#for me its option 3 i guess. by all means its for sure canon at the moment im just talking about how it would be revealed in a game | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bearbluebooks · 10 months

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Chapter 8 of Christmas in Velaris

Before you start who do you think the cavalry is? Have a guess 3-2-1 START

This is an emotional chapter. We learn some of Gwyn's history. The heartbreak isn't over yet. But we will get to the fluff soon, I promise :)

Also some canon references in here, let me know if you spot them!

Read Chapter 1 here or Chapter 8 here on AO3

December 10th, way too early in the morning.

Rain softly splattered on the sidewalk. The clock outside of Rita’s told her it was 01:35 am. The sky was pitch-black and an eerie calm dominated the streets. Every dark corner held the promise of peace or peril. Gwyn was so lost in thought and feeling, that she only realized the danger she put herself in after she stepped foot outside of the bustling bar. Someone could follow her, someone could-

She didn’t allow herself to finish that last thought. Instead, she put her keys between her fingers and put 9-1-1 on her screen. With even faster steps she occasionally glanced behind her, to make sure she was still alone. On her second glance back, she saw a figure moving towards her at a speed that put them moments away from her.

For a second, Gwyn froze. Her heart beat out of her chest as fear paralyzed her entire body.

She had two options, to outrun the possible threat, or to wait and face it head on.

She chose the latter, as she called 9-1-1, and took up a fighting stance.

Only when the figure came closer did she recognize the golden brown hair and determined grey eyes.

“Gwyn,” the familiar voice yelled.

A sense of relief washed over her as she canceled the call and waited for her friend to catch up. Then a sense of hurt washed over her. She felt lost but she refused to feel helpless. Although she appreciated the gesture, she didn’t need a babysitter. When Nesta suddenly appeared beside her, she said “No friend of mine walks alone at night.”

To which Gwyn replied “I don’t need to be coddled. I can handle myself.”

“I know, doesn’t mean you have to,” she answered as she linked her arm in hers.

Normally, Gwyn was a chatterbox, always wrapped up in conversation but tonight words escaped her, as memories played on repeat in her mind.

The more time she spent in Velaris, the more memories forced their way back inside her mind, especially on their way home- the lamppost where she and Azriel shared many stolen kisses, or Lunar Park where Azriel would lay out the picnic blanket for them to hang out on all day, either in companionable silence or deep conversation. Where she would lay her head in his lap as she read passages from her current book aloud. When nothing else existed except her soft voice and his adoring eyes.

The moment they shared last night opened a sliver of possibility in her heart. Of hope that those moments were not lost to history, but could be a foundation to build upon in the present. Until reality reared its ugly head, and showed her that the past held no promise for the future. And she was a fool to think the present held any hope.

It was a mistake and she couldn’t believe she ever thought otherwise. Azriel deserved better. Better than her. Someone who hadn’t abandoned him. Someone who didn’t cause him pain every moment they spent together.

When she got back, they had barely exchanged words, until Nesta asked “Can I sleep at your place tonight? For old times’ sake?”

When they were young, Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie shared many sleepovers. Gwyn’s mom was never strict on rules, unlike Nesta’s mom. Whenever there was a need for sleepovers, birthday parties, movie nights, book clubs, or even alcohol, Gwyn’s mom was there. Even though she made some questionable parenting choices, many good memories were made. The thought brought a smile back to her face. “Okay, but if I hear one snore you’re sleeping on the couch.”

“Same for you Gwynnie,” Nesta answered pressing a finger to her chest. Only Nesta could threaten her out of her own bed, she thought with a smile.

Before she brushed her teeth, Gwyn made sure to put an extra set of pajamas and a bottle of water on the oak nightstand for Nesta. The room was filled with oak furniture of different shapes and sizes. Next to the bathroom door stood a large wardrobe, a smaller dresser barely fit at the end of her bed, and a reading chair was pushed beneath the window. The bed seemed to be an afterthought, as it barely fit the small space. It could fit two people if they didn’t mind sharing personal space.

As they both got ready in Gwyn’s small bedroom, Mouse appeared in the doorway. “Who’s that?” Nesta asked slightly hesitant. “Mouse,” she answered cheerfully.

One threatening hiss told her Mouse still needed to warm up to strangers, despite Azriel’s unique encounter. With a smile, she thought about the similarities Nesta and Mouse shared. “She needs some time to get to know you, it’s nothing personal.”

Before the two could get into a fight, Gwyn said “Let’s get to bed.”

Despite her exhausted mind and body, sleep did not find her that night. As she looked at the ceiling, she still felt gratitude, for Nesta who did not snore as loudly and for Mouse who contentedly slept at the bottom of her feet.

---

When the warm colors of moonlight replaced the softness of night, Nesta finally stirred awake. “How long have you been watching me sleep?” Nesta asked as she moved her body to sit upright.

“Long enough to know that you still snore.”

“Why am I not on the couch then?” She contested with her arms crossed and an eyebrow lifted.

“I didn’t want to wake up Mouse,” Gwyn replied with a shrug.

When they remained silent, the new tension became more palpable. Tension caused by a question that had lingered between them long before she came back to Velaris. A question that finally found its way into the conversation when Nesta asked “Gwynnie, what happened?”

There were many answers to that question- which was part of the problem.

“You mean why I left?” Gwyn asked. It seemed like the more pressing question. The one that hung between them ever since she left.

The one Nesta deserved an answer too.

“Yes,” Nesta said with nothing but genuine care and worry in her eyes.

Gwyn could not find an ounce of blame in her eyes.

With a deep inhale, Gwyn decided it was time to open the lid to the past.

She knew she would never be completely ready. That she would wait forever for that feeling to appear. She also knew in the deepest parts of her soul that growth happened through conversation and vulnerability. Through connection and trust.

Trust in herself, that she was strong enough to confront the past, and trust in Nesta to not hurt her with whatever she was about to tell her.

Even though she was still under the blanket wearing her thickest pajamas, Gwyn felt utterly bare.

Without looking into those pleading grey eyes, Gwyn opened her mouth and relived that moment fourteen years ago, the moment that changed everything. Without stopping a waterfall of history made its way out of her mouth, “My mom met Ronny in a bar when Catrin and I were at summer camp. They hit it off immediately. He was some kind of powerful man who ran his own business in Adriata. He asked her to marry him after only having known each other for a week.” Gwyn couldn’t help the roll of her eyes as she relived that moment. Still hoping for her mom to make another decision, all those years later.

“Mom was so happy. Happier than we’d ever seen her. When we came back from summer camp, he was already setting up the move.” Gwyn could still see the boxes that suddenly lined the walls of their small house. The pieces of home that were slowly ripped away. Nor could she ever forget the bad feeling she got when she first saw the blonde-haired middle-aged man with a deceiving smile and haunting green eyes.

“I begged her to wait until the end of the school year but she would only give us three more months. Life only waits for so long, she would say as justification.”

Nesta didn’t interrupt her once. She only listened silently as Gwyn continued the story, “I thought she would change her mind. She had so many boyfriends before. I didn’t see the difference. I thought he would break it off once reality crashed their bubble of temporary happiness. I thought that if I didn’t say anything it wasn’t real,” Gwyn said as a tear ran down her face.

“When the three months were up. We couldn’t say goodbye. No matter how much we tried. How much we pleaded. They wouldn’t change their minds. She said we had enough time.” The memory made her think back to her nativity, to the girl who still held on to hope. The girl who had everything she ever wanted-a loving home, friends, a boyfriend- and thought she could keep it. To the hurt she had caused others, to the sadness that took root in her heart and to the permanent longing for something that could never be again.

“When we got to Adriata, it turned out his business,” she said the last word in air quotes, “was a religious cult called Sangravah.”

“And my mom, Catrin, and I were his latest converts.”

With a choked sob, Gwyn said “I tried, Nesta. I really tried. But they didn’t allow any outside contact. Not even letters. I was trapped. Catrin and I were-“

“And then Catrin and Mom-“

She couldn’t relive more of those memories. Not today. Maybe not ever.

She didn’t want anybody looking at her differently and once they learned her full history they were bound to.

Nesta didn’t wait for her to say more. Instead, she enveloped her in the biggest hug they ever shared as she said “I understand.” When Gwyn looked into Nesta’s eyes no judgment could be found, only genuine understanding. Gwyn could feel in her bones Nesta’s understanding came from experience. Once she was ready, Gwyn would listen to Nesta’s story too.

“I understand,” she repeated as she squeezed Gwyn’s hand tightly.

“I’m here now. You’re here now,” she said as she held her tightly.

A weight lifted from Gwyn's chest. It was the first time she ever shared that part of her past with someone. The first time she trusted her memories in the hands of someone else.

Maybe life held more possibility than she thought.

Ever since she left Velaris, her life wasn’t her own. Possibility had no room in her life, and neither did longing.

Being back, made her feel differently.

Having shared one piece of her story had made her feel differently.

She leaned into the embrace and silenced that voice in her head that told her she didn’t deserve it because she was different. She was worthy.

Life was meant to be lived. Not feared. And tonight she took the first step. The first of many.

She needed to start making choices that reflected that. For too long life came at her instead of from her.

She was the captain of her life. Not the sufferer of its fate.

Even though something inside her told her not to. Gwyn reminded herself that nagging feeling was just her body’s survival mechanism urging her to function within familiarity as she forced herself to text “I’ll see you tonight.”

#gwynriel #gwyn x azriel #acotar fanfiction #gwyn acosf #gwyneth berdara #acotar #acotar alternate universe #ao3 fanfic #azriel shadowsinger #a court of silver flames #pro gwyneth berdara #pro gwynriel #gwynrielfic #gwynriel fic

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giantroboticplatypusbutt218 · 2 years

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Oversight

This is Part 3 of the Magnetic Attraction series.

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Content Warnings: Fantastic Racism, Internalized Homophobia, Suggestive Content, Mild Language, Canon-Typical Violence.

Summary: Rev receives some friendly advice from Tech after a mistake of his is brought to attention. Desperate to prove that he took Tech’s words to heart, he seeks the aid of his other friends to improve himself before the evening is over.

Unfortunately, he missed the most crucial piece of advice that Tech tried to convey.

Word Count: 27,277

Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (Link to Chapter on Ao3)

Chapter 5

Word Count: 4941

With a building as large as the Loonatics’ HQ on Blanc, one might expect it to take a while to find a person who has the ability to traverse anywhere in the base in an instant. Slam, however, had a guess as to where Rev might have gone and followed his gut.

Sure enough, as soon as he turned the corner into the hallway connecting their rooms, he saw a pajama-clad roadrunner dash out of his room and toss a mound of feminine clothes in front of Ace’s door, before dashing right back.

Taking a breath, Slam made his way over.

Meanwhile, Rev simply let himself fall face-first onto his bed, not minding the confetti of post-its it kicked up or the ones still stuck to the sheets. The paper-riddled pillow swallowed up Rev’s anxious whine and following weary moan.

A deep knock sounded at the door, forcing a groan to follow all of Rev’s displeased noises.

Within a second he was at the door, opening it to see the person he knew was there.

“Hey Slam,” he sighed. “Look I don’t know why you followed me here but whatever reason it is I’m sure it’s pointless. Every single thing I’ve done today was a failure and Tech is probably going to be looking down on me for the rest of our lives. So maybe you should just go because there’s nothing you can do that’ll have a single chance of fixing my monumental landslide of screw-ups before Tech chews me out for everything.”

Grunting, Slam pointed sharply down the hall, back in the direction Rev was running from.

“Are you seriously trying to get me to go talk to him?! Why? So I can expedite my one-way ticket to losing my best friend? Absolutely not! I’m just gonna lock myself in my room for as long as I can pretending like everything’s fine until an emergency or the threat of starvation pulls me out.”

As Rev began pacing at the side of his bed, Slam let himself in. He grimaced at how many sticky notes coated every inch of the room.

“I mean, maybe if I’m quick about it I can channel the security feed onto my personal computer to monitor Tech’s position in the base so I can sneak around to grab food every once in a while. That would require some rewiring which I’m not very good at but maybe if I quickly do some research I can learn how to do it and complete the installation before any sort of unavoidable circumstances forces me to come into contact with him.”

Slam picked up a sticky note, his face shifting into a grimace as he read it.

“But who knows how long I’ll actually be able to avoid him? Surely he wouldn’t cut off our friendship in the middle of a mission, right? So if I can just put off any conversations while on missions and channel the camera feeds into my room I’ll never have to acknowledge that I’ve screwed everything up. Yeah. That’s a plan. Right?”

Flicking the note off his finger, Slam stared at him flatly.

“What?! It’s not like I have any better options!”

In three smooth steps and a swift swipe, Rev was under Slam’s arm being carried like luggage.

“Hey! Let me go! What are you doing?! I need to stay locked in my room otherwise none of my plans will-…”

Now in the hallway, Rev saw Lexi’s door closing. Meanwhile, Ace strained as he bent over to grab the clothes at his doorstep. “Ugh, come on Duck,” he uttered to himself. “You know this is dry clean only.” After picking up the clothes with a pained grunt, he stepped inside.

Rev didn’t dare look in the direction of Tech’s room, instead, he continued his attempt at flailing out of Slam’s grasp.

Effortlessly, Slam turned and took a few more steps toward the hall’s entrance.

While his efforts were futile, Rev wouldn’t stop.

That was, until he heard Tech’s confused voice.

“Uh… hi, Slam? And… Rev?”

Slam used his free hand to grab Rev’s shirt collar like the scruff of a cat and set him in front of Tech. Instead of immediately letting go, he reached for Tech’s wrist and pulled it towards Rev’s, letting go once Tech got the memo to hold on.

He nodded with finality before heading to his room.

Rev’s first instinct, of course, was to run away. He twitched with the urge, but Tech’s firm grasp on his wrist meant he’d just be pulling the person he wanted to run from along for the ride.

“Well, it seems like he wants us to talk,” Tech said, watching Slam’s door close.

“Haha… Yeah…”

Returning his focus, he looked Rev up and down. “Wou-”

“Tech I’m really sorry! You were really scared when I was in danger and you were shaking and I’ve never actually seen you so scared and it was all my fault so I’m really really sorry about forcing you through all that when you didn’t deserve it and…” He looked away. “I’m sorry…”

Taking a deep breath, Tech ran his free hand over his ears. “Can we speak somewhere else? Preferably somewhere more private?” Tech looked past him, pursing his lips. “How about your room?”

Rev laughed nervously. “W-Why there? I mean we’re closer to your room so it’d probably be more convenient to…” The insistent look Tech was giving him forced his reply. “Okay…”

With a nod, Tech led him to the next door over. His door.

Sighing, Rev let him in.

It was at that moment Rev truly realized the terrible state of his room. He couldn’t bear to see what Tech thought, so he just stared off into a colorful corner.

“Oh…” Tech said. “This is… worse than my lab. Much worse…”

“I wasn’t expecting you to ever come in here…”

“Yeah. I could’ve guessed.”

Rev heard Tech take a step toward him and quickly stepped further into his room, stopping beside his bed. “If I knew you’d be visiting I’d have cleaned it up,” he said. “But you know, when it’s just you, why clean your room right? It’s not like you need to impress yourself.”

The sigh Rev heard cut right through his chest.

“Look, I talked to Lexi and Ace. I know you’ve been trying to improve your confidence since we talked earlier.”

He covered his face.

“It feels like what I said didn’t really get through to you.”

His throat tightened.

“Rev, I told you to have some confidence in yourself because you were already on the right track. I specifically wanted you to relax, and from what I’ve heard, you’ve been doing the exact opposite from the second our conversation ended.”

With a whine, Rev backed himself into his bed, stumbling onto it after which he quickly pulled his knees up and hugged them.

“Sorry,” he meekly apologized.

Tech sighed, bending down and picking a patch of sticky notes off of Rev’s bed until he could sit on it as well, more comfortably than Rev likely was.

“I also told you not to make things awkward, and hearing the lengths you went to in an effort to impress me after I told you to relax… is pretty unsettling.”

“Oh…” Rev swallowed thickly, curling up a little tighter. “So everything I did… was pointless. I put myself through increasingly embarrassing and dangerous situations until you got involved and thought I got hurt…”

“That’s a pretty negative way of looking at it, though, not entirely wrong…”

Rev fell onto his side, letting out a shuddering breath.

“I just wanted to prove that I cared about you and was listening to what you had to say, but obviously I wasn’t because if I just followed the incredibly easy advice you gave me, none of this would have happened…”

“You didn’t have to go out of your way to prove anything, Rev. Just take a few more seconds to think about whatever advice I give you next time, okay?”

He just turned onto his side, facing away from Tech. “Look, it’s late. Maybe-” His voice cracked, forcing him to clear his throat. “Maybe you should just go. I’ll probably just find another dumb way to hurt you again if you don’t.”

“It’s really not that big a deal.”

“Just… Just go…” His voice came out forced. “I’ve been a pretty… awful friend today. Let alone a best friend or… anything else. You should just get some rest or something… take a break from… dealing with me…”

“Seriously, it’s fine. I promise.” Tech waited a moment, but didn’t get a reply. “Rev?”

Silence followed, leaving Tech awkwardly sitting on Rev’s bed in his room plastered in sticky notes.

Despite the uncomfortable atmosphere, he didn’t feel right just letting Rev stew in his own misery. He tried to think of some solution, looking around as though an answer would pop out at him among a sea of colorful paper.

Actually…

Now that he was taking a moment, he noticed a few things weren’t covered. Rev’s PC monitor, of course, discounting the few notes stuck to the sides. Obviously the electrical outlets. And… the pictures on the walls and shelves.

Tech focused on them, noting that some of the pictures had post-its on them… but they never covered the areas where Rev’s friends and family were. Rev himself was covered in them, though, leaving Tech to wonder if he should be concerned about that. Then, on Rev’s nightstand, he noticed a picture he was very familiar with.

It was just him and Rev, standing side by side in front of a simulated podium and crowd, celebrating their joint effort in rebuilding the Virtual Trainer in Blanc HQ. Of course, right after the picture, Rev just had to make a joke about all the VR games he’d play in it. Normally, Tech would have gone on a big rant about it not being a toy and how misusing it was disrespectful and yadda yadda… but he didn’t. Rev had obviously made the joke to provoke him, as by that point, they’d gotten in the habit of arguing just for the thrill of it… but Tech just couldn’t muster the energy to even fake being mad at him. With how much help Rev had given on the project, cutting the time to completion in half, Tech was too happy to refuse any use Rev could think up for it. And the look Rev gave him when he replied to his joke with ‘have fun’, that surprise and excitement… it left him with a feeling that would only continue to bloom from then on.

Warmth filled Tech as he recalled the memory, an experience he felt often thanks to a copy of the photo he had hanging above his work computer. Then, that warmth died out and curled dully in his gut, as Tech looked again at the photo and saw that Rev was covered in two sticky notes.

It didn’t sit right with him to see such an important photo, at least to him, tainted like that.

Tech got up from the bed, hearing the faintest shuttering gasp from his friend as he stood. There was no doubt Rev would brush off his concern, so Tech elected to continue toward the nightstand. He leaned down to better read whatever thing Rev thought was important enough to not only take note of, but cover such a wonderful moment with.

‘For some reason, he doesn’t hate you,’ the first line said, a scribbled arrow pointing toward Tech in the picture beside it. ‘Don’t do anything that could make him change his mind.’

With concern growing, Tech continued onto the second note.

‘He gave you a second chance. Don’t waste it. Don’t screw up again.’

A twinge of unease hit Tech as he read the final, repeatedly underlined command.

‘Don’t be a failure.’

Without a second thought, he plucked the two notes off of the picture. Looking over them again just left him with the same emotions, so he stepped over and sat on the bed.

“Rev,” he spoke softly. “What are these?”

Thankfully, Rev actually pulled up his head to look at whatever Tech had asked him about. Upon seeing what he had, however, he let out a gasp and rushed to snatch them away.

Tech, of course, made sure that didn’t happen.

Given that Rev couldn’t reach the notes without leaning over Tech or getting up from the bed, he simply whined and sat into a defeated slouch.

“You weren’t supposed to see those…” Rev mumbled.

“I wasn’t supposed to see your entire room.”

“…You really weren’t supposed to see those…”

Tech sighed. “Why did you write them?”

Folding his arms, Rev turned away. “Just a reminder… to not ruin our friendship.”

“You’re not going to ruin our friendship, Rev. Not by accident, at least. I’ve already told you that I can handle you making a few mistakes.”

Rev didn’t respond.

“Speaking of mistakes,” Tech said, “earlier I told you to treat any accidental minor offense you cause me like any other mistake, and well…” He rubbed his neck. “Maybe that was a mistake on my part. Though, I don’t think I can be blamed for lacking the foresight on that one.”

The strange admission caught Rev’s attention, making him glance at Tech briefly before averting his gaze and going quiet again.

“As it turns out, you don’t really handle any mistakes very well. At least, not the ones you made today while taking advice from Lexi and Ace.”

“I… I usually know enough before trying things that I don’t make any mistakes…”

“And I’m guessing that this,” Tech gestured vaguely to the room, “isn’t a one-off thing you’ve done just for me.”

“To this… extent… no. But… yeah. I usually keep it all on my PC… but when I really need to memorize things… this is how I do it…”

“Hm.” Tech glanced down at the notes. “Look, I’m not an expert or anything, but this just… doesn’t seem right.”

Rev flinched, huddling into himself.

“Clearly, you really don’t like to let people down, and that’s normal. But, freaking out over small mistakes, researching for days in an attempt to avoid them… it doesn’t take a genius to know that’s not healthy.” Looking around, his eyes landed on more photos, some showing Rev’s friends. His family.

His father.

The memory of Rev groveling at his feet, pleading for help in impressing Ralph Runner, flashed in his head. “A year ago, we weren’t all that close to each other. We’d break out into fights over who’s smarter, or who should lead projects, or who should’ve caught certain errors. Yet… when your dad came around…”

Rev let out a faint whine.

“…you still begged me for help. You cared more about getting his approval,” Tech glanced at the notes again, “about not being a failure… than you cared about being better than me.”

“You-” his voice wavered. “You should just leave.”

“Rev.” Tech tried to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but Rev shrugged it off. “Look, if there’s anything you wanna talk about, I’m still your best friend, alright?”

“I’m fine,” he croaked.

Tech reached out again. “It’s just… I care about you, Rev… just like how you care about me. If you need anything, I’m here. Don’t be embarrassed to ask.”

When Tech’s fingers brushed Rev’s shoulder again, he let out a gasping sob.

“Rev…”

“This is pathetic! You told me not to cry and- ARGH!” He slammed his fists into the mattress. “I can’t even do that!” Wiping his eyes, he let out a broken sigh. “I tried so hard… at everything… and yet… I’m still a…”

“Rev.” Tech gently rubbed his shoulder in what he hoped was a soothing fashion. “You didn’t fail at anything, and you aren’t and can’t be a failure, okay?” He sighed. “And I never even told you not to cry. I said I didn’t want you to feel like crying whenever I corrected you on something… because something that small shouldn’t make you so upset.” His hand traveled to Rev’s back, moving gently up and down. “And I’m assuming the reason you’re crying… isn’t related to that. It’s something more… personal.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Rev muttered, still wiping away tears.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting a little support.”

"I don't need support."

"You can talk to me, Rev."

"No."

"I won't judge. I promise."

“Stop!”

Tech flinched back, noticing the sharp anger and fear in Rev’s eyes. If Rev ever planned on explaining things, Tech figured that it certainly wouldn’t be any time tonight.

“Sorry,” he said, placing both hands on his lap. “I shouldn’t have pried.”

“It’s… You’re just trying to help me… even if I don’t need any help.”

Tech strongly disagreed, but he didn’t want to argue. Besides, it was really late. Now probably wasn’t the best time to be having any sort of personal discussion anyway.

He yawned, then looked around at the state of Rev’s room again.

“How about we hang out in the lounge for a little while? It’s a bit more… cheery than it is in here.”

Rev sniffed. “I guess…”

“We can just take a moment to relax before going to bed, alright?”

With a shuddered breath, Rev nodded. “Okay.”

Tech got up, frowning at the notes he was still holding before slipping them into a pocket on his shorts. It was then that he noticed the state of his shirt.

Behind him, he could hear Rev slowly pulling himself off the bed.

“Hey, I’m going to stop by my room to change into my pajamas. You can take a minute to cool off and meet me at the end of the sleeping quarters when you’re ready, alright?”

“Alright…”

It felt strange to leave Rev alone, but the smell of ketchup and the cool air penetrating his torn shirt were starting to bother him. He had to trust that Rev would listen to him and not do something rash like lock himself away.

“See you in a minute.”

And with that, he made his way back into the hall.

Tech sighed, looking down the hall toward Rev’s room. It had been a few minutes, and he was starting to worry that Rev might have decided not to show.

Then, giving him some relief, Rev finally emerged from his room and walked over.

“Hey Rev,” Tech greeted softly.

“Hey Tech,” Rev wearily greeted back.

After a brief moment of silence, Tech simply said, “let’s go.”

They walked down the halls, not a word being spoken between them. It wasn’t quiet, however, as they could hear the TV around the corner.

Sure enough, the flash of the TV screen at the other end of the moonlit hall became visible at the same time that the rest of the lounge did.

“Guess nobody decided to turn off the TV,” Tech said. “I’ll handle that once we’re ready to go to bed.”

Tech took the far corner of the couch opposite the TV. On the coffee table, he could see the burnt bulb from earlier and the TV remote, the latter of which he grabbed.

As Rev slowly sat down on the middle cushion beside Tech, he noticed that the back of the remote was lying on the table at about the same time that Tech did.

“Hm. I guess this is the remote Duck wanted the batteries for.”

“They’re probably done charging by now so I could run over and grab them if you like. Alternatively, I could also get up and change the channel myself.”

“Well, we should probably check what’s on first.”

They both looked at the TV, seeing zoomed-in footage of a sleeping tiger before a cut shot to a confused zookeeper being interviewed by a reporter.

“I don’t know, I can’t explain that either. One second I was looking away, and then poof, the tiger is back the next.”

“Any theories or opinions on what might have happened?”

“I have no ideas. I’m just happy she’s back, and I hope she doesn’t disappear like that again…”

“And there you have it folks. It seems like this mystery may remain a mystery for quite some time. But, at the very least, we got a happy ending out of it. This is Channel 4 News, and this conveniently concludes our conservation special.”

Tech sighed, wiping a hand down his face. “I feel like Duck shouldn’t have gotten away with that so easily…”

“I don’t even understand how he managed to pull it off in the first place. Maybe I’m just too tired to think up a list of possible scenarios…”

“Just don’t bother. Kick back and relax; That’s what we came here for.”

“Oh, um, yeah. Alright.”

Rev leaned back on the couch, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table. Something was brushing up against his foot, so he craned his neck to see what it was.

Turned out, it was a lightbulb. Likely the same one he had given Tech a little earlier.

“Say… did you figure out the whole electricity thing?”

Tech’s ears drooped, as well as the rest of his posture. “Well… no… You had a great suggestion… but maybe I should just throw in the towel. Surely I would have managed to produce some sort of power by now if I was capable of it… but I guess I’m just not…”

“That’s not true! I saw you getting that lightbulb to glow at least twice today, and the second time even caused it to blow out!”

“It… Huh…” His brow scrunched in thought. “I think I can recall when the bulb blew… but you saw it glow before then?”

“Yeah! Right after I flew into you and-” Rev faltered, pulling his legs off the table as his face heated up. “You know, we were talking, and it glowed after I mentioned dancing with you…”

“Ah, um…” Tech’s cheeks were suddenly showing a hint of red as well. “Really? That’s… interesting.” Clearing his throat, he looked away. “I’ll have to compare what those two experiences have in common, and maybe that’ll bring me closer to achieving my goal.”

The TV filled the air with sponsored praises for some random product they’d never use. Despite this, it played out completely before either of them spoke another word.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Rev said, voice assured but weary. “You’re the smartest person in the universe after all.”

Tech’s attention slowly turned to him, then down to his hand casually resting on the space between them.

“Thanks… it does mean a lot to know you at least think I can pull it off.”

The light brush of something against his hand briefly jolted Rev’s mind away from the fog of sleep he was sinking into. He looked for an explanation and found that Tech had ‘casually’ left his hand, palm up, right next to his own. Of course, when Rev searched for Tech’s face, he was looking away again.

Surely, Rev thought, that this was an invitation to hold his hand… right? It was right there. It was like Tech was nudging him to just take hold.

Though… at the moment… he didn’t really feel like he deserved it.

Rev looked at Tech again, noticing his stiff posture and the barest hint at a hopeful smile.

…Maybe Rev didn’t exactly feel like he deserved to hold his hand, but Tech definitely deserved to have his hand held.

“I know you can do it, Tech. You just have to keep trying.”

After a bit of hesitation, he gingerly laid his hand on top of Tech’s.

A delighted squeak filled the air, followed by a deeper, more manly cough.

“I will… Uh, ‘keep trying,’ I mean.”

Their fingers entwined, and Rev felt like the air was charged with emotion… or maybe he was just getting really tired.

It took a second longer than it should have for Rev to remember that Tech had said something.

“That’s good- great!”

Tech chuckled, his posture loosening as he sat back on the couch.

“Let’s just relax alright?” He yawned. “We can worry about whatever some other time. When we're more awake.”

“Yeah… That’s probably a good idea…”

Following his lead, Rev let himself kick back, feet up on the coffee table and back against the cushion. He would have started watching TV, but Tech was still occupying the last part of his mind that hadn’t drifted off.

Though he’d blame the sleep taking over, Rev decided that Tech’s shoulder seemed like the perfect place to rest his head. As it turned out, he was completely right.

The soft weight against his side didn’t go unnoticed. Tech felt warmth swirling in his chest as he carefully looked down to see Rev sleeping peacefully.

He didn’t intend for either of them to actually sleep out in the lounge, but he wasn’t about to complain to Rev about it.

Letting out another yawn, Tech faintly questioned if he should carry Rev back to his room. Considering that his bed was littered with sticky notes, it didn’t seem like the best idea; He’d have to either wake Rev up or leave him on an uncomfortable bed.

The room seemed to be getting darker, then Tech realized he was just closing his eyes.

Somewhere in his head, he might’ve had reservations about letting himself fall asleep there, especially with Rev unwittingly falling asleep against him… But wherever those reservations were, they weren’t strong enough to push through the fog.

Another sponsor played, something about apple juice, and Tech grabbed the remote to shut it off. It wasn’t until he was pointing it at the TV that he remembered it didn’t have batteries.

A twinge of annoyance hit him. If only he had figured out the whole electricity thing already. Even if Rev knew he could do it, Tech still wasn’t sure what could trigger that power.

Wait…

Tech smiled tiredly, wanting to laugh but not having the energy.

Looking back, it was entirely too obvious to him what he was missing after sitting in his lab, failure after failure getting him down… and then gained when the person he cared for the most promised to share quality time with him once he succeeded.

He let his lowermost fingers slide down the remote, slipping into the battery slot. The angle was awkward, but that didn’t matter. With his thumb he held down the power button, and did what Rev knew he could.

And now, he knew he could too.

“Thank you,” he whispered to Rev, before the soft blanket of darkness swept over the room and invited him to join his friend in sleep.

Before Lexi had opened her bedroom door, it seemed like a regular morning. She had done her normal routine and was ready to bound over to the kitchen to get coffee started for the less morning-inclined teammates… when something sounded slightly off.

The sun was barely up, so everyone else was likely in their room catching ‘Z’s, but she could hear two people breathing somewhere in HQ. Curious, she stepped down the hall.

Her mind filled with questions of who it could be. Duck, Slam, and Tech were the first to be eliminated, as Duck could sleep through an earthquake, Slam would need one to wake him up, and Tech would probably yell at it for disturbing him before he could get some coffee. Ace was much more likely to be up this early, but given how badly he said his back ached after hitting the basement wall yesterday, Lexi bet he’d take a bit longer to get up than usual.

Rev… was in the ‘definitely’ category on the ‘people who would be up right now’ list. It probably wasn’t great that this was the case, but Lexi couldn’t blame him for getting frustrated after the fourth or fifth time hitting the floor while trying to sleep. But, if he was up, then she should be able to smell coffee by now, as he’d normally get it brewing if she hadn’t already.

Lexi listened in again, and noticed that the two people she heard had very relaxed heartbeats… and their breathing was pretty relaxed too. They were both definitely asleep, explaining the lack of coffee scent despite multiple people being out of their rooms.

Now she was really curious. As far as she knew, nobody in HQ was particularly fond of sleeping anywhere but inside their custom-tailored rooms, so there must be an interesting story attached to whoever she finds napping out… in the lounge, she was now sure of. It wasn’t far off, so this wouldn’t stay a mystery for very long.

She stepped around the corner and…

…slapped her hands over her mouth so she wouldn’t squeal at the adorable sight.

Tucked into the center couch, Rev was laying on top of Tech, beak nuzzled against his shoulder. Tech, meanwhile, had his arms wrapped snugly around Rev’s back, keeping him locked firmly in his embrace. Both of them wore peaceful expressions in their sleep, really selling the cozy atmosphere.

At that moment, Lexi questioned if she wanted to wait a bit before starting the coffee. Both of them seemed to be so comfortable, and she didn’t want anything to wake them up.

Still, if Ace got up with a sore back and didn’t have coffee ready, he probably wouldn’t feel too great about it.

Quietly, Lexi stepped away. The two of them could enjoy their moment of peace for now… but she was definitely teasing Rev about this later.

Link to Magnetic Attraction Part 4 ->

#Loonatics Unleashed #Rev X Tech #Tech X Rev #Rev Runner #Tech E. Coyote #Slam Tasmanian #Ace Bunny #My Fanfiction #LU Fanfic Series Magnetic Attraction #LU Fanfic Oversight #I have a one-shot I'll post hopefully within the next 2-4 weeks that takes place soon after this similar to Bright Horizons.#After that I kinda wanna post a non LU fic or two before the next part of Magnetic Attraction #I do have a lot more planned for this series but I have a few WiPs for other fandoms that I wanna work on too.

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spaceistheplaceart · 2 years

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Oh!! Maybe Serizawa for the character post?

How I feel about this character

I only just met him so uh! not sure... I liked his old hair better and I wish the curls would come back <3 not mustache tho ... honestly im not sure I have many thoughts about him! that's the thing w mp100 is that most of the characters just... elude me other than reigen and mob. Im sure it'll solidify more once I read the manga and finish the anime... uhh... I think him and mob should bond... I think it's really fukcing funny he addresses mob as his superior lmaooooo and uhhh I think he should come out of his shell and might be different than we expect once he's not so uptight.

his relationship with his bosses is something i'd like to explore... how he relied so heavily on toichiro, to the point where if he did not have a symbol of his approval (umbrella) he would explode. (i know it's also his room but. who ogave him that? yknow.)

and now with reigen... he's using the cards now. hm. I think it's an interesting connection and I wonder if maybe Serizawa will unheathily latch onto reigen like he did with Toichiro, just following back into that old mindset bc its what he's used to. I think it could be a good lesson for both reigen and serizawa bc ok. Reigen I think at first would enjoy serizawa being dependant on him and super polite and doing whatever he wants bc thats the kind of person reigen is, he wants to control people to an extent (like with mob. seperation arc esp. and when he went to the bar to manipulate all the weak people) but reigen has to learn that that's not good, he can't do that to anyone anymore. And Seri will have to learn to take the reigns on HIMSELF and try not to be so codependent.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

NOT MANY OPTIONS LMAOOOO reigen i GUESS but like idc really!!!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

... idk! mob? ive heard stuff about tome and him... sounds sweet? again, anime only here. Mob and him both going thru it is interesting to see.

My unpopular opinion about this character

that him using the business cards is not something cute, but rather could be him idolizing his superiors again. (though MOST LIKELY its just supposed to be a Cool Thing he did and doesnt mean anything)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

maybe what I talked about on the first question. uh. I want his curly hair to come back... I want him to loosen up... i want him to protect the kids w reigen too. i want... a more in depth exploration of the lingering effects of his trauma with toichiro and his self isolation.

#op posts

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gar-trek · 4 years

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please share what you have to say about food cubes!!

I was feeling a little apprehensive about releasing the TOS Food Document™ because it is so damn long…. But since you asked anon

DISCLAIMER:

This is focused solely on food as it appears in the original series. Whatever explanation of food synthesizer/replicator that may come in later series does to apply here. I am also not a Star Trek expert. I’m sure there is some super fan out there who knows everything there is to know about food in TOS, but that person is not me. This is just my thoughts as I’ve observed instances where food is shown or mentioned in TOS. If my thought process is flawed, or I make some claims that don’t really make sense, I am sorry. The food canon is very complicated and vague, so this is me just trying my best to make sense of it. I’d also like to mention I did not explicitly cover the meal scene in What Are Little Girls Made Of? Or the ice cream scene from And The Children Shall Lead, but I do make reference to them. I’m sure there are other food scenes I didn’t get to cover here, so if I’m missing a few pieces, I’m sorry.

Anyway… let’s get into it!

The original series, food, and other things that keep me up at night

I don’t care about continuity or plot holes in Star Trek: The Original Series, and if I did, I think the show would become rather unwatchable. It’s not about what happens to get us from plot point A to B, but more important that we do get there (ie, who cares how or why Spock’s brain has been removed from his body, it’s more important that we do get it back inside).

This being said, there is one aspect to TOS that baffles me to no end, and its something I just cannot overlook: the food. Food, the entire concept of it as it appears in TOS haunts me. Each time they show or mention food it makes less and less sense. It’s a never-ending nightmare and I spend every day trying to understand what goes on in the Enterprise Cafeteria. Today I would like to explore a couple food instances on TOS, and hopefully make a little sense of what is happening.

The first chilling incident: The Man Trap (S1E2) - Rand is a thief

In this episode, we see Yeoman Rand on her way to deliver Sulu his meal. She is carrying a tray of colored food cubes (which is what I will be referring to them as here, because there is no official name) and what we can assume to be some kind of alien variant of celery (earth celery with some red crap stuck on top). While waiting for the turbo lift, Rand eats one of the celery sticks intended for Sulu. My question is why. Like literally why does this happen. Sulu never mentions it (maybe he doesn’t notice). She never mentions it to him, which means we can assume she doesn’t want him to know. So why is Rand stealing food? Does she not get enough to eat? Is the limits for how much you get to eat on the Enterprise that strict you need to turn to thievery to get a proper meal? and if that the case, she’s shorting Sulu on his allotted food. In this same scene, we see Ensign Green (who is really a salt-sucking monster) make a grab for the tray as if he too is going to steal Sulu’d food. However, Rand slaps his hand away and asks “who do you think you are?”, a hypocritical statement considering Rand is also in the act of stealing food. So Rand, I must pose the same question to you. This scene has no resolution, so any interpretation is up to the viewer. Whether you think Rand's actions make her a girlboss or a thief, is up to you, however, one thing is undeniably true: Rand eats food off other people's plates.

Other food-related things of note in this episode is that Sulu sprinkles salt on the celery sticks. This means they are either bland or that's just his personal taste. Also, when Rand gives him his tray, he says “may the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet” and this has nothing really to do with food, I just thought it was kind of badass.

(Sulu’s food tray with 3 celery instead of 4 because Rand ate one)

Incident two: Charlie X (S1E3) - synthetic meatloaf

In Charlie X, we see Captain Kirk make this comment in passing:

“Today on earth it is Thanksgiving, if the crew has to eat synthetic meatloaf I want it to look like turkey.”

This statement leaves us with a couple undeniable truths:

1. Meatloaf is a meal option on the Enterprise.

2. It is synthetic, meaning the meatloaf may not contain any meat at all.

3. It is not shaped like turkey, but it is possible to do so.

if the meatloaf served on the Enterprise is synthetic, then it very well could be made out of the same stuff the colored food cubes are made out of. Also, (and this is pure speculation so take it with a grain of salt) since we never hear anyone refer to the colored food cubes by name, they could literally be the “synthetic meatloaf” that Kirk is referring to here. In this case, the term synthetic meatloaf would not mean a synthetic version of the popular American dish meatloaf but instead loafs of synthetic meat. Since we do not know exactly what synthetic meat looks like, it very well could be brightly colored cubes.

In either case, Kirk is asking them to turn synthetic food from one shape to another. We understand this is possible through the food synthesizer, however, if all the food they eat on the Enterprise is synthetic anyway, then why did Kirk specifically mention synthetic meatloaf in the shape of turkey? would the turkey not instead be made out of synthetic turkey? why must the synthetic turkey be made specifically out of meatloaf? isn’t every single food that comes out of the food synthesizer made out of the same thing? It would have made more sense for Kirk to say “it's thanksgiving so can you made the food synthesizers produce turnkey?”. However, Kirk is like, a really cool guy, so it is possible that the meatloaf comment is just a fun joke. Either way, we know that synthetic meatloaf is a standard menu item on the enterprise, yet we have never seen anyone consume it.

Incident 3: The Corbomite Maneuver (S1E11) - Green leaves

In this episode, Kirk goes in for a physical, and Doctor McCoy reports that the captain is 2 pounds overweight. In response to this, the Doctor changes the captain's dietary card to help him lose a little wight (🙄). We later see the captain served a “dietary salad” in place of his usual meals. The existence of dietary salad is interesting for many reasons. Most importantly, we understand that dietary salad is somehow better for you than what is usually served on the Enterprise. It most likely has a lower caloric intake than say, colored food cubes. However, as discussed before, most if not all the food on the Enterprise is synthetic. If the food is created, and not naturally made, then one can assume its caloric value can be controlled. Would it not be possible to make a lower-calorie version of colored food cubes? one would assume that the cubes are made to have the perfect amount of nutrients to satisfy yet keep humans a healthy weight if they are in fact a form of synthetic man-made food. How would the captain overeat, if portions are pre-determined by dietary cards? Is Kirk somehow going rouge and consuming food that is not created by the food synthesizer (the captain's secret cookie stockpile??).

The existence of this salad also begs another question: is it synthetic as well, or are they growing fresh salad on the Enterprise? We do know that they are able to grow things on the ship, however, there has never been any discussion of growing crops specifically for consumption. If this is the case though, it may explain why we often see crew members eating celery sticks. Perhaps things like celery sticks and dietary salads are grown on the Enterprise, but all other food is synthetically created. In which case, who’s job is it to harvest food and prepare it for meals? Did Rand have to put that dietary salad together all on her own?

One more interesting point about the Salad: When Kirk first receives it, he asks

“what in the devil is this? Green leaves?”

which prompts Rand to explain that it’s a salad. It is very possible that Kirk genuinely has no idea what a salad is. He may have never had one, nor heard of the food in his entire life. Later we see him eat the salad with his hands, which further proves the point that captain kirk doesn't know what salad is. Why captain Kirk would somehow have no knowledge of salad is up to speculation.

Incident 4: The conscience of the king (S1E14) - Cry over spilled milk

In this episode, Lieutenant Riley is served colored food cubes and a glass of what appears to be milk. There isn’t much of significance here, other than the fact we know it is possible to get a glass of milk with your meal on the Enterprise. Unlike Sulu, Riley doesn’t have any celery sticks but seems to have a larger serving of colored food cubes as compensation. We also learn that milk is served in a large glass, something that seems very impractical on a starship.

Riley proves my point moments later when he spills milk on a control panel and shatters the glass. This begs the question, who is going to clean that up?

Incident 5: Tomorrow is Yesterday (S1E20) - Chicken noodle soup

In this episode, the Enterprise accidentally beams a 60′s army man abroad their ship (for the second time). This random chad ensign asks the man if he’s hungry because he’s a troll I guess and he wanted to flex their cool future food machine. The army captain guy is like sure, I could go for some chicken soup right now (a very natural response to being beamed onto a spaceship for the first time). Chad ensign has like three cards in front of him, and I guess one of them just happens to be chicken soup because he puts it in the machine and the soup appears. Grant it, we never actually get to see the soup with out own eyes, but the army captain does seem to be pretty convinced that it is chicken soup just by the smell. This opens up a couple possibilities:

-The food synthesizer can make almost anything you want, and the card is maybe like a very broad category, like a dinner card, and when you put it in you can pick any dinner food you’d like.

-The food synthesizer can only make what is specific to each card, and the ensign just got extremely lucky and happened to have a card that was the exact food the army captain wanted.

More evidence, which we will go over later, points more towards the theory that one card is equal to one specific type of food. In this case, it is unclear how the synthesizer food cards are distributed, or how you get your pick of what food you would like. It is also more likely that options would be limited. This does make sense, however, it makes this scene very confusing, as, as I’ve pointed out, the ensign had a very limited number of cards, but exactly what the captain had asked for. Pure luck? what mind game was that Chad ensign trying to play with the poor man who was abducted from earth... we will never know.

One more very interesting thing is established here: The transporter room has a food synthesizer. Why this is is purely up to speculation. In my mind, having a food synthesizer in the transporter room would be like having a full kitchen where you park your car. Seems pretty useless, but maybe the guys in the transporter room requested easy access to snacks? Why the transporter room would get this special privilege is again, up to speculation.

Incident 6: Space Seed (S1E23) - Dinner with Khan

In Space Seed a special dinner is put together to welcome Khan onto the Enterprise. We see that they are being served colored food cubes and celery sticks. Doctor McCoy walks into the dining room and comments about how the display is “very impressive”. However, this seems like a very unusual comment considering we are shown the only food we have ever seen consumed on the Enterprise. What exactly makes this food “impressive” as compared to other celery sticks and colored food cubes? Is there some way to tell this particular food is better that we don’t know about, but is obvious to everyone on the Enterprise?

There is also a chance that Doctor McCoy is just very easily impressed with food, and upon seeing any food spread he is likely to comment in wonder. Note the way Scotty is looking at McCoy. His face is a mixture of confusion, judgment, and pity. Perhaps Scotty is thinking to himself “bruh, it’s literally just colored food cubes chill out man,”. There is no explanation as to why Scotty is giving McCoy such a look, so this very well could be the case. Even though it is a silly explanation, I don’t think it should be ruled out that one of McCoy’s personality traits is being overly excited about food of any kind.

Incident 7: Journey to Babel (S2E10) Party food

Much like in Space Seed, in this episode, we get to see a meal put together for a special occasion. All the diplomates are getting down at a mixer where a spread of food has been provided. These snacks seem very similar to colored food cubes, however I do think they differ. They may be the same type of food, but different in some way. In which case colored food cubes is an overarching category of food, and here we see two different types. The smaller more brightly colored cubes can be put in drinks, though if this is what you are supposed to do with them, or just the preference of that one alien species I do not know. Though I must point out, we have seen colored food cubes served in brown sauce in What are Little Girls Made Of? (S1E8) so it is not completely unheard of to have your colored food cubes served soggy.

The other type of colored food cubes we see are a lot larger and more pair shaped (in reality, they probably were just skinned pairs dipped in food coloring, but for this essay, it’s important that we completely ignore the fact there is another life outside of Star Trek). Now to me, these are very interesting, because the dull color and apparent texture are a lit more similar to standard colored food cubes we have seen thus far. I would even go o far to say that this is the same exact food, just sans the cubed shape. So really, standard colored food cubes are just the cubed version of whatever this food is. This, again, is just speculation, but it does point us to the fact that colored food cubes are not naturally cubed (I’m going somewhere with this is promise)

Incident 8: The Trouble With Tribbles (S2E15) The trouble with Chicken sandwichs

Here we see Kirk attempting to order a chicken sandwich and coffee. What he gets instead is a plate full of tribbles, hilarity ensues. I think this scene is interesting because we can add to our list of food items that are on the menu at the enterprise cafeteria: chicken sandwich. However, this is another food item we do not see. There is no way of knowing if the Enterprise's version of a chicken sandwich is what we would imagine a chicken sandwich to be. Much like the meatloaf and the soup, because we do not see it, there is no way of knowing if the food exists in the way that we as 21st-century people understand it. The events of TOS take place more than 200 years in our future, so to speculate that food could change a lot during that time isn’t a stretch. I don’t know, just some food for thought (lol)

Incident 9: By Any Other Name (S2E22) Living deliciously

In this episode, an alien taking the form of a human enjoys some colored food cubes. He makes a comment about how they are good they are while enthusiastically eating his food. This is a very important moment because it tells us that colored food cubes do taste good. In fact, they taste really good. Just before he eats, the alien comments on how humans could just take pills that give them all their nutrient needs and give up food completely (think the Jetsons cartoon). On the Enterprise, they do not eat just to live, but because they enjoy their food as well. This tells us that colored food cubes are at the very least, worth eating, and at the best, very delicious.

One more interesting thing: Spock is eating some kind of soup while everyone else enjoys colored food cubes. This could be a Vulcan preference, however, we know that Spock is vegetarian. This could be alluding to the fact that Colored Food Cubes are made out of meat.

Conclusion:

Yes, I asked a lot more questions than I answered. There are some things that make absolutely no sense to me, primarily, the food synthesizer and diet cards. Some evidence points to the fact that the food synthesizer can make practically anything (see Tomorrow is Yesterday, And the Children Shall Lead). However, one dietary card is equal to one specific food, which would mean they would have to produce a lot of these dietary cards if there is many meal options. How these cards are distributed, and what their limitations are, we do not know. And although we do not know the limits of what the food synthesizer can create, we do know these food have been served on the enterprise at least at one point:

-colored food cubes (variety)

-celery

-synthetic meatloaf

-synthetic turkey (Thanksgiving Special)

-Dietary Salad

-Milk

-Chicken Soup

-Chicken Sandwich

-Mystery Soup

-Ice cream (variety of flavors)

All of this food (except for maybe the dietary salad and celery) are synoptically created, so what they are actually made up of, I cannot say.

And finally, I would like to make a point about the colored food cubes. I think upon first inspection one would assume colored food cubes is a dish created specifically for space travel (think the food created for modern-day astronauts to consume in space). However, we learned that there is possibly a variety of colored food cube dishes. Since there is such a wide variety of food on the Enterprise, why would they also need to create a food specifically for space travel? I think that colored food cubes are actually a common dish, not intended specifically for space travel. Perhaps it was an alien food that got popular on earth, maybe it was a dish developed later in Earth's history by humans. I can only speculate, but I do think it is more than just boring space food. Everyone seems to have a preference for it, so I think it’s a dish you can eat over and over again and not get sick of. What colored food cubes taste like is completely up to speculation, but I would assume they are a savory food, considering we often see people enjoying them for their main meal.

I still have more to say, but for the sake of everyone, I’ll end it there. This was a lot of thought dumping, so if some of the things I said made no sense at all, I’m sorry. I’d love to hear some of your thoughts on TOS food! please share with me what you think colored food cubes would taste like :)

#star trek #tos #star trek tos #the original series #anon reveal yourself so i can kiss you #please #whole ass ted talk #sorry this is so long #colored food cubes #kirk #james t kirk #spock #bones #leonard mccoy #journey to babel #space seed #yeoman rand #sulu #hikaru sulu

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lmelodie · 2 years

Photo

OMG ITS FINALLY DONE NOW I MAY REST THESE WEERY HANDS

A continuation of drawing Dani’s characters from Crystal Springs The Season Sisters are HERE!!

This took so incredibly long because unlike The Frosts, i didn't have the clearest picture in my head of what the seasons looked like and there was A LOT of ironing out to do on these designs but they're here!!!

And because i spent so long on the design process under the cut is gonna be a lot of random details and things i did while making them (Cause i am a character design nerd)

WARNING: It is LONG under the cut. I gots a lot to say

Summer:

I did some preliminary sketches before reading too far into CS and i SCREAMED when i accurately guessed that summer was both black and buff. The only correct call tbh

I was really caught between giving her natural hair (to match Autumn) or the spiky Christmas tree hair i had originally envisioned for her. But i like the shape of the spiky hair too much to let it go

The design to add blue and green motifs were very last minute because she needed something to break up the yellow.

Originally her arm details started out as mesh sleeves in the preliminaries, then turned into vague markings, then i decided to make them landscape tattoos

Summer doesn't technically have a crown, because i forgot/didn't want to make one lol

Summer i had the least ideas for her outfit so it went through a lot of versions

Spring:

Spring i probably got the most wrong from the canon tbh lol

Her vibes ended up being more Riverfront/freshwater inspired, especially when it came to the hair. long and flowy baby

The HARDEST design i had to make with spring is to decide what dress silhouette i would do. Because I originally wanted her and autumns dresses to both be open slits but mirrored, but the fluffy skirt ended up really selling me. So i took the shape from dress 3, the top half from dress 1, and the flower accents on the sleeves from dress 2

Other than the outfit, spring has also probably changed the least in terms of looks

She gives me Isabella energy from Encanto

Autumn:

AUTUMN WAS SO FUN TO DO. She's what kept me going throughout this process and she's the one who’s final design i like the best.

I had such a clear image of her in my head, the shortest and chubbiest. Unintentionally very pumpkin like

SPEAKING of pumpkins, her pumpkin sleeves were a total ACCIDENT. COMPLETELY UNPLANNED. i accidentally made them on the final dress option and i fell in love, so for the final design i added little green ribbons to highlight this detail.

I wanted to also give her the leaved collar from dress 2 but i absolutely forgot about until just now when i’m typing this out lol

She has an ever so slight disco vibe to her final design (carried over from dress 2) and i love that for her

Winter:

Winter was nothing too strenuous considering i’ve done outfit studies for her before

BUT THAT DOES’NT MEAN I HAVE’NT PICKED 1 OUTFIT FOR HER YET

Every dress i try i like a little too much and i can see her everything as her main outfit so far, but the final design i did nail down will do just fine lol

I ended up taking the split skirt detail from dress 1 and just combined that with the rest of dress 3

I imagined her to be really ethereal, so i blurred the lines of where her clothes end and her skin begins

The golden necklace is from Blaise :)

I don’t know why, but it was really important to me to make sure that winter has small titties

Idk if anyone has picked up on this ye, but since i designed winter after drawing jack a whole bunch, i accidentally made it so he gets the little hair swoopties in the back from her lol.

All Four:

I imagined them as quadruplets and all of them being the same age

I originally thought of them as like a choir/quartette so the very first ideas i had for them where trying to make them all as similar as possible

That being said, i still think of them as a choir group akin to The Muses from Hercules and The Fates from the musical Hadestown (Which is how i imagine them to sound/sing). I can see them narrating the story points as its happening in song form.

Any one of the other ideas i had for them can be taken as another outfit they have in their closets :)

All of their skirts are actually indicative of their season. Summer has both of her legs out, Winter has both of hers covered, Fall only has 1 leg out and Spring has only a little of both out.

#thats a lot #i need a nap after that whole mess #might not draw them for a little while after this too #crystal springs #The Santa Clause #artists on tumblr #digital art #Character Design #costume design #Fanart #frostverse

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cheesybadgers · 3 years

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Narcos Fic: Old Habits Die Hard (Chap. 10)

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24

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Masterlist

Pairing: Javier Peña x Horacio Carrillo

Words: 6,005

Summary: Set loosely (and I mean loosely as there is some significant canon divergence) during Our Man in Madrid and The Good, the Bad, and the Dead, Search Bloc begin to make inroads, but at what cost? Javier’s and Horacio’s unwavering trust in each other has unexpected consequences and the penny finally drops for Steve.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY. Canon-typical violence, non-graphic description of a gunshot wound/being shot, brief smut but nothing explicit, discussions of sexuality and unintentionally coming out, angst, smoking, swearing.

Notes: Well, this took an absolute age to edit for a variety of reasons, so I’m not even going to guess at when chapter 11 will be ready 😂 Most of the first draft is done though at least. Also, I know it may not look like it given the way this chapter ends, but I promise this is still a fix-it fic 😉 Thanks to anyone still reading, commenting, liking/kudosing etc.!

Whilst obviously I do not own Narcos or its characters, please do not copy, re-post, or plagiarize this fic in any capacity on this or other platforms. If you wish to create any fan works inspired by it, please provide a credit or send me a message if in doubt.

Chapter 10: A Leap Of Faith

When you’d been in Colombia for as long as Javier and were more at home than most in areas saturated with grey, you were bound to forge unlikely alliances. Which was why it should have been a shock to no one when a tip-off from Don Berna of all people fell into his lap. A tip-off that gave him the location of the Moncadas’ largest cocaine lab, no less.

With help from the DEA, Search Bloc raided the lab and captured its employees – including a well-known sicario named Gato – in the process.

Once back at Carlos Holguín, Gato and his accomplice were transferred to a helicopter waiting to take them to Bogotá for questioning.

“Are you coming?” Horacio asked both agents, although his eyes honed in on Javier.

Javier shook his head with a knowing look at the “Happy now?” expression Horacio carried.

“Yeah, I’m in,” Steve replied at the same time, undeterred by Javier’s refusal.

In fact, Javier was damn sure it was quite the opposite. An air of tension had lingered between them ever since the night he drove off and left Steve hanging. No more words were spoken on the subject, but sometimes silence made the loudest sound.

The way Javier and Horacio had avoided Steve’s questions of late almost felt cruel, even if it was necessary. So, giving Steve a wide berth for now and letting him go with Horacio alone was the wisest option as far as Javier was concerned. Despite not being sure any gesture other than the truth would be enough to satisfy Steve’s curiosity by this stage.

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Horacio was glad of the noise from the chopper once they were in the air, although he could feel Murphy’s gaze on him as he questioned Gato.

Holding Gato’s arms behind his back, Horacio pushed him towards the edge of the open hatch. “It’s a long way down if you can’t give us anything, Gato.”

“I’m not telling you shit, you son of a bitch!” Gato yelled back over the hum of the airflow. Although there was a distinct crack in his voice for all his bravado.

“Are you sure you don’t want to re-think that?” Horacio tried again, this time dangling the sicario’s head over the precipice as his grip on Gato’s arms tightened at his back.

“Fuck you!” came Gato’s reply through gritted teeth, grimacing at the increased force.

Horacio expertly pinned Gato to the floor with one arm, his other reaching into his back pocket to retrieve a flick knife. He released the blade before scoring it along the nape of Gato’s neck and across his cheek, denting but not breaking the skin. “Last chance, asshole,” he breathed against his ear as he jabbed the cool metal under his chin, teetering on the very brink of drawing blood.

Gato let out a shrill scream followed by a series of desperate pleas. “Alright, alright, alright! Please! I’ll talk!”

Horacio didn’t believe he would when it came to it. But he also figured Gato and his silent friend would get themselves killed by Pablo’s men if they did. Or, they’d be left to rot in jail if they kept their mouths shut. Either way, they’d be off the streets of Medellín and would no longer be his problem.

It wasn’t that his disdain towards these low lives had subsided since his return. But he was tired of carrying the responsibility for them. He wasn’t so much sparing them but rather himself by leaving their fates in someone else’s hands. They were cannon fodder, who Escobar didn’t give the time of day, so why should Horacio? It wasn’t as though most of them had anything significant to confess anyway. It had taken Javier’s C.I. to get them the lab locations, after all.

Once they had landed in Bogotá and Horacio had transferred the two men into custody, he was faced with the awkward prospect of travelling back to Medellín with Murphy. This time without the much-needed distraction of a sicario or two to threaten.

Murphy had been suspiciously quiet for the vast majority of the journey to Bogotá but had studied Horacio intently from the safety of his seat. Horacio sensed he was under forensic examination from the moment they’d taken off. To the extent that he tried to keep his mind as blank as possible just in case Murphy could read that as well.

Horacio avoided making eye contact, preferring to stare out the hatch of the chopper instead. But it only got him so far.

Steve leaned forwards in his seat, elbows resting on his knees and hands clasped together. “So, were you on your best behaviour for my benefit, or did Javi put you up to it? I bet it was Javi, wasn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You. Some might say you’ve lost your touch, Carrillo.”

Horacio fought down the temptation to wipe the arrogant smirk off Murphy’s face, settling for a stern glare instead. “A bunch of kids and a couple of sicarios who were never gonna get us close to Pablo? Why break a butterfly on a wheel, Murphy?”

“Pretty sure that’s never stopped you before,” Steve scoffed. “I guess Madrid really did soften you up, huh?” He couldn’t resist a self-satisfied chuckle at his own jibe as he leaned back again and folded his arms.

Horacio merely rolled his eyes and muttered several lesser-known expletives in Spanish loud enough for Murphy to hear but apparently not understand.

He was vaguely aware of Murphy shouting “What?!” but pretended he hadn’t heard and resisted the urge to clarify it wasn’t Madrid per se that had softened him up.

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Search Bloc continued to chip away at Escobar’s business in a string of raids, seizing or burning large quantities of coke and cash as they went. And taking down any sicarios who got in their way. Horacio may have curtailed some of his more extreme methods, but this was still a war. If someone aimed fire at him or his men, there was no moral dilemma to agonise over.

As news of the lab sieges spread, it wasn’t long before Escobar made his next move against Horacio, this time with the assistance of Valeria Vélez. A story ran on her news programme about the night Search Bloc apprehended the spotters. The boy Horacio caught on the rooftops had gone on record to allege Horacio murdered one of the spotters in cold blood and in full view of the others. An unnamed DEA agent was also reported to have been at the scene.

All it had taken was a slight twist of the truth. One simultaneously so close to what did happen and what could have happened. What almost happened. A fact Horacio was all too aware of. And one that only exacerbated the gnawing guilt that had settled in his gut since that night.

To add insult to injury, soon after the report aired, he received a phone call from one of his superiors. The higher-ups seemed to believe his version of events, much to their annoyance. If it had been their decision rather than Gaviria’s, Horacio would never have been reinstated in the first place. So, naturally, they couldn’t resist an opportunity to remind him of the consequences the last time he overstepped. Or that their reputations would be on the line if the President of all people came asking questions. And that there were other candidates they had in mind for the job if Horacio wasn’t up to the task. Never mind all the payoffs they had let fly under the radar year after year. So long as they kept their noses and uniforms clean, that was all that mattered, apparently.

After the frustrations of his phone call, Horacio was glad to blow off steam with yet another raid. And with Javier back at base afterwards. Since the night in the alleyway – or rather the conversations that followed it – they had fallen into a risky routine of dispelling any leftover adrenaline in the darkest and most deserted parts of the school. Giving in to a primal need to be as close as possible to each other after the thrill of the chase hadn’t hit the spot. Because nothing could compare to this.

It was always frantic and to the point, saving their more indulgent moments for the rare occasions when they managed to sneak back to Horacio’s apartment. Horacio’s seniority meant no one questioned his whereabouts. And it wouldn’t have taken a genius to hazard a guess where Javier might have slipped off to in the middle of the night.

This time they had wound up in an abandoned classroom, hidden by shadows but for sporadic streaks of moonlight catching on their combined silhouette. Javier’s palms were splayed across the wall, steadying his balance and grounding him whilst Horacio’s hips slammed into his own. Unleashing every ounce of pent-up energy with each controlled movement. Relentless and rough, yet somehow still tender in a way that only two people who knew each other inside out could be in such circumstances.

Their ragged breaths and muffled grunts filled the room as they hurtled over the edge almost in tandem. Horacio’s teeth sunk into the smooth flesh of Javier’s shoulder as the sweet relief of his release crashed over him. For those blissful few seconds, the tension was gone, and his mind was quiet.

Spent and out of breath, they zipped themselves up and sank to the floor, leaning back on the wall they’d just fucked against.

“Maybe your bosses should phone you more often,” Javier teased, holding out the cigarette he’d lit in his post-coital haze.

Horacio leaned closer to accept it, his lips brushing over the shell of Javier’s ear in the process. “I don’t need an excuse to do that with you.”

Javier chuckled and tilted his head, chasing the tingling rush spreading across his hypersensitive skin. “I should hope not.”

Splintered pale light filtered through the blinds, highlighting the glistening sheen of their afterglows and their playful smirks. And the way Horacio’s smile soon faded. “Has anyone said anything to you yet?”

“Messina asked a few questions, but nothing I couldn’t handle.” To say Messina was less than impressed by the news story was an understatement. Although more because it was probably giving her an administrative headache than anything else.

“I’m sorry if I’ve caused you more problems.”

“If it hadn’t been this, Escobar would’ve tried something else, and you know it.”

Horacio hummed in agreement and took a long drag on their shared smoke. He couldn’t argue with that or the unspoken fact that Escobar wouldn’t stop at this, either. The news story hadn’t gained the intended traction and would likely blow over. But then what? It was a tame move by Pablo’s standards, and there was no way this was the end of it. He couldn’t say for sure what was coming next, but he was already bracing himself for the impact.

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After Search Bloc’s flurry of raids, all was quiet for a good week or so until Centra Spike intercepted several calls involving a known sicario, Edgar Prisco.

The transmissions led to a successful op on a pool hall in Manrique, which took out another of the Moncadas’ labs and three of the Prisco brothers.

It didn’t go without a hitch, though, when Steve disappeared by himself into the comunas on the tail of one of the surviving siblings, Ricardo.

Following a frantic few minutes after hearing gunfire over the radio, Javier tracked his partner down, who miraculously was still alive and well despite his best efforts not to be. Whilst things between them had been more strained than usual, Javier obviously didn’t wish any harm to come to Steve. No matter how much of a pain in the ass he was sometimes.

“The fuck were you thinking?” Javier threw at him as soon as he’d pulled the car door shut.

“I was this fuckin’ close, Javi,” Steve replied, gesturing with his hand whilst trying to catch his breath.

Javier scoffed without looking at his partner as he navigated the car back to safer territory. “To getting what’s left of your brain blown out? Yeah, you probably were.”

“Oh, come on, I’m fine. I wasn’t even hit. But let’s not tell Connie about this when she gets here.”

“When does she get here?”

“Tomorrow. Well, to Bogotá at least. Hoping to go visit over the weekend, assuming Messina won’t have my balls for it. Or Crosby. Sounds like he’s on the warpath.”

“How d’you mean?”

“Apparently, the suits are getting jumpy about us working so closely with Search Bloc after that news story. Messina’s been holding ‘em off, but for how much longer, who knows?”

“And you know this how exactly?”

“The meeting this afternoon. Y’know, I don’t think those are supposed to be optional. Where were you anyway?”

“I was…busy.” Not entirely untrue. It was supposed to be a quick visit to Horacio’s office but descended into desperate mouthing and groping with his back shoved against the wall between the door and the corner of the room. An apparent blind spot should anyone chance a glance through the glass.

“Convenient,” Steve replied with a wry smile. He let a natural lull in their conversation fall before pressing further. “You sure nothin’ happened that night?”

“Fuck’s sake, Steve, not this again. You don’t actually believe that bullshit, do you?” Heat flooded Javier’s cheeks at Steve’s topic swerve, his shackles instantly raised.

“No, ‘course not! I’m fully fuckin’ aware of what Escobar’s capable of, and lying is the least of it. It’s just, don’t you think Carrillo seems…different these days?”

“Different? How so?” Javier tried to keep his tone casual this time but had no idea if he’d succeeded as all he could hear was his own heart pounding in his chest.

“I dunno, less ruthless, I guess.”

Javier gulped and would have been amazed if Steve hadn’t heard it too. “Probably wants to keep his job this time,” he eventually offered, although his words stuck like sawdust in the back of his throat.

“Hmm maybe.”

Much to Javier’s relief, the subject was dropped, and the rest of the journey back to base was quiet, even if their minds weren’t.

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Steve’s doubts over how long Messina could hold Crosby at arm’s length rang true in the following days when the DEA was told in no uncertain terms that they weren’t to leave base. An instruction that went out the window after Javier received an unexpected call from Gabriela of all people. She didn’t elaborate on the phone, but the urgency in her voice indicated it must be something serious for her to call him at work.

When he arrived at her apartment, it took him a while to notice the young brunette woman sitting on the bed. Her back was hunched, and her head hung low as though she was trying to make herself appear smaller. It was body language he came across often in his line of work. Especially amongst those who were in so deep, he was their last resort.

“She’s a friend of a friend. Please just hear her out, Javi. She’s in trouble,” Gabriela confirmed in response to Javier’s quizzical look. “Maritza, this is Javier.”

Javier looked between the two women, scrubbing his hand back and forth across his upper lip. He was caught between his reluctance to get involved and the fact he had said Gabriela could call him if she ever needed anything. She was only doing as he’d said she could, which was why he sat down in a chair next to the bed and lit up a cigarette. “Who are you in trouble with, Maritza?”

“La Quica.” There was no need for Maritza to elaborate, given the history La Quica had with the DEA. With Steve in particular.

“La Quica? You know him?”

“He wants to kill me.”

Javier did his best to bite back the laugh bubbling in his chest, sensing this might be a waste of his time. “I think you’ll find you’re in good company there. Why does he want to kill you?”

“Because I can tell you where Pablo Escobar is.”

On second thoughts, now she had his attention. “And how are you gonna do that?”

“I know exactly where and when he’ll be tomorrow.”

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Javier didn’t waste any time heading back to base with Maritza’s story, including the detail she was childhood friends with Escobar’s chauffeur, Limón. She had served as a cover in the back seat of Limón’s taxi whilst he drove Escobar around Medellín in the trunk. So that was how the fucker had been getting about town unnoticed.

“And this Maritza girl just came to you with this?” Steve queried once Javier and Horacio had joined him and Trujillo.

“Yeah, erm, well, through a friend.”

“A friend?” Trujillo gently mocked with a sceptical brow.

“Fuck off, it wasn’t like that,” Javier snorted, hoping his sudden discomfort wasn’t detectable beneath the friendly banter. “It was strictly business.” Despite the fact he was responding to Trujillo, his eyes fell heavily on Horacio.

Horacio got the message, although soon averted his gaze at the unshakeable feeling they were being watched. “I just need to know whether you trust the information, that’s all.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

There was little certainty to be found in their day-to-day lives, but each other’s word was an unwavering constant. In so many ways, it was illogical and a blind leap of faith. But Horacio had made up his mind as soon as Javier spoke.

“Okay then. When Maritza gives us Pablo’s location, I want Centra Spike up in the air to confirm.”

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Javier returned to his desk, waiting with bated breath for his phone to ring. The longer he stared into space with a neglected cigarette burning between his thumb and forefinger, the more his mind spiralled.

This could be it after all these years. After everything they’d been through. After everything they’d lost – and gained. It was almost too surreal to believe after so many near-misses. But in a few hours’ time, it could all be over, and they’d finally be free. To do what, Javier had no fucking clue, though.

He and Horacio hadn’t exactly got to discussing life after Escobar yet. Part of that was fear of tempting fate as much as anything else. Sometimes even just thinking such thoughts was akin to jinxing themselves, so talk of the future had remained the elephant in the room whilst Pablo was still around. But if they pulled this off, they could start to look ahead for the first time. If being the operative word. He couldn’t let himself get carried away at this stage. Anything could happen, and that wasn’t being pessimistic; it was a sobering fact.

He couldn’t say how long he’d been sitting lost in his head when his phone rang. “Peña.”

“9th Street, 98-3.”

“Okay. Got it.”

Javier took the address straight to Centra Spike before stopping by Horacio’s office.

Horacio stood with his back to the door, his attention focused on the wall of awards above him. Even with this limited view, Javier could see how tightly drawn every muscle in his body was. From the rigid hold of his spine to the way his fists clenched at his sides. Not surprising for a man carrying the weight and expectations of his country on his bruised and weary shoulders.

Familiar arms slotted around Horacio from behind, large palms enveloping his waist. Strong, steady and anchoring. They were the still waters to the turbulent riptide surging through his veins, threatening to break him apart from the inside out.

Javier nuzzled himself against Horacio’s shoulder, placing the barest trace of kisses along his neck. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Those whispered words of comfort dripped into Horacio’s ear like warm panela, and he reflexively leaned into Javier with a deep exhale as their fingers entwined across his stomach. Even though this had to be a fleeting moment of calm amid the chaos of war, he could already feel his heart rate beginning to level out. Home.

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By the time Centra Spike obtained the recordings they were waiting for, Messina had arrived from Bogotá. She was soon crammed into a meeting room with Javier, Steve, Horacio, Jacoby and a tape player.

A deathly silence fell over the room as Jacoby pressed play on the tape. Tensions ramped up higher when it initially was too distorted to decipher. But after some minor tweaks, there was no mistaking whose voice it was.

“We have to move now,” Horacio stated.

However, before Javier and Steve could take more than a step, Messina made her presence known. “You two are staying here.”

Javier shook his head, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. “No, you gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“If Crosby finds out you went on another raid, we all get a ticket home.”

“Crosby doesn’t have to know shit!” Steve interjected, his temper already fraying at the edges.

Messina was unaffected by their objections, not even rising from her seat. It was clear her mind was already made up, and she wasn’t going to be persuaded otherwise. “I’m sorry, but my hands are tied. It’s not negotiable.”

Javier and Steve seethed in silence and shared a look of absolute incredulity. At being mollycoddled like children. At being denied what they had worked towards for fucking years. At being little more than cogs in the machine of American bureaucracy and public relations.

Horacio had kept quiet up until now. There was no point trying to interfere with gringo politics. It was fruitless enough trying to reason with his own government, let alone Uncle Sam. But he wrestled with whether he’d want to even if he could. Whilst he understood the injustice and everything Javier had given to his job, there was no getting around the fact this was going to be a dangerous mission. He’d never voice it, and he hated how selfish it was, but frankly, the decision made the load on his shoulders a hell of a lot lighter.

“We’ll be in radio contact,” he settled for in the end, his gaze landing squarely on Javier. It wasn’t much, but it was all he had.

Once Horacio had left the room, Javier paced like a caged tiger, hands twitching and his jaw in danger of shattering if he clenched it any tighter. Heated conversations continued around him between Messina and Steve, whose anger was less restrained than his own.

No fucking way was this how it was going down. After everything. They wouldn’t even have this intel if it weren’t for him. He couldn’t let Horacio go out there without him. The countless times they’d fought side-by-side, and now this could be the final showdown, Horacio would have to do it without him. All because of red tape that cared more about the reputation of U.S. officials than it ever had done about the people of Colombia. No, he couldn’t let this go. He had to do something.

Steve and Messina were still at loggerheads whilst Jacoby had excused himself to make a fresh pot of coffee – or possibly something stronger. This was his best chance if he was quick about it, so without a backward glance, Javier let himself out of the room.

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By some miracle, it seemed as though Javier had escaped undetected, but as he neared the end of the corridor, he was halted by a voice behind him.

“I hope he’s fuckin’ worth it.”

Those six small words hit Javier like a freight train. Whilst he was frozen to the spot, it allowed Steve to catch up in no time with long, purposeful strides.

“Steve, I—what are you—?”

“Oh, come on, Javi. I’m not fuckin’ stupid.”

The echo of Steve’s voice was distant and faint despite its proximity, but Javier’s pulse roared in his ears and galloped in his chest. A vice-like grip had taken hold of his lungs, squeezing each breath of oxygen out of him as if it was his last. No amount of deflection or playing dumb could help him now. The game was up, and there was no way out.

Undeterred by Javier’s ongoing silence, Steve continued where he’d left off. “I didn’t think you were either but guess I was wrong. Him of all people, Javi?!”

Steve was much too close, in all respects. It was suffocating, and without realising what he was doing, Javier grabbed Steve by the collar and pushed him against the wall. “You don’t know the first fucking thing about him!” he hissed out of the side of his mouth.

They stared each other down, breathing hard and neither showing signs of conceding. “Maybe not, but I know you. I know you’ll always follow him and damn the fuckin’ consequences.”

“And you wouldn’t do the same for Connie?”

Javier hadn’t meant to say that. He should have asked how Steve knew. That was the logical train of thought right now. Along with why it seemed Steve’s main issue with this revelation was Javier’s taste in men rather than his interest in them in general. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want answers to these questions, but an entirely different one tumbled out instead.

Steve was on the cusp of retaliating for Javier bringing Connie into this. But he paused with a complicated expression that Javier couldn’t quite decipher. There was confusion, followed by a slight softening of his features that morphed into something else Javier couldn’t put his finger on. But it made him let go of Steve’s shirt and back away.

“I’m not gonna change your mind.” Steve wasn’t asking or attempting to reignite their argument; he was stating a fact. A realisation that he finally understood everything for what it really was. For what it always had been.

Javier didn’t say a word but looked Steve in the eye and firmly shook his head.

“Shit, Javi.” Steve looked back at the meeting room, then ahead towards the swing doors to the main entrance. “Come on, we haven’t got much time.”

“What? Steve – wait – you know what this means?”

“Of course, I fuckin’ know! But isn’t that why we’re here? This could finally be it, Javi. If we catch Pablo tonight, we’ll be going home anyway, right?”

Javier’s hand cradled the base of his neck and rubbed along the band of tense muscles at the apex of his shoulder. “You sure?” He had to be certain just in case the shit did hit the fan afterwards.

“Look, I – I get it – about the other times – now I know – but you ain’t icing me outta this one, Javi. No fuckin’ way.”

Steve was right. Javier had no right to deny his partner this. This wasn’t about him and Horacio. This was their job and their mission. The whole reason they were even in Colombia in the first place. Steve deserved to see it through as much as he did. “Okay, fine. Let’s go.”

They made a break for the front entrance, although it was deserted when they arrived.

“We’ll take my Jeep,” Steve said, fumbling with the set of keys in his pocket whilst they hurried across the parking lot. “They won’t have got far.”

It wasn’t long before they had sped out of Carlos Holguín, hot on the tail of Search Bloc and closer than they’d ever been to putting a bullet in Escobar once and for all.

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It was nightfall by the time their convoy left base. Passing street lights popped against the ebony of Horacio’s irises, giving them a fierce wolfish glow. The swooping knot in the pit of his stomach was starting to give way to laser-sharp focus, strategies and tactics. This was where his years of training and experience kicked in. When he had to leave Horacio to one side and embody Colonel Carrillo. When he and his men might end Escobar’s stranglehold on Colombia and finally stop the bleeding.

“We’re on San Juan,” Trujillo confirmed over the radio after they’d travelled in silence for a short while.

“Copy that,” came Steve’s reply. “And we’re approximately 5 minutes behind you, maybe less.”

Trujillo’s head darted round to Horacio in the back seat. “What the hell?! I thought you said they weren’t coming, Colonel?”

Before Horacio had a chance to answer, another voice crackled through the airwaves. “Slight change of plan. I’ll explain later, but let’s get this motherfucker first.”

The knot in Horacio’s stomach re-emerged, pulling and twisting until he feared he was going to vomit. This wasn’t supposed to happen, yet he wasn’t surprised it had. Murphy’s warning was spot-on. Panic rose in his chest at the memory of his dream, even though the rational side of him knew that was all it was. But still, how could he not fret?

He signalled to Trujillo to pass him the radio. “Keep safe,” was all he said in the end. A standard well-wish to anyone else, but he hoped Javier remembered those were the words he’d used the day Diana Turbay died. A day that still haunted Horacio, but he’d never forgotten the warmth of Javier’s voice.

“You too,” came Javier’s immediate reply. And Horacio needn’t have worried, because of course, Javier remembered.

“Murphy, you’re buying the drinks tonight,” Trujillo joked after Horacio handed back the radio.

“Only if you pick us up some cigars on the way, you cheap bastards.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

No sooner had the words left Trujillo’s mouth than a blinding flash of heat and rush of compressed air consumed them as they came to an abrupt standstill.

It took several seconds for it to register in Horacio’s brain that a car parked to the side of the road had exploded, raining fire and debris down on their convoy. Whilst he tried to gain his bearings and survey the damage, two large trucks pulled up at either end of the street, blocking their way out behind and ahead.

The apartment block on one side of the road was now alive with activity. Several floors up, the windows flew open in unison to reveal a team of men armed to the hilt.

“It’s an ambush!” Trujillo shouted over the radio, although a shower of bullets was already hailing down on them.

The glass next to Horacio shattered, spraying jagged shards over him as he ducked down in his seat.

“Reverse!” he yelled but looked up to see their driver, a young recruit named Rodriguez, was lifeless over the steering wheel.

“Colonel, we need to move!” Trujillo cried over the thunderous and relentless gunfire that had already punctured their tyres and blown out several windows.

Horacio glanced over his shoulder at the carnage of the other CNP vehicles. “My men, I can’t leave them.”

“With all due respect, Colonel, you’re not gonna be much use to them if we stay here. Peña and Murphy will have called for backup. We can’t do much ‘til they arrive.”

Javier. He and Murphy were a few minutes behind them, and there was no way they wouldn’t attempt to intervene, with or without backup. If the roles were reversed, nothing on this earth would stop Horacio from diving in headfirst if he thought Javier’s life was in danger.

Horacio tried to regain focus and steady his breathing amid the chaos thrust upon them out of nowhere. There was no room for panicking or making a wrong move.

The vehicles had thankfully been restocked with supplies that morning. Horacio just needed to be able to reach behind the back seats into the trunk to access them.

He made his move, bullets still flying around them and the tirade only pausing whilst their attackers reloaded.

His hand fell upon several stun grenades, which he divvied up between them. Ideally, he would have grabbed a lot more, but the gunfire had resumed.

“On my cue, follow me. Stay low to the ground at all times, clear?”

“Yes, Colonel.”

Horacio managed to slide across the seats to the side furthest from the apartment block. He opened the door as slowly as he could before lowering himself to the floor.

Trujillo made his way from the front to the back of the car and copied Horacio’s movements.

They caught their breath whilst Horacio communicated his plan to Trujillo in a series of well-rehearsed hand signals. This was far from their first shootout, not to mention the countless training drills Horacio had insisted his men run through. Trujillo had never been more thankful for serving under a Colonel who didn’t care if it was pouring down with rain. Or if your unit had stayed up drinking into the early hours celebrating a successful raid. They were put through their paces no matter what.

When the time was right, they launched the grenades behind them and ahead in the path of the truck. Flares of flashing lights and bangs erupted as the canisters hit the ground. It wasn’t enough to harm any potential survivors in the vehicles behind them. But it was enough to throw the snipers off their stride.

During the enforced ceasefire, they made a break for it. Through the haze of acrid smog, Horacio faintly discerned a gap between the wall and the truck. All they had to do was keep going, one step in front of the other. That was until his body jerked forward as though he was winded, a searing burn radiating across his right shoulder.

Prickling heat branched down his arm, splintering electric shocks like forked lightning striking a tree. It wasn’t his first run-in with a bullet, although those had been superficial wounds. Whilst he was no medical expert, something told him he wasn’t so lucky this time.

“Colonel! Are you alright?”

The discombobulating part of it was Horacio knew that he wasn’t, but adrenaline masked the pain. A fact he needed to take advantage of whilst he was still conscious and could stand. “I don’t know, but we’ve got to keep moving,” he rasped.

Trujillo flung his arm around Horacio’s left side, alarmed by how little resistance his Colonel put up as Trujillo bore his entire weight.

It was only then that Horacio clocked the smear of blood above Trujillo’s eye. “Your head.” His breathing was more laboured as he spoke, and his vision was blurrier than even a minute ago.

“It’s just a scratch, Colonel. We’re nearly there now. Stay with me!” Their movement was hampered by Horacio’s rapidly deteriorating condition, as Trujillo was all but carrying him along.

Horacio was alert enough to make out the screech of brakes ahead, more shouting and gunfire, a familiar presence appearing at his other side.

A loud whooshing noise filled his ears like his head had been plunged underwater. Nothing around him had any solid form. His body was floating and weightless, but his limbs were heavy, stiff and dragging him under. Down, down, down he fell into an impenetrable blackness. An icy darkness he’d never known. Darker than night, darker than any deed he’d committed and darker than the deep crimson currently saturating his uniform sleeve.

He lay at the bottom of a chasm, staring up at what appeared to be an endless murky sky, but faint traces of fireflies blinked in the distance. As they drew nearer, they were more like reflections on the water, a delicate light dancing across precious metal, precious in every sense of the word.

Memories swirled around him and were accompanied by two voices he recognised even though he couldn’t name them. The second voice brought about a fond warmth. Reliable, loyal, old before its time and wiser beyond its years. The first voice, however, wasn’t so much a warmth but a blazing heat. Passionate, enduring and grounding. Home.

The combination of the two kept him conscious long enough to be hoisted off the ground into the waiting car. But then followed a cry of pain nearby that wasn’t his own, and all fell dark once more.

#Narcos fic #Narcos #Javier Peña #Horacio Carrillo #Carrillo #Javier Peña x Horacio Carrillo #Pedro Pascal #Maurice Compte #Narcos fanfic #Narcos fanfiction #Narcos fan fiction #Narcos fan fic #My Fan Fic #My Narcos Fic

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purrincess-chat · 3 years

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I've had this discussion before with friends, but I wanted to delve into it more. In a meta mood today I guess, but I've been thinking while watching s4 (well, I've thought it for a while but it's glaringly obvious in s4), but ML has a huge pacing problem.

I know that s1 was more or less a pilot season. It introduced the concept and dynamics of the show, and they weren't exactly sure if it would get its feet off the ground yet, but seasons 2-4 so far have just had a lot of pacing issues.

And I'm going to preface this by saying that everyone who can't understand the difference between critical discussion and salt, feel free to leave. I don't care if you think the show is perfect the way it is. Go do that somewhere else. People can and should be able to look at the media they consume critically. It doesn't mean it's bad or that they hate it. They just fundamentally understand that it is flawed, and enjoy discussing the plot and its flaws on a deeper level. Refusing to see flaws where they exist isn't the positive power move you think it is.

Anyway, back to the pacing issues.

S2 and s3 had barely any plot. The plot we did get was trickled in. Crumbs. Now we got to s4 and Thomas has declared that every episode will have Chat Blanc levels of bombshells dropped as if that's a good thing. Don't get me wrong, s4 has been better than prior seasons, but I still leave every episode feeling like they rushed to cram in too much.

We all know how I feel about the love rivals, and setting aside personal feelings, the rivals from a writing standpoint were not necessary. At least not functioning as love rivals. Introduce Luka and Kagami, sure, but from a storytelling standpoint the purpose they served in s2 and 3 was just to be a cheap distraction. And they didn't have to be.

The big draw of this show is the love square and its subversion of the love triangle. Now people argue that it's realistic to explore other options before getting together, and while that might be true of real life, that isn't in line with the genre/style of this show. It wasn't a needed lesson, so to speak. They drew us in with the promise to subvert a specific trope in an interesting way, then immediately dragged out that very trope. And not even for any big reason. They just needed an excuse to keep the endgame ship split. And as we can see with how swiftly they dropped the rivals when they were no longer "necessary" as distractions, the writers were always using them as an excuse not to put the square together earlier. They knew the square's chemistry was too good and fans were going to be foaming at the mouth by s3 if they didn't do something. Then the second they have another excuse for the square not to get together, boom. Dropped the rivals.

You felt cheated because it was a cheap tactic, and honestly, it was so avoidable if they had just paced things better.

Honestly, I feel like Alya should have found out in s3. Granted, in order to do that they would have had to changed a lot. So this is what I personally (you are welcome to your opinions elsewhere if you disagree or enjoy canon the way it is) feel would have helped fix this pacing problem:

S1 was a bit unavoidable, and it works for what is is: a market tester.

S2 should have focused more extensively on the lore and Marinette's guardian training. We should have been introduced to Mayura earlier. They should have spent more time expanding Master Fu's story and the order's backstory. They could have created tension with the girls/Alya/Marinette's relationships by having her constantly sneaking around to either fight bad guys or train as a guardian which begins to harbor Alya's suspicion. They very well could have moved Master Fu passing his role onto Marinette to the s2 finale if they were more efficient with their time, leading into s3.

S3 could have had Alya finding out. Marinette becomes too overwhelmed with her new duties as guardian and being Ladybug just as she is in s4. S3 could have been her exploring her new role with her bff by her side for support while they begin to build up the Agreste plot more.

S4 then would have been free to expand the Agreste plot without having to crowd in so many other plotlines. Everything would have room to breathe. Marinette would have been busy enough in prior seasons to justify not dating anyone.

What the rivals effectively did was waste time that could have been utilized to develop the plot further in other areas. I get some people like them, but from an objective storytelling perspective, they were filler. When you write a story, like an honest to God professional story, everything has to serve a greater purpose for the plot and move it forward, and if you are experiencing pacing issues or a plot line isn't working, you have to make the executive decision to cut it or change it. I get that time constraints are a thing in TV. Executive meddling happens. Deadlines are tight, which doesn't always leave room for this kind of long game thinking. I also get that this is (I believe) the first time Thomas has been a head writer. Mistakes are bound to happen. It's how you learn and get better. I get that.

This post is more just me speculating what would have made things work better. For me. So backspace over your butthurt comments. Your precious canon is still untouched. I promise. This is just my opinion, shared on my own blog (and not even tagged). Go make your own meta post.

But that being said, I enjoy s4, but it still doesn't quite sit right with me because they are putting too many eggs in their basket now in an attempt to be epic and up the stakes, but in reality, it just leaves the show feeling really unbalanced. To me.

If you like ML the way it is, great. Go enjoy it, scamp. I wouldn't be here if I didn't glean some enjoyment from it too. I just like to think about things sometimes. And that's perfectly okay.

#cat speaks #thoughts from my mind prison

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theodorevg923 · 3 years

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This here is more for me, but I wanna finally throw out I guess a description of my world/story line.

All the animatronics, cept Sun/Moon have a fur covering, Monty has a synthetic scale covering. Padding is added all over for a more, lifelike feeling with hugs (think kinda like taxidermy with a robot in it). Sun/Moon are the same as in the game, plus padding on thighs for cuddles.

Height is somewhat non canon. Mostly cause I want (read need) Sun/Moon to be 10ft tall. Freddy is 7ft, Monty 7ft 2in, Roxy 6ft 8in, Chica is shortest at 6ft. DJMM is canon, Theo is 5ft 8in. Raylie full grown will be 5ft 3in, with her prosthetic and specialized boot 5ft 7in. Though DJMM might end up with a 20 ft anthro/humanized body he can switch to, inspired by all the humanized DJMM art an stories. (In truth I feel so bad for him, poor guy cant leave the dance floor WTF) Lil Music Man is canon sized

Still not sure about adding in Vanny/Gregory and Pizzaplex burning, but I'm reading a story where it didn't burn but Vanny still happened so idk yet. Moon will be having some dark glitches cause everyone still fears him. It's a critical point to both stories

(F#ck I'm crying now, Its All Coming Back To Me Now by Meatloaf just started playing. May your soul revel in the flames of Hell my dear Meatloaf. I was born in the wrong time to truly enjoy ur music.)

Vanessa will still be a night guard so I can add in Vanny later if it turns that direction.

Still unsure about sex scenes cause Theo is mostly asexual. By mostly, I mean he does get cravings once in a while, but mostly he just doesn't care about having sex. Prefers affections over sex. So I'm trying to to leave it open for smut.

There will be suicide attempts, p!ll popping, self h@rm, fighting, and blood. I really do want to add myself into these OCs cause *breathes deeply* I still fight active self harm myself. I cant cut myself anymore cause then my hubby will know, but i still find other options which will be put into these stories. No drugs other than pills but maybe some green.

Ages: Theo is 27, 42 in Raylie's story. Raylie will be a small cub, just 3 in Theo's BUT in her story, she will be 18. I will not do underage romances, I learned my own personal lesson on that.

Health: Theo will be hypoglycemic, which is diabetes, but instead of high blood sugar levels, he gets low blood sugar levels. I personally have this issue, but I dont want Raylie to have it so, sorry Theo. Basically u still get the shakes and such, but if it gets to low Theo(me) has issues with passing out or becoming immobile with slurred and stuttered speech. Which will come into the story as well. Raylie as a tot has no medical issues. But 18 yrs Raylie will have a prosthetic leg, I'm not going into detail on it as it's a major thing in the story. But I ain't gonna lie, it was inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist /Brotherhood. I always wanted to have something like Ed's metal arm or leg (I totally would preform human transmutation if I had to just to get automail)

Though I'm still kinda worried that Raylies story will look like there's grooming. But I assure u, its NOT intentional. Raylie may have grown up in the Pizzaplex, but she still has freedom to leave, go to school, yadda yadda.

From a word count website, I have about 2K words on Theos story and about 1600 for Raylies first chapter.

All in all, it's still a very long WIP an I have no end date yet, havent even thought of it yet. But I am happy to say, this fandom and its lore is helping me out tremendously. I've backed off almost completely of my self harm and instead throwing myself into figuring out this captivating world for my kids Theo and Raylie. I feel like I've been working on this for weeks and just one day all at the same time. But its only been a few days.

Edits to this post might come later

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scintillatingshortgirl19 · 3 years

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Loki’s Line About Betraying Everyone

I need to talk about this line (spoiler: I’m not happy about it). I was going to just include this in the full episode response post I’m working on, but it got long enough that I decided to make it its own.

First of all, here’s the full quote: "I betrayed everyone who ever loved me. I betrayed my father, my brother, my home. I know what I did. And I know why I did it. And that's not who I am anymore."

Y'all, I'm less emotional about it now but this line fucked me up when I first heard it. It hit me like a ton of bricks while watching the episode for the first time because I was actually doing fine and wasn't significantly bothered by anything up until that point, and then came that line and I suddenly almost felt physically ill. I actually wrote up a post about it that night but never posted it because it was essentially just a lot of screaming, so I've now taken pieces of that and formed a hopefully more coherent post (though it still contains a good amount of screaming). So, I get that the idea that Loki’s betrayed Thor over and over is a Commonly Accepted Thing. It's really a lot more complicated than that, and there are a lot of gray areas involved, but fine, I'll give them that one. But - when did Loki betray his father? When did Loki betray his home?? I’m not just mad about it, this is...a legitimate question. I mean with the father thing, I guess the only thing could be the nursing home in Ragnarok/taking the throne from him? Which is irrelevant anyway because this Loki didn’t do that and doesn't even know it happened in the main timeline?? And besides, it PALES, like, hilariously, in comparison to any one of multiple things Odin did to him before that (not counting any fanon here - just the canon things that we know of!) I am just so confused, especially about the betraying Asgard thing. WHEN? LITERALLY WHEN? Guys, there is no film in which that took place.

If I trusted the narrative, I would say the most logical thing to conclude - at least about the betraying Asgard part - is that this is a setup for Loki to later realize he actually saved Asgard by causing Ragnarok (because that's the closest thing I can think of to "betraying his home"), which could even tie into something about, idk, helping him realize he’s capable of being a hero? (or something) and it would be a good follow-up to the moment he found out about Ragnarok in episode 2, but...fuck, the way these lines were framed it really doesn't feel like anything like that is going to happen. I could be wrong, but these just didn't strike me as lines that are at any point going to be contradicted or even revisited.

And moving onto another part of the quote - "I know why I did it." Uh, I guess good for Loki for apparently knowing that...but the audience sure doesn't?? This is something we're just now being told and have not been shown at all?? I have a feeling Loki thinks he knows why but it unfortunately doesn't have anything to do with some of the biggest actual reasons, which are the abuses done to him that helped make him who he is. Even more unfortunately, I also have a feeling the creators are on roughly the same page as Loki here. So yeah, that's a real shame.

The core problem here seems to be where the writers are coming from, and @iamanartichoke worded it really well here, so I’m just going to quote her: “either the writing is being lazy by oversimplifying Loki’s motives, or it’s being deliberately misleading in order to retcon the character, or the writers genuinely believe that’s what happened, which implies a misunderstanding of Loki’s character kinda from the get-go - at least on what drives his villainy and what fuels his anger, which are pretty significant things.” I do think there’s a slight chance they were using Loki as an unreliable narrator here and the audience was supposed to pick up on the subtext (more on that at the end of this post), but I doubt it, and I think it’s very likely one or more of the options listed in the quote.

Honestly, I can explain Loki's line about betrayal (and his general lack of acknowledgement of his own trauma/legit grievances against his family) pretty easily in-universe. It makes sense that Loki himself would frame things as him betraying everyone who's ever loved him as if they never did anything to wrong him first, or that he would try to ignore what Thanos did to him in favor of putting all the blame on himself (coping with his trauma and loss of control by denying it). Or hell, maybe he would even straight up subconsciously invent a betrayal that never even happened, like the one about his home. I can totally understand Loki seeing the events of his life that way! That all lines up with his complete lack of self-worth, and to have him 1) recognize his mistakes and take responsibility for them (which has happened at this point in the show), but then progress on to 2) realize he isn't solely to blame for literally everything, and 3) recognize the role of his family and others in understanding why he is the way he is - that would be a very satisfying arc and is the natural direction that the story should take in episode 6. The problem is, I don't think the show is going that way. I think we're either supposed to take it at face value that Loki did in fact betray everybody who ever loved him (as if Loki is a reliable narrator when he's most certainly an unreliable one), or the audience is supposed to figure out that Loki's an unreliable narrator here - but the latter won't work, because the creators have to follow through on that subtext at some point and actually do something to indicate that what Loki said wasn't 100% true, and it doesn't feel like they're going to. You can't expect your audience to put any weight on subtext or even pick up on it in the first place if you never actually confirm anything, and your audience won't know your narrator is unreliable unless you tell them. If Loki being an unreliable narrator in that specific moment was their intention, only a small subset of fans are going to pick up on it. So the way they're framing it so far, the audience is simply going to see it the same way Loki does and not realize it's incorrect.

Unfortunately, as stated earlier, I think the most likely explanation is that the writers either don’t understand Loki, are being lazy, or are deliberately retconning. So while I take a degree of comfort in the in-universe explanation, it’s pretty damn infuriating to consider where the writer’s minds were probably at in reality, and how this set of lines is presenting Loki to the casual audience.

Tagging @iamanartichoke and @delyth88 if you guys have any thoughts?

#loki series negativity #loki spoilers #loki tv series #loki meta #loki series speculation #kind of #journey into mystery

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our-reb00t-boi · 3 years

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If you got the chance to make an All-New DMC universe, what/where/when would you do? Would you change the gameplay? If so, how much? It doesn't have to be similar, you can go as crazy as you want.

For example: a DMC in the Victorian Era, where your Main Character/Devil Hunter is Jack The Ripper, and all the people he killed were actully demons. But on the 3 Arc of game, he (for some reason, haven't really thought about it yet) goes crazy and goes on a killing spree; killing not only demons, but humans as well until his death.

Or a DMC set in a Cyberpunk universe. Always wondered what that would look like. How things would work...

This is a very intriguing question. And also probably overlaps a lot to creating fiction in general and experiences with video games.

Long answer, I made sure I edit it well so I can be clear.

To be perfectly honest, and as someone who's stuck doing reboot DmC fanfic, I'll be staying here in this lane 😅 especially since it's quite clear they can't/won't/(probably don't want to...) continue this series 👀 NOW it's open for interpretation and other wild things we can cook up with 🤓 In our fanfic-sequel of it, we want to explore Dante’s whole journey of bearing the weight of the responsibility he just took on. The guy’s still too young and definitely lacking any experience and wisdom on why and how he’s gonna do it, but he has heart and he also just wants to see his twin brother and he has mixed feelings about it.

We also want to explore mythology, like lots of lore. I knew I lost sleep just refreshing my memory & researching them again regarding angelology and stuff. Yeah, we have this idea that angels are the bad guys here.......yeah, it’s ok to make of this what you will.....

As for any other wild ideas for DMC, I know I kinda ranted before that this franchise has the potential to just EXPAND its universe ever more, so I think Capcom’s devs should just go for it. Make a multiverse out of it, have fun, become serious, incorporate non-canon crossovers, etc. I mean, I know fanfic writers are already doing that so I’ll let other people with better imagination and skills to do that, but I have high expectations to the devs of course!

HOWEVER I do have some things to say about gameplay. Devil May Cry is button-heavy. I'm no developer, but I wish there's an efficient way to access their skills and items a little more smoothly. I definitely felt like from 4, reboot to 5, I feel like I'm not pressing the right buttons and barely made out of a battle in later chapters...or maybe I'm getting old. I know there's some sort of middle ground to be had for anyone who's a casual enjoyer like me and the ones who keep looking for challenges and perfect them even more when it comes to these games.

In what I imagine, I kinda like the idea of this pocket dimension that you can access to all his weapons and tools with a push of a button and all you have to do is choose the ones you wanna take out. You just need to unlock the ones you still don’t have, as usual of video game formulas.

I also like this "quickly equip" option where you can press the button (I guess it's generally the direction buttons nowadays) where you've assigned the weapon/tool to quickly have it for use. Oh, and I like the idea of healing yourself with one button too, the only games I know that do that because they're the only ones I have access are RE7 and 8.....

Lastly, and I think we've revealed in our hypothetical sequel game post that we like 4 characters to play this time (link here). I guess it looks like it's trying to outdo the 3 characters in DMC 5 but we have an explanation for that. But to make it short, all 4 characters are significant to the fanfic story we have in mind. Dante takes 50% of the game play (of course) whilst Kat AND Lady take 20%, with the shortest 10% to a different character/OC

We've also wanted a bit of open world exploration, like you're literally driving a vehicle to the destination 😅 that's definitely like FF15 road trip look, but this open world segment is small, like we thought of this to get a sense of scale of how an abandoned, creepy town looks vulnerable during an infestation of cunning demons that could be lurking in corners. But the "game" is overall linear still.

The new setting we have in mind has a lot of rural/small City/town vibes heavily inspired by European countries, particularly in UK. My friend had been inspired by the region of Cumbria in UK as the magnetic North for the setting. Switching from a big city to a rural, suburban area was likely a subconscious thing because the main reason is that Dante and co. need to get to Paradise mansion and we imagine the mansion is set somewhere less urbanized, based on the main game. However, it seems we're also subconsciously influenced by Silent Hill.

Again not a developer! I’ll personally will stick to the fanfic story we already have. Uh maybe compromise on the controls for the game for schmucks like me. And, you know what, make Kyrie a playable character and put her in a survival horror game segment

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samsflannel · 4 years

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survey results are in!

sorry, this is gonna be a long post. yesterday i posted a survey with a list of polls regarding Supernatural, and it was SO much fun. I got over 300 responses, which was A LOT to sort through for the short responses, but I’ve gathered all the “data” and here it is! My responses to each poll will be under the screenshots (they are in groups of 2). I’m going to include the short answer responses in another post. ENJOY!

1. Starting off strong.

2. Pleased with this one as well.

3. Yep, I expected this response from most of us.

4. Sami, I made the wincest and destiel response just for you. YW.

5. CMON YOU GUYS......live a little!!! samjack sexy

6. I’m not really surprised that Playthings got the bulk of votes here, but I think my vote would have been 8x23.

7. :)

8. i’m disappointed that more people didn’t choose the yellow one tbh

9. it is sexy. it is. wake up.

10. i love Dean, but he’s definitely an asshole. and that’s what makes him a great character!

11. hehe.....i understand why not a lot of people picked noncon bait....u r valid its ok im gross.

12. WHO THE FUCK PICKED NO......have you ever consumed media

13. WBK.

14. damn, Dean kinda got the short end here! a lot of samgirls took this survey

15. i get why you wouldn’t like Bugs bc it does have harmful stereotypes about native ppl but the rest of it is peak season 1 wdymmm

16. almost 50/50 here! old vs new fans we love to see it. I am definitely wincest old guard.

17. YEP. Eric Kripke needs shock therapy for that one

18. The fact that some people admitted to being dry.....tragic. I think Eileen is a great character but they are NOT endgame.

19. SO YOURE JUST GONNA SIT THERE AND ADMIT HOW WRONG YOU ARE??

20. ugh. yeah. same.

21. who tf picked blue. cmon. red meat incest agenda.

22. SAM MOMMY MILKERS!!!!! hucow sam <3

23. Mixed on this one! My response is obviously yellow :)

24. I do think Bobby favored Dean somewhat.

25. Johnzazel agenda so true

26. HIGHKEY CANON. AND SEXY

27. someone requested a combination of blue and yellow and you’re so right i apologize.

28. mixed on this one for top vs bottom fans! almost a 50/50 split

29. ANNA DID NOTHING WRONG

30. I can’t believe this one is almost 50/50. Ruby girlboss you guys are haters

31. again. admitting you’re dry. THEY FUCKED

32. yeah :(

33. Q-anon level conspiracy theory.

34. I actually fall into the blue. I do believe Cas was in love with Dean, but not the other way around. I think Cas loving Dean makes wincest so much more spicy

35. I love sam so much

36. those of you who answered yes........join my movement.

37. c’mon. even if you don’t ship wincest you need to admit this one.

38. sorry this one was self-indulgent.

39. JESS PEGGED SAM.

40. idk, i personally think Cassie deffo pegged Dean. She has top energy.

41. So all the people who answered no have definitely not read the fic (were too young to remember it) or are squicked by underage which is ok! its one of those fics i read back in 2010 so i have fond memories of it

42. hahahah you guys were mean on this one

43. it’s canon bro sorry

44. thank god this one was majority yellow

45. i give wincestiel a valid pass! dean has multiple holes

46. Jack is hole <3

47. I actually think both are great (and ppl were mad I didn’t have that option srry) but deanpussy is incredible and underrated.

48. SEXY>>>>>>

49. thank you for enabling me.

50. can you guess the redacted part? it was: insert various objects into himself :))))

51. ok heres the big question! i’m not surprised ilysmmbb won, but i personally vote for “yeah, there he is” !! i think its underrated and such a tender moment.

52. i’m in the blue. i like cas.

53. i actually am in the yellow on this one. i think its more realistic, although blue is hot forsure

54. top 3 cas moment right there.

55. objectively yes on this one. thank god for COVID- *gets shot at*

56. sorry this was shady i’m not really like this usually haha. i think death is my fave besides Rowena

57. obviously i’m in the red. i’m shocked that so many people said Yes.......

58. Clearly.

59. I enjoyed fan fiction! i love campy episodes as you all know (like Dog Dean afternoon and such) so i loved fan fiction. it was a nice nod to someone like me who has been watching for a long time.

60. HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU NOT KNOW WHO ANDY IS. i wish he would have been in the show longer........

61. uh....yeah.

62. Yeah c’mon. Dean would and you know it.

63. Thank god you guys didn’t fuck this up. I would agree, but Corbett is a close second for me.

64. IN THE RED BABY!!!!

65. we love a man bleeding out. we do.

66. i actually think misha is chill with J2 but.....you can’t deny J3 have more chemistry.

67. I uh......don’t think Dean would be a great father. is this me projecting my own issues with my father onto Dean? maybe,,,,

68. i’m surprised this was so negative! I think i would be interested

69. thanks for reading my shitty poetry!! i also had s4 dean in mind when writing this

70. CMON.....ITS KINDA SEXY CMON.......that spice of battered wife syndrome.......violent man in the house.......sam beaten down....im barking

71. haha yessss go yellow.

72. go yellow again.

73. I think I would actually vote yellow on this one. what a sweet and beautiful thing to say to someone, and its so very DEAN.

74. mhm. i think so.

75. SEXY CONTROLLING OLDER BROTHER!!!!!

76. no idea why people answered yes to this one. that punch was fucked up. was it sexy? thats another story,,

77. WOKE.

78. I do. I love pilot Dean.

79. Dean is a carfucker. any side of the fandom can recognize that

80. thank you GREEN!!!!!!

81. Sam is bi wtf! Sera Gamble erasure

82. Padackles commune <33333 they all fuck and they don’t know whose kid is whose!!!! (not really but this is sexy)

83. THESE BROTHERS ARE WEIRD FOR SURE.

#wincest #supernatural #spn survey #Sam Winchester #dean winchester #samdean

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shadowed-dancer · 4 years

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Why I’m 99.9% sure the new movie will take place during the 3 month gap

So I’ve seen a few people spitballing ideas about the new movie and whether or not it will take place after 306, and with the new teasers we received I think that that won’t be the case. Instead, I think the film will be set during the three month gap between the Endeavour Agency Arc and the War Arc

Spoilers for up to 306 below

So we got the visual and the title, and we also got the release date (August 6)! The visual shows Bakugo, Deku, and Todoroki jumping out of a Helicopter in their fun new black suits. Endeavour is in the Helicopter watching them, and Hawks is flying alongside the boys in the background. The title of the movie is World Heroes’ Mission, which actually tells us a lot.

This was the previous teaser, and as you can see there are patches on the sleeves of the uniforms. People had been a little confused whether these said NHA or WHA, but I think we can firmly assume its WHA (perhaps World Heroes’ Agency or World Heroes’ Agents?) No matter what it stand for, these are the suits the boys have been issued for... whatever mission they’ll be doing.

Endeavour's presence tells us quite a bit as well. If you need a refresher, Bakugo, Deku, and Todoroki all take their second work-studies under Endeavour’s agency, which would explain why these three are the students being promoted on all the posters.

Just after the Endeavour Agency Arc, we are treated to a 3 month gap. We have no idea what the kids were up to during that time, so it would be super easy to slot a movie in there without screwing up the canon.

However, the reason I’m almost certain it happens in that gap, as opposed to after 306 like a few people have said, is because of the spoilers it would pose to the anime-only fans.

Back when the 2nd movie, Heroes Rising, got released, people were freaking out because it took place in the future from where the anime was. It premiered December 20, 2019. At the time, Season 4 would have been in the middle of airing, with the most recent episode being “Red Riot”, and “Temp Squad” getting released the day after the movie premiered.

Heroes Rising takes place just after MVA, and right before Endeavour Agency (we can tell because some of the Villains are wearing new outfits, and the fact that they say it’s happening in the winter). However, the movie never makes any direct reference to this other than the fact that EVERYONE has their provisional hero license. It’s possible to watch the movie without being caught up, and nothing gets spoiled. Everyone is perfectly understandable, and you just have to ignore certain “inconsistencies” (like Twice making 3 clones at once) and not think too hard about stuff. Honestly, the biggest spoiler at the time was Hawks, since he hadn’t appeared in the anime yet (although he was references by Tokoyami in an earlier episode).

But if this new movie took place after 306? There would be NO WAY to avoid spoilers.

I ran some rough numbers, and assuming there’s a 2 week gap between Joint Training and MVA, it’s totally possible that August 6 will just be starting the Endeavour Agency Arc (if there’s no gap, we’ll be even further into it). Of course, I may have messed up the numbers, and as such we might instead be nearing the end of MVA, but either way, it’s not too big of a leap to make.

But 306? Think of how many things would be at risk of getting revealed. The war? How could you NOT mentioned that? Dabi’s identity? Sure, they could probably get away with it by just omitting Dabi from the film, but surely it would be on Endeavour’s mind, right? All of Deku’s new powers? I mean I guess they could just... not mention what danger sense is. Deku LEAVING UA? Now that’s a big one. While it’s possible he could go back by the time the film comes out, it would still be a pretty big thing to just not mention.

But having the film take place during the gap fixes all of this. Even if the anime is still in MVA, it’s not a huge stretch to jump ahead a month or two. It seems like a safer option to me

Oh and I was going to mention Hawks’ wings but I think he said they’ll grow back, right? So that’s not really proof, he could totally have wings after 306. I wasn’t going to bring this up but I felt like someone would comment if I didn’t.

I guess we’ll see what happens on August 6th!

#bnha #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha movie #bnha meta #mha movie #bnha world heroes mission #deku #katsuki bakugo #izuku midoriya #shoto todoroki #bnha endeavor #bnha hawks #keigo takami

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what-the-witch-stuff · 4 years

Text

Allright. Elliott thread that nobody asked for. Part 4

The words you read seem to be some alien gibberish? Try these first:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Don’t worry guys. It will be over soon, I promise.

Bevore we start: This happened yesterday.

And I basically turned into that iCarly gif, where she’s on the Computer, sippin’ her drink and goes: interesting.

Because look who we have here. Our future husband acting all self-aware? Right after I assumed in my last post that he never talks about the possibility of his failure...

Elliott, do you know that I talk shit about you on Tumblr?

Please stop breaking the 4th wall...

To safe at least some of my ‘credibility’, he followed this up with something along the lines of:

“No, no...I am not fishing for compliments. Which does not mean I don't appreciate them ;) “.

Sure. Whatever.

In comparison to that:

A few in-game days previously, I had a cut-scene with Leah, where the player can suggest that she should organise an art show. And there, Leah openly communicated her fears of ppl not liking her art. I was surprised about how open she was, given that it was probably her 2nd heart event or something (?). It's interesting, how Leah (who I perceived to be more reserved than Elliott), was so willing to let us know about her insecurities. Meanwhile, Elliot seems to brush these thoughts aside rather quickly and returns to his nonchalant, graceful self.

I always thought that from the two of them, it might be Elliott who is more vocal about his emotions. But now, Elliott doesn't seem to wear his heart on his sleeves as much as I thought he would. Which changed the way I think about him quite a bit. Maybe he is more likely to hide behind platitudes and a self-assuring smile, after all.

And what can we take from this, when we would want to write, let’s say a scene with Leah/Elliott friendship dynamic?

What do you guys think?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways, before I was so disgracefully exposed, I was roasting Elliott’s life choices. To which I now gladly return to.

You see, the "issue" I see with Elliott is, that he plays into a trope:

The brooding hermitic author, who turned his back onto society in favour of finding inspiration in nature.

While this might sound thrilling and "romantic", we know that Elliott is not the best candidate to conform to this lifestyle. Just compare, how we as the player, manage to form quite strong relationships with everyone in Pelikan Town just by talking to them regularly.

We see Elliott outside the beach-area quite often. But aside from Leah, he does not seem to interact with anyone much. I don't know if there are statements about Elliott made by other characters, to have some inkling on how they feel about him. But its quite remarkable, how all other friendships outside to his connection with Leah, are not explicitly known as canon (?).

After a whole year living in this town, previous to our arrival, I would suggest, that Elliott might still be very much an outsider. He even remarks how, with our arrival, it will be nice, to no longer be "the new guy" in town.

But the problem with that might have been Elliott's reservedness, to begin with. Polite, but yet, maybe, quite impersonal. All pleasantries and platitudes as mentioned above. It all plays into Elliott's refusal to experience the comforts of a normal lifestyle in favour of pursuing his art.

And I love how Elliott just brushes that aside as if its nothing. I'd really love to know: what would have been his plan b, if his debut failed?

Worst case cenario: What would he'd done, if he ended up stranded in Pelikan Town, penniless and unsuccessful?

Where would he go? Is there a place he can return to? A previous home, previous friends?

I don't think so.

But, dedicated, impuslive, sweet, dumb Elliott just thought to himself:

“I can do that. How bad can it be???, it will be fi~ne.It will be marvellous!

Authentic, truly!

It will be superb pictouresque and that is all I need to write my novel....”

Thanks Yoba. You’ll keep doing that please.

And then we also have interactions of the likes of:

“People have scaped a living off the sea for thousands of years....

I just go to the grocery store.”

A different thought I had on Elliott kind of plays into what I already said previously. But I will adress it as its own topic.

The downside of Elliott’s ego.

As much as we explored the rather whacky / chaotic elements of his character and how he does stupid shit for prestige itself, it is interesting to see what happens when the player challenges his self-dramatisation.

I keep re-thinking if and to what degree Elliott can laugh about himself.

He is not one for self-deprecating humour, I think.

I can imagine that to be more Shane’s thing.

We see different scenarios, in which Elliott reacts differently to things not going his way. One of the positives is the whole “A tiny crab made a home inside his coat pocket”- story. I have seen two interpretations of this scene. And both are dependent on the tone, in which you read his dialogue. One group thinks he is just complaining yet again.

On the other hand, you could read it more like:

“My, look what we have here. Can you believe that [y/name]?!“.

I think that Elliott does not appear to be angry or annoyed at all in that scenario, too. He could have vented to the player, how he needs a new coat, now. But he simply leaves it at that. And you know what?

But, there are other times, where Elliott reacts negatively to the player not doing what he wants you to do. Meaning: your reaction to him or your behaviour in a specific situation. Let's look at his 2nd (?) heart event at the Stardrop Saloon. He comes up to the bar, finds himself in the mood for company, and orders wine for you and ale for himself.

New Headcanon:

That little crab still lives there! It will probably live there long after you two get married. And he will feed it scraps from the dinner table even though you ask him not to.

Whatever...Sounds Cute.

My first reaction to that was: “aw, wHaT a GeNtLemAn!!!”. My second reaction was my inner feminist having a temper tantrum because: “how dare a man, to assume what I want to drink!”

New Headcanon on Elliott and gender roles, anyone? Or is it given, that with him being a good old fashioned lover boy, his expectation on any relationship dynamic might be more traditional?

As much as I find Elliott charming and all, this could be a great red flag and, again, beautiful material for character-conflict. Maybe Elliott needs to learn to not take everything at face value. Maybe he needs to learn, how to take a joke. Especially those made at his expense.

However, when the question arises, what the two of you should drink on, he will not laugh if you say “your doom”.

This is not something he sees as sarcasm or as a joke. In fact, you lose 50 friendship points! Like holy shit. That in itself is not much, but its a game-penalty. He is actively reacting negatively toward you. This is one of the few times, where your decision actively has an impact on the friendship-metre. Of course, that statement could be delivered in a non-joking matter. Which then justifies his reaction.... sure.

But even the fact that Elliott chooses, to not downplay or gloss-over your comment, leaves me with the following interpretation:

He hoped for a charming, flirtatious interaction. All you had to do, was to play along. But you ruined it.

Just imagine a situation with a little bit of miss-communication and a version of Elliott that is a little too proud for his own good and *chef's kiss* we have drama.

Me to Elliott and Farmer-OC: fight! fight! fight! fight! :D

All of you reading right now:

omg can't you just chill??? We are here for the fluff :(((

Also: depending on how it's written, that could be one of Elliott's major character flaws. The one that is not cute at all!

__________________________

I wanted to take some jabs at Elliott's likes and dislikes. But as it turned out: Yes, you can turn Duck feathers into quills. I had this funny headcanon that Elliott wanted to be extra special by choosing duck feathers as his preferred writing instrument. And I was all like: “use a pen!!”.

But then I found out about the Unobtainable Weapons-List and Elliott’s pen is one of them. Okay, whatever.

And then I asked google how to make quills. And while duck feathers are not the preferred or most popular option, there is also nothing that would speak against it, as long as the feather’s shaft is durable enough. So that theory has flown out of the window pretty quickly as well.

The only thing that comes to my mind instead is, how Elliott would still need a digital manuscript for publishing. But me screaming: “Where is your Laptop Elliott??? You need a computer! Its the 21 century!!!” is not half that funny anymore.

I guess I’ll end it here.

I hope you enjoyed this completely useless stream of consciousness.

I will now continue playing Stardew Valley and indulge in all my other quarantine-born obsessions.

I wish you a wonderful day and happy farming.

#stardew valley #stardew elliott #sdv #sdv headcanons #stardew valley headcanons #sdv elliott #elliott stardew valley #stardew valley elliott #elliott sdv #elliott stardew #it ends there #i am done #byebye #sdv fanfic

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