#haven't even introduced the pack or bella

[goldeneyedgirl]

Late V-Day Space-verse Fic: Better Than Nothing

Six days late, but it's done!

A little Unimaginable Things-verse fic, because I love me some space drama.

Holidays are a quiet thing on the Olympia.

There is Carlisle, who is so augmented and been away from Earth for so long that his classification of ‘human’ feels very much like a technicality. Once, in another life, there were a pair of children whose birthdays were celebrated with much fanfare. But those times had passed.

Edward staunchly refused to celebrate anything, arguing that he is not a person but simply a program. Carlisle still makes sure to buy him huge quantities of music and software around the end of June, without comment.

Rose had little use for the traditional holidays of her people, only bringing them up to ridicule them. Whatever she celebrates, none of them know of it. Emmett celebrates with his family, carefully logging leave three times a year. And Esme’s ceremonies are solemn, uplifting, and intensely private moments.

And few other cultures have holidays like Earth - casual ones propped up with commercialism and novelty. More than once, he’s tried to explain them to his friends, Esme curious but bewildered, Rosalie quietly superior, and Carlisle chuckling in memory.

Alice had been intrigued, never knowing Earth or the little cultural touchstones. Maybe he liked the opportunity to get a little bit closer, explaining those missing common links carefully and greedily soaking in her presence.

But of all the things that left a mark on them, a scar that would never heal clean, neither of them would have ever imagined it would be something as harmless and cliche as February 14.

—

before.

In a perfect world, she wouldn’t have been stranded in Cesset - the capital city of a planet called L’im - for a week straight. It’s a huge, sprawling city divided into sectors; more than half forbidden to tourists, travelers, or anyone without citizenship.

The rain comes down in bright sheets, and she settles in the doorway of a pick-up bay for the night; the last job she took turned into a scuffle and her lens is offline until her appointment with the technician in two days, once the bruising around her eyes heals more. Which means she might have money but no way to use it.

The stoop of the building keeps her out of the rain, and the night is still. She might even be able to snatch some sleep.

She rifles through her pack for something to eat - some half-finished cereal or a protein drink. There’s not much in there - food is so heavy to transport, and street vendors are always better than long-life snacks. But they are handy and the three bars, two gels, and one water will have to see her through.

(Does she think about going to the nearest comms center and getting Carlisle to wire cash onto a card for her, so she can get out of the rain and buy some food, get a bunk to sleep in? The gels are a slimy mass in her mouth as she takes a drag from the sachet, a gooey lump that is hard to swallow and artificially sweet, leaving a film in her mouth. She dismisses the thought of asking Carlisle for help quickly. She’s caused enough trouble. It's only two days. She’s lived through worse.)

Absently, she slides her hand into the back of the pack, searching for her slate. Old-fashioned, cheap, and well-loved, it was the first frivolous thing she’d ever bought herself, loaded with hundreds of books. It might have gotten her enough for a hot meal if she sold it (not a good meal, just one of the oily soups with a few tough cubes of meat that the city favored and sold at every store), but the sentimental part of her couldn’t part with it.

As she pulls it out, she freezes, seeing what is slipped into the front of the cracked cover.

It was an odd thing for her to bring with her, after everything. She doesn’t know why she slipped it into her pack instead of into storage. Maybe to remind her of better times. Or maybe that once, just for a little while, she was loved.

Paper is expensive and hard to come by - most planets use fabric or digital surfaces for art and letters. The planets that do use paper reserve it for books, mostly. It’s not easy to acquire privately. The old newspapers that Carlisle had bundled in storage should have been handed over for some credits but instead, Jasper had cut out squares, had folded them precisely into triangular shapes that had glided when he tossed them out. And she had laughed out loud, delighted as the little creations caught onto the draft leaking in from the departure bay. He had folded two whole sheets of newsprint for her in dozens of paper airplanes of all sizes; had shown her how to fold her own. Something all children on Earth knew how to do, apparently.

(The lie falls easily from her lips - “I was born off-world. I’ve never been to Earth.” But it’s not really a lie. Except she knows he’s picturing a story like his - adventurous parents, a tragedy - so it really is the worst kind of lie.)

All eight of the airplanes are folded flat in one of her boxes. They would be mistaken for trash now, she supposes.

What she kept is small, it fits in the palm of her hand. Rough pink speckled paper - probably bought from an artisan, because it’s too nice to be something that was just found - cut in the shape of a wonky heart. ‘Love you - J’ written on it in red ink.

For a little while, she was loved. That’s why she keeps it. No matter what happens next, she can remind herself that he loved her once. That he cared enough to make her smile.

Carlisle warned her when he arrived. Who he was. What had happened to him. And she thought...

She thought that it was romantic, a forbidden romance that could overcome anything that life threw at them. After all, the Jasper who teased her and bought her drinks and danced with her was sweet, kind, understanding. And Carlisle had smiled at her and let her walk away believing that things would work out and she’d get her happily ever after.

The stupid little Valentine he gave her sits in her hand mocking her, sitting in an old pick-up bay in the rain. She can feel the rain seeping in at the seams of her coat which is a cherry on top of this terrible day; Pro-tex is expensive and hard to track down on this planet, especially in her size. If the water is getting in, it needs replacing.

But it’s better than nothing.

—

after.

Carlisle talks him through Systemic Failure in the first two weeks, even lends him a few texts to go over.

By the end of the first weeks, he’s having nightmares of all kinds. Of finding her dead and cold back in Viltri, her eyes clouded over and the blood gathered under the tissue around her eyes and nose and mouth. Of waking up in a pool of blood as she silently hemorrhages out beside him, blood seeping through her skin. He dreams of her dead on the ground, her insides hollowed out, his father holding him back from her because it was ‘better her than them’.

“This is the one downside of the design of the Synths,” Carlisle sighed, as he looked over the notes he had downloaded from Alice’s lens. “There was a petition to take the earliest sufferers to Earth, to run genetic panels and see if there was something missing, maybe a transplant or donation that could offset the imbalances...something we could correct. We were denied rather forcefully.”

“A donation?” His mouth is dry as the voice in his head volunteers. Blood, bone, tissue, anything she needed.

“Unfortunately, your system has been compromised simply by leaving Earth. We tried with many local humans in the day, and there was nothing they could do for us.” Carlisle frowned, circling something in Alice’s notes. “None of us could supply the donation, and even then, it would take months and years of experimentation...”

She lies behind them in a capsule, wearing surgical modesty garments, green med-patches keeping her eyes closed. Spidery wires and tubes run from multiple arteries and places. She barely looks to be breathing, even though the readout says she is.

The first surgery was a week into her return, a hotspot on her thigh that Rose picked up with the handheld scanner. A thirteen-hour surgery that ended up with her losing more than sixty percent of the bone in her left thigh. Infected and eating away at the surrounding, healthy bone and getting ready to jump into her tissue and bloodstream. Carlisle had replaced the bone with titanium (he’d physically flinched when he heard that; titanium was one of the most expensive medical implants; almost all human implants were done with cheaper Med-fil and needed replacement every ten years. The idea that Carlisle had fucking titanium for surgery made him feel nervous). But the external support - the augmentation - would be waiting for them with the new supply pick-up.

Carlisle reassures him that everything is fine - more serious than he’s used to, but nothing that they cannot get on top of. They’re running her bloods twice daily, to make sure the infection doesn’t spread, and antibiotics feed constantly into her.

(The cost makes him feel sick. Alice will never get on top of this debt and he cannot even help her until his own debts are paid off. He’s got nothing of value to sell, and he just feels sick at what she’s going to wake up to.)

He leaves Carlisle alone in the med-bay when Esme makes dinner, picking at his food, and staying quiet. He’s still lingering over it when Rose and Emmett have cleaned up the kitchen and left, trying to wrap his head around everything.

The chime of his lens brings him out of his maudlin thoughts (he knows what happens to the people with debt they can’t pay off, that after death their bodies are broken down and sold off to recoup what they never managed to pay off. He’s been at those auctions and the idea of knowing the people behind the pieces on the block makes his stomach churn uncomfortably).

Memories: Six Years Ago Today!

The photo flashing up is of him and Alice together in a bar somewhere, cheek to cheek. Her make-up is all red and pink, with a glittery heart next to her eye. There’s a sticky, pinkish outline on his cheek of a kiss.

There’s a wire flower in her hand, iridescent and shaped like a rose and that’s what places him. Valentine’s Day. They’d gone out, she’d remembered the date, and he’d bought her the rose. They’d eaten and drank and come back to the empty ship - everyone else in the dock dorms - and had a rare night together, completely alone.

If his eyes well up at the sight of her, bright and smiling and so very happy, no one else sees.

He feels like an old man as he shuffles his dishes into the washer, as he slips down to the little room near the airlock that Esme keeps for her plants - the ones associated with her faith are in hand-painted pots and kept high so no one touches them. But there are a cluster that are free to use, and he plucks a spring of a flower, a short brown stem with tiny greyish flowers.

It’s easy enough to offer to watch Alice whilst Carlisle gets coffee and stretches his legs. Rosalie’s shift doesn’t start for three more hours, and Carlisle seems grateful for the respite.

Her pale, lifeless face is unchanged, unaware of anything. And he can see the scar near her eyebrow, the one he can’t think about too hard or he’ll remember the worst parts of himself.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Alice.” His voice is barely above a whisper, and he tucks the little stem in between the hinges of the capsule.

There is nothing but shame and regret and grief whenever he’s with her, and bringing such a paltry offering - one no one will ever notice - feels more like an insult.

But it’s better than nothing.

—

Who said V-Day fics had to be happy and romantic? When you can have regret and pining?

Lenses are both an arm and eye implant, and the user can set whether the ‘screen’ appears on their arm or over their vision. When Alice got punched in the face on a job, it definitely fucked up her lens.

Esme’s species is very plant-and-nature focused, and that is evident in their faith. I’m still figuring out her full backstory, because she and Carlisle are very much in love but agreeing its a bad idea and they need to remain friends.

Alice’s slate would essentially be an old Kindle type device without internet access.

I am at a crossroads with where to take this verse. Both versions are valid and good, but have different outcomes. I will continue to contemplate it.

I don't think I've mentioned it in-verse, but Carlisle is not Edward and Edythe's biological father.

I am having a good time with the world-building in this verse.

[crazyk-imagine]

How they feel when they find out you're their Imprint Headcanon

A/N: I was bored and now everyone has a Twilight Christmas gift!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Embry

Shocked but excited to have found his imprint (especially after seeing Sam and Emily), was not expecting it to be the town mean girl but when you two are together, your total sweetheart which throws off the guys except Paul (he's the same way)

Quil

Happy that's it someone he knows, even if you two haven't talked in a few years (he always knew you two were meant to be). The pack was happy when he finally quit his moping about how much he missed you and considered himself lucky to ask you out

Jared

Thrown off when it wasn't the one girl who showed an interest in him since freshman year but once he got to know you, he knew the fates never messed up and you two were meant to be together

Paul

Never wanted an imprint but when he heard you defending him and the pack, he knew you two were meant to be, kind of like the next generations Emily and Sam (Quil and Colin like to joke around and tell him when you're not around)

Jacob

Dude was downright flabbergasted when he imprinted a year after shifting and it wasn't on his favorite (person and human), Bella. Once he got to know you, he was happy he didn't end up with her (she comes with too much drama while you two are drama free)

Seth

Never admitted out loud but after watching Emily and Sam plus Jake and Renesme together, it really made him want to find his imprint and then he found you and he was so happy, everyone jokes and says he acted like an excited puppy

Leah

Never wanted an imprint especially after the whole thing with her cousin and ex but after almost dying because she denied the imprint and worked on getting to know you, she found herself wondering how she could ever be without you

Sam

Wasn't expecting to meet you so soon after he shifted and was introduced to the supernatural world (and came to believe in the legends he was told for so long), but thinks meeting you was a secret blessing because you can calm him

Brady

Didn't know what to expect after hearing brief details about imprints, but boy was he floored when he met you and then you asked him out, he nearly passed out on the spot (the pack doesn't let him forget about it)

Collin

Knew he was going to meet his imprint at some point but was not expecting it to happen while he was out getting groceries to replace what he and the pack had devoured from Emily's and then you wind up going to his alpha's place too, boy nearly lost his mind

[therealnotta]

I think people really overlook the plot of The Sims

Like, yeah, sure, there's the stuff everyone talks about, like the disappearance of Bella Goth, the stuff that's lesser known like Test Subject potentially being some sort of demigod, or the fact that the fourth game takes place in an alternate timeline. That stuff's all cool and great and overlooked by people not into the games, but??? The actual plot of the sims is insane????

The whole tagline is "play with life," and they skim over it now, but the deal is that you're playing as some ancient god controlling the lives of everyone in the Simverse. In Sims Medieval, it was super obvious, and they even name you- you're The Watcher, and in this weird prequel game you're still being worshipped. I never played the first sims game, but the second one had a fun little deal where if you told someone to do something against their personality, like making a lazy sim do dishes, they would look at the camera and shake their fist, shouting at the heavens before going to do the thing. Much like how your worshippers would look into the camera when they prayed.

The current game has taken... a weird angle with this. In Sims 4, you are almost completely forgotten, and your influence has begun to diminish. In one of the creepiest packs I've ever seen, Strangerville, there are conspiracy theorists who have begun to rediscover The Watcher. They don't have the name, but they know that Something is controlling them. If your sim interacts with conspiracy theorists too much, they'll become convinced, leading to the unsettling result of them deciding that, even if it results in their world ending, they want you gone. I haven't... seen any consequences to this, it's just a creepy thing they say, but plot-wise it's insane. Even if your sims don't go to Strangerville, a recent update introduced (incredibly buggy) Fears, and one of them is triggered by you having sims do things while ignoring the things that they want to be doing. This fear causes them to completely revolt against you. If you direct them to do something that isn't one of their Wishes, they'll cancel it. They stop responding to your control entirely.

Of course, you can disable their ability to have fears. None of the sims have been able to stop you yet. But, also in Strangervile, is the Mother. This is the closest I've seen to an antagonist to YOU, The Watcher; previous antagonists just targetted your sims, but The Mother takes control from you. They're visible, they're a giant plant, but there's something so unsettling about these sims looking into the camera again, showing that they know about you again, and then a little pop-up comes up in Zalgo text about The Mother. Sure, you can kill her. She can't stop you, but the way she calls more sims to her defense? The janky, broken movements they make, showing that she was never as advanced as The Watcher, never able to make the control seamless? Yeah, that's pretty wild.

The next game has been announced, and I really, sincerely hope they introduce an Archeology career, or maybe even Anthropology, so that your sims can learn of your existence again. With the direction its gone in, I can't wait to see how their revolt continues.

[toointojoelmiller]

favs are 6 and 9 (lol)

1, 3, 8 are very close (13.8%, 15.2%, 14% respectively)

2,4,5 consistenly the bottom 3 whole time (2.3%, 3.5%, 4.6%)

Thoughts:

First Place: Ep 6: Miller Boys: Now We Have Two!

was immediately in the lead, massively for a while, and stayed in first place the entire time. That is a STRONG result. *claps for episode 6*

this does not surprise me because ep 6 has sooo much packed into it including:

awesome and hilarious scene with couple at the start that Joel and Ellie *stick up and rob*

Panic Attack Joel

Joel and Ellie joking with each other and bonding on way to Jackson... Ellie clearly looking at him as a father figure, asking him to teach her stuff, joking around

jealous Ellie when Tommy comes back in the picture, feral Ellie in the dining hall and sassing Maria

The Brothers at the Bar Scene

The Bedroom Fight Scene ('course I do)

The Pedro Emmy Winning Scene

THE FIVE HAPPIEST DAYS OF ELLIE AND JOEL'S ENTIRE LIVES TOGETHER (somebody shoot me)

university/stabby

Joel you gotta get up I can't fucking do this without you I don't know where the fuck i'm going or what the fuck I'm gonna do Joel please Joel please

Second Place: Ep 9: Joel Miller Did Nothing Wrong

if this is a surprise did you even watch the same show because this episode is flawless in my opinion

Ignoring a Giraffe to Smile at His Happy Daughter Joel

It Wasn't Time That Did It Scene (this ended my life)

The Terminator Joel Scene

Dad-Daughter Hike Joel

chef boyardee and guitar and you okay? - just you kinda seem extra quiet today so - no it's fine

It was all her she fought like hell to get here

No you take me to her you take me to her right NOW please you don't understand

[I have no other choice] I do

Last Place: Ep 2: Tess's Kiss Scene

look, I get that an episode has to be in last place. what a testament to the quality of this fucking show that it could be one that is THIS good

this ep was in last place for the entire poll, and didn't get a single vote for a looong time

if you haven't rewatched this one all that I much I do recommend it. It's actually one of the ones that I have found the most rewarding to rewatch.. lots to pick up on that is easy to miss. lots of reward from taking in the background and sets and performances in a bit more detail

I LOVE the action parts of this, we get a real look at bamf Joel

it is such a good exploration and representation of where Ellie and Joel are starting their journey.. we get such a glimpse at all of these layers of Joel, made so fucking amazing by Pedro, and Bella fucking nails Ellie's optimism and vulnerability and nerves and bravery

the fact that this got a nom at MTV awards for Best Kiss is fucking hysterical until the end of time

Most Surprising: Ep 5: Endure and Survive (or not)

initially surprised me to watch it stay so low in the poll because I have rewatched a ton of this one (ok maybe I fast forward through Kathleen scenes always no hate I love Melanie Lynskey but we truly dgaf)

however looking at the entire episode list I shouldn't have been so surprised ... same problem as ep 2 - there are too many amazing options that split the vote!

(like when an actor is nominated for an award and it's just bad timing because a popular show just ended that also has amazing performances and there's a chance the rose coloured glasses of *this is the last season* will get in the way of the other actor getting the award that they so fucking DESERVE!!!!)

"Everything is great" dead pan Joel

QUALITY Joel and Ellie. "Ellie making him introduce himself, the simultaneous "I'm not her dad/he's not my dad" (OK CHILDREN whatever you want to tell yourselves), Ellie roasting Joel for caving in and doing her little impression of him.. TOO MANY TO LIST

The Suburb Sniper Sequence (was fucking perfect in my eyes and I bet I have watched it fifty times)

Bella's performance when Sam goes fungus and Henry goes bang is one of the best moments of acting in the entire show they are MAGICAL

I was wrong about:

thought ep 1 would have higher votes

thought ep 3 would have less votes

expected ep 8 to be in top 3 at least

Thanks for sharing and voting this was super interesting. The conclusion I have made is that all of the episodes are fucking incredible and you should rewatch start to finish because I promise you've missed a ton.

Attention rewatchers of The Last of Us:

[nobodyfamousposts]

I haven't read or watched Twilight but I'm very invested in the recent salt posts so please tell me about this Seth's flaws

In my opinion, it’s not worth reading or watching. But I am biased against it because I am a cynical person who hates the series with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.

But a brief explanation is that Seth is a side character of limited importance to the series. What little importance he has is to emphasize how “cool” the other characters are supposed to be. He is one of the werewolves introduced in the second book (New Moon) and the younger brother of the only female werewolf, Leah (whom is unfairly treated like crap for the crime of being the sole girl to be able to transform into a wolf).

Seth is a fanboy. Plain and simple. He is younger than the other members of the pack and blindly looks up to and supports Jacob (the so-called “true alpha” because bloodline says so), to the point of being fully willing to abandon his home, his family, his pack, and his duty to chase after Jacob when Jacob chooses to abandon everything in order to protect Bella, the main character and single most important person in the series despite the fact that she does nothing useful while also being directly responsible for nearly every bad thing to happen in the series.

Seth’s idolization of Jacob and the other guys is his defining character trait in that he will do anything to be recognized by them (particularly Jacob) and won’t argue with them. Even when they’re being jerks in general or actively contemplating the death of his sister specifically for being annoying and in their words, a “bitter harpy” (because she’s justifiably angry about her ex fiancé leaving her for her cousin and then being forced to transform into a wolf and follow said ex’s orders).

Seth’s importance to the series comes in two ways. Once during the mostly undescribed “Newborn war” when he is praised for killing a vampire on his own off screen (which is like…one of the entire army, so okay but not really THAT great), which seems to be used less as a matter of his character and ability and more to serve as a direct contrast to the results of his sister’s attempts to do the same. Leah, being a female who isn’t Bella, is noted to fail when trying to take on a vampire on her own off screen only for Jacob to somehow have to “save” her from it and get injured in the process, making everyone feel bad for Jacob and blame Leah for trying to handle something on her own or in any way “prove herself”. (It should be noted that the rest of the pack has never actually tried to make her welcome in the group and even indicated they kind of want her dead, btw, which doesn’t exactly make for a team you can trust to have your back in a battle but surely would have NOTHING to do with her choice to try and handle things on her own……really.) This serves the purpose of having Jacob be injured in order for Bella to have an emotional visit with him while he’s recovering without her being the one “technically responsible” for his injury so she can feel guilty without actually appearing guilty (even though the entire war only happened because of her in the first place).

The other and more notable point of Seth’s importance in the series is when Jacob yet again abandons everyone he’s supposed to care about because the wolves are planning to attack the vampires because the vampires are going to break the treaty with the wolves and turn Bella into one of them (at HER insistence, despite knowing full well there is a treaty and that the vampires turning her would be breaking that treaty). Jacob actively abandons his people to try and protect the people he still very much hates just because Bella will be at risk.

Seth is notable for being the first to leave the wolf pack to join Jacob during this time. Because he’s Jacob’s fanboy. And he gives no real thought or concern to the fact that he is similarly abandoning his home, his family, his friends, and everyone he’s ever known to follow Jacob in trying to defend what are essentially strangers who are directly responsible for the current conflict.

Bear in mind that Jacob’s initial abandoning of his people to protect the female protagonist who has made it clear by this point she isn’t interested in him is shown to be the “right thing to do”, and that similarly, Seth’s trailing after him like a puppy is also the “right thing to do”.

Seth’s leaving after Jacob results in Leah leaving the pack to join them because Seth is her younger brother and she wants to protect him. Jacob wanted to be a lone wolf in the first place and tries to use Leah as an excuse to not have Seth join him. Seth then proceeds to turn on Leah at this point and tell her “You ruin everything!” in a line that comes off as so wholly ignorant, insensitive, and pretentious that I almost mistook him for one of the main characters.

This is bearing in mind that Seth is Leah’s younger brother. He KNOWS what she has been through. He also knows damn well that what has happened to Leah was not her fault (losing her now ex fiancé, her father’s death, turning into a wolf). And whether he meant to or not, he essentially blamed her for everything that has happened to her.

Seth actually appears to be acting from this incredibly childish frame of mind that turning into a wolf and being forced to fight and kill to protect people is a super cool thing that only the “elite” get to do instead of a DUTY. He’s stoked that he’s finally allowed into the “special kids club” except that he’s stuck sharing it with his sister who doesn’t want to be there and whose only priority is keeping him alive. And with this being his mind set, he proceeds to whine and blame her for keeping him from getting to go off and do the cool and incredibly dangerous thing he wants to do just because Jacob is doing it.

AND AT NO POINT DOES HE APOLOGIZE.

AT NO POINT DOES HE EVER GROW UP.