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writer-k-pop · 3 years

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Fire Fights

난 단지 네가 다치는 것을 원하지 않았을 뿐이야. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.

Description: You and Namjoon have been friends for ages. Both being fire benders and all. Even though you don’t run in the same circles anymore, he’s always around. And now he’s saving you when some fire benders decide to pick on Jungkook, your water bending friend. Which leads to an argument that reveals someone’s true feelings. Warnings: Swearing Genre: Angst, Fluff, Bender!AU, FireBender!Namjoon x Fem!Reader Word Count: 2.7k

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"Late. Again." My professor, Mrs. Kwon, eyes the few students who slink into the classroom 15 minutes late. She sighs before continuing the lesson. "Alright, back to water properties."

Her voice begins to fade as I zone out, staring at the projector screen.

Jungkook, sitting next to me, discreetly nudges my shoulder to bring me out of my trance.

I turn to him a give him a "what was that for?" look.

"New slide." He whispers, nodding towards the screen.

I look at the screen and sure enough, Jungkook is correct. I quickly start to write down the notes before Mrs. Kwon moves on to the next.

"Alright, any questions?" Mrs. Kwon asks 25 minutes later.

A silence blankets over the classroom and it feels like no one is breathing.

Mrs. Kwon nods, "Well, that's all I had planned for today. Remember that the first drafts of your research essays are due by the end of next week. You can make an appointment with me if you want to check your work before the due date." She reminds us over the noise of students packing up their belongings.

I roll my eyes at the impatience of some (most) students.

"Have a good weekend!" Mrs. Kwon finishes and begins to pack up her own papers.

Once she's done talking, students' conversation grow in volume in a matter of seconds and I start packing away my belongings.

"I'm torn." Jungkook sighs as I sling my backpack over my shoulder.

"About what?" I question and we begin climbing the steps towards the lecture hall's exits.

"What to write the research paper on." Jungkook ponders.

I widen my eyes at him, "You haven't decided that yet? That was supposed to be done like a week ago."

Jungkook shrugs, "I kind of want to use the paper I wrote for the 302 class I took last year."

I shake my head, "I never understood why you decided to take this 205 class when you've already taken the 302 AND you're a water bender."

"You said you wanted to take it and not be alone." Jungkook defends his choice, "Plus, it fills a credit and it's interesting taking the class with a bunch of fire benders." He playfully winks at me and holds the door open.

"Are we that fascinating to you?" I glance at me as we walk out towards the main courtyard. In the center, the central column spews fire up towards the sky.

"Fascinating enough." Jungkook replies, "Like why do you guys need a very large candle in the middle of your campus?"

I smack his shoulder and he laughs. "You guys have that peeing sculpture in the middle of yours so hush."

"Alfred is not a peeing sculpture." Jungkook gasps and holds a hand over his heart in offense.

I chuckle, "Sure looks like one."

Jungkook and I became good friends through my other good friend Jin, who's also a water bender. Jin and I have been friends since childhood. As a fire-bender and water-bender, we balanced each other out fairly well and never could quite defeat the other.

Though, Jin's got a girlfriend now so we don't see him around as much.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing here?" A cocky female voice calls out to us.

I roll my eyes before turning to my left to face the all too familiar group of people. Sitting on benches and standing around are the most popular kids in school. But not the cool, kind populars. No, these are the populars who have all of daddy's money stuffed in unmentionable places. The worst kind.

"I go to class here, Elsie." I yell back in hopes that they'll be feeling nice and let Jungkook and I pass. But my hopes, as always, are crushed.

"Not you, hush puppy." Elsie says with boredom then her nods towards Jungkook, "I was talking to the wet one."

My fist clenches but Jungkook rests a hand on my wrist before I can move.

"I have a class here. You may have heard of it. W205?" Jungkook responds calmly.

"Lame." Elsie rolls her eyes and her pose giggles. "Why don't you stick to your campus from now on? Hm? We wouldn't want a poor wet one to get burned by fire now would we?" She cocks her head to the side and I want to wipe the smack the pout from her lips.

"Not unless I drowned you first." I suddenly say without a second thought and release my arm from Jungkook's grasp. "Is that a challenge?" Elsie asks with a wicked smile and takes a step forward.

"We're not fully trained so water fighting fire would be a little unfair don't you think?" I explain, "But fire fighting fire seems more fair, doesn't it?"

"Since you're a girl, I might actually be tested on my true abilities." Elsie rests her hands on her hips, her confidence soaring. "Though, I don't know if you could keep up."

The blood in my veins boils and it takes literally everything within me to not charge at her right this second.

"I bet I could." I reply, both fists now balled.

"I'm sure you could." Elsie nods, "In 3 years."

I roll my eyes and drop my backpack, "Will you stop talking and actually get your ass over here to find out?"

"What are you doing?" Jungkook whispers, "You almost got suspended last time."

"I don't care." I look back at him.

"(y/n)!" Elsie calls out to me, "Catch." She simply says before sending a fire ball but not at me. At Jungkook.

With speed, I step in front of the attack and disperse the flame with ease.

"ELSIE!" Namjoon's voice booms from some yards away. His voice and presence drags both of our attentions to him as he strides over.

Namjoon is one of those cool, kind popular kids and he commands the attention and respect from almost everyone on our campus. And he just so happens to be my best friend. I always question why he's still my friend when we are barely even in the same friend circles anymore but every time I start to miss him or need him, he shows up. Just like that.

Part of me is relieved he's here so she'll leave us alone but the other part of me is upset that Namjoon's stopping me from finally teaching her the lesson she deserves. He's like an angel appearing at just the right time but at the same time, he's Satan's spawn just loving that he's messing with my life.

"What the hell is your problem?" Namjoon questions her with anger when he reaches her.

"Oh, Namjoon, how are you?" Elsie dodges the question with a sweet smile.

"Just answer the question." Namjoon instructs with a no-play tone.

Elsie rolls her eyes before answering, "The water bender was bothering me."

"Exactly how was he bothering you?" Namjoon asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

Elsie looks taken aback then stutters, "Well, I mean he, he was just-"

Namjoon curtly nods once, "Water benders are allowed to take classes on other campuses. Worry about your own self." He then turns and walks towards Jungkook and I while Elsie and her crew walk away.

Jungkook picks up my backpack and hands it to me just as Namjoon reaches the two of us.

"Are you guys okay?" He asks, glancing between the two of us. When we both nod, he says, "What the hell were YOU thinking?" Checking on me before launching into a scolding, as expected of my best friend. "Why would you instigate her like that?"

"I could've handled her fine." I roll my eyes, now more annoyed he interrupted. "I could've shown her a damn lesson or two."

"In the middle of the day in the middle of the courtyard?" Namjoon continues to question me.

"It would've been fine." I repeat and start walking out of the campus.

"You would've been actually suspended this time." Namjoon follows with Jungkook next to him.

"That's what I said." Jungkook pipes up.

"You should've listened to that." Namjoon finishes with me then turns to Jungkook. "And why didn't you stop her? You could've dragged her away."

Jungkook raises his hands in surrender, "I tried. I swear., But you know how she gets when she gets into that mood."

"It wasn't a mood." I defend myself.

"Fine, attitude then." Jungkook corrects himself, sticking out his tongue at me.

"It was not a-"

"Enough." Namjoon pinches the bridge of his nose. "Just, just walk away next time. Please?"

"What and let Ms. Made-Perfect-by-Daddy's-Money continue to berate the other elements like that?" I raise my eyebrows at Namjoon. "Like hell I would let that happen."

Namjoon sighs, "Verbally fight with her, throw around threats, sure. But just don't actually fight her."

I let out a puff of air in disbelief, "You don't think I could actually fight her and hold my own, do you?"

Now, quite annoyed with my best friend, I turn Jungkook in a random direction. "I'll see you later Namjoon." I say before he can explain himself.

Nearly pushing Jungkook, we make our way in the opposite direction.

"You do know that we have to go back in that direction and not this direction." Jungkook mentions as he starts walking on his own.

"We're taking the long way around." I spew out the words, my tone immediately telling him not to argue with me.

--------------The Next Morning----------------

The wind blows past my shoulders and makes my paper flutter as they stay locked to my binder. The mid-morning sun is warm but not too hot and the wind gives a nice relief.

I decided to study on the roof this morning because my room got way too stuffy last night and because no one's out here in the morning so it's nice and quiet.

I live in an apartment building and the owners were nice enough to purchase a few picnic tables up here since so many of us tenants are students. Cool people.

"You're still annoyed with me?" Namjoon's voice appears behind me.

I grip my pencil ever so slightly tighter, "Yeah, just a bit." I tell him without looking at him.

Without a word, he sits at the table a foot to my right.

I take a quick glance at him. He doesn't have his backpack and he's wearing black pants and a light washed denim jacket. He rests his arms on the table and is just staring straight ahead. Once I get a good look at him, I turn back to my notes but none of the written words register.

"The other day, what I said." Namjoon says, perking up my ears. "I didn't mean it that way."

I lift my head up and lay down my pencil, "Sure sounded like it."

"Well, it wasn't and if you would let me explain, you would see that." Namjoon turns to me, waiting for my answer.

I purse my lips and ponder his request, "Fine, what did you mean by saying that?" I ask him the question and meet his eyes.

He gives me a small smile, "Honestly, I do think you could take Elsie and you would handle yourself very well if it ever came down to a fire fight." I take the compliment but prepare for the largest but I would hear in my lifetime. "But... I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"You were worried about me getting hurt?" I raise my eyebrows slightly in confusion.

"Yeah, I didn't want to sit back and watch you get hurt if I could do something about it." Namjoon explains.

"Why would you care if I got hurt?" I question.

Namjoon suddenly gets flustered and rubs the back of his neck, "I mean, you know, you're my best friend and I'd hate to see that."

I squint my eyes at him, "Okay, but if that was true, you would've stopped me from doing all the other stupid things I've done with Jungkook. Most of which, by the way, you actually encouraged me to do."

"Those, those were different." Namjoon counters, "They were with Jungkook and you weren't fighting with fire."

I rest my head in my hand, "And I'm pretty sure I got injured much worse those times that I would've been had I been in-"

"I care about you, alright?" Namjoon blurts out. "Elsie's not worth the energy to fight and she's certainly not worth any injury, big or small."

My heart begins to pound and flutter at the same time. "I mean," I clear my throat, "I care about you too. You're my best friend."

Namjoon shakes his head with a smile playing on his lips, "No, I mean like more than best friends. I care about you a lot, (y/n)."

I stay silent, trying to process the words he's saying and he takes the silence as a signal to keep talking.

"Why do you think I'm always saving your ass from Elsie? Why do you think that I bring your favorite snacks around the time your periods is about to attack? Honestly, I'm quite tired of spitting out the same 'treat everyone equally' bullshit because I'd treat you better than everyone else."

My mind is racing through millions of thoughts at hundreds of miles an hour. I think I left my legs back in 'holy shit what is happening' land and my heart in 'holy shit this is actually happening' land.

"(y/n)?" Namjoon rests a hand on my shoulder, "Say something? It gets kind of weird if I'm the only one talking." He attempts to lighten the mood.

I register his words and now all the visits and hangouts and run ins make so much more sense. He didn't just randomly run into me or thought of me. He purposefully was where I always needed him to be. He was always there not because it was coincidence, but because he WANTED to be.

I run my hands through my hair and chuckle. "I am so dumb."

Now it's Namjoon's turn to be confused.

"How did I not see any of it?" I ask mainly myself.

Namjoon recovers from his confusion and shrugs his shoulders, "You were pretty focused on studying and not beating the crap out of Elsie."

I chuckle but it dies down pretty quickly. "All this time, huh?" I ask, looking at him.

Namjoon breathes in, "Yeah, all this time."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" I question.

"You said you were completely and utterly done with relationships so I was nervous to tell you that I liked you." Namjoon repeats my words from over a year ago and slides closer to me.

"You could've said something." I told him, nudging his shoulder.

"I could've." Namjoon says, "But I also watched the few guys who tried only to get shut down."

I laugh, "Point taken."

"So." He leans his head on his fist, facing me.

"So?" I repeat, questioningly.

"Have I been accepted or will I go join the rejects?" Namjoon clarifies.

I squeeze my eyes shut and mentally facepalm all while calling myself dumb for not catching onto that.

"I won't accept or reject you quite yet." I answer, "You still have to take me on a date. Then we'll see."

Namjoon lazily smiles, like he's already confident he won't be rejected. Which he's not entirely wrong. He's got a really nice face and his personality matches with mine and he *almost* always has me laughing. I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a suppressed crush that started years ago.

"You want a date. I can give you a date." Namjoon says and sits up straight. "Where should we go? And when?"

I smile, "Surprise me."

Namjoon smiles widely, now excited, "Oh, you got it." He raises from his seat, "I gotta run but tomorrow night. Be ready. I'll text you the time."

"Oh, okay." I reply, slightly surprised at how soon this date will be. "Hey, you didn't like plan for this did you?" I call out to him as he walks towards the door.

He pauses and turns around, "Maybe!" Namjoon calls back with a playful smile before continuing towards the door.

Once the door closes behind him and I'm left alone on the rooftop once more, all motivation to study jumps off the roof and all I can think about is the date I have tomorrow night with Namjoon, my best friend.

#bts #bts imagine #bts namjoon #bts namjoon imagine #namjoon imagine #kim namjoon imagine #kim namjoon #namjoon #bts rm #bts rm imagine #rm imagine

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krispydefendorpolice · 5 years

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The Demon’s Bride (4)

Call out to @vitaliciouscreations for their “Drop of Paradise” story. I’m using the same name Tiān but they came up with it (to best of my knowledge). Another fun read. Anyone interested in me putting up a random maribat recomendation in this part?

On to the story

Beginning Previous Next Masterpost

_________________

Chapter 4

After dropping Mari in front of the hotel she was staying at, where the teacher definitely had not noticed she was missing he fumed, Damian returned to the Bat cave. His father, all three of his brothers, his sister, Alfred and the rest of the extended Bat Clan were waiting.

“You never turned your comm back on,” Bruce commented.

“I needed to speak with Mari before talking to you,” Damian said, passing his father and pulling up files on the Bat computer.

“We had noticed. It would have been nice to know you were alright after she took down Jason the way she did.”

“Hence the reason I left my tracker on instead of disabling it. You knew where I was.”

“Who is this mystery girl the boys are talking about?” Barbara, aka Oracle, asked.

Damian ignored the question while he filtered through the files of the Wayne conference attendees for the school group staying at Mari’s hotel and down to the students on the trip. He pulled up the school picture of Mari and the information they had on her.

“She is a friend from my childhood,” he finally said looking at the information. He saw that her name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, her parents on file were listed as Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. So they hadn’t changed it, he thought, disappointed in himself because he never looked.

Damian turned when no one said anything after his declaration. Leaning against the console he waited for their responses.

“Bull shit Demon Spawn. You’ve never mentioned friends other than Jon and the Titans before,” Jason said, “and even then it’s because they are not your friends.”

“I assure you she is,” Damian said.

“Then why is this the first time any of us have ever heard about her?” Dick asked.

“None of you have ever shown a particular interest in my childhood with the League of Assassins before now, so why would I have talked about her to you?” Damian answered with a question of his own.

“Because you bit off our heads every time we asked anything,” Tim argued.

Damian narrowed his eyes, “The last time anyone asked me anything about the League I was 11 years old, had just moved in with a bunch of strangers, and had witnessed my family and my whole life destroyed by a madman. Of course I fucking yelled at you. I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t cry, yell or rage about the unfairness of watching my family, my family,” he emphasized, “die because I was with strangers and emotions make you vulnerable and I could not afford any more vulnerabilities with the unknown situation I was in.”

The entire clan was silent during his tirade, and a bit ashamed at what he was revealing to them years afterwards.

“I’m sorry Damian. We should have realized that and asked you how you were handling the changes at the time,” Bruce was the first to apologize.

“So you weren’t just rabid from Mom’s Tender Loving Care?” Jason asked.

“Master Jason,” Alfred chided while the rest of the clan just gave Jason a Really? look.

“In the 10 years I lived with her I probably spent less than two in her actual company,” Damian said. “I don’t think I would have responded well at the time even if you had realized,” he acknowledged Bruce’s apology.

“Can you tell us about her?” Bruce asked.

“I can but there’s a lot to talk about to really understand everything. I’m meeting her tomorrow for her free day, we can come here for dinner. I can give you some of that background information now and she can answer any of the questions about herself that I can’t answer.”

“Alright. So tell us what we need to know.”

“Might I suggest we move this discussion out of the cave and to the parlor where we might be more comfortable while we talk,” Alfred interrupted.

“That sounds like a good idea Alfred,” Dick said.

**************************

They did as Alfred suggested and moved to the sitting room so they could sit comfortably while talking about Damian’s past. They were all aware that before he came to them at the age of 10 he had lived with his mother and grandfather and with the League of Assassins. He had been volatile and reckless even while he was taking up the mantle of Robin and began following the others into the vigilante lifestyle.

But apparently there was more to his actions as a kid than just being a snobbish brat raised to believe he was better than everyone else.

Damian sipped at his cup of Black tea while settling his mind around what he was going to discuss. He had spent the last 7 years trying not to think of the other half of his biological family and believing the rest were dead so that he hadn’t had any other reason to reflect on his youth in the League. But that had obviously been a mistake. If Mari survived did anyone else? Can I get my family back? He wondered to himself while the rest of the clan settled down with their drinks of choice.

Finally everyone was settled. Bruce was the one to set the ball rolling.

“So what should we know?”

“Before I start about what I know,” Damian began turning to Jason, “I need to know more about what you know of the League, Todd.”

Jason raised an eyebrow and looked at him stonily. If Damian was quiet about the League as a kid (lies, he really wasn’t because he was an Al Ghul dammit) then Todd was a monk who had taken a vow of silence (slightly less a lie, he didn’t talk about it but he did rant about what a bitch Talia was). None of the Bats knew much about his time with the League other than he met Talia before returning to Gotham to seek vengeance on the Joker.

“Like what, Demon Spawn?” Jason asked.

“Well, first, did you have a designation?”

“A what?”

“That’s a no then. Consider yourself lucky, or not, since you were one of mother’s various pet projects then.”

“Damian,” Dick warned as Damian still had a tendency to be very blunt, to the point of being abrasive, when talking about other’s trauma’s.

Damian frowned before nodding in acknowledgement of the warning and in apology for his tone.

“I suppose the first thing you should know is that the League of Assassins is only about two hundred years old, while Tiān the city from which it was established is thousand of years old. Grandfather found it years ago and started to recruit certain prized and influential citizens and families into following him. Eventually the majority of the city were members of his cult and doing his bidding. We can get more into why the League as its own city is important tomorrow.

“Now, since the League is a cult and it was born out of an independent city how has it maintained it’s membership for so long? And I assure you it wasn’t because grandfather shared the secret of the Lazarus Pits with anyone” he asked.

“They recruited new members,” Dick answered with a shrug.

Damian gave him his own Really? look. “Recruits only account for about 25% of the new trainees and they are usually older teens and young adults. The people that are disenfranchised from the society outside of the League. Individuals with knowledge of the world outside shaped by influences from outside and not by Ras Al Ghul,” Damian said. “I was one of 79 children born in my year group. I was not raised by Talia no matter how she spins it. Despite having a personal bodyguard, private tutors and a nursemaid because I was an Al Ghul heir, I was raised with the other children my age in the al’akadimia*.”

“Talia didn’t raise you?” Barbara asked.

“She oversaw my training, instruction and education which seems to be her impression of parenting, but no, she was not involved in the day to day of my life growing up. I got more of that with Father in the first few months than I did from her in the entirety of my time with her,” Damian answered.

The Bats were silent as they digested this new piece of information from their youngest.

“In the cave you mentioned losing your family. It sounded like it happened in Slade’s attack. If not Talia, who were you thinking of? The girl?” Tim asked.

*academy- Arabic via Google translate

_________________

So, this chapter f*cked with my head. I was just writing and playing with the story and had to come up with a reason for Damian being such a little shit as a kid. And I threw in the line about him losing his family and moving in with strangers when I had an oh shit moment of enlightenment.

In the Son of Batman, Damian witnessed his grandfathers death. His mother brought him to strangers and essentially dropped him on their doorstep. Then we get into the fact that most likely he was essentially abused growing up (how else do you get a kid that wont show emotions) but they were still his family and yeah...

I try throwing in a flippant reason but really it kinda sounds like a canon reason too.

I had never thought about why canon Damian was the way he was especially in that first movie and now my head hurts. I’m curious if anyone else has ever given that a thought or if you’re just now having that oh shit reaction?

Taglist: I’m so happy so many are enjoying it. I’m trying to get everyone but if I miss you I’m sorry but it’s not intentional. Also, I appreciate the comments but unless you ask I won’t tag you so if you’ve commented and not been tagged it’s cuz you didn’t ask or because I overlooked it trying to find everyone who’s asking to be tagged. And I’m going to ask that you message me since I’m having trouble finding all the asks in the comments. Thank you.

And thank you all!

@ozmav @multifandomscribette @mochinek0 @inevitableenquere @zebrabaker @poshplumcot @tog84 @luciferge @sonif50 @ravennightingaleandavatempus @northernbluetongue @actual-human-disaster @clumsy-owl-4178 @aarushi-03 @bluerosette23 @g-arya @moonyloonyx @fertileleaf @shreky-boi @thanks-captain-obvious @panda3506 @hinata3487 @thequestionablyhuman @dontgiveaflyinflip @dast218 @chocolatecatstheron @asianfrustration13 @slytherinsheashire @weird-pale-blonde-person @yin-390 @mycupisbroken @vixen-uchiha @kuroko26 @autisticlinx @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @mariae2900 @zalladane @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @tbehartoo @novicevoice @violatiger8 @thebookish3lf @fandomkitty8 @redscarlet95 @gingersnapnoir @chewbaccaatemythoughts

#daminette #maribat #marinette x damian #Betrothed AU #The Demon’s Bride #DLDR #Dead Dove Do Not Eat

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ficnation · 4 years

Text

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝟏

☁ 𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ☁

☁ 𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐁𝐎𝐗 ☁

1. “I apologise in advance for the inconvenience my murder is going to have on your life.”

2. “I hate you.” “Why? I’m lovely.”

3. “Murder wasn’t on today’s agenda.” “It’s not on anyone’s.” “No, it’s on mine, just not until next Thursday.”

4. “Hold on, you died.” “Yeah, well it didn’t stick.”

5. “This is my life now. I have climbed this hill and now I will die upon it.” “Shut up. We’ve only been hiking for twenty minutes.”

6. “She’s crying, what do I do?” “Go comfort her.” “How do I do that?” “Start with hugs.” “With what?”

7. “What’s our exit strategy?” “Our what?” “Oh my god, we’re all going to die.”

8. “I’m going to need chicken blood, a knife, a lighter, and a bottle of vodka.”

“Vodka? For the bonfire?”

“No, that’s just to make me feel better about going against (Name)’s command.” (changed)

9. “Are you clinically insane or incredibly annoying?” “I don’t know, probably both.”

10. “I saved your lives.” “How? By stealing our freedom?” (changed)

11. “It takes a very special kind of idiot to pull off what you just did.”

12. “I’m getting really tired of pretending I’m not evil.”

13. “Did you just agree with me?” “Oh I wish I could take-” “Nope! You said it! No take-backs!”

14. “It’s a long story.” “You conned me into thinking you were dead for eleven months. I have time.”

15. “I regret a lot of things. Having this conversation tops the list.”

16. “I had a thought.” “Oh no.” “I swear it’s a good one this time!’

17. “(Name), open the door!” “No. It’s cooler when you break in.” (changed)

18. “Do you think they remember you?” “I sure hope not after what I did the last time I was here.” “What did you do?” “You’ll find out.”

19. “You look…” “Beautiful, I know. Can we move on?”

20. “You scared me!” “Well, I am naturally terrifying.”

21. “I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.”

22. “I’d take a bullet for you, you know that.” “You’re not indestructible, and I’m going to kill you if you keep saying that.” (changed)

23. “You really have no clue who I am?” “You’d think the confused looks and blank stare would have answered that for you.”

24. “I am way too sober for this.”

25. “You don’t strike me as a professional criminal.” “That’s what makes me so good at it.”

26. “I don’t think of you as a protector. More like a distraction.”

27. “We have five people trying to kill us right now, what are we supposed to do?” “Actually, it’s more like eight.” “Oh, sorry I wasn’t specific enough!”

28. “If you could even comprehend where I’ve come from, you would be terrified of me.”

29. “I saved your life!” “You pushed me off a building.”

30. “You know we’re not all born with the ability to be a leader, right?” (changed)

31. “How do we keep getting into these situations?” “Eleven years of friendship and I still don’t know.”

32. “Did you hear that scream?” “Yes, I’m the one who screamed.”

33. “Are you SURE I can’t punch him in the face?” “Yes.” “What if I just break his nose a little?”

34. “You are remarkably well behaved tonight. What did you do?”

35. “You’re-you’re crushing my spleen.” “You don’t even know where your spleen is.”

36. “I’m no detective, of course, but I think this dead body might not be alive anymore.”

37. “Right now, I don’t know if I want to kiss you or shove you off a bridge.” “Can I pick?”

38. “The real treasure was the memories we made along the way.” “I almost died!” “Ah yes, that was my fondest memory.”

39. “I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you!” “And I’m trying to subtly avoid it!”

40. “Hey, I didn’t kill anyone today!” “What do you want? A gold star?”

41. “I hate you.” “Why? I’m lovely.”

42. “On a scale from one to ten, how bad do you think it would be if-” “At least a twenty.”

43. “Literally everything about this would be illegal in the old world.” (changed)

44. “Seven billion people in the world, and you’re overreacting because we killed one man.” “But-” “Seven. Billion. People. Now quit the complaining and drink your smoothie.”

45. “It’s not my birthday.” “It’s definitely your birthday.” “Give me a calendar. It’s not and I will prove it to – oh. Never mind. Happy birthday to me.”

46. “On a scale from one to ten, how bad do you want to kill me right now?” “I’m hovering somewhere in the high thirties.”

47. “I can fix that.” “I’m calling a professional.” “I’m a professional.” “A more professional, professional.”

48. “What’s the word for that infestation of tiny creatures over there?” “Those are children. That’s a school.”

49. “I have a concern.” “Just one?” “No, but I didn’t think you’d let me speak my piece if I told you how many I actually have.”

50. “Why are you glaring at me?” “I’m hoping you’ll spontaneously combust.”

51. “If we die, I’m going to spend the rest of our afterlife reminding you that this was all your fault.” “That’s cool, I wouldn’t mind having company while being a ghost.”

52. “What are you so afraid of?” “You.”

53. “What is that THING in your backpack?” (changed)

54. “I hate the sight of blood.” “Then maybe you shouldn’t kill for a living.”

55. “All that blood looks good on you. It really brings out your eyes.”

56. “Want to see what kind of trouble we can get into?” “Oh god, we’re going to die, aren’t we?” “It’s a Tuesday, I know how to restrain myself.” “You absolutely do not.”

57. “I don’t give a damn.” “You give so many damns they’re visible from SPACE.”

58. “It’ll be easy. You just have to seduce them.” “You’re kidding, right? I’m about as seductive as a cabbage.”

59. “You’re not as evil as people think you are.” “No. I’m much worse.”

60. “That’s a terrifyingly accurate drawing of us.” “It’s almost like I’m good at what I do.”

61. “You have no power over me.” “You sure about that?”

62. “This isn’t good.” “How can you tell?” “See how they’re slowly surrounding us? And they all have guns and knives and I think one guy is carrying a machete?”

63. “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” “Actually he’s right in front of you.”

64. “I’m not a thief. I’m just really good at acquiring things that aren’t mine.”

65. “I’m not completely human anymore. Remember that next time you want to punch me in the face.”

66. “Is that blood?” “No?” “That’s not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question.”

67. “I never stood a chance, did I?” “That’s the sad part – you did once.”

68. “It’s okay, I’m here.”

69. “I’m not going to leave you.”

70. “Everything is okay.”

71. “I’m going to protect you.”

72. “I believe in you.”

73. “Do you feel guilty? Like, at all?” “I don’t have time to feel guilty. And neither do you.”

74. “Stop that!” “Stop what?” “Doing that thing with your face when you’re happy. It’s making me nauseous.”

75. “What are you doing?” “…Eating.” “We’re being held hostage and you decide to raid the kitchen?” “They didn’t say the fridge was off limits.”

76. “Is that a dead body?” “Maybe?” “It is. I can see it right in front of me.” “I promise I’ll clean it up before dinner.”

77. “If we’re going to get out of here, we’re going to have to work together. After that, we can go back to killing each other.” “Oh, fine.”

78. “That’s not funny.” “I thought it was.” “You don’t count. You started laughing in the middle of a funeral because you started thinking of a meme you saw on Facebook.”

79. “Do we need wine?” “No, I need wine, you need to put your pants back on.” “But life is so freeing without them.” “Pants. On. Now.”

80. “Can you please go be stupid somewhere that’s away from me?”

81. “I feel like I’m being stabbed.” “How do you even know what it feels like to be stabbed?”

82. “Will you be quiet?” “I didn’t say anything!” “Well stop thinking so loud.”

83. “Did you get my note?” “Of course I got it. You taped it to my forehead while I was sleeping.”

84. “You’re a psychopath.” “I prefer creative.”

85. “Why do people keep trying to put this blanket on me?” “Because you’re in shock.” “That doesn’t mean I need a blanket. It means I need booze.”

86. “Oh no.” “What is it? What happened? Who died?” “I think I just felt an emotion.” “You have GOT to be kidding me.”

87. “When all this is over, I want my sanity back.”

88. “That’s definitely not true.” “Of course it is. I read it in Encyclopedia.” (changed)

89. “You forgot me.” “It was an accident.”

90. “Why do you keep risking your life? To prove a point?” “Yes.”

91. “I would like to join you in acknowledging the difficulties of your life.” “You are the WORST at this comfort thing.”

92. “You’ve got to stop doing that.” “What?” “Saying things that make me want to kiss you.”

93. “Look, if you want to conjure some demon spawn from the great beyond, that’s all fine and dandy. Just wait for me to leave before you start.”

94. “Just calm down!” “My arm just got cut off and you want me to calm down!?” (changed)

95. “You know what they say, panicking burns a shit ton of calories.” “Who even says that?” “Me. Just now.”

96. “Don’t mind me, I’ll just be in the corner, having another existential crisis.”

97. “Oh my god, I had the exact same dream!” “Really?” “Are you crazy? Of course I didn’t.”

98. “I need to go de-stress.” “Where are you going?” “To demolish the living room.”

99. “I think I’m having a feeling. How do I make it stop?”

100. “I’m bitter and complicated. It’s one of my charms.” “I don’t think you know what that word means. Or how to count.”

101. “Well? What happened? I want all the details!”

102. “You always think you know what you’d do when faced with the end of the world. Me? I went home and took a nap.”

103. “Damn it, why aren’t you obeying the laws of physics?”

104. “I’d hug you right now, but you’re covered in evidence. And I also really don’t want to.” “Evidence is a really nice euphemism for blood, gore and guts.” “You’re totally missing the point. Do you know how pissed I am at you right now?”

105. “This way is more efficient.” “This way is going to get us killed.”

106. “You’re not my favourite person today.” “I’m not your favourite person on any day.”

list by @fictionpants

#prompts #prompt list

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doc-pickles · 4 years

Text

it’s nothing funny just to talk (p. 1)

What happens when you text that random number graffitied on a bathroom stall in your favorite bar? Jo Wilson is about to find out. - In which Bar Princess and Doctor Evil Spawn meet via text.

More Jolex on your timeline because y’all seemed to love what I posted before! Also I’ve posted this whole piece on AO3 as well so it might look familiar.

this idea came to me in a fever dream and i am not sorry that y'all have to deal with it. 99% of this fic will be in "texting" format, so be prepared for that.

Jo is regular Alex is italics

Saturday 11:04 PM

heeeeey is thiss doctor evil?

I gotta say ur phone sex namee needs sum weerk

u soud like a comic book village

fuck

village

VILLAIN

Who the hell is this? And how did you get my number?

i’m just a girl at thee bar!!!!

Joe’s Bar?

noooooo

i’m at enerlad city bar

You didn’t answer my question.

u asked a quesitoon?

whata was it?

i’m goos at takifjg tests

How’d you get my number?

it qas in the bathrooom!!!

it said “for a good tiem txt dr evil spawne”

so I did

I am ready to havee fun

You’re drunk, obviously, and I’m going to have to kill Cristina for putting my number up.

ooooooh is thatt ur girleifnd?

hirlefiend

girlfriend**

Wow you’re really gone. And hell no, she’s my roommate. One of them.

ooooh how many do u hav

roomees not girlfriends

Three. Two girls and a dude.

intereeesting...

well it’s tome for fireball shoots

steph is yeeling at me 4 txting too much

goodbey doctor eviel apawn!!

Oh lord. Tell Steph you need water. Or an IV.

I’ve got her. she’s throwing up on her shoes. thanks doctor. - steph

Sunday 10:11 AM

You know you’re pretty funny, Bar Girl.

jesus christ what fucking time is it?!

10 AM

I’m assuming you have a massive hangover.

hold on I can’t hear you over the sound of me vomiting

TMI as the kids say these days.

what’re you a grandpa or something??

No I just don’t know how to use text lingo. Except WTF. I know that one very well.

quick question

who the fuck are you?

Dr. Evil Spawn. You found my name graffitied in the bathroom of Emerald City Bar.

holy shit

I thought I dreamed that... WHAT THE FUCK

Nope. I’m real.

holy shit i’m so sorry

my texts were so annoying

Who hurt you? I mean you were shitfaced, I’m assuming someone broke your heart into tiny pieces.

the opposite actually, I was at a bachelorette party

not mine, i’m so single it hurts

Ahhh that makes sense. So you got shitfaced in solidarity?

exactly you get it

you seem like you’d be the DD at a bachelorette party

Well seeing as I’m a dude I don’t do Bachelorette parties.

Well I did go to one, but that’s a different story.

hmmm you seem like a very interesting man doctor evil spawn

going to bachelorette parties, living with women who aren’t your girlfriend

OMG ARE YOU DATING THE GUY YOU LIVE WITH?!

George? No absolutely not. And before you ask, my other girl roommate is gay.

so you’re single?

i’m only asking so when you murder me the police have as much information as possible

Haha very funny. I would be a terrible murderer.

you didn’t answer my question

Fine. Yes I’m single.

i’ll note that in the “serial killer file” i’m building

gotta go, I have to do work :/

Have fun, don’t die.

Sunday 8:38 PM

Arizona is trying to set me up on a blind date.

who’s arizona?

My gay roommate. She wants me to meet this “bubbly blonde” she knows from her pilates class.

ahhhh. why don’t you go?

Bubbly blonde is not my type. Sounds like she’ll spend the whole date talking about how much she loves dogs or her knitting hobby.

Plus she does pilates, that tells me more than enough.

you’re making some good points. I don’t pity you.

You better not. How was work?

the longest day of my life

it was just paperwork, I don’t actually work on the weekends

What do you do?

hmmmm that’s exactly what a serial killer would say

i’m an elementary school teacher

Oh so you sing and dance and paint pictures all day?

what school did you go to?

were working on multiplication tables and basic photosynthesis tomorrow

Wow that sounds like a lot.

it’s may, ive got three weeks of school left so I have to cram all the crap we didn’t cover into these last few weeks

Ahhh that sounds more accurate.

and what do you do?

besides text strangers that you don’t know

I’m a pediatrician.

oh so you make kids cry and wipe snotty noses all day? two can play at that game

Well we both have to deal with snotty noses sooo...

I GET IT!! Doctor Evil Spawn!!

why evil spawn though?

I wasn’t this nice when I started med school. My personality is an acquired taste.

ha! that’s a funny joke.

so if you’re a fancy schmancy doctor why do you live with three other people?

I’m only a resident, not making the big bucks yet. Everyone else is a doctor too.

are they all pediatricians?

No. Arizona is too but Cristina is a cardiologist and George is a trauma specialist.

interesting!! I too live with my coworkers. it’s not fun.

the table is always covered in craft supplies.

Well I can never read the grocery list on the fridge. Stupid doctors script...

oh that’s a classic. you’re pretty funny Dr. Evil Spawn

Thanks Bar Girl.

I gotta go. monday tomorrow and you know how fourth graders can be. night!!

Night .

Monday 9:47 AM

there’s not enough coffee in the world for monday mornings.

Monday 10:52 AM

Sorry I was yelling at the interns. We have a decent coffee cart here. Keeps me alive. Are you texting in class?

no it was recess

now they’re at spanish class

i’m not totally irresponsible

Oh good to know the future of America is in good hands. Teacher Princess is “not totally irresponsible”

teacher princess?

Well, Cinderella lost her shoe, you puked on yours. Same thing.

wooooooooow

that was so uncalled for...

I thought it was funny. Gotta go set a broken arm.

broken arm vs. adverbs... can we switch? have fun lol

Monday 3:26 PM

I don’t even think I know what an adverb is.

how did you become a doctor??

Don’t need to know adverbs to fix a couple broken bones and snuffy noses.

oh darn I should’ve gone to school for seven more years then

Haha. How were the adverbs?

better than expected, grading papers while I wait for my roomies to be done

we carpool, saving the environment and shit

Okay Eco Warrior.

you text like a 60 year old man

you’re not a 60 year old man are you?

No I’m a 28 year old man though

28 a doctor and you’re single? your personality must be worse than you described

I’m a busy man, I don’t have time to settle down. And I have no desire to.

yet you have time to text a complete stranger?

hmmmm interesting...

Ouch, that one hurt Princess.

steph is making me socialize with the other teachers

if I don’t respond, they killed me or dragged me to an essential oil party

Hahahaha

Monday 5:18 PM

Did you get roped into a pyramid scheme?

nooo but therew as wine

I should sotp drunk texting you so often

It makes your presence that much more entertaining. And bearable.

woah woah dude

i’m a gem

I can tell. Elementary school teacher with a heart of gold.

awwww your too sweet tome

It’s a Monday. Who the hell gets drunk on a Monday?

teachers

we deserve it

You’re a teacher and you’re single and still going to Bachelorette parties. You’re what, 23?

i’m 25 and i’m doing greta thanks you very nuch

cnat believe that i’m supplying my perosnal info to a serial killer

What makes you so sure that I’m a mass murderer?

ur weird nickname and ur intimate knowledge of the himan body

Mmm yes well a good amount of women do find themselves screaming around me often. Or under me. On top of me...

omg are you sending me dirty jokes

you’re crazy

What can I say.

Gotta go, I’m on call tonight. Get to bed safe, Bar Princess.

mmmkay thanks Doc

Wednesday 11:29 AM

What do you think is worse: School lunch or hospital food?

hospital food, no doubt

thursday is mac and cheese day here... I could bathe in that stuff

We have Spaghetti Wednesday but that’s the only good thing here.

mmm how depressing

the teachers do a pot luck once a month and that’s always good

the art teacher next door to me makes the BEST blueberry muffins.

Lucky. All I get here is vending machine cookies. Anything interesting happening in the elementary world?

a first grader got lice last week so naturally we all have it now

I had to chop off six inches of my hair

Holy crap. Lice can be vicious, be thankful you didn’t have to shave your head.

it feels like I did, my hair hasn’t been above my shoulders since the backstreet boys were still touring

Wow. I’m glad to know you’re well cultured.

of course I am

gotta go, kids are back from music class

Don’t be too hard on them, they deserve a break every once in awhile.

Thursday 3:06 PM

Incoming Voice Call

“Jenna you forgot your lunch pail. Have a good day!”

“Hello?”

“Hi Mrs. Peters. I didn’t grade Henry’s test yet, I’ll have it tomorrow. Thanks bye!”

“Helloooo?”

“Steph I gotta grab my things, I’ll be there in a seco- oh shit. Hello?”

“Bar Princess?”

“Doctor Evil Spawn? I must’ve butt dialed you, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay I... I don’t mind the interruption. Are you leaving work?”

“Just about, we’re wrapping up the solar system and I have to bring home the diorama.”

“I was never good at the models, I prefer working with the real thing.”

“Oh ho, a man that works with his hands. I can appreciate that.”

“You know now we’re officially talking and we still don’t know each other’s names.”

“Well around here I’m Miss Wilson, but you can call me Jo.”

“Jo. Hmm I like chicks with dudes names. I’m Dr. Karev but you can call me Alex.”

“Well nice to kinda meet you Alex. I’ll talk to you soon, I gotta get out of here.”

“Talk to you later.”

Thursday 4:34 PM

I wouldn’t mind if you were my teacher.

how did I know you’d send me something along those lines

I’m predictable. I’m still calling you Bar Princess.

as you wish doctor evil spawn

I get to assist on a surgery today. Tonsillectomy.

like removing tonsils? that’s awesome

for you, not for the kid

Oh she’ll be fine, she gets ice cream and jello for a week.

okay yeah I might be jealous of her now

id love to be off work for a week and have you waiting on me hand and foot

the ice cream is a nice bonus

You think that’s my job?

well you said you aren’t making the big bucks yet so.... yeah

Keep dreaming. I’ll talk to you later, gotta scrub in.

have fun!!!!

#jolex #jolex fanfic #jolex fanfiction #jo karev #jo wilson #jo wilson karev #alex karev #alternate universe #jolex fic #jo x alex #greys anatomy #greys fanfic #INFJTT #nina writes

11 notes · View notes

samshafaghi · 3 years

Text

How CNN's John King Is Using His Magic Wall After The Election

Family Dinner Options

John's wife and kids watch as he enters their home address into Google Maps on the magic wall, then uses his fingers to zoom out. Multiple restaurants in the area are flagged with red pins.

Well, we're all familiar with the Applebee's over in Dekalb County. Dekalb County as everyone knows has three Applebee's locations, that's a net gain of two locations since 2016. But in 2018, they lost our business to the Cheesecake Factory right here in Fulton County. Their food portions were massive. If you recall, we brought a ton of it back home and ate it the next day. But we also had to wait 1 hour to be seated - not ideal, as the large turnout isn't favorable for us. It doesn't appear that another visit to Cheesecake Factory is on the cards.

Instead, we shift our attention to Gwinnett County, where there's a new Red Robin that has surged in popularity the last few days in our household. This could be the next big one, folks. And no surprise that this comes after our disappointing outing to Chilli's last week in Cobb County. Chilli's in Cobb was a surefire success in 2008, and 2012, but failed to capture that same young generation in 2016. It's still too early to call, and we want to take our time here. I understand we're hungry. We have to let the process play out. But based on recent trends and the latest data, if you're a Red Robin fan, you've gotta be pretty happy right now...

John's family sneaks out of the room. Not realizing they're gone, he just continues to yammer away. Vacation Destinations

John gathers his family around the magic wall and opens up Google Earth.

Well look, here's the facts - in 2018, we went to Barcelona. Our last trip. Barcelona is in Catalonia. As we know the President of Catalonia at that time was Quim Torra. A bit of a wild election because Torra was elected when the Spanish courts blocked the other three candidates. We spent a majority of our time in the populated Barcelona region, like over here at the landmark Ciutat Comtal. We enjoyed a nice walk through this section over here, at the beach of La Barceloneta towards Port Olimpic. We also did branch out to rural areas and landscapes, populated by the mostly blue collar workers in the Girona and Lleida regions, which had massive turnouts in the regional elections of 2015.

But due to a rise in busy schedules in our household, along with a seismic shift in how we want vacations to feel like, the "10 day tropical resort" option is the frontrunner. Now we all remember the debacle of Cousin Mark's destination wedding in Cabot, where two unnamed family members got drunk and threw up in the pool. But heading back to that region with just our family is not only doable, but also economical. We can try Bermuda, which is over here, or maybe Turks and Caicos over there.

John looks away from the wall. Day has turned into night. His family, exhausted, has passed out on the couch. Buying Ikea Furniture

With his wife waiting in the car, John pulls up the IKEA floor map on the magic wall.

OK, so if we look over here, the dining table sets are on the first floor in the right hand corner. These are your Mörbylångas, your Skogstas, and your Möckelbys. Now if we tap on the Mörbylångas, you'll see it has one five star review on the IKEA website. Pretty high rating, but can you purchase something based on one review? Well, we have to be patient. It's still too close to call, so we have to go there and inspect. Next on this floor, if we just scroll through here, there's not much - we don't need any of these Hemnes bookshelves, or the storage combination units like the Bestå, or the sturdy Kallax. We can just walk through here, but it may be difficult. Usually there's a large amount of foot traffic through this area. I'm just gonna circle it and you can see, hour by hour as the magic wall data will show you, that it rises exponentially after store opening.

John's wife begins honking the horn multiple times. She gives up and drives off. Social Media Drama

On the magic wall, John opens a browser with multiple tabs.

Here we have the Facebook profile of Shirley open. Shirley is a trusted family friend. We know this as we've known her for 30 years. She dropped a bombshell by posting disproven claims about the election with the hashtag #stopthesteal. It has 15 reactions and over 200 comments. In the business we call that getting "ratio'd".

So let's scroll through some of these comments here. Here's one from Mark. Zooming into his profile picture, it's clear he's wearing Oakley sunglasses and he's taken the picture in his car. His comment: "Biden sucks balls #MAGA". So when you put it all together, that's not surprising coming from Mark. He's a surefire supporter of Shirley's recent post, no question.

I should also point out a lot of these comments are GIFs. We'll just scroll through them quickly here. Here's one from the 1996 film "A Very Brady Sequel," in which Marcia Brady says to Jan Brady, "Sure, Jan." By the way, that film earned 21 million against its 15 million dollar budget. Not a great return, but it did spawn that GIF so maybe not all was lost there. And then there's about 25 comments here that are 7000 words each. We obviously can't read them all, but they mostly contain a roundup of all the misdeeds by the now former President. And I'm just now seeing another 5 comments have been added, taking our total to 205. We'll keep monitoring this situation as it unfolds.

John's wife can only shake her head. She apologizes to her dinner guests. Annual Check-Up

The Doctor is astonished as John has somehow set up his magic wall in the office. A 3D model of John's upper body appears on screen.

Now, Doc, let's look up top at the respiratory system here. Check out this evolution of my lungs over time. Here they are in 2008. They look good, right? That was a watershed year, when I first got this magic wall. And then here they are again in 2012. A bit more collapsed. And that starts to become a trend. Then in 2016, it looks even worse. You said it's because I never stop talking and then you gave me a puffer that year to help control it, which ended up working pretty well. Here's a snapshot of my lungs now, in 2020. Clear as a bell.

But here's a new issue. Let's move up to my head. Let's open up the top of my skull and look at my brain. There it is. As you can see, the cerebral cortex region is just completely inflamed. You can see the color there - it's totally red. But if you look at this image from before I got my magic wall, in 2007, that same region blue. It looks normal. In 2012, however, that blue started to fade away. Clearly my cerebral cortex was flipped red - what caused this? Well, let's try and find the answer. There's a battleground situation happening here.

The Doctor writes John a prescription for Zoloft, Ambien, and horse-grade tranquilizers. In The Bedroom

John stands beside his magic wall, wearing just boxers. His wife, on top of the covers and dressed in lingerie, looks defeated. An overhead shot of their bed is shown on screen. Now honey, before we start, I just wanted to point out two key battleground areas. First, right here in the middle of the bed. This is the spot where we get into our usual position. Back in 2012, you wanted me to be on top. But in 2016, you wanted to be on top. Will there be another swing this year in 2020? Well, based on your recent trip to the chiropractor for back pain, I think it's not a total shock if it does indeed slip. Right now it's too close to call, but we'll see how things play out through the night.

Another key battleground - over here, in your nightstand drawer, are the handcuffs. You've tried numerous times to incorporate them into our love making to spice things up. Well, we can now project that I will once again refuse to wear them. This was a safe projection as I'm not yet comfortable with this particular kink. However, there was a significant effort at the grassroots level to flip this decision, and as a result, it was a lot closer than in previous years. Wolf, over to you.

Wolf Blitzer, hiding in the closet, steps out and banters with John. John's wife falls asleep.

#short story #humour #election #biden 2020 #magic wall #cnn #politics #political humor

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chemicalmagecraft · 4 years

Text

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 26

A/N: What's even more fun than a Gamer getting a bunch of really awesome powers all at once?

Sidenote but wHY DO I KEEP CONFUSING ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL

xoxoxo

Yang purred as I scratched her chin. "How does fire work?" I asked her in the semi-language cats use to speak to each other.

"Things hit me and fire inside grows," she answered. "Can use fire inside to make myself stronger or warm up."

I nodded and rubbed behind her ears. It sounded like it let her absorb kinetic energy for later use. If I was right it reminded me of One For All but fire-flavored. It probably wouldn't be as powerful as All For One because it was trained up by eight people before I got it, but if it worked right it might be worthwhile to have just in case. As for how I was going to get it?

Copy (Emitter)

The ability to temporarily copy the Quirks of others by touching them. The user can only use one copy at a time and they will wear off after five minutes, but multiple Quirks can be copied at a time. Accumulated resources are not copied.

Current Quirks: I Burn (Emitter): 4:57

It was only a theory at the moment, but my guess was that the way my Quirk copying worked by somehow obtaining data on Quirks and then storing them until I decided to buy one, where it fleshed it out to a full copy. But how did it get the information in the first place? My theory was that it was in some way tied to Skill Fragments or EXP. That was the common link between every Quirk in my Quirk Shop, so maybe it also encoded some information on the person's Quirk while it was at it. Or it was just a third, invisible type of spoil, but in the end it meant the same thing. Outside of special circumstances like quests the only way for me to get new Quirks was to fight someone.

And that wasn't really ideal, so I was hoping if I had a Quirk temporarily it would give The Gamer the same information needed to put the Quirk in the Quirk shop. Which brought me to where I was now, trying to copy my cat's Quirk. I scrolled through the Quirk shop, crossing my fingers and hoping that I didn't waste 3000 SF.

I Burn (Emitter)

I held off buying it. If I was testing, I was testing every possible downside now and not finding out later. First I turned off Copy and reopened the text box for it. It said it still had I Burn on it, but the timer had stopped at 4:42. I turned it back on. The timer started again. I turned Copy back off. So it paused the Quirk as it was when it was off. I wondered if that meant that a Quirk that had a cooldown would only have its cooldown go down when it was active. That would be a little inconvenient because I could only have two Quirks active at a time if I didn't want them to lower in quality, which would probably also slow down the cooldown timer. The only way to know for sure, though, would be to find a Quirk with a cooldown and test it out.

Wow it did not take me long after getting the power to copy Quirks to get Gotta Catch 'em All thoughts... It made me wonder if that was how All For One started out...

Ignoring that dark thought, I entered an Illusion Barrier. I decided to make a skeleton barrier. The skeletons really weren't worth much at this point, even the bosses, but at the same time they couldn't really hurt me and I could at least kill the mooks without any real effort. Speaking of which, I sent my elementals out to eradicate any skeletons that popped up. Because they were part of my magic any skeletons they killed would give me spoils, so even if it wasn't much it would eventually add up.

Now that I didn't have to worry about property damage, I turned Copy (I Burn) back on and slammed my head through my room's wall. I felt heat well up in my body. It reminded me of how One For All's energy pool recharged when I used Meditate at full MP, but only for a moment. If it got that much energy, then that meant that it absorbed energy before my defensive passives, which was the best-case scenario. Now the question was if it would still charge while I was discharging. I reached for I Burn like I did with One For All and jumped with all my strength. I didn't get much energy back from the original jump at all, but crashing through the roof filled me up. While I was in the air I activated one of the two skills I earned in my fight with Kacchan, Imaginary Architect. I started simple, mana forming into solid shapes on my roof. I landed on a light blue tower made entirely of magic.

I heard creaking coming from my roof. Even though Imaginary Architect made temporary structures from pure energy it seemed to still have weight. It didn't make physical sense, but at the same time I remembered that Bound Blade had weight to it and Imaginary Architect was basically just the theory behind Bound Blade taken to eleven. I wasn't much of an architect (though with Imaginary Architect it would probably be a good idea to fix that...) but I managed to make supports that made sure my house didn't fall under the weight of the tower I just made. I dropped Super Regeneration, the second Quirk that I had active, for Float and jumped off of my tower to survey it. It looked decent, but with how much it was draining me even though I had Mantra active I decided to make it a bit smaller. I smiled with the result and went back to the top to check out my other new prestiged skill.

Item Enchantment, as the name suggested, let me enchant items, which on its own I knew I had to get out of my head and into the hands of inventors. And I knew just who to talk to about that. But it also had a minor benefit of allowing me to automatically add enchantments to anything that I create with magic, cutting some of the creation's MP cost out of the enchantment's MP cost. I formed a large brazier with a simple Fire Aura-like enchantment. The brazier lit automatically.

I jumped back off of the tower to look at it again. I'd made a pretty good lighthouse. It was a shame it'd disappear the moment I stopped supplying it mana. I mean I could probably figure out a way to make it last longer, possibly with some sort of magic longevity enchantment, but this particular tower didn't have much life left in it. I took out my phone and snapped a photo, then let it die. It actually looked really pretty while it was dissolving, so I took a few more pictures. I sat down in midair and made myself a chair with Imaginary Architect. It fell because it was a chair and didn't have the power to fly. Next I tried to make a flying chair with air magic. It fell, but slower. I guess I made a gliding chair... Third time was the charm, I made a flying chair. Well, "flying" chair. I didn't have any way to actually move it aside from pushing it, so it was more like a floating chair, but it wasn't a gliding chair. Well actually I was using a Quirk called Float to fly so...

Semantics aside, I reclined in my magical floating chair that I made just because and checked my Quirk menu. Copy was almost out of I Burn, just a minute left, so I decided to just wait it out. While I was waiting I made a marble out of mana and started playing with it. Item Enchantment was too good not to grind out a lot of uses for. I didn't manage to make what I wanted to before Copy ran out, which to be fair that was less than a minute so it wasn't likely I'd make a major artifact, but I was hopeful with what I saw all the same. Once Copy lost I Burn I checked back in the Quirk shop and smiled. It was still there. I bought it after closing the menu and opening it again to see if "updating" it did anything. It looked like it lost the energy I'd accumulated, but I didn't really care about that. I swapped Copy out for it because I hoped it would slowly charge over time.

I looked at the ground, where a few skeletons were spawning, and told my elementals to not kill them. If I wanted to charge up I Burn, then wouldn't it be a good idea to have a bunch of skeletons who couldn't hurt me at all gang up on me? I activated Air Aura and jumped as high as I could, then created a platform in the air and used it to springboard myself as hard at the ground as I could, switching Float for Super Regeneration. I slammed into the ground hard enough to make a crater, then sat up. Because I was grinding anyway, my left hand glowed green and my right hand glowed purple. Getting a better healing skill was probably a good idea, so I was just going to powerlevel Healing Hands and Draining Hands. "Okay, now I should probably look at those titles I got."

I started with the title I got from the obstacle course, Swift as the Wind. It was basically passive Air Aura except instead of generating wind it boosted wind affinity. Useful, especially if I were to combine it with Air Aura. Cavalry Leader wasn't very specific, but assured me that using it would make me better at leadership, riding, and driving and would increase EXP for skills related to them. I guess the driving part came from the robot... Still, it could be useful. Especially if I could make vehicles with Imaginary Architect. Once I got one the appropriate licenses, which would probably be easy if I had a title that increased my ability to drive. Champion of Yuuei, though, was probably the best. It increased HP and MP both by 25%, which on its own was great because it was an upgrade of my Yuuei Student title. But it also said that it improved my Quirks, which could hopefully mean...

I turned Float on without turning off my other two Quirks, but didn't use it. Success! Adding a third Quirk didn't destabilize them with Champion of Yuuei. Maybe... I added Copy to my pile. That did it. I turned Float off. I could probably increase my limit faster by going over it, but for now I was content to just have as many Quirks as I could have active at once without any downsides, especially because that would make I Burn charge slower.

"What next..." I muttered to myself as I felt skeletons ineffectually pounding on my backside, rubbing my chin with my life-draining hand. Aside from grinding until it was time to go see Shuzenji-sensei, I only had two more things that I could think of that I wanted to do. "First," I said as I summoned my Skill Grimoir, "Let's see if there's anything worthwhile in here." I flipped through the pages. Nothing really stuck out to me enough that I wanted to buy them that I wasn't confident I could eventually figure out on my own eventually. That, plus the fact that buying skills and buying Quirks used the same currency, made me decide to only really use the Skill Grimoir for inspiration. I shrugged and broke it over my knee.

Now it was time for some fun. Singularity. It was permanently active like The Gamer and One For All, which heavily implied that it was mine in a way that the copied Quirks weren't. The fact that it literally said it powered The Gamer somehow certainly added to that. It said that I could draw in anything. I decided to test that out on my house. I reached out with a muscle I'd never used before that somehow still felt so familiar and touched the wall with it. A green glow spread across the wall where Singularity touched it, and I could feel where the wall was in relation to me as if by instinct. I tugged on the link I had with it. The portion of the wall that I was connected to was easily ripped out of the rest of the wall. I checked my MP bar and even subtracting Draining Hands and Mantra adding to my MP regeneration the dip wasn't bad at all. Dang, how powerful did I have to be to rip part of the wall out? Next I tried to see if I could pull it in any direction aside from toward me. I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't lift it up or swing it around, just make part or all of it accelerate towards me. That was different from Mom's Quirk, as she could swing objects around if she moved her hands right, but I supposed I couldn't complain that my absurdly powerful gravitation Quirk didn't also let me easily throw entire walls at people. Not that I couldn't throw a wall at someone with Singularity, it'd just be harder to do.

Next I decided to see what "pulls in the immaterial" meant. On a hunch, because according to Todoroki I could probably do it, I created a simple Mana Bolt on my finger, holding it there, and targeted it with Singularity. It changed from light blue to emerald green. "Neat," I said, then shot the Mana Bolt. About halfway through its max distance I pulled on it. It stopped for a second before coming back to hit me in the chest. "So that proves I can pull in magic," I muttered. "Can I do other forms of energy?" I pointed at a skeleton and targeted the air around it. I concentrated really hard on trying to draw warmth, thermal energy, from it. After a few failed attempts where I just pulled the skeleton towards me a bit I managed to move something that wasn't the skeleton or the air surrounding it. A few more tries and the skeleton was covered in frost. "I did it!" I cheered.

I smiled and moved on to my next idea. If I could move magic and fire... could I move light? I took a deep breath and concentrated. A green aura surrounded me, covering the area around me in a tinge of green. I pulled at all the light around me at once. "Black Hole!" I shouted as I was enveloped in darkness. This lowered my MP regeneration a bit more and I was started to feel a weird strained feeling in my stomach, probably another drawback of Singularity. I tried making a Magelight, but even the magical light couldn't pierce the darkness I'd created. "This isn't your average everyday darkness," I quoted, "this is... advanced darkness!" I smiled as I realized that the connection I'd forged with the area that let me suck all the light out also let me feel everything in the area. It'd probably take some practice to fight in Black Hole, but I could definitely see the merit in making an area of advanced darkness around me that I could sense all of.

I dropped the advanced darkness with a bright flash of green light. I winced because it hurt my eyes. I'd have to watch out for that in the future... I didn't think that I had anything else I could test out about Singularity, except maybe range, so I decided to grind for the rest of the time I had left. I sat down and made a weight set on a set of rails a bit like a guillotine over my head. It didn't hurt me at all when it dropped on my head, but just having it sitting on my head was enough to make my I Burn energy go up slightly faster. It killed the skeletons that were hitting me, though... I shrugged and went into Meditation, setting the stat that it raised to INT and the stat Mantra raised to WIS. It was time for grinding.

xoxoxo

"You wanted to see me?" I asked Shuzenji-sensei when I entered her office.

"Ah, Midoriya," she said. "Good. Take a seat." She gestured to a chair, which I sat in. "Do you know why I called you here?"

"Aizawa-sensei said it was about the Quirk healer lessons?"

She nodded. "You know, it's surprisingly easy to get a Quirk healer license, as long as you can heal with your Quirk and are decently competent. I'm certain it was made that way on purpose. Even if it's illegal to use Quirks in public without a license, I figure at least some government figures decided that having anyone who can heal mortal wounds with a snap be allowed to, as long as they signed the right paperwork, of course. Speaking of..." She pulled out a few sheets of paper and handed me a pen. "As of the sports festival, which by the way I counted as part of your supervised service, you've completed all of the necessary prerequisites aside from signing these papers. Read them if you want, but you have to sign here, here, and here to get your license."

I nodded and read the papers. It seemed in order. I signed them where I was asked to. "Great," Shuzenji-sensei said. "Now because you're a minor you have to get your mother to sign there. Come back to me with it when you get back to school and I'll be able to get it to you by your work study."

"Work study?" I asked.

"Right, your class is going to have a work study with hero agencies soon. The timing felt right, so I figured I'd get it to you before you leave. If anything it'll impress whoever you choose."

"Thank you, Shuzenji-sensei. Also, do you think I could get some costume adjustments while I'm here? For one thing, with my VIT and defensive passives the armor probably isn't worth the slight reduction in mobility anymore."

"Power Loader should be in the development studio. He's the one you want to talk to about that."

"Thank you. Can you tell me where that is?"

xoxoxo

"That's interesting," Power Loader said after I told him about my copy power. "I have some ideas on how I could help with that. I've had to deal with a lot of Transformation Quirks, after all. I won't be able to make anything special for any Quirks unless you tell me which ones you want to be prioritized and how exactly they work, but I should be able to make it so that you don't destroy your costume every time you use a Transformation or Mutant Quirk. Unfortunately, though, I don't think it'll be done before your work study."

"That's okay," I said. "Do you think you could adjust my costume so it doesn't have the armor? It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I have two defensive passives and a self-healing Quirk just in case, so I think I'll take the slight increase in mobility over the armor."

"Good idea. Don't worry, I should be able to do that pretty quick."

"Thank you," I said. "Say, you're Hatsume's teacher, right?"

Power Loader froze. "...Why are you asking?"

"I got a really good spell for support gear and, well, making things in general, but it's kinda complicated, so my best idea for how to get someone else to know it is to have Hatsume watch me using it with the magic-sensing spell I taught her."

"I don't suppose you could try to teach the magic-sensing spell to me?"

I shrugged. "I could try, but I'm pretty sure the only reason Hatsume learned Eye For Magic so easily to begin with was that it was compatible with her Quirk."

He sighed. "Fine, then I'll tell Hatsume that you're looking for her. But I still want to try to learn the spell."

"Okay, so what you do first is..."

xoxoxo

That same Gamer playing with those powers!

Also I forgot to track Izuku's levels over the course of the sports festival... I do know that it should be over two higher than what it was before because tournament arc but I kinda forget what it originally was... I don't suppose anyone here was keeping track?

Also also, I have been planning the next chapter for a while. Even though I only just remembered about it... So hopefully it's good?

Elemental list: Midoriya: Halitus, Dune, Rayne, Blaise, Juniper, Mifuyu, Raimon, Iggy, Sonia, and Claude Bakugou: Pyra and Leaf Tokoyami: Corvo Uraraka: Nebula and Ion Hagakure: Lucy Tsu: Bubbles Aizawa: Charlie and Cassiopeia All Might: Seth O'Scope

#fanfiction #bnha #bnha fanfiction #the gamer #The Gamer Hero Deku #Gamer Hero Deku #GHD CH26

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two-plus-two-is-four · 4 years

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The lovely @thelordofshadows suggested that I answered every question, probably after recognizing how hyped I was about Apaera, so here I go!

Answers under the cut because this is going to be a loooong post.

01. What is their favorite food? Overall, she prefers fruity sweets like baked apples. She especially likes anything cinnamon flavored. If desserts don’t count, then a fish stew.

02. Do they have a fear of an animal? If so, what animal? Not really. Unless the animals are corrupted somehow.

03. What do they wear to bed? Pants and a loose long sleeved shirt. Might layer a nightdress underneath for extra warmth.

04. Do they like cuddling? She’d be caught dead before admitting it to anyone, but yes and that says a lot.

05. Do they have a secret handshake with anyone? She prefers absurd questions or phrases, to identify people in disguise.

06. What do they look like? She has pitch black skin and hair. Her eyes have a silver iris and she is usually shrouded in darkness.

07. Do they like chocolate? LOVE chocolate!

08. What are their good and bad traits? Her good trait is her empathy, for most things living. Her bad trait is her stubbornness.

09. Do they have any artistic talent? Not quiet artistic, but she does know how to play a few melodies on the flute.

10. What is their favorite room to be in, in the house they live in? The tallest part of the tower where she can gaze out from

11. Do they believe in luck? Yes, and she actually considers herself to be quiet fortunate. Lady luck isn’t always sweet to her, but she respects the ups and down as a bigger part of the chaos she thrives in. (As answered previously)

12. Can they do magic? Yes, she can cast the spells she’s blessed with. Usually illusion magic.

13. Do they believe in dragons? It’d be harder not to.

14. What is a pet peeve of theirs? When the person she is talking to vanishes.

15. What was the last thing they cried about? Besides from pain, the loss of someone important enough to stir up emotion inside her.

16. What is their sexuality? Generally uninterested, both sexually and romantically, so asexual aromantic. Before her transition to the being she is currently she hadn’t given it much thought.

17. Do they have a best friend? If so, who, and what makes them their best friend? Life long friendships are difficult for her. Besides the few she connects with during their life, probably someone with the same lifespan as her. A certain tiefling comes to mind.

18. Have they ever been in a romantic relationship? No, since her crush short of died, unfortunately. Her feelings are quiet numb either way.

19. What does their relationship with their family look like? Are they close? Distant? Ect. Her family by blood, she has long lost contact with. She doesn’t really recall them anymore, besides her little sister who she still thinks about from time to time. Her found family she is quiet close to, despite all of them having their own paths in life.

20. Do they have a pet? She had a few pets in their earlier years, but it was apparent to her that her lifestyle wasn’t really suited for an animal.

21. Do they have a familiar? Not for a while, no.

22. Are they a supernatural being? Yes, quiet a strong one too. A shadow.

23. How do they usually wear their hair? Short, with the sides shaved. Sometimes on a little horse’s tail.

24. Can they play an instrument? If so, what instrument and what can they play? As previously mentioned, she knows how to play the flute.

25. What type a high schooler are/were they? If she ever went to high school, she’d be a mix of a jock and a goth.

26. Have they ever been in a physical fight before? If so, with who? Who won? Quiet a lot, actually. Some she has won, some she has lost, but she survived all of them but one.

27. What is their favourite holiday? Midnight.

28. If they could have one wish, what would they wish for? Depending on her age, either for her soul to be complete again, or, after certain events, to aid a certain someone in which ever way they’d need, if you catch my drift.

29. Do they wants kids? If they already have kids, do they want more? She doesn’t want kids of her own, but she does like taking care of kids and spending time with them.

30. Do they have a job? She has worked quiet a few jobs here in there over the years.

31. Do they know how to drive? Like a cart? A carriage? Nope, but she can ride a horse.

32. Do they get stressed out easily? Quiet the opposite, if she is stressed out then shit are really going down.

33. Did they ever dye their hair before? If so, to what colour? Did they like it? As part of a disguise, perhaps, but never permanently. She didn’t really mind it.

34. Have they ever broken the law? Never, I swear to Cyric.

35. Do they own a plant? A little pot with a nocturnal lily.

36. Have they ever rode a horse before? Yup, in quiet a few trips.

37. What is their favorite gif?

Is there a reason for this? Yes, absolutely.

38. Do they get along with others easily? Yes, when she doesn’t tease around and poke at them

39. Do they have any tattoos? Not yet, not against it thought. Perhaps once she finds something special enough to her.

40. If I wanted to draw them, what would be distinct physical features that I would have to know to draw them correctly? Her eyes, the whites are actually black while the silver iris has a purple tint to it. Other than that, her nails, which she uses as a martial art’s weapon. Like claws.

41. What is their favourite breed of dog? All dogs are good dogs, but if she was to pick one, she’d go with something fluffy, like a samoyed or a husky.

42. Do they live with anyone? If so, who? She used to live with the people that trained her, then those that she trained. Monks and other shadows.

43. Where is their dream vacation? Somewhere across the great sea. Exploring is an acceptable vacation activity, no?

44. Do they know more than one language? Other than common, she speaks halfling and dwarvish. Over the years, she has also picked up thieves’ cant and hand cant

45. Are they a quick learner? When survival depends on it. Though her wits are sharper than her memory.

46. Have they ever won a contest before? If so, what for? What did they win? Contest for worst sacrifice ever?

47. If the world were to end in 24 hours, where would they be and who would they be with? If the world was to end in 24 hours, that means someone’s plan went terrible wrong, so naturally, she’d be by someone’s side, trying to stop the world’s end.

48. What does their room look like? Unmade bed, desk filled with papers, pens, ink bottles, a half melted candle. Lot’s of clutter, spell components everywhere. Cloaks, hats and boots, all organized neatly in some corner along with other equipment. Little trinkets with emotional value pilled up high next to the gear.

49. If they could have an extinct animal for a pet, what would they have? Not an extinct animal, but she wouldn’t mind a pseudo-dragon.

50. If they got called out by someone, what would they do? Admit her mistake an try her best to correct it as soon as possible.

51. Have they ever shot a gun before? Prefers crossbows.

52. Have they ever been axe throwing? A few times, not their weapon of preference.

53. What is something that they want but can’t have? Her feelings to be returned by their crush and her soul to be whole again.

54. Do they know how to fish? Yes, she finds it quiet relaxing.

55. What is something they always wanted to do but too scared? Confess, though it wouldn’t make any difference. She is convinced that he already knows.

56. Do they own their own baby pictures? Nope, but she has an idea who would if she ever wanted them.

57. What makes them standout among others? The shadows leaking from her skin. Now if we are talking about other shadows, her empathy.

58. Do they like to show off? Perhaps..

59. What is their favourite song? Choir Noir - Shadow Moses Beneath the Mask (Cover by Adriana) Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker

60. What would be their dream vehicle? Doesn’t really have one, teleporting through shadows is fine with her.

61. What is their favourite book? Lot’s of favorites over the years, couldn’t really name one.

62. Who, in their opinion, makes the best food? Anyone willing to cook instead of spawning food with magic.

63. Are they approachable? It depends on what she is doing at the time, but most times, yes.

64. Did they ever change their appearance? She sees no point to it, besides disguises.

65. What makes them smile? Hanging out with humans, listening their tales, about their lives, their every day worries. Old friends.

66. Do they like glowsticks? .. Doesn’t need the light exactly.

67. What is something that is simple, but always makes them smile? Dogs.

68. Are they a day or night person? Night person. 110%

69. Are they allergic to anything? Nightbringers and all other worshipers of Shar.

70. What do you, the creator of this OC, like most about them? Her unbreakable will and the tendency absolutely wreck havoc where that is needed. To be sacrificed to a cruel god who feeds of your pain and misery and at that instance decide that instead of caving in your misery, you will instead become the worst sacrifice they’ve ever received by laughing at their face.. Idk man, I think that takes some balls. (As previously answered)

71. Who is their ride or die? Again, a certain tiefling comes to mind.

72. Do they currently have a significant other? If not, are they going to get one later one? I mean, a girl can hope.

73. What attracts them to another person? Freedom, knowing that the people around her will never hold her back.

74. Who is one person that can always make them laugh? Drasek Riven, he doesn’t even have to say anything. He can just be there.

75. Have they ever partied too hard and their friends had to take them home? Yes, not a fond memory of hers’.

76. Who would be their cuddle buddy? Whoever would be brave enough to recognize that she is actually touch starved.

77. Who would cheer them up after a long day? Usually, she is one to stay alone, so when she is in need of company, she’ll just start up a conversation with a stranger.

78. If they had a nightmare, who would they run to? By now, she is used to nightmares, but if she could, her brothers and sisters are who she’d go to. She wouldn’t say anything, their company is enough to calm her most of the times. When not, meditating in an empty dark room usually helps calm her down.

79. What object to the care for the most? It’s not the object it’s self but the information in it. A small book with maps of all the places she has visited.

80. Do they like other people’s children? Yes, love to hang out with them and love to look after them. The little sprouts are really entertaining.

81. How would they react if someone broke into their home? Three stunning strikes? They are bound to fail at least one. Questions will be asked afterwards.

82. Does anyone make them have butterflies in their stomach? Nope, surely not, she is a coldblooded thousands year old being. Of course, there is no one in this plane that makes her feel that way.

83. What is something that they are good at? Taking care of others, listening, paying attention to their reactions.

84. What is their neutral expression? A little scary, but she usually smiles.

85. Do they like to cook? For herself and for others.

86. What is something they can’t leave home without? Her mask.. Even if worn around her writs, she still needs the security of being able to cast spells.

87. Who is someone that they rely on? The asshole who gives her her spell slots.

88. Do they liked to be tickled? Hard pass. Dislikes when people touch her out of the blue.

89. Have they ever been a sword fight before? Is it considered a sword fight if she wasn’t holding a sword?

90. What is a joke that they would find funny? -Then perish- jokes.

91. Do they have a place that can go and turn off their brain? Usually any room without much light, otherwise, a closet will do.

92. What was their childhood like? She doesn’t remember a lot of it, but she know she was happy. One of her few memories is of her and her little sister playing explorers in their mother’s garden. The years after turning to a shade she also considers a short of childhood or at least teen hood as she had to readjust and find new balances in her life. It took her a while to figure out how to care for people again when she could hardly feel anything, but little by little she managed to give up her spite. Those years were the roughest for her.

93. What are they like as an adult? After her second “puberty”, she learned to be quiet more free spirited, relaxed and easy going thought with certain events that happened in her life span, her spite towards a certain group of individuals reignited.

94. Do they take criticism well? Most of the times. She wants to generally improve herself.

95. Have they ever jumped out of a plane? Well.. Not a plane, no. But I can imagine her jumping off of a floating city.

96. Who do they like to make jokes with? The bastard that gives her her assignments.

97. Have you ever drawn them before? If you are comfortable with it, would you post a picture?

#oc: apaera #ask game #long post

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okay-j-hannah · 5 years

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Use the list below to make a ‘prompt’ request

Feel free to request with any sentence you come up with and not present in the list below

Rules: Describes what requests I accept and whether each type of request is open or closed

Types of Requests: Describes the different kinds of requests you can make, and includes what’s in a ‘prompt’ request

Dialogue Prompts

1. “Have you even met me?”

2. “Have you lost your damn mind!?”

3. “I hate it – I absolutely hate it. I can’t help but love you, and I hate that I can’t stop.”

4. “He’s missing, not dead.”

5. “Don’t try to follow me.”

6. “I trusted you more than anyone else and you lied.”

7. “I thought you were getting better.”

8. “How long are you guys going to stand around my bed like a bunch of creepers?”

9. “Are you hitting on her for me?”

10. “I just wanted you to know that when I picture myself happy… it’s with you.”

11. “Sorry, I have a clingy and feverish assassin on my lap. I’ll call you back when I’ve convinced him that a cold doesn’t mean he’s dying.”

12. “Who wouldn’t be angry? You ate all my cereal and faked your death for three years!”

13. “On whatever honor I might have left, I swear I will end you for what you’ve done”

14. “Actually, you are speaking to the manager.”

15. “I remember kissing you. Why do I remember kissing you?”

16. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt!”

17. “Why do you keep risking your life? To prove a point?”

18. “If I go through with this, I die. If I don’t go through with this, we all die.”

19. “Am I supposed to be scared of you?”

20. “No! He’s not supposed to die! It’s supposed to be me!”

21. “This plan of yours is going to get us killed. Of course I’m in.”

22. “I didn’t realize I needed your permission.”

23. “Yes, it’s a questionable line of work, but I’m good at it.”

24. “Are you banned from every bar or just that particular bar?”

25. “I keep dreaming of you. I don’t wish to, it just happens.”

26. “At what point did you think that was a good idea?”

27. “I just really need to have you here right now.”

28. “I’m fine, I promise.”

29. “Have I entered an alternate universe, or did you really just crack a smile for me?”

30. “Did you steal my sister from her wedding?”

31. “Have I ever lied to you?”

32. “The only thing scarier than the unknown is me.”

33. “I took a pregnancy test.”

34. “You’ve got thirty seconds to explain to me what you’re doing here.”

35. “There’s a little bit of demon in her angel eyes.”

36. “If I start leaking blood from my eyeballs I am going to come back and haunt you so hard.”

37. “Sometimes, home has a heartbeat.”

38. “You are insensitive and apathetic and incredibly impolite. We will get along beautifully.”

39. “You fainted. You said you were okay.”

40. “I had a nightmare about you and just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

41. “If you don’t fight for what you love, don’t cry for what you lose.”

42. “Have you ever wanted to hate someone?”

43. I’ll take care of you, okay?”

44. “I guess I was wrong about you. You’re not so bad after all.”

45. “Stop trying to make poker night happen.”

46. “I hope one day you’re as happy as you’re pretending to be.”

47. “You are all remarkably well behaved tonight. What did you do?”

48. “The scariest moment is always right before you start.”

49. “One day this pain will make sense to you.”

50. “Don’t say you love me.”

51. “I like storms. They let me know that even the sky screams sometimes.”

52. “You are the least subtle person I know. Your ‘I have a secret’ vibe is literally visible from the moon.”

53. “Hold my hand, dammit, we gotta make this look convincing!”

54. “I’m not completely human anymore. Remember that next time you want to punch me in the face.”

55. “Don’t say ‘goodbye,’ it makes it worse.”

56. “I’d like to see you figure out the difference between blood and marinara sauce.”

57. “Damn it, why aren’t you obeying the laws of physics?”

58. “Give me five bucks, I’ll explain later.”

59. “All you’re doing is hurting yourself.”

60. “Don’t lie to me. Please.”

61. “Even if I could stop it, I wouldn’t.”

62. “Look, if you want to conjure some demon spawn from the great beyond, that’s all fine and dandy. Just wait for me to leave before you start.”

63. “Did you ever really love me?”

64. “If you tell me again that we can’t do this, I’m going to kick you somewhere you’re not going to enjoy.”

65. “I’m going to ask you something and you have to answer me honestly.”

66. “I made a bet. I lost. It’s as simple as that.”

67. “Don’t be alarmed, but there’s a chance I currently have a bullet in my shoulder.”

68. “Are you crying?”

69. “You’re up late.”

70. “I can’t do this anymore.”

71. “Either ask her out or I’ll do it for you!”

72. “Guess who’s going to be a father?”

73. “I don’t know how to look you in the eye after the things I’ve done.”

74. “Do you think she could’ve liked me?”

75. “Why do you think you’re not worth taking care of?”

76. “You need to get some sleep.”

77. “I choose you.”

78. “Do you think if people heard our conversations they’d lock us up?”

79. “Go on then, tell me. Tell me you don’t love me.”

80. “It was just a nightmare. Go back to sleep.”

81. I’m not going to hurt you.”

82. “I’m so sorry. I was trying a new spell and things got out of hand… really out of hand.”

83. “Correct me if I’m wrong but you didn’t have wings yesterday, right?”

84. “I can’t breathe.”

85. “Everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy.”

86. “Did I stutter?”

87. “You haven’t eaten in how long?”

88. “I want to believe that there’s still some good in you.”

89. “I’m not leaving you alone like this.”

90. “Come over here and make me.”

91. “Does he know about the baby?”

92. “How’d you know I’d be here?”

93. “It’s okay, it was just a mistake.”

94. “Truth be told, I’m not sure any of them are actually dead.”

95. “No – I have no idea how she found lipstick in the apocalypse… We’re literally in the middle of nowhere.”

96. “Do you need me to get anything from the store?”

97. “There are at least seventeen ways this could have gone better.”

98. “I can’t believe I let this happen.”

99. “Be my wife.”

100. “I care about you a whole damn lot.”

101. “With a smile, I can get away with everything.”

102. “But the carnival is right down the street! Can we please go?”

103. “Go then, leave! See if I care!”

104. “Sometimes memories are the worst form of torture.”

105. “Could you be happy here with me?”

106. “Is it getting bad again?”

107. “Delete that.”

108. “You’re safe with me.”

109. “Get away from me!”

Thought Prompts

110. Their hands met, reaching for the same book.

111. There was something about him. Something about the way he watched me.

112. The third time she broke the bullet proof glass, I knew we needed to talk.

113. She never spoke, never made a sound, but the look in her eyes told me exactly what was about to happen.

114. Broken glass and paperwork littered the floor of the Queen’s study.

Conversation Prompts

115. “I don’t snore, do I?”

“Like a chainsaw.”

116. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m always worried about you.”

117. “He stared at the barrel of her gun as he fell to his knees.

“You don’t have to do this.”

Tears stung her eyes. She breathed deeply, aiming the rifle at his skull.

“I wish that were true.”

118. “Are you okay?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You’re wearing two different shoes?”

119. “My friends think I’m cute.”

“I’m your only friend.”

“Yeah but you think I’m cute, right?”

120. “Are you even listening?”

“Yes, it just takes a while for me to process so much stupid all at once.”

121. “We’re going to be late.”

“And whose fault is that?”

122. “Why is he bleeding?”

“Because he’s an idiot.”

“I didn’t know that idiocy caused people to just start spontaneously bleeding from the nose.”

“I think it’s a new phenomenon.”

123. “Should I ask why you have a knife in your purse?”

“It’s a dagger, actually. And no, you shouldn’t.”

124. “Get out of bed.”

“NO!”

“Why do you fight me every single morning?”

“Because you never learn!”

125. “Did you bring us here to die?”

“Obviously.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

126. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Longer than you’d like.”

127. “Your home is a wreck… you could’ve at least cleared the bathroom.”

“Had I known I was going to have guests at three o’clock in the morning I’m sure I would’ve.”

128. “Which way did they go?”

“Well, based on the direction of the wind, the broken sticks in the corner, and the slight disturbance in the dirt, I’d guess they went left.”

“You could really figure it out from all that?”

“No, you idiot. They sent me a text, see?”

129. “Don’t you have to be stupid somewhere else?”

“Not until four?”

130. “I love…”

“Me?”

“Well, I was actually going to say dogs, but sure.”

131. “You didn’t seriously…?”

“Yep.”

“You just…?”

“Yep.”

“Does that mean…?”

“Quite possibly.”

132. “When did you become so smart, wise guy?”

“Since I stopped listening to you.”

“You only heard his side. You don’t know the truth.”

133. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“Oh, trust me I can’t.”

#prompt list #fanfiction #fanfiction writing #imagines #okay-j-hannah #masterlist #story prompt #prompt #writing #writing prompts #dialogue prompts #requests open #x reader

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obsoletesystem · 5 years

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D&D Ask Meme

@wisdom-fangs asked me to do all the questions of this D&D ask post. So I did. 1. A favorite character you have played. I really like playing monstrous characters. Currently in Adventurers League, I play Frattek Venvaris, bugbear rogue/barbarian, who is a delightfully goofy character. But I also miss playing Bajur Mashoir, a very charismatic lizardfolk "voodoo" shaman, whose catchphrase was: "As you can see, I am an alligator, sir..." spoken in a thick southern brawl. 2. Your favorite character that someone else has played. During a one shot the guy that played an evil halfling warlock sacrificed himself to blow up the big bad with a block of dynamite. The true MVP. 3. Your favorite side quest. Idk. 4. Your current campaign. I DM a homebrew campaign, in which the party is stuck between sides in a war between the local Jarl and a fey duchess who has taken over a part of the woods. I also participate as a player in a slight homebrewed Salt Marsh campaign, in which I play a tiefling cleric of Pelor. She's got a Sad Backstory. 5. Favorite NPC. The Loathesome Gribble, an NPC in the game I DM, who is a very small tiefling sorcerer with an immense knife collection and a four-armed aasimar monk girlfriend. He is found in the most of unlikely places and his signature spell is "Gribble's Hand of Sand", which may or may be not magical, as it blinds a creature with sand, but the material component is just a handfull of coarse sand. 6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc). The druid in our home game charged into giant stag form at a huge burning construct (The Burning Man from Burning Man, but moving), missed his attack, upon which the Burning Man rolled nat 20's on BOTH ITS ATTACKS. No advantage, no nothing, just two straight 20's. He grabbed the stag by its antlers, turned its head 360 degrees, and dropped a flaming, mutilated dwarf to the ground. 7. Your favorite downtime activity. I always like to do something that tells a little bit about the culture of the creature I play. When I was on haitus because of school, I described how Frattek had spend some time with his little bugbear niece, and had just returned from a fun little war (seeing as bugbears love to fight). 8. Your favorite fight/encounter. We had to fight a vampire spawn in a dank, dark basement, but it was light outside, and Frattek is incredibly good at grappling creatures, so we dragged the vampire out from his basement into the sunlit street, and then made a run for it as we had broken into a house. 9. Your favorite thing about D&D. Coming together with friends and not drinking (a lot) or smoking weed. I like doing those things too, but it is also fun to just hang out and play games where heavy drinking is not really handy. 10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most. Dragons are the best, spellcasters are the worst. Spellcasting Dragons are the bees knees. My players, however, are going to hate a certain spellcaster very much. Once they find out... 11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play? Usually once a week, but I'd love to be able to balance twice a week. One day as player, one day as DM. 12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from. "Name and occupation, please" comes from when we played Pathfinder, and one of the characters died, but I didn't want to get rid of him yet or he was set up to be reincarnated or some shit idk. Anyway, his soul arrives in purgatory, which turns out to be this bureaucratic office, where he has to stand in line for a long, long time, before arriving at a booth/desk type situation, in which an Ophanim angel (one of them burning wheels full of eyes) floats that asks with a bored sigh "Name and occupation, please". The player answered, and was set up for reincarnation, which involved shooting his soul from a cannon/drop tube into the unborn baby of a local woman. The child grows up unnaturally quickly, and because it has the soul of a mature orc barbarian, it is more than a little trouble. Nephertheless, the "Name and occupation, please" gag remained forever. 13. Introduce your current party. My Homeboys, the Lords of Okab Volal, are Nazreen, a wood elf ranger who missed her wolf, played by @tabula-wasa, Tophr Thanestone, the previously mentioned dwarf druid who was murdered by a giant flaming effigy and subsequently reincarnated/put into the body of a frost elf woman (something he hasn't come to terms with) played by our bearded friend Glenn, and Adelon Vrena, half-elf bard/cleric/divine soul sorcerer a.k.a. Healer Supreme, who is really righteous but not above torturing a captive githyanki, and played by Arnaud. The Schadestenen (meaning "Damage Stones", as in dice), which is the OG Adventurers League group in the Spellenhoorn in Hoorn, consist of Aiden Rainbowscale (Albino orphan wood-elf monk/barbarian), Fjorgyn (dwarven cleric of Moradin, who died last week and still suffered from the Death Curse. RIP.), Frattek Venvaris (Bugbear barbarian/arcane trickster and gladiator/luchador, played by me), Gideon Thornton (cowardly Half-Orc Hexblade), Grommash Hellscream (Stereotypical Half-Orc Barbarian. Great guy.), Ruldra (disgraced Hobgoblin undead-hunting Ranger), Cadence (Powerful but stupid Half-elf Grave Cleric/Divine Soul Sorcerer who never learned how to read), Ullr (Arnaud's Gloom Stalker and Human Machine Gun), and Darin (half-elf ranger and Master Of Backflip). The Peeps from Salt Marsh, DMed by the guy that plays Darin, in which Arnaud plays William Wisenose, The Awfully Lucky Halfling Build (halfling wizard/bard/whatever), Cadence's player plays Sylver Ravenstar (half-elf bard/hexblade/run away princess), her friend plays Samm Enoch (Aasimar Bard and Very Handsome Man), Aiden's player plays Ankis (Aasimar Celestial Warlock and very secretive about both these facts because Back Story), and his friend plays Vena Malum (Human Bloodhunter, who is really buff and does that swirly thing with her falchions, and oh my...), Grommash's player plays Morgain of Astora (human paladin of Pelor, and companion/boyfriend/substitute son to my character), and I play Paytsarra Avèry (winged tiefling cleric of Pelor). Praise the sun. 14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed. We had one party consisting of a drider, a very evil dwarf, a fire genasi, a gnome psychic, and a kenku ninja at one point. When the evil dwarf died, and I introduced the guy's new drow "medic", I knew I lost all cohesion of the group. 15. Do you have snacks during game times? My players do. I don't like snacks that much. 16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer? In person. I tried playing online, and I think I would do again, but only if I'd have a really good headset. 17. What are some house rules that your group has? In the Salt Marsh campaign you double the value of the dice on a crit, which I think is disappointing. I just wanna roll a lot of dice :( 18. Does your party keep any pets? @tabula-wasa's ranger has a dire wolf...somewhere...

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions? Not that I know of. I do know some of my dice seem to roll better than others. 20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing? I found a d&d character creation app on the web ages ago, and that sparked my interest. Later I joined a warhammer fantasy role play group with a friend I had been rp-ing online with a lot, but this was the real deal, at Arnaud's house. He dmed number of campaigns for us, and later he joined my pathfinder group which turned into a D&D 5th edition group. 21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done? Yeah. Frattek decided to be a hero and tried to assassinate an ogre torturer. He failed his shot. We had to fucking run. 22. What color was your first dragon? The first dragon I fought as a character was a young Red Dragon. Even at 5th level, we whooped its ass. He found himself in a cave, surrounded by fools, and we beat him to pulp. The first dragon I put in front of my players was a young White Dragon. It kicked their asses. 23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns? I usually homebrew my own campaigns, but I have dmed some AL sessions. 24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game? Not an incredible amount, but for my home game I prepare ideas months, even years, in advance. For DMs 25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for? A lot. The most notable was casting Dispel Magic on the demiplane-item the cultists were in... and then opening the demiplane underwater. 26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters. I had these zombies that always repeated the last thing they said before they died, which was cool and creepy. But the thing I really wrote out was the description of how an Astral Ship warps space around itself, and what that looks like from the people on the deck of the ship. 27. Do you allow homebrew content? If it's well written, absolutely, but there is a lot of shit out there. 28. How often do you use NPCs in a party? When it makes sense, but I try not to do that too often. 29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions? I prefer RP sessions, but I am leaning more toward combat. On the other hand, I don't think it completely excludes each other nor should it. I am of the opinion that 30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos? Rather diplomatic, but they can definitely kick ass. For Players 31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race? I like casters, and I will always have an affinity for wizards, but arcane tricksters and eldritch knights are cool too. I like elves, and I like monstrous races; goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears. I like things that are pretty and scary, or creepy and goofy. 32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?) I usually mix a bit of tank and dps. I don't like being very frail, but I do enjoy doing a lot of damage in one shot. 33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory? I tend to write a character from a concept, and then build out the backstory. How did this person become the person they are today? Even if you have something of a bugbear, or a hobgoblin, or a yuan-ti. They have had a childhood, they have role models, they have culture. But what is that? What defines a character? What makes them they way they are? I don't like playing monstrous races that have been adopted by a "better, nobler race" like humans and elves and dwarves. I get the appeal, but I also think it is a little trite, and a little condenscending, almost. I think a lot about what defines a monstrous identity, and being a Cultural Anthropologist, I think a lot about the way culture shapes the values and morality and thus also behaviour of a creature. Do hobgoblins tell their children bedtime stories? What are they about? How will a bugbear struggle in regular humanoid society, where his violent urges -natural to him- are equally, or even more excessively violently repressed and punished? Is this just for bugbears? Will they then look for each other, and find each other in their shared cultural/natural tendencies? Are there goblinoid lawyers or activist groups, that seek to protect other goblinoids from unjust treatment under laws that aren't theirs? How will your life be if you are a second or third or even fourth generation inhuman creature in a human society? Do they dream of returning to a society that is 'theirs'? And is there even such a thing? And if there is, will they actually fit in, or forever be an outcast, neither hob nor man? I tend to poke at such questions with my character backstories. 34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor? Everything is useful, since everything is always situational. If you plan only for situations in which you are going to kill every living thing, then you shouldn't pick something like Rope Trick, or Magic Circle. But you do you. I very much dislike decoupling "flavour" from functionality. This is a game of make-belief, so everything you do is flavour. The mechanics are an abstraction of a fantastic reality, and though inherently important to the working of the game (without rules, it would merely be improvisation, which is also a kind of game, but schwa), it is all flavour. People that brag about how much average damage they can do with this or that specific build tire me. 35. How much roleplay do you like to do? All of the roleplay! But please let me punt goblins into the garbage sometimes!

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segadores-y-soldados · 6 years

Text

Long Reasons Not to Trust Moira in Retribution

“One of the things we really like doing with Overwatch is playing with perspective. We utilize perspective when we analyze or when we tell stories about characters, what they’re thinking, what their goals are. And we have a lot of unreliable narrators. We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations. We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe.

“[...] The world needs heroes, but it also needs villains. And we have a number of villainous characters in Overwatch. And what’s important to us is that their internal motivations are not purely rooted in ‘being evil,’ despite how they might seem on the surface. You know, as we reveal more about these characters, we want people to be able to empathize and understand their beliefs. Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals. And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic - or more charismatic - or as likeable as a hero character. Because like the old saying goes, ‘Every villain is the hero of their own story.’”

- Excerpts from Michael Chu’s GDC talk, “Thinking Globally: Building the Optimistic Future of Overwatch,” April 2017 (source)

“We stand on the brink of a breakthrough in human evolution. I have dedicated my life to unraveling its secrets. I take risks that others would consider to be ‘unwise,’ for I do not share their caution. Overwatch held back the pace of scientific discovery for decades. They believed my methods were too radical... too controversial...

“And they tried...to silence me.”

- Moira, Origin Story (source)

---------

It begins with an experiment.

It is thirty years in the future - approximately 2046-2047. Facilities of the defunct company Omnica Corporation have suddenly gone back online. In a moment of surreality, armies of robots are unleashed from these Omniums and begin to attack humanity the world over.

But national militaries struggle. And fail.

And so, in a gamble for the fate of humankind -

They begin to experiment.

Some countries use cybernetic augmentation. Some countries develop highly specialized armor.

Some countries take normal soldiers -

And “enhance” them.

And at least one of those soldiers -

Gets a little...too experimental.

(A lot more under the cut. I’m not joking. Turn back now.)

Part 1: Going Ghost

Finally.

After over a full year of back-and-forth and this-and-that, we finally have more significant and concrete context for Michael Chu’s (in)famous twitter discussion on Reaper:

(Source)

What Michael Chu and the fan were referencing was this section of Reaper’s official Hero Profile.

Specifically, the line “[Reaper] has fought in many armed conflicts in the last decades, showing no loyalty to any cause or organization.”

At the time, there was considerable confusion and frustration among fans at the implication that Gabriel Reyes - a major hero of the Omnic Crisis, an important founding member of the original Overwatch Strike Team, and the long-term commander of the Overwatch covert ops division, Blackwatch - had been “Reaper” for “decades” - well before the “fall” of Overwatch had begun. This caused a lot of discussion about if “Reaper” was Gabriel Reyes’ codename, an alternate identity, a “titled persona” (like “Doomfist”, who we’ll get to later), or something else. It also spawned questions about just how long Gabriel had possessed “Reaper’s” powers, abilities, and side effects, especially this part:

“It is possible that he is a byproduct of failed genetic alteration which forces his cells to simultaneously decay and regenerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.”

Because fans were also given information that seemed to conflict directly with this.

“Commander Reyes” looked...perfectly healthy. Sure, he has several scars, and we all knew he had gone through the “Soldier Enhancement Program” with Jack Morrison, but otherwise, nothing about “Commander Reyes” seemed off. We were told that gameplay and in-game content was not necessarily canon, but instead, “what if” scenarios about how characters would interact if they met each other after Winston’s Recall.

And Michael seemed to consistently confirm that only “certain characters” specifically knew about who Reaper was in the “present day” (post-Recall):

(Source)

And this, again, seemed in-line with the story we had been told up to this point: Jack Morrison, now Soldier: 76, and Ana Amari, now a bounty hunter known as “the Shrike”, recognized “Reaper” from their encounter in Giza, Egypt (in the “Old Soldiers” comic).

And yet something seemed...odd about Michael stating that the “decades” line in Reaper’s profile was intentional.

It seemed borderline implausible - even downright contradictory - that Gabriel could’ve had an “alter ego” persona of “Reaper” for decades, all while working closely with individuals like Jack and Ana. How could he have kept it a secret? If Gabriel had always been Reaper, why was Ana so surprised when she unmasked him in “Old Soldiers”? If Gabriel had become “Reaper” early on in his life, why did he blame Jack Morrison and (likely) Overwatch for his present-day condition?

This only got more confusing with the release of Moira, where Moira is shown doing something to create a smoky, “Reaper-ish” effect on Gabriel:

And Moira’s whole thing is about “unlocking potential” in humanity, right? So she “unlocked” the Reaper powers in Gabriel, right?

Except -

Interesting statements where made by the individuals on the Moira Blizzcon 2017 panel.

“She was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch. And uh, during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew - McCree, Genji - they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other. Reyes wanted someone could help advise him on, uh, some matters of genetics that he was, uh, interested in, shall we say.” - Michael Chu, 3:47 (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=227)

And when Moira was released on the PTR, some changes occured in the Genetics Lab in the Oasis, Iraq map:

This folder appeared.

Moira’s reveal, Michael Chu’s statements, even Ana’s reaction in “Old Soldiers” suddenly started to make more sense.

Gabriel Reyes has been “Reaper” for decades -

It just depends on how you define what “Reaper” is.

“Reaper” is not just a mask and a persona -

“Reaper” is also an experimental medical condition.

Almost two full years ago, Michael Chu made a tweet that the characters people assumed were not aging correctly do, in fact, age - that is, Tracer, Mei, Mercy, Widowmaker, etc, age like normal people (for Tracer, this occurs as long as she has her chronal accelerator close by).

But someone asked a very simple question:

User: You missed an important one there - What about Reaper? Can he even still be considered alive in his state? Michael Chu: That’s a good question. ;)

(Source)

Initially, I personally interpreted this as Michael Chu answering the second question: “No, Reaper should not be considered ‘alive.’” However, it is looking likely that Michael actually answered the first question - “Is Reaper aging normally?”

And the answer is...uncertain.

Reinhardt changes significately in the 20-25 years of the Crisis and Overwatch. His hair is white by Uprising. He is the oldest member of the original Strike Team, and would’ve been approximately 31 years old in the left skin, and about 54 years old in his Uprising Lieutenant skin.

Torbjörn does age as well, but the changes are less noticeable than Reinhardt’s: his hair is still mostly blonde, but he has lost an eye and his left arm. In the left skin, Torb would be about 27 years old, and in the right Chief Engineer skin, he is about 50 years old.

Ana does age - her hair is completely grey by Uprising, and she has a number of wrinkles in her “Legacy” comic. And by the present-day of Recall, her hair is completely white. In her Horus skin, Ana is about 30 years old. In Uprising, she is about 53 years old, and by the time of her sniper battle with Widowmaker, she is 53-54 years old.

Hmm.

In the SEP Soldier: 24 skin, Gabriel would be about 27-28 years old.

And since Retribution uses the Commander Reyes skin as his canon appearance at the time of the mission, he would be 50 years old during the mission.

(Source)

This is verified by double-checking McCree’s age.

(Source)

McCree’s age at Recall: 37 Difference between Retribution and Recall: 8 years. McCree’s age at Retribution: 29

So no, Overwatch did not make any mathematical mistakes on Gabriel’s age at Retribution. He is 50 chronological years old. He is one year older than Torbjörn, two years younger than Ana, and three years younger than Reinhardt.

He has gained several scars since SEP, yes. He has changed his hairstyle, yes. He appears to have a few “crow’s feet” around his eyes, yes.

But here he is when Fareeha is 11-12 years old (Source: “you have an eleven-to-twelve-year-old Pharah, you have McCree who’s just been recruited into Blackwatch, you have university student Mercy who’s visiting the Overwatch base”).

Pharah at Recall: 32 Pharah in photo: 11-12 Difference in years: 20 years Reinhardt in photo: 41 Ana in photo: 40 Torb in photo: 37 Gabriel at Recall: 58 years Gabriel’s age in photo: 38

Age in comic: 50 years old

Aging? Yes, he does appear to be aging.

Correctly?

Very debatable.

In fact, the only other American “enhanced soldier” that we know of specifically has an interaction where Ana expresses that he’s actually “looking pretty good” for his age:

Ana: For a man of your years, you’re looking pretty good, Jack. Soldier: 76: Well, all that stuff they pumped into me has to be good for something.

Except

(Golden Era of Overwatch: approximately 10-25 years before Recall)

(Retribution: 8 years before Recall)

(Uprising: 7 years before Recall)

(Unmasked present-day)

Jack Morrison - who went through the same Soldier Enhancement Program as Gabriel Reyes - is aging considerably.

Jack is also younger than Gabriel.

Jack Morrison enlisted in the military because of the Crisis. This means he is of draft age when the Crisis begins, between 18 and 25 years old. An old article (source) states that he enlisted at 18, but the article appears to be retconned by Jack’s own statement in Uprising. In the article, it says:

At eighteen, Morrison packed his bags and joined the military. He had planned to serve a brief stint in the armed forces and then return home to the family farm, but his work ethic and courage caught the eye of the military brass. Before long, he earned a coveted position in the government's controversial and still-classified (but widely acknowledged) "soldier enhancement program." Military scientists shaped Morrison and other inductees into the perfect soldiers, blessed with superhuman speed, strength, and agility.

Morrison and his fellow augmented soldiers would soon put their abilities to use with the advent of the Omnic Crisis. Across the globe, the omniums went rogue and churned out legions of militarized robots.

However, this order of events differs from Jack’s own account:

“I remember when the Crisis broke out across America. It’s why I enlisted, and why I signed up for the enhancement program.”

For the time being, I will use Uprising as the more updated source on Jack’s motivation and his age range during the Crisis, but as it stands, he is very likely younger than “SEP Soldier: 24″ at the time of his enlistment.

I love Jack Morrison, both as a character and as a playable hero. But I will readily admit he’s not aging as gracefully as Gabriel Reyes by the time of Retribution. Jack’s hair is a very, very faded blonde, during Retribution and Uprising, and he is likely younger than both Gabriel and Torbjörn. He has heavy age lines on his face in the comics, and for his present-age unmasked skins in-game, he has the scars that now define his face and white hair.

He is likely only 48-53 years old at Recall.

Sure, you the reader are probably thinking of ways to exempt this, or to deny this discrepancy. After all, Overwatch has characters like Mercy who is aging “normally” but still apparently looks very good for nearly-40 years old (contrast with Hanzo, who is a year older than Mercy and has grey hair). You have Moira who is almost 50 but her hair is still a brilliant shade of red.

But Overwatch has made a concerted effort to show that the original Strike Team members are aging - some more heavily, some less.

And at least one appears to be aging significantly less.

I bring you back to Michael Chu’s statement on Moira’s recruitment into Blackwatch:

This does not sound like a man who wanted to become Reaper.

This sounds like a man who needed help.

(Source)

This puts the comment made by Nesskain, the artist who made the official art for Uprising, Moira’s Origin video, and now the Retribution outro video, into context. If Gabriel wanted Moira’s help to become “Reaper”, why would he be “scared” of what’s happening to him?

Unless that isn’t want he wanted.

“Repairing Degnerative Genetic Structures.”

Found in the present-day (after Recall) Oasis map (we’ll get to where and why in a (long) bit), but with a big sticky note that says “Draft” and has the Ministry of Genetics logo on it.

This is Moira’s present-day laboratory in Oasis, Iraq.

This is her research.

“He is a byproduct of a failed genetic alteration which forces his cells to slumltaneously decay and rengerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.”

Gabriel Reyes didn’t want to become “Reaper” because he has been “Reaper” for decades - he got his lifedrain and wraithing powers during the Crisis from the experimental Soldier Enhancement Program, he is probably not aging normally, and by the time of Moira’s recruitment, his health is probably destabilizing.

His friends - even those younger than him - are aging past him.

Regardless of your feelings on the romantic angle of Gabriel and Jack, it is undeniable that Gabriel Reyes sits in the room of his injured agent, and thinks about:

A coffin with a dead Blackwatch agent in it, draped with an Overwatch flag that he and Jack placed on it

Rescuing Gérard Lacroix from the explosion in Rome

An aging Jack Morrison

And then he makes his decision to go arrest Antonio.

And when Moira appeared out of nowhere nearly 10 years before Recall:

She must have looked like a miracle worker to a man who wanted to be free from his “curse.”

However, Gabriel is likely at a bit of a moral and ethical crossroads here:

His “Reaper” abilities have allowed him to intervene in “armed conflicts,” likely when Overwatch could not do so in an official capacity. In fact, none of the three agents with him in Retribution seem remotely surprised by his “Reaper powers” - he can Wraith, Shadowstep, and Death Blossom without a single quip or remark.

This puts a lot of things into perspective:

First, that characters like McCree and Reinhardt do not know specifically that Gabriel has “transformed” into the “Talon-backed mercenary called Reaper”, but that they would immediately recognize him if they encountered him in a “what if” scenario:

Reinhardt would recognize Gabriel.

(source)

Question: “Some time back you said that McCree and Reinhardt don’t know that Reaper is Reyes. Do they not know because they’v enever met face--errm, mask-to-face, since the incident? I get the feeling that if McCree and Reaper met, McCree would know almost immediately who was under the mask, and Reinhardt would figure out if he fought Reaprt in battle (because his only quote, “Traitor!”, is triggered when he kills him).”

Michael: “To clarify about the Reaper/Reyes thing, yes it is because they have not met in the “current day” of Overwatch. The interactions in the game are meant to be what ifs. I do think that McCree would know that Reaper was Reyes if he encountered him.”

McCree would recognize his old Blackwatch commander.

It’s also a very subtle detail, but when Gabriel gets on the Blackwatch dropship to leave for Venice, he is not carrying any weapons.

This is in direct contrast to all three of the other characters, since McCree is shown with just gun only a few panels before, Genji is shown with his sword, and Moira with her two Biotic Grasp gloves.

(The last part of this is super important.)

The second thing is that this detail about “Gabriel has always been Reaper” puts a lot of the Overwatch-Blackwatch relationship into clearer view.

As exemplified by the comic, Jack Morrison is not only aware that Blackwatch does many things “off the book”, he actually personally understands why Gabriel conducts them, even if he can’t “officially sanction” them as the Overwatch Strike-Commander.

In fact, Jack would actually conduct a formal investigation to arrest Antonio. It isn’t the arrest that either man has moral or ethical qualms with -

It’s the level of urgency that the arrest needs to be conducted with.

Jack cannot officially approve a Blackwatch mission to illegally defy sovereignty laws, but he can understand the urgent need for it - people are getting hurt and dying. It’s only a matter of time before Talon attacks Blackwatch and Overwatch in a more serious fashion.

Jack trusts Gabriel to make “the final call,” but he does ask him if Gabriel’s “urgency” is...hasty - if the mad dash to bring Antonio in is worth the risk of Blackwatch getting caught.

Or worse.

But there is no question here of loyalty or trust.

Just one of safety.

This aligns with several of the interactions you can find in Retribution:

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel. Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now. Someone has to be the one to get things done.

McCree: Is this what we’ve become, Gabriel? Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe. I thought you had the stomach for it. Looks like I was wrong.

Gabriel sees his role in Blackwatch as the “heavy lifter” of peace-keeping. Overwatch does a wide variety of tasks: it possesses an engineering division, a medical division, an environmental division, and a science division, along with a number of “Strike Team” agents who can be fielded to intervene on a military, medical, or engineering emergency level as required or requested by a sovereign nation. Overwatch is the kinder side of keeping peace.

Blackwatch is the shadow of it.

And in those shadows, “the Reaper” does what he needs to do to maintain Overwatch’s peace when its “heroes” cannot.

Even if he must be painted as a villain for it.

If Gabriel has been using his SEP-created “Reaper powers” to help defend Overwatch in “off the book” missions for decades (as Retribution shows) then his powers and abilities are likely an “open secret” within Blackwatch, and probably known to his closest friends and companions in Overwatch (for example, the original Strike Team).

And it helps him - it keeps him alive in the worst missions, he never needs to carry ammo or weapons, and (if he’s really that good) he doesn’t even need a combat medic with him because he can sustain his own healing processes with his lifedrain ability. Sure, it’s not perfect - he gets scars, he’s aging a bit, and very likely, a fatal shot could kill him even with these powers - but it’s more than enough for him to do the “real work of keeping the world safe.”

And while it is not shown, it is implied that Jack Morrison knows this.

Intriguingly, a closer reading of “Old Soldiers” shows that Ana knows who Reaper is before she ever unmasks him:

Ana, thinking as she looks at Reaper: Damn...don’t have a clear shot. Ana, aloud to Reaper: Idiot, you’re always in the way!

(Ana mains rejoice - it’s canon that her own teammates block all her shots)

So yes, if Ana and Reinhardt know who Recall-era Reaper is without ever seeing his face -

It is pretty much impossible for Soldier: 76 - Jack Morrison, his oldest friend and companion - to not know.

In fact, Recall-era Soldier: 76 knows who Reaper is by voice alone.

So yeah

Gabriel is not exactly stealthy about this “alternate identity with a lot of cool ghost powers side effect” thing.

Now -

How much does Jack know about Moira?

To quote Michael Chu:

That’s a good question. ;)

---------

Part 2: The One Who Changes Fate

Reminder again about Moira’s hero profile. What’s interesting is that we are...told this paper effectively ruined her career.

But that is not what Moira herself tells us:

“And they tried...to silence me.”

- Moira, Origin Story (source)

I see it bounced around that “Moira worked for Overwatch and then was shut down.” This is not true. Nowhere is it ever stated that she specifically worked for Overwatch. When she brings up Overwatch in her Origins video, she is talking about how Overwatch held back generalized scientific advancement for years, not specifically hers.

However, she does imply that Overwatch shut down whatever lab she was running before she joined Blackwatch.

What’s super, super, super critical to remember is that every character in Overwatch is an unreliable narrator.

All of them.

All of them have a story to tell you. All of them have a perspective to give. Everything about them - every Hero Profile, every teaser, every Origin story, every comic - has a perspective to it. They are not necessarily lying to you outright, but they are twisting truths to suit their purposes.

Here is the full quote on perspective, unreliable narrators, and “villains” from Michael Chu (bolded and italicized parts are mine, and do not reflect his actual speaking tone):

“Which brings me...to ‘Perspective.’ One of the things we really like doing with Overwatch is playing with perspective. We utilize perspective when we analyze or when we tell stories about characters, what they’re thinking, what their goals are. And we have a lot of unreliable narrators. We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations. We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe. You know, I’m asked often - with characters like Sombra or Soldier: 76, you know, ‘Are they anti-heroes? Are they villains?’ And I think, you know, you look at someone like Sombra, and it’s all about looking at, ‘What does she want? What is she willing to do to get it?’

“And you have to remember that when she’s telling you something, she’s serving her own ends too. So you know, you have to kinda make the decision for yourself. And I think you can take a character like Soldier: 76 - like obviously, he has this mission that he is on that he believes is good, he seems to be sometimes willing to do things which are... maybe not super heroic, and so it makes him complicated. We always have a lot of fun, uh - every once and awhile we’ll try and plot all the characters on like the traditional D’n’D alignment scale, and I think, you know, it’s fun exercise, but at the end of the day, I think what’s interesting about characters is that those alignments change depending on what situation you put them in, what’s important to them, and what decisions they have to make.

(Source)

And this is what people need to understand about the story in Retribution - the comic, the teasers, and the actual canonically gameplay mode:

You do not have one unreliable narrator

You have four.

And it is your “job” - as outlined by the lead writer of Overwatch - to pay attention to which ones are giving you an “honest” perspective of the situation -

And which ones are masking their intentions and thoughts.

We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations. We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe.

“Retribution” is not as cut-and-dry as “Uprising” (and even Uprising has some interesting “perspective” bits to it).

Comic: the Retribution comic is from Gabriel’s perspective. We see him go through the events of the explosion in Rome, his discussion with Jack, and then his decision to bring three agents in an “off the book” mission to arrest Antonio. Things to keep in mind: though you get dialogue from McCree, you do not actually see McCree’s thought process the way you see Gabriel’s.

Game: the Retribution game mode has a narrative shift to McCree’s perspective. Both the Intro and the Outro are narrated by him. He describes only the things he knew leading up to the mission, how he perceived the shooting of Antonio, and how he saw the fallout that resulted. Something to remember is that McCree does not know that Jack Morrison was aware that Gabriel was going to attempt to arrest Antonio.

In fact, McCree actually brings this up in the game:

McCree: How are you gonna explain this to the Strike-Commander? Gabriel: You let me worry about what Jack needs to know. McCree: You know you can’t shoot him. Gabriel: No, but I could shoot you.

It is not that McCree is an untrustworthy narrator of the event -

He is just a limited, biased one.

And he does not know what Gabriel is thinking during the mission

Or what Moira is thinking.

And it is up to the player to attempt to interpret both.

As I wrote in Part 1, if you look at the “clues,” Gabriel has been struggling with his “Reaper” condition for some time. Perhaps it is shifting into a new phase. Perhaps it is growing unstable. Perhaps he is afraid of his friends growing old without him.

Perhaps he is afraid of being effectively immortal.

When Moira appears in the scientific community, we are told her hypothesis was initially well-received but could not be replicated, which caused doubt as to her testing methodology.

And what you are shown

is that Moira tested things on herself.

Human clinical trials for medicine and therapies are...strict. Highly regulated in most countries (yes, obviously you can debate how effective those policies are “in reality”). It is not as simple as jumping from testing on rabbits to testing on humans - qualifications and checks must be done.

I’ve had a lot of people ask, “Why would Moira want to side with Talon if Blackwatch supports her?”

And the very simple answer is

Moira does not want “relaxed” restrictions on her research.

Moira wants zero restrictions on her research.

Do I believe that Gabriel Reyes would let her conduct research on himself?

Yeah, of course he does. You are literally shown that.

Does he let her do research on other people?

Or herself?

Again, very debatable.

We go back to this panel:

Moira has her Biotic Grasp, both healing and lifedrain. This means she has already started research on Gabriel, and has manipulated his powers for herself.

And yes, the lifedrain ability, along with her Fade ability, are implied to be “improvements” on Reaper’s versions, because Moira has researched his biodata, repurposed them, and then reused them for herself:

Geoff Goodman: “It [Her Fade ability] has some similarities to Reaper’s wraith form…uh which is…it’s funny how that works out.” Michael Chu: “You know, we obviously - there’s a…there’s a close relationship between Moira and Reyes-slash-Reaper, and I think one of the fun things we were able to do is to sort of hint at some of those things in her, uh, abilities.” Geoff Goodman: “She’s helping Reaper out and is like, ‘You know, I think I could make this better, I have an idea.’” Michael Chu: “Professional relationship.” Geoff Goodman: “Ahaha, yes…good call.” Michael Chu: “You know what I’m talking about.” [Whole panel laughs] (source)

And she has managed to make an artificial, cloned, or recreated “lifedrain” work with Angela Ziegler’s healing technology:

Participant 3: Hey, guys. First off, thank you for this support hero. We really need that, and so my question is more of a lore question. So seeing Moira and her healing, and her siphoning powers, I am wondering if there is a connection between her powers and Zenyatta’s approach of how he heals and discords; or if it is going to be communicated in the future.

Michael: So there is a connection, but it is actually not a Zenyatta. It is actually more of a connection to Mercy. You know, they both work together obviously. Moira was part of Blackwatch. Mercy was a part of Overwatch, but she has definitely taken and modified some of the tech. In fact, there is some evidence on the Oasis map that sort of hints at some of that.

(source)

So we learn that Moira has no moral or ethical qualms about taking, using, and repurposing Gabriel’s “enhanced Reaper powers” from his biological data, and that she also has no moral or ethicla qualms about taking, using, and repurposing Angela’s nanobiology tech.

And Moira is not doing either of these things for financial gain, or political power, or even some sort of immortality.

She just wants to experiment in its purest form, unrestricted and unrestrained and untethered.

She does not want to stop with any moral or ethical boundaries.

And despite what people think -

I personally get the strong impression that even though Gabriel Reyes has few or limited personal morals about defending the world in the name of peace, he would not let Moira test Blackwatch or Overwatch agents in an unrestriction, unrestrained, uncontrolled manner.

Himself? Fine. That’s a risk he has to take.

But if Moira were to harm his agents

Or cause Blackwatch and Overwatch to suffer

Or conduct “experiments” with those who matter most to him

He would wage war to prevent that.

So even though Moira works for Blackwatch, conducts trials on Gabriel, makes new inventions for herself and the organization -

She does not actually get what she really wants:

True, unliminted freedom to experiment.

Michael: Moira is a scientist. She is not so much interested in conquering the world, even though she has allied herself with people who might have proclivities in that direction. She is really just into the actual science. She wants to understand the fundamentals of human life, and how they can be manipulated. She is a geneticist, and that is her primary goal, and that is all she wants. But the thing that makes her villainous is that she doesn’t quite have like some of the morals that the rest of us have. Yes, she is very flexible. She doesn’t want anything to get in the way of her science. So when someone tries to stop her from doing something, or tells her that she needs to take more time, she has no patience for that.

(source) (emphasis is mine, and does not reflect his actual tone)

A lot of people asked about this. Many were confused by the statement I made that her Hero Profile implies she was working for Talon when she was in Blackwatch, but some math here can help us out:

2070: The Fall of Overwatch occurs, and Overwatch is officially disbanded. This is 6 years before Recall.

2068-ish: Retribution occurs. This is 8 years before Recall.

When Moira is “invited to join the scientific collective” at Oasis after the disbandment of Overwatch, people in-universe were already wondering if she had ties to Talon:

“Yet some have whispered that the shadowy Talon organization had already been supporting her for years, aiding her experiments in exchange for utilzing the results for their own purposes.”

Again, the Hero Profile has a perspective. It is not lying to you, but it isn’t entirely telling the truth either. It is worded in a deliberate, vague way to make you think that Moira joins Talon after Overwatch is disbanded, but “for years” means that she could have been supported by Talon before the disbandment.

And remember -

Moira’s very own words are not trustworthy:

“And they tried...to silence me.

“...But there were others in the shadows, searching for ways to circumvent their rules. Freed from my shackles, the pace of our research hastened - together, we delved deeper into those areas forbidden by law, by morality...and by fear. “New patrons emerged who possessed an appetite for my discoveries. And with this knowledge...what new world could we build?”

- Moira Origin story (source)

At no point -

Does Moira ever say that Blackwatch - that specific word for that specific division - recruited her to “circumvent” Overwatch.

And this is where perspective and unreliability come into play.

You are shown these images:

With that narrative -

To specifically make you think that Gabriel Reyes wanted Moira to help him overthrow Overwatch.

But this is in direct contrast with Gabriel’s own view of his role in Overwatch:

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel. Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now. Someone has to be the one to get things done.

Gabriel does circumvent rules -

In order to save and defend Overwatch.

He is the embodiment of “retribution” - a form of equalizing justice, a feeling of righteous revenge, a bringer of truth and revelations (just as his namesake “Gabriel” implies).

Yes, Gabriel Reyes is rogue, renegade, and reckless at times. Yes, he has no problems with shooting a man in the face at point-blank range. Yes, he would fight an entire army and city to get himself and three agents home alive.

But he does not do it for Talon.

Recall-era “Reaper” consistently leaves Talon agents to die.

(Retribution Gabriel refuses to leave anyone behind.)

Recall-era “Reaper” lets Sombra basically run amok and “throw” their missions.

(Retribution Gabriel reprimands and reminds McCree to stay focused.)

Recall-era “Reaper” fails to kill Winston not once, but twice.

(Retribution Gabriel kills several Talon Heavy Assault Tanks and other specialists without remorse.)

Recall-era “Reaper” works with Widowmaker, knowing full well that she is all that remains of Amélie Lacroix.

(And Retribution Gabriel stays by Gérard Lacroix’s hospital bed even when the doctors have said he’ll be okay.)

Recall-era “Reaper” fails to kill or even properly fight Soldier: 76 and Ana Amari.

(Retribution Gabriel literally starts this “retribution” mission to “do the real work of keeping” his friends and the world safe.)

What aligns both Gabriel Reyes and Moira O’Deorain with the “villains” of the Overwatch universe is not their actual, individual, distinct and separate motivations -

But their methods to get there.

And if intention matters to you, then they should be analyzed and judged for their actual, individual, distinct and separate motivations.

And here’s the kicker -

Maybe Moira actually does want to help Gabriel find a “cure” in her own way.

After all, in the Recall era, this paper exists:

But she also has her own perspective, her own motivations, and her own goals to achieve.

And what will she do to get to them?

Michael: So like we said before, she was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch, and during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew: McCree, Genji… they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other. Reyes wanted someone who could help advise him on some matters of genetics that he was interested in — shall we say.

Aaron: Very mysterious.

Michael: Very mysterious, yes. Almost maybe a connection there – yes, there is a connection there, obviously — and the other thing is that in the present day Moira has allied herself with Talon now that Overwatch is gone. When you think about Moira’s goals figuring out these building blocks of human evolution, and her need to like push forward science at any cost, that really it really meshes well with the goal of Talon; and so she has found new patrons like Doomfist.

(Source)

---------

Part 3: When You Come At The King

Previous essays:

“Talon: Clawing to the Top” - an essay analyzing Akande’s ideology, and how Reaper and Sombra might be trying to infiltrate Talon to bring it out. Written before Moira was released.

“Overwatch: Companies and Corporations” - a write-up describing several of the major fictional companies in the Overwatch universe, and how many of them are interconnected, have ties to Talon, or are shady as all hell. Written before Moira was released.

I’m not going to rewrite everything that took me two whole other posts to cover. Not a chance. This thing is already absurdly long and no one needs that.

A “brief” review instead:

After the Omnic Crisis, the world changed. Different industries and companies fell by the wayside, and Overwatch rose in power as a peacekeeping force to ensure prosperity and safety as the transition from global reconstruction into a new era when humans and robots had to live together.

New technologies emerged at the forefront of all of this - cybernetics were a big one, and humans began integrating and using Omnic tech for themselves. Medicine and energy sciences advanced in huge leaps and bounds, with many of them being lead by Overwatch’s different scientific divisions.

However, as we know from Moira’s perspective and Akande’s perspective, Overwatch also restricted the ways and areas in which these changes could progress. In the present-day, Recall era, Soldier: 76 is one of two characters to be interested in LumériCo’s shady dealings, and Lúcio fights (and succeeds) in a major social and economic revolution against the Vishkar Corportation. Lucheng reestablishes connections with the Horizon Lunar Colony, and what the public discovers is that a massive disaster occurred there, involving animal rights abuses, and the loss of an entire scientific team (maybe). Mei awakens from her cyrofreeze slumber to discover that her entire Ecopoint team is dead, her survival is in jeopardy, and the data they developed about a changing ecosystem is at risk of being lost forever. Helix Securities - the company that employs Pharah - clearly profited from the fall of Overwatch, as they run many of the old Watchpoints and bases, manage for-profit prisons, and even appear to be conducting some unethical studies against an imprisoned AI.

Almost every company and corporation in the Overwatch universe has ties to a very unethical, very shady concept or idea, or even has first-degree or second-degree connections to Talon.

And that is the point.

Akande’s hero profile (again, remember to question levels of reliability) tells us that there was an ideological conflict within Talon when he was recruited:

“While Adeyemi was content to profit from raids on Numbani, Ogundimu had a grander vision.”

This is big, because this “vision” is implied to be what draws him to Moira, and her to him. Moira does not care about profits, she does not care about power in the literal sense of having an army or running a company.

Moira wants to see humanity reach its greatest and highest “potential.”

Which is exactly what Akande Ogundimu wants, except that he believes it can only be achieved through “conflict.”

But why would Moira - who has zero concerns about safety, rules, and regulations - be worried about that?

Would “conflict” ever stop her from her research?

Neither of them are interested in living under “Overwatch’s rule” - they both believe that Overwatch is stagnating social, technological, and scientific advances for humans and Omnics alike.

They both have a vested interest in seeing Overwatch’s “restrictions” fail and fall.

But there’s a small problem -

Akande is not in charge of Talon at the time of Retribution.

He’s not even the bearer of the “Doomfist” title.

His predecessor Akinjide is.

(Source)

And Akinjide is the one who has a direct association with Antonio.

This is reaffirmed in Retribution:

Genji: Who was Antonio? Gabriel: He’s an arms dealer, with some...other interests - more and less legitimate. McCree: ...Not anymore. McCree: Did Antonio have any associates? Gabriel: There’s the one who will probably take over for him - Vialli. Don’t know too much about him. Then Doomfist in Numbani, and an Omnic, who runs a casino in Monaco - uh, Maximilien or something.

(source)

Interestingly, of Antonio’s “known” associates, only one of them is still alive by the end of the “Masquerade” comic: Maximilien, who allies himself with Akande during the course of the comic.

Akande, as we know, was still just “a mercenary” at the time of Retribution.

But this is where limited perspectives and unreliable narrators come back into play:

McCree: Our target was dead, so I guess he got what was coming to him. But still...it didn’t seem right. But that wasn’t the end of our problems: for the first time, people knew we were out there. New faces stepped up to fill the void in Talon. And I can’t help but wonder...if that’s where it all started to go wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Nv31B47o4

The ending narration - again, from McCree’s limited perspective - tells us that something “didn’t seem right” about the mission and how it played out. Yes, Gabriel shot a man in the face, and McCree is obviously upset about that throughout the game because of it.

But McCree is also the one who wanted to shoot Antonio in the first place:

And this is where we start needing to use context clues, and put ourselves in two different perspectives - Gabriel’s and Moira’s - to try and understand what exactly happened in Retribution, and maybe start understanding why it happened.

Antonio is a major leader of Talon at the time of Retribution, just before the fall of Overwatch truly begins.

The official Blackwatch dossiers given out by Blizzard state that:

“The extent of his connection to European government officials, law enforcement agents, and businessmen is unknown.”

So while we know of three major associates - Vialli, the man who succeeds Antonio after this, Akinjide the second Doomfist, and Maximilien - we don’t know his other associates. Blackwatch’s intel is incomplete.

However, part of the point of arresting Antonio was to try and get more information on Talon from him.

Gabriel: We’ll use what he knows to hit Talon harder next time. Trust me.

So we have our mission objective from the very start: go in, secret Antonio out, get him to a secure location, and get intel and info on the rest of Talon from him.

For Blackwatch, this is apparently fairly routine, to the point where neither Jack Morrison nor Jesse McCree questions the nature of it, just the necessity of the mission itself. We see this return in Uprising, when Gabriel sends McCree on a mission to gather intel on Null Sector even when Blackwatch is suspended. Ana Amari raises the question of why McCree is even out there, but Gabriel quickly jokes to defuse her. When Jack pushes for more information, Gabriel tells him not to pry.

This is retroactively foreshadowed (past...shadowed??) by the voicelines in the Retribution trailer:

Jack: Alright, Gabriel. Start from the beginning Gabriel: We arrived in the Venice safehouse and set up surveillance on the manor. We executed our plan, under cover of darkness. ...You sure you want to hear about this, Jack? Jack: You haven’t left me much choice. Gabriel: What ever happened to ‘plausible deniability?’ Jack: Little late for that. Tell me what actually happened. Gabriel: Haha, well, Jack - that’s one hell of a story.

(source)

In the Retribution trailer, Gabriel attempts to give Jack the opportunity to back down from this debriefing, implying that Jack should try to secure his own “plausible deniability” from his awareness of the situation (which Jack knew about, but did not know the details of). Later, in Uprising, Gabriel does not even give that Jack that option, instead denying him more information from the outset (whether that is to truly protect Jack’s “plausible deniability” from another potential Blackwatch debacle, or for other reasons, it is not stated).

Why is this important?

Because it is strongly implied that Blackwatch walked into a trap.

This was meant to be a fairly routine “get in, grab, and get out” mission, but some interactions in Retribution imply that the Blackwatch team was misinformed.

Moira: I wouldn’t describe this as ‘light resistance’...quality intelligence we received. Genji: It makes no difference to me. Moira: ...How droll. McCree: Aww, even though we snuck that surveillance system into Antonio’s office, our intel’s a little spotty. Genji: Next time, you should leave it to me. I can spy upon our enemies - unseen...and undetected.

The second one is very important because the question that needs to be asked is:

Did Blackwatch somehow miss intel from Antonio’s office?

...Or did Antonio know his office was bugged?

The first one is important because the Blackwatch team only anticipated “light resistance” in Venice from Antonio’s henchmen, and yet every other line is about how “an entire army” has showed up to stop the four-person team.

And Talon doesn’t just bring out a bunch of “low-level grunts”

But instead include a myriad of “specialist” killers.

...Seems like an awful lot for just four people.

...Unless they already knew that one of them -

Is exceptionally hard to kill.

Someone who knows exactly what he is capable of.

Someone who has no qualms about “reusing” research and repurposing it into new and innovative ways.

Someone who has no fears about testing on themselves.

Or testing on other people.

And someone who so dearly wants the freedom that would come with the removal of Blackwatch, which does all the “real work” of keeping the world safe, and the eventual fall of Overwatch, which is its guiding light.

---------

Part 4: Profit vs. Progress

We know that in the present day (Recall era), Talon has fallen into being little more than a glorified, profit-making and profit-securing army for various individuals. Vialli, the man who replaced Antonio, is one of them, and he’s currently a sort of “de facto” leader in Akande’s absence.

It is outright stated in “Masquerade” that Vialli has a vested interest in “keeping the status quo” of the no-Overwatch world. He doesn’t want to rock the boat or disrupt profits, so he uses Talon for...smaller ideals. Money. Control. Power.

Talon is the antithesis of Overwatch.

If Overwatch’s concern was balancing peace and stability vs sovereignty and freedom, then Talon’s concern is the opposite: balancing war and violence vs profitability and comfort. If Overwatch had a relatively cohesive and well-working leadership that cooperated on a massive scale for 20-25 years, Talon has a petty, politicking, conniving group of leaders that all want more power and more control. People in Talon barely last five or six years in the top positions, let alone several decades. People form alliances, break them the moment the tide shifts, switch to work with other people, send people to jail, blackmail each other, and literally throw each other off cliffs.

(don’t worry, we’re coming back to this scene later)

Why would this be any different with Antonio in charge?

Antonio: ...Good evening, Commander Reyes. Ha, how will this look on the news? Overwatch unlawfully abducting a respected businessman? Even if you take me now, my friends would have me released within the week. All these...theatrics have been a waste of our time.

Antonio identifies himself as a “businessman” - not as something noble like a Commander -

(“...saw far greater potential in Ogundimu, with his intelligence and his ability to inspire as a commander.”)

- Or a brilliant Scientist in pursuit of ultimate truths:

We know that Antonio kept “alliances” with Akinjide, who was “content to profit from raids on Numbani.” Both men are effectively posited as individuals with interests in keep Talon much smaller in scope. They didn’t want Blackwatch or Overwatch around, of course, but engaging in something like a global war?

No, they were content just to reap the rewards of dismantling Overwatch: more profits, more money, fewer investigations by Overwatch and Blackwatch, none of that “sillly peacekeeping organization” nonsense nipping at their heels.

But obviously

Akande wasn’t interested in “maintaining the status quo.”

Not in the present day, when he breaks out of prison -

And not when Antonio was in charge either.

Akande was going to help humanity progress with an army of new “enhanced” soldiers.

And what better way to gather results on their efficacy

Than by pitting them against an “old” enhanced soldier?

---------

Part 5: She Who Cuts Fate

Since this has been a long ride, let’s go over the basics again:

Retribution was meant to be an “off the books” “snatch and grab” mission to secure Antonio, bring him to a safe location, and get information from him. A select number of people know it is even happening:

Gabriel Reyes, Blackwatch Commander

Jesse McCree, seasoned Blackwatch agent

Genji Shimada, a “new-ish” cyborg agent

Moira O’Deorain, another “new-ish” agent specializing in combat medicine

the Pilot, who only drops them off and then picks them up

Jack Morrison, Overwatch Strike-Commander, who knows the mission is happening but not the details

Jack Morrison and the Pilot are effectively in semi-darkness on the mission: they both know that Gabriel has chosen to conduct it, but they do not know any more than that. The Pilot drops them off, and then picks up them up when she gets the emergency signal.

As the player plays the mode, and attempts harder difficulty levels, more information is revealed. Blackwatch was required to go “under cover” at times (with McCree posing as a waiter...and then getting fired from that cover job), and even managed to sneak a surveillance device into Antonio’s office.

McCree: Aww, even though we snuck that surveillance system into Antonio’s office, our intel’s a little spotty. Genji: Next time, you should leave it to me. I can spy upon our enemies - unseen...and undetected.

When Gabriel thinks they have enough intel, they make their move on Antonio’s manor, slip in, and enter his office.

And what they discover -

Not only is Antonio not surprised to see them -

He’s been anticipating them.

(seriously, can this scene get any more “I’ve been expecting you, Mr. Bonds”??)

I know some people took the “theatrics” line to imply that Gabriel is already a Talon mercenary, but that’s not what Antonio is saying. He’s telling Gabriel that the “show” of Overwatch (Blackwatch) arresting him, “parading” him through Venice, and then eventually releasing him will do nothing -

It won’t stop him personally.

It won’t stop Talon.

And it won’t help Overwatch “keep the world safe.”

Gabriel gives a small little laugh as the “real truth” of Antonio’s words sink in.

And the framing of these moments is so important.

Before anyone goes “you’re overthinking it”, someone animated this.

Someone framed this.

These are not actors, they’re not real people. They cannot alter or rework a scene the way a real person can. These are animated models. Someone deliberately chose to frame these moments with Moira clear but out of focus in the background, patiently watching for Gabriel’s “reaction” (yet another result, perhaps?). Someone animated Gabriel sighing/laughing, animated him thinking it over, animated him looking down as he processes “the real meaning” of Antonio’s words -

And a split second before Gabriel makes his full decision -

Even Antonio “figures it out.”

They’ve both been had.

Someone has pushed both of them together, to this moment, where one or both of them will die. Antonio was used as simple bait to rile Gabriel up and draw out crucial Blackwatch members from the security of an Overwatch base (where the combined strength of Overwatch and Blackwatch would protect them).

And the person who did it doesn’t care which one lives and which one dies -

Because any result of her “experiment” is fascinating to her.

So Gabriel decides, right then and there:

One - he’s not going to be the one to die here.

Two - he’s not going to be the one to get his entire team killed.

Three - he’d rather take his chances fighting his way out of the city than surrender (if you pay attention to the Talon troopers, many of them say “No prisoners”).

Four - consequences be damned, they have to get the hell out just to even experience the “consequences.”

And Moira O’Deorain could not be more intrigued by the turn of events.

A Talon leader, who was a likely major obstacle for her ideological goals, is now dead.

But way more intriguing than that -

Is the fact that McCree freaks out.

An unforeseen “side effect” is the schism of doubt and feeling of betrayal that McCree has with his Commander.

Perhaps she did not anticipate this...bonus.

If you’re still here and still interested, the next question many people asked is “How does Gabriel even know it’s her?”

Remember, only four people knew this was happening this night, this method, in this moment - the four people still alive in the room.

What happens throughout the rest of the mission is the slow but steady piecing together of missing information:

Evidence 1: The Talon Sniper has Wraith/Shadowstep

As shown in the first cutscene, the first Talon Sniper materializes “seemingly from nowhere”, along with a cloud of black and red smoke. This is almost identical to Gabriel’s Shadowstep, a canon ability that has appeared in multiple shorts and at least two comics.

However, it is an ability that not even Gabriel Reyes himself has the technological knowledge or skill to reproduce.

But let me hit this nail again:

Someone else clearly does have that knowledge and skill.

And she has used it on herself.

Evidence 2: Genji has no goddamn idea what’s happening

Genji: Who was Antonio? Gabriel: He’s an arms dealer, with some...other interests - more and less legitimate. McCree: ...Not anymore.

Genji doesn’t even know who their target is.

They brought him along, in near-total intel darkness, just to kill people.

Genji also reveals a deep hatred for Talon and all criminals, and also expresses that Talon once approached his father, Sojiro Shimada, to recruit him.

Genji: Talon once tried to recruit my father. Gabriel: He didn’t take them up on their offer? Genji: He did not find them to his liking. Their aims did not...coincide with his own.

(Source)

Despite everything that has happened to Genji, the ninja appears to have immense respect for his father. And his father had an implied fondness for his second son, giving him the nickname of “Sparrow.”

Evidence 3: Moira is a smug little punk the entire mission

Almost all of Moira’s interactions throughout the mission have her either belittling the other characters, dishing out pithy remarks, or egging people (mostly Gabriel) on.

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel. Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now. Someone has to be the one to get things done.

McCree: Better to kill them now than wait for another surprise attack! Moira, to herself: ...ha, ironic.

Moira: I wouldn’t describe this as ‘light resistance’...quality intelligence we received. Genji: It makes no difference to me. Moira: ...How droll.

Gabriel: Enough art! Let’s get out of here. McCree: Never had the eye for it anyways. Moira, muttering: ...philistines.

However, the most important interactions are the ones about the masquerade:

Moira: Pity we’ll miss the masquerade - I have the perfect costume. Reyes: Didn’t think that would be your scene. Moira: There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me…

(source)

And another one where McCree almost suspects something:

McCree: ...You seem awfully calm. Moira: I take it all in my stride.

Evidence 4: Retrospective...prospective...introspection??

I don’t even know what you want to call this but basically:

Retribution occurs before Uprising.

Blackwatch gets suspended because of this mission that went awry.

But what’s interesting is that three of the four playable Blackwatch characters are still active in Overwatch, even with the suspension.

McCree is still there.

Genji is still there.

And most of all:

Gabriel Reyes is still there.

So even though Retribution goes sideways real fast -

The man in charge of it is still present in Overwatch a year later.

Which means that this moment

Isn’t what McCree’s narration implies it to be.

Gabriel is getting chewed out, absolutely. But a mission with bad press happens to intelligence agencies the world over all the time.

And why would Gérard Lacroix be present for a “You got us bad PR, now I’ve got to do damage control” meeting?

This meeting is not about “How did you mess this mission up?”

This meeting is about:

“How did a Talon agent infiltrate and sell out Blackwatch?”

“How did she get our technology?”

“Why didn’t Gabriel do a better background check on her?”

The really depressing speculation?

Gabriel Reyes has been living with his “Reaper” condition for nearly 25 years by the time of Retribution.

He thinks about his friends, companions, and agents dying as he lives on, alone, without them.

A man who is normally so careful, so cautious saw someone who could change his fate for the first time in nearly twenty years -

And he was willing to let her do whatever she needed to do

To “cure him.”

But Moira saw an opportunity to strike a blow against the organization that “tried to silence her”

And she took it.

Anything in the name of science, anything in the pursuit of truth.

“Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals. And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic - or more charismatic - or as likeable as a hero character. Because like the old saying goes, ‘Every villain is the hero of their own story.’”

---------

Part 6: The Masquerade

It is not a coincidence that both Moira and Gabriel have interactions discussing the masquerade of Carnevale.

Moira: first interaction

Moira: Pity we’ll miss the masquerade - I have the perfect costume. Reyes: Didn’t think that would be your scene. Moira: There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me…

(source)

Moira: second version

Moira: Pity we’ll miss the masquerade - I have the perfect costume. Reyes: Didn’t think that would be your scene. Moira: You’re not the only one who likes to dress up.

Gabriel version:

Gabriel: It’s not exactly Carnevale McCree: You serious? Gabriel: I was looking forward to the masquerade! McCree: Fair enough.

McCree, who also mentions Carnevale at one point, does not actually specifically mention “masquerade.”

This is important for two reasons:

The first: “Reaper” is a major character in the present-day Doomfist comic, “Masquerade,” where Akande kills Vialli (who Gabriel still does not recognize by sight) and then returns to the Talon council.

And as the vast majority of my followers know me for:

http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/172826364335/segadores-y-soldados-yall-keep-saying-that

“Masquerade” is the comic where I went from “Reaper could be trying to infiltrate Talon” to “The literary parallels to ‘The Masque of Red Death’ are too substantial to ignore.”

http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/163200042035/death-becomes-you

The second:

“Masquerade” was Moira’s first canon appearance in the entire story of Overwatch - all the shorts, all the comics, all the side materials.

So yeah, both references are not just cute little cheeky remarks, but foreshadoing for the later events of the comic.

And why does this matter in Retribution?

Because Gabriel immediately switches from “Blackwatch Commander Reyes” to “sarcastic, nonchalant, rogue Reaper” in an instant.

And it is not due to a shift in motivations -

But because he now has to keep himself and two agents alive without alerting Moira that he’s onto her.

I personally believe that yes, Gabriel’s standard personality is sarcastic and humorous in general, but there are moments when he pushes things to an...unusual extreme. He almost seems to amp up McCree’s anger, making casual jokes and remarks about the “army” they’re facing (“yeah, they’ve really rolled out the red carpet,” “It’s not exactly Carnevale,” “I still think we should’ve gone as the band.”), joking about the art gallery, the restaurant at the end, the whole thing. McCree often responds with what sounds like raw, real anger -

But it also gives Moira a...target for her attention.

Gabriel: What’s keeping our ride - we can’t wait forever! McCree: Something tells me that the army of bad guys convergin’ on our position isn’t helping. Moira: McCree’s instincts are - as ever - unimpeachable.

Gabriel Reyes has to play a delicate game here: he cannot alert Moira that he knows what’s happening, and he has to convince her to think that she’s “getting to him”. He cannot make McCree mad enough that McCree lashes out “too hard,” and he cannot be obvious enough to McCree to give away that Moira has compromised them.

Though he also makes attempts to soothe McCree’s anger at different turns:

McCree: We didn’t have to go to all this trouble if we were just gonna kill Antonio. Reyes: It wasn’t how I drew it up. McCree: …Coulda fooled me.

(source)

If you pay close attention, there’s actually a few instances where Gabriel almost slips or falters.

Gabriel, to Genji: You know your brother would’ve made a good agent. Genji: (no response) Gabriel: touchy subject

(source)

Gabriel: Am I the only one who feels hungry? Moira: That could be an unforeseen side effect... Gabriel: ...I was making a joke.

(source)

In the first interaction, Gabriel attempts to crack a (rather inappropriate) joke to Genji, but unlike McCree, Genji’s anger is silent and cold. Gabriel attempts to diffuse the situation by quickly dropping it.

In the second, he attempts to make a joke about the restuarant, perhaps hoping to rile McCree up for another wisecracking one-liner or even some more frustrated remarks, but instead he grabs Moira’s attention, as she is suddenly intrigued by his “condition.” Gabriel passes it off with a casual “it was just a joke” remark.

“But why would he even do that? Why not shoot Moira?”

Because Moira is the only person in the entire city who will attempt to keep McCree and Genji alive.

Gabriel can heal himself in small doses, and he could probably flee with some sort of wraith form, but if he kills Moira or tips her off, McCree and Genji will die. They have no other healer, no one knows where they are located, and no help is coming unless the Pilot picks up their distress signal.

And then they have to make it to the extraction point after fighting effectively everyone in the city.

“Could they have stealthed their way back out?”

Possibly. It’s hard to say: if he had asked Genji or Moira to kill Antonio, Moira might had figured out what Gabriel was thinking. Or Antonio could’ve triggered the alert. But an element of surprise - as risky as it was - was all Gabriel had in his sleeve in the moment with Antonio.

“Okay, but why not shoot her at the end?”

Really?

A better question is:

“Why is Gabriel Reyes still working with her?”

And the likely answer is pretty plain.

Something - like, I dunno, an explosion - made Gabriel’s “Reaper” condition worse. His skin has turned ash grey. His unmasked appearance - whatever it is - horrifies someone who has known him for 30 years.

If he is not faking his anger with Jack Morrison, he is furious that Jack and Overwatch let this happen to him, though we don’t know specifically what would cause such a radical shift in his motivations (Jack would have to do something that really upsets Gabriel to lose Gabriel’s loyalty).

But Gabriel also probably has very little choice in cooperating with Moira in the present day.

On Oasis, Reaper and Sombra have a very specific interaction:

Sombra: So what are we doing here, boss? Reaper: I need to pay a visit to a friend.

And again - I don’t know if Reaper means this genuinely or sarcastically. I don’t know what the specific details of his present-day working relationship with Moira are. I don’t know if she is coercing him into working for Talon, if she is holding up his “cure” as his “reward” for cooperating with her, if he genuinely supports Talon, or if he’s actively using his effective immortality to bring Talon down.

But it makes this moment

All the more heartbreaking.

Gabriel Reyes had a brief moment of hope that someone could finally cure him -

And that was shattered.

This does not look like the debriefing of a defiant, angry, bitter man.

This looks like someone who has realized that he jeopardized everything and everyone he has ever loved to be free from a “deal with Death” he made 25 years ago to help save the world.

Call me an apologist if you must, but let me remind you:

“You know, as we reveal more about these characters, we want people to be able to empathize and understand their beliefs. Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals. And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic - or more charismatic - or as likeable as a hero character. Because like the old saying goes, ‘Every villain is the hero of their own story.’”

But if Gabriel Reyes is going to suffer

Then the people who made it worse are going to suffer that exponentially.

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

And if he has to wear a mask to do it

And he has to infiltrate them

And he has to pick factions

And play the “bad guy”

Then he will.

It isn’t that consquences don’t matter -

But when you are Death Incarnate

They seem so much less important than correcting Fate -

And significantly less important than delivering retribution. ---------

If you want them:

Additional readings: “Talon: Clawing to the Top”: an early analysis of Reaper and Sombra working together to bring down Talon. Parts of it are amended in the second essay, “Death Becomes You”.

“Death Becomes You”: an analysis of “Masquerade” as through a reading of “The Masque of the Red Death.” Written a full nine months before the events of Retribution, and about four months before Moira was revealed. “Step Into My Parlor”: an analysis on Widowmaker’s relationship with Reaper and Sombra, and if she knows they are “up to something”

“Moira: A Fate Fulfilled”: a discussion on how fan theories reshaped Reaper’s story, and possibly helped create the character of Moira “Everything you want to know about Reaper and Soldier: 76″: a write-up on the different eras and contexts for the relationship between Reaper and Soldier: 76, and how Overwatch and Blackwatch worked together before the fall. Has a discussion on shipping. “A History of Healing (and Harming)”: an analysis of how the different “healing” mechanisms in the Overwatch universe are interconnected and why. “Overwatch: Companies and Corporations”: a write-up on the different fictional organizations in Overwatch, and how many of them are suspicious as all hell.

#reaper #gabriel reyes #moira #moira o'deorain #overwatch retribution #overwatch retribution spoilers #retribution #resources #references #my essays #my writing #soldier: 76 #ana amari #akande ogundimu #doomfist

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