#she’s got kind of a slightly unhinged scientist thing going on

[eliks-edge]

the spirit trio (click for better quality)

[the-unknown-void]

Dysfunctional Shephard Siblings (Heavy Headcanoning)

I love them, Mitchell(HDTF), Adrian, and Alice(OC) They all kinda want to kill each other, uh- Mainly Mitchell I mean, yeah it’s really just Mitchell they want to kill.

Mitchell(He/Him): Struggles with lacking sympathy/empathy, he often can’t conceptualize the effects of his actions which leads to making quite a few stupid decisions or doing bad things and being confused when people are upset with him. He was hella homophobic when he was younger, main issue- He is gay, so actually he was just hating himself. He still hates himself to this day but for way more and bigger reasons. Nick is literally the one thing keeping him in one piece these days. I can literally never decide whether he’s younger, older, or twin of Adrian

Alice(She/They): Was the favorite child, thought her older brothers died when they never came back again. She made the choice to join Civil Protection to live slightly above bare-minimum. Unfortunately this made even her parents turn away from her and she became isolated for her actions. Eventually becoming a total shell of her former self as years went on. She was mostly guard around Nova Prospekt until Mitchell made the deal with the Combine, then ended up on his ship. And she hates it there, and she thinks Mitchell is an annoying asshole.

Adrian(He/They): Used to be pretty rambunctious as a kid, he and Mitchell liked to rough-house even though he would always kick Mitchell’s ass. (He got more chill as he got older) He started seeing the G-Man somewhere around when training for the H.E.C.U started, and let me tell you- He does NOT take being watched too well, he becomes paranoid from it and.. it just gets worse from there, the guy already had bad mental issues but now he’s just slowly going insane, and THEN the Black Mesa incident happens and uh,, Yeah he becomes sort of unhinged and a loose cannon at this point. He’s taken in by lesbian scientists tho(Gina and Colette) so that’s good. Oh yeah his gas mask basically became a comfort item to him because I said so

Apparently my idea of Adrian isn’t far off based on what I’ve heard about Marines being kind of unhinged.. And if you couldn’t tell, I yeeted Mitchell’s original “childhood story” from HDTF cuz 1. Didn’t like it, and mostly 2. I already had headcanons for Adrian’s family/homelife and I didn’t wanna change them.

Mitchell do be hella committed to things he sets his mind to no matter how long it takes which like dude,, you’ve gotta give em some credit, that’s something I could never do, how do you keep a commitment to a goal for 20 fucking years!!??

I have so many little tiny headcanons for these guys, like things that are totally meaningless and have 0 weight on ANY story But here’s a silly n cute one: When Adrian and Mitchell got bored enough in the house, they would sometimes sit down with their little sister as she watched like MLP or something. They know the MLP lore because of it lmao

Sorry I just kinda wanted to talk about these fellas, I tried not to get too deep into them, just wanted to ramble a lil’ bit.

[saintheartwing]

So...I’ve Begun Reading Artemis Fowl...It IS Really Good

So, I decided to check out the movie and...ugh.Not good. So I began to think “How badly did they screw this up” and began reading the books.

They’re REALLY good. The thing you need to know about Artemis Fowl is he starts off as...well, a smug snake. He’s a big jerk in a lot of ways who, after his dad supposedly dies out trying to get into a new market in Russia which the Russian mafia doesn’t take kind to, his mom goes nutso. She doesn’t recognize him half the time. His only friend is his butler...and he doesn’t even know Butler’s real name. He’s also a super brilliant young man. Add all that up, and you get a very selfish, self-centered, pretentious young man who doesn’t find ANYBODY his equal. 

He decides upon doing some investigation into the more strange and occultish things in the world to get hold of a ton of money through a SEEMINGLY insane, ludicrous way...through the fairy world. Yes, there’s actual elves. He got into it, evidently, by trolling through the ancient stories and there always seemed to be commonalities among them from ancient races. 

Artemis slightly lucks out. He’s able to get hold of basically the Fairy Bible, the Book of the People. It provides insider knowledge of how they do things, and through that, he makes a plan. He’ll kidnap a fairy, overcoming their magic, and ransom them for gold. It’ll be difficult, they need to get one that’s low on magic. And they have to wear special sunglasses that will be reflective, for fairies can MESMERIZE people, hypnotizing them.  They’ll catch one doing the necessary ritual for magic recharge. 

The good news is fairies are fairly commonly popping out of the Underground they live in in Ireland...where the Fowl manor is located. And the ritual is best done near an ancient oak and a riverbend and even better, under a full moon. Well, there’s one not too far from Fowl Manor...and after some staking out...Fowl catches one. A fairy named Holly Short, the only female fairy on the recon unit that the fair folk have. 

He, Butler, and his butler’s sister Juliet lock her in a room with a bed. They’ve got their hostage. They use the helmet armor she’s got to communicate with her boss. The fairies figure out where Fowl Manor is, but though they can slow down time, pretty much stop it...Artemis now has fairy tech because he caught Holly, and this means Butler can move freely through the time bubble. He kicks the butts of EVERY recon agent sent to save her. So Holly’s boss, Commander Root, has to come in for negotiations. 

Artemis wants gold. A ton of twenty four carat gold. And a ton of gold is, evidently,  64.3 million dollars. A looot of money. Root says that Artemis can’t win. They have a “bio bomb��. It destroys all organic matter used on it, and if they’re caught in a time field, as they are right now, they can’t just race out the front door to get away. There’s only one helmet, and there’s three of them. They’re trapped.

Right?

Well, Artemis says he knows how to escape it. And he’s thought of everything ELSE the fairies would do so far. So...they send in a wild card. Professional Thief Mulch Diggums, a dwarf. Dwarves are natural diggers, they tunnel by unhinging their jaws, eating through the dirt, and expelling it out their rump.

...yeaaah...THAT particular scene from the movie’s pretty accurate. So Mulch is called on to tunnel into the Fowl estate to try and help free Holly. At the same time, Holly’s got a way to break free. She’s been using the bed to break into the floor and beneath the floor...is some earth. And she’s got an acorn on her. With that acorn and the proper words and access to real Earth...she can recharge her magic. Not even reflective lenses can keep her from mesmerizing Juliet. And Mulch finds Artemis’s copy of the Book of the People, thus taking away his big advantage over the fairies. Holly’s now free, but she can’t leave the house. Fairies have rules to adhere to if they wanna keep their magic, and when captured by Artemis, one of his rules was “You absolutely can’t leave the house”. Now...she COULD leave her room. He didn’t say she couldn’t do that. But the house? Nope.

No matter. Root’s gonna send in the gold, get Holly out...then bio bomb the place, stroll in, and claim the ransom.

Unfortuntely his second in command and friend, Cudgeon, has a better idea. They’ve got a troll Holly recently caught. Cudgeon suggested to the fairy’s ruling council to just launch the troll in. Have it wreck the place, the humans will be screaming for help, and then the fairies can just bust in and kick Fowl’s little ass up and down the halls. And if Holly’s hurt, well...too bad. 

It goes badly. Butler is strong and skilled but he was trying to get Juliet to safety and he wasn’t expecting a TROLL. Holly tries to help fight it off but she can’t get her helmet to work properly, it’s been damaged, and the weapon she used on the troll earlier to beat it was IN the helmet. She only manages to make it reel back, but she’s badly hurt. BUT...not so hurt she can’t use magic to heal Butler. Who is NOT. PLAYING.

He rises up, puts some nearby knight armor from a standing knight stand on...and has a mace. BAM! BAM! BAM! He has a Sig Saurer submachine gun. BAM-BAM-BAM! Nobody touches his sister. But...Holly asks him not to kill the troll. It’s beaten. And it’s just a dumb animal, please show mercy. So he doesn’t kill it, kicks it out, and Artemis and Juliet and Butler get contacted by Root, who agrees to send the money in, apologizing for the troll. 

Holly feels bad that Juliet’s about to get killed, she doesn’t feel bad about Artemis, but she doesn’t want Juliet killed. She says “I have magic, please, isn’t there anything I can do, you’re gonna be killed!” Artemis says there’s nothing she can do. He knows there’s a real danger coming but he’s sure he can beat it.

Although...there is ONE thing Holly could do with her magic. 

Then...sure enough...Holly is allowed to leave the house with half the gold. Payment for services rendered. The fairies launch the bio bomb as Artemis and Butler and Juliet drink drugged champagne.

And THAT...is how they beat the time field and the bio bomb. By knocking themselves unconcious, they can weasel out of the time field’s effects. When the fairy recon team comes in...yep. Sure enough, no bodies lying around. Artemis has escaped. So he gets to keep half a ton of gold. 

And...well, Holly did some magic for Artemis. She cured his mother of her mental illness. And that’s the first book.

Artemis is kinda unlikable, but having Holly freeing herself basically, not being a true damsel in distress, AND her saving Butler, who’s a lot more uneasy and disliking of Artemis’s plan, makes the story engaging. Artemis may not be a nice kid you can like, but the other characters make up for that. And there’s great worldbuilding and humor, with some nice, dry wit. 

The “Artic Incident” shows that Artemis’s mom is having him see a shrink. THe issue is he doesn’t respect anybody else. Nobody alive. Sure, he respects people like Einstein and Archimedes, but nobody PRESENT. And his dad’s still gone.

...or so he thought. A video has come in. Slightly blurry. But a man is tied up to a pole in a Russian winter and a sign on him reads...Hello Son. 

...Artemis is sure it’s him. And the FAIRIES are sure Artemis has teamed up with one of the most problematic, and STUPIDEST races of all...goblins. Nasty little things who can breath fire and who are super dumb...but now they’re using human tech to attack the fair folk underground. Who else but Artemis would do it? It’s sinister, evil, clever, it’s totally him.

The joke, though, is it isn’t him  who’s sold the tech to the goblins. Holly brings him in to be interrogated by Commander Root, and the scientist centaur, Foaly, who’s a brilliant mind and who makes fascianting devices like iris cams, little cameras that can slip onto your eyes as easily as a contact lens. Artemis isn’t behind what the goblins are doing BUT...he’s willing to help find out who is...

If they help him get his dad back. Well, Root agrees. Holly at first doesn’t believe Artemis actually cares until more time goes on and she realizes “Oh, wow, he’s serious, he DOES care about his dad, he’s not as cold and cruel as I thought”. They find out though that...well...they’ve got problems. While going to Russia, and trekking through the artic to where his dad is being held...goblins attack, and their weapons have been sabotaged! Somebody on the inside has screwed them over. 

But no, it’s not Foaly or Commander Root or the like. It’s Cudgeon. He’s teamed up with the pixie Opal Kaboi, a brilliant young woman who “upgraded” all the fairy folk police weaponry...as part of a plan for Cudgeon to take over the fairy lands. He’s sold weapons to the goblins, and he’s depowered the fair folks weapons...but then he’ll come riding in, JUST in time to save them. The weapons of the fair folk will be restored, the goblin rebellion put down, and they’ll all be so grateful he saved them he’ll get into a position of power. And then he’ll make Opal Kaboi meet with a tragic accident. Maybe several. And, of course, he’ll kill off Commander Root and Holly and Foaly and those “mud men”, as he calls Artemis and Butler. Heck, all the fairies call humans mud men. Racist pricks. 

Artemis is able to help stop the rebellion. He exposes cudgeon to Opal, Butler and Root kick goblin ass, and in the end, they uphold their end of the bargain and go back to Russia to free Artemis’s dad, faking him being shot. Artemis thanks Holly...rather profusely, at that. He’s SUPER grateful. She’s given him back his family, she’s saved his life once, and she’s just an amazing woman and-

Yeaaah, it’s sorta implied he KINDA has feelings for her. And Holly’s grateful too, not just for the “helping to stop the goblin rebellion and conspiracy” thing. She had lost her finger in an incident involving a train earlier when travelling through the artic with him. A door had slammed and cut her finger off, but Artemis was able to get it back on and to use the magic ritual to heal her, meaning she didn’t have to lose her trigger finger. She gives him a gold coin that she shoots through, a trophy, and says that beneath that exterior, there’s a “spark of decency. Blow on it sometime”.

The next story has Artemis trying to be a bit more...well, less criminal. He’s got some technology he salvaged from that helmet Holly left behind at his house. He’s used the tech and made a fancy computer cube, YEAAAARS beyond anything humanity has. No, he’s not putting it on the market. Not yet. He wants a businessman, Jon Spiro, to invest in his company he’s gonna be making. He’ll keep the cube off the market, Jon Spiro can sell his stocks, and invest in a real winner. After all nobody else has this kind of tech.

Spiro, however, is like “I could just kill you and take your fancy computer here you just showed me”. And Artemis is like “Oh give me a break, I arranged to meet you in a public restaurant, in broad daylight, and with my bodyguard who’s like three times your size, you can’t threaten me.”

Well. actually...he can. Spiro had the ENTIRE PLACE filled with his assassins before Artemis arrived. All the “customers” are his men. He takes the cube and leaves Artemis to get plugged by his bodyguards. Not good! The good news is Artemis rigged a sonic grenade underneath the table and they set it off. So all the bodyguards are beaten down!

Bad news is that one of the bodyguards actually was prepared for such a thing...well, mostly. His teeth are all blown out but he’s still concious enough...to try and shoot Artemis right in the chest. 

Butler barely saves him, taking the shot, and managing to shoot THAT guy, knocking him out. But Butler...Butler’s wound is basically fatal, and he reveals his true name, Domovoi, before he goes limp.

Artemis is DESPERATE. He has only one recourse. He sticks Butler in the nearby frozen fish ice tank in the restaurant to keep the body cool, and calls in a favor, getting a cryo pod delivered to keep Butler’s body cool. He then makes a call. A public phone call...that talks about stuff ONLY the fair folk would know, all to get the attention of the fairies. And lucky him...Holly shows up. He begs her to heal Butler. 

“Please, Holly. I can’t just let him go. It’s BUTLER...”

“...alright, Mud Boy.” Holly agrees. She owes Butler, after all. He’s saved her life several times and he’s a good man. Foaly the centaur is unsure the magical procedure will work, it’s NEVER really been done before. Artemis keeping the body cool has helped, but...it’s a shot in the dark.

But...the magic ritual works. Holly heals him. But she’s also sorta...took  some of his life force. The process made him age a bit. He’s now got a beard! But, still, he’s alive.

Artemis admits what happened with the cube computer, and Jon Spiro. And the cube is SO powerful and SO beyond normal human tech, in Spiro’s hands, it’d be a nightmare for all parties. He can easily, if he cracks the code on it, find out about the fairy folk. So Artemis offers to clean up his mess if he can get some help from Holly. Commander Root says sure...if he agrees to a mind wipe. He, Juliet, and Butler. They’ll remove all memory of the People from him, he won’t remember anything about fairies and the like, and they’ll fill in the gaps since, after all, he’s known about them for several years now. 

Artemis agrees, and they come up with a plan. Jon Spiro can’t get INTO the cube. So Artemis will agree to come to him in exchange for Spiro not going after him and his family, and he’ll crack the code he put on the cube to allow Spiro to make use of it. But it’s a trick. He’s wired with some fairy tech to spy on Spiro through it all as they make a plan. He’ll “fix” the cube, crack it open...but make it so it won’t actually tell Spiro about The People. On top  of that, he knows full well Spiro wants to use the cube to get even with his rivals...

And what better way to do that than to break into their own corporate HQ with the cube and hack their security and steal all their stuff right from out of their noses? Artemis is like “I don’t think that’s a good ideaaaa” in a sort of more subtle “Stop, don’t, come back” bit from Willy Wonka. He’s COUNTING on Spiro being a “rub his face in it” type...and Spiro really, REALLY is that type. Super petty, super smug. And super screwed. Artemis and the gang manage to trap him, get the cops to show up, and they steal the cube back, with Artemis tricking Spiro handily. He even fiddled with the cameras in the facility that Spiro tried to break into to make it look like HE wasn’t even there at all!

With the adventure done, the gang has to have their memories wiped. Artemis gives Mulch Diggums, who helped with everything, the gold coin memento Holly gave him saying “it means a lot to me, and I’d like you to have it”. He also thanks Holly for everything. He has both his family and now real friends thanks to the People. He wishes he didn’t have to forget that. 

Soon, the memory wipe is done. Artemis tried to leave behind some memory triggers to get AROUND the wipe, like unsent emails, online storage, and even a time capsule buried in the yard. But...well, that gold coin he gave to Mulch the dwarf isn’t ACTUALLY the coin.

It’s a computer disc. With a few memory triggers on it. He also has a note attached to it. “Wait a few years and come find me...we’re gonna do a TON of business together”, basically. Artemis, meanwhile, realizes a short time after the mind wipe that..something isn’t right. He was washing his face...when a tiny lens fell from his eyes. A corroded contact lens with a mirrored  layer behind it. And Juliet and Butler had them too. But they don’t remember putting those lenses there...clearly, something’s up. And he’s determined to find out what. 

Meanwhile, Holly and Foaly are rather sad about wiping Artemis’s memory. They were really beginning to like him. They’re worried, too, that maybe wiping his memory has taken away all the progress he’s made. Maybe he’s back to being that cold, cruel criminal Holly met those few years ago...

Well, the People will soon end up needing him. Because the pixie Opal Kaboi, sinister mastermind and sociopathic inventor, has been faking a coma, and she’s got two servants of hers to break her out. She switches herself with a clone of her that’s brain dead to fake the coma, and she’s got a plan. She’s disguised herself as a human, the child of a billionaire environmentalist, and she’s going to make herself human...and have her dad do a special project. A project...to tunnel down into the Earth to tap into the core.

And, well...fairies live underground. The two races are sure to meet thanks to this project, and Opal is sure they’ll be war, and with her sinister technology and skills, she intends to wipe out the fair folk and have humans win, and then work her way up from there, getting more and more power so she can finally take over the world. 

Artemis, meanwhile, is engaging in some theft of a very special painting...the Fairy Thief. He’s now gonna be the youngest thief in the entire world, and as he admires the painting, he realizes something about this Pascal Herve painting. The fairy is lingering at the window because she can’t come in unless INVITED. How does he know that? 

At the same time, Holly and Commander Root are trying to track down a goblin general who was able to sneak out of prison. Root has recommended Holly to basically take over the division she’s a part of, to be, well, a commander herself. And he also wants her to know how proud he is of what she’s become. He’s become a secondary father to her after she lost her own dad twenty years back. 

...I think...you can guess what I’m going to say next. No, he’s not three days until retirement. But he and Holly walk into a trap set up by Opal Kaboi. The goblin general is wired. When Root tries to grab the goblin...a special bomb is strapped to him. One that’s messing with the electronics in the room they’re currently stuck in. Foaly, watching everything from Holly’s camera, can’t hear what’s being said, and all he sees is her pointing a gun at her commanding officer, he can’t even see the bomb because the bomb’s made of a special stealth ore. 

Root is gonna explode. But Opal says “Hey, if you shoot this ONE SPECIFIC PART of the bomb...MAYBE you’ll stop the countdownn, but you really should go off and save those mud men, because the Fairy Thief painting they’re after has a tracking chip in it. And I’ve sent a bio bomb after them to blow them up.” 

Holly is SURE she can make the shot and stop the countdown but...

...well, she doesn’t. Poor Root is violently blown up. It’s a horrifying, terrible scene. And shortly after as Holly BARRELS desperately to try and save them, the bio bomb soars at Artemis and Butler! The good news is Butler leaps out the window with Artemis, using a bed to cushion the fall.

The bad news is they barely survive. Holly manages to save Artemis, carrrying him off, intending to come back to help Butler later, he’s just WAY too heavy to carry, and after healing Artemis, and he awakens, she explains what’s going on. 

You might think he doesn’t believe her. But no, he does. He remembers the strange lenses he’d put in his eyes, and her story lines up with them. He found out shortly after discovering those lenses HE ordered them, and he could only have done so to cheat a fairy mesmer. So he belives Holly...but he doesn’t remember her one iota. 

Butler, meanwhile, is visited by Mulch Diggum, who’s broken out of prison upon hearing Julius Root is dead and Holly is suspect number one. They’re his friends...and he HAS to help them! So he’s gone to Fowl Manor...with the memory trigger disc. He plays it for Butler...and Butler remembers everything. Good thing too...

Because Opal Kaboi has just found Artemis and Holly and intends to PERSONALLY have them killed as NASTILY as possible cuz they avoided being killed by her little bombs earlier. She’s gonna have trolls tear them apart. And she rubs salt in the wound by telling Holly that hey, funny story...that sweet spot I told you about? On the bomb on Root? That I said if you shot, it’d stop the countdown? Well, there wasn’t one. I lied just to frame you. The good news is, Artemis had his phone on and was leaving a message at Fowl Manor, and Butler and Mulch heard the whole thing, so they know where Opal is gonna be sending them. And they hurry over as Artemis begins to get more of his memories back, and they try to escape from being torn apart by trolls.

Soon Artemis has his whole memory back...and he’s torn by guilt over what he did to Holly when he first met her. He feels scummy. And he also swears to stop Opal Kaboi. And he knows exactly how. 

They know where Opal is going to be because she’s bragged so much. Mulch is able to sneak onto her ship...steal the bombs she intended to trigger that would be part of her plan to damage the home of the fairies and make them even MORE vulnerable to the drilling plan her “adopted human father” was planning...and put them in her ship. In fact, right where she was keeping her chocolate truffles. Just to add insult to injury. Opal had been all “You’re so dumb if you thought stealing the bombs would stop me, I’ll just detonate them and your whole ship will blow up”. Well, Opal, they did steal them from your ship...but they just moved it to another part of the ship you didn’t think to check...

Until it’s too late. Opal’s ship blows up, she BARELY escapes to the surface...and just as her  magic has run out, leaving her stranded in Italy and forced to work in a vineyard, digging holes for grapes and the like. Artemis and the gang reunite with Foaly and explain to him and the fairy authorities what happened, and after an investigation and Commander Julius Root’s funeral, Holly is cleared. She and Mulch decide to work together as private detectives, the Fairy Folk now consider Artemis and Butler a true friend of the people, Mulch has his criminal record expunged completely, and Artemis, in a show of generosity, decides to secretly donate “The Fairy Thief” painting he stole (which,t to be fair, was taken from ANOTHER thief...) to the Louvre.

The fourth story is definitely the height of the series. Some dramatic changes, Artemis at his very best, the interplay with the gang, the high stakes...so I can recommend the series. Well, to a point. THIS point. After this, the books begin to go downhill. It just comes across as spinning  it’s wheels, and then for the last book, well...

Well, uh...see, there’s this plan Opal has to cause chaos and because a TON of her technology is now being used up on the surface world, all the technology she had friggin blows up. We’re talking stuff like dialysis machines and other medical equipment made useless. Pacemakers? BOOM! Right in your chest! Submarines no longer functioning! People on boats? Stranded! People begin looting. PLANES FALL FROM THE SKY. 

Oh but hey, at least they’re not distracted by TV anymore. No really, that’s...like, nobody really dwells on what’s clearly a horrific, apocalyptic scenario and god knows how many people died...

Look, I love the series. But I think I can best recommend it...in the graphic novel format it came in. So check those out. They go all the way, at least currently, up to the fourth book. So just read those if you can. They’re a ton of fun and super creative. :)

[voxdecobra]

game over? :3c

|| SOURCE ||

“Oh good. I thought I’d killed you.”

Spoken through a small nasally accent, though he’s made sure to wash his face of the blood. The woman had been more firey than usual, and had given him a hell of a shiner. Deep down, he supposed he brought this upon himself, egging her on until she snapped.

“That would be too bad, really.” He sounded like he didn’t particularly care whether she was listening or not — he’d been skeptical in the first place that his backup plan would even work on a hero of her caliber. He’d gone overboard on the design, he would admit. Mixing a paralyzing agent with sedative gas? Even going so far as to test it rigorously to make sure the side effects of stillness lasted even after reawakening?

Surely, the work of a madman.

Or, a man with a vendetta and nothing more to lose.

She had indeed only gotten stronger since that night, so thick metal restraints accompanied her paralysis. With what he’d decided to do, he couldn’t afford her getting out. Not until he was done, anyway.

“You know,” not facing her, the scientist pulled clean gloves from a box, “I really do consider myself above petty vengeance. But you? Hah, Sparks, you always were special to me. I guess some feelings never change. You always get special treatment.”

The man took a moment to turn and stare, really stare, into her eyes. Could she hear him? It would be unsatisfying if she was sleeping through this.

For her to give her all and more fighting him — possibly with murder on the mind — and lose? To a cheap, dirty tactic of distraction? And not be able to see defeat through a clear lens?

He felt it was only fair his former lover know exactly how he planned to even the field.

In the corner, a vat of several red orbs sat floating, several syringes of that same color laid out neatly on a tray. Snatched up so quickly he feared he might break it, Venomous approached her, only to tease the side of her neck with the sharp point of powerlessness.

He never seemed to get over those eyes of hers, and found himself watching for indication of a ‘please’ even as he stabbed it forth and emptied the contents into her bloodstream anyway.

She might not feel it now, not even within the next hour, but should she try and copy, she would fail.

As a cruel afterthought, a gentle alcohol swab and a bandaid were used, just to show how kind he could be. She wasn’t DEAD now was she? She should be THANKFUL.

“I never did get to show you my other projects, did I? I was planning to — if I ever succeeded, anyway. Black holes, shrinking, permanent power erasure? Why, I’m sure you’re at least a LITTLE interested in what I can make.”

Turning around now, the snake grinned, a yellow orb in hand, cushioned by yet another glove. This one thicker than an oven mitt, kept any effects from affecting HIM. The red orb had already rendered him useless, and would soon affect Spark, but the newest was far more dangerous.

“You know what the RED orb does, but do you know what my YELLOW orb does?”

“It’s very simple, actually.”

The small seemingly harmless ball was rolled about slightly in his hand, a faint smell of lemon wafting about. Then, loaded into a small ray, which began to glow yellow as well.

“It targets both the subconscious and conscious mind at once, clearing everything in its path. Memories, feelings, even personality if tuned correctly.”

There was a glint of something malicious in his eye, even more cruel than when he told her who he was. Almost unhinged, his grin got wider as he caressed her cheek.

If only she could talk back, maybe even beg. She was a smart woman, she knew damn well what this was leading to.

And if she didn’t, she would. Temporarily, but she’d know.

“We all have bad memories we try and get rid of — and I know you’re no exception. The thing is, I’m not quite sure how far back it was that you found out.”

He knew DAMN well, less than a month, but the threat was there.

He was going to take her for all she had.

“Six? Seven years? No no, it has to be more than eleven? You were VERY smart when you were in POINT, you wouldn’t have gotten in otherwise.”

Flipping a switch on one side, the ray gun began to hum, slowly growing in pitch.

“You must have known the day I ‘died’. But…. just to be sure, why don’t we go a bit further? It never hurts to be sure. You always did talk fondly of your school friends. Let’s pay them a visit.”

He stalled further, unable to contain a deranged giggle. Then, without warning, fired.

Memories, no matter how hard she held to them, evaporated like sand through her fingers. Almost like rewinding a watch, Carol lost days, then weeks — months, years— in a span of minutes. Gone was KO, Mr. Gar, her dojo, her achievements. The orb left nothing, razing her library of Alexandria down to nothing but ashes.

He wasn’t sure where he’d put her, but he knew she didn’t remember a thing past meeting him. Looming over her now like a snake toying with a field mouse, he couldn’t help feel elated since he’d WON.

“I only wish you knew you’d forgotten.”

“I only wish you knew what it felt like to lose EVERYTHING.”

[odderancyart]

His Hatred is as pure as his Love

The title is a quote from a comic by xLadyMalice (18+ blog)

The poem/quote in the fic comes from Steven Moffat

I couldn’t find an owner to Disbelief Papyrus

On AO3

Fandom: Undertale Characters: Papyrus, Frisk, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, Asgore Summary:  Disbelief Papyrus. On a neutral run, Frisk kills Sans. Papyrus’ hatred is born, and that is something you never want to be the victim of.

Demons run ”You killed… you killed hi… I believed in you. I believed in you and you killed my brother.” Gathering the dusty jacket in his arms Papyrus watched the back of the human disappear into Waterfall. Tears ran down his face. His brother, Sans, was dead. The human had killed him in cold blood. Whilst smiling. They had struck from behind, Sans hadn’t stood a chance despite his ability to dodge. The sobs Papyrus let out started to die, changing into giggles as he stared at the dust at his feet. He put it into a container he had stashed in his inventory, before putting it back, and then he grinned widely. He stared at the path the human had taken. His giggled turned into laughter as he put the jacket on. It was too small. But what did that matter? Papyrus continued to laugh as he stalked after the kid that had dusted his family.

He would make them regret ever coming here.

When a good man goes to war His eye blazed orange as he made his way through Waterfall. It was almost interesting, how most of its inhabitants seemed frightened, talking about how a human had dusted their friends and families, but a few only had nice things to say. Once, Papyrus would have seen those few as proof that the human wasn’t all bad, but now he knew better. They were taunting him. Pointing out that they had spared a few, just like Papyrus had spared them just before they killed Sans. He did stop to help a few monsters who was in need of his aid, but most scuttered out of the vengeful monster’s way. His eye sparked as he heard two Temmies talk. One of them had seen the human dust another Temmie, and one had liked the human. He grinded his teeth, scaring them off. He hated it. He hated the human. And he would get his revenge.

Night will fall and drown the sun Undyne had tried to stop him. The human had spared her as well. For this, he was almost grateful. His best friend lived. But she had tried to stop him from punishing them for what they had done to Sans. Said to leave it to the Guard, to let her take care of the human. She had already failed once. There was simply no way he would risk her messing up again, letting the human go once more. He told her this, with cold voice. She had looked hurt, but still tried to stop him. He had attacked.

Undyne was stronger than him, he knew this. She was the strongest monster Underground, Sans had once said she had a natural well of Determination – something extremely unusual for monsters. But she was still hurt and tired from her encounter with the human, and Papyrus was not going to allow anyone to stop him. He pinned her to a wall and left for Hotland, in his brother’s killer’s tracks.

When a good man goes to war Mettaton was alive. His body was completely, utterly, destroyed, only the SOUL container not in a thousand pieces, but he was alive.

Papyrus knew he should feel something, anything, when hearing these news. MTT was his idol after all, but nothing. It was like all his compassion, all his love, all his hope – everything he was – had disappeared together with Sans. There was not much he cared about anymore, except getting revenge. He had felt something like relief over the fact that Undyne was alive, but otherwise Papyrus was not able to find another positive emotion in his body.

All he knew was this great hatred.

Friendship dies and true love lies ”U-Undyne?” The skittish royal scientist asked the captain of the Royal Guard, who was currently sitting on the floor of her lab. When Papyrus had beaten her up Alphys had immediately sent Mettaton to pick her up before leaving to meet the human, so she could patch her up. ”A-are you o-okay?”

”Okay?” Undyne replied, and let out a light laugh. It sounded forced. ”Of course I’m okay, Alph. I’m always okay. That my best friend just nailed me to a wall in blind rage doesn’t change that. Neither does the fact that there’s a human killing their way through the Underground, and Papyrus is going after them, wants to kill them. Papyrus!”

Alphys could only nod as she watched the person she was sure was the love of her life keep in sobs, grinning a grin that looked slightly unhinged. She was scared.

Night will fall and the dark will rise The Hall of Judgement. The golden room that had been Sans’ primary work place. The Hall of the Royal Judge.

But as the Royal Judge was not there anymore, Papyrus would just have to take his place. He had gotten here before the human, thanks to his ability to ignore and manipulate gravity; much like Sans had been able to manipulate time and space and therefore teleport. He grinned where he stood, leaning at a pillar. It was feral. He had waited, and watched, and his hate had grown with every life the human had taken and spared. Footsteps was heard, coming closer, and Papyrus clutched Sans’ jacket a little closer.

”Don’t worry, brother.” He whispered quietly, darkly. ”I will avenge you.”

When a good man goes to war The human looked surprised to see him there. Apparently, they had thought that since they killed the Judge, they would not have to face judgement, like they had in all earlier RESETs, Papyrus realized. It was almost enough to make him feel slightly giddy.

Then the human shrugged, smiling their weird smile, and kept walking until they reached the middle of the Hall where he stood.

Pushing himself of the pillar he faced the human who had murdered Sans. ”LET’S JUST GET TO THE POINT, SHALL WE?” He asked, back to his normal volume. The black of his eye grew more compact. ”YOU DIRTY BROTHER-KILLER.”

Calling them into a fight he grinned at the way the human almost flinched back at his tone. They did not look worried, though, which Papyrus knew was because they had never had too much trouble with his fight in the past. But he also knew he would make them regret underrestimating him. He called down a shower of bones, letting them rain over the human.

Demons run, but count the cost They were both panting, sweat dripping down their faces. Papyrus couldn’t remember the last time he had been sweating at all, let alone this much. But while the human got slower and slower, he still had a lot of energy left. The training he had gotten since childhood assured that he could fight for days at a time.

He dodged, threw bones, fired Gaster Blasters. He got a twisted joy from seeing their face when he called on the Blasters the first time. He had ten out at all times, more than Sans ever had been able to manage for more than a few moments, so even if they had fought Sans in an earlier RESET there was no preparing for his attacks. They were completely without a pattern; Papyrus was too furious to care about that. He did not know who had taught him to fight without patterns, nor did he care.

He laughed, the sound giving the impression of coming from the edge of madness, and fired on the same time as he let a wall of blue bones rise from the ground. He dodged the human’s attack and turned their SOUL blue.

The fury on their face was great, but the exhaustion in their body even more evident. They were down on 2 HP and he knew their inventory was empty. The battle had been going on for hours. The human screamed as he purposefully only dropped their HP with 1 while still making sure it hurt. Badly.

”FINE!” They yelled, voice filled with a hatred not nearly as pure as the hatred Papyrus felt, but extraordinary nevertheless. ”FINE! I GIVE UP! KILL ME THEN, I GIVE UP!”

The human just stood there, and Papyrus grinned. Finally. He lifted his hand, before bringing it down, firing one of the Blasters.

The human’s body fell to the ground with a final thump, burned almost beyond recognition.

The battle’s won, but the child is lost Papyrus stared at the body lying on the golden tiles. He felt a rush of victory going through his bones. He had avenged his brother’s death. As that thought came into his mind he felt a sob forcing itself up his throat. Sans was avenged, but he was still dead. Papyrus was still alone, without his family.

And who knew when the human would RESET again, and what kind of human they would be?

The orange glow around his eye disappeared as he crumbled to the floor, clutching the jacket tight. He sobbed violently, shaking, as he again called on his magic and had bones impale the dead body again and again and again.

Sans was dead and he was alone. Sans was dead and he was alone. Sans was dead and he was…

”Sans?” A soft voice came from behind, but Papyrus hardly noticed it.

”Oh dear.”

A hand on his shoulder, and he jerked so violently he almost lost his balance. He would have, if the fuzzy paw holding him hadn’t helped him keep it.

”You must be Papyrus.” The voice said. ”Undyne and your brother have told me so much about you.”

Papyrus managed to look up toward the one speaking, through his tears. A goat monster he recognized well was looking down on him, eyes soft and sorrowful. The king. Papyrus couldn’t even bother to care about the fact that the King of All Monsters was in his presence.

Two fuzzy arms wrapped themselves around him, and he cried into the king’s chest, grateful that someone was there to keep him from falling apart. It hurt. It hurt so much. Sans had been the one constant in his life, had been there from the start. Sans had been the most important person in his life. Sans had been the one person he loved more than anything else. His lazy, hot cat-selling, joke-telling, slacking, kind and brave brother.

Once the tears had dried out, he looked at the human body, which was now hovering a few feet above the floor, held up by his bones. His hatred still burned brightly, as strong as ever, not only toward this single human, but toward humanity. He looked up at the king, determination in his face.

”Let me into the Guard.” He simply said, quietly, voice almost void of any emotion except determination. ”I killed the human. The seventh human. You can take their SOUL and break the Barrier. A place in the Royal Guard is the least you owe me. And I will fight when we go to war against those demons.”

While he almost felt bad for forcing his way into the Guard through Asgore instead of waiting for Undyne to allow him in, he would not wait anymore. Then all Papyrus felt was grim and cruel satisfaction as the king, looking pained, nodded.

He would fill the void Sans left behind by making those who killed him regret ever being born.

…

RESET

[makomaragi]

dumb fanfics that take me way too long to write. i started this MONTHS ago and am giving up proof reading it/adding dumb things/JUST DONE WITH IT

pairing: scientificshipping (prof. aurea juniper/fennel)

rating: um?? they make a sexy time, kind of. 

in which i write out random blurbs of headcanon nonsense i have in story form, nothing exciting happening. this is literally 2600 words of scientificshipping fluff gays, sorta. i haven’t posted anything i’ve written for them in so long :( so here we go, tryin this again i guess.

Fennel was only killing time now; taking careful sips from her glass of wine and pouring over research notes that she wasn't terribly interested in.

They were Aurea's notes after all – written in a haste on loose paper scraps, shoved in to a folder and tossed on her nightstand upon her arrival home to be reviewed first thing tomorrow morning. The dream scientist had no interest whatsoever in the details of what she was reading, much less if she even understood the material between her wife's sloppy hand writing and the lack of order the notes had been in (something about fossils in caves, she assumed) but either way, it was her chosen form of entertainment for now. It made her feel sophisticated; sitting in bed in her robe, sipping wine and reading the foot notes of Professor Juniper's latest expedition before they were revealed to the rest of the scientific world.

Three weeks, Fennel thought to herself. It had been three weeks and four days since Aurea’s research in Alola stole her away from her. There weren’t any new fossil discoveries there from what Fennel understood, and it seemed to be repeated in the notes she continued to gloss over. Some fossils appeared commonly enough to be sold in shops, which was why Aurea wanted to go there in the first place.

She could have tagged along, she supposed – Burnett had invited them more than once to stay with her should they ever find themselves in the region. The offer always made Aurea feel intrusive no matter who it was from, preferring to stay in a hotel in their own space when they traveled, but Fennel wouldn’t have minded being a tourist in the region while the professor kept herself busy with the rocks.

The dream scientist’s own research kept her far too busy to vacation every time Aurea decided to globe trot, so it was better this way, she told herself. There was something she enjoyed about missing her when she was away. Her work kept her occupied all the same, only leaving the loneliness to creep in when she arrived home to an empty house, and too much room in the bed at night for her liking. They’d chat periodically on the phone, texts and e-mail,  enough for Fennel to feel safe in knowing where Aurea was and what she was doing. She had gotten better about it in recent years, not worrying about her every five minutes as she used to.

But the moment would come when she would meet her at the airport gate. Her hair was a bit more disheveled, her figure a tiny bit leaner, her skin a bit rougher, but it was her.

The professor's eyelids hung heavy when she greeted her, exhausted from her research excursion and the lengthy flight to follow, but dropped her bags and pulled Fennel in her arms none the less. Their lips met briefly, Fennel releasing sooner than she would have wanted to.

But for now, Aurea was but fifteen feet away behind the bathroom door taking a shower.

The professor emerged from the bathroom in nothing but an oversized t-shirt and underwear, swishing her still damp hair behind her shoulder and collapsing on the bed without much of a word to the other.

Fennel wasn't going to bide her time now, placing the folder back on the table with a grin. “Took you long enough,” she chided as she pushed the loose stands of hair out and her eyes before setting her glasses next to the folder on the nightstand, turning her attention back to the brunette. “Do you want some wine?”

“No.”

“It's the one you got me from Kalos last year. Said we should save it for a special occasion.”

Aurea made some sort of grunt in return, not having moved an inch, lying on her back, eyes closed, not even bothering to pull the comforter over herself. She probably could have counted on one hand the number of words they exchanged that evening, not out of any sort of anger, just pure exhaustion on her part. She couldn't find it in herself to care that Fennel was drinking expensive wine with or without her, or if she drank the whole bottle by herself. Every bone and muscle in her body ached, the hot shower not relieving it like she had hoped it would.

Fennel studied the professor momentarily with a quiet smile. So she was tired. She was always tired when she came home. It didn't take the dream scientist long to make the first move, straddling the other woman, lifting her shirt up and over her breasts, kissing up her torso. “I missed you,” she started, not relenting in her kisses, feeling herself forgetting to breathe momentarily.

“Missed you, too,” Aurea echoed as her eyes fluttered open, head planted to the pillow, reaching a hand up in Fennel's hair.

“Move your arms so I can take your shirt off.”

The professor forced herself to pull her shoulders up and arms above her head, allowing the other woman to pull her shirt the rest of the way up, the professor wincing when she arched her back to allow her to slip it the rest of the way off. “Are you happy now?”

“Yes ,” Fennel nodded, tossing the shirt on to the floor.  “Why'd you put a shirt on when you knew I was just going to take it off anyway?”

“I don't know,” giving way to a smile at that.

“Are you okay?” Fennel leaned back for a moment, unsure if it was appropriate to continue with their usual routine upon the professor’s return home.

“I'm fine.” It wasn’t the truth, but it wasn’t a complete lie, either. She should have known this was how their evening was going to play out, really, having caught her mind drifting to this exact scenario on the plane ride home. Aches and pains be damned.

Fennel gave a nod and returned the smile, grazing kisses along her collar bone and between her breasts, beginning to work her way down her stomach again, caressing her thigh with her hand. “I missed you....I missed kissing you....I missed touching you....” her kisses began to move upward, until she was at Aurea's lips again, pressing her lips against hers softly, her hands still grazing her thigh and the hem of her underwear. Fennel halted momentarily to remove her robe, revealing the bright pink lingerie she had on underneath. “This came from Lumiouse City, too.”

“Shame it’s going to end up on the floor in a moment.” Aurea reached a hand up, encouraging Fennel to lean back down in to her, kissing her softly and leaving her forehead against the other’s momentarily.  

With a practiced grace she reached behind the scientist, unhinging her bra, leaving Fennel to shrug it off her shoulders and fall between them, shaking it off to the side. She would of liked for Aurea to have looked at her in it longer, but there would be other evenings. She should have known by now that expensive lingerie would have been better appreciated under less eager circumstances by now, and yet, she always saved it for times like this.

The possibilities seemed endless in that brief second, Fennel trying to decide exactly what it was she wanted to do to her. Aurea was exhausted, that much was clear, and she didn’t much care if her wife didn’t feel like returning any favors. She couldn’t decide if it was selfish or selfless that led her to where she was, kisses trailing off at her panties, slipping them down over her knees, tossed to the floor shortly after. Fennel met the professor’s eyes for a brief moment, sharing soft grins. She took this as a sign of approval, hunching her shoulders, feeling a brief euphoria in tasting her for the first time in a long time.

The more Aurea attempted to keep up with Fennel’s pace, every twist in her body emphasized the pain she had temporarily forgotten. She wanted to feel her softness again, she wanted to reciprocate the pleasure Fennel was giving her so freely, but the ache in core left her hating herself in the moment.

“I don’t know if I can do this tonight, babe,” the brunette started with hesitation, between harsh breaths.

“If you’re tired, it’s okay, this one’s on me.”

Aurea didn’t stop her, and didn’t feel the need to elaborate either.  But she had years of experience in Fennel’s way of going about this, and when she began her finishing touch, the professor’s body tensed up in what usually would have been pleasurable, but the sudden movement in her body further emphasized her original doubts. She had no reason to feel guilty about it, there would be other opportunities to repay any sort of debt she felt she owed.

“No, Fennel, stop,” the professor forced herself up on her elbows, adjusting her position slightly. “My back is killing me. I'm sorry.”

Fennel lifted her chin from between her knees, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She didn’t look mad or even upset, only concerned. The dream scientist rocked back on her haunches, releasing a compressed breath.

“I'm sorry. I really am. But I just can't physically do this right now. ”

Fennel had every right to be disappointed, and Aurea wouldn’t hold it against her if she was.

“Are you okay?” Fennel repeated her earlier question, brows arched in perplexed worry as the professor gave a slight nod.

If Fennel had been disappointed, she was hiding it well.

The dream scientist’s stare lingered. It wasn’t how she saw the evening playing out, but she wasn't going to keep trying if Aurea wasn’t feeling well.   “Do you want me to rub your back?” was all she felt she could offer.

“No.”

Fennel paused momentarily, now feeling guilty in her assumption. “Can I snuggle with you?”

“As long as I don't have to move.”

Fennel was cautious as to how to she situated herself, resting her head against her shoulder, wrapping an arm over her stomach, their bare torsos pressed together. “Maybe we're just getting old.”

“Maybe.”

“You know....when my mom was my age, I was thirteen. I can't imagine us having a thirteen year old kid.”

“Me, either,” Aurea gave a chuckle at this, not certain where Fennel was going with that bit. “I really missed you, you know. The last week I was there, all I wanted to do was...this, I guess.”

“Except we'd have sex first.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me you were hurting?” Fennel truly felt remorseful now, upset with herself for being so insistent.

“It wouldn’t have been the first time,” Aurea started, realizing as soon as she spoke what was coming. Fennel was already slightly shaken up over something the professor herself didn’t see as that big of a deal. Sleeping in tents on cots or the ground for a month never left her feeling relaxed and refreshed when she returned home as much as Fennel might assume it did. A few nights of rest in her own comfortable bed was usually all she needed to solve the problem, now only annoyed with herself for bringing it up at all.

Fennel would lecture her about seeing a doctor again, and she wasn’t much in the mood for this to turn in to an argument, if that’s where this was headed. Even if it wasn’t, all she wanted was to spend a quiet night with her wife who she hadn’t seen for nearly a month. She needed to change the subject, she needed a distraction. It was quite lucky she had one, really.

“Wait…..I have something to make it up to you. Go in my bag, in the front pocket there….there’s a box...”

Fennel seemed appropriately distracted by the request, eagerly digging through the travel bag, retrieving said box quickly. There was a brand name on it she didn’t recognize, written in fancy script on the dark blue velvet encasing. If she didn’t already know that it had been a gift, she would have mistaken it for a glasses case.

“Well, open it,” the professor grinned when Fennel looked to her for reassurance, returning to her spot next to her. Aurea forced herself upright, still feeling the vibrations of the pain shooting through her spine as she did so. If she couldn’t make love to her properly tonight, she wanted to at least give her something.

Fennel’s perplexed expression changed when she saw what the box contained – a heart shaped necklace, with some sort of crystal throughout. They definitely didn’t have anything like that in Unova that she knew of – the material shined like nothing she could compare it to on jewelry, but maybe that of freshly fallen snow in the moonlight.

“It’s a necklace with crystal from ice from the Alolan variant of Vulpix. It’s, um...considered very valuable….very rare, even in Alola, because it’s hard to obtain. Something to do with when they shed their coat or something. The lady at the jeweler explained it to me but I still didn’t fully understand.”

“It’s beautiful, Aurea. Thank you,” Fennel leaned in to peck her on the lips.  “Can you put it on me, please?”

The professor gathered and slid Fennel’s hair off to the side of the shoulder, taking the necklace and carefully sliding the clip in to place to set around her neck.

“I...really couldn’t think of any reason to give it to you. I thought about saving it for a special occasion, but that seemed silly.”

Aurea returning home with souvenirs from her travels for her wasn’t unusual, though, the assumed price tag on this one was. The gifts usually consisted of airport bought shot glasses and post cards, occasionally t-shirts, sometimes earrings, but rarely fine jewelry such as this. Fennel could only chalk it up to her being gone for longer than normal, but she wasn’t about to complain, either.

But at some point, the world renowned Professor Juniper had taken time away from her research to take a trip to a jewelry store and buy this for her.  Amanita couldn’t have been more wrong when she had told her  Aurea’s work and travel schedule would come between them too much.

Fennel got up, making her way over to the mirror in the bathroom to examine it on herself. She couldn’t remember the last time she was clad in nothing more than her panties and a necklace, but somehow, it seemed appropriate of the evening. She could sense Aurea’s eyes still on her, watching as she placed careful fingers around the necklace to feel the groves in the crystal, and examine it closer.

“Thank you, Aurie, really,” Fennel repeated as she reclined back in to the bed next to her wife, kissing her again, who was already situated flat on her back once more.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I’m glad you’re home, finally ” Fennel smiled, pulling the comforter from the end of the bed over them. “We’ll save the wine for when you’re feeling better.”