#what do we do with it when he creates an excess amount

[bisexualstegosaurus]

Now, listen ahem

I DONT (emphasis on the don’t) want to BUT hear me out, hear me out, hear me out.

If we took a vial of Moreaus weird fucking acidic face melting slime stuff and put it into a pot and boiled it? Would it be in theory consumable? Like non-toxic paint?

Again, I DONT want to but I’m curious. Could we turn it into an adhesive? Could it be hair dye for Mommy Miranda? Could it be used as a temporary substitute for the House Dimitrescus wine?

[cy-cyborg]

Tips for drawing and writing amputees: The prosthetic needs something to hold onto

Prosthetics need to be able to hold on to the body.

If you're giving your amputee something similar to 99.99% of modern prosthetics, this will be done through a socket. This is a ridged cup made perfectly for the amputee that holds the prosthetic onto the body. Older prosthetics (mostly anything before the 90's) made the prosthetic socket intentionally tight in spots, which is what held it in place. Some people with sensitive skin still use this style of prosthetic but they've mainly fallen out of use in favour for suction sockets. These sockets create a vacuum seal that holds the prosthetic in place. These can work in two ways, either just by forcing excess air out of the socket and creating the seal that way, or for some legs, sucking that excess air out and into an "ankle" mechanism to offer some extra suspension and padding in the step.

Some prosthetics will also use additional measures as well as suction, such as pin-locks, where the amputee wears a sock with a screw at the bottom that clips into a mechanism at the bottom of the socket, or a prosthetic with movable panels that can be tightened via cables running through the socket.

I've used all of these except the pin lock socket, and they all have one thing in common: The sockets need as much space as possible. For prosthetics using suction in particular, this is to spread out the amount of force being applied to the leg. If all the suction is being applied to the end of the stump, it's going to get sore and could even damage the skin. If that same amount of suction is applied to a much wider area, it's going to feel less intense. Likewise, older prosthetics needed as much space to work with as possible too, as applying tight pressure to a small area as opposed to a larger surface to keep the tension isn't good for your skin or muscles in that spot.

For this reason, the sockets will take up all of the space available without limiting movement, meaning they will go all the way up to the next major joint. An amputee who lost their hand through the wrist will have a socket that goes all the way to their elbow. An amputee who lost their leg through or above the knee will have a socket that goes all the way to their hip.

Sometimes, if an amputation is particularly close to a major joint and there isn't a lot of space left between the stump and the next major joint, prosthetists will opt to immobilise the closest joint and take the socket all the way up to the next major joint. This was something I've actually discussed with my prosthetist. My left leg is amputated below the knee, but I only have a few centimetres of space below the knee. That leg occasionally needs revisions, meaning they take the very tip off of the stump to help correct issues with weird bone growth, scarring, infections etc, but if I get another revision, my leg will be too short to comfortably wear a socket, so my knee will need to be immobilised and my leg will become, functionally, an above knee amputation, despite still having the joint. This is rare, but it happens on occasion, showing that sometimes that need for space trumps even the use of a still functional joint. It's really important.

I wanted to bring this up because I see a lot of people draw sockets on their amputee's prosthetics, but they're much too tiny to be comfortable!

I did mention most prosthetics use a socket, but not all do. Some old prosthetics did not have sockets and were held in place using other methods.

This is a "prosthetic" my prosthetist found in his company's back room. He's not sure when it was made, but together we came up with an estimate of it being made around the 70's for a through-hip amputee (meaning someone who's whole leg was amputated with no stump at all)

It's designed so that the user would rest their hip on the cushion and use the handle to hold it in place and move it in time with their walk. This kind of mobility aid isn't often used anymore (me nor my prosthetist have seen one out in the world), and seems to have faded in use during the 80's as sockets were invented that could better hold onto the hip and pelvis for through-hip amputees and the use of wheelchairs for amputees became less stigmatised.

There's also A new type of prosthetic has been developed called the Osseointegration prosthetic, which also doesn't use a socket either. These are very rare as they are incredibly expensive and still very risky, but these prosthetics bypass the socket and implant the prosthetic directly into the body through a rod planted inside one's stump bone. This rod has a clip at the end of the stump, so the external part of the prosthetic can be removed as needed (and replaced). The reason they are risky though is that they are EXTREMELY prone to infection. I only know one person who had this implanted successfully, but he has to be very careful to keep his leg clean or else it will get infected (and it frequently does, he's constantly on antibiotics). Everyone else I know who got it had to get it removed.

With time these implants will get safer, but we are a very, very long way off from that right now.

[misc-obeyme]

Okay. I decided to do a little headcanon post for Flufftober, so here it is. Except that it turned out to be CRAZY LONG. I did not expect that. I was gonna post all the characters in one post, but that seems excessive. So instead, I'm gonna post them separately as usual and just link to the other part. I will be posting the rest of the characters shortly!

The theme here is a masquerade party... well don't worry, there's an explanation about what's going on. I dunno I just got the idea and thought it'd be fun to write and then got carried away as usual. I tried to keep them brief, but here we are.

FLUFFTOBER 2023

GN!MC x the demon brothers

Warnings: none that I can think of??

It was an October night in the Devildom and the House of Lamentation was hosting a Halloween masquerade ball. The main hall had been decorated splendidly in oranges, purples, and blacks. An entire feast was laid out, the table full of dishes contributed to the party by Barbatos and Simeon. The room was dark, lit mostly by orbs of orange light, enchanted to float through the air by Solomon. On a small stage there was a live band playing a mix of lively and slow creepy music. The dance floor was filled with demons, all of whom were unrecognizable…

Due to the masquerade theme, special masks had been made for each attendee. They were made by Satan and Asmodeus, working together to create magical masks that would completely obscure each party goer's appearance. Once they put on the mask, a glamor fell over them that transformed them and made them unrecognizable. Every glamor costume was black and incorporated a look involving fancy suits, flowing dresses, and probably too many sequins.

The party organizers all knew what each other's mask-generated costumes looked like. Everyone had been present when Asmo revealed his designs. Everyone… except you. You had insisted on creating your own glamor and thus hadn't been present to see everyone else's.

Now you stood in the middle of this masquerade party, unable to recognize a single person.

And yet you knew that the person you wanted to see most was in the room somewhere. And after a small amount of time, you were certain you had figured out who it was. You made a bold move and asked them to dance. While you were in their arms, they told you to meet them somewhere specific later, when the party was winding down. You agreed and spent the rest of the night exchanging looks with them, anticipating the moment when you would be alone with them.

Had you chosen the correct person? Did you know them well enough that you could determine their identity when their appearance was so altered? And more importantly… did they know who you were?

Lucifer

It was his bearing. The way Lucifer held himself was undeniable. There was nothing about the fancy suit that tipped you off - no bits of blue or red, no feathers, no indication at all that it was Lucifer. Even his eyes were turned pure black by the glamor. And yet, when he looked at you, it was like you could feel the ruby red that hid beneath.

When he asked you to meet him in the music room later, you were even more convinced. Of course that would be Lucifer's choice. When you arrived, the sound of the party music still playing softly in the distance, he smiled and took your hand. A little piece of you doubted, wondered if he could truly detect you behind your mask.

His fingers ran along the edge of the mask that covered your face. "Do you trust me, MC?"

Even his voice was altered by the magic. You shuddered. What if it wasn't him?

Though, would Lucifer really make such a mistake? Would Lucifer let someone else lead you astray?

You let out a breath. "Yes."

Lucifer put his arms around you, pulling you close, and pressing his lips to yours. The masks bumped slightly against each other as you gasped into his lips.

When Lucifer pulled away enough to remove his mask, a relief flooded through you at the familiar curves of his face.

"How did you know it was me?" you asked.

Lucifer smirked at you. "You couldn't help yourself, could you? You were by my side most of the night. And when you weren't, I could feel your eyes on me."

You blushed, but Lucifer only chuckled and kissed you again.

Mammon

He didn't know who you were at all, but the minute you got close enough, you could feel it. A sense of protection that you could only feel in the presence of your guardian demon. He may not know who you were, but you knew him. He was in full on party mode when you asked him to dance with you. He seemed uncertain, likely thinking about you, but he accepted.

Something in his demeanor changed while you danced. His uncertainty fell away and he asked you to meet him out by the front door. You thought this was kind of an odd choice, but you agreed. Later, you slipped out the front door as requested and everything fell into place.

He was leaning against his Demonio 666 Lexura, mask still on, smiling at you.

You laughed a little at how pleased he seemed. You walked down the stairs to the street, stopping right in front of him and reaching out to remove his mask.

There was the familiar face you knew so well - blue-gold eyes shining, white hair bright in the darkness.

"Ya wanna ditch this party and go for a ride?" he asked.

You put your arms around his neck. "You didn't know me at first. How did you figure it out?"

Mammon put his hands on your waist. "Like I wouldn't recognize your dance moves."

Your laugh was smothered as he kissed you. He opened your door for you and you got into his car. He kept a hand on your thigh as he drove into the Devildom night, the yellow moon high in the October sky.

Leviathan

He gave himself away by bringing a handheld video game console to the party. It stuck out of his pocket when he wasn't using it and when he was, he was hunched over in a corner somewhere, the little bleeps and bloops adding a humorous quality to the music in the room.

When you came over to him, Leviathan looked annoyed that someone was interrupting him. He frowned at you for a moment and then became nervous when you asked him to dance. He tried to get out of it, but you didn't listen, dragging him by the hand onto the dance floor. You proceeded to incorporate some dance moves from the latest music video of Sucre Frenzy and suddenly Levi's attitude changed. He wasn't trying to hide who he was and asked you to meet him in his room.

When you knocked on the door later, Levi opened it, mask already discarded. He looked at you, still in your glamor and said, "Th-that's you, isn't it, MC?"

You removed your mask and smiled at him.

Levi sagged against the door for a minute before opening it wide to let you in. "I was so nervous! I thought maybe you were someone else who happened to be intimately familiar with Sucre Frenzy's dance moves!"

You laughed and hugged him, patting his back reassuringly. "I'm pretty sure we're the only ones who know those moves that well. That music video only came out a couple days ago."

Levi pulled back to look at you, pride evident in his orange eyes. "You did them flawlessly."

You blushed a little and pulled on his clothes to bring him closer. "You weren't too bad yourself."

Levi kissed you to hide his own blush, but you still saw it quite clearly.

Satan

You were standing among a group of demons, listening to their idle chatter. You had no idea who any of them were, of course, but they seemed to be discussing the merits of various cafes in the Devildom. This was a fairly benign topic until one of them brought up cat cafes. You noticed the minute the demon beside you began to ramble at length about the benefits of cat cafes. It quickly devolved into what sounded like a dissertation on the positive qualities of cats in general. As the others quickly excused themselves, you laughed and asked Satan to dance with you.

Satan seemed reluctant at first because he wasn't sure who you were right away. But when he stopped rambling and really took you in - your demeanor, the soft smile of fondness on your face - he accepted your request. During the song, he seemed to feel certain of your identity and asked you to meet him in the library later.

You had expected Satan to be deep in a book when you arrived, but instead he was watching the door. He took several steps toward you when you came in.

"I thought you might not come, MC," he admitted.

Your heart squeezed and you removed your mask. "Why wouldn't I?"

Satan took off his own mask. "I thought your attention might have been drawn elsewhere."

You closed the distance between you and looked into his eyes, now their usual mixture of greens and blues. "You say that as though I've been able to think about anyone other than you."

Satan wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you in to kiss you.

Asmodeus

It was in the sensual way he moved, how he lightly teased everyone he came into contact with, the boldness he seemed to gain from the fact that nobody knew who he was. All of these things tipped you off, but when Asmodeus stopped to look at himself in a mirror, lingering a little too long than anyone else might have, your suspicion was confirmed.

To your surprise, Asmo already seemed to know who you were, too. You didn't even have the chance to ask him to dance because he asked you first. You thought maybe he was just asking anyone and everyone, that it wasn't because he knew you. But when he asked you to meet him in the garden later, you were suddenly uncertain. Did he know you or not?

When you arrived in the garden, Asmo was looking up at the yellow moon. He heard you approach and turned around, giving you a dazzling smile.

He spread his hands, the offer of a hug. "There you are, darling!"

You considered him. You still weren't sure if he knew who you were.

Asmo giggled. "Oh, do you think I don't know you? Silly thing."

Asmo walked up to you, placed his fingers on your mask, and leaned in close. "No amount of glamor could hide you from me, MC."

You shivered. Asmo took off your mask and removed his as well, tossing them aside. Then he opened his arms again.

You stepped into them easily, pressing yourself against his body, and meeting his lips with yours.

Beelzebub

The glamor obscured Beelzebub's size and height - the things that normally made him almost impossible to miss. And maybe it would have made it difficult for you to find him in different circumstances. But this was a party. And there was food. You watched the buffet table for some time, waiting to see who never left it or who ate most of it themselves.

When you asked Beel to dance, he accepted immediately, which surprised you. As the two of you danced, you tried to figure out if he knew you or not. He seemed comfortable with you, but it wasn't any different than how Beel was with most people. And then he asked you to meet him at the planetarium. Perhaps you had gotten it wrong? Was there another hungry demon at this party? Was it actually Belphie you were dancing with?

You arrived at the planetarium, feeling uncertain about just who it was you were meeting.

When he saw you, Beel took off his mask, completely eliminating your concern. He smiled at you, the same sweet smile that made your stomach flutter. "Hi, MC."

You shook your head slightly and took off your own mask. "Why did you ask me to come to the planetarium?"

Beel looked up at the planetarium and pointed at the moon. It had an unusual yellow cast to it. "Belphie likes the planetarium. And right now the moon looks like a big wheel of cheese."

You laughed. He wasn't wrong. You took Beel's hands and turned him toward you. "I should've known."

Beel smiled again and kissed you.

Belphegor

Belphegor was eluding you. You had already spent a significant amount of the party looking for a sleeping demon, but you couldn't find one. Everyone you saw was fully awake and nobody even seemed to be slightly nodding off. He must have found a small hiding place to fall asleep and that was why you didn't see him anywhere.

You nearly jumped when you felt a hand on your back. When you turned, a demon smiled at you and asked you to dance with him. There was something about this quiet demon's demeanor that made you suspect it was Belphie. Where had he even come from? And was it really him? You allowed him to lead you out onto the dance floor. He asked you to meet him in the garden later and you felt compelled to agree. If it wasn't Belphie, you could always just leave.

Once you were in the garden, you found him standing there, waiting quietly. He was looking up at the sky, which was full of the yellow moon and a dramatic scattering of stars.

"The stars are beautiful tonight aren't they, MC?" he asked.

All doubts fled your mind then. You stood beside him and looked up, resting your head on his shoulder. "They're lovely, Belphie."

Belphie turned to you, easily slipping an arm around your waist and removing your mask. He stayed still as you took his off, too.

"You weren't sure it was me," he said.

You shrugged. "You look wide awake, that's all."

Belphie smirked. "I was on edge waiting to do this," he said.

You were about to ask what that meant, but he cut you off with a kiss.

part 2 with the rest of the characters

flufftober | kinktober | masterlist | Thank you for reading!

taglist: @anxious-chick @t0tallycoolname @libidinous-weeb

[pieroulette]

untitled project, corpse bride (teaser)

author's note. a jungwon 7k oneshot corpse bride inspired with him as a 'psycho serial killer butchering everyone in the train' i did since a year ago, but im not satisfied with it yet but here's a teaser! i haven't written in awhile so it might be crusty rusty lol but yep it will be out this month, hopefully ♡ trying to get back into my momentum.

warning. subtle graphic description of murder, gore. / excessive tagging wouldn't be used but a tagging system of playing card symbols i've created so please read at your own discretion when the full fic is out.

Horrendous. Awful.

Not quite like the picture perfect image he had been fantasising about whenever he'd like to.

But he likes it, more than he would like to.

Awfully likes it.

He just needs to fix it a little more. Just a bit would do.

A bride on her merry way down the aisle of promised vows of happily ever after, a sweetened pursed up glossed lips and irises, couldn't she grow any more sweeter than this? Perhaps, it could. But to him, your shattered delicate state was much more sweet than he could taste, he could even sniff it into his soul—dark, dark, terribly dark soul.

Your bouquet, strip to nothingness where restorations could no longer be made was evident with madness. Or was he, the madness in itself? Perhaps, it is. What is there to deny?

Now the question is, what happened? Was it an arranged marriage on the foundation of a million bucks or perhaps even better, a mine of gold? Or was it actually true love at first sight? A runaway bride with her lover but was unfortunately shot to his death, or maybe, maybe fell to his death down the cliff? Or was it betrayal?

Which one is it?

Which one did actually happen that it has this tremendous effect in making this sweet of a delicate bride stranded somewhere in the city, boarding a train in all her fleeting gloriousness that was all for her cherished husband-to-be to relished on?

How amusing.

Where did your smile go? Your pitch black mascara smeared, tainted with pearl tears. Glossed lips now chapped and dry. The overall makeover he was sure took a horrendous amount of preparation was replaced with an image of a decomposing corpse bride.

But he likes it.

Of course it would, why wouldn't he?

He wouldn't need to go through the tremendous hassle of butchering another one when you're all here, all ready to be his next corpse bride in collection.

It just needs a little more, a little more — effort.

To make you his perfect corpse bride.

Silence.

Nothing came.

Only a deafening silence in constant rhythm of beats, accompanied by (Name)'s rampant heart as the main vocal. The train's intercom and the sound of the train tracks was what served as the instruments, side vocals by the distant screaming ahead the carriage.

All of it, the entire piece of orchestration of all led by the conductor with his baton. However, the conductor was eerily silent. Weirdly, horrifyingly silent.

"Whose bride do we got here?"

A hiccup escape from the bride's throat as soon as those words reverberated from the conductors lips.

Amused by the unusual sight you don't often see everyday especially while boarding a train, the man let's put a satisfying groan as he sat down facing the bride, comfying himself for another break session.

He's sitting down? Are you fucking serious right now?!That particular sentence echoes beneath everyone's mind in varying volumes and expressions. No one knows how long will it take. But everyone was sure as hell didn't want him to sit that long.

Get lost. Just get fucking lost!

But one should know that one single wrong step is only a foolish's mistake.

Therefore, it was a silent agreement of all;

To stay still.

Do not anger the lion.

Or perhaps, the conductor if we were being classy here.

"Since you didn't hear it, I'll repeat my question," Jungwon grins behind the cat mask, "Where's your husband?"

An orchestration of a bloodbath; scream once, your head gone. Try to run, don't bother, just crawl. But Jungwon wouldn't mind a bit letting your head stay intact a little more, he just thought you would look a lot sweeter with your delicate face and piece of dress splattered with the perfect ingredient.

© pieroulette (previously ateliertale)

[atlasofthestaars]

[MK X READER] New Era - Chapter .008

first part | previous part | next part

NOTE: Hope to have fed you Bi-Han fans well with this chapter! I literally hopped into the game before writing this to relearn some of his combos for this LMAO He also. Crashed my computer when I tried to send a screenshot of his movelist. 

Also, this chapter does get a little down during certain parts?? You’ll see what I mean, but I did want to say that just in case?? Oh yeah, and violence, I know this is Mortal Kombat, but just in case you needed the warning?

Finally time for Havik’s poll! As usual, the poll will run for a week! 

This is the last call for last minute love interest requests, Chapter .010 is the LAST chapter I will be putting a poll for (assuming that we do not get an excess amount of polls).

FROM THE EYES OF ONE WHO HELPS OUT OTHERS

Sparring with Bi-Han was always a thrill.

Staring down the grandmaster, you let out a steady breath as you settled yourself into a comfortable fighting stance. Sub Zero did so as well, and you watched as frost covered his hands and forearms. You two circled each other, matching each other in even steps as you watched the other. 

“No holding back, all powers allowed, going until the other yields?” You questioned, eyeing the frost on his arms. Bi-Han nodded. He did not don his mask for this spar, something you were thankful for. At least you would not have to worry about punching a metal mask. “Good.” You said, inhaling deeply one more time. “Now show me the prowess of the Lin Kuei grandmaster.”

Creating the wings of a common swift on your back, you flapped the wings back, sending you hurling forward towards Bi-Han with alarming speed. You let out a grunt as you transformed your leg into a secretary bird, aiming a powerful kick to his ribs.

Sub Zero grunted as he moved to block your kick. The arm that blocked it had frozen over with ice. You let out a breath as you took back your leg to quickly dodge his hand that thrust towards you with an iced knife.

You used the momentum of the dodge to curl up, transforming into an armadillo. You bounced behind him before transforming back once you got behind him in a crouched position. Swiftly, you lunged at him, transforming into a panther to pounce on him. 

You hissed as he slid out of the way, the ground beneath him turning icy. You outstretched your paw, barely scratching his cheek. You dug your claws into the ground as you recovered from the leap to. Your eyes widened as you saw him send a fast incoming ice ball your way. You transformed back quickly, crossing your arms in front of yourself as you endured the hit.

The ice shattered against your block, and you resisted a shiver as you felt the shards bounce off your skin. You watched as Bi-Han moved towards you, creating a slide of ice your way. You ran towards him, catching him off guard. Jumping, you grabbed onto his shoulders, changing your hands into coconut crab claws to get a better grip as you flipped over him. With a grunt, you used the momentum to throw the man away.

Keeping on the offensive, you followed where he had been thrown, charing as a rhino. Sub Zero recovered mid air, sending an icy blast your way to change direction of his fall. You got hit by a blast, getting knocked to the side as you transformed back. You let out a groan as you stood back up.

Sub Zero had recovered faster than you had, and slid towards you once more. He conjured up an icy mace in the form of a skull and spine and slammed it down on your head before using it to launch you upwards. You let out a cry as he jumped up, sending a few punches your way before kicking you away back onto the ground.

You staggered up, not deterred. You blocked the ice clone he sent your way that was intended to punch you. You ran up and swept the man off his feet, catching him by surprise. As he tumbled to the ground, you transformed into an African wild dog, snarling and howling as you clawed at him. You yelped as he shoved you off, kicking you off him.

As you were shoved back, you transformed back, finding your footing as he also stood up once more. You lunged first, launching forward as a bull. You felt satisfaction as you felt him collide with you, and you launched him upwards. Using wings again, you swiftly jumped into the air. You transformed your hands into bear claws, slashing at him with ferocity before flipping forward, slamming a kangaroo tail into him to send him flying into the ground.

You dove towards his body, now as a lion. Your eyes widened as you saw you were instead heading for an ice clone. You were frozen on the spot as you landed on it. With a grunt, Bi-Han followed it up with a swift jab, his fist enhanced with an icy blade. Then he whirled around, sending a close range blast of ice into you before he knocked you off balance as he slid forward, jabbing the blunt end of an icy spear into your chest.

You cried out as you flew back, transforming back into your human form. With a grunt you forced yourself to get up, once again forced to block an aggressive blow from him. Grabbing his arms, you leaned forward as you grew a large scorpion stinger that jabbed him harshly in his shoulder. As he groaned out in pain, you let go of his arms to deliver a hefty drop kick, enhancing it by turning your feet into an eagle’s clawed feet.

With space created, the two of you returned both into a neutral state, slightly more on the defensive side this time as you both circled each other once more. With a whirl of his wrists, he froze the ground you stepped on, trapping you for a moment. As you were distracted with freeing yourself, you failed to notice him lunging at you, leaping.

The breath was knocked out of your lungs as you both tumbled before he ended up on top of you, pinning you to the ground as he grabbed your arms and held him above you with one hand. You panted as you laid below him, staring up to Bi-Han. There was a moment of silence as you both stared at each other, recovering from the fall. You could not get up as he straddled your waist. 

Bi-Han stared at you, eyes wide from the frenzy of battle. Then, something changed as he stared down and processed the position. You watched as his cheeks reddened as he stared down at you, the exhaustion of battle probably hitting him. You swallowed as you watched his face.

His eyes searched your face, before they settled on your eyes. They held your gaze for a moment, before lowering down. Sub Zero let out a shuddering breath as his gaze stopped. You felt exposed and vulnerable, and uncertain. He swallowed before licking his lips. 

Your face felt warm as he lowered himself onto his forearm, his face growing closer to yours, and you were suddenly aware of how cold his hands were as the hand that pinned your arms above you released, leaving your skin tingling.

His hands…wait. He released your arms.

You watched as his eyes widened in surprise as you suddenly flipped him over, You now sat, straddling his waist. You grew the scorpion tail once more as you grabbed his arms and pinned him down by keeping them in a coconut crab’s claw. With your other hand, you transformed it into a bear’s and pointed the claws at his neck along with the scorpion tail.

“Yield!” You demanded, eyes wide as you stared down at Sub Zero. He panted a bit, silent as he stared at you still, a certain look on his face that you couldn’t interpret on his face. Slowly, he seemed to return to reality as he nodded slowly.

“I yield.”

With a sigh of relief, you transformed back, releasing his arms. You stood up, staggering as you did so. You smiled down at the Lin Kuei grandmaster as you extended a hand out to him, offering him help. He stared at it for a moment before taking it, and you helped him up.

“You certainly didn’t hold back.” You commented, feeling the adrenaline from the battle still run through your veins. You shook out your limbs, trying not to think of the end of the battle, ignoring the particular way Bi-Han had stared at you. “I’ll be having bruises for days after this.” You sighed, remembering the parts of your body where he had punched you especially hard.

“I know better than to hold back against you.” Bi-Han remarked, an indirect compliment. You smiled, feeling pride at it. Warmth bloomed in your chest.  “You also do not hold back.” He pointed out, referring to the scratches and claws you left on him. 

“Guess we’ll both be in bandages for a while, hm?” You joked as you stared at the marks you had left on him from the battle. Both of you were battered and bruised, but you at least got a victory out of it. You blinked as you noticed the way Bi-Han scanned you, looking at you up and down before nodding.

He was still looking at you a particular way, and you weren’t certain what that look meant. 

You tried not to question it, enjoying the more calm moment between you two. You let out a sigh as you wiped the sweat from your brow, having worked up a sweat over this. Bi-Han’s stare burned into you as you stretched.

“Well, let’s get patched up, shall we?” You inquired, walking over to the side where you had set down the medical bag you had brought earlier. You opened it up, and gestured the grandmaster over. He walked over , sitting on the chair you gestured for him to sit in.

You hummed as you began to clean off his wounds, making sure to disinfect the wounds you had left on him. He didn’t even flinch at the disinfectant, seeming to be too deep in thought as you began to work on him. You raised an eyebrow at the oddly silent behavior. He was more quiet than you were used to after a duel.

“Something on your mind, Bi-Han?” You inquired, reaching to his face. You wiped his cheek, putting disinfectant on a scratch you had left on it. You watched as he flinched, and you paused, scanning his features as he stared at you.

“I’m fine.” The cyromancer said after a moment, his gaze dropping to the ground, before he closed his eyes. You raised your eyebrows, not certain whether to push the issue or not. He didn’t look angry…he just looked…lost in thought. You shook your head and sighed as you began to put bandages on his wounds.

Bi-Han was probably fine.

“Good, I was worried for a second that I knocked the sense out of you when I slammed you into the ground.” You teased, grinning at him. You felt a sense of relief as Bi-Han sent you a narrowed eyed gaze. He was surely fine if he was paying enough attention to give you that reaction. Your grin grew just a tiny bit bigger.

“Don’t act as if I did not do the same.” He reminded you, and you swear your body ached as he pointed it out. You paused, taking a moment to rub your shoulder, where it would probably be bruised. He looked towards where you rubbed your shoulder. After a moment, he grabbed your hand, gently moving it before setting his own hand there. 

His hand grew cold, but not enough to put any frost or ice on you. It was just…soothing. Your eyes widened at the action, looking down to look at the hand that was on your shoulder. You smiled, and despite the cold on your shoulder, you felt warm.

“Thank you.” You said, softly. The hand remained on your shoulder for a few more moments, before Bi-Han lifted his hand. It hovered over where it had just laid a few moments ago, before pulling back. You almost immediately missed the cold and how it soothed your sure to be bruise.

“It is nothing.” Sub Zero grumbled, his eyes avoiding yours. You stood up, stretching. 

“Well, you’re good now.” You announced, packing up the medical bag. You send another smile towards Bi-Han as you finished up, standing. “I’m going to go get some water before heading out.” You told him. You put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. “Thanks for the spar, Bi-Han. You push me to be better.” You gave his shoulder one last squeeze, before leaving.

Bi-Han sat there, his hand touching where you had squeezed his shoulder. A small, rosy blush rose onto his face as he closed his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed, deep in thought. He had a lot to think about now, didn’t he?

And those last words of yours…why did you have to say that to him?

Damn you.

“I see you and brother sparred together without holding back.” 

You turned your head to look at Kuai Liang who had just entered the kitchen. You smiled at him, waving before taking the last sip of the cool, icy water you had been drinking. The glass made a soft clink as you lowered the now empty glass into the sink.

“Yeah, what gave it away?” You asked, letting out a small chuckle. It was very, very obvious by the untreated wounds you had, and how in general how roughed up you looked. You only looked this way after the most intense spars between you and the grandmaster. 

“Are you not going to dress your own wounds?” Scorpion asked, stepping over to you. You saw his eyes trace your wounds, a furrow in his brows. His hand seemed to hover in the air, as if wanting to do something, before dropping.

“I am, I just patched up your brother before I got water.” You told him, slinging the medical bag you carried with you onto the table. Scorpion nodded, yet the worry in his face did not go away. You raised an eyebrow, scanning his face before sighing. “Is something on your mind, Kuai Liang?” You inquired, stepping before closer to him. 

“It is nothing.” The younger brother insisted at first. You shot him a narrowed eyed gaze, indicating that you did not believe him for a moment. Both of the brothers were stubborn. But with this one, you knew he would not blow up at you if you prodded a bit more. He seemed to linger on the idea of telling you, before nodding. “I know you mentioned months ago that you did not want me to talk about my brother but…” He looked up to the ceiling, as if searching for the words. “I worry for him.”

“It’s okay to worry.” You reassured him, placing a hand delicately on his bicep. He looked down, his eyes traveling to where your hand lay. “It’s natural to worry.” You said, nodding.You paused, pursing your lips. “Do you want to go outside to the gardens to discuss it in private?” You offered, sending him a gentle smile.

“You still need to dress your wounds.” Scorpion pointed out.

“I can do that outside.” You told him, letting out a small chuckle. “My wounds aren’t bad enough that I cannot mend myself and listen to you.” You informed him. Grabbing your bag, you hoisted it onto your shoulder. You hissed as you accidentally placed it on the same shoulder where Bi-Han had touched. “Wrong shoulder.” You muttered.

“Allow me.” Kuai Liang said, grabbing the bag. With grace, he placed it upon his own shoulder. He then guided you outside the kitchen, to the gardens. You sent nods towards the Lin Kuei members who passed. A few were confused, seeing your condition, while a few were amused. Most seemed to simply not bring attention to your current state. 

“Everytime I come out here it’s prettier than the last.” You remarked as the two of you stepped outside. The snowfall was gentle. Normally you would try and grow fur out, but you needed to dress your wounds. You stepped closer to Kuai Liang, your pinkies accidentally brushing as you walked with him towards the bench near the center.

Kuai Liang was warm enough to abate the chill.

You made sure to sit close to the pyromancer, basking in the warmth he provided. He did not seem to him, and he even leaned the tiniest bit closer to you. You set to work on patching yourself up. As you did so, you realized just how bad your wounds looked, even if it did not feel that way. Either you were thicker skinned than you remembered, or the adrenaline was still pumping through your veins.

It could be both, in all honesty.

“So, about your brother?” You inquired after a few minutes of peace and quiet. While nice, that wasn’t the reason why you two had gone outside.

“I worry for Bi-Han.” Scorpion admitted, his gaze dropping to his hands. His hands clenched and unclenched slowly. “I feel as if he has been more…standoffish as of late.” The younger brother closes his eyes. “He has pushed me and Tomas away, especially Tomas.” You watch as his expression shifts into one of guilt. “I feel as if he seeks more and more power, straying from father’s principles.” There was a pause, “Is it wrong to doubt him, sometimes?”

You hold back the pit of despair in your stomach, staring at Scorpion. You remember the inky black shadow that you once knew Bi-Han was, and how Kuai Liang grieved over the loss of the man he once thought himself close to.

You could not let them drift apart.

“It’s not wrong.” You say, your voice quiet as you lean back on the bench, staring up to the darkening sky. Snowflakes fall onto your face, chilling you for a few moments before the warmth of your companion melts them away. “I can see what you mean.” You admit, shifting as you try to recall Bi-Han’s actions. “I think you should talk to Bi-Han.”

“I doubt that will go well.” Kuai Liang admits, and you nod, feeling the worry in your stomach grow. There had to be a way to prevent that horrible fate you remember. Not only to prevent corruption, but to keep the trio you’ve grown to care for together. “Brother is very headstrong.”

“You’re right.” You say, before drawing your gaze to the ground in defeat. “I’ll try and see if he will be more perceptive when talking to me sometime.” You offer, sending him a glance. “I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to insert myself into your family issues but…”

“No, I understand.” Scorpion says, his eyes settling on you. He searches your face, before nodding. “It would be appreciated. Brother has always…” The younger brother seems to search for the right words, hesitating, “He’s always been more…receptive of you.” You nod, though you felt there was a tone to his words you didn’t quite understand.

You could ask about that another day, right now, Kuai Liang’s troubles were more pressing.

“I’ll do whatever I must to help you, Kuai Liang.” You promised the yellow clad man. You smile at him, trying to subdue his worries. You saw him weakly return the smile. You placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. You paused, considering pulling the man in for a hug. Would that be going too far? 

You let go of his shoulder instead, afraid of going too far.

“Thank you.” Scorpion murmured, looking at you intently. “You do not have to go to such lengths for me, though. I can find a way to talk to brother if you are unable to.” He tells you, trying to make sure he is not putting too much pressure on you. “Just allowing me to air my grievances is enough for me.”

“You and your brothers mean a lot to me.” You admit, turning your gaze to look at the snowy landscape around you. How beautiful it is out here when you don’t have to worry about catching frostbite. You exhaled, watching your breath rise into the air. “I don’t mind, really.” 

“You mean a lot to me too, and I’m certain my brothers feel the same.”

Warmth bloomed in your heart, and internally you wondered if Scorpion had a secret ability to warm you up on the inside. You didn’t ask, only smiled at the man as you sat there for a bit longer. As much as your body longed to rest at a much warmer place, you were content sitting here just a touch longer.

“Thank you.” Kuai Liang repeated, looking towards you. You identified his gaze as fond, and you felt almost a bit too warm all of a sudden. Your fingers twitched in your lap. 

“You already said that.” You pointed out, a light laugh leaving your lips. You watched as his smile grew, just the tiniest bit.

“I know. It just felt important to say again because I truly mean it.”

And you knew, as long as you could preserve that small smile on his face, you would do what’s needed to fix this all.

Johnny Cage was acting…off.

Crossing your arms, you sighed as you stared at the actor. You had to admit, you saw why he considered himself a great actor. He was certainly hiding any signs of worry or distress well. Still, it did not pass your perception.

His smiles were just a touch more strained. Johnny’s effort was a bit more lacking, and he seemed to refrain from jokes the tiniest bit. Still, the actor did enough to pass by the normal eye. This wasn’t just a one day thing, he’s been off for nearly a week now. You glanced over to see Kenshi looking at you with a raised eyebrow. You waved his concern off. 

Did no one else perceive how off Johnny Cage was? 

“Johnny’s form is bothering me.” You lied, not wanting to expose the man. Kenshi glanced over to the actor, before nodding. You weren’t certain if he agreed or not, but he didn’t question your words. As skilled as he was, he was respectful enough to know not to question your teachings. Kenshi quickly left your side, going to the other monks for a lesson.

You let out another sigh, closing your eyes.

A visit to Madam Bo was long overdue.

“It is always a pleasure to have you.” Madam Bo said as you prepared the tea for both her and yourself. Your name rolled off her tongue in such a familiar way, the same way she would say her own child’s name. You both sat in her teahouse, after closing hours. 

You delicately placed the loose tea leaves in the cups, letting them steep in hot water before straining them out. As tradition for the way you were preparing them, you poured the first steep over the tea pets of the tea table. Then, you steeped the leaves once more.

This method was long familiar to you, a technique you assumed that you had from your past life. Madam Bo, when you had grown close, was delighted that someone else partook in this method of tea brewing. She often told you to keep it in mind, just in case you might need to do it to present the best tea to someone in an impressive way. She even taught you other traditional methods of serving tea.

You weren’t certain whether she was simply joking or not, but you practiced this method often enough. It made you feel regal and skilled, even if it wasn’t anything too fancy. Maybe the older lady was right, you’d need this someday.

“It’s always a pleasure to visit. I should do it more often.” You agreed, nodding. 

“You should, especially now that you’ve taken Kung Lao and Raiden from me.” The older lady remarked, a light teasing tone in her voice. She looked at you with raised eyebrows as you handed her the second cup of strained tea. “As much as I’d like to believe you came to visit me for fun, I can tell you have something on your mind, child.”

“You know me too well.” You admit as you cradle your own cup of tea in your hands. It was warm, and it reminded you of Scorpion. You looked down at your cup, swirling the tea around in thought. “I worry for a few people, and I was hoping you might give me advice.”

Madam Bo nodded, before taking a sip of tea. She hummed in delight, seeming to like the particular flavor of the leaves you had chosen tonight. 

“For starters, I worry about Bi-Han, Kuai Liang, and Tomas.” You admitted, knowing that you could confide in the older lady without worry that your grievances would leave her lips. You paused to sip the tea, calming your nerves. “Kuai Liang told me he worries that Bi-Han strays from Lin Kuei principles, and I can see what he means.”

“That one has always been too headstrong for his own good.” The old lady remarked, a tone of sass in her voice. You recalled how she had told you that she had been Lin Kuei too, once. “I do not blame him, his father was always harsher on him than his brothers.” She handed you her cup for another refill of tea. “Too much pressure can even crack a diamond.”

“I know.” You say, remembering the old Grandmaster. You had only known him for a little bit of time before his untimely death. You had thought him for the most part kind, at least to you. You did know that he was also rather strict, and how you never truly knew what went on behind closed doors. Although you had been trained a bit in the Lin Kuei’s ways, you had always been treated a bit differently.

It probably helped that you were considered a close companion to the god they served.

“Bi-Han, although at times thickheaded, is not completely unreasonable.” Madam Bo reassured you, gladly taking the refill of tea you provided for her. The older lady paused, seeming to think on her next words. “I’d advise to try and guide him towards better ideals. The elder gods above know that trying to confront him outright would not work.”

“I see.” You said, trying to formulate a plan in your head. You sighed at the look Madam Bo gave you. It was the same look she sent you whenever she was about to scold you for overworking yourself. “I know the Lin Kuei’s family issues are not my duty, but I fear what will happen if he does not change his ways.”

“You always were too selfless, child.” Madam Bo chided, though she did not press on. Instead, she took another sip of her tea. “I assume there is more?” She inquired, and you nodded.

“One of my students, Johnny…” You paused, looking at her face to see if she recalled who he was. You sighed, before sending her a look, “The handsome actor.” You quipped, and you saw her face light up in recognition. You couldn’t restrain the laugh that escaped your lips. “He has been off lately.”

“In what way?” 

“Well,” You poured the hot water over the leaves, preparing yourself another cup of tea. “He is usually enthusiastic and joyful, but it feels like he’s been forcing it lately.” You watched as the leaves steeped. “I don't know how to approach him about it.”

“You’re usually not this withdrawn when asking others about their issues.” Madam Bo pointed out, and you found your face growing warm from how true it was. Perhaps you were a bit too nosy. “But I can always offer you my special tea to serve him, if you wish.” 

You hummed considering it, despite the slight joking tone in her voice. While you had never drunk her special tea, you know it had properties like alcohol. You mind swam for a moment as you felt a hazy memory of lounging around while an older Johnny Cage while he confided in you over as he sipped on some alcohol.

That, and you remembered him drinking alcohol while he had discussed with his wife.

You knew that alcohol in excess and partaking in it too often was bad but…maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let him indulge in it just once. Maybe he needed it, and if he didn’t want it, he didn’t need to take it and you would just talk to him normally anyways.

“You know what? I’ll take it.”

“Alright, I’m here, teach.” 

Looking up, you smiled and waved Johnny over to the small table you set up for tonight. You had told Raiden earlier to take a night off, you needed to talk to someone. Then, you asked Johnny Cage to meet you in the courtyard tonight.

“Woah, what’s all of this?” Johnny Cage inquired, looking at the small set up you had. It was a table with the tea from Madam Bo (much diluted, to your request), and some snacks you had heard from Madam Bo was usually eaten by drunkards in her teahouse.

“I wanted to talk to you.” You said, slightly avoiding the question. “I know the monks don’t want alcohol here, so I wanted to offer you an alternative you wanted.” You gestured to the teapot. “Madam Bo’s special tea. I’ve heard it’s like alcohol, and I thought that you might appreciate it.” You saw the actor’s eyebrows rise, and you felt a little silly. “You don’t have to drink it or anything, I’m not forcing you to, but I figured you might want it. I want to ask about why you’ve been off lately.”

“You’ve noticed, huh?” Johnny said, walking over to the table. He paused before taking the teacup and raising it to you, asking for it to be filled. You poured it for him, a little portion for him. “You’re right to give me this, this shit is gonna suck to talk about.” The actor saying blatantly, before drinking the tea swiftly, as if it were a shot. He let out a long whistle. “Damn, that shit is strong.”

“It’s diluted too.”

“Really?” He said, looking down at the cup. “Can’t imagine how it must feel at its full strength.” He said, before lifting the cup again. You gave him another pour, mentally telling yourself to keep track of how much he was going to drink. There was a brief moment of silence before he sighed. “Thought you’d be wanting to talk about acting, finally.” 

“We can do that, if you prefer.” You offered, shrugging. “I just thought it would be better to talk about what has been on your mind lately.”

“Nah, for once I don’t wanna talk about acting.” Johnny admitted as he relaxed his shoulders. He looked upwards to the starry sky, and you don’t think you’ve seen the expression on his face ever since you spied on him and his wife. “My wife-” You watched as the man cringed, “My ex wife called me a few days ago.”

“Oh.” You said, connecting the dots together. Johnny and his wife, or his ex wife, were splitting. You looked at Johnny Cage with a look of pity. Your mind throbbed as you were reminded of a very similar scenario, consoling the very same man about divorce, but for a much different person. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine.” Johnny Cage sighed, before pausing and rolling his neck. “Well, it’s not. But I’m trying to think it’s fine.” There was another beat of silence as Johnny’s face turned sorrowful. It was an expression you didn’t think fit him. “I really thought she’d be the one.”

You opened your mouth, wanting to say something, anything, but thought better of it. You closed your mouth and nodded, waiting for the man to talk more. 

“Cris- my ex, she used to be my world.” Johnny lamented as he reached for a piece of food. He scratched the back of his neck. “She used to understand my dream, or at least I thought she did.” He tilted his head to you, looking at you with grief in his eyes. “Is it so wrong to want to chase my dreams? Or was she right and I’m in over my head?”

“I…” You paused, trying to think. You swallowed. “I don’t think you’re wrong.” You said carefully, as if the wrong words would shatter the man who sat beside you. You had a few more things you thought you could say, but they all felt wrong to say at the moment, so you just left it at that.

“Glad to hear someone thinks that.” The actor said, though you could tell there was a hint of uncertainty in his tone. “Divorce sucks ass, man.” He admitted as he swirled around the tea you had just poured for him, not drinking it just yet. “Do you think a man like me could ever get a second- well, more than a second chance, at love?”

“Yeah.” You said the word leaving your mouth before you could even process it. You looked over to see a surprised Johnny. You forced yourself to keep going, as to not make yourself seem like a fool. You looked away, looking up at the stars. “I think you just need to find someone who can support your new dreams.”

“Hm.” 

You wondered if you had said something wrong, before you heard a small laugh leave Johnny’s lips. 

“You know,” The actor said your name, something you weren’t used to, causing you to look over to the actor. He was smiling, even if it was a small and weak one. “You’re easy to talk to.” He admitted, closing his eyes. 

If only he remembered what you did. How this scenario of him confiding in you was all too familiar to you. You forced a smile, not wanting the man to see the brief moment of weakness in remembering a life that he did not.

“I’m glad.”

“I really needed to talk about this.” He groaned, before downing the cup. He paused before he set down the cup. “Hey, is it wrong of me to want to shit talk my ex?” The actor asked, raising an eyebrow. You raised yours in turn, before humming.

“Well, the monks would normally advocate for me to tell you to move past those feelings…” You said, looking away before looking back at him with a small smile. “But I think maybe just this once it’d be fine to let you…’air your grievances.’” You said, putting up quotation marks. “I think ranting it all out first would be good for you, we can work on getting over her later.”

Johnny’s face split into a smile as he sat up, seeming more happy than the last few days. 

“Okay so this one time, she…”

You both talked all through the night, nearly until the sunrise was about to begin. You didn’t care though, because the joy on Johnny’s face was worth the missed sleep.

part nine

[blissfulip]

Dopamine

On AO3:

Viktor x f!reader

Rating: Explicit

Tags: enemies to lovers, slow burn, angst, dubious science, mostly canon compliant, no use of y/n, chemist!reader, eventual smut.

Cw: explosions (no casualties), rude language.

Words: 1.6k

[A/N: tags and content warnings to be updated in each chapter, updates weekly.]

Part 2 Part 3

Chapter 1: A Forced Vacation

The sound of the blast was loud and echoing, which made Viktor believe the explosion must have happened nearby. Jayce's immediate reaction after uncovering his ears was to go out the door to try to find the source, but Viktor stopped him, reminding him that they didn't know if there was fire or anything dangerous outside. The announcement came shortly after when a muffled voice urged them to evacuate the academy building through the speakers on the ceiling.

"Please remain calm; a small-sized explosion has taken place at the manufacturing facilities; there is a chance there might be potentially harmful compounds in the air, so please make sure to correctly place the gas masks provided at the beginning of the academic term, you may situate them under the emergency equipment cupboard near the main entrance of each laboratory room, we reiterate: please remain calm as you evacuate the premises."

"Small explosion?" Jayce huffed as he retrieved the masks from the cupboard. Both of them did as they were told and calmly but energetically walked down the hallway to get to the main entrance of the building, where dozens had already congregated.

No one seemed to be affected by the recent developments except for Viktor; he even overheard a group of people excitedly chattering about possible places to have fun during their sudden evening off. Interruptions already annoyed him profoundly, but the importance of the breakthrough he recently had made this untimely interference ever more infuriating. He was leaning on a wall, impatiently tapping his cane against the concrete floor, when Jayce decided to investigate the matter, and the expression on his face when he came back was less than encouraging.

"So?"

"I don't think we'll be able to return to work, at least not today."

"What happened, though? What was the explosion about?"

"Uh…one of the quenching systems blew up; not sure I understood the reason why." Jayce hoped Viktor didn't catch on to the reason for his hesitation, but he did; it was a lost cause.

"Ha! I should've known it had to do with the chemistry department; it's almost like she is scheduled to create chaos at least once a month." Viktor started to raise his voice and gesture excessively.

"Come on, Vik, cut her some slack; they didn't expressly say she was directly responsible for any of this."

"When is it not her fault, though? It's almost like she lives to hinder my work!"

"Why are you so angry? Did you misplace your caliper again?" You said, appearing from behind Jayce with a playful pout only to annoy him more intentionally.

"If it isn't the source of all my problems," Viktor said, rolling his eyes.

"What did I do now?" You said, laughing ironically.

"I had an inkling that such a monumental mishandling could only be your fault." he hissed.

"you're wrong as usual, Sparkle."

"You designed those vents!" This accusation struck a nerve in you. And any mood for playful banter had been substituted by indignation.

"First of all, I'm a chemist, not an engineer, so if anything, it's a testament to my brilliance that those scrubbers have been working at all, and as a matter of fact, they would have continued working perfectly if it weren't for you."

"What do we have to do with any of this?"

"The sizing of the quenching system I put in place was appropriate until the hextech team came to be, and you two decided to start pumping out microelectronics all the time, the amount of suppressing agent that has to be pumped through the system to accommodate for the things you have been manufacturing exacerbated the machine, of course it was gonna explode eventually!"

"Why didn't you adjust the sizing then?"

"Because it's not my job! I'm here to research organic materials, not design your machinery. I warned the council, and they didn't seem to care, so if you have a problem, take it up with them for not hiring the appropriate people for the job."

"How can you be so offhand about what happened? This could've been fatal had there been people in the facility."

"Oh, get off your high horse, Viktor, you're only mad because I'm involved, and you're being forced to interrupt your work. Don't pretend like you care."

"Of course I care. Do you think I'm a monster?"

"Of course not. You're definitely well known for being big on safety protocols." You said with a clear tone of sarcasm.

Viktor knew you were right and could not argue against that, but he wanted to retort. He wanted very badly to say anything at all. Unfortunately, you had already turned on your heels to walk away from them, leaving him with narrowed eyes and a deep frown.

"You kind of set yourself up for that one," Jayce said casually. He had been quietly witnessing you two fight as he usually did. Viktor gave him a furious glare as a response and walked back to his dormitories resentfully quiet.

--------------------------------------

Murmurs could be heard coming from the entrance of the laboratory wing. There was a strong feeling of emptiness in your stomach as you approached, that you usually would have attributed to not having eaten anything that morning; however, this time, it was a clear fear of facing the consequences of the previous afternoon’s incident. It hadn’t been your fault; you were as angry as the next person, and for an institution with that many wealthy investors, the Academy had a silent policy of spending as little as possible on as few departments as they could. Everyone knew that with the unlooked-for creation of the Hextech team, the investments in all the other research departments had been drained to be allotted to the council’s golden duo; there had been multiple coffee machine conversations about it. Yet, you were anxious.

They wouldn’t blame you, would they? Viktor did, and if there’s something that son of a bitch was good at beyond tightening nuts and bolts was persuading a crowd. What prevented him from convincing all your colleagues that this whole debacle was your burden? All that muttering was probably him rallying up a crowd to lynch you.

You breathed in. When have you been afraid to face him before? This was unlike you.

I don’t owe anything to anyone. That idiot can badmouth my character as much as he likes, but he can’t argue with the facts.

You relaxed your shoulders and unclenched your jaw.

“Get a grip, damn it!” You said to yourself quietly as you put on a laid-back cast and opened the door to the main hall.

No heads were left unturned when you walked in. Some faces were neutral, some carried the type of warm smile of someone who would be happy to see you, there was that one guy from the poli-sci department who was a tad too smug about your entrance, some seemed worried, and one of them—the bane of your existence—looked at you with a pronounced frown, eyes narrowed, and mouth turned upside-down.

"What's everyone doing here? I thought I was late already. Did I miss a memo?" You said with a casual tone, a painfully obvious attempt at masking the existential crisis you were having just moments earlier.

"Labs are gonna be closed for a month; something about them needing to disinfect and ventilate potential harmful agents from the facilities."

Part of you was glad it had been your friend Moira who spoke up first, but on the other hand, you feared the silence before the storm, and you were soon proved to be justified in doing so.

"I hope you are happy."

"Why would I be?

"You just cost us a month’s worth of work." Viktor sneered through his teeth.

"I'm sure you can afford that. Differently from the rest of the research departments, you don't have the risk of losing your funding if you don't churn out constant developments, so I don't see why you are so upset."

"This isn't the first time you have gotten in the way of my work. You could say I've boiled over."

This is when people started to walk away. Your 'explosive' relationship with Viktor wasn't a novelty to anyone, and they knew better than to try to intervene. It had been more than a year at this point; you resented him for not admitting the preferential treatment they were given by the Academy, and he resented you for some…unfortunate accidents that had delayed his work before. You both knew you had some fault in each of those things, but stubbornness and pride had prevented you from admitting this to one another. To his dismay, Jayce had had to play mediator, the child of a divorce that never happened.

"Except this time, it wasn't my fault, but of course, you'd jump at any opportunity to blame me for something."

"Maybe if you were competent enough to complete the task you were given, it wouldn't have happened."

You were livid.

"I played engineer for a couple of weeks and designed a machine that worked without a hitch for 3 years. You are an engineer and can't get any of those little prototypes of yours to work. Remind me who's incompetent again?"

"Woah, okay, that's enough. Let's all go home and relax, okay?" Jayce said, already dragging Viktor from his cane arm and not allowing him to proffer any of the offenses he intended to.

How dare he say you were incompetent? You were head and shoulders above him in every possible category. Fine, perhaps he had an edge when it came to discipline. And organization. Maybe charisma, somehow everyone liked him. You understood why. He was handsome too, charming even…

Maybe if he— No. don’t even start.

[simping-overload]

Day 2 - Dottore

including: bondage, excessive use of vibrators, multiple orgasms, gn reader

note: if anyone has any tips to improve my snut writing lmk! // ao3 link

ヾthis is a multi-fandom blog that is designed for mlm/nbmlm identifying readers! so if you're female or fem please do not follow or interact with my mlm related post!! you will be blocked if you do not heed this warning ゛

You've been working with Dottore for a while now as his assistant. You, of course, run his errands, fetch what he needs, and occasionally have to find someone for him to experiment on next.

This time, however, he wanted you to be the experiment. Due to the fact you were in no position at all to decline, you agreed. That's how you ended up here, tied down to his table, with a vibrator strapped to your sex while the other is in your hole.

You aren't sure how long you've been like this, only that you know you've had around 3 organisms in a row. You try to rub your thighs together, an attempt to create friction that the vibrator can't replicate it the way you want.

Your to focused chasing after your own pleasure in your lust clouded mine to notice Dottore had entered the room. While he takes great pleasure at the sound of your moans, he doesn't like it if you are disobeying his orders. Ones that were simple enough for his darling assistant to understand.

The icy cold hand that rests itself on the hallow of your neck is enough to cease your movements. You freeze, eyes widen in fear and surprise. You slowly begin to lean your head back and look into those peirceing eyes.

"My, what do we have here? You went against my orders, one that was very simple. All you had to do was not move, my dear. It seems I've overestimated your obedience."

Dottore moves his hand to have a hasher grip on your neck, and in his other hand, he holds the remote for the vibrators. His thumb rests on the increase symbol.

"Now, I can either increase this, making you become even more of a drolling mess than you already are. Or decrease it enough to have it still give you your pleasure, but not in the amount you want."

Dottore challenges you. He knows you well enough to be aware of what you will choose.

"Increase it, please, my lord. I promise this time I won't dare to move." You plead, eyes rolling into the back of your head as he increases it to what seemed to be the highest level.

Dottore removes his hand from your neck, putting on the left side of your chest to feel your racing heartbeat. He then moves down to where the vibrator inside you would be, someplace under your belly button.

He presses down on it, applying pressure to the area, making the vibrator press against that bundle of nerves even more. As much as you want to move, to have the vibrator pressed against it even more, you don't dare to.

Dottore lets this go on for a few more minutes before removing his hand from your stomach, walking around the table to undue your ankle restraints.

"Lord Dottore...? What are you doing?" You ask, mind still clouded, trying to comprehend his actions as he gets onto the table with you, fishing his cock out from his pants.

"Just part of the experiment, no need to worry." He tapes another vibrator to the tip of his cock before lubeing the rest of his shaft generously. He didn't even flinch when he turned the vibrator on to max volume, as if it didn't affect him.

He keeps a firm grip on your thighs as he rests your calfs on his shoulders. Lining up his tip with your entrance he shoves his cock in, his balls hitting against your ass with a loud slap noise.

You suck in painful breath at the feeling, fingernails digging into your palm. He was generous enough to let your body adjust and for the pain to subside. You calm your heaving breaths, forcing your body to relax.

Dottore caresses your hip, rubbing small circles into it as he continues. He starts at a slow pace, the vibrator tapped to his tip, rubs against yours. The pain quickly turns into pleasure at the overwhelming feeling.

You felt amazing around Dottores cock, walls clenching around him, sucking him in as if your life depended on it. He whispers praises, as he goes faster. The power of the vibrators amplifying the pleasure.

He leans down, bringing your knees to shoulders while he presses his forehead against yours. His crimson eyes looking into your unfocused lust filled ones.

"Look at you. You're taking me so well. If I'd knew you'd be such a good cock sleeve I would've done this sooner." He praises, attacking your lips with his. The kiss was aggressive and greedy. He nips the bottom of your lips with his shark like teeth, enjoying the way your blood tastes on his tongue.

You can feel his pace quicken, his movements getting sloppy as he deepens the kiss. Forcing his tongue past your lips and teeth and into your mouth. His tongue twirls around yours. You can feel that knot in your stomach beginning to unravel.

You break the kuss to both speak and regain your breath.

"My lord, I'm gonna—!"

You moan loudly, throwing your head back against the table as you cum all over yourself and Dottore. He seems to be close aswell, slamming his hips against yours a final time.

He bites into your shoulder, making you, as he realses his load into you. He licks up the blood from the bite wound, before kissing you again.

He pulls himself out of you with a wet pop, resting his now limp duck against your stomach. He however, keeps the vibrators still attached and in you.

"I hope your experiment was a success, my lord." You say, with heavy breaths.

"Oh you're mistaken my dear, the experiment isn't over yet."

"...What?"

[the-carnival-rabbit]

Welcome to the blog of Carnival Jax!

We found this feral Ai just wandering about and mauling random pedestrians who decided it was a bright idea to try and grab at him! Instead of just returning this beast to his ai, we decided ti give him this here blog!

You can sent him asks asking about his life and where he's from, but don't expect him to be very fluent with his words or to spill any secrets!

WARNING

This blog will likely contain mentions of drugs, alcohol, alongside heavier topics like mental breakdown, panic attacks, ect. Sexual topics may be touched upon, but Suicidal topics will be kept to a minimum if it can be helped.

Be aware that both the character and the person behind this blog are adults, so for fucks sake don't send me sexual shit if you're a minor.

Roleplaying!

"This is the sort of text that will appear when Jax is talking"

*When Jax is doing an action, it will appear like this*

(And this is how I as the mod will speak with someone. I will appear from time to time, so heya)

ANON GUIDELINES!

After some rather nasty anonymous asks (you know who you are, and I hope you feel the sensation of a single hair being in your mouth at all times) I feel the need to set up anon guidelines, so here they are!

• No harm directed towards any of the baby bunnies. I really shouldn't have to even say this, but here we are!

• No overly violent, psychologically, or verbally abusive asks directed towards Carnival OR the mod. While I haven't gotten any directed towards me yet, I'm not leaving that open for a loophole.

Does this mean that you can't send angst asks or anything? No. You can still send them, and they will still be answered, but it's not hard to find the line in the sand I'm drawing with this cause most of you know what would cross that line.

• No hard-core or over the top gore. This one is pretty self-explanatory.

• Some amount of Sexuality in an ask is ok, but nothing too overly exaggerated or non-consensual. Like the second bullet point, most of you know what would cross that line in the sand.

To clarify, no, this is in no regard to if you're in the LGBTQ+ community. This is in entire regard to sexual topics as a whole, I just had no idea how to word it.

• This is a giving sort of one. If you don't feel like you can send the ask out of anon without being blocked, then don't send it.

Failure to follow these guidelines will result in the anon being blocked, and if it gets to be too excessive, there is a possibility I will turn off anonymous asking for a day!

I do not want to turn off anonymous asking due to how unfair it is for the people following this blog who just don't feel comfortable coming out from it, however I do know that sometimes there is no other choice for it.

Extras!

I have one other blog run by me @patchwork-the-fox, so go check it out if you want. That's where Mari's reference sheet is, but I'll probably post it here at some point.

The Carnival Au is something created by Sm-Baby, so go check them out too while you're at it.

For this blog, Carnival is 7 ft 6.

If there is a poll going on, you can find it by searching either "poll" or "choose carefully"

[lumienyx]

bloodless much?

I see @spacebarbarianweird's excellent point on Tav being unable to give Astarion blood that often since it would deteriorate their health.

But also listen.

One thing I love about DND sorcery is metamagic. At its most basic, it's ' twisting and adapting your spells to suit your needs.' Sure there are the canonical effects, but thinking outside game mechanics—technically as a sorcerer you can tinker with spells however you damn well please.

Which is what my Tav does when he makes a scroll that replenishes his blood faster than is humanly (or, well, half-elvenly) possible.

Astarion ends up drinking the extra blood, leaving Tav with just enough for him to function normally and go about his day as usual (something to be definitely included in touch too much ehehe)

Which means:

A totally valid canonical reason for Tav letting Astarion drink from him daily, sometimes several times a day, i.e. Astarion never has to go without a sentient creature's blood ever again and is always well fed

I'd assume the first times Tav attempts this don't go over that well and that makes his blood cells multiply a bit too fast. He ends up going over to Shadowheart, thoroughly embarrassed and asking for a complex healing session for the Serious Condition he really could not have ended up with that quickly, having to painstakingly explain to her what the hells even happened (spoiler: she is Not Impressed. “You’re seriously making me waste a day’s worth of energy fixing you up because you wanted to become an infinite blood bank for your thirsty vampire lover?”)

Alternatively, and this fits EVEN BETTER (thanks to @satanicspinosaurus for pointing it out), the excess number of red blood cells is called erythrocytosis, which is what Tav would accidentally end up with as he experiments. And one of the primary treatments for this is LITERALLY phlebotomy, i.e. removing blood. So Tav explaining the whole situation to Astarion would probably go somewhat like this...

“Uh, Astarion?” “Yes, my sweet—” Astarion frowns after taking one glance at Tav’s face. “What is it? You look a bit feverish. Is something the matter?” Tav bites his lip, feeling his cheeks grow warm as he speaks, “Well. Yes. And no? Kind of.” “Eloquent.” Tav heaves a deep sigh. “Anyway. Shadowheart sent me. She can’t heal this… disease I have—or, well, she can, but she actually said the best treatment is something you can do for me. And we need to get to it fast, otherwise I’ll die, so. Here.” Tav extends his wrist, bared and ready to be drunk from. Astarion only blinks at him, zero understanding in his eyes and now quite a bit more concern. “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific, love," he says. "Why exactly did our resident healer send you to get healed by me? Especially since this is serious? My talents lie in stealth, trickery, and necromancy as of late—and you still look very much alive.” “Blood,” Tav grits through his teeth, looking anywhere but Astarion’s face. “You need to drink my blood. A lot of it. I completely fucked up the strength of a spell.” “What spell,” Astarion demands, “would lead to you needing to lose blood?” “I wanted to create one that would increase the amount of blood I have by speeding up the body’s natural blood replenishment speed,” Tav explains to the clouds he’s distinctly observing. Anywhere but Astarion’s face. “And well. I ended up with far more of it than I need. It’s my first attempt, all right?” He forces his head to turn to look Astarion at last, who’s still staring at him blankly, with slightly parted lips. Probably thinking Tav is a massive idiot. “You can drink just about a quarter of my blood at this point," Tav offers weakly. "With no consequence.” Astarion doesn’t react at first. At all. Simply stands there before Tav, looking at him long and hard as if waiting for more words that never come, as the weight of embarrassment blocks all of Tav’s attempts at further explaining himself. “Well, darling,” Astarion finally says, taking the couple of steps that separate them—and suddenly, Tav feels Astarion’s hands on him, locking him in an embrace he’s happy to be captive in. Tav melts into it, mesmerized by the hungry look in those red eyes, as always comforted by the coolness of Astarion’s skin as he leans in to place a kiss on Tav’s neck. “How could I say no to such a delicious treat?”

Astarion gets his treat every day from now on. He is very happy with the arrangement

The result of Tav’s experiments is a Scroll of Blood Replenishment that I imagine Tav would stylize to look quite cool, red parchment and all. But since he would be making those scrolls on the daily, I guess the red would be a bit overkill to do that often and it ends up looking like any other scroll, much to Tav's dismay, but he needs to keep things efficient for his lover

In time, Tav learns to cast the spell sans scroll (does Gale help him out with it? sorcerer-wizard buddies ftw??) So, Astarion can just slide up to him, pull a Puss in Boots look, and Tav would just have to whisper a few words, his body instantly providing a filling meal for Astarion whenever and wherever they are

And I just think that’s neat, thanks for coming to my BloodTed Talk.

~~~

requests open

tag list (comment or dm to be added)

@spacebarbarianweird @satanicspinosaurus, @tallymonster, @tragedybunny

[mauesartetc]

Thoughts on Helluva Boss 108 ("Queen Bee")

Yeeeah so we knew pretty much from the jump that this episode wouldn't have much substance to it. Viv Medrano herself said as much. But again, I have to wonder: What's the point of making a full episode of a show if you don't have the story to support it? You know the phrase "This meeting could have been an email"? This episode could have been a music video.

I typically include a list of pros and a list of cons when I write these, but everything was just so bland I can't functionally categorize much of it. I wasn't angry, I wasn't entertained, I didn't feel anything. All my thoughts about this episode are floating around in a soup and I just can't be bothered to sort them into the usual boxes. So this'll be more of a barely-coherent brainspew than anything else. If the writers couldn't put the effort in, why should I?

Fuck it, let's do this.

First, the elephant in the room: Beelzebub's design. That's a lengthy separate rant I'll save for another time, but I'll just say the first time I saw it, I thought it looked like some kid's DeviantArt fursona. But let's be real, I've got a feeling she only looks the way she does so Viv could make an easy reference to her "Die Young" music video.

I get that Kesha is Viv's idol and it must have been huge to land her for this voice-acting gig (though to be clear, she didn't sing the song in the episode. Helped write it; didn't sing it), but man, the self-indulgence is just leaking through the screen. This wouldn't feel so uncomfortable if Viv herself did any of the animation in this episode, but if you check the credits, she didn't. She wrote this plot cul-de-sac of pointless filler just so she could make other people animate the most complex character design to come out of the show and pat herself on the back for all of it. Again: Could have been a music video.

The episode's actual "plot" consists of Loona having a series of awkward conversations, calling Blitzo, and driving him home when he gets too trashed. There is a little development in their relationship? I guess? But of course no one mentions what went down at the beach. Much like what happened between Blitzo and Stolas in "Ozzie's", we can safely assume that event will get swept under the rug, never to be heard from again. I'd like to point out that the musical number takes about three minutes out of the fourteen-and-a-half-minute runtime. They could have cut the rest of this shit and nothing would have been lost; in fact a good amount of time and money would have been saved.

Three minutes. That's all you would have needed.

As far as Bee and Vortex, I never would've guessed they were a couple unless Vortex said so. They act more like good friends than boyfriend and girlfriend. Y'all couldn't have shown us a kiss, a little flirting, or even a hug? The PDA doesn't have to be excessive, but some indication of chemistry might be nice. This would also create more tension and discomfort for Loona, as it'd be hard to watch the guy she has a crush on make out with someone else.

Also, question: In this universe, hellhounds have roughly the same social status as imps, right? Maybe lower? Why, then, is it perfectly okay for one of the Seven Sins, who outranks Stolas, to date a hellhound, but it's not okay for Stolas to date an imp? What the fuck was the main conflict of "Ozzie's", then?! Hello?? With what little worldbuilding y'all give us, could you at least try to keep it consistent?

Speaking of which, the cleanup in this one is just rife with inconsistencies. It's not usually something I comment on as it hasn't been too noticeable in other episodes, but damn. Sometimes the outlines are thick, then they're thin, then they're thick again. The screenshots below came from three consecutive Loona scenes:

And take a look at how often Beelzebub's longest eyelashes change:

I noticed a bit of this in Exes and Oohs as well, with the scratch on Chaz's nose changing thickness from scene to scene. I'll repeat what I said then: Make sure the whole cleanup department sticks to the same brush size.

As for the song "Cotton Candy"... eh. It was alright? Not really my thing, but I'm not a big pop music fan anyway. Would I listen to it in my everyday life? Nah. But it's fine. I will say there's a hiccup in the meter of the lyrics that kinda threw me off:

Hey, I don't know why I'm whatchu want but it's the truth I'm not your lie Let them eat cake let them eat pie Or better yet Let them eat COTTON CANDY!

Feels like there could've been more after "or better yet"; the "cotton candy" seems abrupt there, as if the song were playing on vinyl and the record skipped. Maybe "Or better yet/ The sweetest treat that any one of y'all can get/ COTTON CANDY!" Like I'm not a songwriter by any means and I don't pretend to be anywhere near Kesha or Drew Pearson's level, but perhaps a few more syllables would've made that verse feel more complete.

But the animation for the musical number was really good! (Sounding like a broken record here, but this could have been a music video and it would've been much more tolerable.)

Kesha's voice acting was okay, though in some spots it came off like she's never said the f-word before. Just didn't seem natural. But the rest was alright.

I did like how Beelzebub was actually a decent person, since it would've been way too easy to make anyone Vortex was dating (who wasn't Loona) a total bitch. But Bee is gregarious, generous and actually nice to Loona despite her social awkwardness. And hey, Loona had a somewhat-positive interaction with another female character, so brownie points for that, I guess?

Not sure what Loona actually learned here, though, or how she magically dropped the attitude and became more social after some rando flirted with her (I mean you were literally crying a minute ago but some dude calling you hot is enough to change your mind about leaving?). I don't know, it feels like the episode could've shown her connecting with other introverts and doing something fun in their own little enclave, enjoying the party in their own way, rather than making her extroverted in a matter of seconds. Then maybe her newfound friends would like her for who she really is, not for the arbitrary box she tried to squeeze into. There's more than one way to have fun at a party, y'know? Perhaps a way that doesn't involve drinking, which Loona seems keen to avoid (but has no problem cheering Blitzo on in a chugging contest, apparently-?).

One nitpick about the hellhound in the purple shirt who called Loona a hottie: That was not the voice I expected to come out of him. The delivery just doesn't match at all. Something deep, sure, but maybe smoother, more sultry? (Seriously, if you played the audio of that line for someone who hadn't seen the show and asked them to match it to a male character from this episode, I'd bet anything they wouldn't get it on the first try.)

I know I've said before that Helluva Boss is what happens when you write fanfic of your own IP, but this episode, more than any other, reeaaally felt like fanfic. This felt like a fan asking, "Hey, what if we saw what Loona was up to in the Ozzie's episode?", then creating a bottle story that didn't affect anything else in canon. This whole thing (apart from Cotton Candy) was truly a waste of everyone's time. I'm glad the animators got some good reel fodder out of it, but whatever they were paid, it wasn't enough.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Amplification: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.9k

Summary: A deadly spread of Anthrax is going around infecting and killing people. One of your own is affected that completely tears your world into two. How will you over come this?

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

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

x

The bookstore has been closed ever since Albert died, and Gayle's purchase happened right before it closed down. It would explain why only three people were hit, and when General Whitworth sent his men in for testing, they came back positive for Anthrax.

Albert's bookstore was the unsub's test run. He's gotta have a history with the place, so Penelope needs to come up with a list of present and past employees of the place, customers with grievances against the owner, and if any of them had a science background.

An attack of Anthrax isn't meant to kill three people inside a bookstore, it wants to be out in the open where it can feed and multiply in the way that it wants to. Just a small amount can wipe everyone out, and they'd never see it coming.

Another hour goes by and the six survivors of the attack are now down to four. This attack is killing people left and right and there is nothing you can do about it. The more they die off, the more family members demand answers for what's happening.

"It feels like the plague of Egypt," Linda says.

"Ten scourges created by God. Plague six was unhealable boils believed by biblical scholars to be caused by Anthrax."

"You never missed Sunday school, did you?"

"Actually, I've never been before. How is she doing?" Spencer asks about Abby.

"She's a fighter. She's held on this long because she's young and strong, but she's started to bleed into her lungs. We're running into another problem, though. When the next of kin have questions, what do we tell them about the cause of death?"

That is a question only Hotch and General Whitworth can answer. You can't tell anyone anything without punishment if it didn't come from Hotch. Instead of thinking things like that, you can try and think of the unsub and profile you have on him. It might help your team catch whoever is doing this.

Because the locations aren't symbolically significant, the attacks are personal. Understanding the significance of the locations will be the key to identifying the unsub.

This personal element strongly indicates a home-grown terrorist like the Amerithrax case. This is someone from the science or defense community. That's why the CIA is here. Hotch thinks they may know him. These home-grown terrorists are myopic zealots that believe that their work is of the greatest importance.

He may have preached about the threat of an attack on America. His coworkers would describe him as histrionic, paranoid, and secretive. He may have logged excess hours at work in the past weeks preparing for the attack. He even might have taken the full dosage of Anthrax vaccines over the recommended eighteen-month schedule and had yearly boosters.

This guy has his own workspace where he makes his product in privacy. He also has access to large, expensive, industrial-grade equipment at work. He's written about the threats of Anthrax attacks and published papers about it, yet he feels no one is listening, and that angers him. Now, he may have recently experienced some sort of professional humiliation like being demoted or fired. Now, that would have been his trigger, the moment he decided to go rogue.

He may have betrayed his loved ones to his cause and may be recently separated or divorced. This is somebody who knows every detail of the 2001 Anthrax attack and has talked about what that suspect did right or wrong. He's watching the news very closely to see how the country reacts, and it's not a good one.

The CIA dug deep into their records and found a video of a classified hearing with the Subcommittee on Defense and Homeland Security in January of 2002. Dr. Lawrence Nichols used to work at the institution and left in 2002. The video is sent to your team at the hospital, Derek's team in Maryland, and the main office with everyone else. You and Spencer go into an empty hospital room to watch the video. Dr. Nichols went to the Senator to ask for money for a project he wanted to do with dangerous chemicals. He went to talk to the Senator about the attack in 2001 and why he should have funding for his project.

"Five people died. If you ask me, we're lucky it was just five. We're lucky that whoever sent these letters used cheap porous envelopes and not a crop duster. America's enemies are capable of wiping out entire cities, and we are woefully unprepared."

"I'm looking at your proposal--"

"Yes, sir," Dr. Nichols cuts the Senator off. "Every household needs gas masks and a two-month supply of Cipro for each resident. Every major city needs hospitals with bio-safety decontamination capabilities."

"Regarding the budget you propose for this operation--"

"Anything short of fifty billion would be grossly negligent."

"Dr. Nichols, you've got to realize how unrealistic that is. We can't justify spending that kind of money on an attack that may not happen."

"You people are in denial!" Dr. Nichols exclaims.

"Doing this would incite fear and panic among the public."

"This country should be panicked! We should live in utter fear of being attacked! We live in a time of war and WMD proliferation. If you continue to be blind to our lack of preparedness, then Americans will die, and I will have no problem in pointing the blame at you!"

The committee didn't fund his project and rejected him because he was becoming unstable and fanatical, which is why they removed him from Fort Detrick and blacklisted him from other prominent positions. Even though he believes in preparedness, he felt like people weren't listening. He might have done this to prove a point.

He fits the profile of the unsub to a T. He had access to research on Anthrax, had the resources available to do something like this, lost a highly respected job, and got divorced in the process. The job he has now is through a company called Bio-Design Technology that doesn't deal with Anthrax but with the Flu. If he got demoted from working with such deadly diseases to working with the flu, he might be angry enough to use Anthrax as a weapon.

Either way, you need to bring him in.

Derek pulled you and Spencer from the hospital to go to his house while Emily and Rossi went to his work to see if he was there. Along with you, Spencer, and Derek, a hazmat team joined you so they can clear the inside of his house. You have to wait outside until they're done with their investigation.

"It's clear so far," one of the members says when he hears from one of his men inside.

"Alright, keep me posted." Derek turns to you and Spencer. "This guy just had people over for a charity event last month."

"We should probably take a look around anyway."

You three walk to the backside of the property when Spencer hisses in pain. You look over to see rose bushes with thorns sticking out of the stems. He must have cut himself on the thorns but isn't too concerned about it. For someone who messes with Anthrax, his backyard isn't too sketchy. There is a pool with a beautiful gazebo area and lots of blooming flowers. Derek's phone rings and he answers whoever it is.

"Yeah, Princess, what's up? ... Uh-huh. Yeah, we're here now. ... Sorry. what? The lab is clean? ... You're sure? ... All right." You watch Derek as he talks to Emily. You're not paying attention to Spencer who goes off on his own. He turns to you and Spencer to tell you what she said. "They got nothin'--Where's Reid?"

You look behind you to see Spencer run into the large shed in the backyard. You and Derek quickly follow after him, but he slams the glass door to keep you and Derek out of some kind of lab.

"Spencer!" you gasp.

"Morgan! Y/N! Get back!"

"What the hell are you doing? What's wrong?"

"Believe me, get back."

"Reid, open this door!"

"Spencer, open the damn door!" you yell and slam your hands on the glass.

"I'm sorry. You can't come in here."

"No, open the door," you whimper. The only reason he would be trapped inside there and refuses to let anyone inside is that this is the place where Dr. Nichols created his Anthrax poison. "Spencer, no, open the door."

"I'm sorry," he sighs.

"Come on," Derek says and puts his hands on your shoulders.

"No!" you gasp. "I can't leave him. I'm not leaving him. Call Hotch and get people out here now! I'm not going anywhere!"

Derek has no choice but to listen to you. He needs people out here now if Spencer has any hope of making it out of this alive. Derek leaves and gets Hotch on the phone, and you look at your boyfriend with tears in your eyes.

"Open this door, Spencer, or I'm gonna break it."

"Don't, Y/N. There is white powder in here, and the air is blasting."

You let out a heartbreaking sob and put your hands to your mouth to quiet them. Spencer's heart breaks at the sight of you crying for him. Hotch and the biohazard team arrive quicker than you thought they would, and Derek tells Hotch where you are.

"Y/N, get out of there."

"I can't leave him," you cry. "I'm not leaving him alone!"

"Please don't cry."

"Spencer, I've seen what this does to people. There has not been one survivor and you're infected now. If the cure is not in there, then you're gonna..." You can't even say it. "I can't lose you. I love you so much."

You place your hand flat on the glass and Spencer puts his hand over yours.

"You need to get out of here."

"I can't leave you!"

"I will be fine."

He doesn't believe what he's telling you because he doesn't know if he's going to make it out of here alive or not. He's lying to protect your feelings but he forgets that you can tell when someone is lying. Your chest feels heavy and your whole body is shaking from fear. Your legs can't hold you up any longer so you fall to the ground in a heap of tears. Someone from the biohazard team comes in and places their hand on your shoulder.

"Ma'am, you need to leave."

"Y/N, listen to them."

"Spencer," you gasp.

The man practically forces you out of the shed to where Hotch and Derek are. Derek catches you when your legs wobble.

"I need to be in there, please. I can't leave him alone. He's scared, Hotch," you cry.

"Y/N, you need to calm down."

"I can't," you hiccup. "I can't lose him."

Hotch needs you to calm down so he calls Spencer and places him on speakerphone so you can hear his voice.

"Hotch, I really messed up this time," Spencer sighs.

"Reid, we need to get you out and to the hospital."

"No, I'm staying right here."

The tears won't stop rolling down your cheeks.

"No, Spencer, please leave. You need medical attention," you cry. "Please!"

"Y/N, I'm already exposed. It's not gonna do me any good to stop working on the case."

"He's already infected," General Whitworth says. "If Nichols created the strain, he may have also created the cure."

"Look, Dr. Nichols is in here but he's dead. Someone must have bashed something in his head. My best chance is to stay here, see if there's a cure, and try to figure out who killed Dr. Nichols."

"Hotch, say something to him!"

"He's right. His best chance is inside. We're gonna get a suit and mask into you right away."

"Don't bother. it's not gonna do me any good. I'm already infected."

This thing killed the first three victims within hours.

The thought of losing Spencer is something you can't even fathom. The thought hurts too much, and your chest starts closing up.

x

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[monards]

(why and how) The Heart of Naberius is Rhinedottir's plan to absolve herself 

( a slight crack theory brought to you, by yours truly !!!!! )

  I think that it’s sort of just a general fact that the amount of motives rhine could have to taking the heart of naberius are as plenty as there are theories on who and what paimon is ,,, but after a long and hard night of thinking (chugging three bottles of water and listening to the silver thread soundtrack) I came to the very indecisive conclusion that may or may not be using it for the purpose of absolving her sins.

   As far as we know (and can assume) ; the Heart of Naberius is some adjacent to a gnosis, mostly due to the idea of ‘hearts’ and it holding some inordinate amount of power –  whether that be because it IS a gnosis, or is some sort of primitive/alternate version for another level of power in celestia’s hierarchy is debatable, but it still stands that it more or less likely holds a similar purpose and power as the gnosis the archons have.   In the Fontaine archon quest; it is very much drilled into us that a gnosis has a WHOLE lot of meaning besides just being a communication gateway between both archon and celestia. We find out not only that, hey!! those are actually the third descenders’ corpse!! lolsies!!! – but also that they have SOME association with the sovereign’s power, whether that be on their own or through their respective god/archon. Since, by Neuvillette acquiring it after Focalor’s death, he - for the most part- properly gains back his abilities and powers as the Hydro Sovereign

 And obviously, that's all fine and dandy!!! Woohoo for gnosis lore!! But in the case of looking at Rhinedottir; that adds a WHOLE lot of weight onto her possible plan with the Heart of Naberius.

  Beginning at just the cataclysm, there’s a clear connection between Rhinedottir and ‘Dragons’; > Two of her most prevalent creations are both Durin & Elynas ; and a common thread between the two is their CONTINUOUS description of being ‘otherworldly’ or ‘disfigured’ in some manner   ^ This is incredibly important because it directly aligns with what would be expected of the Dragon Sovereign. They lived in a Teyvat which is noted to be much, much harsher and different from the modern-day; And so, that would imply that, evolutionary, they would’ve evolved to be built for far, far more rugged and tough landscape then what Teyvat is today– we even see this fact in comparing Apep to just Dvalin & Azdaha ; she’s notably larger, and far, far more intimidating and ‘otherworldly’ to put it simply.   ^ This is important because, quite evidently, both Elynas and Durin in no way appear to be ‘made’ for Teyvat. Both, when compared to other draconic-creatures, are out of place; Being excessive in size, notably different physical appearances (think difference between how Durin is described “black skeletal dragon with glowing red eyes. His wings have long veins running along the folds.” VS Dvalin who’s described as “that bejeweled, lovely dragon”) Both of their appearances directly align with the line of thinking you’d have with the sovereign; and even more, it’s clear from comparing just Apep & Elynas– Both have serpentine like forms, which are excessive in size, which can also harbour life in them. Which, I REALLY doubt is a coincidence .   ^ Plys, even more, Just their abilities alone clearly surpass some of the more powerful entities we’ve met. As is seen in Durin and Dvalin’s battle during the cataclysm; where Durin (to put it very very kindly) almost completely wiped the floor, and probably would have, if he hadn’t become aware of WHAT he was doing. This fact alone already establishes that all of the dragons Rhinedottir has created have in no way aligned with the standards of Teyvat as it is today, because even in fighting an archon and celestial dragon– these abilities are FAR excessive in strength and power. Meaning that, more or less likely; they were intended for survival in a far, far harsher environment– one akin to Teyvat prior to the primordial one.   ^ Also, although it’s a bit more crude of an idea; this can explain why subject two was not killed after being essentially fed to Durin ; as it can imply that there was some trait in his anatomy that fostered his growth while in dvalin’s belly, rather than digesting and ACTUALLY killing him. And the only known dragons, and notable creatures, to have that ability IS Apep; one of the Dragon Sovereign. > All of this would imply that, as of that point, there’d already been an attempt to resurrect/recreate the sovereign for one reason or another.  

  And, even more, by just looking at the real mythological Naberius himself, he “restores lost dignities and honors,” ; which aligns terribly well with the narrative of Rhinedottir attempting to restore her dignity and honor as a scientist, and someone who was clearly working to provide food and resources to the people of Khaneriah, by erasing her title as a ‘sinner’, let alone The Great Sinner 

// This is maybe where I go a little more off the rails by throwing Albedo into this mess. Everything beyond this point is babbling. 

Albedo’s involvement;

  We know that Albedo was, obviously, born after the cataclysm; and this isn’t all to consequential until you remember a certain Iudex who was brought into power 400~ years ago, meaning that, as of the point Albedo was created; Rhinedottir would’ve been be fully aware of Neuvillete’s existence ,, which implies a WHOLE lot of things.

   If the gnosis truly does hold the power of the dragon sovereign; this could explain Albedo’s purpose.       At that point in time; Rhinedottir would be formally aware that The Dragon Sovereign can, and are, as far as Neuvillette goes, reincarnated as humans. Meaning that she didn’t have to keep making dragon after dragon, to fulfill her goal; and instead, just had to make a human.   //  Just looking at them alone; both Neuvillete and Albedo hold PLENTY of similarities in their stories that can imply that, in some way, Albedo’s creation and story/fate may or may not take major inspiration from Neuvillette himself // Both feel as if, in some way, they’re ‘separate’ from the rest of humanity;   They’re both notoriously unfamiliar with a plenty of things, which if you squint a bit at; have the same base concept and ideas. They’re both actively learning to understand humanity through another person, too >  Neuvillette, through Furina and her continuous insistence, learns all about humanity; their sorrows, their ambitions, their sacrifice, etc… – and, it can very easily be assumed the one reason he’s not a total and complete recluse is DUE to her pushing and prodding for him to get out, and experience humanity as it is. > Albedo shares a similar point of learning through Klee,, with her acting as his line between his research, and the people of Mondstadt– and just as Furina does Neuvillete- she acts as his reason to connect and learn about humanity, as through her, he takes break from his continuous work and research in dragonspine, to come to Mondstadt!! (this probably isn’t a very good explanation of klee & albedo’s lore,, but one of my loveliest mutuals @haidengjiehas a ton of very very very amazing explanations on their blog that explains their relationship in a lot more depth and thought if you want to understand them more !!!!!!!!  )

  // They also both share a common theme of wanting to learn of, or acquiring some ‘truth’ – and even though this is a common plot device in most of the characters in genshin– i think it’s very important with these two especially; because, more often than not, this truth is derived from humanity itself; >   Neuvillete, prior to coming to Fontaine, was likely horribly similar to Apep in thought and perspective.   We even see so in his character stories, and lack of understanding around humanity as a whole; that he had no initial understanding of humans, or modern Teyvat, prior to being Iudex.   However, it’s established that as of after Fontaine's archon quest; he has officially learned what's essentially the ‘truth’ to him; that humans aren’t what he has made them out to be, all this time; that, instead, they’re dynamic. They experience both joy and sorrow, selfishness and sacrifice– and that above all, they’re not in any way the seemingly despicable entities he likely initially thought them to be for many, many years ( think his “He would never admit that he himself had become quite fascinated with the joys and sorrows of humanity.” line in his 5th character story) >   Albedo also shares this common thread of narrative !!!   Albedo, prior to becoming chief alchemist of the KOF, likely had little to no understanding of humans outside of Rhinedottir, which would imply it definitely wasn’t the.. best of opinions, if she was all he was going based off of.   But, in becoming Chief Alchemist; he was put into a position where he was now exposed to all sorts of people. He was exposed to warmth and love , ambition and determination, and the way many people cope with the adversities in their life.   ^ And, even though we haven’t seen him come to his ‘truth’ yet, we can very well anticipate that this truth is meant to be obtained through this exact manner as Neuvillete’s. In his 5th character story, we see him note "I hope this isn't just wishful thinking, but... when parents speak to their children about 'the meaning of this world'... surely they just mean the pursuit of a happy life?" which, given his very, very clear intelligence and better understanding of the world and humanity now; it’s cleary implied that he’s likely already surmised in some way that Rhinedottir had this intention in sending him out into the world (Thinking back to my Rhinedottir knowing she could never provide Albedo a real example of humanity post,) ; similarly to how Neuvillette  had– she wished for him to acquire this truth through understanding and experiencing humanity.

 Roping this all back into this purpose; this could very well entail that, similarly to how Neuvillette is to the Fontanians and their sins, Albedo’s purpose is to act as salvation for Rhinedottir, (or even khaneri’ah as a whole, if you wanna get REALLY into it)   The gnosis, after Neuvillete's acquisition of it, allowed for him to regain his authority; and forgive the ‘sins’ of the people of Fontaine. The event during which he forgives these sins, prior to what happens, is very, very much similarly referred to as whatever event albedo is to ‘lose control’ during.

  // Both of these events have inherently negative connotations. Obviously, the flooding of Fontaine was implied to result in the death of every single Fontanian; However, it ended up being the opposite– As, after Neuvillete finally realized ‘truth’ he chose to save them, rather than fulfill his original intent to not do anything to save them, which would’ve had them all killed (Think the fact he came to fontaine with a similar mindset as Apep towards  humanity and modern Teyvat.)   ^ As of now; whatever Albedo has been referring to has had VERY similar treatment. In almost every instance of Albedo mentioning it, he almost always implies it isn’t gonna end well; and by law of assumption, that leaves us thinking Mondstadt going bye-bye.   ^ The issue with this, though, is his acquisition of truth. He has, as of yet, not found out what ‘the truth of this world’ really is; mostly due to him not fully understanding where to begin with it. He has the idea, obviously; we see the budding of those thoughts in him thinking that maybe Rhinedottir really had just wanted him to live a happy life to achieve the truth– and, if that were the case- that would mean the exact mirroring of Neuvillete’s story; which could very well imply that whatever this event of him ‘losing control’ is, can be controlled and prevented in a roundabout way.

  ///   We can also very well assume that, similar to Neuvillette, in Albedo ‘losing control’ ; he’s bound to gain some abilities which would shoot his power scaling up. T >  This power is very likely going to come from the Heart of Naberius; as it’s a recurring theme in almost every one of rhine’s creations, that there power and entire being is derived from their heart (hence why they’re such important elements in their stories) and being as right now, out of all her “miraculous creations” , he has yet to gain a real and monumental demonstration of a physical heart ; and there’s no other painstakingly obvious source for this newfound power THEN the Heart of Naberius.   ^ Upon obtaining this power, he would be made to make the choice between fulfilling what he believes was his intent to gaining that power; or the opposite, and saving Mondstadt instead– which is more or less likely to be the case; which if you wanted to get symbolistic with it, could really show him obtaining a ‘heart’– as hearts are mostly commonly utilized to represent love and compassion.

//  >  And, if we’re still assuming that some portion of the dragon sovereign’s authority is held within the gnosis, and the Heart of Naberius IS a gnosis of some kind; this would then align him in under the same logic of how Neuvillete describes himself, “he is one strong enough to equal and rival "the human realm," and logic would dictate that he need not subscribe to this system known as "fate."” This explanation would also explain Mona’s lack of note on his constellation in her voiceline around him.   ^ The importance of Mona's voiceline is that it’s the EXACT same thing that happened in Fontaine. The Traveler & Paimon were at a point of understanding that Fontaine was destined to be destroyed, with everyone being bound to turning back into oceanids   ^ However, Nicole (and what we can assume is the rest of Hexenzirkel) are aware this is not the case. And although Nicole does not fully disclose it to us, she in no way insinuates that what we know is the full truth.  // This aligns with Mona’s reaction, as it shows her neither confirming or denying Albedo’s fate in discussing his constellation; she instead steers around the topic, and merely spends her voiceline about him talking about him as whole– not his constellation, or anything pertaining to it and his fate– only who he is. She would know we’re aware of what we believe is bound to happen to Albedo; because we’re REPEATEDLY established as being some of those closest to him, so it’s not as if she’s hiding it for his safety, or privacy – instead she’s vehemently avoiding the topic, implying she knows something we don't; and that she can’t tell us, as if we were to know– it’s very likely we could in some way throw off fate; Think how we, as a descender, have the power to change Teyvat’s fate. And in us knowing what is fated to happen, we could in some way act abnormally due to that knowledge, and change what was originally bound to happen– which would alter the course of destiny, which could very well then lead to all hell for Albedo.   // ^ this can also explain what we assume is her ignorance towards Rhinedottir.   In knowing Albedo’s fate is not what it really is, and stated to be– and is instead far, far better than it; she would be aware Rhinedottir does not have wholly bad intentions, and neither is a monster sending her son to slaughter, hence her not lambasting her at any point– and even indirectly saying she’d wish would’ve rather not had Barbeloth as her master, while discussing the way Albedo had turned out, while RAISED by Rhinedottir ; which very, very much implies she finds some good qualities in her, to warrant that opinion (Because, as much as Mona may not like Barbeloth; I’d doubt she’d prefer a supposed homicidal maniac who has fated literally every one of her children to death, had that been the case.)

     // Obviously; there’s also the point and situation that the gnosese themselves don’t hold the Sovereign's power; but even then, there’s a very clear way to escape that paradox of a problem.   If we follow the alternative theory that the archon/god in relation to a gnosis needs to be killed, resulting in the destruction of their ‘throne’ and release of the sovereign authority; then Rhinedottir’s obviously capable of making that happen.   We see VERY clearly that Rhinedottir has knowledge and ability that can kill god, as if Durin was able to do all that to Venti & Dvalin; it’s been over 500 years since she created him, and if there’s anything to be established about Rhinedottir– it’s that she’s HIGHLY ambitious. So it’s right of assumption that at some point over the past few centuries, she’s definitely acquired enough of the knowledge/ability and power required to create an entity, or strategy, to dispose of whatever god is directly connected to the heart of Naberius.   ^ This is even established by her following the Shade Of Life’s steps; She would, and does, clearly have the plan to gain some authority/power in equivalence to celestia, and it can be a possibility that she’s mirroring the Shade Of Life as her example to achieve such status. (Since shades are direct fragments of the primordial one; it can be assumed they’re some of the most powerful entities in Teyvat; which would explain why Rhinedottir would mirror one.)   ^ This would then explain her absence. Similarly to both Focalors and Neuvillette; Neuvillete functions just as he does with no idea of Focalors’ plan, and Focalors works behind the scenes to orchestrate everything so that it all plays out as she intends it. 

Does this imply Rhinedottir may or may not self sacrifice? Maybe. Can this also imply another Focalors & Furina parallel being established between Rhinedottir and a new “Miraculous Creation” she may have made over the past 400-ish years since albedo? Maybe. Does this also maybe-possibly mean that Rhinedottir smoked multiple pipes using the leaves of irminsul tree to obtain this absurd amount of knowledge? Perhaps. Am I gonna elaborate? Absolutely not bbecause oh my GOD are my fingers burning with how much i’ve had to type.

(big, big, BIG creds to @mchib for reading this and letting me know how insane i sounded. you are so lovely and i appreciate you very much. (can you guys tell what the verdict was.))

[themetalvirus]

note: this was originally written on aug 10 2022, and is unfinished. it's a lore dump about the egghogs' chaos energy powers with diagrams for silver's markings and how they develop. the rest of this post has been left untouched. please enjoy!

(past me why did you make eggy silver's forehead scars so light OTL)

egghog silver's markings, how they differ from my interpretation of canon silver's markings, and a brotherly superpower synergy infodump below the cut!

OK. SO.

what are silver's markings in the first place? are they aesthetic or do they serve a function?

in the egghog canon (an au where sonic, shadow, and silver were raised by eggman), they do have an actual biological purpose; they're organic chaos energy reserves. organic chaos energy is a subcategory of all chaos energy that is produced by organic beings, but is fundamentally different than "normal" energy as we know it, tending to cause physical anomalies if it's present in large amounts.

silver's markings are essentially canals of energy running through his skin and fur like he's a walking venice (lore joke intended); they're enclosed and are tough to actually "break" or rupture compared to normal skin. they're veins but fucked up and magic.

silver was naturally born with a lot of organic chaos energy, and anomalous powers resulted. they developed in conjunction with other fine motor skills, and were just as shaky to start. he needs a lot of practice if he wants to pick up objects larger than marbles. that practice comes naturally with time and experience, and canon silver has had an excess of both, considering his extraordinary circumstances. he's needed to push himself and develop his powers, but hasn't regularly pushed himself and powers past what he can't handle, needing to conserve energy and keep himself alert/prepared for another attack.

silver robotnik grew up in a much different situation.

(INSERT ORGANIC POWER DEVELOPMENT LORE HERE)

he was the last to be adopted, and despite having the second-most naturally generated chaos energy of the bunch, his powers seemed to have a lot of potential. combined with the sheer power of his brothers, eggman could easily see him dominating the battlefield with a wave of a hand.

shadow can tap into the chaos force to generate attacks, but he doesn't self-generate a whole lot of energy. sonic self-generates an extreme excess of chaos energy, which gives him super speed, perception, and endurance, but he can't control the energy itself or where it goes. silver is somewhat physically frail and slow, but he makes up for it by having an innate control over the chaos forces in and around objects.

he and shadow share the ability of controlling chaos in some way; shadow can use it to create external attacks made of energy (chaos blast, chaos spear), but the control he has over these attacks once they are unleashed/thrown is limited to none. silver can manipulate objects, but can't use his own powers to create complex shapes or attacks from ESP alone; he can use limited attacks to blow elements or energy away (his intro cutscene in sonic 06), but they're weak and dissipate quickly. i bet you can kind of see where i'm going with this. it's where eggman's train of thought quickly headed.

when deployed as a team, shadow and silver are extremely difficult to deal with. silver can precisely redirect chaos spears to their targets, magnify the energy output from a chaos blast, and prolong/intensify the affects of shadow's chaos control due to silver's strange affinity for time manipulation, all with minimal mental fatigue. silver can also give shadow access to his energy reserves through touch (typically holding hands), resulting in exponentially deadlier attacks.

(EVERYTHING BELOW THIS NEEDS TO BE EXPANDED ON)

silver or sonic can also hold shadow's hand to help him teleport large objects or other people with their shared energy. it's typically used for transporting

silver and sonic have similar synergy,

shadow can also boost sonic with chaos energy boodle doodle doodle

with the brothers all together, shadow can funnel sonic's chaos energy directly into silver (or vice versa). (INSERT DETAILS OF WHAT THAT DOES HERE) none of their bodies can withstand that amount of shared power or the severe energy drain (without a chaos emerald) so it has to be used very sparingly. they only overclock themselves like this for an extended time if their father orders them to or in extremely dire situations with no other options.

p.s. sonic's efficacy in battle is severely worsened after silver and shadow leave. the drain on eggman's trust combined with his more restrained uses something something extends his isolation and makes everything worse

[maria-of-the-waves]

Soul Fire (TCFxKHR! AU) (Part 1)

I really like the concept of the dying will flames in Katekyou Hitman Reborn! In fact, I love it! ٩(♡ε♡)۶

This concept is quite interesting from my perspective, the being able to manifest the power of your soul through your will to live is very cool for me °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I am not going to give an explanation of what the flames are since the publication is not about that, instead, I am going to give the link that will explain what they are.

(All credits to villainsandvictimsalliance ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝)

And given the basic explanation, I'm going to give my ideas on how they work in this AU:

The Dying Will Flames come from the excess energy that the soul constantly emits. If you have accumulated a large amount of energy in your soul and find yourself in a near-death situation where your highest priority is to survive, your will can break the barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds, allowing you to access your flames and making you active. When this happens, small holes open in your soul that with time, use and trauma can become larger, causing chronic spiritual pain, that is where bonds and harmony come in. Links to other flames (and therefore souls) can help as pain relievers for all parties involved by superficially plugging the gaps and not allowing the core of the soul to be exposed. The exception to this is the flames of the sky which, due to their harmony attribute, can fill the gaps in other souls but not in their own, while the elements fill the gaps in their Sky, which makes this type of bond highly sought after. It is not just about healing the soul, it is a promise of eternal loyalty and devotion between each party, letting your own soul find a home in your Sky to fill the gaps in it and knowing that you will always have someone in who to trust for the rest of your life. Both harmony and general bonds are promises of eternal trust and loyalty, no active person will ever try to harm anyone they are bonded with much less an element to their Sky. A Sky needs a bond with each of the elements to stay sane and healthy physically, mentally and spiritually. The more powerful he is, the more links he needs. These can be created immediately if the souls are very compatible or by courtship if they don't are.

Well, with that explained, here is my TCF AU using this concept (o^ ^o)b.

Cale is definitely a Misty Sky, someone who can accept anyone without discrimination, but seeking the maximum benefit for himself and his people at all times.

He is someone who will deceive and swindle to achieve his goals by seeking out anything that he thinks may be useful or annoying to his enemies, but at the same time he is totally incapable of deceiving those he considers his by telling only lies for omission and half-truths.

He will justify any display of affection as manipulation or pretend to ignore it, but the way his worst fear is that his people will die and ending up alone speaks volumes about his character.

He is possessive of everything that is his, including his people, and will always pay for every offense or good act. For example, he prolonged Hannah's suffering by giving her healing potions and delaying Mary's arrival for everything she did to the whales, but once she paid for his offenses he did everything he could to help her.

But the curse make him difficult to have bonds.

After all, being a Sky he would need to have precious people to keep his soul complete and not fall into madness, and we all already know that he does the curse.

During the cataclysm each and every one of the humans with enough will to do everything possible to live awakens their flames to later (once society is rebuilt) be studied, revealing what explained at the beginning.

Moving on to another topic, I firmly believe that Cale's family in the Shelter (LSH (Cloud), LSW (Lightning), LJJ (Sun), JMS (Mist), Grandma Kim (Rain) and maybe PJT (Storm)) They were his first set of items allowing him to heal and maintain his sanity, but his curse took them away from him.

He later formed a bond with CJS (Sunny Rain) until the unclassified monster disaster occurred.

Team 1 that he led began to court him, but the trauma prevented him from forming complete bonds by creating too many holes for them alone to fill, leaving them all suffering, Cale by not being able to form new bonds and the team by refusing to accept another Sky wearing down the souls of all of them.

On the other hand, the original Cale is also a Misty Sky, the Thames are a long line of powerful Sky's who unlocked this power on Earth 1 but which is inaccessible without intervention for the inhabitants of almost all worlds except for the variants of the land.

Cale was born with active flames due to the difficulties of childbirth, harmonizing with his mother (a Sunny Sky) in the process.

During his childhood he harmonized with Eric (Rain), Amiru (Storm) and Gilbert (Lightning) after accidentally waking them up with his flames, but after the death of his mother he tried to distance himself from them without success causing them all to be very clingy to each other. yes and promise never to abandon each other.

After the arrival of Basen and Violan he began to act like trash in hopes that the collateral families would stop insulting his father's new family, thereby destroying his reputation in the process.

He was in a courtship process with Ron (Mist) and Beacrox (Cloud) before starting to act, but he interrupted it by starting to treat them as simple servants.

Then the Harris Village accident happens and Choi Han's beating completely undoes any trace of harmony with the Molans.

The Plaza Terror accident kills Basen and seriously injures the nobles of the northwest who begin to stay with Cale in a villa within a small town.

The War occurs by killing the rest of the Henituse family and taking most of the people in the northeastern territory with it.

Cale, Eric, Amiru and Gilbert, letting themselves be carried away by the desire for revenge, enlist in the army, quickly rising through the ranks until the battle in Puzzle City arrives.

During that battle each of them dies and Cale is taken to the God of Death who offers him a deal.

Since both his and Kim-Cale's souls are incredibly damaged he offers to send him back in time to the moment before he met Choi Han and fuse his souls.

Og-Cale insists that Kim-Cale must be there if the deal involves him and the God of Death brings him in while he was taking a nap on his day off, accidentally dragging Team 1 along due to the courtship.

They protest without wanting to send their leader (Sky) to a world destined for destruction until GoD blurts out that the reincarnation of the shelter family lives in that world which makes them stop trying knowing that Kim-Cale would do anything for see his elements again, so they start negotiating to go with him (Min Ah including his family being the only one with close relatives ( ╥ω╥ ))

Cale protests that they should not waste their lives for a trip that would bring them no benefit, but they tell him that they do not do it for benefits, but do it solely out of their loyalty.

This last exchange causes Cale to finally understand that they would stay by his side and finally accepts them into his Sky, establishing harmony.

Og-Cale on the other hand watches the exchange, and feeling a little jealous (very, very jealous (￢_￢)) tells GoD if Kim-Cale can take his people with him because he couldn't do the same demanding that Eric, Amiru and Gilbert travel with him.

GoD, wanting Nameless 1 to be saved, accepts the demand and quickly brings them, taking advantage of the fact that they recently died, to explain everything to them.

Only when they are about to seal the deal does Kim-Cale realize that GoD never mentioned what had happened to CJS and after much insistence he finally blurts out that he had become his subordinate and that he was currently on a mission in another country. world.

On the condition that CJS visits him as soon as possible he accepts the deal.

The deal is finally complete, Kim-Cale and Og-Cale will be a single person once the respective regression and transmigration begins, the nobles of the northeast will return to their bodies from before the Plaza Terror accident and the Koreans will be left in a merchant caravan with forged identification documents just one day from Rain City.

[dottoreparadox]

Theory: How did Dottore make his Segments?

To start off this blog, let's get right into one of my favorite living Harbingers.

That's right, it’s essay time, baby. Let’s fathom out how Dottore made his segments.

(Tl;dr included at the end if you only care about the conclusion and not how I reached it and what evidence I have for it because this shit gets looong. Over 3k words long, in fact.)

What we know about Dottore’s segments:

They were created by Dottore. Yes, that seems like a very obvious statement to make, but I do need to establish that these are not things he found but rather an invention of his own making. We’ll get into it later.

We have seen them referred to with the terms “segments” and “prostheses” in canon (also as “surplus” but that’s just Dottore being Dottore). A segment is defined as: “each of the parts into which something is or may be divided” while a prosthesis is: “an artificial body part, such as a leg, a heart, or a breast implant.”

I would like to make a note here that they are not referred to as “clones” despite the widespread usage of this term in reference to them by the fandom. I’ve certainly done it myself. It's important to note that they are not clones. Clones would imply that these are genetic copies of the original and/or organic in nature. This is not the case (I’ll get into the not organic argument in a bit). If they were mere clones, they would be their own person. Instead, these are “the eyes” that Dottore “placed in the dimension of time.”

They ARE Dottore. Not copies of him. Think of them more like time travelers in some kind of stable paradox rather than clones.

Also, they likely share a mind space in some capacity or other based on the overlapping dialogue we saw when Dottore erased his segments and the implications held in this statement:

“What did you see when you were imprisoned [by the Akasha]? You were observing me, and that's how you know I've long grown tired of their doubts and endless arguments. ”

The Omega build was able to speak to and listen to the other segments while he was in Sumeru and they were not present (having just sent the one segment that was helping him back to Snezhnaya).

(I would like to take a second here to clarify that while the many segments may have shared a mindscape of some sort, they were not a hivemind as we’ve previously seen in Genshin. A hivemind, as we saw it in Alhaitham’s story quest and as it is often used in science-fiction, is when multiple individuals all share a single “mind.” The segments all had their own minds. They could not have all been constantly arguing with each other if that was not the case. (Remember how the hivemind made by Siraj fell apart.) So they shared a mindscape where all their minds could touch, while keeping their own mental boundaries.)

Anyways, the shared mindscape is another important bit of evidence in proving they are not mere clones and are instead multiple versions of the same person. (Well... maybe. It could also be taken as evidence that they're all robots running using a single, remote central processor; but I don't have any evidence for this besides the likely shared mindscape; so I won't be exploring that theory further.)

Okay, now that I’ve quibbled excessively over the terminology around Dottore and his segments and brought up a bunch of interesting but kind of irrelevant points, let’s get into the actual purpose of this analysis and theory: how did Dottore make his segments?

The only direct statement we have to go on for answering this question is this line of dialogue:

“Segments are extraordinarily difficult to make. They require extremely rare resources and enormous amounts of time and effort.”

The time and effort seem like they go without saying for any kind of creation at the level of complexity as an entire functioning human being. So we won’t be going into a deep analysis of this part. Instead, let’s focus in on these “rare resources” and what they might be.

To start off, we need to establish what kind of work Dottore does. After all, if his specialty was in organic life, he would likely have made clones rather than what the segments are.

Let’s start with the one hundred percent confirmed work he has done rather than the speculated accomplishments. We have definitely seen Dottore work with:

Ruin Machines (the ruin guard factory we visited in Childe’s story quest, Zandik's legacy note series if that does end up being him)

God remains (Dottore invented Delusions and, at least in Inazuma, the Delusions were made using the Tatarigami energy left behind after Orobashi was killed. He also released the Tatarigami energy in the first place during the Tatarasuna incident. In the manga, he used god remains to suppress Collei’s Eleazar.)

Robots (Krupp in the manga, Scaramouche’s mecha body in game)

The Akasha (I’m not entirely sure how to define this one. God power? Cognition? Software? Maybe all of the above. But he could use it so well that he could edit people’s minds and trap Nahida’s consciousness in the Sanctuary of Suresthana, so let's put it on the list)

Human enhancement (based on the wise doctor’s pinion from the pale flame artifact set and just about every soldier we’ve seen from Snezhnaya. I’ve seen lots of comments along the lines of: “what are they putting in the water over in Snezhnaya to make everyone giant?” Yeah, the answer is Dottore. He’s doing weird shit to people again.)

Human cognition (this one kind of falls under the enhancement section above, but I felt his work with things like manipulating minds and dreams was its own category, see the second event in the Apple Island Archipelago. I can't remember if it was directly stated that Dottore made that machine... but it almost definitely was him.)

And more! (I’m sure we’ll learn about new and more exciting atrocities he’s committed as the game continues. Also I probably forgot something, oops.)

Out of all of that, the best basis for building a body would be his interest in machinery. This assumption is backed up by what we are told in the Pale Flame artifact set:

“"A human is nothing more than a machine of a certain level of complexity." Thus declared the youth from his lectern in the seedbed of wisdom. If one were to disassemble a part of this machine and make enhancements to it, Its performance could be greatly amplified. With or without a Vision, and irrespective of their physique or combat skills, "Enhanced humans" would surely display strength far beyond the average.”

Now, if we also pull on some evidence that is most likely to have been done by Dottore (even if it hasn’t been confirmed that it was him), then we can put stronger emphasis on his interest in Ruin Machines. Dottore is almost definitely Zandik from the Zandik's Legacy series of notes. Zandik was fascinated by the Khaenri’ahn machinery to the point that he was reprimanded for his interest in such dangerous technology. He was ultimately denied permission to bring parts of the Ruin Golems (or other Khaenri'ahn machinery, it's unclear) back to the Akademiya and instead had to help seal them up. (His interest could explain the Fatui’s later knowledge on how to reactivate a Ruin Golem that we used in the Tanit quests. Just a bit of further evidence on Dottore being Zandik.)

Pulling from Zandik’s Legacy again, we know that he wasn’t a member of the Amurta darshan, so I think it is fair to say that his interest here lies in machinery rather than human biology/anatomy. (Though, honestly, the darshans are so weirdly laid out that who even knows where any one topic of study will show up.) I’m not going to speculate here on which Darshan Dottore might have been in (that’s a future post I'm considering making) because I don’t think it matters due to the fact that we’ve seen three (or maybe four depending on how you count it) separate Darshans work with machinery.

Even if we ignore Zandik’s Legacy, we know that Dottore has definitely studied Khaenri’ahn machinery from Childe’s story quest where we visited his old Ruin Guard research lab.

I wish we had a better answer to exactly what he was doing there (was he just studying them? Was he making his own Ruin Guards?), but it is fair to say that he has likely formed a comprehensive picture of Ruin Guards due to the fact that he abandoned the research lab later on. He doesn’t seem like the type to leave a question unanswered, so he most likely figured out whatever interested him about Ruin Guards.

So if he understands how Ruin Machines work, he is capable of repairing broken ones using pieces from other machines (as mentioned in Zandik’s legacy notes),

"...It should be possible to repair this titanic machine's primary weapons system using components salvaged from abandoned mechanisms, but to avoid attracting the attention of the other team members, I have simply made some basic measurements for now."

and is capable of making human machines (Krupp in the manga);

then I think it is very likely that the prosthetic bodies created for his segments were made using Khaenri’ahn technology (or at least took inspiration from them because he found them so ingenious).

This actually might explain why his segments are so human. Ruin Machines specialize in biomimesis. Every single Ruin Machine we have seen so far (except the Perpetual Mechanical Array, but that’s based on the Algorithm of Semi-Intransient Matrix of Overseer Network (never make me write that out ever again, oh my god), so it’s still mimesis even if it’s not biologically based), has mimicked biological life forms including humans.

So the idea of using Khaenri’ahn technology to create a realistic human is not far-fetched. It would need some sort of skin to complete the mimicry, but that honestly seems much easier to create than the entire functioning robot (but I’m no robotics expert. I could be wrong about that) plus we’ve already seen evidence that Snezhnaya has that kind of capability. Just look at Katheryne. She’s some kind of robot but appears fully human. She might have even been a prototype for the segments. (Though she could equally be a creation of Sandrone's. We don't know enough yet to say. It's equally possible she is a collaboration between the two of them or that they both based their humanoid robots on Khaenri'ahn tech. If my theory about Sandrone's identity turns out to be right, this is actually highly likely.)

(A very human looking and acting robot, Katheryne is.)

Using scavenged Khaenri’ahn technology to build the body would also explain the rarity of the parts needed to build a segment better than the segments being made using purely Snezhnayan technology.

Just building any old robot would be easy for Snezhnaya. Based on passing mentions of their nation having things like trains, they are most likely in the midst of some kind of industrial revolution, so we know they can create intricate metal work with complex moving pieces and engines (also like, Katheryne, again). Plus we’ve seen the mass produced clockwork mecha from Fontaine. It’s not unreasonable to assume that, since Snezhnaya seems like it’s more advanced than Fontaine (compare Fatui elemental guns to the Fontaine muskets), they could produce something similar.

Pristine Khaenri’ahn technology, on the other hand, is a rare find and disabling machines that still work in order to get their parts would result in damage, possibly to the very pieces that Dottore would need. Likely, it takes a great number of Ruin Machines to build a single segment and on top of that they might require specific, potentially rare pieces (such as the Eye of the First Field Tiller that we found with Dainsleif, but that's just an example of a rare piece, not something I think Dottore actually needs to build segments) rather than the run-of-the-mill mass produced legions’ pieces. This is speculation though. We really have no idea about the full intricacies of Ruin Machines.

Now, I hope that was convincing enough on it’s own to establish that Dottore most likely used Khaenri’ahn technology or Khaenri’ahn inspired technology to build the bodies of his segments.

Because my closing argument is the model of what is under his mask and that is understandably not a reliable resource as it hasn't been seen in game.

I know the color scheme is off, but it does remind me of a Ruin Guard's eye. And I don't think anyone can deny that it's very mechanical, even if it doesn't look Khaenri'ahn per se. Before you dismiss this evidence entirely, may I remind you of the monster version of Dottore from the storybook.

Beyond the immediate similarities in the images, I would like to direct your attention to the single eye the monster has and the fact that it was wearing a suit to hide its true body. These are weird details to use if they just wanted to establish that he was a monster. The foxes were happy to accept a cat as a fox. Dottore didn’t have to have a fursona. And if he did, he didn’t have to be a strange, bird-like cyclopes. He could have just been a bird.

(Honestly, I just found myself caught on the detail of the single eye and was sort of confused by the decision until I saw that data mine/leak/whatever it is. I thought it was pretty cool attention to detail, even if they weren’t details we knew about yet. And don’t come at me saying Genshin doesn’t pay that kind of attention to detail. They absolutely do. I remember how Venti's Vision didn't glow in the Unreconciled Stars event because it isn't a real Vision.)

I wrote all of that and then reread Scara's 4th char story and it straight up says he got the segment's bodies from studying Scara, who in turn was based on Khaenri'ahn tech. So I guess I'm right, but not for the reasons I thought. OTL.

So if that’s the body of a segment accounted for, what about the aspect of time?

I’ll admit, his work with god remains threw me for a bit of a loop at first. My initial, tentative speculation was that he had somehow found remains of Istaroth, the god of time, and used them to get his different perspectives of time. This mostly came from the fact that Istaroth was the name of the god of moments in Greek mythology and that fit the idea of the segments very well. However, I am pretty sure this is not the case.

For one: we don’t even have definitive proof that Istaroth is dead. Well… maybe. Neuvillette’s story about Visions included this little gem: “all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other,” which might be a reference to the four shades, of which Istaroth was one. In that case, Istaroth would be dead, but the state of their remains, pardon my channeling of Cyno for a moment, remains a mystery.

(Get it? Remains? Cause they're remains that remain? I’ll stop now.)

Anyways, we don’t know exactly what “devour each other” might entail, so we can’t say for certain that Istaroth is dead. They might exist in a different form now instead.

For two: we have another, much more reliable, accessible, and established place where Dottore could have gotten different versions of himself from time: Irminsul. It is well established in canon that Irminsul contains the entirety of a person’s memory/data in Teyvat, and we also know that it is possible to visit Irminsul and access the data stored in it.

So the next question becomes: what proof do we have that Dottore used Irminsul? We’re going to go on a little side track about Irminsul really quick to answer this question.

Remember what Nahida said about Irminsul?

"Irminsul's inner region consists exclusively of torrents of information."

This inner region in question was noticeably blue. And as the quote above, plus other comments and observations made during our foray with Scaramouche into Irminsul suggest, all of the data stored in Irminsul takes on that same glowing, blue color.

This quest is not the first time we have seen the color blue in reference to memories obtained from Irminsul. Remember: all ley lines are roots of Irminsul. What blue phenomena do we see in relation to ley lines? Blossoms of Revelation.

They are described in the adventurer’s handbook as follows:

“A flower blossom known as "Revelation" which grows from the Ley Lines in response to someone's desire for battle. Perhaps the treasures within it can help one recall the perils that they have experienced once before… ”

Computer: zoom, enhance.

“Recall.” Blossoms of Revelation tap into the memories stored in the ley lines. We also know that ley line disorders can disgorge past memories from various quests and events. (Such as during the Caribert quest where we literally experienced our twin’s memories after the Abyss Order messed with the ley lines in the area. There were several others in Inazuma from what I remember but I don’t feel like looking up their names rn. It’s like 2:30 in the morning idgf. This is well established fact. Google it yourself.)

Also, it gives you experience books. Experiences are relived via memories. I really don’t think I need to go further into proving what’s up with the Blossoms of Revelation.

Now what does establishing that blue has to do with memories in Irminsul have to do with Dottore? Let’s take another look at Dottore. In fact, let’s look at every segment of Dottore we have seen so far. The versions from the manga and the game are pretty wildly different.

So what’s the one common point? That’s right. Their blue hair! He can have multiple versions of himself because he has blue hair!!!!

I’m kidding. I mean, that is a common point, but the actual important detail here is that earring.

The earring has held my attention for quite a while because it’s such a strange detail. Why does he have a weird glowing blue vial as an earring? Is it just to show that he loves science? I mean, maybe. We can’t rule that out. But I think it might be something more important. It is the one thing that was not changed between cow-mask Dottore and yassified Dottore. And it’s the same shade of glowing blue as Blossoms of Revelation and Irminsul's heart (and fruits and sapling fragments/information packets and-- I think you get the point).

So my theory is this: the earring contains some form of past data extracted from Irminsul. This is the “save file” that the segment is operating from. Or at least part of it. I’m not convinced Dottore put his entire “brain” into an easy target like that. If we look at the segments we saw in Sumeru, we see some other parts of his outfit with that same blue glow. So it’s more likely that this is simply some overflow or a backup or some other function I haven’t thought of. Or maybe he’s just bragging and it really is his memory drive sitting around as an easy target because he doesn’t think anyone is smart enough to realize what it really is. Fuck if I know.

I think it's also worth pointing out that Scaramouche seemed familiar with navigating the inside of Irminsul. Presumably, this means he's been there before on at least one occasion. (anyone remember if this is directly stated in the quest?) This would imply that the Fatui have had business with Irminsul before. So either they're editing time for their own reasons or Dottore made Scaramouche go fetch these copies of him for him.

And before you say that Scaramouche deleting himself from time means that Dottore couldn't make the segments without him, remember that fate is fate and always happens no matter which form it takes. If Scaramouche couldn't get the data for him, then it would happen in another way. The same applies for him getting the Segment's bodies from studying Scaramouche. (Also, I feel like if Dottore knows about Irminsul's ability to edit memories, he probably would have come up with a way to get around it? That seems very much in his wheelhouse. So we can't be sure that he doesn't remember Scaramouche. I have my own theories about the scope of Irminsul and how you might be able to dodge its edits by being in, say, the Abyss or another place outside Teyvat proper. So if Dottore stuck a segment in one of those places... But that's speculating. And wouldn't apply to the Scaramouche deletion anyways as he'd just erased them all.)

To sum it up: I think the Doctor is getting his past versions of himself by extracting copies of his own data from Irminsul somehow. Perhaps he has a way to make Irminsul give him fruits containing his own data from certain points in time. I have no idea how he's doing it. (If someone else has any ideas of how, please let me know.)

Now, before anyone comes at me all: "um actually we also see blue energy like that from Desheret's civilization, explain that." You're right. We do.

Primenergy (name stolen from Alain Guillotine) is indeed another possibility for what the blue light is. If it's Primenergy rather than Irminsul juice, then it's probably the power source that Dottore has decided to use to power the segments instead of azocite. Which I guess makes the earrings something like a backup battery? And leaves us with no clues as to how he's playing around with time. (Still probably Irminsul as it's the only thing we've seen such capability from.) But there you go. Possibility explored. The Segments could be a mix of Khaenri'ahn and Desheret's technology. It's as likely as any of my other ideas. Hell, it might even make more sense than it being condensed Irminsul juice.

I don’t know that we’ll ever actually get an answer to how Dottore built his segments as we don’t know if he’s going to build more or not. And even if he does, we don’t know that the game will go into how he’s done it. It’s not super relevant to the plot. This was just me satisfying my own curiosity and figuring some other people might have had the same question as me.

Tl;dr: Dottore built the bodies of his segments using Khaenri’ahn technology and put his mind in it using saved copies of himself from Irminsul, which are possibly stored in the glowing blue earrings he wears.

So there we have my theory on how Dottore built his segments. Please, feel free to give me your thoughts and possible refutations/further evidence (comments, reblogs, asks, in the tags, however you feel comfortable talking with me is fine). I would love to know what the rest of you think.

As for future areas I’d like to get some answers on, please hoyo, explain what the fuck he was talking about when he said “A long time ago, I made a major decision in hopes of preserving all my perspectives of how I observed the world.” What the fuck was the major decision? It can’t just be making segments. Does this imply that he had to do something to himself to become capable of making segments at all? Did it have to do with accessing his past records in Irminsul? Did he turn his original body into the first segment? Like, probably that last one, as he should be somewhere between five hundred to four hundred years old, but I demand answers!

(Actually, on that topic, I would really like an answer to whether or not there is a "prime" Dottore, as the fandom likes calling him. We don't actually have any clue what's up with his original body. We just know that all the segments except the Omega segment got deleted. So is Omega the last Dottore or is there still an "original" around as well? Or is Omega original Dottore and all the others are earlier versions of him as he never grew past that age?)

[buckybarnesss]

As someone that has figured out how power transfers on the show, can you explain why Derek's alpha spark could withstand resurrecting Peter but couldn't withstand healing Cora's magical mistletoe poisoning?

On paper I absolutely love what the sacrifice says about Derek and his capacity for love but on the actual screen I can't see past how slapdash all the stuff with the three Hales in Alpha Pack and Lunar Eclipse feel. I genuinely laugh every time I watch Lunar Eclipse at how jarring it is to go from the intricate dream sequence/ice bath vision sequence then cut to Cora awkwardly feeding Derek water on the loft floor and kinda sort almost supporting his head (when he's apparently been out as many hours as the others were in their ice bath comas?).

This is actually something I'm going into detail with in my meta and let me tell you it's one thing to understand it but another thing entirely to actually explain it coherently with words.

I'll try to give the main gist of what I believe is happening.

Firstly, Peter is lying to Cora and Stiles in Visionary. Arbitrary morality has nothing to do with how power transfers within the Teen Wolf universe. Instead, listen to what Duecalion says to Theo later in season 5. He explains the underlying principal of every instance of power stealing we see in universe.

"That's the secret to taking power. Pain. Take their pain, take their life, take their power. It's all or nothing. You take until there's nothing more to give. That's where you find the spark of power. and then, you take that as well. Pain, life, power. In that order and only that order."

Duecalion isn't lying to Theo. Theo is able to use this advice to take Josh and Tracy's powers to make himself stronger. He just wasn't a match for Sebastian Valet because the Beast is way more powerful and very Other compared to normal werewolves.

We even see Duecalion do this in Visionary itself when he kills Marco.

Derek's eyes change not because he killed an innocent person. His eyes changed due to him taking on a significant amount of Paige's pain and killing her. The overflow of supernatural energy that her body was rejecting went to him.

Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. That remains fundamental in the Teen Wolf universe. Deaton even discusses that while the Dread Doctors found work arounds to the usual laws that govern the supernatural they couldn't break the law of conservation of energy.

There is power in death and power in taking a life. We see variations on this throughout the show. The Nogitsune feeds off pain and we see it do this to Scott. Jennifer is able to gain power by doing ritual sacrifices and Peter takes that power when he kills her which is why he's more powerful in season 4. It's how Peter gained Laura's alpha spark and how Derek did the same to Peter.

Peter did almost kill Derek during his resurrection ritual. We see him in what looks like the Bardo white room like we see later in season 3 and Deaton calls him back.

Sparks act a bit like batteries. They can recharge so long as you don't drain them fully. Peter had the additional help of a Banshee.

When Peter returned he was almost weaker than an omega but he was alive.

So knowing all this why does Derek lose his Alpha spark entirely?

Derek's aware if he goes to far he could die or kill Cora even. Peter reinforces what Duecalion says when he tells us in Alpha Pact:

"It's the spark of power that makes you an Alpha. When you take her pain she draws on the power that provides you with those special gifts"

Again. It's about the pain.

Derek is making a sacrifice of power. He's drawing Cora's pain as she hovers near death while she draws on his power and life to heal. She takes the excess power that makes him an Alpha.

She doesn't take enough that it makes her more powerful but takes enough that it heals her. He loses enough that he becomes a Beta again. Between them they consumed the Alpha spark.

It's all about the pain.