#In some ways Flynn has ALWAYS been my grumpy old man...

[megpricephotography]

Flynn, in Jan 2016 & Jan 2024! His eyebrows are much more impressive these days :)

He's a tri but his tan was quite subtle as a youngster - now he has grey mixed in, his markings are more noticeable.

[justaghostingon]

Steel Hooks in a Trusting Heart

In which Cyrus finds himself once again aiding Hugo in his schemes, this time to the purpose of helping Hugo win over his boyfriend’s family. There’s just one problem. Cyrus isn’t so certain he approves of this Varian guy Hugo’s dating.

Read on ao3 here https://archiveofourown.org/works/25996633

Or below the cut

Cyrus had not known what to expect when Hugo had roped him into a security job at the eternal library. For the most part, it had been an improvement. Sure, the job was pretty boring, not many people had been exactly eager to go into the formerly cursed library after its last human patron had been trapped inside. But it was getting better, thanks in large part to its two alchemists and Corona’s very friendly Queen. Seriously, that woman didn’t act like a noble at all. Cyrus half believed the rumors that she was some kind of sun goddess that had fallen from the sky. She was kind enough for it, and the sun never cared much for rich or poor. He did wish she’d stop jumping out of nowhere to say hello though, it was a bit unsettling.

And speaking of jump scares, Cyrus had grown to discover that this library was in fact inhabited by some sort of fae. She was a beautiful creature, if incredibly shy, always hiding when Cyrus moved to close, but Cyrus would catch her watching him out of the corner of his eye. He and Mona weren’t sure what kind of fae she was, but Mona had helped him recreate a few of the offerings from his grandpa’s stories, just in case.

Today’s offering was a plate of honey cookies and milk, but it was facing a serious challenge in the face of one of the most unexpected parts of his new job: Hugo.

“It’s just so frustrating!” Hugo sighed as he swiped a cookie from the plate of fresh honey cookies and sank into a chair. Cyrus scowled across at him.

It's not that Cyrus wasn’t expecting to see Hugo in his new job. But the library was vast, full of ancient scrolls to study and reluctant patrons to convince that this place wasn’t going to kill them. Cyrus, with his position at the entrance hall, had expected to see the alchemist maybe a handful of times as he welcomed the patrons for tours, and that would be it. For the most part, he was correct.

So no one was more surprised than Cyrus when Hugo had come down the first day, thrown himself dramatically in one of the chairs at the entrance hall, and started ranting about some annoying thing someone called Flynn Rider had done. At first he’d thought it was a one time thing, but no, Hugo continued to seek out his company every few days or so, to rant about all the people he was inevitably forced to work with in this new city.

It was nice, Cyrus supposed, to have someone from his own country here to talk to. If Hugo could behave. Cyrus pulled the plate of cookies away from Hugo as he went for another one. “Those aren’t for you,” he grunted.

Hugo rolled his eyes  “Are you still going on about that magic library fairy or whatever?” He licked the crumbs off his fingers as he continued. “She’s not real Cyrus, grow up and give the cookies to me.”

Cyrus grunted, pulling the honey cookies closer to himself. Behind Hugo, Cyrus could see a silver head peak over the edge of the bookshelf. “Still not yours,” he grumbled. “If you want cookies, come by the house and ask Mona.”

“Fine, be that way,” Hugo pouted, and behind him Cyrus saw the silver haired fae stick her tongue at Hugo’s back. “Just add to my burden, why don’t you?” Hugo sighed dramatically.

He wants me to ask doesn’t he? Cyrus thought as he held back a sigh of his own. “What happened this time?” he said.

“Oh it's terrible!” Hugo perked up, placing his feet back on the ground as he leaned forward to whisper theatrically at Cyrus. “Varian’s dad invited me on a fishing trip!”

Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see the problem,” he said.

“Uh, Varian's Dad, remember?” Hugo crossed his arms. “Hates me? Thinks I’m not good enough for his son? I told you about him last week!” Hugo adds with a note of hurt in his voice.

Cyrus traded a look with the silver haired fae. She shrugged, and Cyrus figured she’d not be any help with this human affair. He pressed his fists together. “He invited you out fishing though, isn’t that a sign of progress? He’s giving you a chance.” Which was a pretty impressive turn around, considering the first impressions Hugo usually made.

“No, no, no!” Hugo shook his head, and Cyrus realized he must have missed something. “This is obviously a trap! He invited me fishing, so he can get me alone and make me look like a fool in front of Varian!”

If looking like a fool is enough to get Varian to stop dating you, you really shouldn’t be dating him, Cyrus didn’t say. Hugo seemed to sense it anyways, and he stretched out on the table, face burying in his arms.

“I just, really want him to think well of me,” he murmured, “especially after I messed up so badly.”

“You traitor!” Hugo flinched as Varian stalked towards him, teeth bared like a wild animal and eyes blazing with blue fire.

Cyrus’s gut twists at the memory, an old dread seeping over him. He didn’t think that was what Hugo meant exactly, but still. “I’ll go with you,” he stated. If Hugo had even the slightest fear of the dark side of his boyfriend appearing, then there was no way Cyrus was letting him go alone.

“Really?” Hugo beamed, all traces of earlier melancholy gone. “Excellent! I’ll meet you and Mona by the city gates at 9 am!” He bounced away, passing directly under the silver haired fan’s bookshelf. She ducked out of sight, but she needn’t have bothered. Hugo was too caught up in his own little world to notice.

Cyrus sat still at the table for a little while longer, dark thoughts swirling as he contemplated the trip and the dangerous opponents they'd have to face. The silver haired fae appeared beside the bookshelf, a frown on her face.

“He’s manipulating you,” her voice was flat as she crossed her arms.

“Not really,” Cyrus suppressed a smile, something about her posture reminded him of a jealous child tattling on a sibling. “But he probably thinks he is.” He held out one of the honey cookies. “Cookie?”

The silver fae hesitated for a second, before vanishing back behind the bookshelf. But that was fine, Cyrus shrugged as he pushed the cookies and milk into the middle of the table and pretended very hard to ignore it. Trust took time. She’d spoken today, and he would enjoy that victory for now.

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

“Do you think we’ll need more food?” Mona asked anxiously, hauling a truly enormous picnic basket into the air.

Cyrus grunted as he picked it up from where she was struggling. Mona gave a visible sigh of relief as the weight was lifted. Cyrus raised an eyebrow at her, and she blushed.

“Ok, ok, so it might be a bit much,” she gave Cyrus a sheepish smile as she straightened her good handkerchief on her head once more. “But you know how much you men eat!”

Cyrus shrugged, conceding the point. Men did eat a lot, especially growing boys. Speaking of which...

“There you two are!” Hugo appeared between them, seemingly materializing out of thin air. Both Mona and Cyrus jumped. And Cyrus allowed a slight scowl to cross his lips. Hugo had gotten sneakier and Cyrus did not appreciate it.

Hugo ignored Cyrus’s obvious annoyance in favor of slapping him heartily on the back, a wide, performative grin on his face. “Quirin! Varcakes! I invited my Aunt and Uncle along, since this is supposed to be a family outing. I hope you don’t mind!”

Cyrus followed his line of sight to see Varian walking with the man Cyrus presumed was Quirin. Cyrus straightened, rolling his shoulders back as he sized up this new opponent. Quirin was a large man, with tough, sun weathered skin that spoke to years of hard labor, like the farmer Hugo had described should have. But Cyrus wasn’t fooled. He saw the way the man held himself, back straight and feet planted firm, the way his eyes moved, both sizing up Mona and Cyrus and flickering to everything else that passed in the market. This was a warrior, and no amount of years in the farm and field could change that.

If it came to a fight, this man would be a difficult opponent, Cyrus reluctantly admitted. He could even give Cyrus a run for his money. But he was hardly the most dangerous one here. His eyes turned to Varian, and narrowed.

Varian winced, and Quirin frowned, rolling his shoulders and moving like he was going to step forward, but Mona got there first.

“How nice to meet you!” She flashed her most winning smile, the one she reserved for new neighbors and particularly grumpy children. Quirin’s attention snapped to her, clearly started, and Cyrus surpassed a grin. No one could stand up to her charms. She was Team Hugo’s secret weapon.

Quirin recovered quickly, and gave a slight bow. “A pleasure to meet you my lady,” he said, and Mona gave a nervous giggle from behind a hand, unsure of how to react to a term like “lady.” Cyrus privately wondered what Quirin’s problem with Hugo was, they should be able to bond over their shared love of theatrics.

“Dad!” Varian gave a squeak. He shot Cyrus and Hugo an apologetic smile as he rubbed his neck awkwardly. Cyrus drew his brows together and Varian turned away. “It’s nice to see you again Mona,” he offered.

“Oh darling I told you to call me Auntie!” Mona waved her hand, having recovered from Quirin’s theatrical attack to counterattack by reminding him of her acquaintanceship with Varian. Quirin turned his attention to Mona, but it was too late. Mona went in for the killing blow, “It’s been so long since you came over for dinner!”

Ha! Cyrus wanted to laugh, that was his wife! Winning the battle before it had even had a chance to begin. Now Quirin knew his son was close to Hugo’s family, and would have to be on good behavior so as not to embarrass Varian. Pride welled in his stomach as he fought back a smile. Mona had such a way with words.

But not everyone was as gifted as his wife. “Well, now we’re all acquainted,” Hugo said, linking his arm with Varian’s and Cyrus could see Quirin’s temper rise as all of Mona’s hard work began to lose its hold. “Let’s get going, we’ve fish to catch!” He pulled Varian up ahead, leaving the three adults to hurry after them.

“After you!” Mona smiled at Quirin, attempting to soften Hugo’s rudeness.

“Oh no, after you, my lady,” Quirin waved a hand like a butler welcoming a noble to her palace. Mona shot Cyrus a wink as she slipped her arm in his, and led him down the path.

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

The walk itself was mainly uneventful. Mona did her best to keep Quirin distracted, asking about the farm, the weather, whatever normal topics she could think of to get him talking and keep his attention off of Hugo. Cyrus tried to help, but he wasn’t nearly as good at small talk as his wife. His topics of conversation that seemed “normal” usually amounted to talking work, and given his primary work was with Hugo, he had to scramble to try and find something else. Eventually he landed on grunting in agreement with whatever Mona said.

Hugo was not helping at all, practically strolling along with his arm linked with Varian’s and occasionally stopping to point out some plant or animal and remark its proper latin name, which he thought made him look cool. But to Cyrus, who knew Hugo hadn’t known anything about wildlife until he’d spent the first three days reading through books on the subject to learn the context of Varian’s ‘simple peasant life,’ it just looked over done. Like he was trying too hard.

Cyrus knew Hugo was in love with Varian, a man doesn’t turn on a steady wage and a roof over his head for anything less than true love, romantic or otherwise. But he privately wished Hugo would relax a bit more, instead of trying to impress all the time.

Case and point, A leaf fell in Varian’s hair, and Hugo gave a gasp, pointing out how something with a big fancy sounding name was stuck in Varian’s hair. Varian freaked out, raising both hands to brush it off, only to see a leaf tumble down. Hugo gave a laugh and Varian’s eyes narrowed. Cyrus’s blood ran cold.

“I trusted you!” Varian snarls, spit flying into Hugo’s face. But Hugo is ashen and shaking, and doesn’t respond.

Varian reached a hand up, and Cyrus tensed, ready to run to Hugo’s aid. This time he would not freeze. But Varian gave Hugo a light shove. Hugo dipped away, laughing, while Varian glanced back at the three adults behind them. Their eyes met and Varian flinched, ducking close to Hugo to whisper in his ear.

“What?” Hugo said loudly, eyebrows rising in comical surprise. “No no! Of course Cyrus likes you.” He waved a hand back at Cyrus. “That’s just his face. He always looks like that.”

Mona and Quirin both sent Cyrus sharp looks, but Cyrus ignored them in favor of Hugo’s expectant face. He couldn’t let him down now. “I have a very scary face,” he admitted through gritted teeth, and Hugo beamed.

“There you go then,” he pulled Varian closer and gave a stage whisper into his ear. “It’s actually a problem, he’s lucky we took him in, or it would have been forced to work at the circus.”

“I’m pretty sure the circus would have been more exciting,” Varian rolled his eyes, and Quirin’s attention turned back to his son, seemingly appeased.

But Mona’s gaze lingered, biting her lip as she followed Cyrus’s gaze to Varian. She glanced up at Cyrus with a look that clearly says, “we’re going to talk about this,” and Cyrus felt the upcoming dread that only married couples know.

Sure enough, when they reached the lake, Mona gave a theatrical gasp and threw a hand over her mouth. “Oh no!”

Cyrus snapped to attention, senses overstimulating as he searched for the threat. He glanced quickly around to see what had set her off, but there was nothing dangerous in the immediate vicinity with the exception of Varian, and he was clearly as confused as Cyrus.

“I forgot desert!” Mona cried, and Cyrus felt himself marginally relax. Okay, nothing to fight. Unless she wanted him to hunt down a fairy and wish for desert. He shot the trees a glance, wondering if there were any a fairy might like to hide in. He wished he’d brought the honey cookies for bait. Then again, if they had honey cookies, they wouldn’t need a fairy.

“Don’t worry about it,” Quirin smiled. “We’ll be fine without it.”

“No! No!” Mona shook her head. “I saw some blackberries back there, I’ll just go and pick some while you boys get the boats out.” She extended a hand to Cyrus with a smile that made Cyrus break out in a cold sweat. “Cyrus dear?”

She used “dear” he was definitely in trouble.

“I could help too,” Varian offered, and in that minute Cyrus would almost have appreciated the rescue even if it came from him, but Mona waved Varian away. “We’ll be fine. Besides,” she shot Varian a wink. “You know how to set up a boat, and don’t you want to show Hugo how its done?” Varian and Hugo’s cheeks both flamed red, and Cyrus would have found it amusing if he didn’t know his doom was upon him.

Mona linked their arms and dragged him back towards the path and out of ear shot. She stopped in front of a blackberry bush and began to pick them. For one, glorious moment Cyrus thought they really were just here to get the desert, when Mona said, “You don’t approve of Varian.” It was not a question.

“It’s not my place,” Cyrus shifted uncomfortably. Because it really wasn’t. He wasn’t like Quirin. Hugo wasn’t his son. He could listen to his complaints sure, but he could hardly comment, or risk losing whatever fragile bond they had developed.

Mona snorted. “So you’re just going to glare at Varian all day?” she said, clearly seeing the issue and not at all agreeing with Cyrus’s method of disapproval.

Cyrus turned his head away, pulling a few more berries from the bush as he stayed stubbornly silent, not wanting to admit that yes, glaring was very childish.

Mona let out a sigh. “Could you tell me why you don’t approve?” Her voice was tired as she placed the blackberries she’d pulled free in an open jar.

Cyrus bit his lip. Why didn’t he approve? He hadn’t always, he’d helped Hugo leave to go with Varian and his friends after all. He’d seen how much these people meant to Hugo, and that they had been willing to fight Cyrus for him, and that had been enough. But then Donella had dragged him to the library, and it all went south.

“The library.” Cyrus struggled to put it into words. “When Donella revealed Hugo used to work for her, Varian got angry.” Angry didn’t even begin to describe it. The others had been angry, but Varian? He’d been so much worse.  “Really angry,” he added.

“I take it Hugo forgot to mention that detail earlier?” Mona asked dryly.

Cyrus shrugged. Because he knew that their anger was justified. It was Hugo after all. He was terrible at expressing his emotions, and although Cyrus knew how much it had taken him to leave, he was also absolutely certain Hugo did not explain this to Varian or the others. But then again...

“It's not just the anger, it was something more. The look in his eyes..” Cyrus shook his head, unable to put it into words.

Cyrus took half a step towards Hugo’s trembling form, but a single look from Varian froze him in his tracks. It wasn’t a look of heartbreak or a caged animal like he’d expected. No. It was a look that Cyrus had only seen a few times, in men so unhinged even the guild refused to lend them thugs. The look of a man who would burn the whole world to the ground to kill a single man.

In the second their eyes were locked, Cyrus felt all the air in the room sucked out as the agonizing aura of fear overpowered him. Then Varian turned his head and stomped into the library, ending the moment.

Cyrus gasped with relief as the portal shut behind Varian’s retreating back. Donella was swearing, but Cyrus only felt gratitude to whatever being out there watched over thugs. He knew if Varian had chosen to attack all three of them would have died, alchemic genius and brute strength be damned.  

Mona placed a gentle hand on Cyrus’s cheek, grounding him back to reality. Her face creased with concern as she asked, “Did he do anything to you or Hugo?”

Cyrus shook his head. “He just left.” Mona breathed a sigh of relief.

“Okay,” she said. “So he scared you, and that’s no easy feat. But Cyrus,” she bit her lip, “he didn’t actually do anything. Right?” Cyrus grimaced, but Mona stopped him with a look. “No Cyrus, that’s important. When it comes down to it. He didn’t hurt Hugo, and he didn’t hurt you.”

She was right, Cyrus begrudgingly admitted to himself. But somehow the thought didn’t make him feel any better.

Mona sighed, leaning forward until her weight shifted half onto Cyrus in a slight hug. “He reminded me a bit of myself you know,” she mumbled into Cyrus’s shoulder.

“Impossible,” Cyrus said, Mona was nowhere near as terrifying as Varian had been. Except for when he walked muddy boots onto her nice clean floors one to many times, or when she saw those bruises on the neighbor kid, or... He shook his head to stop that train of thought.

“He was so eager to please,” Mona continued, “and afraid to be a burden. He helped me in the kitchen, when even Hugo didn’t think to.” And Cyrus remembered she’d mentioned that before.

Mona tilted her head up to look him in the eye. “You’ve only seen him at his worst Cyrus, but today? It's an opportunity! We can both watch how he interacts with Hugo, and see how he behaves day to day. And besides,” she gave him a wry grin, “if all he did at his worst was lock himself away, I’d say Hugo’s in pretty good hands.”

Cyrus’s shoulders sagged as he realized he’d been beaten once again. “Fine,” he grunted. “I’ll try to keep an open mind.”

“Thank you darling!” Mona stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the nose. Cyrus blushed, and pulled her close.

“What is taking you so long?!” Hugo shouted down the path and they hastily broke apart.

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

Two seconds on the boat led Cyrus to realize two things that were very important. The first was that he knew absolutely nothing about fishing. He gazed over the strange rods with wires and hooks and vaguely horrid smell of canned sardines with complete confusion.

“Here,” Quirin pushed a fishing rod into Cyrus’ hands. “Can you string your own line?”

Cyrus’ hand automatically closed over the rod, and Quirin took this to mean he knew what he was doing and turned to offer a rod to Mona and Hugo. Cyrus blinked blankly down at the pole in his hands, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He glanced at Hugo and Mona, but they seemed equally lost.

Quirin completed handing out the rods and turned his attention to his own, hands moving in quick, easy motions as he wove the line through the hoops. Cyrus couldn’t catch all the details, but it seemed simple enough. He turned his attention to his own rod.

Carefully, he put the string through the first little ring. There. He stopped to admire his work. That wasn’t so hard. The string promptly slipped out of the little ring, and Cyrus realized this was going to take a while.

He threaded the little ring again, then the next and the next. He glanced at Quirin’s but found it still didn’t look right. Perhaps he was supposed to loop it? Yeah, so it could catch fish. He was pretty sure that was right. He tried looping the next ring, but it only succeeded in making it harder for the string to move. He tried to undo it, but found it had knotted. Oh no. He gave the string a sharp tug, but that only seemed to make a larger knot.

“Do you need a hand?” Varian offered and Cyrus nearly jumped out of his skin as he found the boy leaning over him, blue eyes wide. He looked the picture of innocence, but Cyrus could barely suppress the shutter that seemed to fill him as Varian blocked out the warmth of the sun. Beside him Mona leaned close, either as a comfort or a warning to behave.

“Yeah Cyrus, do you need a hand?” Hugo gave a mocking call, highlighting the second thing Cyrus had realized: that Hugo set him up to fail. Hugo didn’t know anything about fishing, so he’d invited Cyrus and Mona along to make even bigger fools of themselves and in turn make Hugo look like less of an idiot in front of Varian and his father. It was actually quite clever. Cyrus just wished he’d been up front about it so Cyrus would have had a better game plan.

“I’ll be fine,” Cyrus grunted, and Varian’s face fell. Cyrus braced for the worst, but nothing happened except for the biggest puppy dog eyes Cyrus had ever seen on a grown man. Mona frowned at him, and Cyrus held back a sigh. He had promised he would try.

“Why don’t you help Hugo instead,” he said as a sort of peace offering, pointing to Hugo’s own unstrung rod. Hugo scowled at him, clearly not happy at Cyrus for redirecting everyone’s attention to his own failings. Cyrus raised an eyebrow in response as Varian hurried to Hugo’s side. Hugo was getting the attention he clearly craved, so who was he to complain? And besides, it served him right for not being upfront about the whole thing.

Quirin’s eyebrows knit together as he watched Varian calmly instruct Hugo in how to thread the fishing rod. No doubt he was wondering if Hugo was really as clueless as his uncle, or just pretending to have Varian’s full attention.

Cyrus used the time to quietly cut his line out of its knots and castaway the smaller bits. He glanced back up to see if anyone had noticed, to find Mona watching him with an amused grin.

Cyrus blushed and turned his attention hurriedly to Varian and Hugo. Varian really was being very patient with him. He was snarking Hugo sure, but Cyrus could see his hands moving gently against Hugo’s as he directed him to the proper movements. Hugo’s lips quirked up, and Cyrus knew he was enjoying himself.

Mona gave Cyrus a slight nudge to say, see what I mean? And Cyrus hunched his shoulders. Because yes, he could see what she meant. A point to Varian. But one point wasn’t enough to stand against the thousand points he’d lost at the Library.

“Would you like some help Auntie?” Varian offered as he finished up with Hugo, a warm smile on his lips.

“I would love some help,” Mona smiled, and nudged Cyrus again to signal he should ask. Cyrus very deliberately did not ask, and she shot him a pout over Varian’s shoulder before turning her attention fully to the rod beneath her fingertips.

Varian began to speak, explaining in simple words what each of the rings were and the loopy thing, and how the rod was supposed to be strung like it was a needle. Mona listened attentively, and carefully moved to do as he asked.

Varian seemed to be speaking a bit louder than he was technically needed to, but Cyrus didn’t say anything. Instead he carefully moved his hands to follow the instructions without bringing any attention to it at all.

That’s two more points, he begrudgingly admitted to himself as he held up the finished rod. Three if he counted the way Varian had tried to shield his ego.

Maybe there was hope for him after all.

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

Fishing, it turned out, involved a lot of sitting around in the boat, waiting for a fish to catch on their lines. Which also led to a lot of room for conversation. Cyrus was beginning to see why Hugo had wanted him and Mona here, and not just to make him look like less of a fool. He’d also wanted two human shields to help prevent the one-sided interrogation that Quirin kept trying to start.

Mona and Cyrus did their best, but Quirin had the determination of a man who wants to stop his son from doing something very stupid. He kept pushing, and there was only so much about Hugo’s personal life they could believably answer.

“So Hugo,” Quirin smiled as he began his 45th question, “how are you adjusting to working at the eternal library?” As far as his questions went, this one was actually quite simple, clearly meant to ease the annoyed looks that Varian was shooting him. But the simple mention of the library in such a tense situation made the hairs on Cyrus’ neck stand on edge.

“Lovely,” Hugo waved a hand. “I have more knowledge than I could ever dream and the perfect partner to discover it all with.” He shot Varian a dopey smile, and the other boy blushed.

“Cyrus works there too!” Mona happily reminded them all, no doubt hoping to redirect the growing frown on Quirin’s face as Hugo leaned closer into Varian’s personal space. Help! her expression said.

Quirin turned to look at Cyrus with interest. “You do?” Cyrus gave a sharp nod. “Tell me,” Quirin leaned forward on his hands, and too late Cyrus realized this must be what he was going for from the beginning. “How is the library doing? It would be nice to hear about how the front is managing itself, and not just the research my son tells me of.”

Cyrus wondered if perhaps Quirin didn’t fully approve of Varian’s new job just as much as he didn’t approve of Hugo. Or if he’d just heard the rumors about the place and was worried. Either way, Cyrus felt he owed the man an answer.

“Business is slow,” he said bluntly, and Varian winced. “But it's steady, and growing every day.” Quirin didn’t look fully convinced, so Cyrus decided to elaborate. “No one’s been cursed yet,” he offered. “And our little fae has mostly stopped stealing back the books now she’s seen they get returned.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hugo glare. Why would you mention your imaginary friend? His expression said.

Quirin however, looked intrigued. “A fae you say?” he said, rubbing his chin. “Those are rare nowadays.” Cyrus saw Hugo’s mouth fall open in shock. “Tell me,” Quirin continued. “Have you tried giving her offerings?”

“Quite a few,” Cyrus’ lips quirked up, feeling a slight spark of smug pleasure in another acknowledging the silver-haired fae’s existence. “Just yesterday I offered Mona’s special honey cookies and milk.”

“Did it work?” Quirin asked. Cyrus shook his head. “Hmmm,” Quirin mused. “Honey and milk usually does it. It worked on the lake sprites that were giving the village some trouble a few years back.”

“Lake sprites did what now?” Varian gaped, but both men ignored him.

“Perhaps our library fae is just more stubborn than the lake sprites,” Cyrus shrugged, and instantly regretted it. What had Grandpa always said? Never insult a fae while in their domain?

He glanced around, but nothing seemed to change. Cyrus had just enough time to breathe a sigh of relief when Mona’s line gave a sharp tug. She startled, having been more engaged in the conversation than the rod, and pulled with all her might. But whatever was on the other side pulled with the strength no normal fish could have, and sent Mona flying over the side of the boat.

Cyrus reached out for her foot as it flew by his head, but his fist closed over empty air. No. Cyrus grabbed the edge of the boat, and with one mighty leap, hurled himself across the lake to where his wife had disappeared beneath the water.

It was not until after his head had fully submerged that the panic of “Mona can’t swim!” Became “I can’t swim!” He struggled in the water. waving his arms and legs about in a desperate hope that it might keep him afloat. The water flooded his open mouth, stealing his air away. He kicked harder, struggling against the current of water pulling him down.

Something hard collided with his back, tugging him forcefully to the surface. His head broke the water and he gasped, gulping down as much air as he could. Whatever it held him in place, strangely buoyant. He craned his neck around, to see something bright and pink was stuck to his back and arms.

“You absolute imbecile,” a very familiar voice said. Cyrus looked up to see Hugo standing above him, balanced on the buoyant pink that kept them both afloat.

“Hugo!” Cyrus cried. “Mona! Save Mona!” But Hugo ignored him, instead using a rope to pull them closer to the line. Strong arms pulled him upwards into the boat, and without the mobility of his arms, there really wasn’t much he could do.

“Mona!” he cried again, only to hear an answering,

“Cyrus!” he turned, a difficult feat with the strange pink substance still stuck to his back, to see Mona, soaking wet and covered in the same pink substance but breathing and alive. “Oh Cyrus!” Mona sobbed, and threw herself towards him. Cyrus tried to catch her, but found he still could not move his arms. Instead they lay against each other, drinking in each other’s presence.

“Now everyone is saved,” Hugo patted Cyrus’ shoulder and gave a tight smile. “What the hell were you thinking?” His hand closed into a fist.

Cyrus blinked. “Mona can’t swim.” He pointed out.

“Neither can you, you absolute idiot!” Hugo was shaking with fury. If Cyrus didn’t know better, he’d say he was afraid. “You never use your head! If you’d thought for even one moment, you’d have known there were better people to go after her!”

“You jumped in too,” Cyrus pointed out, feeling this whole tirade was somewhat hypocritical. “You can’t swim either.”

“Actually I can,” Hugo sniffed. “Varian taught me.” Cyrus looked over at Varian, who was standing awkwardly to the side, water dripping from his hair to his goggles. Teaching Hugo a life saving skill? That was worth at least fifty points. Varian ducked his head.

“He swam me to the boat!” Mona added, voice muffled as she spoke against Cyrus’ chest. And okay, saving Mona from near drowning was another fifty points. Still far from the thousand points he’d lost, but an impressive enough improvement to drive home how he really should take Mona’s advice.

“Gonna get us out of here?” He grunted at Varian, who’s head snapped up.

“I don’t know,” Hugo crossed his arms. “I think we should just leave you in there, so you don’t go jumping back in the lake.” Quirin frowned, and Hugo added hastily, “But Mona we can get out.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Varian rolled his eyes. “Here,” he said to Cyrus with a shy smile. “Let me help.” He uncorked a small vial, and poured the strange green liquid over Cyrus’s shoulders. Cyrus could feel the pink substance crackle and break as he drew his arms forward to cradle Mona, who was still stuck. Varian leaned over her, and Cyrus watched the pink slowly crumble off her shoulders.

“Thank you,” Mona gave a slight smile, and Cyrus felt her pull closer against him, body shivering.

“I think that’s enough fishing for today,” Quirin said, and Cyrus and Mona were quick to nod along. It was time to go back home.

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

“Can I talk to you son?” Quirin said casually as he and Hugo pulled in the boat. “Man to man?”

Cyrus stiffened. A sneak attack when everyone was beginning to relax. How hadn’t he seen this coming? He looked at Hugo, trying to convey the message, do you need me to follow in case of ambush?

Hugo’s shoulders slumped as he let out a long sigh. “Sure Quirin,” he said. He shot Cyrus a look that clearly said, come get me if I scream. Then he took a deep breath and followed Quirin, looking for all the world like a man going to his own execution.

As they moved around the bend and out of view, Cyrus realized he and Mona had been left alone with Varian. Great. Now what?

Varian shifted, tugging at his sleeve. “So I guess this is the time when you tell me not to break Hugo’s heart?” he asked, voice an octave higher.

Mona and Cyrus looked at each other. Cyrus sighed. “It’s not my place to tell Hugo what he can or can’t do. I’m not his father.” He said, getting really tired of people expecting him to have some kind of authority over Hugo. Mona raised an eyebrow and he shook his head. Really he didn’t. The last person to tell Hugo not to do something was Donella, and look how well that worked out. Mona looked down, seeming to understand.

“Oh,” Varian looked down, and Mona bit her lip.

“You know he’s not actually related to us right?” she offered. “That day he brought you over, I’d never seen him in person before.”

“I’m just a guy who worked for Donella,” Cyrus added, because Varian needed to understand that Hugo didn’t have anyone else, he’d given up his closest connection for Varian.

“Yeah, but,-” Varian’s brow wrinkled, “-you still helped him. And when my Dad suggested a family fishing trip, he insisted you guys come. You guys might not be related, but you’re important to him. And,-” His eyes met Cyrus’ blazing with a determined fire, “-I want Hugo’s family to approve of me.”

Cyrus starred back, feeling frozen one again under that familiar glare. For the first time, he wondered if maybe Varian was as intimidated of Cyrus as he was of him. The thought was almost laughable, he’d read up on Varian, he knew what he was really capable of. There was no way he’d be able to beat him if the boy decided to go all out. But then again, there were other ways to hurt someone.

What had it been Mona had said to him when they’d been on their way to introduce her to the thug guild?

“I just really want them to like me,” she’d confided when he’d asked why she was so nervous. “I want to be with you forever, and I don’t want to make that forever miserable for you.

Cyrus sighed. “I’m still not going to threaten you,” he said, and then because Varian looked far too happy to hear that he added, “I wouldn’t want you to see it coming.”

Varian’s face fell as Mona let out a peal of laughter. “Cyrus!” she giggled. “Hugo’s an adult now! You can’t go killing off his problems anymore!”

“He what now?” Varian’s eyes widened in alarm as he looked between Cyrus and Mona.

“There was only one,” Cyrus grunted, and Varian paled.

“He deserved it,” Mona waved a hand. “Don’t worry darling, you’d have to kill a few animals in front of their owners before you even came close.”

“I-” Varian started, looking hopelessly lost. “I think I’m missing something.”

“Welcome to the family kid,” Cyrus smiled as he saw Quirin and Hugo heading back around the bend. “You’ll get used to it.”

[mobius-prime]

246. Sonic the Hedgehog #177

Home, New Home

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

As the Egg Fleet approaches New Mobotropolis, Nicole erects a forcefield-like shield around the entire city, protecting it from the bombardment that Snively, leading the fleet, begins dropping on it. With the shield protecting everyone, however, a slightly more immediate concern reveals itself - namely, the many criminals that have been teleported here along with the actual residents of Knothole, who see an opportunity to not only break free of the justice system, but take a few of the citizens with them.

Amazing speech on your part there, Mogul. Really, it's a wonder everyone didn't immediately fall at your feet. Sonic and Sally are impressed at Nicole's foresight, only to become concerned when her hologram begins flickering and she appears to show signs of pain in response to more shells hitting the city's shield. She tells them that she has to devote most of the city's power supply to keeping the shield up, and reassures Sally that she'll always be nearby even when they can't see her before disappearing. Sally and Elias address the crowd of rescued civilians, telling them that right now they can trust Nicole to keep them safe while they come up with a plan and that for now everyone should find their new homes. Sally stops Sonic, however, and orders him to go get medical attention before he does anything else, something he's predictably a bit grumpy about.

Okay, so this is where we address one of the most controversial things Ian ever included in the comic. It's controversial for good reason. We've already established that one of the major things Ian has been doing for the comic since taking over as head writer is bringing the world of the comics more in line with that of the games, and this includes the various characters and their attitudes. Vector is no longer as insufferable as he was under Kenders, Knuckles is one of Sonic's closest allies now rather than a distant rival, and so on, but this is where the age discrepancy between Charmy from the games and Charmy from the comics becomes a problem. If you'll recall, Charmy is six in the games but sixteen in the comics, and obviously a sixteen-year-old is going to act pretty different from a six-year-old. So how exactly does one take a fairly mature teenager, who's a prince of a lost kingdom and literally engaged to someone else his age, and make him act like a child? Well, I don't have any particularly good ideas myself, but Ian's highly controversial solution was to give him brain damage. From this point on, Charmy suffers from some substantial memory loss, and generally has a much more childlike personality than he once did. There's many problems with this, and others have gone into this topic much more in depth than I care to, but suffice it to say that while giving a character brain damage simply as part of their character arc isn't inherently a bad thing, and can even be a positive if handled right, giving a character brain damage purely as a plot device to make them act more like a child feels incredibly insensitive and insulting. From what I understand, this isn't totally Ian's fault; Sega was pressuring him to make these changes, and I suppose at the time this was all he could think of for the Charmy problem, but I know he has stated later on that he wishes he'd handled this particular issue better, so at least he's acknowledged how bad this whole thing seems. Furthermore, he does appear to treat Charmy as a character with as much respect as possible in future issues, so there's that at least.

Anyway, Saffron is relieved when Charmy happily confirms that he remembers who she is and hugs her, and Dr. Quack moves on from Charmy to take a look at Sonic. It doesn't take him long to confirm his suspicions that indeed, all the magical ring energy Sonic's been exposed to have given him a high resistance to injury as well as apparently an accelerated rate of healing, something which is quite fascinating and I wish would have been expanded upon in this universe's worldbuilding at some point. As Dr. Quack heads off to find his own family, we take a quick look at the Chaos Chamber on Angel Island, where Finitevus appears to be doing some kind of weird ritual with the Master Emerald, reciting Tikal's prayer. Scourge runs up and informs him that Dimitri has run - err, floated off, presumably to contact Knuckles and warn him of Finitevus' treachery. Finitevus, however, merely tells him that this was part of his plan all along, and he isn't concerned, as he'll bring back Enerjak one way or another. Sounds quite ominous indeed…

Hey man, someone needs to remind Antoine that bravery isn't a lack of fear, it's standing up to danger even when you are afraid. Sally becomes lost in thought for a moment, remembering all the times she led the Freedom Fighters into danger in the past, long before she was ever thrust into the role of acting ruler or forced into a disastrous arranged marriage. She suddenly stands up and reminds Bunnie of her old hairdressing ambitions, and asks her for one more favor before they begin their defense against Eggman's attack… Meanwhile up in the sky, Snively continues to try to break through New Mobotropolis' shield, only to become startled when a single, tiny aircraft begins firing onto his flagship. His robots prepare to return fire, but he suddenly orders them to stand down with a look of shock, and contacts the plane… having recognized it as the plane that Hope built. Hope yells at him through the comm when he opens a channel, furious that she took his advice and went to Station Square, but when she tried to return to Knothole, which she still considered home, it was in ruins. She blames him for all of it, too ashamed to show her face to the Mobians again after leaving, and begins to sob.

I absolutely love the way that these comics continue to humanize Snively more and more. I feel so bad for Hope here, especially knowing that none of the Mobians would blame her for what happened, but as for Snively, it's clear that despite his nature, he does value family, and does care about Hope. He's gone from being the cowardly, sniveling, silly minion of the evil Dr. Robotnik to an actual human with flaws, feelings, and attachments. From inside the city shield, Tails watches the bombardment continue with his parents and Merlin, and Amadeus expresses that though the destruction of Knothole was a tragedy, all in all this may actually be a good thing for the populace, as he believes that such a major event will prepare them for "the shift in thinking" that he plans for them. Merlin, however, warns him not to push ahead with any reforms he has in mind too soon, as the monarchy will also be very tense from all this chaos. Rosemary expresses her belief in her husband, and Tails excitedly says he'll support his father no matter what, but the sentiment is interrupted by Eggman's furious screaming from outside the city walls, banging on the shield with his battle suit and yelling for the Freedom Fighters to come out and face him, infuriated that his perfect victory has been stolen from him. Sonic cheerfully interrupts his tantrum, suddenly standing outside the shield, and Eggman is initially pleased, mocking Sonic for not learning from his initial defeat mere hours ago. However, it turns out that Sonic has learned, and with the knowledge that the battle suit was created to counter Sonic and Sonic alone, he and Sally have come up with the perfect plan while Eggman wasn't looking.

The entire Freedom Fighter and Chaotix force descends on Eggman's battle suit, and they're all able to locate weaknesses that Eggman hadn't anticipated in its construction. They tear it apart piece by piece while Sonic gleefully reminds his nemesis that there are more heroes on this planet than just himself, and that anything he can't handle on his own, the others definitely can. In the end, Eggman is left with barely half a shell of his precious armor, furious and humiliated, which leads into perhaps one of my favorite pages of this entire era - perhaps even the entire comic.

Eggman, still unwilling to let victory slip away despite his situation, orders his fleet to fire directly on their location, meaning either he was somehow unaware that this would kill him too, or he was aware, and was more concerned with killing his foes than surviving. Honestly, my bet is on the latter - it seems like something he'd do if angry enough and feeling sufficiently cornered. However, he's forgotten that Nicole has full control over the nanites in the city, and since everything in the city is made of nanites, she's able to stretch the city's wall out to create a wall between everyone out on the field and the bombardment from the Egg Fleet. She projects her form to Eggman and urges him to reconsider his decision, as frankly, Sally is showing him more mercy than he deserves by a long shot. And honestly, she's right - it would be a much better decision to either kill him right there, or, if they're feeling too honorable and whatnot, at least arrest him and shove him in a cell next to Mammoth Mogul…

Well hello there, old haircut! I will say, I did enjoy Sally's long hair while she had it - I thought it looked good on her. But hey, cutting one's hair as a show of maturation is a common fictional trope, and in a way, it's nice to go back to seeing Sally rocking her old look. I will actually note here that while I've mentioned before that Tracy's pencils have standardized the design of a lot of characters, I actually don't care much for his redesign of Sally as a whole. While I appreciate her proportions becoming more like those of every other Mobian - the human body that a lot of other artists gave her looked kind of weird, to be honest - her facial features have actually been significantly altered by his style. She always had a distinctive slanted-back eye shape and a more gentle slope to her nose, but by making her eye shape closer to than of characters like Bunnie and Tails, I feel she's lost some of her unique visual charm. That isn't to say that I think Sally is lesser as a character for this change - she's still one of my top favorites in the series - nor that I disapprove of Tracy's art style as a whole. And in the end, her hairstyle change here marks the beginning of a new era - one where she begins to act once more like her old self and once again joins the others on missions just like old times. She's worked through a lot of the trauma and self-doubt that she's been plagued with ever since Sonic's return to Mobius, and now we can look forward to new adventures with her, in a new location. I mean that "new era" thing literally, by the way. Congratulations, we've reached the end of the comic's fifth era - many of the eras beyond this one are significantly shorter than the ones we've seen previously, but that also means we'll be moving through distinctive arcs a little more quickly, and furthermore, the next era holds some pretty exciting new surprises! Shall we now - how do they say - do it to it?

[solaneceae]

MY HUMAN!EGOS AU

i got a surge of inspiration and started creating my own versions of the egos! its still a work in progress but i love them to bits and im really excited to share them

JACKIE

grew up in an abusive household, emotional and sometimes physical abuse

parents screamed at each other all the fucking time, father was an alcoholic

Left home as soon as he was able to live by himself (16)

he’s 22 now

poor

trans boi, on T, wears a binder cuz he can’t afford top surgery

lives in an apartment with two roommates: Max, a philipino sound designer and independent musician (they/them) and their girlfriend Nilanjana (Nana), a buff training coach from indian descent

Jackie is in a queerplatonic relationship with them: they cuddle and kiss on the forehead during movie nights and all that cute shit

he has a part-time day job to pay the rent and bills: he gives self-defense lessons

he drinks his respect women juice

vigilante at night. gets hurt a lot. his roommates think he fights in an illegal fight club for extra cash and are worried about him

wants to save people and spread positivity wherever he goes

but he has the wrong way to go about it

basically he does the PMA thing wrong and thinks any kind of negativity is bad and tries to force himself to be happy all the time. 

not healthy, someone help this poor boi

anger issues, undiagnosed ptsd and ADHD

antsy boi! stimmy boi! He’s always bouncing on his feet or humming a tune or fiddling with his hair

aromantic asexual

pure of heart, dumb of ass. seriously, he’s such a dumb, but he does have street smarts

vitiligo!!

light blue eyes, dyes his brown hair lime green

extrovert, loves people

the kind of guy to record himself doing parkour and post it on tiktok

team hot cocoa

for the love of god please don’t give him coffee, he’s enough of a jitterbug already

wants a dog. prolly needs an emotional support one.

plays the drums. Fished a beat-up set somewhere, would like a proper one

fights with his fists and a wooden staff

no special powers, just self-taught fighting skills, natural flexibility and talent at acrobatics and rigorous training

MARVIN

he was born with green cat eyes, the physical representation of his extremely potent magic. parents were freaked out, and basically hid him away

had no control over his powers as a baby, would wreak havoc around him. think Mob from Mob Psycho 100

the upper side of his face was badly burned when he lost control of his powers as a toddler, so he wears masks to hide the scars. the cat one is just the one he wears most often

“hey, nice mask!” “it’s a prosthetic.” “...oh.” (it’s not that bad really, he’s just really self-conscious about it)

he was homeschooled his whole life and generally wasn’t allowed to go out much, so his social life/skills are nonexistent

his parents are famous fashion designers

they’re super rich and travel the world and send him a ridiculous amount of money every month

they say it’s for work but the real reason is that they couldn’t deal with having a “freak” as a son but couldn’t abandon him without getting bad PR

so instead they just took their distance and left him to live in a big-ass mansion by himself as soon as he was old enough (10 years old)

they dont really care what he does. last time they called him was when he was 13

last time they sent him a birthday card was when he was 18

now he’s 24

(and at this point he makes me think of bruce wayne lmao. he needs an alfred)

since he has money and home, he doesn’t need a job, so he just stays cooped up in the property and almost never leaves, he orders his food and groceries to be delivered to him

he’s basically a hermit at this point. and a huge nerd

he tries to use his natural magic as little as possible, (hello trauma my old friend) so he still has flimsy control over it

instead he dabbles into wicca and the occult to do stuff

A bookworm, quite serious, dresses like a hipster art school student. he wears SAROUEL PANTS.

glasses!! Big round rimless glasses!! soft!!!!

long brown hair, messy bun, dyes the tips dark green and purple 

disaster gay

“sleep? what’s that? i only know coffee”

has three cats he rescued himself: Spades, Jasper and Poppy

has a huge greenhouse linked to the main building. he likes gardening a lot, whether it’s for his craft, for cooking or just because he likes seeing plants flourish

HOW THEY BOTH MET / IDEAS AND SHIT

Jackie tried to take on a whole ass drug ring and bit more than he could chew at the time so he got beat up pretty bad. He managed to escape with his trusty grappling hook and swung around a bit before crashing through the glass ceiling of the greenhouse while Marv was tending to his plants, in the early morning.

Long story short Marv is in a panic because a complete stranger (also the only human being he’s interacted with in months) just flopped in front of him and is probably dying and he wants to call an ambulance.

jackie: *beaten black and blue and coughing up blood* jackie: oh hey how’s it goin’ marv: *distressed nerd noises* marv: oh my god who the fuck are you but also are you dying in my house im calling an ambulance- jackie: uh yeah no please dont im kinda doing illegal stuff also i cant afford it marv: marv: wh-

also what if marv calls the family’s doctor since jackie won’t go to a hospital, and it’s fucking Schneep henrik: what the fuck did you do this time marv: it wasn’t me! jackie: your family doctor scares me marv: that’s why they hired him

maybe after that jackie keeps coming to see marv and marv is like “ugh you again-” and he always come to marv whenever he gets hurt, to get patched up by schneep. he broke the ceiling two more times basically they become “hey ron hey billy” vine, its just a habit at this point.

Marv is a rich boi that doesn’t know anything about life. at this point i realize he’s like a mix of Elsa and Rapunzel, and Jackie is kinda Flynn xD Jackie just… aggressively becomes Marv’s friend despite the magic man’s reluctance, and shows him the world. love me some smart grumpy nerd/dumb happy jock friendship

jackie: im your friend now marv: wh- jackie: *drags him outside* LETS GO CLIMB A BUILDING TOGETHER-

Marvin but he’s never been in a grocery store in his entire life because he just orders super expensive pre-made meals to his house or cooks his own veggies, and he’s just amazed at the first one they go to

like “wHAT, IT’S A ROW OF FREEZERS! Remind me to install one of these at my place!”

and Jackie, who just came here for bread and milk, looks at him fondly but also is very concerned. Also he doesnt question marv’s masks, he just thinks they look cool

@tabbynerdicat it’s my bois! @lilakennedy because i know you like those two, and your love for them motivated me to develop them first

[red-flare-art]

Fallout OC Interview!

Tagged by @boarix, thank you! :D

Rules:

1) Choose an OC

2) Answer questions as that OC

3) Tag 5 people to do the same

I feel like everyone I know has already been tagged, so whoever wants to do this with their OC, consider yourself tagged. :P

(I'm gonna do my lone wanderer Ruby, before finding her dad & before becoming romantic with Charon)

1) What is your name? My name’s Ruby! Ruby Flynn

2) How old are you? 19, but I’ll be turning 20 real soon

3) What do you look like? I’m about 5′5″, pale, scrawny, green eyes, I wear glasses, & I’ve got red hair with the right side of my head shaved.

4) Where are you from? Where do you live now? I was raised in vault 101 by my dad, but I currently live in Megaton in my very own house with a robot butler & everything! It’s pretty sweet.

5) What was your childhood like? I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up. Hell, I pretty much only had one, & that was Amata. Her dad was the overseer & he didn’t really like me or my dad. I was always seen as the weird kid & got picked on regularly by Butch & his “gang.” I never made it easy for them though; I always fought back. But of course I would get into trouble because I did.

6) What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions? People in Megaton like me a lot, since I disarmed the bomb in the center of town & I fixed the water pipes. I’m pretty good friends with the kids over in Little Lamplight & the older kids over in Big Town as well. & all the ghouls in Underworld seem to like me too, since I’m there all the time & I’ve helped them out a bunch. The BOS seem okay with me, but I don’t think they like the fact that I travel with a ghoul, & they generally don’t like outsiders.

7) Tell me about your best friend. My best friend in the vault was Amata, but after I killed her dad before escaping the vault, we’re...not really friends anymore. But now I’ve got Charon, who’s the best friend I’ve ever had! He tends to come off as a big, mean, grumpy guy, but he’s got a soft & sweet side (don’t tell him I said that though, cuz he’ll deny it).

8) Do you have a family? Tell me about them! My only family is my dad, since my mom died giving birth to me. My dad is a doctor & a scientist, & he’s really smart. He’s really passionate about his work, which most would say is an admirable trait, but he spent more time on his work than he did with me, so...I had a lot of alone time as a kid.

9) What about a partner or partners? Partner? Hmm. I guess you could say Charon is my partner, since we watch each other’s back & take care of each other. Is that what you mean? 

10) Who are your enemies, and why? Well, I guess the Talon company would count, since they all seem to be after my head. Also the slavers at Paradise Falls, because they’re scum & I hate them. Also any raiders out there can fuck off. & the Enclave. & everyone back in Vault 101. & Moriarty. & Roy Phillips. (Man, I have a lot more enemies than I thought...)

11) Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them? Some of them are okay. The ones that seem to actually wanna help people, anyway. But most of them seem to hate “outsiders,” & they definitely don’t like ghouls, which is stupid.

12) What about The Enclave? The enclave are crazy. The whole idea of rebuilding America with that weird “president” of theirs is nuts. They stomp around like they own the place & take things by force, with no regard for the people just trying to get by in the wasteland, so fuck ‘em. 

13) How do you feel about Super Mutants? They’re really annoying. They seem to be everywhere & have a ton of armor & weapons, so they’re a real pain to take down. Especially when you’re just trying to get from one place to another & you have to pass through their territory. They don’t let up!

14) What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in? I’ve been in situations where Raiders, mutants, & radscorpions are coming from all sides, but they also fight each other, so it gets pretty crazy. Luckily you can just shoot at any of them and you’re bound to hit something.

15) Have you ever fought a Deathclaw? Oof, yeah. I’ve fought quite a few in Old Oney & even the Deathclaw Sanctuary. Those things are fast & deadly, which is a dangerous combination.

16) Do you like fighting? Eh...I mean, there’s a certain thrill to it that I like, but that usually happens after the fight is over & you get that “holy shit, that was crazy!” kind of feeling. Especially when me & Charon are working together & fighting off bad guys. But obviously, I’d rather not have to fight every asshole or creature I come across. 

17) What’s your weapon of choice? I’m fond of fire-based weapons, like the flamer or the Shishkebab. They’re just so effective & intimidating & badass! Helps keep the enemy at a distance too, y’know?

18) How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?) I’m not very strong, or tough, but I’m smart & fast, & I’m pretty good at talking my way out of a sticky situation. I leave all the muscle to Charon. I’m the brains & he’s the brawn. 

19) Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them? Well, yeah. I was raised in one. & I’ve been to several around the capitol wasteland too. I can’t say I’m very fond of them. A lot of bad memories associated with my own vault, & seeing all the horrible experiments that Vault-tec performed with the other vaults makes me sick.

20) How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you? I make sure to take a lot of Rad-x & Radaway, & so far I seem to be ok. I’ve gotten pretty sick & nauseous a few times, but I always bounce back.  

21) What’s your favorite wasteland critter? I think the molerats are kinda cute. I also like dogs, but not the rabid ones. The furry ones like Dogmeat. Brahmin are ok, but they’re not very cute.

22) What’s your least favorite wasteland critter? Radscorpions. Those bastards are everywhere & they’re huge & gross a pain in the ass to kill. 

23) How do you feel about robots? Robots are pretty cool I guess. Can’t say I love ‘em or hate ‘em either way.

24) How many caps do you have on you right now? I’ve lost count, lol. But I’ve got a ton. I’m really good at bartering & saving. Now I don’t even know what to spend them on.

25) Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla? What the hell is Sunset Sarsaparilla?

26) Do you do chems? Only in emergencies or for medical reasons. 

27) Do you ever think about the Pre-War world? Yeah, but the only reference I have for what it was like is from old books we had in the vault, & even a few videos & holotapes. So it’s hard for me to imagine what it was really like. Hell, It was hard for me to imagine what anything looked like outside of the vault growing up, so it was a big shock when I finally got out.

28) What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently? Part of me wishes I hadn’t killed Amata’s dad...maybe then she wouldn’t be mad at me. But in the end I guess it doesn’t really matter, because I’m never going back, so it’s not like I was ever going to see her again anyway...Besides, her dad was an asshole & he deserved it.

29) What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve? Hmm...I dunno. Maybe disarming the bomb in Megaton? or killing a super mutant behemoth? There’s still a lot of wasteland to explore, so I’m sure there will be other things I can accomplish. But I do hope I find my dad soon...or at least find out what happened to him.

30) What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? I just wanna make the capitol wasteland a safer place for everyone, if I can. But for myself...maybe, I dunno...not necessarily “settle down” with someone, but just find someone who’ll stick with me, no matter where I decide to go or what I decide to do. Like a...life partner. OH WAIT, THAT’S WHAT YOU MEANT EARLIER!

[rileysok]

hello fellow demons, i’m dani and i’m bad at intros so i’m just gonna throw a bunch of tomfoolery under the cut here and hope that you all can make sense of it! at the bottom there will be a few possible connection choices. if i remember. i’m writing this before the intro. probably a bad idea.

(  rome flynn / cis male / he or him  ) . introducing riley chandler, the host for the runaway train . they’ll be twenty six years old , and arrived at hartly four months ago . you’ll always see a machete around wherever he is .

...anyway! without,,,FURTHER ADO:

here’s riley, he’s alright, he could use a good smack in the head and a nice cup of coffee

riley thinks you’re wrong and what he thinks is what is CORRECT as far as he’s concerned. this means you’re wrong. sorry not sorry. 

really, he’s exceptionally stubborn and will argue about anything. he’ll argue with you about the color of an orange. you can have the most thought-out and absolutely correct argument but it doesn’t matter to him. this is mostly out of his defensive nature. if you come at him in a gentle way, he...can be reasonable. no promises.

does not think a single thing through, my guy. he’s extremely impulsive, and makes very split-second decisions that usually come back to bite him in the ass. and then he’s shocked.

LEEEEROOOOOOOY JEEEEENKINS

he’s usually some degree of [gasp] over an unintended consequence. he’s a walking pikachu meme. he’ll say something mean to you, and if you say something mean back? :O wow man that hurt wtf??

can dish it out but cannot take it what a big baby

will do literally anything on a dare.

is incredibly loyal, but ONLY to those he likes/trusts. if you’re in his inner circle, he’ll take a bullet for you. he’d walk off a cliff if you asked him too. but if he doesn’t know you, or god help us, doesn’t like you? he wouldn’t do much to help you unless it was life or death.

heavily into conspiracy theories, and now that the world has fallen apart it’s a great time to theorize, my friends

he’s got a temper problem, and will frequently lose his cool and unleash his fury. he cools off pretty fast, but if he feels like someone has really wronged him, he will hold a grudge. but the small stuff he doesn’t sweat. he gets mad a lot, so he can’t hold it against everyone all the time. 

because he’s fairly hot-headed and loyal, he can be...lead astray easily. but! he can also be persuaded into being a better guy sometimes! he’s a good boy underneath all his defensive sparky attitude problems, and will generally do the right thing unless he’s got someone whispering in his ear. it happens. 

his loyalty also has him a bit gullible at times. riley isn’t stupid by a long shot, but he will believe something that someone he loves told him, even if it seems ridiculous and far from the truth. he’ll just shut down that logical reasoning. 

he’ll kick your ass! he’ll kick his ass! he’ll kick her ass! he’ll kick his own ass! people who like him might call him feisty or rough around the edges. people who don’t like him would probably call him a loose canon. 

if he does like you, he’ll defend you from anything. he’ll be personally offended on your behalf. sometimes, this is really great! because it means you’ve always got someone in your corner...on the other hand, riley has a habit of getting offended over nothing, so this can sometimes mean that you’ve got a guy starting fights in your name. not too great for the ol’ rep.

despite his attitude problems he’s not usually grumpy or despondent. you can usually find him in a fairly good mood talking about something or other around a fire or helping around the safe zone. he likes to be useful, so he’ll ask you if he can help with anything. 

he’s really crafty and is great at fixing things. he doesn’t have any formal education after high school, he never went to college, but he made more than enough money as a car mechanic in his father’s best friend’s garage. he racked up a lot of useful skills during that time and can repair a lot of things, from cars to circuitry to plumbing to a loose door handle. 

if he had a job, it would probably be as a front gate guard. he’ll give you a REAL hard time if you’re a newcomer and you want to come in. but he’ll let you in...because it’s policy, not because he likes you, let’s be clear. 

speaking of, he’s been there for four months, likely the first batch of people. he’s got an older brother and his mom somewhere around the camp, but his dad and his older sister unfortunately didn’t make it. he’s got a strained relationship with his remaining family, mostly because he feels guilty about their deaths and blames himself for it. 

a few connection ideas!! (and i mean very few because i’m...i’m lazy)

a couple of people to be in his squad of lil punk young adults

a leash holder because he needs someone to reign him in when he loses his marbles over someone saying they didn’t like lord of the rings

someone he routinely butts heads with but begrudgingly has to respect/get along with

any kind of romantic connection. he thinks he’s the hook up type, but spoiler alert, he is not. he catches feelings really fast. so u know, any kind of messy fun stuff i’m here for. male/female/nb he doesn’t much care.

alright i did four that’s a good start, right? yay me! 

[themarginalartist]

Can I ask what are your headcanons for the studio staff pre-disaster? Like how they interacted with each other? I'm interested in a lot of your AUs but I think I'm missing some context that was stated outside of fics. Sammy, Norman, Shawn, Susie, Allison, Henry, Thomas, Joey, Wally and all the rest! What's your crew like?

Ya know I don’t think I’ve fully laid out the staff dynamics of any AU or family dynamics… Just bits and pieces. Soooooo…. guess I better do that lol

Mostly the dynamic is the same general feel across AUs. The biggest difference in staff dynamic really is Listen, You Come Into My House since it’s not as tied to canon. I mean, it’s sorta close but I take a lot more liberties there. Norman in Sweet Dreams is a big outlier tho, he is my sweet projector child and I love him dearly.

Sweet Dreams for the Devil—Joey Drew: Childhood friend of Henry. He actually was a reasonable nice guy! But then an “event” happened and things started to change with him. This lead up to the argument with Henry causing Henry to leave the studio. But he and Henry used to hang out all the time, they built the studio together on their dreams.

Henry Davis (the last name I went with cause yeah…): Middlest of the Davis siblings Was the lead animator, pretty much everyone looked to him for direction, even Jack and Sammy would have him come down to listen to new songs. Joey did the publicity stuff so Henry didn’t have too. A lot of Henry’s falling out with Joey also had to due with the fact Henry’s older brother Riley and Henry himself were drafted.

Riley Davis: The oldest of the Davis siblings. He worked with Thomas and Wally as part of the maintenance crew before being drafted. He loves his brothers a lot, and enjoys hanging with Thomas and Wally. Even though Wally plays way too many pranks for his liking.

Avery Davis: The youngest of the Davis siblings. Worked the closest with Joey, managing the company image. Did not end up drafted for the war. Joey as he got worse treated him more like a secretary of sorts. He also was one of the few Joey had working on his “pet projects”.

Sammy Lawrence: Good friends with Jack, but both preferred working on what they did best in private. Wally bugged him a lot, mostly because usually it was right around a major deadline that Wally would do something stupid (which is Sammy’s opinion). A bit of a rocky relationship with Susie initially, she had tried to become… more than coworkers, but Sammy is married to his work, and his wife Melody. He has two kids Gloria and James, 9 and 7 respectively.

Norman Polk: Was hires directly by Joey as a replacement for the old Projectionist who was rather ill. Norman had been living on the streets prior, but is able to rent a small apartment after beginning to work at the studio. At first Sammy hates him because he makes a lot of mistakes surrounding his job when he starts. But eventually Sammy realized what he was doing and they smooth out their relationship, Sammy takes Norman under his wing a bit. Norman also is friends with Wally, Norman’s 18 and Wally is 20, and Wally is full of schemes. Wally taught Norman about how to navigate the vent system. Henry didn’t really get to know Norman too well.

Susie Campbell: She had a bit of a crush on Sammy but after realizing he was taken she kept to herself. She was always about personal gain anyways, and set her sights at trying to get Joey to give her more money and status at the studio. There weren’t many other female employees and she didn’t feel like making nice with any of them. Henry left shortly after Alice Angel was introduced.

Allison Pendle: She was hired after Henry had left. (Honestly tho because we don’t have a tape from her I don’t really want to add too many connections to her)

Jack Fain: Sammy and Jack occasionally went out for drinks but Jack was as married to his work as Sammy was. He didn’t really interact much with Norman however, since Norman usually wandered around with Wally when Sammy didn’t need him to do anything.

Thomas Connor: Totally a prickly grouch. While good at his job most people preferred dealing with Wally over him. Hated Bertrum with a passion and wished Lacie would stop complaining for five minutes. Was alright with Wally though. But did tell Wally to stop roping Norman into his schemes.

Wally Franks: Liked to play pranks on anyone he could get away with doing it. Especially loved to get Norman in on it because Norman was like a ninja, able to sneak up on anyone. Never pranked Henry or Joey though, that was a bit too dangerous. Henry found Wally’s antics amusing and liked hearing his opinion on what was going on around the studio.

Grant Cohen: Kept mostly to himself in his office. Wally liked to prank him the most. Hated the amount of work Bertrum and Joey had him doing.

Shawn Flynn: Head of merchandise but usually ended up taking the work on himself. Hated when anyone pointed out flaws with the plushies or other things. Drinking buddies with Thomas after running into each other one night at a bar.

Lacie Benton: Could complain for hours. Most of the staff members had a pool going for when she’d actually quit. Worked closest with Bertrum but were by no means friends.

Bertrum Piedmont: Hahahahaha no this man had no bond to anyone at the studio. They were all beneath him.

Listen, You Come Into My House—Henry: Was friends with Joey, but they didn’t meet until they were in their 20’s. Got drafted, but after the war just didn’t have that creative spark anymore so stayed away from the studio. Henry knew everyone at the studio before he left though.

Norman: Ended up quitting before shit got real bad. Was really good friends with Sammy and Jack.

Sammy: Friends with Jack and Norman, while liked his alone time at work, was way more relaxed outside of it. Was not married in this AU.

Susie: Not an evil binch in this AU! (Was written before ch 3 came out so she was pretty off base huh?) She and Allison would switch off playing Alice, they sounded incredibly alike, to the point where only they could tell who recorded what, and even they got muddled sometimes. Susie had a bit of a crush on Sammy, but nothing came of it since everything went nuts.

Allison: Friends with Susie. (Again we don’t know anything so… not too much I got for her there)

Jack: Friends with Sammy and Norman. Tended to get lost in thought on lyrics a lot.

Wally: While fond of pranks and jokes it was all to try and cheer people up. He would make excuses to see people that he hadn’t chatted with in a while. Hung out with Grant a lot (mostly because of how stressed the guy was) and Shawn.

Thomas: Grumpy but also a bit of a father figure to Wally. He taught Wally a lot of things.

Lacie: Another grump but also was very motherly, if you weren’t feeling in top shape she always had some sorta home remedy for you to take.

Shawn: Also another friend of Wally. Tended to get antsy about details.

Bertrum: …I honestly haven’t really planned him out, but definitely will be a much more toned down version of the canon version. Less I’m going to kill you Joey Drew and more you fail to see my brilliance Mr. Drew how dare.

Joey: …again I haven’t planned him out. But he’s friends with Henry. After Henry left he got more stressed out and stuff which caused most of his relationships with the staff to be strained. Joey also was overly curious about many things, things one should generally be more fearful than curious. I’m still tossing ideas around about him tho so nothings final about him.

Pretty much every other AU is some mix of these two tbh…

[flynnscarnation]

It's more that he takes up so much screentime that no other character has gotten well-paced growth or a backstory arc. Cassandra suddenly had a call from the hospital that her tumor's worse but she hadn't had symptoms all season? Ezekiel is a super empathetic person for one episode then back to snark 24/7? Eve hasn't gotten focus since S1 Christmas, she's always Flynn's SO. I like him, but they're using him too much and we're going into the fourth season barely knowing any details about the cast

Okay I’m sorry but this actually made me laugh

“he takes up too much screentime”

Out of all 30 episodes, over 3 seasons, Flynn has only been in 16. One of them (And the Eternal Question) he about 10 minutes of screentime. Only 2 of those episodes were even focused on Flynn (”And the Hollow Man” and “And the Trial of the Triangle”).

“no other character has gotten well-paced growth or a backstory arc”

This has nothing to do with Flynn being in episodes. This is entirely because The Librarians is a small show with only 10 episodes per season. There are massive time jumps between episodes and we can only get so much story in 40 minutes.

The backstory of every character has been address in multiple occasions at this point. I mean, Jacob had an entire episode, “And What Lies Beneath the Stone (AKA Coyote)”, dedicated to his previous home life, in “And the Rule of Three” we learn that Cassandra’s family was rather controlling as well as her emotions over her tumor in “And the Heart of Darkness”, and in “And the Curse of Cindy” and “And What Lies Beneath the Stone (AKA Coyote)” we learn that Ezekiel once worked for MI6 and grew up impoverished. Jenkins even got backstory points in “And the Apple of Dischord” and “And the Fatal Separation”, as well as sprinkles of his history throughout other episodes.

I would also like to point out, the first show runner and one of the main writers for 1 and 2, John Rogers, was not fond of throwing backstory at the audience, in fact “backstory arc” probably would have made him cringe.

“Eve hasn’t gotten focus since S1 Christmas”

Eve focused episodes: “And Santa’s Midnight Run”, “And the Loom of Fate”, “And the Infernal Contract”, “And the Image of Image”,  and “And the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”. We get backstory in two of these episodes as well as a little backstory in “And the Fatal Separation”.

“but they’re using him too much and we’re going into the fourth season barely knowing any details about the cast”

Once again, 16 episodes, and we know a lot about these characters for only 30 episodes, I’m not sure what show you’re watching.

Eve Baird:

Military parents, born on Christmas Eve

Spent most of her life in the military

Went through A LOT to get to her position in NATO including sexual harassment from the people she worked with

This resulted with her having some issues with self image and the way people interrupt you based on how you look, and does not like having photos taken of her because of this

Stays in touch with the people she fought with, even had a mentor

Incredibly protective, only wants the best for the Librarians and the Library

Also not “always Flynn’s SO” in “And the Hollow Men” she left his bitch ass behind when he wouldn’t stick around, and was prepared to do it again as many times as she needed to in order to protect Cassandra, Jacob, and Ezekiel

BEAT DESTINY LIKE TWICE WHO DOES THAT

Growth: Over the past 3 season we’ve watched Eve turn from a hardened boss bitch military solider to someone who cares fiercely but is still learning to be a guardian to someone who understands that the people she works with are human and acts in their best interest

Jacob Stone

Rural upbringing with a bitch of a father and a most likely absent mother

Worked on an oil rigging firm that his father hoped he would run with him one day whether he wanted to or not

Had to grow up with a father who thought he was a dumbass as he taught himself to read ancient greek texts at night

Has major league trust issues after spending about 30+ years hiding his identity from people

Passionate, will fight for what he believes, even if it’s against people he admires

Better singer than Ezekiel

Probably would’ve been a professor is he had a different life cause honestly he was enjoying himself way to much in “And the Cost of Education”

Doesn’t think too highly of himself when it comes to fighting, before “And the Fatal Separation” he only thought of himself as a bar fighter

Incredibly loyal once somebody’s earned his trust

Growth: Over the past 3 season Jacob as grown from a distrustful man who hides his abilities from the world to someone is unashamed of his passion and fully trusts the people around him

Cassandra Cillian

Had a mom and dad who pushed her to be the best in academics, no matter what she wanted

Diagnosed with her tumor at 15 years old

Her parents threw out all her STEM trophies when she became too sick to compete 

Grew up feeling inadequate, constantly reminder of her mortality as well as having to face her synthesis attacks 

Couldn’t go to college, despite how badly she wanted to

Child-like at heart, because she grew up with parents who never gave her the chance to believe in magic (they told her Santa wasn’t real when she was 3)

Picked her own death date when she was diagnosed with her tumor because she wanted to die on her own terms

Feels the need to prove herself because before she thought her gift was a curse that made her useless and now struggles with the idea that her gift is the only thing that makes her useful

BISEXUAL AS HELL

Growth: We’ve watched Cassandra gain control of her abilities gradually over the course of season 1 then gain confidence as she finds something she’s quite good at (combining science and magic) over season 2 to someone who has learned that she does not need magic or her gift to be useful

Ezekiel

Grew up impoverished (with someone else, as he says “we” in his monologue)

Was made fun of by the other kids, this made him grow to resent other people and just take what he wants

Was recruited by MI6 for his skills (and in fact did enough for and against the MI6 that he has 2 separate files)

Believes he’s only good at stealing, and is proud of his abilities

Met Flynn once while Flynn was the only Librarian

In that same time period, made a name for himself among the underground community of thieves

Spent a lot of times in night clubs, enough to be able to easily recognize different symptoms of drug use and how to treat them

Still cares greatly for the wellbeing of other people, even though he’s constantly egotistical 

He was at one point, the worst version of himself, and wasn’t even that bad

Growth: Went from literally the worst version of himself, someone who would bail on the people who needed him and would rather run then punch, to someone who would go through the same torture repeatedly to save his friends and not even boast about it, in fact he fakes forgetting everything, who sacrifice himself to help the cause, and would fight side by side with people who once though he was just an egotistical brat

Jenkins

Was once the night Galahad of Camelot

Fought his own father, who turned to the Serpent Brotherhood and bring chaos to the world

Has spent thousands of years working for the Library, tinkering and enhancing magical objects

Does not like the first Librarian, Judson, because he fell in love with the first Guardian, Charlene, but Charlene chose Judson over him

Is friends with Mrs. Clause apparently?!?

Also performed naked on stage at one point?!!?

Unfortunately that’s all I can think of because we haven’t had much with Camelot since season 1 and I’m just waiting for the Jenkins focused episode I need in my life

Growth: Grew from a grumpy caretaker who wanted nothing more than to be left alone and not bother to someone who cares deeply for the people he’s become friends with and actually charge into dangerous situations to save them after even being told not to (I mean, dude jumped off a cliff to save Eve man like my gosh)

I would list Flynn’s stuff, but I have 3 movies worth of backstory for him and I can’t properly separate it from the show without having to rewatch everything. 

However, I think at this point it should be rather obvious that Flynn being in only half of the series has done very little to actually affect the developing story and the character growth in The Librarians. 

[megpricephotography]

1 photo a year, from 2015 to 2024.

9 years ago today - on February 19th 2015, I (reluctantly!) went to meet a 21 month old border collie, who was very, very rapidly running out of time & chances, thanks to his unbelievably difficult behaviour. I was not looking for a 2nd dog, let alone one with major problems that needed working through but somehow, I found myself being persuaded to just "go see what you think of him".

I met Flynn, though that wasn't his name then - along with my dad (who'd been the one doing the persuading) & Flynn's then owners - we went out for a walk together, on cold, rainy, mirky afternoon. From what I'd heard beforehand, I was expecting to find some poor, sad, skulking, defensive creature, who didn't like anyone... Flynn was not that. I looked at him, as he joyfully ran circles in the gathering dusk... carefully making sure he offered the ball to each person he was out with - including us strangers... & I felt there was hope for him. Or, at least that it'd be a shame to let this young life get cut short, without at least attempting to see if he could improve & overcome his fears. The early years were hard for us both. I am in no way a dog behaviourist, or trainer & I was in over my head with Flynn! Even at our worst moments though, Flynn was always clearly desperately keen to keep *trying* to work with me, trying to not be scared of things which clearly terrified him, trying to trust we were on the same side - & that kept me trying too. I'm so thankful we both stuck at it! 9 years ago, I met Flynn & suspected there was a terribly clever, affectionate, funny little dog, hidden under the distrust & fear & stress... I was right. More & more as time goes by, Flynn's true nature has shone through & he's come further than I ever thought possible. He is a wonderful companion & brings me so much joy every day - haha & even when he's a grumpy old man, we can laugh about it. Good Boy, Flynn... I'm glad I went to meet you on that nasty day in February, all those years ago.