#building and structure collapses

[ironworked]

The main premiere/finale emergencies in 9-1-1 so far:

s1: Rollercoaster / Motorist accident

s2: Earthquake / mail bombs & 118 engine bomb

s3: Tsunami / Serial rapist case & train derailment

s4: Dam break & mudslides / Sniper targets LAFD

s5: Ransomware blackout & Harry kidnapped / Jonah

s6: Blimp crash & Athena's case / Overpass collapse

s7: Capsized cruise / Cartel & Bathena house fire

s8: Beenado & Plane accident / ???

And there's also of course the regular or midseason emergencies (pile-ups, hostage situations, building collapses...)

Asking because I seem to remember TM talking about wanting it to last 2 episodes, and I'm wondering what they've got left to do that also isn't premiere material.

[bitchfitch]

the important part of diy is having fun and being yourself.

[rowanthestrange]

yo look at her that’s an actual house

[getcarter1971]

God, WTCs 1 and 2 were so beautiful, though. I hate that these incredibly gorgeous buildings are drenched in the tragedy they are (though 9/11 in itself is a very interesting event to research and learn about) because they are just kind of gorgeous buildings but I don't feel like I can post about them without, like, either making people think I'm doing a bit, or like, evoking 9/11 imagery unwanted which is like, you know, I'd prefer not to do either of those things. I just like these buildings aesthetically and structurally.

[katyspersonal]

Saw another one of those posts compiling stupid commentaries of some men complaining about a videogame character looking realistic but also not all too conventionally attractive.. What always sticks out the most is stuff like "if I wanted realism - I'd go outside".

I just really can't comprehend what's in the mind of people who thinks that real women (and sometimes not only women) are ugly, repulsive, and something to "get away into a save haven from once in a while". I remember I once heard a similar criticism towards how I draw humans, too - that "uwu art is supposed to be a challenge to world's imperfections and ugliness, it should be a guiding light and dream of ideal to comfort us sick humans, and you defeat the purpose by bringing all the real world's flaws with you in your art uwu". *smh*

Like, I genuinely can't understand how these loosers even live if normal human faces and bodies are something to dread for them. I know I am constantly raving about how this wretched world is a factory of suffering and no person with basic sanity is glad to have been born at the first place, but even I am surprised when of all things to resent about the world some choose just faces of other idiots living in it??

[mantisgodsdomain]

Gonna post about our iterator OC now. Fun fact: Unit of Radioactive Decay's umbilical arm has significantly less range of motion than other iterator models, including other iterator models from their generation!

It prioritizes delivery of water and nutrients to their puppet over movement, which makes it a good bit clunkier than other arms - almost all of the joints in there can only bend one way, and the few that don't are only two-way, unlike an arm like Pebbles that more or less lets him bend however the fuck he wants.

In general, they tend to prioritize having parts that are easily maintained or replaced over anything else - kind of a necessity for them, but some of the people who originally dreamed them up would have an utter heart attack over the sheer number of substitutions present in their structure by now.

[darrenwalleyconsultancy]

Building Fails Philippines – Part 2

Photo by Sami Aksu This weeks article is called building fails in the Philippines – part 2. As I mentioned in last week’s article, it is not to highlight foolishness but a collection of areas I need to think about when building your home in the Philippines. In most of my articles, I have talked about topics that are the “normal” way of building a home in the Philippines. In my mind, some of…

[writers-potion]

Structuring Your Fight Scene

adapted from <Writer's Craft> by Rayne Hall

Suspense

Show your characters gearing up, readying themselves.

The pace is slow, the suspense is high (use suspense techniques)

Provide information about terrain, numbers, equipment, weapons, weather.

May have dialogue as the opponents taunt each other, hurl accusations, or make one final effort to avoid the slaughter.

Don't start too early - we don't need to see the hero getting out of bed, taking a shower and having tea.

2. Start

Fighters get into fight stance: knees slightly bent, one leg forward, abdominal muscles tensing, body turned diagonally, weapons at the ready.

Each side will usually try to be the first to strike, as this will give them advantage.

The movements in this section need to be specific and technically correct.

3. Action

This section may be quick or prolonged. If prolonged, no blow-by-blow descriptions are needed.

Focus on the overall direction of the fight

Make use of the location to make characters jump, leap, duck, hide, fall, etc.

Mention sounds of weapons

4. Surprise

Something unexpected happens: building catches fire, a downpour, relief force arrives, staircase collapses, bullet smashes into the only lightbulb and everything goes dark, hero losses his weapon, etc.

Add excitement, raise the stakes.

5. Climax

Both sides are tired and wounded

The hero is close to giving up, but is revived with passion

Move to the terrain's most dangerous spot: narrow swining rope-bridge, a roof-edge, sinking ship, etc.

Don't rush the climax! Hold the tension

6. Aftermath

The fight is over: bes buddies lying dead, bandaging, reverberating pain, etc.

Use sense of sight and smell

The hero may experience nausea, shaking, tearfulness or get sexually horny

Fight scene length

Historical/adventure/fantasy: 700-1000w

Romance: 400-700w

[fixomnia-scribble]

WOW.

Scientists found an amazingly well-preserved village from 3,000 years ago

Text below, in case article access dries up:

LONDON — A half-eaten bowl of porridge complete with wooden spoon, communal rubbish bins, and a decorative necklace made with amber and glass beads are just a handful of the extraordinarily well-preserved remnants of a late Bronze Age hamlet unearthed in eastern England that’s been dubbed “Britain’s Pompeii” and a “time capsule” into village life almost 3,000 years ago.

The findings from the site, excavated in 2015 to 2016, are now the subject of two reports, complete with previously unseen photos, published this week by University of Cambridge archaeologists, who said they cast light onto the “cosy domesticity” of ancient settlement life.

“It might be the best prehistoric settlement that we’ve found in Britain,” Mark Knight, the excavation director and a co-author of the reports, said in an interviewThursday. “We took the roofs off and inside was pretty much the contents,” he said. “It’s so comprehensive and so coherent.”

The reason for the rare preservation: disaster.

The settlement, thought to have originally consisted of several large roundhouses made of wood and constructed on stilts above a slow-moving river, was engulfed by a fire less than a year after being built.

During the blaze, the buildings and much of their contents collapsed into a muddy river below that “cushioned the scorched remains where they fell,” the university said of the findings. This combination of charring from the fire and waterlogging led to “exceptional preservation,” the researchers found.

“Because of the nature of the settlement, that it was burned down and its abandonment unplanned, everything was captured,” Knight added.

“As we excavated it, there was that feeling that we were picking over someone else’s tragedy,” he said of the eerie site in the swampy fenland of East Anglia. “I don’t think we could smell the fire but the amount of ash around us — it felt close.”

Researchers said they eventually unearthed four large wooden roundhouses and an entranceway structure, but the original settlement was probably “twice as big.”

The site at Must Farm dates to about 850 B.C., eight centuries before Romans came to Britain. Archaeologists have been shocked at “just how clear the picture is” of late Bronze Age life based on the level of detail uncovered, Knight said.

The findings also showed that the communities lived “a way of life that was more sophisticated than we could have imagined,” Duncan Wilson, head of Historic England, the public body responsible for preserving England’s historic environment, said in a statement.

The findings unearthed include a stack of spears, possibly for hunting or defense; a decorative necklace “with beads from as far away as Denmark and Iran”; clothes of fine flax linen; and a female adult skull rendered smooth, “perhaps a memento of a lost loved one,” the research found.

The inhabitants’ diet was also rich and varied, including boar, pike and bream, along with wheat and barley.

A pottery bowl with the finger marks of its maker in the clay was also unearthed, researchers said, still containing its final meal — “a wheat-grain porridge mixed with animal fats” — with a wooden spatula resting inside the bowl.

“It appears the occupants saved their meat juices to use as toppings for porridge,” project archaeologist Chris Wakefield said in the university’s news release. “Chemical analyses of the bowls and jars showed traces of honey along with ruminant meats such as deer, suggesting these ingredients were combined to create a form of prehistoric honey-glazed venison,” he added.

Skulls of dogs — probably kept as pets and to help with hunting — were also uncovered, and the dogs’ fossilized feces showed they fed on scraps from their owners’ meals, the research found.

The buildings, some connected by walkways, may have had up to 60 people living there all together, Knight said, along with animals.

Although no intact sets of human remains were found at the site, indicating that the inhabitants probably fled the fire safely, several sheep bones were found burned indoors. “Skeletal remains showed the lambs were three to six months old, suggesting the settlement was destroyed sometime in late summer or early autumn,” according to the university’s news release.

Ceramic and wooden vessels including tiny cups, bowls and large storage jars were also found. Some pots were even designed to nest, stacked inside one another, Knight said — evidence of an interest in aesthetics as well as practicality.

A lot of similar items were found replicated in each home, Knight added, painting the picture of completely independent homesteads for each family unit rather than distinct buildings for shared tasks — much like we live today.

Household inventories often included metal tools, loom weights, sickles for crop harvesting, axes and even handheld razors for cutting hair.

The roundhouses — one of which had almost 50 square meters (nearly 540 square feet) of floor space — had hearths and insulated straw and clay roofs. Some featured activity zones for cooking, sleeping and working akin to modern-day rooms.

The Must Farm settlement has produced the largest collection of everyday Bronze Age artifacts ever discovered in the United Kingdom, according to Historic England, which partly funded the 1.1 million pound ($1.4 million) excavation project.

The public body labeled the site a “time capsule,” including almost 200 wooden artifacts, over 150 fiber and textile items, 128 pottery vessels and more than 90 pieces of metalwork. Some items will go on display at the nearby Peterborough Museum next month.

Archaeologists never found a “smoking gun” cause for the fire, Knight said. Instead, they suspect it was either an attack from “outside forces,” which may explain why the inhabitants never returned to collect their possessions from the debris, or an accidental blaze that spread rapidly across the tightly nestled homes.

“Probably all that was left was the people and what they were wearing; everything else was left behind,” Knight said of the fire.

But the preservation has left a window for people to look back through in the future. “You could almost see and smell their world,” he said.

“The only thing that was missing was the inhabitants,” Knight added. “And yet … I think they were there — you certainly got glimpses.”

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Ideas: Castles

Castles, fortresses, and fortified mansions can be military and administrative headquarters for medieval feudal overlords, romantic ruins in a nineteenth century Count's estate, or haunts for ghosts… They hold our imagination, they show up in historical fiction and fantasy alike.

Types of Castles by Location

City castle. Found in the historical centre of a medieval city, and often as the core part of a larger fortification called a citadel, the urban castle houses the ruler of said city, city-state or realm of which this city is a capital.

Rural castle. Built as a standalone structure, this type of castle was more widespread than the urban castle in Western Europe. Often castles planned as standalone structures attracted folks from nearby villages and grew towns around them, eventually becoming city castles and citadels.

Types of Castles by Construction

Motte and bailey. The most primitive kind of castle, the motte and bailey is barely above a pre-medieval hill fort. It is usually just a tower or a fortified manor standing on a hill, which may be a natural hill dug over with artificial trenches and berms or a wholly manmade mound (the motte). The motte was also outfitted with extra defences such as a wooden stockade (the bailey). Often the bailey was located sideways of the motte and did not encapsulate it; the steep slopes of the motte made walls unnecessary. Note that not all castles built on mottes are motte and bailey castles: the central section of the famous Windsor Castle, which is far from being "just a tower", has a large motte under it.

Keep and curtain wall. To improve the ability of a motte and bailey castle to withstand sieges, medieval engineers went for the most obvious decision: build a solid wall instead of a wooden stockade around the motte. They built massive walls, high enough to be unscalable without proper siege ladders, and later augmented those walls with towers. The towers provided defenders a vantage point for raining arrows onto the attackers. The tower also became more fortified and turned into a keep, or donjon - the main tower or fort of the castle, a smaller fortress inside it. Even when enemies breached or otherwise surmounted the curtain wall of the castle, the keep was able to fend them off for a while, hopefully until the relief or backup forces arrives.

Moat. To add another layer of impenetrability to the curtain wall, medieval engineers augmented it with a deep ditch, or moat, around it. The purpose of the moat was to stop the attackers from breaking castle walls with battering rams and make it harder to use siege ladders. The moat was also often filled with water to stop undermining (digging under walls to make them collapse). A drawbridge or a permanent bridge could be used to cross the moat and reach the gate.

Gatehouse. Because of the moat, the castle gate became the prime target for attempts to breach the walls and break in. So the gate naturally became more fortified, built into a large, wide tower: the gatehouse. A typical gatehouse contained a lot of security measures to make battering the gate harder: corridors, portcullises, arrow slits overlooking the bridge.

Barbican. A barbican is another fortification built to protect the gate: a second, smaller gatehouse in front of it, connected to the main one with a pair of walls.

Enceinte. An enceinte is the motte, Mk.II, now made of stone! It's an inner solid stone wall surrounding the keep, making it a castle within a castle.

Concentric castle. Combining all of the above defensive measures resulted in a complex, many-layered castle with two or more sets of curtain walls and a keep surrounded with an enceinte. Such castles were built during the Late Middle Ages.

Quadrangular castle. A late development in castle building, this style does away with the keep and turns the curtain wall into a large rectangular building with a courtyard. In essence, the curtain wall is used as the outer wall of the building.

After gunpowder artillery became the main weapon of sieges, castle architecture entered into decline.

Low-profile and complex structures with thick earth walls were needed to resist artillery bombardments, and castles made way for bastions, star forts and similar fortified structures.

However, during the period of Romanticism and Gothic literature in the XIX century, interest in castles renewed.

These "revival castles" served no defensive function and were just stylized stately homes for Blue Blood elites; the most famous example of such a castle is Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany.

In the 19th and 20th century, the romantic allure of castles even inspired some non-royals with deep pockets to build them as fantasy getaways.

Source ⚜ More: Notes ⚜ Parts & Types of Castles ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[sh4nksslvt]

hellooo I really like your work and would like to request some angst

maybe like reader dies or gets close to it. some more uncommon charcters too like nami, usopp, or franky please!!

thank you for really cool work and I hope you can do this!!

hii! thank u sm~ oohh~ thats a great idea, ive decided to put them all together, hope u like it!

What Remains

The Straw Hats survive a Marine superweapon test — but only because you don’t. You made a choice to save them all, and they didn’t see it coming.

strawhats x platonic gn! reader tags: angst, sfw, ooc, major character death, platonic bonds, grief a/n: this js me trying to write ffs, this is experimental and for fun only, so expect this ffs a bit cringe word count: 1k

masterlist | ko-fi

: 𓏲🐋 ๋࣭  ࣪ ˖✩࿐࿔ 🌊

Smoke curled upward from the scorched ruins of the Marine testing island. The sky was dim, bleeding orange as the sun tried and failed to burn away the choking clouds.

They found your body beneath the collapsed structure—arms still raised like you were shielding the others even in death.

It wasn’t the injuries that broke them. It was the look on your face.

Peaceful.

Like you knew.

ONE WEEK EARLIER.

"These weapons..." Franky said, examining the diagrams. "They’re worse than anything Vegapunk ever dreamed up. They’re built to erase islands."

“And they’re testing them here?” Nami’s voice trembled with disbelief.

Usopp peered over the map. “That’s not all. Some of this... it’s Poneglyph script. These freaks are mixing history with firepower.”

You didn’t say anything.

You just stared at the map. Quiet. Calm. Like a storm on the horizon no one else had seen yet.

“We have to stop this,” you said.

Of course, everyone agreed.

But none of them saw what you saw. None of them realized the cost yet.

Not even you.

THE BATTLE.

The Straw Hats split into teams. Luffy and Zoro drew the front lines away. Robin sabotaged the comms. Brook and Jinbei distracted the guards. Chopper tended to wounded civilians trying to escape.

You were supposed to go in with Franky and Usopp.

You didn’t.

You slipped away the moment they weren’t looking, whispering your last words to Nami before disappearing into the smoke.

“I trust you. Don’t look back.”

You found the core buried deep underground.

A thrumming vault of seastone and ancient script, glowing with stolen knowledge and raw destruction.

You knew what it meant.

You could read the Poneglyph fragments embedded in the weapons.

You knew what would happen if they were activated.

So you made a choice.

A selfish, irreversible choice.

You overloaded the core.

THE AFTERMATH.

When the blast hit, it carved a crater into the earth.

Luffy felt it first—his scream carried across the island like a cannon blast. “(Y/N)!!”

Franky’s stomach dropped. He bolted toward the smoke, ignoring everything—orders, pain, fire.

Usopp followed. Nami, too. She didn’t even speak. Her Clima-Tact sparked wildly, emotions bleeding into weather.

They dug with bare hands and bleeding fingers.

And finally, they found you.

Still. Burned. Crushed.

But unmistakably you.

And unmistakably gone.

THE SUNNY.

Franky hadn’t spoken in two days.

He sat in the engine room, back turned to everyone, arms blackened with soot and oil. He worked until his hands bled, building gods knew what.

Chopper had tried to check on him. Franky didn’t even look up.

Usopp wandered the deck in silence, eyes red, mouth dry. He hadn’t told a single story since they left the island.

He’d tried. He opened his mouth once to make a joke, and nothing came out.

So he just sat with your grave marker, talking to it like you were there.

And Nami—Nami was broken in a way no one had ever seen.

She didn’t cry loudly. She didn’t scream. She just shut down.

She went days without food. Sat curled in the crow’s nest, staring out to sea, clutching the note you left her in your final moments.

"Don’t look back."

She hated you for it.

She loved you for it.

She never stopped shaking.

NIGHT.

Luffy stood by the railing, his hat pulled low, wind in his face.

Sanji stood beside him in silence.

“You knew they were gonna die,” Luffy said suddenly. His voice wasn’t angry. It was hollow.

Sanji lit a cigarette, fingers shaking. “I knew they weren’t coming back.”

Luffy didn’t answer.

“They saved all of us,” Sanji added after a long pause.

“I didn’t want saving,” Luffy whispered.

Then he turned and walked away.

FRANKY.

The machine he was building exploded.

He didn’t flinch.

Robin found him hours later, crouched beside the wreckage, staring into space.

“They’d have slapped me for this,” he said quietly.

Robin knelt beside him. “For what?”

“For not stopping them.”

“They knew what they were doing.”

“That doesn’t make it easier.”

Robin placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It never does.”

USOPP.

He buried the dials you used in a small, unmarked box.

Every trap you helped him design, every gadget you tweaked. Gone. Hidden away like a secret.

“I’m never going to be that brave,” he whispered.

Then he broke.

Ugly, shaking sobs that echoed across the deck.

NAMI.

She didn’t speak for three days.

Then, she found Franky. Slammed him into a wall.

“You let them go alone!” she screamed.

Franky didn’t fight back. “I know.”

“YOU PROMISED—YOU PROMISED ME THEY’D COME BACK—!”

He wrapped his arms around her mid-swing, held her as she sobbed, her fists pounding against his chest until they were too weak to lift.

ONE WEEK LATER.

Luffy called everyone to the deck.

No one knew why.

When they arrived, they found him standing in front of a small, newly-built monument.

A single beam of the destroyed fortress. Carved with your name.

And beneath it—your jacket. Cleaned. Pressed. Folded neatly.

Luffy didn’t speak.

He didn’t need to.

They stood together. Silent.

One by one, they left offerings.

Sanji placed a bottle of sake.

Robin left a single violet flower.

Chopper tied a string of charms around the wood.

Zoro leaned his sword against it for a moment. A quiet nod of respect.

Brook played a low, mournful tune on his violin.

Jinbei lit a lantern and pushed it into the sea.

Usopp placed a small slingshot on the beam.

Franky left a blueprint.

And Nami… Nami placed your note. The last one you ever wrote.

“Don’t look back.”

She whispered, “I’m going to.”

Then she walked away.

.

.

.

They kept your room the way it was.

No one said it aloud—but they all visited.

Nami would sit on your bed when the nightmares came.

Usopp would fix the shelves you always overloaded with junk.

Franky recharged your tools every week, even though you weren’t there to use them.

And Luffy…

Luffy would sit on the figurehead, facing forward, holding your jacket in his lap.

He never cried where anyone could see.

But the jacket was always warm.

As if it still remembered you.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I wanna see what’s Ace’s family’s reaction when they found out Ace is dating reader Heheheh

I decided to have only Ace's brother present, since Mr. and Mrs. Trappola have yet to receive strong characterization.

Family means Nobody is Left Behind or Forgotten.

The Trappola brothers sat across from one another upon red velvet chairs, and you, between them. They were both intently focused on building a house of playing cards—a task that Ace had warned took “serious patience, coordination, and a gentle touch.” (You had rolled your eyes and responded, “Great. You let me know when you’ve found someone that has all that.”)

Ace carefully laid a Two of Spades down, formed a triangle with a Three of Clubs and a Four of Diamonds. His hand slowly retreated, and the triangle stayed. He expelled a sigh, directed away from the cards so as to not disturb them.

You would have clapped for him, but Ace had discouraged you before the game had even started. So instead, you tapped your index and middle fingers together. Still giving applause, but not nearly enough to rattle the house of cards.

“Your move.”

“Huh, you’ve gotten better at this,” his brother mused. He toyed with an Ace of Hearts, expertly twirling it between dexterous fingers. “Too bad. I was really looking forward to smoking you in front of your new friend.”

“In your dreams,” Ace sneered, passing you a glance. “The last thing I’d want is to look uncool in front of my partner.”

His brother drew himself up in his seat. The card in his hand, stilling. “Your partner? Since when were you two a thing?”

“Oh, you know… since a while ago,” Ace casually replied. “And honestly, I can’t really blame’m. Who wouldn’t fall for my dashing good looks and roguish charm? I’m a catch!”

His brother regarded you with an almost pitying look. “It’s not too late to change your mind,” he advised.

You burst into laughter. "I think I'm good. Ace is an idiot, but he's at least my idiot."

He raised an eyebrow. "So you've got a sense of humor. You'll need that if you're going to put up with Ace all of the time. Congrats, you passed the first test."

"Whaddya mean 'put up with' me?!" Ace protested, puffing up his cheeks. A pout--adorable, you think.

"I mean it exactly how I said it. It's practically a full-time job dealing with you," his brother replied cheekily. "You gotta prepare people for it, or else they won't know what they've signed up for."

"Oh, come on! You're making me sound way worse than I actually am."

"This, coming from the guy who ghosted his ex?" He smirked, and you could see the family resemblance in it. The slight narrowing of the eyes, the way his mouth angled. "I dunno, I was half expecting you to stay single forever after that royal screw-up, lil' bro. You're lucky you found someone willing to take you~"

Pink exploded onto Ace's cheeks. "H-Hey...!" he hissed, leaning toward his brother. "Did you seriously have to bring that up?! Have a little more tact, will ya?!"

The older Trappola grinned. "Gotcha."

You realized why.

Ace's sudden movement had sent a slight breeze against the card house. It wobbled from top to bottom--then the structure collapsed in on itself, the cards all folding into one another. Within seconds, the house was a pile on the coffee table.

Ace fell to his knees with a pathetic wail, scrambling to salvage his hard work. His brother looked on, chuckling. A card, still in his hand.

"I didn't place mine yet," he declared triumphantly, "and since you made the house fall, it's technically my win!"

"Y-You sneaky...! You taunted me on purpose!!"

"Yeah, and it worked like a charm." He flicked Ace on the forehead. "You were too busy trying to flex in front of your S/O. It was easy to take advantage of that. You always were a cocky, predictable brat."

"Grrrrr..!!"

"Ace, it's fine," you soothed him, a hand on his arm. "You did your best. It doesn't change how I feel about you."

"Tch, there you go being all sappy again... You're so lame sometimes," Ace grumbled--but he covered your hand with his. A small gesture, but a reassuring one.

"Hahah, look at you two lovebirds," his brother teased, wagging a finger at you. Then he reached out and roughly ruffled Ace's hair, despite his complaints and attempts to swat him away. "Happy for you though, lil' bro! You gotta tell me how this love story started--"

[theskywithin]

Birth Chart Breakdown- The Lunar Nodes in The Signs

The North Node is a whisper from the future, a gravitational pull toward the life you were meant to step into. It is not a place of comfort, but of growth. It calls you to release what is familiar, abandon the well-worn patterns of your past, and surrender to a version of yourself that has not yet fully emerged. The South Node, where you have been, is instinctive, ingrained, effortless. But to stay there is to remain unfinished.

The path ahead is not one of comfort, but of purpose. You are being called toward something greater. Will you answer?

North Node in Aries / South Node in Libra You have spent lifetimes tending to others, smoothing conflicts, making yourself smaller for the sake of peace. You have mastered the art of compromise, but at what cost? The North Node in Aries calls you to step forward alone, to lead without waiting for permission, to trust in your own fire. You must break the habit of molding yourself to fit others and dare to be fully seen, even when it makes others uncomfortable. Your journey is one of radical independence. Your voice matters. Use it.

North Node in Taurus / South Node in Scorpio You have danced with darkness, been baptized in crisis, and made a home in the fire of transformation. You know how to survive, but do you know how to simply exist? This lifetime calls you to peace, to build something steady rather than always bracing for collapse. The North Node in Taurus asks you to slow down, touch the earth, trust that love does not always come with suffering. Your healing is found in simplicity. Let life be gentle.

North Node in Gemini / South Node in Sagittarius You have been the wanderer, the philosopher, the one who sought meaning in distant lands and ancient texts. But wisdom is not only found in grand truths, it is found in the voices of those around you, in the rhythm of everyday conversations. This lifetime asks you to listen as much as you speak, to ask questions rather than assume answers, to find the sacred in the small things. You are not meant to teach from a mountaintop; you are meant to sit among the people and tell their stories.

North Node in Cancer / South Node in Capricorn You have built walls high enough to touch the sky, worn responsibility like armor, and measured your worth by what you can accomplish. But life is not a ledger to balance. The North Node in Cancer asks you to step away from the boardroom, the strategy, the control, and soften into feeling. You are here to experience love, vulnerability, and the strength that comes from allowing yourself to need others. Not everything must be earned, some things are simply meant to be felt.

North Node in Leo / South Node in Aquarius You have stood on the edge of the crowd, observing, analyzing, belonging to everyone and no one. You have fought for the collective, but what about you? The North Node in Leo calls you to step into the light, not as a reflection of a cause, but as your own radiant, creative force. This life is not about blending in, it is about daring to shine. Your heart is your compass. Follow where it leads.

North Node in Virgo / South Node in Pisces You have spent lifetimes floating in the waters of the unseen, surrendering to fate, dissolving into the currents of something greater. But now, you are meant to build, to shape, to make the intangible real. The North Node in Virgo calls you to bring structure to your dreams, to craft with precision, to serve in a way that is grounded and tangible. This is not about losing your magic, it is about turning it into something that lasts.

North Node in Libra / South Node in Aries You have always been the warrior, the lone wolf, the one who charged ahead with fire in your veins. But now, you must learn to stand beside another, not just as an individual, but as an equal. The North Node in Libra asks you to listen, to compromise, to see strength not as independence, but as connection. Your greatest victories will not be won alone.

North Node in Scorpio / South Node in Taurus You have known safety, comfort, and the slow, steady rhythm of a well-planned life. But security is not the same as growth. This lifetime calls you to dive into the depths, to surrender the illusion of control, to face what lies beneath the surface. The North Node in Scorpio asks you to let go, to embrace the mystery, to let yourself be transformed. You are meant to rise from your own ashes. Trust the fire.

North Node in Sagittarius / South Node in Gemini You have lived among the details, learned to navigate the chatter of the mind, but now you are called to something greater. The North Node in Sagittarius asks you to stop seeking answers in fragments and embrace the whole story. Let go of distractions, of hesitation, of overthinking. This is your time to leap, to explore, to believe in something bigger than yourself. The world is waiting. Go.

North Node in Capricorn / South Node in Cancer You have been held, nurtured, protected, but you cannot stay in the cradle forever. The North Node in Capricorn calls you to step into your own authority, to build something lasting, to claim your place in the world with discipline and determination. You are not here to be carried. You are here to lead.

North Node in Aquarius / South Node in Leo You have been the center of attention, the artist, the performer, the one who thrived on recognition. But this life asks you to turn your gaze outward, to use your gifts for something greater than personal glory. The North Node in Aquarius calls you to innovate, to revolutionize, to break free from ego and create for the collective. This is not about you alone, this is about all of us.

North Node in Pisces / South Node in Virgo You have spent lifetimes measuring, perfecting, fixing. But the North Node in Pisces asks you to let go of control, to surrender to the mystery, to trust in something beyond logic. This is your time to step into the divine flow, to dissolve into the vastness of possibility, to know that not everything needs to be planned, some things are meant to be felt. You are the dreamer, the poet, the mystic. Let yourself drift. Let yourself believe.

[miraculan-draws]

The city of Baldur's Gate needs stricter zoning laws and dig regulations. There is no solid ground beneath it. It's the sewers. It's the Bhaal temple. It's the Shar cloister. It's Cazador's dungeon. It's Ansur's tomb. The city is built on top of like ten feet of sheet rock at most, and they didn't build OUT they built UP!!

The structural integrity of like. Kirkwall (Dragon Age) seems like a fortress in comparison. Because it's built INTO a cliff. Like even High Town is built into the jet of the cliff.

Baldur's Gate's Upper City is just like!!! Free standing!! It's bossel wood! It's a house of cards!! I refuse to believe that the first tremor of the brain didn't collapse entire sections into giant sinkholes because it was honestly just an accident waiting to happen. The city is hollow. It's a souffle.

[dina-winchester]

Soldier Boy

Pairing: Soldier Boy x you

Summary: Just as you’d accepted death, he found you—the man who’d burn the world down for you.

Warnings: Graphic depictions of injury, Explosions, building collapse, Blood, PTSD implications, Protective violence, Angst with comfort, Intense emotional scenes, no use of y/n

The sun had been cutting through the floor-to-ceiling windows earlier, washing the lobby in gold. You remember that. You remember the light. The hum of conversation. Laughter. The faint scent of coffee still clinging to your sleeves from the café downstairs. You were at work. Your day at the office had been uneventful—until it wasn’t.

Ben had kissed your cheek that morning. Told you he’d be gone for a few hours—something about helping Frenchie and Kimiko with some stolen Vought tech in Jersey. You’d rolled your eyes, told him to try not to blow anything up.

That had been three hours ago.

Now?

The building shudders under your feet. Light vanishes.

A blast ruptures from the upper levels.

Screams rip down the halls, and glass explodes from every angle, raining like razors as the floor tilts. You hit the ground hard, ears ringing, a deafening roar swallowing every sound. The fire alarms don’t even get a chance to wail.

They’re obliterated along with the power.

You crawl, coughing, smoke thickening as the ceiling groans above you. A woman stumbles past, blood pouring from her temple. She screams something—but the words are shredded by the building’s death rattle.

Another blast, closer this time.

You’re thrown forward, smacking into the tiled floor hard enough to bite your tongue. Copper fills your mouth. Your hand slips in a streak of blood that’s not yours.

Something is very wrong.

You drag yourself behind what’s left of a marble reception desk, trying to steady your breath—but your eyes catch the flicker of a red cape above through the smoke.

Homelander.

Hovering like a god.

Smiling.

And he’s looking directly at you.

“All this sympathy for traitors,” he says, voice cutting through the destruction like a blade. “Makes you wonder what kind of person you are.”

Your heart lodges in your throat.

Then—

He burns the sky.

Crimson beams tear through the building again, slicing clean through steel and stone. The floor buckles. Walls collapse. You barely have time to scramble under a fractured slab of marble before the whole world tilts down.

Crack. Shudder. Snap.

The ceiling above you splits.

You try to run—but your leg gives. You fall hard, the ground trembling, fire licking at the edges of your vision as you try to crawl—

But then you hear it.

That final groan of the structure giving in.

It’s coming down.

Your eyes lift.

A slab of the upper floor detaches—huge, heavy, death on its way down. You freeze. Body shaking. Every part of you screaming to move but you can’t.

And in that split-second before impact, as everything crashes toward you—you see him.

Ben.

Soldier Boy.

Bursting through the smoke like a cannonball from hell, arms out, suit half-charred, blood at his temple.

“I got you!” he roars—and then he’s above you, body slamming down over yours, arms caging your head, his chest pressed to yours as the ceiling collapses around you.

Everything goes dark.

Dust. Shrapnel. Heat.

But not pain.

Because Ben took it all.

His body shields yours completely, and all you can do is tremble, breath hitching in broken sobs as your fingers grip the fabric of his suit like a lifeline.

You stare up at him, vision swimming, ears ringing.

You thought you were dead. You’d accepted it.

But then—those eyes.

His eyes.

Locked on yours.

Wild and furious and terrified—not for himself. For you.

Silence, at first.

Not peace. Not calm. Just a stillness so thick it presses against your chest like another layer of rubble. The only sound is your heartbeat thudding against the cage of your ribs—fast, panicked, disoriented.

You blink through a cloud of dust.

Ben is still above you. Still holding you. His body is shaking—from exertion, maybe. Or adrenaline. Or the fact that he thought he might’ve been too late.

You’re both coated in ash, fine as snowfall. His shoulder is bleeding. There’s a deep gash over his temple where concrete must’ve clipped him, blood trailing through the grime on his face. But he doesn’t seem to care. Doesn’t even register it.

His gaze is locked on yours.

Wide, unblinking, like he can’t believe you’re alive beneath him.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he breathes, voice hoarse—barely a whisper.

You’re still pinned beneath him, his forearm braced over your head, body shielding every inch of yours from the debris now piled around you in a cocoon of ruin. His weight presses you to the ground, solid and grounding—but not crushing. Somehow, even in the chaos, he’s careful.

Your trembling fingers rise, almost without your permission. You reach up and touch his face.

Warm. Bloodied. Real.

“Ben…” Your voice barely makes it out of your throat.

He flinches at the sound of his name—like it cracks something open inside him. His mouth moves but no words come out. His hand cradles the side of your head, palm sliding behind your neck as if needing the contact to convince himself you’re alive.

“I wasn’t there,” he rasps, voice raw with rage and guilt. “I shoulda been there.”

You shake your head, the motion slight beneath him. Your palm presses more firmly to his cheek, thumb brushing his blood-smeared skin.

“You are now.”

The breath he exhales shudders out of him. He leans in, forehead pressing to yours, eyes squeezed shut. The world is still burning around you—sirens somewhere far off, the crackle of fire, the soft hiss of settling rubble—but in that small pocket of space beneath the wreckage, there’s only the two of you.

His chest rises and falls in heavy bursts, and you realize his arms are shaking from holding himself above you. You lift your other hand, cupping both sides of his face now, grounding him for once.

“I thought—” you whisper, voice breaking. “I thought that was it.”

His eyes open—green and glassy with something heavy and unspoken.

“It woulda been,” he says, jaw tight. “If I’d been ten seconds later…”

You don’t let him finish.

You pull him down, not for a kiss, but just to hold him—to feel him. Your arms wrap around his back, fingers digging into the fabric of his suit. He lets out a strangled breath and folds into you, the weight of him finally settling across your body like a living shield, like armor molded to your skin.

He’s never held you so tightly.

And you’ve never needed it more.

You don’t know how long you lie there with him—dust in your lungs, blood drying on your skin, sirens still wailing in the distance like a city mourning itself. Time doesn’t feel linear anymore. Not after something like that. Not with him wrapped around you like the world might still be trying to tear you away.

Then—footsteps.

Shouts.

Flashlights slicing through the smoke.

“Over here! We’ve got survivors!”

Ben lifts his head slowly, eyes narrowing like he’s ready to fight all over again. His whole body coils, still crouched around you, still shielding you like the wreckage might come back alive and try again.

“It’s okay,” you whisper, breath shallow as you brush your hand up his neck. “They’re here to help.”

He doesn’t move at first.

A pair of first responders come into view, covered in ash, their faces lit by harsh white beams. One of them stops short, eyes going wide at the sight of him—Soldier Boy, filthy and bruised and alive, hunched protectively over your body.

“Sir—she’s injured. We’ve got a stretcher coming in now—”

“What kind of place are you taking her to?” Ben growls, voice like thunder behind clenched teeth.

“Downtown Memorial. Clean trauma wing. She’ll be safe, I swear.”

You reach up, tug gently at his suit until he looks back down at you.

“I’m okay,” you whisper, trying to offer something close to a smile. “But I think my leg’s pinned. And—my side…”

He follows your gaze—and sees it. The blood soaking through your jacket. Dark. Slow, but steady.

“What the hell is that?”

You swallow hard. “I think—shrapnel. From the blast. I didn’t notice at first. I didn’t care. I just needed to get out, I needed to keep going.”

Ben’s face hardens.

His hands tremble once as he lowers his head and rests it briefly against your forehead—just for a second. Then, without another word, he lifts you into his arms, careful but firm. No hesitation, no flinching, just Ben gathering you up in his arms with a gentleness that would seem impossible from a man like him.

You scream.

Your body seizes from the pain, the pressure of movement pulling against the embedded metal—pain flaring through your side like lightning.

“Fuck—babygirl—sorry, sorry,” he mutters, pressing his face into your hair. “’s okay. I’ve gotcha. Just hold on.”

The EMTs try to take you from him, but Ben snarls something sharp and vicious and refuses to let you go until the ambulance doors are open and you’re inside with him. He cradles your head in his lap on the ride over, muttering low curses about Homelander, about whoever dared touch you.

“You’ve been walking around with metal in you,” he murmurs, eyes locked on the soaked fabric of your jacket. “You didn’t stop.”

“I couldn’t,” you whisper, clutching his sleeve. “But I can now. You’re here.”

He bows his head, jaw tight, a fury burning behind his eyes you’ve never seen before.

“If you die on me,” he says low, “I swear to god, I will level this entire fucking world.”

[limethefirst]

So one, your fics are amazing like omg. Two can i make a request? For movie shadow x a reader who maybe has been seriously injuired and maybe gets close to death just like maria did after shadow had gotten close to them so shadows rushing them out to try and get help from gerald or just anyone after they infultrated gun. Not wanting the next person he cares about to die.

Pain

pairings: Shadow the Hedgehog x reader (platonic)

warnings: minor sonic 3 spoilers, mentions of death, injury, bodily harm

summary: after a mission gone wrong, Shadow finds you and tries his hardest to save you before it’s too late

a/n: im happy you enjoy my shadow fics I genuinely cannot express how grateful I am to see so many kind words coming from so many different people🥹 here’s your request! I hope you like it <3

You weren’t asked to infiltrate GUN, no, that was something volunteered to do. You planned to sneak in and insert the chip needed to deactivate the system for the Robotniks to activate the vault.

Simple in and out with no casualties, but you weren’t able to get out, caught in the cross fire that your boss was causing up above in the vault.

Your chest began to tighten as you tried to get out, but every hall had a surge of security roaming, per orders of the new lady in charge. So there you were, suck at the bottom of the building that you had no idea how to get out of.

Then there it was, a loud booming noise causing the entire structure to rumble; slightly knocking you off your feet. You fell to your knees trying to stabilize yourself as the rumbling stopped, but before you had a chance to use this a way of escaping the ceiling above you began to crack.

Quickly snapping your head up you cursed yourself for even volunteering to do this, a testament to try and prove your worth to Robotnik was the whole idea behind it.

Slowly the ceiling above you collapsed in some places, narrowing your route of escape. Your mind was racing with millions of plans on how to get out. You sent a small distress signal to your team, alerting them of your location in case they could get you out.

Just as you’d done that the small bits of ceiling that had fallen were right above where you were trying to run. The door was in front of you and freedom from this was nearer than you’d originally thought.

Not wasting anytime you bolted for the door, once you made it you tried to open it, only to realize that there was something holding it shut. You were trapped with no way to get out.

You stood there, still trying to push at the door when a sudden crack got your attention, before you could even react a chunk of the ceiling at hit you. It was painful and hard to see, the dawning reality of the situation making you panic.

Laying there felt like waiting for death to come, it was so scary, slowly you felt yourself losing consciousness. The stress and pain mixing leaving your body to shut down on itself.

Shadow saw the distress signal, he knew something was up, but he hesitated. He was about to leave, deciding maybe you could handle yourself. This was his chance to finally get revenge for Maria, then he stopped.

It was when he saw the building crumble in certain places, due to team Sonic’s muscle man, that he thought back to the signal you’d sent. He was torn but ultimately knew what he was going to do.

Teleporting there was mayhem, the bottom area where you should’ve been was terribly dirty, pieces of debris left and right. Then he saw you.

Your eyes were closed and your breathing was heavy, it looked like you had a cut in some places where the ceiling had hit you. His quills began to glow, indicating his intense emotion and rage that replaced his gloomy expression.

Shadow found himself at your side, trying to remove all of what was covering you without causing you any harm. He was fast but tried to stay calm, he knew he would be of no use if he rushed it.

Shadow was still kneeled at your side, this scene reminiscent of one he’d been at before. He tried to lift your back and head into his arms, he hadn’t teleported with humans before, but he had to in the moment.

Because Shadow knew he had to save you, and he only knew one person who would. So he rushed, rushed together find Gerald and plead with him to save you, that you were worthy of being saved, you had not wronged them there was no reason to let you die. Shadow would not let you die, he would not let the person had grown to care for die.