#at least hermann and newt are gonna be there

[hermannsthumb]

Power outage and popsicles for the summer prompts...."dude, why not? They're gonna melt otherwise."

27. Power Outage + 30. Popsicles

from summer prompts meme here

i finished this & checked ao3 and realized that i techhhhnically filled a prompt like this a little while ago, but they're different enough it's ok. giving this a light M rating for some Suggestive Content because i tweeted about this concept and couldn't stop thinking about writing it

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Look, Newt’s no stranger to a hot, humid summer, least of all a hot, humid summer that he’s left to tough out with nothing but the jankiest old window A/C unit in the world and t-shirts he’s badly modified with a pair of scissors to be a little more breathable. He got used to it back in Cambridge, where his apartment was the top floor of a creaky historic house built back before anybody really thought about things like central air or air circulation or living comfortably in general. But this is just ridiculous, man. Even if his broom closet of a bunk did have a window it wouldn’t be helping him much.

Yesterday’s kaiju attack took out the city power grid and most of the electricity to the Shatterdome with it. They’re not totally fucked, because relying on somewhere prone to frequent assaults from ten gazillion pound monsters to power local PPDC operations would be kind of an insane—if not, like, admirably ballsy—move, but the on-base generators they have as back-up are reserved for critical functions only: LOCCENT, the jaeger bay, and—well, yeah, basically that. Newt would estimate roughly twenty percent of base operations outside that are deemed critical, so whatever electricity is left is diverted directly to the mess hall refrigeration systems (so they can eat) and overhead lights in most of the common spaces (so they can walk down the hallway without falling down an elevator shaft or knocking over something expensive).

Basically, their little k-science team of two ranks comically low on that critical function list no matter how many complaints Hermann lodges with facilities about his precious little computers, or Newt does about the extremely necessary and much more important preservation of his kaiju samples. Under duress Newt will very begrudgingly admit this is not without some reason. It’s still annoying.

Hermann spends the first hour of the Black-Out trying to, essentially, pirate some of that diverted power (admittedly very cool of him) to get his computers back in business and cursing very loudly when it fails. Newt, meanwhile, thanks his goddamn lucky stars that it’s been a lackluster few weeks for kaiju harvesting and every viable sample he has is small enough to fit in some coolers with ice packs he keeps around for emergencies. Problem solved. They’ll want to hose them down before their next picnic so they’re not packing sandwiches in with kaiju guts—Newt’s kidding, mostly, Hermann wouldn’t be caught dead on a picnic with him—but it’ll work for now.

The main problem arises around hour two. On the average day it’s genuinely freezing down here, thanks to the lethal combination of the lab’s somewhat subterranean nature (stickin’ the geeks in the damp basement) and Hermann’s weird habit of keeping the A/C blasting so he can comfortably dress like he's strolling across Antarctica without breaking a sweat. With the A/C casualty to the outage, it doesn’t take long for the muggy humidity of the Hong Kong summer to creep up on them, and by the light of the comically large flashlight he’s very nicely holding for Hermann Newt watches it hit his colleague in waves: the exponential increase in handkerchief-swipes-across-forehead, the unbuttoning of his collar, the blazer shrugged off and tossed at a chair, then (egads!) the sweatervest following.

“Hold that still,” Hermann snaps when Newt lets the beam of the flashlight wander from the functionally useless computer he’s poking cables into to the scandalous display of button-down and wristbones he’s putting on right now instead. Talk about a strip tease. Newt ignores him and wolf-whistles instead.

“I’ve never seen you so naked,” he says. “This is definitely a new record. How many layers of pants do you have on? I’m guessing eight, nine.” He trails the light down one alluringly baggy slacks leg—because what is he hiding under there, man—and then back up to Hermann’s face. Hermann shields his eyes and recoils with a small affronted noise. His choppy bangs are sticking to his forehead.

“One,” Hermann says from behind his hand, “that is a completely inappropriate question to ask, and you are very lucky I’m used to that sort of thing enough by now to not file a complaint with Human Resources straightaway. Perhaps I will anyway. Two, that is categorically false. Please get that out of my face.”

“You’re right, I was being way too conservative. Ten pants?”

Hermann grinds his teeth together. “You saw me with significantly less clothing than this when you accidentally—allegedly—spilled a large amount of neutralized kaiju blood on me last year.”

The decontamination shower incident. Of course. How could Newt forget? Hermann looked like an angry wet cat in there, and Newt made a beeline for the exit the second he confirmed there weren’t any imminent biohazards and/or threats to Hermann’s health and/or threats to Newt's health before Hermann could get out and make one for him. Newt hid on the roof all afternoon.

A cold decon shower sounds pretty nice right now, actually. He wonders if the water in here is still running. A bead of sweat rolls down the back of his neck. “Which you’ve yet to apologize for,” Hermann continues, because Newt guesses they're still talking about this. “Get that out of my face.”

He tightens his fingers around Newt's wrist and yanks Newt’s hand back to shine the flashlight where he needs it, and, conspicuously, doesn’t address the whole pants question, which Newt assumes has to mean there’s at least three different things going on down there. Hermann strikes him as an old-timey long underwear kind of guy. The kind you'd see flapping on clotheslines in old cartoons.

A minute later he throws down the cables and hits the side of his computer with his cane. “Bugger,” he snarls, pushing himself to his feet. “I have work to do, and now I'll be behind by a whole day. This is completely unacceptable. I have submitted no less than four notices about the importance of—”

“Aw, no luck,” Newt says. He wipes his own forehead on his rolled-up shirt cuff. Would Hermann notice if he took his shirt off? It’s gettin’ hot in here, he thinks. Hermann’s temper is gettin’ hot, too, and he thinks if he doesn’t shut his mouth his foot might find out firsthand how that walloping Hermann’s computer just got felt. “Soooo, can I go now?”

He wants to take his shirt off very badly. And more importantly he has a hot—he means that very literally—date with a battery-operated fan and a minifridge of melting popsicles in his bedroom ASAP, and he’d like to get to the popsicles (and take off his shirt) sooner than later. “Fine,” Hermann says. He takes the flashlight and waves Newt off. "Get out of my sight, you wretch."

Newt’s bunk is darker and stuffier than the lab, if possible. His first order of business is to strip down to his bare chest stat before fumbling with the switches to his fan and the shitty little rechargeable nightlight he keeps on his desk. His legs are so sweaty that the denim of his skinny jeans is clinging to him for dear life, and it takes him twice as long to wriggle out of them. He succeeds, finally, flopping flat on his ass on the mattress in his boxers. After a few more uncomfortable minutes of wriggling he kicks those off too. Definitely a dick out kind of afternoon.

Tiny as it is, the fan feels fucking great. If Hermann wasn’t such a dick Newt would’ve considered inviting him over to bask in how great it feels with him. The popsicles are great, too, and mostly still intact, but—given the distressingly liquidy state of his little minifridge freezer—they won’t be for long. Newt unwraps two of them at once and eats them in alternating bites as quickly as he can without giving himself brain freeze. He’s just unwrapped a third when there’s a brusque knock at his door.

“Uggggh,” he says. “What?”

He rolls over on his side and squints at the door, wishing vaguely for some variation of x-ray vision to see who’s there or (better yet) telekinesis that could just open the door for him. He’s hot. And lazy. Basically, getting up and opening the door is at the very bottom of the list of potential activities he could engage in right now.

“It’s me,” Hermann says.

Pretty presumptuous of him, seeing as there’s a whole Shatterdome of me’s who aren’t Hermann that could’ve been at Newt’s door and who would totally love to enjoy Newt’s company, and frozen desserts, but Newt will let it slide, given ninety percent of the time the me in question actually is Hermann. He peels himself up from his sheets and shuffles over to the door to open it. “Yeah?” he says around his popsicle.

“Did you take my,” Hermann says, and then his mouth abruptly stops moving, and he goes a shade of red that’s impressively visible in the low lighting. “Oh,” he says.

Newt takes a bite out of the popsicle and swallows with a wince. Too cold, overly ambitious of him. “Probably,” he says. “I mean, whatever you’re missing, I probably took it. The sandwich you packed today, yes, your sticky notes, yes. I was hungry. For the sandwich I mean. Not the sticky notes. Didn’t you see my note?” By my he guess he technically means Hermann’s, because he wanted to do the polite thing and leave an IOU for the sandwich like a good little colleague but ran out of his own sticky note pads three months ago and keeps forgetting to order more.

“Do you want a popsicle?” he says. “I’m trying to finish off the box. I’ve already had two so far,” he sticks out his blue tongue as proof, “and I think I might get sick if I eat anymore after this. I guess I could just, you know, stop, but I spent a ridiculous amount of money on these, Hermann, you wouldn’t believe how much, and it would physically pain me to toss them out.” The snack food black market—hyperbolically speaking, it’s not actually a black market, just a handful of convenience stores who have managed to wiggle their way around rationing—doesn’t run cheap, and he paid for roundtrip bus fare on top of that.

“Er,” Hermann says.

He sounds confusingly confused over the offer. Historically, they eat each other’s food all the time, or at least Newt eats Hermann’s, but Newt has never been stingy when it comes to sharing his black market snacks with Hermann. It’s nothing new here. “They’re gonna melt, dude, why not?” Newt says.

Hermann is breathing hard and looking even more like the Gottliebian equivalent of a pin-up calendar right now: button-down undone to the collarbones, sleeves rolled up, slack cuffs rolled up, belt MIA, flush high on his cheekbones. And with his dumb little glasses to top it off, too. It’s working for Hermann. It’s working for Newt. He wonders, if he was to sabotage the lab A/C again in the near future, if it would be worth Hermann’s fury to see him like this again.

Newt sucks on the popsicle. Hermann suddenly thrusts an arm out, catching himself on the doorframe like he’s about to topple right over, and Newt realizes now that he’s looking a little sick in the face. The poor guy must be overheating. A wave of guilt instantly washes over him—Hermann might be a dick, but Newt really should’ve mentioned the fan thing, which makes him equally a dick for not doing so. Basically their dickishness is cancelling each other out here, which he thinks makes them both pretty stand-up guys.

“Okay, fine, you wanna come in?” Newt says. “I have a fan. It’s not, like, good, but it’s better than nothing. Also, obviously, popsicles.” A droplet of melted popsicle rolls down the stick and onto his fingers, and Newt licks it up. He gives Hermann’s sleeve a little tug. “Gotta say though dude, you’re looking preeeeetty indecent right now. I mean, forearms? My God, this is a military base, not a gentlemen’s club. Don’t flash me any sock garters, I won’t be able to take it.”

“I’m indecent?” Hermann chokes out. "Do you not—?!"

His eyes fall to Newt’s lips as Newt sucks the rest of the popsicle off the stick, and as Hermann digs his teeth into his own bottom lip, Newt thinks oh, man. He thought Hermann would be above the whole tragically juvenile popsicle=phallic thing. Very low-hanging erotic fruit. He’s almost disappointed in the guy. Newt can name ten different ways he could seduce Hermann right now, hypothetical success rate aside, that would be way more interesting. Newt chews on the wooden popsicle stick just to shake things up a bit.

“Okay, so are you coming in?” he says.

Hermann’s throat bobs as he swallows thickly. “Newton,” he finally says, and the next bits out of his mouth are a confusing semi-coherent jumble, “I am extremely—what I mean is, I’m not sure—the repercussions of it all, in terms of our working relationship—and loathe as I am to admit it, I do consider you my closest—though of course I find you exceedingly attractive, and I want to, only…”

“Um,” Newt says.

Hermann hovers in the doorway for another ten seconds, weirdly and uncomfortably silent, before shaking Newt’s hand off his sleeve. “I have to do paperwork,” he says.

He books it out of there.

Hermann’s a weirdo, no use trying to figure it out.

[losersimonriley]

twenty questions for fic writers

Thank ya @femalefemur <333

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

31

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

98,041

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Just the modern warfare reboot at the moment, but I’ve got fics from a few different fandoms

4. top five fics by kudos

First Light (ghost/soap)

Keep going (ghost/soap)

Completely, Selfishly (connor/gavin)

Every way that matters (ghost/soap)

Headshot Holidays (ghost/soap)

5. do you respond to comments?

I try! I really, really appreciate anyone who takes the time to leave comments, especially with fanfic being treated more and more like ~ quick to consume content~ I try to respond to every comment because the least I can say is thank you <3 But I got way behind on replies so there are a lot just sitting in my inbox waiting right now 💀 Swear I’m gonna get to em eventually

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

How it’s supposed to be (connor/gavin) bc it’s just both of them fucking dying lmao

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is a hard one bc I’m very much an angst with a happy ending writer, so most of my stories end on at least a hopeful note. I’ll say Every way that matters bc they are both just so sickly sweet in this one

8. do you get hate on fics?

Not bad enough that I remember. I used to have older works up before I regrettably purged them from existence that I remember getting rude comments on but wouldn’t necessarily categorise as hate

9. do you write smut?

Hellll yeahhh brotherrrr

10. craziest crossover:

I don’t have any crossovers per say but I’d really like to do a twister inspired tf 141 fic

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of 👀

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I’m ok with it

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

No but I think it would be fun with someone I’m comfortable enough with! *looks at Camus with big sickly green eyes*

14. all time favorite ship?

Destiel owns me until I die, they were part of my life for so long and there is just so many years and so much between them. But god do I love ghoap

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I am going to finish all my wips even if they end up sucking ass

16. what are your writing strengths?

Dialogue maybe? I’ve been told I have good dialogue

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Aghhh descriptions. I hate describing things. I just want the things to Happen. And pacing lmao. This is one reason why I’ve always struggled with long fics

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I know a lot of people find it unnecessary and jarring but I love it. Especially because it can encourage people to become interested in a new language

19. first fandom you wrote in?

I can’t remember if it was doctor who or my chemical romance but I’m pretty sure it was one of the two?

20. favorite fic you've written?

Oh it’s definitely gonna be Sundowning when I finish it. But so far my fav posted one is probably headshot holidays (ghost/soap) or music of the night (newt/hermann)

I’ll tag uhhhh @solivagantingrebel @lokibus @tumbleweedtech @forestshadow-wolf and anyone else who wants to do it! (sorry if y’all have already been tagged in this, I haven’t been very active on here the past few days so 🫡)

[picnokinesis]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Got tagged by the fantastic @wykart ahh thank you for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

32, most of which are Doctor Who!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

859,228!! (but it's gonna keep climbing until I finish posting part 6 of campervan sksk)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Pretty much just Doctor Who right now, but I have posted fics for Stargate Universe, Marvel and The Greatest Showman. And then I have written for other fandoms - most notably Venom, which I never posted anything for but I did get 40k into a multichapter one time.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In this order: Liminality, Tropospheric Disturbance, campervan part 1, watchfires and Renegades in the Ring (my TGS fic that I never finished, rip in pieces)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try and respond to comments!! Mostly because I love talking about my fics and also don't know when to shut up hahaha - but I also have some absolutely fantastic commenters who have such interesting things to say! And also like, idk I really appreciate people taking the time to comment, so I reckon it's polite to say thank you at least. The only time I don't reply to comments, mostly, is if it's a REALLY long comment and I just don't have the energy rip (but when that happens I definitely read and cherish the comment dearly haha)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh. MOST OF THEM RIP. I'm genuinely not sure because I always try and end my fics on a vaguely uplifting note. Maybe Campervan Part 4, simply because of all the uni-era angst? But tbh the ending of Part 6 is definitely a contender, now I think about it. Canon-fic wise, though.......hmm I think it's got to be notches in your spine, since that ends with the Doctor just straight up leaving the Master without warning sksksk

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hm. I think I'm gonna go with In the Wind for this one, which is hilarious since I wrote it THREE YEARS AGO, but it's a multi-chapter mid-series adventure that rounds itself off in a satisfying way, with everything being resolved nicely, so I think that's a decent contender!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Hm, no, other than people complaining about the show in an attempt to compliment my writing, but that's stopped for the most part since I got annoyed about it in my author's notes one time ksksks. I did get a weird comment recently that started out very complimentary but then turned really weird in a pretty upsetting way (and, frankly, it would have been very triggering if that sort of topic had been something that was something that affected me a lot? Luckily it wasn't, but the commenter did NOT know that). So I just deleted the comment because I didn't want that sort of thing in my comment section, especially when I know other readers comment lurk.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No I'm sex-repulsed lol

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I wrote a crossover that was The Greatest Showman crossed with the X-Men Comics one time SKSKSKSKSK (and it was specifically the comics not the films, I did so much research on historical terminology for mutants HAHA) which was actually SO much fun - I never finished it, but I do think back on it very fondly. But I'd class that as more of an 'x-men au' rather than a crossover tbh, bc it was wholly focused on the TGS characters.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't believe so

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

Yes! We never finished it LOL

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Currently spydoc, but this will probably change. I have a MASSIVE soft spot for rush/young from sgu, clintasha from the MCU, newt/hermann from PacRim, and symbrock from Venom.

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

Hmmmm there's a bunch, but probably The Grandfather Paradox? I genuinely love that one so much. But who knows, maybe one day. I feel like it would make a great pitch for a Big Finish audio sksk. Oh, and Deathless will probably never happen. I'm not going to put Trestle on this list because I am SO DETERMINED to finish it some day HAHAH. Oh - and I don't think I'll ever finished Trouble With Entropy, which was my unfinished Venom fic, or Renegades (aforementioned TGS fic) even though I love them a lot, it's just....very unlikely at this point rip.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Going off what other people have said to me, I'm good at creative immersive worlds! Which is mostly because I really want my stories to feel 'lived in', so to speak, and broader than what you actually see in the immediate plot. I think I'm also pretty good at pacing, and also writing narrative prose with a character voice! The latter one I definitely pushed myself with when writing part 6 of campervan, as well as my recent doctormaster oneshot, where I had to weave together both the doctor AND the master's characterisation into one seamless pov

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I definitely worry too much about making sure the reader DEFINITELY gets what I'm trying to say, and so sometimes I'm repetitive and I hammer things home a bit that can be more subtle. I also think that sometimes I can be a bit repetitive in my longer fics where I know a gap needs to be filled but I'm not sure with what sksksks. There are other things too. I definitely struggle writing shorter things and getting to the point and TRUSTING that the reader will come with me. I often feel this urge to make sure all the steps are there for the reader to follow where I want them to go.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Oooh so I actually did this in campervan part 5 with Gabriela and Jamila speaking a bit of Portuguese! And I think there's like, obviously nuance to it, but when I had the pov characters who understood portuguese (namely Jamila in the prologue), I had the dialogue in portuguese, but the translation in the prose, either literally just next to the dialogue or explained in the narration by Jamila. But then in later chapters, when Yaz is trying to talk to Gabriela, because Gabriela is upset she's occasionally saying things in Portuguese....but Yaz doesn't understand them. So they don't get translated. And so I think that works for the story in that context, bc what Gabriela actually SAYS is less important and it's more showing the emotion of it. Another case I can think of was in Force Over Distance by cleanwhiteroom who wrote a LOT of ancient into the fic (which is basically latin) and when it was on ao3 there was this sort of 'hover to translate' thing which worked REALLY WELL, bc the translation was there but it didn't disrupt the flow of the fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Okay so I wanna know what counts here - if it's like, the first fic i POSTED, then that's Marvel (specifically the Avengers). If it's the first fic I wrote when I actually understood what 'fandom' was, then...I think that was also Avengers....or maybe BBC Sherlock. If it's the first thing I actually WROTE DOWN properly, then it was Doctor Who (specifically Ten and Rose and my oc companion sksk). If it was the first thing I played with creatively for media that wasn't my own...then that was probably me coming up with elaborate ocs out of two unicorns on the credits for the My Little Pony vhs tape we had SKSKSKSK SO. I don't know. One or all of those.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Oh this is hard because I'm proud of a lot of what I've written. My gut reaction at the moment is actually Trestle, even though it's unfinished and no one has read it HAHAH but I'm just so proud of some of the writing in that so far. And I'm extremely proud of Campervan AU as a whole entity. However I do really really love see me bare my teeth for you - which I actually forget about a LOT because it's not one of my thoschei fics sksksk. But I'm super proud of how that one turned out. And then also and they did live by watchfires because that one just has such a special place in my heart.

THANKS FOR THE TAG LIV!!! I'm gonna tag hmmmmmmm @sunshinedaysforever @taardisblue @novantinuum @emptyofdust @strikingtwelves @walker-lister aaaaah basically anyone else that wants to do this! :D

[moonlitkilljoy]

Howdy 🤠 Pacrim anon back again from the rabbit hole I’ve gladly jumped down LMAO

Apparently it’s Newt’s birthday today! And he’s apparently a Capricorn which makes me fucking die because my birthday was two days ago so we are that 🤏🏻 close. Also the amount of myself I’m beginning to see in Newt is terrifying. I did not intend to be blorbo’d here, but it’s like I’m looking into a foggy mirror shaped like Charlie Day

I’m watching Uprising right now and…it’s certainly a movie. It was filmed. It exists. But. BUT! Every scene with Newt so far has made me want to bite through my own femur. Like I’ve read all the spoilers. I’ve read all the fics. But seeing it happen, and knowing what’s really going on with the precursors, it makes the viewing experience so much better. I can get through the slog of the rest of the movie just for that.

Also, I hate how quick the jager’s in this movie movie??? Like bruh you’re several tons of metal, please act like it.

I’ve already been scouring AO3 for all the fics I can find, but if you have any that scratch your brain just right let me know. I will never turn down more Pacrim!

I hope you’re having a good day/night! ✌🏻

Hello!!!! welcome back!!!! i'm gonna be honest with you, reading this message put a grin on my face very early this morning when i first read it, which absolutely isn't an easy thing to do that early in the day. So, thank you for this ask and for making my day brighter right off the bat :]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!! I want you to know how enamored i am with the phrase "its like im looking into a foggy mirror shaped like charlie day" because i absolutely adore it. and, i ABSOLUTELY understand that, even if its not the exact same degree! i definitely see some of myself in newt, but probably relate to hermann a lot more (mostly with the weird vernacular, eccentric propensity for math, tendency to talk in an "all at once" manner, etc etc). i have a friend who jokingly calls me a combination of the two, which i think sums it up pretty well (i'm also a weird, rambly, punk [aspiring] biologist so it evens out). though, i'm really glad you could find a character to see yourself in like that— imo it's always really neat when that happens. congrats on your blorboning ^_^

As for uprising... YEAH. YEAH. it truly is 'a movie.' i honestly haven't been able to stomach watching it in its entirely, so all my information comes from friends, my girlfriend, analysis on tumblr, clips, and summaries (and criticism through fic-it fics, of course, though i recognize that thats far from a reliable source for canon fgdfklg)

AND THE JAEGERS. YEAH THAT SOUNDS RIDICULOUS. i keep hearing about how weird and off the jaegers are in pr:u, its bizarre </3

I WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO SHARE SOME OF THE FICS SCRATCHING MY BRAIN!!!! i don't wanna leave this ask to rot in my inbox by accident so im answering this first BUT i will reblog a bit later in the day with a comprehensible list of my favorite pacrim fics so far (read: newmann fics. i think they're literally all newmann centered, mostly at least) or make a separate post and link it here! THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN MY RECCOMENDATIONS!! it seriously means a lot and truly delights me :3

i hope you're having a nice day/night as well!!! may the future be kinder to you than it was to the "pacific rim sequel" ヾ(•ω•`)o

[dirt-grub]

Rewatched pacific rim last night to fall sleep and those scientists were so fucking gay oh my lord it’s not just shipping brain

[teeforhee]

oh I did it y'all, I found a way to weave internalised transphobia into my latest project. I do not miss!! I do not miss!!

[blairtrabbit]

Thoughts under the cut. Aka Why am I such a fucking downer on this why can’t I just enjoy things. Why must I be a nerd like this.

I have been trying to just let this image go because its an illustration out of context and we have no idea what they will look like rendered and moving in universe but there are a couple things really bothering me about this I have to talk about. 1. Why in the ever loving fuck does Danger Deux have a core reactor? Remember in the first movie when they were making their last stand pulling all the old guys out of retirement and the movie made a point of talking about how the Danger having a Reactor Core made it an obsolete model? The Gipsy Danger ran on nuclear power like the older units Cherno Alpha and Coyote Tango and the big glowy center on its chest is basically like a gigantic cooling unit. Its dangerous and was eventually changed because a. Having human pilots in a nuclear robot is incredibly dangerous if the shielding is faulty or something happens and it overheats during a battle. I recall Stacker suffering some repercussions because of that. b. Nuclear Robots blow up and could potentially hurt the environment or civilians. I vaguely recall the Danger doing something like that at the end of the movie. The Striker and the Typhoon were digitized being newer and better models. Its less dangerous for the pilots and for the area they are fighting in. So one would assume these brand spanking new robots are the latest and greatest models right? Thinner, lighter....so I repeat- Why. THE FUCK. Does Gipsy Danger 2:not-electric bugaloo run on a NUCLEAR CORE? probably because it looks good and no other reason and that pisses me off. 2.THEY DIDN’T JUST GIVE IT ONE CORE THEY GAVE IT TWO I AM DYING INSIDE. Actual conversation in the art department. Artist 1: Guys I am working on Gipsy 2:Back 2 tha Hood and I want it to look like the first one but different. How can I make it the same but..different. Artist 2: Mmm Well the first one had that cool nuclear core right? Artist 1: Yeah? Artist 2: How about. TWO CORES.

3. If they made Dangeresque 2 nuclear because of what happened with Striker and the electric pulse why aren’t all the Jaegers nuclear? So. When Newt drifted he gave the Precursors all this info about the Jaegers and Leatherback was able to use an electronic pulse to knock out the Striker and temporarily disable it. If the PPDC assumes this will happen again then wouldn’t they make all the Jaegers nuclear? Then why does only one have any kind of indication it runs on nuclear power? And why only Gipsy Danger 2:this time its personal? The answer is there is no reason. They just wanted people to be able to tell this robit was Gipsy Danger 2:I still know what you did last summer. I feel like Del Toro thought out almost every detail in the first movie  and worked to make each Jaeger unique. This doesn’t bode well. 4.Why did they have to give these Jaegers almost identical color schemes to the Danger The Typhoon and the Eureka? In fact if you look at them for a few minutes you realize it's just the Danger The Typhoon and the Eureka with less personality. why did they remake three previous Jaegers instead of creating new original ones?  You know why? Because they think we’re stupid. They think we’re stupid and we won’t know these are Jaegers 2 fast 2 furious without some painfully obvious references to the original film. Just like they think we needed Stacker to have a son otherwise we might have wandered into this movie and thought we it was Transformers 12:Age of Fucktron and wandered mindlessly away to see whatever Dreamworks movie is out. Why can’t you give me more credit Hollywood. I don’t need to have Khan to be the villain in my Star Trek movie to know that its a Star Trek movie. I don’t NEED to have a fugitive droid on a desert planet to know I’m watching a Star Wars movie. STOP TREATING ME LIKE I’M FUCKING FIVE YEARS OLD. I DON’T NEED A JAEGER WITH TWO CORE REACTORS. I CAN HANDLE NEW THINGS. 5.Look I know they’re just ripping off Manga/Anime Mech and Kaiju movies to begin with but at least the first time they tried to cover it a little better. The Crimson Typoon had a headlight for a head and three arms. The Cherno looked like a nuclear plant that could walk and even the Gipsy and the Striker had a very thick well thought out and original look. They moved ponderously and with weight. They were made too look like a person could wear them as a suit. Even if these are newer models all I can see is someone  looking at Evangelion’s paper copying chunks of it and presenting it to their teacher expecting an unearned A+.I get it you guys took the original designs and threw some Gundam darts at them. You did your re-runs of Macross homework. I’m just...unimpressed and I bet you anything these things will move like they weigh four pounds. Oh god please let me be wrong on this. This leads me to my next question. 6. Why did all of them go on such dangerous diets? Did the Iphone teach us nothing? Making technology thin doesn’t make necessarily make it BETTER. Striker Eureka 2: The Squeakuel is the worst offender on this front. Its got this top heavy box sitting on top of an itty bitty waist. You know what I would go for if I was a Kaiju? Probably that waist. I mean i know its bikini season Striker 2: Back in the Habit but eat a fucking sandwich. 7. It better be just the illustration that has them looking this goddamn clean. Jaegers get dirty and rusty and covered with battle damage.Even Gipsy who was renovated and rebuilt from top to bottom had patches of paint and scratches and chips in places. These goddamn things look like toys. They look like plastic fresh out of box toys. In the movie they had better look at least slightly weathered even if they are new or I will glare at them the entire two hour running time. I will give them smouldering glares the likes of which has never been seen before or since. God please let the movie be more impressive than this. Also as an aside. Why are all the Jaeger pilots so young? Why is no one drifting with their parents? I feel like i’m seeing behind the scenes of fucking Pacific Rim babies or Pacific Rim High School musical. I have a feeling somebody higher up pressured them about using more of the young people to get those sweet tween dollars. But at least they hired a diverse cast. Are all the previous generation dead? Is Herc going to come back and train any of these people? Seems like a bit of a mess at the ole PPDC.

[solarmorrigan]

Apparently, when I said I would be interested in seeing more takes on Raleigh&Newt friendship, I meant that I was gonna write some. Inspired by this rad post by @kingeiszler and by @ffincher ‘s tags on it (I hope that’s okay?). By rights, they should be a little more unhinged, but I’m starting slow. Also, I have never pierced my own ears, but I read a wikiHow article on it before writing this, so I’m practically an expert (seriously, though, don’t listen to a word I say and probably get a professional to do this shit)

-

“You sure this is sanitary?” Raleigh asked as he settled himself into Dr. Gottlieb’s desk chair, which Newt had assured him would suit their purposes just fine.

“Relax, we’re gonna stay on Hermann’s side,” Newt assured him, voice easily carrying across the room as he rummaged around in his own disaster of a workspace. “Definitely want to avoid contamination.”

“Right…” Raleigh glanced over the riot of papers on Dr. Gottlieb’s desk, the odd abandoned mug of tea, and the frankly baffling amount of chalk dust. “And to be clear, I’m the thing we want to avoid contaminating, right?”

Newt snorted. “I hate to break it to you, my guy, but you are not the most valuable thing in this room. Not by a long shot.”

Raleigh could only roll his eyes. “Well, at least I know you’ll keep from bleeding too much to keep your specimens safe.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!”

It wasn’t particularly that Raleigh shied away from messes—never let it be said he was afraid to get his hands dirty—but he could still remember with acute clarity when Yancy had tried to pierce one of his own ears during high school, and the memory of the resulting infection was equally distinct. He wasn’t keen for a repeat in the flesh.

“And you have done this before, yeah?” Raleigh asked as Newt trundled over with a tray of supplies; he supposed the answer didn’t matter much either way, but it seemed like the sort of question you’d ask a person who was about to stick a needle in your skin.

“Dude, I studied marine life – I’ve tagged a shitton of fish,” Newt scoffed, as if that was in any way reassuring.

“That’s… fascinating, I’m sure, but definitely not the same thing at all,” Raleigh drawled. “Have you ever done it to a human being?”

“What? Tagged ‘em and released ‘em back into the wild?” Newt snickered, already leaning in with an alcohol wipe to clean Raleigh’s earlobes, rolling his eyes when Raleigh didn’t laugh along. “It’s fine, dude, I’ve done it to myself a bunch of times.”

“Really?” Raleigh glanced along Newt’s ears, searching for holes he’d never needed to notice before, but Newt moved away too quickly to get a good look.

“Yep. And I only got an infection the first time and that was only because I was a dumb sixteen-year-old still trying to figure himself out and I thought that not showering would make me one of the guys.” Newt grabbed a Sharpie off the tray and pulled the cap off. “Took one severely infected set of piercings and a very frank talk from my academic advisor to make me realize that basic personal hygiene is cool and sexy no matter what gender you are. Okay, look straight ahead.”

Newt’s fingers were warm and firm under Raleigh’s chin, enforcing his instructions as he turned a sudden and an almost disconcerting amount of focus onto Raleigh’s ears.

“You’re being a lot more thorough than I expected,” Raleigh commented as Newt brought the Sharpie up.

“Don’t move,” Newt ordered, realigning Raleigh’s jaw before he placed a careful dot on first one earlobe, then the other. “Anyway, I have to look at you after this, and if I have to look at you with asymmetrical piercings it’s gonna drive me up the fuckin’ wall. I think I picked that up from Hermann.”

“In the drift?” Raleigh asked, once Newt released him.

“Nah. I’ve known the guy for, like, a decade. Some transference of personal habits was unavoidable.” Newt shrugged, turning back to the tray. “But I think I managed to classically condition him into liking sour candy, so we’re even.”

Raleigh decided he didn’t want to know.

He watched as Newt pulled on a pair of gloves and stripped a needle from its packaging before picking up a lighter.

“Don’t you have actual equipment in here for sterilization?” Raleigh asked.

“Autoclave’s occupied. I wasn’t exactly expecting to pierce anyone’s ears today. Besides, if the lighter was good enough for me, it’s good enough for you. OH.” For a moment, as Newt shouted and nearly dropped the needle, Raleigh thought he’d burned himself, but the look dawning across his face was the one he usually got before they went trespassing on government property. “You should do me next!”

Raleigh blinked at Newt. “What.”

“Yeah, it’ll be like a bonding thing! Like, I’m not gonna try to beat you to death with a stick or anything, but we can still make each other bleed a little, it’s cool!” Newt turned wide, pleading eyes on Raleigh. “Come ooon!”

“Don’t you already have piercings?” Raleigh asked, this time reaching out to grab for the side of Newt’s head and examine his ears more carefully; Newt didn’t even flinch.

“Yeah, but I let most of them close up. I haven’t exactly been focused on maintaining my aesthetic in the last few years.” Raleigh threw a pointed look at the tattoos pouring out from under haphazardly shoved-up sleeves, and Newt shrugged. “Certain exceptions notwithstanding. C’mon, dude, it won’t even be hard!”

There were, indeed, numerous little indents lining the flesh of Newt’s ears, but most of them did appear older, shallow and closed-off. Finally, Raleigh released Newt with a shrug. “Yeah, alright. Why not?”

“Sweet!” Newt punched the air—with the hand clutching the lighter, at least, rather than the one with the needle—then turned his attention back to the task at hand. “Alright, let’s do this thing!”

For an anticlimactic moment of quiet, Newt and Raleigh both trained their eyes on the steady flame of the lighter as it was held to the needle.

“Yeah, earrings are fun, you’ll see,” Newt murmured, attention still largely on the needle. “Once they heal up enough you can swap the basic studs out for something cooler. Maybe you can rock whatever color Mako’s got in her hair and be all disgustingly in sync and matchy-matchy.”

The little smile on Newt’s face—all mirth and no malice—kept Raleigh from bristling, instead inviting him in on the joke.

“And you wouldn’t know anything about that,” Raleigh shot back dryly. “Picking things up from your drift partner.”

Pulling the needle away from the flame and waving it in the air like it was an old Polaroid picture, Newt snorted. “Okay, Hermann and I might be a little more in sync these days, but I don’t think we’re ever gonna match. I mean, c’mon,” Newt reached over to the tray for another alcohol wipe, “our styles are a little different.”

“Uh huh,” Raleigh hummed, gaze flashing down to Newt’s torso, “right. Then I just have to say, that’s a very punk cardigan you’re wearing today.”

Newt’s own eyes snapped down the mossy green cardigan he’d clearly forgotten he was wrapped up in, the corners of his mouth cutting down into the closest thing to a scowl he was capable of.

“Okay, shut up, this is not matching.” Newt jabbed the needle at Raleigh, who grinned. “The lab is cold, and I just happen to know where Hermann keeps his emergency sweaters.”

“Right,” Raleigh agreed through his smile; the fact that Newt often complained of running hot went unaddressed.

“Look, you want me to do your ears, or not?” Newt huffed.

“Oh, by all means,” Raleigh laughed, spreading his arms in invitation. “Bonding and bloodshed. I’m here for it.”

Newt rolled his eyes, muttering to himself as he ran the alcohol wipe over the needle, but there was a smile tugging at his mouth just the same.

He unwrapped the bar of PPDC-issue soap and positioned it behind Raleigh’s right earlobe, hands steady and gaze focused, then rested tip of the needle against Raleigh’s skin.

“Ready?” Newt asked.

“One thing.” Raleigh waited until Newt had drawn back enough to look him in the eye before he asked, “Are you imagining I’m a fish right now?”

Newt’s answering laugh was abrupt and honest. “Only a little bit. Now, breathe in, aaand–”

[inquisitoradaar]

A short trip to an alien planet reveals that Newt may be hiding more than just his research from Hermann.

-

ive almost finished writing chapter five but this is the last pre-written chapter i have (in order at least) so um. gonna have to double-down on this now lol

[hermannsthumb]

followup to your fic about hermann's doe eyes: hermann is just as whipped over newt's eyes but newt has never noticed

Anonymous asked: (eyes anon from before) like every time newt takes his glasses off hermann has. A Moment. but newt doesn't realize bc he can't see shit without his glasses

Anonymous asked: hey i don't know if you still take prompts, but i have this really specific mental image of hermann cleaning newt's glasses (i know thats not really like. much to work with, but if anyone can make something of it it's u lol. love your writing!)

(follow-up, but not sequel, to this fic. kind of short because I wanted to try writing shorter ficlets again, like the first ones I ever did!)

-------

“What on earth did you do to your glasses?" Hermann says.

Newt looks up from his work bench and squints blearily at Hermann. Well, technically, he doesn't do either of those things, though he definitely gives it a good effort; the lenses of his glasses are obscured by something weird and goopy and definitely extraterrestrial, and he can't make out much of Hermann through them. Or like, much of anything. He's honestly kind of surprised it's taken him this long to realize it—he's written out almost a whole page of notes in the last ten minutes alone. That's some pretty impressive muscle memory shit if you ask him. "Uhhh," he says, tugging his glasses off and trying, in vain, to wipe them clean on his work shirt. The goop almost seems to get thicker, and his shirt sticks to it so bad he actually manages to untuck it from his pants when he pulls his glasses away. "I'm...not sure?"

His cleaning job was decent enough that he can at least kinda see Hermann now, but he's only gone from one with the goop to just sort of a weird, fuzzy human silhouette by an even fuzzier silhouette of his chalkboard. Newt doesn't need his glasses to tell he's being scowled at, though. "Were you sticking kaiju parts in the microwave and making a mess of everything again?" Hermann snaps. "So help me, Newton—last time we had to throw out the whole damn thing. I just want to be able to reheat my coffee in peace, I don't understand—"

"No, I wasn't, actually," Newt says. "Well, not this time." He decides to try wiping his glasses on his jeans instead, and it's a slight improvement only in that his jeans don't get stuck to them. "I stabbed a gland or something earlier and it kinda...exploded a little. Um. I guess it didn't notice it got in my face?"

"You didn't notice?" Hermann says.

"Look, I've been kinda busy today," Newt says. He pushes his glasses back on his nose and blinks a few times. Then he pulls them back off. "Whoa, dude, these are totally busted. This sucks. And I still can't find my spare pair. You're gonna have to be my eyes or whatever around the base for a few days to make sure I don't fall down a staircase or something 'cause—"

"Newton," Hermann sighs.

Newt hears his cane clacking primly across the lab, and then feels his glasses being swiped out of his hand. "You've just got to give it a bit more effort, is all," Hermann says, suddenly much closer. Much closer. Closer than he and Newt ever get to each other. Hermann exhales twice, probably on the dirty lenses, and then there's a rustling and a squeak of cloth on glass. Newt feels Hermann's breath across his face, warm, and smelling vaguely like old coffee and stale cigarette smoke. It's kinda gross, but for some reason it makes Newt feel all weird and warm under his collar, and he's struck with the sudden bizarre desire for a breath mint. Or, at the very least, that he remembered to brush his teeth that morning. "By Jove, Newton, Hermann says, "What a mess." He gives another exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. "Alright—give this a test, won’t you?”

The glasses are slipped back onto his face. Hermann is barely an inch away from him, it turns out, the tips of their noses almost touching, and he's staring at Newt with an intensity that's genuinely kind of unnerving—the sort of thing Newt would see him usually reserve only for his chalkboards. Newt startles and takes a step back. "Oh," he says, and then, quickly, "Oh, sick. Um. Thanks. Good job, Hermann."

Hermann is still staring at him.

"Thanks," Newt repeats. He reaches out and pats the side of Hermann's arm, because he's not sure what else to do. This close to Hermann he can see a lot of things he's never noticed about him before: the little patch of dry skin on his cheek, how stupidly long his eyelashes are, the teeny little indentations on his lower lip from where he's bit it in thought. It all makes him feel even weirder, and so does Hermann's gaze, locked directly on his own, but he's not sure why. "You did it perfectly," he adds.

The touch seems to snap Hermann out of whatever trance-mood-whatever thing he's in, and he coughs as he turns away from Newt suddenly. "Mm," he says, and then mumbles out something Newt can't make out, before saying, loudly. "Er—get back to work, now, won't you? You're distracting me. I can't—I can't concentrate."

"Distracting you? Whatever, dude."

His face feels hot. Hermann's such a weirdo sometimes.

[bae-science]

it’s t-t-t-t-time for another newt bae-science fic rec extravabonanza! same rules, same boys, same bullshit! let’s get into it:

a beginning; a second chance by @dykesword

other newt and i have a long and intricate ritualistic battle to become the alpha newt, but i gotta give credit where it’s due. if you like to annotate your books for fun, this fic will give you a looooong comment you’ll want to write, and for good reason! there’s a lot of really well done metaphor and character detail in here, while still keeping a very soft, melancholy but with a hopeful edge tone. and also, like, the care and detail in which newt’s mental state in the aftermath of the precursors’ abuse is depicted is so so good, and delightful to read

husbandly duties by @kingeiszler

i am soooo biased with this one bc technically it was made for me but GODDAMN it’s good. this shit has everything: gottlieb trio sibling dynamics, vanessa in giant femme earrings, hermann yearning, newt and karla infodumping together, newt’s terrible and accurate gaydar, gay crime, the newmann dynamic and why it works boiled down to its bare essentials, pride and prejudice glasses touch, and neon green acrylics. required reading for the vanessaverse

Say That Again by @robertfrobisherslover

WOOF. if you like mutual pining and lack of communication from men with rocks for their emotional processing centers, and guncle (gay uncle) newt and hermann and KILLER artsy sex scenes, and themes of words unsaid in a story about LANGUAGE..... oogoogogoogouhufug. the writing style is clear and well paced, i LOVE little mako’s scene she’s such a cutie, and there’s like. a line. that’s a play on the whole “it’s always been you” trope. that lives in my mind rent free forever.

speak right to my heart without saying a word by @thekaidonovskys

i’m just gonna paste the comment i left on it here, because that sums up what is so absolutely incredible about this fic the best:

so sometimes you stumble on a piece of fiction that you add to your little collection of stuff you would show a person if you wanted them to understand a part of you that you can't quite explain eloquently, or it would take too long, etc etc, and i've never really found something like that for my autism until now, which, like, poggers. and i'll be as straight up as i can while still being the biggest lesbian in the great state of ohio (not a hard feat but alan invented computers so i love continuing on the autistic tradition of being a living miracle), the chameleon effect hit me like a mack truck. catholic school in the deep south is the most potent and effective form of ABA therapy imaginable :/. so sometimes i wonder what i would be like if i didn't have such a strong ability to pass, and here's where we finally get to the part of this comment where i just vomit compliments at you: you nailed it. you got it. i don't know if you're on the spectrum, but either way, well fucking done. trauma therapy research talks a lot about healing fantasies, which are fantasies, usually in the form of daydreams, that abused/neglected/traumatized/etc people create that directly address a struggle they have and take the form of a scenario in which that struggle is helped in some way. it could be an abusive parent repenting and showering them with the love they never had, or someone finding them during a panic attack and somehow knowing how best to comfort them without having to ask, or being intimate with someone and having a scar or physical deformity they've been shamed for be given attention and care. and i think you have created the ultimate perfect healing fantasy for autistic people, or at least those with """"high functioning"""" autism. it has a character who is visibly and undeniably on the spectrum having the pain and trauma going through life like that causes being acknowledged and validated, they are purposefully paid attention to because person b genuinely likes them and wants to understand and respect who they are and how they function in the world, and thus get The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known as well as the eventual rewards of being loved, person b makes a genuine effort to help teach them social skills in a way they can understand and learn through and is there for them when these skills are being practiced, their space and boundaries are respected but they aren't infantilized or thought of as an emotionless robot, and they receive love and comfort on their own terms not despite of but because of who they are, even specifically being asked not to change the way they are because that way is lovable. they are openly desired. writing is my fucking JOB and it's still difficult to put into words how much you got 100000% right about the dream with this fic. i have been in the EXACT and i mean EXACT same situation as hermann when he asked newt if it was his personality itself that made people not like him, because i deadass made a spreadsheet of all my personality attributes i thought could be preventing me from making friends in college, and then asked my fellow nd friend to see if there was anything i was missing. so i guess what i'm trying to say is that this amazing, and i'm bookmarking it and putting it on my next fic rec post, and maybe one day way way in the future if i ever get a partner i want to explain the whole autism thing to, i'm gonna have them read this.

The Facts With Newton Geiszler, PhD by what_alchemy (NSFW)

storytime: i read this fic a few years ago, completely forgot the title and author, and ended up thinking about the part where hermann admits to having fucked a trailer hitch when he was a teenager, at least once a week. last november, i say to my friend samara on twitter, head of the BSHCU (buttslut hermann cinematic universe), hey this seems like something you’d have read, do you remember a fic where... and samara says FUCK i do know what you’re talking about lemme find it. so if the fact that i have been looking for this fic for like, two years, and that it contains a moment so iconic all i had to say is, “hermann says he fucked a trailer hitch” and she IMMEDIATELY knew what i was talking about, does not convince you to read this... go back to catholic school i guess.

Feeling Blue by TempusPetrichor

fics where newt goes back to work as a biologist, especially a xenobiologist, post pru are really interesting, and usually have something neat to say about recovery, how it isn’t linear, how it often involves us returning to things we love for comfort, etc. this one sure does! some good emotional and physical h/c, LOVE the use of the ghost drift, and it’s always fun to see post pru fics use dialogue very obviously taken from dbt, trauma-specific therapeutical texts, and anything that shows the author has experience with, or did their research on, ptsd therapies.

You’re Everyone That Ever Cared by KlavierWrites

you know a fic is good when it’s an only 9k slowburn and still manages to reach infinite regress levels of are you fucking KIDDING GO TO THERAPY. newt “acts of service” geiszler may have a little misplaced misogyny due to his broken woman-centric gaydar. as a treat. the fucking. post-drift scene where hermann subtextually screams “LOOK IN OUR BRAINS YOU FUCK I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU I JUST HAVE AUTISM AND CAREER IN STEM DISORDER” is soooooo. god just hermann in general in that scene is great. if you like classic mid 2010s era newmann, ghost drift romance, and good ole mutual pining, this is a treat.

Baby, You're Hotter than my Bunsen Burner by SkySongMA

moronosexual hermann representation is something that can actually be so personal

Times of Stress by RadioMoth

the boys are processinggggggg. man what a good, quick and powerful punch to the gut. if you like post-pr1 catharsis and physical h/c, AND are the one friend that likes to comment at the end of the movie that hey newt got beat the fuck UP, check this one out.

black tea by @faggotcas

okay first of all, god fucking tier url, lee. second of all, food as a love language is my SHIT. i love the very slow relationship development here, where you see them making a genuine effort to get along and that in turn leading to feelings reigniting. it’s such a sweet little moment of a fic, with a nice atmosphere and tone to fit it

now here’s the part where i usually drop my latest fic, but i haven’t written one this month because i’ve been busy launching an audio drama! you can find it here, it’ll be right up your alley if you like cryptids and gay scientists and enemies to lovers and good ole americana, but since this is a newmann post, i’m gonna recommend the pacific rim audio drama duology i did a while back! part one is called conversations from the brink, and it’s a little slice of the pr3 we better fucking get from streaming that godawful looking anime. love and lesbians to everyone ❤️

[smokedstorybara]

So! The promised fanfic ramble!

It’s gonna be an Old Guard Kaysanova fairytale? au inspired loosely by you know i dreamed about you (before i saw you) by BeeLove and Space Angel Hermann and Witch Doctor Newt by WaldosAkimbo on AO3 (links in a reblog so this’ll show up in tags) and several fairytales I grew up on

But, like, without any magic or supernatural elements so far

(Can’t do a readmore cause my laptop broke, sorry)

So it starts with Nicolò in a monastery asking his lover to run away with him to somewhere they can be together openly and his lover basically saying he’s with Nicolò specifically cause he thought he’d be the least likely to catch feelings. Nicolò kinda laughs it off like “yeah it was just a joke, duh” and then after the guy leaves he pulls an already packed bag out from under his cot and just takes off. Just, like, “screw this I’m out.”

Travels around for, like, a year or so before settling in a little one room house on the very outskirts (like, a bit of a walk from the rest of town) of a cute village to the east. Starts a big garden and sells vegetables and stuff in the local market. Befriends inquisitive teens Nile and her brother (don’t know if he’s got a canon name and can’t find anything on it) and local blacksmith Andromache and her wife Quynh. Starts writing a collection of recipes to also sell cause he kinda missed all the writing he did at the monastery. Also, helps out the town doctor whenever they need an extra hand.

Builds a whole reputation as the mysterious, quiet but kind, plant guy who lives at the edge of town (possibly a witch? But definitely a good one).

Then one day he’s out walking along the riverbank during a storm - maybe heading home from somewhere when it hits? - and sees someone in the water, struggling. Gets the guy out, somehow, and carries him to his place cause it’s closest and the man definitely needs to get somewhere warm and dry. He doesn’t recognize him and the guy has a pretty bad fever and a nasty looking cut on his leg, so he decides to give up his bed to this stranger and tend to him until he’s well.

-

Crown Prince Yusuf wakes up a couple days after falling into the river while traveling to find himself in this tiny one room house filled with plants and books and loose paper and is immediately enamored with the place - and it’s owner, his hero, the beautiful and shy Nicolò.

(He’s told, by Nicolò and the good-humored boy who’s running his market stall for him while he tends to Yusuf, that this isn’t the first time he’s woken since Nicolò fished him out of the river, but it is the first time he’s been lucid - apparently he called Nicolò an angel at one point, and the village boy finds it very amusing)

After his fever breaks a couple days later, when it’s just his leg keeping him there (and his huge crush on Nicolò), he convinces Nicolò that there’s enough room on the bed for both of them and really there’s no good to him sleeping in his creaky little wooden chair. Mostly by pulling Nicolò down next to him when he helps Yusuf back to bed after testing his leg by walking around the room. And then refusing to let go.

They both quickly grow accustomed to sleeping with Nicolò wrapped in Yusuf’s arms.

Of course neither of them say anything about their growing feelings cause Yusuf is Nicolò’s patient and Nicolò mentioned early on that he used to live in a monastery and left cause he fell in love with one of the other priests, who didn’t return his feelings, and Yusuf doesn’t know how fresh that heartbreak is for him.

After he gets well enough, Yusuf starts going to market with Nicolò and hanging around his stall, gossiping with the townspeople and making friends. He starts to wonder if maybe he could just... stay, even after he finishes healing. This life is just so peaceful and happy and he wants it, wants to be able to keep it.

But then some soldiers come through town searching for the missing crown prince and he realizes he can’t stay.

He tells Nicolò that he has to leave, that he has responsibilities he has to get back to. Nicolò says he understands (he does). They kinda skirt around acknowledging their feelings for each other, and in the process realize the other definitely feels the same, and Yusuf promises to return. At some point.

Yusuf returns home and there’s a big celebration. The crown prince has returned alive and safe! After, he tells his family everything that happened. His little sister laughs at him - as is her job as little sister - but his parents are pretty understanding and do their best to comfort him.

The next summer, the royal family goes to their summer house out in the countryside, and Yusuf realizes it’s only, like, a couple days’ walk from Nicolò’s town. He spends the next couple days staring out into the distance and yearning so visibly that eventually his mother tells him to go, spend the rest of summer with his man. So he packs a bag and goes.

Nicolò’s gardening when Yusuf arrives and they have a really nice, heartfelt reunion with a big hug and tears and stuff. Yusuf explains to Nicolò that he can only stay for the summer, that as soon as autumn starts he has to leave again. Nicolò again says he understands, because he does. And they fall back into the comfortable routine from before Yusuf left - sharing the bed, walking to market together, Yusuf sketching or writing poetry while Nicolò works in the garden (Nicolò secretly collecting all the poems and sketches Yusuf discards and carefully copying them with the fancy script and steady hand he learned in the monastery and binding them together with twine), cooking together, and basically just behaving like they’re married.

Then autumn comes and Yusuf leaves, promising to return the next summer. And he does. And the summer after.

For several years they build a relationship in summers. In gardening and cooking and laughing with the neighbors at market. Never saying anything about what they mean to each other (beyond, like, light flirting) but never needing to, always simply understanding. But also never acting on that feeling - beyond the cuddling at night and spending all day together, but the blacksmith’s wife doesn’t count that and her opinion is important.

(Not too important, she’s just a little protective of her friend and his feelings and suspicious of this man who’s only there in the summer and only gives vague excuses of ‘responsibilities’ for why he has to leave for the rest of the year - “what if he’s got a wife?” “Trust me Quynh, he’s not that kind of man.” “But are you sure?”)

Then one year Yusuf looks around the little house and looks at his sketches and has a thought. A thought that sticks with him all the way home (‘home’ meaning ‘where he and his family live 3/4 of the year’, though he’s not entirely sure the word still fits and wouldn’t be better suited attached to somewhere a little more green and peaceful). And he brings it up to his mother, who encourages him to follow through.

So the next summer, when he returns to the village and to Nicolò, he brings canvas and paints and other supplies and explains to Nicolò that he wants to be able to keep pieces of this place with him the rest of the year, to look at when he misses it all too much or when things get overwhelming and he needs some of the peace and comfort of the place and it’s people.

Nicolò kisses him. (Finally).

He kisses back.

They talk. Finally acknowledging how they feel, but also that it’s not something that can actually go anywhere - though not going into why - and agree it’s probably best to just continue as they have been. (If Quynh were party to this conversation she would likely be very upset).

So that summer things stay mostly the same, except Yusuf paints. Everything.

At one point he makes a flower crown and plops it on Nicolò’s head while he gardens and then instantly goes to paint that because it’s just too soft. He writes “A King Tending to His Subjects” on the back.

He shows all the paintings to his parents after summer has ended and they decide they all need to be framed and hung up around the palace. Yusuf is very on board with this plan since it makes looking at them whenever he needs to easier.

Until he realizes it means his sister can also look at them whenever she wants to, and tease him.

She doesn’t tease him. Instead she reminds him he will have to get married at some point, and marrying some nobody former priest would make some of the wealthy and powerful suitors he’s turned down very upset. He tells her he knows, but wants to have as much of Nicolò as he can, while he can. Would rather spend these summers with him before having to marry someone else than deprive himself of that specific happiness he’s found altogether.

She drops the topic.

-

Summer begins again and Yusuf doesn’t arrive. Nicolò waits out in front of his house every day, late into the evening. But no Yusuf.

Quynh starts to throw theories of why and threats of what she’ll do to him if he ever shows his face there again. Nicolò assures her that it’s not necessary and that he’s certain there’s a good reason.

Then about a month into the summer a young woman rides into town in a desperate frenzy, asking where Nicolò lives. Nile leads her to Nicolò’s little house.

She jumps off her horse as soon as she sees Nicolò and tells him in a rush that Yusuf had been kidnapped - by Keane, a dangerous outlaw - just before summer. That none of the warriors their parents sent had been able to get him back and that one of their advisors, a man named James Copley, had suggested they promise his hand in marriage to whoever rescues him in order to better motivate some of their less motivated allies.

Their father had gone through with it in desperation, before the family realized the whole thing was likely a ploy by King Stephen - a rumored associate of Keane’s - to get Yusuf to be his husband after being turned down by him just weeks before the kidnapping.

But Yusuf’s father can’t go back on his decree, so they need Nicolò to get to Yusuf before Stephen (in part because they really don’t want Yusuf to be forced to marry someone he doesn’t love just because he got kidnapped because Stephen can’t handle rejection, and in part because the decree does mean if Nicolò rescues Yusuf they can marry without causing problems with any allies - aside from Stephen, but really do they want to stay allies with him after this?).

Nicolò snaps into action, asking Nile’s brother - who had been helping him with his work - to run his market stall and tend his garden while he’s gone. And then Nile insists on going with him, informing him that Andromache has been altering her father’s old armor to fit her, and should be finished by now, and reminding him that he himself taught her and her brother how to wield a sword (her brother had seen Nicolò’s while visiting once when they were still teens and insisted on learning, Nile had joined as soon as she found out. Nicolò had never been good at telling them no). Nicolò tells her to meet him in the town square at sunrise and then turns into his house to prepare.

Nile offers Yusuf’s sister a place to spend the night and leads her back into town. They stop by the blacksmith, to tell her what’s happening and that Nile will need the armor by sunrise, on their way to Nile’s home. Where they explain everything again to Nile’s mother.

At sunrise, when they bring Nile’s armor to her in the square, Andromache and Quynh insist on coming as well. The five of them set off, Yusuf’s sister leading.

Along the way, royal guard Sébastien LeLivre intercepts them, confessing to being involved in the kidnapping - not that he knew that’s what was happening, just that a friend of his convinced him to skip part of his rounds that night - and wanting to help make it right. They welcome him into the group, not having time to really get into whether they should and not wanting to waste time convincing him to go home either.

They arrive at Keane’s stronghold to find it swarming with outlaws. The group fights their way to the door and Nicolò goes in while the others stay to continue fighting the horde.

When he gets to the room Yusuf is held in, King Stephen is already there. Shouting at Keane that he explicitly said to cause no physical damage to the prince.

Nicolò takes advantage of Keane’s distraction to take him out. And then it’s just him, his love, and Stephen. Who he suddenly realizes he knows, and who recognizes him at the same time.

They fight - with swords and words. (Though first Nicolò asks when Stephen became a king and is told the man’s brother died not long after Nicolò left the monastery and as he had no heir, Stephen was excused from the priesthood to take the throne).

Eventually, (Inevitably), Nicolò wins. Unfortunately, not without great injury.

Nicolò helps Yusuf to stand and they support each other out of there. As they walk, Yusuf asks questions, and makes comments, about things said during the fight. Mostly just disparaging Nicolò’s old taste in men (Nicolò responds that his taste has definitely improved since he left the monastery) and coming to the discovery that Nicolò is the runaway prince of Genoa. Fourth son of the king and queen, who was sent into the priesthood young and then disappeared.

When they exit the building, the group clears them a path to the horse and they all ride off as fast and as far as they can. And then they stop to tend Yusuf and Nicolò’s wounds. Despite the men’s protests that they need to keep moving. They take a lesser-known path when they resume their journey, with the hope that Stephen’s men won’t find them on it, so that they need not push their horse - and themselves - too hard.

They arrive at the palace to find Stephen has again beaten them, and is spinning lies to Yusuf’s parents. Telling them that Nicolò orchestrated the kidnapping in order to manipulate his way into becoming consort to a crown prince.

Of course, the king and queen take the word of both their children and one of their guards (Sebastien) over the king known to have dealings with Keane, who Yusuf turned down just weeks before his kidnapping.

(“Besides,” Yusuf’s father points out diplomatically, “I can’t go back on my decree. So whether you’re right or not, Yusuf is marrying this Nicolò. Ah well. Nothing to be done.”)

-

They have two wedding ceremonies: the big, grand, official one at the palace with hundreds of guests (at which Nicolò is reunited with his family - happily in some cases, less so in others), and the small, peaceful one in Nicolò’s garden. They wear flower crowns in the second and they both cry (as does Quynh, but she will never admit it).

[sunriseverse]

prompt: If someone had told Newt five years ago that he’d be marrying the love of his life in front of his closest friends and family, he would’ve laughed in their face. (Because Newton Geiszler doesn’t get to have a happily ever after, right?)

they......

-

“Hey,” Newt says. “Do you wanna get married?”

There’s a chasm of space between them—two inches at least; but Newt can feel the cold radiating off of the other man. He needs to wear more, Newt notes, idly, and tugs the quilt up, up, up; ticks it around Hermann’s neck.

There’s a beat; and then, widely, a yawn. “I thought you’d be more dramatic about it,” Hermann admits.

Newt scowls. “Hey,” he says, “I’m not dramatic.”

In the dark, he can practically see Hermann raise a brow. The other shifts, burrowing deeper beneath the covers. “Alright,” he says.

“Alright?”

“Yes. I’ll marry you, Newton. Now please go to sleep—it’s half past one.”

“We used to stay up ‘til two on the regular,” Newt grumbles; but settles down properly; closing the distance between them and smiling at the soft hum of contentment Hermann gives as Newt’s warmth seeps through his shirt.

The next morning, Newt wakes up to find Hermann up already; laptop propped up on his lap, a search for—Newt fumbles to find his glasses—bakeries open.

Hermann spots the movement. “Ah, good morning,” he says. “Do you prefer a tiered cake or a single layer?”

“What for?” Newt asks; mouth dry; and runs his tongue over his teeth, then swallows. “‘s not my birthday until january—“

Hermann turns to give him a flat stare; and Newt suddenly remembers. “Oh,” he says. “Oh! Shit, dude, uh—I dunno. What’s fanciest? We gotta have a fancy wedding—you like all that pomp and ritual. Uh—wait, do we know any rabbis in town?”

Hermann’s look changes to one of bemusement. “I already took care of that, Newton,” he says. “Now, do you want the tiered, or the single?”

“Hell—let’s do tiered. Wait, let me write this down—“ He scrambles out from beneath the covers, managing to find a pen and a pad of paper. “Okay, tiered cake. Uh—what flavour?”

“I was thinking lemon,” Hermann replies. “Your thought?”

“Lemon’s great,” Newt says. “So, we’re inviting—“

Hermann closes the laptop and shoves it aside; reaches out and grips his arm. “Newton,” he says, “we can do that later. Come back to bed.”

“...okay,” Newt says, after a beat, and crawls back in, cuddling up to Hermann’s side; and then says, voice full of awe: “dude, we’re gonna get married.”

“We are,” Hermann agrees, and smiles; stroking Newt’s hand; a line of warmth against him; hair mussed and expression soft; and Newt thinks, fuck, I love him.

“I love you,” he says; not for the first time; because that was years ago, foolishly, without understanding the implications of blurting it out like that to Hermann; but now it’s got a depth to it, a weight.

Hermann’s smile widens. “And I love you,” he returns; also not for the first time, but it still makes Newt’s heart sing to hear it.

-

“Do we have everything in place?” Newt asks; tugging at the collar of his shirt. He’s chosen to dress up for the occasion, but the suit feels unfamiliar—he’s only worn it once or twice before, and only worn a suit a few times period. “The cake, the seating, the—”

“It’s all taken care of,” Vanessa assures. “Take a breath, Newt, it’s gonna be okay.”

“Right. Right.” He takes a deep breath, and then laughs nervously. “Sorry, I’m just a little—”

“Nervous? Yeah, I know the feeling.” Vanessa’s lips quirk. “When Karla and I got married, I was a wreck the whole week before. Practically fainted the day of. The only thing that got me through was Hermann, honestly.”

“A week? ” Newt shakes his head. “Jeez. I could never do that.”

Vanessa shrugs. “Different strokes for different folks. Oh, c’mere—your tie’s crooked. Here.” She adjusts it. “Now you look perfect.”

“Thanks,” Newt mumbles; and takes another deep breath. “Okay,” he says, “showtime.”

Hermann is absolutely gorgeous; and Newt’s breath stutters in his throat at the sight of him; radiant and smiling; so caught up in the sight that he practically can’t get through his vows. He does manage to, but his voice cracks; the slight imperfection leading to Hermann reaching out to squeeze his hand comfortingly.

And then, before he knows it, they’re officially married.

Newt starts to tear up as they make their way over to the table; and Hermann turns to him; frowning slightly. “Darling, are you alright?” he asks, quietly.

Newt nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m...I’m fine. I’m just really really happy.”

If someone had told Newt five years ago that he’d be marrying the love of his life in front of his closest friends and family, he would’ve laughed in their face. (Because Newton Geiszler doesn’t get to have a happily ever after, right?)

But against all odds, here they are; Newt’s hand in Hermann’s, as they sit next to each other at the table, sharing a slice of their wedding(!! wedding! ) cake. It’s real; painfully, gloriously real, and Newt feels delirious, practically, with happiness.

“Yeah,” he says, again. “I’m fine. I just love you a lot, you know that, right?”

“I do,” Hermann says, softly, and offers him a bite of cake; the lemon frosting melting on Newt’s tongue; a few flecks of it left on Hermann’s lips from his own bite; and Newt smiles so hard his cheeks hurt and kisses him, right there, happy, in front of everyone; eyes closed and slow like some sort of cheesy romcom.

It’s the best day of his life.

[texas-hates-taxes-too]

Hi sid did you say youd watched Pacific rim hi hi it is one of my top film ever and I watched it once and now it is something I think about always

Yes!! I've been meaning to watch it for a while now and I did and it was so good!!

Newton and Mako were my favourite characters in it <3

I also came to be fond of Hermann when he was helping Newt towards the end and they drifted with the kaiju together

Plsss share your thoughts about pacific rim with me bc im gonna be thinking about it for the next 3 days at least

[teeforhee]

I’ll never forgive uprising for just... forgetting that Newt existed mid-way through. Like if they were gonna take the possession route then they could have at least fleshed it out more. I think one of the main problems uprising has is that the themes of the movie are so incomplete, there’s no constructive plot. If you’d ask me what happened in the movie I wouln’t be able to describe anything lmao. It’s a shame because Pacific rim could have had such an interesting sequel (continuing the theme of climate change etc). I was wondering what would you have liked to see in a sequel?

so sorry for answering this so late, I started writing this, got distracted, put it in my drafts and then completely forgot.

ohhhhhhh boy oh boy oh boy I have like. so many thoughts about what I wish we'd gotten from a pacrim sequel. mostly the thing that bothered me about uprising (other than it just being a Bad Movie Made Badly) was the way it disregarded pacrim's themes and yeah the way it mistreated the characters. they did not explore the possession route nearly as well as they should've and in general it seemed like it needed another couple of drafts. but here's a disorganised list of thoughts:

consistency in the characters and themes and worldbuilding. give me Raleigh and Mako and Herc and Newt and Hermann and make them consistent characters across the films. keep the themes as being about hope and cooperation in the face of immense grief.

no more slur jaegers please

okay either explore the allegory of Newt's possession by precursors or don't do it at all. either explore the trauma and the implications of the intimacy of a drift bond with the fact of a drift bond being abused by the precursors or don't have him be possesed. you cannot film a drift scene between a man who cannot consent and the aliens who have taken away his ability to consent like a sex scene and then not unpack that. either unpack it or don't do it but honestly I would've loved it they did it because it would've meant a lot to me personally to see a metaphorical abuse/s*xual *ssault survivor save the world by defeating his abusers and forever kicking them off of the planet with support and help from his loved ones.

explore herc's life after the film! that man lost his son and closest friend! have him and Mako and Raleigh interact! gd just more character interactions between everyone would've been so good. I wanna see what happens to them after! they're been through so much! Pacific Rim is about hope and love despite grief!! show me what happens to these characters after all they've lost!!

more female characters please. just. I know mako was the heart of the first film and I'm not bashing it just if you're going to bring in new characters can we have some more women please.

also like. just explore the fallout of the war. make it hopeful and continue the "this was a big enough shock to make the world band together" thing and continue the climate change metaphor by having like explicitly environmentally friendly and still technologically advanced cities and stuff.

oh my gd don't make it military or police propaganda what the fuck????? what the fuck!?!??!?!!? uprising what the fuck. anyway yeah don't have police jaegers. either decommission them entirely or like. bro bro bro. we're humans we're dumb as fuck make it like a sport. Jaeger sports that are like car racing now. maybe the plot is about how that's really shitty for the environment and we need to stop people doing it and find alternatives and u know. continue the climate change metaphor that way

okay these are specific little gripes but can we make either Hermann or newt (OR BOTH) explicitly neurodivergent. like this is just what I want from everything everywhere, no more coding, I want canon neurodivergent people. also don't demonise newt for being bipolar I'm pretty sure that's his canon diagnosis and I know this is what I WANT but also idk I just feel the need to specify. I don't want a sequel to demonise him please. let him exist.

Oh MY GD also teach burn gorman how to walk with a cane my boy you're going to hurt yourself like that.

explore the lasting effects of the drift with the precursors. just. explore that. let Hermann and Newt support eachother and let them hurt but give them a happy ending. I'd like for them to be explicitly together especially since all of the interview stuff Charlie Day has said, it'd be nice.

please keep the "minimum civilian casualties" thing. if we're going to have big monster Jaeger battles then please keep the civilians safe and in shelters. I'm so tired of millions of dead civilians in movies because they decided city fights were cool

I honestly don't know how to keep the optimism of the first movie while bringing the kaiju back but also I want the kaiju back and the Jaeger kaiju battles are just so important to Pacific Rim as a thing. so hmmmmmmm idk what to do about that.

I would also be super happy if we got an exploration of the possibility of Good Kaiju! like once they get separated from the hivemind they can think for themselves and do things, like How To Train Your Dragon style. also Newt and Hermann having a kaiju who they adopt as their child would make me very happy so long as it was done right.

Frankenstein And The Newt style plot/worldbuilding would be hella cool. k-virus and freeing the kaiju from the hivemind and befriending them would be cool.

aaaa this was just a dump of miscellaneous sequel thoughts. I'm more than a little bit sleep deprived rn so I'm probably not explaining things well. head full many incommunicable thoughts.

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

Pacific Rim 3

I outline the plot of Pacific Rim 3 as experienced by me in a waking fever dream before and during today's 4am shift as a way to distract myself from real life stress with imaginary stress, written in breaks during work and in the parking lot before driving home because I'm going back to sleep when I get there and I want to preserve this fever dream first before I lose the details of it,

Ok I've been here for 3 hours and I don't know how to do a read more link on mobile I'm sorry you're getting this as is whether you want it or not I need to sleep goodbye

Dr. Gottlieb and Liwen are working on building their own portal to the Precursors to beat them up once and for all

Jake is seen giving an inspiring speech to a new wave of cadets who've been training with the old ones, now fully realized Jaeger pilots. Amara is everyone's favorite instructor.

Jake is very imposing and military and inspiring. Jake is everything the kids need him to be. Jake slips away from the party early and tears off his uniform before disappearing down a side street in his civilian clothes

Nate has the visible emotional human reaction of milk curdling and goes after him

Dr. Gottlieb and Liwen Shao are talking to someone about how they're making progress on the rift but they need help. Someone in particular who knows about alien tech. He's coming in on the next flight, actually. The person they're explaining this to gives a disbelieving "no..."

NEWTON

Wakes up in his house in the middle of fuckass nowhere. Somewhere away from technology he could theoretically use For Evil, or people he could theoretically hurt. This is, however, a self-imposed isolation, as he seems to have been granted his freedom, conditionally.

We see his morning routine, featuring normal stuff like making coffee, panic attack in the shower ft. indistinct memories of the Precursors, taking a massive dose of PPDC-granted experimental medication, starting the car, another indistinct alien trauma flashback, listening to the radio on the way to the airport where people appear to recognize him and he low-key has a panic attack because oh God everyone knows what I did

Jake leaves the bar and runs into Nate, who gives him the old Argh Argh Responsibility And Pride talk and Jake is like yeah man I know shut up

They have a fistfight in the rain and the neon lights in the alley outside the bar

No one properly wins because they've drifted so many times and they can predict each other's attacks but they both land a few and take a few, Jake gets hit a bit more because he's drunk

They both end up just sitting in the rain feeling sorry for themselves

Nate: Jules proposed to her girlfriend.

Jake: I know

Nate: they're getting married.

Jake: yeah that usually happens when someone proposes

So Jules wasn't going to end up with either of them and they're both sad about it. Nate suddenly suggests they go back in the bar. He'll buy Jake a drink to make up for beating him up. Jake is like ok sure but the drink's gonna be soda because I was LEAVING the bar because I was ALREADY drunk

They share a Soda Of Angst at the bar and talk about how they're gonna die alone. Jake says "at least we've got each other" and it's impossible to tell if he's joking. Nate is like "you know what this place isn't that bad we should come back sometime."

Newton reaches the lab. He is terrified of Liwen and awkward around Hermann. He instinctively calls Liwen "boss" and she reminds him matter-of-factly that they're working as equals now, "since you ruined my life's work."

Hermann asks how the medication is working and Newton indicates that it works fine but he still gets anxiety about it not being enough. Hermann promises him it's been proven effective, thus why the PPDC let him out of his crimes against humanity iron cell of shame. It's revealed that what they're giving him is a stronger dose of a medication originally developed for burned-out Jaeger pilots with unmanageable symptoms, and that it blocks out memories related to the drift--and since this is how the Precursors were reaching him, this works to block out their influence. The cost is that Newton doesn't remember much of anything past building his own neural bridge. He knows it happened but the details won't load. He's constantly worrying that it's not enough, that the Precursors will come back, and is taking a dangerously high dose that gives him constant hand tremors and worse insomnia than usual.

The first time he and Hermann are left alone they have an uncomfortable attempt at talking which gradually turns into an argument about nothing in particular. Newt keeps calling him Hermann but it sounds Wrong and Hermann hasn't been allowing people to just use his first name here and he finally snaps at Newton to stop it and he's like "oh my God I can't call you your NAME? what the hell am I supposed to call you??"

Newt says something angsty and Hermann says something like 'yes well the nicest thing that ever happened to me was drifting with a dead and decaying piece of kaiju viscera' and he says it sardonically but he's serious

Newt doesn't remember any context for the time they drifted.

Newt assumes he's being maliciously sarcastic and starts SCREAMING at him

Hermann just looks at him in shock at first then just lets him go for a little while

Eventually shutting his mouth by jabbing him under the chin with his cane and saying, very quietly and coldly, "get out of my lab"

Newton gets out of the lab

Newton runs into Nate and Jake at The Angst Bar and they recognize him but he has no idea who they are but he's willing to just roll with it at this point and asks them if they know Hermann well enough to give him advice

"like that was sarcasm right? I'm pretty sure he was making fun of me but now I'm less sure idk"

Nate's: no he's immune to sarcasm

Jake: yeah it's kinda funny

Nate: *the gaze*

Jake: I mean, nothing wrong with that, but yeah if he was being sarcastic that'd be first time it's happened as far as I can tell

Newt: are. Are you telling me. That someone actually. For some reason. Offered me a sincere compliment. And. I yelled at him

Jake: that's your call, I mean, you know him better than us, right? You guys were friends right?

Newton, who doesn't remember any of these people:

Nate: I mean I wasn't there, only way to tell is to go back and ask him

Newt: aaaaaaa

Newton goes back and Liwen is like "hey I've got no idea what's going on here but can you weirdos just act normal for two seconds so we can get some work done" and Hermann and Newt both just kinda. Laser focus on rift stuff

Remember the guy with the "no why would you involve Newton"reaction? No because he's but important and has no name or real identity? Yeah ok every Pacific Rim movie needs one Designated Douchebag to cause Interpersonal Drama and this guy is it. I'll call him DD for short

DD shows up and is like oh my God you actually turned Newton loose in the lab?? Why would you do this we're all going to die

Everyone just ignores him

Designated Douchebag has the self-importance of a high elf and the confidence of a fucking walnut and doesn't like being ignored

And starts talking directly to Newton, which really freaks Newton out but he continues pretending to ignore him

DD: so you're safe now? Not going to start speaking alien gibberish?

Newton: don't plan on it

Hermann, without turning around: DD you may not like to hear this but it was never your business who we brought in to assist, we don't need your permission, and complaining about Newton now that he's already here is certainly not going to do any good.

DD: alright fine but you'd better keep a close eye on him.

DD: anyways Newton tell your girlfriend I said hi

Newton, blank: who?

DD: you know, Alice?

Newton's face registers several emotions as he grapples with a name from the buried memories-confusion, disgust, terror-mostly shock

There is an abrupt cut

Liwen, thinking her two colleagues were acclimated to each other enough to allow her to leave the room and get tea without disaster, is walking back down the hallway talking with a lab tech when they hear the sound of something breaking

A moment later the doors to the lab are flung open and DD is forcibly ejected, collapsing on the floor in front of them. Dr. Gottlieb exits the lab behind him, holding his cane like a cricket bat. There is a muffled sound of Newton yelling OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

Liwen backs out of range of cane damage and sips her tea, mildly intrigued. The lab tech starts to run for help and nearly crashes into Nate and Jake, who came running to see what the yelling was about.

Nate: what is--

Dr. Gottlieb, panting with restrained bloodlust: HELLO SIRS GOOD TO SEE YOU I BELIEVE THERE'S BEEN A SECURITY BREACH BECAUSE THIS FELLOW HAS JUST BEEN CASUALLY CHATTING ABOUT RESTRICTED CLASS-J49 INFORMATION PLEASE LOCK HIM UP

DD: it's COMMON KNOWLEDGE and he ATTACKED me

Dr. Gottlieb: YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID SIR!! *He takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes some blood off the handle of his cane*

Nate: WHAT is happening

Newton: *trying to have a quiet hysterical laughter meltdown in the lab before anyone remembers he's there*

Anyways next plot point. An alien shows up

Not a Precursor! A nice alien

Listen if PR:U gets to pull all that bullshit with Mt Fuji I'm allowed to add aliens okay

Hermann should have a nice non-genocidal alien friend I think he deserves it

Anyways the alien is clearly a different species than the Precursors (or Kaiju) and seems friendly but they can't communicate with it, the linguistics team is working on it but it's going to take A Lot of Work

Hermann goes "hm I've got a quicker and more accurate option"and wheels out the drift interface

This alien's mind doesn't link well with human minds but Hermann is a pro and powers through

He gets seasick and throws up and finally comes out shaky with a bloody nose and eye but he's managed to communicate!

The alien is a diplomat from another world the Precursors attempted to colonize, they survived because the Precursors underestimated the humans' resilience and spread themselves too thin, trying to invade earth and the alien homeworld at the same time and then getting distracted dealing with the humans, which left the aliens time to prepare their defense

They're here to help with the war effort, they don't have a lot that's relevant to current human scientific understanding but they can help fill in some of the gaps in the human's knowledge about rifts

They're making progress! Yay!

Things are getting serious, training montage Jake and Nate and the new pilots getting ready to kick ass

Newton finally brings himself to apologize to Hermann and explain he was confused but the net progress here is still zero because then they immediately have ANOTHER argument

Hermann has started writing his notes in the alien's language, he wants to make sure he can remember it well enough to help the linguistics team, and it's also beautifully precise and he just loves it and loves that he's able to write it, come on who wouldn't be proud of being the first contact human

Newton sees a bunch of notes of Alien Gibberish (to him) and gets Bad Vibes

Newton doesn't think they can trust the alien, Hermann does but his proof is mainly "I can tell because I drifted with them" and Newton 1. Doesn't remember what that's like and 2. DOES remember that the last time he thought it was a good idea to drift with an alien he ended up nearly killing literally everyone on earth

They yell at each other some more

At some point Hermann tries to deescalate and asks why they can't be friends again and Newton, still yelling, says "people keep acting like we're friends and I don't remember it! As far as I'm concerned this is all we ever had! I barely remember you at all and what I do remember is that we hated each other!"

Hermann: ....I never hated you. .. alright, colleagues, then? We've got a rift to build

Newton, still hyperventilating slightly: ok ok yeah sure yeah

Interlude: Jules gets married!

She asks Hermann to walk her down the aisle (where she meets her wife, who walked down the opposite aisle to meet in the middle)

Newton, protesting "I don't know I don't feel like I should be here," is physically dragged into the venue by Liwen, who is telling him that this is a diplomatic event it's his duty to be at.

She drags him over to Hermann and settles between them, soaking in the chaotic gay science panic vibes

She seems to be enjoying herself

Jules sees Hermann in the audience and an evil gleam comes into her eye

She has a strong arm

She hurls her bouquet directly at his face

Hermann ducks, panic granting him lightning quick reflexes

The bouquet, travelling at about Mach 5, zooms past him and hits Jake Pentecost squarely in the nose

He inhales several petals of baby's breath and gets slapped in the eyelid by a vine and goes into a dramatic coughing fit. Nate pounds him on the back.

Alien, speaking through a translating device they've got set up (it isn't perfect but it works on a basic level mostly): is it bad luck to touch the flowers?

Hermann, still slightly panicked from the near miss: no it's ahh, there's this silly tradition that whoever catches the bouquet is likely to get married next, and ah, as you see there, sometimes a bride with a sense of humor will, err, intentionally aim it at someone who, uh, didn't necessarily want it?

Alien: I think I understand. My sibling often tells me to go the southern hills of ^°^=^^°^°^^°°= to find a mate, though I have told them many times that I have no such desire.

Nate and Jake are like "ok neither of us have a date I guess we're drinking our sorrows away together at the reception" and do that

And maybe make out a little bit

Neither of them is ready to deal with Feelings so they both just blame it on the alcohol and try not to think about it too hard

Newton, venting @ someone, explains that there's an empty space in his memory where he knows that that something about Hermann is supposed to go and it doesn't feel like the other, worse memories he's blocked out, it feels like he lost something precious, but he has no idea what that is

Hermann tells Newton he's been working on a device that might block out the Precursors' influence without affecting his memory, so he can use all of his knowledge. And so he isn't constantly so confused about who he does and doesn't know but he doesn't say that part

It connects to his skin a bit like a drift interface

Newton is terrified but enthusiastic about maybe being Less Confused All the Time

The fact that he is guarded by a full security detail to make sure he doesn't Become Evil Again the whole time he's going off his meds really doesn't help the stress much

Memories start coming back but they're confused and jumbled and at first he's not much better off

The Precursor nightmares are about what he expected but he keeps hearing Hermann's voice in there too and he's not sure why and he can't remember when he heard it like that

Meanwhile Hermann keeps needing to drift with the alien to clarify important details about the rift that they don't know how to translate into human terms, but it fucks him up a little bit more each time he does it until the last time he passes out for like at hour and wakes up disoriented with a nosebleed that just won't stop and Jake orders him to stop drifting

He's ok with that because they've got the information they needed anyway!

IT'S TIME, THEY'RE SENDING THE JAEGERS INTO THE RIFT

Newton, despite his misgivings, reluctantly joins Liwen, dr. Gottlieb and the alien in command to supervise the mission, still wearing the device and getting random bursts of confused memory

Jake and Nate are piloting the Lady Avenger (did u know gypsy is a slur and they prefer to be called Romani) and go though first and start punching Precursors and their bodyguard Kaiju

Newton goes very still and just stares at Hermann for like a solid minute while he's trying to work, his expression shifting to something new

Hermann, softly: what?

Newton, smiling: I remember you.

Hermann, furiously trying to interpret alien data: is this really the best time??

It's a close fight across the rift, the Precursors are on their home turf and the Jaegers are not, fighting in a bizarre low-gravity environment that doesn't really have floors

Their base is set up differently than expected and Hermann decides he needs to check something with the alien. By drifting with them. He's still bleeding uncontrollably after the last stunt that got him banned but he's determined to do it because It's Necessary

Newton takes the headset from him and puts it on instead

It feels Bad

But then he sees another planet, beautiful, so different from his own yet so similar. He sees aliens attacked by monsters from the deep, responding more or less how the humans had, moving inland, building useless walls, building their own monsters for defense. He sees the alien diplomat losing friends and family.

He sees the journey to earth, and drifting with Hermann. He sees the alien's memories of Hermann, and Hermann's memories in the drift. He sees how Hermann remembers him. What he forgot. What the Precursors had blinded him to.

He doesn't have time to think about it because he's feverishly trying to translate the knowledge he's receiving into data that works with their human technology so they can help the Jaegers and there's blood dripping from his face onto the controls but it's there, in the back of his mind, he knows now. Hermann missed him.

The Lady Avenger is hit and Jake is knocked unconscious. They begin to drift downwards as Nate, unable to move the Jaeger alone, yells at Jake with no response

Newton disconnects from the drift, nearly blacks out, and has to sit down for a minute. When he comes back around he sees the Jaegers are in trouble--none completely disabled yet, but they need more help

Newton has an idea

Newton: ok I'm gonna do something stupid. *To his security detail* listen I need you to aim your guns at me and shoot if you think I'm out of control

Liwen, with zero hesitation, reacting quicker than anyone else in the room, pulls out a gun and sticks it right in his face

Newton: see, yeah, that's what I was saying, like that. Thanks boss, glad someone here's got guts.

Liwen: not your boss

Newton: I kinda like saying it tho

Liwen: hm. I'll allow it.

Newton: ok. Hermann--uh

Hermann, hearing his name said right this time: it's ok

Newton: :) ok cool I'm going to deactivate the blocking device I need you to turn it back on as soon as I squeeze your hand, can you do that

Hermann: absolutely.

The Precursors are a hive mind. In battle, when pressed, they can force their thoughts outwards, confusing and scrambling the communications of other species while keeping in contact with each other. This is going well and normal until there's an unexpected distortion which resolves into Newton's voice

Yelling WHAT'S UP MOTHERFUCKERS I'M BACK

(epic Tom Morello riff)

Newton can't keep the connection open for more than a few seconds before they start to overwhelm him, Hermann pulls him back. It was enough to confuse the Precursors and give the jaegers an advantage.

During the delay, Jake wakes up. He's disoriented and in pain and so is Nate, still linked to him, but they can move again. They one-hit-k/o the Precursor that was creeping up on them, turn around, and realize they've drifted almost right into the reactor they've been looking for

So they blow it up

Hermann is still holding Newton's hand as everyone else celebrates. He looks at Newton for confirmation, who nods in relief.

"they're gone. Well, those ones are, anyway."

Humans start opening rifts across the galaxy to kick Precursor ass across multiple star systems

(epic Tom Morello riff intensifies)

Humans team up with multiple alien races previously menaced by the Precursors to take out their common enemy. Jaeger tech is combined with alien science, humans and aliens drifting

They figure out how to use a recording of Newton's Precursor-influenced brainwaves as a weapon to confuse them

So basically Newton makes a recording of himself screaming at the Precursors that's weaponized by teams across the galaxy and it's incredibly cathartic

Jake, in a hospital, is woken up by an infuriating snoring noise. Nate is sleeping in a chair by his bed. He's both annoyed and touched. Mostly the latter.

Hermann writes a book in what is now his third language, the alien script precise and beautiful

We see Newton and Hermann getting dressed together for an Important Event, they're both complaining about having to go but seem not to mind too much. Newton ties his tie too loose, like in the good old days. Hermann fixes it for him.

No one died

The free peoples of the galaxy took down the Precursors with no casualties and the power of screaming