#Frederick's family beating him

[alexandersimpleton]

Hey guys, remember that time time Leland forced his high-school aged, sickly son to clear THIS

On his feet with an overweight llama on his back? And remember how he didn't give Frederick an escort or anybody to watch him? And remember how he was in the middle of nowhere with no hospital for miles? And remember how it was broad daylight out? And remember how the gala normally happens in the fall so this was probably some time in summer? And remember how Leland made him do it AGAIN? And remember how it took so long the second time that he had to sleep outside? And remember how he immediately had to make a break for it in the morning? And remember how if Whitney wasn't there Frederick would've 100%, legitimately, actually died of exhaustion or heat stroke? And remember how Leland almost murdered his own child because he didn't want to spend the rest of his life trapped in a loveless marriage with someone who legitimately thought was going to hurt him?

Haha, yeah. What a funny thing Leland did. This is such a funny joke, and it will never be acknowledged again.

[unanchored-ship]

The Hohenzollerns, my fav family before the Stuarts ruined my life

in case it wasnt implied enough, the one taking the selfie is fritz (the great) and hes also the one who wrote those lil notes :>

[allastoredeer]

The Hierarchal Power Structure in Pentagram City + Royal Family Character Analysis (Hellaverse World-Building)

I did some character analysis, lore, and world-building last night for Pentagram City and the hierarchical systems, and @tomboy014, I saw your reply, and I am here to deliver the deets.

First and foremost, disclaimer: this is world-building/character analysis/lore that I came up with. Some of it is based on canon, but a lot of it is built off my personal fanon. None of it can actually be considered canon, but feel free to incorporate anything here into your fanon or fics or whatever you want. And feel free to not take any of it seriously and ignore it if it doesn't work for you.

This post is going to be broken up into separate parts that delve into different subjects, like the city districts, the Overlords and what they give to the city, hierarchal systems, politics, and soul-contracts.

To get things started, I'm diving into the hierarchical systems of power in the Pride Ring and how involved or uninvolved they are in, most of the character analysis is on the Royal Family (Lucifer, Lilith, and Charlie) and their relationship to the Pride Ring.

So, we know that the Sinners are contained to the Pride Ring and that however powerful the Overlords are and how much influence they have in the Ring, they are still outranked by the Goetia and the Royal Family.

So, diving into that, let's start with the big boss of Hell himself:

Lucifer

Lucifer is the top dog. He's the most powerful being in Hell. What he says goes.

But he doesn't often involve himself with Pentagram City or the Sinners. He's gone out, made appearances, settled disputes that made their way up to him, and is the one who typically deals with Heaven and their input.

Unlike Sinners, he actually gets along well with the Hellborn. He has powerful Hellborn friends, like the Eldritch family - Charlie previously dated Seviathan Von Eldritch (their son) and we see a picture of Frederick Von Eldritch (the dad) with Lucifer in Lucifer's workshop in "Dad Beat Dad:

So, he has good relationships with other people. He has friends. He gets along well with the other Deadly Sins and the Goetia. He has absolutely no problems with them.

He also doesn't mind dealing with issues that pop up in other Rings, but given that those Rings are managed by the other Sins, it's rare that he has to get involved. Usually, the only times he would, is if the Sins themselves were having a dispute with each other, and it got big enough to warrant it coming to him. He's the big boss of Hell, afterall. He gets the final say.

What he does distance himself from is the Sinners.

When it comes to Heaven, Lucifer has an inferiority complex. 

He's been in Heaven, with the seraphims, archangels, and angels for most of his existence. He grew up believing what they believe. He was considered a trouble-maker for his grandiose ideas, but he was still one of them.

But after giving Eve the fruit of knowledge, giving free-will to mankind and breaking the careful order Heaven maintained, the beings that he's been with his entire existence turned on him. Rejected him. Cast him out and punish him for his mistake by seeing nothing but the terrible and wicked caused by his actions.

He feels ashamed and humiliated. Belittled and looked down on. If everyone you've ever known, everyone you've ever been close to, tells you you're done a terrible thing, what other choice do you have then to believe them?

He's still prideful, but that pride is what causes him to have such great shame. He was so certain of his decision. So certain that giving Eve the apple was the right move, only to be torn down so thoroughly and cast out of his home.

But with the Sinners he has a superiority complex.

The Sinners are a constant reminder of his mistake. When he sees them, all he feels is shame, anger, humiliation, and disgust, but he still thinks he's better than them. He thinks all the Hellborn are better than them. He's still got a sliver of that high-and-mighty angel inside him that looks down on the Sinners.

Heaven deemed them bad enough to be sent to Hell, afterall. And even though he'd been cut off from Heaven, even though he was cast out, Heaven's definition of "good" and "bad" is still rooted in his brain. They would know, right? Heaven is pure, and righteous, and good. He was once pure, and righteous, and good. Their logic and reasoning made sense to him, and a part of it still does.

So, he goes out of his way to avoid interacting with the Sinners. Given that he's only ever seen the worst in humanity, he considers them the lowest of the low and doesn't bother trying to learn more about them - he stopped trying to see the good in them after the first few hundred years.

To him, all Sinners are horrible. Heartless. Monstrous. Cruel. They tear things down instead of build things up. They're everything wrong with humanity. He doesn't hold a high opinion of them, nor has he for a very, very, very long time.

Given that he represents "pride," most would assume that he manages the Pride Ring, but it's actually Lilith who runs the Ring and everyone in it. Lucifer is more than happy to let Lilith take the reins when it comes to the Sinners, and almost never takes the opportunity to get more involved when one comes up.

Lilith

Lilith holds a higher opinion of the Sinners than Lucifer does.

She used to be human, afterall. She was the first woman. One of three people that marked the beginning of mankind. Technically, one could argue that she was the first human to commit a sin as she had not only rejected Adam but she was on board with Lucifer sharing the fruit of knowledge with Eve. She was punished for their "reckless act" just the same as Lucifer and cast into Hell.

But where Lucifer feels disgust and shame, Lilith feels a sense of freedom. She's no longer bound to Heaven and their rules. Rules that she struggled with and had to break free of. Rules that also dubbed her a "wicked person" for breaking them.

She feels connected to the Sinners. She feels a kinship with them. She has more empathy for their situations and actions. She understands their misery and anger. She loves learning about them and their stories - some Sinners, of course, are absolutely deplorable human beings. But there are some who lived in difficult situations, made mistakes, developed bad habits, were forced into tight corners, had no other options, or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She feels righteous anger at Heaven and its strict system that separates the "good" from the "bad."

Lilith has been involved with the growth of Pentagram City since the beginning, and once Overlords became a thing, she worked side-by-side with them to keep the Ring functioning as best as a society can function in Hell.

She was a lot more involved in the beginning of Hell. However, the more the city grew the more it was able to stand on its own two legs. She had more time to step away and be with Lucifer, Charlie later on, and the other Rings. She still often holds her concerts to inspire and uplift demonkind, but she doesn't have to help run the city so much.

Overtime, she became more of an occasional guiding hand or a final vote. The Overlords had a hold of most situations and solved it amongst their own territories or with the other Overlords.

Charlie

While born in Hell, Charlie was actually very sheltered growing up. She was allowed to go to the other Rings, and often went on trips with Lucifer and Lilith to visit the other Sins, but despite living in the Pride Ring, she wasn't allowed to really explore it for a lot of her life growing up.

Lilith wanted to bring young Charlie with her on her trips into the city, to meet the Overlords, see her subjects, and familiarize herself with all the districts, but Lucifer was a little bit more, ehhhh...hesitant, you could say. And protective. Very protective.

He didn't like the idea of his little girl rubbing elbows with the scum of humankind. Of her seeing the violence and cruelty they so often displayed. She became a bright, burning light in his life, giving him new drive, something to love and take care of. It brought him out of his depression for a time, especially when Charlie lived in the palace, but he still had moments when he fell back into it. When he had hard days. When he sunk back into dark thoughts and internalized shame.

During these dark periods of time, Lucifer locked himself in his workroom. He didn't have the energy, the mental capacity, to be there for Charlie, and he didn't want to bring any of the dark and negative thoughts & emotions on to Charlie - the light in his life. His pride and joy.

Distancing himself from her during this spirals is how he "protected" her. He convinced himself that it was for her own good not to see him like this. That he needed to keep this side of him locked away and out of sight for her benefit, not realizing just how much Charlie needed him.

During these spirals, Lucifer turned to creation. He made things. Things for Charlie. Things for Lilith. Random knick-knacks. Whatever object, animal, or concept that crossed his mind. More often than not, though, his creations had holy undertones. Angelic designs. Some piece of Heaven squirreled inside.

Charlie loved watching her dad create things, and eventually, Lucifer started telling her stories about Heaven. What it was like up there. How beautiful it was. The archangels and the seraphims who made galaxies and expanded the universe. Who kept evil at bay.

Charlie soaked in these stories and developed a fascination for Heaven.

Lilith didn't approve. She had complicated feelings about Heaven, but for the most part, she had a negative opinion of it. Of the angels, the seraphims, their order, and rules, and expectations. She doesn't see it with the same rose-tinted glasses that Lucifer does. She doesn't have the millennia of memories and experiences that Lucifer has.

She doesn't like Lucifer filling Charlie's head with these grandiose and beautiful depictions of Heaven. She doesn't like Charlie's growing fascination with Heaven. She doesn't like the look of awe and wonder in Charlie's eyes. She doesn't like Lucifer painting Heaven in this perfect light when they had both been hurt so badly by them. She's been with Lucifer since the beginning, has seen him through every up and down, spiral, and depressive episode, and she doesn't understand how he could still hold such a high opinion of them after everything they did. Everything they've put her through. Everything they put him through.

She's okay with Lucifer spending time with Charlie and creating things with her, but she does interrupt and make an excuse to take Charlie with her when Lucifer starts talking about Heaven, or creating Heavenly things, like the bird-angel-creature from "Dad Beat Dad"

She doesn't want Charlie getting the wrong idea about them.

Lucifer's leniency towards Heaven & contempt for Sinner and Lilith's animosity towards Heaven & compassion for Sinners starts butting heads more and more as Charlie grows up. It leads to arguments, and then fights, and eventually, their divorce.

Charlie grew up torn between her father's dreams and stories, and her mothers compassion for Sinners and desire to help them. Both facets have been instilled in her. They're both driving motivators for her and what she wants to do with her life.

But seeing the separation between her parents was hard and it hurt. No matter what she did, she couldn't help their marriage or their family. So, she turned to helping others. The Sinners, specifically. Of redeeming them so they may see the beautiful, wondrous place her father told her about.

Lucifer still didn't approve, of course, which devastated Charlie. She wanted his support. Needed it. But he couldn't look past his contempt for Sinners, and it became the leading factor that led to their estrangement in the years that followed, with Charlie feeling unsupported and neglected, and Lucifer wanting to reconnect with her so badly but not knowing how to bridge the gap.

Lilith needed distance from Lucifer. She still loved him. She did. But she's also been with him since before Hell was created. They've been at each other's sides since they first met in the Garden of Eden.

And Lucifer's depressive episodes were hard on her too. She did everything she could to support him. To help him. To be there for him. But over time, the mental and emotional load began weighing on her. It started affecting her mentally and emotionally too. It's hard to be the one constantly holding up the other. She felt like she could never break. Never stumble. She had to be steadfast. She had to be strong. A pillar for her family and her kingdom. To raise Charlie, oversee the city, and support Lucifer all at once, and she was exhausted.

And with her and Lucifer butting heads more and more, she couldn't keep doing it. She left the Pride Ring, visited the other Rings, took some time for herself and something something, stuff happens, she ends up in Heaven (my reasoning for this changes based on what fic I'm writing or concept I'm thinking about, so I don't have a concrete answer to give).

She did leave Charlie on her own, too, though.

Charlie had to build her plan for redemption, start her hotel, and deal with demonkind all on her own, without the support of either of her parents, without their help navigating the city and dealing with Sinners, which leaves her fumbling, unsure how to act around them, and a bit naive to their situation. When she met Vaggie, she got the love and support for her dreams, for herself, that she craved. That she needed. That's been missing for so many years.

Charlie still loves both of her parents deeply, but she has complicated feelings about them that she buries deep, deep, deep down inside her. She's got mommy and daddy issues.

Goetia

The Goetia are the third most powerful beings in Hell (after the Sins and the Royal Family). They outrank the Overlords easily.

Goetia families live in every ring. They can move between Rings, go where they want, and have their own sway and political power in Hell. A Goetia that we know, for sure, lives in the Pride Ring is Stolas, as implied by the sky where his house/estate is located:

But, generally, the Goetia don't get that involved in Pentagram City, its politics, or the Overlords, unless it affects them directly. They work with the Overlords, meet with them to discuss matters that involve them both, but over all, they leave Pentagram City, the Overlords, and the Sinners all to their own devices. They don't care enough to get involved, and, technically, the Pride Ring is the Sinner's ring - as they are restricted to it - and they don't want to have to maintain a society or system for them.

The Goetia have an indifferent opinion of the Sinners. Where Imps and Hellhounds are the lower class, and generally looked down on, especially by the Goetia, the Sinners are kind of just...there.

They may look down on them a little, and not take the Overlords too seriously, as they see them as nothing but a handful of Sinners with a smidgeon of power - how cute ^.^ They think they can actually do shit! - that doesn't hold a candle to a Goetia's power.

They do tend to underestimate the Overlord's power and can be condescending towards them, but in the end, if an Overlord were to try and go toe-to-toe with a Goetia, they would get their ass beat.

So, the Goetia's attitude towards Pentagram City, the Overlords, and the Sinners is generally indifferent. They simply don't care enough to get involved. The Sinners are none of their concern and they don't want to make them their concern. They only ever interact/deal with the Overlords, and even then, it's sparingly.

The Goetia keep to themselves. The Overlords and Sinners keep to themselves. Both are fine with this. (The Overlords would not be happy if the Goetia decided they wanted more control of city and inserted themselves into the politics and hierarchy).

Overlords

Like how Lucifer is the top dog in all of Hell, the Overlords are the top dogs in Pentagram City (not including the Goetia, who keep to themselves and don't get involved in Sinner business).

The city is run by the Overlords. They each have their own districts, their own imports and exports, and a trade that benefits the city in some way, shape, or form. A lot of their trades can be dependent, or involved, with other Overlord's and their trades, which is an incentive for them to keep the peace and work together.

They meet up fairly often to discuss the happenings in the cities, situations/events that have an impact on all of them (like the Exterminations), problems that arises that they need to groupthink for solutions, and any matter or subject that an Overlord wants to bring up with the other's.

The relationship between the Overlords can vary. Some can be friends, some can just be allies, some can have friction, and some can be flat out rivals. No matter what the relationship is, it's crucial that the order between them be maintained.

Overlords, generally, try not to attack or openly antagonize each other. They don't typically want to start fights, as that is just as much a risk to them as it is to the one they want to fight. And if a fight does break out, either 1) the Overlord will be defeated with the possibility of losing souls - or killed, depending on if their attacker has an angelic weapon, or 2) the defeated Overlord will be embarrassed and angry, and the friction will only get worse and cause more detriment to the group as a whole.

Nobody wants Overlords fighting, especially the Overlords. They're the most powerful Sinners, but even that power has risks. It takes a while to build up, but it can be snatched away so quickly, and few of them want to take that chance. The best option is to get along as best they can when they're in the same room, and keep to themselves and their districts when they separate.

The Overlords are essentially a counsel. They're all considered equals of each other. There is no head of the Overlords. No one who presides over them, except Lilith. They all stand on equal footing and treat each other as such (at least outwardly). They work together to keep the city running, as their empires, power, and trades are dependent on the city. It's in all their best interests to keep it functioning as much as a society can function in Hell. (It helps that they are the ones controlling the system, and thus, they benefit from having a say in what goes on in the city).

If an Overlord were to be "toppled" or killed, it would actually rock the balance that's been established in the city. Suddenly, there will be thousands of Sinners with broken contracts who now own their souls, entire territories that can be seized, a trade/resource that is either up for grabs or gone entirely, and overall chaos and confusion. Greedy Overlords might make a power grab for more territory and souls, which becomes a threat to the other Overlords and their status. More fights break out. More damage and destruction. More friction.

It's bad for everyone. So they try to keep the peace among each other as much as possible.

Crime-Families

Crime-families fall under the Overlords in this hierarchy of power. These crime-families don't have to be "families," they can be gangs, factions, syndicates, or organizations.

Some of them may be owned by an Overlord, fall into the jurisdiction of an Overlord, or are entirely independent with their souls intact. No matter what the relationship is, crime-families do tend to work directly with Overlords.

They specialize in smuggling, trafficking, and recruiting. Unless owned, they typically don't work with just one Overlord, but do business with all of them. They can be paid under-the-table by a specific Overlord to be notified when they have a “fresh supply," or if they found something/someone that could benefit that Overlord, but generally, they keep the entire pool open and neutral, as there's more money to be made that way and there's safety in being a resource for all Overlords, not just one. That way, if they were threatened, it would come to the attention of all the Overlords, as they are a valuable resource and anyone threatening that makes themselves a target.

Owned Sinners

Owned-Sinners are Sinners who have sold their soul. The system for owning and selling souls is a complex one, with pros and cons. There's a reason so many sinners end up selling their souls, despite how serious and significant it is to do so.

And that's because so often the benefits outweigh the risks.

There are many reasons why a Sinner will sell their soul, like fame, money, opportunity, security, safety, housing, jobs, desires, needs, etc... and whoever owns their soul, that person is now responsible for it and them.

Some Sinners will sell their soul as a way to get a well-paying job from an Overlord, or to fall under their protection so they're safe from outside threats, or to pay off loans they can't pay back, or to wipe clean their slate if they get themselves in too much trouble. When an Overlord owns your soul, you have the opportunity to relocate to that Overlord's district as further means of security and opportunity.

Furthermore, most people who sell their souls just...continue living their own lives. Overlords own thousands upon thousands of souls. There's no way they can keep track of every single one of them, or have hyper-specific deals with each one. Most sinners can sell their soul and continue living their afterlife with whatever benefits they sold it for. Easy peasy.

There are, of course, cons too.

Like, the fact that you are owned by someone. You're bound by the contract you signed. You're bound to the person who now owns your soul. The deal you made may have specific requirements that you have to follow, and not doing so can result in very, very bad consequences.

It opens situations for abuse and being taken-advantage of. Even if you change your mind afterward, you can't break the deal. Unless you convince the owner of your soul to dissolve it, they don't hold up their end of the bargain, or you can't find a loophole/backdoor, you're trapped in the contract and there is nothing you can do about it.

Non-Owned Sinners

Non-Owned Sinners fall under Owned-Sinners in this power-structure because they don't have the opportunities or security that comes with being tied to an Overlord.

Overlords can offer protection, housing, well-paying jobs, opportunities, money, debt-relief, a myriad of things. Whereas Non-Owned Sinners are all on their own. They're "free targets." There won't be any repercussions to killing them, hurting them, taking all their shit, trafficking them, literally doing anything to them.

Non-Owned Sinners have the independence and freedom of owning their souls, but they're essentially fishes in a shark tank. They're vulnerable. They're out in the open. They're more likely to live in squalor. Bad things are more likely to happen to them.

Living in Hell, where death, destruction, misery, and torment are the norm, most Sinners will end up selling their souls. And if they don't at first, they usually do eventually when life gets too hard, they get themselves into too much trouble, they fall for a recruiters trap, or they're desperate.

Imps

Imps are below Non-Owned Sinners. The Pride Ring is the most diverse Ring in all of Hell, so there are a lot of Hellborn who live there. Imps are still one of the lowest classes, but there are actually a lot of opportunities for them there.

Sinners don't see Imps the same way other Hellborn do. They weren't born there and they are restricted to the Pride Ring, so they don't see how other Rings treat Imps. 

Imps aren't treated as badly in the Pride Ring, especially in Imp City (which is an entire district in Pentagram City that's in a neutral zone, and thus, under the jurisdiction of no Overlord) and is dominantly populated by other Imps.

Though they still are very much treated as a lower class, it's not as terrible as it can be in other Rings. The diversity of so many sinners and Hellborn make it a little easier. They have job opportunities within the city. They can work for Overlords without having to sell their soul, as Overlords can't own the souls of Hellborn, just other Sinners.

Hellhounds

Hellhounds are at the bottom of the list, as they are canonically the lowest social class in Hell. Most of the jobs they get fall under the category of security, manual labor, sex work, or working with crime-families.

Like Imps, it's a little better in the Pride Ring, given its diversity and the Sinners not having a full scope of just how much lower of a class Imps and Hellhounds are supposed to be. It's not perfect by any means, and the system is still rigged against them, but there's more job opportunities and ways to make a life for themselves.

That's that for the hierarchical system in the Pride Ring, from the highest class to the lowest class. The most powerful to the least powerful.

TLDR: Lucifer is the most powerful but he doesn't want to get involved with Sinners, Lilith helped the city grow until it could stand on its own, Charlie wants to help but struggles due to family issues and being sheltered most of her life, the Goetia don't care enough to get involved with the Sinners, the Overlords are a counsel of equals, Crime families work for the Overlords, Owned-Sinners have more opportunity, Non-Owned Sinners have less opportunity, Imps and Hellhounds have always been considered a lower class, but it's not as bad for them in the Pride Ring.

Up Next: A Deep Dive into the Overlords and their Districts (this is where the real world-building begins)

[lil-gae-disaster]

Fredericks maternal grandparents are NOT good people.

They're horrible people, in fact.

They took Frederick from his mom, manipulated him into submission, obedience and unformity to the other peoples kids. They also physically beat him occasionally

They actively badmouthed Gilroy to Frederick and made sure to shun Gilroy from any important event, actively depriving their daughter of her husband (who she really loves) and their grandson of his father

After their daughter went through a traumatic birth (Dantes birth), they didn't comfort her. They just told her to get her act together and left. They left her crying her heart out while she held the one reminder of the worst moment in her life in her hand.

Then they came back, demanded to hold the baby and then gave the baby away. Saying it made Henrietta "weak". And then when she begged to at least leave him some sort of indication that she's his mother, they only complied under the condition that they have 100% say over what is being written.

The letters Dante has aren't emotional. They're business-like and full of lies.

Frederick was forced to attend banquets, to have a schedule so full he wasn't left with any free time with as young as 3 or 4.

Frederick never learned how to socialize. He was showered with gifts and the few bits of love his mother could squeeze through her parents' tight-built walls they made to isolate Frederick from his parents. To control him.

Frederick only learned to socialize by demanding stuff and throwing tantrums. He never learned how to take no because "accepting a no is a sign of weakness."

When Isa was born and Henrietta died, they tried to do the same they've done to Freddie to Isa. Isolate her from her father. But Gilroy finally put his foot down and basically fled to Scotland to his family farm.

Henrietta still loved her parents and begged with Gilroy to just do what they wanted. Because she couldn't fathom living without them. Out of love and Because she was never taught how to live by herself.

But Henrietta was dead now, so Gilroy could finally remove those horrible people from his life. He dragged little Freddie and baby Isa to Scotland to live there his best life, showed them love and eventually he managed to reach the core that was just a hurt and confused little boy. (That's why he helped w Joseph, because he saw so much of little Freddie in that man it broke his heart)

He singlehandedly (w a bit of help from Hilda) manager to heal Fredericks scars before they affected his life too much.

But no, the terror doesn't end here!

The grandparents bombarded the farm in angry letters and empty threats, so much that they could light up the chimney for a week straight just with these letters.

They never dared to set a foot on the farm tho, as it is "peasant territory"

Then when Freddie moves out, they demand he moves to them, to his "poor elderly grandparents 🥺" basically trying to manipulate him into ending up like his mother.

They also tried to marry off Isa against her will as soon as she turned 18.

Then they became old and died by an assasination attempt.

Which is good because the Kenneth fam is rid of them + Freddie now has a shit ton of money because he's still the oldest heir

.....

I feel they'd get along with Edward.

@hamalicious-soup @paradox-complex

[spoonful-of-citrus-flowers]

Crossroads of the Usher Children (& Grandchild), Pt. 2

Part One here!

Victorine LaFourcade: Verna is pretending to be a patient with heart issues (Pamela) to see what Victorine will do – if she’ll try to push this patient into human trials when they’re very much not ready or not. We know that she does try to start those human trials, leading to her argument with Alessandra where Victorine kills her in a crime of passion and tries to “save her” by installing the heart mesh, only to be driven insane by the sound of it (ironically, the heart mesh still beating in a dead person’s chest would have been exactly what would’ve happened if the patient wasn’t actually Verna.)

Rather eerily, this would also have been similar to what happened with the bodies Fortunato was hiding during their own human drug trials, and I think this is why Verna chooses to possess Victorine just before her death to speak to Roderick (“success is everything”), who was working in Fortunato at that time. (It’s also no accident that Vic specifically says Ali wasn’t a ‘team player’ – the same phrase Rufus Griswold said to Roderick when confronted over the missing bodies.)

Tamerlane Usher: Her crossroads was two-fold: that moment when Verna is acting as the sex worker who is supposed to look and act like Tamerlane, and Verna proceeds to talk about her grief over her (now 4) dead siblings – making both Tamerlane and BillT look rather uncomfortable. Instead of hiding behind others, I think the choice Verna wanted Tamerlane to make was to send her away, to reach out and talk to her husband herself about what was going on.

But Tamerlane never did, and in fact, chased him away. After her failed Goldbug launch, BillT tries to call her, and Verna even says that Tamerlane should talk to him. Again, Tamerlane refuses, attacking Verna in the mirrors until her death via mirror shards.

Frederick Usher: This one is pretty obvious – Verna herself spells it out. She would’ve chosen a different way, but that changed when Frederick chose to bring Morella home against medical advice and chose to torture her.

(Putting a keep reading here because Lenore's section is the longest)

Lenore Usher: Lenore’s crossroads is really one I had to think about, not because it’s subtle (her breaking into her mother’s room, calling the cops when she sees how her father has abused her mother, and refusing to shy away from the truth of that, even when it would benefit the company – and thus her, since she stands to inherit everything now that her father and aunts/uncles are dead), but because Lenore is so upstanding, there really wasn’t a crossroads for her at all – which is why I think Verna never actually shows up in Lenore’s life until it’s time for her to die. At no point could Verna have presented her with an alternate choice because Lenore would never have made another choice. This determination is something we later see Verna react positively to with another character: Arthur Gordon Pym. Now, obviously Pym is nowhere near as morally upright as Lenore, but he also refuses to compromise on whatever/whoever he cares about to make things easier for himself at that other person’s expense. (I took the line about him not having collateral and not being leveraged not to mean that he has nothing, because Verna wouldn’t even bother if that were the case, but that he will not let them take the fall for his crimes.) Similarly, Lenore refuses to sit down and say what Pym will tell her in order to make sure her father died an upstanding man and benefit the company/Usher family.

Back to Lenore, though – Verna openly regrets having to take Lenore’s life, but that was the deal she’d struck with both Roderick and Madeline – their bloodline ends before they die. As a last parting gift to Lenore, Verna tells her of all the lives she’d indirectly helped save when she rescued her mother and got her help. It’s certainly a painful scene, more so now that I realize that due to the deal, Roderick killed all the good that Lenore might’ve done had she survived – helping undo some of the damage he’d caused with Ligodone. But her choice to save her mother ensured that it wasn’t all for nothing: her mother would recover from her injuries, and go on to do just that. It's also a neat parallel with all of the other deaths (the other deaths ultimately making their lives/last goals futile), which I’ll list out here.

Prospero/Perry: seeks to prove himself by gathering blackmail material on all the famous people at his party – but he dies with no one else knowing of his goal, and even if they’d known, all the people he’d sought to blackmail are dead anyways.

Camille: fires her assistants, who were the only other people who knew of Victorine and her sneaking out the dead chimp bodies, and then gets mauled to death before being able to tell anyone her suspicions/what she’s learned.

Napoleon/Leo: buys a new look-a-like cat to cover up the fact that he thinks he’s killed his fiancé’s cat Pluto, but Pluto was never actually dead to begin with – just wandering nearby after being let out accidentally.

Victorine: insisting on getting a possibly life-saving heart mesh to human trials led to an argument resulting in the death of the inventor of said heart mesh (Alessandra), preventing it from being further developed and marketed by Fortunato.

Tamerlane: deeply insecure about herself, constantly latching onto others to be better by association with them – her figurative self-destruction/erasure becomes literal when she dies by destroying a mirror reflecting Verna (who was representing the ‘better’ Tamerlane).

Frederick: was secretly torturing his helpless wife under the false belief that she’d been unfaithful, while wanting to keep the appearance of a good, caring husband – shortly after his death (watching helplessly as a pendulum slices him in half), his daughter exposes him for the horrible man he was, destroying any reputation he may have had.

Lenore: wanted to put Usher/Fortunato money to good use as philanthropy, but though she dies, this is still carried out by Juno and Morella.

[teecupangel]

This is messy but—

Desmond ended in AC Syndicate and poses as a pub owner and serves drinks and unfortunately it became popular cause of his drinks (and maybe his charm and good looks) which made it a hot spot for the Rooks to get drunk and Jacob keeps flirting with him either drunk or sober.

His area of the pub is the safest place with little crimes and somehow Templars activity is diminished there. And Henry and Evie is suspicious of it and Jacob just wanna know how who is the mastermind and recruit them in the gang.

Desmond will be a safe space for the unchrins, giving food and fixed and clean clothes (Desmond can sew) and prostitutes will go to him for shelter and protection from bastard men and just help anyone in need

Any drunkards in his bar rioting and Desmond is simply cleaning with broom and going "Sir, please go home" and the drunks pick a fight with him and just get beat by him using the said broom.

Do you think Desmond would visit the Kenway Mansion or leave cryptic messages to help the creed?

Oh yes, pub owner Desmond is (chef’s kiss). Awkward flirting from Jacob which he just stares down with a look of “I have all of Ezio’s memories which includes his disastrous flirting with Christina and his suave flirting with Sofia. This is child’s play” which Jacob thinks of as a challenge.

Also, the urchins liked to tell him all the gossips they hear because he gives them sweeties if they do (they get free meals regardless if they have any gossips or not)

Then there’s this…

======================================

It was annoying having to wade through the sewers just to escape Lucy Thorne and her underlings. But, at least, Evie was able to recover what may prove to be the key they need to find the Shroud.

And also spend some time with Mr Henry Greene.

Still, it left a bitter taste on her lips knowing that Lucy Thorne would find Edward Kenway’s hidden room filled with the history of both the Kenway family and the British Brotherhood.

They got out of the sewers and Evie was about to suggest they get a carriage to leave as soon as possible since they were still near the mansion when they both noticed the commotion.

By the entrance of the Kenway mansion itself.

Evie and Henry looked at each other before nodding silently, making their way to join the crowd standing in front. They stayed in the crowd but managed to get a clear view of what was happening inside.

“Get your hands off me!”

Evie’s eyes widened as she saw police officers escorting Lucy Thorne and her underlings out of the mansion, clamping their hands in cuffs before escorting them to one of the many police carriages that were stationed in the courtyard.

“Please, Miss Thorne, do not make this harder for you.” Evie recognized Frederick Abberline almost immediately as the chief inspector stood in front of Thorne, “We have you for trespassing, breaking and entering…”

Abberline looked at the small journal he had as he added, “Destruction of private property, intent to steal…”

“Oh, sorry!” A young man exclaimed as he bumped into Evie. Evie stumbled slightly and the young man continued to say, “Sorry, you okay? I’m… I need to go.”

Evie watched as the young man walked towards Abberline as Thorne shouted, “Trespassing! This mansion belongs to-”

“The Kenways.” The young man cut her off and stood next to Abberline, smiling at him as he said, “Thank you so much, Freddie. When I saw all these people walking inside my home, I…”

“Well…” The young man smiled at all the officers as he said gratefully, “It’s good to know that we have officers we can trust.”

One of Thorne’s men blinked as he recognized him, “Desmond? From Bad Weather?”

“The pub?” Another man asked as he frowned.

“You’re taking the word of a pub owner?!” Thorne shouted.

“This is Mister Desmond Kenway.” Abberline introduced the young man, “The current head of the Kenway family and the owner of the mansion you just tried to steal from.”

“That’s impossible!” Thorne shouted, “This house-”

“Belonged to my great grandfather, Haytham Kenway who inherited it from my great great grandfather Edward Kenway.” Desmond cut her off, “Later, great grandpappy gave it to his sister, Jennifer Scott, who died childless.”

“But not before giving this house to my grandfather Ratonhnhaké:ton.” Desmond recounted, “The mansion has been abandoned since my great grand aunt’s death but it never left the family.”

Desmond took a step towards Thorne as he added with slightly narrowed eyes, “No matter what certain… rodents believe.”

Desmond waved his hand at the mansion as he continued, “I inherited it from my grandfather together with the entire…”

Desmond turned to glare at Thorne as he stated, “... history that comes with it and the Kenway name.”

Desmond turned to Abberline as he said, “I plan to press charges against everyone, of course, and…”

Desmond glanced at all the other officers as he promised, “I will do everything in my power as a Kenway to make sure anyone who helped them or will try to help them will be punished accordingly as well.”

The police officers glanced at one another and kept quiet while Desmond smiled at Abberline as he said, “I’ll leave this into your capable hands, chief inspector.”

“Yes, sir.” Abberline nodded before turning to face the other police officers, “Let’s get all of them to the station!”

“Now if you’ll excuse me.” Desmond turned and stared straight at Evie as he raised his hand, showing the golden disc she just had moments ago, as he said, “I believe I have a few little fledgelings that I need to talk to.”

Desmond’s lips curved into an amused smile and he nodded his head towards the mansion before walking inside.

Evie and Henry turned to look at one another before Henry said, “Well… I think we just got ourselves a meeting with Mister Desmond Kenway.”

Evie grimaced as he realized that this was the same ‘Desmond’ that Jacob had been awkwardly flirting with since they got to London. She could already hear Jacob’s ‘You talked to him without me?!’.

=======================

Before anyone assumes this is Desmond getting reborn as Connor's grandson. Nah. Desmond forged all those papers. This is straight up Desmond time traveling. XD

[thatscarletflycatcher]

I have finished my first back to back reading of Charles Dickens' Hard Times (1854) -I was familiar with the whole plot and had read fragments and commentary on it before- and... what can I say?

In and of itself it seems like at the beginning it wants to be an industrial novel, but then Dickens ran out of interest (and knowledge) about it, and drifted into writing a drama that has little next to nothing of industrial other than some set dressing (and he removes a lot of the action to a estate outside Coketown! It doesn't even happen as a whole in Coketown!).

Like, hm, we have one industrialist that is raising his kids in a caricature of the already caricaturesque Benthamism. He has a best friend who is an industrialist as well, who boasts about how he pulled himself by his bootstraps all the time. But the plot is about Louisa, the daughter of the first, that he marries off to the second, and whom a gentry dude later on tries to seduce. She has several siblings but the only one that gets actual page time is the brother she loves and who is a pile of cow shit in the shape of a human being.

So, hm, then we have the working class characters. There's Sissy Jupe who lived with the circus and is adopted by the industrialist, kinda, she's like... an unpaid servant for board and food. She's cute and sweet. That's it for her character.

Then there's Stephen Blackpool, paragon of virtue, a factory worker. His story is actually mainly about how his wife is an alcoholic (implied) prostitute and he wished he could marry his also angelic neighbour Rachel, who is also a factory worker. We never once see or hear anything specific about their work and working conditions, and it is completely insubstantial to their lives that way, they have no complaints.

There's, hmm, the unions? As represented by one orator that somehow is the leader of the union despite not coming from or living in Coketown or being a factory worker at all, which, Charly, what? I repeat what? (I mean, it's also funny how condescending he is about workers who join unions, considering he himself couldn't come up with a better reason for Stephen to refuse joining other than... he made a promise to Rachel not to. Why, how, when? Dunno).

Stephen is soon absorbed into the plot of the pile of cow shit stealing money from his BIL and framing him for it. Basically most of the novel is concerned with Louisa, her love for her brother, her marriage and attempted seduction, and then with her brother's bank robbery, what he does to frame others, and his family's desperate race to ship him where the arm of the law can't reach him (which, of course the narrative wouldn't have wanted us to celebrate if it was anybody else of, ahem, inferior station. I was all the time going "I wish he rots in jail. I hope if he gets away that he gets the shit beat out of him in some dark alley). So, Charly, the industrial novel you were supposed to be writing?

Like, I'm fully aware I never liked Dickens and my dislike has grown with age, and I'm also fully aware that I'm extremely partisan of Elizabeth Gaskell, but the contrast between HT and N&S is so stark to me. Pick any significant character from one that has any parallel on the other, and Gaskell has done it more nuanced and with more pathos. Louisa and Margaret. Sissy and Bessy. Stephen and Nicholas. Tom and Frederick. Mrs. Sparsit/Mrs. Pegler and Mrs. Thornton. Gaskell also for obvious reasons shows such a better knowledge of the social, geographical and economical context of her story.

And it depresses me how much more accumulated fame and praise HT has over N&S (yes, I understand the circumstances. That doesn't solve my upset).

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking Fire Emblem: Awakening

I kinda did a remake with "Fates," so I thought I'd make one with Awakening. To be fair: this is all subjective. I'm not saying my choices would make the game more enjoyable for everyone or that it'd be objectively superior. And most of this is plot-related, based on my understanding (or lack thereof) of the game after playing it. I changed a lot, and I've experienced gatekeeping within the community before back in my Reddit days, so be nice with your feedback!

Fell Dragon relevancy and the reduction of villains--It's revealed in retrospect towards the end of the game that certain villains aren't what they seem. Aversa was brainwashed by Validar as a child, Walhart was actually trying to prevent Grima's revival (albeit earning everyone's ire in the process) and was being manipulated by Excellus. Along with this, Grima and Walhart aren't really villains who affect the overall story, moreso placeholders for the main event. Because of this, I'd prefer to keep the focus on Validar and the Fell Dragon Grima, without there having to be those "well, in actuality" moments (as a Kingdom Hearts fan, I'm tired of those)--though we could keep the Aversa being brainwashed subplot; in fact, I'd re-work it so after Validar kidnaps her, she's raised by him to become a friend/servant to Robin (more on that in a sec), so they're the only one who can truly break through to her. Walhart is less aggressive with his approach to destroying the Grimleal, asking for cooperation rather than trying to take over the whole continent and forcing everyone to help him (he'd be allies with Chon'sin and actually have Say'ri and Yen'fay join before later joining our ranks himself), and Gangrel is a begrudging ally to the team because it inconveniences him greatly if the world is destroyed, as it would anyone--plus he realizes his troops are planning to revolt against him and wants to make nice with the people of Ylisse in case he ever needs to abscond.

Robin's background--First off, keep in mind that "Fates" was my first game, and while it copied a lot of "Awakening" (and "Engage" would do the same), the latter will always be my second FE game, and thus I wanted to avoid some tropes. Robin being the child of Validar is kinda burying the lead, and their mother is an unseen NPC, which is a big pet peeve to me with customizable characters; I adore a backstory. Seeing how Corrin, Byleth, and Alear's backstories follow similar beats to Robin's, I'd prefer if we switched it up. I'd enjoy if, rather than going the "nice, mostly absent mom and evil dad" route the succeeding games would go, we instead make Validar a bit more grey. He is still a devout follower of Grima, but not by choice. Coming from a family of worshippers, he plans to defect with his wife and child, but when they are captured and threatened with death, Validar agrees to become a vessel to Grima. This fails and corrupts him, and he raises Robin as the next vessel, his love being twisted with a fixation and obsession with them. His wife helps Robin escape shortly before the events of the game, but she disappears shortly thereafter and is presumed dead. Robin no longer has amnesia here, but has been kept a secret from the outside world, and thus Frederick is correct in being hesitant to trust them, and Robin understands, slowly revealing their origins to Chrom and co. (the full of which is done before the end of Act I).

The confusing paradox/Lucina's Mission--If you weren't mad before, you probably will be now. I kinda found the explanation of "Grima from an alternate future came to the present, gave Robin amnesia and went back to square 1" explanation kinda confusing and convoluted. Given the fact that the future children don't return to their time period anyway, I'd rework the story so that the alternate future that they came from is destroyed, and the children are the last remnants of it. No Grima going back in time with them; he was a being of destruction that brought about his own demise, eventually. The children were simply given a new lease on life, as well as wanting to spare their past parents the heartache of it all.

Making the children from the same timeline--This would mean a lot of extra work, but I'd enjoy it if the story and support convos reflected each character's unique heritage depending on who their dominant parent married. This INCLUDES CHROM ACKNOWLEDGING HIS KIDS HAVING BRANDS. If you recall, that's a family trait, and Lucina (the daughter he has regardless of your choices) has it, and Inigo (a son he could potentially have with Olivia) also shows that he has it. Any other possible kids Chrom can have should also mention having or not having a brand, imo. Morgan's backstory also changes. Here, Morgan comes from the same timeline as the other children (which can potentially happen in the OG game, but mainly if they have a sibling to confirm this), and they maintain a bubbly attitude, albeit not as moronic/silly as in the OG game.

(Art found on Etsy)

Emmeryn and Philia survive--Since I've already reversed the (seemingly) deaths of Walhart, Aversa, and Gangrel, I wanted to focus on Emmeryn. In the game, Philia is killed while trying to save her, and she commits suicide to prevent Chrom from giving up the Fire Emblem. Emmeryn can survive in one of the paralogues, though how this is possible isn't stated, and she has amnesia that makes her somewhat child-like. In my rewrite, Philia and her knights--or at the very least, Philia--doesn't die, and manages to rescue Emmeryn, though she has been roughed up in the process (IDK if I'd still make it because of Gangrel or if it'd be from Validar; probably the latter), forcing Chrom to take the role as king.

Romance options are more flexible--This includes same-sex options for Robin. Obviously this is more of a bonus aspect rather than something that largely affects the story/gameplay, but as a gaymer, this is something I'd enjoy, as well as STILL having kids in this (Fates mentioned same-sex couples adopted, but they don't get xenologues or get to be part of the story at all). Of course, this doesn't mean we can have Robin/Chrom since there's emphasis on heirs and Chrom has a big wedding with a bridge (unless you wanna have them get married and have an offscreen surrogate, which would be neat). Concerning Chrom, I'd enjoy Miriel, Anna, Panne, Tharja, Phila, Say'ri, and Flavia being additional romance options for him (which could come with interesting consequences).

Olivia joins earlier--This is a nit-pick as a Olivia/Chrom fan (mainly because of him acknowledging Inigo more than his other extras kids), but I also enjoy having a dancer on the team earlier.

Perhaps a bit more background/attention for some characters--In games like "Fire Emblem," most of the characters' personality and background is shown in the form of their supports with other characters. This might be unachievable in the game, but I would like more inclusion of the characters who join; the ones who join earlier definitely feel like they fade to the background as the story goes on, and things like Ricken's admiration for Chrom, Tharja's obsession with Robin (cue "obsessive dad" flashbacks), and Stahl's training under Frederick are some of the things I wish the mains story would bring up here and there rather than confining it to convos.

It'd also be nice to have an open-world, exploration-style story like 3H and "Engage," but it's not a necessity; it's just a fun thing I'd enjoy. Plus actually letting us replay our convos like we're able to do in later games would be awesome.

And that's my take! I'm almost certain that I'm forgetting something, but I can always edit this later. Lemme know what you think!

[blorbologist]

How would being ruidusborn affect Percy's relationships with his siblings, dyou think? And in turn, his grief and survivor's guilt over what happens to them?

... oh dear.

So. First of all - I think that Ruidusborn!Percy would be a lot more isolated due to his powers. There's both the social stigma that comes with it, isolating him from peers for being unlucky, cursed from birth - but also the fact that, just... do you really want your know-it-all brother to know everything about you? He has six siblings - I doubt a young Percy would extend the same grace to his siblings he does to VM, because he has a pronounced little shit instinct and would delight in Knowing shit he isn't supposed to and potentially holding it over his siblings' heads. He might perceive himself as being closer to them, because he knows all their secrets and such, but I suspect he might spend even more time in the workshop as a child. Percy likely knows perfectly well how to keep his powers in check, at least to a degree, and not snoop on his siblings too intentionally after some spat or another actually hurts his feelings/makes him realize just how invasive this feels for others, but - again. If he realizes he's genuinely made his siblings uncomfortable, he might just go hide in the workshop both to avoid the situation and make a gift to make it right. TLDR, young Percy would still greatly love his family, and maybe feel even more strongly attached to them - but this might be counterbalanced by his siblings and parents being less attached to him.

(Maybe Cass might still be fond of him, a cool big brother who can read her mind, by virtue of being the youngest and Percy being enough years older that she hopefully does not experience the worst of him taking advantage of mind reading, unlike her siblings who dealt with him ratting them out, beating them to their ideas and otherwise being a bit of a lil shithead. Julius and Vesper might feel more protective of him, as their little cursed brother, but would likewise probably be more distant given he's less a sibling and more a responsibility :C)

(Hm! I could see Frederick and/or Johanna keeping him discreetly nearby when dealing with nobles/family they don't necessarily trust, as a sort of lie detector. Situations where Percy isn't actually part of the event, and is kept away from the worst of the crowds, but uses his abilities to listen in and keep his parents informed. Say they bring these important guests into a parlor of somesort. Good gods would that inflate his ego.)

On the other hand, we see with Imogen that being in crowds can be downright distressing for a Ruidusborn with telepathy, so Percy might be excused from social events often (both for his sake and that of the guests). Yet another reason to spend more time in his workshop - which is why I can still easily see Percy being a Gunslinger in this AU and not leaning into full Sorcerer like Imogen. He's tinkering just as much if not more, so he definitely has those skills from all this time spent alone in his workshop. Hell - if I go with my idea of making him albino (so the white hair is tied to him being Ruidusborn, not to Trauma) it might be better to keep him inside regardless, due to being so sensitive to sunlight. (I bet the bastard invents sunglasses.)

Can you see where I'm going with this? I hope you can:

Percy wouldn't have been at the dinner with the Briarwoods.

The de Rolos don't distrust the Briarwoods - they're having dinner with their entire family there! But all his siblings, and his parents, and the servants, and the guards, and the guests would be a lot for Percy, and he's likely fairly used to eating supper on his own anyways.

Perhaps he knew something was afoot. Perhaps a day or two before he caught a guard thinking terrible things, and informed his parents, and the man was hung and it was thought the treason was routed. He saved his family, he could rest easy.

He shouldn't have.

(Unfortunate for him that Anders is his tutor. That Anders knew well about his powers, and clearly could have informed the Briarwoods of this as well as minding himself accordingly. Of course Percy wouldn't pry into his tutor's thoughts. Of course he wouldn't know that, had he attended dinner, he wouldn't be able to glean anything from the Briarwoods, that they'd offer these fancy magic items from Wildemount for the de Rolo's poor, cursed boy. Of course he doesn't know he'd almost have been happy, before it started.)

(And in the dungeon, he gets to feel the minds of each of his family members be snuffed out. Ripley makes sure he's close enough for that.)

[birth-fic-lover]

Let the fertility goddess be your matchmaker - Part 2 Florence

Part 1

As Joanna opened the door for them both she stepped back as a man with a full beard filled the doorway. Florence's stomach twisted and it had nothing to do with the child within her. It was because she knew he was the other parent of the child. His warm eyes stayed on her daughter as he explained his presence.

"I apologise. I heard your bells ringing and I came to investigate. The rest of my hunting party could not hear them, so I suppose I came to prove I was not foolish."

This confirmed it for Florence, it made sense that the bells would call only him to her. "You are not foolish."

Joanna stood out the way and now she saw this man was in uniform. He was a hunter with one of the large hunting parties that travelled from kingdom to kingdom. His eyes widened at her but not in fear, as she suspected from someone who saw a woman in labour. But perhaps concern, "were you on your way to get a doctor?"

"To labour outside, my daughter will deliver the child."

"I should get my doctor from the hunting party." But Florence could tell something compelled him to stay.

"Joanna, help me outside."

"Allow me," the bearded stranger insisted holding a hand out.

Florence took both his hand and her daughter's arm, she wondered if he would ask after her husband or if should she spin a tale of being abandoned or widowed. Her labour seemed to calm itself. But the child felt low in her womb which told her that before the end of the evening like the goddess promised all would be complete.

Joanne looked to her mother and she silently only in the way two who had spent years alone together could, communicated to leave them. Joanne made her excuses leaving Florrence with the man she presumed to be her love.

He looked at her intently, before asking "how are you feeling now? I know labour comes in waves. Those who are married bring them with us and stay in the camp. I have seen families grow in a camp where its too small not to know what's going on."

"Would you like to delivery the baby then?" Florence offered as she settled on a log. It was a struggle to get that low on the ground but it was worth not being on her feet. Florence saw his face and smiled, "don't panic my daughter has witnessed many children being born."

"I should get help, but..."

"You might miss the main event" Florence pointed out. She then felt a tightening, this labour may have calmed but it was continuing. She clenched her fist. She looked at the man again, she didn't even know his name. "I'm Florence."

"Named after the location in Italy? I've been, its beautiful.. So it makes sense why..." He trailed off blushing. "I'm Fredrick" he said embarrassed and looked past her and then back at her. "Those bells, I saw similar in one of the goddess villages. But that can't be them, a replica?"

"They are probably not the ones you saw but they are real." Florence heart beat fast, her hands were sweaty, could it be he would work it out. Her contractions returned and in response to being squeezed the baby gave a sharp kick and she winced. He knelt down beside her, "are those the only bells you own?" Florence nodded as she tried to reassure the baby. "They tingling sound like babies laughing, I never herd them before. Apparently only a member of the family of the home they are surrounding can hear them."

Florence didn't want to scare him off, she felt Frederick battle within himself. "I was so lonely, so I asked for help from the goddess. A child that would bring my love to me."

Hearing her words he looked at her, "I felt it when I saw you. Is this no trick? You are not someone trying to pass on your child to me, just tell me and I will believe you."

"This child was created less than an hour ago, the bells hung to guide you to me."

Frederick wasted no time. He took her hands, "then I am yours. I will swear an oath to you."

Florence naturally opened her legs with the intensity of the contractions, this child would not be late. Frederick knelt between her legs sliding his hands on her belly, he felt it harden. "Perhaps I can ride you to camp?"

"This baby will arrive tonight, I am in no fit state to ride." She wrapped her hands around his neck enjoying the freedom to touch him, "stay with me, its been so long since I have done this and I had youth on my side then."

"Of course" he moved his head closer and she kissed him until the pain was too much.

"Ugggghh" she moans feeling herself dilating. "Check me, this child was made from a blessing this birth will not be slow."

Not moving the rest of his body he lifted her skirt and looked down, it was not the first time he has seen a woman's neither regions but it being Florence's it had an affect on him. She saw and smiled, she waited so long for someone to be interest in her in this way again.

She kissed him again and it brought her a lustful sensation, the pain changed into a desire to be filled with not just the head of the baby.

She pulled up her nightdress above her belly, "if you want, even thought my garden is full you can still put your seed in me."

She didn't care they were outside or that her daughter could hear, she confirmed to him its what she wanted and the baby would be okay.

She declined herself off the log onto the soft mossy floor. When he slide inside her they rode the next wave together as she tightened around him. Pleasure filled her and she felt pleasure, happiness and excitement together.

As the pleasure build up between them she felt like she was going to explode. She came hard and then rode another wave and another until he had cum inside her. They lay together on the floor his hand around her protectively.

Their bliss pulled away as another contraction hit her, she checked herself she was certainly on her way. This one was painful again, she gritted her teeth. She had waited so long to find this man, why did the child have to come the same evening.

The day light was disappearing, "come inside." He helped her up, and as gravity pulled her belly down her baby seemed to go with it. She couldn't help but gasp her belly, "ohhhh, mmmmhhhh" she moaned as her contraction helped push the baby down. It seemed this baby had made it know they weren't waiting.

She felt her first urge to push, "I though I haaaaad more tiiiiiime" she had just checked herself but now she seemed to be pushing in the almost darkness.

She felt Frederick let go of her as she closed her eyes from the discomfort, had he decided to abandon her too. All she could feel was pain and panic as the infant was forced with gravity downwards. "Gaaaaaahhhhhhh" was all she heard as she felt a blaze between her legs.

She couldn't even speak as the baby seemed to be breaking her to escape. Was this the work of a goddess or of a evil creature?

She didn't even have the strength to relax her body enough to fall to her knees. Suddenly she felt hands on her again, "Nooooooooooo" she moaned as they were pulling her into the blinding light.

"Mother!!!" Joanna call out scared for her.

"She will be okay, the baby is coming." Though Frederick didn't sound confident.

As her eyes adjusting she realised that she was inside. As Fredrick lowered her down by the fire Joanna knelt down checking her mother. "They are definitely coming, I can see a little bit of the head."

Florence felt between her legs just as she was forced to push, she could sense the bulge growing. "Gaaaaahhhhh", she roared as she was bearing down.

With the next push the child's head began to squeeze past her tormented lips. "Gaaahh, ho ho hoooooo." She could not even separate the contractions as night was falling. The baby started to fully emerge with a pop as her waters broke.

Joanna separated her mothers legs more to make room for their emerging sibling. "You are doing great."

The head was moving out of Florence at a pace as Frederick held her.

"Haaaaaagggggghhhhh" she moaned as the baby's head sliped out. She lifted her bottom as she forced the body out. "Ooooooooo"

Joanna caught the baby and held them tight. She looked at her new parents as they took the baby from her. She carefully gathered the items that her mother had used, knowing one day it would be her turn.

[alexandersimpleton]

Look, I still say that Blaine and Lance are are abuse victims and I'm still saying they probably have a conscience and are decent people, but part of Leland's abuse was likely ingraining the idea that Frederick was inferior to them.

So, given that, I just had an idea. What if, before this Frederick's brothers weren't pretending to like him? Frederick thought that his brothers only seemed to get nicer because he was looking at them through the lense of brothers rather than bullies, but they had literally gotten nicer for the act. Before they all got engaged, the whole family (- Isolde, but she didn't do anything about it) all brutally bullied Frederick, and when they got engaged, they all realized that they had to appeal to him to get him to comply, so the brothers started acting. They essentially gaslit him into thinking all the horrendous things they did to them was okay, and they never did anything other than some brotherly banter.

Purposefully making him late so father would get angry? That was just a big brother prank.

Pushing his food off the table and forcing him to starve because father wouldn't believe him? Well, those were all just accidents. They technically said sorry, and he just thought they were being sarcastic.

Purposefully giving him an attack and laughing at him while he sputtered and coughed on the floor? It wasn't actually as painful as he thought it was, he was just being over dramatic, and that's why they started laughing harder when he started crying. He did look a lot like a toddler.

And so on and so forth. This would also explain why he doesn't object when he gets pushed around by people. He lets them do it less because he's a pushover, and more because he thinks that's okay. A prime example of this is when the CPC first met him. When they were all assaulting him, he was scared, sure, but not confused, or angry. He stood up for himself, but he treated it like he was standing up against a bully, or some frequent tormenter, and not like some random people assaulting him for no reason. He reacted like this because he thought that treatment like that was completely normal, and that they didn't have a reason. This is also why he felt comfortable calling Gwen ugly. He likely had a sense that such awful treatment should be reserved for him, but he thought talking behind people's backs and insults wouldn't be exclusive to him. With how he's normally treated, Gwen should be fine with a few insults, even if she hears, right? I mean, Frederick survived this long, and he's suffered through worse. And then Blaine only reinforced the idea that this treatment was okay by slapping him in the face. If Blaine was allowed to use physical harm as a punishment with no consequences or objections, emotional harm should mean nothing. And even by this point, he knows that it's not okay to do that to others, but nothing ever persuaded him of the inverse, that it's not okay for others to do such to him.

In fact, he's actually been dissuaded from this conclusion. The CPC never really apologized for what they did, Blaine never apologized for anything when he was a good guy, and Lance only really apologized that time he made Frederick pass out. The princesses pushed him only the floor, in the prison scene he was more concerned with what he did than the fact that his father had just LOCKED HIM IN A FREAKING DUNGEON, likely to starve to death given that nobody's noticed his absence yet. The CPC didn't even try to hug him or comfort him when he was clearly upset when he came down, nobody even bothered to listen to him when he tried to warn them, Prez bashed her fist into his head like it was no big deal, and so many more things happened to him that he just kinda took. People treating him like crap is just completely normal for the poor kid. That might also factor into why he fell in love with Gwen. She's like, the only one who hasn't insulted him or beat him, or just not taken him seriously throughout the whole series, maybe excluding Whitney. The main four that I (+ some others) thought up that haven't directly done anything to Frederick are: Jamie, Gwen, Whitney, and Isolde. Jamie has a habit of not taking Frederick seriously, similar to the CPC, Isolde did absolutely nothing while everyone bullied him (she had a reason, but Frederick thought she didn't care), and I can't think of anything Whitney would have done, but if there was an instance of this pattern, I wouldn't be surprised. Gwen was one of, if not the only, one(s) to treat Frederick with respect and actually love him.

[cursed-princess-club]

I wonder your opinion regarding CPC ships, at least woth the pre-existing 6 couples in CPC wiki (https://cursed-princess.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Relationship) a.k.a Maria/Blaine, Lance/Lorena, Frederick/Gwendolyn, Jolie/Nell, Jack/Lilyth (Leelathae). Thank you for seeing my message and sorry for asking too many at once!!!

ohhhh i find all these relationships interesting! Lots to unpack probably. this is all probably known stuff but uhh uh uh Yes

maria/blaine: you know when older sibling dilemmas. People Who get each other kind of but not really but also a little bit maybe . similarities but also really strong differences. yes, the pressure of being the eldest, but relations to those siblings greatly varying, and the contrasts in their support systems. Trying to put this idea into words raughh. HOW DO I SAY. well uh... idk idk something about the two most dedicated to the marriage the role they play for their families. Something about that relationship becoming what it is with the obsession and idolization then the heartbreak then the understanding and such- and i say this as someone who wasnt really invested in maria and blaine!!! The DRAMA dude

lance/lorena: good people! who seemed to vibe the best at first! Not the right place or the right time??? maybe ?? In another life they wouldve been gym bros yk. they adored each other but were also completely set up to feel bitter once the whole arrangement was revealed to be... Yeah.

gwen/fred: it's like if the two most open hearted doe eyed maybe maybe not insecure and self deprecating friends accidentally hurt each others feelings a lot/keep scaring each other. And stuff. u know how it is. I enjoy them and their development a lot! They need to catch a break so bad

jolie/nell: There is so much to explore with this relationship but it happens of screen so shout out the wonderful fan content of them out there! i like their dynamic :) haha wouldnt it be funny is jolie became an optometrist. That sounds like some shit lambcat would pull actually

lilyth/jack: veryvery VERY interesting. leelathae's story in general, what she gave up for jack?? the consequences?? Very compelling. The story of an immigrant woman marrying a foreigner and following him back to his country, and being looked down upon and his parents locked in the mindset that you dont belong here and you're tainting our bloodline- and how now she can no longer belong to her home island ever again, because of tradition and how she chose to leave it all behind. and yet she still loves him, and she gave up everything to be with him, because it's what made her happy. Ohhh and how that's been passed onto gwen. Mmmmm.

jamie/leopold: dareisay pygmalion and galatea type beat. Artist and muse. Muse and artist. the gwenfred situation speedrun, because their communication skills are better. people who create and put their passion into it all. and recognize that in each other perhaps. oooooo..

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters...

William Afton vs Freddy Krueger!

Conditions:

Composite versions of both characters from every continuity and source, including books, video games, crossovers, and other non-canonical materials.

Scenario:

After William inadvertently kills a child that Freddy had been terrorizing and torturing for months now, Freddy pulls him into the dream world to punish him for stealing his kill.

Analysis: Freddy Krueger

Nightmares. Ghost stories your mind tells you as you stir helplessly in bed. Horrible, nonsensical visions formed from mismatched memories and miscellaneous fears. It's the one kind of fleeting terror that is unique to every human being, formed from the minds that they haunt. We're all very lucky they don't mean anything. That we can just get up in the morning and forget all about them. But for the poor kids living on Elm Street in Springwood, Ohio, it's entirely possible that you'll never wake up.

Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger was, by all appearances, a normal, happy family man with a steady job as a power plant technician. Underneath that fascade, Freddy was a callous, sadistic, gleefully brutal child murderer who spent his free time luring elements kids to the boiler room of his plant and... well... killing them was the least of it by the time he was done. With a body count in the double digits, Freddy would earn the title of the Soringwood Slasher, inspiring fear and terror all across Elm Street. When a technicality in court allows Freddy to walk free, the parents of Elm Street team up take him doing, burning his lair to the ground to end his killing spree.

In his last moments, three Dream Demons who ruled the Dream World appeared to Freddy, offering him immortality and absolute power over the Dream World in exchange for Freddy spreading as much chaos and death as he could. Freddy, of course, happily agreed, dedicating his after life to claiming vengeance on his killers and causing as much death as possible. He would attack the kids he couldn't kill in the one place their parents couldn't save them: their dreams.

1, 2, Freddy's coming for you...

As the new master of dreams, Freddy has complete control over the Dream World, and is capable of manipulating its reality to kill his victims in the real world. Freddy can transmute his victims into paper, motorcycles, or bugs, create entire planets made of trash and an entire universe full of stars, throw houses into space with telekinesis, take on any form he wishes, trap his victims in time loops, duplicate himself as many times as he wants, and even pull out your veins to puppet you around like strings. If you can think of it, Freddy can probably do it. As a being of nightmares that feeds on fear and a general massive prick, Freddy relishes in tormenting his victims in creative ways with their worst fears. As such, he can access his victim's minds to draw out their fears, allowing him to mind control people, erase memories, create hallucinations, alter people's perceptions and senses, and even possess you to go on a killing spree in the real world.

So, how do you beat a Slasher whose powers are "Yes"? Home field advantage. If a victim manages to get their hands on Freddy before waking up, they can pull him into the real world. However, this isn't the trump card you might think it is. True, Freddy is now just a rare cooked serial killer with a knife glove rather than a reality warping God, but he's still undead. He's durable enough to survive being set on fire, blown up, and slashed to ribbons and tough enough to go toe to toe with Jason Voorhees. That and, when you kill him, he's just gonna go right back to the Dream World. At most, he'll be out of commission for awhile, though you could hypothetically trap him in the real world to keep him from ever returning. Surprisingly, no one's ever tried that, so we don't have any reason to believe it wouldn't work...

No, the real trick to beating Freddy Krueger is not to fear him. Freddy's power depends on how many people know of and fear him specifically. In his early years, Freddy could disappear entirely if his victims told him to piss off and stopped being afraid. He can even be banished to Hell completely if everyone believes he's dead and gone for good. But, over the years, Freddy has found ways to mitigate this trick. He's possessed his victim's bodies to go on killing sprees in the real world, resurrected serial killers from Hell to kill in his name, and drawn power from that absorbed souls of his victims to negate his reliance on fear. After ten years of killing, Freddy has killed and absorbed the souls of every child in Springwood, giving him enough power to potentially merge both the Dream World, an entire parallel reality, and the real world together into one reality. However, this method has a price. If Freddy sees his own reflection after devouring countless souls, they'll tear him apart from within, potentially destroying him permanently if he doesn't have enough fear to come back from.

Over his long after life, Freddy has had countless run ins with numerous other supernatural beings. He's fought the unkillable legend Jason Voorhees, faced off against the groovy zombie killer Ash Williams, defeated the Dream Warriors, a group of victims that trained their control over their dreams to turn the tables on Freddy, and even starred in a Mortal Kombat tournament against fellow universe busting characters, such as the realm conquering Shao Khan. Dead By Daylight's The Entity, a being whose reach spans the entire multiverse, saw Freddy as such a threat that it felt the need to nerf his powers before taking him on as a servant. In one such run in with Ash Williams, Freddy was able to graft the Necronomicon to his skin, granting himself all his reality warping powers even in the real world and allowing him to reshape the universe to his whims.

Freddy's power is so vast, even the fourth wall can't save you from it. Freddy frequently breaks the fourth wall and serves as a narrator to the audience on his own Goosebumps style TV Show. Yes, Nightmare on Elm Street has a TV Show. It's actually not that bad. Better than Friday the 13th's tv show at least. At least it remembered to have the actual franchise face in the show.

Beyond that, Freddy can even exit his own movies to kill the actors and writers that created him. See, Freddy Krueger the fictional character is actually just the host of an ancient demon out to slaughter mankind. Once the franchise ends and the story of Freddy is over, it'll be able to enter the real world to kill us all.

On that note, the latest Nightmare on Elm Street movie was back in 2010 so... I guess we're all dead now. Sorry if this is how you found out. Freddy Krueger controlling our universe would explain a few things, at least.

For as unstoppable as all of this sounds, Krueger does have some crippling weaknesses. First of all, his cockiness and sadism frequently bite him in the ass. On more than one occasion, Freddy has let his victims escape or even turn the tables because he was too busy dicking around. Within the scope of New Nightmare, Freddy can be recontained by simply writing another story about him to leave him trapped until that story ends. And when fused with the Necronomicon, Freddy will be fighting under a ticking clock, as the Dream Demons will view this as a betrayal of their deal and eventually come to strip Freddy of all his demonic powers, leaving him a mortal man once again.

3, 4, better lock your door...

Because Freddy Krueger is coming for you. Are you afraid?

Analysis: William Afton

Imagine it is your child's birthday. They've just turned twelve and you want to do something special for them, so you take them to their favorite place in the entire world: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A place for kids and grown ups alike, where they can eat all the pizza they want and watch all their favorite characters dance and sing on stage.

But then you lose track of them for a minute. A stranger lures them into some forgotten backroom, and you never see them again. Imagine never knowing what happened to them, where they went, whether they're even alive. Imagine all the pain of a family broken family, the Agony of a dead child whose body is never found, multiplied by ever Fazbear and Fredbear and Sister Location that's ever been built since the 80s. Decades of disappearances, a mountain of broken lives, and hundreds of children who never got to have a childhood.

William Afton is the physical embodiment of that Agony. Metaphorically and eventually, very literally.

William Afton was once a humble restaurant owner and gadgeteer genius who co-founded Fredbear's Family Diner alongside his best friend Henry Emily. The franchise found modest success in the early 1980s in the state of Hurricane, Utah, but it all came crashing down when William's oldest son, Michael, inadvertently murdered his youngest son, (presumably named) Evan. It's... debatable how William reacted to this. Some say his actions thereafter were inspired by desperate grief. Others say he was driven by nothing but pure scientific curiosity. Regardless, William found himself... inspired by his youngest child's death... and the Fazbear franchise chain would never be the same after that...

William would vow to "put (his son) back together" and begin studying the supernatural substance known as Remnant. Think of it as a mixture of your soul and the memories people had of you when you were alive. William even went so far as to believe Remnant could be used to achive immortality. To the end of studying this substance, William would invent his new Funtime line of sentient animatronics and loan them out to locations all over the country, secretly programming them to abduct and murder children when no one was around so he could study the Remnant they produced. Tellingly, when his own daughter was killed by his creations, William left her soul to haunt his animatronics, leaving her behind to be tortured by his employees with "controlled shocks". If William ever did have a sympathetic motive, it was swiftly slipping in his quest for immortality.

Law enforcement would catch up to William once he started to do the dirty work himself, but he was able to hide the evidence and bodies well enough that he couldn't be convicted, so the ghosts of his victims would do the job for them. William would his in his old Spring Bonnie suit to escape his pursuers, the same outfit that he used to lure children away, which would then crush him to death within its spring lock mechanisms. From there, William would return as the undead monstrosity Springtrap, always coming back to slaughter children anew.

Even when he was alive, William Afton was a living nightmare. He was smart enough to build sentient child killing robots in the 1980s and cunning enough to get away with his crimes and escape legal retribution. Even when he was alive, William could rip the possessed Fazbear animatronics apart with his bare hands and the Springlock suit he's now stuck in has shown to be bullet proof.

Moreover, William has spent years studying the ethereal substance of Remnant in order to understand its effects. With it, he could create illusion disks, devices that could allow him to create hallucinations. In life, he was able to use the device to make a girl hallucinate the death of her pet dog in a video game she's playing and in death, William can freely use his Remnant to create the illusory Phantom Animatronics, which are even powerful enough to tamper with machinery. Some of his illusions are so powerful that they've successfully tricked children into growing old and dying within his laboratory because they were convinced there was no escape, unaware that they weren't in their own homes anymore and that they weren't kids anymore. This is revealed to be the actual premise for the main gameplay of FNAF 4 as revealed in the Tales of the Pizzaplex books. The Twisted Eyes continuity, meanwhile, establishes that simple exposure to Remnant can allow a person to see the dead and even regenerate from getting their head caved in.

The Fazbear Frights continuity goes into more detail about how Remnant works and details the specific type of Remnant Afton uses. More specifically, Agony. The type of Remnant that a being made of Remnant operates on is dependent on the emotions associated with them. As an unrepentant child killer, the sheer amount of evil, death, and pain Afton spread on his life has turned him into something no longer even resembling a human being. He's become a physical embodiment of Agony, a being made of pure human suffering.

Agony in particular is the most powerful type of Remnant out there, making Afton one of those most powerful supernatural beings in existence. Lesser forms of Remnant are powerful enough to create storms that span for miles, with Agony having flat out reality warping effects. William created so much Agony when he was alive that the memory of his atrocities created Agony avatars of himself. The Spring Bonnie creature from Into The Pit, for instance, lurks in a time traveling ball pit that serves as a portal to the afterlife and is capable of replacing its prey in the real world with no one the wiser. Another manifestation was capable of feeding off a man's hatred to... make.... him.... pregnant.... with a little baby Springtrap... that proceeded to rip him apart from the inside out.

...A-hem! While these entities are established to independent of William, they were passively created by his Agony, so he should be capable of using their same powers. Agony beings have been shown to bring inanimate objects to life, gradually transmute people into trash or bubble gum without them noticing, drive people to suicide, and even swap souls to steal a person's body. William himself has been shown to steal people's souls with a touch, escape being trapped in a nightmare within his own rotting body after months of torment from a vengeful spirit, and absorb all of the beings his Agony created into himself to become a giant 14 ft tall mecha Kaiju that would rampage across the city.

Fazbear Frights gets fucking insane guys, you have no idea....

That isn't that insane when you consider Agony is fueled by Zero Point Energy. A single light bulb of which can boil ever ocean on Earth. So, yes, William Afton is a continent buster.

But that's not even discussing the most powerful iteration of Afton... FNAF World.

Within FNAF World, Purple Guy goes on a quest with all other FNAF Characters to kill Scott Cawtheon, Animdude himself, the creator of the entire FNAF Multiverse. FNAF has 4 different continues in total, including the mainline games, the Silver Eyes, Fazbear Frights, and the Movie, equating to four alternate realities Scott has created. Tellingly, William's most powerful attack, Slasher, hits hard enough to nearly obliterate Animdude in one hit.

With William's FNAF World moveset, he csn bolster his speed, transmute enemies into weaker enemies, and summon mechanical helpers, Chips and Bytes, to aide him in combat. These mechanical critters can protect Afton with forcefields, land instant kill attacks, and protect William from attacks that enduce instant death, among many others.

But, ultimately, William's most powerful tool is his willpower. He Always Comes Back, regardless of what his thrown at him. William has escaped being trapped inside of never ending nightmares by Golden Freddy and Andrew, survived Fazbear Frights burning down on top of him, and beat Ultimate Custom Night. As a being made of Agony, William will always return. He's achieved his goal of immortality and now seeks nothing more than to cause death and chaos.

William started out as the Man Behind the Slaughter, but now he's graduated into something far worse.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

This..... is a complicated one....

Both of these characters can so freely manipulate time and travel through time that speed is effectively irrelevant, but power is a bit more complicated. Both characters can scale up to universal creation and merging feats, such as Animdude creating the FNAF World universe and Freddy having complete reality altering control over the Dream World, an entire universe parallel to our own. In Krueger's corner, crossovers make his universe busting levels of power more consistent, such as from scaling to Shao Kahn, who can merge Realms together, and The Entity, who created a universe sized realm for its killers to hunt in, whereas Afton really only has FNAF World to stand on for universal. Boiling all the worlds oceans is impressive, but Freddy creating planets or becoming the moon easily surpass it. Not that this really matters in a composite scenario.

Both characters have the abilities that can feasibly end this contest instantly. Freddy's are fairly obvious, due to his reality warping nature. Even in Fazbear Frights, where William is the physical embodiment of agony, Afton doesn't have the same special immortality Krueger has, though some of his Agony would still remain to create more monsters after his death. Freddy could very easily rip Afton apart with his worst fears, read his mind to figure out Remnant's weakness to fire and burn him to a crisp, or trap him in a time loop of Ultimate Custom Night 2.0. But, Afton has some ways around Krueger's immortality. Both characters, for instance, can win by transmuting their opponents into harmless critters or messing around with their mind.

Take William's illusions, for instance. They're so effective and powerful that children never realize they're growing old and dying while being tormented by the Nightmare Animatronics. Freddy for all of his power has never shown a resistance to any mind altering attacks or illusions, let alone ones this powerful. His ability to go "lol no" to the problem and will it away relies on him realizing there's a problem at all. If William makes him think he's trapped in an endless nightmare that his powers can't free him from, he's gonna stay there. William's transmutation ability, manly the Hocus Pocus power from FNAF World, nullifies all of an enemy's abilities by turning them into a weaker enemy with none of their original powers. This is something we know for a fact would work on Krueger, because it's how he's died in two seperate continuities where he's been permanently killed. Being transformed back into an ordinary man. Both of which involved Ash Williams, for some reason.

Freddy Krueger definitely has a lot more experience under his belt than Afton. He's been slaughtering people in their dreams for over 10 years now and he's fought against other supernatural beings, such as Jason Voorhees, Ash Williams, and the Mortal Kombat cast. Afton, in most canons, spends most of his time as Springtrap imprisoned somehow and what few fights he gets into have him get dunked on. Such as how the Puppet just straight up one hit killed him in his kaiju form in Fazbear Frights, or how Golden Freddy and Andrew trapped him in a prolonged nightmare for months in two different canons. Sure, he eventually escaped, but there's no guarantee Freddy would give him that chance. He's just as likely to shove you in a Bugs Bunny trap as he is to turn your skin inside out.

I do think that William is overall smarter however. He's a scientific genius whose been studying Remnant for years. He invented sentient animatronics before Tickle Me Elmo was invented. To his credit, Krueger has been rules lawyering his way around the limitations of his own powers for a long time... it's just that those plans tend to backfire in the long run. Such as his idea to bring Jason Voorhees back from hell, only for Jason to not stop killing once he wasn't needed anymore.

The biggest showing of this difference in how they spent their mortal lives. Freddy only got away with murder due to a bureaucratic fuck up. Afton got away with it due to being smart enough to hide the evidence, with no bodies around to convict him with.

Similarly, both of them tend to screw themselves over with their own bloodlust, which has, in some canons, even resulted in their deaths. Take William being led into Henry's death trap with the promises of more children to burn or getting killed by the ghosts of his victims because he felt the need to rip them apart. Krueger, however, lets his cockiness get the better of him even against other supernatural beings. He dicked around fighting Jason Voorhees in the Dream World and wound up having to fight him in the real world. Or the time he played around with the powers of the Necronomicon too long and got all his powers taken away at the last second before he could kill the heroes. For all his faults, Afton knew to tread carefully against other supernatural opponents, carefully luring and ambushing the animatronics for example, so I could see him going for the kill first. Buuuuut, that could just as easily work against him. If Afton tries to steal Freddy's stolen souls, then Krueger could see him as a threat and deep fry him on the spot.

All of William's advantages here have come at slight margins, and they're against an opponent who is far more experienced, versatile, and creative than he is. It really could go either way depending on who does what. The thing that juuuuuuuust gives me enough confidence to cast a verdict here is their metafictional fuckery.

Afton's fourth wall breaking is better than Krueger's. Freddy relies on the story he's in coming to an end to escape and even when he got that chance, he didn't succeed to killing his own author. In fact, New Nightmare establishes Freddy is quite weak to metafiction because its an adequate way to keep him contained. Compare to William who did successfully kill his own author and survived the complete collapse of his reality in doing so. If the battle does go to meta territory, than William has the edge due to being able to actually breach those boundaries under his own power, without being actively contained by it like Krueger is.

This might be the one instance in which a character lost because they were composited. Combining all the Kruegers gave Afton the weaknesses he'd be able to exploit to win. It made Freddy specifically weak to fourth wall breaks, gave him a time limit due to the Necronomicon, and established a fatal weakness to Afton's ability to transmute people. Oh, and Freddy still uses the power glove while William's in VR, just for the final nail. FNAF does what Ninten-don't, I guess.

This is a narrow verdict that could easily swing the other way depending on who does what and when, but, by a hare, Afton is my last bet.

Just be glad William's win conditions didn't involve getting Freddy pregnant.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

William Afton!

[colleenmurphy]

Stomping thudding footsteps signaled that the Master of the Manor was home. Nearly three hours late but Fred was home nonetheless. The Lady of the Manor, as she liked to call herself, otherwise known as Minnie Sheehan-Malone, was thinking of just how expensive the car repairs were going to be this time. Jimmy had to have been drinking at The Club.

The Club. Ugh.

"Think of the family, Minerva. Think of our reputation."

The steady sound of Minnie's delicate chopping on the island block of their cavernous kitchen stopped. Knife still in hand features set and mind ticking like a bomb she studied her husband of nearly thirty-eight years.

"Our reputation can fly the fuck away, Lemual. If reputations were everything I'd have married Jimmy Murphy."

Flicking her knife towards a seat at the small table in the corner she motioned Freddie's drunk self to sit down. The lumbering string bean as she called him these days plopped himself down rather ungracefully into the wicker back chair.

"You're one to talk about reputations considering you're the one that set her up with that Flannery boy. He beat her senseless at the summer house and you blamed her."

All five feet of Minnie was standing on edge now, her right hand still holding the knife in a death grip her rings flashing from under the cold white bulb that hung in the kitchen. Something about being modern, Fred had said when they renovated the formerly beautiful brownstone. Just like everything else in his life Frederick Malone had have the very best of everything. The newest most top of the line..thing. That's all he viewed the people in his life as, that's all he ever saw them as. Pieces of window dressing to help him climb the social ladder. Minnie had had enough.

"Let her be happy this time. You got what you needed from the poor girl."

A look of disgruntled disgust flashed over his once handsome booze soaked features.

"Oh here we go. The poor Mother's Baby schtick. She's twenty-five years old, Minnie! She can't always be your little girl."

Who else had their daughter had then? Fred had missed damn near every event in her daughter's life. Except her wedding to Frank Flannery. He had been 'out of the country' aka in rehab during the divorce proceedings, Minnie had seen to that.

"Well, she certainly isn't yours."

Was her cutting reply that set him off in a blind drunken rage that ended with a pan full of chicken marsala on splattered across the kitchen as she brought a white hot stainless steel pan upside his head after he knocked the knife from her hands. The police had ruled it self defense, the insurance paid out partially and Fred was cremated and scattered at sea without ceremony. Minnie sold the wreck of a brown stone, gave the cash to Colleen and her new lawyer boyfriend - a fiery little prosecutor working for the DA's office named William Edgerley and she was setting sail for the French Rivera. She had someone waiting on her in the Lerins Islands.

[thebendsbyradiohead]

lmao so it was pouring rain today in greece so i couldn’t do shit but play the sims 4 & in one of the expansion packs they have a dubrovnik-like city included among the options & a presumably croatian family called markovic with a mom, dad & a kid

i decided to throw in some drama so i hooked up the dad w this actress i created who already had a baby from another guy & had him impregnate her AND his fiancee so that on the day of the wedding they would get caught cheating & the wedding would be ruined. it rained & his fiancee gave birth right after from the stress it was very dramatic. she was going to keep him in the house for the kids’ sakes but he started a kitchen fire & that was the last straw for her

meanwhile she’s a working single mom of two kids & absolutely losing it so she starts to hook up with santa claus for stress relief & wouldn’t you know it, she gets pregnant! santa is a bit blasé abt the whole thing but now she has a teenager, a toddler, and another baby in the house that she has to manage herself! so i was like i gotta lock santa DOWN.

unfortunately, he’s into long distance low commitment gfs which i should’ve known since he only comes once a year. i move him in, force him to propose & everything is gucci. he gets the mom pregnant AGAIN (these are all on the first try btw this bitch is fertile) but this time the wedding goes swimmingly & in fact, the ex husband is the officiant since santa became good friends with him even tho the mom stjll hates his guts

meanwhile, during all of this child neglect between fucking santa, going to work, & feeding babies, the first child/daughter becomes a lesbian obsessed with vampires & on a rainy thundery night who knocks upon the door but vladislav klaus? obvi i can’t miss a chance like that so i invite him in & ask him to turn her! so now they got a carmilla in the house feeding on santa bc she hates that he replaced her dad

her brother has it WORSE though. not only is his name severin but his mom completely ditched him after he grew up to look after santa’s babies & now he’s displaying lack of emotional control & he even has an earring at age 8. no one in that family is beating the lgbt allegations. so even though he is a chess prodigy & always picks up after himself, nobody gives a shit bc he doesn’t have those aryan lapland genes that santa brought & his mom resents him for being poor southeast european trash

finally, santa’s kids, frederick & fiona frost, are getting all the cuddles & toys the other kids never did & will reign supreme over severin once i move out his sister into the vampiric lair & leave his sorry ass to be cinderela’d by santa & his mom. i bet he wishes he moved in with his deadbeat dad in his studio now

p.s. apparently in the sims even if u turn a teenager into a vampire they still keep growing so sadly i can’t create a claudia scenario but i’m kinda glad bc now i can realize my original plan of the daughter (tomi, the game named her that don’t @ me) fucking her dad’s baby mama that he left HER mama for, tying up this family tragedy in the most fucked up bow. fin

p.p.s OH and i forgot to add, when the mom had the first santa baby (heh) she was sooo exhausted she passed out & severin just LEFT the house as a toddler & walked all the way to some random beach to shit his pants there & then a lady on a bike hit him on the way home akclwndlwnc

[musicman5234]

William Edward Chiaiese was born on October 20, 1934 to John and Emily Chiaiese(key-ah-tze) in Dorchester , Massachusetts . The family later moved to Squantum , Mass. John changed the family name to Chase, understanding that the Italian name Chiaiese was both hard to spell and pronounce.

While Bill was growing up his parents felt that he needed to broaden his horizons and arranged for him to take violin lessons. Bill did not even touch the trumpet, until the middle of his high school years. A newspaper clipping dated 1956 pictures Bill listed as a Corporal in the 26th Yankee Infantry Division Band holding a bass drum. Bill's experience as a drummer changed his life and the lives of many others. During a St. Patrick's Day parade he had to lug his huge drum for five miles enduring the miserably cold pouring rain. It hurt so bad that he decided never to do it again, he asked his father to dig out his old trumpet for him.

Not long after switching to trumpet, Bill was playing first chair in the school orchestra and classical music was his main love. Early 1950's a neighbor coaxed Bill to attend a Stan Kenton concert with him. This was the band with Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Childers, Conte Condoli, etc. After that night, Bill was hooked on jazz and high note trumpet.

As you can tell, this time period in Bills life is hard to decipher. Bill was doing so much playing, and he became very good so quickly, that the dates are very confusing. Since Maynard left the Kenton Band and headed to Hollywood in 1953, Bill must have seen Kenton before then. I can only assume that he switched to the trumpet around 1951 at about the age of 16.

Boston Globe writer Ernie Santosuosso wrote about Bill in 1971, “Bill Chase has been experimenting with sounds all of his life. As a youngster in the Fields Corner community of Dorchester , he was intrigued by the drums. Since he didn’t own a set, he’d improvise with the aid of a couple of galvanized steel rubbish barrels.

Bill’s backyard became his bandstand as he beat out precocious rhythms atop the inverted barrels. The little Italian lady, who sat at her kitchen window, regarded Bill as a pet but voiced emphatic objections to his make-shift paraddidling on the barrels. So, when Bill’s father, who played trumpet, decided to retire his horn, the boy’s curiosity inevitably led him to the instrument and away from the barrel- house. The maturation process as a trumpeter had begun for Bill.

The ex-drummer put his horn to work for St. Ambrose’s Band, then for Boston English High, Berklee, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, and Woody Herman. The little old Italian lady was given special command performances in her kitchen and she almost lit a candle in thanksgiving for young Bill’s return to his barrels and rubbish deposits.”

He started playing his fathers old trumpet the summer before his junior year in high school and showed a natural aptitude for it. He soon joined a Drum and Bugle Corps, along with his school groups. This, was prior to his stint in the Boston National Guard where he said he wrote music and played trumpet in 1957. He served for six months in the guard band, which honed his talents as a trumpeter and arranger.

Chase played lead trumpet with Maynard Ferguson in 1958, Stan Kenton in 1959, and Woody Herman's Thundering Herd during the 1960s.

One of Chase's charts from this period, "Camel Walk", was published in the 1963 Downbeat magazine yearbook. From 1966 to 1970 he freelanced in Las Vegas, working with Vic Damone and Tommy Vig. In 1967 he led a six-piece band at the Dunes and Riviera Hotel where he was featured in the Frederick Apcar lounge production of Vive Les Girls, for which Chase arranged the music.

In 1971 he started a jazz rock band named "Chase" that mixed pop, rock, blues, and four trumpets.[5] The debut album Chase was released in April 1971. Chase was joined by Ted Piercefield, Alan Ware, and Jerry Van Blair, three jazz trumpeters who were adept at vocals and arranging. They were backed up by a rhythm section consisting of Phil Porter on keyboards, Angel South on guitar, Dennis Johnson on bass, and John "Jay Burrid" Mitthaur on percussion. Rounding out the group was Terry Richards, who was the lead vocalist on the first album. The album contains Chase's most popular song, "Get It On", released as a single that spent 13 weeks on the charts beginning in May 1971. The song features what Jim Szantor of Downbeat magazine called "the hallmark of the Chase brass—complex cascading lines; a literal waterfall of trumpet timbre and technique." The band received a Best New Artist Grammy nomination, but was edged out by rising star Carly Simon.

Chase released their second album, Ennea, in March 1972; the album's title is the Greek word for nine, a reference to the nine band members. The original lineup changed midway through the recording sessions, with Gary Smith taking over on drums and G. G. Shinn replacing Terry Richards on lead vocals. The third album, Pure Music, moved the band toward jazz. Two of the songs were written or co-written by Jim Peterik of the Ides of March, who also sings on the album, along with singer and bassist Dartanyan Brown.

Chase's work on a fourth studio album in mid-1974 came to an end on August 9, 1974. While en route to a scheduled performance at the Jackson County Fair, Chase died in the crash of a chartered twin-engine Piper Twin Comanche in Jackson, Minnesota, at the age of 39. The pilot and co-pilot were killed, as were keyboardist Wally Yohn, guitarist John Emma, and drummer Walter Clark.

Source: Kevin Seeley/Wikipedia