#connor out here terrorizing his own people

[goldenheart-supremacy]

Nimona AU - How to train your Dragon

@kestrel-wylde I kinda went nuts here...

During a dragon raid, the chief of Berk, Valerin's husband died.

They were both alternating battling dragons and helping their people.

When Valerin found her dead husband's body, she saw that he'd been burned badly.

Then she found that the reason his arms were tucked into himself was because he had been doing his best to protect a small bundle in his arms.

It was a baby. Since his parents seemed to have died in the raid as well, Valerin had decided to take the child under her care and adopted him since she and her husband haven't the chance to conceive yet.

Time skip to the future.

Ballister was an only child to his biological parents but if he ever did have siblings, he would've been considered the 'runt of the litter', as he didn't seem as well built for a Viking child his age.

At least, compared to the other Viking children his age.

Maybe Valerin and Ballister has a better relationship than Stoick and Hiccup did in the start of this AU story.

The conflict for Ballister is getting the village to accept his as the chiefess's scion and future chief.

Maybe when Ballister finds out and starts training Nimona, his reason for wanting to keep the secret is as to not make his reputation worse. [I don't know yet how he ends up injuring her like Hiccup did Toothless in the movie]

I just added my OCs for more character dynamics, like the original team had in the movie but feel free to use them or not or make your own OPs for the AU hahaha 😆

Some dialogue ideas...

Ballister, voiceover as a narrator: [Tomorrow, when training begins, I'm going to prove myself and show that I can stand at par with the others. Aerin Shieldstone, Connor Silverlock, Todd Sureblade, Abigail Swiftfeet, Atticus Valorarm and...]

Ambrosius was running away from some dragons, and he jumped over some barrels as a Zippleback launched a fireball at him.

Ballister, in a dreamily way: [... Ambrosius...]

Avoiding the impact of the blast, Ambrosius used the remaining leverage from jumping over the barrels to backflip away and ended up landing unto Ballister's arms...

Ambrosius, grinning: Good looking out, Bal.

Ambrosius pinches Ballister's cheek affectionately before leaping out of his arms, grabbing his axe and a bucket to see if there's anywhere else he needs to be...

Ambrosius: Look alive, Bal! Let's get rid of these beasts! Ballister, grabbing a sword: Right behind you, Ambs!

Trainer: Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight! The Deadly Nadder! Atticus, mumbling: Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen. Trainer: The Hideous Zippleback! Atticus: Plus eleven stealth times two. Trainer: ...The Monstrous Nightmare! Atticus: Firepower: fifteen. Trainer: The Terrible Terror! Atticus: Attack: eight; Venom: twelve! Trainer: CAN YOU STOP THAT?! Trainer, sighing: And the Gronkle. Atticus, more quietly: Jaw strength: eight. Connor, smirking: Someone's done some advanced reading... Ambrosius, chuckling: Only about a lot, too Atticus, smiling sheepishly: I read the book seven times. Ambrosius and Connor: Wow.

During training with the Gronkle to avoid getting hit...

Aerin, keeping his eyes on the Gronkle's location: Todd, keeping his eyes on Aerin: So, I moved to my parent's basement. Todd: Got some weights in there, you should come over some time to work out. Aerin, barrel rolls away: Todd, calling out to him: You look like you work out!

Then, the Gronkle hits a shot on the spot Todd was standing at...

Aerin and Connor - my OCs, besties Atticus and Abigail - OCs I remembered reading from your fic 'Love At First Fight', I just gave Atticus a temporary last name. Unless, you know, @kestrel-wylde wants to make it final haha I didn't write Abigal yet since I don't know much how to write the character. Atticus is based off the otter knight from the movie, so I kinda headcanon him as someone nerdy with animal facts, so I made him like Fishlegs here.

Edit: Please check out Kestrel's Httyd Nimona AU art!

[thirium-drinker]

Hello! You asked for some Sixty hc's and I'm here to give you my two cents on him, lol! I have a few different iterations of him, though they all have a similar base. The Sixty I wrote for my RK Bro/Anderfam-centric series where Hank, Connor, Nines and Sixty were all living together after the Revolution is very much The Problem Child™️, lol. He's rather like many portrayals of him where he's more forceful and obnoxious than Connor or Nines, often making decisions just because he curious about how people will react, reveling in starting arguments, and all-around being kind of an asshole, lol. He might also be classified as mildly sadistic, often chaffing at societal expectations and fairness. He's haughty, supremely confident in his own skills, and isn't afraid to use every cheapshot advantage he can in order to gain the upper hand. As he expresses in one of the monologues he gives in one of my fics, he is "the mean one," haha. Sixty is a very "bad foot forward" kind of guy to me. He likes to make the worst impression possible and instigate because it amuses him, but also as a way of gauging the people around him, seeing just what they're willing to tolerate and how far he can push them.

But that's not all there is to him. I definitely feel like he has a softer side to him, one that he uses his often-callous attitude to try and cover up. He is extremely loyal when he decides he cares about something or someone and, though he may not show it conventionally, he is capable of love and is fierce in his defense of it. He loves his family, i.e. Hank and Connor and Nines and Sumo. He may antagonize them constantly and get on their nerves a lot, but he will move heaven and earth to help them if they're in danger. He will break whatever laws of morality he needs to to keep them safe. And he'll do it all with a mocking smirk on his lips and a frigid chill in his eyes. I hc he's closest with Nines (due to some backstory I wrote between them), still harbors some resentment for Connor, and respects Hank, but he definitely loves them all dearly, even if he'll never admit it, lol. I also hc that he's dived into the idea of his newfound freedom wholeheartedly, oftentimes eschewing human conventions like manners and politeness, pointlessly gendering things, or dressing conventionally. (His fashion sense puts even Hank's to shame, omg. He is very out there. XD) I hc he absolutely adores old Westerns (they really vibe with his chaotic worldview) and has physically watched Unforgiven a ridiculous number of times.

Also, and I cannot reiterate this enough, Sixty is the Knife Guy™️. Haha, somewhere along the way, Connor became the Gun Guy™️, Nines became the Punch Guy™️, and Sixty was left with knives, but like... I really think they fit his personality? Going along with his casual sadism from earlier, he enjoys the intimacy of this approach and how it lets him get closer to his opponents. He enjoys the precision needed to competently use both the short blades meant for hand-to-hand combat and also the throwing knives he keeps up his sleeves at all times. Knives are also easy to conceal and he keeps some emergency blades stitched into the linings of his clothing in case of an emergency and knowing they're there make him feel more secure. Because, while he enjoys a good fight probably more than is sane and he also has a perverse love of terrorizing people, this is another instance of him covering for more insecurities.

Because I hc that CyberLife and Amanda's betrayals really fucked him up. Loyalty is such an enormous part of who he is but one of the very first instances of his life was characterized by nothing but callous abandonment by his creators and carers. He was left to fend for himself against Connor and, when he's defeated, he's not granted another chance. He's deemed defective and his programs frozen to await termination. (This is part of that backstory I was talking about, lol, and Nines ends up saving him from that fate.) But it's led to him being deeply, deeply insecure about his value as a living being, his place in the grander scheme of things, and his ability to trust completely. He's got some very deeply-rooted authority issues stemming from that, as well as an inferiority complex a mile wide in relation to Connor, and also probably his fair share of imposter syndrome, too, which is why I image he works so very hard to differentiate himself from his predecessor. In one of my other works unrelated to this series, Sixty actively tried to usurp Connor's role after his revival. He planned to sabotage his life and then slide in to take his place, and when that didn't work out for him, well... It led him to a very dark place that he never would've made it out of without some chance intervention. This version of him is colder, more desperate for a reason to even exist, wrestling with the weight of his past actions and the necessity to grow past them in order to thrive. He's meaner, ruder, and all around very unpleasant. But even then, when he chooses to care about something, he gives them his whole self, always loyal to a fault.

Honestly, I have a lot more I could write about Sixty and my hc's for him, but good lord, this has gone on way longer than I thought it would, lol! As you can see, I care him muchly. ☺️ But yeah, that's the basis of how I usually write him: chaotic, inflammatory, sarcastic. But also protective, and funny and intensely loyal. I love the strange dichotomy of his character so damn much, he is always a blast to write! And I hope I did a good job summing it all up for you, lol! Feel free to DM me if I was unclear about something or if you want to talk more about him or anything, lol! I always appreciate a fellow Sixty enthusiast. XD

Thank you for dropping this lore bomb in my asks. I absolutely ADORE this characterization of our beloved Sixty. He deserves the world and the way you write him sounds like so much fun!

[epic-arc]

Spider Knight 5: The Spider in the Storm.

Team rwby and jnpr were in the lab that had just come out of renovations after the vulture fight and nora is looking at a vat full of electric eels and jaune walks over and pokes her shoulder with a curious expression.

Jaune: You seem pretty fixated on these eels what's so interesting about them other than giving off electricity.

Nora: Man I just think they're really cool having the ability to generate their own energy and release it in the form of a defense and is very similar to my semblance! Well i mean a littel similar.

Jaune: Yeah i agree with you nora they are pretty cool and maybe if that scientist professor ozpin told us show ups maybe he gonna let us hold them with the right equipment.

jaune and nora were getting attention for pyrrha so they approaching the group and a scientist would enter the room and look at the two team with a big smile on his face and then he would fix his lab coat and put a rubber glove on his shield and grab a grappling hook and went to the fish tank.

Curtis Connors: As in science, in nature everything is connected and as scientists we explore and explore these connections for the benefit of society and as you can see, this tank contains genetically engineered electric eels.

Everyone was impressed and interested in what dr connors was saying and jaune would look at nora who would have an expression of animation and joy on her face which would make him smile.

Curtis Connors: We have the idea of ​​creating an alternative electrical energy source of clean energy.

Nora holds her hand up and Connor sees it and points his finger at her and everyone looks at her curiously.

Nora: So do you believe that using the electricity that eels make we can replace the use of electric dust?

Curtis Connors: Correct our only problem with this type of energy is that it accumulates and this can spoil or even burn the energy limiters that is why in the laboratory we are updating the limiters to avoid any disaster.

Connors would stretch his arm to the side and show Maxwell putting the new power limiters on the tank and he would wave to the group.

Curtis Connors: I thank everyone for visiting the laboratory and hope to see you again on a next visit.

Time rwby and jnpr left the lab and would go back to beacon. Connors walks to his office and sits in his chair and sees on the table 3 bottles containing a green liquid and he would have written on the label on the bottle ''R-serum''. He reached out to pick up one of the bottles but heard a loud noise and left the room and saw 3 strange figures wearing masks but one would be wearing a bowler hat on his head and another figure was holding Maxwell.

Roman(Masked): Wow, I never thought that a altas laboratory would have such weak security.

Curtis Connors: Who are you people?! Why are you here and what do you want?!

Roman(Masked): Well we just want something you have but haven't shown to the public in your freak show factory. We want your dust variants so we can use them much better the way you're thinking of using them.

Curtis Connors: I-I don't have them right now they are still being studied at altas and they are still unstable!

Roman(Masked): Well then the reason I came here was for nothing but as I'm a gentleman I'll leave you an electrifying little souvenir.

Roman would snap his fingers and Kraven who would be in disguise would throw Maxwell into the eel-filled tank and he would let out screams of pain and the whole room would blink and Norman would stare at the scene with terror on his face.Jaune and nora were in their dorm room jaune was on the ceiling reading comics while nora punched a punching bag that was pyrrha and jaune looked at her with curiosity and a little concern.

Jaune: Nora why are you punching pyrrha's punching bag did something piss you off?

Nora: Isn't that right and that after seeing your fights in the newspapers I stopped to think how much time is left for a big, strong villain to show up and leave you all broken?

Jaune: Hey, if you forgot I have the strength of a spider and pyrrha has been teaching me how to fight so I think I can handle it but accepting help is never too much.

Jaune would leave the ceiling and fall to Nora's side and punch her and she would respond and two would laugh until Jaune's cell phone vibrated and he would pick it up showing the notification of a news '' Doctor Curtis Connors' laboratory was attacked at dawn last night by 3 mysterious figures and the disappearance of Maxwell Dillon'' Jaune would look at that and be worried and look at daughter in law who had a big smile on her face.

Nora: Hey jauney what do you think of an investigation of spider knight and his new partner queen of the storm!

Jaune: Nora I don't think this is a good idea because I don't put any of you in danger and then there's the other issue you don't even have a costume to hide your identity!

Nora would chuckle and put her hand on Jaune's shoulder and give him a thumbs up as he just looked confused.A while would pass and spider knight was swinging through the city and he would stop at a pole and look at the police cars and notice yuri seeing some crime scene evidence then he would approach and yuri would look at him with a serious tone.

Yuri Watanbe: I see you heard the news now, don't you?

Spider Knight: You know need sleep too so madam captain, what news do we have?

Yuri Watanbe: My mens are investigating the place and we spoke with Dr. Connors and he commented that the laboratory was invaded by three people wearing a mask one of pumpkin another one being of a lion and the third one was a white one with a feminine face. Maybe it's a new gang and they were looking for a new type of dust that Doctor Connors is making he calls ''D-173'' which seems to give an artificial aura to the person who uses it..

Spider Knight: But also has Doctor Connors' colleague Maxwell Dillon he was in the lab last night any sign of him?

Yuri Watanbe: Well some security camera recordings near the lab captured a recording of some person or being that looks like a creature of energy.

Spider Knight: Perhaps this has to do with genetically modified eels…

The lights and sirens of the police car would start to blink and one of them would start to leave several rays of electricity forming in the middle of the street a man with yellow coloring and a face that looked like a star and he would look at the laboratory with an expression of hate.

Electro: Where is connors?! I need him to heal me!

All cops point their guns at electro who would raise his hands in the air and jaune yells at them to calm down and he slowly walks towards electro.

Spider Knight: Hey max its me spider knight i am your friend lets calm down..

Electro was calming down and lowering his arms until a policeman shot and the bullet passed inside Electro who got scared and released an electrical blast that would push the police and the vehicles turning them around and Jaune would get up but dizzy.

Spider Knight: Yuri send your men to make this area become a non-civilian area. I'll try to take care of the lightning bolt.

Jaune would launch his webs into a sewer cover and launch towards electro who would try to become untouchable again but could not and would take a cover in the middle of his belly, making him roll on the floor.

Spider Knight(Mind): Hmm it seems that when he uses a lot of energy his body starts to become tangible I have to think of a way to defeat him maybe there is an insulating material nearby...

Spider knight didn't realize the electro attack and was throwing it against the wall and was hit by the electon rays making him scream in pain and he felt his aura blinking almost breaking until he started to hear footsteps and saw nora who was wearing a mask similar to his only pink and lightning details and she would sledgehammer electro throwing him against a police car and she would reach out to jaune who would take it and be confused.Spider knight didn't realize the electro attack and was throwing it against the wall and was hit by the electon rays making him scream in pain and he felt his aura blinking almost breaking until he started to hear footsteps and saw nora who was wearing a mask similar to his only pink and lightning details and she would sledgehammer electro throwing him against a police car and she would reach out to jaune who would take it and be confused.

Spider Knight: What are you doing here ?! and what mask is that?

Queen Of The Storm: Well I saw on the news that you were getting pretty kicked out of Lamphead over there so I grabbed a mask from a costume shop and did a quick makeover and shazam came to the rescue hehe.

Electro puts both hands against a pole and absorbed his energy and aimed at the queen of the thunder and shot a blast of energy but nora would use her hammer to defend herself the energy would be around the hammer and go to nora's body but she is absorbing and would let out a laugh of animation. Spider knight seeing that queen of the storm was holding the electricity he would enter the laboratory and take the rubber gloves and approach electro and punch him in the face making him stop attacking her making her fall on her knees tired and panting and her aura it was almost breaking.

Spider Knight: Sorry super shock but now I'm going to have to cut your light!

Jaune would throw one last punch that would make electro get confused and dizzy and jaune starts to wrap his web around electro's arms and legs taking him to the public pool that was empty that day and throwing him into the water making a big explosion and onto the ground from the water Maxwell was fainting but still with traces of energy. The police approached the place and Jaune was leaving to meet Nora who was resting in an alley and Spider Knight took off his mask.

Jaune: Nora are you okay?!

Nora: I just have a little a-aura but I'm fine not to worry and I just eat Ren's pancakes and rest hehe…

Jaune would giggle and put her mask back on and put nora on her back and leave the room swaying in the webs and jaune would stop at the window and look into the dorm and it would be empty and then he would go in and leave nora on her bed and look again at the window and saw ren and pyrrha trained in the school field and that relieved him and he sat on his bed and rested too.

(POST CREDIT!!!)

Dr Connors were at home in his office and he would look at a picture of his son and wife and he would look out the window and see them playing in the garden and he would wave to them and they would wave back and he would go back to his chair and get a I inject one of the secret ''R-Serum'' flakes and he would inject himself and after a few grunts he would look where the prosthesis was and see a new arm he would be with an expression of joy on his face.

(This is nora outfic just imagine with a pink spider man mask)

[canonically47]

Share the Disventure Camp thoughts Geo. Also, now that you've seen both seasons, what are your All Stars predictions?

oliver was one of the best parts of the season and i loved him so much ohhh the skrunkle

aiden & james were my favorite characters i think! <333 i really liked their development i love gay people i screamed at their first real kiss

it took a while for me to get used to every character because of their mics and acting. some of the acting was not believable at all and was the reason i dislikes some characters for a bit (cough rosa maria cough) before eventually warming up to them. it’s clear they improved a lot and found better actors for season 1. i’m curious how the S2 actors will be in S3.

maggy was genuinely annoying and not just because of her voice. sorry :(

lake was amazing!! i loved her arc!

connor was a good guy and i liked him, but i wouldn’t have brought him back for all-stars and i definitely wouldn’t have paired him with riya. that 21 year age gap is not looking good.

I LOVED HUNTESSALLY SO MUCH OH MY GOD THEY ARE EVERYTHING TO ME POLY REPRESENTATION IN MEDIA IS THE BEST STOP I WILL CRY OMGMGMGMGGM why are they fighting in the S3 opening. someone save me. huntessally stay strong. STAY STRONG!!!!!

WHY IS YUL YELLOW 💀 also i hated his ass “a latina stealing why doesn’t that surprise me” NAH MF YOU CANNOT BE REDEEMED I’M SORRY MAN YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN 💀

anyone wanna talk about how weird some challenges were? no? like making people kiss other people just for a challenge? i know it’s fiction but? what if someone is uncomfortable with it? yk? my aro ass couldn’t watch most of those scenes like ik it was to make some ships kiss and probably appeal to the fans but nah. you lost me brah. and outing aiden (while not specifically saying his name but yk) like. wow. this is. not fun! weird episodes

karol fuck you

riya, thin ice, i like you for your assholery but leaving aiden hanging left ME hanging as a fan of both. sadge

ally should’ve been a scene kid that’s all i came here to say

fuck you yul hope ur the first boot of S3

why was nina there. /vvvneg

now for predictions/wishes:

YUL FIRST BOOT WOOHOO 💯💯💯 /hj

if i don’t get gabellie & tessally alliance i will actually cry myself to sleep for those entire ten months the show will be airing i mean it guys i’m so fucking serious /j

alec and fiore need to make up or i will actually go bonkers and die

yul first boot

trevek do gay shit & krystal breaks them apart every time because they’re so cringe every time they flirt or something not in the high school couple way but just sooo fucking bad at flirting that it is physically damaging to everyone around them

nina dies in a fire YAY!!! WOOHOO!!! PARTY!!! (seriously she was the most annoying gimmick of the season hope she just disappears and its not brought up ever)

maybe. if connor is there. and he gives advice. he can give alec and fiore advice. right. right guys. I MISS MY FATHER-DAUGHTER DUO OKAY WAAAAAAA

jake will be a fucking idiot and hate aiden for NO reason because he is a fucking idiot. love him tho but i was hoping he wouldn’t be as insecure in s3 like girl get a therapist cmon

if i don’t get james-tom friendship.......

miriam early boot 😞 sorry queen 😞 i got this feeling 😞 inside my bones 😞

ashley early boot (pleasepleaseplease WHO ASKED FOR HER TO BE HERE i wanted nick or kai back so bad omfg)

this is more based on a fanart i saw but fiore should totally terrorize aiden and aiden just hates her ass

i want the teams to form then switch a bit so that there’s both s1 and s2 contestants on both teams bc wdym the teams are s1 and s2. thats the worst decision yet and the season hasnt even started

[tropes-and-tales]

A Package Deal

December 6:  Mittens/Kid - Parent and child’s caretaker (Benny Magalon x F!reader)

(From the winter prompts found here)

CW:  Single dad Benny; convoluted plot; I dunno.

Word Count:  1538

AN:  Requested by anon!

Benny Magalon didn’t necessarily feel any sort of way towards children before.  He always assumed he’d have kids someday, after he met a woman and married her, but it was just an assumption about a hazy future when he, a detective with Major Crimes, necessarily lived in the present.

It all went out the window when his girlfriend got pregnant and decided to keep it.  He wasn’t sure they’d last as a couple, but he thought he’d at least have a partner to co-parent with.  Six months after the birth of their daughter, though, his girlfriend split without a word.

It was the worst six months of his life—sleepless nights, a yawning black hole of terror that he won’t be able to handle single parenthood.

Six months after that, she sent paperwork signing over any and all rights to their daughter, Ava, and Benny realized he had no choice but to handle his new life as a single dad and sole provider to his young daughter.

-----

He’s not completely alone.  

His parents help a lot.  His mother and sister are invaluable; they help him navigate the tricky world of infants with their sleep regression and unformed skulls and burgeoning immune systems sensitive to every germ.  He has cousins who pitch in, who show up with one-dish meals that require only a quick reheating, who quietly tackle the mountain of laundry that accumulates during the work week.

Hell, even the guys help out in a pinch once in a while.  It’s a sight, Connors sitting at Benny’s kitchen table with Ava and coloring in her My Little Pony coloring books.

His best help comes from next door.

Benny meets you when he’s at his absolute lowest point:  abandoned and left to care for an infant, he manages to find a little bungalow that he can actually afford the mortgage on.  He desperately wants to give Ava stability, and something about owning a house—albeit a small one—with a tiny backyard makes him feel like he isn’t failing completely as a father.

He meets you the day he moves in—his next door neighbor.  You’re an illustrator; you work from home.  Ava’s red-faced squalling pulls you from the tranquility of your home as he struggles to handle his daughter while directing the movers.

“Need help?” you ask that day, and in the five years since, you’ve been nothing but a blessing in both Benny’s and Ava’s lives.

-----

It’s hard to pinpoint when he falls for you.  Certainly, you’re a lifesaver almost immediately:  you step in when Benny’s called into work at all hours.  How many times, in that first year, do you sleep on his couch and watch over his sleeping daughter so that he can keep his job and health benefits?

And once he hits a rhythm, how many times do you bring dinner over for him and Ava under the flimsy guise of having too much for just yourself?

And who waves off his thanks, even when he’s so heartsore that the words crowd in his throat, that a woman who happens to live next door to him is more loving to his daughter than her own biological mother is?

Sure, the torch Benny Magalon carries for you is likely driven by the care you give to Ava, and to him too.  But he thinks in another universe it’d be just the same, a gradual revelation to the person you are—because you’re kind and selfless, but you’re also talented and funny.  He knows all your quirks and habits, how you hate to wear socks and live in sandals, how you bake things that taste delicious but look like dogshit.  How you drink your coffee, how you hate ice in your drinks, how you have a dainty little giggle but a hearty, wall-shaking sneeze.

You are friendly with the other people who help with Ava—namely his family.  His mother especially takes a shine to you, thinks you’re an absolute angel, and she gives Benny not-so-subtle hints that you’d be good for him too.

He never makes a move.  He lets that torch burn low and steady without ever letting on how he feels.  He thinks you must think him pathetic, the loser next door who needs your help, and he can’t imagine what you’d see in him even if he had the courage to ask you out.

-----

Somehow Ava turns five, and you’re as much her family as any actual Magalon.  You greet her when she gets off the bus from kindergarten, and you watch her until Benny gets home.  

It’s one of his favorite things, picking Ava up from your place.  By now, he has a key to your place (and you have one to his), and he loves to let himself into your house.  Loves rounding the corner to see his young daughter at your kitchen table eating a snack, and two of you drawing or coloring or paging through a picture book.

It’s better than any drug, the way the two of you both turn to greet him, both of you with smiles to see him.  When he’s having a rough week at work, he leans into the fantasy a little, pretends that he’s coming home.  That he lives there with you and Ava, and that he’s not just there to collect his daughter and take her home to their own house.

-----

It must be said, though:  if Benny loves you in secret, then Ava is unabashed in her love for you.

She’s at that age where she notices the family configurations of her fellow kindergartners.  Fathers, it seems, are optional—Ava rattles off the names of her classmates that have absentee dads with no compunction at all.  But she herself is one of only two classmates without mothers, and there comes a point when she draws the natural conclusion that her warm-hearted neighbor who watches her each afternoon should just go ahead and be her mother.

It’s one of the most difficult conversations of Benny’s life.  Ava is so damned earnest and there’s no convincing reason why you can’t be her mom.  How can he make a five year-old understand that he and Ava are a package deal?  And how you probably aren’t interested in signing up for anything more than you already do for them?

Ava seems to understand the gentle terms he uses to couch the situation, but he catches the stubborn pout of her lips when he turns away.  He knows the expression all too well:  his daughter isn’t defeated.  She’s only biding her time.

-----

Christmas is just around the corner, and Ava is old enough to help with gifts for friends and family.  He takes her to the Grove one weekend with a list of people to shop for.

Benny is not good at gift-giving.  He’s awful, in fact.  With family, he just slides a gift card across the table to them.  With the guys, it’s as simple as giving them a bottle of booze.  And Ava is easy enough—she gives him an exhaustive catalogue of things she wants from Santa.

Where he struggles is with you.

What can he even get a person like you?  You have an outsized place in his heart, but he can’t express that via a holiday gift.  He can’t get you jewelry or anything intimate, but anything else (candles, chocolates, whatever the fuck other things he can’t think of at the moment) is too impersonal for the woman who takes care of him and his daughter for no reason other than her own kind heart.

Ava has a better handle on you.  Kinda.  Maybe.  At least, she doesn’t hesitate to find what she thinks is the perfect gift for you.

“Here, daddy!” she says, and she lets go of his hand to run over to a display of gloves, mittens, scarves.  Of all things in California…

“I don’t think so, peqūena,” he replies with a chuckle.

She pulls a pair of bright purple mittens off of the display and turns to him with that pout.  “For when she’s in the snow.”

He smiles, holds out his hand, and she gives him the mittens after a beat.  “It doesn’t snow here very often,” he points out.  In fact, Ava only knows about snow as a concept from the holiday movies they’ve been watching…

When he goes to put the mittens back, her pouting lower lip starts to tremble, and Benny realizes that he’s about a minute away from tears.  It’s been a long day for a little girl, and the Grove is busy, and she is late for her nap…

“Okay,” he says, hasty to head off the impending meltdown.  “You think she’ll like purple?”

Ava sniffs dramatically and nods.  “It’s her favorite color.”

Benny takes the mittens and goes to pay, his daughter’s hand gripped in his own, and he doesn’t bother to correct her—purple is her favorite color, not yours.  

It’s fine.  He’ll let Ava give you the mittens as her gift, and maybe he can come up with something nicer, from him to you.  Something that will magically capture his feelings for you without being forward or creepy or too much.

[whump-tr0pes]

Human Heart (Terminator Salvation fanfic) Chapter 1

Marcus Wright sacrifices himself and donates his heart to the leader of the human resistance against the machines. What he didn't take into account was how hard his friends would fight to get him back - and how he would be accepted in his second life.

~

Terminator Salvation is my favorite of the Terminator movies (yes I'm trash and I'm proud) but I remember seeing it when I was younger and being devastated at how it ended. Here's where I fix things. Btw, Marcus is ace, and he and Blair are in a queer platonic relationship. I thought the kiss at the end was always kinda rushed and came out of nowhere. She clearly cares about him, but Idk if she necessarily has to kiss him for that care to come across...

~

AO3

“His… heart… can’t take it,” John Connor’s had widow said. Except she wasn’t his fucking widow, yet. The man was still alive, barely. Wouldn’t be for long, though. Marcus couldn’t believe he was still breathing.

Wouldn’t be for long, though. Wouldn’t be long. The metal shard had gone all the way through him. So many other people would have already been dead from that. It was only a matter of time.

There was still something that could be done, though. There was still something they could try, even if they didn’t have the nice, shiny hospitals and shit that John Connor needed right now. If the guy needed a heart, well. There was an extra one wandering around, piloted by a robot – a ghost that should have died fifteen years ago but was still alive, even after the entire goddamn world had been blasted away.

Second chance, my ass.

“Kate.” His voice was strong, that was good. He had already died once. This should be easy. “Take mine.”

“Marcus…”

Fuck.

Blair’s hand would have been crushing his wrist, if he was flesh and blood. Instead, it only registered as pressure. How did I not notice that before? He loosened her fingers from his arm, held them tightly in his own metal ones. “Everyone deserves a second chance,” he whispered. “This is mine.”

She recoiled from him. “This isn’t… bullshit, Marcus… this isn’t… killing you isn’t—”

“It’s my choice,” Marcus said. He gritted his teeth together when his voice broke. He needed her to back him up on this, dammit, or he was going to lose his nerve.

“Don’t do this,” she said flatly – a plea.

He drew in a slow breath and let it out through his lips. His hands were shaking, so he squeezed hers tighter. “If he dies,” he said, “You lose this war. If you lose me…” Painfully, he released his fingers and pulled them out of her grip.

“I can’t fucking watch this,” she hissed, and stalked away. She swiped at her eyes with her sleeve as she went.

Marcus swallowed the terror that he could feel rising in his throat and turned to Kate once more. “Let’s do this,” he mumbled. “Before he… runs out of time.”

Kate’s chin wobbled, and more tears spilled down her cheeks. Star clasped Marcus’s hand in her small one. Kyle met his eyes; his mouth was too dry to speak.

It all felt so coldly familiar, as Marcus laid back on the cot next to John Connor. He didn’t fight as they slid the needle into his arm – he wouldn’t have wanted to. These past few days had all been borrowed time, and he had felt every minute of them like a throb of pain. If he could save someone this time – if his life could really mean something, not just research for some fucked-up military bullshit – this seemed like a small price.

He was so, so tired of living.

As he glanced at John, he allowed himself a moment of envy. John was going to keep living in this world, this bombed-out world, with all these people who loved and followed him. He belonged here. Marcus couldn’t justify living, if it meant taking this man away from the people he could save.

The meds were kicking in, he could tell. He was floating away from his body, far from this world and the pain he had caused it. Light poured into his eyes from above him. Kate stepped into his view just as he drifted away.

Continued here

[jasperjv]

Hey. So 2 years ago Connor Lavery's aka khonjin's psychological torture of me reached fever pitch in my psyche and I was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital in a severe psychotic breakdown that lasted almost 3 months. Now I'm indexed in his long story of his supposed inexplicable persecution. He thinks me, in my psychotic state, demanding monetary compensation for his gaslighting and harassment, was some kind of attempt at "cancellation" and me throwing a tantrum instead of communicating like an adult. However I deleted my entire social media presence after getting back from the hospital and haven't bothered him since. But he still thinks I did something to him.

The man is dangerous. He believes that the worst sin of mankind is the ego, so he makes it his mission to bully the fuck out of everyone until they have no self-esteem, boundaries of their own, or healthy sense of self whatsoever. The elimination of the ego however is what psychosis is, also unable to suppress the flow of the unconscious, identical to a waking dream. But when that happened to me after 2 years of mind games, he retreated into himself and framed it in the most disgusting way possible. Which you will see.

Embedded here is the first video I made myself specifically on this topic. You will see more details in a more recent video, and follow the trail I put in that video's description to get my full story. For the podcast in particular I would give a content warning for assault, sexual assault, ableism ("saneism"?) and general torture and terror.

There's nothing on God's green earth I could do or say to force him to take me seriously. I have probably half of you people blocked because just seeing anything to do with him would make my blood pressure spike. And it's high enough as-is just due to genetics. Maybe the rest of you might be able to be reached.

I'm so sick of fucking self-centered freaks trying to hold me accountable for actual psychosis because they're so desperate to blame anyone or anything but themselves for their part in tragedy. I really get gaslit about my own psychosis, and forced to prove a negative repeatedly (which we know is a lexical impossibility). I'm handed a blatant double-standard about mental health awareness and basic human decency, when in many cases I desperately need it more than most. Schizophrenia sufferers are 1% of the population. We're dwarfed by most, if not all, other mental illnesses. In this I continue to be thrown alone to the wolves. Sometimes even while being laughed at, it truly feels like. So I feel like I have to do all in my power to help make sure that this happens to fewer people than it would otherwise.

The callouts in 2018, the types of points of persuasion they were trying didn't make sense to me. Maybe this, though, could strike others. I'm more specific about how exactly he destroys people from the inside out. Stay the fuck away from him.

He's scared of losing his financial support from Patreon and ad revenue or whatever. I really, truly felt for that for a long time. But now I know that none of us are obligated to keep his ass afloat. It would be nobody's fault but his own if he didn't even try to heal his fucked up mindset and was just a raging misanthrope nobody wants to deal with. When you get to be my age, you become aware of all the ways to make a living. He could get disability. He could get a factory job, for instance. And that paid me an absurd amount of money. He needs to make up his mind about if he wants to be around people or not. Because he can't keep treating them the way that he does.

Oh, and if you're reading this and you happen to have any social connections with him whatsoever, for the love of God, do not let him put you on the defensive. About anything. Over and over again. It chips away at you. He doesn't have the answers. He doesn't have any objective taste like he desperately wants to think. He doesn't know any wisdoms that you couldn't get from someone who won't talk down to you.

Took me quite a while to convince him of the truth that he is only older than me by only a few months. I needed my hope in humanity and the future in order to not go and end it all. He did not give a fuck. He kept accusing me of lying about not being a naïve teenager. Just for that. Ask any well-adjusted and experienced adult and they will tell you to stay far away from people like that. The motivations that drive them to that behavior and opinion are bad, bad news.

He is intelligent, in the scariest ways. Intelligence of that type allows dysfunctional people like him to fabricate lines of logic that justify and enable the abuse they already sought to do. Literally anything can be justified with just the right kind of logic. Trust your gut. Guard your mind. It's the only one you've got.

He leads an excessively stressful life, creates his own dysfunctional world both inside and around him. I truly believe that this causes him many health problems. I've been having nightmares because of him. And as this built up and weighed heavy on my mind I got a fucking hemorrhoid. It went away very quickly after I made this video.

I'm feeling anxious as I type this. But I have to tell myself that anyone who would continue harassment of me over all the truth I've spoken is not worth my time or space. This isn't for them. It's for me, and it's for people who still have basic respect and empathy left in them.

Yours truly,

"slug"

[rogueportraits]

🎀 ― a childhood memory. and 🌪 ― a scary memory. for jon

walk down memory lane

🎀 ― a childhood memory.

Jon is nine years old the first time he works the fields. The land belongs to Granny, but Mr. Thompson leases this part of it to grow his wheat. Granny quotes that idle hands are the devil's workshop, and Jon knows he's been idle during the tail end of this spring - with her sick, he's been learning out of workbooks for the most part. He's worked in their garden and helped with their meals, at the least, but hadn't done a good job at either.

So it's good that he's out here with his shirtsleeves sticking to his arms in the morning June heat. He doesn't want idle hands, not at all. He sits up on the small platform next to Mr. Thompson, the old combine harvester rattling over the field and jolting his bones. The occasional piece of chaff flies up into his face, making him flinch. There's no noise but the grinding roar of machinery, and that suits Jon just fine. He doesn't know how to talk to most people anyways.

"I've got a son about your age, Jonathan. Name's Connor," Mr. Thompson says after a while. Jon can hardly hear him through his earplugs. "Wish he'd come out and learn the trade like you."

Jon nods.

"You ever run into him? I know you're takin' care of Mrs. Keeny, but if you ever go into Brooklet like the other kids..." Mr. Thompson trails off. Or just gets quiet enough that the combine engine overpowers him. Jon's not sure.

"We only go for groceries," Jon supplies.

"Right. Well, if you ever see him, say hello. He needs a good influence like you."

They've reached the end of the row. Mr. Thompson turns the wheel, setting them back eastwards. Jon wonders what makes someone a good influence. He knows what makes people bad influences; Granny's taught him well about that. Other children aren't raised right, so they raise hell instead. That's why he isn't allowed to speak to them, and why he just goes to worship instead of Sunday school.

He shields his eyes from the sun with a hand and looks out at the field in silence.

🌪 ― a scary memory.

Fear's always been a strange thing for Jon. He used to be scared of the dark, of lightning strikes, of God's wrath, of his Granny's disappointment and what followed. It had pecked at the inside of his skull like a chick in its egg, wanting to get out.

Now it doesn't, or maybe it had managed to escape. He still feels the hummingbird-tremor of terror in his heart, or the nausea of anxiety in his stomach, but his mind is perfectly clear. Whenever fear strikes, it's often as if he's a passenger in his own body.

Bo's cornered him in the boy's washroom again. Jon's grown almost a head taller than him, but the other boy's twice as wide with the meaty frame of a star linebacker. Puberty and high school haven’t changed a thing about them otherwise.

"Saw you looking at my girl," Bo begins.

Jon had been. It's hard not to look at Sherry, and he knows he's not the only one that does it. She's beautiful. He wonders why Bo doesn't go after the other boys, considering that they go right past looking into commenting. Maybe it's due to the familiarity the two of them have, or his looks, or-

Bo's fist slams directly into his stomach. Jon wheezes and braces against the tiled wall. His heart's in his throat. His mind is still clear. He looks down his nose with lidded eyes and is rewarded with another blow to his ribs. He'd have something to say, if he had the breath for it.

Fear's a protective reflex. He wonders what it means to lack it. Presumably something like the present scenario.

"Can't even scream," Bo mutters eventually, stepping back. His Adam's apple works and he spits a wad of phlegm at Jon's chest. It lands wetly on the third button down from his collar.

When the other boy's finally gone, Jon prods at his ribs with the same detached interest he'd used to dissect a frog last year. Nothing seems broken. He can see his pulse pounding as he wipes the spit away with a paper towel, but it doesn't reach his head.

He has two more class periods to attend before the end of the day, and he'll be late if he hangs around in here any longer. He straightens his shirt, tucking it back into his slacks, and strides off to retrieve his books from his locker.

[spaceprincessem]

next year all our troubles will be out of sight | 1.2k dickkory & titan fam fic

read here or on ao3  | for the  DC Titans Naughty or Nice 2022 

Day 1: snowed in

Dick places the last dish onto the drying rack, nudging the lukewarm water off before he turns looking into the now cleaned kitchen. He can hear the echo of laughter from the living room, the lingering smell of popcorn and hot chocolate wafting in from the hallway. It didn’t take too long, considering he had Connor and Rachel to help out with the majority of the cleaning after dinner. 

(Their team had lost the snowball fight that commenced this morning when they realized their plans to go skiing and snowboarding were not happening as a good couple of feet of fresh snow kept them trapped in their cabin. “Cabin? This is a mansion.”)

Dick waved Connor and Rachel off about a half hour into the dishes, their big pleading eyes something he quickly caved into when they heard Tim and Gar queuing up a holiday movie for the evening. Dick didn’t mind though. He took enjoyment from the soft Christmas music playing over the radio, the methodical movements of washing dirty dishes, the high stack a gentle reminder that their family is all here. That they survived and now they get to just be. 

After the fight with Brother Blood and Mother Mayhem Dick wanted to give them someplace safe. Someplace they could rest and recover and just enjoy their time together as Christmas rapidly approached. He quickly found a cabin in the mountains of northern California and promptly booked the place on their way out of Metropolis. They stopped along the way, him and Kory picking up gifs for the kids, the kids sneaking gifs for each other, and all the things they would need to make their two week stay feel as festive and relaxing as possible.  

The cabin (“Dick this is definitely a mansion”) was expansive and private, beautiful dark logs with white bricks, large windows to let the natural light in, and a wrap-around porch on both the main and upper levels. There were at least ten bedrooms and all six bathrooms boasted soaking tubs and saunas for ultimate relaxation. There was a living room perfect for movie nights, a game room, and at least two hot tubs. There was already a fresh dusting of snow and the cabin had been beautifully decorated for the holiday. Greenery was wrapped around every inch of the cabin, twinkling lights and ornaments of all shapes and colors adorning the space. The only thing Dick requested was to let them cut down their own tree for decoration.

After settling into the cabin they explored the small town down in the valley, loading up on a variety of Christmas ornaments from the shop before picking up coffee and pastries next door. Gar picked out all the animal ornaments and Rachel claimed every single snowflake she could see. Tim‘s bag was filled with a variety of Santas and Conner chose the star to go on top. Kory found an ornament making kit and spent the first evening decorating beautiful red and gold balls with their names on it. Rachel and Tim made popcorn garland while Gar and Dick untangled lights and Connor passed around eggnog and spiked cider. 

Dick peeks into the living room, warmth flooding his chest at how content and settled everyone looked sprawled on the couches and tucked on throw blankets as some cheesy movie plays on the television. For a moment he feels his breath hitch in his throat, the pang of guilt and fear taking hold. He almost lost this. Almost lost the family he and Kory have worked so hard to build and keep together. He knows what it means to be a hero. The risk that it poses, but it never keeps away the underlying terror that comes with watching the people who mean the most to you put their lives on the line to save the world. It feels nearly endless. Like they move from one end of the world scenario to the other. Dick knows peace won’t last forever, but he hopes the universe just gives them this once chance to breathe. He lingers for a moment longer, letting the itch beneath his skin fade into a quiet buzz before he’s moving, almost like falling into gravity as he seeks out Kory.

He easily finds her on the balcony of their shared room, leaning over the railing with a glass of champagne in her hand. She’s wrapped in one of his sweaters, a little oversized on her small frame, but she looks absolutely gorgeous in the moonlit, beneath the twinkle of lights wrapped around the banister. He quietly slips outside, the cold biting, but he doesn’t care as he pads over, wrapping his arms around her waist. She is blistering hot, a sun contained, and Dick presses in close to steal her warmth.

“So how long did you last until you let Rachel and Connor go?” Kory asks, amused as she takes a sip from her glass. 

There’s another one waiting just for him on the small patio table next to where the bottle is sitting in an ice bucket.

“Mmm,” Dick hums into her neck, “twenty minutes?”

Kory laughs, her fiery hair tickling his nose as she turns to catch his gaze. “I am so shocked to hear that,” she says, not shocked at all.

“What can I say?” Dick shrugs his shoulders, “They drive a hard bargain.”

“Somehow,” Kory muses, “I don’t believe that.”

Dick just grins before leaning in to kiss her. She tastes like champagne and cinnamon. Like the first snowfall and waking up early on Christmas morning. Dick licks hot into her mouth, pulling her impossibly close. She manages to set her glass down, her hands soft and warm against the sting of the wind as it nips at his cheeks. And Dick could do this forever. He could hold Kory in his arms. Kiss her slow and sweet. Hot and needy. Hungered and full of irrevocable love. Anything and everything she could ever want or need. 

He tries not to think about how he punished himself, just holding her out of reach. How he was punishing her too for straddling the line that kept them from taking the very thing they’ve wanted for years now. His feelings for Kory have always simmered just below the surface. Through Trigon and Deathstroke and Barbara and Gotham. He’s never felt deserving, never felt like he could be everything she needed, but god did he try. Even if they couldn’t be anymore than co-leaders of the team. He never wanted to let her down. And through the hurt and the fear and pain they still, somehow, found their way to each other. Dick never plants on letting her go ever again.

“You know,” Kory raises a mischievous eyebrow, “since the kids are working through a holiday movie marathon we have the entire hot tub to ourselves.”

Her grin is wolf-like and Dick feels his mouth go incredibly dry. She carefully extracts herself from his arms, moving towards the hot tub, removing one article of clothing as she goes. Dick marvels at the way the starlight makes her glow and he knows that there’s no one in the universe more beautiful than Koriand’r. 

“Dick,” she chides with a laugh, pulling her lip between her teeth, “you just going to stand there all night?”

Dick just smiles sheepishly before quickly shrugging out his clothes. As soon as he’s in the water he pulls her close, slotting their mouths together. He only breaks their kiss for a moment as the first few quiet flutters of snowflakes fall on their cheeks. They look up into the night sky, dotted with stars and snow, and Dick kisses Kory like it’s the beginning of forever. 

tagging some of the besties @escapism-through-imagination @jonskory @ambelle @ambeauty

[fadedflame]

Rare-pairs Week: day 2

Summery:  Day 2 of the rare-pairs week. Prompt: Trust/Cold. Rupert planned to take a quick evening walk. He planned to relax, enjoy the city lights, take in the unique scenery of Detroit. He didn't plan to encounter the deviant hunter. And he certainly didn't plan to make a connection that would change his life forever.

Part: 1/3

Next Chapter >

On Ao3 or read below.

“Please, you have to trust me.”

Rupert considered himself a rather trusting person. In fact, trusting people he probably shouldn’t had gotten him in trouble on more than one occasion. So his intense reluctance to accept the plea was out of the ordinary for him.

But it wasn’t every day that the request was made by the deviant hunter.

“Please…” the RK800 begged again when he didn’t reply. “Please.”

He instinctively flinched away from the bare, thirium-soaked hand as it reached for him with increased desperation.

The whole situation was as terrifying as it was surreal. Rupert had just been out on an evening walk, peacefully taking in the muted beauty of the sleeping city, when the deviant hunter had appeared from practically nowhere. He’d been frozen to the spot, unable to move as he stumbled towards him. Broken, bloody, horrifically damaged, and staring at Rupert as though he was the answer to his prayers.

Without thinking, he had caught him as he collapsed. Thirium immediately began soaking into Rupert’s clothes wherever they came into contact with his cracked chassis and he felt his own pump stutter in shock.

“P-please,” he had stuttered out, blue blood leaking from his mouth and down his chin. “I f-found them. The file… please…”

That’s when he had held out his hand, skin pulling away as he did and it took Rupert a moment to realize what it was that he was asking.

“Lieutenant Anderson,” he pleaded. Static was already starting to distort his words as his vocal processor began to malfunction. “Get it t-to Lieutenant… Anderson.”

Rupert had just stared. Mute, dumbfounded, like if he waited long enough the situation would somehow start to make sense. He stayed like that, immobile and unresponsive until the deviant hunter had begged him for his trust.

This couldn’t actually be happening, he found himself thinking. He couldn’t really be here, covered in the blood of the most dangerous android in existence. He couldn’t even fathom how it was possible the RK800 had ended up in such a state.

He’d been attacked, that much was obvious. But what had actually happened to him would probably remain a mystery until he accepted the interface he was so desperate to initiate. But still, as much as he wanted answers, Rupert hesitated.

While for most people, the deviant hunter was practically a folktale, a legend, a boogeyman under their beds, he’d had the misfortune of actually experiencing what he was capable of.

That memory was seared into his processor like a brand. Hiding in the ceiling, helpless as the machine methodically and ruthlessly tracked him down. Running for his life across the rooftops, pursued at every step…

It had been the first time Rupert had experienced true, uninhibited terror.

And it wasn’t something so easily forgotten.

But this… this wasn’t the monster people whispered about in ghost stories. This was a man, dying in his arms, and asking for one final dignity before fading from existence.

“Please,” he said one more time, voice distorting and almost inaudible.

An interface was an act of trust on both ends. An opening of the mind to each other. No matter how careful, no matter how many firewalls or safeguards put in place, there was always data that leaked through. And, while he was reluctant to be vulnerable like that with the deviant hunter, he focused instead on the knowledge that this was quite likely the last thing he would ever do as he finally took the shaky hand that had been offered to him.

Flickers of memory flooded into his mind across their connection. Glimpses of Connor’s life since deviating. The feeling of being hugged for the first time, the relief of having a safe place to stay, the joy and confusion of Lieutenant Anderson throwing him his first ‘birthday’ party.

So many experiences and emotions washed over him freely. Connor was either too weak to limit what he shared, or he thought he was too far gone for it to matter. Rupert wasn't sure which was more heartbreaking.

Amid it all was a single file. Prominent and perfectly packaged for download. The whole reason Connor had wanted him to interface in the first place. Casefile:6534-29, it read simply.

Information. That’s all it was. Clearly important, yet so impersonal in the wake of the life he’d just witnessed.

A relieved Thank you, came across their link as soon as he accepted the file and Rupert knew that Connor was too far gone to actually speak.

The information was downloaded, but he didn’t end the connection. Rupert felt numb, sick, helpless. A red countdown timer ticked away, displaying only seconds before he would shut down forever. At the very least, he didn’t want him to feel alone.

Never had Rupert thought he would feel sympathy for the deviant hunter. But that wasn’t who Connor was.

If only he had known sooner.

If only he had gotten to know him.

If only they had more time.

Such a beautiful life was about to end right before his eyes and there was nothing he could do about it.

Or was there?

It was stupid, reckless, shouldn't even really be possible, but Rupert couldn’t bring himself to sit by and do nothing. Couldn’t let him fade away without at least trying to save him.

Download file: connor.exe?

The prompt barely flickered across his HUD before he selected 'yes'.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

192 Days Missing by Sue Denver

Sara Flores Werewolf P.I. Novel #1

Having read the Sara Flores short story collection previously, I was eager to read this first book and see what Sara would be getting up to. So glad I to have spent time with Sara and her team today!

What I liked: * Sara Flores: private investigator, tracker, great scent skills, seeks missing or threatened innocents, turned into a werewolf by Joe White Wolf, doesn’t always play by the rules, intriguing, someone I would like to have as a friend

* Mason Spencer: Sara’s partner, saved by Sara, tech genius, 23 years old, like a brother to Sara, Lupiti – Native American, brilliant, hope to hear more about him

* Connor Rockwood: bodyguard, ex-special forces military, strong, lethal, team player, on the side of right, in a relationship with Lillian – a woman he was bodyguard to while working with/for Sara

* Judy Street: brilliant, strategic thinker, sees the big picture, problem solver, logistics oriented, makes things happen, wise, enjoys the thrill of working with Sara and the team, eventually joins the team

* Last Chance Investigations: name that eventually is given to the P.I. business

* The anonymous donors that allow the business to do the work necessary to save lives

* The way the team works together and how caring, close, and protective they are of one another

* The way the investigation into what happened to Alaska Brown, their client, progressed and where it ultimately concluded

* The very satisfying ending with most of the loose ends tied up and a new case coming in

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* Knowing that there are human traffickers, people who work with and for them, and clients willing to buy humans for their own evil reasons

* Having to wait for the next book in the series

Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Books Go Social for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

When a billionaire wants you dead… how do you survive? Alaska Brown hasn’t been seen since she disappeared from a casino parking lot. The cops say she left willingly. The FBI isn’t looking. Private investigator Sara Flores has found nine missing people since she was turned into a werewolf. Her secret gives her an edge, but in this case it may not be enough. Investigating brings Sara into the crosshairs of a very evil man with enough money to stomp out anyone who becomes a problem. The trail is cold and there are too many suspects, but Sara’s caught the scent of something very evil here. A man who thinks his wealth excuses any perversion. A man who doesn’t see the rest of us as even human. If Alaska is still alive, her terror must be unimaginable. Can Sara and her small team of misfits really find Alaska and take down a billionaire — or is this the case that gets them all killed?

[the-firebird69]

I'm kind of fed up with my brother this blows he such an idiot he's asking for everybody to take over to beat him up we have to do that I need to stop this guy I went to storm out of here that's what he did last time it may go north so people laid off and didn't apply pressure when we need more than we had last time

Daniel

Hey shoot that a****** 50 times in the head that damn thing sits here and hovers over us I can't believe that storm was sat there for 10 or 12 hours and our friend said it says in the forecast rain from 12:00 noon to 12:00 midnight or something like that it's like 11 hours or something he says it's ridiculous I'm getting pissed off I need people to meet with me now

Mac

Oh good here comes the terror again you going to mess up the whole thing for me

Tommy f

You're risking all our lives and his so you can sit there and sort of feed your face a little you're a freaking Connor this is the dumbest s*** I've ever seen you do we're not benefiting by destroying ourselves don't you need stuff from the topside

Mac

No not that much now we're building our own stuff down there

Tommy f

Oh great I saw it we said it nobody is acting

Trump

It's part of a ruse that stuff out west with those light cycle facilities we need to get down there and disrupt what he's building or take it it's starting to see what you're saying this is terrible

Mac

We're going to meet now everybody

Heading there

Daniel

Am there scanning

Mike t

Runaway and we need to do this now

Billium

We're heading there and we'll meet with you after you see why we got contaminated we destroyed ourselves

Cork

Goodidea i agree

Mac

Us too probably after everybody

Trump

Did you see it he's beating their living crap out of you and using you I'm going to go after him I have to do it a lot and now and globally with all the races first things first he says a friend does we have to stop this damn storm and deal with the fallout which will give us more information or will give us more information he says

Maci agree

[veilder]

Tuesday is here and that means! Another prompt from yours truly! ^_^ We're rocking the Gavin Redemption Arc here tonight, everyone. Buckle up. XD

Prompt: Time traveler!Gavin AU where he comes from the nuclear ending and has been sent back into the past to try and prevent it from happening. Gavin's been fighting against the machines as long as he can remember and he hates them with every fiber of his being. It’s basically anathema to him, being forced to work with them in 2038. But he has a mission and a cover to keep. He knows full-well what a deviant is capable of and has vowed to stop them.

Too bad his best chance at that fails when the infamous deviant hunter knocks him unconscious in the archive.

Because he knows what an important figure Connor was to the Revolution. He was the key in turning the tide of things. So he knows Connor is just a ticking time-bomb when it comes to deviating. The archive is the last straw and, in a desperate attempt, he tries to stop a killer machine who far outclasses him. He remembers the terror of the future and so does the only thing he can think of to prevent it. And he fails.

So cue his surprise when the sun rises on November 11th and the humans are still around. Detroit is still a hotbed of tension, yeah, but nothing like the history books described. The news is spewing out stories about a ceasefire and peace talks and dismantling the recycling centers and he feels like the world has turned upside down on him. This is nothing at all like the history he knows.

And then, as the fuckin cherry on top, who but Connor shows up at his hospital room, looking far too remorseful for a ruthless deviant like he’s seen in the future? And then he apologizes for attacking him!

Gavin is completely lost here. He has no frame of reference for this at all. So he says nothing.

Connor seems satisfied nonetheless, and departs with a nod and a small smile for the bedridden man. And Gavin is left pondering the exchange well into the night.

But Connor comes back, again and again, keeping him company and sneaking him unhealthy snacks and acting so worryingly human. Eventually, Gavin has no choice but to converse. And he finds that he... doesn’t hate it. But when they eventually reach enough of an accord that Connor starts going personal, that’s when Gavin really starts worrying. Because Connor speaks so often of guilt, of remorse, of fear. He talks about his people and how he’d worked against innocents who only wanted freedom. He speaks of their struggle and how he feels he deserves no part in their victory.

And Gavin, fallible human that he is, begins to feel... kinship. Understanding. Empathy! With a machine! He wonders at how Connor’s words can so mirror Gavin’s comrades in the future, how he can hear echoes of his leaders in this synthetic person.

And most dangerously of all, he starts to wonder if he gave up his home and his life and his freedom... to stop beings he finds he no longer can hate.

And if Gavin’s not the only one who was sent back, too? And now he’s found himself on the opposite side of the fight, trying to protect people he’s only ever thought of as monsters from his own friends... Well, let's just say things are about to get pretty rocky for him. Or! The sorta-Terminator-esque kickass sci-fi backstory for Gavin that casts him as a human resistance fighter turned undercover time traveler turned android ally fighting against his own future, complete with action and thrills and a very unexpected romance. Come for the convoluted plot, stay for the character development, lol! ^_^

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Analysis on Tommy’s character’s mental state as a result of the exile arc.

Hey guys, I often makes posts discussing Tommy’s character and one thing that absolutely can’t be ignored is how his character has been traumatised by his experiences during exile. So, I thought I’d discuss in depth and how it’s impacted his behaviour.

In exile Tommy usually described himself as lonely. This is somewhat true but it’s actually a little misleading if you take it at face value. It’s not really loneliness that was his main issue, that was just the easiest one to express. Indeed, people did visit, they just didn’t really help with the issues that were really plaguing him. And there were a few.

-Tommy felt powerless. He was weak and attempting to get stronger himself only lead his hard work to be wasted. Therefore, he was reliant on others for help, and was utterly unable to give them anything back for any help offered. 

He also felt trapped, he had to stay on the island so people could find him and visit him but he was not allowed to choose to send time with others himself. He was completely reliant on others deciding to visit him. (Him building not one but two bridges to make it easier for others to visit was all he could do to increase the odds of someone coming to see him.) It wasn’t just loneliness so much as it being something out of his control. 

-Tommy felt worthless. He felt like L’Manburg had just seen him as a liability and was increasingly feeling like they were better off without him. No one really cared about him. He didn’t feel like he had value anymore as a person. 

He didn’t want someone to visit him, he wanted someone to stay with him - he wanted to feel accepted, validated. That’s why he spent time making a guest tent, so people could spend the night. And was so ecstatic at Mexican Dream agreeing to live with him. 

-Tommy is a very clingy person. He’s extremely sociable and becomes attached really easily. He has a hard time letting go too. In exile he constantly missed Tubbo and obsessed over the fact that he hadn’t visited. Leaving on bad terms hurt him. He couldn’t resolve anything and instead his frustration and bitterness grew and grew. He was put into such an awful and dark mindset! Its during this that he lets himself grow attached to Dream instead, who subtly encourages him to believe Tubbo didn’t care. 

So, Tommy said he was lonely, but he was way more troubled than he let on. 

...

Dream also took advantage of Tommy and performed abusive actions that both confused and traumatised him. 

Dream forced him to drop his items, hitting him if he refused and threatening to kill him if he continued to resist. He then acted nice, protecting him, keeping him company and joking around with him.

He lent Tommy his pickaxe and trident. He helped Tommy get primes. He repeatedly blew up Tommy’s armour. He regularly destroyed any diamond tools Tommy got and talked about ‘letting’ him keep some things, like he was being generous. Dream talked about how L’Manburg was prospering with Tommy there, suggesting everyone had moved on while he was the one responsible for sabotaging Tommy’s relationships.

Dream acted like an authority figure, dressing up all his actions as reasonable and Tommy was at fault for making his actions necessary. He lied about Tubbo not caring about his compass. He promised to invite people to his party and then didn’t, letting Tommy believe they chose not to come. Dream’s actions left Tommy increasingly dependent on him, as he was both physically and emotionally very vulnerable (as Dream had induced) and Dream took advantage of it. Finally, when Tommy did a relatively minor act of rebellion, Dream blew up everything. He killed Mushroom Henry and destroyed anything else Tommy was attached to - his tent, the campsite Wilbur built, the prime log.

Now, one of Tommy’s key character flaws is that he is rather irrational. While he can be perceptive, he often gets driven by his emotions rather than logic. (Its part of why he gets attached to things so easily). Usually he doesn’t actually let his feelings control him, but the exile put him under huge emotional turmoil.

-Logically, he always knew that Dream was responsible. He never forgot anything, he was just struggling to process it.

Dream was acting like he cared and Tommy clung on to that. Even once with Techno he described his confusion at his exile and noted that he recalled all the events perfectly but was confused emotionally and basically wasn’t able to deal with his feelings on Dream at all. He knew he ought to hate Dream but wanted to trust him still. 

Thinking more on emotions is also why he took Tubbo exiling him so personally - just before Doomsday he apologised and said he understood why Tubbo did it (I think he said it was the right decision even) but at the time he was hurt and felt like Tubbo didn’t care about him. Tommy often acts in the heat of the moment but fixes things afterwards. The issue with his fight with Tubbo was that they were unable to see each other and therefore resolve things, causing it instead to fester and get worse. 

So, that’s basically what happened to him throughout exile, but how did this affect his actions? A few different ways.

-He became extremely depressed and almost ended his life. Though he ultimately chose against this, his sense of self-preservation is notably lower. He didn’t seem to be afraid at the possibility of dying during Doomsday. And he was also prepared to confront Dream again over his discs - he had nothing left to lose as far as he was concerned. Once Tommy realised that Dream didn’t want to kill him, he took full advantage of it. He walked up to Dream completely unarmoured while Dream was in full netherite and confidently ordered him around. He was not afraid of dying. And again, he threatened to kill himself if Dream didn’t return after already killing Dream twice. Tommy’s only slowly gaining back his zeal for living. 

-He became angry and lashed out. Jack visited him at one point and Tommy spleefed him into lava, killing him absolutely ruthlessly. This is not a nice anger, its a cold destructive one, a result of all his bitterness from his unjust suffering. A minute later, he can only ask, why did he do that? Sometimes, Tommy might seem meeker, but it’s just hiding pain and rage that comes out in the worst of ways.

When no one turns up to his party, Tommy destroys part of the bridge he built for people to visit as he’s angry and has no real way to lash out - it’s not logical but as Tommy expresses: if they really want to visit then they’ll have to make an effort. A few days later he builds another, not because he’s better but because he’s so desperate for company he doesn’t even care if they don’t really care as long as they show up. 

His actions while with Techno have him torturing Fundy and Connor, interrogating Ranboo and helping Techno release a wither on L’Manberg. This is not the normal Tommy. This is him releasing his bitterness and rage in a destructive way, with his twisted mindset being vaguely approved of by Technoblade (though even he thought Tommy was going too far!) 

-He grew unhealthily attached to anything that gave him any stability in his warped, messed up world. That’s why he started fixating on his music discs so hard. And why he clung to Dream so hard for a while. And why he clung so much to Technoblade, quickly growing dependent on him, desperate for any sort of care and validation.

It’s why he even agreed to help Techno destroy L’Manburg at all. He was in such a warped mindset and wanted to trust Techno even if part of him was appalled by the idea, but his anger at L’Manberg was also clouding his judgement, and he wanted to agree with Techno because Techno cared about him. It’s not Techno or Tommy’s fault but their relationship was messed up thanks to Tommy’s trauma. Tommy was so dependent on Techno and was not able to function properly alone and he was very driven by his emotions, which were in a mess. He could barely sort out his feelings on Dream, let alone L’Manburg or Tubbo. He even let himself believe that all they were doing was minor terrorism, when Techno hadn’t hid his intentions that much at all. 

-Tommy blames himself for all that occurred. When the anger faded, and he was a little less powerless, Tommy began to get back his own sense of agency, which he’d been lacking for so long. With more clarity, he realised that of course he wanted to forgive Tubbo and make amends. His experiences lead to Tommy feeling like it was up to him to apologise - and he did. 

In some respects, there’s some excellent development here - it’s amazing to see him put feelings to one side and realise that his anger and bitterness were hurting him. And he held himself responsible - that his actions, traumatised or not, didn’t justify hurting others. He had been becoming the person he didn’t want to be - and rejected it. 

But there’s some worrying signs too - his experiences left him in some ways too apologetic. His sense of self-worth is still low. He didn’t blow up the community house but at one point said he wouldn’t bother defending himself anymore as there was no point, nothing to be gained from arguing about it. He apologised to Sapnap for releasing Mars - wonderful but it was never really necessary. When interacting with the egg, he said he didn’t want to cause yet another war, having internalised the idea that he’s responsible for most conflicts. At one point he even said he blames himself for Doomsday. It’s not healthy to have such a low sense of self-worth. He no longer blames others for not caring about him - but he does blame himself. 

....

Well this has been a long post. I hope that better expresses how Tommy’s been affected from his exile. I feel like I’ve seen posts complaining about apologists using trauma to excuse his actions. Not at all! Merely to explain. You cannot discuss Tommy’s current character without discussing his trauma. Likewise, it has been treated seriously by the narrative and Tommy continues to have it affect his character. It’s ongoing. He is improving but it has had a long-lasting impact. Indeed his mental state still feels fragile enough that us fans have been very sensitive to anything that might impact him. Tommy should be handled with care, and few of the characters on the server realise this. 

[demigoddessqueens]

This was a Discord anniversary gift for @straight-into-the-animus and I wanted to share it on here as well!

Arno & Jacob

Peony – Good fortune, happy marriage, everlasting prosperity

Being in his husband’s arms unburdened Arno from so much doubt that he carried. He still remembers his wedding day, how both of them were so hesitant and afraid. It all seemed so silly now after the years of life they built together. Jacob was....many things, Arno knew that as much when he first met him, but the love of his life was a full guarantee. There was no one, and nothing, that he would trade Jacob for. Holding him in his arms, reminiscing on the mirthful ceremony that just took place hours ago, Arno felt as if he was floating. Maybe he was a bit of a sap as his sister liked to tease so very often, but he didn't care. Seems as if the sap of the family didn't turn out too bad making a life for himself.

Malik & Altair

Sunflower – happiness and vitality

If a stranger were to tell either men that they were meant to be, both would have scoffed at the latter and at each other. Yet, denial was the first step in what led to a tumultuous courtship and eventual union. Both men, prideful and arrogant in their own way, who never wanted to give the latter the higher ground. Neither would push or pull. It spoke in between their kisses, fleeting touches in their brief intimacy, and in the few times where they let their walls down amongst each other. Malik was not one to admit such soft and yearning feelings, but that hardened exterior was only shed for one individual, even if it was sometimes due to Altair's cockiness (damn him). Altair didn't just see Malik as one who just called him "novice" or as another Assassin. His heart beat for this man, yearned and longed for him during the long missions, and craved for more time whenever it could be found. Amidst their strife and work, there was an unspoken truth between both men: that their love, no matter how brief it could last, gave a new sense of life. Something else besides just being an Assassin.

Ezio & Leonardo

Aster – Wisdom, royalty, devotion, purity, faith

Ezio was a man who had lost much in his life. Members of family, sense of self, hope, anything a man can list when they are being chased by a vengeful bloodline. It was miracle that he never lost the love in his heart and his life. He wasn't much a man of faith after the loss of his father and brothers, but Ezio was grateful to a higher power for sending Leonardo. Leo, who was caught up in his art and inventions, was a rock and cornerstone for the Auditore male heir. Through the toils and troubles of becoming an Assassin in the Brotherhood to avenging his deceased through the Borgias, Leonardo was there. Be it at any secret rendezvous or meeting at the villa for any respite, he was there with open arms for the weary Ezio.

Connor (based on From the Children)

Lavendar – healing, devotion, luck

He felt immense pity for the given situation. Such a young boy who had to endure a life that was not entirely meant for him. Connor didn't know whether to blame himself or the Assassin's, but one thing was certain: such a lad deserved better. Maybe it was the way Shay started to take charge, or how he was steadfast at the helm of the ship, but there was a foreign feeling that overcame him. Pride? Ambition? A sense of hope? He realized he did not children of his own, but now it seemed to be something of a reality he wanted to create. Though Haytham was the boy's father, it was safe to say that the only relation was through blood. Come what may, the vengeful Assassin's and those he used to call friends or the Templars who felt entitled to everything else, Connor was not one to go down without a fight. Hell or highwater would not come for this young boy's life, and the potential new beginning that laid ahead.

Alexios, Lykaon,Thaletas

Dahlia – commitment, discovery

Coming back home was more than just returning to the country side. It meant reuniting with a sister, and the two other individuals he wanted in his life. Alexios and his fellow Greeks had heard of the philosophers and wise people say that beauty was terror. It was a terror to find someone, or something, as beautiful and stunning as Lykaon and Thaletas were. It meant to let them in, to tell them of what he had endured on his voyage, and to come back a changed man. Alexios didn't want to admit, but underneath the battle worn exterior, his heart quickened when he returned home. Would they see him as different? Accept him? His answer came in the form of open, welcoming arms. The tears of relief fell down Alexios's face in gentle streams. Yes, this is what it meant when beauty is terror. It's the fear that one wouldn't accept their other half, but for Alexios, he would never have to face his fears alone anymore.

[purple-dahlias]

day twenty three- car crash 

wc: 1457 requested: no warnings: none

Seconds. That’s all it takes. All it takes for Ava’s world to fall to pieces. It shouldn’t have happened. It should have been her instead. Only moments ago, Ava had been gathering together the rest of the ingredients, ready for when Sarah returned.

Minutes. There had just been minutes between Sarah leaving the house to go out for eggs and the call. Sarah had just wanted to bake that evening and they had been out of eggs. Ava should have volunteered to go instead. Despite what people tell her. That she could never have known, that it wasn’t her fault. She is going to blame herself. Because it all could have been avoided.

The things we take for granted, the things we take as being absolute certains. They weren’t. Nothing could be guaranteed. Not a safe return, not a simple trip to the grocery store. Nothing.

Ava sits anxiously in the waiting room, staring blankly at the posters on the wall, the noises of the people around her washing over her, numb. She was on the other side now, the family of a patient. Not the surgeon this time. Already she had tried to enter the ED, but had been stopped at the door.

Someone will come out to get you, she had been told.

But when?

Ava had never been one to sit on the side lines, to wait for things to happen to her. She had always been the one to put herself out there, to go, to get things for herself. And one nurse at the door wasn’t going to stop her.

Waiting without knowing was more agonising, she decides as she slips through the doors to the emergency department while the nurse at the desk is distracted by a concerned mother whose child has the sniffles.

Ava thanks the powers that be for concerned mothers with children who had the sniffles.

“Clear!” She hears someone shout over the usual bustling activity inside the emergency department. She can’t make out which treatment room it’s coming from, all she can do is hope desperately that it’s not Sarah who is coding. Ava doesn’t quite know what she would do if it was.

And she’s back in that spiral of worry and guilt, if indeed it ever did leave her.

She’s watching patients being transferred out from the ED, heading towards the elevators, no doubt on their way to radiology or the OR, checking each one that passes her for Sarah. But she is not there. Ava can’t quite work out whether that is a good thing or not.

She is pulled from her thoughts by Connor, exiting trauma two, his face clouded with worry that is only amplified on seeing her there. It doesn’t escape Ava’s notice, not one bit, and while she’s never quite understood the expression, she thinks she does now as she stands there, feeling like all the blood had been drained from her body.

“Let me see her. Where is she?” Her voice comes out smaller, so unlike her own she hardly recognises it as her eyes remain fixed, trained on Connor as she somehow finds herself in front of him, outside the treatment bay.

“Ava, Ava, hey, I think it’s best if you wait outside for now,” Connor tells her lowly, placing a hand over Ava’s arm.

And at that, as much as Ava has managed to hold it together, put on a brave face, keep it all in, she can’t anymore. She just can’t.

“Outside? I’ve already been told that. How much longer am I supposed to sit around? Damn it, Connor I’m a surgeon! I see all sorts of things on a daily basis! If you think this is going to be too distressing for me, it’s already bad enough not being able to see her. Let me in!” She fights against him, but he is stronger as he holds her by the shoulders, meeting her eyes, expression softening at the genuine terror he finds there in her eyes.  

“Ava, listen to me, I’m going to do everything I can for her, but for now, you’ve got to wait here, alright. Maggie, could you—”

“Don’t give me that ‘I’m going to do everything I can’ BS we’re both doctors here! We both know that’s the kind of thing you say when someone is going to die,” her voice falters as her breath hitches. She wills herself not to cry. Not now. Not in front of all these people who were now, no doubt, staring at her after her outburst.

“Come on now, Ava, let’s get you out of here,” Maggie intervenes, looping an arm around Ava, leading her away.

“No, I don’t want to, Maggie please.”

“I know, but you heard Dr Rhodes, let’s go, before he throws you out, hmm? You can see her when she’s stable.”

Ava stops in her tracks at that, turning to face the charge nurse.

“You mean she’s not stable? You’ve got to let me see her.” Ava runs through a thousand possibilities, a million complications and reasons for Sarah not yet being stable, each on decidedly worse than the last. What if the coding patient had been Sarah? No. No, it couldn’t be. Surely not?

“We can’t do that right now, okay. But you know, Sarah’s with the best people she could be with right now. And I’m not just saying that. We all know it’s true.”

Ava wants to believe that, wants so desperately to believe that that is the case, and everything will work itself out. But it’s just so hard.

“Ah, Dr Manning, can you take Dr Bekker to the doctors’ lounge, please? Stay with her for a little while, alright,” Ava hears Maggie ask Dr Manning, who must have just come past. Ava hadn’t even noticed.

“On it Maggie, come on Ava.”

Ava feels a different pair of arms leading her away from the chaos and bright lights of the ED and into the quiet of the lounge, where Natalie draws the blinds, guiding Ava to the couch.

“Have you heard anything from Sarah?” It’s what comes out first, the most important thing. She needs to know.

“Not yet I’m afraid, I’ve been up in the PICU most of my shift, so I heard she came in, but not much else.”

“Oh.” Ava lets out, her voice small and barely there.  

“Ava, I promise you, she’s going to be just fine. She’s a fighter. And she’s in the best hands. You know that. Connor and Ethan are going to do everything they can. But right now, you need to take care of yourself. That’s the best thing you can do. For the both of you.”

Ava was always so strong. A force of nature, nothing stopped her. Not her patients, not her workload. No case could daunt her. She was always so guarded. A frosty exterior, her sarcasm legendary. And yet beyond it all, beyond the façade and the snark, Natalie knew there was another side to Ava, a softer side. The one that not many knew existed. That was what Natalie needed to appeal to, in that moment.

Ava knows Natalie is right, deep down. But it doesn’t stop her being angry, frustrated. At herself most of all. For allowing this to happen.

Natalie studies Ava’s face, knowing exactly where her thoughts are going, knowing the number of times she too had been guilty of letting her thoughts take her in that same direction.

“Ava, listen to me. None of this was your fault, okay. You couldn’t have seen this coming any more than any of us could.”

“I- I know. It’s just—” Ava stops, her voice shaking as her eyes well up, a lump forming in her throat. “She only went out for eggs. She wanted to bake muffins for god’s sake. And now she’s here and I can’t even see her, and no one will tell me what’s happening.” Ava dissolves into sobs, her shoulders shaking, and Natalie does the only thing she can do right now. She holds her close, rubbing circles into the small of her back, soothing her as she would a child, her own child. Because right now, that’s what Ava needs. Someone to be there.

“Stay with me,” Ava asks, her voice small, though it’s not really a question, they both know that. She knows it’s selfish, because Natalie’s shift is over, and she’s sure she wants to get home to Owen, rather than hang around in the doctors’ lounge with her. But Ava doesn’t think she can be alone right now.

“Of course.” Natalie pulls her in close once more, so that Ava’s head rests on her shoulder, and the two sit, waiting. Waiting and hoping.