#been missing it too

[savage-rhi]

Dawkins: A Death Stranding WIP

Summary:

This is a little WIP section of a new Death Stranding fanfic I've been developing based around my OC Gene Dawkins. Some may be familiar with Gene in my fics Sky of Atoms, and Death Stranding Rewind. These stories followed Gene and her relationship with Higgs Monaghan. With this new story, I'm making it more centered on her own life with an overarching plot that ties in with what we know from the game (and possibly DS2 when it comes out). I don't anticipate writing for this story until my other works are complete, but I wanted to put this out for fun and see if there's interest. Feel free to reach out or reply if you want. Thanks for reading!

Gene had never in her life felt this cold before. Her skin trembled while sweat pooled down her face. She felt warm like a fever had taken root. The single blanket provided to her seldom helped, even as she bundled further. Her legs dangled over her assigned coffin, feet gently touching the tiled floor. The piercing cold had her retreat with a hiss. She lifted her right foot up, setting it across her lap, and inspected her sole. There should’ve been frostbite or even a burn given how painful it was. Nonetheless, there was no sign of such a wound much to Gene’s relief. 

“They weren’t kidding about side effects,” Gene murmured to herself with a laugh. Furrowing her brows, she realized it would be a while before she could enjoy being back in the land of the living. Especially when her body or Ha, was registering that her spirit, Ka, returned from the Beach and the five planes. 

Despite having an easy time reintegrating, Gene’s mind was rattled at all she had experienced. The Beach, and all the others connected, were as intricate as stars in a galaxy; boundless. And like stars, beaches shimmered and exploded; returning to the dust from wence they came with new ones coming to take the mantle. 

The BTs were another thing that overwhelmed her. On earth, they were more or less the boogeymen of the modern world; a byproduct of the Death Stranding and its calamity. On the five planes, they had their own ecosystem and life cycle. Gene could scarcely remember it entirely, but when her Ka had walked among them, something clicked. There was a purpose to everything, even monstrous creatures with nuclear capability if they contacted the living. 

“Hey, sleeping beauty!” 

Gene turned her head, seeing Odd standing in the doorway carrying a medium-sized box. 

“Is that you, or my sleep paralysis demon?” Gene quipped with a tired laugh, shaking her head. 

“Would both be a sufficient answer?” Odd chuckled. 

“Depends if you want to get hit in the face or not,” Gene shrugged with a grin. Her eyes followed Odd as he ventured further into the room, and pulled up a stool from afar to sit across from her. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“Like I died,” Gene answered point blank. “Does this happen every time you go Walking?” 

“For a while, yeah. Your Ha will get used to it.” Odd nodded truthfully. He let out a breath he had been holding back since Gene had undergone the ceremony and smiled.

“I knew you’d pull through!”

Gene canted her head, raising a brow in suspicion. 

“What?” Odd asked.

“I swear I hear doubt in your voice.” Gene grinned. 

“Nah, never.” Odd chuckled, waving off the accusation with his hand playfully. “Although, you had me worried back there, on the shores. Most have their breakthrough before ascending to the Beach and five planes.”

“Guess I'm special," Gene murmured, recalling how terrifying that ordeal was. One moment, she was feeling the energy of all atoms in the air and sky, and then a wave of tar crashed into her being and pulled her into the ocean. “I’m glad you and ANUBIS were there to pull me out, or...I guess I should be calling you SET now considering the circumstances.” 

“It’s about time you started treating me with some authority!” Odd chuckled and further laughed at the playful grimace Gene evoked. 

“Don’t get all cute,” Gene countered. “You may be the better Death Walker, but I’m still the best porter between us.” 

“You do have me in a bind there,” Odd admitted with a soft laugh. His expression changed, going from carefree to concerned. He held it for a while, glancing over Gene as if looking for a hidden injury. “I know you already told me, but for clarity's sake, what did you see during your breakthrough?”  

“I can’t remember it all. It was sudden, like a light going on and off.” 

“Try to remember the core of it.” Odd encouraged. “The feelings you had, and any images of significance.” 

Gene made a face, feeling the hairs on her arms stand. She remembered drowning, feeling the very essence of her Ka expanding and contracting before a fury of images was suddenly downloaded into her consciousness. Deep down, she didn’t know if she would ever recover from it.

She closed her eyes, trying to give her brain the chance to sort through what experiences her Ka had taken into itself. 

“I saw the world,” Gene began, and gesticulated with her hands to emphasize her points. “And out of this…void, came a large snake. It coiled around the globe ten times over, squeezing what it could. Then the snake stretched its neck and looked up at the sun. I saw it rise, sprinting toward it. Its mouth opened, and it swallowed the rays and eventually, the whole sphere, but the sun escaped and the snake retreated back into the darkness.” 

Gene opened her eyes when she was done recounting. “Then I saw you and ANUBIS pulling me out of the surf.” 

Odd, nodded. The concern he displayed from before died down as he smiled with pride. His fingers gently tapped the medium-sized box, and he offered it to Gene. 

With a shaking hand, Gene retrieved the box. She raised a brow at Odd after glancing between the package and him.

“What’s this, a funeral gift?”

“More like a welcoming present.” Odd corrected with a laugh. “You survived the ceremony, the breakthrough, and found your patron. It’s only fair you earned one of these to help you travel to and from the Beach.” 

Gene began to unwrap the box, her smile growing big as each layer was peeled back. When her mask was finally revealed, Gene paused to look over the details. It reminded her of a half-face Oni mask that samurai would wear into battle, to scare the souls out of their enemies. The structure was reptilian in nature, resembling the maw of a dragon. The teeth were small, save for a pair of fangs that a cobra would be envious of. The mask was near pitch black, and the teeth were covered in gold chiralium. Though Gene knew this was a tool for her new job, it was also a work of art. Something crafted with devotion.

“Did you make this, or did the UCA?” Gene asked in awe. 

“Yours truly!” Odd gestured out with both his arms and grinned. “Once you told me what your breakthrough was on the Beach, I started carving with the printers as soon as I woke up.” 

As Gene combed over every inch of detail, she noticed a small inscription on the lower left side of the mask. In silver etching was inscribed the numbers 006 with a dash in between, and a name in all caps. She furrowed her brows, then finally peered up at Odd who gave her a beaming smile, much like the ones used to wear all the time when they were both children. 

Odd stood up, rummaging Gene’s hair playfully. In between exhausted laughs, and Gene shoving his arm away, Odd crouched in front of Gene. The determination in his eyes had her smiling back in admiration. 

“I better let you rest. You’re gonna need it before we go Walking again.”

“More like I need to hibernate.” Gene snorted. 

“Then I will speak no more!” Odd chuckled and rose to his feet. He ventured to the door of Gene’s quarters. Before disappearing from view, Odd turned around, meeting Gene’s gaze. 

“Welcome to the DUAT, APEP.” 

With a wink, he was gone and Gene’s eyes fell back onto the mask. Her fingers traced over the word APEP and she swallowed. 

The serpent eating the sun came back to her. Except, the sphere didn’t escape from the clutches of the giant reptile. The planet disappeared into its gaping maw, and then there was darkness, and what could only be described as a supernova and fire following suit. Then came the screams of billions. 

A part of Gene wanted to tell Odd the truth; that there was more to her breakthrough than what was shared. Nonetheless, Gene couldn’t help but feel the need to keep to herself. It could wait until later. She and DUAT had bigger problems; capturing those responsible for destroying Middle Knot City.

She playfully put the mask on her lower face, and breathed in deep while her eyes closed. There would be justice.

[kathaynesart]

The @tmntaucompetition is no place for a tiny tot to be left alone, especially with all these rowdy teens running amok. My heart just broke when I saw little Kid Leo crying, @angelpuns and @red-rover-au, and I knew Replica Leo's would too. Problem is they're probably going to be searching for a while cuz Replica Leo is looking for other unsupervised children. Oops.

This is in response to these couple of threads I've seen going around: COMIC 1 - COMIC 2 - COMIC 3 - COMIC 4 - COMIC 5

You kids need to all calm down!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The indescribable tension between an overworked and underpaid smut writer, and his biggest fan hater.

(for @frummpets)

[mourninglamby]

ouchies

[didiflowers]

BROTHERS!!!!🔥🎩👒

[anastacialy]

guys, i think the hermits are going to accidentally start a prank war again. because just like last time, a game of telephone has begun. first, false made iskall's build into ''false beans,'' her shop from the previous season. however, to give herself plausible deniability, she signs it with "love, Joel. x" due to his username, smallishbeans.

next, iskall sees this, and completely believes it. he thinks it was joel who pranked him, and as he says to pearl while showing off the sign, which he kept even after tearing the prank down, "joel gave me a kiss." in his most recent video, he pranks joel by sending him loads of anonymous messages in order to completely spam and fill his inbox, preventing him from getting any more mail, with notes such as "thinking about you. x"

of course, joel is going to have absolutely no context for this, because he didn't make the initial prank. so who is joel going to assume sent him all those messages while he was away on holiday? well, i have a guess.

etho.

[fycoren]

wuh oh-

[goodpvppy]

let me rub myself hazy on your thigh as you work and pretend like im not there except petting my hair from time to time… i want to rut against you and feel your resolve crumble until you just have to pay attention to me and ruin me

[crybaby-bkg]

I think Deku has a bit of a mean streak, actually. he’s no Bakugou—that’s for sure—but he’s not this innocent, sweet angel baby that the media has painted him out to be. but you only catch it when you least expect it, when you’re pushing his nerves, when the stakes to everything around him are high, when he’s tired of endless sleepless nights and just—snaps.

“Oh?” you go, grin unfurling like some grinch, chin resting on your hands as you leer at him from across his expansive desk. “You’re mean.” your words are teasing, a snarl that curls your mouth up. Deku stutters, eyes going wide, jaw snapping shut in surprise as he tries to think back on how rude he just sounded.

“No, I’m not—I mean, you wouldn’t stop and I just—there’s a lot on my plate right now—and you just—you keep on—I’m not—I’m not mean.” He’s sputtering, hands all over the place, the glasses perched on the bridge of his nose falling even lower with how he jabbers on and on. it’s endearing really, to see how he tries to upkeep his image of being so kind and understanding, even though his nostrils just flared at you. and his eyebrows turned down and he gritted at you, his hands were balled into fists, his words were so nasty, so ugly, so unbecoming for Deku.

you liked it. loved it even—vowed to get him like this every single fucking second that you could.

you pick and poke at him whenever you see him, teasing him and pulling at him. pushing him around even though the hero is so much stronger than you, so much bigger. and he lets you, tries to defend himself but—that’s not what you want. you want the ugliness, the snark, the mean.

he snaps, eventually, when you least expect it. grabs you up in black whip when you go to push him against the wall for the third time in only a minute, his eyes suddenly dark, the aura of the room suddenly charged.

“That’s what I was looking for.” you whisper to him, the grin spreading your face quickly dissipating in only seconds when you become the prey. when you become the one pushed up against the wall with teeth at your neck, a hand in your underwear, bullying your hole with too thick fingers.

“Why do you want me to act like this? Be so mean to you, huh?” he sounds so frustrated with himself, with you, growling and nipping and licking when you don’t answer quick enough. but your breath is caught in your lungs because finally—finally, did you get what you wanted. it just took a little bit of pushing, you suppose.

[all-too-unwell-13]

i need to stop being reminded that the seven are canonically very awkward around each other and hardly talk at all.

let me live in my sunshine rainbow world where they're all friends, are each other's 'found family,' where hazel, piper, and annabeth are best friends, where leo, jason, frank, and percy are like brothers, where jason and piper never existed, where hazel and piper were actually friends (that they should've been), and leo and percy are the most sarcastic and funny people you've ever met (and they make each other even funnier)!!!!!

[payasita]

kill

original post

[wyvernity]

holiday doodles from the past week! hope everyone is enjoying these cozy times :]

[thwackk]

he’s been down bad since the 50’s idk what to tell you

[age-of-moonknight]

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

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

[penny00dreadful]

Is it just me or are we all sleeping on the super fucked up homoerotic wound care that could come from the group of them dropping back into the Rightside-Up, going to Max's trailer and Steve's still bleeding out because look at him.

And everyone's quizzing everyone else, mainly the girls because it's the 80's and casual sexism was everywhere, on whether they know how to sew.

Nancy never learned, Robin doesn't trust herself and Max is just straight up like fuck off.

And then there's Eddie Handmade Battle Vest, Drug Dealer, Dive Bar Guitarist Munson like

🖐️😐

Enter the ✨ shenanigans ✨

[daintyytulip]

💓