#the dod fandom on here is small but

[rateelism]

moondae canonically likes sweet foods so this means his boba orders are always at 100% sugar levels. maybe even 120% if the place lets ppl add extra sugar. I think it's so cute this guy who's more than happy to curse out others (mentally) and manipulate situations to benefit him and his loved ones is so. into cute things and sweet foods. he is absolutely into those cutesy promo, absolutely Topped boba drinks.

[dragon-fics]

Sunlight (Sunny x Rain-Sea OC - Dewdrop)

Chapter summary: Dewdrop has always been a mysterious dragon, and since meeting, Sunny has found herself drawn to her

Warnings: don't think anything apply

Fandom: Wings of Fire

Relationships: Sunny/Dewdrop (OC)

Characters: Sunny, Dewdrop Mentions of: Thorn and Stonemover, new ocs to be written soon

Tags: wlw, f/f romance, soft, fluff, sfw, spy x princess, sunshine x sunshine-lover, titled after a song

word count: 2700

Song: Sunlight - Hozier

Note: Takes place after book 5. So far, Dewdrop met the DoD when she was a spy in the Sky Kingdom. She didn’t really interfere with the DoD, just followed and helped where she could. Her main contribution was following Sunny after she’d been kidnapped and chose to fly to the Scorpion Den/followed her through the events of book 5. when they met Stonemover, Dewdrop said a few words to help convince to get off his depressed ass. while he and Thorn don’t get back together, they have an okay relationship and Stonie teaches/helps out at JMA. I headcanon Sunny as an ace lesbian that goes by she/they pronouns, so I’m experimenting here with it. I do apologise for how broken and janky these two pieces are, but these are more for myself. (also hozier is a mud-sky hybrid in this someone may hate me for that)

Sunny had never been to such a celebration.

The castle was alive with dragons and chatter and dozens, if not hundreds, of carved pumpkins. She looked around at all the faces. Compared to the battle of the Eye of Onyx, this was a relatively small meet up. But it was hardly small for what Sunny knew.

This was so incredibly different to how they’d spent most of their life; dreary grey walls, damp stone… Kestrel. It was the complete opposite. It was so warm and cheery, and her mother was right at the heart of it.

Sunny could see her in the centre of the foyer, chatting with a group of councillors, leaders of SandWing towns all throughout the desert. Each one was adorned with various trinkets and faces shaded with coloured veils. It looked so wonderful! It made her wings flutter with excitement.

In the air hung the warm and stinging scents of spices mixed with the fruitiness of the drinks and candles in the pumpkins. Sunny had never smelled so much, and it was wonderful.

It was all so overwhelming. The sights and smells took over the entire castle, even up on the balcony overlooking the full foyer. There was more breathing room up there, with some chatting dragons sipping dragonfruit punch. Unlike the ones below, they were scarred and sharp-eyed, watching the queen and her more mannered guests. Six-Claws had said they were Outclaws, welcomed with open wings to the castle and, of course, the party.

Sunny’s gaze was locked on the open dining room though, the most focused it had been all night. She was starving, and a few dragons seemed to be lingering in there now. She fiddled with the emerald dangling from her gold necklace. This might be their only chance to eat before the next phase of the party. Her mother had invited performers, a travelling circus that was known for recruiting in the Scorpion Den and moving from the most northern corner of the Sky Kingdom to the Kingdom of the Sea’s islands. Thorn was so excited about their visit, recalling so many memories from the tricks and flips the RainWings performed, the fire-play of the Firescales, and the swift ice-sculpting of the IceWings. And now they had a recruit, a singer gaining quite a bit of popularity.

Sunny has seen many things while flying over Pyrrhia, and this circus seemed to be highly anticipated by even the most senior of Outclaws. Whatever it was about these performers, they were beloved.

And the crowd would be big. The stage would be in the foyer, the centre of the party. Everyone would be watching, from the balcony and staircase to the windows overlooking from the library.

And of course, the dining room would be full to the brim, the nearest room to the performance.

“It’s quite the party, isn’t it?” It was a sweet voice, but careful with her wording. How long had it been since Sunny had heard it?

A smile possessed her before she could even think. “Dewdrop! What brings you here?” She found herself hugging her, and Dewdrop’s webbed talons gently patted her back.

“Oh, I’m here on business. Did Th—Queen Thorn not tell you?”

It was a quick hug, and Sunny took the opportunity to look her over. Dewdrop had dressed herself in deep purple scales with marigold SeaWing markings and wings, so different to what Sunny had seen her in before. Usually, she matched the dragons and environment around her. This was bold, like her quick comments and confidence.

Sunny took a moment to hear what she said. “No?” but they panicked. Had Mother mentioned anything about outside help?

Dewdrop gave her a reassuring look. “You’ve been busy with Jade Mountain, of course. Thorn asked me to come and help sort out any of Oasis’s messages and plots that were left around, and with the letter-room. trying to sort those letters out has been a pain!” she sighed but smiled. “It’s paying well, so I can pay my own help well.”

“Help?” Sunny questioned.

Dewdrop nodded and started to walk down the stairs. Sunny couldn’t leave the conversation now. “Some former Talons of Peace. Nautilus left them high and dry.” She slipped in between a group of chatting dragons, leading Sunny into the bustling foyer. “Most split and went home, either apologised to their queens, snuck back into society or just settled in places like Possibility. A few are so used to the spying and keeping tabs on the world that they want to keep it up.” They walked toward the dining hall, Sunny walking beside Dewdrop as she spread her wings to nudge dragons aside and guide a clear path through. Even when not knowing or seeing her, they obeyed. “And I know no different, so I figured we’d stick together. Got some MudWings, a SandWing, SeaWing, IceWing, oh, and one of those NightWing brothers we met.” As she talked, she gestured a wing to each: a gathering of MudWings by the entrance; a beige SandWing with a black zig-zag pattern, sail and neckerchief in the corner, shuffling a deck of cards; a near-white SeaWing lingered by the punchbowl, an octopus on her shoulder, and a lilac IceWing stood beside her. The NightWing Sunny couldn’t see, but Dewdrop gestured to the balcony.

“Some are part of the show tonight, and we might be gaining a couple of recruits in a few days. They’re on the branch about things.” She extended a talon to grab a fruit kabab and bit off the strawberry at the top. “You should try one.”

Sunny looked at the bowl. It was the most colourful spread she’d ever seen. Strawberry, three types of melon, kiwi and dragonfruit were held together on a skewer. It looked so fresh. They smiled and grabbed on.

Dewdrop offered them a plate, which Sunny gratefully took. “You sound like you’re doing well.”

Dewdrop swayed her head either side in a not really way. “There have been better operations. We’re happy, I suppose. The NightWing gets things done fast. Fennec has always been reliable.” She bit off some cantaloupe. “How’s Jade Mountain Academy coming along?”

Sunny hummed. “Steady. Father is helping with the caves and making the tunnels more homely. I think he’s enjoying it.”

Dewdrop led them over to a couple of spare seats in the corner. The burgundy velvet went well with the themes of orange and black throughout. “That’s good. I’m glad we got Stonie out of that cave. Make himself useful for a cause he believes in.” She wrapped her long, thin tail around herself. Finally getting a good looked at it, Sunny noticed it was shorter than the average RainWing, and thicker too. But she’d seen Dewdrop swing and glide between trees in the rainforest. The length clearly didn’t limit her.

“What about the students? Have the queens accepted the idea?” Dewdrop’s gaze scanned the room, cold blue eyes watching every dragon, every entrance, and every shadow. She’d done that since they’d met in Scarlet’s Palace and, Sunny presumed, since she had hatched.

Sunny nodded, turning the skewer in their talon. “So far, Mother, Queen Ruby, Queen Moorhen and Glory—of course—have accepted. Queen Coral is very on the dunes about it—” she really liked that phrase, “—and Queen Glacier hasn’t come back yet. I think there’s some hunting season right now.”

Dewdrop’s gaze was anchored on her again. Not in an uncomfortable way, just a listening way. “I take it Anemone wishes to go?”

Sunny nodded again. “Of course. The Princess is eager to get a look on the world now that the war is over, and she has Tsunami of course. And Princess Auklet is okay, and the statue taken care of.”

She had a cube of watermelon this time. “A hard choice to make for her, then. Her daughters are just safe. Is she willing to trust one in someone else’s care? Tsunami will have to put everything into convincing her.”

Sunny absentmindedly mimicked her. “You talk like you’ve heard all our meetings and read all the messages.”

A smirk rose to Dewdrops face. “Maybe I have.” She raised a wing in a shrug.

“You wouldn’t spy on a queen!” Sunny hushed her voice, but Dewdrop’s grin reminded her of who she was talking to.

“I always have. I gave Scarlet anxiety, I’m pretty sure. Even popped in to see Ruby last week. She’s doing very well for herself, despite not fixing the broken sky-door.”

Sunny tried not to pull a face. “You really do know everything.”

Dewdrop hummed. “Not really. Just about every dragon worth knowing. Can’t say I know everything, though. So many mysteries fill Pyrrhia.”

“Such as?”

Dewdrop swayed her head again. “Like if you’ll join me for a dance, Princess Sunny?” she offered a slim webbed talon to Sunny.

Sunny found themself frozen, face heating up. She knew if she was a RainWing she’d be completely pink, like Jambu. They looked away, flustered, heart picking up a pace. She put down the plate, talons feeling ready to fail. Did she just ask that? This cool, elite, expert spy just ask her for a dance?

Dewdrop slowly lowered her talon, but Sunny placed hers in Dewdrop’s before it got too far. “I’d love to.” They smiled, cheeks burning and scales tingling in excitement.

Yellow splashes rose to Dewdrop’s cheek, forehead and jaw. “Great.” As her talon wrapped around Sunny’s, the highly anticipated singer appeared on stage. A MudWing-SkyWing hybrid rose to the stage, brown scales shining in the warm light as the band behind him started a thumping, steady rhythm.

Dewdrop brought Sunny to an open spot by the stage as the crowd stilled and watched the stage come to life.

“I would shun the light…”

Sunny, despite their notability among the dragons of Pyrrhia, had never actually had such eyes on them before, even having held the Eye of Onyx and given it to their mother. She had never been in such an enclosed space, watched by so many.

She looked at Dewdrop, whose gaze was set on her with softness as she moved around the dance floor with her, the singer accompanying them as the performers danced beside them. It was all so mesmerizing. The lights, Dewdrop’s gaze and dance, the music, the faces watching them, the dancers on stage… Dewdrop.

Sunny’s heart thumped faster. They hadn’t even noticed that they were dancing with Dewdrop, faces close, talons dodging each other.

Dewdrop’s scales changed in waves of pink and yellow with the music. “You’re quite the dancer, Princess Sunny.” She smiled, blue eyes catching the pink light.

Sunny copied Dewdrop as she curved her body in a loose spiral, faces at the centre and bodies curved out. “Oh, stop with that!” they giggled softly in embarrassment. “You’ve known me since before I was a princess! Sunny is fine. Perfect actually.”

A smirk formed on Dewdrop’s face. “What about Sunlight?”

The word echoed behind her, the singer repeating it twice in a sweet harmony.

Sunny nodded after a moment. “Sure.”

“And Sunflower?”

“It’s pretty.”

“Sunshine?”

That one took Sunny by surprise. That clearly held more value than the song name and sunflower. Sunshine was vital to a RainWing’s life. “I-If you like?” they stammered.

Dewdrop's face was unreadable as a light came from behind her, hiding her expression. “I think it suits you,” she said after a moment.

*~*~*~*

The weather at Jade Mountain was always breezy. Rain, hail or shine, there was a wind to accompany it.

Sunny liked it, especially because of the bamboo wind chimes. Dewdrop had brought them as an “office-warming” gift a few weeks prior. The hollow thudding was comforting throughout the day, as she worked and planned and ate. Even Clay and Stonemover had complimented them when they came to talk to her.

She hoped Dewdrop knew how much they liked them.

Sunny would often spend her evening watching them, listing to their song as she put seeds out for the birds—another thing Dewdrop had given her. They weren’t a sloth or Scavenger, but they were nice. Maybe one day they’d be comfortable in her presence.

“Is the view nice, Sunshine?”

Sunny lifted their head, seeing Dewdrop by the entrance of her office, holding a steaming terracotta cup. She couldn’t help but smile. “Dewie!”

She had taken on a more permanent colour since they’d started talking at the party. Dewdrop had adopted a pink body and orange back and shoulder scales. The belly was a pale pink and her ruff and fins a pastel orange. Her SeaWing markings were never the same. Some days they were blue like her father’s, other days were white. This time, she was trying an orange to match her scales. When they’d first met, Dewdrop seemed to be a SkyWing, her frill and fins carefully hidden and pinned down, or she blended in with the forest, looking like a gathering of leaves.

Sunny liked it.

Dewdrop stepped closer using her wings as front talons, moving her gaze to the window. “You have some friends. The SkyWings will be jealous, you’re outdoing their bird care.”

Sunny laughed; eyes fixed on Dewdrop. “Oh hardly. I’m just an amateur.”

Dewdrop settled beside her and offered Sunny the warm terracotta cup. As soon as it was cradled in her talons, Sunny was wrapped in the scent of cinnamon. It reminded them of their mother. “How’d I do?”

Sunny smiled. “Excellent. You’ve perfected the recipe.” She took a first sip, the milk warming her soul and scales, the spice easing her thoughts. Her wings drooped and her neck eased.

She thought she saw yellow blotch on Dewdrop’s muzzle, but when she turned to face her, there was nothing. “How’s the academy coming along?”

Sunny sighed; their head leaned on Dewdrop’s neck. It was shorter than a typical RainWing’s but so strong. “Stressful. I’m worried about who we are inviting to the school. A last-minute request came in from a SandWing. No one knows anything about her, though.” She sipped her milk. “Tsunami is uninterested. She’s just delighted Anemone is coming. And Clay is fixed on everyone being comfortable.”

Dewdrop let them talk, and after a moment, she hummed. “Maybe I can find out about her. What has you so concerned?”

“She’s so…” Sunny tried to find the best—nicest word to explain, “old. She’s over twice my age. Close to Mother’s, actually. She’s really pushing too. I don’t want to refuse just because of age. Anemone is only two after all.” She lifted her head to look at Dewdrop, only now realising what she’d done. Heat rushed to her face. Where her head had rested was a yellow patch of scale that was now fading.

Dewdrop wavered her head. “I’ll look into it for you. Most of your students are younger than you. Why would she want to be here? I’ll find her. Tell me her name and anything you have on her.”

Sunny reached for their desk, giving their cup to Dewdrop and grabbing the list of names and a form from the drawer. “This is her. Her form even… lacks enthusiasm. Especially when compared to the others.” She gave the paper to Dewdrop, and she exchanged them for the cup.

Dewdrop read through everything. “Not a good actress,” she said after a few moments.

Sunny tilted their head, stepping closer. “You think she’s acting?”

She nodded, looking at Sunny. “Oh absolutely. She wants something. I’ll look in to her. No charge.”

Sunny sipped her milk, Dewdrop’s tail touching hers. “That’s good. I have nothing to offer.”

Dewdrop tilted her head. “Not even a date, Sunshine?”

Sunny faltered. “What kind?” Did she even have time for that? The school was nowhere near ready, and she was in charge of the papers!

She shrugged. “Picnic at the Winding Tail River? I’ll provide the food. Tomorrow at noon?”

Sunny barely considered it before nodding. “Only if you stay birdwatching with me.”

“We have a deal, Sunshine.” She wrapped a wing under Sunny’s to pull her close. Sunny leaned on her again, her own wing wrapping around Dewdrop, yellow spreading over her body with pink lingering on her chest.

[gu6chan]

hi just curious, what’s the backstory behind 0723 being leonard day? for our special boi

YESSSS OKAY SO

this has mostly been a jpn fandom thing but among the VERY small percentage of Leonard fans in the west it's somewhat picked up here too!!! So regarding the obvious, July 23rd (0723), and sometimes (albeit very rarely) July 21st is largely regarded as "Leonard day" by Japanese fans of Drakengard. I can't really say WHERE or WHEN it could have originated (I see it mostly on Pixiv and Twitter, but perhaps it could have been 2Chan? For reasons you'll see eventually), but I CAN say the why!!!

It stems from Leonard's nickname in the Japanese fanbase, "Onaniisan" (オナ兄さん), which you may or may not see just shortened to "Ona". This is a combination of the words "Onani" (オナニ), which is slang for "Jacking off", and as you might guess, "Oniisan" (お兄さん) for "Older brother". The reason for this nickname should be obvious enough, but as for the origin, I'm fairly sure it originated around 2Chan in the mid-2000's following the release and subsequent popularity (DOD was a surprising success in Japan at the time, though it was quickly forgotten after the silence post-DOD2 and is considered much more a cult classic now) of the game?

GOING OFF THIS, you have the date - 0723. This is because "Onaniisan" can be vaguely correlated to those numbers in Japanese!

0 - O (Either coming from the similarity of writing or the "O" sound from "0"(ゼロ))

7 - Na (Coming from "Nana" (七) for 7)

2 - Nii (Coming from "Ni"(二) for 2)

3 - San (Coming from "San"(三) for 3)

A small handful of people just forgo the honorific "San" and choose to celebrate "0721", which the "1" being from the elongated "Nii" (Coming from "Ichi" for 1) instead, though!

Happy 0723 day!!! 🌲🌲

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector’s Edition:  Time Travel, Time Loops, and Just Wrong Timing

Time travel and loops were explored sparingly in the X Files universe; but what is a fandom without a handy dandy dump truck filled with more AUs to add to the fic landfill? These are just the few that passed my litmus test, either by earned merit or because there was at least something in them that was worth reading. Which ones are which is up to you, though I recommend ChaneenW’s, FridayAt9′s, somanycandle’s, Jo-Ann Lassiter’s, Donna’s, and Lolabeegood’s works (maybe because they have the happiest outlooks by the end.)  

(**Edited: included @anders-hawke’s Nine Minutes? short**)

Loose chronological order below~

Here we go! 

Timeline (mostly) Intact 

vessel (saved at orphan_account on Ao3)

““The scientific explanation for all this is overwhelmingly simple: salt blocks hydration, dehydration rots the cells composing the human body. In spite of this, I am struck once again with the improbability that the laws of nature would mutate to allow such a phenomenon, to make a human being age fifty years in a matter of hours.””

Dod Kalm old Scully waits for death, pondering science and impending death. 

Sheryl Nantus/Sheryl Martin’s (FFN) Nine Minutes

““It was a long time, when you sat and timed it. 

Watching the digital figures spin up through the cycle; headed for the top figure of 9:00. Or 540 seconds. Or whatever you measured it by. 

It was still nine minutes. Nine minutes that she could never have back again.””

Cancer Arc Scully has lived her life in her own self-imposed time loop: continually obsessing over the 9 minutes she lost in the Pilot, trying vainly to regain them back by resetting her watch every few minutes. 

It’s not quite a time loop; but Scully is locked mentally in one, so it counts. 

((BONUS! Works well with-- 

@lyndsaybones’s (Ao3) Incremental 

““The watch fit her perfectly when she got it. He remembers thinking that it seemed child sized then. Do they make Omega watches for kids?

But the weight started sloughing off of her like autumn leaves and he started to feel more fear than hope. The watch starts telling more than time.””

Mulder observes the measure of Scully’s decay with her expensive new watch.))

ChaneenW’s

The Birds and the Bees 

““We’re in this together,” he insisted, turning to look at her face.

“We’re in this together,” she repeated, squeezing her arms more tightly around him.

“We just need to find a way to remind ourselves,” he said, starting to slur a little as his face froze. “Some small thing that we do or say could change the whole sequence of events and maybe knock ourselves out of the loop before it gets this far.””

FTF albatrosses of Antarctica keep resetting Mulder and Scully’s journey from the hallway and escape from the alien spaceship (with varying results) until those two right the wrongs the bee made. It quickly devolves from any possible angst into humor and heart while getting subtly funnier the longer the loop goes. 

Twice Upon a Time

““The more time he spent here, though, the more it became uncomfortably clear that Eddie hadn’t been wrong about him. He had been a loser back then: too focused on searching for the big answers to see what was right in front of him. And although he’d been immediately attracted to Scully when they first met, had instantly respected her knowledge and expertise, and had come to quickly trust her with his life, he had to acknowledge that it had taken him longer than it should have to realize how much he loved her.””

S9 Mulder wakes in his old apartment, confused to learn he has traveled back to the Eddie van Blundht case. At first he has fun breezily solving it and looking anew at his life; but soon S4 Scully notices how differently he’s acting as the glitz and glamor of time-travel fades and homesickness sets in. 

@fridaysat9​′s (Ao3) A Second’s Fraction 

““Why, and more importantly, how, was she standing in her apartment? She had just been in the hospital with injuries and broken bones. She had been talking to Mulder, wishing for pain meds and sleep.

She lifted her arm, surprised to find that it was no longer in a sling. She moved to touch her face, which was completely free of injuries. She patted her hands down the front of her clothes, realizing she was wearing the shirt she had put on that morning. It was clean, and free of spilled coffee.””

Post Drive-- Scully is reset from a horrific car accident, having to live the same day over and over. She, by turns: deals with it alone, tries breaking routine, tries following Diana, tries reaching out to Mulder... all for them to fail. Soon, she is losing hope. 

This is engaging, and never gets old. 

Jo-Ann Lassiter’s Many Happy Returns

““Why are you making me come here?" 

It sounded so like a mortally-wounded Mulder that any fear she may have harbored toward the--whatever it was--evaporated. She stepped from behind Mulder, closer to the doppleganger. "I'm sorry. It was an accident. But where did you come *from?* And what are you?" 

The doppleganger gave a bitter laugh. "I'm him," it said, pointing at Mulder, "five years ago. When you died in that operating room in Alaska," it addressed her partner.””

S6/7 Scully accidentally summons an alternate universe Mulder, who is distraught to be brought back from the dead. Normal-Mulder is fascinated, then empathetic at his alternate’s pleas and answers to their questions. Both fix the problem in between comedic quips, heart-string tugs, and ~romance~.  

Donna’s One More Time  

““She was burned, he'd heard them, they didn't know why she was still alive.  90% of her body, her hair was gone and her skin was blackened or raw.  She was unconscious, thank goodness.  What would the pain have been . . . he didn't finish that thought.  They were talking about amputating her fingers to cut down on infection.  They'd already said if she lived, if, that they would have to look for donor skin because she didn't have enough left to graft.  He'd heard them; they were using cadaver skin on her now.””

S6/7 Mulder is shot back in time to save Scully from being burned alive by an arsonist... only for all his efforts to almost be in vain. Also, ~romance~. 

@somanycandles/FootlessData507’s The Disappearance of Bruce Speta 

““A very Mulder-type explanation was beginning to hatch in her brain. “No,” she murmured to herself. “That’s not possible.” She shook her head, as if that would shake the theory away. But it wouldn’t go away. What if they were both the real Mulder? What if everything that everyone had told her was true?””

S6/7 Mulder and Scully place bets on finding out the cause of Tena’s friend’s problem: he suspects it’s the ghost of her missing husband while Scully thinks it’s a hoax. She, however, finds it’s all too real when she is shot into a mirror universe, where she needs the help of the “ghost” husband and her alternate self to get home. 

Wonderfully fun, insightful, and leads to ~romance~.  

Lolabeegood’s Five Months Lost (Gossamer) 

““Sir, I need you to come over to my apartment right away.   Mulder was here when I woke up." 

"He was what?!" Skinner yelled. 

"He's here, right now and...and he thinks he has been all along," she whispered as she looked toward the washroom.””

S8 Scully is shocked to find Mulder in her bed with false memories of the past five months. Skinner and TLG back her up to an increasingly terrified Mulder. 

Such an underrated canon-divergent from S8-- so well-written, and it has the whole gang in character. 

Gillian Leigh’s Visitor in the Desert 

“Perplexed, Mulder opened his palm and lifted the dog tags out of his hand and examined them. He reached up behind him and turned on a light. The writing on the tags said,

Civilian Number: 11211013

Name: Rhiannon Mulder

DOB: December 22, 2002

His eyes widened. She was... his daughter?”” 

S9 Mulder is visited in the desert by his future daughter, who sends warnings from a bleak future. He high-tails it back to Scully, stops the adoption, and drags her, their family, and friends to an underground civilization built in advance of Colonization. Bill, Charlie, and Samantha already live there; and it’s a bit slice-of-lifey until Mulder decides to go on a vengeance mission that his future daughter has to come back, again, and warn him about.  

prufrock’s love/plenilune’s (Ao3, Gossamer, WBM, colonizationhq)  

Belphegor’s Prime (Ao3) 

““Oh.” She seemed to wear the holster to appease him rather than herself, and she gave no sign she intended to return inside to call anyone. “Did you disable my car?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “That’s my thing. I leave my kids and drive 90 minutes, claiming I’m trying to solve a crime but really to chauffeur you around for the next few hours. Also, I’m from the future.””

Post IWTB-Colonization Scully is gone. Mulder time-travels to med student Scully, using his intelligence, desperation, and dedication to try to get her to answer the only clue Scully left. The answer eludes them both; and they spend the rest of his vanishing evening looking at pics of their kids, the future world, and healing each other’s wounds. As time begins to refigure and resettle, Mulder realizes where Scully is, and rushes on diminishing time to get her back. 

I have heard this recced forever and ever, Amen; but finally got around to it while blitzing through prufrock’s fics. I think this is the only one of hers that gripped me, kept me engaged, and satisfied me by the end. Prufrock’s love writes stunning levels of intelligence with such seeming ease that it boggle the mind, and is even more impressive because it’s based in such meticulous care and research in every word she chose that it almost exhausts with its depth. This is absolutely a must- read (except for the part where med student Scully cheats on her bf with future Mulder, even if she will forget those actions. But that’s easily skipped and ignored.)  

@lotsoforangesoutside’s Unnamed and Its Sequel 

““Now, you two knuckleheads,” Bill turns toward the couple, “don’t tell me what Andy said has never crossed your mind. Will doesn’t look 15 and I bet a medical doctor and an Oxford graduate can come up with better cover stories than what you two have cooked up for us. I think you guys should run the new version by me before Dinner, yeah?”

The couple looks at each other as if they were in an episode of the Twilight Zone. Bill gives a light chuckle and shakes his head as he moseys his way out of the living room.”” 

Post IWTB-- Mulder and Scully have acquired a mysterious Jr. in addition to their younger son, William. Bill, for once, covers for them with timelines to other family members. The truth? Fox Jr. is William from the future, who traveled back, found his past self, and brought them both to their parents’ house. 

Itero (formerly Humphreywrites’s fic) 

““It is a remarkably small price to pay for a life that is full. A life that is so much happier than her lonely one with nothing but an empty apartment and lonely weekends. She was okay with that, but she hadn’t known what she was missing. She hadn’t known how dead she felt until every morning she woke up alive.””

FTF Scully wakes in a hospital in an alternate universe, the mother of three kids and happily married to Mulder. She quickly finds her footing, bonding with the kids and finding her new normal amidst failing grades, baby tears, and teenage angst. She wakes in a new timeline: 1993. And decides not to waste time. 

It’s more Scully-contemplation than slice-of-life; and its maturity in tone sings. 

allthistime’s i think i know you from somewhere 

““So, when are you from? Tell me about the future!” Mulder said enthusiastically, practically bouncing up and down. Of course he’d barely be phased by a 54-year-old Scully waltzing into his office one Monday morning in 1993.

“Oh, I don’t think I should do that, Mulder. I do believe this is a dream or hallucination, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

He looked dejected for a moment before lighting up again.””

Revival Scully and ‘93 Scully swap places momentarily. Both Mulders are intrigued; and all parties have fun sharing POVs and fishing for details. 

mrsagentspooky/agcntspooky‘s (also on dubitavero) 

““Keeping his thoughts to himself and trying hard not to stare at the man who would have been - had been? would be? - his father, William nodded. 

“I need to talk to you about an X-file, and… can you tell me the date?” 

Although the last bit was told in a more sheepish tone (after all, who barges in in the middle of the night and asks for the date?), the whole sentence was scripted. Get his attention by mentioning the X-files straight away. Know where you stand by asking the date. He and Dana had been over it an thousand times.””

Time travel from Will’s POV. Will drops in on Mulder, asking for the date and camping out. Mulder is shocked and calls Scully over, who skeptically listens to Will’s explanation: Future Scully built a time machine to send him back for FBI files to prevent the destruction of the future. 

These are EXCELLENTLY written in roleplay-format between two authors: they use little words to say a lot. Also, I love soaking in the atmosphere of this fic. 

These stories are a bit scattered, so I’ll just leave the links below in order(?): 

1    2   3   4   5

6   7   8   9   10

11   12   13   14   15 

@ellivia’s Unnamed 

““Whenever Mulder and Scully are in different time zones, he only refers to her as Past Scully or Future Scully.

“Oh that is so you. That is so Past Scully.””

IWTB-Revival Mulder likes to tease past-present-future Scully when she’s away on conferences. She finally kills him with sweetness overload.

This doesn’t exactly fit in the above criteria, but time-zones count... right?

Non-specific timeline AUs 

@anders-hawke/@iwtbscully‘s Nine Minutes? 

““He shook his head and let Scully buckle herself in as he shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. “Scully, do you remember anything from those nine minutes? Anything real?”

Her giddy smile slipped from her face and she looked away from him into the unlit stretch of road ahead of them, marred only by Mulder’s X in the distance. “No. But I can prove to you that what I’m saying is true. The person who’s taking those people is Billy Miles. I saw a whole life in those nine minutes, Mulder. I lived a whole life. I made decisions and had thoughts and—and fell in love, had children… People died, too. People that I want to save. People that I have to save, knowing what I know.””

Revival Scully wakes from her death... to find herself losing nine minutes in the Pilot. She immediately gives Mulder the rundown, and watches as he processes all emotions at her revelations. 

Julie Fortune’s The Ghost of You

““Mulder." Scully gloved up and reached out to take hold of the woman’s hand, lifting it by the thumb.

Hands did not move that way. Not like – empty sacks, the fingers bending like rubber, no stiffness to it at all.

Boneless. Scully lifted higher. The arm followed the hand, a piece of dead spaghetti.””

Mulder and Scully are unwittingly caught in a time loop: autopsying Future Scully’s pulverized body, zipping around to random moments in that day, and resetting the day completely. Some timelines are more successful than others, but all lead to their mutual abduction and her fatal fall. 

I found this one courtesy of @mondfuchs-- so thank you! 

Hestia01′s (Ao3) Time Lag 

““It’s fine, what could happen?”

“I have a bad feeling about this, I don’t think you should.”

Scully wrests herself from her partner. “I just want a better look. It’s probably nothing.” She cleans her hands with a moist towelette, reaches in and picks up the stone.””

A magical museum stone shoots Scully into continual lifetimes-- forcing her to live them fully, die, and reset. When Mulder finally gets her back to the original, she has become depressed and suicidal. 

Kristy Anderson’s The Fate of Time (2/2) 

““When I woke up last night, all I could remember was our lives together on the X-Files, and I started aching for what I knew was lost from that. The companionship, the hard earned and well tested trust, the love built upon mutual respect and shared heartache. I ended up sitting down on the corner of 42nd and Broadway, just crying and missing us until the sun started rising. As the first rays of light began to shine, to bring life to the streets again, I finally allowed myself to remember the past three, almost four years together. It was as if the beginning of the new day was my new beginning. 

"That's when I realized that if I gave this up, what we have now, I would miss this us even more.””

Mulder and Scully are sent to a reset timeline and live the ups and downs of kidnappings, promotions, opening their own X-Files division, and having Will earlier. It all crumbles when Scully dies from cancer, and they are sent back to their normal lives once again. 

Rachel Anton’s Eleventh Hour

““I knew I had let her down. Again. And I vowed to make it up to her. Someday, somehow. One day I would have enough courage to let this thing happen, to let her give herself to me. One day I would have enough faith in myself, be a good enough person to trust myself with her.

I didn't even sense that something was wrong. I didn't even know.””

Mulder tracks down and brutally murders Scully’s killer. Due to insanity, he is placed in a mental hospital where a fellow patient asks him to volunteer as lab rat in a time-travel experiment. He’s shot back to the 80s and begins to track Scully down. ~Romance~ blooms somewhere down the line. 

Gotta be honest, I DNF-ed this after Mulder agrees to the experiment; but will probably finish it later. 

Honorable Mention: The Boy on the Beach by @cecilysass’s (Ao3, Gossamer). (I included her in one of the Mulder family compilations, so it felt like cheating to include her here, too.) 

Enjoy! 

[blindedguilt]

About Leonard’s 1.3/Modern Verse

 Right I added them to my About like two, three days ago but like,,, it was nearing 3 AM and I forgot about them 😭😭😭 

Modern AU is neat stuff but I REALLY wanna talk about 1.3 because 

OOH HOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOO!!!!!!!! >:} 

NOTE: 

From here on out, if you want to interact with a certain verse, just put in parentheses or something before the ask.

(Modern) “(ask bullshit goes here)”

(1.3) “(ask bullshit goes here)”

So like,,, more under the cut.

Modern Verse:

A heavily depressed car mechanic estranged from his family. Wants more out of life. Has a mug collection and a fondness for the smaller things in life.

this guy,,,, is just chilling. Expect smaller, more bitterly humoured interactions with him. His roommates are interesting sorts of characters and this guy is the one person who even seems to remotely give a shit about any of it; as such he is perpetually tired and only seems to be paying attention half the time. please wish him good luck 

SO ABOUT 1.3./What it is, for those who don’t know

A lot of my mutuals DO know about it but just in case I mean,,, from the looks of it, 1.3 is one of those things that depending on what side of the fandom you’re on, everyone or no one know about it. a lot of newer fans (particularly those who arrived from Nier) are pretty clueless about 1.3, despite it literally being it’s own canon universe like any other DOD/Nier game…

The biggest difference is is that it’s a novel instead of a game??? Or like a series of novellas basically which is like “hey what if DOD3 was canon to DOD1, or more specifically it’s Ending A was” And it’s just,,, this whole look at what comes from that focusing on the cast of DOD1 characters (AND SOME NEW ONES TOO!!! omg there are new, forbidden dod protags ❤️) in this world where things like pact systems and the goddess seals don’t,,,, really exist. Sure, you can make partners which funky little fantasy beings, namely dragons (Spoiler: there are a lot in 1.3), but uhhhhh it’s kinda like human partnerships (used in a general, non-romantic sense here but… *cough*) where like,,, whether it’s out of necessity, shared interests or just bc the dragon thinks they’re cool they’ll just,,, tag along being like “okay i’ll help you”. sometimes they just chill out together.  But their souls certainly ain’t bound together, they don’t feel each other’s pain and you’re gonna get some FREAKY ass instances like Verdelet with hair, Leonard seeing (and having green eyes, for whatever reason…?) and, god forbid, Caim speaking. He’s actually quite the eloquent little lad 😍😳😍   Unfortunately, 1.3 DOES follow the events of the slightly better-known Shi Ni Ataru Aka manga in a fuckin,,,,,  DOD3 Ending A -> 🤢we dont talk about this one :( -> ❤️‍🔥💕✨DOD 1.3❤️💘💗  hope that makes sense. Anyways it’s a groovy little thing that’s pretty neat.  It was released in like 2014 but is just now getting a translation from yours truly, at the time I post this I have like three stories left to do but till then: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EQgIx0uv6MMsXClKgdZdgwLze8urV12P?  enjoy.

So, little ones... ABOUT LEONARD’S 1.3 VERSE.

yeah, we’re getting into some ~shit~So uh, where to start. Here’s the description from the Wiki:

Fights to protect a small village - He teams up with a green dragon to protect a small frontier village.  In order to help heal the hearts of the villagers, he gathers and directs an all-boys choir.  There appeared to be some record of him being involved with the Union. 

And here’s what you’ll find on my blog:

The priest and leader to a small refuge village for those who had lost their lives and/or families to the Union. Directs an all-boys choir to give hope to it’s citizens, and is partnered with an elderly green dragon.

It also comes with a very very very clear warning that I want to share here as well:

Leonard in 1.3, like his DOD1 counterpart, is also a paedophile. Unfortunately he is strongly implied to be acting on this in the 1.3 universe. I plan not to bring it up unnecessarily and shall be especially fragile with his characterisation in this verse. Please keep this in mind when roleplaying with him.

What happens within Leonard (And Arioch’s) story - Context about the verse if you want to skip the reading 

Arioch and Leonard’s story is A_4010: The Truly Diseased. I can understand why one might want to skip this one though, while my personal favourite their story ESPECIALLY isn’t for the faint of heart. Read:

While I would HIGHLY recommend it, it’s not for everyone, and I can’t even pressure them to read it if they’re not at least decently confident they can handle the topics presented in this story. So here’s a summary: The Truly Diseased (TTD) follows a nameless half-elf girl (I have given her a fan-name of Agares, however, which if she’s ever mentioned, I’ll probably use lmao) who’s father and village was destroyed by Union dragon hunters for not informing them of a woman who had stayed overnight with a silver dragon. She, her pregnant mother, and two young little brothers manage to escape in search of the fabled “Village of the Green Dragon”, having heard stories from merchants of a small village where they would be able to take refuge from the war. Which, in Midgard, is a big fuckin deal. Eventually they do end up finding this village and it’s leader/priest, Leonard, who welcomes them in and helps in taking care of her mother alongside her — The half-elf girl/Agares begins to fall in love(…? Lust over?) with Leonard for his gentle and caring personality (and his beefy bilf bod), yet even she acknowledges that it’s a pretty one-sided affair with little chance of ever happening. Not that it stops her tho 😭 So things go pretty groovy for the most part until it doesn’t One fine day (evening?) protag’s youngest brother comes up like “hey I got in the choir and my piece of shit older brother did NOT”  And she’s like “….. wow.” “Its bc i can get my balls cut off easier” “that’s mildly concerning but okay” so anyways they all go to the performance thing and the protagonist has some ~unresolved jealousy~ about the attention Leonard’s giving her younger brothers like girl chill. Not like he’s more interested in them than he is you…. right? :’) So like,,, he’s like “this is a new part of the choir blah blah blah” and then the kid gets fucking shot in the stomach lol as it may happen, a little guy ratted out the village to the Union, now they’re killing everyone since,,,, it’s like, a village literally made to stand against the Union did I mention that lmao. This is mildly inconvenient for our heroine, who proceeds to leave her pREGNANT MOTHER AND TELLS HER OTHER STILL-VERY-YOUNG BROTHER TO TAKE CARE OF HER SO SHE, THE FUCKING HOMEWRECKER, CAN GO HELP LEONARD WHO’S GOING BERSERKER MODE ON FUCKIN EVERYONE BECAUSE THEY KILLED A KID. yeah he also got shot by the same arrow too but as it turns out people in 1.3 need to be strapped down and beaten to death with a radioactive brick to feel anything (look at Furiae) The green dragon, very elderly and hardly capable of even moving, extends it wings to cover the villagers and keep them safe from the Union. Did I mention our protagonist ends up not helping like she wanted? Like…… what was the point of that :/  Arioch pokes in lmao While it’s never explained in the story itself, it seems that Arioch and Leonard were pretty acquainted with each other. My guess is that she also came to the village and probably started to try some cannibalism shit before Leonard was like “:( not cool man” and drove her out. It’s funny because the way the novella puts it is like they got a divorce or had a fucking break up or some shit like “What happened between them?” The fuck if I know check their Instagram story or smth idk  Anyways. She,,,, she offers to help fight off the Union with a very injured Leonard who’s fine why ask,,, BUT. She wants payment. Can you guess what?

Leonard hates the idea but agrees and they fight together, wrecks everyone’s shit and then BOOM, YELLOW DRAGON OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE . heroine realizes that those dragon hunters that destroyed her old village were looking for a crazed yellow dragon and the woman following it. … welp. 😳 oh yeah and her younger brother #2 is dead now (what did she fucking expect?) and her mother’s in labour. Great timing! This’ll be a story to tell the little tike when they grow up. None of that matters anyways since said yellow dragon ripped the fucking WINGS off the green dragon, is eating it alive, and arioch has both her and her dead younger brother #1 held at gunpoint. leonard is there too

“so what’s it gonna be kid, huh? huh?”

Diversity win! 💝❤️💗✨💓😍😍😍😍 that was the biggest fuck you rejection I’ve ever seen in media tbh. the virgin caim headshake vs the chad leonard cannibal-abandonment treatment  imagine falling in love with a guy and he chooses your like,,,, 7 year old brother’s corpse over your own life. Feelsbadman 😔😔😔  i could stop since that’s the end of it for Lenny but I’m not going to Anyways Arioch kills Leonard, and is cut off from her ramblings about what a stupid piece of shit he is by noticing the protagonists mother giving birth ohoh boy Arioch forcibly births the child herself and is stopped from eating the newborn baby by the protagonist, who had just,,, kinda been sitting in shock seeing all this go down. Can I blame her? Having finally snapped, she takes Arioch’s own sword and FUCKING HACKS HER TO BITS WITH IT LIKE OMGGGGGGG and like,,,, you won’t believe what happens next.  Caim and Angelus show up, Angelus starts killing the yellow dragon that was eating the green dragon, and our girl is just kinda “:l” right now. she gouges her eyes out. The end!  There’s also Legna. so….. thats their story in a nutshell, I presume. 1.3 verse, babey! I can’t wait. developing Leonard’s history with the Union, the green dragon and the village, whatever the fuck went on with him and Arioch…. They’re questions that I’d love to expand on in this verse! Having him seeing (with GREEN eyes!) and like,,, not being depressed anymore is going to be something so new and also like- Uncomfortable :/ but that’s the funnest stuff to write for that reason lmao I can’t wait to start!! ❤️

[lifeaftermeteor]

So You Want to Build a Preventers Organization...

@kirinjaegeste​ asked about this in the GW Discord Channel and I thought it would maybe be useful for other Gundam Wing writers too.  Keep in mind that nothing—and I mean nothing—is universal, and because canon material is so amorphous there's really no wrong way to do this.  But this is how I did it, and figured I'd share.

Also, although this particular write-up is Gundam Wing specific, the things addressed here I think would help anyone who's looking to build an organization from the ground-up for their story.

What is the Charter?

First thing to ask yourself is what is this organization supposed to do because that will guide the size, the missions, the "concept of operations" (i.e. how it all works together), and any conflict that stems from these aspects down the line in your story. 

If the Preventers in your story is primarily a peacekeeping operation, forward-deployed into high-risk countries (or orbital colonies) that need a non-partisan, unbiased presence, that is one kind of charter.  If it's an elite entity that operates outside the bounds of standard legal, political, or military operations and is meant to suppress or defuse crises before they arise, that's a very different charter.  Are they glorified bodyguards for the ESUN political elite?  Different charter.  Are they a liaison entity, bridging the judicial gaps between Earth and space?  Yet another charter. 

So to reiterate: Step #1 = what is it supposed to do?

And now add the finer details...

How many people are in its ranks?  Managing an elite force of ~30 people is very different from a multi-million person enterprise with global operations.  For LAM, I gave the Preventers an expanded charter—after the Barton Insurrection—to include a multi-faceted operational responsibility: liaison, advisory, peacekeeping, intel, crisis-prevention and mitigation.  I thus took a page out of the DoD's book and gave it a couple million people to manage (DoD at present, if you include service members, reservists, and civilians, is at about 2.8 million people…more if you add in contractors).  That leads you to the next question...

What is the structure of the organization?  Again, depending on the size of the organization, how you herd cats differs.  Some options to consider: 

Hub-n-Spokes Model: There is a strong centralized presence with smaller field offices/teams spread out across different regions.  Although the field offices retain autonomy, the hub serves as the primary authority and connects the various operations to ensure coordination.

Diffuse (Mission-Oriented): There are multiple offices, all of which are separate entities responsible for certain missions or duties - e.g., you have one office stationed in New York that is responsible for XX mission, another in Brussels that handles YY mission.  There is likely an "HQ" or "Office of the Director," but they are focused more on administrative or overarching support/coordination and the individual, geographical, mission-focused offices themselves retain a lot of independent authority to do their jobs with minimal coordination with and oversight from a centralized entity.

De-centralized: No "HQ" for all intents and purposes.  Leadership sets broad mission, vision, and goal, but personnel have authority to act on their own accord with little-to-no oversight or direction.  Think about how terrorist cells are constructed—you get rid of the leadership, the entity keeps on truckin'.  The cells are likewise disconnected from one another, so if you take one out, there are others that will continue the mission unimpeded.

HQ + Branch Offices (not mission-oriented): The model used for LAM, Headquarters is the arm and the power and the authority; the branch offices are mini-HQs with multi-functional teams that serve as liaisons and first line of defense for regionally focused Preventers work.  Think of it in terms of diplomacy: if the Preventers HQ is the equivalent of the State Department (or Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.), then the Branch Offices are the Embassies and Consulates.  This provides some autonomy for day-to-day operations, but the staff at the Branches constantly go back and forth with regional or functional teams at HQ and derive their mandate (i.e. their authority to do something) from HQ itself.

Clandestine or Not?  Another element to consider is whether or not the general populace knows about the Preventers.  Are they a shadowy, super secret organization staffed entirely by ghosts?  Or are they a household name?  Or are they somewhere in between—known of but not necessarily understood.  I've seen all of these manifest in the fandom at various points and it really depends on what role you need them to play in your story.  If you need Duo to go and off someone in a situation that Une can disavow all knowledge if things go sideways on him, that's one kind of entity.  Alternatively, if—like in LAM—you need them to serve as a bridge between Earth and the colonies, a voice for former combatants, and a symbol of the future (i.e., "drop your past affiliations so we can protect the peace together"), then that's a different kind of organization entirely.

What support do they need and how do they get it?  Now that you've figured out the mission, the size, and the structure, what are the operational requirements for the Preventers to do their job?  No one works in a vacuum, so based on their job duties, who supports them?  Lethal or non-lethal?  Private industry involved or in-house only?  Black market and black budgets?  Or are all acquisitions recorded on triplicate?  Do agents get a stipend to do with as they please in order to get the mission done, or are supplies provided by a central authority?  Do they work with local authorities and law enforcement or do they operate under the radar?

Who's in charge and what does their job entail?  Information relay and duty tasking are important parts of any organization, big and small, but what that looks like is influenced by the questions you've answered above.  For the AC universe, it's generally accepted that Lady Une becomes the Preventers Director at some point during AC 196.  But what does that role entail?  Does she personally task actions to lower ranks or has she delegated that authority down to Deputy Directors and Deputy Assistant Directors and so on?  What are the limits of her authority?  Does she have to report to anyone?  That brings us to the next question to ask yourself...

Who retains oversight of the organization? Or more bluntly, who goes to jail when shit gets fucked up?  Constraints on power and influence are part of life—whether you're talking about governments, non-profits, militaries, businesses, etc.  There are rules and regulations that dictate how institutions can and should act.  There are checks and balances, both within and external to an organization.  Based on the world you're constructing, who is checking the Preventers' homework? In LAM!verse, I opted to create an Oversight Committee within the ESUN specifically to retain ESUN visibility into Preventers operations.  This committee has Preventers leadership brief them on things that matter to them or that impact their constituencies, provide reports on everything from budget numbers to personnel (including past affiliations) to acquisition needs for operational support.  They also retain the right to remove the Preventers Director through a vote of no-confidence.  So while the Director is all-important within the Preventers itself, they are still beholden to the ESUN through the Committee.

Relationship with Other Entities?  Regardless of the question of "oversight" above, there is this separate question of, "Who does the organization interact with and what does that look like?"  Depending on the role, missions, size, structure, and function of the Preventers in your story, their relationship to other national or international organizations could change.  We know from Endless Waltz that (1) the President was an elected official and knew about the Preventers, and (2) the President or the ESUN was funding them.  Obviously this sets some expectations on all sides.  Is there tension inherent in interactions due to structural or institutional characteristics?  Are there "champions" of the Preventers outside of the organization that support what they're trying to do?  Are there naysayers?  Are those supporters/detractors at the institutional level (i.e. from national, international, or ESUN itself) or at the individual level (representatives, senators, national leaders, the ESUN President)?  What are the "atmospherics" as we call it here—i.e., what is the emotional space in which this organization is operating?

On or Off the Rails?

Now that you've built the Preventers CONOPs and other structural and legal matters, time to think about what RIGHT looks like.  When this entity is doing its job in accordance with its Charter and its mandate, what is happening (or not happening if that’s easier to answer)?  Obviously in the case of Preventers you could say "crises are averted" but that's a surface-level assessment.  What are people inside the organization happy about?  What are people outside the organization happy about?  How is it impacting the world around them?  What are they contributing?

Now that you know, next is to determine what WRONG looks like and what kind of wrong you’re looking for.

Out of Bounds: the organization has breached its Charter and gone above and beyond what they’re technically supposed to be doing.  This can be willful/intentional or unintentional, the latter occurring when a sudden need arose and either (a) no one came forward to handle it, or (b) the organization was thrust forward by outside/oversight forces in a “this is now your job, fix it!” sense.

Scope Creep: related to the “out of bounds” possibility is what’s called “scope creep” wherein an organization starts doing stuff that it wasn’t originally intended or tasked to do.  However, I separate it out here to capture a separate factor: what they’re doing is still technically within bounds of the Charter.  This happens when a Charter either (a) is too broad to effectively eliminate things from the “acceptable duties” list, or (b) someone of authority decided to reinterpret the legal limitations the Charter imposes.  Sometimes (b) is followed by actual legislative change to make the new interpretation a reality (see Constitutional Amendments).  A note on this one: reinterpretation of the right and left limits of what is “okay” is not inherently a bad thing.  It’s how that’s perceived and the nature of the execution itself that matters.  

Failure of Checks and Balances: often related to “out of bounds” and/or “scope creep” is a more generalized lack of oversight and checks/balances on your organization.  When no entity can rival or counter-balance an organization, they can get an inflated sense of authority and power.  This can lead to lead to them doing what they want because either “No one can stop me,” or “Who else is going to do it.”

Crisis of Leadership: the organization needs a strong leader who can effectively provide vision/direction/tasking and no longer as one (leaving the organization direction-less), or the organization can handle a weak leader but suddenly has a megalomaniac at the helm. Both of these are problems that arise at the top and have trickle-down effects on everyone below them, making the institution ineffective at best and dangerous because the people who should be in charge aren’t anymore.

Crisis of Personnel: aka, “the peasants are revolting!”  Your staff have gone off on their own and are doing their own thing, either belligerently against orders/tasking/guidance or due to general ignorance of what leadership is aiming to do.  Sometimes this will come about in conjunction with Crisis of Leadership, often in response to something wrong happening at the top.

What Kind of Conflict Do You Need?

I won’t delve into this one too much because it goes beyond the scope—LOL!—of this post, but I think it’s important to note all the same. Depending on what kind of conflict you need to drive your plot forward, here are some things to think about:

Rapid on-set, mission-based: the organization took on a sudden role or expanded its authorities to respond to a specific crisis or need at hand. The change happened quickly and was because of this crisis, rather than some internal driver.

Slow burn, can’t-stop-a-moving-train: the organization gradually evolves over time, does not raise alarm bells from people either outside or inside the institution. It’s only well after a new status quo has been established after a time that someone stops and says, “Wait a minute. What the hell…?”

Surprise, bitch: aka, the ‘military coup’ option wherein the entity takes power, often by force (bloodless or otherwise) and no one can stop them

[veryrealimagination]

Whumptober Day 4

Day No: 4

Prompt: “Do you trust me?” | Taken Hostage | Pushed

Fandom/OC: Superman & Lois (2021)

Medium: Fic

Trigger Warnings:

SFW/NSFW

Additional Tags: Smallville (2001) Enemy Appearance, Some of original Multiverse still exists after Crisis,

He doesn’t know how he fell into this Smallville. He only knows that it’s not his Smallville. Lana Lang isn’t married to Lex Luthor. Never had been. He never even lived in the town. Neither, none of the Luthors did. (Another Luthor sister, although this one wasn’t Tess Mercer. She actually carried the name Luthor.) He didn’t know anyone named Kyle Cushing. The Talon doesn’t exist. The name Chloe Sullivan gets him a lot of strange looks. There’s never been a Chloe Sullivan here? She was Lois Lane’s cousin. That name got attention, as the woman now lives in Martha’s old house with her twins and her husband, Clark.

Clark Kent.

He exists here, whatever universe he apparently ended up. There was a Clark Kent here. And there was a Superman. He remembered those powers. He remembered feeling great, powerful and stronger than everyone else around him. The fear of his parents, but the satisfaction of being better, finally. He could get them back. This Smallville still had Kryptonite. He saw it wandering through the woods trying to find evidence of people. There was already a good sized crystal in his pockets. Another surge of electricity with a Clark Kent that didn’t know what it could do with him holding the other side.

But, would that work? This Clark was older, married to Pulitzer Prize winner Lois Lane. She would figure out what happened after a minute of listening to the story. Her father was DOD, the military had recently been here. Would he be able to get away with the switch?

It was hard finding a hiding spot, but the man managed it. The trees were further away than he liked, but the stuff he stole off of someone that didn’t lock their house. God, people were really idiots in small towns. He remembered people doing that as well back in Smallville. His Smallville. The Kents were always like that, although they had a superpowered kid to protect them.

The first one out was some teen. Did Clark have a kid? The kid had some of his traits. Tall, easy-going. He had lighter colored hair and he knew Kent and Lane were dark brunettes. Maybe she cheated. It was a dark thought, but one that brought a chuckle. He doubted Lois Lane, cousin of Chloe Sullivan, would ever cheat. Chloe Sullivan-Queen was a bitter thought that popped in. Chloe had been a natural blonde. Maybe it was from her side. It was the second one that really looked like Clark, although he didn’t look to really act like him. He had two?

It was a shame that he couldn’t hear like Clark at the moment. And the people that he stole the binoculars, the money, and a few other things from didn’t have a listening device. Instead, he could only watch as the two threw a football around. He was an only child, and no one stayed friends with him after they experienced his parents a couple of times. The easy way they treated each other, laughter as one fumbled a bit, fake fighting, grew and gnawed as his already depleted state of mind. Clark Kent had to have it all. A loving set of parents, some of the hottest girls hanging off of him. Friends that would die to keep his secret and protect his life.

Why couldn’t he have that? He got stuck with the father that berated him for not being good enough. A mother that didn’t fight for him. People that shoved him around when he tried to help. Okay, he was really only helping Holly because she was cute, but even just getting a smile from a cute girl was something that he never really got. When he got powers, it was the best for a short while. People wanted to be near him. To know him. If he got those powers back, he could have that again.

His eyes had glazed over with the trip into his inner consciousness, but it came back when he saw the boys had switched games. The truck that had to be older than he was, and that was saying something because he was just as old as Clark, his Clark was. The lighter haired one was egging on his brother.

The man gasped as he saw mini Clark lift the truck from the side and hold it for a good sixty seconds before placing it down. “He inherited them,” he muttered, before realizing he had talked aloud near two possible superhearing people. Seeing that the boys hadn’t noticed him, he watched for their father to come out instead.

Lois came out instead.

It was horrifically weird seeing this woman. There was a freak in the asylum that managed to woo over a Luthor guard and would find out everything from the outside. She managed to get pictures in. That’s when he first saw Chloe’s cousin. It seared in his mind, along with Chloe, Pete, Martha, and other superheroes that helped the man out. People that Clark got to have. She wasn’t a clone of that one, but she was similar enough. As if someone played with pictures and applied filters to her face to get a new one. Creepy.

She must have been chastising the boys, both looking sheepish. It wasn’t too terrible though, because she just shook her head and started laughing. He could hear scant amounts of it. It must be nice to have that. The three of them went into the house after that, and he took the opportunity to escape before their version of Clark showed up.

-

Jonathan had gone out for a quick run around town. It was more to keep himself in shape than to train for anything. He wasn’t sure if he was going to do football again in the fall. He wanted to, it was his favorite sport to really play. Jordan wanted to as well, even though his first season was bumpy. The coach liked them well enough, the guys were still okay with them even after leaving roughly. A few seniors were obviously leaving and that would give them some places that they could fill.

There was, however, always the family stuff. Jordan still spontaneously spouted powers that sometimes took him out of school for a few days. His strength control was better, much to Jordan’s comfort. Jonathan was wary of his own possibility that he might develop something. Jordan’s happened because he was in danger. He hasn’t developed any yet. But it was always a yet.

His running took him around the three stages of school, elementary, middle, then the high, before he decided to start going through the old industrial park as well. The broken cement reminded him of some of the parking lots, roads, and running trails that he ran around Metropolis. He had to be more cautious, and he considered it a bit of field training as well. Some of the schools they used to go to had lumpy fields that the schools probably tried fixing and couldn’t manage like bigger schools could.

He didn’t wear earbuds now, so the scrapping of metal stopped him in his tracks. The industrial park was mostly abandoned, as companies started leaving when the economy turned bad. There were two that still had operations there. A Queen plant, and a Luthor. He was near neither of those.

Curious, he moved over, seeing a broken door barely covered by plywood. He thought about calling Jordan, knowing he would be by in a couple of seconds. He should call Jordan, or better yet, walk away. Mom’s voice was in his head insisting that. Instead, he pulled it back and headed inside. Looking around, he saw a sign for Mercer & Company. He hadn’t heard of them. Maybe he would have to ask his Dad after this. The floor of the building had deep holes. Above those were old cauldrons for smelting metals. Most of them were barricaded, but a few of the metal poles had rusted and given out. “Maybe I just heard one of those breaking,” he muttered, to himself. “Creepy old factory. Bad idea, Jonathan.”

“I don’t know, I thought it was a pretty good one,” someone said, startling him. Before he turned around, someone had an arm around his neck. He struggled, hoping that a cliched appearance of super strength came out so he could toss whatever creep decided to lure him into an abandoned factory. Jordan was going to hold this over him. Going into an abandoned area to investigate some sound. Mom was going to ground him when this came out. “You know, I am so glad you haven’t gotten your father’s powers.”

That shocked him to stop struggling, which made it easier for this strange guy to drag him over old metal stairs. “Powers? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he tried, a strained smile settling on his face to try and pass for easy-going, “My Dad’s just a farm guy. Mom’s got the real superpowers. She can manage me and my brother at the same time. We’re kinda a handful.”

The guy actually chuckled a bit as Jonathan started struggling again as they got higher. “Oh, yeah, Clark’s a real farmer. Good old Jonathan Kent taught him. Your grandfather, right?” he said, “Everyone always wondered how the old man got things done so fast. As it turns out, having a superpowered kid dropped into your lap helps.”

Again, shocked. How did this guy know so much about his family? They were steadily getting to a catwalk that went over the entire floor. Bits were broken, and it squeaked, but held as he was let go for a moment. However, the guy brought out a gun, and pointed it at him. He held up his hands automatically. That’s what he was supposed to do. His Mom usually did that until she brought out a taser, or the ELT to get Dad to respond. He had the ELT. In his pocket. In his jeans. At home. He forgot his ELT. Did he have his phone? Yes, he did, it was on his bicep in the holder. “Okay, so, how did you meet my Dad?” he asked, half interested, half terrified.

“I didn’t,” he said, “Keep moving forward.”

Jonathan was now confused. He knew about Dad, knew about his powers. Knew about his grandparents adopting him. Maybe knew about the alien part? He had to stop thinking as the catwalk threatened to give out from underneath him. He kept going after hitting a safe area. “For someone that’s never met my Dad, you sure know a lot about him.” He scanned ahead of him and saw a pair of suspiciously white zip cuffs ahead of him.

“I said I never met your Dad. I know my Clark Kent, though. And his family.” That actually made a lot of sense. The guy’s from a different universe? Jonathan turned around when he got to the zip cuffs. The guy actually smirked. “Sit down, put those around your ankles.” Nervous, he tried to gently sit down and got his feet through the loops. “Now tighten them.” Jonathan stared at the guy before he carefully closed the loops to where he could barely move around.

“Alternate universe? Cool,” he said, his voice only slightly cracking. His parents were always careful, and they weren’t really in any danger from their stories. It was only after coming back to Smallville with Jordan’s powers and Edge’s plans that they really started seeing some of the danger that their parents faced for years. A little crack in his voice was better than breaking down screaming for help. Why did he do that? His Dad could just fly in, grab this guy, then fly off again. He watched the guy pull out another zip cuff.

“Hands in front of you,” the man directed. Jonathan watched him zip his hands with one hand, keeping the gun pointed at his head.

“So, what, uh, what’s different about our universe?” he asked.

The guy glanced at him for a minute. “Anyone in your family named Chloe Sullivan?”

He had never heard of that name. “Nope.”

The guy nodded, getting confirming the answer. “In mine, she’s a cousin of your mother. Grew up in Smallville and went to school with Clark. They were best friends.”

Third shock of the day. Besides the hostage situation, which he felt he was handling very well. Very, very well. “Mom never mentions any cousins. She barely mentions our Aunt.” And his Dad doesn’t mention his cousin. They rarely talked to ‘Uncle’ Jimmy anymore. Their Dad really needed more people to talk with. So did they.

Maybe he wasn’t doing so well with the handling part with his mind and mouth running faster than making Eliza angry a year ago.

The guy put the gun away. Didn’t need it at the moment. “So, how should I contact your brother?” he asked, staring down at him.

Jonathan looked at him, the pit of his stomach developing ice blocks. “What do you want with Jordan?”

The guy shrugged. “His powers.”

That sounded crazy. “What?!” The man had a twitch in his hand, and he hoped that the gun wasn’t going to come back out. He didn’t want to get shot today. He also didn’t want to fall down any of those holes in the ground, but he had a bad feeling about those things.

“I can take his powers,” he stated. “Got everything here for it. Your brother gets to be human, and I get to be better.”

“There’s gotta be a catch,” he said.

“It hurts a bit. The best things do.” The guy was smiling. “How do I call your brother? Has his hearing picked up?” He noticed the band on his arm and held him in place to remove his phone. “Damn. Didn’t have this when I was a kid.”

“That’s been out for a year.”

“Yeah, the ‘smartphone’ stuff started happening after I was locked up in an asylum. Wasn’t even old enough to drive yet,” he mused. “I missed a lot.”

“You were institutionalized?” Good, Jonathan. Nice language that won’t hopefully piss the guy with a gun off.

He laughed. “Yeah. ‘Institutionalized.’” He knelt down to directly stare at him. “All meteor freaks were. Develop powers, then get shipped off to a hospital that kept you contained so you don’t harm other people. Experimented on to see if your powers were good for weaponizing. They couldn’t weaponize me, but they couldn’t let me out thanks to my many issues. Then, there’s the fact I know that Superman is Clark Kent.” He stood back up, holding off on so much that he could tell this kid.

“Hey!” Jonathan would never admit it was a squeak that came out when the man dragged him up. It didn’t completely pass his attention that they were set up near one of the deep holes. The furnace that sat above it was half-gone. The catwalk had a suspicious part of its railing right over that hole, and he was being forced to stand right in front of it. His toes were just over the catwalk. “You know, I think I should sit back down. I’m getting a bit of vertigo and kinda wobbly on my legs right now.”

“Don’t move too much and you’ll be fine,” he jokingly warned. Jonathan glared at him.

Staring down at the darkness below was a terrible idea. Too bad it was sort of enchanting in a black way. Fall over and disappear. So, he switched his head up. The sun was higher, lighting up the interior of the factory. He could see more rust on the metals, broken equipment and forgotten tools lying about. The hole beneath him, however, grew more shadowed, the darkness getting darker as the sun couldn’t get over the lip of the edge to get through. He was staring down at the hole again. It terrified him now, thinking about not knowing what he was going to land on if he was pushed over. He could hear himself getting worse.

Any anxiety that was about to boil over was shoved down when his phone started going off. The guy started messing with the phone until he managed to answer. “Hey Jon, Mom and Dad want to know when you’re going to be back,” Jordan said.

“Jordan, get Dad!”

“Jon, what’s going on?”

“Jonathan, named after your farmer grandfather. How adorable,” the guy said, “But, I’m the one on the phone, and not you.” A hand grabbed the collar of his shirt and held him out over the hole. He screamed, his knees locking to keep his legs straight so he wouldn’t collapse.

“Jon!”

“Still here!” he yelled. That hole was looking blacker than a power outage in a Metropolis subway. He didn’t want to fall in today.

“He’s fine, maybe.” His arm moved, dragging Jonathan’s body around to increase his fear.

“Oh my god! Please stop doing that.”

“What the hell are you doing to my brother?!”

“Oh, nothing much. Just holding him over a concrete hole about 50 feet above the ground.But, hey. You can get him back, almost mint condition. You just gotta meet us in Mercer and Company’s old factory. Don’t tell your parents where you’re going, though. We don’t want SuperDad to show up and have me drop Jonathan.” He ended the call after that and pulled back his arm. “You’re doing well, kid. Keep that up.”

Concentrating on his breathing, he vaguely noticed that the man was grabbing a severed power cord. The guy touched the exposed wiring and jolted when he felt it. He also smiled. “How are you taking Jordan’s powers?” he asked, his self control gathering a bit.

“It’s my freak power,” he said, pulling out a two inch solid piece of Kryptonite. “I was holding this and lightning hit Clark and I when he was trying to pull me back up the bridge. That’s how I got his powers. The times after that, we switched with electricity. It’s all I need now.”

Jordan had come in after hearing that. He wasn’t sure what the plan was, but they were trying to figure that out. First things first, he had to get the man’s attention. He entered the factory and looked up to see Jonathan on the catwalk. “Jon!”

He grinned. “Jordan!” He squawked when the guy grabbed him again.

“Up the stairs. I’ll hand him back.” Jon’s attempt at warning him were cut off when the hand tightened around his upper arm. “Start moving, kid.”

Jordan scanned for where the stairs were and moved up quickly. He just had to get Jon away from the guy. Dad actually had a whole plan for this type of stuff. He said that he and Aunt Kara had run through it a few times when someone had grabbed Mom for the same reason. To stop Superman from interfering in something. The stairs only looked weak as he moved up them quickly. It was the catwalk that he felt unsafe. The thing had more rust on it than he first saw. He moved slower to avoid breaking anything. He needed to be closer to Jon before the plan would kick in.

“That’s perfect, Jordan,” the guy said, releasing Jon’s arm. “All you have to do is give me a little handshake and you can walk out of here with your brother.” Jordan looked down at his hand and saw the tale tell sign of green Kryptonite along with a live wire nestled next to it.

“He wants your powers, Jordan. Don’t do it,” he said, wincing at the increase in pressure from the man’s hold.

“If you don’t do this, I will push your brother over and let you listen to his body breaking on the floor down there before getting those powers out of you anyways,” he threatened. Jordan looked over to Jon. Trust me? He nodded. The man seemed to know what was happening,

and pushed Jonathan over the edge.

The scream he let out was innate, terrified as he twisted in open air with his body trying to figure out what to do next. Jordan jumped after him, the guy just missing him by two inches. His focus was just on getting to Jon. Five seconds too long, he was holding onto his brother, righting himself before he switched. The air around them slowed down, until he finally was able to stop and hover. “Jordan?” his brother asked, still slightly breathless.

Staring up, he was waiting for the signal to come back. “Yeah?”

“Are you holding me bridal style?” he asked. Jon felt him nod. “Great, because I already had an embarrassing moment entering into an old factory to investigate a sound. Now I’m being held like Mom by my brother. Great.”

He snickered, “Would you rather it be Dad?”

It took a couple of seconds for him to think about that. “Only if it’s not my fault.” After a minute, he felt the two of them slowly fly up out of the hole. The first thing he searched for was his Dad, who wasn’t wearing his suit. Steel was there in his suit. The man was on his knees, apparently handcuffed. “You know, he was a little scarier like five minutes ago.”

“I can imagine,” Clark said, coming over when Jordan landed just outside of the hole. He carefully broke the zip cuffs until the pieces landed on the floor. “So, are you good, or do you want to be carried home like your Mom?”

Jonathan took the opportunity to swing an arm around Jordan’s shoulders, completely ignoring the fact that Dad heard that. “You know, I could go for being carried home by my dear, wonderful,” he said, before Jordan forcibly dropped him onto the ground. “Rude twin brother.” He got a little help standing back up.

His Dad had his phone. “Where’s your ELT?”

“In my jeans. At home,” he admitted.

He sighed, pulling his child close to wrap an arm around his shoulders, “Jonathan.” Jordan started snickering again. He lightly bopped the other on the shoulder. “Let’s get going before the Military shows up.”

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

Femslash February One-shots

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/37r2fTP

by Ken_Doll

This is a small little series of one shots that are set besides DoD. I'll tell you when they're set. It's gonna focus mainly on Chiaki Nanami/Yukari Adachi and Aoi Asahina/Sakura Oogami, but there will be a couple more here and there. In the main story Chiaki and Yukari could be interpreted as good friends, but in this they're very canon. I hope you enjoy it!

Words: 1131, Chapters: 2/28, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of Bitter Truths and Sweet Lies

Fandoms: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F

Characters: Nanami Chiaki, Original Female Character(s), Asahina Aoi, Ogami Sakura

Relationships: Nanami Chiaki/Original Female Character(s), Asahina Aoi/Ogami Sakura

Additional Tags: Femslash February 2020, Femslash February

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/37r2fTP

[randomfoggytiger]

I posted 820 times in 2022

That's 820 more posts than 2021!

52 posts created (6%)

768 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@swinging-stars-from-satellites

@everythingfox

@baronessblixen

@antiqueanimals

@muldertxf

I tagged 820 of my posts in 2022

#art - 308 posts

#txf - 186 posts

#parodyisreality - 148 posts

#life - 91 posts

#animal - 79 posts

#poetry - 28 posts

#meme - 28 posts

#x-files - 23 posts

#fic - 21 posts

#collector's edition - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 79 characters

#while in the ep she has genuine affection for her husband while being tormented

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Arcadia Analysis: Mulder’s Struggle

Contrary to popular belief, it was Mulder (and not Scully-- my long post of her experience here) who was having a rough time in Arcadia. 

When Mulder arrives, his enthusiasm shines brighter than Scully’s placid happiness, momentarily distracting her, the neighbors, and the viewers to his true mood: dour, trapped, tense. 

He immediately oozes saccharine charm and cuddles up to Scully, 

See the full post

34 notes - Posted November 28, 2022

#4

X-Files Collector’s Edition:  Time Travel, Time Loops, and Just Wrong Timing

Time travel and loops were explored sparingly in the X Files universe; but what is a fandom without a handy dandy dump truck filled with more AUs to add to the fic landfill? These are just the few that passed my litmus test, either by earned merit or because there was at least something in them that was worth reading. Which ones are which is up to you, though I recommend ChaneenW’s, FridayAt9′s, somanycandle’s, Jo-Ann Lassiter’s, Donna’s, and Lolabeegood’s works (maybe because they have the happiest outlooks by the end.)  

(**Edited: included @iwtbscully’s Nine Minutes? short**)

Loose chronological order below~

Here we go! 

Timeline (mostly) Intact 

vessel (saved at orphan_account on Ao3)

““The scientific explanation for all this is overwhelmingly simple: salt blocks hydration, dehydration rots the cells composing the human body. In spite of this, I am struck once again with the improbability that the laws of nature would mutate to allow such a phenomenon, to make a human being age fifty years in a matter of hours.””

Dod Kalm old Scully waits for death, pondering science and impending death. 

Sheryl Nantus-Sheryl Martin’s (FFN) Nine Minutes

““It was a long time, when you sat and timed it. 

Watching the digital figures spin up through the cycle; headed for the top figure of 9:00. Or 540 seconds. Or whatever you measured it by. 

It was still nine minutes. Nine minutes that she could never have back again.””

Cancer Arc Scully has lived her life in her own self-imposed time loop: continually obsessing over the 9 minutes she lost in the Pilot, trying vainly to regain them back by resetting her watch every few minutes. 

It’s not quite a time loop; but Scully is locked mentally in one, so it counts. 

((BONUS! Works well with-- 

@lyndsaybones’s (Ao3) Incremental 

““The watch fit her perfectly when she got it. He remembers thinking that it seemed child sized then. Do they make Omega watches for kids?

But the weight started sloughing off of her like autumn leaves and he started to feel more fear than hope. The watch starts telling more than time.””

Mulder observes the measure of Scully’s decay with her expensive new watch.))

ChaneenW’s

The Birds and the Bees 

““We’re in this together,” he insisted, turning to look at her face.

“We’re in this together,” she repeated, squeezing her arms more tightly around him.

“We just need to find a way to remind ourselves,” he said, starting to slur a little as his face froze. “Some small thing that we do or say could change the whole sequence of events and maybe knock ourselves out of the loop before it gets this far.””

FTF albatrosses of Antarctica keep resetting Mulder and Scully’s journey from the hallway and escape from the alien spaceship (with varying results) until those two right the wrongs the bee made. It quickly devolves from any possible angst into humor and heart while getting subtly funnier the longer the loop goes. 

Twice Upon a Time

““The more time he spent here, though, the more it became uncomfortably clear that Eddie hadn’t been wrong about him. He had been a loser back then: too focused on searching for the big answers to see what was right in front of him. And although he’d been immediately attracted to Scully when they first met, had instantly respected her knowledge and expertise, and had come to quickly trust her with his life, he had to acknowledge that it had taken him longer than it should have to realize how much he loved her.””

S9 Mulder wakes in his old apartment, confused to learn he has traveled back to the Eddie van Blundht case. At first he has fun breezily solving it and looking anew at his life; but soon S4 Scully notices how differently he’s acting as the glitz and glamor of time-travel fades and homesickness sets in. 

@fridaysat9​′s (Ao3) A Second’s Fraction 

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43 notes - Posted October 21, 2022

#3

X-Files Collector's Edition: Overview

Two years into this fandom, I noticed an appalling lack of collective lists: “if this, then that”, “the best of the best”, “collaborative works amongst authors and also their own separate works”, and the dreaded “was this worth the hype” lists. 

After bumbling around in Google Docs--compiling, grabbing alternate links, and changing my filing system every two seconds-- an idea took root and bloomed: why not share my treasure trove? There is value to this reclusive hobby, after all; and it could prove useful to others lost and alone on this site. 

So, I’m putting onto this floompy site the very best recommendation fic lists... or, if that’s too ambitious, fics that should be shared, discussed, or talked about more. Or ones I just liked. So there. 

I am always open for recommended topics, authors, specific fics, and criticisms to improve my current system. Cool hastag suggestions are encouraged. 

Also, shout out to LilyDaleXF-- hope this doesn’t tread on her niche. I’m focusing more on entertainment and sharing selective interests rather than being a greater force for good. But she’s the OG. Check out her Masterlist here:

LilyDaleXF’s Masterlist 

So! 

Here we go. Buckle up! 

45 notes - Posted September 16, 2022

#2

X-Files Collector’s Edition: Creepy and Cozy Cabins

Cabins: the final destination of many, many fic tropes. For our intrepid heroes, cabins are a great setting for either great understandings of relationship-kind, or a temporary haven from their chaotic and bloodthirsty world. I like to keep an eclectic assortment of such fics and mix them all together like a crazy salad. 

Loose chronological order below~! 

Canon

aka Jake’s (Gossamer) 14-Day Quarantine (Gossamer) 

““Mulder?" My name rasps from Scully's throat. 

Ignoring the nurses' scowls, I return to her bedside. 

She clears her throat, takes a shallow breath. "I'd've...preferred Bigfoot." 

Me, too, Scully. Me, too.”” 

Post Darkness Falls Scully is not out of the woods, and is devastated at news of the ranger’s death. She slips back and forth between recovery and coma while Mulder tries to bolster hers, his, and Maggie’s spirits.

the_eternal_optimist’s Unheard Of

““The men barged right in, broke the lock on the door. I pulled my gun, told them I was FBI. They were on me before I could even move, Scully.” She winced. “A few of them had baseball bats. One of them had a—a rope, or something heavy like that. I lost my gun before I could even fire it. I think I took a bat to the back of the head.” He sighed heavily. “When I came to, I was like you found me—clothes gone, hands tied.”

“And they just stashed you there under the stairs?” she asked in horror.

He grimaced. “They, uh, they actually dragged me out to the tree line,” he stammered, suddenly sounding very small. “Threw me closer to the forest. Then they, uh, they took that rope to my back. Said something about beating the devil out of me. I think I passed out when it got too painful.””

Beginning in Chapter 3, Scully finds Mulder in the woods-- beaten to a pulp and covered in mud. She cleans him up in a nearby cabin; but his violent marauders return, not deterred by the protections of an enchanted house. 

Juliettt‘s Confusion

““A sudden flash of light momentarily blinded her and she dropped to a defensive crouch. 

<Silly.  That's Mulder's flashlight -- he burst through the back door at the same time that you. . . .> 

 And then the crushing pain in her skull, the brief moment of terror and surprise, and blankness. . . .””

S2-3 Mulder and Scully wake with amnesia in a cabin. With Scully’s barely-there memories, she becomes a believer while Mulder scoffs at her “tall tales.” Skinner, flummoxed with their disappearance, arrives too late for true answers. 

@discordantwords‘s (Ao3) Somewhere North of Fiji 

““Behind her, she heard the slosh of water and a furtive sound, a strange squelching that she couldn't place. She glanced back at the water, saw nothing, then looked over at Mulder. He had the phone to his ear and did not seem aware of anything amiss.

She became aware of a strong odor, the stench of rotting fish.

"Mul-" something grabbed her from behind, needle sharp teeth sinking into her ankle. She tipped backwards, and the last thing she saw was Mulder's startled face, staring on as something small and gray rushed straight for him.””

S4 Mulder and Scully are half-drowned, half-mauled by the Fiji Mermaid who just. Won’t. Die. No matter how many bullets are blasted in its gut. 

@sarie-fairy‘s (Ao3) Skamania County 

““I’m okay. I landed on something soft, sort of.”

It was then she managed to roll over, move from where she had fallen as Mulder began to descend. As she did, a sharp pain tore at her torso, and her head throbbed.

“Hold on,” he assured.

It was pliable, yielded as she shoved away.

See the full post

62 notes - Posted December 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

How it feels to see your prompt used. 

715 notes - Posted October 8, 2022

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