#original being

[battlegroundofdreams]

5

As if the argument in Krios' office wasn't bad enough, Morpheus discovers something that makes him even less happy.

Morpheus sat at the bar across the street from DAHQ, a tumbler of whiskey in his hand. It was his third and the burn of the amber liquid was just starting to calm him down. The problem with calming down, though, was that as he did, his mind replayed the entire scene in Krios’ office. He was still enraged at both Krios and Andromeda, and would not ever apologize to them. However, Melinoe was another matter completely

Normally he didn’t let anyone get under his skin. Being outright insulted, slighted, and having things hidden from him by higher-ups had caused him to lose his temper in a way that was not normal. Not only had he lashed out at them, he’d done so at Melinoe, and she hadn’t done anything to him to deserve it. No one ever defended or stood up for him, most hated him; but she had. His thanks for it had been to insult her, and hit her with the same smack he aimed at the bosses. It made him hate the bosses all the more.

Finishing the tumbler in one last swallow, it landed hard on the bar. Time to do something that he rarely did, and hated more than just about anything: go apologize to Melinoe. Letting things continue to be tense between them would suit no one, and only lead to someone getting hurt. He gave not one fuck about the threat at the end of the meeting, what he did care about was the fact that he had started to respect Melinoe during their training and that was rare. After this was all over, he was going to have to work with her, and after what he’d said, that was going to be hard if he didn’t make things right, or at least how others tended to see things as “right”.

“Agent Morpheus,” he flipped his badge so the guard at the front desk could see, “I need to know where the current location of Agent Melinoe is.”

Now to find out where she’d gone after she’d left Krios’ office and make his apology. He could only go she'd listen and accept. As mad as she was, it was even odds either way.

“Sir, she’s been up on the Dream Ward level for several hours now. I don’t show she’s left. That ward is restricted access at the moment.” The guard informed Morpheus, which made him wonder what was going on that would restrict access to the ward.

“Restricted to who?” Morpheus’ head tilted as he looked down at the guard with concern. If Melinoe was in trouble, Krios was going to have his ass.

“No one, currently, sir.” The guard answered with a slight tremble to his voice, which didn’t make Morpheus happy at all.

“Any reason as to why?” There was a slight edge to Morpheus’ voice that had the guard looking a little uneasy.

“No, sir. They have not entered that information. I don’t know. They have medical on stand-by and we have been advised that it is off limits until the Prime notifies all stations.” The guard swallowed. Even though he'd never met Morpheus, the agent's reputation proceeded him.

Morpheus nodded and headed to the elevators, tapping his badge against the plate between them. He’d see how “off limits” they were. His partner was on that floor, in that ward. Keeping him out would require the Prime himself to step in. Since Krios had threatened him, he doubted that he’d keep Morpheus from helping Melinoe if she was in trouble.

As the elevator ascended floors, different scenarios regarding what could have gone wrong to have the whole floor considered off limits went through his mind. There had been many times here agents were put in danger during missions, but never the whole ward was put off limits. Even if something dire had happened, he hoped that the reason that Melinoe still showed on the floor was due to her leaving her badge there by accident when she returned to her apartment.

The elevator dinging to alert him that it had arrived at the Dream Ward floor, brought Morpheus out of his thoughts. As he stood in front of the doors, waiting for them to open, he couldn't anticipate what was about to happen. Normally, he had just placed himself in the perfect position to exit the elevator; however, he had now put himself in the perfect position to almost be knocked over by a gurney that was being pushed on by a medical team. Thankfully they were able to hold up, and avoid knocking him down in their hurry to get onto the elevator.

As he quickly slipped around them, to exit the elevator, and allow them to get their patient on to get her to the medical ward, he noticed that she was young, far too young to have the wounds that she seemed to be bearing. Whatever was going on in the Dream Ward, it did appear to be dire. There was no time for him to ask questions of the medical team that was whisking her away, he would have to find someone on the Dream Ward that would answer his questions.

Once the doors had once more closed on the elevator, he turned and headed towards the entrance to the ward. He tapped his badge against the reader, which opened the doors and he started to step through. This is when a guard stepped in front of him.

“I'm sorry Agent Morpheus, no admittance is allowed to the ward tonight. This is by order of Prime Krios.” The guard looked none too pleased to have to tell Morpheus this, and that matched the displeasure that Morpheus felt on hearing it.

“What is the reasoning for the closing of the ward?” Morpheus inquired.

“There has been some serious activity within the dream realms, and the dreamers cannot be disturbed. Prime Krios is on the ward. Andromeda is with him. No one is to be admitted.” The guard looks disturbed, which did not give Morpheus a good feeling. Never had this happened before, and Morpheus had been an agent for many years.

“Is agent Melinoe on the Ward?” Morpheus asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied the reaction of the Guard. He knew the answer before it came, the real answer. The one the guard gave was evasive and only served to annoy Morpheus more.

“She did enter the award, yes. I cannot answer if she is still there. I cannot answer if she is within the Dream Realm. All answers must come from Prime Krios, or Andromeda. And neither are available to speak at the moment.” Clearly, ranks were closing due to something very important and, most likely, very bad. Morpheus was confused as to why he was being locked out since Melinoe was his partner.

“Can you give a message to Krios or Andromeda? Please let them know that agent Morpheus is on the Ward and would like to speak with one of them. I am here to assist agent Melinoe in any way possible.” Morpheus looked anything but pleased. There was something about this whole situation that was sitting with him about as well as a buffett’s worth of plates on upside down bowls.

“I will let them know, agent Morpheus. However, I do not think that you will hear from them anytime soon.” Again, the guard looked uneasy and as if he had been put in a bad position. What the fuck was going on in that ward?

Banner by @cafekitsune

[mayhemchicken-artblog]

in the hour or so it took me to draw this op turned reblogs off

EDIT: reblogs are STAYING OFF. op was right and correct and i have never regretted making a post as much as this one. if you want to reblog my art you can reblog something else from my blog. or commission me, lord knows i deserve financial compensation for the nightmare this post has put me through

[zytes]

this manatee looks like it’s in a skyrim loading screen

[auschizm]

"Actually the autistic way of communication is the superior one and allistics are so stupid for expecting me to-" No guys I'm sorry, but the road to effective communication is to actually listen, communicate, accommodate to the best of your ability and try to find a middle ground, not to develop separate superiority complexes

[lesbianralzarek]

"life doesnt get better, you just get stronger" does NOT include ages 11-17. life does in fact just get better from there. those years are dogshit. like, you do get stronger but its mostly just a factor of not being 11-17 anymore. positive thinking helps but it doesnt fix whatevers going on at 15, you have to brute force through that one raw

[canisalbus]

✦ Picciriddu ✦

[neurovarious]

[pigswithwings]

above all else a trans woman is a person. above all else a trans women is a woman who goes to the same grocery store as you and buys fruits in the same grocery cart as you and goes home and eats her dinner the same as you. above all else a trans woman is a woman who dresses like you do and talks the same way you do. above all else a trans woman is a woman who wants to be cared about the same way you want to be cared about and a trans woman is a woman who makes friends the same way you make friends. above all else you should care about trans women because they are people. treat her as such.

[allskywalkerswhine]

in fics where luke gets plopped into the prequels i want every jedi within ten metres of him to think hes the weirdest jedi theyve ever seen. he has negative lightsaber form. he doesnt know what a kata is. he handstands when he meditates. his solution to sith is to try and have a chat. hes a political radical who keeps suggesting revolution. you ask him what the jedi code is and he says "kindness and compassion and helping those in need :) ". you ask how he used the force like that and he says some shit about how you are a luminous being limited only by your mind. the councils authority is just a suggestion. he is somehow the new favourite of both qui gon and yoda

[hell0mega]

people are drawing Steamboat Willie Mickey doing all this crazy shit and whatnot, but you could always do that. you can do that now, with current Mickey, just fine. it's fanart and it's legally protected. hell you could take Disney-drawn Mickey and put a caption about unions or whatever on it and it would still be protected under free speech and sometimes even parody law.

what is special about public domain is that you can SELL him. you could take a screenshot and sell it on a tshirt. you can use him to advertise your plumbing business. people have already uploaded and monetized the original film.

you could always have Mickey say what you want, but now you can profit off it.

[bakedbeanchan]

I love the first season of atla

[madamemachikonew]

"Go to hell" is basic. "Hope your favourite anime movie sequel gets cancelled after seven years in production AND getting an animated teaser." is smart. It's possible. It's terrifying. It's happened.

[bamsara]

I think that one thing people fail to understand is that unsolicited literary criticism coming from an online stranger who is reading with no knowledge of what the authors intended goal is, is not going to be received the same as say: the authors beta reader or friends who know what the authors intended goal and has the sufficient knowledge and input to help the author reach that desired outcome.

"But I'm only trying to be helpful" How do I know you have the knowledge and literary skill for you to be able to actaully do that when we don't know each other and you are essentially a stranger to me? Are you applying this criticism based out of personal biased experience and desire to see the story or characterization be driven in another direction or tweaked, or do you know the author's intentions for the character? If the story is incomplete, are you basing your criticism of a character on the incomplete narration with only partial information available of them or are you building up a report until the story's completion? Did the author provide you with the information needed to make a fully informed criticism?

Have you discussed with the author what their plans are or are you assuming them based off the narration, especially if the narration is proven or implied to be unreliable or missing key points of the plot? Are you unbiased enough to help them reach their desired outcome for the characters and story regardless of your personal feelings towards the characters/antagonists and setting? Can you handle being told your specific input isn't wanted because you're a reader and/or have no written anything relating to their genre or topic? Do you understand and respect that the author's personal experiences might influence their writing and make it different than how you would have done it personally? Do you understand if an author only wants input from a specific demographic relating to their story?

If it's for fanfiction or other hobby media, are you holding a free hobby to a professional standard? Are you trying to give criticism because you feel like the author has produced 'subpar job performance' of their fic? Are you viewing their work as a personal intimate outlet or something that must conform with mass media? Are you applying rules and guidelines when the fic is shared for simple sharing sake? Is your criticism worded appropriately and focused on the parts where the author has requested input on rather than a general dismissal and or disapproval?

Have you put yourself in a place where you assumed you have the input needed for the story to evolve better, or have you asked what the author needs and what they're having trouble with? Can you handle having your criticism rejected if the author decides their story doesn't need the change and not take it as a personal offense against your character? Are you crossing that boundary because you think you are doing the author a favor? Are you trying to be helpful, or do you just want to be?

I think sometimes when people hear authors go 'please don't give me unsolicited writing advice or criticism' they automatically chalk it up to 'this author doesn't want ANY constructive feedback on their stuff at all' and not "i already have trusted individuals who will help me with my writing goals and- hey i don't know you like that, please stop acting so overly familiar with me'

[auschizm]

If you tell someone directly "that behavior makes me uncomfortable, please stop doing that to/around me" and the person keeps doing it and anyone tries to excuse it with "they're autistic, they can't help that they're bad at social clues", know that it's bullshit. Once you have verbally articulated a boundary directly to someone's face it is no longer a complex social clue, it's a direct request. And you don't get to ignore direct communication of boundaries because you're autistic.

[sludgenaut]

mold poisoning stories

[quelfabulous]

"We don't need to do anything. We can just be."

Happy bi/pan visibility day (it's everyday for me). Also a sprinkle of ace and a dash of survivor and to top it all off- other expressions of intimacy, affection & connection taken seriously. I'm doing an Astarion origin playthrough and I ship him with Karlach like FedEx, your honor.