#Infinite Labyrinth 2

[metamorphesque]

These images of circles and circling, revolving around a great center he names God, it makes me think of the cathedral labyrinths of Europe. Or the ancient spiral glyphs carved into rocks and cave faces. I see the circling pathway around some secret center. The road can be bewildering, twisting and turning, keeping us disoriented and uncertain of how near we are, but ever moving inward.

And that courageous line –

I may not ever complete the last one, but I give myself to it.

We walk the winding path, not out of certainty, but because it is the only path worth walking. Walking that road, quietly, with attention, one foot in front of the other, becomes meditation. It becomes worship. Each ring, whether near or far, is a layer of our lives that is blessed by our passing through it.

Walking the circling path is not only the way to the center, it is actually part of the center. We learn to participate in the center by first walking the path. Obsession with the destination becomes an impediment to reaching it. Instead, by patiently inhabiting each step, we discover the center in ourselves... and our feet naturally end up there, as well.

We walk with our whole selves –

and I still don't know: am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?

On this roundabout road to God, we question our own nature. We encounter the mystery of self. Who and what are we really? Ultimately, it is in that questioning of a self that eludes definition where we find the still center.

The quieter we are, the more patient and open we are in our sadnesses, the more deeply and serenely the new presence can enter us, and the more we can make it our own, the more it becomes our fate; and later on, when it "happens" (that is, steps forth out of us to other people), we will feel related and close to it in our innermost being. And that is necessary. It is necessary - and toward this point our development will move, little by little - that nothing alien happen to us, but only what has long been our own. People have already had to rethink so many concepts of motion; and they will also gradually come to realize that what we call fate does not come into us from the outside, but emerges from us. It is only because so many people have not absorbed and transformed their fates while they were living in them that they have not realized what was emerging from them; it was so alien to them that, in their confusion and fear, they thought it must have entered them at the very moment they became aware of it, for they swore they had never before found anything like that inside them. Just as people for a long time had a wrong idea about the sun's motion, they are even now wrong about the motion of what is to come. The future stands still, dear Mr. Kappus, but we move in infinite space.

Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen, die sich über die Dinge ziehn. Ich werde den letzten vielleicht nicht vollbringen, aber versuchen will ich ihn.

Ich kreise um Gott, um den uralten Turm, und ich kreise jahrtausendelang; und ich weiß noch nicht: bin ich ein Falke, ein Sturm oder ein großer Gesang.

I live my life in widening circles (set me free)

Starry Night (Vincent van Gogh), Widening Circles by Rainer Maria Rilke (tr. Joanna Macy), Commentary by Ivan M. Granger, The Chartres Cathedral Labyrinth, Ouroboros, 1760  (a photograph by Granger), question mark symbol in Armenian, 지민 (Jimin) 'Set Me Free Pt.2', Letters to a Young Poet (by Rainer Maria Rilke), Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen (by Rainer Maria Rilke)

[bracketsoffear]

Corruption: Bugsnax (Bugsnax) "The game starts with you finding out about the existence of Bugsnax: fascinating, mysterious and wonderful creatures of legend with big googly eyes that are shaped like food! They taste like the meals you imagine they do, but far better than it had ever been, satisfying you easily with a single one but still leaving you wanting more. As you progress, the inhabitants of the island where they're found ask you to find more and more of them to give them; they're enjoying them, and for each of them, these bugsnax signify something deeper than what it seems at first glance. It isn't just food: for some, they're like family; for others, they're mysterious creatures they grow obsessed to research about; and for others they're the sources of stability in their otherwise intensely unstable lives. One way or another, eating or just being near bugsnax can easily get a hold of you and make you completely dependent on them, making you believe they're the solution to all of your life's problems. The fact that by eating a single one it affects your body structure and turns your limbs one by one into food shaped skin also adds to the horrors that everyone seem to be too blind to, too focused on their own dependence as it builds and builds until, eventually, you're fully food shaped and then your body structure weakens, destroying you and turning you into another of the island's victims, and so become a meal of the meal you had been eating all along. At the end of the day, you find out what they really are: parasites, made in cute shapes with adorable or funny sounds for the sole purpose of convincing you to having them nearby, eat them, and so slowly build up to eating you from the inside out. You are what you eat, and all life is Bugsnax."

Spiral: The House on Ashtree Lane (House of Leaves) "The strange nature of the House on Ash Tree Lane was first recorded by acclaimed photojournalist Will Navidson when he moved in with his family. The film was subsequently criticized in a manuscript written by Zampanò, and upon his death the work was recovered, annotated, and organized by Johnny Truant. Possibly. No record of Navidson, the film he created, or many of the references utilized by Zampanò can be found, either because Zampanò made them up entirely or they were somehow erased.1 It is possible that this means that the house itself, whose notable properties include being 1/4" larger on the inside and an infinitely-expanding pitch-black system of corridors that drive explorers to madness, simply does not exist.2 Whether or not the house itself exists physically or merely as a memetic hazard spread through various iterations upon Navidson's original film, its effects seem to manifest as an anxiety pertaining to doors, hallways, and what lies beyond them, as well as a creature of uncertain nature5 that seemingly stalks those who annotate the account with their own thoughts and reactions.4

Possibly by a means similar to case #0120606, "Lost and Found".

Though by no means does simple nonexistence equate to harmlessness, as in case 376-U, "Upon the Stair".

It may be worth investigating the similarities between this Minotaur and the Distortion.

Whether or not readers who do not annotate the text suffer similar experiences is, naturally, unrecorded.

where the labyrinth spreads the Minotaur follows 3"

[katz-chow]

baggage claim

a/n: having a bad night, this is my version of comfort…also self indulgent like most of my writing.

warnings: chubby!fem!reader, parental trauma, body issues, soft simon, hurt/comfort

there’s a lot of things that simon have not experienced quite yet, such things is the american airport system and how complicated tsa is. however, he landed, he walked, and there he’s faced with the rounding carousel of multicolored bags and suitcases.

he checked his ticket and looked up at the display of numbered areas. ‘11’, that’s the one.’ he watched the mouth of the conveyor belt, its plastic fringes flap against a purple suitcase…definitely not his. but still his eyes trained on that particular spot. then he let his mind wander.

long distance relationships were hard, long distance military relationships were harder. plane rides from deployment back to manchester then plane rides to another continent across the pond, lovely, just how he wanted to spend his first few days on leave: absolutely jet-lagged.

but then he thought of you, precious, precious you…oh his darling lovie and how your eyes shines whenever they make contact with his. you made it worth it. you made every crying baby on the plane, every overpriced water, and every awkward “thank you for your service” and then a bad american accented “thanks”; you made this airport journey worth it.

from here he spots his camo duffle. making way through the people, who’s eyes also trained on the infinite, snaking black, he hoisted it up and carried it with the strap on his shoulder.

his phone buzzed, whatsapp. you.

‘i’m in the lobby, by gate 2!!’

‘I’ll see you there.’

‘🥰😻🫶’

‘❤️’

and just like that, a few minutes later and a lot of sign-reading, he escaped the labyrinth of an american international airport. you stood there, hoodie and sweats on and your head bowed towards your phone. the dark sky outside and the oddly green-ish fluorescent made you look washed out, dull even. but simon knew you, he found you, he always did.

you look up, you wave, a smile adorned your face. you didn’t run up to him and tackle him in a hug that only a soldier could’ve done. and he didn’t have to lift you off the ground from the momentum of the hug, his bag dropping to the tile flooring.

instead you stood still, phone in pocket, as you waited for your boyfriend to get to you. simon didn’t understand, but he figured you might just be tired—which was fair, so was he. so he dropped his bag and wrapped his much larger arms around you, squeezing you tight and breathing you in, nose buried into the crook of your neck. “missed you…”

you smile, arms tight in between your chests as he holds you. he lets go eventually and you feel your body relax. “missed you too. let’s go home” you smiled politely.

simon’s eyebrows furrowed for a quick second but followed you anyway. thoughts ran through his head as he looks at the highway in front of him, one of his hands on your thigh as you drove the two of you home. he recalls the interaction you two had in the airport lobby. you’re distant, opting to curl up into a hug rather than hugging back and rocking side to side or jumping up and down. something’s different, something’s wrong.

his mind snaps back too as you took the exit, signaling the end is near of your driving adventure. the hum of the engine and the bumps of the road filled the air. no music. he furrowed his eyebrows again, medical mask now thrown away as he got into the safety of your car.

and now the safety of your bedroom, which is oddly quiet as he laid in bed, back slightly up as to prop himself up against the headboard. his eyes look at you drowsily as you sat on your vanity in front of the bed. you worked the multitude of skincare on your face and neck, patted it dry, and then climbed into bed, face the same emotion.

simon couldn’t take it anymore. “are you okay, lovie?”

you hummed in assurance, opting to set him down by wrapping your arms around his waist, urging him to lay down with you. he does and he holds you close, sleep flooded him, and just as quickly his succumbs.

he woke up to the sound of a hurt animal next to him, clearly in pain. he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and looked over at this hurt animal. it was you, curled up, and softly crying.

his heart stopped as he noticed your trembling figure, even with your face pulled away from him. "lovie? are you okay?'

you hold back a whimper as you tried your best to hold back the tremble in your voice. "i'm okay...go back to sleep simon."

he grumbled as he shifted over to you, wrapping his burly arms around, pulling you close. "tell me what's wrong."

the thoughts echoed in your head, resulting in a chill that ran through each muscle of your body, or lack thereof. your mother's words criticizing how you look flows through you mind, drowing out simon's. you grip onto the back of his hand and moved it away from your stomach, ashamed of how plush it was. you can just imagine it, the way it spills out of your shirt, the different rolls, how you sit, how you stand relaxed... you hated it.

simon poked his head up, surprised by your adjustment, but respecting it anyway. his big palm then instead rubs your arm comfortingly. "will you tell me?"

"i hate it."

"hate what?" he inquired, voice low and rumbling. his breath felt hot against your ear as he whispered, fighting sleep away while also wrapped up in your soft blankets.

you finally catch your breath and turn over to him, tucking yourself under his chin, feeling his stubble as you do. you sniffled, opting to breath in his scent and distract yourself from the past with the present. "i don't like how i look."

he sighed and clicked his tongue, arms tightening around you. "has this been bothering you all day?'

he felt you nod under him as he nuzzled his cheek against the top of your head. "what's wrong with how you look, did someone say something?'

he felt you respond again, a shake of your head which led to more rubbing against his neck. "i just don't like how...big i am."

"you don't like your stomach? how soft and jiggly it is? how warm it makes my hands fill, hmm?" he sniffed and sighed, closing his eyes on top of your head. the scent of your lingering shampoo quickly lulled him in. "i love how you look, and don't say any of that shirt your mum said. don't say that shit about how i deserve better than you or something."

you moved your head away from his warm chest to protest, to say that it's true but he growled and held you tighter, preventing you from moving away. "don't even try. it's true alright? i love you and how your stomach feels when i knead it."

you whined and sniffled, his love filling up in your chest-which was once heavy with doubt. it was silly, you decided, that you think he wouldn't like you after coming back from deployment just to stare at you and gag at how ugly you look. of course not.

"you're my baby, you're mine." he reassured you, a pat and rub on your head and then a kiss on your forehead. "and i think you're beautiful."

"okay," you mumbled as he hummed a distant song that you recognize but don't quite remember all the words to. he hummed and kissed you and rubbed your head, fingers raking through the strands.

"now can we sleep?" he complained as you feel a smile form on his lips.

you pulled away from him, pouting audibly, "it's so cold."

"woman, i am literally hold you under two blankets."

yeah you were going to be alright.

[datcloudboi]

List of Video Games Turning 10 Years Old in 2024

Alien: Isolation

Assassin's Creed: Rogue (the one where you play as an Assassin turned Templar.)

Assassin's Creed: Unity (the one set during the French Revolution.)

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky

Azure Striker Gunvolt

The Banner Saga

Bayonetta 2

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea (the DLC where you go back to Rapture)

A Bird Story (a sort of spin-off of "To the Moon")

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (is this a sequel to 1 or a prequel to 1? I forgor)

Bravely Default (in North America)

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (the one with K*vin Sp*cey)

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (to date, the last new Castlevania game to release)

Child of Light

The Crew (going offline at the end of March)

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (a wonderfully strange game from the guy that made Deadly Premonition)

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (in North America)

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (in North America)

Dark Souls II

Deception IV: Blood Ties

Demon Gaze

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls

Disney Infinity 2.0

Divinity: Original Sin (from the team that would go on to make Baldur's Gate 3)

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Dragon Age: Inquisition (the winner of GOTY at the very first TGAs)

Drakengard 3

Earth Defense Force 2025 (EDF! EDF! EDF!)

The Evil Within (from the creative director of Resident Evil)

Fable Anniversary

Fairy Fencer F

Far Cry 4

Freedom Planet

Guilty Gear Xrd Sign

Hyrule Warriors

Inazuma Eleven (in North America. And digital only.)

Infamous: Second Son (as well as its expansion, First Light)

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

The Last of Us Remastered (just one year after the original version came out...)

The Legend of Korra (the game from PlatinumGames that you can't buy anymore)

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Lego The Hobbit

The Lego Movie Videogame

Lethal League (from the team that would go on to make Bomb Rush Cyberfunk)

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (the third and final chapter of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy)

Lisa: The Painful (yes, really)

LittleBigPlanet 3

Lords of the Fallen (not to be confused with Lords of the Fallen, which came out in 2023)

Mario Golf: World Tour

Mario Kart 8 (the original version)

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (the prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which came out 18 months later)

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Might & Magic X: Legacy

Murdered: Soul Suspect (it's like Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, but not as good)

Natural Doctrine

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! (a from the ground up remake of the first Oddworld game from 1997)

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 (yes, it got a sequel. I don't know how or why.)

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Pokemon Omega Ruby & Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (the last time that Professor Layton himself was the protagonist. At least, until the New World of Steam comes out)

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Pushmo World

Risen 3: Titan Lords

Sacred 3

Samurai Warriors 4

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (the 3rd one)

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Shovel Knight (yes, really)

Skylanders: Trap Team (the 4th one)

Sniper Elite III

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Steins;Gate (in North America)

Strider (the one from Double Helix)

Sunset Overdrive

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS (or Smash 4 for short)

Tales of Xillia 2

Tales of Hearts R

The Talos Principle

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

Thief (the reboot)

This War of Mine

Toukiden: The Age of Demons

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (this game merged the storyline of the War for/Fall of Cybertron games with the storyline of the Michael Bay movies. I’m not joking)

Transistor

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Walking Dead: Season Two

Wasteland 2

Watch Dogs

The Witch and the Hundred Knight

The Wolf Among Us (sequel this year!)

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z

Yoshi's New Island

[aroaceleovaldez]

my notifs recently got me thinking about the very random concept of "what if there is a second, secret CHB. directly below normal CHB." and i ended up brainstorming it in the discord.

context for how this originated: one was just a random notif on my post talking about the tunnels under the Hephaestus cabin, and the other was some tags from @drksanctuary on my fake readriordan article mentioning the idea of a chthonic demigod camp.

so. my brilliant (read: "smashing my 2 brain cells together") idea: the elaborate and seemingly infinite tunnels under cabin 9 are remnants of an abandoned underground CHB that exists directly underneath camp. It's basically just normal CHB except in a big cave system, probably connected to the labyrinth somewhere and has the separate tunnels, and instead of the Olympian cabins it has chthonic cabins. there's probably also some infernal nymphs and etc down there too. since all chthonic demigods can learn to shadow-travel they probably used that to get down there, and a lot of chthonic demigods probably have geokinesis just by nature, ergo the tunnels (for when they don't want to shadow-travel, or can't).

in brainstorming with the discord we decided it could be cool if some of the cabins lined up with the above-ground cabins, either for thematic purposes or associations or whatever. Like there's maybe a Hermes and maybe Poseidon cabin in the chthonic CHB too that just link to the above-ground ones, but also like Persephone cabin lines up to Demeter cabin because of course it does. and maybe Hecate cabin lines up to Cabin 8 cause Artemis is sometimes 1/3rd of Hecate. Maybe Angelos cabin is beneath Cabin 1, and Zagreus cabin is beneath Cabin 12. Things like that.

The other ones i thought of were either Hypnos or Thanatos cabin lines up with Apollo, because twins, and the other is just right beside it (because twins). And Charon's cabin is beneath Cabin 9, ergo why the tunnel system connects to it (because Charon. Ferryman. Surface access. It makes sense in my brain).

[guilty-pleasures21]

Yooooooooouuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!! You SUCK!

This is the only thing that brings me joy right now 🥲.

P.S. Apologies for the science-heavy content (just a day in the life of a biologist 🙃).

0. The slow burn

Part 1 - the meet cute

Part 2 - the coffee mug

Part 3 - the spicy song

Part 4 - the absence

Part 5 - the watch/the sweet song

Part 6 - the backrub

Warnings: None. Just fluffs all around 😊.

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

A mug landed on his desk. The green one with the dinosaurs on the side that changed colour depending on the temperature of the liquid within. He sighed, letting her know that he still wasn’t amused by the choice of cup. But he accepted the drink anyway, taking a long swig of it before exhaling in satisfaction. One cup of milk, two spoons of sugar and cooled down just enough to warm his chest without burning his tongue. She’d started bringing it with her whenever she took a break from the lab, always finding her way to him despite the labyrinth of corridors in this place. She’d make it in that childish mug - Dios knew where she’d found it - carrying her own coffee in one of the generic glasses stocked in the pantry. He’d wrinkled his nose at her glass when she’d first set it down on the table, the liquid inside a pale, milky colour, not at all like the rich brown of his own drink. 

     “What the hell is that?” he’d asked her, pointing at the glass as she’d taken a seat next to him. He’d found an extra chair in one of the storage rooms and dragged it over to his so she wouldn’t have to perch on the desk any longer. It wasn’t that he welcomed her company, he’d always try to remind himself, it was just that she needed his input sometimes, in her research in the lab. She’d shot him a nervous smile, relaxing into her seat. 

     “My coffee?” But she didn’t always come to him with a question or a problem. In fact, she rarely added on to his already infinite list of crises to solve. Most of the time she’d just give him an update on something she’d discovered, some experiment she’d managed to run successfully, against all odds. He’d watch as her eyes widened with excitement, the smile on her face growing with each word out of her mouth and he'd feel his own chest warming in response to her reaction. But other times, she’d just sit with him, curling up in her chair, legs dangling over the armrest as she gazed over at him. He’d slid the glass closer to himself then, studying it carefully. 

     “This isn’t coffee, arañita,” he’d informed her decisively, sliding the cup back over to her. “It’s basically milk.” The worst moments were when she didn’t say anything, when she just stayed by his side, keeping him company. Because then he couldn’t come up with an excuse for her wanting to see him; then he couldn’t find a reason to stop himself from taking comfort in her presence. 

     “And, uh, sugar,” she’d muttered under her breath, hoping he wouldn’t be able to hear her. But of course he’d heard: aside from the fact that he had super-sensitive hearing when he wanted to use it, they had been the only two people in the room right then. 

     “¿Qué?” he’d asked, giving her the chance to change her answer. She’d just given him another apprehensive smile. 

     “I added some sugar to it, too?” She’d said it like a question, as if it would have softened his reaction in any way. He’d grabbed her cup and taken a sip from it, his features scrunching up before he’d set it back down on the desk. 

     “Mierda, arañita, are you trying to give yourself diabetes?!” He still had absolutely no idea how she could possibly drink that sickeningly sweet concoction. And he was still also trying to figure out when, exactly, he’d become comfortable enough with her to take a sip of her drink without asking. She’d bit her lip, the corners still turned up at the ends, and lifted the glass to her mouth, her eyes never leaving his as she’d taken a sip. Then she’d placed it back down on the desk, licking the milk off her lips before fluttering her eyelashes up at him, silently pleading for him to make an allowance for her, just this one time, just for her. He'd had to tear his gaze away from her, trying to act nonchalant as he’d waved her off before returning to his work. 

     “Just don’t drink it too often. ¿Bien?” But it was never just the one time: she’d always do something ridiculous and then give him that look - that sweet, innocent look that he’d quickly learned he found almost impossible to say no to. She’d nodded before taking another sip of her drink, turning her attention to the screen to open up the canon-tracking programme. 

     “Sí, boss.” He’d let out a huff at her response, conveying to her that he was most definitely not amused. But she’d just smiled, already much too familiar with all his little ticks and habits.

     He set the mug down and returned his attention to the screen before him, still puzzling over the strange new mutations they’d detected in the DNA of the latest anomaly they’d captured. How had they granted him the superhuman abilities he’d gained upon arriving in a new dimension, but then caused the rapid degeneration of his condition when he’d returned home? And was it something that could happen again? To one of them, perhaps? He rubbed his eyes and sighed, trying to figure out what he’d missed, what he’d failed to notice the first hundred times he’d stared at the sequence. X didn’t say a word as she tugged at her chair, pulling it towards her so she could take a seat by his side. She folded one leg beneath her, swinging the other back and forth as she pulled out her phone and opened up one of those mindless games she always got so obsessed with. He rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the sequence, trying to focus on the task at hand. But she was typing now, frantically, excitedly, the rapid tapping of her fingers tugging at the corners of his attention. He slid his eyes to her, something in his chest tightening ever so slightly at the smile lighting up her face, at the thought that someone else might have put it there. But then she looked up at him, taking a deep breath to calm herself down before speaking. 

     “What if,” she began cautiously, hesitant to share her theory with him, “it was the environment?” She stopped to look up at him, trying to gauge his reaction before she continued. He raised an eyebrow, looking even more confused than when they’d started. But she decided to continue anyway, praying the next words out of her mouth wouldn’t make her sound like an idiot. She stood up, her body vibrating with anticipation. 

     “Okay, so, epigenetics.” She paused and clasped her hands together, taking a moment to solidify the theory floating through her mind. “But combined with mutations.” She stopped again, looking up at him this time, waiting until he nodded before she continued. 

     “So, we know that the mutations in his DNA only appeared after he was returned to his home dimension, right?” Another pause, another nod. “But he was fine when he got to the new dimension. So what if something in his new environment caused his gene expression to change in such a way, that when he went back, he developed these mutations as some sort of defence mechanism or something?” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, contemplating her words. It was a long shot - and an extremely rough one at that - but … it was all they had right now. He just needed to rationalise it; structure it so that he could have something tangible he could work on. 

     “But why didn’t his gene expression just revert back to normal when he went back?” he questioned her, pushing her to come up with an airtight theory he could use. She was definitely onto something, he’d give her that, but he still needed a hypothesis he could use to learn how to prevent the same thing from ever happening again. From happening to one of them, even. “Why the mutations?” 

     She stopped her pacing to consider his question, her eyebrows knitted together in concentration, her gaze unfocused as she reasoned through the possible answers. She was cute when she was thinking. He froze, startled by the sudden thought. But then she began speaking again, stopping him before he could confront it. 

     “Maybe there was something harmful? Maybe there was something in his original environment that turned out to be harmful to the new expression pattern?” She looked up at him, biting her lip as she bounced onto the tips of her toes in excitement. And he felt the corners of his lips begin to twist at the sight, at the now familiar quirks he’d come to recognise in her. He folded his arms across his chest and lowered his head, trying to halt his smile in its tracks. It was an interesting idea, one he’d definitely have to explore before coming to a conclusion on it. He turned back to his screens, tackling the problem with a vengeance now, barely noticing when she left the room, or each time she returned to bring him food and water or intercept any distractions that might have gotten in the way of his work. In fact, he’d barely noticed how much time had passed when he finally discovered the answer to the problem. 

     “It was the oxygen concentration,” he said, providing no context for his statement whatsoever. Lyla popped into view next to him. 

     “I’m sorry, what?” He looked around, glancing past her as if she wasn’t even there. Then his gaze landed on X, strolling into the room, phone in one hand, half a cookie in the other. She popped it into her mouth and chewed, not looking up as she continued making her way over to him. 

     “¡Arañita!” he called out to her, prompting her to look up at him. Her almond-shaped eyes lit up when they landed on him, her arched brows raising in curiosity as she waited for him to continue. And something sparked in his chest at the sight of her. A tiny spark, so weak he could easily have missed it. But he didn’t. He swallowed it down quickly, shaking his head before stepping off the platform to join her on the ground. “It was the oxygen concentration. The new dimension had less oxygen in their atmosphere so, when he switched over, his rate of respiration increased, and so did his muscle mass. Then when he went back, the concentration of ROS in his blood was too high and his body basically collapsed.” She clapped her hands over her mouth and stretched onto her tiptoes, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. 

     “Whoa, that’s … that’s genius!” she proclaimed, giving him a look of admiration that ignited a slightly bigger spark in him this time. The corners of his mouth twitched as a smile tugged on his lips in response.

     “It’s kind of suffocating,” Lyla declared, breaking the sudden silence neither of them seemed to have realised had fallen over them. They turned to her, equal expressions of bewilderment on their faces as they tried to figure out if they’d missed something. She flashed them a wicked smile, her legs swinging back and forth in the air as she lay on her stomach, chin resting in the palm of her hand. “The tension? Between the two of you? I swear, my code’s gonna go obsolete by the time you finally get together.” They sprang apart at the suggestion, eyes darting around the room awkwardly as the heat rushed to their cheeks.  

     “Right, well, um.” Miguel rubbed the back of his neck, clearing his throat as he glanced everywhere but at her. “Good work. Did you need something?” 

     Her heart fluttered in her chest at the implication. Her and Miguel? Getting together? Other people saw it? Her stomach flipped over and she had to bite her lip to hide her smile as he looked down at her, hands on his hips, expression set into its usual glower. She peeked up at him from beneath her eyelashes, suddenly nervous. “No, I just … I haven’t seen you in a while. That’s all.” 

     He could hear her heart as it pounded in her chest, forcing the blood through her veins as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. And he was too afraid to think about what it meant; about how she might have felt about him. Or about how his own heart began beating faster, his mouth going dry as she looked up at him with her dark eyes, her rosy lips curled into a hesitant smile. He sucked in a breath at the feeling of his nails digging into his skin, only now realising that he’d been clenching his fists. 

     “Right, well …” he repeated, breaking her gaze once again. He turned around, running his fingers through his hair as he looked around the room, unnaturally lost. “We’ve got a new anomaly to track. You can get started on that.” He stepped back up onto the platform, rolling the chair over to his side, creating a space for her to work beside him. And that was all she needed: him, making a space for her in his life, wanting to share a part of it with her. She jumped up beside him, settling herself down and pulling up her playlist. They had work to do.

[eviltransswag]

Evil Trans Swag Competitor List

I'm not posting a bracket because I'm still making it and it's by hand, but here are the characters who are going to be in the tournament! The match-ups will be randomly generated and there are 64 characters. The polls will last a week. Alright enough of that here is the list (in alphabetical order bc yeah)

Thanks everyone for submissions and the voter fraud!!

Akaza (Demon Slayer)

Akechi Goro (Persona 5)

Alexis Meade (Ugly Betty)

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl series)

Ashiok (Magic the Gathering)

Beatrice (Umineko: When They Cry)

Bloodraven (Tales of Dunk and Egg)

Buggy the Clown (One Piece)

Cesar (Big Top Burger)

Sir Crocodile (One Piece)

Dio Brando (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show)

Dr. Starline (IDW Sonic)

Dracule Mihawk (One Piece)

Edward Nygma/The Riddler (DC Comics)

Elendira (Trigun)

Envy (Full Metal Alchemist)

Ghirahim (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)

Giselle Gewelle (Bleach)

Goblin King Jareth (Labyrinth)

Golden-Winged Peng (LEGO Monkie Kid)

Grelle Sutcliff (Black Butler)

Grima (Fire Emblem)

Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)

Henry Cooldown (No More Heroes)

HIM (Powerpuff Girls)

Hubert von Vestra (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Ienaga Kano (Golden Kamuy)

Infinite the Jackal (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

James (Pokemon)

Jessie (Pokemon)

Jester Karture (Fate/Strange Fake)

John Hart (Torchwood)

Joseph Bertrand III (inFAMOUS 2)

Lestat de Lioncourt (The Vampire Chronicles)

Liquid Snake/Eli (Metal Gear Solid)

Loam Arnault (Entropic Float)

Merasmus (Team Fortress 2)

Metal Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

Millions Knives (Trigun)

Moot Tarbella (Epithet Erased)

Mordred Pendragon (The Mechanisms - High Noon Over Camelot)

Mutsuki Tooru (Tokyo Ghoul)

Neferpitou (Hunter x Hunter)

Orochimaru (Naruto)

Pigma Dengar (Star Fox)

Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid series)

Scaramouche/Wanderer (Genshin Impact)

Scourge the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

SCP-004-J/Stanley Nichols (SCP Foundation)

Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)

Serafine Savoy (Lackadaisy)

Shamura (Cult of the Lamb)

Shiromori (Mystery Skulls Animated)

Silver (Pokemon)

Suzuki Emiri (High-Rise Invasion)

Sweet Tooth (Moshi Monsters)

The Leading Light (HLVRV)

Turkey (Dorohedoro)

Tyki Mikk (D. Gray Man)

Uncle Wiley (Hatchetfield)

Vaati (The Legend of Zelda series)

Vegas Theerapanyakul (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu (The World Ends With You)

[ernmark]

Ask Game!

Thank you to @sapphosewrites for thinking of me for this <3

How many works do you have on AO3?

I'm almost up there with Sapphose-- I've got 141, though I really need to finish tranferring my really old fics from my fanfiction.net account.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Those 141 fics give me a grand total of 969,127 words.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

My biggest fandoms are The Penumbra Podcast, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Welcome To Night Vale (that's an oldie, hot damn) and Les Miserables, with Les Mis being the most recent one I've been active in.

4. Top 5 Fics By Kudos

I'm honestly surprised that Haunting, but not haunted (Penumbra Podcast ghost AU) has overtaken The Issue of Omniscience (WTNV). Just Like an Angel (WTNV Wingfic) ranks just behind those two, then The Case Files of J. Steel (a very very large Penumbra Poscast one-shot collection). What surprised me was I Could Be Your Own Avenging Angel (DS9 alternate take on Empok Nor) making the top five-- apparently that one's gotten some recs lately, which pleases me immensely. The fact that all of these are fairly sexy is not a surprise to me.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I read them all, I squee in delight at them all, but a lot of times I'm just flummoxed about what to say in response. I know theoretically just a quick 'thank you' is appropriate, but it feels... I dunno, trite?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Listen, I'm an absolute sucker for angst, but I tend to go with bittersweet rather than outright angst in the ending.

Just a Little Wooden Boy (OFMD) is the most recent, and plays hard with the idea of deep hurt turning love into something cold that can't be fixed. (Like a Terrier (Sherlock) has a similar vibe.)

Stay With Me (Wolf 359) just plain tragedy. Eiffel succumbs to the Decima virus, the other humans are forced to flee the station, and so Hera is left to comfort him in his final hours. It's in the same vein as The Way Things End (Supernatural) and Off the Path (Bioshock Infinite) where they're very much about accepting death when it can't be fought anymore-- but in the other two, there's the hope of accompanying your loved one on the other side, where Hera is now just trapped alone with her grief and the body of her friend.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I genuinely don't know how you would even go about judging that.

Most of my multichapter fics end with the idea that there's still work to be done-- causes to fight for, mental illness to struggle against, relationship issues to work out. The thing is that they now have a framework for dealing with the problem at hand.

So given that-- Of the Rapture That Impels (Les Miserables) deals with sinking into grief and despair and ends with actually being able to see a light at the end, which is pretty much the epitome of a happy ending in my book.

Skin and Scales (Penumbra Podcast) has the most classically happy ending, I think.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thank all that is holy, I haven't gotten direct hate on fics since high school-- the fandoms I've been in have been lovely, and anyone who has unkind things to say about them has been polite enough to do it where I don't need to see it.

9. Do you write smut?

Yup.

10. Craziest crossover

I almost never do crossovers, actually. But years ago (so long ago that it hasn't actually been migrated to AO3 yet) I wrote a 9/Labyrinth crossover in which 7 was in fact Sarah, transfigured by the Goblin King in order to save her from the machine apocalypse.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I think they might have been yanked over to wattpad or whatever once or twice. It happens, it gets reported, I move on.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't believe so-- or if it's happened, it was long enough ago that I've forgotten.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes. And let me tell you, I am very bad at being a co-writer. The more successful stuff looks less like co-writing and more like parallel play in the same sandbox.

14. All time favorite ship?

I'm with Sapphose here in that I don't have one favorite ship, so much as I have a favorite dynamic. I'm a sucker for damaged, self-loathing characters who are so determined to do right by the person they love that they wind up becoming better (stronger, happier) people for it.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Just one?

Probably A Dynasty of Liars (DS9). I love that story so much, but I genuinely have no idea where it would go next or how I would execute it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm told that my angst is pretty damn solid, and that I can get voices pretty well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Scene transitions, and particularly those detailed descriptions where we describe where we're at. It's one of the things I can get away with more in fanfic than in original writing, because a couple references will convey which setpiece we're in so I don't have to do the work. In anything remotely original, that's a much bigger problem.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I'm in camp 'translate if the POV character knows it', with the addendum that "and they continued to speak in[language]" tends to be much more effective than actually writing long stretches of that other language, particularly if it's one that the writer isn't fluent in. If the reader doesn't know the second language, it conveys about as much as a keysmash. If they do, then you're prone to embarrassing goofs where you translate something badly without knowing.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Lord of the Rings. A self-insert, Boromir-lives AU.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Pretty much any longfic that I've actually completed, I think. But lately, I'm partial to A Change of a Bizarre Kind (Les Miserables), because I did some stuff with the POV and structure that I'm really proud of.

Now that you've gotten to see me ramble, I'll go ahead and tag @ryosei-hime, @aftershocked, and @alecjmarsh

[acradaunt]

Acra's EO Guild Card Megapost

Guild Cards are a neat thing in the most of the Etrian Odyssey games. Sometimes, they're pretty pointless, but in some, they actually do some neat stuff. I… have a tendency to do multiple playthroughs, to try different team compositions (as seeing how different a game can feel based on your builds is one of my favourite things ever, and I also like abandon them before the big fights, on the hypothetical urge I want to re-fight a boss at an appropriate level an infinite number of times), so I've amassed a fair few of my own.

Why am I uploading these now? Apparently the Nexus database got borked a couple days ago, so this is the perfect time for me to get a few feet in the door. I also swear this is the last time I'll ever post about these, seriously.

EO Nexus -A total of 100 Guild Cards are needed to unlock the Vampire pseudo-class. Obviously, 100 is a lot, so they obviously expected the community, paltry it may be, to come together to make a database. And they did. And then they locked it the second they got 108. And then it died. So now I finally get a second chance to contribute.

Galeforce

-My first (main) playthrough. I actually uploaded a card weekly to help out, but I think only the first one made it on in time. It's not Heroic because it's like a NG+++++ file. This is the final card, but for the weekly set of them, um, here:

Week 0 || Week 1 || Week 2 || Week 3 || Week 4 || Week 5 || Week 6 || Week 7

Stardust

-Filled with all my C-listers that couldn't fit into Galeforce. I ran them as two separate teams; the Boss Killers (shown here), who fought the FOEs/Bosses, and Team Midriff, who did all the exploration.

Sunstorm

-A Guild consisting of classes I mostly avoid using, and portraits I hadn't (as of its conception) used before. As always, there's like another three members that get used that aren't here, including a Survivalist, Nightseeker, and an Arcanist.

Maelstrom

-An attempt at a Nuzlocke-esque run, and also an 'evil' party. Characters stopped being used if they died, but only until the end of the stratum, to not make it overbearing. Being an evil party lacking in support and healing, this was an absolute slog that I considered a total failure by the Jungle.

Brilliant

-An idea for a mage-guild that kinda went askew. Starting as a Sovereign, three Zodiacs, and a Farmer, I ultimately turned this into three single-element teams; Each consisting of a unique Sovereign, a unique Zodiac, two other characters that get earlygame elemental skills (Survivalist's Flame Arrow, Landsknecht, etc.), but the same Farmer (Hazel) across all three. Didn't take it all that far, but worked kinda well!

EOV -Definitely where Guild Cards are seen the most. About 2-4 times every floor, there'll be an event that'll use you GC database to have another guild interact with you in the labyrinth. If you have none, you'll be introduced to memelord Conrad of the Freeblade Guild about 110 times in your course of a playthrough. In stark contrast, Nexus only has GC events maybe a dozen times across the whole game.

Starlight

-Main guild. Not a lot to say. It's a Chain-oriented party, because I love Fencers/Landsknechts.

Bundt

-Cake pun. See, bundt is a type of cake, and the guild is filled with Brouni. As in Brownies, the fairy/pixie/sprite, but I'm punning off the--- ANYWAY. Horrific offense, but don't die easily. Kinda miserable against a few specific enemies like the coffin jerks on 15F, but otherwise worked astonishingly better than you'd expect. Which is; not GOOD, but totally serviceable.

Necrocosm

-My original 'evil' guild, featuring two Necromancers, and edge as far as the eye can see. Two Necros work pretty well together; typically Velvet summoned them and Rue made them explode. The fact Necros heal and have evil vibes let them succeed where Maelstrom would totally fail. I also didn't bench anyone for dying, so that probably helped too.

Firebird

-This playthrough is only saved at Amalgolem and took like a single weekend to get there, so I didn't remember squat about it. Amalgolem is like my single fave boss in the whole series, so I just had to leave a file there. It's heavily skewed towards non-humans, and the bottom deck of the guild is just full of nigh-on unusable cross-classed horrors, like a Celestrian Pugilist and Therian Warlock.

EO2U -Probably where Guild Cards are the most functionally useful. Lets you get the Grimoire Stones the attached character has on hand as many times as you can afford. Pretty nifty, as Grimoires are semi-random in spawning.

Skyquake

-So I didn't actually buy EO2U when it came out for a variety of factors, not least being unaware how different it was from the original EOII, my first EO game. So I've only started this and Untold I fairly recently.

Ironroot

-Holy Gift gives you extra experience, but each level costs twice as much to trade as the previous. That is, you need two level 3 Grimoires to get a level 4. Or 128 level 3s for a single level 10. So having a Guild Card with lowish level Holy Gift is actually pretty dang useful to have.

Untold

-Story Guild. Haven't… uh, haven't exactly been Motivated to do Story mode in Untold 2. On paper, I really dislike the team composition. In practice, hasn't been so bad, but still not enough to make me play them more than necessary.

Fellbloom

-Now legally required Evil Guild. Probably won't ever get past Chimaera.

EOU -Unlike the sequel, Guild Cards don't let you choose what to get from the friend's Guild Card. You just get given a random Grimoire Stone once per playthrough per Guild Card. Kinda lame.

Untold -Unlike later games, only one save file here, and the game nigh-on requires you to play through the Story Mode before doing Classic in NG+, so, that's where we sit.

EOIV -First game to use QR codes. III had Guild Cards, but I don't know how you'd trade them. They do serve a purpose here; each Card gets given a random treasure, and having a Card lets you find that treasure in the overworld. Most are crap, but some are circumstantially useful, and some are permanent stat-boosts, IIRC. I don't think mine was very good…?

Zephyr

-Uh, EOIV had a glitch where your Ventured Days would go up dramatically every time you paused. I think it comes into affect if you ever do NG+. So I haven't actually played for 48 in-game years. Truth be told, now knowing of a way to back up save files, I am admittedly tempted to make a new EOIV playthrough, since it's been like a decade, but for my own sanity, I really probably shouldn't.

[fantasies-fairytales-n-fics]

Code Blue- Ch. 48- Dr. Feelgood

Summary: Dr. Dave goes on a scavenger hunt. Josie tries to talk him out of it but the good doctor must uphold his Hippocratic oath. Josie turns to a trusted friend for help. Megan is in a bad way and Dave races against time to save her. Josie's anxiety taunts her to a breaking point and Orlando's arms help her through it. Lee and Jo simultaneously share the same memory. He later hears a heartbreaking truth about himself. Dave comforts momma March. He later whisks Jo away to comfort her. Lee medicates.

*Chapter Warnings* language, angst, injury, graphic depictions, alcohol and drug use

Chapter characters: David, Josie, Megan, Orlando, Lee, Margaret

Chapter word count: 6,099

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist:

Salem, Massachusetts

March 21, 2022

After the 3 minute drive to the nearest state park entrance, Dr. Dave, the 6 foot tall, dark and handsome healer of Grandview, MA, population 3,666, brought his GMC Sierra Hybrid to a screeching stop. In his 5 years of residing there, the born and raised Pittsburgh native who loved nature, hiking and bicycling, had never entertained himself in the vast forest full of infinite trails and seductive scenery due to his shared hectic schedules between Grandview and Salem University hospitals, so his geographical knowledge of the area was about slim to none and that included the nearby forsaken Train Town. For this reason, he rushed to compare his paper map to the billboard map at the park because Jacob was nowhere to be seen and from what the anxious doc could decipher, he was way off course.

After pinpointing his exact location on the map, Dave turned and scoured the woods with perplexed eyes. He knew his destination was on the far side and if he drove, it would take him at least another half an hour to reach it with the main route circling out too far and with traffic, but if he cut through the monstrous maze of pines, oaks, maples and hemlocks, he could cut that time nearly in half. The problem with that though was that he could become lost, so he decided to call upon his tour guide.

"Jacob, need some help little man. Now is not the time to hide! I know you can hear my voice......damn it." he snapped and was just about to make the drive when he caught sight of something shiny near the trees.

After a short jog to the object, he picked up a toy train car and it was then that he knew Jacob was showing him the way as he said he would do, although Dave was frustrated that Jake didn't just make an appearance and show him personally, for it wasn't like anyone else would see him.

Before he went into the arborical labyrinth, he tried to call you again so someone would know where he was and because... you were the only one that would believe him.

You had just woken up from a 2 hour power nap and with groggy eyes, you picked up your phone to see if you had any texts or calls, specifically from Lee, but all there was, was a missed call from Dave while you had slept. Just as you flung up to call him back, he was calling you again.

"Dave!! Oh my god, where the hell are you??"

"Josie, I'm alright and I will explain later but..."

"No?!! You're going to explain right now because I was picturing you lying in a ditch somewhere!"

"Ok, look. I just needed some space. A break from all the chaos and..."

"A break from me you mean?? because that's when you disappeared. Right after our argument about Elizabeth at Lee's hearing and now she's dead! Do you know how that makes you look?? The cops are all over this shit Dave, questioning me and Lee too. How could you just vanish on me without a word??!!! Were you THAT mad??"

"If anyone sounds mad, it's you and you said in your voicemail you wouldn't be mad if I called.

"I'm not mad!!!" you shouted and then began to sob. "I...I'm scared and hurt. I was so scared something had happened to you too and I can't lose you of all people Dave. Not you."

Hearing you become emotional was something that always brought out Dave's emotions as well, especially now when he didn't think you would be that worried since you had Lee.

"Josie...I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you sweetheart, I swear."

And now, hearing Dave become somewhat choked up, softened you to him.

"I...I know you didn't. I never meant to hurt you either. Can you just come over so we can talk and make up in person? I miss your face."

"About that, umm. Can you just stay on the phone with me for awhile longer? I...I'm looking for something and I'll explain all of it on the way."

"Okaaay? What are you looking for?"

Dave sighed as he disappeared into the trees. "Your sister."

Dave continued to find a trail of toy trains cars as he ventured through an eternity of aromatic pines while simultaneously filling you in about Jacob's visit.

"Oh my god Dave...Lee...he's seen Jake too. Ok, listen to me. Turn around and go straight back to your truck and call 911. Let them handle this. IF my sister is out there and she's hurt, you're alone and you don't know what you're walking into Dave!"

"That's the thing Josie. We don't even know if she's out here, so how do I explain my suspicions to them without the risk of being involuntarily placed on a 72 hour psych hold for evaluation??"

"Well you're going to have to when you find her!"

"You...you said when."

"Yeah? Cuz I believe you David and I know Jake is real. Why would he lie? He didn't even know me or my sister when he was alive."

"Ok, ok. So...when I find her, there's also the risk of becoming a person of interest. I mean, I know her Josie and let's not forget that Jacob told me that she's where Liz was attacked and I knew her too. So what? I just happened to stumble upon Megs while trekking through the forest in my casual clothes and shoes and with a phone that has only 20 percent battery left?"

"Jesus Dave. That's just another reason for you to re-fucking-treat. How will you call for help if your phone is dead??? I...I can call Gerry or something and he can go look, cuz like I said, you don't know if anyone is with her! You know, like Liz's murderer?! Whom I wholeheartedly believe is Ethan."

"Do you even want Megan to be found? I'm close and she needs help. It will take Gerry a long time to get out here since he's back in Salem and then there's the little fact that you can't trust him after what he did Josie."

"Ok, first of all, no matter what he did, I DO trust him for this. He's a damn good detective and second, I know Megan and I don't get along, but...she's still my sister and I don't want her to die. With that said, I still care about you a hell of a lot more and this happens to be one of the many reasons why. You have such compassion for people that don't deserve it."

"That's what doctors are supposed to do and just what are you going to tell the dashing detective? That a dead kid is showing me the w....hold up, there's another train piece up ahead."

Dave crouched down and picked up the metal toy, looking it over.

"Josie, it's the locomotive to the train set. Train town must be up ahead somewhere. This kid sure likes games."

"Of course he does. He's 5 and he has this obsession with trains. Do you even know where you are??? I feel like I should come there to hel..."

"No way Jo. Stay put. Let me check the map."

Dave stood up and retrieved the folded drawing from his back pocket.

"Well??" you intensely asked when you heard him mumbling as he looked it over.

"Jo, it's just over the hill. I gotta go so my phone don't die." he rambled, then hung up and ran off.

"Wait no! David!" you shouted but the call had ended. "Damn it!!!"

Immediately, you called Gerry, not knowing what the hell you were going to tell him, but you had to help your best guy friend. AND of course, once again, no answer, so you called the hospital to see if he was there visiting his dad. He wasn't, so now what? Craig was useless to you since he was passed out drunk in his bed, not to mention, you were not his favorite person at the moment and there was no way in hell you were calling Luke. You absolutely could not call Jason or Britt and even if you did, they were probably long gone from Salem by now. Should you call Lee?? No...no nooo noooo. Not this time. Not after all that had recently happened between the two of you. A smile then came to your face as you thought of the one person you knew you could count on and could trust. Orlando.

Just as it started to rain, Dave made it to Train Town and ran inside the monumental warehouse that reminded him of a hangar, for it was big enough to fit an Airbus A380 inside, the world's largest passenger airliner....and under the massive tin roof that eerily echoed from the pummeling rain, it was as dark as if it were night.

As Dave pulled out the one thing he knew to bring, his flashlight, he scoured his surroundings of real train cars galore only to soon realize he had forgotten the one thing he also knew to bring. His medical bag that still sat on the seat of his truck.

"Megan! Can you hear me??" he called out while gripping his opened pocket knife in his other hand, but all he could hear was the haunting downpour above him, so he cautiously continued on through the giant graveyard of antique railcars.

"Jacob, are you here buddy?? I need to know where she is. Is she in here or out there somewhere in the 10 freaking acres of this old tourist ghost town???"

Running footsteps pitter pattered in the distance and a child's laughter was heard. Dave sprinted off, following the ghostly giggles and soon came to a dead end at a dirty wooden door with a broken lock hanging from the handle.

When he pushed it open, the freezing cold air took his breath away and once he shone his light inside, Dave soon realized it led down to the old underground tunnels. Once he was further inside the depths, he gathered just how old the passageways were and possibly even unstable, for each bout of rumbling thunder shook a good dusting of dirt loose from the ceiling of tree roots where rain water also made it's way through, drip after drip after drip.

"Megan??!" he called out again. "Come on honey, if you're down here, you gotta give me a sign so I can find you."

This time he got a response, although it was faint.

"H...here...I...I'm...here."

Dave rushed forward and rounded the corner to find a battered, bruised and very weak Megan on the ground, propped against the wall with a bloodied knee.

"Megs, hey sweetie. Look at me. It's Dave. I'm going to get you out of here ok?" he assured her as he patted her chilled cheek in an attempt to keep her alert.

"I...I can't feel my body..so...c...c..cold...my leg..it's...b...broken." she stammered through chattering teeth.

Dave quickly assessed her leg to find she had a compound fracture and quite a bit of blood loss.

"Alright, Megan. This might hurt a little ok? I need to stop the bleeding before anything else because you're in shock."

Dave wriggled out of his jacket and ripped off his overshirt, then tied it around her leg for a tourniquet.

"K." Megan flinched as he did so. "Am...am I going t..t..to die?"

"Not if I can help it. Do you hurt anywhere else? I need to know because I have to carry you out of here."

"Dave...I literally f...feel...nothing ex...except the p..pressure on my leg."

"Ok. Well, at least you know my name. I'm going to put my jacket on you ok? You're on the verge of hypothermia. Alright, there. All done. Now, I need you to hold on to me the best you can. I'm going to lift you up. If something hurts besides your leg, tell me immediately."

Dave helped Megan place her arms around his neck and then he scooped her up and eventually made his way back to the light of day. By the time he got back to his truck, he noticed Megan was unconscious. After checking her pulse, he carefully placed her on the passenger seat, buckled her in and took out his phone which was now at 10 percent battery life and he didn't have his charger.

"FUCK." he loudly whispered and quickly called you as he took off.

"Dave! Thank god! Where are you?? Did you find her??"

"I've got her Josie and she's in bad shape. I'm heading to Salem Hospital now. It's closer from where I am than Grandview's."

"Oh my god. Ok. I'm with Landy. We were heading to you but turn around and meet you there!"

"You called Dr. Bloom??"

"Yes. I figured another doctor wouldn't hurt and I trust him Dave."

"So you told him. About...how I found her...didn't you?"

"Dave...I had to. I won't lie to him and he won't say anything or judge you if that's what you're worried about. Besides, you're going to have to come up with some story anyways, for both the hospital and the cops and..."

"I don't need a story. I have nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong but find her and we have yet to hear what really matters. Megan's side. That's what the cops are going to care about more than anything. I've seen it all too many times and...."

"M..momma." Megan mumbled.

"Jo...you need to call your mom. Just in case Mega..."

"Just in case Megan what? Dave??? Hello!!"

"Josie?? You there? Fuck!" Dave shouted as he tossed his dead phone on the seat and glanced at a very still and pale Megan. "We're almost there darlin. You hold on. Do you hear me??"

Your hand went to your pounding heart as you drove over the very high bridge that crossed the bay back into Salem and to add to your anxiety, your eyes caught sight of Landy's bare, buff chest in the rearview mirror.

"Jo...you ok?" Orlando asked from the back seat of his car as he dressed for his shift at the hospital that he was now late for.

He had just gotten out of the shower when you had called him in a panic to come pick you up, so he had thrown on a hoodie and sweats and grabbed his doctor attire to take with him when he learned he may have to go drudging through the forest in the rain.

Before you could answer, Landy tossed his dress shoes over the seat and onto the passenger floor, then forced his large body over the seat as well and plopped down beside you.

"Hey. Talk to me. Is it the heights thing?" he sweetly said as he softly rubbed your shoulder.

"Put your seatbelt on." you ordered without looking at him as you stiff armed the steering wheel.

"Yes ma'am, but first, I need to put my shoes on. You're ok Jo. We're over the bridge now and you handled it like a pro."

Now that you were back in town, you quickly pulled over on a side street, put the car in park and then uncontrollably broke down, sobbing into your hands.

"Is this how a pro handles things Landy??"

"Heyyyyy. Come here. Please don't cry sweetheart. Let me hold you and try to make it better."

Orlando reached his arms over to you but you didn't need any coaxing, for you practically dove into them. What you needed...wanted...was someone's warm comforting arms around you and Landy's was a perfect fit and now you were a blubbering mess of tears as you sniffled into his clean white dress shirt, rambling on about your many woes like a distraught child.

"I deservingly lost my apartment. Craig hates me. A little girl is missing because of me. I can't stand your brother as a cop and I hate your other brother and your sister. In fact I hate all of your family except you because you are good person and I think you are so wonderful and beautiful and I hate what they all have done to you and they all just suck and...and...ghosts, ghosts are real and now my sister is hurt and I shouldn't even care but I do. I hate that I do! and Britt took off with Jason and Lee is changing and I can't take it anymore Orlando!! I feel so lost and alone."

You were now bawling and gasping for air as your fingers were tightly dug into his muscular back.

Orlando softly kissed your head and stroked your soaked cheek as he pondered with an arched brow on one thing that you said.

"How...how is Britt with Jason?"

You suddenly froze and became completely silent as you realized you had just outed your brother on being alive in your careless rant.

"I...I meant that...."

You paused and sat up, then sighed heavily.

"Fuck this. I can't lie anymore and I won't lie to you. I trust you, so here it goes. He's alive Landy. He survived the explosion and then on some whim, he chose to fake his own death and he's after Ethan and Cyrus. It's one big mob war and they both are responsible for trying to kill him. Liz was involved too."

"Jesus. I always knew Ethan was into some bigger shit and that Cyrus was shady as fuck but I guess I didn't realize the extent of it. As far as Lee, I wish I could offer some insight but he don't even talk to me anymore like he used to and I've told you al that I do know. I...I'm happy for you though that you at least got your brother back."

"Yeah well sometimes I'm not because of all the baggage that came back with him. God Landy, there's so much you don't even know."

"Well...now I at least know that you think I'm wonderful and...beautiful." he raved with a twinkle in his raisin hues and a curled lip grin that always made you melt...and now you felt a bit awkward.

You dried your face and scooted back to your seat. "I think we should get to the hospital now. I'll explain more on the way, but you can't say a word to anyone. I..I just need to get this shit out. I can't stand secrets and yet here I am, asking you to keep them."

"My lips are sealed for you love. Well, at least for the secrets part anyways." he quipped with a wink and another grin as he began putting his shoes on.

With a roll of your eyes and a slight grin of your own, you shook your head at the dashing doc and drove off, filling Orlando in about mostly everything along the way. Everything except Lee. He was off limits. Even in your anger towards him, you would always protect him....until you couldn't, such as the cat now being out of the bag about him seeing Jacob. At least with Dave being a witness to the supernatural sighting, you hoped Lee wouldn't be so worried anymore about people thinking he had finally lost his mind.

There was no sign of Dave's truck yet when you pulled into the ER parking lot, so you sat with Orlando, waiting and listening to the peaceful rain parade over the car and in that moment, a memory stole your thoughts as your mind drifted off to the first time you and Lee kissed on that stormy February night inside of his car.

You could still feel his warm velvet lips and taste his breath of sweet bourbon and...

"Josie? Where'd you go?" Orlando asked, breaking your concentration to where you realized you were lightly touching your lips.

"Oh...uhhh...sorry..I...I...I'm just...it don't even matter. Where the hell is Dave already??"

Knowing David's phone was dead, you still called him to try and evade any further prodding from Orlando because you did not want to talk about Lee. Yes you did. It was all you wanted to talk about. Damn him and his luscious lips. If he were there instead of Orlando, you would be pulling them to yours. You had to get out of there. Out of the rain.

"Let's wait inside Orlando. You're late, remember?"

Simultaneously, Lee sat in the same peacefulness of his Dodge Dart on the other side of the hospital, daydreaming of the exact same memory. How could he not with all the rain and it being in that car that his lips first caressed yours? He could still feel the way you tenderly touched his face and see the way you looked at him. It was as if he were all you could see.

The pain was just too much and he needed to shut his mind off of you, as if that were even possible. That morning, he was adamant that he was not going in for his shift with all that happened, but after you left, the silence was deafening and your absence was gut wrenching, so he chose to go in, for if he had stayed home, he would have drank himself into oblivion.

Lee downed his Red Bull and crushed the can in his fist, then tossed it in the back seat. He then put out the remaining half of his Marlboro red, another old habit that was dying hard in his time of distress, and got out of the car. No umbrella, no coat. Just his dress shirt and tie as he casually walked across the lot, allowing the downpour to punish him and hoping God would too by striking him down with lightning, right then and there, for without you, Lee felt he had nothing and was nothing.

Instead of lightning, a silver truck sliding around the corner at lightning speed almost did the trick of taking Lee out, missing him by merely inches as he dove onto the wet pavement.

"Hey asshole!! You missed!" Lee shouted as he jumped to his feet, not realizing who it was until the truck skidded to a stop at the front doors and Dave hopped out.

"Lee man, I'm sorry. I didn't see you. I need some help here!"

When Lee saw him run to the passenger side and carry out a limp Megan, he instantly transformed into doctor mode and raced up to assist.

"Hey man, get her inside! I'll park your truck."

Dave gave a quick nod and rushed off, the Lee secured the vehicle and sprinted inside and through the hospital to the ER to find out what happened.

"Hey, Dave. Here's your keys. What's going on with her??" Lee panted in his saturated attire as Megan was being worked on in a cubicle.

For the time being, until he would speak with you, Dave only told Lee the need to know information.

"Josie told me she had been missing a few days and I was able to locate her. Her leg is broken and she's lost a lot of blood. Hypothermic too. I'm not sure what happened to her. She hasn't been awake long enough to say anything yet."

"I see. And according to Jo, you have been missing as well. She was pretty worried. Good to see you're back and alright. I'm sure she's very relieved. Does Jo know you found Megan?"

"Actually yes. She was on her way here when my phone died, so I'm sure she'll be here any minute."

Lee's heart skipped a beat as his wide eyes looked around for you. He didn't know if you would want to see him and he felt he better just stay in the shadows for now. After all, you hadn't called him.

"Oh. Ok. Well... I am quite late and need to go dry off and get changed. I'll check back later."

Lee rushed off before Dave could respond and then just a few seconds later, you and Orlando came running up from the opposite direction and you threw your arms around him.

"Dave! Thank GOD you're ok. Where's Megan??"

"They took her right in, over there in cubicle 3."

"Has she said anything?"

"Not yet. She's been in and out of consciousness. Josie, she was down in the tunnels. She never would have gotten out of there on her own."

Out of nowhere, you hauled off and smacked his arm.

"Oww! What the hell was that for??"

"For doing something so incredibly stupid, yet....so incredibly brave. God, I can't even be mad at you when I want to be. You're everything that a doctor should be. Compassionate and selfless. You and Landy both, so...thank you Dave, for what you did. I'm going to go use the restroom to dry off and call mom."

"And I need to go do the same and get clocked in. I'll be back when I can Jo."

"Wait, Landy."

You gave him a long, tight hug. "Thank you too. For being there for me at the drop of a hat. I meant it, those things I said about you. You're really great, you know that? I'm sorry I made you late."

Orlando smiled and gave you a good squeeze. "It's all good Jo. See you soon."

As Orlando took off to the breakroom, Lee stood in the shadows of the hall, his eyes falling in pain and sadness. He had heard you call out to Dave when he was leaving and decided to come back to see you, but...he then heard everything you just said. About what good doctors are and all, which made him think about how he refused to help Liz and how you had reminded him of that in the fight you both had.

And it crushed him that you had turned to his best friend instead of him, but he understood why. It still hurt nonetheless. He then bowed his head and walked off, undetected, with his hands in his pockets, debating on what he has wondered for quite awhile. If he should continue his career in the medical field.

The day turned into night as you sat with your distraught mother in the waiting room. Dave had stayed with the two of you while Megan was in surgery to repair her leg and he had just gotten back from speaking with a police officer. Margaret wanted answers just as the cop did, so Dave told her what he told him. A flat out lie, which he hated himself for. He had used the story that he told you sounded ridiculous, that he had been spending some time in nature to clear his head and just happened to find her in his curiosity of the old tunnels because it was much more believable than revealing that a child's ghost led him there.

You knew when Luke got wind of it, he would be all over this case and you were actually glad about it because you had high hopes that Megan would reveal Ethan as her attacker and you also really hoped she knew where Blaise was or could at least offer some leads if she didn't know.

"Do you think she will pull through this Dave?" Margaret March asked with tearful eyes as he held her trembling hand and explained what he knew as kindly as he could.

"I'm not her doctor Margaret, so I can only offer so much insight. I can make no promises, but what I will say is that I am very hopeful of her recovery. With that said, it's going to be a long one and right now, with your faith as I know it to be, your prayers will do her good. I will be praying as well."

"Me too Ma." you chimed in, which lit Margaret's eyes up to hear that you cared.

"You're an angel David. Thank you for rescuing my daughter and all that you did for her. Will they let me see her after her surgery?"

"I don't see why they wouldn't, but I know she'll have to be in recovery for a few hours first before they allow visitors. Can I go get you something to drink or to eat?"

'Oh, no thank you dear. My stomach's all a bundle of nerves. I'd just toss it right back up." she chuckled, trying to hide her fear. "I suppose I could go up and see Victor for awhile."

You could see the guilt all over her face about that as she fondled her wedding ring your late father had given her. You knew she still harbored feelings for Victor after all these years.

"How's he doing mom? I can't seem to ever get ahold of Gerry to find out. Kind of worried about him."

"He's slowly recovering as far as I know and Gerry, well, you know not to worry about him. He's part Greek like his father and Scottish like his mother. Tough as they come. I wouldn't worry too much. He's a copoholic remember. Probably keeping busy at work."

But you knew that wasn't true because you had called the station and he had taken a leave of absence, leaving his partner Luke to do all the bad boys' dirty work and he certainly wasn't as rugged as your mom believed him to be. Gerry may have looked tough on the outside, but you knew his heart and soul. It didn't harden like one would have expected it too. On the inside, he was actually quite fragile and vulnerable, which seemed to have been brough on from finding out that the man he had known most of his life as his father wasn't, but Victor was. His tough act was exactly that. An act. And tomorrow, you planned to try and find him.

"You're probably right Ma." you agreed, just to keep things brief about Gerry. "Go ahead. Go see Vic. Maybe it will perk him up some to see your pretty face and maybe it will even make you smile too."

"Oh gosh, my face must look a fright right now. I'm going to go freshen up first. Please come get me if you hear anything."

Hours went by and you had fallen asleep on Dave's lap and of course, even your dreams would not let you avoid Lee. It may have been triggered as you subconsciously heard the tv playing the David Bowie video for "Let's Dance", for it brought you back to his dad's funeral reception where Lee got the crowd all riled up and dancing to that song as he gestured pulling the train horn over and over like his dad had taught him as a child.

And then the dream went ot when Lee had pulled you in his arms and sang a verse from the song to you. You could hear his voice so clearly and you could even feel him.

"If you say run, I'll run with you. If you say hide, we'll hide because my love for you would break my heart in two if you should fall into my arms and tremble like a flower."

His face vanished as a touch to your shoulder startled you awake.

"Hey. Sorry I scared you. Your sister is out of surgery and stable."

When your eyes came into focus, you saw Orlando smiling down at you.

"Oh my god. Landy, thank you. Wh..where's my mom??"

"I'll go get her." Dave offered and jogged off.

"Aaargh!" Orlando scoffed and rubbed his tired face with both palms.

"Hey, you ok?"

"For the most part, yeah. I'm just so fucking frustrated and angry. I just want to beat Ethan's face to a pulp right now."

"You and me both. You certainly owe him, that's for sure."

"Well so do you. He can't run and hide forever, especially now."

"Yeah well, we sort of need Megan's story of what happened. What I'm worried about is that she may be too scared of him to rat him out, which honestly, I can't blame her. She didn't deserve this."

"She don't deserve you either. After all she's done to you, you still are here for her. You're the good one Jo. Hey, come here. Give me a hug. I gotta get back in a few."

Orlando leaned over and gave you a a comforting bear hug and whispered in your ear.

"It's going to be alright and I'm here if you need me. I'll be here all night and I'll keep coming to check on you when I can."

"Well my daughter won't be here because she is going to go home and get some rest." Margaret explained as she came walking up with Dave.

"No, mom. I'm not leaving you here."

"Nonsense. Dave said Megan will be sedated for pain and will sleep through the night, so there's nothing here for you to do but sleep when you could sleep in your own bed."

"And what about you? Are you staying?"

"Of course I am. In case she wakes up. I'll sleep in the recliner in her room. Dave is going to get me some blankets and a pillow. I'll be fine."

"Well...you both have got this all planned out I see."

"Jo. Go. I'll be here all night as I said and i will gladly come check on your mom and someone will call you if anything changes." Orlando kindly offered.

"Fine..nuh." you huffed.

Orlando grinned the cute grin once more. "I'll talk to you later then gorgeous."

Dave went and got the things for your mom and took her up to Megan's room and when he came back, he had a different proposal for you.

"Sooo...it's ummm, 11 o'clock. What do you say to going back with me to my place for some....midnight margaritas??"

"Dave, I don't know...I..."

"Come on. Please? We haven't spent much time together and I miss you. I don't want you to be alone. I'll even let you pick the horror movie. What do ya say?"

You couldn't resist his charming puppy eyes and pouty lips and...you didn't want to be alone either. In fact, drowning your sorrows sounded super fantastic to you, so you gave in and nodded.

"Sweeet. It's settled then. Let's hit the road."

Lee had changed his clothes and groomed himself to be presentable for work, but he found himself locked in his office with the do not disturb sign hanging on the handle. He just couldn't do it. Put on a fake smile and force all the bad thoughts and memories out of his mind and replace them with medical ones. He couldn't get the image of you in Orlando's arms out of his head nor the way you had praised him and Dave's ethics as a person, for he didn't just see it as a professional compliment.

He sat at his desk, wallowing in his misery that loved his own company. Who else did he have? Certainly not you and he didn't have his dad, his mom, his son, his brother or his only two friends, Orlando and Luke, whom he was beginning to not see as friends anymore. He felt he only had himself and his bottle of whiskey.

"Fuck it." he protested and poured a drink, then popped a perc in his mouth and washed it down.

He began scrolling through your Facebook to look at all your pictures and he continued to medicate himself with more liquid gold as he did so while waiting for the pill to kick in and finally...it did.

Lee staggered off to the bed he used for mostly for double shifts and crashed onto his back, feeling no more pain as his eyes quickly closed.

That had been the plan anyways. To feel no more pain but his lucid dreams insisted that he feel more of it as his mind traveled back in time to the underlying cause of his anguish.

@redeemer46

[ongakunotenshi]

A brand new Choi Jaerim interview by Charlotte Theater’s Instagram

Question 1: What kind of Phantom are you portraying in the Phantom of the Opera?

Jaerim: A man of infinitely twisted personality due to the misfortune of being born with the world's brightest talent and the world’s darkest appearance.

Question 2: What does the Phantom spend on his monthly salary of 20,000 francs?

Jaerim: Purchase of facilities to monitor the entire opera house; equipment for composing operas; interior of the underground labyrinth.

Question 3:

① What song do you pay the most attention to? ② What is the most elaborate song? ③ What is the most difficult song to sing? Jaerim:

① I gave you my music at the end of Act l ② Music of the Night ③ Music of the Night

Question 4: I’m curious about how long it takes to put on makeup and if your skin is okay when you put it on :)

Jaerim: It takes an average of 50 minutes to put on and 5 minutes to take off. The makeup team takes good care of me.

Question 5: How do you feel after Christine’s kiss?

Jaerim: Driven by something inexplicable, I have no choice but to let her go!

Question 6: Isn’t it scary when you are in the angel statue and when you are on the second floor?

Jaerim: NOPE

Question 7: Among the various places the Phantom appears, which one is your favorite?

Jaerim: Don Juan’s bedroom in Act ll’s Don Juan Triumphant.

Question 8: How well do you see the audience’s expression on stage? Can you see the back seats on the first and second floor?

Jaerim: The foot light is quite bright, so you can’t even see the first row.

Question 9: Do you have any advice for juniors who dream of becoming musical theater actors while watching you?

Jaerim: Always practice efficiently. I hope you have a productive practice. It is also important to have the wisdom to accurately identify your own strengths and weaknesses and make up for them.

Don’t just dream. Go grab it.

Question 10: What does Charlotte theater mean to actor Choi Jaerim?

Jaerim: The first time performing here was Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s a new feeling to come here for another ALW work.

Question 11: An autograph and a word to the fans.

Jaerim: Thank you as always… ❤️ - 잶유령 (Jaerim-opera ghost)

Note: I used google translate, if there’s any errors, please don’t hesitste to let me know, thank you.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, April 10

WILLOW: Oh, my God! 'Have a nice summer. Have a nice summer.' This girl had no friends at all. GILES: Uh, once again I teeter at the precipice of the generation gap. BUFFY: 'Have a nice summer' is what you write when you have nothing to say. XANDER: It's the kiss of death. BUFFY: You guys didn't know Marcie Ross? XANDER: Never met her. Why? BUFFY: 'Cause you both wrote it, too.

~~BtVS 1x11 “Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight”~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Clothes Shopping (Buffy, Joyce, PG) by badly_knitted

Roots (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by veronyxk84

A Capeside Christmas (Spike/Jack, Buffy/Pacey, Dawson's Creek xover, G) by julikobold

Stay (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Maxine Eden

Starlight (Buffy/Spike, PG) by acekoomboom

[Chaptered Fiction]

The Witching Hour:, Chapters 2-3/25 (Multi ships, E) by TheLightdancer

our little vignette, Chapter 1/? (Giles/Jenny, E) by silvain

You’re my always, Chapter 2/2 COMPLETE! (Willow/Tara, T) by ronanceisrxmance

Slayer No More, Chapter 18/? (Buffy/Pike, M) by jsaint34

Dawn Rising, Chapter 56/? (Buffy, LOTR xover, T) by Luna_delCielo

Staying Afloat, Chapter 20/? (Willow/Oz, T) by dwinchester

Infinitely, Chapter 47/? (Willow/Tara, M) by Laragh

He Slays Monsters, Chapter 12/? (Buffy/Faith, E) by BeatriceEveryTuesday

[French language] Recommencer, Chapter 6/? (Buffy/Faith, M) by FridayQueen

The Boring Stuff: Reptile Boy, Chapter 2/? (Buffy/Angel, M) by missfiggy

Bark like a Stray God, Chapter 5/? (Spike, Dawn, not rated) by driyaad

Lindsey's Pride, Chapter 8 (Angel, Lindsey, T) by TinyDancer96

Lover's Labyrinth, Chapter 9 (Buffy, Willow, Xander, M) by Spooksdarkhero

I love you., Chapters 14-31 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Lilacsandorangeblossoms

In Any Life, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Spikelover4ever

Celebrating You, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by DeamonQueen

Daisies, Chapter 2 COMPLETE! (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Desicat

Blood and dust, Chapters 3-4 (Buffy/Spike, 18+) by Blackoberst

Her Villanelle, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Geliot99

What the Drabble? Vol. 2, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by VeroNyxK84

A Little Poet in Her Monster, Chapters 14-16 COMPLETE! (Buffy/Spike, R) by Desicat

Daisies, Chapter 2 COMPLETE! (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Desicat

Anarchy Tour, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Alyot

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Vampire Buffy, from the episode Nightmares. Painted for Previously On… (worksafe) by ghostrabbit87

Artwork: Willow and Tara illustration (worksafe) by taniaairiarte

Artwork: Anya terrorific costume illustration (worksafe) by taniaairiarte

Artwork: [Four of Wands (tarot)] (Buffy/Spike, worksafe) by isevery0nehereverystoned

Tattoo: New tattoo done tonight! (worksafe, artist not mentioned) via DistributionRight620

Artwork: ChiBangel: The Prom (Buffy/Angel, G) by MamaBewear

[Reviews & Recaps]

PODCAST: Episode 52: Graduation Day (w/ Dean Jurhs) by Gym Was Cancelled

[Fandom Discussions]

one of the funniest parts about angel getting a whole spinoff series by blipblepbloop

I just don’t buy that Xander is hot enough for it to be worth it for [Cordelia] by nicnacsnonsense

Xander is so salty that Cordelia doesn’t want to date him for real by nicnacsnonsense

The thing about Riley isn’t that he’s perfect and flawless by riley-summers

always gets to me when people are like. “Wesley was An Adult why was he hitting on a child” because. he’s like nineteen??? by zorilleerrant

You know what I don’t care, [Buffy and Willow] were girlfriends by maybebitterxox

Spike aka William the Bloody (BtVS) [meta] by lindablairs

What If: Wesley arrived earlier? by nightshade

HellmouthCon on the Hellmouth: A Buffy Celebration at Sunnydale High by WilliamMcCarty

What episode upsets you most? by Impressive-Hold-7050

Who do you wish had been given a song in OMWT that didn't? by UKMegaGeek

Can non binary be slayers? by BlueFlameWar

Did the Angel spin-off cause more harm than good? by xXagirlhasnonameXx

What episodes do you hate so much you always know that you’ll skip it on rewatches??? by Slayerette444

Which scooby gang does everyone prefer? by Haunting-Leather5483

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

CONVENTION: Fandom Charities Inc.® is excited to announce the return of the HellmouthCon by Fandom Charities

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[bracketsoffear]

Spiral: The House on Ashtree Lane (House of Leaves) "The strange nature of the House on Ash Tree Lane was first recorded by acclaimed photojournalist Will Navidson when he moved in with his family. The film was subsequently criticized in a manuscript written by Zampanò, and upon his death the work was recovered, annotated, and organized by Johnny Truant. Possibly. No record of Navidson, the film he created, or many of the references utilized by Zampanò can be found, either because Zampanò made them up entirely or they were somehow erased.1 It is possible that this means that the house itself, whose notable properties include being 1/4" larger on the inside and an infinitely-expanding pitch-black system of corridors that drive explorers to madness, simply does not exist.2 Whether or not the house itself exists physically or merely as a memetic hazard spread through various iterations upon Navidson's original film, its effects seem to manifest as an anxiety pertaining to doors, hallways, and what lies beyond them, as well as a creature of uncertain nature5 that seemingly stalks those who annotate the account with their own thoughts and reactions.4

Possibly by a means similar to case #0120606, "Lost and Found".

Though by no means does simple nonexistence equate to harmlessness, as in case 376-U, "Upon the Stair".

It may be worth investigating the similarities between this Minotaur and the Distortion.

Whether or not readers who do not annotate the text suffer similar experiences is, naturally, unrecorded.

where the labyrinth spreads the Minotaur follows 3"

Flesh: The Mystery Flesh Pit (Mystery Flesh Pit National Park) "The Mystery Flesh Pit combines the overarching cosmic horror of the Entities with the trademark visceral gore of the Flesh. Here, not only is the theme of the Flesh presented as simply as it can be with the premise of the orifice of an eldritch abomination being used as a theme park, it checks off several of the quintessential motifs of the Flesh, with bodily mutilation, change, destruction, and slaughter happening in abundance to both said entity and the unfortunate humans within it."

[the-telescope-times]

Yes, Galileo Actually Said That

In 1609, the world witnessed an amazing achievement: An Italian inventor with an insatiable interest in mathematics, mechanics and astronomy learned that the latest novelty from the Netherlands — a compact cylinder featuring an arrangement of convex and concave lenses — permitted people to take closer looks at faraway objects. Immediately fashioning one of these tools for himself, Galileo Galilei pointed it toward the skies and shattered prevailing philosophies about the world.

Here are his quotes:

1. “I have observed the nature and the material of the Milky Way. With the aid of the telescope this has been scrutinized so directly and with such ocular certainty that all the disputes which have vexed philosophers through so many ages have been resolved, and we are at last freed from wordy debates about it.”   2. “The galaxy is, in fact, nothing but a congeries of innumerable stars grouped together in clusters." 3. “The increase of known truths stimulates the investigation, establishment, and growth of the arts; not their diminution or destruction.”  4. “Philosophy is written in this grand book — I mean the universe — which stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth.”  5. “In the sciences the authority of thousands of opinions is not worth as much as one tiny spark of reason in an individual man.”  6. “To apply oneself to great inventions, starting from the smallest beginnings, is no task for ordinary minds; to divine that wonderful arts lie hid behind trivial and childish things is a conception for superhuman talents.”  7. “Nature … is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, or cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are understandable to men.”  8. “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.”   9. "The intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heavens go."  10. “I think that in discussions of physical problems we ought to begin not from the authority of scriptural passages but from sense-experiences and necessary demonstrations.”  11. “It always seems to me extreme rashness on the part of some when they want to make human abilities the measure of what nature can do. On the contrary, there is not a single effect in nature, even the least that exists, such that the most ingenious theorists can arrive at a complete understanding of it.”  12. “I cannot without great astonishment — I might say without great insult to my intelligence — hear it attributed as a prime perfection and nobility of the natural and integral bodies of the universe that they are invariant, immutable, inalterable, etc., while on the other hand it is called a great imperfection to be alterable, generable, mutable, etc. For my part I consider the earth very noble and admirable precisely because of the diverse alterations, changes, generations, etc. that occur in it incessantly.”  13. “I give infinite thanks to God, who has been pleased to make me the first observer of marvelous things.”   

These quotes are also commonly attributed to Galileo:  14. “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”  15. “You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it within himself.”  16. "Passion is the genesis of genius."  17. “I have never met a man so ignorant that I could not learn something from him.”  18. "By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox." 19. "Where the senses fail us, reason must step in."  20. "It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved."   This story is part of an ongoing series exploring famous scientists.

Story by Sam Walters

[lillie-stargazer]

Dream #2

I found myself standing at the edge of an ancient, sprawling library, its architecture a blend of Gothic spires and neon-lit circuits, where the stone and mortar whispered with electricity. The air buzzed with static and each book was a repository of digital souls trapped in looping narratives.

The shelves stretched infinitely upward, bathed in dim flickering light. The books were alive, the pages fluttering even though there wasn't any breeze, emitting soft mechanical hums almost like heartbeats.

I walked deeper through this labyrinth, drawn to a tome glowing soft blue light. The cover was a weave of silver wire and glass paneling, through which I could see moving images. I touched the book, and the library dissolved into a sea of binary stars leaving me floating in some kind of cyberspace void.

There, I encountered strange digital souls. Echoes of joy and terror bound together by code. They danced around me in a haunting ballet, their forms blurring between metal and mist as they tried to communicate to me through fragmented, corrupted data.

Beyond all these smaller forms, one loomed larger than the rest. It beckoned to me, shifting forms between every single animatronic I've ever encountered, repaired, and lovingly cared for. It spoke in a chorus of voices, each syllable a static-filled cry for understanding and freedom from an endless cycle of entertainment and abandonment.

Then, the stars flickered and faded, leaving me at the library once again, the book still in hand. I felt the dream fade around me but a phrase in the book was burned into my head as I woke up:

"Every story seeks an end; every soul, a listener."