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asheurbanipal · 1 month ago

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Where were they going without ever knowing the way? Ch. 2

on A03

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Summary:

No luggage. No gas in the truck. No memories. Waking up with amnesia in a shack in the desert, our heroes find themselves drifting down the highway with no specific direction in mind. The only thing driving them? We know each other, and know each other well. But how? And why? And what is this feeling that lives in the pit of my stomach when I look at you?

Deadpool/Wolverine

Explicit

Words: ~10k

Chapter 2/2 in series

Content: memory loss, amnesia, trauma, amputation, canon-typical violence, bathtub sex, homophobic slurs

Chapter 2

"We haven't seen you in more than a week," said the man Logan had learned was named Scott. They had some kind of beef. None of them were talking about it, but everyone was clearly aware. The tension was there.

The giant silver dude, Colossus, had pulled their jeep around until it backed up to the SUV, creating areas for everyone to sit. Another woman with white hair had arrived --literally flying in-- that raised a warmer sense of familiarity in his chest. She hadn't given her name, yet, though. She seemed extra pissed at him for whatever bullshit it was they had pulled.

"Okay, so what was going on the last time you saw us?" Wade asked. This group --the X-men-- had been concerned but prickly with Logan. A sort of familial irritation. For Wade that was amped up to frustrated exasperation.

"There was an interstellar dragon situation in Moapa Valley," Scott sighed. Logan felt Wade tense in excitement. He shot a hand out and pressed it around the top of Wade's shoulder into the bottom of his throat a little. He caught the message to maybe shut the fuck up for a second.

"Wade begged to come with," Scott continued. "I told him, 'no.' He said if I let him come, he could show us some ammunition caches out in the desert he knew about. Something from an older merc job that they never cleaned up."

"Oh, fuck I'm a goddamn genius." Wade clapped rapidly in delight.

"Yeah, unfortunately," Scott agreed. "So I let you come. It was your idea to go to Vegas."

"Hm, that does sound like me," Wade decided. "Oh! I know what Vegas is! That's a good sign, right?"

"It ended up being a terrible idea, so..." Scott turned a small circle with his arms crossed.

"To be fair, Scott," said Hank McCoy. "I only came on this particular mission to go to Vegas myself. We were going that direction, anyway." Hank --Beast-- had taken a minute to adjust to. Big. Blue. Furry. But somehow this particular brand of weird was acceptable and familiar. He turned to Logan. "I wanted to touch base with a colleague at a research facility near Lake Mead." The new information immediately sorted itself into a lower priority drawer in Logan's brain.

"Fine," Scott agreed reluctantly. "But you two basically disappeared the instant we got to Vegas. Three days later, you've stolen one of the SUVs off the jet and left Warhead a cryptic message about 'a memory wipe guy.'" He nodded to the girl in yellow, the one that had spoken to them first.

"I told him you'd come home eventually," Warhead said, "be he insisted we try to at least pretend to look for you."

"Because you've both been acting fucking weird lately, so I wasn't sure what bullshit you'd get up to." Scott kicked a rock in the dirt. "Ever since-"

"Don't tell them, Scott."

"Storm?"

The woman with the white hair --Storm, he now guessed-- moved from her perch on a nearby rock to sidle up to where Logan was sitting on the back of the SUV bumper.

"Let them relearn it themselves," she hissed. "They want to solve their petty squabbles by manipulating their minds, let them earn their memories back."

"I did something to you didn't I?" Logan asked, cowed under her steely gaze.

"More what you didn't do. And when you remember, you're going to regret it."

#####

"I'm not getting in that fucking plane. We'll drive back. The tracker is on, isn't it? You won't lose us this time."

"Logan…"

"We'll meet up in Vegas."

Wade watched from the back of the SUV as Logan argued with the guy wearing the visor. Scott. Scooottt. Name sounded funny in his head and on his tongue. The instant he had suggested everyone get back on the jet, Logan had freaked out.

Baby boy doesn't like to fly. Put that away in the vault and lock it up.

Knowing they had a very sexy domestic relationship had changed the way he looked at Logan. That bloom of warmth he had been trying to make sense of was welcome now. He could bathe in it.

Logan stormed up to the side of the SUV, wrenching it open to hop in the driver's seat.

"Wade. Finish up whatever and get up here. We're going."

"Yes, sir, Logan, sir." Wade pulled the SUV hatch down and scrambled through the center opening, unfolding in the front seat. There was a brief cold war with the X-Jeep through the rearview before the other vehicle headed off into the sand.

"Dicks," Logan said to the reflection of their tail lights. He pressed the keyless ignition and began the process of moving the SUV back to the highway.

"Sounds like they're your best friends." Wade offered his hand across the console of the SUV. Logan took it absently.

Oh, muscle memory. Delightful.

"And considering you're apparently my partner, I'm getting a stark sense of the company I keep." He squeezed Wade's hand. The sensation rolled up him so nicely he could ignore the half an insult underneath.

Not like I'm NOT an asshole, from what I can tell. No reason not to accept it.

"Do you think we're a happy couple?" Wade asked, pushing the conversation in a direction he preferred.

"According to the pictures…" Logan rumbled a thought across his mouth. "Yes. I think we are. I feel like we are. It feels good."

"What would have happened if visor-boy and the mutant crew hadn't shown up?"

"We'd go to the address on our licenses. I had already been doing the math on the drive to New York."

"No, I meant when we were making out. If they hadn't interrupted." Wade flipped their hands over a few times.

"I would have fucked you senseless. I was not ready to slow down. It was like a…fugue state."

Oh those asssshoollleeesss.

"I'm glad we got stopped, though." Logan removed his hand to shift the GPS then settled it back. "I would have felt weird about it afterward. Because we're not totally ourselves."

"I wouldn't have," Wade replied. Logan kept his eyes on the road and didn't speak, but there was a tilt to his head that suggested he was curious to hear the rest of that. It was little realizations like this where he started to see the imprint of their relationship. The fact that he knew how to read Logan's body language.

"We were both consenting, " Wade continued. "You're hot as hell. And if you fuck like you fight, you are a champion of dicking down. If you deigned to lower yourself to my level, I'd one night stand you in a heartbeat, no questions asked. With the added knowledge that we're already together, I don't really care if I can't remember anything. I'd suck your soul out of your dick even if I had a lobotomy."

The silence that followed made Wade more and more nervous, Logan's hand tightening around his. When it relaxed, he felt himself breathe again.

"What do you mean lower myself?" Logan glanced sideways under the shadow of his eyelashes.

Holy fuck do I actually have to explain this to him? He can't be this stupid.

"Look, I've got a supple ass and a sick rack. This is not up for debate. But this suit's hiding a lot of sins, baby girl. Underneath all this red sexy, is a…mess, basically. No one thought to give me the full scoop on what the fuck is wrong with me, but whatever it was, it turned me into a giant ballsack."

"Wade, I think you're extremely attractive." They had hit a stretch of straight road, and Logan took the risk to chance some hard looks at Wade.

"I'm sure you got over your initial gag response, at some point, and now you love me because of my inside beauty, but like…come on."

"There's no way I had put up with this from you for any length of time."

"What 'this?'"

"This self-deprecation thing."

"And there's no way I was totally cool with getting my arm chopped off on the daily, so clearly-"

"So clearly it's something we worked on at some point." Logan squeezed his hand one more time before setting it on the wheel to deal with a rough patch of road.

Oh. I hadn't considered that.

"What if we just suck?" Wade countered. "And not in the fun way. We're just terrible people who are terrible together?"

I don't want to believe that. That doesn't feel right at all. It makes me sad.

"I don't believe that," Logan said.

motherfucker's telepathic

"I think we're just a little broken, " Logan said. "And we're fixing each other. Slowly. Or at least taping each other back together." His fists went tighter around the wheel.

"How are you so sure?" Wade asked.

"I'm not. But the only solid memory I've gotten back is that I love you. So that must be the most important one. I can work from there."

No wonder I'm in love with this man.

#####

Logan found the cellphones, fully charged, in a secret compartment in the back of the SUV while they were stopped at a travel plaza on the west side of Phoenix, Arizona. Scott had been kind enough to at least inform him that the SUV did, indeed, need to get refueled whenever possible. The solar battery would only run them so far even at the full charge it had built up parked out under the sun. With full nightfall coming on fast, they weren't going to be able to recharge for a while.

They had both gone in to take a piss, and now Wade was taking forever for whatever reason. They had already changed into civilian clothes, so it wasn't a suit issue. It didn't matter. It gave him time to go through their phones by himself. Whatever he had told Wade, a part of him was nervous, still.

He held the phones in his hand, deciding which to go through, first. Both had unlocked on his face. The pink glitter case with the tiny rainbow charm and an illustrated cat giving the middle finger on the lockscreen was probably Wade's. He sure fucking hoped it was, at least. It felt wrong to go through Wade's stuff without permission, so he started digging through the phone with the black and gray case, first.

It was less than useful.

His lock screen was their dog in a little red suit like Wade's. The wallpaper was a picture of him and his maybe-daughter eating cotton candy. Someone else had taken the picture. Maybe Wade?

The rest of the phone was starkly practical. A few basic functional apps, New York Times puzzles, and solitaire. The calendar said that "Puppins" was due for their flea and heartworm meds, so that was a clue on the dog, at least

Scott said they had been acting weird "since-." Since what? He flicked back through the calendar to look for anything that seemed like a big deal. Regular briefings with the X-Men, reminders to take out the trash, lawn care service…

"Dinner?" Logan said to himself as his feet dangled off the back bumper of the SUV. Two months back was an entry in his calendar that didn't look like he made it. It was the phrase "TAKE ME TO DINNER" in all caps with emoji hearts next to it. "Maybe I didn't take him when I was supposed to. Then we fought? Is that what we've been being 'weird since'?"

"You found our phones!?" Wade shouted across the parking lot, drawing everyone's attention as he jogged back to the SUV. He had changed out his red suit for a loose jersey with an X on it, cargo khaki shorts, knee-high socks and sandals. He looked objectively ridiculous, but it matched his overall vibe so perfectly, Logan couldn't imagine him in anything else. He had acquired a baseball cap with a cardinal on it inside the travel stop.

He hopped up next to Logan in the SUV, pulling out a couple of Ramune soda bottles. He popped the marble at the top then took a swig. Wade just looked down at his forlornly.

"I don't know how to open this," he said to himself quietly. Logan took it from him and went through the process a second time.

"Then why did you get them?"

"I don't know. I just saw them, was super surprised they had them at a travel stop, then my hand was already reaching for them. I think…I think you like them?"

"Yeah, they're not bad," Logan said, handing the drink back. Wade took a sip, and his face said he wasn't sure how he felt. "Anyway, here. Phone. I want you to look at a specific date."

"Absolutely," but the first place Wade went digging was the photo gallery. "Oh I have a whole folder in here marked 'Logan XXX.'"

"Okay, but did I pose for those? Or are they candid? Because I get the feeling-"

"Do you have any sexy pictures of me?" Wade shifted the focus with a snap.

"I didn't look."

"Can you?" Wade looked across at him, batting his lashless lids.

"I-okay...sure." He didn't expect there to actually be any. If the conversation from earlier was anything to go by, that little detail wasn't going to make Wade feel good about himself. Delaying it was going to make it worse, though.

He flicked through the gallery. It wasn't organized, but there wasn't much there to keep track of. Landscapes. Pretty sunsets and cloud formations. A few series of Puppins sleeping in weird positions. His maybe-daughter at various distances. When the first picture of Wade appeared, he gave a little chin nudge into Logan's shoulder.

It was a video. Wade playing with the dog in the yard, running barefoot through the grass in green and brown camo patterned shorts and a bright pink t-shirt with Dolly Parton on it. His smile was wide, shooting back and forth in the grass before he tossed a tennis ball. The camera followed Puppins chasing the ball. Wade chattered something in the background of the video that the camera didn't pick up, then it ended.

"Okay, super boring and domestic. Give me something hot and spicy." Wade reached over to scroll through the gallery quicker. "Oh this one's…oh…maybe not."

Wade in a plain colored t-shirt and sweats, feet up on a coffee table, mid-talking to whoever was behind the camera. It was the exact t-shirt Logan was wearing at that very moment. A picture of Wade in his clothes?

Wade was already moving through the gallery, again, stopping when he saw his face every ten pictures or so.

Wade holding the dog. Wade making stupid faces with his maybe-daughter. Wade and another young Japanese woman making stupid faces at Warhead. Wade with reading glasses focusing extremely hard on a Sudoku book. A video of Wade in his red suit, finessing his swords in a quick circle and giggling. A follow-up video of Wade showing this trick to some preteen boys. A second-follow up video of him showing those same kids how to run some kind of parkour drill in a large room.

"None of these are sexy," Wade declared.

"I think we just have vastly different versions of sexy," Logan assured, the warmth that rose in his chest spreading out into his stomach.

"Whatever." Wade scrunched his nose then went back to his phone. "What date did you want me to look at?" Logan brought his phone over.

"Here, two weeks ago. Looks like you made a calendar entry."

Wade hummed and opened his calendar. It was a mess. Reminders and notes and alarms for everything short of breathing. The date in question only had one block on it.

"It says one year anniversary." Wade waved his phone at Logan gently, then his face changed as he realized what he said. "One year. I can't decide if that's a good amount of time or none at all. Even if I can't remember shit, I feel like I've known you forever."

Logan pressed through his own thoughts. Wade felt new in his brain. Big but new. Life changing but recent. Maybe that was why they had built a life together so quickly.

"So, weird question," Logan said, "but I'm wondering if something happened at that dinner. Did we go?"

"Oh! That should be easy. I'll look at pictures from the date. Since I actually take some." He waggled his eyebrows. "Looks like I might have put it in a folder, even. Look at me. All organized and shit."

The pictures Wade presented started pretty normal. Them getting ready in their shared bedroom. A few selfies of them in nice clothes. Nothing fancy. Logan was in a sports coat and dark jeans with a cowboy hat. Wade looked smart in khakis, a maroon button up, and cream cardigan, but he didn't look totally comfortable in the outfit. The next few shots were in front of an Italian restaurant of some sort. Only confirmed because Wade took artsy photos of his pasta. But then something had gone wrong. Another selfie on the street on the way somewhere else showed paired looks of concern.

The next photo was a couple hours later.

A quick shot of Wade with a thumbs up in front of a pile of bodies with Logan in the background, claws out, digging into one last person. Both their outfits were torn and bloody, the splatters implying it wasn't their own. These unknown adversaries were armed to the teeth and dressed in black, so he could only assume they deserved whatever came to them.

The next picture was Logan throwing back a beer in their house, still a little torn and bloody, an air of broodiness hovering over him. They must have resolved things quickly, because the next photos were very obviously from Wade riding on top of him. Yet somehow not as explicit as they could have been.

"Oh, I am an artist, " Wade decided.

"So clearly something happened that night," Logan said. "But I think whatever it was started whatever…this…is." He gestured between them. "Scott said we'd been acting weird since some big event. An anniversary seems like the kind of thing that might set off a chain of weirdness."

"Especially if something went really wrong," Wade finished. "Yeah, I hear you, peanut." He looked up and glanced around. "We should stay here in Phoenix tonight."

"Kinda wanted to drive through."

"To get to Vegas where we got ourselves in trouble the first time. And I know we're both tired. And there's literally a Super 8, like, right over there somewhere according to the cashier." He pointed down the road.

The problem was Logan couldn't actually disagree with him. He was, indeed, exhausted. And driving this tired was probably dangerous.

"Alright. Fuck. We'll find somewhere to stay. But not a fuckin' Super 8. I found a black card in my wallet, and I intend to use it if I'm going to have to suffer."

"Yay!"

#####

"There's still time to switch to two queens instead of a king. They probably wouldn't ask any questions."

"What?" Wade asked, then the rest of his brain processed the question as he gazed around the room. "No. No no no no. This is fine." He dropped his bag at the end of the bed.

"I'm sorry for not confirming with you," Logan said. "Hotel clerk asked what kind of room, and I went into auto-pilot. We must get hotel rooms a lot."

Probably not like this one. Doesn't feel familiar.

The best they could find within spitting distance was a Marriott, but after a night on a cave floor it might as well be a ten-star accommodation. He did another once over of the room, searching under the tables and chairs for…something…It was like a tick. An impulse to check the room for possible security failures. He turned and panicked. Logan was taking off his shirt.

fuck fuck fuck

Wait….why are you freaking out? You saw him shirtless just a few hours ago.

Calm the fuck down.

"I assume you'll want a shower. Mind if I go first?"

"No, go ahead."

"Okay." Logan paused with his thumbs in the waistband of his jeans. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" Wade tried to lean nonchalantly on the table then jumped back when it tipped underneath him.

"You're always a little bit distracted, but you seem on edge. Did you remember something?"

"Ah…no…um…I think we hid our cellphones. That maybe we're the ones who put them in that secret compartment." It had started needling at him immediately. Why hide their phones? Why tuck them away like that?

"Who were we hiding them from?"

"Ourselves?"

"Huh…" Logan paced a few steps as he ruminated on the idea. "So we leave our wallets in our bags, phones in the car, then fuck off into the desert?"

"It's a theory," Wade said.

I don't have any better ones, at the moment.

"Does that make sense?" Logan sat on the bed to think. "Not that I think you're wrong; I'm just trying to find the logic."

"I kind of ruled out being kidnapped pretty early what with the whole…personal armory…thing. Don't think a kidnapper would have left us behind with that."

"Nope, probably not…wait…" He paused to roll a thought over. "We also erased our own memories."

"Shit, you're right, " Wade said. "That's what Glasses said. We 'found the memory wipe guy.' We were looking for this."

"Why the absolute fuck would we do this to ourselves?" Logan stood from the bed again, crossing his arms over his chest. "It had to be for a reason. A really good one." His pacing got a little faster.

He's sexy when he's thinking.

He's sexy when he's breathing, though, so whatever.

Wade watched Logan's form, tracking his every muscle movement. That welling feeling of wanting to bite and gnaw on him kept rising up in his chest and setting his throat on fire. It was so fucking distracting, but it was also raw . Pure in its utter debauchery. He had to believe it was a real thing.

"You did this." Logan's voice slammed hard against him.

"Excuse me?"

"I can tell I've had my memory wiped before. I can feel it. Stacked amnesia. I wouldn't have volunteered to do this again. It must have been your idea."

Wade moved forward across the room, stood a foot from Logan, chest out and shoulders wide. Trying to be mad but only finding hurt.

"Or maybe since you've been through amnesia before, you thought it was worth it for whatever this…project…is. Or maybe it was my idea, but there's no way I forced you to do it. So you agreed."

"Maybe you strong-armed me. Blackmailed me. Withheld something until I said yes. Like sex."

What the fuck , dude?

"Do any of those pictures look like a man who would withhold sex? Especially from you ? What the fuck is your problem? You know what no…"

fuckin'

Even if it was my idea so what? So fucking what. We're in this together now.

"I'm going to go search the SUV for any more clues," Wade declared. "And you're going to sit and think about what you just said to me.

Fucking ass.

He started toward the door.

"Fucking ass," he gave as a parting shot.

The problem was that he couldn't necessarily say that Logan was wrong. Erasing their memories was probably his idea. In their one day together, he could figure out that much. He didn't know if he was a genius or an idiot or that beautiful combination of the two, but he was clearly the schemer.

Logan was absolutely not the type to be strong-armed into anything he didn't want to do, though. Either he had comfortably agreed with the plan, or Wade had been sufficiently persuasive. So for him to be this accusatory was downright insulting.

And that's something I'm allowed to be mad about, damn it.

He crawled into the back of the SUV, and started aimlessly throwing panels back, folding and unfolding the seats, looking for any evidence of a hidden pocket. He did uncover a few, but there was little of any importance inside. Two more backpacks of clothes. Another small duffle with extra ammo for a gun he hadn't found in his armory bag. The shotgun that went with the ammo he just found.

The organization of this is all over the place.

Why do I kind of understand it, though?

I'm absolutely the one who packed this SUV and filled all its hideyholes.

After an hour of fruitless labor, he dropped breathlessly into the passenger seat, door still open. He unlatched the glovebox. Just the user manual. He closed it again. The latch didn't take and it popped back open again.

Fuck you.

He tried to close it again, but the manual got in the way this time.

FUCK YOU.

He pulled out the book and reared back with the intention of throwing it as hard as possible. Then a piece of paper fell out. Lined notebook paper, folded in half with writing on the outside. "WOLVERINE, READ ME. FROM YOU (WOLVERINE)"

oh hoh hoh hoh

I'm absolutely reading this bitch.

Dropping the manual into the driver's seat, he unfolded it carefully, laying it across his lap. Under the dome light, the indents of the blue pen filled the paper with beveled shadows, the other side of the page textured under his fingers.

Logan, Wade won't look in the glove box, but I know at some point you'll get bored and check the manual for features. You agreed to have your memory erased, but you told him you'd be leaving behind a note. You just didn't tell him where in case he hid it again.

Oh fuck.

He was super adamant about neither of us knowing anything for this project. You'll understand why, eventually. Right now, you're freaked out. I know. We've been through this amnesia thing before. It's real shit every time. Don't worry this time IT WILL COME BACK when the serum wears off.

Here Logan had underlined a few times, almost bleeding into the next line.

I put in some backups for when this goes to shit. The tracker on the SUV will start pinging again, at some point, so the X-Men will find you eventually. So look for a guy with a visor, a giant metal dude, or an attractive black woman with white hair. You can trust them. YOU CAN TRUST WADE. I can't tell you more, but you would kill and die for this man. More importantly, he would do the same for you. Just get back to Las Vegas and don't freak out. -Logan PS. Wade, if you do happen to find this, shut the fuck up.

But then he'd put a little smiley face at the end of the line. Wade let the note sit in his lap for a minute. Had he left a letter like this for himself? He was certain he would have found it, by now. Had Logan found this note already? Was he using that to form his own opinions? Wade had to know.

Wade practically scrambled through the main door and up the elevator. He almost dropped the keycard but hustled the door open.

"Logie, I have found the juciest clue!"

……

Logan?

"Kitty cat?" Wade peered around the room, testing the bathroom door. Logan was gone.

#####

Logan's hands were firmly in his pockets, held tight around a thumb drive. It hadn't been too late for an Uber when he left the hotel, but, depending on how long this took, he might not have the same luck getting all the way across town. He also had the car drop him off about two blocks away from the internet cafe. It wasn't a specific thought that led to that decision. More like something that lived deeper. That had been ingrained in him over a long period of time until it was second nature.

Escaping into the night without telling anyone also felt natural. He hadn't questioned the decision even once.

He had found the thumb drive in the interior of one of Wade's bags. It had taken seconds, and was mostly an accident. When Wade stormed out, Logan got mad. Mad without a specific focus. Just…mad and sad and annoyed. He picked up all the bags and moved them against the wall, pushing some of his frustration into tossing them against the wall. It was pure accident that one of the bags of clothes made a jingling sound when it banged against the chair leg. One run of his hand along the inside of the bag, and he found the bulge. A quick swipe of his claw along the inner lining, and the pony keychain with the thumb drive attached revealed itself.

If he had to make a guess, Wade had left some kind of trail of clues. Breadcrumbs. The drive would hold some kind of viable information to bring this all together. He wanted to see it himself, first, though, on his own. Wanted to see what Wade thought was important and convinced himself it was how to make up for saying something so awful.

The hotel didn't have a business center. A quick Google showed him that "LAN Cafes" were a thing, though, and there was a 24/7 one in Tempe. Logan paid for one of the open computer stations and fumbled through the technology enough to access the drive.

He found a folder labeled "Our Life-DONT LOOK UNLESS FUCKED" and a solo text document. He clicked on that one first.

Hey Toad-face-

Ah, this was a note from Wade to Wade. The self-deprecation was immediate and strong. The computer had clearly corrected Wade's writing but hadn't caught everything.

You have super cancer. You can heal pretty much anything. You can theoretically not die but I haven't fully tested it and NOW IS NOT THE TIME. That's all done The super hot fucker your with is super important and he wont let you die for to long. Promise. Right now you have a bet going so I'm not going to spoil anything. But honey badger said that he would only do this thing if I set a contingency or two. This is that. I used the computer in the business suite at our hotel to make this. Only look at it if something goes to shit and your memory is super fucked. -XOXO Wade (=˃ᆺ˂=)

Logan closed out of the document, then drifted the cursor over to the folder. He tapped his finger on the mouse, deciding whether he would open it.

"Fuck it."

The folder was full of pictures, and he found himself just skimming, scrubbing through the folder window. He had seen the photos on the phone already. Seen himself through Wade's eyes via camera. He slowed down when he saw another text document. It was full of wall to wall text, no paragraphs. It was hard to read, but he muddled through the rambling, wandering language.

Wade hadn't fully considered that the man who would be reading this wouldn't have all his memories, so there were jumps in context. Gaps in the lore. They had been through something big together, though. Wade kept referencing The Void. Kept talking about when they "exploded." Referenced multiple universes. Sometimes he slipped into a time clearly before Logan was around. About a woman named Vanessa he seemed to love desperately at one point. Time travel. Despite his insistence in the other document, he might have actually died at one point. At the end was a list of instructions on the best way to reattach a severed limb.

"Buried the info a bit, but we figured it out." He went back to the pictures, and scrolled down to the end. Some of these were newer, taken in Vegas. The images flashed through the preview pane quickly.

He stopped on the last one. It was a selfie of them in sports coats and jeans standing in the middle of a balloon arc, holding a piece of paper. An official looking document with their names on it, sanctioned by the State of Nevada.

A marriage license.

Wade found him in the bar. Drinking seemed the best option after what he found, and he wasn't ready to go back to the hotel, yet. He needed to process all his emotions in an environment that felt familiar. He didn't actually know what he liked, though, so he was up to drink number three, landing on a Blue Moon, for now.

He had no idea how long it would take him to get drunk or if he even could, but he was willing to start the relearning process.

"Hey," Wade said quietly, sidling up to him at the counter. He set a tablet down in front of them. It was blinking with dots.

"Is that…tracking us?" Logan scrubbed around on the screen, getting a feel for the environment around them.

"Yeah, I found it in the SUV. Not sure where the receivers are hidden, though. Maybe shoes?" Wade zoomed out, and another dot appeared way to south of them. "And I think that's another one. Maybe one we left behind somewhere?"

Logan dragged the tablet over and started looking at the streets and nearby landmarks.

"The AA token that was in my wallet. It was a tracking chip. I threw it in the dirt. Not ruining my sobriety after all." He took a swig in celebration.

"Weird choice," Wade decided.

"Maybe we couldn't find something better at the last minute and wanted to make sure we could find our wallets. Whatever it is we're doing, I'm not totally sure we thought all the details out. Feels like we kind of half-assed it."

"So you don't think this was my idea, anymore?" Wade tested.

"Nope. Still do." Out of the corner of his eye, Wade's head dipped in melancholy. Logan pulled him in around the waist. "But I'm very sorry for the way I said it. It was unnecessarily mean. I was just…being an asshole. I realized that you were right, and I must have agreed to do it. And if I agreed to do it, it must have been for a good reason." He tucked his face into the halo of Wade's hoodie and spared him a kiss on the cheek.

They were good and goddamn married after all, right? Right…?

"This ain't one of the gay bars, boys." The voice crackled from somewhere behind them.

"Mike, shut the fuck up." A woman's voice hissed at the first as they turned around.

Mike was a decent looking guy in his late twenties. Probably went to the gym a couple times a week. Little bit of stubble. Douchebag haircut. T-shirt from something local and jeans. He had matching wedding rings with the woman next to him who was clutching to his arm in concern. The woman across from him was the one yelling at him. She was paired with a smaller man who looked like he wanted to melt into the floor.

"Just talking to my husband, bub," Logan said, then started turning back.

"Husband?" Wade whispered. Logan gave a little headshake that he would explain later.

"Okay, well maybe you'd be more comfortable doing that somewhere else." Mike was relentless, it would seem.

"Oh my god, in the year of our Lord Patti Lupone: 2025 is this actual real life homophobia?" Wade cracked his knuckles.

"Wade, calm down. This isn't a barfight kind of establishment." He squeezed Wade's hand for half a moment, working from bone-deep muscle memory.

"A barfight?" Mike stood up, tottering off his stool. "You fairies want to make this a barfight?"

"MIKE WHAT THE FUCK?" The woman tried to drop down around the table and get to him. Her partner sort of flailed in uncertainty.

"Mike, honey," his wife tried to reach out to him, but he shook her off.

"Nah, if these fucking fags wanna go, let's go--"

Wade threw the first and only punch, getting in half a second before Logan could. Mike went down hard, his body making a series of thumps as he hit the floor. He wasn't out, but sitting on the sticky concrete, dazed. Wade was already leaning back against the countertop.

"Honey, your claws." He tapped the blades that had zipped out from Logan's hands.

"Right." He pulled them back in. He turned to the bartender, a young woman who currently had her hand hovering over a hidden button that would call the police. "Close my tab. We're leaving." He grabbed Wade around the wrist, pulling him out of the room.

"Give me the keys," Logan barked and Wade obliged. The way he had parked the SUV, the passenger side faced away from the bar and toward a wall.

He followed Wade around to that side and pressed their bodies together against the car. Logan slammed his lips against Wade's, searching his mouth with his tongue, unsure what he was looking for. His hands crawled around Wade's back and he found his rough skin under his shirt.

The fire he hadn't realized had been building in his chest started to die out into embers. He had just needed to touch Wade. To feel him. To be anchored to the one familiar thing left. He pulled away.

"Oh that's mean. Don't do that. Come back." Wade clutched at him, trying to pull him back. Logan moved in a little closer as a compromise.

"Your skin looks the way it does because of 'super cancer,' apparently." Logan said.

"Who told you this?"

"You did." Logan had printed the shorter text file from the thumb drive and pulled it out of his back pocket. Wade scanned over it.

"Fuck. Okay. You did the same." Wade pulled a piece of paper from one of his side cargo pockets. Logan immediately recognized his own chicken-stratch writing. "Looks like we made a bet of some sort. Wonder what the wager was?"

"Found something else with the note." Logan looked away, thinking for a moment, deciding if this was the time and place. "It's a picture of us at a chapel with a marriage license. I think we might be married."

Wade's body froze underneath him.

"No…no no no."

"Do you not want to be married to me?" Logan asked, trying to push the strange edge of hurt out of his voice.

"No, I do. I do? I do. That just…scared me. I think…hm…I wasn't ready to hear it…I…I don't know. Just this feeling…" He paused. Then he leaned forward and pecked Logan quickly on the lips, fingers touching Logan's jaw. "Let's go back to the hotel and sleep." He opened the door and climbed inside stiffly. On the other side of the door, Logan stared vaguely through the window, then moved around to the driver's side.

#####

Wade woke up pre-dawn with Logan wrapped around him, face pressed into his back. That wasn't how they went to sleep.

Married married married married.

The idea rumbled in the back of his head. It didn't feel right. Everything else had felt right. This didn't.

"If you're finally awake, let's get going," Logan murmured into his shoulder.

"How long have you been up?" Wade asked.

"A while."

"And you just…laid there? Like this?" Wade patted Logan's arm then turned underneath it to face him.

"Yeah. It…felt nice." Logan squeezed him around the waist a little.

"It feels like things are starting to come back. Little stuff. Mostly emotions."

"Yeah. I had a dream about a mini-van, then woke up with a hard-on. I don't know what that means, but it feels like a memory."

"That's a fuck of a memory."

I kinda like it. That's…that's sexy.

I want to fuck this man SO HARD.

Why am I so freaked out about marriage if this is how I feel?

married married married.

Logan squeezed his ass.

"Let's get going."

"You're being a lot more affectionate with me, now." Wade kept watching Logan as he, himself, crawled out of bed.

"Am I? I'm not really thinking about it. Maybe it's those memories coming back?"

"Is it because you think we're married?" Wade asked, keeping a little bit of distance.

"You don't think we actually are?"

"Did you see signatures on the license? And we have to file it, right?"

An out. That's what I need. An out. A place to wiggle through this weird feeling.

"That is a good point that I didn't consider." Logan paused as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Is this something you're ready to talk about, yet?"

no no no no no.

"No?" Wade tested. Logan nodded then continued pulling his shirt down.

Why is this starting to feel so…normal? Why is that so scary?

Wade leaned his head against the window watching huge swatches of desert and scrubland pass.

bored bored bored bored

Every time he tried to reach into his brain for something to think about, he felt like he was working through sludge. He flicked on the radio. Country. Gospel. A few preachers screaming about whatever passed for God these days.

"Oooh, classic rock." Wade let his hands drift back into his lap. Logan turned the volume down slightly.

"I think the age on my license is a fib." He tapped the panel of the radio. "Because I remember seeing Led Zeppelin live. They played this. But I'm one-hundred percent an adult in my memory. Passing a joint with someone…" Logan stared out through the window, eyes narrowing. "1972. Who would I have been hanging out with in 1972?"

"I'm imagining the world's worst blunt rotation, right now, not gonna lie."

Man, he's old. OLD old. I felt like I knew that because I'm not freaked out by being a graverobber.

Maybe I'm a gerontophile.

I know the word gerontophile, apparently. Don't think I could spell it, though.

G-e-r….a?

That's not right.

A small chapel slunk by them in the distance.

The memory this triggered slushed through his brain like a waterfall over boulders. Sharp and tumultuous and never ending.

"We fought over getting married. Or being married. Not to each other, just in general. I was engaged at some point, and it went tits up. You apparently can't keep a relationship together at all without someone dying or becoming a super-villain."

"That hurts. Feels like the truth, though, so I guess I can't be mad."

"Right right right. So we decided that maybe we just weren't the marrying type, right now, but we…" Wade fell off. The memory broke here. The pieces of information fell away too far, just the emotions remaining. "Something happened there. We…resolved the marriage idea…but that led to a fight. Or a…a discussion? Raised voices. I think we were drunk."

"Can we get drunk?"

"Maybe high? Oh god, I don't know want to know what kind of drug actually gets us fucked up. Okay let me think."

"....after what we've been through."

"You really don't think it would have happened without…"

"I mean, infinite universes and whatever but…"

"...that spark, though…"

"...Not denying that. Just practical…catalyst…growing through…"

"You make it sound like trauma bonding."

"Maybe it was, at first, but that's fine, right? At this point?"

"Yeah but…"

The voices layered on top of each other. He couldn't tell who was who. He pressed his hands to his ears, trying to hear the voices again, but they slipped away.

"We got caught in some kind of gang war on our anniversary," Logan said suddenly. "And we had a conversation about what we thought our lives would look like if we weren't fighting all the time. We thought we'd be bored. And we were…talking to Storm about it while doing drills in the danger room. And she called us emotional masochists, and I said something back and oh…that…didn't go well. I remember that…I don't…remember the rest."

Then it got weird. I remember. Holy shit.

All the questions we had no idea how to answer.

If we weren't superheros, would we have anything in common?

Did we only work so well together because we could both regenerate?

We were going to live for so so so so so long? What did the rest of our lives look like?

Wade pressed his palms to his ears again, trying to pull up the conversation in his head. Trying to relive it. It was gone, though. All of it. The echo of the information remained, but the memory itself just slipped back into the ether.

"We need to get to Vegas. This started there." Wade tapped his knuckles on the window. "This isn't fun anymore.

#####

Vegas lost a lot of its shine pulling into the main drag in the middle of the afternoon.

"Any of this looking familiar, babe?" Logan asked. The term of endearment sort of slipped out. Muscle memory.

"There." Wade pointed through the window. "We were in that casino."

"Good enough for me."

Weekday at 2 pm was apparently optimal parking, and they were walking into the front of the casino within ten minutes.

"Oh fuck, not you again." A security guard was the first to approach them, hand hovering near his gun.

"No one likes to see us," Wade mused.

"Considering everything we've remembered, so far, I'm less and less surprised." Logan held up his hands to the guard who still hadn't decided if he was going to shoot, yet.

"We're just trying to find somebody," Logan said. "Someone we talked to while we were here last."

"You know how many people come in and out of here?" The guard said.

"But you remember us," Wade pointed out.

"Fair," admitted the guard.

"You guys were talking to Dr. Tom." This voice was a young woman in a waitstaff uniform with an empty drink tray tucked under her arm.

"And where do we find Dr. Tom?" Logan sighed. They were so close to the end of this. This stupid stupid wild goose chase.

Dr. Tom, apparently, was a plastic surgeon, and worked out of an office not too far off the strip. A little light threat to his secretary got them back in Dr. Tom's office.

"You can calm the fuck down," Dr. Tom said, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. None of them sat, and he gave up trying. "All I did was overhear you two talking about how it would be nice if you could forget for a while. I happened to point you to a friend of mine who happens to offer that service. People like to leave things in Vegas, sometimes."

"So you'll point us to this friend." Logan stepped forward.

"Fucking yes. Just ask politely I'm not a super-villain, you weirdos. Jesus." Dr. Tom stepped back toward the wall. "But if you're going to go in there snapping out claws, I'm less-inclined to hand over the address. She's a good woman. She's trying to cure Alzheimer's and shit. That's how she figured out her compound. She uses the money she makes for research."

"Oh I hate when the antagonist is actually a good guy," Wade complained.

"Okay," Logan agreed. "We just want to talk to her."

This time they had to wait a few hours for her to get off work. They pulled up to a neatly aligned house out in the suburbs and the woman who greeted them, Dr. Charlotte Stone, invited them freely into her garage.

"Gentlemen! I'm so happy to see you again. Is it going well?"

"No," Wade said.

"Surviving," Logan added.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Charlotte rerolled her hair into a bun and lowered the garage door behind them. "Did you put together letters and leave them in easy to find places?

They hovered weirdly in the center of her garage. Two walls were lab equipment, the third refrigerated storage. A computer station was tucked into the corner nearest the door into the house.

"We did," Logan confirmed. "But I think we did it wrong. We didn't put in our notes why we did this memory…thing."

"You were trying to settle a bet, I believe, but let me see my notes." She pulled a binder down from a set of half cabinets. "Here we go. Let me pull up your video."

"Wait what? Video?" Wade moved forward, trying to peek over the top of the binder. She handed it over easily. "A lot of shorthand, so I don't know if you can read it."

Wade dropped the binder on the counter.

"I can barely read, to start. I don't know why I bothered."

Charlotte had moved to the computer, though, shifting focus.

"Here you boys, go." She stepped back from the screen, and rotated it to them to see better.

The video versions of themselves sat in their colored combat suits, bickering over who was going to explain.

"It was my idea, I'll do it," said Video Wade.

"Feels weird getting that confirmed," said real life Wade.

"I am convinced that we are soulmates. So in any universe, we would eventually meet and fall in love." Video Wade said.

"No you actually don't," video Logan corrected. "You're just trying to be contrarian." Video Logan turned flush to the camera again. "We've been having this much bigger conversation the past couple of months about the future of our relationship, which we'll --you'll remember again at some point. And I happened to say that I don't think that our relationship would look like it currently does without having gone through the things we went through. I didn't even say we wouldn't be together. Just…it'd be different."

"But you said it while we were in a wedding chapel," Video Wade said. "Feel like that changes the tone."

The screen versions of them bickered some more.

"From this side of the screen, this argument looks really stupid," Wade said.

"We look really upset, though," Logan noted.

"You kind of were," Charlotte confirmed with a grim chuckle. "People only come to me when they think things are insurmountably dire and looking for a new perspective."

The video had started talking to them again, Wade staring down the camera.

"We decided the only way to know for sure was to start from scratch. Wipe it all out and see what happens." Video Wade tapped the table they were sitting out with a sense of finality. There was a little more chatting, but the video seemed to have delivered all the important information.

"So how did this work?" Logan asked. "We have so many gaps."

"It's a series of liquid capsule pills depending on how much you want to get rid of and for how long. I gave you the first one to make sure you didn't have an immediate adverse reaction, then sent you off with the rest of the doses and instructions. Told you to do it in a safe place under the supervision of some friends. It's supposed to be a slow, gentle process to give you the option to stop at any time if it gets too weird. Guess you might not have…followed directions."

"Yeah, sounds like us," Wade sighed.

"Okay. What's the plan to reverse it?" Logan shifted on his feet, nervous.

"Oh, it should wear off soon. Probably by tomorrow morning."

"Thank God, okay. Okay." Logan clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "Then that's it. It's over. All that stress and mystery."

"Yeah." Wade shifted on his own feet.

"Well did it work?" Charlotte asked.

"What do you mean?" Logan responded.

"Did you figure out the thing you were looking for? This whole…soul mate thing?"

Logan rubbed his hand along the back of his neck.

"We uh…we woke up in a shack in the middle of Arizona."

Charlotte made a face at that but let him continue.

"And uh." Logan looked for the words for half a moment. "And I'm pretty certain I, uh…I woke up already in love with him."

"Oh, I know I did," Wade agreed.

"I told you that might happen. I can wipe experiential life stuff, but the really strong emotional triggers very frequently linger."

"Cool, so we didn't learn anything." Wade shuffled his feet on the raw garage floor. Charlotte shrugged at them.

"I find that when the memories come back, you figure out whatever you were meant to. Even if it doesn't seem like it, at first."

#####

"Not that I'm complaining about room service snowcrab, why are we holing up in a hotel with the strip literally right there?" Wade picked a bit of shell out of his teeth, a chip of it sneaking into the leg meat when he cracked it open.

Logan had found a place to get cigars and was finishing one on the balcony. Evening was bringing more people through, making everything a little louder. A little busier. Logan stamped out the end of his cigar on the railing and came back inside, closing the glass door shut. Everything dropped to a dull thrum again, just the sound of 30 Day Fiance reruns playing in the background on the TV.

"Charlotte said she couldn't explain all our actions with her pills, so the probably don't work the same for us." Logan wandered restlessly through the room, stopping in the doorway of the ensuite bathroom. "So we're staying put. At least until I can get a hold of Scott and the others."

"Where the fuck did they go? They were supposed to meet us here."

"Fucking dragon came back or something. I don't know." Logan leaned back against the doorframe even harder.

He looked so tired .

Fuck he looks how I feel, so I must be a goddamn mess in comparison.

Wade swayed up from his hotel lounger and moved across the room. He wrapped his arms around Logan's waist and pressed his face into Logan's chest. Logan returned the affection with his arms gently resting around Wade's hips.

"Holy fuck, I didn't realize how big this bathtub was when we walked in." Wade pulled free and wandered over to it, sitting on the edge. "Fucking Jacuzzi jets. Holy shit."

Oh, I'm getting in this bitch, right now.

He immediately started moving his hands over the knobs and looking in the cabinets for something to put in the water.

"Holy fuck they have bathbombs."

holy fuck glitter

All the rest of his thoughts were just about getting the shrinkwrap open and getting into the water. Soaking in it. Soothing his nerve endings.

Some clothes hit the floor out of the corner of his eye, and he flicked over his shoulder. Logan had shucked off his shirt and was now working on his belt.

uhhhhhhh?!?

fuck fuck

Now he was thinking about other things than taking a bath.

"What?" Logan said when he caught Wade staring. "It's big enough for two. I thought that was the point."

"No you just went from 'don't fucking touch me' to making out against a car to cuddling to bathing together really really fast. Getting a little whiplash."

"Sorry." Logan flicked his hands. "I don't know. Things are just starting to feel normal again, so I'm just…I don't know. If you don't-"

"Oh no. Now that you've started, you better take those fucking pants off." The crown-shaped bath bomb burst in swirls of pink glitter and shimmer. Wade dropped his eyes as Logan got in the water, something too overwhelming about seeing him naked all at once right now.

His dick has been in my mouth.

My dick has been in his mouth.

We've been inside each other in so many different ways.

calm the fuck down

His body made the motions on auto-pilot, stripping off his clothes and sliding into the water. Then through the water to sidle into the space between Logan's thighs. The instant their naked bodies pressed against each other, a year of touch memory flooded his body.

hands touching, knuckles brushing

blades in my body, me begging for it

pressing inside me, thrusting hard, over and over

his soft, pulsing insides

teeth on flesh and flesh on teeth

"Fuck," Wade whispered, parting his knees around Logan's hips, wrapping his arms around Logan's shoulders so he didn't slide back into the water.

I'm so hard. Oh god. I've never been this hard in my life.

Wade didn't even ask before slipping his hand down between them and taking both their cocks in his hand. Logan wasn't quite so hard to start, but that changed immediately.

"Wade," Logan cooed into his ear. "This wasn't necessarily the idea when I got in here."

"You don't get to be sexually sanctimonious on me. I can remember some things now. I talk a big game, but you're actually ten times hornier than me." He grabbed Logan's chin in his hand. "And we get the chance to have a first time again. How cool is that?"

Logan rolled his face into Wade's neck.

"I'm not saying 'no', I'm saying lean back."

Logan hinged forward, moving Wade into position below him, straddling Wade's lap. His mouth covered his, nipping and gnawing at Wade's lips, tongue flicking over Wade's gums and teeth.

inside me

inside him

hard against hard, soft against soft, hard against soft

Logan lifted a little, hinging off the bottom of the tub at his knees. His hand came around Wade's cock and he pressed the tip to his entrance.

"Oh baby girl don't go in raw," Wade gasped.

"I'll trust the healing factor," Logan growled back, then eased down slowly on Wade's length until he settled at the base. "Okay, that actually hurts a lot more than I expected, you're right." He pressed his forehead to Wade's. "Ah. Okay. Okay. Fuck." He rolled his hips in a small circle, running up and down a half pulse on Wade's cock. "That's better. Okay. Yeah. Ah. That's good."

Logan kissed him again, this time quick and chaste, of all fucking things.

"How does it feel, Wade?" Logan hissed. "Do I feel good inside?"

"Oh, I think I might die and eject everything from my body if you talk like that again." Wade clenched around Logan's hips and waist, nails digging into his skin and the muscle and fat and tissue underneath. Then Logan properly started moving, shifting up and down on his strong thighs and calves.

I'm gonna get my memories back just to die from a cardiac arrest.

"Why did you change your mind? About…about doing this while our memories are shot? About…everything…" Wade had to concentrate on the words, but he needed to say them. He needed to hear it out loud.

Logan whined and panted as he spoke, throat tight over the words, voice sparking at the top every time he dropped down.

"You said you would fold to a one night stand with me, no question. I imagined the same thing. Meeting you in a bar. You sitting down…hah…next to me. Buying me another round of whatever I was having. You'd probably annoy the shit out of me, at first, but the fact is after a little while I'd probably start thinking you're kind of funny. Kind of…nhg…kind of cute. And if you flirted with me and asked me to go home with you, I would have probably done it. We would have fucked, and it would have been hot. So why hold back, at this point?"

"So you agree we're soul mates? "

"I agree that we're two horny idiots who can do this to each other without getting hurt." Along the top of the water, he clicked out his blades, jabbed them into Wade's ribs, then pulled back. Wade squealed.

fuck shit fuck fuck.

It is so fucked up how good that feels.

"So given certain variables, I see us drifting together for some real kinky sex, at minimum. I don't know how the other stuff works, just yet." He gripped Wade around the chin and pulled his face up to kiss him again. "Any other concerns? Because I'd like to keep going without having to think so hard."

"No, I'm…I'm good…"

Wade's hips started bucking up into Logan, trying to sink even deeper into him as Logan came down. The water sloshed out of the tub, swirling around their conjoined bodies and swishing into the in between spaces in a constant rhythm. He grasped for Logan's cock and started hurried, desperate strokes.

"Slow down, baby. I wanna come together." Logan buried his face into the side of Wade's head.

This feels…feels….feels…

…different…

soft and hard, hard and soft

They didn't normally do it like this. He could feel the shape of that. That weird combination of familiarity and novelty. His muscle memory wasn't kicking in, so he was falling back on intuition and guesswork and being an adult with, presumably, at least an ounce of sexual experience.

He spread his free around the outside of Logan's ass, willing him to sink lower, to bury Wade deeper inside. Logan sensed the desire and somehow got his body to drop even farther, to open even more for Wade.

The orgasm almost snuck up on him, the heat and weight of the water distracting all his other never endings. He started stroking Logan again, taking to a speed he somehow knew would bring him there. Logan arched forward, hands gripping the edge of the tub on either side of Wade's head. His hips moved from a pulse to a grind. Wade moved faster.

Wade came hard inside, pulling from the tops of his aching feet and toes and clenching his teeth.

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

Logan let out a guttural howl. Then there was a sharp metal sound that clanked against porcelain. The sidewall of the tub collapsed against Wade's shoulders.

"Fuck." The plug was to his left, and he slammed the switch open to drain the tub. He sat up, still inside, bringing Logan along with a hand around his back. Logan's claws were still out. Wade touched them.

"Peanut. The claws."

"Right, yeah." Logan, however, was staring at the backside of the tub. "I didn't totally break it. It's still containing the water." Logan dropped his arms around Wade's shoulders. "That was fast on the draw for the plug."

"I have a sneaking suspicion this has happened before."

"Hm." Logan trailed his fingers up and down Wade's spine. "Wanna go again?"

"Five minutes. Then I'm bottom this time. So get ready for me to be as bratty as possible."

#####

"Loooooooooogan." It was mid-morning. His boyfriend's voice was in his ear. His boyfriend's teeth were nipping at his skin. His boyfriend's hand was on his chest, now it was sliding down his stomach.

"I'm spent, babe," Logan said.

"I know, honey-suckle just trying to get your attention." Wade rolled on top of him, hooking his leg over Logan's hip. "We're not married. The license you found was, like…a gag gift. A souvenir. We never actually had them send it to the registrar..

"Yeah, I remembered while your mouth was around my dick."

Wade gently tossed his phone across to the other side of the bed.

"I found the text thread where I was pranking Laura with it."

"I don't think you ever showed me what she said.

"She said she was going to call me 'step-daddy' in a way that made everyone around us as uncomfortable as possible." Wade rubbed his forehead against his chest.

"That's my girl," Logan chuckled. "Haven't remembered why we were in Arizona, yet, though."

"Yeah. See. So I actually remember that pretty well, now. Um. I had the idea that we should be completely and totally away from anyone and anything we knew when we finished the memory wipe. I knew about a safehouse outside Ajo from my pre-cancer merc days. We just didn't make it, I think. Saying it back, though, I'm not following my own logic."

"Yeah, I have a memory of watching you snort a line of cocaine, but me not stopping you. So I think something about that first pill she gave us really fucked us up."

"Yeah, I'm remembering mostly everything, but there's about three days where the timeline just isn't…it just isn't, you know what I mean?"

"I think we're going to have to accept that some stuff isn't going to come back."

"I'm fine with that. All the important stuff did." Wade rested his face into the crook of Logan's neck. "So…how are we feeling? Now that we know why we did this?"

"I feel like we're idiots," Logan replied.

"Yeah…I actually do feel…extremely dumb holy shit Charlotte was right. I'm having such extreme clarity about everything. It's like going on an ayahuasca trip but worse, somehow."

Logan rolled over and pressed Wade into the mattress. He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at him. Wade stared up through his eyelashes up at him. Logan wrapped his hand around Wade's side.

"I think it's going to be a very long time before we retire from being badasses and have to worry about not having anything in common. So we can wait to worry about that then."

"Oh, you're assuming we'll still be together when we're old and decrepit ugly."

"I intend to be handsome 'til I die, so whatever you want to do is up to you." Logan pressed his lips to Wade's forehead. "But I know for a fact I'm having too much fun to voluntarily stop this any time soon. So unless you die on me…"

Wade lifted up and pecked him on the lips.

"Which we both know is extremely difficult. So, yeah, no. You're going to be stuck with me forever. Sucks to be you."

"Sucks to be me." Logan dropped down to lie on top of Wade, tucking his arms underneath him. Wade's arm came up around his back and he scratched his nails across Logan's skin.

"You know, we could leave Las Vegas properly married. Just make the appointment."

"Nah," Logan replied. "When we get married I want to do it properly. I want to remember everything."

"Hm." Wade replied, humming low and deep.

#####

When we get married. Not if. When.

when when when when when when

When.

#deadclaws #poolverine #deadpool #worlverine #fanfiction #deadpool x wolverine

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imamcactus · 1 year ago

Text

TF2 mercers with a reader from the future/our time

So, tf2 canonically happens in 1968. Imagine what it would be like if you got thrown into the late 60s after bumping into Merasmus, who somehow got to our time via some magic shit he did

Slight TW: (serious)mentions of war, political activity throughout the ages (specifically USSR), and mention of racism, (joking)my horrible writing of accents and sayings

Also, the reader in this doesn’t have a specified gender, aside from Scout calling the reader “toots” once

You woke up tied up to a chair in the middle of an empty room

And then 9 men enter room and start asking you all sorts of questions

“Who are you?” “How did you find this place?” “Why are you dressed so weird?”

So you just try to explain that the last thing you remember is going about your day when a weird guy with a with a goat skull on his head did some weird abracadabra shit and now you’re here

The only thing they understood out of all that was weird guy with a goat skull on his head

Spy gets a hold of your bag/purse to look for something like a tracker or a weapon you could have on you (despite your protests) and finds your ID, and looks fairly confused

Slowly, that confusion turned into realisation and slight shock

“Say, ms/mr (Y/N),” The man with a mask on his face starts, tearing his gaze away from the ID card, his brows furrowed and eyes stern. “What year is it to you?”

You stared up at him, slightly confused and uneasy with how seriously he asked that. “Uhh, it’s 2023.” You answer carefully, observing how the rest of the men exchanged looks, each looking more confused than last. The man in a doctor's coat took a look at the ID as well, realisation washing over his face just as fast. “Mein Gott…”

“What?? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

The group stays quiet, disbelief and confusion still in the air, until finally the one in construction helmet speaks up in a southern accent. “Well, I’m afraid you might be over yonder in the wrong day and age, pardner.”

Soooo, you’re in the past

About 50 years into the past

Your parents are not even born yet

After they untied you, you spent the next half an hour just walking back and forth panicking and trying to understand what to do next

The entire time you’re muttering to yourself stuff like “fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to get back? Can I even get back?? Has anyone noticed that I’m missing yet? How long have I even been here? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck I’m doomed I’m doomed I’m doomed I’m doomed”

Meanwhile the mercers are just looking at you slowly losing your mind

Eventually, the southern on (who told you to call him engineer) broke you out of your little panic circle, proposing that you stay at the red base for a while until they figure out how to help you get back, or until Merasmus shows up again and he can send you back

“Does he hang around here often?” “Well…” “...I’m doomed I’m doomed I’m doomed-”

Nonetheless, you accept the offer (Despite some of the mercers being against this, they’re still vary of you, unsure if you can be trusted or not), and you’ve been chilling with them since, learning about each and every mercer (as much as you can that is, some wouldn’t budge)

Even getting to spend time with them individually

Scout

Scout would most likely be the one of, if not the most, curious about what the future is like

Will ask like 3000 questions at once

“What’s it like in the future? Do flying cars exist? How does bonk taste in the future?” “What is bonk???”

From that moment he doesn't want to know more about the future, the mere knowledge that bonk has been discontinued ruined him

Still thinks it’s pretty cool despite the fact that you don’t tell him much

You know, first rule of time travel, don’t reveal shit

You do give him subtle clues that leave him wondering cause he’s not smart enough to figure it out

“Heyyyy, toots, question. I know you can’t tell me much, but do you happen to know if I get married to certain assistant-” “Scout for the last time I don’t even know you in the future”

Soldier

“Tell me, maggot, is America still the greatest country in the world?” “...I’m legally not obligated to answer that question.”

At some point you do want to tell him about all the shit that America has done over the years and how knee deep in shit it currently is, but you can’t for two reasons

One, the time travel rules

Two, he seems so genuinely happy and proud to be an american that you don’t want to burst his bubble

Expect a LOT of history lessons about America and everything to do with it that you didn’t know about. He will tell you everything

Hey on the plus side, you’ll pass any american history test

Also fun fact, the construction of the twin towers started on August 6th of 1968, he’ll be telling you all about it while you just sit there sweating

Pyro

Does he even know what year he lives in??? I feel like he doesn’t have a proper concept of time because of the goggles

But in all seriousness, I feel like he wouldn’t really care that much about a lot of real life stuff

He’ll most likely just wonder if we figured out how to make cotton candy grows on trees

Honestly, he’s kind of a fresh breath of air to you

He thinks life is just sunshine and lollipops in the future, just like he sees it now, and you just let him live that fantasy, wishing the world actually was the way he sees it

(Aside from the time you saw him on the battlefield. In that moment you wondered if cotton candy really was the only thing on his mind)

Demo

“Aye have to know, did me pa succeed in bombing the Queen of England?” “...Well-”

He’s probably more interested in what assortment of alcoholic drinks you have in the future

You can tell him that much at least, and that satisfies him

When he gets drunk, however, he asks about the rights of black people in the future and if they still face just as much shit as they do now

In that moment, you weigh your options between telling him the truth and tell him that black people still face discrimination but have significantly more rights and are actively fighting for them everyday, or tell him yet again that you can’t tell him anything

you choose to tell him the truth

he is probably the only mercer who you’ve told about the future in such detail

he won’t remember it in the morning, mostly just asking if he said or did anything stupid and laugh off whatever excuse you came up with

And you don’t know whether to feel happiness and relief that you didn’t screw up the future, or feel sad that he doesn’t remember the answer to his question that is probably bugging him a lot

Engineer

One of those who asks the least questions

Don’t get me wrong, this man is very curious and wants to know how the technology evolves in the future

But he also understands that you can’t reveal anything for everyone's sake to not cause a butterfly effect

He has 11PhDs, he can figure that the future might change drastically if you reveal anything that will happen

And you want to tell him everything

All the stuff that we have, even if not as impressive as what he makes for this team, some of the stuff would still leave him surprised

You would show him your phone and how it works on a condition that he doesn’t do anything with this knowledge

He also figures a few things along the way the longer you stay there

Like your surprise that teleportation is possible

Heavy

You wanna tell this man so badly that USSR doesn’t exist anymore

If you are from one of the post soviet countries, he will apologise so much about what his country has done to yours and your people

You’d probably give him a whole speech how what is happening right now is not his fault as he is an anti communist

(Bonus, if you happen to be from one of those countries and know Russian, you’ll most likely sometimes speak in his native tongue)

My personal headcanon is that Heavy most likely spent his free time with people who were deported from their countries to Siberia to labour camps, learning about their cultures and even a little of their languages, so, surprise! He can somewhat communicate with you in your native tongue!

If you’re not from one of the post soviet countries, you still feel bad for the big fellow, especially with what is happening in the world right now

You simply tell him that the system is so flawed it will cause its own downfall. You don’t tell him how or when, but it will

You definitely don’t tell him about the current mess his home land has caused, but you’re pretty sure he would be against it as well.

Medic

Another case of wants to know more, but understands you can’t say much

He’s insane not stupid, he did have a medical licence once upon a time, so there is a smart brain up there

He’d be the most interested in how the medical field has advanced though

But after hearing all about the crazy messed up shit he has done, you tell him there’s nothing interesting in the future that would amaze him

This man has revived people, cut them open while they stay awake and managed to keep them alive when their organs explode, replaced their vital organs with animal ones, created mpreg, has a Spys head in his fridge that is begging for the sweet release of death, figured out how to make people bulletproof, HAS A GUN THAT HEALS UP ANY AND ALL INJURIES

And we’ve done a surgery on a grape and turned a woolly mammoth into a meatball

Yeah he would not be impressed

Maybe by some of the technologies we now have for surgeries and all the possibilities for people to live past their expected lifespan

But mostly no

Sniper

“Is being an assassin still a good job?”

I feel like Sniper wouldn’t really care all that much

Hey, what happens, happens, not his place to do or change anything even if he wanted to

So you two mostly just chill, not having access to the internet has made you appreciate nature more that’s for sure. You can’t check the latest news and how horrible things are in the world, so you just chill without a worry

He once caught you recording a voice message for your friend/family member, thought you were akin to spy after all and was ready to attack

Until he got closer and heard you saying to whoever the message was meant for that you are unsure when you’d be back, if you ever made it back, saying how you’re doing and to take care

After you sigh as yet another message doesn’t go through, he sat down next to you and you two just talked

Since then you two just kind of hang out in the wild

He’ll tell you all about the creature and plants you two happen to see

He’s also smart enough to figure a few things out on his own

“oooh, I’ve never seen this (plant/animal) in real life!” “probably cause at the moment these are endangered, probably won’t see those again when you go back”

And sadly, he’s right almost 85% of the time

Spy

oooooooooh boy

This guy doesn’t want to know what happens in the future for personal gain or to do something about it, no no no, he just wants to get as much of the information out of you as possible for fun

he’s used to the fact that he can get information about anyone and anything, it’s just a matter of a few strings pulled

But the fact that he couldn’t get any information about you (like who you were, where you’re from, your background and family information) drove this usually calm and collected man insane

He doesn’t show it, but it’s there

So he made it his personal goal to get as much info about you and the future as he possibly can

Which isn’t a lot, and that drives him up the wall even more

If you are a vaper and happened to have one on you while in this whole mess, congratulations, you just confused the living shit out of Spy with this refillable cigarette that runs on juice and electricity

Doesn’t understand why anyone would choose …that…over good old fashioned tobacco

Is however amazed by the variety in flavours when you tell him about those

He does smoke menthol cigarettes after all

Admittedly, not my best work out of everything I’ve ever written, but hopefully I’ll post something better soon enough

Also, let me know if you wanna see more story-like scenarios rather than headcanons of this same concept!

#tf2 #tf2 x reader #tf2 medic #tf2 scout #tf2 sniper #tf2 engineer #tf2 soldier #tf2 heavy #tf2 demoman #tf2 spy #tf2 pyro #tf2 headcanons #team fortress 2

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miscfandomwrites · 10 months ago

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A/N: Don’t know how this college will show up on tumblr, so let’s see. This is an old, old idea that I got one day after I drew all over my arm in eyeliner when I was in class. It was actually really pretty, and thus the idea for this was born. Due to my ADHD it’s hard to focus in class, and because of that I need some sort of stimulation to make my brain think. This was written with an attention disorder in mind for the reader.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x F! Reader

Location: Marvel > Natasha Romanoff > Oneshots

Warnings: None, just a small drabble with fluff

Words: 900ish

Tagging: @tyler-t0t

“We need to move in from this direction instead and then we can carry them out.” Bucky voiced from his place against the wall.

I didn’t bother to follow the conversation, as this was the fourth time that they’ve been over editing the plan even when the first plan was perfect.

I inwardly groaned and leaned my head back, moving my arms and stretching. Enjoying the feel of my back popping. The debate about how we were to get in was still going, and I ended up digging through my jacket pockets. Damn, I had a fidget in here this morning…

Still tuning everyone out, I found an eyeliner pen. Wait, wasn’t I looking for that yesterday?

You have got to be kidding me. I was. My habit, or rather, unconscious habit of losing things wasn’t fun. I misplaced things often enough to where I kept trackers on several items I used daily. Everyone idolizes having an attention disorder until you realize just how fucking shitty it is.

Seriously, I can’t get through the day without misplacing something. Or caffeine. Both.

I ran a hand through my hair, tucking it behind my ears as I pulled the cap off the pen. It was one of the oil-based ones, which meant it was easy to clean off of skin. Laying my hand on the table I started sketching some bones on my fingers, then moved to my hand. Keeping tabs on the conversation, I finished my hand and moved to my arm. Instead of bones I just drew swirls, some small stars, and honestly whatever came to mind. I did the same with my other hand, albeit a bit messier because it wasn’t my dominant hand that was doing the drawing.

“We’re done with this for now. Let’s go over this tomorrow.” Steve said as he clapped his hands together, and shut off the screen. I glanced up only to meet Natasha’s eyes. As soon as she caught my gaze she smiled. I smiled back at her.

Everyone in the tower knew I had an attention disorder, and if just given my fidgets I would be fine. It turns out both of the scientists and I share that in common, and more often than not we were inventing some sort of new fidget toy. Of course, after the lighter-knife-spinner combination, we were a bit limited on our creations. Still, we got along great.

Everyone slowly got up and headed out to wherever they would be going, and I pulled out my phone and earbuds. Donning my jacket and tugging my phone in a pocket, I started my music and headed out, headless of Natasha calling after me.

I got to my floor and immediately shoved my shoes and socks off, along with my jacket and pants. I was bored enough that the thought of doodling over my legs sounded entertaining enough that I discarded my pants as well, kicking them over the back of the couch and flopping down onto it. I grabbed the remote and started from where I left off of (Favorite show) and went back to work. Eventually my feet were covered, and I moved up to my calves, then my knees, and soon enough my entire legs were covered. I drew up my arms as best I could, and fixed my hands.

“So, this was the result?” Natasha’s voice scared the shit out of me, causing a huge streak of eyeliner to mess up my doodles on my arms. I turned towards her, mouth open in shock. She huffed a laugh and went around the couch, sitting down next to me.

She held out her hand. “May I?” She asked. I handed her the pencil and she gently took my arm, and continued my drawing up my arm and onto my shoulder, before lightly drawing them on my neck, and eventually my cheek.

“These are really pretty...have you considered getting these tattooed?” She asked me as she switched sides and started working on my other arm.

“I have, but I also realized that I’d want them different as soon as I saw them.” I replied.

“That makes sense. You typically don’t like things to be permanent, they always need to be changing.”

“Yeah, some permanent things. Such as tattoos, furniture, clothes. I change those often. But people however...they’re always changing.”

“Ah, so in relationships you wouldn’t be deterred if someone wanted something permanent with you?” She questioned, tracing the pencil up my neck and onto my cheek, leaning closer to me.

“No, I wouldn’t. I prefer that type of stability in my life.” I whispered as she leaned closer to me.

“Do you want something permanent?”

“I do.” I leaned closer and closed the gap between us.

#miscfandomwrites #avengers x reader #marvel #marvel x reader #black widow x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha x reader

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the-tmnt-ficfinder · 3 months ago

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Ficfinder finds: The Lemonade Leak

Chapter 11: The Gardener

Chapter 11 Summary: No summary

The Gardener: Appraisal and Ratings

(Don't know what fanfic "Appraisal and Ratings" means? Check out my explanation on my Main Masterpost! Looking for a different fanfic to read? Head on over to my Fanfic List Masterpost!)

Disclaimer: This fanfic is only available to those who have an Ao3 profile. This fanfic is written by @turtleinsoup, so go show them some love and support!!

The fanfic ratings are not based on quality, favoritism, or how good I think it is, but rather, how intense a subject may be. Like a movie review, or the tags on Ao3, letting the readers know what to expect.

Plot: 💛💛💛💛💛

"Plot is five out of five!! The plot for this chapter is quite intense!! Things have hit a tipping point!!"

Suspense/Mystery: 💛💛💛💛💛

"Suspense/Mystery is five out of five!! The suspense levels int his chapter are insane!! Its just constant edge-of-your-seat stress!!"

Angst/Hurt: 💛💛💛💛💛

"Angst/Hurt is five out of five!! The angst in this chapter is in full force!! This chapter is chock full of emotional angsts, and even some physical angst as well."

Fluff/Comfort: 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

"Fluff/Comfort is zero out of five! Any comfort that would have been comforting is completely drowned out by Leo's guilt and what goes down."

Emotions Conveyed: 💛💛💛🖤🖤

"Emotions Conveyed is three out of five!! This chapter is full of tension, stress, and dread!! Its a very suspenseful read!!"

Drama/Tension Level: 💛💛💛💛💛

"Drama/Tension Level is five out of five!! Both the drama and tension levels for this chapter are full blast intensity!!"

Triggers: 💛💛💛🖤🖤

"Triggers for this chapter are three out of five. As put in the beginning author notes "Content Warning: Domestic Violence." I'd also say that manipulation and extreme gaslighting could be another trigger, so now you're all prepared!! Remember, stay safe!! ^^"

Legibility (Reading): 💛💛💛💛💛

"Legibility (Reading) is five out of five!! This chapter was really enjoyable to read!! Like all the chapters before hand, it was smooth, well written, and a joy to read!!"

Legibility (Audio): 💛💛💛💛💛

"Legibility (Audio) is five out of five! Absolutely wonderful to listen to in audio book format!! Especially due to how intense it is."

Length: 💛💛🖤🖤🖤

"Length is two out of five!! Chapter 11 of The lemonade Leak takes about 12-13 minutes to listen to!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Chapter ->

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The Lemonade Leak: Story Ratings and Chapter List

Personal thoughts on chapter below cut (Contains Spoilers)

There was a chance it had seen the light of Leo’s portal. So I need a plan that will work if it saw me, but also won’t give me away if it hasn’t. Leo needed ten seconds to come up with one. It twisted his stomach.

Leo, the wiring of the bomb, the strategist of the group. Makes a plan in ten seconds flat.

Leo checked the training room for their weapons next. A pair of chucks and sai hung bloodless on the wall of fainted graffiti. They looked at him as deadly and harmless as his brothers. Leo took in their exact positions just in case he would have to portal them. Of course, as a general rule, battle should be avoided. Yeah, Leo thought. We have survived a big number of battles by not being there.

I love the symbolism portrayed here. The weapons are laying in wait, hung up, currently not in use. They almost appear as decoration. The brothers are all like living weapons, laying in wait, still and quiet.

Leo grabbed the tracker from his bed and shoved it back inside his bandages. Then he checked on his family. Dad was a softly snoring blanket bundle in his room. Mikey had curled around Raph’s arm, his sleep-squished cheek drooling onto scaly spikes. Raph was using every other available limb to shield their youngest, his nose nestled up against Mikey’s forehead.

I like the little detail of Leo making sure to put the tracker in his bandages. It could be due to the fact that the bandages make for an inconspicuous place to hide it, or possibly he's assumed that Donnie can track it's exact location. Also, if any of his brothers ask to check on his heel, he can easily turn it on them, asking to see their injuries in return, which is something they're all reluctant to, specifically Donnie.

He was halfway through his coffee and still didn’t feel awake enough to handle what would come. He poured more of the energy drink in. Then a shot of lemonade. He hummed, searching through the kitchen and added a little maple. Cold gravy from a pot. Some black liquid that had been dripping from their dishwasher.

A shot of lemonade...

“Ah crap, sorry,” Leo said, grabbed the remote and turned down the volume until he could barely hear the movie. “Didn’t mean to wake you up,” he lied. If you’re awake, that means- “Did you sleep at all?” Raph asked. He was leaning in the entrance next to Mikey, his arms crossed and his gaze droopy and bloodshot. - I just ruined all your efforts to get Raph some rest.

I like how Leo starts off strong, pleased that his plan worked, then guilt swoops in, because he wrecked Raph's chance at a decent nights sleep. Its like his mind is warring between being a brother, and a predator.

Oh, he didn’t deserve this. This had been way too easy. It should have taken more talk, more lies, more convincing them to stay up for him.

Its interesting to think of how Mikey and Raph feel about his situation. While Leo feels like crap, coercing them into this, manipulating them into staying, Raph and Mikey probably just think that Leo is having a bought of insomnia. Late night crisis, and he's watching TV to loud to deal with it. They're being so kind, keeping him company. Leo most likely recognizes this, which is another reason for his guilt.

“I mean,” Leo said, warping their youngest into a hug, trying to give some of Mikey’s warmth back to him. “There are bigger plot holes. That game is a whole mess, hermanito,” he said unhelpfully. His ribs expected a jab of Donnie’s elbow that never came.

Hermanito means "little brother" in Spanish. I find it quite sweet that Leo calls him that specifically, rather than just hermano.

”Of course, Angelo. If you excuse me, I should shower off this stench, before someone accuses me of biological warfare.” The thing was about to walk past Raph.

Donnie uses fancy words and offhanded comments to tell the truth and lie at the same time. Because he can't bear to lie, but he can't tell the truth either. Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare or biowarfare, is the use of living organisms or replicating entities to harm or kill humans, animals, or plants as an act of war. Biological weapons are a type of unconventional weapon or weapon of mass destruction. Its interesting that he brings this up, because that's exactly what Leo thinks Donnie is doing. In a sense, he called out Leo, partially told the truth, admitted something that's bothering him, and made everything sound like a joke due to the context he said it in.

The thing’s voice was slow but sharp like a knife digging into meat. “I don’t have it, Nardo.” “It’s in your bag, right?” Leo asked. The thing’s posture stiffed slightly before it crossed its arms. It hissed softly. “Get out of my way.” “Dontron, C’mon, please,” Leo whined, soft and harmless. “I’m serious, If it’s not in there, I’ll leave you alone! I don’t even need it, I just want to know where it is so I can stop worrying. Just show me.”

The manipulation tactics used here, are absolutely stunning!!! Completely masterful!! The gaslighting, the word twisting, the innocence, this is a work of art!!

And then, everything happened too fast. The thing caught Mikey’s wrist and hurled him across the room. Mikey crashed into the cabinets. DVDs, picture frames and old childhood treasures cluttered down, shattering across the floor. “Mikey!” Raph’s head jerked around to see their youngest. Mikey sat in midst the shards, staring at Donnie. Stunned. “Donnie, what the fuck?! - Are you okay?” Raph reached Mikey’s side, almost as fast as Leo moved between his brothers and the thing in Donnie’s body. From the corner of his eye, Leo saw Mikey nod and struggle to stand up. Leo’s mind raced. Why had it attacked?! It didn’t make sense! Attacking was more suspicious than anything it could have said to explain the things in its bag! It should have been smarter than this. The Krang should be more tactical than this!

*Spoilers for future chapters!* From Leo's view, his brother is completely possessed, and is displaying violent behaviors. Leo keeps being stumped by its reactions because he's calculating for the actions a krang would take. However, in this instance, its not the krang that made Donnie attack, but Donnie who attacked. He's exhausted, and overstimulated, and he's wildly upset that Leo is fighting with him. Overstimulated and upset, he reacted violently to touch, completely panicking. His strength is enhanced, so rather than a grip and shove, he flung Mikey across the whole dang room.

#tmntficfinder #ficfinder #ficfinder finds the lemonade leak #the lemonade leak #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt #rottmnt fanfic #rottmnt post invasion #tmnt fanfiction #disaster twins

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kaythefloppa · 8 months ago

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Wild Kratts - Fish Out of Water Review [Spoilers]

April is finally here, and with it, three new episodes have been released on the PBS Kids Video App ahead of their release. At the time I'm posting this, it is midnight and the one hour special "Our Blue and Green World" is yet to air on televison and streaming, so I will get to that when I get to that. Given that I have already reviewed No Name Dream and Backpack the Camel, I'll give a review to this episode as well. Spoiler warning and opinions ahead under the cut

First New York, then Hawaii, and now a goddamn University on the list of areas I would never expect these guys to film. Bros are everywhere.

As someone who is about to graduate high school, I feel IMMENSELY jealous of the college students who saw the motherfucking Kratt Brothers filming an episode on campus. I can already begin to see the floods of social media posts bragging about this on Tumblr and Twitter threads.

Ok I feel bad for being a bit salty earlier, I actually think it's really sweet how these people outside of the show can share their interests and expertise in biology and physics to help children educate. The entire live-action opening where they study the locomotion of mudskippers is honestly really sweet, and we haven't even gotten to our main animal yet!

God these are such cute animals. But beyond that, the term "fish out of water" could not be a more fitting title. They have joints like we do, can adapt to different environments, and can swim and climb like we can. This is probably my favorite live action segment because of how well structured the clips and movements are and just how fun it is seeing these little blorbs move around the place.

I should talk about how it took us half a decade to see a mudskipper on the show, and 13 years overall to get a focus episode, but so far, up to a great start and definitely worth waiting (for the most part).

Oh so is it like the Hermit Crab episode where in all of the official releases they leave out the determiner but in the actual episode it's there? This has no overall bearing on the episode but I just felt the need to point it out.

I should check off on my S7 bingo card about seeing the old inventions again because holy shit it's been almost a decade since we saw the Butterflier XT

Also can anyone identify those butterflies? I know for a FACT that those motherfuckers aren't monarchs because of their patterns (the only pattern variation in butterflies is sex-linked, and while I'm aware they live in Asia, this again, does not look like a match) but they also aren't viceroys because they lack the line around their wings. I only ask this to bring up my next point.

I thought the Butterfly Disc we saw in Season 1 was specifically programmed based off of Monarch Butterflies. But as established (until proven wrong), these are not monarch butterflies. So unless Aviva retrofitted or reprogrammed the disc to be multi-familial, as in they can touch any butterfly regardless of classification and activate accordingly (like with the Crocodile, Dragonfly, and Gecko Discs), the activation should not work. I only ask this because while it seems miniscule, Chris' decision to bring out the disc is what sets off the plot - It's what causes him to loose the discs in the butterfly swarm, so I feel like, while not a critique, it's a legitimate question as to the direct programming of the discs vs. the animals used to activate.

Man, Zach wasn't even in this episode and somehow they STILL lose their discs? (Actually, I am pleasantly surprised that they didn't take the opportunity to have this be a Zach-related episode).

You think they'd put a tracker on the collection or encode a chip the actual discs so that they wouldn't get lost this easily. This again, sounds like a nitpick, but earlier seasons set up a firewall for the Creature Power Discs and a tracking device/rocket-device on the Creature Power Suits and gloves because of how frequent these types of contingiences are, so there's really no excuse for this.

(Suck my ass PBS Kids Video App, I'm still able to get high quality snips even with your bullshit formatting!!!)

They really went all out with the "other-wordly" vibe that the mudskippers' territory gave off. Once again, we waited two years for this to be put to animation and to see come air.

I've made enough jokes around these situations in the show, so I think we'd all benefit if I just changed the subject: That front-facing mudskipper is fucking hilarious.

*Martin's voice* - Slimy Skin-breathers!

Okay, but I actually did not know that. At all. Even 10 years later, this show is still teaching me new things about animals in the most beautfully unexpected ways. This is one of the many reasons I will never give up on the show.

[Unexpected angst in bagging area - Also, with the inclusion of No Name Dream, which will air two days before this episode, that brings our Krangstt quota to #2]

Okay so I really like the set-up here, and it genuinely was a surprise seeing Jimmy angst in this episode as a subplot in a series that rarely operates on A-plots and B-plots (unless you count the villains' schemes which are usually just A^2 plots) like most shows. And as someone who legitimately was going through rough times (S7 was actually one of my few reasons to keep going), I heavily related to Jimmy. So yeah, a Jimmy angst episode? Can totally buy. What I'm not gonna buy is how they execute it with the ending, because that and the implications.... yikes...

C'mon! "Mudspitter" was right there! Right there!

Ok, here is where my main problem with this episode's subplot is. If I could boil it down to one word, it would be: Incomplete. Jimmy feeling inadequate based on an observation he made is one thing. Him immediately leaving afterwards on a whim moments after said observation is completely another and doesn't align that well.

Like, this would only work if Jimmy had attempted to be a fish "IN" water. If he tried to help Aviva and Koki with the data-research and inventing, but he failed, and they politely turned him down. Or if there was any basis as to why he suddenly disregards his piloting skills or teleporting, whether he doesn't care or doesn't think them to be enough for him to fit in. Like, he wants to be in on the action because some part of him doesn't feel like sitting around by the teleporter is enough. What I'm saying is, there is no pathos. I personally find it to be relatable, but on a narrative level, it doesn't work. I know the "character feeling left out so they leave" thing is cliche'd, but there's a reason it's a cliche, and that's because it follows a lot of writing beats that this particular episode doesn't, so on top of being cliche'd as fuck to begin with, it feels very awkward. And this is going to be apparent both here and in this episode's climax (which I also do not have many kind words for,) so I had to use my allotted time to talk about why this doesn't work.

Could... could they not call him on his Creaturepod? Could the brothers not call him on his Pod? Did he even have his Creaturepod?? Again, there are so many plot-holes in this B-story that could've easily been written around with a change of dialogue or scenery. Have Jimmy's Creaturepod be shown left lying around which makes them realize they have no way of getting him back to the teleporter in time. Jimmy would have no reason to even bring his Creaturepod on his adventure, so that just raises even more questions. Like, this isn't an active diss on the writers, but I think there should've been more proof-reading of the script since this is a massive oversight.

I think now is the time for me to bring up this question I've had for years now; How exactly does the teleporter work? In several episodes, we've seen that there is a coordinate code in the teleporter that allows it to be sent to the target. Koki's "the communication queen" as Aviva puts it, so she'd likely be able to triangulate the brothers' location. So I'm not sure why the show presents this as a struggle for Koki. This isn't the only example, so I won't hold it against the episode, (they have this be the case specifically to emphasize the point that they need Jimmy, which I can forgive) but it's another piece of lore that I should probably theorize about lmao.

Also

YOU HAVE LITERALLY TELPORTED THE CREATURE POWER DISCS FOUR TIMES.

TWO OF THOSE TIMES BEING IN A ROW.

AND ONE OF THEM WAS FOUR EPISODES AGO IN THIS EXACT SAME SEASON.

This whole episode spent the past five minutes making its main characters look incredibly idiotic for the sake of its B plot.

Once again, this episode's spitting facts that I didn't even know.

This is actually a neat seguay, having the brothers figure out the abilities of the mudskippers while exercising their own cool abilities. It feels really natural, and again, is an inventive way to show off the locomotive abilities of the mudskipper.

I feel like this falls very well between "accurate enough to be admirable" and "uncanny." I can (maybe on my deathbed) get used to this suit's design (though I'm partly glad Chris doesn't activate it because spoilers, he doesn't).

I've given this subplot a lot of flack, but credit where it's due, even with its misses, it does hit with the emotional beats.

Very conflicted on this:

On one hand, Jimmy actually taking the initiative to miniaturize is pretty ballsy. The show, despite not being serialized, does develop its characters in a way that you can sense a clear difference of them when you compare the modern seasons to the earlier ones. And this can be seen as a positive development for Jimmy, since it's his "Creature Adventure."

On the other hand.... back to what I was saying about consistency. Why did Jimmy bring the miniaturizer?? What was his prompting?? Was he planning on shrinking himself down the whole time? Like, he left his friends for god knows how much time and is now out of nowhere shrinking himself down to fish size because he feels inadequate? Uhm, Jimmy, ever heard the idea of therapy?

Also, again, very weird presentation of the episode. They don't at all put any attention to Jimmy's coms and whether or not he has them, (which would easily solve a bigger issue of why he's not contacted), yet they have him carry the Miniaturizer with him. Now, the latter is plot-relevant, but so could've been something about the Creaturepod.

This [from what I interpret] gets Jimmy out of his slump, making his "scientific discovery." Not realizing that his job of piloting and teleporting are equally important. Again, this is structured poorly. I like what they were going for, but it shouldn't have been the only thing that altered the trajectory of this subplot. Again, he can teleport discs to the brothers and pilot and while those are mentioned later on, it's not something he comes to himself in an "oh shit" moment. So this just feels unearned and weird. I really hate how harsh I am, since it's a Jimmy centric episode and it was the #1 requested thing on all the chat-boards during the hiatus, but this is one of those things where it has to be done right if at all. This isn't done right, and the fact that it takes up 50% of the episode just... ugh.

You can't tell it through screenshots but with the way Aviva says it and the scene cutting to her and Koki laughing at it, I'm 98% inclined that this was a specific innuendo, and ngl, I kinda laughed too.

Oh look, it's Kenge's cousin! [For you Lion Guard fans that also recognize Wild Kratts] - [I was inclined to make a reference to Jessie, but that felt in bad taste considering y'know]

Ok, but that has to be an Asian water monitor. Correct me if I'm wrong. What I'm definitely not wrong about is that their bites contain venom; To a human it's not lethal, however to small prey, including mudskippers, or anything around that size, it's lights out. So yeah, Chris and Martin are fucked.

Ok this line is absolutely badass.

Also, grey?? Grey?? I thought Jimmy's signature color was orange/yellow? Or red with the implication of the tail episode? Great, now there's another color that'll be in the debates for his future Creature Power Suit.

Once again, this arc feels weirdly put together. This notion comes up specifically at the climax when it should come up beforehand as Jimmy realizes his worth. Because otherwise, it gives the implication that he knew this all along and yet still felt like a fish out of water, which doesn't mesh together properly (it could, if the episode actually tried to do so which it didn't).

The episode, Sea Otter Swim, does this plot so much better. We see Jimmy's doubts, and we see how he overcomes said doubts in a way that is presented clear to the audience, and the climax where he actually realizes what he's capable of feels earned. This is not earned. So even though I am rooting for him to win, this whole thing just feels messy.

So is nobody gonna ask why Jimmy left his post? Is Jimmy not gonna tell everyone why he left, or at the very least ask why nobody bothered to call for him? Is nobody going to at least let Jimmy know that he can't just... abandon his post without warning because of the fact that they need him? Is Jimmy not going to come to that conclusion himself? Is anything in this episode gonna be earned??

This entire ending feels like an ass-pull: First off, Jimmy and the brothers had enough time to head back to the miniaturizer and then the Tortuga, and in none of that time, did Jimmy ever give them the Power Discs? Why? Yes, it was for the sake of the fake-out defeat/joke, but was there any reason why Jimmy just kept the thing hidden waiting to give it to the brothers?

The entire emotional climax to this episode is basically everyone putting Jimmy on a pedestal. It's unsatisfying because there wasn't any acknowledgement or follow up to Jimmy's conflict at the beginning, nor is the lesson learned in the right way, and the conclusion just overreacts by hyping up Jimmy instead of just having a reasonable "We're a team!" thing, or through any self-actualization of his good qualities that Koki pointed out. None of it, friggin' none of this is earned! Now it comes across as Jimmy being uncharacterstically boastful and cocky and the others just kissing his arse. That's probably not the intent but it was the result.

That is actually like, so fucking cool. I have massive respect for all of these people, like legitimately (also, considerning that's the exact opposite of what Zach does on an ethics scale, I find that really interesting). But beyond that, I think this episode has the best live action segments ever, they are so ingenuitive. I could easily see someone at my high school showing a clip of this episode in robotics' or biology class.

CONCLUSION:

PROS:

The live action segments.

The info dumps about the mudskippers.

The Kratt Brother's adventure with the mudskippers.

The animation

The background music (a lot of which is recycled from earlier seasons)

CONS:

Everything else (specifically the B plot). I feel like the writers wanted to give Jimmy his own storyline, either out of interest or seeing how popular the character was in chat-boards, but they didn't know how to do it so they just went through the motions without really connecting anything at all, so it's a lot harder relating to the exact conflicts in some cases, and you feel disatisfied by the cimax. It reminds me of what they did with Vitani in the Lion Guard finale, a case of giving this one character the spotlight, but hitting all of the wrong marks that does the character and the audience a disservice and leaves a bitter taste in the viewer's mouth by the end credits.

This is the first episode this season that has made me cringe, primarily off of its premise, not just a particular scene, a dated pop culture reference, or a weird-looking Power Suit. It is the first to make me cringe because of its story, which again, the B-plot takes up 50% of the episode, so it's constantly in your face. It's definitely not bad, not hateable bad, and it's far too early in the season to call it the worst, and there are definitely worse episodes out there, ones that have aired and ones that probably will inevitably air, but I can safely say, thus far, it's the one Wild Kratts episode that I enjoy, but only to an extent. The live action segments were by far the only thing that I got extremely engaged in, but other than that, and the other pros, it's not that good.

Final Ranking: 6/10: Above Average, but Needed Improvement.

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bitacrytic · 2 years ago

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Your most wild kinnporsche ( the series) tinfoil theory??

If you're familiar with my blog, it will not surprise you to hear me say this. But my wild tinfoil theory is that...

Anakinn Theerapanyakul is the villain of the story

Hear me out.

The show never outrightly stated it, but based on the narrative and the dialogue, we were all led to believe that unlike Vegas, Kinn has a conscience. Unlike Vegas, Kinn follows the rules. Unlike Vegas, Kinn is a relatively better person.

But is he though?

Point number one -

When the show starts, we see Kinn shoot a man in the chest to prove a point. Let that sink in. We are introduced to Kinn as a cold-blooded killer. But before we can compute that, he's making googly eyes at our precious whore and suddenly, it shifts to the back of our minds that he JUST KILLED SOMEONE TO PROVE A POINT.

Now you might say that it's a mafia show. They all kill people. Yeah. They do. But I didn't see Don pick up a gun and unload it in Kinn's employee's chest, did I? I saw Kinn do it.

If this was a thriller mystery, that would be a clue for us to hang on to.

Then there was the issue of him shooting Tawan. Once again, you might say, "But Tawan betrayed him". To that, I say, "and?" They were in a relationship. They were probably as in love as Kinn and Porsche. Judging from what Kinn has done to Porsche (punishing him, throwing him to Vegas, letting him go with when he knew Vegas was behind everything) we know Kinn would do the same to Porache. Yeah, Vegas used that against the couple, but it was warranted. Kinn is in love with Porsche, but Kinn is very very very very calculated enough to put his feelings aside and fuck Porsche up if he ever believes Porsche has betrayed him. The only reason he let Porsche go was because he knew Porsche was following Vegas blindly and they would catch up to Vegas eventually. He was pushing Porsche like a parent would when they let the child hold a hot kettle, knowing that it won't actually kill the child. But the burn would lead to future traumatised obedience.

This leads into my next point.

Point number two -

Kinn always seemed so emotional when it came Porsche. He ran to Porsche even when his father said no. Took off his tracker and all. He couldn't use his guards because Korn had given Porshe a week off. But he wanted to get to Porsche.

He didn't go there to be romantic. He went there to bully Porsche to come back. He only did it softly because Pete HAD GIVEN HIM A CHEAT CODE. Without that cheat code of niceness, Kinn would have forced Porsche back. He would have gotten in an altercation with Porsche and by the time the guards found them, he would be dragging Porsche right back. He wasn't being emotional. He was calculating.

Another example of calculating was when he asked Porsche to leave him in the forest. He cried, right? He looked broken, right? We are supposed to believe that he truly wanted Porsche to go, right? But what did he NOT say to Porsche? He didn't tell Porsche about Porsche's family home or the fact he'd sent those thugs to dupe Uncle Thee and get all their money.

When Porsche resisted and asked why Kinn wanted him to go, Kinn didn't mention the one thing that could have guaranteed that Porsche never looked back. No, he kept that quiet. Why? Because he was manipulating Porsche. He was letting Porsche go, knowing that Porsche had kissed him in the river and Porsche was already developing feelings for him.

We've seen so many movies when someone is asking their partner to go. When the partner refuses, they start saying mean things. Unforgiveable things. Things that would push their partner so faraway that a reunion is impossible. What did Kinn do instead? He positioned himself as a hero. "I like it when you're happy."

Come on!!! If someone said that you, would you really leave? Be honest!!!

We were led to believe that Kinn was emotional around Porsche, but Kinn was very calculating.

(I should also point out that Kinn's manipulation of Porsche doesn't negate the fact that he was in love with Porsche. Was he in love? Yes. Was he a manipulative piece of shit? HELL YES!)

Point number three -

Let's not forget him using his father as a shield whenever he does something evil. "My dad made me do it", "I'd rather beba singer", "My dad asked me to ruin your life." This man spent the entirety of ep06 gaslighting the audience and Porsche into thinking he was just a happy go lucky baby locked in the body of an unwilling mafia man.

I'm not not going to mention the fact that he knew how to take the cuffs off but refused to do so until it served his purpose. That was an obvious enough move that even Porsche noticed it so I won't be overanalysing it. But everything else?

80% of the people who had been frustrated with the way Kinn was treating Porsche suddenly joined his camp, in that episode. Heck, Porsche joined his camp too. That was the beginning of Porsche not having a backbone. If you'll remember, before ep6, Porsche didn't wait for Kinn. Kinn asked him to leave, Porsche went out with Vegas. Kinn got mad at him, Porsche went home. Kinn showed up, Porsche put him in his place.

But after witnessing kinn in ep6, suddenly, Porsche was letting kinn walk over him, calling him loose... twice. Sending him away to Vegas like he was nothing. Kinn's episode6 arc worked so well that Porsche lost his ability to stand up for himself.

And from this point on, the excuse of "my dad made me do it" became a reoccurring song. Because when he fucked up, he used his dad as an excuse. Never mind the fact that there were periods when he disobeyed. Which is so funny. He blames his father for major things like the kidnapping and the house and the killing. But he's somehow able to move in Porsche without his father's say so????

He spent one... LITERALLY ONE DAY... as Porsche's live-in boyfriend, before he was running back to the main family and proudly introducing himself as Kinn, the leader of the main family. Please, that man loved what he could do as mafia. But because his manipulation of Porsche wasn't complete, he had to play house and pretend that Chay, who he'd just met, was somehow more important to him than Tankhun and Kim.

🧐🧐🧐🧐

Please.

On the surface, it seems like Kinn might not have an independent bone in his body. On the surface, he looks like a powerless drone doomed to obey a father that he just "loves so so much".

But when I put on my tinfoil hat, I can clearly see, that Kinn is really the mastermind behind all this. Because he gets to be just as reckless as Vegas and just as calculating as his father. But he gets to be seen as a victim because he is an expert at throwing stones and hiding his hands.

#kinnporsche #kinn is the villain #don't @ me

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venusofvolterra · 2 years ago

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Notes on Demetri Volturi: a Tracker’s tale of Medieval Navigation and Astronomy

Demetri‘s gift works a lot like celestial navigation. This is what differentiates him from other trackers like James and Alastair, who had been hunters in their human lives.

If we are to understand in canon that a vampire’s abilities often manifest based on something from their human lives, than the way Demetri’s tracking ability manifests mirrors navigation.

In my own canon, Demetri was the son of a relatively rich merchant who traveled around the Mediterranean often. Demetri also had six older siblings.

While Demetri was fine enough at the sales and negotiation aspect, his three older brothers had possessed more of a proclivity towards business. His older sisters would have been preened into being perfect Byzantine wives in order to be married off to the sons of other merchants, or men who worked in other highly valued professions, or even marry into nobility.

This is where Demetri’s inadequacy complex begins to take hold. He was the youngest, his oldest brother practically ran the business alongside their dad as it were, and all but one of his sisters had been married off by the time he was in early teens.

However, Demetri did show a proclivity for navigation early on. An interest he had only began taking on because his sister, only two years older than him, was fascinated by astronomy, navigation, and the myths surrounding the stars and constellations. They began their studies together when Demetri was 10 and she was 12.

As he grew older, when Demetri wasn’t drinking and gambling, he threw himself into his studies with his sister. He was exceptional by his late teens and his father and brother began employing his skills in their work as merchants.

Demetri often felt that the only reason his father paid any attention to him was because of his talents. Demetri and his father often squabbled so he truly believed his talent for navigation was the only reason his father hadn’t kicked him out — a feeling not to dissimilar to what he felt when it came to Amun and later Aro.

All in all, Demetri’s gift works similarly to celestial navigation. To the untrained eyes, the stars look all the same, similar to how a person may be obscured by being in a crowd or by immense distance. To Demetri however, much like any good astronomer, he can tell the stars apart as soon as he looks at them — almost like a sixth sense.

The practice of astronomy, especially historically, relied heavily on the myths surrounding the stars to identify them — these stories flavored them, giving each star it’s own particular tenor. Is this concept ringing any bells?

In fact, there were a few times in which Demetri, while in a buzzed stupor, managed to draw out perfect maps for his father and brothers to use in their travels.

His father would often invite him along, especially when he noticed how focused having this purpose made Demetri — there was hope for him yet. It had only taken almost 27 damn years.

Despite this, Demetri, when not at sea, did still participate in some debauchery. Something about idle hands being the devils play things.

His last voyage as a human took him to Egypt. He’d been there a few times before. Whenever he envisioned the place, the hard, sharp, face of a man with a peculiar eye color came to focus in his mind.

He’d met this man in a night market after partying with his brothers — the closest he’d felt to them since his childhood, especially now that all of them had wives, and the two oldest had children. They often teased him over this, because Demetri had had a few women in his life and yet, remained single and childless.

The man had said he’d heard of him and his father, much to the surprise of his brothers. The man had wanted to test Demetri and so, he rolled out some paper and pulled some ink and a feather pen from inside the cloak he wore. He challenged our dear, intoxicated Demetri to draw up a navigation map for him. Currently, Demetri couldn’t recall where exactly the man had wanted to go, he was too drunk to think too deeply about it. Demetri even chatted and explained everything he was doing well while drawing up the a map as well.

Demetri smiled to himself, recalling the story. It was a point of pride for him. His brothers had wives and more of a claim to the family business sure, but he knew that their business wouldn’t be nearly as successful without him.

Smiling to himself, he sat back against the railing as the ship began to set sail for Egypt again.

The rest, as they say, is history.

#yes this does mean Demetri is an astrology boy and can draw your birth chart #if there is incorrect spelling/grammar no there isn’t #I had to rewrite this entire post because tumblr ate it #demetri volturi #volturi #vampires #historical twilight #the volturi #amun twilight #twilight revival #twilight saga #twilight renaissance

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horizon-forbidden-sheesh · 1 year ago

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Writing Process: Timelines & Trackers

Okayyy, so I've written about the drafting process in detail. But along the way, logistics problems tend to pop up that can't be solved in words alone.

Mostly, it has to do with knowing exactly where someone is or what someone is doing at the same time as another character I'm writing. For instance, when does Alva get back to the Base? How long is she there before Aloy shows up?

I didn't always take detailed notes on this during my first play-through. And after I abandoned my Scrivener file, (more about this here ⚙️) I decided to refine my timeline.

I already had a great foundation based on my first play-through and my New Game+ speed run. So, I started fresh, with a new game file and good old fashioned pen & paper. I'm still working through this as I write. (Just finished the Scorcher side quest!!)

*This is in a Master-size (A4) Leuchtturm notebook, in which I'm working back-to-front. I prefer purple pen and grid paper always.

Yes. I know. I am a psycho. As I mentioned in the Preamble, gaming timelines are a special interest. 💁🏼‍♀️ Plus, I build client-friendly Gantt charts for design projects IN MY SLEEP. So, taking my timeline from paper into Spreadsheet status felt like a v natural next step.

💡I started with a weekly at-a-glance, mostly because I needed to coordinate when various characters arrived back at Base:

Why yes, I am tracking Zo & Aloy's periods. Because there is no single, magical herb you can take to stop pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I dig this trope! It's important to discuss family planning, and our genre is ✨fantasy✨ after all. But I can only suspend my disbelief so far, and there are other ways to get around this, which a Matriarchal society would probably be clued in on.

💡 This quickly evolved to a daily at-a-glance once Kotallo made it to the Base:

This spreadsheet helped me IMMENSELY as I was writing chapters 13, 14, 16, 17, & 19! Basically any time Aloy & Kotallo are not in the same location. Knowing what Kotallo is doing at the Base while Aloy is off mid-adventure has been super important to make sure their Focus calls work and feel natural.

Likewise, knowing exactly what day Erend returns, and how long they have before Aloy gets back all helps with continuity and flow.

Other Things I'm Tracking:

💡Datapoints. The whole point of the GAIA Gang is that they're sorting through the data Aloy collected during the events of HZD. And since that was an absolute whirlwind year for Aloy, I'm thinking her files are a fucking shit show—and almost none of the people sorting through them even know how to read. 😵

So, I started by accumulating all the files by location. I am assuming they're probably geo-tagged—if not, they're at least assembled in order of pick-up, which would mean they're ordered by Aloy's general location at time-of-discovery anyway.

*I crossed them out as I moved them to the next spreadsheet tab...

From this hot mess, I figure that Zo, in her infinite wisdom, took one look at Aloy's files and went, "Oh hell no."

💡Here's the way I imagine Zo organized her playlists, much to Varl, Erend, & Kotallo's relief (Meanwhile, Alva re-filtered everything, and discovered entirely new metadata categories, obviously):

The most important detail here was time!! Most of these are like 1 minute long... but 1 minute in the game is like, 20 minutes IRL. So you've gotta figure the GAIA Gang is back at Base binge-watching an entire docu-series, while simultaneously learning how to read (and procrastinating with hours and hours of bodycam battle footage).

No wonder they're always busy when Aloy shows up!

💡 And yes, these are all tabs on a single spreadsheet:

💡 "Population" is literally just a mess of numbers & formulas as I try to figure out how we went from ~20 E-9 Cradle inhabitants to multiple tribes in the span of ~700 years.

I mean in 3041 we're prolly sitting at like... maybe ~15k in the U.S.?

*On second thought, that Oseram number is probably higher.

Anywayyyy, as fun as a blank page is, my brain really does work best on a grid. The process is totally intuitive, and I create the necessary docs as I go, the same as I would for any client or project. Sometimes, you need to explain things in a way so everyone is on the same page, and I find spreadsheets invaluable in that regard. (Y'all should see my wedding planning spreadsheet, lol.)

This whole process has helped me to find what works for me, and writing fanfic is truly preparing me to write my own original works. What I've discovered is that spreadsheets are part of my flowstate. They bring me a deep sense of peace and they help me to stay on track and oriented while I'm in the weeds.

🖤 Really, I want to come back to something I said in my second 'Process' post: Do what feels natural. Everyone is different. If being 'organized' steals your joy, don't do it. Stay messy! Whatever! Who cares? The most important part is that you find your flowstate.

I found this old Hindu saying while I was copywriting for a Chinese Medicine client, and it really stuck with me: "There are a hundred paths up the mountain, so it doesn't matter which path you take. The only one wasting time is the one who runs around and around the mountain telling everyone else that their path is wrong."

I'm just here documenting my own path up my mountain. And part of me thinks that it's all incredibly self-indulgent and cringe, but hey—when has blogging ever not been?

If you've read this far, I'm grateful. It's all a bit shouting-into-the-void out here, especially when you're this deep into a niche that moved on a while ago. But I've always loved a slowburn. (And if you do too, you might consider reading The Marshal.)

xo, Sheesh.

#hfw #horizon forbidden west #kotaloy #The Marshal #the making of #writing process #writing tools #writing advice

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heavensbeehall · 10 months ago

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"Catching Fire", Chapter 26

Part 3: The Enemy

Chapter 26: Our Alliance hikes to the Lightning Tree of Doom. Johanna and Katniss take off with the coil, but it's cut. Johanna hits Katniss, removes her tracker, and attempts totrick the Careers into following her. Brutus says Katniss is as good as dead. A cannon goes off (Chaff, killed by Brutus), making Katniss afraid for Peeta. She follows the wire back to the Lightning Tree only to find Beetee, injured, with Peeta's knife wrapped in wire. Peeta calls for Katniss. Katniss calls for Peeta, hoping to draw any attackers to her and the Lightning Tree. Enobaria and Finnick arrive. Katniss prepares to shoot them. Another cannon goes off (Brutus, killed by Peeta). But Katniss remembers Haymitch's advice to remember who the enemy is so she sends her arrow into the "chink" in the force field's armor. She is paralyzed by the lightning and can't reach Peeta or his pearl. (Sadface).

Thoughts:

-- I have been listening to bits of the audiobook while reading along and I have decided that I like Tatiana Maslany as Katniss better than Carolyn McCormick, the original narrator. McCormick sounds younger, but Maslany--even though I know her from other things--is more Katnissy in a way I can't describe. Anyway, just in case anyone is considering downloading either edition.

-- It's funny that Katniss is so convinced Peeta could convince anyone of anything, like he could charm the skin off the snake. Because I can't think of one instance when he convinced Katniss to do something she didn't want to?

-- If neither Brutus or Enobaria followed Johanna very far, then where the fuck is she during all of this?

Quotes:

The alliance is over. Finnick and Johanna must have had an agreement to turn on us tonight. I knew we should have left this morning

Katniss thinks Johanna tried to kill her but just didn't get the chance because Brutus and Enobaria showed up, which is silly. If she wanted to kill Katniss, she'd have hit her with an axe not the wire coil. Sometimes our girl is a bit slow.

There's a much deeper alliance based on years of friendship and who knows what else.

Wait does Katniss think Finnick and Johanna are fucking? Hilarious.

The boom of a cannon pulls me up short. Someone has died. I know that with everyone running around armed and scared right now, it could be anybody. But whoever it is, I believe the death will trigger a kind of free-for-all out here in the night. People will kill first and wonder about their motives later.

This is Chaff's death. As I've mentioned before I am very confused as to what he was up to. Did Peeta run in a different direction that Finnick? Because that seems dangerous. If Brutus was following Johanna, how did he come upon Chaff? Or was he helping Johanna and Peeta just happened to see it? I am vexed by the Chaff situation.

The moan must have been involuntary. [Beetee]'s not conscious, although I can see no wound except a gash below the crook of his elbow.

So Finnick cut out Beetee's tracker before he ran? Or did he do it himself?

[Beetee] and I will soon die. Finnick and Enobaria will die. Peeta is alive. Two cannons have sounded. Brutus, Johanna, Chaff. Two of them are already dead. That will leave Peeta with only one tribute to kill. And that is the very best I can do. One enemy.

Okay let's say things go as Katniss plans here. Do we think Peeta could take Johanna? I know he's bigger than her, but I am leaning towards no if she has an axe to throw, but I am not sure she does at this point.

I have always known who the enemy is. Who starves and tortures and kills us in the arena. Who will soon kill everyone I love. My bow drops as his meaning registers. Yes, I know who the enemy is. And it's not Enobaria.

I really like this bit. In the movie it is just Finnick. But there is something about the fact that Enobaria was not part of the alliance at any time which makes me think of Cato's death, and even Coral in the latest movie. The Careers might seem evil to the outlying districts, but this is another deception on the Capitol's part, it keeps them fighting one another instead of the Capitol.

#catching fire #catching fire audiobook #audiobook #beetee latier #finnick odair #johanna mason #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #tatiana maslany #carolyn mccormick #chaff

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thetinylittlespider · 1 year ago

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Tearing Up: Season 1

Chapter 2: Family reunion.

CW: Blood, Brutal execution (Small amount of gore), slight body horror, violence, and mature language, dehumanization.

KU-M9's POV:

The white lights that casted their power over me were blinding, It was hard for me to focus my vision, to regulate it to this intensity of brightness. But my nose and ears gave me a teaser of what was happening in my surroundings.

It was natural, something that kicked inside my brain, a call of something familiar, but that never reached to my knowledge before. This wasn't something I was taught. I wasn't aware that I could even do it in the first place, but there I was, feeling...sensing, others like myself, creatures who also grew inside this laboratory, others that shared blood with me. And all I could understand was how angry and hungry they were...

The only thing dividing us, the only thing that was avoiding every "sibling" to look at each other was a wall of thin metal that originated from little straight gaps in the floor, creating a personal squared space for each of us, imprisoning everyone. A smaller containment space than before, I wasn't expecting anything good to come out of this. Specially when they gave us a crystal clear ceiling to look up at the science team, and whoever was close to the space they put us into.

But before I could even start to worry, something happened, more people were coming in. The 3 scientist that I was used to see around were now greeting a visit. The leader seemed to be the woman who took me out of my "room". She was the one who gave a warm welcome to the visits, introduced everyone, but their names are something I never cared about, not that I ever had something to tell them.

"It was time you recognized the investment I've made for you all, It is unbelievable how much time you took, the riots outside are going to be the end of me, and this force of soldiers is everything I need right now!".

Woow, that voice...Sound so juvenile, but at that tone, demanding things as soon as he spoke, with that emotion on it, I hated it. It was the first human who's voice I actually minded but not for the best of reasons.

I looked up at the crystal ceiling, until the owner of that demanding voice showed up. In his black suit, towering above the containment and giving a look at us, the products. There was no gestures to recognize, a white mask covered his face, but it was easy to tell for me when someone had their eyes on me. It was him, the great leader of the world outside this lab, the one who represented hope, the path of light.

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses of how or why you took so long, skip to the point and let's get this over with". He finished his sentence crossing his arms, while what it seemed to be his security guards started repeating his movements.

Funny, for a brief moment it felt nice to have someone talk to my "creators" the same way they used to talk to me while I was trapped in an electric chair, or when I was close to drowning in a water container...Like a lost cause.

"W-Well, sir, as you ordered, we tried to make a serum to create the perfect soldiers you are looking for...But the steroids and some components didn't work in our selected candidates. We couldn't give a human that power". The lead scientist started her speech, she seemed nervous. But what got my attention was the mention of older experiments, with procedures that I never experienced. They must have tried something before creating me and the others.

"So, we tried to create something new, not a human but with the base DNA of one...We started playing with some genes, and we found out that we could give this new being the compacted abilities and partial physiology of an arachnid. You wanted trackers, hunters, experts on capture with the ability to infiltrate and fight the resistance, not an army, but agents of pure focus on their prey. Sneaky to avoid uncalled eyes of the population, they won't even know this creatures exist" She said proud, with a nervous smile... but I, even in this enclosure, could feel the vibration from her heart, like a distant earthquake from how much it rushed.

"Of course we had to gather all species of arachnids to see how fitting their abilities would be, how we could recreate their DNA...we calculated the strength, tactics, physique, their venom, the silk of their webs, the durability, everything! And so we created new entities, 10 generations of changes, upgrades, tests...Some could keep their human features almost intact, others have some noticeable body variations, but hehehe...N-Nothing that can't be put behind a mask and a suit!". She said body variations, I was not that aware of my body...But I never seem to freak out anybody, I had fangs, I could feel them inside my mouth but they were part of my set of teeth, nothing abnormal...Or so I hoped, after all, I did not developed all my abilities yet. Why was I here then? they are talking like if they had a finished set of experiments.

"What used do they have to me at that size? You can step on them and the whole operation is down." The man in black replied in a completely annoyed tone of voice. To be fair, he provided a valid point. I wasn't even a rival to the force of a thumb pressing over my head, all my fights back in the past while I tried to escape proved useless, they just picked me up with ease and put me in my room as if nothing had happened.

"Nothing to worry about, sir! They are pretty durable at that size, enough to be stepped on by accident and live to fight another day, we have tested that! But also, in their development, they all have a shared gene that allows them to grow to human size! Although most of their abilities are woken up by adrenaline and survival instincts, the growing gene is only activated by a vaccine we have made, taking their abilities proportionally to their new size!". She then showed up 2 small, nearly unnoticeable flasks in between her fingers, those seemed to be the vaccines. But I wondered...Why are there only 2 of those? Would they work on me? I am as a fact....defective. I don't have my whole set of abilities working up just yet. It didn't make any sense for them to just have 2 of those when having 10 of us.

After she put those flasks at one side, in a metal desk, a constant impact on the side of my enclosure started to call my attention. One of my many relatives started hitting the walls that divided us, I was so absorbed into the conversation that I forgot...We were all starving, some were shouting out their anger to be released. I tried to stay at the center in between those walls, tried to focus on something else, but right now it was impossible, I lost track of what the humans above were talking about...And everything I could hear next was.

"The best of them will be the one who survives the fight...We will clean up memories, set up obedience and provide the vaccine...They all heal, so we wont have to provide medical attention to the one that's left." Said the scientists, excited, nervous, looking at me knowing well that I was defective, I was not like the rest...I was weak. What was I supposed to do? Was I meant to fight? Surely there was something I forgot to hear. This can't be the last test for me! It was not fair! They were going to kill me!

Before I could even speak, try to communicate with these humans...these beings...The metal walls fell down the thin gaps in the ground, now I could see them, and they could see me. My siblings, bothers and sisters. With eyes fuelled with fury, hunger, bloodlust.

My heart started rushing like crazy, my legs were shaking, producing a slight pain that I could not tolerate, I wanted to fall down already, my chest could not handle my agitated breathing, opening some wounds from days before, making my blood come out in small proportions. I was a mess.

Some of my brothers had what I now understood as body variations, one of them had his jaw divided in 4 sections, with a full set of sharp teeth, dripping saliva at the sight of others. One of my sisters had 8 eyes crossing her whole face, and hands big enough to crush my head in between them. Another one had a big bone claw coming out of his wrist, bleeding all over the floor while that thing was coming out.

And the carnage began...

The once white floor was now full of blood, most of my brothers didn't hesitate to start attacking, not even one of them tried to avoid the conflict, they all knew that if we didn't kill each other, not even one was coming out alive. I tried to run, being my objective a corner in the "arena" we were placed to fight, my movement was sloppy due to how damaged my legs were, my balance was off, my arms felt numb. After all, I started receiving some strong hits from my kind, my ribs shattered, my lungs failing to keep the air, a brand new deep cut in my shoulder, but I never engaged, the moments they landed a cut, a hit, another one came to interrupt them, to try and kill them...it encouraged me to keep running, crawling, whatever movement it took for me to stay away from the danger, away from the pool of blood and guts. All this happening under the eyes of the humans, who watched every bit of the fight, not caring...But I felt something, in the middle of my panic, intense breathing, fast heartbeats. I was being observed.

It was a scientist? What was it? Besides the fact that I was cowering in fear, trying to hide in a corner. Why would I bring up any attention?

Again, the humans caught my focus, and when I came back to my senses, back to the reality I was facing, I could see right in front of me, my last older brother, stretching his arm at me, hissing, not sure if he tried to kill me, or was asking for me to save him...He was being choked to death by my last older sister, she used her webs around his neck, holding him, placing her foot on his back so he couldn't stand up, increasing the force on her arm. I was frozen in place, watching in horror how the lack of oxygen was killing him slowly. His face turned red, then purple...his eyes started bleeding, and everything ended with a loud "crack" before his head fell lifeless to the floor.

"Hm..." It was the only noise that my sister released at the look of me. Not anger, not hunger, not dissapointment. But it made my heart go all the way up to my throat.

Her once orange uniform was now red all over, her face, her hands, she was the strongest out of us all, she managed to survive all the battle...And it was curious.

She was like me, at least in the physical features, she didn't had any claws, nor a four-side opened jaw, no extra limbs, her eyes looked as human as I thought mine looked. Her wounds started to heal slowly while she licked over the blood that fell in her lips. Staring at me, approaching slowly, making me crawl against the wall of that arena, with no place to escape. I was the last one left to kill. But she didn't. Was she playing with her prey? Giving me a sense of hope to take it away the moment I felt calm?

She was 1 inch taller than me, it was common that due to our genetics females standed taller than males, also, her strenght was superior, so...Why was I still here?

She bend on her knees to have better eye contact with me, and after a couple of seconds, she gave me a little smile with lips closed, moving her index finger to her mouth, trying to tell me that I had to remain in silence. But why?

The answer to that was a hit on the neck with her open palm, enough force to knock me to the floor, but in my fear, in my shock. I didn't even resist. I stayed there, as quiet and still as a corpse.

The crystal ceiling opened, the humans seemed to not notice that I was alive, they tought she was done, that she was the only one left. And proud laughs could be heard from everyone in the room.

"Seems that we have the one!" Said the man in white mask, with a tone that was more optimistic than before, he was amused by the results.

The scientist were excited, like if they expected those words out of the man for a long time.

"Now, to finish this and move to the next step...We are going to take her t-" The words of the lead scientist were interrupted.

The lights went off, and the intense white brightness of the laboratory was replaced by an intermittent low red bright. An alarm in the walls filled the whole place with noise, and a gunshot followed soon...deafening my ears for a while.

#g/t #fight #monster #laboratory #please give me feedback #baby now is scared #what happened?

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