#but on the train exile could literally be tommy getting exiled from the car he lives in and sent way further down the train.

[boygirlctommy]

thinking about it and the funniest thing about a dsmp/infinity train au is that like 99% of that shit could happen on the train. like some aus have to make an equivalent of events or groups but the eggpire could happen pretty much 1:1 on the train

[shotgunsandstars]

Q&A chap 93-101

Hold onto your butts

Ch 93

The ‘thanks Xazz, I hate it’ coming out of the reviews from this chapter filled me with so much life okay? I didn’t need to eat for a week because I was sustained solely on your suffering lols.

Everyone crying about why I killed John I’ll let you in on some inside baseball.

Originally Andrew was going to have more of a redemption arc. But then I decided… you know what? Fuck that guy. He doesn’t get one. Just because you feel bad about what you did doesn’t excuse your abuse or earn you a redemption. Also he hadn’t been as present as he needed to be to earn a redemption arc. He was going to be more around for the Atlantis attack and get a good death but… bitch didn’t deserve it. So John took his place and it was rather poignant that John died, the last of Desmond’s biological family he accepted to having, and he’s found by his adopted family, covered in the blood of their covenant. Since the saying is that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

Also I knew all of you would cry when I killed John, which was delicious. I cried too okay. I was not immune.

To say he's done enough. Did John mean he's done enough to save the world or enough good and bad in his life? Maybe he's ready to join the rest of his family in death?

He’d done enough killing. He’d done enough saving. He’d done enough to see that the world was going to be okay. He’d finally saved his baby sister and his baby brothers he couldn’t before through Desmond. John is someone from a world that won’t exist in a few hours. He’s enough. He’s done enough.

you said you regret creating Jake now and would rather he had remained Jacob. Is that why you decided to put Malik to sleep for now as part of your storyline with Jacob and Tommy?

No. Not at all. The character acts the way they would act regardless of what could have been. I literally said why Malik decided to go to sleep. Like I literally don’t know how I can make this any clearer.

Though I prefer your Tincture, tbh, where she never sinks into depression and Altair is Des' biological father and they escape the Farm.

While I do also prefer that it also… isn’t good for the story. Desmond does half of this shit because he’s abandoned. Because he has no family. He is constantly seeking validation, family, and love because he was denied those things growing up. Sadly, if those things don’t happen then none of FM happens because Desmond has no drive to go out and seek the validation of being valued and needed and loved by someone else.

@Wren

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just wondering why you've gotten away from the bird theme in Flocking Movement, Xazz? Every chapter used to be a bird name or something related to avians. Not that I don't like it, just curious.

What??? 95% of the chapters in this story are bird themed. And the rest are themed around flight or the sky. There are like 300 chapters of FM in total, all of them with unique title names. I didn’t want to just resort to calling chapters by bird names exclusively. That’s rather boring. Just these last few chapters haven’t been exclusively tied to birds.

What has been your fave chapter in each Flocking Movement story, Xazz?

My favorite chapter? Hmmmm. That’s an interesting question.

For FM my fave is chapter 24: Seven Ulama. You know, the one where Desmond thinks Altair’s fucking dead. Bird on a Glass Bridge (25) is also very good cause that’s the first time I bring up Duncan and Desmond nearly breaks Jacob’s arm. The entire arc in those chapters is def by fave in the first story.

In 17th I actually really like chapter 1: Yolk. It was very fun to write. But chapters 37+38 were my faves because DesLucy and also you got to see Desmond just SNAP. I’d had those chapters written for months before they were posted XD

For Triad, to literally no one’s surprise, my favorite chapter is 12: Muninn: My Story Isn’t Pleasant; it Tastes of Folly, of Madness and Dream, the Life of all People Who No Longer Want to Lie to Themselves. Which other than I love it for it’s huge and unwieldy title is also all about my favorite sad, pissed off, son; Duncan.

At the time of writing for Terrible Things my favorite chapter is 36: Wishbone. It was verrrry fun to write. I also really enjoyed 57: Mother of Owls andddd 85: The Freer: Rain Goddess. I have a lot of other chapters I really love in Terrible Things but those are my top 3 :D

For Tincture it’s absolutely 100%, chapter 1: For You. I’m pretty sure I teared up writing it. For Eden is also A+

My fave in Legacy… oh boy. There are a bunch I like. 18: The Pyromancer’s Daughter (for obvious reasons). 10: He is the Sunrise, and its counterpart chapter, 14: The Dusk. And 15: You Lean Towards Dispair because I like hurting myself. God I love that one. It chokes me up every time.

Desmond is finally at the doorstep of the Unnamed, so it's time for me to get some final speculation done. I'm positive that whatever he will do will kill him either immediately or induce the beginnings of brain atrophy. The knowledge/power of turning the tide will take its pound of flesh. I have a feeling this will be the end of the immortals as well. Maybe it'll be part of the price that Des has to pay to accomplish everything he wants.

No. I’ve been saying for years that Desmond does not fucking die.

why did Cain never tell Altair about adrenaline Waking up immortals faster?

The last time Cain had a civil conversation with Altair was literally in the 1440s. And even if he did tell Altair at the time there was no way to get Epinephrine until literally 1900 when the compound was isolated and could be synthasized. Which if you remember… Cain was busy rotting in a cell in a Germany Vault. Cain also didn’t have the words to describe to Altair what adrenaline was. He had words to explain how it worked in hado but Altair… doesn’t know hado and other than to talk to Cain in his mother tongue has no use for hado. And then after Altair abandoned Cain in 1446 they rarely had any civil conversations. Mostly it was spitting words and Cain getting under Altair’s skin to get a reaction out of him since he didn’t seem moved by Cain’s requests for Altair to ‘come home’.

is Hawk still using his glass computer he built before the Apocalypse, or did he make a new, updated one after getting access to Demeter's technology and equipment?

Given the equipment Hawk literally builds himself a new computer every time there’s any sort of hardware update. He had the glass computer in 17th because he literally could not get any more advanced than that for the tech available. But now he’s had access to Demeter and things on the Ilythian ships. He’s nearly figured out personal holographic interfaces, which not even proeathans had really figured out. They could make big holographic stuff like the AI but the power and mechanisms required to power them weren’t suitable for small, personal, use. Hawk has absolitely upgraded. Once tech comes back he’s fully ready to replace his eyeballs with mini cybernetic things and when he’s ready to change that too he’ll just kill himself and everything will reset (he’d have the fake eyes removed first cause having his body consume something that large while he’s Under and then replace them would take a long time)

Did John think Kaley's exile would be permanent from the family? That Troy would never get over his pride and forgive her?

He didn’t think Kay’s exile would be permament. He figured Troy would realize he didn’t have a suitable heir and bring Kaley back. But then one of John’s brothers’ children showed signs of having the Sight and it didn’t matter. Troy just wanted an heir, which for him could only be filled with someone like him with the Sight. That was why Kaley’s probably temporary exile turned into a permenant one.

Will [Mary] have a bigger role in teaching future Angels?

Idk. Maybe.

Is he the first true Stadalla to enter an Unnamed?

Desmond is the 17th named stadalla. As in, there have been 16 true stadallas before him. Only one didn’t actually enter the Unnamed but is still regarded as a stadalla. There were also other people who were born to be a stadalla but just… never reached their full potential. What makes a stadalla isn’t actually that rare. It’s just the nature of their psychic ability. Just so few actually realize that they are that sort of powerful psyhic being to go to the Unnamed.

Kaley was just as responsible for preventing unwanted pregnancies as Andrew, so they share blame for Duncan.

Just because Kaley probably made sure Andrew wore a condom doesn’t mean that he didn’t fuck it up. Condoms are easy to sabotogue if you want to and Andrew knew the pretty, politically powerful, Kaley Miles was his ticket to being accepted as an Assassin. Also Kaley probably wasn’t on birth control because of the nature of how and where she lived. Also someone mentioned somewhere (I don’t remember where) that Kaley probably knew how to drive and could just leave Willow Creek to get an abortion herself because she wasn’t a prisoner and lols WHAT!?

Kaley wasn’t a ‘prisoner’ but she wasn’t free okay. Troy was very controlling of her entire life and body and she was a prisoner of her life being raised in a specific way to make her into something specific. Kaley could not drive, Troy didn’t see a reason for her to learn since she would be staying at Willow Creek with him, and she couldn’t just leave Willow Creek. A big facility like that no one just comes and goes as they please in a car. And if Kaley decided to walk out she’d be found pretty quickly. Like as fierce as Kaley is she is very sheltered and very dependant on her father because she was raised that way. She’s never been to a city before. She has very little concept of life outside of Willow Creek. Mostly because Troy was too afraid she’d be killed like his wife if she was allowed anywhere he couldn’t control.

Like you guys gotta remember. The Assassins are a cult. A fucking creepy fucking cult that trains children to fight so they grow up to be killers. The Assassins are just that; assassins, as in they fucking kill people. People born into the Assassins are basically brain washed from birth to believe their rhetoric and that their way is right and good and they are doing good things for humanity by basically playing god and deciding who gets to live and die.

Also Andrew wasn’t above marital rape which… yeah.

If Des survives the Unnamed, will he be psionically exhausted again?

He’ll be tired but he’ll be… different. It won’t be like when he over extended himself. He’ll have realized himself and his exhaustion will just be from working so much without rest and less life threatening than psionic exhaustion.

He and Des never really had the chance to bond. Des' fault, certainly.

Neither of them are blameless. Don’t put all the fault on a man who was lied to about the nature of their connection when he trusted John to be upfront.

Who took over Willow Creek and the Miles clan after Troy's death? Was it John?

Probably Arlyn or Eric honestly. They both had kids and were younger. John had no heirs and was gay. Troy wouldn’t have put a son who would feel it a burden to continue the line to be the leader of Willow Creek. Eric and Arlyn also did produce at least one Sighted kid. So Troy had them as an heir /shrug

Heron why you gotta cut me deep like this? I’m happy FM is ending cause it’s such a huge monster of a thing and I’m glad the book is being closed on it. On the other… this is like the only place some of ya’ll talk to me on. Which is kinda depressing. I’m literally gonna lose a bunch of friends when this story is over (even if sometimes you guys drive me up a wall. That’s kinda what friends are for lols.)

Chapter 95

(There was some weird overlap in reviews here cause I don’t know how to pick chapters correctly /sigh)

So the Unnamed messes with memories too. That's good to know. /Sarcasm

The Unnamed is a strong independant woman who doesn’t need your sass *hair flip*

I guess Lucy was able to get in with him because the Unnamed doesn't recognise her as a real person.

No that’s literally it. She’s not ‘real’.

Just when I thought Desmond was going to do some epic mind-bending, reality-warping stuff, you've thrown this little curveball.

That’s still going to still happen idk what you’re talking about.

Maybe she's the next Tiamat in more ways than one - a synth who's about to become a Stadalla should she survive the Unnamed. Maybe it'll take two (or even three if Tiamat somehow makes it here) Stadalla to ensure that the cycles of civilization and apocalypse don't keep repeating.

Lucy isn’t a stadalla. She’s was a synth designed to be human. Desmond… isn’t human. Well, not all human. She’s physically incapable of being a stadalla because of what a stadalla actually is.

How did they make the decision for Lucy to accompany Desmond into the Unnamed?

Cause Lucy was getting fucking shot at and followed Desmond into the Unnamed to avoid being fucking shot.

Tiamat explained long ago in OotTT that almost everyone the Proeathans sent into the Unnamed to unlock its secrets died, and the few survivors came out with total amnesia. Except for Tiamat herself, of course. I would've thought Desmond would be too scared to risk Lucy's life bringing her in.

Except synths. And ho shit WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?!?!?

Maybe in 20 years or so [Rinchen] could accompany Desmond into an Unnamed structure?

Why? Like for what purpose? It isn’t a toy. It isn’t a training chamber or anything like that. What purpose does some random human, and remind you, Rinchen is HUMAN, have to be going into the Unnamed just because he shares looks (and not genetics) with and was adopted by Cain?

Didn't you write once there's more than one Unnamed in the world?

No. One Unnamed. The constructs are connected to the Unnamed but they are not the Unnamed or like it or can compare to its power in any way.

Anyway, I could see Rinchen being rebellious and wanting to understand the nature of who and what he is better and venturing into the Unnamed to get answers. And Desmond having to go in after the kid to rescue him since Cain probably can't go in. Desmond is the hero of this piece. Or Lucy could go in to rescue Rinchen, too.

Yeah. Let’s play a fun prank and enter a giant arch I know kills things that enter it to give my dad a heart attack. Honestly if Rinchen tried to go into it he’d just walk through it. Or appear to walk through it. No memory of walking in, seeing fucking nothing, and then walking out after a split second. Duncan would just be like ‘oh, you aren’t supposed to be here Rinchen’ and once Rinchen had decided he’d had enough of literally seeing nothing but white emptiness he’d walk back out and Duncan would memory wipe him for safety so he’d forget the time he was inside.

Tiamat probably not as she must be dying of cryo sickness like the others. She may be synthetic, but she was in a cryostasis chamber for 75,000 years just like the other Proeathans. It would take a toll on her living body, too.

Nah. Tiamat decided that that was bullshit and she wasn’t ready to die yet so she just decided ‘nope, I’m not sick now’. Because that’s what it looks like when you have the psionic power of a god.

I'm guessing time doesn't pass the same way inside the Unnamed as it does in the real world? Who built this thing and why?

Time passes how you want it to pass in the Unnamed. Who and why it was built is in 96.

A bridge. A bridge to past and a bridge to the future.

It’s more an allusion to that chapter in FM after Altair got ‘killed’ and Desmond had his fucking freak out. Same name, just a little different.

Why a house with a white picket fence? Seems like a weird choice especially since Des is saying he finds the house creepy.

Duncan is doing his best okay. He doesn’t know what else to show Desmond. He can’t read Desmond’s mind and doesn’t know Desmond yet either. The white picket fence is a classic dream for Americans and that’s what Duncan is working with.

Or maybe this is about Des facing his fears? Everyone must do that at some point in their lives if they want to grow, to become more. To own his fears would make Des stronger, to conquer them would make him unstoppable.

It ain’t that deep

You must be writing and concluding this story at break neck speed

Not really. I’ve got other things to do lols

So did Des expect to die when he entered the Unnamed?

Not immediatly. But he does expect whatever he does in the Unnamed to kill him.

Why did he risk Lucy by taking her into the Unnamed with him? Od warned him that most everyone who ever tried to enter died. That seems careless and Des is never careless with Lucy.

*Makes a loud fart noise with their hand and mouth*

Will they remember anything about the Unnamed to tell the others when they come out?

Duncan makes people who aren’t supposed to be there forget what they’ve seen. The Unnamed was always meant for Desmond.

hope some day you have the time and interest to write another draft of your Flocking Movement saga because readers would love to see how it changes when Kaley Miles lives and does not sink into depression. Maybe she and Altair would still hook up? Or maybe not, because there is Jake. Or would you keep just as Jacob?

If Kay lived she and Altair absolutely would not hook up again because she’s mad at him for leaving her and her children in an abusive situation she felt powerless to get herself out of. Really she’d become bffs with Cain (who I’d change the name of and also make a girl cause WOW FM is a fucking sausage fest) to fuck with Altair a lot. Jake wouldn’t happen, Jacob would just trip into immortality alone thanks to Altair’s fuck up and Altair would end up hooking up with Jacob probably. Cause as much as I love Jake… idk. He doesn’t need to be there. Honestly Jake is Jake so people wouldn’t throw a fucking hissy fit I was shipping Altair with an OC.

Are the Altair, Ezio, Cain, the Angels, and Baldurs people guarding the Unnamed now from Proeathan incursions?

Mmmm. Kinda. When Desmond made it into the Unnamed there isn’t much the Adjatevs can do now. They’re more just making sure they don’t get away.

6 years creating your masterpiece

I would absolutely not call it a masterpiece. Have you actually read FM lately? It’s SO BAD.

Why did you decide upon [the bird theme]?

Because it’s literally part of the AC lore??? Like every single game from the 1st one features bird themes. Altair and Ezio are LITERALLY bird names.

So is Des building bridges here or burning bridges here?

It’s literally the chapter title dude. He’s on a bridge.

The wall that just went up cuts them off from returning to the real world, does it not?

No???? But they want to go in and to go in you have to actually like… GO IN

Is the Unnamed trying to traumatize Des? Making him feel like he's back in the Black Room of the Animus seems needlessly cruel.

The Unnamed isn’t doing that. That’s just the Unnamed looked like. The Animus is bullshit fake news tech made to break human brains but it uses tech similarly to vessels which also uses tech similarly to the Unnamed. The Unnamed is a psychic presence and the Animus and vessels all (tho Vidic didn’t understand it) tap into the psionic prowess of the person and the Unnamed is such a HUGE psionic marker that has trickled down through all these machines that it is part of its very essense. The Unnamed isn’t replicating the Black Room, the Black Room was replicating the Unnamed.

Des needs to remember that Lucy has her own traumas. She 'remembers' dying as Lucy Prime. She was trapped in Proeathan custody for several years. She still grieves for what happened to Clay. She was tossed aside by the Assassins as expendable. She was forced to compromise herself in order to survive. By bringing Lucy into the Unnamed, Des could cause her unnecessary vicarious trauma

*Continues to make fart noises with hand and mouth*

What was your original plan for this chapter?

Just the memory they watched. I didn’t find that particularly thrilling to write so I just had them watch an abridged form and instead I could set the atmosphere of the Unnamed better.

I like how it's not always the guys protecting the damsel in distress in your FM saga. More like the guy in distress being protected by his butt-kicking lady!

I’m pretty sure Desmond has only saved Lucy once. And that was when he gave himself up to Cain to protect her in Mexico. Lucy’s always saving his ass.

Also, if I counted right, this is review 1300

Y’all are crazy. Thank you.

have you ever considered a Legacy chapter from Lucy's time with the Proeathans?

Not really something I’m interested in writing. Sometimes things are better when you just don’t know

Not that I'm begging, please don't think that! It's just you've said in the past it was all right to suggest ideas for Legacy and Tincture.

I… didn’t think that at all. And this sort of wording you guys do sometimes makes me really uncomfortable like I’m incapable of understanding intent in written words and comes across as kinda disingenuine.

Too bad John and Desmond never had the chance to use their pyromancer powers together, as in one giant fireball they lobbed together at their enemies.

Not really how pyromancy works… Cause then taking out the Storks is them using their abilities together.

You saga absorbs me more than most so-called must read literature. As far as I'm concerned, your saga is a Must-Reat story.

Probably cause like most well written fanfic it isn’t sanatized for the Standard of published media which all kinda sounds… the same.

Did Des lose his black smart matter bracelet/knife/god-killing weapon?

Well Lucy was holding it when she shoved him into the Unnamed…

Did Saturn ever have custody of [smart matter]?

Yeaaaaaap. While not stated explicitly the sword she uses in Rain Goddess is smart material

And now that I think about it, how did Des come to have it?

I never say. He woke up with it on his wrist in the Pacific contrust. As to where it came from I think that a bit of mystery is important to a story.

Ch 96

So I realize I was pretty vague in saying to ask questions but some of you guys like… did not read at all what I had written for the type of questions, nor did you really use any reasoning for what sort of questions likely to be answered in this chapter. I know you’re all very smart but guys… guys… pls

Why did Duncan have to die?

Because then Desmond wouldn’t have been wanting.

Must have just about killed you to write this 5 years ago and have to sit on it for so long.

You have no FUCKING IDEA.

So what was Juno's purpose in using Des to kill Lucy Prime?

That question was answered by one of the AI a long time ago. She did so to manipulate Desmond but realized she fucked up only after when the proeathans had him. Also Duncan would have no fucking idea.

Is Xazz happy she ever started writing this monster work that is the beloved Flocking Movement?

Honestly I just can’t wait to not have to write this story ever again. It’s been a serious love hate relationship with this stupid story.

So I guess that's my question to this semi-omniknowing entity. Please explain this chapter in simple terms dolts like me can understand!

I mean it’s supposed to be hard to understand. It’s like a dream sequence and a training montague. Duncan can’t explain it like that because Desmond understands.

And who fathered her twins, Cain and Abel, if not Adam?

Eve’s sons aren’t named Cain and Abel for starters. And that’s a question I’m never ever going to answer. Stories need to have some mysteries.

For those few who survived and made it back to the real world, did they relive all the memories of their lives and acestors?

Not really. Only psychics strong enough can see anything besides the white room can even see memories and those people aren’t common. Most of them just stayed there a long time waiting for something to happen or they became too weak and were going to die so they left.

Maybe the Unnamed could show him the Miles family, and specifically Kaley Miles, so that Desmond could get to know his real mother, even if only peripherally? Not quite what you meant by questions, but this is probably Desmond's only chance to get to know the real Kaley Miles unless he goes into an Animus with the intention of reliving his mother's memories before his own conception. And I doubt he'll ever willingly climb into an Animus again. Ever. No matter how long he lives or doesn't live.

Y’all are a lot like Andrew; you just won’t let Kaley be dead. Desmond has gone out of his way to literally say just let her be dead and rest in peace.

The Unnamed sounds a bit cruel, making Des relive all of his worst memories. I'm surprised it didn't make him relive killing Lucy, or make Lucy relive Lucy Prime's memories of dying, cause you mentioned once that Angel Lucy remembered the original's death.

It did. But it also didn’t just pull out the worst memories. It pulled out all memories. A lot of the things they experianced in the Unnamed were things Desmond experianced on his travels before he ended up in NYC. And then Desmond built worlds around them based on his memory.

Really, I'd love to know more about this shadowy figure orchestrating mass genocide behind the scenes, the bad guy that has never been seen in Flocking Movement. Also, what is the history behind Tiamat and her connection to Chronos that makes her want him dead?

Chronos will be appearing in another chapter. And I thought locking her in a box away from all other humanity for years was a pretty good reason to want Chronos dead.

May I suggest that the semi omniknowing entity be named Xazz? Seeing as you are the all-knowing entity behind Flocking Movement, it'd be radical if you inserted yourself into your own universe. Honestly, after six years writing your saga, you deserve your own character!

Self inserts of myself actually make me incredibly uncomfortable. As it is I share a name with one of the main characters and that really makes me uncomfortable. So. Never gonna happen.

Can [the Unnamed] show the future, or possible futures?

The Unnamed can show the true past, present, and future. It is literally made by even more advanced pyschics than humans or proeathans who could percieve time differently than either of them and can see the future unaided while proeathans can’t at all and humans need someone else to do so accuratly.

if the whole of Atlantis will transform around everyone standing and fighting there now

I actually didn’t think of that til now and the image is very lovely.

I’ve asked you a million questions and speculated til we’re both blue in the face, so coming up with more may just be redundant

Yeah but you keep trying, Heron lols

Addionally, I would love to know more about past Stadalla. Saturn. Jupiter. HERA and JUNO!

I actually have a series planned that’s just… the Stadalla during their times.

Specifically the part where the twins, Hera and Juno, were the first stadalla to advocate for human freedom. STADALLA?!

I might have mistyped a tiny bit. The actual stadalla who did it weren’t Hera and Juno but Venus and Mercury. Hera and Juno were very important stadalla, especially Hera, but Venus and Mercury existed at the same time and they were the ones who really fought against proeathans keeping human slaves. Sorry I just got too excited about sharing lols

Why then would Juno want to kill Lucy and weaken Desmond, the next Stadalla, if she supported humans being free?

Okay and also. These AI are not the stadalla. The AI are just people who were sacrified by the Adjatevs. The AI known as Mercury isn’t even an Adjatev, he’s a Lesh’v’rin. They were all alive during the fall of the proeathan civilization and none of the actual stadalla were. Not to mention the AI known as Juno isn’t even the right gender or species.

Chapter 97

I assumed the builders of the Unnamed would be a long dead race, native to Earth, perhaps more advanced, but not extraterrestrial in origin.

I really wasn’t sure how fucking far I could keep pushing shit. Cause humans have found a pretty good historical record of stuff and it’s obvious the proeathans didn’t just disappear. They show up as other and in our cultures as things. But I didn’t know how I could like… not make it aliens and it fit??? Cause if it was an older civilizations the proeathans would have known about it! Early humans would have known about it. Aliens was really the only way I could get a good ‘we have literally zero idea or understanding of this giant monolith’ without it being like ‘well actually we found xyz in the fossil record’.

Also aliens

I assume those species had something more sophisticated than cryogenesis, as they would need to freeze themselves in order to survive the distances that would need to be travelled to reach other galaxies. In fact, those species would probably still be sleeping as their ships continued on their way as all of the drama surrounding Earth’s naïve children played out.

Or faster than light travel. Or something like the Mass Effect Relays which don’t even give a flying fuck about your FTL shit. If you could make something like the Unnamed and the Earth’s facilities you ain’t taking long space flights.

Duncan says the Others seeded Earth, too, to help life evolve. But why? They were using Earth as a way station for weary travellers. Why help life evolve on Earth and have to give up their way station in a solar system that could provide all of the fuel they needed to continue on their way and support life on top of that? Then why leave that same life the Other’s helped create to flounder and find their own way to survival?

So Drivers just do… that. They’re a benevolant race of psychics. Which is why Earth has psychics. And they didn’t do anything really. They just saw that Earth could sustain life and were like ‘oh this is neat’ and kinda helped it along and then when the proeathans started devloping culture they peaced out cause it wasn’t an empty world anymore. Things lived there now.

What has become of these Others? Are they still around, watching from afar?

I will tell you they aren’t watching. No one even knows Earth is there. As to what they’re doing; fuck if I know.

Perhaps not making contact is actually better for Proeathans and humans? Look what happened when Humans and Proeathans made contact.

Yeah no the galaxy is gonna be a hot mess when Earthlings figure out FTL. Space orcs and such.

Were Eve’s twin sons, Cain and Abel also Stadallas?

Ya’akov and Le’a you mean. And technically yes. But also no. They’re stadalla in the same way that Tiamat is a stadalla. Stadalla in ability if not by godhood.

Did Eve, who herself was not a Stadalla, but instead a powerful Angel, give birth to twin Stadallas?

Yes

Were Cain and Abel trying to fulfill their mother’s legacy, or just to understand it better?

The first bit

Yet Desmond is the Seventeenth Stadalla, clearly the most important Stadalla ever born.

MMMMM!!! Debateable lols. Desmond is the most important in recent memory but people would argue Saturn was way more important than Desmond. Or Pluto. Or Demeter. Demeter is an insanely important stadalla.

Is that ability unique to Desmond? That he can fashion reality to suit himself and the world?

No everyone could do it in the Unnamed. But not everyone got to sit in the big boy chair lols.

Just imagine how Cronos would fashion the world to suit himself.

Well I mean… reality of the Unnamed only exists in the Unnamed. You can’t just go into the Unnamed and bring it out of the Unnamed without Duncan’s permission. Like Desmond and Lucy’s clothes will leave with them because Duncan is like ‘yeah sure, you can do that’ but Chronos couldn’t go in there, make a super weapon, and bring it back out of it. Duncan wouldn’t allow it. Also you can’t just… brute force the Unnamed unless you’re a Driver. Like Ya’akov and Le’a brute forced the Unnamed because they were Drivers even tho Duncan KINDA HATED BOTH OF THEM but there were two of them and they were ridiculously powerful and he was kinda powerless to stop them. If you aren’t a Driver you just see… nothing. There is no Unnamed for someone who isn’t a Driver and you can only force the Unnamed to become yours if you are one like Ya’akov and Le’a. Which is what they did. Duncan didn’t want them to have access to that chair but they did it anyway.

This must have frustrated Cain and Abel to no end that they couldn't fix the damage their mother had caused, to bring back the world the way it used to be, except with a place for free humans and Angels.

Kinda??? They were more pissed at Duncan cause he kept kicking them back into their own bodies because he was so hateful to them. Which to be fair, they were LITERALLY trying to destroy the entire world and REALLY fuck shit up even worse than it already was and Duncan can’t allow that.

Like where anger and jealously lead one twin to killing the other, as history seems to record...?

Uh… no. Ya’akov and Le’a loved each other. Like to the point it made other people uncomfortable how much they loved each other. And the Cain and Abel mythos is about…. Cains and abels, the type of psychic ability humans have. Has literally nothing to do with Eve’s sons.

Your Flocking Movement wiki must be enormous, bb, to cover all of these characters and their backstories.

Not really??? Cause I just don’t care about those kinda things that much. If you actually want me to write those kinda entries I will but that isn’t really what the wiki is about.

How then did Tiamat interact with the Duncan? He just old Desmond that he modified his program to keep Lucy young and alive and not affected by the passage of time within the Unnamed. Wouldn’t he have had to do the same for Tiamat, since she told Desmond he’d have scads of time in the Unnamed to figure life out?

Yes Heron that is literally what happened you literally answered your own question.

Since Lucy is synthesized, does that mean she contains no Other DNA either?

Yes Heron that is gone kinda in depth with in Clay’s chapter in Triad. Like I explicitly say that Lucy is 100% pure sythasized human DNA.

How sad and frustrating for Lucy that she has been unable to get pregnant?

Less sad and more she’s just frustrated and mad about it cause god damnit Desmond be useful lols

How much worse that she likely won’t be there to see much of her baby’s life…  It is not selfishness motivating Lucy here, not a desperate attempt to leave something of herself in the world. Its hope that’s motivating Lucy. A hope that she’ll leave a real legacy, and the knowledge that Desmond and his ancestors will still be there to love and raise the child in her absence.

I honestly can’t believe you actually thought I’d actually let Lucy fucking die a second time. Like the fuck??? You think I’d go through all this trouble to deus ex machina her back to life and get her and Desmond back together again during the fucking apocolypse for her to ACTUALLY DIE in 3 years? Please.

A child born of her love with Desmond and gift to leave him when she is gone. A reason for Desmond to go on living, which I believe Lucy realizes he’ll need if he loses yet another person he loves.

No but real talk other than cause she wants to that is the primary reason Lucy’s decided she wants a baby. She wants Desmond to have fucking something when she eventually dies cause SHE KNOWS her man and she knows he’s a hot fucking mess and probably would just kill himself eventually because he couldn’t deal with it. Not that she does die tho cause fuck that noise.

Speaking of children failing to live up to their mother's legacies, Lucy's baby would surely have a tall order to live up to regarding the Lady of the Lake being its mother. Yikes. And Desmond as the father if people view him as a demon of sorts? ... Maybe better for Lucy to keep the identity of the father a secret for the child's sake.

Nah. Baby doesn’t have to live up to anything. Desmond and Lucy don’t let them feel like that. As it is they already do live up to it by existing which is a fucking miracle after the shit their entire species and planet have been through.

Fingers crossed for a girl, just like her mama and her nana Kaley.

I mean… they do have a girl. It isn’t the first one tho. I am gonna rip your heart out on the first one lols

I only pay attention when I see reviews climbing, then I know you have a new one up!

That is literally the worst way to see if I have a new chapter cause seemingly ALL y’all do that until someone notices.

When he said he was making animals, I just about fell over! If he's willing life into existence, are these existing animals, or is he creating new creatures?

I mean they… aren’t real?? Like Duncan said they are their reality but Desmond also isn’t spontaniously making life out of nothing. Like objects (clothes) are fine because that’s just matter but actual living things Duncan doesn’t allow out of the Unnamed.

The Unnamed likely had a name once in the alien tongue, long lost to the mists of time by this point.

It absolutely did.

The Others were the gods that the Proeathans fashioned their own mythos after, just like humans adopted Proeathans into their mythos.

No. Absolutly not. The stadalla were real live people who became gods and thus they were worshiped. But the Drivers were never worshiped as gods by the proeathans.

Cha 98

Now Micheal having a nervous breakdown in the middle of the battle and Altair is trying to hold him together, literally and figuratively.

I mean… he isn’t. He just suddenly can feel emotion again and he’s feeling so many emotions all at once that all he can do is cry.

If [proeathans] destroyed [The Unnamed] while Lucy is still inside, there would be no stopping Desmond’s vengeance.

Literally impossible

Have any other lifeforms messed up the Unnamed as badly as humanity and the Proeathans have done? Have any other species managed to bring themselves to near extinction by misunderstanding and misusing the Unnamed on other worlds as badly as the people of Earth have done?

I mean… they aren’t misusing it. It becomes what they need it to become and serves a new purpose when it falls into the hands of the new race. It becomes theirs. But yeah, probably.

What are the limitations of Desmond’s power? He can’t bring back the dead, but can he prevent death if he chooses? Can he prevent his and Lucy’s deaths, or will time take them away anyway?

‘God-like’. Also everyone just like… forgets all the time that Altair has made THREE people immortal thanks to the Apple. Like it isn’t that fucking hard.

Can he create life beyond procreating with Lucy?

Don’t say it like that Heron it sounds gross. But no.

Or is he the sacrificial lamb, risen with his lion-like divine powers to bring peace and justice to the world? A lamb who will tolerate no more fighting

I don’t know how much actually clearer I can tell you what a stadalla is at this point. Either you get it; or you don’t

Okay, now I’m insatiably curious about the first Stadalla. You once wrote that the Proeathans learned how to use the Unnamed to control human and Angelic minds when they found their way to Atlantis and enslave them and mutilate them and wipe out whole races and suppress natural abilities. I assume this was because the first Stadalla, who I surmise was a Proeathan, taught his people how to use the Unnamed to control the other sentient,

Pluto was too busy fucking up his own species to even know humans existed. Humans didn’t enter the picture until… Hera I wanna say. That’s 6? 7?

Finding that Apple in Boston altered Micheal’s life

Philly

Hey, did Cain ever meet Qin Shi Huang, emperor of China who desperately searched for a way to become immortal

Idk man. Maybe

Is Hawk gone for good then after Des woke up Micheal's soul in One of the Terrible Things? Poor Hawk.

Yeah. Hawk’s gone. Don’t pity him. He doesn’t pity himself. He’s happy. He’s happy he’s Micheal again.

Do the Proeathand feel like Hawk much of the time? They aren't ruled by their emotions, to the point Des had to share empathy with them so they could understand human emotions and validate that way of being.

No. Hawk doesn’t feel anything. He doesn’t feel fear or sadness or joy or anything else. Proeathans just don’t possess empathy. They are a sympathetic race but they still feel fear, sadness, joy, loss.

Will he remember Hawk's memories of the past 200 years and everything Hawk did? Is Hawk glad to be going now and returning control over to Micheal?

Yes and yes

I know you said Hawk is an infestation, but is he still part of Micheal's soul, or just memories now?

Neither really? Both? Hawk was Micheal without emotions. But he was still Micheal.

Ch 99

does he realize how much he has become like his father?

Except he fucking isn’t. Desmond isn’t like Andrew. On the surface he is but people are not skin deep. Motivations behind Andrew and Desmond’s choices are DRASTICALLY different. It’s like the Batman argument ‘if you kill a killer the number of killers remains the same’ with the counter being ‘well if you kill 1+x killers the number of killers go down by x’. Yeah they both did the same thing of letting someone die for the ‘greater good’ but their motivations and how they went about it are so UTTERLY different it’s kinda insulting to even compare the two tbh

Altair ibn La’Had al Umar

Heron I’m disappointed. La’Ahad

I don’t know if Duncan’s presence provided more comfort or pain to Andrew

Why not both?

His three daddies (four if one counts Cain)

Cain absolutely doesn’t get dad status okay.

What will happen to the surviving Assassins and Templars in the new world order Des is building? I assume Des isn't going to kill them all?

Both of their orders are dead. There’s nothing left for them to fight. The war’s over. They will help rebuild just like everyone else.

How do soldiers adjust to a period of peace?

There also aren’t a lot left on either side. A few dozen Assassins and actual Templars who understood the war and not just thugs.

Andrew couldn't quite believe Desmond would let him die, but surely he realizes he's merely reaping what he sowed? He raised Desmond to be this practical and this ruthless. The world has not been a gentle place to Desmond Miles.

Winner winner chicken dinner

doesn't kaley share some responsibility for this situation as she was the mother? yes, she was depressed too, but she doesn't appear to have sought much help either and didn't ask anyone else to take care of the boys

Don’t fucking victum blame dude it’s fucking gross. She was their mother but when you’re living in a cult where other people control your entire life it’s hard to just get over shit like what Kaley had. She was as much a victim as her children and casting blame on her is kinda shitty.

Ch 100

Des is like the strongest psychic on the planet now, right? Why didn't he go into Andrew's mind as he lay dying?

Why would he do that??? Like what’s the point of that????

Is he like a spirit or ghost when he detaches from his body like this? Like dead?

Astral projection since you couldn’t understand Duncan’s explanation

Xazz, you have a wicked sense of humor!

I just like ruining Altair’s life/day tbh. It’s my fave thing to dooooo~

What about Lucy? Des is pressuring his ancestors to have some kind of relationship with Tommy, but what about Lucy?

I don’t know if you noticed but Lucy isn’t in this chapter.

Who was Sath’ka?

Idk. I just made it up lols

Rather egocentric that Tiamat assumed the AI would appear as a Proeathan to Desmond, a species that have seriously traumatized all humans on Earth, but then that is the Proeathan way.

In her time, in the ability proeathans had, AI were all gendered and could not change forms. It isn’t egocentric. She’s just going off what she knows about AI which to her makes total sense that the waystation AI would be female and proeathan no matter who interacted with them, just like all other AI she’s ever interacted with and seen.

Ch 101 (the actual chapter 100)

Will Des eventually build up new countries as the population expands over the centuries?

No. Humans and proeathans can do that themselves. He made Atlantis and that’s his home now. Humans can and will rebuild their world on their own.

Are the AI the current ones that Des knows, or AI who've basically been in storage awaiting a purpose?

I mean Desmond doesn’t know about if there even if other AI out there other than the Adjatev ones. So…

Are the AI happy with how this war turned out?

Desmond’s were. The others aren’t lols

What about Morpheus? He said long ago that he helped Des because Venus promised he'd see something amazing if he joined the Flock's side in this war.

Sorry is a god being born in front of you not amazing enough for you?

How did Hera get revenge on Juno, which she told Des was one of her main reasons for fighting?

Hera’s revenge was just helping Desmond who Juno was against, and making Lucy perfect

What role will Tommy have in this new world?

Probably… none. Tommy gets to be a normal guy who gets to kiss cute boys and hang out with his brother and nieces and nephews and be normal; just what Desmond always wanted and wanted for Tommy.

Do the Adjatevs accept responsibility for the war, the genocide of humanity and several races of Proeathans?

Fuck no

Cain, as the last surviving Drell on Earth, surely had something to say about that on behalf of his father, Pipek?

Hey. Hey. Remember that big thing Cain told Desmond about how he buried his people and put them to rest and wasn’t angry about it anymore? WOW it’s almost like that’s a thinggggg

Is even Lilith gone, Xazz?

All the vessels are broken, all the angels within freed, even Lilith

Didn't she say she'd be training Des for years to come in his Angelic abilities?

Just because a character says something doesn’t mean it’ll happen. Desmond is so infititly more powerful than Lilith now to think she’d have anything left to teach him is fucking laughable

What does Tommy think about the big brother he didn't remember?

But he does remember? Like that’s the entire point of what Desmond did. He does remember.

How many birthday wishes have you received today, Xazz?

Idk across the 5 different stories people were wishing them to me I kinda lost count XD Needless to say; it was a LOT

How relieved his daddies must be they're not going to lose Desmond?

They all knew Desmond would eventually die. They were relieved he wasn’t going to die so soon and would get to grow old but now he’s immortal and they’re like ‘oh… sweet!’

If I read your comments correctly, you wanted to complete your story on November 29, which I think you said is your birthday. But according the ff site, your story was completed on November 28? I don't know if that's a glitch or I just missed chapter 101 yesterday?

It’s a glitch. When you get a lot of reviews like I was getting ff.net kinda REALLY FUCKING HATES IT and causes things to display incorrectly. It’s why reviews took a while to show up that week and why it said the 28th. But I assure you, I 100% uploaded chap 101 on the 29th.

Couldn't Lucy and Desmond just take a break from each other if they get bored of one another?

I don’t… know why this is a question? Like. Yeah???

Tiamat probably can't either as she is probably pure Proeathan, being synthetic herself.

Tiamat absolutely is not pure proeathan. She’s like Mercury, a synth made to be a perfect being. Meaning Otherness.

Will Desmond bring Duncan's body to Atlantis to rest near him?

Remember Desmond’s insistance to just let Kaley be dead? Yeah. Same thing. Let the dead fucking rest.

Were there any other Proeathans still sleeping, waiting for the day they get to awaken? Won't they be surprised when they wake up to a world where humans and Proeathans are living together and Angels have returned and the Stadalla is in charge?

Now that would be telling wouldn’t it? ;)

And thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes across all of my FM stories. They really brightened my day, especially cause it wasn’t the best day when I had a bit of a row with a friend over dumb shit.

Also someone… somewhere in the giant mess of reviews I got asked about why Desmond is the 17th stadalla and why that number and what’s the significance of 17. And the answer is… well it’s literally canon lols. Desmond is Subject 17 of the Animus Project conducted by the Templars. And then Juno says some cryptic ass shit about 7 in the end of Brotherhood and I just kinda ran with it. So yeah, that’s why Desmond is the 17th stadalla.