#still can’t believe this is eo

[deus-ex-mona]

[maybeicanbesaved]

got to see my niece & nephew for the first time in years. i missed them so much 😭🥺❤️

[bigbuffjoonie]

Holy shit WHAT A RIDE this chapter was!!

Versus | MYG, JHS - Chapter 6

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader x Hoseok

Genre: smut, fluff, angst, crack, enemies to lovers, Villains!AU

Rating: M (18+)

Warnings: mentions of weapons - blades, mentions of blood/bleeding, stabbing, explosions, fighting (hand-to-hand combat), flesh-eating bacteria, a plane nearly crashes, switching POVs, kissing, grinding, Vitality gives in to temptation, Yoongi and Hobi give in to their instincts

Word Count: 2.7k

Disclaimer: NSFW, obviously I don’t own BTS - they just inspire me

Summary: Supervillain exes Yoongi and Hoseok are sick and tired of having their plans for world domination wrecked by you, aka Vitality, the world’s most powerful superhero. When fellow villain Jimin suggests a little competition to see who can bring you to your knees, they both eagerly accept. Now the battle is on as both men engage you in fight after fight to see who will conquer you first. Will you finally defeat these two, or will they destroy you - and possibly take each other out in the process?

A/N: We're upping the ante with the battles this chapter! The lines are really starting to blur for our superhero and villains alike.

The chapter title comes from OK Go's Here It Goes Again:

I guess there's gotta be a break in the monotony But Jesus, when it rains, how it pours

Unbeta’d as usual. Please don't be a silent reader! 🥺 My inbox is always open! 💕

Chapter Five ✨ Series Masterlist ✨ Chapter Seven

Chapter Six: Jesus, When It Rains, How It Pours

As far as weeks go, you’ve had better. 

Monday started off with a bang when half of midtown was ravaged by a gila monster the size of a jumbo jet that escaped from some mad scientist’s lab after getting into some horrifically effective secret growth serum. Tuesday you took down an entire team of disgruntled ex-military men threatening to blow up the city if the officials didn’t meet their demands for, uh, actually, you never asked what they wanted, you just defeated them before they could do anything other than terrorize a whole building full of innocent hostages. 

Wednesday was nothing but meetings and team building exercises - honestly, worse than the giant lizard and the mercenaries combined. 

And here it is Thursday, and you’re once again fighting Yoongi. He’s really been on one lately, and you’re getting a little sick and tired of seeing his face. Especially when he won’t stop throwing those fucking blades at you and ruining your plans to spend the day relaxing for once. Well, relaxing as much as you can for a superhero busy constantly saving the world. So, like, eating banana Choco Pies and maybe binging a few episodes of All of Us Are Dead in between training sessions.

“Heads up, pretty bird!” Yoongi grins as another dagger hurtles through the air. You spin, avoiding the sharp projectile, and aim a high kick at his head. He manages to duck, dropping to his knees. Two more daggers slip from his sleeves and he chucks them as he laughs gleefully. 

His plan is going fairly smoothly today. It was so easy for him and Taehyung to break into the high containment lab where the government’s Disease Control department stores the deadliest pathogens on the planet under lock and key. Even easier to incite hysteria when he threatened to release a vial of flesh-eating bacteria into the water supply. He so loves to watch leaders scramble about like helpless ants, just waiting to be squished under his big black boots. 

Not to mention how much he enjoys the thrill of causing a total meltdown amongst the public at large. It’s too easy to manipulate people. They’re so dumb and panicky. 

How he loathes them.

But as much as he’d love to actually release some of these vicious viruses, he’s really only here because he knew you’d come. And now he has you trapped in an enclosed space, surrounded by vials filled with instant death, making it impossible for you to use your powers. You can’t exactly blast him to hell if it means you might accidentally smash some of these tubes and release the doom stored inside. Especially since he and Taehyung destroyed all of the room’s defenses meant to keep any breaches safely enclosed within.

“You won’t get away with this!” you hiss as you knock one of his daggers out of midair with a well-timed kick. 

“Are you sure about that? Seems like you’re fighting with clipped wings, pretty bird,” Yoongi chuckles darkly. “Careful! Wouldn’t want to let any of these icky germs get out, now would we?”

Lunging forward, you tackle him to the ground, pinning his arms down so he can’t release any more blades. You still don’t understand where the fuck they all come from - is he conjuring them out of thin air? Or does he have a whole bunch of them strapped to his body at all times? Is his pale skin just a collection of scars under his pinstripe suit? 

“What exactly is your plan here? Release the bacteria, and then what? What do you want?” 

What does he want? You, writhing underneath him, begging for mercy. It’s all he desires.

“I want chaos. I want to bring the world crashing down around us, until the streets run red and only the strongest survive. This world needs culling, and I am the reaper!” His eyes flash as he rants, fidgeting, trying to rock you off of him as you straddle his chest, keeping his hands pressed against his sides.  

“You’re the reaper? No, you’re a disease, and I am the cure!” you snarl, fist curled, winding up to deliver a knockout punch. 

Yoongi cackles wildly. “You’re the cure? Be honest–did you just come up with that, or did you rehearse that before you got here?”

Well, not that he needs to know, but yeah, you’d rehearsed that since the moment you left headquarters. As soon as you realized you were headed to the infectious disease vault, you knew exactly what you wanted to say for your finishing quip. Stupid fucking superhero banter.

“Fuck you!” A little more pithy than witty, but it’ll get the job done. Just as you’re about to smack him six ways from Sunday, there’s a stabbing pain in your shoulder. With a wounded shriek, you reach behind you and remove a dagger, point dripping with your blood. 

Taehyung stands in the doorway of the vault. Goddamn it, you forgot all about the sidekick. All the supervillains you fight always have a loyal lackey just waiting to step in and prove their mettle. Yoongi must’ve trained him to handle his blades.

His presence distracts you long enough for Yoongi to wiggle his arms free, throwing you off of him. Yoongi reaches for the dagger but you manage to keep a strong grip on it, and the two of you begin to wrestle, limbs tangling as Taehyung suddenly shouts.

“Hyung! Look out!” A vial sitting dangerously close to the edge of the counter suddenly topples onto its side, glass shattering. “Don’t let it hit your skin!”

It’s the flesh-eating bacteria. Your tussling with Yoongi has brought you right next to the counter, and your back slams into the solid cabinet doors. Time seems to slow to a crawl, every second stretching to an eternity. You glance at Yoongi before you look up, staring in dread as the contents of the tube begin to drip towards your face–

THOCK

A burst of wind ripples past your head and suddenly there’s a dagger sticking out of the wood, directly between your face and the oozing strain, catching every drop that dribbles down. Startled, you whip your head around to gawk at Yoongi. He’s frozen, arm still raised, a fierce look on his face. 

“Don’t just sit there, fucking move,” he growls, and you snap to, quickly jumping away from the counter as the lethal microbes run down the blade and trickle onto the floor where you had been a mere millisecond before. You lie on your side, panting, bewildered. Why the fuck did Yoongi do that? 

Yoongi’s stunned. Why the fuck did he do that? You were this close to becoming a bacteria buffet. If he hadn’t saved you, you’d be dead. He hadn’t even thought about it, just reacted on instinct, tossing a blade to protect you. 

Fucking hell, once again he really needs a minute to think. But now isn’t the time for any self-reflection, not with sirens blaring and Taehyung screeching in his ear that they need to leave before you shake off your shock and capture them both. He allows his confidant to pull him to his feet, and then he’s running, as fast as he can, away from the lab, away from the building, away from you and the expression on your face of total confusion - mixed with the one emotion he hates above all.

Hope.

Hobi’s made a slight miscalculation.

This thought occurs to him as he stumbles out of the cockpit of the jet, which is gradually diving towards the ground. 

See, his brilliant plan this week was to trap you on a jet skimming the upper bounds of the atmosphere and force you to fight him without your powers. After all, it’s an enclosed space about 6,000 miles above the ground. Since you can’t fly, why would you put yourself at risk by tearing a hole through the cabin or blasting one of the engines into smithereens?

The thing is, no matter how many times he had Jin sift through the scenarios and crunch the data, he completely forgot to take one factor into consideration: you’re kind of a compulsive idiot. 

“The controls are completely shot,” He hisses as he stalks across the cabin to where you’re standing, staring at your own hands. “As you in fucking shot them with that last blast!”

“I didn’t fucking mean to! Obviously!” you shout, snapping out of your shock. You’d been trying, really trying not to give in to the urge to just blow this asshole out of the sky, but he wouldn’t stop throwing punches and you just wanted to stun him, wind him enough to knock him down and pin him, except you forgot how fucking slick he is, how he moves like water when he fights, lithe body bending in ways you couldn’t even dream to, and with one smooth side step he’d avoided your blast. 

And now there’s a giant hole in the instrument panel and you’re going to die. 

Hobi should’ve prepared for this eventuality. He should’ve packed at least one parachute. 

Add it to the list of things he’ll go to his grave lamenting. 

“So what do we do now?” you ask, spinning around the empty cabin of the plane, looking for something that might help. Not that you have a fucking clue what would help. This isn’t a situation they’d trained you for when you’d started with the company. It was always assumed that if there were an air battle, one of the flying heroes would handle it. 

“We fucking die,” Hobi hisses. For once, he wishes he had Jin in his ear to tell him everything will be alright. But his communications are on the fritz thanks to the gaping maw that used to be the front of the jet. “Unless one of your stupid coworkers is about to swoop in here and save us?” 

One minute, you were on your way to a charity event, dressed to kill in your bright red strapless sequined gown, slit cut halfway to heaven up your right thigh, most decidedly not wearing the headpiece from your uniform despite your PR rep’s insistence because you think it’s tacky as fuck (and besides, it clashed with your dress something horrible), when your driver suddenly keeled over, blood spurting from his mouth, and the car went off the road. Before you could free yourself from the wreckage, you felt that invisible pulsing again, and everything went black. 

Now, as the train of your dress trails behind you, tattered from your fight, you wish you’d worn that stupid ugly-ass headpiece after all. Damn you and your fucking pride. There’s a locator beacon in the headpiece, which would really be handy right about now. You know Doc will track you eventually, but you’re not feeling very hopeful that he can do so before you become a superhero pancake.

“Save us?” you sputter, spinning around the empty cabin. “Who is this “us?” If anyone were to get saved, it would just be me, you fucknut! No one is coming to save you!” Whirling again, you aim a high kick at his head, scowling as he ducks. You chase him down the aisle, angrily tossing punches left and right, your throws getting sloppier the more irate you grow. “And you probably had that fucking radar-evading tech on again, just like you did in Argentina, right?? So no one knows I’m here and no one is going to find me until they dig my body out of the rubble!” 

Hobi catches your clumsy right cross and yanks you towards him, intending to restrain you, but the plane suddenly dips further and he ends up flat on his back, tugging you on top of him.

You huff furiously as your nose brushes his. From this close, his eyes are molten lava, burning into yours. His skin scorches you where it touches you, as though his entire body blazes with heat beneath you. 

Hobi is out of ideas. Out of brilliant plans, out of in-the-nick-of-time maneuvers. He knows his henchmen won’t get to him fast enough, no matter how swift his jets might be. So, for the first time in a very, very long time, he lets the panic take over. He stops thinking, and moves on instinct.

Wrapping a strong hand around the back of your head, he pulls you down, crushing your mouth onto his. 

There’s brief shock on your end, before the impending doom of your current situation floods your brain, sweeping all rational thought away in its wake, and you thread your fingers through his dark hair, cradling his head as you kiss him fiercely. You’re about to fucking die–why not live a little first? Go down happy. Or at the very least, anything but scared.

Of course his lips would be so plush. Of course his tongue would taste like sugar. Why would his kiss be any less irresistible than the energy flowing through him? Because it’s calling to you, again. Like a sweet siren song, an inviting melody only you can hear. 

This time, there’s no reason not to give in. 

As Hobi licks into your mouth, blindly needing to feel something, anything else right now, other than fear, and finding himself quite surprised that he is, you curl your fingers into his dark shirt and feed, pulling his energy into you. 

Hobi’s eyes go wide at the first tug. What is happening to him? It feels like something surging through him. His eyes roll shut in ecstasy. Holy shit, whatever it is, it’s fucking amazing.

You groan into his mouth, overwhelmed by the pulsating sensation of Hobi’s energy entering you. God, is this what it’s like to feed from a human? Jesus, why did you wait until death’s door to try it? You settle against him, thighs straddling his, and your eyes fly open (when did they close??) as you realize he’s hard as a rock between your legs. Is it from the kiss? From the fighting? Or could draining him of his energy feel as good for him as it feels for you?

The force building inside you is so intense, stronger than anything you’ve ever felt before - even more powerful than that nuclear warhead you’d disarmed one time by draining it dry. It’s extraordinary, how fucking good it feels, how fucking good Hobi feels, and as the sensation overwhelms you, you break the kiss, arching your back and letting go, releasing all that rippling energy in one big blast.

The jet explodes around you, disintegrating into nothing.

Hobi’s eyes widen in shock as you destroy the plane. Acting on instinct, he wraps his arms around you as you hurtle towards the earth in a freefall. He tucks your head into his neck, as if to protect you. 

Or maybe just to hold you close during the last few seconds of your lives. 

That’s when a strong hand suddenly grasps and yanks him out of midair.

“Shit, Vi, what the fuck did you get yourself into this time?” an irate voice demands, and then Hobi blinks and he’s zooming through the air as your flying teammate holds you both tightly and zips you towards the ground below. 

As soon as you’re standing on solid earth, your teammate throws Hobi down, pinning him to the soil. You drop to your knees, thankful to be on the ground again, breathing deeply as your heart continues to hammer frantically. Your teammate starts ranting about your “little stunt” fucking up his day off (as if you kidnapped yourself!). But you don’t respond, glancing at where Hobi, who lies with his hands cuffed behind his back, peers up at you. His dark eyes are turbulent, unsettled oceans churning wildly, and you know your own gaze matches his. 

Neither of you speak, and before long, he’s being whisked away by the containment team and you’re alone, staring at the dirt under your knees, marveling at how you survived but still feel completely wrecked. 

Masterlist 💜 Find me on AO3 💜 

© 2022-23 by sunshinerainbowsbts/minisugakoobies. Crossposted to AO3. Please do not copy or repost.

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[breadbrobin]

hello, hello!! first of all, i just wanna tell you that your fics got me kickin' my feet and shi. with that said, can i request a luke castellan x gn! reader where reader is a minor god's kid and so they're staying at cabin 11 it was just this fluffy thing where luke and them are just being domestic and all that, like almost acting like parents to the younger kids? i'm such a sucker for domestic fluff it's INSANE

lego blocks

luke castellan x reader — percy jackson and the olympians

[gn!child of eos reader]

summary: parental figures are hard to come by at camp half-blood, so you and luke (barely old enough to not need them yourselves) take up the mantle where you can. and, well, it’s the hermes cabin, so it’s a little more chaotic than anyone bargained for.

warnings: like two minor swear words, pure fluff, kissing, reader is called pretty (but reader is still gn)

word count: 1.4k

(hiiii omg thank you for this request it’s so cute and was so fun to write!! and thank you for your compliments ahhh you’re so sweet! AND DOMESTIC FLUFF IS WHERE ITS AT FR i can’t believe i haven’t written any before smhhhh)

——————————————

scarcely a day in the hermes cabin went by without an injury, an issue or an altercation.

just in the last week alone, you’d seen a fist fight, an argument, many stolen belongings, three bad nightmares and six threats of death or violence. it was your job (unofficially) to diffuse the tension. and it was luke’s job (officially) to have your back.

just like every morning, you woke up at dawn. as a child of eos, goddess of the dawn, you were always awake with the sun. the moment dawn struck, you, like the apollo cabin, snapped awake. it was something you’d complained with them about many times, but it eventually became something you found yourself at least trying to enjoy.

you slipped out of bed quietly and padded across the dim cabin to the door, stepping out onto the porch to watch as the sky turned from dark blues to soft pinks.

just as the sun was beginning to peek through the trees, you heard footsteps behind you.

“morning,” luke’s gravelly morning voice reached you as he rested his chin on your shoulder and hugged you from behind. “pretty today.”

“it is,” you sighed contently, leaning back into him.

he yawned. “meant you.”

you smiled and turned in his arms, pressing a kiss just beside his lips. he pouted.

“brush your teeth first, and then i’ll kiss you properly,” you teased.

he just sighed a little, a small gracing his face, before looking away to watch the sunrise.

you had only around ten minutes before you had to wake everyone else in the cabin up, and you’d be damned if you weren’t going to enjoy the peaceful quiet and sweet chirping of birds in the trees for as long as you could.

it would become hectic later, when you had to rouse everyone from their sleep and rush them to the dining pavilion for breakfast. you never enjoyed it, and you often wondered how luke had managed it on his own before you came along. so you soaked up the sun rays peeking through the leaves, watching as the world around you turned from blue to gold in a dazzling array of colours that made you ever grateful for your parentage, and relaxed in the warmth of luke’s embrace. the peace wouldn’t last for long. it never did.

“tom, put the knife down!” you called across the room as you moved a chess piece along the board. a groan came from a few bunks over and the sound of a knife hitting the floor echoed. “and, max, will you please stop trying to fight jennifer? she’s gonna kick your ass again, and i’m not even gonna tell her off or patch you up.”

a disappointed, “fine!” came back in return, followed by jennifer’s teasing.

“jennifer!”

“sorry!” she replied.

your chess opponent, a young girl you were almost sure was a daughter of athena, scowled at your move and studied the board, giving you a chance to look around at the hermes cabin.

it was your scheduled downtime between activities and dinner, and while some of the residents of cabin 11 were out around camp, many were inside playing games or hanging out. so, that was where you were—diffusing the tension every time you had to and pretending to enjoy chess because sandy really wanted to play, and who were you to deny her hobbies?

two hands landed on your shoulders and a kiss pressed to your cheek. you could smell the familiar scent of pine, sword polish and leather—luke.

“hey, babe,” he said softly. “any issues?”

sandy moved a piece on the board. “check.”

“again?” you leaned forward in shock. “okay, uh… yeah, the only issue is how i win this game, actually. oh, and tom’s got that knife back somehow and he won’t stop threatening khalid with it. i’m a little concerned about them. max and jen should be fine now, but maybe check on them? oh, and make sure callie hasn’t stolen any snacks again? last time, she got really sick and—“

“and we stayed up all night making sure she was okay, i remember. i’ll check on presley too. make sure he’s not drawing on the walls again.” luke patted your shoulders gently as he stepped away. “i got it. you focus on winning.”

“i’m trying,” you pouted. realistically, you weren’t too bad at chess. however, you felt like it was only fair to give sandy a chance to show off, since she’d been in the hermes cabin, unclaimed, for a month now. you knew how that felt. before your mother claimed you, you’d been unclaimed for just under two months. in all fairness, you’d always flown under the radar, until your sunshine and smiles reputation breached the walls you’d attempted to build up and you started dating the golden boy of camp half-blood. the second that had happened, just over seven months ago, everything changed. suddenly, you had respect, appreciation, love, family. so maybe you didn’t have your own cabin. and maybe you were stuck in one that was full to the brim of kids. and maybe you had to be somewhat of a parent for many of those kids—those who missed their families, who had never had families, who had never had a place to call their own. but did you mind? not at all. it would have been impossible without luke though. it was like he could read your mind sometimes. he knew, just as well as you did, all of the ins and outs of the kids in your cabin, how to appease the older kids, entertain the younger ones, and make sure the cabin was still standing by the end of the day. you’d never know what you did in a past life to deserve him, but it had to have been something goddamn saintly.

finally, you moved a piece. you knew it would easily put you in checkmate, but you didn’t mind.

sandy’s eyes lit up. she moved her knight into position and looked up at you, grinning widely. “checkmate!”

“no way!” you protested. “how did you even—?”

“i’m good at chess.” she blushed a little.

“uh, yeah, you are.” you extended a hand over the small table to her. “good game.”

“good game.” she shook your hand with a smile and skipped away to gloat to her friends.

luke’s arm slipped around your shoulders as he sat next to you. “you let her win?”

“no, of course not,” you lied with a smile. “and if i did i’d never compromise my dignity by telling you.”

you could see his smile out of the corner of your eye. “sure. my bad.”

you hummed and turned to kiss him, but just before your lips could meet, a resounding “ew!!” echoed through the cabin.

you pulled away to see what was going on. maybe another bug needed dealing with? or someone had thrown up or wet their pants? no. everyone was staring at you and luke. you frowned. “wait, what?”

“you guys were about to kiss,” tom cringed, somehow holding a new knife. “that’s gross.”

luke laughed while you shook your head in amusement.

“it’s not gross!” you protested. “and put that knife down.”

“it is!” one of the slightly older girls exclaimed as tom dropped the knife on his bunk with a groan.

murmurs of agreement followed.

you laughed along with luke as he cupped your cheek in his hand and kissed you, deliberately slow and sweet, much to the chagrin of the campers around you.

you pulled away first, laughing, as someone threw a lego block at you and luke, hitting you in the arm lightly.

“hey!” luke laughed and tossed it back in their general direction. “no one throws lego blocks at my partner.”

before either of you could do anything, lego blocks were flying.

through your laughs and trying to hide behind luke as a shield, you could only feel love for your boyfriend and the kids you both chose to spend your time looking after. despite the fact that they threw legos at you, and despite the fact that you weren’t related to any of them. this was your family. a messed up, too big, far too crowded unit of kids and teenagers, all crammed in one room, connected by two things alone: the fact that you were all thrust into this messed up magical world with no preparation, and love.

and lego blocks, apparently.

[qqueenofhades]

One of my biggest annoyances is leftists and communists beinging up Biden’s tweets during the 2020 campaign of things he said he would do, and being like “see?? he didn’t deliver on anything and this is why you shouldn’t vote for the Dems again” Like, for all the understanding they seem to have of communist or marxist or whatever theory, the idea that the President is not a king and can’t do whatever he wants without Congress’s approval is lost on them?? He still believes in those things but if Congress won’t pass the legislation what is he supposed to do? EOs won’t solve all our problems.

Yeah. Not even to mention, the claim that "Biden hasn't done/delivered anything!!!" is a big fat lie, as people keep pointing out the things he has done, with a razor-thin House majority (until 2022) and two "Democratic" senators who torpedoed everything and one of whom has now literally left the party (Manchin and Sinema). So while Online Leftists obviously don't understand the difference between "achieving all of his campaign goals" and "achieving some," for the last frikkin time, Biden has done a lot of good things in very bad circumstances!!!!!! Using "he didn't do everything!!!!" as an excuse to not vote and so enable the open and unrepentant fascists is the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard!!!!

Like. Take the debt deal. As in other things, Biden clearly learned from Obama's mistake (which was believing that the Republicans would ever negotiate in good faith about anything, and/or would reciprocate in kind if Biden made concessions). McCarthy whined for WEEKS that Biden wasn't listening and wasn't talking to him and wasn't entertaining his ridiculous proposals (22% cuts in ALL discretionary/non-military spending, including Social Security, Medicare, etc etc, while preserving the giant Trump tax cuts for the rich.) No matter that a full one-quarter of the national debt ($7.8 trillion of $31 trillion) was racked up under Trump and the debt ceiling involves paying bills that have already been spent. No sir, those Damn Free-Spending Democrats wanted to use your money on icky things like ~social welfare!! It was mean and it was hypocritical and it was blindingly obvious, and Biden just completely ignored it. He didn't try to negotiate in good faith with that, because there was no way it would work. He just let them whine.

Then, when it came down to it, Biden went in and got a deal that preserves pretty much all of the Democrats' major legislative priorities and expansions from the last two years. The only real change is raising the work requirement age for childless adults on SNAP food assistance from 49 to 54, but this has also been accompanied by a corresponding expansion of the definition "homeless" to make more people eligible, some for the first time ever. There's not going to be any major new spending for the next two years, but that wasn't happening anyway since the GOP controls the House and wouldn't agree to anything Biden put in the budget (and plus, none of the money that has already been allocated through the American Rescue Plan and other federal assistance is getting taken away). But more importantly, it raises the debt ceiling for the next TWO years and it won't come up again until after 2024. That is HUGE: the GOP really, REALLY wanted to hold the economy hostage again prior to the next presidential election. But Biden basically went in and told McCarthy to stfu and got what he wanted. Qevin was even forced, after months of "Sleepy Joe" GOP propaganda, to call Biden "very smart and very tough" in the negotiations. Soooo.

Anyway, this is what I mean: this isn't as sexy and/or as utterly fucking useless as spouting lukewarm rebaked "Marxist" propaganda on the Twittermachine about how Biden hasn't done anything, but it's the actual nitty-gritty work of government and flat-out beating the Republicans. They got absolutely shit-all that they wanted, because Biden didn't fall for their same old, same old dirty tricks and disingenuous squealing. He went in, got the job done, and will get way less credit for it than he deserves, from anyone. Dunno about you, but I like that guy. I plan to vote for him again.

[sweetjikook]

I just need to get this of my chest. And i know i will be blocked or cursed out by some ppl but frankly my dear idgaf!

I´ve been wondering why Tae needed to be on AYS for 2 days now. I just don´t get it! It was meant to be a Jimin and Jungkook travel vlog. Something they wanted to do together b4 they enlisted. Or at least that was what the company wanted us to believe??

So why do you as another member, friend ok, want to insert yourself in this?

Tae was not even aware of the travel vlog. That was very obvious when JK called him from their 1st cabin in CT. (Tkkers were happy to point out the texte "i love you" which was more of a joke...but ignored this part) 👇

A couple would know abt eo´s plans no? Anygays, moving on.

So after Jimin and JK returned home from this first part, NY and CT, and they made a decision to do another part in Jeju, he just asked to be in it too?? 🙄

Now i really hope we get to see the how and why of that story in ep 3 & 4. Cause i need to know!

And what comes next is what my gc friend said. I´m using it bc she said just what i was thinking and English is only my 3rd language. Thanks Mrs Lee! 😉

He’s a tag along attention seeking bum who can’t stand the attention being where it belongs, which is the ace duo. Imagine being so desperate for attention that you insert yourself in a show that a person planned to hangout with someone else because they REALLY missed you during y’all’s busy times….our favs can’t relate but dodo can.

And the worst part is that scripted (yes!) texte where he sits with Jikook calling AYS "our" 🙄

I know Koreans often use "our" instead of mine like we do ( they say "uri appa -우리아빠 " we say "my dad") but still why make him say that?

Well i´m gonna prepare myself the next days so i can watch ep 3 & 4 on Thursday without cursing. Bye!

[jkjm9597]

I made this post yesterday on x out of nowhere and I got to know a lot about how people became jikookers

It’s so amazing seeing all these moments that made them jkkrs

I loved reading all these stories with jikook🥹🥹and i know most of the moments are

-GCF ( jk really knew what he was doing by making gcf it was like a reveal and year before its release he tweeted that he looked at the lyrics before doing a cover and asked us to pay attention to lyrics of songs)

- Rosebowl , In front of thousands people, jk and jm were on their own world🥹jk reassuring jm and sucking his ear( you don’t suck your friend ear)

- 2013/2015 were lot said jk disliked jm( I hate it) he never disliked him and was mad when some pointed it out, he was just shy and young, and we got to see him being confident and more relaxed through the years

-MMA 2018. 🥺🥺Their interaction was so sweet and cute , jk was so hypnotized by jm my god 😭

-the tone they use for eo, I think we all know it, it’s the same tone I use when I’m talking to my boyfriend

-Jk’s possessiveness, I think we all love it 😂jk is an open book and transparent you can see when he is pissed and we got to see him being the biggest minimoni anti😂😭

-the ultimate video ( if there is some who never watched it recommend) the op really detailed every little moment, and it changed a lot of minds

- And something we have in common we watched all real contents and saw the dynamic between these two, we still don’t know if they are really dating ( I believe they are) but even if there are not we are still in the right way bcz their bond is a true one we know how they care for each other and they are each other same place.

And if people were really sincere with themselves they will see it even locals saw it, someone who never know about shipping always ask If they are dating so I dont believe that they don’t see it but they don’t want it because it’s/ so obvious.

-2016 live in Osaka 😂where tae went in jk’s room finding him eating naked and the music😭and after tae went there you could hear jm’s voice and the next day jimin was mad at tae 😂😂( it’s détailles in the ultimate video)

-the hickey😂this is so funny to me because you can give someone a hickey when you’re being turned on the air and have time to bite someone it’s just a story they made😂and the fact that jk didn’t want anyone to touch it but jimin 😭

-jk’s 2023 lives, i think lot of people to became jkkrs with that bcz jk really didn’t hide anything

- jm’s bday 2021 were he did the live in jk’s studio, cake made by jk( you’re my park filter can you think about the insanity of this?) jimin being a blushing mess🥺their phone call, how jk talked to him too smooth how jm’s voice was too sweet and hobi who represent us ( we got to know a lot bcz of him )

-Buddy system ( I swear I still can’t believe that they really enlisted) I’m still thinking about it a lot, nothing can compare to it

And all the runs, cute moments we got, the others gcf were jk took his time when jimin came on screen, the choice of the lyrics 🥺

And jk’s aura change when he is around jimin like he is not the maknae anymore like he is with the others hyungs, like he want to kill all things touching jm, and jm in the other hand just let his guard down a little and let jk do whatever he wants 🥺

Saw too lot of them were tkkrs or ynmrs, vminers but got to watch reals content Ms to see the difference and became jkkrs

Sometimes I swear when I think about one of those specific moments I’m just zoning out like “ my god they are really in love”

[idontknowreallywhy]

Father’s Day… The Aftermath?

This little Father’s Day snippet was satisfyingly complete as it was and was never meant to have a tbc, but if anyone is interested in a ‘how Scott reacted’ introspective then err, read on? Oh yeah and there is some EOS and The Tinies too :)

💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️

“Gordon Tracy and Alan Tracy.”

The brothers skidded to a halt as the disembodied voice floated out of nowhere… well, probably the stairwell speaker but, in eeriness terms, as good as nowhere.

Gordon decided to go for charm

“Hey EOS, my favourite niece!”

“I am your only niece, Gordon Tracy.”

“Heh, that makes you his least favourite too doesn’t it?”

“Shut up Alan, I’m bonding here.”

“I believe the appropriate phrase is ‘Good luck with that.’”

Hearing John’s deadpan style in that childish voice was never not going to be creepy. Also the knowledge she could open Four’s airlock while he was 3 kilometres under… brrrrr.

“Can we help you, EOS?”

“What did you do to Scott?”

They exchanged a glance. She sounded… annoyed? Worried? The AI didn’t always select the right tone for the emotion she had decided to project and thus it wasn’t always safe to rely on it, but EOS had a definite thing about their eldest brother’s welfare. Recently, non-family members who upset him tended to have a subsequent run of poor social and financial luck… she admitted nothing and John couldn’t prove it but Gordon had heard Virgil and John fretting about it.

“Nothing… bad?” Alan ventured.

“Why?” Gordon took the direct approach.

“He hasn’t moved in seven point eight two minutes. Scott always moves. Was your missive an especially lengthy one?”

Alan’s fingers dug painfully into Gordon’s arm and he yelped and shoved him into the wall.

“Eight minutes”

“Gords, did we screw up?”

“No! It was a nice thing! We said a nice thing!”

“Yeah but… maybe we should have hung around…”

“This is how it goes! We write the mushy thing in the card, nobody says anything out loud that he can argue with and he is happy. Why mess with a system that works?” Gordon could hear an old teenage defensiveness creeping into his own voice and his throat suddenly felt dry as memories of certain times he had not been… pleasant… to his eldest brother floated to the surface.

“Eight point five minutes. Perhaps I should contact John.”

“No! Don’t… John can’t know… we’ll go. We’ll fix it.” Gordon croaked. “C’mon Al.”

💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️

Still true.

Scott Tracy was pretty good with words.

He could instinctively summon up the ones that would land perfectly on the right side of the line between trite, unbelievable nonsense and courage-inspiring reassurance. He could charm the press, silence the Board, encourage a nervous member of staff. Given time, he could write a pretty cracking keynote address. If he wasn’t given time, he could give a decent (if slightly less structured) speech on a variety of topics.

Yes, Scott Tracy could make words work for him. With strangers, anyway.

With family it was different.

Especially Gordon and Alan. Ever since he had to be better than just a brother there was always too much blocking his ability to be coherent. Too much exasperation to persuade or correct. Too much worry to convincingly advise. Too much overwhelming need to wrap them up in his arms and never let anything near… to let them stretch their wings without a fight.

About a year in, when it became clear this was it - that he was all they had and it was down to him to make sure that being orphans didn’t leave them too messed up - he’d started binging books on successfully raising teenagers. It didn’t help that most recommended completely different approaches and that Gordon had seen his attempts at ‘calm parenting’ coming a mile off and laughed in his face.

He’d messed up and lost his cool almost every day. The three of them had had more blazing rows than he could bear to remember. YOU’RE NOT MY DAD!!! And they were right. And there were plenty of occasions where the moral high ground had not been his, where he felt like he was the younger brother, not even sure if he was right but begging to be heard. Outnumbered and desperate for one of them to be on his side for once. Begging for someone to understand why this was so damn hard. Virgil and John had helped, of course they had. But they were still big brothers, mediating between the grieving teenagers and The Legal Guardian.

Scott had spent too many hours slumped in the corridor outside one of their rooms, waiting for them to be ready to come out and receive his apology, to ever believe he could merit a “bestest dad”.

A little voice whispered that his dad had yelled a lot too. But Scott had been hard work, he knew that. And even if Jeff Tracy would have yelled at Gordon and Alan for the same things he was at least their Father. It would have been different.

He’d been a stand-in, a substitute.

Better than nothing, sure! And they’d turned out ok - in what must have been a mixture of luck and their good genes, he’d managed not to ruin them completely.

He realised he hadn’t been blinking enough and the two words were burning into his retinas as his eyeballs watered.

How could… how could they say this?

Surely now he was back, now they had a real father again, this was the time they’d realise how much better it could have been if he’d been here instead? Scott had expected that kind of fall out - the regrets, the if-onlys. This… didn’t make sense.

Maybe it was the shock of having the man but not quite the Dad back yet. Maybe after all that build up the fact they hadn’t rescued the exact same person they remembered was disappointing. Maybe Scott should have been better at managing their expectations… or at managing his own.

Maybe when he was well. Which he would be. It was just a matter of time then everything would become as it was supposed to be.

And he’d better get rid of this, because if Dad saw it, it would break his heart. Because if today had taught Scott anything it was that being a father had meant a lot more to Jeff Tracy than his eldest son had ever realised.

In a minute he’d burn it.

In a minute.

He would just look at it for one more minute.

💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️💛💙❤️

Part 3

[fluentmoviequoter]

Lockland Years

Part One of Stormy Years, Rainy Confessions

Summary: You meet Victor at Lockland during the stormiest years of his life.

Warnings: Canon divergent (no EOs... yet), angst, fluff, judgemental peers, so much poetry

Word Count: 2.5k+ words

“No,” someone whispers harshly, gesturing for their friend to stand from the library table before them. “Let’s sit somewhere else.”

“What? Why?” the boy asks as he rises from the seat.

“Don’t you know who that is?”

Victor doesn’t look up from his textbook but knows they’re talking about him. The murderer. It’s all anyone on campus seems to be able to talk about. Since Angie Knight died, people – students and teachers alike – have avoided him, created twisted stories about how he did it, and worse, he thinks, conspired a million different stories about how he got away with it.

The local police department, as well as Lockland’s own investigation, determined that there was no evidence that Victor was Angie’s killer, so they decided to close the case and assume it was, in fact, just a freak accident in the lab. The same lack of evidence that exonerated Victor from arrest, however, also became the most talked about topic on campus as everyone began to view him as a murderer and believe that he got away with it by making it look like an accident, a power surge in the lab, a drugging, or whatever new rumor was circulating at any given moment.

As the groups of classmates - or maybe friends, Victor can never tell the difference - disappear farther into the library, Victor relaxes in his solitude and returns to his studies. If he can’t be the EO, the hero, the powerful symbol Victor dared to believe he could be, he would be a doctor and reach his highest potential no matter how long it took him. With his academic prowess and his professors’ newfound hurry to get him out of their classes as quickly as possible, he didn’t expect it to take too long.

You sigh when you see a small group of unoccupied tables. Finding a quiet place in a library is harder at Lockland than anywhere else you’ve ever been. There’s always someone whispering, playing their music through earbuds a bit too loud, or staring at you with an intensity as distracting as if they were screaming. So, when you notice three tables with only one occupant, you hope that your fellow dedicated student will have pity on you and lend you a seat.

“Excuse me,” you greet softly, as you approach the end of his table.

The boy, blond and admittedly gorgeous, looks up slowly after hearing your voice. His eyes stop momentarily at your legs, where your thighs are pushed against the chair opposite him so you can keep your voice down but still be heard. He hums, and you smile as you point to the table behind you.

“I just wanted to ask if I could sit here,” you explain. “I’m studying for an exam and can’t find a quiet place.”

He looks behind him before lifting one shoulder in a fluid movement that somehow makes his disinterest beautiful. You nod your thanks and then sit at the table across from him. As you open your notebook and quietly sort through your notecards, you feel his eyes on you. After several minutes, you look up and catch his eyes before introducing yourself.

“Victor,” he murmurs, almost like he doesn’t want you to know who he is.

“Med student, right?” you guess.

Victor nods, and when you stand, he drops his eyes back to his book. After turning back and forth several times, you move your last paper to the same table as Victor and sit directly across from him.

“How old are you?” he inquires without looking at you again.

“19,” you answer. “I’m a freshman. You?”

“Freshman, so you’ve been here long enough to know who I am.”

You twirl a pencil between your fingers and answer, “Yes. But also long enough that I know you didn’t do it. The police didn’t find anything, so unless you’re some sort of genius psychopathic killer, I’m not really concerned with what people think about you. What’s the worst that happens?”

Your surety in Victor’s innocence, combined with your willingness to be so close to him, surprises Victor. It’s either a ploy to get close to him in some ill-fated attempt to find something or a dare. Regardless, Victor doesn’t expect you to be near him long.

“Do you have a favorite theory?”

“How do you mean?” Victor asks, abandoning his studying as he gives you his attention. He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest as his pale eyes study you.

“Everyone seems to have their own idea about how you got away with murder? I know it’s a bit macabre, so tell me to drop it and I will, but-“

“Spontaneous combustion,” Victor interjects. “Someone decided that I’d figured out the secret to spontaneous combustion and killed her from the inside. A short in a wire or something like that.”

“Interesting,” you muse. “Have you heard the one about the power?”

Victor conceals the surprise at your question but gracefully flips his hand in encouragement for you to tell him.

“In this one, you’re some kind of electrical genius and you took over the power controls in the lab to shock her heart into AFib. Enough of a genius to do it quickly and powerfully enough to get rid of any evidence, hence why the ME missed it.”

“Is that a compliment to me or a complete lack of belief in the police?”

You smile and place your hand against your lips to muffle your laugh. Someone walks by and glances between you and Victor before picking up their speed to get past your table. Victor nods once and finds his place in the textbook, considering you as good as gone.

“How old are you?” you ask.

“Look, whatever you’re trying to do, it won’t work,” Victor tells you. “So, just do us both the favor of going back to whatever little group you came from.”

You sit back in your chair and watch Victor jot a note before you say, “We’re not so different, you and me. We look the same to them. They see freaks, loners, people capable of unspeakable things, but they never stop to ask what we want to do, what beauty we see in the experimentation of life.”

“Drop the poetic lines and just tell me what you want,” Victor pleads, leaning forward on his elbows.

You smile and match his stance, leaving little space between you as you ask, “Burn me like the sun, but don’t push me away just because you’re scared of what they’ll think of me.”

“Vic!” you call as you run to catch up with him. “Look.”

You pass him a graded paper, and he tips his head at the large red A written on the top. It’s as close to praise as you can get from him, so you pat his shoulder and take it back.

“How was your presentation?” you inquire.

“Fine. I have to get a few more things together before I can choose my residency.”

“On the bright side, I doubt they’ll argue with you.”

“So, I what? Intimidate them into a good recommendation.”

“It’s the least they can do after how they’ve treated you, Vic.”

Victor shakes his head against the black collar of his coat. In the weeks since you met in the library, your life has become completely intertwined with Victor’s. Yet there’s an unignorable gap that you can’t seem to close. You know that he’s trying to push you away from him to preserve you and what people think of you. But one way or another, you will show Victor Vale that you don’t care what people say or think, only about your friends.

Ten days after meeting him, you realize just how dedicated Victor can be. He’s been distancing himself in slow, measured steps, but now he’s gone. Sitting alone in the oversized food court of Lockland, you decide to show Victor that you can play his game just as well as he can. If he cares enough to push you away, you’ll show him you care, too.

“Open up, Vale,” you demand as you knock on his door.

“No,” he answers.

“Fine, then I’m leaving your food out here to ruin your Italian leather shoes in the morning.”

The door opens quickly, blowing Victor’s coat back with the breeze. He tightens his jaw when he sees you smiling, and you push past him to prepare your food.

“Why?” you ask as you open his silverware drawer without asking.

“Because you’re throwing yourself away for a perceived friendship,” he answers. His voice is calm and controlled, so much so that you wonder if you’re perceiving his care, too.

“I’m not leaving,” you tell him. “Keep pushing and I’ll keep pulling. Victor, you can’t just shut everyone out because a bunch of stupid kids decided that you killed Angie. You lost her too!”

“Maybe I did kill her.”

You huff a laugh and grip the back of Victor’s favorite chair, black and perfectly constructed for curling up with a book and a cup of tea.

“Why do you care?” he tries.

“Why is it so hard for you to believe someone can?”

Victor stares at you, both silent and unmoving, unwilling to bend or abandon your positions. After a moment, you shake your head and straighten.

“Find you when I’m ready?” Victor guesses when you open your mouth to speak.

You lay your hands on his chest and smile. “I won’t give you the room. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Victor watches the door long after you leave, wondering why he can’t get your smile out of his mind. He watched Eli get obsessed with the EO theory before he left; when Victor realizes that he treats you similarly, he tightens his grip on the chair you last touched until the wood creaks beneath his fingers.

“What’s wrong with her?” someone asks behind you.

“She’s got a thing for… Vale.”

You smile at how they drop their voice as if saying his name will summon the man they think he is. Part of you wants to turn around and play the part they’ve come to expect, but you’re waiting on someone far more important than the population of Lockland.

“You think they’re together?” the first voice asks, clearly disgusted.

“They’re friends,” someone argues.

“Sure! That’s what we can see, but I mean – c’mon… Everyone can see that they’re only still here for each other.”

Before you can consider the claim for too long, Victor walks into the quad and finds you, as if he’s drawn to you like the brightest light or a blazing fire in a barren desert. He stands out like the tallest and most precious in a field of flowers, and you suddenly realize you are friends. But you could be so much more.

“Morning,” you greet. “Come with me.”

“You asked me to meet you here,” Victor argues, looking at your outstretched hand.

“Plans change. You of all people should know that Vic.”

Victor raises his hand, hesitates halfway up, then slips his fingers between yours. You lead him to the lab where Angie died, then past the entrance and to a large tree growing against the gothic-style fence between the buildings.

“I’m not going to force you to let me close, Victor, but I won’t let you force me away, either.”

“And you brought me out here to tell me this, because?” he asks, looking at the tree.

You tighten your grip on his hand and ask, “Do your eyes ever get tired of being so wide and beautiful?”

“You’ve heard what they’re saying?” Victor deduces though he doesn’t remove his fingers from yours.

“Are you ever going to realize that I don’t care what they say?” you exclaim, dropping his hand. “Victor, they could decide right now that I killed Angie, start a rumor that I’m sleeping with you to graduate, and I wouldn’t think twice about telling you that I care about you. Vic, this has never been about them.”

“Maybe it should be,” he argues.

You take a deep breath, but when Victor starts to speak again, you blurt out, “I knew getting close to you would bring some kind of suffering, but I only want to suffer if it’s with you.”

Victor feels your words wash over him, not in a harsh, crashing wave of realization, but like the slow, meaningful brush of your lips against his deepest scars. Despite all of his efforts to keep you at arms’ length, you give Victor all of the attention and interaction he needs, all he secretly craves but has been convinced that he doesn't deserve. Everyone else decided Victor was an anarchist, an antagonist in his narrative, yet they don’t have any idea of how hard he has fought, or everything he’s done, and they don’t get to decide his ending. You’re in his story, and Victor realizes that maybe you’ve been the saving grace he needed all along.

“But if you can’t see that,” you begin quietly.

“How do you ignore their judgment?” Victor interrupts. “You were genuine that night in the library and you’ve stayed that way. Why do you care so little about what they think, the things they believe about you?”

You narrow your eyes as you watch Victor. He knows exactly what it’s like to have people talk behind his back. That’s what he was trying to protect you from; not him, but the effects of being close to him.

“Their judgment is just that, theirs. it doesn’t have to affect me. This – you and me, our friendship – gets to affect me because it’s what I want. Being genuine, caring about you and keeping you close is all based on how I see you, not the rumors these people created to explain a person they don’t deserve to understand.”

Victor slowly, carefully pulls your hand and holds it between you. “You’re still here?”

You smile and step toward him as you promise, “Always.”

“Some friend you are,” Victor mumbles. “I don’t have much experience to go on, but I don’t think friends act like this.”

You look up from Victor's lap, smooth your hands over his shoulders, and say, “There’s a reason it’s a great story progression. Strangers to friends to lovers.”

“No poeticism.”

“Worried I’ll see what a softie you really are?”

“Go ask the guy across the hall if he thinks I’m a softie.”

“Stop trying to push me away,” you whisper.

“There’s no point. It doesn’t work.”

Victor traces his fingers up the seams along the front of your jacket before he effortlessly flips the coat over his fingers to clutch the fabric in his fists and bring your chest against his.

“Do you remember what I said I wanted the first time we met?” you whisper.

“Something about being burned,” Victor recalls.

“Your turn to be poetic.”

Victor sighs but his eyes convey a completely different emotion as he quotes, “I would never kiss anyone who doesn’t burn me like the sun.”

You brush your lips over Victor’s, then murmur, “This doesn’t end here.”

“I didn’t expect it would,” Victor deadpans.

“No,” you insist, pushing Vic back. “You don’t get to leave this summer and just forget about me, about this, okay? I won’t let you.”

Victor straightens your jacket before he asks, “Then why don’t you come with me?”

[randomfoggytiger]

Collector's Edition: Cars and Conversations (Part II)

Here we go again!

Loose chronological order below~

@o6666666’s (Ao3)

2 6 17 msr

In the rearview mirror she saw a forehead meant for a bullet. There was a full moon.

“Hi,” Scully whispered, like Melissa could hear her. “I’m so sorry.”

Post Paper Clip Scully drives to Mulder's apartment, unable to bear the loss of her sister alone.

like imagine scully pulling up in that fat car...

like imagine scully pulling up in that fat car they were driving, tires kicking dust everywhere, she thinks this is the address, this is where the intel said to go, this must be it but suddenly she’s nervous, she hasn’t seen mulder in so long, he must Know but what can she say to him....

AU-- S9 Scully drives out to New Mexico where she reunites with Mulder... and Will.

@sarie-fairy/Sarie_Fairy's

Since

“How ya doin’?” he coaxed, gently.

“I just, I’m having trouble believing that she’s truly gone.” She focused beyond the window and took a steadying breath. “That I won’t get to feel how Missy loves me. Not ever again. How she sees me...."

Post Paper Clip Scully and Mulder have a sister and father dead.

Eos

He got a speeding ticket on the I-95 getting to her; couldn’t wait around in an airport. Crazed, his neurons firing too slow for the terror in his heart compelling him forward, to catch up. Several near misses on his journey, though he somehow made it to the hospital before she was out of surgery—beating her mother, who flew. 

AU-- Tithonus Mulder drives the entire way, walks in, and drops the love bomb.

COLLECTION - One Shots - Chapter 10

She had been there less than two minutes and the passenger door opened. Time slowed down as a dark clothed figure began to lower down into the seat beside her. It only occurred to her then, with William slumbering in the back, that it could be a trap. She couldn’t see his face. She put her hand to the glove box, ready to reach for her gun, and then … a familiar voice.

“Hi, Scully.” 

AU-- "Dearest Dana" was a code for Scully and William to hit the road.

@silhouetteofacedar/SilhouetteOfACedar's

When We Drive, Ch. 2: Early Flights, Used Tissues, and a Swan (Ao3)

Mulder pauses with his key in the ignition. “If - when- this happens again,” he stammers, “You… you don’t have to hide it from me. I hope you know that.”

Pre-DPO Scully cries after hearing Melissa's favorite song.

@p34chi's 22 and 27 together from the prompt list perhaps 👀

“Hey, Scully,” Mulder said, turning the radio down. “You ever play an instrument?”

Scully’s head lulled against the headrest of the passenger seat as she turned her attention to her partner. She was quietly humming along to the radio before he cut her performance short, and had been gazing out upon the forest beside them, marvelling at the stillness of the trees and admiring the occasional wildlife that would step out into their moonlit spotlight.

Mulder and Scully share childhood memories, puns, and a blanket.

@mappingthexfiles/Apostrophic's The Patron Saint of Doomed Stakeouts

Mulder was twanging the tab on his empty soda, the can propped on his knees. He shifted uncomfortably.

“You can’t pee in that thing,” Scully said, knowing where this was headed.

“Define can’t,” Mulder said.

“Not in this car, you can’t.”

Mulder and Scully spend Valentine's Day on a beautifully snarky stakeout.

@amazalina's msr headcanons : Scully and long car rides

He’s always the one who drives, and she’d like to be better at pretending she doesn’t like it. It feels too safe for her not to. It’s not that he drives any better than she does. It just feels good to be driven across the country through strange places, to dangerous situations, by the one person she trusts the most. Tucked in the passenger seat, she’s completely safe to watch him as he looks straight ahead. She observes him, notices his thoughts go through his mind.

@nowwhateinstein's (Ao3) The Absence of Light

Scully awoke to a hand on her shoulder and Mulder’s voice speaking softly into her ear. “Hey, Scully, wake up.”

She sat up. “Mulder, where are we?”

“Just outside Harrisonburg, off of I-81. A slight detour.”

Mulder stops their car so he and Scully can watch the early-evening fireflies.

@skylandmountain1013/SkylandMountain1013's

42 msr, go!/Prompt- I swear it was an accident

“Mulder..”

“I swear it was an accident,” he offers. 

“An accident?” She rubs her temples to keep her voice from getting too shrill- the shrill he sometimes makes fun of when they’re arguing reincarnation, flesh eating parasites, or when he insists on ordering 2 desserts off the Chinese Star take out menu.

Mulder and Scully weather the heat after their car breaks down.

@syntax6’s (Gossamer, FFN, Omni)

20 Chapter 3: Three

They have a combined forty-three years of schooling between them, but there is little they can do in the face of a smoking black engine. Scully is half tempted to pull out her gun and shoot it, just for the satisfaction.

After the rental breaks down, Scully insists she and Mulder walk around until they find a signal.

20 Chapter 6: Six

He does not slow down. Neither does he answer her for a long moment. "Patrick Crump," he says finally, and she waits for him to continue. He maneuvers neatly around a slower car in front of them. "I can't shake that feeling. I feel that same desperation, Scully; I understand his intense need to keep moving in the face of inevitable doom."

She frowns and reaches for his head. "You have pressure in your ears?"

He ducks her touch. "Not there," he says. "Here." He touches his chest, and then looks quickly at her to see her reaction.

Post Drive Scully helps Mulder to realign his thinking.

@gaycrouton/OnlyTheInevitable's In the Dark of the Night

They walked as fast as they could towards the car, and, upon reaching it, she dug into his pockets until she found the keys. She unlocked it as quickly as she could before easing Mulder into the passenger seat. With the overhead yellow glow of the car lights, she could assess just how bad the damage was. His entire torso was stained crimson and his pale skin was covered in a sheen of sweat.

S3 Scully drives like mad to get her heroic but injured partner help.

@lotsoforangesoutside/@lotzzoforangezoutside‘s (Ao3)

A Waste of a Nose

Staring at him, she finds that Mulder no longer look as confident as he did earlier.

“I… so I called Hertz.” He begins, “it’s called Blackberry Clove. It’s the air freshener they used. I… I got a kick out of it. My favorite perfume is an air freshener. I just… wanna to share that.”

Post Syzygy Scully wonders what her father would have thought of Mulder.

Impromptu

“Hey Scully,” he says from the passenger seat, with the back of his head resting on the headrest and chair reclined.

That’s his sixth hey Scully since they’ve left Tallahassee. Mulder has refused the EMT’s advice to visit the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, claiming that he’s got his personal doctor traveling with him. 

Post Detour Mulder wants to see America from the backseat with Scully.

Fireworks

“No talking later, Mulder.”

Out of the blue, she announces.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to be shouting back and forth. My throat’s been…hurting a little since this morning.” She rubs her eyes with one hand, looking like a child getting out of bed, “I might be coming down with somethin’.”

He bites his tongue so he won’t say, how come you didn’t say anything to me?

AU-- Post FTF Mulder drives Scully to see fireworks.

The Straightest Road in Texas

There is so, so much more to life, he now knows. And it’s right next to him, riding in this car, laughing at his memories. Well, laughing with him at his memories.

They have taken a lot of casualties last summer, but like the hero in the movies, he walks away with the girl.

Dating-- Mulder and Scully bond over a car guessing game.

ㄌ

He continues to drive, it’s so hot today that the asphalt could melt. There’s nearly no pedestrians around, and the sun is blaring so brightly that looking at it makes him dizzy.

Dating-- Mulder distracts Scully from fuming over the heat.

Barnes Corners

“Does a sailor’s daughter want to live at the same place as the fisherman’s daughter?” He keeps asking.

“That depends on which daughter you ask.” Scully admits that she has been thinking about Missy tonight as well. Both Pendrell and Max remind her of Charlie, who she hasn’t seen for a while....

“I’m asking the one that’s sitting in the car with me.” Mulder simply replies. “Would you like to live close to the water?”

Post Max Mulder fishes for future plans from Scully.

A Mother’s Choice

Scully did not put her baby down for the next five day. She felt like even William thought he had enough cuddling, as he began to look at her with slight concern, something so identical to his daddy when he worried.

“How ‘bout a trip, buddy?” She said to her baby, wondering how much an eleven-month-old could understand, and how crazy it was to travel with a baby, one who still needed his bottle at night, goes through diapers like they were bathroom tissues, and wouldn’t sleep unless she sang him a lullaby.

AU-- S9 Scully regrets the adoption; and TLG help her put her life back together.

The Old Man’s Choice

He went with the raspy-voice old man without telling anyone. He was a smart boy and knew he wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers, let alone getting into a car with him, but something told him that this old man, grandpa or not, really knew his birth parents.

AU-- S9 CSM takes William from his adopted family and hands him over to Mulder.

vanessadingle's Like A Switch Has Been Flicked Somewhere - Chapter 1

“Scully I always give you a ride, my cars right here see? A taxi will take a while to come, I can’t leave you standing here by yourself it’s getting late”

“I can look after myself Mulder, I’m a grown woman”

“And that’s why as a gentleman I have to offer you a ride. Get in, don’t be difficult, lemme make it up to you”

He was overly polite and it bothered her, but she could see he was remorseful even if he didn’t fully understand why he’d irritated her and she couldn’t turn him down no matter how hard she tried.

Post Syzygy Scully fumes to the airport, on the plane, and while Mulder drives her home.

Amy Schatz’s Syzygy, Once Removed...

"What's wrong, Scully?"

She didn't answer for a few seconds, as she slowed the car down even more. "I don't know. I'm shaking all over."

AU-- Syzygy Scully and Mulder's feud ends with their fear over her health and past abduction.

@atths–twice​/ATTHS_TWICE’s (Alt. Ao3, FFN) 

A Quiet Love - Chapter 11

They drove home in silence, though he could hear the questions she was not asking. Not having the right words, he stayed silent, his fingers gripping the steering wheel. 

Dropping her off, he only nodded when she said goodbye.

Post Pusher Mulder drops Scully home, breaks down in his car, and drives back.

Without an Umbrella

“Scully, we are on a highway where a car has not driven past us for at least 15 minutes. Neither of our cell phones are working, it’s pouring rain outside, and we are at least a mile away from the motel. Please tell me how lightening the mood would make any of this any better?” 

She stared at him, her eyes now as angry as his appeared. 

Mulder stews over Kersh's case until Scully gets out, stands in the rain, and definitively changes his mood.

Shared Treasures

“I’m gonna need an explanation,” she said and he nodded.

“So the doll wasn’t the only thing I found.”

“Obviously,” she laughed as he looked at the car in his hand.

Post Empedocles Scully teases Mulder with the pizza man while he vroom-vrooms a little car over their soon-to-be baby.

A Patchwork Heart

He filled the silence in the car, chatting about everything. It was very different from any other man she had traveled with in the past. Jack usually had a topic planned ahead of time, thus the car ride was spent wisely, as he used to say. Ethan liked listening to classical music and for the short time they were together, she heard more Bach and Beethoven than she ever wanted to hear again. 

But Mulder, though not her boyfriend, thus not an entirely accurate comparison, loved to discuss anything and everything.

Post Revival Scully ruminates over past driving excursions.

30xf's Wetwired

Once Dana is in the passenger seat, Mrs. Scully grasps my forearm and assures me, "I'll call you when we know something." It was only a momentary touch, but it somehow makes me feel completely at ease. All at once I understand without a doubt where Scully gets all her strength from.

Wetwired Mulder reassures Scully.

Macspooky's

Home from the Hospital

She smiled when she saw him. It lit her tired looking face.

"I'm free. Let's go." Dana picked up her small bag and they headed for his car. The ride to her home was silent. When they pulled up in front of her building, she turned to look at him.

"Would you come in for a little while, Mulder? I'll make you some of my gourmet coffee, and I know my mother left one of her chocolate cakes."

Post Wetwired Scully wants Mulder to drive her home.

The Reprimand

Dana felt herself being moved or thought she did. Her face was no longer pressed against glass but rather against a familiar and comforting warmth. She felt something brush the top of her head, gentle lips. The words "I'm sorry," were whispered quietly. She was somewhere half between being awake and asleep in a twighlight world of incredibly pleasant dreams. It didn't feel like a dream though. The words were so distinct and the touch so real.

Post Paper Hearts Scully gets flak from all sides after Mulder's foolhardy decision.

A Long Drive Home from Rhode Island

She might know he needed sleep, but she would never convince Fox Mulder.

"Not a word, Mulder," she warned. "I'm tired, but you are exhausted. I'm driving."

Talitha Cumi Scully drives Mulder while Tena is being transferred.

Breaking the News

As much as he didn't like the idea of the older woman driving alone to Pennsylvania, he could see by the set of her mouth that she was determined. He had learned about that expression from her daughter. Unlike his mother, Maggie Scully was capable and sensible. And, though he hated to admit it, Margaret was right.

Memento Mori Mulder tells Maggie in person.

Anonymous's (mulderscreek, annex-files) Lament

He held his throbbing ankle off the ground. All that driving hadn't been good for it. Scully would kill him if he couldn't walk tomorrow. He closed the car door and limped rather slowly towards the house. He looked at it with trepidation but the house failed to loom menacingly. It was as pleasant as could be, not the malicious building it should have been.

Post Herrenvolk Mulder and his mother surprise each other at the summer house, then spend the rest of his birthday bonding.

@scullydubois/scully_dubois's

Bridge - Chapter 1

…As their rental car rumbles along toward the airport, Mulder keeps himself awake at the wheel by trying to read his partner’s mind. Stubborn skeptic that she is, he figures he’d need cold hard proof to convince her. And what better way to harmlessly yet accurately read someone’s mind than with a game of I Spy?

AU-- Post Unruhe Mulder admits he heard Scully's German and pleas, somehow, in his mind.

story_monger's Searching Souls - Chapter 1

Scully takes a deep inhale. “You know you shouldn’t have said that Cancer Man was the Gestapo officer,” she says.

Mulder shifts; she can feel him looking at her. He probably has that slightly resigned, slightly defiant expression that always rings with a touch of kicked puppy. Scully hates that expression; it makes her feel like the bad guy.

Post TFWID Mulder convinces Scully to believe his theory, even if only for one night.

EPurSeMouve's Joining You

Reach him, make contact, get him back...

"Mulder, Samantha *is* the X-Files. Nothing else matters, right?" She hated saying it, hated the rainy-night memory that flashed through her mind, full of innocence and closeness.

He took his eyes off the road for a few dangerous seconds, met hers. "Not anymore," was his oh-so-quiet reply.

S4 Mulder tries to run off on a possible suicide quest-- Scully, however, won't let him go alone.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[joshriku]

last night i asked for drabble prompts! yay! @icbchiywwm said: 'divorced cherik in their 40th taking turns in taking care of their children (idk about number it can be just david it can be twins + laura + david) it can be jean for all i care i just need them in school/kindergarten being protective parents who have very different priorities and so reminding each other why they divorced. bonus points if both of them single and still have hots for eo, double bonus points if kids are embarrassed by them' so here's something based on that. thank you for the prompt :3c

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Did you actually have to call both of them?” Pietro asks her again. It's definitely not the first time. 

“As your mother said, she’s out of town, and one of them is bound to show up,” Ms. Frost says. “Pietro, I let you off the first time. The second time, I did so with a warning. Three times is enough.”

Pietro crosses his arms. “Warren started it.”

“I’ve heard that one enough times, darling,” she smiles. “Now sit up straighter—your dad is coming.”

Right on cue, the doorknob twists, and Dad steps in, looking all sorts of disheveled. Pietro didn’t actually expect him to show up, but if he did, then at least it would mean he was going to be spared from Charles’ on-going lectures about not getting into fights, yadda yadda yadda. When they were together, he would hear it for hours. Maybe one good thing came out of their divorce.

“Are you alright, Pietro?” he asks, sitting down on the chair next to him. Pietro shrugs, then points at his cheek.

“Warren got me there, but it’s healing,” Pietro says. “You didn’t have to come.”

“Nonsense,” Erik tilts his chin up, looking at the bruise either way. There’s almost nothing there anymore, but he still rubs his cheek, just for good measure like he could heal his son himself. “Ms. Frost, it’s a pleasure to see you again. What happened?”

“So—” Ms. Frost and his dad both stand up straighter, as if they felt another presence. Uh-oh. Charles got here? “Yes, sweetheart. Seems like your ex-step-father is also here. Let’s wait until he gets here, then.”

The seconds go by slower than usual until Charles wheels in, somehow shocked, even though he clearly knows who is inside the room. “This is a surprise.”

“It’s not,” Dad immediately replies. He turns to Ms. Frost. “Explanations?”

She slides Pietro’s file to him. “If you didn’t want him here, you should have removed him from his emergency contacts.”

He stares at the paper with their names, biting his lip. Charles sits next to Pietro, squeezing his hand as a greeting, the familiar nudge of his mind against Pietro before he leaves it altogether. Pietro squeezes back and says hi before dropping his hand.

“Why don’t you do the honors, Mr. Maximoff?” Ms. Frost smiles at him. “Why did we call everyone here today?”

“I got in a fight with Warren,” Pietro mutters.

“That boy, again?” Dad shakes his head. “He should’ve learned his lesson last time.”

“Pardon?” Charles asks. “Last time?”

“It’s my third time,” Pietro says. Charles’ eyes widen. 

“And you did not talk him out of fighting this boy?” Charles leans over, looking directly at Dad. “Erik.”

“Don’t Erik me,” he says. “I did. Of course I did. Pietro is a stubborn boy.”

“That’s an excuse,” Ms. Frost interjects. “Pietro can be stubborn, but he can also not slap his classmates in the middle of an argument.”

“What argument?” Charles asks. God, he’s totally going to judge him.

“He said something very stereotypically rich,” Pietro huffs. “I had to punch him.”

Dad snorts.

Charles blinks at them. “I cannot believe you two. You were snickering? When Pietro was punching people, you were snickering?”

Dad puts his serious face back on. “I was talking to him about how he can’t solve everything with violence.” Even if they deserve a punch here and there, Pietro doesn’t say, but by the look on Charles’ face he totally got that thought.

“I mean, this is ridiculous,” Pietro says at last. “My parents aren’t responsible for this. I just acted out. I won’t do it again.”

“Even if Warren says something stereotypically rich again?” Emma asks him.

Pietro deflates. “Ms. Frost, he’s unbearable!”

“Pietro,” Charles says.

“Fine. I guess Charles also says things like that, and I get along with him.”

Dad actually laughs at that.

“It is not as remotely funny as you think, Erik.”

“It is,” Dad smiles at him. Oh, he doesn’t like that smile. If he turns to see Charles—oh, yeah, okay, Charles is also smiling at him. Weren’t they divorced? Why are they doing this? “Perhaps you and I should discuss how… serious this situation is.”

“I would not be opposed to it,” Charles says. Pietro locks eyes with Ms. Frost, begging to have a sane person in the room. She seems amused by this, like she knew this would happen. “Are you free for lunch? We ought to catch up. Pietro’s matters are… very urgent, Erik, we cannot raise a child like this.”

“I’m fourteen!” Pietro tries to not shriek. “Why are you guys flirting in front of Ms. Frost?”

“You could have not punched that kid, Pietro,” Dad reminds him. “We would not be doing this in front of your teacher.”

“I get it! I get it!” Pietro stands up. “No fighting! Violence only when necessary!”

“Only when necessary?” Charles retorts back. 

“Never resorting to violence, yes, thank you, let’s all leave,” Pietro tugs at his Dad’s hand and at Charles’. “Thank you, Ms. Frost, bye, see you never!”

“Goodbye, Pietro,” Ms. Frost smiles at him, like she finally won their ongoing feud. “I hope you have learned your lesson at last.”

[mrs-monaghan]

I’ve read a few asks on your blog and other blogs and some people have been trying to prove Jikook isn’t real because “Jk doesn’t allow Jm come too close, but he allows Tae”. First of all, this is ridiculous as hell for so many freaking reasons! As funny as i may sound, this is one of the reason why I personally started believing that Jikook are more than friends and i would just like to explain something cuz clearly, some pple still just don’t get it!

Jk and Jimin and not in a normal, everyday dating situation like you and I! It’s not that simple for them, and i feel like many pple forget this at times! When we look at them, we have certain expectations of them as a couple and when we do not see them, we start doubting forgetting that these boys actually have a lot to lose if they are not cautious! Cautious or not, sometimes our emotions get the better of us and we have seen that alot with Jikook but we cannot expect them to be careless all the freaking time! Yes I do agree that Jk gets flustered or nervous at certain times with Jimin comes too close that he sometimes stiffens up or almost looks uncomfortable and he straight up sometimes turns Jimin around! With Tae and the other members, he doesn’t have a problem with them being so close, (we already know that BTS members lack boundaries with eo) he only reacts that way with Jimin! Now, some pple have said why would he be ok with Tae being so close but doesn’t allow JM get that close? Shouldn’t he be very comfortable with his boyfriend? Some people have taken that to mean he is not comfortable with Jimin, or doesn’t like Jimin or is not comfortable with Jimin touching him and unfortunately many pple have eaten into this misinformed narrative! Since so many pple just don’t get it, let me explain why i think he acts this way! Look at it this way, when you have nothing to hide, you don’t overthink every action, every word said, you don’t easily panic or get flustered cuz there is NOTHING to hide! When other members come too close to Jk or touch him, he doesn’t have any reaction because with the other members (including Tae), there is NOTHING to hide. He doesn’t overthink when he does fanservice with Tae cuz there is nothing behind it. He doesn’t overthing when he kisses Joon on the forehead, or when he hugs hobi, or when he hugs Jin or touches him! He does all of those freely but when it comes to Jimin, he overthinks everything because with Jimin, there is SOMETHING to hide! He easily gets flustered or nervous when Jimin cranks up the flirt because he knows that those moments are not innocent and he worries about giving away too much, considering the fact that they are NOT out yet! He would not flinch when Jin touches him or when Hobi does or when Tae does, but he does when Jimin tries to touch him at times (and no, flinching doesn’t always mean not wanting it). Jk is an introvert and in as much as Jikook may want pple to know they are together, they just can’t and in certain moments, their fear of getting exposed is more than their need of wanting pple to know! They know that they may have alot to loose if they are outed! Also, the other members touches and skinship don’t mean anything to Jk! They could touch him all they want but that wouldn’t get a hair on his body to stand straight! The same cannot be said for Jimin! Jimin’s touches to Jk are not just touches! Those are touches than can literally send electric waves down his spine, those are touches that move things in him, those are touches that get him rock hard, so yes, he has to be more cautious of those touches that ACTUALLY do things to him!

SOMEONE WHO IS UNCOMFORTABLE WITH ANOTHER PERSON’S TOUCH DOESN’T SEEK THEM OUT! If Jk was ever uncomfortable with Jimin like some of y’all haters like to claim, he would never seek Jimin out or initiate skinship with him! We have seen him seek Jimin out so many times! We have seen him initiate skinship so many times! And just to see how relaxed and comfortable Jk can be with Jimin being so close or touching him, look for the moments when they are not very aware of the cameras or are not the main focus of the cameras! A few examples of moments they were not aware of the cameras:

Car Selfie! We see Jk all up in Jimin neck as they were trying to take a selfie (or so they said)! Jk is all up in there that he doesn’t even notice when the camera appears and Jimin has to shrug him off his shoulders to get him to notice the camera! When Jk does, you immediately see a change in his countenance and he literally starts to hyperventilate lol! Just seconds b4 that, he literally looked the most comfortable i had ever seen him just because he wasn’t aware of the cameras but that all changed once he knew the camera was there! Jhopes JITB: This was another instance where they were having a private moment and the camera again appeared out of nowhere! We see Jk and Jimin standing in a dark corner, so close to each other, heads close to each other, Jk’s hand ontop of Jimin’s and even though the clip was just seconds long, we could clearly see that they were comfortably standing there with each other but immediately the camera appeared, they quickly separated from each other and Jm was so flustered he couldn’t even turn around to look at the camera! Another instance was that one time Tae went to give Jimin a gift (can’t remember where that footage came from exactly) and Jk and Jimin were sitting together and Jm had his arms around Jk and they were without a camera! Immediately the camera appeared with Tae, we could all see the flustered and nervous look on Jk’s face! Poor bb, he gives it away everytime lol! We also have the hidden camera in the hotel rooms! They were not aware the staff had placed cameras in their hotel rooms and we see all the other members get into their hotel rooms except JM! We later see Jk and JM getting into Jk’s room and let’s not even talk about JM’s reaction when he saw the camera! So how can you honestly think or believe that Jk is uncomfortable with Jimin being too close when we have all of these? Doesn’t this only prove that Jk only acts like that because of the cameras? Why is it that everytime we catch them unawares or behind the scenes when they are not the main focus if the camera, Jk doesn’t look the same way he does when they are very aware of the cameras? Also, did you ever stop to ask yourselves why he only acts that way with Jimin? He can play around all day with Tae, Jin, Hobi, RM, Suga, he would touch them anyhow, they would touch him, Tae will flat out use Jk as his pillow or bed, and you wouldn’t get any reaction from him, simply because they are NOT the ones who move him! Jimin starts coming close and he starts hyperventilating because he knows what Jimin’s touches do to him! WHEN HE IS NOT IN CONTROL, HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO ACT! If he initiates the touches, he can contol how it goes (sometimes) but when he doesn’t initiates the touches with Jimin, he get cautious cus let’s face it, Jimin can sometimes go overboard and poor Jk just wouldn’t know how to handle it! Sometimes we see him almost lose control like the other anon stated! When he goes to Jimin and puts his arms around him and starts getting close like he wants to kiss him and then getting flustered and holding his beating heart! Why on earth would he have that reaction if Jimin didn’t move things in him? We have seen shy Jk stare Tae doen during their fanservice moments and didn’t have any reaction whatsoever but just standing close to Jimin gets his heart to race out of control and you still honestly think those two are just bros? We would see certain common couple behaviours between those two but we cannot honestly expect to see them act like a normal couple when they are NOT in a normal situation! Thats all i’m saying!

Oh anon, how i love every single word u just said.

This here is one of my favourite moments of JK absolutely loathing the camera for invading an intimate moment.

And the other moment u talked about was from BV Malta finale. JK absolutely hated the invasion. His face says it all

Just a btw, this was Jimin's shirt before him and JK secluded themselves. So do with this what u will ☕

Here is Jikook letting go suspiciously when they saw the camera

Tweet

We all know about this one

Jimin entwines their hands. JK pulls his hand away. And the first thing he does after letting go of Jimin's hand is look at the camera. That right there shows he only did that coz cameras were on.

Again. If Jikook is fanservice why do they do this? As a Jikook stan I demand by fanservice 😪

Bon Boyage season 3 Jimin putting sunscreen on JK and then going way deeper and intimate than he was supposed to. (We already discussed how Jimin does certain things to rile JK up 🤭)

And what does JK do? Looks at the damn camera!

First he looks at his man like "babe, tf?!" Then looks at the camera. This is sus behaviour. He literally wouldn't care if this was any other member.

Anon, honestly. Great fucking ask. I love it

[wingedblooms]

The Ancients

This is a Maasverse post, and as such, there are spoilers for all Maas series. Proceed with caution.

“I’m afraid I can’t be of service,” Mort sniffed. “If you want an instant answer, you should find yourself a seer or an oracle.” 

Celaena slowed her pacing. “You think if I read this to someone with the gift of clairvoyance, they might be able to … see some different meaning that I’m missing?”

“Perhaps. Though as far as I know, when magic vanished, those with the gift of Sight lost it, too.” 

“Yes, but you’re still here.” 

“So?” Celaena looked at the stone ceiling as if she could see through it, all the way to the ground above. 

“So perhaps other ancient beings might retain some of their gifts, too.” (com)

In acowar, we learn that Elain is a seer and in the Maasverse, seer seems to be a broad term associated with the gift of Sight. Sarah sometimes uses seer interchangeably with oracle, as we see below. 

It was a useless gift, she’d decided as a child. It couldn’t do much at all beyond blinding people, as she’d done to her father’s men when they came after her and her mother and Randall, as had happened to the Oracle when the seer peered into her future and beheld only her blazing light, as she’d done to those asp-hole smugglers. (hoeab)

An oracle appears to be a type of seer; at the very least, they have similar gifts of clairvoyance. Oracles were believed to be messengers, or conduits, for gods. We see indications of this in the scene where Hunt visits the oracle sphinx in hoeab. While we don’t know the full extent of Elain’s gifts, her abilities are referred to as oracular, and she shares parallels with both oracles and mystics in the Maasverse. 

In fact, her gifts seem like they could rival the ancient beings Aelin referenced in the first quote. She tracks down Baba Yellowlegs—an Ancient—to help her unravel a mystery, and introduces us to another important method of Sight they cherish: witch mirrors.

Witch mirrors

If Yellowlegs truly was a witch, then perhaps she had the gift of Sight.

“Come to look into the mirrors?” she said, smoke spilling from her withered lips. “Done running from fate at last?” (com)

In the gloom, the caravan stretched on much wider and longer than should have been possible. A winding path had been made between the mirrors, leading into the dark—a path that Yellowlegs was now treading, as if there were anywhere to go inside this strange place.

[…]

As she strode through the forest of mirrors, her reflection shifted everywhere. In one she appeared short and fat, in another tall and impossibly thin. In another she stood upside down, and in yet another she walked sideways. It was enough to give her a headache. (com)

First, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that Aelin links witches to the gift of Sight, just like in Midgard. Second, Yellowlegs’ caravan is unusual because its materials (the stones in the oven and wood in the walls) come from the ruins of the Crochan city. Combined with witch mirrors, it creates an otherworldly illusion that disorients Aelin and makes it difficult to escape Yellowlegs’ clutches. 

Later, we learn from Manon that witch mirrors can be used to see, communicate, or amplify power:  

“You can see the future, past, present. You can speak between mirrors, if someone possesses the sister-glass. And then there are the rare silvers—whose forging demands something vital from the maker.” Manon’s voice dropped low. Dorian wondered if even among the Blackbeaks, these tales had only been whispered at their campfires. “Other mirrors amplify and hold blasts of raw power, to be unleashed if the mirror is aimed at something.” (eos)

She and Aelin even enter a witch mirror to view a memory, and like I’ve discussed before, this experience might mimic Elain’s murky realm. 

Aelin had a body that was not a body. She knew only because in this void, this foggy twilight, Manon had a body. A nearly transparent, wraithlike body, but…a form nonetheless.

Manon’s teeth and nails glinted in the dim light as she surveyed the swirling gray mists. “What is this place?” The mirror had transported them to…wherever this was. 

“Your guess is as good as mine, witch.” Had time stopped beyond the mists?

[…]

The eddying fog darkened, and Manon and Aelin stepped close together, back to back. Pure night swept around them—blinding them.

Then—a murky, dim light ahead. No, not ahead. Approaching them. Manon’s bony shoulder dug into her own as they pressed tighter together, an impenetrable wall. 

But the light rippled and expanded, figures within it appearing. Solidifying. 

Aelin knew three things as the light and color enveloped them and became tangible: They were not seen, or heard, or scented by those before them. 

And this was the past. A thousand years ago, to be exact. (eos) 

@offtorivendell and I suspect there may also be witch mirrors in Prythian: 

“My sister had a collection of mirrors in her black castle,” the Carver said. We halted once more. “She admired herself day and night in those mirrors, gloating over her youth and beauty. There was one mirror—the Ouroboros, she called it. It was old even when we were young. A window to the world. All could be seen, all could be told through its dark surface. Keir possesses it—an heirloom of his household. Bring it to me. That is my price. The Ouroboros, and I am yours to wield. If you can find a way to free me.” A hateful smile. (acowar)

Stryga, which is awfully close to the word for witch (striga, strega, shtriga, etc.), used her mirrors to spy on the world. It’s possible that her black castle was Hewn City, a place of rotting darkness that is home to wicked heirlooms much like her extensive collection in the cottage. Are Stryga and her magical mirrors also somehow connected to Maeve and the Valg? And if her heirlooms are also Mor’s family heirlooms, does that mean they are distantly related to Stryga and the Valg, and therefore connected to witches? Wounds associated with the Valg are described as rotted darkness (tod), making me truly wonder about the Court of Nightmares and those who inhabit and rule it now. 

In tog, Maeve—a dark queen and world-walker like Stryga—confirms that mirrors can be used to spy, travel, and kill. She says she taught the witches how to use their enchanted mirrors. If Stryga is connected to the Valg, did she see her outward beauty in the mirror, or the displeasing form beneath (to use Maeve’s own words), no matter how many beautiful maidens she hunted and devoured? Could that unpleasant form look like the Valg princess we see in tog? 

Its true form…It was as horrific as she’d imagined. 

Smoke swirled and coiled about it, revealing glimpses of gangly limbs and talons, mostly hairless gray, slick skin, and unnaturally large dark eyes that raged as she looked upon it. [...] It hissed, revealing pointed, fish-sharp teeth. Your world shall fall. As the others have done. As all others will. (tod)

That would certainly drive someone like Stryga, who is obsessed with youth and beauty, insane. And it would make so much more sense that her true form–the rotted core of the Valg–would be capable of corrupting an enchanted mirror as scholars claim.  

Save for the Weaver in the Wood—who certainly seemed insane enough, perhaps thanks to the mirror she’d so dearly loved. Or perhaps whatever evil lurked in her had tainted the mirror, too. Some of the philosophers had suggested as much, though they hadn’t known her name—only that a dark queen had once possessed it, cherished it. Spied on the world with it—and used it to hunt down beautiful young maidens to keep her eternally young. (acowar)

Much like Baba Yellowlegs, Stryga had a habit of devouring beautiful maidens and, once confined to the Middle, lured unsuspecting beings to her cottage. @offtorivendell has wondered if the Ouroboros will make a reappearance and if so, it might make the most sense in Elain’s story. It is interesting that Clotho helped Feyre find books on the Ouroboros and is the last known person in possession of Elain’s glass amulet. I do think this amulet could be connected to witch mirrors, even if only as a symbolic hint of things to come. The phrase secret, lovely beauty is repeated, suggesting a link—or sister-glass, if you will—between two females with hidden depths (more on this in The sense chanted and Groundings). 

The Ancients 

In addition to sharing information about witch mirrors, Manon confirms that some witches—like Baba Yellowlegs—have the gift of Sight. 

Aelin murmured, “Nameless is my price.” Aedion opened his mouth, no doubt to ask what had snagged her interest, but Aelin frowned at Manon. “Can your kind see the future? See it as an oracle can?”

“Some,” Manon admitted. “The Bluebloods claim to.”

“Can other Clans?”

“They say that for the Ancients, past and present and future bleed together.” (eos)

The Blackbeak and Blueblood Matrons are also referred to as Ancients. Together, the Matrons represent the Three-Faced Goddess: Crone (Yellowlegs), Mother (Blackbeak), and Maiden (Blueblood). This goddess supposedly gave the witches their iron teeth and nails to keep them anchored to this world when magic threatened to pull them away.

Legend had it that all witches had been gifted by the Three-Faced Goddess with iron teeth and nails to keep them anchored to this world when magic threatened to pull them away. The iron crown, supposedly, was proof that the magic in the Blueblood line ran so strong that their leader needed more—needed iron and pain—to keep her tethered in this realm. 

Nonsense. Especially when magic had been gone these past ten years. But Manon had heard rumors of the rituals the Bluebloods did in their forests and caves, rituals in which pain was the gateway to magic, to opening their senses. Oracles, mystics, zealots. (hof)

Nesta and Elain—who were Made in the Cauldron (which may be connected to the Three-Faced Goddess, as one of them is called Mother)—have iron mental gates. They also both wore iron bracelets and Elain has an iron engagement ring somewhere in her trove of jewelry. Elain, the obvious choice for the Maiden aspect, also wore a blue cloak during the witch accusation in Windhaven and seems to possess the most powerful Sight. Is it possible that time bleeds together in her murky realm like it does for the Ancients, and she might need even more iron, or something else, to remain tethered to Prythian? 

“An Ancient,” Dorian mused, then murmured to Manon, “Baba Yellowlegs.” 

They all turned to him. But Manon’s fingers brushed against her collarbone—where the necklace of Aelin’s scars from Yellowlegs still ringed her neck in stark white. 

“This winter, she was at your castle,” Manon said to him. “Working as a fortune-teller.”

Manon stared the general down. “Yellowlegs was a fortune-teller—a powerful oracle. I bet she knew who the queen was the moment she saw her. And saw things she planned to sell to the highest bidder.” Dorian tried not to flinch at the memory. Aelin had butchered Yellowlegs when she’d threatened to sell his secrets. Aelin had never implied a threat against her own. Manon continued, “Yellowlegs wouldn’t have told the queen anything outright, only in veiled terms. So it’d drive the girl mad when she figured it out.” (eos) 

Does Elain also know a person’s secrets on sight like Baba Yellowlegs? Is that why she was the only one who suspected Feyre’s pregnancy, and why she hasn’t yet met a character with a secret beneath her pretty face? 

A Cauldron-blessed seer, could she even be the Eye of the Goddess incarnate, a divine guardian, as I suggested in Herbs she planted? 

A large circle—and two overlapping circles, one atop the other, within its circumference. “That is the Three-Faced Goddess,” Manon said, her voice low. “We call this …” She drew a rough line in the centermost circle, in the eye-shaped space where they overlapped. “The Eye of the Goddess. Not Elena.” She circled the exterior again. “Crone,” she said of the outermost circumference. She circled the interior top circle: “Mother.” She circled the bottom: “Maiden.” She stabbed the eye inside: “And the heart of the Darkness within her.” It was Aelin’s turn to shake her head. The others didn’t so much as blink.

“That is an Ironteeth symbol. Blueblood prophets have it tattooed over their hearts. And those who won valor in battle, when we lived in the Wastes … they were once given those. To mark our glory—our being Goddess-blessed." (eos)

What if, like a Blueblood prophet, Elain is given a bargain tattoo of the Eye of the Goddess on her heart? (Please, Sarah.) Or perhaps its floral equivalent in Prythian: a layered rose that blooms with three colors when exposed to light, revealing the heart of Darkness within? A mark of the Goddess…

The Cauldron shattered into three pieces, peeling apart like a blossoming flower—and then she came. […] I dared a step toward it. And what I beheld in those ruins of the Cauldron … It was a void. But also not a void—a growth. (acowar)

to complement the eye of the beast in her love interest’s siphon? 

I watched the light shift inside the sapphire Siphon instead, as if it were the great eye of some half-slumbering beast from a frozen wasteland. (acomaf)

or her mate’s magical eye?  

“This eye …” Lucien gestured to the metal contraption. “It can see things that others…can’t. Spells, glamours … Perhaps it can help me find her. And break her curse.” (acowar)

Only Time, or the wind, will tell what form the future might take. 

Next: Song of the wind, or how Elain might travel like a witch. 

Series: seer. wise woman. witch.

[accio-victuuri]

there are clowning materials/potential candies that i wanna look into and talk about no matter how improbable they are. then there are those where i’m just — do i even want to do this? lol. only because there is not much to go on and fueled solely by speculation. anyway, this is about the alleged camera gifted to xz ( by wang yibis babie ) and how he took it to milan with him.

i’m making this so i can refer to it if anything comes up in the future. the thing is, if you look at the vlogs/photos — ZZ is using his phone to take pictures and videos. there is nothing wrong that, most people use their phones and he has his team that will take the “content” who brought the equipment. but i just find it hard to believe that GG, a photographer, will not bring a camera? this is a dude who brings it for drama shoots ( for example ace troops ) and that’s at home. so what more for a trip like this. in milan. there are a couple of fan-photos/videos of him roaming around and we don’t see him holding a proper camera. surely there will be other content from that trip and let’s see if we find the cam but right now it seems like it’s non- existent.

this talk started with a made-up 🍉…

i’m saying made-up because all melons that read like this are. especially those that say “xx and xx have a good relationship” or “xx exercise alot”. if this was from a fake rumor house, i would be more inclined to have a positive take on it but it’s not. as i also said before, i don’t endorse this particular account cause they clearly post reliable work-related melons, anti posts and random stuff to get attention. point is, melon accounts are not friends.

anyway, this made some turtles think about last october when some where noticing the appearance of cameras in their promo pics/ videos. and comments came up of maybe it’s a clue that they are giving us. remember XZ didn’t do his usual birthday post last year, same with Bobo.

so now we’re like, why not look into it?

XZS posted very few photos of GG ( 2021-2022 ) with a camera and i can’t really tell what he’s using for p1 and p2. but i think this is the same one he takes with him @ drama shoots.

for the vlogs i found this, but they covered the brand. lol. and well the occasional polaroid cameras are also spotted in his vlogs.

i don’t see any concrete timeline of what cameras he has, i only remember his pd101 guesting and how fans were saying the camera he used is his own. it just never really came up, how many cameras do you have? hahahahahahaha!

In terms of MFW,

the main camera his team was using for photos and vlogs was Canon EOS body and of course the important thing are the lenses which they switch out. I think this was not the “gifted” one and more of something his assistant/photographer owns. 📷

my eye is on the camera he used for the tod’s photoset when he landed in Milan. It was still posted under XZS and they tagged Tod’s, but it’s not exactly a “business photoshoot” that will be released as a proper Ad. It is still work-related, but given the freedom to add his personal touch. popular guess is it’s a sony zv-1, which is a known compact vlogging camera that is good quality. it is a thoughtful gift for someone you know who loves to shoot his day-to-day life. it’s not too heavy or so expensive that you will be afraid to use it casually.

some are saying it might be provided by tod’s for him to shoot but i find that unlikely. they know he has his team. if they need to capture photos/videos of him, they will send their own. knowing how cared for he was by the tod’s team during his trip. and the important thing for a tod’s “ad post” is really the product. the clothes, bags and shoes. so why was this camera featured twice? is he showing it off? for what?

i checked the review and it sounds promising that i almost wanna buy one for myself 😂😂😂

it could be his own and he bought it himself. it is possible too ( by turtle logic ) that it’s “gifted” by wyb. who knows. as with all other candies, we can’t say for sure or confirm things. but for this one, i think we need more evidence and time. 💕

reference sources: one & two

[gumnut-logic]

For @onereyofstarlight :D Cos it was her idea :D

-o-o-o-

Virgil was up later than usual this morning. Possibly because he went to bed later than usual. He really needed to not look at his blog before bed. The argument had been dangling like a carrot and he couldn’t help himself.

Next time he would leave the idiots for Brains and let the genius decimate them with math. He was a weapon to be wielded as needed, but Virgil liked to fight his own engineering wars and keep him for the big ones.

This one was big enough.

Consequently, he stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen at least an hour later than usual and in need of at least a gallon of coffee before he would be willing to engage with anything or anybody.

So it was both wonderful and annoying to find the kitchen full of brothers.

“You’re kidding.” Alan sounded shocked more than anything else.

John was hovering over the table and cocked an eyebrow at his youngest brother. “He flies the fastest plane on the planet, Alan.”

“Yeeeaah, but this is different.”

“How?”

Alan muttered something, but Virgil was far more interested in the coffee machine across the room.

“Afternoon, Virg!” Gordon, as usual was far too many decibels higher than the zero Virgil preferred.

Virgil wasn’t rude, however. A grunt sufficed.

If a glare was involved, it was truly in the effort of saving his younger brother’s life.

Gordon, of course, only grinned wider and shoved his sandwich in his mouth as he wandered past.

Virgil ignored him.

Extensively.

“But you’re a genius!” The exasperation in Alan’s voice drew Virgil’s attention back to the kitchen table. Scott had his head down and what appeared to be a stylus sticking out over his right ear.

“Labels, Alan. Everyone needs someone to check their work.”

“Ask Eos!”

“Why? Scott has always been my beta.”

Oh, so that’s what Scott was doing. Virgil went back to staring at the coffee machine and for the umpteenth time ran the designs through his head that could help develop a machine that could beam in coffee abracadabra so he didn’t have to wait.

“You’ve missed a variable.” Scott’s voice was thoughtful.

“A whole variable?!”

“You doubled it here, but you missed it in the final equation.”

A glance at the table again and Virgil raised an eyebrow. John looked fit to explode.

“Goddamnit, how the hell did I miss that?”

“Easy done.” Scott pulled the stylus out of his hair and started scribbling on the table.

Oh, so we are at table level already. Virgil tried to remember if Alan had ever seen Scott play with math. A slow blink and honestly, he couldn’t recall.

The coffee machine chimed and his attention was drawn back to the warmth awaiting him. He wrapped both hands around the mug and focussed on rebooting his brain.

It was wonderful.

“But how?!” Alan’s voice was incredulity itself.

As expected, Scott continued scribbling and ignored Alan completely.

Virgil had to smirk. Table level was really something to see.

Wall level…well, there was a reason why they used certain kinds of teflon paint throughout the villa and especially in Scott’s office. Not that his brother had had the chance to really play with math since Dad…

Ugh. Virgil needed more coffee.

At least that explained why Alan was so gobsmacked.

But still, it wasn’t as if John had stopped programming.

But then, Alan did tend to be clueless on some fronts.

Eh. Another cup of coffee coming up.

“I can’t believe it. Scott, that is perfect…wait, why that coefficient?” John sounded almost eager.

“You can’t have that result and expect that equation to solve to match that number without that coefficient. That is why you needed the variable.”

Virgil watched over his coffee cup as John frowned down at the table.

Alan appeared to be watching a tennis match between them.

“You’re right.” It was a sigh from John and his brother wilted.

Scott smiled up at him and went back to scribbling on the table.

“Now what are you doing?” Alan peered at the table.

“I like the pattern.”

John snorted.

“What pattern?” Alan sounded genuinely curious.

Virgil wandered over to the table and peered down at the numbers his brother was scribbling down.

Virgil was good with math. He used it like any other tool to get the results he needed. He was an engineer; he could speak numbers.

John wrote in numbers, he created in numbers and thoroughly enjoyed it, but again, math to John was as much a tool as it was to Virgil. A means to an end.

To Scott it was something else.

Sure, Scott had the math skills to be an excellent pilot, but his interest lay way beyond that relatively simple application.

Math to Scott was like music to Virgil.

The only reason Alan might not know this was that Scott spent so much of his time doing the necessary rather than the fun.

Watching him let himself play was wonderful.

Virgil stepped up beside Alan

His littlest brother looked up at him, shock still all over his face. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

Virgil shrugged and sipped at his coffee. “Nothing to tell.” Scott had always enjoyed maths.

Alan waved at the numbers on the table. “This is amazing.”

Scott was oblivious, of course. Virgil couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t seen Scott go on a math bender in years. Looking up at John, he found a smile similar to his own. Perhaps this was planned, perhaps not. John’s exasperation had appeared real enough.

Scott was skirting the edge of Virgil’s knowledge and no doubt, left to himself, his big brother would leave Virgil in the dust.

John could follow, but then Scott’s mathematical creations were more for the enjoyment than any practical purpose, and John had a tendency to get distracted by individual concepts in Scott’s mosaic and run off with those.

Virgil just enjoyed watching Scott enjoy himself.

Hell, right now his classy big brother had his tongue peeking out one side of his mouth as, eyes wide, he scribbled down yet another equation that summarised the previous array of functions.

Truly it was like music.

Alan nudged Virgil, causing ripples in the remains of his coffee, and whispered. “Scott enjoys math?”

Another sip of his coffee. “Yeah, Scott enjoys math.”

And it was beautiful to watch him play.

-o-o-o-

[idontknowreallywhy]

Estera - Ch 17 - Haunted

Oops. It all went a bit pear shaped didn’t it?

John&Virgil discuss bagels, EOS goes loopy and Scott fails to enjoy his whisky.

Another long one, but a lot had to happen before I could tag @sofasurf back in for the next chapter so… buckle up ;)

(Previous… Prologue - Stars are Only Visible in Darkness, Estera - 1 - Colour, 2 - Dinosaur, 3 - Shoes, 4 - Thunderbird, 5 - Lesson, 6 - Safe, 7 - Gull, 8 - Deliver, 9 - Coffee, 10 - Flight, 11 - Run, 12 - Fall, 13 - Trying, 14 - Hide, 15 - Wait, 16 - Distraction)

(Sofasurf’s Recrudescence which is the foundation for all of this)

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

“Hey Johnny what’s up?”

“Don’t call me Johnny.”

“Sure.” Virgil squinted as he rubbed out a middle C on the score he was drafting and replaced it with the Ab. Ah, perfect. He smiled to himself, he was nearly there with this one.

“Scott sent bagels to the girl.”

“He… bagels?”

“Yes. Bagels.”

Virgil frowned and scrubbed out 4 bars of the bass line. Too derivative.

“Bagels, Virgil.”

“You can’t have every bagel on the planet John, got to let us earthbound types have a few of them.”

“What? That’s not… Virgil! Pay attention this is important!”

Virgil sighed and closed the manuscript. “What are you concerned about John?”

“It’s HER. He’s… getting too… involved. What if…? Look what happened before.”

If he couldn’t already tell from the furrowed brow, John’s uncharacteristic incoherence would speak volumes about how worried he was. And Virgil sympathised, he really did. Worried-about-Scott was a fairly constant state of mind for him too. But this time… he just didn’t see it.

“John, he’s… happy. He’s on form, he’s fit, he’s enjoying himself - that rescue yesterday? He was on fire, honestly. I thought Allie might ask for his autograph at some point. He’s relaxed. He’s laughing again. I think he might actually be sleeping occasionally.” Virgil paused for a moment and experienced a rush of thankfulness as he processed exactly how relieved he was by how things had changed in recent weeks.

“EXACTLY Virgil. We’ve only just got him back! What if she… triggers something? Or… or breaks his heart? What if next time we don’t get him back?”

“I don’t think she’s any more likely to break his heart than anyone else. Remember the Ruby Summers debacle?”

John cringed. That had been a difficult month for anyone within a 2 mile radius of their eldest brother.

“If he’s interested in her romantically he’s moving unusually slowly for him. You know what he’s like. It’s entirely possible he’s just trying to be supportive - they clearly have something in common. He told me she understands things he can’t explain. Don’t you think it’s good for him to have a friend who does?”

“But…”

“Either something will come of it or it won’t, John. And if he gets hurt we’ll be here. Like we would for any of us.”

Holographic shoulders slumped.

“He won’t thank you for interfering, John.”

“I’m not going to!”

“Good.”

His brother’s image winked out while still muttering and Virgil turned back to his manuscript. He chuckled to himself

“Bagels eh? That’s a new one, Scotty.”

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Can I ask you something?

Of course!

Fire away

How do you know my address?

Scott?

Ok, I was hoping that wouldn’t be a complicated question.

Please answer the question.

You can’t, can you?

You see I’m ex-directory, always have been. I opted out.

To stop creepy people looking me up, actually.

My name and address isn’t anywhere public.

Have you had me followed?

Is it the young guy with the ridiculous beard and the labradoodle Bez has befriended on the beach?

It is isn’t it?

I knew there was something odd about him. He was too friendly.

I can’t believe this.

Please stop. I don’t know what kind of person you think I am, but I am not that kind of person.

Ok? I’m not interested in… whatever it is you want.

Please leave me alone.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

8 hours of mudslide hell and Scott was ready to drop. Debrief was postponed until they’d all got some sleep and he hastened to the privacy of his room, opening up the messages app on his comm as he did so. A notification popped up - 15 unread messages.

A little warm glow nestled at the base of his rib cage and he smiled, deciding to go and sit on the balcony under the stars to read them. Maybe with a small measure of whisky. As he poured it he remembered she’d been about to ask him something.

He sat back and toasted the moon then opened the chat as he took a sip.

His blood ran cold.

He put the glass down with a shaking hand and sank his teeth into his fist, desperately trying not to panic. He needed to react calmly and slowly and not like the psychopath she clearly thought he was.

He scanned the messages again and they were even worse on second reading.

Slow be damned. He’d already apparently ignored her for hours. He fired back a message.

Estera I promise this isn’t what you think it is.

I understand why you think it is but it isn’t.

Please let me explain.

He downed the whisky and started pacing the balcony.

I haven’t had you followed.

I don’t ‘want anything’ from you.

Please believe me.

The messages remained unread.

“EOS!!”

“Hello Scott”

“EOS which directory did you use to look up Estera’s address?”

“I didn’t use a directory, Scott. I already knew the address.”

Scott closed his eyes. The school staff records. Of course she didn’t need to look it up.

He hadn’t considered EOS would even need to do anything… EOS-ey. It hadn’t occurred to him Estera wouldn’t be in the public directory, most people were these days. Those who weren’t… there was usually a reason.

And now he’d scared her. Which was categorically the last thing on the planet he wanted to do.

He checked again and the messages were still unread. He resisted the urge to throw his comm into the pool and walked quietly back into his room to place it on the bedside table. And then very calmly sat on the side of the bed, picked up the fluffiest cushion in his arsenal and screamed a string of curses into it.

“Scott you are distressed? I am sorry I didn’t mean to upset you. What did I do wrong? Can I fix it please?”

She actually sounded upset. He’d somehow managed to upset the emotionless AI. At what point had John programmed ‘shaky tearful voice’ into his robot friend?

He placed the cushion carefully on his knees, pressed his lips together and shook his head. He opened the message app again. Still nothing.

“No, EOS, you can’t fix it. Please leave me alone now. I need to think.”

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Alan slid across the kitchen floor in his socked feet, cracking the seal on the instant noodles and popping the microwave door in one slick movement. Nice. He put them inside and set the timer before stretching with a loud yawn and a satisfied grin. It wasn’t gourmet but fast food was food and it was fast. 13 seconds later he leapt backwards in surprise as with a loud POOF the packet exploded into flames.

Huh. Maybe the microwaveable noodles weren’t microwaveable after all. He must have messed up and put the wrong kind in. Oops.

Ok, fine. He grabbed one of the slower, ‘just add boiling water’ type instead and flicked the switch on the kettle. The fuse blew immediately. He pouted. Why wouldn’t the universe let him have noodles tonight?

The cleaning bot whirred into life and threw itself down the stairs with a clatter.

Then all the lightbulbs went out one by one.

He stood in the dark, trying not to freak out when he heard a faint, almost childish sob from the lounge and did his best not to whimper as he backed into the corner.

He opened his comm and whispered in a definitely calm and not at all terrified way:

“John… John…? I think we got a haunting situation going on. Please help.”

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

John answered his little brother’s call whilst dodging flying bagels and consequently he didn’t entirely understand Alan’s whispered SOS the first time.

Taking cover in the shower cubicle, he asked him to repeat it. The shower switched on at full power and minimum temperature.

“EOS! Please! Can we talk about this?”

There was silence and the lights flickered.

“Alan, I think I know what’s happened. There’s no ghost, I promise. I’ll call you back ok?”

There was a whimper from the other end of the line and an eerily similar one from out in the gravity ring. He poked his head around the door and hoped that this time around he wasn’t about to be crushed to death.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Scott typed and deleted messages over and over.

What was the point if she wasn’t picking them up?

Why didn’t she have her phone? Had something happened?

She’d been ill… what if it had been more serious than she thought? What if… what if she needed help and nobody was there?

He itched to jump into One and to just go and CHECK. But that would obviously be a terrible idea in the current circumstances.

He glared at his comm, willing the ticks to turn green. And then startled as they did.

Nothing happened for what felt like hours but might have been only moments. Then

✨Estera✨ is typing…

He waited, hardly daring to breathe.

I’m listening.

Right. You’ve got one shot at this, Tracy.

Ok… first I’m so sorry for going quiet, we had a long rescue and there just wasn’t chance to check messages. I wasn’t deliberately ignoring you. I hadn’t actually read your question as it popped up just before we launched, if I had I would have answered it as it’s a good question.

Ok.

I messed up. A call came in yesterday as I was putting the order through and I had to launch One to rescue some climbers but I didn’t know how long it would take.

I just wanted to make sure you had something you could eat when you woke up. That’s all it was. I was worried I’d miss the delivery slot if I waited so

We have this new PA who is…

She’s great but she takes things very literally and I did not explain adequately. It was my fault.

I asked her to look up your address and add it to the order. She has access to non-public information for some of the stuff we have to do with work and I didn’t think to tell her to restrict her search when it was a personal matter.

I’m sorry, it was a breach of your privacy and I will have words with her on the topic.

I don’t know your address.

And I won’t ever know it unless you tell it to me.

I see.

And if anything else I’ve said or done has made you uncomfortable, I apologise.

Honestly I have no ulterior motive here.

I’d like to be friends if you wanted that and I’m here for you if you ever need anything but otherwise…

I just want you to be ok. But I understand if it’s too much

I know I can be too much

I can back off.

I’m rambling and will shut up now. 😏

Ok. Thank you for explaining.

I’m going to need to think for a while.

Sure, whatever you need. No rush from me.

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John’s hologram popped up looking concerned. Scott sighed and bit back an impatient comment.

“I’m fine, John.”

“EOS…”

“Is tattling on me again I assume?”

“No… she’s having some kind of breakdown about upsetting you.”

“Oh. Perfect.”

“What’s up?”

“Personal thing. It’s ok. Don’t worry about it.”

John looked like he was going to argue.

“Please? Just… let me deal with my own stuff ok? I will ask if I need anything. What’s up with EOS? Tell her it’s ok - the misunderstanding was my fault not hers.”

John looked over his shoulder and dropped his voice such that Scott had to stop pacing to hear properly.

“She had a small… tantrum, in the kitchen. I believe Alan is hiding in the cupboard under the sink, could you go and rescue him?”

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He’d like to say he hadn’t been checking for new messages on a 3 minutely basis but it wouldn’t be strictly accurate.

He’d achieved a lot in between the compulsive refreshing though. First he got his big brother face on and coaxed Alan out of the cupboard. Following a brief conversation with John about toning down the “Do Not Upset Scott” aspect of her programming, he reassured EOS she was still his favourite niece and set about replacing the fuse in the kettle. He powered through the GDF paperwork then made precisely 74 chocolate chip pancakes because pancakes were definitely an acceptable substitute for sleep.

3 hours and 26 minutes later there was a soft ping from his comm.

Hello Scott

A soft voice in the back of his mind that sounded a lot like Virgil murmured “wait…” so he bit his lip and sat on his hands. The “is typing” symbol pulsed at him maddeningly.

I don’t know what you meant by having “words” but please don’t sack your PA or anything.

Hi Estera

Oh, no, I wouldn’t do that. It’s a training issue and thus my responsibility to sort out.

Ok.

Another pause.

I’m sorry I overreacted.

I don’t know that you did - it was a reasonable reaction to what you thought had happened.

Hmm.

And I’m sorry you were left thinking it so long. I should have said I had to go.

I should have guessed really. With your job being what it is.

Maybe. But you were also understandably freaked out so…

You’re quite an intimidating family you know.

We are?

Err yes?!!!!

The thought of being on the wrong side of you guys is… worrying.

When I thought… well. I didn’t know how I could escape. I was scared.

I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say really except we aren’t exactly the vengeful type.

But I don’t want you to think you have to be on any side of us… or of me.

If you want I can just say it was good to meet you, I’m glad that we both survived and wish you well.

Hmm would be kind of sad though.

Why is that?

I guess I’d miss the awful jokes…

Well fortunately I have an almost infinite supply of them.

I suspect I will live to regret saying that

Ha! 🤣

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Why could nobody see the seagull?

Because it was in da skies!

I hereby award you Level 1 Dad Jokes.

Is there a badge?

I’ll look into it.

Scott grinned to himself and opened up a comm channel.

“EOS?”

“Yes Scott?”

“You’ll like this one…”

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Chapter 18…