#don't you hate it when you're on the train and a nerd starts making out with a triangle

[crashingmoons]

I present to you the worst thing I've ever created. fuck my digital footprint

[inkskinned]

you said you were stuck in a time loop, which was fine. i feel like late-stage capitalism has us all in a time loop, ammiright? you came barging in at 5:33. in the morning. i hadn't even processed the idea of coffee.

but you had this look of utter panic in your eyes. terror like the ocean. you grabbed my cheeks. im in a time loop.

i don't know why in movies the first reaction is to deny it. when someone is panicking like that, it's not appropriate to ask them to calm down. it didn't matter if i believed it, what mattered was that you believed it so much that it was consuming you.

so here we are. i pour you some of the dark roast. "you look like utter and entire hell," i say.

you push your fingers into your eyes. "you always say that."

i try to think of something funny to say that i wouldn't have said on previous time loops, but jokes don't land without the proper timing (lol). "remind me to think -"

"-yeah, of a joke that only works in the future. and before you say anything, i know you're pissed i just stole your punchline." you bolt the coffee, which is wild. it's very hot. you don't seem to notice.

i blow on mine to cool it down. i both am very pissed at you and also i can't see you in this amount of panic without wanting to help. but i'm also not really sure what we are, not since i saw you kiss her like that, no offense. it just was like, kind of rude when you knew i liked you.

and besides. i'm just like, barely a person. i write omegaverse fanfiction. i love the concept of a time loop, but what the fuck am i gonna do? send an alpha in there? i open my mouth.

you point at me. "you're about to ask why me. and then say some disparaging shit about yourself. i'm just a nerd who plays dnd or something. that self-own is slightly different each time." you sigh. "i know you think you can't really help me. i don't know who can help me. i only came to you because you fucking believe me." you check your watch, sigh, and throw your head back. you cover your eyes with one hand. "i've come here on 26 separate revolutions," you say. "you have believed me every time. and yeah, i have no idea how you fit into this but i just -" you sigh again. "i just like fucking talking to someone about it."

"do you need more cof-" i start, but you're already holding the empty cup out. i frown at it. "you're not getting any more until you promise not to bolt this one like an animal."

you laugh a little and sit up, pushing your hair out of your face. "okay, that's new dialogue. but to be fair to you, i'm not usually this rude. i'm still pretty new at all of this." you check your watch again. another sigh. i guess you're cruising for a personal best in the Sigh Olympics.

i almost tell you im not an NPC but i've played enough video games to know i'm very much an NPC. i pour you another cup. "so what happens in the loop?"

"really bad explosion." you mutter into the mug. you put your elbows on the table (rude) and bury your face in your arms like an angsty teenager. one hand floats up while you talk, because evidently you literally can't talk without your hands. "i have to save the day and there's this bomb and i have no bomb training and it keeps moving, you know."

"do i die?"

you peek up from your arms. "yeah. bigtime. you keep trying to run or stay or do anything and you always super die."

"oh."

"to be fair, like, everyone dies in it though.... so you're in good company."

i hate that you make me laugh. i hate that being around you always feels tingly and strange, this electric tension between us. something that is evidently (given how you stuck your tongue down a stranger's throat literally 3 days ago) (well. 3 for me) super one-sided. i take a sip of my coffee and close my eyes.

i die today, i guess. a little spark of panic starts at the top of my hands and starts whipping up my wrists.

"shit," you say. you look at your watch and jump to your feet. "i have to go. if i can come back, i will. i am still trying to figure out when is best to do everything, you know? the order of stuff. maybe morning isn't good for us."

i look up at you and think about how you keep kissing me in the back of my car and in alleyways and in the dark. and i can never fucking get a read on you. and i also think about how incredibly panicked you look. how broken. how long have you been doing this? "i don't want to die," i say.

you glance downwards. "well, you're not really dead, you'll come back in the loop."

"but i will have died." my hands are shaking. i am trying really hard to stay calm.

you push your hands through your hair again. "i really have to go. i will have this discussion with the next version of you, though. it is like, something i am thinking about."

"but i don't get a next version," i say. i don't really have the language for this, because i haven't had 26 tries with you. i only have my memories: you, a week ago. drunk and telling me you loved me in my ear. you, kissing her anyway. you, months ago, throwing up on my birthday, whispering to me i ruin everything i touch, always, over and over. please don't ask. i can't ever fucking have that be you.

i run my finger along the rim of the mug. "i don't want to die in this one."

you seem baffled by this. "i get that but - time will reset, you'll be fine, you won't even remember we talked about this."

"but i know now." i stand up too. "i have to live the rest of this day knowing i could die. knowing i probably am going to."

"you could always die, to be fair."

i feel my hands get out of control. "earlier, you said i always say a different insult about myself. what if you're just going through different parallel universes and those are all just different - but real - versions of myself? what if you're not in a time loop, you're in a fucking universe loop?"

"if it helps, i've wondered this too. also, you're hot in all of them. if that helps."

i point at you. "no flirting. i'm trying to figure out if i die today."

"who's flirting?" you catch my wild hands and give me that long, perfect smile. like we're in this together. "i won't let ya die." you check your watch and sigh again. "well. maybe not this time."

i grit my teeth. you are so not making quips at me while i try to explain the existential dread i'm having. "does the time loop reset if i fucking kill you?"

"honestly i don't know how long it continues after i die, because i just wake up. it could be that the loop goes until the explosion for everyone, and we're all in the loop, or it could be that when i die, the loop restarts. when i die i wake up, is all."

i pull away from you and stalk into the kitchen and start doing all 3 of my dishes. "okay, first, you know i was joking. and secondly, this is exactly my point. you don't know if this is just a parallel universe. maybe in the ones where you died, the explosion happened and nobody reset and it's just you travelling." i have to stop and push my heel into my eyeball. "... how often have you died?"

i look at you. you look at me. you give me this very sad, halfway smile and a little what can ya do shrug. something in that action seems so old and weary that i want to burst into tears.

"i have to go," you say. "really. for real. there's this family of five i save from getting into a car crash. and i know it's like oh but we're all gonna die in the explosion anyway, what's the point. and..." you shrug again. "it matters to me, is all. at least i saved them for now. at least i saved anything."

you pad over to me and wrap me in a tight hug. you always seem so tall against me. i feel your cheek rest against the top of my head for a moment. for a second, it's just us, and the space is warm, and my heart is a little broken hare.

you leave me there, and i stand in my stupid badly lit kitchen with my stupid mugs. i think about you. i start texting my mom that she needs to get out of the city, but it feels pointless.

i don't know what to do. tomorrow is the same day for you. but i have to prepare to die in my today.

[m0nnypie]

DATING DEKU (BUT BEING KATSUKI'S SISTER)

Warnings: just Deku being fool for reader, 'n Katsuki being a jealous brother.

synopsis: You're dating this cute green-haired boy, but you're related to that stressed-out blonde bitch 💔

- Well, it's obvious that you've known each other since you were kids. And according to both parents, you've shown that you liked each other since you were young (Katsuki says that's stupid)

- Because you were a year younger, you didn't go to U.A. with them. But that doesn't mean you didn't spend time with Deku.

- To be honest, Katsuki did everything he could to keep you away from Deku. Saying things like "he's a loser, and we're amazing" and "you're my sister, you shouldn't hang out with a nerd like him". But it's not like you listened to the blonde. Since you didn't want the blonde bothering you, you continued hanging out with him, even in public.

- But that stopped after Katsuki simply called his friends to beat up the green-haired one. You literally stopped talking to the blonde for a whole month, and that worried your parents, because besides affecting Katsuki, they could hear you crying every night, saying how stupid Katsuki was. In the end, you guys resolved it after he promised he wouldn't bother Deku anymore. Not that he kept his promise.

- After what happened, you started sneaking out with Deku. Whether it was going to his house, or going to play somewhere, when you knew Katsuki was going to train. And it's obvious that he never told you about Katsuki. That's why, the day he arrived all hurt, you almost had a fit.

"WHO HURT YOU?"

Sometimes he forgot that you were capable of screaming as loud as Katsuki.

"I-it was nothing!"

"NOTHING? DEKU YOU'RE ALL HURT!!"

He simply held your hand and smiled.

"It's okay! No need to worry! I already told you."

The simple contact made you blush. It was funny how children dealt with affection.

- Over time, you started to drift away. It wasn't that you hated him, but most of your time was spent training with Katsuki. So in the last year, before the two of them went to U.A, you barely saw Deku.

- You were on good terms with Katsuki. That is, until you found out that he never really left Deku alone. The moment you walked into the classroom in a rage, he thought it was strange. But as soon as the blonde felt you attack him with all your force, he was in shock.

"DON'T YOU EVER COME NEAR HIM AGAIN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME YOU SHIT?! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE MY BROTHER"

you pulled Deku with you, leaving behind an extremely angry blond, yelling that he didn't care about you.

That afternoon, Deku comforted you while telling you that everything was going to be okay. But you didn't believe it.

- Obviously things got weird between Katsuki and you. Especially because you would stay in the same house for months before he went to U.A. And even though your parents tried everything to make things work out for you, nothing worked. He was too proud to do anything, and you had too much anger built up to be on good terms with him.

- You continued to be close to Deku. Staying with him all day now, and threatening anyone who dared to look at him the wrong way. And even if he said he didn't need all that, you just told him to shut up. You two became really close after that.

- At the time, when he would just disappear sometimes, you were really worried. Even though you didn't have much time, as you were busy with your own training.

- Of course, when you found out he got into U.A. you wanted to celebrate. When you brought up the subject of the quirk, he got all weird, so you let it go.

- At the same time, you and Katsuki still haven't made up. Neither of you wanted to apologize, you were too proud for that. And now, it would be even harder with him at U.A.

- At first it was really strange, when you didn't see Deku as often anymore. Even though he always called you every night, and sent you messages all day long.

- He was saying how wonderful U.A was. That he had met All Might (he said he told about you tô him, and you almost had a heart attack). You were so excited for him! (and for Katsuki even though you wouldn't admit it). But of course things changed when he was kidnapped.

- As soon as you found out about the kidnapping, your first instinct was to call Deku. You were desperate, and he tried to calm you down by saying he would fix everything. That's when you had your first fight.

"IT'S NOT GOING TO BE OKAY, DEKU! HE'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

"You need to calm down... I told you! I'll find a way! You need to trust me!"

"A WAY, DEKU?! MY BROTHER WAS KIDNAPPED BY THE LEAGUE OF VILLAINS! IT'S NOT SIMPLE!!! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? HUM? UNTIL A MONTH AGO YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A QUIRK"

the silence that fell was deafening.

"I'm going to hang up."

"(Name) Wait-"

You hung up on him, you knew what you said to him was wrong. But your concern for your brother's life was greater than any guilt. You ignored all his other calls for the rest of the day.

- As soon as Katsuki came back. You punched him in the face. Well, brotherly love, right? But you didn't let go of him for a whole week.

As soon as you met the blond again, with the weight of your fight and the worry you felt, all you could do was punch him.

Everyone was shocked, your parents, All Might who you didn't even realize was there. Even Deku wasn't expecting it. Of course, Katsuki didn't take it personally, certainly not. But before he could yell something stupid, he felt you hug him.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

He simply gave you an ironic laugh and hugged you back. He didn't like hugs, but he knew he couldn't deny you that.

Well, now everyone was really in shock.

- Well, they gave you a week to stay with Katsuki (With All Might asking for it, it became easier for it to happen). No one had ever seen this hot-headed blonde treat someone well, so when they saw how he treated you (despite still having the insults), everyone wanted to meet the grumpy blonde's dear sister. And he hated the idea, although he wasn't the only one. A certain green-haired boy, perhaps, was quite sullen.

- Of course when you saw Deku, the first thing you did was apologize. It was funny that even though you were as proud as your brother, when it came to Deku, things were simpler and easier. He obviously accepted your apology, you spent an entire day together, with Katsuki obviously hating every second of it.

- Well, the rest of the year was tense too. With all the fights and stuff. The only times Deku could relax were when he was with you.

- It didn't take long for him to realize that he was in love with you. Because of course, with his friends making jokes about it, it was hard to hide it. He had no intention of confessing, he didn't want to ruin his friendship with you. But of course Uraraka, Mina and Denki thought otherwise.

- After coming up with a plan to make you two finally confess, everything went wrong. Katsuki was suspicious, so he simply wouldn't let go of you the whole time. Until, of course, the guys decided to bring All Might into the plan (bros are determined). Somehow, they convinced All Might to distract Katsuki. So when you were finally alone, he got nervous, not knowing what to do. And before everyone could intervene to help him, they saw you kissing Deku.

- Obviously you started dating. Everyone was happy for you, your parents thought Deku was adorable. But of course one person didn't like it. A certain blond guy was totally against your relationship. But not that he would do anything other than threaten Deku, saying that if he touched a single hair on your head, he would end up underground (he takes threats seriously). Anyway, he would always be in the corner complaining, not that you care.

- The best thing that could have happened was when you started at U.A. Many nights, he would sneak into your dorm. You would have lunch together, walk hand in hand through the hallways. He would train with you (you loved it when training turned into a kissing session, which embarrassed him). Anyone who looked at Deku would realize how much he loved you, even Katsuki knew that.

- Most of the make-out sessions were initiated by you. Sometimes in the bedroom, during training, or during breaks. One time, you almost got caught. He almost died because he thought he would get caught, while you could only laugh.

- Every time you went home, you always took Deku with you. Katsuki hated that. You also went to his house a lot, his mother adores you! She loves showing you pictures of him, which makes him embarrassed.

- You two love to sleep cuddling. One time you were cuddling on the couch kissing, and Katsuki decided to get between you. You were sulking, and Deku didn't know where to hide his face. Poor Deku if Katsuki knew more.

- Even if Katsuki doesn't admit it, he trusts Deku. And he'd much rather you date the green-haired boy than any other guy.

SERIOUSLY I'M SO OBSESSED WITH THESE TWO!! I HOPE Y'ALL LIKE IT!!!

'N SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH!!!

[donutz]

Poppy Playtime with a twist!!

SUMMARY||So younger you meets you in the present at poopy playhouse, but like it's super cool

EVERYONE THINKS THE STAFF DISSAPPEARED 10 YEARS AGO

WE'RE STILL HERE.

FIND THE FLOWER

ꕤ

“Find the flower?” Is it a pretty flowerrr? Not really..

Playtime Co? Oh. Playtime Co. Uhm. Well everybody who worked there isn't working there, not anymore. I'm not saying they disappeared. I read the letter!!

.

.

.

Hey they spelt disappeared wrong.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I drive over to Playtime Co in my [any type of car] and end up seeing blocked off doors.

I mean this place is abandoned so what do you expect?

Another warning to not go in. But like, I'm wayyy too bored in life so I'm goin in.

Somebody's at the door?

I wonder who.

After 10 minutes, surprisingly not taking long, I managed to open the doors.

Getting a view of the colorful place that I once worked at, I also see a person.

“Hello! I was waiting for you! Somebody told me you got sent an envelope so I stood here, waiting.”

I stood there, looking at them with a bit of surprise. And being a little bit suspicious.

Are they not gonna talk?

They kind of look like me, as if they were my identical twin. Just born at different times.

.

.

.

I somehow muster the courage to speak up after a moment of awkward silence.

“... Why do you look like me, but older..” I asked with sweat slowly collecting on my face.

I take note of what they said and say, “Hm, come here for a sec”.

I walk over to them and stand there looking at them, looking away from time to time.

“Hm.” I examine the person. “Oh! Because I am you but older”!

“WH— What.” I lowered my volume, just in case something would spawn out of nowhere.

“It looks like you went to the future.” I tell the past me.

“You're me? But older? Coooll.” I drag my words with imaginary stars in my eyes.

“Follow me m'kay?” I command. Sounds kinda fancy, command.

“Kay!”

I was so gullible.

We both go to a colorful room with a few trains that have different colors per train.

“You see those trains right?” I question my younger self.

“Yea”.

“Those colors on each train are for a color code.” I stated.

“Green, pink—”

“Yellow and red”.

“Good. Now we're gonna go to that color pad thing and put in the colors”.

“Can IIIII do that..?” I ask with a smile on my face.

“Sure.”

I put in the colors and the door unlocked. I softly grabbed the handle as I slowly opened the door, observing what's inside the room.

“There's nothing spooky in the room”.

.. Stupidly, I flinched from older me talking because of how focused I was.

“Did you just flinch”?

“No”.

“I don't know what you're talking about”.

“... Sure”.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

After finishing the grabpack tutorial, we go up to the big door and I[past me] scan[scans] with my[their] blue hand.

“This might take a bit so just wait”.

“Okay”.

The door is fully open.

I see, huggy? But he's.. Oh. “Hey young me”.

“Yeeeess?” I ask with curious eyes.

“I think, I went back to the past”.

“You did”?

“Yea”.

“I'm gonna nerd out for a sec”.

“It's okay, I do that too”.

“I think that once you started coming here, maybe the factory was— restarting to the past. Like a process of it. Maybe that's why they were moving around so much. While I was at the front desk it was still happening. But when you entered it finished. Oh and y'know what? Maybe me walking around here was also me going through that time traveling process.” I explained.

I was wide-eyed. Mouth open a little bit even.

Ooo. That's.. Okay..? I mean I hate what's gonna happen but. Whatevs. “Yo, tiny baby”.

“.. Me? Are you seriously talking to me”?

“Mhm. Follow me”.

“Is that Huggy Wuggy”.

“No, it's Gojo— who do you think that is”?

“I—!” I make a click sound with my tongue and look away.

“You suck.” I claim, furrowing my eyebrows.

“Thanks. Anyways, this is my baby, Huggy. Who is going to kill us in the future. Or try to”.

“Hey, I bet you twenty bucks that once we go into a room, after like 30 seconds he'll be gone. But you gotta look away. Anddd, I bet you another 5 bucks that he can hear us, or me, talking right now”!

“That's not fair. You're in the future so you know it's going to happen”.

“Mhm, bet or no bet”?

“No bet”.

“>:/”

I go to the door with a bunch of stuff inside and try to open it.

But I end up hearing a jingle of keys..?

“Thanks Huggy.” I smiled when saying that and walked towards the electronic room. At least that's what I call it.

Unlocking it I go in—

“Don't leave me pretty please”!!!

…I expected younger me to follow but I don't need to worry right now.

Once we were in the room, the door locked. I mean that's what I heard. I'm basically going through my life, again. This is something that would be studied. Old people would kill for something like this.

“Did the door lock”?

“I don't know, try opening it”.

I wandered over to the poles and solved a puzzle while younger me was freaking out over the locked door.

“Uhmmmmm, I think Huggy's gone”!!!

“Wait weally????” I mocked, a small smile creeping up on my face.

“SHUT UP I'M SERIOUS!!!” I yelled, DO THEY.. I. Uhm. DOES OLDER ME NOT UNDERSTAND???

“I've been through this already, you baby”.

“...”

I finished the puzzle and then walked towards the kid.

“Move out the way please!!” I said, making my eyes big and sad looking, like a cartoon character.

“>:[”

The door opened, and we both walked out.

“Alright, time to move to the next area”.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[stardust-swan]

I'm convinced that the idea that "love is blind" is a pysop meant to brainwash women into settling for less. I always see beautiful women who clearly take care of themselves, dress well, get their lashes done, work out etc with boyfriends who look like they just rolled out of bed and put yesterday's clothes on. And I very rarely see this happening the other way around.

Men shill the idea that it's shallow for women to want someone who looks halfway decent but never hold themselves to this standard. They're so cruel to women they find unfuckable and treat women who they are attracted to but don't fit the societal beauty standard as dirty secrets (how many times have fat women talked about how men are happy to have sex with them but won't claim them in public because they think being seen with a fat woman is embarrassing?) The dadbod thing has been big for a couple of years while there has been no equivalent for mombods that gained traction (you know, the ones whose bodies actually went through physical changes due to pregnancy instead of just gaining weight from stealing their kid's snacks and watching the football instead of playing it).

It's so bad that even women shill this idea to other women. You have to ignore the fact that he never trims his beard and his daily outfit is a lint encrusted hoodie and sweatpants with a hole because if you don't you're shallow and not considering who he is on the inside too. We're told that being haggard shouldn't count as long as they have a good personality, and while I agree personality is important, a huge amount of men don't have good personalities. A lot of men are boring at best and a lot of them are just straight up assholes. Most of them aren't raking it in cash either to make up for their lack of looks and character. It's sad to see so many women doing the most for men who aren't particularly pleasant to be around, don't have money, and aren't physically appealing.

Men also shill this to eachother. I remember when I was a teenager there were huge hate trains almost entirely compromised of grown men against any pretty boy singer who got popular (Justin Bieber had it especially bad). They never did anything wrong (Justin Bieber's hate train was at its worst years before he started acting like a douche), men just hated them because they looked nice and girls liked them. They also act like any guy in real life who's comfortable with being attractive instead of purposefully making themselves unattractive to fit in with the other ugly men is gay and act bitterly when the men who actually make an effort get more female attention than a man who last showered three days ago. They act like women are catty bitches who hate prettier women when their egos are so fragile around men who look decent. There was even a recent study that suggested good looking men are at a disadvantage when applying for certain jobs, because their male colleagues feel threatened by them.

It wasn't always like this either. Not all that long ago it was expected that a man dress up nicely, wear cologne, style his hair etc when he was trying to court a woman.

When my mother was my age, she could just walk into a cinema and at any given time there would be films with leading men who looked like Leo, Depp, Brad Pitt, James Spader, River Phoenix, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Brendan Fraser, etc. And now those World's Sexiest Men lists are filled with average or below average men and we're told that we're meant to cream our panties over guys who look indistinguishable or even worse than your average guy on the street. Right after this era my mum was young in was when the media started pushing this idea that we have to settle for unattractive men or else we're immature and shallow. There were a ton of movies with men like Adam Sandler pulling gorgeous 20 year old women just because they were funny. That stupid genre of movie where an awkward nerd pines over the cheerleader who is pining over a jock who's always portrayed as a bully that the cheerleader is framed as misguided or a bitch for wanting a handsome boyfriend instead of picking the nerd (even though the dork main character we're meant to root for also only likes the cheerleader for her looks and is just as much of an asshole as the jock) in became really popular around the same time.

Unsure of whether this is because of men complaining about beauty standards or other feminist concepts they only half understand (while female beauty standards never budge and have always and remain a much higher bar to reach than male beauty standards), or if men are just forcing this idea that looking like shit is cancelled out by telling a few dad jokes so that women will feel pressured into dating them no matter how busted they look just to not be alone.

[birdiesaves]

THE MARTIAN ( novel by andy weir ) change as necessary !

mankind reaching out to send people to another planet for the very first time and expand the horizons of humanity blah, blah, blah. 

i’m pretty much fucked. 

they got the parades and fame and love of the world, i got a firm handshake and a hot cup of coffee when i got home.

i would only be “in command” of the mission if i were the only remaining person.

what do you know? i’m in command.

it wasn’t your fault. you did what you had to do. 

in your position i would have done the same thing. 

it was a ridiculous sequence of events that led to me almost dying.

everyone thinks i’m dead. 

ok, i’ve had a good night’s sleep, and things don’t seem as hopeless as they did yesterday.

i won’t be able to whip something up with tinfoil and gum.

fear my botany powers!

but hey, time is the one thing i’ve got.

i wonder if they'll ever find out what really happened.

i’ll spare you the math. the answer is _________

bleh. i’m going to bed

my life depends on you

i played a lot of dungeons and dragons.

i have an idiotically dangerous plan 

i suppose i’ll think of something. or die.

the answer is: i don’t know.

all i accomplished today was thinking up a plan that’ll kill me

also, i have duct tape. 

after a search of everyone’s personal items i found my answer.

that was sarcasm, by the way.

this all sounds like a great idea with no chance of catastrophic failure.

do you have any idea the magnitude of shitstorm this is gonna be?

how come aquaman can control whales? they’re mammals! 

i expected it to be cold, but jesus christ!

now, on to my next task: sitting around with nothing to do for 12 hours.

i ask for a picture and i get the fonz?

the whole world’s been rooting for you. 

really looking forward to not dying. 

please watch your language.

sorry we left you behind, but we don't like you.

you're sort of a smart-ass.

your request for “anything, oh god anything but disco” is denied.

no. you’ll fuck it up and die.

i took it apart, found the problem, and fixed it.

i don’t see anything... i can hear it, but... it’s down here somewhere, but i don’t know where.

the subtle and refined “hurl my body at the wall” technique had some flaws. 

named after the greek goddess who traveled the heavens with the speed of wind. she's also the goddess of rainbows.

i'm not giving up. just planning for every outcome. it's what i do.

your poster outsold the rest of ours combined.

why are you such a nerd?

you should try to be more cool. wear dark glasses and a leather jacket. carry a switchblade.

you started my training by buying me a beer.

so now i have to do boring-ass experiments with test tubes and zzzzzzzzzz....

frankly, i suspect you're a super villain.

just once i'd like something to go to plan, ya know?

no? ok... what was that!? oh, nothing? ok...

for now i just want to go home.

there's always hope

are we just watching a tragedy play out?

you’ll survive this. i don't know how, but you will. 

i've defiled enough historical sites for now.

tomorrow night, i'll sink to an all new low!

tomorrow night, i'll be at rock bottom!

be a smart-ass to a guy seven levels above you. see how that works out.

i remember when you were shy

the attitude comes with the job

and by “enjoying” i mean “hating so much i want to kill people.”

there aren't many people who can say they've vandalized a three billion dollar spacecraft. but i'm one of them.

what's our role in all this? if something goes wrong, what can we do?

how do you come up with this shit?

i admit it's fatally dangerous, but consider this: i'd get to fly around like iron man.

i need you to come back in and make a bomb.

i knew that guy was a mad scientist!

i think we should just go with my iron man idea.

well if you won't let us then- wait... wait a minute... i'm looking at my shoulder patch and it turns out i'm the commander. 

give me a minute. you're the first person i've seen in ______.

i think about the sheer number of people who pulled together just to save my sorry ass, and i can barely comprehend it.

i represent progress, science, and the interplanetary future we’ve dreamed of for centuries. 

they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. it might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true.

yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do. 

[neonbrutalism]

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ship Comics!MattFoggy (Part 1)

Hello My MattFoggy Friends.

Are you sad about Daredevil: Born Again more than likely not including Foggy? Do you agree that he is so crucial to Daredevil and also he and Matt are married?

Then let me introduce you to ... the Daredevil comic! Because if you thought Matt and Foggy were married in the show, wait until you read the comic.

One thing I hear a lot is that there's almost 60 years of Daredevil comics, way too much complicated history and detail and you can't be expected to read all that. And to that I say... correct. And you're not expected to. I myself have not read all of volume 1 nor parts of volume 2, 5 or almost any of 6/7.

You just gotta pick what seems interesting. I like the Waid Run! I started there and have picked and chosen other runs. Nobody actually expects you know the complete history of the characters. It doesn't matter! Did Matt dad die before or after he met Foggy? Did they go to Columbia or Harvard? How old are they? How long did Matt and Elektra date?

The answer: who cares? Not even the comic writers can keep that straight. Just go with what you want to happen! Nobody is going to call you out. If you want dead characters alive, go for it! If you want to import characters from the MCU into your fic, please feel free! It's a 60 year soap opera. Do want you want. If you really want to know, just read a wiki summary.

If anyone gets weird or salty in your comments … that person is making some very weird choices. Do not engage. Good God, it's a fanfic. Do whatever you want. Just reply "lol, yikes" and move on. I am 35 years old and I am giving you grown-up with a job in an office adult permission to do that!

The major differences between the comic and the show are:

Matt is a redhead. Matt having red hair is pretty much the only difference that remains constant. Everything else is different and changeable writer-to-writer. Except early in Volume 5, when he was drawn to look like Charlie Cox and the miniseries between 5 and 6 where in some issues, everyone was copied from the Netflix show and it was weird.

Anyway:

Foggy's hair is usually short but he has 1990s anime girl bangs like Sailor Moon. If you like long-hair Foggy, sure, he can grow it out! He's sometimes blonde.

In earlier runs, Matt is sometimes shown to have been blinded as a teenager, 14 to 16. In more recent runs, he was a child like he was in the show.

Jack Murdock died when Matt was either in college or in law school, either before or after he met Foggy. It changes depending on the writer. He's also been written as dying only a few years after Matt was blinded.

Matt doesn't just have enhanced senses... He has an entirely new, unique sense, radar sense, that functions separately from his other senses. I don't know how. So, if he loses his hearing, he can still understand the world around him.

Stick trained Matt and once, pushed him off a building but didn't abandon Matt until he was in college. Comics Matt doesn't quite have the abandonment issues Netflix Matt has. He has a whole lot of other ones.

Matt wasn't crushed by Midland Circle. But he DID basically die in the storyline Born Again and have to be nursed back to health by Maggie.

Matt's not actually very religious in the comic. He was raised Catholic and he gets more religious when he's especially distressed (and due to inspiration from the show) but for the most part, he is not a very devout Catholic. However, in volume 6 and volume 7, he is (but it's kind of a weird ninja cult way idk i'm trying not to editorialize in this)

Foggy's class. In the show, he is from a lower-middle class family that loves him and Matt. In the comics, Foggy's family is very wealthy and they are pretty disappointed in Foggy. His birth mother, Rosalind Sharpe, is a huge asshole and hates her son and Matt both, but has tried to use them in the past for her own gain.

They're both huge nerds. Foggy's supposedly "cool" in the show but he is not, I assure you, in the comics. Comics!Foggy almost certainly cannot recognize a Taylor Swift song. Comics!Matt likes experimental jazz. I want to give them both swirlies.

What if you want to write comics-verse with Butcher Shop Foggy and Religious Matt? Then do it! It's fine! It's a big multiverse!

I just want my MattFoggy friends to have content.

Now on the downside, as this comic's been going on for a while, Matt (and other characters) are kind of assholes to Foggy about his weight. I ignore that bit. As with all comics, you have to ignore some shitty stuff sometimes because it all varies writer-to-writer.

Anyway, you came here for some MattFoggy Married Evidence, right?

Okay, here we go, presented with the help of my friend @froggynelson and all my chums on Discord and the Avacados in Love server...

In no particular order, a small selection of Matt and Foggy being in love.

One time, Matt got possessed by a demon and Foggy free-climbed a castle to rescue him. He is the only person able to get through to Matt to help save him. Shadowlands is otherwise, unfortunately, bad.

Something else from Volume 1 is that Matt was supposed to be the better lawyer of the two of them. Of course, since then, everyone's agreed Foggy is the better lawyer. But really, they're better together than either of them are apart. (This is the bit that made me think "oh they're GAY gay")

In volume 3 and 4, Foggy had cancer. Matt gave up his (already compromised) secret identity and moved to California in order to help him.

It was extremely sad!!

They had to fake Foggy's death!

He got better :)

Now Tumblr's post editor is chugging at this point, so please join me in part 2 - The Quest for More MattFoggy.

[maochira]

Masterlist: Michael Kaiser

Full masterlist

Music taste (headcanons)

Big brother!Kaiser (headcanons)

Favourite song (headcanons)

Eifersucht ist die Leidenschaft, die mit Eifer sucht was Leiden schafft. (possessive!Kaiser x reader x possessive!Ness headcanons)

Dein Vater war ein Star! (dad!Kaiser braindump)

Kaiser's train seat breaks (headcanons)

Going ice skating with Kaiser (scenario)

Kaiser helps you with sensory overload (scenario)

Deutsche Bahn? More like Desaster Bahn. (oneshot)

Kaiser with an s/o who loves to bite (headcanons)

Falling in love with Kaiser (scenario)

Big brother!Kaiser when you're best friends with an Itoshi sibling (headcanons)

Calling big brother!Kaiser a nickname (headcanons)

Becoming best friends with Kaiser (headcanons)

There's nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody - but you (oneshot)

Hopeless romantic!Kaiser x nerd!reader (scenario)

Kaiser x short!reader (headcanons)

Kaiser x reader who hates their curly hair (headcanons)

Big brother!Kaiser with a toddler sibling (headcanons)

Graphic design student!Kaiser (headcanons)

Kaiser in Latin class (headcanons)

I don't want to say I want to sleep with you, but I want to sleep with you. (writing event oneshot)

Kaiser x ice skater!reader (drabble)

Big brother!Kaiser spoiling you (headcanons)

Shopping with big brother!Kaiser (headcanons)

Kaiser teases you for your bad German (drabble)

Kaiser and Ness as parents (headcanons)

You mess up flirting with him (scenario)

Big brother!Kaiser's overprotectiveness (headcanons)

Big brother!Kaiser comforts you when a storm starts (drabble)

Flower picking + making flower crowns date (scenario)

Big brother!Kaiser doesn't want you to be in a relationship (headcanons)

You say "Happy birthday" too early (headcanons)

Being abandoned by best friend!Kaiser [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3], [Part 4], [Part 5], [Part 6], [Part 7]

Ex boyfriend!Kaiser: Dein größter Fehler [Part 1], Nie genug für dich [Part 2]

Kaiser proposes to you (drabble)

Baking with big brother!Kaiser (scenario)

You tell Kaiser to give Ness a hug (drabble)

Kaiser and the five love languages (headcanons)

Kaiser and your cat (drabble)

Trust is good, but control is better. (drabble)

Kaiser helps when you wake up from period pain (drabble)

Kaiser with an s/o who's sensitive to touch (headcanons)

Kaiser confessing to florist!reader (drabble)

Kaiser x reader who's insecure about being tall (headcanons)

Kaiser helps with your flight anxiety (headcanons)

Big brother!Kaiser (drabble)

You try to replicate big brother!Kaiser's soccer moves (drabble)

Comforting Kaiser (drabble)

Tall!reader kabedons Kaiser (scenario)

Kaiser when you struggle with acne (headcanons)

Kaiser finds out you have a fanpage of him (scenario)

Kaiser with an s/o who loves to read (headcanons)

Big brother!Kaiser misses his annoying sibling (drabble)

Kaiser x demon!reader (writing event)

Adopting a cat with Kaiser (headcanons)

Cuddling with Kaiser (headcanons)

Kaiser mistakes male!assistant!reader for another player (headcanons)

Kaiser admits he likes your physical affection (drabble)

Kaiser has a crush on you (drabble)

Jealousy and guilt towards Noa's child (drabble)

Psst. Kaiser has some more appearances in the Neo Egoist League assistant series

[antimony-medusa]

Okay so inspired by nothing in particular (it's inspired by reading the notes on the ace swag final poll, fun stuff in there), I have been thinking about being Cringe. Cause like, you enter a fandom, and usually, you find out shortly that somebody else hates that fandom. There is no fandom niche enough that it's not Weird to somebody, and there's no fandom mainstream enough that it's not Annoying to somebody else. And given the fact that some people do hatred recreationally, there's often going to be somebody mad enough about your fandom that they're going to go on diatribes about how your fandom is bad and actually harmful and destroying the fabric of civilization, etc. They're gonna pull out anything negative and blow it up until it's the size of the skyline and attack you for liking this negative thing.

Fun times, we've all seen it.

And the thing is, there's an impulse to have this happen and immediately find somebody else to point to and say, yeah, well, I might be weird, but at least I'm not THAT guy. I might read YA, but at least I'm not a Furry— those guys are sexual deviants! I might be into actual play podcasts, but at least I'm not into mcyt— those guys are all harmful and my guy is fine. I might be into danmei, but at least I'm not into bandom— rpf is so gross. I might be a furry, but at least I'm not into mainstream romance novels— senseless drivel aimed at middle class white women. Y'know. Immediately find someone to punch down on.

And boy do I understand why you want to do that, when people are pointing at you, but I don't actually think that it's helpful.

Cause like, every fandom has a logical train of thought and reasonable human impulses behind it. You might not share those impulses— I'm not a furry I don't think, I don't really get true crime— but that doesn't mean I can't have it explained to me by a very patient person in in the writer's workshop common room and go "oh, yeah, kinda pretending to be an animal, but you're gay about it, yeah, makes sense", or "oh yeah, morbid curiosity from the safety of your headphones, it's like a horror movie but real" and nod. Like there isn't a fandom or group out there that doesn't look weird from the outside, and there isn't a fandom or group that can't be explained if someone has thought about the human psyche enough.

And that isn't to say that there isn't sometimes salient critiques for what fandoms are doing or not doing— to grab the two examples above, I have heard people talking about issues with true crime reinforcing the current fucked up justice system, or bigotry at furry cons. But a) most of the time, there is already somebody inside that community that's fighting against those issues, and you just threw them under the bus with the problem they're trying to fix b) you don't usually know the nuances of the actual conversation and problems, you saw a couple callout posts. You saying "Yeah I'm a board game nerd but at least I don't play competitive trading card cames, those guys are doing nothing but feeding the capitalist machine" is not usually helpful towards fixing the ctg scene. It's just a cheap way to score points.

Like, I assure you that the YA scene is aware of the calcification of the genre into a tighter and tighter romantic form and their dependence on going big on tik-tok to sell enough to keep publishing. They know.

You specifically saying that your fandom is better cause it's not [problems you heard about other fandom having] is not actually going to make the person who's hating on you stop hating. They already decided that you're the person they're better than and that they're punching down on, you passing the punching down on to another fandom just makes more people sad on the internet, and potentially starts yet another chain of someone punching down at someone else. The wheel grinds on, everybody gets punched.

I guess this is just kinda turning into a "why hate on the internet, what good does that do" post, which is broader than I meant it to be. But like, there's a difference between thoughtful critique of problems (complicated to do fairly but very necessary) and finding someone new to curbstomp to make yourself feel better/morally superior (look, I'm writing this on a mcyt blog, we've all seen this happen, it does not increase the joy in the world).

Like in MCYT, we all decide to punch down on [other server we hate], or RPF, or people who write kidfic, or people who write e-rated fic/art, or people doing the popular trope of the moment, and sure, it lets you feel morally superior for the moment, at the cost of slapping the guy next to you. Haven't we had enough slapping the guy next to you? There but for the grace of god (got a fun idea/watched the wrong stream/ended up in the wrong brainstorming circle/got fixated on the wrong funny guy) goes I. You're not better than another group just because you saw a couple more callout posts (usually from people inside the community trying to fix things) about them.

We are all Cringe. There is nobody who's not Cringe. Don't say that you're not Cringe because someone else is more Cringe. Stop that.

[frozenhi-chews]

okay you've gotta tell me all about starlo, I am so interested in your ship with him ajsjsjs

HOOOOOO MAN. OH GOSH. You have no idea what ya just unleashed!! I hope ya don't mind some spoilers from Undertale Yellow, the game where he's from. I HIGHLY recommend you play it! (You can play Undertale beforehand, but it's kinda it's own thing. There are references but it's overall it's own thing)

That being said, STARLO FROM UNDERTALE YELLOW! Spoilers ahead

This!! This is my cowboy husband!! North Star, as he introduces himself in the game. He has a posse called the Feisty Five, which consists of his friends Ed, Moray, Mooch, and Ace.

Named them in order, left to right. (Also hi Martlet)

Stars gets excited seeing a human, a COWBOY human, and takes them to the saloon where he starts infodumping about humans and Westerns (no Starlo, humans aren't fireproof XD)

Then we meet his childhood friend, Ceroba, as she talks to Stars as he's infodumping. I love Ceroba, she's so cool! Anyway she gets him to stop talking cuz Yeah. He probably would continue FOR HOURS XD

Anyway then the sheriff let's ya explore the town, and you do these lessons for him, a dual (or duel), him giving you a gun (WHICH HAS THE BEST LINE IN THE GAME I AM NOT KIDDING) and a trolley problem. Pffft. And in between these lessons you can go around and talk to the residents, take a nap in the Feisty Five's and Ceroba's house, and talk to Ceroba about why he loves cowboys and Westerns so much

When he was a kid, he found these VCR tapes about Westerns, and he watched them so much, showing them to his friend, being so excited about them. Front to back, left to right. He loved these things. And based his life around Westerns.

Anyway at the end of your training, he dubs Clover the Deputy of the Wild East! (That's what the town is called) and the other four get upset. He leaves for the mines to get a badge, and some resentment they had building up since the lessons began finally starts breaking and ya end up in a fight with them. Stars soon comes back and they all have an argument about what's happening, and soon they all leave the posse. And Ceroba even agrees that he's being a bit Too Much.

And so he runs off. Stopping halfway, looking at his family's farm, and when you catch up, he's barely holding onto his cowboy persona. Now known as Starlo thanks to Ed, and he's thinking getting a human soul would fix his reputation. So he builds up the rest of his shattered persona and fights ya

Only Ceroba snaps him out of it (his fight is SO PRETTY too like. OUGHHH)

After that he calms down and starts talking, he takes off his hat and it turns out he's a nerd. He's got glasses on. He even says you're allowed to make fun which is. oUCH. (Something tells me he was bullied as a kid in school)

After all that you go to his family's farm. He's got a brother most say is older (as an eldest sibling, he just has Those Vibes. Poor Orion). And a mom and dad. His dad (Solomon) says that Starlo hasn't visited in years, but he believes his son wanted to help save the farm. Even when LARPing as a cowboy. He also puts on an accent that some people say his dad taught him to use

His mom, Crestina, is adorable and I wanna give her a hug. Anyway she talks about how Starlo used to have a crush on Ceroba growing up, but he was too shy to take initiative. Ceroba ended up marrying someone else, Chujin, and Stars was so heartbroken he didn't leave his room for days. He was eventually told he needed to get over it (he's such a good friend. Chujin died and Ceroba's daughter fell, so she's a grieving widow and he never hit on her. Just wanted to make her happy, which is why he does the cowboy thing)

It's even said that Starlo and Chujin did NOT like each other. Chujin hates humans, one almost attacked his daughter. And Starlo is embracing human culture by doing the whole Wild East thing. So yeah They Did Not Like Each Other. I also think Starlo was a bit jealous of Chujin cuz he married his childhood crush. They just didn't like each other

Oh yeah he also drank magma to impress Ceroba

I'm sure there's more but I have to Do Things and I've exhausted almost all of it. Fienkfkrkfkrjr I love himmmmmmmmmm

[toboldlygohome]

Hold Me Closer

Mark Watney X Reader

Chapter 1

Summary: You were looking forward to your month on Mars, but what happens when a month-long mission becomes indefinite? Will you and Mark make it back home, or were you doomed from the start?

Character(s): Mark Watney, Chris Beck, Melissa Lewis, Beth Johanssen, Alex Vogel, Rick Martinez

Warning(s): Cursing, Injuries

You stared out the window as you ate, watching the endless expanse of darkness spin around the ship. A week from now, you would be on Mars, conducting geological surveys and testing core samples. You were a chemist first and foremost, but you were also sort of a jack of all trades aboard the Hermes. You could fix things, run telemetry, conduct space walks, keep the plants alive, identify minerals, and of course you had a fair bit of medical training. It was because of your proficiency for all things scientific that you landed yourself a spot in Ares 3.

The excitement practically radiated off of you. You were so stoked, you couldn't even eat the food in front of you. So much to see, so many samples to run! You hoped there would be signs of past water in Acidalia Planitia!

"You know Y/L/N, the food is supposed to go into your mouth." Beck strolled in with his water bottle in hand. Evidently he was here for a refill.

"Thanks for the tip, doctor. I'll keep that in mind." You said before shoveling a spoonful of rehydrated ravioli into your maw.

"You looked lost in thought there, wanna share with the class?" He asked as the water reclaimer slowly filled his bottle.

"Just thinking about Mars," you shrugged.

"Ah, for a second there I thought you were thinking about your botanist," Chris smirked.

You stared daggers into his back. "My botanist?"

Beck grinned at you over his shoulder. "Well who else would you be thinking about? You've got such a wistful look in your eyes, I thought for sure your mind was on him."

"You really need to stop with the teasing Beck. It's a small ship, it'll get back to him eventually," you grumbled.

"Look, I just call it like I see it."

"Well, you're seeing wrong."

"You've been more and more distracted lately, there's no way it's only because of Mars," Beck chuckled. Dammit. You hated when he was right. You did like Mark, but let's be honest here. Who wouldn't like Mark? He was funny, smart, and he looked way too good in his grey flight suit. Completely unfair.

"God, you can be so annoying," you laughed.

"Only because I'm right."

"Mark and I are just friends, that's all we're ever going to be. Even if we didn't work together, and for the government no less, there's no way he'd ever go for the likes of me."

"What makes you say that?" Beck tilted his head curiously.

"Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Dude, he's like the second most attractive person on this ship!"

"Second?!"

"Objectively speaking, Johanssen is the first. Her posters sold out like hot cakes!"

"I know Johanssen is first! I meant, how is he second? What about me?"

You raised an eyebrow at him. "Who's the one who got the super sexy Under Armor ad again?"

"... Y/N? How many times have you watched that ad?" Beck laughed.

"Shut up."

"It must have been a lot for it to be this fresh in your mind."

"Don't you have a computer nerd to go flirt with?"

"Don't you have a botanist to ogle?"

You groaned and pushed your food away, but Beck scooted it right back. "Fine, fine. No more teasing for today," he laughed. "Just make sure you finish your food, it's important that you eat well."

"What if I'm not hungry?" you asked.

"Eat anyway, doctor's orders," Beck sassed as he left the dining area with his water.

You snickered and poked at your ravioli. If only you could just follow your heart like Beck. He was set on Beth and nobody was going to keep him from her. You just hoped he'd wait until after the mission to make it official for the sake of his career.

Of course you wanted to date Mark. Beck wasn't wrong on that front, but relationships are strictly prohibited among crew-mates. Maybe if you didn't work together, you might have worked up the courage. Probably not, but it would have at least been an option.

You slowly ate the rest of your cold meal and tried to think about anything else. Anything but the plant-loving engineer who had a choke-hold on your heart.

~~~

Mark groaned and climbed out of his bunk. It had to be at least two in the morning... at least according to the Kennedy Space Center. Jeez, he was starving. Luckily their food reserves came with snacks for just such an occasion! He exited his quarters and looked toward the room beside his. The door was open, which was quite a surprise. You were normally asleep by now, and Martinez was keeping an eye on the telemetry tonight. What were you doing awake?

Watney made his way to the dining area and took a look at all of his options. Hmmmm... trail mix it is. He grabbed a bag and took the ladder to the zero g portion of the ship. Everything was quiet except for the hum of the ship and Rick clicking his pen in the cockpit. He decided not to bother the pilot and instead went in search of his favorite crew-mate.

He found you floating in the cupola with your earbuds in. You watched as Mars inched ever closer, calling you to its surface. Mark couldn't resist the urge. He grinned mischievously and grabbed your ankle, causing you to yelp in surprise.

Mark laughed as you smacked him on the shoulder half-heartedly, "Mark! you scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry, sorry!" he floated up and settled beside you. "I saw an opportunity and I had to take it."

"Jerk," you laughed and returned your focus to the lonely red planet.

"What are you doing up?" Mark asked.

"I could ask you the same question."

"I was hungry," he caught a floating peanut in his mouth and looked at you as he ate. "And you?"

"I couldn't sleep. I'm too excited," you admitted with a smile. "Ever since I was little, I wanted to go to Mars... I can't believe it's actually happening."

Mark smiled gently and watched as your eyes sparkled with adventure. That was one of the things he loved most about you. He loved seeing you light up when you learn something new or complete something for the first time. And for the few instances you failed, he loved watching you gear up to try it again. Nothing could shake you when you had your mind set on something. (He wished you had your mind set on him...)

This was a lifelong dream of yours, something you'd thought about, planned for, and fought tooth and nail to achieve. Now here you were, watching all of the pieces fall into place. Mark felt so lucky he got to be on this mission with you, that he'd get to see every moment of excitement, every vivid dream become a reality.

"What are you listening to?" he grabbed your earbud and stuck it in his ear. He grinned.

Hold me closer, tiny dancer. Count the headlights on the highway. Lay me down in sheets of linen, you had a busy day today.

You scooted closer to Mark so he could listen with you, he wrapped an arm around your shoulder to keep you steady. Oh what Watney would give to stay with you like this. Floating softly, slowly, taking in the view. He offered you his bag of trail mix with a cheeky smile. You laughed lightly and grabbed a bite. Fuck. He loved your laugh. He would listen to it on repeat if he could.

"Hold me closer tiny dancer," He mumbled along with the song as the chorus kicked back up.

"Count the headlights on the highway," you whispered back.

~~~

Finally.

Mars was so close, you could almost touch it! And here in a few hours, you would be~

You suited up for your ride in the MDV and helped Martinez and Johanssen with the pre-flight checks. Mark and Beck were loading the descent vehicle with everyone's personal items and Vogel was making sure all of the Hermes experiments were on autopilot. Commander Lewis oversaw the whole operation and kept in contact with Mission Control about the progress being made.

Once all the checks had been made and all the cargo had been loaded, everyone piled into the MDV and prepared for descent.

You took a deep breath as you checked the on-board navigation. You were really going to make it! You were going to walk on Mars! You checked, double checked, even triple checked your numbers before giving Lewis a thumbs up.

"We are go for separation," she told Martinez.

"At your command," Martinez said, poised to initiate the separation.

"Launch," Lewis said.

Your heart rate increased as the MDV shuttered out of the docking port. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my GOD!

"Approaching ten meters from Hermes," Johanssen said.

"Engine power readings are nominal. Ship internal pressure is stable." You said, unable to keep the excited quiver from your voice. The cabin was quiet for a few minutes. The tension could be cut with a knife. It wasn't a bad kind of tension. It was exciting, like teetering at the top of the world's tallest roller coaster.

"Approaching two kilometers from Hermes. Go for engine start up," Beth said.

"Martinez, go for engine burn," Lewis said.

You squeezed the arms of your seat and closed your eyes. This was the hardest part for you. You'd worked in the International Space Station before and reentry was your downfall. What was worse about entering Mars was that there was no water to break your fall if you crashed.

You felt a gentle pressure on your hand and looked up to find Mark already watching you with a smile on his face. He squeezed your hand as the MDV inched closer and closer to Mars.

"Hanging in there?" he chuckled.

"By a thread," you joked.

"You got this, tiny dancer," Mark winked.

You chuckled and rolled your eyes. You both listened as Lewis and Martinez went back and forth calling out each action they performed. Mars completely filled the window.

You held onto Mark a little tighter.

~~~

The actual mission started off promising enough. The landing was good, setting up the Hab was a breeze, and life support was running at maximum efficiency. Unfortunately, life seemed to have this obsession with throwing you curve balls.

You scowled as you watched the screen while the storm outside raged on like an angry god.

"Jesus, we're gonna end up in Oz," Watney said. "What's the abort speed?"

"Technically one fifty kph. Any more than that and the MAV's in danger of tipping." Martinez said.

"Any predictions on the storm track?" Lewis asked.

"This is the edge of it. It's gonna get worse before it gets better," Johanssen replied.

"All right, prep for abort. We'll go to the MAV and hope for the best. If the wind gets too high, we'll launch."

If only that were the end of your misfortune. You literally had the audacity to think: 'How could this get any worse?' You got your answer when Mark was struck by a piece of flying debris. His vitals were offline, his suit depressurized on impact. He was likely dead, but still you were searching for him. The only trouble with that was you couldn't see two feet in front of you. The dust was thick and the wind was threatening your stability.

"WATNEY!" You called out, hoping the urgency in your voice would stir your friend from his incapacitation. "Watney, please respond."

"Y/L/N, I need you to get back to the MAV," Lewis ordered.

"But he could still be-"

"This isn't up for discussion. MAV. Now."

"I'm not leaving him behind. I know if it were any of us, he wouldn't give up. Not when there's still hope we could be alive."

"He's dead Y/L/N. W-we need to go, please," Beck pleaded.

You closed your eyes and forced down a cry. You didn't want it to be true, but Beck was right. Of course he was right. You were in denial... Still, you couldn't do it. If he was dead, you needed to see it for yourself. What if the numbers were wrong? What if-

You were struck with a sudden, blinding pain.

"Y/N!!" Lewis cried.

That was the last thing you heard before everything went dark.

~~~

Mark awoke with a gasp to the sound of beeping in his helmet.

"Oxygen level critical." A robotic voice said, causing him to pant heavily. His abdomen really fucking hurt. It took all his willpower to sit up. When he looked down, he found the source of his pain. The antenna for the com dish had turned him into a human shish kabob! He let out a cry as he tried to keep the antenna steady. Every movement sent a shock through his tired body.

Watney paused when he heard static in his helmet.

"Wa---y... W---ey c--- -n. Watney, If yo--- the-- please respond!"

"Y-Y/N?" Mark winced.

"Watney! Oh my god!" You sounded on the verge of tears. "I thought you were dead! I've been trying to call you for hours!" You sniffed and leveled your voice as much as you could. He could tell you were still coming down from your emotions. "What's your status?"

He groaned and pressed his head against the sand bank. "I've been impaled. Small puncture. Feel like shit," he said through heavy panting.

"Can you make it back to the Hab?" You asked.

"Yeah, I'll make it. I don't think it's deep enough to kill me." He stood up and immediately screamed.

"Mark! Are you okay? What happened?!"

"Antenna is still attached to the dish," he said through gritted teeth. He made quick work of the wire and struggled to his feet. "W-where are you? What's your status?"

"I'm trapped under the MDV. It plowed through me when I was looking for you. I'm not sure you can get me out in your condition."

Mark looked around and found the partially-mangled MDV a short distance away. Watney clutched his side and hobbled over, fearing the worst. He choked when he saw you. You were being crushed from the waist down by a fucking space ship. "O-oh my-"

"It's not as bad as it looks. I landed in some really soft sand. I managed to dig myself out from underneath, but I hit something solid and now I'm literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. The sand shifted under the MDV and now my chest hurts, but I can still feel my legs," you sighed and closed your eyes. "You need to get back to the Hab, Mark-"

"I'm not going to leave you." He grunted as he stepped closer. "If I lift this thing, can you pull yourself out?"

"Mark that's-"

"Can you?"

You grimaced and nodded, "Yes."

Mark nodded back and racked his adrenaline fueled brain for an idea of how to get you out. Still panting, he grabbed a metal bar from the ground and shoved it under the MDV. "On three," he said.

"One."

"Two."

Three."

He shoved the bar down and the ship eased up just enough for you to drag yourself out. You screamed as a searing, blinding pain ripped through your ribs. Mark felt his stomach drop at the sound.

He reached for you, but you pushed yourself into an unsteady standing position. "Fuck," you bit out and stumbled forward. "M-Mark" You inspected his wound. "Come on, we have to get this treated right now." You wrapped a supportive arm around his back and helped him shuffle back to the Hab.

His panting and gasps had only grown more pained as he stepped into the empty habitation. What little adrenaline he had left was wearing off. You rushed out of your suit as quickly as possible and helped Mark undress.

"Do you want to pull it out, or do you want me to do it?" you asked with as much calm as you could muster.

"I'll do it," he bit out. After a series of short, shallow breaths, he ripped the antenna out with a gut wrenching scream. You didn't have time to feel distraught as you shoved down his suit. He placed his hand on the wound. "There's something in it," he managed.

"Sit down," you ushered him to a chair and slid on some gloves. You made quick work in cutting away his shirt, administered a series of injections for pain and infection, and grabbed the retractor and forceps. "I'm sorry Mark, there isn't time to wait for the medicine," You didn't hesitate to insert the retractor and open the wound. He tossed his head back and blew out a long, shaky sigh. You bit the inside of your cheek and grabbed the object with the forceps. Carefully, you pulled it out and sat it in a dish. Mark groaned deeply. He was so pale and sweaty. You wanted to reach out and hold him, but you had a job to finish.

With the hard part done, you were able to relax and clean him up. The stitches were the final step. By then, the medicine was kicking in and Mark's strangled cries slowly turned into steady breathing. You leaned back in your chair and relished in the sound before standing up. You felt around your ribs for a moment and huffed before grabbing Mark some juice.

"Thank you..." He said, taking the bottle with shaking hands.

"You're welcome," you sighed and carded your fingers through his damp hair.

"Are you okay?" He rasped.

"I'm fine, just a couple broken ribs on the right side. I'll live." You gave him a tight smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just ran a marathon," he chuckled, then winced.

"We should get you to bed-"

"Not yet," He shifted awkwardly in his seat. "There's an elephant in the room..."

"Ah," you sighed and sat down across from him, pushing away the pain in your ribs.

"What are we gonna do?" Mark murmured.

"Our odds aren't the best, but we'll make it work," you reassured him though you weren't sure it was the truth.

He closed his eyes and blew out a sigh. "You should be safe on the Hermes..." He swallowed. There were many stupid nights he wished you and him were the only two people in the world. Now he was beginning to realize how selfish that was. You were trapped on Mars because of him. If he hadn't have stopped to suggest the stupid rover plan, none of this would have happened.

"You should be too," you pressed a hand to his knee, sending a trail of goosebumps up his leg. Even now, you had him entranced with a single touch. "We should both be on our way home right now, instead we're here. But we're trained for this... We'll make it back, we're just gonna be fashionably late is all," you gave his knee a squeeze and pulled back.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

"See what?"

"Your ribs."

You opened your mouth to disagree, but decided a second pair of eyes on it might be for the best. You slowly lifted your shirt. Mark paled again as his eyes fell on your ruined abdomen. The whole thing was covered in splotches of purple and blue. Your back wasn't much better and he was sure your chest had received similar treatment.

His fingers ghosted over the bruises. "Shit," he whispered.

"It'll buff out," you lowered the hem of your shirt.

Watney closed his eyes and wished that this was all a nightmare, but upon opening them again, all he saw was you. You looked exhausted. No, exhausted was an understatement. There wasn't a word in the English dictionary that could describe your expression. You were devastated and trying to hide it. And why wouldn't you be? You had an endless supply of family and friends expecting you home. He only really had his parents to worry about. You had your parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, all your university and work friends... It should have been him and only him. You didn't deserve to be trapped here, least of all with the lowest ranking crew-mate on Ares 3.

"So, we're in a Hab designed to last 31 days..." You thought out loud. He could tell by that look on your face that you were puzzling through something.

"If the oxygenator breaks down, we're gonna suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks, we die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, we'll explode. And if none of that happens, we starve to death." Watney said, giving in to the hopelessness of it all.

"If the oxygenator breaks, we have the spare. It's built to last 5 days for seven people. With only two of us, that will be... 30 days. More than enough time to fix the oxygenator." You thought out loud.

Ah, now he saw what you were up to. "If the water reclaimer breaks, we build a piss distillery while we fix it..." Mark corrected his earlier statement.

"We'll do bi-weekly checks on the Hab canvas to look for tears." You leaned back. "But you're right. Food is our biggest problem. We're gonna be a couple of hungry, hungry astronauts in a few months."

Mark laughed and shook his head. "Looks like we're gonna have to science the shit out of this..." He looked at you and was pleased to find you smiling back at him. "But that sounds like tomorrow-Watney's problem."

"For sure," you snickered. "There is no way I'm doing all that math tonight."

His heart fluttered as he watched the grin spread over your lips. Your enticingly soft looking lips... What is wrong with you Watney? Stop thinking about that! JEEZ... Creep... Anyway, just a moment ago, Mark was ready to give up. Now he had a little more hope that everything would turn out fine. Today fucking sucked, but tomorrow was a new day. Things are only hopeless when you give in to fear, and it was clear you had no intention of giving in.

"Y/N?"

"Hm?"

"You should run for President when we make it back."

"What?" You laughed and clutched at the spot above your broken ribs.

"I'm just sayin' I'd vote for you," he shrugged in a playful manner.

You sighed, "what am I gonna do with you, Watney?"

"Make me your Vice President?"

You raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'll settle for Secretary of Agriculture."

"How about the Secretary of Homeland Security?" You smirked.

"But that's the bottom of the line of succession," Mark grunted as he sat up.

"Exactly," you laughed before groaning and cradling your side again.

"Alright, that's enough for today," he pushed himself into a standing position. "No more laughing for... how long does it usually take for broken ribs to heal?"

"Like, six weeks."

"I knew that," he smiled and helped you stand up. "No more laughing for six weeks."

"What you're asking for is impossible," you winced. "You always make me laugh. It's why you're my best friend."

"I'm your best friend?" Mark asked, unable to hide his surprise at the admission. He hesitantly wrapped his arm around your back, worried about making the pain worse in his attempt to help you.

You huffed and leaned into him, "don't let it go to your head, Watney."

"Too late," Mark smiled and led you slowly to your bunk. It wasn't easy for either of you to maneuver with your injuries, but eventually you managed to get settled.

"Comfy?" Watney asked.

"That's a relative term," your eyes softened at him, causing the botanist to go all weak in the knees. What a mess he had gotten himself into... "Are you sure you don't need help getting into bed?"

"You took good care of me Y/L/N, It doesn't hurt so much anymore thanks to you... Maybe if the President thing doesn't work out, you could be a doctor," He leaned his bare shoulder against the ladder.

Your eyes trailed down his chest to the bandages keeping the stitches from view. Your eyes started to burn, but you pushed it down and looked up to the bunk above you. "And take Beck's job? As if~"

Mark could almost believe things were normal. That they weren't all alone in a desolate wasteland. You were an anchor. He wasn't sure what he'd do if you weren't here. Would he have the strength to try? This would have broken most normal people... was he one of them? Or was he like you? Brave, selfless, and full of resolve to keep going. His chest hurt. You had gone looking for him... and now you were here. It was his turn to be your anchor.

You felt his eyes on you, but you couldn't bring yourself to meet them. You felt pathetic. Once again, Watney had to pick you up when you were down. For as long as you'd known him, Mark had been your helping hand. He had a sixth sense about these things. The moment things go wrong, he's there to dig you out of the rubble. You closed your eyes and remembered being in orbit. You remembered how he covered your hand with his and made everything okay again. You couldn't keep relying on him like this. It was your turn to be his helping hand.

"Somebody's sleepy~" Mark cut through the silence.

"It's been a day," you sighed and dragged your eyes to meet his.

"A sol," he corrected.

"Smartass," you fought the urge to chuckle. "Go to bed, before I get up and make you..."

"Don't need to tell me twice," He raised his hands in defeat. Mark moved to leave, but paused and grabbed your hand. "Hey Y/N?"

"Y-yeah?"

He gave your hand the gentlest of squeezes, "you're my best friend too..."

You glowed as the smile reached your eyes.

"Don't let it go to your head," he winked.

"Too late."

You held onto Mark a little tighter.

....................

Taglist: @jolovesfandoms

If you would like to be added to my taglist, feel free to reach out!

Thank you for reading!

[strangefable]

oc tag game

thank you for tagging me, @socially-awkward-skeleton, @marivenah, @clonesupport, & @voidika <3 <3 <3

passing no-pressure tags onto: @confidentandgood, @v0idbuggy, @adelaidedrubman, @florbelles, @unholymilf, @henbased, @direwombat, @trench-rot, @detectivelokis, @ivymarquis, @schoute, @dumbassdep, @legally-a-bastard, @wrathfulrook, @incognito-insomniac, @roofgeese, @theelderhazelnut, @poisonedtruth, @fourlittleseedlings, @inafieldofdaisies, @cassietrn, @vampireninjabunnies-blog, @harmonyowl, @redreart, @jacobseed, @euryalex, @mars-colony, @glass-hope, @gayafsatan, @the-lastcall, @shegetsburned, @g0dspeeed, @eclecticwildflowers, @aceghosts, @megraen, @strafethesesinners, @derelictheretic, @sukoshimikan, @inquisitors-grave, and anyone i've missed or forgotten, i'm tagging you too <3

(also forgive me but i'm not making banners for ocs i hardly ever talk about any more, so this post is gonna be mostly text. if you want images of anyone i can share, but i just don't have energy to make new banners and i still want to actually post this so, please forgive me <3)

favorite oc

she's my baby girl right now. she's got the most space in my head, at all times i am thinking of her. she owns me and i'm not sorry. this is micah's world, i'm just here to serve her, and i would not have it any other way

honorable mentions: niamh gannon & beauregard barrett

they've been with me the longest and once had the strongest hold on me for more than a decade. they're two very formative characters for me and i will always have tiny palaces in my heart for both of them

oldest oc

niamh gannon

as far as fandom ocs that i've written and shared anywhere online, ni is the first baby girl. i started writing her when she was just a wee 11 year old student all the way through to her adult life as a wife, mother, and badass. she's the most developed oc i have, because i spent decades writing her. (she's also a bit of a precursor to what lore eventually became)

newest oc

i've got a few newer concepts circling, but as far as ocs that fully exist, lil is still the newbie on the team. she's a fun way to stretch and do some things i've never dared try before. fiery little pistol and demon who is out to create chaos in an act of revenge against a world that's wronged her

meanest oc

this is a hard one! i have several evil ocs, but they're not necessarily mean in any traditional sense. they play politics too well for that, though they can be underhanded and they'll fuck you up. of the ones i talk about here, it's probably either lilith or bowie, but neither of them are mean, exactly. lilith just wants to lash out and hurt everyone, and bowie is just blunt and crass. of my older ocs, there's fletch, who's a dumbfuck gay werewolf with a chip on his shoulder and no filters. and daphne, who's the evilest monster you'll ever meet: she wants to cut you open and splay your insides while you're still alive, but she'll talk so sweetly to your face. there's leona and lysandra, who are daddy's girls and spoiled brats. there's lux, who wants to look like a bad boy and live up to his evil father's legacy, but mostly he's just an asshole. and his father, chrys, who is evil. he trains monstrous dogs that are built to attack people. also he's a ruthless murderer but he's a suave and smooth politician, so you'll never catch him. also there's rand, my evil alpha werewolf man. then there's alfie, an absolute shithead of a bully and a punk, but he's really just a sad lonely idiot. there's torvald and romeo, my supercreeps. elena my snarky little shit who lashes out and hates everyone.

yeah, this is too hard, i have several meanies.

softest oc

none of the ocs i talk about here are soft in the least. but i have some old ones who are total cinnamon rolls. dierdre delaney is a soft sweetheart of a seer. there's bethy baby, bethany, who is a shy tiny pixie girl who is full of love and sunshine. liam who is a soft gentle romantic soul. naveen who is a sweet little nerd. rune, my soft gentle werewolf boy. olwen, who is gentle like a fairy. sienna my sweet little miracle baby. kaz the softest cuddliest kindest doctor you'll ever meet. teddy, the most cinnamon roll to ever cinnamon roll. ajlgdjlg agh i can't any more, the soft ones make my heart and teeth ache and i'm missing them so much now

most aloof/standoffish oc

i'm gonna give this one to micah, though some of my older kids could probably show her up on it. she's the one of my current stable that has the most trouble interacting with people.

smartest oc

nora by a landslide. she's a certified genius and a savant. the woman knows all.

dumbest (affectionate) oc

oh boy let me tell you, i love making himbos. fletch is one of them, what an idiot. there's rory who's a hardheaded dick. there's junior, declan, and nate, who are the pinnacle of himboness. there's cosmo, my silly class clown boy. there's virgil the clueless. there's pillip, who's theme song is literally 'stupid boy'. and then there's emmy, my flighty fashion icon

oc i'd be friends with irl

giving this one to the jameson sisters. they're the kind of friends anyone would want, imo. (there's a lot of my oldbies i'd put here, too, but this post is too long already)

if you bothered to read all that nonsense, i owe you a kiss or a cookie <3 thanks for listening to me ramble incoherently about ocs i never share any more lmao

[wolfverse-stories]

Dreams aren't always pleasant

(Falling in Reverse Au/Reverse Batfam)

Chapter 6 (Final Chapter)

     "Back so soon?" Jason asked standing across the rooftop.

     "Afraid so," Damian said stepping forward "I'm-"

     "Not from this Earth" the redhead smirked "Oracle brought me up to speed"

     "I need you to do me a favor," Damian said meeting his gaze.

Timeskip

     "Who is this?" Tim looked over at Jason suspiciously.

     "A friend," Damian said walking over to him.

     "I didn't know you had frie-Sorry force of habit.." Tim trailed off sheepishly.

     "Don't worry I have three brothers I'm used to it" He reassured Tim "So you're sure this will get me home?" Tim gave a nod "Thank you" he turned over to Jason "Remember our deal?"

     "Yeah yeah," Jason said rolling his eyes "You are so much chatter than our wing"

     "Not as cold thought" Tim observed.

     "Yeah that's thanks to a couple of people I know" Damian answered 'including you'

Timeskip

     "Hello?" As soon as he walked into the living room two sets of footsteps came racing down the stairs.

     "Dami!" Dick practically tackled him.

     "Where have you been?!" Jason crossed his arms.

     "Nice to see you too Jay" Damian rolled his eyes getting up "Where are the others?"

     "Cass and Tim are out looking for you" Dick answered still hugging Damian.

     "Bruce had a JL emergency so Wally is 'babysitting us' " Jason explained.

     "And where is West?" Damian looked at his younger brother suspiciously.

     "Jay put a tranquilizer in his food then locked him up in the bat cave" Dick grinned.

     "He wouldn't stop ruffling my hair!"

One week later

     Damian stood in the kitchen where he was supposed to be getting popcorn for his siblings, instead, he was deep in thought. He had gotten back a week ago and one question had been eating away at him.

     'Had I acted out of love or guilt?'

     "Did you get lost?" Tim smirked leaning in the doorway.

     "Lost in thought" Damian replied finally pulling out the popcorn.

     "Something wrong?" Tim asked letting his arm drop.

     "Tim, do you think this is all just guilt?" Damian frowned.

     "What?" Tim stared at his older brother with confusion.

     "Do...do you think that maybe I don't really care about anyone I just feel guilty about what happened to you?"

     "Of course not" Tim scuffed.

     "But I treated you like trash before you died and not that other eart-" Tim cut Damian off.

     "Is that what this is all about?" He moved closer to Damian "Yes when I first got here you hated you beat the heck out of me but before I died you did start to treat me like a brother"

     "What about the others am I just trying to make up for how I treated you?" Damian asked

     "I've seen how you are with Cass and the baby birds and it's not guilt" Tim smiled softly  "You genuinely love for them"

     "Are you sure?" 

     "The fact that you're even worried about this proves you love them" Before Damian could realize what he was doing he had his arms wrapped around Tim in a tight hug

     "Thanks" Tim's body stiffened  from the surprise attack hug "You know I love you too baby bird?"

     "I know," Tim said relaxing "I love you Big Bird"

Meanwhile

     "Wow" Jason mused staring at the large computer set up "You're a seriously little nerd aren't you"

     "It's designed after the bat computer Only with a few more tricks" Tim grinned turning it on.

One year later

     It had started out as a 'favor'. He works with Tim and Damian wouldn't expose his identity. Pretty soon it stopped being a favor. Jason didn't work with Tim because he had to but because he wanted to. Tim was like his little brother and there was no way Jason would let anyone mess with his little brother.

     So when the court sent a Talon after Tim of course Jason was going to track him down and make him sorry.

    "Skywatcher any signs of your attacker," Jason asked into the comm.

     "No so far, be careful Hood these are professionally trained assassins"

     "Don't worry little brother" Jason replied in a mocking tone.

    "I'm technically older than you" Tim snapped back.

     "I'd still be bigger than you without magic" Jason chuckled "Seriously you need to eat"

     "I've put on five pounds" Tim shot back.

     "Yeah sure you-"  a noise started Jason

    "Hood? What's going on?" Tim asked over the comm

     "I uh..." Jason stared at the small figure in front of him "I found a baby talon"

Prev. / More stories

[kobblefort]

Rushsly: Second Cavern Arc 1

Tell me about it, lol. You and me both

There comes a time in any new and many veteran players' fortresses when you realize that you should have gelded or just straight-up butchered those fucking dogs you started with all the way back at the start because you are never going to need this many dogs - but before you go hacking them all up for meat that your dumb-ass kobbles (or dorfs, if you're boring) will just leave to rot on the floor, consider that it could be fun to train them into war dogs. They'll almost certainly all die within a single invasion if we do, but it feels better from an ethical standpoint than having our kobbles just straight-up massacre an entire horde of dogs. For now though, we are going to cull a couple of them so that Kikli can finish her artifact. I have nothing against dogs but sometimes they do scare me. I don't know what it is, but when you look too hard at a dog's face, like really look too hard at a dog's face, it seems to activate this primal instinct of like "oh fuck. This is a beastie. It threatens my little monkey troop." But usually you can just keep looking and it will just be a friendly domestic dog. But you know, like, there's dingoes, which look just like normal dogs but are actually fucked up bastards that will maul you. In Australia they built a 3500 mile long fence to keep dingoes out of Queensland. If you take the highest possible estimate of the Great Wall of China's length, the Dingo Fence is just over a quarter as long. I don't know what that really means or if it has any implication, I just suddenly decided I really need to know how long the Dingo Fence is in comparison to the Great Wall of China. But you know, it really fucking makes you think!!!!!!!!!

Just as Kikli gets her hands... paws? claws? on the bones she needs to get started, we get yet another ratfolk snatcher in the fortress.

It survives for about 10 seconds once it gets into the fortress proper. Of course, ratfolk never seem to come just one at a time, so we'd better be ready for another attack. And since the spring is over, it seems like as good a time as any to set the military back to constant training.

Kikli's masterwork is... a single boot... depicting the coronation of a Winged One from many years ago. Not our current one, however. Right now, all I know about them is their name is Canr Adrmicala. I could pop into Legends mode eventually to try and find out what their deal is, but I'd like to save that until later. You know, when I inevitably end up "between fortresses."

But figuring it's best to put that off as long as possible, we take advantage of our burgeoning population and expand the military. This fort is quickly beginning to resemble the United States. Once we get some nobles moving in to start making absurd demands and having innocent people jailed for not playing along with their idiotic ideas of how the economy should work, we can start grilling all-pork-refuse hot dogs and shooting guns. Well, that noble thing actually does happen in the game. Hot dogs, someone would have to mod that in. Guns, same, but I'm almost certain that somewhere there is already a Dwarf Fortress mod that adds guns and I just didn't download it because my brain automatically went "that sounds stupid" as I glanced over it. I don't hate gun nerds or anything, I definitely have the kind of mechanical-focus autism that makes me enjoy them as a triumph of engineering. But 99% of the time someone starts talking about their guns, they are inevitably going to come off as an absolute psychopath or a total pussy (I apologize for using 'pussy' as a derogative here, I am a huge vagina fan, but I couldn't get any other word to land with the same impact.) I particularly appreciate the people out in rural areas that refuse to go to fucking Costco without their fucking Heater. "I need to be Strapped if I'm going to walk into a Wal-Mart. That situation could turn sideways real fast." You are the person that turns situations sideways you fucking freak! All I hear when people say that kind of thing is "if I got into a fight I would get my ass kicked and I do not have the humility to handle it, so I need my Kill People Button on me so that nobody messes with me." You're a fucking bitch! Maybe you do need that gun, because I could probably rip your arms into pieces like construction paper! Though I did grow up in a distant suburb, I have spent most of my life in "the bad part" of a major city that sheltered, TV-poisoned weirdos like to imagine is an active warzone, and I have never felt the need to walk around with a gun, because even though I am kind of an abrasive person with a mean face, I don't go around starting problems and I don't try to insert myself into problems when they happen around me. In a way, out in the suburbs kind of is more dangerous, because everyone is obsessed with their Castle Doctrines and gets almost no opportunities to verify or validate their idea of a consensus reality, isolated as they are in the series of lonely little boxes that comprise the alienated American life, so they just drive themselves more and more paranoid and insane (as cable news' profit margins demand of them) until they freak out and go Max Payne 3 on a fucking post office because another insane racist boomer on 4chan told them that "AliExpress is actually an LGBT666+(the + is an upside down cross) child trafficking operation and there's this new thing called communisexual," and yes I said racist, only the absolute fucking worst of them will admit it but of course they are all racist, the thing they are so scared of in my city and every city is that black and brown people just walk around in public like they're normal humans or something! Yes I do live in "the hood" and there's a fucking farmer's market every weekend. What I'm trying to say here is, well I don't know, I wouldn't call myself a Stalinist per se but when faced with an overwhelming amount of people who genuinely believe just awful and evil things who regularly fantasize about doing Righteous Violence, I start to get the idea of the "gulag," you know, I think a "re-education camp" is actually a nice compromise between "letting paranoid bigoted reactionaries run around making everyone else miserable and violently terrorizing marginalized people" and "just fucking killing them, just fucking executing them in the streets with firing squads."

The fortress gains a new handful of migrants, just six this time. Of more importance, however, is the plan to keep expanding the base. Deeper and deeper, until we hit sweet adamantite - the siren of the earth that sings all fortresses to ruin.

Deeper.

Deeper, still - but not before we break to collect the resources we uncovered in this shaft. Gold is gold, gems are gems, the earth bleeds bounties to the kobble that strikes it.

Deeper, still. Our advance is halted by the cavern opening up below the mine shaft, which is a good enough excuse to slow down for now. Two layers of cavern means twice as many attack vectors for forgotten beasts - though we'll be sure to close up the opening right away, of course.

Carefully notching out fortifications to look through in the perimeter seems to be the safest method to map these caverns - they've proved worthwhile before, at least against fire-spewing beasts. Black-cap and spore trees would be exciting additions to our wood stocks, but right now the risk involved in going out to cut them is just too high.

Even with all precautions taken, any party could always be your last party, so you simply must party whenever the opportunity arises. Even two of the new marksbold recruits managed to sneak away from training for a moment - "just grabbing some drinks," sure. Maybe one day they'll deeply regret it - if they had just that one last bit of training, maybe catastrophe could have been averted, or at least subdued. This could be what that song "How To Save A Life" is about. Is that even the name of that song? I don't know, I've only ever heard it due to acute FM radio exposure. I don't even know who plays it. Not gonna check either

Dwarves arrive, setting up nice and intrusive-thought-repellingly far from the bridge. For a relative pittance of gems, we take all the meat they have on offer (I will regret this,) some some extra steel armor and picks, and as a little token of appreciation we gift them a big handful of gold coins. Buy yourself something nice, kid.

They also get a front-row seat to see us setting up our first few catapults. These will ostensibly fire right through fortifications, and hopefully not bust through the ceiling or something - it seems to have worked before, in a different fort, anyway - and might be a smidge more forgiving than the ballista. And as we cut away more fortifications into the second cavern layer...

Bro what the fuck ???

Apparently, though I hadn't even noticed it, the first "crime heinous enough to require a Reaper" was committed. And Acl was not actually able to finish the criminal off with a single killing blow. Let's check the Justice tab to see what the crime was, and...

"Violation of production order" you'll fucking try to kill someone after that? Fuck me this fortress really is becoming America. What the fuck, lol.

She barely even just got here, hardly started training, and already has to go through this shit. I don't even remember what Alsrta wanted made, but Case was literally just hanging out doing what she was supposed to be doing. I expected the nobles with ridiculous demands to show up a lot later, but it seems we're perfectly capable of growing unreasonable authority-abusing freaks right here at home. The kobbles elect the Clan Leader, not the player, and it would obviously be terrible for everyone's mood to just straight up kill or expel her, but you know, accidents can always happen.

Shortage of patience yeah no fucking kidding. Actually, I've just thought of a fitting enough "punishment" for her.

There. You want to see someone stabbed for not making you a funny little hat or whatever, well you can walk right over and do it yourself. I'm like 300% sure this won't backfire on me. Well, whatever.

We've mapped the entire second cavern layer. And no sooner do we finish than we receive our second uninvited guest.

Yeah I really went all out on the MS Paint for that one. Poisonous gas seems like exactly the kind of thing that fortifications won't help against, but we'll really just have to see what develops.

It's like it's specifically getting in position for where we'd like to fire on it from. Of course, nothing can ever be too easy, so Acl picks right now of all times to be possessed and try to make an artifact. Maybe trying to kill that poor girl changed something in him. He also picked the farthest possible stoneworker's shop from all the stockpiles, so that'll put him out of commission for a good long while... I'm more worried about Acl, honestly. I have to wonder if I'm underestimating this big blind lobster. We'll see how it reacts to a few volleys of bolts.

fucks sake cunt would ya get back over here

It ignores a few missed bolts and just goes for a swim. As the marksbolds jump back and forth between fortified positions futilely trying to get a good shot on it, another wave of migrants shows up, bringing our population to 86 and thus reclassifying Rushsly as a "town."

I'd say I wished they understood the gravity of the situation, but it doesn't actually seem too grave at all. The lobster literally and figuratively can't even see us, has no way in, and is kind of just chilling.

Acl makes a wind horn (that's normally made out of bone...?) out of granite and dog leather. Imagine if your homie just came up to you one day after not talking to anyone for like, a week, and he was just like "Hey sorry about that. I got possessed by unknowable forces, so I had to make a flute out of broken bits of sidewalk pavement." Personally I would freak out, I would flip the fuck out and just go crazy. But I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't. Got to find somewhere to put this fucking thing now. But then, suddenly, from the first cavern layer:

OLM PEOPLE! They chase off Zhat Lovetwists (kind of horny name,) our hospital's diagnostician, who was down there seeking granite boulders to cut into blocks.

Luckily, she's agile enough to escape, and after fleeing unscathed she just... goes straight to sleep. I mean, okay. That's reasonable, I guess.

The small squadron of olm people cautiously advances, but our larger and far more deadly squadron of killer kobbles sets up position just outside the mine shaft. We cautiously open just one hatch to let them into the funnel, but......

I run out of images in this post so I have to leave it on a cliffhanger LOL my bad!!!!!!!!!!

[ducknotinarow]

[2012 RaphDon]

Now that things had settled, and Don's illness was being taken care of, there was only one last thing for him to take care of - Raphael. He knew that Raph took care of him, cared of him, but, there was a lingering pain and anger in the air. Don knew it, thanks to the fact Raph refused to be around him. He understood why, and it was deserved.

Still hurt though.

Heading to Raphael's room, he stood in their doorway for a moment, soon knocking his knuckles on the frame of the door,

"Raph?" He questions, "Can I talk to you about something?"

Donatello enters before Raph even really gives an answer. Taking a seat at the end of his bed, Don takes a deep breath, before just, speaking, forcing himself to do what he always struggles to do,

"I'm sorry," He starts, "I'm sorry I didn't come to you about Casey, ever - I just, I didn't want you to potentially do something dumb and hurt yourself, because, I saw how happy you were with him and I didn't want to take anything wrong you."

He had explained it once, but, he felt he needed to do it again now that he was better,

"But that doesn't mean I shouldn't have ever said anything to you about it, you're my brother and I trust you, but I made it seem like I didn't, and I'm sorry Raphael."

It wasn't an apology though that was needed...okay, well, it was, but there was something else,

"I need you to say it though Raph," Don speaks in riddles, "I need you to just...tell me how you felt about it. Get angry, get upset, we'll go to the dojo and fight it out if you need to...but I don't want us to keep avoiding each other," Don admits, "Because I miss having you around Raph, I miss having my twin."

| Muse Interaction

Raphael would say at best it's been maybe a few weeks the longest since he really kind of was around Donnie. Sure he sat in the kitchen for meals, he lounged around in the pit, and even took part in training sessions that Leo held not just the Splinter ones. Not minding if he and Don were paired off but there was something to note that made a difference. If it was just Don in the kitchen Raph waited till someone else entered or kept what he needed to do brief. He wouldn't lounge in the pit for the same reasons. Though more rare since Don often wasn't there alone less they were all going to gather to watch TV together. He avoid sitting anywhere near Don. The worst? The training sessions. When it came to fighting Raph took it seriously sometimes. Mostly against Leo if they spared with Donnie? Well it was near border bullying at best how Raphael teased and played around with his twin. That wasn't there. No snarky remarks on Don being a nerd, not playing into banter. Maybe a slight peek to make sure Don was fine what with the discovery on him being diabetic now, of course he wanted to make sure they were fine. Didn't want to see Donnie like that again.

But he also seemed like he just didn't want to see Donnie. Which wasn't true but it was getting easy to tell Raph was avoiding his twin and that is pretty rough to do when lived in the same place. Sometimes Raphael found the lair to be too cramp but he sure was finding all kinds of space now. But it seemed Donnie picked up on what Raph was doing. Of course they did though, Raph may hate to admit it but Don was pretty smart he guesses. Fine he knew his brother was a genius but still sometimes that genius still couldn't take a hint. Raphael was letting his eyes fix to the art of his comic book. Aware Don was standing in the door way of his room. Near about cornered in here like this. He could maybe just leave, brush right past them lie say he had somewhere to be. Hell didn't have to lie he could just leave with out a word.

Green eyes peered over the top of his comic looking to Donnie, just to make sure, recalling the last time they came to him he was deathly ill. Raphael's upset and sure he can be short sighted he admits. But he knew Don did that because he felt like he could go to Raph. But they seemed fine so couldn't be that letting his eyes fall back to the page, being all to aware of Don's eyes on him was making it hard to just sit and read. Rereading the same speech bubble over and over again letting his brow furrow when Don's knuckles finally rap against the door frame. Softly hitting it enough to bring attention but there seems to be something more in the action Raph just flips the page to seel the act he was reading.

"Raph?"

It goes unanswered but since when has any of his brothers cared for the silent treatment.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

Seemed they weren't waiting an answer more should have worded it as I need to talk to you about something. As Don soon made his way in and sat at the foot of the bed. Raph simply rolled his eyes and slouched down. Kness rise up so he could rest the comic against legs. Slightly hiding himself away from Donnie a dumb attempt at doubling down on the whole 'i'm ignoring you' shtick Raphael had been one for the on going days.

"I'm sorry,"

Raph dose seemed to tune his attention more towards Don in the moment. Sorry for what now?

"I'm sorry I didn't come to you about Casey, ever - I just, I didn't want you to potentially do something dumb and hurt yourself, because, I saw how happy you were with him and I didn't want to take anything wrong you."

Oh this again, why bring this up it's over it's in the past there nothing to fret over. Raphael is more trying to convince himself of course, seeing how not once has a word left his beak to voice it to his twin. Doesn't understand why hes explain it all again. Don told him when he beat the shit out of them that same day. The memory made the guilt near about curdle in his gut when he thought about it. He get's it though Don had a thing for Casey but kept it to himself. Because of Raph. It's old news why bring it all back up things were fine.

Thought the turtle whose hold on his comic increased making pages crease under his finger tips.

"But that doesn't mean I shouldn't have ever said anything to you about it, you're my brother and I trust you, but I made it seem like I didn't, and I'm sorry Raphael."

Raph can't help the scoff that comes out from him at that point. Slightly cursing himself for paying attention towards Donnie. He was meant to be ignoring them. Not that he had the second he could tell they were in the door way. It's hard to ignore someone that you just so connected with. But try as he might to shut them out he could just 'tell' something was working through Don's mind. Nit like he could read his thoughts of course. Thank fuck for that on Raphael's end at least. But it was a odd sensation sometimes.

"I need you to say it though Raph,"

what? Raph head pops up a bit finally looking, really looking at Don just then no following what they were getting at. He needs to say it? say what? Sorry? oh the hell he was saying sorry to Don! Look making for beating on him sure since he was sick and all but nothing else! Donnie was the one in the wrong he decided in this moment he made this mess! he can clean it up. Falling back down to turn to pretend reading his comic in that moment.

"I need you to just...tell me how you felt about it. Get angry, get upset, we'll go to the dojo and fight it out if you need to...but I don't want us to keep avoiding each other,"

Oh.

Okay he jump the gun a bit here but still, guess he picked up on what Raph was doing as well. That was really Raph's dumbest thought here of course Donnie would notice what he was doing here. Don just seemed able to better tell that stuff.

"Because I miss having you around Raph, I miss having my twin."

"I miss mine too" Raph mumbles under his breath in turn. Unsure if Don even hears him, A heavy sign follows before he finally givens in and set his comic book down off to the side moving to sit up, legs crossing over his tiger print bed sheets as he keeps his gaze low for a time. Don true to his intentions seemed to just be waiting. Raph working to gather his thoughts a moment here here before speaking up.

"I'm not mad about ya 'iking case or did whatever dont matter. Case gets to decide who he 'ikes an' for some reason 'hats me." Raph starts with, the jealous was an issue at the start but Casey's made it so clear who he picks and it's always Raphael and he takes comfort in that. Even if someone else shows an interest hes not just going to dump Raph. "neva was about 'hat anyway." He's trying to stick to just words, even if its hard sometimes for him but least Donnie was letting him have a chance to speak. Finally he lifts his head to look at Don really look at them, not through or past looking straight at those mahogany eyes of his twin brother.

"Ya always seemed on my side sure we fight, I fight wit' everyone. But ya least 'ike care or whatever. We both give Leo the same hard time when he's in the wrong, ya sided with me at the start an' "He pauses trying to figure out what he is even trying to get at here.

"You hurt me. Thats how i felt" He finally says it because that's what it was, "Look maybe I would have done somethin' stupid I dunno. I dunno what I would of done, ya can' know what I woulda done either and I hate that people all assume shit 'bout me." Maybe he would have but he's not sure either he really loves Casey after all maybe he would never give them up. Raph positive, nothing could make him give Casey up. Not even his brother. Besides, Raphael was a tad possessive when it came to Casey, so he really felt he wouldn't.

"I felt hurt when I found out yeah, maybe scared at a chance of losing out on what I got I dunno, but it felt like I been whack by ya fuckin' bo staff to the back of my head to have some no face tell me somethign my twin should!" He snaps finally letting anger flare out before it faded away "but you didn't. Because you thought you couldn' right? and that hurts Don." Raphael states before looking away again.

"I trust ya, I know if I ask you'll have an answer and I know that's dumb ya can' always have my answers even if ya gonna make me feel dumb for askin' I'll still ask anyway." Because of that relaence on Don to just know "I know I could talk to you 'bout stuff. Anything an' everythin' an' ya maybe have answers for me on those things...but I'm not ready for those answers." Another sigh works out of him with that admission.

"But despite how i feel that way. you couldn' tell me about this? I was hurt and I jus'...wanted to hurt you back." He knows that makes him awful " least Leo willin' to tell me things, yeah we fight but he don' hide things from me. He don' avoid the hard talks wit' me. Sure expects me to lash out but least he talks Don." Some scolding in there now "I got more respect for someone who will be honest to my face and feel they can be honest to me even if it might not be somethin' I'm gonna wanna hear or handle well. But if ya can' do 'hat then maybe ya jus' don' need me either." Explaing his own avoidance now.

"And that hurts me more than anything else that's gone on."

Raph could maybe leave be done with this and leave Don to thibk on it more. But he suddenly moves uncrossing his legs as he moves to crawl and sit behind Don rest back against thier shell like they used to. Raphs attempt at trying here. He sometimes did it with Leo but it was more comfortable with Donnie. The groves of their shells seemed to lock in place so easily and well. Tipping back his head as he can feel the back of Donnies brush against his own. Sometimes he hated how tall Don was but that was mkre because he hates how short he was in comparison. It honestly felt kind of nice.

"And seeing you after ya got sick an' I didn' have a fuckin' clue? Because I was jus' that mad at you? I couldn' tell I had no idea! Ya could have-" He let's that thought trail off. "I jus' don' think ya need me around Don it might be better that way..." Despite his words he clearly dosen't like the thought because of what he's doing now. "Cause I shoulda known Don. I should been there for you. You needed me and...I wasn' doin' what I set out to." Nothing but guilt and remorse in his voice.

[thek1ngtalks]

Keith scowls down at his phone, where he just got into another fight online about the validity of the moon landing. It ended with another account banned.

"People are so dumb," He (does not!) whine to Pidge. "They don't even notice what's right in front of them. And then when I point it out they get all upset because they think I'm calling them dumb---which I am!--- and they keep reporting my blogs."

"That's rough, buddy," Pidge says, unhelpfully.

"I keep saying there's no real proof that the moon landing was real but no one cares," Keith throws himself backwards onto the couch, Pidge barely pulling their laptop out of the way when Keith lands mostly in their lap. "It sucks."

"Keith," Pidge finally says, short tempered, "They're not wrong. If you can't believe them with no 'real proof' then neither can they."

Keith frowns, chewing at his lip. After a second, he hits a brilliant idea and Pidge instantly says, "No."

"I didn't even say anything!"

Pidge meets his pout with a deadpan eyebrow raise, "I know you Keith, that look means nothing good."

"I'm just reflecting on what you said," Keith is not technically lying. "You're right. I can't make them believe me with no proof."

"Ri–ight," They draw out slowly, curious and mildly hopeful. "So you're gonna give up on this whole 'reveal the truth to the world' plan, right?"

Keith smiles, delighting in the way Pidge immediately shudders, "Of course not. I'm going to go back in time and get proof!"

"Why," Pidge slumps back, eyes closed and hands in praying position, "Do I ever bother."

{《☆》}

Let the record show that Keith did not bribe Pidge into helping him. Let the records show that Keith is also a master manipulator and blackmailed them instead.

"I hate you," Pidge says for the fifth time that hour. "I hate this stupid time machine too."

"You love how it's testing your genius, you mean," Keith, running on 2 hours of sleep and 5 battery-acid Redbulls in his system, would never forget to snark at Pidge. "You haven't even started a new nerd project since we've started."

"Keith, I don't have the energy for another project," They grumble, though they don't deny the first bit. "Just be glad you're not the one experimenting with space time. I've never had to create an entirely new element before. I hate you."

"You're the best, Pidge," He says, going back to the Questionable Universe Interupter Zealously Navigating A Chaological Keystone or Q.U.I.Z.N.A.C.K for short, aka the very device that's going to keep them from tearing their bodies apart cell by cell trying to time travel. It's very reliant on Rover, the element Pidge made and honorarily named after their old pet roomba.

Keith had very smartly decided to work on the physical machinery, knowing perfectly well that Pidge would kill him before she took on another task. He also just kinda enjoys building things, even if it's a good 4 feet taller than him, 3x wider and requires so much heavy lifting that his arms might just fall off.

All in all, a worthy sacrifice for a time machine.

"So," He says, faux randomly, "When do you think we'll be done?"

Pidge doesn't look up, her eyes narrowed. "I swear Keith, if you try using this without testing first I may just leave you in however many pieces it tears you into."

"Noted," Keith deflates like a balloon that lost all its helium. Then slowly, he smiles.

"Oh no," Pidge says, looking up from the screen to groan. "No, no no—"

{《☆》}

"I hate you," Pidge says, delighted. "This is the worst idea you've ever had and I think you're absoloutely insane."

"I'm a genius," Keith says, fixing the camera they put on Platt, one of the mice Allura trained for them. Chulatt already has his camera on and is sniffing at Pidge's hand for treats. "If this works, we can have real recorded footage of future mice in the past!"

"Or we can rip Allura's poor mice to shreds," Pidge says, finger stroking down Chuchule's spine. Plachu tugs at her tail, jealous. "Everything's been fine so far for inanimate objects but what if—"

"This is gonna work," Keith says and it ends there. Pidge may be nervous, but they've spent weeks planning this, calculating for every possible failure. If it doesn't work now, it never will. Keith knows it has to. "Beginning countdown," Pidge wipes at their glasses, "We're set to go in 3, 2, 1..."

Keith watches silently, breath held as the mice blink out of existence. The live camera footage cuts out and he eyes the screen warily.

After a few moments, Pidge reaches over to the screen and they wack it. The screen fills with noise before it clears and in a shaky but live capture, they can both see the bottom half of a muscle car.

"Holy shit," Keith murmurs, watching as the mice stumble their way through 1969's version of Texas.

They managed to capture a majority of footage of shoes, some old buildings they recognized (old to them, pretty shiny new here) and a disgusting number of pests crawling around the streets.

"Do you know what this means!" Keith scrambles to Pidge's side, grabbing their shoulders and shaking them wildly.

"We are singlehandedly the greatest scientific minds of our generation and our discovery could change the world forever?" Pidge asks, like a fool.

"No!" Keith says excitedly. "I can finally prove the moon landing was faked. This is great!"

"Oh, great," Pidge says, very much not excited. "I was kinda hoping you gave up on that."

Keith eyes them oddly, "What? Of course not, you're crazy."

"Oh yes," Pidge nods, "I'm the crazy one. Obviously, the crazy one is me."

Keith throws his arm over their shoulder and gives them a noogie. They scowl and he releases them before Pidge gets aggressive. Know your limits, Keith, know your limits.

"Now we just have to bring them back," Keith says. "And then we're golden."

Pidge cracks their knuckles and they both get to work.

{《☆》}

i don't know why but sudden inspiration hit me like a frickin truck. no clue if I'll continue this but damn would it be fun to, the crackfic vibes are great.

Keith is a sceptic who believes the moon landing was faked so he does what any normal person would do; He builds a time machine to see it for himself.

Lance is just a poor, poor nasa employee trying to win the space race.

And then they fall in love.