#methink it was supposed to be like navi

[mosspatchsys]

experimental doodle. what if loop eating the star was not part of the universe script™️ and also a headcanon of the star being some kind of Critter that loop murdered

-🐛

[zishu-arts]

okay this is me rambling a little about ava11 specifically mitsi so spoilers

it’s not that i don’t like her. i guess. but i feel like im trying to force myself to like her which. well. that’s probably not meant to happen. but she is bland imo. don’t get me wrong i was sad that she died and i was sad to see how much of an impact she had on vic(and agent) before her death but also like. arugh she died just for his progression and ppl have already talked abt this but yeah this is a generic storytelling path to go on

i think she was made to be really well liked. like she was made under the impression that the audience would adore her and a lot of ppl do. it’s just that like. she doesn’t have any traits. she’s just nice. she’s just here to progress vic’s character.

which! would’ve been fine actually which would’ve been great if not for the fact that she’s hyped up to be almost a main cast character? mostly i’m just thinking about her having a plushie already. i know gold/pink/navy/corndog guy are all like rlly popular despite being side characters(3 of which are used to explain a main character’s Lore) but it’s the fact that they weren’t made to become so…….important.

they were supposed to just be supports. like okay you label them as Supports and give them the support part. but then you make mitsi a main but give her a support part. it bothers me

i’m going nowhere with this i just don’t really get all the hype around mitsi like she is cute and she is doomed yuri but. eh. it’s just the principle of things methinks

[loud-sound]

(part 1 of part 2!!)

for shits n giggles, i tried my hand at redesigning dr stone characters (read: three)

i have too many emotions when it comes to this show's character design lmao. a vicious hate-love of the century

a couple of my process notes if anyone's interested: (vague spoilers up to season 3 of the anime)

there's a criminal lack of skin tones that i immediately wanted to take advantage of; and before Certain People start saying race-swapping; none is happening here, it's all just taking account of tanning and sunburns. sunscreen is a thing of the past here and a lot of time is spent outdoors in order to gather food

dramatic shifts in skin tones from what's given at birth happen pretty frequently in real life even with A/C and sunscreen; a huge missed opportunity to play with this in the color department methinks, but here we are (don't even get me started on the massive range of skin tones in east asian genetics alone)

so i played around a bit with contrast, nothing outlandish aside from giving Kohaku noticeable sunburns and freckles from (1) having caucasian blood in her to begin with and (2) not having access to any of the skin products our moderners would have

that being said, realism in the clothing color department was just about entirely thrown out the window. the blue dyes we know about are nowhere (naturally) near Japan, and here Ishigami village is in canon with deep navy on every villager; Inagaki and Boichi decided realism specifically here wasn't as important as color symbolism (which i personally think was a good creative decision), so cut me some slack-

so for colors it was just my personal taste on streamlining the palettes-

Gen in particular i thought would benefit from exposed shoulders without taking away how he needs bigger sleeves to hide shit up there. a lot of the guys have plain shirts and sleeves or just go shirtless entirely and i felt like it'd be fun to have him wear something in between to really push the magician/entertainer vibe

hairstyles were changed mostly to be easier to draw and to make their silhouettes just a bit easier to distinguish from each other. (hair colors were untouched except for Kohaku, purely because i have a personal preference for the more natural blonde color than any actual design significance lmao)

partial exception for Kohaku, cuz it annoyed me that the other characters say she has super thick, unruly hair...but then her hair is drawn no differently from everyone else's 💀

didn't wanna play into the stereotype of naturally curly hair being seen as something to be fixed (especially within the context of a makeover-), so i tried to imply chronically unbrushed hairdsjfsdf

can you tell from how many bullets are here about Kohaku how i feel about her design? last thing: body types.

Gen is supposed to be significantly tall, Kohaku is one of the strongest characters while being one of the shortest; it is very hard to tell that from their designs alone. it's mostly just the limitations of Boichi's art style,,,proportions that's i'm aware is nitpicky, but i wanted to show it here anyway 💀💀💀

smth smth disclaimer about subjectivitydsfsdfsd-

uhhhh, congrats for reading all that, have some silhouettes!

[lilfellasblog]

My observations and a few theories after watching Putting Others First - SVS Redux Ep for the second time. Spoilers below the cut!

-Besides the Frogger poster, the only other posters on the GameStore building are space-themed.

-The Pokemon battle-style scenes are from Ruby and Sapphire gen, or 3rd gen. Roman is Ruby, I would imagine Patton is Sapphire.

-Logan already knows he's not wanted. He didn't want "to be invasive". BABIE. 

-"Thank you Thomas. As I-" "Oh! Guess I won't be wrestling a hot dog away from Logan!" Logan's FACE I LOVE HIM 

- Goddamn Patton has a tough job. HONEY IT'S OKAY I KNOW YOU'RE TRYING

-IN THE MARIO THING. THOMAS HAS 8 LIVES. 8 SIDES. ~Also 80085 heh. ~TIME = LIMITED, the LIMITED is purple, so Virgil methinks.

-Patton has such a weight on his shoulders. He puts so much pressure on himself to be absolutely perfect in every way, and he still has trouble with the idea that thought = morality.

-Logan's LowDown during the "You shouldn't do good things because they make you feel good, you should do them because you want to do the right thing," Logan's avatar starts out happy, and then becomes surprised when no one reads it. Logan put effort and labor into that fact.

-During the train scenario in the upper left hand corner, Thomas switches between Denial and Anxiety for a moment before going to morality ~Thomas' HP is also 100, but his PP or power points are at 0.

-Post-Trolley scene, 2 things. 1, notecards! 2, DAMN Thomas looks good in his Princey outfit.

-OKAY so for after Logan's text box gets cut in half by Roman's sword, Logan 1) doesn't seem miffed, 2) transforms into Nietzsche, and 3) the "Skip Ahead" button is yellow and black. I think this is where Deceit came into play. ~It was originally Logan, maybe when Patton his the skip ahead button and Logan got pulled by the hook is when Deceit came into play.

-Thomas' vest is so dark it looks almost black/ monotone, but it's a very subtle black and navy blue plaid pattern. Not sure what that means.

-In the Street Fighter game sequence, Thomas still has 8 lives, and his score is 07734, which is the classic calculator HELLO. ~And once again, the amount of time left is represented in purple

-The post Street Fighter Logan's LowDown, Logan uses air quotes. I just feel like that's important. ~Thomas is also scared of hypoxia in a very Virgil way, so he's still around.

-In the Frogger thing when Patton hulks out, he repeats what Roman says about needing someone to visualize. He's so lost, he's looking for any direction to grab onto, and that's the only thing all three of them have agreed on. ~In this trolley scene with Lee and Mary Lee vs Leslie Odom Jr, Thomas' HP is now down to 98 and we don't see his PP level.

-DECEIT IS HOLDING A HOOK, IN THE SCENE WITH THE FROG WHEREE HE REVEALS HIMSELF. THE HOOK THAT TOOK LOGAN. HE FORCIBLY REMOVED LOGAN.

-The picture that Logan just doesn't quite get is in the Frogger scene.

-Just noticed that Patton's background is pure white. Showcasing Patton's purist ideology. Definitely relevant here, and the difference between Patton's background and everyone else's is striking.

-Janus swears twice when Logan pops up. I think the first one is "sh*t", and I'm not sure what the second one is.

-Logan's avatar is looking up at Patton when he has his hand over his heart. Logicality shippers and angst writers, go nuts.

-"One last time" "Not that any of you care, but I am unharmed." "I will do you all a favor and spare you my company." Duck out? Logan angst for sure. Logan angst arc?

-Tense synthetic chords when Roman's asking how much selfishness is enough. It turns into video game fight music.

-Vulnerability from Janus in an effort to win over Roman, which doesn't work in the moment.

-Okay, so Roman asks Thomas if he's his hero, which clearly is what's been getting him through all of this. Thomas says so emphatically. Roman turns to Deceit, who nods sadly and in defeat. Saying that Thomas is lying to himself? Or that he's not lying, so Thomas' not siding with Roman is an even worse "betrayal"? Not 100% sure how to interpret that, it could go a few ways. ~Roman is upset because he gave up everything because 1) Thomas is supposed to be good and perfect, 2) Deceit is evil and he had to go against that, and 3) all of a sudden, the metrics for what's supposed to be happening and what priorities are have changed drastically, so Roman's sacrifice may not have needed to happen. He sacrificed for reasons that aren't relevant anymore.

-After Roman sinks down, Patton's right side is facing us almost exclusively, mirroring Janus' human side, and also "right" can be synonymous with "correct thing to do ethically."

-Janus makes an effort when he sees he's upset Patton.

-When Patton's talking about being younger, the music changes to a simple, high-pitched piano tune.

-"Fractionally fiendish fibber" 1) Janus is like, "Ye that's me :D", and 2) that sounds like something Roman would come up with.

-Patton trusts Janus to take care of Thomas.

-"Hehnarg" "You're just stuck with a snake boy!" Janus you bean.

-Thomas is playing Kingdom Hearts at the end, which Roman said he liked playing. Interesting. What does this mean? Things aren't smoothed out surely, that's not how these eps work.

-Two halves of Thomas' morality standing next to each other, like the two halves of his Creativity were? 

[qqueenofhades]

Could really use trash saga part... whatever the next part is (8?) after that Timeless season finale... Pretty please? My Garcy heart hurts.

methinks you know the drill; catch up in the trash saga of flynn and lucy. tagging @deckerprestonsmoak, @prairiepirate, @garciiaflynn, @extasiswings, and @xyber116.

Lucy always thought that the world fading into dramatic slowmotion was only a gimmick of the movies. That things didn’t actually stretch out,stagger, stop, and then fall flat like a star collapsing in on itself, butthen, that was also before she traveled through time on a weekly basis. Alsobefore she locked eyes with Garcia Flynn among the smoldering wreckage of FortMcHenry and original American history alike, as she can see the shock havingtime to good and settle in. He turns convulsively to Cochrane. “Your Excellency– ”

“Not now, sir.” Cochrane is more interested in graciouslyaccepting Armistead’s surrender, which he provides, and motioning for asquadron of dragoons off the longboats. “Take the men up into the fort andraise His Majesty’s colors. Deal with anyone you find, but no need to bebarbaric about it. They are, after all, His Majesty’s subjects.”

Just as Wyatt is opening his mouth, either to remark something smartabout who won the Revolutionary War or to inform Cochrane that the first manwho needs to be dealt with (preferably, in fact, barbarically) is the onestanding next to him, Armistead catches sight of Lucy and Flynn staring at eachother. A flicker of dark suspicion crosses his face, and he whirls on her. “Is this your husband, madam?” he demands.“No bloody wonder you promised to obtain me information on Cochrane’s plans, ifyour own spouse was assisting him in carrying them out! Or was it that you were passing information to him, and that is why the fort hasfallen? Is it?”

There’s an ominous clunk as the Americansoldiers, surrender or no surrender, raise their muskets and point them atLucy. The redcoats accordingly go for their own, Wyatt throws himself in frontof her, Flynn lunges forward and grabs for the semi-automatic pistol that hemust be wearing beneath that nicely tailored Napoleonic-Royal-Navy officer’sjacket, and the beach is on the verge of threatening to deteriorate intocomplete chaos on the spot. Cochrane bellows at his men to hold their fire, andthe standoff holds, if barely. “Your wife, sir?” he demands of an equallyflabbergasted Flynn. “Your wife was among the American contingent this wholetime, and you offered none of this intelligence to me, nor suggested a word ofdecency? Beastly behavior! Beastly, I say!”

“I – ” Nobody has ever seen (or likely ever will again)Garcia Flynn so completely at a loss. “I didn’t… she’s not my – ”

“Then you will not object, sir, if we shoot her for treason?” Armistead is looking at Lucywith a rather unsettling hatred. She’s gotten oddly used to the fact thatpeople in history – Robert Todd Lincoln, Ian Fleming, Harry Houdini, JosephineBaker – seem to like her. Flirt with her, even. There is none of that here.This man wants her dead. “A spy neither for my side nor yours, but somenefarious agent of – what, perhaps, the French? Or – ”

“Shoot her,” Wyatt says loudly, “and you’ll only wish you didn’t.”

“But if she’s a – ”

The American soldiers raise their muskets again. Cochrane islooking alarmed but not as if he’s going to stop it, Armistead is furious,Wyatt has his hand on his own gun and Rufus has picked up a very large boulderto brain someone like Fred Flintstone if they try to touch Lucy, but there’sstill no way that’s enough of them to –

“Stop!” Flynn says, almost a roar. Has to modulate himself,which he does with a terrible effort. “Stop,” he repeats, with a twisted smile.“What I meant was, I didn’t know that she was in there. Not that she wasn’t mywife. She is. She must have… followed me. I’m not sure how.”

“Your wife.” Cochrane chews that over. “Well, it’s damned morethan an apology you owe her, sir. Mrs. Flynn, my profuse regrets for thedistress of your situation and the unworthiness of your husband’s actions. Ifyou wish to retire with me to my flagship, we will make you the morecomfortably lodged while this messy business is carried out.”

Lucy doesn’t budge. “No thank you, Your Excellency,” shesays icily. “I prefer to remain with my countrymen.”

Cochrane raises an eyebrow at Flynn. “Inevitable result ofmarrying a colonial, sir? Choosing her native soil over you – would that wewere all blessed with such faithful spouses. Shall I leave you to disciplineyour wife while we handle the work of the fort? Kill all the combatants, spareonly the unarmed and children. We’ve burned Washington and forced PresidentMadison to flee, if we move quickly, we can consolidate this victory and – ”

Wyatt flashes a desperate look at Lucy, asking if hecan just shoot Cochrane now and prevent this from getting any worse than it is,but she shakes her head. “Yo – our daughter!” she yells at Flynninstead. “Our daughter is in the fort! That’s what I was doing all night,looking after her, trying to stop her from being frightened, telling her itwould be all right, and now she’s what – going to be taken as a prisoner? Allshe wants, all she’s wanted, is to see you again, just like I know you have, and this is what you doinstead? This?”

Cochrane harrumphs, gesturing to the redcoats. “Well, chaps.Let’s leave the man to his much-deserved arse-skelping in peace. If we findyour daughter, Mrs. Flynn, she will be brought to you safely and unmolested,you have my word. Gents, forward.”

The dragoons and the admiral march off with the defeatedAmerican garrison to assume command of Fort McHenry, Wyatt and Rufus stayfirmly where they are, and all three of the Time Team stare absolute daggersthrough Flynn. “You know, man,” Rufus says coolly. “I’ve told you thisbefore, but you really suck.”

Flynn flinches. Raises a hand as if to run it through histousled hair, then drops it. “How did… I severed the connection, youweren’t supposed to be able to –”

“Surprise, dickhead.” Wyatt glares at him. “Lucy’s smarterthan you. She’s always been smarter than you.”

Flynn looks as if all things considered, he can’t reallydeny that, and would probably agree.

“You helped.” Lucy slips her arm through Wyatt’s on one sideand Rufus’s on the other, standing shielded between them, making it clear whereher allegiances lie. “Both of you helped. You know why? Because we’re a team.That’s what teams do.”

“Lucy.” Flynn takes a step. “Lucy, listen to me, I didn’t –”

“I don’t care!” At last, it bursts out of her, everythingshe’s been dying to say, her confusion and frustration and desperation andutter bewilderment that she, Lucy Preston, who finished a double PhD atStanford at age twenty-seven and has always been so smart, so logical, so incontrol of herself, has been so utterly undone by this man, and theunfathomable, unforgivable effect he has on her. “I don’t care if you thoughtwe could follow you or not! You still went! You still didn’t stop! You ran awayfrom your daughter, you ran away from me – I know you were scared, I know youdidn’t think you could, but you are so blinded that you cannot seewhat is directly in front of you! Nowyou’ve torched the timeline beyond all recognition, who knows what you’ve done to the future, and whether any of it evenmattered to Rittenhouse at all, or if you just like destroying things too muchto stop! I can’t believe I thought there was even a question as to whether ornot I might decide to come with you! You’re a selfish, vengeful, dangerous,uncontrolled car bomb of a man, and you bite any hand that comes near you! I’ve done – I don’t even know what I’ve done! Or what you have! I don’t know what apologyyou were planning on offering, or if you even were, but it is not accepted. Itis not accepted.”

Flynn looks absolutely stricken. A card and flowers doesn’texactly cut it for this level of fuck-up, and he definitely knows it. Thesilence remains icy and endless, until there’s the sound of tramping bootsbehind them, and they turn to see a redcoat leading Iris by the hand. “Thisyour daughter, Mrs. Flynn?”

“Yes,” Lucy says, turning to take custody of Iris, whowhimpers, wraps her arms around Lucy’s waist, and buries her face in herstomach. “Thank you.”

Flynn has turned into even more of a statue on this secondsight of his daughter, the proof that she’s real, she’s somehow made it back,and that she’s been tagging along with the Time Team on their mad joyridesthrough history after him and his bull-in-a-china-shop routine. A muscle worksin his jaw. After the redcoat has departed, he coughs painfully, clears histhroat, and says at last, to the distant horizon over Lucy’s left shoulder,“Iris.”

She turns around slowly, but unlike in London, she doesn’trun to him and hug him. She remains where she is, holding onto Lucy. It’s clearshe is too terrified of another rejection – and as she looks at him, reallylooks at him, this strange man in his Navy uniform, dark and grim andbattle-worn, it’s clear that she isn’t seeing her father anymore. She doesn’tknow who he is. He scares her. He damn well should.

“Iris,” Flynn says again, painfully, half in a hoarsewhisper. “Iris, it’s me.”

At last, Iris lets go of Lucy, takes an uncertain step, thenstops. Loses her nerve, turns around, and runs back to Wyatt, who picks her upwhile glaring at Flynn, as if to say that yes, he hates him, but he isn’t goingto take it out on his kid. With Rufus providing a parting shot of stink-eye,the Time Team starts to walk, leaving Flynn behind on the beach, waves stillcrashing just a few feet from his boots. Lucy doesn’t look back. She can’t. Shecan’t.

She can’t.

————-

They have no idea what to do. Should they stick around andtry to salvage as much of the aftermath as they can, see if there’s any way toget history back on track, jump back to the present (assuming the Lifeboat canmake it) to see how badly it’s gone FUBAR, or – what? Wyatt is all for handingFlynn over to Cochrane and court-martialing him, or something, but Rufus and Lucy aren’t sure what that’s going to accomplish.“Maybe we can steal the Mothership,” Rufus says. “Has to be around heresomewhere. It definitely has enough charge to get us back.”

“And what about Flynn? We just leave him here?” Lucy speakswithout opening her eyes. She feels as if her head weighs a thousand tons. Therest of her too. She should be happy, feel liberated, avenged. Instead she justfeels flattened.

“He’s tried to strand, imprison, or shoot us in the pastmultiple times,” Wyatt points out coolly. “We can’t kill him, as you said, butwhy can’t we do exactly that? Leave him? He can go have a nice life as an armycommander in the new British States of America or whatever is going to happento history as a result of his fucking around. And he’s a smart guy, he’llprobably figure out how to get the Lifeboat back into action eventually, makeit home. He won’t be arrested or chased by Rittenhouse here. It’s more than hedeserves.”

Lucy opens her mouth, then shuts it. Wyatt is right, sheherself has just told Flynn in no uncertain terms where to stick it, and thesolution is neat and fitting. There is a certain appeal to leaving him stuckhere permanently to clean up the mess that he himself made, and this isundoubtedly what she should want todo. It makes sense, that way. All of this godforsaken bitch of anunsatisfactory situation makes sense that way.

“Let’s see if the Lifeboat is out of gas,” she says at last.“Then we can decide if we need to.”

This is agreed, they tramp out of Baltimore to the woodswhere they left it, and quickly discover that yes, yes it is out of gas.Maybe if they were chronologically closer to 2017, they might be able to riskit, but from 1814 is too far, and you obviously cannot get out and push a timemachine that has run dry. Wyatt wants to know what the odds are of making ithome anyway if they shut down all non-essential functions and rerouteeverything into the engine, and Rufus says they’re dim. You really don’t want toknow what happens to you if you don’t stick your landing, and you end up exiledfrom the time stream forever. It is, so much as he can tell, a fate quitehonestly worse than death.

“What if we just sent a few of us back?” Wyatt says quietly.“You, Rufus, you’re the pilot, you have to go. Lucy, you take Iris, and… Imean, I probably use the most resources anyway. If I stay, I can deal withwhatever Flynn’s got going on, stop the bleeding as much as I can, and you cancome back for me in a few months, when you won’t have already been here anddon’t have to worry about crossing your timeline. I swear,” he adds, at Lucy’slook. “I wouldn’t kill him. Just make sure he doesn’t jump again, and see if Ican fix things.”

“No,” Lucy and Rufus say in unison. “No, we’re not leavingyou behind.”

“This is unprecedented,” Wyatt says. “We can’t just check outof this like usual. I’m the sergeant, I take control of handling it andprotecting my team. That’s you two. Someone needs to know what the damage is inthe present, and someone needs to mitigate the damage in the past. Rufus. Couldyou make the jump with just you two and Iris?”

“Maybe, but Wyatt – ”

“Then do it,” Wyatt says stubbornly. “You’ll come back forme, I know you will. I trust you.”

Lucy and Rufus exchange a long look. They both hate thisintensely, but Wyatt, as usual, has a point. Finally, it’s decided to risk it,because the situation is simply too unprecedented. Lucy hugs Wyatt for aboutfive minutes, refusing to let him go, promising they’ll make it back, as Rufusfinally has to tap her on the shoulder and tell her they can’t waste what energythe Lifeboat does have. They get in with Iris, shut the door, strap in, andRufus boots up the controls, preparing for the jump. Does his calculations,prepares for launch. As usual.

The machine is spinning faster and faster, also as usual,and yet, Lucy oddly can’t take it. It’s worse than the usual claustrophobia,it’s something deeper, primal existential terror, the knowledge that she can’treturn to the present and survive. She starts to scream. “RUFUS! RUFUS, NO!RUFUS, DON’T!”

He aborts the launch at the last instant, slamming down thecontrols, and the Lifeboat’s waning energy gurgles and dies. That is it.They’re dead in the water. No chance of a second attempt.

“Lucy?” Rufus unbuckles and runs to her. “Lucy! What is it?”

“I…” Lucy bends over, nauseous, spitting, stomachchurning, still caught in the throes of that unspeakable pain. Looks up at himin terror. It doesn’t make sense, and yet she knows it’s true. “Rufus,” shewhispers. “Rufus, I don’t exist in the present any more. I’ve been erased.”

————–

“Changed my mind,” Wyatt says grimly, breaking off a twigand throwing it into the fire. “Let’s kill Flynn after all.”

Lucy is still feeling too sick to do more than give him alook, as they sit against the logs with stomachs rumbling, all of them hungry(except for her, because her guts are still revolting) and realizing they’reeither stuck here for good, or they have to find some way to hijack theMothership. It’s already risky enough that they’ve been jumping with four peopleinstead of three, but Iris is a child, and small enough that she doesn’tregister; the calibrations are fixed for three adults, not four, but she fliesunder the radar, literally. Still. There is obviously no way that Lucy, Wyatt,Rufus, and Flynn can all go home inthe Mothership, Iris or otherwise. Someone is going to be the odd man out,unless they can jump the Lifeboat like a dead car battery. Talk about a short strawyou don’t want to pull.

“So,” Rufus says. “We have to go back to the fort and get Flynnto help us, after his dumb ass already is the reason Lucy was eradicated fromthe present? Isn’t that like someone running you over with your car, then youasking if they would mind taking you to the hospital?”

“Yeah.” Wyatt’s jaw clenches. “Pretty much. But we don’treally have a choice, do we?”

Lucy doesn’t answer. She stares up at the stars and tries toshut out her head. Stuck here. Stuck. Something about the fall of Fort McHenryhas twisted the fabric of time just so. As long as she stays in this timeline,she exists. If she tries to leave again, to any time, anywhere –

It’s Rufus, Wyatt, and Flynn who have to go home in theMothership.

She is the odd one out.

She’s the one never going back.

She rolls over and tries to sleep. It doesn’t work.

It doesn’t stop.

—————–

They arrive at Fort McHenry the next morning, cadge anaudience by trading on “Mrs. Flynn’s” desire to converse with her ungallantspouse, and while Wyatt and Rufus stand guard, glaring at the passing redcoats,Cochrane takes Lucy by the arm and escorts her down the hall, continuing toapologize for her discomfort. It’s clear that if anyone, he’s the historicalfigure who might have a bit of a thing for her, and she has to take itfor what it’s worth. He shows her into the office he’s taken over, promises he’llfetch her husband, and departs.

Lucy stands with fists clenched, trying not to let themtremble, listening to the hammering of the British soldiers rebuilding andgarrisoning the place, until the door opens and Flynn steps inside, shutting itbehind him. He looks as if he’s spent the night in hell. She’s still mad athim, she’s still furious, but his desolation is so absolute and evident thatshe bites her tongue on everything else she was planning to shout at him. Theystare at each other, stiffly and agonizingly, for a very long moment. Then Lucyblurts out, “You erased me.”

He stares at her. This seems to completely rattle thefoundations of the world. “What?”

“You erased me.” She jerks her chin back. “Rufus and I triedto leave in the Lifeboat. I can’t go back. I don’t exist in 2017 anymore.Something that happened here, with what you did. I’m trapped here. I can’tleave this timeline, or I just…” She waves a hand. Her voice shakes. “I’mnot there anymore. I don’t know what happens.”

Flynn actually staggers a bit. Sits down on the edge of thedesk. Has nothing to say to that. Doesn’t move, doesn’t even seem to stir theair. His voice, when it comes, is barely a breath, a deep gravelly rasp. “Lucy.. .”

“I said a lot of things yesterday. I know.” She stares atthe ground, then forces herself to look at him. “I’m still angry at you. But I.. . listen to me. I need you to go with Wyatt and Rufus to the present. I needyou to take them in the Mothership, and find out what changed as a result, whyI wasn’t born. And then put it right. I can’t go back myself. I need you toundo whatever you did. I need you to save me. I don’t have any other choice.”

He closes his eyes hard. The one thing he has been trying todo all this time, to ever less result. And now he’s gotten Iris back, somehow –and in return, erased Lucy. Recaptured the past, but destroyed the present. Hesits there with his shoulders crunched under the weight of the world, the realizationof how no matter what he does, the scales will always be unbalanced. It’s a terriblething to do to a man, and despite everything, Lucy can’t bear to watch him gothrough it alone. Somehow, not meaning to, she comes closer. Reaches out, andputs a hand on his knee.

That small thing, that tiny connection, that light touch,after everything far less innocent they’ve already done, utterly snaps both ofthem. The next instant his hands are in her hair, he’s dragging her mouth downto his, and she’s sliding onto the table between his knees, crouched betweenthem, as they kiss and bite and devour each other, open-mouthed and wet andgasping, her arms wrapped around him as far as they can go. He shucks off hercloak and buries his face between her breasts, kissing up her throat, brandingher, sucking and licking. Swings her around, scattering papers, and slides ahand up her skirt, even as she’s hauling him closer, fumbling at him, doesn’tcare about anything else but this. How doI love thee, she thinks, somewhere, somehow, faintly. Like a sickness and its cure together.

Flynn shucks the white Navy breeches with a rip, climbingbetween her legs as Lucy can’t wait, gets her hands inside to grasp him, caresshim, guiding him into her, fingers slick on herself, moaning. Their breathcatches in stuttering moans as he slides his arms under her shoulders, liftingher up into him, thrusting desperately. He can’t get deep enough inside her foreither of them. Rips her bodice, actually rips it – that actually happensoutside of romance novels, apparently. Grips both of her hands, their fingerstwining together, and pushes her arms over her head, stretching her, bendingher up to every bit of his mouth, her legs sprawling open for him, the slickand bunch and heave of their bodies, the heavy thump of the table beneath them.She gasps and whines and curses. Bites at his ear, jerks and ruts and rubsagainst him. Still not enough. “Harder,” she manages. “Harder.”

If he went any harder, they’d about strike flames, and yethe does. They roll over, sending ink and papers flying, and he ends up beneathher, still inside her, as Lucy straddles him, knees sliding to either side ofhis hips, fingering herself as he continues to thrust, hot raw mouth andhalf-grown stubble burning the tender skin of her breasts. His hands close likevises on her hips. Sickness and cure. Mercyand madness. Poison and wine. Beauty and thebeast.

Her climax almost tears her in half, as she heaves andwrenches and loses her mind, as he rolls her over, pushes her flat, and thrustsinside her to the core, pulsing and shuddering and spilling. She wraps her armsaround his neck, and they lie there amongst the devastation of the desk, papersfloating gently, sunlight embroidering a golden track among the dust motes. Hisbody is still shivering, completely hers, one flesh, one breath, one life.After the hard breathing and the crashing and gasping and thumping, the silenceis towering and eternal.

At last, Flynn jerks. Once and then again. His head remainsburied in Lucy’s shoulder. She’d almost think, for half a moment, that he’scrying. Yet when he lifts it, when he looks at her and she feels it to the backof her, his eyes are utterly clear.

“Lucy,” he whispers, as he shifts, slides out of her, and standsup. As her arms stay around his neck, as their foreheads touch, as she is rawand ragged and bare to the bone, as there is no way she can imagine having tolet go of him now. “I swear. I’m going to save you.”