#ok but leonard went off with that

[charcoalowl]

You spend your whole life trying to forget about the crap you went through as a kid. You know? And the second you step back in you feel just as insignificant

Leonard Peabody, The Umbrella Academy – Season 1

[whovianwriter]

leonard mccoy x reader

Everything

AN: Thank you so much for requesting, sorry it took me so long I restarted like three times cause I kept changing my mind on different things. Feel free to request anything!

Warnings: Blood, injury to the reader, hurt/comfort, thoughts about death, sad but then happy at the end

“Damn it, the engine was hard to fix but I finally got it.”

Y/N said as she was walking to her desk, then she felt the ship shake due to the engine going back on line but the shake would get worse before it got better. So she tried to stabilize herself with her desk as she waited for it to finish. But Then she saw one of the interns carrying nails and pieces of junk before she knew what happened. He fell on top of her and she felt the pain a couple minutes later as she felt something wet and warm get soaked through her uniform. There was yell and her vision began to fade when she saw Scotty picking her up. 

“Come on Lass, keep your eyes open. You can’t fall asleep.” 

It was getting hard to focus but she knew that this might not be ending on a happy note, she saw memories rush to her. Her childhood, a million smiles, some tears then she saw Leonard when they first met at the Academy. They started dating and fell in love, their wedding, they both just swayed to the music for so long they didn’t want the day to end. They both knew that they had finally found the right person for their other half. “Tell .. Lee.. I.. Love .. him.”

“You can tell him that yourself, Once you get fixed up.”

They soon got to the medbay and he laid her down at one of the tables, when Leonard came out to see what the noise was when he saw her. His wife bleeding out as he ran, a nurse stopped him as three doctors got to her. They knew he couldn’t work on her, they were too close. He felt the anger as her eyes closed and then he was upset then the anger came through. Scotty pulled him outside so the medical team had as much space they needed. “How the hell did that happen?!?”

As Scotty told him what information he had, Leonard was a mess as he kinda went into shock as he kept looking into the window to see anything but couldn’t he then saw the red on Scotty’s shirt and it made him want to hurl. That’s Y/N’s blood, he sat on the floor looking down trying to see if this was some horrible dream. He then saw another pair of feet run up to them and saw Scotty walking away and the new person kneeled in front of him lifting his head. It was Jim. “She’s going to be okay.”

Leonard looked back to this morning when they were snuggled together in their room, she had her head on his chest, his arm wrapped around her. Holding her like she was his life line. Their legs tangled together as she played with his free hand, ‘We should just call off, stay in bed. Snuggle, watch old shows and eat the leftovers. I’m too comfortable to move.’

‘Darlin’ as much as I want to do that, we only have a half day today and then we are off for a week for shore leave. I promise we can do all that tomorrow.’

‘Fine, but I hope you know I will expect cheesy rom coms as well.’

He laughed and kissed the top of her head before starting to untangle himself from her to get ready for the day, but once he stood she still didn’t stand up but was stretching out on the bed, he bent down and kissed her before saying, ‘I wouldn’t expect anything else, sweetheart.’

The sound of the hiss of the door opening brought Leonard back to the present, he slowly got up and relied on Jim a little so he wouldn’t lose his balance. It was one of the afternoon doctors coming to talk to them. He couldn’t remember his name right at the moment. “Y/N is going to be ok, we gave her a sleep hypo, so her body can heal a bit before we wake her up tomorrow morning. We made sure to get everything out but she will be sore for the next couple days at the very least. The damage wasn’t too bad, it hit bigger veins so that was why there was so much blood. You can come in and sit with her, Doctor McCoy.”

—------------------------------

“Len, I swear I will hit you with a pillow if you do not stop following me. I’m only going to the bathroom, I’ll be back in like 4 minutes.”

They got back to their room the next day in the late afternoon, since then which had only been a day he followed her everywhere just to make sure that she didn’t need his help. She had woken up with ease and even cracked a joke. She then wanted to make sure the intern was alright, he was wearing a welding apron, the most he got was a bruise. 

Leonard felt like if he left her alone for too long he would see that he was still in the medbay waiting to see if she would wake up. He was thinking about that when she came out of the bathroom and came over and crawled into his lap looking at him while she had one hand on his cheek. “I’m ok Len.”

“I thought I was gonna lose you.”

“But you didn’t, I’m right here we both are. I admit I thought that that might have been the end for a second and all I could think of is you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, when we met, all the jokes you tell, our wedding where we stayed the whole night on the dance floor. I told Scotty to tell you that I love you. He responded with ‘You can tell him yourself.’” 

“Ok I’m cutting off the rom coms, that was so cheesy.”

Y/N laughed then turned her attention onto her husband, “I love you Leonard McCoy, you are my everything.”

“I Love you, you are my everything.”

She bent down and kissed him, till they both couldn’t breath.

[blasphemousclaw]

Hello there huge fan of your blog and wasnted to get your thoughts on something, if that's ok! In one of the glintstone sorceries' descriptions there's a quote that goes "the moon and the stars will be together no more" hinting at why Rennala and the academy had a falling out. This led me to wondering about the title of Radahn, Starscourge. Is it possible that Radahn went into gravity magic not just bc of Leonard but bc of wanting to control the stars, the power of his mother's enemies? Thank you in advance!

Hello! Yes, I’ve definitely had the thought that Radahn might have had some beef with the glintstone sorcerers… but first, I think there are a ton of layers to this question to pick apart. WARNING: this became extremely long and meandering and I ended up answering several questions that have nothing to do with your question at all. SORRY! I hope it’s still interesting.

Anyway, as you say, the description of Carian retaliation reads,

“One of the sorceries of the Carian royal family. Swing your staff to dispel incoming sorceries and incantations, using their power to retaliate with glintblades. This was the Carian royal family's secret means to prepare against the disloyalty of the academy. The moon and stars would one day go their separate ways.”

The Carians were prepared for the event of the Academy rebelling against them… perhaps the Carian astrologers predicted this fate within the stars, or perhaps they knew not everyone at the Academy embraced Rennala’s teachings. The Lazuli Conspectus robe description also portrays the moon and stars as being two separate factions within the Academy: “Robe worn by scholars of the Lazuli Conspectus, singular among the greater Raya Lucaria Academy. These scholars, who sought to master Carian sorcery, instead learned to see the moon as equal to the stars. This robe, in the hue of the full moon, signifies their heresy.” The word “heresy” implies that other glintstone sorcerers of the Academy still viewed the stars as supreme even while Rennala was in charge.

Perhaps the biggest controversy between the Carians and the Academy was the matter of the primeval current sorcerers. Sellen tells us that Azur, Lusat, and herself were banished from the Academy “for attempting to restore the primeval current of glintstone sorcery.” She goes on to say, “The toothless pedantry peddled by the Carian royal family can rot for all I care. I want glintstone sorceries that open our minds, unbound by terrestrial taboos.” As we later find out, Sellen had been turning sorcerers into a Graven Masses which are “seeds of stars” created by primeval current sorcerers, and they became “a nightmare that would continue to haunt the academy.” According to the Graven Mass talisman, “The primeval current is a forbidden tradition of glintstone sorcery. To those who cleave to its teachings, the act of collecting sorcerers to fashion them into the seeds of stars is but another path of scientific inquiry.” It can be inferred that the primeval current sorcerers were expelled from the Academy under the leadership of Rennala because they were using other sorcerers in their grotesque experiments (Could Rennala have also used this as a perfect opportunity to solidify her hold on the Academy and eliminate sorcerers who didn’t agree with her leadership? Maybe!).

Now, what I believe connects this matter to Radahn specifically is two details. The first is Lusat’s imprisonment. Sellen tells us that after his banishment from the Academy, Lusat “languishes, imprisoned somewhere” and gives us a glintstone key that will let us cross the barrier “that keeps Master Lusat confined.” Later, she tells us that she heard Lusat had returned to Sellia, his home, after his banishment, and that she got the glinstone key off of a Sellian sorcerer. What this tells me is that after returning home to Sellia, Lusat was not welcomed, but imprisoned by the sorcerers there, his staff taken away... which means that the sorcerers in Sellia probably heard of Lusat’s crimes, and by imprisoning him are siding with the Carian royal family. We know that a young Radahn came to Sellia to study gravity sorceries from the Remembrance of the Starscourge, and from a Caelid sword monument, that “Radahn alone holds Sellia secure, and stands tall, to shatter the stars.” All of this points to some kind of relationship between Sellia and the Carian royals, and a hostility towards the primeval current sorcerers.

The second detail connecting the Carian-primeval current feud to Radahn is Jerren’s mission. Jerren is essentially Radahn’s right hand man. According to Iji, Jerren had made “an old promise” to get rid of “a longstanding Carian weed.” After Radahn is granted an honorable death, Jerren is now able to leave Redmane Castle to hunt down Sellen, a longtime thorn in the Carians’ side. Jerren came to serve Radahn “after spending time as a guest of the Carian royals,” and is loyal to the family through and through. Jerren was probably distracted from the goal of getting rid of Sellen when he and Radahn fought in the Shattering war, but I wonder if in the past, Radahn had also viewed Sellen as a personal enemy?

Since Radahn seems to be surrounded by people who oppose the sorcerers of the primeval current and uphold the decrees of the Carian royals, it makes sense for him to have felt this way himself. Did this influence his decision to challenge the stars, though? It’s possible, but I have two caveats toward the idea that he wanted to seize the power of his family’s enemies: one, even though the “moon and stars” are often positioned as two separate factions, the stars are still the origin of all glintstone sorcery, and the stars also “alter the fate of the Carian royal family,” who were not just sorcerers but astrologers — those who study fate within the stars… so the stars are still quite important to the Carians, and Radahn would know this. Two, it’s kind of unclear to me how halting the stars’ movement might have hindered the primeval sorcerers from achieving their goals… Sellen never seems to consider this to be a problem for her, only mentioning the halting of the stars when asked about Ranni’s destiny:

“The stars alter the fate of the Carian royal family. And the fate of your mistress, Ranni. But long ago, General Radahn challenged the swirling constellations, and in a crushing victory, arrested their cycles. Now, he is the force that repulses the stars. If General Radahn were to die, the stars would resume their movement. And so, too, would Ranni's destiny.”

Sellen doesn’t seem particularly personally inconvenienced by the stars being frozen, and in fact, the stars resuming their movement actually threatens her life: Iji says that “a certain sorceress has been dispossessed of her immortality,” and Sellen says that “A star has fallen, and my fortunes waver. someone may come for my life.” I think what this might mean is that back in the day, Sellen divined her fate by reading the stars (possibly with the help of Seluvis, since this was his official job, and we know he also helped her make a new body?), and she saw her own death… and now the only thing keeping her fate from coming to pass is the fact that the stars aren’t moving, so she’s functionally immortal. But that’s beside the point.

To understand Sellen’s goals, let’s look at what the primeval current actually is and consider the goals of the primeval sorcerers. The Founding Rain of Stars sorcery reads,

“The eldest primeval sorcery, said to have been discovered by an ancient astrologer. A sorcery of legendary status. […] Thought to be the founding glintstone sorcery. The glimpse of the primeval current that the astrologer saw became real, and the stars' amber rained down on this land.”

Sellen explains to us that the “stars’ amber” is glintstone:

“Our powers draw upon the powers embedded in glintstone, but what is the nature of such power? Glintstone is the amber of the cosmos; golden amber contains the remnants of ancient life and houses its vitality, while glintstone contains residual life. And thus, the vitality of the stars. It should not be forgotten that glintstone sorcery is the study of the stars and the life therein.”

The primeval current is the source of all glintstone and all glintstone sorcery. The last line can also be read as a dig at Rennala and her lunar magic. We know Sellen intends to “restore” and “hone” the primeval current, and with Azur and Lusat’s bodies to help her, “we, fallen children of the stars, shall beam with brilliance once again.” But what does Sellen mean by this? Why must the primeval current be “restored”? I have absolutely no idea. But what I can say is that primeval current sorcerers create graven masses in order to form “seeds of stars.” Azur and Lusat’s bodies, which Sellen needs to hone the primeval current, are near inorganic, turned into glintstone, each of them “nigh a child of the stars.” Then, Sellen’s quest culminates in her becoming part of a graven mass herself. It seems that the primeval current sorcerers are taking the idea of the inherent life within stars, and are attempting to BECOME stars themselves in order to become a part of or expand the primeval current… although this doesn’t seem to work out for Sellen in the end.

Anyway, all of this is to say that there’s heaps of evidence showing how the movement of the stars affects fortune and fate and the practice of astrology, but there doesn’t seem to be any direct evidence of an effect on the primeval current. It’s still possible that Radahn’s actions could have hindered the primeval current in some way, but I just can’t find any dialogue that suggests this. Of course, Radahn could have simply thought that halting the stars might thwart the primeval current sorcerers and in reality he ended up shooting his own family in the foot, but that’s pure speculation. If this were true, it would certainly be poetic! Personally, I still think Radahn’s reasons had much to do with Sellia and wanting to prove himself a hero, but I absolutely see merit to this idea.

[kermitgasm]

are there any songs you think they should bring back for the setlist or a song you wish they would play live?

also which live performances are your favorite? (you could even go by era cuz i think each era is pretty unique)

ok so i need to start this off by saying BRING POOL BACK IMMEDIATELY!! please with the intro and everything. it’s just so fucking good. next up, which i know might be controversial, but i’d love to hear fences live once (i would watch this video all the time when i was younger, it just seems like a lot of fun). i always think it sounds so cool. and then obviously i’m on my knees screaming and crying for them to bring back Let The Flames Begin / Part II, which i know they’re probably sick of but it always turned out so good!!! and Turn It Off & Careful are my #1 picks. like, genuinely I need to hear them live or else. Also, Sugar on the Rim.

anyways i used to be better at pinpointing my favorite performances because i would watch them to a point where it was super concerning, now i’m a bit more mellow about it. however, since you asked i will attempt to deliver. just for you, dear anon.

this is in no particular order or anything, basically i’m just going off what i remember really saying damn this is good about (which is super easy when you love a band like paramore).

First off let’s start with the Miracle Outro performed during Brand New Eyes era. this song just goes so fucking hard and i curse Josh Farro for the fact that he wrote it so they couldn’t record it and release it since he left the band soon thereafter.

Paramore at Wembley Arena in 2009 — This concert is so good. like thank god this person filmed it and decided to upload it to youtube. I cannot get enough of Intro / Ignorance. truly.

RTMorasonMD had a great full concert vid from 2010, the sound quality is great for 2010 too. considering most of the time videos look like they were filmed with an nintendo D.S..

Paramore at The House of Blues in Anaheim, California (2006) this is like nostalgia city for me. I remember running my old paramore fan account on instagram and stumbling on this and being like… i’ve hit the paramore jackpot. shout out to Paramore History for always posting the real hard to find stuff… where would we be without you?

When Paramore performed Careful at Warped Tour in 2011 or like the whole Warped Tour Set — i will say this over and over again on this post but i have to be real with you when i say, i watched these videos so much it’s crazy. but careful was my favorite. i love careful. any performance or careful and i’m there.

Paramore live in Paris (2013) when i tell you i watched this religiously i mean it. i could probably do all the dance moves / movements hayley did in this specific video way back when. i was obsessed.

Paramore performing Let The Flames Begin / Part II at Bunbury in Cincinnati (2014) i just love this one. like all of these are just nostalgic for me and i can’t help but want to show you.

When Paramore performed Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and then it went into Hallelujah by Paramore (lol) at Parahoy (2016). What a way to open the show. i mean, i remember watching the final riot and being totally in love with Hayley’s voice and the way she sang it. I think I was introduced to Hallelujah by Shrek but Paramore was the second one to show me the ways of Leonard Cohen. Thanks for that.

I Caught Myself in Hamburg (2017) is an obvious one but I feel like I had to mention it… the emotion Hayley fucking pours into this performance makes me want to cry.

Turn It Off live from Grand Casino in Hickley, MN (2017) we’ve all seen this one i think? but what an incredibly breath taking performance of turn it off. i mean.. damn.

Fake Happy performed at Rock for People in the Czech Republic (2017) the quality is insane for this one. I remember being totally obsessed with this. so i’m adding it here; to share with you.

Pool / Idle Worship in Paris (2018) something must be in the water when they go to paris because i love these videos.

Pool live in Amsterdam (2018) is another one that came to mind cuz the sound quality goes crazy. it’s just beautiful.

The full 2018 RED ROCKS show because the sound is great and i just remembered being obsessed with this. you’re kinda cracking my head open like an egg with this ask and i love it.

Paramore at Concrete Street Amphitheater (2018) incredible footage, incredible show.

Simmer live in Bakersfield (2022) i have to add this because she’s gone too soon. like they should be performing this one nonstop. but i also understand crystal clear is a bop so it’s fine… i’m fine. PLAY SUGAR ON THE RIM OR ELSE!!!

Crystal Clear debut in Dublin / Dreams (the cranberries cover) (2023) I mean….. we all know about the Dreams cover but I just have to add it here because wow. i love it. it’s incredible. and the crystal clear debut is just insane because the person filming that knew what they were doing. High Quality to the MAX baby.

Crave / Outro live at The O2 in London (2023) I mean I just love this video. like, what’s not to love.

Speaking of quality, this video of You First performed in Cleveland Ohio (2023) is available to watch in 2610p60, which basically means it’s better than your eyeballs. incredible stuff. just insane.

there’s probably a whole lot more i can’t think of at the moment, maybe i’ll make a list eventually. but i hope you like this in the mean time. ❤️ thanks for sending me this ask and letting me talk about my favorite band. send me an ask anytime (goes for everyone, i love this).

[thesconesyard]

It’s time for the third tale in this story and time for Yeehawgust!!! Yay for the Enterprise Ranch!

Underneath the Western Sky

1. On the Road Again

Leonard McCoy stood for a moment on the front porch and looked out over the Enterprise ranch. A small noise came from by his feet. He didn’t need to look to know it was Jaylah’s pet cat Franklin. The little cat had decided from the start that he was McCoy’s shadow. Anywhere he went on the ranch Franklin followed.

At first McCoy had found it extremely annoying, but one day the little cat had given him warning before he had stuck his hand next to a rattlesnake. McCoy had become reconciled to the cat then and accepted it as his fate to always be tailed by the ‘wee beastie’ as Scotty referred to him.

Scotty was in the house behind him helping his brother pack. Robbie would start in town at the post office the next day and would be staying in town.

“C’mon then,” McCoy said to Franklin and stepped off the porch to head for the barn. He’d get the wagon ready for the brothers. Franklin purred at his feet, but made sure not to get in McCoy’s way as he walked.

At the barn pasture he found the ranch’s owner, James Kirk standing with Pavel Chekov and Jaylah.

“Hey Bones!” Jim called.

“Hey kid,” McCoy replied.

“Need help hitching up?” Jim asked.

“Sure, if you’re offering.”

“Come on Jaylah, let’s see what you can do,” Jim grinned at the young woman. She had been on the ranch just over a year and had been working hard learning to be a ranch hand.

“Let’s go!” she replied.

McCoy followed behind them with Chekov.

“So,” McCoy began slyly. “You two seem to be getting along real well lately.” He glanced at Chekov from the corner of his eye. The young man had blushed.

“We have always gotten along,” he replied quickly.

“Yes,” McCoy said. “You have. But lately—”

“We all get along Doctor!”

McCoy smothered a chuckle. Ok, Chekov didn’t want to talk about himself and Jaylah.

“Well, whatever you two have going on, I’m glad for you both.”

Chekov made a choked noise and McCoy saw his color turn more red.

“Da.”

McCoy drove the horses as Scotty and Robbie chatted away behind him. He felt a touch alone up front by himself, but he couldn’t grudge the brothers their time together. They had been apart for years, until McCoy had secretly reached out to the brother still in Scotland. In the end it had turned out that there was no need for the brothers to still remain no contact. The people who had threatened them were long dead.

“Well, where are ya going to stay?” McCoy asked as they came to the edge of town. “The hotel? Or did you sort out somewhere else while we were gone?”

“The hotel for now,” Robbie said. “Miss Gaila had rooms cheaper, but Mr. Farrell said it would look better to be at the hotel.”

McCoy chuckled.

“There’s nothing wrong with Gaila’s,” Scotty protested. “But I ken what he means.”

“We could stop in before heading back,” McCoy said over his shoulder. He drove the wagon up the street, and straight into the yard next to the hotel.

“Of course!” Scotty exclaimed. “We’ve got to celebrate!”

“You alright?” McCoy asked as he and Scotty drove home as the sun began to set.

“Aye,” Scotty said and slid a little closer to McCoy. “He’s just a quick trip to town away now. I’d have loved if he’d stayed on the ranch, but I understand.”

McCoy smiled.

“I’m just glad he’s back,” Scotty continued. “I know I’ve said it many times already, but thank ye so much for writing to him love.”

“Your welcome darlin’,” McCoy said and moved the reins to one hand. He put the other arm around Scotty. “I’m happy you’re happy.”

[persephone11110]

A Little Reminder

Parental icemav x reader

Warnings: injuries, past child abuse, hurt/comfort, emotionally constipated reader, gunshot wound—mention of blood, anesthesia, medical inaccuracies, protective tom kazansky, protective pete mitchell

Summary: You didn’t understand why they loved you so much, why they love you like you were their child— as if you deserved to be loved by them.“Y/n we’ll keep reminding you until you get it through your thick stubborn skull”. Maverick shot a look at his husband.

reader goes by Y/n and Stone Peterson

* Im so sorry Idky this so long— I sincerely apologize, I let my inner child take over.

—

As Ice aged and spent years in the navy he gotten accustomed to death— everytime his husband almost lost his life up in the air. To when he himself almost died by the hands of lung cancer he knew death came for whoever and whenever— Its normal.

He knew death was a normal stage of life, but that doesn’t mean it stop him from being scared.

Yet being scared awake out of his slumber by his phone made a bile of fear rise in Ice’s throat. Being the COMPACFLT he also knew there’s a thing call emergencies but this time it felt different.

This time it felt like death was around the corner.

Waiting and watching.

Ice slowly moved his husbands arm off his chest as he rolled over to grab his phone off the nightstand.

Maverick a cuddle champion easily noticed his husband lack of touch even in his sleep and to say he was disturbed by it was the understatement of the century. “Ice?”, he groaned—“Why?”.

“Give me a minute” his voice was soft. He quickly ran his over his husband’s face.

It worked, Maverick calmed down easily— and he went back to sleep.

Who’s ever was on the otherside of the phone didn’t even give him a chance to talk.

Already jumping to the point.

“Hi i’m looking for a Tom Kazansky?”

There it was—the reason why his throat felt so clammy, why he already felt sick to his stomach.

People only typically call this time of day if something bad happened.

Death or someone who’s close to dying.

His face shifted from calm to a expression that was a mixture of horror and scared.

“What happened?” his hand shakes.

“Ice, are you okay?”. Even when asleep Maverick seemed to have his six.

“Ok, I’ll be there”. Dread filled Ice’s heart as he hung up the phone.

He’s already up and moving, slipping off his sleepwear and throwing on more appropriate clothes.

As the Iceman he was prepared but the man underneath the facade felt heartbroken.

“Honey, what happened?” Maverick already alert, he immediately started moving too.

Ice was still moving drowning out his husband’s voice. He needed to get to the hospital fast enough because If not—.

“Thomas Leonard Kazansky” Maverick said— and it seemed more like a command then a request.

He stopped dead in his tracks, he’s body still rattling with fear.

Mav could see the fear marking its territory onto his husband face. As his husband Pete knew Iceman was just a shield to keep everyone at arms length. Also to keep the pain bearable but he hated to admit seeing his normally calmed husband made his heart beat below a certain number.

“Stone…she was taken to the hospital—I’m listed as her emergency contact”. He explained resuming his fast pace of getting ready. “Mav… the woman on the phone said Stone went into cardiac arrest twice”.

“Her family—where are they?” Maverick felt like he already knew the answer— given how Ice is listed as her emergency contact.

“Foster care—I’ve only read some of her file but unfortunately she aged out” Ice replied his eyes watered.

Maverick simply nodded— he knew what it felt like to have no one want you— to feel unwanted and unworthy of love.

Unlike Maverick, Stone Peterson spent eighteen long years in that damn hellhole waiting and watching for anyone to adopt her. Stone gave up when she realized no wanted her— she stopped getting her hopes when couples or someone came to foster care.

Stone knew her time in foster care would just get longer, and her wishes for a family were long gone.

She doesn’t expect someone to care about her, but Ice and Maverick could easily prove Stone wrong if she let just them. Even when she threw coldness their way Ice and Maverick still stood there by her side because deep down they knew it was the mirror of young girl still stuck in survival mode.

A little girl who didn’t understand the meaning of love.

The drive to the hospital seems never ending— more cars in their way then usual, more stop lights.

Or maybe that just an anxious brain owned by Ice doing that.

Who knows?.

He sure as hell didn’t know either.

-

The walking towards the hospital was a blur of strangers also walking too, and ambulances loading people out of them.

He caught a glimpse of a sign reminding everyone this a level one trauma center— meaning anyone who was admitted had some type of serious or life threatening injury.

Ice was pretty sure his stomach just dropped to hell after reading the sign.

Why did Stone need such a high level of care?

The logical part of brain reminded him that this a hospital used for any medical problems, whether it’s small or big.

Often times fear overwhelmed logic–making it harder for Ice to think about the goodness of the situation.

When they approached the hospital doors they’d been met with the appearance of two police officers.

The first thing that caught Ice’s eye wasn’t their name tag, but a evidence bag that contained clothes covered in blood, a female’s watch.

Surely these weren’t Stone’s belongings?

Can’t be,couldn’t be.

Not until he saw the inside of the ring.

Y/n Grace Peterson— Stone’s initials.

Oh fuck.

“Officer Grant, Jones,Sir— we responded to a older woman’s robbery”

Both Ice and Maverick were visibly confused. The officers were quick to explain what they meant.

“A older woman was being robbed of her personal possessions—and Lieutenant Peterson stepped in— and the mugger shot her in the stomach as they fell down to the ground wresting for the gun.

And just like that the logical part of his brain suddenly vanished.

Ice didn’t trust his voice to say anything, he nodded instead.

Luckily his husband is was in sync with him like always.

“Thank you” Maverick said—shaking both their hands.

“Lieutenant Peterson things will be back after their processed through the system”

Maverick nodded his head at the officers as they walked away from them, leaving him and Ice alone in the waiting room.

Any words like cold-hearted and unempathetic couldn’t be used in same sentence as Stone.

He already knew Stone Peterson had a heart—she just had hard time showing other people.

She hated being vulnerable, weak.

That reminded Ice of himself.

A quick solution to all your problems. Something that’s either taught or learned when your a child.

He and Maverick sat down in the chair behind him.

“Why can’t people live in peace and harmony, is that too much to ask for?”. Maverick grabbed Ice’s hand—attempting to comfort him.

Ice’s jaw clenched in anger. “I don’t know Mav, I guess the world isn’t prepared for that”.

We’re there’s good— there’s evil.

He hated sitting here, doing nothing to help a pilot in need.

“You, Stone and the dagger squad are the good were as the mugger and people like him are the evil in the world”. Ice gave him a better answer.

Unfortunately the world needs both to ensure balance without one or the other world cannot thrive correctly.

Good and Evil go hand and hand together.

As much the older couple hated the situation, they both could easily see themselves doing the same thing.

Being in the navy whilst being a good person the hero switch is always on for everyone.

Its a sixth sense of danger—the needing to help others.

The shorter hand on the clock kept moving before Maverick and Ice got any news on Stone.

“Family of Lieutenant Peterson”

“Us” Ice answered, by definition there were Stone’s family whether she realized it or not.

“We managed to stop the bleeding and remove the bullet within one go— the damage of the bullet did quite a number on Peterson, but she should be fine”.

Ice felt the badgering pain of sorrow starting to leave his stomach once and for all. Maverick visibly sighed in relief— like always Ice was prepared for the doctor to tell them their were down a dagger, they’d lost their kid.

After hearing that Stone was safe and sound— Ice allowed his logical part of his brain to come back and take over for awhile. His fear had been gone.

“She’s okay Tom, she’s okay” Maverick repeated. He knew Ice needed to hear it again for him to be okay.

“Yeah” he muttered—shoving his face into Mav’s shoulder.

“Just breathe Tom”. Maverick whispered into his husband ear.

Part of Ice wants to know why she did it?,

Why she offered her life so easily at the expense of another?

These are the actions of someone who cares, someone who has a big heart.

Not someone who’s cold and indifferent to other’s pain.

She may act cold like him but she sure as hell has Maverick consistent urge to sneak out of an hospital. Ice has read her medical file before, always opting out for more care— resisting care, somehow knows how to badge medical care.

But Ice just needs to make one phone call to his assiant Warrant Officer Mccoy and she’ll clear both his and Maverick schedule. He wasn’t about to let Stone be alone after something so traumatic. She needed family by her side.

It was close to being 0900, where’s the damn surgeon at, a nurse?, it was too good to be true, something bad happened.

“Ice, stop thinking about the bad shit”— damn it Mav let me sulk for a little.

“Shut up Peter”— his legs had gotten tired from him sitting for so long…Ice solution was to pace until he collasped.

“Well Thomas, she’s probably get moved to another room, vital checks— double/triple checking everything”. Mav said lightly.

“So and maybe your right” Ice paused his pacing.

“Trust me I would know” Maverick smirked. “Come here frosty”, not giving him a chance to move again, Maverick pulled his husband into his chair.

Ice shot back a cup of shitty hospital coffee. He’s not young like he used be.

“Tom, it’s not vodka” Maverick shook his head at Ice.

“Mhm— but my imagination say otherwise”

A set of footsteps interrupted the two men.“Sirs— I can come back?”, the young male nurse getting ready to turn on his heel.

“Nope no need to- its fine” Maverick reassured him, throwing on a fake smile.

Ice was already on his feet, and so was Maverick.

Maverick thanked whoever for sending this nurse their way because his husband was starting to get antsy. Pretty sure If an another hour went by without news— Ice was gonna hulk out.

“I’m here to guide you too Lieutenant Peterson room”.

“Well were ready” Ice sighed lowly, and Maverick pinched his back.

“отвали” Ice said a little bit to loudly.

The nurse raised his eyebrows“Oh whats that mean?”.

Maverick smiled at the nurse“A sacred prayer made by his family”— Maverick elbowed him. “Right Tom?”.

“Yep”— totally a fucking lie.

It didn’t take long to find Stones room.

-

“I want to go home” you thought to yourself. “Maybe if I click my feet three times like fucking dorothy I might”. You eyes were close, giving there wasn’t nothing for you to look at. A four cornered hospital room isn’t were you thought you end your night with.

None of these paintings were soothing your nerves they actually made you more angrier than before. Were you getting or something because normally with injury like this you would’ve been able to go home and stitch yourself.

When did you faint?

Who called 911?

When are you going the fuck home.?

So many questions to ask, too bad no one here to answer them.

“Fuck you universe” that easily came from your mouth.

“Fuck you” you repeated again— it felt nice,but your anger still lingering.

“Callsign should’ve been sailor?” a familiar voice pulls you out of your cursing parade.

You blink your eyes slowly unable to catch a glimpse of who’s talking at first. When you do, funny enough your arm goes up in attempt to salute him.

An alarm starts beeping loudly.

“Ow”.

You tried moving farther from the annoying sound but somethint was holding you back from doing so.

“Hey, hey easy Y/n” Ice soothes you, stopping you from moving any further.

“I wanna go home” you whine. “Let me go home”.

Both Maverick and Ice sighed right as much as they hated it —they rather want your Stone persona to take over. Instead of doped up you.

You frowned slightly— why hasn’t Ice and Maverick signed you out yet?.

“Take me home—now?” you bit your lip in anger, you hated how childish you sounded right now.

You how young and vulnerable you sounded— something haven’t done in over a decade.

“Not right now sweetheart—your critically hurt” Ice tried explaining to you. “You need time to recover”.

“You’ve only been here about ten hours” Maverick said, while also untwisting your I.V bag.

“I’m fine” you argued, your Stone persona was coming back and taking over.“Just a little scratch”. You talked like nothing happened— like you weren’t in surgery for hours.

“This Y/n, this isn’t just a little scratch”. Ice said, and you could tell anger was scratching at the surface- he was itching to scream at you.

You scoffed. Your starting close to off again, going back to be Stone.

This is tough for Ice, one he wants to comfort you and bring you out your tough shell. On the other hand he wanted to reprimand you, demand why you put yourself in harm’s way.

He wasn’t backing down easily. “What the hell were you thinking Y/n—did you have a death wish?”.

“You could’ve died”. Ice tried emphasizing to you, he tried telling you– its just too foreign for you to understand.

“I wouldn’t turn back the clock,and change what I did— she didn’t deserve to die”.

“And you do?” Ice said to you.“Is your life worthless that you find it so easily to throw it away”. Ice continued. “Why, can you tell me why without using a lame excuse?”. Yours and Ice jaw clenched.

He was pissing you off— where did he get off interrogating you?

Who died and made him the fucking king?

“Ice I don’t—” Maverick tried stopping his husband angered induced rant.

“Oh, no need Maverick let the man speak his god damn mind”. You cut off without thinking about it. “Finish talking Admiral Kazanksy”.

This hurts you thought they loved you.

I guess not?

A crack of emotion came through, you look scared and sad.

Ice rolled his shoulders back and took a moment to calm down. He saw how terrified you looked, and it made him feel digusted with himself.

“Y/n, sweetheart thats not the point okay— we could’ve lost you, you could’ve died”. Ice softly explained to her this time. “You have people that care about you-we care about you so much”.

You pressed your hand over your eyes.

This was too much for you to handle.

“Y/n I think you need let stone take a break for a bit?” Maverick grabbed your hand gently. “I think she’s tired”.

“Yeah” you nodded. “I’m really tired”.

“We know and we’ll stay if you want us to?” Mav sat down on edge of bed. With Ice leaned against your railing.

“Stay”—you whispered,“Please”. you beg them.

“Of course sweetheart, we aren’t going anywhere for awhile”. Ice said holding your hand, with a small smile on his face. Maverick joined in alongside him.

“G’night” you whispered to them, before slumber took you peacefully.

They both kissed on your forehead, before letting sleep take them too.

[simslegacy5083]

Not So Berry (Straud Descendants) Gen 9

Today's (8/16/2024) Episode: The Dynamic Duo

Following his press conference, Luigi appreciated the rehabilitation of his reputation but hated being sidelined until after his wedding.

It seemed his bosses planned to use his break from playing to put his leadership abilities to the test. He found himself mentoring the teams' junior members and combing over footage of previous match-ups to come up with new gameplay strategies.

He knew the break was necessary to sell the story they’d told the news outlets, and Doc Leonard was sure that the rest would help his carpel tunnel, but he’d expected to be bored silly. He was therefore surprised when he actually enjoyed the work. It was satisfying to help others improve, and the way the team jumped whole-heartedly into using his new game tactics made him feel great about his strategic and high-level planning skills.

Luigi’s usefulness as an advisor wasn’t limited to tactics. He also shared all the best tricks he’d found to combat his condition using keyboard shortcuts and his advanced mousing hardware. It took the others time to master, but spending less time clicking around sped the whole team up.

That sudden change to a faster play style led to a decisive victory against one of their biggest competitors and earned Luigi a promotion.

The same HR rep who processed that paperwork also dropped the news that he was cleared to hire more staff for his other project. The Sims Forever community was positively abuzz at the prospect of a new life simulation game, and they wanted to show progress as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Noemi continued to struggle at work, despite her win with Luigi’s project. She still just couldn’t seem to connect with her other clients.

After a particularly productive session with Dr. Valasquez, she began to understand that her lack of charisma might not be the only reason she was having problems at work. When she allowed herself to be honest and look past what was expected of her Noemi realized she was bored.

She didn’t want to spend all day hunting for and guiding new talent, she wanted to be hands on. DOING the work was the fun part for her!

When Luigi came home excited to share his good news, he found Noemi in their home office, struggling with both a headache and her latest side gig.

“How has Plumbook gone this long without a real employee password policy!?” she groused as he settled down beside her “No wonder they keep getting hacked! Getting everyone on board is a nightmare, and my head feels like I’ve been beating it against a real wall, not just lazy users.”

“You’ve been getting a lot of headaches lately,” Luigi observed carefully. “Is everything OK? Maybe you should see the doctor.”

“I’ve seen her!” she replied, “this is just a known side effect of the meds I need to function in the office, so I’m just going to have to deal with it.”

“Still struggling with your clients?” Luigi asked. At her affirmative nod he added, “You know you don’t have to stay at Rainy Day if you’re miserable.”

Noemi shook her head. “Freelance programming is more hands on but doing it full time would mean bigger projects and more client meetings. It would be the same if I switched to working at Kenzie’s robotics company. At least Rainy Day takes a lot of the meetings and paperwork off my hands.”

She flashed her fiancée a grin. “And I get to work with you, which is always the best part of my day! Oh, if only every customer was so cute!”

After a quick snack break to let the pain meds she’d taken kick in Noemi returned to her side job while Luigi went over the resumes of the artists, managers, and programmers Patricia was sending him to rush assemble a concept version of the new videogame they’d nicknamed “Project Daisy”.

He wasn’t terribly impressed with the quality of the sims they’d found so far. He turned to share a particularly sloppy cover letter with Noemi and paused. She had that driven look she got when she was in the “zone”: her fingers flying expertly as she typed and referenced a complex spec.

He sighed. Who would he have to sleep with at Rainy Day to get access to a great recruit like Noemi? He blinked. “Hey, wait a minute!”

Back at HQ the next morning the pair presented a unified front as they told Patricia that they wanted to transfer Noemi to Project Daisy full time.

“This is highly unusual,” she told them “and it isn’t a pathway to promotion for you, Noemi, even if you managed the team instead of programming.”

Noemi couldn’t care less about a promotion that would just mean more of the work she hated. “I’m OK with that” she said, suppressing a big smile.

They left the meeting with Noemi’s boss in great spirits. She was totally happy about her job prospects for the first time in a long time.

The best thing about working on Project Daisy was that she knew she wouldn’t need the pills that had been making her feel so awful, and she dragged Luigi out back to toss them out immediately. Eyeing the quite spacious and semi-private dumpster, she gave her fiancée a wicked look.

“Oh my grim! No. Porcupine!” he cried “Honey, I love you more than life itself, but I am never, EVER, getting intimate in a DUMPSTER!”

Noemi laughed, stepping away from the offensive bin to give him a suggestive kiss. “Fine, but let’s hurry home. Somebody owes me a signing bonus.”

I found out that Noemi’s Autism essentially prevents her from raising her charisma skill. Its barely at 2 and she would need 4 for her next promotion.

She’s already level 8 in the tech guru career. I don’t need her to advance further, and I hate the side effects from her meds, so I decided to go this direction with her story.

I also learned that squeamish sims won’t woohoo in a dumpster – totally makes sense but who knew!?

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[luke-hughes43]

https://www.tumblr.com/luke-hughes43/746567237248385024/full-blurb

YESSSS

i love you | ryan and isla

isla’s pov

ry and i are cuddling before the draft just getting alone time. he says softly, “you know any other year, you, or will, or adam, or leo go first overall.”

“i know. fucking bedard.”

“he’s lucky he’s a good kid and we all like him.”

“yea. do you think i’ll get picked high?”

“i wanna say yea sparky but you and i both know that you don’t know until your name gets called.” ry says softly. i nod against his chest and we just lay like that until my mom bangs on the door, “isla honey time to get dressed.”

i roll my eyes and sit up. ryan sighs, “text me when your ready. i wanna see you before we go.” i nod and he kisses me softly before going to his own room to get dressed.

i got a black dress for this and i really it. it’s very my style for the rare occasion i get dressed up. i decided to wear nike blazers for shoes because of my nagging foot injury, heels is not the right choice.

i text ryan and tell him i’m doing my makeup if he wants to come back. the only good thing that came from being kennedy’s doll growing up is that i know how to do my own makeup and hair.

ryan comes in, in his suit, and he looks so handsome. blue is definitely a good color on him.

he sits with me while i do the finished touches and smiles, he says, “look at you, my pretty girl.”

“your such a flirt leonard.”

“only for you”

i roll my eyes and stand to smooth out my dress. he says, “jesus isla, your beautiful.” i blush and mess with fingers. i’ve never been able to take a compliment from him.

he pulls me in for a hug just holds me for a minutes. i hear the door opens and i hear cutter say, “shit my bad. mom said it’s time to go isla.”

“ok i’m coming cut.”

ryan lifts chin so i’m looking at him and he says, “i know your nervous, but no matter what isla, i’m proud of you.”

“thanks ry. i’m proud of you too”

he smiles and kisses me softly before we go to our respective families and eventually get on the bus to the rink. we sit with gabe and will and the 4 of us are really quiet.

we get to the arena and there’s so many people. when it’s my turn to get off the bus, i take a deep breath and then walk off.

i do all the autographs and everything before going to my seat. i feel like i’m on autopilot right now. i make damn sure cutter is sitting next to me and he holds my hand. he says, “you got this sis.”

i nod and just focus on taking some deep breaths. i’m not worried about the blackhawks, they are taking connor, i’m worried about the ducks, blue jackets, and sharks.

connor’s name is called like everyone knew it would be and now the nerves kick in again. i whisper to cutter, “you have my phone right?”

“yes. i’ll give it back after you get picked”

i nod and wait for the anaheim organization to take the stage. i swear my heart stopped when they said, “the anaheim ducks are proud to select from usa development program, isla gauthier.”

as soon as i stand, cutter is tackling me into a hug. he says in my ear, “i’m so proud of you isla. you deserve every second of it. enjoy this moment.”

i hug the rest of my family and when i get back to the aisle, i see gabe, ryan, and will all there ready to hug me. i do gabe, then will, and save ry for last. ryan says while he hugs me, “i’m so proud of you baby, you deserve this. i’ll see you soon.”

i smile at my best friends and boyfriend before going down the stairs and towards the stage. i shake the commissioners hand and like blackout.

i know i did interviews and stuff but i don’t know what i said or who they were with.

back stage i saw connor and we hugged and offered our congratulations. adam went next which is nice. and then i hear the fresh prince of bel air theme song and knew that will went 4th.

i give him a big hug back stage telling him how proud i am of him. and now we’re anxiously awaiting ryan and gabe.

he says, “isla relax. he’ll go. they both will.”

“i know. i know.”

shortly after i finish an interview, i hear someone say, “the washington capitals are proud to select from the usa development program, ryan leonard.”

i’m jumping up and down and find will. i say to him, “he’s a capital! he went to washington!” will smiles and we go over to wait for him. will hugs him first so that we can have a moment before getting grabbed back into interviews.

i launch myself into his arms and say, “god i’m so proud of you ryan. so proud.”

he holds me tighter, “i’m proud of you too isla. my pretty girl.” he pulls away so he can look at me before he says, “i love you isla.”

i gasp and smile, “i love you too ryan. so much”

he hugs me again and we stay like that for as long as we can before having to go to interviews and find our families.

[eolande]

ok about radahn and miquella. this is a bit messy and all over the place but i think i have a good handle on explaining it.

as a baseline, all of his other siblings are cursed or dead. and who else does miquella truly know and feel he can rely on? who else does he know who has the strength to be his king aside from one of his demigod siblings? it's not romantic or sexual either at all. but at the same time, if it WAS, again, who does miquella truly know, who does he feel like he can trust as a vulnerable person? you can't blame him for looking up to a strong older sibling that way and potentially developing complicated, strange feelings about him.

now to expand.... his admiration towards radahn specifically is based in childish and idealistic notions/misconceptions. the way he glorifies him is based on that sort of perspective. he has this narrow perception of radahn that ofc doesn't encompass the full breadth of character that an adult would understand.

and on the matter of whether radahn was willing or not. i believe at one point he did make a vow, even if it was just to appease miquella for the time being and get him off his case. and at some point that vow was forgotten or gone against, which is why malenia went after him to make sure he made good on his promise whether he liked it or not. because from miquella's point of view as well, breaking that vow would be some kind of heartbreak or betrayal!!

think about when you were a kid and someone broke a promise to you that they had made. that shit feels DEVESTATING, and it's very hard to comprehend WHY someone would be unable to or change their mind about making good on that promise. and i think it's tragic and poetic the lengths that would lead miquella to go to in order to make sure the vow is followed through with. again, he's a very idealistic, childish person.

and in a bit of a more ironic sense, if radahn is there against his will at the end, it's just kind of karma. ppl think it's soooooo cute how much he loves leonard that he even learned gravity magic so he could keep riding him when he outgrew him. but if you look at that horse it's literally old and dying and tired as hell. he's treating it like a toy, selfishly. so you know. at least now he finally might understand how leonard felt LOL.

also worth noting, if radahn didn't want to stand with miquella as alluded to in some item descriptions, then it was likely because of a difference in vision/ideals. mainly being miquella wanted to usher in an age of compassion, and radahn wanted to be a warmonger to match godfrey under marika. so literally laugh out loud

[greencheekconure27]

Ok new Yeomen theory/au idea:

What if Fairfax is an imposter?

Hence the discrepancy between his off-stage heroism and his behaviour in Yeomen

Clarence Poltwhistle realizes the person who came back from the wars Isn't his cousin, tries to tell people, but is dismissed as crazy. So he tries to get rid of him by accusing him of sorcery, which may or may not be true.

Even without sorcery Sgt . Meryll presumably hasn't seen Fairfax for some time.Same for the Lieutenant. Phoebe either never met him before he got arrested or only met him as a child before he went off to war. Leonard doesn't actually ever meet him in person during the events of the play, so he doesn't realize anything's wrong until act ii finale at the earliest. At which point FauxFairfax leaves with Elsie + there's a big crowd so he doesn't get the chance.

Poltwhistle finds out the plan failed, shows up to try to stop the imposter, and he, Leonard, Phoebe and a very reluctant Jack Point launch an investigation.

Meanwhile Faux!Fairfax's past starts catching up on him & Elsie is starting to realize the man she married isn't who she thought he was (twice over).

[hummingbird-of-light]

In Our Favor

Part 225

McCoy

McCoy was quick about unpacking his and Scotty’s things in the dresser in their room and the attached bathroom. He sat down on the bed when he finished, wondering whether it would be worth it to follow after Scotty and Aporal.

Instead he sighed and got to his feet. He had some other things he wanted to know first.

Leaving the room, he headed down the few feet of hall to Aporal’s door. He knocked lightly and waited until he heard Jaylah call for him to come in. The alien girl had her back to him, standing at the bed over her bag.

“Hey,” McCoy greeted her.

“Oh. Just Leonard,” Jaylah said, glancing over her shoulder at him. “I thought Aporal was back.”

“Don’t think they can eat that quick,” McCoy smiled gently.

Jaylah made a noise, then shoved her bag away. She sat heavily on the bed and looked at him. McCoy moved to the desk and pulled out the chair to sit.

“Are you really ok with this?” McCoy couldn’t help but ask. He watched Jaylah take a deep breath.

“I am mad he didn’t ask before we came.” Jaylah moved back and drew her legs up under her, resting her elbows on her knees. She sighed. “But I understand.” She shrugged. “We help our friends.”

“It’d be easier if his parents would just listen,” McCoy said, hearing frustration in his own voice.

Jaylah let out a small chuckle.

“Not everyone is understanding like your parents. Not everyone has parents who will listen, who will let their children be who they want.”

“I know.”

They sat for a moment in silence before Jaylah jumped back down off the bed. Quickly she moved to the trash can where Aporal had thrown the picture earlier. Jaylah plucked it out and brought it over towards McCoy.

“She is very pretty,” Jaylah said quietly.

“She is,” McCoy agreed as they looked.

“Aporal looks different,” Jaylah said thoughtfully. “Not because he is younger,” she said quickly before McCoy could speak. “He is less— he is softer.”

After a moment Jaylah carefully put the picture back and returned to her place on the bed.

“It isn’t fair that bad things happen!” she said indignantly.

“I know.”

McCoy got up and sat down next to Jaylah, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him.

“That’s why it’s great we’ve all got good friends like you,” McCoy told her. “You really going to make him sleep on the floor?” he asked after a few seconds had gone by. McCoy fought to keep from grinning.

Jaylah moved away from his arm and gave him a playful shove. McCoy laughed.

“No,” she said slowly. “I suppose not. But if he tries anything—!” A fierce look came over her face.

“What about in front of his family?” McCoy asked, sobering again. “You’re supposed to be in love; a serious couple. What if you have to kiss?”

Jaylah looked at him wide eyed, but before she could answer a knock sounded on the door then it began to open.

“Oh Prince. You’re in here,” said Aporal, entering the room.

“Leonard.”

“Scottish boy went to your room. It is getting late.”

“Alright, thanks. Night Jaylah.” McCoy got up and walked to the door. “Night,” he said to Aporal.

Aporal nodded at him. McCoy was almost at the door when Jaylah spoke.

“Just Leonard— I will if I have to.”

McCoy nodded back at her, and smiled gently. He closed the door behind himself and walked back to his own room, ready to crawl into bed with his husband and talk over the surprising evening.

Part 226

Scotty

Scotty was surprised not to find Leonard in their room when he came in after dinner, but he quickly came to the conclusion that he must be with Jaylah.

A smile crossed Scotty's lips when he saw that Leonard had already unpacked all their things. So he didn't have to do much more than get changed.

Scotty had just pulled his shirt over his head when there was a knock at the door and Leonard came in. He smiled at the sight of his husband's bare torso.

"Hey, leannan."

"Hey, mo ghràdh. Everything okay with Jaylah and Aporal?" Scotty greeted him, also smiling gently.

Leonard shrugged his shoulders.

"I think so. Jaylah has even agreed to let Aporal sleep in the bed with her."

Scotty nodded. He could well imagine that. After everything Jaylah had learned about Aporal's past, she certainly didn't have the heart to banish him to the floor of the room. No matter how angry she had been not to have found out about the Andorian's plan beforehand.

"Good. Glad to hear the two of them aren't having a big fight," Scotty said and then set about getting changed.

"Do you need help?" Leonard asked, a grin on his face. He raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Scotty chuckled softly, but shook his head.

"Nae. Not necessary. Ye'd better get changed yerself so we can sleep. After this day, we really need some rest."

Leonard pretended to be offended for a moment before smiling and taking off his shirt too.

"I guess you're right."

A little later, the two of them were lying in bed. It was much softer than the one in the academy and Scotty was sure that they would sleep well in it.

"How did it go downstairs? Did you talk to Mr. and Mrs. Tallister?"

Scotty sighed heavily at the thought of the conversation with Aporal's mother.

"Aye. Mrs. Tallister intercepted us. She brought up the subject again and said what a great couple Aporal and Julika had been."

Leonard also had to sigh.

"But Aporal immediately said that he loves Jaylah and that she's much better than his ex-girlfriend," Scotty continued.

"He really wants to make this act convincing, huh?" Leonard asked and Scotty moved his head back and forth thoughtfully.

"I don't ken. What he said sounded so... honest and real. Almost as if he meant it."

Leonard raised his eyebrows in surprise, then smiled.

"Who knows. Maybe the game will turn serious after all."

Scotty shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe. We'll see. But for now," the Scotsman gave his husband a kiss, "we'll get some sleep. We'll see tomorrow."

"Good night, love."

"Oidhche mhath."

After everything that had happened that evening, Scotty even forgot the images and nightmares that had haunted him on the shuttle flight.

In the morning, only Mrs. Tallister was there. Her husband had left early to pick up his mother – the birthday girl – from a distant city.

Scotty and Leonard were up and dressed early. They had initially planned to knock on Aporal and Jaylah's door, but then decided to let them sleep and go downstairs on their own.

"Good morning."

Mrs. Tallister was not alone in the kitchen. Andre was sitting at the kitchen table drinking some kind of coffee. He nodded to the two of them.

"Good morning, your highness, sir," he greeted them.

"Oh, you're awake already. I wasn't expecting you yet. Good morning," said Mrs. Tallister. There was still something sad in her expression from the previous evening.

"We couldn't sleep anymore and figured we might as well get up and help down here," Leonard said politely, but Mrs. Tallister shook her head.

"No, no. I could never accept the help of a prince and his husband. Please just sit down and I'll make you breakfast."

The boys wanted to protest, but already suspected it would do no good. So they sat down.

"May... I ask you something?" Mrs. Tallister began cautiously when she had given them food and sat down with them.

Scotty and Leonard exchanged a look and then nodded.

"Aye. Of course."

"How... is Aporal doing? You're the first friends he's had since... that incident. I'm very worried that he's misbehaving and causing a lot of problems."

Scotty pressed his lips tightly together. He knew Aporal's mother was just worried, but the way she was doing it just wasn't right.

"Aporal is a very good lad, ma'am. Of course, he doesn't just make friends with his manner, but he doesn't have to. He stands up to the people who hurt him or his friends."

Mrs. Tallister nodded slowly.

"You know... He used to be such a shy and sweet boy. He always kept to himself, never picked fights. He was always so meek. And now? I just don't recognize him."

Tears filled the woman's eyes and she sniffled. It must have been very hard on her too. To lose her only child.

[died-but-not-dead-propaganda]

Leonard Church Propaganda

he died 10 episodes into the story and comes back as a “ghost” and spoiler-y stuff but he dies again and comes back again multiple times

HIS WHOLE THING IS BEING DEAD BUT NOT DEAD OK he is the most dead guy ever. he spends the first five seasons being a ghost and still managing to die repeatedly. he’s technically a robot but he’s an ai copy of an ai copy of a guy and BOTH OF THOSE GUYS ARE DEAD. HE IS SO DEAD ALL THE TIME BUT NOT BECAUSE HES ALIVE. he is in a constant cycle of dying but not being dead. half of blue teams kill count is just caboose repeatedly killing church on accident. he can’t die so hard that he won’t let his dead wife die either until the THIRD ITERATION OF HIM finally lets her go because he realizes he doesn’t even know her at that point he’s so many degrees of separation away from the original allison. and then he TRIES TO DIE WITH HER BUT STAYS ALIVE BECAUSE HE’S ETERNALLY CURSED TO LIVE. his death count is literally in the double digits he DESERVES a place on this tournament. most alive dead guy ever. ok thank u for ur consideration if he doesn’t win I will burn this webbed site to the ground /j

Iterations of church have died and come back multiple times. In season one he gets shot by a tank and comes back as a ghost. in like season six (it's been a while) it's revealed that he was not a ghost but an AI the whole time and then sacrifices himself. and then a copy of his ai self comes back. it's a meme in the fanbase at this point that church dies and comes back and after the ai copy (epsilon) died they had to devote a whole sub-plot to "WE SWEAR HE IS NOT COMING BACK AGAIN. HES GONE." anyway part of me is still suspicious that they lied about it and there's another part of the alpha ai out there somewhere but like, it's been like five years and i'm starting to think they got us for realsies this time

This dude has died like seven times. It's unreasonable the number of times he's died. Like it's kind of insane. He had a bunch of time travel clones at one point that all died. He sacrificed himself because he was convinced he WOULDNT die because he thought he was a ghost (he wasn't) and couldn't disappear again (he could and did). His SECOND VERSION OF HIMSELF (ai cloning sort of) ALSO DIED. ALSO by sacrificing himself (this time he actually knew what was coming though). The way he died the first time was by getting shot by his own best friend who killed him with a fucking tank. Then the sacrifice. Then the sacrifice again. Not to mention all the other times where he went missing/fucked off somewhere. And also the time that the Epsilon version of him tried to self destruct in another guy's brain. Jesus fucking christ this dude has problems. Please include him. Please.

the original leonard church (the director) made an exact copy of his mind as an ai (the alpha) that he tortured, which in turn made a copy of itself (epsilon) to cope with the trauma, so in total there are 3 Churches.

death count: the director killed himself. the alpha died when he was shot with a tank, then he possessed someone else's body and got shot in the head, then he possessed a robot that exploded so hard it melted all of the ice on an entire planet, then he got erased from existence by an EMP. then he came back as Epsilon who went on to also get erased.

Well it’s. It’s complicated okay. So hold on alright.

So Dr. Leonard L. Church was initially this guy who was the Director of Project Freelancer (PFL) and he liked to fuck around with AI because the Halo lore is like the background setting for RvB. Anyway the Director made an AI copy of himself, and called it “Alpha”. Well, the Director wanted to have more than one AI for his experiments so he could give them to his Freelancer Agents (all named after the 50 states), so what he did was he tortured Alpha until Alpha split itself into fragments; essentially he gave an AI so much trauma that Alpha developed DID. (Forgive me, even though I have friends who are systems I still know very little and am still learning about proper/respectful terminology). Well anyway one of the fragments of Alpha, Epsilon, was given “memory”. So Epsilon remembered all of the torture Alpha underwent, and when Epsilon was implanted in Agent Washington, Epsilon tried to kill himself, inadvertently almost taking Washington with him. Epsilon was removed and put into storage, and PFL fell apart. The Alpha, under the protocol “AI must not fall into enemy hands”, was sent to a secure location, and was reprogrammed to have his memory of the Project and everything with it removed. He was then implanted in a human, and was told he was Private Leonard Church of the Blue Army. (Side note; the Red and Blue armies are made up simulation armies designed to test Freelancer Agents in the field. The Reds and Blues do not know they are simulation troopers; they think the war is real.)

This whole shit slowly gets revealed throughout the course of the series, but yeah. Anyway. Church (Alpha, important distinction you’ll see why) dies a few times as a running gag in seasons 1-6. Then, at the end of season 6, he dies permanently to an EMP. But, the plot of season six involves our main characters rescuing the Epsilon storage unit, who eventually regains the identity of “Church” as well, as Epsilon was a fragment of Alpha initially, but there are a few tweaks. Alpha and Epsilon are different in a few ways, but they’re both “Church”. So it’s technically a revival. But if that’s too vague and too complex, in season one Caboose (Blue Team Rookie) blows up Church with a tank and then Church comes back as a ghost. It’s funny.

[hafizmarketmaster]

 Kevin Durant Shines as USA Basketball Opens Olympic Campaign with a Big Win

Kevin Durant, the champion forward for USA B-ball, was as of late informed that Spencer Haywood was a piece annoyed — however flippantly — about Durant crushing his Olympic scoring normal record. Durant, ever the great game, got over it with a smile, saying, "Spencer will be OK. Records are intended to be broken. Someone will take mine, as well."

What's more, with the manner in which Durant acted in the U.S's. 110-84 triumph over Serbia, it seems as though his records could remain in one piece for some time. The four-time Olympian didn't get to play in any of the five warm-up games because of a calf injury, yet he was back furiously. Off the seat, Durant was basically relentless, hitting 8-of-9 field objectives and nailing each of the five of his three-point endeavors, wrapping up with a game-high 23 focuses.

"Gracious, man, [the miss] felt incredible leaving my hands. I certainly needed to complete the game great," Durant said with that mark grin of his.

Durant's Record-Breaking Profession

Kevin Durant isn't simply one more player in the group — he's the top scorer in USA Ball history with an amazing 435 focuses north of 23 Olympic games. This incorporates a stunning 156 focuses during the 2012 London Olympics, establishing a men's standard. Spencer Haywood, who recently held the record with 145 focuses from the 1968 Mexico City Games, should offer his appreciation to Durant's accomplishment.

Notwithstanding his Olympic accomplishments, Durant likewise holds the record for the most elevated focuses per game during the Olympics for USA Ball with a normal of 19.8. We should not fail to remember his presentation in the 2010 World Cup, where he scored 205 focuses in nine games for the U.S. gold-decoration group. That is a significant commitment to the game!

Durant Beats Injury to Lead Group

Regardless of certain difficulties, for example, the expulsion of forward Kawhi Leonard from the program during the instructional course in Las Vegas, Durant's mentor, Steve Kerr, never questioned his worth to the group. Durant missed the show games because of injury however was anxious to get once more into it. After a 5-on-5 scrimmage in Paris, Durant felt prepared to get back to the court.

"I would have rather not botched the valuable chance to get one more opportunity at a gold," Durant made sense of. "I knew such countless extraordinary players planned to commit, as well. Along these lines, I needed to associate with those folks too. You're out there with the best mentors and players. It's unimaginable. I simply need to be on the floor, man. Being with the folks, getting better consistently, and venturing to the far corners of the planet — that is perhaps of the best involvement with ball."

Ruling the Game Against Serbia

In their initial round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the U.S. gone head to head against Serbia at the Pierre Mauroy Arena on July 28. Serbia, drove by 2024 NBA MVP Nikola Jokić, took a mid 10-2 lead over the Americans. Durant, who ordinarily isn't a seat player, entered the game with 2:33 left in the principal quarter, as the U.S. followed 19-14.

Durant burned through no time having an effect. His previously shot, a three-pointer, went in only 17 seconds after he checked in. By halftime, Durant had scored 21 focuses on amazing shooting. He helped push the U.S. to a 58-49 lead at the break, scoring 15 focuses in the second quarter alone.

"The subsequent gathering came in and gave us a major lift. KD was sensational. It's practically similar to he never thought twice, a training, a game or anything. That was a decent beginning for us," U.S. forward LeBron James said.

"KD was unimaginable in the primary half and gave us a major lift," U.S. watch Stephen Curry added.

Durant's Heavenly Presentation and Future Objectives

Durant didn't miss a shot until his 10th and last field objective endeavor. At the point when he left the game in the final quarter, the horde of around 27,000 at the Pierre Mauroy Arena acclaimed him. Durant later referenced that his body felt perfect and that he was excited to add to the group's prosperity.

Looking forward, the U.S. will point toward the South Sudan on Wednesday. Durant has no second thoughts about falling off the seat and is prepared to adjust to anything job the group needs him to play.

"I let Mentor know that anything he really wants me to do, I'll adjust to anything," Durant said. "It's forever been fun attempting to adjust to new jobs and everything that the game is attempting to say to me to do."

A Get-together and an Excursion

Durant's down against Serbia was additionally outstanding for his warm gathering with previous Brilliant State Fighters partner Stephen Curry. The two traded a genuine hug before the game, thinking back about their past triumphs. Curry and Durant, who brought home two NBA championships and made three NBA Finals together, additionally shared some personal time together in Las Vegas during instructional course.

"We certainly discussed a few great times we had together," Durant shared. "[Curry is] Simply a unimaginable person. I'm anticipating getting to know these folks on a more profound level as of now."

Life in Lille and Then some

The USA Ball groups are as of now playing their fundamental games in the Lille region, remaining there the prior night games. They practice in Paris and will probably play in the quarterfinals on August 6 (men's) or August 7 (ladies'). Durant, who has visited Paris previously, is encountering Lille interestingly and is amped up for the outing.

"I'm amped up for being in Paris. I've generally cherished France and its way of life. So whenever I get to visit another spot, another city, I'm down," Durant said.

Adjusting Gold Awards and NBA Titles

Durant is pursuing his record fourth Olympic award with the intensely preferred USA Ball group. At the point when gotten some information about what holds more weight — a gold decoration or a NBA title — Durant offered a smart viewpoint.

"You don't look at them. It's two unique things," Durant made sense of. "It's two unique mountains you must ascend. It's high tops in the two of them. In our reality, a NBA title is more regarded. However, in certain regions of the planet, the Olympic level is more regarded."

"Thus, I esteem both on the grounds that triumphant is significant. I love my USA B-ball family and we'll check whether we can go get another," Durant finished up.

As Durant gears up until the end of the competition and his forthcoming NBA season with the Phoenix Suns, where he'll play close by new partners and another mentor, he stays zeroed in on the two his Olympic and NBA objectives. The street ahead is loaded up with commitment and energy, and Durant is prepared to handle everything.

[milfweirdal]

Way back when I was just a little bitty bwoy, livin' in a box under the stairs in the corner of the basement of the house half a block down the street from Jerry's Bait Shop... You know the place. Well anyway, back then life was going swell and everything was juuuust PEACHY! Except, of course, for the undeniable fact that every single morning, my mother would make me a big ol' bowl of sauerkraut for breakfast. D'ohhhh, BIG BOWL OF SAUERKRAUT! EVERY SINGLE MORNIN'! It was driving me crazy! I said to my mom, I said "Hey, mom! What's up with all the sauerkraut?" And my dear, sweet mother. She just looked at me like a cow looks at an oncoming train, and she leaned right down next to me, and she said... (deep breath) "IT'S GOOD FOR YOOOUUU!!" And then she tied me to the wall and stuck a funnel in my mouth and force fed me nothing but sauerkraut until I was twenty six and a half years old! That's when I swore that someday, someday I would get outta that basement and travel to a magical, far away place, where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer, and the towels are oh-so-fluffy! Where the Shriners and the lepers play their ukuleles all day long and anyone on the street will gladly shave your back for a nickel! (inhale) WOCKA WOCKA DOO DOO YEAH! well let me tell you, people, it wasn't long at all before my dream came true, because the very next day, a local radio station had this contest to see who could correctly guess the number of molecules in Leonard Nimoy's butt. I was off by three, but I still won the grand prize! That's right, a first class one-way ticket - tooo Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Oh yeah. You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before, and I gotta tell ya, it was really great! Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor, and the little kid in back of me kept throwin' up the whole time, the flight attendants ran out of Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts, and the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore, and, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out and we went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside and the plane exploded in a giant fireball and everybody died!!......Except for me~ You know why? 'Cause I had my tray table up! And my seat back in the full upright position, had my tray table up, And my seat back in the full upright position, had my tray table up, and my seat back in the full upright position! Ahahahaha! Ahahaha. Hahhhhh.... So I crawled from the twisted, burnin' wreckage! I crawled on my hands and knees for three full days! ....Draggin' along my big leather suitcase and my garment bag and my tenor saxophone and my twelve-pound bowling ball and my lucky, lucky autographed glow-in-the-dark snorkel! But finally I arrived at the world famous... Albuquerque Holiday Inn! Where the towels are oh-so-fluffy! And you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna! It's OK, they're clean! Well, I checked into my room and I turned down the A/C and I turned on the SpectraVision and I'm just about to eat that little chocolate mint on my pillow that I love so very-very-much when suddenly, there's a knock on the door. (BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG) Well now, who could that be? I say "Who is it?" No answer. "Who is it~?" There's no answer! "WHO IS IT!" They're not sayin' anything! So, finally I go over and I open the door and just as I suspected: It's some big fat h***********e with a Flock-Of-Seagulls haircut and only one nostril. Oh man, I hate it when I'm right. So anyway, he bursts into my room and he grabs my lucky snorkel, and I'm like "Hey, you can't have that! That snorkel's been just like a snorkel to me!" And he's like "Tough!" And I'm like "Give it!" And he's like "Make me!" And I'm like, "'Kay!" So I grabbed his leg and he grabbed my esophagus and I bit off his ear and he chewed off my eyebrows and I took out his appendix and he gave me a colonic irrigation yesindeedyoubetterbelieveit (WHEEZE) And somehow in the middle of it all, the phone got knocked off the hook, and twenty seconds later, I heard a familiar voice. And you know what it said? I'll tell you what it said! It said "If you'd like to make a call~ please hang up and try again~ If you need help, hang up and then dial your oooooooperator~ If you'd like to make a call~ please hang up and try again~ If you need help, hang up and then dial your oooooooperator~" In Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Well, to cut a long story short, he got away with my snorkel. But I made a solemn vow right then and there that I would not rest - I would not sleep for an instant - until the one-nostrilled man was brought to justice. But first, I decided to buy some donuts. So I got in my car and I drove over to the donut shop, and I walked on up to the guy behind the counter and he says "Yeeeeeah, whaddaya waaaant?!" (brief but sick guitar solo) I said "You got any glazed donuts?" He said "Nawwww, we're outta glazed donuts!" I said "Well, you got any jelly donuts?" He said "Nawwww, we're outta jelly donuts!" I said "You got any Bavarian cream-filled donuts?" He said "Nawwww, we're outta Bavarian cream-filled donuts!" I said "You got any cinnamon rolls?" He said "NAWWWW, WE'RE OUTTA CINNAMON ROLLS!" I said "YOU GOT ANY APPLE FRITTERS?" He said "NAWWWW, WE'RE OUTTA APPLE FRITTERS!" I said "YOU GOT ANY BEAR CLAWS?" He said "Wait a minute, I'll go check." (slightly longer sick guitar solo) "NAAWWWW, WE'RE OUTTA BEAR CLAWS!" I said "Well, in that case.... in that case, what do you have?" He says "All I got right now is this box of one dozen starving crazed weasels." I said "OK, I'll take that." So he hands me the box and I open up the lid and the weasels jump out and they immediately latch onto my face and start bitin' me all over (HAHNGHNNAsnortHNAGHGNH) oh man, they were just going nuts! They were tearin' me apart! ....You know, I think it was just about that time that a little ditty started goin' through my head. I believe it went a little something like this: D'OHHHHH!! GET EM OFF ME GET EM OFF ME! OHHHHHH! NO GET 'EM OFF GET EM OFF! OH, OH GOD, OH GOD, OHHH GET EM OFF ME, OH OHH GOD, AH AHHHH AHHHHHHH! I ran out into the street with these flesh-eating weasels all over my face, wavin' my arms all around and just runnin', runnin', runnin' like a constipated wiener dog. And as luck would have it, that's exactly when I ran into the girl of my dreams. ~Her name was Zelda~. She was a calligraphy enthusiast with a slight overbite and hair the color of strained peaches. I'll never forget the very first thing she said to me. She said "Hey - you've got weasels on your face." That's when I knew it was true love! We were inseparable after that. Aww, we ate together, we bathed together, we even shared the same piece of mint-flavored dental floss. The world was our burrito. So we got married and we bought us a house and had two beautiful children, Nathaniel and Superfly! Oh, we were so very very very happy, awww yeahh. But then one fateful night, Zelda said to me... She said "Sweetie pumpkin? Do you wanna join the Columbia Record Club?" I said "Whooooaaaa, hold on now, baby! I'm just not ready for that kind of a commitment!" So we broke up and I never saw her again, but that's just the way things go - In Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Anyway, things really started lookin' up for me because about a week later, I finally achieved my lifelong dream. That's right, I got me a part-time job at The Sizzler! I even made Employee of the Month after I put out that grease fire out with my face. Aw yeah, everybody was pretty jealous of me after that. I was gettin' a lot of attiTOOD. Okay, like one time, I was out in the parking lot tryin' to remove my excess earwax with a golf pencil - when I see this guy Marty tryin' to carry a big ol' sofa up the stairs all by himself! So I, I say to him, I say "Hey, you want me to help you with that?" And Marty, he just roollllls his eyes and goes "Nooooo, I want you to cut off my arms and legs with a chainsaw!" So I did. And then he gets all indignant on me! He's like "Hey man, I was just being sarcastic!" Well, that's just great. How was I supposed to know that? I'm not a mind reader for cryin' out loud! Besides, now he's got a really cute nickname - Torso-Boy! So what's he complaining about? Say, that reminds me of another amusing anecdote... This guy comes up to me on the street and he tells he hasn't had a bite in three days! Well, I knew what he meant, but just to be funny, I took a big bite out of his jugular vein! And he's yellin' and screamin' and bleeding all over, and I'm like "Hey, come on, don't you get it?" But he just keeps rolling around on the sidewalk, bleeding, and screaming, AAAAARGH, OHHH, AAAGGGH, you know, completely missing the irony of the whole situation. Man, some people just can't take a joke, you know? Anyway, um. ....Um. Where was I? Kinda lost my train of thought... Uh. Well, uh, okay, anyway I, I know it's kinda been a roundabout way of saying it but... I guess the whole point I'm tryin' to make here is - I. HATE. SAUERKRAUT! That's all I'm really tryin' to say. And, by the way, if one day you happen to wake up and find yourself in an existential quandary, full of loathing and self-doubt and wracked with the pain and isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence, at least you can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that somewhere out there in this crazy ol' mixed-up universe of ours... there's still a little place... called Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Alllllllllllllllllllbuquerque! Albuquerque, Albuquerque! Albuquerque, Albuquerque! Albuquerque, Albuquerque! Albuquerque, Albuquerque! I said A (A!) L (L!) B (B!) U (U!).... QUERQUE! (QUERQUEEE!!) Albuquerquealbuquerque albuquerquealbuquerque albuquerquealbuquerque albuquerquealbuquerque albuquerquealbuquerque albuquerquealbuquerque albuquerquealbuquerque albuquerquealbuquerque ALLLLBUQUEEEEERQUEEEEEEEEEEE ........(laughing) (drumsolo) (belch) (final sick guitar solo)

[thesconesyard]

Ok, ok, ok.

New story time!

The beginning of the sequel to When the Cactus Blooms!

Hopefully posting this will keep me working on it. (I know I have other stories that need to be worked on too, but the block is so hard to fight. Here’s hoping less stress when work gets out for the summer in a couple weeks will help! 🤞)

[I had so much fun writing for Yeehawgust last year that I went back to previous year’s prompt lists to write another Star Trek western. I don’t recall which year’s this was, but I can’t take credit for the chapter/prompts, that’s all @yeehawgust. Thanks!!]

Where the West Begins

Ch. 1 Meowdy!

Life moved at its own pace on the Enterprise Ranch. Though that had been a very quick pace during the previous spring and summer. Leonard McCoy looked out across the north pasture, and let his thoughts drift. Two gangs and a pair of villains taken out. A new addition to their family on the ranch in the form of Jaylah. And best of all, at least to McCoy, love in his life again.

McCoy couldn’t help a smile as he looked over towards where Montgomery Scott was working on the pasture gate.

“Len, look at this.”

McCoy turned to walk back to where Scotty was. His eyes widened as he saw the paw print Scotty was pointing at.

“Oh,” was all he got out.

“We’ll have to let the others know, and keep a lookout in case,” Scotty said.

McCoy moved in the direction the print was facing. “More over here,” he said, as he continued to follow the prints. “Just what we need,” he said sarcastically, “a big cat hassling the cattle.” He looked out at the land around them.

“Probably came down from the hills,” Scotty said, stepping up next to him.

“Hopefully it’s gone on its way and left us well alone.”

“Hopefully,” Scotty agreed.

“Where did they go?” James T. Kirk looked down the table at lunch.

McCoy gave his head a shake. “Didn’t follow them too far and besides the ground was softer by the fence.”

Jim rubbed a hand over his face. “Alright. Spock, we’ll check it out after lunch. Sulu, you and Chekov check on the east pasture. Make sure everyone is accounted for.”

“Can do,” Hikaru Sulu answered and Pavel Chekov nodded in agreement.

“Bones, you and Scotty check around the north pasture, see if you can find anything more.”

“Aye,” Scotty said and looked over at McCoy.

“What about me?” Jaylah spoke up.

Jim’s face gave a guilty start. Jaylah had learned much and quickly, and though Jim tried he did forget on occasion.

“Come with us lass,” Scotty said before Jim could answer.

Jaylah glanced at McCoy and he nodded at her.

In the north pasture, McCoy took off his hat and fanned himself for a moment. The late summer sun beat down.

“I’m not seeing anything,” McCoy called over to Scotty and Jaylah.

“Aye, same,” Scotty called back. They had spread out to cover more ground.

A sudden squeal from Jaylah had both men turning. She had closed in on one of the few trees in the pasture and was looking into its branches.

“What’s wrong lass?” Scotty cried as he began hurrying towards her. McCoy moved quickly as well.

“Look!” she exclaimed, pointing into the tree.

“Get away!” McCoy ordered, thoughts turned to a cougar leaping down at them. A chill went down his spine.

“Lassie!” Scotty yelled as Jaylah moved to the tree trunk.

In a flash she had jumped towards a low hanging branch and pulled herself up. McCoy grabbed onto Scotty’s arm as they stopped at the base of the tree and watched Jaylah climb higher.

McCoy’s heart began to slow its racing as he saw there was nothing but Jaylah in the tree. His fears had been for nothing.

“What are ye doing?” Scotty demanded next to him. He could hear the man’s own fear coming out now as frustration.

McCoy looked at Scotty as a tiny sound drifted down to them. Scotty gazed at him in surprise. Moments later Jaylah dropped to the ground in front of them, something tiny and noisy held in the crook of her arm.

“Look!” she said. She held out a small bundle of fur towards them.

“You scared the hell out of us for a kitten?” McCoy almost yelled.

“Shhh! You’ll frighten him! Look how cute he is!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” McCoy muttered and turned around to walk back to the pasture gate.

[heroicleader2763]

Way back when I was just a little bitty boy

Living in a box under the stairs

In the corner of the basement of the house

Half a block down the street from Jerry's Bait shop

You know the place

Well anyway, back then life was going swell and everything was just peachy

Except, of course, for the undeniable fact that every single morning

My mother would make me a big ol' bowl of sauerkraut for breakfast

Aww, big bowl of sauerkraut

Every single morning

It was driving me crazy

I said to my mom

I said "Hey, mom, what's up with all the sauerkraut?"

And my dear, sweet mother

She just looked at my like a cow looks at an oncoming train

And she leaned right down next to me

And she said "It's good for you"

And then she tied me to the wall and stuck a funnel in my mouth

And force fed me nothing but sauerkraut

Until I was twenty six and a half years old

That's when I swore that someday

Someday I would get outta that basement and travel to a magical, far away place

Where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer

And the towels are oh so fluffy

Where the Shriners and the lepers play their ukuleles all day long

And anyone on the street will gladly shave your back for a nickel

Wacka wacka doo-doo yeah

Well, let me tell you, people, it wasn't long at all before my dream came true

Because the very next day, a local radio station had this contest

To see who could correctly guess the number of molecules in Leonard Nimoy's butt

I was off by three, but I still won the grand prize

That's right, a first class one-way ticket to

Albuquerque

Albuquerque

Oh yeah

You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before

And I gotta tell ya, it was really great

Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women

With excruciatingly severe body odor

And the little kid in back of me kept throwin' up the whole time

The flight attendants ran out of Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts

And the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore

And, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out

And we went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside

And the plane exploded in a giant fireball and everybody died

Except for me

You know why?

'Cause I had my tray table up

And my seat back in the full upright position

Had my tray table up

And my seat back in the full upright position

Had my tray table up

And my seat back in the full upright position

Ah ha ha ha

Ah ha ha

Ah

So I crawled from the twisted, burnin' wreckage

I crawled on my hands and knees for three full days

Draggin' along my big leather suitcase and my garment bag

And my tenor saxophone and my twelve-pound bowling ball

And my lucky, lucky autographed glow-in-the-dark snorkel

But finally I arrived at the world famous Albuquerque Holiday Inn

Where the towels are oh so fluffy

And you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna

It's OK, they're clean

Well, I checked into my room and I turned down the A/C

And I turned on the SpectraVision

And I'm just about to eat that little chocolate mint on my pillow

That I love so very, very much when suddenly, there's a knock on the door

Well now, who could that be?

I say "Who is it?"

No answer

"Who is it?"

There's no answer

"Who is it?"

They're not sayin' anything

So, finally I go over and I open the door and just as I suspected

It's some big fat hermaphrodite with a Flock-Of-Seagulls haircut and only one nostril

Oh man, I hate it when I'm right

So anyway, he bursts into my room and he grabs my lucky snorkel

And I'm like "Hey, you can't have that"

"That snorkel's been just like a snorkel to me"

And he's like "Tough"

And I'm like "Give it"

And he's like "Make me"

And I'm like "'Kay"

So I grabbed his leg and he grabbed my esophagus

And I bit off his ear and he chewed off my eyebrows

And I took out his appendix and he gave me a colonic irrigation

Yes indeed, you better believe it

And somehow in the middle of it all, the phone got knocked off the hook

And twenty seconds later, I heard a familiar voice

And you know what it said?

I'll tell you what it said

It said

"If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again"

"If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator"

"If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again"

"If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator"

In Albuquerque

Albuquerque

Well, to cut a long story short, he got away with my snorkel

But I made a solemn vow right then and there that I would not rest

I would not sleep for an instant until the one-nostrilled man was brought to justice

But first, I decided to buy some donuts

So I got in my car and I drove over to the donuts shop

And I walked on up to the guy behind the counter

And he says "Yeah, what do ya want?"

I said "You got any glazed donuts?"

He said "No, we're outta glazed donuts"

I said "Well, you got any jelly donuts?"

He said "No, we're outta jelly donuts"

I said "You got any Bavarian cream-filled donuts?"

He said "No, we're outta Bavarian cream-filled donuts"

I said "You got any cinnamon rolls?"

He said "No, we're outta cinnamon rolls"

I said "You got any apple fritters?"

He said "No, we're outta apple fritters"

I said "You got any bear claws?"

He said "Wait a minute, I'll go check"

"No, we're outta bear claws"

I said "Well, in that case, in that case, what do you have?"

He says "All I got right now is this box of one dozen starving, crazed weasels"

I said "OK, I'll take that"

So he hands me the box and I open up the lid and the weasels jump out

And they immediately latch onto my face and start bitin' me all over

Oh man, they were just going nuts

They were tearin' me apart

You know, I think it was just about that time

That a little ditty started goin' through my head

I believe it went a little something like this

Doh

Get 'em off me

Get 'em off me

Oh

No, get 'em off, get 'em off

Oh, oh God, oh God

Oh, get 'em off me

Oh, oh God

Ah, aah, aah

I ran out into the street with these flesh-eating weasels all over my face

Wavin' my arms all around and just runnin', runnin', runnin'

Like a constipated wiener dog

And as luck would have it

That's exactly when I ran into the girl of my dreams

Her name was Zelda

She was a calligraphy enthusiast

With a slight overbite and hair the color of strained peaches

I'll never forget the very first thing she said to me

She said "Hey, you've got weasels on your face"

That's when I knew it was true love

We were inseparable after that

Aw, we ate together, we bathed together

We even shared the same piece of mint-flavored dental floss

The world was our burrito

So we got married and we bought us a house

And had two beautiful children, Nathaniel and Superfly

Oh, we were so very very very happy, aw yeah

But then one fateful night, Zelda said to me

She said "Sweetie pumpkin? Do you wanna join the Columbia Record Club?"

I said "Whoa, hold on now, baby"

"I'm just not ready for that kind of a commitment"

So we broke up and I never saw her again

But that's just the way things go

In Albuquerque

Albuquerque

Anyway, things really started lookin' up for me

Because about a week later, I finally achieved my lifelong dream

That's right, I got me a part-time job at The Sizzler

I even made employee of the month after I put out that grease fire out with my face

Aw yeah, everybody was pretty jealous of me after that

I was gettin' a lot of attitude

Ok, like one time, I was out in the parking lot

Tryin' to remove my excess earwax with a golf pencil

When I see this guy Marty

Tryin' to carry a big ol' sofa up the stairs all by himself

So I, I say to him, I say "Hey, you want me to help you with that?"

And Marty, he just rolls his eyes and goes

"No, I want you to cut off my arms and legs with a chainsaw"

So I did

And then he gets all indignant on me

He's like "Hey man, I was just being sarcastic"

Well, that's just great

How was I supposed to know that?

I'm not a mind reader for cryin' out loud

Besides, now he's got a really cute nickname, Torso-Boy

So what's he complaining about?

Say, that reminds me of another amusing anecdote

This guy comes up to me on the street

And he tells he hasn't had a bite in three days

Well, I knew what he meant

But just to be funny, I took a big bite out of his jugular vein

And he's yellin' and screamin' and bleeding all over

And I'm like "Hey, come on, don't you get it?"

But he just keeps rolling around on the sidewalk, bleeding, and screaming

You know, completely missing the irony of the whole situation

Man, some people just can't take a joke, you know?

Anyway, um, um, where was I?

Kinda lost my train of thought

Uh, well, uh, OK

Anyway I, I know it's kinda been a roundabout way of saying it

But I guess the whole point I'm tryin' to make here is

I hate sauerkraut

That's all I'm really tryin' to say

And, by the way, if one day you happen to wake up

And find yourself in an existential quandary

Full of loathing and self-doubt

And wracked with the pain and isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence

At least you can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that

Somewhere out there in this crazy ol' mixed-up universe of ours

There's still a little place called

Albuquerque

Albuquerque

Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Albuquerque, Albuquerque

I said "A" (A)

"L" (L)

"B" (B)

"U" (U)

"Querque" (querque)

Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Albuquerque

ooc: idek How to Reply to this in character. you win anon