#enough rabbits please. they just keep multiplying

[skeletoninthemelonland]

ya know whats funny.

graveleaper was originally supposed to be a 🐇

[gaystuffgarbage]

If you let your cat outside without supervision you can go fuck yourself.

The animal is your responsibility. Would you keep your dog out loose like that? Most likely not. Just cause they don't have as much regulations or don't cost as much as dogs is not an excuse. Don't get cats if you are not willing to keep them inside or supervised at the backyard or a leash.

They can/will get disease and parasites, which can also transfer to your other pets or humans if you are unlucky enough

If not neutered, they will have unwanted offspring. Adding to the feral cat crisis. They will multiply very quickly. Almost like rabbits or mice.

They will get ran over by cars etc.

The wildlife will kill and eat them.

Cats don't belong in the wild. They are invasive species They will hurt your local environment by killing birds and rodents.

Crazy, sick people will do harm to your pet. They will shoot, kill, kick and torture them with no shame or maybe steal them to themselves.

And no. I don't care if you've had cats that were just fine running around freely or if the cat is taking care of your mouse population. You still put that pet in danger. Go fuck yourself and never get pets again if you are too lazy or ignorant to take proper care of them. Too many innocent cats die and get injured by their owner's ignorance. Please.

[byorder-fanfic]

How They Look After You When it Gets Bad: Bonnie

Preference Masterlist

Requested by anonymous

Word count: 1727

Warnings: Reader going through a hard time, suggestive comments, swearing, Bonnie gets hurt (emotionally), not favourable descriptions of Small Heath (apologies to any Brummie readers- it’s for the plot)

Author's Note: Hi! I’ve had some trouble with the Ada and Finn preferences so I’m mixing up the order a bit. Those who’ve requested, your fics will be out soon! If there’s any other characters you want me to write for, feel free to make any more requests. Hope you enjoy and I’m wishing you all my best

(Gif by @sophieshelby) 

The Golds were travellers. It's what you loved the most about their life, the life that you jumped into in the greatest leap of faith that came with loving Bonnie. Now, whilst watching him ditch button-ups in favour of short vests, giving you full view of his lean arms attacking bags and people with so much strength was fun, it was the wind in your hair as you sat behind him on his horse, arms wrapped around his middle, it was huddling up in your shared bed in the caravan and arguing as to whether or not you could fit another ugly knitted blanket on top of the rest of them, and the maps you kept in a drawer that was slowly becoming more crosses than roads with all the places you've visited- it was that which made you love this life all the more. Plus, living with you Bonnie and his family (who had welcomed you with open arms the second Bonnie introduced you) created a second home, a home that lived on wheels and trotted down dirt paths. You knew that Bonnie getting his boxing licence would make the travelling come to a halt, and Small Heath would have to be home for as long as there was a job to be done and a reward to be reaped. And you were okay with that. You really were. Maybe there were a few tears as you hugged Esmerelda, Naomie and especially little Floss (she was desperate to see Bonnie go head to head with the Peaky Blinders!) goodbye as they continued travelling, you knew Bonnie felt the absence of his sisters more than you would. So, you made sure he never felt lonely, and the bed never felt empty; well, it wasn't as if it was a particularly difficult task to keep him company.

Small Heath was not a particularly enthralling place. Although you were on friendly terms with the Shelbys and their clan (and that was no exaggeration, they multiplied like rabbits!) and, after many, many threats from both the elder and younger Gold, none of the younger Peakys were planning on making a move on you, it was the place itself that seemed to bore you. All those things that you'd learned to love from your life on the road- the fresh air, the constant movement, the friendly welcomes when you saw another caravan cross your path, and the freshly caught food cooked over an open fire- there was none of that here. The sky was full of fumes that burnt more than the dark char of over-exposed meat, there was no patches of grass or flowers and everything was so fucking grey. Grey streets, grey sky, and a very grey mood for you. Sometimes, when Bonnie and Aberama were busy with the Peaky business that they left you out of, you'd just go over to the Cut and sit by the water to get even the slightest feeling of being back amongst the rivers and streams where you and Bonnie would set a number of ugly knitted blankets down and spend the night besides. You always thought the sound of water, and the view of the stars was the best way to fall asleep. Bonnie said the best way was next to you. You loved him, you truly did, but things were getting hard. Bonnie was always so busy now, between boxing and whatever the hell Tommy bloody Shelby had him apart of. Wrapped up next to him under all the blankets was the most time you spent with him, and he was usually so spent from work that he was snoring after seconds of laying his head on the pillow. All you could do was hope he didn't wake as you breathed softly next to him, trying to ward off sleep as much as you can just to see him as much as you can. By the time the sun rose, he was already up and at it. In stinking Small Heath.

You didn't want to resent him for bringing you here. You wanted to be proud of him when he boasted about getting his boxing license. You wanted to be happy for him when he came back, completely sloshed, after a night out at the Garrison with the Peaky boys he'd gotten close to, and he smelt like bloody whiskey and cigarettes when he cuddled up to you, drunkenly nuzzling his nose into your neck. You hated whiskey and cigarettes. Well, at least you think you did. You hated everything right now. You had tried to distract yourself from this frustration that was slowly building up in you, especially after you 'accidentally' broke one of the cups Naomie had made. You would pay for that when you saw her again. You had gotten Charlie Strong and Curly's permission to help with the horses in the stables. Eventually, though, you just felt sorry for the poor buggers: trapped in a scrap yard in a place full of people and so little greenery. Of course, you refused to admit you were projecting your own feelings on them. After feeling lonely for too long, you decided to make friends with the Shelbys. The Peaky boys that Bonnie had become fast friends with were nice enough, and Bonnie was happy for the excuse to see you more. As for the Shelbys, you had to be honest, they were a bit bloody scary. Esmerelda had made sure you were prepared for them, and you kept a whittling knife on your person every time you left the isolating sanctuary of the caravan, so you knew full well you could keep yourself safe amongst the blood and gore of the gangsters.

Eventually though these feelings caught up with you. You didn't even bother leaving the caravan today, knowing the streets were only going to further sour your mood and, even the bright presence of Bonnie's sleepy, half-awake smile, couldn't stop your erratic scrubbing of the plates. Ever since the Naoime's-broken-pottery-you were-sure-to-pay-for incident, you had only been entrusted with the metal pots and pans that weren't so easy to shatter. Still, you managed to scrub the metal dish in such a way to rouse the weary boxer. He had the day off, as Arthur had told you the night before when you sat in the Garrison, and the rest of the boys gave such a cheer their whiskey splattered on your dress. Bonnie had blushed, but you could see the hints of mischief in his smirk. And, with Aberama taking last night and today back in Small Heath, there was no misunderstanding Bonnie's intentions. You heard his stumbling foot steps as you moved further out of the open caravan door, focusing far too much on the washcloth and the practically sparkling pot that you still scrubbed.

"Hey, dove," he said in  sing-song tone that usually made your heart melt. Now it made your blood boil.

"Mornin' Bon," you replied back, far too snappy for his soft voice. 

He was startled. You didn't have to see his face to know he had flinched, feeling the sudden twinge of pain in the air like a broken string.

"Are you alright?" He asked, kindly, reaching down to rest his hand over yours. Instantly, you dropped the pan and cloth on the floor, hearing it crash against the soft grass.

"Well, you'd know if you'd have been there!" Along with your swift movement to stand up, the fierceness in your voice made Bonnie back away into the caravan. He saw the frustration clear in your face, and his shoulders hung in shame. He knew he'd been busy- too busy- and it must've hurt you.

"I'm so sorry, dove, I swear I'm trying to do this for us." 

"For you! And all I fucking do is stay in this fucking city!"

"It's not for long- then we can have that life we planned, with the boxing licence and our own caravan and-"

"And I don't wanna be here!"

You screamed it so loud that you were sure the birds in the trees surrounding you had flapped away from your voice like a shot had been fired from one of the Golds' many, many guns. And Bonnie seemed like he wanted to flee too, face so smushed up and hurt.

"I hate this place! It's dirty and cold and it smells like fucking shit!" 

Bonnie felt his whole body crumble at the tightness in your face, the look of pure anger making your fists squeeze in so tight he knew your nails would be digging in. He was the boxer and it was of his opinion that you should never have to raise a fist like this. You must hate him. You must do, and he was feeling his broad shoulders dip at the wildness that flickered in your eyes.

"I don't want to be here!" It was the crack in your voice that revealed yourself. A crack that mended Bonnie's wounded expression into that of concern. You didn't hate him. You didn't. You probably didn't even mind stinking old Small Heath. 

"Then how about we get outta here?" He suggested, giving you that lopsided grin that always made you childishly giddy. Even now, with frustration embedding your palms, you felt a kinder warmth flood to your cheeks. With more confidence, he moved towards you, cupping your cheek as you felt yourself just drop a little without the weight of frustration on your shoulders.

"Please," you muttered, leaning forward to rest your forehead against yours. "I want fresh air and empty fields and a blanket next to a stream."

"Just you and me lying down and looking at the stars?"

"That's all, Bon."

"Then you'll get it. Let's get changed, pack some food and we can get on a horse and just keep on riding, ey?" You chuckled a little at his romantic proposition, burying yourself closing into his grasp. "And get out of smelly old Small Heath that's been keeping me away from my dove."

"You're gonna have a lot of time to make up for." A little bit of frustration still hung in your mind, but the sweet look of adoration on your Bonnie's face was enough to soothe it into a cheeky remark.

"Indeed I do," he whispered into your neck. His expression got sadder again. "I'm sorry."

"So am I."

[aurora077]

The Irwin Agenda (chapter 2)

Chapter 2 - Why?

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13942581/1/The-Irwin-Agenda

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33385993?view_full_work=true

“Finally! We’ve done it!” cackled Wei Wuxian raucously.

Lan Xichen was too pleased to admonish him for his volume.

“Indeed we have,” he smiled.

His project was nearly complete. All they needed now was for Sect Leader Jiang to bring over his biggest contribution to the cause, the thing that started it all, and everything would be perfect.

------

Lan Qiren was confused and enraged. “Lan Xichen! What is the meaning of this!?”

His face was twitching, not knowing which emotion to settle on.

“The elders told me that you announced that you were leaving seclusion…. which I was happy about until I heard you went to Yunmeng and brought back a crocodile?!”

Lan Xichen frowned. “Technically, Sect Leader Jiang brought it from Yunmeng. I simply assisted him. It was a gift from one Sect Leader to another. He included it as part of Wei Wuxian’s late dowry as a personal apology for the delay, though it wasn’t his fault Wangji and Wei Wuxian eloped and didn’t tell anyone. But regardless it was a nice gesture and I accepted it. Is that a problem, uncle?” he said placidly.

Lan Qiren sputtered, face turning red with anger, “Of course it’s a problem Xichen! Did you forget your own sect rules? Pets are not allowed! And even if they were, where are you planning on keeping it? For crying out loud Xichen we’re in the mountains! You can’t bring a crocodile here! This is unacceptable! Take it back to Yunmeng at once!”

He had always thought Sect Leader Jiang was a sensible young man. Lan Qiren had always been fond of the acerbic young Sect Leader who, despite his reputation, was a loyal, dutiful man who worked harder than anyone Lan Qiren ever knew. His sect was flourishing now thanks to him. Nobody had thought the Jiang Sect would ever regain its former glory, but he had done the impossible and surpassed it. He even did the cultivation world the favor of hunting down those wretched practitioners of demonic cultivation who, unlike his not-so-favourable nephew-in-law, had not turned to it because of desperation but because they wanted quick power and did not care if they disturbed people’s graves or destroyed souls to do it (Lan Qiren might not like Wei Wuxian, but after everything was revealed even he could acknowledge that Wei Wuxian’s life was the definition of extenuating circumstances; he did not approve of his methods but he understood why he did it).

But it seemed like he may have to reassess his opinion. Just what was Sect Leader Jiang thinking? A crocodile? In this climate? Notwithstanding their sect rules which didn’t allow pets, how could he think this was viable? And why… why did Sect Leader Jiang suddenly decide he would make their sect leader flout his own rules? Was this repayment for some slight?

Oh!

Wait a minute! He suddenly recalled several incidents he’d overheard the juniors (that Lan Jingyi had a big mouth) talking about over the years with relish! And dammit! He knew Wangji’s blatant disrespect of the man would one day come back to bite them (he shivered, maybe literally this time!). He’d scolded his younger nephew enough times for it but Wangji was as stubborn as Wei Wuxian’s blasted donkey when he wanted to be.

(Speaking of which.. Wei Wuxian gifted Wangji rabbits and they multiplied rapidly, taking over the back fields… then he brought a donkey… and now his past shidi was bringing Xichen a crocodile… did The Cloud Recesses look like a zoo to these Yunmeng men? How did he even know what a zoo was, one might ask? Well, it came to him in a dream once and it seemed an appropriate description. Now that dream seemed like it was forewarning him of this nightmare.)

“Uncle?” Lan Xichen questioned, noticing the man’s silence, “Are you okay?”

Lan Qiren did not hear him. By this time he was wondering if he kowtowed at Sect Leader Jiang’s feet and apologised for his younger nephew and begged him to find another gift for Xichen as a consideration to his former teacher, if the man would acquiesce.

“Uncle, I apologise if I have upset you. But Fang isn't a pet, he's a companion. So I will not be getting rid of him. I’ve already tasked Wei Wuxian with helping me to create an area behind the Hanshi where Fang could live properly. For the past few months we’ve been working on it and I’m pleased to say we finally managed to finish two days ago and so I went to collect Fang from Sect Leader Jiang.

Lan Qiren felt faint. “But why a crocodile!? Couldn't you get a human for company?” he asked exasperatedly, “You aren’t getting any younger Xichen, if you want a companion so badly, I could help you look for a wife!”

Lan Xichen shook his head. “I have no desire to find a wife right now Uncle. I am tired of humans at the moment. As for why a crocodile, well that’s simple. You know where you stand with them. Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes, they pretend to be your friend first.”

Lan Qiren, “...”

[courtlyharlequin]

Hey Alice... I think we’re lost. Please don’t get mad! If we just keep walking straight, we might be able to head out of the forest. As your guide, this little white rabbit can’t fail you here! But do tell me, Alice, did you multiply or am I seeing double vision? There’s five hundred of you!

Yes, five hundred! Five. Hundred. 5-0-0!!! Oh my goodness... this growth is absolutely insane especially since your journey down the rabbit hole started roughly about a month ago. Thank you for trusting me and the boys to lead you to a real happy ending. Thank you for not getting mad at me for disappearing every now and then.  And most importantly... thank you for not getting mad at me ahahaha! Do not panic. Remain calm. I know the way. I just need to start at the beginning... where is Ches- I mean- Chen’ya when I need him the most. Hey! Where are you off to? Come back this instant, Alice. These parts of Wonderland are dangerous! Ahhh I don’t think they can hear me anymore... Deary me... Oh look! A fork in the road! A sign too! Let’s see... what does it say....

Event Details:

Prologue:

Perhaps you should have listened to that hopeless guide of yours, the meek white rabbit that lead you to this Wonderland. As unreliable as she may be, she probably has a better sense of direction than you. She would serve as lovely company now in this dark and eerie forest. The clouds shroud the moonshine. You shiver in the cold, pulling your cloak closer for warmth but to no avail. The grip on your basket tightens as the wind howls and the leaves crunch beneath your feet. Even the slightest sound sent you into a panicked frenzy. You regret your decision. You thought you could make more progress but it seems that you dug a deeper hole. Where is that silly rabbit?

SNAP!

What was that? Oh... just a twig.

AWOOOOOOH!

And wolves too? Wonderful. Your pace quickens.

“Please, please, be dawn already!” you pray, running away from the source of those rather terrifying sounds.

Light on your feet and with a shaky breath, you ran as fast and as much as you could. The contents of your basket, snacks the little white rabbit packed for you, shook vigorously. They would probably crumbs by now. You lift the cloth wrapped around the carrier to check. And to no surprise they were. Nevertheless, every bit is present therefore if you submit to your hunger anytime now, broken cookies and biscuits would suffice.

“Later,” you chide yourself.

The task at hand is to find shelter for the night— preferably a cozy cottage of an elf or something of the sort, a safe haven where you could eat comfort food and spend the night. Wishful thinking. A cave would honestly do. You’re tired for crying out loud! What kind of shortcut did that rabbit have to take?

Oof!

Irritation blinds you. You didn’t see where you were going. Not to mention this cloak’s hood covers a good portion of your field of vision. You pull back the soft fabric to see what you collided with. The surface isn’t hard enough to be a tree nor is it furry enough to be a creature of the night. You brace yourself for the worst. 

Drawing back the hood, an ethereal site greets you. He’s gorgeous, something out a fairytale. Quite princely. Too princely. Too good to be true. His skin lacks sign life. His complexion is of a sickly pale. Something isn’t right.

He reaches for you. You step back in shock. 

“Are you lost little lamb?” a smug voice coos.

Event Rules:

First things first: don’t save the event banner edit (or any edit of mine, really). Just click on it for better quality. 

Okay now we can get to the actual rules and details~

Yes! Another milestone event~ I will save the cheesy thank you note for the end as this isn’t the section for lovemail and gushing.

Lost in the Woods is an event where you, the reader, somehow managed to get lost in a rather spooky forest with no company whatsoever. While running away from the many dangers of this place, you bump into a certain someone. Who is that someone? What do they do?

Imagine the rest of it! Tell me what you want to happen. What do you envision? Daydream away, but don’t be too specific! Tell me what kind of vibe do you want i.e. fluffy, spicy, spooky etc.

Here is an example: “The person before me was Riddle! Oh how glad am I to see him... he knows his way around Wonderland and now he’s offering to help me get out of the woods though it would seem that he’s hungry as well. I would like to share some snack with him~”

Another example if you don’t feel like writing out a scenario for me: “I bumped into Riddle and I would like to share snacks with him. I want a fluffy vibe.”

Something like that. And for all of these event related requests, please put a “🌙” somewhere in your request so I can sort them out.

This event is just like my Café Rosé Event albeit with a different concept and procedure.

However, unlike the previous event, I will be writing headcanons, scenarios, and oneshots for this event. My general requests are still closed so you cannot request anything that is not related to this event. Also note that you can only request once for this event so choose wisely!

And of course, all of my standard rules still apply.

This request acceptance period for this event will be from Sunday, September 20th @ 1:00AM PST to Tuesday, September 23rd @ 1:00AM PST.

That’s a total of three days.

It may change depending on how much requests I get for this event, but I am swamped with school work and three other requests are rotting in my inbox so keep that in mind.

If you have any questions, please message me or send an ask off anon so I can reply to you privately.

Author’s Note:

First and foremost, I would like to apologize to anyone looking forward to my twstOBer spree. While I have written several pieces for the event, this milestone it more important to me so I dropped that event. I’ll still post the ones I have written so there’s that. Plus this event is just as spooky~ But anyways-!! I said this many times throughout this post, but I’ll say it again: thank you, thank you, thank youuuu! A number like five hundred may seem small to other blogs, but to me, it’s a very big number. Moreover, I achieved this milestone in a mere month and a half! That’s insane to me. I’ve never had such rapid growth on any social media account before. Thank you all for reading and enjoying my writing. I know I’m not the most active or most socialable blog on this platform but you all mean a lot to me. Old or new, I appreciate all of you. I hope that you’ll continue to support me until the next milestone event: 1000 followers. See you then~

[concussed-to-pieces]

The Mettle Of A Man; Part Ten

Fandom: Fallout (4)

Pairing: Eventual Paladin Danse/Female Sole Survivor

Rating: Holy shit M.

AN: Enjoy!

Part One: ArcJet

Part Two: The Prydwen

Part Three: Orders

Part Four: Finding Brandis

Part Five: Weston Water And Oberland

Part Six: Meeting Preston And Matthew

Part Seven: Radstag And Radstorm

Part Eight: The Return To Sanctuary Hills

Part Nine: Domestic Ruminations

[!TRIGGER WARNING!: This installment contains mentions of dubious medical procedures. Stay safe!]

Saying that she was in over her head would imply that, at some juncture, she had not been. Backhand couldn't recall a time when she hadn't been struggling to reach the damn surface. 

  There was so much. An entire underground compound, sprawling and winding like a rabbit warren, filled with synths and the scientists who seemed to style themselves as their betters. 

  Shaun had been the worst part about it all, if she was honest. The knowledge that it hadn't been ten years she had lost, but sixty ...and the now-elderly Shaun's bemusement at her emotional response to the child synth he had been leading her across the Commonwealth with was like a slap in the face. 

  The fact that he had the gall to suggest that she should take over the Institute once he had passed on was infuriating in its own right. Vega wanted nothing to do with any of this. She obliged him to the bare minimum. He wouldn't permit her to leave until she fully took in ' the wonders of the Institute ', everything that 'he' had built, so it was with a reluctant heart that Backhand agreed to think about the choice.

  She didn't hate the Institute. It was odd to realize that, but at the end of the day what she truly hated was the way Shaun had continued to hoard all of the advancements they had made. The lives that could have been saved, the differences he could have made in the Commonwealth-!

  Time passed strangely away from the reign of celestial bodies, simply separated into 'work cycles'. 

  Vega apparently spent the entirety of her first work cycle after arrival watching synths be created, the woman observing perfect bodies emerging disoriented from their vat of red liquid. The scientists overseeing the operation, after briefly introducing themselves, all but ignored her. For that she was grateful, because the process was equal parts fascinating and horrifying in its minutiae. 

  "Hello." One newly-formed synth said, sounding dazed when they addressed her. "I'm...new here?"

  She wanted to cry at how confused the synth looked, she wanted to cry because she knew the life they would have down here. She didn't even have the chance to offer them a word of encouragement before they were spirited away to be properly calibrated.

  Shaun came across her in the Robotics lab, her arms wrapped around her knees as she just... stared . "Ah, Mother. You will tax yourself mentally if you keep this up." Her son, who was now older than her by over forty years, scolded her in that insincere, saccharine manner. Backhand was reminded of Nate every time she heard Shaun speak. Even though he couldn't possibly have any memories of his father, his patronizing tone reeked of the casual superiority Nate had displayed in and out of the courtroom. "I have brought one of our coursers to escort you back to your room, Mother. If you would please cooperate with him."

  "Hello ma'am." The courser intoned as she looked up. "I am X6-88. It is an honor to meet the woman who helped to create Father." He was tall and dark-skinned with narrow shoulders, his body wholly sheathed in the courser uniform to mask whatever bulk he might have. He wore mirrored sunglasses, even down here. 

  Backhand thought of the courser she had to kill to tear the chip out of it and her heart dropped. X6 must know about the courser. What if they had been friends? She hesitated on that thought. Were the synths down here even permitted to form those sorts of attachments? Curie, Sturges and Nick were her only real exposure to non-hostile synths, and all of them had their own personalities, likes and dislikes. Well, Sturges wasn't entirely certain as to whether he was a synth or not, but he believed he was and that was good enough for Vega. Did synths who were still under Institute programming actually have the capacity to create those bonds with one another?

  "X6-88 is one of our finest coursers. Due to your combat history and... affinity for getting into scuffles, I assumed being in the presence of another combat-minded individual would help to put you at ease." Shaun's shrug was almost uncouth , as if he didn't particularly believe the words coming out of his own mouth. Backhand knew that the real reason he was giving a courser babysitter duty was because he didn't trust her not to meddle where she shouldn't. "The majority of the Institute is dedicated to much more lofty goals than synth retention, but why wear out the wrench with a job the hammer can perform?"

  Backhand slowly got to her feet. "Very kind of you to think of my needs." She remarked, praying her voice wasn't too flat. She had yet to get used to how Shaun spoke to the synths. Or rather, how he spoke around them. Despite his insistence that they call him Father, the elderly man treated them like objects. Tools , or furniture items. These were living, breathing, thinking beings, reduced down to nothing more than careless analogies of hammer, wrench and screwdriver. It was heartbreaking. 

  Shaun simply inclined his head, the smile on his face more of a simper. "X6, I expect you to treat my mother with the utmost courtesy. She is, after all, the future of the Institute. During the work cycles following her rest, please escort her around the facility." 

  "Of course, Father." X6 replied immediately, his face and tone entirely devoid of emotion. "If you'll follow me, ma'am."

  Backhand obediently followed X6 back out of the manufacturing laboratory, quickening her steps so she could keep up with the courser. He seemed to realize his legs were longer than hers a split second before she drew up alongside him, the synth slowing abruptly. Backhand ended up in front of him by half a step, chuckling a little as she paused and then fell in beside him.

  "Sorry, my fault." She apologized. 

  X6-88 was silent for a moment, and then muttered, "that is foolish, ma'am. Why would you be sorry about something you have no control over?" Backhand hummed, trying to think of a way to explain. X6 quickly tacked on, "not that I'm questioning you, ma'am. I know questions are unwelcome."

  Vega tilted her head, giving the man a confused look. "Unwelcome?"

  "Father has instructed us not to ask questions. He says they will disrupt you settling in." The courser answered bluntly. 

  Backhand laughed, but the noise had no humor. "I've been disrupted for months , X6-88. You can ask me whatever you like."

  "How did you do it?" X6-88 whirled on her, his tone and posture suddenly hostile. "Z2-47 was incredibly skilled. Deadly. Effective. And yet you killed him."

  Backhand nodded slowly, and she heard X6's gloves squeak with how hard he clenched his fists. 

  " How ." The courser demanded.

  "I...I don't know if I'll be able to explain it in a way you can understand." Backhand replied quietly. "Was Z2 one of your friends?"

  "I-!" X6 jerked to a halt, seeming to realize that he had raised his voice. "My apologies if I have given you the wrong impression, ma'am. I merely sought to...find the weakness you must have exploited." He practically growled through his teeth, "I meant no offense."

  "No no, you didn't offend me at all." Vega said sincerely, nearly putting her hand on his arm in a comforting manner before she reined herself in. "It's just not a conversation I would want other people to hear. Um, is my room…?"

  "We only have a short ways to go. You will explain it to me there?" X6-88 asked curtly.

  "I'll do my level best." The longest seconds in the history of man slipped by as the courser studied her from behind those sunglasses. "It's not that I doubt your intelligence or anything, I'd be an idiot to doubt your intelligence." Vega tried to elaborate after the silence grew uncomfortable. "I just don't know if I'll be able to...get the story to make sense."

  "You are allowed to do as you please, ma'am." X6 said, his voice back to that monotone. 

  Backhand shook her head ruefully. "Never mind. C'mon, before somebody gets uptight that you're looming over me."

  The courser took a hearty step back at that, his brow furrowing. "It was not my intention to make you uncomfortable, ma'am." 

  "X6, I was in the army. You're going to have to do a lot more than that to make me uncomfortable. I'm more concerned about what someone might do to you . You know, if they think you're trying to threaten me."

  X6-88 was silent for the remainder of the walk to her quarters, which turned out to be just as sterile as everywhere else. Backhand felt extremely awkward, afraid that she would get dirt on the pristine white furniture.

  She settled gingerly into one of the chairs, gesturing to indicate that X6 should sit as well. He did so after a moment, perched on the very edge of the chair and leaning towards her. 

  Vega clasped her hands in her lap. "X6, has there ever been anyone in your life that you wanted to protect?"

  The courser responded without hesitation. "G5-19." Backhand squinted, trying to figure out why she knew that particular--oh. Oh . But X6 wasn't done. "They were efficient at performing their tasks. Helpful. Useful. An asset to the Institute." He tilted his head at her. "And weak. Poor at combat."

  "You would have done anything to keep them safe?"

  "I did everything that I could." X6-88 said sharply. "I was ineffective in the end, however."

  "Take that feeling and multiply it tenfold, and that's how I felt about Shaun. I knew that I would do everything I could to get my child back. Even if it meant I would have to take down an Institute murder machine." Backhand explained. "There was nothing to exploit, I promise. Just a sad mom's desperation to find her son. Z2-47 gave as good as he got." 

  "I find it very difficult to believe that you employed no underhanded tactics." X6 remarked. "G5 was taken via the use of a pulse grenade, so I assume you must have used something similar."

  "A pulse grenade?" Backhand asked incredulously. "Who the hell were you fighting? "

  "It was a group of raiders that found one of our salvage teams. I was away on another assignment, so I was not physically present." X6's hands gripped down on his thighs. "Had I been there, I assure you things would have played out differently." He muttered.

  "Oh no." Backhand felt a rush of sorrow, and then felt ridiculous. Untold hours ago, she had been standing in Sanctuary Hills, certain that the relay would do absolutely nothing and she would be back to square one. And yet here she was, inside the Institute, listening to a courser talking about losing someone. 

  "I am under the impression that the raiders must have tortured and killed her. Even if she did not die immediately, there is no possibility that someone as weak as her survived on the surface for very long." If Backhand didn't know better, she would have sworn that he sounded grieved. "I asked to be spinally recalibrated and have her memory removed from my processes but my request was denied."

  "Why would you want to-"

  "G5-19 is a distraction." X6-88 growled. "As a courser, I am not permitted distractions."

  "But they denied your request." Backhand repeated.

  "Correct, ma'am."

  "I don't understand why they would say you can't have distractions but then also refuse to remove them." The woman mused, resting her chin in her hand as she thought. "What's the spinal calibration process like?"

  "All synthetic cerebrospinal fluid is drained from the body, wiped of signature and then reinserted via a series of lumbar, thoracic and cervical injections." X6-88 elaborated curtly. "Posture is also corrected during the procedure, as the vertebrae must be properly aligned in order for the fluid to redistribute as intended."

  Vega got a little queasy at his description. "I'm going to assume this isn't a painless undertaking?"

  "It is extremely painful." X6's tone was flat, giving no indication of his feelings on the matter. 

  "But you would have gone through that, just to-"

  "I am an effective instrument of the Institute. If I remove distractions, I am even more effective." X6 interrupted her. "G5-19's memory does not make me more effective. Therefore it is useless to cling to it. I made the mistake of mentioning how distracting I found their memory, and Dr. Ayo wished to study the effects over a period of time. So my request was denied." The leather of his uniform made a soft noise as he shifted in the seat. "I do not prefer one over the other, but if I am not as sharp as possible, there is always an enemy willing to exploit that crack in my armor."

  Vega extended a hand and the courser stared down at it blankly. "May I?" The young woman asked, deliberately keeping her voice even and soft. X6 glanced at her over the tops of those impregnable sunglasses and Backhand was startled to see that his eyes were in fact a light, steely gray.

  "Why?" The synth queried.

  "I'm a tactile person. A lot of times I feel like it's easier to make my point if I'm connected to the person I'm speaking with."

  "I am a tactile learner as well," was all he said in reply. X6-88 didn't move, warily watching her. 

  Backhand relented after a moment, clasping her hands in her lap once more. "I just want you to know that sometimes memories aren't a bad thing, or a distraction. Like with me. Memories were all I had to get me here." She explained pragmatically. "They were my sole, driving force. I was going to get my baby back."

  "Now that you're here, and you can see all the wonders of the Institute firsthand, was it worth it?" X6-88 asked sharply. "Or would it have been better if you woke up without recollection, just another nameless Vault dweller? Can you honestly say you're better off having been reunited with your son?" He challenged her, " especially since you were under the impression that he was still a child via the ruse facilitated by Kellogg and S9-23?"

  Backhand, reeling from the courser's impromptu interrogation, nearly missed the flicker of confusion that twisted his features. She tried to formulate a response, wondering all the while why he was so bent out of shape over her being tricked.

  "I...I meant no offense, ma'am." He said slowly before she could reply. "I am not supposed to ask questions. Why would I ask so many?" He seemed troubled, muttering about needing a full calibration as, " this is getting out of hand ."

  "Look," Backhand said finally, corralling her thoughts into some semblance of order. "I can admit that I don't have all the answers. Despite what every human down here says, we're not actually all-knowing beings. But if you have questions, questions that other people can't or won't answer, I can always take a crack at 'em." She offered.

  "Ma'am, are you implying that our brilliant minds may be keeping information from me?" X6-88 said, a slight uptick in his tone indicating his incredulity.

  Vega held up her hands in an attempt to appease the courser. "Whoa whoa, I'm not saying anything like that. I'm just saying that if you feel like you're not getting the full story, you can ask me. After all, I'm a wellspring of firsthand pre-war knowledge." Her smile turned wry as she recalled Danse's words to her. "A relic, if you will."

  …

  X6-88's first question opened as a statement, oddly enough. "You do not like it down here." The courser observed as he watched her. 

  He had been like a dubiously-benevolent shadow throughout her stay, the work cycles ticking away as she soaked up the Institute's fluorescent ambiance like a sponge. "You're right." Backhand replied. No use denying it . "I don't."

  "Why not?" 

  She leaned silently on the railing overlooking the atrium for several long minutes. "I don't feel like I deserve it, I guess." She admitted softly. "I'm not made for a place like this. Hell, I didn't even feel like I deserved my spot in the Vault. Only reason I went was because of Shaun."

  "You would have died were it not for the obligation you felt towards your offspring?"

  "Well, when you put it like that …" Backhand chuckled sadly. "In a way, yes."

  "Explain."

  "I'm not a good person, X6. Back in the war, I...there's stuff I'm not proud of. I let people goad me into doing things that were out of character for me." She tried to keep it simple, a little less messy than her piecemeal recollections. "I didn't deserve to have a baby. I didn't deserve to have that second chance, that life outside the military." She stared off into space, her eyes unfocused. "I had no one else to love, so I poured all of the affection I had into caring for Shaun. I didn't have a lot after the divorce, but we had a house and food."

  "Divorce?" X6-88 sounded curious. "What were you divorced from?"

  "My husband. Shaun's father."

  "Oh, Progenitor Nathan." X6 mused. "Father has no memory of him."

  "He wouldn't. Nate wanted nothing to do with him." Vega murmured. 

  "I cannot fault him. Infants are highly unsettling." The courser said bluntly, making Backhand burst out laughing. "Ma'am, please attempt to control yourself." 

  "Of course, of course. I'm sorry, X6. I just...the way that you said it, and you being what you are, I couldn't keep my composure." The woman wheezed, grinning up at him. 

  "I'm afraid I don't understand your amusement, ma'am."

  "Well you're this deadly killing machine and yet something so innocent is something you find unnerving." 

  "I am...unused to their noise." X6-88 explained. "They are shrill. Their hunger cries are akin to torture."

  " Oh ." Backhand didn't bother trying to hide her smile. "I guess that would be a problem for you. Back before the war, there were kids everywhere . More chances for people to uh, get used to their racket."

  "That sounds like a nightmare." 

  " Everything about pre-war sounds like a nightmare to you." Backhand retorted petulantly.

  "You are correct, ma'am." X6-88's mouth curved up ever so slightly at the left corner. If she hadn't been watching, she would have missed it. "Children and heights are loathsome to me and from what I learned via browsing archival data, the pre-war world was rife with tall buildings and wailing infants." He cocked his head to look at Backhand over his sunglasses, his expression downright human . "Mankind's ivory towers and dreams of the future did them very little good."

  Backhand suddenly took note of the death grip the courser had on the railing of the balcony. 

  "G5-19 enjoyed children. She was very weak." X6 remarked reluctantly, like the words were being dragged out of him. "I still don't know what she was doing on surface detail. She had never expressed any interest in the surface. She was a simple maintenance synth."

  "I notice that you refer to her as 'she'. The rest of the coursers just call the other synths 'unit'." Backhand pointed out.

  "Another fault of the memories I am plagued by. Speech processor issues. I assign gender due to some form of...error in how I perceived her." X6 shrugged. "Doctor Ayo does not believe it is detrimental for the time being." 

  "Do you think it's because she was a real person to you?" Yikes, too direct , Backhand realized as X6-88 stiffened up. "I mean, because you got to know her. She obviously had some kind of personality that left an impression on you." She tried to amend. The courser was already in turmoil over the memories he didn't want to keep, it wasn't her place to pry.

  "She was weak." X6 seemed to default to that as a descriptor for his... friend , his brow furrowed. Backhand resigned herself to that being the end of the conversation, and then, "she was weak like you are, ma'am."

  "Like me?" The woman asked, surprised. "I don't think I understand."

  X6-88 nodded, his stony expression far from encouraging. "She wanted to help, even if it was detrimental to her. Constantly working. Truthfully, her disregard for the work cycles was what put us in touch in the first place. I was sent to find her when several jobs turned up as incomplete and I located her in a supply closet, fast asleep." He sighed heavily. "I was supposed to reprimand her and send her for recalibration. I still don't understand why I didn't. I even lied and said that I did." 

  The honesty of his admission was unsurprising to Vega; all the synths in the Institute seemed to have very few qualms about telling the truth. She imagined that must be part of their programming, so the scientists could maintain their grip on the synths that vastly outnumbered them.

  "She asked to be transferred from Facilities to Bioscience. She wanted to help, even after her request was denied. She spent all of her free time in Bioscience." His gloves squeaked on the metal bannister. "Then one day I came back from an assignment and she was...gone." He actually sounded pained now, the most emotion she had heard out of him yet. "It was a break in my routine and I do not cope well with such interruptions."

  Translation: I'm sad and I'm not allowed to be , Backhand theorized privately.

  "I would greatly appreciate it if you would not do the same." The courser said abruptly, turning to face her. "Take care of yourself, ma'am. You are, after all, the future of the Institute."

  "X6-"

  "I am being given a new assignment in the following work cycle and will no longer be responsible for you. So I will reiterate my suggestion to you." He said sternly. "Take care of yourself."

  Backhand didn't have the heart to tell the synth that a suggestion and an order were two different things. "Alright." She replied. "I'll do my best, if you promise to do the same. And I...I hope that someday you'll find that friend of yours."

  "Doubtful. But I appreciate the sentiment, ma'am." X6 inclined his head, and then departed. 

  …

  With X6 out in the field, Vega felt like she could finally get down to business. She had a veritable laundry list of to-dos, and she had no idea how long she had even been down here for. 

  There was sneaking into the old branch of Bioscience for the serum to cure Virgil. It was surprisingly simple despite the security measures, to the point where Backhand was almost suspicious .

  Then there was the holotape Sturges had given her to scan the Institute network, easily managed. " I'll be makin' copies of it. I imagine my boy Johnny D. will be mighty interested in what the suits have been up to, and then of course one for your friends in the Brotherhood ." He had informed her right before she had relayed, pressing the tape into her hands. 

  Next there was a bit of a...pet project. X6 had mentioned that his friend (alive and well, unbeknownst to him, functioning as Curie's new body) had expressed no real interest in the surface to the courser, and yet had somehow ended up on a salvage patrol. That sounded like a scheme. A well-meaning scheme. It was possible that there was a scientist sympathetic to the plight of the more self-aware synths.

  Her gentle inquiries put her back in touch with a scientist by the name of Doctor Alan Binet, whom she had met during the first work cycle she spent in the Institute. He worked in Robotics, supervising the creation of synths from the ground up.

  He was delighted to exposit upon his theories of synth cognitive capabilities. The good doctor had apparently witnessed synths experiencing REM sleep, and that fueled him to study their behavior even closer than before. Because if they could dream, why couldn't they have a soul as well?

  But strangely, he seemed adamant in the stance that he would never release the synths to the surface, stating that it was a living hellscape. Backhand couldn't exactly refute his claims either.

  Vega left Robotics stumped and defeated. If not the man who was performing social experiments with the synths, then who?

  She left it alone for the time being, moving on to her last, arguably most important objective. 

  Convincing one Doctor Madison Li to take up her Brotherhood mantle once more.

Part Eleven

[ragnaofazure]

Forever Blue.

“...” A couple more bites, then a big sigh, placing down the plate and utensils he procured next to the sister’s grave, he had finally finished what was his last meal.

Smiling happily, he was calm, he was at peace. A refreshing smile on his face as he remained silent on what could most likely be the last cloudy day of winter, spring was but a couple of weeks away at best, “Sadly the sun didn’t shine as it should for you, sister... I wish I could have made it be so. But even I have my limitations.” Commenting playfully, he caressed the soil she lied under one last time. Slowly, tenderly...

...It’s then his voice cracks if only for a little, knowing that where he was going, he had to face it with a smile, he had learnt that for the better on the later years after he restored the world and gave it back it’s possibility.

...But he couldn’t. Not this time all the way through.

“...More sadly, I can’t go where you deservingly went to, and it’s not like I’m really ‘going’, I’m going to an eternal limbo — maybe more fittingly a purgatory only I and she can enter, and she can’t even really tamper with it, for it’s only my right to do with it as I wish.”

It is then he is unable to hold it anymore.

(BGM)

“... ...” Tears begin streaming down his face as he fully falls to all four, his sobs and gasps as he cries his one, ultimate cutting pain out for the final time, it all drips on that soil many times over for several minutes. He couldn’t hold any thought nor speak coherently further for the moment... Only raw emotions of sadness and pain escaped his body.

“I really, really... With all of this soul, whatever it might even be... I wish I could go where you are. But I don’t remotely deserve that to begin with...” Not even a chance at a reunion was remotely possible, considering his intentions on top of it all.

After solid twenty minutes of letting the grief escape his body, slowly he rises to his feet, wiping away his face with hand and wrist.

“This is the last time we’ll be seeing one another, sister...”

Reaching around his back, he took his sword and planted it next to her grave, imbuing it with his own brand of Ars Magus to ensure that close to no one could remotely have a chance of moving it. Again.

“...” It felt so strange leaving his weapon behind as he turned his back; as if he had left a part of him behind, which in reality, he was doing so.

But it was time to depart, he needed to go to the basement of the ruins of the church to be whisked away to his destination. Where it all began.

Not looking back a single time, the wind blew as a small opening made itself among the clouds in the sky, allowing the sun to shine over the grave and it’s new company. Of one of those moments one could truly believe in little miracles...

One foot in foot in front of the other, he continued to walk the forest down the hill, it was then, to further let everything sink in...

“...?” Many forest friends came out of the woods, as if they somehow knew he was leaving for good. A couple of bluebirds and their newborn capable of flying reached to nest in his hair again, a bear he had met far from here came to nuzzle at his side, a herd of rabbits, which he was sure there were only two of, now multiplied five times came to hop alongside, and of course... One stray cat that somehow had survived and adopted to this environment leaped to one of his shoulders.

“...You all know or so?” He had to stop, to look downwards and ask, taking in every single one of them, and the look on their faces said it all, “I’ll miss every single one of you, even if you forget me, I won’t.” This wasn’t making it any easier, but what really drove it home?

"Hey, hey...” The bluebirds rubbing it’s head to his cheek only caused his heart to crack, “There there... If I can ask you all a favor, which I’m sure will remain... Please. Take care of the sister for me. Keep her good company and more, I’ll appreciate that on the other side forever.”

The animal friends seemed to understand, “...I shouldn’t try and stall this anymore.” Ragna then spoke, “You all can come with me to the ruins, but after that... That’s enough.” Hoping they were able to also understand that, he resumed his walk, for there was only halfway left of the path to the end.

He did slow down as he finally reached the ruins, no more than ten minutes after.

Standing at the edge, right before where the entrance used to stand when it was an actual building, he stepped forward without them, turning one last time to face all of them... The sadness was in the air and could be felt.

“You are all amazing. Be friendly to whoever comes too, unless they are terrible, always keep this haven safe, yeah? Goodbye. All of you.” Then turning his face to not let them see more tears, he began his climb down to below the ground; to that basement.

Eventually those remains came into view, with all of the crystals that responded to his right arm. He walked around until he stood dead center in front of it, smiling as he looked at was left of the Black Beast with a small sense of pride and acceptance.

“...It’s so fitting to be standing in front of you one last time as it all comes to an end.” He spoke, “You won’t return, and I can tell you already feel that.” Ragna could perceive it’s disdain emanating from his very soul, but it could do nothing about this, it hadn’t nurtured to it’s necessary needed state that would only be reached at the end of his life.

"...” He closed his eyes and concentrated, calling out to the Azure, he knew there would be one answer as the matching light eventually began to engulf him, warping him to where only those chosen could be allowed to enter, and he was the only one with that right left.

Soon enough, he opened his eyes again. He was in the space of the Gate. A lone, extensive space with that girl awaiting right before it, guarding it, the eliminator of threats outside of reason as well...

...But she answered to him if he so wished it, despite the lack of expression, she welcomed him with open arms, essentially. He had told her prior he would come today, for he intended... To go sleep. He was going to not use the Azure to alter anything, obviously, but he wanted to enter that same space as to remove himself from existence again, yet to not disappear forever once more.

She did not question it, if that was what the Man of Azure; the Azure itself desired, he was free to do carry out said wish.

“...You might not understand it well, even if only you will be the only one to hold that record of me given reasons, but... I’ll miss you too. Try and do more then stand here whenever, after all, no more successors  or inheritors will come and hopefully it stays that way. No one will be able to make use of this place at all.” Those were his parting words to the girl, and now that it had been said, he raised his right arm, the back of his palm shining the brightest it had ever done so.

The True Azure had been used and the gates were being opened just enough to let him pass... 

“...Goodbye, Es. May we meet somehow again perhaps, I’ll somehow treat you anytime still.” Leaving a heartfelt farewell, he turned his back to the last person who would see him and passed through the gate, smiling and, of course, still never looking back whatsoever.

Walking into the blinding light, the man known as Ragna the Bloodedge was disappearing from everyone’s memories, leaving nothing but perceptions of belief of his existence, which would also disappear from everyone’s minds as well, in anyone he made strong impressions of as the gate shut and locked.

Just like that, the man was no more as he once fell into that void of infinity, slowly closing his eyes as he fell further and further down bottom, entering a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

—————

...Days later, after every trace of him had virtually vanished for good, even leaving huge blank spaces in wanted posters and beyond, anything that contained a trace of him had somehow disappeared, leaving confusion and headaches to everyone.

...On the sister’s grave, where his sword still stood, a blue rose; a particular shade of blue somehow sprouted right on the center of the grave. How? Nobody knew, nor there was anyone to see it.

Ragna the Bloodedge officially ceased to exist once more.

His only wish having been that, despite no longer walking the Earth, was to have done any sort of good despite his role and he never gave up at any adversity during his second opportunity to live.

Despite never knowing if it was satisfactory second chance at life in terms of doing better then all the evil he carried out as his role as the Destroyer, he left without regrets.

Possibilities are endless, he proved that. And he hopes anyone else continues to believe that.

No matter how much it hurts, no matter how terrible the world and life is, hands are dealt for a reason.

As long as one believes in a single shred of hope and attempts to claw upwards...

Possibilities eventually become reality, or at least it was better then to simply lie down and vanish.

This is what he fought for.

And he never bent nor broke. Anyone can at least try.

Always believe. And never give up.

Fin.

[nyxinight]

Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi was seriously wondering if paper work mated like rabbits and multiplied every time he turned his back to them. ‘Wonder if Cody would be mad if I “accidentally” set fire to the paper work.’ He thought to himself with a sigh. As he was going to actually start doing some work and get the paperwork done, not that it ever was, his communicator beeped.

“General.” Commander Cody said from the other end.

“Commander, what can I help you with?” Obi-Wan asked. ‘Please I beg you, don’t say paperwork.’

“Not right now but if you’re offering later.” The smirk in Codys voice was not obvious on his face but you could see it in his eyes.

“Did I say that out loud?” Obi-Wan wondered but didn’t actually expect an answer for it was quite obvious.

“The high generals would like to speak with you in the control center.” Cody informed.

“I’ll be right there.” Obi-Wan got up from his desk. And then with a teasing smile he said “And you can do your own cursed paperwork.”

He shut of the comm to the sound of his commander’s chuckles. As he stretched, he heard his back pop and groaned. He looked longingly over at his teapot and quietly promised himself that he would enjoy a nice cup of tea when he got back.

~~~~~

When Obi-Wan arrived at the command center the blue holograms of Master Yoda and Master Windu where talking quietly with each other. He nodded to Commander Cody and then went to stand in front of the holo-table.

“Master Yoda, Master Windu.” Obi-Wan bowed his head in respect.

“Master Kenobi.” Mace Windu acknowledged as both he and Yoda nodded back.

“A mission for you, we have.” Master Yoda informed.

“A planet in the outer rim has been discovered. This planet is saturated in the force and could be a good place to set up a base for force healing.” Master Windu explained. “From what we have gathered the planet seems to be uninhabited but we want you to check it out.”

“How come no one has discovered this planet before?” Obi-Wan inquired.

“Hidden it has been, but how we do not know.” Yoda stated. “Be careful, you must.”

“We have sent you the coordinates and the information we have on the planet. May the Force be with you.” Master Windu bowed his head and then the hologram shut off.

As Obi-Wan opened the information packet on his pad Cody come over to stand on his right.

“So, we are going to a completely unknown planet?” Cody asked.

“Yes, it’s so unknown that it doesn’t even have a name.” Obi-Wan hummed.

“That we know of.” Cody pointed out.

“That we know of.” Agreed Obi-Wan.

~~~~~

It took them three days to arrive at the planet, three days in which Obi-Wan read and re-read the information packet on said planet and drank lots of tea. There might have been some paperwork in there to but Obi-Wan liked to ignore that part, for his sanity of course.

As it was, he was now standing on the bridge looking out at the planet below. It was quite beautiful, all green and blue, looking like an untouched lush paradise. ‘Well look at that’ Obi-Wan thought. ‘I’m getting poetic in my old age.’

“General.” Cody began. “How are we going to do this?”

“We are going to take a small crew on a LAAT/i. I assume that you want to be one of the ones to go down to the planet with me, Commander.” Obi-Wan observed.

“You assume correctly, General.” Cody nodded.

“Then you can decide who else is going with us, but no more than ten troopers.” Obi-Wan informed. “We’ll leave in two hours.”

~~~~~

Those two hours were spent packing and meditating for Obi-Wan. As he arrived at the LAAT/I he saw Cody already there.

“Just us then Commander?” Obi-Wan teased.

“I may be good at my job, General, but I’m not good enough to keep your danger attracting ass out of trouble by myself.” Cody grinned.

“I’m not that bad!” Obi-Wan protested with a laugh.

“No, you’re worse.” Came the rough voice from behind Obi-Wan.

As he turned Obi-Wan saw the medic of the 212th, Bones, standing there with two medical bags at his feet.

“You wound me Bones.” Obi-Wan smirked as Bones just huffed.

While this had been going on Waxer, Boil, Wooley, Crys, Trapper, Longshot, Gearshift, Threepwood and Oddball had arrived.

“I said only ten, Commander, this is eleven.” Obi-Wan sighed.

“No, you said, and I quote: ‘no more than ten troopers.’” Cody smirked. “There are actually only eight troopers, then you have a medic, a pilot and a Commander.”

“I hate you.” Obi-Wan grumbled.

“No you don’t” laughed Cody.

“Get on the ship.” Obi-Wan groaned.

“Yes sir!” Cody mock saluted to the laughter of the others.

As Oddball flies them towards the planet Obi-Wan stars feeling…weird. It’s not a bad feeling per say, but like there is something coming. Just as he’s about to tell the others to be careful Oddballs voice is heard over the comms.

“I’m getting some strange readings on the instruments.”

“What sort of strange?” Cody asked in full Commander mode.

“The magnetic field is fluctuating and it’s like the planet is…well…all topsy turvy.” Oddball hesitantly mutters.

“’Topsy turvy’?” Waxer snickers. “Is that a technical term?”

Before Oddball could answer the whole LAAT/i pulled sharply downwards to the left.

“Oddball what are you doing?!” Cody exclaimed.

“It’s not me commander.” Oddball shouted back. “It’s like something on the planet is pulling us down and I no longer have any control of the ship.”

The last thing Obi-Wan heard before everything goes black is Oddball shouting “Brace for impact!”

[lightningmastertrilogy]

Path Of Lightning: Origins chapter 17: The fox

Chapter summary: Bob faces off against the assassin, engaging in a fight to death for the necklace.

Word count: 3k words.

Read all chapters here | Read on Wattpad.

Taglist: @cadewrites, @lycobra, @ruehyte, @love-killed-the-superstar, @rhyaxxyn, @badman-blr

New chapter:

Silence lingered in the room, as the fox and the author observed each other for what felt like eternity. No one was willing to land a hit. 

Bob kept his composure, though his body was itching to make the first move.

People give off auras, some are stronger than others, and this woman’s aura was about to suffocate him. He couldn’t see her eyes hidden behind the masks’ lenses, but he still felt like they were digging into his soul.

And then, in the blink of an eye, she was dashing towards him. Her speed was hard to follow, so he quickly wrote something on his notebook, creating a line before him just in time to shield him from her blade. His eyes darted to the other hand. The assassin raised her other sword, and with a swift move, Bob made another line to block it.

She silently leaned forward, as if challenging him, before pulling away and bending down, and sweeping his legs.

The author barely had time to react, and as he was falling backwards, he saw her arms outstretched to her sides, ready to cut him in two. She swung both her swords towards him, and he clicked on the tip of his pen, making it light up.

A blue light circle showed up behind him, and he let himself fall into it, letting it swallow him, and avoiding the tips of the katanas by an inch.

The assassin jumped backwards, looking around for the author. The circle was gone the moment he fell into it, and she had no indication of where he could be.

There was nothing but silence, no sounds of breathing, no footsteps, no presence. He was gone.

The assassin knew better than to relax though, and she was right, because she swiftly turned around, gliding in a circle, and cut a ray of light that was heading towards her.

“Impressive.” Bob walked out of another circle, and smirked, his pen brushing against the notebook’s paper. “You’re not an intruder I should underestimate. I am quite intrigued by you.” Dozens of blue circles appeared around the room, surrounding them both. “However, you’ve made your choice, and now I must write you off the story.”

A circle appeared in the space between them and the woman backed away and raised both her swords in defense. The blades lit up for a moment, with purple energy surrounding them, then disappearing.

Bob’s pen brushed against the paper, and a ray of light burst out of it and towards the intruder, who cut through it with her weapons.

Without losing his focus, the author kept writing and more circles surrounded the woman and fired magic at her. She cut all the lights with her swords, but it was all in vain. Cutting the magic only served to multiply it and all the lines that she cut froze in space around her.

Her eyes widened, and a shadow enveloped her right as all those lights around her exploded.

Bob watched as the room lit up for a few seconds, only to be dulled by all the smoke created by the damage.

He stood there, keeping the tip of his pen on the paper. There was no sound of movement, and while his attack was not enough to kill, it should have knocked the intruder out.

He felt something. It wasn't sound, or even aura, in fact, there was nothing at all. It was mere luck that he looked up.

The woman was falling towards him, with her swords raised up to strike him down.

He let his pen slip through the blank page, creating a portal that absorbed the woman, only to spit her out through another on the other side of the room.

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” He frowned, panting from the sudden attack. Lights appeared behind him, taking the forms of arrows. He launched them at her, as she ran towards him.

She put her swords back, and pulled a couple of shuriken from her waist bag. She avoided a couple of the arrows, before throwing the shuriken at the author.

He opened another portal before himself, and the other opening appeared right before the assassin.

It was a foolish attempt, or so, he thought.

The woman jumped backwards towards that hole, allowing the shuriken to pierce her back and arm. She pulled one of her swords, and thrusted it into the portal, making it appear right before Bob, and with a turn of her wrist, she angled it well enough to impale his notebook.

She pulled away, right before the portal and arrows disappeared.

Bob groaned and threw his notebook away. He wrote a spell on the palm of his hand, and started chanting under his breath.

The assassin headed towards him once again, but this time, she disappeared from his sight, and the next thing he knew, her sword went through his body, causing him to scream in agony, and vomit blood.

He grabbed her by the arm, and smirked. The woman only stared back unmoving.

“I have you where I want you.” Blue chains appeared on his arm, before turning into flames.

The woman kicked him away, and watched him drop to the floor, and watched as his flames took over his body, until it disappeared.

It disappeared, leaving a blue glowing rabbit staring back at her. Its ears twitched, and the floor beneath them became black, yet she heard a single drop of water echoing in the background.

The rabbit ran by her, and with every jump, she heard a drop, and with every drop, a mirror emerged from the darkness.

She looked up, and she was no longer in the same room, not with the moon staring down.

She slowly took every shuriken from her body, while patiently waiting for the rabbit to finish its job, and when she turned to look at him again, copies of herself came through every mirror.

The assassin put back her swords, and placed her hands on her hips, silently watching. Her shoulders shook for a moment, as if suppressing a laugh.

She raised one of her hands towards the enemies and gestured towards herself, anticipating their attacks.

                                             -P.O.L:Origins-

Meanwhile, the building started to slowly regain its old shape but most of the doors were still blocked. Liz was leaning against the wall, moving her injured shoulder and testing it, while Nosaru tried to contact her sister.

“Hello?” Aiko’s face appeared on the tablet’s screen. She took a book off her head and it looked like her office was a mess. She fixed her hair and took a look at her sister. “You look troubled.” She stated.

“The place was attacked and we’re stuck. I don’t know how many are there but I heard what sounded like a fight nearby. You think you could send some help?” Nosaru asked, hoping to get some support.

“Oh please, I took care of that ages ago.” Aiko answered with a smug expression. The confusion on the younger sister’s face made her smile grow wider. “I had a feeling that things would go wrong, so I sent backup.” She explained. If anything, Aiko had some good intuition.

Nosaru sighed in relief and smiled. “I can’t decide if you’re amazing or scary.”

“Amazingly scary?” Liz suggested.

“Isn’t my pet impressive?” Aiko commented in amusement. “Nosaru, pet her for me, would you?” She said much to the blonde’s dismay and ended the call.

Nosaru smirked and put a hand on her partner’s head, making the blonde groan.

“Liz! Nosaru!” They both turned to the person calling their names. 

Tara and Yuki ran towards them, able to reach them now that the walls were taking their former shapes.

“Are you okay?” Tara asked and kneeled beside Liz when she noticed her bloody clothes. The blonde nodded with a reassuring smile, while the ice user sighed in relief.

“We need to get into the room!” Yuki said and Nosaru nodded and followed him while Liz leaned against Tara for support.

They ran to the room and tried to open the door, but the moment Yuki tried to touch the handle, it shocked him, making him pull his hand away. The door was protected by a magic field.

Nosaru put a hand on his shoulder, making him move away. She summoned the knight’s phantom surprising the group except for Liz who caught a glimpse of it earlier. The phantom’s sword crashed with the wall but the field blocked the sword, causing Nosaru to stumble backwards at the impact.

“What was THAT?” Yuki yelled at the sight of the knight. He yelped when he noticed chains tying Nosaru’s back to the phantom. Tara only watched in awe.

“I’ll explain later, we need to figure a way in first.”

“Perhaps we need to use magic? It is a building for wizards after all.” Tara suggested, while Liz’s eyebrows shot up, before she touched the necklace around her neck.

“Then how were the intruders able to get in and change its shape?” Nosaru asked, but as soon as she did, her eyes widened. “Are you suggesting that they might have magic knowledge?”

“It’s possible.” Tara said. It was the only possibility she could think of. A wizard must have betrayed the others.

“In that case, try this.” Liz took off her necklace and handed it to the knight, who looked back at her confused. “Bob gave it to me, so maybe if you have a magical object you can break it.”

Nosaru looked in surprise, before taking the necklace, and wrapping it around the handle of her sword.

                                            -P.O.L:Origins-

The fight in the other room continued, as the assassin battled her own clones.

She ran towards them, avoiding their attacks, and heading towards the farthest ones. The first clone in her way drew its sword, and attempted to cut her, only for the woman to duck to the side, and kick the copy in the face, before pulling it by the arm using it as a shield for an upcoming attack from behind.

She pushed them towards each other, resulting in one of them getting impaled and disappearing into smoke. She jumped to the side, dodging another slash, then punching the clone in the stomach, making it collide with the others.

“It’s useless. The clones will keep coming, and you will eventually run out of energy to fight.” The author’s voice echoed in the room, and she looked around trying to find its source.

The assassin then turned to one of the mirrors, and pulled one of her swords, and attacked it, breaking it.

The shattered glass started glowing, and she jumped backwards, as the shards turned into blue flames, merging together into the rabbit from before.

The assassin turned and dashed towards the clones, and every step she took on the water, caused a circle to glow, leaving a mark for the rabbit to follow.

Three of the clones rushed towards her, so she jumped towards them, then used one's shoulders as a push for another jump.

The clones ended up being the victim of the rabbit, its mere touch sat them on fire.

Unfortunately, more clones emerged from the mirrors.

The woman's eyes looked left and right, before she pulled more shuriken.

She threw them around with precision, shattering most of the mirrors, and as more rabbits took form and sought her, she fought off her clones, using them as shields.

She pulled her other katana, and blocked one attack after another, while setting more of her enemies on fire.

She ducked an attack, making two of the copies stab each other, and used her shuriken to destroy the rest of the mirrors, emptying the dark room once again.

There were no more rabbits, and no more clones.

She was alone, with no exit.

"Give it up." The author spoke again. "You have no way out. If you stand down, your punishment won't be severe."

The assassin crossed her arms, as if thinking about his suggestion. She then shrugged, giving him her answer.

She heard another water drop, and looked down.

The once dark water started glowing in blue.

Her eyes widened in realization, and she looked around, still not seeing a way out.

She then looked up to the moon, and a purple circle appeared beneath her feet. She jumped high with the force of that circle pushing her forward.

The blue 'water' took the form of a giant flaming rabbit, following after her.

Purple energy surrounded her sword, as she raced against the beast to reach the fake moon.

She slashed with her swords, sending the energy in her swords towards it, and allowing herself to fall into the flames.

The energy reached the fake moon, breaking the dark surroundings into a thousand mirror shards, bringing her back into the room.

Bob stood in the middle of the room, glaring at the falling woman, whose body was filled with burns.

He sighed, and created a light in the ground to catch her. However, the woman opened her eyes, and turned towards him.

A circle appeared again on her feet, suspending her in the air.

Bob's eyes widened and he took his pen to write and spell, but the woman already jumped, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

His heart stopped when the woman landed behind him.

He blinked, realizing that he was still breathing, and that she did not cut him in half.

He turned, only for the hand holding his pen to hit with the blade, forcing him to drop it.

He groaned in pain and grasped his hurt hand, then looked at the woman whose blade was now an inch away from his throat.

The burns from her body were healing.

"Regeneration? Are you a demon?" He asked, sweating as he tried to figure a way to escape.

The woman simply titled her head in amusement.

Her free hand held the necklace.

"When did you get that?!" Her only response was to twirl it around her finger. "That object is not a toy." He stated, straightening his back as his glare hardened.

At that notion, the necklace disappeared from her hand, only leaving traces of her purple energy.

His eyes widened, and he clenched his teeth.

“Where did it go?”

He received no response, only the blade touching his neck enough to cause the smallest of cuts.

Letting out a shaky breath, he moved his thumb on his injured hand, writing something with his blood.

The woman jumped backwards, but chains emerged from the ground, catching her.

Shadowy lines surrounded her bodies, before going towards the author to attack him.

He prepared himself to fight back, only for the wall to fall apart, surprising both Bob, and his enemy.

Nosaru appeared from the other side, and when she the assassin, she equipped a gun and shot at her.

The woman’s shadow broke her chains, allowing her to dodge the shot, but only barely, as the energy broke a part of her mask, revealing a hint of her golden eye.

She and Nosaru locked gazes for a split second, before the purple shadow enveloped her body, causing her to disappear from the room.

Bob placed his palm on his face, and sighed.

He then looked at Nosaru, who seemed as disappointed as he was. The others walked into the room, and Liz shot him a concerned look.

“Bob! Are you okay?” She asked, but still held on to Tara.

“I could ask you the same.” He walked towards them, concerned at all the blonde.

“It’s just a flesh wound.” Liz grinned, and Nosaru sighed deeply.

He chuckled at her response, but his face soon turned somber.

“I should have been more careful.” Bob said and loosened his tie, frustrated.

“Aiko sent some help, so hopefully they might be able to track her.” Nosaru informed him then unequipped her weapon.

Bob sighed, thinking of the consequences this could have. The fact that a penergy user managed to get inside meant two things. That woman was either a witch, or she had a wizard help her. He leaned more towards the second one. Wizards and witches awakening penergy wasn’t impossible, but was a rare case and they mostly don’t use it because of their pride.

That meant that someone betrayed them. But who?

                                            -P.O.L:Origins-

The masked woman was transported to a building outside. She stared at the moon, although a real one this time, before chuckling and removing her mask.

“What an entertaining night this turned out to be.” She smirked, and looked at the quiet streets. “It’s up to you now, Chameleon.”

The Chameleon she was wondering about, ran as far as he could the moment he received the necklace.

He had green hair and brown eyes. He wore a green and yellow hoodie, along with black jeans. Just like his partner, he had a mask on his face, but this one was completely white, with no patterns.

It was the simplest of masks, to cover his identity.

His gaze went from left to right, watching his surroundings.

He suddenly stopped and jumped away, avoiding what looked like an energy bullet. He lifted his eyes and was met with the sight of a trio.

It was no other than The End, Copycat, and Malik.

“I’m afraid this is where you stop.” The End pointed his gun at him, looking extremely serious considering what he was about to say. “I am the End.”

Chameleon blinked.

“I am Copy Cat!” Copy Cat introduced himself then pointed his finger at Malik. “And that is-“

“DON’T!” Malik yelled, and grabbed his friend’s arm, pulling down.

“Sandy!” Copy Cat finished, making him groan loudly.

“I hate my life.” Malik stated, and crossed his arms. “Why do you always do that?! Why must you embarrass me every time?”

“This is our trademark bro! You can’t run away from who you are!”

Chameleon watched the strange scene unfold with wide eyes, and all he could say was…

“This… This might as well happen.” 

Next chapter: The Chameleon.

[platypus-quacks-too]

Hi!!! I'm asking again for another prompt cause I'm a big fan of your work, my prompt is about the new episode, the reason why Amy planted the book is because she is already pregnant and she wanted Sheldon to be ready...

Note: I did not forget about the older prompt from you and others, it’s just this one clicked more with me and I had a better idea. Clearly, fluff is the way here. I am happy I managed to write anyway, but I hope you guys will enjoy it. You can also find it on ff net as The Dreamlike Progeny Revelation.

Amy closes her eyes and tries to put herself to rest. She’s a bit envious of Sheldon, who fell asleep so quickly after their goodnight. She assumes physics is not as good as her worries to keep someone awake. There is so much going on in her mind right now to even hope to sleep anytime soon.

Her hand naturally goes to rest on her belly as she relives the past day. She loved to see Sheldon getting more comfortable around the younger Wolowitz just as she was pleased with the ingenious way she had found to bring him there. On the other hand, her plan had worked only part way through: it didn’t give her the chance to tell her husband about their own progeny currently growing inside her.

Sure, he really did have fun with the little ones today. She almost burst Into tears watching Sheldon rocking Michael to sleep, or melting in a smile because the baby had taken his finger. And while that book was only meant to be a way to reach her goal, she has to admit it has a few very interesting experiments. As a neuroscientist, observing and testing the wonder of the human development was absolutely fascinating, and she had been the first to suggest to Sheldon how their offspring should have the potential to be even so remarkable.

Now everything is different. Only a few inches below her hand there is a baby. Their child. Will she probably think to carry out some test or closely report all of its progresses growing up? Very likely so. But now she mostly sees its bright eyes and tiny hands, and all she can think of is to keep it safe from the world.

She knows Sheldon is going to love their kid immensely. She also knows how her husband works. He had never been comfortable around little humans, so it felt natural to try to have him relating with babies more gradually than hitting him right away with the news of the upcoming parenthood. What better occasion then spending some time with their friends’ little bundles of joy? Sheldon can get used to them first, and maybe stop considering toddlers and infants merely as test subjects that cry and poop.

So far so good, except of course for the fact he still insists about multiplying like rabbits. She squeezes her belly slightly as a funny thought popped into her mind. What if there are actually twins down there? Or maybe triplets? Having one baby is scary and exciting enough. Three? It is way more than she thinks she can handle.

Sheldon mutters something in his sleep.  “Professor Einstein, you are forgetting your coat…!”  He adds then.

Amy shakes her head before looking down, “Four of you? It sounds fun…!”

She turns toward Sheldon and smiles. “I probably better try to get some sleep now,” she says again to her baby, “We will think of something else tomorrow.”

She moves closer to him and snuggles into him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. The smell of baby powder is already soothing her as she pulls him closer. He seems to be sleeping sound; nevertheless, Amy feels his hands moving on hers and his legs entwining with her own. In no time she slips into sleep, feeling safely enclosed with her little growing family.

*

Einstein left a while ago, so now Sheldon is wandering around not sure on what to do, or where he is. He has been walking down a long corridor for what it felt a lifetime, until he finally finds something worth mentioning: a pink door with a tiny cartel saying ‘Subject #1’. More intriguing, someone drew a line over the writing.

He decides to enter the room, and it gets… odder. A toddler is sitting right in the middle of it. She looks busy with a bunch of building blocks.

“Hi Daddy,” the baby girl greets him.

“Daddy?”

She doesn’t seem to be bothered by his father’s puzzled tone. “I am your child, Marie,” she informs him, “Don’t you recognize me?”

Sheldon tentatively shakes his head. “I have mama’s eyes, the Cooper’s hair?” She tries, “I am named after your favorite female scientist but you tell grandma it’s after her?”

Sheldon takes a moment to better observe the little girl. Amy’s green eyes sparkle over an angelic face framed by chestnut curls. He doesn’t know many toddlers except of the Wolowitz ones, but definitely he can say she is a very pretty little girl.

He moves closer and it suddenly occurs to him she shouldn’t be talking the way she does.

“How old are you?” He asks abruptly, “You shouldn’t be talking this well already.”

She switches the two blocks she was focusing on over the last minutes before answering, “I am two, and I can properly talk because I am super smart, obviously.”

Sheldon can’t hold a satisfied grin. Too bad Marie contradicts him already, “To be honest, I can talk because this is a dream, and I am just an expression of your subconscious. You didn’t believe I was that smart, did you?”

“Don’t you get sassy with me, little lady,” he scolds her, “I am your father after all. Or the conscious to your subconscious, you name it.”

“I get the sass from mama. You like that in her.”

Sheldon sits with Marie. What better proof it is a dream than the fact he willingly sits on the floor?  “I do, but we don’t tell her,” he then admits. She smiles in return, and Sheldon thinks that’s another thing she got from Amy.

They remain silent for a little while. Marie continues to handle her blocks while Sheldon observes her mesmerized.“So, haven’t you figured out it yet?” She finally asks once she has done.

“That you have been writing our super-asymmetry equations with those? Of course I have.”

“I don’t mean this. It doesn’t even take this much imagination to figure it out,” she replies, “I meant something else. Look at that,” she adds, pointing somewhere behind Sheldon. He turns and looks in that direction: a calendar?

November 7, 2021.

“It’s almost three year in the future,” Sheldon observes, “I got it! We are inside a virtual reality simulator! Can I get to the commands?”

Marie sighs. “To be exact, we are two years and eight months from your present, and no, this is not a virtual simulation. C'mon daddy, it is so obvious! Are you sure you are a genius?”  She mocks him.

Sheldon is too disappointed to be bothered by the snarky remark. “What else can it be? I can’t think of anything better.”

Marie insists, “For instance, have you noticed anything weird with mom lately? Like stumbling upon a book about experimenting on babies.”

“I realized she did want me to find the book,” Sheldon confesses, “But I know it was only because she didn’t want to admit she wanted to experiment on Halley and Michael. Sometimes people tell us it isn’t really moral to conduct trials on our friends. I know, they are crazy,” he adds once he sees Marie is shaking her head again.

“It wasn’t because of this. Well, it wasn’t only because of this,” Marie concedes. “Think harder: have you noticed mom felt sick almost every morning in the last couple of weeks? Any emotional lability?”

“Oh, what a nice word, lability. You don’t hear it enough.”

She ignores the unrequested parenthesis and continues, “And have you noticed she went missing for most of yesterday…? Do you remember what happened six weeks ago?”

Marie has stressed the last question weirdly. Well, as weird as it can possibly sound for a toddler who is talking like an adult. Trying to focus on her question, Sheldon takes a moment to remember. He quickly turns pale when he realizes what she is hinting at.

“You and mom made love, and you were so into the role of a reckless Gryffindor that-”

“Don’t say it!” Sheldon interrupts her, “I won’t discuss such things with… well, with you.”

“Remember I am not really your daughter, but only your subconscious,” she answers back, “Don’t be shy.”  

“I am not shy. It’s just-” It is a bigger deal than discussing coitus with a self projection of himself in the form of his future daughter. What she is implying… No, it can’t be. Even in the robe of a reckless wizard, he knows he has been careful, especially when Amy does her best to bewitch him.

But even admitting he somehow lacked on precautions, has what they are suspecting really happened? Sure, Amy lately complained of some morning sickness and ate a whole bowl of chocolate ice cream in one lump. Yes, she did disappear for whole day and behaved weirdly even since she got back home. But what is weird anyway? She is weird enough to have married him.

“So, you got it?” Marie urges him.

Sheldon takes a deep breath and still hesitates before being able to say that. “Are you saying you- Amy is pregnant? With you?”

Marie casually shrugs. “You are saying that,” she says. Sheldon remained speechless.

“I am hungry,” she adds then, “You should feed me,” she declares standing up and reaching out to Sheldon.

“Feed?”

“You cut some watermelon for me and then let an airplane fly in my mouth. I may be a product of your mind, but I still need to be fed like any other toddler.”

Marie’s big eyes stare at him. She may be talking like a 40 year old, but those puppy eyes are those of a child. His child. Now everything he can think of is landing watermelon cubes into her mouth.

He stands and takes the hand of his little girl. Lord, she is so tiny next to him. He realizes she is looking up at him.

“I can’t wait to meet you, dad.”

*

It feels bittersweet waking up. He hates to be taken away so abruptly from his girl- um, that marvelous product of his subconscious. On the other hand, he has found himself wrapped in Amy’s arms, who breathes peacefully on his neck and holds him tight in her sleep.

Just as he closes his eyes back to enjoy his wife’s embrace, Marie’s words echo in his mind. What if she is right? All those things he noticed himself but didn’t pay attention to before…

Carefully, he turns around to face her and plants a kiss on her lips.  

“Mmm, I like this,” she mutters with a grin, “You should wake me up this way more often. How’s that?”

“I will. I- I had a dream,” Sheldon starts saying, even if he realizes that saying out loud what he is thinking is so scary.

“Marie appeared in my dreams. She was writing the fundamental equations of super-asymmetry with building blocks and made me think about the book we found in the library, and your morning sickness, and that whole bowl of ice-cream you had the other day…”

Amy is pretty sure her heart stopped for a short while. Did he find out…? Also, why Marie Curie is making her husband realize she is pregnant?

“Marie? You mean Marie Curie?” It’s all she can ask back.

“No. I mean, I saw her earlier with Einstein-” he interrupts as soon as Amy raises her eyebrows, “Anyway, it wasn’t her. It was our daughter.”

The very way her eyes widen… oh boy, Marie is right. “Amy… she implied a thing. She suggested that last month, when we made love-”

“She told you the truth.” She doesn’t even know how, but the words just flow out of her. “She- he, whatever… it’s here already.”

Good thing he is lying already or he would have been falling down like a sack of potatoes in no time. Even if a part of him knew it before, her explicit admission is a lot to deal with.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He eventually manages to say.

She can’t help but feeling a little guilty because she hid her pregnancy for two whole days. She kisses him before apologising, “I- I am sorry. It’s just… you always say how sure you are we will have super-smart children, and today you reiterated the idea we will be able to follow their growth on a scientific point of view, and making experiments with them…”

“Maybe they will be super-smart,” she continues, “And the experiments are fun and I can’t wait to redo a couple of the ones we tried today. But before telling you… I needed to be sure you will want to hold our baby in your arms, or feed it, or change the diaper, and love it no matter what.”

Maybe he wasn’t ready for all of these just the same. Maybe he will never be. Or maybe she was wrong the whole time and he just can’t wait to sing Soft Kitty to the little thing currently living in her belly.

“I dreamed she asked me for watermelon and that she wanted me to play the little airplane to land it. Once she asked me- That’s all I wanted to do then.” Sheldon thinks he wants to caress her belly but eventually takes her hand and gently squeezes it, “She also took my hand and I think my heart almost exploded. I didn’t care about her intelligence or any trial I could even try with her. I only wanted to hold her and eat watermelon together.”

This is enough for Amy to dispel all her doubts. Oh, silly Amy. If marrying Sheldon ever taught her something, it is was how full of love her husband is. Today is no exception. He will be a great father, won’t he? Even if there will be a cognitive test from time to time.

He holds Amy closer and kisses her forehead. “Do you think there’s a chance for twins?” He asks hopefully.

Amy sighs. Here he is again…! Of course, she won’t admit to him she had the same thought.

“We won’t have twins because you need a control group,” Amy jokingly scolds him.

“I wasn’t think of that…Well, that’s a positive side effect,” he confirms, “But I mostly want to have many little versions of us… of you.”

“Very good save,” Amy concedes, and Sheldon smiles back proudly.

[shield-agent78]

Devil’s Backbone

Linguistics

Bucky x OC

Warnings: language, combat, injuries, blood, anguish, panic, mentions of surgery (no major details discussed)

A/N: It’s all been leading up to this moment. Their home has been attacked and they have been called out by the enemy. What would you do when the person you love was in danger? How far would you be willing to go to save the one that you loved?

undefined

(Three days into the mission)

Nerves yep. I had myself totally convinced until this morning. Sick again and hiding it from Bucky. So, I decided that I would visit my new friend in her lab. She could help me or send me to a doctors or whatever. The automatic doors opened as greated by the whirrling noise of machines. My eyes rooming the room her until I found her looking over data.

"Hi Shuri. I was wondering if you could help me with something please?"

"Yes of course. What can I do for you today?" She asked looking up from her work.

" I ugh think I’m sick. Is there someone that could give me a check up or something?”

“Oh there is no need for that. I can do that right here. Come with me.” Her work was quickly abandoned as she led me into a room with what she called a healing machine was located. “Just lay down on the bed. I will check all vitals.” I did as instructed as a warm blue glow began to surround me. I raised my hand up to feel it’s warmth but soon was told to keep still. In a matter a moments Suri came running toward me, her eyes widen in surprise. “I believe I know what this is but it it can’t be or can it? Oh western medicine is so fickle,” she mumbled as she quickly pushed up my shirt placing a dopler onto my abdominal area.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong? Suri, please tell me some. . . I stopped in mid sentence as a shushing sound filled the room. She looked down and smiled as my eyes widened. “Is ugh is that a heart beat?” Suri gave me a nod with a huge smile as I broke into happy tears.

"I am assuming the White Wolf doesn’t know yet?"

" No, we didn’t even think it was possible."

"He will be so excited. Congratulations ma'am."

"Please don't tell him or anyone."

" You have no need to worry your secret is safe with me."

I tossed and turned that night listening to the waves of the river lap the bank outside of the yurt. Why haven’t I told him yet? How should I tell him? If I do there would be no way in hell he would let me fight. I looked over watching the man I loved sleeping peacefully. Since we had arrived, he had a smile on his face. Bucky was in love with this place. No, Em didn't tell him yet. You don’t want him to worry. That’s the best decision right? He would just have to wait to find out and after this is over with he will be so . . . "Honey you ok?" He mumbled groggily.

"Yes go back to sleep."

" Would if you kept still."

"Sorry didn't mean to wake you." I turned facing him as his eyes fluttered open to met mine.

"What's wrong?"

" Just thinking."

" Bout what?"

" It's beautiful here."

" Humm."

" Can we stay here I mean when this is all over?"

" Sure of course. Why?"

" It's just peaceful and it makes you smile. Anything that makes you smile like you have since we arrived is worth cherishing." Bucky gave me a smile as I kissed his cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now turn over and let me hold you." I did what he asked and soon drifted off with his arm wrapped around me.

We stood getting ready in the arcanely. Guns, amo, and knives for our chosen were lined up on the benches before us. "So we are taking the fight to them?" I question as I got ready for the fight of my life.

"Basically yes. That way we have the element of surprise," Steve stared loading his guns and getting his nest version of his shield ready for combat. "Ok let's do this team," he states walking out the others following leaving Bucky and me along.

"You know I rather you sit this one out," he stated in his task force authoritative tone. I just loaded my other glock not bothering to look up at him.

"Are you ignoring me?"

"No. I just don't want to have the same conversation with you I have had for the last three days," I stated bluntly turning to face him. "I'm sure you would like me to sit this one out but I'm not for several reasons one because this is my first mission as an Avenger and two because these people attacked our home. Not to mention how they have screwed with your head. So no I'm not sitting out."

"Fine!" He crossed his arms looking at me intensely.

"Fine!"I mocked crossing my arms. "You have to be kidding me. I didn't just go through all of this to sit my ass out Barns."

"Ya I know, I know ok, it's just they're crazy Doll. I don't want you hurt." Bucky grabbed his M249 and loaded it.

"I know that. But I don't want you hurt either and your going so I am too." I stated as I handed him his knife.

"Not going to back down are you?"

"Nope and you wouldn't have it any other way Sergeant." He gave me a smirk.

"No Mrs. Barnes I wouldn't. Just promise me you're be careful and like I told Wanda I expect both of you all to have each other's six."

"We will I promise." I placed another gun into my holster and more amo into my pockets. He placed his gun into his back and knifes into his side pockets.

Bucky turned and looked and me with a sigh snagging my arm and then cupping his right hand in my cheek. "I love you prinsenta."

"I love you too James. More then you'll ever know."

Moments later we stood facing them. Dang rouge want to be HYDRA agents when would they ever learn I thought. "Remember she has your six. Just focus." I took a deep breath and gave him a nod. Wanda looked at sending me a message. Ready?

Yes. Let's get the job done. The rouge agents looked up at us with an evil grin as we all ran forward with a yell.

"Em get down!"

"Bucky! Behind you! Your 3 o'clock!" Gun fire erupted again defending me. My ears ringing from its sound. I took aim and shot. It found its mark making its victim stumble and fall.

One down only a hundred to go. "Down. To your right!" Clint yelled.

An arrow zoomed passed me as I ducked behind the overturned Jeep. I gave Clint a nod of thanks and took aim again stoping another rogue agent with a head shot.

Smoke filled air surrounded us. "Where are they all coming from?" I asked over my comps as I fired off three more shots. "Like damn rabbits they keep multiplying," I snored.

"Don't know but you too need to get out of the front line now," yelled Steve. "Take cover we're on our way to your location."

Wanda joined me behind the jeep now takin cover with me. "I can't hold them off!" I yelled in my comps and to Wanda at the same time. I loaded a new clip into my gun.

"We have to run for it. Soon. I can hold them off with my force field. Just run like hell. I'll cover you. Get to the others. On my go." Her hands began to turn red as she moved them into a circle around me. Wanda’s magic covering me in a blanket of protection. "Now! Run!!"

I took out sprinting across the grassy field. Trying to get to the next abandoned building for cover. I saw Bucky appear with Steve his gun raised taking aim at an agent that was on top of the building. His shot took him out as he moved to another one. It was it time stood still. The captain that we had been fighting for hours appeared from his hiding place behind a large dumpster in ground of the building I was running towards and opened fire. His shot hit Bucky in the chest making him stumble. "No!!" My voice over taken my gunfire. Bucky lifted his M249 and fired, hitting the captains leg before crumbling to the ground. It as if my world stood still everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Breath don’t panic. I ran toward him.

"No!!! No! You crazy alpha male" I feel to my knees beside him. Blood covered his vest. His blue eyes trying to find me as he struggled to breath. I looked up to see the Captain trying to stand in front of me as he began to cock his gun. I took a knee ready stance. Anger radiated through me. He gave me an evil smirk as he held up his gun. However he wasn't fast enough. I aimed and opened fire on him without hesitation unloading my weapon.

I threw my weapon to the side as I knelt looking at the sight before me Bucky's blood was now flowing heavily out of his wounds as he tried to get his breath. His blue eyes locking onto me as he tried to move his mouth to speak. "No. No you don't. Bucky! No!! Hang on please hang on!!" I placed my hands over the open wound in his chest trying to still the bleeding. Wanda help!

Wanda came running falling onto her knees beside Bucky as I stoked his face. Tears falling running down my face. "Stay. Don't you dare go anywhere." Wanda began forming red manic in her hands covering his wound holding the blood within his body. His hair now mattes with it. "Stay with me."

"I-I lo-ve you my Prinsita," he said hoarsely his eyes fluttering close and opening again. I cupped his face in my hands. "No. No. Don't focus on me. You can't go anywhere Barnes. I love you. Stay baby please just stay!" I cried out again as he closed his eyes. Time felt like it was standing still. My scream echo the grounds.

Steve pulled me away and said something to me but I just stared at him blankly. I watched as some men garbed Bucky. Wanda ran with them keeping the red ball focused on his wounds. "Let me go!!!" I managed to free myself from his grasp as I ran my hands down my stealth suit leaving red hand and finger trails from the neck to my waist. I tried to brake into a run but Clint now grabbed me wrapping his hands around my waist. I began to kick my feet trying to escape.

"Ema stop it!"

"Let me Go!!!"

"Calm down and I will." I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe.

"P-please just let me go, I ha-have to be with him! Please Clint! I have to get to him!"

"Breath. I'm going to set you down. We have to go so move your ass!"

"Get her and meet us back at the hospital now!" Steve screamed through the comps. I stared at him in shock.

Clint grabbed my hand as we raced though the grassy field towards the hospital that was connected to the lab. Automatic doors slid open allowing us to ran into the hospital.

"Ema come this way please," Ta'Chaila said walking toward us. He held onto me as Clint let go. I felt like I could bearly move. My heart racing in my chest. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Oh god. . .He led me into a private waiting room lined with chairs. "Captain."

Steve locked eyes on me and stoped his pacing. Sam came and took my hand and led me to a chair. When I looked up Steve was pacing again running his hands in through his hair looking out the window. Sweet and blood covered his uniform. It had to be his blood, the same that I was now wearing on my selth suit.

Natasha and Wanda stood up from the chairs they sat and pulled me into a hug as I broke down in sobs. Wanda stroked my hair as I cried. Clint and Sam huddled around Steve talking quietly and Natasha soon joined them. I head their conversation but it seemed like their language was jumbled together.

"She's in shock." I think Natasha said. I shook my head clearing my thoughts.

"What can we do?" I thought I head Clint ask.

"Notin just have to wait. He's in surgery. They say it will be several hours." Yes I knew Steve had said that now.

"Steve you know it doesn't look good. We did CPR and with blood loss..."

"Shut up Sam." Clint snapped.

"Man I'm just sain. . ."

"And I'm just sain that I got a arrow with your name on it if you don't shut the hell up." He snapped again moving closer to Sam.

(Natasha POV)

I had enough I stepped between Clint and Sam and stared them down.

"Break it up boys." I snapped "Your not doing anyone any good, especially Ema. We got to be strong for her. Look at her. Look at her. She is sitting there trying not to break down again. Her suit is covered with blood Sam. Bucky's blood. The same as Steve's. She knows its bad. They both do. Just be there for her right now and for him." I nodded towards Steve who was now sitting beside Ema. His hand patting her head as she stared at the floor.

Several hours pasted until Shuri and a doctor appeared. Ema immeditally got up to face them, Clint and Wanda moved beside her. Steve placed his hand on her back while Sam and I gathered behind Steve. He gave us all a serious glare. This couldn't be good. No not good at all. He cleared his throat. His eyes wondering to all of us finding landing on Ema.

"Mrs. Barnes?"

"Yes." The doctor shook his head for a moment.

"Your husbands wounds are very serious. Just depending on his body's healing ratio is if he will survive or not." Ema stiffen. Steve placed his hand on her back for support. "The bullets punched his lung and stoped very close to his heart not to account for other internal damage. He also lost quite a bit of blood. He is stable for now but with the lack of oxygen and vast damage for him to have the best possible outcome is for his body to heal itself."

"So we wait.?" Ema said softly.

"Yes but the best thing to do is for Mr. Barnes to undergo our healing treatments however this will require him being placed him under cryogenics." Ema shook her head yes with understanding.

"Do you understand the details of this procedure?"

"Yes I am aware of it doctor we all are. So just do it," she stated as she took a ragged breath.

"Are you sure?" The doctor asked again his eyebrows kittening together.

"Yes. Do it. How long?"

"It's hard to say. Several days to several weeks. Just depending on the healing rate. I will get him prepared. You all can see him before hand if you wish."

"Thank you doctor," Steve said as he looked back to Ema. She slumped into her chair and covered her face. Wanda knelt in front of her and gave her a knowing look. Wanda patched me into their mental conversation "what if..."

"Don't do this to yourself. You have to be strong right now."

"I don't think I can."

"Yes you can. I have your six. Trust me."

"Thank you. I just think I need a moment."

Wanda stood. "Come one everyone. Give her a moment to breath." Sam gave a nod and walked out with Clint. Wanda gave me a wink as I walked out the door with her.

(Ema POV)

Steve stood to leave but I stopped him. "Cap. Stay would ya. Please." He shook his head yes and sat down again beside me. Nothing was said but his presence made me calm. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Just believe in me long ago. That's the only reason I have had him this long is because of you."

"Em, Buck is strong. He is one of the strongest people I know. If anyone can survive this it's him."

We sat in silence for several moments until Natasha quietly opened the door and poked her hear in. "They're ready for us."

I stood not knowing if this was ether last time I was going to see my husband alive. My chest ached. We were led into a extension of the lab that I had been in just a few days prior. It buzzed with activity. Machines buzzing, techs moved about doing their work. Clint, and Sam stood leaning against the wall. Bucky lay on a bed his lips and face were pale. His blue eyes closed. Steve lent over and mumbled something to him I couldn't make out. Natasha did the same. Wanda patted him on his shoulder and said "don't worry I have her six."

Finally it was my turn. I looked at him with tears in my eyes. I placed my lips next to his ear. "Don't leave me. I love you. You are the air I breathe. I love you so much." My heart broke telling him the secret that I had been keeping from him that had only been confirmed several days prior. "James you have to be fine you're ugh going to be a father. Please don't go." I kissed him gently in his lips and stepped back into Steve's open arms.

@kombatfather1796 @toxic-pineapple pineapple @teamcap4bucky @buckmesideways22 @verygraphicink @jewelofwinter @jewels2876 @shreddedparchment @averyrogers83 @catsandbooksinafarawayplace @carryoncaptainrogers @littledarlinhavefaithinme @zappy-pidgeon @marvelandotherfandomimagines @mysticalfairytales

[saomarathesavage-archived]

Text messages and phone calls (The Noatak Horror), part 3

Story under readmore (It should go without saying that I’ve never been to the Noatak preserve or Alaska. Sorry if I get so much of this wrong.)

(An hour after Alora’s video, Elisi calls Nadia’s phone.)

Nadia: (in a panic) Hello?!

Elisi: It’s me. So--

Nadia: (shouting) OH MY GOD, ARE YOU AND ALORA ALRIGHT, WHAT HAPPENED, WHAT WERE THOSE THINGS, WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW, HOW--

Elisi: (during that, groans in annoyance, and barks in a mom voice) HEY!

(Nadia quiets)

Elisi: (calmer tone, sounds tired and 1000% done) What are you going on about?

Nadia: Alora sent me a message on her phone an hour ago. A video. You were both hurt, and surrounded by those things--

Elisi: (still sounds done) She FILMED what happened? Instead of getting us out? Fucking millennial...

Nadia: Elisi, what the hell happened?!

Elisi: (sighs) Give me a second, I’m still patching up my wounds.

Nadia: Wh-you can talk and do that at the same time! Or hand the phone to Alora! Where is she?!

Elisi: No idea. I woke up alone.

Nadia: What?

Elisi: Okay, okay, so... we were taking the gyre to Anchorage, and we hit something big enough to get knocked off the rails and into the wall. We got flung off and I can remember hearing a bunch of squeaks like mice, or my kids when I come home with lunch. Next thing I know, I’m waking up by the river bank with my face covered in my own blood, and a bunch of teeth marks on my legs.

Nadia: Oh my god...

Elisi: What was in the video?

Nadia: Alora got the creatures on video, alive. There were.... she said hundreds maybe thousands of them... and something roared at her down the tunnel and gave chase. 

Nadia: Elisi, I think all these small trolls are babies. And whatever chased Alora was a parent.

Elisi: Shit

Nadia: Do you really need to swear?

Elisi: Please tell me the acceptable word I should be saying after learning I have essentially troll mice who are eating everything and everyone in my goddamn nature reserve?!

Nadia:

Elisi:

Nadia: ...not a swear?

Elisi: Whatever. So, what did the babies and mama frograts look like?

Nadia: The babies look like the statues, some were smaller and bigger, they were swarming so Alora was right about them being pack hunters.

Nadia: Couldn’t get a good look at the mother. The footage was grainy and dark. I had to turn the brightness of my phone up to get an outline.

Elisi: Ooooo, lookit the forensic investigator at work, using the high tech gadgets on her phone.

Nadia: Alora’s sarcasm doesn’t look good on you.

Elisi: Sorry. I’m tired and stressed, just caught my breath, trying to calm down and wondering what to do. So, what does she look like?

Nadia: Again, I just have an outline. Large four clawed hands, bigger version of the statues, scaled like bird claws. Covered in fur, not sure about the color. The eyes look to be a head tall and wide, and based on the eyeshine are yellow. The mouth seemed to be the length of the tunnel.

Elisi: There is no goddamn way.

Nadia: I’ve watched the video over and over again, trying to get a good visual. She seems to take up the entire tunnel. If it’s a she. Might be a he. Or neither. Alora thinks it’s a she.

Elisi: Hmm... Either way, none of these sound like trolls I’ve ever heard of. If they’re trolls at all.

Nadia: What about the cadavers? It’s the same as dead trolls exposed to sunlight.

Elisi: See, here’s the thing. I’m on a neighbor’s land, hoping to get a ride to my home. And, um... he’s dead.

Nadia: Oh! Oh no. Elisi, I’m so sorry.

Elisi: So am I, but not as sorry as these frograts are gonna be. The thing is, he doesn’t even look like he was attacked or eaten by a troll. The body is just up the hill. Drained of blood.

Nadia: (horrified and confused) What?

Elisi: DRAINED. OF. BLOOD. He’s a goddamn husk! Just the blood! JUST! THE! BLOOD! I mean, what happened to his dog is normal, it’s been ripped to shreds and the bones are near picked clean. THAT’s troll carnage there; makes sense for a hoard of little ones. But why drain the human and only the human?

Nadia: Elisi?

Elisi: (calms down a bit) Yes?

Nadia: Are you sure? Drained of blood?

Elisi: Yeah. Four puncture wounds in his chest, and everything’s there BUT blood. So...

Nadia: This... helps to narrow down what these things are. If the babies kill and maim like trolls, but the adults drain blood... I have to admit, this isn’t something trolls naturally do.

Elisi: Yeah. Look, how about you get in on that research. I’m going to patch up, and find a way to get to my family and make sure they’re alright.

Nadia: What about Alora?

Elisi: Any word from her since the video?

Nadia: No! I’ve called and texted. Nothing.

Elisi: She’s a Shard too, whatever happens, she can’t die. Keep me posted if she answers. I’m sorry, Nadia, I have babies at my house. Babies I need to keep safe above all other forms of life.

Nadia: ...I understand. Call me back when you get there?

Elisi: Okay. Stay strong, sis. We’re going to be okay.

Nadia: Okay. I’ll talk to you soon, Elisi. Please be careful.

Elisi: Yep yep. Talk to you later.

(they both hang up)

(Text sent from Alora’s phone to Nadia’s phone, twenty minutes later)

Alora: Bitch

Alora: btch

Alora: bitch

Alora: Bitch

Nadia: ??? Alora? Are you alright?

Alora: bintch

Alora: No

Alora: typing with one hand

Alora: hurts

Alora: pans

Alora: pain

Alora: fucking spell checks

Nadia: Alora, calm down. Where are you?

Alora: Nest

Nadia: A nest? Of those trolls?

Alora: Yeah

Alora: Eaten

Alora: Again

Alora: Again

Alora: Again

Alora: Hate it

Nadia: I’ll call Elisi and tell her where you are

Alora: No

Alora: Food

Alora: Me food

Alora: won’t hunt

Alora: Keep her talking

Nadia: Do you mean the mother troll? She can talk?

Alora: Yeah

Alora: First tongue

Nadia: First tongue? She speaks the oldest troll language?

Alora: Yeah

Alora: No English or trail

Alora: Troll

Alora: Saomara

Nadia: Is that her name?

Alora: Yeah

Alora: Told me

Nadia: Old name. First tongue.

Alora: Frozen

Nadia: Frozen?

Alora: Thawed

Alora: Woke up

Alora: Swam

Alora: Eggs

Alora: Hunt

Alora: Basically that

Alora: Tired

Nadia: Okay, listen, I think I can get you out of there. Are you alone right now?

Alora: Nope

Alora: Hatching

Alora: Feeding soon

Nadia: Listen, I can teleport you out just like in Killahead. Give the word. Should I do it now?

Alora: No

Alora: NO

Alora: SHE’S COMING

Nadia: Okay. Stay strong. Give me a signal when you’re ready. I’ll get you home, I promise.

(There’s no further response from Alora)

(Elisi calls Nadia’s phone the next morning)

Nadia: Elisi? Are you okay? Where are you?

Elisi: Home. Everyone’s fine. Nothing even looks out of the ordinary. Piri tended to my wounds. I should regenerate completely by tonight.

Nadia: Oh thank god. And the bad baby trolls?

Elisi: (chuckles) Bad babies?

Nadia: Yes. Any sign of them on your way back?

Elisi: Oh yeah. Lots of them. Looks like they’ve been digging tunnels underground. I found a bunch of holes just off the river banks. Lots of small bones, and more dead frograt statues. I don’t understand why there’s so many dead ones. Like, are they just walking out into the sunlight willy nilly, not knowing what happened?

Nadia: Yes.

Elisi: ...that sounded confident.

Nadia: I found out what they are. If you have a moment I can tell you.

Elisi: Everyone’s asleep and I’m in bed recovering. All I have is time. What did you find?

Nadia: Alora managed to contact me. She’s in the mother’s nest, being used as a food source for the hatching babies.

Elisi: (extremely alarmed) Oh shit! What?! How did she manage to--

Nadia: She’s not a happy camper, I can certainly say that. The good news is that she’s gotten the troll to start talking. It’s name is Saomara--

Elisi: Wow. That’s an ancient name. Like Victoria, or Gladys, or Pepper Pompadour.

Nadia: Older! Like caveman old!

Elisi: Yeah, I know. Go on.

Nadia: She’s indeed female, and she speaks in the First Tongue.

Elisi: ...so it’s a caveman era troll?

Nadia: Exactly! She was frozen in a glacier thousands upon thousands of years ago! But the ice melted a couple of years ago. She must have come from Syberia or somewhere in that area, because she swam the Berring Straight to get here.

Elisi: ....to fucking Noatak?!

Nadia: But the hundreds to thousands of babies, big enough to fill the gyre tunnels, Syberia, frozen for thousands of years, AND can drain blood? I’ve found what she is!

Elisi: Well, don’t keep me in suspense, woman!

Nadia: She’s an Evlakeel!

Elisi: ...

Nadia: ???

Elisi: ...what’s that?

Nadia: It’s a tribe of prehistoric trolls. Just like what you’ve seen, they breed like rabbits, but they don’t care for the hatchlings until they reach a certain age. Because of this, the babies tend to die off in droves! The mother only cares for those who’ve managed to survive on their own.

Elisi: Ugh. That’s awful.

Nadia: They’re an extremely aggressive species and because they can multiply so fast and grow their territory so quickly, they would become a huge nuisance to everyone around them. They would eat any animal, person, or troll they came across, not caring for conservation or any other form of life. Left unchecked, they could strip the world of everything in a matter of months.

Elisi: Sounds like Gunmar. Only one who just keeps making babies by the sound of it.

Nadia: Yes! A female will lay up to one million eggs a season! Almost non stop! For the entire season! The good news is that the chance of survival due to non parenting is very bad for the little ones. One in a thousand make it to the next stage of development, THEN she will start caring for them, and will do so VERY protectively. So, once she stops laying, the number of her brood should drop to.... maybe a hundred?

Elisi: Still doesn’t sound much better. I need to get these prehistoric pests off my land!

Nadia: I do hear you. The species is supposed to be extinct; hunted by other tribes of trolls because of their natural overpopulation. Looks like this one survived somehow.

Elisi: It’s not unheard of for trolls to be frozen solid in ice, or petrified deep within the earth. Survival stories do happen. Jeez... why this one, though? This one sucks.

Nadia: Yeah. So, now we know what we’re up against. Now we just need a plan of attack.

Elisi: How did the trolls from the past exterminate the Evlakeel?

Nadia: I assume how they killed other things. Primitive weapons, larger numbers, fire, larger trolls... Must have looked like a much messier Battle of Killahead. Only it wasn’t a war. It was genocide.

Elisi: I mean... if they’re gonna be assholes about what they do...

Nadia: What I am thinking is if she can talk, she can be reasoned with. We could try talking to her and maybe try to find a peaceful solution.

Elisi: No.

Nadia: I-- what? But--

Elisi: If she doesn’t control her brood, they’re going to wipe out every animal, fish, bird, insect, plant, AND human by the end of summer! THEY won’t be reasoned with. It’s my responsibility to make sure NONE of those unholy vermin survive. And once they’re all gone, I’ll deal with the mother personally.

Nadia: Listen to yourself. If you go after the older brood, the mother will come after you!

Elisi: GOOD! Lemme kill the source of the eggs first, then mop up the mess over the summer. Sounds GREAT!

Nadia: Elisi--

Elisi: WHY WOULD YOU REASON WITH THIS MONSTER?! YOU NEVER CAME HERE! YOU HAVEN’T SEEN WHAT I’VE SEEN! YOU’VE NEVER EVEN SEEN MY HOME! THIS BASIN IS MY HOME! I’VE RAISED SIXTEEN GENERATIONS OF WHELPS HERE! I HAVE A HOME AND FAMILY TO PROTECT AND IF YOU CAN’T RESPECT THAT--

Nadia: Elisi!

Elisi: --THEN I’M NOT LISTENING TO ANYTHING ELSE YOU NEED TO SAY! IF YOU WON’T HELP, THEN DON’T CALL AGAIN!

Nadia: I WILL HELP!

Elisi: Yeah, how?

Nadia: You’re right. The babies can’t be reasoned with. They all have to be exterminated. It may be possible to move the mother somewhere else. Or determine a way to find her at her weakest. Elisi, I will help you. I’ll help save your family and your home. I’m just trying to find the fastest solution.

Elisi: (after a minute of silence) Fine. Just find your fast solution FAST!

Nadia: I’ll do a bit more research and get back to you. I also need to see to Alora. I don’t think she’s going to last much longer.

Elisi: Alright.

Nadia: Get some rest. I’ll give you a call tonight, okay?

Elisi: Yeah.

Nadia: Rest well, sister.

Elisi: Yeah, you too. (hangs up)

(Texts sent from Alora’s phone to Nadia’s during the phone conversation)

Alora: Bitch

Alora: bitch

Alora: binch

Alora: btch

Alora: btch

Alora: super bitch

Alora: super bitchy

Alora: bitch

Alora: gonna eat my hands

(The texts stop)

[sidpah]

The Ugly Stuff

Two of us tracking shotguns through the woods. Or one shotgun and a small .22 rifle. We hunted squirrels, birds; we hunted rabbits but never once found one, I’m pleased to report. We could tell the squirrels by sound. They chattered, yes. But their voices echoed, rendering them unreliable. The rustle of their food, however, did not. We’d stop and listen for the crackle of falling pine cones. Red squirrels perched in branches chewing at them like corn from the cob, letting their thin desiccated middles tumble to the waiting bed of leaves and needles below.

A second later, our feet in motion, seeing ourselves as commandos, proud, dangerous, nothing less than religious figures on the offensive against the defenseless. We were the righteous heroes of a film no one saw fit to produce…

I repent every bullet I ever fired. Well, that’s nearly true... Had I not experienced it, seen the ugly side of swinging deer carcasses being stripped of skin by revving pickup trucks, I’d never have developed this extreme distaste for violence that turns on my tongue like spoiled citrus rind.

It was the chase, not the actual moment of murder I found alluring. Following the dark blur, the alien shadow, bounding from limb to limb, tree to tree… Our rifles leveled, safeties flicked off revealing a small red dot of which I never understood the true implications. Or the barrels sweeping across treetops following the frantic silhouette, ready to pierce the world, our violent rape of flora, fauna, the very Sun if our bullets could’ve reached that far... A game of dominance. A race, a test of eyesight and stamina. If only they could’ve played along, (let all the animals in on the game!) so they could concede, bow down to our immaculate budding manhood, us herbivores who clawed our way to the top of the food chain with thumbs and axes, with all the fierce warrior heads of ancestors I’d never known crowned then above my greasy knotted hair… And I could say “Bang, I gotcha!” and the animals, the birds, all manner of mammal and reptile and amphibian, could toss whatever appendages were most like our hands into the air and clutch at their chests in mock fatality. And as they righted themselves they could say, “Yep, you got me that time. Good work, guy. You’re sure the dominant species, you are… Well, I’m gonna go back to my little rodent/frog/blue jay family now. Nice playing with you.”

Our interactions with the wild natural world never could be so neat...

One or two shots through the shoulder joint or flat of skull, peeled open. Panting beaks clutching at the final dregs of early morning mist; scents of dew and decay… A missing eye is the sign of a true marksman. Tiny red spots on a white belly of ruined fur. A demon’s voice, sounding like that of a stepfather, in my ear stressing that the squirrels, the pests, the new red menace, were damaging the trees… and their numbers were rising steadily higher, blindly humping out descendants to the detriment of the frail woodland.

“So cull, young warriors, cull! Do your duty to Mother Earth and thresh her children to the bone!” Having been duly abdicated, merrily we went upon our slaughter.

As if I ever gave half a damn about the trees I splintered with tacked up bull’s-eyes and barrages of lead, or tore apart looking for caterpillars to send spraying in the ten directions with firecrackers and lighter fluid. Oh, how the ugliness does multiply…

Any atrocity can be rationalized, and the mind, fragile, worrisome, hell-fire-fearing coward it is, flounders for justification, for appeasement, for someone to forgive us our trespasses without asking us to alter our well-trodden path. The Word has come down from an elder, an officer, a certified scholar, so the Word is Good and we may relax, and be lulled to slumber away the decades in its fetid arms...

 It took more than a year of this ritualized killing before the distaste started settling in. Cole, my partner in primitivistic crime, and I would proceed with less and less enthusiasm, each trying to appease the other because we were too insecure to admit that our stomachs had turned.

So to keep up appearances, we would hunt; but I began playing a new game. I would aim not at the squirrel, but at the branch a foot in front of it. I wanted to scare it away so it would survive. And I could say, “Shit, I missed; fast little fucker,” and be perfectly happy that my marksmanship saved its proportionately-sized life. Of course, Cole started doing the same without my knowing, so we would leave the woods with hands unstained, relieved, but too embarrassed to say so. I wish there was only that neat tapering off of nastiness, but that’s hardly ever how it happens.

One incident ended it for me. Never again would I raise a weapon in hostility or intentionally harm a living being. A grey squirrel, chased with great fervor, would be the last…

All the starving tribesman of antiquity again sent charging through my veins... Maybe I missed at missing; maybe that sick hunger had returned a little… The copper tip of a .22 Viper entered his body through the tight musculature of his back as he scrambled up the side of a large fir. Through the scope I could see the quarter-inch red hole immediately to the right of his spine. His back legs gave out; I must’ve clipped a nerve, but he grappled with panic-stricken claws to pull his bleeding half-paralyzed self up the trunk. To safety. Away from me and my loud, angry thunder.

I was the threat of death that all creatures fear.

I shot him again. This time in the left shoulder blade. The poor creature, in all his suffering, his pain, his very real, hot, screaming terror, kept scraping higher up to find cover in thin needled branches. I swear I could see his face through the lens and through that lens I knew his every thought. The afternoon had become that clear…

The Sun was kind enough, or malicious enough, depending on your perspective, to give each hair its own shadow and eternal soul. And that same Sun with her heart full and demeanor stolid, showed me my own reflection in his black pearl eyes, and it was not a reflection I would have recognized or chosen to claim ownership of. The anguish he was experiencing, physical and so clearly mental, horrified me. The anguish I was inflicting on him for absolutely no reason at all… I wondered then just what kind of fucking ugly crust of a thing I had devolved into.

Who was I? When had I grown so callous to the pain of others?

When at last his fingers could grip no more, and he tumbled like a discarded pinecone cob to the unpadded ground, twisting, jerking, his palsied legs sending up plumes of dust that hung round his form, bones broken, holes perforating his little stuffed doll’s body, I approached him.

I have never been one to cry, but my vision blurred; wetness burned on my cheeks. At that moment I had no one to ask for guidance. I had no tools but mercy and confusion and the bitterest self-anger… With no clearer option, I placed the hot barrel of the rifle against his tiny head, and for the time being at least, ended his misery…

His, but not mine. I was sickened by the whole episode. Resolve filled me to never again play these barbaric games. I still mourn that poor little family man.

How can any reasonable adult do this evil shit for fun? And it was that day that I vowed never to harm another sentient being. And I have never once looked back, except to strengthen my resolve.

Sometimes it’s necessary to remember the ugly stuff...

[taaroko]

Post-IW MCU Rewatch: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Time for the Long Weekend of Ultron. If you’re looking for a negative review, this will not be that. Maybe I am easily satisfied, but I dislike zero of the MCU movies. As long as characters I love are onscreen and being awesome and especially when they’re interacting with other characters I love, I’m going to end up with overall positive experience. That being said, this movie is my least favorite in which Thor appears, and it’s probably close to the bottom of my ranking.

I saw a post yesterday pointing out that this is the only movie in which Thor uses lethal force against humans. In the opening sequence when they’re taking down the latest in a long series of Hydra bases, he’s wasting a bunch of dudes without hesitating. Like the person who made that post, I’m pretty sure Thor is not cool with your fascist BS, especially if he knows that they love using Norse symbolism.

Is this the only time Steve uses his motorcycle as a projectile? Because I kind of think it’s not, but I can’t remember for sure. 

“Can we hold them?” “They’re the Avengers!”

I love Thor and Cap’s combo moves so much.

“Good talk!” “No it wasn’t.”

“Please be a secret door please be a secret door please be a secret door—yay!”

The lullaby is always going to be hilarious now.

Well that was an extremely effective way of activating Tony’s guilt complex.

What’s Wanda’s deal? She saw what Tony saw, right? She knows Tony’s greatest fear is failing to stop an alien invasion and Earth’s destruction—of surviving all of that while his friends don’t (ooooouch). Is she already doubting the plan, or what?

“Tales of sprained deltoids and...gout.” Thor is so very wonderfully bad at backtracking from a foot-in-mouth moment.

Oh wow, Tony asked Thor for permission to keep the Scepter long enough to check it out before he’d take it back to Asgard.

“Will...Thor be there?” SAME, GIRL.

“We don’t have time for a City Hall debate.” This is the last time Tony will be so averse to oversight.

Okay so I’m confused. Did Tony recycle part of an interface Hydra was building? Because that would kind of explain how it ended up thinking humanity was too defective to be allowed to live?

Ultron killing JARVIS hurts so much worse than I ever would’ve expected it to hurt to watch an electronic butler get killed.

Thor is telling a bunch of old veterans war stories! That’s so great!

“This was aged for a thousand years in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunnhilde’s fleet. It is not meant for mortal men.” Wait a second. Brunnhilde? As in, Valkyrie from Ragnarok? Seriously? She gets a name in this movie but not the one she’s actually in? But it’s pretty cool they made kegs out of her ships. I’m assuming this wreck happened before the disastrous attack on Hela, which means Brunnhilde could probably decide how to repurpose all the wood. Barrels of mead definitely sounds like something she’d sign off on.

Also does this mead get Steve drunk? I feel like it should at least be able to do that. And it’s great that Thor hands some to him in the same breath that he says it’s not for mortals. He thinks very highly of Steve.

I wonder how often Steve hangs around with old veterans.

I’m completely fine with Bruce/Natasha. ...But my ship is Bucky/Nat.

Hehe, it’s Steve’s turn to be Natasha’s wingman.

The hammer scene is fantastic.

I saw a review thing where someone talked about how there’s a stupid gag where Bruce’s face lands on Nat’s boobs, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember what that was. Well I just found it, and...that is not how you play something like that for cheap laughs. They don’t linger on it, they don’t make risqué comments. Nat is so not bothered by it that she doesn’t even acknowledge his apology, and Bruce doesn’t even seem that embarrassed. Nat is entirely focused on making sure what’s happening around them isn’t enough to make him hulk out.

Okay yeah, Ultron went straight back to the Hydra facility after they killed all his Iron Legion bodies, which definitely makes me think they used some of Hydra’s interface to make him. And I think Tony was so willing to do it because of how Wanda messed with his brain, cranking up the paranoia about alien threats.

Thor is not happy that Tony spent the time he graciously allowed him before taking the scepter back to Asgard messing around with it like this.

Is it weird for Andy Serkis to play human characters after doing so many mo-cap roles?

“Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which.”

Ultron has so far talked about evolution, quoted scripture, and quoted famous poetry. He’s gotten remarkably cultured already, and he’s let it make him super pretentious.

I’m pretty sure they realized going in that they were never going to top Days of Future Past’s version of Quicksilver, so they didn’t really try and then also killed him off so they wouldn’t have to. But where that Quicksilver is ridiculously fun, this one has more emotional weight. And an arc.

Okay. So I think Wanda tapped into Tony’s fears (born from his glimpse through the portal) and Thor’s slight aptitude for foresight (as indicated in his dreams of Asgard burning in Ragnarok). Steve has neither of those things, and she made him see a messed up version of the past he wishes he could go back to. She made Nat see the past she regrets, and she just made Bruce hulk out. I don’t think Wanda herself has any ability to see the future.

Oh hey, Wolfram & Hart are in Thor’s dream.

Also foreshadowing to his level up in lightning powers. Hmmm. I wonder if Heimdall’s warning is that Ragnarok will pave the way for Thanos.

The entire Veronica sequence is awesome. But the best part is Tony’s jackhammer punches/Chinese finger trap. Also Tony’s face after Hulk spits out a tooth.

The wind down of the fight is the origin of “Earth hate Hulk.” Aww.

I do not understand the hate Clint’s family gets. I could not have been happier to discover that the reason he doesn’t have a girlfriend is that he has a wife and kids. Statistically, it’s nice that at least one Avenger has a family. It’s okay for there to be a stay-at-home mom somewhere in the MCU. And it’s wonderful that Natasha has kind of been adopted by the Barton family.

Thor and Steve’s faces during the whole bit where Thor steps on a toy house are hilarious. Awwwwwwwww Thor left because he’s worried he’s a danger to them, because of his vision! That’s so sad!

Ooh, was that the first time Clint’s been called Hawkeye in the movies?

I don’t understand the vitriol against Natasha’s attitude about being sterilized as a young teenager. That moment was the rite of passage that sealed her role as a KGB assassin. To her, it is symbolic of everything she did for them and gave up for them. And it’s their philosophy that motherhood could compromise an agent, not the movie’s. This doesn’t mean she wishes she could be Laura Barton. She plays all these different roles and weaves all these different lies because it makes it easier to hide from her past, and Wanda just brought that all back to the surface. She’s allowed to be upset that she let a hostile government agency mutilate her and limit her options for the future. It’s tragic, not problematic, that she, as the sum of her entire past, considers herself monstrous. This is just more “I’ve got red in my ledger.” And she’s a little bit playing this up because she wants Bruce to stop fighting what they could have together. She doesn’t want him thinking something like that she deserves more than someone like him.

You don’t have a dark side, Steve. Don’t be silly. But here are sown the seeds of Civil War. Winter Soldier has made Steve very opposed to using force as a preventative measure, and it has also made him very mistrustful of putting someone else in charge, but now Tony’s giving him reasons not to trust him either. For Steve, there will never be a time to retire. This is why I’m convinced he’ll die in Avengers 4, and why I desperately hope Tony will be allowed to retire.

“I need your help. It’s dangerous.” In the deleted scenes, yeah.

“Guy’s multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit.” *snort*

Clint’s darts game is great.

“Hoo, I’m decrypting nuclear codes and you don’t want me to.”

What is this power Ultron has to make big chunks of stuff move? Is it magnetic? Because that wouldn’t explain him moving chunks of road.

Bruce and Tony interacting is so great.

AHAHA! There’s a reason Ultron didn’t do something obvious like launch all the nukes! JARVIS was stopping him! JARVIS’s surviving protocols were making sure he didn’t do everything you’d expect an AI with internet access to be able to do. Okay. Biggest plot hole isn’t actually a plot hole. Boom. However I do think that Ultron’s plan to destroy the Earth meteor style was part of his melodramatic god complex personality.

Ultron 3.0 looks awful. Should’ve streamlined a bit. He looks like he’s on steroids.

I very much do not like that Vision can fly without visible means of propulsion. It looks doofy. And Vision is a doofy name. However, points for taking Thor as inspiration when it comes to style.

Not a fan of Clint’s weird tunic/coat thing. Would’ve worked better if there was a belt.

Wow I never realized how often “monster” gets tossed around in this movie. Nat, Bruce, Vision, the Avengers collectively. Even Cap makes a joke, “What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on him?” This movie is pretty much asking if they have any right to do what they do. If they’re a menace or a benefit. In the end, the answer is pretty unclear. They did kinda make Ultron. They save the world from him and come out with Vision and Wanda on the team, so it’s probably a net gain, but the Sokovia Accords are an extremely understandable consequence. Wanda has that dilemma herself. She thought she had to destroy the Avengers to save the world, and she nearly destroyed the world by helping Ultron, but then she helped save it by defeating him. At great personal cost.

Yay another Thor+Cap combo move!

Pietro is so petty and obnoxious to Hawkeye, and it’s great.

Aww it’s the nerdy guy from Winter Soldier! And thankfully he survives this movie.

“I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast...I am running out of things to say. Are you ready?” His grin is my favorite.

The Maximoffs are the most functional, affectionate siblings in the MCU. :/

The number of Ultron robots somewhat strains credulity. Also, why didn’t he just send one to go chill across the world as a failsafe? Ultron is kind of stupid.

Rhodey’s reaction to Vision is priceless.

Aaand there Hulk goes. Apparently through a portal to trash planet, eventually.

If the meta-narrative of the first Avengers was “Can this exist?”, then the meta-narrative of Ultron was “...But should it?” The answer to the first question is “Absolutely it can.” The answer to the second is “Only if it doesn’t get arrogant or reckless.” I think Infinity War’s question is “Can it keep getting bigger like this and still survive?” and Avengers 4 will determine the answer. My guess is that it’ll be “Not without sacrifice.”

Anyway, that “are we monsters” thing is pretty much the individual arc of most of the main characters—except Steve. He makes a reference to it, but he is constantly the voice of caution and reason and he’s the one who pushes for zero civilian casualties in the city. This is the beginning of “We don’t trade lives.” It’s okay to sacrifice yourself, but not to play a numbers game with other people’s lives. Steve is and always has been rock solid. He’s a good man. He trusts his instincts, and they are pretty much always right. But that means he can never stop. He never gets to rest.

Clint is the other character who doesn’t have an “am I a monster” arc. His arc is just the kinda adoptive dad thing he has with the Maximoffs, and us finding out so much more about his life. He’s trying to retire, like Tony, but he’s willing to die for this if he has to. (I hope he doesn’t. But if most or all of his family got Snaptured, then it’d kinda be okay, though devastating, for him to sacrifice himself so they could come back.)

Natasha, Bruce, Tony, and Thor all have the monster arc, and I think Vision is supposed to be the answer at least for Tony and Thor. They created something good. Natasha didn’t get the guy, though, because she betrayed him to get Hulk back for the battle. And Bruce lost big time.

Maybe the reason Ultron is so low on my ranking of MCU movies is that it’s kinda muddled. There are great character moments and the main theme is an important one for the MCU, but in the end we have a snarky, grandiose villain with an army of disposable soldiers (again, only the villain is waaaay less interesting than Loki), coupled with the same plot as “I Robot, You Jane,” one of the worst Buffy episodes of the entire series. (Demon ends up in the internet because of the negligent actions of the good guys, tries to get impressionable young people to work for it, has a robot body built for itself, then gets locked inside that body and out of the internet, then destroyed.) I think it got spread a bit thin trying to set things up for Phase 3, too. Setting up Wakanda, Ragnarok, Civil War, and even Infinity War. Maybe if it didn’t need to do all that, it could’ve been more focused.

[statesmanillusionist]

Hope County | pt. 5

This was probably the worst possible thing to happen, besides Whiskey and Miller going down in the helicopter. Houdini was being kept at Faith’s… home? Safehouse? Somewhere along the river where the Cougars and the resistance clearly were fighting back, given the gunfire crackling outside.

“Seriously, I get this is great for my anxiety but… can you let up just a little bit?” She laughed, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. “I feel like everything you’ve given me just keeps making it worse, and I’d love to stop throwing up in that garbage can.” It took everything out of her to walk from the couch she had slept on, down the stairs and into the kitchen, garbage can in tow.

One of Faith’s henchmen, for lack of a better word – a man named James – chuckled and shook his head, looking back down at the map spread out on the kitchen counter.

“Please?” Houdini was pleading at this point; everything from the tea to the water had been tainted with Bliss. How could anyone live like this? Faith and her family seemed unaffected, and the same could be said for those higher up in rankings of Eden’s Gate.

James ignored her begging and kept staring at the map. Houdini felt as if she were going to cry, pulling her knees to her chest. Sitting against the floor grounded her against the effects of the Bliss as much as she could possibly manage. Everything felt dizzy and was now moving to the point of numbness. Perhaps Whiskey and Miller were having better luck, landing far from the fields of flowers.

She made herself as small as possible, arms wrapped around her knees as she pressed her back to the wall. 

“You will grow to like it here,” James said, startling Houdini. She looked up too quickly, seeing double, and immediately reached for the garbage.

“I’m not so sure about that…” she groaned. The Bliss used here was much stronger than what she was originally dosed with, and she struggled to keep her head. 

Hopefully, she’d be able to wiggle her way out of the building – she just needed to be off the Bliss long enough to clear her head and run. Her legs were too heavy to carry her faster than the patrol squad could manage, and the dizziness and double-vision definitely did not help. Faith seemed to trust her enough not to keep her bound, so that was good. No need to get herself out of that situation… but if she couldn’t keep her head cleared long enough, and tried to make a run for it, she would be in it.

--

Time passed strangely while high on Bliss, and the more she had, the more Houdini saw butterflies around her. James filled her glass consistently, urging her to drink.

“This can’t be good…” she muttered, laying down on the floor. In what had only been a day, it seemed like three had passed. Faith reappeared – had she ever left? – and brushed the stray hairs from Houdini’s face.

“Don’t worry, Elizabeth. Everything will be okay, I promise,” she smiled, sitting next to her on the floor. She crossed her legs, humming a tune from the radio wordlessly. “Do you know why I brought you here?”

Houdini groaned and pressed her face into the floor. It felt cool, a reprieve from the heat the Bliss brought. “To protect me?”

“To protect you. Do you know why?” Her voice was gentle, matching her movements.

“No…” 

“Because it’s what you need. The Father saw redemption for you, upon your return to Hope County, and it was my purpose to guide you to it with the Bliss. But he said – he said..” Faith paused for a moment, her hand stopping as she found herself hung up on Joseph. Her tone shifts, as if something deep down terrified her. “He said that danger lurks everywhere for you. He saw it in your eyes, and I see it too. You need protection.”

Houdini lifted her head and squinted up at Faith at her words. “Like I said, in the woods, I can protect yourself.”

“There’s more than what’s in the woods and in the river that you need protection from.” 

For a moment, Houdini thought Faith was talking about herself. She blinked, and the other woman was gone from her side.

--

After that exchange, Faith seems to pull back from her dosing, as if she was distracted by something bigger than the new girl in town.

The dosing patterns shift; her food wasn’t tainted, but the water was. Houdini remembered that the entire water system was contaminated, and only took small sips from the glass that James presented to her.

He seemed distracted too.

It gave Houdini the opportunity to wander the safehouse, unwatched, though it was a struggle. The drastic change in Bliss dosage caused left her feeling… different. Different from when she woke up in her own bed a few days ago, different from when she woke after being taken from the woods. It’s not a good kind of different, either. 

Houdini started asking questions now that she could think somewhat clearly again. How many days has she been in this safehouse? How much Bliss had she been given?

She noticed the windows were always left open on the second floor, onto a balcony she remembered Faith sitting on the day before while taking a phone call. There’s someone posted at all of the doors, and one poor soul patrolling the perimeter of the house at all times. 

A door slammed and Houdini stumbled, tripping over herself as she turned from the balcony. 

“How many times have I told you not to do that!” Faith shouted, sounding rather angry – her tone surprised Houdini as she listened in to the commotion downstairs. 

The perpetrator seemed to simply grunt in response, heavy footsteps echoing through the kitchen. They stopped, and Houdini pulled herself off her ass to carefully walk downstairs. It was a harder struggle than she anticipated, her legs for some reason still jello, and she sighed. 

“Fucking Bliss,” she cursed under her breath, waiting for the day she could escape the feeling – this feeling of healing and acceptance, according to Faith – and ditch the bad trip.

As she rounded the corner into the kitchen, Houdini focused enough to finally hear a pertinent discussion.

“John is taking care of things. We must be sure to prepare –” Faith said, grabbing one of the markers. She seemed… different. As if this were the real Faith, planning and giving directions, and not spewing garbage about the Father and forgiveness. “These plants, they can multiply like rabbits. We just need a bit more land and –”

“Fine.” It seemed that the door-slammer was a man of few words, and as Houdini scanned the room, it was then that she realized why.

He was massive. Absolutely fucking massive. Like a bear, really. The room tilted and Houdini nearly lost herself again. 

Faith turned her head after drawing on the map, marking places for new Bliss flowers to grow and smiled at her.

“Elizabeth! I hope you’re okay,” she said, the sweetness back in her voice. “This is my brother, Jacob. Jacob, this is Elizabeth Flood. She’s the new girl who moved back home a few weeks ago. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Jacob stared at Houdini as if she were a piece of meat, and offered no greeting as he slowly turned his gaze back to the map.

Faith rolled her eyes, and Houdini swallowed the lump that had crept up her throat.

“I’ll send some of the Angels that way, over towards that end of the river to start the new plot over there. You and I should visit Joseph, inform him and  --”

Jacob turned on his heel and walked out the door, towards the armored car. He slammed the door once again – but this time, while Houdini jumped, she noticed Faith did too. It shook the other woman for a moment, causing her to clench her fist before smoothing out her dress and walking towards Houdini.

“I’ll be back after sunset, okay? I can braid your hair again, if you’d like..” she said softly, cupping Houdini’s cheek. 

She nodded, and Faith was gone again.

It would be hours until she returned, and though there were soldiers posted at every door, and one wandering the perimeter of the house…

It was time for a magic trick.

[jswdmb1]

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

“I look at the world, and I notice it's turning

While my guitar gently weeps

With every mistake, we must surely be learning

Still my guitar gently weeps”

- Beatles

It has been a bad couple of days in the middle of a tough week that follows a string of difficult months. But something changed for me recently. Where as I felt I could hold back the tide and keep hope alive, I watch the world around me and I am despondent.  I cannot understand why so much death and suffering can occur among such a large percentage of people in this country with so much shocking indifference. I do get that life must go on despite tragedy, but to simply give up and say we collectively as a society are not willing to sacrifice enough to stop it has broken my heart.  I have been holed up in my house for almost a week (except for a few necessary errands) pondering not just my fate but of us as a people. Can we really move forward?  Do we have what it takes to endure?  I have spent sleepless nights and anxious days searching for answers to these questions and keep coming up short every time.

When I get depressed like this, I begin seeking out memories and stories that can help remind me that the human spirt can overcome even the most desperate situations. Because of the extremely odd way my mind works and stores information, I am able to sometimes access arcane things that I have studied in the past.  I will unknowingly gravitate towards a seemingly esoteric topic that suddenly exposes some clarity on my current situation.  I will start researching things that are completely random for reasons I can’t explain. I will then go down the rabbit hole we call the internet until I finally end up somewhere that sometimes adds clarity and other times makes me more confused. I am the first to admit that it is a bizarre process, but eventually it seems to work for me.

As I have long been fascinated with history, these tangential dives often come back to something I have read in countless books or seen within one of hundreds of documentaries I have watched.  I have studied many of America’s wars and I often go back to these as they are rich with tales of redemption and perseverance. Of course, to get there requires a lot of heartbreak and suffering, but the human spirit always triumphs.  The tragedy of war also provides a blueprint for disaster that we are doomed to repeat if we don’t carefully review the details within. All of these things give my mind a great deal to digest, which is something I need when my mind is troubled with concerns of the present.  I agree that it is odd to find hope among so much despair, but I find no point in resisting these impulses when they come. At a minimum, these forays back in time provide a welcome respite from the unrest in my mind.

My most recent journey took me to a place in a far corner of the earth and a story that many ignored at the time and most have forgotten since.  It involves an offshoot of the Vietnam war into the country of Cambodia and the horror that country was plunged into after the war ended in 1975. For those who don’t know the story, when a ruthless group known as the Khmer Rouge took over, they drove the population into the countryside into a life of hard labor and starvation. Those who didn’t comply were tortured and killed. Even those not guilty met the same fate. Before the regime was overthrown in 1979, an estimated 2 million people were killed (which was 25% of the population at the time). Outside of the Holocaust during World War 2, it is considered the worst genocide known to modern man.

That is an extremely abridged version of the story, but it doesn’t take much more description to give you a vivid picture of the intense pain and suffering that occurred in Cambodia during this time.   That being said, I do think it is worth your time to learn a bit more about this piece of history but not through my words. Please take a minute to click on this link and read this well-written account of the life of Dr. Haing S Ngor who survived the Cambodian genocide and incredibly went on to win an Oscar as an amateur actor for his role in the film “The Killing Fields” that told this story to many for the first time:

https://www.moviereviews.us/2020/07/17/the-incredible-story-of-haing-s-ngor/

Now that you know this story better through Dr. Ngor’s personal tale, perhaps I can connect the dots to today. I think it is fair to say that his ability to survive and perseverance were extraordinary. It seems unlikely that any of us would be able to summon the strength and courage that he did after so much unimaginable pain. But do we really know that?  It hopefully unlikely that we will be put to such a severe test as the Cambodians were, but it does show that as humans we can overcome long odds to achieve great things when the will is there. It seems to me that our current situation in this country surely is far less dire as what Dr. Ngor faced as he was being marched out of Phnom Penh and had his life shattered overnight. There must be a way for us to learn from stories like this to overcome our current troubles before we get to the point of desperation, isn’t there?

But I haven’t seen it yet and I guess that is what disappoints me so much. Maybe I have the bar set too high but it just doesn’t seem like too much to have to clear. There just is not enough will to collectively change our behaviors to control this pandemic and I suppose it is from a lack of motivation. Maybe 200,000+ deaths isn’t enough to move the emotional needle for most people. Maybe the feeling of empathy for our health care workers going through absolute hell doesn’t register in a tangible way with a populous that has been spoiled and self-centered for too long to feel such things outside the orbit of their own world. Maybe the disease has to strike directly at people and sicken them or the ones they love for true belief that it is real. It doesn’t feel like we should have to have any of those things happen to rally the survival instincts of people to act in their best interest, but it looks like that is going to be the way it has to be.

And that is what has led me to the spot I am in now.  Even though I know we as humans have the ability to overcome and persevere like Haing Ngor and his fellow countrymen, I guess we just aren’t there at this point. Unfortunately, I sense we will have no choice soon as cases and deaths multiply exponentially by the day. It’s just going to be a matter of time until the dark winter the doctors have been predicting arrives. I hope at that point we can finally summon up the strength to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to finally end the suffering because no matter what anyone tells you, that is our only way out of this predicament. It’s not going to be a new president or a vaccine that ends this nightmare, it’s only going to be each and every one of us ready to literally fight for our lives.

While I have my doubts, I’ll keeping coming back to my faith in what I have learned from history which is that the good in man can always overcome the bad if the will is strong enough. In the meantime, I recognize that my feelings about how things are going are not necessarily the most popular to express. I respect that others may feel differently, but in turn you have to understand that the pain and fear that I feel is just as valid. To me, the only option for now is to keep doing what I am doing to keep me and my family safe until we get things under control. As such, you may not see me much in the next few months and that includes my presence virtually. It is simply too painful for me to see the willful ignorance by so many of our current plight and I have no choice but to opt out of things like social media and the like for the foreseeable future. This includes sitting out the holidays and missing out on a lot of what I love about life, which tears me apart more than I show, but I feel as if I have been left no choice. I hope to be back sooner than later but only when I think it is safe.  In the meantime, do not worry about me as I’ll be fine and I will do everything I can for those close to me to keep them well too. I will keep you all in mind during this time of seclusion and I hope that you can make it through with sound mind and body. Until then, I will say this one last time:

Stay safe and healthy

Peace,

Jim