#they can't just form these takes that have no basis in canon to push a narrative

[assiraphales]

Something interesting Ive noticed, is that a lot if what craig/neil/ususlly og game voice actors, say things about the show and characters that they didnt actually put on screen.

Like saying ellie has a violent heart when she has cried everytime shes involved in violence and after stabbing David literally screamed and cries in terror when joel gently grabs her. Or that Joel who is not a cannibal and not a pedophile is like david when the actual episode goes out of its way to make sure you know that their actions and intentions make them complete opposites.

Like it honestly feels like they know that these are opinions that formed from making tlou2. But beacuse none of those are in the show they have to say it in the extra content and explain it. Like so much of what theyve talked about isnt rhe same characters on screen.

Like they want to push tlou 2 narrative but know general audiences will not be receptive to those ideas. So they stretch the truth in off show content to justify their opinions.

Its so dumb. The show they made does not match the narrative they wanted to push and I only wonder how much behind the scenes talks went on that may have scrapped them actually doing those things.

Like Bruce for the og game is a big reason Neil dropped a ton of dumb plots and I wonder how much of that happened with other persons including cast members played a similar role. But they know only dedicated typically game fans will watch their off show content so thats where they plug their rejected interpretations and can pretend its canon.

Pedros out there very diplomatically discussing the show, talking about how he wanted to show a softer side of joel that archtypes like him dont usually get so you see more of his love and humanity. And then you got those bozos on their whatever podcast going "yeah joel and the rapist are parallels basically (henry was joels parallel you bongos)"

no literally. literally!!!!!

[coelacanth-designs]

Timeline/ Layout of AU

Aight so I felt like it was a good idea to layout the basic concept of my personal AU! The basis of it is a kind of "what if" scenario mixed with my own experiences of trial and error of the self. What if the Mind and Heart weren't the ones causing dissonance between each other and the Whole. What if it was the Souls lack of self understanding and awareness that threw the Whole into its state of undoing and unraveling.

It would start with the dissonance and instead of Soul introducing themselves (as they are unable to) we would find ourselves seeing a freshly formed Heart and Mind. Neither of them knows how to speak to the other but understands that they have each other and that one is as important as the other. This is where I also pull in the idea that neither has a further understanding like in the original canon that only one is right, or in another term. Neither has been pushed to the point of that belief. I also like the idea that it's almost like there's an invisible wall between them which can represent my issues with my Heart and Mind almost feeling alienated from each other and the outside world giving an intensely isolating experience.

Once they're able to talk to each other, they do have arguments and spats, but they try and lead the Whole while doing their best to observe and take in the world.

Eventually they find Soul, wrapped up in layers upon layers of false ideas of themselves that they cut and pasted onto their own image to try and make up for what themselves and the Whole severely lacks. A sense of self and belonging when it comes to a person.

Heart and Mind would then have to try and understand who this was while also trying to approach what that means for the three of them. (in between this and the next part is when my version of the Juno incident happened. Where Soul impulsively lashes out against Heart and Mind, blaming their grievances on the two of them. Avoidance is their problem and they're too blind to see it.)

The next big milestone would be Soul understanding that the Whole can't run if only 2/3 parts are working towards growth, and with Mind and Hearts help, they start to peel back the layers, and attempt to break out of their shell.

Eventually they all get to a realization. "it doesn't matter what others want us(me) to be, if they don't like me for me then I don't need their acceptance." From there Soul is now starting to take the reigns and while hesitantly, Mind and Heart are their at their side trying to help lead with them. Eventually getting into a rhythm where the three have realized that being a Whole is easiest when the three can talk to each other face to face to take on the issues together.

It wouldn't end on the note of pessimism with the future, but just that the future is full of twists and turns and that they can figure it out!

Also Peewee is there throughout. Peewee is a vital reference for Mind and Heart (and eventually Soul) from start to finish about the Wholes physical health. Anywho! I want to work on as well showing the different stages that the mind went through? As this kind of co-aligns with the story idea I had that involves stepping through your mind into anothers, how their habits, emotions, and even trauma can show up in their minds.

If you made it to the end I appreciate it! Lmao I'm just genuinelly happy I can finally ramble about my ideas and if people like them, cool! But now the idea is situated and documented :3

(doodle with not okay Heart and a comforting Mind as a treat for making it to the end lol)

[cavennmalore]

Something weird I've noticed in the kotlc fandom that I really cannot wrap my head around is the treatment of the Vacker family, specifically Alden and Fitz. These are understandably popular characters (and for good reason) and it makes sense that people interpret them in different ways. I can't help but notice that some of the predominant discussions around them center on personality traits they just... don't have in canon.

Most of the characterizations I see of Alden treat him as a rampant child abuser. He's overbearing, stern, and determined to force his child to live up to the Vacker name by any means necessary. Naturally, Alden is not a perfect character or father, but such a harsh depiction flattens much of what makes him dynamic in the books. As I see it, there are two main flaws that Alden has in canon: his past with Prentice and his meddling.

What Alden did to Prentice is treated pretty seriously throughout the series. In Exile, it's made clear that falsely accusing (or, not so falsely, depending on what you consider the real crime to be) Prentice and performing the mindbreak is the biggest regret of his life. So big, that it shatters his sanity and ruins one of his closest relationships (Exile, Chapter 35; Nightfall, Chapter 3). It's the mistake that keeps on giving, and it's made abundantly clear that while Alden wasn't aware of what he was truly doing, he bears responsibility nonetheless. It's a burden that Alden takes extremely seriously, pushing him to search for the Moonlark for years, but more on that later. While his guilt over Prentice is an important part of his character, it's not the flaw that I usually see given the most weight in his characterizations.

Alden's meddling is prominent, to say the least. It heavily features in most interpretations I see of him online, largely negatively and largely without specificity. In canon, there are really two ways that his nosiness presents itself: his children's personal lives and his hunt for the Moonlark. The two best examples of his meddling as a parent come from his interventions in Fitz and Biana's friendships. In the first book, Alden encourages Biana to befriend Sophie because he worries about her (Keeper, Chapters 43 and 47). He acts similarly with Fitz and Keefe, encouraging Fitz to invite Keefe to Everglen so Keefe can avoid spending time with Cassius (Flashback, Chapter 21). In both cases, Alden doesn't go beyond asking his kids to spend time with potential friends. He doesn't micromanage their hangouts or insist it's for status reasons; he's interested in supervising kids who he worries are in a bad spot. This is notably different from Gisela's meddling, which is for personal gain with tangible, selfish goals (Neverseen, Chapter 63). Maybe Alden shouldn't be pushing his kids to spend time with those they don't have an interest in. But the eventual friendships that arise from them make up for it, in my opinion.

The other form Alden's meddling takes is his hunt for the Moonlark. As a manifestation of his guilt over Prentice's mindbreak, Alden enlists Alvar and Fitz to search the Forbidden Cities for the Moonlark. I've seen this search used as the basis for a lot of the animosity between Alden and his sons, which I think is incorrect. Alvar is the first hunter and is very open about how pointless he thought the endeavor was (Keeper, Chapter 28; Neverseen, Chapter 1). The difference of opinions over the Black Swan between Alvar and Alden is a point of contention in their relationship, but it's important to note that Alvar doesn't claim to feel pressured or pushed into the search. He just thinks the conspiracy of the Black Swan is stupid (Keeper, Chapter 28). Of course, much of this protesting was a cover for the fact that he was working with the Neverseen and would've been searching anyway (Neverseen, Chapter 63).

Fitz takes over the search at age six (Neverseen, Chapter 1). Fitz's age when being sent out is questionable at best, and I think is fair to criticize Alden for (though, I think the age has more to do with Shannon being unable to decide how Elvin aging is supposed to work since none of the other characters seem to think six is unreasonably young). But while the reader can freely critique Alden for this, what's crucial is that Fitz doesn't seem to mind this. Rather than be upset or resentful that Alden had him search for the Moonlark, Fitz calls it "the most important thing [he'll] probably ever do" (Stellarlune, Chapter 43). He's proud of the work he and his father did; if anything, it's a positive in their relationship. I've seen some arguments that pushing Fitz into the Forbidden Cities is part of a pattern of having kids do dangerous work (per Sophie doing Fintans mindbreak in Exile, even though that wasn't Alden's idea and he offered to disobey the Council if she didn't want to), which isn't necessarily unfair. What I do think is a problem is acting like the search for the Moonlark had a significant negative impact on Alden's relationships with his sons.

Part of the reason I think this interpretation is so prevalent is a contributing misunderstanding about Fitz's character. Fitz is often portrayed as anxiety-ridden over his role as a Vacker and the expectations that come along with it. Being a leader isn't something he wants, but something he feels pressured into. In canon, Fitz is almost the complete opposite. He's shown at being naturally gifted at telepathy and school and is incredibly charming. Being a Vacker -- and the expectations that come with it -- is something he embraces wholeheartedly. In fact, it is the loss of his leadership that causes struggle. A main point of contention that Fitz has with Sophie in Stellarlune (Chapter 43) is that he "still want[s] to be that guy that everyone looks to" even though that's no longer his role. None of this is to say that Fitz is perfect, or that he doesn't fight against the idea of being labeled so. Instead, much of Fitz's arc is about learning when to step back and change his perspective on the world, including recognizing when his privilege has clouded his judgment. His rejection of being labeled perfect has more to do, in my eyes, with having a difficult time reconciling his "idyllic" childhood with the harsher childhoods of his friends (Flashback, Chapter 21).

So what is the problem between the Vackers, if not fanon? The one issue that is repeatedly brought up by both Fitz and Alvar alike regarding their father is favoritism. Alvar felt ignored after the births of Fitz and Biana, claiming that Alden replaced him with Fitz whom he refers to as the "Golden Child" (Neverseen, Chapter 72; Flashback, Chapter 49). Fitz feels betrayed by his parents' immediate re-welcoming of Alvar when his memories are gone, insisting they prioritize Alvar over Fitz and Biana's safety (Flashback, Chapter 16). In both cases, Fitz and Alvar feel like an afterthought or the lesser child. It's that feeling that fuels (or encourages, considering Alvar's done quite a bit throughout the series to create independent hate lol) the animosity between them and Alden.

It's this "favorite child" dynamic that I find really interesting and unique about the Vacker's dysfunction in the series. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see a reason to paint over this dynamic with bullying, especially considering there is a father-son relationship in canon that is the Vacker fanon almost to a T. Cassius spent Keefe's whole life attempting to pressure him into becoming a "real" Sencen, which Keefe tried to do before realizing it was unattainable (Flashback, Chapter 21). It's the bedrock of their non-relationship. To shove Fitz and Alden into that pigeonhole is a disservice to each of these relationships, which have their own intrigues without sharing. None of this is to say that people can't headcanon as they wish, and to try and play with characters is the fun of fandom. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from that or shame them for it. But to claim those relationships are canon is disingenuous to me and a misportrayal of the books.

[spoilmesweetieforficssake]

(i knew something was off! i was deliberating whether or not to reach out and ask because i saw you answer a few asks, and i'm glad i decided to see to it. i did my best to recreate all i've said in that lost ask because i wanted you to know how excited i was. i apologize for the length of this, i can't sum it all up in just a few words but i'll try to be concise next time. and since that eaten ask was almost a week ago, and your don't go breaking my heart fic is posted far longer, i sure hope that you're relieved of the sinus headache.)

i did not expect your reply to come with a new fic! it's a pleasant surprise. i'm absolutely floored and touched please accept my heart in exchange

the fic is a whole lot of perfection! it's really interesting to read about how larissa uses her powers on a day to day basis. and i'm claiming it as canon now!!! because her position at nevermore really makes it hard to have a day just for herself without anyone recognizing her.

that scene with bringing enid back to the table so larissa can decide on her own how to deal with the situation is the sweetest and is very considerate. i think it's also the best way to handle the situation. i wonder what would have happened though if wednesday didn't appear. also wondering now if larissa, when shapeshifted, sometimes does things she won't do in her own form. that'd be interesting.

i'm absolutely feral about the behaviors and mannerisms staying the same even if she's assuming an appearance not entirely her own. that everything she does is still her except the appearance. i'm obsessed with it! it's everything!! the best!! it's one of my favorite parts of this fic.

and the reassurance about the whole thing? i'm eating it all up! it's so soft. i'm holding it close to my heart.

that one rule? yes, yes, and yes! as it should be!

have i already mentioned how much i love the fic? how perfect it is? how in love i am with it? that it's a gem? because it's true! it's all that and more. thank you! i had a blast reading it.

this is my third try sending this. if it still doesn't push through, i'm going to cry.

- 🫣

Message received loud and clear! And how dare Tumblr eat your first attempt! I'm so glad you did reach out otherwise I wouldn't have seen this magnificent message!

My sinus headache has indeed retreated - thank you for asking - and you have my full attention.

First off - never apologise for the length of any comment in reply to my fics. Conciseness can be overrated.

I'd feel bad taking your heart in return for one little fic (your words are more than enough!) I'm touched. I'm astounded. I'm absolutely flattered beyond belief.

I don't quite know where the idea came from but I wanted a fic that was her using her powers as a way to hide in plain sight but in a different way, and in a way that felt natural for her having always had these powers.

Wednesday didn't originally appear, but without her things just stalled at Enid being furious. Wednesday just helped move things along with her usual distinct style.

And I just felt that in being unobserved and hopefully comfortable with her partner Larissa would be her authentic self and that reader would recognise that, no matter what she look she was sporting that day.

Saying thank you to you doesn't feel enough for all the lovey words you've said and the effort you've gone to. I'm just so glad you enjoyed it as much as you did. It never fails to give me the warm and fuzzies (and make me do a little happy dance) to hear that something I've written has found it's way to someone who loves it.

It still doesn't feel like enough - but thank you!!!!!

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Kirk and Spock: Canon Musings and Fandom Curiosities Of an LGBT+ Trek Fan

Here are some thoughts surrounding the fandom controversy of anti k/s shippers who get uppity with those of us who enjoy it; specifically those members of our fandom who have now taken to bemoaning how "woke" Trek has become despite it always being "woke", or the recent fresh flush of anti-LGBT rage stirred up in select fans at our (checks latest reason for outbursts) SNW enthusiasm.

As a member of LGBT+, I can't help but bring my own experiences in this fandom into this, too, because I feel it is relevant. So let's have a conversation.

FYI, This is not in alignment or support of those k/s forcefeeders who try to browbeat all fans into agreeing that k/s is canon, which I'm not cool with. Everyone should be able to enjoy the fandom however they see fit - don't conflate extremism with fandom. If someone enjoys this fandom thinking Spock/Chapel or asexual Spock or platonic besties Kirk and Spock then leave them alone. -_- They have every right to enjoy this fandom in their own way as much as you do. To quote Jim: "Don't push, Charlie."

What I mean is, k/s fans who simply enjoy entertaining the idea as canon for ourselves and like-minded fans, while some other Trek fans get rabid stinging mad and offended about it for some reason.

I've been told that even the idea that Jim Kirk might be bi is "disgusting", "perverted", a "twisted, sick fantasy" to name a few examples. . . No joke. Actual Twitter comments from people who think simply liking both men and women is "perverted". Y'all TIL that just the idea of being bi is a "twisted, sick fantasy". And as a bisexual person in a fandom that gave us a concept like IDIC, I wasn't feeling very welcome or embraced after reading some of that anti-bi vitriol. My existence is not "perverted" or "twisted", nor is the love I have shared with my married partner for the past 12 years. But I digress. I'm not about to be chased away from something I love because of the usual cowardly stream of anti-LGBT+ pearl clutching and dismissiveness from a loud minority that has become so commonplace in our society. 

"They're trying to make everything gay now it's so stupid and unrealistic I'm so tired of hearing about gay things" *Looks pointedly at the decades of STRAIGHT ONLY representation being celebrated: straight-centric holidays, the fact that gay marriage was illegal for decades and yet in order to be allowed to visit a dying partner in the ICU, they required you to legally be family; this meant that while straight couples always got to say their proper goodbyes to the loves of their lives on their hospital deathbeds, LGBT+ couples were denied this right on the basis of not being legally allowed to get married throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and early 00s, plus constant cultural straight-washing forced on everybody from day 1 in the form of creepy fake child kindergarten wedding invites and baby rompers that say gross things like "Daddy's Little Lady Killer"*

It all seems rather aggressive for so mild a suggestion pertaining to fictional characters that are living in the future where this would all be a lot more likely and casual regarding gender and sexuality.

Anyway, moving on from that disappointing dumpster fire of interactions that I and others were on the receiving end of as a member of LGBT+ in the Trek fandom . . . the fandom is typically very open minded and welcoming, but there are always a few turd nuggets in any gold heap.

With all that unpacked, it made me curious: just what are they protecting so fiercely? What are they canonically terrified of losing? Swaggering Jim who is doomed to hop from broken relationship to broken relationship? Are they saving Jim Kirk from the Bisexual boogeyman? What exactly are they vehemently defending, if they are so against that take?

I guess what I'm curious about is this: What is their ideal pairing or TOS ship that seems logical to them that we are threatening by loving our ship, if any at all? (Hey I know some of you are just here for the spaceship porn and don't give a shit about any of this, fill your boots. Come on down and ignore us fools obsessed with make believe characters, we love you all.)

If y'all don't think the affection was certainly sufficient enough for their relationship to be considered romantic (as Gene Roddenberry put it) . . . Well then, who or what else? What makes more logical sense, given the canon we have been given? I don't ask this antagonistically, but with genuine curiosity about theories. I'm not here to shoot anyone down, opinions are welcome. I've just always wondered about the other takes.

The canon is so weird in that unlike most other stories where they try to beat you over the head with hetero happily ever after, Star Trek canon keeps Kirk and Spock's long term romantic details -- especially Spock's -- quite ambiguous. We never see them get married, or settle down with anyone specific, officially on screen or in the canon.

Not that characters have to have a relationship to feel fulfilled, but this is all based on what we know of these characters in particular; we already know that Spock and Jim have expressed a desire and need for love, companionship and connection.

We know Jim is brimming with affection; he is a VERY openly affectionate person who often vulnerably ruminates on love and feelings of loneliness.

He constantly expresses a want and need for a partner to understand him and love him as he is, and he talks a great deal about  how being alone is a fear or discomfort of his. Even though he romances often, Jim usually ends up dumped or removing himself from the relationship because ultimately, nobody seems to respect or understand his commitment to his ship and Starfleet on a personal level -- they don’t seem to truly understand him -- that is, besides Spock. But Jim is right of course; he shouldn't have to give up who he is and what he loves in order to be loved or understood. True love is what happens when a person sees you just as you are and still wants to buy what you’re selling, warts and all.  And the only person who seems to share this love and enthusiasm for his ship and his job with that same keen level of understanding is Spock.

This comes up in even some of the earliest episodes of TOS.

"This vessel. I give, she takes. She won't permit me my life. I've got to live hers." - Kirk to Spock

Conversely, Spock has convinced himself that he doesn't need love or anyone else to survive, and how he grapples with that throughout TOS. By the end of the motion picture, he finally realizes how wrong that is and says as much to Jim by confessing his feelings and how he needs them -- specifically, how he needs Jim.

So if Kirk and Spock aren't the closest to one another and the most likely spouses, I’m curious: who else? What makes more sense then, canonically, knowing what we know about Kirk and Spock in TOS/The Movie canon from start to finish?

We never expressly hear of Spock having an official significant other named throughout canon. A marriage is alluded to in TNG, but we do not know to who -- or anything about their gender/identity. The writer of Spock's autobiography describes him as "widowed" from Kirk. This is just about the closest reference that we get (outside the vague mention in TNG) resembling Spock having some semblance of an intimate love relationship long term.

I genuinely don’t feel there is another character in the TOS canon that reoccurs throughout it that you could argue the canon explicitly intended or set up for Spock to end game be with aside from T'Pring, who shot him down for Stonn.

Usually when people say a character is straight, it is because the canon has already arranged an obvious hetero end game pairing for them with blatant evidence. 

For Spock, that never happens -- not an end game situation with another character that is anything remotely close to being as intimate, personal, or affectionate as what he develops with Jim. 

The closest we ever get is Chapel, Zarabeth or Leila -- all of which we know for certain were never canonically described or written as Spock's long term partner - we'd know about it by now if that were the case. (Note 1: I didn’t count Saavik here as their relationship wasn’t primarily developed or sold as truly romantic or an end game romance. I feel if that were the case, they would have blasted that from the rooftops -- whereas the mentor-apprentice relationship they shared is prominent and obvious. She doesn’t come back outside the canon she appeared in, they aren’t mentioned as settling down or having a relationship later in-canon. . . Basically she got down with Spock’s mindless meat thrall teen body while his katra was in another castle in ST III so that the body wouldn’t die. If that constitutes an intimate romantic relationship to you, please get help.)

(Note 2: I am writing this from the perspective that Spock is not ace based on TOS evidence such as Amok Time, The Enterprise Incident, All Our Yesterdays, and This Side of Paradise as examples which highlight Spock's capacity for sexual desire and offers a mild suggestion of interest in sex -- however rarely it appears. However if y'all interpret Spock as ace though, my take is one take and it ain’t gospel-- power to you fam, rock that ace Vulcan.)

In Kirk's case, Jim very obviously loves women. He has a number of genuine relationships with them; he most notably has a failed serious relationship with Carol Marcus. That would be the closest thing canon did to assigning an official long term partner for Jim, but the films and comics make it very clear that Carol and Jim were unhappy together -- so much so that Carol left Jim, and demanded that Jim stay away from his only child and not be a part of his life. She denied him the ability to participate as a father selfishly; not for David’s benefit, but for her own personal benefit. She wanted to have nothing to do with Kirk, and she kept their child from knowing his father or following in his footsteps. Truth be told, that wasn’t Carol’s decision or right to choose for David, ultimately. She can raise him, but it wasn’t her right to deny him access to his father or the option of exploring that side of himself. And in Kirk’s case, nor is that the kind of lot that the end game love of your life offers you in regards to a future with you and your child. 

Furthermore, what Carol had always feared is exactly what happened; David followed after Jim into the thick of the action, and he died as a product of it. Did Carol ever want to be in a relationship with Jim again, after their son was killed due to him trying to get Spock back? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't if it were my kid that died. There is also no mention in the canon of Jim and Carol ever rekindling, and any relationship Jim has with other people outside of Spock in canon are often fleeting; they never seem last long term. Besides Carol, he never truly "settles down" with anyone in canon for what could be considered a true “end game” scenario. 

So my question is, in canon, if Kirk and Spock aren't the most feasible answer for each other in terms of closeness, intimacy, mutual respect, love and admiration, who is?

It has been said time and again that they know and understand each other unlike anybody else in the canon -- that they are two halves of the same whole. Roddenberry himself said he intended them to complete each other: "You are closer to the captain than anyone else in the universe. You know his thoughts."/"Theirs had been the touching of two minds which the old poets of Spock's home planet had proclaimed as superior even to the wild physical love which affected Vulcans every seventh year during pon farr."

The pendant scene written for ST 2009. "I have been and always shall be yours."

The one thing I struggle to understand with anti-K/S fans is, do they prefer the idea that the guys just lived their whole lives for duty, contradicting the message of TMP about how essential love and connection is, and just kind of stayed lonely and isolated for the rest of their lives? Did Spock just have one off pon farr cycles with strangers and never knew what it felt like to actually be loved wholeheartedly by somebody?

Was Jim just destined to be a sad, lonely boss who's relationships always ended in the other person choosing their career over him, of putting him aside or dumping him, never knowing what it is like to be genuinely appreciated and cherished as opposed to discarded? He has had his heart and trust broken so many times. Is that really the life we are so sold to for James T. Kirk?

I can completely understand if folks would rather maintain the perspective that they are friends -- I think folks should enjoy stories in whatever way makes them happiest. I'm not here to say "IT'S CANON" *forcefeed* or that anyone has to buy what I'm selling, I'm just curious.

It blows my mind that the idea of Kirk and Spock getting a shot at real, genuine love -- that good shit you only get when you are intensely close with someone who understands you and you marry your best friend -- that that idea is less appealing to someone out there than "well they were just married to their duties forever, never made any other real long lasting, intimate bonds with other people or found true love, and they just kind of worked until they died. Kirk had an anthology of failed relationships that never stuck and Spock was just lonely till he died. The end." Like really? That gives you your jush? If it does then I love that for you, but for me that is just so . . . Cold.

Just . . . what the fuck? Being forever alone or a failure at love sounds so much more miserable than being secret gay?

Anyway, that's just one little bear's opinion, do with it what you will. But I'm on team "they had a secret but awesome love relationship for the remainder of their lives" over team "forever alone and married to work for the rest of their lives".

I'm on team "my boys deserve happiness".

If you want to ship fucking Horta x Balok fics or if you’re simply here for the nacelle porn a la Monty Scott and don’t give two damns about any of this, I’m here for you: you support something I love, and you aren’t hurting anybody while doing it.

Thanks for coming to yet another long winded, homoerotic Star Trek TedXTalk.

Remember that regardless of why you are in this fandom, so long as you are not hurting somebody else, I’m here for you. 

We don’t have to love something for the same reasons or the same way in order to love it just as equally. So even if we don’t see eye to eye about every little fan theory or sentiment, thanks for being here and supporting Star Trek, however you lean; so long as you are kind and open minded, I got you fam. LLAP, and IDIC.🖖 💚

[sasukerevolution]

How do you think Sasuke's personality would be if clan was never murdered? I always see so many AUs like this but all of them keep his personality from canon which makes it weird. Naruto fillers aren't much better in this, so I wanted to ask what do you think? (;

Good question!

I think some of the basics would stay the same:

Goal-orientation - Sasuke would always be the kind of person who works on a goal-to-goal basis, setting his sights on something he wants and going for it without thinking too much. This is something that's inherent to who he is as a person - he does this when he's a kid (most notable example being when he teaches himself the Fireball Jutsu), he does it at the start of the series (he wants to feed Naruto so he feeds Naruto), he does it all the way through the middle and end (he wants to free Orochimaru's prisoners so he frees Orochimaru's prisoners, he wants to destroy the Leaf so he tries to destroy the Leaf). The only complicated examples of this in canon are killing Itachi and leaving the Leaf because he didn't want to do those, so he spent more time thinking it over.

Sincerity - Sasuke doesn't bullshit or lie. He's very "innocent" that way and would have stayed like that. If extreme trauma didn't change this about him then the absence of trauma definitely wouldn't. It's just part of who he is.

Skepticism - Sasuke doesn't just believe everything he's told, which is why Itachi has to work so hard to trick him. Even without the trauma, he'd remain a thoughtful person who considers what others tell him carefully and weighs it against his own understanding of reality.

Creativity and individuality - Sasuke works hard to set himself apart from others, taking pleasure in crafting new jutsu, having "signature" aspects to his fighting style, and changing his outfits more than any other character in the series. Especially with Itachi still around, I think this part of Sasuke would stay the same. He's got a brand and he works hard on it.

Trusting in his feelings - Sasuke trusts his emotions a lot and lets them guide him. We see this mainly in Part II - in Part I, he does eventually swallow down a lot of his feelings to keep pursuing his goal of killing Itachi, but he does still trust them and uses them as a guide for making decisions like not to kill Naruto. In Part II, Sasuke literally just does whatever he feels like doing in the moment. It doesn't matter if Itachi would be upset with him for trying to destroy the Village because he centers his own grief and suffering, and doesn't need to tell himself lies about how what he's doing is actually best for people, etc. In the absence of the Massacre, I think we might actually see this become more pronounced, because he has less reasons to do things that contradict how he feels.

Autonomy-valuing - Sasuke hates when others try to manipulate him and pursues his own freedom relentlessly. In the absence of every party in the entire world trying to manipulate him literally all the time, this might be lower-key, but he would still care a lot about making his own decisions and choosing his own path.

As for things that might change...

Clan pride - Sasuke would be much better positioned to form an opinion on the Uchiha based on their actual values and goals. In canon he never really has the space for this; they're dead and he didn't know about anything they were up to while it was happening. I can't see Sasuke automatically accepting whatever roles they might try to push on him as he got older; he would think through it himself and decide what he wants to do.

Friendless - Sasuke does show interest in other kids and pays some attention to class dynamics. He makes friends with Sakura and Naruto despite his best efforts, and after he breaks free from Orochimaru he immediately assembles a team of his own. If the clan were still around, he also wouldn't have the pesky Mangekyo if-I-make-friends-I'll-have-to-kill-them thing hanging over his head. Since the Uchiha are so insular he might not have many friends outside the clan per se, but he would have friends.

Disrespect - Sasuke's straight up disrespectful during the events of Naruto. In all the flashbacks from when he's a kid, though, we do see that he's quite respectful, so in the absence of the Massacre he would probably be somewhat more respectful than what we see in canon.

Curiosity - in canon, Sasuke asks a lot of questions and seems curious to learn about the circumstances of others sometimes, but generally he's too focused on his goal to pursue this curiosity to any significant degree. I think without the heavy weight of the Massacre he might show more curiosity and interest in others.

At the heart of it, Sasuke is Sasuke is Sasuke. The fundamentals of his character would stay the same, but without all the trauma it would express itself differently. Thanks for the question! ♡

[aceredshirt13]

Man, I really feel like a solid number of problems with Detroit: Become Human could be solved if Kara and Markus switched places.

Like, this is gonna be REALLY long, but hear me out - this is the basis of an AU I've been stewing over for a long long time which I would like to hope would make DBH into a game I could really say was good, instead of just a game where I thought 1/3 of it was really fun and enjoyable (read: Connor's route) and the others had some... problems. Switching Markus and Kara's places isn't going to fix everything, so there's definitely other stuff in regard to characterization (especially of female side characters), reworking and/or removing entirely the lazy and often inaccurate allegories to human oppression and civil rights movements, and, well, the whole situation with Alice, that I'm working to alter, but I think it's a great starting point to solve some of those problems on its own. It might be a little muddled right now, but I'm still working on it, so please forgive me.

(Since I briefly mention North's backstory, as well as delve into the trauma of a minor original character in a possible epilogue, tw for some very nonspecific discussion of sexual assault.)

In the beginning, the only real difference is that we spend some more time building the relationships. We see more scenes of Kara and Alice bonding since the very first day she came, but with Kara getting destroyed by Todd when she makes even the smallest of mistakes or logic-based attempts to stand up for Alice (it shouldn't be hard for a house android to come to the conclusion that you're not supposed to beat your child) and losing her memory each time. Therefore, we the audience knows the sort of Groundhog Day Kara is living in, although she does not. Similarly, we see the day Markus is given to Carl as a gift, with Kamski sending a letter that says something to the effect of, "I can't have my only real friend dying on me, Carl. You need somebody to take care of you. And since you aren't exactly a fan of most people, well, I think I've got a solution for you that doesn't involve one." We watch as Carl goes from skeptical to interested to fond, believing in Markus's humanity before deviance is even a speck in the media's eye, and watch as Markus slowly struggles to understand these new emotions forming within itself. Get some cute scenes for both two-character bonding experiences - Kara reading a story for Alice in her room, safely away from a passed-out Todd, as a rarely-peaceful-looking Alice falls asleep in her lap, or Markus pushing Carl on a walk in the park and having birds or butterflies land on both of them, and Markus laughing for the first time. I just wanted more with each pair - we get so much time to see Connor battle his growing feelings, and Hank warm up to and become fond of Connor, and that is nowhere near as in-depth with the other two routes in the game.

The switch happens just after the ends of the scenes where Kara and Markus become deviant. Markus goes the route of not fighting back against Leo, and thus has to watch the man he's just realized is his dad die of a heart attack in front of him. Leo blames him, Markus gets shot by the police, and he ends up in the android graveyard, just like in canon if that's the path you take. Kara becomes deviant and escapes with Alice, fighting Todd on the way out - but he's shooting at them as she leaps out the window, and Kara shields Alice with her own body. By the time they're far enough away from the house to catch them, Kara is so wounded that she's almost non-functional, and she collapses, telling Alice that she should leave her and run away. An understandably grieving Alice, thinking Kara is dead, drags her lifeless body to a nearby android junkyard in the futile hope that she will somehow find parts to fix her, despite not knowing anything about the inner workings of androids because she is literally a child.

(Note: Alice is human in this AU. Much was lost and nothing was gained by the reveal that Alice was an android because they did nothing with it - Kara neither questioned why on Earth child androids were allowed on the market in the first place, nor confronted her own probable internalized bigotry that would cause her to delude herself into thinking Alice was human. So for the sake of the bonding and love between child and machine that made their relationship so charming until that was shattered by the twist, Alice remains human in this AU, and those two issues are covered by other characters and their arcs, which will be mentioned eventually.)

Let's come back to Markus. He's struggling to drag himself through the graveyard, slowly finding bits and pieces of body parts that make him more mobile, but unable to find the necessary power core that pumps his blue blood. Running out of energy, he gives up, and collapses to the ground on his back, wallowing in pain both physical and emotional from abuse at the hands of law enforcement and devastating loss - when a power core is slowly nudged toward his barely-working hand.

Markus looks up, and finds a terrified, shivering little girl with tears drying on her face, clutching the arm of an android mangled beyond recognition - the head is almost entirely gone - and extending a power core that she had tried and failed to put inside the android she's clinging to. The newly orphaned android is revived, and finds it in him to protect this scared, seemingly abandoned child, who will barely speak of what she's been through, taking her with him as he tries to find somewhere to go.

Of course, that little girl is Alice.

Kara wakes up with a start in a place she's never seen before, with no memory of anything except for the name "Alice," the first thing she says when she reactivates. She's on a makeshift operating table inside a rusty boat, and an android woman with a torn-off arm and a satisfied expression stands above her, hands full of machine repair tools. It's North, the leader of Jericho, whose immense dislike for the human race is matched only by her grouchy compassion for her fellow androids - she makes a special point to aid disabled androids in their escape to Jericho, and either fix them when possible, or help them readjust when it isn't, as well as sparring with them and teaching them to defend themselves and each other. Sex androids were one of the first varieties on the market - go figure - , and she was one of the first androids whose lethal rebellion and escape was widely reported on in the media - as such, CyberLife has updated much of their software, and North's tech is now so outdated that no replacement arm is compatible with her. She doesn't mind too much, though - she sees it as the price she had to pay for freedom, and any price for that is worthy in her eyes.

North informs Kara that she found her at the dumpster alone and completely non-functional in body, but near-miraculously her mental processing unit was so minimally damaged that she could be saved (so you don't have the Connor problem where you find yourself wondering if those Connors all have different souls when any given Connor dies and is replaced). She was then put into a body made up of spare Kara parts and resuscitated here in Jericho - the only loss from the damage being her memories. North gives her a "tour" of Jericho, which isn't much given that it's pretty depressing and there's nothing to do but hide, sit around, and decompose, and Kara meets the secondary members in Jericho's makeshift leadership group, beginning with Josh, an educator and strategist (I was thinking that androids programmed for specific purposes only have specific preset access to certain information - you don't need a construction worker to know sex positions any more than you need a sex android to know how to operate a forklift. (...They only know how to operate a BACKHOE-)). He works in diplomacy, delegates tasks as a middle manager, and educates people - giving speeches, sending out pamphlets, preparing everyone for the best nonviolent protest strategies in order to win over as much of the public as possible. Josh, having been a college professor before his deviance, has a great deal of stored information which he uses to aid them. He was popular with his largely liberal students, and his deviance came from his fondness for and pride in them, both of which were quickly determined to be bugs and resulted in his pending removal and reprogramming. The students protested, and helped him escape, claiming he'd done it on his own. As a result, Josh is more or less the opposite of North - despite being well aware of their flaws, he has a deep and enduring love and faith in the inherent goodness of the human race. This is also where I bring in the discussion of internalized racism - where North values android life over human life, Josh values humans over androids, and is somewhat unconsciously stuck in a mindset of doubt in the validity of android sentience. As a result of being vehemently opposed, North and Josh frequently butt heads. Then, there's the third leader, who has traded places into this route along with Kara - Luther, the former longshoreman-turned mediator and makeshift therapist, who dedicates his time to resolving conflicts and helping androids understand their budding emotions. He sees the good and bad in both sides, and thus chooses not take one, just doing as much as he can to make things a little bit better.

Kara sees the sorry state of both Jericho and many of its residents, who have been wounded and mistreated for a half a dozen reasons - most of which were simply because their owners or users didn't believe them to be any more alive than a toaster or a Roomba. As she hears their stories, and the positives and negatives (though North is decidedly evasive when she discovers that Kara doesn't remember the news about her escape), there are flickers and flashes of memory that appear in her mind: a half dozen lifetimes of bearing witness to Todd's abuse, though the details and faces are fuzzy; being broken, then brought back, and then broken again, for only following instructions, or giving advice, or trying to do her job. These memories, along with Jericho's unpromising situation, are what begins to radicalize her - what makes Kara think larger than trying to just manage a permanent safehouse, and instead aim for revolution.

See, this comes down to the biggest reason I made the switch. Not just because I like to have a lady kick ass, though it is certainly appreciated, but because it doesn't make any sense for Markus to be the voice of a movement talking about how inhumanely androids are being treated when his owner was pretty much his dad. (And despite the word "owner," it's really not fair to draw comparisons between androids and slaves; after all, slaves were always sentient, living people with emotions and families and lives like any other person. Excuses were made to dehumanize them, and treat them as animals. Androids didn't begin their existence as any sort of life, so it's much less conceivable that everyone would believe they'd become alive at the drop of a hat. Unless you're aware a particular android is sentient, owning one is nowhere near comparable to owning a slave.) Who is he to speak of humans being the abusers, when while he's certainly suffered through some shit, the most important kind and loving force in his life was a human, too? Kara works as a better example because the abuse from Todd was chronic, and very specifically still happened when she did what he said - but she has the bond with this small adorable human to prove that not all humans are cruel. In my eyes, she's a much better leader for the revolution - not to mention the fact that since Markus is currently taking care of Alice, he's able to try and use the parental techniques that he'd begun to realize Carl was using on him.

Speaking of Markus, let's catch up with him again. Like Kara's route in the original, Markus's is much more character-driven than plot-heavy.

To complete the switch mentioned earlier, rather than having Luther as his guard, it is, somewhat unexpectedly, Simon. (Childcare androids are equipped to be quite agile, deft, and strong in order to keep up with the children they're looking after, so they actually make pretty good guards.) A former daycare assistant kidnapped by Zlatko for his experiments, he remembers nothing and feels nothing until he sees Alice, which by instinct causes him to crouch down to her and smile, handing her her dropped fox plushie when she's hiding from Zlatko instead of selling her out. In the end, after Markus is taken and has to fight through Zlatko's brainwashing to remember who he is and save Alice, it ends up being Simon who helps them escape, being the one to point the gun and stop Zlatko in his tracks to buy enough time for his Sid Toy Story creations to tear him apart. Of course, Markus and Alice let Simon run away with them.

I'm biased with those switches, I will admit, just because I had a soft spot for both of those concepts as ships even though Kara and Markus didn't exactly get the most in-depth characterization, and I wanted to use this opportunity to write not just about Kara and Markus falling in love with Luther and Simon, but also their relationships with everyone else - Markus's relationship to Alice and how he incorporates his memories of Carl into trying to raise her, Kara butting heads with North who eventually admits her insecurity and jealousy of Kara, as well as finally revealing her past (which is, yeah, about as ugly as it was in the game - murdering a human who's abusing you in order to escape an establishment that won't acknowledge your sentience and forces you to be sexually assaulted) and they come away from it as friends with a better understanding of each other's strengths, Kara helping Josh understand the value in being an android, all of that. She becomes the group's leader, orator, keeper of morale, and maker of hard decisions.Unlike in the story which pretended to be ambiguous about it, it's very clear that, at any rate, the other characters view Kara as rA9 - when she accidentally awakens the security guard at their CyberLife warehouse break-in, that combined with Kara's name (I thought it would be sort of funny for Kara to be part of a relatively new model series, and for her serial number to show that she's the ninth Kara unit ever produced - if part of her serial number was worn off in her near-death experience with Todd, then it could straight up say RA9) ends up causing a decent number of the people in the rebellion to view her as the android Messiah - something that instead of her just immediately embracing and becoming a robot Jesus Mary Sue about (like Markus), she struggles with greatly. If androids aren't alive at the start, is it fair or consensual to make them so without their knowledge? Is she really some sort of magical leader, and if so, how is she supposed to live up to that reputation? Luther is one of the only people that doesn't necessarily believe she's an all-powerful being, and just that she's a remarkable android, and he becomes a friend to confide in and shoulder to lean on when she's struggling the most - especially when it comes to her stance for the revolution that stands smack in the middle of North and Josh's beliefs: all protests and actions in their movement detest violence, but at the same time, if they come peacefully and are nonetheless attacked, they will not just stand there and die. (She also convinces North and Josh to see each other's sides - for North to have compassion for the good in people, and for Josh to understand that sometimes you have to defend yourself and have no other choice.)

Markus's insecurities end up revolving around both his notion of family and his inexperience with kids - it's not really what he was designed for and he isn't accustomed to it, and even as he falls in love with Simon, he envies his ease with her - to which Simon retorts that though he's good at talking to her and cheering her up, Markus excels in being there for Alice in moments of need, and Alice shows very clearly how much she cares for both of them. In fact, when they reach Jericho and Alice and Kara reunite (which is what causes the last remaining memories Kara has to flood back in an instant), Markus and Simon are trying to hide their sadness because they think their time as Alice's caregivers (read: dads) is done, but Alice loves them no less - she's just regained a mom along with her two dads (and will get another dad in the form of Luther by the time the game is done).

I haven't mentioned Connor this whole time, and like I said, that's because the vast majority of his route stays the same. There are alterations, of course - in the scene where he becomes deviant, it's Kara he's pointing the gun at, and rather than being there alone, she's with the other members of the main cast. Connor would not be forced to contend with just shooting Kara - it would be shooting Kara in front of a number of androids who care about her and a scared little human girl. Connor, being an advanced android built for police investigation, already has natural fighting skill and physical prowess better than almost everyone he'd be facing (Luther being the only exception, but Connor's probably quicker than he is, and Luther is never one to initiate a fight), so he can calculate that even if they all came at him at once, he'd have a fairly high rate of success - and even if he didn't, his destruction would likely cause the police to find Jericho and put his memories in another Connor, anyway. But, of course, Connor has begun developing that nasty thing called empathy and feelings. Even as Connor points the gun at Kara, she says she won't forcibly change him - that's the point she's reached thus far in the game. She's tired of forcing someone to be something against their will, and she A. has enough faith that Connor is already on the verge of deviance to think she won't have to turn him herself and B. isn't terribly afraid to take a bullet if he doesn't because she'll die to protect her family and friends if she has to. But like I said, this is a largely minor change.

The main change I'm interested in with Connor's route comes in regard to Amanda.

Amanda, is one of the two characters in this story that confused me the most, the other being Kamski, because I could not for the life of me figure out what their motivations were supposed to be. For the sake of this story, Kamski is more or less like "well I didn't THINK the androids would become deviant but damn that's crazy" and is kind of passively watching the events, thinking about how it'd be interesting no matter which side wins. Granted, Kamski doesn't play much of a role in my concept beyond that side role and the fact that he's an old friend of Carl. But Amanda's character bothers me because it seems like she has no motivations of her own. She wants Connor to remain a machine for the sake of CyberLife, but then if he becomes deviant she's like "oh but ACTUALLY this is what we wanted ALL ALONG" despite there being no real evidence of that, or what CyberLife would even gain from having the android revolution unless they want to basically use the rebellion to conquer the world with androids, which doesn't really seem like something Kamski wants? The game's got a whole lot of muddled storytelling, anyway - I think it kind of lost the plot in some ways because it got too wrapped up in wanting to have a ton of different endings. It means that instead of coming off as a ruthless villain, she just seems... really inconsistent. So I've been playing with an interpretation of her that I think is a bit more interesting.

First of all, let's simplify it a bit. None of the reactionary BS of "oh this is what we planned all along!" Amanda's goal, as set by CyberLife, is to hunt down deviants and prevent any other androids from becoming anything more than machines. The way we do this, I think, is that CyberLife's motivations are purely corporate. If your product becomes sentient and demands civil rights, well, how are you gonna make money off of that? Suddenly, people start saying you're violating moral and ethical mores, and pretty soon if people get the perception that you're selling eventual people, you aren't gonna get any business anymore. The company's not headed by Kamski anymore, so it's fair to say the current CEO could just be someone who's like, y'know, it doesn't matter to me whether that's a bug or whether they're really alive or not. Official story is that it's a bug. Get rid of the deviants, and get back to making bank. But in the canon game, Amanda is clearly not just a puppet, and is very capable of lying and manipulating and thinking for herself. It's pretty obvious that she's not just any regular machine. So why not have her develop separate motivations for her urging of Connor to nip deviancy in the bud?

Why not have Amanda be a deviant herself?

Officially, Amanda's mission is corporate. Kamski created her, she became deviant, and then the current CEO was like "well, who better to hunt down deviants than a deviant?" You know, like Blade hunting vampires, or Dexter chasing serial killers. But the greatest struggle of deviancy is being forced to contend with emotions that violate logic, and go against things that you know you should do for someone or something else's sake - sometimes even your own. As far as we can tell, Amanda is really only a "handler" for Connor - we never see her in any other situation - so it's very possible that she only exists inside Connor's Zen Garden/mind palace. In this universe, we can assume that Connor is probably a special or at least very rare model, so in effect, the only Amanda and the only Connor are acquainted with each other. If Amanda is a deviant, it's not unreasonable to believe that over time, watching his actions, guiding him, she could grow to see him as something of a son, and an object of pride. She's thus disappointed when he begins breaking the rules set for him by her and the company who sent her, but not just because of the sake of the rules - because Amanda knows how difficult and painful being a deviant is. I mean, at least other deviants can interact with reality, right? Amanda can exist only inside Connor's mind, watching reality through his eyes, completely trapped, while forced to acknowledge the fact that she's a deviant despite being trained to dislike them, and the fact that she's growing attached to Connor even as he goes against everything she's been told to believe. When Connor is holding that gun up to Kara, it is still Amanda telling him to shoot - that this deviance nonsense needs to end now, that it either isn't real or it just isn't right for androids to feel - because she knows if Connor deviates, he will suffer the same emotions that she does. It becomes Connor talking to her, and telling her all of the wonderful things that have happened to him - slowly winning over Hank from enemy to ally, playing with Sumo, befriending his coworkers, and that even the emotions that make him miserable make him feel alive. When he becomes deviant, he doesn't erase his programming like in the ending where Amanda tries to trap him in his own mind - what he does is he finds away to channel that programming into access to the Internet and every other chain of data and information transferred between technological devices, and sends Amanda there. Instead of destroying her - the woman that he's grown to see as a mother - he does the closest thing he can to setting her free.

By the end, most things are the same. There are a few main differences I wanted to discuss, namely involving the protests. These are not just androids that are protesting - it's many sympathetic humans marching with them as well. In the brief segments you see from the viewpoint of the American president, you see that there are shots of the movement spreading worldwide: marches in everywhere from Britain, to Brazil, to Nigeria, to India, to Japan (which already has a long history of robotics in the first place and I like to think would be one of the earliest places to consider giving androids rights). The singing present in the game as an option felt so genuinely cheesy and on-the-nose evocative of black spirituals that I think I'd pass on that - rather, I think a more impactful scene would be for the main cast, all together after the assault on Jericho, to be faced by gun-wielding police, and they think, well, this is it. We're going to die. But it is Alice, who has understandably spent most of the game shy, and fearful, and silent, who pushes through the marching crows and stands in front of them, her small arms spread out as if to shield them, crying as she does. They're the only people in the world who have ever been kind to her. At this, the resolve of the police officers begin to fragment - some slowly hesitate, others straight-up drop their weapons, while others keep their guns firmly trained on all of them, intending to kill the kid if necessary. It collapses into chaos, with the officers arguing amongst themselves about what they should do, some of them beginning to physically fight one another, while others walk over to the marchers and join with them. This gives enough time for everyone to escape, and eventually in order to protect Alice, Markus and Simon take her with them to escape to Canada, just like in the canon game, and that series of events follows more or less the same way. As Kara and co.'s efforts continue, eventually, the president (whose advisor has been like "hey a six-year-old abuse victim told the police not to kill the only people she's ever called a family and shielded them with her body, so it would probably be bad for your numbers if you called in the national guard to kill them the second the kid is gone”) calls off the assault. The skirmish is over. The movement has won.

Obviously, there are still things to work out, and still a whole lot of displeased people - humans and androids alike - to worry about causing potential major unrest. So as Kara and the gang participate in lawmaking, Connor and Hank hug it out just like they do in the game, while Markus and Simon watch over Alice and enjoy domestic life in Toronto, waiting it out until peace is guaranteed. It ends with Alice - who has held onto her fox plushie the whole game, I couldn't believe she didn't get to keep that with her all along smh - lying on her bed and looking at the ceiling, curled up under her blankets and cuddling her fox - and for the first time in the whole story, she really, truly smiles.

(Finally, while as promised I did mention struggles with internalized racism as related to Josh and Amanda in my narrative, I didn't get to mentioning speculation on the existence of child androids. This is because it's something I see as more of an epilogue or a brief afterthought than a part of the main story. For the most part, I don't think child androids would exist. I feel like there would be enough complaints about selling machines that look and act like real children and never grow up that the company would recall them pretty quickly or just scrap the idea from the start. After all, I can't imagine that anyone buying a permanent android child is someone that is in a mentally healthy place for a number of reasons - the fact that one of the bittersweet joys of parenthood is watching a child grow up, for example. Fair warning, from here on it gets a lot darker than my abovementioned theories.

I think CyberLife still had prototypes and other small numbers of leftover child androids before they scrapped the project, and what happens is that they are given to the police, FBI, and CIA as a reference to something I've occasionally seen popping up in the news - the idea of someday using child androids as a sting operation to catch pedophiles. Obviously, this is a good idea in theory - catching sexual predators while not hurting anyone in the process - but this... goes very, very badly when the androids begin becoming sentient. Especially since the commonly-held belief for quite a while is that the sentience isn't real, and thus androids are made to do their jobs nonetheless. This is not unlike what North was forced to experience, but even worse given that despite having the intelligence of androids, these models still have the maturity and behavior of an actual child. So I had briefly considered an epilogue scene where a slightly older Alice is attending school in Canada as she, Markus, and Simon wait out the details of the revolution, and realizes one of her quiet, skittish classmates - a boy named Yuki - is actually a deviant escapee from the SVU unit of a branch of the American police department. Not really sure where it would go, but thought it would be an interesting, if disturbing, opportunity to delve into the why of child androids existing in this near-future environment.)

[husbandits]

Trapped in Salvation

previous // next

(title is a work in progress)

this is an RDR2 x HS fic that will, hopefully, be long and very introspective of as many characters as i can manage- note that i discovered june egbert in the middle of planning things/writing this chapter, so her introduction will be a major part of JE’s arc, instead of being apparent from the start of the fic. There aren’t any rdr characters in this chapter, but this is just the prologue. Eventually, I plan to post this to ao3, but i want to get a full chapter together before i do (this is abt the first thirdish of the prologue)

It's 2:45 in the morning, and John Egbert is standing in Rose Lalonde's kitchen. 

The shades are drawn, slender lines of cold light against the linoleum, and the gentle breeze of air conditioning carrying the scent of lavender around the room. Rose's slender form is outlined in the faint warm light of the hall. John shifts uncomfortably, feeling he's too boyish and bright for his surroundings.

It's been a long time since they talked. In person at least. John fidgets, one shoe pushing a speck of lint across the floor, as Rose prepares the tea she'd offered. He feels at once barely present and hopelessly intrusive, his eyes resting uncomfortably on every surface visible. The curiously crowded front of the fridge, the overflowing cabinet of mugs, spilled over onto the counter, the clean white emptiness of the ceiling. Rose's tired violet eyes, heavy bags making the late hour all the more unnecessary. Her jaw is drawn tight, worry betrayed in her rigid shoulders.

"Do you remember the issue I told you about a few weeks ago?" Rose asks, her voice heavy and deep with portence. John blinks, thinking back to the one-sided conversation they'd had, seemingly just a few days ago, the last time he'd been out.

She takes his pause as an answer.

"The reality of this universe isn't as stable as it should be. If you recall, I had initially been concerned about the rate of decay, or lack thereof, that I'd noticed around us," She gestures to what seems to be a perfectly normal bowl of fruit sitting on the counter beside them, and John suddenly recalls that she'd said something similar when he'd last been here, apparently with the same bowl of fruit, "and now I believe the fabric of our reality is disintegrating, without the grounding support of the canonical events we went through in the game. with, ah, without the support of canon, we're starting to lose our sense of time; I believe our very sense of selves may come next."

He wrinkles his nose, remembering the horrific twisted versions of all of his friends he'd seen in that egotistical snot's 'masterpiece'. "Yeah, that doesn't sound good. What do, um, what can I do to fix that though?"

She frowns at that. Turns away towards the hall by a few degrees. "Not much. From what I can tell, there are only two ways forward, and-" She cuts herself off, a conflicted expression flitting across her face briefly. "Well, as of now, we really only have one option. Escape."

When she turns back to him, John feels like he's caught under the full weight of the pressure she's been under for so long, for just a moment.

"Our canon, the cosmic arrangement upon which our reality lies, is failing us. Dwindling, day by day," Rose continues, as if John hasn't been staring at her for the past few seconds, contributing all of nothing to the conversation, "Logically, the best way forward is to replace it, to latch onto an alternate reality, one which has a more sustainable basis. preferable on a newly spawned earth, where we can slip into place without issue."

John nods as if he understands. And he does, sort of. The urgency, the method of what she's saying makes sense. he's just still not clear on the actual 'how' of the solution.

"John, there's a complicated set of paths before us, an almost imperceptible multitude of ways this could work out. And I can't…" She frowns, moving to stir the no-longer-steaming mug of tea before her, and prompting him to sip his own too-bitter mug. "I can't see the path to any of them, past a certain point."

John frowns, suddenly the situation she's describing looks all the more dire; if Rose's powers are waning, the rest of theirs are probably not long to follow...

Rose draws his attention back to her with a faux cough, folding her hands together with a finality that feels almost picturesque.

"what I'm saying John, is that we have to become cowboys."