to be tougher to survive’. You’re so tough, prove it.”

Besides, Killian Jones always had a plan.

Behind him, Killian heard the sound of an old-fashioned revolver being cocked. He was, for a second, disappointed.

So predictable.

He looked around, started to turn--

Was stopped by an elbow to the back of his head.

After that, blackness.

--

“How long until we hit Paradiso?” Killian asked.

The train whipped through the countryside on the mag-lev track and Emma checked the map on her screen. “Another twenty minutes,” she said. “You should be at the foothills in five.”

“You’re sure?” Robin asked for the twentieth time. “You’re sure this was the plan?”

“He’s sure,” Emma and Ursula spoke at the same time, for all that Ursula was down on the train with Killian and Emma was in the cockpit of the Jolly Roger.

She wanted to be with him.

They were better as a team.

But that wasn’t the plan, and she was part of something now--part of a crew.

“Saw the maps,” Killian reminded them. “Had blueprints laid out for house party on Boros--some gentry have got a Lassiter there.”

“I’ve always wanted one of those,” Ariel said wistfully.

“Next time,” Killian said. For the first time in days Emma thought she detected a smile in his words. “And then there was a set for a hospital on Athens,” Killian said.

“Too much work. Not enough payoff,” Nemo murmured.

“Exactly,” Killian said.

“Three-card monte,” Emma said. “He wanted you to see.”

“Exactly,” Killian said again, and smiled this time.

“What’s the cargo?” Ursula wanted to know.

“No clue,” Killian said. “But since Chepelier was there--save the speech for later, Scarlet--I’d reckon it’s something that will get him his twenty mil back. And I’ll have some words for him about hitting me when we meet.”

“Something that requires an entire Fedsquad sitting on this train,” Ursula said.

“Not an entire squad, Ursula,” Killian said. “Just a few. Just enough to make it fun.”

“When those alarms go off,” Emma said, “it’s gonna be Armageddon.”

“That’s the idea, love,” Killian reminded her.

“Yeah,” Emma said. “Only I think you have a bit of a problem with your brain being missing.” She paused for a beat and then said, seriously, “Killian, it’s not too late to sit this one out.”

Behind her, Emma felt Nemo’s hand on her shoulder. He squeezed.

Killian didn’t answer. He said, “Start flying with the hatch open. Keep her steady, Locksley.”

There were no guards in the train car, just stacks of crates and baggage. Killian went in first and Urusla followed, sliding the door mostly shut behind them but leaving it slightly ajar as Ursula turned to fiddle with a canister she pulled from her satchel and the wires hidden in the door panel. Killian moved toward the center of the car, waiting for Ursula to hand him the screw gun.

He stopped and examined a particular stack of crates and then began to climb them, gently, stopping when he could reach the ceiling. Three corrugated iron panels stood between them and the open sky and soon there was not even that, as Killian put the gun to one of the rivets in the center panel and triggered it.

It made a sickening noise and Killian winced.

“Find the cargo,” he said.

“Thanks for the reminder, sir,” Ursula said.

Killian smirked and pulled the gun down, removing the rivet stuck in it before starting on the next, moving methodically from one to another until the last one is free and he lowered the panel as gently as the could.

It made a bit of a clatter, and Killian winced.

“Sir--” Ursula called, pointing at a stack of boxes.

“Shiny,” Killian whispered. “Brilliant. Get it over here.”

He had barely finished speaking when the net dropped into the hole in the roof of the train.

“Fifteen seconds,” Emma said.

The canister popped just when the wire pulled.

Immediately, there was a ringing noise that echoed through the train car.

“Alarms are set,” Scarlet said, his voice grim. “Feds on your door and Brennan--”

“I’ll worry about Brennan,” Killian said as the door opened fully and the gas released by Ursula’s canister blinded the Fed sent to investigate. With movements both precise and brutal, Killian disarmed him and had him on the ground, unconscious, in seconds.

He and Ursula closed the door behind them just as the comm started blaring and the train began to slow as they pulled into Paradiso.

--

Brennan Jones walked up to the makeshift processing site outside of Paradiso.

It was utter chaos.

Every person around him was screaming into a comm. “What do you mean, we’ve got another alarm call--a third one?!!--multiple code ones at the following sites--roll out--send backup--every available unit!”

It was the house party full of gentry on Boros that sweetened the deal. Feds wouldn’t normally roll out for a bunch of hicks coming in from Hancock. Alarms going off on Boros, on Athens, across Regina--that was a different story.

All hail the might Federation, though it was a shame about the Lassiter. That would fetch a tidy fortune on the black market.

Next time.

--

(Former) Federation Operative Emma Swan walked into the makeshift processing site the locals had set up outside Paradiso.

Where the train had stopped.

After some thieves put a hole in the roof.

It was utter chaos, every person around her screaming into a comm, Feds literally walking in circles--

Except for the poor, understaffed local constabulary, who had been left to deal with the passengers.

Killian and Ursula were off to the side, cuffed and under the watchful eyes of someone who looked like a local sheriff. He looked tired, and frustrated--was likely both of those things, now the Feds were off the train and in his backyard--and did not manage to keep his sigh inaudible as she approached.

Emma flashed her badge fast enough that the lawman wouldn’t be able to get a good look at the code designation that was now invalid. She gave him a half-grin as she did so, carefully calculated.

Empathetic. Brisk. Efficient.

Not here to ruin his day.

She was here to save it, in fact, but he had no way of knowing that.

“You Nolan?” she asked, and he gave her a wan smile. “I’m Swan.”

--

Brennan watched the scene playing out before him.

“No, I can’t send confirmation,” a particularly harried ensign snapped. “This is an all-network alert! Cargo theft--”

Brennan hovered genially near the harried-looking ensign, a petite woman with her hair tied in a regulation-style knot, and smile the kind of smile that was warm enough but completely unmemorable as he waved a datapad in the air with a kind of ‘what can you do’ shrug.

The ensign barely spared him a glance before waving him away, his presence already accounted for and forgotten, and Brennan inched closer to the train, where he was met by a tall blonde man in a uniform who asked, bored, “Status?”

Brennan handed the datasheet over, a transfer order flickering across its surface.

“You’re expecting me,” Brennan said. “Evidence transfer.”

“That’s right, you bastard,” Will muttered at his tablet. “Captain, are you sure--”

“You know the plan, Will.”

“We could just tell the Feds--”

“Oh, I’ve got him,” Killian said. “Gonna look him in the eye when he goes down.”

“Evidence transfer,” the blonde man said, frowning as he looked at the datasheet. “About that--”

He stopped as Ariel, her hair out of its knot, came up behind Brennan Jones, tapped him on the shoulder, and punched him.

Victor Whale pulled off his uniform cap and winced. Ariel was tiny, but she packed a right hook like a freight train.

“Ooooooof,” Will murmured.

--

Emma thought she heard the sheriff mutter about gorram time but not loud enough she had to acknowledge it. “You know there’s a whole spate of robberies across the system today,” she said casually. “Alarms going off anywhere.”

Implied: you’re lucky I showed up at all.

“Rumor has it they were after millions,” Nolan said. “You here for evidence holding?”

Emma only just managed to keep the sneer off of her face.

“Evidence holding”. That’s what the Feds were calling it now.

Emma shrugged. “Above my paygrade. I’m just here for those two.” She nodded with her chin at Ursula and Killian.

“I knew something about his story smelled,” he said, shaking his head and checking his datapad for the passenger manifest.

“Yeah, that’s him,” Emma said, sending a surreptitious wink toward Killian. “It’s not the only thing about him that does.”

In her earpiece she heard him chuckle.

“They’ve been bound?”

“Not yet,” Nolan said. “I--”

“Don’t worry about it,” Emma said. “You just get the rest of these citizens back on this train and on their way. I’ll take care of them.”

--

Ariel shrugged and ducked as Brennan made a pass at Whale and she pulled out a tranq gun--

“That’s enough, Ariel,” Killian said, walking up behind them, a cuff dangling from one wrist while he worked the other free. “It’s going to end right here, dad. You ready? Let me tell you what I did.”

“How did you know?” Brennan looked--bemused.

Almost impressed.

Killian reached into his greatcoat pocket and removed a small black box wired to an earpiece.

“Let’s try this one more time, shall we?”

--

“What’s the trick to three-card monte?” Killian asked, advancing on his father. “The red queen’s never even on the table. But it was a nice move, dad, knocking me out. Letting me deduce your plan. I didn’t even need this--” he held up the black box, pulled from his pocket “--to get inside your head. And all the time, you’re playing me. Playing my crew.”

Ursula, Ariel and Whale stood behind him and Will laughed at the screen. Big damn heroes.

“You tried to make me a pawn in your game. You tried to make Liam a pawn in your game. But here’s the thing, dad: you’re only a pawn if you don’t know you’re being played. And I always know. You taught me that.”

“Twenty million is a lot of money, Killian,” Brennan said.

Killian exhaled a laugh through his nostrils. “It’s not about the money. It never was. You’re not working for Jefferson Chepelier. You’re working around him, trying to get the bigger score. Get his merchandise to a better buyer, the kind of buyer who will pay top dollar and let you sail off into the black forever. A buyer like Cora Hart.”

Brennan stilled and Killian smiled.

“My people are going to take down Chepelier and Cora Hart. We have your cargo. What was it you always used to say?” Killian’s mouth contorted as he imitated his father’s voice. “‘You’re too much of a planner, son.’”

Killian leaned forward, his hands resting on his belt.

“The cargo is already on the way to a contact of ours,” he said. “Because if you’d done your planning, father, you’d have known that I have certain understandings in place between my crew and the Federation Council. And Regina Mills. You’ve heard of her, right? Cora Hart’s daughter? She was thrilled to get her hands on this kind of leverage against Cora.”

“What about your brother?”

“What about him? He was never in danger, not from you, and not from Chepelier,” Killian said. “Just another jack being shuffled--a distraction--but he’s safe. Far away from you and now with the protection of a pirate--” Killian bit the word “--and a Federation Councillor. You’re never getting near him again, and any minute now, the Feds are gonna come and--”

“--arrest both of us,” Brennan said.

“What for?” Killian held up his still-cuffed wrist. “I’ve sent the cargo on already and I have an alibi.”

“I’m not going back to Neverland,” Brennan said.

“That’s fine.” KIllian pulled a gun from his jacket pocket. Ariel made a sound like a sad cat, mewl. Whale swore under his breath.

“You can’t do this,” Brennan said, and chuckled. “I could, but you’re your mother’s son.”

Killian cocked the gun at the exact second Ursula said, simply, “Sir?”

And he looked at her.

Looked at Ariel, at Whale.

Looked up into the camera and Will sighed.

“Let him go, Killian,” he heard Emma whisper. “I’ve got your back. We’ve got your back.”

Killian hesitated; his hand shook and Emma wished so desperately she could take it in hers, put her thumb against his wrist and press a gentle, calming circle there.

“Killian,” Emma said, “be a better man than your father.”

--

Brennan Jones stood at the edge of the station along the train tracks but the train had, literally, already left the station.

Emma Swan walked toward him with Nemo keeping stride, Sheriff Nolan walking ahead of them both.

“Brennan Jones,” Nolan drawled, “you are bound by law.”

Brennan’s eyes widened in startled recognition as he looked at Emma and he smiled.

“Am I though?” he laughed. “Am I really? Check your codes again, Sheriff. She’s not a Fed, or whatever she says she is--she’s a thief.”

“Ran it twice,” Nolan said. “She’s clear.”

“Go ahead, Sheriff,” Nemo said. “One more time. We don’t mind. Authorization code one-zero-two-six. Scorpio.”

With a put-upon shrug Nolan swiped across the datapad and held it up. Federation Operative Emma Swan flashed across the screen with a photo and an arrest warrant. Emma enjoyed watching him as it hit him, the blood draining from his face and his tongue darting out to lick his lip. Brennan ran a hand through his hair in a gesture uncannily like Killian.

“Looks like you’ve gotten yourself mixed up in quite the robbery, Mr. Jones,” Sheriff Nolan said. “I’ve got orders here to put you in custody and send you back to--” his eyes widened and he clucked his tongue against his teeth as he shook his head “--Neverland. Well.”

“I didn’t do it,” Brennan said, pointing a finger at Emma. “I’m innocent.”

Emma rolled her eyes dramatically and shared a smirk with the sheriff. “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Everyone’s innocent in Neverland.”

“Sheriff,” Brennan was pleading. “She’s not who she says she is. She’s a--”

Nemo grabbed his arm and twisted it, making Brennan wince.

“My own son,” Brennan said. “More ruthless than me. Crueler than me.” His eyes hardened and something unpleasant glittered in his irises. “You tell my son,” he muttered. “You tell my him--”

Emma turned away, waving at Nolan to step forward with the cuffs.

“--tell him I’m proud of him.”

Emma turned back. “Enjoy Neverland.”

--

Killian exhaled as he turned the ship’s wheel, piloting the Jolly Roger out of orbit and closer to the surface of Persephone. Emma stood behind him, looking out the cockpit windshield. The sun was setting and it refracted through the atmo.

“Well, that’s a joyful sight,” Killian muttered, looking up at Emma.

“Gotta love a sunset,” she sighed.

“That too,” he said. And winked.

“Almost like coming home,” Emma said, her fingers scratching and lazy at the back of his neck. He shivered.

Home.

She was his home. This was his family.

“We sniff the air,” he reminded her. “We don’t kiss the dirt.”

“Noted, Captain,” she said. “But I wasn’t planning on the dirt-kissing. Sir.”

“I wouldn’t stand for it anyways,” Killian said. He locked the wheel into place and pushed back in his seat, smiling up at her the entire time as lightness rushed through his body. “Jealous man like me.”

“Hey--eyes front, please,” Robin said, walking in and making a face. “Planet’s coming up a mite fast. You’re coming down too quick. Likely gonna crash and kill us all.”

Killian stood up and pulled Emma’s hand into his. His eyes never left hers.

“That happens,” he said to Robin, “let me know.”

--

“Hey,” Emma whispered, pushing the fringe off of Killian’s forehead as he opened one bleary, sleepy eye and stared at her. They were a tangle of limbs and sheets in the berth. “You were some kind of hero today, Jones.”

He nuzzled into her hand and wrapped her more tightly against him. “Mmmmm.”

It was not agreement.

“Trust me, you have a mark in the hero column,” Emma said, bending so her lips brushed against his ear. “Killian?”

“Mmmm?”

“Will you tell me about him, someday?” Killian’s eyes opened, both of them, and he stared at her in surprise. “Your younger brother?”

He stilled and then exhaled, a brush of warmth against her palm. “Aye, love. Someday. But not today, yeah?”

Emma snuggled herself against him, dropping her head to his shoulder. “Someday,” she agreed.

They had all the time in the world.

--30--

@quirkykayleetam​

[yossariandawn]

Of course 002 Sethkate!! (if no one has beaten me to it yet :P) Also 002 Kastle!! & 004 Firefly/TWD!!

Thank you for all the asks, @alwaysupatnight! 💖💖💖 I will get to your last two tomorrow. 

SethKate Ship:

when of if I started shipping it: This is a hard one, because I fell more in love with them as the show went on, but the first time it went beyond “this would be great to see explored, but I doubt the show is going to ACTUALLY go there” to “OH THIS IS A REAL THING, ISN’T IT?” was probably Season 3. Seth was fundamentally changed by her death, and then watching him struggle with the hope he could get her back?! I WAS ALL IN AT THE POINT. The table scene aka “Fuller Family’s Least Favorite Drinking Game” (credit to @fortysevenswrites​ for the name) was probably the first time I went, OH THIS IS NEAT, YES PLEASE though.

my thoughts: see my whole blog

What makes me happy about them: EVERYTHING. The messiness, the comfort they are uniquely able to give each other, the way they actually SEE each other (looking past the surface, they both hide and use behind the snap judgements other people make about who they are) the values they share, the way they challenge those values in each other and how that makes them both stronger and better people.

What makes me sad about them: tragic backstories are tragic, and they both have that in spades. All that trauma does bring them closer together, but honestly, I think they would strongly connect with each other even if they both had significantly less bad happen too.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: I back out of a fic with a daddy kink, it’s just not for me! Um, sometimes Kate is too naïve or passive, and Seth is too soft and well adjusted. LOOK, he clearly enjoys being a jerk at times? It’s a hobby of his, to push buttons, even with people he loves. I’m not saying he’s not all heart, because that boy is a mess of emotions at the best of times, but let him keep his edge too please.

things I look for in fanfic: PARTNERS, Kate healing after Season 3, their different experiences in life and love being explored, uncomfortable honesty bringing them closer together, and TOUCHING are the big ones that come to mind right now.

My kinks: PARTNERS IN CRIME, SAVING THE WORLD, bringing different skills to the table in a way that compliments each other, bickering and standing too close to together, Seth teasing Kate, Kate giving as good as she gets, Seth being so damn impressed by her, Kate seeing the good and bad in Seth and loving him anyway, touching, Being Married AF before they even knew they loved each other.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: After season 3, no one else.

My happily ever after for them: Well, I feel strongly about their twelve daughters now thanks to @alwaysupatnight​, but as long as they have each other’s backs and are together, I’d be happy with whatever comes next for them.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: I think Seth is more clingy in bed, so I’m going with Seth being the big spoon. Kate doesn’t mind it at all, just to be clear.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: I doubt I can top @fortysevenswrites​ straight to the point “crime” but I do think they would also just enjoy hanging out together, one on one . And since their family get togethers will always be a bit hectic, they deserve some solo together time. Take some vacations or road trips please.

Kastle and Firefly/TWD Crossover under the cut!

Kastle Ship:

when of if I started shipping it: I thought the had a ton of potential hospital scene where Frank says he would talk to “her�� (they both sold that instant connection in way I don’t think I’ve ever so quickly believed before or since) but what pushed me into really shipping them was the diner scene, when Frank was using Karen as bait. The way they just clicked, and the fact that the longer they talked the more you could see they actually LIKED each other, and were realizing that themselves.. And the fact that it was very inconvenient on the timing for both of them just made it even more interesting for me.

my thoughts: Show was real interested and invested in their relationship, even if we didn’t get a lot of it. Clearly meant to be endgame.

What makes me happy about them: That spark of hope they light up in each other is just so neat. Though they are both extremely practical people when it comes to weighing the odds of things going well (and seeing that those odds are stacked against them) but it just makes that hope all the more special.

What makes me sad about them: What little I’ve seen of the Karen/Matt stuff makes me kind of sad on her behalf, and Frank and all his baggage is obviously pretty heartbreaking.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: I don’t read enough Punisher fanfic! I would hate for them to read as OOC just for the sake of a romance, but that’s true of all ships I ship. If they had kids, if Frank doesn’t have a ton of mixed emotions about it, I wouldn’t buy it I guess.

things I look for in fanfic: I enjoy reading a Frank who’s all in on the relationship! No waffling or messing around, he’s made his choice (if not his peace) on this. Karen being central to plot stuff is always fun, too. Get her out there investigating stuff!

My kinks: specific to them? I really like when they have to actually talk and address stuff, what’s happening between them, and what they want to happen. I think the show does a great job with them both being very aware of the situation they find themselves in with unspoken communication, but if they are going to go for it, give me some talk before things get to far along, please. ALSO, Frank being impressed by Karen, Karen not pulling any punches feelings wise, kindness to each other.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I don’t know, I guess theoretically either of them could be happy with someone else, but I don’t really think it would be anyone we’ve met in the show. And this is assuming Frank continues to make progress towards a more balanced life, obviously. I don’t think he would date anyone while actively being so consumed with being the Punisher.

My happily ever after for them: Up until the very last episode of Season 2 Punisher, I actually didn’t think a happy ending was possible for them? I was fine with it, there was always a bittersweet and practical quality to their connection that I actually enjoyed, But then we got to see Frank finally being proactive in rejoining the living instead of just flirting with the idea of an after, and now I think it could work, the two of them, figuring out how to be together, and what happens next.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: I’m going to say Karen is big spoon, cause I think Frank is in need of some serious cuddling.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Lazy Sunday mornings reading the paper over coffee, and hanging out with the dog/dogs they’ve adopted.

Firefly/TWD Crossover OTP:

A tough one! I am not good a creating couples, I just judge want I see normally  🤣. BUT, I could see Kaylee/Shane working for me, honestly. She would definitely give him a much needed dressing down when he needed one, and he would benefit A LOT from someone actually caring about him, and Kaylee is really great at caring for people. I think he would do better in her world than she would in his. Shane would fit right in with the morally ambiguous crew, and TWD world is just too damn bleak to deserve Kaylee.

[tonystarkbingo]

3 Prompt Summaries

Ransom Note, Royalty and Lending a Hand - suggested by @polizwrites

@rebelmeg - what do you get when you combine elite royalty, a mob boss with a reputation for being ruthless, and a ransom note that tells them both that their child is being held hostage? well... nothing good, that's for sure, because this team-up is going to be the stuff of legends.

@deehellcat - Prince Tony is promised in marriage to King Obadiah of a neighboring realm so their lands can be merged, but marrying that creepy old man is the last thing he wants to do. he confides in his best friend and bodyguard Sir James Rhodes who pledges to lend him a hand, Rhodey pens a fake ransom note that the prince has been kidnapped then helps him sneak out of the castle in disguise.

@somesortofitalianroast - Prince Steven of Brooklyn should have known it was a bad idea when he decided to tour Philadelphia by himself. At night. By the Schuylkill. Yeah, it wasn’t his best idea. He also should have known that the Family that still [still!] ran Philadelphia would send a ransom note to his family. And he should have known that the Duchy of Brooklyn had an inside man who was happy to lend a hand.

@27dragons - Barnes doesn't generally work kidnappings -- he's a homicide detective, so if they're calling him in on a kidnapping, it's because something went terribly wrong. But when Prince Tony is kidnapped off the street in broad daylight by a crew leaving no clues whatsoever other than an encoded ransom note, Chief Fury told him to get over there and lend a hand. The problem is, the note seems to suggest that the kidnapper... is Barnes himself.

@celtic7irish - We have your prince. Four words on a ransom note with no ransom demands. James sighed. The royalty around here caused him no end of grief. He turned to his best friend and Captain of the Guard. “It’s him again. Want to lend me a hand on this one?” Steve grinned, fierce and proud. “When do we start?”

@polizwrites - When Tony disappears leaving only a couple of face cards from his favorite deck laid out on his desk, Jim thinks it’s a joke - that is until Mr. Stark gets a ransom note. And as much as he despises Tony’s dad - Jim knows he has to help.

@Magicadraconia16 - When he complained to his Captain of the Guard that he really needed a break from his princely duties - and Howard - he wasn't expecting to end up staring at a random note . . . for himself.

@rise-up-ting-ting-like-glitter - Ransom Note, Royalty, Lending a hand In sickness and in health. That was the promise. Tony hadn't meant to break it. He certainly hadn't meant to wish Bucky away. Now he's got a ransom note sent by some 'Goblin King' and ragtag troupe of labyrynth dwellers willing to lend their hands...and sometimes paws.

@jacarandabanyan - Royalty AU, Prince Anthony Stark is kidnapped! His parents are searching the realm for him, and offering high prizes to anyone who can return him to them safely. The only clue they have is a ransom note written in Tony's own handwriting, and a claim from a servant that the Prince was seen approaching a rough dubious-looking man with one arm with a request that the man 'lend him a hand' getting out of a marriage contract…

Keep reading for more!

Sunflowers, Starlight and Lollipops - suggested by @magicadraconia16

@polizwrites - Morgan was never quite sure whether her father had made up that lullaby, or if it was something that someone had sung to him as a child, but it was a tune she still hummed to herself whenever she was feeling sad or lonely.

@celtic7irish - Tony had no idea where he was, trapped on an alien planet and lost in some sort of flower field, but with no flowers he’d ever seen before. He was pretty sure those were sunflowers, but they were sparkling in the starlight, making the whole field light up like it was coated in fireflies. Checking around in his pockets, Tony sighed as he pulled out one of Morgan’s lollipops and popped it into his mouth. “Great. Let’s go find the fairies and see if they can get me back home,” he muttered, striding off across the field.

@rebelmeg - art summary - stark family lying out under the stars in a field, sunflowers bobbing over their heads, and probably holding big colorful carnival lollipops because i've got no better idea + @newnewyorker93 - that, but daytime and they're looking at clouds, one of them is definitively lollipop-shaped

@somesortofitalianroast - It was the weirdest offering Tony had ever seen on his desk. A bouquet of sunflowers, a copy of Muse’s Starlight, and a bag of Dum Dum lollipops. There wasn’t even a card to explain who it was from, or who it was too. Huh. Maybe Pepper had put the items there and forgotten about them…

@27dragons - It's late by the time Tony gets home from work -- so late it's early -- and he's exhausted beyond belief. He navigates the house by the starlight coming through the windows and hopes desperately he won't wake anyone. He just wants to sneak into bed and curl up against his spouse for whatever few hours remain of the night. But he has to stop when he gets to the living room, where a lamp has been left on, shining on a carefully-arranged bouquet of sunflowers, Tony's favorite. Stuck in between the flowers are a handful of lollipops, proving that more than one person had a hand in this. The note says, "Cleared it with Pepper, you have tomorrow off. Come to bed." Tony's family is the best. [There, managed to write it so it can be whatever ship you want.]

@jacarandabanyan - One of Tony's less-publicized hobbies is funding off-the-wall science proposals made in jest at scientific conferences. The more outrageous the project, the more willing he is to pitch in money, supplies, networking help, etc. This time, he's even agreed to do the research himself. Which is how he found himself up on the moon of an unfamiliar planet in an unfamiliar galaxy, studying botany papers and trying to find what happens when you grow sunflowers by the light of a different star than Earth's sun. As ways to avoid the press and the Board go, it's original at least. Two months into his experiment, two little girls claiming to be "daughters of Thanos" pay him a rather menacing visit. He offers them a lollipop.

@rise-up-ting-ting-like-glitter - Once a decade, under the light of the full moon, and across the three dark nights of the winter solstice, the Starlight games are hosted. Sunflower has won the last four games running, but that was before Lollipop had Bucky fighting for them. This round they're out for nectar and Bucky intends to be MVP. Of course, the prize this year was extra sweet: a kiss from Starlight prince Tony-and a chance to win his hand.

@deehellcat - the last thing Morgan remembers is her mommy screaming as the car careened off the road and crashed. she sits up and looks around but she isn't in the city anymore, instead in a grassy field. a man comes toward her, a man she recognizes, and she runs into his arms yelling DADDY. they go for a walk thru a field of tall sunflowers (he says they're his favorite) and up a hill, they lie in the grass sucking on lollipops and looking at the stars. then he kisses her & tells her to give her mommy his love, before the world around her fades and she finds herself waking up in a hospital with Pepper hovering over her.

@summerpipedream - "What's this?" The book was frayed at the edges, but had a beautiful sunflower on the cover, a lolipop sticker on the edge. "Ana's cookbook," said Jarvis. "With all your favourite recipes as a child. " Now that omega Tony is expecting, and forced into bedrest by the doctor and his worried mate Steve, Tony vows to learn how to cook, one recipe at a time.

Hallmark, magic, and brunch - @somesortofitalianroast

@somesortofitalianroast - It’s not like Tony was expecting his Sunday brunch to be something out of a Hallmark movie, but he could have done without his fairy godmother showing up and telling him that he was the sole heir to a magical kingdom and it was time for him to claim his throne.

@polizwrites - Tony knows how to conjure up exquisite dishes with the wave of a wand; but to prove he truly loves his partners, he makes them a meal from scratch. It’s not his fault he really, really likes cinnamon…

@summerpipedream - "Nat, how the hell are pancakes supposed to solve anything?" Natasha rolled her eyes and tapped on the sign behind the counter. "Pancakes solve everything." Bucky glared. "You literally just put that up." Natasha waved her wand with a flourish. "And if I did? Eat up Barnes. Your destiny is about to walk through that door." Bucky was about to complain, but then the bell to the diner rang. Tony Stark walked through the door.

@27dragons - This isn't some sappy Hallmark movie. Bucky knows that. He's not expecting some magical force to make Tony fall in love with him, really. But he's going to try, anyway. Starting with brunch.

@rebelmeg - "tony... these are the most flawless eggs i've ever seen. how did you do that?" he grinned to himself as he slid the two perfect sunny-side-up eggs onto the waiting plate. "just magic." rhodey was watching from the table, a smirk on his face. "yeah, that or the hallmark movie you watched last week that made you cry." rhodey kind figured he deserved the piece of toast that tony threw at him.

@newnewyorker93 - Unfortunately for Stephen Strange there isn't a Hallmark card that quite covers apologizing for ruining brunch with Tony when a chaotic interdimensional beastie follows him through his portal (next time he'll take the subway)

@celtic7irish - Stephen glared at the man standing next to him. “What makes you think I can just I this away?” he demanded sarcastically. Tony shrugged, trying to hide a shiver. He wasn't dressed for this weather. “I don’t know. I mean, we were just supposed to be having brunch, and now we’re in some sort of freaking Hallmark Christmas thing, and I’m pretty sure that magic caused it. Because it definitely isn’t science.” He grimaced; Tony hated admitting that things like magic even existed, but when one had the Sorcerer Supreme for a boyfriend, one learned to accept that magic was probably real. Stephen sighed, summoning a portal to the Mirror Dimension. “Well, at least our first anniversary date isn’t boring.” Tony glared.

candlelight, window, vampire - suggested by @rebelmeg

@celtic7irish - The slender figure standing in the window, his profile lit only by the flickering candlelight, turned to look at him, and James shivered. So this was Anthony, rumored vampire and lord of the castle. And James' new patron.

@somesortofitalianroast - They’d all heard the rumors: an honest-to-god Vampire had set up in a moldering castle in Transylvania and was passing himself off as Dracula. After several sets of negotiations, Steve was chosen to go and check out the rumors. He was expecting… Well, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to see the most beautiful man he’d ever seen through the window, shaving by candlelight.

@27dragons - Bucky was starting to get a handle on this whole vampire gig. He'd figured out the best ways to hide from the sun, how to hide the death-pallor of his skin with candlelight, how to mask the scent of blood on his breath with wine. What he hadn't figured out was what to do about the stunningly beautiful man who was currently climbing through his window.

@rebelmeg - it had practically been a challenge, and Tony never backed down from a challenge.  The whole world at large had managed to make vampires unsexy for pepper, but danged if he wouldn’t manage it before the night was through.  The candles by the window had been placed strategically, putting a soft golden glow over the two of them as they looked at their reflections in the glass.  

“Okay, tip your head back on my shoulder.  A little more.  Just like that.  Now look.”  tony saw it on her face when she saw them, framed in the window, his hand resting delicately on her jaw as he lowered his mouth to her throat.

“You win,” she said around a bit of a gasp, her pupils dilating as her heartbeat skyrocketed. “You as a vampire would definitely be sexy.”

With a pleased hum, tony gave her a playful nip.  Just a little one.

@summerpipedream - You have 3 new messages. Press one to playback. 

"Hey Tony, it's Steve. I'm sorry to interrupt your honeymoon with Bucky, but uh- do you remember Count Dracula lookalike last month? The guy who tried to take over the city? Well he's sent some sort of wedding gift to the tower. It's uh- hanging out the window. Hold on-" 

"Hey Tony. It's Steve again. Uh any chance you know where the spare candles are? That's stupid why would the tower have candles- never mind." 

"NEVER MIND. IT'S BAD. WE"RE RUNNING. DON'T COME BACK TO THE TOWER-" 

End of new messages

@gavilansblog - Tony stared at the candle on the windowsill. Or rather, squinted. "What were you thinking?" He demanded, slurring around his fake vampire teeth. "How is this supposed to look like a haunted house when the lights are making it bright as day in here?" Bucky winced. "How was I supposed to know they even made 1000 watt candle shaped bulbs?" (Brought to you by the conversation I was having just now with a friend whose brother made this mistake)

@Magicadraconia16 - "Leave a candle in the window," they said. A load of superstitious old nonsense, if you asked Tony. As if he's really going to leave an old-fashioned burning candle in the window where Dum-E could knock it over (although, that would give him an opportunity to use his brand new fire extinguisher...) It was just a shame that nobody mentioned that the candles weren't to scare the vampire off - they were to feed the light-vampire, and without it... well, the next nearest source in Tony's house just so happens to be his arc reactor.

@polizwrites - As a creature of the night the warm glow of the candle on the windowsill was a bittersweet reminder of the world he’d never see again. “I’m sorry, my love.” James reached out as if to snuff the flame, but Anthony stayed his hand. “No need to apologize, dear one.”

Cats, Sandwich, Chaos - suggested by @celtic7irish

@somesortofitalianroast - Very little had changed since Steve had brought Bucky in from the cold. Except the lunch meat disappeared from the fridge at a rate that not even JARVIS could explain. And that Bucky brought a cat with him. It was a small, white thing that loved Tony’s workshop and loved the bots. It caused more chaos than something that only weight five pounds should have been able to cause, and it loved his sandwiches.

@celtic7irish - Tony stared at the chaos in his living room; overturned tables, toppled lamps, and were those claw marks on his drapes? “What the-?” Tony trailed off, his voice faint, sandwich halfway to his mouth. “Daddy!” Morgan squealed, her eyes wide and face innocent as she held a squirming, wriggling bundle in her arms. A moment later, a small kitten stuck its head out of the blanket, meowing pitifully. “Can we keep her?”

@27dragons - Tony likes to think he takes a lot of weird things in stride, as an Avenger. Magic? Sure. Random visitations from a god of chaos? Old hat, these days. Insane robots and/or aliens trying to take over the city? No problem. But he had to admit, even he was having trouble maintaining his calm in the face of a trio of superheroes sitting at the kitchen table, eating sandwiches and sporting cat ears. Real ones. Oh, and tails. Yeah, he's... going back to bed.

@rebelmeg - “BUCKY!”

“What?”

“Your cat stole my sandwich again!”

Bucky watched as alpine skidded around the corner and dove under the couch, tony’s beloved 3-bacon sandwich clamped tight in his jaws.

“Yup.  he sure did.  Why do you keep leaving it out?”

“IT WAS IN MY HAND!”

Just another tuesday...

[ao3theskyisblue]

It Takes 784 Muscles to Hide a Body

Summary:

It takes 4 muscles to smile,

16 muscles to frown, . . 784 muscles to hide a body, And 0 muscles to never speak of it again.

Written for Lonestar Week Day 7 - Anything Goes

Link to AO3 

“What – in the world, are you doing?”

TK froze, his shovel plunging mid-way into the dirt as he looked up sharply, wincing as a shadowy figure holding a flashlight shined the light right into his eyes. The figure must have noticed TK shrinking away because the flashlight quickly lowered. With no words of apology, he instead moved to shine the flashlight on the ground in front of them.

TK groaned when black dots swam in his gaze, blinking repetitively to try and adjust his eyes to the dark once more. His own flashlight had been smaller, far less powerful, and placed on the ground beside him. The glow of the receding sunlight was still present, but not enough to create enough lighting in the middle of a wooded clearing where TK had begun digging.  

There was no mistaking that voice.  

“What are you even doing here?” TK winced; his eyes having adjusted to the faint illuminating rays around them well enough to see a very unimpressed single eyebrow lift. He recognized that look, because it was the same look the man standing in front of him gave to the crooks he caught when he called them out on their bullshit.

“That is the question, isn’t it? One that I should be asking, mind you, because if I didn’t know you any better, I would be calling in backup for a potential crime scene.” The figure said drily, eyes lowering to where a decently sized pit had been dug relatively deep in the ground.

The metallic part of the shovel that TK had been working with flashed its presence in the glimpses of light. There was a small mountain of already dug-up dirt right beside where TK was standing, and he was sure his face had to be smudged with debris and the gloves on his hands caked with soil.

“What does it look like I’m doing, Carlos? I accidentally killed a man and am currently getting rid of the evidence.” TK said without even so much as a blink, hand reaching for the shovel again to kick-start the process again. The hole should be deep enough, so why hadn’t it shown up yet?

“Oh, did you now?” Footsteps crunched against the dead leaves on the ground as the man walked closer, pausing to stand on the other side of the pit TK had dug to face him. “Then where’s the body?”

TK glanced up from his ministrations on the ground, eyes narrowing on the crossed arms that emphasized bulging biceps, a hip weighing slightly more than the other in a cocky stance. Placing the shovel beside him once more, TK leaned on the handle with one arm, a leg crossing over the other. He met the man’s gaze straight on, head tipping up in defiance.

“Did you know, that there are over 700 muscles in the human body? And it takes 784 of them to even attempt in hiding a body. No way am I going to waste them to drag an entire body out here, so obviously I chopped them into bite-sized pieces.” TK rolled his eyes, sending Carlos a ‘you get me?’ look as if they were discussing what they should have for dinner. Carlos didn’t even flinch.

“Did Mr. Carson get on your nerves again?” Carlos’ lips were twitching now, though his expression still completely stoic, and TK kind of hated police officers sometimes.  

Just sometimes.

He was quite fond of one of them all the other times.

“I swear, if he starts to call my very well maintained hair a wig one more time – “ TK scowled, stopping his hands at the last second from running a hand through his hair in frustration, remembering that the gloves were still caked in dirt and other glorious findings that used to be a part of the forest floor.

“Did you have to resort to murder though? I quite liked his pecan pies.” Carlos mused, uncrossing his arms and opting to place his hands on his hips, relaxing his stance. It was true – Mr. Carson made some of the best pecan pies in the city, but his mouth needed a filtration device when it came to everyday conversation.

“That’s because he doesn’t call your curls an unfortunate by-product of hair rollers. Then you might understand the pain.” TK muttered, not being able to glare at the object of his frustrations at the moment, so he opted to glare at the manmade hole separating them instead. Carlos chuckled, ducking his head so that he could meet TK’s gaze.

“Alright spill, what are you really doing here?” Carlos asked, his eyes now purely shining with curiosity, lips tipping into an endeared smile when TK pouted.

“You’ll laugh at me.” TK huffed, tearing his eyes away from Carlos’ unrelenting gaze, leaning forward to rest his forehead against the hand that was holding onto the handle of the shovel.

“Is the reason any worse than hiding a body? Because I really can’t think of anything worse if I’m being honest.” Carlos raised an eyebrow and was giving him that look again, but TK only chewed nervously on his lower lip.

“TK, I think whatever it is that landed you here, in the middle of the woods digging a very impressive hole at night grants an explanation.” Carlos’ tone had turned serious – border lining concern. TK turned his head to meet Carlos’ gaze once more, shoulders slumping in defeat at the ‘I can see right through you’ expression on his face.

Fine.

“A bone.” TK blurted, closing his eyes and cringing at the admission. When he opened his eyes to gauge Carlos’ reaction, he would have laughed at the dumbfounded expression he was currently donning if the situation had been in his favour.

“I’m sorry, come again?”

“I’m digging for a bone.”

“…”

“..?”

“I just – did you and Buttercup switch bodies without me knowing, or is this some sort of a feti – “

“Oh my god.” TK groaned, not even bothering with the filth on his gloves this time as he ran an exasperated hand down his face. “No, that’s gross, Carlos – no, I meant Buttercup was hiding one of his bones around here and forgot to dig it back up before we left. He was looking around the station for it, so I’m trying to find it.”

Carlos’ hand on his flashlight loosened, letting the object tumble to the ground, thankfully stopping before it fell into the pit in front of them.

Silence.

TK tightened his grip on the shovel’s handle, eyes darting over Carlos’ face to catch any sort of movement – a twitch of a muscle, a tip of the lips, a widening of the eyes.

Nothing.

The sun’s rays had almost completely settled down the horizon now, and pretty soon, the two men would be left with only their flashlights and each other to hopefully find their ways back to civilization.

If TK could somehow find a way to get Carlos to snap out of it first, that is.

“Are you telling me, that you’re out here on the brink of twilight, in the middle of nowhere, because you’re trying to find a doggy bone?”

Carlos’ words seemed to catch in his throat, and TK couldn’t really pinpoint what exactly it was that made his voice shake but pushed it aside as probably confusion. The firefighter met the cop’s gaze head-on, and in a completely serious tone, replied,

“…Yes?”

And Carlos lost it.

“I hope you know that I really, really hate you right now.” TK grumbled, glaring at the laughing figure of his boyfriend in front of him, bending down slightly to clutch at his stomach with whatever he found so hilarious about this situation.

Carlos’ bright laughter echoed in the clearing around them, probably scaring the birds that were also wondering what the fuck was up, but TK couldn’t find it in himself to even pretend to be mad.

His chest warmed in contrast to the cool tone of the evening - witnessing Carlos laughing as unabashedly as he was right now was a sight that will be forever ingrained in his memory.

“You – I just – TK, why didn’t you just bring Buttercup along? He has a sense of smell almost 40 times better than ours.” Carlos choked out, before going into another fit of laughter when TK’s eyes widened in realization.

Oh.

Damn, he hadn’t even considered that. He had seen Buttercup looking absolutely miserable at the station, whining pitifully for a toy he had lost, and TK hadn’t thought twice but to immediately come back here after shift.

The crew was going to have a field day when they heard about this.

“I probably should have just gone with trying to find a time capsule, huh?” TK knew his cheeks had to be on fire, and not the type that could be easily put out.

“Actually, the only time capsule located in Austin right now is the one below city hall. So, if you really had been digging that up before 2105, I honestly would have been even more concerned.” Carlos chuckled, ignoring his fallen flashlight on the ground between them.

The minimalized light surrounding them now cast a comforting glow in the shadow of darkness, the sun officially too tired of their game to stay any longer.

Suddenly, spots of blinking lights pictured before them, and TK shifted his gaze to follow, eyes shining in awe at whatever he was witnessing.

“Fireflies.”

TK turned to see that Carlos hadn’t even bothered to follow the blinking lights like TK had, instead, looking like there was nothing he would rather be looking at than the man standing in front of him.

“It’s actually rather rare to see them nowadays.” Carlos added softly, eyes trailing after the speckles of light, granting TK a moment to admire the stunning profile of a man who had not left his side since first coming into his life. The man who had somehow found him in the middle of the night even when he had a shift just hours before – tracked him to the middle of the woods and need no reason to stay other than to offer his company.

I love you.

“Guess we’re pretty lucky then.” TK opted to say instead, heart thumping wildly in his chest both at Carlos’ quiet ‘I am,’ and the three words currently echoing in his mind – the warmth of the feeling leaving a prickle of electricity along his skin.

The tiny flickers of light danced closer towards him, and TK grinned when a couple of them even swarmed around him for a while.

“Seems like they can’t resist a pretty face.” Carlos teased, laughing lightly when TK scoffed, offering a fond smile at the sparkles of light blinking in a rhythm only they knew.

“How’d you know where to find me, by the way?” TK asked, tilting his head in a silent question. Carlos sent him a wink.

“I followed the blood trail.” Carlos deadpanned, before snickering at TK’s unimpressed stare. “Okay, fine. I may or may not have tracked your phone’s GPS.” Carlos admitted sheepishly, eyes lowering to the ground beneath them. TK would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little impressed.

“Aw, I’m honoured. You used your fancy police equipment to find me.” TK batted his lashes playfully, and if Carlos hadn’t still been standing one pit apart from him, he was sure that comment would earn him a chastising shove.

“I was worried, when you didn’t answer your phone.” Carlos confessed quietly, and TK’s expression immediately softened. He had left his phone on silent and shoved it in his pocket when he had started digging, the device’s vibrations probably getting lost in the movement.

Eyes locking with Carlos’ once more, TK could make out a hint of fragility, an almost uncertain look that he instantly wanted to erase.

“Thank you…for being here.” TK matched Carlos’ answering grin with one of his own, immersing himself in the moment. It was probably his imagination, but it almost seemed like the light from the fireflies brightened around them, casting an ethereal glow in their pocket of intimacy.

“Next time you want to hide a body, hit me up first, okay?” Carlos’ grin suddenly turned teasing, and TK groaned, laughing dejectedly.

“You are never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“Absolutely not.”

Unbeknownst to the two men, the glowing flickers of light that had watched the entire exchange mustered all their strength to shine even brighter, giggling amongst themselves. Flying over their heads, they maneuvered themselves to create the shape of a heart, just as one of the men made his way over to the other, gathering him into his arms.

“Let’s go home.”