Hear me out: Au where GIW took Vlad while he was in the hospital or close to it.
They learned about the ecto-contamination, how somehow he was still alive, continuing to live even while his temperature fluctuated between extremes that should kill a person, that should be impossible. So they sweep in- wipe all files on the man, and slip away.
Of course this means that Vlad never becomes Plasmius, his Obsession never gets to form around Maddie It’s Freedom he just wants to be free, to see the sun one last time nor does he become an antagonist. In fact, he has no idea about what his old college friends are up to, nevermind the existence of their children.
But that doesn’t stop Danny from becoming a Halfa himself.
Ultimate Enemy came into being from Danny getting captured and also tested on, to where he nearly shattered. He lost everything, he just wanted to be left alone, but they wouldn’t stop, and well, they have two specimens now, they don’t need the first now, do they?
Dan is still a fusion of sorts, of a Danny who ate Vlad’s ghost. But he didn’t have a choice. Vlad was already splintering, was already dying, and they both agreed that the GIW couldn’t get a Core, that it would be catastrophic. And maybe, just maybe, with the power boost Dan could escape, do something. But that core? That grieving, broken core that Hates just as much as Dan does, it doesn’t just raise his power.
Danny, he learns all of this. Looks into the eyes of a him who has lost everything, not just once, but thrice, and has an epiphany. He’s not the only one, not the only halfa, and it’s earlier in the timeline, all this not come to pass and…
“We can save him this time.”
Bonus DCxDP crossover on if they flee to Gotham or Bludhaven- a heavily traumatized Dan, a visibly sick and injured Vlad, a worried Danny, and a new clone they manage to stabilize along the way while breaking Vlad out of that hellhole.
Or maybe they did a half blind dimension hop with wishing for somewhere safe to hide where they could actually get help.
Henry was lying, I think, about Michael finding a job listing not intended for him. I don’t know why he would do that, why he wouldn’t talk to Michael first or be upfront with him about the plan, I could guess, but I’ll never know. But I believe that there’s no way anyone else would have taken a job running a franchise for a failing 80s child murder restaurant, and I believe Henry knew that.
But the way he speaks about ensuring nobody remembers the Pizzeria, the fact that the office is set in the middle of everything so it would be nearly impossible to make an escape route for a person without having animatronics loose, the fact that he trusted a seemingly random employee to do what needed to be done for his plan to work, hell even the way the promotional and welcome tapes frame the restaurant seem to want to scare people off. It just doesn’t add up to “let’s get a random guy in here to do the dirty work and go home safe.” Instead, it seems more like “Let’s make sure that there are no more cryptids running around as a result of William’s actions. We can lure them, make them come willingly.” And Michael is easy to lure to the restaurant. In fact, Henry knows that he’ll apply to work there.
throws up my hands in mock resignation but also a hint of frustration Okay Valentino is a cool villain I guess
He's like. Genuinely unsettling. Wish the show struck a better balance with his character sometimes (like sometimes when he's onscreen I have to skip over because I feel queasy and sometimes he's so unsubtle he feels more like a prop than a guy who's going to be a Huge Deal in s2)
ok but im rly into the idea of till having a new era that brings the light back to his eyes and drives him forward if he gets to escape the arena. idk where he'd go from there but i want to see ivans sacrifice both haunt him and drive him to actually live his damn life after being the captured bird refusing freedom cause of mizi. once he knows she's alive with the resistance he might be able to actually experience other things and widen his world and if that happens and he puts his personal sense of rebellion towards the human cause OR settles into finding some other way to feel fulfilment that isn't a single person that could be deeply fascinating to me i think
Joel getting to Jackson and going from job to job, exhausting himself deeply. Extra time means more time to think, and the more he thinks the more his deep buried grief resurfaces, because this life is too much like what it had been before. Tommy thinks it's just Joel being Joel, he was like this before the outbreak too, but it's Maria who notices that Joels running from something, and casually tries inviting him over to help with the baby, she casually tries to talk about her own process with grief, and it gets to Joel who shakes his head, and she tries to get to him. Telling him that he has to feel it, he has to let it out... which results in Joel silently shaking with the baby in his arms.
Thinking tonight about Caelus, and the nature of his loss and his grief after the Everything that went down in Penacony during 2.0.
Because Acheron, Black Swan, and Misha kind of knew of Firefly, they at least met her, but they didn't like really know her, and Caelus never even got the chance to introduce her to the rest of the Astral Express Crew. The only person who would have talked to her much was Sparkle, who is. Probably not really someone Caelus is interested in grieving with skznmsks
Anyway, all this to say, I like thinking about how alone poor Caelus is in his grief, because he was the only one who knew Firefly. He's the only one really mourning her. There's no one to talk about her with. There's no stories to trade or memories to reminisce with anyone over. It's not as though he knew her for long, but still. No one else knew her at all.
And I love the thought of all of this coming bubbling up, hot and acidic and bitter, during a conversation with Sampo, who Caelus just so happens to run into in the Golden Hour. Poor Sampo is kinda blindsided, he knew shit was going down in Penacony, but yeesh. And he just. Isn't quite sure what to say about it all, because he's never really encountered this before. His feelings about the Masked Fools are...a mixed bag, but he's been a part of them for a very long time, and when you're with a close organization like that, it's hard to feel alone, in grief or otherwise.
So Sampo sits there on their little bench that the two of them have occupied, and he thinks of his old friend April, how she'd died in his arms cackling and spitting her own blood after a heist gone wrong, and how after he'd dragged himself back to the World's End Tavern they'd all held a Fool's Funeral- which is basically just a big party where everyone gets really really drunk and reminisces and toasts the dead and celebrates their life.
He still thinks about her a lot, and he remembers how the time he'd most keenly felt her absence was on Jarilo-VI, the one place where he couldn't talk about her because he couldn't say anything to give himself away as an alien. The Fools still tell stories about her every time he goes back to the Tavern. His first toast of the night is always in her name. Even now, all these years after she'd died, Sampo is still learning new things about her. He's never had to grieve her alone.
Caelus doesn't have any of that.
He might never have that. As they speak, Caelus has no proof that Firefly was even her real name, or if she dreamt with her true appearance. He might not ever find out who she even was.
And just imagining that kind of loneliness hollows out a strange little pit, right behind his sternum, deep between his ribs.
So Sampo claps Caelus' shoulder and offers him a deal. Come find him outside of the dream. He knows a guy who can get them a lot of beer for really cheap-
("Is that guy you and your five finger discounts?" "Whatever do you mean, dear friend, I don't even know the meaning of the phrase, hehee.")
-and they can hole up in a bar or a hotel room or something, and get completely shitcanned. Tell him all about Firefly, tell him everything, and he'll tell Caelus about April and everyone else he's ever lost. Sampo will carry Caelus' memories of Firefly with him, and at least this way, Caelus will be a little less alone in remembering her. And the next time they cross paths, Sampo will be the one to bring her up, and to tell her stories, and Caelus can get to be the one listening. He won't have to be the only person to talk about her anymore.
Caelus rolls his eyes when Sampo avoids another remark about sticky fingers, but...ok, yeah. That sounds good. Nice, even. Thank you. Caelus bumps his shoulder against Sampo's. Sampo bumps back.
(They find each other again the next day, and true to their word, get themselves completely and utterly shitcanned. Caelus talks more than Sampo has ever heard him; every minute detail, every word choice, Firefly's every odd little mannerism and habit. Because Caelus wants to make sure this will outlive him, that even if the Stellaron dwelling within him finally burns him to a crisp and he really does up and kick the bucket, or even, godforbid, if he forgets, he wants to make sure someone remembers her. She deserved that.)
((And it takes quite a while, after that. Caelus doesn't see Sampo again until after everything has settled down. On his last day in Penacony, he finds the guy slinking out of a seedy back alley and all but runs right into him. Sampo happily leads him to some dive bar in an even seedier back alley that Caelus has never even heard of, and Sampo raises his glass. "To Firefly! Who sounds like she probably would have hated me at first, but I would have liked to have met her anyway."
And Caelus stares at him, almost looking startled, long enough that Sampo worries that he's read him wrong and brought this up too soon. He's halfway into planning how to talk himself out of this situation when Caelus finally throws back his head back and laughs, tells him that yeah, Firefly would have politely called him out on every lie he told, and all their conversations would take twice as long with the way Sampo is so full of shit.
And he can see it, the same way he watches and sees through everyone, that Caelus' eyes have a tightness to them, his knuckles are nearly white around the handle of his mug. But he smiles. He hits his glass against Sampo's far too hard and throws it back and gets foam everywhere like he does every time they drink because the guy's about as elegant as a raging bull, but those things don't lessen the genuineness of his smile.
The grief is there, but so is the elation, and those emotions aren't a sliding scale between one or the other. It is all of both and both at once, and that's what contents Sampo enough to throw his own mug back when Caelus makes a toast of his own, "to April!!".))
Keith walking into the holding cell greeting all the regulars by name while Lance is sobbing lamenting that his life is over and his future is ruined (they were like. Trespassing or some shit he’s going to be fine)
lance: (actively dry heaving in the corner, on the verge of a panic attack as he imagines having a permanent record)(actually what does a permanent record even look like?)(omg is he going to have to go to COURT? like in JUDGE JUDY?)
keith: remy, this is lance. lance, this is remy, she’s my favorite alcoholic :)
two wrongs WILL make a right!
ive got another lease on life, and im using it well,
who cares if this is all fucked up cause we're all GOING TO HELL!
IM JUST WILLIAM WHO SHOULD BE DEAD,
HAD TO FOLLOW THE THREAD,
thought he was just chillin! now he is a villain!
HES ALWAYS SUCH A BUMMER,
HE WANTS TO TRUST HIS BROTHER
WILLIAM IN A HALLWAY BY HIMSEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
I call this: Let Marty McFly Break the Fourth Wall.
Based on a random thought I had at work today, I remembered how many times Marty looked dead at the crowd when I saw the musical and decided he should be able to do that once in the film. After much thought, I decided the best time for said moment would be right after the DeLorean test because c’mon- Doc drove a car at them at damn near 90 MPH without even knowing if it would work. Thats- that’s just a little crazy, don’t you think?
Marty’s internal monologue retyped below just in case you can’t/don’t want to read my atrocious handwriting :)
1. My God.
2. What did he take?!
3. (Same as 2, plus) This is Heavy
4. (Same as 3, plus) What did I agree to?
5. (Same as 4, plus) Have I gone insane?
6. Are You All seeing this shit? (He drove a car at us! WITHOUT knowing if it would WORK!!)
(Meanwhile in the background I wrote out Doc’s little “What did I tell you? 88 Miles Per Hour!” Cause I didn’t know if I could get the audio)