#csi related

[ilkkawhat]

[inquisimer]

3 for Marisol and 17 for any OC you of your choice ✿

thank you for the questions flowers 💜💜

Questions About Creating Your OCs

3. How did you choose their name?

Okay, time to reveal a piece of media that I have spent so much time on but almost never talk about, bc it's more of a guilty pleasure indulgence than a fandom I actively participate in... Marisol is named after Marisol Delko-Caine, from CSI: Miami 😂😂 I did consider some other names, but her relationships (and fate) in that show always gmfu, and I really love the way the name sounds when spoken out loud. And the way that Horatio & Eric say "Mari" is SO soft, and is 100% the way Teia says it to my Marisol entirely influenced by that.

17. Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

Generally speaking, nope! If there's something I don't like about my OCs or their arc, I just change it - it's my house, I do what I want (: Most recent example is that as I was doing Evanthia's playthrough, I wanted to finally play the "trick Solas" ending. Except when I got there, it didn't fit Vanthi's character/attitude at ALL, she had to have the forgive/reconcile Solavellan ending, it was the only one that made sense. I previously played that ending with Arlow, but hers was definitely flexible in a way Vanthi wasn't. So now she has the trick Solas ending, and someone in Vanthi's worldstate gets their happily ever after.

[stagefrightallnight]

i thought this was funny (and by funny i mean so relatable that i almost cried)

[lilcathsmith]

Greg in every episode of CSI (53/328) • Random Acts Of Violence •

[mtvboy]

Never getting over Sara mentoring Greg

[jencsi]

Thoughts on the 10th Anniversary of CSI's final (real) episode The End Game which aired 2-15-25....

I have spent a large portion of my life maladaptive daydreaming, getting lost in the CSI sauce if you will, about this entire series but hyperfixating on this specific timeline (2012-2015) featuring the iconic, the ride or die (literally she did, but didn't iykyk) Julie Finlay. If I am going to be remembered for one thing in my mediocre life, it's going to be my obsession devotion to her character and the injustice that was her ending. Has much changed in 10 years? Globally yes. Personally. No. I still work the same job, still live in the same place, still pine for the same things, still watch and re-watch the same stuff, but that's okay. I have made good friends and acquaintances here and elsewhere due to the show and the characters.

If it was still airing, it would be on season 25 which it rightfully deserved to go that distance but was sadly taken out too soon. (Don't even get me started on that wreck of a movie that aired in September that year, gag)

But the constant that remains is always going to be this piece of media that I carry with me like some unhealable wound. I will always write for it, make edits for it, think about it, wish for it to be back, engage with others about it, and overall do what I can to keep it alive. Sounds crazy right? Well if it didn't sound crazy to you, you've found the right place to call home.

[bonniehooper]

Top Picks of 2024

My Top 10 New Favorite Actors - #6: Sung Kang

Introduction to Him: Fast and Furious Franchise

[eyes-above--the-waves]

On this episode of, "Jessica watches the CSI franchise 20 years too late":

I'm very torn between wanting to spoil myself for CSI NY so I can know when/how Danny and Lindsay get together (and also make sure nothing dreadful happens because I have CSI-related trust issues), and also making myself wait because they're so freaking cute that I want to be surprised.

I only really know that there's a romance between them but I don't know anything other than that, which is rare for me.

[angieflynns]

I think it's hilarious when actors play characters in multiple TV series that are meant to take place in the same universe (to the point that the shows have done crossovers) but their characters are also extremely different.

Like for instance, in CSI: Miami David plays a really weird serial killer with a sun allergy but in CSI he's an actual honest to god good guy one episode character who works with the K-9 unit. I mean obviously even if we just ignore the pretend it isn't the same actor thing, it obviously can't be the same guy because Sergeant Varanski is very clearly out in the sun for one of his scenes and not breaking out in a skin allergy but like if Horatio Caine came to Las Vegas to get help on a case and they had to involve the K-9 unit would he do a double take when he saw him or would he just automatically know it isn't Nicholas Pike escaped from a Florida prison?

[firefighterkinard]

Gil Grissom realises that you're trans and makes a comment about how evolution probably messed up by not giving us the ability to switch between genders at will.

sherlock holmes deduces you are trans before you've figured it out yourself and refers to you with those pronouns and then when you look confused is like "ah...had you not arrived at that conclusion yet?" and wafts away in his dressing gown to smoke seventeen pipes, leaving you in a gender crisis

[wherepond]

Ivan Watson China's rare earth monopoly

CNN's Ivan Watson reports.

China controls 92% of the global refinement output of rare earth elements, which are used to power everything from iPhones to electric vehicles. China’s near-monopoly has become one of its most potent tools in a renewed trade war with the United States.

Back to Contents

More from wherepond ☆  x.com/wherepond ☆  wherepond.bsky.social ☆  gab.com/wherepond ☆  t.me/wherepond ☆  tumblr.com/wherepond

[ilkkawhat]

✅ and 🔚!!

list one or two favorite lines you’ve written and explain why they’re your favorite

But this is a private graveyard, and the only ghost that haunts it is him.

It's a line I think I came up with during some answer or other meta I was writing about Nick Stokes once, referencing him revisiting the site where he was buried alive, so that line implying and I mean the show even kinda made a few references to it, ("do you believe in past lives?" and later "I'm already eight lives down if you know what I mean") that Nick, or at least a part of him, died in that box and what came out is him, but...different, and the line has always struck me as a bit...poetic, I guess?

I do have it written as a line for the second part of all we ever knew, if I ever finish it

have you ever completely changed the direction a piece was going?

yeah, there's definitely some twists either that I've come up with or were suggested to me in the writing of the fic (which is partially why I love doing chapter fics cause the engagement with the audience can change it for the better,) biggest example is Last Breath in which I legit was just gonna have it be idk a few chapters, rescue, happy ending and then somehow Nick got put into a coma and had amnesia when he woke up so it was definitely not planned from the start but I think made the fic better for it. I've had a few other fics that I feel like I start with one vision and over time it just changes into something else.

[blogger360ncislarules]

Been watching a lot of CSI NY the past few months, and I cannot get over how incredible the main couple is!

Cute, married, have a child, and there's no ridiculous-long-dragged- out melodrama between them!

Like, who even knew that was even possible in a cop show?! 😮😮

[olderthannetfic]

So, you mentioned low standards of research in podcasts. I don't listen to podcasts or watch a lot of videos about fandom analysis, but I have seen error corrections happening in the wild for what I have listened to, so I can only imagine how annoying it is when you know your shit.

Do you have any resources that come to mind as things everyone who likes fandom should be comfortable with, or specific essays on uniquely important fandoms (such as Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek) that everyone should read? Obviously the OTW resources are up there; what else?

Aside from resources, do you think there are any skills that are especially vital for getting to the bottom of fandom trends? Interview skills are probably pretty high up there.

Any pitfalls you see a lot of young fans falling into?

(I do a lot of fandom history research. It is the thing that gives me joy in fandom; other people like shipping or AUs, I like my little mini-anthropology sandbox and watching how ideas spread. I'm not necessarily good at it, but it's fun!)

--

Well... it's the usual things.

For example, a lot of fans claim to love fandom stats, but the ones that get passed around come from like three people. The people doing those stats, including me, don't usually have a statistics background, which doesn't automatically make them bad, but it really seems like people are just trusting anything with a pie chart.

We've recently seen people discover that those year-end AO3 ship stats have a seriously weird methodology. They don't show the thing their fans are actually trying to find out. People were pissed. But most of the time, they don't even bother asking what the methodology is or trying to do anything themselves.

There's far too much sitting back and waiting for some BNF to spoon feed one publicly-available information.

--

The big failings aren't usually the math itself but, of course, not knowing what question to ask, so it pertains to history research, not just stats.

You'll see a lot of stuff on shipping that looks at AO3 because AO3 shipping numbers are easy to pull... But AO3 shipping numbers don't just happen to be easy to pull: that is both an effect and a cause that is directly related to AO3's content. Someone interested in meta shouldn't be asking "What do AO3's numbers show?" as their first question. They should be asking "Why is this metadata available or not available and what does that mean on a sociological level?"

--

Thing two is the eternal I Have Apparently Never Heard of Anime problem. A fuckton of people theorizing about fandom trends seem to know fucking nothing about whole massive sectors of fandom or treat them as afterthoughts. This is okay if you're writing a history of Media Fandom. It is criminally stupid if you're trying to talk about what makes a piece of media have fic when another doesn't, what kinds of websites make fandoms take off, etc. Those kinds of broad questions need a broad understanding of what's out there.

It's not anime-specific, and I'm not asking for a high degree of knowledge.

I have routinely had people tell me that best friend ships and mystery/crime as a genre aren't popular, and that's why AO3 has this or that pattern... Meanwhile, buddy cops are the bedrock of oldschool slash fandom and make up basically all of the longest-running Western m/m fandoms that aren't Star Trek. CSI slop tends to have legions of future canon het shippers, and they make plenty of fanworks. It's just that some of this is more visible on FFN or older places, not AO3.

I'm always seeing things like someone speculating about how this and that anime fandom thing or bit of mid-00s FFN community drama led to this other thing on AO3, not realizing that AO3 came out of LJ Western fandom slash culture. To them, FFN is so central that it must be the main reference point, not the bajillion and one archives AO3 founders ran or Usenet or mailing lists or LJ.

I once saw someone asking on twitter about where a prominent Ranma fic might have been posted in the mid-90s. People claiming "My professor is an authority!" came out of the woodwork in droves to blither about K/S zines and then LJ. Not only was this entirely wrong, but the right answer was blindingly obvious if you knew enough to interpret the google results. I can only assume that the person tweeting had never heard of Usenet and didn't recognize the acronym for the big anime fanfic group that literally everything like this was first posted to.

I'm talking people insisting that fandom only goes for white characters when it's very obvious that fandom goes for majority leads who are not othered. All the bawwing in the world about "People assume anime characters are white" won't get rid of The Untamed or Kpop thirsters or whatever.

I'm talking sweeping pronouncements about gender and fanfic writers where the person hasn't even heard of FIMFiction or SpaceBattles or Dark Lord Potter cheesefests.

I've been in fandom for a long time, but I wasn't in all these parts, and I wasn't around for 80s zines. You don't need deep knowledge until you pick a research topic. But it's shocking how little shallow, broad knowledge a lot of people have when they're writing their Theory Of All Of Fandom History.

--

People are stupid as shit about survivorship bias, and fandom history is no exception. They're also dumb in the opposite direction, assuming that the thing they like now has always existed in this exact form.

For example, someone got mad at Fanlore for supposedly not documenting the history of f/f zines. Others have searched and searched for the zines of their old show they got into last year and are bewildered to not find any. The reality is that Fanlore editors are attempting to document every Media Fandom zine and have combed through old adzines looking for any mention of anything. Because of the methods of distribution—because it was expensive—small fandoms often had no zines at all.

Femslash fandom doesn't seem to have gotten enough critical mass to do much until Xena. The internet has really democratized things, but even the early internet was still somewhat in that old mindset where only certain popular things have a fandom. I think Yuletide itself, which started in 2003, really helped spread the idea of rare-but-existing fandoms being a thing. FFN and perhaps some other multifandom archives like Media Miner played a huge role.

Nowadays, we think of fic as just how you respond to media, any media, even if there are only two fics for that one car commercial, but that isn't how people saw things in every era—or at least it's not how fandom infrastructure worked. A lot of the time, the big hosting spots were single-fandom archives, often with restrictive content rules. Finding somewhere to post a m/m/f OT3 fic used to be hard. Never mind early zines when photocopiers didn't even exist yet and you had to sell out your print run of 500 to make a go of it.

All good research starts with a lot of preliminary investigation to figure out what you're even trying to look for.

Actually bothering to look for fans talking about their own history or casually chatting with your interview subjects before the formal interview will put a person miles ahead of many of the cringeworthy fandom ~papers~ I've seen.

The biggest mistake people make is going "Okay, these numbers aren't perfect, but some numbers are better than no numbers".

Bullshit.

As soon as there's a pie chart of the false numbers, everyone's brain turns off and they never look at the chart subtitle, never mind the research notes.

Bad numbers are often worse than no numbers.

Look at the logic behind the methodology first. Look at the social context. Basic understanding of human nature and familiarizing oneself with the shape and hangout locations of a community will get you most of the way there before you sit down for a specific interview or try to collect any specific numbers.

--

None of this is a fandom thing. Research is research. It's just that most people think "research" means watching a tiktok that the algorithm likes and were never taught how to evaluate a source for reliability.

Evaluating sources is a skill. I had explicit lessons on it in school. Lots of people don't, and that sucks.

Honestly, watching the more thoughtful debunking content on non-fandom topics, like Miniminuteman's stuff on pseudo-archaeology or Dan Olson's... everything, is a good window into critical thinking, and that's most of what's missing from bad fandom history.

--

But more than any of that, more is more. Not the crap stats, but the narrower, more personal accounts, the interviews. The more fans who investigate their little corner that isn't the same old AO3 site-wide "Why is there so much m/m?" ship stats or the same canned "Everything comes from K/S" history, the better.

What I object to is not amateur efforts but efforts that pull from the same small pool of data or that just reblog a tiny handful of supposed authorities.

--

If people are going to read just one thing... hmm... go try to look up a history of rec.arts.anime.creative, not because I think it's the most important fandom history out there but because it's at the nexus of things a lot of current fandom history work miss.

[jencsi]

On todays episode of first world problems- you would think that it wouldn't be difficult to find a gif I've made in either 2020, 2021 or 2022, in my saved folders or at least tagged somewhere here in my archive, but I have spent an insane amount of time looking for a gif of a singular rolling orange marble. For science purposes.

[nevadancitizen]

-> CH. 9: IF YOU CHOP FROM THE SHOULDER, THE AX WILL FIND YOUR HIP

synopsis: you, hank, and connor find yourselves in stratford tower. connor gets traumatized – twice. and you come to his rescue – again, twice.

word count: 2.9k

ships: Connor/Reader, Hank Anderson & Reader

notes: finally a whole chapter that's just one scene. be proud of me

HoFS taglist: @catladyhere , @foggy0trees0 , @princessofenkanomiya (if you'd like to be added to the taglist, just ask!)

HEAD OF FALSE SECURITY MASTERLIST

The elevator would be dead silent if it wasn’t for Connor flicking a quarter between his fingers. You watch out of the corner of your eye as it practically dances across his fingertips, the metal glinting in the harsh, fluorescent light. He flicks it to his other hand, catching it in between the first knuckles of his first two fingers and –

Hank snatches it from him. “You’re startin’ to piss me off with that coin, Connor.”

Connor looks at Hank’s hand, then at the silver elevator doors. “Sorry, Lieutenant.”

You’d laugh and give Connor another quarter to fidget with, but considering the conversation that occurred this morning? You’re not willing to extend that olive branch. You didn’t survive as a Soviet in America by being a goddamn doormat.

The elevator dings and an automated voice rings out. “79th floor.”

As soon as you step out, you clock the amount of CSI agents loitering around. You’re sort of used to them by now, but their coveralls and masks still unnerve you a bit. 

“Hey, Hank,” Chris says. “Officer.”

“Shit, what’s goin’ on here?” Hank looks around. “There was a party and nobody told me about it?”

“Yeah. It’s all over the news, so everybody’s butting their nose in.” Chris sighs and nods towards the door at the end of the hall. “Even the FBI wants a piece of the action.”

“Ah, Christ, now we got the Feds on our back,” Hank groans. “I knew this was gonna be a shitty day.”

“If I wanted to be looked at and talked to like I don’t know English, I would’ve gone back to some Citizenship and Immigration Services building,” you mumble. Hank lets out a laugh mixed with grumbles of agreement.

He turns to Chris. “So what do we got?”

“A group of four androids.” Chris starts walking, and you and Hank follow beside him. You can hear Connor’s footsteps behind you, but you don’t turn to look. “They knew the building, and they were well organized. I’m still trying to figure out how they got this far without being noticed.”

“You check the roof?” Hank asks. 

“Not yet,” Chris says. “They attacked two guards in the hallway. They probably thought the androids were coming to do maintenance. They got taken down before they could react.”

You stop by the desk and look over it. There isn’t anything out of place. Your eyebrows furrow and you continue following Chris into the broadcast room. 

“One of the station employees managed to get away.” Chris glances back at you and Hank. “He’s in shock. Not sure when we’ll be able to talk to him.”

You look over at the wall, which has a paused video of an android. His skin is peeled back, and there’s no defining features besides his mismatched eyes.

“Oh, Officer, Lieutenant,” Chris says. “This is Special Agent Perkins from the FBI. Perkins, Lieutenant Anderson is in charge of investigating for Detroit Police. He’s been paired with a cybersecurity officer to provide a unique perspective on android-related cases.” He gestures at you.

Perkins doesn’t even look at you. Instead, he looks over at Connor. “What’s that?” (He says it like Connor is some breed of ugly dog he’s never seen before instead of something resembling a man.)

“My name is Connor,” Connor says. “I’m the android sent by CyberLife.”

“Androids investigating androids, huh?” Perkins’ eyes find Hank. “You sure you want an android hanging around? After everything that happened?”

“If you don’t mind,” you cut in, “we’ll be having a look around.”

“And a Bolshevik?” Perkins looks you up and down. “Watch your step, comrade. You or your friends fuck up my crime scene, and I’m gunning for your ass.”

Perkins walks away, his hands folded behind his back in faux-politeness.

Once he’s out of earshot, Hank nudges your arm. “What a fuckin’ prick!”

You smile and nudge him back. “I told you those bastards would give me trouble.”

“Have you experienced things like this before, Officer?” Connor asks.

Your lips draw into a discontented sort of-frown. Of course Connor knows your answer. Why the hell would he be asking? You’ve even told him about things like this before, not to mention Gavin’s stellar behavior and comments Connor’s seen pointed towards you. 

“Yeah.” You turn away and opt to look around the crime scene (not that you would be of any use, anyway). A set of footsteps follow – you can tell that it’s Hank by the heaviness.

You come to a stop by the entrance to the roof and lean against the bullet hole-ridden wall, facing the room. Hank crosses his arms and jabs a thumb over his shoulder at Connor.

“What the fuck was that?” He asks. 

“With… him?” You say. You don’t want to call Connor’s attention by saying his name. “He… he was just being an asshole this morning. I tried to talk to him about something serious, but he just deflected it.”

“About what?”

“I…” You swallow, then whisper: “I think he’s deviating.”

“Well…” Hank laughs. “You have a tendency to project emotions onto inanimate objects.”

“Yeah. I know.” You look down and scratch your cheek. “Just… you know how I am. And…”

You look across the room and see Connor talking to an officer. You hold up a hand to keep Hank quiet, then tap just below your ear and nod towards Connor. Hank gets the hint and eavesdrops with you.

“I was on that terrace,” the officer says. “That android that took the little girl hostage? I was shot. You saved me.”

You exchange a glance with Hank, then look back to Connor. He tilts his head to the side, like he’s searching his memory banks.

“I remember you,” Connor eventually says. 

“I could’ve died on that terrace. But you saved my life.” The officer looks away, then back to Connor. “I never thought I’d say this to an android, but… thank you.”

He looks a bit awkward, then nods and walks away. Connor turns and catches your eye, like he knew you were watching. Your eyes fall to the floor.

“Блять,” you mumble. “He saw me. Help me look busy.”

Hank nods to the side. “Let’s go watch the recording. Not like I haven’t seen it a million times already.”

You follow him to the large screen that takes up an entire wall. You extend your left hand towards the console and the wires from your glove slither out and connect with a port. The screen flickers, then plays the end of the video. 

“We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights. Together, we can live in peace and build a better future, for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom.”

“Think that’s rA9?” Hank asks from your left.

“Deviants say that rA9 will set them free,” Connor says from your right. You look at him, but he doesn’t look at you. He’s firmly trained on the screen. “This android seems to have that objective.”

You disconnect from the console and return your eyes to the screen. The android has a slight lisp and mismatched eyes. You can’t see any other identifying features. 

Hank looks over at Connor. “D’you see something?”

“I identified its model and serial number,” Connor says. 

But there’s something else there – you know it. It’s telling in the way Connor’s jaw is set, the way he can’t seem to look away from the screen. “Anything else?” 

Connor continues looking forward, then faces you. He does a double-take, like he’s surprised you asked him. 

“No!” He glances at you out of the corner of his eye. “Nothing.”

You look over at Hank with an expression that reads something along the lines of I fucking told you so! You take a step back, and Hank does the same. Connor keeps looking up at the screen.

Then, he quickly turns and walks away into the kitchen. 

“Hank,” you say quietly. 

“I know,” he says. 

You turn to face him and continue speaking softly. “He’s showing signs of deviancy. He has been, for a while now.”

“You think he’s gonna turn?” Hank asks. “Or has he already?”

You glance at the door to the kitchen. You can hear Connor talking to someone inside, but can’t make out anything he’s saying. “I think he’s on the decline. Not quite there yet. Just needs a push.”

“You planning on giving him that push?” Hank asks.

“No.” You turn back to him. “He needs to take that leap on his own.”

You hear a set of footsteps behind you. You look over your shoulder and see one of the station androids walking out of the kitchen. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

But… you swear you can hear someone saying your name. Their voice sounds choked, like they’re struggling just to talk. And when you hear them calling out for Hank, you immediately know something’s wrong. 

You make your way over to the kitchen, moving with a sense of urgency, but not enough to cause alarm. What you see makes your soul land in your heels. 

Connor’s on the floor, struggling and crawling forward. His hands are shaking as he drags himself along. 

You immediately fall to your knees beside him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling at him frantically. “Connor? Connor, what’s happening?”

He chokes out a string of unintelligible words and points to the side. You follow his finger and see a biocomponent. You scramble to pick it up and bring it back to Connor. 

You push Connor onto his back and pull his shirt open, exposing his chest. A faint flicker in your mind tells you, Ou, look at you! Getting all up in that – but you cut it off because now is seriously not the time. 

With a fluid motion, you push and twist the biocomponent back into the gaping hole in the middle of his chest. You really hope you did it right.

Connor’s eyes are still unfocused, staring blankly up at the ceiling. His face twitches, and he comes back to the real world. 

You help him up, Thirium staining your hand and your front as he falls into you. He stumbles away, then catches his footing and darts out of the room.

You follow and watch him bolt down another corridor and shout, “It’s a deviant! Stop it!”

There’s three quick shots, then the sound of a body falling to the ground. 

You turn the corner just in time to see Connor handing a gun back to an FBI agent, holding the barrel so that the agent can grab it by the grip. The agent takes it back, a look of bewilderment on his face. 

When you see Hank trying to get to his feet, you move over and help him. You keep your hands on his shoulders and look him over. “Are you okay? Have you been shot?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” He grabs your wrists and pulls your hands away, looking over your shoulder. “Nice shot, Connor.”

You step away from Hank and turn to face Connor. His lips are drawn into a thin line, and he almost looks frustrated. “I wanted it alive.”

“You saved… human lives,” Hank says. He heaves a breath. “You saved my life.”

Connor looks over at him, then walks back into the broadcasting room, buttoning up his shirt as he goes. 

You look down at your hands. They’re stained with Thirium – more often than you’d like these days. You wipe them down your front, which is already stained with it anyway.

You turn and start to follow Connor. “I think he’s going to check the rooftop. I’d like to be with him when he does.”

Hank makes a sound of agreement and trails after you. You’re like two ducklings following after an android mother duck. Once you reach the door to the rooftop, Connor holds it open for you as he passes through, then you hold it open for Hank in turn. 

Hank walks in front of you both, surveying the scene. “They made their way up through the whole building, past all the guards, and jumped off the roof with parachutes. Pretty fuckin’ impressive, I’d say.”

Connor makes his way over to a splatter of blue blood and swipes two fingers through it. You can’t even bring yourself to make a sound of disgust as he samples it.

You have conflicting feelings about Connor. Saving him was an action made in a moment of weakness and panic. You know he’d just come back if he died – or, as he’d put it, shut down. But it doesn’t change that he told you that he’s not alive. That he’s not afraid of anything. That he stepped up to the muzzle of Hank’s gun and practically begged him to prove him wrong and shoot him.

You tear your eyes away from Connor and move over to Hank. He’s looking down at an open duffel bag. 

“How’d they manage to smuggle in a big bag like that?” Hank asks. 

You draw your jacket tighter around yourself. “I’d wager someone brought it in for them.”

“You’re most likely correct,” Connor says. You jump a little at the unexpectedness of his voice, but manage to keep yourself from saying anything aloud. 

“Huh, that’s strange.” Hank gestures down at the duffel. “They planned a perfect operation but got the number of parachutes wrong.”

Connor kneels and pulls the duffel open further. “Unless one of the deviants was left behind.”

He stands and walks off. You watch him, then return your eyes to the snow-covered rooftop. You huff, and your breath mists in the cold. 

“I’m going to have a look around,” you say. Hank nods, and you walk away.

You half-assedly wander around the rooftop, making sure not to get too close to the edge. You look at the air conditioners and the frost that’s built up on them. They’re pumping out cold air in an effort to keep the inside of the building warm. 

Suddenly, a shot rings out. Someone shouts “Take cover!” You dive behind an air conditioner and look to your right. Hank and Connor are hiding behind another one a few feet away.

“You have to stop them!” Connor pleads. “If they destroy it, we won’t learn anything!”

“We can’t save it, it’s too late,” Hank says. “We’ll just get ourselves killed!”

Connor looks over at you, then peeks around the corner of the air conditioner. Before you can command him to stop, he rushes out from behind cover. He vaults over a container and charges the deviant head-on. 

As soon as Connor has him pinned to the wall, the deviant presses the pistol’s muzzle to the soft underside of his chin and fires. Connor stumbles back, just watching as the deviant slumps to the ground. 

Hank comes out of cover first and runs over to Connor. You’re hot on his heels, fighting the proud side of you that shouts at you to stay away from him.

“Connor! Connor, are you alright?” He stands in front of Connor, trying to stay in his line of sight. “Connor?”

“Okay,” Connor mumbles, his voice shaky and quiet.

You move next to Hank, grabbing onto one of Connor’s shoulders. His LED is stuck on red, circling in on itself. His eyes are completely unfocused and he’s stuck in his mind. 

“Connor?” You shake him. “Connor, come back to us. Are you hurt? Did he shoot you?”

“I’m okay,” Connor mutters, his tone the same – scared, soft. 

“Jesus, you scared the shit outta me.” Hank draws away, and it seems all his emotions come crashing down at once. “For fuck’s sake, I told you not to move! Why don’t you ever do what I say?”

“I was connected to its memory.” Connor comes back to the real world, if only a little bit. “When it fired… I felt it die. Like I was dying.”

His eyes turn to yours. “I was scared.”

“Нет, нет.” You draw Connor into a hug on instinct. Your hand finds the back of his neck, guiding him to rest his forehead on your shoulder. “Всё в порядке. Ты здесь. Ты жив.”

His hands wrap around your midsection, unsure and scared. His hands come to rest on the small of your back. They’re shaking.

Fuck, he doesn’t deserve to go through this. Connor’s traumatized now, for god’s sake. He could keep a therapist in business until they retire. 

After a few seconds, you pull back, keeping your hands on Connor’s shoulders. “Are you okay now?”

He draws back and grabs your wrists. He nods, if a little jerkily. “Yes. Thank you.”

As soon as Connor lets go, the noble and proud creature in your belly howls in displeasure, cursing you for being so weak. But it’s not like you couldn’t comfort him! That would be cruel and just reinforce the stereotypes placed upon you – the ones that say you’re grim and stoic and an unfeeling person in general. 

“I saw something in its memory,” Connor says. “A word, painted on a piece of rusty metal… ‘Jericho’.”

You nod. “We should get back to the station. I’d like to have a copy of that for my records.”

When you start to walk, Connor follows.