#times like these part 1

[soulnb42]

Times Like These

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but those poor words.

Summary: What happened during Ava and Beatrice's forced exile in Switzerland

Howdy everyone! I'm not really sure where I'm going with this one, but Mojo is speaking and my job is to listen so let's go forth on this new ride...

Enjoy,

AO3

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“It's times like these you learn to live again It's times like these you give and give again It's times like these you learn to love again It's times like these time and time again” Times like these – Foo Fighters

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Part 1

“Take Ava and go!” Lilith broke their stunned silence.

It took a second for Beatrice to register Lilith’s words. Her first instinct was to protest but a few seconds were enough for her to run through every possible scenario and come to the same conclusion Lilith had. There were no positive outcomes for them right now because Ava was no Shannon and she was nowhere near ready to handle such a swarm of possessed people.

Beatrice glances at Camilla then back at Lillith. She put a hand on the shoulder of the taller girl as she was shielding them.

“In this life or the next.”

“In this life or the next,” Lilith replied with a nod of acknowledgement.

Beatrice grabbed Ava by the collar to direct her in the opposite direction. “Trust your team,” she ordered firmly when she felt Ava about to protest.

“Let’s go!” Camilla exclaimed, running ahead to clear their way.

Beatrice wrapped her hand firmly around Ava’s wrist and started running. She forced herself to ignore the sound of Mary’s shotguns or Lilith’s battle cries and focus on the task at hand: getting Ava to safety.

“We’re code black. Need emergency extraction for the Halo. Send massive back up in the chapel atrium, swarm of possessed, it’s fubar,” Camilla spoke with a hand pressed on her left ear.

They stopped in the first side street that seemed isolated. Beatrice and Camilla frantically looked around them to identify their position. Their training included an extensive knowledge of major cities to the point of them being able make mental maps within two minutes.

Beatrice closed her eyes and focused on the directives rushed into their earpiece. Her mind conjured a path to their extraction point, opening her eyes she pointed to her right. “This way.”

Camilla ran ahead again; Beatrice gave the silent order to Ava to follow with a tilt of her head and closed the march.

Sharp turns were made in half a dozen of streets. Seemingly out of nowhere a dark van skidded to an abrupt stop in front of them and the back door slid open.

Beatrice pushed an out of breath Ava inside and turned to Camilla. They didn’t need to speak to know they were parting ways here. As the most experienced, Ava’s protection befell on Beatrice’s shoulders. Camilla would go back to Lilith, Mary and the others to contain the situation.

Neither voiced the fact that this could very well be the last time they saw one another. They had been through many missions but this was unprecedented.

“It’ll be fine,” Camilla said with a trembling grin. She had made it her role to always keep the morale up, now was not the time to change her ways.

Beatrice went along with a nod of acceptance, ignoring the cold hand of dread twisting both of their guts. In a swift movement she put her hand on Camilla’s neck to bring their foreheads together in a silent and affectionate goodbye.

“In this life or the next,” she whispered before pulling back.

“In this life or the next,” Camilla echoed with a steadier smile.

Beatrice jumped in the van, Camilla slid the door close behind her and sharply tapped the passenger window. “Go!”

She watched the van disappear into another street, then turned around to go back where they had come from, praying with all her heart that Mary and Lilith were okay.

“We left them…” Ava spoke as if in a daze. “We just… aband…”

“Don’t!” the one-word order came out hotly. Beatrice tightened her jaw and immediately softened her tone. “Please.”

Beatrice didn’t mean to be aggressive; Ava had only voiced the facts after all, but she needed to keep a cool head and her ideas clear. That couldn’t happen if she stopped to think about the others. If she did, she’d then think about the last time they had faced so many possessed, and the days it had taken for them to get the situation under control again, and the many losses they hadn’t been able to prevent. She’d think about the fact that they had had Shannon by their sides then.

She couldn’t think about the others right now. She couldn’t let herself think that without the Halo bearer, right now her sisters were essentially fighting blindfolded with one hand behind their backs.

She couldn’t…

She just couldn’t afford to let her mind go there right now.

Right now, she had to focus on the directives pouring in her ear, unravelling the course of action and for the next 24h.

“That’s why we have to make it through the night,” Beatrice added softly.

Beatrice could only guess where Ava’s mind was at; her first mission had turned into a gigantic display of Murphy’s law, and that particular snowball was still gaining momentum for all they knew.

She wished she had comforting words to spare, but at this very moment she felt like saying anything else would be a lie.

Ava swallowed visibly, then bobbed her head in acceptance. Beatrice gently tapped Ava’s knee, and watched her lean back on her seat, turning her head to stare at the window.

They had to make it safely through the night, otherwise everything would have been in vain.

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Thanks for reading

[royalarchivist]

Tubbo: Why have they changed it? These colors are awful. I– ew! I actually hate it! Where– what happened to the orange? Why’s it purple?

Tubbo: [Realizes] OH—

Tubbo: Oh, I'm actually– I'm actually a bigot, it’s Ace Race, I get it. Ohhh, ohhh that’s awkward. Ohhh, that's awkward. I’m a bigot. Oh, I'm a bigot. Oh, I'm a bigot. Ohhh. It’s crazy that they let bigots into MCC these days! Well actually, they’ve always done that.

[itsthislake]

“Icarus.”

it's all about freedom really

Credit goes to An Sifakah for the poem. Enjoy!

Support me on Ko-fi maybe?

[inkskinned]

one of the things that's the most fucking frustrating for me about arguing with climate change deniers is the sheer fucking scope of how much it matters. sweating in my father's car, thinking about how it's the "hottest summer so far," every summer. and there's this deep, roiling rage that comes over me, every time.

the stakes are wrong, is the thing. that's part of what makes it not an actual debate: the other side isn't coming to the table with anything to fucking lose.

like okay. i am obviously pro gun control. but there is a basic human part of me that can understand and empathize with someone who says, "i'm worried that would lead to the law-abiding citizens being punished while criminals now essentially have a superpower." i don't agree, but i can tell the stakes for them are also very high.

but let's say the science is wrong and i'm wrong and the visible reality is wrong and every climate disaster refugee is wrong. let's say you're right, humans aren't causing it or it's not happening or whatever else. let's just say that, for fun.

so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars making the earth cleaner, and then it turns out we didn't need to do that. oops! we cleaned the earth. our children grow up with skies full of more butterflies and bees. lawns are taken over with rich local biodiversity. we don't cry over our electric bills anymore. and, if you're staunchly capitalist and i need to speak ROI with you - we've created so many jobs in developing sectors and we have exciting new investment opportunities.

i am reminded of kodak, and how they did not make "the switch" to digital photography; how within 20 years kodak was no longer a household brand. do we, as a nation, feel comfortable watching as the world makes "the switch" while we ride the laurels of oil? this boggles me. i have heard so much propaganda about how america cannot "fall behind" other countries, but in this crucial sector - the one that could actually influence our own monopolies - suddenly we turn the other cheek. but maybe you're right! maybe it will collapse like just another silicone valley dream. but isn't that the crux of capitalism? that some economies will peter out eventually?

but let's say you're right, and i'm wrong, and we stopped fracking for no good reason. that they re-seed quarries. that we tear down unused corporate-owned buildings or at least repurpose them for communities. that we make an effort, and that effort doesn't really help. what happens then? what are the stakes. what have we lost, and what have we gained?

sometimes we take our cars through a car wash and then later, it rains. "oh," we laugh to ourselves. we gripe about it over coffee with our coworkers. what a shame! but we are also aware: the car is cleaner. is that what you are worried about? that you'll make the effort but things will resolve naturally? that it will just be "a waste"?

and what i'm right. what if we're already seeing people lose their houses and their lives. what if it is happening everywhere, not just in coastal towns or equatorial countries you don't care about. what if i'm right and you're wrong but you're yelling and rich and powerful. so we ignore all of the bellwethers and all of the indicators and all of the sirens. what if we say - well, if it happens, it's fate.

nevermind. you wouldn't even wear a mask, anyway. i know what happens when you see disaster. you think the disaster will flinch if you just shout louder. that you can toss enough lives into the storm for the storm to recognize your sacrifice and balk. you argue because it feels good to stand up against "the liberals" even when the situation should not be political. you are busy crying for jesus with a bullhorn while i am trying to usher people into a shelter. you've already locked the doors, even on the church.

the stakes are skewed. you think this is some intellectual "debate" to win, some funny banter. you fuel up your huge unmuddied truck and say suck it to every citizen of that shitbird state california. serves them right for voting blue!

and the rest of us are terrified of the entire fucking environment collapsing.

[time-woods]

EMOTIONAL WIN ! ! the bug lets his emotions make decisions for once !

[mimimar]

finally completed my comic based on the song ivy by taylor swift!✿ please zoom in to read the text and see the details~

✿.✿.✿

you can get the digital zine pdf here! it includes extras like character profiles, costume design, more art of willow and ivy, zine-exclusive sketches and an illustrated guide to the symbolism of all the flowers in this comic.

you can also get prints of individual pages here!

✿.✿.✿

[soosoosoup]

Funk branch au

Au and branch design by @bbc-trolls

[pachimation]

lonely at the top

[raepliica]

one of these nights

[ruushes]

ive been enjoying artfight SO much it's rly energizing!! crops of my first three attacks: hamal mahariel for @ghostwise, ariya blackwood for @puffy-shirt, and connor delacy for @reddragoncrush 💙🩵💜

[alexturntable]

excuse me?

[egophiliac]

swipes everything else off of the table to yell about diasomnia flower bookmarks

(I gave Silver one too :D)

[missusruin]

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

I'm sorry but the irony of Nico calling Max unprofessional is sending me so bad like sir there's an entire garage full of people, who were literally in the trenches trying to survive the Brocedes fallout while just doing their jobs, who might have a few things to say about your (& Lewis') level of professionalism at that time 😭✋️

[l1-b1]

I love drawing the smith sibling’s hair

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for an incredible 500 days of love and support. I offer you: answers to questions that no one has asked.

(As always, more can be found in the tags <3)