#from this and some secret other thing that Doc knows must have happened but that Xisuma never seems interested in talking about

[shepscapades]

X isn’t big on hugs, but Doc does what he can. It’s the little things that help.

[scribbling-dragon]

as promised,, here's the few headcanons I've currently got bouncing around in my docs/notes!

- BigB was slightly changed by his time in the mesa. not changed in the same way other people have been by the Games, but just enough to be noticeable. his feet don't make a sound, even when other's do. when he walks over sand, or snow, or freshly turned dirt, he leaves no footprints behind, as though he was never there in the first place. When you turn your head away from him, enough that you can barely see him from the corner of your eye, he changes. his limbs are out of proportion and nothing seems Quite Right. when you look back, everything is normal. there is no hole in the mesa.

- martyns a fucken cat. half of the time he looks as though he's just walked through the worst rainstorm in the world, even if it's currently sunny.

- do not approach the secret keeper just before dawn. It does things then that are only barely veiled beneath the darkness. if you look closely, you may see Its assistant (though perhaps that "assisstant" is the true mastermind).

- no-one's wounds are healing. they may eventually stop bleeding, so the players do not die of blood loss (a slow, creeping death may bring with it lots of dread, but it leaves a sour aftertaste for whoever consumes it), but the wounds remain gaping open.

- leading on from the previous one: martyn may have died, but some are secretly jealous that he is no longer walking around with open wounds. others are simply glad that they do not have to try and find an unmarred piece of skin to look at while they talk to him anymore.

- their secret tasks are each given to them in a small book, one that they must keep on their person at all times. with these books came personalised little holders for each player, so they can have it resting at their hip for easy access. these "book holsters" are just large enough for the book and nothing else. these holsters cannot be burned or damaged or destroyed in any way. whoever made them must have known the players well, with all the small hints to their personality within the design.

- skizz was the first to discover that you could additionally customise the book holsters, as he was doodling "Love Island" onto it to see if the alliance name would stick. it did, and others began writing their own alliance names on it, sitting and customising their holsters together so they could all match.

- jimmys "book holster" has a rather unique design compared to everyone else's. his holster is visibly falling apart, deteriorating throughout the day. only once he manages to complete his task does his holster get restored to its original condition, though with gold stitching highlighting where it has been pieced back together. he does not know what will happen if his holster falls apart completely (he's not sure he wants to know).

[violet-fire-cat]

👀

Been meaning to do another of these for a few days and finally got around to it! Another 👀 ask, another AU!

Let's see... Today I'm gonna go with ~

Prince and his Guard AU For lack of a better name, because I'm awful at names pfft. Royal aus are done a lot, I know, but this ones mine! Actually based on another AU I did for a different fandom ages ago, but then reworked for different characters pfft I hope you're ready for more Ethubs nonsense from me, because that's what this is. (There's Rendoc crumbs too, though it's only mentioned briefly here.)

Anyway! Bdubs is a prince of a small kingdom somewhere. He's not the heir to the throne or anything like that, but he's still pretty important. For the most part though he's not too fussed about royal duties. He'd much rather be caring for the horses at the stables or tending to or sketching the beautiful plants in the palace gardens.

Etho works for the royal guard and has done for quite some time. He's a skilled swordsman and well respected amongst his peers. One day, he's given a new assignment and is placed as Bdubs' personal guard. His job is to accompany Bdubs when he's out and about, and of course to keep him safe should anything happen. Not that he's in any immediete danger, but he is a prince so it's needed!

Bdubs has had personal guards before, some he's liked, others he hasn't. With Etho he's- not sure what he thinks at first. Etho is quiet and hiding half his face behind a mask. He's polite though, just- different. Bdubs tries to befriend him from early on, but that's easier said than done when the guy doesn't talk much.

Gradually though, as they become more familiar with each other they do start to become friends. They find that they have things in common (a love for horses and riding being one of them) and they get along well. It's not long before they're starting to like each other more than they probably should. But neither of them really acknowledge it yet.

Bdubs realises he's got a crush first. Etho is always hiding his face, but Bdubs still thinks he's beautiful. He's kind and nice to talk to as well, Bdubs likes being around him.

Etho comes to terms with it much slower, and refuses to accept it when he does have that realisation. He can't have a crush on the prince are you insane!! Beef, who works in the palace kitchens and is friends with Etho, tells him that falling for the prince is a bad idea. Etho says that yes, he knows, he didn't do it on purpose!

For a while they just sort of admire each other from a distance. A romance between them is not allowed. Their relationship must remain platonic. They would both get in so much trouble if they tried anything more.

Bdubs, however, decides one day that he doesn't care. Screw it! He really likes Etho! So he's gonna flirt with him! Subtly, of course, just in case. Etho doesn't notice it straight away, and when he does he tries to ignore it. But he's blushing at how sweet Bdubs is being. He should tell him to stop but he can't. And eventually he does recupricate. It can be their little secret ~

And that is preciesly what it is. What it must be. A secret. No one can know. It stays in the privacy of Bdubs' quarters. But they love each other. They're happy with their secret forbidden romance ~

Until things change, anyway. Bdubs is told that he has been betrothed to the prince of another kingdom. A man he's only met like, once, very briefly, years ago. Bdubs isn't happy. Mostly because he's in love with Etho but also just because he doesn't want to get married! Unfortunatly, though, there's not much he can do, and soon plans for him to meet his new fiance properly are made.

The new fiance is Doc, who doesn't particularly want to get married to some guy he barely knows either. Still, when he meets Bdubs he's polite and they chat. They get along fine, and are both able to admit to each other that getting married isn't exactly something they want to do. But their families are the ones in control here, so all they can do is make the most of it.

Etho, meanwhile, meets Ren, who is one of Doc's guards. And they talk idly between themselves whilst their respective princes meander through the gardens in conversation. Ren susses out Etho's affections for Bdubs pretty much straight away. Etho denies it, but as far as Ren is concerned it's very obvious.

With the engagement quickly becoming public knowledge and Bdubs' life suddenly becoming much busier, Etho pulls back from Bdubs a bit. He's still doing his work of course, but keeps outside interactions to a minimum. Bdubs is getting married. So that means that their romance needs to stop. At least, that's how Etho sees it. Bdubs notices, of course he does, and he hates the sadness in Etho's eyes, but he isn't sure how to address it.

The wedding is extravegant and beautiful. Bdubs looks stunning all dressed up. Etho wishes he was the one marrying Bdubs, but he knows it's not possible. Bdubs still doesn't really want to get married, he likes Doc just fine, they get along and have become friends, but there's no romance there, neither of them are interested in the other like that. He misses Etho. But he thinks he knows why Etho has pulled away, and he understands, he hates it, but he understands.

Bdubs and Doc basically spend their honeymoon hanging out as friends, but that suits them fine and they enjoy it. Ren and Etho are often close by. And one evening Ren admits that he knows it sucks, seeing the guy you like getting married to someone else. He's kinda in the same boat, he likes Doc a lot too, but you just kinda have to accept it. You know? Etho knows that Ren is right, but he wishes he wasn't.

It's only so long before Etho and Bdubs come together again. They both know it's stupid, reckless, could get them in so much trouble. But they love each other so much that they can't quite help themselves. It's their secret. But it won't stay secret. People will find out, it'll become the gossip of the palace staff and the royal family alike. Both Etho and Bdubs will be faced with accusations that they hate and that aren't even true. Doc doesn't know what he thinks of it all, but despite everything, when he learns the truth he stands by Bdubs' side throughout.

Everything does work out in the end, but there's some tricky times ahead before any of that can happen..

Oh, you wanted to know exactly how that all goes down? Sorry. I'm trying to limit myself to about 1000 words per au (because otherwise I will unintentionally write thousands and thousands of words) and it seems I've hit that limit here!

I'm a sucker for royalty aus, I don't know why. This one is very fun and another I would like to write some day. We'll have to wait and see though!

There's still a few more of these asks in my inbox, so I'll probably be typing up another one of these posts very soon. In the mean time, if you want to ask questions about my aus please do! Give me even more reason to talk about them pfft

But yeah, thank you for the excuse to ramble! I really want to draw some boys for this au now lol

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Tapering down...

It's no secret on here that I'm a depressed old fuck who's barely surviving. I've been taking two antidepressants for the last few years, Sertraline (Zoloft) and Mirtazipine (Remeron).

I love the Mirtazipine because it helps me fall asleep at night and STAY asleep. Insomnia was one of my main symptoms...for years on end I never strung together more than an hour and a half of sleep at a time. If I take the Mirts right as I'm hittin' the bed, I fall asleep within 20 mins. Those I have no problem with.

Talked to the doc about 6 months ago about tapering down off the max Zoloft dose (150mg/day) and finally getting off them totally. Why? They never really seemed to DO anything. There may have been a slight sense of relief after awhile, but I never really FELT any kind of effect, and no real benefit, other than the possible "I'm taking meds now so I must be getting better" thing you have to tell yourself before they "kick in".

So, I tapered down to just 100mg for a couple months and then took the 50mg's until they were gone. Been completely off them for a few weeks now. Haven't really felt much different, nothing really negative, other than possibly feeling "hopeless" once in a while, which, frankly, anybody in my position WOULD feel.

My reason for writing this out? I never really considered that they might be masking some of my emotional range. After the big news of the day yesterday, after a few hours of sensing the giddiness in the ether, I just started crying. I know that's a perfectly fine reaction to have when something that's been horrible gets RESOLVED, at least on a certain level. It's a release of tension.

But there was more to it. Posted some videos, and listening to all the music, it just made me weep all that much more. And this was genuine grief...grief at the loss of what all those songs represented to me, to my own Personal Mythological Framework, as it were.

And yet, deep down I knew that it wasn't just the loss of The '60s Protest movement, or specifically 1967, The Summer of Love and what IT represents to me.

I think enough of the sertraline has flushed from my system now that my emotional body is releasing pent-up grief. I've written about my two Gemini loves, born a day apart, died nine years apart. That birthday anniversary has always been difficult to get through, but last night's flow of tears finally wound its way to that core pain.

I'm one of those people who has to know WHY.

Once the WHY is satisfied, the letting go can happen.

My last therapist was essentially a Buddhist witch, and I always struggled with what she said about the death(s), but it hit home on a deeper level last night. Her words? Essentially that we have to eventually get enough distance from it and see the "Rightness" of it.

That's a seemingly callous idea, but it's really not.

If someone dies, think of their lives and the trajectory they were on, and the trajectory the world has taken since their death. Eventually there will be a sense of "yes, that somehow HAD to happen for THIS to happen"...a sense of "rightness" in that definition is strange to feel, once you get to it. You may never GET to it...it may always be "THE GREAT WRONG" in your life.

Gemini 1 (my sweetie, my soulmate) died July 15, 2012; Gemini 2 (my bro the soldier) died four days after the January 6th attack, on January 10, 2021. I'm still surrounded by the detritus of both their lives, in my sweetie's case, I have every piece of art she made between Junior College and the day she died. In the case of my Bro, it's all the computer parts and tools and family camping stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in over 20 years.

I know that I've hung onto much of it out of desperation, out of duty and loyalty to their memory, their lives...but it is currently holding me back, and I can feel that. I have to find the stomach to go down to the garage and just start taking pictures of all the tech and camping stuff and being realistically ruthless about what I actually CAN and CAN'T use and hit CL and eBay with whatever might bring a buck.

Up until last night, the idea of that was just too overwhelming. I think last night's emotional release had an effect. Not sure just how any of it is going to happen, but I have to face all that crap down there and get rid of 90%, leaving only Char's artwork and a few tools i can use, and then finding a cheaper storage solution for what's left.

Especially since the evil landlords jacked the rent on the garage up another fucking $25 as of this coming month.

And back to that "Rightness" thing. I finally thought about that in terms of what has happened in the world since they both respectively left. I am certain my sweetie would not believe the shit that has gone on in the last 12 years. I'm pretty sure my bro's poor broken body would not have made it through the ensuing years, especially after that last bizarre injury.

It's a strange thing to see that from the distance of time. And last night's catharsis was certainly tied to it, but I'm sensing there was a component tied to the tapering off the sertraline. No more emotional masking, possibly there will be more peace of mind going forward, I can never be sure, as I pick up just about everything energetically. (Why I have to go "SHIELDS UP, SCOTTY!" while I'm out and about, and self-isolate so much of the time.)

We do have so much to grieve. It never really ends. You have to feel it ALL. You have to release it. You have to see the "rightness" of it when you look at the world in its entirety. The sertraline's masking of the intense sadness finally being gone facilitated the bulk of it, I'm pretty sure.

[cumulonimbuns]

Excuse me a moment for TKSD, as I must scream.

(Pretend there's an 80 line long string of "AAAAAAHH" I don't want to actually fill up the dash with that much junk text)

I love it. Chef's kiss. Beautiful. Sidon my beloved. Link my beloved. Flying dragon breaking out of her mindless state my beloved. Mwah.

I feel it necessary that you are making my polyam partner very, very gooshy about the polyamourous society of Zora you've made. They've been having a rough time with so many "Yona jealous of link and sidon" and "Yona blocks off link from Sidon" shit, and you and the Secret Confessions To a Sage comic by @kenneduck have literally sent them to tears of the happiness of good, easy polyamoury. They've been very gooshy.

And I can't wait to see how Chapter 5 goes. The ending of chapter 4 was soo good, and I loved the entire story. The line in chapter 1 about how Link was a tool to use for the kingdom, not a person that can have desires Mmmmmmmm good shit angst. And the Whole Breakdown was so good and aaaa Link keeps fleeing. And Yona getting right under there and swooping Link out of there I love her. I love what you have done with her. Just. Aaaaah.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

I’ll scream for you, no worries lol!

But seriously thanks so much!!!!

And towards your partner, I COMPLETELY understand. I remember finishing TOTK and excitedly running to ao3. Only to see some of the first fics with Yona was just hating on her, or turning her character into a really mean lady who you’re supposed to root against. There’s nothing wrong enjoying your gay ships, but maybe don’t vilify female characters only bc they ‘get in the way’? It reminded me WAY TOO MUCH of my time in the Sonic fandom (I’m still a part of that fandom, always, love that silly blue hedgehog <3), and ppl would do the same to Amy in a lot Sonadow fics. WHICH DROVE ME INSANE.

I will always believe the hc of: wingman Yona, supportive wife Yona, or Poly Yona. They’re all wonderful <3 Just have these bitches love each other. It’s way more fun. I know once I complete TKSD I’d rlly rlly like to write a fic about SidYonZeLink, polyamory relationships are very dear to me, and I love exploring how complicated yet wonderfully caring they can be.

BUT OMG, I ALSO LOVE KENNEDUCK!!!! The Secret Confessions comic is just *chef kiss* GLORIOUS! I’m almost POSITIVE all of ya’ll have seen/read it, but if not—YOU BETTER GO RIGHT NOW AND DO SO!!! Their Yona is also so so so wonderful, she is so soft, and she and Sidon are so soft together. I love it.

I’m excited and nervous for chapter 5! I know a lot of y’all really wanna get to Link, but it felt important to write about the Sage’s to set up a couple of future events. I meant for it to be fairly short and then have a larger section dedicated to when they find Link, but thats… not exactly what happened. Atm the doc is at an even 19k word count (dunno how i managed that), and i still have a decent amount of things to write, SO…. Yeah. A lot of this chapter is really just about the Sages and the Sage’s bonding. If that’s not what you want than you can obviously wait til chapter 6, which spoilers, will be Link’s pov and ONLY about his recovery.

Thanks so much for all your kind words!! I rlly appreciate it <3<3<3

I hope everyone has a lovely day and that you enjoy future chapters and future fics!!

[laundrybiscuits]

Omg okay that ask list is so much fun I'm overwhelmed with choices. This isn't small enough to count as "for want of a nail" but if you ever wanted to write palm split where Eddie gets the cut ... I'd love to read. Otherwise, purify our misfit ways - time after time - Eddie or Steve noticing the other at any point before the story begins ?

I do already have a snippet with that first premise here, but I wrote a little more:

Hey, idiot. You fucked up.

Eddie can kind of remember writing those words, but it’s blurry and remote, like he’s remembering a scene from a book he read years ago.

Docs say I’ll remember most stuff but not the emotions. Something like that. We never were too good at paying attention when it really matters. So this is me, telling me to listen the fuck up: DO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH STEVE HARRINGTON AGAIN. He’s just a guy.

There’s something else written after that, but it’s scribbled out so heavily, the paper’s a little bit torn. Eddie searches his memory for what it might be, but he’s coming up blank.

Probably for the best if you stay away from him until you get a real boyfriend or something, if that ever happens. You’re just being lonely and pathetic  No. That stays in. You’re just being lonely and pathetic, so get a fucking grip. Stay away from him like he’s the plague, because he is, for you.  Also this is REALLY IMPORTANT so pay attention numbnuts: he doesn’t know you have a thing for him. HAD a thing, by the time you read this, I guess. If you don’t die on the slab. 

There’s a little doodle underneath of zombie-Eddie going “BLAH.” It’s pretty good, if Eddie does say so himself. 

Guard this secret WITH. YOUR. LIFE. Munson. If he figures it out, you might as well be dead. 

Huh. 

It goes on for a while, laying out some key facts about how Eddie got here like one of his campaign journals. It feels like getting a briefing from some super-secret headquarters on a spy mission, except his handler is also Eddie and therefore kind of a dick. 

The guy who gave him the notebook in the first place is gone by the time Eddie puts two and two together to deduce that he must be the fabled Steve. Eddie doesn’t see what’s so fucking great about him that Eddie had to get a whole actual surgery to stop mooning over him, but—he did pay for the surgery, so. Yeah. He’s probably a little different from how Eddie vaguely remembers him in high school. 

Still, it can’t be that hard to keep from falling in love with Steve Harrington again. He just has to get through the drive home, and everything can go back to normal.

palm split with a flower with a flame on AO3

Fic-specific asks

[muirmarie]

I started to do the thing I like to do where I write a couple rough sketches of a story I want to find the shape of but not actually write? And then it got too long????

Anyway the gist of it was (tw: consent issues/dub-cob) st:tos triumvirate (kirk/bones/spock)

due to a translation error and some ~scientific~ magic powers, bones gets a literal magical healing cock, simply because I cannot imagine a man less disposed to sexing up his friends on a whim, but who would probably fuck his ENEMY if it saved their life?? kirk purposefully hamming it up/leering to make bones feel more normal, uhura kissing his cheek afterwards and seriously asking him if she can brag about how good he is, scotty absolutely not asking for permission to brag and fully regaling the engineering dept with "doctor's hands are clever things" nonsense, chekov gets a puppy crush and decides bones must be part russian because only a russian could kiss like that, sulu treats it like the medicine it's intended as and takes it upon himself to bodily drag chekov away from the good doc until he gets over himself -

and of course: spock. spock, obviously fatally injured, and the inevitable dub-con inherent in that on BOTH their sides (and on kirk's because kirk is there in the moments before it happens, because he, too, is worried like bones is that spock'll refuse, but he, unlike bones, is not willing to accept that answer, so he forcefully talks them into it, even tho both feel like they're forcing the other - )

and then spock, hunting bones down in the aftermath to apologize, as if he's a burden, as if bones was somehow unwilling to do that and more, as if -

"I am well aware of your propensity to lay all blame at your own feet, doctor, but the idea of you blaming yourself for saving my life, at personal cost to you, is -"

"You cannot be that stupid, Spock, that you think I wouldn't do anything to - "

"Your martyr complex is hardly a secret, doctor. Rest assured that I know what lengths you'll go to save others-"

"To save /you/, Spock. As aggravating as you are, there's nothing I wouldn't do to save /you/, you green-blooded hobgoblin!"

Even the short version of this got too long lmao, anyway unestablished ot3 when kirk walks in like, "oh are we talking about the fact I forced you two to have sex to save spock's life?" and both of these known kirk apologists IMMEDIATELY have to defend him, like, excuse me, we are adults, we make our own choices, it was hardly a hardship, and kirk jumps in with both feet like NOT A HARDSHIP, HUH? BECAUSE IT WASN'T A HARDSHIP TO WATCH, EITHER, ALTHO NEXT TIME YOU TWO WANNA TANGO MAYBE DO IT WITH LESS DYING, SO I CAN ACTUALLY ENJOY IT, and anyway they all have sex, obviously, and the magical healing cock thing DOES fade, but the ship generally agrees that while they're very glad bones is better, and that all moral conundrums re: his healing powers are no longer on the table, it was kinda nice to have the long-running lore of bones being THEE best lover finally confirmed once and for all

Why do I have so much plot in my head for such a ridiculous idea. Why.

[magnumdays]

Magnum PI 5.08 “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” review

Okay, we all called it but still, I did very much enjoy dressed up Miggy being all adorable on their date. Until of course, it all went horribly terrifyingly wrong. Man, those were some freaky hallucinations.

Anyways…

I’ve been trying to gather my thoughts on this episode and I can’t decide if I’m hugely disappointed or extremely thrilled.

So three plots this week, but I think they made that work even though they were very separated from each other and Childs really had no one to talk to. He was/is really growing on me which means it would make sense for them to kill him. Likeable people die… it’s the TV way.

The Miggy/ case-case

As some clever people had guessed the proposal was not real (I mean we knew it wasn’t going to be real but the fan girl in me so wanted it to be!) but just how quickly it was going to go from ‘awww adorable Miggy date’ to ‘Higgy’s worst nightmare’ had me a little shook. But that wasn’t even really the nightmare… oh boy, that was some freaky hallucinations there at the end, well done.

Problem with putting the proposal and Higgy in trouble first thing… well, I’m just waiting for that moment to happen. So everything leading up to it is a little…well for me, I don’t really super focus on it. Or I didn’t today. So yeah, the Miggy + case was a little bit of a blur to me. I did enjoy our babies having their first fight, brought on by Magnum’s terrible password etiquette and looming death. Very fitting for our duo.

(Also, Higgy, 64 symbol passwords? What are you trying to protect? The lumminati deepest darkest secrets?)

Higgy doing her American accent always amuses me, but I did like southern belle from season 4 better, that was hilarious! A patient figuring it out and Higgy actually telling her because even if the patient told…who’d have believed her?

Magnum just knowing Higgy was in trouble there at the end did annoy me a little. Like come on, surely there must have been a better way? Also him rushing up the stairs - like boy? where are you going? Higgy’s find my phone was offline! Making for good last second rescue drama, sure, but still, not sure it made 100% sense.

It did get us both this

and this

so can’t complain.

Also can we talk about how it’s Higgy having the proposal dream? I half expected, even as I knew it was her dream, for it to be drugged Magnum having the dream. Our girl sure has come a long way :-)

Even if the more horrible bits of that scene, with the two Higgy’s and the padded room/corridor - was my favourite.

Also heartbreaking with the whole “whose blood is that”. In fact that whole drugged Higgy sequence was freaky as shit. I will be having nightmares of American accented Perdie going ‘whose blood is that?’, (and Higgy will be having those nightmares too in the fan fic my muse really wants to write -let’s hope muse-me sticks around when I’m starting at the blank pages of my google docs later…)

Did enjoy bad ass bitch Higgy being all “do you think you’re the first person to drug and interrogate me, you’re an amateur”. Like, part of me really would love to know just all Higgy’s crazy spy adventures.

Anyways, did love most of it and it does fit with nervous Higgy which we have been getting lately, so bonus points for continuity but… still IDK, maybe the clickbait proposal thing but something throws me a little?

I’d have had them hiking at pillbox and being all normal cute and not proposal cute, that would have made for more of a gut punch when Magnum was suddenly coughing up blood. Maybe? Because we wouldn’t have gone ‘oh dream/hallucination’ right away.

Also why did Higgy get banged on the head there at the start and then her wound just disappeared? Did they decide to add that in once filming was done to give her a moment with the creepy nurse or something? At least they could have given her a bandaid? IDK, just random intrusive thoughts made me super annoyed by this.

Childs getting himself killed(?)

So not confirmed dead, but since we seem to be getting a very dramatic mid-season finale next week (which already started this week to be honest!) I’m a little worried about Childs’ survival odds.

Especially since he was almost nice and did claim our faves as his friends. Plus got a cute talk/moments with his GF. That feels like nails in his coffin. But I had just begun to like him so let’s hope.

Gordy and baby-Gordy

The father-son ‘adventure’ to the mainland was maybe my favourite bit. Mostly because of this moment.

This moment really got to me. Because like this is the feeling. The feeling when something happens, and even though bad guy is thrown out/sent to jail, the host lady is all nice and apologetic and stuff, the bad unfair thing still happened. And it will keep on happening. And how do you fucking deal or talk about that.

I feel like this is one of the most relatable things for anyone who has ever been a minority one way or another, as a woman, different ethnicity, religion or social class.

Very much liked that Gordy did find some words to talk about it and found a way to sort of help reclaim the situation at the end. But still. Something weirdly emotional and relatable and important about that just eating in silent scene (for me at least.)

Other than Higgy’s freaky hallucinations and the Miggy feels at the end, Gordon and Dennis’ scenes were the best.

Next week

My goodness, not one second of downtime for anyone on this show, ever. Even before the episode we already have.

TC beeing shot.

Childs has been maybe blown up.

In the promo we see Higgy doing some seriously impressive flipping over fighting moves (someone make a gif of Higgy kicking ass from the promo, pretty please!) and Rick being chased through the rainforest?

Figuring Shammy saves the day with TC and takes him to Robin’s Nest where we know will be under siege? So TC, Shammy and Magnum & Higgins there and then Rick being hunted on his own?

I’m excited but I’m also not, because frankly I like being the one that causes my faves pain because then I know I can also give them some comfort and happiness later. This just seems like lots of hurt and very little comfort!!!

(At least it seems to not be another slightly disappointing SUV plot line?)

Well, next week can’t come soon enough while at the same time as soon as it does there won’t be any more Magnum until September. Which is a terrible terrible fate and the only good thing about this would be if this made made my muse wake up and I got to finish some of my fics!

[knickynoo]

Back to the Future: The Animated Series, s02ep05 “Verne's New Friend” Review and Commentary

Previous episodes linked here.

In this episode: the obligatory kids' show "girls and boys can be friends" plotline.

We're back in Real Doc's lab for the opening segment, a rarity this season! Doc's got a lot of mysterious, bubbling liquids around him, and he takes a drink from a beaker, informing us it's water. However, he then picks up another one, which contains H2SO4 (sulfuric acid).

Remember when I covered the first season and kept making note of Doc's seemingly deteriorating mental state? The guy was a whole other level of unhinged in these opening segments. Zany, off the rails, and just plain WEIRD (said with the utmost affection). This live-action scene is no different, and it's not something that can really be captured properly in text. I feel I must include an actual clip to give you a taste of what Animated Series Real Doc is like.

What is. wrong with him.

The thing that really gets me (aside from the way he says, "Poisooooonnn...") is the way he smiles after.

If I didn't know and love Doc Brown, I would be terrified of this man. This could be in a horror movie. The last thing you see before the mad scientist takes you down.

Ultimately, the point of Doc's odd little display is to convey to us that things are not always what they seem. As many of our lead-ins into the cartoon part of the show, this one begins with Verne.

He and a bunch of buddies are gathered at a local baseball field and are ready to start up their game. It's guys only, though, and when two girls express their desire to play, Verne tells them, "Get lost. Girls can't play ball!" He and some of the other boys then start making jokes about how the girls should go fix their hair or do their nails instead. Oh, Verne...

I feel like this is a VERY common thing in 90s shows. The whole "boy discovers girls can play sports/be tough/enjoy the same things he does" was done over and over in TV.

During the game, the ball gets hit out of the field and is caught by a kid sitting on the sidewalk. The kid returns the ball with an amazing pitch, and Verne is instantly impressed. He asks the kid to be on his team, and they immediately form a quick friendship.

And with the whole "Verne doesn't want to play with girls" plotline having been immediately established in the first 20 seconds of this episode, let's really consider for a moment where they might be going here, shall we? Verne's just met a kid who plays baseball better than he does and who loves comic books as well. This kid is always wearing a hat. I'm thinkin' Vernie is in for a surprise when he gets to know his new friend better.

While at the comic store, the kids come across a poster for The Bob Brothers All-Star International Circus, and they want to go. The worker at the store informs them that it's an old poster, and the circus happened in 1933 and is now out of business. (Nice reference to "The Bobs" here!)

When Verne's friend (who we don't have a name for yet) expresses disappointment at not being able to see the show, Verne says maybe they can go to the circus. "Can you keep a secret?" he asks. Verne is about to spill the secret of time travel to a kid he's known all of two hours.

He and his friend sneak into the garage and hop into the DeLorean, programming it to the date of the circus and taking off on their little trip. Btw, Doc had been working on the car in that same moment. Doc is UNDER THE CAR when it's driven out of the garage.

As they drive along the street, a hand reaches from somewhere behind Verne and he panics, thinking it's Doc. (He hadn't seen him under the car) It's Marty, though! He'd been searching around in the car for something Doc needed in his repairs and has now been taken along for the ride against his will. He also shows absolutely zero concern at seeing Verne's friend sitting in the passenger seat. No "Who is this?" or "Verne, you told someone about time travel?!". Nothing.

The three of them arrive in 1933 and go straight to the circus. They're the only members in the audience.

They soon discover why the circus went out of business. It's awful. The band plays terrible music, the acts are boring (the "ferocious" lion is asleep during his performance), the tightrope walker is only two feet off the ground and terrified, and the Bob brothers running the show are a couple of clumsy goofballs. Verne, Marty, and Verne's friend are bored to tears.

When it comes time to see the human cannonball, one of the Bobs announces that the act has to be canceled due to a "slight occupational hazard." This is the human cannonball.

The only way the act can go on is if someone from the audience volunteers to do it themself. Sounds very legal!!!

Marty accidentally volunteers himself to be the cannonball because he picks that exact moment to wave his hands in an attempt to signal the guy selling peanuts. Good going, Marty. He's promptly launched into the air, out of the tent, and crash lands on the DeLorean, sending pieces of it flying.

(If you look closely at the sign in the background, it says "Tannen Farm")

After taking a look at the car later on, Marty informs his little buddies of some bad news: the carburetor is cracked. He says he might be able to fix it with a paperclip, though. Verne's friend, who we learn a moment later is called "Chris," is able to help out by offering a bobby pin. Verne is baffled. Why would a boy be carrying around a bobby pin??

As Marty works on the car, Verne and Chris sneak back into the circus, where they overhear a Tannen telling the Bobs that they'll have to pay him double from now on in order to keep using his land. The kids climb a nearby ladder up to a platform so they can get a better vantage point, and a series of wacky events follow. Verne and Chris fall from the platform but grab onto a unicycle and end up riding it across a tightrope, then they fling themselves into a clown car, a runaway tire crashes into a group of acrobats, and so on. Pure chaos.

Once everything is settled, Mac Tannen comes running over to one of his pigs, scooping it up and cuddling it and doing all sorts of baby talk to it.

"Cleopatra! Poor little baby-wabey. Did the baddy-waddy wittle boys frighten Daddy's itty-bitty piggy-wiggy?"

And you know what? It's kind of endearing seeing a Tannen acting all affectionate and loving toward something. Look at how happy that pig is. She has a bow in her hair!

As a result of all the shenanigans, he ends up telling the Bobs that he now wants triple the rent money, plus extra for damages. If he doesn't get it by the next night, he's going to take over running the circus. Verne and Chris are forced to stay and help out around the place in order to pay back the money for all the stuff they broke. Verne comes up with a plan to get the money rolling in quickly, and he and Chris ride an elephant into town to advertise and give away free tickets. That night, the stadium is completely packed, and Verne tells the Bobs that they'll make a ton of money selling food and souvenirs.

Unfortunately, the sisters who do the trapeze act have just quit, and it's their biggest act of the night. Verne says it's no sweat; he and Chris will do the act because "We can do anything any old girls can do."

Wearing some of Doc's "booster belts", Verne and Chris prepare for their trapeze act debut.

Marty says they look silly, especially wearing hats, and Verne takes his off. Chris refuses to do the same. Hmmm....

Also, I need to drop another screenshot of Mac with his pig as they sit in the audience.

The show begins with Chris and Verne, who fly around the air with ease due to their booster belts. The audience goes wild.

(this has nothing to do with the plot, but I want to draw attention to a scene where Mac's skin tone flashes back and forth noticeably)

I'm truly fascinated by the amount of mistakes and wonky animation in this series. People's eyes and skin change color out of nowhere and the character designs vary episode to episode. There's no consistency at all.

Returning back to the episode, the pair is in the middle of their most daring stunt when Chris's hat flies off and reveals....she's a GIRL! Who could have seen this coming?

Verne is so shocked that he falls from his own trapeze and begins plummeting to the ground. Chris swoops in and saves him just in time. Once they land and a crowd of people gathers in awe, Verne stalks off angrily.

Outside, the Bobs pay Mac Tannen all the money they owe him, followed by another very obvious mistake. Mac calls to his pig, who appears a moment later carrying an armful of food and souvenirs. A second later all that stuff is gone, and it's just the pig walking away. Holding nothing.

What was going on in the studio that animated this show??

Over at the DeLorean, Verne is ranting to Marty about how upset he is that Chris was a girl this whole time. How could he have shared so many things he loved with A GIRL?? Marty doesn't get what the big deal is. He says that some of his best friends are girls. "She's still the same person you liked before," he goes on to tell Verne, to which Verne continues complaining. Marty tells him he better knock it off or his friendship with Chris (whose name is really Christine) is going to be over.

With the car fixed, they all pile into the car, where Verne continues to give Chris the cold shoulder for betraying him or something. Idk. Verne is convinced girls have cooties. But the whole reason that Chris hid the fact she's a girl is specifically because it was the only way she could be included in those "boy activities." Verne never would have asked her to play baseball or read comics with him if he'd known from the start.

Once back home, Verne joins his buddies for a game of baseball. As he chases after the ball, he runs into Chris. She hands him the ball, and Verne awkwardly asks her if she wants to play with them. And that's where the cartoon portion ends.

All is well. Verne has come to his senses and realized that it's okay to have friends who are girls. We don't get to see any scenes of how Verne comes to change his mind, though. It just happens. He's angry at her one moment, then asks her to play 20 seconds later in the next scene. I get that there's very limited time to tell a story in a kids' cartoon, but it would've been nice to see Verne having that moment of, "Hey, maybe I was wrong."

We go back to Doc's lab, where he reiterates the lesson that appearances can be deceiving. For example, his elaborate setup of tubes and colorful liquids is actually an invention that creates the perfect water balloon. You see, he's preparing for his and Verne's semi-annual water fight, and he's discovered an exact formula that helps the balloons fly further and have the biggest burst ratio.

I love Doc being a dad. Establishing regular water balloon fights with his son and using the power of science to beat him is something he absolutely would do.

And that about does it for this episode! It was okay. Verne was annoying in it, but I liked Chris (I was very much considered a "tomboy" as a kid), and Marty actually came through with some common sense and good advice. Like I said, I feel like I've seen this same kind of storyline a hundred times from various shows and movies. It was a popular one in the 80s through the early 2000s, it seems.

Join me next time as I go into the episode without any prior knowledge, because it's called "Bravelord and the Demon Monstrux" which intrigues me so much that I don't even want to read the episode summary.

[softguarnere]

Like A Girl (Like A Man)

Shifty Powers x OFC

Chapter Four: A Secret, Shared

Taglist: @liebgotts-lovergirl @latibvles

Summary: Zenie shares a secret and accepts an invitation

Warnings: smoking, mentions of unsafe binding techniques

Toccoa, 1942

“So. Who else knows?”

“No one. At least not that I’m aware of.”

Zenie has never liked smoking – could never stand the scent of the cigarettes and hated having people casually blow smoke in her face during conversations. Now though, she takes the cigarette when she is offered, holds the smoke in her lungs and prays that it will calm her down the way that it does for the men. Her hand trembles as she holds it between her fingers.

She takes a long drag before she speaks again. It’s strange, to speak in her natural register after so long of concentrating on making her voice sound deeper. “What happens now?” Suddenly bold and bitter in the face of uncertainty, she adds, “At least give me a head start so that I can run before they decide to hunt me down and court martial me.”

Doc Roe blinks, his dark eyes holding back something that lies halfway between surprise and a laugh. “I wasn’t plannin’ on turnin’ you in.”

“What?” Now it’s her turn to be surprised.

The medic looks around to make sure that no one else is around to overhear them. No one should be able to – they’ve climbed to the top of Currahee to have this conversation, because in the hustle and bustle of camp life, this is the one place that remains quiet, except during their PT runs on the trail.

“I ain’t gonna turn you in.”

“Why not?” The words are out before she can stop them, but she can’t help it. Because really – why not? If someone has something that they can hold over her head, why not dangle it there and demand that she dance, jump, sing for her supper, anything they could force her to do?

“Why not?” Doc Roe repeats. He inhales from his cigarette, his eyebrows furrowed. “’Cause if the tables were turned, wouldn’t any of us do the same thing as you?”

That certainly is the question, isn’t it? It stands to reason that they would, and that they would see Zenie’s side of things because of it. Too bad that the higher ups who hold her fate in their hands won’t see it that way. She can practically feel Sobel and Sink squeezing that same fate, testing her durability to see how much she can stand. Roe might not turn her in, but she could still take that head start and take off running . . .

But she doesn’t want to. She really doesn’t want to leave this place.

“How did you figure it out?” If he’s already done it, then other people must be well on their way to drawing the same conclusion. Doc Roe is offering not to tell anyone what he knows, but she’s got to figure out how to keep everyone else from realizing that she’s not a man.

“Don’t feel bad. Part of my whole job is noticin’ things about Easy men. I gotta know how people usually act so that I can tell when something is off – when someone might be hidin’ a sickness or an injury.

“You were always slippin’ off for the showers and latrines at different times. Not changin’ in front of anyone. Then I saw you stuffin’ somethin’ into your mattress one day, shortly after some of the nurses realized that some health sponges were missin’, and every now and then a roll of bandages will disappear.”

“But you didn’t tell anyone. Why?”

Doc only shrugs. “I didn’t see no reason to. Not like you was hurtin’ anybody.” He glances over her quickly. “Well, except for yourself. You got the bandages too tight. They need to be looser.”

“I can’t loosen them. Then everyone will realize – “

“You wanna keep almost passin’ out?”

Zenie’s words halt. She’s hardly ever heard Roe say two words, and definitely not in such an authoritative tone. It’s all she can do to shake her head through her shock.

“Then you gotta loosen ‘em, at least before PT. And take ‘em off when you’re sleepin’ – completely off, so you can breathe and give your ribs a break. Make sure they get washed if your gonna reuse ‘em. If not, I’ll get you some new ones.”

He says it all so quickly that it takes Zenie a second to wrap her head around it all.

“Are you . . . helping me?”

Now Roe looks confused. “Yeah.”

“But why?”

Off to the side, the sun is starting to sink below the distant horizon. The world is bathed in gold, but the blue hour is creeping in, slowly painting the world the same color as the distant, smoky looking mountains. They need to head back to camp soon, or else they’ll be in all kinds of trouble with Sobel – something that Zenie cannot afford after barely surviving the run earlier today.

“Paratroopers are supposed to be the best of the best,” Roe finally answers. “We’re supposed to be the bravest and the most daring. That’s true of all the men down there, or else they wouldn’t be here. And here you are, riskin’ your neck to be a part of ‘em. The way I see it, that makes you the bravest and most daring of all of ‘em. If there’s anyone I would trust in combat, it’s someone as fearless as you.”

No one has ever called Zenie brave, daring, or fearless. It’s the first and probably the last time anyone ever will. Even the prissy sounding voice in the back of her mind – the one that has a habit of repeating things that Beckie used to say to her – butts in to remind her that she’s always been somewhat of a crybaby, and begins holding that stupid Christmas party and that childhood crush on Elijah Woodard over her head again, just to remind her how easy it is for someone to use secrets to keep others in their place.

“What do I owe you?” she can’t help but ask.

But Roe only shakes his head. “Just make sure you don’t kill yourself with those bandages, Tommy.”

The secret felt much safer when the only other person keeping it was about fifty miles away. The next time that Zenie pens a letter to Bobby, she tries to figure out a way to tell him that someone has found her out. But the mail is censored; there’s no way to tell him without telling everyone – assuming that they don’t already know.

What would she even say? Dear Bobby, Bad news, my cover was blown by a very observant medic. Your friend, Zena “Tommy Driver” McGlamery.

She’s being paranoid. If anyone else knew, they would have sent her to jail or kicked her out or worse. Much, much worse.

For a while, she keeps a close eye on Doc Roe, trying to figure him out. But the more she watches him, the more that his words up on Currahee seem to be sincere. He never makes any offer to hold the secret over her head, and he checks in with her to ask how her ribs feel, to make sure she has fresh bandages, and to ask if she needs any health sponges. Despite her instincts, Zenie finds herself softening around him as she learns to put her trust in him.

It’s a leap of faith, hoping that he really has her best interest at heart. But isn’t that what being a paratrooper is all about? Taking a leap and hoping that something – usually a parachute, but this time, a fellow soldier – will keep you from crashing into the ground?

Things start to move so quickly that she finds new things to worry about instead. In December, the news comes that they’ll be leaving Toccoa, and the day before, they have to march all the way to Atlanta. Then it’s on to Fort Benning, which is somehow more miserable than Toccoa because of the heat. Zenie has to take Doc’s advice and loosen her bandages. She finds herself praying that this won’t be what gets her caught. To her surprise, it seems to work, and she has to wonder if maybe all of her hometown’s pastor’s speeches about the power of prayer actually had some merit to them.

But Benning is better than Toccoa in a lot of ways. Instead of constant physical conditioning, they start learning what they all joined the Army for in the first place – how to jump. And unlike the coveted weekend passes that so often ended up being revoked, they’re granted a ten-day furlough to visit home.

There’s no way that Zenie could risk showing her face at home. But ten days of reprieve and privacy around the Fort wouldn’t be too bad. Still, a sinking feeling enters her stomach as she pictures watching her friends leave. It wouldn’t be the first time that she’s watched people she cares about head out into the world without her. She’s had plenty of practice with that, what with watching Matthew head off for the Air Force, Marilyn moving off with her fiancé, Beckie leaving for the city . . . This time, though, the people she cares about will come back, which is a change of pace at least.

“I’m tellin’ ya Tommy, you would like Philly,” Bill offers for the hundredth time. “And Ma wouldn’t mind at all. Hell, after having her sons leave for the war, she’d probably be glad to have another mouth to feed.”

“The biggest city I’ve been to is Atlanta,” Zenie reminds him. “I’d probably get lost.” And I can’t risk being in such close quarters with someone who doesn’t know my secret, she doesn’t add.

Other friends make the same offer, and she politely refuses them all. But when Shifty approaches her, she can’t quite find the words to tell him no. Maybe it’s because of how fondly he describes Clinchco to Popeye, talking about the views from a place called Frying Pan, the hollers that he hiked as a kid, and the way frost covers the mountain tops this time of year – it all reminds Zenie of home, and something within her finds that she actually misses hers, just a little.

Shifty makes the first offer casually. But after that, he’s almost insistent that she take her leave with someone, even if it’s not him. “You never seem to take your passes. I think it would drive me crazy, waitin’ around here while everyone else is gone for ten whole days.”

“I can’t go home.” It feels wrong to lie to him. She settles on something close to the truth instead. “Shifty, if I go home . . . I’ll never be able to come back.”

“Homesickness? Or – “

“My family – “ She cuts herself off. Funny, how in this role as Thomas she’s rehearsed so many lines and lies and stories, but she can’t find any good ones now. Nothing that will hold up under pressure, anyway, the way that nothing but the truth does. “They don’t know that I’m in the Army.”

Shifty’s eyebrows furrow, his handsome face serious as he puzzles it out. “But we’re the same age. I had to have my Daddy sign the papers for me to join. Your parents . . . ?”

“I forged my father’s signature.” Well, technically Bobby forged her father’s signature. Er, Tommy Driver’s father’s signature. Zenie likes to imagine that Tommy’s dad would be kind and understanding and supportive and would have signed Thomas’ papers in a heartbeat, no questions asked. That’s how she imagines a father who is proud of his child would be.

“Oh.” He glances away. For a minute, neither says anything, although Shifty knits his eyebrows again, looking like he wants to.

Something within Zenie’s stomach drops as disappointment washes over her. If she hadn’t become such good friends with him, maybe lying to him wouldn’t feel so awful. Or if he knew who she really was, then she could explain everything.

“Still,” he finally says. “If you want to, you could come to Clinchco with me. My folks won’t mind.”

“Okay. I’ll go.”

Shifty’s eyes widen. Zenie feels her own do the same. She hadn’t anticipated accepting so quickly. This feels like high school, awkwardly agreeing to the few outings she was invited to much too quickly, making her look desperate.

For what it’s worth, Shifty doesn’t seem to mind. Not when his expression softens into a smile and he lets out a little laugh.

“Alrighty then. Looks like the mountain men are headin’ home to the holler.” 

[the-ashenstreaked-doctor]

13, 14 and 15 for the oc ask 👀

13. Do they enjoy poetry?

He does, sometimes! He finds it fun to read the way the words wind together and find some sort of meaning from them, like finding a clear path through troubled waters. He approaches poetry as a riddle to be solved, something whose core is hidden within the spiral and must be picked out.

However. Sometimes, poetry is written.. overly flowery, lacking any depth. The word choices are confusing, the text circles and ties itself in meaningless knots that look pretty, but can’t hold anything. The text presents itself in a way that his literal-tending mind can only take as literal, seeming to leave no room to practice interpretation. These, he is not fond of.

14. Do they have a hard time opening up to people?

Yes, even if it may not seem like it sometimes. Doc tends to be more open in letters than in person; the act of writing with no one there to ‘pressure’ him gives him time to think out what he’d like to say, weigh the risks of what he puts to writing. Plus, he can word things in such a way that make it seem like he’s being more open than he is… In person, he struggles to even speak with most of his acquaintances.

Even with friends, he doesn’t always open up. He has exactly two close friends he can think of that know some of his deeper secrets, and everyone else is left with the surface level. He simply doesn’t trust what others will do with what he says. Secrets are a currency here, after all.

15. What kind of sense of humor do they have? Or do they have one at all?

Despite his stern expression and dour-seeming disposition, he actually does have a sense of humour! He enjoys clever wordplay (and, admittedly, not-so-clever wordplay can give him a chuckle), and he can laugh at something unexpected but funny happening. With closer friends, he’ll jokingly flirt back and forth since he knows nothing will come of it. He’s surprisingly good at one-liners without intending to be, and he appreciates good comedic timing from others as well.

[ask meme]

[casadefreewill]

No school AU for the wip game?

you know what, I'm just gonna put everything in the doc here

Adrien never went to school

Adrien is a sentimonster

Adrien still has fencing at Dupont - can be seen there sometimes

Only friend is Chloé

Lack of other social connections = subconsciously clings desperately to ladybug 

Likes to explore the city at night as much as possible

meets marinette through exploration / she’s up and has food and art out on her balcony, just chilling

Meets Alya through her interviewing of them

Meets Nino through his relationship to Alya, they still get locked together during an akuma attack

 No civilian adrien = Ladybug considers Chat’s flirtatious advances

Chat Blanc happens > enforce that Marinette's presence had very little to do with the end result of how things played out. Gabriel reveals himself to Adrien for different reasons.

Marinette take away is they need a way to keep in contact if anything goes wrong for either of them in their lives

Chat's civilian ID must stay secret at all costs (even from her)

They eventually compromise with minimalist phones (adrien orders them for both of them when they have the idea) - only allows calls and text, no internet to be tracked. Meant to be used to alert for akumas, they expand it eventually into general chitchat when one akuma’s power just kind of gets to Chat and he just isn’t in a good place after the fight no matter how he covers it up (her either).

Adrien is FAR more isolated here.

He does eventually meet and make friends with Kagami.  

Civilian friend list:

Chloé (sees her when Chloé thinks of it, at events when his father lets him out)

Queen Bee? > because Chloé likes Adrien and Adrien knows its Chloé/Chat is teammates with her

Kagami (sees her when their parents allow, fencing)

Chat’s friends:

Ladybug

Marinette - she helps with several akumas and he starts to see her a responsible person and a good friend

Eventually:

Alya

Nino

Rina Rouge

Carapace 

Luka/Viperian (exploration leads him to the liberty)

Queen Bee? > Chat picks her as team member

Ryuko? > Chat picks as team member

——

Senti:

The amok is one of the Gram De Vanily rings.

Gabriel doesn’t use it to control adrien/adjust his behavior because Emily made him and he doesn’t want to mess up any of the work she put so much effort into.

When things start to climax/get bad he does grab the ring and command Adrien to be silent. — (Adrien isn’t actually 100% sure that’s not just something adults can do to to children but he’s mostly just terrified and contacts Ladybug via phone)

— Gabriel also commanded him to his room, it’s the compulsion he felt to obey both commands that makes him start to wonder/freak out a little

— Plagg’s “discussion” with him about it (adrien can’t talk) also leads to them concluding there is some fuckery going on somewhere 

— it’s that he goes looking for the ring where he finds the lair and “mom”’s body, Plagg recognizes the amok and they take the rings.

show them to lady bug, they find a place to hide the rings

Adrien has a break down/identity crisis 

Not just treated like a doll but is one

Also Dad is probably Hawk Moth

[ohmygillygoshoppler]

Oh God please tell me you've written more for the secret saturdays. Please please please, I absolutely have to have something else to read regarding them please

I have been writing a bit, yeah. I moved apartments and haven't been able to draw but the creative juices wont stop flowing, so I had to start writing, lmao. but, yes, I have a piece of a piece for you. Eat well, my starving little Anon~

Drew batted the raindrops from her lashes and pulled the hood of the cowl Fisk was wearing over his ears. She wondered how he could sleep after the nightmare that just transpired; she held him closer to her the more she thought about it. Try as she might; tooth and nail, blood and bone, the universe seemed to be conspiring against them. One thing after another after another- 

And her baby boy died that day. Gods, what about Zak? What must be going on inside his head right now? Drew's heart ached to know what could've happened to him if by some strange magic, Argost’s plan had succeeded.

She was glad, though, that he was only gone for a few minutes. Things could've been so much worse.

She was grateful, too, that the Cat Goddess herself had asked for an audience with the entire family, let alone Kur. And she was gracious enough to offer a safe space for them to talk; her own offices in the great City of Cairo. The Saturdays were all aflutter to be there, and the offices of Bastet were nothing short of breathtaking.

Doc looked the most uncomfortable, but Drew knew that it was simply out of fear of the unknown. He wasn't the type to even acknowledge magic as a fact of existence, now he's being faced with magic and gods and wizards and cantrips and all sorts of things he previously thought to be nothing but works of fiction. Kind of ironic, the father of the godchild being the one to be hesitant to acknowledge the existence of other gods. It almost made Drew want to laugh.

[toasted-frootloops]

One For All REVAMP ~ Chapter 2 - Waking Up

BLU - Normal RED - Bold ~~~~~~~~~~~

Scout walks inside the BLU base, the other men stopping and looking over in shock as Spy looks outside before closing the door and walking over to the crowd. Scout rushes up to Medic and looks at him with worry.

Scout: Doc, please, you gotta help her! Please!

Medic: Oh my goodness, quick, rests her on the couch.

Scout runs over to the old green couch and lays her down, moving back and breathing heavily as the other mercs surround the couch. They all look down at the girl in shock, seeing all the marks and wounds covering her body.

Sniper: Dear God...

Demoman: This poor lass, what the hell happened to her?

Medic: Scout, where did you find this girl?

Scout: I was getting some fresh air and went for a jog. I ended up going near the RED base and I decided to sneak inside.

Soldier: You what?!

Engineer: Do you have any idea how dangerous that is, boy?

Pyro: *mumbles* "Not to mention stupid."

Scout: I know but I spotted the RED medic over there in some weird secret room. I snuck inside and...well, I found her.

Scout walks close to her and crouches down by her, looking at her face.

Spy: Do we even know who this girl is?

Medic: I don't know, but it seems that Medic was torturing her.

Pyro: *mumbles loudly* "That RED doctor is a maniac!"

Heavy: So true, Pyro.

The men all chatted quietly, unsure of what to do with this girl. Scout stands up and turns away from her as he keeps explaining what happened on his jog. As they all keep talking, the girl groans and starts to wake up, fluttering her eyes a little. Spy looks over and sees her waking up and gestures to her.

Spy: She's waking up. Are you alright, miss?

The others turn around to face her as her eyes adjust, seeing familiar faces, but now in blue uniforms. She spots the knife in Scout's back pocket, grabbing it and shouting at the men. Scout yelps in shock as he spins to face her. She moves to sit up, wincing and gasping in pain as she holds the knife out towards the men.

Unknown: Get...get the hell away from me!

Medic: Relax, we're not here to hurt you.

Unknown: Bullshit! Stay the hell away from me!

The girl stands up and bites her lip hard, trying to not tear up from the sheer pain pulsing through her body, the hand holding the knife starting to shake from her pain. Spy steps forward for a moment and puts his hands out slowly, the girl aiming the knife at him.

Spy: Look, we're not going to hurt you. We're not RED.

Unknown: You think I'm that stupid? Just because you changed your color doesn't mean a damn thing!

Scout: No, really, you're okay here.

Unknown: Shut up!

As she shouts, she coughs, spitting up blood as she falls back onto the couch, groaning and dropping the knife onto the floor. Scout slowly approaches her and crouches down, watching her as she pants and wipes her blood from her lips.

Scout: I promise, okay? If we were gonna hurt you, don't you think something would have happened by now?

She goes silent and looks at Scout with concern, still unsure of her surroundings.

Scout: I...I got in there and I untied you. I brought you over here because these guys can help.

Unknown: You untied me?

Scout: Yeah, I...I guess I saved you.

Scout chuckles a little as the girl scoffs and looks away from him, Medic slowly walking up and observing her wounds. She looks at him with a slight snarl on her face as he adjusts his glasses.

Medic: Hmm, your wounds are quite extreme. I must patch you up before they get any worse.

Unknown: As if, I'm not letting you touch me.

Sniper: He's only trying to help you, sheila.

Unknown: Up yours, asshole. I'm not moving...!

Sniper gasps and growls softly at the girl's snappy attitude, Medic quickly stepping in between the two.

Medic: I'll have Scout come with us. It seems you'll need some help to walk to my office.

She looks at Medic, then Scout, then back to Medic. She sighs softly in defeat and stands up, leaning on the couch for support. Scout puts his hand out, but she rejects it as she starts limping towards Medic, losing her footing and falling back. Scout dashes over and catches her, taking one arm and slinging it over his shoulder as he helps her walk. Medic leads the two towards the infirmary, opening the door for the two.

Medic: Scout, could you please help our patient onto the bed?

Scout: Sure thing, doc.

Unknown: Don't try anything, I won't think twice about kicking the shit out of you...

Scout gently lifts her onto the bed, the girl wincing and gritting her teeth as she looks over at the Medic.

Unknown: That warning goes to you, too.

Medic: Well, once your legs are patched up, then I'll accept the threat.

Scout: Don't worry, the doc is gonna make sure you're okay.

Medic: I will need to ask you a few questions if that's alright.

Unknown: Fine, but he's not leaving the room. I don't trust you won't try anything.

She points to Scout and he looks at her in surprise, backing up and leaning against the wall of the room. Medic grabs some bandages and a scanner, walking over to the bed.

Medic: Let's start with something simple. What's your name?

Unknown: ...Laina G. Smokes. Most people call me Smokey.

Medic: Well, at least it's nice to put a name to the face.

Medic starts looking over Smokey and starts wrapping up some of her visible wounds.

Medic: Now, Smokey, was it? Do you remember how you ended up out here?

Scout: Yeah, you'd have to be really off course to end up in a literal battlefield.

Medic: Scout...

Medic gives Scout a glare and Scout shuts up, putting his hands in his pockets as Smokey sighs softly.

Smokey: I was on a bus trip to see my father. He's in jail and he's quite a far way out. I got off at the wrong stop and got lost in the desert. I...I found somebody and he brought me back to this massive building. Last thing I remember was feeling my head in a lot of pain, then ended up waking up in the chair.

Scout: What did the guy look like?

Smokey: Um, a bit older, he was smoking and...he was wearing a red suit.

Medic: That would have been the RED Spy.

Scout: How long have you been there?

Smokey goes quiet as she tries to recall the time. Medic sighs softly as continues to wrap up some of the scars all over her body. She groans and winces as she looks at Medic.

Smokey: Hey, watch it...!

Medic: Did you think that this was going to tickle?

Smokey rolls her eyes and looks back over to Scout.

Smokey: At least three months.

Scout: Three months? How the hell aren't you dead?

Smokey: The Medic over there heals me, gives me scraps and it restarts. I don't ever leave the room.

Scout: It explains why you were so light. They don't even feed ya anything?

Smokey: Well, nothing that'll actually benefit me. Like I said, mostly scraps, whatever they feel generous enough to give me.

Medic: Hmm, well most of the outer wounds are healed but I will need to do an X-ray to see if there are any internal injuries.

Smokey: Yeah, you'll find plenty. That asshole red doctor bashed my ribs to shit with a metal bat.

Scout and Medic look at each other and she winces as she readjusts herself, resting one hand on her left side.

Medic: Well, I will need you to undress for me, just into your underwear so that the X-ray isn't obstructed.

Smokey sighs softly as she looks over at Scout. He locks eyes with her for a moment and looks away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. She groans and looks away from him as Medic fixes his glasses.

Medic: Scout, could you perhaps give the young lady here some privacy?

Scout: Oh, yeah...! I'll uh, I'll just be outside.

Scout grabs the door handle and makes his way out of the doctor's room as Smokey looks over at Medic unimpressed.

Smokey: You too, I don't want you peeking.

Medic: No problem, I'll just prepare the machine.

Medic walks over to his desk as Smokey leans over, checking to make sure he isn't watching her as she carefully takes her shirt off. She twinges and cusses under her breath from the pain, dropping the shirt on the floor. She carefully takes off her pants, groaning and wincing as she slowly shimmies them down her legs. Medic listens to her pain as he prepares everything, turning his head a little.

Medic: Are you alright?

Smokey: I'm in pain, but I'm fine.

Medic: Very good, everything is ready for the X-ray.

He turns around and walks back over to the bed, looking at the young woman. She pants and breathes heavily as she lays back. Medic tilts and readjusts his glasses as he looks over her battered and wounded body. She looks at him and groans.

Smokey: Not a word, and don't try anything.

Medic: I won't say a word, Miss Laina.

~~~~~~~~

Some time passes and Scout is in his room, flexing in front of his mirror. He hypes himself up and kisses his muscles as soft footsteps approach his bedroom door. Smokey breathes softly as she rests one hand on her side, looking in and scoffing quietly at the idiot flexing and showing off to his mirror.

Scout: Oh man, that's beautiful.

Smokey: Yeah, real beautiful. Are you twelve?

Scout yelps and turns around, a light flustered blush crossing his face as she faces Smokey. He nervously laughs as she leans against the doorway for support.

Scout: You scared the crap out of me! Jeez...did the doc fix you up?

Smokey: What he can for now. My ribs still fucking kill but hey, I'm not coughing up blood anymore.

Scout gulps and chuckles sheepishly as he walks closer to her. She sighs and looks over at him.

Smokey: Hey...Scout, right?

Scout: Yeah?

Smokey: I...

She lets out a long sigh and avoids eye contact with him for a moment.

Smokey: I...appreciate you for getting me out of there.

Scout: Oh, well you're welcome.

Smokey: Let me be clear, I'm not thanking you. I still don't trust you as far as I could throw you. But, at least here I'm not in that fucking chair.

Scout: O-Of course, I get that. I mean anything would have to be better than that.

There is silence for a moment before Smokey clears her throat and lifts herself off of the door frame.

Smokey: I'm heading back to the doctor's room. He told me I gotta stay in there tonight in case of medical emergencies.

Scout: Oh, no problem. Good night.

Smokey nods to Scout and starts making her way towards Medic's ward. Scout stretches and yawns as he turns around and starts getting ready for bed. He sits on his bed and rests his head in his hands for a moment before undressing and getting into his bed.

[noforkingclue]

Small idea that can do in multiple different directions depending on where you want to go with this. Reader is friends with Peter and Mary, she ends up becoming a spiderman (I know it's not a species.) She has a crush on Doc ock and it never bothered her because she was a normal human. But now she has to help Peter fight which means spending more and more time around Doc ock. Eventually Peter and Mary start noticing you're getting more depressed and almost reluctant to help him.

Ok, I couldn't help but start writing this as soon as you sent in the ask! My love for Doc Ock (and the original three Spiderman films) has been renewed so please send in more requests!

Title: Taking a Break

Marvel tag list: @geocookie21, @greeneyedblondie44, @purebloodwitch

Everything tag list: @greenrevolutionary, @imjustassaneasyou

At first it was something you could easily manage. Just a small, normal crush that you could brush away and pretend never existed. Oh if only your life was ever that simple. You should’ve known that hanging around with Peter would lead to an adventurous life but you didn’t expect it taking this turn.

If you were being completely honest, you weren’t entirely sure how you managed to get the same powers as Peter. All you remembered was a sharp pain on your shoulder, Peter crying out your name and you falling unconscious. When you regained consciousness you saw Peter’s worried face hovering above yours and him stuttering out how sorry he was for getting your dragged into this mess.

And part of you did resent him a small bit. You didn’t want these powers, to have the Daily Bugle smearing you at every good deed the two of you tried to do and to constantly have to protect your identity. But then there were moments that made you reconsider your views on your powers. When you were able to web-sling high above the city and enjoy the peace, even for a moment. Or when you heard the public cheer you and Peter on after a particularly difficult battle. Knowing that you had the support of at least some of the public made everything worthwhile.

Well, almost everything. Your new found status as a hero and ally to Spiderman had launched you straight into the view of all his enemies but there was one you always seemed to fight alone. Doc Ock. If there was anyone you’d want to fight least it was him. You’d rather go one on one with the Green Goblin than him.

Alright, so maybe your past feelings hadn’t entirely disappeared and maybe the more time you spent fighting him the… closer the two of you had become. The original harsh words you used to throw to each other had long since disappeared and had turned into something akin to flirting. Well, if you counted throwing large pieces of the city at you as flirting then definitely!

The more time you spent fighting him the more you didn’t want to. You knew that deep down (very deep down) Doc Ock wasn’t a bad man. Peter would be horrified if he knew and to be honest, you half expected that he already did. The concerned looks he gave you after each battle with him. Peter telling you to take nights off and leave the fighting up to him. At times you were so tired that you agreed and let Peter take over for a couple of days. Even MJ was beginning to notice your exhaustion and depression, constantly distracting you and talking about random things. It was nice to have some time off and forget about things for a while, even if it was just for a short time.

However, all good things must come to an end which was how you ended up in your current predicament. It was pouring with rain and you were pinned against a brick wall high up about New York City. You tried to glare from behind your mask but you knew that it had no effect on the man in front of you. You struggled against the metal tentacles but all that did was to cause them to press harsher against you. You gasped for air as Doc Ock smirked and then from behind your mask you locked eyes with him.

And everything stood still.

It was as though the traffic below the two of you had disappeared. The only sound was the constant fall of the rain as it soaked through your costume and into your skin. You knew that it was going to be a pain to peel off later but right now that shouldn’t have been your main concern. What your mind should’ve been focused on was the strange look that Doc Ock was giving you. It was as though he had just realised the position you were in. He took a step towards you, his metal arms still keeping you in place, as his hands rested against your shoulders.

Even through the icy rain you could feel his body heat as he pressed against you. His hands moved slowly around your neck and you swallowed thickly in fear. Doc Ock smirked at your reaction and he leant in and whispered,

“I’m not going to kill you just yet.”

You shuddered as his hot breath ghosted through your costume. As he pulled back his fingers grazed along the seam of your mask and you jumped in panic. He couldn’t unmask you, you wouldn’t allow your secret identity and just clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“If I wanted to find out who you are,” he said, “I’d want it to be a challenge. You unfortunately didn’t put up much of a fight tonight.”

Instead he slowly peeled your mask until it was just under your nose. You gasped in the cool air as he traced his thumb along your lips. His gaze dropped to your lips as he pressed the pad of his thumb against them.

“Things had been so boring without you around,” he said as he leant closer, “Don’t be away for so long next time.”

Before you had time to react he leant down and pressed a bruising kiss against your lips. You stiffened as he pushed you harshly against the brick wall. He smirked as he playfully nipped at your lips and you gasped in shock. As quickly as it had happened he broke the kiss leaving you slightly disappointed. You blinked behind your mask, you shouldn’t be disappointed that the man who tried to kill you and your friends had stopped kissing you.

“Next time,” said the Doctor as the metal tentacles released you, “Be around. You’ll find that I’ll be a lot less gentle if I have to come and find you myself.”

As he disappeared into the night you slumped against the wall and slid onto the floor. Having him coming to find you certainly was a tempting offer. Maybe you’ll have to take a break more often.

[archetypal-archivist]

Grian- Boots for the Rain Gone Cold

Kind of a story idea for Ex-Watcher Grian, 3500+ words. This is what happens when you listen to the song Welly Boots on repeat for a couple hours. The premise is that Grian and the Hermits aren’t quite as nice as they seem, and when Grian has to flee Hermitcraft to keep his friends safe from the Watchers, his friends do some malicious compliance to take care of him while he is away.

------

A story in which the hermits take care of their own, even beyond borders they should not be able to cross.

Take a standard story about Watcher Grian. See him come to Hermitcraft, lost and alone and afraid. He has been through Evo, killed a dragon whilst alone and afraid, was taken against his will, watched his friends Pearlescent Moon and Taurtis die. He knows how to take care of himself, but nothing more than that.

Hermitcraft changes that, for him. Standing outside a portal that is unlike any he had ever seen, even during his time as a watcher, seeing a team of 20+ walk out is terrifying. But they had seen him, looked at each other, then rushed forward to claim him as their own. In the beginning he is left alone until he tentatively reaches out, saving Scar's stuff after he has died. An action unlike him, but he had appreciated their kindness in letting him stay, so he does his best to repay that.

Tit for tat is something he understands from the Watchers, even if this is a kinder variant.

Grian watches as people start to reach out to him, watching him with admiring eyes as he builds his first shops, offering items he's never needed or touched before now. (Conduits are so cool and he'll deny the shiver of excitement that crept up his spine when Xisuma first handed him one to his dying breath.) He watches as they smile and laugh at his antics, rather than come at him and his with sword and shield for his pranks.

He watches. He is good at that. He is significantly less good at returning their kindness, a trouble-maker to his core, intentionally or no. But he tries, and in the eyes of the Hermits, that is all that matters.

Iskall feeds him, sometimes, when he is sick and delirious, screaming at the shadows in the corners. They do not let him starve himself to death. (He learns to hide half stacks of golden carrots in their chests, just enough to replenish their supply, but not enough that they'd notice.)

Mumbo is patient with him when he comes crashing into his base like a wrecking ball, sometimes plowing into the taller hermit's redstone face first in the process. He just helps Grian up, smiling and laughing, helping him brush the red dust away. (Grian learns that Mumbo cannot sleep without noise, too used to the ticking of redstone clocks and firing pistons to sleep in quiet. He learns to fly in on late nights when Mumbo's base is still lit up and talk with his friend, chattering away until Mumbo can find it in himself to turn the lag machines off and fall asleep to the sound of Grian's voice.)

Xisuma watches the world with all the focus and patience that Grian once used when designing stars and bedrock towers. For Xisuma, Grian will watch the world too and ease its updates when he can- one less burden for his admin to carry, taken and handled with silent, secret grace.

Joe reads and reads and reads, spinning tales of his finds to all who stand still long enough for him to pin down for a bit. For Joe, Grian will bring out some of his old high school textbooks for him on the days when the man runs out of books to read.

Zedaph lives in a cave, warm and dry, but without color, the only life being the experiments rattling around in the background. For Zedaph, Grian will sneak in mushrooms and moss, encouraging them to grow in the shadows until the cavern blooms with them.

For the hermits, Grian is kind. For the hermits, Grian will learn.

Then one day it all comes crashing down, perhaps in the face of a bedrock tower springing from nowhere, perhaps in violent, screaming outburst of purple fire, perhaps in the face of a friend he once thought dead. The Watchers had tried their damnest to stamp out his heart and they nearly succeeded, but just as they could not stamp out his free will they also could not stamp out his humanity, and people- regardless of shape or size or color or race or species- are born to love and be loved.

Grian loves his Hermits. To protect them, he must leave. And so he does, quietly and in the dead of night, the faint echoes of screams ringing in his ears. If he has it his way, never again will he hear his hermit's pain, imagined or otherwise. It would be best to just forget.

Grian settles in a rainy little single player server that turns out to not be as single player as he would like. It seems instead to be an abandoned multiplayer server, lost dogs and empty houses abound in the distant corners, and every once in a while a new player stumbles in, running from something, settling in long enough to call the server home. Sometimes, these new players stay. Sometimes, whatever is chasing them catches up and they are forced to leave. Grian refuses to care for these fellow vagabonds, even as he watches from under the eaves of his perfectly constructed rustic house, rain dripping down and obscuring him from their wondering, pained eyes.

Grian has given up on having happy ending, and if the ending the narrative seems to want to give him is a tragedy, then he will seize it with both hands and rewrite it himself. What he does not take into account, however, is that the Hermits don't take kindly to being abandoned.

Grian was once a Watcher, and while watching and mimicking are perhaps some of his better skills, he was still new to the server and as such there is much about his Hermits he never had a chance to discover. Their pasts in large part remained a mystery to him, as he had learned to mimic kindness too well from them to ever pry. (They would have told him, if he had asked. Love was another thing he had learned from them, and if he had been seen and not just watched, he perhaps would have noticed how strongly they cared for him too.)

But yes. Though Grian was perhaps the only one of their number on the run from literal gods, he was not the only one with a tragic back story.

Xisuma, who watched the Hermitcraft server with all the vigilance of a soldier who had watched his fellow troops and their enemies weaponize glitches against each other, to the mass extinction of both. Evil X, who ran from it all, only to end up in a place where nothing violent simply became nothing.

Joe, who read and read and read, devouring knowledge the way he once devoured worlds, eyes flickering white on the nights when hunger panged in his stomach worse than usual. Cleo, who also knew the pain of consumption, from both sides of teeth like knives.

Zedaph, who popped into existence one day, whole and unsullied, with a vast, empty void where his past ought to be, who forgot sometimes that people are supposed to have likes and dislikes and colors and an instinctual obedience towards the laws of gravity. Tango and Impulse, who watched their friend and each other with eagle eyes to keep their trio from slipping back into old, self-destructive habits. (Overwork, overclocking, over-stimulation. All were equally killer.)

Grian, who's first and best skill, even before his building, was causing mischief and creating fun. A welcome distraction from old pains.

They loved him, the Hermits. In whatever flavor they chose, they loved him. They knew his darkness, though perhaps not the exact nature of it, and they knew that he loved them back. And then he left them.

The Hermits were powerful with love and sorrow and determination. Grian thought he could leave them so quickly, uproot himself from their hearts like a ghost in the night? Ha.

As. If.

It begins like this- Grian wakes in his little spruce house in the middle of a mostly abandoned town. The rain is pouring outside as it nearly always is and the rushing of wind through the trees puts him in the mind of his old ship-in-a-bottle base, warm and safe from the wet outside. He wakes up, stretches, thinks of eating. Steps outside and-

a brand new pair of bright red rain boots, almost glowing in the grey mist of early morning. They are in his colors, Grian just knows they would fit him perfectly. A welcome sort of gift, perfect for a world drenched in rain. Perfect for him, gifted with thought, with care. His stomach curdles and he just knows he won't be eating breakfast today either. A curl of a finger and the boots go up in purple flames, the scent of burnt rubber joining the petrichor of the air. He goes back inside. Goes back to sleep. Tries not to dream.

The boots are back the next day, shining red and a little closer to the door to better keep them out of the rain. He burns those too.

The boots keep appearing. Always bright red, always perfectly sized to fit him- squeaky new rubber, perfect for keeping out the rain. In the face of that, red boots like clockwork, is it any wonder that Grian gets tired? His front porch stinks of burnt rubber and there are new planks wherever he had to remove the scorched oak. Perhaps it's the burning that causes a new pair to appear- if there are no boots, a new pair comes to replace them, so perhaps a different method of disposal is in order.

He throws the next pair into the river. A new pair comes back to him the next day, alongside the old ones, dripping with sea grass and mud. Hmm.

(Cleo has friends in the rivers and oceans. It's easy enough to call in a favor or three to get the boots returned.)

Creepers next. A loud hiss and an even louder boom has him flinching back, phantom burns dancing across his fingers, but the boots are naught but ash. Three pairs of boots next time, one of them a dark swirling grey rather than the traditional red, as if mocking their scorched past.

(Doc's work. He's had enough experience with accidentally blowing up his own tools to know how to make a blast protection charm strong enough to keep his clothes and armor safe in the case of an unfortunate accident. The grey starbursts left over the material are just a neat bonus.)

Lava. Concentrated spider venom. Flattened by pistons. Dropped into the void. Left under a lightning rod. Thrown up into a tree. Fed to a guardian.

Each and every time, the boots come back, usually with some change in pattern, color, or marking that signals just what they have been through. All in perfectly usual condition, even the pair he cut in half with an axe.

(Stress had a field day piecing that pair back together, using molten honey and mending enchants to stick the halves together again. She always had loved a challenge.)

Eventually, Grian's front porch is covered in boots in all manner of designs, and fed up with the mess, he sets the whole mess on fire again with his signature purple flame, the only thing sure to reduce the number of boots permanently. He sets his house on fire in the process. Hmmmm.

There's an influx of new people into Grian's world all of a sudden. A pair of twins jump in, bloody, battered, and exhausted, and not a week later a roughed-up blond boy joins, snappish and hurting. All three lack shoes.

Now, Grian very firmly does not want to interact with any of them. He had found true friends among the Hermits and if he can't interact with them, then he certainly doesn't want to interact with a trio of traumatized children- however, he does have a pair of boots to give and dropping them on the children's doorstep requires no interaction at all. The female twin puts them on, marveling at how big the red boots are on her while the other kids stand watch suspiciously. Grian watches this from his front porch, hidden by the mist but eyes glinting purple in the gloom so he can see comfortably. The male twin seems to spot this, shouting and pointing, and Grian goes back inside to avoid the mess.

The next morning, the boots on his doorstep are rainbow-striped and several sizes smaller, perfect for a child's feet. Grian stares down at them, something hurting and tremulous in his heart, but his face remains blank. These boots are placed on the trio's doorstep as well. The male twin wears these, and the last child ends up with a pair of blue and black spotted ones.

(False had had fun with the patterns, feeling a little bit of relief that she could hunt down some rubber in a pattern other than plain red.)

Rumor spreads of a purple-eyed monster in the woods that gave people boots to keep them safe from the rain, although Grian very carefully avoids such stories. The children begin leaving trinkets for their monster in hopes to repay him, and Grian ignores these too until one day, the children somehow manage to get an old red dog collar to give him. Upon spotting this, Grian's heart gives a squeeze as it reminds him of Rendog, and he pockets it to put on his rather empty bookshelf. Other things also get picked up, all things that remind him of the friends he had to leave behind.

An allium, pressed into a book of galactic picked up from a stronghold. A jar of electric blue ink dried into a gelatinous cake. A tiny knight figurine, scuffed and missing an arm. A handful of spicy red jellybeans. Eventually, as time passes on and on and the rain bears down harder on Grian's tiny world, a trio of heartfelt, thankful cards appear on his kitchen table, all three drawn in crayon and filled with cheerful scribbles.

It rains harder, and the world shrinks down to just Grian and the three children who call out into the gloom every morning, grateful for the boots and the glimpses of purple eyes and feathered wings in the dark that tell them that they are not alone. The boots stop coming.

In their place, new things appear.

A toaster. Firewood. New sweaters and combs and soap. Little things designed to make life easier, many of them children-sized or painted in rainbow stripes or blue polka dots or a shade of red just off from Grian's favored color. These too go to the children, and the number of gifts Grian receives increases, many of them built from the material that he gives the trio of children.

(If the Hermits cannot gift things to Grian directly, then they will gift them to people who will transform them into something their wayward friend would accept. They do so with equal parts love and spite, angry to have been rebuffed but unwilling to let Grian feel himself forgotten. The trio of kids end up with a rather odd assortment of things. Tango, for example, is fond of the easy-bake oven he sent them that always burnt the food it made. Grian got nothing but his favorite chocolate chip cookies for a week, all of them scorched.)

In time, Grian does his best to drive the children off, building traps and leaving weapons on their doorstep to scare them. The stories of the monster in the woods increase in number and many more children join the server, encouraged by tales of purple-eyed, winged beast that taught its charges to be wary and gave them tools to defend themselves. Grian's cabin remains hidden in the mist, but many more wooden structures join it in the forest.

New boots appear on his doorstep. They aren't made to fit him.

(His heart aches, but his eyes remain dry. Morning dew condenses on Grian's cheeks.)

It comes to a head like this- no world, no matter how small or safe, is fully protected from the Watchers' gaze, and in the end, they find him. Only now, there are people here that cannot leave, that Grian cannot leave behind.

The children scream for their monster to save them. He rises from the mist, eyes heavy and wings heavier, dragging upon the ground and leaving trails in the brick red mud. They think they are saved. They are wrong.

Chains shoot out from the mist, forcing Grian to his knees as a huge female Watcher, Astrid, stares down at him, mouth turned down into a tiny frown and the rest of her figure still as stone even as she floats in the air, white robes fading into the surrounding fog. The purple emblem on her mask glows like a brand. Grian watches her with purple eyes glowing dim and dull, resigned to his fate but unwilling to flee if it means the deaths of those who do not deserve to serve his sentence in his stead.

He thinks, quietly, that he will die here. He wonders if this- any of this- is worth it. He thinks, yes. Yes it is.

He is wrong.

A figure coalesces before him, clad in yellow armor and arms crossed, the very picture of annoyed defiance. It tilts its head back, hard light construct featureless but practically radiating scorn, and from the mists a voice echoes.

"You are going to leave him alone. He's not for you." Astrid hisses behind her mask, galactic crackling and vile from between her lips, and the sound of wingbeats thrums like a heartbeat through the clearing, bass-heavy and loud in Grian's ears. He winces, closing his eyes as more chains shoot out from the ground to attach to Xisuma's- for what else could it be but his admin projected across time and space (that stupid, crazy, wonderful man)- construct. They coil around it, doing their level best to drag it to the ground, but the figure remains still and hovering before Grian, entirely unmoved.

"No. You will leave him alone." Xisuma's voice again, commanding and stern even from a figure that looks more like a glowing yellow armor stand. "I'll ask that you don't test me, it took a while to put this projection together and it will not dissipate until it fulfills its intended purpose." Astrid merely hisses again, this time with an underlay of static beneath it, and Grian's wings are suddenly pulled back tight and away from his shoulders- all three pairs of them, not merely those he prefers to wear.

The sound of flesh and feathers ripping through one plane and into the next has Grian feeling sick. Wrong, his mind repeats on loop, screaming. Wrong wrong wrong. Xisuma's figure freezes at his pained squeak before unfolding its arms and going carefully still. It tilts its head to the side, considering and cold.

"Is that your game? You do realize that that is death sentence, right? We would never let you survive it." Astrid nods. The chains rise up again, clinking softly as they loop once, twice, three times around Grian's outermost pair of wings, the ones most used to the physical plane and with the most nerve endings besides. The damp air is cold and aching in his lungs.

A rip. A scream. And then everything shrinks down to a flicker of brilliant yellow light, the shrilling of broken violins, and the long, drawn-out death wail of a Watcher unused to pain. A computer crash in slow motion complete with a harsh base note as Astrid's wings fall to join Grian's in the mud.

The world expands again, overwhelming. Agony. Silence.

Chains clink to the floor, broken, as Xisuma's hard light construct comes forward to stand before the Hermits' erstwhile server mate, slumped over in a pool of blood but conscious, something in his purple eyes bent, if not a little broken.

A voice, hoarse, achingly loud in the quiet of the glade. "You didn't stop her."

"No."

"...Is this my punishment then?" A moment of quiet and then the figure stoops down to gather Grian into its arms, its featureless gaze doing little to ease his fear.

Then, gently, ".....No."

Grian slumps, the last bit of tension seeping from his limbs as the pain in his back begins to register, sapping at his will and leeching into his voice.

"I'm sorry, you know. I- I'm sorry. I didn't want to go. It just- it hurts. Hels it hurts, so much. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"I know. I know." Xisuma's figure stands up, hoisting Grian a little higher up against its chest so that hiss remaining wings don't drag on the ground quite as much, then turning to face the cowering children. Eventually, a little girl in bright red rain boots stands up to meet its gaze.

She blinks back tears, scrubbing at her face to hide them, but her expression is brave. "Where are you taking him?"

The figure clutches the children's monster close, looking just as fierce as any dragon in a fairytale. "Home. Will you stop me?"

The girl pauses, considering. "No. Don't think I could, really."

"Will you try?"

"To keep going? Yeah, of fucking course, sure as my name is Clementine. To stop you? Not bloody likely, I like my head right where it is." Xisuma's figure nods, satisfied, and with a blink, it and their monster are gone.

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