#she has no reason to seek them out

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Hand in Hand (part eleven)

cw: aftermath of whump, hospital setting, adult language

prev // au masterlist // next

~ ~ ~

Fleet soldiers come to collect him with weapons drawn and cuffs to replace his chains. They lift him from the bed and strap him to a stretcher, tight enough that he can barely move. Dan doesn't fight it.

They'll take him aboard and throw him in the brig. Probably interrogate him, probably transfer him to a place he has no hope of escaping once they're done. He doesn't care. Whatever they do to him, it can't be worse than Swift's ruthlessness and cold manipulation. Unlike her, the Fleet has rules.

He isn't so naive as to believe they actually follow those rules, but being an intergalactic organization puts them under a certain level of public scrutiny. And even if the Fleet-aligned public hate Dan, they won't be bold enough to condone his torture. He isn't safe, but he's safer. Wes is safer.

Maybe he can cut a deal with them. Comply and give them anything they want, in exchange for his friend's freedom. Something he'll never know again, but again, he doesn't care. He took his last breath of free air months ago.

He just has to hope they get to Wes in time.

The soldiers lift the stretcher, and he winces as the movement jostles his leg. He's barely left the bed at all since Swift dragged him away from Wes, and the few times he's been pulled from it have been agonizing. He's sure his leg is getting worse, not better. Is it bad enough now that it won't get better at all?

He can't linger on it. There's bigger things to worry about.

Like Wes.

Dan tries to get a look around as they carry him onto the ship and secure the stretcher, but he can barely lift his head.

"Where... where's my friend-- th-the other prisoner? Is he alive?"

He doesn't get a response. Fuck, he can't just not know. He needs to know that they have him, that they won't leave him behind.

"Please, give me an answer," he says, straining against the straps that hold him. "Just tell me you aren't leaving him, please."

"Shit, am I supposed to tell him something?" the soldier who speaks is talking to her teammate, not Dan, but he still picks up her whisper.

"Maybe it's best if we sedate him for the flight. I mean, it's Melchior."

Sedate him? No, they can't. Not until he knows Wes is okay. Not until he sees him being brought onboard. If they can't even promise him that, what does that mean? Is he dead?

"Don't, please, I just wanna know--"

But the soldiers only ignore him as one of them preps a needle.

And as much as he tries to fight it, Dan can't escape the drug as it pulls him under.

~ ~ ~

He wakes to fluorescent light and a low ceiling, metal ringing his left wrist, connecting him to a hospital bed.

A ship. He's on a Fleet ship.

His leg has been heavily bandaged, and he can't feel it. They must've numbed the pain there somehow. For a moment, Dan just stares at the blanket, at his own hands. He isn't free. But isn't Swift. It isn't---

Realization hits him like a bullet and he shoots up, his head spinning and woozy as he looks around the room. Wes. Where...

It doesn't take long to spot him. The med bay is small, and there's only one other bed. Wes lies in it, asleep or unconscious. His skin looks even paler in this light, his many wounds a sharp contrast. He's hooked up to an IV bag. Dan is too, he realizes.

Wes looks awful, looks like he's in so much pain, but he's out. He's here, he's alive.

"Wes," Dan croaks, though he doubts his friend can hear him. Tears are building in his eyes, but for once they're falling in relief. Whatever comes next, whatever sentence he has to take from the Fleet, Swift can't touch them anymore. She can't hurt Wes anymore.

And he'll die before anyone else gets the chance to.

~ ~ ~

@kira-the-whump-enthusiast @kixngiggles @shywhumpauthor @whumpsday @whumpacabra

[mcytegg]

i don't think it's unusual for a person to be cruel in general and kind to a small set of people close to them. i don't usually think the second part is more important.

i agree!!! cruelty and caring very deeply abt a select few people arent traits that are mutually exclusive, and its smt we see in plenty of other ls members but i do not find mapicc to be a particularly cruel person like kab describes him to be.

all of her reasons for believing him to be cruel are ultimately bc her and mapicc dont know or understand each other. her misconception of him isnt her fault in this regard and im not saying it is, im just saying she is wrong abt him. im certain she will eventually come to realize this herself but her way of viewing things is very black and white imo. and she swaps between which she believes at a moments notice— which i know is like an intentional choice from cc kab into her character since she herself says ls kab is easily influenced. and its a trait i find obvious when she makes definite statements like "mapicc is just a cruel person" after he killed her one time bc she literally chose to fight alongside his enemy.

[dotpyenji]

happy bisexual day to those who celebrate

[mc-critical]

1.01 / 2.17 (41)

[sysig]

Guess who :3c (Patreon)

[gwensy]

deadbeat daughter gwen stacy is this anything

[sherlock-is-ace]

the imposter syndrome i feel every time i even slightly think i might be autistic is insane, specially for a person who highly relates to the lived experiences of people who are professionally diagnosed.

Like I was just watching this one youtuber, and she was talking about very specific examples in her life and childhood where she saw autistic traits that made her realize she was autistic and then seek a diagnosis and then get one, and everything she was saying was like she was describing my life! But yeah no, I can't be autistic tho

[meirimerens]

I've only now noticed Eva Yan's scars on your drawings of her, is there any story or headcanon behind them?

keeping it real babygirl [gender neutral] the story is that this woman canonically kills herself, canonically contemplates suicide, quite explicitly mentioning the method she intents on using to you (with implications that she has, at the very least, thought about it/thought it through before), and lives with broken mirrors so she cannot (/doesn't have to) see her face like i just think She Is Mentally Unwell. like as a long-term, enduring, persistent thing, She Is Mentally Unwell and the plague is just worsening her condition, while it didn't cause it. the storey/headcanon is that she is mentally ill, openly and canonically has self-destructive tendencies, so. the scars are here because she lives with a lil something something in her mind which drives her to plenty of destructive acts in ways big and small. ywkim

[welcometogrouchland]

Anyway since they're apparently not going to go with the "Steph leading/babysitting a team of young heroes" book idea (pause for despair) I'd like to pitch MY idea for Steph: Steph gets back into playing piano (she already started doing so in Batgirls #18!) and ends up taking on a mystery related to the basement rock scene in Gotham (I know the underground concert game there is INSANE absolutely prime serial killer territory)

[gracemarkss]

trying to gather my thoughts on unruhe. something about this exchange is so vital to me…about how scully maybe isn’t as natural a seeker as mulder. about how her work as a pathologist is focused on “how” rather than “why”…whereas mulder’s profiling is the inverse. a woman is dead and a man killed her and no amount of probing the inner workings of his psyche, his dreams, his nightmares will remedy that situation. discovering the why doesn’t bring about any deeper sense of justice or peace. because really, no why could ever really explain the mundane horror of a woman’s abduction and murder. if anything, it just more starkly reveals the ugly simplicity of the human capacity for cruelty.

but i also love how later, she leans on the why. she channels mulder and his profiler brain. schnauz even picks up on it (“great. now they got you talking like sigmund freud,” in reference to him calling mulder freud during his interrogation). she asks him why he does it. why her. why this. why did his sister kill herself. why did his father do what he did. part of it’s to keep schnauz talking but it’s also another example of how she reaches for him, even metaphorically, in moments of fear and difficulty.

i also love how this episode, with its themes of unrest and strife and trouble, focuses on scully. mulder is usually the more restless character, always searching and seeking and chasing and moving. but scully is just as, if not maybe even more so. her mother’s remaining daughter. her father’s disappointment. a catholic to her bones, even as she lapses. a woman in a man’s job. who imagines a life to be a husband and kids and big sunday dinners, but who can’t stop following the mad man in the basement. who always insists she’s fine, who locks it all away, who chafes and squirms and explodes in impulsive incendiary bursts. who is always always trying.

there are just some things we don’t or can’t look too deeply into. if god is real, or why the woman in front of us is dead. scully will dig and scrape for proof and explanations for many things, but some interrogations aren’t worth the effort, or the fear of what might be found. some things just are, and they’re too big to move or change or overcome. women die because men kill them. what the hell does it matter?

[eternally-tired-cryptid]

Thinking so hard abt Fairy Tail rn

[crows-of-buckets]

I think I've decided that I want Ena to be one of the elves taken during the "plague" in denerim during the first blight. Assuming DAV takes place in 9:49, he would have been 8 or 9 I think I need to check my timeline. He's my Surana's cousin, and the younger brother of one of my other Rook's (Revari isn't rook in my canon worldstate, but they are still a Mercar. They left for Tevinter at around 13 when their magic developed). Anyways him being my Surana's cousin is probably something he himself never actually learns (sadly). He doesn't even really talk about being from Fereldan at all, and I can't really say for certain that he would even remember his last name before he became a crow. Plus, he transitioned (kept his name tho) and so did his only sibling, so the likelihood of them recognizing each other is so painfully low.

Anyways, one of the Tevinter mages in the alienage claimed Ena had the plague, he gets shipped off. I haven't decided whether he was bought by the crows or scouted after somehow escaping (this one is becoming far less likely the more I think on it); either way, he ends up in the crows by the time he's 9. He gets his face scar like right before joining, so the first few months are even worse.

His magic developed not long after, and tbh this is the only reason I think he even survived. He was never really good at fighting in regular combat, but he was pretty good at getting the fuck out of the way when someone was trying to kill him. I think the Crows take better care of their mages (I can't remember if this is canon or a head canon but whatever) because they're a better investment. (Even when they become abominations, as crows are known to do occasionally, I do think generally they receive "kinder" treatment)

He meets Viago somewhere around age 10 (they have around a 8-10 year age gap, so Viago would be 18-20. At least going off of Viago being 34 to 36 in Veilguard. Everyday I pray that bioware will release and actual timeline bc god I am tired of figuring this shit out 😭), and immediately decides that he is going to be loyal to this guy in particular. I don't know why he decides this, but he's like 10 so it was probably some stupid reasoning.

At first Viago is annoyed, but I think after a certain point his brain kicked in and he went "wait having another crow (even one so young) who is insanely loyal to me is an AMAZING investment on my end". Teia isn't around to be his moral compass, so at this time in his life at least 9/10 of his decisions are made to further his own goals. This is around when he starts actually taking an interest in Ena, and keeping him around as an investment. He starts teaching him poisons, and building up Ena's poison resistance. Ena is notoriously loyal as hell and twice as stubborn so Viago 100% plans on using that to his advantage. I think Ena's magic developed not too long after this so he immediately becomes more useful lmao

Depending on when Viago became Talon, I do think it may be possible that Ena was one of the first to become a full crow under his leadership. If Viago is ~30 in Eight Little Talons, he had to have been a Talon for a few years, so he was probably made one in his late 20s I think? Teia is mentioned being one of the younger talons, and she's ~28 in eight little talons I think, and I'm pretty sure she's been a Talon for a few years at this point. Anyways, assuming Viago became a talon between 26-28, Ena could have been one of the first full crows under his command, being made a crow between 16-18. However, timelines like this make my head hurt so this may be completely inaccurate lmao

Somewhere between Viago realizing Ena is a good investment and Ena becoming a full crow, Viago becomes annoyingly fond of his little protege. He ends up bailing him out of trouble FAR more often than he would like. Ena is painfully good at becoming the annoying younger brother figure in anyone's life, and Viago is NOT exempt from that.

[nobodybetterlookatme]

pls just be wary of him he’s a lot older than you and that’s not always bad but the way he keeps giving you plushies is sending off warning bells from other stories i’ve heard. again not inherently bad, he sounds sweet and that’s probably all it is, but just make sure he doesn’t start making comments about how young you look or anything like that. i know you’ve said in the past that the age thing doesn’t bother you but you still wanna stay careful

This actually is the first thing he's given me that wasn't either food or something for work ahdkaksk it's not like a regular thing so no worries there. Also it was less bc it was a date and more bc my bday is in a week and I'm not gonna be seeing him until after so he just gave it to me now bc it was convenient lmaooo. I'm being careful tho, like I'm naturally sus of men especially bc of ✨ the trauma ✨ but I really don't think he's a bad dude

[narwhalandchill]

having terminal narwhal brainrot is kinda the worst actually bc. sometimes my brain just gets Stuck on all these tiny things and observations that are Very Funny Indeed but also like. i have no actual clue whether its Intended to be significant at all in terms of implication or if im just losing it but its rent free either way and its not going away like. take this one for a completely coincidental example i definitely havent had swirling around my head rent free for like the last 3 weeks nopers no way uhhhhh

so act I of fontaine AQ right???? first narwhal mentions we get from childe in the story???

"it" right?? which like fine yeah makes sense. mysterious massive eldritch sea creature wouldnt consider that out of place for a choice of pronoun. in no small part prolly due to ajax just taking after skirk in terms of how she refers to and views the narwhal. its not rly carrying any connotation of personhood and/or sentience purely in terms of the language used

Now. if its such an unsurprising choice. why am i fixated on this

WELL. lets say purely hypothetically. wouldnt it be like. really funny if after Multiple languages. explicitly went for a non-human moniker when it comes to childe speaking about the narwhal. that he would then like. possibly. the Second they make actual direct and personal telepathic connection with one another. pull a complete 180 on that. in like act III mayhaps

"someone" calling him??????

Like. isnt it Interesting. that he went from "it". to IMMEDIATELY assigning explicit personhood to whatever originated that whalesong call.

Its telepathic connection. Right??? like these mfs are Literally in each others heads. right??? and yet. Somehow. PURELY off of that call that single moment of fleeting impression and feeling that gravitational pull towards one another. youre Instinctively assigning sentience personhood and character to that voice. Huh

(so based and narwhalpilled ajax i knew you were a truther and an ally)

and like what makes me fixate on this so much and not just go oh its prolly nothing is just. they didnt HAVE to write it that way right??? they couldve made it "something calling me..." . or even for intentional ambiguity something like "i hear a call somewhere..." . but Nooooooo its. someone. they made ajax go from "it" to "someone". in the exact span it took for him to make direct metaphysical contact with his narwhal.

obviously like. yes ive made my case against the "lmao dumb pet that overeats" misconception Many Times Before for obvious reasons bc thats My beloved and theres Plenty enough canon material even excluding this one to very much suggest the narwhal is indeed a fully sentient immortal being capable of complex thought i just. for ajax of all people to seemingly note that so instinctively the moment they make contact as well............

yeah let me scream real quick thanks im just. HHHHHHHHHH these 2 kill me irl

and NO its not just english i triple checked. like first i checked german and that shit goes from es/etwas to jemand. non-human to explicitly person-specific

(beyond the obvious. whale as a masculine noun)

& then w chinese obviously not a speaker but i took the same lines from project ambr, got the translation and pinyin with google and as long as im not missing sth huge and/or wikipedia isnt lying about how chinese pronouns work. its explicitly non-human 3rd person to very much person-specific interrogative "who" too.

so like. that sure is a very specific and curious choice to make with the writing. multiple times. in multiple languages. when there very much were Multiple very easy ways to write it Not in such a way. for the one (1) guy with undeniably the closest and most personal bond to the narwhal. to say That. in response to its call. its just a little bit of an inch resting detail to have. just a bit

yeah ajax mister im actually going to need you to explain this one to the class as well in addition to all the OTHER shit you have the audacity to spew thanks

[arolesbianism]

Thinking abt my dupe ocs again... Maybe Quinn does have hashtag issues actually