#kind of in the background

[countessofravenclaw]

Breaking down some foreshadowing

So did you all read the new chapter of A Homeland This North, country dear fathers! ? Did you like it? Told you that nothing was gonna go wrong, am I right?

Honestly, if you follow me here, you probably knew what was coming since I have talked about it. Anyway, it's still interesting to see who was expecting it, since much of my writing is happy-go-lucky adventures with no actual stakes and I don't put a lot of thought into motifs and recurring themes. If my writing was looked at as real literature, it would probably be horrid. But, for this one as we have been building up to this since part one, I actually included some intentional foreshadowing. I mean the first alarm bell that rung in no one's head was the fact that they were not supposed to go to Finland originally and that it was due to Gastón that they eventually did. So, I decided to break down some of the foreshadowing I did that alluded that something bad was going to happen and it was going to happen to Gastón

Chapter 1

“Then let's let him,” Gastón just laughed, “Hey look, I turn 27 next week and be in my late twenties, so I gotta have the fun now.” 

“Well, I also have never skied—” Nina answered the question directed at her, “—nor will I. It seems dangerous. Anyway, I like the plan, there are other things to do for me.”

“I can live with never knowing if can I ski or not,” Nina stated, “I’m not athletic, nor do I enjoy it. I would just get myself hurt.”

Chapter 2

“It’s always good to have doctors as your acquaintances,” Isla nodded, “I actually recently was talking to Serena…”

“You were a natural in it, but you’re not 16 anymore,” Marco pointed out, “So be careful. The emergency number is different there.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get in trouble,” Nina glanced at Gastón, “Thankfully, they can’t spend the whole day there as there is so little light. We did look up the emergency number. 112 is the most common one in Europe, but they didn’t use it at England. But I doubt, we’re gonna need to use it.”

“Do we really wanna go through that emotional turmoil again?”

Nina really wished that he could have come with them to see the capital, but his job obviously came first right now. Once they were in Lapland, they would have plenty of time. Even with Simon and Ambar and Luna and Matteo, there would be more than enough time to have just to themselves.

“Not really,” Gastón shook his head. “Just some things in the future that I might wanna do. But that’s the future, I have time to think about it.”

Chapter 3

“Tell her to talk to my Mom if she wants to fuss,” Gastón kissed Nina on top of her head as he sat down, “They can form a support group. They’re just scared that they’ll never get grandchildren if we die here middle of nowhere.”

“I still wish Mom and Dad would have actually picked if they wanted to be protective or not,” Gastón laughed, “More often than not, they just let me do what I wanted, but then suddenly they were convinced I was deliberately putting my life at risk. I’m still surprised they ever let me back to Roller after the fire.”

“Have fun,” Nina kissed Gastón on the cheek as he got up from the table, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Us?” Gastón and Matteo glanced at each other. They had opted not to take any lessons, given that they had done quite frequent skiing while younger. It was to be seen how good an idea that was going to be. “Never.”

“Of course you are. Don’t worry.” Gastón ran his finger through a lock of her hair, “We’re not going on a black slope at the start. We’ll start off easy and be careful.” He leaned down swiftly to kiss her.

"I will never leave her side."

“Of course I have,” Gastón responded, “and so does Nina. We have talked about it a lot. It’s just not happening at this second. We have all the time in the world. You don’t think we’re actually gonna tell you when we’re trying? That would be crossing some lines. When there is actually something to tell, you will know.”

“And I’m not gonna question you any further,” Gastón finished his point before looking at the view down the mountain again, “You know, life’s really good right now.”

“Well, hopefully you won’t fall,” Gastón grinned and started sliding ahead, “See you at a lower altitude!”

“We took couple of green ones at the start,” Gastón started, “They’re beginner friendly. Wide and away from the forest so there is no danger if you fall or derail.”

“I wouldn’t try it,” Matteo shook his head, before looking at Luna sternly, “Luna, I’m being serious. Don’t try it. I don’t want to head to the ER during this trip.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure April won’t want any part of this,” Gastón laughed while he had been absenmindedly playing with Nina’s hair, “and she’s not a doctor, yet. She will be a neurosurgeon, not a radiology tech or ObGYN. She won’t be able to tell a thing, but we’re very well situated if someone has a brain injury…or well, you are. She won’t be allowed to operate on me.” 

I just wanted to show this off because I'm proud of it

[hauntingjasper]

Bro gets arrested once and decides to make it everyone's problem

I've seen people redraw Sebastian over this meme dozens of times while I was working on this but I didn't want to waste all the effort I put on it mmhmjnmm don't mind me 🫠

[bryverros]

i love disguising merlin fanart as art studies. like ye bro its a lighting study mkay trust me im not doing fanart again

[courtesycalling]

[backsurasy]

Unexpected guest at Prom

[yeye23]

Leo jumping test! I am studying some martial arts moves and thought I would test it out on him. Flip my boi, flip!

[ionomycin]

Traveller

[drawnbythestream]

Obi-wan and his friend Bant Eerin having a sad moment after certain events

[jamiethebeeart]

Lineart by @ovytia-art which was such a blast to color - I love the entire vibe of all of them hanging out together so much @green-with-envy-phandom-event

[canisalbus]

What if I told you that RoobrickMarine went and wrote an entire novella starring my 16th century dog couple? It's very canon-adjacent, well researched and thoughtfully put together, has inspired me a ton during these past months and it's now publicly available at AO3. I highly recommend it.

✦ Separation ✦

[egophiliac]

What do you think of Rook's savanaclaw card? <333

I didn't get him (and I need to save my keys for Silver's birthday, sob) so I looked up his groovy, and I'm not over how incredibly dramatic and epic and cool it looks in direct contrast to the absolutely ridiculous context. just look at that dynamic action and his majestic sparkling tears and keep in mind that this is pretty much right after a bunch of characters have been dance battling for his soul.

and then even the actual moment of the groovy is just like

this is NOT a negative in the slightest, I love it all, this truly was an incredible update in so many ways

[countessofravenclaw]

A homeland this north, country dear fathers! Part cinco

Winter is the time for holidays, celebrations, and fun. Nina, Gastón, Luna and Matteo receive a wedding invitation to France for the New Years and decide, since they're already going to Europe, why not take everything out of it and take a well-deserved skiing vacation? Simon and Ambar join them and all is set for a relaxing holiday at Finland's northern region called Lapland. A place for speed, reindeer, fun, and dangerous situations... Just kidding, what could possibly go wrong at the winter wonderland? (There is a Finnis Christmas song linked on the title)

Katson taivaan tähtiä ja niiden helminauhaa

“Joo, ja tässä oli kysymys siitä, että potilas on tosi huolissaan tilanteessa, koska on jonkin tason ympäristöinsinööri.” 

“Korkea-alainen paikka nuorella miehellä, mutta jos paperit tosissaan Oxfordista on, niin ei ihme kyllä. Eli työ on aikalailla matematiikkaa. Joo ymmärrän ihan täysin.”

Nina raised her eyes from her kindle as she heard the voices from the door. At this point she wished that she understood this language, because she felt like every time doctors or nurses started speaking Finnish to each other, it felt like they were trying to keep something from them. Obviously, maybe they should have made some effort to learn the language before coming to this country, but it happened to be one of the hardest languages in the world, so it would have been impossible. 

Were the doctors back already? The last exam had been performed on Gastón about 30-45 minutes ago. He was sleeping at the moment. Nina was glad that he was able to get some rest, even with them needing to wait for the results which would determine the whole future of his career. 

Even if Nina mostly cared that he was alive and able to live a normal life, she still knew how big of a blow this would be for him. He had worked so hard, and still struggled with imposter syndrome about it all. He didn’t deserve to lose it and feel like he had always been right about not really deserving the high position he had in the first place. 

“Hey.” She gently shook Gastón on the shoulder and he opened his eyes, “I think they’re at the door.” 

“Good morning,” an older man walked into the room with the neurologist from before, “I’m Kaarne Pekkanen, the head of neurology here at Lapland.” 

“You’re here about the test results?” Nina asked. 

“Yes,” The older doctor nodded and the nurse who had come in after them went to adjust Gastón’s bed, so he was more in a sitting up position. “First thing I wanna ask you is that, have you noticed that I’ve been speaking English to you?” 

“Uhm,” Gastón answered, and Nina furrowed her brow as well. She hadn’t realized either. “No, not really actually, but I do understand.”

“We’ve lived in England for years,” Nina tried to explain. She did not understand what the doctor was getting at. “It’s automatic.” 

“Lo que estamos tratando de decir es algo bueno.” The younger neurologist who had been speaking Spanish before started. “It means that your language comprehension is unaffected, which is a good sign.” 

“Let’s just get to the point because I understood that you were worried about this.” The older neurologist continued as he pulled a tablet out. “I have reviewed the new images and the results of all the tests, and I can safely say that I don’t see any signs of dyscalculia or any other learning or comprehensive difficulties.” 

“No?” Gastón asked confused. 

“No.” The doctor nodded, “Right now, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to keep doing your job. Obviously, if you start exhibiting those kinds of symptoms later in life, then get yourself to a neurologist as soon as possible, but that is not something that will definitely happen. I have to say that you’re extremely lucky. Many people in your position wouldn’t be here to tell the tale or be able to live a normal life.”

“But I still don’t remember what happened.” Gastón stated. 

“Loss of the short-term memories that directly predate the impact is very common. The patients that regain them often do so in about 24 to 48 hours after the impact, but there are some cases where the memories resurface months later. But the longer it takes, the more unlikely it becomes, but there is nothing to worry about. You have not exhibited any other difficulties with forming memories or recalling them.”

“Okay.” Nina saw Gastón nod.

“That being said,” The doctor continued, “You have a long road ahead of you. You have suffered a high-grade concussion, recovering from which will take time. We're gonna keep you here under observation to make sure your brain won’t start to bleed or swell. You will experience strong migraines, tunnel vision and vision blurriness. The physical therapist will come and see you today to make sure your movements are alright.

“Thank you.” Nina squeezed Gastón’s hands as the doctor’s left the room. “See, you’re okay.”

“Well, not exactly okay,” Gastón shook his head as he breathed, “But I take it.” 

“Hey, how is it going in here?” Matteo and Luna walked through the door 30 minutes later. 

“I guess a little better,” Gastón answered, “I’m not feeling great, but at least I don’t need to go on disability retirement in my 20s.”

“What?” Matteo asked, confused as he sat down on a chair that was on the other side of the bed. 

“They had a momentary suspicion that he might have suffered some damage to the parietal lobe, but in the end the worry was unwarranted,” Nina ruffled some of his hair, “He won’t even have dyslexia. That doesn’t mean though, that you now need to start solving some rational function calculations, just to prove that you can do it.”

“That being said, I’m gonna be stuck here for a while,” Gastón sighed before turning to look at Luna and Matteo. “Now that all of this is settled, can you two tell me what happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Luna questioned. 

“No,” Gastón shook his head, “apparently, it’s due to the collision. I might never remember. That’s why you need to tell me.”

“Well, we decided to go down the black slope,” Matteo started, “It was narrow, so we went down on a single line. We stopped about halfway, and after we started moving again you somehow derailed. I wasn’t looking so I didn’t see it…”

“I did,” Luna nodded. “You just all the sudden went straight left and went over the bank to the trench.”

“I found you at the bottom completely unresponsive.” Matteo added. “It was horrible… I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

“It wasn’t very great for me either,” Gastón laughed shortly. “How did I go left like that?”

“There probably was some ice on ther—” Matteo started saying but he got interrupted by Nina’s phone ringing. 

“Oh noh,” Nina let out of her mouth as she took her phone to her hand and looked at the caller ID. 

“What is it?” Gastón looked at her concerned. 

“It’s your mother,” Nina showed Gastón her phone screen. Funny story about this whole situation was that Gastón's parents had zero idea that any of this was going on. Telling them hadn’t been on the forefront of Nina’s mind.

“Why is she calling you?” Gastón questioned. 

“Your phone is broken,” Matteo interjected, “It got caught between you and the tree in the impact.”

“So, nothing obviously is going through,” Nina noted. 

“And Mom is exactly the kind of person who would notice that.” Gastón grimaced again as he closed his eyes for a moment. It was clearly another migraine wave. 

“I won’t be able to ignore this,” Nina continued, “What do I say to her? I can’t just lie.”

“I can answer it,” Matteo suggested. 

“It will not lessen any suspicions if you answer my phone, while Gastón is not answering at all,” Nina shook her head, “I’ll find some way…”

She got up from the chair and walked to the hallway and put the phone onto her ear. “Isla? Hi!”

“Nina, I’m so glad I caught you.” Isla's voice rang from the other end, “I didn’t interrupt anything?” 

“No, not really.” Nina answered while trying to wrack her brain about how she was supposed to deliver the news to Isla. “Is this urgent?” 

“No, not really. I was calling you because we haven’t been able to reach Gastón and you know that that’s not like him. Everything goes unread.” Gastón had been right. She had noticed the radio silence. And it definitely wasn’t like him, he and Nina had been sending tons of photos to their parents and kept them up to date about the trip.  “So, I just wanted to ask if he had lost his phone or something.” 

“Oh no, it’s not lost, “Nina started before realizing that this was not how she should be phrasing it, “...but, it’s broken. I should have informed you sooner.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it darling,” Isla continued, “You’re all just so up there in the north and the signals can be fuzzy. I thought it was better to be safe than sorry to make sure that nothing has happened.”

“I—” Nina realized that this was the moment when she was supposed to tell the truth. A mother deserved to know what had happened to her son. “Actually…”

“Nina? Is everything alright?” Isla must have picked up on Nina’s hesitation. 

“It is…or well, as okay as it can be right now,” Nina started, “About what you said about nothing having happened… that’s not actually true.” 

“Mom,” Gastón said as Nina had walked back into the room with his mom on the phone, “before you freak out, I’m okay.”

“Several hours unconscious doesn’t sound okay!!” 

“Okay, I’m not okay, per se,” Gastón sighed, “I’m alive. Does that sound better for you?” 

“Not really,” Isla’s voice came from the phone. “What were you doing?” 

“Skiing and being hit by a tree.” Gastón explained “But, that doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m in the hospital now, and they have done all kinds of work-up on me.” 

“What is the diagnosis? What hospital are you in?” 

“The central hospital at Lapland. High grade concussion.” Gastón explained again. “But like, I don’t need surgery. Only really here for observation anymore.” 

“Darling, put the camera on,” His mom’s voice said, “I want to see you.”

“No, Mom,” Gastón shook his head, “you don’t want to see me. I don’t look that great. You’ll freak out even more.”

“Okay,” Isla's voice came from the phone again, not really sounding reassured and who could blame her, “Your father just got home. We’ll need to talk about this. We’ll call you after.”

“Don’t freak Dad out too. Start with the alive part.”

“Gastón, we love you.”

“I love you too Mom.” Nina took the phone back as the call disconnected.

“Well, that went better than expected,” Gastón leaned back.

“That was better?” Matteo questioned. “Isn’t this like their worst fear?” 

“It is,” Gastón sighed. “I was half expecting her to start planning on coming over here. Although, I am not putting past her calling this hospital… Well, if that happens, I’ll guilt trip them into making a huge donation afterwards.”

“They’re worried,” Nina grabbed his hand again, “Of course they are.”

She suddenly noticed her phone buzzing on the counter she had put it down on. 

“How has everyone noticed this now?” She said out loud as she noticed all the unread messages that were flooding in. 

“What is it?” Gastón turned around. Nina turned her phone around to show the messages she had received from both James and Jacob. They had both sent her numerous messages about Gastón’s radio silence. 

“They’re asking me if you’re dead.” Nina said as she looked at her phone again. “Obviously, they’re joking… What should I say? Flor and Oliver can’t know, they’re on their honeymoon.” 

“Make a new group?” Matteo suggested from the other side, “So you don’t need to type it out multiple times.”

“You want them to know?” Nina asked Gastón. 

“Yeah, they should.” He answered simply. 

“Okay,” Nina nodded and started typing. She put everyone except Oliver and Flor into another group chat. They noticed almost immediately. 

Ariana: What’s going on here? Nina: I made a separate group so we don’t disturb Oliver and Flor on their honeymoon James: Why would they be disturbed? Jacob: This is very ominous Nina: Okay… The first thing is that Gastón’s phone is broken so that’s why he has been out of reach Marlee: Was this the disturbing news? I’m sure Oliver and Flor would have not minded this being in the general chat Nina: No, there is more

Nina was thinking about the best way to phrase this when Ariana started typing furiously. 

Ariana: I KNEW IT! You’re pregnant. Nina: No. No one is pregnant Jacob: I’m still confused. Mind explaining what’s going on Nina: I was getting to that. You all know how we’re in Finland? James: Yes, you’re skiing. We know this. How is it relevant to whatever is going on?

Nina took a deep breath and started typing Gastón’s current condition. 

Nina: This is about skiing. Yesterday, Gastón got into quite a serious accident on the slopes and spent some time unconscious. 

Her phone lit up with an upcoming group video call almost as soon as she had sent the message. 

“I should have expected this,” Nina turned to Gastón, “I can deal with it.”

“I guess I should show my face to them. To show them I’m alive.”

“Okay,” Nina nodded and accepted the call.

“We weren’t serious about you being dead!!”

***

“Mom, you aren’t my OB so stop.” Delfi said as she sat on the couch. She and Pedro had had her parents over for dinner and obviously they had spent the whole time talking about the pregnancy. 

Obviously, she loved talking about their baby, but Mom and Dad were drowning her in a thousand different medical details that surely would never be relevant. That's what you got when they were doctors, but they weren’t OBs, they were surgeons, and she wasn’t even planning to have a C-section. 

“I fear we're starting to get too used to this,” Pedro patted Newton’s head as he laid his head on top of Delfi, “We won’t be able to surrender him back to Gastón and Nina soon.”

“Where were they again?” Delfi’s dad Daniel asked as he sat down. 

“They went to a wedding in France,” Delfi explained, “One of their University friends from Oxford. Then they went skiing to Finland with Luna and Matteo and Ambar and Simon joined them as well. They’re coming back at the end of the week.” Delfi scratched Newton behind his ear, “I’m jealous.”

“Skiing can be dangerous. It carries more risks than skating.”

“Not to mention if they hit their head.” 

“Obviously I know that I’m not able to ski,” Delfi rolled her eyes and ran her hand on her stomach, “But the country seems really pretty. Maybe we should have gone along. I don’t think Nina was skiing.”

Her phone suddenly started ringing on the coffee table.

“Speaking off,” Delfi picked her phone up. “It’s her. Probably wants to check on Newton.”

“Don’t tell her that we have pretty much spoiled him rotten,” Pedro laughed as Delfi got up on her feet. “We won’t be allowed to watch him again.” 

Delfi rolled her eyes at her husband and picked up the call. “Nina? Hey!”

“No, you didn’t interrupt anything,” Newton followed her and went to sit on her feet. “But tell me, what have you been doing? Ambar sent me some pictures a couple days ago. Honestly, I am jealous. I hope you and Gastón have drives worth of pictures, because I want to see them all…”

Delfi’s voice started trailing off and Nina kept talking on the other side of the line. 

“Oh,” her expression changed drastically, “What do you mean?”

Pedro furrowed his brow as Delfi’s expression changed again. 

“What?!” She suddenly looked extremely concerned, “Oh my god!”

“What’s going on?” Pedro mouthed to Delfi as he got up to his feet. 

“Yes, of course I understand that,” Delfi said to the phone after listening for a while. She made a couple of hand gestures toward Pedro that gestured to him to be quiet. “No no, don’t worry about anything like that. We got this. Don’t worry about anything.”

“What was that about?” Pedro asked as Delfi finally cut the call. “Was it Nina?”

“Of course, it was her,” Delfi said while staring blankly ahead for a moment before looking at Pedro, “Gastón’s in the hospital.”

“WHAT?!” Pedro stared at her. “Seriously? Is he okay?”

“Obviously not, hence the hospital,” Delfi stated. “Apparently, he fell on the slopes. He has been there for a few days now.” 

“What are you talking about?” Delfi’s parents asked as they walked back to the living room. “Has one of your friends gotten hurt?”

“Yes,” Delfi nodded, “You know, Newton’s owners that we just mentioned, who were skiing. Gastón got into some kind of accident and is in the hospital now. What I understood from Nina, his wife, he has a bad concussion and was unconscious for several hours.”

“What grade?” Delfi’s dad asked. As a neurologist, he obviously was curious. “Usually, long-term loss of consciousness can result in a brain bleed.”

“I don’t know,” Delfi shook her head, “I didn’t start pressing Nina for details. It must have been horrible for her.” 

“Wasn’t he Isla and Marco’s son?” Delfi’s mom asked, “Perida?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you used to date him? You at least talked about him a lot when you were 16.”

“I don’t see how that’s relevant to the current situation,” Delfi huffed and turned towards Pedro, “The reason why she called, since this isn’t like common knowledge yet, is because they aren’t coming back when they said. They don’t know when they’re coming, since he isn’t discharged yet.”

“They are gonna want clear images and him off narcotics,” Daniel noted, “He was lucky that he didn’t have any spine damage or even amnesia.”

“You told them that we’ll take care of Newton as long as they need, right?” Pedro asked Delfi. 

“Of course, I did,” Delfi responded and turned to look at the dog who was staring her in the eye from where he was sitting next to her on the couch. Somehow, it seemed like he had understood what was going on. Delfi ran her fingers in his fur, “I know, I know. He’s okay. I think we should call Simon and Ambar, maybe they can tell us little more. I didn’t want to start to grill Nina about this, she’s dealing with enough.”

***

“For light and life!” Master Assek cried as they dashed into the Nihil ship.”

“Bell had rarely felt the Force with him so powerfully as he did at the moment he rushed forward into a blazing array of blasterfire, slashing through the air that surrounded him so closely he could feel the heat. The scent of ozone filled Bell’s breath. Yet his lightsaber blade deflected every blaster bolt so smoothly that it seemed to be moving itself, aim­ing without any conscious work from Bell other than fierce concentra­tion. All around him, he saw a sea of faceless, soulless masks -- Nihil shooting, scattering, scrambling -- and, advancing upon them, the Jedi swift and sure.”

““Now!” Master Indeera called over the fray, acknowledgment of the warning from the Force they all felt. Bell ducked behind a metal girder to shield him for the seconds it took to strap on his breather. No sooner had he done so than the telltale hiss from the air vents revealed that the Nihil’s poison gases had been deployed.”.”

“Too late, Bell thought with satisfaction. It’s your turn to be too late.”

“You really should have done your own audiobooks,” Gastón remarked as Nina turned a page on the book, she had been reading to him. During the time he had been in the hospital they had already gotten through both Light Of The Jedi and Rising Storm, now they were on Fallen Star. She had refused the mere idea of leaving his side to go do something with the others. Nina was really hoping that Gastón would get released before they made it to Phase III of the High Republic books. 

“You are the only person who actually likes to listen to me read,” Nina rolled her eyes. Her own books were going to be produced into audiobooks now, as the trilogy was going to be finished. The publishers had for a moment suggested that she could do it herself, but she had shut it down as fast as she could. She wasn’t an actress capable of something like that. “You and Newton.” 

As part of the final book’s release celebrations, Violetta Castillo and Francesca Caviglia, who had been the celebrity ambassadors for Nina’s book series since the second book—They were also friends of her and Gastón. They had been fans and Violetta was Gastón’s boss’ daughter and Francesca knew Matteo as well—were going to read the first chapter in a live stream. The actual audiobooks were going to be read by actress Camila Torres who Violetta and Francesca had actually recommended, since they were friends. 

“April must have gotten caught up with something,” Gastón noted as he looked at the clock on the wall, “The student doctors are probably the ones who are put on chest compressions and those probably take a while.”

They were waiting for a call from April Ruiz, Gastón’s cousin. After they had sent her a text about the situation, she had insisted they’d talk as soon as she was on her break.

“Or not,” Nina said as her phone started ringing. She had been thinking that before they got home, whenever that was at this point, they needed to go get Gastón a burner phone or something. They couldn’t fully rely on her phone alone. She transferred the call onto the tablet she had and positioned it so both of them were visible on the frame. 

“Hey!” April appeared on the screen, her brown hair tied on two braids with colorful scrunchies. She looked very alike to Isla, which could be quite odd as she was the daughter of her half-sister, but genetics worked in mysterious ways. “I finally got out of there.”

“We can do this later if you're too busy,” Gastón responded.

“Oh nonsense,” April waved away as she took a sip off some water bottle, “I have plenty of time as long as someone doesn’t code. First of all, Gastón you literally are the last person of us who I thought would land himself in the hospital with a freak accident. I always thought it would be Jonathan, he would do it for views, or William and Mel just because they wanted to one up each other.” 

“I think the preferable situation would be that no one would do it. I don’t recommend this at all,” Gastón groaned and shifted his position. He was mainly given oral medication now, outside the thing that they put on his IV every morning. Nina wasn’t fully sure what it was…tramadol maybe. It was a good thing and a sign that he was getting better, but as the doctor had said, the recovery was gonna be a long road. “Mom completely freaked out, I doubt Aunt Mía and Aunt Elise would like this any better.”

“Oh, they would not,” April shook her head, “I looked over the reports you gave me. You realize how lucky you are? You could have had a brain bleed. Wear a helmet next time.” 

“There’s not going to be next time,” Gastón responded, “I have been forbidden from ever skiing again by a higher power.” 

Nina rolled her eyes as he glanced at her. After his accident, everyone else had canceled their lift tickets as well. The sport was proven to be way too dangerous. 

“Do you know about the discharge yet?” April asked. 

“No,” Gastón shook his head. “I mean, I feel like a prisoner.”

“They said that they are getting a full set of images tomorrow again,” Nina added. “I guess that means the neurologists are looking at them again.”

“Yeah, I get that,” April nodded, “They has to really make sure nothing has been missed, like swelling and bleeding. I would say that if the next ones are fine, they’re releasing you in a couple days, if you’re off the meds. You can tell them that they can prescribe you intravenous stuff and I can give them to you, if that helps them release you faster. They’ll go right along with the IV.”

“Hold on for a moment,” Gastón responded, “Who said anything about an IV? It’s not like I’ll need one after getting out of here.”

“Need is a subjective term,” April rolled her eyes, “but it’s gonna help. You’re in for a bad time after you’re out, the fluids will help.”

“You just want to use me as your personal pin cushion, don’t you?”

“Well gee Gastón, sorry that I care,” April snarked. “Which one of us is a medical professional?”

To an outsider it would sound like an extreme exaggeration that a medical student was calling herself a medical professional, but they didn’t know April. About a year ago, alongside with full time medical school, she had gotten herself certified as a paramedic and did occasional shifts at one of the fire stations in Buenos Aires. The overachieving gene ran on both sides of Gastón’s family. 

“Nina, do you want to speak some sense into him?”

“If it’s something that will help,” Nina looked at Gastón, “Let her do it.”

“Okay, we see about that once we get home, we don’t even know when that is,” Gastón sighed, “You haven’t told anyone right?” 

“Of course not,” April answered. “With our family? Everyone would lose their minds in a mere mention of a head injury. They’d be thinking that you’re going like grandpa, before anyone would have any time to explain. You have to tell Jonathan though, he’s not gonna forgive you or me, if he hears it later.” 

“I think I need to start telling people as I get out of here. Only our closest friends know… Mom gets to handle grandma…”

“Yeah, that might actually end up killing you,” April laughed, “The whiplash of her perfect eldest grandson doing something stupid alone…You don’t want to cross her. Uuuf, I am being paged,” April looked over her phone a second, “Time to go save some lives. Call me when you know more and… I’m glad you’re okay, truly.” 

“Who were you talking to?” Matteo and Luna came through the hospital room door. 

“April wants to impale me with needles when we get home,” Gastón remarked, “Whenever that will be.”

“Since you have a professional medic who can help you be more comfortable, you should use it,” Nina looked at him, “She cares about you.”

“Nina, we moved the rest of the stuff you’ll need to the hotel,” Matteo said as he sat down. He, Luna, Simon and Ambar were flying to Helsinki and back to Argentina in a few hours. Luna and Matteo were taking most of Nina and Gastón’s things with them, so they didn’t need to deal with them. “Look, I’m in no hurry to leave…”

“Matteo, we don’t know when we can get back. There is no point in you waiting on me.”

“Okay,” Matteo rolled his eyes. “Just, don’t get yourself into any more accidents.”

“I’ll see to it that he won’t.” Nina laughed. “He better not.”

“It’s time for us to go,” Ambar and Simon appeared at the door. “Take care of yourselves.” 

“Well, now we have been officially abandoned.” Gastón joked after everyone had gone. 

“Maybe we’ll survive,” Nina laughed and reached back for the book when her phone buzzed again. 

“They have to be kidding,” she said as she looked at the email. 

“What is it?” Gastón asked. 

“Just Mereilla,” Nina answered. “She’s sending me dates and stuff like that for the PR circus that was supposed to start as soon as we got back… but now we’re not coming back.”

As this was the last book in her debut trilogy the publishing was taking everything out of it promotion wise, especially as the previous books had been so popular. 

“I need to talk to her at some point, to tell her that I’m not doing it.”

“Why not?” Gastón looked confused.

“You really think I’m going to be running around doing interviews, signings and public events, tours and who knows what else when you’re in this kind of condition?” Nina shook her head, “Absolutely not and it's not a conversation.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know, put my foot down and let them come up with something else? It’s their job… but these also are the people who told me that changing my name wouldn’t be a good idea.” Nina sat back down. She hated all of this PR and marketing affairs. She was the writer, it was her art. Everything inside was poured into those. She could say what she wanted. That’s why she did it. Not for the fame or the money. “I did zero promotion when the first book came out and it did well, so they can’t just say that it’s all necessary. And we have Violetta and Francesca, marketing through them will do much more than I ever can…”

“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt,” Minna, one of Gastón’s regular nurses since he had been admitted, came through the doors. She was only a couple years older than them and really nice and they had gotten to know her a little bit as the hospital stay had gone on. She had actually promised to take a look at Nina’s books once she had time. They had also talked about how she had always wanted to visit Argentina and about her fiancée who was Sami native and her family herded reindeer. “But the images were changed for today.” 

“Is that a good thing?” Gastón questioned. 

“Hopefully,” Minna smiled. “If they’re clear, also starting this evening we’ll see how you’re faring without any intravenous meds. We do need to keep the IV going with fluids until you leave. I can’t make any promises though, all clear for flying and things like that are still up in the air. If you were just from Helsinki for example, we would tell you to take the train, but with you, flying can’t be avoided I guess.”

***

“This is the final boarding call for passengers booked on flight 372A from Helsinki to Buenos Aires. Please proceed to gate 3 immediately. I repeat. This is the final boarding call for passengers booked on flight 372A from Helsinki to Buenos Aires. Thank you.”

“Come on Matteo, we need to go,” Luna was dragging Matteo across the airport to their gate. 

“I know, I know,” Matteo shook his head as he, Luna, Simon and Ambar lined up at the gate with their boarding passes. “Just… this doesn’t feel right.”

“Nothing will happen to Gastón,” Luna placed her hand on his shoulder. “He’s gonna be alright.”

“They just need to wait for a while,” Ambar added, “He’s probably gonna be released soon, but I doubt he’s allowed to fly so soon.”

“Some vacation this turned out to be,” Simon crossed his arms. 

“Well, we had fun,” Luna shrugged, “No one could have seen this coming.”

“But I think we’re all good for life-time on skiing.” Ambar noted. 

“Yep,” Matteo nodded. “Luna, did I mention that Isla and Marco are giving us dinner after we land? I really need to talk to them.”

“Yeah, of course.” Luna nodded as they boarded the plane. 

***

“We’re in Helsinki right now,” Gastón said to his parents over the tablet, “The flight is the day after tomorrow. I’m all cleared to fly, but they did recommend that we take 24 hour layovers just in case. We will land in Miami and then come from there to home, so it’s gonna take a while.”

After he had been released, they stayed at Rovaniemi for a couple of days, just so he was able to gather his strength a little bit. Then they had taken a night train from there to Helsinki where they were now. 

Honestly, he was glad that he was out of that hospital, but he couldn’t lie and say that he was in good health. He still felt really terrible and wasn’t looking forward to the flying part at all, but he and Nina both wanted to go home. He was gonna feel terrible for a while, that was what they said, so they couldn’t just wait it out.

“They wrote me quite a long sick leave, so I’ll miss about three weeks of work at least.” 

“That’s a good thing,” His dad responded, “You need to take it easy now.” 

“But we’re glad you’re coming home,” his Mom added, “You’re seats are in first class right?”

“No,” Gastón responded, “Why?”

“You aren’t serious,” Both of his parents' faces became extremely disapproving. 

“I’m not that kind of person who upgrades their flights just because they can. It’s not worth it.”

“Gastón, you’re hurt. If this isn’t worth it, then what is?” Mom started, “We have enough miles that our grandchildren will never need to pay for a flight in their lives. It is worth it.”

“Gastón,” Dad’s face was serious, “I know the people at Finnair well, the upgrade is happening whether you like it or not, but I know you would like to do it yourself so… the choice is all yours. I’m ready to make some phone calls, and I will make them.”

“Okay,” Gastón relented, “If I’m being blackmailed to do this…”

“All we want is for you to get home safe.” 

“Yeah, I know that.” Gastón said. He turned to Nina who had been sitting on the bed next to him, mostly observing the call with his parents. “I guess we don’t have a choice.”

“I agree with them. Just didn’t come to think about it.” She looked at him, after the call ended, in a way that she used when she was trying to convince him of something—She usually succeeded. “You have a concussion, a severe one. You spent a long time in the hospital. The flights are gonna be exhausting for you and it’s important that you’re comfortable.” 

“I know I can’t win this battle, so I am claiming my defeat,” Gastón nodded and pulled their flights up on the tablet to upgrade them, “Hopefully you aren’t thinking that I’m gonna sit there alone. You’re joining me—Auch…” 

A wave of sharp pain took over his head and he couldn’t focus on the tablet. 

“Lay down,” Nina’s hand went on his shoulder and pushed him gently down on the bed. This was not the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last as it was gonna be normal for the recovery. Normal didn’t mean it was fun. “This is exactly what they meant.”

She took the tablet off his hands and gave him a pill that he swallowed. “There, now they’re upgraded. You don’t need to pretend for me.” 

“I’m not trying to,” Gastón groaned as he closed his eyes, “I just hate feeling so helpless.” 

“You’re not helpless, just need some help right now.” Nina ran her fingers in his hair, and he enjoyed her touch for a moment. That alone was able to make him feel better. “You’re hurt and can’t act like you aren’t. So, listen to me, your parents, April—especially April since she knows what she’s talking about.”

“I don’t know what I would do without you.”

***

“How are you feeling?” Matteo asked as he and Luna met up with them at the airport when Nina and Gastón finally landed in Buenos Aires. 

“You don’t want to ask me that,” Gastón responded simply, “I’m just glad we're home.”

“We can carry these, and Matteo will drive so you get a break,” Luna said as she and Matteo grabbed the bags from the baggage claim carousel. “Most of your stuff is at your place already.” 

“Thanks for doing this,” Nina said as she grabbed Gastón’s arm. He walked just fine, but she was still a bit scared of him getting super dizzy all of the sudden. 

“You think we would have left you stranded?” Matteo laughed, “I would have to face the wrath of the whole Vasquez clan.”

Nina laughed at that. Gastón’s family had reacted as Gastón had said they would. In other words, they had freaked out, even when he had already been out of the hospital at that point when the full extended family outside of April had gotten to know, but you couldn’t blame them. Isla’s father, Joakim Vasquez had died in a car crash and was declared brain dead at the scene many years ago. 

“You’re late,” a brown haired young woman was leaning on the wall on their front porch as they pulled up to Gastón and Nina’s house. 

“Getting the bags took longer than expected,” Nina said to April as she pulled her key out to open the door. Luna and Matteo had insisted on handling the bags. 

“Well, at least you’re here now,” April slung a bag that she had with her—It looked like an ambulance jump bag—and grabbed Gastón by the arm. “You need to go sit down.”

“I have been sitting down for hours,” Gastón seemingly tried to protest, and April was clearly not having it. 

“Have you seen yourself? You’re white as a ghost. You get yourself in this situation, so you deal with the consequences. Remember what I said last time?” 

“She’s definitely related to Isla,” Matteo laughed as he and Luna dragged the bags upstairs and Nina followed them. “It is almost scary.” 

“Very much,” It was very accurate. If Gastón would had ever had a younger sister, April was exactly how Nina would imagine her. 

“But how is he? Really?” Matteo asked as he and Luna and dumped the bags on the bed. ‘

“Better than a week ago,” Nina nodded, “He mostly just gets really tired, but those migraines really do take him down. Thankfully he managed to sleep most of the flight.” 

“Are you tired too?” Luna asked as Nina yawned for a moment. 

“It’s been a long way home,” She answered. 

“You can go downstairs and relax for a moment,” Matteo said. “We can manage the unpacking. Your closets are so organized that blind people could find their way around.”

Nina nodded and started walking downstairs. She saw that April had already put the IV on Gastón’s arm as she walked to the living room. “Do you need anything?”

“I think I need you to sit down,” Gastón looked at her. “Nina, you look exhausted.”

“Matteo and Luna said the same thing, but I’m fine…”

“I’m not going to stay put if you don’t sit down.”

“Okay,” Nina relented and sat on the couch next to Gastón. The color had slightly returned to his face. The fluids were clearly helping. “How is it?”

“I keep using the train analogy,” Gastón cringed, “I feel extremely phlegmatic.”

“Fatigue is normal,” April answered as she unhooked the blood pressure meter off Gastón’s arm. “Bb is a little up, so stay put. You do realize right that the only reason why they let you fly was because they wanted to let you go home. If you would have gotten hurt here, there is no way you’d be allowed to fly this soon.”

“I know that it’s all “normal”, but it isn’t fun.”

“It’s not supposed to be,” April rolled her eyes, “I can draw you a very illustrative picture of what actually happened to your brain… Well, at least you are forced on a little bit longer vacation now.” 

“At least I submitted the report about the University summit before all of this,” Gastón closed his eyes, “I do have to inform our management secretary about this, so that they’ll know I’ll be gone. They probably won’t like it.”

“They’ll have to deal with it,” Nina shook her head, “There is no way you’re going to be working remotely.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“How’s the publishing going Nina?” April asked as she put the last tool she had had back into the bag. 

“I’m personally out of it as much as possible,” Nina explained. Thankfully, her publishers understood the current situation and the marketing team had created a new plan.

Couple of interviews that could have not been canceled she was doing remotely, otherwise she wasn’t going to be appearing in person anywhere to do press. There was that one interview withhe Nordic literature union... Her agent and the Pr team were still working on it, but it looked like it was not possibly to chnage it. So it would probably still be in person, since they would be sending someone. BUt that was many weeks away, so maybe at that point she would be able to do it.

From the team’s recommendation, she had put out a statement as they neared the launch date, personally stating that “She wished to be there in person, but couldn’t due to an unforeseen family emergency”.

“Don’t look at TikTok.” She shook her head. “The debate right now is between if I have cancer or if this is some sort of mystery which will lead to the next series.” 

“Gotta love a vouch fanbase,” April rolled her eyes, “I am surprised that Angelina and Liliana haven’t blown up Gastón’s phone about getting an early access to your books, because they’re such fans. I remember how mad they were when they found out that Gastón was marrying you and they didn’t know. Hopefully they are keeping their mouths shut.” 

The doorbell rang at the moment. 

“They’re here already?” Nina went to open the door to Delfi who was holding Newton’s lease. 

“Hey!” Nina crouched down and hugged the dog tightly as he wagged his tail enthusiastically. “I missed you.” 

“He has missed you,” Delfi said as Nina took the collar off of Newton. “Pedro and I were no substitute, even though we would have liked to keep him. Labradors make great pregnancy emotional support.” 

“That’s great to hear,” Nina said as she stood up and Newton B-lines straight into the living room. “Newton, wait—”

She followed him. Newton was a calm, well behaved dog, but he still was young and easily excited. She was scared that he was gonna jump on Gastón, which wasn’t good as his cracked ribs were still healing as well. She wasn’t even able to hug him properly yet. 

“Hey buddy. Did you miss me?” Gastón scratched Newton behind the ears as he licked his arm. He hadn’t jumped but had sat himself calmly next to the couch. The dogs really seemed to sense the mood of their owners and adjust their behavior accordingly. 

{}

Wooo, well, this is the end of this story... Hopefully everyone enjoyed this fateful journey to my home country during the day after Christmas. And this is part of my expanded timeline now, so keep in mind that Gastón suffered a severe concussion while 27. I think I might wrote some stuff while he's still in recovery down the line. This also almost accidentally became the proper debut appearance of April Ruiz, Gastón's paramedic/med student cousin who will be a bit more involved in his and Nina's lives as we go down the timeline. But that's all yall, for reading and let me know if you liked my little story.

[natade-art]

got hit by the sudden realization that i never posted my piece for the moments between zine even though we got our copies in, what, september? looking at it now there's things i'd do differently but that's what makes zine pieces such a good learning experience ^^

[itty-bitty-sunshine]

The illusion of choosing a path when it had been carved out from the start

It was out of love, though. For you.

You can walk out if you want.

[ckret2]

So y'all know the Gravity Falls production bible that leaked three weeks ago. Someone in one of my discord servers pointed this out:

And, naturally, that spawned an entire AU.

AU Concept: Ford was kicked out instead of Stan and takes a job as a trucker to makes ends meet since he couldn't go to college, while still studying the weird and anomalous however he can.

Ford driving around from quirky small town to quirky small town, drifting through the liminal spaces of truck stops, meeting odd people in isolated diners, seeing strange things out on the road—a deer with too many eyes bounding across a two-lane highway, a flirty woman at a rest stop who doesn't blink or breathe, mysterious lights in the sky at night, inhuman growls on the CB or 50-year-old broadcasts on the radio—and taking notes when he stops for gas or food.

Aside from having gotten kicked out before graduating high school, Ford's the same person he is in canon.

He's still an ambitious guy, and here "ambitious" means working hard and saving as much money as he can—so, a long haul owner-operator who spends weeks at a time on the road. (He goes through a LOT of educational audiobooks.) Plus, this is the easiest way for him to get to travel the country; and since it looks like his "travel the world" dreams with Stan are dead, he'll take what he can get.

Since he's never in the same spot long and carries his life in a truck, almost all of Ford's research is in his journal. His bag of investigation supplies has an instant camera, a portable tape recorder, a thermometer, a flashlight, rubber gloves, and a few zip lock bags—and that's about it. It has to share space with all his clothes, toiletries, and nonperishable food when he's on the road. He doesn't have much opportunity to closely examine anything odd he finds, unless he's lucky enough to run into something when he can stop for the night. He has to cram his paranormal research around the side of his full-time job.

He doesn't live in Gravity Falls, but he knows it exists. Every time he moves—to Chicago, to Nebraska, to California—he seems to inch closer. He currently lives in Portland and usually hauls loads between the Pacific Northwest and Chicago or New York. He stops at the truck stop outside Gravity Falls when he can and has gone fishing in town a few times. He doesn't have the benefit of extensive research to know that this is the weirdest town in the world; but it seems pretty weird to him, there are local rumors about the town, and he's had some weird experiences in the area.

Plus, he can't explain it, but it's like the town's calling to him. He wants to move there, but it'd put him over an hour outside of Portland where the nearest jobs are. Maybe if somebody chucked him like $100k to build a cabin in the woods; but what are the odds of that?

He does know Fiddleford. Truck broke down somewhere and Fiddleford kindly pulled over to fix it on the fly. They looked at each other, had mutual knee-jerk "dumb trucker/hillbilly" reactions, and within ten minutes both went "oh wait you're the most brilliant genius i've ever met." Fiddleford's living the same life he was in canon before Ford called him to Gravity Falls—with his family in California, trying to start a computer company out of his garage—but they make friends and keep in contact.

One time Ford stops at a kitschy roadside knickknack store that also sells new agey magic things—crystals, tarot cards, incense, etc. He bought a "lucky" rearview mirror ornament that looks like an Eye of Providence in a top hat and hung it from his cab fan, and ever since then he's had weird dreams whenever he sleeps in his truck.

Things I don't know yet: what Stan's up to; or why Ford's the one who got kicked out. I tend to believe that in canon Stan wasn't just kicked out because he ruined Ford's college prospects, but rather because the family thought he deliberately sabotaged Ford; so in this AU, Ford would've been kicked out over a proportionate crime.

[frootbyethefoot]

i think they deserve their own cryptid adventure :-)