#ALSO i could not find a dead silver kit

[warriorcatsunveiled]

Lives cut too short

[bonefall]

Bonefall's Forgotten Warriors

If you've ever set out to make a WC fan project, you've surely heard of Su Susann's Missing Kits. It was a series of authorial statements giving names to previously unnamed cats, and adding interesting little stories to many of them.

But there's also a TON of "Forgotten Warriors" that were created through timeline inconsistencies, offhanded authorial statements, or single throwaway lines in super editions. By their nature, finding these cats on the wiki is a pain in the butt. In this post I hope to compile these cats as a resource for the fandom.

So first, let's define a Forgotten Warrior.

A Forgotten Warrior does not have a big presence. Primrosepaw was first named as a Missing Kit with no mention of her name on the page or in the allegiances. Over time, she has appeared in several books and is now a widely known name in the fandom. But Blossomkit, whose only appearance is in Su Susann's Missing Kits and the worst field guide, will count as a Forgotten Warrior.

A Forgotten Warrior is not just a nondescript Clan cat. For example, if a "ThunderClan warrior" speaks up at a gathering and their name and description is not mentioned, that could be anyone. Same applies to a description that could easily describe an existing character in a Clan-- if a "White ShadowClan Warrior" appears in a modern arc, that may just be Stonewing, BUT, the "Tabby Queen with Distinct Black Markings" of TPB doesn't match any other, so she is a Forgotten Warrior.

A minor appearance inconsistency is not a Forgotten Warrior. Just to pre-empt wiseassery. Blue-eyed Dovewing and Green-eyed Dovewing are not two separate cats-- but I will note down MASSIVE appearance changes in background characters, like the magic color AND gender-changing Stoatfur (just add water!)

(also, I will not be compiling all of the random kittypets, rogues, and loners because there is too many of them. I could, however, be persuaded to compile all cats of a specific group, like The Kin, Sisters, BloodClan, etc.)

This post is an updating list as I find and catalogue more cats. Last update: 8/21/23, version 1.1 Added new category: Sudden Elders

Key: X = No gender F = Female M = Male

Su Susann's Missing Kits (WIP; will update with full descriptions later)

Cranberrypaw

Thistlepaw

Drizzlepaw

Rustlepaw

Elderkit

Tulipkit

Lynxkit

Cherrypaw

Chestnutkit

Cricketkit

Duckkit

Dragonflykit

Rubblekit

Turtlekit

Quietkit

Lavenderkit

Waterkit

Oatkit

Carpkit

Morningkit F Dead child of Graypool. Gray-cream with a white dash.

Splashkit M Dead child of Graypool, gray with lighter flecks.

Swankit F Silver-and-black child of Graypool who lives just long enough to see her take Mistykit and Stonekit as fosters, and then dies.

Splashpaw F RiverClan apprentice of the RiverClan Swallowtail, appears in the allegiances of Dawn, said to have drowned in human nets while fishing with Stonestream.

Storkkit

Quailkit

Eaglekit

Hillkit

Downkit

Swampkit

Blossomkit

Spirit Cats

Skunkpaw M From Goosefeather's Curse, an ancient ThunderClan apprentice who helps him cheat at Hide and Seek. Has a white stripe that parts his face and heterochromia (right blue eye and left green eye)

Fenneldust F A Dark Forest cat killed by Thistleclaw in Spottedleaf's Heart. Light brown tabby from ThunderClan

Batear M Spottedleaf's Heart. Black and white with a disfigured half-face. From ShadowClan

Palefoot M Gray tabby in Night Whispers who speaks to Flametail.

Lightningpaw M Gives Crookedstar a life, from RiverClan

Lilyflower F Gives Crookedstar a life, from RiverClan

Shiningheart, Brightspirit, Braveheart FFM Cats modeled after a real family of WC fans who died in a natural disaster, appearing in Long Shadows

Mallowfur F Spirit who greets Featherwhisker on his first trip to the moonstone.

Inconsistencies and Replacements

Cypresspaw F Brown and white; appears in Thunder and Shadow and is replaced by four Lakeheart kits.

Wavepaw F Silver and white; appears in Thunder and Shadow and is replaced by four Lakeheart kits.

Stoatfur X First appearing as a ginger tom, they become a tortie-and-white molly between books.

Happykit M A fan name for a kitten killed in the Great Battle which the author approved of. Changed to "Weaselkit" by the family tree.

Silverpaw X Appears in the allegiances of Fire and Ice and Forest of Secrets and then vanishes.

Greenflower F Supposed to be the foster mother for Feathertail and Stormfur, forgotten between books and replaced by Mosspelt.

Gorsetail M A pale tom warrior who is trapped by humans during the destruction of the Forest, suddenly replaced by ANOTHER Gorsetail who is a silver-and-white molly in the Po3 arc

Unnamed Background Cats

Distinct Tabby Queen From Into the Wild, greets Goldenflower as she leaves the nursery. ThunderClan.

Tortie Molly From Fire and Ice, seems to be a friend of Morningflower. From WindClan.

Gray Tom From Fire and Ice, another exiled warrior of WindClan who alerts the Clan to Fireheart's presence.

Tabby Tom

From Fire and Ice, another exiled warrior of WindClan. Carries Morningflower's kitten; May be Onewhisker.

Field Guide Exclusives

Smokepaw X From Secrets of the Clans. May be a consistency error, given that the authors forgot that Smokepaw TNP fell off a cliff and they could be Smokefoot. Close with Tawnypelt, likes to climb trees and watch boats.

Pikepaw M Large, dark gray. The only serious apprentice in his training session of BOTC while the siblings squabble. RiverClan.

Duckpaw F Mean to Rushpaw while training. Sister of Tangle and Rush. RiverClan.

Tanglepaw M Large, big-pawed, long-furred. Mean to Rushpaw. Brother of Rush and Duck. RiverClan.

Rushpaw F Short legged, tiny, and pathetic. Awful at swimming. Girlfail. Sister of Duck and Tangle. RiverClan.

Silverpaw X Sees Onestar and the POV kittypets on RiverClan territory, and brings them to Reedwhisker.

Adderkit M Lost spirit baby in Cats of the Clans from WindClan. Killed by an adder and named after it. Forced to listen to Rock say dumb shit about Nightcloud at the world's most uncomfortable sleepover.

Spiderfoot M Anxious, battle-averse ShadowClan warrior fresh out of Apprenticeship at the Eclipse Battle, tormented by RiverClan warriors while hiding in an abandoned building. Said to have left to become a kittypet

Rabbittail M WindClan ancestor of Webfoot who was caught in a human trap for REAL rabbits, but chewed his way out.

Sudden Elders

These cats suddenly appear as elders despite never having been seen before.

Darkfoot M Appears as a WindClan elder without warning when the Clans get to the lake.

Oatwhisker M Appears as a WindClan elder without warning when the Clans get to the lake.

Snaketail M Brown ShadowClan elder with a striped tail

Ivytail F A brown tabby in RiverClan who dies of oil poisoning

[nudgeling]

I've had a resurgence of listening to First Aid Kit recently so I decided to pair up a bunch of their songs and lyrics to traffic characters and ships. I'm surprised they’re not more popular in fandom spaces since they’re pretty similar genre-wise to both Crane Wives and the Oh Hellos, so consider this is my community pitch (+ commentary cuz i wanna)

Fleeting one - BigB

"My love is a fleeting one / My man could be anyone / And our love is a setting sun / My life is fleeting one / My work is just a web I've spun / Oh, my life is a setting sun / Baffled by the lives we were lent / We met the end too soon / I was honest when I told you / We're as cryptic as the moon"

BigB has a bit of a history with wavy loyalties. The secret soulmates with Grian, betraying Cleo, and most recently tricking Skizz (I know that was resolved but a pattern is a pattern my man). And well, not that I have any clue what the man's up with all the cryptic gaslighting but I feel like that applies as well.

The lyrics outside the chorus seem to be about a couple falling out of love, but I like to apply it to him and Cleo, which still fits fairly well. Angst galore ofc.

Wolf - Pearl

"When I run through the deep dark forest long after this begun / Where the sun would set, the trees were dead, and the rivers were none / And I hope for a trace to lead me back home from this place / But there was no sound there was only me and my disgrace"

Scratch this being the most Pearl-like FAK song, this is the most Pearl song ever. It's basically what started this whole project. All the lyrics and all the vibes just screams DL Pearl. The song is also a bop, one of my personal favs, if I were to recommend just one of these to listen to then this is a strong contender.

Josefin - Martyn

"You go home with feet bare in the snow / You raise up your head to the dead / You seek of such magical things / And nobody knows where you've been"

This smells of watcher lore guys. Don’t have much more commentary than that, it’s just watcher lore straight up.

King of the World - Lizzie

"I keep running around / Trying to find the ground / But my head is in the stars / And my feet are in the sky / Well I'm nobody's baby / I'm everybody's girl / I'm the queen of nothing / I'm the king of the world"

The lyrics is giving Last Life Lizzie, but it’s also one of the more whimsical-sounding songs on the list which feels very Lizzie in general.

I'll admit the rest of the lyrics isn’t particularly easy to tie into the life series since there’s a bunch of specific modern references like going to the airport and traveling through states, but I love the song way too much not to include it. Might be the personal favourite.

Rebel heart - Desert duo

"You told me once I have a rebel heart / I don't know if that's true / But I believe you saw something in me that lives inside you too / Now I all I hear is the wind / There’s a storm coming through / Did I misplace or forsake my love now that I gave it to you?"

Picking just one lyric section from this song was difficult. Every single word, top to bottom, fits Scarian like a glove. It also slams in a "But I know you truly saw me / Even if just for a while" which just MMMM. Makes me wanna bite someone.

I Found a Way - Treebark

"We play the game with skillful hands / And so I asked for your demands / "Give me your love, give me your gun" / And you traced us back to where we begun"

Tbh this song could apply to a lot of traffic dynamics but it had a lot of loyalty themes which is why I put it at Treebark specifically. That being said: man. It works so well. Specifically Martyn POV. The gun in the lyric above would ofc be the beheading, plus the song later mentions the protagonist having a lot of guilt and being prone to running. It's got C!Martyn all over it.

My Silver Lining - Skizz

"I try not to hold on to what is gone / I try to do right what is wrong / I try to keep on keeping on / Yeah I just keep on keeping on / I hear a voice calling / Calling out for me / These shackles I've made in an attempt to be free / Be it for reason, be it for love / I won't take the easy road"

This is another one where it just is Skizz. He’s probably been the most consistantly loyal and good-natured person in the series, doing anything and everything for his team. I feel this especially with how he was in Limited Life, being determined to spread some light into the world despite the game they found themselves in. When making this list I found that most of these songs could fit multiple dynamics/characters, but this is his song, full stop.

Stay Gold - Flower Husbands

"The sun shone high those few summer days / Left us in a soft, wide-eyed haze / It shone like gold / It shone like gold / But just as the moon, it shall stray / So dawn goes down today / No gold can stay / No gold can stay"

👏ANGST👏GALORE

Another one where I just want to quote the whole song. The song is all about grieving time periods and memories you can’t get back, to which I'm thinking late-game 3rd life, post-3rd life divorce or s1 empires characters having weird nostalgia. I go feral for all of it.

Bonus empires:

Heavy storm - Sausage

"I saw, I saw, I saw, I saw an old photograph / And the picture that appeared / Well, it took me back to the times / When she was around / She used to play that old mandolin / And the moon and the sea invited her in / I wish that I had told her by then / What she knew deep down / That she only wished that time would come back"

S1 Sausage angst my beloved. Or s2, could work either way, but I'm partial to s1. "She" could be either Pearl or Gem, however there is a "he" in the first chorus which is very much Fhwip. Like Stay Gold it’s all about grieving old times, so I like to imagine a post S1 Sausage grieving his old family :D

[fernsnailz]

Hey! Recently stumbled upon your stuff after one of my friends shared it with me and it's super cool!

I've never been terribly into Archie but seeing someone try to make sense of the lore is always fun. I'm wondering though, if the IDW characters and plotlines were introduced in Archie first and Archie just kept going, how would you incorporate them into Archie's world?

Would Tangle become a leading member of the Freedom Fighters? Would Whisper join the Secret Freedom Fighters? How would the Metal Virus play out in Archie's world? That kinda stuff! Would love to see your perspective of how it could be done

oh man um. i wrote a lot for this one LMAO SORRY

i think one big takeaway i have is that incorporating the idw plotlines and characters into post-reboot archie sonic probably wouldn’t be super difficult, especially considering some of the idw plotlines were ideas the archie writers had before the series was cancelled. the metal virus saga is the most notable of these ideas, and would probably play out in a similar way to how it did in idw if it were put in post-reboot archie (just with more characters available). there could be minor differences to the idw plots like how the freedom fighters interact with the idw cast, how silver and gold’s future shenanigans affect everything, breezie the hedgehog hosting the chao race arc, some small stuff like that.

i think the main post-reboot/idw character dynamic i would me most excited to see is between eclipse and surge (and by extension kit). they have commonality in being cruel reflections of other characters, but i doubt they would bond over it. eclipse is hellbent on destroying shadow to get revenge for his lost alien race - his destructive purpose is for reasons and people beyond him, not just for himself. surge and kit’s destruction is personal and internal, driven by grudges they were never in control of. surge wants sonic dead because she’s convinced he ruined HER life, not anyone else’s. i think eclipse would find them selfish, and surge would think eclipse is a moron. they could be at odds, which would be CRAZY ironic given their mirrors (sonic and shadow) are also usually at odds. ugh the irony of it all

however, the big challenge here is figuring out how the idw story and cast could fit into pre-reboot archie. if i tried to fit all of idw into pre-reboot i might go crazy, so i’ll just go over some concepts that interest me the most. pre-reboot ideas are below the cut because i have a lot to say <3

1. whisper is an ex-secret freedom fighter

this one feels obvious (especially since you suggested it lol), it would make sense for whisper to be a secret freedom fighter since that’s literally what she does in idw. however, i think whisper would actually stay AWAY from the freedom fighters because she lost everyone on her old team. this is an important part of her character in idw, and it would still be important here.

i think this could fit into archie if there were multiple secret freedom fighters (similar to how there are multiple freedom fighter groups, like the downunda freedom fighters). it could be interesting if whisper was a part of an older secret FF group in another location, but left the freedom fighters after everyone on it was killed. and it would be REALLY interesting if whisper’s group was ALSO formed by harvey who, and she fears the same fate might fall onto the new secret freedom fighters. idk that might be a bit of a stretch, but it could be interesting

i would want to keep the tangle and whisper dynamic, so i think both of them would reject the secret freedom fighters if they were invited and do work on their own or with jewel. it would be hilarious to see tangle talk to larry lynx tho

2. the metal virus is not robotnik's creation

the metal virus saga would be very strange to fit into pre-reboot archie because… it kinda already happened? the very long war between the mobians and robotnik was initiated by the roboticizer. archie robotnik has created touch-based roboticization before, and even brought back the roboticizer for operation clean sweep (which roboticized sally right before the reboot). so why go back to it again?

i think there are reasons to be found for robotnik returning to the roboticizer plot (especially since the metal virus is very unique in how it works). however, i think the metal virus saga could have an interesting archie take if someone other than robotnik created the virus. like what if it was created by the dark legion? maybe they wanted to come up with a way to create more robotic enhancements, but then somehow it got out of hand and broke containment. it would still be robotnik's problem since the dark legion works under him, but he would see it as an issue much faster than he would in the idw version.

or maybe it was created by doctor finitevus in a plot to take out the dark legion in the most ironic way possible? i dunno finitevus's motives are mostly just "i like being evil" so maaaybe it could work?

regardless of who created it, i think it would follow a similar format to idw where the severity of the situation would cause the entire cast to unite - ESPECIALLY if the virus reached across the multiverse. let's get zonic in here babey i miss him

3. SCOURGE AND SURGE BABEY!

this would be wild given that surge is kinda the spiritual successor to scourge. i think surge and kit should still be from mobius prime and created by dr starline (i could MAYBE argue that dr finitevus could make them, but i honestly don't know why he would). once surge and kit are on their own, it could be interesting to see them join the destructix - and then it would be great to watch them completely tear it apart.

surge and scourge Would Not Get Along. they're both green and hate sonic, but why the hell does sonic get TWO green reflections? which one is the BETTER reflection? which one is gonna be the one to finally end that little blue freak's miserable life? you can get a reflection from a mirror, but if you place two mirrors in front of each other you'll only get existential dread and a desire to beat the shit out of the other mirror.

4. idw shadow accidentally destroys the mobius 30 years later timeline (OOPS!!)

ok this one’s personal becuase the 25/30 year later future (aka light mobius) is something i Do Not Like, even after ian flynn took it over. it is a bad ending for the cast. even so, i really want the prime versions of these characters to see this fucked up future - especially shadow. and it would REALLY suck for shadow to see the light mobius future after all of his fuck-ups in the idw plot (failing to beat neo metal sonic, falling victim to the metal virus, you get the idea). time travel is an easy thing to work around writing wise, maybe my boy zonic could help them get there.

but yeah, main reason i want this is to send prime shadow through a moral crisis. a future with statues of a false deity maria and a tyrannical version of him hellbent on destroying everything would terrify prime shadow - but it wouldn't surprise him. he knows very well what previous versions of him were capable of. and given that idw shadow has some plot beats and character moments that are Not Very Good, i think it would be interesting for that version of him to get a wake up call from the horror of this awful future.

i would definitely want shadow to see light mobius, but i think it would be good to have prime sonic and possibly amy join him (sonic because he would also be horrified by light mobius, and amy because she's NOT EVEN IN THE 25/30 YEARS LATER TIMELINE??? where did she go???? did she fucking DIE??? sorry i hate light mobius lol)

this is something i've thought about even before getting this ask because i love making shadow sad. i'd love to make a comic about it some day but it's definitely too large of an idea for me to do within reason lol

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

there are some smaller places where i think the extensive lore of archie would benefit the idw characters, like if dr starline was from downunda and worked as one of eggman's dozen. but otherwise that's about all i have! i am so sorry i did not expect to write this much but i kept getting ideas.

thank you for your ask it was really fun to try and tie some of these wack ass plots together lmao

[brainless-snail]

More clangen cats in a record amount of time

All of the dead cats besides ones I've already drawn (aka my excuse to draw floating cats)

Lore+notes below cut

Also small note I noticed that the tag i was using was being used by a clangen blog. I've created a new tag for these characters and will edit the previous posts on this clan shortly.

Anyways lore ^-^

Firchasm He/Him (cat with black eyes)-

Firchasm was a cat that joined the clan and had horrible luck, getting injured and sick a lot. Firchasm is also the only dark forest resident. He killed an apprentice while the apprentice's sister, who was also his apprentice at the time, watched. He was exiled and died 4 moons later. Currently he's been trying to visit a lot of cats and doesn't seem to have any idea what he's doing.

Specklepelt He/Him (Top left)-

Specklepelt is the Starclan guide and therefore technically nothing happens to them in game but I did make some lore for him. Specklepelt is the only tie to Songclan (the clan where most founders of all the clans previously came from) Echoclan currently has. The catch is that only a warrior known as Skytalon (I plan to draw him in the next post) is aware of him. He has been able to interact with Stemmouse (med cat from the first post) once but nothing more since. Basically he's kind of in purgatory, most of the time only being able to watch without being able to interact with living cats except for Skytalon.

Elmfire She/Her (Ginger cat)-

Elmfire was one of the founders of the clan, being one of the kits the group found and sort of raised when they got to their current territory. She died early on so there isn't too much I can say about her. (For reference I have two notes that mention her, being her warrior ceremony and her death) She was killed by Bugclan after finding and trying to return some kits, resulting in a misunderstanding.

Myrtleraven He/Him (Brown cat)-

Myrtleraven was the first death in the clan, dying on Moon 4. He was hit by a car. Besides that, he didn't do too much. He was on patrols where he found injured loners that passed away when the cat attempted to bring them to camp but that's really it. Honestly I was a little glad though because he looked so much like Splinterspeck (not really but when I first started I could not tell who was who)

Glowegg He/Him (Silver cat with blue eyes)-

Glowegg was an old man and died in his sleep. He was originally supposed to be the leader of the newly created Echoclan, being the deputy of Songclan. However, not wanting the new found responsibility of leadership, he passed it on to his niece (see the first post for her lore) and retired. He does feel guilty about it now, seeing about how it ruined so much for her but can't do much else but watch.

Ravenkit He/Him (Bottom left)-

Ravenkit died of kittencough. He's a child so there's not much to say about him. One of his fathers did die the moon he was born and Ravenkit was the kit who looked the most like him (which is a stretch since none of his kids really looked like him)

Goldpaw He/Him (Bottom right)-

Goldpaw was the cat murdered by Firchasm. Beyond that, there's not much of interest to him. Tricklestep was his mentor and she seemed to be a good one at that.

Also little design notes for all of the cats: It's a little hard to see but all of their pupils are star shaped. I was going to do white lines as well but it didn't look right so I left it at that small detail.

[whoslaurapalmer]

okay so, lindsay lohan was on the tonight show with jimmy fallon, but more importantly, she did a parent trap skit to announce her guest star status, which led me to rereading your parent trap au, and well, here i am to sing your praises — ahhhhhh i adore it !! it’s so good. better than oreos good. the dynamics between so many different characters, dynamics that you’re able to explore !! not constrained by canon !! (three favorites : the standouts, kit and bernadette 💕, and bertrand and klaus, but specifically when klaus is really violet, AND THE ATLAS, and then there’s something so sweet and lovely about b,r, and o as a trio and i love them omg) but also stay true to their original characterizations. i always like how you write lemony, your voice for him fits just right, like a favorite pair of shoes, but he’s particularly good in this. i love the image of him in a theater, doing a book reading. it’s so mr snicket. and b and b and l ??? all together ??? the candy grams ??! the censored candy grams ?!!? iconic. i love how bertrand couldn’t be as horrid as meredith blake, so there’s no other way but a happy ending, and i love how violet and klaus would accept nothing less. i love how it is bits and pieces and asides, it feels right, like a scrapbook of the summer their parents got together, and stayed that way. 💕 lovely work all around !!!

awww thank you lainey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i always love hearing about people rereading parent trap au 💖💖 any fic. all of my fic. but especially parent trap au. it warms my heart. my soul. i gain many levels of power when people want to talk about parent trap au. it is so silly and so so precious to me and was such a rambling whim and is so unstructured but so many people have seen the heart i wanted in it. yes i DID just watch it again the other day. i love that people still find it as delightful as i hoped!! and oh that skit was fun!!

i am always very very proud of how i made bernadette in this alt universe 💖 i always think i did a great job there and no regrets at all on the most cryptic, most determined little bean. and getting to write kit as a mother....................

THE ATLAS IS A PARTICULAR FAVORITE OF MINE TOO i love the intent behind the atlas. bertrand just wants to be considerate and respectful of his girlfriend's small child. i love how violet is impressed. i love how you could kill a man with it. i myself like to look at heavy objects and wonder if you could, in fact, kill a man with it. also it's really funny that bea shares the sentiment. anyway i was imagining it as like, a deep navy blue with gold and silver???? like in little sparkly sections on the cover but also the pages!!!! with fancy borders and shiny spots and just. fun maps.

i do have regrets that ramona and olivia kind of drop out of the fic at the end bc they're so good and deserve to be part of this family still, i just couldn't imagine them leaving california. maybe they visit, though......and honestly the three of them raising klaus was something i did NOT do enough with. or ramona's mother. or olivia's eclairs!!!!!!!! klaus should've brought some of the eclairs anyway. packed them with a couple ice packs so they'd keep. eat them the first night of camp, in the dead of night, joyously.

i frequently and fondly think of 'they censored my loving sonnet about your ass but they still sent it!' with bea's candygram. teenagers with candygrams is such a hilarious mess. just, the commitment. the shenanigans. it's delightful and deeply embarrassing to look back on.

lemony is one of my favorite povs to do and i don't really like to say that he comes very easily to me bc. i mean, uh, technically, at the end of the day, he is not mine, and i will of course never get the perfect lemony voice that danhan has (and actually when i'm not in his head i struggle a lot to get his dialogue right) but i do think i do a very good lemony voice and he is one of the easiest character voices for me to write (bc he has a structure! he has a vibe! you know where you stand with him!!!!! you get to do neat things in his narration!!!!) and he's very fun to do. characterization is something that, AS ALWAYS i say this so much but god it's just always very big on my mind, i work very hard on and stress a lot about, especially on the occasion i Do Stray A Little Far From Canon, and it's something i am very critical about, so when people think i do it well it's very 💖💖

also i frequently and fondly think of 'haircuts are things that happen, at one time or another, to all of us.' speaking of lemony. god what a guy.

oh i LOVE the idea of it feeling like a scrapbook oh that's so perfect!!!!! what a homey and cozy thought!!!!!! like the pictures of nick and elizabeth's wedding in the credits.......oh i love it so much. violet and klaus put the taped-up wedding photo at the beginning of the book and then at the end is the new lemonberry ice wedding photo. although i don't actually really like the wedding gown elizabeth designs in the movie that has the photo shoot, bea is DEFINITELY at least wearing that veil/top hat combo in the new photo. that's so her vibe. it's an outside summer wedding. color scheme is lots of reds and pinks.......lemony and bertrand both wear white. bea's dress has a red waist ribbon. oooo wait or maybe it's one of those dresses with all the embroidered flowers all over??? i love those kinds of wedding dresses. bertrand cries through the whole thing. kit actually, genuinely cries too, once.

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

thinking sad things about linda and herc again… fucking brainrot

he comes to her in the lonely hours of mandatory crew rest: where morning and evening, day and night, sunrise and sunset are near undefinable. for some reason, she doesn’t dream about him on the ground. he’s been gone for years at this point; by all accounts she should have gotten over it by now. gotten over him, that is. he wasn’t anything more than a coworker.

(mere coworkers, however, do not come to haunt you in your dreams.)

linda’s always been a rational-minded person, practical. always trying to find a reason, an explanation. maybe the suggestion of an arm across her ribs, the ghost of a hand resting deliberately on her waist (always careful, even in the dream, not to overstep boundaries) is borne out of guilt for not being better at keeping in touch with his son. his wife.

(the ocean and the communication challenges it presented gave her the small mercy of not knowing what had happened until they landed. she had turned away from her crew as they entered the terminal, headed for an air england flight bound in the opposite direction, and boarded.)

the bunk is narrow. the first time she crawled into one and twitched the curtains shut, her first long-haul trip flying relief, she could barely sleep. it’s coffin-like, which is also fitting. little wonder the dead would visit her up here.

(swiss had opened up a new domicile in heathrow before it had happened. she didn’t apply. they offered to hold off, wait for her to get back to the uk, before doing anything. she refused. decay, unfortunately, does not hold off for anyone.)

but even hemmed in by privacy walls, suspended in a hostile sky sea, the ghost manages to fit inside. approach her, where she lies in the pajamas she’s brought from switzerland, ones that were bought by a man who is her brother in every way except the most fundamental one, that she’s proud to wear around her colleagues despite how gaudy they look.

(he waited, she’s told. until the step out of the room, to find a washcloth, to get something to eat. his wife feels guilty about that. his son )

the bunk isn’t too constrained to sit up, but she’s held down nevertheless, flattened to the mattress by an invisible force. she swears she can see a face. she’s starting to look a bit like it. lines she’s not seen before, streaks of silver in her hair, the glasses she has to wear now and the extra pairs she’s required to keep in her flight kit. she’s getting older.

(she knows he’s not the only one whose departure she’ll have to deal with. she knows she can’t just push it to the back of her head, the way everything gets pushed to the back of her head when she pulls back on the column and lifts the nose at V1.)

the face looks intently at her own. always gently, always warmly.

(she feels like her heart is being torn out of her chest.)

anak, he always says. she knows what it means, because her brother told her. it’s one of the few words he knows. my child. like she was his, though she’s not.

i’m sorry, she always says.

i love you.

i wish you didn’t so much.

but i do.

she never knows what to say after that.

she’ll never know what to say after that.

she never says anything after that.

there’s too much work to be done.

[lovrclan-gen]

MOON 5

Cindertail looked at the afternoon sky, a soft lavender color. She had been dragged down by the guilt of not being able to save  her other mate, Faithstar, in the attack, Emeraldmoor had reassured her countless times that it was nobody's fault for her death other than her loyalty to her clan.

Cindertail sighed and closed her eyes, remembering the screams of the helpless cats.

"Cindertail! Help me!" Yowled Frogtail, as the mountain lion bit her tail and yanked her across the clearing. All cindertail could do was watch. She fended off the entrance to the nursery, only Alpineminnow's kits were inside though, Alpineminnow had gone to help Yuka with defeating the female mountain lion.

Frogtail hit the wall and slid down to the clearing floor, a blood splatter left as a mark. She was gone.

Cindertail looked away, hoping to find someone helping. Instead all she saw was Faithstar swiping her claws at the lion's face, the lion's large paw throwing her a fox-legth away. Her eyes looked defeated and lifeless. A sudden shake of her body, done by Starclan and she had been brought back to life, looking as fine as she was before the attack. That didn't last long however, as she jumped at the lion's face, the lion slicing her back in a big line, and her finally dropping dead.

Cindertail didn't want to remember that terrible memory. She opened her eyes and looked back at the sky again.

"I wonder what I could have done... But I know what happen will never change." She  muttered to herself. She then  walked towards the medicine cat den, where she knew she could find Emeraldmoor and Scrubpaw.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Cindertail called out to Emeraldmoor

"I'm good. But kinda busy, I'm testing to see if scrubpaw remembers which scent belongs to each herb"

"I think this is .... Chervil?"

"Correct!"

"Hey, Emeraldmoor... Your stomach looks really swollen.. are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh yeah I feel fine!"

"Alright.. I'll go hunting"

"Bye! Now scrubpaw, which herb is this...?"

~

Cindertail looked around herself, surrounded by stones and rocks of various sizes, each had a name carved onto them 'whorlthunder' 'frogtail' 'Alpineminnow' were just some of them. She searched for a specific name though.

Faithstar.

Her and Faithstar had been together for as long as she could remember. They tried to have kits, but they were never able to.

Cindertail sat, she lowered her eyes, face-to-face with a name she was so familiar, and yet dreaded of. The guilt of not being able to save her was unbearable until this point.

"Hello, it's been a while since I visited your grave... But, I can't cling onto you anymore. Hard times... Have certainly passed but now I have a new mate.. and soon I'll have my very own kits! I think I might have to tell the boys about their mother. I've moved on Faithstar. Goodbye."

Cindertail could almost feel it, she could almost hear it, a silver shape with bright, star-filled eyes wrapped around the tall rock, whispering a faint "Goodbye Cindertail, I wish you best."

Cindertail moved on from Faithstar!

Also, srry for no art wasn't feeling it 2day😞😞

[clonerightsagenda]

Finished Lockwood & Co!

Jonathan Stroud does it again. It was lighter fare than Bartimaeus, but still a lot of fun, and I think it's funny that a series jampacked with corpses, lovingly described, actually had the happier ending of the two. It's clear that Stroud has ideas he likes coming back to (the journey to another world inimicable to human life, snarky trapped spirits, possession, graverobbing, adults thinking sworn rivalries with literal children is fine and normal, etc.)

Some initial thoughts so far:

Will Lucy keep her talents as she gets older? Marissa did but she's obviously a weird case, but Gale did too. Does it have to do with Other Side exposure? Or Gale just happened to be one of the rare people who do, which is mentioned a few times, in which case maybe Lucy will be as well since it's mentioned how rare and strong her talent is. Or she can retire with honor in a few years and will have to find a different job.

I'm wondering if Ezekiel was really a ghost.... the name and its appearance struck me as rather Biblical, and it seemed to know a lot of interesting secrets about messing with the natural order of life and death. (The bolded text and the relationship with Marissa reminded me of both the spirit of the ring and Ammet and Khaba from The Ring of Solomon.) Of course it WAS still tied to a Source so maybe it was just another dead human, perhaps one that fed off other ghosts like Marissa did which made it so strange and powerful. Meanwhile the skull is particularly powerful due to a bad attitude alone. The kind of ghost I would be.

Also wondering how plasm was working in the last book... touching ectoplasm kills, but Marissa was able to possess her descendant's body and touch Ezekiel. Side effects of the plasm drinking, maybe? Or maybe ghosts don't have to kill you with a touch, it's just we've only met asshole ghosts so far? Or it's a Type three Thing. This is a pressing question bc it seems like Lockwood & Co may have a spectral colleague (thrilled about this) and 'I accidentally bumped into my coworker and now I need an adrenaline shot before I puff up and die' is not a great workplace environment even if that's how I feel about encounters with my boss. Also why isn't adrenaline a standard part of agents' kits? Maybe it's expensive, or their rough and tumble jobs would break the vials and needles.

Holly is a lesbian! Good for her and shame she had a crush on a girl who was so unnecessarily mean to her. Sounds like she has a gf now though. Lucy is assembling a very bizarre and mutually hostile polycule over the course of her adventure. A four way dinner date would leave no survivors.

So Marissa flooded the country with ghosts and sacrificed hundreds or thousands of lives for a beauty treatment. A bit more banal than I'd expected but 'lust for immortality' is a very common villain motivation. Especially in kids' books. They put her body in the silver/lead coffin so she shouldn't be able to come back but she could still be out there on the other side....... eating ghosts...

Lmao at the repeated references to Kipp's advanced age of 22 .

These are my immediate pre-work thoughts. I would say I would ponder it more at work but if the week continues as it has been, I will not have time.

[drformiles]

Practicing Grief.

"Why do you care?" There, Ables hunched over the lifeless bodies of two people, unidentifiable under the layers of material and synthetics, but very poignantly people, to Ables trying mind at least. "They tried to kill us," Strone at their sides, amid the off color cobalt dirt - soaked in a chemical agent unknown to the pair, but smelling of awful silver and termites - lay two estranged needle shivs, one still coated in Ables' blood, which was also seeping through the black fabric of his left upper thigh. "for money, or something like that- come on! Stop acting like this is an unreasonable reaction." Seelora gripped at his shoulder as she softened her tone, though she was well aware this wouldn't make him feel much, whether she was yelling or not. "It is perfectly reasonable," Ables assured, "but so is mine." "Can you explain it to me?"

He paused as he finished closing the eyes of the second, which had been agape in an unseemly fashion, and he pulled back his small, malleable clear container which was filled with a certain kind of chloric sodium, (something he had never known as salt until meeting Seelora) acquired from a time when Ables also believed himself to be perfect as much as the community around him did.

It wasn't obvious to him or anyone within twenty-thousand-odd lightyears how this brought dead 'peace', but it was the only real practice he had been taught for these situations and, like usual, his imagination failed him. He began. "You've hurt others, same as I, for petty reasons, and for necessary reasons." "Yes. of course, but that has no barring on how you give a fuck about these failed murderers." "Doesn't it? We may not have been in their exact situation, but I... I can imagine what it might feel like to need something and not have it. What do you think people would use their money for - people who look like this?" "Hallucinogens? Brothels?-" "Why would I assume that... when it could easily have been food, or shelter?"

Seelora took a step back and gave Ables a hard questioning look as she crossed her arms. "You, Mr. Professional Pessimist, have a problem with *me* assuming that they wanted to kill us for fun money?" "No. I have a problem with you assuming so little of the values people in this place have by just judging, I assume, off the prevalence of bars and brothels and the physical looks to those that must call these tight round-abouts home. To hurt someone for money is a strictly different thing to killing someone for money... for food, or life... and it does not sit kindly in my mind to assume the depths of anyone go that deep based on superficial facts."

Seelora pondered this, but ultimately shook her head and moved to get a better view of the dark corner they were near. "I'll think about it, but this thinking catches me as naïve."

Ables stood up and patted the sides of his back-kit for the compressive bandages he would need to tighten the wound on his thigh. It was beginning to do more than just drip blood. "I hope you one day realize the callousness of that way of thinking." He said in dry measured tone. Seelora passed him a roll she had strapped to her own kit. She knew Ables had not meant to come off that harsh, he almost never did. Shrugging at no one in particular, she continued to get back to her sharp, even-eyed routine that she used in dangerous situations, though always knew how to keep up conversation. "I guess a better question - now that I got that emotion out of my system - would be *how* exactly you care." "I... I think its practice." "Where have you been finding all that practice exactly? I thought you almost shed a tear a moment ago." She said, lightly ribbing at the blank faced man. Ables paused before stammering out what he believed would amuse her. "Well I've been... trying to find the will to care about you." She chuckled.

"Well I think you're catching on."

[starredeclipse]

Fragile Hearts

(In this AU BreezeSun temporary loses it, idk if this would actually happen but we're going for the ride. Also warning, this is tragic, You've been warned. Theres death and tragedy. Not all characters are mine in this story, some belong to my friend Timber, Foxy, and Coco.]

BreezeSun didn't mean to do it, he didn't mean to kill her.

BreezeSun had found a kit and he had claimed him hours ago but PineCone kept escaping the nursery and wouldn't stay put.

This is how BreezeSun ended up in the territory, the warrior emotions were already high as his other child was still fighting to stay alive in the med den, he was in good paws but BreezeSun didn't know what to do with himself, he was on the edge and this what he thought was a abandoned kit was a temporary distraction from the pain the warrior was emotionally feeling.

BreezeSuns judgement was clouded however, when PineCone found Silvertail he tried to leave with her. The Shrubclan warrior wasn't having this, he got into a argument with the Silver she cat but at the end, He snapped.

"You're not taking my son away from me!" BreezeSun yowled his emotions spilling out as he took it out on this poor she cat. She wasn't even a match, the tom had murdered her.

PineCone was in tears and in shock, his mother had been murdered in front of him and when BreezeSun looked at him, PineCone ran for his life.

It was only after he killed her that BreezeSun realized, that he had smelt this she cats scent on PineCone hours before and she smelt like PineCone.

BreezeSun let out a help as he got off of her, his emotions were finally under control. "Did I just….kill his mother?" The words caught in his throat, that meant PineCone was a DuskClan kit and he just killed DuskClan warrior. If either clan found out, it could start a war possible.

BreezeSun listened for PineCone before he remembered that the child had run away, he had to find him! BreezeSun started tracking PineCones scent until he came to the river and fell in. After the warrior put his head above water he pulled himself back onto the shore and walked along the river bank till he found a soaking wet clump of fur and realized that it was PineCone and he was dead.

BreezeSun had taken so long to react that PineCone fell into the river and drowned. The Shrubclan warrior was beyond shaken and in tears as he held the dead kit close to his chest. This was all his fault and he wasn't even aware of the domino effect he just caused.

Hawkwind had been searching the territory for his son, PineCone had run off early that morning to get supplies for his parents gift he was making. By the time anybody woke up the child had been gone for hours. Hawkwind hadn't found anything in his part of the search so he looped back around and started heading towards the Shrubclan border.

This was the first time in moons that Hawkwind had left DuskClan camp, after the death of his sister Sunwing and his brother Frost, Hawkwind has never been the same. He was so fragile right now, more fragile than he has ever been in his life. The only time that equaled this pain was the death of Sky and his mother.

Hawkwind wasn't fully there, his heart was fragile and he couldn't take anymore pain. The tom made his way through a thick part of the territory "Silvertail? Have you found him yet?" The tom called out as he rounded a corner and saw his mate. His heart plummeted into his stomach at the sight, the silver she cats perfect coat was soaked in red, chunks of fur and flesh either hung loosely or had been torn off completely, her throat had been tore out.

Hawkwind didn't necessarily process it all at first, not fully, his walk slowed as he came closer, his body was shaking uncontrollably as he looked into his mates cold dead eyes. That familiar warmth….that love….was gone. Hawkwind collapsed onto the ground shaking uncontrollably, the scent of a Shrubclan cat and blood stunk up Silvertails pelt. Hawkwind was sobbing uncontrollably, his claws pricked sharply into his head. His nose was so clogged that he couldn't tell who did this. He couldn't do this! "Please! Let this be some cruel joke! Please!" He said barely audible into the ground. Hawkwind just…..broke. A already fragile heart torn to shreds and set on fire.

BreezeSun heard a blood curdling scream, full of pain and grief beyond anything the warrior has ever heard. It shaked him out of his own ball of grief and the first thought he had was to bury PineCone, he couldn't let the birds find this precious kits body. He kept PineCones limp body close as he found a lovely spot to start digging up a proper grave. His actions would have greater consequences than he could ever imagine.

Hawkwind stood up slowly on shaky paws, his tears started evaporating and the ground singed as he exploded into flames, the heat of the summer made the intensity greater than it had ever been before, his eyes sharpened with grief, hate, and revenge.

"I will make them pay" He promised to the corpse of his mate as his legs started walking automatically on there own, grass singed as he walked even near it. The heat was so intense that the field was turning to ash just by him being nearby.

Hawkwind walked straight into Shrubclan camp, now he was the fire monster to knock down there door. He heard yowls of Shrubclan warriors and cats but Hawkwind didn't register any of it as he took on the whole clan by himself.

Cats burned, every single one dying a death so excruciatingly painful yet it didn't seem to satisfy him.

Hawkwind killed SwirlingPride, MenaceStep and many more. He set PollyLack ah blaze and then LuckyPetal who was already too weak to run.

BlossomStar watched in terror, each time she died she got brought back until her body finally burned to ash leaving nothing left.

The Shrubclan camp was on fire, everyone was dead yet the nursery laid empty and so did the med den.

Hawkwinds flame went out, he had used up all of his fire as he staggered out of the camp leaving it to burn. "I've avenged you my love" was all he told the wind as he fell into that same River that had claimed his sons life. He felt cold….so cold, the water soaked into his warm fur and pulled him under as he no longer had the strength to keep himself ah float If hypothermia didn't claim him, the water would and even after death he knew he could never be with Silvertail ever again.

BreezeSun had finished burying PineCone, he sat unaware, his eyes closed until he smelt smoke and felt a paw print. BreezeSun jumped but it was just CaramelBlade "You're covered in blood, come with me before Mother and the kits see" she told him quietly.

"K-kits????" BreezeSun squeaked with confusion as he let himself be led away to get cleaned up.

BloomingThorn stared at the ground, her visions showed her that cats were going to burn. She only had time to tell a few cats before Raven teleported her mother, her siblings, SoulSpark, BearSpirit and the kits along with a few apprentices away. Nobody else could be saved by the time Hawkwind came into camp. "I wish I could have saved them all" BloomingThorn meowed to her family.

DottlePaw stayed close to Solemn, she didn't understand what was going on fully and CaramelBlade was currently filling BreezeSun in after she cleaned him up.

"What?!?" He squeaked in disbelief before he curled up into a ball of panic "This is all my fault!" he cried into the ground. CaramelBlade had to keep her brother quiet "What do you mean??? Explain" she asked him and he began telling her through sobs and muffled crys. CaramelBlade stared in disbelief but she shook it off and just told him to keep quiet about this.

Caramel and Breeze returned to the group "What do we do now?" Aqua asked her father.

"I know a place we can go but after that….we will just have to see." WinterSong announced leading the way with the surviving cats, OysterPaw and SwirlPaw smelt the smoke and followed close to the adults as they left Shrubclans territory for the last time. Shrubclan was no longer and DuskClan would find the ruins a Moon later when the fire had died out.

For now Juniper, CoonStar, Nightfall and the rest of the clan had been in mourning after they had found a dead Silvertail next to scorched earth and melted stone.

Juniper had two theorys of what happened but chose to believe that Hawkwind didn't just snap and murder Silvertail. He loved her too much but she couldn't convince Nightfall of that. The black she cat was too stuck in her grief to listen to reason, all they could do was be there for her.

News spread to JackalClan that Shrubclan was no more and the traveling clan celebrated. If only somebody would have told Cindershine that, she found out the hard way when she decided to finally visit and found its ruins. She had run back to YellClan crying and only ChillyTrigger managed to get what happened out of her….now Cindershine knew what the former cats of Yellclans territory felt. What ever clan Shrubclan had killed had felt….it was beyond horrible, she still couldn't get the stench of burnt everything out of her nose.

[trusteazy]

Fallout new vegas legion denarius

FALLOUT NEW VEGAS LEGION DENARIUS SERIES

NPC's aren't these super smart omnipotent beings who can see my item's condition bar, rather they can only make a guess on what my item is worth. Detailed information about the coin Denarius of a Legion (Fallout New Vegas), United States, with pictures and collection and swap management: mintage. For example, one NCR dollar is worth 0.4 of a bottle cap no matter what. It's pretty simple, really they have the exact same monetary value (caps worth) no matter the transaction. Oftentimes I'll find questions from New Vegas fans about what the two alternative currencies actually do. Sometimes NPC's won't have more than just $1,000 or so caps, so by buying an item from them without having a high barter skill, the courier gets taken advantage of, I think the player's charisma and speech should affect how much you make also. What NCR dollars and Legion coins actually do. It truly feels like an Apocalyptic world compared to New Vegas and FO4. Everything in Fallout 3 just has a sense of a epic-ness and dread. This game runs on the same engine as New Vegas and the game mechanics are similar, but the world just feels so much different. items, unused ammo, and chems, armor and weapons.) Playing Fallout 3 on Tale of Two Wastelands is hard to explain. I would like to think if you ran out of caps, something else could be exchanged, but in the Fallout universe, NPC's have no sense of morality, so if you don't have that exact amount of caps, and you don't have anything of value in your inventory. This is a massive shame considering that many items from each game provide massive bonuses. Despite the hundreds of miscellaneous and consumable items that dot the wasteland, few players ever use them. Bethesda's modern Fallout titles are a great example of this. Unlike the NCR dollars, which aren't worth as much in New Vegas compared to their value in the New California Republic's territory, and Legion Denarius, which is worth 4 caps.Ī $100.00 NCR Bill is worth forty caps when exchanged, that seems a bit unfair. RELATED: Fallout 4: 10 Things You Missed In Vault 75. Legion denarius can be used to make 12 gauge coin shot shells(which only. Sure, bottle caps as a currency might seem convenient, but a single cap is worth just a dollar, you have to accumulate a number of caps before having a lump sum. In the first add-on for Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Money, pre-War money can be. Unlike the NCR dollars, which arent worth as much in New Vegas compared to their value in the New California Republics territory, and Legion Denarius. What would your ideal apocalyptic currency be? These gold and silver plated coins are excellent replicas of the in-game coins use by the legion and much New Vegas inhabitants.

FALLOUT NEW VEGAS LEGION DENARIUS SERIES

The metro series had military grade bullets, which could be used to buy armor, filters, ammo, health kits and weapons I'd like to think an Apocalypse's "Currency" would be what people had to trade, whether it be Gasoline, diamonds, gold coins and bars, oil, water or even food, or old technology. » Glad to finally be a part of the community! » Help with porting 76 models and textures into fallout 4

[writingmysanity]

Promise

Prompt: "I thought you were dead"

requested- @seidenbros Here you go, my dear, I really hope this is up to snuff.

Pairing: Eskel x reader

Word count: 1447

TW: mentions of blood, cannon level gore.

A/N: I tried to put as much feeling into this as I could. I am also quite sleepy so I hope this had as much feeling as I think it does. Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.

“The tower,” Eskel growls, pulling you behind him, the weight of each step bringing fresh blood to the wound on his thigh, making it harder and harder to walk straight. Fumbling after him, you try to speed up, panting from trying to keep up with his pace, the wailing and screams echoing harshly against the stone walls- propelling you both forward. 

“But-” he stops, pressing you against the wall, arms bracketing you in as rubble falls from above, dust settling over you both following the slam of something hitting the stone walls. His head is hanging, breath heavy, but his eyes stay glued to you.

“No buts, Kit.” he tries his best to fight off the snarl, his leg is aching from standing still for too long. “The West tower- Go. You’re going to be safer there.” frowning, you blink back the tears. You’re scared. And for once, he doesnt question if it could possibly be because of him. You're scared for him.

Behind him, he can just make out the marching of boots, the clashing of steel on steel and steel on stone. The acrid scent of brimstone and ash burns his nose. They're too close for his comfort. Cursing to himself, he pushes you towards your favorite little secret. A hidden door that leads to the long-abandoned tower you've been using as your getaway, your and Eskel’s secret project, fixing it up during your wake hours uninhibited by courtly duties.

“Go.” he all but growls, hand sliding for his sword with such practiced ease, you're sure he could do the motion on his dying breath. When you hesitate, he turns to look at you once more, desperation in his eyes. “Now, my love. Please.”

Nodding, you push through the stone, listening to the latch clank on the other side as the footfalls and clanking grow nearer. The wall swings open, cool air pushing passed you quickly, as if trying to escape itself. You turn to Eskel once more, fingers turning white from your grip on the stone.

“I love you,” you whisper before sliding through, letting the door slide back into place behind you with a quiet puff of dust- his reply almost lost in the motion. The silence that surrounds you is almost unsettling, knowing the commotion happening just on the other side of a thin layer of stone. The lighting in the tunnel is dim, smelling of dirt and moss. You hurry down the walkway, keeping moving as the screams seem to get louder- echoing against the aging stones. 

Before long, you find yourself at another door, the thick oaken wood new- recently replaced by eskel himself. Pushing through it, you lock it behind you, the rumble of the wooden plank grinding against the stone settling like rocks in your stomach.

You wait what seems like an eternity, watching the door intently, as if expecting it to open. By friend or foe, you're unsure. Eskel would never give away the location of the passageway, of that you are sure. Taking to scaling the aging steps, you try to ignore how they seem to crumble beneath your feet with every step- bits falling back down the corridor echoing back harshly. It doesnt take long, the accent is rather short until you're faced with the gaping hole Eskel was making into a window halfway up the steps. From there, you can see it all despite not being able to hear much of anything, now. You are some distance away from the castle, the tower is long forgotten in the corner of the grounds. The screams and the clanking of metal were all but a dull echo that twisted your stomach. 

Scanning the grounds, you look for the familiar flash of red, finding nothing but silver and blackened armor. 

Relief floods your system when you see a glimpse of the brilliant red Gibson, watching as he cuts through the crowds of bodies like it's nothing- the deep red serving as a warning to those who cross swords with him. Your eyes follow him across the gardens, ducking and weaving as he swings.

You can't help but feel a little pride. Your Eskel, turning the tide of the fight.

Your eyes are so trained on him that you don't see the archer lining up until it's too late. You watch it as if in slow motion, flying through the air, and then as it embeds itself in its target with a thunk. 

Eskel lurches forward, his injured leg caving in on him, a breathless gasp on his lips as another soldier takes their opportunity, his sword sheering through his leather armor, cutting straight down his torso. 

“No,” you whisper, the sound almost not there. “No no no no, NO” sobs wretch from your chest when he doesnt get back up, when the soldier lifts his sword once more. 

“NO!” the cry leaves your mouth before you can help it, your legs giving out, the protective barrier Eskel created around the tower rippling with your cries, the image of eskel lying there blurred by both your tears and the wave of magic surrounding you. Grasping at your throat, you gasp, sucking in air, your breaths short and choppy as sobs rack your body. 

You cry until no more tears come, curled up on the stone steps, skin bloodied where the sharp edges of cracked stone pressed against your legs, but you couldn't find it in you to care. 

You aren't sure how long you've been lying there before the air shifts around you- pushed by another presence. Quiet steps wake you, retching your eyes open, skin puffy and raw from your tears. 

The tower is dark around you, low lights of dawn illuminating the dust hanging in the air, and little more as you watch the steps below you- listening. You're too tired to do much of anything, raise the dagger eskel had given you when you first started traveling with him, or even more silently further up the steps. 

The steps are irregular and slow. With them comes light, a slight flickering light that pushes the shadows up the walls.

“Kit?” the voice echoes just slightly, the sound forced, pained. You can feel your heart in your throat, lying there, unable to move, your breath hitching with unshed tears once more.

“No,” the footsteps grow faster at the sound of your gasp, Eskel’s figure coming into the frame around the bend, his body sagging in relief against the wall upon seeing you before him.

“Kit,” shaking your head, you force yourself backward, fresh tears spilling over onto the raw skin of your cheeks.

“No, no, no” you gasp, choking back a sob. “No, you're… you're not here.” Golden eyes look you over, frown deepening as he takes in your form- curled up, small, broken. Your normally vibrant eyes are dull and red. Setting his candle down slowly, he lifts his hands slowly, wincing at the movement.

“Love…” he pauses, cringing at the scent hanging heavy in the air- fear, confusion, grief. You just shake your head, closing your eyes and squeezing them tight- as if the mirage would simply vanish if you paid it no mind, breath shaking with the rest of your body. 

“No,” you breathe. “You aren't real.” his heart breaks when your voice breaks. “You.. My Eskel is dead. You aren't him. You aren’t him…” you keep repeating it- as if speaking it would make him disappear. Unable to think of anything else to do, eskel slides down onto the steps, a few feet from you.

“I'm not leaving,” his voice is soft, almost a whisper. “I am here, my love.” slowly, you open your eyes again, half expecting his image to be gone, for him to leave you totally and completely. But he is still sitting there, wrapped, bandaged, and pale. Yet the intensity of his stare remains, soft and hopeful, and relived. 

“Esk?” your voice is hoarse, he just nods, stretching his hand out to you.

“I'm here, Kit,” he promises again, gaze softening as you slowly reach out to him, hand trembling as it meets his, his fingers gingerly wrapping around your hand, swallowing it. 

Slowly then all at once. 

Your body slams against his, earning a grunt of pain, but he takes the blow, cradling you to his chest, squeezing gently as you sob into his shoulder, head lulling to your shoulder- the full weight of the day crashing down on him as well.

“I…” you gasp, fingers curling into his shoulder, “thought you were dead.” he just shakes his head, shoulders shaking with a wet chuckle.

“Nothing can keep me from you,” he whispers. 

A promise.

Not even death.

--

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@seidenbros @cosmos-coma

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[falloutmelody]

wildest dreams | tim speedle

pairing: tim speedle x reader [romantic pairing] [was written with a female reader in mind but no pronouns are used, so anyone can read it regardless of gender identity and preferred pronouns!!]

fandom: csi: miami

little summary: as the newest member of the csi team, working at ridiculous hours of the day is still very new to you. but getting to see a certain sarcastic coworker that you just so happen to have a crush on makes things a little easier to adjust to. a crush that is almost certainly unrequited. right?

content warnings: um,,, nothing major??? a guy is a creep to the reader at one point, tim is snarky as always, there’s swearing?? also bc this is csi, there’s mention of death and crime but it’s not focussed on super heavily!! no graphic descriptions or anything!! no spoilers for the show or anything either!!

word length: about 3000 i think??

this isn’t the best thing i’ve ever written lmao, but it’s a start?? idk, i’m just going through a csi phase and adore speed so i figured why not write this?? i apologise in advance to the wonderful people on here who write actually decent x reader fics for speed bc my work is gonna pop up with yours now and that’s not fair, you deserve better bc your work is amazing

requests are still open!! you can find my fandoms, rules and characters i’ll write for here!! please don’t hesitate to send something in if you want something!!!

[fair credit, gif is not mine!! if the creator finds this and wants credit, please message me and i’ll add it in!!]

Miami never closes.

That was a sentence that you’d heard from one Horatio Caine countless times, to the point wherein it was almost ingrained in your brain. And it wasn’t like he was wrong. The city of Miami seemed to always be alive, whether it was four o’clock in the morning or eight o’clock at night.

And that was how you’d managed to find yourself at a crime scene at six thirty-three am.

There was a soft wind in the air as you got out of the now very familiar silver Hummer, the gravel on the floor crunching harshly under your feet. A cacophony of voices, radio feedback and that accursed gravel filled the air, hitting you almost immediately as you tried to get a good bearing on your surroundings. This was the outskirts of the city. A former industrial estate, home to nothing more now than distant memories of what it once was and now, the body of a dead woman.

“C’mon, newbie. Work to do.” The soft but impatient tone of your new co-worker Eric Delko brought you out of your studying, causing you to glance over at the man. You mumbled a soft apology, grabbing your silver kit box from the back seat as quickly as you could.

“Ignore him. The clubs will probably be closed by the time we’re done here, Delko, sorry.” Another male voice caught your attention, causing you to look back, seeing that you and Delko had now been joined by another member of the lab that you recognised. Tim Speedle.

Ever since you’d officially joined the Miami Dade crime lab a few weeks back, Tim had probably been the one that you’d worked with the most, due to your speciality being primarily Trace. And honestly, you liked working with him.

No, that was probably an understatement. You really, really liked working with him.

Sure, at first, you had been a little intimidated by him. Tim was pretty well known around the lab for having a personality that was more on the blunt side, after all, which was something that you’d learned very quickly. The man liked sarcasm, and there seemed to be some kind of dryness to almost everything he came out with. But you’d quickly grown to like that. It made the often rather monotonous work that you all often found yourselves doing more entertaining.

Plus, although you could never admit it, cause you were truthfully worried that it was unprofessional of you to do so and cause you’d convinced yourself from day one that you weren’t his type, he was very, very pretty to look at with those intense dark eyes of his.

So, yeah. You had… a slight crush on the man and were very grateful to see him. Not that you didn’t like Delko or anything, cause you sincerely did. It was just… nice to see Tim too. The fact that you’d have two people with you that you knew pretty well at this point helped with your slight uncertainty in your stomach that seemed to always be there when you approached a new scene.

Eric gave a small scoff at Tim’s dry remark, lightly hitting the man in the upper arm. “Shut up, Speedle. I just don’t appreciate being called out in the middle of the night. Shall we?”

After taking a quick moment to ensure that you both had everything that you needed from the Hummer and that the car was locked, you and Eric soon followed after Tim as he led you towards a large grey building that had presumably been white at one point and honestly looked identical to all the others that were around. How did they tell them apart, back when people had actually worked here? It wasn’t like there were any kind of clear, identifying markings on them.

The silence that had settled over the three of you was a little unsettling. And so, you decided to take it upon yourself to start up a conversation. The only issue was that you didn’t really have anything interesting to say, and thus, you had to settle for asking Tim one of the dumbest, blandest questions you’d ever asked.

“You been here long?”

A small amused exhale escaped from Eric’s lips almost immediately, which caused you to softly scrunch up your expression in mild confusion. Was he laughing at how stupid your question was? Or was there something else going on that you didn’t quite understand? Your gaze flicked from Delko to Speed, only finding yourself being even more confused by the small look that Tim appeared to shoot Delko before talking to you.

“Uh, no. No. Bout five minutes,” he answered. “Saw you two pull up so I figured I’d come say hi before heading in.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted the slight look of amused disbelief that Eric wore on his expression, but were unable to even begin and try to guess why that was as you soon found yourself being approached by a man. A man that, from the way he was dressed and the way that he held himself, was clearly a cop. But it wasn’t one you recognised. You might not have been working here long, but you’d worked enough cases now to become very familiar with Tripp and Bernstein, who were typically the male members of law enforcement that you worked with. Guess they were busy. Maybe they were with Horatio and Calleigh, on whatever case they were currently working on. The detective soon produced his ID from his large coat pocket and flashed it at the three of you. That revealed that his name was apparently Detective Gillan, and he soon began to speak.

“Vic’s a Sara Anderson. Found by some teenagers that were looking to use the place as a hook-up spot. She’s over there with the ME if you wanna do your… thing.”

You softly nodded at this information, and the group soon split. Eric went to go and examine the main door of the building for anything useful, whilst you were paired with Speed and told to head inside to study the evidence around the body. Of course, this raised absolutely no objections from you. You merely told Delko that if he needed assistance with anything to just call you over, and made your way inside. Before long, the two of you had made your way inside. And after politely greeting Alexx, you began to get to work. A small, clearly out of place patch of glitter near the victim had drawn your attention, and so, you started there.

“Delko looking after you?” Tim’s voice brought you out of your thoughts a short while later, causing you to glance up from your current knelt-down position to look up at him. You tilted your head slightly to indicate you weren’t too sure what he meant, and thus, Tim brought down his camera from his face to continue talking. “You’ve been paired with him for the past few cases, yeah? I’m just making sure he’s pulling his weight and not making you do everything.”

Once you’d gotten over the brief internal rush of him asking a genuinely sweet question, you managed to compose your thoughts and give some kind of answer. “Yeah. Yeah, he’s nice. I like working with him, he’s very chill about everything.” That was truthful. You and Delko had formed some kind of weirdly strong bond during the few weeks that you’d been on the team, and he sincerely seemed like a nice guy. Messy, kinda disorganised, but still a good guy. “Kinda miss working with you so much though. I’ll have to speak to Lieutenant Caine about that,” you continued, figuring that you could get away with that. After all, it wasn’t an outright admittal of your feelings. It was just saying that you enjoyed working with him, that could be entirely platonic.

And although you couldn’t be too certain, due to the less than superb lighting in the place, you could have sworn that remark caused a small smile to briefly form on Tim’s lips. The man opened his mouth, presumably going to talk again, only for the both of you to soon find yourselves distracted by a noise. The sound of footsteps approaching you.

It wasn’t long before you figured out who it was. It was that detective. Gillan, or whatever it was. He was making his way over. Assuming that he had something to talk to Tim about, you didn’t speak, opting instead to give him a small, polite nod before you looked back down at the surface you were currently dusting. However, it wasn’t long before the man’s voice caused you to stop and look back at him. “So… you’re a CSI, right?”

That question sincerely caused a surge of confusion to run through you. If you had the dry wit of Speed in this moment or the confidence of Calleigh, this is when you’d give some biting remark about how obviously you were. Why would you be kneeling on the floor with a dusting brush in your hand if you weren’t? But you didn’t. So, instead, you settled for a much more tame response. After all, perhaps the guy was just awkward and trying to start up a conversation by stating the obvious. “Yes?” You spoke, that confusion that you were experiencing being clear in your tone.

He grinned at that, his smile being far too wide for the simple response you’d given, which was slightly unnerving. “Cool. I mean, you don’t really look like the type so I just wanted to be sure.” That was… an interesting comment. What did he mean by that? As far as you knew, there weren’t any huge stereotypes of CSI’s. It wasn’t a job like accounting, wherein everyone had a clear image of what they expected one to be like. However, unfortunately for you, it wasn’t long before you found out exactly what the man meant and exactly what his motives were for giving that comment. “I mean, you know, you’re way too pretty to be working in a gross line of work like this. You sure you didn’t get confused and sign up for the wrong career by mistake?”

You couldn’t help but tense slightly at that.

You were sure that he probably only meant it as a compliment. And you weren’t someone that was some kind of strict workaholic who only cared about what they were doing. If someone approached you and made light conversation, you’d quite happily talk to them. Hell, you’d lost count of the amount of times you’d gotten caught up talking to Tim, Delko or Calleigh on a scene lately. But something about that seemed off. Whether it was his tone, or the look in his eyes, you felt deeply uncomfortable. Plus, this guy just really, really wasn’t your type.

And so, in the hope that perhaps he would take the hint and just… fuck off, you gave an uncomfortable smile. “Thank you. But no. I trained very hard to be here.”

“Dedicated and attractive. Fascinating. You got a partner back at home?”

Good fucking lord. Okay. Perhaps he was more stubborn than you’d believed. How were you meant to answer that? Should you answer that? Because the honest answer was that, no, you didn’t. But if you told him that… god, he’d never go away, would he? He’d ask you on a date, and then you’d be screwed. Surprisingly though, you’d barely had a chance to try and form an awkward response before the conversation was interrupted.

“Do you mind?”

It was Tim’s voice. The attention of both you and the detective quickly moved over in the direction of your co-worker, seeing that he was stood there with a clearly unimpressed look on his face. “We’re working. If you want us to catch whoever did this, then shut up, go do something useful and let Y/N work, alright?” Tim continued in a tone that you’d heard more than a few times since you’d started working with him. It was that dry, sarcastic anger that only came out when someone had really irked him, usually by saying something stupid. Not rage, but… irritation.

Detective Gillan’s expression faltered slightly at Tim’s words, with the other man clearly having done a far better job at shutting him up than you could ever have hoped to do. Soon afterwards, he softly cleared his throat, corrected his posture and responded. “Good idea. I’ll… I’ll go and interview the people that found her. Maybe they saw something interesting.”

Tim nodded. “You do that. Have fun. Don’t rush back.”

With that, the detective shot you one last look, before finally leaving you alone. A soft exhale of relief fell from your lips the mere moment that you were certain that he was out of earshot, soon glancing up at Tim with a clear look of gratitude in your eyes.

“Thank you,” you said. “Seriously. I was worried that I was going to have to take his number just to get him to leave me alone.” You could have sworn you’d seen Tim’s expression soften at that, with the man soon giving a small shake of his head.

“Y’know, if I were H, this is when I’d come out with some smart line about the benefits of being in a team and always having each other’s backs or whatever, but… If he bothers you again, let me know, alright?” Tim paused for a moment, allowing you to nod softly in agreement before he continued speaking with a small, slightly warm smile held on his lips. “Gotta look after the newbie, haven’t I?”

Your heart rate did a noticeable spike in your chest at that remark, even though the logical part of you knew that it was only him being friendly. And it was with that comment that Speed took his moment to get back to work, making his way closer to Alexx to go and talk to her. Of course, the logical part of you just assumed it was to do with work, and thus, you got back on with your own stuff. However, about… fifteen minutes later, you found yourself needing to stop because you became aware of eyes on you.

At first, that realisation caused anxiety to rush through you. Had that detective not taken his leave, as you’d hoped and Tim had told him to? And you fought the urge to look up for as long as you could, but eventually you gave in. As subtle as you could manage, you glanced around yourself and truthfully, were surprised and relieved by the results.

Speed was clearly still in the middle of a conversation with Alexx, about god knows what. But his eyes were on you. And for reasons that you couldn’t quite explain, perhaps it was just your cliche romantic brain combined with your own crush on him, but the look in his eyes as your gaze met wasn’t quite one of concern. It wasn’t one of ‘oh, let me just check that Y/N is still working’ or ‘does Y/N need help with what they’re doing’, it was… softer. You couldn’t quite describe it, but whatever it was, it caused an undeniable warmth inside of you. Your face flushed with warmth too, causing you to need to be the one to look away first, glancing down at the floor beneath you.

In doing so, you missed the look that Alexx shot Tim soon afterwards and the little teasing shake of her head as a result of his actions.

But needless to say, the ME absolutely did not miss a chance. About twenty minutes later, you were approached by the woman in question, her case in hand indicating that she had wrapped up her work and was now going to make her way back to the morgue.

“Hello, Doctor Woods,” you greeted her politely once again.

“It’s Alexx, baby, please,” the woman warmly corrected you, with her not hesitating to kneel down beside you on the cold concrete. “Could I ask you a question?” That was ominous. Hoping that it wasn’t anything too serious and that it’d be an innocent question that you could easily answer, you gave a nervous nod and enabled the other woman to continue speaking. However, your hopes were wrong. Very wrong. “So… you and Tim, huh?”

Shit.

Was it that obvious? Had your subtle, secret occasional glances at Tim whilst you’d been working really been that noticeable? Did everyone know? Oh, god, did Tim himself know? Oh fuck, how would you ever live that down? You may have just only joined the team, but suddenly dropping everything and moving to New Zealand just to ensure that you didn’t suddenly become the source of office gossip looked very appealing.

“We… We’re not… We’re just friends. I promise,” you nervously tried to correct her, pretty sure that your face had just paled. Alexx gave a soft laugh at that, the older woman’s expression soon softening with empathy.

“Sure. I buy that from the way you two look at each other.” Wait. What? What did she mean? Surely she had to be making that up. Surely she’d just misread Tim’s friendly glances as something more. Right? Your feelings were unrequited. Yes? “Just… keep him out of trouble whilst I’m gone, alright? You’re one of the few people he actually listens to. I’ll see you back at the lab, alright?”

Before you really had much of a chance to do anything besides give another nervous nod, your thoughts an absolute mess, Alexx got back up on her feet and walked off. What… What was going on? Was this some kind of practical joke? Or were you really so set in your mindset of Tim not returning your feelings that you’d somehow completely missed signs that apparently everyone else could see? You really didn’t know. Alexx wasn’t the type to be that cruel. But you just… couldn’t really believe the latter suggestion being the case. Unable to stop yourself from doing so, you glanced around yourself once more, allowing your gaze to settle on Speed on the far side of the large hall. The man appeared to be working, and so, you decided that you weren’t going to approach him about it right now.

But at some point later, you decided that you’d need to approach him. You needed to know what was going on.

And after all, figuring stuff out? Putting clues together? Well. That was a CSI’s job, wasn’t it?

---

AN: so that was legit the worst ending in history lmao, but hopefully you liked this?? as i said above, requests are open and i’m in a csi obsessive mood rn so, yeah!!! please do send in any requests you may have!!! i would love to write something for you!! thank you for reading ily <3

[praise-the-lord-im-dead]

Good Soup

@inklings-challenge, I made a thing! Technically before deadline? It’s before midnight here, at least. 

It was warm in the little house, in spite of the October chill outside, and the butter was soft, melting easily onto the golden-crusted bread. Morning light came in through the window, the leaves outside glittering with autumn color and melting frost.

It was a soup day.

Maureen could feel it in her aching bones as she munched through her toast and sipped at her cup of red raspberry tea, staring out at the wild collection of dry vines that had been her garden this summer. She could see it in the bright, soft glint of the light, and the bony crooked branches that waved against the sky in shades of silver and steel.

Maureen eased herself up out of her chair, letting her joints adjust to the idea of standing up before she carried her cup and plate to the sink. You couldn’t rush soup, either, and soup was wonderful. Maureen took satisfaction in the comparison. (Soup also didn’t have to be ashamed of smelling like garlic and onions, though that thought she mostly kept to herself).  

She put her dishes in the sink, and was walking back to the table when something made her stop.

She looked out the window.

She blinked.

There was a pair of glasses on the kitchen desk—the print on the energy bill only ever seemed to get smaller—and she went to get them before she looked out the window again.

She might have mistaken it for a pond, maybe (it was round) or a car (it was metallic) or a trick of the light (sunlight blazed off the shiny surface brightly enough to blind anyone), but the simple fact of the matter was that it was in her garden, surrounded by pumpkin vines and frost-wilted leaves and kitchen scraps, where there had been no cars, or ponds, or anything, just a moment ago.

Hm.

Her coat and scarf were hung by the door, a pair of mittens in the basket with her keys. She was still wrapping the scarf around her neck as she made her way across the lawn, the frost-covered grass crunching underfoot wherever the shadows of the trees protected it from the sun.

The thing in her garden was actually a bit larger than a car. It was maybe a little smaller than the neighbor’s pool, though, and just as round. It was making tired ticking noises as she approached it, and, just as she got close, part of it popped open with a very loud hiss. Maureen jumped back.

The…person…that got out was blue. And scaly. It—they—staggered a little, looking down at the remains of her vegetable garden with apparent confusion, before turning to blink at her.

Maureen didn’t know what to do, so she waved.

The person tipped a little to one side.

Maureen had just enough time to think, ‘oh dear,’ before they toppled over completely, landing hard on the ground, face-first into the remains of her pepper plants. They were wearing clothes—something that looked like canvas, but was dyed a very bright yellow. There was a tear in the side of the suit, on their torso, and the tear was leaking sluggishly into the dirt, a viscous, black liquid the consistency of warm honey.

Oh no.

Maureen bent down, pressing a hand against the wound, and they made a soft, ragged noise, making her jerk her hand away again. She was shaking a little, which was silly. This was just a wounded person.

She bent down, lifting one of their arms over her shoulders. Their other five limbs dragged behind them as Maureen dragged them towards the house like an especially large harvest of squashes.

The hardest part was getting them into the house. Their scales kept catching on the doorjamb.

The warm kitchen felt like a blessing, when Maureen finally shut the front door. The alien took up almost the entire floor, like a supersized dead hornet. Maureen lifted the fabric away from their wound carefully. She couldn’t tell how deep it was, but she was willing to bet it could use a bandage.

She went to get her first-aid kit and some sewing scissors.

After she bandaged the wounds she could find (cutting the torso of the suit away revealed another puncture wound and several bloodied scales), she dragged the alien into the living room, closer to the floor heating unit. Scales meant lizard, which meant cold-blooded. Hopefully she wasn’t drastically wrong about that. She covered the alien in a colorful afghan and propped a pillow under their head, and then went back to mop up the mess on the kitchen floor.

It was still a soup day.

Ignoring the giant blue alien in her living room became easier when she retrieved one of her home-grown pumpkins and a butternut squash. She sliced both neatly in half, scooping out the seeds and seasoning the halves before putting them in the oven to bake.

She diced onions, and put them in the bottom of a deep pan with some butter. As that sizzled, she added crushed garlic, more butter, more spices. The kitchen began to smell like soup.

She washed dishes and left them in the drying rack. She peeked into the living room, the retrieved the heavy cream from the fridge.

Carrots. Check on the alien.

Water. Check on the alien.

Sweet corn. Check on the alien.

When she finally pulled out the small corded immersion blender, she was feeling a little frustrated with herself. It never took this long to make soup. (She still had to stop blending halfway through to sneak another peek into the living room. The alien hadn’t moved).

The soup was still bubbling, when Maureen finally shut the stove off. The sunlight was beginning to tip over into another golden hour. She glanced into the living room for what she told herself would be the last time.

The alien was sitting up. They were poking suspiciously at their bandage.

“Don’t make yourself bleed all over again,” Maureen called, and the alien startled. Badly, slamming into the coffee table. They stared at Maureen, making her suddenly very conscious of her ladle. Was it threatening? She put it down, just in case.

“Would you like soup?” she asked, hopeful.

They only peered at her in response. Quite suddenly, their eyes narrowed, and she felt something—like a buzzing, sort of, at the back of her head. She slapped at it unthinkingly, like she might slap a bug, but there was nothing there. The alien just jolted back, a little, and blinked.

“Oh,” Maureen said. “That must be how you talk.”

They just looked confused, so Maureen got two bowls out of the cupboard and filled them both with warm-smelling orange soup. She put spoons in, then carried them both into the living room, placing the alien’s portion on the coffee table, then sitting down on the couch and slightly over-dramatically eating a bite, before nodding at the alien’s portion.

“Soup,” she said. The alien still looked baffled, so she thought for a moment. She thought really hard about soup. How it was warm, and tasty. How it grew up out of the ground in ingredients and needed to be baked and fried and blended. How it was comforting and filling and good.

She thought really hard about it, and then—sort of threw everything she was thinking at the alien. Which mostly involved squinting really hard at them, and hoping she didn’t look like an idiot.

The alien looked at the soup. Then at her. Then at the soup again. Cautiously, they took the bowl, raising the spoon to their mouth to take a tentative bite. Maureen felt the buzzing at the back of her brain again, and saw brief pictures—her own thoughts of soup, dim and blurry, but also something else—a flashing series of things that she thought were strange plants, and other creatures like this alien harvesting and tending, talking and laughing as they made even stranger food. There was an emphasis on those images, a warmth associated with them. It was all different from anything that Maureen had ever seen in her life—beautifully different, but also almost exactly the same.

You’re right, she thought. It is better when you share it.

She wasn’t sure if word-thoughts translated like picture-thoughts did. But as they both sat in companionable silence, watching the sun slowly slip away, she wasn’t sure that a translation was needed.

[socktron]

some shiro headcanons

since it's his birthday i thought I'd write some up for the space dad 💖🌈🌸💞

• shiro flat out refuses to celebrate his birthday on the 28th of february when it isnt a leap year because he feels like its cheating and will only celebrate on the first of march

• lance: does it ever hit you that you're almost twenty and you think... god... im old

• hunk: oh yeah all the time

• shiro, a 25 year old:

• shiro is kind of embarrassed on the days leading up to his birthday because he is That Person, but the gang still want to do smt for him so they decide to throw him a party

• as it turns out, throwing a surprise party on a ship where you're the only seven people is pretty hard

• allura, sticking paper man trains that hunk helped her make to the walls and covered in paint and glitter:

• shiro:

• allura: this is an ancient tradition for altean royalty and is something to be taken very seriously

• everyone expects keith to know what they need for shiro, and he does for the most part, but it turns out that lance knows quite a bit himself.

• hunk: does anybody even know what kind of cake shiro likes?

• lance: chocolate sponge with chocolate icing. he also really likes it when they have rainbow sprinkles and those tiny silver balls, but i dont really know how we could find them-

• hunk: how do you know this

• lance, sweating, thinking about his crush on shiro when he was fifteen and that he stalked him online regularly: uh. he told me.

• pidge is so bad at keeping the party a secret. they barely get any sleep and are therefore prone to being a blabber mouth. keith resorts to knocking cups off the counter as a distraction

• he actually really likes popular pop music!!! his brain is secretely that of a teenage girls and lance swears hes heard him humming nikki minaj in the shower before. he denies it to this day (he absolutely was)

• pidge, who purposely messes up shiros age just to piss him off: you dont look a day over 32 shiro!

• shiro: thanks pidge. five laps around the training room :)

• keith is absolutely the worst at trying to hide the birthday party. he cant lie to save his life and lying to shiro?? impossible

• shiro, knowing full well keith cant lie to him: so keith, where has everyone been recently? i wanted to catch up on some training but everyones been missing

• keith, panicking: dead

• for someone so smart,, shiro is shockingly oblivious. the rest of the castle have nearly revealed what they've been doing several times but shiro is on two hours of sleep and unable to comprehend what he assumes are their regular dumb antics

• back when he was on earth shiro never did anything extravagant, he only ever had dinner with his parents or stayed in bed with adam, and they would watch shitty reality tv show with a bottle of wine

• younger shiro: hey adam... do you think that i actually have delayed aging because im born on a leap year. will i live forever

• adam: takashi go to bed

• keith has given him little presents before and he has teared up,, he kept them all on the shelf on full view and constantly pointed them out for the next month much to Keith's embarrassment

• the party is space themed!! they managed go find some glow in the dark stars from an earth store and set up a hologram to show the galaxy and hunk made one of those cool galaxy mirror cakes. lance gets him a face mask kit and demands they have a makeover, whilst keith carries on his little tradition of giving shiro small trinkets he thought reminded him of him

• shiro is genuinely touched and didn't at all expect this. with everything that happened with the galra he forgot about his birthday and almost starts to cry

• shiro, during his birthday party with two hats on his head: everyone knows the more hats you wear, the more valid you are

• keith: you look stupid

• shiro, already putting on a third one: you're just jealous you didnt think of this first

• keith under his breath: dammit how did he know

• they all have a huge movie night with a bunch of earth dvds they managed to scrounge up from the space mall. hunk and pidge somehow make a working dvd player for them all to use

• hunk: ok shiro, since it's your birthday you can choose what we watch!

• shiro, already pulling out a dvd: have you guys watched naruto