#Adversity into Adventure

[adversityintoadventure]

10 Essential Items for Your Adventure Journey: Gear from the Adversity into Adventure Store

Getting on an adventure journey is quite a lot of fun, but with the right gear, it is more enjoyable. It does not matter if you are on a trek in the mountains if you are taking a walk in a new town, or if you just want to go outside, it’s important to pack the essentials that will support your journey. At the Adversity into Adventure Store, we consider that every adventure needs a positive attitude to begin and, more importantly, appropriate equipment as well. Our items are intended to excite, support, and remind you of your purpose. Here are 10 items that you will find useful and that will make your adventure easier, more enjoyable, and more rewarding:

The Adventure Logo Luggage Tag

Tag For both tourists and adventurers, the adventure logo luggage tag is an elegant and practical accessory. Gear is part of a journey, so why not give it some flair with the Adventure Logo Luggage Tag?

Whether you’re traveling by air to your next vacation or overland on a road trip, this tag assures that the contents of your bag will not be difficult to locate and represents the adventurous spirit residing within you.

The Logo Quench Hydro Bottle

It is imperative that you stay hydrated during any adventure, and that is why the Quench Hydro Bottle is handy. Its style, coupled with its durability, makes it convenient to carry around, while the 22 oz volume ensures that a good amount of water is packed for the trip.

The Rec Trucker Hat

The Rec Trucker Hat is very useful to both casual wearers and outdoor enthusiasts. It is made for adventure because style meets utility, providing elegance and protection from the sun.

You not only add value to your outfit but also shield you from the sun.

The Rehabilitation Hoodie

The Rehabilitation Hoodie is the ideal accessory for everyday wear or post-adventure relaxation because of its comfortable and stylish design. This hoodie appeals to people who value comfort and style by fusing practicality with a modern aesthetic.

The Research Notebook

Every adventurer needs a way to document their journey. The Research Notebook is smaller in size and structure, making it more than an ideal place where your ideas, strategies, or findings can be annotated. Be it a notebook to keep a record of the wandering paths or to look back at the adventure, this notebook is a must-have.

The Rec Sweat Tee

The Rec Sweat Tee is the perfect blend of comfort and style, designed for those who lead an active lifestyle. Whether you’re hitting the gym, relaxing at home, or heading out for an adventure, this tee offers the versatility and performance you need. With its blend of soft fabric, moisture-wicking technology, and stylish design, it’s the perfect choice for anyone looking to embrace adventure while staying comfortable.

The Youth Adventure Tee

For young adventurers who are prepared to embrace the great outdoors, the Youth Adventure Tee is especially made. With its playful design, sturdy construction, and comfy fit, this t-shirt inspires kids to take bold adventures in style.

The Not So Basic, B.A.S.I.C.S Tee

This isn’t your average tee. The Not So Basic, B.A.S.I.C.S Tee stands out with its bold design and strong message of resilience. Crafted for comfort and versatility, it’s ideal for any adventure where you need to stay cool, comfortable, and motivated.

The Lifting Others Tee

The Lifting Others Tee is a statement piece that encourages positivity, community, and mutual support in addition to being a chic outfit. This t-shirt is ideal for casual get-togethers or exercise sessions, as it exudes positivity and encouragement.

Durable Backpack

For adventurers, tourists, and regular users who require a trustworthy travel companion, the Durable Backpack is made. This backpack is ideal for carrying gear whether you’re trekking through the wilderness or navigating city streets because it combines functionality, comfort, and sturdy construction.

All set for your next outing and prepared to put on your adventure gear?

Explore our full collection and discover more products that embody resilience, strength, and the spirit of exploration. Visit our website today and start your journey with gear that reflects your passion and purpose.

[calmbigdipper]

I believe Fugo and Trish would be besties in the most awkward way possible

[age-of-moonknight]

“Systemic Approach (Part Two),” Avengers Unlimited (Vol. 1/2022), Infinity Comic, #64.

Writer: Mat Groom; Penciler and Inker: Caio Majado; Colorist: Pete Pantazis; Letterer: Joe Sabino

[thetalee]

We've Taken Different Paths (And Travelled Different Roads)

In which we see a glimpse of what it would be like if Daniel lived in Darling, So It Goes.

(Obviously, at least a few things would have changed. But we won't be getting into that right now.)

-

It was weird, Daniel thought, to have his baby brother as his fire captain. Better than Nash, that was for sure. Sometimes, Daniel managed to surprise even himself with how they didn't come to blows all the time. Because there was absolutely no love lost between them, even if the man had somehow stepped fully into a paternal role for Buck. Or maybe especially because of that, because Daniel was used to being the sole keeper of that spot.

Daniel could be professional when it mattered, though. He was more than capable of packing away his feelings and moving on. It was how he managed to not murder Han after he punched Buck, after all. It was how he was still managing to not murder him, even while working with him and having to sit across from him at the regular Sunday dinners.

But Maddie loved the man, for some reason. Their parents fucked all three of them up in fun and unique ways, and Daniel had by this point decided that "shitty taste in men" was his sister's particular damage. That period in time that both Eddie and Chris hated the man just as much was a pleasant one for Daniel, though it didn't last nearly long enough.

(To be fair, Chimney did win some points by trying to strangle that Jonah Greenway guy to death. Daniel was feeling slightly less murderous towards him afterwards.)

Anyways! Daniel's baby brother was his captain now and that was weird. Not bad, just weird. He still rememebered when Buck came to him after that trip to St. Paul they went on with Nash and Athena. How he burst into his apartment, all anxious excitement, already babbling about how,

"He wants to train me to be captain, Danny! Me! He wants to leave me in charge of the station!"

"Is Nash on drugs again, squirt?" was what Daniel had asked, and then laughed when his baby brother shoved at him.

Daniel hadn't been there when Buck first took up the role. Not after that brief foray with it after the dispatch fire, 'cause he'd been working at the 133. And he hadn't been there when Buck stepped into it more fully, after the bridge collapse. After-

Well, Daniel had not been in a good state after the bridge collapse. He had been in such a bad state, in fact, that he'd found himself moved into the detached garage at Buck and Eddie's, almost entirely against his will. It was fully finished and had been mostly used for their exercise equipment; they'd spent a weekend putting up a wall so he actually had his own space. He even had his own tiny bathroom.

Daniel would like it to be known that he hadn't chosen to move in with his baby brother and his baby brother's husband. He'd simply hadn't been given a choice after Buck twice walked into the old apartment to find him having destroyed a bunch of shit with his bat. Nor had he fought too strenuously against it.

(Daniel Buckley never did like being alone.)

Once again, he'd gone off on a tangent. Daniel's baby brother was his fire captain now, and it was weird. Better than when it was Nash, those months had been difficult to get through. The weirdest part of it all was that Buck wasn't bad at it. Not that Daniel ever thought Buck couldn't do it, it's just... It was just that Daniel had known this kid since diapers.

This was the kid that he and Maddie nearly had aneurysms, trying to teach him how to count change. The kid that did the stupidest stunts for their mother's attention. The kid that Daniel went to every parent-teacher conference for and was repeatedly told some variation of "if the little shit would just pay attention..."

Buck had always been a good firefighter, especially once he learned to slow down and think. That had always been his problem, his willingness to carry through with the first solution he thought of without even contemplating the alternatives. He'd gotten better about it, though, especially since it wasn't his own skin he was putting on the line now. And he was concientious about those under him, always keeping track of where they were at a scene or at the station. Daniel wasn't even certain if it was a conscious thing or if he just did it automatically. But if someone asked where one of his people were, he was able to give at least a general answer.

Daniel's baby brother was his fire captain, and it was weird, but it was nice, too. Not that Buck being his captain meant he ever stopped giving him shit.

-

"Danny! Danny!"

Daniel looked up from the book he was reading and smiled at the little tot running towards him. The little tot was sprinting full speed across the backyard, Hoover the dog loping along behind him like a loyal shadow.

"What do ya got?" Daniel asked, sitting up in the patio chair and putting aside the book.

"Look!" Gavin unclenched his little fist, revealing the prize he clutched. It was a tiny, writhing little worm.

"What a find, squirt," Daniel gushed, not even having to force the enthusiasm. "Hey, let's put it in 'Buela's garden, okay? But carefully."

"Okay!"

Gavin sprinted off again, this time for the patch of Abuela's flowers. Daniel watched him kneel down and gently set the little worm onto the dirt.

The sound of the sliding door opening had him looking over his shoulder.

"Hey, Dan," Eddie greeted him as he stepped out. "What did he find?"

"A worm," Daniel answered. "How did your little group go?"

Every Saturday morning that they had off, while Buck took Chris to his horse thing, Eddie would go to a veteran's group at the library. It seemed to be helping, thankfully. Daniel had not liked how stressed his baby brother looked after Eddie's little breakdown.

"It went okay," Eddie answered with a shrug. "Buck says that lunch is ready. He and Chris put together some quesadillas."

Daniel sniffed the air and caught the scent of the cooked food, his stomach growling in appreciation. He got to his feet and grabbed his book.

"Alright. C'mon, squirt, let's go wash your hands."

Gavin squealed when Daniel picked him up, swinging him around and throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Eddie just laughed as he stepped aside and let him in, whistling for Hoover as he did.

-

"Do I really have to do this?" Daniel asked, staring at Buck's phone like it was a venomous snake.

"Danny, c'mon. Please?" Buck gave him his brightest smile, and Daniel felt himself crumpling before it like always. "I already made Hen and Chim give a tour of the ambulances."

It was for that stupid FirefightersDiaz_LAFD instagram that the brass had Buck and Eddie doing. Buck was just eating the attention right up, and the rest of them were unfortunately being drawn into it far too often. Like now, for instance: apparently Buck had the bright idea of having him do a video tour of the fire engine.

"Christ, squirt, fine. Put that away," Daniel said, caving completely and shoving at his brother's face. "Ravi! Get over here!"

Ravi was, perhaps, one of Daniel's favorites of his new coworkers. They'd already bonded over childhood cancers long before Daniel transferred, thanks to Hen shoving them together. But Ravi was also close enough to the group insanity to suffer, but sane enough to commiserate with him. Buck also had the brilliant idea of Ravi shadowing him to learn about the engine, to step in if the need arose. Which meant Daniel could force him to suffer through this with him.

"What?" the younger man cautiously asked. He clearly already knew he wouldn't like whatever this was. Smart kid.

"We're doing a video-"

"Oh, God damn it."

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Buck insisted. "It's like Al said, the people who watch Hotshots don't know this stuff. It'll be educational!"

Buck had already forced Eddie to help him go over all the various tools. Daniel had stood up on the loft with the rest to look down at it and laugh.

"Where do you want us to start?" Daniel asked, and he knew how resigned he sounded.

"You guys haven't done the inspection and maintenance on it yet, right?" Buck asked, though he already knew the answer. "Let's just do that. You can just say what you're doing as you go along."

"Yeah, alright. Ravi-"

"I'll go get the checklist," Ravi said, already jogging away.

"I want some of Isabel's tamales for dinner tomorrow," Daniel told his brother. "Since you're putting me through this."

"I will stop by the store on the way home for everything we need," Buck promised.

[rhymesalot]

The Albino Bearded Lizard Wizard

The albino bearded lizard wizard’s not a lizard at all.In fact, he’s a boy, albino and bearded and he stands quite tall.He does have a lizard, albino and bearded, who answers the wizards’ call.Nightly laughter they both share atop the garden wall.~The lizard too is a wizard and a monster he’s often called.Their youth remained for centuries; maturity was forestalled.Each knew they were different,…

[miniaturemallow]

God blood gang

(Taz vs Dracula episode 18)

[thepersonalwords]

Adversity gives life the thrill of adventure.

Debasish Mridha

[enthusedbambi-jjba-au]

Monster AU - Hybridisation Fundamentals

This might be a relatively short one. There are few hybrids confirmed to speak of.

Generally, most hybrids would be what you'd expect—offspring of a monster (a.k.a. cryptian) and a human. Hybrids of this sort are typically referred to as 'half-(X)', with the human half being implied, since humans are more-or-less the dominant (or at least most prevalent) species in most places. Hybrid is the general term referring to any kind, but as a whole, hybrids are also sometimes called things like 'middies', 'halfies', 'combos', and, often more derogatorily, 'half-breeds', and 'amalgams'.

When there's a hybrid of more than two creatures, they can be referred to as 'part-(X)'.

In some cases, when only one parent's species is known / identified, I've used the suffix '-ling' to indicate being the offspring of something—e.g., the child of a demon with an unspecified other parent may be a Demonling or Dämonling. In theory, this could also be used for other similar situations, but I've only thus far used it for the aforementioned Dämonling. It's almost a synonym for 'cambion', but dämonling basically just means 'demon-spawn' in general; whereas a 'cambion' is defined as being a hybrid of specifically a demon and a human and no it's not specifically a(n) suc/incubus, it's just any human-demon offspring. This INCLUDES, but is not LIMITED to, individuals who are half concubus. and also can people PLEASE stop treating cambions like it's somehow their fault they were born ? yes even the concubi cambion. sure there are a lot of cases in which the circumstances of their existence are reprehensible but it's literally not their fault. like. they didn't fucking ask to be born??? and theyre not inherently dangerous so stop jumping to conclusions??

Anyway, hybrids between a human and cryptian (sometimes called 'humons', 'halfmen' (gender neutral), or 'the consequences of monsterfuckery') will typically inherit many traits and capabilities of their inhuman parent (in essence, human characteristics are much more likely to be 'recessive'). However, any powers they may attain are generally only about half as powerful, with their weaknesses also often being about halfway diminished. The way hybridisation manifests can vary on a case-by-case basis, but you are likely to find human-monster hybrids being more humanoid than their cryptian parent but still with many of the inhuman traits. Hybrids between two cryptians are much more varied, generally pretty rare between less humanoid monsters and can't be generalised; for the most part, though, they conceptually fall somewhere along the same lines as human-cryptian hybrids.

Genetics isn't my area of expertise, so explaining the relationship between human genes and monster genes in terms of dominance/recessiveness is pretty hard. Plus, it's foolish to generalise genetics through all cryptianity!

Hybrids also typically have a combined feel to their aura, integrating the metaphysical texture of both parents' auras. A cryptian's aura is usually significantly more potent than a human's, and a hybrid is usually somewhere in the middle. Being a Stand User will also affect one's aura.

There are, however, some hybrids that are irregular. or Giorno Giovanna.

The main irregularity is overruling or dual species, which cannot technically be just 'part' or 'half'. In particular, there aren't really any 'half-werewolves' or 'half-lycans' and so forth.

While lycanthropy (and other forms of zooanthropy) can be genetically inherited and lycanthropes can have children with non-humans as well as humans, lycanthropy is very complicated. A traditional lycanthrope (werewolf) is a human who turns into a wolf under the full moon, but that means that they are, technically, still a human (most of the time). In this sense, lycanthropy is moreso akin to a genetic mutation like albinism.

What I mean to say is, whilst 'lycanthrope' is technically its own classification of species (I need to establish the difference between different kinds, lest people keep calling them all werewolves—they're not all werewolves and werewolf logic does not apply to all lycanthropes), to be defined as a lycanthrope, the individual in question must be something else that transforms into a lycanthropic/lupomorphic form. All lycanthropes are also something else (same goes for other zooanthropes for their respective animals).

Lycanthropy is not exclusive to humans, though human lycanthropes are the most commonly known. The child of two human lycanthropes will also be human - and, bizarrely (though rarely, perhaps), might not inherit the lycanthropy, resulting in a normal human child. (I keep thinking about one dominant allele and one recessive allele but it just doesn't track).

Meanwhile, the child of a human (or any other) lycanthrope and an inhuman (whether another lycanthrope or not) will follow the same rules as a typical hybrid of their sort, and their species would be classified accordingly, but if they inherit the lycanthropy, they will be a lycanthrope as well no matter what. They will either be called a lycanthrope, or their other species can be used as a modifier before it, resulting in classifications such as 'demonic lycanthrope' or 'half-vampiric lycanthrope' (yes, contrary to some beliefs, it's not impossible for vampires to also be werewolves. The world just isn't ready for that talk I guess. There are so many kinds of sanguisuges and lycanthropes they are not all incompatible with each other).

And then there's Giorno. Giorno Giovanna. Infamously a triple hybrid (at least!) (come to think of it, it might not be the best idea to reveal his whole name) whose aura is - as a result - 'a terror' and 'atrocious'. Giorno is presumably part-human (with an infusion of ethereal Entity), but he's also unquestionably part sanguisuge (vampire) and, apparently, somehow... part... Gentry? I want to refer to this hybridisation, despite the human part, as a Faepyre, because it sounds cool however there is a chance i may get got for doing so. His aura is very intense and imposing due to the chaos. Being a hybrid of a vampire (you'd have to assume Sanguinarius saxeus, based on his parentage, but a lot of his traits seem 'traditional', whatever he is) and Gentry, he's quite incredibly powerful, but not as powerful as a being wholly of either kind would be. However, as aforementioned, he's blessed (figuratively, FIGURATIVELY) thusly with heavily diminished weaknesses, which is very lucky because a lot of traditional non-Italian-born vampire weaknesses seem to be just, like, being in Italy.

Being part-vampire comes with the desperate craving to drink blood but typically the lack of necessity to do so. He doesn't appear in silver-backed mirrors. Being part-Gentry comes with potential nearly beyond human comprehension, magic of influence, and Glamour... as well as a slight iron allergy... He has also claimed he is unable to be baptised due to 'medical reasons' and gets very offended if anyone asks him to clarify.

There are also 'pseudo-hybrids' as well, beings whose species are themselves a 'hybrid'. These are called 'chimera' or 'chimeric species'. For one example: Sphinxes (Tiziano Vecellio (will i get my ass kicked for putting his actual name here?) is a Sphinx & the only one I happen to have 'encountered' thus far).

Sphinxes are, mythologically, hybrid creatures with the bodies of lions, wings of raptors (most often eagles) and heads of humans, meaning the species as a whole is 'hybrid', but the individuals are not necessarily hybrid. Actually, when it comes to chimeras, there generally are no partial-chimeras. Especially when it comes to chimera with a human component. You don't really get 'half' of something when that something is already 'half'. In particular, the offspring of a human and a sphinx would be considered a full sphinx. There's a bit of a grey area on satyrs or fauns, and minotaurs have a complicated hybridisation, but if we're talking centaurs or some shit, you can't really go halfway with that. I guess it's sort of because the shape defines the species, or something like that.

(Also worth noting is that the term Sphinx may be more suited to indicate a family or genus than an actual species (this also applies to some other species, but taxonomy is a story for a different time); there are different (though not many) kinds of Sphinx species or subspecies with differing traits; without getting too far off track, Sphinxes as a collective over time seemed to trend towards being bipedal and more humanoid (hence Tiziano being more humanoid than leonine)).

Aquatic hybrids are actually surprisingly common, probably because it's remarkably easy for half-maricrypts to not know that they aren't fully human. Many seafolk hybrids are amphibicrypts—they have a land form and an aquatic / swim form. As they are typically born outside of the water (and unions between humans and seafolk are famously not very happy), they may live their entire lives in their land form. Unless fully submerged in water, there's generally nothing that would blatantly bring them to realise that they're amphibious, especially if their supernatural parentage is hidden from them (selkies and merrow have been known to fall victim to these behaviours as they are relatively easy to 'trap' on land). They often feel a pull towards the sea or the ocean, but in a lot of cases, they don't transform noticeably simply from being exposed to water; in these cases, it's often being submerged fully to where breathing oxygen is not an option—the body instinctively breathes through the gills (all fish-based seafolk have them!) and that generally pushes the body to transform. But how often does that happen? Fairly infrequently. Because it's easy for them to not know they're amphibicrypts, and, thus, they live their entire lives terrestrially, they're also more likely to have offspring with humans and pass the trait on to their offspring, so a lot of people could have genetically buried, watered-down (hah!) seafolk genes and not even know.

[the-blossica-fan]

I got injured at work again today. You know what that means: Mesmer Jr gets to have a bad day.

Actors AU and Cannon swap places, somehow, for, like, a day. Cannon is having a miserable time, Actors is having a slightly less bad time.

Get your injury treated if you haven't yet, wouldn't want it to get worse due to negligence.

Voyager had an incident with travelling through universes and accidentally mixed up Mesmer.

Canon Mesmer, who's supposed to be treating an old Manus Vindictae follower, suddenly found herself sitting inside a "feverish dream" room she doesn't recognize.

It seems futuristic, but in the worst way possible. She grimaces as she looks around and sees some things out of place, thankfully, it's mostly neat. "I must be inside an artificial somnambulism fragment."

Yet all of that goes out the window when she goes out the room and the first thing she sees is her fellow friend-- fellow coworker 37, and her clothes are nowhere near as she remembers. She's about to ask her what's going on but she's dragged into a hug.

How nightmarish. She hated that.

Everyone seemed to be slightly touchier with her and it was driving her insane.

In the end, she stuck inside that little place with her name, a room slightly disorganized, which didn't feel like her but it also felt like the only calm place from the large, and I mean LARGE amount of people that suddenly talked to her.

Turns out a huge difference between Canon Mesmer and Actors AU Mesmer is that one has a lot of trauma and is very touch adverse and the other doesn't mind touching that much until she gets overwhelmed.

Good thing this saved Mesmer Jr from socialization.

Wondering what happened with Actors AU Mesmer Jr? Oh she's living the Isekai life.

Sitting on the couch of the suitcase surrounded by a bunch of curious 50's to 90's people wondering about her fashion.

She got overwhelmed eventually and Vertin allowed her to stay in Mesmer's room with the condition of not messing anything up.

She ended up sleeping on the couch because that room reeks of detergent.

[quotelr]

You have to conquer every mountain to realize the dream.

Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

[damidrawsvt]

[fanfictasia]

Sicktember Day 29

Side Effects/Adverse Reaction

Spoiler: This is an excerpt from The Mushroom Strikes Back

They finish cutting through the droids in the area not long later, and Anakin pauses next to a tree, resting a hand against it as he starts coughing again. He really wants to sleep, but there’s no time for that.

“Are all the droids gone?”

“I’m having the boys do a perimeter sweep now,” Cody replies, approaching and taking his helmet off.

“You sure it’s safe for you to do that right now?” Anakin asks. They’re a distance away from the mushrooms now, but he doesn’t know how much of that is still contaminating the air.

“Air’s clear out here,” he replies, watching him with concern when he suppresses a cough. Though, Anakin’s beginning to get afraid that Cody was right in warning him about these things. Not that there’s anything he could have done about it anyway.

“I am… usually immune to toxins,” Anakin tells him.

“Because you’re a Jedi?” Cody asks, curiously. All the clones have a certain fascination with the Jedi; unsurprising, when this is their first time interacting with any.

“I’m… not fully human.” He doesn’t want to get into the details of how he’s different. It’s not something he likes thinking about, because he never wanted what the ‘Chosen One’ title always came with.

“Oh,” the commander supplies, but steps closer uncertainly when Anakin coughs again. “You should get some rest.”

“You should, too,” he replies, pointedly. He sits down at least, though, hoping the momentary wave of dizziness he’s feeling is going to pass. That could be from his head injury as much as the toxin, though.

Cody sits down next to him, and Anakin wasn’t really intending to fall asleep, but he wakes up at the sharp inkling of danger in the Force. He’s curled up right alongside Cody, who’s also dozing. They must’ve rolled closer to each other, because he wasn’t practically resting his head on the clone’s shoulder when he fell asleep, and nor was Cody’s arm part-way on top of him.

[faglaios]

actually candy queen and winter king are meant to be I’m on her side

[radley3925]

So, having second thoughts, I think PosPos has something else like anomic aphasia or dysnomia instead of amnesia after doing more research

In other words only one character who canonically has amnesia, but two who canonically has memory problems

ok so we have doctor and pospos but who's the other one ur talking about ? i appear to need my memory jogged as well lol

[thetalee]

"So, you're fake dating my big brother."

Inspired by this ask, specifically the first part about my regret regarding not having Buck be in the know about Austin Jones earlier. Most of this was brainstormed while spending hours in a car.

~

"Okay, I need you to explain this to me again." Evan's grin was far too reminiscent of the Chesire Cat's as he slouched in the passenger seat. "Explain this to me like I'm five."

"I should probably explain everything to you like you're five," Daniel said, rolling his eyes. "You act that age often enough."

"No, no. This is the first day off we've both shared in weeks, Danny. Or at least the first one that one or both of us aren't too exhausted to do anything. And we're gonna spend it with your boyfriend's family? The boyfriend I didn't even know you had?"

"He's not my-" Daniel sighed and rolled his shoulders. "Austin isn't my boyfriend. I'm just pretending to be his boyfriend to get his parents off his back."

"Beards are usually women."

Daniel bit back the immediate retort, that Evan should know all about beards, but his brother was already putting up with enough today. He didn't want to needlessly remind him of one of the reasons they fled El Paso. That mess was best left in Texas, to be forgotten and never remembered.

"I'm not his beard."

"You literally just told me you're pretending to date him to get his parents off his back. That totally makes you a beard."

"He doesn't want to date anyone," Daniel told him. "But his parents want him to find someone."

"Is this like a, I want grandkids, kinda thing?" Evan asked, and then scrunched up his nose. "Wait, no, then they'd want him to be dating a girl."

"They just want him to be happy. Not everyone's parents suck." Daniel shrugged at the look his baby brother gave him. "Also, they already have like, three grandkids."

"Okay..." Evan nodded, eyes fixed on the car ahead of them. "Just one more question: how long have you two been...?"

"She tried setting him up with someone for Valentine's Day and he finally just went with my idea."

"Valentine's Day?" Evan turned his head to stare at him, eyes boring holes into the side of his face. "Danny, it's fucking May. You've been dating a guy for four months-"

"Fake dating," Daniel corrected him. "And it's only been three and a half."

"Only- What the fuck, Danny?"

"Listen, it's his mother's birthday today." That statement earned him a bug-eyed stare.

"You're bringing your younger brother to your fake boyfriend's mother's birthday!?"

"She said to invite you."

"Wait, have you already met her? You said you've only been together for four months."

"Three and a half, and we're not together, we're-" Daniel cut himself off with a huff and hit the turn signal, flipping off the driver of the car that refused to budge out of the way for them. "She was excited that he found someone, and he's a momma's boy. Look, neither of us have anything better to do today, and it'll be free food."

"Honestly, you're making me regret not picking up that extra shift," Evan complained, settling back in his seat. "i could have been earning overtime."

"Why?" Daniel couldn't help but scoff. "You don't pay any bills."

"I offer all the god damn time, and you keep shooting me down!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, shut up. We're at his building."

Austin didn't live that far from their apartment, truth be told. Daniel found a spot on the curb, ignoring the fact that it was a fire lane because he was a firefighter and thus allowed to park there, and shot the man a text telling him to bring his ass down. Then, Daniel turned in his seat and fixed his baby brother with an expectant stare.

"What?" Evan demanded. "Why are you- No! Are you serious?"

"Fake boyfriends get shotgun," Daniel told him. "Get in the back, squirt."

Evan huffed and groaned and generally regressed to being a teenager, but he threw open the passenger door and got in the back all the same. Daniel rolled his eyes at him, ignoring his bitching about his legs and being too tall for this and how his knees were "pressing into my lungs, Danny, when did you stop loving me?" Most of his attention was fixed on the building's front entrance, and he gave a single honk of his horn when he spotted Austin coming out.

"I could've drove," was how Austin greeted him.

"You could have," Daniel placidly agreed as the other man settled into the passenger seat. "Austin, this is Evan. Evan, this is Austin."

"So." Evan leaned forward between the seats, that Cheshire Cat grinned back in place. "You're fake dating my big brother."

"That I am," Austin confirmed.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh. And how did you meet?"

Daniel silently rolled his eyes as he pulled back out into traffic. Evan caught sight of the motion in the rearview mirror and blew a raspberry at the side of his head.

"I went through the academy with a guy at his station," Austin answered.

"Oh! You're a firefighter, too. Neat." Evan nodded. "And what are your intentions with my brother?"

"Jesus Christ, Evan," Daniel snapped.

"I have to protect your virtue!"

"His virtue's safe with me." Austin sounded amused, a hint of a smile on his mouth. After over a year of friendship, Daniel was getting a hang of reading him now.

"My virtue was gone ages ago."

"Gross. No one wants to hear about that, Danny."

"Hey! How many times did I walk in on you and-" Daniel cut himself off, closing his mouth so suddenly that his teeth clicked together. The damage was already done, Evan withdrawing into the back and falling into sullen silence. Austin frowned and glanced between them, but Daniel just shook his head. "Where are we going?"

"Olive Garden, the one on Venice," Austin answered, letting the unasked questions go. "Other side of Lafayette Square."

"Sweet." The excitement and cheer in Evan's voice was mostly a facade. "Endless breadsticks."

"Yeah, yeah." Daniel flapped a hand at him. "Who all's gonna be there? I've only met your parents."

"But you know how many grandkids there are," Evan pointed out, a hint of a question in the words. Or maybe an accusation.

"Shut it."

"My sister, Cynthia, and Emmett have Dean and Sam. She's a bit obsessed with the show," Austin supplied. Daniel racked his brain, trying to figure out what show Austin was talking about, and just drew a blank. "My brother, Ethan, and his wife, Irene, have Rosemary. If you sit next to him, he will show you all the pictures he has of his precious princess. And he has a lot."

"Don't worry, we'll sit you at the kids' table," Daniel teased, smirking at his baby brother's reflection.

"Joke's on you, that's the cool table," Evan said, leaning forward again. "So is there anything I shouldn't do or say? Shut up, Danny."

"Wasn't gonna say anything," Daniel lied. "But probably the fact that we aren't actually dating. That's a big one."

"So I shouldn't mention the actual date that you went on last month?" Evan's grin was shit eating. "You know, with the chick that went to the bathroom and never came back?"

"Yes." Daniel glared at him. "You definitely shouldn't mention that, either."

"My lips are sealed." And then he turned to Austin. "He took her to the place I work at-"

"It's hard to keep track of where you work. You change jobs so often."

"I'll find something and stick to it." Evan flapped a hand at him. "Anyway, so I was there and got a front row seat to him crashing and burning..."

~

Hen still wasn't completely sold on the new captain. They'd gone through so many of them since Gerrard, some of them only lasting weeks. Bobby, though, had managed to last months by this point. He'd opened up a slight bit more, too, calling them by their preferred names and even starting to cook for them instead of leaving them all to fend for themselves.

They'd gone out for one of their post-shift get-together, her and Bobby and Chimney and Tommy. Different from but similar to all the times they went out before Bobby, Sal's absence hardly noticed. Hen didn't miss him, not really, the man was barely a friend and that was forever tarnished by the way he treated her when she first started. Chimney was right, when he called him a tool.

Anyways, today they went to one of their usual haunts, a hook-and-ladder joint downtown. The shift hadn't been particularly grueling, at least they hadn't lost anyone, but it was a near thing a couple of times. Karen understood the desire to unwind, the need to unwind, before coming home. She assumed that Tommy's invisible fiancee were the same.

Hen knew, in vague terms, that she existed. Nothing else beyond that, really, except that her name started with an A. But that was okay, she and Tommy weren't the sort of friends where Hen actually cared about those kinds of details, not like her and Chimney. Bobby wasn't the only one on their shift who kept things close to the chest. Hell, there were a couple that, despite how long she worked with them, she still wasn't sure they actually existed as people. Like-

"Holy shit." Tommy's coughing and sputtering interrupted her thoughts as he choked on his drink. "Is that Jones?"

In unison, they swivelled their heads to see what he was talking about. There, at the bar, sat their reclusive driver-engineer. He was chatting with the bartender, a guy several years their junior with what might've been a bruise above his eye who was propping himself against the bar with his arm, almost like he was posing. Hen spent several moments gawking.

"How many times did we try inviting him out with us?" Chimney sounded offended. "He always turned us down."

"Maybe he just didn't want to go out drinking with you," Bobby suggested with a smirk. That was a recent development, too, the captain's burgeoning sense of humor.

As they watched, another man took a seat on the stool beside Jones. The man looked similar to the bartender, enough so that Hen came to the immediate conclusion that they were related, somehow. Brother, probably. He said something that had both the bartender and Jones throwing their heads back with laughter.

Jones had been at the 118 for a few years, now, a transfer from another station when their old driver-engineer retired. Since that time, they'd learned almost nothing about the man except for his name and the fact that he was an LA native. He stuck to himself for the most part, oftentimes disappearing somewhere in the station between calls. He was so quiet that, even when the man was driving them to and from scenes, it was easy to forget that he was there.

Hen had never, not once, seen the man outside of the station. And yet, here he was, interacting and talking and laughing. It was like they'd taken a turn into the Twilight Zone.

She glanced at the bottle in her hand, close to empty. This place had servers to bring them refills, it was one of the things they liked about it, but..

"I'm gonna go get us another round," she declared. Bobby looked disapproving, but he didn't immediately say anything.

Hen got up and headed for the bar, curiosity pushing her forward. None of the men took note of her approach, so she managed to get close enough to overhear their conversation. The bartender was regaling them with a story.

"The guy was tripping balls, right?" he was saying, gesticulating with his arms. "So he's at the top of the lamppost and no one can figure out how to get him down, not without knocking him down-"

"Tempting, sometimes," the third guy, the bartender's brother, remarks.

"-but then this... I think he was a janitor? He just showed up and unplugged the light, then turned on the heavy duty flashlight he had and shown it on the ground. The dude just climbed right down to chase after it."

"Guy probably had a few bad trips of his own." The bartender's brother suddenly frowned at him. "You didn't do anything like that, did you?"

"I would never," the bartender replied and though Hen didn't even know the man, even she could tell that was utter bullshit. His eyes finally landed on her, and if he were a dog, his ears would be perked and his tail wagging. "Oh! Hey, sorry. What can I get ya?"

"A club soda and three more of these," she answered, holding up her drink. Then she nodded to Jones, which the man silently returned. "We didn't know you were coming out tonight."

The bartender frowned as he poured the club soda, looking between her and Jones. His brother was doing much the same, but with a wary edge to his posture. Jones just sighed and pointed at her and said,

"Wilson."

"Oh!"

The two men lit up in recognition, the older one relaxing in his seat. Hen was struck in that moment by the realization that these utter strangers knew of her, at least. That Jones had talked of her enough that all they needed was her name to know who she was.

"Austin's a gossip," the older brother told her. It took a moment for her to connect Austin to Jones, to realize that they were the same person. "Dan, that's Evan."

"Hen," she supplied. "You guys know each other."

"Obviously," Dan scoffed.

"They're dating," Evan told her, shit-eating grin directed at his brother. Hen reeled.

"Fake dating," Jones corrected, utterly unbothered.

"Whatever. What table are you guys at?"

Hen realized, after a beat, that the question was for her.

"Uh, right over there," she answered, gesturing. She looked over and saw that the other three were watching with interest.

"The table with the guy who's been checking me out," Evan said with a nod.

"Is that why you were standing like that when I got here?" Dan asked, face scrunched up.

"Gotta earn my tips somehow," Evan explained with a careless shrug.

"That would be Tommy," Hen said. Tommy had, coincidentally, changed seats to one that conveniently gave him a better view of the bar and the bartender. "I knew my gaydar wasn't wrong."

"Is he not out?" Evan asked, and looking to Jones for the answer. The man just shrugged and shook his head.

"He's engaged to a woman," Hen told him. "We've never seen her."

"Oh, a closet case." He sounded disappointed, and a little derisive. "Been there, done that, not doin' it again."

"Aw, look at you, squirt." Dan reached up to pinch at Evan's cheek, who slapped his hand away. "Learnin' lessons and everythin'."

"Fuck off." Evan set the club soda down on the bar, and then pulled out three unopened bottles to put next to it. "There ya go. Need help carrying 'em?"

"No, I've got it," Hen assured him, gathering the drinks up. She was reluctant to leave, as curious as she was about these people who had befriended the 118's least sociable member. But she didn't have a reason to linger.

She was halfway back to the table when she heard Jones laughing again.

"So?" Chimney was nearly vibrating in his seat when she returned. The other two weren't any better, though much more subdued. "You were there talking with them awhile, what did you find out?"

Hen mulled it over, debating how much to say, before settling on,

"Did you know Jones' name is Austin?"

~

There was no reason for Buck to be feeling this nervous, absolutely none. How many first days had he gotten through by this point? And it wasn't like he was going into this one completely blind, not with how much time he'd spent at Danny's old station. Nor was he going to be completely surrounded by strangers.

Case in point, just inside the truck bay - larger than the one at Danny's old station, more airy - there was someone waiting for him.

"Hey, Austin." Buck hurried his steps, not quite running to meet up with his brother's not-boyfriend. He looked around as he did, feeling giddy when he spotted the turnout locker with Buckley on it. "Where do I, uh. Where do I go...?"

"Cap's upstairs," Austin said. "Along with everyone else. There's food."

"Awesome."

He jogged ahead, excitement hurrying his pace, and took the steps two at a time. When he reached the top, it was to find most of the shift gathered around the dining tables. He recognized some of them by sight, thanks to his time tending bar at the hook-and-ladder joint. They looked up, most of them only briefly before going back to their food, at his approach.

"Uh, hi." He waved awkwardly at them, adjusting the strap of the bag hanging from his shoulder. "Evan Buckley, new recruit. I was told to report to Captain Nash?"

"Do you know a Captain Nash?" the older man at the end of the table asked the others, who shook their heads.

Buck's stomach dropped, before logic and reason caught up. Captain Nash was definitely here, somewhere, Austin had said so. So who-

"That's Nash," Austin said, pointing him out as he passed Buck on his way to his empty chair, clapping him on the shoulder. The others all stared at him like he'd grown a second head, and then turned to look at Buck in the exact same way.

"Did Jones just...?" Hen turned around in her seat, face lighting up in recognition as she got a better look at Buck. "Oh! Evan, the bartender. It's been a while."

"Buck," he corrected with a shrug. "There were three other Evans in my class, so..."

"Buck," she repeated with a nod.

"Take a seat," Nash said, gesturing at the empty chair beside him. "And welcome to the One Eighteen."

[wickedzeevyln]

Odds and Ends

Snow How I feel about snow right now. This place is a throne of winter, that much I know. It sits on this land like a famished wolf, growling at spring, yellow fangs gleaming with hardened drool, eyes fixed on the warmer season, waiting to shoot from the skies in a pale streak with gusts of deathly winds. And when it does, hackles rise, it swoops down, those bloodshot eyes blazing, that…