#exploring gone wrong

[hummingbird-of-light]

June of Doom 2024 Day 15 (@juneofdoom)

15. “Get me out of here!”                        

| Rescue | Chainsaw | Presumed Dead |

~

"Woah!"

As he felt the ground beneath him give way and he slid down a kind of stone chute into the depths, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy regretted once again having taken part in this damned expedition.

Why had he agreed to follow his best friend and explore a stupid Mayan temple of all things? Why was he even friends with James T. Kirk? The guy only caused him trouble with his constant expeditions and reckless ideas!

"Bones!" McCoy heard his friend's voice calling anxiously for him, but it disappeared into the distance.

He tried to find somewhere to hold on so that he wouldn't be pulled further down, but the floor and walls were just too slippery.

McCoy gave a startled cry as he suddenly stopped sliding and fell, hitting the hard floor a moment later. The air was squeezed out of his lungs for a moment and he let out a pained groan.

"Bloody hell!" the doctor cursed as he finally regained his breath. He looked around, but it was pitch black around him. All he could see was the outline of the hole from which he had fallen to the floor.

McCoy closed his eyes and groaned. Why did this have to happen to him of all people? Why did he have to have such bad luck?

"Bones! Can you hear me? Bones!"

"Dr. McCoy!"

"Are you all right?"

Several voices reached his ears at once and he opened his eyes. At least he could still talk to the other members of the group.

"No, damn it! Nothing is okay! I've just slipped meters into the depths and landed in a dark cave where I can't even see my own hand in front of my eyes! How am I supposed to be okay?" he shouted his answer to the stupid question from the man who had taken over the leadership of the small group, as if he knew his way around better than the rest. McCoy had forgotten the name again. But he didn't care at the moment. "Get me out of here! Now!"

"We're ... we're working on a solution, Doctor! Just stay calm, will ye?"

The soft, Scottish accent of another man filtered down to him and McCoy blushed slightly. Mr. Montgomery Scott and he had hit it off straight away and the doctor had quickly developed an interest in the other explorer. And if he interpreted the Scotsman's signals correctly, he seemed to return the interest.

"I ... will try," McCoy replied, a little more gently than before. He didn't want to shout at Mr. Scott like he had done to the others.

It took what felt like an eternity and McCoy flinched at even the slightest sound he heard, but eventually the men called out to him that they would split up to find a way to him.

"Why don't you just slide down here and keep me company, Jim?" McCoy grumbled angrily to himself as his friend shouted that everything would be fine.

"Yes, yes! Just hurry up!" he shouted loudly.

"Mr. Scott, Mr. Chekov and I will wait up here by the hole and keep in touch with you, Doctor!" came the voice of the man without a name.

McCoy wanted to say something back about the fact that the man who was acting like a leader could be looking for him, but he refrained from commenting.

It took quite a while and at some point McCoy got tired of waiting. He sat up carefully and then got to his feet.

"I'm going to have a look around down here!"

"Ye'd better not do that, Doctor! Who knows if–" Scott didn't even get to finish his sentence, because as soon as McCoy had taken a step forward, the room suddenly lit up.

"Shit!"

He was still blinded by the sudden light of the igniting torches when the floor beneath McCoy opened up and he began to sink into it.

His eyes fell to the floor and he gasped in panic. At that moment, he would rather not have been able to see.

Quicksand! He was sinking into quicksand!

"Doctor!"

"What's happening?"

The voices of Scott and the other men reached his ears, but McCoy was at a loss for words at first.

Only when Scott called out to him again did he answer.

"I – bloody hell – I'm stuck in quicksand!"

Although McCoy tried to remain calm, the sand seemed to be swallowing him faster and faster.

He didn't know what Scott and the others were talking about for so long, but finally the nameless man's loud voice rang out.

"We've made a makeshift lifeline from several of the vines hanging in the passage! We're throwing it down to you now!"

McCoy couldn't believe it! A lifeline made out of vines? That was complete madness! But at least it was something.

His heart was pounding like crazy when he saw the green braid being lowered. He was now stuck in the sand up to his stomach. The doctor stretched out his arm as far as he could, but it didn't help. And every movement only made him sink deeper.

"I can't reach it! I'm too far away!"

It didn't take long for the rope to be pulled up again.

"Okay! Different plan! I'll tie the lifeline around my waist and come down to you! Mr. Scott and Mr. Chekov will pull us back up!"

McCoy shook his head, even though no one could see it.

"That rope will never hold us both!" he shouted, but the other didn't seem to care.

"You bet it will. Have faith, Doctor."

McCoy closed his eyes and prayed to all the gods that this plan would turn out well.

It wasn't long before the man – he was British, if McCoy wasn't mistaken – came into view.

"Doctor! Take my hand!"

It seemed incredible, but somehow McCoy actually managed to grab the other man's hand and he gave him a smile as he began to pull him up.

The doctor felt an incredible sense of relief when he realized that the rope actually seemed to be holding.

It wasn't long before he was back at the bottom of the steep stone slide he had slid down at the beginning. This rescue actually seemed to be successful!

"I've got him! Pull us up!" ordered the Brit, who had wrapped his arms around McCoy and was now holding him in a strange kind of embrace, and slowly the men's bodies began to move.

McCoy felt tears in his eyes as the adrenaline subsided a little. He really had been saved.

"Thank goodness, I thought –"

His eyes widened in surprise as he felt a terrible pain in his stomach. He fell silent instantly, his mouth still open. Blood flowed out.

He looked down uncomprehendingly at the knife in his body before looking up at the man, who simply smiled at him before pulling him closer to whisper in McCoy's ear.

"I saw the looks you gave Montgomery, Doctor. He's mine. And someone like you certainly isn't going to change that."

McCoy let out a choked sound as the knife was rammed deeper into his stomach.

"Damn it! My hand's slipping! I can't hold him anymore! Quick! Pull us up faster!"

He felt the man let go of him and, along with the knife, he plunged down again.

The last thing he heard before his body fell into the quicksand was the man's desperate cry.

"Doctor! No!"

The last thing he saw was the sneering face watching him sink.

And the last thing he remembered was the name of the man who didn't save him, but murdered him.

John Harrison.

[torimurphy]

shut up boy, you bananas!

[skunkes]

i have soooo much more i cld say abt him, and have explored more thru other doodles, but quick summary of talon's whole deal, which is subject to change still as he's only almost 2 yrs old as an oc

[kacievvbbbb]

Truly from the depths of my struggling heart. Viva La Vida by Coldplay belongs to one Toshinori Yagi aka the one and only All Might.

Coldplay should just sign over the rights of the song at this point promptly too.

[puhpandas]

sometimes I miss when Gregory was just a homeless kid

[guardianoftheotherside]

Azrael: The eagles won last night.

Usiel: You went to see the game?

Azrael:*face covered in scratches* What game?

[saturnniidae]

Thinking about early last year when I was deep in the trenches of pokeani hyperfixation and brainrotting over a whole post-canon au about Ash and Gary traveling together in their late teens because estranged childhood friends who simultaneously know each other incredibly well, but are also strangers in many regards make me SICK.

The idea was Gary and Ash had a promise to travel together as kids before their falling out and finally decide to make good on it (because after an incident on a Project Mew mission, Gary has holed himself up in his grandfather's lab and is making himself miserable, and Ash is realizing he initially didn't understand how much publicity would come with being World Champion so he goes back home for a bit)

But oh shit they get Hisui'd and have to deal with being centuries in the past but seeing the faces of people they've met and fought before (both of them have like a mini heart attack upon meeting Cyllene bc the famliy resemblance is STRONG and they're both like 'what the fuck how are you alive we saw you launch yourself into a space portal') basically digging up old trauma because I love love love thinking about how much the stuff with Team Galactic in Sinnoh must've messed Gary up for years afterwards.

Anyways, I just found the doc for it and damn I need whatever I was on last year because I dare say it goes kinda crazy

[dragonflyxparodies]

So I think BOTW is the better game, solely because it has more depth than TOTK. TOTK goes bigger than any Zelda game has ever gone before - and it works great! I cried, I love it, etc etc. But there was more love put into you as the player/link learning about the characters in the first game. Rauru and Sonia are cool but we only see small glimpses of them, Ganondorf's just evil to be evil, and the Ancient Sages are quite literally nobodies.

And I get why they all have the same cutscene, but I don't understand why they couldn't have had each of them tell a different bit of the story like they do with the tears. Especially the Gerudo Sage - have her talk about the Gerudo not liking the Zonai, fearing Rauru as some kind of conqueror, she going with Ganondorf's party to finally bend the knee and realizing this king and queen are exactly as advertised. Her becoming a Sage - you could have had Ganondorf get pissed at being passed over, and resolving to steal a stone for himself.

You could've had the Goron Sage talking about how his people had been so insular prior to Rauru and Sonia's rule, how they joined Hyrule proper and began to befriend their new neighbors. The Zora Sage could've feared for her people's independence - and Rauru and Sonia never tried to destroy the Zora monarchy or government. The Rito Sage could have been one to approach Rauru and Sonia on their own, to ask for help for his people - a cold snap reminiscent of what you face in TOTK, starvation and a dying people, something.

As it stands, they're flat, they're one-dimensional, and the game might not assume you've played BOTW but it definitely treats its characters as if you have - there's not as much background or attention put into developing them.

I had ASSUMED this would be rectified, to some extent, with some kind of DLC - especially with the Depths being so barren. The Champion's Ballad DLC did a great job giving us more content *and* deepening the story - TOTK is quite literally primed for the same treatment. I think it's a waste that we won't get that, especially given that TOTK goes to places that *should* be explored more fully.

[kinomiakai]

More smut for day 20 of snsmonth23! I used both prompts again today - hope you like it!

tied up and fallen loose: So. Huh. It looks like Sasuke's into that. Okay. Okay. Naruto can make that work. Written for snsmonth23 day 20 - prompts: adult sasunaru and bondage.

[infizero]

showing my growth by rejecting the “every ship gets happily married and becomes wonderful parents to lovely children” mindset and admitting that many pairings should just not be parents

[pjharvey-moved]

there’s def an aspect to it where people do care about oceangate because the people involved were rich but i think it’s more the absurdity at the concept of the titanic killing people twice and also like the morbid image of death by exploding in a tiny tin can lost at sea

[mariverses]

also this is random but i've been playing games and oh my god you people. if a game has problematic content it does not make the creator and everything surrounding it terrible? as long as it's not portrayed in a good light and it's depicted for what it truly is. you can critique the way that it's portrayed but sending the fucking hounds after the creators is not the way to go???? it does not mean that they support it immediately jesus

[torimurphy]

[doodlesbutawesome]

Kiff AU?

Kiff AU!

And a Bonus mini comic:

[shimelyasmin]

im really sad about how wyll’s whole story is going in act 3 bc it feels like, compared to the other characters, he hasnt gotten any huge scenes where he’s actually making decisions for himself. like for the scene where mizora forces him to choose between breaking his contract or saving his father, you choose for him and he agrees to whatever you tell him to do instantly like. why. there also just hasnt really been any scenes outside of camp that wyll really gets to shine in even tho theres been plenty of opportunities for them

[edwardallenpoe]

being young, black and queer (particularly butch and lesbian) online (but Tumblr specifically) is like rummaging and searching for somewhere you're fully welcome and seen but only finding places that accept parts of your identity or the places that were there that fully accepted you have been quiet and abandoned long before you even came along. You go on blogs that say they welcome queer black people or people who have weird identities but they never talk about the things that affect you or (even unkowingly) shut you down when you bring it up. You find blogs that say they accept queer black people or people who have weird identities but they're making blogs targeting and harassing transfems. You find blogs that say they accept queer black people or people with weird identities but their blog isn't safe for minors. You find blogs that say they accept queer black people or people who have weird identities and the person who runs the blog is queer and black but the last update was 2016. It's incredibly lonely.