#and they said they thought it sounded 'cool' and 'sci-fi'

[unopenablebox]

i love TAing. some parts of it are stressful but running office hours and just getting to talk through a concept with the students until we've identified the source of their confusion and successfully resolved it is so satisfying and fun.

#and i know a bunch of fun facts to throw in that they appear to find genuinely fun! #e.g. 'worms are one of the only commonly studied multicellular organisms that we can freeze' #which is always a real hit. #a couple of them asked me to explain my research to them today??? #and they said they thought it sounded 'cool' and 'sci-fi' #which makes me feel :') #and they asked for grad school advice! i feel so USEFUL. they're so likeable and interested in stuff #even the ones who are clearly suffering under the weight of only being kind of interested and really wanting to pass the class #1. are showing up and asking questions! which i appreciate! #2. are obviously trying to think through the concepts and light up when something becomes less confusing #and i am very grateful to them for putting in the effort. and i hope i repaid it with useful information about how to pass the exam. #box opener

[copperpipes]

PLEASE? TELL ME WHAT YOU DO IN SPECULATIVE BIOLOGY? THAT SOUNDS REALLY COOL???

WHERE DO I EVEN START???

Okay I know. Some general information about the subject first:

Its a genre.

Before speculative biology comes speculative evolution, a more known subject that is basically a whole genre of books, projects, and is more spread then speculative biology because it is less specific. You would find plenty of speculative evolution projects.

They are very similar in a lot of ways and I think the difference is that speculative evolution 'documents' the journey (the evolution) of a creature or a multitude of creatures throughout a time-line of events that may or my not effect its form, while speculative biology is more focused on a single time period or just one creature or maybe a made up culture or an entire planet at a certain point in said journey, and digs deep.

A good example would be birgworld by @iguanodont and alien whale documentary which I definitely recommend checking out if you like the subject and a couple I forgot the name of currently ':]

Whe i say digs deep, I mean it could be as vast as from the building bloks of DNA (like carbon and nitrogen for us) to the politics and cultural plays. Tradition, religion, culture, history, language, psychology, and of course, biology. From general physiology to the way they reproduce and raise their young if at all.

This genre is usually categorized as sci-fi (not in all cases, but then it would be seen less as speculative biology and more just world building, an example would be monstergarden on YouTube) even though its word building because most of the creatures 'documented' are made up aliens and the projects themselves are closely tied to science.

Everything has an explanation in speculative biology and it goes into detail.

Actually a couple of my personal projects are categorized as speculative biology since in them I put my imagination to use and explore alien creatures and their identity.

Being my autistic self everything is thought out to the miniscule detail of how my aliens farm their equivalent of potatoes to what is their social structure and the different things I listed prior. Consider it my special interest.

To this date, I have at least drawn a picture of 10 different intelligent alien species (not including animals or other life forms from same planets, not even different life stages that may be in one species) all seen in a single time period on their respective planets.

Speculative biology also often features in it the planet itself and the solar system it belongs to since one is heavily effected by the other.

I am planning on posting about my project soon enough since I'd like to document it digitally but for now its nearly 3 am so yeah

Thank you so much for the ask I've been wanting to blubber about my favorite subject for some time just didn't have the opportunity :]

This is merely a summary of what little knowledge I hold, I encourage you to look into it and maybe start one of your own.

Also if I didn't get the question right correct me please

#ask #speculative biology #spec bio #speculative evolution

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! This is a sort of weird question, but I’m writing a sci fi /fantasy book with two disabled main characters:

1. Cove is twelve years old and has something along the lines of Williams syndrome (possibly that, possibly Down syndrome—still deciding). He’s mildly intellectually disabled and has low muscle tone + an unspecified heart problem (which is stable but he still gets regular checkups for it). His power is turning into a giant at will. He might have PTSD for reasons that are potentially triggering, so I won’t go into details ^^’ He really likes the ocean and spicy food, and hates people staring at him or judging him

2. Lucas is sixteen and uses a wheelchair full time due to cerebral palsy. His hands tend to shake a lot too. His power is turning into a Sphynx cat. He’s a trans guy. Idk what he would like or dislike yet tbh, but I picture him dressing in black clothes a lot

My question is this—what are some ways these characters’ powers could like interact with their disabilities? So far I have that overusing his giant power could possibly put strain on Cove’s heart. and if Lucas wants to move around independently in his cat form, he’d probably need one of those animal wheelchairs for his back legs?

Also— is there anything else I need to consider while I write this story?

I’m not trying to get you to do all the brainstorming for me btw! I hope it doesn’t seem like that ^^’ I’m just looking for other people’s thoughts and input-

Hi!

I think that the powers you gave them are very cool! Often with disabled superpowered characters there's the trope of always having the ability be fundamentally connected with their disability. Someone shapeshifting into a cat is awesome!

The concept of Cove's transformation putting pressure on his heart is very realistic (if you can say that about shapeshifting, lol)! Both Down and Williams Syndrome come with cardiac problems, so you won't need to change that if you decide to switch the exact disability. I'm thinking that maybe he could try to slowly turn giant, rather than instantaneously? I imagine that turning back to being normal-sized could also cause some issues. I'm unsure if that's a part of your story, but I think that having his family worry about him transforming because of his heart would be realistic as well. Wouldn't really classify it as infantilization because he's twelve, and I know that a lot of parents of children with DS are extremely cautious around the cardiovascular problems (not sure about Williams Syndrome here, but I think it would make sense as well)! You mentioned PTSD, and while I don't see anything wrong here from what you said, I would just urge you to not have some weird "PTSD flashback = turns giant and extremely violent" (violent being the key word here) kind of scene. (If you have PTSD yourself then feel free to do whatever you want of course). But I think that him becoming bigger when he feels threatened as a defense mechanism of sorts would make sense.

For Lucas, I think that the idea of shapeshifting from a wheelchair user to a wheelchair using cat goes incredibly hard. As for the ways that it could interact with his cerebral palsy: if he has issues with his arms then he would use the wheelchair a bit differently. In the kitty wheelchair the whole energy comes from the forelimbs, so if his hands shake then he would be much more wobbly as a cat than as a human. I'm not sure whether cerebral palsy in kitties is a thing, but you can look up cats with cerebellar hypoplasia. It's not the same thing but causes some similar symptoms! For example, the lack of balance that Lucas could have due to shaky limbs.

In my opinion your story sounds great! If you have any more questions with more specific details, feel free to send another ask :)

Sorry for the late answer! I hope this helps!

mod Sasza

#mod sasza #potato-head-kids #cerebral palsy representation #intellectual disability representation #fantasy species #wheelchairs #ptsd representation

[thiniceofeternalyouth]

MISLEADIN' ME SERIES: CHAPTER TEN

MY BEST FRIEND

⊳ Gojo Satoru x f!reader

series masterlist

Genre: angst, fluff, sci-fi, cosmology.

Words count: ~12k

⊲ previous

You'd been in the hot water so long that all the skin on your fingers had shriveled to look like old one, and even afterward you still felt haunted by that cold - your body shuddered every now and then.

Even though you'd asked Frank for a bunch of hygiene supplies, you'd only used shampoo and body wash because when you looked at your body and saw a bunch of small sores, you involuntarily swallowed, putting the scrub jar away.

Refusing to look at yourself in the mirror, you quickly pulled on clean clothes and grumbled grudgingly - you wanted something more substantial than a plain T-shirt. You opened the door ajar. "Frank," you shouted into the emptiness of the big house. "Where's your sweater?"

The rattle of tableware could be heard from downstairs. "What sweater?" he echoed your shout.

"Ya know, the white one that still survived the Paleozoic," your head was already fully out from behind the door, and you froze waiting for an answer.

An imposing figure appeared on the stairs. "Be quiet," the man hushed you. "Ya'll wake the kids."

"I'm sorry," you whispered in a panic. "So where am I supposed to find a sweater?"

"It's got more holes in it than threads," Frank said clearly angered by your choice of clothing.

You shrugged naively. "It's warm, though."

"I'll look for it," he patted you on the head. The hand was so heavy that you almost hit the floor. "Ya go on downstairs. I made some food."

Your stomach didn't rumble at the mention of food. Instead, it felt like a sticky, thick mass in your chest that you wanted to spit out. "Okay," you said swallowing hard.

When you went down to the kitchen, something delicious was waiting for you - a plate of creamy pasta and chicken, and a bowl of fresh vegetables next to it. As you sat down in front of the food, you felt incredibly stuffy. You put the blame for the overheated air on the stove, which still hadn't cooled down.

All you did was wrap spaghetti around your fork and unroll it, and if you were younger, you would have gotten a thousand reprimands for playing with meal. For the first time in your life, you could barely eat.

After the void, it was like this. Even in the same silence, there was room for background noise - all the ringing, beeping, rustling. You wanted to tell everyone what you'd found or to lock yourself in your room and never come out - at least not until the thoughts in your head was quieter.

You threw your fork into the plate disappointedly, and it clattered with such a clang that you involuntarily squeezed your eyes shut. The insistent rumbling sound was impossible to push away, and it only tightened the nauseous knot in your throat more. "... here?" someone's voice, like spokes, began to unravel the tangle of ringing thoughts. You jumped up before someone's hand was on your shoulder. 

Dany stood in front of you - all skinny and frightened. "Ya here?" she asked quietly, barely moving her lips. Her glistening gaze darted around haphazardly, scrutinizing your face as if trying to search for the truth. "It's really ya, isn't it?"

"Hey, bun," you said smiling involuntarily, and with all your remaining strength, you pulled the girl against you. Her gaunt figure responded easily to your actions - she collapsed helplessly in your embrace. "It's me."

Under her weight, your legs began to give way and shake. Holding Danielle by the waist, you pulled her to a chair and sat down beside her. She sat glaring at the table, but you noticed that she occasionally glanced at your plate. "Ya hungry?"

Danielle nodded uncertainly. "Just a little."

You rose from your seat. "Then wait a minute...," you were cut off at half a word by the squeak of a plate against the countertop. You stared in utter amazement at Dany who was already shoving a second forkful of pasta into her mouth. "Have ya not been fed here at all?" you blurted out dumbfounded, looking at her sudden appetite. "Uh, no, wait a minute...," you scratched your forehead thoughtfully, putting the mosaic together in your head. "What are ya even doing here?"

"Couldn't be in that house anymore," Danielle's voice was already weak, but her mouthful of food made it almost impossible to make out the words at all.

"Something wrong?" you alarmed.

You don't think you've ever seen that shade of red on her face before, though you've seen her embarrassed or flustered more than once. "Are ya kidding me?" she snapped angrily, throwing her fork on the table - the force she exerted caused it to fly off into the far corner of the kitchen. "Ya just disappeared!"

"Dany, but I'm back..." you started softly and reached out to her trying to wrap your arms around her shoulders.

Danielle straightened up sharply and pulled away avoiding your touch. "This isn't about ya right now!" she shouted. "I couldn't even breathe properly in that house, I-I broke up with Megumi because of it, I thought...," she sobbed and went silent for a second trying to quiet the growing pain in her throat. "I thought this would happen to me at some point too, I'd just disappear even though someone would wait for me," the girl mechanically began to shake her head from side to side as if denying everything that could happen to her.

You were taken aback by this outburst of emotion, and you blinked your eyes in confusion and tried to touch her again. "It's okay," you said quietly, wiping away a tear that had appeared on Dany's cheek. "Maybe it wasn't like that yesterday, but it's fine now. What did ya...," you fell silent for a second, rubbing your temple as if that might take away the approaching headache. "Ahem, what did ya say about Megumi? Did ya two really break up?"

"I didn't want the same fate for him," Danielle mumbled taking your hand away from her face - this time her movement was neither angry nor wary. Quite the opposite, she squeezed your palm in hers. "So... It'll be easier for both if us."

"Dany, if ya just don't like him anymore, that's one thing," you said smirking slightly.

"It's not like that!" she blurted out indignantly, and if her eagerness had been a fraction stronger, there was a chance your palm in her hand would have crunched. "I already explained that!"

"I don't doubt ya had noble goals in mind," you said nodding meaningfully. "But don't ya think it should be up to the two of ya to decide?" exhaling noisily through her nose, Dany frowned. "It's not like I even asked about it, though," you pointed out reasonably. "He agreed to break up with ya?"

Danielle faltered. "I, uh... I just confronted him with the accomplished fact."

"So mature of ya," you patted her hand condescendingly while smiling broadly - and even though Dany couldn't see it, she could clearly sense it in your voice.

"Everything's a joke to ya, isn't it?" she hissed, jumping up from her seat. "Though what was I even counting on?" she asked, grinning bitterly. "I doubt ya'll ever understand me. Ya and the topic of relationships are... well, ya know. Incompatible," she waved her hand disappointedly leaving your dialog behind and headed for the second floor.

You would have called out to her if it hadn't been for a impudent misunderstanding between you two. What upset her so much? What did you say wrong?

In this blind journey, the feelings of one person never reached the feelings of the other. All the words got lost and dissolved - you were silent. You were silent and watched her disappear into the darkness of the second floor.

"Ahem," Frank coughed pointedly, coming down the stairs just after Danielle left. "Here ya go," he said, holding out his old sweater to you.

You frantically pulled the sweater over you, catching your breath. Once your head was through the collar, you exhaled disappointedly. "Ya heard everything, didn't ya?"

"Not on purpose," Frank replied idly, picking up his fork from the floor. "Young lady, is this how I taught ya to act around food?" he said, turning his attention to the plate in which the disheveled spaghetti rested.

"I'm sorry," you pressed your lips together guiltily. "I didn't feel like I can eat anything, and Dany... Well, she just didn't finish it."

"Ya need to go to the doc. We’re leaving," Frank sternly retorted.

"Frank, it's late and-"

"I said we’re leaving!" he bellowed, slamming his fist down on the table - the tabletop was clearly not ready for such a thing. There was a pitiful cracking sound. You bit your tongue and your eyes widened for a moment - if you'd ever seen Frank like that, it was so long ago that you couldn't even remember.

"Frank, I'm fine," you said, choosing your words carefully. "I'll go see him tomorrow morning, 'kay?"

"Why in the morning?" he said warily, pushing back a chair and gesturing for you to sit down - the sweep of his hand somehow looked like an invitation to an execution.

After hesitating, you walked over and sat down - as instructed. "There's something I need to do. I don't think I can eat or even just sit still until I do."

"What exactly?"

"I really need to see the higher-ups," trepidation turned your voice into a squeak and you coughed, embarrassed at what you heard.

"Why?" Frank tapped his fingers harshly on the damaged tabletop.

You faltered, staring at your lap. "I want to see if there's someone else among them," you said so quietly that Frank could only understand your words when he read your lips.

"What?" he interrogated incredulously. "Ya really think there could have been some trash among them?"

"Yeah, I think so," you replied firmly. "Though no, I'm not sure. Not all the way through. It's just that I think so. God," you buried your face tiredly in the palm of your hand. "That's exactly why I want to check."

Frank was dumbfounded, for nothing like this had ever happened before in his memory, nor in the stories of his father and grandfather. "No, ya can't do that," he objected. "Think about it," noticing your skeptical expression, Frank switched to a conspiratorial whisper. "Ya can't just barge in and test them like that. What if the demon isn't among them? What if one of them die in the process? There'll be tons of witnesses that ya did it, and ya have to realize what'll happen. And even if ya do find a demon among them, what then? At best, ya'll have to fight it, and look at ya!" he said indignantly, grabbing your skinny hand. "And if ya're unlucky, ya'll just scare the bugger away. No, ya can't do that," he shook his head. "We have to be smarter, more cunning. Fish them out one at a time and check them out. If one doesn't make it and still dies, there'll be no witnesses.  I'll give ya an alibi. Ya were at my place tending the roses," he squeezed your palm gently. "Yeah, tending roses," the man nodded confidently. "To check on everyone, ya need to recover, though, so we're going to the dock. No arguments."

"I guess ya're right," you mumbled guiltily, then bit the inside of your cheeks for a moment - all out of frustration. "I'm just... I'm just in a hurry."

Frank ruffled your hair, smiling cordially. "What did I teach ya? It's just like eating, isn't it? If ya hurry, ya'll get indigestion," he said, standing up and putting the plate of pasta in the sink. "Besides...," he began tautly after a brief pause; the sound of the plate clattering against metal sent shivers down your spine. Since when did that sound become so creepy? "Food is supposed to be enjoyed."

You glimpsed the man, his face shrouded in shadows for a moment. "Frank," you began mundanely. "Ya said we goingto the doc? Ya going with me?

The shadows immediately dispersed as if by obedience to a lighted lantern. "Sure!" he exclaimed resolutely. "I must see to it myself."

"It's not like I'm a kindergartener," you whined.

Frank hummed skeptically and protractedly. "Maybe not, but to me ya're still a little pain in the ass."

You continued to whine. "I'll get there myself!" 

"No bickering," Frank ordered confidently but gently, raising his palm in the air - you were immediately silenced.

"Fine," you frowned, pouting your lips. "But can we still go in the morning? I'm too tired right now," you muttered, getting up from your chair, but only to get to the couch and flop down on it. "Can't we at least watch something?" you hissed angrily, waving your hand toward the TV. "Some stupid show, movie or series, whatever. I just really miss TV."

Frank sat down next to you. "Certainly we can," he said, turning on the TV.

Pictures appeared on the screen. Bright juicy images that made your eyes water, but you were glad of that because the color purple hadn't given you anything but a migraine in a long time. Frank switched channels until you saw something that looked interesting and watchable.

You settled down and stretched out on the couch to your full height, throwing your legs unceremoniously over Frank's lap. All your attention was on what was happening on the screen, so you didn't even notice how Frank smiled at first, and then, noticing the calluses and sores on your feet, swallowed worriedly. "Aren't ya expecting anyone?" you suddenly blurted out your question, shifting your gaze to the door.

Frank, taken aback, shook his head. "No," he drawled hesitantly. "I'm not expecting anyone. What's the matter?"

You glared at the door for a few more moments. "No, nothing," you muttered quietly, returning your attention to the television. "How long ago did Dany and Megumi break up?" you asked, gently poking the man's stomach with your foot.

He immediately exhaled sharply and irritably as if he'd been waiting for you to ask that question. "As soon as she moved here!" he spat out, clapping his hands. "This boy comes here almost every week to talk to her, and she doesn't even leave the room. She can't even tell me what's troubling her! Her wording is so vague... I just want to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she comes to her senses!" he slapped your leg with heat, and you hissed involuntarily. "Sorry!"

"It's okay," you said, though it felt like an electric shock was still shooting through your leg. "I'll try to talk to her, though ya heard it yourself... Maybe Kyle should be the one to ask. He's good at, well, uh, how to put it..."

"Support people?" finished the man for you.

"Yeah," you nodded. "Sorta."

"Yeah, he came by already, tried to," he waved his hand irritably. "It's like she can't hear anyone."

"We have to get her out of this state," you declared, fidgeting restlessly. "I don't want her to do anything stupid."

Frank squinted suspiciously, looking at you. "What kinda stupid thing is that?" you looked at him meaningfully, pursing your lips. "No," he said with a huff. "She wouldn't dare."

"She's a teenager," you remarked, sitting up and tucking your legs under you. "Teenagers have a rough time of it. First and most often unrequited love, adjustment, successful or not-so-successful socialization, misunderstanding from parents who devalue their problems-"

"Ya'll have to excuse me, but most of the time teenagers don't have real problems," Frank said, but noticing your nostrils starting to flare, added: "I said most of the time. Not always."

"Everyone judges the depth of a puddle based on their own height," you subdued the man with a look. "And they haven't grown up yet. They may brush it off or laugh about it in a dozen years, but right now it's a real problem for them," you burrowed deeper into the collar of your sweater as if hiding. "And it's all just about ordinary life. Now imagine what life is like for Dany in our world."     

"So maybe we should let her go?" suggested Frank quietly.

"That's for her to decide. And anyway, she has no mother or father left, where are we gonna let her go?" you objected. "I'll still try to talk to her again after a while. No, I'll at least try to get her out of the room first, and then I'll see how it goes."

Frank glanced over his shoulder, straight for the stairs. Nothing was heard - no fuss, no footsteps. "All right," he said. "But after what ya said, it makes me wanna take the door off its hinges in her room now."

"Ya're supposed to be improving her condition, not making it worse," you muttered unhappily.

Frank, to signify his defenselessness, threw up his hands. "I said what I wanted to do, not that I was really gonna do it."

Without answering anything, you were running through your head thinking that you wouldn't have taken the door off its hinges. You would have just installed cameras. At Frank's questioning look, you slapped yourself on the forehead for allowing such an idea. Frank hummed longingly as if your entire chain of reasoning was right there in plain sight and he'd followed it. "We're not gonna do anything like that!" you protested, jumping up on the spot.

"Honey, ya okay?" the man asked worriedly, grabbing your shoulder and bringing you back to your original position.

"Yeah, yeah," you nonchalantly waved it off, leaning back on the back of the couch. "Look, but guys... I mean, Kyle, Rachel, and Issu, they... they went on without me, right?"

"Sure," Frank confirmed, squeezing your shoulder. "They're responsible persons," you felt light. No doubt you'd felt it before, whether it was your lean body or your home surroundings, but this was a different feeling. Not lightness. Relief. Frank noticed the wrinkles in your forehead finally relax. "What is it?"

"Frank, I found a settlement."

The man, startled by what he heard, gave an amazed gasp. You felt a large hand scoop you up, and all you had time to do before you were pinned to his chest was squeak. "Oh," Frank chuckled nervously. "The darkest hour is nearest the dawn, yeah?"

Frank stroked your hair and seemed to be saying how good you were - the lack of oxygen in his arms made you dizzy, and you couldn't tell if he was saying it or if you were just imagining it. It felt good, though. "Uh-huh," you muffled out.

When the man finally loosened his grip a little, you were able to take a few full breaths and come to your senses. Your gaze automatically drifted to the front door again. "The fuck is this," you cursed, getting up from your seat. In one motion, you were at the door and opened it with a jerk. No one.

You ran out onto the porch, looking around - no one was lurking behind any bush or tree. You rushed out to the backyard. Still in your right mind and sneaking carefully between the beds so as not to damage anything, you hung over the low wooden fence and looked down - the path that led to your house was indeed someone running. Someone small and thin, probably a child. The last thing you saw before the child finally ran down the hill and disappeared behind the other house was something glinting on his hand.

"Who's there?" shouted Frank, standing at the beginning of the beds.

You looked once more at the house behind which the unknown guest had hidden. There was nothing to be seen. "I have no clue," you said, still keeping your eyes on that house and hoping someone would show up. "It looks like it was a kid."

Frank, resting his arms at his sides, snorted. "What kinda kid walks this late?" waiting a little while for you to level with him, he strode beside you back into the house. "Okay, ya stay here and I'll go and go around to everyone," he said, stepping over the threshold - only to grab his jacket. "Maybe one of the adults didn't look out. It's no case for a child to be out alone so late. Even in Hopetown," Frank kissed you on the top of the head and left you alone with the show on TV.

***

The series was interesting. You didn't even notice the morning had come when you were watching people who had survived a plane crash trying to survive on an island far away from civilization. Frank, who had returned in the middle of the night, had fallen asleep on the couch where you were sitting, muttering quietly to himself that no one had lost anyone.

The man slept so soundly that he was not disturbed by the birds whose beautiful singing in the morning seemed annoying, nor by the sound of the alarm clock on his phone, which pissed you off more. "Frank, turn it off," you muttered, but he didn't respond. You kicked him defiantly in the thigh, and only then did he perk up, jabbed something randomly at the phone screen, and his head fell back against the pillow. "Frank, the geese won't feed themselves," you said, climbing up and sitting down on the back of the couch. "Get up, ya sloth!" planting your feet on his back, you attempted to shove him off the couch. The man's body wouldn't budge, and the alarm clock rang again.

You were distracted from the action by a thin voice. "Y/N-ie?" there was Tris on the far step, clutching a tattered stuffed cat. Frank jumped up on the spot, and you tightened your lips skeptically - a tank shot wouldn't have woken him up, but a child's voice brought him to his senses.

"Ya woke her," you hissed, jumping off the couch. You walked over to Tris and squatted down in front of her. "Hey," as soon as you reached for her, she immediately pulled away and almost tripped on the step. "What's wrong?" you worried, frowning your eyebrows.

"You're ugly," the girl stared at you with frightened eyes and clutched the toy harder to her chest. "Don't touch me."

You opened your mouth, but closed it again. "She's not ugly," said Frank, scooping Tris up in his arms. "She just hasn't been eating enough. Now do ya see what happens to people who don't eat enough?" he questioned instructively, walking over to the fridge.

You should have spent more time with her. She rarely saw you, and this time you came home looking like that. You knew exactly why she'd acted the way she did, but you couldn't help the pang of annoyance.

You walked over to her, sitting meekly on Frank's arm and examining the contents of the refrigerator with him, and immediately intercepted the little girl - she immediately started kicking and squealing. "Let go! I don't wanna!"

You pulled her against you, ignoring the childish but precise blows of small fists against your body. "It's me, it's just me," you babbled, never losing your grip, though you cringed every time a fist hit your bulging spine. "That's me. Bun, look at me," just hearing the nickname startled Tris. She frowned at you, and though she still didn't trust you, she stopped whipping you.

"You used to come more often," tears could be heard in her voice. "Why did you stop coming? Y-you don't love me anymore?"

"What?" you blurted out in confusion. "No, no, of course not. I just got worked up. I'm sorry," you said, pulling her tighter against you.

If her tears had been silent before, now she burst into sobs. "S-so you love work more?"

"No, no, don't say that. I love you equally," came the clank of a plate and Frank turned around and looked at you so fiercely that you immediately realized your mistake. "That's not what I meant to say! Of course I love ya more. It's just... I need to make some money," you said quietly, shielding Tris from any other more detailed explanations as to why you were doing this.

Frank rustled the kitchen utensils harder, drawing attention to himself. "Honey," he addressed Tris, though you both raised your heads. "What do ya want for breakfast?"

Tris sniffed weakly through her reddened nose. "Omelet with cheese," she said quietly, and snuggled into your neck again.

Frank's phone rang again - you snorted irritably, thinking it was another alarm clock, but to your surprise, he tapped the screen and put the phone to his ear. Who's calling him this early? "Yes," he said into the receiver. "Yeah, she's here," he answered monosyllabically, giving you a glimpse. "Yeah, I got it," he dropped the call and stared dumbly at the screen for a few more seconds. Coughing, Frank slowly walked over to you. "Higher-ups are calling."

For some reason now, thinking about last night's strange guest made your insides boil - just like the water in a kettle, only this one had an automatic shutoff, but your insides continued to seethe. "What the hell?" you whispered angrily, looking up at the puzzled Frank.

As you walked along the tired road, ignoring the streetlights that had been there for a hundred years, you kept thinking about that child. Had they really fallen so low as to ask the child to watch you and, more importantly, what had the higher-ups offered them? Or did they take advantage of the little man's unselfishness?

The snow had melted and the masonry was still covered with fallen autumn leaves. Had it occurred to any of them to pick up a broom and clean up the mess? Out of frustration, you tried to kick one such leaf - it mockingly flew aside, and you almost fell. "Careful," Frank said, grabbing you under the arm.

Despite your condition, you tried to keep your posture as straight and your head as high as possible, even though it made you uncomfortable. As soon as you were distracted for a second, your body folded in on itself and your head fell back. "Did ya tell them?" you asked, realizing the absurdity of your question.

"No."

"I had to ask."

"I know," Frank said understandingly.

No matter how much you walked, it was as if the wide wooden doors were never coming closer. "Was it a good idea to leave Tris and Mike with Danielle?"

"I'm not sure," the man shook his head sadly. "But I couldn't send ya alone, either. And Danielle... Maybe she'll be distracted for at least an hour, who knows."

"Or maybe she needs some peace and quiet right now and we've only made things worse," you put forward a disappointing suggestion.

Frank's face turned stern, which foreshadowed the grumbling. "That's it, enough. We can't keep up everywhere and always do everything right."

"Is this about your cheese omelet?" you giggled.

Frank immediately exploded. "I did everything right!" he thundered. "Why didn't she like it?"

You bit your lip, trying to suppress a sly smile. "Tris told me that Gojo's was better," though Frank's face was covered by a thick mustache and beard, you could see that his face was turning red, and the increasing wheezing could be picked up even by a hearing impaired person. "Don't be so jealous," you encouraged him, shoving him lightly with your shoulder.

"Let your man cook for her now, then," he muttered unhappily.

You didn't blush, you didn't flinch or swallow your tongue - it all sounded like one big joke to you. "He's not my man," you dismissed.

The door seemed closer and closer. It was only three lanterns away. "For how long?" snorted Frank. "He even took Shaya's-"

"That's it, I'm going," you cut him off halfway through.

The man froze in place, and you stopped abruptly with him, for Frank still held you under his arm. "What does that mean? I'm coming with ya."

"No," you objected softly. "Just in case, I need ya out of the area of potential danger."

Frank jerked you to stand in front of him - he stared into your eyes, trying to find your plans in them. "I told ya not to do anything rash."

You squeezed his hand gently. "I won't. Just being reassuring."

He squeezed your palm in response. "Fine, but I'm gonna stand here. One more thing - if ya're not back in ten minutes, I'm coming after ya."

You giggled, childishly and shyly nodding. "Okay."

Without looking back, you made it the rest of the distance to the door much faster than you'd expected, and what surprised you even more was that it was closed. You leaned your forehead against the wooden surface - of course you would have liked to kick the door with your foot to secure your long-held opinion of yourself, but you could do nothing more than push. The door gave way with great difficulty, shuffling and scratching the floor - not for a moment did you feel as if you were moving a mountain, for you had done your best, and it had hardly moved an inch or two.

You pushed again, and the door gave way as easily as if it weighed nothing - it flew off with a bang, causing you to slam face down on the floor. "Eh...," you mumbled. There was no blood - but the sharp sensation in the bridge of your nose made you start to sniffle. You raised your head - five pairs of eyes were staring at you. All of them. "Howdy," you muttered, rising to your feet and shaking yourself off. "Couldn't ya open it?" you asked grudgingly, pointing behind you. "It's heavy."

Christian glanced at you from head to toe, slowly stroking his chin. Only Nathaniel greeted you with a nod of his head. Old Ellie sat next to him. You could see through the magnifying lenses of her glasses that her eyes were slipping shut. A couple, a man and a woman, who didn't even glance in your direction, but only continued to talk quietly about something, occupied the remaining two chairs on Christian's left hand. "Ooh," you drawled contentedly. "Even the married ones are here. Ravona, Yoichi, hey," you waved at them, and the woman finally graced you with a glance. You chuckled quietly as she raised her eyebrows haughtily and went back to cooing with her husband. "What can I do for ya?" you turned to Christian obligingly.

"A cockroach, indeed," Christian said absently, and he was no longer looking at you, but through you. "You came back last night."

"Yes-"

"It wasn't a question," Christian said, flailing his palm lightly in the air. "You should have come here right away," you bit your cheeks and lowered your head sharply, all because you felt a growing anger – like the anger a child feels when a parent scolds him for something as trivial as that. "You're aware of that, too, so you're not being as cheeky as you usually are."

"Yeah I just wanted to take a bath and rest for a while," you blurted out, splashing your hands dramatically at the injustice. "What's wrong with that?"

Christian barely audibly clucked his tongue. "People could have gotten hurt 'cause of your cravings," he stated, rising from his seat and carefully picking up the clerical shears from the stand with his fingers. "You know the terms under which we agreed to maintain neutrality, so if you'd be so kind...," he stepped close to you - so close that you could smell his breath mixed with the scent of minty mouthwash. "Hold still."

Christian raised one arm, the loose shiny fabric falling away, exposing his forearm. "What are you doing?" bellowed Nathaniel alarmed. "That's not protocol!"

"Silence!" Christian hissed loudly, throwing his scissor hand into the air. Nathaniel stopped abruptly and put his hand to his mouth - you could see from the corner of your eye that he was trying to separate his stitched lips with his fingers.

Something under your eye prickled. When you touched the pad of your finger to the sore spot and looked at it, you noticed blood, and then you turned your gaze to Christian, eyebrow raised disapprovingly. "I apologize," he said courteously, lowering the hand that was clutching the shears and bringing it to his bare forearm. "I was careless. It won't happen again. Now...," he ran the edge of the scissors across his skin without thinking, leaving a long deep cut that immediately began to bleed.

For everyone here, it started to flow. For you, it started to ooze. Breathing steadily, you tore your gaze away from the scarlet liquid and stared into Christian's eyes. No surprise, there was a condescending, barely perceptible smile on his face as usual. Saliva began to pool in your mouth, but you didn't dare swallow, not to let on that all you felt was dread hunger.

Dread hunger was always something unpleasant, even painful and unbearable, but you were in nothing but excruciating pain - as if every bone in your body were being broken in three places and all your nerves were being slowly pulled out from under your skin. For a second, you wished the man standing in front of you would turn into a mirror - just to make sure you were all right. In fact, Christian did reflect your condition because if anything had happened to you, his haughty smile would have turned into a nasty one.

Nathaniel rose from his seat again, drawing attention to himself. Christian reluctantly turned around, hardly taking his eyes off you. "That's enough. She's fine," Nathaniel said sharply, and you took advantage of the confusion to finally swallow the thick saliva that had accumulated.

"Well," Christian sighed, and after waiting for the wound on his forearm to heal, walked to his chair. "I won't keep you any longer," he said carelessly over his shoulder.

You couldn't even roll your eyes, and with the last shred of pride you could muster, you turned and walked away from the place. Your throat felt like it was churning, and it seemed to you that as soon as you opened your mouth, either vomit or blood would pour out.

You were beginning to forget your own language, so when you saw Frank on the horizon, you couldn't swear properly - even your thoughts were a mess of letters and sounds instead of the usual words. Your legs began to shake. The last thing you saw before you bent in half was Frank running toward you. "Honey," he whispered, picking you up by the waist. "Does it hurt too much?" he worried, trying to look into your face, but you didn't rise it. You didn't even hear him. "Let's get ya to the doc," the man said softly, scooping you up in his arms.

[May 30, 2020; 09:43 am; hunters' hq]

Your vision was so blurred that even the silhouettes were a mishmash of faded colors. You couldn't feel your own limbs, and you shook your head sluggishly as someone's hands tried to shove something into your mouth - the tip of your tongue picked out several small, smooth capsules, and then your mouth was filled with water; you coughed - someone instantly pressed their palm against your lips, forcing you to swallow it all.

Finally, the mess in your eyes began to blur - you saw a doc's coat disappear through the doorway, like a snow-white dove that had flown away. "Hey," the face leaning over you was nothing, though you caught a glimpse of green. "Sunshine, ya okay?"

Rolled onto your side, you squeezed your eyes shut a few times, and when you opened them, you saw Kyle in front of you. You wanted to jump up and pounce on him, but he hugged you faster. "Kyle!" you exclaimed in relief. "God, it's so good to see ya again!"

"Hey," he reached out softly, burrowing into the top of your head.

You squirmed impatiently. "Kyle, that was awful!" you complained. "I had to lie on the bare floor, my lower back hurts like hell, no hot water or food, no toothpaste, I'm ninety percent sand, my knees hurt, and my ears are still buzzing like there's a train coming!"

A chuckle escaped Kyle's lips - he was relieved at the sound of your confused babbling as confirmation that you were indeed back. "Easy," he grinned, laying you back down on the couch. "Ya still have a high fever, so don't jump up."

You snorted. "How many people do ya even know who died of high temperature?"

"Read about the Inquisition, that's fucked up," he joked, pulling the blanket over you and tucking the edges under your squirming legs.

You hesitated a little and watched the procession, your lips tightening uneasily and you pulled yourself to a sitting position again. "Look, Kyle... Out there in the void-"

He looked at you despondently. "Don't even start," he retorted grimly.

"We need to get back there as soon as possible-"

"Enough!" he bellowed angrily. "Ya just got back, and all ya doing now is complaining, snapping at me, and also claiming ya need to go back! Have ya even considered how I feel, no?" his voice broke on the last words, and it happened as suddenly as it did easily - as if someone had accidentally snapped a thin dry branch in two. "Don't ya dare," he panted, shaking his head tiredly.

"Kyle," you began softly. "I told ya I'm really happy to see ya-"

"It's a bare fucking minimum!" his broken voice turned to a shout, and as he gave you his disappointed stare, you discerned in the fluorescent light the redness of his eyes.

As you struggled to swallow the threads of resentment and injustice, you thought about the fact that maybe you deserved this kind of bias on his part, but that didn't give Kyle the right to interrupt you. "I just wanted to tell ya that I found a settlement, that's all," you muttered, playing with the edge of the blanket with your fingers.

"Oh, shit," Kyle marveled, and now without the veil of anger in his eyes, he sat down gently on the bed and wrapped his arms around you again. "I'm sorry," he mumbled guiltily. "I... I was just really worried, ya know."

"Screaming wasn't necessary," you mumbled grumpily into his shirt. "That's why I have to go back there, or show ya, so ya can at least start without me."

"I know, I know," Kyle said understandingly, stroking your head because he now shared your excitement with you. "But in order to show it, ya need to recover. Ya can't go into the void yet. Even if ya don't get broken in half, if Doc finds out about it, he-"

"Will cut off my legs," you finished for him doomfully. "I'm aware of that."

Kyle hummed thoughtfully. "Ya know what we should do? Why don't ya take a couple weeks off for now, and then ya can show me, where the settlement is" you grimaced irritably at the time he'd given you. "And I'll show Rach and Issu, and we'll start without ya. And when ya finally recovered, ya'll join us. Deal?"

"And what will ya do for those two weeks?" you sourly inquired.

"For now, we'll run like we ran, since raids can't be interrupted. I think we won't even run, but walk," he grinned. "Saving our strength. Maybe we'll come across another settlement," you didn't answer, only sighed disappointedly and longingly. "Stop sulking," Kyle gently tugged at your ear, and feeling you shudder, chuckled. "Lemme get my laptop and we will watch something, 'kay?"

"Okay," you replied, watching him get up from the couch. "Bring me a snack, too."

Kyle opened his mouth, and when he realized the words weren't coming out, he closed it back up. He glanced toward one of the bollards where something was lying on it. "Ya know...," he began carefully, afraid to see even a hint of tears in your eyes. "There are some problems with that."

You followed the direction of his gaze, and when you saw several bags of glucose for the IV, you despaired. "No," you exhaled bitterly. "No, no, no!" you banged your fists stubbornly on the bunk. "Don't do this to me, please. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna wither and die."

"Don't be dramatic," Kyle laughed, looking at your stricken face. "Doc said it's only for a couple days. Keep your cool, and I'll be right back," he said as he walked out the door, but stopped immediately. It was as if he was staring somewhere in the emptiness of the hallway, not blinking or averting his gaze. You gingerly threw back the blanket, and swung your legs over as quietly as you could, a pleasant chill traveling down your feet as they touched the floor. "Hey," you jerked back when Kyle spoke again. "What ya doing here?"

Megumi appeared in the doorway. "I... I'm sorry, I just heard you were back," he glimpsed at you. "I just... I wanted to talk, uh… About Dany, but I guess I choose wrong timing. Um... Are you feeling okay?"

"As you can see," you chirped, smiling, but all Megumi saw was a couple hundred bones held together by a thin layer of skin. "It's all good. So what's the deal with Dany-"

"I'll go," Megumi mumbled awkwardly, and turned on his heels and scurried away. You gave Kyle a puzzled look, and he returned you the same one, shrugging his shoulders.

[May 30, 2020; 4:53 pm; hunters' hq]

[04:51pm] Oldman: Ward seven on the left. She's not feeling well rn, so go easy on her

Gojo kept staring at the message, stroking the small scratch on his phone's screen - a scratch that had formed just recently, the moment he'd first read it. Standing in front of the door to the infirmary, he consciously made a fist and only unclenched it when the pain of his nails digging into his skin made it clear that he was awake.

Gojo finally entered the corridor of the infirmary and took a step. Then another step, and another, and another, and another, and another, each one faster than the last, and his mind was racing with the thought of not running. Why was he walking so fast? The ward was already so close, and he was afraid he wouldn't have time to quiet that excited yet aching feeling in his chest, lest he look like an immature teenager who couldn't control his feelings. 

He stopped in the doorway. He didn't just stop, he froze. How tired are you if you didn't even look at him? And if you didn't hear him at all, what happened to you?

You were sitting on the bed, staring at the phone - his ribs were stabbing. So you had a chance to send him a message, but you didn't.

Gojo tapped on the doorjamb to get your attention, and when you finally looked at him, he wanted to laugh. Your eyes did look three times as big against your gaunt face, but he didn't see you as just a skeleton covered in skin. Gojo thought only that you reminded him so much of a lemur. "You just got back," he grinned, looking at your clothes - a shapeless, holey sweater and pants that were three times your size, whether they were men's or whether you'd gotten so skinny that all your previous clothes hung on you like a sack. "And you've already had a clothes fight with some beggar?" 

The snow had long since melted, washing away all the winter moping and despair, and the spring drops had long since played their inspiring choruses, but he was still here. "Hey," you said softly with such a joyful exhalation that Gojo bit his lip, not knowing why, either to suppress a silly smile or to muffle a painful whimper.

Your husky voice should have dispelled all his doubts about the illusory nature of what was happening, but he still couldn't believe you were back.

His unfamiliarly warm gaze made you catch up to the very chimera and grab for it, but even holding it with both hands, you still couldn't believe he stayed.

"Hey," he echoed you, keeping the quiet motifs of the chamber. "You look awful." 

His words were hardly encouraging, but to you they sounded like a compliment. You watched Gojo approach the bed and sit awkwardly on the footboard, tucking his legs under him. He looked exactly the same as the first day you met him, though a mysterious blue under his eyes peeked through. "And ya're still beautiful." 

He grinned affectionately. "Shut up," he mumbled shyly, moving closer to you.

You had no idea how much courage it took for him to press his forehead against yours, for he did it without hesitation, confidently. However, you, for your part, looked down like a coward. "I...," you began excitedly, swallowing. "Honestly, I didn't think ya'd stay," a nervous chuckle escaped your lips - you wanted to color your words with indifference, but it came out the other way around.

You felt Gojo's arms around your waist. He would have pressed you against him for all he was worth, but due to your condition, he had to sacrifice his desires. "I know I've given you reasons not to trust me. It won't happen again," he whispered into your neck, and you knew what he meant. He stayed yesterday, he'll stay tomorrow.

He'll stay with you.

Even though he couldn't hold you tighter, he selfishly tried to pull you closer, even though there was no more space between you. When he unintentionally pressed his knee against one of the sore spots on your leg, your whole body tensed involuntarily. Sensing this, Gojo raised his head and stared at you. "What is it?" 

You shook your head, tucking your leg deeper under you. "It's okay," you declared, but the words came out through clenched teeth.

"What have you got there?" he asked worriedly, gently grabbing your ankle. "Let me see."

"It's not a pretty sight out there," you said, stubbornly trying to remove his hand. "Don't."

Your attempts were unsuccessful - if you could handle one of his hands, you couldn't handle two. Gojo pulled your leg out and rested it on his knee. "I actually exorcise curses," he announced smugly, rolling up your pant leg. "Do you have any idea how nasty they can look? I got one once, in the shape of a wormy di-"

"I got it!" you exclaimed, waving your free hand. "I got it, don't go on," you buried your face in your hand in embarrassment, and Gojo laughed softly. 

Nudging your shin, he examined it. The usual calluses and a few sores - Gojo didn't feel anything nasty or repulsive. "Well," he drawled thoughtfully, looking around the ward. Gently placing your foot on the couch, he stood up and began rummaging through the drawers. 

Even as you heard the sounds of searching, you couldn't move your hand away from your face. "What ya doing?" you mumbled in frustration.

The sounds and rumbling intensified - some things seemed to be flying to the floor. "Looking for ointment...," he muttered under his nose. A drawer door slammed. "Oh, found it!" you tried to disconnect from everything that was going on, but his hands, that once again encircled your shin and brought it back to his knee, stubbornly prevented you from doing so. "Hold still," if you didn't have your hands right now, you'd be staring at the ceiling. If you were forced to look, you'd be gouging your eyes out. You could feel Gojo gently circling certain places on your leg as if inspecting, and only then a cool sensation that dulled the pain. If the gel was so cold, why did you feel so warm?

You sighed in relief when he finally put your leg back on the bed, and you were about to pull your hand away from your face, but when Gojo started on the second one, you pressed your palm back with such force that you nearly evened the bridge of your nose with your eyes. 

He'd never thought or suspected that such a thing existed - that he could touch a person so easily, and even when he touched the affected areas of they skin, he wouldn't be disgusted. On the contrary, Gojo wished you had at least two more of them on your feet. 

You heard a smack. "What the hell?"

"A mosquito," he mumbled, rubbing his sore cheek and shaking his head as if to ward off that stupid thought in the form of that imaginary mosquito. "Uh, well...," he said quietly, slowly running his fingers down your calves from bottom to top, admiring the result. "I think that's it," despite the finished work, his palms, as if enchanted, couldn't get away from you.

Soft touches that dulled or took away all the pain, from blisters to days in the cold, godforsaken wasteland. You never knew that touches could be that gentle, and they could be like that fictitious pill that cured every disease - from slight to severe, from physical to mental, but no one had warned you about the side effects. Breathing became difficult, your lungs ached. 

The more he touched you, the quieter the days he spent in your workroom in the clutches of loneliness and agonizing waiting seemed. He could feel all the cold that had accumulated in you on his skin. He desperately tried to banish it with his hands. Neither curses, nor demons, nor the forces of nature dared to touch you – just him and him alone.

When Gojo's hands were under your kneecaps, you shrieked and jerked up, a sharp pain hitting your forehead. "Fuck," you whimpered, rubbing the sore spot and leaning back against the pillow.   

"Everyone in your family chooses violence, don't they?" he mumbled, and you immediately reacted to the sound, opening your eyes to find him sitting in front of you, his head tilted back and holding the bridge of his nose.

"God, I'm sorry!" you squeaked, but you didn't even have time to jump out of your seat, for he immediately plopped down beside you, throwing one arm over you, pinning you to the bed. "No blood? Lemme see," you rolled over onto your side in a way you regretted. Gojo's face was only a few inches away, and there wasn't even a hint of blood, though there was something red on his face. His cheeks. This state of affairs didn't suit him, so bringing his hand up to your face, he pinched your nose through your mask. "Hey, what for?" you muttered, sniffling quietly at the growing ticklish feeling.

"Wanted to," he snickered, and with a soft movement, he brushed the unruly strands of hair away from your face. Something tinkled, and you grabbed his arm. "Did ya get a new watch?" you asked, looking at it almost up close, not even noticing how his face was half sunk into the pillow in embarrassment, and Gojo was watching you with only one eye. You saw it, and that was enough for him. 

Hearing him mutter something in agreement under his breath, you hummed thoughtfully, which made him even more nervous. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"No, it's nothing," you kept looking at his wristwatch, but with a furrowed brow. "I just have a feeling I've seen them somewhere before."  

He pulled his hand away and hid it under the blanket. "Well!" he exclaimed. "That's a popular one, you know." 

Gojo didn't dare to ask you if you liked it, foolish though it was, for fear of causing your suspicions. Nevertheless, he hoped you thought it beautiful, for in his mind you were destined to wear them. "Um...," you muttered, averting your gaze. "Is there anything else I should know about?"

"No," he answered quietly but firmly. "Really. I won't hide anything from you ever again," he leaned his forehead against yours, his hand stroking your lower back as if he knew that was where you were hurting.

"Then ya can ask your question again."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but when he realized what you meant, he smiled in a way that made him look ten years younger. Even though you'd never seen him as a teenager, you felt like that's what he looked like in that bygone and almost forgotten time. "Do you wanna be my best friend?"

"I wanna be your best friend."

[June 1, 2020; 05:28am; hunters' hq, training field]

When it dawned, you realized what you had done. The entire area of grass in front of you had been torn up, but even that didn't make you spare the surviving blades of grass, and you glanced anxiously at your phone again. After you'd seen Kyle off, you sat down to wait for Rachel to return, but it was past five in the morning, and she was still gone.

What kept her so long? Knowing her character, you hoped she was all right, and memories of her combativeness turned your hope into faith. After all, you'd always thought that the more enemies she had around her, the stronger she'd become, but there was a rotten worm inside you, twisting and turning, reminding you that Rachel's fiery temper might someday fail her.

Unconsciously, you reached out to touch the grass and realized that all that was left was bare ground. You snorted irritably and moved a little to the side - there was still plenty of grass to torture, but as you reached out, you realized you couldn't see anything else.

You jumped to your feet and tried to open your eyes, but they closed back up as if in protest, trying to avoid the sharp pain. You turned from side to side, but you couldn't feel any danger, except for someone else's presence.

You rubbed your clenched eyelids with the back of your hands and tried to blink. You could see the silhouette, but more importantly, you could see a lock of red hair. It seemed you'd been thinking about something else, and you'd been so slow to catch the violet flash that you hadn't had time to cover your eyes, and you'd paid for it.

Wiping the tears from your lower eyelids, you tried to see your sister again. She was hobbling, her uniform cut and torn in places, and there was a huge laceration on her side. "Rach!" you alarmed, running closer to her. "Hey, hey," you picked up her falling head on your chest by the chin.

"Adoptee," she said softly, smiling with bloodstained teeth. "Ya alive, aren't ya?" your appearance seemed to give her a little strength - she smacked her forehead into the top of your head. "Ya've noticed too? There are too many loners," she gritted angrily through her teeth. "Look!" she raised her head and stared at you; there were tears in her eyes. "Look at that!" she sobbed, trying to reach her red tail with her hand and extend it in your direction. Part of it wasn't even cut off - it was torn off, like a bunch of old strings. "Look what those scums did to my hair!" she nervously and frantically tried to smooth her ponytail, but when she felt that all the strands were different lengths, she burst into tears. She didn't even seem to notice that there was some flesh missing from her side. "I'm gonna fucking kill 'em," she squeaked in a muffled voice. "And ya!" she tried to shove you away resentfully. "It's all 'cause of ya," she forced herself to say, wiping away nonstop tears with her hand. "If ya hadn't disappeared, I wouldn't be distracted by thoughts of ya, and none of this would be happening!"

You scooped her up by the waist, trying to stay out of the wound. "I know. I'm sorry," you mumbled guiltily, pulling her closer to the house. "Let's just go to the doc, 'kay?"   

"Shove your apologies up your ass," she bellowed, but her body went limp in your arms - it felt heavy, but despite her words, she still seemed to rely on you. 

***

You'd hoped that Rachel's injury would distract the doc for a while so he wouldn't harp on the fact that you should have stayed in the ward the whole time, and it had worked. Now you stood in front of the fridge, staring at the contents, trying to figure out what you could do to placate the big sister. Your stomach rumbled as you perused the bacon, shrimps, yogurt, and chocolate dragees. When you stopped your gaze at the fresh berries, you almost burst into tears. Maybe it was for the best that you couldn't eat them now - Rachel loved them, too.

You caught a glimpse of a silhouette sitting down at the dinner table. "Hey."

You glanced over your shoulder and noted the dark hair sticking out in all directions. "Hey," you greeted Megumi cheerfully. "Can't sleep?"

"Just used to getting up early," he said, shrugging indifferently. "Y/N?" he turned to you after a brief silence.

"Yeah?" you hummed, pulling out a package of berries.

"I... Um, I overheard that you found a settlement," he began awkwardly. You closed the refrigerator door abruptly - Megumi shuddered. You stopped in front of the boy, staring straight into his eyes. "I-I just thought, since I happen to be able to enter the void as well, maybe...," he fidgeted in his chair, trying to look away from you, but the bonds of your gaze were so strong that even a hunting knife wouldn't do the trick. "Maybe I can help you-"

"No," you replied sharply and headed for the infirmary door.

There was a rustling sound behind you and the sudden creaking of a chair. "I just wanna help. By taking me, you can carry more supplies for the people there," when you turned around, he was staring at the floor, but his fists were clenched. "I passed the isolation easily. Doesn't that prove I'm worth something?"  

"It was an accident," you replied coldly.

"Whatever," he went on stubbornly. "Even so, but doesn't that mean I'm worthy?"

You grinned sarcastically, squinting your eyes. "Worthy of what? Getting kicked around in the cold wasteland? Such an honor."

"Saving people," he whispered and finally looked at you, and in his eyes lurked the answer.

"Megumi, what are ya talking about?" you worriedly said. "Ya're already saving them-"

A chuckle or a sob escaped his lips. "Really? How many people did I save while Sukuna was walking around in my body?"

The answer was voiced, but you remained adamant. "I got ya, but ya're still a teenager and there's still a lot ya can accomplish. Ya'll still have time to make things right. So... No. Sorry, but no," hoping that would be enough, you tried to walk away again - both from the boy and the conversation.

Megumi knew what he was doing was dirty, but he realized there was nothing else he could do. "Do you have the right to refuse?" Megumi's voice was firm. "You're supposed to train anyone who asks. You have an obligation," he was still drilling his gaze into your back. "Am I wrong? There are only four of you left," what a miracle - the firm voice suddenly trembled.

What a familiar song. What a familiar, annoying, ear-splitting song. Your nostrils must have flared at that tone. Or the truth that had just burned your ears. You turned around. Along with the boy, you saw his inner core. You stared at each other for a few more moments. Both of you stubborn as hell. "I should call him," you surrendered, reaching into your pocket.

"Don't," Megumi said almost pleadingly. "I wanna decide for myself this time."

"He's your guardian," you reminded him.

Megumi grinned bitterly. "His guardianship began and ended when he took me from the Zenin clan."

"Oh, really?" you inquired, arching an ironic eyebrow. "I take it food and clothes have been falling out of the sky for ya all this time?"

"You may be right," he nodded briefly. "But you can't say he loved me much."

"And ya?" you nodded defiantly toward the boy. "Did ya love him much?" Megumi looked at you perplexed as if you were speaking to him in a foreign language. He opened his mouth but didn't say a word, and with a shake of his head, he immediately closed it back up. "Okay, well...," you scrunched your forehead. "At six in the morning, I expect ya on the practice field. Ya'll run until you spit out your own lungs," your tone made Megumi shiver - as if the temperature in the room had plummeted. "And ya know what? Ya're already late," you barked before finally disappearing behind the infirmary doors.

Ryan and Axel had already run away from you, and they'd done it so fast that they'd probably already made it around the Earth and back to the starting point, while you and Megumi had barely run about seven miles. Even such a run was hard on your recovering body, but it seemed to be harder on the boy as you glared at him from time to time. Sweat was pouring from Megumi's flushed face, and he was forgetting how to breathe properly for such exertion. Something was crunching. Maybe it was the branches under your feet, or maybe it was your knees.

You always tried to find solace in those jogs through the forest, but not now, you were worried about Megumi. Did he take your words so seriously? He was clearly unwell. His legs had already buckled for the fifth time. "Hey," you called out to him quietly. "I've got a calf cramp, let's take a little break," you said, grabbing his shoulder with one hand and your side with the other, trying to catch your breath. He nodded silently, and you moved off the path a little, sitting down by the roots of one of the trees. "Thirsty?" you asked courteously, taking your backpack off your shoulders.

"Yeah," Megumi replied on an exhale. He'd been trying to hold back his own inhalations and exhalations the whole time, so that you wouldn't hear that he'd been crying inside for the last two miles, but he'd only trapped himself more - the lack of oxygen made his body protest harder, and his vision began to darken.

Megumi took the bottle from your hands and took a couple sips, trying not to be greedy. "Now, time for a little breathing exercise," you chirped, taking a seat across from him. "Come on, right with the noise. Inhale," you sucked in air so loudly and forcefully that you scared away a squirrel that had snuck up and was interested in you. When Megumi repeated after you, you exhaled just as much, expecting him to repeat after you.

After doing this a few more times, you noticed that Megumi was feeling better - though he was still glistening with sweat, the redness on his face was starting to fade. "There ya go," you said enthusiastically, sitting down next to him again. "Much better, wouldn't ya say?" you nudged his shoulder softly with yours.

Megumi twirled the water bottle in his hands thoughtfully. "I apologize for speaking to you like that," he said guiltily. "I just didn't know how else to affect you."

"It's fine," you replied indifferently, waving it away. "I just don't understand why ya'd wanna do that anyway."

"The cursed world gave me nothing," he lied, not even realizing he was lying. Sure, the cursed world had given him, and given him a lot, except that Megumi would probably give it all back for free. "And the desire to save people hasn't gone away, and most likely never will," he would no longer be able to plunge into the routine of ordinary life knowing the other side of it - dark and mysterious, as cruel as it is elusive to ordinary people.

These were the kind of people Megumi wanted to protect, wishing that they would never know what lurked behind that door without a doorknob.

"I just...," he began reservedly. "I just don't wanna feel helpless anymore, 'cause if I feel that way, how can I help others?" his restraint immediately broke along with his voice. "When Sukuna took over my body, I just wanted to die."

"I understand," you replied quietly, swallowing.

He smirked wistfully. "I'm sorry, but I doubt that. I remember everything. I was hurt. I was sick. And there was nothing I could do about it," he buried his face in his hands as if the past appeared from behind one of the trees, and it appeared in a most unpleasant guise.

"Let's do this," you said, slapping yourself on your legs. "I promise I'll train ya for a while, and in return, ya promise me to think less about all the bad things that have happened to ya. Deal?" you rubbed the top of his head affectionately.

"Deal," mumbled Megumi into his palms. "Only why 'for a while'? I can handle intense training too."

"You offered to help us," you pointed out. "Not to become a voidrunner."

"But-"

"Let's go home. Ya've had enough for today."

***

You'd already opened the door to the workroom, but you couldn't help but cast one last sympathetic glance at the boy. He was sluggishly shuffling his feet up the stairs, and his torso was as still as if it had been separated from his lower body - arms dangling tiredly along his body, his torso tilted, his head slumped against his chest. "Megumi," you called out to him, and Megumi stopped, though he didn't seem to find the energy to even turn in your direction. "I'll meet ya at the same place tomorrow morning at six," his head twitched, and you took it as a nod. You were about to leave him alone, but you remembered something. "Ya know, let's get together a little early, though," you shouted after him as he opened the door. "Come to my workroom at five, I need to take your measurements!" the door that slammed shut sharply only answered you.     

When you finally entered the workroom, you froze like a dumbfounded deer before lights. Gojo was standing across from you, equally motionless and looking at you questioningly. "Ya're back already?" you inquired softly, watching his hand with the towel frozen at the back of his head - it looked like he'd just gotten out of the shower. "I, uh...," you swallowed nervously. "I can explain everything." 

You flinched when he moved, so much so he had resembled a statue before. "Oh, come on," he smiled carelessly, stepping closer to you. You exhaled as Gojo walked past you. "I knew you were a thief, didn't I," his muffled voice came from the bathroom. Getting rid of the towel, he appeared before you again, but he didn't even glance in your direction. "So it was only a matter of time before you got to my students, too." 

You watched helplessly as he passed by you and moved farther and farther away, and the doubt that it wasn't just about the growing distance between you in the workroom clenched and sought to explode in your soul. "Aren't you angry?"

"Me?" asked Gojo carelessly over his shoulder in your direction. "Angry. I'm so angry," he laughed softly, and you sat down on the edge of the bed, carefully making your way around the room. "At myself."

You waited for him to pay attention to you, and when you caught his gaze, you patted the spot next to you. Gojo hesitantly approached, and you unconsciously reached out to him, so relieved when you realized the distance between you was gone. He gently picked up your palm and sat down next to you. "So...," he began, hesitating. "Megumi has both cursed and dark energy now? That's how a generation grows up," he grinned wistfully, his thumb stroking the back of your hand. "That's what I wanted, isn't it? I wanted to raise a generation of strong sorcerers. The kind that would be on par with me. No, even stronger. So strong that one day they could leave me behind." 

"Why do ya say that?" you asked half-heartedly. "Why would they leave ya behind?"

"Why else do you think everyone needs me?" Gojo swallowed, looking at your intertwined hands. You were just now realizing how elaborate his ideas about human relationships were in his head, and if they were only there that would be half the problem, but something told you that there was a quiet but all-consuming chaos going on in his soul as well. "I screwed up even here, though. I was so consumed with realizing my own goal that I didn't even notice... No, rather, I forgot that my students were just kids. I was ready to kill anyone who would take their youth away from them, and I ended up taking it from them myself. I guess I really am a shitty teacher, so... Maybe Megumi would be better off with you," he unconsciously released your hand from his.

"Satoru, stop it," you commanded softly. "Ya are not your power. Ya're just a human being, and I think everyone realizes that."

"Oh, really?" snapped Gojo sarcastically. "You wanna say that if I didn't have this power, you'd let me strut around your workroom like this and you would put up with all my scattered stuff? Don't be ridiculous."

"But I've never seen your power," you whispered hurt. You'd heard rumors and stories like the ballads they write about heroes, but you'd only seen it once. In his fight with Sukuna, you'd only caught glimpses of tiny, evaporating drops of his power. Did he think you were holding on to something so ephemeral?

To be honest, he didn't think about it. He couldn't think of any other reason why you'd accepted him and why you'd tolerated him. Staying true to his habits, he couldn't say the words of apology out loud, but he relied on the touches - with any luck, they would say it all for him. "Ya said Megumi would be better off with me," you said into the top of his white hair as his hands tentatively held your waist. "But ya're wrong. He'll be better off with us."

The word 'us' made Gojo think of you and the other hunters, and he didn't even dare to get in between in those thoughts, but when your hands closed around his back, it was like opening all those doors he'd never been able to open. Behind those doors was a bright light, so vivid it hurt his eyes. He had no choice but to stay on one side of the door and burn with his regrets and unfulfilled hopes in that desperate flame, or to step forward and let it burn to the ground, but  without him.

Gojo stepped through. Beyond that door was his future and it existed, it glowed, and it was right beside him.  

next ⊳

#gojo satoru x you #jujutsu kaisen #gojo x reader #gojou satoru x reader #jjk angst #gojo angst #gojo fluff #gojo satoru x reader #gojo x y/n #gojo x you #gojou x reader #gojo satoru #gojo jujutsu kaisen #gojou #gojou fluff #gojou satoru x y/n #gojou satoru x you #gojou x y/n #gojou x you #jjk gojo #jjk gojou #jujutsu gojo #satoru gojo

[lillified]

What’s your thoughts about gender in Transformers specifically because I really love your take on the characters

that’s a good question! I’ve given a few different answers about this in the past, and I guess the simple answer would be I want people to interpret it in whatever way is most meaningful to them. The long answer is it’s complicated!

personally I believe that human gender dichotomy is entirely arbitrary. gender doesn’t preclude a set of behaviors or characteristics, but it affects how people treat you, and, in many cases, how you’re taught to view yourself.

One of my biggest pet peeves with how gender is handled in stuff like Transformers, where you’re dealing with things like sci fi or fantasy non-humans, is how literal and inherent it often is. Because we as people are writing from the perspective of a society where gender is taught as an immutable social framework, a lot of our art reflects this. However, when the issue of gender being arbitrary is brought up, instead of acknowledging its presence as an oversight, or an intentional thematic parallel, the go-to response is usually to codify it into canonical rule.

An example in Transformers would be how “female” Transformers were made into a subclass or subspecies to justify why they existed and why there were so few of them. Though you can argue from that as a technically sound retcon, this obviously does not solve the real life issue of why those creative decisions actually happened. It’s a fantasy excuse to justify a disinterest in engaging with “women” characters (while obviously the transformers are not human women, if it quacks like a duck, yknow?)

there have been other explanations of robot gender in the past, but I’ve never really been a fan of any of them, personally. The one I can think of that is most recent is the explanation that the gender dichotomy came about from the transformers learning about gender binary from other alien species (which they effectively colonized). While I personally think this is a step up, both as a writing decision and from a thematic perspective, my main issue with this is that this explanation says the “male” transformers are the essential “default.” The girls have all opted in/transitioned into their gender (which I think is cool, and should be something that happens more in transformers!). that being said, though, I fundamentally disagree with the idea that masculine and genderless should be inherently synonymous.

Femininity or girlhood (which are not inherently the same either, but I digress) being seen and portrayed as secondary is, surprisingly enough, not a very feminist or gender-abolitionist friendly idea! Of course this isn’t the biggest issue facing the women of the world, but I think it is essentialist in its own way, and is a fine example of the tricky nature of deconstructing gender in something that is fundamentally tied to it. On a side tangent, it also pretty much completely eliminates transmasculine representation, which I feel is unfortunate when having a gender binary in the first place only really serves to symbolize the range of human expression. Point being it’s imperfect and while I’m not claiming to have the perfect solution to this problem, I want to at least open the doors a little more for other people, potentially.

In my work I choose to make the genders as close to human as possible because ultimately they are humanoid robots, and I think if you are going to account for anthropocentric bias at all it wouldn’t hurt for there to be more representation overall. The robots are inherently sexless and their gender is inherently arbitrary, like humans (it is also partially the result of cultural imposition, also like humans), and though they lack many of the issues of a gendered society, it affects them and their social lives in a way people can probably relate to. “Man” and “woman” aren’t the only genders that exist, either, and, like humans, there are a range of different identities they can freely transition between.

I’d honestly rather not care too much about the specifics of why. There are reasons, purely social/societal ones, but I think that’s less important than the fact that they experience the consequences. I want people to be able to see themselves a little where they have not been allowed to previously where “humanoid” aliens and creatures have been concerned. If you exist, a robot can have your gender, I promise :)

Anyway, that was a very long winded response! I hope this answered your question, at least somewhat. Thanks again for submitting!

#transformers #ask #text #text post

[beatificwrites]

—CASUALTY

pairing: din djarin x transmasc!reader

a/n: my apologies for such a late upload! i’ve been tired ;( also realized i made this way longer than it had to be, but oh well! i tried to take my own spin on the request!

REQUESTED BY @rottedmolarx

content: sci-fi related violence, injury, mild cursing

word count: 2.2k

premise: you and din stumble into some trouble on a bounty hunt and you get seriously hurt near the chest area. din needs to help patch you up, but he has yet to find out whatever it is that you’re hiding.

Din had been out since morning returning a favor to a friend who had helped you guys out once. You knew the work involved capturing a creature of some kind and the effort would be long and strenuous.

It was dark out and you waited patiently in front of the opening with Grogu in your embrace.

The sound of the crest’s doors opening made the young one coo in your arms. He stretched his little arms out, signaling for you to put him down; someone was excited to see their father.

You smiled and carefully placed the little one down before Din came through the opening. Almost immediately, Grogu was at his feet.

“Nice to see you too, buddy.” he chuckled, tiredly through the modulator.

At once, he picked him up and you watched the adorable father and son moment.

You found their relationship to be the absolute cutest! Din was not related to the young one in any way, however that didn’t stop him from traveling and escaping to the ends of the galaxy just to protect him.

In the time that you’ve spent with Grogu, you’ve grown to feel the exact same way.

Bounty hunting for a living while also having to take care of a small child together had caused tensions to rise between the two of you. The odd family dynamic had made them bound to happen.

You would catch him stealing glances at you and even finding ways to brush up against you or put his hands on you. For instance, you passing him tools and him grabbing them from your hands and letting his fingers linger for a split second before moving on.

It wasn’t too much out of the ordinary for you to ever question, but you liked his touch.

You would stare too, though you never noticed he could see you.

You had even grown close enough for him to reveal his real name. It made you feel guilty for hiding a part of yourself, but you knew everything had to be done at its own pace.

Your eyes were laid on the mandalorian since the day you two met, but you kept to yourself. You two just completed jobs together, nothing more.

You couldn’t stop yourself from admiring him anyhow. His prowess, his strength, his monotone yet charming voice, his surprisingly humorous personality, his…quite literally everything had you thinking about him nonstop.

Not only did you admire him in those ways, but you also wished you could be a bit like him. You wished you could possess the same amount of coolness he carried.

Those two thoughts were meant to stay hidden though. You shook your head slightly as to shake away the feelings and not get caught awkwardly, staring at Din.

He looked up through his helmet and nodded as a way of greeting you. You gave him a soft smile and he carried the child to the cockpit before taking a seat in his chair. Grogu moved onto his lap, cooed again, then snuggled ever so gently into his armor. You wondered how the small one could find the beskar so comfortable.

“Got us another bounty. Hoth. This one covers weeks worth of fuel and food. You up for it?” the mandalorian asked as he turned to face the monitors and look up said bounty.

The bright, luminous screen appeared suddenly over the control panel.

You sat in the co-pilot seat and closely analyzed the bounty. She was not of human race and appeared to be of some alien species you’ve never seen before; and you’ve seen a lot.

You examined her stats and noticed there was no reason given as to why she was wanted. You figured she was affiliated with some sith lord or something.

“Yeah, what do you say we head out tomorrow?“ you asked, turning to face him.

“Alright, first thing in the morning.” he sighed as he agreed.

“You should definitely get some rest first. You’ve had a long day.” you noticed how tired he looked, even through the beskar.

“Can you really tell?” he asked incredulously.

“Oh, please. Your two sighs away from passing out.” you joked, but you both knew it was true.

“Well, you had to watch over Grogu all day. I’m sure you’re tired. Someone has to get us to Hoth.” he countered.

“Din, I may be a little tired, but I don’t mind getting us there. Like I said, you need to get some rest.” you insisted.

“Do you even know how to get us to hyperspace?” he asked in an unsure tone.

“Yes, I can manage just fine. Now go to sleep.” you ordered.

He eyed you once more, “are you sure?”

“How hard can it be?” you shrugged as you shooed him out of his seat.

Din had no choice, but to obey and he put the child to sleep before falling soundly asleep in his small cot.

༶•┈┈୨୧┈┈•༶

Only hours later, Din was awakened by Grogu’s loud cries and the crest's violent, turbulent shakes.

He immediately got out of the cot and reached for the child. He frantically searched for you before remembering you were still flying the ship.

“What’s going on?!” he shouted over the blaring alarms.

“These starcruisers started blasting us out of nowhere! I’ve been fighting them off and trying to get us to Hoth! It's not that far now!" you shouted back.

Din pressed a few buttons on the control panel, then flipped a switch that finally ended the noisy alarms.

You were struggling to keep the cruisers off and fly at the same time. Din quickly placed the child on the co-pilot seat, then took control of the huge blaster and aimed steadily as the cruisers flew in front.

"Just get us there! I got these two!" he yelled, then fired a few shots to the back of the first cruiser.

You tried to focus amidst the chaos, but with every blast the crest took, the more your worry grew and the more your concentration broke.

"We're taking too many hits!" you shouted hectically.

"We're fine!" he shouted back, not wanting to face the fact that the crest was most definitely done for.

Lucky enough, you were nearing Hoth's exosphere and Din managed to fire one final blast to the first cruiser's pilot.

The second pilot, however, remained hovering nearby and followed the crest as you dove headfirst into the planet.

The immense turbulence you faced now was nothing compared to the potent shakes you guys were experiencing just a few moments prior. You were sure you were going to crash. The crest was in horrible condition.

You tried to steer as much as you could, but to no avail. You simply let go and mindlessly, reached for Grogu and Din, so you could tightly embrace them while bracing for impact.

The crest was subjected to a harsh landing on Hoth and you three flew out of your seats.

You fell to the ground from the impact to your head and though in much pain, you smiled in relief once you noticed the child was not hurt; you held onto him pretty tight.

Din was groaning in pain beside you. He turned his head to make sure you both were okay.

"You alright?" he asked, weakly.

"Sort of, just hit my head pretty hard." you managed to respond.

He took a pause before stating, "That pilot followed us here. Bet he crashed too and is lurking around."

"I'll go." you sighed as you tried to get up, but Din placed his hand on your shoulder.

"Uh-ughn, you stay here." Din was quick to oppose.

For some odd reason, he couldn’t help the feeling of wanting to protect you even though you had put yourself in danger many times before.

"You don't look so hot, either." you scoffed, then slowly got up anyway.

Grogu cooed at your feet, and you pet his head before helping Din stand.

"Let's both get him." he said, and you couldn't agree more.

You left Grogu inside, so he wouldn't have to face the cold weather.

You gathered all the muscle strength you could while Din walked as if he felt no pain at all.

Freezing bits of snow hit your face as you two trudged through the worsening blizzard.

It was difficult to see anything; only close obstacles were in view.

Din led the way and you followed close behind, scanning for a wrecked starcruiser.

You had begun to question whether or not the pilot had really survived the fall or not. You and Din had trudged for about 3 miles already.

Suddenly, a round of blasts were fired and you took a solid hit straight to the chest. You fell onto the thick snow and Din yelled for you.

You winced in immense pain. You tried to feel for the burning flesh, but you felt almost paralyzed.

The mandalorian turned his back and surged forward before adeptly unloading his blaster and firing at the cruiser.

He heard a grunt, then trudged forward a bit to see if he was down.

“You..will never get away with the child.” the pilot breathed out.

“I already have.” Din simply said as he fired a final blow.

At once, he picked you up and trudged as fast as he could back to the crest. He was worried sick.

Your eyes were shutting as he carried you back.

He placed you on the floor of the cockpit and went to go grab the bacta spray. He came back and was ready to take off your cloak and top.

Your eyes widened before blurting out, “I’m good! I’ll apply the spray myself, Din!”

He was confused. You were injured and you always allowed him to treat you.

“You’re hurt. Let me do it.” he proceeded to lift your undershirt, but you moved his hand away.

“It’s small wound, it barely even grazed me! Now let me do it.” you excused yourself.

“It’s gonna be hard to wrap the wound yourself.” he brought up.

Shit. This is it. you thought. There’s no other way.

“Fine.” you sighed as you gave up.

Din took off your cloak first, then slowly removed your undershirt. You watched as he noticed your binder, but to your surprise he didn’t comment.

He understood now and wanted to respect your privacy.

“Here. Apply the bacta yourself, then turn around so I can patch you up.” he finally says and hands you the bacta bottle.

Your brows furrowed as you took the spray reluctantly.

“You’re not going to question me? After all this time you’ve known me?” you asked, stunned.

“You don’t have to explain to me anything if you don’t want to.” he answered, reassuringly.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“Why would it?” he asked with furrowed brows, though you could not see.

You remained silent and slowly turned to apply the bacta yourself.

“Could you help me remove it?.”

Din complied and took off your binder for you. His hands were gloved yet his touch was still soft.

You sprayed the bacta onto your fingers and lightly massaged it on the wound. You winced as you did so.

Afterwards, Din wrapped the gauze gently around your chest and you whispered, “thank you.”

You turned back around and put your cloak on once again.

You noticed he was staring, so you spoke again, “I was not born a man and I’m sorry for not being truthful.”

Din titled his head to the side before saying, “You have nothing to be sorry for. I admire you even more for your bravery.”

You looked up at him and smiled.

“The mandalorian admires me?” you jokingly asked.

“Yes, he does.” he chuckled. “Unfortunately, he admires a strong fighter who for some reason can’t properly fly a ship.”

You rolled your eyes at him and exclaimed, “Dank ferrik, it was those cruisers’ fault, not mine!”

He let out a chuckle again and you laughed too.

“So, you admire me?”

“Your nature and determination are what I like the most.” he complimented you.

He moved from kneeling to sitting beside you on the floor.

“Without your company, I don’t know how I would’ve survived these past few months.” he confessed.

“But, you’re doing most of the saving.” you said, puzzled.

“You and Grogu saved me from a life of loneliness, c'yarika."

You smiled at the nickname, though you had no idea what it meant.

"I'm assuming that's mand'oa? What does it mean?" you asked.

"It means...darling." he replied, and your heart swelled.

"I can't believe you just called me that. Say it again." you giggled.

"C'yarika?" he wondered.

"Hmm, I like it." you admitted.

You looked into his visor for a second before placing your hand on the side of his helmet. The beskar felt cold in your grasp.

"Thank you for accepting me the way I am." you began.

"I wasn't sure if I could disclose this part of myself. The galaxy can be a cruel place."

"I see you no different than before. I like you just as you are." he confessed once more.

Before you knew it, Din had pressed his helmet so he could lift it up a bit. Only the lower half of his face could be seen.

You moved your hand and placed it on his jaw. You leaned carefully to kiss his rough lips.

He moved in and you both took in the blissful moment as your lips connected.

#reader included #reader insert #x reader #pedro pascal #pedrostories #din dijarin x reader #din dijarin fanfiction #din djarin x you #din djarin x trans!reader #din djarin x trans!masc reader #coming out #star wars x reader #star wars x you #star wars din djarin #stars wars fanfiction #the mandalorian #mandalorian x reader #din djarin x male reader #mandalorian x male reader #mandalorian x trans!reader #din djarin fanfiction

[enquiringangel]

Bad Influence

A silly fic inspired by a chat in the notes from a post from @themarginalthinker . The Boys have potty mouths; Laddie picks up on this. Also on AO3

-x-

Paul was the best at scoring the good shit, so the rest of them parked up outside the arcade while he ventured inside to see what was on offer. Dwayne could see him from here chatting to a boy waiting in line for a turn at Pac-Man, an arm around his shoulders.

The rest of them had parked up outside while they waited for him, Marko chewing at a loose thread on one of his gloves as he watched Paul cozy up to the dealer. David and Star were sharing a cigarette, David taking a pull and then holding it up to her lips. Dwayne drummed his fingers on the handlebars of his bike, watching Laddie play pinball.

The pinball machine was sci-fi themed, with green bulb-headed aliens and little disc-shaped spaceships that lit up and chimed and made pew pew noises every time the ball bounced off one of them. Green lights flashed frantically as Laddie mashed at the buttons, but as the ball fell between the flippers, the aliens’ eyes blared red and the machine made a flatulent blat of disappointment.

Laddie scowled at the machine and slapped the console in disappointment. “Fuck,” he said in his childish voice.

At first Dwayne thought that his enhanced hearing had failed him, but the sound of chuckling erupting from behind him and Star’s sharp exclamation of, “Laddie!” put paid to that.

The little guy looked over at Star innocently. “What?”

“You mustn’t say that,” Star scolded him.

“Why not?” Laddie protested. “You guys say it all the time.” A smile tugged at his mouth, a haven’t-I-been-naughty-and-isn’t-it-fun kind of look. His face had lit up at his older brothers’ obvious amusement.

“You’re nine years old,” she said, glaring disapprovingly at the boys for encouraging him. Marko screwed up his face in an exaggerated impression of her scowl, which made David let out an honest to god snort. “Swearing is a sign of a limited vocabulary,” she added, turning away from her companion huffily.

“I’ll have you know my vocabulary is extensive,” Marko protested. “I can call someone a cunt in five languages.”

Laddie immediately perked up. “What’s a—”

“It’s a word Marko will keep out of his goddamn mouth if he doesn’t want me to ram a bar of soap down his throat hard enough for it to shoot out of his ass,” Dwayne declared, eyeing the other boy with a forbidding expression. Age made vampires stronger, but the gap had to be a century or two before it started to matter. Marko might be older, but he could and would end him if he didn’t buck his ideas up, and he had no issue with broadcasting this thought into the other vampire’s mind.

“Whoa, chill.” Marko held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender, no longer laughing.

“Star’s right little man,” Dwayne said now, looking at Laddie seriously. “You shouldn’t be swearing. You have to be at least twelve before you can say words like that,” he added, missing the way Star’s approving look at his support melted into an expression of exasperation.

Laddie scuffed the toe of his shoe against the ground, face sulky. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool,” Dwayne said immediately. “And it’s our fault anyway. We’ve all got to cut back on the cursing.” Laddie was just a kid, and way too impressionable. They were meant to be taking care of him, not messing him up.

“Yup and while we’re at it we’re all going to church this Sunday,” David snarked. “I better dig out a suit.”

Dwayne ignored the remark. “Every time someone swears around Laddie it’s ten bucks in the swear jar.”

“The swear jar? For fuck’s sake, Dwayne—”

Wordlessly, Dwayne turned to face his leader and held out his palm. For a moment the two of them stared one another down, thoughts streaming between their minds. Dwayne’s were heavy with memories of another little boy he’d been responsible for, a little boy who was buried in another state in an unmarked grave. He didn’t mean to be maudlin, but it had the desired effect.

David sighed quietly and dug into his pocket for a roll of bank notes, peeling off a ten and slapping it down into Dwayne’s palm.

Dwayne tucked it away in his jacket, satisfied.

At that moment, Paul came back out of the arcade with a grin on his face. “We got some molly bitches. Let’s get shitfaced tonight motherfuckers!”

Marko clicked his tongue. “Such foul language, Paul. You should be ashamed.”

“Extremely ashamed,” David said, shaking his head. “Give Dwayne thirty bucks right now.”

“What the fuck for?”

“Forty bucks. For the swear jar.”

“Swear jar?” Paul echoed, looking at them both in obvious bafflement. “What fucking swear jar?”

“Fifty,” Star counted, resting her chin on David’s shoulder, arms loosely encircling his middle.

“We’re setting a good example,” Dwayne explained, nodding his head towards Laddie. “Now.” He held out his hand.

“Pay up.”

#dwayne is such a dad. but he is also a Lost Boy. at least he is trying though #and this is why none of the vampires swear in the movie #the lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #dwayne tlb #star tlb #marko tlb #paul tlb #david tlb #laddie tlb #laddie thompson

[dancingdonatello]

So this might be kinda specific but I was wondering if I could get a ride Donnie x reader where the reader is a newly mutated beetle mutant.

Donnie and reader are mutually crushing silently and reader is brought down to the lair reluctantly by April and when Donnie sees reader he tries his best not to freak out.

reader is upset because they hate the way they look but Donnie assures them they look perfect to him and eventually there is some sort of confession?

this is hella specific I apologize. Just an idea i wanted to get out there

donnie x gn mutated reader

“April…” You stared at yourself in the mirror. You reached up to touch your face but you flinched at the sight of your hands. “April.”

“Don’t panic!” She was frantically typing on her phone before she put it up to her ear. “Raph, we’re coming down to the lair right now! You better get Donnie out of his goddamn room so he can take care of this!”

There was a muffled response on the other side.

“I don’t know! They were just in the bathroom and screamed and I came in and now they’re a BUG!”

You still couldn’t believe it. You stared at yourself in the mirror but you couldn’t connect it to yourself. It didn’t matter that this… thing followed your every movement perfectly and even blinked when you did, it wasn’t you. It couldn’t be you.

Why did it have to be a beetle?

There had been a beetle crawling in your bathroom and you had picked it up to put it out the window. But then this even bigger bug came flying in right into your face. You had gone through the most excruciating pain of your life only to end up looking like some sci-fi monster.

“Okay, let’s go!” April took one of your now many arms, visibly shivering at the texture. “No offense, I’m just not... I’ll get over it soon, no worries.”

She led you down to the sewers, but your stomach was cramping up with nerves. What if they attacked you? What if they didn’t recognize you? What if they thought you were ugly and scary? What if Donnie… There was no way you had a chance with him now. Your heart sunk in your chest at the realization.

“Whoa!” Mikey’s voice made you look up from the ground. You and April had arrived. “You were being serious!”

“Why would I lie?” April shook her head. “Nevermind. Where is Donnie?”

“He locked his ‘new and improved’ lab door.” Raph’s voice sounded agitated. “Can’t get ahold of him.”

“You don’t look too bad, brighten up!” Leo said to you. “Donnie’ll figure something out. If not, who cares! You can join our cool mutant family club where we beat up other mutants.”

“I look ugly.” Leo paused, surprised and unsure of what to say.

“Well,” Mikey’s voice cracked, “it looks cool when your… um, skin? When your skin reflects different colors in the light!”

At least he was trying.

A beetle, your mind still couldn’t wrap around it. You could’ve been a tiger or anything. You still would’ve preferred to stay human but you were now a beetle. You would be stuck as a beetle for the rest of your life. You would never see your family again. You could never have a normal life again.

“What is going on?” Donnie’s lab door swooshed open. He had headphones around his neck and was looking at his phone. “April, why did you call me five times? Couldn’t you tell I was busy? What…what?” Then he saw you.

“This is why!” April shook her arms. “If you could’ve just picked up your phone—”

“Who is this?” Donnie’s eyes narrowed, judgmentally scanning your new body. Your form visibly crumbled.

“It’s me…” Donnie’s mouth hung open as he immediately recognized your voice.

“What?! It can’t be, you’re—you’re supposed to be human. That’s not possible! Did you see a large green bug anywhere? Did it bite you?” You shrank back.

“Donnie…” Raph slid over to his brother, bringing down a large and heavy hand onto his shoulder. “In situations such as these, we are supposed to act calm so they don’t freak out.”

“Right…” Donnie slipped out from under his brother’s hand. “Follow me.” He beckoned you over as he walked back into his lab. You followed after him, looking back at the others who each gave you an encouraging look.

You expected him to sit down and get to work, but instead, he handed you a cookie and a water bottle.

“Those were mine but I never ended up eating them.” Donnie nodded at you. “You’ll feel better if you eat. Eating food helps calm people because it tricks their minds. I won’t go into too much detail, it’s not too important right now.”

You then expected him to get to work. It was nice of him to offer food before he got started. But then he just stood there.

“…Aren’t you going to help me?” You asked, your voice wavering. He was so smart, there was no way he’d leave you stuck as a beetle.

“With what? Are you hurt? Do you need help adjusting to your new body?” Donnie’s eyes went to his computer. “I can probably look up beetle information to help you. Your DNA changed, so it’s not unlikely for you to start picking up traits of a beetle.”

“I mean, aren’t you gonna change me back? To a human?”

“Oh. That. There’s… nothing I can do.” Your expression crumbled. He looked a little guilty. “I’ve tried before to make a substance that could reverse the affects. I tried to make it for dad, not for us obviously, but I was always missing something. I could never get it right.”

“So, I’m going to look like this forever?” You shakily crossed a pair of arms over your chest, the second pair awkwardly hanging.

“Well, yes.” He quickly caught onto your tone. “Listen, you’re talking to a turtle mutant. You look fine to us. I can still see your human traits, even if it’s a little harder to see at first. You’re still the same. You don’t think I’m ugly, do you?”

“No… but you’re a turtle. Turtles are cute… beetles are…” You gestured to yourself and refused to look at him. “Six leggy and creepy.”

You saw his conflicted face in the corner of your vision. He was obviously debating something. “Look, I… ugh… You’re really forcing my hand here.” You looked up at him, confused. He turned his head to hide his face as his skin darkened slightly on his face. “I liked you before as a human and I still like you now. Your newly acquired beetle traits have changed nothing regarding my feelings for you. You still look perfect. If that isn’t enough evidence, I’m unsure of what could ever convince you.”

“You… like me? You still like me?” You perked up, your heart fluttering. “You liked me before? You like me now?”

“Don’t make me repeat it,” he mumbled, turning around fully so you couldn’t see him. You saw how his foot nervously tapped the floor. “It doesn’t matter what you look like. You’re still the same. It doesn’t change my… feelings.”

“You mean it?” He turned around and nodded tensely.

You couldn’t help yourself when you ran up to him and hugged him with your four arms.

“See?” He patted you on the back with a hand, the other wrapping around you to keep you close. He did not hesitate at all to touch you. Maybe it was to show you how he didn’t mind your new mutation. You didn’t really care, so you tightened your hold. “You give even better hugs now.”

#rise donatello x reader #donnie x reader #rise donnie x reader #rottmnt x reader #tmnt x reader #donatello x reader #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt x gender neutral reader #rottmnt x gn reader #tmnt x gn reader #tmnt donnie x reader

[dreamspelunker]

A Case for Disney’s “Strange World”

No one seems to know anything about this movie. I didn’t before I saw it yesterday. I went to the movies on a whim and chose this one because the pickings were a bit slim and this one looked like the best out of the bunch.

Guys. This movie is good.

Disney has done this film real dirty by not marketing it properly. I mean, it probably won’t ever take over the world by storm like Encanto did, but it deserves better than what it’s getting. As I said on my Twitter, it is 100% a stunningly beautiful solarpunk film and everyone needs to go see it.

Here’s a brief synopsis since the trailer was garbage and no one saw it anyway:

***The Spoiler-Free Zone***

The story mostly focuses on Searcher, the son of famous explorer Jaeger Clade whose mission in life is to find a passage over the impassable mountains that surrounds their community of Avalonia. While on an expedition to try and scale the peaks, Searcher finds Pando, a mysterious plant that generates a renewable source of electricity. Searcher, tired of exploring and wanting to quit the life, takes the Pando back to Avalonia. Jaeger, still determined to find a way through the mountains, keeps going alone, never to return.

25 years later, Pando has transformed Avalonia into a bustling sci-fi uptopia. Searcher is renowned for having discovered Pando, and now lives a quiet life growing Pando crops with his wife and teenage son. One day, however, the Pando starts dying. In search of a cure, one of Jaeger’s former crew comes to Searcher asking for his help to lead an expedition down underground to figure out what’s killing it and save the society they’ve built with it.

If that sounds like a movie you’d like to see, stop reading now and go see it. Because from here, I’ll be busting out spoilers to talk about themes and why this movie is solarpunk. So I’ll be writing as if you, dear reader, have seen the film.

***The Spoiler Zone***

First of all, this movie is goddamn gorgeous. I really liked the opening comic-panel sequence and all, but I fell in love with the visuals once the story opened up and began showing us Searcher’s farm and Avalonia. Aesthetically, this is about as solarpunk as you can get. Art nouveau-inspired stained glass windows, visible mending on clothes, and really cool-looking tech that’s not at all in conflict with its environment.

That’s not even touching on the world inside Avalonia. I loved the shades of pinks and purples. And the creature design! Absolute chef’s kiss. That whole part of the movie reminded me of this one book I’ve read called ‘Expedition’ by Wayne Douglas Barlowe, which is just about exploring the ecosystem of alien life-forms on a planet called Darwin IV. It’s mostly a collection of really detailed sci-fi paintings of alien creatures. Fantastic stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if someone at the Disney studio had a copy and passed it around for inspiration during production.

In terms of the characters, i thought everyone was engaging and all the voice actors gave really good performances. I really liked Jaeger in particular (yes, he comes back, of course), but all three of the main characters were really well developed.

But, of course, there is The Gay Character. We all know about HIM.

I kid, I kid, I capitalize with irony. They did a good job with him, actually.

I’ve seen a lot of people on Twitter respond to the idea of Ethan Clade with a very cynical shrug without having seen the movie. I have to say, I think people would be genuinely pleased with his portrayal if they gave the movie a chance. There’s no goofy wink-wink LeFou-ing about here. He’s a main character throughout the movie, his love interest is presented upfront with sincerity, and everyone within the world accepts it as normal. He’s not fighting anyone to be gay or trying to hide it, nor is it his one defining trait. He just has a crush on a dude and his dad embarrasses him a bit in front of him. Normal teenage stuff. His character arc is about sorting out his identify in relation to his family, especially his dad. Being gay literally has nothing to do with his character any more than his mom and dad being straight. Which is how it should be.

The story is a fun ride. It’s really well-paced. I was never bored, personally. There are some really great action scenes, some cute comedy with a three-legged dog and a goo creature called Splat, and the emotional beats all made sense with the characters and moved the story forward. It has a lot of qualities that reminded me of Up! and some parts of The Incredibles without directly being a rip-off of either of those. It’s its own thing, and I look forward to being able to watch it again on DVD/streaming.

***I know some of you kept reading anyway so for real, this is where I’m about to get into True Spoilers so save yourselves now y’allllllll***

Ultimately, this is a movie about legacy. Specifically, the legacy we want to leave our children (i.e. those who will come after us). I love the way this movie manages to take the existential crisis we face now in our blessed, beautiful world and condense it into a story where that issue of legacy, of our priorities, and of who we want to be is made clear.

Jaeger Clade is the society that brought us to where we are now. He’s a loud, brash, bush-whacking old man who’s driven to overcome obstacles. Searcher Clade is us now. Not looking to conquer for conquering’s sake, but complacent and only interested in continuing the status quo. He’s proud of what he’s made and sees no reason to change. Ethan Clade is who we should want to be. Someone looking for a third option, who wants to co-exist with the world around them, and be curious without being destructive.

These three outlooks correlate directly to the reveal that Avalonia is actually a living creature, and Pando is a disease that is literally wrapped around the living, beating heart of their world and slowly killing it. It was Jaeger’s drive to explore that led to the discovery of Pando. Searcher was unintentionally making the problem worse by growing more and more Pando to fuel their society. And throughout the movie, everyone is working together to save Pando, and it’s Ethan alone who tries to get them to stop and think more about what they’re looking at, and that things might not be as simple and straight-forward as they appear.

And this is why I think this movie is solarpunk, and not just aesthetically. Obviously, there are direct parallels to our use of fossil fuels, but I think it’s important that in the universe of Strange World, Pando is not an obvious poison or something they have to destructively mine to get. It’s a plant. Something that appears so innocuous at first, but under the surface, grows into a huge, overwhelming problem. No one is an evil bad guy looking to make profit off Pando or keep on destroying the world because it makes them money to do so. Everyone in the movie does what they do because they think they’re doing the right thing. What is the right and wrong answer isn’t always clear, and rather than being a result of them being outright evil, it’s just because they don’t fully understand the consequences.

While I was in the theater watching this, I thought about the Himalayan blackberries that have taken over the Pacific Northwest. It was introduced in the late 1800s by a botanist named Luther Burbank. He prized it for how much produce one blackberry bush could make in a single season, as opposed to the native blackberries that made smaller berries in smaller quantities. His intent was genuinely for the good. He wanted to propagate a crop that could accessibly feed the growing urban areas of the PNW. Create a food forest, in a sense. He sold the seeds because it was easy to grow and would feed people.

Obviously, it’s not bad to want to feed people. But now the damn plant has invested everything, and while the berries are still very much edible (and people do still eat them), it’s also created impenetrable thickets that kill everything around them and interfere with the ability of wildlife to get around. It got out of control. Even though the intent was meant well, the outcome created a problem that is now essentially impossible to overcome. People try anyway, because we have to, but the odds are not in our favor.

Solarpunk isn’t about growing more plants or having more trees in our cities or building solar panels and wind farms everywhere. Well, it’s not JUST that. Of course those things are good things, but every solution offered needs the proper context to work. And that’s the real nature of the movement, right? It’s finding solutions that lead to the best outcomes for everyone. Being invested in our world, learning about it, falling in love with it, discovering the intricacies of how everything is interconnected and how we fit into that. Everything we do will have inevitable impacts on everything around us, but what those impacts are can change radically depending on how carefully we consider our actions. We know we have to change. The question is, how do we change? How do we change for everyone?

And that is the ending message of the film. The heroes choose to save Avalonia. They destroy the Pando, knowing that it means they can’t have their society the way it was anymore. They choose that, because it is right to do. And the movie ends with the resilience of humanity as they come together and try to find a different solution to build their society on, the third solution of people like Ethan Clade who bring together the bravery and curiosity of Jaeger with the steadfastness and dedication of Searcher, and create a world that’s built on understanding and co-existence. In a world that constantly feels like it could teeter over at any minute, that’s a beautiful message to see in a goddamn Disney film.

P.S. I just want to say before I go that I really really really want Ethan’s boyfriend’s sweater. When you see it, you’ll understand, but I NEED the sweater in my life more than air.

#strange world #solarpunk #movie review #novel-length post #disney #this film was done dirty #please go see it #you'll have fun i promise

[hugsandchaos]

Show “N” Tell

Uzi stared at the paper in intense thought. Notes covered most of the paper, notes about how she was going to improve her gun, how it turned out, what to do, what not to do, what to try, and more. She seriously wanted to work out the flaws that were plaguing her weapon, such as the recharge time. She couldn’t wait thirty minutes between shots if N’s teammates find her, she’d be dead within moments!

And while brainstorming solutions for that, she also needed to plan out the parts and steps needed to add the theoretical improvements. Not to mention how she was even going to get them!

Who knew making a sick as hell sci-fi gun was going to be so difficult?

“Alright, Uzi, do you have anything to show the class?” The teacher asked without looking up from his book. Uzi paused her intense scribbling on her notebook for her gun and briefly looked up with a confused expression. Then she remembered.

Stupid class, and stupid show and tell.

Uzi let out an exasperated sigh and turned when she heard a couple girls giggling in the “typical rude, spoiled high school bully” way, which was annoying in itself. One of them, Lizzy, raised her hand.

“Sir, I think she might’ve forgotten.” She suggested with a smug look aimed at Uzi, obviously trying to embarrass or irritate her. Lizzy dropped her hand just as another drone, who Uzi couldn’t remember her name, raised her own.”Or maybe she doesn’t have anything to show other than that creepy gun!” She laughed. The rest of the class, aside from Thad and the teacher (and U of course) laughed or snickered. Uzi glared at Lizzy.”Bite me!” She snapped, practically out of reflex at this point. She didn’t exactly say it in a sarcastic tone, but it was obviously not an actual suggestion. It only made her laugh more.

Thad sat up straight from his previous position, leaning back against his chair and using his desk as a footrest with the classic arms-folded-behind-head, and gave Lizzy a stern look.”At least she’s making something that’s actually cool! What do you make, 2000’s Barbie dolls?” He asked. The rest of the class either stopped laughing or laughed more, and those who stopped stared at Thad. They were the type of stares of disbelief that would normally make someone uncomfortable enough to back down and wish they could teleport out of the class to the safety of their bedrooms or something. But Thad kept his gaze on Lizzy, obviously not backing down.

Uzi almost smiled. It makes you feel seen and appreciated when someone stands up for you. She started to feel a bit guilty for not talking with him more and becoming friends with how nice he’s been.

“You make a good point, though. I hope it’s not her sick as hell railgun.” He started, glancing at Uzi with less anger. Her face almost faltered, but then Thad continued with a grin that held a sort of aggressive encouragement, which wasn’t very common from him.”Because I’d love to see what other neat, scary sci-fi stuff she’s made.” He finished.

Just then, there was an impact from inside the wall at the head of the class, startling everyone into looking towards the direction of the sound.

Uzi, again, nearly smiled, knowing exactly what it was. Or rather, who it was.

She cleared her throat and stood up to calmly walk up to the class while the rest were half watching, half trying to figure out what that thud was.”Actually, I did bring something that I think is even cooler than my gun.” She said. More thuds were heard from the wall, and as they grew closer, everyone turned their attention to the vent in the top left corner (facing away from the wall) near the large screen that covered the majority of the wall. Uzi turned to face the class as a pair of claws burst through the vent.

As Uzi looked at Lizzy’s petrified body peeking from the desk, she couldn’t help but think “Who’s smirking now?” despite not letting the smug grin onto her face.

The entire class screamed and froze in fear as a disassembly drone climbed down from the vents and slowly stood up with his tail swishing like an angry cat. His wings slowly unfolded as he gained the space for them and the canister of yellow nanite acid at the end of his tail dimly glowed almost intimidatingly, as if the stinger wasn’t unnerving by itself. The drone’s mouth was in a seemingly impossible wide grin, stretching from cheek to cheek and revealing sharp fangs. Everyone but Uzi stared in dread and horror.

Suddenly, the yellow X changed to a pair of yellow eyes and the claws were switched for normal hands. The wings were tucked in and the tail held a curved down-up-slight-down position. The drone smiled again, but this time it wasn’t as murderous looking as he waved at them.

“So, for this stupid show and tell, I decided to bring my best friend.” Uzi explained.

That got little to no reaction. N slowly stopped waving and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He nervously glanced between Uzi and her class. Even the teacher was inches away from either hiding under his desk completely or hightailing it out of there.

“As for the three things I like about him, I’d say he’s great to spar with, good at flying, and probably the drone I tolerate the most.” She stated, not really wanting to loose much of her “angsty teen” reputation. N was pulled out of what would’ve been a very upsetting train of thought if his best friend hadn’t interrupted it and blinked as she spoke. He did his best not to let his tail wag at the kind statements, and thankfully, he succeeded in controlling that. And his purring mechanism too.

The teacher, not taking his eyes off of N, forced a chuckle, which came out extremely nervous.”That’s- That’s great, Uzi! Um, hehe, anyone have any questions?” He asked the class without looking at them.

Lizzy slowly raised her hand and U pointed to her in acknowledgment.”Yeah, Lizzy?” She asked.

“How can you be friends?! He’s terrifying!” Lizzy exclaimed. N’s eyes promptly widened at the accusation, but was it really an accusation when it’s true? He is pretty scary sometimes, especially with that undeniable urge to hunt and kill that came up every now and then. Mostly when he was hungry.

Uzi glanced over at N, then back at Lizzy as she pointed at him.”This guy?” She asked in mock disbelief.”No, he’s not that scary.” She said dismissively.”Anyone else?”

Thad raised his hand.“I have one.” He said. He was definitely scared and nervous (though who wouldn’t be, seeing something built and designed to hunt you down and kill you), but compared to the rest of the class, he sounded pretty confident and brave. Uzi nodded and N emotionally braced himself.

“N, right? Mind if I see those wings?” The jock asked. The lack of words such as “killer” or “scary” made N’s face light up a bit. He briefly glanced at U as if saying “did you see that?!”, then back at Thad.

“Sure!” He replied. A few of the classmates grew a bit more confident like Thad, who was now making his way up to the front of the class.

From his point of view, this was like a death sentence. It should be a death sentence, but he trusted Uzi’s judgement. After all, she was set on destroying the disassembly drones and freeing Copper 9 from the company, and yet she trusted him enough to bring him into the class and not have her gun even with her. So maybe he was trustworthy.

That trust and confidence in Uzi judgement was giving Thad the push he needed.

“You can touch them a little. Just be careful, they’re pretty sharp.” N said. He unfolded his wings, careful not to knock anything over, and watched Thad move behind him for a close inspection.

Each “feather” was shiny and sleek- almost elegant, even with how sharp they also looked. Although maybe the sharpness added to how cool they were, kind of like how the blades on those old human “army knives” looked tempting to put his thumb on the outside edge of the blade.

Thad carefully touched the blades and was practically astounded. He was always for the classic “Safety First” rule, but here he was, touching a disassembly drone’s wings! His eyes widened and the inside of them were no longer visible, only the outlines, expressing his surprise.“Woah, you weren’t kidding. It feels a kind of like a kitchen knife, but... warm?? Why are you warm?” He asked.

“Cold weather, remember?” N replied. Uzi watched them, and for a moment, let herself smile.

After just a few seconds of lifting and moving N’s wings around like a child, Thad let go and started walking back to his seat. Now, he was definitely sure of his safety and could sit normally in his seat.“Um, why don’t you let someone else have a turn?” The teacher asked.

“Guess that’s my cue to leave.” N said. He jumped up and pulled himself into the vent he came in from to leave, but before he did, he stuck his hand out in a quick wave.”See ya, Uzi! It was nice to meet your class!” He said. Uzi waved back, even though she knew he wouldn’t see it, and went back to her seat to let the next person present.

Though let’s be honest, she was back in her head thinking up of ways to improve her gun in less than two minutes.

#au #murder drones thad #murder drones uzi #murder drones #murder drones n #murder drones fanfic #murder drones AU #show “n tell #show n tell

[fuckyeahaudiodrama]

REC: Neon Inkwell - Of That Colossal Wreck

“An existential science fiction horror [which] follows five survivors who awaken on a vast space station, intended as humanity’s last defence against oblivion. Little do they know, however, that other beings are interested in the facility…” (x)

7 episodes / approx. 2.5 hrs

a long-anticipated limited series by Jonny Sims and Sasha Sienna, exploring what it means to be human, how identity is shaped, and what can be done when all seems lost.

first standout thing about this series is the sound design (and the music.) it’s GORGEOUS, discordant and haunting, and really just sets a mood before the story even gets its stride. reportedly, the RQ production staff got to mix things up and try out new roles for Neon Inkwell, so Katie Seaton actually got to do the music and sound design for this series. i have to assume this means she was responsible for bringing the alien “whistlers” to life — and i just think they’re so goddamn cool. i want to know everything about them. check out this post for a sampler of that. i was so impressed overall that i’m currently checking out some of Katie’s other work.

obviously, i knew i was going to enjoy the writing — Jonny Sims has produced nothing but bangers from TMA to both of his published novels, and what i’ve seen of Sasha Sienna’s writing in the TMA bonus “What the Ghost?” episodes, as well as their ttrpg work, left me with no doubt that i would enjoy any characters that they helped to develop. but i was still really moved by how each character interacts with the others individually. despite being a fairly short series, there’s somehow room for the development of all six characters — in fact, for the majority of the cast, they’re as in the dark about their own personalities as the audience is at the start of the story, so you get to go on that journey together. i thought that was a neat new spin on the classic amnesiac protag trope that i see so often in this flavor of sci-fi.

this story is at least partially a space survival horror. that being said, the worldbuilding necessitates some pretty daunting existential questions about human ethics, community, and personal identity. from a narrative standpoint, i was wondering how such a short series would even be able to deliver satisfying answers to all of this, but i think it was pretty well done. no spoilers, but man — that finale was like a whole round of emotional gutpunches. a surprisingly hopeful finish.

i already miss these characters terribly ;_; i didn’t even have them very long, but they’re all so lovable and their group dynamic has so much potential. highly recommend checking it out (but mind the content warnings for each episode.)

strong start to the new feed!🪶a behind the scenes episode has been promised soon as well, so look out for that :)

__

similar to: Deviser, Project Nova & The DECA Tapes (premise, setting) ; Red Valley, Down & Janus Descending (vibes)

#neon inkwell #of that colossal wreck #audio drama #podrecs #it’s so funny the first episode of this has Such similarity to the first ep of project nova #but project nova is comedic and this is Dramatic. cool to see similar ideas explored so differently

[stealthrockdamage]

Okay, I'll bite: what is Unjust Depths about?

hi sorry i've been sitting on this ask for a month i sort of wanted to wait until i had enough energy to pour my whole soul into answering. but to keep it short unjust depths is an underwater space opera written from a very explicitly marxist perspective. it's about a lot of things. madiha herself often describes it as "full of romance and violence" and this definitely rings true lol. i probably make it sound like it's mostly sex, and that's because the incredible web of relationships between the cast (90% of which are lesbians, and like 50% of which are trans women - it rocks) is extremely fun and easy to post about. but it's so much more than that. there is so much careful and thoughtful worldbuilding put into it. i think the whole thing carries with it a thoughtful understanding of the nature of power and justice. it also has really cool sci-fi shit in it. there are underwater mech battles, there are psychics, there are catgirls. don't get me started on omenseers. one of my favourite things about unjust depths is its tendency to change which character we're following - every single character has their own little idiosyncracies and thought patterns that shine through the narration when we're given their point of view. this sounds like it'd be confusing but it just flows so smoothly i honestly think it's really impressive. through the swapping narrative viewpoints we get to see how the tiniest split-second decision ripples outward to affect politics across the entire setting. it's really great! i will say, it is super long and still ongoing, but if you're interested, honestly. it is free online at unjustdepths.com and you should give the first however-much-you-want a whirl. i totally said i'd "keep it short" and ended up rambling but it's really great. read it if you want

#caijuu #ask

[jocia92]

Dan Stevens couldn't say no to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Part of the reason was that he loved the character he got to play; the other part was that the role was literally written for him.

"Adam Wingard, the director, and I have been good friends since we made The Guest. We've been talking about many things over the years but not nearly on this scale," the British actor explained. "Usually, they were weirder, indie-sized things that have yet to come to fruition, but then Adam started getting into these big blockbuster movies. I loved what he did with the last one, but with this, I think it's fair to say that he and Simon Barrett, who also wrote The Guest with Adam, created and wrote Trapper with me in mind, hoping that I would be lured in. Honestly, it wasn't hard for them to lure me."

... Unlike frenemies Godzilla and Kong, Stevens and Hall have been firm friends for decades, which is one reason he thinks they work so well on screen.

"I loved working with Adam again, but Rebecca is involved here, and I've known her since we were about 18 or 19. We were at college together," he enthused. "Brian Tyree Henry is someone I've been friends with for many years, but we've never worked together. I adore him, and I think he's a fantastic actor. To get to come and essentially play with a group of friends in such a fun world was pretty automatic for me to say yes."

"Rebecca and I were roommates after college, but at university, I think the only thing we did together was a production of Macbeth, where we were Mr. and Mrs. M. One of my first professional theatre gigs was working for her father, Sir Peter Hall, on a production of As You Like It. We also did a movie called Permission a few years later when we were both living in New York. We go way back, so it was lovely to step into this with such an old mate and have another mate direct it. We had a huge amount of fun on and off screen, which I hope comes through the lens."

While Stevens wouldn't call himself an aficionado of Godzilla or Kong lore, he has been drawn to it since childhood.

"There was that big Godzilla movie in 1998 with the Puff Daddy track. It was prime teen time for me, and I remember seeing that in theaters," the actor recalled. "There was also the Peter Jackson King Kong movie a few years later, so the two definitely loomed pretty large in my adolescence. Also, being aware of movie history and Godzilla being very much part of that fabric, particularly the B movie world. If you look at any books relating to the history of sci-fi, whether it was Mechagodzilla or whatever, I was always aware of that."

"With so much Godzilla content out there right now, it's a great time to talk about it. The mythology endures, and it endures for a reason. It has something that speaks to our age, whatever that age is. Ever since it was created, it seems to resonate in the world."

Stevens wanted to work with Wingard again since they made The Guest a decade ago, and he recalled how his filmmaking friend sold the concept to him.

"He described the scene where Trapper goes and commandeers the HEAV, which stands for Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle, and flies it into a flock of creatures that are humming with dangerous electricity that fly through and become sort of instrumental in the climax of the movie. He basically narrated that scene to me, and it sounded very cool," he said. "Then I read the script and to introduce a character by having him drop 60 feet off a crane into Kong's mouth to help take a tooth out, I thought. 'That is a cool way to introduce a character.' I wouldn't say the whole thing is me, but there's something in Trapper that I enjoyed bringing out in a world like this. You've got a character who's optimistic, pretty happy-go-lucky, unfazed, seen it all, and he's been around the block, and he's not going to be too freaked out by anything. That's always a nice character to have in the mix in a team-up movie like this. The whole thing was a privilege to step into a character like this that felt so easy and comfortable and do that with such great people."

Stevens knew exactly what real-world and pop culture references and influences he wanted to use to bring Trapper to life.

"A man-child was a big touchstone," he laughed." There's a sprinkling of Ace Ventura in there, and a bit of Dr. Doolittle and Bear Grylls is probably in there, too. There are a lot of fun characters in the mix. I liked the idea of this very optimistic Brit because we're not always known for our optimism. Trapper is a reasonably international character. He probably left the UK when he was quite young. We definitely had a scene where he told a story about his time in Africa, which didn't make the movie's final cut, but it gave us some context. He's been to the jungles and the desert; he's an adventurer and has that element of being pretty chipper in the face of enormous peril."

The actor, also known for Downton Abbey, Beauty and the Beast, and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, thinks Trapper has more escapades to enjoy. Like Hall, he'd love another appearance in the Monsterverse franchise, whose first four films grossed $1.96 billion worldwide.

"The adventures of Trapper would be wild, whether it's a prequel or a sequel," Stevens enthused. "I would love to see more of Trapper, and I'm very touched that you said that. He's a character I enjoyed, and I think you could send Trapper almost anywhere, and it would end up being fun, funny, and weird. There's plenty of story there."

The actor reveled in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire's visual and sonic designs, where Wingard, a director not shy to rave about his love of the 80s, leaned into the era and what it offered creatively.

"There was definitely artwork he'd created going in that they had in what they called the War Room. Wall-to-wall, there were designs of all the creatures and the worlds we would see. A lot of the time, that's green or blue screen effects that we're not really seeing, although some of the sets were real, and sometimes we were going into the jungle," Stevens recalled. "That's a hallmark of Adam Wingard, the Vaporwave synth soundtrack, the blues, purples, and pinks in the lighting. There are so many great 80s movies infused in there, as well as anything from John Carpenter and maybe some John Woo. You're in good hands when you're with Adam because it will be steeped in great and authentic movie references, have a great soundtrack, and look cool. That allows you to relax into whatever you're doing and throw yourself in. The outcome is just a wild ride."

The actor isn't just grateful to be reunited with friends and creatives he adores and admires; he's also happy that it falls during the tenth-anniversary celebration of the first film he and Wingard made together.

"I didn't realize it was ten years, but I knew it was coming on for that. They did a fun thing last April as kind of an April Fool's gag but also kind of not? They released a soundtrack to The Guest 2, which absolutely slaps. Adam is a huge fan of many of the bands invited to contribute to the first film's great soundtrack, so he invited his favorite synth acts to contribute a track to a fake sequel," Stevens explained. "They issued an LP of it, and I think Adam and Simon had worked on an outline of what this movie might be. They issued that to these various artists who had composed some great music. It really is a good standalone album."

He concluded, "The Guest is still finding an audience, and that's delightful. You can't expect that from everything you do, but it's special when one endures like that. I'm particularly fond of it. It came along at a particular time when I had an appetite to do something very different from what I'd done previously. It ticked a lot of boxes and challenged me in several ways. It stays out there as a great calling card for the kind of weird things that I like to do. I don't know if there will be a sequel to The Guest specifically. I know they've got various plans, whether it was a mini-series or a movie, but I certainly hope to work with both Adam and Simon again in some capacity, so never say never."

#godzilla x kong: the new empire #godzilla x kong #monsterverse #godzilla x kong spoilers #dan stevens #forbes #interview #long post

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

DOVE TALE

Again and again I find myself sheepishly admitting that Star Trek, as in the original series, is my all-time favorite TV show. It's a little embarrassing to acknowledge that, north of sixty years old, I keep going back for comfort and refreshment to the corny sci-fi show that I loved as a kid.

Worse yet, for all the show's sophomoric heavy-handedness and cultural chauvinism and ludicrous science and inconsistently applied social values, I keep finding relevance, even prescience in it.

For instance, this past weekend I watched the third-season episode, scripted by the redoubtable Jerome Bixby (also author of the story that became the Twilight Zone favorite "It's a Good Life"), called "Day of the Dove..."

You may remember it: Both the Enterprise and a crew of Klingons arrive at a planet, lured there under false pretenses by a powerful incorporeal alien Entity. Through a variety of mind tricks and matter transmutation, the Entity gets the Federation crew and the Klingons trapped together aboard the Enterprise, which is hurtling out of control on course to leave the galaxy.

Onboard, the factions are allowed their own turf, armed with swords--Scotty admires "a Claymore..."

...and psychically aroused to furious hatred toward their adversaries and even toward each other. They soon discover that the conflict between them is self-renewing; their wounds heal miraculously and the Entity allows neither side complete victory.

As a kid, I always thought it was a pretty cool episode. It had plenty of action, including swordfights, and the coolest and most badass of all the original series Klingons, Kang, played by the rumbly-voiced Michael Ansara...

...towering over Shatner...

It was also the only glimpse we ever got, in the original series, of Klingon women, notably Susan Howard as Kang's wife and science officer Mara...

In the course of the show Chekov, under the Entity's evil influence, attempts to violate Mara, although it looks like she could smack his little ass across the corridor with one hand.

Along with Chekov, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura all get to work themselves up into highly entertaining angry lathers in this one. Shatner's in particularly hilarious, wound-up form here: "Look at me...Look. At. Me." And there's the great moment when the hysterical Scotty, responding to Spock's attempt to calm him, says "Keep your Vulcan hands off me," but it sounds like he said "Keep your f**kin' hands off me."

But watching it the other night, it occurred to me that this episode seems unusually relevant these days. I noticed this a few years ago about the second-season episode "The Omega Glory" as well. The theme, about the dangers of fetishizing and theocratizing America's foundational documents and other objects of patriotic regard like the flag, seems like a pedestrian, basic civics lesson. But it turns out that our society needs to be reminded of it regularly.

Similarly, with "Day of the Dove," the message might seem, at a glance, like the usual honorable but ineffectual Star Trek platitudes about the horrors of war and the bondage of bigotry and the liberating virtue of tolerance. But now, in light of the revelations from the Dominion lawsuit, it has a strikingly specific subtext. Because, of course, the reason the invading Entity is attempting to create this hellish eternal conflict on the Enterprise is that it feeds on violent hatreds, turning from yellowish-white to a happy shade of red...

...when it sucks up some delicious fury.

It creates false narratives in people's minds to stir up their bloodlust--Chekov claims his brother was killed by the Klingons; Sulu later explains that the brother is imaginary, as Chekov is an only child--and feeds both sides with propaganda to gin up enmity. Essentially, the Entity is a farmer, planting outrage so that it can harvest rage.

In other words, the Entity is Fox News, and the "news" media machine of which Fox News is the most successful and egregious example. I mean, isn't it, kind of?

In this context, some of Bixby's lines take on an extra resonance, as when Kirk speculates "Has a war been staged for us, complete with weapons and ideology and patriotic drum beating? Even...Spock...even race hatred?"

Or, when Kirk says "It exists on the hate of others," and Spock replies "To put it simply. And it has acted as a catalyst, creating this situation in order to satisfy that need."

Or, again, Kirk's desperate appeal to Kang, in the climactic minutes: "...and it goes on, the good old game of war, pawn against pawn! Stopping the bad guys. While somewhere, something sits back, and laughs, and starts it all over again."

In the end, Kang is persuaded, a truce is ordered, and the weakened Entity is chased off the Enterprise to hearty laughter from both sides...

Kang slaps Kirk on the back and for a second it looks like Kirk is going to pass out. A lovely moment; I would highly recommend it for our nation right now. But as the Entity goes flittering off the ship into space, it's all too easy to imagine it scurrying down to some TV "News" Network on some unsuspecting planet.

#star trek #day of the dove #william shatner #deforest kelley #leonard nimoy #walter koenig #george takei #nichelle nichols #michael ansara #susan howard #jerome bixby #dominion lawsuit #james doohan #klingons

[saffronapplemanga]

Recent Read Manga Recommendation Round Up - Part 2

More manga I’ve been enjoying recently! Part 1 recommendation list here. Twitter link to this post here.

~Links to my other manga posts~ My personal favs/ones I super enjoyed will have a ✨ on them :)

Got more new titles and shorter reads this time around!

Some of these don't have official (or unofficial) EN translations since I read a lot of JP-only manga and I’d like to make people aware of those titles too! My hope is that bringing awareness to them will help get them licensed :) I guess if any sound interesting, ask publishers to license them! I’ll link any dedicated posts I have for each title.

PLEASE LOOK UP ANY TRIGGER WARNINGS!

HISTORICAL, DRAMA

✨Tenmaku no Jadoogar: A Witch’s Life in Mongol by Tomato Soup

(2 volumes, ongoing)

JP only. The first 5 chapters are up for free in JP here. English summary in this post

A learned Irani slave girl is taken captive by the Mongols in the 13th century and has to use her knowledge to survive. Well-researched historical fiction about Fatima, who was a real person in history. I wrote a long detailed post about it, so check it out!

DRAMA, MYSTERY, ART

✨Untitled Blue by Natsume Yukiko

(2 volumes, ongoing)

JP only - English summary in this post

I fell for Untitled Blue SO HARD, and I need the next volume immediately. A suicidal boy who just wants to make art uses the name of a burnt-out prodigy girl to sell his works in anonymity. The found family vibes and feels are strong in this one... And there are some absolutely SICK pages in this.

DRAMA, PSYCHOLOGICAL, ROMANCE

Haru’s Curse by Konishi Asuka

(2 volumes, complete)

Available in English

A woman falls for her dead sister's man and we follow a story about guilt and grief. This is a well-written short manga that tackles touchy topics in a thoughtful manner.

PSYCHOLOGICAL, DRAMA, SCI-FI

Takopi’s Original Sin by Taizan5

(2 volumes, complete)

English available to read on mangaplus

A short manga that was quite popular in Japan by the same author of the currently publishing Jump series The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins, this title is a good intro into Taizan 5's work. The art is expressive, the page turn is used well, and it takes a look at human psychology through three children with complicated relationships and living situations.

LGBT, SLICE OF LIFE

Kawa yori mo Nagaku Yuruyaka ni by Yoshida Akimi

(2 volumes, complete)

JP only

From Yoshida-sensei of Banana Fish fame, this short manga predates her more well-known work and you can see her explore some of the themes and ideas that you'll often see in Yoshida's works. I didn't relate to the characters (Which is actually nice sometimes! Different perspectives are good!) and it's kind of a weird manga, but it got a few laughs out of me and it was cool seeing Yoshida experiment.

This is how he introduced himself to an American working at the base - WILD

COMEDY, SLICE OF LIFE

✨Let's Go Karaoke! by Wayama Yama

(oneshot)

Available in English

I've been eyeing this title for YEARS and almost bought it so many times. Finally read it and idk why it took me so long. A charming, quirky, silly, wholesome story about a yakuza getting singing lessons from a choir kid. There's a sequel that's currently being published, ファミレス行こ/Famiresu Iko/"Let's Go To a Diner," but it seems to have a slow release schedule and hasn't been released in volume form yet. I don't see it available to read digitally either so I guess we'll just wait for a tankobon release.

COMEDY, SLICE OF LIFE

✨Captivated, by You by Wayama Yama

(oneshot)

Available in English

A wholesome quick read that left me with a smile on my face. The characters in this manga are just sweet kids and it's delightfully mundane. I mean that in the best way. It was just so nice to read.

COMEDY, SLICE OF LIFE

✨Onna no Sono no Hoshi by Wayama Yama

(3 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

More of Wayama Yama's infectious brand of humor and fuzzy feelings that I'm completely in love with at this point. Read what I said for the last two titles - same good stuff.

DRAMA, SCI-FI, MYSTERY

✨Gene Bride by Takano Hitomi

(2 volumes, ongoing)

JP only - English summary in this post

Sci-fi title that slowly unfolds its mystery and features two incredibly charming characters with a hilarious dynamic and tons of personality.

DRAMA, SLICE OF LIFE

✨Ikoku Nikki by Yamashita Tomoko

(10 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

My current read!

15-year old Asa's parents passed away in a car accident and her aunt, Makio, who works as an author has taken her in. This series is so human and makes me feel too seen and it's too relatable... Gives me the warm and fuzzies but also makes me want to cry. I need Makio in my life tbh.

Just gonna leave this here...

#manga #manga recs #manga recommendation #manga discussion #tenmaku no jadoogar #a witch's life in mongol #takopi's original sin #takopi no genzai #haru's curse #gene bride #captivated by you #onna no sono no hoshi #let's go karaoke #kawa yori mo nagaku yuruyaka ni #shounen #shojo #seinen #josei #ikoku nikki #muchuu sa kimi ni #karaoke iko

[thesixthplaneteer]

So excited I got @crownedinmarigolds into something Sci-fi and it's Star Trek! We watched a season and a half of Voyager and switched to Deep space 9. Of course we immediately came up with a ship that has all of our OCs on it as Starfleet officers. It's also got me inspired to write about it so here is a lil tid bit of what I've been working on. They are aboard the USS Antumbra, a Nova class ship under the command of Captain Carver Delroux. Their mission is to handle the dirty work of Starfleet. Benevolence can only go so far in a galaxy full of warlords and tyrants. They operate off book although they are more of a penal ship and menagerie of misfits rather than strictly covert ops. Sometimes the crimes of the few can be good for the many.

Todays episode is Holodeck Happenings ~below the break~

The warm briney breeze blew through their hair as the cool waves lapped at their feet. The hot sand shifted under them in their crescendoing passion. Nythanel’s hand ran through the coarse hair on Sydney’s chest, while Sydney’s hand gripped the back of Nythanel’s neck. Their minds opened to each other and their desires guided their bodies. It was bliss, ecstasy, excitement. It was a moment long waited for. A perfect scene crafted for them to enjoy each other. Nythanel tugged at the waistband of Sydney’s swimming trunks when their empathic bond was suddenly broken by the sound of someone clearing their throat. They looked at the source of the noise to see the human bartender holding a phaser in his hand, aiming it directly at them.

“Fuck, Sydney!” Nythanel said, pushing himself off of his lover. “I get this enough on away missions, can we not?”

Sydney didn't have to be an empath to know Nythanel was frustrated, but being a Betazoid he felt a hot angry wave radiating off his half Klingon half Romulan lover.

“I didn't program this in.” Sydney said, rolling onto his side. “Computer, remove the bartender and any other hostile elements.”

There was a heavy pause with only the sounds of the waves brushing the beach.

“Nice try, but your tricks don't work on me.” The bartender said.

“Did someone come in?” Nythanel asked, looking back at Sydney.

“No, I'm not picking up on thoughts or feelings-” A phaser shot from the bartender cut Sydney off and reduced his coconut drink to a smolder. He was stunned, unsure and inexperienced in dangerous situations. Being the ship's counselor usually kept him out of these sorts of messes.

“Enough talking. I am part of the United Union Consortium. You two StarFleet officers will be-.”

Nythanel cut him off with a loud guttural yell, throwing a cloud of sand into the man's eyes, causing him to reel back and shoot off a wide shot from his phaser. Nythanel leapt up from the ground and tackled the man. With one double fisted pummel the man was unconscious.

“Just what I needed on my day off.” Nythanel grumbled as he picked up the phaser.

Sydney stood up next to him. “Computer, end holodeck program.” He was met with silence. “It's still not responding. Do you think safety protocols have been disengaged?”

“I have no idea. I think I know a way to test it.” Nythanel replied as he began looking around on the beach.

He found a shell and broke it in half, then dragged the sharp side across his forearm. Green blood welled up from the small cut.

“Yep, no safety protocol.” He said before licking the wound clean.

“What do we do? Surely there has to be some kind of override.” Sydney said, a low panic in his voice.

“This ship is crewed by people that don't exactly adhere to regulations. I doubt there is one. If we're lucky that was the only glitch and Lieutenant Lyubov will shut it down once our time is up.” Nythanel said.

“ Well, that’s an hour and I can think of worse places to be trapped with you.” Sydney said with a smirk, feeling more confident as he stepped close to Nythanel.

That confidence quickly faded as the beach suddenly disappeared, and they found themselves in the middle of an arena with a chanting and roaring crowd. Large braziers with bright flames lit the room. A bat'leth replaced the phaser in Nythanel’s hand. Banners displaying the symbol of the Klingon empire unfurled. At the far end of the arena entered two Klingons, armed with their dreadful blades.

“You take the one on the left, I'll distract the one on the right?” Sydney said uneasily as he awkwardly held up his own bat'leth

“Damnit Sydney…” Nythanel said under his breath as he prepared to fight. ~~To be continued???~~

#star trek #my writing #sydney #nythanel