#or. maybe they just had the right skillset. the right tools. something.

[dagasinfilo]

today i walked for about. 3-4 hours almost nonstop and went through a rollercoaster of feelings so i think. i think im not moving for the next 5-6 business days

[liketolaugh-writes]

Bruce looking past the fact that (recently adopted) Danny is a powerhouse and recognizing that he has other skills also. <3

Danny is a STEM kid and just as brilliant as his sister, you cannot convince me otherwise

Danny gave Bruce the handwritten list of powers in the morning. Bruce stared at it over his cup of coffee, then gave Danny a flat, somewhat disbelieving look. Danny shrugged sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry,” he said, perching on one of the stools. “I can point out the ones I don’t use if you just want to work on the ones I do. At least I have an idea of what needs improving with those.” Alfred gave him a cup of coffee and a plate of bacon and French toast, and Danny smiled at him. “Thanks, Alfred.”

“We’ll have to prioritize your training,” Bruce allowed after a moment, frowning down at the paper. Dick leaned over to look and whistled. “But all of these will be addressed eventually. You should have at least a moderate grasp of every tool at your disposal.” He looked up. “You intended to work in the lab today, correct?”

Danny nodded, playing with a strip of bacon. “I’ll probably spend most of today making a big batch of phaseproof coating,” he said. “Then I can experiment with mixing it with paint and maybe coat some of your spare weapons in it? That should work for the bo staff and escrima sticks, maybe a set of brass knuckles. But I’ll need to make a different solution for the edged weapons.” His mind wandered, thinking of how he could adapt what he knew of the Bats’ gear to work against ghosts.

“Who’re the brass knuckles for?” Dick asked, raising an eyebrow at Danny. Danny flushed and shrugged.

“Batman,” he said. “You don’t really use a weapon, right?” Bruce grunted. “But phaseproof cloth isn’t something my parents ever really figured out. I can work on it, maybe, but I thought brass knuckles would be an okay compromise for now.”

“Hn.”

“Good thinking,” Dick praised with a smile. “It’ll be easy to add to the utility belt too. Should we ghostproof my main set or a spare?”

“The main, I think, if you’re okay with it,” Danny said, tilting his head thoughtfully. “You probably won’t even notice. But the edged weapons should all be spares. Ecto-treated metal tends to glow.”

“Not great for stealth,” Dick nodded. “Whatever you think is best, baby spook. We have the resources.”

“You’re hyper-specialized,” Bruce noted without inflection, sipping from his coffee. Danny winced.

“Sorry,” he muttered. It was easy to forget that all this was pretty useless outside of Amity Park. Bruce shook his head.

“It’s not a problem. But we’ll need to diversify your skillset. Your talent for chemistry and engineering should expand beyond ectoscience alone.” He studied Danny contemplatively. “Higher education might be beneficial, perhaps a PhD.”

Danny’s eyes went wide. “What? I’m barely passing high school!”

“I had Casper High send over your transcripts,” Bruce said. Danny flinched. “You had a B+ average in middle school, with a particular bent for math and science. You also participated in several advanced extracurriculars, including a junior astronaut program, space camp, and competitive robotics. Further, you clearly have a comprehensive understanding of your parents’ work, which eludes both the Justice League engineers and JL Dark. You had these talents prior to acquiring your powers, and it would be a waste to discard them in favor of your raw combat ability.”

Danny stared at Bruce, open-mouthed and speechless. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d considered even the possibility that he could have a future outside of his hero career.

“…Do you think I could do that and be a superhero?” he managed after a minute, quieter than he’d meant to.

Bruce nodded sharply. “Most Justice League heroes maintain a career outside of heroics,” he reminded Danny, without even sounding like he thought Danny was an idiot for asking. “Aside from myself, there is also a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, a museum curator, a forensic scientist, and a fighter pilot.”

Danny had known that on some level, but it had always seemed unreal. Practically a myth. “When am I going back to school?” he asked, hardly able to believe that he was suddenly looking forward to it.

“At the beginning of next semester,” Bruce said. “Your parents’ trial should be completed by then. I assume you don’t want to be announced publicly until that happens.” Danny shook his head fervently. “You may need to complete some make-up classes online, but we can discuss that next week.”

“Thanks,” Danny said sincerely. He was talking about a lot more than his re-enrollment.

[hirudou]

            @rimefiles asked:    finally  finding  himself  before  a  safe  jump,  the  hunter  steeled  himself  with  resolute  determination,  imbuing  his  being  with  the  fortitude  necessary  to  accomplish  his  goal.  with  a  flick  of  his  wrist,  he  raised  the  potion  to  his  lips,  downing  it  with  a  mixture  of  apprehension  and  hope.  though  the  potion  allowed  him  to  breathe  underwater,  it  was  not  without  consequence.  the  aftertaste,  bitter  and  pungent,  made  him  tremble  with  an  unknown  feeling,  as  though  he  had  been  transported  to  a  different  plane  of  existence.  however,  he  refused  to  be  deterred,  taking  solace  in  the  fact  that  he  could  now  explore  the  depths  of  the  ocean  with  ease,  without  having  to  rely  on  the  cumbersome  tools  of  fishing.

⠀⠀⠀as  he  delved  deeper  into  the  murky  waters,  his  senses  were  heightened  and  he  felt  an  increasing  sense  of  unease.  was  it  the  noxious  aftertaste  of  the  potion  intensifying,  or  was  there  something  else  lurking  in  the  shadows  underwater?

        for  all  the  intelligence  rook  seemed  to  possess--  he  wasn't  very  clever  was  he?  he's  a  skilled  hunter  on  land,  even  jade  can  acknowledge  his  prowess.  quick  and  adaptable  to  most  situations,  thorough  and  exact.  but  this  is  another  world  entirely.  being  able  to  breathe  here  is  one  meager  step,  like  putting  on  the  appropriate  shoes  before  leaving  your  house.  surely  he  knew  the  same  skillset  would  do  him  little  good  here  right?  subtlety?  stealth?  rook  was,  for  lack  of  a  better  phrase---  

a  fish  out  of  water.  

  jade  already  had  an  inkling  on  what  he  intended  to  do.  and  was  deeply  satisfied,  when  he  felt  the  displacement  of  water.  watching  from  some  distance,  as  the  hunter  took  the  plunge.  slowly  sinking  himself,  before  effortlessly  gliding  closer  to  where  he  knew  he'd  find  him.

  what  should  he  do  hm?  no  potion  lasts  forever--  even  azul's  have  an  expiration.  jade  could  drown  him,  keep  him  there  at  the  bottom,  and  chatter  away  what  time  he  has.  maybe  he'll  drag  him  deeper,  let  water  pressure  do  all  the  work.  or,  simply  enough,  he  could  just  eat  him.  he  wont  do  any  of  this  actually,  explaining  his  disappearance  would  make  the  amusement  he  derives  from  it---  worthless.

  instead  he  waits,  just  out  of  sight,  for  him  to  land  on  the  sea  bed.  there's  an  incline  to  it--  implying  it  goes  further,  deeper.  rook  peers  around  as  best  he  can.  it's  dark  down  here,  the  light  faint  enough  that  he  just  misses  where  jade  is  slowly  swimming  by.  like  a  hawk  circling  a  mouse  in  the  brush.  it's  only  when  rook  seems  confident  enough  to  continue  that  he  closes  the  distance.  tail  curling  into  view,  around  him  in  a  loose  circle.  his  face  tilting  close  to  the  other,  an  uncanny  glow  to  his  left  eye.  

  when  he  speaks(  quite  suddenly  ),  his  voice  sounds  a  bit  distorted,  but  mostly  the  same."  fancy  yourself  a  fisherman  now?  "  coiling  close  enough,  that  the  length  of  jade's  body  knocks  against  his  back.  "  hahaha!  with  these?  "  swimming  low,  reaching  out  with  webbed  hands  to  tug  at  his  legs.  forcing  rook  to  fall  backwards  on  the  eel's  heavy  tail  for  support.  weight  is  different  here,  gravity--  strangely  heavy  and  too  light  at  the  same  time.

  "  you're  lucky  it  was  me  who  found  you.  "  coiling  more  firmly  around  his  fellow  classmate  now.  giving  his  cheek  a  pinch,  and  and a 'reassuring' smile,  all  teeth.  "  anything  else  and  you  might  of  been  fish  food.  "

unprompted / always accepting

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 742

My first foray into cursive writing was… not pleasant for me as a child.

In an era where most of our documents are digital and using a physical cheque is saved for certain edge cases, it’s hard to imagine that cursive writing was an actual important skill, and some obscure thing elders bemoan schools for not teaching anymore. However, when I was growing up, having a computer of any sort was an incredible privilege. Also, it took five fucking minutes to view a picture on the Internet, there was no way someone was going to email a digital document at those speeds.

So at the time, at a ripe age of seven years old, it was still considered important to learn how to use cursive writing. Not only was cursive writing a faster way to write, but when done well it looks very professional. 

Unfortunately, my school was the kind of school that believed that students would simply pick up certain skills if provided the tools to do so. Granted, knowing now that I have some flavour of ADHD, I do wonder if maybe the teacher had told the whole class that there were individual chalkboards in a cupboard and that they should practice cursive writing with them and I just completely missed the memo.

Either way, I didn’t pick up cursive writing, something my mother found out and in true Asian mom fashion bought cursive writing workbooks for me. This meant that my mother taught me how to write in cursive, which meant there was a particular way all the letters had to be written. This was especially problematic for letters I found difficult. The capital G was, and continues to be, my nemesis. 

Compounding the problem was that the Internet as it exists now, wasn’t a thing. There were no resources for me to learn other styles of cursive writing, or to even learn that I don’t have to write exactly how my workbooks laid it out. 

By the time I got into middle school, my handwriting was still pretty atrocious, like I was someone still learning how to do cursive writing. By the time I got into university, I simply just printed everything when I had to write by hand. I did this to save myself and my professor the embarrassment of having to decipher my handwriting.

That’s right. My handwriting, unless I was writing very slowly and carefully, I couldn’t read my own cursive. However, to write carefully would cause me to hold my pen so tightly that my fingers would ache, so I just didn’t bother.

Though… to be fair, I didn’t have much of an incentive to write in cursive. By the time I got into university the Internet as we knew it existed. Educational content and content that shared hobbies on Youtube hadn’t quite gotten there, but by my graduation it was in full swing. There wasn’t a reason for me to try and improve on a skillset I wasn’t going to be using.

Then, over a year ago, I got into journaling. I originally dove back into cursive for lettering reasons. Specifically, the use of a brush tip marker to make the titles on my journal pages. And since I did a small daily writing about my day in my journal, it was a good excuse to practice cursive. Through that, a bit of research and watching other people write, I learnt to write in a way that was more comfortable to me. I still haven’t found a good capital letter for my Qs and Gs, but they’re not capital letters I use often.

In a weird twist, I prefer to write in cursive these days, because I’m an impatient brat who can’t be bothered to take the time to write in print. I’ve also found as the months went on, the more comfortable I was with cursive, the smaller my handwriting got, which was hilarious. Even more hilarious is the kind of things I write with these days. Fineliners are still my preferred writing device, but I can write with fountain pens and when I have time, I can write with certain dip pens.

Things I never thought I would do as a child, because I hated this sort of shit.

Child me would be both amazed and horrified.

[bogkeep]

-> to greygale, Gleamspire is a symbol of everything wrong with magic. caring for nobody but themselves and their precious records. the disregard for life, especially those of ordinary folk. and most of all: digging too deep in places they should not. -> (greygale was very young when their parents signed up as volunteers for a magic study. something about manipulating the delicate tworls of the soul connected to the mind. whatever compensation they had been promised, the cost was too great.) -> lizerd wizerd, far better known as just zerd, is a magic mechanic. a damn good one, who's always had the ability to see the shape of magic with her eyes, right in front of her, all around her. she knows what pieces to move and tweak with her engraved tools to solve spells gone wrong. a very rare skillset, almost unheard of so far away from Gleamspire... -> (it's worth keeping a low profile when you've accidentally merged your soul with that of a dragon and created a sentient sword with the leftovers.) -> (it's a great sword, the wordwield. sure, it snarks at you, but you can set the wheel to summon all kinds of elemental magic.)

-> sparrow is not only exiled, but hunted. Gleamspire may have the defenses to keep the Beast out - it is not the first of its kind, though it may be the most powerful - but the rest of the world is not so lucky, and sparrow is no longer of Gleamspire.

-> the Beast yearns to swallow up the rest of sparrow's life, subsume xem into itself, become independent. sparrow cannot let that happen. it stalks xem, slowly and destructively. xe does xyr best to lead it away from civilization - but xe is so tired and helpless and has nowhere to go except for following the fragile leads for a solution.

-> (and xe does wonder, despite xyr best attempts not to, should xe have been executed after all? did the council of Gleamspire choose wrongly? would the Beast die with xem, or gain xyr powers? the gamble is too horrible to consider.)

-> sparrow is at the end of xyr rope when xe finally finds the magic mechanic in the remote town of Stonehade. it doesn't help that xe has a bit of a terrifying run-in with the guardian of the town - the notorious greygale, seeting with hatred for mages, and wielding a dark sword that can cut through magic. how did they even get such a thing? -> (maybe zerd took pity on a young and orphaned teen, many years ago. maybe she just wanted to give them a way to defend themself.)

-> zerd really does want to help, just. What The Actual Fuck Happened Here My Guy. How Did You Mess Up This Badly!!!! so many wheels of sparrow's life force spin so fast, so savagely, she doesn't have the tools to even begin fixing this mess... -> sparrow does xyr best to warn the town guardian about the Beast. xe knows it's approaching, xe knows time is ticking away, but there is nowhere. left. to go. xe knows, xe knows!!! -> pros: the guardian is kinda hot.

-> cons: greygale is the last person you want to tell about the magically summoned God Beast that may or may not raze the town that's harbouring an exiled spellcaster who's also responsible for all this.

-> cons: greygale is going to swing a sword at you.

-> the sword is flung out of their grip and clatters to the stone floor. sparrow never moved, but the spinning cogwheels of xyr life force could not be cut so easily.

-> sparrow curtsies and takes xyr leave, taking advantage of a stunned and unmoving greygale.

-> sparrow collapses almost as soon as xe is out of the building and the adrenaline runs out.

-> zerd does her best to take care of sparrow as well as furiously scrawling out notes and diagrams, no closer to a solution. the deadline is not helping.

-> also not helping is greygale coming to her workshop with sword needing repairs, for... Some Reason. they did not expect to find sparrow.

-> it is under a precarious truce (and zerd's strict workshop safety rules) that greygale and sparrow... Talk.

-> magic can do so much. it can build and heal and create. even Stoneshade has a strong foundation of magically made buildings and infrastructures - maybe not as sophisticated as a metropolis such as Gleamspire, but still useful, good. sparrow only ever wanted to do good things. great things. singlehandedly change the world for the better.

-> greygale's glare does not change.

-> sparrow sighs. xe is never seen without a smile or a smirk - but xe drops it now.

-> it's easy to get lost in Gleamspire. it's easy to forget the rest of the world when you're drowning in splendour and miracles. it's easy to forget people live outside of the race to the top. when you're only ever surrounded by your peers, competing to dismantle reality and put it back together, it's...

-> sparrow made a horrible mistake and doesn't know how to fix it.

-> greygale's expression softens, just a little bit.

-> greygale isn't sure what to do when a person you absolutely despise is being vulnerable and also crying????? awkwardly cough and leave? yeah. yeah

-> zerd says she's totally gonna fix greygale's sword please come back for it later!!!!! (she's actually dismantling it. the guilt has been eating away at her for years.)

-> i'm sure more things happen but only so much can happen before the Beast approaches.

-> sparrow makes the Choice.

-> xe will let greygale sever the connection between xem and the Beast, even if it means sacrfi- what do you mean you don't have the sword.

-> ZERD WHERE IS THE SWORD

-> adding a new functionality to the wordwield VERY FAST UNDER LOTS OF PRESSURE, CAN THE SWORD PLEASE SHUT UP WHILE WE'RE PERFORMING SWORD SURGERY ON IT

-> the cut needs to be extremely precise and powerful. zerd can tell greygale exactly where to cut, but if they stray even a little bit things can go horribly wrong - oh good the earth is shaking from the thunderous footsteps of the Beast!!!!! -> in the nick of time and with no other nicks at all, the wordwield cuts cleanly through soul and hair.

-> the spinning wheels stop.

-> the Beast freezes.

-> the severed wheels fall apart.

-> the Beast disintegrates.

-> sparrow sinks to xyr knees, severed braids all around xem, breathing heavily.

-> for a moment, xe thinks xe might die after all, they just amputated xyr soul, a huge chunk of it. xe blacks out, barely hearing greygale and zerd yelling xyr name.

-> xe wakes in a bed.

-> it's not the first time zerd has had to patch up wounds in the soul, it's actually considerably easier to do on someone other than yourself!! sparrow will definitely suffer some Consequences, but xe's alive, isn't xe?

-> sparrow is already weeping and gasping laughing with relief when xe spots greygale in the room as well. are they blushing? their expression is almost always so sour, it's hard to tell...

-> xe winks at them.

hey! if you want to, i’d love to hear more about sparrow spellcaster? xe seem very very cool!!

YES, i can tell you more about sparrow spellcaster :D xyr story was supposed to become a webcomic, but that's... not happening, as i do not have the resources to work on a project like that right now. i still hope to tell xyr story through an actual format of some kind someday! but until then...!

- > in this world, everything is connected. if you know how to look, how to listen, how to feel, you can find the clockwork connections between it all. your own life force, tied to every part of your body, and the way the wheels and parts move and are moved by all that is around you. if you know how - you can move these. you can manipulate reality itself, like rearranging the pieces of a puzzle. that is magic.

(very old visual explanation of the magic system here)

- > in this world, those who can practice magic are mages, naturally. mages go to the prestigious university in Gleamspire. one of gleamspire's star students is Sparrow Spellcaster. Sparrow is not just a regular mage, no. as the title xe has earned indicates, xe can cast their spells, change the world around xem with a thought. most mages can only change that which they touch, but sparrow is a prodigy.

- > magic is a dangerous practice. the pieces you are playing with are those of your own soul and body. if you do it wrong, you can cause serious harm to your own body or your own soul. the road to discovery of new ways to utilize magic is paved with pain and accidents and horrible outcomes.

- > to sparrow, magic comes intuitively, easy as breathing. xe is not afriad, even when xe should be. worst of all, xe is enabled. never have the professors had a student like this - think of all the things they could discover! all the things they could try!

- > sparrow thrives on the attention, thrives on the glory, and xe is proud. it's hard to tell how it happens, exactly - did xe do it for a bet? did xe do it for the audience, to prove someone wrong? did xe do it because xyr teachers asked them to do it, made them do it? either way, the outcome is the same.

- > sparrow spellcaster summons a god, creates it out of thin air.

- > magic is a dangerous practice. you should never summon any living being. you do not know their strength.

- > a glorious beast, like a statue come to life, perfect because sparrow's magic is perfect. perfect and vengeful, drunk on its own rage.

- > that is when sparrow realizes - xe can't reach all of xyr life force anymore. the wheels are spinning, powering the creature xe has brought forth, but xe cannot take back the control. it's like half of xyr strings have been cut, but xe is still tied to the puppeteer.

- > destruction follows. it takes every mage in gleamspire to drive the god beast out, and it will only continue its rampage elsewhere.

- > they almost executed sparrow, but nobody knows for sure if xyr death would have stopped the beast, and xe has too many friends in high places for the suggestion to go through. in a bitter act of mercy, sparrow is exiled from gleamspire.

- > sparrow is fatigued. so much of xyr own life is powering something else. xe keeps falling asleep at random places, random times. xe no longer has the strength to groom xemself, to redo xyr braids properly. xe can no longer cast spells as xe used to - there is still power left in xem, they still have skill, but so much of it is simply out of reach, inaccessible.

- > xe cannot stop the god beast on xyr own.

- > xe has to try anyway.

(here's another very old comic explanation)

[stoneworldsimp]

the dying poet

senku x reader

warnings: angst, mentions of food/water deprivation, swearing

day seven.

fuck, fuck, FUCK!

it felt like you had been running for hours, trying to shake this wild animal off. you made sharp turns behind large bushes in hopes of losing it, you’d hold as still as possible behind large roots on the ground, but the animal kept finding you in one way or another.

“please go away,”you panted. “c’mon. you’ve been chasing me fucking forever, can’t you just give up?!”

you were tired; your legs were about to buckle in on themselves. dinner one night was suddenly ruined when you realized the fucker was watching you eat. in the beginning you thought it was only after your food, not you; you threw a random ration away from your camp in hopes to get it away from you. in hindsight, it only worked until you fell asleep.

you were lucky to wake up the next morning alive; your set up had been ripped to shreds, and footprints were on the ground around your body. it was painstakingly slow and nerve wracking to escape your position, but once you had everything you absolutely needed, you booked it.

sprinting for miles after miles proved to be very difficult for quite some time now.

the phone...it’s weighing me down. my bag of food isn’t even half as heavy as the phone.

looking down at the call button in your hand, you thought about tossing the phone. maybe i can fix it.. no, i don’t have any tools, the fucking animal chewed on them like dog bones. is there any way to put the wire back together...?

“FUCK my life!”

you took the phone off your back and threw it to you left, careful not to trip yourself in the process. immediately, you and your body felt the difference. with your new found energy, the run away was becoming easier, and helped you see a large cave just over the horizon. using the last of your energy, you took as large of steps as you can, and practically threw your body into the cave. the animal’s footsteps were nowhere to be heard, but you figured you didn’t want to take any chances and look behind you. you were finally breaking free from being chased, just a little deeper into this cave, and if i can find specific markings then i can backtrack—

a deep, loud rumble took you away from your thoughts. in no time, you were engulfed in dust and thick particles you didn’t know of.

the caved had closed in.

day one.

“i can do it.”

“are you sure? its a pretty perilous trip—“

“you should at least bring one other person with you—“

you sighed, exasperated that you had to defend your case once again. it had been days since the decision was made; you were going to make a trip to another part of the island in hopes to find extremely specific materials for one of senku’s projects... and it was far, far away.

quite frankly, you were the only one fit for the adventure. you were known to travel well on foot, had an exceptional sense of direction and you had a good eye for natural elements, as well as food; you also were unintentionally the least helpful when staying in the village. you didn’t have the crafting skills to successfully make glass or metal components for his experiments, and you never trusted your brain when helping senku with calculations and blueprints.

hearing senku and gen talk about this long trip to another part of the island was almost a dream come true. it was perfect for someone with your skillset, and kept you from being in the way of everybody else.

“it’ll be fine. c’mon, you guys have SOME faith in our traveler, right?”

you turned around, a smile on your face as you caught senku walking out of his lab. thank you, you mouthed.

once senku reached you and the group of villagers crowding near you, he spoke up again. “this trip is a straight shot from the bridge, the only problem would be that it’s going to take some time. possibly a month just to get there. but you,” he turned to face you,”have excellent outdoorsy-type skills that will make it really easy for you to spot what we need right away. everyone needs to stop worrying, because you’ll be there and back in no time. two months will pass like nothing.”

as the rest of the group walked away, mumbling their skepticisms, senku took your hand and tugged you back to the lab.

“what’re you taking me here for? oh wait,”you planted your feet at the front of the lab curtains, keeping the both of you from entering. “are you making me help you with your math again? because—”

“no, you’re pretty terrible at calculations,”he replied. “i have something for you.”

you puffed out your cheeks in embarrassment, but your expression completely changed once the curtain was opened.

on the table, there was a telephone. if was the size of a backpack, but it still had a speaker, a microphone, and a call button.

“i made it for you to take on the trip, in case you have any emergencies. i fully trust you in your own survival skills, but you never know if something extreme happens.”

you gave his hand a squeeze before letting go. as you walked closer to the table, you touched the outer fabric. you turned back to senku. “thank you.”

“you don’t have to thank me. i’m only making something that’s essential to your travels.”

“even still,” you trailed off. “i appreciate it.”

you turned back around and beamed at senku. “i’m not going to call you until i get there. i want to make sure that no enemies try to tail me if they hear me, as much as i’d want to give in right away and hear your voice. something like that...”

“how corny.” senku smiled and pulled you close while you laughed. you jumped a bit when his hands made their way around your waist.

“a bit touchy today,” you asked, grabbing hold of his shoulders. “but i’m not complaining.”

“i’m stockpiling the feeling of you for the weeks to come. we’ve never spent this much time apart before; it’s only logical.”

“i guess you’re right.”

he kissed you, multiple times; each one was deeper than the last.

day eleven.

he brought me a flower every morning, because i always slept in later than him. he’d wake up at the asscrack of dawn, just to have more time to jot ideas down. i used to try and pull him back to sleep with me, but he was so overflowing with plans, i didn’t want to stop him.

you turned on your side.

i remember he went to explore with chrome really early one morning, and apparently they found some huge meadow with a bunch of plants. ever since then, he would bring me a different kind; it was always a single flower, too. they were different colors and shapes, and some were enormous and some were smaller than my finger. he never woke me up for it, though. he would just leave it for me when i woke up on my own. it was always a surprise, almost startling when i’d open my eyes. it was my own pick-me-up for the day, in a sense.. no matter what happened the night before, waking up to a new type of flower would put me in a good mood every time. it was better than a coffee in the morning.

i wonder if he’s looking at the flowers with chrome everyday while i’m gone. man, i still wake up hoping to see a new one in front of me.

sure, reminiscing was fun and felt good, but what’s the point? you had eaten all of your food approximately two days ago, you only had about a teaspoon of water left, and there was no getting out of there. the way you came in had been covered in a dam of rocks. you couldn’t even dig yourself out.

you furiously wiped the tears that fell from your eyes. “senku...why did i think i could go alone?”

day fifteen.

poke, poke—

something was touching you. no, someone was touching you. your head bobbed side to side, in an attempt to shake them off.

damn, that’s persistent.

opening your eyes, you woke up to senku smiling. he was knelt beside your form. “wake up, sleeping beauty! it’s been almost three hours.”

it’s only been three hours?!

you sat up way too fast, and felt lightheaded as you tried to ask,”but...why didn’t you.. wake me up earlier? did everybody...did everyone eat already?”

he laughed. “yeah, sorry. we all thought you were out doing something with chrome. but,” he turned around, to grab something behind him,”i saved some in case you got hungry when you came back.”

you took the food in a dizzy haze. was it even food? you didn’t care too much, it felt like you hadn’t eaten for a long time. any food at this point was good food.

you couldn’t even swallow the first bite. “do you- is there..any water?”

“what?” senku pulled away from you, a look of disbelief painted across his face. it was clear as day.

you hesitated, feeling more lightheaded than before. “w- water?”

“don’t you remember?” he asked. he turned away from you. “there hasn’t been any water in days.”

it’s been days.

your body jolted from its spot, and harsh reality hit you square in the face.

yes, right. you shakily rubbed your eyes to make sure they weren’t cemented shut.

in the cave, finished your food, no water to be found. making yourself walk around was no use, either; without the fuel, your body was essentially just a trembling mess.

you scowled at yourself; unsure of what to do, what to even think.

day eighteen.

you remembered how he kissed you. the first kisses the most; you always had to tell him to not look so terrified. you also had to remind him to not stand like a statue when you kissed. pretty soon, after some reassurance, he got comfortable. there was nothing but confidence in the way he caressed your face in his hands. usually he was the one to pull away; you were so mesmerized, it felt as if the world completely stopped.

they were always quick and out of the way in public. usually, it was on your forehead or your one of your cheeks. the deep kisses you felt when you two were alone were incomparable. soft lips remained on yours for what felt like centuries. he tasted sweet, in his own way—

wait, who?

you licked your lips slowly, trying to think.

it was no use; you couldn’t even remember what he looked like. you lolled your head to the side and stared at the outline of a rock a couple of feet away.

once i get out of here, i’ll kiss him. whoever it was. it won’t matter if it’s just us, or more people. i’ll kiss him forever.

maybe if i go to sleep.. i can see him again.

[lgcjisoo]

𝕁𝕀𝕊𝕆𝕆 // ℍ𝔼ℝ𝔼... ℍ𝔸𝕍𝔼 𝔸 𝕊𝕃𝕀ℂ𝔼. ( open event 005 ) 

MBTI .

INFJ ( a ) ISFP ( a ) .

Advocates (INFJs) may be the rarest personality type of all, but they certainly leave their mark on the world. Idealistic and principled, they aren’t content to coast through life – they want to stand up and make a difference. For Advocate personalities, success doesn’t come from money or status but from seeking fulfillment, helping others, and being a force for good in the world.

While they have lofty goals and ambitions, Advocates shouldn’t be mistaken for idle dreamers. People with this personality type care about integrity, and they’re rarely satisfied until they’ve done what they know to be right. Conscientious to the core, they move through life with a clear sense of their values, and they aim never to lose sight of what truly matters – not according to other people or society at large, but according to their own wisdom and intuition.

( oh vey, i had to retake this because the old mbti when the first muse appeared 8 months ago does not apply anymore ! he’s no white knight but jisoo simply has strong morals & also strives to help others rather than focusing on himself. the INFJ mbti seems infinitely more appropriate for him the more i read into this & i’ll likely be reading into this for the next little while... this makes so much more sense because i was having a difficult time with comprehending what is behind the drive for jisoo, and what he is seeking for in life, and why he isn’t so career driven, and ultimately it seems that while he does wish to have a career evidently, it’s not something that is so primarily driving him, but moreso other things in his life. this gives me a better view into what he may want to do in the very far future from now, like hello 10-20 years, which is an interesting view since i’d never thought that far before for any of my muses. )

HOGWARTS HOUSE .  gryffindor primary / burned ravenclaw secondary. 

Gryffindor Primaries care about their gut morality. They want to do the right thing, and they think part of that answer comes from trusting yourself. They can still be thoughtful, careful, and rational, but they have a strong belief in the value of moral compasses. Some things are just wrong, no matter how many pretty words you use. A Burned Ravenclaw Secondary might want to be skilled, curious, and prepared, but they feel like they are (or like people think they are) limited, clumsy, or inconstant. Gathering knowledge, hobbies, skills, or tools is the right way to achieve their goals, but Burned Ravenclaws know that's not going to work within their capabilities. So they take other paths and use other tools-- maybe a Gryffindor's bluntness, a Slytherin's flexibility, or a Hufflepuff's slow and steady dedication.

( is this the part where i’m bamboozled & legitimately was shocked that jisoo was a gryffindor primary, but okay that’s fine. jisoo does have a tendency to stand by his morals, and usually won’t go along with anything that goes against his moral compass, or his gut feelings. if he gets persuaded, it’s likely because he sees a greater outcome ( if at all ), or if he had already wanted to give in, even with minor things such as in the past when keeho told him to just forego studying in order for them to do something else or hang out. with education out of the picture at this point in his life, jisoo finds that he isn’t much of a rule breaker at all, and quite by the book. regarding how jisoo could have been a ravenclaw, perhaps i was being too optimistic or didn’t have a good peg on him at all, but while he has good intentions to do more, he simply doesn’t have the skillset to accompany it quite yet. he doesn’t have his passions in line and doesn’t truly know what he wants to do at the end that he can do, because of his lacking skillset thus the burned ravenclaw secondary versus a pure ravenclaw secondary. at this time, his ambitions are a bit askew, and while the picture is becoming clearer, and he’s more headstrong about it now, it’s a bit weak. ) DAEMON .  marsupial >>>> quokka. 

Your daemon would take the form of a marsupial! Those who have marsupial daemons are protective and giving people who typically have an unusual or quirky perspective on life. They are creative individuals good at inspiring their loved ones, notably quiet until something riles them up. Your daemon would take the form of a quokka! You are a curious and friendly individual who comes across as quiet. More so than others with marsupial daemons, those with quokkas are very welcoming people despite their introverted status; they're group-aware and good at taking the social temperature of the people around them. They are specialized people who like being well-prepared and keeping the peace.

( jisoo is indeed very friendly and really quiet, other than to his closest friends. being protective is a repeating offender trait you will see throughout the entire personality analysis, but that’s a big part of who he is & honestly, you can see how it gets him in trouble at times when wires gets crossed with a certain few people in his past, because his protective and kind nature can get misread. that doesn’t mean he loves them any less. it’s probably a good thing he’s such a quiet foil considering most of his friends are rather loud personalities, and he lets them take the lead for the most part, but he’s standing behind as a guardian, ensuring that no harm comes to them, lest from himself. ) 

ENNEAGRAM .  #009 THE PEACEMAKER The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type: Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent

Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually creative, optimistic, and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent, simplifying problems and minimizing anything upsetting. They typically have problems with inertia and stubbornness. At their Best: indomitable and all-embracing, they are able to bring people together and heal conflicts.

( this came up really close with #002 - the helper. jisoo is very trusting, and accepting, and has a positive view on things in his life, in generally a half cup full person. thankful for what life has given to him, even though he’s pretty average in his opinion, he wants to make the most of what it has to give him, and is also perhaps, annoyingly pushing that view towards others too, which could be quite irritating if you are an extreme pessimist or ‘realist’ as those may say. but honestly he just wants to blanket people when they’re feeling down & will never hesitate to reach out and help you when you’re down. :D ) 

in the end : it seems that across all the personality analyses - jisoo, while introverted & quiet, is extremely headstrong in his beliefs & morals, & while he will go with the flow, he won’t let people persuade him to step over his personal moral lines, and perhaps it’s a bit goody-two-shoes or a bit dull in some people’s perspectives, but i’m sure he can be the ‘good’ sprinkles in the variety spice cabinet of life and friends groups :^) jisoo isn’t polished at all though, and while he’s still wavering in his new career, he’s also very rough around the edges with his skillset which is something he eventually does and will work on, though he has to get his head down to focus on that first since the potential is there, but he hasn’t reached that yet. personality wise, even whilst writing him, jisoo has a strong tendency to mother hen all of his friends, & now we can see why. this has been fun & i hope you enjoyed reading too, if you did. 

[ladyofthenoodle]

Ramble anon kind of here again - I will try to keep it short and space things out a little this time asdksjhdf but I was reading through all of the analysis threads for Marinette and the different ways ADHD presents itself for her, and I think it did actually help me get a better grasp on her character and how she views situations, which is something that has kept me from attempting to writing fanfic because I was leery on misrepresenting her thought process when I couldn't seem to get it to click in the writing the way I can do for other characters (Alya's very distinctive voice has actually been super fun, and of course Adrien is easiest for me). But one of the comments was about trying to structure friendships and how some attempts on that front could appear 'off-putting' or overly structured and uncanny to neurotypicals, and my mind immediately went to the episode where Kagami was trying to make friends with Marinette and following along an app on friendmaking, and was wondering if that was maybe more of another example of (maybe not ADHD specifically) but someone wanting to reach out and not having the natural skillset for doing so, and doing the best that they knew how with the tools available to them? And once Marinette had learned that was Kagami's situation, she did her best to reach back and understand Kagami, to be her friend and try to help her build that skillset with those tools available to her?

That seems to be what a large portion of the fandom needs to keep in mind for Marinette right now, maybe. That she's doing the best she can with her limited knowledge of the situation and the tools available to her, either mentally or emotionally, (and that when she does gain the knowledge or tools to solve an emotional hurt, she will do her best to resolve it, because she cares about her friends and family, which has been made clear in the show time and time again) and the fandom should maybe be extending the same courtesy to her (and those who see themselves in her and are trying their best, too).

Potentially myself included, as I try and remember what I sent in my previous ramble about Adrien noticing that Marinette launches into fixing things because that's what she knows how to do and is good at, even if that might not be what a situation needs in the moment (on the topic of him considering her as a potential confidant for his secret identity and running down the list of who is available to him) - she's trying her best, and he appreciates the heck out of her for that (a lot of people do, in universe and out), even if it is something that could feed into miscommunication, as they have, or will continue to have, different ways of expressing what they need, and will need to work to meet in the middle on the things that they can work on to resolve any conflicts that may arise because of it, and be understanding of each other when things simply don't align in a way that works for both of them.

There was also a comment that was about how Adrien might not necessarily be presented as autistic, but his situation with his father is similar to a lot of situations of abuse from parents when it comes to neurodivergent children and my brain went YES this is the connection it is in words now and so I just wanted to express my appreciation for the fact that these topics are being brought up and identified and explored and defended (even if it might be exhausting and seem discouraging to have to do so in the first place) and that even though the fandom may be a bit divided over the interpretation of certain characters right now, we have a piece of media that makes these situations part of the narrative and demonstrates the effects they have (both positive and negative) so that in the overarching story, when it finally reaches its conclusion, they can maybe showcase good ways of establishing different methods of emotional communication and the different levels that they can occur at, and ways to reach across any gaps that may form simply by virtue of people having different emotional needs, and not because any one party is purposefully trying to make that communication difficult. Because neither of them are fueling this conflict on purpose; neither of them are intending harm to the other, even if that might be the result due to different factors wildly out of their own control. And when they get the chance to fix it, they definitely will.

Apologies if this is another long ramble needlessly clogging your askbox, but I just wanted to clarify I was trying to look at the character's actions objectively for the last ramble, and I'm sorry if I ended up misconstruing any of Marinette's problem-solver tendencies in a way that could seem negative as inherent to her character as a whole ;-; (and if you just haven't seen it / had time to respond to it yet I'm so sorry for the double ask aslkfhasf I am very patient, I swear)

ramble anon i am definitely going to reply to both your asks and i’m sorry for not getting to it sooner. as you might have gathered from the adhd post i also struggle with it and part of that means looking at a long ask and being like “i will reply to that Very Soon” and then i… don‘t 😂 though yesterday i was at least posting creative content instead of just scrolling through things (this is unrelated to your ask but i’m proud of myself for it)

anyways your previous ask (which i will respond to sometime between an hour and um 11 months) seemed to be mostly an analysis of how adrien is interpreting marinette, so no worries on misconstruing her! adrien, who is also 14 and dealing with his own trauma, is not going to effortlessly understand marinette’s mindset and shouldn’t be expected to any more than she is going to effortlessly understand the effect of his trauma on his psyche. even adults have a hard time understanding people whose brain works differently than theirs or who have very different backgrounds, but we can learn and people should be judged by their effort to understand different viewpoints, especially when it’s one they’ve had to reason to develop an understanding of it before. like marinette, even though i knew about parental abuse in abstract, i didn’t really understand how it affects people until i met (and dated) people who have experienced it. so i might project extremely hard onto the adhd girl with supportive parents who is learning to understand a boy with a very different background and very different coping because i went through that and i’m certain i’ve fucked some things up in the process. and they have interpreted me wrong too!

kagami using the app is a great example of something that might be off putting to a neurotypical person, though you’re right that it’s not adhd in particular. while i don’t have a strong headcanon for kagami the way i do for marinette, she definitely reads as autistic to me in that scene specifically, and i think it’s a surprisingly good example of how two neurotypes might interact. marinette initially does find kagami’s behavior off putting, partially because marinette is already inclined to dislike kagami but also because marinette has had far more time to learn to mask in a way that’s acceptable to peers (who expect you to be fun and casual) while kagami has only learned to mask for adults (whose expectations are more about being well behaved). and so marinette interprets kagami as being rude and fake! but when she sees the app she realizes “oh, this person is Like Me” and is able to very quickly reframe everything kagami has done.

marinette doesn’t seem to use a lot of external tools to manage her relationships yet, partially because she didn’t have a lot of close friendships until recently and partially because most of her friends are in her class so there’s no “out of sight out of mind” thing. kagami is probably the only person she has to go out of her way to maintain a relationship with and i think marinette does make special effort for kagami because kagami needs it (based on mister pigeon 72 anyway). of course now that ladynoir is having issues marinette will eventually realize she needs to make that special effort for chat noir, too. because accommodation goes both ways! because you can’t change your adhd but you can say “this person is important to me and i am going to use the tools i have to make this relationship work despite this.” your partner just has to understand that these tools might not always be foolproof and also that things like setting reminders of your phone to have a conversation with someone isn’t because we see it as a chore but because it’s so important to us that we can’t risk forgetting to do it. which i don’t think adrien will have a problem with at all once he understands because he’s a very understanding person. he’d be touched as long as marinette was able to communicate the fact that this is an expression of love and not an obligation or burden to her.

i see a lot of people headcanon adrien being autistic and even have gotten fic comments on how i wrote adrien in a way that people found resonated with their experiences with autism. which made me think a lot because while i totally welcome that interpretation, it wasn’t something that crossed my mind while writing! so i started thinking about why that would be. and in that story, adrien has an extreme response to curtains being installed in his bedroom, which to me was him reacting to the total lack of control over his own life and not having any other way to deal with it or express it. but of course that’s an experience common to a lot of neurodivergent people! in canon, the thing that struck me was the moment gabriel told him he’d had too many emotions, because boy did that resonate. so i think adrien is representative of a lot of neurodivergent experiences and that is true regardless of whether you headcanon him that way or not. which also makes him a good match for marinette in the long run because even if their brains work differently, they do still have a lot of common experiences that will help them understand each other in the long run

[drabbles-of-writing]

Reverse Au! Dump

Don’t mind my idea dumping here. Brain decided to have fun while I was at work and I have too many wips as it is, so… Thought I’d ask before I dumped, experience. Used morningmark’s comics as a base, so if you want reference. Now this isn’t all that well compiled, but here it goes.

~

Magic in the Other World is varied as it is crazy. So many styles over the generations and not a lot of organization. There are some that try to categorize it all, but that works as well as you’d expect. Some were lost, some erased, some weren’t passed down/recorded because “the power is all mine! Ahahaha!” It took a lot of time and collaboration, but eventually a sort of system was installed to help out. Still a lot of work to do, but its a step forward. Nowadays the term Wild Magic is generally reserved for those that aren’t all that well documented and understood.

Some Magics are very powerful and desirable, but also tend to be very high risk/high reward, kinda pass/fail, pretty literally Do or Die most times. So not a lot of people can use those or are even willing to. Story says this one guy named Odin hung himself on a massive tree by his own spear for nine days, no food water or rest in constant pain before he could unlock the secret of Runes. But it’s also said he gouged out his own eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom so… 

There are lots of different ways to channel magic too: wands, staves, jewelry, certain gems, familiars, potions, enchanted armaments, chants, scripts, etc. Each tool has its own advantages and disadvantages and play into a Witches’ style. Every Witch has at least two methods of spellcasting. Only children have one. Haven’t thought of how Luz gets her Palisman though. Maybe its one of those magic Artifacts like Dr. Strange’s cloak, Elder Wand, Thor’s hammer, or a Green Lantern’s Ring. Something that can’t be recreated because the secret is lost, materials no longer exist, too hard/dangerous to make, accident that can’t be recreated, etc. Happens more often than people like.

Camilla is sometimes called the Blue Witch. She’s a healer by heart and trade, but push her and she will become a one Witch Battleship. Bismark who? Aaaaand she just deleted a whole battalion. And the fortress behind them. Hide me. There are the very rare occasions, like count on one hand rare, when someone near and dear to her heart is in trouble that she takes up her other job. She’s especially terrifying when she decides to torture, those who know how to heal the body know best how to break it. Many shades of Blue, some are very close to Black. She doesn’t necessarily hate Humans exactly, but doesn’t have the highest of regard from past experiences.

Luz has training and is a proficient Witch for her age. Camilla and her father were adamant about having a general knowledge/skillset alongside her specialized skill. Jack of all trades and a master of none, still better than a master of one. She has gone through the system for her magic with varying success. Oracle magic? Zero talent. Bard classes? She can play an instrument, but can’t sing at the same time. When she does sing she tires too hard and messes up. It’s only when she doesn’t try, like absently singing along with a song or playing by her heart, that she’s good at it. Beasts? Can use them, but would rather play with them. Bleeding heart and all that. She does have a good handle on healing magic partly due to Camilla drilling necessary skills into her and partly osmosis. Her father arranged for some CQC lessons from an old friend of his which the girl loved. You get the idea. It wasn’t until she discovered Glyphs that she found her niche and her skills took off. Glyphs are one of those ‘eccentric’ or 'archaic’ styles since they haven’t been used in so long after being lost and are barely understood. She still has a long way to go, but she is on her way.

Luz never really had much in the way of friends, partly cuz of high profile parents which leads to certain pressures and a target on her head, partly because of her magic style and personality, and partly because of the trouble been going on. Luz grew up her whole life with this tension of a group of anarchists trying to burn society that’s just trying to do the right thing. The anarchists started small, but have been a growing problem the past few decades with talk how to 'reshape the world’ in not a good way. Anyone with critical thinking skills can tell this is a bad idea, but they are too brainwashed to notice. They harass anyone who doesn’t follow their rhetoric and attack anyone who even questions them. Luz’s parents put a real kink in a lot of their plans for years, which makes Luz guilty by association. 

Luz got caught in one of those sudden larger scuffles and was accidentally chucked/blown through a portal created by an attempted tactical retreat that went off course. Hence why she can’t go home because she hasn’t learned how to do portals yet. Those are high level anyway so how did these guys pull it off so easily? Luz has a hard time blending in obviously. Learning how to use a phone was a fun endeavor. Internet was a trip. Luz is amazed how these people can do all this cool stuff without magic. Keep a low profile sure, she can pass off as a weird out of town kid. Keep the beanie on, underperform in gym and stuff because some things don’t change, like genetics. Someone sharp eyed will see discrepancies. The Beanie has a small Glamor spell built in that covers her witchy traits but she forgot the ears which is why it sits like it does. Luz can erase memories in case she has an accident, but it’s less of a 'remove my face from this picture with a scalpel’, and more of a 'lemme just hack off the past hour or three from your brain with an axe.’ If she tries to take any more then she starts burning into some more dangerous territory and those Wiped are groggy and disoriented for a while after already. Then the magic attacks start happening and her heroic instinct/anti-bystander complex kicks in and there goes that. It runs in the family so Camilla isn’t surprised in the slightest when she finds out.

“Oh titan, why did you curse me with another me?” “I’m right here Mami!”

Eda has a shack very akin to Grunkle Stan. Lots of junk that Lilith can’t believe that people are dumb enough to buy. She’s also involved in some not so legal dealings on the side. Well, Eda isn’t actually hurting anybody and the tax dollars she should be paying would only go towards some politicians’ next yacht or another pointless overseas 'investment’ instead of where it’s supposed to go so. Eda does give some good intel on occasion and a place to vent so Lillith overlooks her. Lil’s more of the secret police for witches and a petty crook isn’t part of her job anyway. Eda understands Luz’s predicament and is willing to help. The cover story is that Camilla work in hospitals and has to work crazy hours while her dad passed away so is living with Eda for a while. King is that kind of critter that grew up weird and acts like ten different animals all the time.

Gus is the nerdy kid who infodumps on everybody, even if they’re not listening. Loves anything fantasy/sci-fi related and plays Minecraft too. A good kid at heart, but needs some social skills. Keep him away from anything more sugary than tea. Luz learned a lot listening to him. Not all of it is entirely useful, but still. Some of his ramblings give her some good ideas for magic and stuff, like putting Glyphs on cards.

The Blights are the cool rich kids obviously, and have some discipline and social issues. Big family name makes them intimidating for normies and a meal ticket for the unsavory. These kids need real friends. They decided to act out to get some attention from the parents who then decided to ignore them. “If you’re going to act like a child tantrum, get treated like one.” Ed is perfect for Drama classes, if he were allowed to partake. Can’t decide what Em is great at, hacking perhaps? Amity’s car is an inheritance from the only family to treat her as such Twins aside, even if she’s too young to remember it. She only remembers that she has feelings surrounding the car. All three of them were pretty impressed with Luz for standing up to them, calling them out on their shit, and not giving a crap about their family name. Being treated like a normal person is pretty weird. Can we get her to do that again?

Amity tried dating Boscha once, didn’t work out very well. Boscha is still hurting over Amity’s comment of “I’d rather go date the new weird kid (Luz) than go back to you.” It’s one of the reasons she goes after Luz. She has that kind of Bud personality from Spider Man, feels lesser and so acts out so much. 

“Wow, this new Witch is amazing. Not as cool as the original Witch.”

“What is it with the Witch with you?”

“Oh, she’s a hero. Looks out for the city and the little guy. She inspires me. Makes me want to be a bigger person. *sees Luz* What’s up Luz-er?”

~

And that’s what I got right now. I know there was more, but it’s lost to the void right now. Might come back later, maybe not. Lemme know what you think.

............

DAMN you weren’t lying when you said you had an info-dump this is *chefs kiss* you got me intrigued now

[darwin-xf]

Bedside Manner . 9

So this is new. But in the middle. To start from the start click here at A03

She was chilly. Cold actually, naked too, her flesh goosed, the air conditioner still chugging away, the bedspread cast aside. Gently, she disentangled from her sleeping partner, lifting his arm slung heavily over her ribs, and slipped out of bed. He resettled, but didn’t stir.

Thirsty.

Before ducking into the bathroom, she copped a gaze at snoozing Mulder in the bed. Her bed. Mid- morning sun filtering in through the windows, him bellied down on the mattress, smooth back and spindly calves protruding from the sheet that covered his glutes, his thighs. His strong stubbled jaw. Breathing deeply.

And yeah. Mulder’s recent confession aside, she wasn’t sure she should hold out any hope of ever being the pretty one in this relationship. Mulder.

Thirsty. She filled a glass with cold water from the tap and tipped it toward her lips, intent on draining it down. She caught herself, though, and spilled it down the sink. Between the hurricane and the resultant power situation, no telling what type of beasties might’ve worked their way into the water table, sea monsters aside.

Instead she grabbed a fresh washcloth off the shelf, stopped the sink and cranked the spigots full blast, holding her face over the water, breathing steam. She dipped her cupped hands and scrubbed her neck and her cheeks, her chin and nose, eyes and her forehead. She rose, and was surprised by her reflection in the glass. She smiled ruefully, though not without mirth, shaking her head.

After Mulder had turned up in her room on an otherwise ordinary night and dazzled her with his... rather extraordinary skill set? They could have walked things back. That would have been the time. Shattered as she was, there had been some privacy in the dark. A sense of remove. The fiction that he was just helping her with her cramps. Returning a favor, as it were.

After she came, she rolled away from him and hugged her knees. Remembered how to breathe. And whatever doubts and fears she’d batted away while in the clutches of her outsized need for him and the resultant hormonal surge returned all at once. Then she was rocking, swaying side to side, praying she’d come back to herself. Anxious to recover a sliver of dignity. She wished he would take the hint and go away.

She could feel him behind her, waffling...waiting... shifting on the bed. Go away, she thought. But she did not say.

A few heartbeats later, he fitted his bare chest to her back, stilling her body. When his arm came around and gathered her closer, her mind also came to rest. Then he nuzzled his face in her hair— Mulder—and she, spent and depleted, surrendered to sleep.

Still, she’s pretty sure that from there, they could have tucked that moment into some forgotten pocket and moved on. Plausibly.

Recovered their practiced dynamic, established and perfected over the course of dozens then hundreds then thousands of days and nights, filled with slideshows and jokes and car rides and quarrels and flights, interrogations and meals and phone calls and chases and meetings and fights. It was what they did. It was who they were. It was what she knew.

It was a fine thing they built over time, a beautiful jalopy of a partnership. Every week they kicked the tires, hopped in and away they went.

But it could be fragile. It was threatened, she knew on some elemental level, by whatever Mulder was working out with Diana Fowley. She planned to stay as long as she could.

But this. This. This could be even more destabilizing. Which is why she knew he’d never touch her. Even after she’d absorbed the fact that he absolutely wanted to.

Instead he’d lean into his porn and his pickup basketball, his burritos and geek talk with the Gunmen, his phone sex and his books and his movies and always, his true love, his files. Clearly he found time to pump some iron too, as much as he’d filled out in recent years. He sharpened and hardened his torso, bringing to the fore obscure muscles and tendons and veins she’d long forgotten the names of. She’d look him over coolly in the car or office, then look them up later in Gray’s Anatomy, then get herself off with the tome open next to her on her bed just like she did when she was fourteen. As if he needed another way to vex her.

To get him back she whetted and sculpted her own physique, got a better stylist who vamped and fussed over her hair until it curled just so, till she imagined that it whispered to him through the dark. After her cancer, after Jerse, with that chip in her neck and a new fierce determination, she learned to carry her losses, afraid but brave, with one true mission, and she became a new thing. So she took to wearing lower waisted pants and black bras and tighter shirts, maybe releasing an extra button to show him the hollows above her collarbones, her sternum and her throat. She gave as good as she got.

As iron sharpens iron, as it says in that oldest of books, so one person sharpens another. That was what they did. They were two flinty bodies and mismatched minds grinding and colliding, sparking and sliding, until they were each honed to the finest edge. Which they then turned against any who dared come at them.

It was all for their work. He needed it for his reasons. She needed it for her own. She loved it. Her work was the one thing she was finally getting right.

Which was funny, because by any rubric she herself might have once applied, her career was orbiting in irreversible retrograde. The types benchmarks, promotions, and accolades she might once have sought after and craved were all but lost to her. To dutifully, dumbly climb those rungs was all she had known to do, before. Before she’d met him, before she’d been drawn in to his nebulous, hazy, imbroglio world. But there, in a place she once hadn’t ever dreamed of or dared believe in, she was thriving.

Her family didn’t understand, that she knew. Within the Bureau, she'd been written off. And the funny thing was, she didn’t care. He didn’t care either, and that was the beauty of him, the quality she’d found so perplexing and attractive when they’d met. Even when it pained her, the way he led with his chin.

These days at work she’d catch wind of some drabble of gossip, or be faced with another agent, driven by petty jealousy, ignorance, or worse, who’d dismiss and demean them, and it blew right by her. Not because she’d adopted his mindset, but because she knew now what he knew then: They were scared. And they were wrong.

What she and Mulder did, what he had taught her to do, the most important tool in their remarkable combined skillset, was to not know.

Instead, to listen. To people, to situations, to evidence. Instead, to ask questions, then better questions, then even better questions, and of the right people, no matter how impertinent. With him, she was willing to forget what she knew, and open to what was really happening. And then open some more. And it was terrifying. But she did it anyway.

Every day she watched cops and scientists and doctors close themselves off. Cleave to their comfortable stories that allowed them to keep it all together. But Mulder had helped her understand something she would have once claimed to know: science is not about certainty. In fact, it’s the lack of certainty that grounds it, and the most valuable journey a scientist could undertake is to find a way of unlearning how to think about something.

Their stalemate gifted her weekends to herself, and she, monkish, holed up with her books and papers from all corners of science and strived to make senses of some of what she’d seen, to at least find the gaps between the known and what she knew, to knit the worlds together. It engrossed her completely. She’d found compatriots in the realm of theoretical physics, guys she’d dismissed out of hand when she’d been piloting toward med school, and was in regular communication with several think tanks. These people devoured her and Mulder’s work, and were startingly close to beginning to explain some of what she’d seen. In fact, if Mulder was as determined to undo them as she feared, that would be her next move. Though the prospect grieved her.

She loved him. Of course she did, and had for some time, just for his eyes, God. And his loneliness. And his compassion. And his courage. And his mind alone was like candy to her. And in a lot of important ways he loved her back, and properly. So she accepted this stasis, leaned into it. Learned to love it. He was her ticket to this ride, with his bottomless mind and nose for the unfathomable, and it thrilled her on every possible level.

But he didn’t touch her. And she didn’t touch him. That was how this worked.

When, in the dead of night, after he’d broken this very important rule, the power had returned, she’d pulled on some clothes and stole into the bathroom, splashed water on her face, brushed her teeth with jittery hands. She found her own eyes in the mirror, breathed into her belly and steadied.

“It’s fine,” she said to firmly to herself. She repeated it like a mantra as she prepared to emerge and dismiss him, send him back to his room. It’sfine it’sfine it’sfine it’sfine it’sfine it’sfine it’sfine.

When she felt good and girded, she slid into bed and settled herself. Smoothed the covers around her body and pivoted on her pillow to face him.

And then?

She doesn’t remember changing her mind. Just the feeling of her anxiety washing away. What was it she had been so worried about? It was Mulder one pillow over, feigning sleep. Just Mulder. Her dorky—albeit dashing—partner who used anagrams for pseudonyms, got seasick on ferries, and once asked her to autopsy an elephant. His ties were hopeless and half the time his socks didn’t match. Mulder.

She must admit, she’s not exactly crystal clear on how, a half hour later, she’d wound up stretched out on the bed next to him, shirtless. While he lay back on two pillows, his fingers laced behind his neck, eyes slivered to slits and raking over her body, his stiff cock in her hand, a revelation.

She loved how quiet he was in bed, his slow hands and his eyes on her, stalking her, strafing her, taking her in. She assumed he’d be as loquacious and frenetic in the sack as out of it. Not so. Mulder, surprising her again. If she had any inkling it would shut him up, she would have made a grab for his package years before.

As she worked his cock slowly with a twist of her wrist, she looked up his long brown body, his stomach undulating, his jaw clenched. And when her fist slipped over his head, he’d gasp. He reached down toward her. She thought he was going for her tits, as one would. Instead, being Mulder, he snagged her foot. Held it snug between his palms and brought it to his lips, kissed her instep, her arch. Nipped at the tips of her toes, hard enough to get her attention.

When she looked up, he captured her eyes with hers, locked her in like a tractor beam. A playful smile on his lips. She met his gaze and, held it, held it, held it... until it was too much. She blinked first, looked away.

He smiled bigger, hitched his hips and let his eyes drift shut. Closed his lips around her big toe and sucked. And some floor she’d not even realized she’d been standing on her whole life dropped out from under her.

Whoo-boy.

She was parched. She dried her face with a towel and crept back into the room. She opened the half fridge hoping for water, willing to pay the minibar markup, only to find it stocked with wine beer and soda. Chocolates and sports drinks. Blech.

Needing the real deal, the h2o, she pulled on a clean tee and some joggers, then paused. She didn’t want to rouse him, rooting around for her usual armor.

Because as the light rose in the room she could see he was well and truly out, not fake sleeping like before. Powered down, his breathing full and even, brainwaves oscillating slower and slower, La plus que lente, destination delta, lost to the world. Mulder. She was glad he was resting so deeply. He wasn’t easy to subdue. And they had, after all, kept each other up until the sky, so inky black, had turned perfectly blue.

Whoops.

As a kid she liked to imagine she’d captured a wild animal, a meerkat or panther or linx. In her pretend world she’d charm it and tame it and train it and feed it until it wanted to stay, then hide it in her room all day while she went to school. So when she got home they could play.

This was like that.

The motel was nearly deserted, and her plan was to score some cold clean water, slip back into the room, and catch a bit more sleep herself. Checking her wallet, the smallest bill she had was a ten. She folded it into her pocket, slid her keycard in beside it, and slipped out the door, making sure it shut softly behind her.

Outside, fresh air washed over her, sun bathed her face. Mulder had been spot on, the dank thick air had cleared out overnight. And the sky that had been clogged with low gray clouds for days was high and bright blue. She cased the parking lot out of habit; felt for her Glock at her back.

But she wouldn’t need it. Their rented taurus was now the lonely occupant of the sad parking lot, the lines cracked and faded, the asphalt once black baked and bleached to blue.

Everyone else had checked out and bugged out, she supposed, even the two who’d been up to no good in the next room the night before. All the better. She took a big gulp of air and steadied herself, set a course for the office to get some change.

The door was open, the little bell twinkling as she entered. But no one was manning the ship. She pressed the buzzer, stuffed her hands in her pockets, wandered over to the rack of pamphlets advertising local tourist traps. Mulder must have read every one when he came over here to scare her up some Advil, her hero for real, voracious as he is. God, Mulder. Maybe she would do something touristy with him. She eyed their options.

Wine tasting was the most adult activity. But all wrong for them. Mulder wasn’t a wine kinda guy, and she wasn’t all that curious about the fruits of the vineyards of central Florida.

She remembered Daniel raising up a glass of Burgandy or Shiraz and sniffing deeply, then offering it to her to do the same. He’d be holding forth over dinner on the finer points of wine. Or the history of photography. Or, most boringly of all, Jazz. She remembers feeling like she should learn to like these things, too. Making herself listen attentively, ask questions. And it shamed her, how she just wanted to catch a buzz and get him alone.

Mulder had never made her feel like that, not once, like she needed to try to be someone she wasn’t. They were peers, friends and foes, two kids struggling and scrapping in a sandbox, then coming together to build something intricate and fine.

Of all the touristy stuff, she found herself drawn to the go carts. Mulder’s gangly legs tucked into a little car, knees akimbo, his gaudy tie flying over his shoulder as he rounded a curve. Could be fun.

Then again, they should probably just head to the airport, let things normalize a little. Settle down. They’d passed up a half dozen chances to pump the brakes the night before, but it needed to be done. They had both agreed at some sober moment during the most interminable unlikely lovely complicated evening she’d ever spent with her partner, that they would need to reassess in the morning.

A man came into the office from the back door.

“Hello there. You must be room nine.”

“Yes,” she said. “Hello.”

“Sorry for the wait. My son’s home sick from school today. And my wife’s over in Sugarmill checking on her mom, after the storm. He’s only six so he needs some TLC. Double duty.”

“You didn’t leave him alone?”

“Oh no. My dad’s with him. They both love themselves some Spongebob.”

Scully smiled.

“How are you feeling, by the way, Miss? Your partner was concerned. Had me scare up some Advil.”

“Oh, that was you. Thank you for that. I’m fine, though.” “And your partner? He asked my wife about a doctor?” “He’s okay too. We’re both well. Thank you.” “Checking out?”

“No, actually,” Scully hadn’t even thought about calling the airport yet. They both needed badly to rest. “We’ll need the rooms one more night.”

“Very good. We’ll put you down for another night,” he said, taking a pencil to the tidy registry book in front of him. “Not like we’re busy. Storm scared away all the tourists. For a minute, at least. You two must be looking for those idiots who robbed the bank.”

Scully nodded.

“We appreciate what you do. If it wasn’t on the government, I’d comp your rooms. I don’t advertise it, but Elmer’s my cousin.”

“Really?” Scully said, shifting gears slightly. “Elmer Santiago Smith?” “Yep. Blacksheep to his bones. We’re good people, for the most part.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Scully said. She noticed the man for the first time really. Big guy with a tidy beard. Solid.

“I even gave him a job last year when he got out of prison. A-gain. Fixing things, sweeping up. That didn’t last long. He could work, Elmer, he’s always been great with cars. But work’s just never been his thing. He’s a lazy no account freeloader. But he’s harmless for the most part.”

This was true. He’d only been nabbed for bumbled burglaries, petty theft. Drug possession. “I don’t know the other guy.”

“Robert Bacon Blight,” Scully said. “He’s from Orlando. They met in prison. He’s much less harmless.” His rap sheet was more colorful: domestic violence, armed robbery, possession with intent, sexual assault.

“That’s Elmer,” he said, shaking his head. “Always falling in with the wrong crowd.” “Has anyone talked to you?” Scully said, perking up some more. “Mister?...”

“Smith. Bertram Smith. Bertie.”

“Do you have any idea where Elmer might be, Mr. Smith?”

“If I did I’da called y’all already. I doubt I’d be much help. Haven’t seen him since he quit.”

“All the same,” Scully said. “I’m going to get someone over here to interview you and your wife, in case anything comes to mind.”

“We’d be happy to help. Why not you though?”

“Oh, we’re off duty, Agent Mulder and I. We were down here on another case. Just helped out yesterday with the pursuit. We’re in a holding pattern until we can catch a flight back to DC.”

She felt a little self-conscious, now snapped back into professional mode but wearing a flimsy tank top, braless no less, and some joggers.

“Hey,” he said, peering closely at her. “You delivered that baby. I saw your picture on the news last night. They interviewed the mom. She seemed like a whack job, talking about a sea monster, of all things. Still,“ he said, shaking his head, “it was a sweet story.”

Scully nodded grimly. Oh no. The FBI was getting better at public relations. They wanted to take the focus off flubbing the bank robbery thing by pushing some human interest.

Now she had even more reasons to want to get out of Florida.

“They sure do keep y’all busy. Makes me feel a little better about that big Federal tax bite.”

“As I mentioned, we’re off duty. If you see Elmer and this other guy, Robert Bacon Blight, don’t confront them. Just call 911 and let us handle it.”

“Yes Ma’am. But I don’t expect to see him. On the news they said they were looking in Georgia. Makes sense. He’s got people there too. Anything else I can help you with?”

She flashed to Mulder asking her the same question the night before. Then shook it out of her head. “There is, actually,” Scully said. “I need change. For the vending machine.”

“Sure thing.”

He dished out ten ones and handed her back her ten spot.

She quirked her eyebrow at him.

“Drinks and snacks on the house for FBI agents who deliver babies and have to bother themselves looking for my dumbass cousin Elmer, besides,” he said, winking at her.

“Thank you, Mr. Smith. Bertie. I hope your son feels better.”

She was back out the door, and around the side of the motel, thinking only of water. She fed the limp dollars into the slot and bought three bottles, downed one of them on the spot. As she turned to head back to her room, a bottle in each hand, something caught her eye. A flash of chrome in the bright sun. It had come from a nearby abandoned barn.

She walked toward it, crossing the country road that ran behind the property and shielding her eyes, peering into the shaded structure.

She stepped inside. And there, behind a pile of stacked haybales, amidst the stifling air and dust, slatted with sunlight slashing through the crumbling roof, was a car.

An El Camino, to be exact. Red with a black racing stripe. The very same car that had spit gravel in her face the day before.

Bertie’s dumbass cousin Elmer had come home to roost.

They were here.

[wisteria-lodge]

burnt snake primary + bird secondary [model?]

Hi! I have been aware of the Sorting system for a long time now but I always get stuck in typing myself. I was wondring if you could shed some light on the process.

If we go by what I score at the test, it's usually a tie between Snake and Lion primary (most likely Bird last) and Bird/Badger secondary (most likely Lion last).

Internal primary / Built secondary, I can work with that. 

If we go by the "favorite characters" test then most of them are Snake primary and/or Bird secondary. I also have found that Lion doesn't exactly mess well with me, most character with a Lion anything get on my nerves but that's not a constant.

Fictional lions can be exaggerated in a way that works as a power fantasy for real lions... but I’m mostly just interested to see if the ‘favorite character’ test works out. 

I've also come to realise in real life that i absolutely hate deception or betrayal especially if it comes from someone I trust/close to me. 

I mean... is there anyone who is like ‘yes, I’m totally cool with people I trust betraying me.’ 

I also have an issue with loyalty and honesty both so I can understand why Snake/Lion is tied for my primary. My issue with Snakes is that I don't think I have this "no matter what" support. I bond with people a lot but if they don't treat me right I will push back, I will cry, I will tell them off 

Snakes might have more trouble than Lions when it comes to breaking with people who mistreat them... and they might feel more conflicted and “sticky” afterwards, since being loyal to people is the base of their morality. But they will absolutely do it. 

Think about a Lion changing their mind versus a Bird changing their mind. They both *do* it, but since a Bird has access to all the levels of their system, it’s all very consciously constructed, and they’re used to poking at it - change isn’t usually *that* big of a deal.

But I’m a Lion. If I’m going to change my mind, I need to smacked over my head with the lesson, usually multiple times (although I’m getting better about that...) I’m going to have a mini existential crisis (those things clear out the cobwebs.) And then I’ll be emotionally recalibrated. Snakes are internal primaries just like Lion, so their process is more like that. Dropping people is hard and emotional and sticky, but when they are dropped they are dropped. Badgers, since their *reasons* for whether or not they are responsible for someone are much clearer and more accessible, have an easier time writing people off. 

if I don't get the level of intense I'm looking for I will translate that as "not caring enough" and I'll break up or if that's not possible for whatever reason i'll be miserable.

You certainly want to get Snake loyalty directed at you, and if you don’t get it, you’re miserable. And the fact that something like that would make you miserable... is making me think Snake. This is very Snake-flavored angst.

A huge sourse of pain in my life had been some things that happened with my father that I translated as him probably loving himself more than me. I always see that Snakes stay loyal to their close ones no matter what and I'm like: why would I stay unwavering to someone that hurts me? 

You wouldn’t. You shouldn’t. No one should. 

I didn't abandon my dad when he was sick but I'm pretty sure I was Burned and resnting him 24/7 (sorry for the heavy stuff).

Being a caregiver is INCREDIBLY hard (there’s a reason you can hire people to do it, and they’re payed so well.) Being a caregiver to a family member is even harder, and being a caregiver to a family member who’s hurt you is probably one of the hardest things a human being can do. It’s really, really not unusual at all to resent the sick person, and you should not feel guilty about it. 

You also mention that Snakes understand other Snakes when they put their loved ones first and maybe in real life I do it but I have a huge example of me watching a Snake primary character not cutting off his love interest when she was awful to him from my perspective (emotional manipulation, choosing others before him, rejecting him, generally not loving him) and being LIVID about it.

I guess what I would say to you... is that even though the other primaries show their love differently, it does not mean they love any less intensely. A Badger choosing someone in need instead of you does not mean they are *not* loving you. 

Generally I tend to prefer couples that have things in common and two Snake primaries together will most likely be my favorites, most of my ships are like that.

There is something very attractive about two Snakes in a relationship together, but remember that all these different primaries and secondaries do balance each other out. I tend to think that *exact* house matches make unfortunate romantic pairings. They re-enforce each other’s negative traits, get too extreme, and sometimes get stuck because they’ve only got the one way to approach, and solve a problem. 

I have been very adamant about my friends not giving manipulative people the 'get go' to do whatever they want with them because I can see the indiference and the manipulation. 

Manipulation is a problem solving strategy, indifference is a motive. They’re not the same thing.

I get mad when they don't listen to me eventhough I turn out to be right. Most of the times I have cut off people from my life is the reason I said preiously, that I don't think they give as much support as I do to them and they end up after a point on my "I don't need you in my life anymore" list.

I’m starting to think you’re a Burnt Snake. You are clearly Snake, and you want to distribute Snake loyalty to the people around you. But it doesn’t feel safe (probably because of baggage left over from your dad - he hurt you, so you’re scared that they will too.) So you’re hyper sensitive to anything that doesn’t feel like the most extreme devotion. And just like a Burnt Badger rejecting people preemptively, before they have a chance to fail them... you’re rejecting people because it hurts less than them rejecting you. 

I think Lion gets up high because I can understand the need for following a 'cause' but in my case it's not exactly a moral cause, it's simply that I always wanted to be an actress and generally expand my knowledge on cinema/TV/theatre so I studied it. I wanted to be succesful in my job and get better and better and better. I am interested in prizes but only if they come as a recognition of my skillset (if that makes sense). I always thought that people were my priority even though the goal of achieving my dreams was always guiding me but as I grow older I'm not so sure anymore. I just know I couldn't be walking through life all alone.

This sounds like a Snake with no people (who wants people.) Without people, Snakes take care of themselves, and that often look likes job, money, prizes. (It’s where the old stereotype of “ambitious” comes from.) 

When I was thinking about what I wanted to do for a living, I wanted something that would wake me up in the mornings and make me feel that my time at a job won't be wasted. 

As do we all.

But I also needed for everything to be a real job, not charity for the "cause" eventhough I have worked A LOT just because I love doing some things and not ony to get paid. But I guess these things are fueled by my love and I don't see them as "profession" per se. 

People? Until in we live in the Star Trek socialist utopia, you need to be paid for the work you do. Even if you’re working for a charity and even if you’re doing something you love. 

Another pointer towards Lion is that I do identify with the thinking of systems and how they play a part in people's lives and how they should be changed. But I'm not sure I always did this. I think I've been Burned as well at some point (not sure if I still am) so that makes things difficult.

Yeah, you’re Burned. And sometimes Burnt Snakes will latch onto a Lion Cause, the same way that Burnt Lions will latch onto an individual’s morality. That’s actually pretty common.

The secondary thing is pretty simple imo, I think I'm a Bird but I might be Burned? I don't know if that "useful/fun" situation makes a difference for me because I always think that whatever I have collected is actually useful to me and if I got new skills, they would be useful to me as well at some point.

I don't know what else to write really, I think it's quite a lot to read already. If you have an inclination about my type I'd like to hear your opinion.

You haven’t talked at all about how you solve problems. Which might relate to burning, or it might not. But if you tend to collect skills and tools, that’s at least a Bird secondary model. <3

[inheritorofmemories-archive]

Andromaquynh Tomb Raider AU

I keep seeing those Indiana Joe fics and Mummy au post for joe/nicky and they are all very nice and cool but you know which galaxy brain idea no one has explored yet? Tomb raider AU for andy/quynh. Luckily I have nothing but time on my hands so strap in.

I re-watched the first tomb raider the other day (yes, the 2001 movie. Yes it’s 20 years old.) and the Croft universe can actually fit pretty well with Andy and Quynh with some tweaks and changes. I’ll preface this post by saying that raiding tombs and any ancient place really is not ethical At All and stealing artifacts shouldn’t happen in any way and the black market for cultural goods is an enormous spider web with ramification all over the world that is actually incredibly nefast to pretty much everything from sciences to culture to human societies and economy (look it up, it’s way bigger than just a stolen vase sold in a small market) so I’ll refer to this AU as Tomb Raider but know that what I really mean is Andy and Quynh protecting ancient sites and relics from companies and museums and the likes.

Go under the cut to read the rest of my detailed idea of what it would look like.

As much as I like the sci-fi and magic elements of the series, I really think a more grounded feel for this AU would fit them better. So no gods or illuminates or magic relics, sorry. Instead, I see this as them being adventurers who decide to put their skillset to good use and protect sites and places and objects and cultures from capitalism, stealing, overexploitation, appropriation and destruction.

Andy is Lara Croft obviously. She’s the daughter of an archeologist who mysteriously died during an excursion and fueled her will to go in the same field as her parent. Because we like complex characters in this house, I want Andy to start by actually raiding and selling from ancient sites at the beginning of her career because she's young and never learned better before she comes up close to the direct consequences of that particular market and she decides she wants no part of it. It allows for an exploration of real-world issues but it also gives her a deeper backstory and a proactive choice in being the character she is because I’m a sucker for the idea that you are not born good but you chose to be. After that, she'll keep the exploring part of her job but instead of stealing relics she’ll find lost places and give the coordinates to scientists. Daytime she uses the fonds of her family to support initiatives to protect places and restore art and goods to their rightful owners, the rest of the time she goes on cool adventures all over the world to get her hands dirty when legal means cannot get it done.

This is where Quynh comes into the picture. She’s one of Andy’s associates but not really they're in love and married. In the series, Croft has numerous allies that help her out either by giving tips or identifying objects, etc... I can totally see Andy going to Quynh for information about a particular site or object and them sticking together for the rest of the adventure and not leaving each other. Or, even funnier, Quynh has her own little business of going in the field to get things done, they run into each other and then keep running together. I really want Quynh to be a marine biologist and environment activist that also has a background in law because I think she deserves the right to legally bankrupt assholes, as a treat. Andy is exploring an underwater temple when she runs into Quynh doing plant analysis right there, they realize the site and the entire ecosystem is endangered by X industrial complex throwing their waste in the water and they bring it down while flirting and then it takes a year of adventures together and Andy who keeps finding excuses to go seek Quynh's counsel before they get together. And then, power couple who by daytime do activist work and advocate for the protection of sites and the environment and who by night dress in black and go sabotage factories, steal info to leak as whistleblowers and give various object and art back to their owners.

As a side plot that (kinda) follows canon, one of their mission goes wrong and Quynh doesn't get out with them, she's missing and they cannot find any trace of her for months/a few years and they think she's dead until Lykon locates her and they find out she's in prison somewhere. They go break her out and there's angst because Quynh believes she was forgotten by them until they talk it out and also deal with the trauma by going to therapy and bringing down the corporation that had Quynh thrown in jail. Power of love and bombs baby. After that they are much more careful but they keep doing it because they believe in the good of their work.

Also, a thing you don’t see really in the movies but is very present in the game series, about half the story if not two-thirds is spent on resolving enigmas and mysteries, not action. Sure Croft knows how to shoot and is a good fighter but the most important part is her brain and knowledge and associate in various fields (and that she seeks the help of, she's not a mary sue she has limits and has people who assist her). She thinks more than she fights and I really want to see that on Andy and Quynh, them thoroughly researching a subject, planing their op, getting info on people, going to recover intel and tools and associates and also using legal means to get things done and only going to the illegal method in last resort, and even then I want to see stealth mission with no big fight like Sudan in the movie rather than going in with a boom. Basically, show how important their brains are to the overall plot.

I also really want to add Lykon to the mix because their dynamic seems really cool from what we've seen in the movie and also from fanon and he deserves nice things okay. So he’s the tech genius that comes in the team a few years later when they're well established but technology starts to evolve and they're not the best at navigating it but Lykon is, he's the best at electrical systems and robots, internet and all the new tech. He'll help them break into places and do recon op. And then they become this tight-knit family of multiple doctorates and scientists and activists that also have a side business no one knows about (except the world knows there are people protecting the environment and cultural goods from destruction and their nickname in news press totally is The Old Guards okay).

And to end it beautifully, Andy Quynh and Lykon are a badass team for 20 years until Lykon decides to have a family so he cannot keep getting in danger and he retires to teach (happy AU, no death) and Andy and Quynh at 40 and some years old stumbles upon Nile who is starting in the field of archeology and art history and they’ll work together, thus passing the torch down to the newest generation. And you can even have a crossover with Indiana Joe and Nicky doing their things in their corner and they met on one mission, Booker can be a forger they hire from time to time to get false papers, all of them can meet and work together to fight Big Bad Guy Merrick, the possibilities are endless really once you get into the Archeological Actions Cinematic Universe (which is a genre on its own apparently).

Maybe one day I'll get to write this who knows, but I really needed to get the idea out of my head so this post shall be enough for the time being. Feel free to write or draw something from this, there's never too much Andy/Quynh content. And also, add to this post! These are just my thoughts and ideas but I would love to hear more if you have them, consider this an open discussion board about this very specific AU that has been living in my head since late summer.

[aion-rsa]

15 Best SNES Platformers Ever

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Platformers have long been an entry point for new gamers. Video games may have greatly expanded in scope over the years and now offer so many different genres and experiences that it’s nearly impossible to keep track of them, but that’s actually a big part of the reason why it’s still so much fun to look back at these timeless games where the main objective was often to simply jump from one place to the next.

There is no console that celebrated the brilliance of the platformer better than the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The SNES may be best known for expanding the adventure and RPG genres, as well as raising a generation’s expectations for video game graphics, but few consoles have come close to rivaling the Super Nintendo’s library of classic platforming titles.

It’s hard to narrow this list down to just 15 games, but from action-based platformers to pure platforming classics, these are the best examples of this timeless genre that the SNES gifted the gaming world. 

15. Jelly Boy 

Putting you in control of a jelly baby (a candy that is popular in the U.K. and surrounding areas), Jelly Boy was only released in Europe when it debuted in 1994. The game has a colorful aesthetic and some unique platforming elements built around the main character’s ability to transform into a myriad of vehicles, tools, and other objects. Those metamorphoses will be familiar to anyone who has played a Wario Land title or Kirby’s Epic Yarn. 

Admittedly, Jelly Boy‘s mechanics can be a little clunky and the controls are deficient compared to some of the later games on this list. Still, you will be hard-pressed to find a more original platformer on the console that isn’t made by Nintendo themselves. You can even play it now via the Nintendo Switch Online service.

14. Demon’s Crest

Released by Capcom in 1994 as the third game featuring the character Firebrand (who debuted in the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series), Demon’s Crest is a forgotten gem in the SNES catalog. It adds some variety to the traditional action-platformer by giving the playable protagonist the ability to fly and shoot fireballs as well as access other upgradeable attacks and maneuvers as their quest rolls along. That feature adds a little Zelda-like adventuring to the mix, and you’ll certainly need those late-game power-ups because this platformer means business.

There are many difficult platformers on this list, but few boast the plethora of boss battles seen in this one. It’s actually similar to Mega Man in terms of its fighting style and jumping requirements, so if you are looking for an alternative to the Blue Bomber that keeps the basics of the genre intact, you’ll have a hard time doing better than Demon’s Crest.  

13. Joe & Mac

Joe & Mac is honestly a fairly basic platformer for its era. What gets it onto this list of the best games in that genre, though, is the creativity and execution of its setting.

The game sees you control two different cavemen who rely on basic prehistoric items such as fire, bats, bones, etc. The bosses are pretty cool (dinosaurs are fun for all ages) and the controls hold up well enough that you won’t ever feel like you have to force the avatar into doing something that the interface simply won’t allow for. The game spawned a sequel that was also released on SNES, but the original is unique enough to get the nod here. 

12. Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Despite what the title may suggest, Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is actually the third game in the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series. Like the previous games, this classic sees you battle various monsters and bosses that fit the setting nicely. Although the game is maybe a little too action-heavy to get the nod over the SNES’ best platformers, it uses its platforming elements to elevate the entire experience. 

The difficulty is insanely high and the sheer amount of sprites on screen at once can lead to some lag that only adds to the frustrations of this arduous journey, but the game has a way of keeping things light and humorous when the frustration sets in. How many other games see the protagonist stripped of their armor, quite literally, when he takes too many hits?

11. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!

The third installment in the beloved Donkey Kong Country trilogy certainly isn’t hated by many, but it is usually viewed as a step down from the first two games. Whether that has to do with a change in composer for the soundtrack, the inability to play as Donkey or Diddy, or the fact it was released after the Nintendo 64 was on the market, the title’s sometimes mixed reputation often prevents it from being appreciated as a divine platforming experience. 

The environments and storytelling in this game are well-executed. If you’re observant, you may even notice that the developers were trying to say something about the sad state of ape habitats and pollution in the wild. Even if you didn’t dive too deep into that surprising bit of social commentary, you’ll likely find that the platforming in this one remains top-notch and that the overall experience remains severely underrated. 

10. DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure 

As the only game on this list that wasn’t initially released outside of Japan, many gamers may not know that DoReMi Fantasy is a whimsical experience that features some of the key elements of Mario and Kirby’s best adventures in terms of gameplay and graphics. Starring a young child whose objective is to reclaim music for the forest, DoReMi utilizes some clever puzzles that may not be unusual for the platformer genre but certainly add to the fun.

The game got a Virtual Console release in North America in 2008, but that’s sadly the best chance many gamers have had in recent years to take a chance on this title. It’s a great example of how people should be more open to experiencing games that weren’t localized the first time around.

9. Donkey Kong Country

Perhaps the most famous game starring Nintendo’s lovable ape, the original Donkey Kong Country was Rare’s first big title for the SNES and practically started their decade-plus long relationship as a second-party developer with the Big N. Tasked with showing off off the console’s pre-rendered graphics system, the crew from Britain proved to be up to the task. Honestly, this game still looks halfway decent in 2021. 

While the actual platforming is not as good as the Super Mario games on the SNES, it offered a different flavor of jumping that is still very much appreciated. The “weight” of Donkey Kong and Diddy means that the platforming is less flighty than in Super Mario games, and the rideable animal buddies you encounter along the way add a little flair to the experience. 

8. ActRaiser

As a game that serves as both an action-platformer and a God simulator, this underrated and forgotten gem from Enix and developer Quintet showed off the visual and audio capabilities of the SNES in the early days of the console. You play as the “Master” who is tasked with building towns around the world and fending off the evils that threaten them. It’s hard to juggle two completely different genres like that, but ActRaiser finds a great balance. 

The game was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 but has otherwise been paid little attention in the years since its release. That’s unfortunate because there aren’t many games from 30 years ago that provide this much depth and versatility. Both parts of the experience are extremely solid in their own right, and together add up to become something truly special. 

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7. Kirby Super Star

Even the most ardent Kirby fans would probably agree that the franchise can get a little stale at times. There are only so many ways Kirby can suck an enemy up, transform his powers to match theirs, and ultimately defeat King Dedede. That’s why Kirby Super Star is still arguably the best game that the pink cutie pie has ever starred in.

Featuring eight different games within the game, the genre-mixing in this one is really off the charts. There are racing elements, adventure tones, and shooting sequences amongst the different sections of the playthrough. The experience was so beloved that it was eventually remade for the Nintendo DS as Kirby Super Star Deluxe. There is something for everyone in this package, and it shows the best parts of Kirby’s history.

6. Mega Man X

The original run of NES Mega Man titles are arguably still more famous than all of the others, but Mega Man X just has more of what makes those games great. It retains the eight bosses and weapon upgrades that can be completed/acquired in whatever order the player chooses, and it even has that same incredible soundtrack that the Blue Bomber’s adventures are always famous for.

Mega Man X‘s graphical upgrades admittedly take some of that eight-bit nostalgia out of the experience, but the game ultimately makes up for it by offering new gameplay experiences. Jumping on walls and acquiring upgrades to defensive maneuvers gives Mega Man an even more badass skillset, and the game generally does an excellent job of emphasizing the “platforming” parts of its action-platformer mix.

5. Super Castlevania 4

Super Castlevania 4 is actually a kind of soft remake of the original game, and the developers at Konami did a great job of making that game more digestible for newcomers while keeping all of the iconic elements from the classic NES title.

The Castlevania basics are all here (you still control Simon Belmont, equipped with his famous whip and ax, and battle through the game’s 11 stages before reaching Dracula), but an ideal mix of combat and platforming makes this one of the most irreplaceable platformers in the SNES catalog. It’s still an airtight action-platformer experience in 2021. 

4. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

The second game in the DKC trilogy took all of the best parts of the first title and refined them to create a truly unique platforming game that was a lot more than fancy graphics (a reputation the original game has had a hard time shaking). Diddy’s Kong Quest expanded upon the game design that fans loved while keeping the jungle hijinx, masterful soundtrack, and weighted platforming intact. 

That last part is what truly separates the middle installment of this franchise from the other two. Many people have said that these games were sometimes more style than substance, but after playing through the myriad of environments on display in DKC 2, it becomes clear that this title has endured over the years because its tight mechanics are executed at a high level.  

3. Super Metroid

If this list were just a ranking of 2D games or if it encapsulated the entire SNES library regardless of genre, Super Metroid would most likely take the top spot. Alas, this icon of game design settles in the third spot because it isn’t the best example of a “pure platformer.” It’s more of an action/adventure affair, though the game’s platforming elements are still as satisfying now as they were in the 1990s.

What separates this game from so many that have tried to emulate it in the nearly three decades since release is that every ability upgrade and every part of the map fits together with nearly flawless foresight and execution. It’s never a hassle to re-explore a section that you’ve already seen. The game has a masterful flow that is incredibly modern and perhaps even more popular today because of the prominence of this design style on the indie game scene. 

2. Super Mario World

With its flawless controls, colorful sprites, cheerful soundtrack, and ageless platforming, Super Mario World is the title that all other 2D games in the genre are still compared to. The extra graphical power of the SNES gave Nintendo the opportunity to expand upon Super Mario Bros. 3‘s best ideas while exploring new concepts that simply weren’t possible before.

That is why this game remains so playable. Super Mario World combines the most enjoyable elements of the NES Super Mario classics and then elevates them to fully realize the world that Miyamoto imagined when this basic concept was created. It still doesn’t make sense to have a plumber jumping on top of turtles and occasionally getting lost inside of a house full of ghosts (those damn Boo mansions still haunt me), but when you combine this much creativity into one package, you have no choice but to admit how special it all is.

1. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Shigeru Miyamoto and his team knew that it was futile to try and surpass Super Mario World simply by emulating it. So when developing the sequel, they made the decision to craft an entirely different type of platformer in which Mario isn’t even the main protagonist. The concept was bold, but the execution needed to be flawless if the game was ever going to be more than another disappointing follow-up. 

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It’s safe to say Yoshi’s Island exceeded all expectations. Putting Yoshi at the forefront of a platformer that included mini-games, evasion, puzzle-solving, item collection, and the most timeless color palette in gaming history was brilliance personified. Yoshi’s Island is not as famous as its older sibling, but its daring creativity and irreplaceable charm have inspired many to argue that it is the better game in retrospect. Whatever your opinion is, the fun and escapism of the green dinosaur’s finest hour (as well as the horrors of Baby Mario’s screams) will be remembered until the end of gaming.

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[365daysofsasuhina]

[ @sasuhinabigflash2020​​ || Day Eleven: Total Silence ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Hyūga Hiashi ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Divine Light ] [ AO3 Link ]

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Noise, noise, there’s always only noise.

No matter how many times she tells her father she hates these social gatherings and publicity preening parties, he still strong-arms her into coming. You’d think as an adult herself now she’d finally find the guts to tell him no, but...well, a childhood and teenage years of a controlling parent that forced obedience through a constant threat of removing what you hold dear birthed a fear of that power still lingering after maturity.

...or so she tells herself.

Hinata Hyūga knows she’s mostly just a pushover no matter who it is she’s dealing with. Whether it’s her father, or her cousin, or even her little sister. Making waves and starting arguments just...isn’t in her skillset.

Hence why, more often than not, she ends up at her father’s obnoxious gatherings. His business in the medical technology industry means rubbing all the right elbows. And while Hinata’s choice to pursue journalism isn’t exactly in line with his expectations or standards, he still portrays her in the best light he can...in order to make himself look better.

And through all of that, his company...and its stocks.

For most of her time at these get-togethers, Hinata sticks to the walls, socializing only when necessary and otherwise trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, and evade such interactions in the first place.

But for some reason...tonight is just more than she can handle.

Not only is there music pulsing through speakers, but conversations, laughter, and even some shouting fill the air to a staggering degree. Ugh, she can feel a headache coming on...maybe she’ll just -

“Hinata.”

...wonderful.

Turning to her father, Hinata forces a smile. “Yes?”

“I’ve been talking to a young up-and-comer who would like to speak to you about a possible piece you could write about his company.”

She blinks. “...a piece?”

“Yes, a degree of publicity to help him get things off the ground. Say a few nice words, interview him...that sort of thing.”

Immediately, something in Hinata’s stomach churns. This sounds a lot like a piece of bribery, and that’s the last thing she wants to get herself into. “I...could look into it.”

“He’d like to speak to you now.”

Oh no...no, not now. Not with her head spinning and senses overloading. “I...I’m sorry, I’ve been fighting a headache, and -”

“It will only take a few minutes, Hinata.”

“Could -? Could you give him my email, and I’ll just -”

“No, now.”

The brazen order actually makes her catch herself in a lurch. Her vision is swimming, her skin feels clammy - she has to get out of here, now.

So, without a word, she holds up a hand and just...stumbles forward toward the door.

“Hinata…? Where do you think you’re -?”

For once in her life...she ignores him. With a push, she urges the door open and steps out into the cool air of the city evening. It washes over her like a relieving tide.

But it’s not enough. If she doesn’t move, he’ll just drag her back inside.

So she flees.

Turning to the right, she keeps on down the sidewalk, heels clicking. Thankfully she’s so used to them, even an unsteady gait born of dizziness doesn’t twist her ankles. A few curious passersby give her strange looks, but none make to stop her.

Good.

It’s late enough most other doors are locked and lights out, but by some grace she finds a place alight and open. An old brass handle turns in her hand, letting her into...wherever. At this point, it doesn’t matter. Anywhere is better than there.

Once in, she pushes the portal closed, leaning against it and heaving a weary sigh.

...and then notices something odd.

It’s completely and utterly silent. Such a change from her prior surroundings, her ears begin to ring.

Lifting her head, she takes in the building properly. At first glance, it appears to be nothing more than a second hand or antique shop. The building itself is also old, with crown moulding and rich wooden floors, worn but shining. The smell of old paper permeates the air.

Feeling almost like she’s stepped into another world, Hinata then realizes the door has a glass panel, through which she can be seen. Hefting upright, she moves between rows of shelves to better hide herself from view. And, with nothing else to do, she starts looking through the merchandise.

In truth, it...doesn’t look like much. Random knick knacks, decor, old-fashioned tools and kitchenware. It’s like someone went through every grandmother’s house and looted them, putting whatever they can find into the bins and rows.

It’s...bizarre, and not at all what she expected to find on the same street as the fancy hotel her father almost always rents for his parties. But at least that means it should be one of the last places Hiashi or his goons think to look for her. She walks slowly down the aisle, wondering if something might catch her eye while she’s here.

“...what are you doing?”

Jolting with a gasp, Hinata turns to see she’s no longer alone. At the head of the aisle where she came from, a man about her age eyes her almost suspiciously.

What an odd way to treat a customer, but...well, on second thought, she’s a little overdressed to be shopping for...whatever this stuff is.

“I, um…” How to explain…? “Someone was...following me, so I stepped in. Are...are you open?”

“...yes,” he replies after a pause, clearly weighing her story. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, yes - I’m fine. I’m sure they won’t think to look for me in -” She catches herself, not wanting to be rude. “...here.”

That earns a hint of a snort. “Well...I’m open another half hour, so...stay as long as you like until then.”

“Thank you…” She watches him turn back and vanish from view.

A nagging in the back of her mind sees her follow.

“May I...ask what your store is called? I, um...I m-missed the sign on the way in…”

“Curiosities.”

“...is -? Is that the whole name?”

“Did you expect something more?” he counters, stepping behind a register at the rear of the room.

“I...guess I didn’t know what to expect.”

He leans on his arms, looking her over. “...I find things that are unwanted, and try to find the person who’s meant to want them,” is his cryptic explanation.

“People look for -?” Again she cuts off, realizing she’s...about to be very rude. “...I’m sorry. I’ve, um...I’ve never been to an antique shop before…”

“That’s not exactly what this is, but...a close enough guess.”

Something about his refusal furrows her brow. Is he...hiding something? “How do you find these...curiosities?”

“Most are happenstance. Some I look for specifically. Though those sorts of wares are kept in the back.”

“Because they’re...valuable?”

“To the right people, yes.”

Another pause at his odd reply. “...I should introduce myself,” Hinata then backpedals. “I’m Hinata. Hinata Hyūga.”

“Sasuke Uchiha. And what do you do for a living that’s clearly above the par of a humble shopkeeper?”

His jab makes her go pink. “...I’m, um...I’m a journalist.”

“Hm...you have the air about you. Maybe that’s why you ended up here.”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“It’s Curiosities,” he replies, a grin curling one corner of his mouth. “Only people who are looking for something tend to find their way to my little shop. And journalists are always looking for something. A new story, a new point of intrigue.”

“Well, this...place is rather intriguing,” she agrees, glancing around again.

“One way to put it, yes.”

“As is the man behind the counter.”

His smirk seems to grow, and for a flicker of a moment, as his head tilts, Hinata swears there’s a ruby-red shine to his otherwise dark eyes. “I’d argue that my wares are the true point of interest, but...I can’t deny another’s observations.”

Suddenly, Hinata feels her inner writer coming out. “So...is this a family shop?” she asks casually.

“You could say that. It’s been in the line for quite some time.”

“Anyone else help run it?”

At that, Sasuke seems to hang up for a moment, and an unreadable look passes over his face. “...no, just me.”

“...was that a bad question?”

“No. I...had an elder brother, but...he passed some time ago.”

Shocked sympathy wilts her features. “...I’m so sorry.”

“It’s in the past. Feels like it was centuries ago now, but...well, even old scars can ache.”

She mutes for a long moment. “...seems awfully quiet.”

“Yes, my clientele tends to be...sporadic. Or by appointment.”

“Appointment?”

“People call looking for something in particular, and I...acquire it. We then arrange to meet.”

In spite of herself, Hinata gives a soft laugh. “Sounds suspicious.”

“Any business dealing is, in the right light. But I can assure you, it’s all perfectly legal.” His smile begins to return.

Opening her mouth to speak again, Hinata hesitates as a buzz sounds in the little handbag she’s miraculously kept ahold of. “Oh, sorry...my phone…”

“No apology needed.”

Bringing up her mobile, Hinata grimaces at her father’s name.

“...unwanted conversation?”

“Unwanted lecture,” she sighs, muting it. Guilt and apprehension grow, but...she’ll find some excuse. Her headache is gone, but...well, Hiashi won’t have to know that. “Still, I...should probably be going. It’s getting late, and...I’m doing l-little more than pester you.”

“Pester away. As you said, it’s quiet...a bit of conversation is nice now and again. Perhaps you can do a proper piece about the place another time, since you seem to find it so curious.”

His quip earns a laugh, then a pause. Right...there’s that other piece her father wants her to write.

...she’ll think about that in the morning.

“It was nice to meet you, Sasuke. Um...thanks for letting me hide out in here,” Hinata then offers sheepishly.

“Of course. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting a gown-clad maiden in tonight, but...you’d be surprised what other sorts of characters I end up with in here.”

“You’ve already sold me on the place, you know,” she replies with a smile. “No need to keep whetting my appetite. I’ll be back.”

“Just being thorough,” he replies, giving a wave as she peers out the door, and then trots back the way she came. “...hm…”

With a trill, a feathery figure alights upon a stand that rests atop the counter.

“Yes, yes...she’s gone. Thank you for behaving yourself.”

A bird of gold and auburn plumage blinks vermillion eyes at him, a small comb of fire flickering along her regal head. But as Sasuke gives it fond strokes, it doesn’t burn him.

“Yet...I wonder…” Looking back to the door, he seems to sink into thought. “It’s very rare we get anyone el’tahl in here. Maybe she has some ven buried in her bloodline, hm?”

In response, the phoenix gives another melodic flow of notes.

“You liked her, did you? Well, that’s all the convincing I need. We’ll have to see how deep she manages to dig when she comes back. But for now, time to call it a night.”

With a snap, the lights extinguish, lock bolting shut at the front. In his hand, an orb of revolving fire lights his way through the back door. Here, objects clearly not meant for unenlightened human eyes glow, spin, float, and hum.

“...how deep, indeed.”

     So this is very late because wow my toothache is...unreal. I’m so sorry, guys. It’s also not what I first envisioned but sometimes characters just veer you off course! I was going to have this be vampire-themed but instead we got...this!      Which is...technically another crossover with a work of my own. DL is mostly a medieval-fantasy sort of world, BUT I do have one story in it so far that’s modern. And Sasuke is being directly crossed with one of the characters, but uh...it’d take a lot to explain and possibly spoil things so we’ll just leave the mystery intact xD      Anyway, I’m...totally exhausted and technically still in pain. Might be going to a dentist tomorrow, no idea, so...I dunno when I’ll get more done since I’m still behind. Thank you for your patience - I WILL finish this event one way or another, it just might be delayed because life things, woo. Buuut on that note, I’ll be heading off. Thanks for reading!

[bicon-korra]

Entrapta Week: Free Day

Beast Island Log: Property of Entrapta

Summary: Entrapta logs her daily life on Beast Island and starts to uncover a mystery…

[Written for Entrapta Week - Day 7 (Free Day), 1,700 words, notes in tags]

Beast Island Log: Day 1, Entry 1

My name is Entrapta of Dryl. I was banished from the Horde to Beast Island on Force Captain Catra’s command. Before leaving the Horde, I managed to sneak one of my precious voice recorders with me. I may be a prisoner, but I’m still a scientist, after all! 

When I first heard tales of Beast Island, I imagined this mythical land inhabited by savage creatures. No one, and I mean no one, told me what a treasure trove of First One’s tech this is! The possibilities for transport, shelter, food gathering, you name it, are endless! I don’t know how anyone can dispose of such beautiful equipment! One man’s trash is another’s treasure, I suppose. I just need to figure out how to clean up their data. It looks like most, if not all, the files are corrupted. Should be simple enough.

Beast Island Log: Day 1, Entry 2

I suppose I should introduce myself. I am a princess of Dryl, where I was born and spent most of my life. In a strange turn of events, I joined the Princess Alliance led by Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon and her co-leader Adora-slash-She-Ra. I was left behind in the Fright Zone on a dangerous mission, and that became my new home. The name sounds scary—kind of like Beast Island—but it’s not as bad as it sounds! I was actually pretty happy there. I had friends: Scorpia, Hordak, my dear Emily...Catra was my friend, too. And then she wasn’t. I try not to dwell on it too much. I’m trying to stay positive. These technological monstrosities are my friends now.

Beast Island Log: Day 2, Entry 1

Today, I will try to determine what’s food and what’s not food. I’ve been studying the eating patterns of the creatures that most resemble mammals, if you can call a four-eyed winged primate-looking-thing a mammal. They mainly thrive off of a spiky fruit that grows inside the trees. There’s another creature with razor-sharp claws that digs the fruit out of the trunk to grab them. It only grabs what it needs to and the rest fall to the ground for other creatures to eat. Fascinating.

Beast Island Log: Day 2, Entry 2

I extracted the juice from the fruit. If it was poisonous, I figured my forest-dwelling friends wouldn’t have survived this long. Boy, was it tough to peel! I’m going to name it scorpion fruit because of the stinger-shaped spikes on its skin. Earlier I put a drop on my wrist to test for an allergic reaction. There was no reaction, so then I put a drop on my tongue and waited for one hour. So far I feel fine. It didn’t taste bitter either. I’m going to try two drops next time, then three. 

Beast Island Log: Day 2, Entry 3

My three-drop feast of scorpion fruit has made my stomach just as ravenous as some of these creatures. I’m going to take a small bite now and wait thirty minutes. I drank enough water (thank the First Ones there’s fresh water here!) to purge if I need to. There may be food yet!

Beast Island Log: Day 2, Entry 4

I’m on my second scorpion fruit and nothing has tasted better.

Beast Island Log: Day 3, Entry 1

I managed to scrape some parts together to make a small radio. Problem is, I can’t find the right wires to make my antenna. The bigger problem is these corrupted files. To fix them, I’ll need to charge these machines and most of them are hanging by a thread. Still, they’ve managed to stay alive this long, poor things.

Beast Island Log: Day 3, Entry 2

I discovered another edible root. It’s very tough and stringy, but I found boiling it made it more edible and savory in general. I miss dessert, especially tiny ones.

Beast Island Log: Day 3, Entry 3

Day three on Beast Island, and I’m in a strange state of peace. Of course I miss my friends and my lab. But here? Here I have the opportunity to learn an entirely new skillset. A wilderness explorer, imagine that! Hordak always said that my optimism was somewhat unnatural, but I never knew what he meant until now. I probably have Scorpia to thank for that. She’s the most positive person I know. If only she could see me now. Friends, if you’re listening, I’m going to be okay! Everything will be okay.

Beast Island Log: Day 4, Entry 1

I ventured deeper into the forest to find food that isn’t berries and roots. It’s hard to describe, but I felt a slight vibration coming from the ground. If I close my eyes and listen, it’s almost as if there’s a humming sound all around. Perhaps the area is magnetized? I want to go further in, but I don’t think my forest friends would like that.

Beast Island Log: Day 4, Entry 2

As I suspected, some of these creatures are not very friendly! I came across a small nest near the foot of a tree. I wonder if it fell from the branches. It had small blue eggs with red speckles, similar to bird eggs. I was tempted to hold one, just to get a sense of its weight, until I saw what I presume was its mother. As expected, she saw me as a threat and flew towards me, squawking like mad. I managed to run fast enough into the bushes where she couldn’t reach me. I realized that my body does not handle cardio well. Exercise is not my forte, but I’ll have to add that to my list of survival skills. I’m famished now, so until next time!

Beast Island Log: Day 5, Entry 1

I made a new friend today! As in, actually made one. Her name is Tiny Emily. She’s a cute little thing, the size of my fist. She rolls around while I’m sleeping and alarms if she senses any creatures that come close. These woods can get scary at night, so now I have a protector. 

Beast Island Log: Day 6, Entry 1

Today Tiny Emily and I explored one of the marshes just outside the giant scorpion fruit tree. There was some sort of hut, mostly branches and leaves, that something had made. I need to do more exploring.

Day 6, Entry 2

There is definitely a buzzing sound coming from the island’s center. I know because Tiny Emily and I have been marking the perimeter and listening very closely. I wish I had equipment that could help detect the sound wave patterns. I could make one; I just need the right parts and the power. Well, that’s why I have ears! Sometimes you don’t need fancy tech. Sometimes.

Beast Island Log: Day 6, Entry 3

Today was our first rainy day. The first thing we did was take cover under the husk of an old battle tank. I’ve learned to treat every element as potentially dangerous. We determined that the rainwater is safe, so we’re safe. The battle tank was also a fortuitous find. It helps block out water and wind and offers protection from predators.

Day 6, yes 6. Entry 3? 4?

Remember when I said the battle tank was safe? Well, I’m afraid I spoke too soon. The metal is very rusty and corroded and a piece of it fell when the storm outside picked up. We’ll have to seek shelter elsewhere since these machines aren’t structurally sound. Perhaps the hut we found? It looked sturdy enough. I’m very nervous to leave the junkyard in favor of the forest. I find that I don’t do well with bugs and mud. Oh well! There’s always danger in exploration.

Beast Island Log: Day 7

We had a close call today. Tiny Emily rolled down a hill and nearly fell into the river! Though we did make another important discovery. We found a spear near the water. The dexterity and attention to detail needed to craft such a tool...Could we still be dealing with some sort of animal? If something could make this weapon, I’m not sure I want to find out.

Day 7, Entry 2

We found another spear. The pointy end was charred, like it was used to cook food. We found a nest of grub nearby, so perhaps that’s why. We’re not talking about an animal anymore, not even close. 

Day 8

I’m not alone on this island.

Beast Island Log: Day 8. 9? Entry 1

We circled the areas where we found the hut and the spears and found an abandoned campfire. No traces of footprints. I would normally never say this, being a practical scientist, but it’s as if we’re tracking a ghost.

Day 10

It has been ten days on Beast Island. I know I just got here, but something inside me is itching to explore the forest, as if it has all the answers I need. I won’t lie. I am frightened. Tiny Emily has been chirping away these past two nights. This might actually be the first night where I feel far away from home. 

Beast Island Log: Day 30, I think. Entry 1

I’m afraid I’ve been a very bad scientist. This is the longest break I’ve taken from creating my logs, probably ever! Whoever made the hut and the spear is nowhere to be found. Me and Tiny Emily have searched everywhere. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with finding them. Maybe it’s someone like me who was sent here. Maybe they came here on their own. To explore. Or to escape. I’ve thought of every possible scenario as to why this person would want to be on this island and I cannot find a single reasonable answer. I don’t know if people were truly made to be alone. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe that’s my problem...

I’m going to keep exploring. I’m going to find whatever is out there and share with them what I know about how to survive on this island. And maybe, together, things will be okay. It’s dinnertime. Signing off.

[WARNING: LOW BATTERY!!]

[science-lings]

Peter and Tony bio dad au 👀👀👀

okay I got multiple for this one so get ready for a big batch of headcanons

-Tony never meant to become a dad, never really wanted to be one but when Mary and Richard died in a ‘plane crash’ Peter was given to him. 

-He had never loved something or someone so fast 

-His rules to parenting are directly opposing how Howard treated him and are based on how the Jarvis’ raised him. Example: He would remind Peter daily of how much he loved him and make sure to call at least twice a day when he had to be gone just so Peter could hear his voice. 

- Whenever Tony has to be gone for some stark industries thing, Peter was babysat by his aunt and uncle, even though they were on Richards side, they still loved him and tolerated his dad (they eventually got used to Tony and realized how far he would go to protect the kid) 

-Tony tried his best to let Peter have a normal life, he went to public school under a different last name (Parker) and didn’t just give him whatever he wanted but gave him the tools he needed whenever he got a new interest. Cue approx. a billion legos.

-Then, when Peter was about 7-8, His dad was kidnapped for three months. Also cue Obie. Obadiah was around Tony all of his kid’s life but something was always off. Obie always acted friendly and nice but only saw Tony and his son as a tool to get him where he wanted. 

-While Tony was in Afganistan, Peter had to be passed around between people who could protect him after the first assassination attempt orchestrated by Obie. He didn’t want anyone in the way, even if they were a child. 

-The first attempt at his life was interrupted by Ben who was thankfully a veteran and had the skillset to protect his kid. 

-Peter was passed around between Rhodey and his friend Carol to keep him safe. No one assumed Obidiah was behind the attacks. 

-Peter lived with Carol and Maria most of the time as they were badass and also lived in a pretty remote place, much different from where Tony chose to live. Most of the time he did not know what was going on. 

-Peter was the reason Tony came home. There was no better motivation for him. 

-Rhodey told Carol and Maria immediately when he had a lead on Tony and Peter was flown to where his dad would be. cue wholesome reunion and Obie being creepy. 

-Peter was the first person to find out that Tony was Iron Man when he wandered into the workshop to find him. He was immediately super excited about his dad becoming a superhero. He didn’t quite understand the guild that was driving Tony to do what he was doing (yet) 

-Peter is taken as a hostage by Obie after Tony gets his og arc reactor back in his chest. 

-Also, Peter loves his dad's arc reactor, it’s like a glowy night light 

-Tony is not okay with the whole hostage thing and saves Peter from falling from a great height before the whole freezing thing and that's all that changes of that battle

-Then Tony is dying from the arc reactor poisoning him. cue angst fest that I don’t want to deal with but yall fuckers can just imagine. 

-Peter was in New York during the alien invasion and saw firsthand when Tony fell from the portal in the sky

-Peter woke him up instead of the hulk because I said so

-The avengers know that Peter is Tony’s kid and they also know that it’s a secret and most of them respect it

-Hawkeye is still a dick tho because MCU hawkeye is kinda just Like That

-Somehow Peter keeps his identity secret for a long while, god knows how

-Peter was at school when the mansion was blown up and his dad was assumed dead, and that was after uncle happy was also almost blown up 

-Though officially traumatized, Peter has a support system of superheroes and like one person with common sense 

-that person is Rhodey

-Most of the movies go as normal maybe with Peter popping in to say hi and Tony boasting about him

-During Ultron when Tony gets his PTSD triggered real good, Peter gets bitten by the spider, we don’t know exactly when this happens but it's in this area

-He doesn’t tell Tony, not because he doesn't trust him but he’s still kinda figuring things out

-then his Uncle Ben dies and peter has some familiar guilt issues

-Thus Spider-man is born, through the help of FRIDAY and Tony’s workshop, Peter makes himself a suit, although not as humble as his canon first one, it’s still far from perfect, but at least it conceals his identity right? 

-Tony discovers Spider-man and talks to Peter about this young hero and how it’s so dangerous and Peter is just anxiously eating cereal 

-Tony finds Spider-man in the suit and not his identity (thanks to FRIDAY) and Spidey is invited to Germany to fight the rogue avengers. Since Peter is actually close to the issue, he has an actually thought out side this time, he’s still team iron man, I mean his whole motto is responsibility come on 

-Tony doesn’t figure out that Peter is Spider-Man until the fight and there is an argument about it because everyone is kinda shocked that Tony’s kid is just here 

-Peter is angry that none of the avengers will just let him be like them and they just not end up fighting

-Rhodey can still walk and they worked Civil War out because these dudes were actually concerned for the babey (even though Peter could probably destroy most of them) 

-Then Peter gets his first actual villain and he makes a point not to tell his dad or any of the avengers because he can handle it right?

-it takes a couple tries but he takes the vulture down and doesn’t die

-cue shocked avengers, spidey is less babey and more ‘holy shit he’s an actual superboy’

-Happy family for two years

-infinity war is angsty and exactly the same 

-So is endgame but Tony doesn’t actually die because I'm not a fucking moron

-They get to be a happy family with morgan and mom pepper for literally like two months before shit goes down 

-Peter is traumatized by beck and although Tony isn’t actually dead, Beck convinces Peter that he is and that fucks him up a bit

-Guess whose identity is revealed as Peter Stark! 

-but his high school is confused because... Peter isn’t a Stark... his name is Parker? the fuck? 

-so it’s like two identity reveals in one and it's a little crazy 

-Peter decides not to handle it and just to run to his dad as he’s had a kind of fucked up week

-everything works out the end

SEND ME AN AU TO MAKE HEADCANONS ABOUT