#i like to call what i deal with Something Is Wrong Disease

[terrestrialnoob]

To say that Bruce Wayne didn’t like Vlad Masters would be an understatement. Masters refused to treat anyone not obviously rich with any decency, was allergic to admitting he was wrong, used underhanded business tactics to get unconscionably one-sided deals, and kept everything just barely on the side of legal. All on top of having the reputation as one of America’s Most Charitable Billionaires with how much money he gave into rare disease research, that just so happened to also be America’s second biggest tax write-off for one individual. It wasn’t a private feud either. Bruce had gotten, first, in a donation war for who could fund the most charities, which Bruce had thought was in good fun, until it soon became clear that Masters was taking it far too seriously and tried to sabotage a charity event. Bruce wasn’t sure how he did it, but “it was lucky that Batman was there” to get everyone out of the burning building. Bruce then learned just how competitive the man was, and if he didn’t let him win, there’d be more innocent people put into danger.

So, you could imagine his surprise when he got a phone call from a dejected sounding Vlad Masters. “Bruce, it may be hard to believe, but I need your help.”

“With what?” Bruce didn’t want to deal with this man-child’s ego tripping, but he could never refused a cry for help, whether legitimate or a trap.

Vlad sighed loudly into the phone and Bruce thought for a moment he had been hung up on and missed the beep. But after the long pause Vlad said, “Recently, some old college friends of mine died.”

Bruce absorbed that in the shorter pause that followed. First that someone like Vlad had friends, and second, that their deaths meant something to him.

Vlad continued, “Jack had been a rival of mine and I had never forgiven him for marrying the woman I’d loved or – he also caused an accident that had left me hospitalized for months. I still say we were friends because, well, he never stopped trying to be mine despite how horrible I was to him. We had met when he and I were in a horrible punk band, and then I met his friend Maddie and the three of us made – Sorry, I don’t mean to ramble...”

“It’s understandable,” Bruce responded, “But, you said you needed my help? I have a really good grief counselor if that’s something you’d like?”

“Ah no, you see, Jack and Maddie had a son,” Vlad paused, “They had a daughter too, but she was home when their basement laboratory blew up and their entire house collapsed into it. The three of them, as well as three other teenagers, died. Danny was the only one to survive, and he is now in my care.”

“Jesus,” Bruce sighed, “Does he-”

“Before you offer, a bad experience with a school counselor has him sworn off seeing any kind of professional.” Vlad cut in, “And my bad behavior with his parents beforehand has convinced him I’m some kind of evil supervillain who wants world domination or some such nonsense. He wouldn’t trust anyone who’s associated with me in any way.”

Bruce nodded, seeing where this was going, “But you and I are openly rivals.”

Vlad hummed in agreement, “And you unfortunately have firsthand experience with both losing your parents and helping a grieving teen through the same.”

Bruce sighed, he was getting another kid, wasn’t he?

[yuri-is-online]

Love and Deepspace Timeline: Xavier

This is all speculation and should not be taken as fact, I have made a previous post about Zayne, but as stated there I do not have the necessary cards to make one for Rafayel and will direct you to this post by u/joonmin on the love and deepspace subreddit. This post is being made before I have managed to complete the Myths date (as soon as I hit level 55 it is over for you hos) and will be updated at some point once I have finished it, but I think I have enough information to explain Xav's overall timeline and hopefully clear up a few things for people missing his cards.

I have included a TL;DR at the end of the post for people who don't want to get lost in the weeds of theorizing.

Some information from that post about Zayne will be re-hashed here to help provide context about the game's setting. SPOILERS FOR ALL IN GAME CONTENT UP TO CHAPTER 8, VARIOUS MOMENTS, AND ANECDOTES, PROCEED WITH CARE.

Current Timeline

The current timeline where the main story of LAD takes place is set in the year 2048 in a place called Linkon City. We are told that the Deepspace Tunnel opened 14 years prior and that is when wanderers started invading earth. There is a lack of understanding about why this has happened, and it has sparked an interest in space exploration in the hopes of finding a solution.

The Hunters Association is sort of like an adventurers guild? It's supervised by the government, and is sort of split between Hunters like MC and researchers attempting to understand what makes the wanderers tick.

This includes researching protocores, currently the only thing the hunter's association knows for sure is that they contain a great deal of energy, and that they can cause disease in humans based off of which category the protocore falls into. This is confirmed the be what is wrong with MC, and appears to be a problem all versions of her share.

The events immediately following the opening of the Deepspace Tunnel are referred to as the Catastrophe due to the amount of destruction caused by the influx of wanderers. This is what birthed the N109 Zone. According to the in game Spacepedia, it is surrounded by various other "no-hunt" zones, which it further clarifies as being places with "a chaotic Protofield and frequent Wanderer appearances," i.e. really dangerous places for people to live let alone go to. Civilians are outright banned and hunters need special permission to enter because of just how dangerous these places are considered to be.

Unlike Zayne and Rafayel, Xavier does not have an alternate self yet. The versions of him in his myths card and all of his anecdotes are all the same person, just at various points in his long life. The technicality of this is addressed in one of the shareable posts: Immortality No Longer A Dream! The article goes into detail about how a new biotech company using protocores to regenerate the heart. You can share this article with each of the three boys, who have different types of reactions, but Xavier's is not one of surprise or skepticism, but of acceptance. The article itself talks about immortality as something everyone will one day be able to accomplish, but Xavier disagrees.

Xavier's first two anecdotes, A Special Vacation and Passing By, both establish how exactly he has been living his life on earth since his arrival. We learn that he has been doing his best to keep a low profile by moving between various jobs and tries to avoid making friends. As mentioned by @exactlycleverpirate in the replies of this post (who has made their own timeline you can check out here) "Xavier says he has been on Earth for 214 years, and that this will be his last. That means he arrived in 1834. We also see in one of his Tender Moments, that he rented a book from the library 30 years ago. So he has definitely been on Earth longer than the Deepspace tunnel has been around." Chapter 8 ends tells us that soon Earth and Philos will be in alignment for the first time in billions of years, which is likely why Xavier says this year will be his last, but I am unclear about what exactly that will cause.

We learn that there are other immortals from the same place as Xavier living in Linkon City, and that some of the see him as a traitor. We can assume that many of these immortals are involved with Onychinus due to Xavier's knowledge of and interest in their organization.

It's not clear how or when Xavier chose to start working as a Deepspace Hunter, but the other jobs he's taken all seem to be related to the military/evol combat. He is also very keen on fighting wanderers, so being a hunter is a good way for him to hide in plain sight. Which is what he has been trying to do.

His Precious Bonfire date suggests he has been a hunter longer than MC and has a reputation of not participating in team events. He has the highest level of access to the Hunters Association database and seems to have a good working relationship with Jenna, who seems content to let him do his own thing. She also attempted to assign MC as his partner, in part seemingly because she wants to protect MC's evol.

There is of course also the concept of Lumiere, a legendary hunter who appears during the catastrophe caused by the Deepspace Tunnel and wreaked any wanderer he came across. He has a light evol, a giant bounty on his head, and looks exactly like Xavier when we see his wanted poster in Chapter 8. While MC might have her doubts, since we the reader know Xavier is immortal, it's not much of a jump to say these two hunters are the same person.

Chapter 8 gives us more detailed look at the exact dynamics these immortals have with each other, but I think it makes sense to talk about Xavier's origins first so we know where he is coming from.

Philos Timeline

As I said on my other post, all of the Myths cards take place on the planet of Philos. In the present timeline, Philos is no longer a planet, just a lonely core floating in deepspace at the other end of the deepspace tunnel. In Xavier's third anecdote, When Shooting Stars Fall, we finally learn what Philos is: it's Earth. An Earth that has been reborn by substituting the planet's old core with an artificial one and with a different name.

Now this anecdote takes place in the year 214, which is explained to us as meaning 214 years has passed since Earth was destroyed and reborn as Philos. How does that make sense if we are currently on a very much alive earth with a very dead Philos on the other end of the Deepspace Tunnel? No clue, but I think that's going to be one of the main focuses of the story. Something had to happen to Earth to make it become Philos, and then something happened to Philos to make it uninhabitable. Given what we know, both are likely related to wanderers.

I also want to briefly mention that in Rafayel's myths card, it is mentioned that the sea is missing so the Lemurians have no home. Based off of MC's description of the weather and how "fragmented landmasses" are being held together, I wonder if the re-birth of Earth as Philos is what caused the seas to dry up? And if so what role did MC have in the creation of Philos if any?

This anecdote is from the pov of MC who is studying at a school she simply refers to as "The Academy." It is unclear if this is the same school as she and Xavier are attending in his Lightseeker cards, but based off the uniform he wears and the sword he carries I think this is likely meant to be a highschool of some sort, and the Astria Knyght Academy is a form of military school equivalent to a college.

Xavier's words about immortality being a privilege come into play here as we learn something about MC: she always seems to have heart problems, specifically she always seems to have Protocore Syndrome, the exact same disease she currently has. In this anecdote she explains it as being a birth defect that has only one cure, a special protocore. One that supposedly can cure any illness.

Protocore disease prevents the patient from living forever, something Xavier finds very hard to accept. He abandons MC for a month without telling her where he is going to try and find this Protocore that she needs to live, but comes back too late. By the time he finds her, the core can't save her and he holds her as she dies. She asks if he thinks they will meet in her next life and he promises to always wait for her.

We know current timeline MC has shards of an Aether core in her heart, and that her heart is currently stable. While the anecdote does not outright say that the cure to Protocore Syndrome is an Aether core, Xavier's knowledge of them and his emotions when MC brings them up to him makes me think it probably is. Currently we do not know how an Aether core can be obtained, other than (assuming that is what he brought MC) Xavier was injured getting one. The MC here says she is unable to live for more that a century, something that has changed in her next re-incarnation but we don't know why.

When MC re-incarnates she is brought under the tutelage of the Grandis Knight, the personal knight and retainer to the King of Philos. Xavier is the Crown Prince of Philos, and is also studying under swordplay under the Grandis Knight. She has no memories of Xaveir, who does not tell her about their shared past despite holding on to the gift she made for him: a star sword tassel. This doesn't seem to bother him as much as you might expect, he mostly just seems happy to have her alive again.

She is stupid jealous of that tassel because Xavier openly admits to being in love with the girl who gave it to him. But he also speaks about her and the MC in the same sentence if that makes any sense? He sees both versions of her as her, and just as he promised he intends to wait for her so they can be together.

Xavier is an interesting character (to me anyway) because he has a pretty clear arc to his attitude towards his relationship with MC as he ages. He starts off as being shy in the third anecdote, then he moves to being openly teasing and affectionate (outright asking to elope and saying things that make it sounds like they might have been betrothed) in his lightseeker cards, to how he is at the end of his myths date and currently with MC: restrained in his interactions with her but unable to completely keep himself away. Why he has become restrained, why he thinks he needs to distance himself from MC is unclear. What is clear is that he has no interest in taking the throne from his father, a man he actively hates and does not seem to see eye to eye with. While their relationship seems to have always been tense, the breaking point is during Xavier's Gladius Ceremony.

The Gladius Ceremony is a sort of coming of age ceremony where the heir proves their ability to ascend the throne by killing a wanderer with nothing but their lightblade. Something happened during that trial that Xavier does not want to talk about and MC mentions he has "changed" since then. Like he left part of himself behind????

As an interesting note this trial takes place in a forest, a sentient forest much like No-Hunt Zone 7 in chapter three.

Xavier says he cannot be the man his father wants. What his father wants is not clear, but I personally think it has something to do with what wanderers are as Xavier seems to have a degree of sympathy towards them if they show a degree of sentience. It also might have something to do with how Philos was made, as both MC and Xavier acknowledge that the planet is dying.

The MC mentions that Xavier leaves her a lot but always comes back within a specified time frame. He goes on expeditions into Deepspace, but never tells MC what he is looking for and we as a reader do not learn. He does, however, mention finding a newborn planet filled with flowers and offers to take MC there if she will give up on being a knight. She is confused, as her entire life's purpose has been to be his knight, and doesn't fully comprehend a world where Xavier isn't going to be king.

But the card story starts with MC being crowned Queen, with Xavier as her Grandis knight, so we know that's what will happen. So neither of them got what they wanted in the end.

The "Lightseeker" title of Xavier's card refers to a unit of knights that are commanded by the Crown Prince and answer only to the royal family. Their duty is to keep Philos safe from Wanderers, much like the modern day Hunter's Association. Both the MC and Xavier are training to become Lightseekers, and have a sort of rivalry for the spot. MC keeps beating Xavier when they spar but he seems to have the stronger Evol so they're quite equally matched. It's stupid cute how everyone but Jeremiah thinks they hate each other, speaking of which:

Jeremiah is a friend of MC's in the same class as her. He's also her wingman who keeps trying to help set her and Xavier up, something Xav doesn't seem fully aware of. He's stupid jealous of their friendship which Jeremiah seems to find really funny (he's the only one who knows how delulu they are for each other and seems to find a lot of enjoyment in teasing them.)

Jeremiah also ends up being a knight under MC's command after they graduate the academy. Xavier however... goes missing after a meeting with his father and does not reappear even after he dies. He is missing for a period of 200 years until MC finds him again in the same forest that his Galdius Ceremony took place in. He saves her from... something. An illusion? A cosmic vortex? Whatever it was Xavier has discovered something that affects the health of people's hearts. And he seems determined to not get close to MC or let MC get close to him because of it.

I think it might just be because she is about to die from her disease, which she doesn't seem aware she has but always does, and Xavier doesn't want to have to watch her die again. But I haven't finished the card yet so I don't know.

He also seems to be under the impression the whole world is going to end now, and not just Philos.

The last thing we need to take from all of this information about Philos is the existence of a group called the Backtrackers. Xavier was with them once, but he isn't anymore. MC was seemingly under their care and, according to his Passing By anecdote, traveled through the Deepspace Tunnel with them but was lost. I'll explain more about what I think about them now that we're ready to return to the present timeline, but just know that the Backtrackers are A) from the Philos timeline and B) likely immortal just like Xavier is.

Back to the Present

In Chapter 8 you are either introduced or re-introduced to Jeremiah, who now owns a flower shop called Philo, likely named after his home planet of Philos. He is a friend of Xavier's and they both share the same current goals, which includes protecting the MC. Jer's job in this chapter is to provide MC with a fake identity to use in the N109 zone, but he does provide us with some information to try and tie up some loose ends with Xavier's timeline.

While the Nonintervention principal he refers to probably does have something to do with MC, it also likely just refers the fact that since both Xavier and Jeremiah are from Philos and therefore the future they are trying not to interfere with the timeline too much. Something that whoever blew up MC's house does not care about anymore, implying that if that was indeed Onychinus then we can assume they likely are also immortals from Philos who want MC and her Aether core for something.

When MC finds Xavier again after his 200 year disappearing act he is leading a squad of Lightseekers from various units. I think these are probably the Backtrackers, and that there was a split in the group after the MC and the Aether core went missing during their journey into the Deepspace Tunnel. We know that at least Xavier has been here longer than the Deepspace Tunnel has been, but there is room for speculation around Jeremiah and the others. As Pirate again pointed out in the comments, whatever disaster during the travel the Backtrackers took into the Deepspace Tunnel likely caused them to arrive at a bunch of different points in time.

While this confirms that Xavier and Jeremiah are not from this timeline it raises a lot of questions about MC. Her memory is constantly spotty, and I had wondered if that had something to do with the Aether core... but now.

With the way Xavier tries to limit his interactions with her and says he's the last person who should be trying to get close to her I wonder if Xavier is worried MC is being erased from time? Or if she belongs to this timeline so while he loves her, while he wants to be the one she chooses, he subconsciously knows he's from a doomed timeline and therefore unable to stay with her. This also raises questions about the other two love interests; we know MC has forgotten things about Rafayel and I theorized she has forgotten something about Zayne. Is this because they also don't belong? Does MC not belong? Or is it something related to the trauma MC experienced from being experimented on?

TL;DR

This was all pretty complicated so I thought I would sum up the basic points because I felt a bit incoherent.

Xavier is the Crown Prince of Philos, a future version of Earth that was created by replacing Earth's core with a fake one.

This fake core allowed the citizens of Philos to live forever unless they had the rare heart condition know as Protocore Syndrome, something the MC always has no matter how many times she is reborn.

The cure to Protocore Syndrome is a rare Protocore that Xavier tries to get for her but gets back with too late. He watches her die and while he was already shown dislike seeing her injured, this seems to turn it into a genuine trauma of his. He is shown to be deeply distraught seeing her gravely injured or sick in multiple moments/dates and is determined to take care of her. In a rare decision by the writers, this does not appear to manifest itself as a desire to not see her engage in combat as he trusts her ability to take care of herself, just maybe not her willingness.

MC is reborn and begins military training with Xavier intending to become his knight, but Xavier refuses to take the throne of Philos for reasons he does not share with MC. He also begins disappearing for long periods of time on journeys into space. On one of these journeys he finds a young planet filled with flowers and attempts to convince MC to elope with him and abandon her dreams of being a knight. He seems uncertain if MC's desire to be with him is just because she has been told she is to be his knight or if it is because she genuinely loves him; Xavier knows which one he wants it to be though.

After talking with his father he disappears for 200 years and founds a group of knights investigating a forest with an unstable Protofeild where killed Wanderers simply don't stay dead. It is my theory that these are the Backtrackers mentioned by past MC, Jeremiah, and Xavier.

Xavier arrives in this current timeline in year 1834. Other immortals from Philos begin to arrive in the current timeline at different points and agree upon something they call the Nonintervention Principal, likely to keep from destroying the spacetime continuum too much. What they are refusing to intervene in is unclear.

The Backtrackers made a journey through the Deepspace Tunnel with future past MC and an Aether core, but something goes wrong and she disappears. Xavier has been waiting to see her again ever since he got here, and intends to wait forever.

There are more immortals than just Xavier and Jeremiah living in Current Timeline Linkon City, some of which are very likely allied with Onychinus and searching for the MC. Why is related to the Aether core in her heart, but might also have something to do with her Evol.

It is my personal belief that many of these citizens of Philos used to be in the Backtrackers, but even if they didn't they see Xavier as a traitor to his people and more importantly to them. Why is unclear, but I imagine it might be because of their goals for the MC and her Aether core. In a broader sense it might be because they intend to do something to current earth to save their home, and Xavier disagrees with that but the two things do not seem mutually exclusive.

Earth and Philos are about to be in very close alignment, and both Xavier and Jeremiah expect something bad to happen around that time.

Final Thoughts

I would be interested in knowing the direct Chinese translation of these particular lines from precious bonfire to see if there is any difference to them... but honestly this is one of the things that sold me on him. She dies and he follows the traces of her light until he finds her again, and he tries to keep her alive but he fails and so he follows her again.

I saw at least one post wondering of Xavier will betray MC and rip the Aether core out of her heart, and I want to clear that up here. I understand why people might think this if they haven't read any of his anecdotes but no, that's not going to happen unless it's the only way to save MC's life. Xavier very much wants to keep MC alive, his efforts to distance himself and withhold information from her are always done to serve that goal.

Rafayel is the one who has a pretty good reason to want to cut out MC's heart, not Xavier. And I do mean good reason I don't really hate him for it and am not trying to imply he's a bad character or a bad romance option for it.

One of Xavier's immortal friends is name Noah. There is always a chance that this is a coincidence, but there's a part of me that wonders if he shares the same name as Dr Noah because they are the same person. The anecdote he appears in involves Xavier getting him a new identity so I don't think they're likely to be related.

I actually really like MC , Xavier, and Jeremiah's friendship and sort of hope it gets some focus in some small way in the future. Jer and Xav had to have bonded over losing MC, not to mention Jeremiah spent 200 years fighting Wanderers with MC under her command. She talks about him as being her best friend!!! I want to see more of him!!! (if he doesn't have a partner and if I can't have Tara x Jenna I should be allowed Tara x Jeremiah)

I'm worried there might be a plot point that involves Xavier dying in the future and then maybe we get to meet a different timeline version of him and end up on the opposite side of the "can't tell this ghost wearing your face how I really feel" spectrum.

Speaking of which I like how Xav seems to respect MC's current life and doesn't expect her to be a carbon copy of her past selves. It's nice (stares at critically acclaimed mmorpg villain Emet Selch)

Anyway that's it. I'll update the post when I finish the Myths card, which I fully expect to make me cry like a baby. If anything confused you my askbox is open, just because I write for twst doesn't mean I am not open to talking about this if I made mistakes or if you feel like any of this was unclear.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Outbreak Pt 1 (LU in Healthcare)

(Content warning: This is likely to hit close to home for everyone as it's essentially a pandemic fic told from healthcare workers' POV. It's as mild as I can make it, with the boys dealing with their usually lives and stuff, since I don't want this to be a drawn out fic, but still. FYI.)

It started like a whisper.

One case. A new illness, a variant of a disease that had torn through Hyrule's military during the war, had popped up in the outskirts of the Gerudo Desert. Someone who had traveled there recently brought it to Castle Town. But it was just one case.

Everyone had been put on alert with emails from the health department, but no one had really thought much of it. Legend had seen plenty of scares in the past - just as recently as two years ago, there had been another stir like this over a far deadlier disease, and nothing had come of it.

But this new disease--officially named Respiratory Failure Influenza, colloquially called Arfy by healthcare workers, and unofficially called Yiga's Revenge by the public given its point of origin and how it was tearing cities in the desert apart--was starting to make an impact.

To the world at large, the media would not stop talking about Arfy and stirring up the public. Inside Hyrule General, though, the staff was pretty calm about it.

"Who names a disease Arfy, anyway?" one of Legend's coworkers chuckled.

Legend shrugged and stretched. "I've heard worse. At least it's not based after somebody's name - I hated memorizing all those names for diseases. Nowadays the naming scheme's much better - respiratory failure influenza makes it pretty straightforward to figure out what happens."

"Preach," a tech who was in nursing school grumbled.

Time walked by as they chatted, and Legend nodded in greeting, throwing out, "Whatever reason you're here for, it wasn't me, my patients are fine."

The trauma surgeon smirked. "I'm not here for your patients, no."

Legend bristled. "Look, this is my first night shift, I haven't been working insane hours."

Time outright cackled now. "I was consulted for someone else. Relax."

"Good," Legend huffed. "Anyway, did you hear there's a case of Arfy in town? I haven't seen them pop through here, though, think they got diagnosed at an urgent care clinic."

Time hummed thoughtfully, growing serious. "Hopefully it just stays one case."

"Eh," Legend shrugged again with a noncommittal sound. "The media stirs everyone up. This happened last time, and it was contained and never came here."

"Arfy's cousin nearly killed me during the war," Time noted gravely. "Don't underestimate it too much. The fact that it's a brand new strain, and the typical medications for its cousin don't work on it, isn't promising."

"Look, I'm not saying it isn't something to take seriously," Legend argued mildly. "But it's isolated to three cities in Gerudo Desert, and then the one guy who came here. The media makes it sound like the world's ending."

"They tend to do that," Time agreed, looking down the hallway. "But in either case... let's just hope it stays as one case."

Wild wandered over at that point with an empty stretcher, having just transported someone to the floor, and both men honed in on him. He looked pale and distracted, but he somehow still managed to notice their scrutiny.

Wild watched them silently, not seeming eager to speak. So Legend talked first. "You want to explain what happened earlier?"

Time glanced between the two, brow furrowing in confusion, and he silently observed the exchange. Wild seemed to grow colder, crossing his arms, but Legend wasn't going to back down.

When his friend remained silent, Wild pressed, "Rulie said it looked like you had another absence seizure when we were dealing with that heart attack patient. Tell me what's wrong. Now."

"I didn't have a seizure," Wild assured them as Time took a protective step towards him. "Look, I just..."

The young man sighed, shriveling into himself further.

"Link," Time said sternly. "I understand you have a lot of things in your past that you're trying to reconcile. But not telling us led to you going undiagnosed and getting into a wreck that almost killed you. What's wrong?"

"When I have absence seizures, sometimes I just zone out. But other times, I get hit with... I don't know, I feel like seizures don't give you memories, okay? I don't think it was a seizure. It was a trigger."

"Trigger?" Legend repeated. "You got PTSD?"

Wild blinked, thought about it, and shrugged while shaking his head. "Probably not. Sorry. Bad phrasing."

"You have said before that you don't remember much of the war and your past because you sustained serious injuries," Time supplied. "I know you did. I operated on you. Twice."

"Sorry," Wild mumbled sheepishly.

"Just tell us what's wrong," Legend insisted as gently as he could. "What set you off?"

Wild was silent for a long time, and Legend almost grew impatient. However, eventually, he finally said, "I... I know the guy. The one who you were taking to the cath lab. I knew him be-before. Please, I don't want to talk about it right now."

Time and Legend exchanged a look, and the surgeon shook his head. Legend sighed, backing off. "Okay. But you're okay? Like physically?"

"Yeah," Wild answered, voice growing raw. Legend watched him worriedly.

"You know, you can talk to us," the nurse tried to say, but Wild shook his head.

"I don't want to talk about it," he repeated.

Time nodded, putting a hand on the young man's shoulder. "When you're comfortable, we're all here for you, okay?"

Wild stared at Time for too long, eyes watering, and he cleared his throat, nodding and walking away.

Legend bit his lip, swallowed, and looked back at Time. The surgeon was still watching Wild go down the hall. A call bell light went off, as well as a cautionary alarm on the monitors, and the nurse had to return to work, brain filled with too many thoughts and worries.

Time found himself far more nostalgic than he needed to be. Wild's words about his past, about the war, and this new virus that was kin to the one that had almost killed the surgeon were mixing together. He sighed, shaking his head. This all just needed to resolve.

He would keep an eye on Wild. That was the bigger issue than anything else.

It started like a whisper. But the roar of their pasts was coming for them, haunting and rumbling and demanding everyone’s attention.

[cipheramnesia]

I'm trying to wrap my head around this shit based horror movie, because I've never seen anything like it.

I've seen poop used for shock value or as a joke or even as a set piece but I haven't really come across someone who made shit the center of the film. The whole premise hinges on the idea that the protagonist had some kind of gut biome disease, which drives people around her into a state of murderous rage. The condition gets worse over the course of the film both in terms of how rapidly the violence begins, and also how much pain the protagonist is from the stomach disease.

What I find striking is how seriously it plays things out, from the on-going and escalating paranoia of the protagonist, who is also constantly falling in and out of reality-questioning delirium, to the veracity of reactions excrement. It's difficult to put into words, but the shit scenes manage to convey the bone deep exhaustion that comes with wanting to use the bathroom easily, and not being able to. It's not a movie trying to express shit as "ew gross" but instead as this essential part of the human body which can go wrong in genuinely upsetting and awful ways.

It suffers a bit from budget issues - the acting isn't great, sets are obviously people's homes in many cases - but it manages to succeed thanks to taking material that could have easily become juvenile and ironic, and treating it seriously (also a solid lead actress). It's a movie that ends up being about how openly hostile the world can become when you have a disability, especially one which crosses social taboos as much as bowel issues does. About how quickly friends and strangers can turn on you when they discover your problems are related to excrement, and they might have to deal with that. And of course about what people who are disabled are expected to endure just to be treated like a human.

It's still muddled. It's a B- movie that's taking A-level swings and hitting most of the time. And in some ways I almost wonder if the small production value and budget actors are why it succeeds. I don't think even a low but not microbudget production would have been allowed to be so unflinching and get away with shooting as something that can be a source of genuine terror and unhappiness.

Anyway it's called GoodBi (2022, bi as in biome, sorry bisexuals), and it's on Tubi. Obviously this one is not for the weak of stomach, but there isn't much gore.

[pugh-bug]

No.42 Chapter 4

Art Donaldson x reader slow burn friends to lovers

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list 💕 thank you so much for the love on this series so far I’m really grateful !

Part 3

——————————————————————

‘You should see him after a few games, it’s a lot.’

With a mouth full of burrito, you still managed to laugh at the image Liam and Art were conjuring of Patrick’s sunburn turning him beetroot. The three of you were sat at a cute little place you’d somehow never seen before, probably because you didn’t know the area that well. Art’s choice.

‘So how’s living with this one?’ Liam asked, spitting hummus everywhere as he spoke. Neither you or Art had known who his question was for so you both yelped

‘Good!’

A little too enthusiastically for Liam.

Art’s hair had dried perfectly in the piercing sun rays and the smell of his mint shampoo kept wafting in your direction whenever the breeze turned. Shit. You were supposed to be listening to Liam. What was he saying?’

‘Fridays good.’ Art nodded at his friend, not looking at you for conformation. Clearly someone had been listening. You waited until Liam was texting his girlfriend to hiss at Art what he’d just agreed to - the answer ? - a party at Liam’s.

‘Are you sure it’s okay … if I come?’ Neither boy missed the slight sadness in your question. Your search for validation and fear of the wrong outcome. As Liam beamed at you, reassuring your brain that you were indeed very much wanted at his party and that ‘it won’t be the same without you’ Art’s eyes were locked on your face. You failed to notice.

‘So don’t worry about it okay? It’s not a tennis people thing, just a Liam friends thing.’ He smiled, very genuinely, and you smiled back. When Liam went to the bathroom he noticed Art was picking aggressively at the table, something he’d never seen him do before.

Without looking up from his task of picking through wood one mm at a time, Art asked coldly. ‘When did Patrick say he’d be back?’ Oh fuck it was Sunday! Better check your phone.

2 missed messages.

12:03pm - Text from Patrick

It’s not going well at all. She keeps starting shit with me for no reason she’s a lot to deal with if I’m being honest. Hope your day is better than mine so far

1:26pm - Text from Patrick

You’ve gotta pick me up Y/N I can’t stay here with these people until 9 I’ll catch arsehole disease

Just as you thought of a reply that was both supportive and concerned your phone lit up. Patrick was calling.

‘Pat hey! I didn’t expect to hear fro-‘

‘Pick me up.’

‘Jesus okay-‘

‘Pretty please Y/N I’ll send you my location right now just get here.’

He had a tendency to overreact to uncomfortable situations but you could hear the genuine panic and defeat in his voice. You had to help him.

‘Okay okay but … what’s wrong with Uber?’

‘I can’t afford it.’

You took a deep breath, gesturing to Art to stop mouthing ‘what’s happening?’ so you could concentrate.

‘Okay let me just tell Art-‘

‘Art’s there? Get him to come, he knows the way.’

‘Okay.’

Whilst you explained to Liam the rough situation, Art ran to your flat to fetch his car. With how little time it took him to return you wondered why he hadn’t become a runner instead? He must have done track, at-least.

——————————————————————

It was an hour drive to Patrick’s girls place. 45 minutes on Sundays. You waited until Art had gotten to the motorway before you asked the million dollar question.

‘So… Patrick said you knew the way. How? This is nowhere near anyone’s house that we know.’

Art chuckled, his delicate hand barely touching the wheel when he casually changed lanes at 70mph. His car smelt like him, you tried not to breathe heavier to encase yourself in his scent more intensely. It was growing difficult.

‘Well, I actually … dated Hannah before he did.’

He adjusted his mirror to watch the arsehole behind drive up his ass, for a moment you noticed him looking at the window. If Art ‘his mother could have knitted him’ Donaldson was about to roll the window down to flip someone off you were in for a treat.

‘How long for? Did Patrick even ask bef-‘

‘Does Patrick ever ask you for permission to do something?’

No. Not once.

‘It doesn’t bother me. We weren’t serious and it was a few years before he asked her out.’

You both envied and pitied this Hannah girl who Art seemed to care so little for.

‘Is it not a bit weird though? I wouldn’t want my exes fucking my friends.’

Art glanced over to you, he was driving at 60 again so you weren’t as inclined to grasp the door handle. He looked a little puzzled at your remarks or maybe it was amusement. ‘You thought we’d have different types?’

‘Yes, one hundred percent.’

‘We usually do. Hannah is probably more Patrick’s type.’

Your pity for Hannah grew once again.

‘But clearly, not more compatible.’

When you looked at Art he was frowning. He might have been looking at the road but you knew he was remembering something, something bitter.

You reread Patrick’s text: ‘She’s a lot to deal with.’ but that could mean anything from she takes too long getting ready to she needs to be kept away from others. Once Art said you were close you felt a little uneasy, like you needed to mentally prepare to deal with this girl. If she’d frightened Patrick she had to have something very wrong with her.

‘Art?’

He looked out of it.

‘Is there anything I should know, anything I should maybe avoid saying or doing with this… Hannah? Patrick sounded - I don’t wanna say scared bu-‘

‘Oh he’ll be scared,’ you felt genuine dread for a moment until you saw Art looked solemn not worried. He hid it behind a forced chuckle, as if what he was about to say was a funny anecdote he whipped out at parties to break the ice. ‘She can be a lot.’ There goes that word again. ‘She’s probably the only person I’ve ever met who puts tennis above - well - breathing and she thinks if you’re not playing tennis twelve hours a day everyday you’re letting yourself and her down.’

‘Sounds obsessive.’

‘I did warn him.’

As you pulled up to Hannah’s house you felt a twinge, or an aggressive increase, of guilt for your comment the night before. You should have saved your judgement for Hannah, clearly tennis was her entire life and Art had disagreed with her. Patrick certainly would.

He was sat on her doorstep, like a lost puppy waiting for its owner, but he still gave a quick wave before walking over.

‘Thank you!’ Patrick exclaimed once he was in the car. ‘You two just saved me, I was about to let her coach me just so she’d stop fucking yelling.’ He was sweating and slightly out of breath, poor thing.

‘Art, don’t you wanna go say hi?’

‘Funny…’

Chapter 5

Masterlist

Taglist: @gatorgirl007 @imblushingrn

[xmorguekittyx]

Ever Locked

Part 1: New Beginnings?

pairing: Older!Leon x Ex!Coroner’s Assistant Reader

warnings: nsfw, light smut

extra: this story takes place 7 years later, Leon being taken into the government is still a cannon event, same with RE2 being a cannon event. i hope you guys like this! POV has changed, chapters will flip flop from your pov to Leon’s chapter by chapter and these parts will be longer. Next chapter will be Leon’s pov.

Soft wind blew against the cracked window, locked in place with a bolt. Rain pelted the chipped glass, sliding down to draw clear designs as the morning sun started to peek out from behind the grey clouds. Birds singing happily about the new day, the limitless opportunities that the day could bring. Shadows of the birds reflecting over the glass pane, the shadow an unfamiliar view. My eyes aren't use to seeing the sun, not since settling in Seattle, Washington.

Finally, I decided to move my limbs, the numbness taking over as the muscles ached and stretched. Purple sheets wrapped around my ankles, keeping me from getting up as quickly as I wanted to. Those damned dreams, I couldn't get away from him even in my slumber. His face marred into the back of my eyelids, he haunted my every waking and sleeping moment. The bolt that was beat into the window sill, causing the window to never be open, it was because of him. The fear he would slip in, much like he had done all those years ago. The three locks on the front door another reminder that, even if he was, god knows where, I was unsafe.

  A reflection that didn't register in my mind, who was this? Me? Surely not, my eyes didn't have that dark of circles under them... did they? The figure in the mirror moving close as I feel the counter press into my thighs. "Fuck.", I didn't even recognize the person i became once the police men took me from Leon's home. They were shouting something about... a disease, something wrong with people in the city. Their hands gripping at my arms as they pulled me from the shit hole. People, their eyes yellow and skin, a sickly white. My stomach rolled, a groan of nausea coming from my lips. Those people, I watched as they bit into the man behind me, his skin held by tendons and muscle, before that too was ripped away from him.

  A cough of acid, the burning of my throat brought me back to that damned look. It's eyes squinting, searching for some recognition in the mirror. "Fuck off.", a scoff fell from my lips, turning from the eyes that mimicked mine. The knob turned on the sink, water dripping adding to the sounds around, thunder rumbling over the apartment. "You talking to yourself?", a smug voice called, my fingers too busy rubbing the freezing water over the dark circles under my eyes, praying that the water would wash away some of the unfamiliarity. "Shut up, Ryan.", I was not in the mood to deal with the man, his pout the first thing my eyes picked up on as I looked back in the mirror. "You dreamt of him again, didn't you?", he asked, his voice was so concerned, it made me feel worse. "Yeah...", a bitter laugh left my lips, the real monster in my story was him.

  I felt his fingers trace over the scar on my temple, the one, he, had left behind. "You know you're safe now... right? I won't let anything happen to you.", as much as i wanted to believe his words, to trust my boyfriend of 3 years... something in my chest warned me of a possibility. He was a government agent, at least that was the last i heard of Leon S. Kennedy; he'd saved some girl from RPD that night. He was deemed a hero, despite the sins that he had committed, a justice for a death never gained. No body, no crime... that's what the government worker had told her. I'd tried to tell them everything, that I was kidnapped, that Leon had killed Mrs. Jones. They didn't care, there was no proof as by the time I had gotten the chance to speak to anyone, Raccoon City was already bombed to hell and back.

  "I know.", the truth was that I wasn't safe, I never was going to be unless I was nailed in that coffin, the only place he couldn't find me. Then again, I figured even if I had died that day, that Leon would somehow find my corpse just to add insult to injury. The stupid rookie-  I wished I'd never laid eyes on those blue orbs, that the summer blue skies didn't remind me of him, that I didn't fear being home alone... that I didn't think every blonde in a police uniform was him, that I didn't see him in people, I passed on the street. "I know.", my hand came up to hold onto his, my fingers around his wrist. "You'll protect me...", my tone was no more than a whisper, eyes closing, melting into the back of his fingers. As soon as my eyes closed, that face popped back up, the look he gave me as i felt my vision blacken. It's been 7 years, it's time to move on. Ryan deserved a girlfriend who didn't jump in fear every five seconds, or call him crying when she saw a blonde officer.

  "I love you, stop thinking about it. You're making it worse on yourself.", he cupped his hand around my cheek, finger-pads rough from his job as a crime scene investigator. "You're safe with me, he's still with the government agency and you're here... in your apartment with your loving boyfriend.", a deep chuckle left his lips. "A loving boyfriend who wants nothing more than to make his girlfriend relax.", his fingers toyed with my pajama pants string, twisting it between his fingers. "Will you let me do that, pretty girl?", his lips pressed into the crook of my neck. My nails dig slightly into his biceps, holding onto him as his tongue traced little designs into the skin. "Uh-huh.", i couldn't think of anything, i wanted to be distracted, to be lulled away from reality at the tips of his fingers. "Please-", my desperation was rewarded as I felt his fingers dig underneath my thighs, lifting me into his strong, steady arms. "Shhh...", his whisper was so calming, "turn that pretty head off, i can think for you.", he hummed, his lips next to my ear as he kissed the hook of it. His lips were so soft, always slick with chapstick, usually mine.

The thick head of his cock, buried, snug into me. His pants from above as his leg lifted, caging mine to the bed. A whimper, back arching off the bed as his tip prodded at the beginning of my cervix, his love was soft and kind. His lips sparing words of comfort and care as he bullied into me. His chest was slick with sweat, the cold air now stuffy from the breath shared between us. "You're mine... protect what's mine, sweet girl.", he grunted, his eyes closed tightly, black hair falling over his forehead, stuck to the pale skin with his sweat. "Won't let anyone hurt you-", the promise laced in swears, in moans of pleasure and solemn love. Tears probed the back of my eyes, stinging as the salty tears ran down my temples, gliding across the ragged skin of my scar. It wasn't obvious, my hair covered it most of the time, but to me... it was a permanent reminder of how stupid I use to be. I hope, somewhere along the way, I've changed.

"Stop thinking.", my thoughts are replaced by Ryan's words as i felt the band in my belly tighten, the rocking of his hips, his pubic bone grinding my clit perfectly. "Not- thinking-", my words were strained from my lips, teeth biting into the plump flesh, head back and toes curling as his cock hit the spongey, nerve filled spot that pushed me over the edge, more tears sliding across my heated skin. "There you go-", he moaned, his cock twitching, the fluttering of my walls pushing his climax to the tip, releasing his cum into me, the warmth filling up the thin area between us. Weak moms left his lips, his breath mingling with my pants as he pressed his forehead to mine."Good girl.", his hand brushed back my hair, my eyes catching his green ones. "fuck-!", he whined, sliding his softening cock from my folds, hissing at the sensitivity of his body.

  "I have to get ready for work and so do you, my pretty.", his lips press a kiss into my collar, his nose bumping my shoulder as he presses his warm lips to the flesh. "Don't remind me~", my tone whiny, yet playful as he laughs, his clear voice. His body like a fresh winters day. He was the opposite of the warm boy I once thought I loved... my love falling from boiling water to a crisp ice bath, shocking me. "You gotta-", he reached down to swipe his pants up. "How else are those drunks gonna get their fill of cheap booze?", a grumble left my lips, rolling my eyes at the thigh of a few angry drunks muttering about their drinks taking a little longer to pour than usual. "I think they'd survive.", a mutter from my lips, eyes catching his as he laughed, knowing my annoyed look was one that would soon fall into a plead for him to say. "Look, i'll take you out, some place nice and expensive. How about Bella's?", my interest was peaked, "As long as we get that-", "Red wine, you love so much?", he pointed his fingers in a finger gun motion at me, his nerdy personality something I didn't know I needed. "You got yourself a deal.", my eyes watch as he tucks in his button up, his eyes searching for his glasses as he slides them across the bride of his nose. "I'll be back at 5, okay?", his uniform make him look like some... TV show character. Like he was from my favorite crime show, my smile fell... I hadn't watched it since that night with Leon.

"Quit thinking about it. Fancy dinner and drunks are all you should be thinking about.", his lips pressed to my cheek, brightening my expression with a simple gesture. "Be careful driving to work, the roads are slick.", I called out, watching him walk through the bedroom door. "Always am, you better be careful too. That damn Maxima is nearly on its last legs.", my lips parted in a drop, "Don't talk bad about my car!", his laughter was all i heard before the front door shut, leaving me to my thoughts once more. That's all I had left from Raccoon City, the government agent sent me off $500 and my car, telling me to start over somewhere new, that Leon had agreed to work with them and that I'd be on my own. That's what lead me here... to the rainy city. It was similar to Raccoon City, maybe I craved that familiarity.

  Then again this was suppose to be a new start, which is why I'd gave up the coroner's assistant job, instead becoming a bartender at a local bar called White Wolf Lodge, it was a hotel and bar. Somewhere for truck drivers to relax their few off days, getting to stretch their legs and have a bed for the night, some to lace to rest their beer bellies. I wanted to go back to the assistant job eventually, but it's like I'd seen enough death for my life time.

  My uniform shirt was tight, my tits nearly falling over the front of it, my push up bra doing what it was mad to. Keeping those babies up and perky. The black shirt supported a white wolf howling on the back and a 'White Wolf Lodge' embroidered patch on the front. My jeans were simple, bedazzled and hip hugging, showing off for tips wasn't my favorite thing to do but money was tight in one of the most expensive cities in the US. I needed all the tips i could get. My arms covered my hair as I ran out to the white Maxima, nearly slipping on the pavement. "Come on, Come on...", the buttons on the fob has started to give out, the car was nearly on its last leg but that didn't mean that i was going to let it go any time soon. Rain pelted down, lightening causing me to jump as the door finally unlocked. "Shit!", my fingers fumbled the door handle as i jumped in.

 

  My head hit the head rest, eyes rolling as the thunder shook through vehicle. Let's just get through today. Just make sure the customers are happy and the bar stays clean. My fingers slip past the seat belt, hearing the click as it safely secures. My fingers curl over the steering wheel that now bore some rips in it. Eyes catch the rear view mirror, always expecting to see a green jeep parked behind me. A silent wave of relief follows after realizing that indeed there is no jeep, no looming threat.

———

  "Hey! I thought you were off today?", Marina spoke up, her green eyes bright as she leans over the bar counter. "Sadly, not.", my lips curl into a slight smile. Of everyone I've met since moving here, Marina was the one that i got to call my best friend. Her black hair resting under her shoulders and her sparking green eyes always a sight for sore eyes. "Well, at least we're working together tonight, you could've gotten stuck with T.", she raised her brow, a smirk on her lips as he propped up with her elbows. At the mention of T, my mood sours, my brows dropping as I deadpan at her. "Yeah. Fair enough.", my bag is plopped down under the bar, my body resting against the bar with her, elbows bumping as I lay my head on her shoulder.

"I'm glad, i'm here with you.", I sighed, her shoulder tensed. "You've got that tone, you're thinking about that guy again, aren't you?", her tone was accusatory, but concerned. I had told her about Leon before, that he was a psycho sweet heart in a drunk hangout at her place. "Yeah, it's like he's a damn ghost.", I scoffed, my legs bending to crouch under the bar. "Not like i want to dream about the day i got my head split open.", my finger toyed the scar on my temple. "Plus, i just think it's because it's closing in on the day i got moved-", I hadn't told anyone about the dead eating the living, about the monsters that prowled the streets. It was too much for my brain to handle, i wouldn't scar anyone else with the thoughts and images.

  "Maybe so... what's it called?", she kept staring at the patrons, waiting for someone to need another refill or some god awful bar snacks. "Anniversary Reactions, i think is what my therapist told me.", her body quickly turned towards mine, her eyes settled on the tip of my head, i could hear the cogs in her brain turning as she stood in silence. "Go ahead.", I knew where this was going. Why don't you, "see a therapist?", her voice cut in. "Because i'm fine, he's far away doing god knows what and i'm working at this shit hole with you.", a dopey smile crossing my lips, eyes fluttering up to hers. "I think you'd benefit from it.", her tone was serious and i knew she meant it. She'd hounded me for months after i confessed my past to her. "Please, just try it once if you hate it, you don't have to go back.", she used that same line to try and convince me.

  "Moonpie-", the nickname that i made for the bubbly girl, "I'll be okay. I'm doing better, like you said... anniversary reactions.", I was tired of reliving the day nearly daily, my fingers wrapping around a rag as i grabbed a bottle of cleaner, spraying down the empty end of the bar. "I just worry about you. You look like you haven't slept in weeks.", her voice was so small, I nearly felt bad for lying. "I've been sleeping, I've been feeling better than I have in a long time... let me have this.", my eyes meeting hers, whispering the words to her, head over my shoulder to gaze at her as I lean on the counter, wiping the bubbly cleaner. "Yeah... okay.", she wasn't giving up, but she was giving me this and it's all I could ask her. I just wanted to get through today, go to the dinner with Ryan and have a nice day tomorrow.

  "Also, i meant to say-", Marina spoke up once more, her hands busy straightening the back bar, the bottles clicking over the soft rock music and atmospheric mumbling of people talking. "there's this guy, he asked about you, said he knew you and that you two use to date?", her eyes fell on me. "He asked for me by name? That's... really odd. I only had one ex.", my head tilted, eyes narrowing as i tried to think of any body would say that, but some regulars liked to say i was their girl, shit like that. I just assumed it was that. "Yeah, he's handsome. I think he's still here somewhere.", she moved to stand next to me, my head twisting to look out over the tables. "He's...", she scouted the area, finger to her chin as she moved from side to side.

  As she scoped out the area, I decided to try and straighten up, making it look like we weren't just talking, our manager hated when we talked and stood around for too long. "He ordered a whiskey on the rocks and asked if I'd leave the bottle.", she mumbled, trying to spot him. "Did you?", my eyes lingered on her, picking up glasses with my fingers as I picked up them up, walking towards the kitchen window. "Yeah.", she shrugged, "Didn't see why i shouldn't.", she hummed, her lips parting as she grabbed my arm, nearly making the glasses slip from my grip as i was yanked closer to her. "There he is!", she pointed, her slender, manicured finger pointing at a guy with his head down. A half empty bottle of Jack Daniel's laid in front of him. "Him?", my brain wracked itself to try and place the darker hair and tan skin. His leather jacket hiding his build and his head hanging, hiding his features. "Yeah, sorry, no idea who that-", as I spoke, his head raised, my lips stopping, the next words dying on my lips.

A bright blue sky, a raging ocean, not a single cloud in the skies of his eyes. A clashing sound met my ears but I couldn't place where it came from until the lessened weight of my hands finally registered, the crunch of glass under my shoes ringing in my ears as I stepped back. The taste of acid once more meeting my taste buds, he couldn't be... it wasn't true. I saw him all the time, i'm passing strangers and blonde officers- this was one of those moments. Was I losing my mind? Was this real or was my mind's eye once more throwing me into a relived memory? My heart dropped once his lips curled into a knowing smirk, his hand raising the ombré glass up in a 'cheers', his blue eyes lit up with amusement. He chuckled, I couldn't hear it, i could just see his shoulders shake.

  "Hey, what's wrong?", Marina's fingers dug into my shoulders as I didn't respond. "Hey-!", she shook me, her hands rocking me as she moved her face to block my sight of the man. "Are you okay?!", she was near hysterical but so was I. "Yeah-", I squeaked, it had to be him. It had to be, I couldn't be this crazy. "I just... i need a minute, okay?", my hands fell to her shoulders, she nodded, but her brows were furrowed, watching me walk away. The glass crunching with each step as I reached for my bag, immediately calling Ryan as i felt a sob fall from my lips. He was back. I wasn't safe anymore and he had seen me, asked for me... that coffin looked more and more comfortable. The one place he couldn't find me.

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

Listing a few funny things that happened when Angel had to deal with the media, post rescuing everyone from Playtime Co:

Angel, still shaking from spending one week inside the factory and with dried blood still glued to their hair, smelling like hell, politely answering some questions while in the hospital while waiting for Dogday's emergency surgery to finish.

The media being obsessed with calling Angel, whose actual name is Raphael Taylor de Oliveira, "Angel" the moment they hear one of the toys referring to them as that.

Combine the religious imagery with Angel's poor little meow meow wet kitten born in a cardboard box with every disease face and we have a very, very easy way for making the narrative out to be "a kind ex-worker at Playtime Co. discovers that children were used as experiments inside the factory and risks their own life in order to save them".

Angel is instant-loved by Brazil the moment the first news start to arrive, which is something they're very proud of.

Angel having to hold Catnap and Mommy Long Legs by their hands while giving out an interview in their home, so neither one of them would be too mean to the poor reporters. Angel still has to tell them to be nicer though.

The cops and investigators having to explain why they didn't figure out there was something wrong with the factory when all Angel had to do was walk inside and say hello to the Huggy Wuggy statue.

A reporter explaining the horrific events while in the background Huggy stares at her like "smoll person :0}" and boops her. Cue to Angel saying sorry and anxiously guiding him away.

"What did you have to eat while trapped down there?", someone asks, and the toys all go "oh hahahaha. uhm. rats. and the bodies of our friends WHEN THEY INEVITABLY DIED FROM A DISEASE. we didnt hunt each other dw dw hahahahahaha".

Angel a few months later, after buying the farm, giving a "house tour" so people will know the kids are doing okay and stop pestering them about house-related questions. Angel is very excitedly telling the reporter about how much more space they have now while Catnap is eyeing a bird in the background. "Theo don't you think about that, you have food right there".

One of the mini critters listing all the toys that were gifted for them and saying "it's very nice, very chewable", I like how it tastes" and Angel looks at them like "so it's YOU who has been chewing the toys??????", with the reply being "and the doors as well!"

Catnap going from referring to Angel as "our savior" to simply "our mother" during any interviews or news reports where he somehow talks.

Everyone wanting to interview Dogday because he does, indeed, have a radiant and happy energy and audiences love him.

Angel saying "and the hut is the house of 1006, the first one to ever happen, but he would prefer if we just left him alone".

Poppy being someone who's always SUPER pleasant to work with, and excitedly telling the reporters everything they have been doing around the farm.

Angel sighing after finding out Prototype is Elliot Ludwig, KNOWING they'll have to tell the authorities so they can have license money and control over the Playtime Co. brand.

Angel turning to the family's lawyer like "you won't believe what I just found out", the lawyer saying "oh, this won't be the most absurd thing you told me yet", then after hearing Angel tell her about it going "oh, you are always full of surprises, uh. Uhm. Now that makes things complicated", and Angel laughing to the point of tears after that.

ALL the news reports during the trial against Playtime Co.'s higher ups and the negligent authorities. Kickin keeps a collection of the "best moments", which include Angel beating the ever living shit out of a higher up after he refers to the toys as "things" and "collateral damage" instead of "victims of human experimentation".

The news about the fact that apparently Elliot Ludwig became the first PlayCo. experiment ever, and Angel + Poppy having to deal with THAT.

Prototype's single public apparition, around 4/5 years post-rescue, because he had to go to court as well so Angel would have a chance of getting the rights to PlayCo. and all of its properties back to them.

The news when Dogday and Catnap get married, a whole decade post-rescue.

Angel just dropping the most cryptid information ever in social media or during one of the rare interviews they're willing to give after the initial years post-rescue. They tweet things like "I saw some people asking if any of the toys ever attacked me during the week I stayed at PlayCo, and I want everyone to know that all of them at some point did. But don't worry, I bit them back, we're all good now" and one time say "my husband and I like to grow tomatoes like this, but one of our daughters has been trying another way" and that's how everyone finds out Angel and Prototype are a Thing.

Craftycorn happily blogging her life as an artist and featuring all of the other toys during her videos, while Poppy does makeup and sewing tutorials, and the two of them doing collabs and livestreams often. During one of the streams Angel screams "THEODORE GRAMBELL LUDWIG OLIVEIRA DID YOU JUST HUNT A COYOTE AGAIN", and that's how Crafty and Poppy's fans discover everyone decided to add Ludwig Oliveira to their names.

I would say more but honestly this post has been getting pretty long so rip

[judgementdaysunshine]

hey my babygirl. just wondering if I could have a Damian priest x reader where reader is waiting for medical results and is really fucking nervous..

Ofc my baby 🫂

Always by your side

Pairing: Damian Priest x Fem reader

Description: Damian helps you deal with your nerves while waiting for medical test results

You felt like you were going to throw up again and pass out as dread fills your gut and anxiety digs it's claws into you as the hours slowly ticked by like an eternity. "Mi vida, look at me" you tear up before Damian pulled you into his arms with a tender iron grip knowing how scared you were for these results on your blood test since you had been sick for the past three weeks and the doctors were worried that it was something terminal or an infection, "What if I'm dying? What if I can't walk anymore?" damian felt like someone had punched a hole through his heart at your trembling voice saying those words as every single thought of what could be wrong went through his mind nonstop ever since you did the tests just hoping that it wasn't the most terrifying option out of the bunch. The phone pulled both of you from the moment as you ran to the phone and answered it once you saw the doctor's office ID, you gripped damian's hand tightly as you put the phone on speaker and talked to a nurse who told you the results for the blood samples that were taken two and a half weeks back as your heart pounded and almost bursts out from your chest while he caresses your hand, "Everything came back negative for terminal autoimmune diseases, you just have a bad infection in your bladder that was causing you the pain" you cried in his arms once the call was over before picking up the prescription for pain relief and antibiotics to clear your body of infection unable to control your giggles of damian kissing all over your face while snuggled up in bed enjoying a movie night and snacks, "I'm always by your side no matter what Mi corazon" love pours out in a series of soft tender kisses while wrapped in his arms pressed together.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

The Eyes Have It: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2k

Summary: Hotch is stepping down, giving Derek the opportunity to rise in his place. Derek wants to fight for you but is forced to deal with the case at hand. You, on the other hand, are forced to deal with the ugly side of prison.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

Even as the officers take all day to scour the streets for the unsub, they don't find anything. It's not until the next morning that two more people are murdered. A male and a female. He's back to murdering two people. However, there is something different about this crime scene compared to the other ones. He murdered them at their house, so he cut the wires in the electrical box and killed all the lights. If they can't see then they can't fight him back. He probably used some night vision aid of some kind in order to kill them.

The perfect hunt.

The woman's carotid was severed and her eyes were missing, just like the others. However, the man's eyes are still intact. He didn't take them. Why? Why is he different? Upon closer examination, there is a laceration on his left eye but not his right. He probably fought back trying to save the woman and the unsub ended up cutting him accidentally.

They theorized that the unsub could be collecting them but what if he needs a set? An injury like that ruins the collection. They're trophies. Someone who collects eyes could be into taxidermy, and that is something the team can use as a lead.

"A taxidermist?"

"Morgan might be onto something. The unsub's collecting sets of eyes that need to be flawless because he's preserving them as a trophy of some kind."

"We said he was a hunter. What do hunters collect for trophies?"

"What if we're wrong about him being a doctor?" Spencer asks. "It makes sense. A taxidermist has all the skills and supplies needed to preserve eyes and other body parts."

"Do they know how to surgically remove eyes like this?"

"Yeah, they have anatomy knowledge. They have to cut through muscle, tissue, and nerves to remove hide. It's the same thing for eyeballs."

Penelope calls JJ who places her on speakerphone.

"Garcia, you're on speaker."

"Comrades, I cross-referenced John with Okie City animal stuffers. Turns out, he wrote a $250 check as some sort of deposit for Lloyd's Wild Game Shop six weeks ago. Now, this place is scant miles from the farm road where our first victim was dumped."

"Does Lloyd have a record?" Phil asks.

"Lloyd Bulford has one recent record from the city, and it's a death certificate. He died four weeks ago of emphysema."

"Did he have any employees with criminal records?"

"He's got no employment records at all. He has a twenty-eight-year-old son named Earl who lives with him. He has a petty crime record and counts of animal cruelty."

"Garcia, get everything on the son."

"Okey-dokey."

Penelope takes a few moments to look the information up.

"Is there any record of mental illness?" JJ asks.

"No, but his mom had a degenerative eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa which would eventually lead her to go blind. Considering his crimes, that's super weird, right? Anyway, she died in a car accident when he was eight. Then, he gets expelled from school for getting in a fight with a kid and trying to gouge the kid's eyes out. I have no record of him returning to school, he has no employment records, he's never filed for taxes, and he doesn't have a credit card in his name. Besides his driver's license, there's no record of him at all."

"That's probably why he didn't show up on any of our lists," Derek says.

"Sounds like he's totally dependent on his dad. When his dad died, there's no one left to check up on him."

"Okay, his dad drove a 1990 dark brown Chevy cargo van. Looks like creditors took the house this week and a lien was put on the business."

"He lost his dad, his house, and is about to lose the family business. Care to choose a stressor?"

The team heads straight to the store but Earl isn't there when they arrive. It's a taxidermy store in the front with a few small rooms in the back where he's been sleeping. Without a house to stay in, he's been dependent on his father's business to keep a roof over his head. When they look into the windows, they immediately see a pool of blood on the ground.

"Hotch, I see blood. We're going in."

The front doors are locked but the back doors are open. They walk in one by one with guns trained in front of them, clearing out the place.

"That's gotta be John's blood," Emily says. If John was the first one to be killed and only had a dumpsite, then he must have been killed. It wouldn't make sense if the blood were the other victims. "He comes here to see his animal, they argue, and then this happens."

"He's been sleeping here," Hotch announces when he finds the back room where the cot is. "If he's not here then he's out hunting again."

Emily and Derek inspect the animals out of curiosity but become concerned when they see some of the animals don't have any eyes.

"This one doesn't have eyes," Derek says.

"Neither does this one."

Derek inspects more and comes across an animal with a realistic-looking set of eyes.

"Oh, my God. This one has eyes. I know what he's doing with the eyes."

With a little bit more snooping, they come across pictures of Earl and his father. They're not great pictures because they tell the story of a boy who wasn't given what he needed to succeed in life.

"Look at these. He's been hunting since he was a kid. He never went to school. He probably spent his entire childhood here. Somebody this socially isolated no doubt has mental issues. Looks like he only knew two things--hunting and taxidermy which was fine as long as his dad was supervising him."

"Now his gatekeeper's gone and he's loose."

Hotch finds the customer book he has everyone sign when they want him to provide services. He flips through the pages at every single customer that has ever bought from him.

"Wait, this address is familiar," Phil says. "It's on Junction Road where the teenage girls got killed."

"I think he's attacking all over town close to where his customers live."

"I know the customer on Dry Creek Road which is close to where that jogger got killed in the park."

"What about where the couple was murdered last night?" Derek asks.

"Close to this address here," Phil points.

"Okay, so he's delivering these animals to his clients' homes and then sticking around the neighborhood to find victims. Looks like there are two more addresses after the last murder."

"Alright, we need to split up," Derek decides.

"I'll get units to both locations," Phil says.

The entire team splits into two with Hotch going with Phil and Emily and Derek going with a few other armed officers and Rossi. Hotch finds the van Earl is using, and with a little patience, he saves a woman who is about to get her eyes gouged out. Earl is taken away, the woman is looked at, and all the animals fit with human eyes are taken in for testing. There are tens and tens of animals with human eyes which means there are tens and tens of victims waiting for justice to be served.

When the team touches back down in Virginia, Hotch busies Spencer enough to not allow him to visit you. When he told you he'd try his best to keep Spencer away from you, he meant it. Derek, Rossi, and Emily leave to visit you since they miss you dearly, but you're less than thrilled to see them. Of course, you're happy to talk to people you know and cling to some sense of normalcy, but you hate that they have to see you with a bruised face.

The bruise didn't settle well so your jaw is covered with a dark purple bruise that has spread up to your eye on the same side. The trio is excited to see you but eyes turn wide when they see your injury.

"Oh, my God," Derek whispers to himself.

You sit down across from them and pick the phone up at the same time as Derek does. Emily is sitting next to him while Rossi is standing behind them. The place can only fit two people at a time but Rossi doesn't mind standing.

"It looks worse than it feels," you white-lie.

"I hate that you're sitting here right now. You shouldn't even be here." All you can do is shrug. "Hotch says he's working on your case but it looks like nothing is being done for you."

"I'll be fine, Derek," you sigh. Derek opens his mouth to say something else but you're quick to cut him off. You really don't want to talk about that because then you're forced to think about who killed those seven men and how they're free right now. "I hear you got Hotch's job."

"It's only temporary. The board is coming down on his ass pretty hard. He gave it to me to keep himself on the team."

Even through the thick glass, you can feel the waves of guilt coming from him. He feels guilty for taking the job knowing Hotch wanted to give it to you.

"Derek, don't do that to yourself. I'm glad it's you. You have strong leadership skills. You'll knock it out of the park, I'm sure," you wince in pain.

"Y/N, you're not okay."

You look down and let the tears fall freely. You hate that they're seeing you this way but what can you do? You look up with your eyes wet and your face even more puffy.

"I'm fine, Derek," you cry. "I'll be fine."

"Spencer--"

"Don't bring him here," you panic. "Please keep him away. You have the power to keep him busy." You're crying too much to make sense but Derek understands you through your cracked voice. "I love him and I miss him but I do not want him here. He can't see me like this. He has an eidetic memory. He won't be able to forget this. Please promise me you'll keep him away."

"I promise," Derek whispers.

"Let me talk to Emily." The phone is passed onto her, and she gives you a sad smile. "Don't give me that look."

"It's hard seeing someone you care about like this."

"I know. It's not forever... I hope not. I have faith that I will get out of this. Whether or not I still have a job, that's up to Strauss."

"You didn't kill them. She can't fire you because of this."

"I think she can. Not for killing someone but for going to prison. Anyway, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything. You name it."

"I can only imagine what seeing my empty chair is doing to you. Distract them enough to get them through the week. I know it's a lot to ask of you but knowing you're worried about me won't do me any good in here."

"Okay, I'll try," she nods.

Rossi taps Emily on the shoulder and gestures to get the phone. She passes it to him and looks you right in the eye. He says something to Derek and Emily and they both get up to leave. He must want to talk to you privately.

"Hey, kid."

"Hey, Rossi," you sniffle.

"I know how hard it is in here for you. I can see it in your eyes."

"Don't tell the others but it's so hard for me," you cry. "I feel everything. I don't know how I'm sleeping at night. I get nightmares all the time because of other people's pain. Please don't tell the others."

"I won't. Listen to me. I know it doesn't seem like it, but things will get better. We are not going to give up until you're back in that briefing room with us. You fake as much of it as you can and push through until the end. Hold your head up high and don't let anyone dim your light."

"Okay," you nod.

"I mean it, Y/N. I know it doesn't seem like it now but I think you're the only one of us that could survive prison and come out okay."

"Thank you, Rossi."

Rossi's words stick in your head well after he has left. Even when you're lying in your bunk bed, his words echo in your head, and you use it to help you get some sleep.

"Dwell in peace in the home of your own being, and the Messenger of Death will not be able to touch you." - Guru Nanak

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[thenexusofsouls]

The soldier bunched herself up under the desk, palms pressed to her ears with enough pressure that she could hear the squeak of her joints. She was trying to block out the noise. The angry shouts as she disobeyed direct orders. When had she entered the office? One minute she'd been searching the aisles...

well,

Shallow breaths

A tap on her shoulder, sending her jolting alongside her racing heart, wide eyes searching for the source- an elderly woman with a light laugh, and an apology for startling her. She was only reaching for the milk

Bright, fluorescent lights

Constant chatter and clanging and beeping that was not, in fact, a heart rate monitor, and was instead the tills as the cashiers scanned various items

Too many options

kind of.

At some point she'd passed the bakery, and a small child in a cart had wheeled by, holding a...

And then she'd found herself in the office. The door was locked from the inside. The desk had the indent of fingers on the edge of it's surface, as though imprinted in wet cement. One of it's legs wiggled like a snake. Both still gleaned with the sweat of her hands.

The manager kept slamming on the door, shouting and raving about calling the police, and company files and trespassing. And yet she was frozen in place. - For Wade, sadiebrin

@sadiebrin

"Donuts or muffins?" Wade muttered to himself as he looked around the bakery section. His head tilted to one side, then the other. "Eh, they each have their good points..."

It was supposed to rain today. Not just rain, thunderstorm. So far, though, the sky had gone dark for a couple hours and it had gotten rather windy, but so far... no rain or thunder. Perfect weather for Wade to do a little shopping during normal human hours without fear of getting too impaired by the sun. He'd felt a mild tingling on his skin when he stepped outside, but... not too bad. And really, he just had to go from his apartment building to his SUV, and then from there into the store. He could do that standing on his head, so... time to shop.

Being a vampire sucked, pun intended. Needing blood all the time was not only unappealing to Wade, but it was massively inconvenient with his schedule and lifestyle. And he refused to give up the foods he loved, even if they did nothing for him nowadays. At least he could eat whatever he wanted without fear of getting fat or developing heart disease, since whatever made him a vampire seemed to regulate his body to keep it in tip-top shape without him having to do much of anything.

His deliberations on exactly what kind of indulgent human food to buy were interrupted by a very distressed woman staggering from near where he was toward the back of the store. Confections could wait. Wade followed her, sensing that something was very wrong. When she went inside an office and slammed the door, Wade stopped and watched as the manager began pounding on the door like a child throwing a tantrum. "Really?" Wade mumbled to himself.

Making his way to the door, Wade laid his hand on the manager's shoulder. "Take a breath, okay? I think she's havin' some kinda problem." The manager was taking too many breaths, as it were, and spouting more boisterous nonsense about how she wasn't allowed in there, and if she didn't come out right this instant he was going to called the cops!

With an irritated smirk, Wade reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Dude, relax, I am the cops," he said, flashing his badge just fast enough for the manager to see something that looked official but not long enough for him to actually read that it only said government licensed bounty hunter on it. It worked, and the manager took a step back from the door. Only one. Wade looked at him like, you gotta be kiddin' me with this bullshit. "Yeah, you wanna gimme some time here, man? I'll handle it, don't worry." With that, the manager huffed and left to deal with an irate woman who couldn't find the type of cheese she wanted and was making it everyone else's problem.

"Hey... miss?" he called through the door. "You okay in there? Need some help?" He was trying to get through to the woman but also sound as non-threatening as he could manage.

[yuri-is-online]

Do the timeline post!!

Right so before I get cracking on this I want to make a few things clear:

This is all speculation and should not be taken as fact, due to how XP and stamina gain work in this game I will probably re-vist this post once I am finally able to work on Zayne's myths card (i am prioritizing Xavier since I have both of his as opposed to just one of Zayne)

For simplicity's sake this post is just going to be focused on Zayne, though I will reference things from the other boy's lore where applicable. He ironically seems to have the easiest timeline to understand, which is saying something.

I will gladly make a post for Xavier later this week when I am able to unlock his last anecdote, but if you are more interested in Rafayel I will have to direct you to this post by u/joonmin on the love and deepspace subreddit as I don't have a lot of Rafayel cards and lack the information they posted. I will say that he seems to have the most complicated timeline out of all three of the love interests, and that a lot of the information on that thread won't make sense if you have not read chapter 7.

Ok? Ok. Here is my best attempt at a timeline for Love and Deepspace Zayne: SPOILERS FOR ALL IN GAME CONTENT UP TO CHAPTER 7, VARIOUS MOMENTS, AND ANECDOTES, PROCEED WITH CARE.

I lied I have one more thing I want to clarify: yes there is a timeloop/alternate reality thing going on in this game. That is not really something that I think needs debating because that's kind of the genre this developer does, and the game starts off telling you that the deepspace tunnel is a spacetime anomaly. It isn't subtext, it is just text.

Current Timeline

The current timeline where the main story of LAD takes place is set in the year 2048 in a place called Linkon City. We are told that the Deepspace Tunnel opened 14 years prior and that is when wanderers started invading earth. There is a lack of understanding about why this has happened, and it has sparked an interest in space exploration in the hopes of finding a solution.

The hunters association is sort of like an adventurers guild? It's supervised by the government, and is sort of split between Hunters like MC and researchers attempting to understand what makes the wanderers tick.

This includes researching protocores, currently the only thing the hunter's association knows for sure is that they contain a great deal of energy, and that they can cause disease in humans based off of which category the protocore falls into. This is confirmed to be what is wrong with MC.

It is also mentioned that protocore energy is used for lots of things, in technology I assume. This will be important later so keep it in mind.

The "arctic" that chapter 5 is set in appears to be referring to the Northern arctic circle. The in game "spacepedia" says there are lots of energy fluctuations (and therefore wanderer attacks) due to its close proximity to the earth's magnetic pole. The epicenter of these fluctuations appears to be Mt. Eternal, where most of the research institutions in the arctic are based.

There seem to be sort of "fixed points" that repeat themselves within Zayne and Rafayel's timelines, and a theme of MC forgetting things. The lyrics to the opening theme even say "Time goes by but memories rewind" and while Zayne doesn't say MC has forgotten anything to do with him specifically, she has forgotten something about both Xavier and Rafayel. For Rafayel, the thing she forgets also seems to be his "fixed point": he and MC always meet when they are younger. For Zayne, he always hurts someone with his evol at age 12.

While there are technically three versions of Zayne and two of them seem to be aware of each other: current/Dr. Zayne and Dawnbreaker Zayne. They both started dreaming of each other at 12. It is unclear if either version dreams about Forseer Zayne, or if he is aware of them, but all three versions of Zayne are fond of jasmine. I haven't made much progress with Zayne's myths card, but it is clear that this like has something to do with MC, just from the little bit I have been able to read.

Dr. Zayne dislikes talking about the incident when he was 12, simply telling his friend Will that he lost control of his evol and hurt someone. He refers to this someone as a friend, and I might be a smidge delusional... but I think that friend was probably MC. If she's forgotten about it, Dr. Zayne might see that as "for the best" and not wish to remind her of it.

It would also explain why Grandma trusted him with MC's care and those secret documents. He has gone very far out of his way to try and not be someone who hurts people, and is obsessed with working himself to the bone to save as many people as possible. Grandma might seem like a sweet old lady... but we know she has some questionable morals so I could see someone like her thinking that since Dr. Zayne feels like he owes MC he is a good choice to protect her since he won't betray her.

The Fragmented Dreams moment is typically pointed to when talking about Dr. Zayne and Dawnbreaker's dream connection, but after reading the Never Ending Winter anecdote I don't really think it is. Look at what the nightmare actually says:

I think this moment starts out with Dr. Zayne dreaming about MC coming to visit him at work and bring him lunch, but devolves into him dreaming about what he did when he was 12. Dr. Zayne's dreams of Dawnbreaker as depicted in the anecdote are almost always related to his mercy kills, he doesn't seem to see the finer details I'll get into when discussing Dawnbreaker's timeline. The anncedote makes me think that Dr. Zayne sees Dawnbreaker as a sort of manifestation of his fears for himself; he fears becoming a killer, he fears hurting people, the only things Dr. Zayne wants is to save lives. That wish applies to more people than just the MC, he genuinely enjoys being a doctor and is very popular with his patients.

Beyond Dr. Zayne seeing his friend turn into a wanderer and being forced to kill him, we don't know much about his relationship with his teacher or the arctic. We do know that he still visits the arctic from time to time to help Dr. Noah with his research, and we can only assume it has something to do with protocores. I think it might specifically have something to do with humans being transformed into wanderers, but that's wild speculation on my part.

Dawnbreaker Timeline

The concept of Dawnbreaker Zayne is introduced in the annecdote Still In Dark. It is set in an unknown time and place, but it is confirmed to not be Linkon as Dawnbreaker mentions wanting to visit there, but that it was destroyed a long time ago.

In this timeline in this unknown city, wanderer attacks are so common that people don't really leave their homes. Most menial jobs (such as staffing convenience stores) are done by robots and most people find their entertainment through VR.

It is known by the government of this unknown place that prolonged exposure to protocores and their energy transforms people into wanderers. These infected can then kill and infect other humans. When Dawnbreaker Zayne was 12 years old, he watched his adopted father transform into a wanderer and turn his mother. He used his evol to kill them both to save himself. This is also when he begins dreaming of Dr. Zayne, though he is much more interested in MC.

In the anecdote he is under investigation by the police as a suspected serial killer, as he has been mercy killing infected people as they transform so they can't turn more people. This includes children, which is what Dr. Zayne ends up dreaming of in Never Ending Winter.

The police officer investigating Dawnbreaker ends up learning about the infected, and destroys his investigative files after realizing his superiors know about these wanderers. He wishes Dawnbreaker Zayne luck in finding a solution before things get too far gone.

This anecdote does two very important things. First and foremost it confirms/introduces the concept that some wanderers used to be human, and that this transformation is caused by prolonged exposure to protocores. The second is that it suggests that MC is not a part of that world's timeline. Why is not clear, but Dawnbreaker doesn't know who she is, just that from what he can see in his dreams he wishes to be loved by her. I mentioned that Dr. Zayne hates Dawnbreaker, but it doesn't seem that Dawnbreaker hates him at all. He likes to watch medical dramas, and seems to genuinely want to be his other self even if he is aware that's impossible in his current reality.

Forseer Timleine

I haven't made much progress on this one, so we are going straight to bullet points on things I think are relevant.

Each of the myths cards take place in a world called Philos. It is unclear if this place is a planet, a country, or just a city as each Myths card seems to have a distinct cultural feel and history to it. I am leaning towards planet as Xavier is an alien and refers to earth as if he is foreign to it.

Xavier and MC also talk about how Philos is dying in his Myths card because of the wanderers, and that the wanderers will eventually leave Philos and make there way somewhere else.

It is a commonly liked head cannon that Dr. Zayne became a cardiologist because of MC's heart condition, and while that still might be true I think it might be a sort of residual desire to help her from his Forseer self, as MC breaks into his prison to try and cure her heart condition, which is slowly turning her into ice.

... forseer's MC is a little out there tbh. Kind of out of pocket and honestly I love that for her. If I was told I only had 3 years left to live my reaction wouldn't be to break into the Vatican to see if the Pope had any reliquaries that could prove my doctor wrong but I guess we all deal with grief differently.

I talked in the original timeline about the fact that all versions of Zayne like jasmine, but I am noting it here again as he agrees to not kill MC if she can convince his houseplant to bloom. Did I mention she broke into his house? Did I mention she did this practically claiming to be a government official? Of course Zayne is just going to shrug off her antics, even if he doesn't remember it he has seen worse.

My last sort of point I want to make here is that Xavier has a bit of throw away dialogue in battle asking whether or not something is "immortal or undying." Forseer Zayne refers to himself as undying, and has an issue with controlling his ice evol to the point it should be killing him, but isn't for some reason. It is also implied in MC's dialogue he is being used as a tool by Philos, which is something she can't stand. As for why this distinction is important, as of this point in time, I don't think Zayne is aware of his life as the Forseer because he is not immortal, unlike Rafayel or Xavier. When the Forseer dies, his memory of his life will go with him while Rafayel keeps his and Xavier- Well he just hasn't died yet.

Dr. Zayne and Dawnbreaker Zayne might be aware of each other because they still posses the same gift that the Forseeer (allegedly) does, or it might just be because of their connection to the MC, or because of the rift in spacetime above Linkon. It might even be a combination of all three. Whatever it is, it's a lot less complicated to understand than whatever the hell Rafayel has going on and makes me wonder how exactly all of these various timelines fit into place.

When I get more familiar with the rest of the lore I will make a very pretty diagram on my white board complete with color coding because this story has me in a chokehold for no good reason.

Final Thoughts

While I was thinking about all this, an idle thought came to mind that maybe the three current ROs sort of represent the past (Rafayel), the present (Zayne), and the future (Xavier) even though all three arguably have some sort of past with the MC in their Myths cards. The mystery fourth RO would then represent an alternate reality in my deluded mind, maybe a split timeline created by MC's current actions???

I am doubtful that the events in Linkon city we are currently experiencing are meant to be MC's "origin point" (or whatever timeline she originally came from), but that just makes me wonder what the hell is. I want to know who or what caused the deepspace tunnel to appear. I said on another post that it probably has something to do with the destruction of Philos, and while I do sort of still think that I have no real reason to beyond a hunch.

[sundove88]

Regarding The Situation with SonicStar21

Long post ahead, btw.

So all of you know about SonicStar21, don’t you? Well, I’m gonna help you learn more about her and how you and probably the rest of the Balan community can learn from this and never make the same mistakes in the future.

First, if you didn’t know beforehand; she has something called Pervasive developmental disorder, which is one of the conditions that is part of the autism spectrum disorders (I’m autistic myself), which often results in severe and generalized impairment in the development of reciprocal social interaction that aligns with with impaired talkative or wordless ways of communication and the presence of stereotypical behavior, interests, or activities.

But you know what the Balan Wonderworld community did to her just because she loved Balan as a father figure? She has outright refused to provide evidence of her innocence and keeps pushing the victims to change. She's into noncon, r4pe and incest. She "claimed" people wanted her dead over this but that is a straight up lie.

And it gets even more downhill from there. They started making her the community pariah, to the point where she suffered from DEPRESSION AND SHE CLAIMED THEY WANTED HER DEAD!!! And adding onto that, she claims that she has evidence, BUT SHE REFUSES TO PROVIDE IT!!!!

In short, I wanted to teach you to be kind to other people and not give them the cold shoulder- I approached her with empathy and understanding, and wanted to lend a helping hand to her. In other words, This entire situation is more "I wanted it private, she made it public and tried to make me the villain." That is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!

And here’s more evidence, as seen from a conversation with a fellow tumblr user I had, and to put it simply… "anonymous contacted me SonicStar harassed her, she doesn't deserve anything, her victims do". And the boot from the server was absolutely valid, she took it too far and is now dealing with the consequences. Also, she’s into !ncest, she's into r4p3, n0nc0n, and fetish art of underage characters- WHICH IS JUST THE WORST!!!

Anyways, about that, this is not just a call out post. This is to hold SonicStar accountable. The fact SonicStar uses her autism and heart disease is not an excuse to harass people. She should take a long break off the Internet and better herself instead of playing the constant victim.

If you have made it this far; thank you for reading this. Hopefully, everyone who has read this can understand the gravity of the situation and ensure they don’t repeat the same mistakes again. That way, we can foster a loving and supportive community, and SonicStar’s victims can FINALLY get the help and healing they need. And as for SonicStar herself? I’m sorry; but she has to face the consequences and deal with them. It’s her problem, not mine. And if you’re reading this, buddy- I’m sorry. I had to call you out. I couldn’t hold back anymore.

EDIT: This was all a massive misunderstanding. I initially wanted to do the right thing, but all I did was make things substantially worse, and I have proof that everything was a misunderstanding (This is from a convo I had on her on twitter):

1. SonicStar is 100% NOT a p3d0. She knows that stuff is wrong, and was reading Japanese stuff on kids, but she didn’t know that they were kids.

2. She doesn’t like Non Con art. She thought Non Con was Non Conventional Romance

3. Most importantly, they all went after her GF of 11 years, and said GF has screenshot proof they went after her.

4. She used her disability as a last resort!!

5. The claimed victims of hers is FALSE. Because THEY started the mess and she had witnesses to it!!

[sindulgence666]

The brothers with an MC that has Dysautonomia (POTS)

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Hi! So… this is kind of a self indulgent post? I just wanted to think about the brothers taking care of MC when they have no spoons or just are having a crisis 🤧 I never have anyone to help when I'm on my worst health days so yeah!

Warnings: mentions of chronic illness, cursing

Characters: Seven demon brothers

Category: Shortfic, bulleted… whatever that thing’s name is

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Humans are complex yet fragile creatures. Their body works in complicated and fascinating ways, almost being too perfect. Yet, illnesses exist. Humanity has always lived with diseases, from things like the common flu to terrible plagues that threatened to wipe out half of a continent. Modern medicine has worked hard to mantain the population's health, treating and curing any disease that installs itself in the host’s body.

That is, unless it’s a chronic illness.

Oh, humans. Such intelligent yet incapable creatures.

When you arrived to Devildom, you didn't even think about how life would be there while dealing with your “problem”, as how you used to refer to it. However, as time passed by it became increasingly obvious to you that the weather and the lack of your medication were making it really difficult for you to continue living and ignoring your symptoms.

The first months were hell (heh) for you, as you weren't as close to the brothers nor the other exchange students to ask for help or to talk to them about your health. As time passed by and your relationships started getting stronger, you started pondering about the possibility of telling them. Would that affect the way they treated you? You weren’t sure you actually would want that.

One day, you had to be practically dragged out of bed by an angry Lucifer; you were running late. A pounding migraine made itself present and made you groan in pain, but surely you could handle it. Lazily, you dressed yourself with the uniform and walked slowly to the dining room; your head felt funny and you could feel your heart pounding in your chest. It definitely was a bad day.

— Hurry up or you won't be able to eat before going to RAD, MC. —Lucifer spoke and you just nodded while you sat down.

Your stomach growled and your nose wrinkled in disgust. You definitely felt like you were going to throw up. Actually, was it cold or was it just you? Lord, you were even trembling.

— I’m sorry… —You tried to excuse yourself— I think I'm not feeling too good…

But you stood up too quickly and your legs gave up on you as your vision went dark for a few seconds just to come back unfocused and blurry.

Lucifer immediately stood up and ran up to you, crouching by your side. He gently cradled you in his arms and was surprised by your corporal temperature. It wasn't normal for a human to be so cold, right? Surely blue lips weren't a good sign either. This situation was something he didn't know how to manage, and that really stressed him.

— MC? —he called out to you as he softly slapped your cheek just to check if you really were conscious. You groaned as your eyes darted all around the room. You could feel a strong body holding you and six distinct voices yelling and panicking.

— Lucifer! What’s wrong with them!?

— Hey, human!!!! Doncha dare die on me!!!!

— MC, please hang in there!!

Even Satan, the smartest one, and Belphie, the one who knew the most about humans, were amiss. What was going on with their human? Were you going to die?

— Legs… —You said, covering your eyes with a trembling hand.— Help me raise my legs…

— What?

— They're telling you to raise your legs! what are you, deaf!?

And finally, after you recovered of your sudden crisis, you were taken to your room so you could rest. At least after arguing with seven worried demons that insisted on rushing you to a human hospital. You knew that wasn't strictly necessary, but certainly having a blood pressure monitor would come in very handy.

Laying down on the matress, an exhausted sigh left your lips; your head was starting to hurt. Lucifer had to make sure his brothers didn't bother you (mainly Mammon and Asmodeus, who nearly had a heart attack when they saw you suddenly collapsing), but Satan wasn't going to just leave you alone after that. The door quietly creaked as it opened and the blond man stepped inside the room.

— How are you feeling? —He gently closed the door behing him and walked up to your bed, sitting on it.

— I’m fine —You answered.— Just a bit tired… —You extended your arms towards him, asking for a hug.

He nodded and scooped closer to you, laying down beside your tired form and softly passing an arm over your shoulders. You closed your eyes and rested your head against him.

— Care to explain what was that about?

— Hmm…

— MC?

— I didn't want to worry you… —neither did you want them to feel sorry for you.— I know I should've told you sooner, but I thought I could manage by myself like before-…

— This has happened before? —The demon inspected you with his gaze

— Yeah, I have dysautonomia

…

— What?

Right. Human chronic illnesses surely aren't known in the Devildom; why would they need to know them anyway? You sigh and stay quiet for a few seconds before trying to explain to the blond demon your health condition.

— You mean one of the main things that keeps you alive is not working!? —Satan was practically yelling now.

— Okay, Satan, let's calm down, I’m not dying-…

— Well it sounds like you are!

And before you can stop him, he's already sprinting out of your room to tell his brothers.

Lucifer

WHAT!?

MC is DYING!?

You have to take him away from his now stunned brothers in order to clearly explain to him that you are, in fact, not dying

It sounds like your body just gave up on keeping you alive, and you know it

But you're okay!

You only need medicine to help your heart regulate itself!

And probably having a blood pressure monitor in the HoL would be nice too

Overall, he is quick to catch on after the initial panic passes

He will now make sure you have all your needs covered

Still freaks out whenever you have a bad day or faint, but overall is very reliable and helpful

Mammon

Definitely wants to cry

When you come back after Satan he's the first one to throw himself at you

You can't die again!

You really need to try and calm him down before successfully explaining to him that you were going to be okay

He is very upset about you having to deal with something like that for your entire life

Believe it or not, now he sticks to you even more

Panics whenever you start feeling funny and tries to help

It’s the thought that counts

Leviathan

Henry!!! You can't die!!!!

He is one that definitely DOES cry along Asmodeus

Sitting down with them in the living room to explain is the best option

He isn't sure if your explanation made him feel better or more nervous

But you’re not going to die! That's good!!

He will actually offer to buy anything you need from Akuzon

He prefers to help you by buying anything you need rather than tending to you

Don't get him wrong, he loves you

But it will be two unconscious individuals if he gets too overwhelmed

Satan

Sit down, Sherlock

It’s actually quite hard to convince him you're gonna be okay

Although calmer, he’ll now proceed to investigate everything he can about it and how it affects you

He definitely will basically become an expert in a very short time

Another one that is very reliable and helpful

Less busy than Lucifer, so he can actually make sure to take care of you until you are back to a 100%

Asmodeus

NO!!

His dear MC can’t be sick! They look so healthy!!!

He, like Levi, is crying

Someone give him tissues please

Baths, massages and everything that can remotely help you feel better will never not be an option with him around

If you thought he pampered too much before, buckle up

He too panicks if you faint, but he doesn't freeze in place

Beelzebub

Actually VERY worried

His frown gives it away despite his naturally stoic face

Sits beside Belphie and in front of you while you're explaining them everything

He shakes his head after hearing you, not quite being okay with you being sick

It also takes a lot of reassurance with him to help him be at ease

He will be the first to catch you if you fall! Or to carry you if you need so

You can count on him too

He just wants to protect you

Belphegor

At first thought you just fell asleep (no Belphie, MC isn't you)

Huh? Fainted?

MC's sick!?

He's angry before being sad

Calms down almost at the same time that Beel does

Probably won't be helpful since he’s always asleep

But he definitely will help when sleeping is difficult for you

Probably will carry an extra pillow around to cushion your fall

Please don't expect him to actually catch you if you collapse

[slasherstories123]

Hello may i request michael myers and jason Voorhees reaction with a s/o that height 4'10 & doesn't like talking to people because she very shy so she avoid them everytime.. but when no one around she kind,sweet & caring for animals also she scared of loud noise..😖 could you do a hc how would they approach? Would they be take interest?.. oh also when meeting them she doesn't scream she just run & self defense herself if they being any harm to her.. if they just left she goes back whatever she was doing..

Michael and Jason with a s/o who’s very shy

Tags list: @dootys @callmemeelah @fluffy-little-demon @mehidktbh @slash3rl0v3r @the-anxious-youth @beanbagbitch @mrs-heelshire @vincent-sinclair-deserved-better @smenny @thatoneweirdgirlspage @alexxavicry @vexeliers-breakroom @l0sercat @kissmachetebois @naxxsstuff @beel-mcburger @charliedawn @emychan @bunnysenpai31

Michael Myers

He’s surprised by how short you are. Michael actually has to look down and or lean down in order to see you.🧍🏾‍♀️

He expected you to run the first time he met you, but he didn't expect you to save a cat in the process. Using the nearest weapon to point it at him while hiding the cat from him.

Even though the cat wasn't anywhere near his interest. He took interest in your quiet nature around other people.

Michael’s seen your love for any type of animal, no matter how dangerous they are. You’d love to feed them and or pet them, even though it's cute he’d had to stop you sometimes, grabbing your hand to remind you that not all animals are friendly and or doesn't have diseases.

He thinks you being shy is a good thing which means he gets to protect you more than he needs to.

There's no need to worry about him making loud noises since he practically moves in silence, everything he does is silent. But he will scare you if he’s just standing there, not letting you know that he’s in the house.

Michael enjoys your sweet nature, it’s a nice change to be around someone who isn’t as always violent as other people. He sometimes follow you and can see how you avoid other people when he’s not around.

Michael sometimes will secretly follows you just to make sure you don’t get into trouble, even though you won’t since you tend to avoid people. He still does it just in case if something goes wrong.

Jason Voorhees

He caught you being out in the forest by yourself, getting along with many of the animals that came up to you. He didn’t have the heart to kill you due to how sweet you were.

It’s nice to find someone who respects nature and animals for a change I stead of treating it like trash. Just like Michael he isn’t gonna make a lot of noise but will try to show signs that he’s around so he won’t scare you.

He wouldn’t know what to do when he sees you run away from him, he dosen’t want to hurt you. When he had to go deal with trespassers he’ll make you stay in the cabin so you wouldn’t have to deal with the others.

He loves your kind and sweet personality. That’s what made him take interest in you, many of his victims are loud and rude. You both will go around and feed the animals out in the forest from time to time.

Heck you can even call them your pets. He dosen’t mind you being short.

Jason finds it cute, sometimes having you on his shoulder when he walks around the forest.

He dosen’t mind carrying you around. But he is careful when there’s branches in the way.

[strawwritesfic]

Avengers Guys Taking Care of You When You're Sick Imagines

Hello! I caught some sort of very fun disease doing work-related things last weekend, so I came up with these imagines! I thought I'd post them for funises and because making you think of the dialogue yourself is way easier when there's very little oxygen entering my brain.

Disclaimer: I don't really do imagines, so I'm not even 100% sure that's what these are. They might just be headcanons? Listen, man, I'm an old person on the Internet. I don't know what I'm doing.

Also, I wrote these starting in the middle of the night after having only eaten marginally for three straight days and sleeping about a total of two hours over the course of 48 hours. Also, I didn't proofread them on account of the cinderblock shoved up my nose being very distracting. (But if there's something wrong, do feel free to bring it to my attention, and I will change it.)

Pretend these are in a world where COVID isn't a concern. I didn't feel like dealing with masking and isolation.

Let me know if you'd like to see later phases or groups!

EDIT: I forgot Clint. I blame the cinderblock. He's been added.

Enjoy!

Tony Stark

Let's face it. This guy is not in any position to play nurse. He hardly knows how to take care of himself; you're a different person entirely! Plus, he's not exactly into the idea of catching your cooties. Once you've got the ick, he is out of the bedroom and camping in his lab until you're no longer showing symptoms.

But that doesn't mean you're facing this alone. If this is before Pepper takes over Stark Industries as CEO, Tony's got her and Happy running around making sure you have anything you want--anything. More cold medicine? Done. A house call from your doctor? Called them 20 minutes ago; they're on their way. An authentic pizza directly from Italy? It's yours. If it's after, he will go get everything for you himself; it's just going to take a lot longer, and it'll probably take him five trips to actually get the right thing.

He won't leave you completely alone either. He'll call you up on one of the tablet phones and talk to (or at) you for hours. Heck, if you're bored, he might even set it up so you can watch him tinker on the suits from bed.

James Rhodes

You don't want Rhodey to find out you're sick. He's a busy guy, whether he's working with the Air Force or the Avengers. But he's gonna find out. Maybe he isn't able to call you as often as he'd like, but as soon as he makes contact, he's going to know you're sick from the word "hello."

He hates that you're often sick when he's quite literally half a world away. He doesn't want you to deal with your illness alone--and you won't. If he's still working primarily at the Air Force, you're on base with loads of fellow military officers and their spouses, and soon you've got more casseroles than you know what to do with. If he's with the Avengers, things are a little trickier. He can't ask Dr. Cho to fly in from Korea for a cough, and it's not like FRIDAY can answer the door for Uber Eats. Pepper and Tony aren't going to let one of their best friend's SO suffer, though! They love you, too. One or both of them is going to make sure you've got a house call from a doctor very soon.

As soon as Rhodey is off work, he's back with you. He'll cook dinner--something healthy that he knows you like. Then you'll both head to the couch or bed, snuggle up under a big blanket, and watch old movies until you fall asleep beside him.

Thor Odinson

Asgardians don't get run-of-the-mill illnesses, and any illness they do get is way more spectacular than what Midgardians deal with. Because of this, Thor finds your run-of-the-mill illness fascinating. Like, almost annoyingly so. Although he's fine to leave you to go on missions or the like, he is otherwise right there with you, delighting in every cough, sniffle and sneeze. If anyone on the team points out that you're, you know, sick, Thor is quick to remind them how incredibly tough his SO is. He knows you'll pull through!

Still, he doesn't want you to feel awful, so he's going to seek out advice on what he can do to help you. The results that come from this depend on who Thor decided to ask. Dr. Strange? Probably earn you some decent medications and/or treatments, even if Thor isn't 100% sure exactly how to use them. Loki? Then you're probably going to end up with Thor trying a dozen different things that don't make you feel worse but definitely don't make you feel better either. Hey, Loki's got no vested interest in helping out his brother's SO.

At the end of the day, at least you won't be left alone very often, and there is something endearing about a guy who thinks it's cute when you're so full of snot you can't think.

Loki Laufeyson

Loki is a much less...obtrusive companion than his brother is. Sick Midgardians are boring. They just lay around all day, producing the most horrible liquids from every part of them. He's got better things to do than sit around all day watching that...

...is what he wants everyone to think. He knows you don't like be smothered either. So Loki does go about his day as usual for the most part, but that doesn't mean he isn't checking in quite regularly. He'll slip into your room every few hours or so just to make sure you're resting. He won't wake you if you are. And the things you need have a funny way of appearing on your bedside table whenever you wake up: the remote control, a container of hot tea, even clean pajamas if you aren't feeling capable of walking to the bathroom for a shower.

But just because you don't like being smothered doesn't mean you want to be alone the entire time. Loki knows that. He's probably not going to crawl into bed next to someone who is coughing and sneezing and already warmer than they want to be, but he's perfectly content to pull a comfortable chair over to your bedside and sleep there. And when you get bored of watching TV or just need something quiet to fall asleep to, he's always happy to read aloud to you from whatever book he's reading.

Steve Rogers

Steve may no longer have the ability to get sick, but he remembers being sick when he was skinny, and he knows it's no fun. He also remembers the things that Bucky did for him that helped, and he'll try all of that on you. This leads to a bit of quarreling when Tony reminds him that they live in the 21st Century and have better ways of helping people with sore throats and coughing. But Steve eventually relents, and you get a good combination of things that make you feel better.

He's good at compartmentalizing, so he can put worrying about you aside when he needs to lead the team. The second they don't need him anymore, you're back at the forefront of his mind, and he's headed right to wherever you are. Even if you don't need anything he can provide you, he wants to make sure you're okay.

Since Steve doesn't get sick, he's 100% ready to cuddle. This is great when you have chills, and not so great when you're having hot flashes. He respects you if you ask him to please get the hell out of the bed. He lets you rest when you need rest, and is perfectly happy to just hang out in the room with you, quietly drawing in his notebook so he's there if you do need him.

Bucky Barnes

If Steve remembers getting sick, Bucky remembers being the one to take care of Steve when he was sick (after Steve's mom died). He does not handle seeing you sick well. At all. He cannot stop worrying about you at all. Never mind that all you've got is a stuffy nose and a cough, he's pretty much convinced that you are going to die on him any minute.

He's very reluctant to leave your side when you're sick. Even if there's some world ending-crisis that the team needs him for, he'd rather stay with you. Oh, he'll go to help with the world-ending crisis, but he's going to be thinking about you the entire time. Everybody on comms is going to get real tired of him using any downtime to wonder aloud if this will make [Name] feel better.

If you're lucky, Natasha or Sam or Steve might take pity on you and insist that Bucky take some time away and quit worrying so much. But unless they take him on outing to get you something (food, flowers, medicine, etc.), he's not going to want to go. Unless he's directly looking at you and confirming that you're okay himself, he's just not going to be able to settle. Until your fever breaks, don't expect Bucky to leave your side for very long, if at all.

Clint is a very normal guy wen it comes to his SO being sick. He's not too pushy or too distant. When you wake up with a sore throat, he makes you a cup of hot water with lemon juice in it, brings you a small breakfast in bed, and checks the medicine cabinet before he leaves for work. If there's anything you're low on, he'll make sure to pick it up on the way home. He'll call you at lunchtime to check on you, and if you say you need anything then, he'll pick that up on the way home, too.

If he has to go far away for work, of course Natasha is there to run errands and check on you. And if they're working together far away, you might get a very rare, very strange visit from Director Fury delivering cough syrup. Coulson pops by, too. Clint's got a pretty big support network willing to fill in any gaps he can't when he's working.

When he's at home, Clint mostly leaves you alone. He knows you need rest. There's plenty of work for him to do around the place anyway. But whenever he takes a break, he'll pop into the bedroom and ask you if you need anything if you're awake. He's always quick to tell the streaming service you're still watching, too, just so it's still going when you wake up. And he buys loads of your favorite takeout to tempt you to eat.

[corvidares]

okay, so i just finished re-reading Any Way the Wind Blows and this feels so blatant as to be smacking me in the face: simon is disabled.

now, the reason why that makes itself even clearer in this book than in wayward son (where he, of course, also has the wings + tail) is because simon is once again in the world of mages - despite doing his best to leave it behind. compared to wayward son, where hes basically and literally in the wild west. where theres magical beings everywhere, where simon practically fits in because he is one.

but ill get back to that.

ive seen a lot of really interesting points about what simon's wings represent and mean, and i'm not disagreeing with those. but in a very literal sense, they are a disability.

think about it like this: the world of mages (and Normals) is not built for humanoids who have giant webbed wings and a tail. simon constantly struggles with controlling these limbs, and their size makes it ten times harder. spaces are too small, furniture and objects are broken when he spreads them, and many a shirt or jacket are ruined.

he struggles to find a good way to deal with this - spell them away? wear them out by cutting holes in things? fold them extremely painfully into his shirt? even though this last one is treated like a solution for a little while, its far from ideal. who is simon doing this for? himself, or everyone around him? yes, of course Normals cant see them. and yeah, hes expressed discomfort about baz and penny spelling them hidden. but thats not the point. even with this botch job of a way to "wear" his wings, which succeeds at hiding them from Normals, simon still states a couple times that he knows people stare at him and his seeming hunchback. i mean, thats blatant.

(he eventually, with shepard's help, realizes a good way to work around this - zippers or buckles on shirtbacks - which very much feels like an aha! disability aid moment)

im not saying disability is based in how people look at you, or it only being a societal thing. (as in, when he wasnt in the world of mages, he wasnt suddenly 'not disabled at all') disability is a huge spectrum. but those things absolutely can be a part of the disabled experience.

but all of that doesnt even get to my main point: simon has no magic anymore. and in the world of mages, thats a huge deal. magic is like living and breathing, especially for baz and penny. its not something they question or have to worry about not being able to call upon. hell, even before simon lost his magic he was disabled, just to a different extent.

before awtwb, we dont hear much about mages whose magic is weak. but they come to the forefront now - which just solidifies that solid magical ability = able bodiedness.

smith is promising a miracle cure. a cure. think of it like bullshit orgs such as aut!sm spe@ks, wanting to "cure" autism - he wants to cure people. (and hes just as full of shit) why? because weak magic is seen as a disease, a problem, even subhuman.

take daphne, baz's stepmom. her quality of life is fine, great. her weaker magic doesnt seem to put her at a disadvantage. she manages her disability well. but in comparison to the norm, to what is expected of the average mage, shes got nothing. less than nothing. she feels shame over what she cant do.

smith's case becomes even more blatant when we see, at the end of awtwb, that he wants to essentially cull weak magicians. that they're holding back society. that theyre better off as powerless as Normals - who are blatantly seen as subhuman - than as weak mages. much like how ableist rhetoric puts forward that disability is a fate worse than death.

which brings us back to simon. he insists hes a Normal, now or always has been. baz insists hes the most powerful magician to exist. both of them are wrong.

and right. and right and wrong.

simon is some third thing - not a mage, not a Normal. akin to how disability is its own minority aside from race or ethnicity he has a foot in each world, and he always has. but now he cant achieve blending into either.

this is why the increasing presence and humanization of other magical beings beside mages is so important (thank you shephard!) how mages tend to seem magical beings is very ableist. theyre subhuman, theyre not to be trusted, theyre freaks, theyre dirty, etc. except oops, how can you keep thinking that penny, when this very nice one works at a cafe and helped you translate shephard's engagement terms?

even baz and the events of wayward son play into this - yeah, some vampires are horrible people. but plenty, like baz, are just people. with a range of experiences and morals and ways of living life. (take nicodemus) (i could make a point about how simon's stalwart acceptance of baz's vampirism helps baz comes to terms with it and how this is also super disability coded, but thats another essay)

in the beginning of awtwb, he decides to go to the extreme opposite of his chosen one powered life - to live as a Normal, and the second step (after cutting himself off from baz and penny) is getting his wings removed.

except he cant do it. and even having his wings touched is horribly uncomfortable. now, this partly has to do with how much theyre sensual parts of his body - same as his tail. but its also, separately, very intimate. theyre treated very clinically, like a fascinating specimen to pore over. im not trying to give niamh shit here, just saying what i saw.

but theyre part of him. people with disabilities often deal with being stared at and poked and prodded by the medical field (if theyre not ignored or waved off. maybe both.). even every day folks feel the right to touch disabled folks, or their mobility aids.

for a lot of people, mobility aids are a part of them - its like a stranger touching your face and thinking theyre doing you a favor. when instead theyre being weird as fuck.

simon's status as previous chosen one even plays into this sort of thing - people see him more as a figurehead, for what he can and cant do (including his wings!) than a person. hes a tragedy, hes a hero. hes inspirational, hes to be pitied. sound familiar?

the end of awtwb doesnt spell out whether simon ends up deciding to keep his wings (frustratingly). but they spell out that he would absolutely would, in my opinion.

simon increasingly treats them as a natural extension of his body. think of the scene where he flies about the watford goats. how he expresses his feelings with his wings and tail. and of course, how he learns to let baz loves each and every part of him: including his dragon limbs.

baz loves him, and loves them, not in a fetishistic way, but because its simon, and he loves everything simon is. not just what he represents or can or cant do.