#falls from a great height

[thats-by-the-by]

Not Realizing They're Injured

This fic was crossposted on Ao3. Find it Here. Mind the tags.

Connor races through the snow, running from the patrol. Not just British troops - English Templars too, sent by the London brotherhood to further destabilize the colonies. Haytham had said that the Templars wanted the colonists to win - but London sent their Templars anyways. And while Connor had dispatched most of them - he's one person. He's only one man.

So he runs through the snow, set on loosing his pursuers in the trees, in the branches that he jumps around. Once he makes it back to the homestead, he can sink into the seat besides the fire in the tavern. Warm his bones.

But he just can't loose them.

A bullet whizzes past his head, and the bark shatters and splints too close to his eyes. It's luck. It's a blessing. It's intervention.

It's a branch snapping under him, and the feeling of air rushing past his ears as he falls into the snow.

Connor gasps as the air rushes out of his lungs, the whiplash from hitting the ground making his head spin. He just needs to rest. He just needs five minutes. It hurts, everything hurts.

An excited shout echoes through the trees, and Connor reluctantly pulls himself to his feet. He's tired - but not tired enough to die lying in the snow. Not tired enough to die here. Not tired enough to die any time soon.

The idea of a fire, roaring in the stones of a fireplace and making the room flicker orange, gold and red, keeps him on his feet. Keeps him moving. Even with his fall - his head spinning lightly, his back twinging with pain - Connor wades through the snow quickly, trying to make it to the road. He's so close. He's nearly home.

The bark of dogs grow louder behind him as he finally reaches the road, taking flight up the mountain. He's no safer on the road than in the trees - in all honesty, he might be safer in the branches and the canopy than out in the open, stuck on the ground - but his lungs ache with the effort to race higher and higher as his pursuers grow closer and closer.

He should have lost them by now.

It's not impossible to track him, to trace him through the trees - especially in the middle of winter, especially if he's forced to wade through the snow - but in the branches it's hard to tell if he is the cause of the shifting branches, or if it's simply one of the animals who call the trees their home. He's lost far smarter people in those branches.

He can't stay on the ground. He can't lead them back to the homestead, can't risk more people's lives.

But he's tired. His heart thrums in his chest, jack-rabbiting away. He needs help, he can't do this alone. Not right now. He needs to rest. He's twenty years old, an adult by all means. He's tired. He needs to loose them.

He's twenty years old, and he is not going to die here.

"Connor!" David shouts, running down the path to him. "What's happened?"

"I'm being chased." Connor admits, his head spinning. "Two men, with dogs. They're British."

"We'll take care of him, Norris, can you-"

"I'll get him to Lyle." Norris agrees readily, putting one of Connor's arms around his shoulders. "Be safe."

"We will." Myriam smiles. "Remember to get Achilles, don't let the old man worry."

"Why would he worry?" Connor asks. "The British will be dealt with, why are you taking me to Doctor White?"

"Connor," Terry says gently. "You've left a pretty bright path behind you."

"What?"

"Don't beat around the bush, Terry." Godfrey says, pulling out his pistol. "You're bleeding, Connor. Pretty badly. You'll need stitches and a prayer to hope its not infected. We've got this, go with Norris."

Connor staggers away as his friends pull their weapons, aiming it down the trail of blood Connor continues to leave behind. They're Templars. They're his problem. Connor's back aches as his head spins more and more, and sleep takes him before he can even work out whats bleeding.

The dark is warm and comforting.

[sun-e-chips]

Accidents happen

[iinryer]

so. i have been saying since the top of the season that this feels like a reset, and a reintroduction to the characters (which makes sense for a new network!)—i know others have talked about to being a transitional and setup season as well, which i agree with.

ive been thinking about parallels and mirrors and what it might mean to overlay season seven over season four, the things that could possibly imply…

[ID under the cut for easier legibility than alt]

(self indulgent honorable mention parallel: eddie’s blood in buck’s mouth, tommy’s soot on buck’s lips)

season four is the only other non-pilot season to have less than the full 18 episodes. season four is also the only season that ends on a life-altering arc-beginning injury for a member of the 118 (which also makes sense for a shorter than usual season, big hook to make up for the fewer episodes).

at the end of season four, eddie and bobby both end up dramatically injured (sniper). the end of season four also has the first mention of the will. now, i cannot say for sure that either of these are going to be mirrored, BUT. looking at the roadmap they’ve already given us… i have some feelings and predictions :)

and i’m not even going to begin digging into the vertigo references, others have more eloquent things to say, but i wanted to at least mention it because i DO think it’s going to come into play…

(if you can think of any other 4/7 parallels i would LOVE to hear them)

EDIT: 5/8 parallels spreadsheet now exists as well

———

IMAGE ID: a three column spreadsheet with the categories “PLOT POINT” , “SEASON 4”, and “SEASON 7”. the text reads:

Buck learns something life-altering that makes things about the rest of his life make sense in hindsight

- S4: Daniel reveal

- S7: Bisexuality discovery

Eddie meets a woman and ends episode 7 of the season on a date with her

- S4: Ana

- S7: Kim

Maddie and Chimney have a major milestone in their relationship

- S4: Jee is born

- S7: They’re getting married

Something horrible happens right before they do

- S4: Albert’s accident

- S7: Chimney gets sick and goes missing

Buck makes a fool of himself on a first date

- S4: Veronica, and the “double date”

- S7: Tommy

Hen and Karen have struggles with the foster system and how to best protect and provide for their foster kids

- S4: Nia

- S7: Mara

Athena and Bobby have trouble communicating, putting their relationship in a rocky spot

- S4: Bobby sponsoring the woman from the pileup and hiding it, Athena telling Bobby that she had considered retirement but never talked to him

- S7: The cruise ship and Athena being unable to tell Bobbby why she's so uncomfortable with the prospect of down time together

Someone talks to Eddie about following his own desires in a relationship, not what's expected

- S4: Bobby about Ana, Carla about Ana

- S7: Bobby about Marisol

Buck has a heart to heart with Christopher about the anxiety he has towards the fragility of relationships with the people in his life

- S4: Shannon and people leaving him, feeling isolated during the pandemic

- S7: Shannon and the girls he's leading on

Hen and Karen meet another parent related to their foster children

- S4: Meeting Nia's mom in the park and having lunch with her and Nia

- S7: Finding Tyson and reconnecting him with Mara

Someone with the initials TK that Buck met in relation to a helicopter, kisses Buck in his kitchen after Eddie gets hurt and then has to leave

- S4: Taylor

- S7: Tommy

[serickswrites]

Can't Help

Warnings: falling from a great height, fade to black, unclear character status

Whumpee raced along behind Whumper. They couldn't let Whumper get away. Whumper had committed so many atrocities, they had to be stopped.

And Whumpee was the only person who could stop them. And so they raced along behind Whumper, Caretaker's panicked shouts to wait largely ignored. Caretaker would catch them up eventually. They couldn't stop. If they did, Whumper would get away.

They ran, gaining ground on Whumper. Still, Whumper continued to run faster and faster, zigzagging through the building. Whumpee lost track of how many turns they took. It didn't matter, they would find their way out once they caught Whumper. Whumper had to be stopped.

Whumpee rounded the corner Whumper had disappeared behind and they were suddenly airborne. They screamed as they fell. They could hear Whumper chuckling loudly from behind them--Whumper had known exactly where they were leading Whumpee. The pit Whumpee fell into was dark and deep. They closed their eyes as they hoped that Caretaker would stop Whumper. And that Caretaker didn't have to see them at the bottom of the pit. Tags: @mousepaw @jumpywhumpywriter @knightinbatteredarmor @hufflepuffwritingstuff2 @anightmarishwhump

@steh-lar-uh-nuhs @celestialsoyeon @st0rmm @ay5ksal @pedro-pedro-pedro-pedro-pe

@pepeniascat @artisticdemon

[helimir]

two hours into the finale and WHAT THE FUCK

ashton is a beacon! i guess! just goes to show you should always submit your resume for jobs where you don’t meet all of the qualifications. saw it coming about 10 seconds before it happened because i KNEW my girl leylas was not going to be okay with lending the body of her god to some lesser pantheon. so funny. she just said no. and the matron was like ‘alright queen fair enough. anyone else?’

can ashton feel the god souls in their head? are they chatty? will ashton know when they’ve all left? what’s the radius of effect? will ashton know the exact window of time that qualifies a child born this year to be a divine vessel? if it takes too long will imogen start to develop a craving for ashton’s rock candy cranium?

[dia-viller]

Murtagh definitely had a mini heart attack when Eragon suddenly jumped from Saphira's back into the open sky and started falling straight down during the battle of the Burning Plains

[annabelle--cane]

hey @ my subconscious. if I could stop having nightly dreams about using. that would be great.

[eddiesgaymustache]

I see an innocuous post and I say tee hee. how can I make this about eddie diaz. and then I fall down several flights of stairs and am squashed by a falling piano, looney tunes style

[sunderingstars]

just played through divergent universe a few times & i am going FERAL over the masked fools boundary equation + jester of anatta (nihility x elation). might have to put the rest of the sampo analyses on hold to write this 😩

[jor-elsemissary]

Fall

Summary: Set some time during/after the last season, the real Lionel Luthor survived his son’s attempt on his life and seeks vengeance against those who wronged him. They wanted a villain, he would give it to them. He just needs to overcome his feelings for a certain widow.

———

When he came back from prison, his enemies thought his fangs had been pulled, what with the way he had tried to seek redemption through charitable foundations and such. But his son’s evil twin had merely proven them wrong, that the old wolf was still in there waiting to claw its way back to the surface and onto center stage.

Then his son believed him to have grown sentimental and weak over his obsession with a certain farmer’s widow and her son. But the younger Luthor simply was not aware of the truth about him and the son, and how much stronger his conviction was with that knowledge.

It hadn’t been enough to spare him the pain of a eighty story fall though. Barely alive. Declared dead to protect him from his murderer. It took years for him to recover. Years lost in a hospital far away from Metropolis and Smallville. And when he finally returned to get his revenge, his son had gotten himself killed and a doppelgänger tried to take his place.

It all could have been avoided, of course.

All they had to do was simply listen to him. But they chose to believe in the lies his son had crafted. Ignored his warnings and his pleading for clemency. They wanted to paint him as the villain, believing he had never truly changed, and so now, that is what he will give them.

With Kal-el gone and John Jones too busy elsewhere, and Jor-el’s construct no longer wracking his brain with head splitting migraines, he could easily slip into the role of the treacherous and ruthless CEO of LuthorCorp again. He would give them what they wanted.

A villain to fear and hate.

He just needed to overcome his feelings for a certain widow first.

“I don’t know what happened to you, Lionel,” Martha Kent firmly spoke but there was a sadness in her eyes that he could see. Behind him were two of her son’s friends, bound and gagged, though the latter was to grant him some peace and quiet from Miss Lane’s insistent chatter. “But I know this isn’t you.”

“It’s always been me,” he answered back nonchalantly. He dismissively gestured with the gun he held while he paced back and forth in front of the Senator. “I’ve simply allowed sentimentality to rule my judgement. That ends now, Martha.”

“It doesn’t have to. You have friends here, people who care…”

“No one cares about me! Not even you!” he snarled and whirled around unexpectedly at her, the cold steel now pointing at her. “The only person to dare defy my murderer and come to my funeral was your son. Where were these so called friends? Where were you?!”

She fell quiet and he felt a pang of guilt. He knew where she had been. She did not have her son’s gifts to traverse the distance quickly. There hadn’t been enough time from his death to the funeral to allow her to come.

Lionel lowered the weapon and looked away, knowing that if he continued to meet her gaze, her will would overcome his own. He chose to glare at Miss Sullivan who returned it with a look of defiant bravado. “It doesn’t matter anymore. They want a villain, they will have one. Go back to Washington, Martha. Forget about me.”

“No.” She was so stubborn. That strong will and determination was one of many traits he had come to cherish about her. Right now, though, it was becoming an inconvenience. “You were abandoned when you needed them the most. I will not do that to you.”

Lionel Luthor looked upon the one woman he had been willing to give his life for. She still amazed him even after he had gone cold and bitter with hatred. He wondered once more if she actually loved him but her loyalty to Jonathan kept her from acknowledging and exploring it.

“Why must you do this to me?” he demanded to know from her. Why was she willing to risk everything for him? He was a murderer, a liar, and a conman. He only protected Clark because that was what Jor-el wanted.

“Because I… do care about you, Lionel.” She dared to touch him, a gentle hand on his forearm and he could feel himself unraveling to that touch alone. He feared it wouldn’t take much for him to completely fall apart. She always had that effect on him.

“Do you?” he questioned, hazel eyes meeting blue in challenge. “Or is it Clark’s friends you’re more worried about?”

“Of course I’m worried,” she tells him while stepping closer to him. Lionel found himself swallowing thickly at her closeness. “But I still care for you as well. You must know that.”

She wasn’t wrong. It’s why he loved her in the first place. Despite all that he has said and done over the years, she still found it in herself to care about his wellbeing. He felt tender fingers brush across his cheek before a hand lovingly rested against his face.

“Let them go, Lionel,” she pleaded with him, her other hand gliding down his arm to the hand holding the gun. He didn’t want to let them off for what they had done to him, but he also wanted to make her happy. To be proud of him. To trust him again. He was hurting, he knew she could see that. She always seemed to know exactly how he was feeling and why. A mother’s intuition perhaps?

“They let him murder me.” The words came out in a quiet whisper and he felt his shoulders drop as he found himself leaning into her touch. “I didn’t deserve that fate, Martha.”

“No one does.” Her thumb caressed across his cheekbone and he felt himself close his eyes. Maybe, just maybe, he could forget everything and just be with her. “But this is not the way to get justice.” He let her take the weapon from him and he heard the safety click into place before it was discarded.

Martha Kent once more found a way to disarm him and he allowed it as she took him into her arms and simply held him. It took Lionel a few moments to overcome his own defensiveness to embrace this remarkable woman and rest his head against her own.

With eyes shut tightly, and Martha soothingly rubbing his back, Lionel Luthor came undone in her arms. Quiet sobs wracked his shoulders and his body trembled in her embrace. He needed help and Martha gave him her promise that she would, that he would not see the inside of a prison cell this time.

He didn’t resist when the police came in a few moments later and bound his arms behind him. He didn’t fight back when they took him away from her. He kept his eyes on Martha until he couldn’t see her anymore and his head lowered in defeat and despair.

The turmoil of betrayal and anger left him feeling hallow inside, except for that tiny spark of light that Martha Kent left behind in him. He decided then and there that he would endure whatever the courts decided. He would endure the mistrust and scornful tongues of Clark’s friends. He would endure the public humiliation he knows Lois Lane would put him through with her articles. He would endure it all so long as Martha Kent was there to guide him through it all.

He had set out to be the villain this time. Instead, he felt every bit as his son’s victim all over again.

[colacat53]

Jurassic World Dominion really helped me realize that therizinosaurus are huge.

As a kid I loved watching Dinosaur King and in one of the episodes there is a Therizinosaurus and while the therizinosaurus in Dinosaur King was huge I always just assumed it was so big because it was one of Dr. Z's special dinosaurs but upon watching Jurassic World Dominion and seeing the therizinosaurus in that movie I realized that nope, they're actually huge

[botanicalbasilly]

If you would like it, I have a fun fact about tarantulas!!!

So usually when you think Tarantula, you're thinking of the Mexican red knee, or smith's red knee:

(Beautiful beautiful!! That's Cholula of the Maryland zoo!!! I love tarantulas)

This is because the Mexican red knee is both the most common tarantula in the pet trade and the most commonly used tarantula on movie sets, both for the same reason: red knees are incredibly docile and easy to handle!

You have to be careful, of course (they're burrowing spiders, NOT web spiders, so a fall from even a few feet could rupture their abdomen and kill them!!! :[) but red knees really do NOT like biting, and their biggest defense is their urticating setae (the hairs on their abdomen which, unless you're allergic, will really just make you a little itchy) so they're easy to keep as pets for people with little experience with tarantulas, or to handle for actors with little training!!!!!

Kinda funny that by being the most chill tarantulas they became the image for Big Spooky Spider. I love tarantulas either way :] 1000000/10 beast

That's all I just love love love tarantulas have a good day

Oh I LOVE it! That's certainly a bug that I would put in the "Puppy" category.

I held one once when I was really young, and I remember it being super magical. Though you're right about the itchy part... Still, it makes me very happy to think that I live with these fellas on this planet :•)

[iinryer]

wip whatever! ive been tagged by @try-set-me-on-fire @bigfootsmom @pelorsdyke the past few days and im sure others i cannot recall even further back <3 ty for tagging me sorry I don’t always have stuff 2 share

(from chris comes home too soon fic, shortly after waking up in the hospital)

—

“Buck called…” Chris says it slowly, deliberately. He says it in a way that makes Eddie think maybe it’s not the first time Chris has told him, “He said you were hurt,”

Eddie swallows harshly. His eyes burn with tears he tries to blink back.

He has hazy memories about a call, and slipping down… falling from… he’s not sure. He wants to know, but he doesn’t want to ask his teenage son. Who’s here. Really actually here, in the same room as him for the first time in almost four months.

“You…” Eddie starts, voice hoarse, breath hiccuping in his chest, “how long…”

He’s not sure whether he wants to know how long Chris has been here, or how long he’ll stay. He still feels groggy and heavy. His thoughts are sticky, but he thinks he’s clinging to them with a better grip than he was earlier. He takes a deep breath. Feels a twinge somewhere for the first time. It hurts, in a far away kind of way, but it’s a sudden relief he didn’t know he needed. To be able to feel his body.

Eddie swallows, deciding it’s probably best not to have a heavier conversation before he’s fully present, and settles on, “How long have you been here…?”

Chris sits up straighter suddenly—that wary look still on his face, but there’s an alertness that wasn’t there before.

Alarm bells start going off in the back of Eddie’s head, somewhere muffled, but he can feel them. His brow furrows, a heavy arm trying its best to move across the bed to reach feebly towards Chris. His voice is raspy and thick around the tears he’s bit back, “Hey… what’s wrong?”

The smallest, shakiest voice he’s heard from his kid in years, says, “Dad?”

And then, Eddie’s horror, Chris’ bottom lip wobbles.

“Hey—hey, hey, Chris,” Eddie chokes, forcing his heavy, uncooperative hand over the edge of the mattress, “C’mere, you’re—you’re okay—,”

Chris lets out a gasping breath and lurches forward to, gently, ever so softly, grasp onto Eddie’s uncoordinated, reaching fingers.

They just look at each other for a moment. Then Chris’ brow furrows a bit, hesitating as his gaze drifts upward.

“Are you back? For real, this time?” Chris whispers, not crying, but still clearly distressed, “You were confused, before. You kept forgetting I was here,”

Tears well up in Eddie’s eyes, so suddenly, and with such ferocity it startles him. His first instinct is to shake his head vehemently and insist that no, he would never forget. He could never forget. But… He takes in Chris again. Remembers the way he spoke earlier…

Eddie takes a breath and claws at his residual grogginess, gives Chris’ hand a squeeze and says, “Yeah, buddy. I think—I think so,”

Chris nods slowly, still looking a little shell shocked, eyes drifting off to the side. Then says, “I’m supposed to call the nurse,”

Eddie wants nothing less than to have to deal with the medical staff when his son is right here. He’s here. But Chris looks shaken. Not just shaken, but shaken and containing it. And that breaks Eddie’s heart in two.

So Eddie just nods belatedly, clears his dry throat, and whispers, “Okay,”

Chris doesn’t move for a moment, looking at Eddie again. But before Eddie’s mind can catch up, Chris is reaching over to press the call button.

—

tagging @gayeddieagenda bc i want to see the thing you’re working on 🫵

[serickswrites]

Ringing

Warnings: physical violence, falling from a great height

Hero knew it was bad. Knew it was bad the moment that Villain threw them off the building. Knew it was bad the moment they hit the ground and they didn’t feel anything. Couldn’t sense anything. Couldn’t hear anything over the ringing in their ears.

They knew the fall wouldn’t kill them. Knew they were too indestructible for that. But they knew the pain would be bad.

Bad was an understatement.

As the wave of excruciating pain overwhelmed them, Hero could hear again. Could hear their wails of agony. Could hear Sidekick’s crying. And they could hear Villain’s laughter getting closer and closer.

“Pl-Please,” they begged through their sobs.

“Oh honey,” Villain smiled darkly, “I’m just getting started with you.”

[yaoi-hate-machine]

skinned my knees when i passed out + hit my head + fell on the floor a few days ago and i can’t stop making the “how’d you hurt your knees, sucking dick?” joke. which is funny but also annoying but also has me envisioning scenarios in which one would not only hurt their knees but also skin them while sucking dick

[darling-gemini]

Me: I want a Wyler endgame.

Also me: their story is a tragedy. there is no happy ending where they both come out alive, but what is grief if not love persevering? what does any of the suffering matter if the love was there anyway? doesn't it mean something, to love despite it all?