#earth 761

[vamprnce]

> shows up at earth 1048, does some shenanigans, steals this random spider guys suit, promptly leaves after

tbh I was thinking abt Nel and insom Pete being friends then it turned into wanting her to wear one of his suits (specifically the red/black advanced suit bc that's her colors/brand y'know?)

#my art #Penelope rosewood #spider oc #spiderverse #spiderman #im in an art funk so honestly she came out not that consistent w my other nellie drawings pffftff #i do wanna draw her and insomniac petey together they are besties to me :3! #earth 761

[oneweirdbookaddict]

Whumptober day nineteen!

Prompt: I’m not as dumb as you think I am.

Character focus: Wild, and some Twi

761 words

Warnings for minor injuries, let me know if there should be anything else!

~~~~

They all glance around, defensive positions dropping as they realize the threat is gone.

“Everyone good? Check off.” Time says, eye finding the chosen hero- and the first in their order.

“I’m alright.” Sky says, cleaning off the master sword with a sigh.

“All good.” Four reports, watching the champion stick his sword back into his sheath with a scowl.

“No injuries.” Time says, glancing to Legend.

“Same here.” The vet says, arm around Rulie, who’s doubled over.

“ ‘m ok,” Rulie groans. “Just… little bruised.”

“Took a kick to the diaphragm, nothings injured, just knocked the air out of him.” Leg says, waving Wars away as the captain moves towards them.

“Nothing here.” Wind says, and Wars nods.

“Same.”

“I’m alright.” He continues, and Wild sighs.

“I have a small cut on my arm- nothing to worry about, though.” The champion says.

He makes his way over to Wild as the group starts slowly down the path once more, putting a hand on the younger’s shoulder.

“I said it’s fine, Twi.” Wild says, looking away from him.

“Wasn’t even going to ask, thank you.” He lies, frowning. Wild slouches guiltily. “But now I am. Let me see it.”

“Leave it alone, Rancher, I’m fine.”

“You’re being argumentative.”

“I don’t appreciate being babied!”

“All I asked was to look! You’re the one that got defensive and angry for no reason! If it’s really nothing, show me and I’ll leave you alone!”

Wild’s eyes narrow. “Or just trust me for once! I’ll have you know that I’ve never tried to walk off a mortal injury!”

“Just let me see, then I’ll leave you alone!”

Wild glares at him for a second, but yanks his sleeve up to reveal a small cut- barely a scrape, really- on his forearm.

He takes a deep breath, calming himself, nodding slightly. “Thank you.” And he walks away.

~~~~

That night is when they have issues again.

Wild makes dinner. Winces a few times, which he catches. So as they eat he quietly asks him about it.

“How’s that cut doing?”

“Fine.” Wild says shortly.

“Is it bothering you? You winced a couple times while making dinner when you used it.”

“I said it’s fine.”

“Did you clean and bandage it?”

The champion scowls at him. “I’m not as stupid as you think I am, Twi! Yes, I cleaned and bandaged it! Goddess!”

He backtracks immediately, faltering. “No! No, that’s not what I meant, I-”

Wild stands, though, walking away. “Yeah. Whatever. I’m taking a walk.”

No one argues as the champion walks off, arms crossed over his chest angrily.

~~~~

He takes a slow breath, walking up near the edge of the hill where Wild’s sitting.

“Hey. Mind if I sit?” He asks quietly.

“Go ahead.” Wild mutters, not looking at him.

He hesitates, but does. Lets the silence linger in case the champion wants to say anything, but he doesn’t.

So he talks. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to imply that I think you’re stupid when I ask those questions. I just… I know you can look after yourself, I know you’re capable… I just worry.” He sighs.

“I’m used to looking after younger children. It’s just… a habit. I’ll work on it, I just… wanted to say sorry. I don’t think you’re stupid or incapable.”

Wild heaves a slow sigh, nodding. “Thanks. I’m sorry I snapped so badly. I know that’s not what you meant, I just… not used to having people look out for me, you know? I was alone for so long. I’ll work on it, too.”

He nods slowly, putting a hand on Wild’s shoulder. “In the meantime, I’ll try to respect boundaries. All I ask is for a little leniency- I’ll forget sometimes.”

Wild nods, other hand reaching to meet his. “Yeah. I’ll try not to snap again.”

Silence again.

They watch the sun slowly sink into the earth, the last few rays of light vanishing.

“I… I like having people to work with.” Wild says quietly, looking at him. “It’s… like before. With my friends, in a way. It’s just… difficult. To get used to.”

He nods understandingly.

“I… feel it harder when we’re settled for the night. Everyone talking… I think that’s why I snapped. I apologize- I didn’t mean… I meant no offense.”

“There’s none taken.” He assures his friend gently, and silence falls over them again.

Then he smiles to himself. “So, Wild, tell me… do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?”

The champion looks up at him, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

~~~~

#whumptober2023 #whumptober 2023 #no. 19 #quote #I’m not as stupid as you think I am #linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu wild #Wild Lu #linked universe wild #wild linked universe #twi lu #lu twi #twilight lu #lu twilight #twilight linked universe #linked universe twilight

[tpotr]

Can you make a short fanfic we’re aerea is jealous because rhaegal dances with some lady and she tells rhaegal that

Now, anon, I have no idea how you found this blog before I made it public, but well — I guess we're opening this blog with this! Thank you for this opportunity. So yes, I can and I did. If I had to place this little oneshot on the timeline, it would take place at 126AC (two years forward from where we are as of chapter 19). Genderbent!Helaegon | Humor/Fluff | A part of a series | wc: 761

Aerea’s nameday has been quite the success.

It has been planned down to the very finest of details. Gold thread tablecloths graced the tables, as well as the roasted chickens cooked gold themselves — his wife’s favourite to wash down with Highgarden’s sweetwine. Rhaegal has even convinced Mother to employ some street performers from down the city as the main entertainment; on the off-chance he and Aerea leave the keep, their routines made her laugh loudest.

Countless lords and ladies came to celebrate his wife’s twentieth anniversary on this earth, dancing and singing and gifting all there is to gift. New jewels and dresses and books and whatnot were given, and his wife smiled gladly for them; she was bright most evening, chatting with all the ladies by her side, and yet…

Now that they’re in their room once more, a sour pout comes about.

He finds it endearing, for the most part. She is mildly tipsy, he can tell; her cheeks are rouged a natural pink and her sullen stare is not nearly as intentful. His mind wanders. I can make her lips cherry to match. She flushes so prettily everywhere… his train of thought strays to bring about a warmth at his loins. His own thoughts setting loose on him, he supposes she’s not the only one who feels the sweetwine’s effects… although he admittedly drank much less.

Rhaegal notes her glance at him, pout turning more pronounced. Like a child waiting for attention. She’s better about speaking of what bothers her these days, but sometimes she wants to be noticed first. That’s alright; he’d coddle her if she’d like. He likes how her ears turn red when he does.

“Is something wrong?” he reaches over to her, placing one hand on her waist. The other goes to play with a strand of her loose hair. “I thought you enjoyed the celebrations?”

Aerea hums at the touch, but is quick to force a huff to maintain herself. “That girl,” she says with an upturned nose. “That girl was.. Uh– is, all sorts of wrong!” she slurs, squeezing on his arm.

“Which girl?” he asks. There were plenty of ladies in attendance.

“That Lannister girl, with the mane for her hair,” she says irritably and goes on to spill all her grievances. “You are not allowed to dance widh’ her anymore,” she proclaims. “Or her sisters. Or her cousins! They see golden decor and they think they all shat it themselves.”

Oh. She must be talking about Lord Jason’s daughter. He has too many daughters to keep count, but Rhaegal did end up dancing with his eldest Cerelle for one of the songs that were played. She did have a mop of golden hair, and her mother’s brown eyes. A pretty girl, undoubtedly, and rather talkative as well. He was pleased at that, for that made it so he didn’t have to do much more than nod for the entirety of their conversation.

“Don’t think of her, eith’er!” Aerea slaps his arm. Rhaegal holds himself from smiling; it’s barely a pat, and her exaltation is all too sweet, big eyes demanding his attention back. His arms come around her and his hands meet just below the small of her back. If he teases her, she just might ask him for more. 

“I’m trying to recall,” he says innocently. “What was her name…? Cer…” he trails off, letting her frown at him. “Cersei, was it?” he asks with a head tilt. Her expression shifts back to her full pout. Playing dumb can be fun, but kissing her stupid would be…

“Forget her,” she says, bringing her chest against his in an embrace. “T’was my nameday. You’re mine,” she declares and he feels warmth pool down his belly. Every time she says as much butterflies flutter. And you’re mine. He held much of that yearning within for so long, he can’t help his joy. “I should’ve ripped out that gold hair of her when she touched yo—”

Rhaegal brings an arm under her bottom and lifts her up. She squeaks in surprise. “I like your silver,” he says, and his eyes fall to her lips. “And your reds.”

He closes the gap between them, and kisses her all the way to their bed. Laying her down on it, he sees cherry coloured lips in an overjoyed, content grin. Her hand comes to his jaw, and drags his face back down. “I like you,” she says, and takes over lips that will forever be hers.

Yes, Aerea’s twentieth nameday was quite the success.

#helaegon #helaena x aegon ii #helaena targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #hotd #*aerea #*rhaegal #*aereagal #house of the dragon #hotd fanfic #*reqs #*fanfics #*answered

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 070

Time for a baseball episode (derogatory).

Sigh... All right, let’s just get through this.  So Champa contacts Beerus and proposes a friendly game of baseball to build “good relations between Universe 6  and 7.”  I’m pretty sure the assemlbed teams represent the only people in either universe that are aware of the other universe.  

Some issues with this premise:

1) Champa is only doing this as a pretense to go to Earth and enjoy its delicious cuisine.   This seems pointless, as Universe 6′s own Earth was restored in Episode 41.   Beerus specifically wished for this so that Champa could enjoy Earth food whenever he liked.   Did he forget about this, or does U6′s Earth food just suck?   Or maybe the U6 Earthlings destroyed themselves all over again?  I mean, the Super Dragon Balls could bring them back to life, but that doesn’t resolve whatever they were fighting over when they died.

2) Champa can’t even field a whole team, so Vegeta and Goten switch sides to make it fair.  Maybe they should have organized a Pickleball tournament instead.

3) Only three characters in this cartoon know how to play baseball, and two of them are the umpires.  Everyone keeps fucking around and/or trying to hurt one another, because it’s a Dragon Ball cartoon and that’s how they all roll. 

Let me just focus on Yamcha here, because he’s the only character who manages to look cool in all of this.  Goku manages to strike out Champa, then Yamcha takes over pitching and strikes out two more batters.  Then he’s the first at bat, and Vegeta beans him because he thinks the object is to incapacitate the opposing team.   So Yamcha gets a free trip to first base. 

Then he steals second and third because Champa doesn’t understand the rules well enough to stop him.  At one point he throws the ball at Yamcha to cut him off, and apparently that’s illegal.   I thought you could do that, but now that I think about it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Then Beerus and Champa start fighting above the field, and Whis and Vados have to stop them before it destroys the entire universe.  Destroyer Gods fighting is supposed to be a serious taboo, just like time travel.  Funny how Beerus destroyed Bulma’s lab, but he gets to keep his hands.

Anyway, Whis and Vados call off the rest of the game due to the Destroyers’ poor sportsmanship, so we didn’t even get a full inning into this nonsense.  Champa is horrified to learn that the game is a tie, but it’s not.  Universe 7 wins, because...

... While Beerus and Whis were fighting, and all the other players were cowering in terror, Yamcha managed to steal home plate.  So U7 wins, 1-0. 

This whole episode is played up like a backhanded compliment to Yamcha.  He perserveres through the whole episode to win the game, and everyone congratulates him for it, but there’s also a lot of dunking on Yamcha too.  Like “Way to go, Yamcha, I guess you’re not completely useless after all!” That sort of thing.

Also, this whole “Yamcha loves this because he used to be a major leaguer” thing kind of contradicts the very episode of DBZ that this is referring to.  Yeah, Yamcha was the star player for the Taitans in Age 761, but he also found the game boring as hell, and he only did it for the money. 

Sure, he’s had 18 years to change his mind about the game, and I suspect he’s mostly into this because it’s a chance to look cool in front of the others, but this episode is still kind of a let-down for me.  There was a baseball issue of the Tenchi Muyo! comic, there was a baseball episode of Deep Space Nine, there was a baseball episode of Transformers, etc. etc.  This is the literal definition of a trope shows use to blow off an episode.

#dragon ball #dragon ball super #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #beerus #whis #champa #vados #yamcha #puar #goku #vegeta #krillin #auta magetta #botamo #cabba #piccolo #goten #trunks #gohan

[engineer-gunzelpunk]

VR H Class Pocono H220 Heavy Harry, the Antipodean Behemoth ("Red And Black Steam On Southern Metals" OC)

Once the bad boy prince of the Victorian Railways fleet, the heaviest engine in Australia; Heavy Harry of Newport Works was a marvel of Australian engineering, built to surmount inclines and run the breadth and width of Victoria. He was powerful, rambunctious and unique… sole extant member of his class, too heavy to take to any track other than the North Eastern line but did his job as a crack fast goods engine well, pulling 800 tonne consists with ease. He clocked over a million miles in his short career, making the earth shake and humans topple over in his wake.

In his day, he was almost as well known to the Victorian people as the Flying Scotsman was to the British, referenced in political cartoons and interviews in The Argus ... and then he simply vanished.

Gone.

Forgotten.

Alas, he almost scrapped along with thousands of others, stripped of his plates and headlamp and left for dead on the scrap roads of Newport Works with a deteriorating boiler. Even as he rotted and slowly lost his sanity on the scrap roads, he was a powerful presence.

He gained his reprieve in 1961, but he was shorn of his naivety; he never forgot the human caprice that laid him low. He is in constant physical pain from his deteriorated boiler which carries over into his human form.

“Heavy” Harry Jack Haining; Mightiest Loco in Australia, hooligan, Anarchist and every bit the picture of an Australian larrikin, an inveterate bogan who loves his beer, footy and smokes… who also happens to be gay and very complicated. And probably a daemon. Even he isn’t entirely sure.

(“Old Harry” is an old English nickname for the Devil, and ‘to play Old Harry’ means to bring ruin, chaos or destruction on something. Appropriate for a very, very angry engine with a habit of derailing and smashing into things during his working life.

Interestingly, a “Harry” in Norway is their equivalent of a bogan, or a yobbo, someone who is working class and vulgar. He finds this very funny. )

He lives over in Newport along with his best mate, the eternal cynic A2 Class No 986 "Pluto"; his brother in arms R707 Cerberus and his sister Andri, R 761; his adopted little sister Prudence, a K-class Consolidation; and the other locos of the Newport Railway Museum/SteamRail/707 Operations… but he is coming to prefer the Island of Sodor, though he cannot ever run as his engine self there or anywhere (boiler in need of replacement, lives with constant pain; also simply too big, the poor state of Victorian rails means he could so easily break them as he did back in the day) , so he goes there as human to visit his boyfriend SpookyHenry every so often.

#Victorian Railways #VR H-Class Pocono H220 “Heavy Harry” #thomasallgrownup #real locomotive OC #Red And Black Steam On Southern Metals #The Railway Series Down Under #GunzelVerse

[finnslay]

Happy the 8th, a poem about the 8th of November, aka today, by me, 2.5 weeks after a breakup which I don't remember writing on my notes app but apparently did earlier today

Happy the 8th to you, Breilyn, my love.

Happy the 8th to you. From my heart this message is dug.

Happy 25 months, which would be a quarter to 100.

Happy the 8th to the love between us, the ones who were "just kids"

Happy 108 weeks, which means the number of weeks, 108, would align with our anniversary, 10/8.

Happy the 8th, though it feels too late.

Happy 761 days, we would be over three quarters of the way to 1000 now.

Happy the 8th, which still gives a small joy to my heart. I am unaware how.

And I know you don't love me anymore, but I still love you.

Happy the 8th for your eyes which are a greenish blue.

Happy the 8th for the smile you have that makes the worries melt away.

Happy the 8 for the memories of me and you.

Happy the 8th for the thought of happier days.

Happy the 8th, to the love of my life.

Happy the 8th to my first love, which I fell for at 11.

Happy the 8th, even if you're gone and seeing you feels like my heart is stabbed by a knife.

Happy the 8th to the one who made earth feel like heaven

Happy the 8th to you. From my heart's depths this is dug.

Happy the 8th to you, Breilyn, my love.

#poetry #idk #happy the 8th #by me

[ghostiebeech]

Chaos Twins

Hello.  In honor of Sunshine Sunday, I am reposting my chaos twins fic I originally posted back at the end of February/early March.  Currently, it’s gonna be in three parts because that is what I already had written, but maybe I add more? 

Anyway if you read this before, I did change it a little bit, but not too too too much. 

Rating: There’s some cursing, so teen and up I guess?

Word Count: 761

Summary: Papa announces that a new ghoulette is being summoned.  Dew seems apprehensive. 

On Ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/47338645/chapters/119282938)

or under the cut

It was a normal, boring in Dewdrop’s opinion, band practice when Papa announced the upcoming summoning of a new ghoulette.  

“With the growing success of the Ghost Project, Seestor has decided we are going to be summoning a new ghoulette.”

The ghouls chattered amongst themselves for a minute before Cirrus spoke up.

“What are they going to play? Do they sing?  I don’t think we need anymore keys, but it would be nice to have another girl on stage with us” she said, speaking a mile a minute, smiling at Cumulus who eagerly nodded her head in agreement.  Too many damn boys here.  

“The new ghoulette is a multi ghoul like our dear Swiss and - Ah, I believe her name is…” Papa stopped, trying to remember the name Seestor told him earlier that day.  “Her name is Sunshine!”  

“Oh how cute!” The ghoulettes squealed.  

As the practice winded down and Papa filtered out, the ghouls started to discuss their new bandmate.  One voice, which was typically the loudest, has been quiet since Papa told the ghouls the new ghoulette’s name.   

Aether noticed Dew’s silence.  The little fire ghoul looked like he was deep inside his head thinking.  Knowing Dew, Aether decided not to bring this up until he was in the privacy of his and Dew’s room.  

After dinner, back in their room, Aether decided to casually bring up the subject of the new ghoulette.  

“So Dew, what do you think about Papa adding a new member?”

“Oh yeah.  I almost forgot about that… It’s cool I guess…”  Dew looked away from his mate, picking up his acoustic guitar, absentmindedly tuning the strings

“You looked a little-” Aether paused trying to think of the right word to not upset Dew. “Nervous when Papa started talking about them…”

“Did I?”  Dew said, not looking up from his guitar. “It’s whatever honestly…”

“Is there anything wro-”

Dew harshly cut off his mate, “Can we talk about literally anything else?”  

Normally Aether would continue to push his mate into discussing his feelings, but a quiet, pleading “Please” from Dew made the quintessence ghoul to drop the subject.  If Dew wanted to talk about it later, Aether would be here to listen.  

The summoning day arrived a week later.  The week leading up, Dew was especially antsy and irritable, snapping, or leaving the room at the mention of the new ghoulette.  Most of his bandmates chalked it up to Dew being annoyed that there was going to be another addition to the band.  The fire ghoul was always uncomfortable with sudden changes to his day to day.  

In the summoning room Dew looked white as a ghost.  The pack could smell the nerves coming off the Dew.  

The ritual itself went on without a hitch.  After Papa chanted out the spell, flames erupted from the earth.  The fire and smoke cleared, leaving a small figure standing in the middle of the room.  

Sunshine was tiny. Shorter than Dewdrop.  She had a sort of light, sunshine radiating off of her.  Her slender face was framed with bouncy blonde curls.  

The room was silent, all the ghouls staring at their new packmate, the new ghoulette looking around the room.  Suddenly a low growl sounded from the new ghoulette.  Aether looked to see what or who she was growling at.  

Dewdrop.  She was staring right at Dewdrop, baring her fangs.

Before anybody would react the new ghoulette had launched herself at the fire ghoul.  

Aether and Mountain rushed forward to separate the two ghouls when they heard the new ghoulette manically giggling.  She wasn’t attacking Dew, she was… tickling him?

“SUNNY, STOP I CAN’T BREATHE- FUCKING ASSHOLE” the tiny ghoul squealing, writhing around on the floor trying to escape the multi ghoul.

“You are still SO SO SO ticklish, Dewy.” The ghoulette emphasized the SO SO SO with aggressive tickles to the fire ghoul’s belly. 

“Dewy?” Rain questioned, looking at Mountain who was busy staring at Sunshine.  

Papa and the other ghouls looked at the pair in varying states of confusion and awe.  They know each other?

Eventually the two smaller ghouls separated, still giggling.  Sunshine got up first, offering a hand to Dew.   The two were staring at each other with matching happy, yet a little feral grins.    

“So, you guys know each other or something?” Swiss was the first to speak up, curiosity killing him slowly.

“This is my twin!” Dew and Sunny replied in unison, laughing at each other.

“Oh Satan, there's two of them…” Papa muttered in disbelief.  What has he gotten himself into?

#sunshine ghoulette #dewdrop ghoul #the band ghost #ghost fanfiction #chaos twins

[elen-aranel]

Curtain Call - Encore

For: @writer-wednesday, week 16 Pairing: Captain Christopher Pike x F!Reader (no Y/N) Warnings: None! WC: 761 Rating: Teen Notes: I always think it's funny at the end of a show or performance, when you clap like it's the end, but everyone involved knows there's more to come. I hope you enjoy this epilogue <3

< Act 2 • Masterlist

You sit on the sofa in Chris’s quarters, legs tucked up under you, nursing your black coffee. His coffee is very good, and you like how warm the mug feels in your fingers. You like the smell.

The Maur Asani have joined the Federation; yesterday you had the privilege of singing at the signing ceremony. Their Hall of Governance was unlike any building you’d ever been in, part built and part grown, giant trees in place of columns, the canopy interlaced with large stones flecked with the same crystal the Maur have on their foreheads.

 The acoustic was beautiful, more alive than the theatre back in San Francisco. It was almost like a church, the slight echo allowing your voice to soar. Afterward, there were receptions and celebrations before you returned to the ship.

And in a few days the Enterprise is due to rendezvous with the USS Sioux, to take the musicians and diplomats back to Earth, including you.

“You okay?” Chris is looking down at you, brow furrowed.

“Yes? Why wouldn’t I be?”

He shrugs. “You’ve been staring at that coffee for a while.”

“I guess I have.” You put it down on the table.

You’ve enjoyed your time on the ship; you even had duties, of a sort – after the success of your musical soirée, you performed almost daily for the Maur Asani, and helped compile playlists of music from the ship’s computer to play for them in the arboretum during their remaining meetings.

And you’ve enjoyed your time with Chris especially. His company, his cooking, his bed.

But there’s often a sense of anti-climax in the days after a big performance, or when you come to the end of a run at a particular theatre. You spend so long preparing, so long getting to know your music, finding the heart of it, practicing, psyching yourself up to be in the headspace to sing the best that you can.

When you’re actually singing, when you look out over the audience and know that they’re with you, that high is like nothing else. It lasts for a little while, and then... you wake up and there’s nothing, just emptiness, and part of you wonders if you’ll ever find that feeling again, even though you know in your head that you will.

“It’s the post show blues, I suppose. Yesterday was amazing, but now it’s over. Soon I’ll be going back to Earth. And by the time the Sioux gets us there, I won’t even have many performances left in San Francisco. Sorry, I shouldn’t be so… negative.”

Chris nods, thoughtful, and he sits, turning to look at you. “No, I get that, I think. Feeling a bit empty? You’ve enjoyed your taste of exploration, and you don’t want it to end. But what if it doesn’t have to?”

You study him, puzzled, but his expression is open, genuine. “I don’t understand.”

“The Enterprise is down for a survey mission next, but then we’ve been ordered to Starbase 44. I believe there’s a moon near there…”

“With a Kaseelian Opera house! I’ve always wanted to go. I can’t believe the prima donnas really— But you don’t carry passengers. How?”

“Admiral April tells me I can take on a Civilian Specialist for a while. So how about it? Long range sensors have detected some interesting sonic signals from the nebula we’re surveying, too, if that sweetens the deal.”

You feel your brow furrow, despite your excitement. “But space is silent, everyone knows that.”

“Not all of space. The gas density of this nebula, it’s close to a planetary atmosphere. Hell, you could probably sing there, if you can breathe in it. We’d need to check the composition.”

“I could sing…” You shake your head, picturing your teacher from years ago. You weren’t sure if you were ready to explore the galaxy when you beamed onto the Enterprise, but now you know you are. You’ll need to call Leda, but you’re sure she can cover the rest of your shows.

“Thank you, Chris. I think this might be something I really need.”

“I’m glad.” He smiles, pleased, and you can’t resist leaning over to him. He pulls you close, and you cup his smooth-shaven jaw in your hand. The kiss is soft, lush, and it deepens.

“Not that I’m not enjoying this,” Chris murmurs into the skin of your neck sometime later, “but I do have a ship to run. Breakfast? Pancakes, waffles? Or something else?”

“Hmm.” You pull back a little. “I guess I never did make you that French toast…”

#Writer Wednesday #Christopher Pike #Christopher Pike x Reader #Christopher Pike x You #Captain Pike #Christopher Pike imagine #Star Trek Strange New Worlds #Star Trek Discovery #fanfic #writings of the girl from outer space #Curtain Call

[teaandcharchives]

Constant Ticking

Fandom: Homestuck

Pairing: Johndavekat

Word Count: 761

Rating: T (language)

Summary: Life on the new Earth C is weird, but Dave is starting to get used to it.

(part of my trans!dave series, but you don't have to read the rest to get this)

Read on AO3 Here, or read on tumblr under cut

I was cleaning up my fanfic folder and I found this. It was written in like 2018 and left to sit because I was planning to expand it, but it felt like a nice little snapshot where it was, so I just wrapped up the last chapter and am posting it now, because Homestuck is the fandom equivalent to the Hotel California. Anyway, pretend it's a late birthday present for Dave, I suppose?

I currently do not have any other snippets anywhere near this level of complete (though I have one other one that's like half done) so I'm not sure if this story will ever be updated again but, like I said, Hotel California of fandoms.

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

Time is weird as fuck here. It’s your thing, but when you got here the more broad sweeping parts changed. Hours, minutes, seconds, the lengths of time you usually hop around, are all the same. But days, months, years? On the meteor it was all arbitrary. There was no sun to say what day and night were supposed to be, so it was up to you and you kept it on Earth time down to the second. 

But here? Here shit’s different. Jade tried to get the angles right, but the planet spins too slow- It’s 25 hours each day now- and it zooms around the new sun too fast-350 of the new days, which is about 364 and a half of the old. So, like, it’s close. It’s just enough to drive you nuts. 

Well, okay, you’ve adjusted to that bit, but no one else seems to understand why you feel inclined to say “in 36 hours and 24 minutes” instead of “X time tomorrow.” That’s really what drives you nuts. So you know the age of this universe down to the millisecond, but John blindsides you when he tells you it’s your birthday. 

Well shit, you should have known, really. You were at Jade’s and Jake’s joint party up until 42.5 hours ago. 

“How old are we again?” You ask. Well, with the jumps you’re 167,270.43 hours with rounding for some uncertainty with states of limbo between dimensions when time is meaningless and beyond even your grasp. But you don’t think that kind of thing is useful for him. 

For any of them but you and Aradia. 

“Nineteen! Well, I mean, you are. I’ve got to wait four more months.” 

Two thousand seven hundred and fifty hours, your brain translates. 

Karkat throws a pillow at him because it’s the crack of dawn. 

“What the fuck, Karkat? I brought food!” 

Karkat grumbles and buries his face in your chest. You wince slightly, but you know he’s not thinking. Doesn’t mean anything. You take your pillow and carefully extract yourself from him anyway, busily telling yourself that. 

“It's too goddamn early," you inform John.

"Pfft, says you."

You shake your head sadly. “You are a broken teenager,” You say. “A broken fucking teenager.” 

He left twenty-five minutes ago. The clock said it was 6:32 new time. And it’s December. Which is a really fucking stupid thing since they decided to make the months even, so this is now month fourteen in the fucking calendar. But Quattordecember sounds even more fucking stupid. 

John sticks his tongue out at you. “Or maybe you should start learning to be a functioning adult. I mean, you won’t even have the teenage excuse a year from today!” He gives you a plate of pancakes. And as much as you want to sass him more, there’s fucking blueberries in this and you missed blueberries so fucking much. 

It’s the little things. Now you just need to get coffee figured out. Still, the sludge will do. Anything to get that precious, precious caffeine into your veins. You take an extra mug and waft it under Karkat’s nose until he perks up enough to snatch it. 

“How long until we have to go all the way to the Crockers’ place?” You ask. 

The curtains are open, and out of the corner of your eye you see Jane stop shoveling to wave good morning to you. 

John waves back ecstatically before saying, “It’s at one.” 

“And you woke us up at 7 why?!” Karkat demands. 

“I was hungry and I didn’t wanna cook twice.” 

Karkat steals one of John’s pancakes and takes a massive bite out of it. “None for you, then, asshole.” He says through his teeth. 

John just laughs and takes one of his, making sure to cover the rest of his plate in syrup so Karkat’s hands will get sticky if he tries to take anymore. Unfortunately for John, you are a little shit and you have a fork. All of the pancakes have probably been on every single plate by the time you’re done, and they’ve dripped all over the sheets. But most of it’s on John, so you still consider that a victory.

You realize you haven’t thought about time once since John came in. The clock is always ticking in the back of your mind, as it has been since you entered the game, but the sound is quieter when you’re not alone. It’s an adjustment, but as long as they're around you think you'll eventually get used to this. 

#homestuck #johndave #davekat #johndavekat #drabbles #dave strider

[deathlessathanasia]

"Night (Greek Nux) is personified in Hesiod. She is born from Khaos along with her brother Erebos, with whom she mates and bears Ether and Day (Theogony 123–125; see also OH 5i). Night produces by means of parthenogenesis a brood of personified abstractions, notably for our collection Death, Sleep, and the race of Dreams (Theogony 211–225; cf. Hesiod also mentions Night in connection with the geography of the underworld. She owns a house, where her children Sleep and Death also live. Day lives there, too, but is never there at the same time at Night; they only greet each other as one leaves and the other returns from the world above (Theogony 744–761; cf.).

Night perhaps should be seen as belonging to a pre-Olympian generation of divinities in Homer. In the Iliad, as Hera triesto cajole Sleep into inducing Zeus to slumber, Sleep maintains his readiness to bring his gift to all gods, even Okeanos, the father of the gods (14.246, and see OH 83i), but recalls the catastrophe barely averted the last time he put Zeus to sleep against his will. At that time, he escaped the anger of Zeus by the intervention of Night (implied to be Sleep’s mother?), who is described as having power over immortals and mortals and whom Zeus is hesitant to displease (14.256–261). It is not clear what place Night has in Homer’s cosmology, but the respect and fear Zeus shows and feels toward her suggests that Homer considered her to be an old and powerful figure. This is the role she has in various Orphic theogonies, where she is considered to be among the earliest divinities. In light of the Homeric passage, it is first interesting to note that Night gives Zeus oracular advice, e.g., on how to reconstitute the world (Orphic fragment 241; cf. also 113 and 237). In the Rhapsodies there are up to three individual Nights (see West 1983, p. 70, and Betegh 2003, pp. 141–142). The first one existed before Protogonos (Orphic fragment 112–113). Another Night is the daughter of Protogonos (Orphic fragment 148), who later abdicates his throne to her in the symbolic passing of his scepter (Orphic fragment 168–171; see also OH 6i and OH 10.26+n.) She (or a third Night?) also appears as Protogonos’ lover and gives birth to Sky and Earth (Orphic fragment 149; see also OH 4i). In other theogonies similar to those ascribed to Orpheus, Night is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, beings. Mousaios puts her among Tartaros and Aer (fragment 81), while Epimenides places her alongside Aer as the two primeval beings (fragment 46). Aristotle notes that even “the ancient poets” do not claim that the primeval beings (mentioned are Night, Sky, Khaos, and Okeanos) “are king or rule,” but rather Zeus (Metaphysics 1091b4–6). He does not name names, but it is possible that for Okeanos he had Homer in mind, and for Khaos Hesiod. Night and Sky do not correspond to any known theogony, but, the fact that our collection has a hymn to Night as “mother of gods and men” followed by a hymn to Sky who is called “father of all,” suggests that perhaps there was such an Orphic theogony, now lost to us, circulating in antiquity and well known by Aristotle’s time; see OH 4i and also OH O.24, where Night is called “oldest of all.”

In terms of cultic worship, there are very few instances. Pausanias mentions an oracle of Night on the acropolis of Megara, along with a temple to Dionysos, a temple to Zeus, and a sanctuary to Aphrodite(1.40.6). Note that Night has oracular powers in the Orphic poems, as mentioned already. In Pergamon, where there was a mystery cult to Demeter, religious officials dedicated a number of altars to various gods and goddesses; one official, a hymnetria (a female singer of hymns), is attested to have dedicated an altar to Night, Rites, and Happenstance."

- The Orphic Hymns, Apostolos N. Athanassakis

#nyx #quotes #excerpts

[wonderingwhereileftreality]

So I was rewatching DBZA and caught a funny joke in the Android/Cell saga where the punchline is that Piccolo doesn't know what marijuana is, and it was hilarious.

But that got me thinking: how old was Piccolo (Piccolo Jr. specifically) when the androids attacked? I ran the numbers

Piccolo Jr was "born" on May 9th in Year 753

The Android Saga and Cell Games took place in May of Year 767

767 - 753 = 14

Piccolo Jr was 14 YEARS OLD DURING THE CELL SAGA

Then my next thought was "wait how old was he when Raditz came to earth?"

Raditz came to earth and died on October 12th of Year 761

761 - 753 = 8

He was 8 YEARS OLD at the beginning of DBZ?????

To put that in perspective, Gohan was 4 when Raditz showed up.

Piccolo is only 4 YEARS OLDER THAN GOHAN.

Why is Piccolo allowed to roam by himself???? He's a minor

*remembers he blew up the house of his original adoptive parents* oh yeah nevermind

#my post #dragon ball #dragon ball z #dragon ball z abridged #dbz #dbza #db #piccolo #db piccolo #before you say it yes i know he has all his father's memories and powers #he is still a teenager

[vamprnce]

tryna get back into the swing of things so here's some Nel's from last night 😌

(also the outfit on the left is from a comm drawn by @mustasekittens !! I'm obsessed w it still ngl)

#my art #spider oc #spider man #spiderverse #penelope rosewood #earth 761 #i missed my wife so bad 😔 #she won't leave my head its over for me

[post-explainer]

SPIDERS GEORG

Another well known tumblr post is the post known as "Spiders Georg" which states:

"average person eats 3 spiders a year" factoid just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave and eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.

This post is not only extremely humorous and part of the "hellsite hall of fame", but also explains the world of statistical outliers, a phenomenon where someone takes the average of a set of data, but one person dramatically shifts the average. For example, if there were ten people, and nine of them get $10,000 a year while the last one gets $1,000,000 a year, you could technically make the claim that the average money all ten people get is $109,000 per year, even though 9/10 of these people get less than a tenth of that money.

However, one question I had on my mind is how many spiders would Spiders Georg really have to eat in order for the statistical outlier to be 3 per year instead of 0? This is why I ran the numbers.

There are approximately 8,000,000,000 people on planet earth. I took this approximation because nobody knows the exact number and the number is constantly changing as more people get born. Because of this, Spiders Georg would have to eat approximately 24,000,000,000 spiders a year, which comes out to around 65,753,425 spiders a day, or around 761 spiders every second.

#tumblr #spiders georg

[druidx]

Starbound Fanfics Masterpost - Featuring Mio

➼ Original Characters

Mio, the Last Protector - Intro Post Tags: #oc mio (dru-plays-starbound); #oc mio (druidx)

Xictli, Head Mechanic - Intro Post Tags: #oc xictli (dru-plays-starbound)

Elaine, Associate Technician - Intro Post Tags: #oc Elaine (dru-plays-starbound)

~ Find the others at #mio's crew (dru-plays-starbound) or #mio's crew (druidx) ~

Ironquill ⭑

Asua ⭑

Suri ⭑

➼ Fic List

While the Sun Shines Words: 850 First person. Mio enjoys a picnic with some of her residents; but trouble stirs when they discus who has brought them together. Read on AO3 or Tumblr

The Temple of the Fading Light Words: 592 Mio, the Last Protector, investigates an ancient temple and learns the dark secrets behind it. Read on AO3 or Tumblr

The 'Shroom Witch Words: 785 Mio, the Last Protector, visits an agaran witch for help destroying the Ruin. Read on AO3 or Tumblr

Aurorabee Words: 406 Mio goes clothes shopping with her mother. Read on AO3 or Tumblr

Look Back, by Looking Forwards Words: 1,653 Mio helps one of her crew celebrate a religious event Read on AO3 or Tumblr

Crasberry Saviour Words: 761 During a trip to buy ship parts, Yuudai reveals how she lost her leg. Read on AO3 or Tumblr

Home That Our Feet May Leave, But Not Our Hearts Words: 3,212 Mio, the Last Protector, attends her graduation. The only problem? Earth no longer exists. Read on AO3 or Tumblr

You Never Forget Your First Words: 712 In the dead of night, Kata finds her Captain alone on the bridge, singing a mournful tune… Read on AO3 or Tumblr

#starbound #starbound fanfiction #starbound fanfic #masterpost #wandering words #oc mio #mio's crew

[jadeykitties]

thinking about how the only looney tunes production that i personally think actually happened in the loonatics timeline is probably like. the looney tunes show. im not saying that because its one of my favorites but because the two are the most compatible in terms of world building and setting. since, as an animated sitcom, it is more down to earth in a way that is compatible with the premise of loonatics while also allowing for, and compatible with, the changes that would have happened over 761-ish years? (ie the planet-city of acmetropolis)

the only hitch is that while most of the descendants in loonatics mostly make sense in the context of the ways that the characters theyre based on were written in tlts would have impacted how their lineages turned out, taz is the only significant exception what with him being bugs' exotic pet in tlts... unless you replaced tlts!taz with the taz from taz-mania and/or his appearance in wabbit...???

#jadey chitchattering #pure loonacy over here

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (197/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball,  which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made  on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: This story takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [1 October, Age 761.  Earth.]  

One story reaches its climax with the Super Saiyan charging headlong into the Kingdom of the Blood Rubies.   Her body is sore from recent battles, and weary from hunger and thirst, but she pushes onward, glowing bright yellow like a meteorite burning through the heavens.  

Luffa was chosen to investigate the Ruby Loop, a time fragment that had been puzzling the Time Patrol's finest minds for two years.     Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, was convinced that Luffa was uniquely qualified for the job, despite the apprehension of Excitebike, a stalwart agent of Toki Toki City's Deep Time Investigation Department.

The Ruby Loop was unusual for two reasons.   First, it was contaminated with the Blood Rubies, which did not exist in the true historical record.    Second, the Ruby Loop was a continuously repeating cycle of time.  Each cycle began on the same day, September 1, Age 749, and ended with the separation of the Blood Rubies from the Earth.  

What the Time Patrol could never understand was what to do about it.  Time fragments had to be contained and trimmed down to a manageable size, but the Ruby Loop constantly expanded itself with each cycle, and every cycle was slightly different.   Some lasted only a few days, while others stretched out for years.   And no one could understand why a naturally occurring time anomaly would behave this way.  

Luffa did not have the complete answer, but as she approached the great wall that surrounded Gurumes' castle, she believed that she would have it soon, just as Chronoa had predicted from the beginning.  A squadron of fighter jets from the Earth's Royal Military attempted to intercept her, but she outmaneuvered them with frightening ease, and fired energy beams from her fingertips to discourage them from trying again.  

The wall had been built to contain King Gurumes and the Blood Rubies he had mined from his land.   At the beginning of this cycle, like all of the others in the Ruby Loop, King Gurumes had become obsessed with the gemstones, and ruined his kingdom to gather them all in his castle.   Since Gurumes could not be killed, the solution in this cycle was to quarantine him along with the Blood Rubies.  It was an uneasy stalemate, but it mostly worked.   Gurumes was insane with hunger, but he would not venture out of the wall and abandon his treasure.   In turn, the presence of the Gurumes-monster was enough to dissuade fortune-hunters from trying to steal the Blood Rubies for themselves.    

Luffa had visited the wall in a previous cycle.   That version of the wall surrounded the entire border of the kingdom.   This version was smaller but more heavily fortified and reinforced.   There was also an enormous hole in the eastern section.  Royal Military troops were swarming around the entrance, desperately working on a way to repair the breach.  

She flew past them without slowing down.  By the time they saw her, she was already five kilometers into the containment zone.  

Enormous footprints marked the course of the creature who had broken through the wall.   The land inside the containment zone was parched and ruined from mining operations.    The impressions in the ash and dust would vanish with the next stiff wind, but for now, they led straight for the wrecked castle in the center of the zone.  

Seconds later, she arrived at the end of the trail, and found two thirty-meter tall behemoths locked in combat.  One was King Gurumes.    

The other was Excitebike, the Time Patroller who had brought her to the Ruby Loop.  

"They'rrrrre miiiiine!" roared the Gurumes-creature.  He had once been a normal Earthling human, but something had changed him.  It was said that no food could satisfy him a second time, and so he went mad from hunger after he ran out of options for his meals.   He sought the Dragon Balls to wish for a solution, but even this was denied him, and he transformed into a swollen mockery of himself, with blotted purple skin, jaundiced eyes, and an unnatural strength.  

"No! No! Noooooo!" screeched Excitebike.   The Time Patroller had once been an albino Namekian dressed in an orange jumpsuit and crash helmet.  He was an expert in researching time anomalies, which he explored using a special time machine built into a motorcycle.   Excitebike had logged more hours in the Ruby Loop than anyone, and he had warned Luffa that the curse could affect anyone.  Even Time Patrollers were not immune, as he had personally evacuated colleagues who had shown early signs of the same mutation that affected Gurumes.  

Somehow, Excitebike had succumbed to the same effect.   As he fought with Gurumes, it would have been difficult to tell the two monsters apart.   Excitebike's Namekian antennae were the only indication that he was from a different planet.   And Luffa could still recognize his shrill, needling voice in the guttural shrieks.  

She still didn't understand how he had been affected this way, and so quickly.   Excitebike had insisted that they eat and drink rations he had packed for the mission.  The theory was that food native to the Ruby Loop might somehow carry the Blood Rubies' curse.  But Excitebike was a Namekian, who only needed water to sustain himself.  

It was for this reason that Luffa had spent the last several days drinking only water she had distilled from her own urine.  The thought of a bloated purple monster with a Saiyan tail was enough to frighten her into this self-deprivation.

Below, Gurumes and Excitebike fought evenly.   The Namekian was the stronger of the two, but it made no difference.  Each time Excitebike dealt any injury to King Gurumes, his body would reassemble itself and the battle would be renewed.   And both seemed to be fixated on claiming the hoard of Blood Rubies in the wreckage of the castle.   Left unchecked, they would simply fight without end.  

Luffa planned to check them.    

With a loud, sharp cry, she flew down and struck Excitebike in the jaw with her right fist.   As the giant tumbled over, she spun around in midair and fired ki blasts as King Gurumes, destroying his entire head and most of his chest.   It wouldn't kill him, but it would give her time to focus on her comrade.

"You weren't this big when I brought you here, Ex," Luffa said as she landed on his chest.    "You ate all our rations in one sitting, and you started turning purple and acting freaky, but nothing like this!"

"Get... get awayyyy from my rrruuubies, you nincompoop!" Excitebike growled.   He raised his massive hands to attack her, but Luffa stood her ground.  

"I probably don't need to knock you around for this," Luffa admitted.  "But I'll be honest, I've been itching to hit something since we came to this stupid time fragment, and you were kind of a jerk even before you turned into a curse-monster."

He snarled with rage, and Luffa crossed her arms over her chest.   "I'm done playing it subtle," she said.   "Now I do this my way.   I'm just gonna make as much noise as I can around those Blood Rubies and see what happens.   Maybe I can't remove them from the planet, but I bet I could fuse them altogether and see if they'll burn.  How about that?"

Excitebike's hands slammed together around Luffa, and there was a brief silence, broken only by King Gurumes' groans as his body knitted itself back together nearby.   Excitebike made a sort of grunt that might have been mistaken for a laugh.   Then he began to tremble as a yellow light shone from between his palms.    There was a muffled scream, and then--

"Not good enough!" Luffa shouted as she blasted his hands away from her.   "I've taken a hit from Beerus the Destroyer!  Beerus!   Sure, it hasn't happened yet, because Chronoa sent me back in time to recover from that fight, but you probably don't even understand what I'm saying right now!"  

With a loud yell, she stomped on Excitebike's chest with such force that the ground shook beneath them.   He cried out from the blow, but there was no sign of any serious injury.  

"You two are indestructible, but you can't fight worth a damn!" Luffa said.  "What little intelligence you have left seems to be all focused on those stupid rubies!  It's pathetic!  And what did either of you do to deserve this?  Gurumes picked up a pretty rock?  And you?  You were the one who told me not to drink the water here.   You freaked out when I almost touched a Blood Ruby, so what did you do to end up like this, and why did it affect you so quickly?"

"Ssstay away from myyyyy rrrubieesss!" Excitebike moaned.    

"Why?!" Luffa shouted back.   "What's so damned important about these things!   I brought you forward to this cycle and dumped you in the middle of nowhere, but I knew you'd head straight for this place, but why?   What do they mean to you?"

"They.... neeeed meeeeee..."

The words came slowly, almost painfully, but there was no mistaking their meaning, or the emotion behind them.  Luffa was genuinely stunned to hear them.    So much so, that she did not notice King Gurumes closing in behind her.  

"What did you say--?" Luffa asked just as Gurumes slammed his fist down upon her.  

"Get awayyyyy!" Gurumes bellowed.  "Get awayyy from my ruuuubiesssss!"

"Miiiiine" Excitebike snarled.  

As they resumed their battle, Luffa tumbled clear of them and ended up on the ground.  Gurumes' clumsy attack had not hurt her, although she felt a twinge of embarrassment for being so easily blindsided.  

The air around her was thick with dust that had been kicked up from all the fighting.   Excitebike had once expressed concern about even breathing the air in the Ruby Loop, but there was nothing Luffa could do to protect herself from that.   She had learned to operate his time bike well enough to move back and forth through the Ruby Loop, but she had not found a way to escape the Loop, nor send a distress call to the Time Patrol for help.   She was on her own, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she found a way out or succumbed to the curse, one way or another.

"They need you?" Luffa shouted as she rocketed back up to confront Excitebike again.   She positioned herself between his face and King Gurumes' oncoming fist, then swung out her arm to release a ki wave that knocked Gurumes aside.  

"Miiiiine!  Mine!  Mine!" Excitebike howled.    

"What do you mean they need you?" Luffa howled back.   "They're just a bunch of useless rocks!"

"You dolt!  Can't you hearrrrrr them?!" Excitebike growled.  

Luffa was about to answer with a furious, defiant remark.   She would have told him he was mad, or a fool.   Then she would have hit him.  

This was what she would have done, had she not been floating so close to Excitebike's enormous face.   For in that moment, as King Gurumes rose up again to make another assault, Excitebike turned his head to see him, and Luffa found herself staring into his gigantic  left ear.    

Luffa didn't know much about Namekians beyond the basics, though she did know that they had exceptional hearing.   And in that moment, it suddenly dawned on her that maybe Excitebike really was hearing something.

As the implications of this raced through her mind, she was blindsided again by the two titans.   Luffa's power was enough that she could have broken her fall, but she was so focused on her train of thought that she simply allowed herself to hit the ground instead.  

As Gurumes and Excitebike fought on, the ground shook with every step they took.  The air thundered with their mighty blows.   Luffa ignored them as she struggled to fit the pieces together.

What if the Blood Rubies were a life form?  

What if they could communicate, but in a way that only Namekians could perceive?  

What if the Curse of the Blood Rubies was not a curse at all?  

What if it was a message?

And what if that perception only came after repeated exposure?   Other Time Patrollers had been affected by the Blood Rubies in less time, but they, like King Gurumes, couldn't "hear".  Namekians could, but they, like Excitebike, wouldn't eat the food in the Ruby Loop, and so it would take longer for them to be affected.  

But Excitebike had spent more time in the Ruby Loop than any other Time Patroller, and maybe he had finally reached a tipping point.  And yet, even if he could receive the "message", his body and mind were unable to handle it.   If Excitebike could even understand what he was hearing, he couldn't seem to do what was needed.  He simply lumbered towards the Blood Rubies, and started fighting anyone who got in his way.  

It all seemed to make sense, but Luffa had no idea if any of it was actually true.  There were Namekians who lived on Earth, such as the warrior Piccolo, so why hadn't he experienced any of this?  The Kami of Earth was supposed to be a Namekian, so why hadn't he intervened?  

Luffa thought of Pansy.   She alone, out of everyone in the Ruby Loop, was aware of past cycles.   She had tried to use that knowledge to alter the course of events in each new cycle, hoping to bring about a more favorable outcome.   Maybe her meddling had prevented Piccolo or Kami from interacting with the Blood Rubies.  By walling them up in the Land of Gurumes, Pansy may have prevented a reckoning that otherwise would have been inevitable.  

Was that the answer?  Find Kami or Piccolo and bring them to the Land of Gurumes?   Luffa shook her head as she considered it.   The risk was too great that they would suffer the same fate as Excitebike, and then she would have three or four monsters brawling around the castle ruins.  Namekians were only a clue to the mystery, not the solution.  But what did that leave?

She shuddered when the answer came to her.  

"Attention, intruder!"  

Luffa looked up from where she had been standing to notice a dozen aircraft hovering overhead.   The Royal Military had finally caught up to them.  

"You have entered a restricted area!   Withdraw at once or we will open fire!"

The lead craft had some manner of speaker system, and its commander was trying to reason with Luffa while another squadron opened fire on Excitebike and Gurumes.  Luffa watched the unfolding battle with detached interest.   None of them were any threat to her, and the outcome of their fight would make no difference at all.  

She threw out her hands and generated an explosive wave of golden ki energy.   It was meant as a diversion, not an attack, though it was powerful enough to rock the nearest aircraft and disrupt their propulsion systems.   When the explosion faded, Luffa was gone.    

While the Royal Military searched for her, she was already moving at blinding speed, making for the broken castle.  

Most of the structure was little more than a pile of bricks and stones, but there was still enough left to be somewhat recognizable as a building.  Luffa only needed to clear a path to her objective, and her ki blasts were well-suited for this.  

As she worked, she felt her Super Saiyan form begin to falter.   She had only partially recovered from her defeat at the hands of Beerus, and the days without food had taken a heavy toll.   She did not need the Super Saiyan form to proceed, but she insisted on maintaining it anyway.    

"Suck it up," she muttered to herself.   "Most of the time, you're begging me to let you run wild, always right there, under my skin.  But now when things get tough, suddenly you don't want to play anymore?  Hah!  Too bad!"

It was useless bravado, and she knew it.   Luffa knew her body well, and she knew she didn't have much time left.  It didn't matter.   Everything depended on the mission.  A slow, lingering failure would be no different than if she crashed and burned.

At last, a gleam of red caught Luffa's eye, and she cleared away enough debris to find what could only be the remains of the storehouse where King Gurumes had hoarded his treasure.   There were some gold and silver trinkets scattered about, but it was mostly Blood Rubies.   To see so much of anything in one place, it was difficult to imagine anyone thinking of it as rare or valuable.   The piles of red stones looked like bloody wounds seeping from the dark grey hide of the ruined fortress.  

As Luffa approached the ones closest to her, she could feel the same curious fascination she had experienced before, when Excitebike had warned her to never touch them.    Was this what his Namekian ears had "heard"?  Or was her hunch all wrong, and the Blood Rubies were merely unliving rocks with bizarre physical properties?

Luffa shut her eyes tightly as she prepared herself for what would come next.   She had come to this place with only half a plan.   Everything seemed to come back to the Rubies, and so she believed that this was the best place to force a confrontation, but she also knew what would happen to anyone who spent too much time with the gems.  

"Damn it all," she grumbled.   "This'll either work or it won't.  No sense in dragging this out."  

And with that, she snatched one of the Blood Rubies up into her left hand.    

Nothing happened.  

Luffa held the ruby in her hand.    There didn't seem to be anything overly special about it.   She decided to pick up a few more, just to see if that would help.   And then she felt it.    It was like hunger, but not quite.    Days without food had made Luffa acutely aware of the difference between genuine hunger and any other sensation.   This was   not the same.   It was not a craving, more like a... longing.

She heard nothing, save for the rumble of battle outside the castle.    

Luffa took one of the rubies in her other hand and held it up to her lips.    She had no idea why, and didn't even notice she was doing it until she felt the crystalline surface against her tongue.   There was no flavor to it at all, and yet something told her that it would be very satisfying to swallow...

And then she remembered what she was doing here, and tossed it to the ground.  

"Stupid!" she said.   "This isn't getting us anywhere."  

She immediately felt a twinge of regret for throwing the stone, like she had dropped a small child.    What was it about the Blood Rubies that could make her feel such emotions?    There was something almost desperate about them, like they craved attention.    But that was madness.

Or was it?    

"They need me," Excitebike had said.   What could they possibly need him for?

She scooped up the ruby that she had dropped, and held them all together in her cupped hands.   Then she lowered her face into the pile, jostling them a bit so the corners of the gems wouldn't poke at her flesh too badly.  

"I'm going to feel pretty stupid if this doesn't work," Luffa said to no one in particular, "but then again, if I'm right, I'll be kicking myself for not trying this from the start."  

She concentrated, and reached out with her thoughts.    Her golden aura flashed brighter.   And then...

*******

The castle, and the Land of Gurumes, even the Earth itself, were all gone.  There was only Luffa, and... another.  

"You..." the other said.   "You are within... me?"  

It wasn't a place, more like a dream.    Everything was "red", but Luffa couldn't literally see any of it.   She just knew herself to be surrounded by red, even if she couldn't experience it directly.   In the same way, the person speaking to her didn't really look like anyone in particular, but Luffa couldn't help but feel that she was with a woman who looked like Pansy.   Then again, sometimes the woman seemed almost like Luffa's wife.  

The figure began to look more defined to Luffa's perception.   She had an eyepatch like Zatte, which seemed strange, since it hadn't been there until Luffa noticed the resemblance.   And then, when Luffa finally did notice, the woman lifted the patch, revealing a red gem where her right eye would have been.  

"I guess you could put it that way," Luffa said.   Her own words weren't entirely clear either.   She was saying these things, but she was not hearing her own voice.  

"You are... not like the others?" the red being said.   "You... hear our call and... you answer?"

"My species is telepathic," Luffa said.    "Earthlings may have similar powers.   Kakarot definitely has my ability, but he probably doesn't have my experience using it.   He probably wouldn't think to try it out on a bunch of rocks, but he hasn't run into as many weird aliens as I have."

"Please... stay.    Stay with... us..."

The red being approached Luffa with a desperate embrace, and Luffa couldn't help but return it.    Despite the abstract nature of this encounter, Luffa could feel herself patting the other on the back as they hugged.

"You want me to be with you," Luffa said.    "Is that why I almost swallowed one of those rubies?    You were trying to get me as close to you as possible.   Why?"

"Want you.... want you... to want us.    Want."

"That's what you did to King Gurumes," Luffa said.    "You made him want you.   He got so obsessed, but he didn't even know what he was feeling.   I thought you were making me hungry, but that wasn't exactly it.   I'm something of a gourmet myself, but I'm too practical to eat a rock.  And I can't spend you on anything because I don't really need money.    You still made me feel those things, though.  Gurumes didn't understand it, so his mind reacted as if it were hunger and greed, but that's not it at all."

"Please... be with us..." the red being said.   "Never leave..."

"You're lonely," Luffa said.    "You're confused, and so alone."

"Don't go..." the red being pleaded.   The eyepatch was back, and Luffa could swear she was hearing her wife's voice.  "Anything you want.    Anything..."

Luffa let go of the red being and stepped away.   "I don't think you understand what you've been doing to the people in this time fragment," she said.    "I know how you feel, but they can't comprehend you, and it's hurting them.    You've got to stop this."

"No... please..."

"I can't let you keep doing this," Luffa said.    "You can't stay in this place, with these people.    But I can try to help you.    Do you remember how you got here?"  

"Darkness... then awake?   Destruction.    Many destruction.   Repeating.     Fractured.   So broken.    Lone...ly?   Incomplete."

Luffa could sense the red being's memories.  Much of it was too alien for her to comprehend, but she still grasped the basics.  The Blood Rubies were a single object that was shattered somehow.  The fragments ended up in Gurumes' kingdom.   They could sense the life forms around them, but could not interact with the outside world in any meaningful way.  

But somehow, some way, perhaps after many years across many cycles, the Blood Rubies managed to create a connection with the Earthlings.   In one village, a woman gave birth to a baby girl, a child who seemed human in every way, but in fact, she was a part of the Blood Rubies.   It was a desperate experiment, and it almost worked, except that by binding a piece of themselves to the Earthlings, the Blood Rubies lost their own connection with that piece.   And so the child grew up as an Earthling, completely unaware of her true nature...

"Pansy," Luffa said.    "She's part of you, whatever you are.   But she doesn't know it.  And she's lonely too.   She wants to live with Kakarot and the others, just like you want King Gurumes to treasure you.   But why does everything reset when you're removed from the planet?"

"Dragon... tried... take us away.  Hurt.     So lonely.    Returned.   Always return.   Please..."

Luffa was beginning to understand.   She wasn't sure how much was intuition, and how much was the telepathic rapport.    The Blood Rubies were a living creature, and somehow they could move through time.    One way or another, they created Pansy to communicate with the people of Earth, but it didn't work.  Pansy forgot that she was ever part of the Blood Rubies, and she blamed them for the problems in her homeland.   When she wished for Shenron to restore the land, the Rubies couldn't bear to be removed, and so they reset the timeline.   Luffa supposed this same loneliness was what caused the loop to reset whenever the Earth was destroyed.    

"You would have explained all this if you could," Luffa said.   "Pansy was born knowing, but she forgot by the time she was old enough to tell anyone.   King Gurumes was the most affected by you, because he kept so many of you in his castle, and he actually swallowed a few.     But his Earthling mind was too alien to understand any of it.   He just thought he was starving."

"The visitors," said the red being.   "Ones like you.   Tried to tell them.   Only one could hear us, but faintly."

"Excitebike," Luffa said.  "Yeah, he wanted to do something.   Gurumes could only see you as treasure, but Excitebike wanted to solve the mystery of this time anomaly.  You used his desire to communicate with him, but he still couldn't make sense of it."  

"But you," the red being said.   "You hear, and you answer, and you come to us.   Please, be with us.  Anything you want.   Please. You know that you want us."

"I want you?" Luffa asked.   "Sure, I wanted to accomplish the mission too, but Excitebike was working this case a lot longer.  What do you think I want from you?"

"You crave... diversion... from your loss," the red being replied.   "We are both... incomplete.  Let us be incomplete... together."

The eyepatch was there again.   Now Luffa could see more of Zatte's features in the red being, as though a sculptor had carved her likeness into the crimson stone.  

"Y-you don't understand," Luffa said.   "It's not the same thing.   My wife... well she's dead.    Her culture teaches that it's important to move on.  I... only... See, I'm trying to honor her memory by getting on with my life..."  

The red being looked as inscrutable as ever.   It watched Luffa, patiently waiting for her to continue.  

"Okay, you're right," Luffa said.   "I have been avoiding it.  I loved her so much, and now she's gone, and I'll never see her again.     There's nothing I can do about it, so I figured I might as well throw myself into my work.    This Time Patrol business is weird, but it gives me something to do, right?  And I thought it wouldn't hurt if I stayed busy..."

She stopped and turned away from the red being as she tried to compose herself.   This was pointless, as spatial relationships held no meaning here, and Luffa found she was still facing the red being, no matter what she did.  

"You're not going to let me off the hook with this are you?" she said with an uncomfortable smirk.   "All right.   Centuries ago, I knew this doctor.   He was like a second father to me.   I... I miss him too.   I miss all of them, but...  Look, he used to put me back together after a fight, and he'd accuse me of letting my opponents get in a few free shots.    I'd deny it, or tell him I was just taking their measure.    Heh.   Doc had eight eyes, so I guess he must have seen right through me.  I was just using the physical pain to cover for the emotional stuff.    My mother.   Dad and Kandai turning on me.  Every other rotten thing that ever went wrong in my life.   And now I'm doing the same thing in the Time Patrol, only it's Majin Buu and the God of Destruction instead of some loser mercenary force or a Saiyan cultist."

The red being reached out with its hand.   "Your pain runs deep," she said.   "Like ours.  We can comfort each other.   Please."

"We have the same problem," Luffa said.    "But not the same solution.  I think I can help you with your trouble.    I just need to explain all of this to Pansy, and then... well you might not be the way you were before, but at least you'll be whole again."

"Yes...." the red being said.  "That would be... good.   But what about you?  Luffa.   You would help us.   We want to help you.   How can we ease your pain?"

Luffa smiled.   "Thanks for the offer," she said, "but it's not that simple for me.   But if I can help a few people like you along the way, well, that's something.   Maybe it helps me work out what I need for myself.  Sorry if that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"It helps you... to help us?" the red being asked slowly.  

"I guess that's one way to look at it, yeah," Luffa said.  

The red being's features changed again, this time looking more like Luffa's own features.  She made a grim smile to match the real thing.  

"Then we will help you help us help you," the red being said.    "And so we will be together in your cycle."

*******

     [6 April, Age 850.  Toki Toki City.]  

Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, had isolated and contained the Ruby Loop in a special chamber built beneath the Time Vault.   To most beings, it appeared to be a red crystaline object vaguely resembling a human heart.   The Kai had a more cosmic perception of the anomaly, and she watched it carefully while she waited for her Time Patrollers to report in from their expedition.  

Suddenly, the red crystal began to glow, and Chronoa raised her arm over her eyes to shield herself from the crimson light.  Her other senses noticed temporal changes within the anomaly, and for a moment, she became concerned.    

Then, she sensed something more encouraging, like the pieces of a machine fitting into place, or a lock gently yielding to the proper key.  She held out her hands and with a power beyond mortal comprehension, she guided and contained the Ruby Loop as it began to change.  

And then, the red crystal was gone, replaced by a pair of figures on a motorcycle.   The engine was not running, and the woman at the controls was cradling something in her arms.  The man seated behind her was naked and trembling.  Even if Chronoa had not recognized them, she immediately understood that they had been through a harrowing experience.  

"We're back?" Luffa asked as she looked up to see Chronoa.   "I thought we were going to need the bike to get us home, but I didn't even have a chance to fire it up."

"Wha... what--?" Excitebike mumbled.  

"You did it!" Chronoa said.    "I don't know how you pulled it off, but I have the time fragment under control!  Whatever you did with the anomaly--"

"Anomaly?" Excitebike murmured.   "No.  No.  No.   Got to... listen...."

"He's in shock," Luffa said.   "I'm not doing so great myself, but you'd better take care of him first."

Chronoa nodded and went to help Excitebike dismount from the motorcycle.   "What happened in there, Luffa?" she asked.  

"I'll tell you what I know," Luffa promised, "but as far as the anomaly goes..."

She held up the object in her arms, and Chronoa saw what looked like a baby sculpted out of red crystal.   The Kai's eyes widened with amazement.  

"...Well," Luffa said, "I think I've got the anomaly right here."

*******

     [13 April, Age 850.  Toki Toki City.]  

Excitebike recovered quickly in the day that followed.   Though he wished to return to duty, Chronoa placed him on extended leave until further notice.  He was displeased with her decision, but kept his objections to himself.   Luffa was not surprised that he neglected to thank her for her help, but she saw no point in confronting him about it.   His ego had been bruised badly enough for a long time to come.  

As for Luffa, she had to remain in the chamber beneath the Time Vault for several more days.   Chronoa had sent her back in time to carry out the Ruby Loop assignment, and now that it was over, Luffa could go back to the present.   But she still needed time to fully recuperate, and so Chronoa did not send her back right away.  

Luffa had to spend these days in the isolation ward hidden beneath the Time Vault.  This quarantine was necessary, because her actions could alter the course of events in Toki Toki City's recent history.   This did not bother her much, since she needed the rest, and she had Chronoa to keep her company.  They spent much of their time together discussing the Ruby Loop mission.    

"I don't understand it completely," Luffa said.   "But Pansy was the key."

"Right," Chronoa said.   They had gone over it many times, but each discussion of the mission provided new insights, and neither of them seemed to mind the repetition.  "You said the Blood Rubies created Pansy to try to communicate with the outside world, but it ended up backfiring.  It ended up fracturing them, and that just made it even harder to establish contact."

"Pansy told Shenron that they didn't need the Blood Rubies, but she needed them, because they were part of her," Luffa said.  She stopped in her tracks and put her hand to her chin as she reconsidered it.    

"Or she's a part of them.   The point is," Luffa went on, "she was so afraid of the curse that she avoided the Rubies as much as she could.    I had to link their thoughts together, and once I did that... well, like I said, I don't understand it all, but I guess it worked.    The hard part was explaining it to her, but she seemed to trust me enough to let me try it."

They were walking together through the halls of the isolation ward.   Luffa took a sip from a bottle of protein shake that Chronoa had brought her from Toki Toki City, and watched the muscles of her right arm as she flexed it.    

"You seem to be getting your strength back," Chronoa said.  

"Yeah, I should be back up to my full power soon," Luffa said.   She couldn't tell Chronoa about her battle with Beerus, or how it tied into the conflict with Demigra, because from Chronoa's perspective, those events had not yet happened.  

"Well, you should be all set for whatever happens next," Chronoa said.  "I'll zap you forward a few days so you can reappear in the Time Nest right after my future self sends you back, and that'll put everything back on track.  

"I guess your future self was right after all," Luffa said.  "She thought I was ready, and you guessed that she was thinking about the Ruby Loop, and it all seemed to work out."

"It sure did," Chronoa said.   "You did a fantastic job, Luffa.   You might even call it legendary.   Eh?"  

"Thanks," Luffa said, "but it feels like a hollow victory.   I mean, I'll take some pride in knowing this was something Kakarot never would have been able to figure out, but I only guessed right because I've seen so many weird things in my time.    And because... well, I know how it feels to be that lonely.   I don't blame Gurumes for thinking it was a curse.   If you're not used to that kind of thing... I guess it would seem like an evil spirit or something."    

She sighed and took a long sip of her shake.   "I like to hit stuff, Chronoa," Luffa said.   "If you could find me a mission where I punch something, I'd really rather be doing that instead."  

"I'll see what I can do," Chronoa said with a smile.   "You know, Luffa, you've got friends here.   You left a lot of loved ones behind in the past, but we Time Patrollers care a lot about you, too."  

"I know," Luffa said through clenched teeth.    She shut her eyes tightly as she spoke, as though trying to keep the tears inside.     "That's why I brought Pansy here.   I mean, I'm not sure I could just leave her behind.    I guess I had to bring it back here, but... I thought... well, you can help her, can't you?  This isn't some time crystal you lock up in a storage compartment.   She's alive somehow.   And I took her away from everyone she cares about."  

Chronoa pursed her lips and didn't answer right away.    "It's too early to know for sure," she said.  "I'll need time to study this, make sure there's no risk to Toki Toki City.   But I'll try."

"Well, if you have to keep her locked up, I'd like to visit at least.   This all happened because she was so lost and isolated.   She needs someone, and right now I'm the only one she knows."  

"That sounds fine, Luffa," Chronoa said.   "I may need your help to communicate with her.  And this might give you some experience for dealing with other deep time investigations."

"Oh, come on," Luffa said.   "After what we went through, I'm doubt Excitebike would ever want to get within a hundred miles of me again."

"That's not what he told me," Chronoa said with a chuckle.     "He requested you for a transfer to his department.  Oh, wait, he asked me not to tell you he said that.    Whoops."

"You're kidding."

"Don't sell yourself short, Luffa," Chronoa said.  "You may see yourself as someone who's only good for hitting, but you're so much more than that.  The proof is right here."

They had reached a wing of the facility where Chronoa kept various time fragments in containment.   Each was stored in a transparent bubble, surrounded by enormous tree roots that extended down from the tree that lived within the Time Vault above them.   Most of the time fragments resembled geometric shapes, or abstract patterns, but the one Chronoa pointed to looked like a baby girl, sleeping soundly in its bubble.  

"She's a cute kid," Chronoa said as she tenderly patted one of the roots on the bubble.  

"You really do care about her," Luffa observed.  

"Sure I do," Chronoa said.   "I don't understand her yet, but she's part of history, just like the rest of us.   I don't know what to do for her yet, but it's my duty to find a proper place for her... Is something wrong, Luffa?"

Luffa took a deep breath before answering.   "Well... it's just that... I wanted to apologize for not telling you myself."

"About what?" Chronoa asked.   "Did you leave something out of your report?"

"No, it's not about the Ruby Loop," Luffa said.  "I mean, the whole business with Keda being alive on Earth during Kakarot's era."

Chronoa stared at her for a moment and blinked twice.   "I'm sorry, but who is Keda?" she asked.  

"My friend from the past," Luffa said.   "The one I sensed on Namek."

"I thought Big League Chew already investigated that," Chronoa said, "and he didn't find anything."

"Yeah, but I found her again on Earth a few years later," Luffa said, "so we checked again, and confirmed it this time.  I don't know how it happened, but she ended up in West City.   She's still living there now, in the year 850."

"Are you kidding me?!" Chronoa exclaimed.   "Why didn't you two report it to me?"

Luffa was stunned.   "I thought you already knew," she said, taking a step backward.   "I was putting off telling you, and then you brought it up, and said you'd already heard about it..."

"From whom?" Chronoa said.   "I haven't talked to Big League Chew in days.   It's a big city, y'know.   I can't keep up with everybody!"

"Well, who else could have told you?" Luffa asked.   "He and I were the only ones who knew about it and when I was cooking for Lo--"

Luffa stopped before mentioning the name "Lord Beerus".   She had cooked him a meal to convince him to let the Time Patrol handle the Demigra crisis, but that was before Chronoa had sent her back in time several days.   Which meant that the conversation she had with Chronoa over the griddle that day had not happened yet.  

"Oh crap," Luffa said.   "I'm the one who told you.   Right now."

"Oh," Chronoa said.   "Don't worry about it, Luffa.  Those kinds of predestination paradoxes happen all the time in this business."

"Wait, you're not mad about this?" Luffa asked.  

"Of course not," Chronoa said.   "You've told me now, and apparently some time later I'll tell you that I already know about it, and then I'll send you back in time to now, when you'll resolve the paradox.   Nice and neat."

"I really hate this stuff," Luffa said.  

"The important thing is that you finally trust me enough to tell me," Chronoa said.  To be honest, I was starting to worry that you weren't fitting in around here."

"Then what are you going to do about Keda?" Luffa asked.  

"I don't know yet," Chronoa said.  "I just found out, remember?  Ask my future self when you get back to your proper time."

"Okay, that's fair," Luffa said.  "I just... I know it would screw things up if you sent me back to my own era.   A thousand years ago, I mean.   But Keda shouldn't cause much of a disruption... I don't want her to be stranded somewhere because of me."

"I can't promise anything," Chronoa said.  "There are rules to all of this.  I have to consider the greater good."

"I understand," Luffa said.  

"You know, Luffa," Chronoa offered, "I can't make any guarantees about Keda or the Ruby Loop, but I think you've done enough good work for the Time Patrol that you deserve some kind of dispensation."

"Dispensation?" Luffa asked.  

"Sure, like a boon.   We can talk about it later, after we get synced up, but think about what you'd like to ask for, okay?  If you and Trunks can take care of Demigra, then I'd say you've more than earned it."

"Well, okay..." Luffa said.   "But what makes you think I won't ask for something bad?"

Chronoa looked away from the Ruby Loop and smiled at Luffa.   "Because we trust each other now," she said.  "And we're on the same side, aren't we?"

Luffa sighed, then took another sip of her protein shake.   "Sure," she said.   "I suppose we are..."

And the two of them stood there for a time, watching the red crystal as it slowly evolved from a time anomaly into something else.  For too long, it had been retelling the same story, again and again, with slight variations on the theme.   Now, at last, a new path lay open.   The cycle of the Ruby Loop could now join with the larger cycle, a story of all creation.

The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

 NEXT: The Battle of West City.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #king gurumes #excitebike #earth #toki toki city #chronoa