#-crashes onto the bermuda triangle-

[oldmannapping]

Mama - a Red Hood fanfic

Directly inspired by this post by @webshood

Excerpt:

You don’t jack a car in Crime Alley. And you definitely don’t jack a car in Crime Alley that almost certainly has a child in it.

The “Welcome To Gotham: 10 Things You Need To Know” pamphlets that Harley Quinn earnestly distributed to newcomers to the Gotham underworld were very clear about Red Hood’s list of Dos and Don’t.

Among the top Don’ts were:

Crime in Crime Alley

Crimes against women in Crime Alley

Crimes against children in Crime Alley

Mama

It wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been so goddam cute.

Felicia Aidia, barely a year old. Couldn’t quite walk yet, but she could stand unassisted for five seconds of startled jubilance before her own shock at the situation would send her flopping back on her adorable diapered butt. Huge almond eyes that were nearly black, wispy black hair and full pink cheeks, she looked altogether too cherubic to be real.

Felicia had been strapped safely in a booster seat, poking at the condensation on the window of the rideshare car she was in with her babysitter, when they were carjacked by an idiot with either a death wish or less situational awareness than a stoned beetle.

There was no other excuse for why this man jacked a She-Share, one of the brightly-marked cars in a fleet that was famous for being Gotham’s first rideshare company to boast child seats in every one of their vehicles at no extra cost.

They were famously affordable and primarily utilised by single parents in low-income areas such as Crime Alley.

You don’t jack a car in Crime Alley. And you definitely don’t jack a car in Crime Alley that almost certainly has a child in it.

The “Welcome To Gotham: 10 Things You Need To Know” pamphlets that Harley Quinn earnestly distributed to newcomers to the Gotham underworld were very clear about Red Hood’s list of Dos and Don’t.

Among the top Don’ts were:

Crime in Crime Alley

Crimes against women in Crime Alley

Crimes against children in Crime Alley

The car thief had shoved the driver and Felicia’s babysitter out of the vehicle but utterly failed to notice the giant car seat and the appropriately-sized child occupying it.

A city-wide Amber Alert was out within minutes, which honestly was pretty good considering it happened in Crime Alley and Gotham police liked to pretend that area was just a mysterious Bermuda Triangle kinda place where people just mysteriously went missing, who can say why, oh well, what can you do.

The police were fast but Red Hood was faster.

The vigilante was leaping across rooftops with the speed of a panther. One police helicopter pilot completely forgot their assignment and started following him instead of the stolen car. People livestreamed blurry videos of the car careening around corners that hadn’t yet been blocked off, panning up to catch a glimpse of red metal and brown leather streaking across the sky in pursuit.

The end was anticlimactic. Hood crashed onto the roof of the car from the awning of a deli like a feral beast and punched straight through the driver’s side window. He knocked the driver out and wrested control of the vehicle until it skidded to a stop a few blocks away from the official police cordon.

Before any officers got there, Hood had hogtied the unconscious car thief and carefully extracted Felicia from her carseat.

She let out a small, uncertain wail at the sight and sound of cheering locals, crowding close to film and too boisterous with relief to realise they were scaring a baby.

Felicia pouted. It had been loud, and then fast, and then unfamiliar, and then loud again, and suddenly she was outside, and she was supposed to be napping, and she didn’t know any of these people.

Wait, yes she did. The man cradling her protectively with one arm and holding the other out to the crowd, telling them to, “Back off, back off, give her some space,”, she’d seen him before. She didn’t know how but he was familiar. His big red face (no eyes, very strange, no mouth too! How did he suck his thumb?) wasn’t scary. He was the man on the wall painting! The big wall near the playground had a picture of him painted on it. The playground was safe, and he reminded her of the playground. He was holding her protectively and he was all nice and warm.

Felicia didn’t know many words. But she did know the word she used for the person who felt safest.

“Mama!” she said loudly, clinging to the red man’s arm. “Mama!”

“It’s okay, kiddo,” he said in a very soothing voice for someone without a mouth, “We’ll get your mom.”

A police officer arrived and tried to take Felicia away. She did not appreciate it.

“Mama!” she cried louder, torn between frustration and fear. No one ever listened to her! She reached for the red man. “MAMA!”

Well. Like we said. She was so goddam cute. All eyes were on her fat little face, her adorable, freshly-rescued, chubby little hands reaching out to Red Hood. Everyone was filming her on their phones.

And she called the Red Hood “Mama”, in a perfectly clear, tiny, adorable little baby voice.

Of course it went viral.

For a while, it was a fun in-joke between Gothamites. People playing vigilante bingo to see who they’d spot each night would jokingly ask each other if they’d seen “Mama” down by the docks. Goons blustered amongst themselves that “Mama” didn’t scare them, as they kept their heads down and prayed he didn’t notice them. One bold news website captioned a picture as “Red Hood/Mama” in a story about Felicia’s rescue, while the commenters lost their minds either rofl skull skull skull dying laughing or warning the editors that they should be careful in case the trigger-happy vigilante didn’t have a sense of humour.

Closer to Hood’s home though, the reception was different. And, to him, wholly unexpected.

It started with Felix, the 16-year-old who’d been a sex worker until Hood cleaned up the under-18 scene in the Alley, and who now helped shuttle street kids to the lowkey safehouses Hood and his team had set up. Felix was a good middleman the kids trusted to take them somewhere with food, water, electricity, and no one called CPS. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good compromise until Hood could clean the stink out of the city’s social services.

Felix was smoking on a stack of crates one night, chatting to a couple of his friends, when Hood strolled over.

“Hola, Mama,” Felix greeted casually, taking a drag of his cigarette as his friends choked.

Hood just sighed. “Not you too.” With a weary exhale, he got to business. “I got those extra blankets you needed for the safehouse on Cedar. They’re at the Warehouse B if you want to run them over tonight. Sheila knows you’re coming, she’ll sort you out.”

And so, with Felix not dead and two witnesses with big mouths to tell the tale, word spread. It was open season on Red Hood’s new nickname.

“Hey, mama!” called the girls on the corner as Hood checked to make sure none of the johns had gotten too rough.

“Mama’s here!” crowed the gays and theys across the block as he dropped off condoms and hot soup.

“It’s mama!” announced the receptionist at the shelter when Red Hood stopped by to do an inventory check.

Everywhere he went.

Whatever. It would pass. People’s attention spans were shot to shit, and the loudest viral jokes always burnt out the fastest. At least, Hood was pretty sure. He wasn’t really online much but it was impossible to exist in the world without hearing a few meme references, and they always seemed to die out fast. When was the last time anyone talked about Baby Shark? Or that kid who said “corn” weird? This would blow over.

Granted, it was taking a bit longer than Hood initially expected.

When Dick gleefully changed his name in the Family Chat, Jason ignored it. He never replied to that thing anyway.

When Red Robin said, “Mama, you’re clear,” in perfectly neutral tones during an otherwise routine surveillance operation, and several comm lines immediately muted themselves, Jason ignored it.

When Damian’s new black kitten, with huge blue eyes and a white streak on the forehead, was named Mama, Jason started to get annoyed. Even DAMIAN?

When Roy answered his call with, “Mama, I missed you!” followed by thirty seconds of unhinged cackling, Jason hung up the phone and didn’t speak to Roy for three days.

When Cass used the ASL sign for Mom to relay information to him during a mission brief, his shoulders dropped.

When Alfred gave him an exquisite pink cupcake on the second Sunday of May, Jason thanked him, left the room, walked into the nearest bathroom, carefully put the cupcake on the bench, and screamed into a towel for six minutes.

When Duke finished a story about growing up in the Narrows with, “Mama knows what I’m talking about, right?”, Jason was defeated.

Fine. They win. Everyone wins.

He worked so hard on a legacy. He dug out of his own GRAVE. He clawed himself back from insanity and anger and reclaimed himself, reclaimed Red Hood, reclaimed his home. He carved a new space for himself, not quite a vigilante, not quite a villain. He made his own rules. He built an empire.

And now, he’s FUCKING Mama.

Life isn’t fair. Sometimes the Joker kills you and you sever heads and butcher bad guys and build up a reputation and then one goddam adorable child says two goddam syllables and you’re fucking MAMA for the rest of your goddam life.

Fuck it. He’s going home. He’s too tired for this shit.

[theshadowrealmitself]

I have more ocs but this is my extremely self-indulgent default Human/Vulcan pairing (without names because I can never think of names)

Vulcan: Peak Vulcan™️, logical to the point of being the second coming of Surak if Vulcans believed in that, and as emotional looking as a wall (I usually think of this character with he/him pronouns, I think because of the mental comparison to Surak, but like all gender stuff with me it switches around)

Backstory: Mentally incompatible with every Vulcan they’ve ever met, was never able to get bonded as a kid, feels isolated from other Vulcans because of that and because they’re all a little bit intimidated by this extra logical Vulcan

Human Backstory: Was working on a spaceship pre-first contact, found their captain trying to kill everyone (first by knocking them all out with poison) so he can go back and make up a wild story about being attacked by aliens (he was previously a famously known captain that had become irrelevant over time and he was not handling it well), the captain tries to murder them with his bare hands but they fight him off

I usually change it up here, but I’ll talk about scenario a) different day:

So b): Oc fights off captain who then escapes into the escape pod, only to ironically be killed by the Borg, making his story of “being attacked by aliens” real, Oc then convinces the Borg that they’re the only ones alive (as everyone on the ship is passed out, making it look like they’re dead/dying on the Borg’s scanners), they then go into their own escape pod, taunting the Borg to follow them through a wormhole, so that they’ll leave the ship with the crew alone

They go through the wormhole and end up crash landing on a planet that’s dead center of some space version of the Bermuda Triangle, all spaceships in this area have failed and have either crashed onto the planet or are now drifting aimlessly through space

Oc works to try and fit all these different spaceship parts together to try and make it home, becoming immersed in different alien languages and cultures by what’s left of their softwares and ai’s that survived the crashes

Eventually they put together a working badass ship after who knows how long, it’s a conglomeration of different types of alien ships wildly different from each other out together in a way that actually works (after completely disassembling each part and practically making everything from scratch)

Once they finally make it back into space, they find that they are crazy far from earth, and in fact none of the aliens they encounter have ever even heard of that planet or humans, they also find out that much of the technology they found and the cultures they learned are from ancient species long wiped out (from either the Borg or other happenstance) leaving the only remnants in that Dead Zone that no one dares to go into because no one is able to return (until oc managed it)

After all that trauma of almost being murdered, being stuck on a planet for who knows how long, surrounded by no one, and only hearing audio from computers of alien origin that spoke in languages long gone of planets that aren’t even a memory as there’s no one left to remember them, oc gets to have fun space adventures

They go traveling through space meeting species beyond anything they could’ve imagined, gaining friends and enemies and a reputation as they head in the direction they hope Earth is in piloting their kickass spaceship that’s better than anyone else’s before they encounter a Romulan which eventually helps get them back to earth

(Can never settle on if they’re enemies are if this dude is just in awe of this technology this person has and doesn’t dare to get on their bad side just in case and they become friends)

They get back to earth just to find out it’s long past when they disappeared and everyone they had ever known has been dead for centuries, and they don’t know how to explain their journey and they don’t want people to take their spaceship, so they fake a new identity (with the superior technology they now have) and just quietly rejoin society

Anyways it’s something about isolation from being too much like what your species is working towards and being isolated by being a forgotten remnant of your species and coming together

[corvid-corvette-coven]

Coconut Crabs AREN'T THAT BAD GUYS

(fully stolen from @ sos1348000 on tiktok)

"Amelia Earhart was lost in the Bermuda Triangle, and (according to everyone who ever talks about Amelia Earhart) was eaten by coconut crabs, and that's a horrifying tragedy.

But people talk about the coconut crabs i think, far too much, or even perhaps more than the pilot herself.

The internet has sort've uh, attached a fictional narrative of malice to one of natures dumbest creatures.

She crashed, died on an island, perhaps, and then was taken by the elements.

The crabs did not conspire to kill her, they didn't shoot her plane down.

The internet talks about that event as if the plane hit the water and then a thousand coconut crabs swarm the cockpit.

Coconut crabs are 60lb bowling balls with 10 inarticulate sticks for legs that move so slowly that nobody has ever bothered to record how slowly they move.

People also love to bring up the fact they can climb trees, as if thats terrifying.

They climb palm trees to eat the fruit: they are not seeking higher ground from which to leap onto targets of assassination."

[penna-nomen]

Dead Planet - A Yuletide Fic

Seeing the latest Indiana Jones movie reminded me of this fic I wrote for Yuletide. It's my what-if-Han-Solo-met-Indiana-Jones fic.

In the Bermuda Triangle of space, things aren't always what they seem.

Or: An archaeologist, a smuggler, and a model meet on a seemingly dead planet and become part of the resistance against the Galactic Federation.

4.2K words. LGBTQ+ characters, passes the Bechdel test

"People are calling it the Bermuda Quadrangle."

"Like the Bermuda Triangle on Earth?" Petric asked.

Raphael — Rafe for short — nodded. It wasn't his real name. He'd changed it once he'd received the designation of Renaissance Analyst, a title that meant he had expertise in seven or more fields of analysis. That made him a key resource in the Galactic Federation's planning team, responsible for identifying promising or troubling trends. 

Rafe preferred to offer puzzles instead of being straightforward in his communications. Fortunately, Petric liked puzzles. "The scientist in me is appalled at the superstition implied in the name. The archaeologist in me wonders if there are centuries of crash sites to explore." 

"From the Galactic Federation perspective, I've categorized the Bermuda Quadrangle as insignificant. The number of ships impacted is relatively low. Only a handful of unmanned supply ships have crashed onto Dead Planet 451 in the last two years, and none of them carried anything vital. But it seemed like something that would interest you." His voice was nonchalant, but he cast a significant glance toward the green light on the communications box on his desk. This conversation was being recorded, and it seemed Rafe didn't trust the person who was listening.

In Petric's job, he traveled to whichever archaeological sites the Federation assigned to him, but his true area of interest was ancient alien ruins. Although the artifacts could bring a hefty price, money wasn't his motivation. He wanted to learn about those old alien civilizations, and he was happiest when the artifacts went to a museum. It was likely that Rafe had summoned him because of some kind of alien connection, and that it wasn't a connection they should mention aloud.

"Next time I'm in that sector, I'll check it out," Petric said.

"Given the reputation of the area, you'll want a good pilot." 

Continued on AO3:

[amethystandemma]

Rise of the Blue Comet - Chapter 1

In the middle of the Bermuda Triangle lies a country hidden from the world by powerful enchantments, territorial magical creatures, and an overwhelming fear of the unknown by other humans. The country is called Brooklina, and it is my home. I was born and raised there, and because of that, I know exactly where to go to escape a dozen armed guards.

I rode on top of a she-wolf with a dark brown coat, both my legs hanging on the left side of her body. We were moving so fast that the lush trees of the Enchanted Forest were green blurs. A cloud of dust trailed behind us like it would with a galloping horse. Still, it wasn’t fast enough to lose the party chasing us.

“Take a sharp right,” I whispered into the wolf’s ear.

The wolf either didn’t hear me or ignored me because she continued running on the well worn path. I rolled my eyes, kicking her lightly on the side. She growled, glaring at me with her intelligent brown eyes. The wolf whacked me with her fluffy tail.

Whoosh!

I ducked just as an arrow passed over my head, lodging into the trunk of a nearby tree. A strand of dark brown hair hung from the point that looked suspiciously like my own. I looked behing and saw an archer knock another arrow from atop his horse. I knew he wouldn’t miss a second time.

“Chit-chit!” I chattered.

Right before the bowman was about to release the arrow, a scurry of squirrels jumped on his face. He yelled out in pain as their claws scratch him, causing him to drop the bow. I smiled at the squirrels before looking forward again, taking a deep breath. I knew that would only buy us a few moments of time.

I reached down to my scabbard on my waist and unsheathed my sword, Brinebitter, that I had created. Its blade was made of aquamarine colored sea glass enchanted to never break. I gripped onto the coral hilt and looked behind. After a few seconds of confusion, we were being chased by the Royal Guard again. Only eleven of them remained, but that was still an overwhelming amount.

“You aren’t going to escape!” Captain Ryder yelled.

The wolf moved closer to the tree line, giving me an idea. I slashed Brinebitter at the trunk and looked back at the eleven galloping horses.

“Stop!” I whinnied.

The horses stopped abruptly at the fallen tree, sending a couple of guardsmen to the ground. Just to be fair, I threw down a couple of apple slices before sheathing Brinebitter and facing forward.

“Now will you listen to me?” I asked the wolf.

She perked her ears. I took that as a yes.

“Go left.”

The wolf turned left, jumping over a fallen tree and deeper into the Enchanted Forest. The farther we strayed from the path, the more uneven the terrain became and the lower the tree branches hung. If the guards wanted to keep their trail on us, they would have to continue their pursuit on foot. We were safe for the time being.

It was a good thing too because the wolf crashed a few minutes later, panting. A flash of red light erupted from her body, blinding me.

Where the wolf was now lay a teenage girl in a red dress. Freckles were sprinkled across the bridge of her nose, a smudge of dirt on her cheek. She would have been able to pass as a normal human if it weren’t for the fluffy dark brown tail and wolf ears. Yup. It was my sister without a doubt.

“A little warning would have been nice.” I grumbled, moving off of her stomach and leaning against a moss covered tree.

She casually opened a dark brown eye.

“You should have expected it,” she responded, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. “I’m exhausted, and you know what happens when I’m exhausted. I go feral.”

I sighed. She closed her eyes again.

“And I didn’t appreciate that kick.”

“Well Ruby, why did you ask me for directions if you’re not going to listen to me?”

She shrugged. “Whatever. Got a ribbon?”

I pulled a white ribbon off my wrist and tossed it to her. The fabric fluttered to the ground and landed on Ruby’s leather boots.

“Aqua… too exhausted to move, remember?” She asked without opening her eyes.

I sighed and grabbed the ribbon, moving to her front. Carefully, I lifted up her head and started to pull back her knotted dark brown hair.

While I was on the ground, I looked around at where we had landed.

We were in the middle of a small clearing with dense forests surrounding us on all sides. Towards the eastern side of the area was a stone well covered in moss. The whole place looked like it hadn’t been touched in years, decades even. Unless the guards knew to look here, we would be impossible to find.

“You did good Rubes,” I said. “Not just with finding this place; you fought like a true warrior earlier. Aunt Diana would be proud.”

Ruby smirked. “Yeah, I did do good, didn’t I?”

“Forget I said anything. Your ego is big enough.”

Ruby chuckled. I tied the ribbon together and stood up, dusting off my teal dress and walked to the well. The wooden pulley was worn and weathered after spending time in the rain and sun for so long. I peered over the edge, not able to see the bottom. I bent down and grabbed a pebble and promptly dropped it. Ten seconds passed, then twenty. No sound gave an indication that the rock had hit the water, or anything else.

I shuddered, remembering stories Chad had told me about bottomless pits that would keep annoying sisters in its clutches until they died. Mother had assured me that no such things existed and I didn’t need to worry, but now I was starting to wonder if she was wrong.

“I’m going to go get some water,” I said. “Just stay here and don’t go in the well.”

“Aww, I was wanting to drag my exhausted body to that well and crack every single bone and my body.” Ruby sighed dramatically, opening her eyes just to roll them. “Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to lie here in agony.”

“Have fun.”

I could feel her glare as I walked deeper into the wood. Times like these make me wonder if the midwife had mixed us up and I was born thirty minutes before Ruby instead of the other way around. Alas, my birthmark on my left wrist was a strong giveaway that we weren’t switched. I traced it as I walked, outlining the blue teardrop shape with my fingernail.

I tried not to think about what that mark would mean for my family and my future, or the responsibility it would bring. There was too much going on in the present.

Just like Aunt Diana had taught, I tried my best to use my senses to my advantage. I took a deep breath through my nose. Smells of dried pine needles, blooming woodland roses, and sun warmed grasses filled my head; but it was the faint scent of caramel that caught my attention, the unmistakable scent of a River Randiria.

Grinning, I started to run towards the smell. In order to survive, a River Randiria needed to grow by a constant supply of freshwater whether that be a river, lake, or spring. Without that supply, it would dry out and die faster than other trees. Master Wollander had said in one of my lessons that it had something to do with the hollow trunk and how the bark distributed the water, but I didn’t care at the moment.

I felt the ground go from hard dirt to softer soil on my bare feet. I could hear the rushing water of the river before I could see the white rapids. The banks were more out in the open than I would have liked, but I didn’t have time to look for another spot. I uncapped my water jug and started filling it up, my teal eyes darting from side to side, waiting for an ambush.

A twig snapped behind me and I spun around, face to face with a very startled flower pixie. She said a few insults that would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap before flying with the twig. I blinked as she whacked me with it.

A howl cut through the woods like a knife. I turned toward the direction I came from. I recognized that howl.

“Ruby.”

I started to run.

A/N: I know there is a character named Ruby in the show Once Upon a Time, but my Ruby and that Ruby aren’t related. I tried about ten different names for her, but I liked Ruby best. Sorry if that confuses you.

[anumberofhobbies]

There’s an area in the Chihuahuan desert in northern Mexico where radio signals don’t work, and compasses spin out of control when placed near stones on the ground. It’s called the Zone of Silence. It measures only 50 kilometers across, and it is located in the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve, a huge, mostly uninhabited expanse of almost 400,000 hectares, where the flat and desolate terrain is interspersed with lonely mountain outcrops. “The Zone is my passion,” Benjamin Palacios says as we bounce through the area in his 4-wheel drive Suburban, surrounded by mesquite, cactus, and guamis—brilliant yellow flowers resembling buttercups. Palacios, 61, grew up in the village of Escalón, Chihuahua, on the edge of the Zone, and now has his own UFO-themed ranch on the area’s periphery. As we head into the heart of the Zone, Palacios, a charismatic man with a deep tan and a full beard, veers his truck onto a desert track. Back on the main road, only a few miles away, the radio came in loud and clear. Now, he hits “search” and it endlessly scans. No signal.

[rebecagimenezart]

A Creepy Tangle in the Bermuda Triangle (1972)

Hi Kendal, sorry for the delay! Well, today we're talking about Scooby Doo! This episode is called "a creepy tangle in the Bermuda triangle". It's the second episode from the third season of the show. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

While boating near the Bermuda Triangle, Scooby Doo and his friends encounters a hurricane and crashes onto a - apparently - deserted island. They witness a UFO colliding with a plane and swallowing it. On the beach, an old man warns them about some kind of skeleton men. While Scooby and Shaggy stay by the campfire, Fred, Velma, and Daphne search for clues, finding an abandoned airstrip with new controls and hidden planes. Shaggy and Scooby meet the skeleton men and discover an underwater lab with a skylight showing a UFO hologram. They use a plane's radio to call for help. They capture the skeleton men, who are revealed to be Mr. Grimsley from the weather base and his henchmen. They used the UFO legend to steal and repaint planes for resale. The old man on the beach is a US Navy official investigating the mystery.

Scooby Doo has been very well known and loved since the begin, so the audience always loved the new episodes. As a kid who grew up watching Scooby Doo, I also loved the episode! It's always interesting and nostalgic, and I feel like watching a animated version of an Agatha Christie's story.

An obvious curiosity about this episode: it's inspired by the urban legend of the Bermuda Triangle and the theory that aliens are responsible for the disappearances of ships and planes. But I think it's worth mentioning.

https://scoobydoo.fandom.com/wiki/A_Creepy_Tangle_in_the_Bermuda_Triangle

[dapper-lil-catgirl]

omg is birthday??? happy birthday!! you're very cool and create women who live rent free in my mind (also men ilu hunter) (also im not aware of any nonbinary characters but if you made any i would love them too)

lol thanku its very fun to make womaen <3 technicaly bonnie and behemoth are nb too but its a multi pronoun situation! she/her and they/them for the both of em! and thanku for sure you're super sweet and u make some rly cool songs!!!

[baronessblixen]

Don’t know if you write anything like this, but I really want to see something like when Scully jumped on the bed when Mulder said they’re married now in Arcadia.

A bit of fluff, a bit of not fluff. Wc: ~1200 words.

Tagging @today-in-fic

“Come on, Laura… we’re married now.”

She can’t say if it’s the eyebrow waggle, his tone, the shoes on the bed, or all of it. All she knows is that she’s had it with him.

The toothpaste she can live it. The toilet seat, too. Even knowing that he’s only doing all of this to rile her up. Everything he’s done since they’ve gotten here is designed to drive her nuts. And now she’s done.

She bit her lip when he told that inane story about how they met. She’s bitten her tongue long enough now.

Now it’s time to beat him with his own weapons.

She puts on her sweetest, most sugary smile. The half-dried mud on her face makes it difficult. She walks closer to the bed and Mulder freezes. The grin falls from his face and she can see it being replaced by his panic face.

“You think we… should?” She asks, her knees weak and her hands trembling. What she didn’t expect and didn’t take into account is how she’d react to Mulder’s proximity. He’s radiating heat. So much warmth hits her and settles in her stomach, kindling a different kind of fire.

“Scully, I-“

She stops when her knees bump into the bed. She looks at him for a brief moment and then she jumps. Literally. The bed bounces under her and she crashes into Mulder’s chest. Their faces bump together and Mulder winces when her forehead connects with his nose. There’s a big green splotch on the tip of his nose and on his cheek that she’s tempted to wipe away.

She opens her mouth to apologize but stops herself. Mulder stares at her in disbelief, speechless for once.

This is the man who called her his one in five billion. The same one who assured her she made him a whole person. The one who almost kissed her in his hallway. He’s the man who said I love you after she saved him from the Bermuda triangle. The one who called her – not Diana – to travel to Area 50 with him.

Diana.

That’s where they went wrong. Because he’s also the man who told her she was making this personal. The one who’s been going on about what a useless assignment this is. How much he doesn’t want to be here. With her.

“Is this what you want?” She asks, her voice slicing through the awkwardness of their positions. Her hands are against his chest, attempting to distance herself from him. He smells like minty toothpaste and coming home. She tries to ignore the need that bubbles up inside her. This is not what she planned. She didn’t mean to want this closeness.

“Your eyes are so blue,” he says, surprising her.

“What?”

“With that green… goo on your face. Your eyes. They’re even bluer than they usually are.”

“It’s a face mask,” she says lamely.

“I’ve never seen you wear one before.”

“I’ve never seen you act like such an ass before.”

His grin returns. “Never?”

“What was that story about the UFO convention?”

“What’s about you being a nagging wife?” She eyes him. “I- that whole UFFO convention story wasn’t my best moment. I just wanted you-“

“Wanted me to what?” she prods, pushing a finger into his chest. He shrugs but she refuses to let this go. “Wanted me to get angry at you? Because if that’s what you wanted … congratulations. And the toothpaste? We’ve shared rooms before, Mulder,” she curses her pale complexion for blushing, “and you’ve never done that.”

He looks at her, his face serious, but he remains quiet.

“If it’s not me you want here-“

“Hey,” he says, interrupting her. “Hey, I only want to do this with you. I was exasperated that our first case back is this. It’s just more shit. Different shit, but shit all the same.” His words make Scully smile. “And you’ve barely talked to me, or looked at me. And I know I don’t fit in here.”

“You’re not supposed to,” she reminds him softly.

“I didn’t mean it,” he says, reading her expression. “That you’d fit in here. I know for a fact you don’t always stick to the rules.”

The smile on his face melts her and all her anger disappears. Or almost. She still considers hitting him with the pillow under his head. Just once (or twice). Instead, she smiles back at him.

“I don’t.” She closes the distance between them and finishes what’s been in the making for months. Maybe even for years. He kisses her back, first tentatively then more certain. His arm goes around her and he lifts her onto his chest. Their lips never once separate. There are no more thoughts in her mind. This is against all rules. They have a case to work on, people to find. They can’t get distracted like this.

But it takes her another minute to push at Mulder and disengage their lips.

“Hmm, Laura,” he jokes, the biggest grin she’s ever seen on his face.

“Scully, Mulder.”

“Scully,” he says, opening his eyes. His pupils are dilated, and his mouth is beckoning her. As much as she wants to throw all the rules aside, she knows they can’t. Not yet.

“You need to sleep on the couch.”

“What? You’re throwing me out?”

“Just for tonight,” she says with a smile.

“I swear I can behave myself.” Scully glances at him. “I swear.”

“Fine,” she says, giving in. Mulder takes off his shirt, takes off his shoes, and lies on the other side of the bed, facing her. “We need to sleep.”

“Does your face mask glow at night?”

“No. At least I don’t think so.”

“I’ll investigate,” he says with a wink. “Scully?” She looks at him. “A kiss goodnight isn’t pushing it too much, is it?”

“Just the right amount.” She closes her eyes right before his lips touch hers. It’s soft kiss, warm and sweet, but nothing more.

“You know why I did it?” He asks after a moment.

“Why?” She asks, opening her eyes again.

“I didn’t want you to get angry. I was angry. I tell you I can’t do this without you, and that I love you, and you just- you don’t react. I know you talked about getting out of the car and I wanted you to see what a life that would be.”

“It wouldn’t be like this,” Scully touches her cheek. “This is not us.”

“It would be different.” Half a question, half a prayer.

“Yes.”

“Hmmm,” he says and scoots closer to her. “Maybe I’ll think about it.”

[acepalindrome]

Okay, the plot of my new Animal Crossing/OFMD island is post season 1 Stede has rowed away on his little dinghy, but instead of finding the island his crew was marooned on, he accidentally rows his way into some kind of Bermuda Triangle nonsense and gets sucked into a storm…after which he wakes up crashed onto an island with a bunch of talking animals. And his dinghy is smashed to bits, so he’s stuck here.

He’s understandably upset about this, and a little shaken up because there’s a pink octopus in a sweater trying to comfort him. But he can’t give up now after finally realizing that he’s in love! He’ll just have to keep trying to find his way back to Ed! (It helps that the talking octopus was very encouraging and supportive about it.)

So he starts learning how to make tools and build things with the ultimate goal of building a boat to go look for Ed, but while this is all happening, the Revenge also got sucked into the Bermuda Triangle bullshit and also crashed onto this whimsical island of colorful talking animals. So now Ed and company are here! And somehow the rest of the Revenge that were marooned, shhh don’t ask how it happened it’s ~*~magic ~*~

So now Stede and Ed get to work through their feelings and get back together while building up this island to be a nice little base for them to dock at when they need to stock up on oranges.

Also Izzy is here. He’s so mad about the whole situation, but now he’s gonna learn about the powerful of friendship from a talking frog.

[lillywillow]

Cold Heart of the Wild

Summary: For days Bucky has been having dreams about a white wolf and a mysterious woman. What happens when his dreams become reality?

 Word Count: 2234

 Square Filled: White Wolf

 Pairings: Bucky x Female Reader

 Warnings: Mentions of hunting and shooting, injuries, minor mentions of death

Written for @star-spangled-bingo

 Snow covered the ground in every direction Bucky looked. It crunched under his feet as he moved; where he was going, he didn’t know. Suddenly, a howl filled the air, its mournful sound sending chills down his spine. There was a flash of movement in the bare trees. Bucky followed it, catching a glimpse of a white wolf.

 The wolf stopped for him as if expecting something. Did it want him to follow? Bucky looked at it for a moment before it ran off.

 “Wait!”

 Bucky chased after the wolf, running in between frozen vegetation, trying desperately to keep up with it. He lost sight of the wolf. Feeling lost in this icy landscape, he frantically searched for any more signs of life. That’s when he saw her.

 A woman dressed in animal hide clothing. A hunter perhaps?

 “Hey!” Bucky shouted, reaching out to her.

 The woman began turning...

...

Bucky woke in a cold sweat. He had almost forgotten all about the mission he was going on that morning. As he prepared for it, he reflected on his dream. That was the sixth night in a row he’d been having dreams like that. Could that possibly mean something? There was no time to dwell too much further on the subject. Bucky had to board the jet and get ready to go.

...

 Bucky’s plane was shot down somewhere over the Alaskan wilderness. He survived the initial crash relatively unharmed but there were Hydra agents waiting on the ground. He fought and took them out but his side was badly injured. As he collapsed in the snow, he thought for sure this was where he was going to die.

 Bucky drifted in and out of consciousness but caught flashes of images.

 The sound of gunfire.

 A white wolf hovering over him.

 Being dragged on some kind of sled.

 A woman with a rifle strapped to her back.

 Bucky’s eyes opened in a jolt. The images had been so familiar to him; he expected to see the sterile environment of a Hydra lab. To his surprise, he found himself in a quaint wood cabin. There were animal hides on the bed keeping him warm.  A fireplace along a wall had a cauldron of something delicious smelling food hanging in its stony walls. A kitchen nook was off to the side of the cabin. The place was rather cosy. Bucky sat up causing pain to shoot through him. He carefully lifted his shirt to see someone had tended to his wound although now blood was seeping through the bandaging. Holding onto his side, Bucky forced himself to his feet and looked out the small window.

 Outside, he could see a woman standing in front of two crudely made graves. She was dressed exactly the same as the one that had been haunting his dreams. A sound behind him caught his attention. Slowly turning around, he saw a white wolf. He went to comment but the pain in his side became too much and he fell to his knees. The wolf went out what appeared some kind of doggy door carved through the main one. A few minutes later, the woman came in, quickly shutting the door behind her. She helped Bucky off the floor and back onto the bed. He whimpered and held up his hand which was now bloodied. She made a disapproving sound with a click on her tongue.

 “You’ve opened that wound again,” she stated. She carefully lifted his shirt once more, helping him to sit up as she cleaned and redressed the injury.

 Once she had finished and washed her hands, she went to get two bowls, filling them with whatever was in the cauldron. She came back, handing him one with a spoon.

 “Thanks,” he muttered. She nodded and sat down to eat as well. A silence fell over the pair of them.

 As Bucky ate, so many questions filled his mind. Who was this woman? Why did she save him? Why had he been dreaming about her? What did any of this have to do with the wolf? He was still very cautious.

 “Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here? The last thing I remember is... is... we need to get out of here!” Bucky stood up but immediately fell back down in pain.

 The woman sighed and made sure his wound hadn’t once again reopened.

 “You’re safe here. Those Hydra agents won’t be around to bother us. I made sure of it...”

 Bucky froze, fear and dread suddenly sunk in.

 “H-how do you...” The woman sighed softly.

 “I was an agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. much like you. I was sent on a mission and my plane went down...”

 It dawned on Bucky why she was so familiar and it had nothing to do with his dreams.

 “You’re Y/N L/N! You were one of the best! I read your file. You went missing ten years ago. Presumed dead...”

 “And I would have been if it hadn’t been for Agnes...”

 “Who’s Agnes?”

 Y/N walked over to the window, her eyes ghosting over with memories.

 “Agnes was... one of the strongest women I have ever known. She lived here with her husband until he died. Lived here on her own for quite some time.”

 “What happened to her?”

 “Two years ago, there was a big grizzly bear... it crept up on Agnes and attacked... I did the best I could to help her and she hung in there for as long as she could... I’ve been here on my own ever since.”

 The wolf let out a huff.

 “Except for James of course,” she smiled. The wolf gave an approving noise.

 “James?” Bucky was more than a little surprised.

 “Agnes told she found him abandoned as a pup. She raised him to be I guess a sort of pet. I promised her I wouldn’t let anything happen to him until his time comes.”

 “What do you mean?”

 Y/N once again sighed and tossed James a piece of meat.

 “James is getting pretty old in wolf years. Now, if he should die of natural causes I can bury him with some honour but I’ll be damned if I let some hunter take him away from me.”

 Bucky went quiet for a few moments.

 “How come... you never went back? You could have left at any time...”

 Y/N scoffed softly.

 “When I went down in that plane, it was winter, just as it is now. Every day I wondered if I was ever getting out of here and with each passing month, that hope left. Maybe they sent a search party and couldn’t find me, maybe they couldn’t be bothered, maybe the stories got to them and scared them away...”

 “Stories?” Bucky asked.

 “You see, Alaska has a sort of... Bermuda Triangle area. Planes, ships and people go missing, strange lights in the sky, strange creatures spotted... I never believed the stories but... Perhaps I’ve been without human interaction for too long,” she shrugged. “Anyway, you should get some rest. I’m going to go and hunt something for dinner. If you need anything before I go, tell me now.”

 Bucky shook his head and Y/N made him comfortable before she left with James following behind her. He had been given so much information in such a short amount of time yet he still had questions but for now he would just take some time to allow his body to heal itself.

...

 When night fell, Y/N had boarded up any areas that cold might creep in. She made another stew out of the game she hunted in the afternoon and made herself comfortable next to Bucky.

 “Wh-what are you doing?” His face flushed at their close proximity.

 “It’s below freezing outside. If you want to survive, you’ll need my body heat.”

 Bucky nodded and slowly allowed himself to relax before realising something.

 “Wait! James isn’t here! Shouldn’t he be inside with us?”

 Y/N couldn’t help but smile at his thoughtfulness toward the animal.

 “James will be fine. Wolves have adapted to centuries of this kind of weather. He has his own little spot to sleep in nearby and he can do whatever he wants to do.”

 Bucky was a little relieved to hear that.

 “Tell me more about your life here,” he prompted.

 “What’s there to know? It’s life in the Alaskan wilderness. I hunt, I stock up on supplies, and I sleep at night...”

 “Well then tell me about Agnes. I’m sure you must some stories about her...”

 Y/N regarded him carefully for a moment.

 “Alright... but only if you tell me about you in return. You read my file back at... wherever you came from, so you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t even know your name.”

 “James Buchannan Barnes but everyone calls me Bucky.”

 Y/N let out a soft laugh, unable to believe the coincidence.

 “James and James... I guess I will have to call you Bucky to avoid confusion,” she smiled.

 The pair of them spent the night swapping stories and getting to know each other better until they eventually fell asleep. That night for the first time in a long time, Bucky had a dreamless sleep.

...

 Time went by and eventually a month had passed. Bucky and Y/N had formed a strong bond with each other in what was beginning to feel like love. Y/N wondered if this is how Agnes had felt with her husband.

 Then one day, it happened. Y/N was in her storage shed when she heard James snarling and barking. She ran out to see a helicopter appear a moment later, landing in a small clearing nearby. Bucky hobbled out of the house at the commotion. Although his injury was healing nicely, he still had some more to do.

 A few men exited the chopper and headed over to the two of you. You called James to your side to keep him from attacking the strangers but he was still on edge.

 “Buck... good to see you,” one of the men wearing a uniform went to Bucky and hugged him. Bucky hugged back.

 “Good to see you too, Steve. How’d you find me?”

 “We tracked where your jet went down. I’ve been searching for as long as I could ever since. Finally caught a break today when we saw the smoke from the chimney,” Steve replied, nodding over to the house. “Who’s this?”

 “Steve, this is Y/N. She saved my life...”

 Steve looked at her for a moment.

 “The same Y/N who went missing a decade ago?”

 “The very same...”

 “Buck, can I talk to you for a minute?”

 The pair of them went out of Y/N’s earshot but whatever they were saying, it was argumentative. After a few moments the pair walked back to her.

 “Y/N, how would you like to come back with us?” Steve reluctantly offered.

 “I... I can’t...”

 Bucky looked at her sadly.

 “I have James to think of.”

 “James is... a wolf?” Steve asked.

 “He’s not just a wolf. James is too used to humans. He’s vulnerable and a prize for hunters around here. I can’t just leave him.”

 “I see...”

 “Steve, can we have a moment alone?” Steve nodded and left the two them to have a little privacy.

 “You could stay...” Y/N said softly.

 “I wish I could but I can’t. That punk needs me... like James needs you.” His eyes filled with tears as did hers.

 “I... I really hope I’ll see you again.”

 “I do too, doll.”

 Bucky wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. Y/N kissed back, holding him as close as she could. Eventually air was needed and they pulled away. Bucky gave her a communicator to keep in touch, telling her to call him if anything happened. Only after the helicopter disappeared out of sight did Y/N allow herself to cry.

...

 Six months later, Bucky finally heard back from her.

 “Hello? Bucky?”

 “Y/N! Is it really you?”

 “Y-yeah...”

 “Is everything okay? You sound upset...”

 “Um... James... passed away...”

 “Oh, Y/N. I’m so sorry...”

 “I... I had been expecting it for a while... he hasn’t been well for days. I found him this morning. Can you... can you come and take me away? I don’t... I don’t want to die alone out here...”

“Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

...

 It took a lot of convincing but Bucky was allowed to go and collect Y/N. He had marked the coordinates of her cabin on a map and went there as fast as he could.

 The moment she saw him, Y/N threw herself into Bucky’s arms and sobbed. Bucky held her close and rubbed her back.

 “It’s okay, doll. I’m here now. I’ve got you. You’ve done your duty to Agnes and laid James to rest...”

 The pair stood there for a while until Y/N had calmed down enough before heading to the transport. As they flew over the Alaska wilderness, Y/N took one last look at the place for ten years she called home. She held Bucky’s hand, ready to start a new chapter of her life.

[rein-ette]

Are you still working on your Commonwealth study? Do you have any thoughts on Arthur's relationships with his colonies apart from Canzuk + US?

Not properly, unfortunately with exams and then work I haven’t had mental/emotional capacity to do real research (and probably won’t for a while 😔). But I have continued to think about and develop certain relationships, and I think I also have old hcs I’ve never shared, so I’ll put those down!

Born into the Empire

Australia

@oumaheroes has already done such great hcs on him idk what I can add, but basically he was a little bit of a rowdy child, always breaking windows and shattering fancy pots, never able to sit still. I think rainbow once mentioned that Ken (short for Kenneth, my name for Aus) was a lot like England as a child in his curiosity and energy, and I wholeheartedly agree. But I think Arthur’s intensity was more inwardly directed, pushing him to pursue and master new talents and learn whatever he could, while Australia is a little more carefree in his love for the outdoors, exploring, jumping around and off things, little wild animals. Unfortunately for him, he was born in a period of the empire when Arthur was very serious about his kids education, and therefore often praised those who studied hard and learned fast, which really just wasn’t Australia’s cup of tea. Australia took this kinda hard and thought he was the “dumb” one in the family that Arthur was always scolding, but in reality Arthur knew and appreciated that Australias interests lay elsewhere — he was just a frustrated, tired, parent who really wanted to give his kids the best while also holding his empire together, two goals that were never going to fit well in the end and would completely exhaust him.

As Australia’s grown older he’s realized a bit of this (not entirely, though) and also that 1) he really did break a lot expensive things and cause general mayhem 2) scolding us Arthur’s way of showing he cares, if he didn’t he wouldn’t have payed attention to him at all 3) despite being a penal colony, he was still one of Arthur’s more “legitimate” children (being white and a boy) and was therefore still incredibly privileged — never having to question, for example, why it was that Arthur was his dad, if it should be this way, or if he had a seat at the family table at all (more on this later).

New Zealand

Zee, from birth, was a clear favourite. Obedient, calm, quietly intelligent, he would also later develop a blistering sense of humour which combined with his appearance made it overwhelmingly clear who’s child he was. If Ken questioned his place in the family because of his poor academic record and others did because of their appearance/race/other complications, Kaelan never had such problems; his siblings called him the “prince.” Zee, however, also had a charm that, like Matthew, endeared him to his siblings and mostly protected him from jealousy, though he certainly still had issues with being called a try hard, daddy’s boy, bossy, arrogant. Certainly as a child Zee was a little prideful and, under that unperturbed demeanour, willful, but he grew out of it by the 20th century and became one of those most trusted by Arthur, second only to Matthew. He’s also always been inseparable from his brother Australia despite their differences, and today they both have one of the healthiest and most amicable relationships with Arthur of any nation, let alone former colonies (family road trips, every summer).

Bermuda

I absolute fell in love with this girl after reading about here, once, in this fic by @shachaai, and after that my mind just ran away with me. For me, her human name given to her by Arthur just has to be Ariel — for the little mermaid reference, yes, symbolizing her connection to the sea and stunning good looks, but also because:

1. Ariel is a biblical name, meaning lion of God. This makes sense to me, because Bermuda began as a Portuguese trade post, so Arthur definitely consulted our resident bad catholic Port before naming her.

2. Ariel used to be boys name. This also makes sense, because I hc Bermuda was and still is a tomboy. Bitch is fierce, takes no prisoners, and has zero filter. Her letters to Arthur, which all the colonies sent so Arthur could keep an eye on things, were full of shit like “I swear to god if the Spanish don’t get out of my waters I might eat one of them,” and “father, I asked you for destroyers two months ago, and yet you sent them to Hong Kong — could you explain this most unusual occurrence, surely it’s not that you forgot”, and “thank you for the harpoon on my birthday, I caught a small shark a couple days ago and have sent you some of its teeth for your collection.” Arthur tolerates this attitude because he’s weak when it comes to girls; he absolutely spoils his daughters (and flushes like a 16 year old when a woman so much as bats her eyelashes at him). Yes, p*ssywhipped Arthur is a hill I will die on.

3. It also suits her because? Ariel? Shakespeare? The Tempest? Bermuda Triangle? Shipwrecks? Daughter-like figure of powerful and vengeful sorcerer? Yeah. And this girl is a fire spirit — she is so lively, snarky, clever. As she’s grown older she’s mellowed out a little, but still: a no shit taken, no fucks given type of gal.

4. Speaking of growing up, she’s also become quite the beauty. Shacha, if I’m remembering correctly, described her as dark skinned, wavy-haired, and green eyed and that image has been burned onto the back of my eyelids ever since. Those Iberian genetics really be pulling through for her, that’s for sure. Engport love child if I’ve ever seen one. Definitely one of the prettiest in her family.

Singapore

I’ve already mentioned this to needcake, but I’m not too big a fan of canon Singapore, so this is my oc version. Singapore is fascinating to me because it had only a very small local population before it became a colony (The original settlement had actually been destroyed by the Portuguese about two centuries before the British started building a port there.) So nation-tans like Singapore and Bermuda really are Arthur’s children in the most direct sense of the word. And yet, Singapore is mostly ethnically Chinese, with Malays being the second largest group. Growing up Asian in a white, Victorian era family surely cannot have been easy and more than once Singapore probably wondered if there hadn’t been some mistake. To make up for the constant fear that he wasn’t “really” British, Singapore studied ferociously and had a truly terrifying work ethic. I’m not sure if this is common knowledge outside Asian circles, so I’ll mention that this hc comes from the fact Singapore is well known for having truly exceptional students and some of the most prestigious schools. Singaporeans score highly in literally everything and they have an advantage with good English learning environments, a highly desirable trait in Asia, but these results come from brutally long hours — and its really saying something that they’re known for working hard, considering the studying ethic of students in Korea, Japan, and China aint nothing to sneeze at, either. To me this actually fits really well with Singapore’s upbringing in Arthur’s household, because Arthur himself prizes intelligence and hard work above all else, being a workaholic himself.

As for their relationship, it was probably the best when Singapore was young and peaked in the 1930s with the massive naval base the British built at Singapore, at the time the largest dry dock in the world. Singapore was a well-behaved child, not necessarily introverted but not rowdy either, and all the way into his teenage years he truly admired Arthur and was proud to be a part of the British Empire, despite his lingering unease and insecurities. The British defeat in World War II, however, was a massive turning point. He had worked his ass off to be a good son, a good brother, to contribute to the only family and system he had ever known, and he had thought by the 30s he was finally on his way to becoming a fine adult. And suddenly, the British surrender brings his entire world crashing down. He had followed the rules faithfully thinking it was his destiny, but suddenly it was clear that all rules were made up. Of course, his insecurities exploded. If the empire was a ruse, what the hell was he? A part of the illusion? He couldn’t have a truly Asian identity, because many of the old East Asian nations shunned him for his Western upbringing, and he could not entirely understand their values either. So he was a kid who kinda had to figure out late and very very suddenly who the fuck he was and wanted to be.

And, well, he’s done pretty well for himself, hasn’t he. After having a total crisis and questioning everything, I think Singapore slowly started to realize that just because the British Empire as a political entity didn’t last forever, that didn’t mean that his entire childhood and identity weren’t real. The love he gave to his siblings and the love he got back, the hard work he put in, his bond with Arthur and the safe, happy childhood he had — those memories and feelings didnt have to be diminished by what came after. Essentially, he learned the lesson all nations have to learn, which is that one needs to be able to discern between duties as a nation and feelings as a human being, and to some extent keep them separate to protect both.

Whoooooo ok I’ll stop there because this turned into a dissertation, sorry. Let me know if there are any specifics u want me to elaborate on or anything I missed, but I’ll leave this here for today :)

[multiverseforger]

When acquaintances miraculously survive a plane crash unscathed, they conclude that since they are "living on borrowed time" they should band together for hazardous adventures. The four—pilot Kyle "Ace" Morgan, daredevil Matthew "Red" Ryan, strong and slow-witted Leslie "Rocky" Davis, and scientist Walter Mark "Prof" Haley—became the Challengers of the Unknown.

Soon famous, the Challengers accept many "unknown challenges" from The Pentagon, mad scientists, and people with a problem. Over time the "Challs" establish the hollowed-out Challengers Mountain as headquarters. Later they adopt an hourglass logo to symbolize time running out. They encounter genies, common and sophisticated thieves, rocs, aliens and robots good and bad. Their adventures later veer toward superheroics, and take in everything from occult menaces to Bermuda Triangle mysteries. The Challengers travel through space, time, and other dimensions. They encounter the likes of the Doom Patrol, Deadman, Swamp Thing, Jonny Double, and the Sea Devils, with whom they fight the criminal group Scorpio.[15] June Robbins, a computer genius and archaeologist, joined the Challengers for many adventures as an "honorary" or "girl" Challenger. June first officially joins the team after the rogue robot 'Ultivac' seemingly kills one of the original Challengers. However that man returns thanks to heroic efforts of modern medical science.[16]

When Red is killed,[17] a teen rock star/engineering genius immediately wages a vendetta against the three-man team. "Tino Mannaray" turns out to be Martin Ryan, Red's kid brother, who blames the team for his death. Red eventually returns; though blown up, he had been dosed with shape-changing Liquid Light and rendered amnesiac, but still nearly conquered the Pacific as a Tiki god.

As the team's challenges become more occult, Red's brother Tino is blinded. Red donates an eye to his brother and dons an eye patch. Eventually Red receives an eye transplant. Prof becomes possessed by an evil spirit and is shot by a villain. While he recovers, Corinna Stark, a mysterious blonde with mystical knowledge, invites herself onto the team. The Challengers fight occult alien-monsters in backwoods villages and dark dreams, and Rocky and Red fight for Corinna's affection.

ChallengervilleEdit

The Challs are later semi-retired, their mountain a theme park, and their adventures disregarded as cooked-up articles in a tabloid, The Tattletale. The nearby town has renamed itself Challengerville, managing to thrive on the team's name. A cosmic entity, which prides itself as "the personification of all evil", influences the entity Multi-Man to blow up the mountain. The town is destroyed. Hundreds die, including, seemingly, Prof and June.[18] The surviving Challengers are placed on trial, but eventually freed with the testimony of Superman. They are, however, ordered to disband.[19]

A tabloid reporter, Moffet, becomes involved with the group after several unexplained incidents. Moffet begins to piece together many seemingly unrelated massacres. Red became a violent, vigilante mercenary. Ace becomes an addled mystic, losing new-found friends due to inattention and incompetence. Rocky becomes lost in a life of luxury and ends up in an insane asylum.

Eventually the three reunite, and with Moffet's aid, find a strange portal near what was once Challengerville. They discover Prof and June, pregnant, "alive" in a strange "phantom zone". The dark demon confronts them and the final battle comes down to Moffet and a neutron bomb. The decision to attack is literally taken out of his hands by Multi-Man, who sacrifices himself to destroy the demon.[20]

"The New Challengers of the Unknown", including ghostly Prof and June, were poised to take on menaces in the dark corners of the world.[20]

Later, four new Challengers pursue X-Files-like horrors. They are Clay Brody, NASCAR driver; Brenda Ruskin, physicist; Kenn Kawa, radical games designer; and Marlon Corbet, commercial pilot, who also miraculously survived a plane crash. They stopped sacrificial wackos, drug-juiced zombies, vengeful ghosts, Amazon cults, Lovecraftian monsters, mass suicides, humming buildings, and other oddities. They were advised by Rocky Davis, older and grayer and alone. It was eventually revealed the original Challengers were dematerialized by a mad scientist's ray-weapon. The same ray caused both plane crashes, as well as others. Soon the original Challs reappeared, helped the young Challs defeat the madman, then walked back into oblivion (minus a wounded Rocky) to shut down a runaway Tesla field. The young Challengers vowed to fight on.

Superboy discovers the missing Challengers —Ace, Red, Prof, and June—in Hypertime. The team was waging guerrilla war against Black Zero (a Superboy variant). With Black Zero defeated, the team returns to Earth, but loses Red along the way. Reunited with Rocky in Metropolis, hosted by Rip Hunter, the original Challengers vow to explore Hypertime, "the greatest unknown", to find Red.

Two Challengers partake in Infinite Crisis. Rocky Davis and Prof Haley help stem the escape of prisoners from Blackgate Prison.[21] Rocky fights in the Battle of Metropolis. He is one of dozens of heroes fighting the opposing army of the Secret Society of Super Villains. The Society is ultimately defeated.[22]

Later, on a world without superheroes, a blogger, a hip hop artist, an eco-terrorist, and two others discovers they'd been genetically enhanced and chip-programmed to be soldier-pawns by the Hegemony, a cabal of billionaires who secretly run that world. Made slaves on a Moon base, three Challengers blow up the base, escape to Earth, and declare war on the Hegemony until (like the obliquely mentioned earlier Challengers) their "borrowed time" runs out

[dc-fics-and-pics]

YJ SuperboyXReader

promt:Could you write a cute Conner (Young Justice 2010 cartoon) x short & kind! Reader oneshot, where Reader (a clone of Emma Frost) and her boyfriend (Conner) are suddenly stranded on a beautiful tropical island? From Reader's POV?

Just a quick trip he said. You will be back in a week he said. Nothing will go wrong he said. He said we have to take a quick boat ride from Miami to Peurto Rico. He said that there was some Young Justice business to be taken care of. He said he had other business so you have to do it. You said hell no. Conner said nothing.

Ever since you joined the young justice team Nightwing had sent you off on little missions with Conner. Anytime he was to busy or didn't feel the need for the whole team to do something you and Conner were sent away. On the travels around the globe, you and COnner had grown to be very close. You learned to get to know him and even develope a crush on your assigned partner. So when Conner asked you out on a date out of the blue while on a plane to Huston Texas you were very quick to except.

You had never cared about all the places you had to travel. You didn't mind the long car rides or flights, but you told Nightwing day one that under no circumstance would you ever take a boat anywhere.

Here you are though. Rocking back and forth gripping a petal bar for dear life as your stomach threatens to burst.

Not one for confrontation you reluctantly agreed after hours of begging your team leader to not make you go on this trip. However, he never did inform you of where you were passing through. You had already stepped on the boat with Conner the rest of the team waiving you off from the deck.

As you clenched onto Conners's hand he uttered a sentence that made you want to fling yourself into the water below you, "I've always wanted to go through the Bermuda Triangle."

You were shocked at first remembering the geography of where you were sailing. Then jumping overboard crossed your mind. You had seen the movies and read the books. Not only where you already afraid of sailing you now had to sail through what you deemed was the scariest part of the ocean.

A quick conversation with lagoon boy made your fears double after the many stories he had of the devil's triangle and the creatures that lurk within it.

Your ship was small and Conner was the captain. He had said he was "programmed" with the knowledge to sail but that didn't ease your worries. You tried to leave after hearing what he said but he was already sailing away from the pier, the team shrinking from your sight.

Finally, your stomach decides enough is enough and it releases your breakfast into the water below.

Conner rubs a soothing hand on your back and you relax into his gentle touch. You turn around pushing your head into his chest letting his arms wrap around your back easing away your fears and anxiety.

Lighting strikes about you with a loud crack. You jump in Conners's arms and he looks up at the sky. It is now you notice the dark clouds that loom above you. Suddenly you grow very aware of the state you are in. Out at sea in the Bermuda triangle with a storm about to commence. Thunder ripples through the clouds and a bright flash of blue lights up the dark sky.

Rain patters on the deck of the boat and you and Conner both scurry into the shelter as the rain grows heavy. Thunder booms and lighting follows all while the rain drenches the deck. The soft sway of the boat turns into a lurching rock that doesn't ease your already upset stomach. The waves crash up around the side of the sip. It looks as if the ocean is trying to jump onto the boat, some harsh waves accomplish this and flood the once dry floor. Conner is gone from you now trying to save you both from the harsh waves swallowing up the ship. Your boat seems to sink under the waves letting them tower above you looming up high before they crash down on you.

You can no longer distinguish ocean from rain. All you see is water around you that threatens to swallow you up. The once soothing sound of oceans played to help people fall asleep is now so loud you wonder how anyone could find it soothing. More waves hop over the rails drenching the ground outside and you wonder if this is the way you will go. You wonder why you agreed to do this. You wonder why you ever ran from your Earth. You wonder why you ever came here. You wonder until you can't wonder anymore.

~~~~

The ground is hot underneath you, the sound of squawking birds fill your ears. Opening your palms you can feel sand in your hands, Your eyes fly open and you take in your surrounding. You lay on a white sandy beach. Turning your head you can see Conners sleeping form next to you.

Shaking him relentlessly," Conner wake-up!" you yell.

Conner opens his eyes slowly but once he settles on you and the serene behind you he sits up quickly looking around at the ocean threatening to grab him. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." You both stand up shaking the sand off your bodies. The ship you were once on is perched on the sand not far from you.

Walking up to it Conner fiddles with the large machine before deciding its broken. You decide to leave Conner with the ship and venture into the tropical jungle on the other side of the beach. You look around at the surrounding trees and vines. Bushes rustle as you pass but you can never catch a glips of any animals. A large palm tree looms above you, at the top, you spot some coconuts. You decide to head back to conner and get him to climb the tree to fetch you guys some coconuts. When you get back to the recked ship you can feel his frustration. As soon as you get close you can hear him cursing in his minds. You try not to use your powers to read Conner's mind because you know you don't like it but he is almost projecting his thoughts onto you. You come up behind him and place a hand on his shoulder. He sighs looking at you you decide to here give him a quick kiss before telling him about your discovery.

"I found some coconuts on a tree back in the jungle can you climb up there and get some?"

"Of course." He smiles at you before kissing you again and you lead him to the tree. As you pass the rustling in the bushes doesn't stop. COnner seems to notice to and looks around each time it happens. He follows behind you on the narrow path. The rustling gets louder and you hear a shriek come from behind you. "Monkeys!"

You whip around thinking a monkey has attacked conner. A small little chimp sits on a branch looking at Conner who has retreated backward against a tree. ANothe Monkey crawls from the tree he leans on and puts a hand on his shoulder he yelps again and runs behind you as you burst out laughing. You know that Conner doesn't like monkeys but he doesn't like a lot of things. You shrug him off and go up to the chimp, "Hi little guy."

"Y/N stay away from that thing." Conner tries to grab your hand and pull you away but you move away from him. "C' mon Y/N lets go."

you sigh and continue down the path. Conner jumps every time a bush rustles or a twig breaks. You laugh at how scared he is until you come to the patch of palm trees. Conner grabs on and climbs the tree. You are surprised at how fast he is able to scale the large tree. When he gets to the top you notice a couple of the cute little chimps who poke their head out. You look around and notice the hundreds of little heads watching conner at the top of the tree and can't help but get a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. "Hey, Conner babe I think you should come down!"

"It's fine Y/N," he shouts back down to you and you let it go. He grabs one of the coconuts and yanks it off the tree. As soon as he does the herd of monkeys race up at him. He shouts and let's go falling down from the tree.

"Conner are you okay?" you ask as he lays on the ground.

He gets up quickly tucking the coconut under his arm, "Run."

You both sprint down the narrow path as the hoard of monkeys race behind you. You sprint until you can see the beach coming into your vision. Some of the monkeys leap at the coconut in Conners's arm but he moves it away dodging their attempts. You both jump out of the jungle onto the hot sandy beach and the chimps screech at you from the treas. The stay in the jungle and you and Conner laugh victoriously from the beach. You both take the coconut back to the ship and conner cracks it open. You drink the coconut water and Conner eats the meat of it.

~~~~

When you both had gotten sick of coconut you decide to build a fire. On the beach, you gather some twigs and logs and make a pile. Using some alcohol and a lighter that you found in the ship you are able to start the fire. You sit beside it until it starts to get dark. You leave the fire going all night while you both sleep in the ship. You both curl up on the small bed in the boat.

When morning comes you forget that you are shipwrecked on a deserted island. You curl into conner for a little longer until he wakes up. When he does he restarts the fire to alert any passing planes and you both decide not to go back into the jungle and that you would take your shot at fishing.

The boat didn't have any fishing rods so you watch from the beach as a shirtless Conner jumps around in the water attempting to grab a fish with his bare hands. "Y/N, come help me!" he yells from the ocean. You sigh and trudge into the cold water next to him. The water goes up to his pecs but it goes up to your shoulders. When you start to see some fish swim at your feet you both dive down trying to grab some but the all swim around you not even gracing your fingers.

After the fourth time of trying to grab fish, you get bored and splash Conner. His once dry face now has water running down his pouting face. You giggle at him and he splashes you back. It turns into a water fight. You are both splashing each other. Your hair is soaking wet and you tackle him into the water fully submerging you both. You wrestle around in the water till it isn't wrestling. It starts with you quickly pecking him on the lips. When you try and pull away he holds your head in place and kisses you again.. You can taste the salty water on his lips and you smile into the kiss. He grabs under you legs lifting you up for you to wrap your legs around his waist. You shiver when the soft breeze blows the cold water droplets on your body. Your kiss is interrupted by the familiar laughing of Gar. Conner drops you in the water and you look over at the bioship that had magically appeared above you.

Nightwing pops his head out of the open hanger with a megaphone, "Hey we are here to save you." He pauses for a minute, "We can go if you want to continue,"

"NO!" you and conner both shout.

The ship pulls around landing on the small beach in front of you blowing some of the sand underneath it. You both trudge out of the water and grab your stuff out of the wrecked ship and run into the ship. The team sits inside the ship  Snickering. You roll your eyes and scowl at Nightwing you avoid your gaze. You plop into your seat next to conner. Your wet clothes squish when you sit.

You mumble, "I am never going on a boat again."

[tessatechaitea]

Batman Loves Superman #2

Hey DC! Stop portraying people who laugh as pure evil!

I don't know what genius centrist character speaks first in this comic book but fuck them.

People love to make statements that make them sound above it all. Statements that let them get away with sounding like a logical and rational person while really exposing the terrible things they believe. "Weapons are only tools." The "only" in that statement speaks volumes. They're defending weapons. Weapons are neutral. They're beyond blame. They're innocuous. Their follow-up statement providing evidence to bolster the first statement, "means to an end," shows that they don't give a fuck about context. What "end" are you trying to reach if your tools are weapons? Silverware are only tools as well, a means to an end, but we know that the end reached by silverware almost certainly is simply an empty tub of ice cream as opposed to a school full of murdered children. Oh no! Look at me bringing up murdered children to play on the emotions of the audience! How dare I bring in a real world example of an end that the means of these mere tools brings about! If your defense of weapons are that they're simply tools to be used to reach a particular end, you can't just ignore that the "end" you're discussing in the most general terms is violence. Weird that people who can't wait to be attacked so they can kill somebody and prove that their choice to carry a weapon was the right one often try to distance themselves from the inherent violence of their beloved weapon. The person speaking is Commissioner Gordon who laughed last issue so he's obviously a monster. I guess he's trying to point out that the real evil has been locked away at Arkham and the tools the evil people used aren't dangerous on their own which is why they've been locked in an armory outside Gotham City. He's come to liberate them with the help of a mystery person who has a sort of claw hand (Black Condor?!). A good writer would reveal who it was because they know that would get the reader really excited about Batman and Superman's confrontation with them. A good writer continually gives up surprising information. A mediocre writer hides as much as possible from the reader because it's the only way they can make a story suspenseful. Meanwhile, Shazam has begun calling himself "Earth's Mightiest Nightmare." See, he usually calls himself "Earth's Mightiest Mortal" so you can see how hilarious his wordplay is. But don't laugh because you don't want to appear wicked to the people around you.

Bullshit. Batman absolutely wants to fight him.

Shazam uses his magic lightning to try to destroy Batman but Batman just dodges because he probably trained with Himalayan Lightning Dodgers years ago. When Shazam uses his magic for evil, The Phantom Stranger's nose bleeds and Zatanna gets severe cramps. I guess magic in the DC Universe is like the Force in Star Wars. It's disturbing and shit. Superman almost gets the upper hand but, as I pointed out how the exciting battle might go last issue, Shazam turns back into Billy Batson to remind Superman he's fighting a child. So Superman is all, "Aw, shucks! I didn't mean nothing! You can fight it, Billy! Stop finding things funny!" But then Shazam is all, "SHAZAM! Fooled you!", and Superman is all, "D'oh!", and Batman is all, "SMDH." But remember! Batman is the king of the DC Universe! So he's definitely got a way to stop Shazam. I bet he's got a Bat-Monkey's Paw in his belt with two wishes left on it. Batman doesn't like to talk about the first wish and why Alfred now has to care for that tiny pianist living in the terrarium in the study. Batman doesn't use his Bat-Monkey's Paw to save the day but if you thought that idea was completely ludicrous, you'd better prepare your mind for Joshua Williamson's solution.

Batman finds the Batman Who Laughs Batwing, flies it up in the sky where Superman and Shazam are battling, and then, um, I don't know. He launches himself out the cockpit window against the g-forces of the accelerating Batwing? I suppose Batman learned to do this while training with the Sheep Hoppers of Aberdeen?

Um. Wait a second. Is Batman the greatest detective or am I because I think I just solved the mystery of the six heroes turned into Heroes Who Laugh.

The poison batarangs all have the symbols of the hero they're meant to infect on them! Just look more closely at the molds you found, idiots!

Shazam escapes because Superman held back and because Superman had to save Batman after Batman thought he could beat Shazam by crashing through the sturdy glass of a jet's cockpit while it was accelerating while only having a boomerang as a weapon. I guess Batman is only as smart as the writer writing him. He should have used his fucking Bat-Monkey's Paw. Later at the Bermuda Triangle Fortress of Solitude, Batman and Superman note that each Batarang Who Laughs has been infused with a specific Batman Who Laughs Juice based on the DNA of the intended victim. What they don't notice is that the Shazam one was a lightning bolt on it and the Superman one has the Kryponian symbol for hope (I know. Lame back story on the "S" on Supe's chest) on it and that they found the fucking molds for six Batarangs Who Laugh. Which means the answer to who else has been infected is in their stupid hands! Unless I'm supposed to believe that the symbols were carved onto the Batarangs Who Laugh after the fact. Which I totally don't even though that would probably be the way to do it seeing as how you're probably going to want to eventually make more than just six heroes laugh. My real opinion on this situation is that Joshua Williamson didn't actually think it through very well. Batman and Superman don't know what to do so they decide to pretend Superman was infected by Shazam. Shazam knows he didn't infect Superman but I'm sure he won't say anything to the Good Guys Who Laugh and ruin Batman and Superman's surprise when Superman goes undercover to work with the Batman Who Laughs. I'm sure failing to infect Superman so that Superman would have to pretend he's the Superman Who Laughs and thus free the Batman Who Laughs so he can find out the Batman Who Laughs plans is totally the Batman Who Laughs' plan. Because whatever the heroes do to stop the bad guys in the beginning of a story is always exactly what the bad guy knew the good guy would do. They're evil geniuses, remember! And Batman and Superman fell for it! Batman Loves Superman #2 Rating: C. If you didn't read this comic book yourself for a real world example, let me tell you how a mediocre writer writes a comic book: first, the bad guy attacks the heroes rather than doing something criminal or evil while trying to avoid the attention of the heroes. That's because a mediocre writer doesn't know how to write heroes discovering crimes being committed and instead need the villain to wave a lot and shout and say, "Hey! Jerks! I'm doing crime!" Or, better yet, have the criminal's entire plan simply be "I will antagonize the heroes for petty vengeance!" After that, the heroes will fail to stop the criminal. Depending on how long the story is, the heroes will either have to redouble their efforts and super believe in themselves to rally and win the day or the heroes will begin plans to defeat the villain. If they begin plans which make them seem like they're getting the upper hand, those plans will always be exactly what the villain wanted to happen in the first place. The heroes will then be defeated again just when they thought they were going to win! At that point, they'll probably need to do the rallying thing where they just fight a little bit harder than they did before and believe a little bit more than they believed before to show their strength of character and will. Because good always has stronger will and greater strength of character than evil! I really wish a writer would simply come up with a genius plan by the villain that isn't simply the villain saying, "They're falling right into my plans," after whatever the fuck bullshit the writer wrote. How these evil geniuses can plan such complicated and intricate plans that rely on knowing exactly what every hero is going to do is beyond my limited comprehension. I might even say it's contrived bullshit!

[sweetmoxiety]

Behind This Mask Is a Desperate Heart (Part Four)

Hospital AU

AU Summary: A fall. A single fall. It may seem like nothing until it’s all consuming. What happens when the doctors struggle to diagnosis the disease responsible for Virgil’s rapid deterioration?

Characters: Virgil, Patton, Roman, Logan.

Pairings: Moxiety and Logince.

Word Count: 1830

Warnings: Swearing, death, and speaking about it (not main character death).

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 |  Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 |

     “Logan... Lo-”

    “What Roman!” Logan snapped, whipping his head Roman’s way. Sweat dripped down his brow as he kept pressing the heel of his interlocked fingers down.

    “He’s been down forty-three minutes,” Roman said softly, fingers latching onto Logan’s arm.

    To his dismay, Logan roughly shook off his grasp. Nothing was working; the defibrillator atop the crash cart had done nothing to restart the child’s choked heart.

    Training his jaded eyes back onto the monitor, Logan watched on as the desperate pressing of his hands forged fleeting peaks. Ceasing again, Logan rattled his fist, his nails digging gratingly into his sweaty palm. And the crests were rapidly replaced with the shrill of the flatline buzz.

    ‘Fuck,’ he cursed under his breath, disregarding the throbbing ache in his arms and the sticky feeling of sweat hugging his skin as he began compressions again. The line of nurses waiting to take over had dwindled. And instead, tired eyes watched Logan’s adamant refusal.  

    “Logan,” Roman hesitated to reach out a second time, but the larger the crowd of patients that framed them, the faster he knew he needed to bring it to an end, “Lo, you need to stop.”

    “People have come back after having been down for longer,” Logan countered, rhythm faltering and voice strained.

    “Lo.., he’s been deprived of oxygen for too long.”

    Logan knew Roman was right. The longer the brain was deprived of oxygen, the worse the damage would be. Logically, he should stop. He should stop. What he was doing defied logic. But reason, faulty or not, told him that there was a chance; he’d seen it happen before. So, no, he can’t stop from pressing the heel of his palm down. He-

    “Stop, Logan,” Roman firmly grabbed Logan’s sweat-slicked arm, dragging him off the patient and onto the tile floor.

    “No-,” Logan spat coldly, trying to tug his arm free from the attending pulling him away, but that didn’t halt Roman from tugging him further as the monitor shrieked out a dying cry. It screeched at him, wailed at him, and squawked at him. And he wilted. He wilted hearing the shattering whine of the flatline. And he stopped fighting. He slumped, watching the nurses’ unplug the heart monitor; the call of the monitor vanishing like ships crossing the Bermuda triangle. Absent was the rise and fall of the child’s chest, and absent was the reassuring beep. Instead, reassurance was replaced by machine wheels being dragged away along scratched floors.

    Teal lips and muted, cold skin glaring at him from the corner of his eye sunk their teeth sharply into his memory. But what had, had tears springing into the corners of his eyes was the withered flower visage, the sagged shoulders, and the child’s arms limp at his sides. It was seeing them shelter the child in a flimsy, white sheet that caused Logan to truly depress.

    “F-Fuck off, Ro,” Logan shook, finally yanking his arm free. Stumbling, he turned, wiping away the tears before anyone could see them leave wet trails in their wake.

    “Logan-”

    Logan cleared his throat, shifting, and abruptly cutting off Roman.

    “The beta-blockers should have worked,” He, then, said all too controlled, fists clenched and watching on stiffly like a switch had been flipped. The Propranolol should have worked. Why hadn’t it worked?

    “I know, Lo,” Roman frowned with unease, guiding them both down the achromatic hallway. He’d never observed Logan as anything other than the stoic, calculating logicistian he so frequently gloated on being... “You know you didn’t do anything wrong, right?” Roman watched the other scrunch up his nose as if he’d been asked to try escargot.

    “The facts would seem to suggest otherwise,” Logan scoffed under his breath.

    “I know you know that sometimes people can’t be saved,” Roman opted to use logic against him as he ushered him through the mess room’s ajar door.  

    “I’m aware.”

    “Then you’d know it wasn’t your fault. Sometimes we just lose patients,” Roman said, shutting the door and steering Logan’s stiff frame to sit on the mattress beside him.

    “Yes, well-” Logan muttered, peeling away from the look Roman offered children to comfort them through a particularly painful injection, “I haven’t.”

    “Never?”

    “That is what I said.”

    When Roman fell silent, Logan glanced back at Roman to see his mouth curled downward like a bad omen. He was about to speak up when Roman suddenly interjected, “Do you know why I went into pediatrics?”

    “You’re too exuberant and animated for any other field,” Logan joked jadedly, scooting back further onto the bed, the mattress faintly creaking underneath him as he did so.

    “No- well, it does help with dealing with children, but no, that's not the reason,” Roman shook his head, a choked laugh caught in the back of his throat.

    “Why then?”

    He’d piqued Logan’s interest, but Roman had fallen silent a second time - two times too many. For a man that was so boisterous and noisy at every possible opportunity, him sitting there with his hands resting limply in his lap was unnerving. It was far from the childlike energy he typically exuded.

    “...Roman?”

    “In my third year of med school.., I was assigned a pediatric oncology rotation-”

    “I do remember you mentioning that quite a few times. It would appear it had an impact on you.”

    “Yes...,” He wasn���t past the point of return, but in a moment of trust he proceeded, “but I’ve never told you about Layla.”

    “Layla?”

    “She was the bravest princess,” Roman smiled ruefully, head lolling forward slightly, “She adored my marvelous story telling; her favorite tale was the battle of the dragon witch and the strong, fearless princess!”

    Pausing to collect himself as history painfully nudged its way into the present, Roman continued, “Oh, Lo, if only you could have seen the dreams reflecting in her eyes and the way she lit up every room with her contagious smiles.”

     “More contagious than dear Patton’s!” Roman’s fragile smile straddled the edge of sinking again as his fingertips swiped away new tears over old memories.

    “What happened to Layla, Roman?”

    “She had acute myelogenous leukemia...,” he let out a shaky sigh as he reached into the past to tug those memories looser. Memories of Layla were fragile treasures, priceless glimpses of hope. Memories of her enacting a battle with Roman and striking him with a foam sword before she was too sick to get out of bed weren’t allowed to simply fade away. Those memories once left his heart mangled and weeping. But memories of Layla going wide-eyed as Roman spoke frivolously of the adventures of Princess Fiona and of Layla giggling wildly as Roman’s attending poked fun at him sprung forward with dizzying speed; short, happy time capsules of history nestled in Roman’s mind.

    “She was nine, Lo, and I blamed myself. I was the one that encouraged the transplant.”

    “But you know what?” Roman continued, drying his downcast eyes with his white sleeve, “she helped me; her story shaped mine.”

     When Logan didn’t say anything, Roman resumed, his voice freckled with an incurable ache, “There was a time when I tried to shake the memories because it hurt. It pained me too much, but it was Layla that made me fight for pediatrics.”

    And a silence fell over them.

    “I- I.. I don’t know what to say.”

    “Lo, what I’m trying to tell you is that we can’t save everybody no matter how hard we try, and I know you won’t admit how much it’s eating at you and how much it’ll eat at you because ‘it defies logic’, but I want you to get it into your brainiac head of yours that you’re not alone.”

    Glancing over at Roman, Logan saw the fences torn down by the man himself, “I- Thank you, Roman.”

-------

    “Ye- yes, Patton,” Logan nodded quickly,  interrupting Patton’s distressed rambling, and eyeing the way Roman disappeared back into the E.R., “I am fine. It was just a moment of weakness.”

    “Having emotions isn’t a weakness.”

    “Emotions are messy and unpredictable and precarious.” Emotions were far from the safe clutches of reasoning and deduction; emotions just weren’t Logan’s thing.

    “You shouldn't feel guilty or view having feelings as a weakness,” Patton set the fact free from its fetters, “sure, sometimes, your feelings may not make sense, but it's not your feelings job to make sense. You just... experience them. And you have to do your best to deal with them.”

   Logan stopped, pondered even, only to recycle pages of his own inadequate words and cycle through dozens more he wouldn’t share.

    “Yeah?” Patton cocked his head, picking up again, “understanding them and being in touch with them can give us a better outlook on our issues and our situations. And by understanding how they influence us, we can better evaluate ourselves.” He could tell he was starting to sway Logan, but Logan had long ago cocooned himself in the safety of rationality.

    “Have you heard of Antonio Damasio?” Patton pursued changing Logan’s mind like he chased after a second cookie.  

    Logan shook his head.

    “Well, Antonio Damasio noticed that when his patients lost the part of the brain that controlled emotions, the patients’ decision making abilities became very poor. So, where would we be if we didn’t have the emotional side of our brains?”

    “Huh...” Logan furrowed his brow, eyeing Patton incredulously, “you seem to make a sound argument, Patton.”

    “Hmm....,” after another wordless moment of careful contemplation, Logan spoke up again, “it would seem you are.. right, Patton.” Patton was right? What..? Patton was right...

    “Oh my juice! Really?” His spirit danced with reason to celebrate, lips stretched into a shocked grin.

    “...Yes,” Logan admitted, though he much preferred not having to say it a second time. It was like pulling teeth to hear him verbally acknowledge when he was wrong, but maybe that’s what made it so astonishing to hear.

    “Come ‘ere, hug time!”

    “Fine..” Logan grumbled, letting Patton wrap his arms tightly around him, his own limbs trapped underneath the sweet sunshine’s arms circling his torso.

    “Just know that I’m here for you, Lo,” Patton squeezed, looking up at Logan before letting go. He knew Logan didn’t particularly enjoy long hugs even if they were from him.

    “Thank you, Patton.”

    “Now, how about we go get a nice warm cup of hot cocoa?”

    “That would be satisfactory.”

    “Yay! Let’s g- Oh-” Patton started and then stopped, cogs turning before setting his own universe back in motion, “maybe I should see if Virgil’s up first? You did say you wanted me to keep an eye on him. Last time I checked in on him it was three ish?”

    “That’s right,” Logan said, waving his hand, “go ahead, Patton, I’ll meet you in the cafeteria.”

“Okay! I’ll be right behind you!” Patton leapt into motion with a pep in his step. He’d done good.

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