#needing some space

[atths--twice]

Come With Me

While on the run, after a morning spent slightly at odds, Scully discovers that it’s Mulder’s birthday and sets out to turn the day around.

It’s 10/13! Mulder’s birthday is today! I know there are many ways he could be spending THIS day, but what about a birthday years ago? Back when days blended together and dates became meaningless. How would those days have been celebrated?

Fictober prompt for day 13- Come with me, hurry.

They had been feeling the funk. The way it got when they had been cooped up too long either in one place, or simply from being around one another for long periods of time. 

She loved him, she did, but sometimes the close quarters and the fact that they were each other’s everything became too much. 

They had been at a small cabin for two weeks, a wonderful little place set back at the end of a long road where no one drove as there were no other houses around. It was by a lake and they went out hiking and exploring nearly every day. 

But today… today they had hit that wall. 

Deciding to give him some space, Scully went for a drive, needing to feel she was in motion, even while they were standing still. 

She had no destination in mind and as she drove, her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she had not eaten since breakfast. Pulling into the parking lot of a diner, she put her baseball cap on and got out, keeping her head down. 

Sitting in a back booth, she ordered a sandwich and a lemonade. Looking out the window, she saw the lot next door had a carnival set up. She watched as families entered, some of their kids dressed in Halloween costumes. 

“What’s the date today?” she whispered to herself and when the waitress came back, she asked her. 

“Oh, it’s the thirteenth of October. Were you checking out the festival there? It’s our annual Fall Harvest Festival and it’s up until November first. On Halloween, they turn it into the Haunted Fall Harvest Festival, so if you’re into that, you should come back. It’s full of mazes and scary stuff. It’s super fun.” 

“Yeah, thanks,” Scully said, a plan forming. “You know what, could I get this sandwich to go? And another one as well. Same sandwich, but without a pickle. And a large iced tea, please.” 

“Sure thing. Be ready in a few minutes.”

__________

She drove down the long road to the cabin, smiling as she took a sip of her lemonade. This plan was just the thing they needed. It would be perfect. 

Leaving the food in the car, she hurried inside and found Mulder on the back porch, staring out at the lake. 

“Hey,” she said, smiling at him and he looked at her in surprise and she understood why, remembering the way she had left. “I know it’s gonna sound crazy, but…” She held her hand out to him and wiggled her fingers. “Come with me.” 

“What?” he asked, now looking confused. 

“Come with me,” she repeated, stepping closer to him. “Hurry.” 

“Scully… what are you-”

“Just come on, let’s go.” She grabbed his hand and pulled at him until he stood up. “Consider it a peace offering. Now come on.” He looked at her skeptically, but did as she asked. 

They rode in relative silence as she drove them to the parking lot of the festival. Parking the car, she looked at him and watched his face as she waited to see what he would think. 

“A carnival?” he asked quietly. 

“A harvest festival,” she said just as quietly. “They have it every year, I’ve been told.” 

“A harvest festival,” he said, nodding as he smiled. 

“Games and rides,” she added. “What do you think?” 

“I think…” He chuckled softly and turned to look at her. “I think it’s just what we needed.” 

“I agree,” she said with a smile. “But wait, it’s more than that. Close your eyes.” He raised his eyebrows in question and then as he had done at the cabin, he did as she asked. 

She reached into the backseat and brought the bag holding their sandwiches and the special item she had inquired after. Taking it from the bag, she opened the packaging and smiled. 

“Hold out your hands, but keep your eyes closed.” 

“Okay,” he said, grinning as he put out his hands. “But if it’s a severed head, I’m gonna be very upset.” 

“It’s not,” she laughed, placing the container in his hands. “And no more Wayne’s World for you. I can’t go through that again.” 

“No way,” he said, scoffing in his best Wayne impression. 

“Way,” she replied, smiling as she stared at him. “Okay, open your eyes.” He did, looking at what he was holding. 

“A cupcake?” he asked. 

“A birthday cupcake,” she said. 

“No shit? It’s my birthday today?” He laughed and nodded, staring at the chocolate cupcake with orange and white frosting. 

“It is,” she said, smiling as he took it out and unwrapped it, taking a large bite. 

“Mmm,” he hummed, nodding as he chewed. “It’s the best cupcake I’ve ever had. Here, have a bite.” 

She leaned forward and he held it as she took a small bite, wanting him to have the majority of it. It was good and she almost wished she had gotten two of them. 

He smiled and when she swallowed her bite, he leaned closer and kissed her. She closed her eyes, a hand on his cheek as they kissed again, the sweetness of the cupcake adding to the sweetness of the kiss. 

“I’m sorry about today,” he whispered, their foreheads pressed together, their sweet breath mingling. “I know I can be… that it can be…” 

“I know,” she said, pulling back to look at him. “And it’s not you. It’s both of us. We’re both to blame at times. This was one of those times. We’ll have more and we’ll get past it.” 

“Yeah,” he whispered and she smiled, kissing him one more time. 

“Come on. Let’s eat and then go play some games. I want to win a big stuffed prize.” 

“You don’t want me to win one for you? Be all chivalrous and shit?” he asked, shoving the rest of the cupcake into his mouth. She raised her eyebrows and laughed. 

“How about I win one for you, it being your birthday and the fact that my aim is better?” she asked, taking off her seatbelt and taking the keys from the ignition.

“We’ll see what happens,” he relented, licking his fingers clean and closing the container. “What sandwiches did you get?” 

________

They ate at a picnic table, laughing and occasionally kissing, the fight and grumpiness from earlier, now in the past. 

He attempted to win her a stuffed dog, but missed as one milk bottle refused to fall, despite his pleading with it. 

“Okay. My turn,” she said, handing the man at the booth five dollars and receiving a bucket of softballs. 

She had every milk bottle down in two throws. 

They both walked away with a prize, Mulder taking her hand and pulling her close, telling her how much it turned him on watching her throwing the balls. 

“I think you just like saying balls,” she whispered and he chuckled, nodding in the affirmative. 

They ate and drank, trying out different fried foods, until Scully groaned and said she could not take anymore. 

They got lost in the large corn maze, relying on the map Scully had thoughtfully grabbed as they entered. 

“I’m glad you grabbed that map. But what if it had been my plan, getting us lost,” he said, grabbing her by the belt loops of her jeans and pulling her close. He took her baseball cap off and she shook her hair free from it. “You are so beautiful. Maybe I wanted a few minutes alone with you here.” 

“Oh my god! This is not the way we came. You totally got us lost!” a woman shouted, walking past them before Scully could reply. She smiled at him as he glanced at the woman. “How could you do this?” 

“It’s a maze, Margot,” the man following her shot back. “It’s meant to be confusing.” 

“To a simpleton maybe,” she shouted over her shoulder. 

“Oh, that’s really nice,” he shouted back as they disappeared from view. 

Mulder turned his attention back to Scully, shaking his head and closing his eyes briefly. 

“Well, that’s-”

“Come on! I’ll beat you!” a little girl yelled, giggling as she ran past them. “You’re so slow!” 

“Mom said not to run. I can’t keep up with you! Wait, Ari!” another little girl called. She was younger than the other girl and she sighed as she paused for a second and then started to run. “Wait for me!” 

“Hurry up slowpoke!” 

“What were you saying about a moment alone?” Scully asked and he laughed as he bent his head to kiss her quickly before putting her hat back on. 

At sunset, they boarded the Ferris wheel, the stuffed prizes they won sitting on Mulder’s right side. Scully laid her head on his shoulder as they began to rise slowly, stopping to let others board. 

“It was a good day,” she said softly and he hummed in reply. He placed his hand on her thigh, drawing patterns upon it, his touch causing her to shiver. 

“Cold?” he asked and she shook her head. 

“No,” she whispered and he chuckled softly, his fingers slowing. She closed her eyes and focused on the patterns he drew, attempting to see if she could decipher them. 

“I’m glad we came out today. We needed this,” he said, the chair rocking slightly as they stopped once again. 

“Hmm,” she hummed, taking her hat off and placing it beside her before combing her fingers through her hair. “We did.” 

“Thank you.” 

“For what?” she asked, raising her head to look at him. 

“Being here, putting up with me.” He shrugged and she smiled. 

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” 

They stared at one another and the sadness of the cost for their seclusion, which always lived so close to the surface, nearly broke free. 

But then the ride began to move in earnest and it startled her. 

“Whoa,” she said, laughing as she clasped the bar in front of them. 

The sunset was breathtaking from the top of the Ferris wheel and they both sighed as they stared at it. 

“Beautiful,” she whispered and he hummed, his fingers tracing on her thigh again. 

She watched as he made a line of hearts, stopping mid thigh and going back towards her knee. Her stomach quivered at the image it conjured up of his tongue in that exact same spot only a few days ago.  

What that man could do with his tongue…

He traced a heart line again, slower this time, and then it changed. Letters now, and she closed her eyes, paying close attention. 

I.. L.. O.. V.. E .. Y.. O.. U 

Another heart and an exclamation mark were added and she smiled. 

On the inside of his arm, she used her nails to trace the same letters adding the number two, a heart, and two exclamation marks. 

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head as they rose to the crest of the Ferris wheel, her eyes opening to watch the setting sun as his fingers began tracing slowly once again. 

[saccharinescorpion]

i guess i never talked properly about what Kimi to Uchuu wo Aruku Tame ni (I Want To Walk In Space With You) is actually about because i kind of was hoping other people could have the experience i had reading it ("okay this manga is really new i'll check it out -> ow ow oof ow"), but i guess if i want people to get interested i need to give them something lol. still, i think the comic speaks for itself better than i ever could, so here are some pages from the first chapter that really resonated with me

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Conceal, don't feel, don't let it show.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[hinamie]

cursed kids v2 ⚠️👹

i've been a jjk first years stan since day one and have been wanting to redraw the first art i did featuring the three of them

[spacedlexi]

wanted to draw something new today :)

[keferon]

…..I should be working rn but one of the songs in my playlist hit harder than usual so

[aloveofclaritea]

"What are you going to do, have genital inspections to use the bathrooms?"

-a TRA

Males truly cannot conceive of the idea of simply respecting the space and boundaries of women. It literally doesn't cross their minds, so their minds immediately jump to whether or not women can forcibly stop them. The belief is that if a woman cannot forcibly prevent it, you may take anything you like from her with impunity.

- Marian Rutigliano

[uncanny-tranny]

"What if I'm not trans, what if I'm choosing to be trans for [list of reasons]"

I am grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you like a can of soda. If, for whatever reason, you looked within yourself and decided to be trans - you're still trans. We (as trans people) don't need to have an "I always knew" story. We don't need to have the ~magical transsexual gene~. It's incredibly hard for so many of us to figure out why we're trans, and if being trans was always a choice, the reasons for choosing to be trans would be complex. If being trans is always a choice, that doesn't negate that we deserve human dignity and respect for who we are.

It shouldn't matter if you chose your trans identity or not, becayse you still are a person. You breath the same air I do, and you deserve to live how you want, on your terms. You watch the same sunrises and sunsets I do, you are here. I, for one, welcome you no matter what your inner reflections are about your transness. You have a place in this world, you have inherent worth.

[vaguely-concerned]

huh. you know something I just consciously put together for the first time about caterina and lucanis' relationship is that through the game we get to hear them talk about each other a lot, but we get very few chances to hear them speak with each other at any length at all. contrast it with other companions whose storylines have elements of 'believed lost/long time no see relative returns!' like bellara and davrin, where we get to see both of them have several pretty in-depth conversations with cyrian and eldrin. hell I think even rook talks with varric longer in the regret prison scene than we ever get to see lucanis and caterina interact directly.

(and when we do see them interact, it's mostly one-sided -- it is, perhaps unsurprisingly, caterina who is doing most of the talking and giving all the orders, as he ruefully observes is her wont after murder of crows. including jumpscaring him with 'you're first talon now btw' and the shocked pikachu face in five acts he goes through in response lmao. perhaps it's more accurate to say that she talks at him and he reacts, than that they talk to each other much.)

it has such an interesting effect too, because in deliberately denying us direct insight or experience and only having this mosaic of description from each of them to go on, as well as forcing us to pay attention to the negative space of what is carefully not said, it's evocative along the same principle that you never actually show the monster in a horror film. if you've read the wigmaker job you have a clearer image of the more uh. worrying elements at play here going in, but there is something fascinatingly insidious and naturalistic in the way it's 'hushed up' in the game itself. she has his complete loyalty both as a member of her house and, more importantly, that of an abused child to a parent figure. he readily admits several times that she's a difficult person to live with, an even more difficult person to be loved by ("even for me. and I was her favourite")... but never once does he actively blame her nor truly conceptualize that he has every right to do so (that he can be angry with her and still love her, because whether he should or not he unavoidably does), or that she might have acted differently than she did, that she made a choice every time to hurt him. even affectionately he speaks of her as a force of nature, an act of god -- something that can't be reasoned or pleaded with or resisted, something you can only hope to navigate with as little pain as possible and pray to survive. let yourself get carried away by the riptide, resisting it will only make it worse. you don't compromise with a hurricane, you just try to find the best shelter you can and cross your fingers while you wait for it to pass and be calm again.

love is that hurricane. you do whatever she asks. you earn her continued affection day by day by never letting her down. you only want the things she tells you it's okay to want and cut everything else away preemptively. ("A wyvern tooth dagger?? I loved wyverns as a boy --Caterina would never let me have one of these, though." and as we have all wept and gnashed our teeth over, it never even OCCURS to him that he's a like thirty-five year old adult man who can buy himself any dagger he wants at any time. she said he couldn't have one. so he'll never have one. that's just how it works. and maybe if Illario could just accept that and find his peace with it like I have, this whole thing wouldn't be so difficult. oh lucanis.)

such is the price -- and the cost -- of being loved by her, it's a loan on which the interest will never stop piling up. you have to keep paying it down in perfection every day if you want to keep it. who got the worse deal there: the grandson who has abandoned everything else in life to live up to that and mostly succeeded, until the day he's so burned out and broken it threatens to no longer be an option, or the grandson who can never seem to scrape together enough worth in her eyes no matter how he begs, borrows or steals it, how he hustles and plays dirty?

one of the worst things that can happen to anyone is to be loved by a selfish god. another one of the worst things that can ever happen to anyone is to not be loved by a selfish god. (hope that helps, boys!) even in betraying everything else, Illario can't bring himself to hurt his grandmother, because that would defeat the whole point. who would he defiantly be proving himself worthy to, without her. in love, devotion, submission, hatred, frustration, bitterness, everything is defined in relation to her, you can spot the gravitational force of it through how the dellamorte family move through time and space. she -- her love and regard and attention -- is still the sun both of their worlds orbit around, even as adults. the game might never tell you outright 'she used to beat and starve them growing up. for their own good you see, so they'd be strong (and broken down enough for her to build them up again however she wanted but I'm sure that's incidental)', but if you know even a little bit about how these dynamics can work the writing is on the wall everywhere you look and all the more unsettling for it.

follow lucanis' freeze-logic and fraught interpersonal catch 22 irreconcilable mixed emotions problems back far enough, looong before the ossuary entered the picture, and you start to see caterina's ghost around every fucking corner. she is so proud of him. (well, she would be. she made him. she forged exactly the knife she needed and it rests willingly, devotedly, in her hands, it would return to her every time because it doesn't know love as anything but to be a knife. his tama never taught him how to be anything else. his biggest fear with her is that she won't even want him back, the way he is now.) to the best ability of her soul, whatever parts of it survived a lifetime of crow politics and 'five children, eight grandchildren, only Illario and me left now', I think she really does loves him. he certainly loves her, with all the sincerity and artless desperation of a child, of the little boy he was once. and what she's done to him (and to illario, for all his shitty gremlin scar-ass antics lol) is awful. the harm is real, and the love is real, and trying to find a way for these two truths to exist in the same space is driving all three of them their own individualized forms of insane. you know. the way only family can and so often does lol.

through implications and short glimpses and having to put the pieces together yourself, you can have the feeling that there is very genuine mutual love and attachment in this relationship... and that beneath that there is something so profoundly wrong. and the sneaking '...oh shit it gets worse the longer I think about it' horror of that is more effective for me at least than the stark in-your-face presentation of the facts of the matter could have been. the love is here. the love is here. it only ever makes it worse.

[plasmalunare]

these comments were under a post made by someone to remember their little sister passing away at a young age.

and just... what. the hell. what is wrong with antis.

I can't describe the feeling of disgust I got from reading the second comment. How can you even think this is an okay thing to say about someone you don't know?

[cosmicredcadet]

All this aroace character shipcourse has proven to me that a majority of people that interact in fandom cannot actually interact with characters and media outside of shipping and genuinely I believe you need to learn how to interact with media outside of shipping.

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Jason keeps accidentally drawing parallels between his running away to Ethiopia and getting killed.

He leaves a note saying he‘ll be back soon? Three terrified bats AND a supe crashing through the roof of a 7/11.

Casually mentioning he‘ll be going overseas to check up on a lead? Surprise! Nightwing‘s going the same way! What a coincidence!

Jason pushes someone off the roof? “Don’t worry Jaylad, I know it was an accident!!!!”

The next gig takes place at an abandoned warehouse? “Explosives whomst?? No, Jason, of course I didn’t scout the area beforehand. Don’t be absurd. Your bombs?? Oh, those were yours?”

Look, it’s not that Jason doesn’t appreciate a demonstration of how much they care. But he’s getting seriously fed up with the level of overprotectiveness everyone’s displaying.

Although, in retrospect, he could have handled this whole thing better than having an open spat with Bruce and then disappearing on them for two months straight. Oops.

(In his defense, Kori got them cards for a once-in-life-time-space-opera.)

[bluerosefox]

Glowing Green Puppy, Tiny Tots, and Damian 'I am not turning into my Father' Wayne.

I've been seeing a few DPxDC Dad!Damian ideas so I'd like to toss my idea into the void of the internet.

Damian is on a lead about a glowing green puppy, that can apparently change size and go through walls, and finally manages to track it down before even his father hears about it. The puppy seemed to be stealing random things too.

He was fully ready to use all the tricks in the book to get the puppy to trust him... and after a few days/weeks he manages to gain its trust.

He just wasn't expecting the puppy to drag him to abandoned warehouse and drop him in front of a few kids that were hiding out in it.

"Oh! Cujo you finally brought your new person over!" says the only red-haired one in the group, and she was holding a baby, as two almost identical toddlers ran over to the excited pupper that began to run around them.

[forgettable-au]

FORGETTABLE AU: CHAPTER ONE

[MASTERPOST][PROLOGUE][NEXT CHAPTER]

PAGES:

21-23 , 24-27 28-31 , 32-35 36-39 , 40-43 44-47 , 48-52 53-56 , 57-60 61-64 , 65-72

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Remember: The burning sensation is part of the process.

[kyurochurro]

"gentlemen i believe... we are lost."

(entering the new year with a stv drawing since im still on a st movie kick from the marathon my dad and i had HEHE >:D)