#<-placeholder name under i figure out something better LMAO

[foster-the-moths]

hey guys. i dont think that was a normal apple.

[miley1442111]

fresh out the slammer- a.hotchner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a/n: yes, i am a swifty- sorry lmao.

intended for fem reader!

summary: based off of fresh out the slammer by taylor swift

pairings: aaron hotchner x reader

warnings: sad ending, talk of falling out of love, aaron is still in love with Haley

the tortured poets department masterlist

Now pretty baby, I'm running back home to you

Fresh out the slammer, I know who my first call will be to

Fresh out the slammer, oh

Aaron unlocked the door to your shared home, one thought on his mind. Haley. 

He missed her more than life itself. He missed being a family with Jack and her. He missed it all. 

You were his girlfriend, you should’ve been on his mind. You had been there for him during his recent recovery after the stabbings with Foyet, you were working at all hours to try and find Foyet, you were always there for him. He loved you, truly. 

But you weren't Haley. 

Another summer takin' cover, rolling thunder

He don't understand me

Splintered back in winter, silent dinners, bitter

He was with her in dreams

He lay beside you in your bed. You were already asleep, soft snores falling from your beautiful lips. A certain unease settled into Aaron’s body. He realised something slowly, and it led to a heavy sense of dread, shame, regret, and guilt. 

He didn’t love you. He was still in love with Haley. 

He thought of Haley everyday, every night. He wondered what she was doing, now that he didn’t know where she or Jack was.

Sleep evaded him that night. 

Gray and blue and fights and tunnels

Handcuffed to the spell I was under

For just one hour of sunshine

Years of labor, locks, and ceilings

In the shade of how he was feeling

But it's gonna be alright, I did my time

Weeks passed and Aaron became more and more distant. He cancelled dates, came home late, he was reckless at work. 

You felt hopeless. You knew something was wrong, but you couldn’t figure out what. You decided to confront him, staying up late enough to catch him. 

“Aaron, what’s going on?” You asked as he walked into your shared bedroom. He stared at you for a moment, then sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Nothing,” he lied.

“Aaron, I’m a profiler too. Tell me.”

He felt conflicted. He liked you, a lot. He’d been dating you for a year. He’d thought he was over Haley, he was wrong. “I’m not in love with you anymore, I’m not sure I ever was.”

Your heart broke, but you swallowed it back. “Ok,” you whispered and got up, grabbing your go-bag and walking out. Aaron didn’t chase you. He didn’t want to. 

You got into your car and let yourself break down. He never loved you. He was still in love with Haley. You were just a placeholder for her. 

You went to Penelope’s place, knowing she’d be there for you. She let you in immediately and comforted you to sleep.

Now, pretty baby, I'm runnin' back home to you

Frеsh out the slammer, I know who my first call will be to

(Frеsh out the slammer, oh)

Haley was dead. You felt devastated for Aaron and Jack, not enough to speak to him though. You attended the funeral, you stood beside the rest of the team, then went straight to Strauss. You handed in you badge and gun, leaving the BAU behind. You cut everyone off, blocking their numbers, moving house, taking up a job in the CIA instead. 

Aaron had officially lost you. In the weeks of your breakup, he’d realised how wrong he was, that he had loved you, that he was in love with you. 

Camera flashes, welcome bashes, get the matches

Toss the ashes off the ledge

As I said in my letters, now that I know better

I will never lose my baby again

He spent weeks trying to find you, finding nothing. You’d asked one of your new colleagues to essentially wipe your existence off the face of the earth. You changed your name, you changed. 

He’d made Penelope look for you for months, he went to your family as a last result. 

“You want to know where Y/n is?” Your father asked. “We thought you’d know.”

His heart stopped. You were missing. 

He got the team on it immediately, until Strauss called him in. 

“Aaron, Y/n Y/l/n is not missing. She’s been reassigned,” she explained.

“Why can’t we find her then! All of her accounts were drained and closed, her family don’t know where she is, and she left the BAU!” He demanded. 

“She was reassigned Aaron, that’s the end of it.”

He was helpless. You were gone. 

My friends tried, but I wouldn't hear it

Watch me daily disappearing

For just one glimpse of his smile

All those nights, he kept me goin'

Swirled you into all of my poems

Now we're at the starting line, I did my time

He took a leave of absence from the BAU for a month, deciding to try and find you on his own. He looked through everything on you, tried to remember details you’d told him, but he came up with nothing. 

Until he saw you on a case. 

Now, pretty baby, I'm runnin'

To the house where you still wait up and that porch light gleams (Gleams)

To the one who says I'm the girl of his American dreams

And no matter what I've done, it wouldn't matter anyway

Ain't no way I'm gonna screw up now that I know what's at stake here

At the park where we used to sit on children's swings

Wearing imaginary rings

You were a CIA agent, you were happy the way you were. You’d found a husband in the 2 years since you’d left the BAU. He loved you and adored you like you were supposed to be adored. He was a childhood best friend, one you’d had a crush on as a child. Aaron walked into the CIA building and saw you with your hand in his. His world crumbled for the third time in his life. 

You had found someone else. You shot him and the entire team a small, knowing smile, and assisted them on their case.  

“We thought you’d died,” Derek admitted as you were all cleaning up the conference room they were using as an office. 

“Well technically Y/n died, I’m Y/n/n now. Y/n/n Scott,” You smiled, showing off your wedding ring and smiling at your husband, the other CIA agent that was helping with the investigation. Aaron’s stomach turned. At least you were happy. 

But it's gonna be alright, I did my time

[equustenebris]

New drabble time! The Mad Ducktor falls off the top of the Money Bin, but things don't go as expected when he drags himself to the hospital.

Bill is apparently the name I’m giving Gyro's unseen sibling, Newton's father. It was meant to be a temporary placeholder name for me but I guess it's stuck, so this is me committing to it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also, so car-cans have an official English name, coco-no-nos, but that is not happening lmao. I try to use the official English names wherever possible, but I prefer "car-can" so much more that I'm keeping it.

This was supposed to be a really short drabble aksjfnsb IT GOT AWAY FROM ME

for Whumptober 2021

Eight. Coughing Up a Lung

Prompt - pneumothorax

He staggered back into his hideout, gasping for breath, holding his aching side. Well, that little escapade could have gone better. The tumble he had taken from the top of the Money Bin, courtesy of Mr. McDuck, was a lot longer drop than it looked like from the ground. Fortunately, nothing was majorly injured -- except maybe his ego.

So the direct approach worked about as well as his broken shrink ray, which is to say, not at all. Clearly, next time he needed to do a lot more field testing before he showed up at his nemesis's with a new invention. Having a Plan B couldn't hurt either, lest he get unceremoniously shot off the side of the Money Bin again. He was beginning to understand how Magica still hadn't swiped the Dime despite literal magic at her fingertips; that old man was fierce, and an excellent shot with that salt-loaded blunderbuss.

He closed his eyes, slumping into his desk chair with a miserable groan. Well. He might be covered in bruises, but at least he had managed to escape before the Duck Avenger showed up, so there was that. Small favors.

He winced, carefully tugging off his cape and gloves, not exactly eager to see the damage. His coat followed, admittedly more difficult to remove with the searing burn in his side. He bristled suddenly, seized by a coughing fit. Oh, how his lungs ached -- having to make a fast getaway all the way back to his hideout in the shipping district from Killmotor Hill was definitely not his idea of fun.

He managed to finally peel off his jumpsuit, carefully lifting his undershirt to get a better look. He winced, flinching. His entire left side was already smattered in deep, large bruises and scrapes, feathers speckled with dried blood. It looked bad, he supposed, but nothing a long epsom soak couldn't take care of, and a few days' rest.

He abruptly doubled over, fitfully coughing again, each little movement sending sharp pain tearing through his side. Worryingly, when he finally managed to soothe the tickling in his chest, he struggled to catch his breath. For a few moments he just gasped, each breath laborious, like sucking air through a straw. Maybe it was just the pain? Maybe he bruised the lung? Can you bruise a lung? (Despite the play on words for his villainous title, he was an inventor, not a doctor.)

The pain only seemed to be getting worse. He struggled to his feet, figuring maybe he could start a bath now to help soothe himself, but only made it a few steps before he was seized by another coughing spell, covering his beak with his hand. This time, however, when he finally managed to catch his breath, his palm sparkled with bright red blood.

"Oh...no," he managed breathlessly, dread sinking through his stomach. So yes, he was not a doctor -- but clearly he was going to need one.

---

"Gyro Gearloose?"

He struggled to his feet, following the nurse to the ER bed. Somehow, he had managed to pull on his other self's familiar clothes, and more or less pinned down his head feathers for the blond wig. Breathing was getting more difficult by the minute, but he couldn't exactly go to the hospital as the Mad Ducktor, so his thrown-together Gyro disguise would have to do. Fortunately, the staff was already pretty familiar with Gyro after all of his mishaps in the lab, and didn't ask him for the ID he didn't have. Small favors -- that were rapidly growing smaller in light of the circumstances.

He groaned, lying back on the bed, preparing for the long, mind-numbing wait for the doctor. The long, painful wait, breathing like someone had a weight set on his chest. He closed his eyes, just trying to rest in the meantime, drowsily drifting in and out of sleep as he shivered under the thin, scratchy sheet.

It wasn't long, however, before he was roused by an extremely familiar voice out in the hallway. "Uh, let's not tell your dad about this one, okay?"

"Yeah, Uncle, I think that's probably a good idea... It doesn't hurt that bad, though."

"Yeah, but we should still get it checked out. I'm sorry, Newton. I can see there's still a few bugs to work out!"

He startled awake, heart suddenly slamming in his chest. Here?! Of all the places in all the city, Gyro Gearloose had to be here?! He panted breathlessly, panic rising, sweat beginning to prickle down the back of his neck. He was a wanted criminal, and if Gyro or any of the staff found out about his little deception, his goose was cooked. But what exactly was he supposed to do?

"Hey, Uncle...why are you listed on the board?"

"Hmm?"

"Under the list of patients, look, it says 'Gyro Gearloose' Shouldn't it be my name? Oh, no, wait, there's 'Newton Gearloose' already over on that side..."

"What?"

"Yeah. Do you think you're on there by mistake? Someone should probably tell them."

The Ducktor squeezed his eyes shut, just struggling for breath. Well, come what may, there was certainly nothing he could do about it now.

There was a soft rustling at the curtain separating the Ducktor from the rest of the emergency room. Gyro gave a warning shh to his nephew, then pulled it back, peeking in. The Ducktor met his eyes, wanting to call to him, wanting to say anything, but the air he had to speak with was suddenly gone; he started coughing again, ending the fit with a pained yelp.

Newton made a murmur of confusion, but Gyro quickly slipped inside and pulled the curtain shut behind him. "What are you doing here?!" he demanded, hissed in a low whisper.

The Ducktor wanted to respond to that with some snarky quip, some aggressive hey, captain obvious remark -- but as he struggled for air, he just shook his head, eyes pleading. "I can’t breathe," he whispered back, clutching the sheets.

Gyro's face abruptly softened, as if he hadn't even considered the possibility that his evil counterpart might be at the hospital for a reason. "Are you sick?"

He shook his head, trying to keep his voice low and words short. "I fell," he gasped, grasping his side to illustrate. He decided it was probably for the best that he not share why he fell, or from where.

"Uncle?" Newton attempted to pull back the curtain, but Gyro quickly pinched it shut.

"Just wait, Newton." He turned back to the Ducktor with an uncertain sneer. "He's got a burn on his arm we're getting checked out. A...bit of a mishap with a new invention of mine." He frowned, looking the Ducktor over, considering, then quickly fluffed up his head feathers and took off his button-down, untucking his T-shirt underneath to attempt to change his appearance. "Okay, Gyro. If you can promise me you're not planning to hurt anybody, then Bill and Newton will go wait to see the doctor."

The Ducktor gave a short, breathless laugh, stunned at this sudden change of fortune, and Gyro's unexpected generosity. "Not hurting anyone," he gasped, trying to suppress another cough, "just -- need help."

Gyro nodded, frowning, and slipped out of the curtain and back to Newton, shirt over his arm. "C'mon, Newton, just -- call me Dad for now. I’ll explain later..."

He closed his eyes again, resting back against the hospital bed with a pained wheeze. Not so small favors.

---

Nearly three hours later, he stumbled out of the emergency room, limping, the one pain pill they gave him barely blunting the searing ache. A collapsed lung, they said, but not bad enough to warrant any treatment except waiting and watching. Try to rest and try not to cough. As he began dragging himself on the long journey back to his hideout, badly suppressing another coughing fit, he wondered how exactly he'd be able to do either of those things.

He was so distracted by the pain, he didn't immediately recognize the car that had pulled up beside him at the edge of the hospital parking lot. Hesitantly, Gyro rolled down the window, peeking his head out. "...do you need a ride?" he asked, concern knitting his brow.

As much as he wanted to say no, he found himself already eagerly tugging open the back door. "Yes," he gasped, still struggling for air, "the shipping district."

Gyro frowned to himself, stealing a glance to the anxious-looking Newton squirming in the passenger seat. It had been a long time since he'd gotten to see his nephew. He'd certainly grown. The Ducktor thought he heard his other self mumble something like I hope I don't regret this as he began driving, but he was far too caught up in the elation of not having to walk to care.

Newton peered back at him over the seat, looking uncertain. The Ducktor sat back, just trying to rest.

"...are you the Mad Ducktor?"

He opened his eyes and refocused, trying to concentrate through the pain medication haze. "Yes."

"Oh." He paused for a moment, contemplative. "...are you okay?"

"Collapsed lung," the Ducktor wheezed, "and a fractured rib. Apparently, I’ll be fine."

"Mm." Newton held up his bandaged arm for the Ducktor to see, grinning awkwardly. "Second degree burn. But I should be healed before Dad comes back next month."

The Ducktor smirked tiredly and nodded, turning his attention back to Gyro. "Go left at the light."

"Do you need any help?" Gyro asked, glancing up into the rear view. The Ducktor sat back, grimacing.

"No," he said finally, shaking his head. "You've done enough. Drop me off here."

"Here? But we're in the middle of nowhere!"

"I’m not leading you to my hideout, Gyro," he rasped. "I’ll walk the rest of the way."

Gyro reluctantly pulled over, parking under a hazy streetlight. "Are you sure?"

But the Ducktor was already out of the car, up on the sidewalk. He went to respond, but ended up in a coughing fit instead, leaning on the car for support, tissues he swiped from the hospital held to his beak. Finally, he managed to gasp a few labored breaths. "I'll be fine."

Gyro looked less than convinced, eyeing the blood-speckled tissues clutched in his hand. "...really, I don’t have to tell the Duck Avenger anything about this."

"Can’t risk it," he muttered, straightening up. "Go take the kid home, it's late."

"...I could take a car-can."

"I'm not doing that to you," he snapped, patience wearing thin. "Just go home."

Gyro paused for several moments, clearly reluctant. Finally, he sighed. "...okay, fine, okay. If you're sure."

"It was nice meeting you," Newton called from the passenger seat, so innocent and genuine that the Ducktor couldn't help but give a breathless laugh.

"Nice 'meeting' you too. Take care of that arm."

"I will."

"Say hi to Bill for me."

"Don’t do that," Gyro warned, looking from Newton back to the Ducktor. "We're going to keep this a secret, okay? Just between us three." He pulled the car out of park, frowning worriedly. "...if you need help with anything, I can help you, all right? Just ask."

"Your generosity knows no bounds, sweetheart," he said, gesturing dismissively. "I’ll make do alone. I always do."

Gyro frowned, hands on the steering wheel. "You might be evil, but you're still a person. You shouldn't have to make do alone." He sat back against the seat, eyeing him up and down. "Take care of yourself, all right?"

"Darling, it's almost like you care."

"I do," he snapped, blurting it out without thinking. There was an aching pause between them before Gyro finally turned away, staring straight ahead though the windshield. "...go get some rest."

"Hm. You too," the Ducktor told him, straightening up and giving the roof of the car a soft couple of slaps. "Thanks for the ride."

"Yeah."

He watched them pull away, waiting for the car to disappear over the horizon before he finally started walking, taking slow, drudging steps back to his hideout. He was ready for a nice warm bath, his bed...and the rest of the long night, all alone. He winced, more than just his lungs and bruises suddenly aching.

[laufire]

The 100 7x01

I spoiled myself to hell and back before watching the episode (that’s how I’m planning to watch this entire season, ngl), and I was a little skeptical about certain things I’d seen in the tags. Namely people going about Raven “making up” to Clarke, apologizing to her for s6, being “dragged” by Murphy or whatever. After watching the episode? I’m ASTONISHED at how little is enough for some stans LMFAO. Raven didn’t do any of those things?? The “I’m sorry” was about putting her foot in her mouth by saying “mothers and daughters” in front of Clarke, being friendly with her was about sharing grief and managing Sanctum’s problem and never framed as “making up for her behavior” (there was ZERO condemnation about Raven in s6), Murphy’s “Miss Morality” was immediately counteracted by her answer... It was literally a bone thrown their way after all their complaints so they’d interpret it as they wanted to and shut up, and it was a terrible bone at that. Seeing it made me feel better about the supposed ~spoilers about Raven’s s7 plot tbh. That even things that can be interpreted as they are doing are going to come across differently on screen.

Once that’s out of the way: I loved the rest of Raven’s part in the episode, with her telling Memori to step up as Primes to get Sanctum under control, bragging about it, going around strateging about their compound, BEING RIGHT ABOUT SHEIDHEDA, casually joking about A.L.I.E., etc. And god, I have missed her classic look so, so much. I was mesmerized by her this whole episode. That James Wonkru/Skaikru dude competed for Most Relatable Character on the show when he saw her and said “thank god!” xDD

Speaking off, Memori as con-artists/Fake Gods was amazing LMAO. Especially Emori doing research by reading Kaylee’s journal! My girl. LOL at her joy about living in a palace (shame Clarke had to screw that up lol). And look, if Sanctum is going to be weirded out about two supposed gods committing “incest”, they should’ve read the fine print in their “cult followers” contract, okay xD. I’m not all there with Murphy’s “guilt” plot (it’s just repetitive and masturbatory af), so I hope he gets something else to do soon. Preferably while getting eye-liner back, just sayin’ (after watching a couple of Richard Harmon’s scenes in Van Helsing I’ve decided that styling department should go to The 100 and dress him up all the time, btw).

The “Bellamy disappears and Echo & co go after him” was a very small plot within the episode. I loved Echo’s part --I’ve seen how people are interpreting her hallucination and rolling my eyes, but I liked it. Here for Echo shooting Roan as a placeholder for her insecurities xD. She also proved once again what a great strategist she is (figuring out the mysterious attackers non-lethal intentions and how to neutralize them, overcoming the hallucination, etc.) and how things would just be better with her leading, just saying :P (I really hope the “without someone to follow, who are you?” line is leading up to that). I’m also very glad that Russell destroyed Priya’s drive right away --that ought to kill that godawful “theory”, right?? LOL.

I don’t know how I feel about Hope yet (other than being bored af by how often this name pops up ugh) but there were a few moments where I could see Diyoza in her (now I want McCreary xDD). I want either confirmed or plausible Diyoza/Octavia out of this co-parenting storyline, btw xD. And I already liked Gabriel just fine from last season, but seeing him in the middle of an attack, in what seemed to be immediate danger to his life, and still focused on how ~fascinating the anomaly is was hilarious and made me like him even more. I like those types okay xD. I now want him and Raven to talk about the anomaly & weird science (oh look, new rarepair the fandom might annoy me convenience shipping smh).

Another highlight (and contestant to most relatable character) was Indra avoiding awkward family talk by focusing on her soup xD. She was gr10 this episode. Please @ show give Adina Porter more material this season.

I’ve seen speculation about Clarke and Gaia getting together and I don’t know how I feel about it. I definitely see where the speculation comes from, between the co-parenting Madi, Clarke being so grateful to her, the ~lingering soft looks, Clarke explicitly dismissing Clarke/Lexa in front of her (“seems like another world”)... And on the one hand, it’d be SUCH a calculated strike from the writers part that I am almost in awe of it. OTOH... I like Gaia xD. I don’t want her to become Clarke’s supporting partner, especially with all the implications that might come from it. On a third hand, by pursuing Gaia, Clarke would show the best taste she’s had so far in the show LMAO (I’m not counting Niylah here, because Clarke never deigned to treat her as anything but a safety net, lbr).

Is this show really saying that Clarke never asked Madi about her bio-parents LMFAO. Between this and the shock collar, Madi really drew the short straw, huh? At least she now has a cute dog and comfy clothes.

So Sheidheda is now in Russell’s body (kinky. Especially with him feeling the need to mention he prefers the current over the original one lol). Okay. Was he airdropped on him?? LMAO. Honestly I only care about this in so far as I can keep calling the character Something Something Chris Argent and because I like the actor xD. Anyway, he’s probably going to have a field day, between how easy it was for him to fool Clarke and how a sizeable part of Sanctum will go to the end of the Earth for “him”.

I hate how stereotypically Eligius’ prisoners are written tbh. In any case, they’re right: if they’re building the compound, they better get to be a part of it, just saying (the implications about prison labor in all this storyline back from s5 itself that the show is likely just going to ignore smh).

“Who knew putting a broken society back together would be hard work”. Like I always say with Sanctum-cult related nonsense: where’s Blodreina when you need her xDD. Next episode is called “The Garden” and the synopsis references “Hope’s mysterious past”, so hopefully it’ll be about Diyoza and Octavia. It seems they got scenes from early on for the promo so it’s probably where the “WHY AREN’T WE ENOUGH?” romantic-coded as fuck line comes from LOL. BTW, the Hope & Octavia hallucination? Gave me so many Aurora-Octavia feels omg.

[segadores-y-soldados]

Fic Updates

Hola, hola!

This here is JUST the fic update information for my fics “Old Habits” and “New Wars” (aka the “And Overwatch For All” series).  The short version goes like this:

Moira has been integrated into the overarching plot of “And Overwatch For All”

All the OCs have survived.  Or well.  They survived only to die.  You get what I mean.

Major changes have occurred to Gabriel/Reaper’s backstory.  This is the big one that is causing me to take the time to rework things.

Because of this, I am currently rewriting major portions of Old Habits.  Yesterday, I finished a major rewrite of chapter 10 (the “evil council is introduce” chapter).  I have the majority of chapter 11′s rewrite done and hope to finish that today as well.  With luck, I will start working on a rewrite of Chapter 13.

Shockingly, I’m keeping a lot of the “present day” plot elements the same (aka, all the stuff leading up to Recall), with minor changes to the Eichenwalde battle to fit in “Honor and Glory.”

More under the cut!

For those of your who have been waiting patiently for information on “And Overwatch for All” I do have some good news that I’m finally ready to share:

Moira has been integrated into the plot.

I got a number of comments here and on twitter that were really supportive of my current version of “AOFA” and I just want to say, thank you all so much.  It means a lot to me that you guys have liked the version of Overwatch I’ve built up and that you found all the characters, including my silly OCs, to be engaging and well-written.  It was soul-crushing to think I would have to lose some of them, but after some time and doing more research on Moira, I feel ready to talk more about her and how she’s going to factor into the updated plot.

To start off with:

None of the OCs will be cut, but some of their roles will change.

Lmao, this surprised me as well, but I’ve figured out a few different ways to make all of the OCs, especially the very obviously contrived “Death Agents,” stick around in the updated plot.

Only one OC (and you can probably guess who, if you’ve started “New Wars”) will change names: the character called “Reaper” in “New Wars Chapter 1″ (the “young Hanzo chapter”) will be called “Reaver.”  This is due to his updated role in the plot.  His background has changed only slightly.

If it wasn’t apparent, this “Reaper” was meant to act as a plot device to cause confusion over Gabriel/Reaper’s actions after the fall of Overwatch, but that has changed because:

I’m switching to Crisis-era and “undercover mercenary” Reaper.

THIS ISN’T A SPOILER FOR MY OWN STUFF, I PROMISE.

This is revealed as early as Old Habits “revised chapter 2.”

If you’ve read some of my more recent posts on Moira, you’ll know that I’ve switched over to supporting the idea that “something went wrong with Gabriel Reyes during SEP/the Crisis.”  This is due to the fact that you can find a folder labeled “Soldier ID: 24″ in Moira’s Oasis lab, that Michael Chu said that Reyes was interested in getting her help on “matters of genetics,” and that this appears to mesh the “Reaper has existed for decades” concept in Reaper’s hero profile.

Truth be told, I’ve actually been a supporter of this idea of “Gabriel has been Reaper behind the scenes for decades” plot point for a long, long time, almost as long as I’ve been posting Old Habits.  “Reaper”/“Reaver” was semi-messy OC that attempted to bridge Reaper’s original hero profile with the “Old Soldiers” explanation that Gabriel/Reaper gave that “Jack and Overwatch ‘left [him] to suffer.’”  However, I also knew when writing Old Habits that the “Mercy is evil” theory was ALSO not true, so I was kinda stuck:

“If Gabriel = Reaper for decades, why did he appear to blame Jack and Overwatch for his current condition?”

My original solution was to make “Reaper” a different character and have him operating the situation in the background (like a mystery story), but over time this solution got trickier and trickier to work with.  With Moira, I have a chance to rework much of Old Habits/AOFA to better suit some of the details that have come out since drafting it.

This does mean, unfortunately, that all the “76+127″ content is going to become its own, standalone series.

To switch over to integrating “Soldier: 24,” the “76+127″ stories will have to become their own standalone series.  Don’t worry - I’m not deleting anything.  Old content from “Old Habits” will be moved to their own fics, so you can read the whole thing in chronological order.

A new version of my updated ideas on SEP has already started being drafted.  Writing it out is just a matter of time at this point, haha.

The conspiracy/Talon council “mysteries” will become more transparent almost immediately.

With Moira, I finally get the chance to explore some of my ideas in “full format” instead of the kinda awkward “Sombra hacking a chat log” parts yall originally got.  This DOES mean that written portions will suddenly be much, MUCH longer.  For example:

Old Habits original chapter 10 (Sombra hacks an SSO chat log): 17 pages

Old Habits revised chapter 10 (Moira discusses the Route 66 battle with council members + Sombra hacks a chat log): closer to 34 pages

The explosion fight has been changed.

Because of the changes to Gabriel’s plot, the nature of the explosion fight between him and Jack has changed significantly.  It does incorporate new information that Moira revealed.

If it wasn’t obvious, I’ve had a draft version of my ideas for the fight sitting in GDocs for about a year now, and I use that for all my flashback/memories, and also for when Reaper and Soldier: 76 are arguing in the present.  There was a major plot point in the explosion fight that I was extremely uncomfortable with, but found it to be “solid angst material.”  In retrospect, I dislike this plot point and have removed it for another plot point that sits better with me, and fits the overall story more comfortably (I think).

So yes, I DO have a new draft of the explosion fight - written completely from scratch, 100% different in tone and emotionality.  Parts of this should begin to show in updates to Chapter 13, when Soldier: 76/Jack reflects on some of the fight.

The Goal:

The goal for AOFA right now is to update Old Habits in “two big batches” - update the first half (Chapters 1 - 15) within 1 - 2 weeks, and then update the second half (Chapters 16 - 31) shortly after.  Optimistically, before January, but realistically, closer to late-January/early-February.

I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to notify people of changes to an AO3 chapter that’s already posted...through AO3, so for now, please keep and eye on my tumblr and twitter accounts, where I will start linking to updated/changed chapters there.  I will likely also put up a “placeholder chapter” on “New Wars” with all this information, where you can find links to updated chapters in both “Old Habits” and “New Wars,” but if anyone has better suggestions, I’m all ears.

Thank you all so much for your patience!  I hope I can start putting up some of these changed chapters soon!