#GUESS WHAT NERDS

[kittlesandbugs]

Title: Breathe dammit Pairing: Chargestep Warnings: RETRIBUTION SPOILERS.  Big fat ones for the end of the book.  Also near-death experience, but not for the POV character (Ortega).  Chucking the whole thing under a cut to be polite for people who haven’t gotten there yet lol. Word Count: 647

Prompt:  @sidestepping prompted: write the car crash or the hospital waiting from the point of view of Ortega, or, alternatively, any of the main cast dealing with your Sidestep being injured.

"She's not breathing!"

The paramedic's words freeze your blood in its veins, sick dread heavy like lead in your gut. 

no

no no no not again, not ever again, you just got her back, you can't—

Feet moving before you realize, shove the medic out of the way, only halfway done cutting through her layers. You fall to your knees beside her, finish the job. 

What is that orange…? Spiraling out of central stripes in a pattern you can't recognize. 

Not important now. 

Hand over her heart, flesh still warm but no movement, no flutter that you've wanted to feel since she came back into your life. 

no 

no 

nononono

"Sir you have to—" 

"I'm not losing her again!" You shrug the hands away, normal strength of a person no match for your modded muscles. 

Remember the training, elbows locked, thirty compressions. Eyes locked on her too-slack face for any sign of life. Tilt the chin, mouth to mouth, breathe the life back into her. 

Once. 

Twice. 

nothing

"C'mon, Ry…" 

Compressions again, harder this time. Like you can force your life into her. Should have been yours taken so many times, this is why, this is why, to bring her back again, rip her out of death's grasp again. 

"Breathe, dammit…" 

One breath. 

Two. 

She gasps, sucks air like a fish, and relief makes it easy for the paramedics to shove in again. They strap her to the gurney, mask to her face, compression bag assisting her breathing, lift her up, wheel her to the ambulance. 

You stumble to your feet, follow after them, push your way in after them before they can shut you out and leave. 

"Sir, you can't—" 

"I'm a Ranger. Charge."

Flash the badge from your pocket. Been a long time since you've had to pull that card but it shuts them up and you settle in beside her. 

You wipe sweat slick hands on your ruined sweats and gesture to the mask bag. 

"I'm sorry." You're not, but it eases the glares. "She's my…" Can't say girlfriend, she'd yell at you, and it'd be so welcome you almost do. "May I…?" 

He hands the bag over after a brief glance to the other. You follow their instructions carefully, so carefully, eyes glued to every rise and fall of her chest. 

She'll pull through right? 

She's so stubborn. 

Too stubborn to die, right? Always too stubborn. Just needed a little help to get her feet back under her. 

The ride is over too quickly and not fast enough and they take it back from you before you can move, wheel her out, you barely catch the words "respiratory failure" and "multiple complex fractures". You limp after them, your own injuries starting to catch up with you, but it doesn't matter.

All that matters is she pulls through and you have to be sure. 

You're arguing with a nurse in the hall outside the operating theater when a heavy hand falls on your shoulder. 

"Ricardo. You need to stop."

Wei. You almost wilt as you turn.

"But she almost— I can't—" 

"She's in the best hands this city has to offer. I'll stand watch now."  Hard eyes soften as he pushes you a few steps from the door, towards another nurse waiting to take you for examination. "I won't let anyone— won't let anything happen to her. I promise."

Anyone?  Hollow Ground? But he doesn't believe in… What is he… ? 

The nurse almost manhandles you into the wheelchair, interrupting your thoughts, and you spin to call back, "You'll let me know when she's out of surgery, right?" 

"Yes. Now get yourself taken care of." 

"You'll let me know if anything… if she gets…" The words die in your throat, you can't even bear to think about that now. 

"I will. You need to rest."

"I… okay."

The nurse wheels you away and you suddenly remember.

What were those orange markings? 

[kaiserouo]

Well someone has to give it its driver updates, Gabriel

[screwpinecaprice]

When your boyrfren is a morning person.

(Idk if Connie's not a morning person, but it'd be funny if she isn't.)

Connie doodles (and a Steven!)

[coquelicoq]

what i like especially about the pronouns in the goblin emperor is that this language doesn't just have the T-V distinction (aka informal vs. formal second-person pronouns, in this case 'thou' vs. 'you'), it also has informal and formal first-person pronouns. having BOTH of these distinctions in the same language lets you fine-tune your tone by mixing and matching. with only one axis of formality, when you use informal pronouns, are you being familiar in an intimate way, or in an insolent or dismissive way? when you use formal pronouns, are you being polite or standoffish? you can't tell just from the pronouns; there's ambiguity. but a language where you can use a formal first-person pronoun in the same sentence as an informal second-person pronoun allows you to distance yourself (via the formal first) while also being familiar (via the informal second), thereby achieving the conversational tenor known to linguists as Fuck Thee Specifically.

[monochrome-stars]

also maybe because these are super acidic, that makes them like that maybe??? sidenote however, lemons/limes dont affect me so maybe im just .funky idk

[mamawasatesttube]

i got bit by the "two eleven truths and a lie" bug, so heres a lil quiz!!

if you follow me you PROBABLY know the answer. or at least can rule several of these out. but hey if you know, don't say it until the poll's over!!! rb and tag with what you guessed/if you Know, i wanna see if i made it too easy :3

*11th choice should say "at Cadmus", it got cut off and i didn't notice and i can't edit the poll :(

[ray935sworld]

HELP. My criminal law professor just constructed following case:

"What if a father - let's call him Valentino (V) has shared custody with his ex-husband - yeah, let's not always be like 'ugh, bad ex-wife' and reflect the diversity in our society - So Vs ex... Mark has their son Frank from Monday to Wednesday. He -" then the case followed.

Either this man has no idea what insanity he is causing me beside wtf he is trying to teach and this is just the biggest coincidence or he is doing it on purpose.

[lemon-wedges]

[enzymedevice]

Forgot I planned to post about this! Bleach painted Elric shit on this sweatshirt in April.

[oifaaa]

which comics era do you like best?

wait here let me check something

yeah that's what I thought

I'm going to bed

[siliconcat]

alipatchy fangame got me solving systems of equations in the notes app

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

my favorite mulder moments from s3

when he’s dead in episode 1, in the afterlife being urged to return to his body, and it is only only hearing that his sister isn’t there which convinces him to come back to life (we can analyze this for years and we should!)

after their narrow escape from the disease center in episode 2, skinner asks what mulder could possibly hope to find in his wildest dreams. his answer: “why they killed my father. and what happened to my sister. and what they did to agent scully” which pretty much proved that she is part of his family to him <3 and he just wants to protect his family and keep everybody safe... i'll cry

and despite how badly he wanted the truth and was willing to risk it all, he agreed to turn the tape they had nearly died over so they could come out of hiding, so scully could see if her sister was okay (AUGHHH putting his life's ambition on hold for her...)

(this is more to do with behind the scenes stuff, but there’s a little moment in episode 7 where his hair is all messed up, and then in the very next shot it’s all fixed again, and i thought it was so funny to see, because you could tell he got retouched between takes)

in that same episode there’s also a moment where he keeps replaying a mysterious noise over and over again. scully asks if he has found anything, and he replies “no, but i’m really beginning to like the tape” with a big goofy smile <3

in episode 9, he has his office set up like a movie theater, with his feet tossed up on on the desk. he is SO excited to show scully the alien autopsy video he ordered from a magazine for $29.95!!!

then he comments that “it’s widely held that aliens don’t have blood, scully” with great seriousness which had me LOSING it. yes of course, mulder, she CLEARLY should have known!

(later in that episode, skinner comes down to scold them, and asks why they’re even in pennsylvania, to which he says that they’re here on a “video piracy case” <- LMAOOOO least convincing lie ever told)

also in episode 9: his line “you think believing is easy?” followed by letting that sit for a bit, exploring the tensions and implications- how hard it is for mulder to keep the faith that there are answers in this world, and perhaps even justice to go along with them. how it doesn’t come as naturally to him as you may think, it’s about hope and protecting your loved ones and doing whatever it takes, killing or dying, to learn the Truth, because the Truth is hope

(at this point in taking notes, i proceeded to ramble on for like a paragraph with Intense Emotions, and even talking about this episode again is making me want to go on a lecture tour about how fantastic it was)

in episode 10, a passenger on the train with her child sees the dead body of a doctor and screams. mulder pivots, tells the woman that the doctor is just sick, smiles, and ruffles the kid’s hair

(he ruffles another kid’s hair in episode 23… don’t think i didn’t notice)

angrily quoting scripture in episode 11

(and he also says he considers the bible to be poetry rather than a literal history in this one, which i think is fascinating)

sitting in his car, watching the night sky in episode 12, when he asks over the phone: “look scully, i know it’s not your inclination, but did you ever look up into the night sky and feel certain that not only was something up there, but it was looking down at you at the exact same moment, and was just as curious about you as you are about it?” goshhh what a wonderful way to see the world... a universe of mutual curiosity with answers that can be found if only you are dedicated enough to hunt for them

dr. ivanov’s little bug robot liking mulder and following him around <3 someone pls get him a cat!!

AND that episode wrapup: “the development of our cerebral cortex has been the greatest achievement of the evolutionary processes. big deal.” <- it had me absolutely giggling… as a profiler and student of the human brain, it really IS a big deal!! he knows that!! but he was so angry about how it all went down his bitterness won that day lmaooo

(BUT ALSO: he wakes up in his JEANS in this episode??? what kind of dude SLEEPS in his JEANS... we need to launch a full federal investigation)

when he tries to call to the kitty in episode 14 <3

and then he goes to the library to read up on gargoyles, but he was pulling so many all-nighters that he just straight up fell asleep on the table, and it was So Cute

in episode 15, he knows that "ronin" is the term for a samurai without a master, which made me laugh (and he claims he knows it from watching samurai movies… nerd!)

when he hops into an empty grave in episode 19 and starts digging with his hands while someone yells “what the hell is he doing!” and scully watches, knowing that is the sort of behavior he is just hardwired to do

mulder (possibly) eating an entire sweet potato pie in episode 20. narrative-wise we shall never know the truth.

how intensely attached he is to skinner being revealed in episode 21; how he believes whole-heartedly that he is innocent even when all of the evidence is against him. how when skinner dismisses his case as none of their business mulder counters with "of course it is", as if there was no other option. how he listens to skinner’s stories of terror in vietnam. how he is disappointed skinner won’t tell him what really happened that night. if you want to cry, go watch that scene where he leaves skinner's office realizing he won't talk about it. it made me emotional.

(he also pulls a giant book off his shelf in that episode and flips to the page talking about succubi, which makes me wonder what other kinds of literature he keeps in his office, pls let me come browse)

((there is also a moment where he gets really angry and pushes his jacket back with his hands on his hips and i swear my heart nearly stopped))

episode 22’s “i know the difference between expectation and hope. seek and you shall find, scully” it's just SO good and so Him

when he visits her motel room in episode 23 and gets all cozied up on her couch to talk case theories... i was giggling!!!

how he tries so hard to be brave and hold it together when she is missing in that one, too- calling her mother to check where she is, apologizing for disturbing mrs. scully because he knows how intense this must be for her after everything her daughter has gone through, bouncing his basketball in his apartment to keep himself moving, how he tells the lone gunmen with an even voice that she isn’t okay when he needs to go ID a body, and how he kicks the door of the man who got them involved with this case, forgoing answers for her. ripping my hair out from all my emotions btw.

mulder being convinced that he could talk scully back into her senses even after she shot at him (!!!) and refusing to accept her mother’s answers that she wasn’t at her home

when he visits scully in the hospital after her wavelength-induced psychosis, he enters the room with his hands up, jokingly surrendering after she had held him at gunpoint. because he cannot be serious ever, and he Needs to make a joke and lighten the mood, to try and make her feel comfortable. 

AND how he turns the TV off when he enters, knowing what the TV did to get her there. and how he leaves after a while, whispering “why don’t you try and get some rest?” on the way out, so scared to have seen her like that, wanting to give her all the time she needs to recover <3

in the finale he sits by his mom in her hospital bed; he holds her hand, notices she is cold and covers her with a blanket (gosh that one made me inconsolable- scully was talking to him and he couldn't even respond, because his mom was cold, and he needed to fix that, to make her comfortable)

he touches her hair and whispers “mom”, and smiles at her when she opens her eyes, saying everything is going to be okay; then later, he’s crying as he holds her hand to his cheek, and i’m crying too

and when they go to meet up with “jeremiah smith” later, he makes scully get behind him, holding the only weapon that could kill jeremiah in his hands and standing in front of her to keep her safe

[sysig]

Can you please draw Edgar and Johnny stargazing or something like that

Day 8 - Stargazing

[gallusrostromegalus]

AEIWAM question: Was Senbonzakura originally Furoufushi's sword, or did he originally manifest with a different person in the Kuchiki family?

Senbonzakura was the Kuchiki family sword for well over a millennium by the time Furofushi married into the family. He was quite fond of her, for being so protective of poor Kyoga (it's a regrettable trend that clan scions are often bullied extensively by the family in a misplaced desire to protect the clan as a whole that manifests as trying to control every aspect of the scion's life), and also that she genetically contributed an exceptional amount of health and vigor back into the line- the Kuchiki Clan probably would have genetically imploded in a few generations if it weren't for her.

She had her own zanpaktou named Ratatosokoro that Senbonzakura was also very close to- it's rare for him to get to interact with other zanpaktou outside of work- and they had a standing agreement that, were there ever an emergency or something catastrophic happened to Ratatosokoro that Senbonzakura would allow Furofushi to wield him, and should something happen to Senbonzakura, she would step in as the new Clan Sword and look after their descendants.

As far as Zanpaktou go, that's True Love.

Alas, Ratatosokoro passed with her mistress,as many zanpaktou do. While Furofushi is buried in the clan crypt with her beloved Kyoga, Ratatosokoro has the unique privilege of being buried in the courtyard under the place where Senbonzakura typically sets his roots. Or she was, some 800 years ago. Iron rusts, and is easily absorbed by the surrounding foliage, and ever since, Senbonzakura's blooms and cherries have been a notably deeper shade of pink and red.

[ofliterarynature]

One of the great things about doing most of my reading on Libby is that if I’m uncertain about DNFing something it only takes 2 seconds of willpower to hit the return early button and then I have no choice, oops, so sorry, gonna have to come back later (aka forget about it).

[astriiformes]

CULTURE