#but i played that on my fucking tablet and nearly fried it

[andragoras-in-vanity]

i need to play another fantasy game, alas now that i know my laptop can in fact run bd3 i dont have money for it, how do we think i could handle replaying pillars? not nearly as depressing yeah??

[kiwiana-writes]

WIP Wednesday

Thanks and apologies to everyone who's tagged me in the last week or so—I've been both sick AND overseas, neither of which are particularly conducive to getting shit written. I did intend to write something new for the Big Secret @indestructibleheart Collab tonight, mostly to torture @rmd-writes who is desperately trying to figure out what the fuck it's all about, but unfortunately my brain is still fried and I haven't actually written anything in ages, so y'all get the chapter one opener instead which I don't think I've shared yet.

August 8th, 2024: 1710 Ecuador Time / 1810 Eastern Daylight Time Alex slides his carry-on into the overhead luggage compartment before sliding into the window seat, shoving his tablet and headphones into the back pocket of the seat in front of him while he waits for Cash to get himself settled. It’s been a long two days at the conference—and he’s grateful for the opportunity, even as he’s fully aware that first-year associates whose mothers aren’t the outgoing President don’t generally get the opportunity to attend Political Science and International Relations conferences on behalf of the firm in the first place—but he’s more than ready to be back in his own bed. God. Is this what maturing feels like? Admittedly, it’s a little weird being back on a commercial flight. Between his mom’s term wrapping up in a few months and Henry in the middle of the legal process to drop his title, it’s going to be their reality soon enough, though he’s hoping they might still be able to borrow one of the royal jets from time to time. The last time he flew commercial, he landed in the rain and drove to Kensington to scream at Henry through a window; it ended well, but he didn’t know it would when he was on the flight. This time, nearly four years on, he knows exactly what he’s returning to: the home they’ve built together, books and records intermingled on their shelves, David’s bed in a corner of their bedroom (usually neglected in favour of sleeping at the foot of their bed instead). The constant is Henry, but this time, Alex knows exactly what they are to each other—and what they will be soon enough, if the box he has hidden at the back of his nightstand has anything to say about it.

Tagging @agame-writes @affectionatelyrs @anchoredarchangel @anincompletelist @celaestis1 @celeritas2997 @cha-melodius @clottedcreamfudge @cricketnationrise @cultofsappho @daisymae-12 @dumbpeachjuice @everwitch-magiks @firenati0n @getmehighonmagic @happiness-of-the-pursuit @heybuddy-drabbles @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @indestructibleheart @indomitable-love @inexplicablymine @leaves-of-laurelin @littlemisskittentoes @lizzie-bennetdarcy @magicandarchery @matherines @myheartalivewrites @ninzied @nocoastposts @notspecialbabe @orchidscript @rmd-writes @sherryvalli @ships-to-sail @smc-27 @sparklepocalypse @ssmtskw @stereopticons @three-drink-amy @tintagel-or-cockleshells @welcometololaland @whimsymanaged and, as always, anyone who wants to play! (If you take the open tag please tag me so I can see!!)

[parkeraul]

Tom accidentally exposing your relationship would be hella cute and fluffy

do you also notice? — t.h.

author’s note — hi, my dudes. this is my 1st tom imagine. please, feel free to request me more tholland things.

warnings — fluff.

“i am, actually,” tom says as he reads the questions popping up crazily. “i am going to new york soon and then i’m flying to atlanta before i go back to london.” 

it’s been ten minutes since he decided to set up his ipad for an instagram live to chat with his fans, making an improvised tripod with the cushions of the caramel sofa he’s sitting on right now. y/n says nothing, knowing that she’s gotta let tom be sometimes because he somehow trusts his improvising skills blindly. instead, she scrolls through her own phone to keep up with their food delivery status. 

“how is it, darlin’?” he asks y/n unworriedly, because the fans are already aware that tom’s taken. as she needs to be silent — because her identity hasn’t been revealed yet — she grimaces and gestures, silently warning that it’s not that close to arrive yet. “what have i ordered?” he reads a question out loud, running his fingers through his messy damp curls. “i ordered good fish n’ chips and she’s gettin’ burger with fries,” looking at y/n, tom answers and takes a sip of his beer before returning to the questions. “i know, i gotta bring her to the english side of the force.” he chuckles, puppy brown eyes squinting as his smile grows. 

in between questions and answers, he’s taken by the way y/n’s frame walks throughout the living room. her feet dance around with her favourite pair of fluffy socks, ending up at the end of her shins and beginning of her knees. her thighs are bare, getting slightly covered by her red gym shorts and her torso wears proudly the old jersey of his football team — that she doesn’t really is a fan of, but wears it anyways just to see him weakening at the sight. her hair flies from side to side softly as she quietly performs the songs playing on her (his) airpods, making him laugh randomly and go divided between paying attention to the live or get up and twirl her body all around. 

“which holland does she like the most? harry, sam, paddy or me?” tom reads as he frowns. “what kind of question is this? ‘course it’s me,” rolling his eyes, he feels practically attacked. “it’s me, right?” he asks looking at y/n through his lashes, worried smirk adorning his features. when y/n retreats a little, tom’s jaw falls dramatically and his nervous grin grows more. “come on! i’m the one who gets you heart–shaped chocolates!” 

y/n can’t help but cover her mouth to hold her laughs. tom watches her with a poker face, smile frozen and he can’t believe his eyes. how ridiculous, he thinks. after breakfast in bed today with her favourite stuff while watching her favourite series, she dares not to agree right at first just to tease him.

“then who it is?” in disbelief, buying her scene 100%, he gets his phone from his pocket. “no, now you tell me who. it. is!” tom laughs, unlocking his screen. “send me on our chat, let’s fuckin’ see!”

she types, eyes watering from how much she’s been giggling and promptly presses the ‘send’ button. 

“oh, really?” he reacts, reading the notification on his screen. “look!” 

tom shoves the phone in front of the ipad’s camera, the contact name saying my luv 💘 & text saying “tomharrysampaddy” as the label stands right below the time. 

“it’s late, tom, go to sleeeeeep! sleepy emoji, sleepy emoji, sleepy emoji,” he reads while he brings his phone back. “i’ll go after the food arrives. i really am starvin’,“ he sighs and y/n wears her slippers, going to the door. “is it here already? it’s here!” tom informs when y/n confirms, cheering like a 5–year–old as she makes her way to the elevator, leaving him alone with the fans.

tom holds the bottle with his right hand and drinks his beer once more, keeping his phone on his left hand as he eyes the new questions coming up on his ipad. 

“what’s your wallpaper?” he reads, inching closer and then back to look at the phone. “this is my wallpaper. can y’all see?” tom cleans his notifications and stretches his arm, showing the screen one more time while he tilts his head to the side to get the view of the tablet’s screen. 

a picture of him and y/n scrunching their rosy noses to the camera, winter cascading on them and their cheeks are strongly clinging together. their eyes are screaming happiness with a shiny glow, his curls escaping his grey cap and her head is covered by a spider–man cap, thick scarfs swallowing their cheeks and nearly hiding their smiles. looking closely, it’s slightly perceptible that they’re sharing the airpods: he keeps one and she keeps another one. that was y/n’s first day touring london with tom and the scrunchy noses are actually an internal joke — because he said randomly in the middle of the date ‘do you also notice that, if you scrunch your nose on a cold day, it takes a while for it to return to the normal state? watch!’ and spent good 3 minutes scrunching and relaxing his nose muscles to her, as if it was even clear to see. although she shares the feeling, she chose to use it as an eternal teasing. everytime y/n’s got an observation, she lifts her forefinger up in the air and scrunches her nose, starting her phrases with ‘do you also notice that…?’. 

“that day was sick, never felt my buttcheeks so cold,” he emphasizes, caressing his own chin as per usual as he remembers about that day and lifting his eyebrows, looking at the picture before locking the phone. “maybe because i was nervous as fuck! i had these reservations at—”

the door opens, y/n walking in with the bags filled with their dinner. 

“shit!” tom hisses, hiding his lips with his palm. “damn!” 

“what?” she mouths, confused and placing the food on the counter. 

“i think i might’ve done something… wrong…” his voice is muffled by his hand and his glance at her is dripping worry. 

“what?” she repeats, tone raising just a bit. 

tom uncovers his lips, keeping the tip of his forefinger on top of them. it’s too late though, because people know y/n and instantly the messages appearing grow from ‘tom, go to sleep’ to ‘OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S Y/N!’. he lifts his finger, clearing his throat and scrunching his damn nose.

“do you also notice how bad i am at keeping secrets?”

[apeachymama]

Today started in back to back to back to back meltdowns. It is ending in piss puddles. Sophia decided she wanted to wear a pair of underwear this afternoon. She walked in from her room and just had them on. I encouraged it. Reminded her multiple times to pee. She even took them down a couple times by herself. No accidents. Until this evening. I washed a ton of dishes. Theres still a ton more but whatever. I let sophia help me aka dump water everywhere. I finally can't take it anymore and send her to go play somewhere else. I wipe off the stove and go to get the robot vacuum to clean the floor and I see her squatted over a puddle. I nearly lost it. I know. It happens. It was an accident. Potty training isnt linear. Whatever. I'm tired of cleaning piss off the carpet. I dont have a carpet cleaner.

I sent her to take the underwear off and pee on the toilet and watch her tablet. I'm done with today. I still have so much cleaning to do. John hurt his back so he wasn't able to help clean Saturday even though I got a babysitter for sophia. I'm trying to heat up chicken patties and fries for dinner. I hate fries. Unless they're from McDonald's. Or are sweet potato. I'm tired of this broke ass life. Buying cheap frozen dinners. Zero snack food. Zero condiments or extras. It all really fucking sucks.

To top it all off, I'm only working one day out of three this week because of a son of a bitch colonizers holiday. Bullshit. And my phone service ended yesterday. Guess who can't contact fucking anyone unless im on wifi and use facebook messenger. Life rips.

[lyssismagical]

string along my soul, dear, ‘til my breath feels useless

Whumptober Day Eight - Stab Wound 

Read on AO3

Tony had been having a relatively good day, all things considered.

Morgan had slept in more than she usually does. It’s the weekend, so they don’t have any responsibilities beyond the weekly tea party and swimming. (Tony doesn’t know how he’ll break it to Morgan that by the end of September, it’ll be too cold to go swimming in the lake. For now, he’ll let her swim to her heart’s desire, though.)

The only thing that really burdens him a little bit on this fine Saturday, is how much he misses two of the most important people in his life. Peter’s off at MIT, having the time of his life according to their call last night, and Pepper’s been busy upstate with the company for the past few days. Some big emergency they needed her for.

Tony’s more than capable of taking care of Morgan by himself, despite what lots of people believe. He doesn’t need Pepper or Peter to help him, he just enjoys it a little bit more when he doesn’t constantly have to be the responsible adult.

“Daddy?” Morgan says. She’s lying flat on her back on the carpet in the living room, coffee table pushed to the side so she can see through the skylight he added when building the house. (Mostly he was thinking about Peter’s love of space.)

“Yes?” Tony replies, turning his full attention on Morgan.

She turns to him, eyes big and sparkling in the sunlight. “Why is the sky blue?”

Tony smiles. “Because I said so.”

“That’s a lie,” Morgan replies, rolling her eyes. “Why is it actually?”

“Because Mom said so?” Tony tries. He could try to explain, and he’ll probably tell her for bedtime stories tonight, but she’s had too much energy this morning to really hear his explanations.

Morgan thinks about it for a long few moments, eyes squinted in concentration before she nods decisively. “Okay.”

“Why does Mom get to make the rules, but I don’t?” It’s meant to be a rhetorical question, but Morgan stares at him perplexed.

“Because Mommy is… She’s mommy. She makes all the rules.”

“And what? I’m just her servant? I don’t get to do anything?”

Morgan nods. ��Obviously. Mommy’s the Queen, I’m the princess, Petey’s the prince, and you’re the horsey.”

“I’m the horse. Oh my god, child, why are you so mean to me?” Tony gasps, pretending to be offended by his daughter’s words.

Morgan sits up, rolling her eyes again. It makes her look so much like Pepper. “Can we go swimming?”

“It’s barely nine in the morning, piccola. You wanna help me make pancakes for breakfast?”

“Only if there’s chocola’e chips!”

*

It’s not surprising when he gets a call from Peter around noon that day.

He’s sitting out on the back deck, a glass of lemonade on the table beside him, a pair of sunglasses, for once being used for their purpose. Morgan’s playing by her tent, following all the rules of playing outside, Tony hasn’t had to remind her once.

“Hey, Pete. Didn’t think I’d be hearing from you for another couple hours. Thought you had that project you were working on with that new friend of yours,” Tony says peacefully.

But his peace is almost instantly broken.

“Tony?” Peter’s voice is too quiet, fear filling the short syllable to the very brim. He coughs, crackling in the phone.

“Pete?” Tony echoes, worry very suddenly coloring his voice. He sits up in his chair, keeping his eyes trained on Morgan. “Everything okay?”

“I- I-” There’s an awful choking noise and then static fills the phone.

“Fuck, jesus fuck- FRI, get it- fix the connection. Get Peter back on the line,” Tony demands. With the hand not holding the phone, he waves Morgan over urgently. He needs to get to Peter.

A parental instinct has filled his chest and all he knows is that he needs Peter. Now. And there’s no way in hell he’s letting Morgan be anywhere but at his side.

Morgan doesn’t say anything as she warily wanders over, somehow understanding her father’s fear and seriousness.

“Grab a backpack, honey. We’re going on a little trip, okay?” Tony tells his daughter, waiting anxiously for the phone call to reconnect. “Put your shoes on and wait at the front door for me, okay, piccola?”

“Wha’s wrong?” Morgan asks, eyes wide and scared. Tony hates it and he hates that he doesn’t even have the mind to fix the fear, he’s too busy focusing on his other kid. “Okay?”

“Yeah, it’s okay, little miss. Go get a backpack and your shoes on.”

This time, Morgan doesn’t try to ask any more questions, just races into the house. Almost as soon as she’s gone, the call finally reconnects.

“Peter? C’mon, kiddo, talk to me,” Tony begs, following his kid into the house on shaky legs. He needs to find car keys. One step at a time.

“M’ster S’ark?” Peter slurs through the phone, crackly and thick.

“Yeah, kid. I’m right here. I need you to talk to me. What’s going on?”

Peter makes a noise, somewhere between pleased and pained, if that’s even possible. “’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry, Pete? What’s going on? Please, kid, I need to work with something here.” He pulls the phone away enough to speak to FRIDAY without Peter hearing. “FRI, hack into Peter’s watch or his phone or something and get me his vitals. And his location. Just because I live in a cabin does not mean I’m not Tony fucking Stark.”

“He is located in Massachusetts. A block away from his dorm building on campus,” FRIDAY informs. “I am unable to reach his watch or any accurate vitals from his phone.”

“Fuck, shit, jesus christ, Peter, what the fuck happened?” Tony knows he shouldn’t be swearing this much in front of both his kids, but he can’t help it. His stress levels are through the roof and he’s scared one of his children are dying, he thinks that warrants a little bit of cussing.

“Hurts, please,” Peter cries, sounding more like Morgan than himself with how whiny his voice has gotten. “Please, m’s’er s’ark, please.”

Tony finally finds his keys and shoves on a pair of shoes, keeping up a litany of reassurances and soothing words, getting to the car at the same time Morgan comes racing out of the house, an Elmo backpack bouncing on her back.

“Peter, I need you to listen to me, okay?” Tony says, starting up the car, and barely having the mind to check and make sure Morgan’s strapped into her seat, before he takes off down the street.

Peter makes a noise of affirmation.

“You know how long it takes to get to Massachusetts? We timed it, remember?”

“Mm,” Peter says, probably not coherent enough to remember any specific numbers. Three hours and forty-seven minutes, remember?” Tony says. He continues without waiting for a response. “Be honest with me, bambino, can you wait nearly four hours for me?”

Peter sobs in response, broken and hopeless. “Hurts, T’ny. Can’t- I can’t-”

“Okay, kiddie, okay,” Tony says, nearly crying himself, but he can’t afford to cry. If he cries, Morgan might freak, and that’ll make Peter feel worse, and Tony can’t possibly to deal with both of his kids at the same time.

“Petey okay?” Morgan says. She has her tablet in her hands, playing a game already, but the worry is still marring her innocent face.

“Yeah, it’s okay, honey,” Tony says quickly. He’s already on the verge of panicking, he needs to focus and drive. “Pete, kiddo, I love you, okay? But I have to get off the phone for just a second, okay? I have an idea. I’ll call you back in just a second.”

“Mmkay,” Peter slurs.

“Don’t fall asleep, kid, please. I’ll call you right back.”

He hangs up the phone as he merges onto the highway, speeding the car up to at least 1.5x the speed limit, trying his best to keep his eyes on the road as he dials a new number.

“Hey, Tony, I didn’t think I’d be hearing from you for at least-”

“Fuck, Steve, where are you?” Tony demands, jerking the wheel to stay in his lane. His kid sounds like he’s dying and he’s four hours away. Fuck everything. “Please tell me you’re near Massachusetts.”

Steve doesn’t respond for too long and Tony worries he’s going to need to pull over, tears blurring his vision.

“Sam and Bucky are in New Hampshire, Dover, if that helps,” Steve finally says, “I’m in Brooklyn. They had to go on Shield business.”

“Tell them to drop everything. And I mean everything and get their asses to MIT. Peter called me and he’s hurt and fuck- I’m too far and he needs help, Steve. Please.”

Morgan gasps in the back of the car. “You lied? Petey hurt?”

“Yeah, of course, Tony. They can be there in like half an hour if they take the bike. Text me the coordinates.”

Tony hangs up and drops his phone into the passenger seat, knowing FRIDAY will take over with everything else. He focuses his attention on the road, steadily climbing in speed. He doesn’t care if Sam and Bucky can be there for his kid, he needs to be there for his kid.

Finally, the call reconnects.

Tony slips the Bluetooth piece into his ear to make sure Morgan doesn’t have to hear Peter’s end of the conversation.

“Pete, kiddo, talk to me,” Tony begs, glad he’s got FRIDAY on his side. A car honks at him as he swerves into another lane to avoid having to slow down. He’s putting Morgan in danger by driving so recklessly, but he can’t stop-

Peter doesn’t respond, only sobs in response, an awful gut-wrenching noise that makes Tony want to explode.

“Daddy?” Morgan pipes up from the backseat. She looks too old all of a sudden, no longer with the six-year-old bright innocence, but more like Pepper, face drawn in worry and fear. “You’re going too fast.”

“It’s like a rollercoaster, Morguna,” Tony replies half-heartedly, too focused on Peter and his cries of pain.

Morgan’s face crumples. “I don’t like ro’ercoas’ers.”

His knuckles are white from how tight he’s gripping the steering wheel and the cars are honking and Morgan’s starting to cry and Peter’s choking on his sobs and Tony can’t breathe-

He swerves too suddenly, slamming on the brakes, his heart aches when he hears Morgan let out a whine of surprise at the sudden movement. As soon as the car is stopped, he mutes his end of the earpiece and falls onto the gravel on the side of the road.

His body won’t stop shaking, he can’t stop thinking that his kid is dead or at least will be if he doesn’t make it there to him and he’s going to kill his other kid with his reckless driving or he’ll get arrested and he’ll never make it to Peter.

And then, like a beacon of hope, a second car pulls up behind them, and Rhodey’s running towards him.

“You need to breathe, Tony. C’mon,” Rhodey says, dropping to the ground beside Tony. “What the hell is going on?”

“Peter- he-”

“Breathe first, Tones. I know you can do it.” Hands are on his shoulder and chest and then the earpiece is gone, taking Peter’s cries away with it. “Breathe.”

It takes a few panicked minutes before Tony finally has his breathing under control, but when he does, he’s immediately reaching for the little white piece again.

“Tell me what’s going on first,” Rhodey demands.

“Pete- the kid, he’s hurt. He’s- I don’t know. I have to get him. I have to- I-”

“Barnes sent a message,” FRIDAY interrupts. “We’re on our way. ETA twenty minutes. Stay calm. I’ll fill you in as soon as I can.”

Rhodey offers a reassuring smile. “Barnes is getting him. It’s okay, Tony. It’s all fine. You just need to breathe and apologizing for scaring the little one.”

“He’s my kid!” Tony’s hands flail with his sudden anger, nearly hitting Rhodey. “I should be- I should- He could be dead, and I- I’m not there for him.”

Rhodey’s hands are grounding and strong on his shoulders. “He’s okay. He’s Peter Parker. He’s made it through a shitload so far, this won’t be the end, Tones. He’s going to be okay. He always is.”

And even if his words might make sense, Tony can’t comprehend much more than the idea that Peter’s hurt and alone.

Eventually, Rhodey convinces Tony up off the gravel and into the backseat of the car, pushing the earpiece into his best friend’s hand.

“I’ll drive. You take care of your kids,” Rhodey instructs and the car takes off again, nowhere near as fast as Tony was going, but still fast enough, Tony hopes.

“Peter?” he calls out gently when he gets the earpiece in again. “Pete, you with me?”

Peter’s making a scary gurgling noise, breaths few and far between. “T’ny- T’ny- Please-”

“I’m right here, bambino,” Tony reassures, keeping one of his hands holding onto Morgan’s. “I’m right here, I promise. You’re going to be just fine.”

Peter coughs wetly and when he gets control again, he sounds hopeless. “’m sorry. I- I love you. I need- I don’t-”

“You’re okay, kid. I promise. Everything’s going to be okay. Just hang on for another few minutes, okay? Bucky and Sam are going to get to you and I’m coming too, okay? I just-”

Tony’s voice is cut off by a blood-curdling, desperate cry from Peter’s end.

“Fuck, you were supposed to die. You’ve seen my face. You- you know things you shouldn’t,” a new voice is saying, far away from Peter’s phone. “You were supposed to stay quiet.”

“Please,” Peter begs, voice wavering. “I don’t- I don’t wanna die. Please.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that sooner.”

“Please-”

The line turns to static.

*

It takes too long. Much, much too long to arrive to the hospital near the campus.

Tony and Rhodey have been to this hospital one too many times, not for Peter but for Tony’s drunken nights taken too far back when they were in MIT.

Morgan clings onto Tony, arms and legs wrapped around him like a koala, as they rush into the hospital together. Her face stays hidden in the crook of his neck and he vaguely worries what kind of emotional toll this is going to take on her in the future.

“Stark, thank god you’re here,” Sam says, standing from one of the waiting room chairs.

"Where’s Peter? Where’s my kid?” Tony says, voice falling into a plead. “Please, is he okay?”

Bucky stands, bloodshot eyes finding Tony’s. “We don’t know yet. They took him into the ER, and we haven’t heard anything since. It was- It wasn’t great, if I’m being honest. But I think, I hope, he’ll be okay.”

Tony almost drops Morgan when he sees the blood caked under their nails and staining their hands, nearly up to their elbows in blood. Peter’s blood. Their clothing is bloodstained too, covering them from head to toe in blood. So much fucking blood.

Rhodey quickly takes Morgan from Tony, and Sam and Bucky gently help him sit in a chair.

“He’s going to be okay,” Sam says. “He’ll be just fine.”

Tony wants to argue, but there’s no fight left in him. He doesn’t even want to think about the possibilities. He has to be okay. There’s no other option.

*

“C’mon, Tony. Up and at ‘em,” Rhodey says, shaking Tony’s shoulder.

The billionaire shoots awake, rubbing his eyes. “Is he okay? Do we know-”

“Before you have an aneurysm, yes, Peter’s okay. They’re letting us go see him,” he says.

“Where’s Morgan?” Tony demands, finally feeling a little bit of relief loosen his chest.

Rhodey helps Tony to his feet. “Pepper came and took her home. Said you were absolutely insane for taking her all the way down here, but she’s not mad. Sam and Bucky are staying at a nearby hotel for the night. C’mon, room one eighteen.”

The door pushes open with a soft creak, revealing a hospital room not too different from the ones Tony remembers waking up in all the time after binge-drinking or OD-ing. He walks into the room, wincing at the stained blue tiles under his shoes. He only now realizes he’s wearing a pair of Peter’s high tops.

Peter looks much, much worse for wear. An oxygen mask covers the majority of his face, strapped in place and pushing his hair down in weird places. His eyes are closed, but there’re dark shadows underneath them and visible, recent tear-streaks down his cheeks.

His shirt is gone, revealing a thick wad of bandages in the center of his chest. There are some leftover streaks of dried blood over his stomach. A hospital gown is pushed down to his waist, away from the wound on his chest and his legs are covered by a thick heating blanket.

The worst, though, is the thick bandages encircling Peter’s throat, blood dotting through the white gauze.

“What happened to him?” Tony asks slowly, refusing to move any closer.

Rhodey’s face is drawn, forehead creasing. “Police checked the security tapes. Peter was walking home when he was stopped in an alleyway. A mugging. His wallet and watch were taken. Peter tried to fight back, you know, with his training, but he didn’t realize the man had a knife. Stabbed him right in the middle. Punctured one of his lungs and narrowly missed the other. The mugger came back for whatever reason and when he saw Peter was still alive…”

“He- fuck, Rhodey, his throat?” Tony exclaims, voice breaking. “How is he not-”

“Bucky and Sam got there right when it happened. They fought the mugger, nearly killed him with how angry they were. They helped stop the bleeding and got Peter here in just enough time.”

Tony’s knees are shaking and the last thing he needs is to collapse right now, so he forces himself to take the few extra steps to get to Peter’s bedside and sit in the chair.

Peter’s eyes blink open almost instantly like he could sense Tony’s presence. His eyes widen, panic glazing over him. He tries to push himself up, a hand fumbling for his oxygen mask and for his neck, but the movement obviously pulls at something because he cries out quietly in pain behind the oxygen mask.

“Hey, hey, hey, woah there, Pete. You’re okay,” Tony murmurs, gently pushing on Peter’s shoulders to get him lying down. “You’re okay. You’re in the hospital, but I’m here now, okay?”

Peter opens his mouth to speak, but he can’t from behind the mask. His eyes are welling with tears and it hurts Tony so badly to see him hurting, but at least he’s safe. At least he’s alive.

“You’re okay, bambino. You’re okay,” Tony repeats, gently pressing a kiss to Peter’s forehead and taking his hand. “It’s alright now, you can breathe, kid. Relax.”

The fight and tension leaves Peter’s body on command, slumping into the bed. His fingers fumble with Tony’s until he can tap on Tony’s palm.

H.U.R.T.S

“I know it hurts, kiddo. Your spidey-metabolism probably isn’t very good for these drugs, huh. But I planned for that, don’t you worry,” Tony says, digging through his pockets until he finds a hand-sized needle. “Bruce whipped this up for you a few months ago. Rhodey, you wanna do the honors?”

Rhodey doesn’t want to, but he will. And once the drugs have been injected into Peter’s arms, he excuses himself, saying he should probably call everyone and let them know the kid’s okay.

T.O.N.Y

“Yeah, bambino, I’m right here. You’re going to be okay. You’re safe now.”

S.C.A.R.E.D

D.O.N.T W.A.N.T. D.I.E

“You’re not going to die, kid. Not on my watch. I told you I’d protect you, and I will. Even if I have to do it through the other avengers. How would you feel about in impromptu vacation once you’re healed? Maybe Italy? May, Morgan, me, you, and Pepper. Italy for a few weeks. That sounds nice. Didn’t think my heart could deal with that kinda stress anymore, but I guess we’re all full of surprises, huh?”

There are a few seconds of nothing from Peter before he taps three times on Tony’s palm. It’s his way of saying I love you. They’ve been doing it since after the snap and Tony was the bedridden one. Peter would tap three times against Tony’s real hand.

Tony taps three times in response eliciting a little smile from behind the oxygen mask.

T.H.A.N.K.S

“You never have to thank me for helping you, kid. I wish it would be about crushes or homework, but I’m here for you, Pete. Always.”

Peter taps three times again.

“I love you too, kid. Get some rest.”

N.I.G.H.T

Followed by three more taps.

“I get it, kid, we’re sappy and lovey, but seriously, Goodnight. I love you too.”

Tony doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of saying it.

[purplesurveys]

593

Horror movies: the bloodier, the better. Right? Not necessarily. Gore is generally great, but some horror movies do bank on psychological horror, which doesn’t always have to rely on blood but still ends up just as great. Have you ever seen the movie Turistas? No. I think I’ve already heard of it, though. What do you think of people that smoke pot? I honestly don’t know how that works or what it does to people, but you do you. Would you rather have an iPod or a Zune? iPod. I’ve never even heard of Zune...lmao I think my Gen Z-ness is showing. Would you ever go surfing, if you don't already? I probably would in the future. I’ve had chances to take surfing lessons whenever we stay at beachside hotels, but I always get too conscious to ever try it out because I know my balance is awful. But who knows, maybe I’ll try it someday when I finally stop caring about what bystanders think.

Would you rather have it raining or snowing? Raining, only because I’ve never seen snow. Do you own any Volcom clothing? I don’t. Do you like honey wheat pretzels? I’ve never had those but I’m craving for snacks right now and those sound good so I might as well say yes, I like em lmao Do you like any weird food combinations? French fries with hot fudge sundae. It has a bit of a cult following here in the Philippines but I’m not sure what the rest of the world would think of it. Do have pests in your house? (ants, termites, etc) We have ants, but here in this country we don’t really count them as pests because they’re so common, they can show up anywhere. Strictly speaking, we don’t have pests in the house. If not, have you ever? We had termites for a bit and they ruined our stairs, but it’s been taken care of. Do you own any milk crates? If so, what do you use them for? No, as far as I know we don’t. Don't you hate when gum loses its flavour really fast? Yeah that’s why most times I get too lazy to eat them hahahaha. I don’t like how they lose their flavor after like, 20 chews. What brand of gum, in your opinion, loses its flavour fast? Gum in tablet form, in general. That’s how it feels for me, at least. Were you/are you in band or orchestra in high school? Nah I was never musically inclined. Have you ever driven a tractor? No.  Have you ever had to do community service? Nope. Have you ever been on probation? In any sense of the word, no. Where does your family buy bath towels? I have no clue. My mom bought all our towels but I wasn’t with her when she got them. What is normally on your Christmas list (if you celebrate it)? For the longest time it used to be Starbucks planners for the incoming year. Eventually I realized I’m never able to finish any so I stopped asking for them. These days I don’t really ask for anything... the last thing I (read: me and my siblings) asked for is a Nintendo Switch, but as for me individually I don’t really announce a wishlist anymore.

Are you sleepy? A little bit, but I miss taking surveys so I’m still up doing one. What CD do you think has the coolest album artwork? Paramore’s Singles Club cover has always resonated with me. That was a bit of a chaotic and sad time for fans of the band, and seeing the three bars on the cover kinda forced us all to think that what was happening is real life, but that it’s okay. Do you like KoRn? I don’t feel anything towards them. At what age did you stop wearing diapers? Not sure, although I think I was 2. We have home videos of me when I was 3 and I was no longer in a diaper. Would you ever spend the night in a house you knew was haunted? I’d probably pussy out at the last second HAHA What family member do you get along with the least? In general, my uncle (one of my mom’s brothers). In terms of opinions, my maternal grandma. I love her to bits, though; her political affiliations just drive me insane. Do you know how to make a daisy chain? Nah, I haven’t tried it either. Did you play hopscotch when you were little? Of course. I was always the one with the chalk and drawing the court.

How about four square? I only know the website lol. Must be an America thing. What do you think of dodgeball being banned at some high schools? Y’all are debbie downers. Do you enjoy doing yardwork (such as planting flowers, weeding, etc)? No...I’m sure others love it, but that kind of activity just sounds boring to me. Would you do yardwork if you got paid? HAHAHAHAH, probably. When you were little, did you pick up worms? No. I was awful though, I’d step on some of them :/ Do you pick worms up now? No. Do you look at yourself in the mirror often? Only if I happen to pass by one. Would you ever gauge your ears? Hell no. Is your house normally hot or cold? It more of corresponds to the weather outside, so it will always depend on the general temperature. At this time of the year, obviously, it’s colder. Do you always have a lighter on you? Never. Do you constantly mess with your hair? Not really, it’s a mess as it is most days. Would you ever ditch a friend just because they are gay? Fuck no. This survey is showing its age, haha. Heads up, it’s 2019 – nearly all my friends are gay. Do you rip things out of magazines and hang them on your walls? I did that one time when I wanted to do some art up on my wall. But it’s not a regular thing at all for me. What do you use to hang posters on your walls (tape, thumbtacks, etc)? Tape. Did you like the movie Finding Nemo? Yes, I watched it many many times as a kid. Partly because I enjoyed it and partly because it was one of the few Disney movies we had on DVD. Who is your favourite comedian? Not a huge comedy fan. Would you ever go see a stand up comedian? Sure.  If you have younger siblings, do they play sports? My sister was good at volleyball but she never pursued it; my brother likes playing basketball but only as a pastime. Do you go watch their games? Do you own any Michael Jackson CDs? I don’t think we do. What social networking site, in your opinion, is most addicting? TWITTER. Do you have a Twitter? Yep. If so, do you follow your favourite celebs or bands on there? No, I like keeping my circle to the people I personally know. Do you update it from your phone? Phone or laptop, whatever I happen to be on. Do you wear those neon-coloured skinny jeans? Nah, generally not a fan of neon-colored anything.

[3d10fire-damage]

red sun summary 7/9/2020

jumping right back into combat at the mine entrance. one of the wisps got a crit on zoroe, and calypso ran up to punch it right back. davke, dealing with the now-weakened wraith, was like “i’m gonna smack its ass!!!” then got a nat 1, so really she smacked her own ass. then the wraith crit on her and nearly took her out. calypso took down the wisp engaged with zoroe, after repeatedly telling it to get fucked. the wraith narrowly missed zoroe, and probably would’ve taken her down if the attack had connected. phosphorra brought out her Spiritual Wiggle, and zoroe finished off a wish and healed up cluk.

after taking out another wisp, the remaining one used some sort of breath of rot and decay on the whole party, and calypso was the only one to fail the save. cluk, not appreciating the halitosis, ran up and attacked it, getting a crit (get used to reading that). phosphorra went to the entrance of the next room and immediately started taking fire from the pile of cultists waiting inside. somehow she hadn’t expected that even though calypso had mentioned earlier there were lots of people in the room. phosphorra cast Fire Ball on nearly everyone in the room, dealing serious damage and destroying the totem powering another wraith. her Sanctuary spell then dropped as a result. calypso took out the final wisp then ran up to join phosphorra with a “hey.” “i’m not dead!” “nice fireball, cake pop” (then a wink). phosphorra then got hit with more sling stones, despite davke stepping in front of her.

cluk, upon learning that many of the cultists were grouped together, cast Shatter. at this point i accidentally typed “thursday” as if i were speaking as calypso, so we treated it as canon and phosphorra also said “thursday” despite currently losing a lot of blood. also, re: the cultist with a cold: “you ever just have a day where you wake up with a cold and then someone sets you on fire?” despite zoroe’s insistence that phosphorra come back, phosphorra cast Fire Ball again, killing three cultists, and then finally stepped behind a wall to rest. “i’m... gonna be somewhere else now.” calypso said that she earned it. zoroe asked if phosphorra had a healing potion, and that she should drink it if she did. after a powerful hit of Sacred Flame, calypso rushed up to the wraith and failed spectacularly at hitting it, missing FOUR times. she wasn’t happy about that. cluk flew over to another cultist, kissed her on the cheek, then killed her with a critical rapier stab. (the cultist lightly touched her cheek before she dropped.)

the wraith noticed that calypso appeared to be full of life and vitality, and gouged into her soul. calypso failed to resist this attack, and fell unconscious as the wraith seemed to heal itself significantly. phosphorra ignored zoroe’s suggestion and used Cure Wounds on herself instead of taking a potion. zoroe healed calypso and instructed for her to disengage from the wraith and fight a cultist. back to consciousness, calypso bounced back onto her feet and went to the cultist. upon taking a hit, she used Hellish Rebuke on the cultist, dealing serious damage. calypso also noticed she did not feel well, like weird and light after the wraith’s attack. cluk got another crit on the cultist, who did not return the bard’s wink because her face was kinda fried. phosphorra hurt the wraith badly with Fire Bolt and her Spiritual Wiggle, and zoroe finished it off with Sacred Flame. davke, in a very “she confused but she got the spirit” fashion, swung her weapon before moving up the cultist, but did connect, and then cluk finished the cultist off while holding davke’s hand. cluk is just... yeah. (she and calypso shared a high five, which was not 100% since calypso wasn’t well).

finally, with a chance to relax for a moment, zoroe checked in with calypso, who declared that she felt like shit. zoroe suggested the party go outside and rest. calypso insisted that someone make phosphorra not be bleeding anymore. phosphorra was a little concerned, but agreed to go, after zoroe said that they could camp by the door and stop anyone that tried to leave the mine. settling outside, phosphorra approached zoroe, asking about how prayer is supposed to work. zoroe said that praying to Hvare is like a conversation, and that what she does to pray is find a quiet, comfortable space as if she were talking to a friend. sometimes she talks aloud, other times she just keeps her words in her head, and she knows her goddess will hear her. phosphorra said she wanted to try praying, since she had just come pretty close to death. though, before she finished her sentence, zoroe excitedly told her she had a good place for them to sit and pray together. calypso shouted that she was a nerd, from where she was sprawled out on the ground. phosphorra quietly mumbled her way through a prayer to Rasantat, saying she wasn’t sure if she was doing it right, and that she was thankful that she helped keep her friends alive. this was the first time she had felt she had her powers for a reason, and felt a sense of happiness and comfort. 

zoroe asked her how she felt, and phosphorra said that it felt a little silly, but that it wasn’t the wrong thing to do by any means. zoroe said that praying brought her peace, since she knew someone was there to help her. “i hope it does the same for you.” phosphorra said that she thought that Rasantat needed her help too. troubled, zoroe changed the subject to ask how phosphorra seemed to know the King was a dragon when they entered Amata’s scrying room. caught off-guard by the question, phosphorra explained that she felt a connection to Amata’s magic in there and that she saw something. she could recall a similar feeling to that of Rasantat’s presence, and suggested it was the first secret she had shared with her. zoroe admitted that she doesn’t trust Rasantat, but she does trust phosphorra, so she would follow her and look out for her best interest. “what else did you see in that room?” phosphorra recalled seeing visions of a large eye on a scaly face, the feeling of corrosive poison within her body, and the visual of vines choking an entire city (like what the druid in the aqueduct had mentioned), and the general memory of something extremely powerful. she insisted that Rasantat is trying to help her, and that she believes in her. zoroe asked phosphorra why she followed Rasantat so blindly. “it’s not blindly. years ago she set me on this path and i didn’t know why, but now i have answers.” she explained that in the past, she had suddenly been able to use magic, and she knew now that that was because of Rasantat. “i’m no cleric, but i have divine magic and healing. i finally felt like i belonged somewhere.” zoroe still seemed conflicted, but was glad to have shared prayer with the tiefling. phosphorra thanked her for listening, and said that it must be weird for the others, but she wants to help them. zoroe told her she had just been worried for phosphorra, since she had been in unfamiliar land and enveloped in darkness, but that she would support her. phosphorra countered that darkness isn’t bad, and that she had felt that way since before Rasantat’s presence.

meanwhile, calypso had requested that cluk play some music for her since he felt like shit. cluk seemed off her game, giving two lackluster performances. calypso said it was better than nothing, and took to drowsily staring at zoroe and phosphorra during their conversation. finally everyone took a long rest. zoroe touched a hand to calypso’s forehead, to check on her condition. calypso shouted that her hands were cold, and zoroe said calypso was just hotheaded. after some banter, zoroe was like “well, if you can banter with me, then you’re fine.” “pfft, i could banter in my sleep.” “uh-huh. do you think you could punch some more lights out?” “again, could do that in my sleep.” “you’re fine.” heading back into the mine, the party unlocked the door and headed further into the tunnel under the mountain. the tunnel seemed to merge with a large natural cavern, where perhaps against better judgement calypso yelled for an echo. the party proceeded into a basement with many shelves of very old tablets.

calypso, being extra, climbed over a shelf, and zoroe and phosphorra found a secret door. in the hidden room was a table with unreadable tablets, and a rusty chest that calypso opened. in this chest was a Scroll of Bane and a pearl of some sort, which calypso did not recognize since she grew up in a desert, far away from any oceans. “what’s this weird... rock?” phosphorra explained that it’s not exactly a rock, but it comes from the ocean. cluk Identified it to be a Pearl of Power, and zoroe took it after some discussion. davke said this room was like her mom’s “quiet room,” which is apparently a place where one goes when she doesn’t anyone to hear her. the party then went downstairs, into a very large central chamber. there was a large sigil painted(?) on the floor, and a big raised platform at the back of the room. on this platform were some cultists, but also a very large, fully armored woman with a very large maul.

making no attempt to sneak in or anything, the party walked into the chamber. zoroe said that she was a fan of the artwork on the floor. “ah, we have company! are you the troublemakers?” the party vaguely made like they weren’t, and the woman said that she saw the party’s performance outside. cluk pointed out that she is a bard. the woman introduced herself as Sapphira, She Who Eclipses the Light, the Left hand of the King, a Devotee of the Order of the Tainted Sun and that basically she was gonna kick the party’s ass. COMBAT

cluk acted first, running up and cast Blink, though she didn’t actually blink away at that point. more cultists ran out from an upper room. calypso threw her javelin of lightning, bloodying a cultist and dealing some damage to Sapphira. then she took a defensive stance. a couple of cultists tried and failed to grapple cluk, and zoroe cast Beacon of Hope, only missing cluk with its radius. Sapphira hit cluk twice with her maul, dealing serious fucking damage, what the fuck is this woman’s deal. additionally, cluk’s armor began to rot and her AC dropped??? at this point we entertained the idea of running away, thinking this was too risky of an encounter. even more cultists emerged from a lower room. phosphorra was like “this is the king's left hand? he's powerful? and she is too? so we should leave? right now? this is not gonna happen? look at her? and everyone else? maybe without her, but... we should leave." cluk, bleeding, agreed with her. we bargained that we got some information and some items from this place, so it wouldn’t be a total loss if we ran. calypso, using Step of the Wind, ran to grab her javelin and started running for the exit. based off of a majority vote, we settled on running away.

zoroe threw a Fire Ball at the group in the center of the room, trying to thin the ranks before starting for the door as well. phosphorra threw another Fire Ball as well, and Sapphira seemed not too fazed by this damage. we then stopped to more fully discuss what our plan was, as one of our players felt that we shouldn’t run, that we could manage this combat if we were smart about it. we decided as a group to stay and fight, planning on a strategy where we do not engage in melee combat with Sapphira, and we take out the other cultists at range.

and that’s where we’re picking up next tiiiime

[builder051]

Could you do something where Bucky is miserably sick and the only person around to help him is Nat?

Here it is!

We’re back in powers/no powers choose your own adventure (sorry for the whiplash).

________________________________

“I’ll just be gone a couple days,” Steve had said as he threw socks and underwear into a duffle bag.  “And in Pittsburgh, so not too far away.”

Bucky’d nodded and reassured Steve he’d be fine.

“Sam’s going with me, and so is Clint.” Steve’d explained.  “But Nat’ll be here.  You can call her if you need anything.”

“Ok.  I’ll be ok by myself, though,” Bucky’d said.

Now, he’s lying spread-eagle on the living room floor trying to breathe through nauseous prickles that are inching up his neck and making sweat break through the stubble on his upper lip.  Almost immediately he starts to feel cold again, but the chill is welcome after the oppressive heat of the blankets strewn over the edge of the couch.

Leave it to Bucky to catch some death-bearing virus the moment Steve leaves town.  He shakes his head, feeling his hair flop against the carpet.  Then he has to press his hand over his face to stop the reverberation in his sinuses.

Bucky glances up at the clock above the TV.  It’s 11:30 at night.  He should try to go to bed.  But he’s been on the couch, napping on and off for the last 5 or 6 hours while he waited for the headache and sniffle to either go away or get worse.  He’s exhausted, but not sleepy.  And with the fevered ache in his lower back, Bucky is actually slightly more comfortable on the floor’s hard surface than he was on the couch.  He doubts bed will feel much better.

Back around 4:00 in the afternoon when the body aches were first starting to appear, Bucky’d pulled a bottle of ibuprofen from the kitchen drawer only to find that he couldn’t get the safety cap off.  He’d tried holding it between the wall and his stump shoulder while he worked the lid with his right hand, but there’d been no success.  Squeezing it between his knees and twisting with his down-pressed palm had given the same result.  The whole thing would just spin and resolutely refuse to open.

The smart thing to do would’ve been to call Nat during daylight hours and solicit her for some innocent help.  But he hadn’t been feeling that bad then.  Just a little aura of malaise, nothing worth bothering anyone with.  He’d just lie down and sleep it off.  But the nap had done the opposite of helping.  Now every inch of Bucky’s body throbs and he feels close to vomiting.  Painkillers probably won’t even help at this point.

Bucky’s brain seems to bounce against the inside of his skull as he rolls onto his side and sits up. Orientation is slow to catch up, and the vertigo that’d been swiveling around the edges of his vision while lying down is now engulfing him in dizziness.  His stomach splashes with a threat of what’s to come, and he gets to his feet but stays hunched over as he makes for the bathroom.

Bucky drops clumsily to his knees and lifts the toilet lid.  His mouth fills with coppery tasting spit, and he lets it run down his lip and into the slightly bleachy-smelling water.  A heave wracks his shoulders, but nothing comes up yet.  Bucky breathes against a quivering clod of mucous in his throat and waits for the next assault on his stomach.  He retches up a splash of something sour, then presses his sternum into the edge of the porcelain toilet as his spine arches in a dry heave.

Bucky hasn’t eaten dinner, so there isn’t a lot to bring up.  It doesn’t keep his body from forcibly expelling what’s in it, though, and Bucky loses count of the retches that force his entire frame into sweaty shakiness and bring up almost nothing for the effort.

Finally he gets a chance to pause and breathe.  Disorientation is coming on quickly, and Bucky feels unsteady on his knees.  He’s not sure if he’s about to contract forward again or fall backward into convulsions, but he’s positive his sense of equilibrium isn’t going to last.

He ends up collapsing sideways into the wall.  Bucky paws at the toilet paper roll, but it does nothing to keep him upright.  Stars blink into his vision and he lets his ear rest on the smooth, hard surface.  He hears his phone ringing from the living room, and the fleeting wonder of who the fuck is calling him at nearly midnight flashes for a moment.  Then blur spreads through his head and Bucky can’t muster the energy to wonder at all.

He comes to, and panic floods Bucky’s veins as he hears the sound of a key scraping in the lock on the front door.  Steve’s out of town.  Sam’s out of town.  Who else has a key to the house?  Bucky uses the wall to haul himself to his feet, then launches for the bathroom door frame.  He’s still unsteady enough to fall, but instinct tells him to prepare to fight.

Bucky makes it into the hallway as the front door swings open.  He should launch himself at the intruder, assume a fighting stance.  But the nausea’s back with a vengeance, and he’s doubled up to dry heave over the carpet when Nat steps through the door.

“Oh my god,” she says, rushing to his side.

“No,” Bucky, grunts.  His voice is shot.  “I’m ok.  Leave me…alone.”

“Yeah, I’m totally going to do that,” Nat says sarcastically, inserting her shoulder under Bucky’s stump and getting a slender arm around him.  “Do you want to get to the bathroom?”

Bucky breathes through the contraction.  His stomach’s in his chest, but he’s beyond empty.  “No, I’ve just been…I’m fine.”

He watches Nat turn her head down the hall to see the bathroom light blazing in the dark of the downstairs.  “Oh,” She says.  Then, “You’re not fine.  You’re about to pass out.”

She walks Bucky to the couch and practically throws him down on top of the nest of blankets, then heads off to retrieve the bathroom trash can and flush the toilet.

“Ok,” Nat says, perching on the edge of the coffee table and dropping the trash can between Bucky’s feet. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.  Just got sick, I guess,” Bucky mutters, passing his hand over his forehead and down across his eyes.  “What’re you doing here?”

“You didn’t answer when I called,” Nat says simply.

“Why’d you call?  It was like…midnight.”

“To remind you to go to bed,” Nat says with a dry laugh.  “Steve said you’d been staying up all night watching old movies lately.”

“Huh,” Bucky says.  Nice of Steve to care about him enough to set up a bedtime call.  But Bucky doesn’t need to be babysat.  Then he runs through the events of the past few hours and reluctantly concedes that maybe he does, though he’ll still never admit it.

“I called you four times,” Nat says.

“I, uh, only heard the first one,” Bucky admits.  “I was…I couldn’t get up to answer it.”

“So you’ve already passed out once tonight.  Spectacular,” Nat sighs.  She reaches across to palm Bucky’s forehead.  “What kind of fever are you running there?”

“Fucking disgusting one,” Bucky mumbles.

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Nat agrees, removing her hand.  “I’m gonna go pillage the supplies in the master bathroom.  I hope you guys hid all your sex toys.”

“We don’t…” Bucky loses the energy to retort.

“Taking your word for it,” Nat says, standing up and heading for the stairs.  “And speaking of taking stuff, what meds have you had?”

“None.”

“God, I didn’t think you’d fried your brains that much.”

“I couldn’t get the bottle open,” Bucky murmurs, deciding he’d rather feel embarrassed than idiotic at the moment.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Nat says, a trace of soft sympathy invading her tone.

“Thought it was too late.  Didn’t know I’d get a midnight message.”

“Hey, there’s no chivalry around me, ok?” Nat says, hardening again.  “You don’t have to be nice because I’m a girl.  I mean, yeah, don’t call Laura at 11:00 on a school night when her husband’s out of town, that makes sense, but I was literally playing darts with the wall right before I came over here.  Nothing to interrupt.”

“Yeah.  Sure,” Bucky agrees weakly.  Sweat breaks out on his forehead, and the sick feeling in his abdomen is rising.

“Trash is on the floor,” Nat reminds him, then she sprints up the stairs.

She’s back quickly, and Bucky glares at her over the old-fashioned thermometer she’s shoved into his mouth.  The presence of it under his tongue is making him want to gag.

“101.5,” Nat reports when Bucky’s finished cooking the glass rod.  “Definitely a fever.  But nothing dangerous.”  She offers a couple bottles of pills next.  A different container of ibuprofen, plus Excedrin and Nyquil.

Bucky goes with the plain painkiller.

“Really?” Nat asks.  “Don’t wanna be knocked out?”

Last time he took Nyquil, Bucky’d been assaulted with the most bizarre nightmares of his existence.  He just shakes his head weakly.

“Ok.”  Nat gives him a generous dose of the small orange tablets and a glass of ginger ale.

Bucky stifles a sickly belch after downing the meds with a swallow of the carbonated beverage, but Nat pays it no mind.  She flips on the TV and gives Bucky the choice of Nat Geo or classic movies.

Halfway through Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bucky starts to feel revolting again.  Sweet ginger ale and the chemical-tasting coating on the pills is so present in his throat he can almost smell it.  He decides he’d rather puke in a toilet than in the garbage can, so Bucky slowly rises to his feet.

Nat doesn’t say anything, so Bucky turns to glance at her before he shuffles into the bathroom.  She’s curled like a cat on the seat of the La-Z-Boy, fast asleep.  Bucky does his best to lift the toilet lid and retch quietly.

[thegeminisage]

time for MORE ZELDABLOGGING hell yeah today’s stream of consciousness:

i’ve decided that i wanna go south bc like im never gonna catch up with my brother and im Not in the mood to do heat-resistence stuff so i might as well see a thing he hasn’t, right?!

if i get too bored i can always turn around and go north!!

furthermore he’s getting closer to hyrule castle and i dont wanna lol

fast traveled to the dueling peaks and found the tower already

ooh and lake hylia is south as well! tho ofc im doing the southeast one first

and i’ll probably get tired of storyless exploring before i get out that far hahaha

wow the tower is close to the border, i can see the lake hylia province from here

there’s an Immense palm tree lookin jungle and i think i see a giant armos?

but the mountains divide it pretty neatly so it looks to be an easy walk assuming those guardian statues don’t move

ah. of course they move.

at least they can’t get up and walk around :|

too bad you can’t play around in the menu while you wait out rain. i’d rewatch m memories and shit

i climbed this one red looking cliff and the sky went green and the weather changed to all cloudy forever so im probably about to die

and just like that, glided to the tower. easy peasy

ah, the faron province!! cooool

ah wow!! it’s bigger than i realized *w*

watching a lightning storm from one of these towers is fucking terrifying

that lightning does Not fuck around

the maddening thing about this game is seeing so much cool shit in the distance and you can’t check it out yet, or it would be such hard work

i see some glowy shit and a giant pink tree and i wanna explore everything but also it’s so Much

it’s kind of creepy out here :/ maybe i want to go do story after all lol

im ging back to the shrine you hang glide off of so i can start from  somewhere familiar >_>

idk why im so cautious playing this game. like. its a game. its not like it can hurt me

im having trauma flashbacks looking at eventide island

wait is this a

i hear town music!!! omg omg

PEOPLE ;_;

ohhhh my gosh what a beautiful peaceful beachside town

reminds me of bodhum/new bodhum and bits and piece of ff11, which i say with the greatest reluctance

i love everyone in this village just bc they are here

oh god it’s so beautiful i love beaches so much i want to live here

oh my gosh there’s a gerudo here!!!!!! OH MY GOD I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU SINCE MM TALK TO ME

she’s asleep in the inn lol

oh hey the painter dude is here too

some of these hylian npcs are poc which is so do cool and overdue

ooh a chest game

i lost lmao

OH MY GOD

the gerudo lady is awake and she is. so tall oh my god

im gay

i am Gay

I Am Gay

oh, man. oh man

are they all  so beautiful. so Strong. good god

i wish this village was bigger i could have happily stayed here for hours

omg

someone a long time ago was standing on a mountain that looked like a broken heart and was like, is this not the place to find your soulmate…? but i haven’t found mine yet

someone mentioned a similar legend here and on the map i see a mountain with a whole heart on it pfffft

im so sick of seeing these stone cirlces everywhere…i can’t blow them up..what do you DO with them? complete the pattern maybe??

oh my god it worked

i’ve passed by so many…how will i ever get all these seeds……..

i know the game wants me to sail here but i hate sailing, it’s tedious, i want to control my boat with the fucking control stick

holy fuck dude the sword im using is so strong?? it cut down a palm in a single swipe!!

the longer i play the more i hate the blood moon

oh no i found a hinox

i was going to avoid him but he has an orb….

idk where it goes tho so there’s no point there’s no point the blood moon will bring him back okay Okay

hes a red one anyway so no big, when the time comes

oh my god ANOTHER hinox with an orb

i bet they go to the twin shrines near the village

but i’m supposed to find a tablet before i do that…….i don’t wanna skip another quest like the zora helm also thats a Long walk jesus christ

NNNONONONO GOD

GUARDIAN THAT CAN WALK OVER THERE NO FUCKING THANKS SO GLAD IT DIDN’T SEE ME

so fucking glad

exploring is so dangerous Why

why do i suck SO much at combat

oooh a bokoblin camp with a black mobiln :/ Yikes

aaand bomb arrows takes care of THAT

i love seeing farosh flying around here but i can NEVER CATCH HIM

i was just a few minutes too late to getting him at a really good spot

but the dragons seem to take the same route over 24h, so there’s that

oh hey im back at green cloud plateau

okay Um am i crazy or did i just hear something roar? was that the wind??

oh god i see a question mark from here something already knows im close

oh ogd oh god why i bet it’s big and awful

IT’S A LYNEL LOL

i dont have any healing or defense stuff no way

oh no i think there’s a shrine up there where he is ): but i can’t get it

AND A HINOX RIGHT NEXT TO HIM? NO THANKS LOL

jesus i knew i’d die here

at least there’s no orb on this one

oh noooo more lightning god the storms here are brutal

omg i found shelter behind a waterfall and there’s the shrine i was sensing!! yes!!!!!

holy fuck im not safe here either i nearly just got fried

in the shrine we go holy shit

may the weather be better when i get out

damn i keep finding ore today… #blessed

I SAW FAROSH AGAIN HE WAS SO CLOSE BUT I WAS STILL TOO SLOW…okay they DEFINITELY take the same route everyday i think

or at least if not at the same time, the same places

ugh i went over to this one place and the weather turned to all lightning forever

KASS? HOLY SHIT DUDE YOU’RE GONNA GET FRIED

im so glad to see him ;_; it’s creepy out here

uh…i think…i have to get struck by lightning…on this hill…oh my god i’ll die???

maybe my lightning rod will work……? please…………..?

aaaaand it did nothing. great. ok

/saves game

……../dons metal armor weapons and shield

LMAO IT WORKED HOLY SHIT

oh my god im alive!!!! i had mipha’s grace just in case but i took an electric elixir

jesus FUCK

yes nice i didnt even have to do anything just get the…chest…….

B R O

i got rubber tights!!! electric resistance!!!!! NICE

ah and when i came out the storm was over :3

but kass is gone ): i wanted to tell him i figured out his song!!!

i knew i should have talked to him before i went in :/

lol i find a boat after playing in the water for 100 years…..not that i wouldve used it, but

aw i met and saved a traveling couple, i’ve saved them before

oh my gosh a STABLE!! all the way out here!!!!

THERE ARE PEOPLE

man i wondered what that couple was doing out in such a remote place

oh wow beedle gave me a single ancient arrow…apparently it deals huge damage even to guardians

maybe this is what the start screen meant by the right tools!!!!

but there’s only one…

robbie from akkala gave it to him…NICE i’ll remember

ah some guy here said there was something glowing at the top of floria waterfall…i gotta check that out

ooh a shrine back here too…nice

god there’s a chest in here that’s REALLY hard to get bc camera angles but it has an ancient core (looked it up) and i need one to upgrade my runes………smh

man…nah. im out. there will be other cores & this is crazy ridiculous

its just the stasis rune anyway and i use that one the least

five big hearty radishes means TWENTY FIVE EXTRA HEARTS

but you can only have a max of 30 lol so

AAAH HERE COMES FAROSH AND IM FINALLY AHEAD OF WHERE HE’LL BE OH MY GOD

I HIT HIM I HIT HIM

I FINALLY GOT A SCALE

almost died for it but. i got it. he throws electricity involuntarily and it’s major stuff i shoulda worn my rubber gear

i kinda wanna wait and see if i can get another……..but i have shit to do

holy shit farosh came back around & i got another scale…wish i could hit his horn

AAAH NO A GIANT STONE THING IS HERE….i have no idea how to fight them im leaving

well idk if the stone thing or the dragon or the shrine was what was supposed to be glowing up here but i don’t see anything new

im almost done exploring this province, actually

gotta walk along one beach and climb the heart mountain and that’s it!

a little tempted to grab my horse since it’s such an easy direct road, but i’d be getting on and off all the time ):

fml there’s a guardian on this beach…pls dont move pls dont pls dont

oh thank god its stuck in the sand

omg there was a chest in the sand but it WASNT A CHEST it was one of those yellow octoroks!!!! but!! i shot it! and got money!!!!!!!! #nice

NOOOO another stone thing!!

but you know the last one took a lot of damage from one accidental bomb so maybe

how do you fight it?? i can’t damage it???

OH OMG THE ORE THING!!! OKAY LET’S DO THIS SHIT let’s go i cooked up so much good food

oh my god i took him down in just a handful of bomb arrows…THATS what ive been running from?

not nearly as scarly as lynel tbh

and i’ve been marking the minibosses on my map so now i can look for jewels there if i ever need to

i found a fuckton in this region but lol i sold them all

i know one great fairy needs 10k rupees and like…..Yikes

im getting pretty good with my bow, i can hit far off targets bc i know how high to aim and shit

i’ve kind of been wondering what happens if you get to the edge of the map

but the wind gets so strong on the beaches i bet you just either run out of stamina if swimming or can’t make the boat get past it if sailing

but what happens if you get to a land edge though…?

i actually dislike getting to edges of maps haha it creeps me out. that disreality unrealization shit. no thanks

in la noire the edges of the map have u-turn streets and you realize the cars are all just on one endless track and no one is in them and no one ever goes home and you start to wonder if this actual universe is a simulation and it freaks you out

anyway.

omfg someone from the yiga clan selling bananas like i actually could have bought some if i wanted LMAO

he actually had me fooled for a moment even though i know what npcs named “traveler” mean

why do they all give me bananas when they die anyway………whats going on with this.

oh my god this dude at the heart shaped pond is in love with this gerudo lady here. and like. same oh my god she’s so Big

but lol you can choose to say “yeah talk to her” or “nope, rival time!”

me: aggressively wants to flirt with the gerudo lady but not in a straight way

pls this cutscene was so cute

but she deserves better than a weirdo like this guy

he like, gave me a twenty, and she fussed at him for being stingy, so then he have me a hundred, and THEN

HE ASKED FOR HIS MONEY BACK LMFAO no way fucknuts

wow and with that im All Done with this province O:

i mean yeah i got quests and shrines to come back and do, but i’ve SEEN everything, yk

maybe now i’ll go up to death mountain haha i feel so slow ): i hope what i saw and did made up for my slow story progress

whoa this weapons guy said he’d remake mipha’s trident if i ever broke it!! what a relief

ah i finally figured out the shrine puzzle by zora’s domain…gotta give that thing a dragon scale. but i like my dragon scales too much so i won’t. maybe later

oh hey the death mountain region tower! that was easy

uhhh what…is that

oh my god a FLYING GUARDIAN are you KIDDING me??? why???????

and they’re everywhere! fantastic!!! my ass is DEAD

oh okay this region is called akkala

at least i get guardian arrows here eventually :|

oh my god ONE SAW ME FUCK

oh my god

I RAN UP TO THE TOWER AND IT’S COVERED IN THE BLIGHT

what is that thing crawling all over death mountain?!

what is happening OH my god!!! so much!! everything!!! all at once!!!!!!!!

wait

that’s the divine beast

oh my god

oh my god.

oh my god it’s so big but even still it looks tiny in comparison to the mountain, oh my god

omg it gets cold up here only at night?? omg

NO there’s a still guardian up here too ;_;

i’m gonna try to kill it!!! good first try it can’t move and there’s cover RIGHT here

second try really but im stronger now

now, i have bomb arrows and lightning rods

ok lightning rod does nothing, bomb arrows dont work in the rain, but i killed it with shock arrows!!

and it wasnt v hard bc i was behind cover the whole time lol

but like, with those arrows - i used maybe 9 or 10? and that was all i used, i threw a couple of bombs at it too i guess

now to figure out how i even get IN here w/ all this gunk…..

fuck a bokoblin near a cooking pot saw me and accidentally set itself on fire lmao

ok i can’t climb past the blight, i tried, but how the fuck do i get rid of it i dont see any eyeballs )))):

……………………….w ait

this bokoblin has a shield with the hylian crest on it. the HYLIAN crest

these ruins have the red carpet with the double line of gold on the side

i’m crying this was someplace special

i don’t know what it was bc it can’t be the temple of time or hyrule castle but it was someplace real i recognize the style of it so faintly and it’s COVERED IN BLIGHT

oh my god………..this is so Much

ah ok a beam fell when i shot the first eyeball and i was like why arent there anymore?? but apparently i can magnesis it

oh wow i found a piece of a room…….totally trashed, jesus christ

must’ve been a lab or library

omg its thundering outside…..that has nothing to do with zelda but it makes this creepier

THERE’S A GUARDIAN AT THE TOP SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME

its not alive tho thank christ

jesus fuck the divine beast is SO BIG and the mountain is still SO MUCH BIGGER i feel so tiny every time i look

anyway it’s 5am and there’s lightning so i gotta unplug for many reasons, this is a fine stopping place, can’t wait to get my ass kicked by that thing and rescue a goron, holy fuck