#like there's literally no escape and nate knows he's about to die and in turn drako will break and they'll lose the battle

[julemmaes]

Can you write more of the Nessian modern au where they have 5 kids plz?

Prompt ideas:

They go camping

Ezra goes on his first date

One of the kids (probably like Cal or Celia) feels like their parents done love them as much as they love the others / that they don’t get as much attention as they others

Obv u don’t need to use any of these prompts if u don’t want to, these are just some ideas

I loved your fic !!!

I Love You

Set in this universe, Nessian fourth child feels like she’s isn’t given the same amount of love her parents are showing her siblings and after a particularly bad day goes by, she bursts.

A/N: The ages: Ezra (23), Cal (19), Nora (14), Celia (12) and Andra (10). Nate is (18) and Iria (Emerie and Azriel’s firstborn) is (13).

It was hard to write this one, cause if one of my children came to me like this, telling me what Celia is going to say, I would probably kill myself you know. Hate these situations:(

Also, I’m definitely gonna write the other two too, cause they’re interesting and I think you all want to read about Ezra’s first date. So don’t worry, we’ll see them camping and struggling with love some more!

Enjoy!

Word count: 4,370

"Cal, can you help me with my homework?" asked Celia as she entered the boys room.

Her brother didn't even spare her a glance, waving a hand in mid-air, "I can't right now Cece, I'm playing with Nate and I can't pause, sorry." then burst out laughing at something his cousin had said to him through his earbuds. He cast her a quick glance over his shoulder, "Maybe when I finish."

The girl huffed, muttering a don't worry and closed the door behind her. She walked down the hallway, towards her room and Nora's. She didn't bother knocking, but froze in the doorway, staring at her sister with hopeful eyes. She knew she wouldn't find help there either when she heard her say Iria's name into the phone's microphone.

She could feel that she might be about to let out a scream of frustration.

She was about to leave the room when Nora noticed her, "Iria wait a second," she put a hand on the phone, smiling at Celia, "Do you want anything? I can leave the room if you need to study in silence," she offered her.

Celia shook her head, "I can't do this geometry problem." she said furrowing her brow as she looked at the strange figure on the sheet her math teacher had assigned her. She looked up at Nora and she had a bored look on her face. Celia had confirmation of what she had thought as soon as she walked in. Before her sister could find an excuse to escape that task, she smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll do it myself."

Nora didn't even try to retort and resumed talking to her cousin, yelling at Celia to close the door when she left.

"Yeah, I'll close the door for you," she muttered to herself.

She didn't want to go to her mom and ask for help with her homework because she knew it would end with one of them yelling, but she had no other choice. Huffing for the millionth time, she headed downstairs, mentally ready to face an intense math session with her mom.

When she entered the kitchen, Nesta was leaning on her chair with her knees and half lying on the table, holding a yellow pencil and coloring one of the suns on Andra's exercise book.

Her sister was the first to see her, "Hi." she said in a flat tone.

Celia snickered, thinking "we're in the same boat sis". Doing homework with mom had always been tiring, whether it was math to solve or simple drawings to color, Nesta had the ability to squeeze their little brains to their last nerve.

Cassian had always told them that one day they would thank her, but Celia hadn't reached that moment yet. She was sure Ezra, who was finishing college, hadn't thanked her yet either for making him maintain that level of consistency in his studies.

"Mom," she called hesitantly, "could you help me with this problem?"

Andra glared at her, frowning, "She's helping me."

Celia knew she didn't mean it in a bad way, she knew she was probably just as tired as she was at that moment. After all, it was seven o'clock on a Sunday night for everyone, and if Andra had found herself finishing studying so late too, it was because she too had been given too much homework. She ignored her, waiting for Nesta to speak.

When he didn't answer her, Celia pushed with more annoyance in her voice, "Mom."

Nesta's head snapped toward her, and even this time, Celia knew the answer would be no. The weariness clear in her features. Nesta closed her eyes, scratching a temple with the tip of her pencil, "Can't you ask one of your siblings?"

"Nora and Cal are busy," she let her know, "I don't know where Ezra is."

Andra pointed her to the back door, "He's out with Dad, they're working in the gazebo."

Celia nodded, "Thank you." Nesta gave her a tired smile and then went back to coloring in the sun.

She clutched the book and notebook to her chest as she pushed the door open and the cold outside made her shiver. She could hear the hoarse laughter and low voices of her dad and brother, but she couldn't see them anywhere.

She stepped barefoot into the grass and wiggled her fingers through the blades of grass and then there was silence and Celia was suddenly afraid. If she turned around she could see Nesta and Andra at the table, but in front of her there was only darkness and silence, until a loud bang came from the gazebo and then she heard Cassian cursing, before Ezra burst out laughing.

She grinned, tiptoeing towards the two men.

As soon as she moved the curtain that was the door to the gazebo, a dart flew past her head and she jumped back, eyes wide. She felt her heart in her throat.

"Celia!" had shouted Ezra, sprinting toward her. His eyes, too, were full of fear and he had grabbed her by the arms. Cassian immediately behind him stroked her hair, checking to make sure he hadn't poked her in the face. They both let go a breath of relief when they saw that she was okay.

"Cutie you have to be careful when you come in here, you know that," her dad told her with a carefree smile on his face, "If I caught you, mommy would skin me alive."

All three cackled, Ezra pulling himself up and removing the darts from the board.

"Did you need anything?" asked Cassian.

Celia nodded, remembering the real reason she had gone there, "I can't do this problem-" she started to open the notebook, but Ezra interrupted her.

"Dad and I are just finishing up fixing this actually," he told her with a apologetic grimace, "Could you wait a half hour?"

Celia looked at Cassian hopefully, but her dad was already back handling tools and nails.

She turned to her brother, "But you were playing darts." she said impassively.

Ezra shrugged, "We were just taking a few minutes off, we've been working for hours." then turned to Dad, "Where's the wire?"

Cassian pointed to a spot on the other side of the gazebo and Celia took that gesture as her cue to leave them alone again.

"Nevermind." she whispered, closing the notebook and leaving the gazebo.

She eyed the table at which they ate breakfast every summer morning, thinking that if she started studying there maybe she would die of hypothermia and finally someone would deign to help her. Laughing at how extra she could be at times, she walked back into the house, passing her mom and Andra in silence and heading back to Cal's room. She was going to wait for him to finish the game and then force him to solve the problem for her.

She threw open the door and Cal let out a shriek, startling her.

"God, Cece you scared the shit out of me." he breathed, bringing a hand to his chest, finishing pulling on his pants.

Celia furrowed her brow, "Weren't you playing with Nate?"

Cal nodded absentmindedly, looking around, "See my wallet?"

She pointed it out to him. "Where are you going? You said you'd help me," she said in a whiny tone.

"I said maybe," he smiled slyly at her, "and Raina called me and I'm spending the night at her place." with that he turned and opened the drawer, pulling out two aluminum foil envelopes. As soon as Celia realized what they were, she brought her hands to her eyes.

"Gee," she sighed, then turned around shaking her head, "I didn't need to see that."

Without looking at him, she raised a hand, smiling tightly at the empty space in front of her, "See you tomorrow, have fun."

Cal chuckled as he walked past her and darted down the stairs, "Sure will. See you tomorrow."

Celia shook her head again and then again, trying to erase the image of- she walked back down the hall, opening up the door to her room.

Nora in a completely different position was still talking on the phone and when she saw her she rolled her eyes, telling Iria to wait yet again. She turned on her stomach, raising an eyebrow, "What is it?"

Why is everyone so grumpy today?

Celia was fed up with that attitude and raised her arms to the sky, "Nothing, whatever."

Then they stared at each other for a few seconds and Nora nodded her chin, "Could you please go out? I'm talking to Iria on the phone and-"

"This is my room, too," Celia retorted, pointing out the obvious.

Nora huffed, leaning her head back, "Yes and I'm asking if I can please talk to our cousin in private."

Celia was getting even more nervous. "If you would help me with this problem I could go mind my own business in the living room and I wouldn't have to bother you every five minutes anymore."

Nora stood up, grabbing her by the arm and pushing her out of the room, "I'll help you when I'm done talking on the phone."

Celia didn't even have time to realize that her sister had literally just thrown her out of the room that the door behind her had already been closed. She wanted to go back in and throw herself at Nora and work it out the way they used to work it out when they were kids, when they could still hit each other if they fought - not that their parents ever let them go beyond the first slap or hair pull.  

She walked into the bathroom in the middle of their rooms to see where Cassian and Ezra stood, but from the second floor it was impossible to see inside the gazebo.

She went to Andra's room so she wouldn't risk running into condom wrappers and having to breathe the testosterone-smelling air of her brothers' room and sat down on the bed. She opened the notebook on her lap, rereading the problem statement aloud.

"A rectangular parallelepiped has basic dimensions that measure-" then she stopped.

It was pointless. She couldn't figure out what formulas to apply to calculate what was asked of her in the fourth question. Rereading the text wasn't going to help.

She brought her hands to her hair.

Why is this so hard?

She heard Nora laughing down the hall and felt anger sizzle under her skin.

Ever since she'd gotten the phone for her fourteenth birthday, there hadn't been a night that was one in which she hadn't called Iria. And it had only been a few months since she'd started high school, but Celia didn't understand how those two things had managed to change her sister like that.

She knew Nora still cared about her, but it was getting harder and harder to spend time with her, and Cal was always out with Raina and the twins and it was possible that she didn't see him for days at a time. Although that last part had become an occurrence in recent years.

Nesta had explained to her that it was normal, that they were just growing up and there was nothing to worry about, that they'd get closer once she got older too, but it had hurt Celia to lose Cal in many ways and now she was just scared that the same thing would happen with Nora.

She had nothing against spending her free time with Andra, but she was still little and still liked to play with dolls and Celia would rather hang herself than pretend to be a Doctor Peluche one more time.

She chuckled again this time, imagining herself announcing her death to her parents after her little sister asked her to play.

Then she heard Andra scream with happiness and run up the stairs. She was just in time to get out of the bed and out of the room that her sister was at the top of the stairs.

"I finished my homework!" she yelled, balling up her fists in the air.

Celia smiled at her, "Great."

Then Andra sagged, "Now I'm going to go take a victory nap."

"You've earned it." she walked past her as she yawned and headed down the stairs two steps at a time.

"Mom!" she called skipping the last three, "Can you help me now?"

Nesta made a frustrated sound, turning to her with a bag of frozen green beans in her hand.

"I just finished with Andra, is there any way we could think about this after dinner?"

Celia was about to start crying, but nodded anyway. She went into the living room when her mom resumed cooking, turning on the TV and putting on a channel where they showed how food is made.

When her dad and Ezra came back into the house they were so dirty that Nesta sent them straight to get washed up with the threat of not letting them sit down if they didn't smell flowery and clean.

Celia would have gone along with her mom, adding a sassy retort to make it even more dramatic, but at that moment she couldn't speak.

Cassian had passed behind the couch to go to the bathroom and shower, ruffling her hair and leaving a kiss on her head.

Even there, Celia didn't respond or say any "I love you too" back.

She didn't realize until a few minutes later that she wasn't really watching the show, and when she felt she was about to start crying - from too much accumulated stress and frustration throughout the day - she decided she needed to find a place where she could blow off steam.

Her room was apparently off-limits, Andra's was occupied and she couldn't hide in either her parents' or her brothers' room because both Ezra and her dad would go there to get dressed after their showers.

This only added to all the bad things of the day and on top of all the crap, she knew her mom was going to go to sleep right after dinner. When Nesta was this tired there was no way she was going to be able to stay up a minute longer and even if she could convince her it would just be hell.

Doing math with a calm and rested Nesta was already a nightmare on its own, she didn't want to think about what it would be like to do it with a cranky and tired Nesta.

She silently opened the door that led into the tavern, where the brothers normally spent their Saturday nights with their cousins and friends. The girls still weren't allowed to go down there when everyone was there, and Celia was looking forward to high school so she would get a free pass to attend their nights.

That is, if they would accept her.

She closed the door carefully behind her and ran down the stairs, turning on the light first.

She threw herself on the couch and then hugged her legs, sobbing once. And then again and again until a liberating cry was wracking her body.

She didn't know if it was just the math assignment she couldn't do or if it bothered her to see how much everyone didn't need her at that moment. Andra had mom and Ezra had dad and Nora and Cal had their respective friends and Celia… she felt so lonely right then.

She sobbed particularly loudly and clamped her mouth shut with her hand when she heard her father's footsteps pass by the tavern door. She didn't want him to hear her, it would worry him for nothing.

Yes, it was just because she couldn't get a stupid math problem right. She was overreacting.

She didn't need her parents. Or her brothers.

Or her sister for that matter.

She was sure all of her classmates were getting the exercise done.

She loosened her arms from around her legs and lay down on the couch, closing her eyes and clutching one of the pillows to her chest. It had a vague earthy smell to it, but it smelled like Cal too, and it angered the girl even more as she grabbed a corner of the pillow and threw it across the room, yelling not too loudly.

She didn't know how long she'd been down there, but when Nesta called the family to let them know dinner was ready, Celia sprang to her feet. She pulled the sleeves of her shirt over her hands and ran them over her face to remove the residue of the crying in frantic movements.

She took three deep breaths and then walked slowly up the stair

s. She opened the door just as Ezra walked into the living room and their eyes met.

She immediately lowered her head, so he wouldn't see her face, but her brother put a hand on her shoulder, "Lia..." the silent request to look at him clear as day.

"What?" she replied too surly. She cursed in her head when she noticed her brother stiffen. It was as if she could see his surprised expression.

So much for playing dumb.

"Are you okay?" he asked, then squeezed her shoulder, "Why were you downstairs?"

She moved to escape his grasp, then ran a hand over her face, huffing, "I was looking for something." she replied evasively, trying to make her way to the kitchen. Ezra grabbed her wrist, spinning her around, at which point Celia was forced to look at him.

Ezra had a conflicted expression, somewhere between angry and worried, "What happened? Why are you crying?" he asked, in a tone that didn't allow for a non-answer.

Celia remained silent, her brows knitted in a frown as she tried to swallow the knot that was forming in her throat.

Perhaps he had spoken too loudly, because Cassian's figure appeared in the kitchen doorway, "Who's crying?"

Celia looked towards her dad and it only took a second of seeing him for the crying to return, only harder.

Cassian's face turned completely as he moved Ezra from in front of his daughter and hugged her, lifting her off the ground. Celia wrapped her arms around her father's neck, hiding her face between the crook of his neck and his shoulder, and only sobbed louder as Cassian's hand began massaging her back in circular motions.

She didn't care if she would be thirteen in a few weeks. She didn't care that her father was rocking her like he used to when she was little, she just wanted him to hold her close.

She wrapped her legs around her dad's waist and heard Cassian take a shaky breath, "Ezra why don't you go ahead? We'll be right there."

Celia didn't see or hear her brother's response, but she was grateful to her dad when he moved to the couch, settling down and bringing her to him. She pressed herself tighter against him.

"Lia, what happened?" he whispered in her ear. This only made her sob more loudly, "Ssh, cutie," he murmured as the little girl's breathing became more erratic, "It's okay."

"Celia." her mom's voice made her sit up and Nesta was there, who with only a few steps was behind the couch. She'd seen Andra and Nora's heads pop up from the kitchen as well, but Ezra had called them back and they were gone immediately.

Nesta took a seat next to Cassian, her arms outstretched toward her daughter, but her gaze fixed on her husband's. Celia launched herself at her mother, but kept an arm around her father's neck and Cassian took her hand, squeezing it in his.

The child's tears had soaked his pajama shirt and Nesta's chest tightened. She brushed Celia's hair until she had a clear view of her daughter's face, "What's wrong?"

"I have-" she sobbed, "I had to solve a problem and I couldn't and no one-" every breath she tried to take was broken by a sob. She sniffled, "And then Nora kicked me out of the room and Cal- Cal didn't want to help me and he left and you were-" she ran the hand that wasn't clasped in Cassian's over her face, "You were helping Andra." then she turned to her dad and started crying again, "And then you and Ezra sent me away."

Nesta felt tremendous guilt and was about to apologize to her, for ignoring her, but then Celia said something that completely broke her heart.

"You don't love me like you do the others," she sobbed into her mom's chest.

"Oh, Lia." murmured Cassian, in a hurt tone. He slipped a hand between Nesta and his daughter's stomach and pulled her away from her mother, forcing the woman's arms off Celia.

Cassian sat her back down on his lap and looked into her eyes, leaning down just enough to be at the same height as her. His brow was furrowed and she could see how upset those few words had made him.

"That's absolutely not true." he whispered in a firm tone, watching the redness of his little girl's face, the tears that continued to fall undisturbed.

Nesta stroked her hair, "Your father is right." she added.

"You are all on exactly the same level. There's no such thing as loving one child more than the other," he repeated, "It's not possible."

Celia took more shaky breaths, struggling to speak, "Cal and Nora hate me now."

Nesta felt bad for her little girl. She didn't dare imagine how long she had kept those doubts to herself, couldn't imagine how she could think those things. How she had let one of her children feel that way without even noticing.

"Cal could never hate you and you know it. He loves you too much. Exactly like me and Mom and Nora too, even though it might not seem like it." said Cassian. Then he ran a thumb under her eyes, wiping her cheeks. "I'm sorry if we made you feel left out today, that wasn't our intention, okay?"

Celia nodded, but resumed crying.

"We're a family, we all love each other so much, but we're also numerous," Nesta tried to explain, "It may happen sometimes that no one is available to help you at that moment, but that doesn't mean they don't love you or care about you less than the day before."

Cassian squeezed her hips, "Why didn't you tell us this before?" he asked her, later clarifying, "That you were feeling this way."

Celia shrugged, resting her hands on her daddy's chest, just as she did when she was little.

"I don't want it to get to a point where you can't hold back anymore and you have to hide to cry, okay?" said Cassian to her. Nesta looked at him and saw that his eyes were glazed over. She placed a hand on his leg, but the man's attention didn't shift from his daughter's face. "If you feel that Mama and I and anyone in this house are misbehaving with you, you come tell us and we'll talk about it, without the need to yell at each other and fight." he gave her a hesitant smile. Then he wrapped her up and pulled her against him, kissing her temple, "Please don't think I love you any less just because I'm a stupid, clueless big man who can't manage his time optimally, okay?"

Celia nodded against his neck, starting to play with the end of his hair strands.

"And I'm sorry if I made you think that for even a second," he closed his eyes as he whispered those words to her.

"I love you dad." said Celia in a muffled voice.

Cassian held her tighter to his chest, "I love you cutie."

Nesta cleared her throat, laying a hand on her daughter's back, "I'm sorry if I didn't pay enough attention to you today too and if I sent you out of the kitchen," she murmured, urging her to look at her. Celia broke away from Cassian, getting off his lap and launching herself at her mother, who caught her and stifled a laugh at the sudden weight.

God, she was growing up so fast, too.

"I love you, Lia." she whispered to her, "Don't ever doubt that, please."

"I love you mom."

They stayed rocking their baby girl for a few more minutes, then Cassian made a joke about the food that was getting cold in their plates, and all three of them got up from the couch and walked into a particularly quiet kitchen.

Nesta took a seat next to Andra and kissed her forehead as she took a green bean from the serving plate with her small hand.

Cassian glanced at all his children present and blew out a cough, "Maybe we should talk about eavesdropping as well."

Ezra turned to Celia, who was wiping her face with her napkin despite the fact that it was already dry, "Sorry for making you feel that way." he smiled at her, "I love you."

Celia nodded, focusing on her food.

"I want to apologize too," Nora said more softly, playing with the edge of the tablecloth. "I shouldn't have kicked you out of the room like that, and if you want to later I'll help you with the problem."

Her sister looked at her and opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, "I would love to."

"Sorry." said Andra, with a rather cute frown on her face. She probably didn't quite understand what had happened, but Celia appreciated either way. Even as she gave her the widest smile as she said, "I love you."

Celia looked at everyone at the table, swallowing noisily, "I love you."

She would talk to Cal another time.

They ate between jokes and pranks and after dinner they all jumped on their parents' bed, cuddling until they all fell asleep there. Cassian and Nesta were forced to give up their room for the night, taking refuge in the guest room instead, but not before showing their children how much infinite love they felt for each of them.

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[faedawayyy]

og verse: my plans for the guys.

this gif of chloe is nothing to do with this but i love the bratz lol. triggering topics below! read with caution.

DALLAS JACKSON, 23, third year. 

SECRET: he deals drugs. the jacksons are in the circle of wealthy families in violet springs alongside the calloways, hamiltons, carmichaels, barhams sinclairs etc.but they’re bankrupt, the family has a lot of dark secrets and the main one is that his dad is an addict to both gambling and drugs, to the point where their family is now bankrupt and loaning tons of money from other families are dodgy loan-sharks. the pressure from being the main bread-winner of the family has turned dallas into somebody he never set out to be. 

WHERE HE IS ATM: mentally, dallas is on a rocky road to health. he’s still addicted to drugs himself but after a very messy break-up with zara and a messier one with soraya, he’s working closely with friends to focus on his career and try to at least get his mental health in the right place.  MY PLANS: another downfall is literally inevitable, it’s dallas. i do think he’ll build himself back up to be huge, though, but he has a lot of resentment to a lot of people and can count on both hands the people he actually likes at st judes. i think there’ll be a lot more of OG dallas; hurting people/arguing with those he doesn’t care about etc.  UP COMING PROJECT: justice the album.

MASON CARMICHAEL, 26, fifth year.

SECRET: mason is the only child in the carmichael family who knows that their dad isn’t dead. after getting too close to being tied to a very serious money laundering case, he took his stroke in 2019 as a route out. however, he kept in touch with mason knowing he’s probably the most trustworthy to keep his whereabouts a secret. mason is sitting on the information but it’s getting harder and harder to do when he sees how much the loss of such a key figure is affecting him.  

WHERE HE IS ATM: at the moment, mason and kendall have been trying to start a family and he’s also found out that amy is his daughter. this threw him into a huge dilemma and he clashed extremely hard with madison over it. there are still hard feelings - and towards bash, who was just given the role of amy’s father despite mason knowing nothing about it.  MY PLANS: i think mason is going to want to see amy more and more despite knowing kendall isn’t hot on the idea/neither is madison to an extent. depending on how everything goes, he’ll definitely take madison to caught for joint custody of amy seeing as he’s never refused to be her dad or acknowledge her - he was just never told.  UP COMING PROJECT: princesses, the franchise. 

BRODY CARMICHAEL, 25, fourth year. 

SECRET: brody has very publicly become a father. he and disney have had their relationship watched by the world since they started high school musical at 14. on the outside, he has everything together. he’s the alpha male type; not that that’s great; think the character taylor plays in her “the man” video and pretty untouchable. on the inside, he’s seriously grieving the loss of his dad and isn’t coping well with the pressure of a new family. his drinking problem happens very much behind closed doors and is straining his marriage but divorce isn’t a marriage, both of them are way too invested in being the world’s most perfect couple.

WHERE HE IS ATM: he’s already had a warning from the hospital that another binge like he’s had could be the end of him and he’s on a very stern plan to become sober. again, nobody actually knows this so he’s kind of recovering in silence but i think he’ll genuinely get better.

MY PLANS: it’ll take a long time but he’ll definitely get better. i don’t think plots always have to be about characters spiralling. i’m also planning for him to see his dad by mistake or something of the sort. i feel like a lot of people will assume he’s high/drunk and it’ll really fuck with him but i haven’t sat and thought out of the details. 

UP COMING PROJECT: neighbours 2: sorority rising 

BLAKE CRUZ, 23, third year.

SECRET: he watched his brother die. blake didn’t really know what was happening at the time but when he was 12, his older brother charlie was 16. he’d come in after a night of sneaking out and crept back into their shared room as usual. blake was still awake and heard he was clearly drunk, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. he only knew something was seriously wrong when he fell asleep, and then woke up a few hours later and realised charlie was unconcious on top of his bed, still in his clothes - he never just passed out and always got ready for bed; even when completely wasted. he finally called for his parents but it was too late. by morning, charlie was pronounced dead and blake is living with the guilt of not saying anything because he didn’t want to get his brother in trouble. instead, he just let him die. he still hasn’t come to terms with it and tells charlie’s old friends that his death was undetermined instead.  WHERE HE IS ATM: blake is very good at burying his memories of charlie and focuses on his relationship and career to stop him from falling down a rabbit hole of guilt and self blame. he’s focused on his new marriage and releasing music with the 5SOS boys, although he’s had his own projects in the works for a very long time - he just doesn’t know how to go about it.  UP COMING PROJECTS: CALM, 5sos. 

OTIS KINGSTON, 21, second year.

SECRET: otis actually wants to become a teacher. he’s enrolled in the academy for acting after his uncle pushed him towards doing it and he’s had moderate success but his true passion lies in teaching others and being out of the spotlight. that’s why he’s very slowly failing on purpose; he wants to be a seventh year and be given more normal career paths. it might have something to do with the fact that he was having an affair with his older brother’s girlfriend who also failed her final year and is currently a student teacher. his brother never bothers with her so it makes it easy for the two of them to sneak around.

WHERE HE IS ATM: otis is very good at pretending. he puts on such a show that when he loses out or doesn’t get a role, people think he’s GENUINELY upset when in reality, he probably did it on purpose. he feels a little bad taking the spot from someone who wants it, but he did what he needs to do.

UP COMING PROJECTS: euphoria (?)

NATE HARWOOD, 23, third year.

SECRET: nate never got into st judes to begin with. he cheated himself in by changing some of his exam results in high school. a good friend of his tried to push him to do the right thing and consider his other options but nate was fixated on getting into the school, along with two more of his friends who initially failed. his friend threatened him and told him that he’d let their professors know if he went through with it. to stop him getting anywhere near, nate and his friends spiked his drink to get him too drunk to remember on prom night; however, he was so drunk he fell down a huge staircase outside the venue on the fire escape and ended up paralysed from the waist down. 

WHERE HE IS ATM: nate has more or less buried the high school mistake but every now and then it comes back to haunt him. at the moment, he’s just making music and doing his best to live the dream he risked WAY too much for. 

UP COMING PROJECTS: a good friend is nice

DARIUS RICHARDS, 24, fourth year.

SECRET: darius is actually a west ivy’s student. he was selected by his principle to secretly enroll in st judes to check out the competition. he’s also behind a lot of the sabotages that have been happening in the school (including the up and coming fire). his main aim is to make sure that west ivy’s is better than st judes in everyway, no matter what it takes. 

WHERE HE IS ATM: he’s hiding in plain sight. nobody suspects a thing from him. darius is being extra careful with the projects he releases and to always stay a little bit below complete stardom - it makes it easier for him to navigate and do things unnoticed. but, he has met people he genuinely likes too and does his best to save them from sabotage. 

UP COMING PROJECTS: starboy

TATE SIMPSON, 26, fifth year. 

SECRET: back to the tragedy in his home...it’s true that tate was never harmed by anyone growing up; not physically, anyway. but that doesn’t mean his home was perfect. his parents were young when they had him and he grew up with little money. this put a lot of strain on them and his dad couldn’t deal with it. he resorted to cheating, drinking and being wildly abusive. there were mornings tate turned up at school without sleeping because he’d been up all night hearing his parent’s argue and fight. it escalated. his father moved on to beating his mother and he’d feel helpless. one night while they were arguing, the fire alarm went off due to them leaving the oven on and it stopped them. so, the next time the fighting got severe and tate heard his mother being beat again, he had an idea. he grabbed a lighter from his parents bedroom and set fire to one of his stuffed animals to set the fire alarm off - it did, and his parents stopped arguing, but not before the fire had spread across the top floor of their home. the fire brigade rescued tate and his father, but not his mother. she passed away and he’s blamed himself ever since. nobody ever found the real case, but that doesn’t make it much better for him.

WHERE HE IS ATM: he’s new and just starting out! 

UP COMING PROJECTS: big time adolescence 

MARCUS CARMICHAEL, 26, fifth year.

SECRET: marcus is often used as his uncle’s scapegoat. james never wanted to get leo, mason or brody too tied into the shadier side of the family business so marcus; child of a single mother and secretly desperate for an in to their world was the perfect candidate. he’s never minded either, to be honest. if he gets paid for shifting some money around or scamming a big time director, so be it. however, the last job he did for james was way too intense, even for him. it included the trafficking of janey and collecting the money made off of her. he had a chance to save her, he knows that, but not without exposing his uncle’s dark secrets. he was never DIRECTLY involved but he knows that doesn’t make him any better. 

WHERE HE IS ATM: marcus is focusing on his acting career and making a conscious effort to be better and stay out of trouble. with ghosts from his past constantly showing up, though, it really is proving to be difficult. 

UP COMING PROJECTS: hemlock grove

ANTHONY HENSHAW, 27, fifth year. 

SECRET: anthony is a stalker. he fixates on people and it gets intense. after being bullied in high school, he latches on to the people who’re nice to him and reads too much into small acts of kindness. he can actually be incredibly dangerous; not many people have noticed yet. 

WHERE HE IS ATM:  he’s currently fixated on natasha but always open for more.

UP COMING PROJECTS: probably some kind of deal with spotlight to shoot different students idk 

KRISTOFER NILSEN, 27, fifth year.

I’LL DO HIM WHEN I CBA 

PHILIP LAWSON, 27, fifth year. 

SECRET: the stunt at the calloway isn’t random. his dad persuaded him to get it in order to get more information on gerald and more specifically, his account details. believe it or not, philip has already managed to access one of his minor accounts after snooping through a secret office of his, but it only had hundreds in there. he’s ok though; he’s ready to play the long game - and steal from all his less privacy-savy friends while he’s waiting.

WHERE HE IS ATM: just starting out! 

UP COMING PROJECTS: big time adolescence/bloom

JUDE BAKER, 18, first year.

SECRET: he’s family are super broke, but he doesn’t let on TOO much. everybody in town knows that his family own the motel that’s on the border of violet springs and london, but that leads to people assuming he’s quite well off or at least average which is how he likes it. his dad is way too carried away with his dream of being a hotel owner which has lead to the baker family selling everything. he literally lives in the motel and really doesn’t have much else to report on.

WHERE HE IS ATM: he’s quiet, anxious and i feel like he’d have one friend who isn’t exactly popular either. all through attending springs park, he was bullied by assholes and st judes was meant to be his fresh start, but he’s realised everybodys worse and with a bigger ego. he keeps himself to himself and is just tries not to be a target. 

UP COMING PROJECTS: stranger things >:) 

EZRA HUGHES, 25, fourth year.

AGAIN I’LL DO IT WHEN I CBB 

[somedayonbroadway]

I think all the Newsie's AU's could be really entertaining but I would most like to know about the Leverage one and the Lilo & Stitch one.

Okay, so I had two people in a row ask for Lilo and Stitch while also requesting another outline, so I’ll be doing Lilo and Stitch very soon.

But… I LOVE this one.

So, for those of you who haven’t seen Leverage, you can watch it on Amazon Prime Video. It’s amazing and I adore it. My favorite character is Hardison. He’s everything. Nothing he says ever gets old. Hardison and Parker are literally so freaking cute that I just can’t. And I think I’ve already talked about how Spot Conlon is very similar to Eliot Spencer, at least the way I write him. So this’ll be fun.

So anyways…

Leverage AU

Characters

Jack Kelly — Nate Ford

Katherine Plumber — Sophie Devereau

Spot Conlon — Eliot Spencer

Racetrack Higgins — Parker

Albert DaSilva — Alec Hardison

Jack Kelly: The Mastermind

Jack is an alcoholic

He’s only twenty five when this story starts.

He used to work for an insurance company but after that same company let his baby brother die, refusing to pay for his treatment, Jack quit and has been a “functioning alcoholic” ever since.

Jack has anger issues that he refuses to acknowledge

Jack used to pride himself on being emotionally broken, but still never crossing over to the “dark side” of the law.

He’s the son of a numbers runner who was emotionally abusive

Was originally trying to become a catholic priest as he was strong in his faith but has since strayed a bit after losing Charlie, the only person in the world he truly loved

After meeting his team, Jack grows very protective of them, viewing them as a sort of family that he’d never really had, all except for Charlie.

Jack first meets the team when a man comes to him, begging him to keep an eye on a group of thieves as they execute a job he’s hired them for. After they are all double crossed by this man, narrowly escaping death, they come together to set things right and the team begs Jack to continue leading them as Jack shows them how good it feels to do the right thing, even if the right thing requires bending or breaking the rules.

Jack grew up extremely poor but is an excellent artist and chess player.

Jack likes to cook.

Jack loves to learn new things when he can’t drink to continue distracting himself.

Jack is the one to typically choose the clients his new team takes on.

Jack took Charlie in the second he turned eighteen, unable to trust his father who was a no good drunk.

Jack hates that he’s becoming just like his dad but refuses to stop.

Jack is more protective of Race than anyone else, as Race’s optimism and energy remind him of Charlie.

Jack serves as a mentor of sorts to Albert.

He is kept in check by Spot.

Jack is very quick witted, moving from one plan to the next as things change.

Jack gets his own father killed after a mission gone wrong.

Jack gets arrested protecting his team who he knows will go away for much longer than him for all the crimes they’ve committed.

Jack is the one who introduces the group to Katherine, the best grifter he’s ever seen, with whom he ends up falling for.

Katherine Plumber: The Grifter

Katherine is a struggling actress who can’t perform to save her life, though is the best grifter in the business.

Katherine is very careful of her identity, meaning that absolutely no one knows her real name.

Katherine speaks nearly eleven languages.

Katherine has difficulty maintaining real relationships as it’s hard to decipher her acts from reality.

Before becoming a member of Leverage she focuses heavily on art theft

After meeting the team, she bonds with Race over art

Katherine manages to fake her death twice in two years and attend her own funeral at both

As Katherine is the only woman on the team, she often feels as though she doesn’t belong, but all of her boys adore her and protect her at all costs.

Katherine has an abundance of connections around the world, though none of them know her true identity.

Prides herself on long cons that she’d pulled in the past all by herself.

Katherine never reveals how she grew up to her friend as she is very good at letting things go and never getting attached but all of that changes when Jack reaches out to her.

Katherine is wanted in five countries.

Successfully stole the Stanley Cup and replaced it with a replica, though she does not care for Hockey and did all of it out of spite because someone told her she couldn’t.

Katherine makes a game of keeping her real name from Jack as she insists he has to earn the right to know it.

Katherine falls for Jack nearly as fast as he falls for her.

Though Jack and Katherine do sleep together a few times, they agree to keep it a secret for the good of the team.

Though Katherine and Jack aren’t much older than the rest of the team, they take on a sort of parental role for Race and Albert who both grew up orphans

Katherine eventually opens up her own acting company where she finds she is an excellent coach, though she was never a performer herself because she lacked a certain truth element when she would try to perform on stage or on screen.

Katherine is very close with the whole team, but is able to relax while around Spot, as he’s more an equal to her than Race and Albert, and Jack and her have a lot of tension sometimes.

She shares the most with Spot on accident as Spot is easy to talk to.

Runs away at some point to “find herself” after an old team of hers tries to kill her and the rest of her current team and comes back just in time for Jack to be arrested, saving all of them.

Spot Conlon: The Hitter

Spot Conlon was in and out of the mob all growing up. (Eliot was black ops, but I want Spot to be younger, this is different).

He began training when he was very young and is a very skilled “retrieval specialist”

Spot has had to kill before and is ashamed of his past. When asked about it, he calmly asks his team not to get curious because he would tell them what he did 

Though the whole team consists of criminals, Spot believes them, especially Race and Albert, to be innocent and naive and he constantly looks out for them as best he can, acting as a sort of big brother for them until he catches feelings for Race (yeah sorry guys that’s gonna be different too)

Spot is very calm and never shows any kind of panic.

Spot is a trained chef

He grows up only fighting, learning to not get attached

The leverage team is his gateway to figuring out that he is capable of love

His role on the team is protection. He is always around to keep his team out of trouble when something goes wrong or even when things go right and he has to disarm people on purpose.

Spot is wicked smart and is able to discern things from noises, smells, walking patterns etc. always stating “It’s a very distinctive __”

Knows various types of martial arts and uses them regularly

Though not technically a grifter, Spot has an easy time playing different roles and can blend in easily with a crowd.

Hostage negotiator

Survivalist

He’s extremely protective of his team and is willing to go great lengths to make sure they’re safe and secure

Has a budding relationship with Albert who constantly gets himself into trouble that Spot has to get him out of.  

Was known as Sean before Race showed up and gave him a non threatening nickname based on his freckles

Can play the guitar

Manages to get shot at constantly, taking a few bullets but refusing to walk with crutches.

He loves teaching Katherine how to defend herself

Loves teaching Race knew things as well

Speaks six languages

Spot is not familiar with a lot of technology, causing him to often need Albert’s help with that kind of thing

Has rescued Race and Albert from being kidnapped or hurt the most

As times goes on, finds himself more and more in love with his team and really does love to protect them

Sees Albert as a little brother, even if he won’t admit it.

Racetrack Higgins: The Thief

Has been a thief since he was very young, maybe seven, but only gives his team made up stories about how it all started

Has a hard time coping with grief or pain, which is why he likes to make up stories about his past.

Abusive father killed Race’s mother when he was very young

Race grew up in foster care until he ran away at twelve, eventually getting raised on the street by an elite thief who spotted his talents and offered to train him, making him the best thief in the world

Is socially awkward on account of being a loner for most of his life and rarely ever opens up about his childhood

Despite this, Race is very loud and curious, almost childlike with his team, thus why Katherine and Jack become sort of parental figures toward him.

Race did have an older brother who got hit by a car when he was very young, after going out to get food for him. Race blames himself to this day.

Desperate for some kind of real family, besides the thief who trained him, Race meets an older foster brother who teaches him how to boost cars, along with “teaching him other things”. Though his is abused physically and sexually by this boy, Race doesn’t know any better and hangs on his every word, believing that the older boy wanted to help him.

Race is arrested when he’s fourteen, taking the fall for the boy who taught him how to boost cars

Race was a getaway driver at thirteen, and a good one at that.

He is constantly reminded of how he’s not normal, taking a toll on his mental stability as he’s often referred to as insane or inhuman

Race is fairly naive, but does live up to his title as the best thief in the world

Enjoys stealing diamonds more than anything else.

Quickly becomes best friends with Albert and is curious on how to get Spot to open up.

Never went to high school but is still amazingly smart as it takes a lot of math and science and so forth to be a thief.

Enjoys using tasers as a weapon of choice.

Has a bit of a sadistic mind as he enjoys watching Spot beat up on some of their enemies, especially the ones who’d tried to come at him, sometimes even visualizing that they’re the boy who left him behind after using him constantly all those years ago

Eventually does have to confront Drake again, but has his whole team to protect him.

Really loves cash

Is shocked the first time Spot kisses him because, he has been abused before, but kisses Spot again, telling him how different it feels

That’s the first time Race truly opens up about his past and Spot figures out that someone had used him

Has a fear of horses

Is not anywhere near afraid of heights

Has trust issues (obviously) despite the insistence that Albert and Spot (and of course Jack and Katherine but most Al and Spot) would never let anything happen to him

Actually trusts Jack the most as he came from the good side of the law

Does not like psychics

Katherine coaches Race in his social skills, helping him embrace his sexuality and slightly rely on those around him for connection and comfort

Race’s real name is Antonio Higgins, but he’s known across the world as only ‘Racer’

Albert DaSilva: The Hacker

Much like Race, Albert grew up in foster care, though through most of his childhood, he lived with a woman he refers to as “Nana”. Not his actual grandmother, but a foster mother who he adored and actually took care of him.

Often refers to himself as a geek and prides himself in being one as it is the “age of the geek, baby”

Is relied on heavily by the team as he makes a lot of their equipment (eg: coms, modified cell phones, button cams)

Provides CIA level aliases for his team.

Owns the teams vehicle, “Lucille” and is pissed when they manage to destroy not one model, but two

Has an unhealthy obsession with orange soda

Is physically very fit, but is not good in combat situations

Being an introvert for most of his life, Albert took to technology and learned just about everything one can about them

Albert is straight in this one (sorry for my Ralbert fans) but, as Race’s best friend, is constantly trying to subtly get Race to admit he has feelings for Spot

Though he and Spot didn’t get along too well at first, they eventually see themselves as brothers and look out for each other

Claustrophobic

Gets buried alive during a job gone wrong and is showed just how much he’s loved when his team manages to rescue him, believing him to be dead at first

Manages to keep the team very well paid and secured so the government can’t find them

Hacked into the pentagon when he was only twelve

When he was younger, his nana forced him off the computer for one hour out of every day to “give his eyes a rest from the screen” and Albert learns how to play the violin

Mostly used his skills for fun when he was younger, just wanting to prove he could do something

Skipped his senior prom to hack into medical records and get his nana on a high priority list

Has always looked out for the people he cared about

The only one Albert didn’t trust was Spot, as Spot intimidates him until Spot started showing interest in what he did, never commenting on it, but always looking very impressed

Oversells himself while grifting and often relies on Katherine to help guide him

Cares about humanity and the big picture, much like Jack. This is where their bond comes from as Katherine, Race and Spot have spent most of their lives looking out for themselves

Has a soft spot for little kids

Enjoys messing with Spot and making bets with him, even sparking in them having their own handshake which consists of them subtly high diving twice at waist level and then fist bumping. It’s often how they seal a bet or agree on a plan

What do you guys think? Any scenes you wanna see? Any other characters you wanna hear about? Let me know!

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[inkribbon796]

Like a House of Cards Ch. 9: Magic and Might

Summary: The heroes and villains learn more about the troubling future.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Dark was coming to, slowly, with a pounding headache. A headache that was made worse because two people were literally screaming directly over him.

Wilford and Brody had gotten into a bit of a disagreement. Brody had gotten upset that Dark was just lying on a cold table and had gone looking for a pillow or some kind of cushion. But Wilford used the Void to grab what he wanted before Brody could take two steps to leave the room. That caused a light argument about how Wilford wouldn’t have done anything if Brody hadn’t spoken up. Which Wil immediately argued that was not the case. And that led to the louder argument that had woken Dark in the first place.

“Mhmmm!” Dark complained, his aura not quite strong enough to lash out at them without worsening his migraine. He was a little dazed as the memories of before he’d been hit hadn’t come back yet.

“Great, yeh fookin’ woke ‘im up,”[1] Brody complained.

“I woke him up?” Wil argued heatedly. “The absolute nerve!”

Nestor had his head in his hands, “Fuck, I forgot that they do this when we put them together.”

“Wil?” Dark called out, his aura naturally tugging Wil closer.

Wilford instantly turned to go and tend to Dark, Brody looked away and sighed in defeat, taking a seat close by. “Yes, my Darkling?”

Dark grabbed Wilford and pulled him close, Wil realized he was shaking. Brody looked over, noticed the shaking and gripped his knees as he forced himself to sit there.

“My sweet licorice,” Wil frowned as he didn’t try to escape or wriggle free from the Entity. “What’s wrong?”

“You almost died,” Dark told Wil, who looked very confused.

“My Darkling, death is—” Wil chuckled, running a hand through Dark’s hair.

Dark grabbed his hand, “No, Wil, that blast would have killed you. I barely survived. You don’t have enough aura to survive an attack like that.”

Wilford thought on that, “Well even if I did die, I would haunt you. Here let me—”

Wil tried to pull away, but Dark held him in a vice grip. Panic flooded the Entity’s mind.

“No! I can’t let you be attacked by something like that,” Dark ordered. “You can’t—”

Dark’s voice became choked and Wil leaned in to gently kiss his forehead.

“I’m not going anywhere my dear, I promise,” Wil smiled and Dark seemed to calm down a bit now that Wilford wasn’t pulling away again.

After a bit, Dark pulled himself up, and noticed everyone still in the room. He groaned and protectively curled his own aura around himself. He didn’t have enough aura at the moment to spare to make some sort of display of power. Which made him uneasy. Wil and his children were safe but who even knew how long he’d been out for. He had an image to uphold and he was wasting it sleeping on a desk of all things.

As the Entity’s thoughts were thinking of something that would help him look like he wasn’t about to fall apart, he felt aura tap towards his own and his cracked and battered soul was so eager for more aura to take that he grabbed it without thinking and felt like it was massaging the inside of his scalp. The feeling made Dark feel better almost immediately.

Dark’s migraine blissfully began to fade and he recognized the almost tangy sweet of Wil’s aura creeping towards his own. Dark thought it was weird but he was desperate for aura and trying not to show it maybe he could—

Wil’s aura aggressively shoved the first aura — Brody’s — off of Dark. The headache flared back into his senses and left Dark a little whiplashed.

“The hell was that? He was fookin’[2] calmin’[3] down!” Brody spat at Wilford.

Dark looked around the room in confusion before he saw Anti. The individual he initially assumed was the cause of the argument. But Anti wasn’t coming over and Wil and Brody were on either side of him. The glitch wasn’t even looking their way, he was just hovering over Henrik. The German doctor was with Iplier still tending to the Host’s and the Dealer’s eyes.

Nestor got in to pull Brody away before it got violent and Wil stood next to Dark who was soon distracted by Illinois and King who were trying to catch Dark up on what everyone had discussed while he was unconscious.

Ethan and Silver were going through the huge file of pictures and videos.

The former sidekick paused on a group shot of Dark sitting in his warehouse office with J.J, Brody, Nestor, and someone who looked a lot like Henrik just in suspenders and without his lab coat.

“Hey, I thought you guys said Henrik was dead?” Ethan asked.

“Henrik’s not in that picture, it’s—” Nestor told him, but looked at it again before doing a double take and snatching the screen back. “Oh shit! It is.”

Brody looked up, when Nestor walked over, “Hey Chase, this is Heinz’s last picture.”

“Huh,” Brody leaned to look at the screen. “This was the fourth right? Not the last time I saw him in the front, but definitely the last picture.”

“What happened ta[4] him?” Anti hissed. Now that Glitch Logan had been physically taken away from him he was far calmer, but he hovered protectively around Henrik.

“Well,” Brody began. “When the hunters were burnin’ Brighton down an’ I was runnin’ around trying ta help stop it, yah were tryin’ ta protect Kay an’ his kid from some ‘a the hunters. The fight almost killed yeh an’ Henrik agreed ta let yah hitch a ride until yeh got better. But yeh never left an’ after ten years yeh both became the Mortician.”[5]

Anti just stared at him in alarm.

“Same thing happened to Nate and Mare, it was just more traumatic for them,” Nestor told Anti, before immediately changing the subject back to the Mortician. “Morty’s alright, comes into town every Thursday to shoot the shit and show off his knife collection he got from you. I think Henrik might still be in there but it’s been ages since I could tell the difference. I think Dark can but I don’t ask him about what Mortician does and I have enough to do every day. Which is a shame.”

Anti came over and looked at the screen, uncertainty and a bit of unease in his eyes. There were some pictures of this . . . Anti didn’t know whether to call him a new demon or not. He had Henrik’s face and something in Anti’s long dead soul twisted a bit. He didn’t like the idea of Henrik with some other demon, even if it was some other version of himself.

Henrik, who was finished cleaning up the Dealer’s eyes walked over, “May I see?”

“No!” Anti tried to surge over to destroy the drive and the tablet it was in before Henrik could see it.

“Anti, don’t be fookin’[2] difficult, just let him see it,” Brody shouted at him. “If Brighton’s not burnin’ then Mort’s got no reason ta e’en exist.”[6]

“Anti!” Henrik, starting to shout at him in a mix of German and English as he stomped over and took the screen away to look at it.

“If somezing[7] involves me, zen[8] I deserve to know!” Henrik shouted at Anti.

Henrik studied the picture for a bit, curious and a little nervous about this future version of himself.

After a minute of seeing his own body moving in a way that was similar and alien all at the same time, he handed it back to Nestor as the group went through the videos. Chase saw some of the pictures taken of his future self talking to Dark in the mob boss’s office. Himself in a vest and button-up and what was obviously a real gun on his belt.

Everything about the photographic evidence making him uncomfortable.

As most of the heroes and villains were still in the meeting room they’d been originally brought to, Logan went down to the ground floor parking lot. His glitchy counterpart had to move there to help build whatever device he’d been working on. The Googles and Bing were helping him to assemble the machine parts that were being constructed and printed.

Roman hovered right next to him, apprehensive about if the glitch would attack or not. Janus was with him and the other Sides were hanging back within earshot.

“Are you able to talk and work at the same time?” Logan asked the computer.

The image glitched and the young demon was on the monitor, as if he was simply being recorded in another room. “Such is the wonder of automation. We have much to discuss.”

“We do,” Logan agreed, feeling nervous but tried his best to hide it. “You spoke of a Collider earlier. What is that?”

Schematics popped up on the screen for Logan to see and scroll through. It was some advanced laser or turbine.

“I have been working on this for the past three resets, when it became clear we and the Dealer had different end goals,” Glitch Logan announced. “It is a fusion of magic and technology powerful enough to cut through dimensional rifts.”

“What would be the purpose of such a device?” Logan asked, “you are from the future.”

The computer showed images of the generator that Logan’s drive and three Sides’ lockets had been in. “After our last resulting failure, I decided it was time to ensure the Core Sides’ survival so that was why I constructed my generator. Which, I had plans to use Anti as a power source. He was older than I am and 99% likely to survive with little more than some scraps against his soul. After a month or two he would have been fine.”

“Why were we in that generator?” Logan demanded.

“Well, after I would reclaim Anti,” Glitch Logan began, as if his answer would be oblivious, “I planned on using the excess energy to finish cracking the souls of every single Side. If that wasn’t enough to turn all of us into instant demons, nothing would.”

“You heinous monster!” Roman shouted. “More proof you are not who you say you are!”

“I would merely be finishing what Wilford’s soul splitter started,” Glitch Logan announced gleefully. “It is far easier to kill all of you as you now stand. I am trying to keep all of us alive. I do not care if I am liked or thanked for what I have done. My actions so far have led to not only your survival so far, but made Dark suspicious and guarded enough to save Wil.”

“So the mages and hunters you murdered were worth nothing but power to you!” Logan roared.

“Yes,” Glitch Logan admitted with no hesitation. “Their magic would have fueled the generator to ensure a successful merge, but now that Wilford is still alive the Host has agreed to use our Anomaly to fuel the generator instead. Meaning that Anti’s involvement will be completely unnecessary. I have already handed over the magical amulets I used to store their magic to the Host, Dark can keep them, he needs them more than I do at the moment.”

“Glad to know that sentient life will not be used for your personal gain,” Logan spat. Anti was his enemy, but he did not deserve to be turned into a living battery. None of the mages or hunters deserved to be turned into batteries.

“You have lost nothing, you would be prepared to roil in your own grief if I were not here!” Glitch Logan spat. “Roman and Virgil will not die, and Patton will not be hunted like an animal. I have saved them.”

Logan didn’t have an easy rebuttal.

“Maybe you have, but this is our future now,” Janus proclaimed, nudging himself protectively in front of Logan. “We will make of it what we will.”

The glitch demon chuckled, his screen version pushing up his glasses, “I suppose you will. I’d be more concerned if I wasn’t sure they were still in capable hands.”

Because it was a screen, it was unclear if Glitch Logan was looking at anyone in particular, but Logan felt it. As if he was being specially targeted.

“Why decide on the generator now, and not earlier?” Logan tried to move the conversation, Janus looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

“That was because I was so close last time,” Glitch Logan proclaimed. “The Host forced a reset, I didn’t know that he could do that without J.J but apparently the Anomaly is more powerful than I could have imagined if it granted him the ability to do so.”

“Why did he reset you, if things were going so well?” Logan asked.

“Hmmm,” the Glitch hummed. “Uncertain, but Chase went into the dome, it shrank into a smaller one and after five seconds we were standing at the same spot we always do when we are thrown back. Chase was crying and immediately he and I got into a fight with the Host. It was some nonsense about a doll and that the Host didn’t want to discuss him. All I know about this “doll” is that it had something to do with Dark. I can infer that Dark had some reaction and whatever the Anomaly made in that dome, it scared the Host.”

“Scared him, how?” Virgil asked, he’d been listening in and came over.

“Uncertain, but the results speak for themselves,” Glitch Logan smiled as a camera detached on a long cord to look at Virgil. “Come out from hiding, my sweet nightmare?”

“Get away from him,” Roman nudged himself in front of Virgil, drawing his sword.

Glitch Logan was smiling, “So full of life, I’m glad something is finally going right. Now if you all will excuse me, I have to ensure my future.”

Then his video turned off and the construction on the machine sped up.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations

1. Great, you fucking woke him up

2. fucking

3. calming

4. to

5. When the hunters were burning Brighton down and I was running around trying to help stop it, you were trying to protect Kay and his kid from some of the hunters. The fight almost killed you and Henrik agreed to let you hitch a ride until you got better. But you never left and after ten years you both became the Mortician.

6. If Brighton’s not burnin’ then Mort’s got no reason ta e’en exist.

7. something

8. then

[mechaneyi]

Little bit of fanfic for The Wayhaven Chronicles, featuring Detective Azar Balar and Adam du Mortain. It's been a story in my head for a long time and I finally wrote it. By no means am I brilliant writer, but it brings me joy. Thank you @seraphinitegames for the amazing work you've created, the inspiration you have provided and being a light in dark days.

Criticism is welcome, but please keep it constructive and civilized. Please keep in mind that this is my interpretation of the characters and they may not agree with yours and even less with what Mishka has planned.

If you enjoy it, please share. It's incredibly rewarding and motivating. Thank you for reading.

---

Blood & Rain

Azar can’t even remember when it really started to go sideways. Was it when they split up to look for firewood? When he investigated what looked like blood on the forest floor or when he triggered the trap that had driven a wooden spike into his side under excruciating pain? Or maybe his scream that alerted the Trappers.

This was supposed to be a week of vacation - just Adam and him in the wooded mountains. Time spend away from the knowing smile of Nate, the prodding quips from Felix, the amused grin from Mason and the agency, as well as Rebecca. It wasn’t that Azar disliked any of them, but it could be difficult finding some privacy with Adam, something he enjoyed greatly, now that the stubborn vampire had allowed the walls to crumble.

But instead of a well deserved break, Adam is running through the rain, with Azar over his shoulder, in an attempt to put some distance between them and the hunters.

Both are bleeding, though Azar noticeably more severe.

He doesn’t know how long Adam has been running, all he knows is that every stride he takes, agonizes the wound in his lower abdomen and all he can do is to try his hardest not to scream and give away their position. And so he focuses on the fast breathing of Adam and the sound of the heavy rain hitting the canopy high above him.

It feels like an eternity until Adam finally slows down, his breath now ragged.

“You have to stop.” Azar says with gritted teeth. Despite his own pain, he’s worried about his vampire. He’s expecting Adam to argue but to his surprise, he is not.

“We’ll rest here for now.” He says instead and gently lifts Azar of his shoulder, who lets out a low yell when he’s moved. Before he leans against the broad shoulders of Adam, he can see the large stain he left on his shoulder. He knows he’s in trouble - that they are in trouble. They are out in the middle of nowhere, no agency facility nearby, no town close and their communication abilities limited, when they had to leave their equipment behind.

This area was supposed to be safe. There had been no reports of Trapper or rogue activity.

When he finally turns around, he can see why Adam stopped. It’s a small cabin, probably from human hunters. No smoke is rising and no lights can be seen. It appears to be deserted.

Azar slings his arm around Adam’s waist tighter. The difference in height doesn’t allow him to place it around his neck. But Adam does what he can to support him, moving closer to the wooden structure.

“Let us hope they have a first aid kit and possibly a radio.” The imposing vampire attempts to sound optimistic but looking at the tiny cabin, Azar has his doubts. He wouldn’t mind a nice surprise though.

“At least it will be dry.” Azar says between heaves.

When they reach the door, Adam snaps the lock that attempts to keep them out and opens it.

The inside is the most welcoming thing Azar has ever seen. A couch, a fireplace, a tiny kitchen area and a few armchairs and two doors. All of the furniture seemingly selfmade. No wonder, considering how far off the beaten path they are. Everything bought was small enough to be carried here by a person.

Before he can distract himself further by the new surroundings, Adam slowly places him on the couch and once again, a pained groan escapes Azar’s lips. Automatically, he clutches his side and he can feel the warmth of blood slicking his freezing fingers. He leans back, eyes closed and takes a deep breath, something he regrets immediately but it helps to calm his nerves a bit. When he finally opens his eyes again, he sees Adam.

Those green eyes are filled with exhaustion, pain and deep concern, his brows furrowed as he stares at the wound. There’s something else in those eyes, something Azar never thought he would see - hunger. But despite everything, he’s not concerned. He trusts Adam and he trusts his self control. He had brought it up before - that he’d be willing to give some of his blood to help, but Adam wouldn’t have it.

But now… they’re options are severely limited and the modified weapons of the Trappers had not left Adam unscathed. His coat shows signs of burns at several spots, and there are a few smaller injuries on his hand and face that haven’t healed. Adam was supposed to have his ration this night but that obviously didn’t work out and now he’s running on fumes.

“I will look around. Keep pressure on the wound. I will see what I can find.” With hesitation, Adam turns away and starts to search the small cabin. Azar attempts to take off his coat. It’s soaking wet and he can feel the cold creeping into his limbs and bones. It’s not a good sign and he knows it. He knows, that even if there is a first aid kit… it may not change anything.

Ever since his car accident during his rebellious youth, that required him to be resuscitated, he’s felt, when his life hung in the balance. Just as he felt it, after Murphy had torn into his neck. And now… now he feels it, too.

With a lot of effort, grunts and curses, he finally rids himself of the drenched coat. He’s scared to look at his side and when he finally does, he wishes he hadn’t. It’s an angry looking, bloody mess. If it had been any other situation, leaving the spike in the wound would have been preferable but the contraption had hit him with enough force to first impale him and when throw him off. He wonders if that was the intention, to ensure that the victim would bleed and be easier to catch. It would make sense for supernatural folks, who often have an increased healing ability - something Azar severely lacks. It would weaken them but they could heal, after they were caught.

And so he pushes the coat against the exit wound and presses his hands against his abdomen, gritting his teeth hard, not to scream. He closes his eyes, trying to calm his breathing and keeping the nausea at bay and only listening to the drumming of the rain against the roof…

“Azar!” He hears his name being called but opening his eyes is hard. “C’mon, look at me, Azar!” The desperation in Adam’s voice gives him the strength to open his eyes - ever so slowly.

Adam is kneeling in front of him and Azar can literally feel some of the tension dispersing from those broad shoulders when their eyes meet.

“You have to stay awake.” He says, placing a hand on his leg. “You cannot give up.” The softness in his expression is one that Azar has become incredibly fond off and he doesn’t want to leave it behind, not if he can help it.

“I found a radio. We may be able to contact the agency.” While that certainly would be a good thing, Azar isn’t sure if that will matter. The numbness that has started to spread through his body, the fact that even lifting his head seems to be an insurmountable task, tells him that his time is limited. He doesn’t want to die, but he has to be realistic about it. And yet, he can’t bring himself to tell Adam. He’s not sure, if the vampires knows - deep down - or if his own condition and weakend state hides the truth from him.

Azar tries to get up but fails miserably. He’s too weak.

“What are you doing?” Adam asks, deep creases on his forehead.

“Going to the radio with you.” Azar responds with slurred words. When Adam shakes his head, Azar says what has to be said, even if he doesn’t want to.

“It could be the last time I can talk to my mother.” Adam tilts his head and squeezes his eyes shut. He knows.

“Do not say that.” The expression on his face when he next looks at Azar is heartbreaking. “I cannot lose you.”

“Adam…” is all he can reply and with all his strength, he reaches for the large hand still resting on his leg. There’s no need for further words to convey their feelings.

But there is something he needs to say.

“I want you to drink from me.” Adam’s eyes shoot open in shock.

“No, absolutely not!” The determination behind those words is a bit annoying.

“Adam, you need to feed. Without you at full strength… there’s no chance…” If he’ll die anyway, he wants Adam to survive, to get rid of the Trappers or at least escape from them.

“You lost too much blood already. If I would drink from you…” He doesn’t finish the sentence. But the severity in those words tells Azar that Adam won’t budge. At least not now. He sighs.

“Help me up, then?” Azar eventually says and despite clear hesitation, Adam eventually does so. Being lifted up doesn’t hurt as much anymore - not a good sign. And so they make their way to the other room. It’s small, like the rest of the cabin and just about fits the radio setup and two people in. Adam places Azar on the chair and after giving him one more concerned look, gets to work on the radio.

It takes a while and Azar loses track on what he is doing, only occasionally hearing Adam’s voice calling for the agency and stating his name. But then, suddenly, there’s a response.

“Adam? Thank goodness! You were due to call hours ago! What’s happening? Are you two ok?” Nate’s soft voice gives Azar some energy. It’s good hearing the others again - even if it’s one last time.

“Negative. We encountered Trappers. Azar is seriously wounded. We need medical assistance immediately and an extraction. Over.”

“Adam? Where is my son? What happened?” This time it’s Azar’s mother, Agent Balar. The fear is thick in her voice.

“He was caught in a trap and is severely injured. I am sorry, Rebecca.” It’s information he never wanted to share with the Agent again. Of that, Azar is certain. Adam has an incredibly respect for his mother and with everything, he’s likely blaming himself for what happened.

“Give me the radio.” Azar says and reaches out with a shaking hand. Adam nods and hands him the device.

“Mom?” He says and he hears a relieved sigh on the other line.

“Azar! What happened?” She cannot hide the trembling in her voice.

“Mom, I’m hurt - badly. I…” he swallows hard. “I’m not gonna make it home.” Adam stares at him with such a mournful expression, that it tightens his chest.

“No! No, you’ll be fine. Give us your location and we’ll send help!” She cannot cope with the words a mother never wants to hear.

“They won’t make it in time.” The truth. “I don’t have long and the Trappers could be here any minute.” Adam falters and sinks to his knees. Azar wants nothing more than to embrace him and tell him that everything will be alright.

“No, no, no! You don’t know that.” She wants to believe it so badly that all her experience, all her years on the job means nothing.

“Mom…” He addresses her but he looks at Adam. The green eyes shining lighter, now that they are filled with tears. He says her name but he really is talking to the man in front of him. The man he loves.

“I don’t want to die.” He says and he feels his sight begin to be less clear, as his own eyes tear up.

“I… I want Adam to turn me.” Adam’s head snaps up, clearly shocked at the statement.

“No!” Rebecca shouts almost immediately. “It’s too risky!”

“Don’t ask that of me.” Adam whispers only for him to hear.

“It can kill you and we don’t know how you’re blood would interfere. You can’t!”

“I’m dying, mom. I’m getting weaker and more tired by the minute. If it kills me… at least I can still save Adam and give him a chance until reinforcement arrives.”

The pleading is now in his own voice.

“And if it doesn’t… If Adam doesn’t mind the idea of me being around…” It’s foolish to think of eternity and immortality when he’s currently actually dying but he cannot help it. The idea that he would experience decades - centuries not only with the man he loves, but the friends he’s made with unit Bravo… is so very appealing.

“Azar…” His mother is now sobbing on the other end. He cannot imagine what she must be going through.

“Mom… I want your blessing. For me and for Adam.” His eyes have never leave Adam. He knows that his emotions, along with his instincts are fighting a fierce battle inside of him. He sees the hunger and the longing but also the fear, concern and care.

“Don’t make me do this,” Adam whispers again.

“I don’t want to die in vain, Adam” he whispers back. “If you don’t want to turn me, at least drink from me. I’ll rather die giving you strength than for no reason at all.”

The thought of bleeding out, his blood spilled uselessly over this cabin and Adam getting caught, hurt or worse by the Trappers is unbearable. He can accept not being turned, he knows that it may not work to begin with… but he needs Adam to recover, needs him to be able to fight, to survive - to be safe

Adam still shakes his head, though less vigorously than before.

“Is that really what you want?” Rebecca’s shaking voice comes through.

“It is. I don’t want my death to be meaningless… I don’t want the Trappers to win… I don’t want to lose… don’t want Adam to lose. He’s hurt, too, he needs blood.” There’s a long moment of silence but their eyes never break contact, even if it’s harder to keep them open and to hold the radio to his lips.

“Adam… I couldn’t safe my husband and I can’t safe my son. But you can give him peace…” she sobs loudly.

“Thank you, mom. I love you. And I love the others as well. Tell them that.” He too can’t hold the cracking of his voice back anymore, tears now freely streaming down his face.

“I love you, Azar, my baby boy…” after that, she breaks down and Azar can hear her wailing and crying and as he lowers the radio it slips from his grasp.

“Adam…” he begins but Adam’s head whips around, towards the door.

“They found us, didn’t they?” Azar says slowly, his speech now becoming more slurred and Adam nods. “Please…” Azar begs.

Almost in slow motion, Adam gets up. He stands in silence and motionless for what feels like an eternity. But he then moves closer. For the first time since all of this went to hell, Azar can feel a smile forming on his cracked lips.

“Thank you.” His words drag. When Adam reaches him, he leans down, resting his forehead against Azar’s.

“I’m so sorry…” He says and tears soak into Azar’s bloody shirt.

“It was never your fault. None of it.” He says between slowing breaths. “Thank you and no matter what… I love you.” Despite their relationship, they never tossed those words around freely. Both feared the implications behind them, but not now. Now it was the ultimate truth - the only thing that matters.

“Meus amor aeternus…” Adam whispers and even though Azar doesn’t understand the words, he understands the meaning and he lets his head slide to the side, baring his neck.

Even though his senses are beginning to dwindle, he can feel lips placing a gentle kiss on his neck, before sharp teeth pierce his skin. And before everything fades to black, he is blessed with one more moment of bliss.

---

Adam’s tears fall freely, as he sinks his fangs into the neck of his dying love. Nothing had prepared him for this. Nothing could describe the sorrow he feels. He wants to believe that his bite will take, that Azar will wake up again - changed but alive - but he knows the chances are low. He had lost so much blood already, was so weak… but he cannot deny him his last wish, even though he feels like he would rather die with him than to go on without him.

But he bites and he drinks and he gives him his own venom as he has asked. When the blood hits his tongue, his senses explode. Even now, as he lays dying, Azar gifts him with power beyond belief. He stops and his eyes roll into the back of his head. Adam’s wounds heal instantly, his senses so sharp, that he can hear the panting of the Trappers even through the rain and wind. No shadow can hide things from him anymore, no shrub can camouflage the Trappers that have now become lambs that are marching to their own slaughter.

His overwhelming sorrow changes to nearly uncontrolled rage. But before he gives in, he lifts Azar up and gently places him on the couch. He cannot feel a pulse, cannot hear his heart beat anymore, cannot see those dark blue eyes and that regret he feels, that pain, just fuels his rage.

The hunters would not survive this day. They would never cause this pain to anyone again. They would become the hunted. And with one last look at the body in front of him, he turns around to stalk his prey.

---

“I am so sorry, Rebecca.” He says, his voice empty and flat. He had waited for hours, had hoped for Azar to open his eyes, wild with hunger… but he had not. He was still on the couch, just as he had placed him there.

“I will bring him home.” It’s all he can offer. To bring Azar back to his mother, to give him a funeral, to have a place where he can visit… though he doesn’t know if he can. Not for a long time… maybe never.

He ends the call, returns to the living room, steps over the bodies on the floor and picks up the shell of the man that meant everything to him. He feels so much lighter now as if something important has left Azar’s body, and with great care, he begins his march to the extraction point, holding the body close to him as if he were still alive.

He doesn’t know how he can face Rebecca or the rest of the team. Despite Azar’s last words, he is responsible. They should never have split up. He should have never taken his eyes off of him.

He continues his way down the mountain. The rain had finally stopped and at an exceptionally beautiful spot, he stops for a moment. The sun against the dark sky gives the yellow autumn leaves an almost magical glow. He knows, that Azar would have loved it and he can feel his chest tighten. He would never be able to share this with him again.

He looks down at the body in his arms. His heart stops. Dark blue pools glance up at him and the wind picks up as the leaves dance above, just as the two hearts beneath them beat as one.

"Adam..."

[artsy-hobbitses]

Because my nostalgic ass had been wanting to do this for a SUPER long time, have some Humanized!Mighty Ducks! It’s funny to see how far I’ve kinda come, because I had a strong love for this and most other anthro shows back in the 90s bc they looks excellent but also because I couldn’t draw humans worth a god damn and ended up anthro-ing all the humans, but now I can human the anthros :’B Also because I have no self-control, actual human names and backgrounds below. I might actually have to write this AU at some point. 

WILLIAM ‘WILL’ FLETCHER ie. ‘WILDWING’

30yrs

Canadian (Eh)

Half-brother to Nate Fletcher (Same father, different mothers). Despite this, they have a generally good relationship with each other.

It doesn’t mean they don’t have their issues however; Will believes his father chose Nate as the man stayed with Nate and Nate’s mother, while Nate believes Will is the favorite because they never hear their dad stop comparing their accomplishments as a troubled teen to straightlaced Will.

A decorated ice hockey player in his youth, won several state championships.

Formerly a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, did a security stint in Afghanistan from 2009-2014.

Returned to Canada, opened a youth hockey camp to leave behind his old life before the Saurian threat at which point he was called up by his absentee military father to help spearhead a team of saboteurs.

Initially reluctant, however the death of his best friend and former army comrade, Connor Tiberius, during a rescue of captured citizens spurns him to accept on his terms in which he picks the team members.

Responsible, dependable, good-natured, more bookish than his size and stature might suggest, some self-esteem issues and very much a wary but bleeding heart. In his baby brother’s affectionate words, a “Major Dweeb”.

Trilingual; Canadian-French, English (fluent), Pashto (intermediate).

His codename ‘Wildwing’ came from Connor, who affectionately gave it to him as he was the best ‘wingman’ a soldier could ask for on the field and his habit of going from bookish to ballistic when faced with any injustice. His civilian outfit includes a bomber jacket with wings decorated over the back to commemorate his best friend.

Literally the only member of the team to actually be associated with ice hockey. The others picked it up gradually as a way to bond with each other and discuss battle tactics.

NATHAN ‘NATE’ FLETCHER ie. ‘NOSEDIVE’

20yrs

American

Half-brother to Will Fletcher, unofficially the ‘team baby’ which is something he tries hard to break out of.

Seen as a delinquent in his youth and battling with ADHD, his father strongarmed him to enlist with the Air Force when he was 17 to try and ‘shape him up’ and while he absolutely bucked under the chains of command, he proved to be a natural at flying which both amazed and frustrated his officers when he would ace their flying exams but often break out to fly the planes when he wasn’t suppose to.

Due to perceived attitude problems, he was dismissed much to the anger of his father, but was quickly roped into the same role by Will who saw his potential in combating Dragaunus’ forces.

Hotheaded, impulsive and immature but also loyal, gregarious and friendly to a fault.

Will not stand for anyone badmouthing Will. That’s his brother and only he’s allowed to joke about them.

Codename ‘Nosedive’ was chosen because of the stunts he used to pull in the plane and also as a take-that moment to his father who would often complain about how everything good they tried to do for ‘this kid’ would ‘nosedive into shit’.

Oscillates between loving Will as the only family member to have really given a damn about him and see any potential in him at all and resenting Will for in his eyes, being everything he felt he couldn’t be.

Often in charge of flying the team jet.

Bilingual; English (fluent), Canadian-French (beginner. For Will, he’s trying).

MALLORY MACKENZIE

27yrs

Irish-American

A former cop who idolized her Sergeant mother who was killed helping to defend NYC from Dragaunus’ marauding forces.

She knows Will as a good friend through Connor Tiberius who was an old boyfriend prior to his death.

Has been tracking Duke’s movements for some time prior to the invasion, dead-set on bringing the jewel thief to justice. Not particularly enthused about his way of life, but does care for him in her own way as it was during their little chases that she would have conversations she couldn’t have had otherwise with someone she believed would have no role to play in her life outside of prison time.

When he consoled her after the death of her mother and she had to tend to him after he was gravely injured during a rescue, a strained friendship grew as they defended NYC together for a while with her banding together the remaining cops of the Central Park precinct and him putting together a coalition of small-time criminals who turned their tricks to beat off the alien invasion until Will called her up as a member of his new saboteur team.

In a spur of the moment, she asked Duke to come with her, vouching for his set of skills to Will and despite their back-and-forth snarking (mostly snarking from her, mostly teasing from him), they work with each other the best out of the team.

Her hatred for Draganus is strongest out of all the team and of all of them, she’s the most adept at hand-to-hand combat.

Has no use for code names—-the people she loves are dead or on the same team as her so she sees no point to it.

Pugnacious, Black-And-white view of the world and judgmental but also confident, decisive and fiercely determined. If she has her mind set something, she’s Terminator levels of terrifying to see it through.

Speaks only English but understands Arabic and French to an intermediate degree even if she can’t trust her tongue to speak it, if only to understand what Duke is saying at times (as he unwittingly tends to jump between his three ‘fluent’ languages in conversation).

DULQUER LATEEF ie. ‘DUKE L’ORANGE’

35yrs

French-Algerian

A renown jewel thief (simply known as the ‘Duke’) with a knack for stealing blood diamonds from diamond barons to channel their proceeds back to the communities they were pilfered from. Actually thinks the diamond industry is a huge joke, but it’s a joke some morons pay insanely dangerous amounts of money for. Prefers other jewels on a personal basis (fond of rubies and amethysts)

Ran his own gang back in France called the Brotherhood of the Blade, got caught up in the invasion when he decided to work his heists in New York.

His codename came from the inability of people to properly pronounce his name in his youth and so ‘Dulq’ became ‘Duke’ in due time. ‘L’Orange’ was what happened when having to come up with a surname on the spot during a heist in the States, he blurted out the first vaguely-French word he could remember which was ‘L’Orange’ ie. ‘duck a l’orange’ which was what a former target of his ordered and when his gang brethren found out, it amused them so much they talked him into keeping it as a full part of his nom de plume. He keeps it, because it helps his remaining family stay safe that no one knows his real name and he prefers it that way.

He and Mallory had something he likes to describe as a ‘dance’, with her continuously tracking him down and him escaping her clutches at the last moment. He’s absolutely tickled that they’re now on the same team.

Cares for the team the deepest due to having run his own back home and missing the brotherhood and his own family, always aware of everyone’s emotional and physical condition to the point he disregards his own at times.

Seriously, hurt his new family and you die.

The most streetwise of the team and adept with any form of blade-play and stealth/subterfuge.

Lost his eye and gained the scar on his face fending off ‘Wraith’ for as long as he could from a geologist with knowledge of Beryllium crystals.

The cybernetic eye he hides behind his eyepatch was given to him by Mallory who came across it while evacuating scientists (Including Tanya) from a lab under siege. She obtained it as willing ‘payment’ from them and had them help install it on Duke, claiming that he was only as much use to the rebellion as the clarity of his depth of field. (In truth, was well aware of how shaken he was from the loss of his eye). Cybernetic eye has x-ray and heat-seeking capabilities.

Fond of Mallory (who he may or may not be harboring feelings for but is also aware that he’s greying, a criminal and damaged, like who’s he kidding), Tanya (something of a younger sister to him especially since she’s the scientist who helped install his new eye) and Will (who he treats like a little brother he gotta teach the workings of the streets to).

Egoistical, questionable morals and unconcerned with ‘the big picture’ of global invasion but also surprisingly compassionate, open-minded and does his best to see the good in everyone (He’s a thief eh?)

Something of an omniglot due to his background and the different people he ends up having to work with; Fluent in French, English and Arabic, intermediate in Mandarin, Spanish and Italian, beginner in Japanese and Russian.

TANYA VANDERBILT

30yrs

German

A scientist working mostly with cyberkinetics who also made use of Beryllium crystals (the same the Saurians are coveting) in her technology and upon the invasion, her entire lab and research became a target.

She was rescued by Mallory and has since then tagged along with the fiery redhead who sees her as a sister, augmenting her gear and weapons where needed and even providing Duke with his energy sword.

Absolutely not a combatant, has no field experience and is most often found back at the base playing her role as Command central or guarding the ship while the group go on their recon missions.

Sees herself as deadweight sometimes though her comrades will always attest that they’d probably be dead out there if not for her tech and in-depth knowledge.

Meek, easily terrified and a bit of a pushover, but also innovative, multi-talented in diverse sections of science and always eager to help.

Speaks English and German, understands intermediate Japanese due to most of her lab co-workers.

CASSIUS ‘CASH’ HARDING ie. ‘GRIN’

40yrs

African-American

Originally a pro-wrestler working the circuits, he was caught up in the Saurian invasion and captured as a test subject in order for the invaders to figure out the biological weaknesses and breaking point of humans at their prime.

Was the subject of multiple experiments, but strove to keep up the spirits of his fellow prisoners by way of story, meditation and keeping a genial facade.

Was among the prisoners Conrad attempted to free before they died, led the prisoner rebellion and immediately joined up as a member of Will’s team upon finding out that he was Conrad’s best friend—-paying off his dues, as it were.

Unfortunately for the Saurians, their experiments had been in the midst of testing out how much augmented strength a human body could take before breaking, which left him with well, augmented strength to go with an extremely high pain threshold from both his old job and his ordeal. That said, the strength comes with a caveat that prolonged use of it could lead to organ failure due to the strain he has to put on them and thus he’s only able to work with it for short bursts of five to ten minutes depending on the task.

Despite his size, is generally the pacifist of the group more concerned with keeping people safe than facing down Dragaunus’ hordes—he leaves that to the actual soldiers. If you pissed him off in some way, you have fucked up super bad.

Bonds with Will and Nate quickly, rather like a stable older brother or uncle figure who realizes these two worlds-apart siblings have issues and are way over their head with these new responsibilities and tries his best to keep them grounded.

Hesitant, tendency to shy away from confrontation and almost on an emotional lockdown but also amicable, stoic and uncannily perceptive.

Speaks mostly English with a strong smattering/understanding of Jamaican Creole.

The codename ‘Grin’ came from his tendency to ‘grin and bear it’ when it came to punishment or altercations.

[we-are-the-rebellion]

Everything Is Gonna Be Fine - File 003

Date: 3/5/215

Incoming signal:  Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me? Is there anyone in the wasteland listening to me? Fuck, this is hopeless...  We don’t even know if people are alive out there, we’ve never left the region because of the horror stories we’ve heard. CeeCee are you sure? ...Yeah, right. Ahem! I’m Nate, I’m from the Eastern OQ region, and for the last ten years I’ve been fighting in, well to put it lightly, a pretty nasty civil war. The group I was with has been mostly killed or captured and our leader is missing, presumed dead. Please, if someone is out there and can hear this, we need supplies. Wait what’s- Shit! CeeCee get down they found-

Outgoing message: Nous vous entendons. Sur routre chemin.

__________________________

Date: 28/4/215

Location: Wasteland

   Kenji had been out in the wasteland for three weeks now. After he had finished reading that repulsive public broadcast, he had stolen some gear and had gone over the wall. It was... Scary. He hated admitting it, he thought it made him look like a child watching a spooky film. But what else was he supposed to feel in that moment? He had grown up with stories about the radioactive monsters that lived in the wasteland beyond the wall. When someone died of The Sickness, their body was thrown over the wall so as not to contaminate anywhere else. That was what the wasteland had always been; radiation, horror stories and disease. That was the only reason he had never run, never jumped the wall and escaped the horrors of living as one of Toronto’s lower class citizens. When Jesse had appeared from the west, it marked something new, something interesting. Jesse was proof you could be in the wasteland and survive. Now obviously, Jesse had had state of the art anti-rad equipment and survival gear, and he had been driven or flown most of the way, only having to walk for the last 400 or so kilometres. But still. “Only 400 kilometres” was still 400 kilometres, it was only small compared to the 4000+ kilometre journey from the Yukon-BC Region to the Ontario-Quebec Region. 

   Kenji was not a survival expert like Jesse, and he didn’t have state of the art anything, (popular to contrary belief, having a state of the art “resting bitch face” didn’t count) but he wanted to try. After all, he couldn’t stay in OQ. The rich hated him for being the rebel leader, and the poor would no doubt turn on him now that the rebellion was effectively crushed and the elites would start cracking the proverbial whip on their literal asses. Where could he go but the wasteland?

   It was frustrating, to say the least. Kenji had always prided himself on his perceptiveness and spacial awareness. He recognized landmarks better than anyone he knew, and he could navigate the streets of every city in the region with ease. He had even memorized the streets of the ruins of old Toronto, back when it was nearer to the lakes, and that area hadn't been inhabitable since the end of the war. But out here in the wasteland, everything was new, and the goggles he had to wear to protect his eyes were so broken and filthy that he could barely see. He assumed that he had just been wandering in circles for weeks, and honestly wanted to keep it that way until he could get better gear. The unfortunate truth, however, was that might never happen. He was stuck out here.

__________________________

Date: 1/5/215

Location: Wasteland

   As Kenji started to come around, he could hear voices. He closed his eyes and groaned in pain, covering his eyes with his hand. Fuck, he was in so much pain. His head...

   "Where am I..." he muttered. The voices around him got closer.

   "Tu te réveilles maintenant?" one asked. Kenji blinked, trying to focus on something in his surroundings.

   "My head..." he moaned, turning over. The voice sighed and turned away to babble to its companions.

   "Il ne parle pas français. Non."  Wait... Were they speaking French? Fuck... Of all the places to end up, of course it was here. 

   The French person snapped their fingers at him, making him focus back up at them. They had long, dark brown hair and thin, distinguished features. They seemed female, but also just androgynous enough to make him unsure. He had also been told that he shouldn’t assume these types of things.

   “Me comprenez-vous? Comprenez-vous ce que je dis?” they asked him. Kenji knew just enough about the French language from Lewis that he almost understood what the person was saying. Almost.

   “No. Fuck off.” he spat. The person seemed to understand that phrase, and they roughly pulled him to his feet. He stumbled, a wave of nausea passing over him. Life his head was killing him.

   “Parler.” they snapped, jerking him forwards. Kenji snarled defensively. He knew talking to them was going to be useless, so he didn’t bother. Instead, he did the only other logical thing; Muster up all his remaining strength and punch the person in the face.

__________________________

   Kenji was thrown out, but thankfully they didn’t knock him out again. He remembered what was going on now. He had been looking for food, shelter, etc, and had briefly taken off his goggles. He had found a shielded area in the ruins of some old house, safe from the wind. He assumed he would be safe here from the wind blowing anything into his face. As he was crouched behind the wall, cleaning his goggles, someone had come up behind him and ambushed him. Typical. Of course he would find the only shred of remaining human life out here and they would be hostile. He couldn’t blame them, really. It was just annoying.

   What was even more annoying was the fact that he was currently tied to the trunk of a very large tree, unable to move and incapable of fending for himself. His head gear was still off, seeing as his francophone captors hadn’t been kind enough to bring his goggles with them when they tried to crack his head open. He was, figuratively speaking, completely fucked. 

   Footsteps sounded from somewhere nearby. Kenji groaned.

   “Back for round two, assholes?” he snapped.  “Or are you some huge, lumbering, mutant beast come to eat me and use my ribs as toothpicks? Either way, bon apetite you piece of shit, waste of space, rancid, ugly, motherfucking-”

   “Kenji?” 

   That took him off guard. That was Lewis’ voice, wasn’t it? The radiation had gotten to his brain, he was sure of it.

   “No, it’s Carson fucking Pryce.” he muttered sarcastically.  “Just kill me already, put me out of my misery.”

   The thing making the footsteps came around the corner and into Kenji’s field of view.

   “Holy shit! Kenji! You cantankerous old bitch, what the fuck are you doing out here?” Lewis exclaimed, rushing over to free him of his bonds.

   “Getting the best blowjob of my life. What does it look like?”  Lewis stopped.

   “I didn’t think it was physically possible for your personality to get worse. You are full of surprises.” he muttered.

   Kenji was positive he was hallucinating, either due to the concussion the French fuckers had undoubtedly given him or the radiation, and so he wasn’t taking anything seriously. 

   “I doubt that I could surprise you.” he said snarkily as Lewis tugged at the ropes tying him to the tree. Lewis squinted.

   “Sure.” he muttered, finally undoing the knots and setting him free. Kenji didn’t stand up.  “Hey, you gonna get up?”

   “This is a hallucination, I can’t go anywhere.”  Lewis groaned and put his face in his hands.

   “Oh so you’re stupid now? That’s it you’re stupid now? Fuck me.”  Kenji scrunched up his face indignantly.

   “Prove me wrong.” he snapped.

   Lewis exhaled sharply and kicked the older man in the shin.

   “Ow!”

   “There’s your proof, you belligerent geriatric.”  Kenji grunted and begrudgingly accepted that he was stuck in a radioactive French wasteland with the most obnoxious child in the world. Life, he wished it was a hallucination. He stood up.

   “How are you not dead?” he questioned skeptically.

   “I am dead. I’m a spooky ghost here to haunt you for your sins. Ooooh.” the young boy responded sarcastically, waving his hands in front of his face. Kenji elbowed him in the shoulder sharply. 

   “I’m serious. You were in one of the explosions on the west side, nobody else survived. We took out a fucking city block, for world’s sake, people don’t just come out of that a-fucking-okay.” he pressed the younger individual. He hesitated. Did he really want to tell the next part?  “I... Nate blamed me, he refused to talk to me for months.”  

   Lewis’ expression changed, becoming remorseful and tired.

   “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t come back. The soldiers tossed me over the wall with all the other bodies, I was more dead than alive honestly. But somehow I didn’t die, and some wastelanders picked me up. I’ve been too injured to go anywhere, I only recently got strong enough to walk around.” he said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead.  “What happened to you to get you tossed out?”  Kenji’s stomach twisted.

   “None of your damn business.” he hissed, starting to walk away.

   “Hey! You can’t just walk away from this!” Lewis shouted after him. Kenji ignored him. He needed to go back to that abandoned house and find his gear.  “So what, you’re gonna abandon your friends? Let them fight for you while you sulk and pity yourself from the safety of-”

   “They aren’t my fucking friends anymore and there won’t be any fighting!” Kenji shouted, whipping his head around to face him.  “You want to know why I’m here? I fucked up. I fucked up our chance to finally beat the elite bastards once and for all and I jumped the wall so I wouldn’t have to face what I did.”

   Lewis was shocked for a few moments before his face darkened in anger.

   “You’re a coward!” he snapped. Kenji laughed, turning away once more.

   “I know.”

__________________________

tag list: @thereasontherumisgone @germanmetal

//author’s note: I do not speak french! sometimes I forget what “bonjour” means. I am so sorry if these halfassed translations suck, I tried to stick to simple phrases that would be easy to translate but I don’t know how accurate they are. I’ll try to not write for the french characters too much.

[kimlovesgrahamscott]

you should do 'i have your loved one' for the bad things happen bingo!

Bad Things Happen Bingo #3: I Have Your Loved One

Fandom: Life is Strange

Characters/Pairings:  Nathan Prescott & Victoria Chase (Platonic)

You can find me (and a copy of this story) on Ao3!

Victoria

Nathan was trembling as his phone dropped to the ground. He let it lie there on the floor, trying to steady his breathing. It would be no use for him to panic. The more he resisted the more his throat seemed to constrict, his vision blurring. He was fucked, that much was certain, but why did Victoria have to be dragged into all this?

Though at that point he didn't know the full scope of what Jefferson did while Nathan was put under, he still didn't want his friends to end up in the Dark Room. Not after what happened with Rachel. He fought Jefferson tooth and nail over making sure Victoria was never brought to that fucking bunker. Yet there on his burner phone, even with it's shit resolution, Victoria was unmistakably bound on the Dark Room floor. He hadn't the faintest idea of how to get her out safely but he needed to get to her quickly. He could feel the need gnawing at his stomach - she would get out of there safe and alive, even if he couldn't.

He'd never been the safest driver, as evidenced by his broken taillight, but his safety was low on the list of his priorities. Victoria was his everything, the only safety that he had. The only person he could be honest with about what went on in his head. The voices. The hallucinations. The crippling self-loathing. Though he did love Mark and some part of him still put a lot of trust in his mentor, Victoria was the only person he thought might actually love him unconditionally. She loved him even with his many, many, many flaws - not in spite of them.

The next part was a blur, another moment to add to the list of times where his mind was far from his body. He remembered sounds, sensations. The creek of him opening the wooden broken door with the broken latch, the tip-toeing of what felt like lead feet down the stairs and the beeps as he entered in the code to the main bunker door. He was only a few steps in when he felt a familiar prick in his neck. Of course, Mark had been waiting for him.

“No,” Nathan grogged, his legs becoming heavy. He tried to lift his arm, wanting to get out at least one shot before he lost consciousness but knew he wouldn’t have the strength to grip the gun. He managed to get out, “Mark, not Victoria, please…” before he went under.

Nathan was surprised that he woke up at all, wide awake on the Dark Room floor by the coffee table. His arms were bound behind his back, his legs duct-taped from thigh to ankle. He knew Mark was going to kill him and was surprised he wasn't already dead. He’d fucked up too much. He fucked up with Rachel. He fucked up with Kate. He wasn’t going to let Victoria get hurt, too. He was determined to make sure that didn’t happen.

Nathan did what he could to break free; fighting against the rope constraining his wrists only seemed to make them tighten. Trying to free his legs did nothing but tire him out. It took all the strength he had to sit up, observing, hoping to find something he could use to help Victoria. Mark was too smart, though. The only things on the coffee table, the only things he might be able to reach, was a cup filled with amber liquid and the remote to the stereo system. He was fucked. He struggled, and struggled, and struggled against the rope, his stomach churning and the bile rising up his throat as he remembered the first time Mark had used that rope on him.

Things had been so different then. He thought that Mark had actually loved him. He knew nothing of the Dark Room’s true purpose. He was in love. Nothing mattered more than being with Mark, making Mark happy. Their own private studio seemed to be a brilliant idea. Mark could tutor him privately, so there would be no distractions and no witnesses if he and Mark wanted to be alone. He trusted Mark enough to willingly let Mark tie him up, to be completely helpless because Mark was his everything. Mark made him feel good, loved, adored, and safe. From the first moment Mark had expressed an interest in him, he’d really felt like his life was turning around. Finally, for the first time since Kristine had left years before, he felt hope for the future.

Then everything -like always- turned to shit.

Nathan screamed when he realized that he was no closer to freeing himself than when he’d started trying to unravel the knots in the rope. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been going at it but it was long enough that his fingers were cramping, unable to cooperate with what he was trying to do. He screamed until his throat was raw and the tears started pouring out. He had no way to save Victoria. He was failing, fucking up like he always did.

With the little strength he had left, he wiggled his way to Victoria. She was his best friend, probably the only person who ever really had loved him, the real him, and he had failed her. They were both going to die; the only thing he could hope for was that her death was quick and painless.

As he neared Victoria, seeing her dazed eyes, he pleaded, “Victoria, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” before sobbing incoherently again. He’d failed her, he’d failed his best friend, and they were both going to die. Everyone he’d ever loved either left him, betrayed him, or he ended up causing them to die.

After an indeterminable amount of time, Nathan heard the door open. Mark was furious, a string of expletives escaping his lips. It wasn’t long before Nathan felt kicks to his ribs for the second time that day.

“They didn’t take the fucking bait!” Mark screamed before a kick landed on Nathan’s face. He was dragged away from Victoria and onto the couch, Mark muttering about how he didn’t have enough time, how everything was so fucked.

“You ruined EVERYTHING!” Jefferson screamed before smacking Nathan’s face, making sure the hit landed where Nathan had already been bruised by Warren earlier in the day. “You stupid bitch! You left a trail of clues.” Mark put gloves on before grabbing a pocket knife. “I’m going to make sure you die slowly. It will look like you killed Victoria before taking your own life.”

Nathan struggled, still determined to do something, anything. There had to be a way to save Victoria. There just had to be some way. Even with his adrenalin pumping, he still had too little fight in him. He winced as the knife pierced his flesh, knowing that the police would do little investigating into his death since the cut was surrounded by numerous others. Scars. Scabs. Up and down both arms. It was deep, deeper than any cuts he’d ever made himself. He looked at Jefferson with wide eyes, pleading.

“Mark…”

Another slap. Nathan’s ears were ringing so loudly he’d barely heard Jefferson say, “I’m going to make you suffer.”

Nathan felt sick as Mark grabbed the camera, throwing Victoria around like a ragdoll and taking pictures. He tried to scream, say anything when Mark started removing Victoria’s leggings, but he was unable to do more than whisper, “Stop.” He didn’t know why his weakness surprised him. His ears never had stopped ringing, his vision blurring on the edges. He was clammy and dizzy and it took an exorbitant amount of effort to keep his eyes open.

The last thing Nathan heard before losing consciousness was the sound of a gun.

When Nathan woke up, he thought he was dead. The room was white; almost everything in the room was white and it was too bright. He turned toward a beeping sound, making out a green line. A cardiogram. His cardiogram, he realized as his vision started clearing and he noticed that there were many wires and such connecting him to the machine. There was a clear IV dripping something and he wondered if that was why he was largely numb.

“Nathan?” The voice seemed to echo and Nathan was all-too-aware of how dizzy he was. Nauseous. Gagging. Dry heaving until bile spewed from his mouth. Someone had been kind enough to catch it with a container so he didn’t spit up all over himself. He felt a hand on his back, stroking beneath his neck. A gentle touch. The bile bucket was taken away and a cup of water was brought to his lips. His eyes closed, drinking eagerly. His throat had never been that dry in his life and he couldn’t get enough water. He heard someone say his name again but the dizziness was starting to subside; he knew that voice. He could never forget that voice.

“Vic-” was all Nathan could get out before a coughing fit, wincing as the cough jousted his still-bruised ribs. “Victoria.” She was quite literally a sight for sore eyes. “Are we dead?”

Victoria smiled for the first time in days as she said, “No, Nate, we’re not.”

There was more he wanted to say, that he needed to say to his best friend but their conversation was interrupted by nurses and doctors. Victoria stayed. Nathan kept apologizing, telling Victoria that she didn’t need to stay in the hospital with him but she insisted she stay. She stayed late into the night, only leaving to eat and go to the bathroom. It was hours before they were alone again.

They were watching something on Netflix, eating hospital Jell-O Cups as Nathan finally got to say,”I’m so sorry Victoria.”

Victoria groaned, rolling her eyes as she told him to stop it. In the days between the Dark Room being discovered and Nathan waking up, Max had filled her in on everything and for once Nathan was happy that Max was such a nosey bitch.

“But Vicky, he could’ve killed you.” Nathan wouldn’t be able to function without his best friend; he’d taken her for granted and he almost lost her. Never again. “And it’s all my damn fault. Why are you here? You should fucking hate me.”

“You came to try to save me,” Victoria retorted. “Nate, you’re my best friend. Nothing could ever change that.”

He hoped she’d still feel that way after everything was revealed at the trial.

[msjr0119]

Hold On

Part 20- I can’t lose you

Nobody got injured at the Homecoming ball, they all get separated into different safe houses- for safety.

Riley and Drake had confirmed that they had feelings for each other, however Drake believed Riley should be with Liam. Heartbroken, she moves back to New York. Only keeping in touch with Hana, Maxwell and Olivia.

Riley meets lawyer, Nate Cooper and begins a relationship with him. In Cordonia, Drake begins to court Kiara.

Nine months after Riley had left Cordonia- there is a reunion, but not the reunion the friends had hoped for.

*Characters belong to Pixelberry*

If you are under 18 please do not read this series. If you do you are consenting that you are over the age.

Series warnings: Suicide, domestic abuse, swearing, stabbing, smut 🍋. If any of these triggers affect you do not read!

Tags- @annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @drakesensworld @ladyangel70 @butindeed @bbrandy2002 @bascmve01 @drakewalker04 @pedudley @captain-kingliamsqueen @kingliam2019 @duchessemersynwalker @insideamirage @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @kozabaji @texaskitten30 @ibldw-main @kimmiedoo5 @nikkis1983 @dangerouseggseagleartisan @gnatbrain @walker7519 @lodberg @cmestrella @choices97 @hopefulmoonobject @addictedtodrakefanfic @angi15h @liamxs-world

******

Kiara didn’t know how to react, she didn’t need a man- she was the heir to her estate, she was intelligent, why was she obsessed with Drake? When she was younger she always fantasied about being with the muscly commoner. Everyone looked down their noses at the Walker’s after Jackson tragically passed away. But not Kiara. She stayed civil with everyone, she taught Savannah Walker french before she abruptly left. Doing this, she had hoped it would bring her and Drake closer.

Kiara’s daydream was shortly interrupted, her head turned towards the wooden door swiftly like a meerkat. Drake’s body froze, his hand remained on the door knob. The vein in her neck became distended- she definitely didn’t trust the two of them now.

“WALKER! SIT DOWN!”

“Kiara, you have a problem with me not Drake. You and I can sort this. Just let him go. When the atmosphere is better, you two can sort this out. I’m sure he will forgive you. Right Drake?”

“Have you lost your brain cells Brooks? No chance in hell am I forgiving her!”

Riley grabbed Kiara’s hand, holding it tightly. Her baby blues, fixated on the insecure woman stood in front of her.

“Kiara, he doesn’t mean it he’s angry. You’re angry. Just both calm down. We can get through this.”

“We? Because you’re always involved aren’t you Riley.”

“I- I meant you two can sort it out. I promise you Ki, that I won’t tell anyone. I’ll just say to Liam that I was tired so I went straight to bed. It’s the first time I’ve drank alcohol in weeks- it’s a reliable story. Please. What else can I do to persuade you?”

“You should have never come back! You don’t belong here.”

Riley hated how everyone treat her using her commoner status. Everyone is equal she believed. No matter what status they had.

“Maybe I don’t belong here, maybe it was fate that I’m here. But between you and Madeleine, you two belong elsewhere too! You both need your heads looking at!”

“Brooks! Keep that big American mouth of yours shut!”

“Fuck you Walker! We wouldn’t be in this situation if you kept your dick in your pants and respected women!”

Kiara couldn’t cope with the two of them arguing. She had paranoid thoughts that this would bring them closer- Riley was sticking up for her. Was this a ploy to escape? Kiara didn’t care. She dragged Drake to the floor.

“Do you love me Drake?”

“No!”

“Do you love her?”

“I did!”

“If Liam wasn’t around, would you jump straight back into her arms?”

“I- I.. Kiara this ends now! Just let her go back to Liam. Please.”

“Don’t avoid the question!”

“Yes, I probably would! Happy now?”

“Wrong answer!”

Kiara turned to Riley, pushing her against the wall. Her eyes narrowed, as she put her hands around the American’s neck. Riley was furious with Drake. Why couldn’t he just lie?

“Lady Riley. Now it’s your turn... if Liam wasn’t around would you jump back into Drake’s arms?”

“No.....”

“You’ve done it before. So why not now?”

“Kiara you’re hurting me.... please .... just please.... believe me. Drake is my friend.... if you hurt us....”

“Oh if I hurt you, you think your King will save you both? No chance, Riley! Whilst you’re still here Drake is still going to want you.”

“Kiara.... I ... I can’t breath!”

“Kiara let her go!”

“SIT WALKER! IM NOT DONE WITH HER YET!”

“Ki... I love Liam.... please.... “

Kiara removed herself from Riley, creating little distance- pulling the knife out of her bra. She glided the knife across Riley’s neck. The cold blade, caused shock through Riley’s body.

“Riley you know I can’t let you stay. You say you love Liam. But here in Cordonia we have arrangements within marriage.”

“I’m... I’m... not like... that. I’d have done... it when... he was engaged to her....”

“Riley. Pick! You or him?”

“Me....Do what you want to me....”

“No Riley! Are you fucking crazy? You have a good future ahead of you. Kiara if you are going to hurt anyone it’s going to be me.”

“Aw Ri, he’s still playing hero for you.”

Riley felt the tip of the blade now against her abdomen. Closing her eyes, it felt like time had frozen. All she could think about was Liam, and the time during the social season.

I’m glad to have met you, Riley. I’ll never forget this night.

Riley... I never thought I’d see you again.

If I’m being honest, I was just thinking about you.

You look so beautiful in the firelight. Riley, I’ve never really had someone that I wanted to please so badly. I feel like I’d do anything to see you smile and know that I was the cause.

It is said that if two lovers climb to the top of the waterfall and jump in together, they’ll get the blessing of the lady of the waterfall.

You are entitled to a kiss, my Queen.

I’m always happy when I’m with you Lady Riley. I’ve been trying to imagine what type of Queen you would be if we were to be wed.

What I really want is to have a family. Maybe not this year or the next but eventually..... the most precious thing anyone has is time. You never know just how much you have left. And when it’s gone.. it’s gone.

The last memory hit Riley, she needed to fight. She needed to get to Liam- to tell him how much he meant to her, and that she regretted every moment she had lost with him in the past. Feeling Kiara turn and twist the tip of the knife against her abdomen, she knew somehow she had to knock the knife out of her hand. As she opened her eyes, her vision went into slow motion as she saw Drake sprint into Kiara, tackling her to the floor. The knife fell a distance, out of everyone’s reach.

“Kiara, ENOUGH! This has to end NOW!”

Anger in his voice, that Riley had never witnessed before apart from in Applewood. He had risked his life again for her. Riley looked sadly at Drake who had stopped restraining a now unconscious Kiara on the floor.

“Brooks! Get out now!”

“I- I can’t leave you...I can’t even find the key!”

Drake stood up leaving Kiara on the floor, frantically both of them began looking for a key. Riley removed a hair grip out of her messed up hair, hoping that it would unlock the door.

“It’s not working! The window! We have to jump!”

Riley grabbed Drake’s hand, leading him to the window. She would rather have broken limbs than be butchered to death.

“She’s locked it! Pass me your bottle of whiskey! We have to smash the window!”

“Are you crazy?”

“Drake, I will personally buy you whiskey for the rest of your lifetime. Please... it’s our only way out!”

Drake hesitantly handed the bottle over. Both of them taking a swig from the bottle before attempting to smash the window- glass from the brown bottle shattered. Riley stared in the windows reflection, feeling defeated that the window itself didn’t smash. Of course she was in a palace, the windows were probably bulletproof. In disbelief, she saw Kiara rise from the floor, pointing the knife towards them- her eyes widened as she predicted what was going to happen.

“DRAKE! MOVE!”

In slow motion, Riley felt the heavy weight lean into her body. Losing her balance, they both fell to the floor.

“I’m so sorry Drake. I loved you.”

“Love? Are you fucking serious Kiara? You’ve just literally stabbed him in the back!”

Riley slowly stood up, trembling- her hands now painted red with Drake’s blood. Adrenaline now taking over she ran over to Kiara, with a shard of glass from the whiskey bottle. Threatening the noble lady.

“Kiara, I swear to god- give me the key! He needs medical assistance!”

Kiara stood, smirking at Riley. No other expression was shown.

“You have five minutes to save him, Lady Riley.”

Riley looked confused as Kiara entered the bathroom, running the bath. She ran over to Drake, knowing she had to find the stab wound and prevent anymore bleeding. Raiding through his wardrobe, she could only find his usual white shirts and denim jackets- it’ll have to do.

Riley placed pressure on the wound and cradled Drake in her arms, hoping her friend would pull through. She wondered where the others were, as far as she was concerned she had been gone too long.

“Drake, why do you always have to act like the hero? Come on. You can’t die on me. You’ve already dodged a bullet. What’s next eh?”

“Br-Brooks....”

“Drake? Come on! Open those brown eyes wider! We have five minutes to get out.”

“Say... goodbye... to everyone. I love Liam... Max... Savannah.. Bartie... Hana... and you.”

“We love you too! You are not leaving us! I’m in love with Liam but I love ya, I always will...you’re my best friend. Don’t tell Hana or Max though.”

Before Drake could respond, he saw Riley’s sad facial expression turn to into grimace. A tear fell from her face effortlessly, before her face head butt his shoulder. Her hair whipped onto his face leaving a lingering sting.

“Goodbye you two...” - Kiara snarled as she removed the whiskey bottle glass shard out of Riley’s back. Blood began pouring like a waterfall- it was never ending.

****

The men raced up to Drake’s room, they had hoped that the door was open. The guards entered with armed weapons, searching the room for Kiara. Bastien swallowed hard as he entered. Shaking, he picked up his phone demanding for medical assistance immediately and commanded that the palace was searched for Kiara.

Liam attempted to barge through the crowd. Bastien heard the commotion, he stood in front of Liam, placing his hands on the Kings shoulders.

“Sir, please. It’s not a nice sight.”

“Bastien I don’t care! Let me in!”

Liam’s heart felt as if it had stopped. He ran over to Riley, scooping her up in his arms, whilst Leo tried to help Drake.

“Ri, please don’t leave me. I can’t lose you.”

Liam remained cradling Riley in his arms. He felt as if his whole world had collapsed- he didn’t know how many more tears his body could produce. The paramedics arrived and immediately began to save their saves- they were both given oxygen. Leo hugged his brother as the two victims were escorted out of the room.

******

“Riley Brooks, aged 25. Stab wound in the lumbar region. She still has a pulse, but it’s weak. The bleeding is being controlled every so often, she needs immediate surgery.”

“Drake Walker, aged 28. He also had a stab wound to the back. His pulse is also weak. The bleeding is now controlled. But he needs to be seen urgently.”

The guests all waited all the bottom of the stairs. They heard the paramedic on the phone to ER. Madeline wasn’t lying. Their friends were fighting for their lives. Reality hit when they saw Riley and Drake’s bodies on stretchers, being escorted outside to the ambulances.

The friends all witnessed Liam barely holding it together. No wonder. Olivia walked over to him, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

“Li, they are both alive. They are both fighters. They will survive this and fight.”

Liam tried to compose himself, as he had an audience gawping at the scene.

“Liv... I can’t lose either of them. I’ll keep you all updated. Can you keep me updated on Kiara’s whereabouts? One thing I’m sure about- if they both die, Kiara’s a dead woman!”

[mobius-prime]

173. Sonic the Hedgehog #105

You Say You Want a Revelation?

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Josh and Aimee Ray

We're finally back to the main series plot! Sonic is disheartened to see Nate's things being moved out of his house, knowing that by leaving Nate behind in Robotropolis they consigned him to the fate of roboticization. However, he's not content to leave him in there without at least trying to rescue him, and so leads Tails and Uncle Chuck to the castle in the hopes of talking to Elias, unaware of his disappearance. In Robotropolis, Hope goes to her step-father along with her grandmother to voice her concerns about the Robians she saw escaping the city, stating her beliefs that her uncle created them. Colin initially refuses to believe her, but Eggman steps out of the next room with Snively, grinning evilly as he informs them that she's totally right. Back in the castle in Knothole, King Max is experiencing true regret for perhaps the first time since we've seen him come back from the Zone of Silence.

Sorry, Alicia, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree. A lot of this is Max's fault - he refused to listen to either his son or daughter, and picked someone who was clearly not cut out to be a leader to put in charge of everything, over his daughter who was trained her whole life to lead a kingdom. In Robotropolis, Eggman airs an announcement over every screen in his city that he's "discovered" that everyone is infected with toxic waste poisoning, and must come to him for treatment immediately lest they succumb and die. Colin is outraged, pointing out that Eggman should be infected as well then, only for Eggman to reveal his true colors - literally - as a robot.

Uncle Chuck and Sonic both explain their plan to use the sword to King Max, who seems somewhat apathetic, upset not only at the loss of his son, but the loss of Nate as well. He's uncertain, as he only knows of two people who can even use the sword's abilities: himself, and –

Max reluctantly agrees to Sally's plan, ordering her to take Sonic with her as an escort. Sonic is pleased, but finally notices Sally's somewhat lackluster responses to everything he says, asking her if he did something to upset her. Before she can respond, Mina suddenly rushes up, hugs Sally while thanking her profusely for saving her mother, and then races off again, leaving her speechless. Meanwhile in Robotropolis, Hope runs for her life through the streets, trying to hide in a back alleyway with Eggman's voice following her the whole way. He finds her through a hidden screen in the alley, and tries to manipulate her into surrendering by saying he'll spare her grandmother. Agnes, of course, yells for her not to listen, and as Hope watches…

Hope is surrounded by shadow-bots, but Sonic suddenly appears, smashing them up and ushering her over to Sally for protection. Eggman is furious to see her being rescued, until he hears Sonic's voice behind him, Sonic of course having run at light speed all the way into his headquarters. Eggman tries to grab hold of him to roboticize him, but Sonic smashes the floor underneath him, sending them both plummeting into the room below. There, Sonic is horrified to find a familiar, frozen face staring back at him.

Eggman gloats that the sword doesn't seem to affect roboticized Overlanders, and then, with the rest of the city's Overlander population gathered within the room, offers them a demonstration. He calls Snively forward, informing him that he, too, is poisoned from the toxic waste, and while Snively is upset, having thought that as his lackey he would have been protected, Eggman offers him a deal - take his hand. You see, apparently Overlanders only become frozen after roboticization if they're unwillingly turned, but if they take the offer of their own free will, they retain their ability to move and act… and with a grin, Snively takes his uncle's hand.

And that is the awful true scope of Eggman's plan. He let everyone live within his city for two months, ensuring that they'd become sick, and then offered them supposedly the one thing that could save them, making sure that they'd have to take his offer willingly and become his slaves. Of course, we just watched this backfire, but Eggman knows that by rejecting his offer and going with Sally and Sonic, all the Overlanders are likely to get even sicker and stretch the already strained resources of Knothole. However, we know that Sally is smarter than that, and there's already a hidden city of Overlanders - or sorry, humans - out there that might have some room…

Before we move on to the conclusion of Myth Taken Identity, we have another character file to peruse - this time, for Snively! Unlike the previous couple, this one actually contains some new information about his life - but first, the technical info. Calculating his real-world height gives us the absurdly-short height of 97 cm, or 3'2". For reference, someone is considered to have dwarfism if they're anywhere below 147 cm or 4'10" tall, so Snively definitely qualifies. (Nate Morgan probably would too, but we're never actually given any information on his measurements, so there's no way to say for certain.) Snively also weighs 38.4 kg or 84.5 lbs, and his birthday is on May 14. Interestingly, his birth year indicates that he's actually only thirty years old! He definitely looks a lot older due to male-pattern baldness, but if you think about it it makes sense - after all, he's Robotnik's nephew, and the original Robotnik was likely in his late forties or early fifties at the time of his death.

What really makes this entry noteworthy, however, is his life history. He was born Colin Kintobor, Jr., which is an ordinary enough name, and his mother died giving birth to him. He was treated terribly by his father Colin Sr., who is actually the one who gave him his nickname. You'd think it would have been Robotnik who stuck him with such a humiliating nickname, but no, his own father called him Snively because of his lack of social skills. He compensated all throughout his childhood by immersing himself in the world of technology, and found a way to take advantage of every friend he made. He was kicked out of the house as a teenager, and with nowhere to go, turned to his uncle Julian, whom he helped seize power over the Kingdom of Knothole. However, he soon found himself being mistreated by his uncle as well, and as we know, eventually grew so resentful that he rigged the Ultimate Annihilator to target only Robotnik so he could be free of him once and for all.

While one could argue that these are the actions of a sociopath, or a narcissist, I'm gonna go ahead and say that Snively would have had a very different personality had he actually grown up with a family who loved him and looked after him. All this poor kid ever knew was bullying and emotional abuse. He's been taught, by life and by the actions of those around him, that the only way to look after himself is to be selfish, and to latch onto those more powerful than him for security. I touched on once before that Snively seemed to be basically in an abusive relationship with Robotnik, and didn't know how to go on after he thought he was dead, but this page confirms that things are only sadder than we originally realized. It was this page, plus some other events further into the comic, that made me realize that I actually liked Snively as a character, and wanted to see him break free of Eggman's control and come into his own. Unfortunately, having just allowed himself to be roboticized, that's not likely to be happening any time soon…

Myth Taken Identity (Part III)

Writer: Mike Gallagher Pencils: Nelson Ribeiro Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Guru Emu, upon discovering the dam from last issue, has found himself with rekindled hope that he can find and save his friends who have been kidnapped by the bunyip. He descends into the dam, discovering that it was originally constructed by Crocbot, who of course used it to power his various weapons and detention camps. It turns out that this dam is behind the strangely dry riverbeds and the disgusting lake, as it's been disrupting the local ecosystem, even more so now that it's abandoned and not being maintained. But what of Walt, Barby, and Bill? Well, as it turns out, they're also inside the dam, protected by an airtight compartment with a window through which they can see the bunyip gazing in at them. Barby, apparently, speaks many languages, including whatever ancient language the bunyip speaks, and convinced it that they're no threat. She gets it to explain its plight, as well as why it's been attacking everybody.

I mean, that hardly seems like a good excuse for just attacking random people on the street who clearly aren't Crocbot, but the Downunda Freedom Fighters want to help anyway. While Barby informs the bunyip that Crocbot was defeated some time ago, Guru races down the hallway toward them, having overheard everything. He has discovered a room full of explosives elsewhere in the complex, and so…

The bunyip is grateful, and leaves to spend its happy days in the clean water, and though the D.F.F. briefly consider inviting it to join their team, they ultimately decide that they'd rather stay as a four-person group from now on, knowing that no one can replace Stu.

And now we have one last character file to look at for the issue, this time for Dimitri! Dimitri is actually the tallest individual so far, at a height of 133 cm or 4'4". That's a full foot taller than Sonic! He weighs 39.9 kg or 87.7 lbs, and his birthday is on September 28. He's 378 years old, finally giving us a clearer idea of exactly how long the Brotherhood has existed, considering earlier issues were very unclear and inconsistent on the matter. Like Sally and Julie-Su, however, his character file doesn't give us any new information, merely recapping the previous events of the comic as well as history we've already been shown. Still, in a way, having such inconsequential information as his height, weight, and birthday really kind of serves to humanize him in a way - or, er, "Mobianize"? Eh, whatever, you know what I mean.

[gwydionae]

How to Break Paultin Seppa in One Storm or Less

(...this is ridiculously long. It is an actual, literal essay. If anyone somehow reads all of this then cheers! Critique and discussion welcome - I am running on so little sleep right now, I’m only kinda sure this all makes sense. XD)

"I honestly have no idea what guides you or spurs you." - Evelyn to Paultin, ep 93

I find Paultin to be a very intriguing character. He is a man who chooses his words carefully and prefers to show his true colors through his actions. But episode 93 brought out a side we really hadn’t seen before, and suddenly those carefully chosen words were a lot more revealing than they’ve ever been for those willing to really think about them and compare them to some of his more recent actions. In the past, he had a very self-centered attitude. It’s not that he didn’t care about anyone else at all, but his own self worth was simply far more important. But over the course of the campaign, that has been changing, and that couldn’t have been more evident than in episode 93. So just what is guiding our drunken bard’s actions of late, how has Evelyn not noticed, and why should all of this be a point of concern?

Quote A: "It wasn't about [the mandolin]. It's about something now... I'm not even sure if... that's even the right decision anymore." - Paultin to Evelyn, ep 93

The above quote is very cryptic. Paultin is vague, clearly not wanting to bare his soul completely, and instead of answering Evelyn’s question about what it means, he avoids it in favor of offering up a confession about how he finds he can’t bring himself to leave the Crew. This is something Evelyn is glad to hear, and thus she is distracted and the point gets dropped. But I think the answer can be found in the episode itself, and it ties directly into his current mindset and motivations.

There is a specific confession that he makes to Evelyn that I’m going to use as the foundation of most everything I’m going to bring up, and that is where he tells Evelyn at the end of the episode that he "felt like [he] was ready to get rid of the last reminiscing pains of [his] past and embrace what felt like a new family." His use of the word “family” here is what is most important. He has barely used the term “friends” to describe the Crew up to this point, and suddenly we hear him use a much more intimate descriptor. To consider a group of people you have no blood relations to as your “family” would imply a very close bond. He may not be able to put his finger on why, but these are people he wants to be around, and his actions of late do reflect that.

The obvious example is the sacrificing of the mandolin. He tells us exactly why he thought it was time to part with it in plain language, something he doesn’t do often. But it makes sense that he would spell this out specifically as Evelyn seemed really hung up on it. She couldn’t see it for what it really was: a way for him to continue on with his new family. Yes, it was a way of cutting ties with his past, but as he said in Quote A, it wasn’t about the mandolin and what it represented. It was about keeping all of them safe, because you can’t keep traveling with people if you’re all dead. That is his current motivation: keeping him and his party safe.

But then what does the second half of Quote A mean? He gave up his mandolin to protect everyone, but now he is regretting it. Why? The obvious assumption is that he’s upset because it was wasted, an unnecessary sacrifice since Diath and Strix ultimately offered up the bomb anyway. But I think it goes beyond that, and a very specific incident during the storm highlights this perfectly.

When Strix first goes overboard and Paultin is the only one free from his bonds on the ship, he instantly uses Locate Creature on her as if he had a plan. But when he hears she is about 500 feet away and underwater, Nate freezes. If I had to guess, I’d think he was maybe planning to use Animate Object on the rope to reach down and grab her, but that’s way too far for that. So he scans over his list of abilities and spells… and he comes up with nothing. He can’t think of a way that Paultin can save Strix given the circumstances. And so he has Evelyn break out of her ropes. Why?

Because she can fly.

Paultin can’t get to Strix as he is now, but just hours earlier he had a mandolin that he could use to cast Fly on himself. But he gave that up. And now instead of being able to protect a member of his new family, he has to endanger Evelyn as well. If his motivation is to keep everyone safe, this goes directly against that. But what about when he tells her he’s “not one to throw [his] life away?” Am I maybe overthinking this and he simply doesn’t want to risk his own life?

I believe there is solid evidence to support that this is not the case. In episode 86, when only he and Diath were left alive or conscious, he took it upon himself to fly up and face the balhannoth alone. In 87, when they stumbled across who they thought was Acerarak, he charged ahead of Diath and Strix, even offering to shadow him with Mislead while the others waited behind until he had a better idea of what was going on. In 90, he turns invisible when guards come down on them, but rather than using it to escape, he breaks it once he is aware of the situation in order to try and talk with their accuser to get his party members free and ultimately gets himself captured as well.

There is even a situation just prior to Strix falling overboard in 93 that, when viewed through Paultin’s relatively newfound protector instincts, comes across much differently than what actually happened in game. When she got free of her ropes to cast Counterspell, Nate wanted to use Animate Object. The assumption was that he was going to do it to free himself, but what if his plan was to use it on Strix’s ropes? This would keep her tethered and safe while still allowing her to cast a spell he thought could save all of them. It would also explain his reluctance toward using Dimension Door, a lower level spell and one he has a lot more familiarity with. And note that when he did use Dimension Door, he transported himself directly next to her, and when the wave came, Nate was upset because he was “going to do something,” and I don’t think it was a celebratory high five. I think he wanted to, now that his hands were free, tie them both down. It’s why he popped up directly next to her, so he could save them both at the same time. This is all speculation on my part, but considering that we now know he thinks of them as family and wants to protect them even if he has to risk his own safety, it makes sense.

So getting back to Quote A, I think we have found our answer: he was questioning whether sacrificing the mandolin was the right decision because even though it could have saved them at the time, that meant he didn’t have it when he needed it. If he had held on to it, he could have left Evelyn tied up on the ship while he flew out to find and save Strix. One less person would have been put in harm’s way, and as we know, Evelyn was the one who ultimately took the biggest beating and even fell unconscious. She was saved, but what if those merfolk hadn’t shown up? No doubt Evelyn rather excitedly recounted her tale to all of them once they were safe; just think about how this news would affect Paultin, knowing that he was the one who put her in that situation because he had ditched his mandolin mere hours earlier.

The one who had told her to stop rushing into things and dying all the time had sent her “into the fire” to die because he had gotten rid of the tool that could have prevented it.

It’s honestly no wonder Paultin seemed so depressed by the end of the episode. He had talked a big game, acted like he had all the answers, and then by jumping to conclusions - Counterspelling the giants - and being “self-righteous” - not trusting Evelyn to handle the dragon turtle and discarding his mandolin - he had nearly gotten them all killed. He is not solely to blame, of course, but the juxtaposition of what he had just scolded everyone else for and his own actions is not something I think went unnoticed by him.

Quote B: “Why are you even here to begin with?” - Evelyn to Paultin, ep 93

And this is where Evelyn directly comes into play. Her asking Quote B to Paultin, while very harsh, is not entirely unwarranted. If you think about the examples I gave that prove that Paultin’s current motivations are keeping everyone safe, these either occur after this question was asked (their talk at the end of 93) or while Evelyn was dead (86, 87, and 90) or simply due to her not being privy to Paultin’s thought process (during the storm in 93). Think of a lot of the interactions she has had with Paultin recently, though.

In episode 92, he claims that he wants to give up the mandolin because he doesn’t want to die, and he offers it in a very agitated and angry way. It doesn’t seem like it’s something he wants to do. Earlier in that same episode, when he found her after being attacked in the bathhouse, he didn’t even bother to ask what happened or if she was ok, just bluntly telling her to make it outside as soon as she could. In 84 after being freed from the ring’s control, he completely ignored her, and the first words he says to any of his party are an accusing “what did you do” to Strix. And in 73, she asks him why he decided to come with them in the first place, and he says that it was “a coin toss” and that “unknown seemed more interesting than boring.” Add on top of that his disappearing acts in 69 and 65 and “Grung high” during the Yabanug fight in 68 (due to Nate’s absence, but still notable) when the Crew could have really used his help, and Evelyn does have a lot of evidence pointing toward Paultin not really caring about anyone but himself. And you don’t need to travel with a party that gets you killed if that’s what you care about, hence her question.

There is one big problem with Quote B, though, and that’s the discussion Evelyn had with Paultin in the Shadowfell in episode 85. During the conversation, Paultin openly admitted that he never “really felt like a contributing fourth,” but when he saw the Ring of Winter, his thoughts were, “That’s it! That’s how I can contribute. That’s how I can become the fourth piece.” In the end he realizes he had made a mistake, but the point is that he openly admitted to wanting to help the Crew. A truly selfish person wouldn’t do that. They would have wanted the ring for its power and not felt guilty about it nearly backfiring on him. But instead he not only openly admits he was wrong, he apologizes and says that he wants to make it up to them. For Paultin who keeps feelings and emotions so close to his chest, this is akin to holding up a bright, neon sign that flashes “I CARE ABOUT ALL OF YOU.”

But Evelyn doesn’t pick up on any of this. She is too focused on her own problem to read between the lines and realize that he is admitting that he cares about the rest of the party. To be fair, Paultin had brushed off what he had overheard her praying about right before this, and it was clearly weighing on her. My speculation would be that it was a topic he simply wasn’t ready to discuss openly yet, but that still doesn’t mean that Evelyn would be ok just ignoring it. So I don’t blame her for being so single-minded in this instance. But the point is that Paultin had already given her - and her alone - solid, verbal evidence that he is sticking around because he cares, and still she is the one to ask him Quote B. He knows that Evelyn listened, but she hadn’t actually heard a word he said.

After Diath apologizes for not listening to him during the bomb incident in episode 92, Paultin says “you listen to me” to Simon, but it’s possible he could be thinking of instances such as the above mentioned scene with Evelyn as well. Whether that’s true or not, it’s clear he wants to be heard and taken seriously. But even after his harsh warning about jumping into things at the beginning of 93, when the storm hits, Strix still instantly puts herself in harm’s way by Misty Stepping out of her ropes. All you have to do is watch and listen to Nate’s reaction to this - a long, loud sigh - to know what he’s thinking: she didn’t hear a word he said earlier about not being reckless. Nothing has changed. Still no one is listening.

But then he messes up. His plan is flawed and puts everyone in danger as was discussed above. And how does he react to this? By not saying a word for six days. Why should they listen to him when he makes the same mistakes he calls them out on, after all. Combine that with Paultin’s motivation of wanting to keep everyone safe, the fact that he scolded everyone else and then fell prey to his own words, and Evelyn - the only one he had opened up to about why he wanted the Ring of Winter - questioning why he was still with them, and it’s not hard to see why he’s choosing to stay silent by the end of 93.

But there is still one more thing weighing him down, and it’s directly addressed in Quote C:

Quote C: "The problem is, none of you are survivors. And it's getting - it's so much. It's getting to be way too much." - Paultin to the Crew, ep 93

What, exactly, does he mean when he says they aren’t “survivors?” Strix has proven that she could survive by herself for fifty years, so it can’t be “survivors” in the sense of “someone who can survive on their own.” But think about what he says before and after this:

“...I’m really just getting so sick of everyone just being, like, ‘No, me! No, me! Let me do it!’ It’s like - this is why every other day we borderline die.”

“There’s other ways to solve problems than just, like, ‘Oh, let me jump into the fire!’”

“You say, like, “Oh, I care about ma friends [...]” and yet you’re still just like, ‘Oh, well, ya know, I’ll still just go and get myself killed.’”

This is what Paultin means by them not being “survivors” - they don’t care about themselves. Diath, Strix, and Evelyn all want to keep everyone else safe, but they aren’t selfish enough to care about what happens to them, to care if they themselves survive. This is what he means when he tells Evelyn to “stop thinking about yourself by thinking about yourself.” He is saying that she should stop thinking so much about what she wants and think a bit more about her own well-being. This is his very cryptic way of giving her a similar message to what Zaress gave her in the afterlife: it’s ok to be a little selfish. He’s not referring to things like wanting power like he did with the ring, he is simply saying that they shouldn’t be so quick to throw their lives away.

Paultin wants to keep his party safe, including himself. He has proven this. This is his current motivation. But the rest of the Crew are different. They are only concerned with keeping everyone in the party aside from themselves safe. And as evidenced by his emotional blow up over the issue in 93, this is what is ultimately starting to push Paultin to his breaking point. While three of his friends are working to keep three people safe, he is the only one protecting all four. And that is a big job with a lot of responsibility - responsibility he, frankly, is not fully equipped to bear, and I think he knows this. He is trying so hard, but as we saw during the storm, doing that by himself proved only that he knows no other way to do that than by mimicking the ones around him whose self-destructive behavior he disapproves of so much. And it leaves him questioning his actions (“Maybe I should have just held onto [the mandolin].”), his motives (“I'm not even sure if... that's even the right decision anymore.”), and his future (“I can’t bring myself to leave, and I don’t know how to feel about that.”).

This is what he means by “it’s getting to be way too much.” The pressure and anxiety was already getting to him before the storm, and everything that happened in 93 only made it worse. He admitted before the storm that their constant self-sacrificing was “a toxicity [he didn’t] want in [his] life,” and the events during said storm only proved that he couldn’t handle it nor, apparently, change their mind about the issue. If he was being pushed to an uncharacteristic emotional reaction before the storm, just think of how hard all of this must have hit him afterwards.

Everyone risking their lives recklessly. His words constantly falling on deaf ears. Not listening to his own advice and putting everyone in danger as a result.

Completely failing in every way, in his every attempt, to do what he cares about most: protect his new family.

This is his current motivation. This is what has been driving him for a while now. And in one day, everything - short of dying - that could beat that down from all possible angles and leave him broken and defeated did so. Everything is likely beyond “too much” at this point, and if he weren’t currently stuck on a boat, I think there’s every possibility that someone like Paultin who isn’t used to caring about anyone but himself could step away. For someone like him, the easiest way to make it not hurt so much is to remove that “toxicity” from his life. With most things, he copes by drinking until he is numb to such feelings, and as he’s “drinking more than usual,” that is obviously the route he is currently trying to go to deal with everything. But if that doesn’t seem to be working for him and nothing else changes in regards to the issue before they reach Waterdeep, it is entirely possible the Crew could find themselves one person short. Maybe this is why it takes Paultin so long to respond when at the very end of their conversation Evelyn says that she’s glad he hasn’t left yet. Maybe he knows that such an option is more on the table than it’s been in a very long time.

Now, this is, first and foremost, a D&D show put on for entertainment. We have seen in the past that both Chris and the cast are willing to bend a few things to make sure that the cast member’s characters don’t stay separated for very long - Anna’s recent separation ties with Nate’s stint in Ravenloft in season 1 at about five episodes for each before they are reunited - so there is a very real possibility that no matter what happens, Paultin’s not going anywhere, and if he does, it wouldn’t be for long. But speaking strictly from a character perspective, Paultin leaving a group that he’s constantly watching be reckless and die without being able to help them overcome that wouldn’t surprise me. I love that his concern for his friends - his family - is what is currently guiding him. Now I can only hope that the rest of the characters come to realize that and see the negative effect their unnecessarily self-sacrificing actions are having on one of their own before it’s too late.

[shirtlesssammy]

13x23: Let the Good Times Roll

Then:

Team Free Will 3.0!

Now:

Sam gives the new recruits a rundown on the sorry state of our world. (Extra meta credit to the show for letting Jim Beaver talk about The Shape of Water. I’m pretty sure he was going to be in it but couldn’t due to other commitments. I can’t find that news now, but here’s his tweet about it.)

Dean calls. Apparently, Cas, Jack, and him were on a hunt for a case, and found some Kardashian loving werewolves to take out.

Jack’s still learning (and Dean’s willingly training him. Awww.) While Cas takes out a werewolf outside, Sam, Dean, and Jack take out the rest inside. I love that the lesson about silver bullets doesn’t really apply for Jack, but he still wants to learn. (And, in hindsight, it matters so much that he does learn how to fight like a human.)

Meanwhile, Bobby and Mary take a nice stroll through the countryside, summing up the new world order.

Yay for Rowena and Charlie Thelma and Louise-ing it through the Southwest. I’m a bit more concerned about Ketch “out doing Ketch things.” Uh, that man is a cold blooded killer. Is he redeemed? He. Killed. Magda. (Natasha: And Eileen. Horribly.) And then Bobby and Mary share a look. (Or, as the script says: They eyefuck.) The lovely interlude is interrupted when they see blood and find Maggie, another refugee, dead, head bashed against a rock.

Sam and Dean are back at the bunker, and that whole werewolf hunt was a lesson for Jack. Dean wants to retire -on the beach with Cas. If Jack can hone his powers, Sam and Dean are going to get their well deserved retirement. SOB.

Jack, bby, is having a nightmare though. Dean rushes to his room and they have a father-son moment.

They share a moment of mutual nightmares (and we relive au!Kevin’s death again!), and then Dean gives a wonderful, heartfelt, motivating talk to Jack. It’s such a beautiful moment to highlight that Dean will never stop being a parent, and he’ll never stop caring and fighting for his family. It’s also, I think, a moment that will sustain Jack next season. He’s family, and Dean’s his family, and as Dean says, “we look after our own.”

Sam rushes to tell Dean about Maggie, and cut to them all standing around her body.

Jack takes it personally, but Sam tries to reassure him that it’s not his fault.

Back at the bunker, they start interrogating another refugee. She is shocked to learn that Maggie is dead, and admits that there was a boy that she had a crush on. She probably went to see him the previous night. Jack flaps out before the others.

The boy is named Nate, and he works at the Gas and Go, and Jack is full on rage nephilim. He blasts him, and starts to choke him, demanding an answer to Maggie’s death. TFW bust in and Cas tries to intercede, but is tossed across the room (No Jack!), and then Dean shoots Jack (to get his attention.) Jack, realizing his error, runs out in self-loathing defeat.

Jack starts beating himself up literally and figuratively, and I was tearing up a bit during this scene. He fits so well with TFW --self-loathing and the inability to accept himself and his limitations/uniqueness.

At the Gas and Go, quick thinking Cas gives Nate the FBI cover (with aliases Rowland, Knowles, and Williams, heh. And Dean’s so proud of his quick-thinking husband, he flashes the peace sign. Goober.)

The place starts to shake and lights begin to flicker --and it’s clear an angel is forthcoming. AGH.

Jack is still hurting himself in the forest when Lucifer pops in. BLARG.

Sam, Dean, and Cas make a run for it, but before they can escape in Baby, Michael appears. BLARG.

Dean lights and throws their entire container of holy oil at Michael (aw, I remember when Cas originally obtained it to keep Rafael in a ring of fire) and they hightail it out of there.

Meanwhile, Lucifer lets Jack know that it was Sam that trapped him in the AU world. He tries giving Jack the “we’re not human” speech and tries to convince Jack to leave with him. And then Jack, who couldn’t possibly get ANY CUTER, starts talking about Star Wars and light sabers, and OMG. Season 14: Supernatural in Space!

He also worries about Sam, Dean, and Cas, but Lucifer tells him that this is their opportunity to escape their past, their sins, and start over. Hmmm, I mean, Jack’s made mistakes, but dude, he doesn’t really have a past, or sins. Don’t drag him into your pity party. However, Lucifer sells his plan well enough that Jack agrees.

At the bunker, Bobby and Mary discuss Maggie’s death. Jack and Lucifer come strolling in like it’s nbd. Mary springs into action, telling Bobby to call Sam. Lucifer is here to bring Maggie back to life, per Jack’s wishes. I’m getting a Pet Semetary vibe with this, but it’s all good in the end. (Sidenote: Bobby called Sam - and presumably Dean and Cas - “boys”. Gah.) And before TFW can make it back to the bunker, Jack and Lucifer are gone.

*Mid Episode Aesthetic Break*

TFW slightly panics when they get back to find that Lucifer’s come and gone with Jack. (Like, that old problem again, amirite?) They split up to investigate leads. Sam gets to gently interrogate Maggie and ask who killed her. Eek. She didn't catch an ID on his face...but she saw his eyes.

Cue Jack and Lucifer… They stargaze together in familial bliss out in the woods while Michael starts his assault on the bunker.

Lights begin to flicker and the front door rattles. Sam orders Mary and Bobby to take Maggie out through the garage. Sam, Dean, and Cas await Michael. He busts in, they all pull out their weapons and proceed to...fire fruitlessly at Michael while he floats down from the upper balcony like he’s Peter Pan.

Michael tells them all that they can fly if they’ll only believe quickly gets the upper hand on all three of our heroes. He reveals that he made a deal with Lucifer to get to their world. Luci helped him open a rift. (See? I told you not to let Lucifer stay, Sam.) In return, Lucifer gets Jack and Michael gets everything else. (Lucifer. Dude. I love Jack and hate you... but that's a hell of a lopsided deal.)

Michael gives Dean a little preview of his idea of “saving the world” promising Dean that he will be the first to die – the first person he “saves.” Um. Thanks but no thanks, dickhole. Dean slowly suffocates in Michael's grip and Sam prays to Jack for help.

Jack, that sweet little cupcake, hears Sam's prayer. He realizes that Sam's begging for help and flaps away to the bunker to join the fight.

Dean continues to choke when...WAPOW WAPOW! Jack uses his super nephilim force to knock Michael down. Jack goes full glowy eyes on Michael, twisting his hand into a fist until Michael writhes in agony. “Lucifer, we had a deal,” Michael gasps and Jack turns to Lucifer and asks what that means. (Aw, Jack.) Welp. Lucifer was gonna get the fuck off the planet with Jack while Michael laid waste to Earth. Thus, all the stargazing and romanticizing Star Wars.

Cas is pissed that Lucifer would just abandon ship (why are you surprised, Castiel?) and Sam ratchets Jack’s shock up another level. Sam reveals that Lucifer killed Maggie. Though Lucifer initially denies it, Jack's eyes glow and he compels Lucifer to tell the truth. (Me: Stop thinking about Tom Riddle in Harry Potter compelling people to “tell the truth.” Jack’s a precious smol nougat. He’s no Voldemort! Also me…)

“She saw me and she screamed so I crushed her skull with my bare hands and it was warm and wet and I liked it.” It's somewhat refreshing to hear Lucifer say this because he’s the ultimate spin machine, constantly covering up his misdeeds. However, it’s also so disturbing to hear Lucifer's true thoughts that hide under his smirking exterior.

Jack's face falls. “You're not my father,” he says. “You're a monster.” Lucifer screams in rage. He tells Jack that humans are worthless, and that he doesn't need Jack. In a flash, he slits Jack's throat and sucks out a big wallop of grace. NOOOOOOOO!

Lucifer grabs a weakened Jack and Sam lunges for Jack...and then Lucifer flaps out of there with both of them. Dean and Cas are left alone in the bunker with Michael.

Cut to Sam getting tossed across a church floor. Lucifer kicks Sam, his very favorite punching bag. And he's got Jack just where he wants him. Mustache twirl, mustache twirl.

Back with Michael, Cas demands to know a way to stop Lucifer. Michael tells them that Lucifer is supercharged with Jack's grace...and now he can destroy the universe. Um. Oops. (Does stolen grace slowly kill archangels too?) Michael protests that he can't do anything to stop Lucifer in his “banged up meatsuit.” He coughs pathetically. “This is the end of everything,” Michael says. And damn it all, if Dean doesn't get a really dumb idea lodged in his head.

“What if you had your sword?” Dean asks.

DAMN IT, DEAN

How did we not see Lucifer stealing Jack’s grace? Extracting Jack’s grace to depower him was a plot point last year, and Lucifer using other angels’ grace to power up was used all this season. I think (like always) maybe the pacing could have been better to make it more weighty at the end? Had Lucifer met Jack sooner, and felt betrayed by Jack, and stole his grace sooner so we could feel that power, maybe that would make Dean’s decision more necessary? We know where Dean was coming from with his absolute need to protect his family --at the cost of his own life. They were in a bad spot, but I’m not sure the show made the stakes feel as high as they really were.

Meanwhile Lucifer is playing with his food (aka Sam) when Jack demands that he leave Sam alone. Lucifer's unimpressed and switches his attention to nougat. He punches Jack repeatedly. Father of the year award, here. :(

Lucifer tells Sam that family sucks and Jack being “family” is meaningless. To prove his point, he tells Jack to kill Sam. Lucifer drops his archangel blade at their feet and settles back to wait for the show.

Dean continues breaking our hearts at the bunker. While Cas asks Dean to back down, Dean sells himself as Michael's “sword.” UGH. Michael tells Dean that, were Dean possessed by him they MIGHT have a chance to defeat Lucifer. (Holy shades of Lucifer-possessing-Cas, Batman!) That's all Dean needs to hear. “Lucifer has Sam. He has Jack. Cas, I don't have a choice!” Dean brokers a deal with Michael: Michael can possess him, but he's in charge. Michael looks...very pleased.

Sam and Jack face each other down while Lucifer natters at them. Sam bends down and picks up the blade. Jack looks hurt. Confused. And then Sam tries to hand him the blade so Jack can kill him instead. NOOOOOOO! (Please imagine this in Luke Skywalker’s voice.) Sam’s willingness to sacrifice himself for his adopted son inspires Jack to...sacrifice himself. Jack knows how to end Lucifer’s game. He’ll kill himself! Jack starts driving the blade into his skin when light streams from behind him. It's Dean! Er, Michael! Er, Michael!Dean! 

“Heya, Sammy,” Dean’s familiar greeting is assurance that he’s still behind the wheel. He looks to Lucifer. It's time to rumble. Lucifer and Michael!Dean start to fight. Um...in the air? (This is no Crouching Tiger.) Supernatural could have at least given them both swirling capes.

Lucifer begins to get the upper hand and it’s looking bad for our team. Sam runs forward and picks up the forgotten archangel blade from the floor, tossing it up into Dean’s hand. Dean stabs Lucifer with it and Lucifer glows with red fire (still floating) before he finally poofs out. DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!

Lucifer lies dead on the floor, the embers from his burned wings glowing like stars around his head. (Kudos vfx department)

(Boris: I was really shocked about Lucifer’s death at first (I’ve also held that Lucifer would be the ultimate Big Bad in the end), but they’ve been reversing The End this season and that’s exactly how they ended it.)

Sam experiences intense relief. Lucifer, his torturer, is dead! They're happy...they're celebrating… This is Return of the Jedi and they’re all about to eat a little storm trooper with some fuzzy Ewoks when--

Dean buckles over, gasping. Oh no, we know the signs of an angel/human internal battle. “We had a deal!” Dean shouts and when he lifts his head, Michael's behind the wheel. He looks around casually and then flaps out, leaving Sam and Jack in shock behind him.

Back at the bunker, Mary and Bobby rush back into the library only to find Cas sitting alone on the step. He says nothing. Just shakes his head...

On a quiet street, Michael goes for a stroll. He's purloined some classy new duds so he can walk the world. His eyes glow…

Stay tuned, kids.

You Can Quote, You Can Quote, You Can QUOTE!!!

You shot me.

Wanna lightsaber?

Ginger trouble!

You, me, Cas. Toes in the sand. Couple of little umbrella drinks. Matching Hawaiian shirts, obviously. Some hula girls.

It's not about being strong. … Even when we're strong. Man, things are gonna happen. We're gonna make mistakes. Nobody's perfect. But we can get better. Every day, we can better.

I think he thought I'd be trapped over there in “giant litter box world” forever.

Before you died, do you remember anything about the person who killed you?

Daddy Sammy coming to the rescue.

Thanks for the suit.

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[botanistlester]

Sweet Pea (27/34)

Summary: A nickname that goes bitter in your mouth. Cries for help that no one listens to. Gentle hands that make you quake on the ground you’re standing on. When Phil first met Nico, he thought he was a gift from the heavens. But behind the mask lies something daunting, something unnerving, that Phil never foresaw. Through his journey, he finds solace in Dan, the regular at his workplace, who seems to be the only one who sees through Nico’s mask to the darkness underneath. Warnings: Abusive relationship, violence A/N: Kind of a short chapter, but that's alright. I think it's important! I'm excited about the next few chapters ahhh. Chapter 28 MAY come out a little bit early? Not positive? Because I'm going to chicago this next weekend, but it depends on if i have internet connection or not. If I have internet connection then i'm gonna upload it on saturday as usual! Thanks for @snowbunnylester for editing for me. The lyrics at the beginning are from The Fire by Tonight Alive.

ALSO, thank you SO MUCH to everybody who voted for this fic in the phanfic awards. I am super proud to announce that this fic won many awards! Sweet Pea was officially voted first place Best of the Best fic, Best Angst, and Best Chaptered, and second place in the Edge of the Seat Award, and Slow Burn, for the phanfic awards 2017! I appreciate and love all of you and i'm gonna cry wtf!

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-

Chapter Twenty-Seven

But I made it out alive. I’m here to say I breathe; at least I try. I won’t go without a fight. You can’t stop me.

-

Phil has been doing a lot of thinking.

Truth was, he was bored. He was bored of life. His life had become an endless cycle of the same things over and over again; get up, go to work, get back home, clean the house, make dinner, play video games, talk to Dan, go to sleep. Over and over and over again. There was nothing for him to be excited about, nothing that made the wheels in his head turn to make him think, nothing to expand his knowledge about subjects that he cared about.

He missed school. He missed his friends. He missed going out. He missed how he would go to school and giggle in the middle of lectures because his friend had decided to make a lame sex joke under their breath. He missed going to the dining halls on campus and watching the people walk past as he ate a sad enchilada. He missed how he had to stay up late to finish essays because he’d procrastinated way too much. Okay well, maybe he didn’t miss that part, but he missed the other stuff and it almost made him long for that as well.

He was trapped in an endless cycle of boredom and he didn’t really know what to do about it.

“Dan, I think I’m dying,” Phil groaned out one day, when his thoughts finally caught up to him and he realised that he couldn’t fucking do this anymore.

Dan set down his DS, which Phil assumed he had been using to play Animal Crossing judging by the songs. His friend raised his eyebrows in question, staring at him quizzically, expectantly. “Okay?” Dan asked slowly. “And why do you think you’re dying.”

Phil pressed his palms into his eyes and pressed down. Stars danced across his vision like it was mimicking the night sky, and he let out another pitiful groan. “I’m so fucking bored.”

“Alright, so do something else then and stop sitting around on your ass,” Dan replied as though it was the simplest solution in the entire world. He went to pick up his DS again, but Phil stopped him with his words.

“No, like. I’m bored. With life.” Phil sighed, and he didn’t really think before he started to speak again. He had gotten a little better about speaking about his feelings, thanks to the endless prodding from Nate, but he was still pretty bad at it. Especially when it came to major life choices and not thinking it through before he suggested it. “I think I want to go back to school.”

Dan really did drop his DS then. It dropped to the floor with a thump as he sat up from the couch, staring at Phil with his mouth open in a gape. “Now hold on,” Dan said, his eyes blinking fast. “Let’s talk about this first so I can understand your sudden change of heart.”

Phil groaned and flung himself backwards on the couch, fully aware that he was throwing a temper tantrum. He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to think about it. He just wanted to do. He was bored. So fucking bored that it made his head spin and his fingers tap rhythmically on the desk. Staying in the house during the day, just doing work and coming back home afterwards, was making him go insane.

He needed to do something.

“What is there to understand, Dan?” Phil asked, his voice pathetic and whiney like he was a god damn baby. “I’m so bored that I think I’m going to actually die. What else is there to think about?”

Dan bit his lip, looking concerned. Phil didn’t really understand why he was so concerned. Didn’t he want Phil to go back to school? To do something with his life? With the way that Dan was looking now, it seemed like he was more apprehensive than anything at this suggestion, and it made Phil’s heart sink. Phil’s shoulders began to sag with defeat and his chest caved in like he was trying to hide himself from the world. Dan saw this, shaking his head and scooting closer to him on the couch. “No, no! It’s not what you’re thinking,” Dan promised. He put an arm around Phil’s shoulders, and brought him closer so that he could place a chaste kiss on the side of Phil’s head.

Phil relaxed into him, because this was Dan and there was no way that Phil could just give up an offer of cuddling a literal giant teddy bear. He stayed silent as Dan continued, just drinking in his warmth and closing his eyes to try and calm himself down, to tell himself that Dan was here, of course he was going to be concerned about Phil. “So what aren’t I thinking of then?” Phil murmured, closing his eyes and soaking in the feel of being cuddled up close to Dan.

“Well,” Dan started. He picked up his hand and started to brush his fingers through Phil’s hair, just how Phil liked it. It was wonderful and made Phil’s head get off of the impending conversation just slightly. He always liked when people brushed their fingers through his hair, almost as though he were a cat. It made him feel calm. Loved, even. “I’m honestly just concerned about your mental stability at the moment. Not because I don’t think you can handle school or anything, but because I know you dropped out because you physically couldn’t handle it anymore. So I guess I just worry that you’ll join school again and then immediately feel pressured and overwhelmed again, which is something I don’t want for you. Does that make sense, or am I just an asshole?”

Phil chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re not an asshole, Dan,” he said warmly, and it was the truth. He could see where Dan was coming from with this. After all, Dan had seen Phil in probably every mood possible by now. He’d seen Phil when he’d given up. He’d seen Phil when he was angry. He’d seen Phil when he was broken beyond repair, and he’d seen Phil when he was baking five batches of cookies while dancing around the kitchen singing Japanese music at the top of his lungs. Phil had no doubt in his mind that Dan knew him better than he knew himself.

Which was why Phil was confident enough in their relationship to calmly tell Dan why he had to do this, why he had to go back to school. Not for anybody else, but for himself.

“I’ll be honest with you, Dan,” he began, taking his best friend’s free hand in his own. He started to play with Dan’s fingers, picking them up slightly and letting them slap back down onto his thigh. “At this point in my life, right now, I feel like I don’t enjoy anything anymore. Sure, that was the same as before and I know that. But while I felt like I had nothing to live for back then, I feel like I can… I don’t know, accomplish something now? Like maybe I can do something other than sitting around on my ass playing Mario Kart all day and working at a dumb pizza place. If I go to school, I think it’ll give me that drive to actually do something again, you know? Like maybe I can be an English professor someday and actually be happy with myself. Doesn’t that sound great?”

Dan was silent for a moment, which was disconcerting to Phil. He glanced over at Dan to find his friend grinning so largely that he couldn’t possibly speak, his entire face lit up like the sun. He surged forward suddenly, embracing Phil in a hug so tight that it knocked the breath out of him. “Fuck, I’m so proud of you,” Dan whispered in Phil’s ear, pressing a kiss to the side of his head. It felt weirdly intimate, but Phil didn’t mind. He rather liked it. “Two months ago, you never would have said something like this. And now you’re filled with hope and amazement and excitement about the future.”

Dan sighed and sat back, holding Phil at arms length. His eyes were golden honey on a bright day, and Phil mimicked his happy grin. “I’m so immensely proud of you, Phil. I don’t think you know just how much guts this took to finally try to start getting on your feet again. I support you wholeheartedly, and I’ll be there for you every step of the way no matter what, just as I always have been.”

Phil laughed, a giddy bubble escaping from his chest. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Admittedly, I’m scared. Really scared.” He looked away from Dan, staring at the ceiling instead and squinting like he was trying to find something on the white surface. “What if I see Nico there? Chandler? What if I have a break down? What if I end up not being able to do it? Because you’re right. I am screwed up. I do have a lot going on. There are probably going to be times I have a panic attack and won’t be able to finish homework due to that. I have full faith that’ll happen. But I can’t just give up due to some guy who made me love him more than I loved myself.” Phil paused and made eye contact with Dan, his gaze burning. “It’s about time I loved myself. It’s about time I stopped sulking around. I need to get out, Dan, and this is one of the first steps into having a better life.”

Dan was staring at Phil as though he had put the stars in the sky, his expression filled with awe. He was happy, so happy, that Phil almost thought he would just lean forward and kiss him or something. That was the kind of expression Dan was giving him, and it made Phil’s chest swell in a pleasant and excited way. Dan didn’t kiss him though, of course he didn’t, because they were best friends, but he did pick up Phil’s hand, entwining their fingers together. “I’m so fucking proud of you, jesus christ. But you’re wrong about this being the first step.” Phil cocked his head in confusion, and waited for Dan to go on. “The first step started as soon as Nico walked out of your life. You started to heal that same day. It may not have felt like it, but you started to do things that were the best for you, even if you may have chosen some coping mechanisms that weren't’t healthy.” Phil grimaced as he remembered Jace, how he’d cheated on him, how many people he’d slept with in such a short time frame. He wasn’t proud of that. “It’s been fucking hard, and it may not have felt like you were healing, but you were. You still are. And you’re doing better every day. Not everybody can do that but you did. Do you know how amazing that is?”

Phil beamed, and his eyes started to well up with tears despite himself. He was being a baby, but that was alright. He had no qualms with crying in front of Dan now. And he definitely wasn’t embarrassed to lurch forward to bury himself in Dan’s chest, using his warmth as comfort in this hard time. “I’m so scared,” Phil whispered into Dan’s chest.

A pair of warm arms encircled his waist and clutched him tightly to Dan’s body, almost like a shield. Phil felt protected just from the embrace, like nothing bad in the world could hurt him. “I know,” Dan whispered. “But you don’t have to do it alone. I’ll be by your side through it all.”

“Thank you,” Phil choked out. He suddenly couldn’t breathe, his throat all clogged up with cotton wool, tears leaking from his eyes. “I’m worried about if I see him. What would I do? I don’t… I don’t think I can see him again without having a meltdown again.”

“He can’t hurt you anymore,” Dan said protectively, tightening his arms even more around Phil’s waist. “You have a restraining order and you have me. I’ll punch him if he even steps within twenty feet of you.”

Phil barked out a laugh, one thick with tears and worry. “But you won’t be there the whole time I’m on campus. What if I see him during one of the times you can’t be there?”

Dan kissed the top of Phil’s head and rubbed the small of his back. “Then Louise and I will form our own mafia and skin him alive,” he joked, before turning serious. “For real, though. I won’t let anything happen to you. It he gets close to you then call the police. You can’t stop living your life in fear of him, you can’t let him control you. You’re stronger than him, you’re better than him, and you have wonderful friends who will beat his ass if he even tries to come close to you.” Dan reached up and grabbed Phil’s face in his hands, gently forcing Phil’s face up to make eye contact. He smiled warmly. “Seriously. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

There weren’t a lot of things that Phil believed in anymore. He didn’t believe in Santa Claus. He didn’t believe that each person only fell in love once. He didn’t believe that people deserved to go through the shit that he went through with Nico.

But for some reason, he found himself believing that he would be safe, that he could go back to school and steer clear from Nico. WIth Dan and Louise and all of his other friends sticking by his side, Phil felt like he could do anything in the world.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

[skylcrfallon]

Saying Goodbye

Tagged: Ariel Hale, Lydia Martin, Peter Hale, Nate Sinclair

Location: A shed in the woods.

Time Frame: December 3rd, twenty-seventeen at 8:30pm.

Notes: 

Ariel.: Sighing softly, the werewolf began to head outside towards the woods area, her and Lyds had been planning to head out towards there to try and see if they could find any evidence regarding the horsemen, but she honestly didn't have a clue as to what they could find other than possible foot or horse prints, but she knew that they would most likely be rather subtle about their whereabouts. Once she did make it there, she looked around for the strawberry blonde, a smile on her lips once she does see the girl that she has always considered to be like a little sibling, especially after everything that happened with her real older sister. "Hey! You ready to try and hunt these guys down?" She questions, bouncing on her heels slightly.

Lydia: Ever since her talk with Stiles, Lydia felt like she had been doing a lot better recently. She was in a much better place than she had been in months- maybe even a year or so. While Lydia was definitely still going through her struggles, she at least felt like she was strong enough to overcome them with time. Her mind felt way better and she was ready to start getting out there and working on saving the town from Beacon Hills. Ariel was the first person Lydia thought of asking, since the two had grown incredibly close since they'd first met. Ariel was the big sister Lydia did not have, and even though the words were unspoken she really meant a lot to Lydia. "I'm always ready." Lydia said with a firm nod and a small smile, her heels digging into the dirt beneath her feet as she began walking. Lydia wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for but she kept her guard up and only stopped when something caught her eye in the corner. "Did you see that?" Lydia whispered, instinctively grabbing Ariel's hand and holding it tightly as she took a step back.

Ariel.: Nodding her head with a grin, she claps her hands excitedly and begins to walk with Lydia, wrapping an arm around the others absentmindedly. Eyes scanned the area carefully as she took each step, the majority of the direction that she was looking was actually down for the prints, but every so often, she would use her werewolf vision to check and see if maybe there was something hiding around them, but so far, it seemed like nothing. When she heard Lydia whisper to her, Ariel quickly looked up and furrowed her eyebrows, picking up on the sound of leaves nearby cracking every time someone took a step. "Stay here, I think someone's out there." She responds in a whisper and pulls away from Lyds carefully to walk towards the edge of where they were, looking around. "I don't see anyt-hey!" Within seconds of seeing the person, they made sure to make their way to her quickly, hitting her upside the head with something to knock her out at least.

Lydia: Lydia immediately wanted to refuse when Ariel told her to stay where she was, but the werewolf had started walking away before Lydia got the chance. She slowly followed behind Ariel just in case and once she spotted another person, it was like the world started moving too fast for Lydia to keep up with. Before she could make her way towards Ariel completely, Lydia saw her friend being knocked on the ground by someone with glowing eyes. Lydia was ready to let out a defensive scream and attack back, her hands steady in front of her as she took a deep breath and opened her mouth but she didn’t even manage to get any noise out before she felt claws in her throat. Lydia coughed up blood, falling to the ground as she held onto her kneck and was completely unable to make a sound. The next thing she knew she was being knocked out and fell right next to Ariel, and Lydia remembered the feeling of death quickly approaching her- one of them was going to die and Lydia just prayed it was her and not Ariel. That’s all she thought about as her eyes closed and she felt her body being dragged somewhere.

Ariel.: Despite the fact that she had been hit rather hard, she still had her eyes open for a few moments, watching as Lydia gets knocked out as well, her whole body telling her to help her, but for some reason, whatever they had used had rendered her paralyzed, most likely from kanima venom, but how did they get that in the first place? After finally waking up a few minutes later, she groans and looks around slowly, trying to get up, but there seemed to be chains around her wrists and ankles, mountain ash spread around in a circle where her and Lyds sat in separate chairs. "Lydia! Lyds!" Ari whispers loudly, still looking around frantically to see how they can get out.

Lydia: When Lydia finally opened her eyes, she found herself being chained to a chair and the scene was all too similar to the night she was killed by hunters. Lydia was panicking inside but she did her best not to show her fear, her main concern being the fact that her and Ariel needed to make it out alive. A cold drop of blood hit the bare skin on Lydia’s thigh and she brought her hand up to where the blood came from, only then remembering she’d been clawed in the throat. “A-Ariel.” Lydia croaked, although she wasn’t able to say much else. She couldn’t use her voice to scream which rendered her useless as she was chained up. Lydia looked over towards Ariel and flinched when she heard someone coming closer to them. “You girls were trying to stop the horsemen, weren’t you? I know people like you. The do-gooders in this town. Well you’re not going to stop them this time. You can’t, because I’m starving and they promised that I’d be taken care of if I keep them safe.” The man said. Lydia could tell he was out of his mind, but she couldn’t speak to try and convince him otherwise. And she still felt the familiar death seeping into her system which terrified her. She didn’t want to die, but above all else she didn’t want to witness someone who became like a sister to her die either. But what could she do to help? Lydia couldn’t speak or move.

Ariel.: Turning her head quickly when she did notice the blood, she tried to pull herself out of the chains, but her healing was taking too long and all she could do was wiggle her fingers a bit, it wasn't enough, she had to go and make sure that she was alright before they left this place as soon as possible, something was obviously not right at all and the werewolf was going to make sure that Lyds got out of here. Making a face when she hears a deep voice begin to talk, Ariel slowly looks over and instinctively growls, eyes narrowing. "You don't know anything and you are so wrong, we will destroy them and you. This town will continue to be safe because of people like us." She states in a harsh voice at him, still attempting to get out of the chains. "You do realise that once they are destroyed, you will be back to stuck with nothing, right? We could actually help you, but only if you let us go." Ariel honestly muses, the kinder side of her only barely showing to let him know that he was still a threat, but she was offering a way out of this if he was smart.

Lydia: “You’re lying!” The werewolf snapped back at Ariel. Lydia watched in horror as she continued to desperately try and break free from the chains. There wasn’t anything else she could do to help and the fact that her banshee feelings were telling her someone in the room was going to die scared her to no end. If she couldn’t do something to help, there was a chance it could be Ariel who passed. Lydia just kept praying that it would be her as she shut her eyes tightly and shook her head. “I’m told to only kill one of you, though. The other is going to be saved as a warning. Tell the rest of your friends to back off or they’ll all be next.” He paused as he looked between both girls. “So, which one of you is it going to be?” After he spoke again, Lydia immediately began flailing around in her chair in an attempt to tell the werewolf that she would offer herself up. “M-me. Please.” She tried to croak out but due to the injured vocal chords her voice was barely audible. If only one of them was getting out alive, Lydia wanted it to be Ariel. She had so much life in her and really deserved to continue living. Lydia was prepared to die for her friend wholeheartedly but she was struggling to get the words out.

Ariel.: "How could I be??" She yells back at him, eyes slightly narrowing a bit more. "We don't want to fight anyone if we don't have to, but if it comes to a last resort because you think that helping them will automatically make you one of them in which they will always fully protect you, then you couldn't be more wrong!" The blonde states, still subtly looking around to try and find an escape hatch that they could get out of, the feelings in her arms and legs beginning to come back to her. Furrowing her eyebrows when he mentions that he was only going to kill one of them, she automatically nods her head. "Me." Ariel responds and turns over to where Lydia was, making a face. "Lyds no, you can't. It'll be okay, take me instead of her and just let her go." She muses the last words at him, taking in a deep breath, she knew that Lydia still had so much to live for, she didn't deserve this, none of them did and Ariel was going to continue to protect each and every one that she cared for until her last breath.

Lydia: Lydia was starting to get lightheaded from the amount of blood she was losing and the fact that she just kept shaking her head at a rapid pace. It only increased once she heard Ariel offer herself up, and her voice was much more heard. Lydia watched in horror as the werewolf smirked and went towards Ariel. “P-please.” Lydia pleaded, this time finding the strength to speak a little louder. Lydia had tears in her eyes as she looked at Ariel, already knowing this was going to be the last time she saw her friend. Memories of the two of them were literally flashing in front of Lydia and her heart was breaking into a million pieces. “Sorry, sweetheart. If what I’ve heard about Lydia Martin is true then seeing your friend die in front of you will break you enough. I’ll kill her and let you do the job on yourself afterwords.” Lydia was still shaking her head and tears were steaming down her face. She wanted to help save them so badly, it was physically killing her. “N-no. Ariel. I-I am so sorry. Please don’t.” She hoped her friend could hear her, because at this point Lydia already knew what was going to happen. She could feel it.

Ariel.: Narrowing her eyes as she watched him begin to march towards her, she took in a deep breath and resisted the urge to growl at him, knowing that despite the fact that he said one of them was going to die, she was also willing to try and see if they could both get out of here alive. "Lydia, I am so..sorry, I can't let you die again, you don't deserve this." She whispers towards her with a reassuring smile on her lips. "You will not do anything to her, alright? Just let her go after and leave everyone else alone, your job will be done." She comments, and once he gets just a couple inches closer, she quickly stands up, breaking from the chains and throwing a hard punch to his jaw, she had meant to deflect the next hit, but with that vulnerable spot open where she quickly changed her aim, she felt something plunge into her chest and oh, did it sting like hell. With a gasp, blue eyes completely widened, Ariel looked down at the spot on her chest where a large knife was, yellow liquid dripping from the end of it as her face paled and she collapsed onto the floor, coughing hard.

Lydia: "No, no, no!" Lydia shook her head furiously at Ariel. How could the werewolf think that Lydia deserved life over her? That just wasn't right, and it didn't make sense to Lydia. Ariel was such a good person, and a light in Beacon Hills as well as to everyone around her. Ariel had personally managed to put a smile on Lydia's face in the darkest times, meanwhile all Lydia did was bring death and destruction everywhere she went. No way in hell was her life more valuable than Ariel's. "Please don't do this. Ariel, please." Lydia begged, practically sobbing at this point. She watched in horror as the werewolf stabbed Ariel. Immediately, Lydia felt the pain in her chest. "Ariel!" Lydia yelled, although that was enough to make the room spin for Lydia. She was definitely fading in and out, but she watched the werewolf run into the distance as soon as he was done with Ariel. Lydia could slowly feel her friends soul leaving her body and she couldn't even do anything to try and help. "I'm so sorry." Lydia whispered through her sobs, knowing she shouldn't be using her voice but she needed Ariel to know this before she died. "I'm so sorry." She repeated, again all of her words coming out in a whisper. She couldn't scream to save Ariel and that was going to haunt her for the rest of her life. But forcing herself to speak was making Lydia weaker and her head fell back as she was on the verge of passing out.

Peter sped through town, foot heavy on the pedal propelling him so fast the police scanners couldn't pick him up. She called him. It had been on purpose, it had to be. She was somewhere and needed his help. He should have been on watch, he should have followed her. One dropped word was enough to let him know where she was. The rest didn't matter. Peter arrived as quick as he could, bolting out of the car without stopping the engine, without looking back at his opened door. His nose picked up her scent. The trail that lead him right to her, ignoring the body that pushed past him, rubbing against his jacket. When he turned into the room, it felt as though his whole world had come crushing down. It was the Hale fire all over again, and yet somehow worse. "No, no no no no..." he muttered, lurching forward to scoop his girl up into his arms, not a single care thrown Lydia's direction, "It's okay. Daddy's here, Daddy's got you..." A stab wound should have been nothing. Should have healed from it in no time. But the pungent stench of yellow wolfsbane seeped from her wound and he shook his head, running his shaking hand over her hair. It was too late. "Ariel, it's going to be okay," it wasn't, "I've got you. I'm going to protect you."

Ariel.: She hadn't meant to get hurt, the plan that she had come up with whilst talking to the other werewolf, was that she was going to inform her dad about this and get him to attack the other since he didn't seem to be on agreeing terms with both of them kept alive and let go, but her anger got the better of her as she attacked him and tried to fight him off as she waited for Peter to get here, praying that he would make it in time, but after feeling the knife go through her chest and her collapsing onto the floor, the blonde just stares over at Lydia, shaking her head softly. "It's ok-okay, L-L-Lyds. I promise." She responds, with the smallest of smiles that she could manage at that moment. "Thank you....for being..an amazing friend, and honora-ary sister." Ariel states, letting out a small breath of relief when she finally does see Peter, tears beginning to fall. "Daddy." She mumbles in a soft voice, eyes threatening to close. "I'm so sorry, I tried..I tried." Ariel nods her head, looking over to where Lydia and now Nate were. "Get t-t-them to safety, please."

Nate: Nate hadn’t been back in town for longer than a day and already his connection with Lydia was going crazy. He didn’t know what was happening, but he knew that she was in pain by the unbelievable burning in his throat and the terrible sinking feeling in his cheat. He let his connection guide him straight to her, and when he stumbled upon the scene he was honestly in shock as he stared at Ariel on the ground and then to Lydia. He didn’t know who the random man was, but he didn’t care as he quickly ran to Lydia’s side and tried to access her situation. He could feel that Ariel was going to die, and he didn’t want to interrupt the moment. It was clear that it wasn’t his place, and Lydia needed medical attention right now. He pressed his lips together as he sighed quietly and gently lifted her up, careful not to hurt her as he looked at Ariel on the ground one last time before carrying her out.

Peter shook his head, ignoring anything about the two who clearly had themselves handled as he continued to stroke his hand over Ariel's golden locks, his face betraying the calm words he spilled. "Shh, Ariel. It's okay. You did good. You did so good, Ariel. It's going to be okay. I'm just going to get you to safety, alright?" he implored, gathering her up more securely in his arms and for a moment he started to believe his own words. He could do it. He was Peter Hale, he would be able to save her. Nevermind the creeping stench of death that seemed to clutch at her every limb. He was the Alpha of Beacon Hills. There was nothing he could not do. Ariel would be okay.

Ariel.: Blinking slowly as she watched Nate begin to pick up Lydia, Ariel used her free hand that wasn't on the wound, to try and reach over to them, knowing that this was the last time that she could ever see them again, but as they left, she looked back over at Peter and shook her head. "It's t-t-o late. I'm sorry. At least..you won't have to w-worry about me anymore, yeah?" She makes a face and slowly nods her head, the burning sensation from the wolfsbane now completely enveloping her body. "Dad? I forgive you." Ariel whispers, eyes slowly closing as she draws in her last breath, her limbs going loose.

Peter: "Don't. Don't speak, Ariel..." he said, the normally collected and cool voice shaken with something he couldn't quite comprehend. Something he hadn't felt since the flames had licked against his flesh, drowning him in pain and the screams of his family. And as his daughter's body went limp in his arms, Peter clutched at her as if it would keep her from sailing away. "No, no, no. Ariel, no," he muttered, rocking her back and forth as a hand patted her cheek, trying to wake her as if she had merely fallen asleep, "Ariel, don't. No. No, no, NO! Ariel! Ariel, please!" Peter's voice came out in broken waves, matching the tears now welling up in his killers eyes. But no matter how anguished his cries or how forcefully he shook her, his daughter would not wake. And with a final call of her name he curled in on her, holding her body close as he should have done the day she was born. Had he known...had he been able to see her...had it not been for her mother or his pride. Peter threw his head back, eyes glowing vibrantly as he let out a terrible, keening howl of despair. It was all he knew to do. This immeasurable pain had seeped into his body and refused to let him loose, no matter how many times he roared over Ariel's frame. The last howl coming out as a sob as he curled against her again, rocking back and forth with his forehead pressed against the now cooling skin of his daughter. He couldn't deal with this pain. This, terrifying echo of the thing he'd already lost once before that somehow rocked his being worse than anything had before. And so Peter grabbed onto the only thing that made sense to him. Vengeance. Rage. The wolf raised his head, nose pulling at the air in search of the scent. The man who killed his daughter, and anyone involved with him, would surely pay.

Peter let out a guttural, sobbing roar that seemed to shake the room. Everyone in Beacon Hills would know his pain. His wide, glowing eyes flashed a pale red for a moment. An echo of the power he once had. But it was enough. He latched onto it, feeding it his anguish, his hatred, his overwhelming sense of loss and the beast gobbled it up. Peter stood, gently setting his daughter down back against the pavement as his body twisted, snapped, and jutted outwards. Clothes tore from him as he grew into a familiar, grotesque form that had once terrorized Beacon Hills. Claws extended far beyond normal as he turned, completely lost to his beast, to his vengeance, and tore from the room. Searing eyes searched for a moment before leaping through a high window, landing on the cold earth outside. The beast was free, and as it caught the scent of the unfortunate soul who thought to end a life that held meaning to Peter Hale, he let out another echoing howl. Another echo, of the Alpha that could command all others, but this time it was a death knell ringing through the town before the great, black beast charged into the night.

[jinjojess]

Jess’s V3 Ending Thoughts I

Okay, going to talk a bit about my raw feelings on the ending so far. After I go back and play more and digested it a little more, I may have more to say.

Things I Liked

It contextualized the really frustrating writing calls made earlier in the game, like why HaruMaki’s entire character revolves around this random crush she developed with no satisfactory build up or why Akamatsu basically exists just to build Saihara’s confidence or why there was a goddamn double murder in the third chapter etc. I still would have preferred a game that was solidly written start to finish that didn’t rely on tropes for large chunks of the narrative, but at the very least I can laugh it off now and go “Oh, Shirogane, you’re such a terrible fic writer.”

It did something different, which is always appreciated. The game was taking this idea of choosing a different option than hope or despair that SDR2 introduced and the idea of landing on an unsatisfactory ending on purpose from DR:AE and tried to go further with it.

I really liked that the game itself identified that the audience’s dogged demanding of a hopeful ending is one of the things that drags the series down.

I like that all of Shirogane’s sprites post mastermind reveal show that she’s got bags under her eyes. It’s a small detail, but it really shows how tiresome the DR formula is making everyone, even people who purport to love it.

I like that having the characters sign up willingly to participate eases one of the major issues this game had, namely that there were too many goddamn cinnamon rolls in the cast. Like literally everyone but Shinguuji pretty much was Too Good and holy god is that unrealistic and boring. Showing that they too were super fans who made a dumb, short-sighted decision redeemed them a bit for me.

So I know a lot of people probably have issues with the “we know nothing really about these characters” thing, but honestly I’m totally cool with it. It’s like Kodaka dumped a box of colorful Legos at my feet and I can now build anything my imagination desires. 

I like Shirogane as the one pulling the strings. I think it works pretty well and thank god she got something significant to do in the end.

Nate disagrees, but I kind of find the idea of a society obsessed with an element of pop culture to the point where they want to bring it to life in an unhealthy way to be kind of funny and appropriate for a DR game.

I respected the decision to have all the characters die at the end to stop the series, and the way the formula got entirely deconstructed. (See below for the caveat to this.)

Things I Didn’t Like

What the FUCK was that epilogue?! Not only does it undercut the narrative significance of what happened right before the credits (Saihara: “No, we have to die because our deaths will make a statement.” *two minutes later* Saihara: “No, it’s totally cool we survived.” YOU CAN’T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO, SAIHARA!), it’s basically the hopeful ending the audience wanted. If the audience chose to spare you at the end so you can continue living, then that’s functionally the same as a hope ending, guys. You haven’t changed shit in that case.

Speaking of, I don’t know that they can say they “changed the world” really. I mean, you made the ending boring so people stopped watching. How do you know they didn’t jump ship on DR but latched onto a completely different series to get their fix? What, is DR the ONLY killing game media in town?

Saihara’s bit in the epilogue about how they TOTALLY deserve to live now and about how the fact that they signed up willingly could have been a lie was so fucking bad oh my god. If you take away the fact that the characters signed up willingly, you now fall into the trap DR3 did, i.e., shirking consequences. “Sure, there’s video evidence of me applying to participate in this killing game of my own volition, but I’m a Good Person who’d never do such a thing, and so I am choosing to doubt that ever happened if not just outright deny it!” It boils down to the same issue I had with Mirai-hen: everyone always thinks they’re Naegi, never that they’re Munakata.

Nate and I discussed this on stream, but this ending is super fucking unfair to Shirogane. Her crime was giving these ungrateful kids what they wanted, and then they turned on her and we’re supposed to rah rah that they let her die because...?

The ending message is so confused here. Like at first I thought they were going with a “be careful to keep reality and fiction separate in your mind, lest you go too far” which is a good, necessary message. I mean, look at how Tumblr will harass living, breathing people over fictional shit. That makes perfect sense with the set up: fictional killing games are all well and good, but when you cross the line and start using actual flesh-and-blood people, you’ve gone too far. However, by the end we start getting hokey lines like “You don’t believe in the power of fiction?” and “Fiction can change the world!” Uh, yes, Kodaka. No one is arguing that it can’t. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t think fiction can inspire or have an emotional impact on people. We have already proved that via the fact that people like Makoto in that one quick real world segment were finding strength and courage because of the DR series. So why beat this dead horse?

On that topic, if your endgame moral is literally “fiction has an impact on reality despite being fictional” then having the characters be flesh-and-blood people detracts from your message. If a character who never existed outside the confines of the game and was nothing but binary and pixels was struggling to escape their own narrative, then it would have had more weight. As is, the message is still coming across as “the problem with this is that you are involving real people” (if not straight up going Tumblr Purity Brigade, though I doubt that was Kodaka’s intention).

Dear everyone who told me Saihara HAD to be the protag: please show your work. Because he didn’t. “But he came up with the idea to not choose either side! It was because he was weak and relying on his friends!” People. Please. Do you really not see how that could easily have been reframed to work with Akamatsu? “I’ve been dragging everyone around so much this entire time that I never stopped to listen to the anyone else, and all that I got for the trouble was that the killing game continued. So this time I decided to stay quiet and listen instead, and when I heard Kiibo-kun and Maki-chan say they would sacrifice themselves, I got an idea.” And then she has to let the other remaining survivors choose for themselves instead of choosing for them. It’s really not hard to make a justification for any other character. When people said that it HAD to be Saihara as the protag, I thought it was because he was the true mastermind and had set this up as an elaborate punishment for people he knew were guilty of crimes who had gotten away with them (which given all of the DRK-ness in his backstory, would have made a lot of sense). Or something. You know, a scenario where it really would have had to have been him. As it stands, it only has to be him because the story says so, which if you pay attention to my arguments about Naegi-Stu, you should know is not a justification to me.

Someone with a sense of artistic integrity would end the series here, having deconstructed it to this point.

Unanswered Questions I Still Have

I still find it really strange how some people were able to actually make use of their talents--I think it would have been more cohesive if no one ever did anything all that impressive. Like it works with, say, Akamatsu (who never actually plays piano) or Yumeno (whose entire schtick is kind of being a fraud) or Momota (again, fraud) or Saihara (who is doing things in the game that were literally done by Joe Schmoes in previous games), but for Iruma or HaruMaki or Hoshi, placebo effect only goes so far. I don’t think it can suddenly make you able to upgrade a robot repeatedly or do 100 push-ups in a few minutes or flashstep.

On that note, what is the deal with Kiibo? Is he actually a robot that the DR Team made to be the audience stand in? If that’s the case, why does he look human in the prologue? What would they have done if he got murdered earlier on?

Who is controlling Monokuma? Just another staff member? Does he have an independent AI?

What would they have done if Shirogane had died earlier? I mean I assume this is why she avoided latching onto any particular group and was such a non-entity during the game but still...she was a girl and therefore at risk of Shinguuji.

Still unsure if the outside world of V3 is intended to be our world or not. If it is, then we hardly are a world without strife or despair. If it isn’t...what the hell is the point? Who cares about some fictional other outside world that has nothing in common with the one we inhabit? “Here’s how fiction affects reality! ...oh but not OUR reality, this reality I made up for the purposes of this story.”

What was the deal with the tech helmet things we saw on Akamatsu and Saihara? Was that supposed to be them “entering” the “world of DR”? Or was that the true first memory light thing? If Saihara said in that section that he wanted to die with everyone, was the significance that he signed up because he was suicidal? (I assume that’s why Yumeno signed up...she’s been dropping not-so-subtle hints all game that she suffers from depression.) Why didn’t that get explored more?

So these are my knee-jerk immediate feelings on the ending so far. On one hand there were things I really, really liked about it and things I appreciated that it tried to do, and on the other there are things that I think just plain didn’t work.

More later after I play through myself some.

P.S. Bonus mode is pretty great. Can’t wait to play on my own.

[whale-shark-queen]

You mentioned fucked up weird AUs in your one post? I'm interested. Tell me about your favourite one(s)!!

AAAaaaah thank you so much!!

Uhhhhhhh heck most of them involve N turning into some horrible Thing because he’s the Estranged Outsider with a Connection to the Bad Guys Even If It’s Not Willingly (yknow like how Eren from snk is a titan shifter or Rin from blue exorcist is part demon) and all of them involve vuvuzelashipping (Nxall the Nuvema lot) I don’t really have a single favourite but I’ll summarize the ones I like most (also note that some of them are good dad Ghetsis/Dadsis aus because u gotta balance out the angst somehow plus dadsis aus are Cool)

Under the cut because I literally can’t summarise for shit and I’m sure no one wants to scroll past 3 pages worth of this (mobile users I apologise since the app is SHIT and refuses to even acknowledge these) 

Also here’s a bit of an index so u can skip to ones that sound interesting instead of going through them all but first u should ask nationalharmonica about her aus bc I love all of hers and they’re awesome and need more love and she also helped with alot of these aus too!! ESPECIALLY the Dragonflower au which I won’t include here because I think she has it on her blog somewhere already.  If ur wondering why I haven’t posted any of these it’s because a) i have neither the skill, time or patience to draw up proper references for all of the characters involved and b) I’m always worried theyll seem too Out There for some people but here we go au masterpost i guess, if anyone reading would like more info feel free to ask!!!

Bacterial Contamination inspired au aka bacterial pestileNce

BotW au

Ib au

PMMM au (the longest one)

Plasma/Aether swapover, N wins+UB monochromeshipping au

Simple fNaf dadsis au

sister locatioN dicksis au (yes I have two for that because I only found out about the secret springtrap cutscene at the end of SL that changes everything the other day)

Nombie (dadsis) au

isolatioN au- Au based on the song Bacterial Contamination.  N goes to the snobbiest most pretentious school you can imagine only because his ex mafia boss dad wants the best for him.  N hides the fact he’s being relentlessly bullied until a teacher phones Ghetsis up asking why N is in such a state whenever he comes into school (BC bruises and cuts and looking roughed up in general).  N goes to therapy and gets meds but surprise they’re an experimental drug and he’s a bug boy now

- BotW au where Touya is Link, Cheren as Revali, Bianca is Mipha and Touko is Zelda.  Ghetsis (who is kinda like Demise if he hung around to make sure his curse worked) is the king of a neighboring region who’s a bit of a warmongering asshole but his son N is friends with princess Touko and her…ahem, associates, which is the only reason Touko’s dad stays civil with him at all.  He uses this to his advantage and infects N with the Malice and reveals his plan to take over Unova, knowing fine well that N would run away to Touko for help.  The truth is he’d set up N to be a ticking time bomb and eventually he becomes the Calamity.  After the whole ~100 year coma and releasing the divine beasts~ thing Touya only remembers who N is after killing him but dw there’s a blood moon just as Touko is sealing the Malice away and N’s freed spirit is brought back to become a friendly giant fluffy spider boy just because I said so

- Ib au with N as Mary (obv Ghetsis is Guertena) except instead of going crazy and trying to kill everyone and being burned up and dying himself the toutous make him sit in the frame while they drag it out of the portal to the real world: problem solved.  I have all this stuff about the others being able to step into his frame but he can’t leave unless someone else draws him so he can possess the drawing but I won’t go into it here BC this post is gonna be long enough already

-Okay I have two madoka aus because possibilities for N are Ndless but I’ve only really developed the dicksis version whereas I only have a witch design for a possible dadsis version so here’s the dicksis one.  The first: Ghetsis is kinda like Walpurgisnacht and N was originally a familiar that represented Ghetsis’ interest being only in things that directly oppose him who was becoming powerful enough to become a witch of his own.  Not wanting him to have even a fraction of power himself Ghetsis transformed him into a human shape, gave him sentience and intelligence and as close to a pure heart as possible so he would be easier to manipulate and led him to believe that magical girls/boys hunt down innocent witches for fun and have witches trapped in their soul gems and tasks N with stealing people’s soul gems to ‘free the witch inside’.  The problem is that the alteration gave N the mindset of ‘innocents who aren’t involved must be protected at all costs’ rather than Ghetsis’ mindset of ‘don’t give a fuck about anyone unless they’re a problem’.  N is also sent to integrate into human society so that he can find magical peepos easier so he ends up coincidentally going to school with the Nuvema kiddos.  He ends up becoming friends with them until he finds out Cheren and Bianca are magicas (I’m just gonna call them that for simplicity) but even though the toutous arent magicas they still support them which is all very upsetting and conflicting for N but he tries his best to protect the witches and steal more soul gems until the others eventually call him out on it and prove to him that the shit Ghetsis told him is bull.  When he goes to confront him about it it’s too late, Ghetsis has absorbed enough witches to become a Walpurgisnacht-like entity, and finally allows N to become a witch.  I’ll link the drawings I’ve done of him but basically his labyrinth would be like a puppet theater and even tho hes the witch he’d have this fuckin giant messed up ghetsis-lookin puppet master familiar who pulls at his strings and coordinates his attacks.  There’d be an audience of masked figures that look like all the magicas he’s caused the deaths of, tiny animals with scissors to represent his wish for freedom and also his fear of his ‘father’ since they never actually get to cut the strings holding him up, and figures that look a heck of a lot like the nuvema kiddos watching in a balcony.  This is all tied into a theory I came up with that almost all the witches are able to be saved since yknow how Homura had that figure of Madoka locked away and Madoka was able to bring her back, and how Sayaka had the violin guy and Charlotte had that doll that probably represents her dead mother? My guess is that if the people those figures represent are brought to the witch and reach out to them the magical girl inside would be able to be freed.  But yeah since N was never really a human the Nuvema kiddos can only really save a fraction of his conscious and he ends up like Bebe.  They all beat the shit out of Ghetsis and everyone lives happily ever after with their pocket witch bf

- the au where 1) plasma and aether are sort of swapped around and 2) N beats the toutous in the final battle.  This is actually based on nationalharmonica’s courtesaN au which is awesome BTW (but it doesn’t involve actual courtesans or N being a courtesan at all but its Sarah’s au so if you’re interested you should totally ask her about it).  Ghetsis keeps Touko and Touya prisoner and just to rub it in their faces blackmails Cheren and Bianca into joining and doing sciency experiment shit which ends up with Touko and Touya becoming UB fusions/hybrids themselves; Touya with Kartana and Touko with Celesteela.  Ofc in the later stages they are able to destroy their place of confinement and escape with Cheren and Bianca to find N who becomes understandably fucked off and upset that his friends have been put through all this shit but begs them not  to kill Ghetsis so he can ask what’s going on.  When he does Ghetsis stabs him with a syringe full of UB fusion shit because he knows fine well hes gonna die he just wanted a final ‘fuck you’ before he is killed by both fire and paper cuts.  Surprise! It’s a Guzzlord.  N becomes a big squishy boy. I’ve done drawings of N in human Guzzlord fusion/hybrid form but I’ve been afraid of posting it but uh if anyones interested i will

- Simplified fNaf dadsis au - basically N and the Nuvema kiddos are the ones that were killed and stuffed in the animatronics, Ghetsis owns the place but risks going bankrupt pouring money into helping find the culprit and also his son and his friends when they’ve been stuck in the one restaurant he kept open to stay afloat.  Nate is the new nightguard and they decide to fuck with him to get rid of some of the boredom of being alone together in the one building for like…30 years or so.  In the end they fess up and make Nate pizza as an apology and they’re chill again

- sister locatioN dicksis au - I already summarised a thing i wrote of it in response to an anon but I’ll include here too.  Once again Ghetsis owns all the shit with the animatronics.  Anthea and Concordia get killed by one of them when they were young so years later Ghetsis sends N down to ‘free’ them (surprise he only wanted to get rid of N) but since their spirits have been fused into one hideous amalgamation of animatronics they’ve gone a bit loopy and want to leave.  The whole scooping room thing ensues and they accidentally turn their brother into a zombie

- Nombie au bc Z is a sideways N heheh I ahven’t thought up much of the background for it but it involves Plasma being a pharmaceutical company that is sort of accidentally being the cause of it.  N gets separated from his dad who ends up being the leader of a large group of people in a little town sort of thing they were able to reclaim but is Sad bc he thinks his son is dead which ends up being half true bc surprise N is half immune and ends up being a conscious zombie boy who wears a curtain as a cloak so he doesnt immediately frighten people bc he got his eye shot out by hillbilies, his face scratched up, his throat bitten out and his heart impaled on a pole (hes a freak without a human heart geddit) zombie apocalypse stuff happens

- isolatioN au - basically spawned from the thought of ’what if N was kept even more hidden away/locked up/never even left at all’.  Plasma is instead secretly in the Pokemon poaching/hunting/selling business but are disguised as…well you already know about Plasma.  The nuvema kiddos had varying levels of rough childhood and were desperate for money so they all joined up; the toutous as night guards and the dualrival s as researchers.  Hidden deep in the facility is a certain tree haired manchild who has been kept in a cage for pretty much his entire life.  Ghetsis does a mother gothel and makes out its to keep him safe and brings him Pokemon to ask about where they live and what other kinds of Pokemon live there so that Ghetsis can release them safely back into the wild go hunt for more Pokemon in the area if there’s anything good there

There’s a few more that I have but I won’t include them because im worried it’d be a waste of time if no one takes interest in any of these but uh thanks for asking and reading if you did!!!