#cw: earthquake

[edutainer2022]

It's Mother's Day, so here's a little Thunderbirds AU thing. It's a rogue idea I've been entertaining any time I think about Jeff's tragic abrupt widowship and later the need to cut off all ties and ship his orphaned sons to a super secret isolated location. (In my headcanon Alan was about two, when they lost Mom). Kayo's POV.

mother, should I build the wall?

The boy was about Alan’s age. A couple of years younger, maybe. And he looked unnervingly like Scott at fourteen - in those last photos with their Mom - bar the sheen of auburn in the dark wavy hair. That was one of the reasons Alan and Kayo lingered in the hospital waiting area, having delivered all survivors of the earthquake-turned-rockslide they could dig up in between themselves and two pods. It was an all hands on deck rescue in South America. Scott, Virgil and Gordon were wrapping up in the village several miles away. Even John came down, alternating comms coordination, liasing with authorities, and helping out at a triage point Virgil set up with the local services. The boy was trapped by the wall of the local school and badly battered. Alan squeezed through an opening in the jumbled bricks and stayed near, talking him up to stay awake through a massive concussion, and staving off bloodloss as best he could, till Kayo figured out a way to clear the debris and not kill them both. The rest of the kids in his homeroom didn't make it. That was another reason they hovered at the hospital eventually. Alan was visibly shaken and exhausted, so Kayo preferred they stayed somewhere in the vicinity of medical assistance too, other than having to explain to Scott and Virgil a baby brother succumbed to shock. They had to wait for the conclusive reports on injuries and casualties anyway, the GDF would be on Scott's case the moment IR cleared the area. A disaster of that magnitude was a paperwork nightmare in the making, among other things.

Kayo was keeping an eye on Alan’s half-hearted attempts at grounding exercises, when a woman stormed the reception lounge. Middle-aged, likely not local, judging by a smattering of freckles over fair skin, curly graying hair in a disheveled bun, eyes frantic and voice desperate - she was looking for her son among the victims extracted from the collapsed school. Kayo vaguely remembered Alan's chatting with the boy they saved - his Mom was American, a music teacher at that same school, off at a piano contest in the neighboring town for the day. Kayo shifted her stance instinclively to shield Alan, largely still out of it and shivering, from the sight - as the woman was pointed to a gurney among the chaos of the ER and all but threw herself over the frail form of the injured teenager. Kayo knew she and Alan shared that wound - the ever present phantom pain of not knowing a mother. They were surrounded by a sea of love, of course, it was easy to drown out the longing for something they only ever knew by proxy and hearsay on a good day. But today was not a good day. Kayo was ready to turn away, the moment between a mother, out of her mind with fear and relief, and her child almost too intimate to intrude on, yet too mesmerizing to relinquish, when the woman moved up to take a better look at the boy and shifted to brush stray hairs from his forehead. Tears, flooding her eyes, caught in the corner of the smile, streaming down. Kayo was grateful for all the rigorous training her father put her through and she picked up along the way on her own or working with Penny - never loose your cool, never give anything away, never break composure. She did feel her head swim a little bit, chalking it up to ten hours of gruesome rescue. Maybe she was imagining things. But she was schooled to recognize a face by the slightest of features, even in disguise. The safety of those she loved depended on her skill. Besides, she would know those eyes anywhere - electric blue to rival the sky on a cloudless noon in July, and dimples flanking a soft smile.

Kayo braved a glance over at Alan, considering her options. Her next string of actions was decided by Scott's hologram popping up on Alan’s wrist, face worn out and haunted, not too subtly glancing Alan over for injuries and demanding status report. Kayo took that as a cue to propell Alan out of the noise and bustle of the overflowing ER and into the subtle comfort (and much needed distraction!) of the big brother being there for him, and made her way to the reception, asking for the patient manifest. The IR uniform and logo was key to a well of information to be obtained discretely. If she still had any doubts, the answer Kayo didn't know how to begin to process or comprehend, was staring her in the face among a list of casualties admitted to the ER from the danger zone - the woman that just ran in, the local music teacher, as a friendly receptionist helpfully supplied, was looking for her son. Donald Kent Slayton*...

TBTBTB

To snatch a piece of discarded blooded gauze on her way out, past the mother and son, engrossed in their own little world, was the easy part. To run a strictly classified DNA test in a GDF facility where a lab technician owed her a favor or ten - was slightly trickier, but doable. As the results turned out the way she knew deep down they would, Kayo pulled on all of her composure and deposits of reason to reserve judgment till she knew all the facts. Till she knew all the facts and rationale firsthand, and looked that person in the eyes. That was the least Kayo owed her sons. After everything they had been through.

The hardest part was completely hinged on Eos and her ability and willingness to not only keep a secret, but to lie - even to John. There was no certainty how the brothers would all handle the truth. Or even if they should.

With that in mind Kayo waited for Eos to dig up top secret files of GDF witness protection program.

--------

*Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton - one of Mercury Seven.

[andaniellight]

Something's going on under the surface of the earth and it seems like it's spreading out with all these earthquakes and i don't know how to feel about it

[orreanintrepidness]

The end of the Phenac Rebellion

Across the Orre region, on any functioning screen that happened to be turned on at the time, a sudden broadcast interruption was seen, usually reserved for emergency alerts within the region.

"The authorities have made a stunning announcement on the recent events in Phenac City, as well as in the western half of the desert. The so called 'Phenac Rebellion' or as the now seemingly losing side would call it 'The Phenac Rising', has come to an end. How or why this end has come to be has yet to be seen, however the lack of localised earthquakes certainly points to this announcement as being true."

The broadcast cut off for a moment, right as that sentence was spoken, a large, larger than the usual, tremor was heard, and then felt, it shook everything, windows in settlements closer to the west shattered, but it didn't have a followup. It was one, and then done…

And then, after a minute or so, the broadcast resumed…

The reporter could be seen looking off to the side of what was visible as she spoke now, a look of clear alarm on her face.

"Are you sure..? That's unheard of! There's no way!"

A moment later, she seemingly realized they were rolling again, and looked towards the camera.

"The authorities have not made any announcement on what that particular one was, however. And we have… Yes we have a report of a bright purple flash being seen in the western desert… As well as…"

A muffled "Dear god" left the newsreader as she looked at something that had clearly been hastily written and handed to her, not even looking up from it as she spoke on.

"We have a confirmed report that… A purple flash followed by intense energy readings occurred, and the airship that Cipher had been operating from was the source of it. Said airship appears to have been ripped apart in what seems to be a… Blast of unseen proportions… Yes, a large explosion seems to have obliterated the large craft entirely…"

"If we needed any confirmation that what the League announced was true, that was it. Any hope of Cipher and it's forces making a miraculous comeback have certainly been wiped out along with their base of operations…"

The newsreader would babble on for some time, reading off the same message every so often, but somewhere in between, the sound of a large helicopter could be heard, coming closer, before falling silent.

And then…

He walked in.

Alistair Hagen walked right in, right into view, gesturing for the reader to move aside, but with no hostility behind it, an odd occurrence.

"Good afternoon, Orre…"

He spoke quite slowly, letting his words trail on a fair bit, though, with closer inspection it became clear why, his garments were soaked red. Whether that was blood of his own, or of others, was unknown, but it was clearly present nonetheless.

"As I am sure you all know. Today marks the… End… of what has been a hard period of time for us all, from those of us right at the top, all the way down to the bottom. Ain't no one in this region who hasn't been effected in some way by all this shit goin' on. And I know, I know, you want answers, whether this is cause for celebration or not.

Let me tell you all now. It is not.

The old Orre might have celebrated this kind of thing, the loss of so much, but we… We will not. We are civilised, we are above that. Today marks one thing, and one thing only.

We get our second chance."

Alistair remained silent for a time, giving pause after what, at least to him, was something he'd wanted to say, or at least hear said, for a long time. But then, he gestured to one of the men that had entered with him, and before long a strange, upright rectangle covered by a drape was brought through into view, only for that drape to be ripped away in one motion a moment later. Revealing a frozen woman, none other than Larissa Hagen in fact, not that her name was one publicly known, thankfully for him.

"This, this is the face of those who sought to take that second chance from us. This woman… She headed all of this, oversaw and ensured everything Cipher wanted to happen, happened. This woman here, she is the one who made herself a threat to not only Orre, but perhaps the world as a whole…

But now, we have seen to it that Cipher's airship is no more, thanks to the results of the Dusk project. A project that has made sure we will have infinite energy in the years to come… and should the need arise…

The means to defend it.

As of approximately, I want to say, fifteen minutes ago, a Dusk Prject device was detonated on board the Airship after all on board were apprehended and removed where possible, or neutralized. The resulting explosion is what destroyed the airship. No, the device is not the same as the DUSK engines that have been rolling out to power settlements around the region. Let me repeat, the device is NOT the same."

Alistair let out a sigh, before gesturing to have the frozen woman taken away off camera.

"She has been taken into holding, and perhaps maybe a modicum of justice will be done for everything she's destroyed, all the people she has got harmed… But for now. It is not our time to celebrate, it is Orre's time to heal. And that is why, as of now, a general amnesty for all who were part of, or currently are part of, the Cipher organisation excluding those who were in positions of leadership, is to be in effect.

What good will tearing ourselves apart do? The only way forward, is with every Orrean we can take with us. Even one person less than that, is too few to justify going forwards.

We need every pair of hands we can get out here, we ain't Kanto, we ain't Unova, we don't have the established infrastructure they do, for us to do that, we need all hands at the ready to rebuild, and move forward.

And that is why I can speak about who I have worked with to ensure this is done as quickly and as safely as possible.

The Aether foundation!

They have been granted the exclusive right to aid in rebuilding the region alongside us, and for that we can thank the wonderous Mrs, or Miss, I always forget, Delacroix! The president of said Aether foundation has been extremely co-operative with me and the rest of the government when we approached her with the plans.

So, finally, Orre, my dearest Orre.

We did it.

We fought for, and we won, our second chance. Let's not fuck it up. Goodnight."

And with those, final, parting words… The broadcast finally ended, and whatever filled the screens before was back.

But one thing was clear.

Orre was finally free for good.

[mongrelmutt]

Oh man, I fell asleep listening to a book about the devastating 1964 Alaska earthquake, and I had some gnarly nightmares. Some were obviously because of what I was hearing: seeing my community in that situation, finding family members washed up dead after a tsunami, etc. And it was utterly horrifying.

But then some were just ...weird. Like getting into a nasty fight with an emergency vet tech who was mad because I stated the fact that in general they make more money than GP techs 🤷

And getting chased through the neighborhood by a pack of bullies whom I inadvertently insulted but wouldn't accept my apology and really wanted to beat me up for it. Also had to dodge aggro dogs in some of the alleys and backyards I ran through. Anyway, it was all in vain, I got cornered, and took my beating with dignity and apparently that won me over to the head bully who followed some sort of orange-and-blue honor code.

What. the. heck. brain?

[reasonsforhope]

Since the 1960s, the world has seen a spike in the number of natural disasters, largely due to rising sea levels and an ever gradually increasing global surface temperature.

The good news? We’re getting better at helping each other when disasters strike.

According to a recent study from Our World In Data, the global toll from natural disasters has dramatically dropped in the last century.

“Low-frequency, high-impact events such as earthquakes and tsunamis are not preventable, but such high losses of human life are,” wrote lead authors Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado.

To conduct their research, Ritchie and Rosado gathered data from all geophysical, meteorological, and climate-related disasters since 1900. That includes earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, drought, wildfires, severe storms, and mass floods. 

In the early-to-mid 20th century, the average annual death toll from disasters was very high, often climbing to over a million. 

For example, the study cites that in 1931, 2.7 million people died from the Yangtze–Huai River floods. In 1943, 1.9 million died from the Bangladeshi famine of 1943. Even low-frequency events had extreme death tolls. 

“In recent decades we have seen a substantial decline in deaths,” Ritchie and Rosado observed. “Even in peak years with high-impact events, the death toll has not exceeded 500,000 since the mid-1960s.”

Why has the global death toll from disasters dropped? 

There are a number of factors at play in the improvement of disaster aid, but the leading component is that human beings are getting better at predicting and preparing for natural disasters. 

“We know from historical data that the world has seen a significant reduction in disaster deaths through earlier prediction, more resilient infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and response systems,” Ritchie and Rosado explained in their study. 

On April 6, [2024],a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the city of Hualien in Taiwan. Days later, as search and rescue continues, the death toll currently rests at 16. 

Experts have praised Taiwan for their speedy response and recovery, and attributed the low death toll to the measures that Taiwan implemented after an earthquake of similar strength hit the city 25 years earlier. Sadly, on that day in 1999, 2,400 people died and 11,000 were injured. 

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Wang Yu — assistant professor at National Taiwan University — said that event, known as the Chi-Chi earthquake, revolutionized the way Taiwan approached natural disasters. 

“There were lots of lessons we learned, including the improvement of building codes, understanding earthquake warning signs, the development and implementation of earthquake early warning (EEW) systems and earthquake education,” said Wang. 

Those same sensors and monitoring systems allowed authorities to create “shakemaps” during Hualien’s latest earthquake, which helped them direct rescue teams to the regions that were hit the hardest. 

This, in conjunction with stronger building codes, regular earthquake drills, and public education campaigns, played a huge role in reducing the number of deaths from the event. 

And Taiwan’s safeguards on April 6 are just one example of recent measures against disasters. Similar models in strengthening prediction, preparedness, and recovery time have been employed around the world when it comes to rescuing victims of floods, wildfires, tornados, and so on. 

What else can we learn from this study?

When concluding the findings from their study, Ritchie and Rosado emphasized the importance of increasing safety measures for everyone.

Currently, there is still a divide between populations with high gross national income and populations living in extreme poverty.

Even low-income countries that infrequently have natural disasters have a much higher death rate  because they are vulnerable to collapse, displacement, and disrepair. 

“Those at low incomes are often the most vulnerable to disaster events; improving living standards, infrastructure, and response systems in these regions will be key to preventing deaths from natural disasters in the coming decades,” surmised Ritchie and Rosado.

“Overall development, poverty alleviation, and knowledge-sharing of how to increase resilience to natural disasters will therefore be key to reducing the toll of disasters in the decades to come."

-via GoodGoodGood, April 11, 2024

[pmpwbrrs]

Clinging to a part of yourself that is poison, and deep down you know it. That's why you crave it

Or something

Erratic pulse x five pebbles

[probably-a-plant-thing]

dysfunctional bitches

[bloodofgrapes]

So this is a comic I’ve wanted to do for a long time because it hits fairly close to home for me, but especially because I think this is foundational to Phoenix and Edgeworth’s relationship: trust. Throughout the games we see that they push and pull one another to get to the bottom of a situation, to discover the truth and do what’s right, even when it’s difficult. While obviously not canon, to me their relationship is so emblematic of kink it’s nearly unavoidable in my depictions of them--Edgeworth may always seem to be the ultimate string pulling master with a thousand tricks up his sleeve, but none of this could happen if he did not totally relinquish control via his unwavering trust in Phoenix.

[starlightwoofwoof]

you know what frick it

I’m making a Spooky Month AU based off of one of my favorite Goosebumps books

anyway for the whole starting point of this, here’s if Skid, Pump, Ross, Roy and Robert attended King Jellyjam’s Sports Camp (and also featuring some skin complexion headcanons as well cause why not heh)

Extra info :

Lila let Skid go to Camp Jellyjam after he saw a sign-up poster for it in town. Not sure why, but she eventually let him go there. Pump kinda just tagged along with Skid-

Skid is always wearing something skeleton related and Pump is always wearing pumpkin related lol

They stay as close to each other as possible, even entering the same competitions just to be with each other

Buddy (the head counselor, you can see him in multiple of my previous posts lol) thinks they’re slightly annoying, but they’re super energetic. He also thinks they should probably try to actually compete instead of them entering the same competitions just so they can be with each other, and letting each other win-

I’m not sure if they would ever meet King Jellyjam in person, but if they did, they would either think he’s super cool, or they would be too distracted by how bad he smells to care about his ‘coolness’-

Skid and Pump had tried to befriend Alicia multiple times, but she’s a bit shy. They were honestly worried about her after she disappeared, but they were happy to see her after everyone was saved.

Speaking of that, the boys were honestly a bit suspicious about the whole thing, especially after Alicia went missing. They weren’t really able to figure it out though before the whole secret came out.

Alright, that’s it for Skid and Pump, I think.

HATBOI TIME

Extra Info :

Okay, first off, Ross. Obviously, of course Jaune let him go-

Ross, despite being a bit of an introvert and also the slight age gap, had made good acquaintances with Elliot

I kinda headcanon Ross liking music, and a lot of bands, so I wanted to give him a band shirt. Problem : I don’t really have any knowledge on any bands, so I just picked my sister’s favorite band-

Also yes, he sharpied a replica of Aaron’s tattoo on his arm-

Buddy thinks Ross could be more sociable, and less nervous when he’s competing, but he thinks he’s kinda cool. Ross doesn’t mind Buddy, but he does think he’s kinda creepy sometimes cause of how happy he is, and his signature grin

Okay, time for Roy. I’m not sure why in the world Carmen or Richard would let him go to a sport’s camp- maybe they saw how ‘expensive’ the playing fields, equipment and dorms were and thought he deserved to go to ‘experience luxury’ lmao

Roy is extremely competitive, despite not really being a sport’s guy. He always tries to win, probably because of an ego thing, or to de-stress, idk

Roy kinda made ‘friends’ with Jeff. (well it was more of a frenemy kind of thing, y’know, them both kinda being bullies and them being competitive)

I didn’t know what outfit to give him honestly, idk what a ‘elegant summer look’ even would be, so I just gave him the outfit from the Mother’s Day 2024 drawing but with the sleeves rolled up lol

Buddy doesn’t like him all too much, thinks he’s incredibly rude, but he does like how competitive he is, and tries to be as friendly as he can to him

Now, as you can see, Roy got 6 King Coins. That means he can go onto the Winner’s Walk :D (and also be a slave for King Jellyjam but let’s talk about that later)

Ross and Robert were extremely happy for him, but they started to worry once they realized he went missing the next day. They practically interrogated Buddy on it, until they gave up, figuring he went home

Roy didn’t go home, though. He was busy cleaning King JJ before Wendy came to save everyone. Luckily, he didn’t die, but that incident might carry with him, along with all his other trauma (poor boy why did I pick you to be the one to suffer ☹️)

A n y w a y, Robert is last. He’s just a little silly :3

He really does like everything- but his personal favorite sports were baseball, soccer, and the Marbles Tournaments

He likes talking about aliens, and other cool things in the spare time he’s not playing sports (which is literally almost never)

Robert also made nice acquaintances with Elliot

Robert misses his siblings tho, he wishes he could at least talk to them :(

He could also been seen with Ross and Roy a lot when they’re not busy with sports

These three were all roommates, along with some kid named Joe. Who’s Joe? JOE MA-

Buddy quite likes Robert, they both think each other is cool

OKAY ENOUGH OF THAT-

okay, to end this off, here’s some more general info I thought up for now :

Since the two medias take place in completely different time periods (assuming the book’s events take place the same year it was released, it would be 1995), I wasn’t sure what to do, but I just picked SM’s time period, around 2012

I don’t think it’ll change too much, honestly, just with the whole pay phones not being there. I don’t think they’ll allow cellphones at Camp Jellyjam anyway- (everybody’s ages will probably remain the same too)

omg just imagine one of the SM adults attended the camp as a counselor

OMG KEVIN

okay I think I’ll shut up now uhhhh

one more thing, here’s something with Buddy

I’m losing it

[six-demon-bag]

MEGAFAULT (2009) dir. David Michael Latt

[skyheaven1231]

Goro wasn’t even surprised when the ground started to shake again.

It was either the foundation of the building growing more and more unstable with the aftershocks of the earthquake, or his exhaustion only made it seem as though the world was turning upside-down.

He couldn‘t even tell how long they’d been stuck in this place.

Hours. Days. Maybe even a week.

Next to him, Akira struggled to keep going with the makeshift bandages around his broken ankle and the exhaustion settling into his bones.

Both of them were at their limit but the way out of this hellhole was so close.

They couldn’t stop now that they were already seeing the light of the outside streaming in through the only door that hadn’t been buried by rubble.

“Almost there! Come on, Kurusu!“ he tightened his hold on the other boy‘s waist, practically dragging him towards the exit.

“I should get injured more often if that‘s the only way to get a hug from you!“, Akira joked.

“Shut up! You‘re not funny!“

How this sentimental idiot was still able to crack one joke after the other was beyond Goro.

The next quake hit with a lot more force.

So much so that Goro lost his grip on Akira, who stumbled backwards and away from his reach.

He noticed the little cracks that were forming on the floor between them but it was already too late.

A giant hole opened up beneath Akira’s feet, swallowing everything in it‘s proximity.

All he was able to hear - beside the rumbling of falling stone, wood and whatever else this building was made out of - was a pained groan.

Fuck.

“KURUSU!“ Goro yelled, hurrying to the edge.

He couldn‘t see anything at first, the dust of the debris clouding his vision.

When it finally cleared and he was able to make out the damage, he felt all the previous hope of leaving this place vanish from his mind.

Akira was lying on the floor, surrounded by giant pieces of concrete.

At first one might have thought he’d been lucky, not having been crushed to death by any fallen stones, but the metal pipe boring right through Akira’s stomach left no room for optimistic delusions.

FUCK.

[fictionkinfessions]

Mmhm get ready

I'm scrambling between bracing myself in a doorway and running under the most sturdy dollar store particle board table we have, as per the earthquake safety guidelines!!! What is happen!

Mod party cat!

[patrice-bergerons]

I'm exhausted so I won't be articulate but I've been watching turkish news coverage for hours and it's wild to me how you can cover an event like this, happening in an area with such a significant Kurdish population without mentioning this fact once? Without dialing in one Kurdish MP/community organiser/local leader???? I mean we all know how but man-

[snarp]

I was in the hospital when the earthquakes that ultimately caused the Fukushima meltdown hit, and when I woke up from anaesthesia enough to understand why my parents had the news on in my room, I was briefly concerned that it might somehow be my fault.

[3mutantsinatrenchcoat]

An earthquake rumbles part 5

Previously

Dude, we are already on part five??? Das crazy-

Uhh cw? Probably for swearing, panic, mentions of children being sick and very bad parenting but he's doing his best

The man huffs as he pushes away rubble from the stairwell, finally reaching the streets from the subway. "Okay bud..stay with me" he looks back at the turtle child, whose overheated body let's out weakened huffs, the breaths visible in the colder air.

"I know..I know.." he sighs and starts walking "wer gonna find a pharmacy..we have ta find somethin.." he looks around as he grips the metal pipe tighter. He runs down the street, reaching his free hand behind himself to make sure the little turtle was stable. "Hang in there.."

He looks around for any flashes of purple or any people. He didn't want to have to deal with either. Now he would have said a few days ago he wouldn't have minded seeing other humans so long as they kept their distance but hell, he had a turtle child. And one thing he knew from growing up in the south is that different is deadly.

Like one of them bright colored bugs that you learn about in school, if you stand out you are a target. And boy he did feel like he stood out. Not only that other people seem to be selfish, he regrets how he almost was selfish when he met the turtle child.

He wished he was kind enough to have picked him up as soon as he saw him, but he walked away. He doesn't know why he went back but he did. And he doesn't regret it.

He slows to a walk up the the pharmacy doors, one of the glass doors shattered and littering inches of glass on the floor. He gently pushes on the door but all it caused was more pieces of glass to fall. "Sound risk..okay, okay another survival rule kid, no sound." He turns and walks around the building finding a busted window. ".. alright alright, we are getting some where." He uses his gloves to wipe off any excess chunks of glass before taking off his bag, careful to make sure the kid didn't fall.

"we should really get you some clothes buddy, new ones." He tosses the bag into the window and holds the child to his chest as he climbs in. He stumbles slightly before he gets his second leg in and stands up, looking around. "Good..it's...it's slightly ransacked but we might have some supplies." He grabs his bag by the strap and starts walking around, finding the kid section. He sets the young turtle down and looks over the section. It was ransacked. "No...no..no no.." he starts pulling at the empty shelves.

He pulls tin shelves and throws them to the ground. "No! No! No! SHIT!" he hits the shelves making a loud clang, the young turtle starts crying.

"I know! I know! It's scary! You're sick what do you want me to do!" He turns to look at the kid. "I didn't ask to take you in but I did! And now you are gonna die!" He drags his hands across his face and kicks one of the discarded shelves across the floor. "FUCK!"

He walks away from the crying child, leaning his head against a shelf. "...fuck..."

"well, that's not the Lars I knew" the female voice rang out softly.

The man, Lars looks at the woman, her long pretty blonde hair and her favorite sunflower printed dress on. "You aren't real..."

"I'm as real as you allow me to be Lars." She leans on the shelf beside him, her pretty blue eyes looking at him with sorrow. "I know it's difficult-"

"I miss you, my mayflower" he reaches out to touch the blonde curls that his fingers couldn't wrap around. "...I miss you.."

The woman reaches her hand out and cups his cheek, he swears he could still feel the warm of her palm. "Calm yourself, you are stressed. Keep your head on"

"I was never the one good with kids, it was always you, May.." he closes his eyes.

She smiles and pulls her hand away. "What is the issue? You know what to do, remember your nephew and the boating incident?"

He slowly stands up straight, looking at her. "He had an infection and a virus was running around so the pharmacy was out of kids medicine.."

"mhm. And what did you do then?" She smiles, watching as his eyes go wide.

He runs a few aisles over, looking up and down before grabbing a few boxes. "What if he takes to much?"

"if it feels like too much it's too little, he's a mutant" she speaks from behind him.

"right the incidents on the news-"

"mhm, right before you went up there" she smiles. "And-"

The man throws the boxes. "And liquid is better for exhaustion than the solids" he starts grabbing the other boxes.

He remembers how he felt driving his truck, speeding at 90 down the road, nearly crashing into the pharmacy as his brother stayed home with his nephew, all the hospitals filled with sick and no space for the teen. He remembers how the door clattered in protest when he swung it open and started grabbing off the shelf without a care to the world, he knew what was needed and 5 minutes later he was speeding out the parking lot, breaking probably several traffic violations.

That was years ago, and this situation was different. Here he was, grabbing medicine, no car, no wife, no family. Just him a mutant, infection all the same.

He hurries over to the turtle mutant, realizing he had left him crying. He sighs and slowly sat down beside him. "I'm sorry bud..I'm..." he sighs and starts unboxing one of the medicines. "This is so gonna suck but" he looks at the bottle and then at the measurement cap. "....fuck it we don't need this" he tosses it aside and pulls off the plastic, uncapping the bottle.

"alright survival tip again bud, drink this like you are drinking vodka. It's going to suck but it will make you feel better" he hesitates before mumbling to himself. "What kind of parenting advice is that-"

He scoops up the kid by the back of the head and makes him sit up slightly before putting the bottle to his mouth. "Okay we are going to guess and pray bud, guess and pray."

He pours, counting 5 seconds in his head. It was immediate how the mutant started squirming at the bittery cherry flavored syrup. "I know, I know it sucks, it's okay..it's okay.."

He pulls the bottle away. "Don't spit it out swallow it-" he quickly grabs the kid's chin, holding his face up slightly. "Don't spit..." the kid looks up at him, teary eyed and using what little energy he saved up from sleeping like he did to squirm.

He watches as the turtle scrunches up his face and swallows. "Thank you, see it wasn't that bad"

He looks around before scooping up the kid. "Let's find you some Gaterade. It tastes like shit but it works" he was never a big Gaterade fan. He preferred root beer but he doubts there would be any in this place. He makes a mental note to find a gas station eventually.

He walks around, holding the child to himself as he looks for the fridges, finding one up against the wall he swings it open. "Mmm..here" he pulls out a bottle of blue Gaterade. "It's sort of the best flavor in my opinion, don't ask me why"

He sits down against the wall beside it and shifts so the kid could sit, using his arm to rest his head slightly. "That feel better?"

He watches the turtle kid open his eyes slightly and look at him before looking at the bottle.

Lars smiles and opens the bottle, holding it up and letting the turtle drink. "Alright, so I'm thinking I'm stuck with you right?...so...what is your name?...or do we need a new one?"

The turtle gulps down the drink, halfway paying attention to him. Before he sets it down. "Mm..m-mikey"

Lars stares, genuinely not expecting him to have been able to talk. "Huh...okay...hi Mikey, I'm Lars.." he spoke softly watching as the turtle, well. Mikey use up what little energy he had left to set down the bottle and curl back up against him, closing his eyes.

"yeah, yeah...I know.." he caps the drink and pulls Mikey close to himself. "Don't use up all that energy, you can go back to sleep again.." he smiles as Mikey seemed to take him up on that offer.

He leans against the wall, still feeling like he was failing...but he did feel like he done something right. He smiles down at Mikey, maybe he wouldn't mess this up too bad.

His head leans against the wall and he closes his eyes letting all the stress die a little before he hears the sound of glass shattering slightly, his eyes opening quickly as he looks around.

Then he hears the voices.

"shit"

[BONUS DRAWING]

Lars and mikeeyyy

[betweenthetimeandsound]

--based on a prompt from @lyralit

"and I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want, just not home." my tears ricochet, taylor swift

Wandering around the streets, the pavement off balance, everybody stares just to know who's doing worse than them. An evergreen turns out to be translucent and ethereal, torn apart and its pines scattering back to me, aching for something to eat after tasting nothing more the melting snowflakes.

A bit of tobacco wouldn't be too bad; but it only tastes of ashes and fire; escaping only through a toxic cloud only brings me lower, and lower, until I sleep on a concrete bed underground.

Sunshine lights my way as they glisten on puddles. everything melts as I find my way through a city long since decayed and abandoned.

Who could find a lost heirloom when they've all disappeared in other people's hands?

Who would scavenge for a little more olive oil when there's nothing to cook it with?

But there's no home for me to return to.

All disappears as I navigate through the hills in this jaundiced labyrinth fading out. People would come over and light up vintage lanterns, only to lock their doors when somebody holds out their hands for something warm...

...warmer than the radiators, yet colder than an explosion.

How could I leave this place when I have no means of advancement? --Elda Mengisto

Author's Note: I figured that I might write a poem inspired one of my WIPs, Iodine. Here, Iodine (the main protagonist) walks through a ruined Seattle after an earthquake--she has a place to live in the Bunker, but is unsure what her future brings. Her family abandoned her when she was four, and her aunt died in that earthquake. What will happen to her, you think?