#scott is going to be so important even though he's dead

[patolemus]

Stiles sits in the front row at the funeral.

He’s next to Mellisa, who hasn’t been able to stop crying since she got the news. Stiles’ dad had organized the whole thing, talking with the funerary home and picking up the coffin and the arrangements. He’d only asked Melissa what she wanted on the headstone.

Raphael had showed up the day after. For the first time in his life, he’d looked a mess, hair everywhere and clothes wrinkled as he stormed into the house asking what had happened to his son, tears already gathering in his eyes before he even got a look at Melissa’s face. Stiles hadn’t made fun of him. Stiles hadn’t said anything at all. Raphael sits on Melissa’s other side now, and she grips his hand tight enough it turns white. He hasn’t been back for five years.

God, Scott hadn’t seen his had for five years, and now he’s dead. Scott’s dead.

Stiles thinks it still hasn’t sunk in. He’s in the middle of his best friend’s funeral - it’s closed casket because his body was so mangled up that the EMPs could barely recognize him. Stiles had heard his dad on the phone with one of his deputies talking about it, before he’d realized just whose body they were talking about - and it still hasn’t clicked that Scott won’t be coming out of his casket, that this isn’t some kind of sick practical joke for getting him out of bed the night before school started.

Stiles is not crying. He hasn’t cried once since hearing the news. His dad is crying, sitting on his other side. Scott’s like a second son to him.

Was. Scott was like a second son to him. Was because he’s gone now. Because he’s dead.

Scott’s dead.

His best friend since preschool is dead. His brother is dead. The kindest, most caring person in the world is dead. Stiles goaded him into going to the preserve to look for half a dead body - and God, he’s such an asshole. A dead body? What was he even thinking? - and now Scott doesn’t even get to show his face at his own funeral because whatever killed him barely left any of him to bury.

If only he’d stayed. If only he’d told his dad Scott was with him that night instead of leaving him there. But no, Stiles hadn’t wanted Scott to get grounded because he dragged him out of bed, so he’d kept quiet. Even when he’d seen the pair of red eyes and that— that thing in the corner of his eye. Stiles hadn’t said anything. He thought they’d laugh about it at lunch the next day.

Now Scott’s dead.

Scott is dead.

And Stiles knows exactly what did it.

(He’s going to fucking kill it.)

[heliads]

Theo raeken x fem!reader, theo confessing to reader but being rejected cause of all the stuff he did to the pack

a theo request?? anon god bless i miss him

masterlist

The first thing Stiles Stilinski says upon sprinting down the hallway to stop immediately in front of you, is, “Theo Raeken is going to kill us all again.”

The second thing Stiles tells you, without a single pause after the first nor one word of explanation, is, “And it’s all your fault.”

Stiles is prone to drama. He’s a lovely boy, sure, you’ve been his friend since you were a kid, and you’ve counted on him to save your life from the millions of dangers all living in the home you both call Beacon Hills, but you’ve learned to take pronouncements like these with a grain of salt.

So, instead of losing your mind with worry like you did the first dozen times Stiles approached you with yet another rumor of death and danger, you just smile, put the last of your books in your locker, and shut the door. Once you take a breath or two, you turn to face him at last.

“Good morning, Stiles,” you say pointedly, “How good to see you again. How was your weekend? Oh, you’re spouting off about another crazy theory? So good to hear! I know you’re going to tell it to me nicely, and you definitely won’t try to do something weird like blame me for it. That would be ridiculous, don’t you think?”

Stiles has the grace to look at least a little needled, but he still stands firm. “I’m not kidding, Y/N. We’re about to get hit by Hurricane Theo, Round Two, and when we’re all bloody, broken corpses, I’ll be having the last laugh.”

You frown. “I thought we would all be dead. How can you be laughing if we’re all bloody, broken corpses like you said?”

Stiles waves a hand irritably. “That’s why it would be the last laugh, idiot. I would rub it in your face then immediately pass away. Anyway, you’re not focusing.”

“I am focusing,” you argue, “I have been focusing on Theo Raeken for a while now. We all have.”

Stiles groans. “He’s going to try to topple our pack again, though. Look, I’ve been watching him for a while, and I know it. I can feel it. And I was right about him the first time, right? Even when you all doubted me, I was right. I’m going to be right again.”

As much as you’d like to have some snappy little comeback, you can’t deny that Stiles totally hit the nail on the head with Theo the first time around. Back when Theo Raeken returned to Beacon Hills for the first time in years, everyone in the McCall pack had been more than willing to welcome him with open arms. Only Stiles had second thoughts about the guy, and Stiles was proven right when Theo tried to kill Scott and take over the rest of you.

Now, though, you’re all aware of Theo’s twisted intentions. There’s no doubt in any of your minds that he’s still scheming, but for now, he’s been holding back. Nothing has happened to alert anyone’s suspicions more than usual, yet Stiles seems dead set in his latest theory.

You sigh and start to walk down the hallway, Stiles by your side. “Fine, then. What makes you think he’s going to pick today to attack?”

“Well, it might not be today,” Stiles admits. “Soon, though. This I promise. And I’m not just making stuff up, Y/N. He’s been acting differently. He even talked to me about it.”

You arch a brow. “You let Theo get close enough to talk?”

“Not willingly, but he wouldn’t leave me alone until I did,” Stiles grumbles.

You have to bite back a laugh. You can picture exactly how that conversation went– Stiles doggedly avoiding Theo as long as he could, Theo just a few paces behind until Stiles gave in and let him speak. Stiles hates Theo’s guts, which is understandable, considering Theo tried to murder his best friend, so whatever Theo had to say must have been important to risk Stiles’ wrath.

Now that you’re finally listening, though, Stiles is holding back the crucial information. He really is so dramatic when he wants to be, isn’t he?

You wave your hand irritably. “Alright, then. Get on with it. What did he say?”

Stiles huffs out a breath at getting rushed like this, but his face turns serious soon enough. “Well, that’s the thing. He wasn’t really telling me anything. In fact, the only thing he really did was ask me about you.”

A pause looms between you. You’re no wolf, but you swear you can hear every conversation happening up and down this hall, how the words echo in your head. It’s easier to pick apart everyone else’s idle chatter instead of comprehending what Stiles has just told you.

“He asked about me? That makes no sense. I’m human, Stiles. What would he want with me?”

Stiles swats you on the shoulder. “Hey, as, like, one of the only other humans here, we’ve got to be proud of ourselves. We have value. I don’t know why he asked, though. He didn’t mention pack stuff or anything. He just wanted to know how you were doing, if you were busy after school or something.”

Your eyes widen. “You don’t think he’s trying to kill me after we get out of class or something? What did you tell him?”

“I’m already a step ahead,” Stiles assures you. “I said you were totally busy and we wouldn’t let you near any of his traitorous pack without the rest of us there to keep you safe. He seems kind of put off by that, but he said that he wasn’t trying to kill you.”

“That’s exactly what someone who’s trying to kill me would say,” you point out.

“Tell me about it. I don’t think he’ll try anything today, at least not at school, but be careful, alright? Don’t go anywhere without one of us. I don’t like this.” Stiles says.

You shiver. “I don’t like it either.”

Theo’s attention never ends well. And, when the two of you turn a corner, you glance over your shoulder and see that someone else has taken your spot at your locker. He’s not trying to open it, just leaning against the metal. He raises a hand in greeting when he sees you looking. It’s Theo Raeken, and judging by the proud smile on his face, he knows exactly who you’re talking about.

You can’t focus throughout that class, nor the next. Theo Raeken is dangerous. He played all of you except Stiles like a fiddle the first time he was trying to kill Scott. What’s to stop him from trying to do it again? Or, worse, what’s to stop him from trying to do it to you?

You stop by your locker later that day. You had just managed to put the morning’s incident from your mind, but when you unlock the door to find a note pushed inside, it all comes rushing back. The paper inside carries no threats, but you still feel your blood run cold when you read it.

Meet me outside after the school day ends. T.R.

You show Scott and the others at lunch. None of them like it either. Scott agrees with Stiles in telling you to never go out alone, and certainly not to meet Theo like he asked. This has to be a trap. There’s no way it could be anything else.

You’re perfectly fine with that plan, but, as it turns out, it’s a little easier said than done. You end up staying a little while after class to ask a teacher a few questions about an upcoming exam, and when you emerge into the empty hallway once more, it occurs to you that you forgot to tell anyone that you were staying after. It’s not that any one of the pack would intentionally abandon you, especially not after the shift in Theo’s attention today, but they all would have assumed that someone else was with you, and left it at that.

Now, you’re wandering the school alone, listening to the sound of your footsteps echo off of the walls and wondering if he’s waiting for you somewhere. Your phone is in your hand, ready to text one of your friends to pick you up, but you don’t live far from school. It won’t take that long to get home, not if you hurry. You’re certain you can avoid him if you try.

Glancing around to make sure he’s not lingering by the door, you set out into the sunlight. Your footsteps are quick, hurrying around corners and down the sidewalk, but, as it turns out, not quick enough. Then again, how could you ever think you could outpace him? You’re human. Theo is a chimera. He could sprint down the length of your neighborhood in the time it takes you to blink.

You wait for the inevitable– claws in your throat, perhaps, or a knife in your back, something Theo-like and unavoidable, but he doesn’t kill you. Not yet. Instead, Theo Raeken walks next to you, tilts his head up to the blue afternoon sky, and says, “It’s a nice day out, isn’t it?”

You blink. Of all the ways you expected this encounter to end, talking to Theo about the weather was just about last on your list. “What?”

Theo shrugs. “It’s warm out. I don’t know.”

He still seems nice, which is weird, obviously. To be honest, this abrupt change in his usual demeanor is freaking you out more than if he’d just been his normal, scheming, threatening self. At least then you wouldn’t be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“What do you want, Theo?” You ask at last. “Are you here to kill me or not?”

Theo glances over at you, looking genuinely surprised. “What are you talking about? I would never kill you. Y/N, I could never hurt you. You know that.”

He’s not entirely wrong. During his attempted toppling of the McCall pack, Scott nearly died, and many of you were injured, but Theo never touched so much as a hair on your head. Truth be told, back when he was still pretending to be good, you liked him a lot. He won you over fast, probably faster than he should have. Still, that was then, and this is now. You’re both on opposite sides of a war, and that sort of gulf cannot be easily crossed by anything. Least of all by you.

“Fine. Are you trying to use me to hurt the pack?”

Theo scoffs. “They’re trying to convince you to see the worst in me. I’m not surprised, to be honest. I’m not here to hurt you, Y/N, not in any way. I’m here because I want to take you on a date.”

You stop walking. This is absurd. You wait for him to start laughing or something, call an end to the joke, but he doesn’t. He just pauses by your side. “What time can I pick you up?” He continues, as if nothing has been said at all.

“Never,” you manage, “We’re not going on a date, Theo.”

He frowns. “Why not? If you’re busy this week, I can wait. It’s fine.”

“No, we can’t reschedule, because it’s not happening. You tried to murder Scott. You’re still trying to take over our pack. Why would I go on a date with you?”

Theo lifts a shoulder. “Because you like me. And don’t try to argue, Y/N, I know you do. You liked me well enough before I started moving forward with my plans.”

This, again, is a little closer to the truth than you’d like to admit. Theo was wonderful before he tried to murder everyone you hold dear. He was charming and funny. He partnered with you in class, he helped you study, he walked home with you after school. He was perfectly lovely until you burst into the Beacon Hills High School library one day to find him standing over Scott’s corpse.

“I might have, but that’s over now, Theo. I can’t love someone who tried to kill my friends. End of story.”

Theo shakes his head, brown hair flying around his eyes, which have taken on a glint almost akin to madness. “That’s the noble thing to do, sure, but you don’t have to be noble. We don’t have to be noble. It’s just you and me, Y/N. We don’t need any of them. Come on, you can’t tell me that you don’t want this.”

He says every word with such certainty that you know he believes it. You understand now why he was able to rally the other chimeras behind him, why even Liam was able to fall for his scheming. Theo is someone you want to believe. Always.

Always, even when you know better. Especially when you know better. You take a subtle step back, then two. “I can’t do this, Theo. Even if I went out with you, I’d be wondering if you were going to stab me in the back the entire time. I can’t trust you.”

His face falls. “But you want this. You want me.”

“I do,” you admit, “but that doesn’t make it right.”

He goes quiet. You wait for him to shout or swear or something like the monster you’ve been hearing so much about, but instead, he just looks towards where you were walking again. “Can I at least walk you home?”

You nod. “You remember where to go?”

“Of course,” he answers simply.

He could just recall where you live because you’re a part of the McCall pack and he needs a target. A second, calmer voice somewhere in the back of your head whispers that maybe, just maybe, it is because of you.

The walk back is quiet, but not terrible. You’re both thinking through a grave number of things. When you finally reach your house, Theo stops and faces you in front of the door. “Just–” he breaks off, then manages to finish it. “Think about it. If I were better, would you think about it?”

You let out a low breath. “Yes, Theo, I would.”

He almost smiles. “Goodbye, Y/N.”

“Goodbye, Theo,” you whisper back, and watch as he turns and leaves your house once more. 

It will be a long time before you can trust him for sure. You have no doubt that he’s got something else up his sleeve. Theo Raeken doesn’t strike you as the kind to give up easily. But then again, that’s why you’re still thinking of him even after he disappears from sight. Maybe, just maybe, Theo will do good on what he asked of you. Maybe, if he was better, he would come back. Until then, you’ll watch, and you’ll wait, and perhaps one day, you’ll be able to say yes after all.

teen wolf tag list: @mayfieldss, @rogueanschel, @lovesanimals0000, @rafecameronswhore, @bellabadacadabra, @watchreadfangirlrepeat, @23victoria

all tags list: @wordsarelife

[glisteningreverie]

It’s been a while since Double Life ended and I know I’m pretty late to the train on this one but,

There’s just something MAGICAL about watching the different perspectives in just the right order.

It’s important to note I that the first four Episode Four’s I watched was in the following order: Jimmy, Scar, Grian, and finally, Scott.

Jimmy and Tango started the episode wanting Scar’s pandas dead, only to find themselves on Scar’s side when they “inconveniently” find themselves in the middle of the conflict between Grian, Joel, and Etho. There’s a sudden sense of Camaraderie between the Ranchers and the Desert Duo, and so Jimmy is horrified when the pandas are set aflame. And when Scar jumps off the Spiky Defense Platform? Abject TERROR in his voice, only for that shock to turn into amazement when Scar survives. The moment is killed, however, when Jimmy is shot off the platform. RIP.

Scar decides to go down to the Deep Dark even though he’s not supposed to. He spies something flying in the distance, realizes that it’s Grian, and assumes that he’s being reckless on purpose (But as we know from watching the Grian POV afterwards, his brief return to his career as a bird was completely against his will) Thus, Scar feels justified in heading down to the deep dark, kicking off a truly chaotic chain of events.

Because when Grian accidentally gets Etho and Joel killed and the reds (plus Scott, Cleo, and Martyn) roll up to their base, the assumption is that they’re after Scar and Grian. Scar does his truly incredible Water Bucket Landing and after a quick chase, the episode ends.

Grian is understandably stressed throughout this whole episode. Martyn, Etho, and Joel were playing with his life using fishing rods. Scar went to the Deep Dark and swiped the Enchanter. Grian used the same fishing rod trick at the Modern Chateau and the fallout was significant. He creates the spiky defense platform only to realize he made it out of wood, again. He can see a mob of people congregating in the distance, and when they show up, Scar throws himself off the platform to save the pandas, practically giving Grian a heart attack. He’s not used to being the victim of other people’s chaos. When Jimmy and Tango die, he manages to make his great escape and meet up with Scar in a secluded part of the map.

It all comes together in Scott’s episode, where it’s discovered that this whole thing was NEVER about Scar and Grian. He and Cleo ordered a hit on Tango and Jimmy. The Boat Boys mainly agreed because Tango and Jimmy happened to unlock the Enchanter achievement, and they’d been looking for it all episode. The story beats all come together as if they’d been intertwined by the gods of chaos and it was THE MOST insane watching experience I’ve ever had.

[takaraphoenix]

Camping & Bonding (Part 4)

Tags: m/m, Erica Lives, Boyd Lives, Jackson Doesn't Leave, Pack Mom Stiles, Pack Feels, True Mates, fluff, hurt/comfort, camping, mutual pining, m/f

Main Pairing: Derek/Stiles

Side Pairings: Scott/Allison, Boyd/Erica, Jackson/Lydia

Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Derek Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd III, Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin, Cora Hale, Scott McCall, Allison Argent

@writersmonth Prompts Part 4: season + school

Summary: Stiles thinks the pack should go camping, as a bonding exercise. Much to his surprise, Derek agrees with his plan. So the pack goes off into the mountains to camp together.

This Fic on AO3 | This Fic on FFNet

Stiles Summer Stories 2024

--

Part 4: The Confession

They brought enough eggs to make twenty omelets. While the wolves went on their morning run to also hunt a little meat on the side of those eggs, Stiles went to forage for mushrooms and herbs with Lydia and Allison. A little walk of their own. It was nice. Chilly, but beautiful. The orange and red and yellow leafs. And every now and again, they saw the pack running by in the distance.

When the three of them returned to their camp side, they started prepping everything for breakfast before the wolves returned from their hunt. Once again, Derek dropped a dead animal in front of Stiles, which was going to keep freaking Stiles out. Just because he knew how to take them apart didn't exactly mean he enjoyed the sight of dead animals, especially not when they were unceremoniously dropped metaphorically in his lap.

"Good hunt," Stiles offered when the Alpha kept staring at him. "Now go wash up. Seriously."

And since when did Derek need this much affirmation? Still, it was kind of cute to see that preening Derek did at the praise before once again rounding up the pups to herd them to the creek for a quick wash. Shaking his head, Stiles waved Allison over to help him take apart the catch of the day.

"We could save some cuts for lunch, we brought enough bread to make sandwiches," Stiles suggested. "I was thinking we could go on a hike, so take them with us. Yes, we. All of us. Stop groaning, Lydia. It will not kill you, I promise you that."

Not that Stiles himself was the biggest fan of hiking. But he knew the pups needed the exercise and he knew this would be a great way of bonding. Plus, he'd heard the view was breathtaking.

"You do know what Derek is doing though, right?" Lydia asked, while stirring the omelet.

Stiles looked confused at her. "Uhm, currently? Taking a bath, I guess?"

"No, Stiles," Lydia heaved an exasperated sigh. "You look so confused every time Derek drops the hunt in front of you. I thought it was weird yesterday."

"Yeah, it really was weird, right?!" Stiles threw up his hands. "Thank you, Ly-"

"No, your reaction was weird," Lydia furrowed her brows. "Like you didn't know what he was doing. And now again. You don't know what he's doing, do you?"

Stiles paused, looking at her. "What… What do you mean? What is he doing?"

"How do you not know that, I thought you researched werewolves to the smallest detail."

"Don't sound so accusatory," Stiles glared. "How am I supposed to know everything. There might be things even I missed. Or didn't deem important at the time due to the massive volume of research to be done. Also school. Like. There are more things than the supernatural that I have to do too, studying and helping Scott study, and take care of my dad, and the household, and the pack-"

"He's courting you, Stiles," Lydia blurted out to interrupt him. "He's bringing you the game he caught himself, and don't think the wolves haven't noticed how much you two smelt like each other this morning. Jackson froze up and told me. You two weren't just sharing a tent."

"We shared some body-heat," Stiles defended with a blush. "But that's not-"

"Stiles," Allison offered him a small, nearly pitiful smile. "You're the only one who can sway Derek. Don't get me wrong, he listens to everyone's opinion, he learned to do that. But… but you are the one who can convince Derek of any of our ideas and who always has his ear and trust. You're his second, Stiles."

At that, Stiles huffed out a laugh. "No, I'm not. Peter is Derek's left hand."

"Not his left hand," Lydia heaved an exasperated sigh. "His second. His second half. The co-leader of this pack. The only one to outrank the left hand. How do you not see it."

Stiles froze and stared at the girls a little dumbly. He wasn't Derek's mate. He would know if he was Derek's mate. They'd known each other for well over a year now and they had been… close, for months. And Stiles was the one who figured these things out! Erica and Boyd. Jackson and Lydia. Allison and Scott. Heck, Allison and Scott were how Stiles had figured out that mates were a real thing, he had put that together. He would know if he was someone's mate.

/break\

Something had happened while the wolves bathed. When they returned, Stiles was… jittery. Even by Stiles standards. Derek frowned as he watched his mate cautiously.

"Training," Derek growled after breakfast. "Pair up. Erica and Jackson. Cora and Isaac. Boyd and Scott. Don't groan at me. You have predictable patterns that your usual go-to sparring partners know. Switch it up. Now go."

"Sourwolf," Stiles huffed annoyed as soon as the betas got up. "Don't growl at the pups."

He had his arms crossed and he was glaring at Derek, making the Alpha falter a little. Damn it, he needed to have better control. But when Stiles was upset – and especially when Stiles seemed upset with him – it still messed with Derek. Perhaps because Stiles was his anchor, Stiles calmed him, so when Stiles was upset, his anchor was the reason for Derek's own upset feelings.

"You flinched away when I touched you earlier."

How much Derek hated admitting these things. He crossed his own arms, trying to brace himself, glaring at a point behind Stiles – where the betas were training with each other and decidedly pretending they couldn't hear Stiles and Derek's conversation. Allison and Lydia were pretending to be busy with the clean-up. Stiles stared at him in bafflement.

"I didn't…" Stiles trailed off and then sighed. "I didn't mean to. I was just really in my head and you startled me. But, Der, c'mon. Even if I flinched, that should not make you lash out at the pups! They didn't do anything."

"They didn't," Derek agreed, with a heavy sigh. "I'm… sorry. I just… It messes with me when you… When something is wrong with you."

"Why," Stiles frowned at him.

Derek remained stubbornly silent. He couldn't tell Stiles. He shouldn't tell Stiles.

"Why," Stiles asked again, more pointed, his eyes narrowed. "I need you to tell me, Derek."

"Why do you need to know," Derek growled. "It doesn't matter."

"It does!" Stiles threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "If it affects our pack, then I need to know, so I can figure out what to do to avoid it!"

"I don't like when you're upset, or hurt, or – or when anything is wrong with you."

Stiles stared at him like the air got knocked out of him. "They're right."

Derek tensed at that, hunching over a little like he was bracing himself. "Who was right."

"The…" Stiles motioned over to Lydia and Allison. "The girls! They said that I'm your mate. That's what kept me so distracted during breakfast. Because surely that can't be, right. 'Surely, Derek would have told me at literally any point during the past months that we've been friends, that I've been in his pack. There's no way he would have kept something like that from me. Even if he doesn't want me, he knows how important the trust between us is to me, he would have told me the truth,' while I replayed pretty much every single interaction between us since I joined the pack, I kept thinking that. And I guess I'm fucking wrong, huh."

The more he talked, the more bitter and louder his voice grew. He turned away from Derek, a sneer on his face. The cold autumn breeze carried over a scent of misery and Derek's inner wolf whimpered because he knew they were the cause of it.

"I could have been okay with you not wanting me, Derek," Stiles turned to look at him with a devastating look on his face. "You know I can handle rejection. But this… this is about more than you and me. If I'm your mate, I'm the Alpha mate. That… That's really fucking important information regarding our entire pack and I should have known that. You should have told me."

Derek didn't know what to say, or how to say it, not that he got a chance to, because Stiles barreled on. "I deserved to know. You know how weird the past months were for me? I kept cuddling up with my classmates, I fucking nuzzled Jackson at school the other week. I genuinely started to think I was losing it but no. No, I'm the Alpha mate, of course have I been more in tune with the betas. Which also, explains why I keep thinking about them as the betas! Part of me has gotten really fucking worried that I kept mentally excluding myself from them, like, what, was I not seeing myself as pack, what was my problem? But no. No, my problem was that I'm not a beta. I just didn't know it. Because nobody fucking told me."

Stiles was radiating frustration and anger and hurt and all Derek could do was watch and listen quietly, knowing his mate needed to vent. He always talked a lot, especially when he was being emotional. Maybe it'd help him to get it out of his system.

"I would have been fine, Derek," Stiles whispered, and the whispering scared Derek much more than the yelling. "I was in love with Lydia for years and I was fine when she rejected me and got back together with Jackson and we're friends now. I would have been fine if you just told me that you don't love me. We could have led this pack together. As friends. Even if you don't want me."

Suddenly, it felt much colder than it had any right to, and it had nothing to do with the season. The blood in Derek's veins froze as Stiles' words – all of his words – finally fully sank in and context was webbed between them. Stiles was angry because Derek hadn't told him. Stiles… expected rejection. Because of Derek's actions, or rather his inaction, Stiles thought he wasn't wanted.

"Can I… talk now?" Derek asked softly. "Can I explain why I didn't tell you?"

With a sarcastic smile, Stiles made a gesture that indicated 'the floor is all yours'. Derek took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare himself to talk about his feelings. The feelings he hadn't shared for good reason so far. But that had hurt Stiles, the last person he wanted to hurt, and now he had to fix this somehow, he had to make Stiles stop hurting.

"I want you, Stiles," Derek looked his mate directly in the eyes, wanting for Stiles to see how serious and sincere he was. "I want you more than I ever wanted anything, I want you so much that it scares me, because if I… if I had you, I could lose you again. I would lose you again."

Stiles stared at him in confusion. "That doesn't even make sense. If you don't have me, you can't lose me. Well, great, but you're also not having me, so what's the big difference."

"The difference," Derek growled and ground his teeth together hard. "The difference is that every good thing I ever dare hope to have dies or is otherwise forcibly taken from me, Stiles. P… Paige died. My family died. Laura died. Boyd and Erica were taken and tortured because they were part of my pack. Everyone I love gets hurt because of me. And the thought that someone hurts you, takes you away from me – from the pack, from your dad – all because of me? I can't… I would much rather not have you than lose you for good, Stiles."

In front of him, Stiles crumbled. The anger and hurt melted away to make room for the most heartbroken look Derek had ever seen. Stiles walked up to him, with careful and slow steps, as though he was approaching a cornered animal. Once he stood close enough, he reached both hands out for Derek's face, gently cupping it and leaning closer.

"You big, dumb idiot," Stiles heaved a sigh. "Look at me. Look at me. I'm the human who runs with wolves. I got hunted by a less than sane Alpha. I got tortured by an evil hunter. I regularly get attacked and nearly killed by whatever evil lurks in Beacon Hills. And I'm still standing. You are not getting rid of me that easily. You are not going to lose me that easily. I love you. You and me, we save each other. That's what we do, Derek, and that's what we'll continue doing."

He leaned in, more and more, until Derek could feel the ghost of Stiles' breath against his lips and for once, he didn't hold back. He wrapped his arms around his mate and pulled Stiles into a kiss filled with all the emotions he'd tried to reign in these past months. Stiles practically melted against him, warm and firm and there. Right there, in Derek's arms.

[galadrieljones]

Family Units and Foreshadowing in "Too Far Gone" (TD)

I'm not entirely sure what is happening, symbolically, in episode 4.8 "Too Far Gone," but looking back on it now, it is providing a lot of very interesting foreshadowing for the remainder of the series. What happens in 4.8 essentially symbolizes a massive schism in the prior established "family unit," ie: the patriarch, Hershel Greene, is beheaded, and all of his children, devoid of home and purpose, scatter to the wind, forming smaller, separate family units. The "way" in which they scatter is important, as is everything in Scott Gimple's first season as showrunner, and that's what I want to talk about today.

The family units we see escaping the prison foreshadow in many ways the formation of similar units and dynamics going forward, mostly. That "mostly" is important. Here are the groups, exactly as they leave the prison:

Maggie, Sasha, and Bob

Tyreese, Judith, Lizzy, and Mica

Daryl and Beth

Rick and Carl

Michonne

Glenn and Tara

Carol is not at the prison during the showdown with the Governor or when it falls. She has been driven away and exiled by Rick. Though she will quickly converge with Tyreese and the girls, it's important that, at the time of the prison's fall, she is not there.

(Note that in this post, I'm ONLY going to discuss the original main characters who lived at the prison with Rick, under Hershel's guidance, and who lost their home in 4.8. I will not NOT be discussing the new characters who show up between 4.8 and 5.8, ie: Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, or Father Gabriel. I also won't really be discussing Tara, as even though she groups immediately with Glenn, she is not a part of the original family unit.)

We know that Gimple had very specific plans and choices for these groupings, or what I'm referring to as family units. In terms of the situations they encounter, symbolically, let's see what happened and what's still going on, with particular attention to the characters that we know are still alive:

Maggie: Maggie tries to leave Bob and Sasha continuously during her search for Glenn after the prison falls. She searches for Glenn to the detriment of whatever connections she has left, and not once does she consider that her sister may also still be alive. She has a hard time relying on other people and doesn't want anyone else to feel responsible for her burden. Maggie's tendency to isolate herself from and even actively fight those who want to help, and her persistence at going it alone has only worsened over the seasons. Further, and perhaps most importantly, Maggie and Glenn each have a difficult time existing independently of one another in 4b. Maggie refuses to accept that Glenn could possibly be dead, and her lack of acceptance of the current situation, though it is romantic in some sense, foreshadows her current lack of acceptance and ability to move on. The entire fact that they're separated at all is foreshadowing for Maggie's entire future arc. She gets lucky in 4b, finding Glenn again, but she knows now that this is no longer a possibility, as she watched him die, and so her inability to move on, to move forward with her life and to let go of the past has become perhaps her most glaring flaw.

Judith: Judith was just an infant in 4b; however, her situation, basically right up until the final moments of The Ones Who Live 1.6, has stayed almost exactly the same. Raised by surrogates, with surrogate siblings, missing mother, missing father, setting down, then uprooted again and again and again. AND YET, she is somehow immune to mortal danger. Everyone around her is basically willing to die for her. Even when she IS in danger, she is saved and saved again, sometimes without even knowing it. A blessed and well-loved child.

Rick: In "Too Far Gone," Carl saves Rick's life. When the two escape together, Rick is horribly injured and seems to "die." He is dreaming. Carl as Rick's savior, and Rick as the sort of sleeper king is a theme that crops up in both AOW and again in TOWL, when we learn that it was Rick's dreams of Carl that kept him sane and alive for so long while held captive by the CRM. Carl's encounter with the dead canary in "After," I believe, foreshadows his death. The dead canary is a nod to the old adage "a canary in a coal mine," meant to warn coal miners of the deadly presence of carbon monoxide. Carl's death in season 8 is a grave warning for Rick. Losing his dreams of Carl while at the CRM is also one of the main precursors to Rick's most suicidal moments.

Michonne: Michonne escapes the prison alone, because Michonne, though she is a romantic, maternal character, defaults to an intense, very guarded form of safetyism when she loses someone she loves. She shuts down, eschews socialization and all alliances. We see this pattern repeat itself after Rick dies in season 9, and she cuts off Alexandria from both Hilltop and the Kingdom as a means of staying safe. She also initially eschews socialization after she leaves Alexandria and begins her search for Rick, once again, alone. But every single time, Michonne comes around at the behest of her children. After the prison, Michonne finds Rick by tracking Carl in the final scene of 4.9 "After." She then finds Rick again in The Ones Who Live, but only after she decides it's finally time to return home. Michonne, from the first time she shows up at the prison with the basket of formula, is the eternal mother character.

Carol: Carol being outside the fray during the confrontation with the Governor, and seeming to come in from the cold at the perfect moment, is hugely formative for her characterization. Carol finds Lizzy, Mica, and Judith just in time in "Inmates." She also shows up at Terminus just in time in "No Sanctuary." After 4.4 "Indifference," Carol continuously tries to leave the family unit, but it's precisely her tendency toward the fray that often presents her with opportunities to help. In fact, it's precisely because Carol is trying to leave at the end of "Strangers" that Daryl sees the Grady car go by and is able to grab a lead on Beth. Carol also leaves at the end of season 6, which causes her to miss the second major confrontation of the series, with Negan, but it also drives Morgan and Rick to the Kingdom, where they are able to find help with their ensuing war. Carol has come a long way since these old and toxic tendencies toward self-preservation; however, we see now, once again, how she leaves home to go searching for Daryl. She still communicates as a kind of lone wolf, much more so than Daryl does, which is who I will be talking about next.

Daryl: Why have I saved Daryl for last? Well, because of all the characters who are still certainly left from the fall of the prison in season 4, Daryl's characterization has been the least intuitive in terms of how it relates to his prison escape scenario. Though Daryl fights most of the battle alone at the prison, in the end, he is found by Beth. Daryl is rarely found. In fact, he's never found. Usually, it's him doing the finding, which is why I believe that his core desire as a character is, actually, to be found again, ie: I belong with you. Find Me, calling back to the original story he tells to Andrea in "Bloodletting" about the time he got lost in the woods as the child. This has yet to take place.

"Find Me" is actually a great episode to look at in terms of how Daryl's character has unfolded over the course of many seasons. "Find Me" communicates Daryl in a similar time in his life to what happened after the fall of the prison. He's lost a major member of his family, blames himself, and has lost his home because of it. He is wandering around, searching for some sign of Rick, with zero luck at all. HOWEVER, in "Find Me," Daryl is alone. This lasts, of course, until he finds Leah, a poor replacement for Beth, even though, as we learn in season 11, she does kind of look like her. After the Commonwealth situation, Daryl leaves home, once again, alone. Many people thought that he was going to leave with Carol; however, he didn't.

Daryl has never had sustained sexual tension with another character since Beth, and if we count Leah, we should consider that main themes communicated in "Find Me" are confusion, disorientation, and memory loss. The episode also lacks the innocence and Edenic beauty of "Still" and "Alone." It is not about finding love or some light in the darkness. It's entirely about loss.

This could be traced back to season 4, in which Daryl does lose Beth. However, the exact circumstances for him running away from the burning prison with Beth and going on a sacred quest for her at a country club, then going to the backcountry moonshine shack, ending in a screaming match and a physical embrace, a warm, tipsy conversation on the porch, and literally lighting the past on fire does not track with any future situation he goes on to encounter. What I'm saying is, whatever all that was foreshadowing, it hasn't happened yet. The warmth, intimacy, and innocence has been gone from Daryl's life since he lost Beth in "Alone."

To use Norman's own words, there was a "taste" of romance "in the air" from the moment they escaped together, for as long as they were together on the road, and even when they part. The rabbit and the strawberries in the aptly titled "Us," keep the feeling of love and possession and the romantic tension alive between them.

I often think of "Alone" as a love episode. Sasha and Bob, who more obviously kindle a romance and kiss on the train tracks, while Maggie and Glenn search for each other with desperate abandon, are obvious foils for Beth and Daryl. It would not make sense to create an entire episode surrounding finding, losing, and searching for love, and to have only one of those stories be about platonic love. It makes sense because they are all different stories of romantic love.

(For the record, I don't acknowledge people who argue that Bethyl is platonic, or sibling-coded. I don't care how loud they are. There is zero evidence for that sort of dynamic in the actual show, while the evidence to the contrary, re: holding hands using the soulmate grip, Daryl's bridal carry, how he looks at her while he lies in the coffin, his confession, her confused and subtle "Oh"...regardless of how it might make some people feel, is overwhelmingly obvious. Sorry, haters.)

Anyway, on a more "meta" note: Season 4 ends with Beth off-screen, in another dimension. She is out of sight, and nobody knows whether she's dead or alive. Meanwhile, in "A," Rick reunites with his family, and they are at the precipice of a war with the Termites, a group that seems to, in many ways, foreshadow the CRM. This looks a lot like what's going on now, or what's just happened. Daryl is alone, about to reunite with Carol. Rick just reunited with his family. Major General Beale, a nice Gareth proxy, has been defeated.

Many speculated at the time of 4.16's release that Beth might have been taken by the Termites, just as we all speculate now that Beth may be, somehow, with CRM. I believe this means there's something much more complicated going on in season 5, in terms of the Termites, Grady, and their possible connection to the CRM. Since many TDers do actually believe that Grady was a covert research initiative started or at least sustained by the CRM, the foreshadowing, which holds that, while all this other stuff is going on with Rick's group, Beth is somewhere hidden over the rainbow, feels very much in waiting.

So much of season 4b-5a has been rehashed and repeated over the years and was most recently repeated via Rick and Michonne's reunion in TOWL, that it's bizarre to also look back and say, Hey, how the hell does Daryl fit into all this? Daryl, who actually isn't alone in 4b? Daryl, who actually finds and chooses potential for a relationship? Daryl has, over the course of the series, made friends with compatible women. I am talking about Denise, Connie, Leah, Isabelle. However, not a single one has ever maintained sustained romantic or sexual tension with Daryl. Not one has yet to change his mind about the goodness of people. Each of them, he either leaves or loses, and even if he decides to stay (re: in France), it's due to obligation and inertia, not choice. Daryl has not once consciously chosen to settle down or to make a. home, specifically with a woman, since Beth. He has never run away with a woman into a time of innocence and tabula rasa, starting over for the sake of moving forward, finding peace, and burning the past. He has never found peace. He has never let go of the past.

All of this is to predict that he will, of course. He will get his happy ending, which we've basically been told is the thesis for his spin-off, amidst a flurry of hints that this is related to finding a wife and having a family of his own. Not Rick's family. His own family. And when Carol arrives, fresh from her latest escape attempt, and self-destructing via whatever it is she's running from, she will help him get there, just as he will help her find her faith again. So much like what happens in "Consumed" and, to an inverse degree, "Find Me." In both episodes, it's Carol's attempt and desire to run away which drives Daryl to the mysterious location of a missing blond with whom he once shared a dalliance in the woods.

[princeescaluswords]

Scott Isn't Danny and Aren't You Glad?

Someone brought to my attention a post in the #scott mccall tag that I hadn't seen because the OP had the courtesy to use a tag I block, #anti-scott-mccall, on it. (Though I question the wisdom of including both.) It proposed a version of Teen Wolf where Danny was bitten instead of Scott. They believed it would change the story significantly.

You bet it would.

They imagined that Jackson would play the role of 'best friend' and help Danny through his werewolf problem. Scott would grow 'distant' from Stiles because he was dating Allison, and somehow Stiles would become Jackson and Danny's friend, and Danny would tease Stiles about his attraction to Derek. The implication is that Danny would cooperate with Derek when Scott didn't.

I agree that the story would change, but not in the way that the OP considered:

Stiles wouldn't be involved much at all, because as repeated scenes indicated, Danny didn't like Stiles. Danny didn't like that Stiles had no boundaries. He didn't react well to Stiles's personality. Danny was never mean to Stiles, but he clearly wanted to avoid him. Why would that change because Danny became a werewolf? In addition, Stiles only interacted with Derek because Derek was focused on the werewolf Laura's murderer turned. As the sheriff's son and a boy whom the teenager the alpha bit didn't like, Derek would want to avoid Stiles as much as possible.

Derek, by the way, would still go to jail, but initially not for Laura's murder. When Derek broke into Danny's house and threw him up against the wall to demand he not play lacrosse or Derek would kill him -- sorry to say, guys, but lacrosse was very important to Danny since it was one of the few times he stood up to Jackson -- Danny would agree until Derek left the house and then Danny would call the damn police. He would tell the sheriff that Derek Hale broke into his house and threatened to kill him, and no amount of wolf hair would get Derek Hale out of that jail cell. Danny is clever, and, recognizing that Derek wanted to keep werewolves a secret, wouldn't say anything about them because he knew that Derek wouldn't.

Which would be good for Derek, because being in jail would prevent him from dying or losing an arm. Danny wouldn't have any ability to get into the Argent home, but, more importantly, Danny wouldn't go find the Magic Bullet. Derek would no doubt show up asking for help and Danny would say "You want me to find a poison bullet designed to kill werewolves in a house full of werewolf hunters? Pass."

If Derek somehow survived Magic Bullet, he would be dead as a door nail in Formality, because Danny would certainly listen to Jackson telling him to let the Argents use Derek to capture Peter.

I could go on. The truth is that Scott McCall being the one who was bitten was very good for Derek Hale. Even if Danny had the strength of will not to collapse in the face of Peter Hale's physical and mental violations, he wouldn't risk his life (or Jackson's life) to help a stranger who stalked and attacked him. The people who Scott felt impelled to save -- Derek, Stiles, Isaac, Boyd, Erica, etc., etc., ETC. -- would not be saved. This isn't saying that Danny is a bad person. He's a normal person. There was no scene which indicated that he would step up and risk everything for other people. In fact, the scene at the end of 3B, the breakup with Ethan, showed very deliberately that he would choose not to do that, and that's okay!

By the way, that original post is racist. Of course, it is. We've seen this before in the fandom so many times: parts of the fandom try to argue that things would be better if Stiles had been bitten, or Jackson was the "Teen Wolf," or if Scott didn't even exist, or any variation where Scott's story is taken away from him and given to a white male character. You can tell because "Sterek happens" is somehow a consequence. In the end, this is a clever attempt to label Danny as a 'model minority.' He's not like that stubborn, sexually-obsessed moron, Scott McCall. Danny would see the Argents as enemies immediately. Danny would set his own wants to the side for the good of the Hales! The implication is that Danny would do what Stiles told him or Jackson told him or Derek told him. Their Danny would never have the unmitigated gall to attempt to be the main character in his own story.

Except Danny, as characterized, definitely would insist on having control of his own life. The actual Danny was a hacker at the age of 13, possessing a fake I.D., socially confident to do what he wants and with whom. He wouldn't be willing to have his trauma used to designate him as a loyal beta, that is, supporting character.

The ultimate crime of Scott McCall, and why people like the OP mistakenly think that Danny would be a better option, is that he had the nerve to make decisions about his own life and to act in accordance with his own principles, even when those principles conflicted with white male character with whom they sympathize. They see Danny as more pliable and less stubborn, but they have misjudged his character. Danny wouldn't spend three seasons cleaning up the Hale-Argent mess, even as bodies hit the floor. He wouldn't take responsibility for other people's mistakes; being Jackson's friend was about as far as he would go. It was Scott McCall's combination of strength of will and depth of compassion that made Teen Wolf what it was, and that is what makes it a better story.

[cellarspider]

1/30: Descending into the depths of madness, and also Prometheus

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We begin with the dissection of a movie destined to be picked over by eagles for all eternity, Prometheus.

I want to preface this by saying that this is not intended as a general critique of the movie. I’m going to be explaining how this movie became a font of madness for me specifically, in a way that friends of mine have found amusing. More below the fold.

I sat down in a theater in 2012, having seen all of the main Alien movies, having vague-to-specific awareness of the ancillary stuff–comics, games, et cetera–and a fascination with H.R. Giger’s work, and the way others had adapted his style to fit the series. I had seen the first trailer for Prometheus, and the “David 8” promotional video. 

It’s worth giving a moment for these videos, actually, because whoever cut it did a phenomenal job. Trailers are there to sell a movie, sure, but they’re also setting expectations, and this one set them high.

It is a fantastic trailer, for a movie that does not entirely happen. I saw this and it said to me “this might have a similar tone to Alien”. Which is the message it is intending to send: Alien opens with a title card revealed in a very similar manner, and features howling klaxons at its climax, and panicked screaming at unresponsive technology. The trailer is deliberately invoking these scenes:

Flashing light warning for the following video, though the sounds themselves are effective enough:

Combine with the further context that Ridley Scott directed Alien and was back to direct Prometheus? This was a must-see, as far as I was concerned. I like slow, measured horror films that work on atmosphere, building something darkly beautiful in the process: My top three at the time were Hellraiser, Sunshine, and Alien. Annihilation has since joined that list, and at the time, Prometheus looked like it might as well.

Particularly with the video that introduced David.

I’ve always loved android characters, and this series already included some excellent ones. Ian Holm’s plays the perfect merciless corporate man as Ash, and his reveal as an android is deeply unnerving. Lance Henriksen’s performance as Bishop in Aliens is iconic for a reason. In this fake advert, Michael Fassbender nails a combination of corporate blandness, carefully tuned non-threatening behavior, and absolutely dead-eyed emotional insincerity. At the same time, he’s presented as a new being, a fully capable individual with no personal history or chance to define himself. That can be really interesting when played properly. I wanted to see more of David.

That was where I was at, when the movie started.

The first scenes in a movie are important for setting audience expectations. A viewer could have never seen anything about the movie before sitting down to watch it. For those who do already know some things–the publicity around a movie, its place in a broader series, or broader things like genre tropes–these people also have to be led to an understanding of what the movie is going to be.

The first scenes are also vital for establishing suspension of disbelief. Suspension of disbelief isn’t turning off your brain, it’s allowing yourself to entertain certain ideas as fact, and then following those preconditions through the logic presented in the movie. If scene-setting fails–or the audience goes in unwilling to follow in the first place–then you’re in trouble.

And I was very willing to follow this movie at the start. I’m a geneticist. I love science fiction, even though I know how wrong most works in the genre are about biology. If a work says “this thing is possible”, I’m usually able to say “okay, I’ll allow it”. This first scene successfully managed to do that for me.

This is in part thanks to the fact that Iceland is a gorgeous place.

(Source)

Sweeping shots of nothing but landscape so stark that much of it looks like abstract art. I would, and have, watched movies entirely composed of this. Yes, I am the sort of person who enjoys Koyaanisqatsi.

Despite the contemplative subject matter, cuts in Prometheus feel off, and in a deliberate way. In the clip of Koyaanisqatsi above, the film follows the music. In Prometheus, they’re consistently off, coming at moments that feel like they’re halfway through a breath. Usually we speak of dissonance in music, but in this case, we have dissonance in motion. I didn’t notice this in the theater at the time. It’s subtle, but there. 

The opening shows us a humanoid alien engage in what appears to be a deliberate, religiously-tinged self-sacrifice, drinking a black substance that causes them to disintegrate. More dissonance in motion, going from deliberate action and the slow departure of a ship, to sudden and seemingly agonizing death. The view zooms in to the microscopic, where DNA is shown disintegrating and then reforming into new strands. We see what appears to be embryonic division: the beginning of new life.

(Sources: https://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/Prometheus/, https://www.cap-that.com/prometheus/ ) 

The movie has asked for you to believe this much: humanoid aliens exist, they are technologically advanced, and they have a substance that can break down and remake biological material.

This also provided the first minor hurdle for me, as a then geneticist-in-training.

I’m very used to abstracted illustrations of DNA. All most people need to know is that it’s a double-helix (two spring shapes) held together by connecting bits made of four different, paired “bases”. Like A and B in the figure below, you usually don’t need all the information in C:

(Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-mcc-microbiology/chapter/structure-and-function-of-dna/) 

And in some ways, the movie gives a very decent illustration! They preserved much of the geometry, evident in the “major groove” and “minor groove” shapes noted in Figure A: the usual configuration of DNA in our cells is a slightly wonky spiral, which they appear to almost nail here. They also appear to have tried to render this DNA in a visual style coherent with H. R. Giger’s work.

They have done so by turning it into a pale bacon ladder, or possibly some very strange pasta.

This was slightly humorous to me, but it’s hard to render molecular-level stuff in a way that’s intelligible to an audience, so I was willing to go with it. This also gave an extra bit of information: this alien species has DNA.

Now, this is a given for multicellular life on Earth, but it’s not a given in the speculative world of astrobiology. Life requires some sort of way to encode instructions for how to build its component parts, but DNA is not the only way that could be done.

Overall, I like this scene. It, and one that comes relatively soon after, are stand-out scenes in terms of setting mood, matching the expectations from the trailer.

Unfortunately, they set the mood for a different movie than what actually follows.

And we meet the first stumbling blocks in the next scene, and have our first brush with some of the movie’s blunt-force approach to themes and exposition.

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[autumnwhistles]

Introducing Last Life SMP: The Unofficial Musical

“There is an old, old tale to be told

Of green like the spruce, of crimson and gold.”

[Full song list and links under the cut]

NOTE: AUDITIONS ARE OPEN UNTIL NOV 20TH!!!! If you're interested, please check out the #auditions and #info tags for more information.

Those are the first lines sung (...kind of) in a musical adaption of the Last Life SMP I’ve decided to talk myself to write, for... some reason. Please note this is not an actual play and never will be (rights and crediting issues, for one thing, the CCs deserve to take credit for the storyline they’ve made), but I will record, put it together, and upload songs to Youtube in a playlist. Most of the plot is from Last Life itself, and is stated in the songs, so it should be easy enough to follow. There will also be the relevant plot in the description of each song.

My aim is to tell a coherent story through songs (which, because I can’t hold myself back, I’ve planned 45 of...), meaning that I can’t just jump perspectives continuously and chronicle events. This means that some of the CC’s characters are going to have a bigger role than others, though I do want to honour everyone involved, so I’d appreciate any ideas on doing this (especially for Tango and Skizz). However, so far:

It mainly follows Martyn (especially due to his lore, he had the easiest storyline to adapt into a narrative setting, and to me at least was the main character of that season), partially following Scott as the winner as well. They do foil each other quite well this season, which is a bonus – though I am going to be stretching this for the sake of Cohesion^TM.

Important events and important exposition are given to us by the Chorus, keeping the storyline in tact while shifting focuses (Joel going Red, for example). The Chorus are actually Watchers observing the events, which is hinted in the opening song (they sing a lot of references to Martyn’s Last Life teaser, for instance).

This means that Watchers and Listeners are technically canon (especially since we’re following Martyn’s lore), but the names aren’t going to be stated so things can be interpreted differently for people who don’t keep track of/aren’t fans of that. 

Memories of 3rd Life are also canon, as they are in the series.

This follows the headcanon (and out-of-universe truth) that 3rd Life took place in Spring and Last Life in Autumn, so if there are references to that in songs (which they are), that’s why.

Also, though I’ve tried to keep everything as faithful to the events of Last Life as possible (except one confrontation/song that doesn’t happen, to resolve various things), but I do tweak some minor chronological aspects (eg when alliances were established) and omit some things  again for cohesion, and also to help establish information early on.

Progress-wise first song is nearly finished, though I do still need to record it. I have pretty concrete ideas for others, and some I don’t really know yet, but hopefully they’ll be coming out at a steady, if slow, pace. I am somewhat a novice at music production (as in recording and putting tracks together) though, so help with that would be appreciated.

*if you’re not convinced, watch the start of his session 8 until 1:57, he canonically hallucinates his friends and this is due to a sinister entity only he can hear speaking to him and commanding him to follow it even somewhat despite his will, manipulated by promises of bringing back these dead friends. And all this is in his episodes. Main character behaviour, guys. Main character behaviour.

Full song list:

Part 1:

1. Overture/Middle of Nowhere: We’re introduced to the Last Life world by the Chorus as players spawn in. Martyn seems to hear something, but brushes it off.

2. Corners of the World: Through Martyn’s perspective we’re introduced to players and their alliances. He meets Scott and Pearl and chats to them for a while, before heading with them to spawn.

3. “Tales: Record 13″/”The Boogeyman”: At spawn, Grian narrates his experience with BDubs’ Boogeyman curse, and all around the map the players express what they’ve heard about the Boogeyman curse themselves.

4. “A(ha)lliances”: The Southlands ally, making a-ha jokes, and Pearl and Scott solidify their alliance via Pearl gifting Scott a life.

5. “The Table Song 1″: Now some time into the series, the Chorus updates us on the alliances that have formed: the Fairy Fort, Team BEST, Magical Mountain, Scott and Pearl, and the Southlands. It also chronicles the journey of the Enchanting Table, now in Magical Mountain, and the Southlands’ trip to enchant which ends with Scar’s Boogeyman kill.

6. “Our Will Be Done (Precursor 1)”: Martyn hears a mysterious voice speaking to him for the first time, telling him to give Ren some Nether Wart. He does so.

7. “Debts (potentially an instrumental)”: Martyn extinguishes Ren’s burning tower and Ren tells him of his alliance and pledge to Lizzie, reminding him of his time in 3rd Life.

8. “In Spring We Met”: After returning to the Southlands, Martyn thinks about the conflicting loyalties he feels between the Southlands and the remaining ties he feels to Ren, despite it being a new life. As he falls asleep, the voice whispers to him about betraying the Southlands and forming an alliance with Ren to suit its own goals.

9. “Green, Crimson, Gold”: Joel is now Red after an unlucky session, and news of a Red name spreads throughout the server.

10. “The Table Song 2″*: The journey of the Enchanting Table is further chronicled, coming into Scott and Pearl’s possession, who then sell it to Lizzie for a life each, putting Scott up to the same number of lives as Martyn, 4.

11. “Their Dubious Game”: Scott wonders about how trustworthy the rules of the game actually are, prompted by the forced isolation of Red names this time due to their nature contradicting his experiences in 3rd Life with Jimmy, while Martyn, breaching the border with the Southlands, hesitantly wonders the same thing. 

12. “Northern Lament”: Below Magical Mountain, Joel fumes at being distrusted by everyone and isolated purely due to his Red name. Above, Scar muses about being isolated and distrusted for the opposite reason, because of how many lives he has.

13. “A(ha)alliances (Reprise)”: Time passes, and Martyn grows closer to the Southlands. However, he’s still meeting up with Ren who offers to introduce him to Lizzie and the rest of the Fairy Fort, potentially considering a betrayal. The Voice prompts him to accept this, as they can be useful in its plan.

14. “unnamed Wither theme (Instrumental)”: Grian informs the Southlands that Scott and Pearl are in possession of a Wither Skull, expressing his desire to retrieve it. Martyn, Impulse and Mumbo go, Martyn however intending to eventually destroy it because of how unprepared everyone is for a Wither fight.

15. Unnamed Song: After they’re found out by Scott and Impulse and Mumbo flee, Scott informs Martyn that Grian also has a Wither Skull, Martyn immediately gives the skull back, and the two talk about their distrust of Grian and his desire to bring complete chaos to the server. However, that night (post-song) the Voice informs him that its goal is to watch the server burn.

16. “The Table Song 3″: The Chorus further chronicles the Enchanting Table’s journey, now in the Fairy Fort, where two members – Ren and BigB – are chosen as the Boogeyman. Team BEST visits and Bdubs gives a life to Lizzie in exchange, giving enchanting to everyone free of charge. Ren manages to kill a member of Team BEST, Skizz, but BigB has not gotten a kill yet, and the session is nearly over. He catches sight of his closest ally Cleo by the side of Ren’s pit trap.

17. “Green, Crimson, Gold (Reprise)”: Cleo, now Yellow, arrives at Scott and Pearl’s base informing them of BigB’s Boogeyman kill on her, wanting to cut TIES. Scott and Pearl accept (song intro). Meanwhile, Joel is getting desperate for allies, now hunting for Yellows to convert to Red with him. Hearing about Grian’s wither skull, he goes to the Nether, where Grian and Mumbo are building a Ghost farm, and shoots Grian off the edge, turning him Red. BDubs, fighting in the Nether, falls and turns Red too. When heading to Scott and Pearl’s base, a Yellow Cleo is killed by Joel’s trap. 

18. “Friends”: The Southlands are informed of Grian’s death, and, now Red, Grian is to be exiled from the Southlands. He desperately tries to kill Mumbo as Impulse and Jimmy arrive, asking if they can still be friends, while Scott and Pearl mourn the loss of a friendship with Cleo, and Martyn is introduced to the rest of the Shadow Alliance under the gaze of the Moon, giving Ren a life.

Part 2:

1. “Walls”: Grian has been exiled from the Southlands, the stone wall he built separating them. In the Snow Fort, Etho and BDubs build a wall to keep them separate until he can gain a life again. Cleo, wanting vengeance on BigB, meets Scott on the other side of his wall, Scott giving her some sugarcane. Post-song, Grian, Joel and Cleo express their desire to gain lives back from Scar. 

2. “Their Will”: Martyn relays the aims of the Voice, which he now interprets as the Moon, to the rest of the Shadow Alliance, who agree with it.

3. “Die For Me”: In a Shadow Alliance meeting, Martyn asks if there’s anything recent he should know about the Fairy Fort. They tell him the Fairy Fort has burned down at the hands of Cleo, relaying the tale as a flashback (with mainly Cleo singing). 

4. “Promises”/“Coal Mine”: Martyn chases Jimmy, who’s stolen his life in the Southlands life-passing ritual, spurred on by the Voice. He lies to Jimmy, telling him they can run away from the Southlands together if he gives him back his life. Jimmy expresses his worry about potentially being the first out again in the process, as this has happened before and he is very vulnerable as a Yellow, and agrees. Martyn runs back with his life straight after.

5. “The Table Song 4”: Since there are only three of them now, the three remaining Southlanders spend the day together, including sneaking around Team BEST’s snow fort looking for the Enchanting Table and finding a secret entrance. They are caught but let go due to some lies of Martyn’s about their aim, telling them he was simply looking for Ender Pearls.

6. “Unnamed Wither Theme (Song: Precursor)”: During the day, the Southlanders meet Scott, Martyn bringing up the danger of Grian’s Wither Skull as he’s now Red, and they decide to look for it. As Martyn is called away to a Shadow Alliance Meeting, Impulse manages to find it, and entrusts it to Scott. Scott gives it to the Fairy Fort for safekeeping.

7. Unnamed Song: Cleo, now Yellow again, visits Scott and officially joins their alliance. Scott expresses his desire to simply protect his allies and simply live a quiet life in these games, though violence is necessary as a means to this end as he knows the chaos that will ensue.

8. “Tales: The Wizard On The Mountain”: a Yellow Grian rejoins the Southlands, telling them (especially Martyn, as he did not know when this happened due to his absences) how he got a life back from Scar, who’s now Yellow himself. (And yes Grian gets songs where he’s relaying events to others instead of ones of them happening to him because he’s a Watcher hehe, he’s not involved in the action songs he watches)

9. “The Trial of Timmy”: The Southlands hold a trial for Jimmy about whether he should be exiled or stay in. They will anonymously vote their verdict in a book, Grian campaigning for Jimmy to leave, while the others, minus Martyn, campaign for him to stay. When it is time for them to vote, Martyn votes him in.

10. “Our Will Be Done (Precursor 2)”: The Voice is angry at Martyn, asking him why he’s still attached to the Southlands when he wishes to join the Shadow, appearing to him and telling him a demonstration is in order... “Lights extinguish/Begin the Slaughter/Our Will Be Done!”

11. “Unnamed Wither Theme (Instrumental 2)”: Grian manages to gather the three Wither Skulls he needs with the help of Impulse, who wants to stay loyal to his allies and feels regret for taking it with Scott. Martyn, though not active, does not try to stop him, and distracts Team BEST while the other two take it. 

12. “Red, Crimson, Gold (Reprise 2)”: As Grian is distracted by this aim, the other members of the South fall to boogeymen, of which there are six of this session, due to the Voice’s promise. Impulse falls to Yellow at Scott’s hands, and Mumbo and Jimmy both become Red, along with many other players on the server, including Lizzie and once more, Joel.

13. “Friends (Reprise)”: Returning to the Southlands after their mission, Grian, Martyn and Impulse find the South blown up by Mumbo: mourning the loss of the alliance, they mournfully burn the walls in commemoration. Grian and Martyn muse on each other’s untrustworthiness, Impulse remaining loyal to both, as the allyship between Scott, Pearl and Cleo strengthens. Far away, Etho, with Bdubs once again on the other side of the wall, discovers the missing Wither Skull, suspecting the Southlands.

14. Unnamed Song: Martyn and Grian, now the last two Southland members after Impulse is shot by Mumbo in the Nether and becomes Red, mentally comment about their distrust of the other person and about there being something off about them, Martyn due to the Voice’s seeming hatred of Grian and Grian’s apparent apathy to everything apart from causing bloodshed, Grian because he senses something around Martyn (Watcher powers heh) and his relative absence from the Southlands when they were still around, though he does express a wish to protect their last remaining threads of alliance. They express none of this aloud. 

15. “When Will You Learn?, Parts 1 and 2”: Heading back to the Southlands, Grian and Martyn meet Jimmy and Mumbo, who attack them. Grian kills them both, to Martyn’s shock, and shocked himself, tries to defend these actions. All of a sudden, the Voice appears again and a Boogeyman curse strikes Martyn. Prompted by the Voice (seeming to have a specific hatred of Grian) and by vengeance for Mumbo and Jimmy, Martyn immediately moves to kill Grian. He succeeds, but the kill is attributed to Joel, who has sniped him. Exhausted, Martyn managed to kill Tango. When called to another Shadow meeting, he returns to his empty Southlands tower instead.

16. “Unnamed Wither Song (Proper)”: The Wither is raised by Grian and Impulse in Team BEST’s base. Etho wants to run, but Bdubs attacks it, giving him the courage to attack too – however, Bdubs loses a life to it, turning Red once more. The remaining Greens and Yellows flock to fight it as the Reds join in, trying to kill the other players. The Wither is defeated by Etho; Impulse falls to Scott’s hand, dying permanently; Bdubs takes Lizzie’s final life as he was promised a life in exchange for killing a Red; he is shot by Grian as he runs to Etho to inform him of this.

17. Unnamed Song: In the aftermath, Etho mourns BDubs’ death, while Ren mourns his failure to protect his Shadow Queen, even if she was Red.

18. Unnamed Song (and the only one not following ‘canon’ events): With Impulse’s death as a catalyst, Martyn seeks out a Red Grian, proposing a temporary truce for him to explain what's going on. They confront each other about their various actions against the Southlands, and their apparent detachment from it, and talk about their suspicions that the other person knows more than they seem about the nature of the games – as the Voice tries to stop Martyn from inquiring further. Grian says he experiences this alongside his friends as a decision when prompted by Martyn stating he never cared in the first place. He wonders if Martyn would understand the situation due to his position; however, he does not know what Grian is talking about and distrusts him. Angry, Grian leaves, calling Martyn nothing but a follower. Angry, the voices swell around Martyn and he falls asleep.

19. “Our Will Be Done”: Waking up all alone, Martyn hallucinates his friends, before they are revealed as fake, the Voice in their places. He snaps at it, finally asking why they’re doing this. Why are they speaking to him? Why are they hell-bent on killing Grian? What did he mean? Why does he have to follow it when he wants to do the opposite of what they tell him? Who are they – why should he do anything they say? However, they pacify him, promising that if he does what they say, they will bring Impulse, Mumbo and Jimmy back. Martyn concedes.

20. “Scott’s Elegy”: Scott, cursed as the Boogeyman once more makes a decision to surrender himself to the curse instead, as he doesn’t want to kill any more allies with so few lives left in the game.

21. Unnamed Sad Martyn Song: Martyn thinks on Scott’s decision, thinking about what he’d once wanted, everything that’s now impossible as he’s pushed around by the Voices with not enough willpower to say no: he wishes to make choices but cannot, and thinks about Grian’s words. 

22. “Our Will Be Done (Reprise)”: In a meeting of the Greens and Yellows, the Voice tells Martyn to place an End Crystal in the centre as a test for Scott: if he blows it up, he passes, if he doesn’t, he fails. Scott chooses not to, and as Scott turns Red, the voices talking to Martyn become loud and angry, commanding him to kill Scott for disobeying them, yet again promising him the Southlands back if he does. While walking around, Martyn loses his first life to a trap at Grian’s hands.

23. “Boogie Boogie On The Dance Floor”: The Chorus informs us that it is the last day. Pearl is chosen as the Boogeyman, rigging a TNT trap on a disco floor, turning Ren’s red. The others quickly fall to the Reds, including Cleo.

24. “Martyn’s Stand”: Now left as the last Yellow, Martyn decides he is tired of hiding, deciding make a last stand against everyone. At first humming the start of “In Spring We Met” as a comfort, he heads to a mountain and pouring lava down the sides as a beacon for the Reds. However, though he puts up a good fight, he doesn’t manage to take any of them down before dying himself, marking the server entirely Red. 

25. “Battle Royale”: With the Reds having turned on each other, the four survivors – Pearl, Scott, Ren and Martyn – agree to a Battle Royale to decide the victor. Pearl dies early on, prompting Scott to grieve and resolve to win this fight, no matter what it takes. Martyn eventually falls to his own End Crystal. Only Scott and Ren are left, and they fight to the voices of dead players telling them to play the game. After a long fight, Scott manages to kill Ren, partially due to a zombie which he interprets as the world maybe doing something after all for his defiance. He is crowned the winner. However, the Voice does not like this, the Chorus supporting this, and Scott is stricken dead with heavenly lightning.

26. “Plainly Spoken [Epilogue]”: All is silence, and yet Martyn opens his eyes once more, to the Voice and the Chorus, now joined as they are the same entity, informing him how disappointed they are in him, and that he is heading closer and closer to the light. As he asks questions, he is cut off, and they say he will forget all that has happened with them as he and everyone else moves into the next game. Up above, the land is now in the state it was at the start of “Middle of Nowhere”, and they are revealed to be those that run the death loop. 

*This may be later excluded due to not adding much at the moment.

[thetomorrowshow]

a stuffed deer

empires superpowers au masterlist (currently out of date)

this story takes place about one year after the end of ‘poisoned rats’.

cw: past abuse, religious trauma, referenced past death, deadnaming/misgendering of a character (but the person isn’t really doing it out of mailce, and said character is dead)

~

The closer they get, the more anxious Scott becomes. His hands grip tighter on the steering wheel, he checks his mirrors more often, he glances over at Jimmy every couple of seconds.

This is fine. This is normal, even. He knows what he’s doing. He’s done far more terrifying things than this. He’s nearly died several times, he’s graduated college, he’s been a superhero for years.

He can face his birth parents.

He’s been talking to Nora about it for several months, and he’s come to the conclusion that he needs closure. Not about himself—he fully understands their feelings for him, and made peace with them long ago. No, he’s here for closure on Xornoth.

In the last minutes before their death, Xornoth had declared themself to be Scott’s sibling. As far as he knows, he’d been an only child. If what Xornoth said was true, that puts Scott in charge of any and all of their possessions currently being held by the city. Not that he wants them, but the mayor had asked him to pursue any leads he found on Xornoth’s next of kin and, even though it had taken him an entire year and a half, he finally feels ready to pursue the only one he’s ever had.

Jimmy’s fiddling with the radio next to him, switching between gospel and country. There’s not much else that comes through out here, and they’re going through a dead zone for their data plan, so Jimmy eventually just turns it off and sits back, not-so-subtly watching Scott. Scott resolutely keeps his eyes on the road.

They pass the exit for Milford. If Jimmy’s feeling all right after the visit, maybe they can stop by there, visit the library and community college and homeless shelter.

Half an hour until Briarsville. Scott shifts in his seat, taps the steering wheel lightly.

“What did you think of that motel breakfast?” Jimmy breaks the silence. “I thought it was decent—waffles are always good, at least. But I wouldn’t have touched those sausages with a ten foot pole.”

Scott had only eaten a slice of toast with some watery coffee, too nervous already to have any faith in his stomach. “Not the worst I’ve ever had,” he offers. Jimmy’s just trying to help him relax. He can humor his attempts.

“Well, yeah. I can remember a time when I would’ve killed for a motel breakfast—literally.” Jimmy chuckles nervously, tugs on his seatbelt. “Um—how much longer?”

“Half an hour,” says Scott too quickly. He checks the radio clock, then his rearview mirror. They’re almost there. His heart is really beginning to jump now.

The car is quiet again until they reach exit 42. Briarsville.

Jimmy straightens up, looks between Scott and the town that they’re pulling into. It looks like any run-of-the-mill midwest town, Scott knows. Even the Order of Heaven private school isn’t much of an indicator of anything abnormal.

“We can turn around, you know,” Jimmy says softly. Of course he’d noticed the nerves. Scott’s knuckles have turned white around the wheel, his back is ramrod straight, he’s barely spoken all morning. Jimmy’s not an idiot, and he’s more observant than most people know.

Scott forces himself to relax. “No. I need to do this.”

Jimmy nods and doesn’t argue him any further. That’s something that Scott will always love about Jimmy: he understands. He sees that this is important for Scott and would never try to keep him from it.

And then he’s turning onto Bloomfield Avenue, and he thinks that maybe Jimmy’s right. Maybe he ought to turn back now and cut his losses.

It’s still his last name printed above the door of the house three houses down. The welcome mat is that ugly, waterlogged brown thing that it had been before he’d left. His parents still live here.

Scott pulls into the driveway, then freezes.

“What if we just went home?” he says, voice pitched an octave higher than normal. “We can stop by the country music museum. Or the Appalachian one, I heard it’s—”

“Scott,” interrupts Jimmy. “Normally I would be fine with that, but you just told me you have to do this.” He takes one of Scott’s hands, runs his thumb over his knuckles. “This is important to you. I don’t want you to be kicking yourself for the rest of your life because you got all the way here only to turn back.”

Scott takes in a deep breath, holds it, and lets it out. Then again. Jimmy’s right. Jimmy’s absolutely right. “Yeah,” he whispers.

“And,” Jimmy continues, “if they try to hurt you in any way, I will kill them.”

“You’ve got to stop saying that about everyone we talk to.”

“Hey, I’m just really good at making things look like an accident. Some might even say it’s a superpower.”

“Jimmy.”

“Just saying.”

Scott laughs, kisses his boyfriend on the cheek. He’s ready now. He can go in.

He pulls the key out of the ignition and hops out, then circles round to offer his hand to Jimmy and help him up. Jimmy stops to grab his cane out of the backseat, then gestures encouragingly for Scott to lead the way.

Right. He has to actually go up to the door.

It’s the longest walk of his life, Scott thinks. Even the walk across the stage at graduation hadn’t been this long. But seconds yet seemingly hours later, he’s in front of the door, hand poised to knock.

He swallows, then bites the bullet.

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

It’s only a couple of moments before the door swings open, and his mother is standing before him.

She looks much the same, but changed. Her hair, once grey at the temples, is nearly completely grey with only a few streaks of its former blond. There are a few new lines in her face, only serving to add to the sallowness, the laugh lines he’d once known long-faded. Her hairstyle is the same as ever, her classic Christian mom fashion sense not any different. He takes in all of this, then properly meets her eyes.

“Hello, Mother,” he says, a shiver running up his spine.

She doesn’t say anything at first, eyes passing over Scott to examine Jimmy briefly, sizing him up like a bird of prey. Then she steps aside, pulling the door open wider.

“You’d better come in, hadn’t you,” she says, and the resignation lacing her tone is somehow so much better than the anger he’d expected yet so much worse.

The living room is different. There’s a new couch, pushed up against the wall opposite where it used to be. The easy chair is the same, but also tilted weird and there’s a coffee table for some reason when all it does is take up space. But Scott keeps his complaints to himself and steadies Jimmy as he lowers himself onto the couch, propping his cane up against the coffee table, then sits beside him.

His mother looks at the two of them with something unreadable in her expression, before leaving the room. She returns moments later with two glasses of water.

It’s a test, and Scott doesn’t know if she’s set it up like this or if he set it up for himself, but he takes the water from her hand and sends a little burst of freezing air to chill it, eyes trained on hers the entire time. She doesn’t react.

Jimmy takes his water with a muttered thank you, then she sits down in the easy chair across from them, crossing one leg over the other as she waits for Scott to break the silence.

He takes a sip of his now-cool water (Jimmy passes his own over and Scott forms some of the water into an ice cube before handing it back), takes a deep breath, and speaks.

“Is Dad home? Because—”

“He’s dead,” his mother interrupts. Scott blinks.

Two for two, his mind unhelpfully supplies. 

Is he supposed to mourn an unloved parent? Is he supposed to mourn someone he used to care very deeply about, but proved that they didn’t care for him?

He’s not sure how to feel.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Jimmy says beside him. “That must be terrible.”

“How long?” is all Scott can manage.

“Nearly two years, now,” she replies. “Heart attack while at work.” She clicks her tongue. “I was always telling him to lay off the salt, stop working so hard. Guess he suffered the consequences.”

Scott’s really not sure how to feel. The last memory of his birth father he has is of his face closing off, declaring himself to have no son, and banishing Scott from the house. Would he have liked to reconcile? Is parting easier with his last words being unforgivable?

“I’m so sorry, Mrs—”

“Heidi,” his mother corrects Jimmy, and Jimmy amends his words.

“I’m so sorry, Heidi. I can only imagine the pain.”

That’s the first thing to incite emotion in Scott, because Jimmy can’t only imagine that sort of pain. Jimmy’s lived through the death of loved ones without a house to live in afterwards or a community to support him. Jimmy’s had it worse off. Jimmy shouldn’t have to be placating his terrible excuse for a mother.

He must be getting tense, because Jimmy’s hand runs comfortingly along his knee, and Scott can almost feel the love and support that Jimmy imbues the touch with.

Heidi’s eyes follow the movement, and after a moment, she says gruffly, “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Right. This could go very badly.

“Mother, this is Jimmy, my boyfriend,” Scott says stiffly, before adding, “as in, romantic partner. We kiss. Each other.”

Her nose wrinkles in disgust. “Are you a gay now, then?”

Scott stares her down. “And if I am?” he challenges. “What are you going to do, kick me out again?”

She stares back for a long moment, a moment during which Scott’s certain she is going to kick them out—then she chuckles, shakes her head.

“You always were a bit sassy,” she says. “I ought to have known, really. But that can be said for a lot of things.”

“Speaking of things that ought to have been known. . . .” Jimmy hints, nudging at Scott. Scott nods, takes a deep breath, and forces out the question that’s been on his mind for so long.

“Did I . . . did you have any children before me?”

Heidi looks away suddenly, toward the TV. Her expression gives away absolutely nothing. “I thought that was Noah,” she says eventually. “His voice was already starting to change when he left.”

“Sorry—Noah?”

She looks back at him. “Your brother. He was fourteen when we noticed he was one of them. You were so young, I’m not surprised you don’t remember.”

Right, because it’s such a normal thing to destroy every trace of your child’s existence and raise the other to believe he never had a sibling.

But that means—

“I’ve seen the two of you on the news,” his mother continues. “Your father, too. He regretted what he did, Scott, after he saw how good your heart was.”

“So he just wanted to send me to conversion therapy instead, huh,” Scott mutters. “And that’s so much better.”

Heidi sighs. “We did what we thought we had to do, for both of you. We always hoped you would repent and come back.”

Scott wants to scream. He wants to scream and yell and freeze the entire house, because that may be the most insensitive thing he’s ever heard and his own mother is supposed to love him unconditionally, not act like this!

His hands are shaking. He doesn’t even notice until Jimmy eases the glass from his grip and rubs his arm. He needs to calm down.

But he can’t bear to look at the woman’s face for a moment longer.

“I think we’ll be going,” Scott says icily, moving to stand. Heidi stands as well, taking their glasses, then pauses on her way back to the kitchen.

“We donated your things,” she says, “but not all of it. Do you want any of what’s left?”

And as much as Scott wants to get out of here, he knows he needs to see whatever it is his mother decided to keep. So, after an encouraging squeeze from Jimmy, Scott follows her into the attic.

There’s only two things in the attic—two small trash bags, leaning against a wall to the side. With a nod from Heidi, Scott opens one of them up.

His monogrammed bible is on top. He has no interest in that. His Boy Scout pins and kerchief are here as well, more stuff he doesn’t care about. His birth certificate, which he does set aside (he already has a copy of it that he’d requested from the government, but it can never hurt to have the original), and a small photo album, which he sets aside as well. At the very bottom of the bag is his plush turtle, scruffy and old.

That he pulls to his chest, burying his nose into it. It smells pretty musty, which makes sense. It probably hasn’t been out of this attic in a decade.

It brings back feelings, looking at it. Not memories, not exactly, but feelings of a simpler time. Feelings from some vague past, where he had no troubles and his only concern was getting to school on time.

And more feelings. Feelings of deception, of hate, of guilt. The feeling of his world being flipped upside down and this plushie not being near enough to anchor it.

He wants to set it with his birth certificate and the photos, but it holds so much of this place that he’s not so sure.

He sets the turtle to the side and looks in the other bag.

Much the same stuff, and at first he inexplicably thinks this is an exact replica for some odd reason—but the name monogrammed onto this bible is not his.

Scott weighs it in his hands for a moment, then sets that aside.

There’s no photo album, but the same boy scout items and a birth certificate. There’s a plushie here too, though, a floppy deer, one of the antlers torn off and the hole it left carefully sewn shut. The fur is wearing thin in places, the beads for eyes have lost their shine.

It’s well-loved, as loved as Scott’s turtle, and for some reason, that makes him want to cry.

He’s not sure what to do with it. He still hasn’t really processed what his mother confirmed downstairs.

This stuffed deer belonged to the sibling he never met.

This stuffed deer belonged to Xornoth.

Can he take it?

Does he want to take it?

He sets it aside next to his turtle. At the bottom of the bag, there’s one last thing—a photograph, bent at the corner.

It’s older than any in the photo album, and Scott knows instantly that the child in the photo isn’t him. It’s a small child with a mop of dark blond hair, maybe three years old, wearing little red overalls and a white sweater, sitting on a push-bike and smiling up at the camera.

He can’t quite force his brain to make the connection. This child, so happy and young, grew up to be Xornoth. This toddler tried to take over the world.

He can process it later, he supposes, and he upends one of the bags to make sure there’s nothing else (there isn’t, so few of what once were his possessions leftover), then stuffs both his turtle and the deer in it, along with his birth certificate. He hikes the bag over his shoulder and picks up the photo of—of the child—and the photo album, before holding both out to his mother.

“Do you want any of these?” he asks brusquely. She takes the loose photo, then waves off the album.

“I’ve kept some of yours downstairs,” she says dismissively. “This is my only picture of Noah, though.”

Scott leaves the attic without another word, photo album chucked into the bag over his shoulder. He meets back up with Jimmy in the living room, who looks up from his phone with a questioning glance.

Scott sets down the bag, pulls out the turtle plushie. “This was mine growing up,” he says. Jimmy’s face immediately softens and he coos, reaching out for it. Scott hands it over, then removes the second stuffed animal.

This one he holds farther from Jimmy, because he’s still not sure if he wants to take it with him, despite the strange sense that he owes it to his lost sibling. “This,” he says carefully, “belonged to Xornoth.”

Jimmy’s face goes carefully neutral, and his hands still. “Oh,” he manages, and Scott can hear the change in his exhales as he immediately kicks into breathing exercises.

“We don’t have to take it if you aren’t okay with that,” Scott is quick to reassure. “We can leave it here, that’s fine. I’m sure my mother would appreciate it.”

“Why—why do you want it?”

That’s harder to answer, because Scott hasn’t figured out why yet. He’ll know when he comes across the answer, he’s certain, but it hasn’t made itself known to him in the five minutes that he’s known of his sibling’s existence.

“I don’t know,” he says eventually. He stares at the deer, at the faded pattern of its coat. “There’s some reason I want it, but I’m not sure what that is, yet.”

A little color has already returned to Jimmy’s face, and he doesn’t stutter when he speaks. “Is it part of your closure?”

He doesn’t know how, but Jimmy’s right. He nods. This is, in some way and fashion, a very important part of making peace with his sibling’s identity in his head.

“Then take it,” says Jimmy, handing back the turtle. He stands, slowly, supporting himself with his cane.

But it’ll hurt you, Scott wants to say. It’s clear that Jimmy doesn’t like the idea of taking this deer plushie home, doesn’t like the idea of it being in their house.

“Don’t worry about me, yeah?” Jimmy says, as if he can hear Scott’s thoughts. He smiles weakly, squeezes Scott’s arm. “I’ll be fine. This is about you.”

They leave with a quick goodbye, no attempts on either side to set up further contact. Scott just throws his things into the backseat with Jimmy’s cane, then drives away.

-

It’s just a week later when Scott drives out of the city to a park.

It’s a quiet park, just some trails and benches through the trees, and Scott stops at one of these trees and digs with the shovel he’d brought from home.

He digs alone, in the quiet shade of the trees, a light breeze rustling through them. And when he’s finished the job, a small pile of dirt beside him, he lays a shoebox containing a small stuffed deer in the little hole he’s dug.

He scrapes the dirt back over it with his shovel, pats it down a bit, and stands there. Just . . . stares.

Then, silently, Scott turns away and heads home.

[teecupangel]

what if Desmond was reborn as a fraternal twin to Jenny kenway

Okay, so we know Caroline died in 1220 when Jenny was 7. She reunited with Edward in 1222 when she was 9.

That age is important because…

Here’s the thing…

Caroline died because of chicken pox and her father refused to buy her the necessary medicine to help her. It was an avoidable death but her father didn’t think of her as his daughter after she married Edward, even after she had returned.

Desmond would have noticed this and he would have tried to help but chicken pox is highly contagious and Desmond would risk not just infecting himself but his twin as well.

But he’d still try.

He’d try his damnest even if it meant stealing.

Only for him to return home and his mother is already dead.

Jenny would know that their grandfather had let their mother die from Desmond. He’d try to spare her of that pain but Jenny is smart enough to figure out what Desmond wasn’t telling her. This would lead to a confrontation between the twins with Jenny demanding Desmond to promise to her that he would never hide anything from her ever again.

He promises and they make a pact.

No matter what happens, no matter who comes their way…

They will only trust each other.

At this point, the twins would grow to resent their grandfather but they’ll stay because they’re still young and the pox had weakened their grandmother who loved them. They stay until they receive a message from their supposed father who wants to send for them.

Edward Kenway…

Desmond knew that he was Ratonhnhaké:ton’s grandfather. The name Kenway was simply too much for it to be simply a coincidence. His Bleed of Haytham confirms that his father’s name is Edward Kenway and he has a sister named Jennifer Scott so, yes, Desmond knew who their father is before they met.

So when they boarded the ship that Edward Kenway had sent for them, their grandmother was the only one who went to the docks to say goodbye.

As they watch the port grow smaller and smaller, Jenny takes his hand and squeezes it tightly as she says, “Together?”

Desmond squeezes her hand tight as he answers, “Forever.”

.

Unorganized Notes:

Desmond would start to teach Jenny how to freerun and any non-assassinate skills he could teach a young child (like sneaking).

In Desmond’s defense, he was just trying to get his new body used to moving like an Assassin. Jenny’s the one who saw him doing all those strange movements and wanted to learn them too. 

He knows his sister enough to know that she’ll just try to do it on her own if he doesn’t teach her and that would be more dangerous.

When Edward meets them, he gives Jenny the flower but wasn’t sure what to give Desmond so he gives him a doll that looked a bit like an Assassin. Desmond takes the doll and actually smiles because the simplicity of the doll make the robes look like a Levantine Assassin’s robes. 

Edward knows they’re both sneaky kids and he finds it amusing. Jenny is the one who usually talks for the both of them and Desmond is more of a quiet child. Edward isn’t sure why Caroline would name him Desmond though. (His birth name is Emmett but that’s the name of the asshole who let his daughter die so Jenny and Desmond both decide he should have a different name. The only people who know him as Emmett are their grandparents since they’re only known as the Scott children in Bristol)

Edward doesn’t do their already distant relationship any favors going to Macau and leaving them with his new wife who’s not used to having children, especially not her own. Desmond doesn’t know if there is truly any love there or Edward thought they needed a mother or maybe he was after her fortune or maybe it was all three and, honestly, Desmond doesn’t care. Edward was fond of Tessa though but Desmond doesn’t know if that’s love or just… affection.

The twins grow up distant from Edward but Desmond can’t help but be kind to Haytham because he’s just… an innocent young boy. 

In this one, Jenny becomes an Assassin because she already showed she has the skills and drive to be one. Edward tried to stop her but it fell on deaf ears and, really, Edward knew he was going to lose that battle because Desmond was 100% behind her. 

Haytham grows up being taught by both Edward and Desmond with Desmond being more upfront with them being Assassins in an effort to dissuade Haytham into becoming a Templar.

Tessa is pushing for Desmond to get married though and Desmond assumed that it was Tessa’s own way of looking out for him or something. They’re not close but Tessa does care for them.

Birch still weasel his way into the family both as a business partner and as a suitor, although Jenny and Desmond are definitely sus of him but Birch knows that Desmond is an Assassin (but not Jenny because that’s hush-hush even in the Brotherhood) so he hides his tracks better this time around.

Still, the attack in Kenway mansion happens while Desmond was away but they didn’t account for Jenny being able to take them down. She’s able to save their father but Haytham still kills one of the thugs to protect his mother.

This ends with Tessa believing that Edward and his children have ‘corrupted’ her son and Haytham is traumatized by both his first kill and the fact that his own mother thinks he is a monster. 

Desmond returns as soon as he can and he hears Jenny and Edward arguing about how Jenny was going to take Haytham away from the Kenway mansion while Edward wants to stay with Tessa.

Desmond and Jenny confront Edward about his decision to stay with Tessa and tensions reach a breaking point with Edward shouting that he won’t lose another wife. This makes Desmond believe that Edward’s guilt for not being there for their mother and losing so many of his friends (include one who is rumored to be someone he had loved) had mixed with his feelings for Tessa and…

Jenny makes the decision for them.

“Fine. You don’t want to lose your precious wife? Then stay here. All you’re going to lose are your children after all.”

And they take Haytham and leave the mansion. 

Uuuhhh… yeah, that’s the end. I mean… I guess the next logical step would be to hunt down Birch while Desmond and Jenny train Haytham, maybe fuck up Rogue’s storyline? IDK. I feel like ending it with pretty much breaking up the Kenway family is such an angst-y end but also… feels like in line with the Kenway Family Drama? XD

Honestly, if you think Desmond would be able to fix the Kenway Family Drama by being Jenny’s twin, I’m sorry, nonny. It would take a lot to fix the Kenway Family Drama and Desmond growing up to watch his mother die after being ‘abandoned’ by his father and because of an uncaring and selfish grandfather would definitely sour his image of Edward Kenway in general. 

But hey… atleast Haytham’s gonna be an Assassin? Yeeeyy???

(if this was too angst-y... shameless plug: here's A Pirate's Son, a fic that has a nicer ending and has Desmond sorta-kinda 'fix' the Kenway Family Drama)

[wolfboy88]

for the make me write thingy, can i ask for all of them?

Of course you can darling 💜

🪩 Go Go Dancer Theo

“Yo, Raeken. That was hot. Quite a show,” a barely clad hunk says sauntering into the back room moments after them and Liam can only assume is another dancer. “Is this your boy?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Theo grins in reply, the two bumping fists and Liam grits his teeth. He’s not jealous. He’s not.

Liam’s head tilts in question like his brow. “Your boy?”

“You heard me Dunbar,” Theo lilts, the cockiness returning to his facade.

“If that were true, I wouldn’t have had to spend months tracking you down,” Liam reiterates, arms folded across his chest.

“Aww, sweetheart I think you might be a tad obsessed,” Theo drawls, even though the very thought of Scott’s beta actively looking for him has his insides going all tingly and warm.

🐺 Don’t Blame Me Ch4

Liam continues to repeat the useless mantra, his heart racing, as he hurriedly occupies the elevator. Grateful for a moment of calm, he closes his eyes, hoping to regain control. However, upon reopening his eyes, he realises he’s alone. His claws still extended, Liam panics for a moment until he spots Theo lurking in the corner, arms folded over his chest, his trademark smirk causes Liam's stomach to flutter with nerves.

Feeling hot and suffocated, Liam's heart races, overwhelmed by both his untethered control and the very presence of Theo. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he snarls, struggling to contain his anger.

Theo, unfazed by Liam's hostility, moves closer, his fingers lazily carding through Liam's messy hair. "Well, well, well, look at you," he teases, his voice dripping with amusement. "Are you playing without me? Sweetheart, I’m hurt.”

“You’re the one playing without me!” Liam growls, his anger mounting, yet unable to resist the sensations that Theo's touch stirrs within him as the chimera snatches the bag he’s been holding.

"Hey! Give that back!" Liam shouts, unsure when Mason had entrusted him with the bag in the first place.

"Did you get me a gift?" Theo teases as he opens the bag, revealing the dead rat. "Oh, you shouldn't have," he says sarcastically, dropping it to the floor. “But for future reference, I prefer rabbit or deer.”

“I fucking hate you,” Liam sneers as the lie burns his tongue.

😱 Scream Sequel

"Stay with me, everything will be alright," Liam assures, running his fingers through Theo's hair. He gently kisses Theo's forehead and whispers, "You did really well, babe. The knife shouldn't have hit anything important, okay? We just need to focus on stopping the bleeding."

Theo wheezes, a bloody smile forming on his lips. "Looks like someone paid attention during anatomy lessons after all."

"What can I say? I have a hot tutor," Liam grins, before putting on a slightly hysterical act when Jordan returns.

🚬 Shotgunning Thiaac

“So Liam, who gives better head,” Isaac quips cheekily.

Liam chuckles, the playful banter adding a lightheartedness to the post-orgasmic haze. He looks at Isaac with a mischievous glint in his eyes, his hand gently caressing Isaac's cheek.

"Hmmm," Liam hums, his voice filled with mock seriousness. "I think we'll have to conduct a more thorough investigation to determine the answer to that question."

Theo, with a grin on his face, chimes in, "Oh, we definitely need a fair and unbiased assessment.”

There’s a pause before they all sing out in unison: “Scott!”

[feministsouthpark]

Tegridy Farms Filler Guide - Season 23

Link for Seasons  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

This time, while I guide you through the canon of it all, I might include some other notes since I feel like it.

S23E1 Mexican Joker is CANON

So the first episode doesn't really set up the season (S22E4 had the honours), however it gets a follow-up episode that ties everything together, called Season Finale, and there is also the fact that Kyle and Eric go to camp, and because of it, they are absent during most of the next episode. Also Towelie got added to the theme song, which is wacky. He's a main character now. S23E2 Band in China is CANON

Episode 2 of the show Tegridy Farms turned out to be the most popular one, and that may very well be, because it's about censorship vs artistic integrity, which is the one topic creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are most passionate about. The reason it is canon, is the fact that there's a plot about Randy trying to do business with China, and that plot point is heavily featured in the next season, as his ventures with Mickey Mouse might bite him in the butt later. Stan and his board game addiction is further seen in his new room. S23E3 Shots!!! is CANON

While Randy and Towelie might have an arc that is the continuation of the last episode, but the conflict itself is only apparent in this one, and while it fleshes out both Towelie and Liane, ultimately the very special 3th episode of the show Tegridy Farms is just overshadowed by other episodes' content. That is where I first left it, and called it a filler. However by nature of the show, as I found ways for the other episodes to all be canon, and this episode does get referenced in minor ways, the intent clearly was every event being tied together by Season Finale. So I decided by finding my better judgement to conclude that Tegridy Farms as a story arc is actually all canon, even if this one is a breather episode. It builds upon the previous episode and even a serialized show is allowed to have an episode that is not as significant as the others, but adds to the experience both in atmosphere and character building. S23E4 Let Them Eat Goo is CANON

There's a new trio in town! Eric, Butters and Scott are now seen regularly together, which I find to be a neat and sensible team-up. The reason why this episode is canon, though, are the dead cows. S23E5 Tegridy Farms Halloween Special is CANON

Randy poisoning many people is the main reason why he will be sentenced in the Season Finale, so the penultimate episode of Tegridy Farms, which by the way has the cows return in zombie form as well as Winnie the Pooh, earns its role as canon material. S23E6 Season Finale is CANON

President Garrison finally has another major role in the story, and we have bookends from the season premiere in the form of Mexican Joker appearing. Jason White dies, and his parents adopt Alejandro and another child as well, the latter stays with the family. S23E7 Board Girls is CANON

Ultimately, PC Babies seems to be another serialized show, just like Tegridy Farms. We learn some backstory, that Heather was Strong Woman's ex, and Stan's love for board games are expended upon, Eric, Butters and Scott are seen as a trio still, I considered putting this as a lore episode, but this batch of episodes follow the logic of characters developing in some way or another, so it makes sense for me to count it as canon, especially since all the PC babies episodes got to be. For these characters and their arcs this episode is important. Also, I'd like to get political here, so feel free to skip it if you get offended by the topic. We have to ponder about including people in sports who may have different hormones than their opponents. I think we should all ask ourselves: What is the point of separate gender divisions in the first place? If you think you know the reason, you might as well know how we should determine who gets to compete in which division. While the trans person in this episode was a fraud, and that was the root of the problem, biology IS considered to be the reason why women compete without men, so by that logic, women with more similar biology to men shouldn't compete with the women who don't. However if you consider the reason for separation to be something only done for appearances, the strongest should win, as is the nature of sports anyway. (can you tell I'm really not into the whole 'fight each other for fame and money' thing?) S23E8 Turd Burglars is FILLER

Well, okay, while I love One for the Ladies as an idea, the episode in execution is basically just another classic type boys episode, and while that is not a problem at all, the call-backs for this episode are basically just a shot of the One for the Ladies logo, but since the episode has other fake show-within-a-show content like this that have no previous reference, I think this one is truly a filler. S23E9 Basic Cable is CANON

While in the last few seasons we had the finale to tie the season together, I feel like for this faux spin-off season, this is the episode that does the honors. Also Scott was built up as a regular character anyway, for him to finally have his spotlight. But the main reason that makes this episode canon, is of course, Sophie Gray, who moved to town and is seemingly here to stay. Only time will tell how important she is going to be after this, but right now, I can't just consider her to be a one-off quite yet. S23E10 Christmas Snow is...

All right, this is the biggest question mark for me, because one hand it is a filler episode, that doesn't really get a mention again. Except one of its main motifs does. South Park, the television series is an expansion of two internet short, the second of which is called Jesus vs. Santa, so the very DNA of the show is based on these mythical characters, and while the episode is a rare modern townfolk-based episode, in which the children curiously stay in the background, in the next season Stan makes it very clear that his childhood adventures can be summarized by adventuring with Jesus and Santa. So this is clearly one of the roots of the show, and is deep in its heart. Still, since basically you have all necessary information in Red Sleigh Down, I won't get sentimental over this, and actually consider this as the filler it is.

SPOILER-FREE RUNDOWN

S23E1 Mexican Joker is CANON S23E2 Band in China is CANON S23E3 Shots!!! is CANON S23E4 Let Them Eat Goo is CANON S23E5 Tegridy Farms Halloween Special is CANON S23E6 Season Finale is CANON S23E7 Board Girls is CANON S23E8 Turd Burglars is FILLER S23E9 Basic Cable is CANON S23E10 Christmas Snow is FILLER

CANON counter:

S1: 9 out of 13   S2: 3 out of 18   S3: 6 out of 18   S4: 10 out of 17   S5: 8 out of 14   S6: 11 out of 17  S7: 6 out of 15  S8: 4 out of 14  S9: 8 out of 14  S10: 4 out of 14  S11: 4 out of 14  S12: 8 out of 14  S13: 3 out of 14  S14: 7 out of 14  S15: 6 out of 14  S16: 2 out of 14  S17: 4 out of 10 + a highly lore based game  S18: 8 out of 10  S19: 9 out of 10  S20: 10 out of 10 S21: 7 out of 10 + a highly lore based game + 2 DLCs S22: 9 out of 10 S23: 8 out of 10

Overall: 154 out of 308 Personal notes: Happy to announce that no matter what happens next, at this point I can say that I cut the episode count by half by omitting fillers. Even if it's nonsense, I pride myself in creating a nearly accurate take on filler lists with this ironic thing.

[callsign-bunnie]

Hi! May I have something in the yellow area with Ghost and Soap? Like Ghost is the slasher (Jason type of killer) and Soap is the victim trying to survive?

This is for Horror Night! I love final girl stuff so much! I've got this final girl esque idea for Aledaria, but it's in ABO. I've not had much of an excuse to use it

--

Soap had had a bad feeling about this particular school trip. His best friend, Rodolfo, had gotten sick, though he suspected that had something to do with his boyfriend finally getting back from a trip (gross) so he'd had to go alone.

He didn't like many of the the other students, which was fine, though there was only 12 of them. He'd not managed to find a particular niche at his college, yet, but he'd only been going for a few months.

It was to see this weird historical thing in the woods. Maybe that was what unnerved him. Who the fuck planned a class trip out in the middle of the woods?? Granted, they were all adults, but still! It was fucking weird.

Soap rolled his eyes, hearing a shrill voice, Mary, he assumed, tell her boyfriend to knock it off. Mary did not like either him or Rodolfo. She was... a bitch. Rodolfo was a really smart student and so she felt threatened in the classes they had together.

Soap was the best friend, so naturally, she didn't like him either. He hoped she'd trip and hit her head on a rock or something- no that was cruel.

They all approached the old house. It was a cabin, sort of. His teacher was a fucking weirdo. Creepy as hell. He was fascinated by that stuff. "Take it in, kids." They were all adults, they didn't need to be called kids. Soap was 19.

There was a general silence and Soap got the feeling no one else quite got it, either. "It's a house, Mr Scott!" Soap snorted as he heard Jason, Mary's aforementioned boyfriend, call. He hated him too, but he could be funny.

"It's not just a house. This is where the Riley family murder took place! On Christmas Eve, too. The oldest Son, only 14, slaughtered them all."

Soap cringed. It felt... weird. Bad. He didn't like going through some random kid's dirty laundry like that. Even if he had killed his family.

Mr Scott led them in and Soap stayed near the back, unsure if he wanted to go in. He considered refusing and just staying outside. He'd brought a pack of cigarettes. Maybe he could smoke and not have to listen to his professor talk about some kid's crimes.

No, Rodolfo had asked him to tell him everything. So, he went in, rolling his eyes as he heard his professor already listing off frankly too much detail. "Simon Riley. He was known for being psychotic. No friends at school and his father regularly beat him."

Jesus fucking christ, man, no need to air him out like that.

"After the murders, he disappeared. He's presumed dead, but... no one knows. He'd be about 21 years old."

Soap frowned, a little unnerved by that. "Wait, wait, you mean to tell me, that no one knows where this dude is and we're all... standing in his house??"

"Sounds like Mactavish is scared." Someone, he recognized them as Erik, one of Jason's friends, laughed.

Soap snorted. "Uh, yeah. He murdered his entire family and then fucked off 14 years old! I'm not entirely sure I want to fucking find out what he can do, now!"

No one laughed, that time, and Soap turned to Mr Scott, who looked irritated. "He's likely dead, Mactavish. There's nothing to worry about."

Soap snorted but went back to listening. He did get kind of curious and looked around. Mr Scott wasn't saying anything important so he tuned him out, looking at the pictures on the wall. He wondered why they left it so perfectly in tact.

"Don't touch anything! But feel free to explore!"

Yeah, whatever. Soap went right outside. He was not going to stick inside and wait to find random couples in closets "exploring". If he wanted to do that, he would have stayed behind and hung out with Rudy and his boyfriend, Alejandro.

God, they were ridiculous. Both were clingy as hell and borderline gross with how affectionate they were. Soap got out a cigarette, lighting it, and rolling his eyes when he saw Mary and Jason trying to sneak off to the woods.

Gross. They were all adults, couldn't they wait until they got back home?

Whatever. He leaned back against the house and shook his head. He thought back to Simon Riley. He'd read about him before the trip. Had to.

It'd been pretty gruesome, apparently. A few cops had puked when they saw it. Soap had been more interested in the actual kid, though. He'd apparently had a lot of problems that had gone under the radar.

Potential schizophrenia. Sexual and physical abuse by his father, Frank Riley. Not to mention being a social outcast. The poor kid... he'd felt sympathy for him. He was clearly going through a lot, and he'd just snapped.

He shook his head. Whatever. Regardless of whatever shit background he had, he was still a murderer, and he didn't like being in his house. What if he came back?

Soap noticed movement in the distance and frowned a little. Weird. He straightened, realizing it had been in the same direction Mary and Jason had gone. Gross! Couldn't they have gone out a little farther?

Soap rolled his eyes and turned away. Then he heard a bloodcurdling piercing scream come from the direction. He whipped towards it, immediately, seeing Mary run out from the woods.

Soap's stomach dropped. Not from her running. But because she was covered in blood and a knife was sticking out of her head. She paused once she got to the clearing the house was sitting in, meeting Soap's eyes in horror. Several other students had came out and she let out another blood curdling scream before collapsing, assumedly dead.

Several students screamed and a few went to run off the porch but Soap threw his arm out and stopped them. "Don't! You fucking morons!"

Mr Scott shoved his way out through the door and his eyes widened when he saw Mary's body on the ground. "Alright, alright! Stay calm!"

"Stay fucking calm?!" Erik yelled, immediately getting in Mr Scott's face. "My best friend's girlfriend is laying at the end of the fucking woods with a knife out of her fucking skull and you want us to stay the fuck calm?!"

"Yes!" Mr Scott glared at him. "I'm going to call the police-"

"It's a fucking dead zone! You told us before we got on the fucking bus that we'd just have to talk to each other to entertain ourselves." Another student, Kate, spoke up. She was one of the ones Soap had stopped from running.

"Miss Thomas, the language is not necessary." Mr Scott clearly was trying to defuse the situation.

"What about Jason?" Soap spoke up, cringing when everyone turned to stare at him. "She went out there with him. He could be dead or need medical help."

"You're right, Mactavish. Someone should go and check." Mr Scott nodded. All students looked at him and he swallowed. "That someone should be me. Mactavish, you come with me. Just in case someone needs to run back for help and since you saw what direction they went."

Soap made an indignant noise. "You're fucking kidding."

"No, and watch you language. Come on. Everyone else, just... stay in the house. Stay together."

Soap rolled his eyes but followed Mr Scott off the porch. He knew Mr Scott would just leave him as bait, but Soap planned to beat the shit out of him, first, if he tried it.

Soap led the way. Mary had left a blood trail, so they followed it, coming up on a large blood pool on the ground, coating some leaves. Soap frowned when he saw blood drip into it, looking up.

There was Jason's body. Or some horrific form of it. He'd been cut down the middle of his abdomen and strung up by the flaps on what looked like fish hooks and wire. His intestines hung out, dripping blood down into the puddle of it and his jeans were still down around his knees.

Soap hunched over, throwing up immediately. Closing his eyes put the image right back in his head, so he puked over and over. He wiped his mouth when he was finally done, avoiding looking up. He looked around and noticed Mr Scott was done.

Fucking bastard. Soap cursed and looked around. Should he go back?? Was it even safe to go back?

Soap decided to try. Better than staying and meeting whatever psychopath had done that.

The name Simon Riley tugged at the back of his mind, shaking his head. He'd known this was a horrible idea. Motherfucker was still alive and they'd went to his house.

Soap followed the trail of blood back, before realizing it was much thicker than he remembered. Anxiety pierced his heart as he started to guess what could have made it thicker.

Sure enough, the trail led to Mr Scott. Soap covered his mouth with his fist, gagging again. Fuck, he was going to puke, again.

Mr Scott had been impaled by a stick or something, his back arched backwards. However, the worst part was his head, which was twisted around to face Soap. Soap was behind him.

Soap looked away, immediately, unable to handle that view. He tensed, feeling something cold and metallic touch his neck. Someone pressed against his back and Soap's heart raced with fear. He closed his eyes, trying to appear calm, though.

"Simon?" He asked, carefully.

No response. The person at his back was large. He could feel it. Soap took deep breaths and, carefully, slowly, turned around. The person jerked but didn't stop him.

Soap looked up, met with a blood stained skull mask and piercing blue eyes. They didn't look murderous. They didn't look cold. They looked... curious.

"Simon, right?" He asked again.

There was no response at first, but then the man shook his head. "Not anymore. Ghost."

Soap frowned. "Oh... Okay." Not, anymore. So he was, once. "I'm... I'm Johnny." He was going to die, anyway. Might as well give him his real name.

"Johnny." Ghost stared down at him. Then, a peculiar thing happened. His eyes softened and they seemed to scan over Soap's face.

Soap seized the opportunity, hoping maybe he could empathize with him. Maybe he could convince Ghost to spare his life. "I'm sorry... We shouldn't have came to your house. He shouldn't have spoken about you, like that."

"Shouldn't have." Ghost agreed, looking angry. Soap tensed, immediately when the knife pressed against his back, instead, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

Soap decided to keep going. "I read about what happened... what you were going through... I'm sorry that no one listened to you... You tried so hard to get it to stop and no one listened and I'm sorry..."

There was silence and Soap let out a shuddering breath. "Please don't kill me like you killed Jason and Mr Scott... You can kill me just... please don't fuck up my body..."

The knife pressed firmer to his spine and he felt like he couldn't breathe. Oh god, this was it. He was going to die...

Tears welled up in his eyes and he opened them again. Now the eyes were hard. They were cold. But... a gloved hand reached up and wiped the tears away.

Soap frowned, surprised. He looked up at Ghost again. His eyes were unchanged. He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath in.

He waited to feel the knife sink into his back. But instead, a sharp impact hit his skull and it all went black.

-

Soap awoke to night time. He was on his back and there was something hard under him. He groaned and held his head, wincing. Fuck.

He was soaked in something. He opened his eyes and touched where the majority of the pain was, looking at his fingers when he was done and seeing blood on them. Then something dripped on his face.

He focused on what was beyond his fingers and met horrified eyes above him. Erik's head was staring directly down at him, his body hanging slightly above it.

Soap jerked up, immediately. He looked around and covered his mouth, bile rising again. He wasn't even sure he had anything to puke up, but fuck was his body going to try.

He was surrounded by gore. He was right outside the house, having been laying on the stairs, and he was surrounded by bodies, all in horrific positions.

Soap couldn't help it and hunched, puking. He saw his body in the process, realizing he was soaked in blood. He realized one of the bodies was still moving, when he was done and looked over at it.

He saw a dark figure stop them and lift their head, slitting their throat. Then the figure stood and turned to Soap.

Soap recognized the eyes and mask immediately. He turned and ran, not even thinking about it. However, Ghost was much faster. He caught Soap right at the end of the clearing, tackling him.

Soap struggled, getting on his back and shoving at Ghost. He hit him as hard as he could but Ghost was firm, barely flinching.

"Stop!" Ghost snarled, after a bit, and Soap went still, immediately.

Ghost's eyes looked pleased. He got up and grabbed Soap under his arms, dragging him to the house again. Soap kicked, this time and tried to jerk away from him, managing for a brief moment.

Ghost grabbed his throat and lifted him up so they were face to face. Soap shook with fear and stared into his eyes, hyperventilating. Ghost stared back before letting him go and then picking him up, throwing him over his shoulder.

Soap was not a small man. He was short, but he worked out regularly and from the few times he'd flopped on Rodolfo, who immediately yelled at him that he was too heavy to be fucking doing that shit, he knew he was fairly heavy.

So, the fact Ghost tossed him over his shoulder like he was nothing but a sack of flour was... an unnerving display of strength.

However, Soap did have a lot of survival instinct so he kept kicking and screaming, beating at his back. He was taken into the house, which was luckily free of blood. Soap continued to struggle, almost managing to fall off a few times, but Ghost held him firm.

Ghost dropped him on a bed. "Behave!"

Soap stopped and looked up at him, his breath heaving. He didn't move, though, staring at Ghost.

Ghost seemed pleased with the obedience. He hunched over Soap a little and then he was reaching up, pulling off his mask. Soap's eyes widened a little.

He was met with a young looking face. Definitely 21 years old. Save for some scarring around his mouth, he was... fairly attractive, actually, with blonde hair, a little messy likely due to the mask. Soap flinched back, unsure why he was doing this.

Ghost seemed to be scanning his reaction, waiting.

"Why??" Soap finally got out. "Why am I alive??"

Ghost shrugged, still staring at him.

Soap didn't like that response. He looked around for a way out, but Ghost snapped his fingers to get his attention. He crouched down in front of Soap. "You sympathized with me."

Soap frowned. "I did before! You killed my classmates!"

"You said they should have listened to me and that you were sorry."

"You ARE A MURDERER!" Soap reiterated, not wanting to have this weird ass conversation.

"You're pretty." Ghost smiled, clearly amused.

Soap turned dark red. He wasn't expecting that. "I- what?"

"For a boy, that is. You're one of the prettier boys I've seen."

Soap looked away, immediately, hating how flattered that made him. "Thank you." He mumbled, anyway, to appease Ghost.

Ghost continued to watch him.

Soap considered and tried a different tactic. He straightened up and looked at Ghost. "Why'd you throw me on your bed?"

Ghost seemed to freeze. "It's not my bed."

"Okay. Your parents bed then. Why did you throw me on it? Is it because I'm pretty?" Soap gave him a half smile, leaning back a little. "Is that why you let me live?"

Ghost didn't respond, just kind of staring at him. Soap wondered if Ghost had had any real human contact in the past 7 years.

Was Soap about to fuck a serial killer to say his own life? Yeah, apparently. Soap leaned forward again and touched Ghost's face. "I think you're pretty, too."

Ghost tensed and his eyes followed Soap's hand. Soap trailed his fingers down Ghost's face, down to his neck, before jumping as his wrist was harshly grabbed.

"What are you doing?" Ghost narrowed his eyes at him.

Soap shrugged. "You threw me on your bed and called me pretty. I'm just doing what you want." He pulled his hand back from Ghost and then gently grabbed the shoulders of his shirt, leaning forward to kiss him.

Ghost didn't kiss back. He didn't move. Soap kissed to his jaw. He felt Ghost slowly start to relax, his eyes closing.

Soap pulled away after a bit, planning to undress. But, his head snapped back at yet another impact.

-

Soap cringed when he woke up, bright hospital lights in his face. His head was seriously throbbing.

"Soap! You're awake! Finally!" Rodolfo, his best friend, popped in his face. "I was so worried... The police said they found you in the woods, at the Riley Family House, surrounded by dead bodies..."

Soap frowned, confused. "Where am I?"

"The hospital." A new voice, which he recognized as Alejandro, Rodolfo's boyfriend. "Sorry, Rudy wanted me here."

"I don't care, man. Was... another man rescued with me?" Soap frowned, remembering Ghost. He had been... trying to kiss him and then... what?? Had Ghost just knocked him out??

"No, it was just you. But... Soap, don't... don't freak out. But, they found a carving on your side." Rodolfo cringed.

Soap suddenly became aware of a stinging pain on his side. He immediately lifted his shirt, only seeing bandaging. "What was it??" He asked Rodolfo.

"It just said Ghost, apparently." Rodolfo frowned. "Weird, right? They think it was Simon Riley."

Soap frowned and laid back in the bed. Ghost had... marked him? "I... weird..." He lied, since he knew it was Simon Riley. "I'm sorry, can you.. can you come back later? My head is killing me."

"We'll leave you be," Alejandro said before Rodolfo could protest and dragged his boyfriend out, closing the door behind him.

Soap groaned and held his head, deeply confused. Not only had Ghost spared him but he'd... carved his name into Soap's side. He knew he'd be freaked out, later, but his head hurt too bad for him to even think.

Soap looked to the side, frowning when his eyes fell on a note. Wrapped around it was black ribbon and a skull wax stamp was on it. He carefully pulled the note apart and his blood ran cold at the words.

I'll be back for you. You're mine. -Ghost.

[comicbookhyperfixationtime]

Uncanny X-men #196- What Was That?!!

CW: racial slurs

Last Issue Recap: The Power Pack made a cameo and Wolverine did not disembowel a child. Callisto in the Morlocks did show up and they are as skrungly and terrible as ever. And then there was Secret Wars 2 which I have mentally blocked out of my brain because it's too pointless and annoying to take up important Nightcrawler Obsessing Space.

Anyway, HOLY HELL, how did this cover make it to print?! Its literally a woman in a gimp suit! Have I talked about Rachel's Mutant Hunter gimpsuit before? I feel like I have, but I would once again like to say, what the actual fuck.

It's Chris Claremont so I expect to be using this a lot in the near future. Also, in this cover there are spikes around her crotch that form a thong/triangle shape (super umcomfy 😬) which (spoilers) are not there when she wears the suit in-issue. Which just makes this worse.

Gimpsuit aside I don't like this cover. The composition is meh, and its the same sort of misdirection we saw in the last issue. Is Rachel going to beat the shit out of the X-men and get stabbed by Wolverine? Of course she's not. The splash panel on the first page is pretty striking though.

The title is uncreative, but I do adore when writers try to work their issue title into the first page's dialogue or onomatopoeia or something (Thor #366 is my absolute favorite example of this). This is a fantastic first page, not only does it immediately set up tension, mystery and stakes while quickly delivering exposition, but it cleverly uses the in-universe curtain behind Professor X as a tool for adding motion and energy, whilst directing the reader's eye around the page.

I half forgot that Professor X is actually a professor and that he didn't just make that title up to sound cool. Hell, since he has a PhD it should actually be Dr X but that sounds a little too much like a porn knockoff of Dr Strange for my and Marvel's liking. Jesus Christ I bet he's the sort of proff who never ever grades essays in time because he's too busy fucking off fighting Godlike entities in space. I'd give him a 2 on Rate My Professor so fast.

Several students in this packed classroom are smoking. Oh 1985, how the times have changed!

As his students leave, Professor X laments that he cannot simply read their minds and figure out who's thought this was. Not because this would be highly unethical, but because his mind and body has been weakened ever since he got the shit kicked out of him by anti-mutant muggers a few issues back.

Meanwhile, Storm is home in Africa on her self discovery tour, where she is- shot in the head and left for dead by the racist poachers she'd fought before?!

I know logically this is just a fakeout but I'll be damned if it isn't some good tension! Also; the racist poachers are a brother-sister pair named Andreas and Andrea. Their parents must have hated them even more than I do.

We immediately cut to Kitty talking about Ororo's letters at a team meeting just to hammer the stake further into my goddamn heart. The Gang has gathered in a deli to discuss Professor X's mystery, including Magneto (whose presence goes undiscussed, probably because it was explained in Secret Wars 2) and some blonde lady named Aleytys who I have no idea who she is. (Edit: I know who she is- Lee Forrester, Scott Summers ex-girlfriend who apparently hooked up with Magneto in New Mutants. What an absolute power move.) Something I haven't mentioned yet because it hasn't come up is that Chuck has been hiding his growing frailty and power loss from his friends and teammates for some reason I've forgotten but which is probably stupid. Also he can walk at this point in continuity but that's not important.

Rachel sees the Beyonder shows up for his editor mandated plot interruption for a few pages and I'm not going to discuss it because I Don't Care.

My thoughts exactly Kitty.

Speaking of the best boy, he is off at his parish, talking to the priest about his crisis of faith.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to go into confessional with a superhero he has heard some shit someone redraw this man in that one stock photo of the priest.

The monster Kurt is talking about his the Beyonder because goddamnit I guess I can't just ignore that motherfucker. TLDR, he was the ultra-powerful being who started the excuse plot for the original Secret Wars. In Secret Wars 2 he comes to Earth to learn the meaning of life or some bullshit and wanders around causing problems before turning himself into a baby (probably, idk I never finished it, Jim Shooter did that before so he'd probably do it again.) Kurt's faith has been completely destroyed by the Beyonder's sheer power which is like no being he's ever seen before- oh please.

This whole scene sort of pisses me off. First off, its more wanking off about the Beyonder and I really don't want to hear about this guy. Second, its another reason to leave Kurt out of this weeks plot and that pisses me off, give my boy more screentime! Third, this really doesn't feel justified by the Beyonder. Nightcrawler saw Dr Doom hand him his ass in Secret Wars, he knows he's not omnipotent. Nightcrawler having a breakdown is fine but there's way more interesting stuff for him to break down over.

Back on the main plot, a group of shadowy figures sneak into Professor X's office and plant a bomb under his desk! I see someone has been reading Hitchcock's quotes on suspense.

Rogue and Rachel are flying over Columbia U having a dramatic irony-laden conversation about how much less nasty this current timeline is than Rachel's home time whilst she mind-scans for the culprits. They don't find them, but they do find a mugging in progress and stop it.

I'll tell you what else is a crime, that hairdo! Yeesh.

It turns out the civilian they saved is a anti-mutant jackass who was grafitti-ing the words "Muties die!" when he got jumped, because Marvel civilians are assholes. Kitty and Wolvie take a quick break from crimefighting and have an conversation that's too cute for me not to share.

Kitty phases into a building because she sees a light on in a lab after hours. She finds some of her student acquaintances skulking about and, despite having doubts that any of them could be murderers, is immediately suspicious. I personally think the fact they ordered pizza with anchovies on it would be enough to peg them as supervillains on the spot, but Kitty is more of an optimist than me. The terrorists realize Kitty is a mutant and confront her about it.

Kitty Pryde just said the N-word. This isn't ok. I don't know how the editors at Marvel ever thought it was ok, and it speaks volumes that they did. "Mutie" isn't a real swear. "N-----" is. That word is hateful and terrible and affects real people and it is not ok at all to equate it to a made-up slur. The X-men are supposed to be an allegory for suffering that empowers minority groups. This just hurts them more. Hell no to all of this.

I took a hot minute to absorb what I just fucking read and then moved on with the issue. The terrorist kids get the jump on Kitty and chloroform her before she can phase out, with intent to kill her. Meanwhile, Magneto, Professor X and Rachel Summers are in the Prof's office, discussing the case and the Beyonder's continued presence because he's been stalking them like a weirdo. Rachel tries to psychically link the three so they can sense the Beyonder like she can, but using her psi-powers sets off the bomb, which is actually not a bomb but a "psi-scream," a device that amplifies and reflects psychic energy back to its source. This is a massive plot-hole; how did they know Xavier was psychic?! As far as I'm aware its not common knowledge Professor X is a mutant at all, let alone what his powers are! And these are just normal Columbia U college students with no connection to any supervillains or secret organizations whatsoever, there's no way they'd have access to this info!

The bomb overloads Rachel and she accidentally destroys the office, sending out a shockwave of energy that sends Professor X and Maggie flying. Rogue has to catch them both which I find sort of curious because its always so inconsistent whether Magneto can fly or not (my personal headcanon is that his costume has metal soles and he levitates them). Rachel senses Kitty's distress through their psychic link and freaks out so bad she manifests her BDSM Mutant Hunter costume. She flies over to the lab, explodes the anti-mutant students and rescues Kitty in a very hetero way.

Cannot imagine what goes on in Kitty Pryde's head. Must a beautiful and terrifying place to visit.

The guy in the pink jacket from before regains consciousness and tries to shoot Rachel, but its a bit like trying to stab a rhinoceros with a butter knife. She's about to kill him, when Magneto shows up to stop her from making the same mistakes he has.

I don't know bout you but if Magneto in a suit told me to do anything I'd drop whatever I was doing immediately. I love reformed Magneto, such a richer and more interesting character than racist whiny asshole villain Magneto. I sure hope Marvel lets him continue to grow as a person and don't constantly regress his character for the stake of a stupid status quo! Haha. I hate the Endless Wheel of Comic Book Samsara.

The conversation between Magneto and Rachel is honestly really beautiful. Two people who've never interacted before, but understand each other's pain better than anyone else can. Its a fantastic scene only slightly marred by the final panels being of the Beyonder observing the scene and giving some pointless, longwinded commentary. Its too long for me to screenshot and post here so I super recommend you check this out for yourself!

On the plus side, next issue is Dr Doom!

Final Thoughts: This issue had some really high highs and some really low lows. I'm honestly super shocked the panel of Kitty Pryde saying the N-word isn't more infamous than it is, because holy fuck that was awful.

[thebigoblin]

Everything

I'm supposed to be studying for my exams, instead I wrote this. I had to do 2 chapters! (short ones, would barely take me an hour, but still!) This might be the first installment of a series. Idk, my muse is unpredictable.

Anyways... here ya go, my fellow sterek lovers <3

PS: won't be putting this on AO3 yet, I'm not opening that again till my last exam is over. Now on AO3 after some minor edits! And wowza i did not realize this thing was more 2k words lmao. I was thinking this a lil ficlet oof.

One should never fuck with a genie, otherwise they fuck with you.

How does Stiles know this? Because he's an idiot. An idiot who rubbed the lamp even after Lydia told him not to, and asked for a wish he really wishes he hadn't. And the worst part of it all?

He's all alone now.

*

He wakes up floating in the air. He screams, because he can see the forest floor below him, and he's definitely gonna fall so he needs to brace himself—

"Where the hell are my legs?!"

"Gone," the genie giggles. She's blue in hue, white jewels around her white eyes, and she has her teal long hair in knots the same way Stiles' stomach is now. Stiles gulps. She laughs. "You wished for this, Stiles."

And with that, she's gone.

Stiles doesn't fall, but he wishes he had. Especially when he sees his dad trudging through the forest with K9 dogs, unaware of his existence even though he shouts, cries, and yearns.

His dad looks up, but never at him. He tries to touch his dad, make him aware of his existence, but all his dad does is look terrified of something Stiles doesn't know of and unaware of Stiles' mere existence.

Finally, his dad leaves, muttering, "Stupid teenagers and stupid games."

Stiles follows, because that's the only thing he can do right now.

*

Turns out, this isn't 2013, and this isn't post senior year. He's in 2011, and this is the morning after Stiles and Scott had found Laura's body and Scott had gotten bitten. Except, in this freaky world, Stiles doesn't exist.

Why would Scott even go to the forest at night if Stiles didn't force him? Scott's said it himself, that if it wasn't for him Scott never would have had to endure the life he has. He could have been normal. If only Stiles wasn't there.

And in this world, Stiles wasn't.

He gets the answer the same time Melissa gets it, her mascara smudged, wedding ring on her finger, matching his dad's, both of them sitting on the couch of Stiles' childhood home.

"We haven't located him yet," his dad is saying, voice tinged with regret and fury. "That kid. What could have been so important that he went to the forest in the middle of the night? And after I told him about the body!"

So Laura is still dead, huh. He wonders why even this world is taking from Derek, but that's forgotten when Melissa says this —

"Did you ask Jackson? He knows everything that Scott does. He must know where our son is!"

Jackson and Scott are friends in this world? What even? Stiles had always believed that he was the only thing keep Scott from being cool and popular, and now he knows this to be true. If Stiles never existed, then Scott would have had a much better childhood. And much cooler people to hand out with.

"I did. He says Scott was terrified of the killer and had wanted Jackson to come over for a sleepover, but Lydia didn't let him." At least those two are still together. "And that was the last thing Jackson and Scott talked about."

Melissa looks up, staring straight at his dad. "And?"

His dad never beats around the bush. As a cop, it's much better to be blunt than to dance around the truth, and right here, right now, he's a cop delivering a bad news to a woman whose child is missing.

"And Scott had a fight with Lydia over that, apparently, and he went to cool down at his favorite spot in town." His dad pauses, and Stiles' stomach drops out.

"Where, John. Where?"

He says in sync with his dad, "In the preserve." And then in sync with Melissa, "Damn it Scott!"

*

Scott comes home in the evening, unscratched and alive, and it seems like he hasn't been bitten, and Stiles is glad for a moment, but then he sees things. Like Scott scrunching his face on the second floor when the main door opens and shuts, Melissa leaving for work, her worries for her son soothed. Like Scott laughing at seemingly nothing, but then Stiles goes down and sees that his dad's watching a rom-com in the living room. And most damning of all, the next day, Scott does the thing with the pen. He gives it to Allison right as she enters the class, like he heard she forgot hers — even with multiple walls and a good amount of distance between where that conversation happened and where Scott was sitting in the class.

And then Stiles realizes, he never had anything to do with this. It was Scott's destiny to become a werewolf, and it doesn't matter if Stiles is there or not. It's Scott's destiny.

"His destiny was always to become a True Alpha."

He's in his not-bedroom, sitting on Scott's bed, contemplating his original wish. He was upset at the time; Scott had reinforced his belief of Stiles ruining his life, and he'd just found out about the genie lamp Lydia ordered from... somewhere. It was like fate, him wishing to never exist, so that the people in his life could have a better life without him.

He's contemplating whether or not that wish was even warranted, and what are all the implications of him never existing in this world, what else changes, and if it doesn't really; that's when the genie decides to come back, a somber look on her face.

"He wasn't."

She scares the shit out of him, her hand on his knee, comforting but cold. He shrieks, and she gives a little smile, shakes her head. Repeats, "He wasn't meant to be an Alpha."

And Stiles tells her everything.

"Me being there... it doesn't matter. He became a werewolf in this world, because it was destiny." And, "I don't impact the people around me." And, "Nobody would miss me. Nobody. I'm just a nuisance. It's great for them that I don't exist in this world."

The genie looks at him sadly. "No, Stiles," she cups his cheeks, and he lets him, lets her wipe his tears with her thumb. It's comforting, like his mother's voice or her laugh. "That's not true. You matter. You matter in ways you don't even realize."

"Do I, really? Do I?"

"Yes. Scott was never meant to be a True Alpha, but you know who is? This person." She snaps her fingers, and they're in the charred remains of the Hale House suddenly, sitting on its burnt floor. Stiles' heartbeat quickens, and he sees him then — sad, angry, and terrified, all at once, all of it in his eyebrows, his face a marble statue carved out of a constant state of paranoia.

"Derek."

"Derek Hale," the genie agrees.

"He was...? But he gave up his powers. To save Cora. And then—"

"And then Derek's power weakened. It didn't vanish. For any other Alpha, the spark would have been depleted completely, but not for Derek."

"Not for Derek?"

"Not for the greatest Alpha to walk this land since the very first Alpha that ever existed." Stiles is too stunned to speak. All he can do is look at the Derek sitting in the corner of the destroyed living room, gripping a folded photo in his hands, looking so young yet so old. Wracked with guilt and pain, so much pain.

The genie continues.

"He is Destiny's Child. The Seed of Power, The Bloom of Prosperity. He is The Phoenix, risen from flames of blood and death and betrayal. He is the True Alpha, and for him, the power would have come back."

"Then why didn't it?" His head is spinning with all the titles, his mind hysterical over them. But he's sitting with a genie in a world that isn't his own, his legs turned to a single tail like a mermaid floating in air, and he believes now.

"Because where there is light, there is darkness. Deaton used nefarious ways to steal that Alpha Spark from Derek, and with Julia's sacrifices, the Nemeton was a powerful conduit for his malpractices of magic."

"And he gave that to Scott. But why?"

"Stiles... Derek is Power. And you? You are Knowledge. You know why."

"Seed of Knowledge... He's the brawns and I'm the brains? Geez, you make it sound like we're the two sides of the same coin." The genie just looks at him, her white eyes sparkling. He decides to not focus on that, instead thinking of an answer to his own question. And then he gets it. "Having power is great... but controlling it is even better."

"One makes you accountable, the other makes you the master."

Stiles has to admit, "Deaton is smart. Shit, does this mean Scott was manipulated all this time?"

"Perhaps. But right now, I want you to focus on this: What is your destiny? You said it youself, you're the two sides to the same coin. You, my child, were correct."

"Like I always am?"

"Like you always are," she agrees, and then they're shuffling through scenes of Stiles' life like it's a goddamn movie.

Every scene is Stiles saving Derek. Or being there for Derek. Being Pack.

When Stiles spent nearly a whole day with a dying Derek in his Jeep, and almost chopped off his arm save him.

When he let Derek lay low in his own room.

The pool.

After Boyd's death.

The time he spent the whole day at Derek's loft, deliberate and silent, a shoulder to lean on, the day of the fire's anniversary.

And on and on and on.

"That's you two, existing, side by side. Now look at this."

She shows him this world's Derek. His fate.

Derek dies by Kate's bullet, untrusting of Scott to go ask for help, and too stubborn to not haul ass into the Argent's mansion to go look for the bullet himself. Unfortunately for him, Grandpa Crazy was there, too, enjoying his meal. And then later...

"I don't- I can't- Not him, please, He can't die, I—"

They're back in his not-bedroom.

"Why would you show me that?! Why the hell would you—"

"Because you matter. Humans interact every day, and maybe sometimes those interactions mean nothing. But you and him? Each one of your interactions does mean something. Your Destiny is intertwined. You are the brain to his brawns, the brawns to his brains. You're strengths of each other in a way that Ares himself envies, that Apollo sings of, that Eros prides himself on."

"What are you saying?" This is getting too much for him, now. It's one thing to be there for each other, for him to mean something in someone's life, in Derek's life... but this? Too much.

The genie smiles, teeth and all. She has vampiric teeth, except all her teeth are long-fanged. "You are each other's."

Stiles pauses. Thinks through everything that has happened between him and Derek. They're friends. Derek is a beta and he's still the annoying human, and they're always circling each other, joking and ribbing and fighting and slamming each other into surfaces. Well, the last part Derek does to him.

They're close.

They're not in love.

"Not yet,"

"Don't tell me you can fucking mind-read." He only gets a smile in return, the full-fanged one. "Okay... moving on. What do you mean not yet? And you didn't actually complete your sentence. We are each other's what?"

"You are each other's everything." The words echo all around him, inside his skin, in his bones. They hold a weight, bearing down on his chest, arms around his body, like a tight, vicious grip, and the genie repeats, "Everything."

And that's the last thing he hears out of the genie before waking up on the preserve floor, Derek staring down at him, his eyes flashing red.

Stiles blinks up at him.

"Stiles, what did you do?"

He gulps.

"Technically, I didn't do anything,"

"Stiles!"

[snalz-artt]

forgot to post this doodle SAY HELLO to the shittiest bbc ghosts/mcyt au ever conceived, thankyou @/luigra for helping hehe

i have A LOT to say so its going under the cut this is soso silly

basic bbc ghosts plot: A young woman inherits a huge mansion estate in england from a dubious familial connection and moves in with her husband. They plan to renovate the manor and guesthouses to make into a hotel/venue, but when she falls out a window and almost dies, she comes back to life with the ability to See Ghosts. With the house being very historic, there are quite a few interesting characters (the falling out the window thing might be their fault, actually). Hijinks ensue.

———

CLEO: Cleo is the Allison of the story, she inherits the house and falls out the window, now.. undead(?) they can see and interact with the cast of Ghosts they’re now stuck with. Making ZombieCleo one of the Alive characters was too funny, sorry.

SCOTT: Scott is Mike!! Cleo’s best friend/partner/chosen soulmate (like in double life), he Cannot see the ghosts but completely trusts they exist.

They get up to various antics as they try to renovate and market the place, usually while being hindered or helped by the ghosts. I haven’t thought of a good pun on the name Button House yet though..

The ghosts are not all from any specific series, but a selection of ghosts/dead characters from multiple mcyt sources ^^

JOE: Joseph Hills takes the role of Thomas Thorne. He is a dramatic regency era poet who mostly follows Cleo around, trying to impress her with his… unique poetry, that was considered before his time. Their ghost theming comes from Beetlejhost of course.

RANBOO: Ronald Booth is Pat, a 1980’s Scout Leader. To be honest, this is just because Ranboo is very associated with the 80’s aesthetic and can fit the silly yes-man subordinate role, and of course was a ghost on the dsmp (Boo).

BDUBS: Bdubs is Robin!! A caveman who lived on the land well before the house was built. He’s seen it all, which fits Bdubs’ storyteller theme!! This is also just a fun visual choice because instead of wearing animal furs he gets to wear a big mossy coat. He also talks in a quite a unique and funny way which could replace how Robin talks like. Yknow, a Caveman. There was also a tiny bit in.. last life? Where bdubs was a ghost? (We were running out of ghosts at this point.)

SLIME: Charles Slime is Humphrey Bone, a headless tudor nobleman!!! Slime has a pretty constant track record of dying dramatically in mcyt (dsmp, epic smp, slimecicle cinematic universe) hence getting to be a ghost here. He has a lot of comedy that i think fits pretty well with being a ghost and with the visual humour of having your body separate to your head <3

FLIPPA: Juanaflippa as Jemima!!! I had to get one of the Eggs in here, even if i dont know much about qsmp at this point its just too perfect for one of them to be Jemima, since we have Charlie why not have Juanaflippa ^^ This can fit the common bbc ghosts fanon of Humphrey being found family for Jemima, with Charlie and Flippa’s father-daughter relationship. Creepy little singing ghost girl!!!

QUACKITY/MEXICAN DREAM: Yeah ok we were really running out of mcyt ghosts at this point, if you dont know anything about the dsmp you would probably think im making this up- uh, quackity plays him, he died and became a very prominent dsmp ghost. He takes the role of Julian as a 90’s politician character (like quackity/md in el rapids etc) here. I GUESS.

GHOSTBUR: Im pretty sure that while alive Kitty didnt blow up a country or whatever but the innocent and kind character of ghostbur fits the role of Kitty pretty well, with both having poor/inaccurate memories of their lives and being very sweet. A georgian noblewoman! Instead of Kitty he’d be called Willy or something. That way one of the ghosts can still have an innuendo name. Thats important.

JIMMY: Jimmy (James) as Mary. A stuart era peasant who got burned in the witch trials. He could still have the power to make people smell smoke, i think it fits the canary thing a bit. AND SPOILERS FOR BBC GHOSTS, Mary being the First Ghost of the main group to get.. sucked away is just too perfect. While never explicitly being a Ghost, Jimmy has such a connection to death that i think im justified.

PIX: Pixie as Fanny!!! He used to own the house many years ago and is now a ghost that really wants it to be perfectly historically preserved. Pix was a ghost in empires s2 and an archeologist who wanted to preserve history of course, so this fits the really proper and old fashioned personality of Fanny pretty well. Also her love of animals fits pix having the ghost cat and the dodos…

SCHLATT: Schlatt as The Captain, a repressed gay ww2 Captain who never actually saw any combat. He can fit the leader role that the Captain does, especially the fact that he just assumes himself the leader, and the others kind of don't take him seriously. Schlatt was a ghost, Glatt, on the dsmp! He will be a bit less.. nice? Than the bbc ghosts captain, but could still have a good bit of development.

bonus convex as the plague ghosts, vex are kind of ghosty, right?