#i reiterate: he got MAULED BY A BEAR.

[marstonsboy]

on the topic of that time sixteen-year-old jack marston got mauled by a grizzly bear: he definitely retained some scars from that, right? when john finds him, he’s covered in a decent amount of blood, and he has visible scratches on his face.

his character model doesn’t reflect that he almost died to a full grown bear after the event. maybe rockstar didn’t know how to do this in 2010, i don’t know, but i always assumed he got some nasty scars from it. because, i reiterate, he was a scrawny sixteen-year-old that almost died to a Massive Grizzly Bear.

plus, with the fact that he almost definitely would have died right there if not for the plot armor of being haunted by the narrative (doomed to become the playable character in the de facto epilogue), i have to imagine there’s no way he walked out of that alive without any very obvious signs of injury.

this would also lend to the fact that he can get very easily mistaken for john multiple times by strangers. there’s this one stranger who tells him “you look younger,” as if the only obvious discrepancy here is jack being about twenty years younger than john, not the absence of those vicious scars he got from the wolves.

something something cinematic parallels. i don’t know. this is just something that bugs me a lot in the back of my mind.

[leahclearwaterdefensesquad]

Wait Emmett is a Dolly Parton stan?

I thought jasper would be the one since he’s from the south

Ah. A newcomer.

So here’s the thing, babe - I’ve already answered this same question before (though I can’t find the stupid ask for the life of me) and thus I’ve already explained my reasoning as to why it’s Emmett and not Mr. Single Star on my Collar Confederate that is the die-hard fan of the Country Queen. But because this is the LAST time I want to have to say this, I’ll go ahead and reiterate myself.

For reference to anyone reading this, Anon is referring to my current blog title (”emmett’s a dolly stan”).

I gotta lot of things to say about this so bear with me, it's gonna be a whole - actually, scratch that, multiple bullet lists. We’ll start with Emmett.

First thing’s first, I made this moodboard 

... and I made this post to go with it as a way to explain my reasoning.

As you can see from the post above and Emmett’s wiki, ya boy is from Gatlinburg, Tennessee! Good ole country boy who was just making a living to take care of his family!! Gotta love him. As you can also see from my post linked above, I mentioned that Dollyworld, Dolly Parton’s theme park that she had built to create jobs in that area, is located in Gatlinburg!!

Now, we know that Dollyworld wasn’t around in the ‘20s when Emmett was still human and living in the area, but (and yes, it is mentioned that he technically ~never looked back~ but that doesn’t matter because this is a headcanon) if you read the post above (how many times am I gonna repeat that phrase lol) I lay out why I think he would still have a soft spot for his hometown and, specifically, the music icon popular of that region, who is also from Tennessee herself!!

Other points worth mentioning: He’s from the back country, and because I think he’s a country boy, he would just enjoy some actually good country music. Srsly, how can one not like her music anyway??????? 

So to finish off this little bullet list.... Anon, do you not think Tennessee is in the South???? It is Or were you not aware of his Tennessean roots??? Not saying that to be mean, but ya know. Worth asking.

Now, onto Jasper.

As we have previously established, Jasper ain’t the only Southern gentleman in the Cullen Clan. 

Here is where I delve into canon (or at least, what ik from canon). We know from his anecdote that he relayed to Bella in Eclipse about the newborn army he trained that once he got turned, he was really out of it in terms of keeping up with the human world. His world was just violence and pain and conquering until he left and met Alice. From what I interpreted, Jasper still hasn’t really kept up with human affairs. I mean, okay yeah, it says in the Guide that he has a degree in history, so he went to college and knows some things (which is really fucking ironic when you think about how he was so proud of being a major in the Confed army but anyways), but he seems to just check out when it come to like... pop culture, you know? Idk about y’all, but to me, he doesn’t really seem like someone who would care about all the different kinds of music out there, so it seems like a stretch to me that he would zoom in on Mrs. Parton. Maybe he does keep up, I haven’t really read Midnight Sun so maybe I’m wrong, but to me, it just doesn’t seem like he’d be into a particular artist. That may be because I just write him off as some boring and racist character so I don’t give enough shits to breathe any life into him fanon-wise, but hey, if y’all are into that, I ain’t stopping you. 

I think the reason that ppl tend to get confused about this is that Jasper had the opportunity to relegate his backstory for plot driven reasons, and Emmett didn’t. Jasper talking about his human life really cemented in the minds of readers that he is From The South, but if Emmett somehow got to talk about anything beyond getting mauled by a grizzly (another mistake on smeyer’s part - grizzlies are out West, not in Appalachia), I think readers would also associate him as being from the rural South too. But because his backstory is only really recounted in his wiki and The Guide, it’s not the most well-known aspect of his identity. 

I feel like the majority of ppl that assume Jasper would be the one to like Dolly, and also just country music in general, is because they’re operating on the assumption that being from the South = good enough reasoning for a character to like country music, which can be kind of reductive but hey. And because fandom only thinks it’s Jasper who’s Southern and they skip over Emmett and Alice (I will give credit where credit is due - I know there was someone on here who made a country music playlist based off of those three’s Southern origins, but I can’t remember who it was unfortunately), he tends to get assigned those headcanons. Ig he does retain that Texan style a bit so it wouldn’t be a huge stretch if he liked country but anyways.

TLDR; To be blunt, it just makes more sense to me that the Tennessean whose hometown is literally where Dolly has her business would be a plausible Dolly Parton stan, not the aloof Texan who’d probably have some kind of vampiric seizure if he discovered that she supports BLM. 

Not to mention that I’m not the only one who thinks this. 

[thegreatkaleesi32]

Whumpy fluff

Whumptober Day 10: Alt. Prompt: Water

@whumptober2020

Here’s another excerpt from my novel that I’ve been working on all morning. This comes much later than anything else I’ve posted so far, so bear with me. Lena is a scientist (self insert) who’s crashed on their magical island and befriends James.

Summary: James has been rescued and is having a bad time in fever delirium and panicking. His dad (Peter), Lena, and his dog (Delilah), help him through. 

CW: Referenced torture, referenced drowning, referenced psychological abuse, aftermath of torture, injuries, fever, broken bones. 

...

Lena grunted and pulled at her arm, throwing almost her entire weight into it.

Delilah snarled in response and yanked back.

Lena got her feet out from under her and shoved them into Delilah’s behind. She knew it didn’t hurt her, and she used her placement as leverage to pull Delilah forward. She let out the most un-lady like grunt she’d ever made as she pulled.

Delilah snarled harder and Lena felt her straining.

“I know you’re playing but this is getting ridiculous,” Peter commented.

“Nah…” Lena panted. “We’re just funnin’ around.”

The game was simple. Delilah bit down on Lena’s forearm, holding it in her mouth. It was tight enough that Lena couldn’t get her arm out but not enough to break skin. It wasn’t entirely pleasant, but it wasn’t for Delilah either. If Lena could get her arm out, she won. If she tapped out or their attention got called elsewhere, Delilah won.

This time Lena gave her arm a wide swing, attempting to knock Delilah off her feet. Delilah went with the motion and Lena used her legs to try and hold her down.

Lena was laughing like a giddy maniac and Delilah was snarling and foaming at the mouth. But her tail was wagging and her eyes were sparkling with joy. She understood how it could look like she was being mauled to an on-looker. Delilah did too which was half the fun.

Lena grunted again, letting out more of a primal yell as she finally knocked Delilah off balance. But Delilah held on tight even as she went down.

The next yell wasn’t by either of them though.

It was James.

Delilah immediately released her hold on Lena and they both scrambled to their feet and over to James.

Peter was already there, trying to soothe him with gentle words.

James was unresponsive, muttering to himself and letting out little whimpers and cries of pain.

“Julie, please, Julie…” Lena caught.

James writhed underneath the blanket.

“Dad, please don’t leave me,” He screamed.

“I’m right here. I’m right here, pumpkin,” Peter cooed. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

Delilah curled up next to him and let out a whine of distress.

“What is it, girl?”

Delilah put her paw on James’s forehead.

Lena understood and copied Delilah’s motion.

“He’s burning up!”

James, in whatever fever dream he was in, did not like the touch. He wailed and tried to throw her off.

Now that she was leaning over him, she felt the heat radiating off him.

“Peter, draw a bath, we need to cool him down.”

“How cold?”

“Just cool. Ice cold would be dangerous.”

“Sure thing.”

Peter ran into the bathroom.

Delilah howled. It sounded like a wolf summoning her pack at a full moon but was heavy with fear and concern. She rubbed her snout against James’s cheek. He turned his head away, and Lena could feel Delilah’s distress.

Lena began hurriedly pulling off bandages, looking to see if any wounds had festered or if any of the infections had gotten worse.

Delilah tried to help. Lena had her hold James up while she undid the bandages around his chest.

She left the splints on. It was a tough decision, letting the bandages get wet and soggy or risk moving a limb. Soggy bandages could be fixed much easier. She also left his shorts. He would be mortified if they removed them for something as simple as a bath. Not when they had other pairs at the ready.

Peter and Lena were done at about the same time. Peter wrapped his arm around James’s shoulders and the other under his legs and easily lifted him.

James fought against the hold, thrashing against Peter so hard that Peter nearly dropped him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Peter chanted, but knew James wasn’t hearing them.

Peter lowered James into the tub, keeping his arms out over the lip to preserve the bandages on his hands.

The water must have hurt, but it was impossible to tell if it was enough to arouse James or not. He shrieked again, and flailed his limbs, hitting against Peter and Lena. The two of them had to hold him in the tub. Peter tried to talk over James’s crying and soothe him, but he was clearly elsewhere.

James eventually gave into them. She was horrified that it wasn’t because he understood where he was and what was happening, but rather some other reason that fed into his nightmare. He was mumbling to himself again, and Lena couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Lena rested his head on the lip so his face was upturned and gently scooped water onto his forehead. She made sure it dribbled into his hair, not onto his face. He stiffened at each pass of water. Peter kept his hands on James’s shoulders as a precaution.

She could still feel the unease of the universe. It was thriving off his fear and pain. Was she supposed to save him from drowning in the basement, or from something else?

What she did know what that caring for him felt natural, as if they’d been friends for years. When he was lucid, he was easy to talk to, and she felt closer to him than to anyone she’d met at King’s. He was so vulnerable, and it amazed her that he was able to connect with her through his ordeal.

He really was amazing, and it was a shame he didn’t see it.

After a few minutes of sitting in the cool water, James came to.

His eyes fluttered open. He gasped and tried to clamber out of the tub. He splashed water in his face which made him recoil and clamp his mouth closed.

“James, it’s okay. It’s okay. Easy now. You’re home, pumpkin.” Peter said in the gentlest tone possible. Lena heard the undercurrent of urgency though.

“I’m home?” He asked, looking around the room.

“Yes, James. You’re safe at home. We’re in the water because you have a nasty fever. You were delirious.”

“Where…where’s Julie?”

“She’s not here. She’s not here, sport.”

“Julie?” He asked looking up at Lena, arching his neck bath further.

“No Julie here. Just me. Just Lena.”

“Lena!”

“Right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

James moaned and closed his eyes.

She knew what this meant by now. He thought he was hallucinating or dreaming and it made her heart very heavy.

“Are you still confused, James?” Lena asked.

He nodded slowly. Peter had tried to assure him, but said too many things at once. Peter was quite good at soothing him, but Lena was better somehow, able to tell what he needed in the moment.

“That’s okay. There’s a lot going on right now.”

“There’s…there’s water,” he slurred.

“I know there is,” Lena said softly. “We’re not going to let you drown. The hands on your shoulders aren’t going to hurt you; they’re making sure you stay above water.”

He moaned and slumped into the tub. The water rose and he shrieked, eyes flying open again.

“It’s okay,” Lena intoned. “It’s not going to go any higher.”

James nodded and closed his eyes again. Lena slowly carded through his hair.

“Are you feeling any better?” she asked.

“A little.”

“That’s great. You were probably really warm, huh?”

He nodded again.

“Do you remember where you are?”

“Home.”

“That’s absolutely right. You’re home. You’re safe now. I know the water is scary but we have to cool you off, alright?”

“It hurts,” he said.

“I know. I know it does. When we get you cooled down a bit I can give you some more meds.”

“What do I have to do?”

“You don’t have to do anything. Rest now. Try and relax. Let us handle the rest.”

“But they’ll torture me…you’ll tell Julie and she’ll…”

“You’re home now,” Lena repeated. She looked up at Peter. His jaw was set and his cheeks were red. “You’re home which means you’re safe. No one is going to hurt you.”

“Please…I just…I wanna sleep.”

“I know. When you’re nice and cool we’ll get you into bed and you can sleep as long as you want.”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“You keep giving me potions…”

“Those have worn off by now, I’m sure. You’re home, remember? So we’re not giving you those potions.”

“It hurts too bad. And I’m scared.”

“I know, James. But we’ll do what we can with the medicines to ease the pain. And I’ll get you some ice, maybe that’ll numb some of the injuries and cool you down. And I know you’re scared, but you’re safe here. We’re protecting you. I want you to try to relax, okay? Think you can do that for me?”

“I…I can try.”

“We’re right here for you. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Promise?”

“Of course I promise,” Lena responded easily.

“And dad?” It took him a moment to be able to focus on his dad.

“I’m not leaving your side.”

He hummed in acknowledgement.

“What else are you confused about?” Lena asked.

“The water,” he said. “Wait, I think you explained that already.”

“I did, but I’m happy to reiterate as many times as you need to feel better.”

“I’m sorry, I’m stupid,”

“Hey,” Lena said. “You’re not. There is tons and tons of proof that pain, fear, fever, injuries, everything you have, affects memory, reasoning, and critical thinking. And other things of course. I’m also sure you have a concussion.”

“What’s that?” James asked.

“It’s when your brain bounces off your skull, essentially leaving it bruised. The same way your chest hurts when your ribs move, your brain hurts when you have to think. And the same way you can’t lift anything heavy, your brain can’t process as much.”

“How…how did that happen? Surely I’d know if my brain was bouncing around.”

Lena chuckled, and didn’t mean to. But miraculously, James did to.

“Getting hit the head. Which I’m assuming happened to you.”

“Is that why I’m so scared, and confused, and weak?”

“I think your concussion is definitely contributing, especially to the confusion. But I attribute the fear to the trauma, the conditioning, and the gas lighting. And I don’t think you are weak. Not being able to use your limbs and being scared are not weak. Neither is asking for help. In fact, asking for help when you need it is the epitome of bravery.”

“What do you mean conditioning?”

Lena sighed. She found herself massaging his shoulders. He leaned into her touch, and she felt knots ease as she dug her fingers into his shoulders.

“It means like training you essentially. They made you fear them and your surroundings. They made you distrusting and skeptical because they wanted you to feel unsafe and afraid.”

“And…and there was another word you said, and I’m not sure what it meant…I don’t remember what it was.”

Lena racked her brain. “It was probably gas-lighting.”

“Yes, that. What is it?”

“It’s like, making you doubt yourself. It’s a form of manipulation that makes your question your own judgement and memory.”

“How…how do you know all this?”

“The terminology, or know they did it?”

“Both.”

Lena moved both her hands to his left side to really work at one of the knots. She was slow going and gentle, because she knew massages could hurt.  

“I have friends who took psych classes and shared their knowledge with me. And I know they did it to you because of how uncertain you are. You literally don’t believe your eyes that you’re home. Which tells me they made you hallucinate and tricked you so you stopped believing what your senses told you.”

He hummed and looked up at his dad. James’s face fell and he looked down at his chest. He must have seen how upset his dad was.

It did warm her to see how caring he was, but also made her heart even heavier as didn’t want him to feel guilty.

“James, do you remember the other day? When your dad told you about your official nickname?” Lena asked.

“Yes,” He said.

“You’re dad said that making you feel weak was nothing more than a technique.”

James nodded.

“I know you don’t believe him.”

“I’ve been trying to hide it.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t want you to be upset.”

“James, I could never be upset with you about that,” Peter assured.

“It’s going to take time to believe us and feel safe,” Lena said.  “It’s sad for us, because we want you to feel better and can’t do much in the meantime. But you can’t protect us from that feeling. The best thing you can do is tell us what’s wrong, or that you don’t believe us because then we get to help and everyone feels better and endorphins get released at all the love and affection.”

He smiled again.

“What are endorphins?”

“Happy chemicals. They literally bind to the happy receptors in your brain. Or maybe they get released into the brain? I don’t remember exactly. Or hold on, they might be a family of happy chemicals. I was never good with remembering my hormones.”

She laughed at herself. James did too.

And she loved this about him. He loved her science jargon which seeped into her regular speech. And he asked her what they meant so he could better communicate. She also wondered if it distracted him from the pain and fear.

She shifted to his right shoulder. He was indeed releasing tension in his shoulders, and this was the most relaxed she’d seen him in a long time. Even in the water, which was incredible.

“Do you remember the point I was trying to make?” She asked. “Because I don’t.”

James started laughing again.

“Oh, yes,” Lena said. “I got sidetracked. They wanted to break you down mentally because they wanted you to surrender. There’s three main components to that. First, physical. All the physical pain reinforces the other two components, makes you miserable, and frankly makes it harder to think, which makes the other two components work better. The other two are mind games. Gaslighting. They made you doubt yourself and your perceptions so they could make you feel worthless. And they induced, well, it’s called learned-helplessness, which is pretty self explanatory. Make you feel reliant on your captors, which induces shame and fear, so they could manipulate you into surrendering.”

“You know a lot about kidnapping people,” James commented.

Lena snorted in laughter. Peter smiled and looked up at her.

“I read a lot,” She answered.

“About kidnapping?” James asked.

“Back to my point,” Lena spoke purposefully fast to make them think she was deliberately changing the subject. She had no qualms about sharing her reading history, but figured that might not be a good conversation to have with James.

And to her great relief, James chuckled.

“All these feelings, the confusion, fear, and doubt were tactics they used to break you,” Lena said.  “They are not weakness. It’s okay to tell us about those feelings. It’s the same as telling us your back hurts.”

“Lena, thank you. I think…I think that finally started to sink in.”

“I’m glad.”

“You’re very articulate.”

Lena smiled. Her hands were aching now, so she stopped her massaging. Instead she poured more water on his forehead. The rest of his skin was cool now, except his forehead.

“What else can we do to help?” Lena asked gently.

James shook his head every so slightly.

“That’s okay. Just hang in there. Do you want me to tell you what I remember about brain chemistry and hormones?”

“Yes please.”

“Okay, fair warning, this is digging through some ancient knowledge. Like we are going way back into the filing cabinets.”

“That’s okay, I probably won’t remember anyway,” James answered.

“I guess that’s a good point.”

So she named as many hormones as she could, starting with dopamine and serotonin. But she didn’t know as much about those, so mentioned the stress pathways with cortisol, and eventually found herself talking about estrogen and progesterone. She could see that Peter was uncomfortable about female sex hormones, but Lena remembered those the best.

James slowly drifted back into unconsciousness.

“I’m summoning Julie.” Peter said. His words were curt and harsh but his eyes were brimmed with tears.

“I still don’t know about that.”

“I wasn’t asking you.”

“Alright.” Lena said, doing her best to hide her annoyance. She knew James was suffering and of course she wanted it to end, but having Julie come here would traumatize him all over again.

“I’ll take all precautions. And when he awakes healed, we will tell him we found a magic potion. Or Tom invented one. Or we got it from the spirits. Whatever we need to say.”

Lena nodded. There was no arguing with him.

“Can he be transported to a different room when Julie comes?” Peter asked.

“Sure. Just as long as you’re careful.”

Peter nodded. He set up towels on the bed while Lena sat with James, still combing her fingers through his hair.

They pulled him out when he started shivering. They quickly tagged teamed the event, having grown used to the most efficient way to dry him off, put disinfectant and wound cream everywhere it was needed and bandage everything again.

They rested him in the bed, above the covers this time, and placed a cool cloth on his forehead.

It warmed up instantly.

Peter and Lena both knew they were in for a long night. And Lena changed her mind about summoning Julie.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans  are Space Orcs “Lions and Tigers and Bears.”

I’m trying to do writings that cater to what everyone wants. Some will be stories some will be short report style, and I might try other styles upon  request if you have an interesting idea.

Also a note, I love comments, questions, messages, and anything else you can think of. If you want to draw something, you don’t need to ask. Just do it, I would love to see what you come up with. :)

We used to think that humans were apex predators, and I suppose we weren’t wrong. Compared to the rest of the galaxy, humans are an amalgamation of teeth, claws, and the nightmares of our children, but on their own planet, humans have only survived based on their guile and pack bonding instincts. They keep animals in their home that could rip them apart if they were so inclined.

If this wasn’t enough, the humans are intent on keeping their natural predators alive despite a period of mass extinction that followed the rise of human domination. For years they have, captured, hunted, protected, and fought for the lives of creatures that would happily rip them apart.

No one really understands it, but the humans are desperate to keep these creatures alive.

Because humans can’t just pack bond with themselves, they have to pack bond with their entire planet and everything on it.

***

“So what is this place supposed to be?” Krill wondered scuttling along at Captain Vir’s feet glancing upwards at the massive gated archway.

“It’s a zoo…. Or technically it’s a nature preserve, I guess.”

“What is…. A Zoo.”

“You’ll see.”

He stopped at the counter and passed his arm under a chip reader. Krill crossed his two sets of arms, a habit that he had picked up from the humans.

“You understand you say that a lot, and I never appreciate when you do.”

“Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe.”

“You say that a lot too.”

“Well this time I really mean it.”

Krill sighed, but kept at Vir’s feet as they passed through the doors and into the park.

His first impression was stepping onto another world. One that was confused and didn’t particularly know what it was doing… so earth, but condensed. Hundreds of large enclosures dotted the intervening space all boasting complex contained ecosystems. A tiny slice of ocean rolled and sloshed inside one of these massive containers, while another showed the burning sand of a windswept dessert. A Burst of orange sand was kicked up into the air and swirled slowly around. The ground shifted creating a new landscape as they watched.

“Pretty cool huh, they didn’t used to do that, but now they keep tings changing to make the animals more comfortable.

“Animals?” Krill wondered nervously.

“Yep, animals.” Captain Vir responded making his way over to one of the enclosures, “It’s time you got to see a real predator.”

Then entered a crowd staring up at one of the enclosures, and a woman wearing a green vest standing atop it. The invisible force-shield glinted blue under her feet. Otherwise it would have appeared that she was just standing on air.

Below her, a massive creature prowled, pacing back and forth muscle rolling and churning under its orange and black striped hide. Massive claws glinted at its feet. Snarling, the animal showed huge glittering teeth. Krill stepped back.

“The world record for the Olympic high jump is somewhere in the ballpark of eight feet.” The woman was saying, “But the Tiger, can easily jump an astonishing twelve feet. Two men stacked on top of each other, or even onto the roof of your house.” As If in response to her words, the huge creature sprung from the ground flying through the air to snatch a piece of meat dangling from the ceiling. Its teeth glinted, as it ripped the chunk in half turning its head back to swallow, “He can bite with a force averaging 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch.”

Vir chuckled, “Damn those things are cool, scary as hell though.” At his side Waffles, the dog, sniffed the ground licking up a stray bit of popcorn.

Krill couldn’t help but glance at the animal and her glittering teeth. Were humans stupid? He had a 100 pound predator on a leash right now, and did it bother him, no.

Then again, the tiger was significantly bigger. It ripped another chunk from the meat

Krill didn’t like this place, so he pulled the captain away and into the crowd.

That wasn’t a great idea, since he suddenly came face to face with a reptilian head….. One with no limbs, and to his horror, the creature lifted itself upwards to stare him in the eye. As if this couldn’t get more horrifying, the death noodle unhinged its jaw and hissed at him showing a massive set of fangs. He leaped back in fear caught by Captain Vir, “Mmm a cobra, they use neurotoxin you know. One bite is potent enough to kill 20 people.”

Krill stared at him incredulous, “And you still want to STAY on this planet?”

He laughed as if he was a joke and not a question.

The cobra lowered its head slithering away like a ribbon of death’s cloak.

Krill detested almost every moment of this place, the giant death fish called a shark that could practically bite a human in half, and hid within the depths of the earth’s ocean just waiting to strike fear into the hearts of men…. Which, he was reminded, took up about 2/3s of the globe

He hated the furry doom that looked sort of like a fat dog, but was, in fact, 12 feet tall could and would maul you to death, when it wasn’t sleeping all winter to protect itself from starvation at the behest of harsh winters.

Even though the stripy hallucination ponies weren’t all that scary, he wasn’t sure how he felt about their use of black and white stripes to confuse predators in large numbers. It seemed like an animal who used a mild acid trip to confuse predators wouldn’t really be worth hunting.

Then there were the tall spotted ponies who used their heads to beat each other to death because none of the human animals could be normal, no, not one. If you didn’t have death noodles, you had psychedelic ponies and neck fighting.

Oh and let’s not forget the thousands of varieties of tiny flying dinosaurs that were known for carrying diseases and feeding on the carcasses of the dead, and some of them weren’t even all that tiny. The big knife-face bird with the white and brown feathers had a wingspan nearly eight feet wide, and had the ability to chuck goats off cliffs.

The actual F***k.

There was also the stabby-tree head pony (a few varieties of these actually) hunted by humans often, but they used their tree horns to stab each other, because why the hell not. Oh and they had also been known to stomple on humans till death.

Because even the prey animals can kill you on this planet.

Don’t forget the giant bacteria lizard whose bight does not kill you because it is poisonous, but because its mouth is such a nasty place that you will grow infected ad die slowly. Incidentally, humans are the komodo dragons of the universe.

Captain Vir’s favorite animal wasn’t really surprising. The pack of fluffy grey dogs are apparently the ancestors of the domestic dog, and seeing them did not help Krill’s anxiety, because apparently they kill by going after a single beast, and chasing it to death using rather complex team working tactics to do so. One grabs the things legs, than the other tries to rip its throat out.

Captain Vir was best friends with an animal that could easily rip his throat out.

Apparently human had become friends with the wolf thousands of years ago because some idiot human thought it would be a good idea to be friends with something that wanted to eat his face.

***

Everything on this godforsaken planet can kill a human. You thought humans were indestructible, no, no they are not. Just as a small list of things that can happen to a human on their own planet (a planet which they love I might add), limbs ripped off, stompled to death, bitten in half, poisoned, eaten, ripped open, gored, suffocated, infected, diseased, pushed off a cliff, drowned, and that isn’t even a comprehensive list.

The most dangerous place in the galaxy for humans is their own planet, and they love it. They love it so much that they protect the very predators that would like to have them for a snack. And may I reiterate that they keep these animals in their houses, cuddle with them, pet them, and name them cutesy furry names like pickles, fee fee, or Senior Wobbles.

Personally, I would never keep something in my home that could easily eat my face off. Seems like an obvious desire, but apparently not….

Not to mention the embarrassment of having to explain how you got your face eaten open by Mr McDoodle Cuddlebun the fifth, but I digress there is no convincing you people.

[impalaanddemons]

Good Girl - Part 7

Summary: Werewolf!Reader Story. Readers a young doctor and uses her skills to keep her condition hidden, until she transfers to the Enterprise and tries to deceive a certain grumpy Doctor

Bones x Reader

Wordcount: 2130

A/N: Another long one. I rewrote the last part two or three times, bc I wanted to get McCoys Character right. There is some medical BS in there I suppose, but I tried to be as accurate as possible. (I had a beautiful couple of hours reading about mauling incidents). So pls bear with me :)

This could be AOS and TOS

Warnings:  Language, slight Body Horror, Blood, Injury

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6

„Doctor M’Benga, what’s our status?“ - it was the special power of anyone who worked on call, not just werewolves, to get ready, dressed and cleaned of any bodily fluids within about 10 minutes if necessary. That’s how you stormed into the sickbays operation room A - the blue shirt slightly disarranged, hair still damp from a very short shower. You slid into the scrubs on auto pilot to get a look at the scenery.

„Ensign Bancroft was found 15 minutes ago. Mauling incident. Don’t ask me how. GCS 10. Lacerations on the face and his arms. Heavy blood loss due to injury at brachial artery, ligated now.“ Holy lord. You stared at the young mans face - or what was left of it. It was not the first time you saw these kind of injuries, but it was the first time that you … were the reason. Fear shot through you. They would incarcerate you for this, if they ever found out. Guilt crept upon you. Sneaked it’s tiny hands around your chest and squeezed it. God. You needed to concentrate, needed to work, now. Be professional. If you lost your cool now, you’d never forgive yourself. You’d never work as a doctor again. You pushed the thought away, leaving only place for professionalism and the now stretching itself out before you. „Chapel, irrigate those wounds on his face with anti-bacterial solution 23“ - „Let’s patch him up“, M’Benga asserted grimly.

Where there was a surgery going, McCoy was usually nearby. There were jokes going around the medic team that he had persuaded Scotty to patch his Communicator and his PADD so that whenever there was an emergency surgery, he’d be commd, no matter if he were on call, duty, or otherwise. He was not satisfied with reports alone, he had to be there. This time you seemed to have dodged the bullet, at least as nightshift slowly descended into Alpha. No Bones. Yet. You patched that poor boy up the best you could. This was the most delicate, best suture you had ever delivered. Guilt seemed to propel your abilities to new heights, you thought bitterly to yourself. M’Benga and you had already discussed that that boy would’ve to stay for some time under the dermal regenerator. He’d also get preventive medication against everything you thought feasible in the situation. You were pretty sure to not carry any deadly diseases, but neither could you tell anyone what you knew, nor were you entirely sure how anything wolf in you reacted with a human. There had never been an accident. Talking of… Still in your scrubs you watched Ensign Bancroft being carried out to his biobed in a private bedroom. Would he … change? You knew of no precedent. Were you now Patient zero to a werewolf epidemic? That would be… disastrous. No cure to that, being what you were. Not as far as your knowledge went, at last. You pulled off your bloody gloves and threw them in the sanitizer, following that you left the OR. Ah. Doctor McCoy. A smile crossed your weary face but he didn’t notice. Of course not - he probably fumed about not knowing about the surgery sooner and was extracting every bit of information from M’Benga he could. Luckily you had left a minute after him, or Bones would quiz you just as relentless as anyone else here. No special treatment for the person he happened to share his bed with. „Are you well…?“ Chapels blue eyes grazed your face. „Just a bit tired“, you smirked and shrugged. Shrugging hurt. You had almost forgotten about your own injury and tried to not pull a face at that. „Got the thing for you“ Chapel grinned and lifted a mug with steaming hot coffee. You would swear by your ancestors that the stuff replicated in medbay was at least 50% stronger then what you got anywhere else on the ship. Sometimes a coffee addict from Engineering sneaked in to replicate himself a mug. That’s how good the stuff was. „You’re an angel. I’d not know what we’d do without you.“ you shot her a big honest smile. „You better be awake, it’s gonna be a long Alpha for you today until M’Benga comes back from his beauty sleep.“ Christine paused and watched the two Doctors, standing next to you. „Assuming Doctor McCoy will ever let him leave.“

You usually covered Beta as second to M’Benga, but occasionally took over nightshift or assisted the big man himself on Alpha. Since Alpha was the busiest time on the Enterprise you’d usually be too busy to chat with McCoy. Not that you did not chat - you chatted with nurses and patients alike, but you and him were usually occupied with your own work, apart from five minutes for yet another coffee. That was all that kept you awake right now, anyway, as you’d technically not slept at all. There was a Security officer with a broken rib you’d tended to as Alpha drew to a close. He was a hearty fellow, joking during the whole procedure (which meant prescribing him something for the pain and making sure he’d restrict himself for the next weeks). He was a good flirt and seemed happy to test his skills at you. You didn’t mind but the disgruntled look Bones shot him near the end was about the funniest thing you’d seen in a while. „Thank you, dear Doctor“ the man grinned, running a hand of his through military styled short blonde hair. „Just be careful, it needs to heal. If you can’t rest, I’ll confine you to the sickbay.“ you said and closed his file on your PADD. Still grinning he clapped you on the shoulder, which made you draw a sharp breath. „I’m sorry, Doctor. Everything okay, Doctor?“ he asked, clearly shocked. „Yeah“, you grimaced at him and forced your eyes back into a smile. „Sport incident. Just be on your way.“ lazily waving your hand and forcing that smile a bit more, he nodded - not one hundred percent convinced - and left. You turned around, wanting to check Bancrofts biobed once more, only to see McCoy watching you with narrowed eyes. He’d seen.

„Shirt off.“ Unless your ability to interpret human sound hadn’t left you miraculously last night, that was no question. You were at Bones quarters - he had finished reading the reports on Bancroft so far, you had taken to the chance and eaten as much as humanly possible to add some substance to the amount of coffee you’d already had that day. „I’m …“ you began but he clicked with his tongue, expression stern. „I’m either doing this here, as your partner that happens to be a Doctor - an excellent one at that - or we’re going straight to medbay.“ A moment of silence stretched between the two of you. „Shirt. Off.“ he reiterated and from the tone of his voice, how gravelly it was, how close to a growl, you knew he was serious. Begrudgingly you grabbed your shirt and pulled it over your head, leaving your skin exposed to the cooler air. The bruise was still covering your shoulder - all dark blue and red and violet, expressing the colors of the rainbow. The barely healed gash was still there, of course. Red, thin skin stretching over your muscles. His face was unmoving as if carved from solid rock. He stepped closer to you. „Turn around.“ You did, turning your back to him and staring at the opposite wall. Feet shuffled, he moved closer, slowly letting out a previously held breath. Then his soft fingers touched the skin on your back - carefully, a lot deeper down then you had expected. Maybe you should’ve checked how far down this injury went. „Turn to me again“, said the Doctor and his voice was barely a whisper. Turning to face him again you slowly examined his face. His beautiful eyes had the cold glimmer of a distant star in them. There was no hot rage, but something else below that silent surface of his. The cold fury of clashing emotions. You could feel it raging, could see how it turned him upside down. His fingers traveled the gash. „Lift your arm.“ he said and you lifted your arm. It hurt and your face stiffened. „Hurts? Can you move it backwards for me?“ you did as he told you and followed through with a few other motions until he told you to lower the arm again. „How did this happen, Y/N?“ now his eyes searched your face. „It .. was an accident. In the gym.“ He snorted at that, something grim tracing the lines around his eyes and mouth now. „Let me rephrase that, darlin’.“ there was something dangerous in his voice and you felt it was not directed at you. „Who did that?“ You shuffled uncomfortable at the question. How could you tell. What would you tell him. You didn’t know. Hi Len, I was a wolf at that time and somehow don’t remember? Yeah. Good luck with that, girl. „I … cannot tell you, Len. I am so sorry. Please believe me.“ you hated the way your voice sounded like it was begging. Gritting his teeth he backed up and left you for a second to grab his medical tricorder. „Fine“ he decided then: „The moment you remember, you tell me.“ that was no question either. You had never seen him so … possessive? Or was defensive the right word? „Now sit down for a moment, I’ll check you through.“ You opened your mouth to disagree at that but quickly closed it again when you saw his face. Concerned. That was the word you were looking for. He was concerned. And professional. He would not have acted any different, were it anyone else on this ship. This was his crew and he felt responsible for the health of everyone. Being his significant other only gave him more edge in this matter. He stood in front of you, putting the tricorder to your face - given any other situation you’d have enjoyed the view and him, ordering you around in his bedroom. Now you waited for the whirring of the tricorder to stop. „You’re readings are off, Y/N“ the tone of his voice dropped once more and now his eyes searched yours again. He pressed his left middle and index finger at your carotid. His lips moved the tiniest bit while counting, focused. „Way off.“ - „It was a very long and exciting day.“ you offered as a heartfelt, but poor excuse. It had been a long day and you got a feeling that those that followed would only become longer. „We’ll check this regularly now. I don’t want to see you at work tomorrow, you’ll need bed rest. I don’t know how you got this gash on your shoulder, but this will be checked regularly too.“ „Doctors orders?“ you smirked as you tried to ease the tension. „Are you teasing me for being concerned for your well being?“ he shot back but the tension did ease somewhat. Those lines around his eyes softened as he watched you now, the gruffness of his face smoothed as a smile tugged at his lips. You smiled back, still looking up at him, and carefully leaned your forehead on the fabric of his blue shirt. You felt his fingers touching your neck, wandering through the tiny hairs on your neck. How his heart beat faster then usually. „I promise you, Len“ you mumbled and lifted your face now to watch him „I’ll tell you, okay? It was an accident, don’t be worried.“ It was true. You would. Somehow. He nodded reluctantly. It was obvious that he wasn’t content. And he would put you in a biobed next thing in the morning. He didn’t need to tell you, you knew. If your shoulder hadn’t been so mobile, the gash not healed as good as it was, he’d have probably scooted you off to medbay in an instant. You got up from the bed and stretched yourself to brush a kiss on his lips. You wanted this to work out. With him. „There’s no dodging me any more, young lady.“ said the Doctor. You pouted a bit, at which he nabbed at your lower lip with his teeth. „No amount of pouting and batting your eyes at me will change my decision. Or keep me from performing your exams myself anymore.“ his whisper had a raw quality to it. „You come to me, when you are wounded. I …“ he stopped and drew closer, pulling you into his arms, very careful not to put pressure on your shoulder. A strange sensation spread in your chest, warm and fuzzy. „Yes, Sir.“ you said mockingly. „Good girl“ he pressed his lips on yours and brushed a strain of hair out of your face.

READ ON

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[medicatemedrmccoy]

Let the games begin - Ch. 5

Photo created and gifted by the stupendous: @wonders-of-the-enterprise

We’ve finally made it folks, the top of the roller coaster. Please keep all hands and feet inside this ride at all times ;)

Today dear reader, we’re focusing on our star and Jo, trying to do anything and everything to survive.

6,528 word(s) of angsty, violent, hurt, goodness. I told you this would make up for the last two chapters. Be ye warned, all who enter here.

Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 3  Chapter 4

There will be two more chapters, plus a prologue. SO, if you want to be tagged for the rest, yay! Just shoot me a message. If you don’t want to be tagged, then shoot me a message and I will try to keep my tears to a minimum, and go to my room and sit in the corner. Be gentle. I am a delicate flower.

Special thanks to: @outside-the-government for encouraging me to write again, and for being my beta and idea bouncer. Also @imoutofmyvulcanmind for being an idea bouncer, and letting me torture you with snippets, yay!

Tags: @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse @feelmyroarrrr @fandomheadrush @yourtropegirl @darlinleonard @bkwrm523 @trekken81 @trekkimagines201 @arrowsshootyouforwards @captian-hannah-kirk @hellhoundsandunicorns @kaitymccoy123 @starmission @kilismaiden @malindacath @starr-trekkk @the-the-sound-of-the-bees-blog @lurkch @random-fandom-lady @supernaturalgeekygal @captainjimsexypantskirk @devanshade @imagineangryspacegrump @pokemonlover591 @earinafae

You were busy stretching your sore and tight muscles. It didn’t seem to be doing much good, unfortunately.

“Honestly, there’s really not a whole lot that we can plan.” Paul said glumly “You know the only thing we can do to get you and Jo out of here.”

“I was really hoping you’d say that you know of a super secret escape hatch,” You said wistfully with a sigh.

“I wish, lass. I wouldn’t be here if I knew of one.” Paul laughed, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, there’s nothing for it and we can’t just hide in here.” You said as you started to gather up your bow and arrow, which Paul had brought into the cave earlier with Jo.

“You never told me why you’re helping me.” You said as you slung the bow over your shoulder.

Paul snorted “because screw Ajek, and screw this place. I’m done playing by his rules. Besides, he’s never dragged a kid into this before. That’s low, even for him, offering her up as bait like that.”

Paul walked up beside you and handed you a rock sharpened into an arrow head, tied to a branch with twine. “For the little lass” Paul said quietly.

You took the crude spear from his hands silently. You look to Jo as she’s staring at the last of the fading fire. You have an internal struggle. She’s too young, she shouldn’t have to have any reason to use a spear. On the other hand, there’s no reason that the two of you should be here either. You can’t just leave her completely unprotected. You cursed inwardly.

“Hey, Jo. Come here.” You asked quietly. Jo turned and strode over to you, looking up into your eyes. “Jo, you know what this is?” You asked gently while holding out the spear to her.

“Yeah…” Jo trailed off apprehensively, eyeing the long piece of wood.

“I want you to hold onto this Jo, and keep it close.” You said as Jo got the implied meaning. She really was too smart for her own good.

“You want me to… use this?” Jo looked at the spear like it had just turned into a snake.

“I want to be smart Jo.” You began, phrasing your words carefully “I don’t know what else is out there. I’m going to do my best to protect you, but it’ll make me feel better if you at least have something.”

Jo regarded you and the spear for a few seconds. “You’re right Aunt Y/N.” Jo tightened her grip on the spear.

“Thank you, Jo.” You said relieved as you kissed the top of her head.

As if the universe had just heard what you had just told Jo, you heard a soft snuffling sound coming from the larger cave you came in from. The snuffling noise sounded deeper than what any wolf could make. “Great”, you thought, “just perfect.“

You immediately grabbed Jo to keep her calm and placed your finger on her lips. You looked to Paul, his face steeled but still showing slight lines of worry. You closed your eyes and groaned softly. Here you go again.

You went out of the small cave first, with Jo clinging to your shirt with her good arm, and Paul close behind. You made your way to the front of your little off set room and stole a glance out into the larger room. Well, unfortunately, you were right. It was big, really big. Your eyes went wide. It looked to be a bear, a really, really big bear. It’s giant white face was matted with blood. You hoped it had saved you the trouble and killed one or two rivals.

“Its blocking the entrance.” You whispered to Paul, pointing toward the exit.

“We need to distract it.” Paul said, looking around the room. You looked around the cave floor looking for a rock or anything you can throw. You managed to find a few that you hope will make enough noise and threw them against the other side of the cave. It seemed to work.

The bear began to lumber to the other side of the cave. You slowly made your way out and around the off set door way. You waved your hand to Jo and Paul for them to follow. You made your way to the entrance of the cave slowly.

The bear snuffled and made a low growl, getting frustrated at not finding the source of the sound. You stole a glance to see that the bear was still investigating. That is, until Jo, turning around to see the bear for the first time, made a small gasp.

“Oh Jo...” You cringed inwardly. The bear turned around at the noise and growled loudly.

“RUN!” Paul screamed. His yell snapped you to attention and you’re turning to run before you can even think.

“Come on Jo!” you yelled, grabbing Jo by the arm.

“I’m sorry!” Jo tried to apologize, stumbling along the cave floor.

“Just run!” You ordered, as you took Jo’s good arm and pulled her in front of you, putting yourself between her and the bear.

“What do we do now?” You yelled at Paul “where can we go?”

Paul was quiet for a few moments, which felt like years when there’s a gigantic bear, behind you. A gigantic, fast bear. “Why is everything around here so damn fast?” You curse inwardly. Why couldn’t it be killer turtles, or violent snails?

“Follow the stream!” Paul yelled, pointing at the long stretch of water “it gets bigger down river!”

You pretty much have no choice but to trust him. You kept the steady pace as you guide Jo closer to the stream so you can follow it easier.

You could hear the bear crashing through the trees. It was like a juggernaut. Instead of being slowed down by the trees and foliage, it seemed to just be gaining momentum with every stride.

You weren’t sure which is worse, being torn to shreds by wolves or mauled by a bear.

“We’ve gotta pick up the pace!” Paul yelled “we’re not going to make it if we don’t.” The bear roared loudly behind him, as if to reiterate his point.

“Jo!” was all you managed to say, lungs burning.

Paul picked up on your thoughts and maneuvered his way around you and picked up Jo, who yelped in surprise, and sprinted ahead.

“Damn” was all you could think as you watched Paul sprint almost effortlessly ahead. Then you suddenly realized you were now at the back and promptly quickened your pace. You ran a few hundred more feet until you noticed the stream getting wider and starting to flow faster.

“It’s just up ahead!” Paul yelled. You noticed that he was beginning to tire as he continued to run. Him carrying Jo had helped to put a little bit of distance between you and the bear at least. Not nearly enough though, the bear was relentless.

Soon, you reached the part of the river Paul must have been talking about. It was quickly turning into a roaring river. You didn’t have a good feeling about this at all.

Paul ran further down to an overhang before suddenly screeching to a halt. You ran right into the back of him and almost sent you all toppling over the edge.

“Paul what...?” You breathed out, chest heaving.

“Quick, there’s no time!” Paul said quickly as he handed Jo to you. You took Jo and held her close as she clung to your neck.

“Paul, don’t. Whatever crazy thing you’re thinking, don’t. We need you.” You pleaded as you could see the bear bounding closer in the distance, looking madder than ever. Jo whimpered into your neck quietly.

“You know this has to be done. It’ll just follow you downstream otherwise. Good luck Y/N, now GO!” Paul shouted as he pushed you forcefully, making you lose your footing as you topple over the edge.

You’re quickly enveloped in an icy cascade of water. Somehow in your surprise, you lost your grip on Jo. You kicked frantically as you tried to break the surface. You gasped as you’re finally able to take in a mouthful of air.

“JO!” You screamed out, choking on the water trying to escape your lungs.

You don’t see Jo anywhere. She couldn’t have possibly gotten that far, she was clinging onto you as you fell, wasn’t she?

“JO, where are you?” You cried out once more. You searched around frantically until your eyes land back up at Paul.

“You stupid son of a bitch, Paul!” You screamed up at him, watching him twirl the spear that he took from Jo in his hands.

“I know, lass.” he replied, steeling himself for the oncoming attack.

That was the last you saw of Paul before you were swept down river and around a bend.

You smacked the surface of the water in frustration and said a silent curse for his stupidity. Not wasting anymore time, you resumed your search for Jo.

“Jo!” you screamed desperately “please for the love of god, answer me. JoJo!”

You searched frantically as the river became wider and more swift. You’re having to kick, and strain harder to try to keep your head above the water and go in a semi straight line to avoid rocks and fallen branches.

“Please, Jo. I’m begging you, kid. Answer me! Anything!” You pleaded as your eyes scanned everywhere.

You were close to having a meltdown before you finally saw the hint of pink from Jo’s favorite shirt 50 yards away or so.

“Oh thank god!” you murmured. Your thanks were short lived as you notice she’s face down and not moving in the swift current.

“Shit! JO!” You screamed, trying desperately to get your arms and legs to start working together to try to reach Jo.

You were making good progress as the river started to pick up even more. Worry flitted across your mind of another cliff. You pushed it down and concentrated on swimming. You grimaced every time Jo would bump into a branch or into a rock.

You noticed in your peripherals the river turning fierce. Rapids, and not any gentle ones either. They encased your body and began thrashing you around, head bobbing under and above the water repeatedly.

“Shit!” You exclaimed, coughing up water. You thrash around trying to get your bearings back, trying desperately not to take your eyes off Jo. You should have though. Then you would have seen the jagged rocks sooner.

Your eyes went wide. With the current of the river not only getting faster, if that were even possible, hitting those rocks was going to hurt and Jo seemed to be drifting right to them.

“Dammit Jo!” You cried, as you went into overdrive. Jo was still, maybe, 25 yards away and those rocks weren’t much further out.

You kicked and paddled as hard as you could. You tried to work with the river instead of against it. You pushed off from branches and rocks, clawing at the water, desperate to gain any ground, willing your body to work harder.

Your hard work paid off and you finally made it over to Jo with one last push off a rock. You grabbed Jo by the ankle and pulled her toward you and lifted her head out of the water. Her head lolled back onto your shoulder, she wasn’t breathing and she was beginning to turn blue.

You were so focused on Jo, you had forgotten about the rocks until it was too late. Having no time to swim out of the way, you do the only thing you have time for.

You quickly moved Jo behind you as you slammed into the rock hard, Jos added dead weight, not helping. You gasped and sputtered as pain shot through your ribs, making nothing but white explode in your vision. You tried to take in a few breaths but even that’s excruciating. It’s all you can do to keep your vision focused and keep a hold of Jo.

“Fuck it.” You breathed out, not having much other choice. You launched yourself and Jo from the rock. Your chest exploded with pain, but there’s nothing you can do about it for now. You have to make it to the bank, or you’re both dead.

This time though, you started making your way across the river, towards the bank. Every movement sent pain flaring from your chest, but you grit your teeth and choked it down.

You’re finally able to make it to the bank after what seems like an eternity. Being out of the water and having your ribs feel the full weight of gravity and pressure on them was absolute agony. You had bigger issues to deal with at the moment.

You hauled Jo up on the bank and immediately open and sweep her mouth before beginning CPR. You frantically began humming “another one bites the dust” to match your compressions.

“Damn, why do they pick the most morbid songs?” you thought as you pinched Jo’s nose and gave her small puffs of air.

“Come on Jo, don’t you dare give up on me” you cried as tears streamed down your face. You switched to “Stayin’ alive” as you restarted compressions. Not a lot better, but it helped.

You continued chest compressions and breathing for what seemed like hours, but it had probably been only minutes. Your chest was continuing to protest angrily.

“Jo, come back to me!” You ordered, getting angry “after all we’ve been through Jo, I am not letting you give up! Not now!”

You gave Jo another breath and she started to sputter and tried to cough up the water in her lungs.

“Jo!” You yelled “That’s my girl! Come back to me Jo” you encouraged as you began to tilt Jo on her side as she choked and spit up all the water.

“Atta girl Jo, you’re ok, get all that water out for me.” You said quickly, as you rubbed her back.

Jo choked and sputtered for a few more moments before finally taking a deep breath and gulping in all the air she possibly could, like she had never breathed before.

“You’re ok Jo, you’re alright. Calm even breaths for me Jo” You encouraged, patting her back softly.

“Y/N...” was all Jo could croak out.

“I’m here Jo, I’m here. I got you.” You reassured her. At those words, Jo began to sob.

“Hey now Jo, it’s okay, you’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I promised.” You said softly. Jo sat up now and turned to you and went to wrap her arms around you and squeezed you tight. You yelped at the pressure.

Jo immediately withdrew. “Did I hurt you, Y/N? I’m sorry.” she said softly.

“It’s not your fault Jo.” You said as you began to press in on your ribs. You grimace as you hear a slight crunch each time you did. “Yep” you thought “definitely broken”

“Jo, help me take off this shirt.” You asked, thinking quickly.

“What are you doing?” Jo asked, moving to help.

“I have to splint these ribs Jo. This is all I got.” You said as you pull your shirt over your head gingerly, leaving you in a tank top. You folded up your shirt the best you could and lay on top of it.

“Alright Jo, I need you to push in right here for me, okay?” You say as you guide her good hand to your broken ribs.

“Is this going to hurt?” Jo asked, grimacing slightly.

“I sure hope not Jo, but probably. No matter what, don’t let go, okay?” You ordered. Jo just nodded in response as she moved into position.

“Okay push in.” You said. Her little hand felt like a 20lb weight. The pain made you see a few stars. You tried to muffle your cries, but despite your best efforts, a few get through. Jo is a trooper though, and doesn’t let up. You maneuvered your shirt around your chest the best you could and tied it tight.

“Okay Jo, you can let go now.” You said, completely out of breath. You laid there for a few seconds trying to catch your breath and wait for the pain to settle down to a manageable level. You had hoped it would anyway.

“How are you doing Jo? Are you okay?” You breathed out, trying to take your mind off the pain.

“I’m okay Y/N. I just want to go home.” Jo said, as a tear slipped down her cheek. You didn’t blame her one bit, you were ready to cry and get off this damn planet too.

You lifted your hand to wipe Jo’s cheek, “You’ve done so well Jo. You’ve been so brave. I’m so proud of you. I know this has to be hard for you Jo. This is a scary place, but I’m going to get us out of here, I promise.” You said as you gave her a tiny smile.

“I’m trying.” Jo said as she sniffled and gave you a tiny smile back “and I know you will, you’ve gotten us this far”

“You’re damn right, Jo. Now let’s get going. Help me roll over?” You asked. Jo leaned against your the best she could and helped you roll over to your side. You took a short breath and steeled yourself. You slowly got up to your hands and knees.

“Whew, Jo, this sucks.” Tou joked, trying to take your mind off of the pain.

“You move around like daddy after he works out too much.” Jo observed, also trying to help. You gave out a tiny laugh. What you wouldn’t give to see that right now.

You crawled your way to a rock and hoisted yourself up slowly. Jesus, that sucked. If you ended up on your back again, you would be toast if your lives depended on it. You decided to keep that bit of information to yourself.

“Where to now, Y/N?” Jo asked, looking around the open landscape.

“I really don’t know, Jo. Were in new territory now.” You admitted defeated, as you made you grab your bow once more, thanking the heavens you didn’t lose it in the river.

“I guess we just pick a direction and go.” Jo said as she took off first, you right  on her heels as you made your way through the foliage.

You had been following Jo for what seemed like hours. Every breath and step made your chest flair in agony.

You felt warm, was it warmer outside than what it had been earlier? You lift your hand to your face where you’re greeted with a slight sheen of sweat and felt your forehead. You feel warm. “Fever?” you question. Surely not, you began to go over your symptoms in your head.

“I need to sit down for a minute, Jo.” you said as you plop down on a rock, not waiting for a response.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Jo asked concerned, giving you the once over.

“Yeah Jo, I just need to rest a minute.” You replied tiredly.

You sat on the rock for a while trying to regain your strength. You began to wonder if this place had a beginning or end. While you were deep in thought, you notice a big flock of birds take off and fly away, accompanied by a soft rumbling noise.

“What the hell?” You ask thoughtfully as the rumbling began to get louder. Your thoughts immediately went to the bear, had it finally caught up with you? What happened to Paul? You put those thoughts aside as you noticed the rumbling sounded like hooves thundering against the ground.

You stand up on your rock and begin to look around. In the distance you noticed a herd of what look like deer. “Huh, finally, something that won’t try to eat us.” Tou thought fleetingly.

Your thoughts then went to, “what might be trying to eat them?” The thought didn’t comfort you one bit.

“Come on Jo, we need to get going.” You said as you went to grab her hand. As you go to reach out for Jo, you heard another type of rumble, not of hooves, nor footfalls. This was a deep earthen rumble that shook down to the very core of where you were standing. The whole landscape began to shake.

“Y/N, what’s going on?” Jo asked beginning to get scared

You begin to panic slightly as the landscape began to shake even more. How the hell do you outrun an earthquake?

“Come on Jo, we have to get out of these trees.” You yelled as you grabbed her hand and headed for the clearing. You ran out of the edge of the forest and to a more rocky terrain. The ground shook violently and you wondered how long this was going to last.

You held Jo tight to you and crouched where you stood, trying not to lose your footing. You looked down at your feet as you noticed tiny cracks starting to dance across the ground.

“This is not good” you think to yourself “shitshitshit”

“Jo, we gotta run!” You screamed as you grabbed her hand and pushed her in front of you. You couldn’t run back to the forest for the falling trees, the only way to go was forward and that didn’t look promising, but you had to try. Taking in a breath and tightening your t-shirt around your ribs, you took off.

The cracks started to move more swiftly through the rock laden earth as you tried to outrun them. It wasn’t helping that the earth’s shaking was throwing you two off balance as you went.

The earth was quickly giving way to the relentless shaking and it started to open all around you, making you have to jump over small fissures. You were looking around trying to figure out where to go, when you started to see a break in the earth unaffected by the shaking.

“Jo, that way!” you yelled as you changed her direction. You two made a beeline for the edge. The earth is breaking up faster than you thought. The crack ran by you swiftly and the earth began to open up before your eyes at an alarming rate.

“Shit Jo, brace yourself!” you screamed as you did your best to pick her up with your chest screaming in utter agony from the running and the shaking. You managed to pick her up enough and toss her across the gap, as the earth opened up even more and swallowed you whole, disappearing from sight.

Jo skidded across the ground from where she fell. “No! Aunt Y/N! Aunt Y/N!” she yelled as she picked herself up and ran back to where you fell. Thankfully the relentless earthquake was starting to calm.

“Aunt Y/N, where are you!?” Jo screamed as she skidded to a stop at the edge and tentatively looked down.

“I’m here, Jo. I’m okay, kinda...” You yelled up as your finger tips were clasped onto a tiny outcrop to cling to and your feet barely finding a tiny ledge to rest on.

“What do I do?” Jo asked as she tried to reach her little hand down to you “I can’t reach you” as tears began to fall down her cheeks “please tell me what to do”.

“I don’t know Jo, let me think a minute.” You replied quietly. You had no idea what you were going to do. Your arms and legs were shaking from the strain of trying to hold yourself up and close to the edge. Your chest was on fire from the running and shaking and now trying to hold yourself up. There was no way you could climb up the side, even without broken ribs, there was nothing to cling onto.

“Aunt Y/N, please..” Jo trailed off choking back a sob “I’m scared”.

“It’s okay Jo, go see if you can find something to lower down to me, vines, stick, anything. But be careful and watch your surroundings.” You yelled up at her. You heard her little footsteps race off into the distance. You hoped she’d be okay off on her own.

You rested your forehead against the cool earth. You sent Jo on a fool’s errand you begin to think. Even if Jo did find something to pull you up with, Jo wasn’t big enough to hold your weight and you didn’t know if there was anything big enough around to tie anything to.

And your ribs? Could they even handle the force and pressure of trying to haul yourself up? Tears slipped down your cheeks, you were exhausted and angry. It couldn’t end here could it? You’d come so far, you had to get out of this somehow, if only for Jo. She didn’t deserve to die here.

You clung to the side of the earth for what seemed like ages. Your arms and legs were beginning to turn to jello. You began to think even if Jo did by some miracle find something, you didn’t know if you’d have the strength to do anything with it.

“JO!” you yelled out, starting to get worried “Jo where are you?” as your feet began to slip off their small crevice. This wasn’t going to last much longer and you had no place to go.

“Aunt Y/N!” You hear Jo yelling faintly in the distance “Aunt Y/N! I found the perfect thing”! Jo’s tiny footfalls fell softly on the earth as she came to a stop at the edge. Jo peeked over the edge down at you and smiles.

“I found the perfect thing!” She said triumphantly, grinning from ear to ear.

“What did you find Jo?” You replied as a hand is shoved roughly in your face.

“What the f…” You said staring at the hand and followed an arm up to the owner’s face.

“PAUL! Oh my god, Paul, you glorious bastard! You have no idea how glad I am to see your ugly mug!” You said as tears now streamed down your face in relief.

“You didn’t count me out that easy now did you, Lass. I have to say I’m a little hurt.” Paul smirked down at you “now let’s get you topside”

“Thank god, but I broke some ribs, I dunno if I can..” You began to explain.

“Shut up lass, I don’t want to hear any excuses from you. We’ve been chased by a bear and you went swimming in those rapids, you can do this. Time to put up and shut up” Paul said sternly “Now take my hand.”

“You’re right” you replied as you grasped his hand, steeling yourself for what’s to come. You link your hand and arm together as Paul slowly started to shimmy his way backwards. The sudden expansion of your chest makes stars explode in your eyes. You bit on your tongue to keep yourself from screaming out and just focused on getting up. You scrambled the toes of your shoes against the side of the earth, trying to get as much traction as possible. You neared the top and stretched out your free hand to grasp the side of the ledge.

“Come on lass, almost there, put your back into it. It’s like I’m doing all the work here.” Paul grunted, trying not to hurt you too much as he pulled you up further.

“Shut your face, Paul.” you wheezed out, utterly spent. Paul just chuckled.

“I got you Y/N.” Jo said as she put her hands under your armpit and tried to heave you up with as much strength as a ten year old could muster. Paul repositioned himself further down your arm and hoisted you up the rest of the way.

You flopped down on your back, so thankful to be on the flat surface once more.

“Solid, flat ground! I will never take the ground under my feet for granted ever again.” you panted out of breath. Jo immediately coming to sit by you and taking your hand into her lap, holding it tightly.

“I’m just glad the little lass found me. I’ve been looking everywhere for you two. I followed the river and saw the indention of where you crawled out on the bank, but there wasn’t much else to go on.” Paul said, panting slightly

“I am too. You did a good job Jo, I’m proud of you.” You said softly as you squeezed Jo’s hand tightly.

“We’ll give you a few minutes to rest, then we better get going.” Paul said as he stood guard.

“Just… just 5 more minutes.” You wheezed as you again check your shirt “help me tie this back Jo”. After your shirt was securely back in place, Paul helped you slowly to your feet.

“You gonna to be okay, lass.” Paul asked, giving you a once over.

“You kidding? I’m alive! I could run a marathon!” You exclaimed and went to take a few steps and winced in pain “Okay maybe a half marathon”

Paul just laughed at you and patted your back softly “Whatever you say lass”. Paul started off in front of you and you and Jo follow closely behind.

You had begun to walk back through the forest. It at least provided some shade from the relentless sun. You had been walking for what felt like ages. You were exhausted, you were hungry and your mouth so very dry.

“Jo, Paul, I gotta stop for a minute.” you said as you sat down on a rock, as a wave of nausea hits, not even waiting on a response.

“Are you ok, Y/N?” Jo asked concerned.

“Yeah, Jo. I’m ok, I just need a rest.” You answered, winded. The nausea got increasingly worse. “Please don’t puke” you plead with yourself, not wanting to imagine what retching would do to your poor ribs.

You closed your eyes and focused on just breathing. Paul came and sat beside you and started rubbing your back with his hand, his gesture oddly comforting. Jo crawled over to your side, rubbing your arm gently.

“I love you, Jo.” you said as you head is between your knees.

“I love you too, Y/N.” Jo replied as she rested her cheek on your back.

The three of you must have dozed off because you didn’t hear the commotion before it was too late.

You heard a twig snap, and voices coming from the trees. Your eyes flew open. You and Paul leapt to your feet, much to your ribs protest, and swallowed down any hint of nausea that might have remained.

You immediately unslung your bow and had an arrow knocked in two seconds flat. Paul had his trusty spear out, covered completely down the hilt with blood.

“Jo stay close.” You whispered. You didn’t have to say anything as Jo was already attached to your leg. You and Paul scanned the forest for the owners of the voices. You didn’t have to look long before you found the source of the noise before four men stepped out from the tree line.

“Son of a..” You thought to yourself.

“Take one more step, and this arrow flies in between your eyes.” You said threateningly, knocking an arrow.

“Aye, we don’t want to have to hurt the lot of ye!” Paul added, equally as menacing. Apparently his accent came out in full force when he was stressed.

Three out of the four hesitate slightly. The fourth just gave you a smug smile and began to advance. Not giving him one more step, you released your arrow. True to your word, the man fell backward with an arrow planted firmly in between his eyes, a look of shock forever strewn across his face.

“Holy hell, lass. Where’d you learn how to do that?” Paul asked, clearly impressed.

You don’t reply. You quickly knock another arrow and are faintly aware of Jo clinging even tighter to you, burying her head in your hip.

“Anyone else want to try?” You ask menacingly, moving your bow from person to person.

“Give us the girl.” The one with the mace said “our beef isn’t with you.”

“If you want her, then your beef is entirely with me. You’re going to have to get through me first.” You warned, pulling your arrow back further.

“Aye, me as well, ya bloody wankers!” Paul said as he twirled his spear around.

“Very well.” The man replied as the remaining three began to spread out “this should be fun”.

You let another arrow fly as they began to advance. They were expecting it now, and quickly dodged out of the way. “Damn” you thought glumly. You reached back into your quiver for another arrow, last one, better make this count.

Since they were expecting head and upper body shots, you decide to take a different approach. You quickly loose the arrow before they could react, hitting your target. You took out the guys knee, who was carrying an axe, with a clean shot. He dropped to the ground in agony, that quickly turned to rage as he broke the arrow in half and pulled it out.

“Shit” you said quietly to yourself.

“Leave him to me, lass.” Paul said as he advanced, tightening his grip on his spear.

“Now what are you going to do sweetheart? You’re all out of arrows.” The man with the mace asked.

“Don’t count me out just yet, asshole.” You muttered as you turned to face him head on. You weren’t quite sure what you were going to do honestly, you were still outmatched and your ribs were still on fire.

That is until you felt Jo, moving beside you. Before you had a chance to see what she was doing, you saw a rock whiz passed your head and hit the man squarely in the nose. “Kids got aim” you thought as she kept throwing rocks, one after the other.

“Cut it out you little runt!” The man growled, focusing his attention on Jo “I’m going to enjoy gutting you.”

You saw nothing but red at his words and you used the temporary distraction to charge the man and tackle him like you did the very first. This time though, your tackle wasn’t quite as efficient thanks to your broken ribs and utter exhaustion.

You did at least manage to knock him off his feet, but he grabbed your pants and brought you down with him, as his mace tumbled out of his hands.

You managed to land on top of him, and got in a few blows first, successfully breaking his nose. This made him angry, he bucked you off and grabbed you by your waist and threw you down hard. You grunted from the pressure and pain flared up through your chest once more.

The man gladly returned the broken nose you gave him. Stars once again danced in your vision as blood poured down your face. You struggled violently until he rendered you immobile by punching you in your ribs. You screamed an ungodly scream as pain seared through your abdomen.

You figured you were done for, as your body shook as pain ripped through every fiber. So many things went through your head, from Jim, to Leonard, to Jo. God, how you completely failed them all by not being able to get you two back safe.

You stole a glance over at Paul, who was busy getting his face beat in, trying to reach his spear. Hot tears began to streak down your face.

“That’s it, cry for me you little bitch. I’m going to have so much fun with this.” the man smiled menacingly as his hand began to play with the top of your pants and started to slip a couple fingers behind the seam.

The man suddenly shrieked in pain as something thudded against his temple.

“Leave my aunt alone!” Jo screamed with all she had as she held the mace in her hands. The man was stunned to say the least, but not for long. He began to recover.

“You little RAT! That’s it, I’m done playing games!” He yelled as he went to grab Jo. Jo wasn’t fast enough and only made it a few feet before he grabbed her and began to choke her.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” He said, tightening his grip. Jo tried to scream but she couldn’t.

“Hey, jackass!” you shouted from behind him. Startled, the man turned quickly, just in time for you to run the other man’s axe across his throat. He immediately released Jo and clutched his throat.

Blood cascaded like a waterfall down his neck and down the front of his shirt.

“If you relax, you might have four minutes to live, less if you panic.” You said coldly “each beat of your heart is just going to push more out.”

You leave him to his slow agonizing suffering and turn toward Jo. She’s just sitting there watching the man, slowly bleed out, rubbing her throat absently. You quickly go to her and turn her around.

“Jo, hey, are you okay?” You asked and she just nodded in reply, as you lifted up her chin gently with your hand as you inspected her throat. Slightly red, but not too bad.

“Can you speak for me, Jo?” You asked quietly, trying to get Jo to focus.

She nodded “yeah, just sore” she replied.

You pulled her in for a quick hug as you survey the scene. One man with an arrow between the eyes, another with Paul’s spear through his chest, with an unconscious Paul laying beside him, and thanks to other man’s axe, one was seconds away from bleeding out in front of you.

You pause for a second. “That’s 3” you muttered “wasn’t there…” you began to think, but were cut off as you look down as you feel a pinch and see a shiny red gleam now protruding from your stomach. “Four?” you finished in you head as the man twisted and yanked the sword back out.

How could you have lost track of how many men there were? How did you not hear him sneaking up behind you?

You were vaguely aware of Jo screaming and yelling your name as you drop to your knees as blood began to pour from your wound and your mouth. You wondered if he punctured your lung as well as your breaths didn’t seem to be doing much good. The man moved in front of you and pushed you onto your back.

“I want you to watch as I kill you.” The man said. You’re not sure you could anyway as your eyes are beginning to lose focus as you lay choking and sputtering as your own blood began to fill your lungs and mouth.

As the man brought up his sword to deliver the final blow, all you could think was of everyone you were leaving behind. The people you loved, who you would never see again. The things you wanted to do but would never be able to now.

You waited for the blow, but it never came. You could make out some commotion and some voices here and there as your hearing and eyesight began to fade.

“Uncle Jim!” you swore you heard Jo yell. Jim? It couldn’t be. Could it? You continued to choke on your blood, slowly losing consciousness from lack of oxygen.

“…choking, Unc- Jim… her over” you heard faintly as you felt pressure on your side. You figured if by some chance you weren’t dead yet, you were fixing to be as you felt your eyes roll back into your head as you began shaking violently and uncontrollably.

“Shit… seizure… Scotty…. us up”  was the last thing you heard before darkness consumed you once again.

[emilydoc]

Grizzly Man

The narrative spine of Grizzly Man revolves around Timothy’s fascination with grizzly bears and discusses the idea that his passion is what directly caused his death. The author advances the story by presenting Timothy’s firsthand experiences with the bears and showing how much he cared for them. It is then revealed, through interview with a close friend, that Timothy had been mauled by a bear. The remainder of the documentary presents interviews with numerous people in Timothy’s life and death who offer insight on the events that unfolded. 

The interviewees contribute to the narrative spine by providing numerous accounts of the incident. Interviewees include Timothy’s close friends, the helicopter pilot who took Timothy to the Alaskan wild, the helicopter pilot who was called in to clean up the remains of Timothy and Aime’s deaths, ecologists, a bear biologist, an Alaskan native, the coroner, and Timothy’s parents. Sam Egli, the helicopter pilot who cleaned up the remains, describes the incident by saying, “The bear was all cut open. It was full of people. It was full of clothing. We hauled four garbage bags of people out of that bear.” This account weighs heavily on the audience, inciting a strong emotional response and reiterating the point that even though Timothy loved these creatures, at the event of his death, “he got what he was asking for, he got what he deserved.” 

The director’s credibility stems from Timothy’s footage. We trust what we see because it is a direct account of what happened. For example, we are shown a moment that Timothy shares with an unfriendly grizzly, The Grinch. The Grinch approaches Timothy with his back turned and seems quite menacing, but he stands up to her lunging forward with a punch, saying “Back off! Don’t do it.” But immediately following, he crouches down and says, “It’s okay. I love you.” This interaction proves that Timothy believed wholeheartedly in his work and supports the insight of many interviewees. The accounts of the interviewees are all opinion-based, but the director’s narration and recounting of Timothy’s footage present the overall film in an objective manner.