#probably not timeline correct

[and-so-he-rambled]

(Got amputation on a whump wheel and chose Leo)

Leo rolled out of bed with a groan, stumbling a bit as his balance was briefly thrown off. He was still getting used to this.

His arm lay in ist capsule, disconnected and sitting pretty like a Halloween decoration. He hated looking at it.

He used to be the weak one, but now, with his arm off and a metal hole where his bionic arm was made to slot in, he felt weakest of all. He was back home again, never quite able to be away from his mom for too long. Janelle liked the visits too, growing up into a firecracker of a lady and studying engineering at the local college. He’d always wanted to be cool for her, but he was a bit of a trophy boyfriend these days.

He made his way to the kitchen, his left arm habitually opening doors as his stump hung uselessly. The right arm was too powerful anyways when it was connected, so he’d taught himself to be left handed. He still slipped up sometimes away from the reinforced walls and doorknobs of the island, but he was getting better at it.

He found his way easily in the dark, familiar with the house as he pulled a glass from the cabinet.

“Leo?” Light filled the room, his mother standing in the doorway in her robe. Her baby belly was barely showing, but he found that he noticed it every day. A reminder he’d have a little sibling, one he swore to keep safe from their crazy life. Was this how his mom had felt when he started going on missions?

He was startled by a cry from his mom, a hiccuping sob that she tried to cover with his hands. The glass slipped from his weak fingers, exploding on the floor.

“Mom? Are you okay? Is it the baby? Do I need to call Davenport?” He asked in a flurry, watching her shake her head while tears began to escape her eyes. She took a step forward and he held his arm out to stop her. “Mom, there’s glass, stop there!”

She didn’t respond, just staring with her hand over her mouth. He followed her gaze, right to his stump.

Oh.

“It’s okay mom, it’s okay.” He tried to assure her, stepping away from the mess to reach out and touch her. It felt safer, hugging her without fear of crushing her. He missed being able to hold her with both arms and squeeze, the way she used to groan dramatically as if he was the strongest kid in the world instead of a stringbean little punk.

“I-“ She attempted to speak, swallowing. “I’d never seen it off before. I didn’t realize…”She held him, pressing her teary face into the crook of his neck. When he’d she gotten so small? When had he gotten so big?

“My baby. My baby.” She repeated, one hand around her boy and the other on her small bump. It made his chest ache, hearing his mother cry. She never cried, said there were always better things to do than cry. She used to tell him she cried to say he was born and when he got his first shots, but he’d never seen her cry in front of him in all his years. It felt wrong. He was the emotional little kid who would run to her and son into her chest. She was the strong woman who wiped his tears.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.” She whispered, squeezing his hand.

“Mom, you have nothing to be sorry for.” He tried to assure her. “This wasn’t your fault, none of it. I just got hurt, it happens. I’ve got training now, it won’t happen again. It’ll be okay.” He just spoke in a stream of consciousness, word vomit that seemed to help. Her little sobs died down, hands frantically wiping away the traitorous tears.

“I’m your mother Leo, I’ll always feel responsible for you, no matter what you do, or how old you get. It’s my job.” He wisely didn’t mention the birthdays she missed for reporting or all the times she forgot to pick him up from school. It didn’t really matter now, she’d been a good mom, taken care of him after his dad died. He loved her.

“I’m okay.” He promised through the phantom pains and nightmares. He’d try and remember to wear it when he left his room, to hide the reminder. Just because he’d gotten used to the sight doesn’t mean the rest would.

“Just be careful baby.” She pressed a kiss to his head, standing to get the broom as she gathered herself together, shooing him away when he tried to help.

He promised he would, going back to his room to hopefully sleep. He’d be heading back to the island tomorrow.

-

A week later, Mr, Davenport built the space elevator.

[hamable]

Peppermint Preston becoming enlightened, seeing all possible futures, including canon ACOC, and telling Liam,

“In any world in which I was your friend for even a day, I am grateful.”

[canisalbus]

you say machete has to be closeted then why's he always wearing them little heels

Maybe he thinks he's a tiny bit nicer looking in them.

[cringefail-clown]

more of the cam cafe au, this time with strilonde family dynamic

so dave and rose are siblings and they both had their kids very young (other parents dipped out as soon as possible). they helped each other out with raising the kids while working on their careers, so the trio grew up very close to each other, roxy often acting as a mediator between dirk and hal as they were on each others cases basically since birth lmfao

gonna do the j squad next but holy shit is their family tree... complex

[pinknpoodley]

little freddy was always trying to run off to join the pack when they left at night so flasheart had to catch him and give him reasons he had to stay at farfang so he didn't get upset that he can't help

[invinciblerodent]

side note, it makes me feel kind of unreasonably giddy that my four "main" games of bg3, i'm playing:

a man loving a man

a woman loving a man

a man loving a woman (and a man)

and a woman loving a woman

and literally all of the characters involved are bi/pansexual.

diversity win, i'm queer and so is everything and everyone I do and make

[natjennie]

fuckign christ sailor is such a good leech bluff oh my god.

[keefechambers]

The Gemstone Kids in the year 2000

[quaranmine]

Your word-of-god on my theory is driving me UP THE WALL!

Ok, so let me make a timeline here, let me know if I'm wrong at any point.

He leaves his campsite on the 12th for a day hike, taking minimal supplies with him. He gets hopelessly lost and takes temporary shelter under some low-hanging tree limbs for the night.

He finds the mountainside where he fell early on the 13th and, with a pair of binoculars, can see the creek in the distance. Let's say the rangers and medical examiner were correct, and he was heading to the creek because, at this point, he's probably in the early stages of dehydration (his presumed cause of death)

He tries to climb down safely, and we all know how that went. He makes it as far as he can on a broken leg and possibly numerous superficial injuries that wouldn't have been evident a year later for obvious reasons. He takes shelter under the overhang and... never leaves.

Grian reports Mumbo missing on the 16th when he misses checking in.

Grian leaves Colorado and subsequently arrives in Cody, WY to join the search on the 17th and is immediately forcibly subjected to a nap.

At this point, Mumbo has been under that overhang for the better part of five days. If he was already dehydrated, even mildly, before he even fell, and especially if he lost a medically significant amount of blood from any abrasions or lacerations suffered during the fall...

There is a significant probability that Mumbo was already dead by the time Grian joined the search.

Grian never had a chance of finding him alive, did he?

Damn...

OOOO

Okay so your timeline is a bit different than mine. But I'd like to note—my idea of what happened to Mumbo in general is actually pretty vague. It was one of those things where it didn't actually matter much to the plot since it would never fully be known. Also it made me sad to think about LMAO (imagine that.) Actually though? I had a draft of chapter 11 where when Grian was unknowingly retracing Mumbo's steps, it would be intercut with italics/otherwise clearly formatted Mumbo moments. So that you could see both of their stories converge. I scrapped it because I disliked the ~3 paragraphs I'd written for Mumbo and never came back to it.

So, the dates for this can be whatever you want (12th or 13th) since the specifics don't matter much. I think the main difference is that I didn't have Mumbo getting lost as the first step, I had it as the second. This means that I had Mumbo leaving the trail intentionally to get water, and getting lost on the way. In my scenario yes, the rangers were right about him heading to the creek.

I mainly had this idea because of my experiences with backpacking in Big Bend. Namely, it's just....very, very, very hard to bring enough water on a trip like that. So people bring water filters. When hiking the South Rim in Big Bend, you can refill your bottles at Boot Spring (though you shouldn't rely on it having water since it's the desert.) I have done this before. (Pictured: my dad lol)

I figured that Mumbo probably needed to refill his water (Grian stated he left no bottles at camp, not just that they were empty, so he would've brought comparatively a lot for a day hike. So maybe he planned on refilling them later in the day.) I figured that maybe he just....didn't want to completely overshoot his camp to go back to the creek he crossed a day or two before. Maybe he thought his off-trail route was shorter. Maybe he was confident he could find the trail again. It doesn't matter, all that matters is it brought him to the place where he fell. Or maybe, related to what you said—maybe he made this somewhat silly decision because he was already dehydrated.

From that point on, I think the rest of your timeline matches with mine. You are right that they wouldn't be able to tell any other superficial injuries a year later. Actually, I've got no idea if they would be able to tell it was dehyrdation that did it after that long. That's MY idea of what happened. But probably it would have been more accurate for the rangers to file it under a general blanket of exposure/infection from injuries/dehydration.

I can't say if Mumbo was dead or not by the time Grian joined the search. You're 100% correct that it's very possible. The only reason I don't confirm is that I don't know the timeline myself, nor does the timeline really matter that much, since even if he was alive when the search started, it would've only taken a day or two more before he wasn't. And since he wasn't in the search radius....You are right that Grian never had a chance.

But I think it's less sad that way, honestly. Devastating still of course. I just think it's worse to linger for weeks when nobody is looking in the right place.

[goldenpinof]

ive been thinking a lot about this horrible editing and honestly it feels like their editors only watched pinofs with the whole shuffle editing thing and decided that was dan and phil's Brand even tho those vids arent characteristic of what dnp vids actually are

ohhh, good comparison. pinof walked so today's fast-cutting culture could run. it's a pity dnp decided to revive dnpg now, instead of like 2 years ago. maybe it wouldn't be THAT bad. and the upload schedule would be easier, i guess, so the editors would have more time to focus on their work. idk where dnp are running to right now. both channels scream QUANTITY. they will have to pause dnpg because of the ceiling, for at least a week. or to stop filming in the editing room :)) but after that i expect them to return to 2-3 videos per week, which is fucking mental.

anyway, the views dropped quite a lot. i wonder if we will see some changes soon enough.

[arolesbianism]

Someone made a oni lore video :D

They got a shit ton of stuff wrong :(

[mabelsguidetolife]

I think I discovered an interface spoiler for arkham knight while looking at the costumes haha whoops

[teknikolor-walters]

God poor C.W. man. Imagine watching the time travel organization you built start to crumble in a way you know is preventable in your own memories and it's all because you said the wrong thing in the wrong time period. Your younger iteration depends on you for comfort and sees you as a replacement for someone you both miss.

[ailinu]

everyone in the first age is so young and absolutely no one’s prepared for it. i think if i think about this too long i’m going to cry.

[tronlightcyclerun]

dont care about your new stupid movie what about the shit you conveniently left vauge and or cancelled .

[isaacathom]

genuinely so hype about the dnd campaign bc all the potential with naielle and euphemia makes me feral. and part of that is that naielle has barely interacted with any other (still living) character, except marius? and their interaction was brief that besides some questions about why hes old naielle has nothing to like. hash out with him. when we get back to the normal timeline theres gonna be something a lot more pressing on naielles part that requires his attention, yknow.

but euphemia! in the prime timeline naielle and euphemia are friends! theyre part of the diplomacy/support squad alongside marius! of the two, theyre the big nerds, and also both involved in navigation - the former the navigator, the latter the cartographer, who is herself married to another navigator aboard. they enjoy knowledge and history. naielle trusts her a lot.

but! in the alt timeline euphemia is fucking scary. she forces naielle into the consultancy, reads her mind constantly (always Asking, but to naielle it never feels like she can actually say no). she lied to naielles face! naielle said 'please dont tell Qinan [about the vision where i murder him]' and euphemia looks her dead in the eye and goes 'i wont!' before handing Qinan a scroll of Detect Thoughts and showing it to him instead. maybe not a lie on technicality, but a lie in every way that matters.

naielle is terrified, categorically afraid for her safety, woefully intimidated by the undersecretary saying she 'killed 2 people' for the knowledge she conscripted naielle for.

and so when they get back to the prime reality, presumably remembering some of this, naielle is gonna be FUMING. naielle did not actually know abouy Euphemia's Channel Divinity: Read Thoughts, because it isn't a detectable spell. no part of that process is discernable by the target. its not detect thoughts, where you know theyre doing it if they push deeper. it just happens. you still make a save (and can choose to fail, as naielle consistently does in this timeline), but you dont know its happening. right. naielle DIDNT KNOW SHE HAD THAT.

so its like, point 1 - you can fucking read minds? how long have you been able to do that? have you been doing that to members of the crew? can i trust you to be honest with me about when and on who it was used? can i fucking trust you?

which feeds naturally into point 2 - i cant fucking trust you. i know its perhaps Unfair to hold you to the conduct of a version of yourself in a very different time and place, but as the war we are currently fighting continues, and is likely to get worse before it gets any fucking better, i cannot in good fucking conscience trust that you, right in front of me, will not make the same decisions that this alternate form of you did. and i dont know that i can fucking trust you if you are capable of that.

naielle doesnt have a way out of this. she doesnt have an olive branch to offer. she doesnt know what shed want euphemia to do to prove any sincerity. euphemia could offer her every excuse under the sky and i dont know that naielle will care, vis a vis the vision specifically. because while naielle isnt the Most self aware person, i think she can look at how she was personally acting in this alternate timeline and go 'you didnt have to lie to me to get the result you wanted. you could have told me no to my request. instead you looked at an elf who is on the verge of a breakdown and has just witnessed some pretty distressing things and decided to be a pedantic fuckstick. "i didnt tell him" fucking tripe. you could have said "i cant promise that, it might be important for him to know" and i wouldve gone "oh :(" but i wasnt gonna fucking stop you! are you insane????'

euphemia could offer whatever justification she likes, but naielle feels fundamentally betrayed by Euphemia's action there, and a little violated by the mind reading shit. naielle only came back to the royal quarter because there was nowhere else she could possibly go when she realised there was trouble, and the group had agreed to work together to try and fix the realities. shes going back because she saw marius and went 'well. he was nice to me earlier, i think. and the strange man seems friendly. ill trust them if i have to, to fix this'. shes not coming back because shes loyal to euphemia. shes back because shes scared, and the group had an answer, and she thinks some of them might at least listen to her. shes terrified.

so prime timeline naielle, a woman in possession of a Fucking Backbone, is going to remember this, in whole or in part, and turn to euphemia like 'we are going to discuss that later. and if i have to pull rank to do so i will, comprenez-vous?' and not wait for an answer. shes gonna be so mad.