#to die victorious

[p4ngilz]

★ tdv: chapter 25

after everyone gains the strength to get up, eat, and shower, they get moving, all patched up and with food in their stomachs. they review what they know, try to form a plan. everyone is on edge and even though sami is their most valuable asset right now no one can look him in the eye. the room is too still without elize. 

when they get to the place he talked about, they almost leave him right then and there, because the old amphitheatre overgrown and shut off from the main roads does have hidden rooms, but they're all empty and strewn with broken glass, ropes, and leaves. they're crushed when they realize it looks like no one has been here for a long time. 

right as they're all about to break down into sobs, arden finds a trace of activity. a piece of paper that was probably left behind in a rush since it was deemed unimportant. but what matters was that there was a keyword (dimethyl kethane) on it that sami recognized, and he was sure it was alfonso's writing as well.

arden uncovers a passageway, it's a tunnel that they assume leads to the lab. sami volunteers to go to it and see where it leads. no one objects. 

sure enough, he's at the lab. he's almost seen by creatures, though, so the rest of them follow him and pull him out of the canal. there they make a plan.

DISCLAIMER THIS IS SO STUPID I THINK.... BUT I JUST WANNA GET IT OVER W HELP 

1. dimethyl kethane is what's in the creatures' blood. it's the clear stuff that doesn't mix with their blood, it's their fuel and sustains their life. confirmed by sami and the paper that they found earlier. they had also heard of tanks earlier, so the plan was to shatter the tanks where the substance was being created, seal doors and set the room on fire so it would evaporate quickly. that's why creatures disintegrate; dimethyl evaporates quickly so as does their bodies. 

2. mia goes to climb a tree, millard goes to spy on things. they say the tanks have latches and tubes connecting to each other, but they worry about them being too many.

3. the kids soak ropes in gas and millard goes and attaches them to the tanks. they anticipate for someone to make a distraction later by pushing something off a ledge, and then someone lights the ropes which are connected to one rope so it's easier yk. all of this should be done when the doors are sealed

4. millard is supposed to seize alfonso and the rest are on standby. 

in short, the plan is to lock the doors, pull open the latches (theres a small crack for the ropes) and then burn everything.

renren joins millard and sami to see if there's anything more to see. while the rest are off, however, alfonso catches them, corners them, and goes into his little villain monologue which turns horrifying when the three boys mentioned earlier shows up because he turns to sami, changes his face to match his, and then tells sami that he started out on a group of 7 people as well. he mocks sami, asking if he notices anything familiar. 

diana interrupts and mentions the things they saw at his fake lab and things they've figured out, claiming that they're not stupid but she gave them all away, so the scientist goes "oh now i really have to kill you all" and something worse.

beatrice and millard defend them saying not to threaten their children like that but alfonso grabs beatrice and says "this here is a traitor, did you know that?" and even jeers at her, showing the corpse of ophelia, the girl from the beginning who was supposed to locate the lab. she was alfonso's spy. now she bears no use to him, so he has her killed and had taken her suul (peculiar soul) to use in his experiments.

renren pounces on alfonso, he releases a horde of creatures and a new attack breaks out, distracting the kids again and forcing them to fight for their lives. 

arden and mia find the control room. they shut the doors to the room with the tanks and shout that everything is ready. 

tdv; part one; part two; previous ch;

[dirt-goth]

As much as I want to be a wholly joyous about the fact that Henry Kissinger is finally fucking dead, as he deserves... There's a lot of me that can't help being upset with. With the fact that he lived to 100 years old. He got better medical care, better housing, and a better, more stable life for those 100 years than billions on this planet ever going to see and he did it specifically through exploitation, state sanctioned murder, and lies. He lived to 100 years comfortably on a legacy of violence that rarely threatened his personal comfort. I want to be joyous that he's finally dead, because the world IS better with him dead, but the reality is he won a long time ago.

[carebeardean]

Charles has always left Edwin little notes slipped between the pages of his favorite books, in his science equipment, places he knows Edwin loves. Just silly things—post its that say “hi Edwin :)”. doodles of Edwin with his nose stuck in a book. reminders to stock up on wolfsbane. but.

Then, post canon, Edwin tentatively starts dating people. And it’s ridiculous, because Edwin’s right there, all the time, but Charles..misses him a bit. And his heads a mess, and he can’t sort out what the hell he’s feeling most of the time, and whenever he tries to say any of it out loud it comes out rubbish.

So. He writes down some of the shit he can’t say right, and because he’s a coward, hides them so he doesn’t have to see Edwin’s face when he reads them.

then Edwin starts writing back.

Neat lilac blue little envelopes appear in Charles coat pockets. In his bag. Once, in his shoe? Some nights, Edwin will clear his throat and mention something from a letter, offhand, like they’re just picking up conversation, and Charles can pretend they are. That they always have talked about the basement, the belt, the nameless fear that chokes him every time Edwin walks out the door with someone else on his arm.

Sometimes he can’t. The words get stuck in his throat. Edwin’s not mad, he’s maddeningly, stubbornly kind about it, which is worse.

Some nights they trade. A secret for a secret. Charles learns about the novels Edwin used to hide under his mattress, about all the lonely years before Charles got there. About Simon.

Meanwhile, Edwin is losing his mind, because Charles has accidentally stumbled onto what was a fucking courting ritual in his time. Love letters were something engaged couples treasured for years, kept and reread over and over. (Edwin does. keep them in a special box, will take one out and trace the words, tuck it in his breast pocket for courage).

Edwin would rather have to reattach a limb again than lose Charles trust, all the dark and beautiful things he shares with Edwin only. He knows—knows Charles doesn’t mean to make him fall more in love with him.

[lorebird]

Sacrifices and parallels

[introspectivememories]

been watching mashle and oh my god, the eugenics???? the way lance's parents were so ready to give up their daughter??? no second thought???? just "why did this child have to be born to us?"???? um everyone talking in mash's face about how non-magic people are inherently worthless???? the triple line dude fucking making dolls out of people and somehow no one??? is??? checking him???? and then when questioned immediately jumping into "well humans are little more than mindless beasts and i will become a creator deity and reshape the world in my liking!"????? the, um, corruption in the government??? the way this story is so clearly "h*rry p*tter if it was actually funny"??? the slytherin coded characters are blood purists???? they took out hufflepuff??? one of the magia lupus' mage's powerset was just big shuriken???? another one is rip off kisame???? lance is a siscon and the first thing mash says is "that doesn't make it better"???? lemon is genuinely so fuckin funny??? dot is incel-coded but like in a funny way??? dot says that lance is playing life on "easy mode" cause lance has a good face??? dot likes tea??? dot has good manners??? everybody only has one spell they can use??? finn ames is like if you transported is regular human into this stupid ass world??? i think the old man and the cop have explored each others bodies.

[higgsbison]

A thing I've really grown to appreciate when writing Discworld stuff, is how the style's designed for you to mash together a random shower thought, a cool fact you know and the most obnoxious pun you could think of, and then just plop it straight into the middle of whatever actual plot you're going thru AND you also get to call it worldbuilding.

[theofficialpresidentofmars]

started watching Death Note yesterday and have come to the conclusion that if Hamlet had access to a death note, literally nothing in the play would change or happen differently in the slightest

[beatcroc]

what kind of frivolity would you engage in, mecha?

<

---

[gingermintpepper]

One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that something has to be sad for it to be tragic.

I've always been a big believer of the 'Apollo has an awful love life'/'Apollo is plain unlucky with love' line of thinking but it does bother me that the general reasoning for that statement is given to the concept of 'Apollo is somehow undesireable and thus rejected' (Cassandra/Daphne/Marpessa) or 'his lovers die young and thus their love is unfulfilled' (Cyparissus/Hyacinthus/Coronis). I personally think that's a very unfortunate way of looking at things - not only because it neglects the many perfectly cordial entanglements and affairs Apollo has had, both mortal and divine - but because it presents a very shallow interpretation of the concepts of love and loss and how loss affects people.

Apollo can still grieve lovers that have a long, healthy life. The inherent tragedy of an immortal who knows his lovers and children will die and cannot stop it does not stop being tragic simply because those lovers and children live long, fulfilled lives. The inherent tragedy of loss does not stop being tragic simply because someone knows better than to mourn something that was always going to end.

What is tragic is not that Apollo loves and loses but that loss itself follows him. Apollo does not love with the distance of an immortal, he does not have affairs and then leaves never to listen to their prayers again. He does not have offspring and then abandon them to their trials only to appear when it is time to lead them to their destinies. He raises his young, he protects the mothers of his children, he blesses the households that have his favour and multiplies their flocks that they may never go hungry. He educates his sons, he adorns his daughters and even in wrath he is quick to come to his senses and regret the punishments he doles out.

Apollo loves. And like mortals, there will always be some part of him that wishes to protect the objects of his affections. Apollo, however, is also an emissary of Fate. He knows that the fate of all mortal things is death. He knows that to love a mortal is to accept that eventually he will have to bury them. There is no illusion of forever, there is no fantasy where he fights against the nature of living things and shields his beloveds from death. Apollo loves and because of that love, he also accepts.

And that, while beautiful, is also tragic.

[domokunrainbowkinz]

"wow I can't believe pacat had the balls to make laurent so unlikeable in book 1" TO YOU. I liked him since day 1 he was a snake and a bitch and he was terrible to damen and I loved him for that

[bird-inacage]

GMMTV School Rangers Ep32 | Firstkhao Focus (My Name Is)

[p4ngilz]

★ tdv: chapter 24

when they get far enough, they stop somewhere along the side of the road. diana throws up. the rest are either unresponsive or crying. millard and beatrice interrogate sami, trying to get him to calm down as well. he tells them he doesn't know where the actual lab is, only where files are kept. it's in san fernando, la union. tomaszewski has been using not only animals, but peculiars for his experiments. even he himself was used, even if he wasn't a peculiar. that's why he walks with a limp. 

in the lab, there's a substance that the creatures are fed, a substance that is basically their life source. that is what they are targeting now. 

beatrice tells the kids to get some rest, if they can. she can't, not at all.

aerron is on edge. he has a horrible feeling about all of this. he lashes out at diana when she tries to talk to him, and she screams back. they end up fighting like little kids, and it takes a lot of crying before they can be separated. elize meant a lot to both of them. 

to make matters worse, aerron and philip manage to pry it out of sami that he had a deal with beatrice—both beatrice and he had been leading the group via tomaszewski's plans like lambs to the slaughter.

tdv; part one; part two; previous ch; next ch

[musical-chick-13]

This is the only thing I'm going to say about the election until it's over:

Anyone who did not vote for Harris or who attempted to dissuade people from voting for Harris, you are indirectly responsible for whatever shit Donald Trump does if he gets elected. That blood is primarily on his hands, yes. But it is also on yours. I hope you can live with that because I sure as hell wouldn't be able to.

[2dieavirgin]

rip princess gone too soon

[wild-saber1337]

RIDE THE BIKE THEY SAID YOU'LL BE FINE THEY SAID

I would die the first ten feet of this course 0_0'

[hauntingsunshine14]

summer olympics 2028 in a universe with no exy we have:

star gymnast neil josten

heavyweight champion andrew minyard

tennis pro kevin day

rugby goddess allison reynolds

d pole laxer matt boyd

marathon swimmer renee walker

volleyball libero aaron minyard

hockey forward dan wilds

synchronized diver nicky hemmick