#there’d be so much adoption of the crew it’s not even funny

[attiredpan]

Going through and loooking at some of my concepts about Nog As A Captain™️ and I go back and forth about all.

First is in relation to stationing/ship and the alike because I have three different location concepts:

One is the Enterprise, because it’s the freaking Enterprise and it’s iconic and it would be awesome and so well deserved.

Two is an absolute Jerry Rig of ship that is being held together with duck tape and a whole lotta hope that what O’Brien taught him stuck.

Third is he gets sent back to DS9 in a similar manner to Sisko (albeit with more on the note of the douchy Starfleet higher-ups just kinda not wanting to deal with him at the moment and minus the ascension to godhood)

Second is Canon Characters vs Original Characters that are present:

Obviously his family and Jake are there consistently for all three settings, but with the DS9 stationing I kinda go back and forth about pulling certain characters from the moth balls. Kira’s definitely there, Bashir, Ezri, Morn, etc, etc. I go back and forth about when Dukat starts showing up because that would also incur Sisko show up.

That point is also the same with Amy for another multitude of reasons. Because a) this would incur certain relatives showing up and b) the question of ‘what is all these years later, they find her brother somewhere nearby? Or while visiting somewhere else? Or checking out an anomaly?’ But for the most part, I enjoy adding her in because of the humorous plot lines of the newbie crew trying to figure out if she and Nog are together or not while the older crew watches in bemusement. And she’d be adopting the newbie crew cause they’d all be babies.

Third is cliches

There’s always gonna be certain cliches in Star Trek shows(ex. O’Brien Must Suffer, Kirks Shirt Curse, etc) so what sort of cliches could be applied here?

Im hard set on the Kirks Curse, a)considering we haven’t had it for three captains timeline wise of this. B) because it’s iconic and it can be addressed as the nuisance and weird consistency that it is. Same goes for the suffering that seems to befall every engineer ever.

And lastly is: What Is The Plot?

Something that very much is based on the environment they’re in. With DS9, it could follow a line of ‘what has happened while we were away?What has changed and what has stayed the same? What has happened to our beloved characters and station in our absence? How has it grown and changed with the times?’

And with the starship concepts, I feel like it might be a similar episodic adventure storyline with major villains and minor villains alike while exploring the uncharted. But always an air of looking over your shoulder because it’s the Gamma Quadrant. Last time we were dealing with this place, there was the feeling of the constant threat of being blown to bits. Same goes for if they were sent to the Delta Quadrant.

TL;DR, I have been busting my last braincell because of dreams and ideas I’ve been having

[spike-and-faye]

Hello, I require your infinite wisdom please!! :O So I just finished cowboy bebop and I am so confused like who the fuck was Julia. WHAT was Faye's past. I literally never process tv shows and the bebop was not immune to my stupidity LMAO like... I guess the ending just really confused me, from what I gathered Spike and Vicious were friends? But then they weren't? And Julia dated Vicious but also Spike? And he? Went after Vicious even after Julia had died? I am Confusion. Please help. Thank u...

Oh BABEY I am so glad you asked! :) Be prepared for a long answer and I apologize in advance for how incoherent it will probably be.

ALSO Please note: this show is fucking complicated. I have watched it all the way through several times a year, every single year, for over a decade now, and I am *STILL* finding new shit every time I watch it. It's packed with symbols, motifs, allusions and underlying themes that are just so rich. It is so extraordinarily well-written that it could give a lot of classic literature a run for its money. I'm literally working on an in depth literary/film analysis my husband lovingly calls my Manifesto on the series right now. SO PLEASE don't beat yourself up about not catching everything on the first go round.

HEY BTW for anyone who hasn't finished the show, please know there will be MANY spoilers ahead!

Anyways ~

1.     Spike / Julia / Vicious:

The information we get on Spike's past, including Vicious and Julia, is pretty limited considering how big of an impact they have on the story. We get our first glimpse in Session 1: Asteroid Blues, then again in Session 5: Ballad of Fallen Angels, Sessions 12 + 13: Jupiter Jazz, and Sessions 25 + 26: Real Folk Blues. I recommend reviewing these episodes for you Julia and Vicious fix.

What we know:

Spike and Vicious were both members of an organized crime syndicate called the Red Dragons, which is roughly analogous to the Yakuza or the Mafia. Their positions in the organization are not clear, but there are some images alluding to them being hitmen, and they likely rose up in the ranks as they were close acquaintances of Mao Yenrai, a Capo of the Red Dragon.

Spike and Vicious were close comrades. Spike taught Vicious everything he knew about fighting, and the two had a deep trust in each other. Which Spike fucked up ….

^^Vicious looks hot asf here

Julia was Vicious' lover/girlfriend. One night in 2068 (three years prior to the time we watch in the Bebop) Spike is injured, presumably from a syndicate-related fight and he passes out in front of her door. She takes him in and nurses him back to health and he SIMPS HARD for her. We’re all but told he's in LOVE love with her. They start an affair, and Spike tells her he's ready to abandon the whole life - the syndicate, Vicious, Mao, all of it - and they could run away together.

WELL Vicious finds out about this whole affair, and is DOUBLY betrayed because his literal best friend and girlfriend have been having an affair, and tbh I think he was just as jealous of Spike's attentions as he was of Julia's. (Whether or not it’s a sexual thing for Spike … well … I have my own headcanons about that). SO when he finds out they're going to run away together, he gives Julia an ultimatum: you can either kill him, or I'll just kill you both. Spike had written her a letter about meeting him in the graveyard to start their new life together, which she tears up to hide his location from Vicious. (This is the falling ripped up pieces of paper we see in Spike's flash back in Session 5).

^^ r/gifsyoucanhear

**NOTE: There are those who disagree with this view, (looking at you Cowboy Bebop wiki) instead suggesting Vicious and Spike were buds in the past, but then hated each other once they were both considered as potential successors to Mao. That's why Vicious wanted him dead, and he was enlisting Julia (who he didn't necessarily have a romantic connection to) to help kill Spike since he knew Spike loved her. Personally, I think there is plenty of evidence that Vicious also wanted Julia, and in fact was already with her, when Spike started seeing her. If you want me to cite my sources please send an me an ask about it :)

Spike gets the idea, whether by her just not showing up or word around the syndicate being like YO Vicious wants you dead. Despite Vicious' ultimatum to Julia, he was gunna kill Spike either way. SO he sets up an ambush, and SadBoy™ Spike walks intentionally into their trap. Somehow, he doesn't die, though the entire syndicate thinks he did. (Note Annie's reaction to seeing him alive in Session 5). It’s also implied that this is where he lost his eye.

HIS EYE - possibly the most important symbol in the show so I do have to mention it. In episode 26, he explicitly explains to Faye that one of his eyes only sees the past. (PS this isn't dissimilar to Jet's arm… we can get into that another time). Basically, he's constantly living halfway in the past and halfway in the present, and describes the past like a dream he can never wake up from. Because dysfunctional or not - the syndicate WAS his family. (Again - see his relationship with Annie, Mao, and Vicious (prior to Spike's betrayal)). It's his reminder that Julia didn't run away with him, and that he'd left behind that life for her. (He didn’t know she was being threatened until the final episode). Basically Spike is hyper-fixated on what he had and what could've been.

Not long after this, Spike starts bounty hunting because like? What else is he going to do. He doesn't care if he lives or dies but if he has to be alive, he may as well be able to eat. He joins up with Jet Black on the Bebop.

TL; DR: Spike stole Vicious' lover, Julia, so Vicious made Julia choose between her killing Spike or Vicious killing them both. She instead went into hiding and Spike thought he'd been stood up. He fake died and got the hell outta dodge.

2.     What was Faye's past?

Ok let me start by saying Faye is my wife and my life. HOWEVER I hated her the first time I watched this show circa age 13 because I thought she was annoying/vain/shallow (also because #internalizedmisogyny lol am I right fam). Good news! She is all those things! But she's also very lonely and scared and an amnesiac and secretly a sweetie and she realizes she loves the crew of the Bebop like family.

SO my wife's backstory:

she was born in the 1990s (#only90skidsremember). There's some debate over her race/nationality, but due to the images of her hanging out in Merlion Park in Singapore, my bet is that she's Singaporean. She comes from a wealthy family with a big house, and we see some utterly *adorable* film of her as a child/young adolescent in Session 18: Speak Like a Child. I cry everytime </3

^^ Holla for the representation

In 2014, circa age 20, she and her parents were going into space when the shuttle they were on had some kind of malfunction/accident and it killed an unknown number of people, including her parents. At the time, the technology didn’t exist to be able to save her, so she was put into a cryogenic sleep state. Meanwhile, the Lunar Gate accident occurs, breaking up the moon and causing rock showers on Earth's surface. Most people died, moved to Mars, or settled underground.

She wakes up from her cryogenic sleep in 2068. (Also the year Spike leaves the syndicate.) She's 'woken' by the corrupt Dr. Bacchus who plans on charging her for the years and years of medical debt she's accrued. (See Session 15: My Funny Valentine.) Luckily a lawyer takes interest in her case (Whitney Haggus Matsumoto) and tries to help get rid of her debt. The two fall in love, but turns out Whitney is a Scumbag. He's actually Dr. Bacchus's nephew, and faked his death, writing Faye as the sole inheritor to his will. This means she'll take on all his debts. So baby girl has LOTS of debt at this point.

In the intervening years prior to her joining the Bebop, she gambles, cheats, gains a lot of street smarts, and adopts a very seductive character to get her way. She joins the crew on the Bebop in Session 3: Honky Tonk Women.

TL;DR: Faye is Austin powers

YIKES this is so long I am so sorry. Bitches are obsessed with this show. (I am bitches)

3.     The Ending

Okay I'm going to present this in the way, in my scholarly opinion, would be correct, though there are SO many interpretations other than simply 'Spike died :/".

To understand the plot of the last couple episodes we actually have to go back to Session 5: Mao is instructed* to sign a treaty with a rival syndicate called the White Tigers. (*He's instructed by The Van (Council of identical creepy old men) who are the actual head of the dragon. I think we only see them in Session 26.) Well - Vicious is a Bastard Man and he and his fellow mutineers blow up the White Tiger guys' ship and slit Mao's throat. Before he dies, Mao is like "Gotdamnit if Spike was still here this shit wouldn't have happened." Later in the Cathedral battle, Vicious explains to Spike he killed Mao because Mao 'lost his fangs'. He planned on killing Spike for good her, IMO, so there'd be no rival to take over as Capo for the Dragons.

^^These guys are The Van btw

THEN in Session 25, the Van basically catches Vicious and is like “you killed Mao and now you have to go to Time Out.” The Van also decides to just kill everyone associated with Vicious, just 2 B safe. That's why there's a big ass shootout at the Loser Bar where Jet and Spike are chilling, drinking, (missing Faye and Ed and Ein lol) and Shin (younger brother to Lin, who's helping Vicious overthrow the Dragon) explains all this to Spike. OH and PS JULIA IS ALIVE AND HERE IS HER LOCATION :). (**Notice Spike's reaction at this point is different than his reaction in Jupiter Jazz when he hears there's a Julia on Calisto. Much less excited… hmm…).

SO THEN you know we get some flashbacks of the past as previously explained *and* Julia just happens to run into Faye. She recognizes that Faye is one of Spike's friends from the Bebop (she was keeping tabs on him it seems) and picks her up. Faye doesn't know who Julia is but is like damn bitch I'm a little gay for you. (I mean … that may just be my bi ass projecting, but Faye is REALLY struck with her. Look at how she describes her to Jet, I mean come on.)

 Faye's like, 'we should team up' and Julia says 'no thanks but also tell Spike to meet me at *the place*'. Meanwhile back on the Bebop Spike and Jet are talking and Spike goes on about some dream woman who was his other half. (We assume he means Julia … I have my reasons to doubt this … I have a lot of angry DMs about my opinion here lol but I just do not give a fuck (: I can expand on this in another post or you can refer to the title of my fucking blog haha) Personally, I think Watanabe personally left this specific scene open ended, the same way he does with the ending and various other things.

more like SIMP Spiegel

ANYWAY Faye comes back to the Bebop to tell Spike about Julia, and Jet gets intel from a former cop buddy that there's some shit going down with the Dragons. (Again, the Van is hunting down everyone ever associated with Vicious, including your pal Spike). Bebop is attacked, Faye tells Spike what's up with Julia, and he heads out.

 PAN TO VICIOUS chained up - about to be executed - but what's that!? It's a bird!? It's a pla- no it's just a bird. (With one glowing red eye … hm … reminds me of Spike, also the drug Red Eye. Pls let me know if you have any thoughts on this). Just a bird with a BOMB! Explosion (RIP bird c. 2065 - too soon), Vicious kills the elders, his buddies show up and are ready to go fuck shit up.

this show could not be more of an aesthetic

MMMPhhh okay RAINY CEMETERY. Spike and Julia. She draws a gun, explains why she didn't meet him that day, and then hugs him. Now Spike is not *great* at showing his emotions but he literally just stands there. Maybe it's a stoic expression of how sad he is that he never knew she still cared, when it seemed like she dumped him. Maybe he's finally getting some closure on his past. Maybe the past doesn't mean the same thing it used to. (I'll elaborate later on this).

They go to Annie's to get stocked up on stuff, she lets them know she denied knowing Spike was still alive and hey also the Van was assassinated by Vicious and his guys so. Watch out for that. Then her shop is surrounded by Vicious' guys and she dies :(. Spike and Julia escape to the roof, but she's shot and dies in Spike's arms, and says 'it's all just a dream' :(. (Refer to: Spike living in a dream of the past).

Anyway Jet SAID he wasn't gunna go after Spike but. Jet's parental instincts kick in (oh yeah he was shot in the leg earlier btw) and he goes to Sitting Bull to see if he knows where Spike is. He basically says yeah Spike's about to die somewhere. (I want to do a further analysis on all the Sitting Bull scenes.) Well conveniently Spike returns to the Bebop, eats, tells his story about a tiger-striped cat. (At one point Jet asks if he's going there for her, and Spike is like well she's dead now so whatever). THEN we get to the scene where Faye is like HEY YOU CAN'T GO OFF AND DIE ASSHOLE and he's like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I 've been living in the past so I might as well see if I'm living now. (**This will play heavily into my interpretation of the ending). Faye is pissed, shoots the ceiling and he goes off to the syndicate headquarters to fuck shit up.

He basically John Wicks his way through the building, Shin dies, he and Vicious have the big boss battle and whatnot. He kills Vicious and stumbles back out down the stairs and says "Bang!" and collapses. We pan to the sky and see a star fade away.

Well that explains the plot … now here's what I think happened!!! ALSO may I mention, anon - you picked up on something I feel like a lot of people miss out on. Why *did* Spike go back to kill Vicious if Julia was already dead??

Basically, once it became clear that anyone associated with Vicious was being killed, Spike knew they'd hunt him down, and they weren't beneath Kill-Billing their way to him, (i.e. systematically destroying this companions to get to him). And for all his apparent indifference - he really loves his new found family. Jet is literally like an older brother to him. Ed is a little sister. Ein is well … a very good boy. And Faye? Well the relationship is complicated, and I'm not going to get into the 69,420 reasons I ship them here, but I think it is beyond argument that he really does care for her, even if that just in a filial way. He didn't want the syndicates to kill them for their association to him, or in order to get to him. So he did what he had to do to protect them. *AND NO* I am not saying that he didn't love Julia. But it was clear that his desire was no longer to run away with her. I think he genuinely loved and cared about her, but at some point between Jupiter Jazz Pt 2 and now, he accepted that their time together was over. Now he had a new raison d'etre, which is the Bebop.

I think at this point Spike has 'woken up' to reality (as he implied to Faye in their final conversation in episode 26: "Look at these eyes. One of them is a fake, because I lost it in an accident. Since then, I have been seeing the past in one eye, and the present in the other. I had believed that what I saw was not all of reality...I thought I was watching a dream that I would never awaken from. Before I knew it, the dream was all over." (This is from the sub btw I'm too lazy to look up the dub transcript.) He wasn't going there to die, he's going to find out if he's really alive. This line is fucking cool and everything - but it's implications are multitude. I won't go into them all here but basically : what makes him alive now is that he's free from his past. He's alive because he has this new family and protecting them is all he really wants now. Spike was protecting Jet, Faye, Ed, (and Ein) by going and facing the entire syndicate, knowing that their lives would all be in danger.

SO - did Spike die? Well again - Watanabe has purposely and artfully left this open ended. Well, if we're following the symbolism from Sitting Bull, then yeah, the man is as dead as disco, and wouldn't that be a fitting ending? BUT at the same time, Spike always refers to having 'died' before (meaning when he was ambushed by the syndicate, and they all thought he died, and he pretty much did). Don't forget that in  movie (takes places roughly between episodes 22 + 23, and yes, was made AFTER the series but whatever) he like .. DIES dies. He goes to the afterlife and everything. He wakes up to find he's chilling with Sitting Bull, who's like nah it wasn't your time to die yet. So the fact Sitting Bull confirms Spike will die in the final episode, means yeah, Spike is pretty much dead.

BUT -- okay now hear me out -- could this death in the final episode be a death to his previous life? The person he was in the syndicate? Now that he's extinguished the Red Dragons for good, is it not possible that its merely *that* life which has ended? That's the optimist in me saying that, but if it keeps me from staying up all night crying, I guess it'll have to do. Watanabe definitely wants to leave it up to the viewer, so whatever you think, I feel like there's validity to it.

WELL any anon, sorry for the fucking lecture - and believe me, I could've said MUCH, MUCH more - but I enjoyed this question. I always love talking about this show so please all you fuckers feel free to message me or send an ask about anything any time. I am really slow at replying because #life'sAbitch.

Love you all.

SY,SCB <3

[roccinan]

1/? simply because you have the most galaxy brain thoughts ever,,, what do you think would've happened if they waited until s5 to reveal sergio and andrés were (half)brothers?

i do know that when my fam started watching lcdp at first i was so put off. like i watched ep 1 and the prof creeped me out. ""berlin"" creeped me out. e v e r y o n e creeped me out. and i was cringing so hard becz of the short lived romance angle with alison parker. i literally did not watch s1 at all xcept for like sneak peeks. highlights being the scene where berlin discovers monica is alive and does his dramatic door by door thing? that was so SUSPENSEFUL even tho i had no idea what was going on. DOMINGO DE RESURECCION remains forever iconic.

2/? And OF COURSE the group bella ciao dance when they hit earth (hahah i thought the banda were actually like a "found family where they all love each other LOL") i am a SUCKER for found family. but anyhoo when i properly got intrigued was s2 when tokyo was kicked out (the music from that scene is still my favourite) it's just so dramatic..!! why am i telling u all this again? right, i haven't slept a wink and it's nearly 7 am pls forgive me if these rambles make no sense. i have a point with this.. i'm going somewhere

RIGHT. so when the fam actually rewound the ep cz i wanted to know WHY berlin did that (didn't fully realise how batsht crazy he can be), the russian roulette scene played. and pedro's acting. MAN. and like just that ep they made a point of showing us these flashbacks where sergio and andrés hug....

Hi anon! Thanks for stopping by- sorry took me a while to get back to you, will do my best to answer this string of messages (got all 4 parts)! Glad you like my thoughts XD

Firstly, I believe Andres/Sergio would be the biggest LCDP ship if the writers were evil enough to wait until s5 to reveal that they’re brothers asdfasdf. They’re already the two most popular male characters anyway. 

It’d be especially crazy because it’s not like they tell the actors these things beforehand either. So that means there’d probably be a Serdres vs Berlermo vs Serquel fight every 5 minutes. I mean, even if not everyone agrees on everything in the lcdp fandom, it’s the most “peaceful” one I’ve ever been in because no character really gets in the way of any other ship (like even with helermo and berlermo there’s no true conflict since Andres is dead). But with Serdres in the mix?? CATASTROPHE. Everyone out here writing essays about how much of a bastard/bitch/homewrecker/motherfucker that Andres or Sergio or Martin or Raquel is. Never a moment’s peace!! so basically, a regular fandom lmao.

Then when we find out they’re brothers, it goes from catastrophe to Apocalypse. Suddenly serquel and berlermo have the upper hand. Everyone would double down and harass the crew/cast into whatever’s going on.  Plot-wise, everything is the same though, just without Andres calling Sergio “hermanito.” Fandom however, would be a minefield! And I’m glad that’s not the case because I’d probably be an unfortunate serdres shippers XD No joke, my mother and I thought they were a couple in S1. So bullet dodged!

Secondly: haha, everyone creeped me out in S1 too, especially Berlin, I hated him, but thinking back, I think I mostly hated the fact that I didn’t hate him as much as I should have. I’ve made peace with it now but oh boy, was he a controversial figure in my head. I actually like the professor on sight though! IDK why, maybe because I thought his plans were cool or because of Alvaro’s delivery. I was afraid of an Alison Parker romance thing too- like, I do feel like she had a storyline that got dropped, but that part was quite cringey and overall unnecessary to the plot. Same with Ariadna, which was even cringier and even Less necessary to the plot. 

Domingo de resurrecion was iconic though yes! And even with all that said, I genuinely enjoyed parts 1 and 2 because it was so different from anything else I’d seen. Not content wise, but maybe tonally? IDK, they were just really bold with a lot of things, like being objectively unafraid of having the protagonists (plural because all of them did LMAO) do objectively shitty things. Really kept me in suspense from beginning to end! 

I’m usually a big fan of found families too! The funny thing is, then banda never struck me as a “family” until season 3. In 1 and 2, I was wondering what felt different about this show; then it hit me that these people remained colleagues to the end. Like, they backstabbed each other (repeatedly) and everyone was quite selfish, and only the bonds that were already there stuck. They were the opposite of a found family LOL But I think by S3, they went down the found family route and I didn’t mind because it makes quite a lot of sense for them to feel that bond after the Mint heist and almost dying/living together (and having witnessed 3 deaths together on the team). But I still doubt Berlin and Palermo were ever really part of this found family, with good reason XD

LOL the scene where Tokyo got kicked out is also among my favorites!! It was so funny and dramatic, and it was like, wow we can go anywhere with this now! Don’t worry- your rambles and thoughts are always welcome :D

I’m rolling over how you watched the Tokyo expulsion scene before the Russian Roulette scene haha. Also yes, PEDRO. Berlin may have been “controversial” to me at first, but I became Pedro’s fan from day one! Also the Hug is probably what made me like Berlin (despite my determination to hate him rip) in the first place. 

3/? ... and like now that i think about it... tokyo had real guts huh. like she KNEW berlin was close enough to el prof to know his name (fhshshs imagine if she'd heard andrés saying 'hermanito' it's unrealistic that she didn't TBH. i mean obviously they decided to make them brothers only towards the end but like in canon universe. how tf did andrés de 'i raised my bby brother since he was 12 and i'd actually die for him and his stupidly brilliant plans' fonollosa go 5 months without slipping up once and calling sergio hermanito. or like,,, i like to imagine sergio kinda gave him lots of leeway(?) sergio's a lil oblivious too but like i'm sure half of it is.. that's my dumbass older bro shut up i'm not being partial you all have city names .. andr-berlin, pass the salt. like OOF. + sergio also knew his big bro was dYiNG so like. i'm sure they were sneaking in some quality time (i hope they did 😭 gosh imagine if sergio really did not ever consider the possibility of andrés dying in the heist so he'd tell himself he needs to perfect the plan now & anyway he'll have enough time to spend w/ his brother post heist in philippines. and then ... that happened :/

Tokyo has guts in place of braincells you bet that she’d do something like this, consequences be damned XD I also think it’s unrealistic for Andres not to slip up, but I have a feeling nobody besides Tokyo really tried to spy on them in private. I headcanon that Andres instead slips up and does things like ruffle Sergio’s hair or adjust his tie when other people are around. I also think Tokyo was convinced that they were a gay couple when she saw them hug XD And if Sergio never went on to tell the banda that Berlin was his brother, everyone would be giving Palermo such awkward looks after Nairobi accused him of being in love with Berlin LMAO. 

I agree! I also imagine Sergio giving Andres leeway because he’s just so used to interacting with his brother that way haha. So either he’d go out of his way to ignore Berlin in front of everyone else or IDK, borderline telepathically communicate with him. Not even “pass the salt” has to leave his mouth- Berlin just puts salt into his food and cuts it up for him, in front of everyone who’s just staring like O.O

I actually do think Sergio never considered the possibility of Andres dying in the heist because he was just that confident in his own plan. Plus, Andres was probably the one person he expected to survive. And a lot of it has to do with Sergio’s attachment to him + Andres’ own habit of downplaying any illness/injury over the years, which I think is safe to believe canon. He was really in no condition to be in the heist, let alone lead it. Just the fact that he needs to take those injections is a big sign that he shouldn’t be there, but Sergio didn’t catch it because he’s human and blinded by faith :’) So yeah, I think Sergio was planning to spend proper time with Andres in Palawan and at Toledo, they just settled for those little moments by the fireplace. 

4/? what always also just GETS me in the feels is that el prof was shown to be this in control creepily calm dude who is miles ahead of everyone. + in the 1st Toledo class itself we see how detached,, like how impersonal he is, how professional - choosing frickin CITY NAMES?! no 'personal relationships' ? (after recruiting his older brother, a father son pair, and war cousins... oh sergio 😂 he's such a frickin nerd and i love him) but like the earlier seasons really emphasised how robotic and down right COLD he can be. it still sometimes bothers me that he put the button in the car. he lead the police to his own damn brother, his blood, who took care of him and adopted him and was terminally ill and like - UGH i try to rationalise that sergio is that cold and unbothered. or that he has strict morals. but it still bothers me becz that button really sort of tipped andres' already unstable sanity. like andrés tells denver someth like you've robbed my future and after that he just seems so much more suicidal and accepting that he can't get out of the mint alive - WHY SERGIO WHY. I KNOW THAT AT THAT POINT YOU BASICALLY DIDN'T KNOW ANDRÉS WAS GOING TO BE YOUR BROTHER YET BECZ IT WASN'T WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPT BUT WHYYYYY

That’s so funny to me too LMAO No personal relationships, then he recruits these guys. Sergio, hello?? Also can’t forget how he just recruited his own girfrleind in the second heist too. Buddy! Love this nerd.

I don’t think that cold aspect of Sergio went away in later seasons either; he just had more opportunity to show a more open side of himself + without Andres, he had to metaphorically leave his comfort zone without a safety net. But in earlier seasons, he really did seem heartless at times XD Then again, we can argue that the same goes for Andres.

To be fair, I didn’t feel sorry for Andres over the button thing lol, but once the brothers reveal happened and all of Alvaro/Pedro’s headcanons came out and we know everything Andres did for Sergio, it makes what Sergio did REALLY harsh. We really just have to explain it through Sergio’s strict morals and him believing this to be the best non-fatal punishment for Andres, who at that point had convinced him he killed a hostage. And because he knew the television interview was coming up, maybe Sergio assumed Andres would use it to “clear” his name anyway. And empathy isn’t one of Sergio’s strong suits either, so through that lens, I can rationalize it.

Also it was lowkey funny to me how Andres was there like DENVER MUST DIE until he found out Sergio put the button there, then he was like “oh hermanito, you and your practical jokes <3″

Still, like you said, Andres and Sergio weren’t brothers yet at this point. They were probably supposed to be lovers lmao and had a dysfunctional Hannibal Lecter x Will thing going on. But because they made #hermanos canon, that button moment just feels very out of place now, especially given how much the two genuinely love each other.

Guess we could also say that Sergio’s just generally kinda bratty with Andres XD Like, he knows no matter what, Andres would forgive him anything. That’s how I see it anyway! 

[authenticaussie]

What do you think the difference would be in a TMNT/OP fic with different collections of turtles?

oooooooo okay so I should be getting ready for class tomorrow but you have 100% captured me I’m so invested in this

mainly I know 2003, 2012, and Rise - well, at least, they’re my favourites and have the most distinct characterisation tbh bc they’re long-running series - SO I’ll do those guys :DD

THIS GOT LONG (because of course it did, I’ve never made a short post in my LIFE) SO FIRST: 

the main difference in fic would be tone!!!!!!!! The turtles are all really affected by the shows they come from so there’d be big differences in how they react to the new situation. Combining OP and 2018, they’re both such loud and bright shows that writing them sad would be kinda….disatisfactory to a reader. 2012 is the one where you could get kinda dark, and go down the genetic experiment and “oh wow these kids need a therapist” and Luffy being >:T wtf why are your lives so Fucked Up route, and 2003 would be hilariously awkward because they’re technically all in the same age range but they act so different wheezes

Second!!! Fun character analysis and Shenanigans under the readmore. 

2003

Probably the most responsible on this list, they’re like??? tbh, barely teenagers?? Or at the very least, 18 or 19, and they can be air-heads but 2003 goes feet-first into the whole plot and character and Everything Happens. I mean, literally in season one there’s this whole subplot about how you define monsters and genetic testing and Wild shit like that so they feel Way more adult than the Strawhats get at times. Even though One Piece covers some dark topics it….the characters - the strawhats, in particular, is what I mean - don’t feel like adults the same way the 2003 turtles do. 2003 also doesn’t feel as dark as 2012 gets sometimes, but I feel 2012 is also because they seem really young, and in 2003 at least they get to process their trauma. 2012…..kinda beats them up a lot akhsdg pft.

Sticking them with the Strawhats would be !! Honestly really funny? I feel Mikey would get along with them really well - in every iteration he’s very good at going with the flow, and hey, pirates? and they’re nice? and cool powers? - he’d have the time of his life. Donnie would try and figure out What Was Going On (as the resident “please fix this in case it’s dangerous” guy, that’s probably what his role would Often be) but I can see him being easily distracted by Franky and the whole devil fruits thing. GOD him and Franky is a thought and a half omfg. The level of tech in One Piece is so different when compared to the modern world, and it operates on rules but like, rules that are just ever so slightly different. 

Raph would be in debt Immediately. Mainly bc Nami’s manipulative like that but also because he’s just………..Like That. He’d be rude and insulting and if the strawhats were helping them out he’d be the team’s voice of reason. Or, distrust, I suppose. The one who hangs back, who’s prickly, who’s the last to offer his trust because his family needs him to be uncompromised, just in case. I think he and Zoro would clash for a bit, not like, in words but just in gestures, until the crew + turtles had been through their adventures, and gotten to the end of Whatever fic was being written, and then they’d be friends. Not best buds but like, healthy respect for each other. 

Leo……….absolutely does Not understand why Luffy is leader. It’s like making Mikey the boss; it doesn’t make sense to him, because Luffy is too trusting and he’s strong but strength doesn’t make a good leader, and in 2003 Leo’s kind of a pushover so he’d stay on the sidelines and watch with Raph. But, as everyone knows, Luffy’s magnetism is Pretty Hard To Deny, and the crew’s respect for him does a lot to show to Leo that he may be missing something but that he doesn’t have to understand. 

2012

I always……..feel so bad for TMNT2012 //weeps They’re just kids and they get put through so much like wow I’m only at season two but from spoilers there’s like?? their dad keeps DYING and being bought back to life???/ THAT’S GOTTA FUCK YOU UP!!! Plus all of them have all these different insecurities and they’re kinda mean to each other (Raph….has only given a proper apology for being a dick once so far, and I’m like. mid-way through season two. I’m sorry if this makes me mikey kin @@zali but pLEASE I cannot stand this LET THEM BE NICE TO EACH OTHER ;A; Like they’re still obviously a family but gosh they’re– so prickly)

Honestly depending on how the Strawhats meet them, like holy shit :o they might be Enemies. In 2003 I feel like they’ve been through enough to try and de-escalate a situation first, but 2012 are so Paranoid that unless they had April with them they’d be like WELP this is another mind-control alternate dimension thing, time to ninja vanish. And sure, after they ended up on whatever quest they needed to go on, Luffy would be fascinated by them (2012 definitely pushes the limits of what you can Actually do, in terms of hiding and shit, but I think that makes it fun !!) but I feel the turtles would be pretty paranoid at first. Mikey & Donnie would be the first two to be dragged out of their shells (snickers) because Donnie would be super curious (and also…probably kinda aggravated and confused) about how the one piece world rules work, and Mikey because…friends!! They already have a reindeer mutant on the crew, they’re obviously cool with mutants :D

akhsdg okay I mention that 2003 would hang back and assess Luffy’s leadership still but like 2012 would be such a dick. He never seems to learn the lesson that people have different strengths and different ways of doing things >:T and watching Luffy lead would drive him crazy. I bet he’d try and make plans and be all structured and in control and Luffy would wreck things and/or the strawhats would be like “lol no lmao, you’re not the captain”. Even if he did have a good plan, like….the Strawhats rarely follow plans if Luffy says they’re doing something different snickers. I feel a major part of this could just a nice subplot line of Leo learning to Chill and also like………give the 2012 a fun adventure I’m begging you sobs. Do a Long Long Island filler arc or smth, where it’s dumb and silly and barely dangerous because they’re all competent af. 

Also: Mikey constantly trying to find a devil fruit because “dudes, it’s probably not gonna apply when we go back home and think about how SICK superpowers would be!!!!!!!!”

He does not get one, to his disappointment. 

2018

These guys are IDIOTS and would fit in with Luffy’s brand of chaos p e r f e c t l y 

Okay so yeeeeah I’m probably biased because I think Rise may be my favourite (the family dynamics!! the character designs!! the animation!!! the stupid jokes!!! the sudden flashes of deeper plot!!!!!!!!) BUT. No-one can argue with me that Rise turtles are chaotic as fuck and they’d have the time of their LIVES with Luffy’s crew. Raph would fall in love with Chopper (Chopper would be terrified of him, continuing the terribly sad trend of Raph being Bad With Animals), Donnie would go wild glitter-eyed over the devil fruits and technology and immediately try and do a million mad scientist experiments (and look. SMILES are fucked up. But this boii would totally try and make one/figure out how they worked). He’s….a mad genius and maybe a little bit evil. 

Leo would either drive Sanji crazy or be INSTANTLY adopted and taught how to be “cool”, but I can also see Sanji and Zoro lowkey fighting over him SNICKERS. Because Leo has a sword so he’s obviously Zoro’s, but he’s suave and likes fashion so he MUST be Sanji’s, and it’s not an argument persay, until Leo says he thinks both of them are cool and then it’s a battle to the death. 

(The end of leo’s sentence was “not as cool as me tho ;P” only they didn’t notice that bit.)

April would absolutely fall in love with Robin. And also Nami?? But I feel mainly Robin like Oh Man Robin is so cool and both of them are hypercompetent??? April’s like teach me how to be a badass assassin and Robin smiles and laughs and absolutely does. 

Mikey’s so loud that he almost terrifies Usopp, and terrifying Usopp is kinda a no-no in Luffy’s book, but he likes these guys and Mikey’s just excited to have an artist friend and so both of them bounce around the ship like ping pong balls. 

There is………yeah. A lot of paint covering the Sunny after they’re through. I can’t decide if Franky would cry or laugh but I know one (1) single drop of paint got on Nami’s tangerines and she Banished them. Rise turtles probably have a really good time and the crew figures out they’re basically children really quick and make sure nothing bad happens to them. Leo promises to try and get better at portal-making so they can come visit New York sometime, and everyone is like “what the fuck is new york??” at the same time as Donnie says HEY WAIT, I THINK WE’RE ON AN ALTERNATE DIMENSION and they get teleported home :DD

THANKS FOR LETTING ME SPILL ALL MY TURTLE FEELINGS EVERYWHERE

[knifeshoeoreofight]

northisnotup replied to your post “Out of curiosity”

More babies??

I am always easily convinced of more babies

between the saltwater timestamp 2/?

Sid’s family on his mom’s side is big. Cousins and second cousins and cousins removed and frankly too many people for Zhenya to keep track of.

Apparently Sid has a cousin (or a second cousin?) who works in social services in Halifax. She calls them at home, late one evening. They’d been getting ready for bed. Oona had been tucked in hours ago.

“Hey Stacy,” Sid says, answering the phone with a wrinkle of confusion between his brows. “What’s up? Everything okay?”

He listens for a few minutes, and Zhenya can just hear the tinny sound of her voice as she speaks, staccato and clipped. Sid’s face goes slack with surprise. After a while he says he needs to talk to Zhenya and hangs up. He sits there for a moment, looking dazed.

“What?” Zhenya asks, concerned. “What’s happen?”

“There’s a baby,” Sid says. “Someone left him at the police station in Halifax a couple hours ago. Stacy managed to get assigned to pick him up, because he’s Mer. Can’t keep shifted, keeps going back and forth. She says she doesn’t know what to do; she needs to place him with a foster family that knows about, you know.”

Zhenya’s heart leaps. They’d been through the foster family vetting process last year, just in case. But then there’d been payments on the new boat, then a lousy lobster season. Their half-formed plans had been put on hold.

Sid looks at Zhenya. “You’re at home a lot more.” It’s true. Thanks to, as he likes to remind Sid, a more rigorous Russian secondary education, he’s got a better head for numbers then the rest of their crew. Also, he’s better at charming good wholesale buyers and intimidating the potentially stingy. He brings ice chests filled with fresh seafood to farmer’s markets and apparently he has a knack for charming yuppies and tourists as well.

So he’s been spending a lot of time doing that, or surrounded by papers in their little office, answering the phone and networking. Staying ashore also gives him the opportunity to do things like pick up Oona from her AM kindergarten class.

He has the time to be home with an infant. And if he does go out on the boat, they have Sid’s family, and any number of friends they can rely on. The money has been good this year. He knows Sid yearns for a big family, more children,  as much as he does.

“She said she thought of us right away,” Sid says softly, picking at the duvet, and Zhenya knows exactly what they’re going to do.

“Call back,” he says, reaching over to gently turn Sid’s face towards him. “Tell her we come get, whenever she need.”

Sid kisses him, hard and fierce, then dials.

***

He’s four months old, as far as anyone can guess, and he doesn’t have a name. His wailing has a strange, unearthly pitch to it and sometime he doesn’t have legs but a shiny, floppy silver tail that needs to be blanketed in seawater-soaked towels. At night they mix salt meant for marine aquariums into a bathtub full of cold water, and put him to bed in it, wrapped loosely in strips of felt meant to feel like kelp fronds. Zhenya frets but Cath assures them this will feel the safest and most comforting to him.

The first time he smiles for them is at Zhenya, when Zhenya is walking the floor with him one particularly fussy night. Sid was up with him all of last night and tonight it’s Zhenya’s turn. Zhenya had been singing a song from a Russian children’s cartoon to him, because he’d run out of lullabies.

He ends it with an exaggerated silly face, and to his shock, the baby breaks into a smile and a few full-body, hiccup-y baby giggles.

Sid wakes up to the baby being laid on his chest by a weepy Zhenya.

“He laugh,” Zhenya says, through elated and exhausted tears. “I sing him funny song from Cheburashka cartoon and he laugh, Sid.”

Sid’s hair is sticking up and he blinks at Zhenya like a confused owl. “Huh? He wha—”

Zhenya wipes his eyes. “Watch.” He leans over Sid and the baby and starts the song once more. When he makes the funny face, the baby again smiles a gummy smile and hiccup-giggles.

“Oh my god,” Sid says, and it’s all they can do not to cry so hard they set the baby off again.

***

His adoption papers read Anatoly Evgenevich Crosby-Malkin. At home he is just Tolya, and he is loved.

[charmedtheselfproclaimedking]

Charmed Again: Season 3 (Charmed Fanfic)

Episode 7 - Spellbound Behind Bars

Warnings: I don’t own the rights to any of the characters from the hit TV show “Charmed” or the storylines related to the show those rights belong to original creator Constance M Burge.

15+ Moderate/Graphic Displays of Violence, Sexual Innuendos, Witchcraft and Potentially Triggering Scenes.

Returning home to find his murdered father and aunt in the foyer of the Halliwell Manor would’ve been more than traumatic for anyone never mind someone who had already witnessed the death of his adoptive parents and his birth mother and things were made worse when Drake was arrested by the police wrongly charged with the murder of Paul and Pan Halliwell luckily his daughter Lilah never witnessed any of this and was currently with her mother Cindy the only comforting factor in a terrible situation that had well and truly left Drake feeling broken.

Through the worst times of his life Drake Black always had one person by his side his best friend Lacey Morgan-Halliwell but after killing her wife and brother in law’s assassin she had been kind of lacking when it came to communication leaving Drake alone behind bars with no word on getting out as he began to believe he was going to spend the rest of his life in a maximum security prison for a crime he never committed fearing he’d never see his daughter again.

Drake sat within the courtyard of the maximum-security prison he found himself imprisoned by as he sat on the cold ground with his legs crossed and eyes closed attempting to meditate and picture himself anywhere but there without accidentally blinking there at the same time.

Sure Drake had the power to leave at any moment but he knew if he did that would raise far too many questions leaving him with no choice but to stay put and hope the elders would find a magical solution to make all this go away knowing that even if he got out of his prison there’d be no way of bringing back his father or aunt no matter how much he wished they weren’t gone.

“Yeah I wouldn’t do that if I were you this is my first bit of peace since I got dumped in this hell hole and if you try disturbing it you will deeply regret it.” Drake warned Joey Kane and his prison gang as he opened his eyes to see them approaching.

“I don’t know what your doing here but move it along to somewhere else.” Joey told the Halliwell hybrid as Drake stood up to face Jake and his friends.

“Yeah I don’t take answers from anybody let alone some thug who needs a pose to bark orders at everybody.” Drake snapped at him.

“You’ve got an awful big mouth, but I doubt you’re half as dangerous as they say.” Joey said while pulling a makeshift shiv out of his pocket.

Joey charged at Drake with his makeshift shiv in his hand only for Drake to quickly kick it out of his hands before kicking Joey to the ground as Drake proceeding in fighting with Joey’s prison gang leading to Drake flooring each one of them with ease proving he was more than able to take them all without any weapons other than himself.

“Next time you’ll know better than to interrupt a guy while meditating.” Drake scoffed at him before hearing his own named shouted from across the courtyard as prison guarder Salter marched over the courtyard in his direction and whacked Drake across the face with his baton making Drake fall to the ground.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Salter shouted at Drake. “One way or another I’ll make you follow the rules!”

Drake had found himself pulled into the prison warden Echo Jinx’s office within the maximum-security prison he had found himself residing in following his little showdown in the courtyard as he sat handcuffed in front of the warden who was sat behind her desk looking at him with her usual judgmental look on her face.

“So, you’ve found yourself in trouble again Mr Black it’s beginning to be something of a regular occurrence for you.” She said to him.

“Hey, I was just minding my own business taking up some good old-fashioned meditation and then those degenerates came and started I fight so I had no choice but to put them in their place.” Drake replied. “Did I mention that they had a shiv? Not my fault Salter only seems to jump in when it’s time to get handsy with me I’m pretty sure he’s got it bad for me.”

“I will look into filing an official complaint about prison guard Salter’s mistreatment of prisoners even though some of you clearly deserve a bit of tough love from time to time.” Echo informed him.

“Thanks, but no thanks Jinx I’d rather just take care of things myself whether or not it leads me back here.” Drake said making it clear he didn’t want her assistance.

“With more violent behavior no doubt.” Echo snapped. “Has your life always been violent Mr Black?”

Drake wanted to answer yes or at least reveal he had lived a violent life for quite some time now ever since his adoptive parents died in a fire he accidentally caused.

Since then he had vanquished several demons including his own grandfather and his daughter’s aunt and watched his own mother die before his very eyes and that was all before discovering his father and aunt dead in their family home.

To say Drake Black’s life had been a violent one would truly be an understatement.

“It’s hardly been the best life that’s for sure.” Drake answered her.

“I can help you…” Echo began to say.

“If you’re going to help anyone it should be Julian Parker.” Drake interrupted the warden. “He’s a big-time drug lord whose business hasn’t exactly stopped while in here and if you don’t put a stop to it, I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.”

“You do realize you shouldn’t be making threats in the prison warden’s office, right?” She asked him.

“Tick tock goes the clock. Time speed forward so I can be back in my block.” Drake quickly chanting making the nearby clock on the wall’s mechanics inside begin spinning around.

Drake found himself showering within the seemingly empty prison showers when he heard a door slam loudly making him switch off his shower and wrap his towel around his waste as he investigates the prison bathroom only to be left shocked to find Jake stood waiting for him wearing nothing but a towel himself.

“I take it you can just freely roam whenever you feel like it as long as you pay the guards enough.” Drake said to his prison nemesis. “I can’t decide whether it’s brave or stupid of you to come here alone after how I easily I just took you and your friends on earlier.”

“Let’s say I’m a bit of both,” Joey said seductively as he dropped his own towel and walked towards Drake before pulling Drake’s towel off him and kissing Drake on the lips.

Drake and Joey shared a smile between each other before Joey roughly pushed Drake up against a nearby wall as the two prisoners began passionately kissing each other before Joey turned Drake around to face the wall as he pushed himself up against Drake and began passionately kissing the Halliwell hybrid’s neck.

“They really don’t joke when they say prison food tastes like hell actually if I’m honest hell tastes better.” Drake joked as he sat in the canteen area within the prison while he ate what was considered his dinner, attempting to cheer up his friend Toby who was sat opposite him his body shaking and sweating from withdrawal symptoms.

“Tell me about it, Julian got busted and now I’ve got nowhere of getting anything, Drake please you got to help me!” Toby pleaded with his cellmate.

“Julian got busted wow what a shame wonder who tipped them?” Drake replied with a knowing smirk. “Toby it’s time we get you clean once and for all you got a wife and kid outside you need to be clean before returning to them or else you’ll only wind up back in here again and they won’t wait for you a second time around. Trust me when you have family you’ve got to try everything to keep them.”

“Your right man I know your right but I’m not sure I’m strong enough to go through this again.” Toby admitted to him.

“Luckily for you I have a little remedy that’ll kick the withdrawal symptoms ass and help you stay off the drugs for good.” Drake revealed. “It’ll be thanks enough not to put up with your addicted ass so don’t worry about owing me anything I don’t play those prison games.”

Toby smiled at Drake silently thanking him for his help as Drake noticed Jake and his prison crew walk over to their table before sitting down at their table with Jake sitting right next to Drake leaving Drake unsure of whether he was about to be stabbed or asked to join their group, not particularly wanting either to be true.

“I sure hope you’re not here for another beat-down because if so, I intend on making your injuries that much more fatal.” Drake warned them all while looking straight at Joey.

“We’re not here to start anything with you we learned the hard way so to speak not to mess with you Drake Black.” Joey replied with a grin on his face. “I suppose we should’ve known any guy who killed their own father and aunt in cold blood shouldn’t be messed with.”

“I’m innocent although I’m starting to wonder if the people who need to know that actually know it or not.” Drake stated, disgusted by the accusation of which he had found himself in jail for.

“Either way we’ll offering our friendship towards you whether you’re in here for a few weeks, months or the long haul we want to be your friends.” Joey told the Halliwell hybrid.

“Yeah I’ve not really bothered with many friendships since high school and she’s dead now so that doesn’t exactly bode well for any new friends.” Drake answered Joey.

“You’re a funny guy Drake,” Jake laughed. “How about you scratch our backs and we’ll scratch yours.”

“Okay then,” Drake replied, clearly finding some use for his new friends. “Let’s start this whole scratching thing now I need to get my hand on some items, and I don’t want to be asked why I need these items.”

“Consider it done friend.” Joey said with a sinister smirk.

The next day Drake forced Toby into joining him for his second attempt at meditation as they sat within the middle of the courtyard grounds legs crossed, eyes closed and meditating while noticing nothing butter utter silence a silence Drake knew was because of his new friendship with Joey Kane.

“My wife swears by meditation she’s going to be shocked when she hears somebody convinced me to meditate with them.” Toby said to Drake breaking their silence.

“Part of meditating is the silence,” Drake joked. “Trust me it’s not my sort of thing normally but if I stop trying to hold myself together and stay in each moment as they come then I’m afraid I’ll fall apart.”

“Well now your top dog around here you’ll get all the time in the world to meditate as you please.” Toby replied while opening his eyes.

“I had several dreams about being top dog in prison and I’ve got to say I prefer the dream world’s version to this reality.” Drake admitted as he opened his eyes to see Joey walking over to them both. “Well there goes the silence.”

“I got everything you asked for.” Joey declared before dropping a key onto Drake’s lap. “After lock-down meet me in the basement for the exchange.”

“I guess I’ll see you after lock-down then.” Drake responded with a smile before Joey quickly walked away from him and Toby.

“I don’t think he’s being helpful for the sake of it, Drake he’s clearly after something and I don’t think this supposed miracle remedy of yours is worth doing business with the likes of him.” Toby warned his friend. “The Kane family are notorious in San Francisco.”

“So is my family in certain circles and I can promise you Halliwell carries much more fear than Kane.” Drake boasted. “Beside if I’ve just been left here to rot, I may as well start making friends with those in for longer than you.”

“I’ll still visit you when I get out my wife and kid too their going to love you Drake.” Toby replied to him.

“Once you’re out of here don’t ever look back and if you wind up back in here, I’ll be kicking your ass!” Drake warned him.

“Well if I wasn’t certain I was going to stay clean before I’m certain I will no.” Toby admitted. “I’m going to miss you when I get out of here…I hope you do too one day.”

Drake cautiously walked downstairs and into the prison basement knowing there was a chance that this could be a trap but not too worried knowing a part demon part witch hybrid was more than enough to handle Joey and his friends even if he was no longer a charmed one.

“I’ve got to admit a part of me believed this was going to be some kind of trap.” Drake said as he found Joey standing waiting for him while holding a pillowcase filled with contraband.

“You’ve got to learn to trust more people sure we started a fight with you but you’ve earned our respect now although I’m the one who should be cautious with all the messed up things you told me to buy.” Joey replied to him. “What exactly are you planning to with all this anyway?”

“Seems like somebody already forgot the no questions asked part of our deal.” Drake reminded him as he walked over to Joey and took the pillowcase off his hands.

“Fine but it wouldn’t kill you to thank a guy for going to so much trouble.” Joey flirted with Drake as he grabbed a hold of his body and pulled the Halliwell hybrid towards him. “Unless last time was just a onetime thing?”

“I got advised to stay away from you probably shouldn’t be sleeping with you either.” Drake replied with a flirtatious smile.

“And are you going to…stay away?” Joey asked before Drake kissed him.

“I’m done listening to anyone’s advice.” Drake answered him before the two began passionately kissing.

“So, I’ve heard you’ve got yourself roped into the Kane family I’ve got to say that’s not quite what I was expected when I was sent down here to keep and eye on the Halliwell hybrid.” Echo revealed to Drake the next morning as he sat back in her office once more while she sat comfortably behind her desk.

“Ah now it makes sense why the prison warden has taken so much interest in me.” Drake scoffed. “So, what are you a white lighter, elder, demon or other?”

“I’m a white lighter the elders assigned me here after the tragic events which led to your wrongful incarceration I was advised to reveal myself sooner but my curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see how the half demon worked within prison confinements.” Echo told him. “The elders are working on your release as us some kind of supernatural police force to get you out of jail they’re just hitting a few bumps along the way.”

“Of course, they are because now the charmed ones are dead, I’m just back to be some demonic hybrid they don’t approve of.” Drake snapped. “Firstly, I would’ve been out by now if I were a charmed one and secondly you should’ve told me the minute you got here to save me thinking I’d never get out of this place! As if losing my father and aunt weren’t enough the least you could do is get me out this prison.”

“I admit keeping lip was a mistake on my part but trust me when I say you are still very much a top priority with the elders you see Drake Black you are still needed to restore the charmed ones just like you did before but this time with different charmed colleagues.” Echo replied to Drake leaving him stunned by her revelations.

“Being a charmed one is the reason I’m in here it’s the reason I have nobody left except my daughter who I can’t even see right now.” Drake scoffed at her. “There’s no chance in hell I’ll ever be a charmed one again.

“Being a charmed ones is also the reason you were reunited with your family that you had your daughter and why your best friend didn’t stay dead although the elders are thoroughly regretting that mistake now she’s running around killing people right left and center.” Echo informed the Halliwell hybrid.

“Hold up you mean she’s killed more people?” Drake asked in horror, realizing how far Lacey Morgan-Halliwell had fallen.

“She’s mostly hunting other witch hunters, but she has taken out a white lighter or too as well it’s safe to say nobody in the magical community is safe as long as she lives.” Echo answered him. “Which I’m sure will be easy enough for the charmed ones to handle once they have been reborn with your help.”

“Hell no!” Drake shouted while standing up. “Killer or not I’m not killing my best friend and as for being a charmed one I was done being the elders’ lackey the moment they didn’t show up to save my dad.”

“Drake,” Echo said as she took a deep sigh before standing up to face him. “I can’t begin to imagine what your going through not only grieving but imprisoned but imagine what your going through now and how you can stop others from suffering that same fate.”

“Yeah that’s not my problem.” Drake replied.

“I don’t believe you I mean you have every means to escape prison and yet you stay because you know breaking out whether your innocent or not is wrong just like being able to help people and choosing not to is wrong.” Echo argued with him before Salter knocked on the door before opening it.

“I need to take Mr Black back to his cell now Miss Jinx.” Salter informed the white lighter pretending to be a prison warden.

“Very well,” Echo sighed with frustration before lowering her voice to speak to Drake. “Please just think about what I’ve said.”

“I’m more interested in seeing how quick their going to work to get me out without the knowing of getting me as some kind of prize for them.” Drake made himself clear.

Drake walked into his prison cell relieved to see Toby sat on the bottom bunk drinking from a plastic cup which contained a potion Drake made to help erase Toby’s withdrawal symptoms and his addiction in the process.

“I don’t know what’s inside this mad remedy you made but I’m beginning to feel like a new man.” Toby praised his friend while continuing to drink.

“Just make sure you finish the entirety of it.” Drake reminded him.

“I will, don’t worry in fact I’ll do it right now.” Toby said as he down the rest of the potion and stood up to hug Drake. “I can’t thank you enough Drake you’re like some kind of wizard.”

“It’s okay you can thank me by getting out of here and not fucking up your second chance.” Drake laughed while Toby continued to hug him.

As Drake continued to hug the only real friend, he believed to have in the prison he noticed Joey walking past his cell looking far from happy to see Drake touching another man clearly believing it to be anything but innocent.

The very next morning Drake woke up about to learn a cruel lesson about getting close to anyone while in prison as he was once again thrown into a murder scene of someone he had found himself growing close to as a dreadful history continued to repeat itself for the troubled Halliwell hybrid.

“Toby if you don’t want some ugly ass prison guard with bad morning breath screaming in your face you better get up now.” A blissfully unaware Drake told his cellmate before jumping out of his bunk bed to be left shocked to the core when his feet landed in a pool of blood.

Drake’s face dropped as he looked on the bottom bunk to see a bloodied and lifeless Toby laid on the bed with his throat slit much to Drake’s horror as he found himself flashing back to finding his father and aunt in a similar state remaining frozen for a moment before beginning to shout louder and louder.

“Help somebody help!” He shouted repeatedly despite knowing in his gut that Toby was already gone. “Guards.”

Drake found himself sitting within an interrogation room handcuffed and chained to the table while his eyes were red raw from crying over the death of his cellmate still shaking from the shock of finding his cellmate dead knowing it must of happened while he slept believing the murderer was his latest terrible choice in men.

“Obviously the elders know you’re not guilty of this crime and after advising the right people about the Kane family’s history of murder we ran a few tests on your blood leading to the conclusion you had been drugged leaving in a deep sleep which is why you never woke up to your friend being murdered.” Echo revealed to him as she walked over to the table and sat opposite the chained Drake. “I’m deeply sorry for your loss I wish I could say I’m surprised.”

“Hold up so your pretty much confirming Joey is behind all this?” Drake asked as his grief quickly turned to anger.

“Well I can’t exactly say for sure without checking in with the elders again, but I can honestly say I’d put good money on him!” Echo stated.

“Then I guess I’ve got a new bad guy to vanquish.” Drake declared. “And whoever helped him.”

“They’re not like the normal demons you vanquish Drake you can’t just vanquish them it’s not vanquishing when their human it’s murder.” Echo explained to a grieving Drake.

“What’s the use of being a witch and protecting the innocent when my friends, my family just get slaughtered one by one and I have to sit there and do nothing?” Drake snapped at the white lighter posing as a prison guard.

“Because there’s laws and a whole system in place to save humans from themselves granted they are flawed at best but that doesn’t mean we should take matters into our own hands we’re not gods.” Echo argued with him.

“That’s beyond hilarious coming from a woman whose real boss act like gods all the bloody time when all their just promoted white lighters considering most of them were wiped out years ago and saved by my own great-grandfather.” Drake continued to argue his point. “My god damn family has saved your asses time and time again but when it comes to saving us you are nowhere to be seen so don’t you dare sit there and tell me what I’m to do or not to do because I’m done listening to the lot of you!"

Drake had plenty of time alone in his new prison cell thinking whether to handle things the charmed way or the demonic way knowing the charmed way had only ever failed him whereas the demonic way was no less inhumane than the people who slaughtered his cellmate.

After a few hours after lock-down Drake found Salter opening his cell before ordering him out of bed and cuffing him as they escorted the Halliwell hybrid into the prison canteen to find Joey stood there waiting for him as Salter quickly made himself out of sight.

“I heard about your cellmate and by the looks of it you’re not exactly handling it very well.”

“I had a feeling you’d arrange a meeting with me sooner or later although I’m very surprised you chose the same day.” Drake said as he walked towards Joey before a knife blinked into his hand. “Killing my only friend in here was the worse place you ever made.”

“I never killed anyone Drake but I’m sure you’re not going to believe that given my family name.” Joey scoffed before Drake grab a hold of his hand slamming it down on a nearby table and pinning Joey’s hand to the table with his knife causing Joey to scream out in pain.

“Here’s the thing I’ve been lied to most of my life so when people lie to me it, kind of pisses me off.” Drake told him, as he contemplated murdering the man in front of him.

“I didn’t do it Drake,” Joey said in between screams of pain. “I don’t do over friends like that.”

“I don’t believe you!” Drake shouted as he twisted the knife launched in Joey’s hand.

“It’s probably some demon you stupid witch.” Joey screamed at him shocking Joey in the process as Drake instantly pulled the knife out of Joey’s hand as Joey fell to the ground his hand bleeding heavily.

“How do you know I’m a witch?” Drake asked him as he dropped the bloody knife to the ground, disgusted by what he had just done out of rage.

“I’m the guy who got your ingredients wasn’t hard to work out what you were after that.” Joey replied as he held on his hand trying to stop it from bleeding groaning in pain before Drake waved his hand and suddenly Joey’s hand was fully bandaged.

“Luckily for you I know how to bandage a perp from back when I was putting people in jail instead of locking them up.” Drake said as he helped a reluctant Joey back up to his feet. “So, you’re really telling me your innocent?”

“Screw you, you just stabbed me you psychopath and now you want to interrogate me.” Joey snapped at him. “Sure, I was jealous, but I don’t kill over jealousy I just break a few legs.”

“You know that’s problematic too right?” Drake laughed in response.

“Says the jackass who just stabbed me in the hand!” Joey replied before looking at his bandaged hand. “Although I’ve got to admit your powers are kind of cool.”

“I’m sorry for stabbing you I guess I have some anger issues after everything.” Drake apologized. “I can’t believe I almost killed me.”

“Please what’s a stabbing between friends?” Joey joked before going on to say. “For the record you wouldn’t have wound up killing me even if I did kill your friend, you’re not a murderer I’ve known murderers and trust me you’re not one of them.”

“I thought I could be for a moment but then I remembered that’s not who I am and it’s not who my father would ever want me to be.” Drake revealed to him. “Who all four of my parents would ever want me to be.”

“I have a theory Salter’s a demon I mean he’s had it in for you since you got here, and I’ve not seen him around until you showed up.” Joey explained his claim. “I mean I’ve never been a witch or a detective so you should probably do some digging but I’ve got a hunch and my hunches are rarely wrong.”

“You know you should probably listen to the guy he’s not entirely stupid for a thug.” Salter suggested after shimming into the canteen.

“Good it’s a demon, demons I can kill without feeling like a murderer.” Drake said with a sigh of relief. “Which I suppose is kind of messed up considering I’m half demon.”

Salter suddenly summoned an energy ball above his hand before throwing it in Drake’s direction who waved his hand to blink the energy ball out of sight before it reappeared hitting Salter and sending him flying across the air before ending up laid on the floor. Before Salter could get back on his feet Drake waved his hand once more setting the demon on fire and watching him burn before exploding in front of him and Joey.

“Remind me to never piss you off again.” Joey joked with Drake.

“Got to admit that felt much better than murdering you would’ve done.” Drake laughed.

Later that day Drake walked back into Echo’s office within the prison no longer wearing any prison clothes or handcuffs instead looking like himself once again in his own clothes much to Echo’s delight.

“So, you vanquished a demon instead of murdering a human.” Echo said with a sense of smug in her voice. “I guess this means despite everything you’re still more charmed than demonic.”

“I’ve been stuck in here longer than needed to take out that demon, haven’t I?” Drake scoffed at the white lighter masquerading as a prison guard. “God even when I’m grieving the elders still have me doing their dirty work to the lengths, they kept me imprisoned until now once I did what they wanted.”

“What can I say the elders have their way of doing things sometimes it’s not for you or me to understand.” Echo replied, admitting Drake was right.

“You’re not like most white lighters, now are you?” Drake asked her.

“Actually, I am you charmed ones just seem to get special treatment from all your previous white lighters and look where’s that got you! The second generation of the charmed ones lasted three years.” Echo snapped at him. “I’m around to make sure the next charmed ones don’t wind up the same way.”

“Wow you’ve definitely got a way of words!” Drake replied before taking a deep sigh. “Let me talk to Quinn!”

Echo nodded in acceptance before orbing out of the room only for Quinn to orb into the room seconds later.

“Hey how are…” Quinn began to say before getting punched in the mouth by Drake.

“How dare you put me through all of this after everything I’ve been through?” Drake shouted at his former elder. “How dare you not save them and leave me to find their bodies? How could you let them keep me here?”

“I’m sorry it wasn’t my decision I voted against this, but the other elders thought it would help remind you who you are at a time when you needed it most.” Quinn revealed to him.

“So, once again you chose everyone else but me but this time it’s unforgivable.” Drake told him with tears in his eyes. “You let me lose memories of my mother when I was grieving her, you went off to chase your dream of being an elder instead of helping get me back and now you let your colleagues or whatever the hell you want to call them dump me in jail after I lost my family a family that took you in too.”

“I’ve apologised for that over and over again what more do you want from me?” Quinn asked him.

“I wanted you to be there for me you know how much it killed me losing my parents losing Eve and yet you weren’t there when I lost them.” Drake cried. “All I ever wanted was for you to choose me over everything else and yet you never did…you never will.”

“I still love you don’t ever think I’ve ever stopped loving you.” Quinn declared with tears in his eyes.

“That’s not enough,” Drake replied as he dried his tears. “Now that I’m free to go I’m going to do just that.”

“What about Charmed?” Quinn asked before Drake blinked away.