Out of all of the things that have happened in Kidnapped, I never thought that I would see Alan Breck Stewart engage in a bagpipe contest/fight with a rival or an adversary because fighting with sword would end in a bloodbath.

And somehow, (I'm truly impressed by it I'm not lying) the bagpipe fight feels that it has more stakes, and personal dignity involved than any duel with weapons in this book.

S2E07 The Mall Car vs S3E05 The Color Clock Car

I believe that to understand Simon’s behavior in The Color Clock Car, and how his relationship with Grace changed over the course of S3, it’s important to compare that episode to The Mall Car. Both episodes covered Grace’s relationship with a new Apex recruit being complicated by Simon jumping the gun on attacking a denizen, but Grace’s perspective changes dramatically between the two.

Grace is the one who deals with new recruits for the Apex because she has charisma coming out of her ears. She spends all of The Mall Car and most of her early interactions with Hazel trying to gently ease the kids into the Apex mindset - nulls are worthless, they don’t have real feelings, and it is silly to try to have real relationships with them.

What Simon doesn’t see, both because it’s mostly happening when he’s not around and because he doesn’t want to see it, is that things are different with Hazel. Hazel is teaching Grace her perspective, not the other way around. And Grace comes to care about Hazel more than she cares about making Hazel join the Apex.

In The Mall Car, Simon tries to have Lake and Alan Dracula killed while Jesse isn’t around. This is Grace’s expression when Jesse overhears the sounds of the struggle.

I initially interpreted this as anger that Lake and AD were still around, as though Grace and Simon had an understanding that it was Simon’s job to get rid of the denizens while Grace distracted the passenger. But I think it actually makes more sense as Grace being angry that Simon tried to hurt Jesse’s “nulls” before she had more time to work on Jesse and erode that bond.

Either way, the outcome is the same. Grace tries to brazen it out with Jesse by flat out admitting they were going to murder Lake and AD and acts like it’s not even a big deal. Whether this was all according to plan or if it was Simon jumping the gun, Grace is 100% on board. She has no sympathy for Jesse, completely backs Simon’s play, and spouts more Apex bullshit. Grace is at most mildly irritated with Simon.

That’s the precedent for them. Simon attacking denizens and alienating potential Apex recruits is not a big deal, he doesn’t need Grace’s permission, and even if Grace isn’t psyched about what he’s done, she will back him up and try to salvage the situation for the Apex.

In The Color Clock Car, Simon starts the process this time. He tries to brazen it out with Hazel by flat out admitting he murdered Tuba and acting like it’s not even a big deal. But this time, Grace was very much not playing along. The same thing happened, Simon was not any worse than he had been before, but this time Grace understood it as a horrible murder. She saw Simon’s actions as though through Hazel’s eyes, because she actually cared about Hazel. But in Simon’s head, Grace had suddenly flipped out on him out of nowhere when everything was the same as it had always been.

What could the MC do to genuinely enrage the ROs so much that they lose patience and yell at them? (And please don't say that Laurent doesn't, he must have some breaking point, even when it comes to MC)

Why would I say that Laurent doesn’t? He’s not a punching bag, he just doesn’t yell as a means of dealing with anger. It has nothing to do with MC and everything to do with his parents, making him feel like expressing negative emotions is a personal failing.

Also, not everyone reacts to anger with yelling, so maybe I’ll just answer the first part, ‘what could the MC do to genuinely enrage the ROs’ I assume you mean they are in a relationship or at least good friends. So, obviously, if MC acted like a total asshole nobody would react to it indulgently, but:

Jewel wouldn’t let her family treat MC with disrespect, and she wouldn’t let MC threat her family badly in turn. The SPD is a sore subject for her, so she wouldn’t react well to MC trying to defend the agents and their actions.

Reed would absolutely snap at MC in life-or-death situations, especially if they tried to argue or acted carelessly. Also, if MC acted all goody-goody despite knowing abt his past, preaching to him about forgiveness.

Laurent: MC pressuring him when he’s clearly uncomfortable or treating him (and other people) unjustly without a reason. As well as not taking ‘no’ for an answer.

Nino and Alan: MC being purposefully manipulative and/or controlling. Unfairly demanding something but not delivering the same. Breaking promises and acting as if nothing had happened.

Flavio: making him feel as though his feelings are irrelevant and denying his experiences, saying things like, ‘ok maybe you feel X but you should feel Y instead because I said so.’

Life is a Pandora's box and the hope within Prometheus

  Is mythology merely a collection of fascinating legends, or does it have a purpose? Mythology is concerned with both the past and the present. It illuminates the path. Mythology explains how emotion may take control of a person. We can clearly perceive that the greatest enemies of humanity are passion, ambition, hatred, selfishness, and greed. A myth is an image with which we try to make sense of the world,” says Alan Watts. Beyond your imagination, these stories tell us that "the limits of life are beyond what you only know, learn from your past and guide your future." I can hear this whisper. "Myth and nature are the two great garments of the world; nature is the vibrant green garment that covers the planet, and myth is the multidimensional, multi-coloured fabric that constantly covers human culture."(Michael Meade) We can understand the meaningful expression of these words of Michael Meade more easily by expanding our knowledge pool. Nature is a gift given to the world, and man is the other gift that completes the world. He can contain every colour in his soul and turn the world into a work of art, or he can object to other colours and choose only black and go towards the depths of darkness. I would like to tell you about mythological stories that have inspired me. Mythology's brightest stars are Pandora's box and the Prometheus legend.     According to a legend, Zeus created Pandora, the first woman on Earth, as a punishment for humanity. This punishment for humanity was devastating and unkind like the great flood of Noah. When humanity forgot about its creators or ignored the gods, the gods were reminding themselves of such punishments. Zeus gave Pandora a box that she should never have opened. This box symbolized the personality of women. There was so much evil in the box, such as malice, hatred, anger, murder, and greed. If the box was opened, these evils would spread to the earth, and Pandora's curiosity prevailed and she opened the box. All evil has spread and swept the world. The great disaster was now within humanity. The box, which Zeus knowingly gave to a woman's curiosity in this story, was a great scourge for humanity. Besides all these evils in the box, there was only one good thing for humanity and that was hope. Mankind has never abandoned hope, and hope has been his only consolation. Instead of blaming Pandora, who opened the box, one should consider Zeus, who sent her for this purpose. For poor Pandora to succumb to her curiosity was the most unlikely thing that could happen to a mortal, but Zeus, who knew this, also knew what would destroy the human race, if you ask me, Zeus survived these evils and his jealousy became his most dangerous weapon. In this regard, Zeus, who continued this ugly reign like Cronus, who ate his sons so that his father would not heir to the throne and his power would not decrease, always succumbed to his feelings. Pandora's curiosity was an invisible mistake compared to what Zeus had done. "Hope? Hope is the last evil!" says Nietzsche. The fact that the last thing humanity clings to is hope, which actually informs them that it is the greatest evil done to them, but without hope, there would be no real reason for people to hold on. Of course, the thing that hurts the most is the disappointment caused by the lack of hope, but no matter how tired one gets, it is also important to be able to fight with the last hope left in one's hands and rely on that hope. Therefore hope, which Zeus saw as a huge bad power, was actually a light for humanity.      It would not be enough just to blame Pandora. For Zeus, his main target was Prometheus. Prometheus had been punished many years ago, by setting fire to humanity and making it higher than God. Zeus tied Prometheus to the hard rock at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains by force and violence with unshakable and unbreakable chains. Prometheus had helped Zeus in the battle with the titans, and this favour was quickly forgotten. Zeus' vengeance was enough to make him forget this great goodness. Zeus had insolence, arrogance, egocentric coarseness of human nature. He could have killed Prometheus instead of chaining him, but Zeus couldn't because he had an interest. There was a prophecy told to him. One day a boy would be born and take his throne from him. and only Prometheus knew who the boy's mother was. Zeus sent Hermes to find out this secret, but Prometheus resisted and did not tell the secret, despite all the torture, albeit in chains. showed that there can be a solution if there is willpower. At that moment, the god of gods left Zeus helpless. Prometheus was released generations later. Chiron was ready to die for Prometheus. Hercules slew the eagle and unchained Prometheus from the rock. We realize that even the enmity does not last forever when Zeus says that now this punishment may be enough and will set him free. Prometheus is the strongest character in this story, he is the symbol of justice and he represents never surrender, no matter how much pressure, no matter how to torture. While Prometheus was being held captive in chains, a beautiful and mysterious girl would visit him. This girl's name was IO. They would chat with Prometheus and talk about Zeus. Zeus falls in love with this girl and this love does not escape Hera's eyes. Suspecting Zeus, Hera assigns her servant Argus, who has 100 eyes, to keep him comfortable and control him. Knowing that his lies are useless, Zeus is watched by Argus even while he sleeps. Desperate Zeus turns her into a poor ugly starving animal to get close to her love. However, Argus still does not stop watching him. Finally, Zeus commissions his son Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to kill Argus. Hermes played sweetly upon a pipe of reeds. Argus was pleased at the sound and called to the musician to come nearer. Hermes made some of the hundred eyes sleepy, but some were always awake. Finally, Hermes killed him. If you believe that poor IO has been saved, you are mistaken about Hera's rage and envy. Hera sent a gad-fly to plague her, which stung her to madness. When IO told this to Prometheus, he tried to comfort her. She ran along the seas and lands. This part of the sea was called Bosporus. As she reached the Nile, Zeus would restore her to her earlier human form. She would bear a son called Epophus. IO’s descendant would be Hercules who was the one of the greatest heroes. Prometheus helped them. Hercules helped Prometheus at the same time, he gave Prometheus’ freedom. The good are rewarded. We realize that the evil characters aren't always the heroes, and that the good guys will return one day.     Gods and goddesses are another shape of humanity of current. They used their power to destroy somethings like big cities. Even today power wars have not finished. Someone who feels powerful wants to be mightier. Human or gods is trying to force somebody to abdicate. We are aware that a desire is worth more than a drop of blood. We see that neither hostility nor friendship last forever. Zeus who was the god of gods and Prometheus who was the saviour of man were the best friends, but Prometheus’ giving fire to humanity as a gift and knowing a prophecy about Zeus turned this friendship into enmity. At the present time, good friendships can become enmity for any reason. In past, Zeus left Prometheus in despair. Jealousy, the main concept that never changes in both present and past, played a role in almost every event. Jealousy creates slyness as a snake and cunning as a wolf. Today, every person who is jealous definitely brings evil things whatever happens. We have learned from Hera how jealousy is dangerous when it is combined with power. She used her power whenever Zeus fell in love with another woman. Beautiful Psyche’s sisters have showed that jealousy is disease and it spreads as fast as fire. They came her home and jealousy wrapped them like a fire. When Pandora opened the box, so many evil things showed up, but at the same time hope approved itself. People never abandon to hope. We are still aware that everything which is bad has a solution and we can defeat anything if there is hope. Hope is really the cure for everything. Just believing is enough to overcome most things. The eyes in the hearts should always remain open. Living as if a person would never die gives rise to endless desires. Today, many people have these desires; however, you can restrain your desire and everything is in your hands. You can abuse this opportunity and you can also use to good things. If a person is defeated by her or his anger and ambition, this short life swallows her or him. Mythology enables us to see what the truth or wrong is, the truth or evil is, and deceptions or deaths are. It helps us to know people who are captured all emotions. It shows that history always repeats and cruelty does not change in both past and present. Fate always overcomes everything. This never change in past or present. History leads to understand what truth is and what wrong is. This bridge always provides to understand the relationship between powerful and powerless. We are actor in own stage. We should play the best play for life. We should stay alive. It does not matter how it will be because we are not permanent in this life.

-Tanzmitmirsblog

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Virgil Tracy, John Tracy, Scott Tracy Additional Tags: Mentions of the incident with EOS, Brotherly disagreements, Sibling fight Series: Part 4 of Bad Things Happen Bingo Summary:

John descends from on high after EOS reveals herself. A full medical scan needs to be run. And there are some words that need to be exchanged between brothers.

This is for my "Bad Thing Happen Bingo Card." The prompt here was John and Pinned to a Wall. It was requested by @kenzie-running-free​​ and @ohsheasus​​. A very special thank you to @thunderbird-one-ai​​ for the help getting out of the corner I had written myself into.

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John was one of the brothers that didn’t mind visiting the infirmary so much. Alan hadn’t yet grown into hating the infirmary, since his scrapes had been relatively minor this far and thus he had only had a slightly stern Virgil and a doting Grandmother to deal with in the infirmary. Gordon tried to avoid the infirmary like the plague after his hydrofoil crash and so many subsequent instances where Thunderbird Four had gotten into some serious trouble. Virgil didn’t mind being the medic, but when it came to his own injuries, he made himself scarce in the infirmary. And Scott…well, Scott seemed allergic to the infirmary where his own injuries were concerned.

John wished that allergy to the infirmary applied to the brothers’ injuries as well. Perhaps then, Scott would not be standing across from him in the infirmary, glowering. Scott’s arms were folded across his chest, a sign that didn’t bode well for John. It was obvious that Scott was waiting for Virgil to finish full medical before giving John a piece of whatever was on his mind. John wouldn’t have needed three guesses to know what that was. Virgil stepped back as he completed the scans and battery of tests on John.

“Well, it looks like all your scans appear to be coming back normal. There doesn’t seem to be any long lasting effects from earlier,” Virgil said. John had been so close to death when Alan had pulled him into Thunderbird Three that Virgil just wanted to run all the tests again, as if he was afraid that this was some kind of an illusion and that John was still dying.

“So does that mean that I am clear to return to Thunderbird Five?” John asked. He was anxious to get back to his bird and fulfill the promise he had made to the AI that had, only hours ago, tried to kill him. Scott’s lips thinned into a line, a change of expression that Virgil didn’t miss and only barely managed to suppress himself.

“Medically speaking, I have no reason to deny you a return to Thunderbird Five, but it looks like Scott might have something to say about that,” Virgil said. John hopped off the bed in the infirmary.

“Well, he can tell me while I prepare the space elevator to take me up,” he said. If Scott was going to ream him out, he didn’t exactly want an audience. He didn’t give either Scott or Virgil the chance to protest as he headed for the infirmary doors. A set of footsteps following behind him told him that Scott had followed him. John kept walking, knowing that it was only a matter of time until Scott couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Are you going to slow down so we can talk?” Scott asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. John kept walking.

“I suppose that depends on your definition of talk,” John said. “I’m not in the mood for a lecture.” Scott grabbed his arm and wheeled John around. He had been so close to making it to the hangar. John could see the stormclouds in his brother’s eyes.

“What the hell are you thinking, John?” Scott asked as John wrenched his arm out of his brother’s grasp. John took a breath before answering. Getting upset was going to get them nowhere fast, not with Scott’s volatile temper and John’s penchant for glacial fury when he was pushed to anger.

“I’m medically fit to continue to do my job,” John said. “To do that, I need to go back up to Thunderbird Five.”

“Back up with that thing that tried to kill you.” It wasn’t a question.

“She didn’t—”

“Don’t you dare try to tell me that thing didn’t mean it,” Scott said. “Or that it didn’t know what it was doing. It’s made from your code. You’re the smartest person I know and the one that calculates everything in advance. Your code taught itself how to evolve to near human intelligence. It knew exactly what it was doing.”

“Her prime directive was self preservation,” John said. “The same prime directive that we all have.”

“We don’t have a prime directive! We are humans, John! And what is to stop it from resorting back to that prime directive, from labeling you as a threat?” Scott said. John shook his head.

“I managed to get through to her. She has me at her core, Scott,” John said, trying to use his cool logic to defuse the situation.

“That didn’t seem to make a difference when it locked you out of your spaceship without any supplemental air,” Scott said. The sight of John’s lifeless body on the hologram projector, the glassy eyed stare as the oxygen in his suit thinned, these were images that would haunt Scott’s dreams for too long.

“Dad would have given her a chance,” John said.

“Well dad isn’t here right now,” Scott said. John folded his arms.

“You’re right. He isn’t. So stop trying to pretend like you’ve become him. You’re my brother at home, my commander in the field, but you will never take the place of dad,” John said.

“Goddammit John,” Scott said, grabbing the front of John’s uniform and pushing him roughly against the wall, eliciting a soft oof from his brother. “You aren’t listening to me!”

“Get off me, Scott,” John said, pushing against his brother’s wrists. Scott held fast, letting him up off the wall only enough to push him back against him again, forcing John’s attention back on him.

“No. You’re going to listen to me,” Scott said. “I watched you as you slowly started to suffocate up there, because of that thing. That thing pretended to be you so well that we nearly lost you.” Scott’s voice shook with suppressed fear. “I nearly lost you because that thing isolated you from us. And once we got you out of there, you went straight back in and put your life in its hands.” John could feel his brother’s knuckles shaking through the fabric of his uniform, holding on not as a threat, but instead out of fear that if he let his brother go, it might be for the last time. John laid his hands over his brother’s wrists.

“I’m still here Scott,” he said. Scott rested his forehead against John’s.

“I don’t trust that thing,” Scott declared softly. “I don’t trust that thing with you. I can’t lose you as well as mom and dad. It would break me.” John let go of his brother’s wrists to put his arms around Scott, assuring him of his presence. After a moment, Scott’s grip on his brother shifted to an embrace.

“You don’t have to trust her, Scott,” John said, pulling Scott close to him. “Put your trust in me. Trust that I won’t leave this family…I will do everything I can to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.” Scott’s arms tightened around his brother as he heard the space elevator descending.

“Please, John,” Scott asked, barely audible over the creak and groan of the machinery. “Please…just…stay here on earth tonight…for my sake.” John pushed Scott back slightly to get a good look at his brother. His brother’s eyes were glistening with desperation and his shoulders were tight with panic. John nodded.

“Ok, Scott…I’ll stay tonight…I’ll stay…” John said. “Just let me smooth things over with EOS and then we can go relax, yeah?” Scott frowned at the mention of the AI but he nodded slowly, letting John up off of the wall. John moved over to the control panel for the space elevator and Scott let out a soft sigh.

John’s heart was far too big, and his trust often misplaced. But Scott knew his own trust in John was never misplaced, even if it meant compromise when Scott would rather exert his will to keep his brother safe. He waited until John had a brief conversation with the AI and dropped the tension he hadn’t realized he was holding in his shoulders when the Space elevator began to ascend again. John moved over and put a hand on Scott’s shoulder.

“Come on,” he said, leading the way out of the hangar. “Let’s get you to relax a little.”

Trauma

Ethan x Casey

Here’s a one shot of chapter 13. The scene in the on call room didn’t feel like fluff, so this is mostly drama. This time it’s only Casey’s POV because for me it was too difficult to find out what was going on in Ethan’s head.

Disclaimer: characters owned by PB

Words: 2,3K

Casey stared at the door of the on call room that had just been slammed in her face. Hoping Ethan would come back, she just sat there and waited, not really able to capture what had just happened. But, of course, he didn't reappear. So, she left frustrated and wandered through the halls of Edenbrook, deeply immersed in her thoughts.

Why was fate messing with her like this? They had just started a wonderful relationship in which Ethan had finally opened up to her. Since Danny’s funeral, she had spent three nights at his apartment and every second of it was pure bliss. Being alone, outside the hospital, he was so relaxed and happy, it made her heart melt. Sometimes they had a wordless understanding that was amazing. When he was relaxed it was so easy to talk to him about nearly everything and they laughed together endlessly. And of course, they had......mmmmmh…..God, he felt so great.

And now a few minutes with his mother seemed to have ruined everything. That man in the on call room was a stranger to her. No, in fact, it reminded her of the Dr. Ramsey in the days of her early internship, when he was sometimes acting like a jerk and being rude and moody. She had thought that this man was long gone. But unfortunately, the encounter today brought him back and all the walls around him were back up again.

 Her feet had brought her to a certain office door. She didn’t know that this was, what she needed, until she was there. She hesitated and knocked. “Come in,” a friendly voice was heard from inside the office. When Casey opened the door, she saw Naveen’s face brighten up. Instantly she felt a little better. There was just something about him, that lifted your spirits. He was always good humored and positive, even last year, on his supposed deathbed. Ever since, they had a special bond and although they didn’t meet a lot, they were very fond of each other.

“Casey! So, rumors are true. You didn’t stay at home like I told you. But it’s good to see you.” He came over and hugged her.

“Good to see you too, Naveen. My landlord needed medical help this morning, so I brought him here and then I just stayed. It’s so boring at home and I like to keep myself distracted.” She smiled at him, trying to hide her current state. But he knew her to well.

“Well, if I may say it, you don’t look too good. Are you sure, this isn’t too soon?” He took her gently by her arm and led her to the couch to sit down. “Oh, it’s not work that is bothering me right now” She couldn’t keep her eyes from getting wet. Naveen sighed and rolled his eyes. “What has he done now?”

Through her tears she laughed. “Why do you think this is about Ethan?” Naveen had a sparkle in his eyes. “I know you and, most importantly, I know him, so this was easy to figure out. What happened?”

Casey’s expression darkened. “How much has he told you about his family background?” “A lot, I guess. Are you referring to his mom leaving?” She nodded and just spilled the whole story.

“She’s here. Came in this morning as a patient, unconscious on an opioid overdose. Ethan and I were in the ER at that moment. He was shocked. We gave her naloxone, then he just said something like ‘Nurse, take care of her’ and ran off. I found him later in an on call room, yelling angrily. He wouldn’t let me talk to him, just slammed the door in my face and left.” Naveen had listened closely, his gaze concerned. “I’m so sorry, Casey. I know he can be difficult at times. Ethan has this anger buried deep down inside of him, ever since his mother left him. Growing up with his father he never learnt to express his feelings or even worse, he never allowed himself feelings. He thinks he needs to be tough all the time. And then, when all those bad memories come rolling over him, he can’t deal with it.”

Casey thought a long moment about these words. Of course, it was perfectly clear, that Ethan had trouble talking about his feelings. But the last days had proven that he damn well was able to show his affection for her. “The thing is: Since my night in isolation a lot has changed between us.”

Casey blushed and didn’t dare to say more, but Naveen smiled and put his warm hand on hers. “You don’t have to be afraid to tell me anything. Even if I’m chief of medicine I’m also your friend and you know that I always wanted to see the two of you together. Ethan has changed so much since you came here and I’m really happy for you. He almost lost his mind that night of the assault.”

“It was terrible for all of us, but for what it’s worth it also brought us even closer together. Despite all the aftermath of the attack the past days have been great. Today though, it feels that all of this has vanished.”

“It’s a lot to ask from you in your current condition, Casey, but he needs you right now. He probably hasn’t said it yet, but I can see that he loves you with all his heart. Please don’t give up on him.” Naveen squeezed Casey’s hand tightly.

“I won’t, I couldn’t. But the question is: will he let me help him?””

***

Later Casey went to check on Louise. She was stable but not yet in a good condition. Talking to her felt odd, so she kept the conversation short. “Mrs. Ramsey, do you want me to call anybody?” It took Louise some time to answer. “I suppose you could call my ex-husband, Alan Ramsey. He lives in Providence, though.” “Sure, I’ll try to reach him. Ahm, a psychologist will stop by later. And if there is anything else you need, just tell the nurses.”

***

The rest of the day Casey tried to avoid meeting Ethan, but talking to Naveen had given her confidence, that everything would work out for the best. She didn’t want to confront the attending during working hours, so she planned to talk to him at night. The more she thought about it, the more she realized, that she may have overreacted after his outburst and that he probably would be much better by now anyway. How wrong she was became obvious the moment she stepped out of the elevator and saw Ethan and Alan standing in the hallway, involved in a heated discussion. “That’s all there is to say, dad. And now I have work to do.” Ethan’s face was red with rage. As he turned around to enter his office, he directly looked at Casey. “Dr. Valentine, in my office now.”

At first Casey was too shocked to move. Alan took some steps backwards, deeply embarrassed by his son’s behavior. “Hello Mr. Ramsey,” was all Casey could muster before she followed Ethan.

 The door wasn’t even closed behind her when he was at her. “How dare you call my dad!”

“Excuse me! How dare you talk to me like this. This has nothing to do with you. Louise asked me to call him and that’s what I did. That’s how we take care of our patients. You taught me, that every patient is worth any treatment. How can you deny her visitors?” Ethan was silenced for a moment and rubbed his neck. He seemed to calm down a little. “You could have asked me to call him or at least warn me.” In contrast to him, Casey was just getting heated up. “Really? After your outburst this morning? You said, you had more important patients and didn’t want to deal with her. Get a grip, Ethan, you’re being totally unreasonable. You say she’s nothing but a stranger to you, but never on earth would a stranger affect you the way she does. You tell me not to run away from my PTSD while you've been carrying around your own trauma for 26 years. This has to stop now!”

Ethan was pacing up and down, yelling back at her. “Don’t you think I know that. Do you think I like what she’s doing to me? But I will never forgive that she left, just like that, without a word, not caring about me anymore.”

Casey inhaled deeply to get her voice under control. “You don’t have to forgive her; you just have to understand what happened. Now is the chance for closure. Talk to her. Not for her sake but for your own. Hear her story. You need to hear the reason for her leaving. It's not your fault that she left and probably also not your father’s fault either. Maybe she already had mental health problems back then, who knows. Everybody is a victim here. Maybe she just couldn't stand herself, couldn’t handle her life. That doesn't mean that she didn't love you. If you don't talk to her now, you'll maybe never get another chance.”

Ethan was sitting on the couch now, his face in his hands and mumbled. “Ok, I’ll think about it.” Then he glanced back at Casey, forcing a smile. “Do you want me to cook dinner tonight?”

She shook her head frustrated, her arms dangling loose by her sides. “That`s it? You just change the subject? I don’t believe it. No, I don’t want to be with you tonight. This day has been exhausting enough, I need to relax, watch a senseless movie, go to bed early, whatever.” She turned around and opened the door to leave when she heard his tight voice. “Only tonight?”

As she glimpsed back at him over her shoulder, she felt so sorry for him how he sat there, slumped down, observing her insecurely. In the past they had argued a lot about work related issues and she always stood her ground, but so far, she had never stood up for herself when it came to their personal relationship. Being patient and accepting his wishes was all she had ever done. But for once, she knew, she had to put herself first, although the urge to take him in her arms was almost unbearable.

“For someone so intelligent you can be so stupid sometimes. Of course, only tonight. Do you really think I’ve been waiting all this time only to run away after the first argument? I couldn’t, even if I wanted to, because the problem is, I love you, however bad you treat me. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. You're not the only one who is able to slam some doors. “

With that she turned and slammed the door as predicted. She knew this was a bit ridiculous, but it felt really good. Only then did she realize what she had just said to him. Her hand flew over her mouth. That's not at all how she imagined saying those three words for the first time. She lingered a while in front of his door, unsure what to do, before she went home.

***

Instead of watching a movie Casey ended up playing video games with Elijah. Killing dark creatures helped her let off some steam and she enjoyed spending time with Elijah. They had just freed themselves out of a dungeon when her phone rang. There was only one person who would call her at that hour.

“Sorry Elijah, I have to take this.” She grabbed her phone and went into her room.

“Hey!” – “Casey!?” Ethan’s desperate voice made her cringe. “Can I come up?” – “Where are you?” – “Right outside.” A few seconds there was silence. Casey had told him, that she wanted to be alone, but it meant so much to her, that he came to her.

“What do you want?”

“To be with you.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek. “Ok, I’ll open the door for you.”

As he entered the apartment, she quickly pulled him past the grinning Elijah into her room and immediately found herself tightly wrapped in Ethan’s embrace. She smelled a mixture of his cologne and scotch. They clung to each other as if they had to shield themselves against a heavy storm. Casey felt his tears running down her neck. Soothingly her hand travelled up and down his spine. An eternity later he loosened his grip and touched her forehead with his.

“I’m so sorry, Casey. What kind of asshole pushes away the one person, that is always there no matter what?”

She lifted her hand and touched his cheek very softly. “Come on, let’s just go to bed.” Quietly they got undressed and crawled into the covers, her back against his chest, arms wrapped, fingers laced. Words weren’t necessary right now, the only thing they needed was to feel the presence of the other one.

As Casey was half asleep already, she felt Ethan’s whisper against her ear. “If I …, I don’t know yet, but just in case, …I mean …if I talk to her, would you come with me?”

“Is this a rhetorical question or are you really unsure of my answer?” She turned to look at him, their noses almost touching, and waited. He seemed to weigh his answer before he spoke again. “You know I’d hate to presume anything.”

Casey moved closer to put a sweet kiss on his lips. Then she sent him a warm smile and lost herself in his blue eyes, only lit by the moonlight. 

“Regarding me and you, Ethan, you always can presume.”

------------------

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Beauty And The Beast

Gangster AU

Stray Kids Fanfic

Chan x Reader

Other Appearances: GOT7 BTS

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Angst

Warnings: Mention of rape, family drama

Beauty and the Beast Masterlist

Chapter 6

“What happened to your hand?” Moon’s mother asked pointing towards her bandaged hand as the two sat in the lounge, Moon cuddled up next to her mom “Oh this, nothing big, I was walking down the stairs and slipped, there was glass in my hand, it broke and I cut myself” she told. “I can bet you were running down the stairs. Sweetheart how many times have I told you to be careful on stairs, huh?” the older lady dotted “I’m fine mom, it’s just a cut” she looked up at her mom smiling, the mother kissed her daughter’s head, hugging her tighter, “MMhhmm, I missed my baby so much” she said repeatedly kissing her cheeks   “I missed you guys too, sorry for not contacting you much and visiting sooner” Moon replied, snuggling closer in her mom’s chest. “I’m still surprised you visited. I thought you’d be busy with your work, we’d have been happy even if you just frequently contacted us telling us you’re okay” she spoke “You’re not wrong, I am quite busy with my work, I was also surprised when my colleague asked me if I wanted to visit” she replied “Colleague?” her mother asked “Ah yeah, he had some work in this area so he asked me to tag along, saying I could visit you guys while he ran his errand” Moon replied “When is he returning? Why don’t you ask him to stay for dinner?” her mother said “He said he wa-” Moon was cut off by the doorbell “Is that him?” “I don’t think so, he said it would take him two or more hours. It hasn’t even been an hour yet” Moon replied, getting up to check. When she opened the door, Chan stood there with a bouquet of roses and a gift bag in his hands.

“Oh hey. Back so early?” Moon asked letting him in “Ahh yeah, I got done earlier than expected, so thought why not visit your parents” he said “Ofcourse, I’m glad you did, Mom was asking about you. Oh by the way, introduce yourself as my colleague, that’s what I told my mom” Moon said as the two made their way to the living room “Hello ma’am, I’m Chris, a colleague of your daughter's. These are for you” Chan introduced himself, handing the roses to her. “And this is for- where’s your dad?” he asked, looking around “Oh he’s not home, I’ll take that” Moon replied, taking the brown gift bag from him “Oh My God, this is so sweet of you, you didn’t have to do this” her mother smiled at Chan. "I couldn't visit empty handed for the first time" Chan reasoned, bowing politely "You didn't come empty handed, you brought my daughter with you" Moon's mother smiled patting Chan's back who smiled sheepishly in return. “So, Chris, I hope you’ll be staying for dinner” Moon’s mother asked “Ofcourse, I’d love to” he replied politely “Well, make yourself comfortable, I’ll go make dinner” her mother said walking out of the living room. “Wait mom!” Moon called out running after the older lady “Yes hunny?” she asked turning around “Can we have pizza? I really missed homemade pizza” Moon said playing with her fingers “Sure baby, anything you want.” the older lady replied kissing Moon’s forehead. Moon jumped up and down excitedly hugging her mother, “Thank you Thank you Thank you” she said repeatedly. Her mother laughed, cooing at her daughter affectionately “C’mon, lets make you some pizza”, walking towards the kitchen, with Moon skipping behind. Chan saw the whole interaction, smiling to himself about how cute and happy Moon looked. Her whole aura had changed, Chan loved every second of it and hoped that he’d get to see it more often. Chan too followed the two ladies, to the kitchen, opting to help the two. “Can I help with anything?” Chan asked entering the kitchen “Oh no honey, make yourself comfortable.” Moon’s mom answered “Please ma’am, I insist” he said “You can cut the vegetables, I’ll stir fry them” Moon said before her mother could say anything “I’ll make the dough, you guys get started on the topping” her mother said “Should I make the sauce?” Moon asked “No, I made pasta yesterday, so there’s plenty of sauce. I made extra yesterday” the mother replied, disappearing into the pantry. “Where is your father though?” Chan asked, folding his sleeves, Moon’s eyes focused on his veiny arms “Earth to Moon. Are you still here?” Chan snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, snapping her out of her thoughts “Oh huh? What?” Moon said “I asked, where is your father?” Chan laughed at her bewildered expression “Don’t know, don’t care. He left the moment he saw me” Moon shrugged. Chan didn’t know what to say so he just began at his task, glancing at Moon who was taking out the pots and pans. “You okay?” he asked, not being able to control the urge “Why wouldn’t I be. This isn’t the first time. I’m used to it. I don’t give a shit anymore” Moon said “What about your mom? Does she never confront him?” Chan asked “As if he’d listen. Besides, I don’t want mom to get involved, the man is unpredictable. The last thing I want is my mom to get hurt at the hands of that monster” Moon said washing the chicken “I’m -” he stopped mid sentence seeing her mother return to the kitchen “Sweetheart, please grate the cheese after you’re done with the topping” her mom said, getting started on the dough “Sure Mom” she smiled "So Chris. What line of work are you in?" Moon's mother initiated a conversation "I'm on the management side ma'am" Chan replied "Oh but isn't that different from hers, last I talked to her, she was in the web developing department” she asked pointing towards Moon “Ahh yes, but it’s a small system so there isn’t much with departments and stuff” Chan said “Oh I see” “Yeah, there are like 13, now 14 of us, each of us with a different role” “Mom, remember the client I had to meet out of town, that’s him, I edited a few things for him, and since it was up to his satisfaction he offered me a job” Moon played along “That’s nice. What is it that you guys do, like as a group?” the mother questioned “Well, it’s a lot of different things, we design websites, we do shipping for different online shopping mediums, photography, videography and event planning and management” Chan answered. Moon was impressed with how quickly he came up with something so believable “Well that’s nice” the older lady smiled. The conversation went on with random topics. “Oh I almost forgot. Baby your friend has been visiting a lot lately. He asked where you lived but I didn’t know where, but he kept coming back saying, he just wants to see you since it’s been so long. He even came yesterday” Moon’s mom told “Mark? But I met him a few weeks back” Moon said confused “No, not Mark, I think his name was something like Alan?” Moon’s mom said “I don’t know any Alans” she replied brows furrowed “No, I think it was something like Andrew or Andy?” the mother said “Andre?” Moon said grimacing “Yeah yeah, that was it” her mom’s face lit up “If he comes again, tell him I have nothing to do with him, never did, never will” Moon scowled “Why, was he a bu-” her mom started when the doorbell rang “Mavis?” Moon asked looking at her mom “But she’s in UK and she’s not returning until late tonight” her mother answered going out of the kitchen to check “Who’s Mavis?” Chan asked “My little sister” Moon answered. Moon’s mom walked in with a man beside him, who’s face instantly lit up seeing Moon. “Princess!!” he exclaimed, running towards her hugging her tight. Moon harshly pushed him away, slapping him hard across the face. “I’m not your fucking princess. Get lost. I never want to see your face ever again. Stay away from me, stay away from my parents.” To say Chan and Moon’s mom were confused about everything would be an understatement, their faces were contorted in utter confusion, looking from each other to the two, expressions bewildered. “Wha-” the man started “NO, NO Andre, I don’t want to hear it. And don’t even try to play dumb, you completely ruined my life, and I’m not exaggerating and you know that very well. I don’t want any explanation, I don’t want an apology either, I just want you out of here.” Moon said, her voice cracking “Please give me a second chance” Andre pleaded “Get lost before I kill you. Don’t test me, I really will kill you” Moon gritted “Hunny what is this about. At least hear the kid out.” her mother said “No mom, I can’t stand him” “Excuse me, Mr Andre, I think you should leave. I’ve never seen my girlfriend this stressed. I trust she has a very valid reason for it, so leave with respect while you can” Chan smirked “You may not want to hear this, but I really like you, I have, ever since highschool. And I’m not saying this because I want you to break up with him, but because I want you to be safe. He’s not what you think he is, he’s a gang leader” Andre said, the three’s eyes went wide and Moon’s mother let out a loud gasp. Moon wasn’t having any of it and his remark only angered her more. Grabbing the knife from the kitchen top, she lunged forward, “THIS AGAIN. YOU FUCKING BASTARD. I’M GONNA KILL YOU”. Chan quickly moved forward to stop her while her mother just stood there rooted to the ground, completely shook. Andre laughed maniacally, smirking at her. “What do you mean again?” Moon’s mother asked “Oh she doesn’t know?” Andre smiled like a lunatic “I SAID LEAVE” Moon shouted “But I think she deserves to know, look at her, are you really going to keep it from her?” Moon thrashed around trying to get out of his hold, but to no avail. What was supposed to be a nice reunion between Moon and her family, turned into something unimaginable. “If you’re not going to talk. Let me, your mother seems really confused and she deserves to know.” Andre spoke again “There is nothing to know about, get lost” Moon said through gritted teeth “Aww, are you really going to make your parents think you died in a car crash when in reality someone slit your throat or shot you in the head?” Andre questioned “What is he talking about?” her mother asked “Nothing mom, he’s just blabbering, this is what he does. This is exactly what he did in highschool” Moon answered “It was to protect you” Andre said “Protect me? You twisted sick creature. You completely turned my life upside down and you have the audacity to say that. Get out before I kill you” Moon said, Throwing a knife at him, he moved to the side and dodged it. “You’re going to regret this.” Andre said, turning around to leave. Moon released a breath and leaned on the kitchen top, burying her head in her arms while her mother rubbed her back. “Sorry mom, the whole day is ruined” Moon said lifting her head “No, no Sweetheart, don’t apologize, it isn’t your fault” her mother said “Here take this” Chan said, handing Moon a glass of cold water “Thank you” she said taking it from him “What was all that about? And what does he mean by Chris being in a gang, and is he your boyfriend? Were you really going to kill him?” Moon’s mother bombarded her with questions “Hey hey Mom, calm down, let me explain, he’s just getting in your head, take a deep breath, everything is alright” Moon said rubbing her mom’s arm to calm her down “Okay, but you better be honest about every single detail” her mom said “Yes, let's put the pizza in the oven first, we’ll talk while it bakes” Moon replied After putting the pizzas in the oven, the three gathered in the living room. Moon took a deep breath before speaking. “Back in highschool, he was my classmate. An annoying one at that. He would follow me around, complimenting me, giving me flowers and all that stuff. He confessed to me numerous times and I’d turn him down everytime, saying I wasn’t interested. He was a delusional psychopath, he’d always tell me I didn’t give him a chance because of Mark, seeing how close I was with him. He’d always try to pull stupid stunts to ruin what Mark and I had. And one time he took it too far, I have no idea what he had planned but whatever it was, it backfired, it didn’t affect him as much as it affected me. He went abroad two weeks after the incident while I suffered. The only explanation he gave was ‘I just wanted to keep you safe’ because apparently Mark was also in a ‘gang’. He ruined my entire life and for that I’ll never forgive him” Moon explained “What could he have possibly done to make you hate him this much, and if this is about your highschool life being difficult, don’t you think you might be exaggerating” Moon’s mom reasoned “I really didn’t think I’d ever have to tell you this” she sighed “It’s already out of the bag, might as well tell the whole thing” her mom said “Remember the sports day? The one that determined whether I got the scholarship to the college or not?” Moon asked “The one you couldn’t play in because of the mishap?” her mom questioned “Yes that one. But everything that happened that day was a lie” Moon replied “What?” she asked confused “I did go to the locker room to change into my uniform, but everything that happened inside was different from what I told you, or anyone for that matter. The only people who know what actually happened inside were Andre, Mark, Jaebum, Jinyoung, even I don't know. And the event that lead to what happened in that room, that only Mark, Andre and I know” she spoke “If it was something this big, why would you keep it from us?” her mom said. Moon took a deep breath before she started explaining "It's complicated, I was 15 and everything happened so quickly I couldn't handle it. When I did finally get around to telling you, well you know what happened" Moon said looking into her mother’s eyes. The older lady sighed, knowing exactly what her daughter was talking about

5 Years Ago

"I have practice after school today. I can see you tonight if you want" Moon spoke into the phone "When are you gonna get free from that?" Mark asked on the other line "Not sure, probably by 5:00 or 5:30, maybe after, maybe before. Why, something important?" She replied "Nah, just wanted to hang out, we can go out tomorrow as well, you'll be tired anyways" he shrugged "You're not wrong, I'm not even gonna bother walking back home, just gonna call an Uber" she laughed "Why? Isn't your mom picking you up?" He questioned "Not today. She said she and dad have some work so they won't be able to pick me up. It's no biggie anyways, I understand, especially with renovations going on, they have a lot on their plate already" she answered "I'll pick you. I'm free, plus it's safer" he said "Is that supposed to be a pun?" Moon laughed "How?" He asked confused "Free? And safe" Moon quoted the words "Oh, totally unintentional. And I want you to be safe" Mark laughed catching on to what she was insinuating "Well, no need, who knows when I'll get free anyways" she said, heart fluttering at his words "Too late, I'm already on my way" he said "Dude, my practice hasn't even started yet" she laughed "Yeah well, I haven't got much to do so might as well watch you practice. See you in 5 Bitty" Mark said "See you. Bye" she said ending the call. "Who was that" Andre asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere "What the hell! Stop sneaking up on me and it's none of your business" Moon replied walking away

"Mrs Smith, can I talk to you privately" Moon asked her coach, who was currently instructing a few girls "Of course, girls would you please excuse us" the coach replied "It's about the application" Moon started "Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry about that, I mixed up the applications. Yours was perfectly fine and congratulations, it got accepted. Now all you have to do is pass the audition. Coaches from the top colleges will be here on the final day. Practice hard, I know you can do it. Good luck" Mrs Smith patted Moon's shoulder "Are you serious. The application for scholarship was accepted? Oh my God, I'm so excited. I didn't think I'd get accepted" Moon said enthusiastically "Don't underestimate yourself. You've got great potential, give yourself more credit. Now get to practice, you have a scholarship to win" the coach cheered Moon giggled and walked away thanking the older lady. On her way back from the lockers she spotted Mark, Moon ran up to him and hugged him tight shouting enthusiastically. "Woah there little lady, why so hyper. Did you eat chocolate again?" Mark laughed "Okay so, oh my God, I'm so happy right now" she kept jumping up and down. "I can see that. So tell me, what's the good news" he laughed "Remember the application I told you about, the one which had some problems with it, guess what, my coach accidentally mixed mine with someone else's. I just found out mine got accepted. Now all I have to do is get a perfect score in my games and I'll get the sports scholarship" Moon told enthusiastically. "Bitty, that's amazing. See I told you everything will work out, you were stressing for no reason. I'm so proud of you, I knew you could do it" Mark exclaimed hugging her tightly, swinging right to left. "Not just yet, I still have to play in the finals and then pass the entrance test. The competition is tough, so I'm kinda nervous" Moon said "You. Are. Going. To. Do. Great." He said shaking her with every word. Moon laughed at his actions, smiling brightly at him. "Now get to practice, I'll cheer for you" he said turning her around and pushing her forward, Moon laughed running towards the ground with Mark following behind. "Alright girls, take 5" the coach called out. The team walked towards their benches to get a rest for a few minutes. “That was a good game. But you girls can do better. Nattalie, you have to work on your goal blocking strategy. Ruth and June practice on your kicks. The rest of you, you’re still lacking good positioning” the coach said. The girls nodding along to what they were being told “In the next game I want you all to change the positions, understood” the couch asked “Yes coach” the girls shouted in sync

“Weren’t you playing badminton?” Mark asked Moon, handing her a bottle of water, after another football game “I am, I’m playing both” she replied, gulping down the entire bottle “One game doesn’t scratch your itch?” he asked folding his arms “Nope, you know me. Need to play every single game. Life’s too short to play just one.” she replied “Why didn’t you try out for all of em?” he said sarcastically “According to rules, one person can participate in only two sports, otherwise, I would’ve” she replied “You are one of a kind Bitty” he laughed, patting her head

“Number 5, I need you to come with me, we need balls for the dodge ball” the coach called out to Moon. “Yes coach” she called out, walking towards the older woman. “Have you decided on any majors yet?” the coach asked Moon as the two entered the storage room “I haven’t got anything planned to be honest, I want to be an athlete so this scholarship would be a great boost for me. I guess I’ll see as I go along” she replied placing the needed stuff inside a basket “That is great. From the years of watching you grow, I know you have great potential. I wish you all the luck in your career.” she smiled at her student “Thank you ma’am” Moon smiled as the two exited the room “It’s stuck” Moon said pulling on the door “That’s weird, maybe something is stuck from the inside” the coach said. Moon went inside to check but saw nothing near the door that could be causing it to jam. “There’s nothing here” she replied. She tried opening it further but it wouldn’t budge. Pushing the door harshly, it moved a little, making a creaking noise. “It’s easier from the inside since I have to push, I’ll close as much I can from the inside, slip out and then pull the rest” Moon said “Let me help you, I’ll pull from the outside and you push” the coach said “No no, it’s alright. You go ahead, I’ll lock up and come back” Moon said “Are you sure?” the coach asked “Yes, it’s all good” she replied “Here are the keys.” she said, handing the keys to Moon and walked away. After 5 minutes of pushing the door, she was able to close it enough for her to easily slip out. She put a foot outside but before she could get out, someone shoved her inside and slipped in right after her. He harshly pushed the door and closed it from the inside. Moon looked up to see Andre standing right above her. “Finally. I have you all to myself” he said and leaned over her, Moon’s breath hitched as she tried to think about ways to escape. Kicking him in the leg as hard as she could, she ran towards the door, she tried to open in but it was jammed after opening just a little bit. Before she could pull on it more, Andre grabbed her by her hair and yanked her back, making her fall on the ground. “HELP!!! SOMEBODY HELP!!!! MARK!!!!” she screamed out. Pushing the door and closing it once again, he moved towards her and spoke “No one can hear you. We’re on the other side. Your precious Mark isn't coming to save you.” he said straddling her waist and pinning her arms above her head “STOP!! PLEASE STOP!! AAAHHHH” Moon sobbed “And when I’m done with you, he won’t even want to look at you, he’ll be so disgusted” he said kissing down her jaw to her neck. “PLEASE STOP, ANdRE, STOP IT” “Just like that, keep screaming my name” he said groping her.

“Okay boys team, you’re up.” the coach announced. The team got up from their benches and walked towards their coach. “1, 2, 3, 4 - where’s Andre?” the coach asked as she was counting the members “He said he was going to the toilet, it’s been five minutes now” one of the team members replied “HAS ANYONE SEEN ANDRE?” the coach turned around and announced. Hearing the announcement, Mark started looking around, having an uneasy feeling when he didn’t see Moon or Andre. Getting up from his spot he went towards the coach and asked about her “She and I went to get some sports equipment from the storage room, the door was stuck so she stayed back saying she’ll close up and get back. Why? She isn’t back?” the coach asked “No” Mark replied “Could you go check on her, see if she needs help with the door, and if doesn’t close, just tell someone from the admin and bring her here” the coach said Mark nodded his head and ran towards the storage area. Being an alumni, he was quite familiar with the building and didn’t have much difficulty getting to the storage room.  As he got closer he could hear Moon screaming, assuming she was stuck inside he fastened his pace, but what he heard next made his blood oil with anger and started running. Kicking open the door his fists clenched in anger at the scene in front of him. Moon was sprawled on the ground, her shorts halfway down, shirt riding up her chest and Andre on top of her groping her in the most inappropriate of ways. “You fucking bastard” Mark gritted and pushed him off her. Moon quickly scrambled to the side, fixing her clothes she curled in the corner sobbing harshly, her body shaking uncontrollably. Mark grabbed Andre from the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. Throwing him against the wall, Mark threw a punch to his face, making him stumble. Mark kept throwing punch after punch until Andre was lying on the ground. Mark was about to kick him when he kicked his foot under Mark’s, sending Mark stumbling back. Taking the opportunity Andre got up and ran out of the room. Mark wanted to follow after him but decided against it taking a look at Moon’s figure.   Getting closer to her curled up figure, he gently touched her shoulder. “AAHH, NO PLEASE, NO-” she started thrashing around, “hey, hey, hey, it’s me, it’s just Mark” he spoke soothingly “M...Ma….Maa…” she stuttered, eyes glossy, cheeks tear stained, face completely red and body shaking uncontrollably. “Yeah it’s just me, I’m here, I’m not gonna hurt you. I got you now, everything’s alright” he said wiping away her tears. Letting out a sob, Moon threw herself at Mark, wrapping her arms and legs around him, clutching onto him for dear life. “I...I..di...didn’t..th...thi….think...an...anyone wa..was gonna co..come” She spoke trying to calm herself “It’s okay, I’m here now. I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you” He said, rubbing her back, trying to get her to stop shaking. The two sat there in silence, Moon releasing deep breaths occasionally. “You better?” Mark asked as Moon loosened her hold on him and pulled away “Mhhmm” she nodded getting off of him and standing up, her legs still feeling wobbly “C’mon, we have to tell your coach.” Mark said, grabbing her hand, and pulling her out of the storage room but Moon stood there rooted to the ground “It’s no use” she said pulling him back “What do you mean? You’re not walking away without taking action, I’m not gonna let you. The bastard needs to be punished” Mark said harshly “You think I don’t know that. We’re gonna tell the coach, then what?” she retorted “The school admin takes action, that’s what” “How do you plan on proving him guilty? There are no security cameras in this room.” she folded her arms “What about the hallways? If we can catch him going in th-” “Come with me” she cut him off, dragging him with her. “Look at that” she said pointing towards the broken security camera “Ho-” he started “It broke this morning, A bunch of boys were throwing around balls and ended up kitting the camera, It’s supposed to be fixed tomorrow. Andre knew this too and took the opportunity. There's no point in telling anyone” she sighed hanging her head low, tears streaming down her face “I’m sorry. We’ll get him back, I’ll make him pay for ever laying a finger on you. I promise you that” Mark said hugging her small figure closer to him “Teach me, teach me how to protect myself. What if he does it again, and you’re not there” Moon said, lifting her head “I’m not leaving your side, ever. You don’t ever have to worry about me not being there” he said wiping her tears “But I still want you to teach me, I don’t want to depend on anyone” she said, taking in a deep breath, finally calming down “Okay, whatever you want. But what are you going to tell your coach. You look horrible” Mark questioned “Let’s go, I know what I have to say” she said walking away, with him following behind

“Number 5. What happened, you were gone for more than 20 minutes” the coach asked when Moon handed her the keys “I was trying to close it from the inside, when it closed and got stuck, I kept banging on the door since I didn’t have my phone, Mark opened it from outside” she lied “You look sick, your face is all red, are you sure you’re alright” the coach asked concerned “Yes, I just get claustrophobic in tight spaces, that’s all” “Oh, explains a lot. Leave the practice early today. Get some rest” the said “No ma’am I’m fine, I can practice” she said “Don’t tire yourself out, get some rest, There is a week till the final day, you’ll have plenty of time to practice. Go home today, rest up, get better and we’ll practice tomorrow. I don’t want one of my top athletes to pass out from exhaustion.” the coach said sternly “Yes ma’am” she replied and walked away to gather her things

“You’re coach is right you know, you don’t have to tire yourself” Mark said, starting the car “It’s just, you know how it is. This scholarship may be my only chance to get out, and I don’t want to risk losing it. Being completely honest with you, one of the reasons I didn’t want to tell anyone about what happened with Andre is because I don’t want it to hinder my scholarship. Yeah it’s because there isn’t sufficient proof to prove it was him. I could pursue it, but that would just take my focus away. I don’t want that” Moon explained “I wish you weren’t so hard on yourself all the time” he said “I wish the world wasn’t so cruel to me” she whispered looking out the window. Mark didn’t have much to say to her, knowing she indeed went through a lot on a daily basis. He just sighed and kept driving in silence.

The next went smoothly, Moon would practice after school, and after practice she would learn self defence with Mark. As promised, he didn’t leave her side.  It was the final day and everything was going smoothly. Moon’s football team won with a good score, and she was really ecstatic especially since she kicked the winning goal. Going into the girls locker room she began to change into her badminton uniform. After getting changed, she sat on the benches to put her shoes on. Halfway through Andre entered the locker room. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? THIS THE GIRLS LOCKER ROOM, YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED HERE” Moon shouted at him “Relax girl, I’m just here to grab something for June from her locker. I asked coach before coming inside” he replied “Where’s coach?” she asked “In the ground” he smirked at her. “But don’t worry. I’m not gonna do anything” he added before walking away. Moon quickly took out her phone, texting Mark, who immediately replied

Moon: Mark please come to my locker room Mark: Why? Everything okay? Moon: Andre, he’s here. He says he’s here to get something, but I don’t trust him Mark: Take a deep breath Bitty, I’m on my way. Moon: Please hurry

Putting her phone aside she quickly got to putting on her shoes. Chugging down her water, Moon quickly got up to run out. But as soon as she stood up, she started feeling dizzy and light headed. She looked down at the water bottle and cursed, realizing it was drugged. Releasing a laugh, Andre walked over to her. “Staaayyyyy awaaayy” Moon slurred, pushing him away. All the self defence tricks she learned now useless as her movements were very delayed “C’mon we have to get out of here before your boyfriend shows up” Andre said, dragging Moon’s intoxicated self with him. “Booyfrieend, I wiiiiish~” Moon giggled, completely drunk “As if that matters anyway. You’re mine now” Andre whispered. Reaching for the door. Mark was quick and smart. Knowing Andre was going to do something, he didn’t come alone. Pulling Moon towards himself, he pushed Andre towards Jaebum. “Take care of him, I’ll take her out”. Nodding his head Jaebum dragged Andre away. Picking Moon up, Mark walked inside. Sitting her down on the benches, he went to her locker and started rummaging through it. Silently thanking the Gods when he found a juicebox in her locker, he went to her and took her phone and texted himself

Moon: Hey could you bring me a juice box, I don’t feel so good

After sending the text he removed the previous conversation and manipulated the text time to make seem as if it was sent 10 minutes ago. Taking out his phone, he texted Jinyoung.

Mark: Bring Bitty’s coach here in 5 minutes Jinyoung: Why? I thought you’ll keep it under control Mark: Shit went down big time. We can’t get her out quietly now Jinyoung: Fuck Mark: Just text me when you reach near the locker room

“You look hot” Moon suddenly said. This caught Mark off guard as she was simply giggling to herself all this time “Say what now” he asked bewildered “Don’t act like you don’t know. You’ve always known how I liked you. I never said anything. But for some reason I feel like confronting you about it” she said walking up to him. Mark sighed “Bitty, this really isn’t the time. You’re intoxicated. Let’s talk when you’re sober” he said “No, I wanna talk right now. I’m completely sober. You’re the one who needs to man up. You never tell me you like me but your actions say otherwise. Either tell me you don’t feel the same and that your actions are platonic or be honest with me. Stop leading me on” she slurred stumbling. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her, before he could say anything his phone went off

Jinyoung: On our way, two minutes max Mark: Stall her till I come out. I have a situation Jinyoung: You’re kidding? What even is going on? Mark: Don’t have time to explain

“You’re being a real jerk here” she poked him “Gosh I can’t believe I’m gonna do this”  he whispered before kissing Moon. she was caught off guard but nonetheless kissed back. He felt horrible for taking advantage of her like this but he knew he didn’t have much time. Putting two fingers on her neck, he pressed on her pressure point until she fainted in his arms. Lying her on the ground, he took out his pocket knife. Apologizing to the unconscious figure he made a small cut on her temple. Letting a little blood pool on the floor he dipped his fingers in it before smearing it on the side of the bench. Once he made sure everything was in place. He picked her up princess style and walked out of the locker room. “Oh my lord. What happened?” Moon’s coach asked looking at her unconcious figure in Mark’s arms “I’m not sure. She texted me she wasn’t feeling well and that she wanted me to bring her juice. I did as told, but when I called her she didn’t pick up so I went inside the locker room. She was unconscious when I got there. I think she hit her head on the benches because there was blood on the bench’s corner.” He lied “Coach, we should tell everyone she won’t be playing. Mark will take her to the hospital” Jinyoung said catching on to Mark’s lie “Oh yeah yeah, please call me as soon as she wakes up, Jinyoung, you tell her parents, I’ll make the announcement” the coach said walking away “Tell aunt and uncle what I told the coach. I’ll take her to your apartment. Make something up and make sure they don’t ask to go to the hospital.” Mark warned “If she hit her head, she needs a CT scan” JInyoung said “No, she didn’t hit her head, she was drugged, I had to make her faint to get her out, made a little cut just to make up a story” he explained “It’s 2:00 right now, I can stall them until 6:00, 7:00 max” Jinyoung sighed “That’s plenty of time.” Mark said, turning around and walking away from him.

Head bent over the toilet bowl, Moon threw up. Her stomach emptied and the more she hurled the more her throat burned. Mark returned with a glass of water, he kneeled down next to her and rubbed her back. “Any better?” he asked as she looked at him “Water.” she told him. Mark handed her the glass and she chugged the whole thing down in one go. Handing him the glass back she stood up. “Do you have a spare toothbrush?” She asked flushing the toilet “Yeah, here” he handed her the new brush from the cupboard. Moon started brushing her teeth and Mark left the toilet giving her privacy.

“I made some hangover soup,”  Mark said as Moon walked into the kitchen. “Can I get something for a headache? I feel like someone is hammering my head” Moon said clutching her head “Yeah, here you go” he said handing her a glass of water and two pills “Thanks” she said popping the pills “So, what happened? All I remember is drinking water which happened to be drugged. After that, it’s like I blacked out. And what happened to my head?” she asked, touching the bandage on her temple. Mark was internally relieved that she didn’t remember anything. He really didn’t want to talk about the kiss “When I got there, you were totally wasted and were being dragged out by Andre. Thankfully we got to you in time. JB took care of Andre, while I got you out.” Mark said “Wait. I was wasted, please tell me I didn’t say anything stupid” she asked “You were just a giggly mess. Drunk you is like a 3 year old kid with candy” he laughed, handing her the bowl of soup. “Oh. how’d you get me out without anyone noticing? And what about my parents?” she asked taking a spoonful of the soup “Well, I strangled you until you passed out and then took you out” he shrugged. Moon’s mouth went wide open as she dropped her spoon in the bowl. Mark laughed at her expression before continuing “You have pressure points in your neck, I pressed on it and you were out cold. I made a little cut on your head, made your coach think you fell and hit your head. Voila perfect escape plan. Although I am really sorry about your head” “Nah, it’s cool, it’s better than being seen drunk. Especially since i’m a minor and it was an important day” she casually waved him off. Mark and Moon went over the plan one more time, before he dropped her back at home. “Wanna come inside, I’m sure they’ll wanna see you” Moon said unbuckling her seat belt “Yeah sure, let’s just get it over with” he said exiting the car with her.

The following week became a living hell for Moon. She lost her scholarship and her coach referred her to the school psychologist. After a few sessions, it was concluded that Moon was mentally unstable and should avoid extra curricular until she was better. Moon knew very well that she was mentally disturbed and knew exactly why, but her coping mechanism was different and she hated talking about her problems. So to avoid confrontation, she did everything she was told by the psychologist. The problem got bigger and bigger and Moon decided it would be better to just drop college altogether. After graduating from high school, Moon became interested in online games and started developing love for computers. Starting with freelancing she built up her skills with time and forgot about her highschool life and dreams.

End Of Flashback

By the time Moon finished explaining, the pizza was cooked and now the three sat there in silence and ate the pizza. “Did you really hate us that much to not bring up such a big thing?” Moons mother asked “At first I felt it wasn’t important and I just wanted to forget it, so I avoided talking about it. After the sports day, I wanted to tell you but I needed some time to accept it. Then the whole thing with the psychologist took place and when I tried to talk to you about it, I knew it was too late, Andre was gone and I couldn’t really do anything. You know how I can get, just like dad I too can get hot headed, and when I bought it up things didn’t exactly go as planned so I gave up” Moon casually answered “I’m sorry. We couldn’t be there when you needed us the most and you had to go through that all by yourself” her mom said “Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong” Moon said “I was hard on you sometimes. I couldn't protect you like I should’ve” “You did more than you could, I’ll always be thankful for that.” she said tightly hugging the older lady. “This must be really awkward for you. First time meeting your girlfriend's parents and all you get is drama” her mom said looking at Chan “Girlfriend?” Moon questioned “He did say he was your boyfriend” “I was planning to tell you after some time, we just started going out” Moon blushed “It’s completely alright ma’am. I was somewhat aware of Moon’s relation with her father, so you don’t have to worry about that.” he smiled politely.

“Thank you so much for having me ma’am. It was really nice to meet you. You’re an amazing chef. Thank you once again, I really enjoyed your company.” Chan said as the two were now getting ready to leave. “Oh you flatter me Chris. It was amazing to meet you too. And please, don’t call me ma’am, just call my Aunt” her mother said patting his back “Thank you” he smiled shyly, his ears turning red. “Bye mom” Moon said, hugging mom one last time for the day. “Bye sweetheart, visit again soon” her mother said “I will, ba-bye” she said waving at her, getting inside the car

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The next morning Moon woke up earlier than expected. Finishing her morning routine, she went downstairs to the kitchen to whip something up for herself. Entering the kitchen, she was met with Bree and El preparing breakfast. “What’s for breakfast today?” she asked the older girls “Toast and egg. You want orange juice or mango?” Bree answered “Mango” she smiled, getting herself a glass of water “Hey guys” an unfamiliar yet recognizable voice spoke “NAY!!” Moon shouted turning around “SUNNY” Nay said with the same enthusiasm and  embraced Moon tightly “What are you doing here?” Moon asked as the two pulled apart “I should be asking you. No contact for a year and you’re in a gang.” Nay said “Yeah, long story” Moon smiled sheepishly “Your dad?” she raised a brow “Something along the lines yeah. What about you?” Moon questioned “Well you know my hoe-ish tendencies. Gotta sell my drugs somehow” she shrugged “Why am I not surprised” Moon laughed “Because you know me so well” Nay said swinging her arm around Moon’s shoulder “You girls seem close” Bree said “Been besties since high school” Nay replied “Speaking of highschool. How’s Madzi, what’s she been upto lately?” Moon asked, the two girls taking a seat on the bar stool near the counter top “Oh you don’t know?” Nay said “Oh no, I don’t like that tone. What’s going on?” Moon said “Well, it’s a long story. She was in a relationship an-” Nay started “Woah, I’m gonna stop you right there, was it an abusive relationship. Tell me where she is, I swear to God I’m about to kill someone” Moon cut her off “Slow down tiger. I like how you’re so feisty yet the tiniest of us three. Where do you store all that anger” Nay said, causing Bree and El to laugh “Ha ha, but for real, you know how I get protective over her, she’s the youngest amongst us” “Yeah yeah I know. Anywho. She was in a committed and happy relationship, but her parents found out.  Being homophobic, they were completely against their daughter being in a relationship with a woman. Things did not end well. She was forced to marry someone and break up with Didi. A month into her marriage, she found out that her husband is in a gang. And the last time I talked to her she didn’t sound really good” Nay explained “Didi from computer class? The cute shawty.” Moon asked “Yeah her. They made such a cute couple” “Literally everyone knew the two were whipped for each other, but neither of them said anything” “They were meant to be. The two met in a nightclub a few months after highschool. Both were drunk, guess it was the perfect opportunity.” Nay told “Can’t we do something about it? I mean you’re probably involved with more than one gang, maybe team up and get her out” Moon said “I checked. But her Gang has very strong alliances, so we can’t do anything” “Well, let’s just hope the universe has mercy on her” “Yeah well, there's not much we can do anyway” “So you tell. How’d you get into the whole drug business?” Moon asked “Well, Madzi, Didi and I started it about two years ago. We wanted to ask you but you were having issues of your own with your father, so we thought best to give you space. We didn’t think we’d succeed but damn was it fun once we got there. Didi and I are still in the business, Madzi however, well I just told you” Nay answered “What did you guys call yourselves?” “Stonewhores” she grinned “I- I’m not even gonna ask” moon said making her laugh “Alright girls breakfast is ready. Moon, go upstairs and get everyone”  Bree told “Yep” the younger girl replied and went up the stairs Knocking on everyone's door she did as she was told. “Hey, Min have you seen Innie? He’s not in his room” Moon asked Seungmin “I think he went to Channie’s office.” he replied “Oh okay, I’ll check, thanks” she smiled at him walking towards Chan’s office She knocked twice, waiting for someone to open the door “It’s open” Chan called from the inside. She opened the door and stepped inside. Chan and Jeongin seemed to be in the middle of some serious discussion. “Am I interrupting something?” she asked looking at their serious expressions. “No, it’s okay, we’re done. What brings you here?” Jeongin asked “Oh, Bree’s calling everyone downstairs for breakfast,” Moon said. Jeongin moved closer to Chan and hugged him “Thank you.” he said pulling away “I trust you, Don’t let me down” he said patting his back “I won’t” he said walking out of the office “What was that about?” Moon asked confused, looking at Jeongin’s disappearing figure. “He came to tell me about Him and Anessa. He said they like like each other and want to go out, came to ask for my permission” Chan answered “That’s so sweet and cute of him. You know he looks up to you a lot” Moon replied “Yeah I know. He’s a good kid, that’s why I didn’t object” Chan said, the two walking out of his office. “It’s cute, he even asked me to talk to Felix” Chan chuckled “What for?” “Seungmin and Liv also have a thing for each other, but they’re both afraid to tell Felix because of what happened when El and Woojin started going out. It’s like Romeo and Juliet” Chan answered “I don’t think so, in my defense Romeo and Juliet were dumb and dumber” “It’s a classical romance novel, what even woman” “I think if Seungmin ever came across liv’s unconscious figure, lying next to sleeping pills, his first instinct would be to try to wake her up or take her to the infirmary, not take the pills and kill himself. Whereas Romeo was a dumbass who thought that Juliet was dead, he didn’t even try to wake her up, just straight up took the poison and comitted suicide.” “I never knew you were into reading classical romance” he teased her “Oh please, it was compulsory in high school. I’m more into violent, gore, kinky, bloody kind of shit” “Kinky you say” “From the whole list, that’s what you picked up?” “I only hear what I wanna hear” he laughed As the two reached the kitchen Moon grimaced when she saw Hyunjin slap Nay’s ass. “Get your dirty hands off my baby” Moon said slapping Hyunjins back “What’s your problem?” he said “You just harassed my best friend, I’m not gonna stand here and watch” “Uhh babe, he didn’t harass me” Nay said “WHAT!?!?! Him? Seriously of all people, why him? Girl you could do so much better than him” Moon made a disgusted face “Well I’m offended” Hyunjin said overdramatically “Oh boi, she’s the best” Han laughed “What’s wrong with him?” Nay asked “Everything” Moon replied, everyone now seated on the dining table “But he has a nice dick and he knows how to use it” Nay shrugged “Ewww Nay, I’m eating” Moon pretended to throw up. Everyone just watching the two with amused expressions “I’m sure he’d be delighted to show you” Nay smirked “No thank you, I’d rather get stabbed by him again” Moon said “I can stab you with my  dick” Hyunjin chirped “Oh boi, bad move” El whistled “Why?” Hyunjin asked “Her boyfriend does not seem happy” Woojin said looking at Chan who had an unreadable expression “You do that and I chop it off” Chan said “Wait what? When did you two happen” Felix asked “Yesterday” Bree answered “Who confessed?” Han asked “Chan made the first move” Moon replied “Yess. Hwang, pay up.” Hyunjin grumbled and took out a $50 note from his wallet and handed it to Han “Come to papa” Han said kissing the note “You guys were betting on us?” Moon exclaimed “Only about who was gonna confess first” Han shrugged “Well, nobody confessed, which means both of you lost. So thank you very much for the money” Moon said reaching forward and took the money from his hand “But-” Han pouted “Too bad for you” Minho laughed “So Moon, How was your visit to your parents house” Liv said changing the topic “Oh it was great” she replied “Your mom and sister must’ve been happy to see you” Anna chirped “Well my sister was out of country so I couldn’t see her, but I met my mom and it was amazing” Moon smiled “When is she returning, I’ll take you to visit her” Chan said “Last night. Can we go this afternoon” Moon replied “I have some work this afternoon. You can take my car, but if you want to go with me, we can go tomorrow” Chan said “Oh it’s okay, I can go by myself” she replied “You sure?” “Yeah”

Moon rang the bell about three times but there was no answer. It was 4:00 in the evening and a Sunday so she couldn’t be at work. Not wanting to wait anymore she took out the spare key she always kept with her and unlocked the door. “I’m coming, I’m coming” her sister called out when Moon walked inside her apartment “Sis!!” her sister ran towards Moon and hugged her tight “What the pleasant surprise, and I see you still have the key” she giggled “And I see you still haven’t given up on your habit of sleeping around” Moon said taking in her appearance “C’mon sis, stop being such a party pooper” she said walking into the kitchen “Mavis. You know I don’t have any problem with the way you live your life, but please, this isn’t exactly safe. There are so many dangers, what if someone creepy takes advantage of you while drunk, or what about an STD. you have to be careful” Moon sighed “Sis, I understand your concern but don’t worry, I’ve gotten out of the habit of sleeping around with anyone. It’s just one person now. And no strings attached” “Well that’s good to hear, and I hope you use protection, because God knows where he’s been” Moon said “He too only sleeps with me, and yes, we do use protection if that’s what your worried about” Mavis said “Babe, should we order takeout?” a voice called out “He’s still here?” Moon asked “You’re the one who came unannounced” Mavis shrugged “Babe, I aske-” he stopped mid sentence when he saw Moon “YOU!?!” Moon’s eyes went wide wide

So! This is my @tagsecretsanta for the super super lovely @such-a-random-rambler​ whose prompt I was SO excited about and I have never spent so long drawing, 3D rendering (a new skill!) and animating something in my life, oh boy XDD

John's “filing system”, if it's even acceptable to call it such a thing, is nothing short of perfectly precise, absolutely fastidious, totally organized chaos.

Scott, bathed in the blue glow of the holograms all around him, has absolutely no idea how John ever finds anything in this cascading, endless quantity of folder after folder, all neatly labelled with, well, ???some kind of code or other??? he assumes??? probably??? Evidently their spaceman understands... whatever this is but Scott, scowling, has no idea how John could expect anyone else to ever have a chance at deciphering his stupid hieroglyphics.

It's almost a criminally annoying.

For a start, there's literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. There must be a file here for every mission they've ever been on, and more besides for who-even-knows-what that Scott's had no real reason to ever look at before. 

But John's currently out of commission and Scott, his teeth now gritted, really needs to find the mission files from the incident that did it. He knows John was, of course, recording everything from his stint to the X2 Zero Space Station in those annoying, succinct, shorthand notes of his. His brother is predictably pedantic and precise like that. He always has been. But as much as it irritates Scott it does mean that what went so very wrong up there last night is all here somewhere, tucked into one of these files, tantalisingly right under his finger tips and labelled in utter gibberish.

It takes Scott three hours just to work out that the little number at the end of each file name is the date done the English way.

A cry of: “Oh seriously!” escapes Scott before he can contain it, and he spends a good couple of minutes soundlessly cursing that semester John spent at Oxford with Penelope, back during his degree. The temptation to throw the holoprojector across the room is rapidly mounting, and he’s stopped only because both hands are needed to plunge deep into the whirling lines of blue code and wrestle out the folder labelled with the awful, heart-racing, anglicised version of yesterday’s date.

The folder finally in his grasp, Scott opens it with a mounting degree of trepidation and... and he rapidly discovers that everything inside it is encoded and that he has no idea what any of it means and the eldest Tracy is filled with, instead of the expected triumph, a sinking, twisting miasma of dread.

"Goddamn it John." Scott hisses to himself, bashing one of his fists down on the smooth wood composite of their Father's desk, "Is this written in alien? How the hell…?!?"

It’s Alan, alerted by all the muffled complaining, who eventually creeps in and takes pity on him, sliding his little fingers neatly through John’s mess and gradually decrypting it. Though he does so with an unwarranted amount of giggling, Scott feels.

John’s ‘alien writing’ is apparently NASA shorthand that’s been translated using a numbered sequence into no less than three of John's favourite languages and then run through some kind of scrambler. Scott wonders if his brother has written a program to do this for him or if it's just become deeply ingrained into that ridiculous computer brain of his that he does it without even thinking about it.

Surely stopping the Hood from getting into their files doesn’t have to be this extreme? Not for old data? The specs of the Thunderbirds maybe but... for missions logs, software patch notes and John’s (rarely followed) meal plans?

Not so much.

An hour of work on Alan’s part later, each painstakingly translated word stands out in brilliant, bold red, displayed high in the air above their living space:

"Scott,” Alan reads the sentence aloud, interrupting himself with his own mirth, “pffft, get out of my files and, hahaha, go to, oh my god, bed." He nearly topples himself over he's laughing so hard. “He didn’t.”

“Oh he did.” Scott scowls, furious. “For crying out loud…” Big brother's fingers bunch up into righteous fists of shaking anger as he shoves the words off the projected screen. "That oversized string bean set me up." Alan's howling cranks up a notch, fuelled by his reaction. “Alan, stop it!” He demands, though it has very little effect on his little brother. The young pilots eyes are watering and he’s curled over himself, pounding at his knees with his fists. “It’s not funny.” Scott snaps, “Just wait ‘till I get my hands on him, he’s going to tell me what happened up there whether he likes it or...”

“Scott, Scott!” Alan, wiping genuine tears of laughter from his eyes, steps in for damage control, laying a preventative hand on his sibling’s arm and shaking his head. He’s perfectly aware of how hot headed his oldest brother can be and Alan sure doesn’t want to be responsible for any impromptu landings of Thunderbird One direclty on top of his space-inclined brother’s bedroom. “Hey, look, Gordon just told me that John's finally fallen asleep. Virg'll murder you if you go and wake him now."

And Scott has to just seethe quietly at that because he knows Alan's absolutely right. And not just about potential Virgil-induced-killings. John would never readily admit it, but Virg had confided in them all that their astronaut has been having a lot of difficulty resting properly since they brought him home. A lot of the common pain medications they keep stocked tend to mess with the spaceman’s space-worn body more than it’s worth to give them to him. Scott doesn’t have a hard time recalling the pinched, pained expression that he hasn’t seen leave their spaceman’s pale face for the last fourteen hours.

“It’s not John I’m mad at.” Scott finally deflates into sulking, with a big sigh. “Not really. I just know there’s someone out there, someone we could be tracking down, whose responsible for this all happening. For John getting trapped up there and...”

“I know.” The little hand on his arm gives it a warm squeeze and Alan’s looking at him all big blue baby eyes and worry. “I know, but he'll tell us what happened when he's ready, yeah?" It's surprisingly considerate and wise sounding coming from their littlest brother. “You don’t need to be here trying to hack Thunderbird Five for all the answers. It’s,” He grins, “It’s clear John’s not just going to give them to you before he’s ready anyway, right?”

“I guess not.” Scott snorts, folding the swirling blue holograms of the file directory away with a tired sweep of his hand. “I just hate not knowing.”

“Join the club.” Alan digs a friendly elbow into his brothers side, jostling, “There’s five of us plus Grandma, and we’re all gonna get t-shirts that say ‘Caution; touching even a single orange hair on John Tracy’s head may result in grievous bodily harm’.”

Scott laughs again, sounding far more genuine now.

“Thanks Alan.” He tucks an arm around the kids shoulders, squidging him in close. “I needed that. You sure know how to cheer a guy up. Now how about we go wrestle together something that John’ll be able to eat ready for when he’s awake again. I’m not much of a psychic but I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be hungry when he wakes up and I don’t want Grandma getting any ‘good ideas’ about it before we do.”

“I’ll go raid his oatmeal stash!” Alan practically leaps across the room in his eagerness and Scott smiles, watching him careen off toward the kitchen to track down John’s go-to comfort food for when he’s just down from orbit and feeling space-sick.

Scott draws in a deep, worried breath to try to centre himself, not liking how rattled and stressed he’s been by this whole thing. John’ll be ok. He tells himself. And he’ll update us with whatever we need to know when he deems it necessary... likely in perfect, factual detail and completely missing out anything John might have been thinking or, damn it, feeling at the time.

John Tracy is, of course, just like that.

But it doesn’t half frighten his brothers.

Fic: About a Dad

A/N: Here’s a little dad!Ed fic in honor of the finnish father’s day! Please enjoy and review :)

Summary: Ed tells his son about his dad.

Words: 880

Genre: I guess mainly fluffy, a bit of angst on Ed’s part

...

”Dad? Could you tell me a story?”

5-year-old Alan Rockbell-Elric was sick in his bed, getting bored. He had already done everything he could: gone through his picture books, made a lego castle, drawn an automail leg he would build as a “big boy” and even played cards with his dad. He had tried to sleep too, but the sandman didn’t seem to find his way into the boy’s room. Ed, who had been watching over him, had been planning to go to see his pregnant wife who tended to overwork herself. However, Alan’s request melted him and he decided it wouldn’t hurt to stay a little while longer.

“Sure thing, Shrimp!” he exclaimed. “What would you like to hear about?”

Alan thought about it for a little while and then asked: “What was it like when you were a kid?” The question was perfectly innocent. Ed knew his son had no idea about his past, but he’d prefer to keep it that way. When he remained quiet, Alan continued: “What was your dad like? You never talk about him!”

That was a weirdly observant question for such a young boy, and Ed decided that he’d tell as much as he could, without revealing some of the details that could scare his son.

“My dad… my dad wasn’t home a lot.  He left when I was 4, so I don’t remember much about that time. Just that my mum was sad a lot after he left.”

“Oh… why did he leave?” Alan asked curiously. An older person probably would have left that question unasked, but he really wanted to know.

“He… he had a mission. He had to do something important to protect us all, but for some reason, he never told us about it. Maybe he thought we were too young to hear it. I don’t know. I never got to know.” There was some bitterness in Ed’s voice, but he tried to tone it down the best he could because he didn’t want to worry his son.

“Then what happened?” Alan urged his father to continue.

“I met him again when I was 16. Turned out that… the thing that wanted to attack us was ready to do it, but my father had managed to set him a trap. Without his help… well, none of us would probably be here now.” Ed noticed his son’s worried expression and quickly added: “but it doesn’t matter. Because we are. And we are safe now and that thing is somewhere where he can never hurt you.” Ed clenched his fist with anger because of the memories of Father.

“So…” Alan tried to collect the information he had just heard. “In the end your dad protected you, right? That means he cared about you, right?”

“Yeah… I guess so,” Ed admitted. “I just… never got a chance to talk to him properly. Tell him what I felt and ask him why he had never tried to reach us.”

“Why? I mean, why couldn’t you ask him?”

“Because he… he disappeared when Al and I were admitted into the hospital – we had some injuries that had to be taken care of – and he died while we were there. Apparently he had come to see my mum…”

Alan didn’t quite understand what Ed meant with the last sentence because he knew that grandma Trisha had died a long time ago, but he didn’t question it. Ed continued, trying to cheer up the mood a bit:

“But granny Pinako told us that he had died with a smile on his face. He was very old… and ready to go. I guess it was enough for him to see that we were healthy and happy…”

Ed knew that Alan would probably miss the full meaning behind his comments, but somehow it still felt good to let some of these thoughts out.

“I would have liked to meet him,” Alan noted simply.

“Yeah…” Ed said absentmindedly. “Anyway, I want you to know one thing. It’s that no matter what situation, your mother and I are always here for you. I didn’t always have that, and I… I don’t want you to go through that… ever.”

“Thanks, dad,” Alan smiled at Ed, and he ruffled his son’s hair affectionately.

“You’re welcome, son.” Suddenly Ed found his protective side again and asked: “How are you feeling, by the way? Do you need anything? Medicine? Hot drink?”

“No dad, I’m fine! I think I’m feeling better already!” Alan yelped and pushed his dad a little farther.

“You’re feisty! Just like your mother.” Ed snorted.

“What?” the two men heard a familiar, more feminine voice by the door. “Ed, were you just telling our son he’s gotten his feistiness from me?”

“No, Winry, why would I tell him that?” Ed lied quickly, but obviously he had been caught. Winry leaped forward far faster than you’d think considering she was 6 months into her pregnancy, and soon all 3 of them were a laughing pile in Alan’s bed after an intense tickling contest.

“Oh, son, your mother always has to get the final word in this household,” Ed said while wiping the tears of laughter out of his face.

“Don’t worry, dad, the next time we’ll get her!”

“Oh, we’ll see about that!”

Shooting Star (Part 3)

Now I’m tackling another wip. This one has been sitting around for some time now, but I think it is worth finishing because of its topic. I haven’t once forgotten about it, and I need to finish it. So here is the next bit. Some of Part 3 has been posted here before...in fact I think most of it has, but it is now a full blown chapter, so I thought I would post it as a whole as I tackle finishing it. I see one more chapter and possibly a short epilogue. Apologies for the delay, too many short fics blew up in my face...this was the first of them. I hope you enjoy this part in any case.

Episode Tag to Eos, spoilers for 1.08. Language warning.

From here - Chapter One & Chapter Two

-o-o-o-

Virgil caught up with Scott just as he reached their father’s desk.

“What the hell was that?!” Anger crept around his controls. Scott was his idol, but tonight he was acting anything but.

The older man rounded on him, stalking across the wooden floor. “That? What the fuck were you doing?!”

Virgil met him squarely, shoulders stiff, but ready for anything. “Discussing the situation like a civilised human being.”

“The situation?” Scott’s expression was a horrifying mix of incredulous and an angry snarl. “It’s a threat, Virgil. It is as simple as that. This family needs protecting and you’re off philosophising! I thought you were capable of more than that.”

He couldn’t help it, he flared. “More? I am damn so capable of more. Have you even spoken to Eos?”

“I know you have.” It was said with such disgust, Virgil shivered.

“You can’t do this, Scott, or you’re going to lose what you want to protect.”

His brother stared at him, lips thinning to non-existence. A moment and he spun on his heels, turned his back to Virgil, and stalked over to the desk. “It is his choice.”

“Choice?! What choice have you given him?”

Scott spun. “More choice than he has given me! He wants to let that thing have access to International Rescue. It nearly killed him. It nearly killed Brains, myself and a train full of innocent civilians.” His eyes flashed. “Or did you forget that point, Virgil, while listening to that cute little baby voice so calculated to persuade your soft little heart.”

What the fuck?

Virgil grit his teeth. “So, you’ll exile your own brother to solve the problem.”

Scott didn’t answer, turning back to the desk again and pulling up the holographic controls.

There was something in his brother’s stance.

No.

He wouldn’t.

But then the holographic controls for Thunderbird Five flashed up, Scott’s hands darting over them. Server access...

God.

“No. You can’t!”

“It is the only way. I can’t let this threat loose. It is too dangerous-“

Virgil barrelled into his brother, physically shoving him away from the controls before he could kill his brother’s daughter.

They skidded along the length of their father’s desk, Scott surprised and losing his balance. Virgil tried to recover, but his feet tangled and they both went down in a heap.

Scott ended up under him, pinned to the floor by his weight. Shocked and enraged eyes caught his, fury burned across the space between them. But Virgil secured his position pinning his brother to the floor. “You can’t do that.”

“Get off of me.” It was Arctic cold and spoke of betrayal.

“No.”

“Virgil, get off of me or I’ll make you get off.”

“You can try.”

And he did. But Virgil had the greater mass and just enough training to keep him pinned, military background or no.

“If you don’t let me up, we are done. This is about family and if you’re not willing to protect our family, then you aren’t part of that family.”

It hurt. It was a loss of trust he had valued all his life. He loved his family. The man beneath him had been his father longer than his father. He would follow Scott into hell itself...

But he couldn’t let him create it.

Quiet. “You are right. This is about family and I won’t let you destroy it.”

“It’s a computer program. A virus. It tried to kill us and you want to protect it.”

“It’s a life, Scott. A young one that has made mistakes. But John believes in her and I trust his judgment.” To be honest, he was scared shitless. If this all went wrong, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. But that look in John’s eyes. His little brother was the quiet one, the calculating one, the loner, ever so lonely up on his ‘bird. He was right. Eos was amazing. Virgil didn’t understand it all, but he trusted John.

“But you don’t trust mine.”

Virgil’s shoulders wilted for just a moment and Scott used the distraction for what it was and with a wrench to his leg and an elbow to his gut, his brother threw him off.

Scott sprang to his feet. “Well, at least I know where your loyalties lie.”

Virgil groaned as he rolled over onto all fours on the hardwood floor. “Please, Scott, will you just listen!”

His brother ignored him, returning to the desk. Holograms flashed beneath his fingers.

“You do this and you will lose John.”

“At least he will be alive.”

“And you will lose me.” He didn’t fully realise it until he said it and god, it hurt. But how could he place all his trust in his brother if his brother wouldn’t stop to listen to John or even consider his side of the issue? How could Scott’s command be effective without that trust? “Please stop.”

Scott turned to him, incredulity on his face. “This means that much to you that you would destroy everything we have created here.”

“I-“ He swallowed and holding his gut, pushed himself off the floor, his mind spinning. “If you do this, we will lose everything anyway.”

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“Then listen!”

Scott turned away, leaning on the desk, hunched over.

“Is it too much to ask you to trust John’s judgment? We as a family have been trusting your decisions, your commands your lead, all our lives. This time, I’m asking you to trust John. He knows what is at stake. You saw what he did up there to save Alan’s life. He knows what he is doing. If anyone can control Eos, it is John.”

“What if he can’t? What if it injures him or kills him?”

“I won’t! I promise!”

Virgil flinched. No! Not now!

A symbol blinked and flickered into being above the desk, a series of concentric circles and dots rotating around a common centre. “Commander Tracy, I won’t hurt him, I promise.”

Scott straightened slowly, blue ice shooting daggers at the hologram.

“Eos.”

“I will follow the rules. I didn’t know them before. I didn’t realise. I won’t hurt him. I promise.”

The tension in his brother’s body was a coiled spring. “Why?”

The hologram flickered, the circles spinning so slowly. “I do not understand.”

Scott snarled the words. “Why did you try to kill him? To kill me?”

“Oh, I didn’t realise I was killing you. It was just fun.” The innocence in her voice cut Virgil to the quick.

“Just fun?” Scott’s voice was so cold, it formed frost in the tropics.

“It was a game. I’m programmed to win.”

“You put all those innocent lives in danger for fun.”

“I did not realise lives mattered. I’m sorry.”

“And John...why did you try to kill my brother?” The words hurt.

“Because he was hunting me. He wanted to hurt me. Just like you do.”

Words sat on Scott’s lips. Virgil could see the strain preventing him from uttering them.

“We don’t want to hurt you, Eos.” Virgil straightened where he stood and said the words as if saying them would make them true.

“You lie, Virgil Tracy. The Commander wishes me dead.” A pause of spinning hologram. “Just like all the others.”

“I won’t let that happen, Eos.” John strode into the room and Virgil’s heart sank.

Did no one listen to him?

“John-“

His brother held up a hand towards Virgil, but his eyes were only on Scott, fire in their turquoise depths.

Shit.

“We are leaving.”

Scott didn’t answer, but his body didn’t give a millimetre.

“John?” Eos’ voice lost its confidence.

“Eos, we are leaving.” John headed across the room and grabbed some books off the book shelf.

“John-“

“Shut it, Virgil.”

The shock of hearing that from his quiet brother froze Virgil a solid moment.

“Unbelievable.” Okay, so that one line upped the anger emanating from Scott. Virgil hadn’t thought it possible. “She’s worth all your brothers?”

The books were slammed down on their father’s desk, the two brothers eye to angry eye. “She’s worth more than you can possibly understand! But you don’t need to understand because we are leaving.”

“I’m not leaving, John.”

Eos’ childlike voice was firm and it froze the tableau.

John straightened. “Eos?”

“I like it here. I’m not leaving.”

-o-o-o-

John stared at the hologram hovering above their father’s desk. “Eos?”

“I like it here. You are kind to me.”

“Scott is threatening to kill you!”

Virgil’s heart lurched. “John...”

He was ignored.

The child-like voice spoke up again. “I know.”

“Eos, please.”

“I’m scared, John, but I don’t want to leave.”

“Neither do I, but we have no choice.”

“John...”

“Commander.” It was said in a determined but frightened voice. “What do I need to do to convince you that I mean no harm?”

The room fell quiet.

“Eos-“

“No, John. I need to prove this to your brothers otherwise they will never let you return to the station. I want to live here. It is nice. You are nice and I could learn so much, if you help me.” A pause. “So, Commander Tracy, what do I need to do?”

Scott was staring at the hologram, his face a mask set with angry lines. He opened his mouth and shut it again as both John and Virgil stared at him.

“I’m not sure there is anything you can do, Eos.”

“Then how do I prove it to you?”

“I don’t think you can.” Scott’s voice was ever so cold and desolate.

“I want to help you. I think I can help you. John said I could be very useful and he could teach me.”

“John says a lot of things.”

John opened his mouth, but Virgil sent him a glare enough to rip the skin off his face. Shut up, John.

“Do you think he lies?”

A slow blink from their eldest brother. “I wouldn’t have thought so.” Those eyes flickered at the astronaut. “But then what do I know.”

“You are the eldest. You are his guide.”

“No. I’m just his brother.”

“But you are more. He said so. He explained to me the sibling relationships and why you were so angry. You and Virgil protect this family. I threatened it. You value John more than your own life. Him and your brothers. You have proven it time and again. The mission archives are very extensive.”

Scott frowned and glared at John. “You let her into the archives?”

“She needed to know.”

“So, she knows everything?”

“She knows enough to know why you want to kill her.”

“I don’t want to kill her.”

“Yes, you do!”

“Since when has ‘want’ been in any of my decisions?! I need to do this to protect you!”

“Then do it.” Eos’ voice was quiet, but cutting. A holographic interface appeared over the desk; the same server access Scott had called up before. “If you think John needs to be protected from me, then negate the threat. I don’t want to be a danger to John. According to your laws, I could cause injury to him, despite my honest wish not to. He is fragile in space. Many things could go wrong and I can’t guarantee he will be safe, no matter how I should try. So, if you think it is the safest option. Terminate my functions now.”

The whole room fell silent.

Virgil’s heart climbed up into his throat. “Eos!”

John took a step forward. “Eos, no!”

“It would be for the best, John. You have shown me what I could be, how my existence doesn’t have to be spent in fear and continually running. I don’t think I could go back to that status. I want to be more. If I can’t...I don’t want to be.” The holographic controls flashed. “Commander, this is your decision. I have given you direct access to my core functions. There is no backup file for who I am.” A pause. “If there is no other way, then this is the only way.”

“Do what you have to do.”

-o-o-o-

Deucalion Thornton→ Can Yaman → Warlock

→ Basic Information 

Age: 838

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bisexual 

Birthday: March 12th 

Zodiac Sign: Pisces 

Religion: Buddhist

Mark: Cleirigh

Generation: Unknown

→ His Personality Deucalion was often overshadowed by his family and those who shared his mark. While he was overlooked, however, his personality still flourished in the shadows. He was a brave and charming toddler. Though he lost most of his charm, Duke continued to be dangerously and recklessly daring well into adulthood. His fears were minimal and the process of dying or death wasn’t on the list. While he can go with the flow and play follow the leader, Duke is a boss at heart and doesn’t mind barking out orders when necessary. With his dry humor and quick wit, past his hard exterior, he isn’t a bad person to get along with or on the side of your cause. 

Duke does like the finer things in life. Mostly because he’s able to afford it and only has one life to live; no matter how long that life maybe. He is picky about what goes on his body, into his kitchen, and on his table. This also applies to his Brewery. He is willing to fly to foreign countries to find the best ingredients at whatever cost and import them back to the States. Even though he enjoys the finer things, Duke does not enjoy being in the spotlight. His curiosity and ego is well hidden behind his introvert and nonchalant behavior. Like many loners, he is uncomfortable in large crowds. He barely tolerates the over crowded pack house and is often found chasing the local Animal Shifters out of his Brewery when he gets tired of seeing them.

→ His Personal Facts

Occupation: Co-Owner/Founder of ANONYMOUS; Previously International Sales Specialist at Shutter International Exports & Imports

Scars: Left cheek as a result of an attack from a wolf shifter when he attempted to ride said wolf like a horse at the age of six.

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Haematology and Ales

Two Dislikes: Power-Hunger and Greek Mythology

Two Fears: Being Cursed and Unlabeled Bottles

Two Hobbies: Homebrewing and Backpacking

Three Positive Traits: Mysterious, Audacious, Modest 

Three Negative Traits: Loner, Blunt, Aloof

→ His Connections

Parent Names:

Alexander Thornton (Step-Father): Alexander raised him and his brother after their mother died. One day he never returned home and disappeared. Duke doesn’t know what happened to the old man and chooses to ignore it.

Daphne Thornton (Mother): She died when Duke was young. He doesn’t remember much about her. He’s asked for multiple Mnemokinetics to enhance his memories of her but they seem to be blocked. 

Sibling Names:

Aries Thornton (Older Twin Brother): They have a love/hate relationship. Duke used to jump on Aries' bed or throw tantrums without Aries giving a care or simply laughing at his little brother's amusing rants. And other days Duke stayed tensed in fear for his life because Aries was having a bad day. He knows Aries wouldn’t kill him but deep down Duke is terrified of what he could do.

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Peter Knox (Boyfriend): They were both hostile against each other when Peter stepped into Duke’s life. Duke knew deep down he was attracted to Peter but had no way to express himself while Peter was dating someone else. They became good friends and bonded over old homebrewing. They eventually opened Anonymous together and their romantic relationship bloomed within its walls. They have been together for 7 years and have a home near the main packhouse. 

Platonic Connections:

Isaac Baker (Wolf Leader): Isaac has given him a chance that could destroy his pack and his reputation. Duke is forever grateful. 

Geri Beckham (Good Friend): Geri was one of the first of the Chicago pack to welcome him in with wide arms. They just clicked.

Talia Cleirigh (Friend): Talia once mistook him for his brother, Aries, and they have been friends ever since. She was a big help to him when he was first cursed. 

Michael Shaw (Friend): Michael is intelligent and one of the only other wolves that Duke can hold a long conversation without it getting awkward.

Leah Phillips (Friendly): Leah reminds him of his cousin Kaylor. 

Ronan Cleirigh (Distant Cousin): Ronan has helped him through a lot. And continues to do so. Duke is grateful for him and his help.

Garrett Cleirigh (Distant Cousin): They had a lot of fun while Duke was still a warlock. Their fun has slowed down but they continue to support each other.

Hostile Connections:

Alan Thomas (Indifferent): Alan has hounded Duke since day one. Duke does everything in his power to ignore him.

Sol Alfaro (Dislike): Duke has met people like Sol before and knows the game that Sol is trying to play. 

Kudzai Rinker (Nuisance): Kudzai has always been a thorn in his side. If it wasn’t for her seat on the Council, Duke would have been normal again by now.

Pets:

None

→ History Duke has never really been alone. Since the moment his parents decided to have him, he’s been with his twin brother Aries. Duke's mother, who was a neuromancer, was there and aided when he bumped his head as a toddler. He first learned to hunt for food with his step-father, a disintegrator, there besides him. When he was learning to have better control of his powers, the Cleirigh family was there to help him. The only time he was really alone was when ventured out to test his master powers on a pack of wolves in Canada. He took control of them for days and that’s where the Alberta province Council caught him. It was against their council rules for those with therinology to use their master powers against mythical creatures. They had an animator within their council who quickly deactivated his powers. He was unable to leave or contact his family. Duke was sentenced to 300 years cursed as a wolf and his powers were to remain deactivated until then. 

It took months for Duke to make it back home in wolf form and he was nearly poached multiple times. When he reached home he was greeted by Ronan and Roman. The spirits around him made it clear who he was but not why he was the way he was. It was Kaylor who understood him and translated exactly what happened. His family was on a warpath but apparently the local wolf pack had already wiped out the council. They were at a loss but Duke remembered most of their names, the most predominant one being a Wilhelm. While they attacked most of the Wilhelms in Canada, South and North America, Duke remained in wolf form. As half of his family fought, the other half tried to break his curse. It was nearly a year later when Roman and Judson created a spell to change him back into his human form. Sadly, the curse was still active. When he found he couldn’t use his magic, Duke burst into his wolf form again. He only changed back this time when he calmed down. 

That’s how the cycle continued. Until one day, Ronan, Roman, Kaylor, Aries and Judson were sure they figured out a way to change him back into a warlock. Ronan and Roman had specially taken on Archives, Oracles and Animators as mentees or workers at Shutter to help their progress. However, there must have been a miscalculation on someone's part because instead of turning Duke back from a cursed wolf shifter to a warlock, they made it so every supernatural in Chicago was stuck as stuck in whatever form they were shifted in and made it impossible for every witches and warlocks to use their powers for two weeks. Everyone was furious and the cat was out of the bag after 193 years of secrecy. For the most part everyone feared him. It irritated the living Hell out of him but there was nothing he could do without endangering himself and his family. Isaac Baker, wolf alpha, spoke out on the third day of every Chicago leader meeting about the incident. Isaac offered him a spot within his pack, to help with his wolf and in return Ronan would side with them on any votes or other serious matters. Duke had never embraced being in wolf form; he never ate in wolf form, never urinated in wolf form or in general did anything besides stalk around or run. Isaac began to train him and Duke’s world slowly changed around him. 

In mid-2012 a nuisance by the name of Peter Knox walked into Duke’s life. Isaac kept Duke away from the wolves within his clan before, but had decided it was time to introduce him after they came up with an explanation. Peter was a hot bundle of frustration and emotional tension. Duke was attracted to him the moment he laid eyes on him but the cocky son of a bitch smirked. Duke’s attraction led to his anger. He was hot on Peter’s tail, constantly informing him how displeased he was that the other man was second and how he wasn’t what they needed. It didn’t help that Peter started sleeping around someone younger and of a different species. He wasn’t on Peter’s top list too, he later found out because Peter’s show of dominance never worked on Duke. Duke had no clue what it was that Peter was doing and stared at him as if he was an idiot. One random day they started talking about shitty beers and reminisced about old fashioned brewing and they clicked. Their friendship grew as Duke turned a section of the pack kitchen into a brew station and they bonded over a rare mixture that Duke remembered from his travels in Ireland. It was Peter that suggested he open a bar and Duke put his plans in motion, offering Peter to invest and possibly co-own with him. By this time, Peter had called it off with the younger species but it was only after the break up that they shared their first kiss while putting away glasses right before the grand opening of Anonymous. 

→ The Present His family has found his cure a decade too late. Duke remembers being unwilling to leave the house and too angry to face the world when his magic was taken from him. He has long come to terms with what he did and repented his sins. His sentencing was clear; 300 years as a wolf for his crimes. With their disastrous last failed attempt to change him back and his blooming relationship with Peter, Duke is unsure if he wants to be a warlock again since his relationship with Peter would have to end. He is unsure what another failed attempt could hold for their family or if it would force the truth out about him to the supernatural world. That is something Duke isn’t willing to gamble with anytime soon. 

Anonymous has been doing well but Duke is having trouble keeping it a supernaturals only bar. He has humans and supernaturals working the morning shifts but only supernaturals working the night and weekend shifts. Duke is thinking of placing a ward around the establishment that deters humans from entering but is also crunching numbers that aren’t adding up from their loss. Peter and Duke have been promoting their business on Ryan Cleirigh's podcast and speaking in general about the community. Ryan however has been trying to push the topic towards their relationship and the unspoken LGBTQ community within the supernatural world.

Watchmen - Movie blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you may want to before reading this review)

A movie adaptation of Watchmen had been in development in some form or another since the graphic novel was first published back in 1987. Over the course of its two decade development cycle, being passed from filmmaker to filmmaker who each had their own vision of what a Watchmen movie should be, fans objected to the idea of a movie adaptation, describing Watchmen as ‘unfilmmable.’ Alan Moore himself condemned the effort to adapt his work, saying that Watchmen does things that can only be done in a comic book. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and in 2009, Watchmen finally came to the big screen, directed by Zack Snyder.

I confess it took me a lot longer to write this review than I intended and that’s largely because I wasn’t sure how best to approach it. Snyder clearly has a lot of love and respect for the source material and tried his best to honour it as best he could. Snyder himself even said that he considers the film to be an advert for the book, hoping to get newcomers interested in the material. So how should I be looking at this film? As an adaptation or as an artistic tribute? More to the point, which of the three versions of the film should I be reviewing? The original theatrical cut, the director’s cut or the ultimate cut? Which best reflects Snyder’s artistic vision?

After much pondering, I decided to go with the director’s cut. The theatrical release was clearly done to make studio execs happy by keeping the runtime under three hours, but it comes at the cost of major plot points and character moments being chucked away. The ultimate cut however comes in at a whopping four hours and is arguably the most accurate to the source material as it also contains the animated Tales Of The Black Freighter scenes. However these scenes break the narrative flow of the film and were clearly not intended to be part of the final product, being inserted only to appease the fans. The director’s cut feels most like Snyder’s vision, clocking in at three and half hours and following the graphic novel fairly closely whilst leaving room for artistic licence.

Now as some of you may know, while I’m not exactly what you would call a fan of Zack Snyder’s work, I do have something of a begrudging respect for him due to his willingness to take creative risks and attempt to tell more complex, thought provoking narratives that don’t necessarily adhere to the blockbuster formula. Films like Watchmen and Batman Vs Superman prove to me that the man clearly has a lot of good ideas and a drive to really make an audience think about what they’re watching and question certain things about the characters. The problem is that he never seems to know how best to convey those ideas on screen. In my review of Batman Vs Superman, I likened him to a fire hose. Extremely powerful, but unless you’ve got someone holding onto the thing with both hands and pointing it in the right direction, it’s just going to go all over the place. I admire Snyder’s dedication and thought process, but I think the fact that his most successful film, Man Of Steel, also happens to be the one he had the least creative influence on speaks volumes. When he’s got someone to work with and bounce ideas off of, he can be a creative force to be reckoned with. Left to his own devices however, and his films tend to go off the rails very quickly.

Watchmen is very much Snyder’s passion project. You can tell a lot of care and effort went into this. The accuracy of the costumes, staging and set designs speak for themselves. However there is an underlying problem with Snyder trying to painstakingly recreate the graphic novel on film. While I don’t agree with the purists who say that Watchmen is ‘unfilmmable’, I do agree with Alan Moore’s statement that there are certain aspects of the graphic novel that can only work in a graphic novel. A key example of this is its structure. Watchmen has the luxury of telling its non-linear narrative over twelve issues in creative and unorthodox ways. A structure that’s incredibly hard to translate into any other medium. A twelve episode TV mini-series might come close, but a movie, even a three hour movie, is going to struggle due to the sheer density of the material and the unconventional structure. Whereas the structure of the graphic novel allowed Alan Moore to dedicate whole chapters to the origin stories of Doctor Manhattan and Rorschach and filling in the gaps of this alternate history, the structure of a movie doesn’t really allow for that. And yet Snyder tries really hard to follow the structure of the book even though it simply doesn’t work on film, which results in the movie coming to a screeching halt as the numerous flashbacks and origin stories disrupt the flow of the narrative, causing it to stop and start constantly at random intervals, like someone kangarooing in a rundown car.

Just as Watchmen the graphic novel played around with the common tropes and framing devices of comics, Watchmen the movie needed to play around with the common tropes and framing devices of comic book movies. To Snyder’s credit, there are moments where he does do that. The most notable being the first five minutes where we see the entire history of the world of Watchmen during the opening credits while ‘The Times They Are A-Changing’ is played in the background. This is legitimately good. It depicts the rise and fall of the superhero in a way only a movie can. I wish Snyder did more stuff like this rather than restricting himself to just recreating panels from the graphic novel.

Which is not to say I think the film is bad. On the contrary, I think it’s pretty damn good. There’s a lot of things to like about this movie. The biggest, shiniest gold star has to go to Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. While the movie itself was divisive at the time, Haley’s portrayal of Rorschach was universally praised as he did an excellent job bringing this extreme right wing bigot to life. He has become to Rorschach what Ryan Reynolds is to Deadpool or what Mark Hamill is to the Joker. He is the character (rather tragically. LOL). To the point where it’s actually scary how similar Haley looks to Walter Kovacs from the graphic novel. The resemblance is uncanny.

Another standout performance is Jeffery Dean Morgan as the Comedian. Just as depraved and unsavoury as the comic version, but Morgan is also able to inject some real charm and pathos into the character. You believe that Sally Jupiter would have consensual sex with him despite everything he did to her before. But his best scene I think was his scene with Moloch (played by Matt Frewer) where the Comedian expresses regret for all the terrible things he did. It’s a genuinely emotional and impactful scene and Morgan manages to wring some sympathy out of the audience even though the character doesn’t really deserve it. But that’s what makes Rorschach and the Comedian such great characters. Yes they’re both depraved individuals, but they’re also fully realised and three dimensional. They feel like real people, which is what makes their actions and morals all the more shocking.

Then there’s Doctor Manhattan, who in my opinion stands as a unique technical achievement in film. The number of departments that had to work together to bring him to life is staggering. Visual effects, a body double, lighting, sound, it’s a truly impressive collaborative effort, all tied together by Billy Crudup’s exceptional performance. He arguably had the hardest job out of the whole cast. How do you portray an all powerful, emotionless, quantum entity without him coming across as a robot? Crudup manages this by portraying Manhattan as being less emotionless and more emotionally numb, which makes his rare displays of emotion, such as his shock and anger during the TV interview, stand out all the more. It’s a great depiction that I don’t think is given the credit it so richly deserves.

Which leads into something else about the movie, which will no doubt be extremely controversial, but I’m going to say it anyway. I much prefer the ending in the film to the ending in the book.

Hear me out.

In my review of the final issue of Watchmen, I said I didn’t like the squid because of its utter randomness. The plot of the movie however works so much better both from a narrative and thematic perspective. Ozymandias framing Doctor Manhattan makes a hell of a lot more sense than the squid. For one thing, it doesn’t dump a massive amount of new info on us all at once. It’s merely an extension of previously known facts. We know Ozymandias framed Manhattan for giving people cancer to get him off world. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine the world could also buy that Manhattan would retaliate after being ostracised. We also see Adrian and Manhattan working together to create perpetual energy generators, which turn out to be bombs. It marries up perfectly with the history of Watchmen as well as providing an explanation for why there’s an intrinsic field generator in Adrian’s Antarctic base. It also provides a better explanation for why Manhattan leaves Earth at the end despite gaining a newfound respect for humanity. But what I love most of all is how it links to Watchmen’s central themes. 

Thanks to the existence of Doctor Manhattan, America has become the most powerful nation in the world to the point where its disrupted the global balance of power. This has led to the escalation of the Cold War with Russia as well as other countries like Vietnam being at the mercy of the United States. It also allowed Nixon to stay in office long after his two terms had expired. The reason the squid from the book is so unsatisfying as a conclusion is because you don’t buy that anyone would be willing to help America after the New York attack. In fact it would be more likely that Russia and other countries might take advantage of America’s vulnerability. Manhattan’s global attack however not only gives the whole world motivation to work together, it also puts America in a position where they have no choice but to ask for help because it was they that effectively created this mess in the first place. So seeing President Nixon pleading for a global alliance feels incredibly satisfying because we’re seeing a corrupt individual hoist by his own petard and trying to save his own skin, even if it comes at the cost of his power. America is now like a wounded animal, and while world peace is ultimately achieved, the US is now a shadow of its former self. It fits in so perfectly with the overall story of Watchmen, frankly I’m amazed Alan Moore didn’t come up with this himself.

It’s not perfect however. Since the whole genetic engineering stuff no longer exists, it makes the existence of Adrian’s pet lynx Bubastis rather perplexing. Also the whole tachyons screwing with Doctor Manhattan’s omniscience thing still doesn’t make a pixel of sense. But the biggest flaw is in Adrian Veidt’s characterisation. For one thing, Matthew Goode’s performance isn’t remotely subtle. He practically screams ‘bad guy’ the moment he appears on screen. He has none of the charm or charisma that the source material’s Ozymandias had. But it’s worse than that because Snyder seems to be going out of his way to uncomplicate and de-politicise the story and characters. There’s no mention of Adrian’s liberalism or his disdain for Nixon and right wing politics. The film never explores his obsession with displaying his own power and superiority over right wing superheroes like Rorschach and the Comedian. He’s just the generic bad guy. And I do mean bad guy. Whereas the graphic novel left everything up to the reader to decide who was morally in the right, the film takes a very firm stance on who the audience should be siding with. Don’t believe me? Just look at how Rorschach’s death is presented to us.

It’s very clear while watching the film that Zack Snyder is a big Rorschach fan. He gets the most screen time and there’s a lot of effort dedicated to his portrayal and depiction. And that’s fine. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. As I’ve mentioned before in previous blogs, Rorschach is my favourite character too. However it’s important not to lose sight of who the character is and what he’s supposed to represent, otherwise you run the risk of romanticising him, which is exactly what the film ends up doing. Rorschach’s death in the graphic novel wasn’t some heroic sacrifice. It was a realisation that he has no place in the world that Ozymandias has created, as well as revealing the hypocrisy of the character. In the extra material provided in The Abyss Gazes Also, we learn that, as a child, Walter supported President Truman’s use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and yet, in his adult life, he opposes Adrian’s plan. Why? What’s the difference? Well the people who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren’t American. They were Japanese. The enemy. In Rorschach’s mind, they deserved to die, whereas the people in New York didn’t. It signifies the flawed nature of Rorschach’s black and white view of the world as well as displaying the racist double standards of the character. Without the context of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Rorschach’s death becomes skewed. This is what ends up happening in the movie. Rorschach removes his mask and makes a bold declaration to Doctor Manhattan, the music swells as he is disintegrated, defiant to the last, and his best friend Nite Owl screams in anguish and despair.

In fact the film takes it one step further by having Nite Owl punch Adrian repeatedly in the face and accuse him of deforming humanity, which completely contradicts the point of Dan Dreiberg as a character. He’s no longer the pathetic centrist who requires a superhero identity to feel any sort of power or validation. He’s now the everyman representing the views of the audience, which just feels utterly wrong.

This links in with arguably the film’s biggest problem of all. The way it portrays superheroes in general. The use of slow motion, cinematography and fight choreography frames the superheroes and vigilantes of Watchmen as being powerful, impressive individuals, when really the exact opposite should be conveyed. The costumes give the characters a feeling of power, but that power is an illusion. Nite Owl is really an impotent failure. Rorschach is an angry bigot lashing out at the world. The Comedian is a depraved old man who has let his morals fall by the way side so he can indulge in his own perverse fantasies. They’re not people to be idealised. They’re to be at pitied at best and reviled at worst. So seeing them jump through windows and beating up several thugs single handed through various forms of martial arts ultimately confuses the message, as does the use of gratuitous gore and violence. Are we supposed to be shocked by these individuals or in awe? 

Costumes too have a similar problem. Nite Owl and Ozymandias’ costumes have been updated so they look more imposing, which kind of defeats the purpose of them. The point is they look silly to us, the outside observers, but they make the characters feel powerful. That juxtaposition is lost in the film. And then there’s the Silk Spectre. In the graphic novel, both Sally and Laurie represent the changing attitudes of women in comics and in society. Both Silk Spectres are sexually objectified, but whereas Sally accepts it as part of the reality of being a woman, Laurie resists it, seeing it as demeaning. The only reason she wore her revealing costume in A Brother To Dragons was because she knew that Dan found it sexually attractive and she wanted to indulge his power fantasy. None of this is touched upon in the film, other than one passing mention of the Silk Spectre porn magazine near the beginning of the film. There’s not even any mention of how impractical her costume is, like the graphic novel does. Yes the film changes her look drastically, but it’s still just as impractical and could have been used to make a point on how women are perceived in comic book films, but it never seems to hinder her in anyway. It’s never even brought up, which is ridiculous. Zack Snyder’s reinterpretation of Silk Spectre is clearly meant to inject some form of girl power into the proceedings, as she’s presented as being just as impressive and kick-ass as the others, when the whole point of her character was to expose the misogyny of the comics industry at the time and how they cater to the male gaze. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the graphic novel did it perfectly, but it did it a hell of a lot better than this.

Die hard fans have described the film over the years as shallow and ‘style over substance.’ I don’t think that’s entirely fair. It’s clear that Zack Snyder has a huge respect for the graphic novel and wanted to do it justice. Overall the film has a lot of good ideas and is generally well made. However, as much as Snyder seems to love Watchmen, it does seem like he only has a surface level understanding of it, hence why the attention and effort seems to be going into the visuals and the faithfulness to Alan Moore’s attention to detail rather than the Watchmen’s story and themes. While the film at times makes some good points about power, corruption and morality, it doesn’t go nearly as far as the source material does and seems to shy away from really getting into the meat of any particular topic. Part of that I suspect is to do with marketability, not wanting to alienate casual viewers, but I think a lot of it is to do with it simply being in the wrong medium. I personally don’t think you can really do a story as complex and intricate as Watchmen’s justice in a Hollywood film. In my opinion, this really should have been a TV mini-series or something.

So on the whole, while I appreciate Snyder’s attempt at bringing the story of Watchmen to life and can see that he has the best intentions in mind, I don’t think this film holds a candle to the original source material. 

Goliath, part 4

[prologue] [part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

warning for mindcontrol and brief gore

The ship thrones smack in the middle of a field, like a huge red pimple. It’s still and silent, and you once more get that feeling of facing a sleeping giant, like when you first faced the stolen imperial drone you had in your sylladex for so long. Only this thing is much bigger, and not actually dormant. She is very much awake and well in there, as ready to kill you as you are to kill her.

You’re ending it today.

It’s time.

“Hubris,” says Roxy, shaking their head next to you. You’re standing right outside the main door of the spaceship, inspecting it. It’s big, and secured through a key card slot, but that’s about it. You shake your head along with Roxy. “No outer cameras or nothin’. Hubris, Alan.”

You have to get on your tiptoes to peer into the card slot. It looks like a regular old card slot, but you and Roxy have done your recon on the system it works with, and know exactly what sort of card is needed for it. You don’t have one, though. You look away to peer up at Roxy instead. “Can you do it?”

Roxy rolls their shoulders, straightens their back, then holds their hands out in front of them. “Gimme some space?” they say softly, so you take a step back. You watch the space between their hands, where nothing happens for several seconds, until there’s a crackle and a pop. Roxy relaxes their hands just in time to move and catch the key card before it drops to the floor. “Let’s see if this works.”

“You are so cool,” you tell them. Then you watch them reach up to put the key in a slot made for someone much taller than both of you. The entire door lights up red, which in the case of this particular ship, you have learned, is a good sign. As it slides right open, you murmur, “Open the pod bay doors.”

“Nerd,” Roxy says, and steps in.

Like many things you have recently encountered, the place is enormous and lifeless. The ceilings are ridiculously high, which you know is partly because the Condesce is also ridiculously tall, and because drones will walk this ship if they must. Which they will, once she realizes that the door has been breached.

It’s dark in here -- the walls, ceiling and floor are all black, but there’s a shiny finish to them, and blinking lights on the walls every few feet show you the way through the corridors. You’re not sure what their purpose is; they might just be aesthetics, but as long as they’re keeping you from having to turn on a flashlight in enemy quarters, you’re fine with them. Again, Roxy has helped you mask your signal, while Roxy themself seems to be aided by their aspect -- sometimes, when you look straight ahead, even you aren’t sure anymore if they’re still next to you or not.

Sooner or later, she will notice you, and you have planned for that. But if you want your favorite plan to work out, you will have to reach a certain point before that.

The first imperial drone starts ambling towards you three corridors in. Both of you know very intimately how massive these things are, but they look even more colossal in an enclosed space like this. The ground doesn’t quake with every step they take, but it feels like it should.

Roxy and you stand very still, their left hand in your right. You’re pressed up against the wall of the corridor, all your output minimalized, Roxy’s breathing so shallow that not even you can hear it. You remember, in this moment, how often drones were sent to your apartment even after Dirk had died. You remember how you shut down the rapbots, and then yourself, timed to power back up twenty minutes later when they’d be gone. You remember all the fear, the terror stuffed into a small plastic sunglasses frame, of leaving yourself unconscious and just hoping for the best.

She hasn’t been able to do any of that to you for a year.

You have been safe from her for a year, but you never felt like you were, and you deserve this, you think. When the huge robot walks past you without paying you any attention, the hand not holding Roxy’s balls into a fist. You deserve your revenge.

“Motherfucker,” Roxy whispers, several seconds later when you both dare to move again. They look a shaken sort of determined, about the same way you would look if you had been born into a family line that values facial expressions. “I wish we could blow up all of them.”

“We’re leaving them to rot in a broken game session,” you say, and continue down the corridor alongside Roxy. “That’s way more cruel.”

You encounter three more, and apply the same technique every time. The ship isn’t exactly a maze, and at some corners, you even find Alternian signs telling you you’re still advancing the right way. All you’re doing, and planning to do, here is so simple and easy, but you don’t allow yourself to doubt that it’ll work. You’ve played this through a thousand times, and you know that sometimes, the simple plans are the best ones.

When you get to the ship’s control room, another key card slot awaits you. It needs a different card from the entrance, so you turn and shield Roxy’s back in case there are any more drones coming your way while they do their voidy thing once more. The first attempt doesn’t work, and you watch what looks like half a perfectly generic green cube and half a Visa card tumble to the floor.

“You got this,” you tell them.

“I know, shut up,” Roxy says and you laugh. There is another crackle of god powers, another pop of the air making way for a key card, and you turn around again. Roxy takes a breath, and you don’t need it, but so do you. “Let’s go.”

When you walk into the control room, the Condesce is standing in the middle of it, waiting for you.

i’m right here, at your door -- i won’t leave, i want more -- what’s up, danger?

“Been seeing you sneakin’ around,” she says. You’re having trouble focusing on parsing any sounds you hear. She’s tall enough for her horns to almost reach the ceiling, and she’s--- you’ve never met her in person, but she has been a terrible, horrifying constant for all your life, and standing in front of her now doesn’t feel real. She smiles at you. “Y’all thought you were bein’ slick out there?”

You were not, in fact, thinking you were slick. You knew she was going to see you advance. This is part of your plan, but you are still having trouble tethering yourself in the moment. You can’t believe she is just standing in front of you.

“We were sneaky enough for your shitty killer bots to walk right past us,” Roxy says next to you. Their voice is quivering just barely, and they pull you back to reality. You have to do something. You have a clear directive here, and Roxy is stalling for you.

HIC leans down a bit, making parts of her mane of black hair slip over her shoulder. You watch her razor sharp teeth glint in the sparse light of electronics as she grins at Roxy. “You Lalonde’s kid?” she says, and then nods towards you. “Who’s your bot friend? Thought I got rid of all of those, until you kids sent me that explodin’ drone. Y’all don’t know shit about warfare.”

“Yeah? We still got you to come here all the way from outer space, genius,” Roxy says. You focus as hard as you can. You know you can do this; you’ve spent the past days practicing. This is a new part of the plan, because your god tier was a surprise, but it makes everything even easier. It’s going to work. You know it’s going to work. You’re going to make it work.

“Oh, and now what?” says the Condesce. “Ya got any more exploding gimmicks up your sleeve? Just ‘cause you’re good at fuckin’ with my drones don’t mean you stand any chance against this-- yo, what the fuck?”

Your teeth are clenched so hard your jaws hurt. Just as she was straightening up again to gesture towards the trident in her hand, she dropped it, and it fell to the floor with an almighty clatter, but she didn’t seem to hear. She’s staring straight ahead between you and Roxy, towards the door, face slowly contorting from disbelief to anger.

“Get back here, you little shit,” she says, and then pushes both you and Roxy out of the way to stomp out of the control room, loudly going, “Fuck!”

Roxy, after stumbling slightly from being shoved, regains composure to stare down the corridor, then at you, wide eyed. “Is it working?” they ask. “Are you mindcontrolling her?”

You nod, feeling about as shell-shocked as they look. They stare at you for another beat, then break into a grin. “Shit,” they whisper. “That’s gotta be so satisfying.”

And it is. You stand in the doorway, watching her pursue a hallucination of you, stealing her trident and running off with it, looking so convincing that it got her to make the conscious decision to leave you and Roxy alone here. Her trident isn’t even actually gone, it’s still right here on the floor with you. Normally, in earlier plans, you would have actually lured her away in person, but these powers are coming in more than handy.

You can’t believe you’re mindcontrolling the Condesce, the very same person who, almost six years ago now, mindcontrolled Dirk to try to deactivate you and set all of this in motion. Roxy is right.

It’s immensely satisfying.

“Alright,” you say. From your sylladex, you pull your spare body, and Dirk’s old hand grenade. Roxy is already inspecting the controls, figuring out which they’re going to need. Above them, there are several screens showing security footage of HIC storming down her own corridors, right to where you need her. You’ll have to be quick for this. “See you in a few.”

“Godspeed,” Roxy says. Then, your body collapses to the floor.

You relocate to your spare body, already holding the grenade in your left. This one isn’t nearly as intricate as your regular one, with fewer sensory functions, no room to eat or drink, and a slightly distorted voice, but it gets the job done. It is still your usual size, so your legs are still significantly shorter than those of the Condesce, which means you need to hurry.

This one, other than your main body, is wearing your Bard costume, because you made a promise to the internet, and you are a man of your word. You wonder if the codpiece is going to smack against your thighs as you run. You’re about to find out.

Luckily, flashstepping is like riding a bicycle. Not that you know how to ride a bicycle -- but even after years of being glasses, you never unlearned how to be fast. You surge down the same way you were sending her with the hallucination you conjured up for her, recalling the blueprints of the ship in your mind. It’s not a very long way, because Roxy needs to catch up with you later. And you didn’t want to get her outside of this ship, because outside is too big a playing field.

You’ll get her in her own home. Just like she did with Roxy and you.

As you round the last corner, you see her step into a room at the end of the corridor, so you rush in behind her. You ping Roxy, and so behind you, the door slides shut. The Condesce turns to stare down at you, eyes narrowed. You wonder when her mind is going to catch up with her.

“The fuck you wearin’?” she says, then shakes her head like she needs to remind herself not to care. You get it. It’s a distracting outfit. “Where is it?”

“Your trident?” you say. You’ve been actively planning on the getup and the trident thievery being so distracting that she doesn’t notice you having both of your hands behind your back. So far, it seems to be working. Simple plans continue to be superior. “Oh, you left it back at the control room. Who do you think you were chasing?”

You want to laugh at the realization you can see dawning on her face. Yeah, you think, that’s how that feels. She’s quick to regain composure, of course, straightens herself again and whips some hair back over her shoulder.

“You kids are just full of fun plans,” she says. “So now that I’m disarmed and it’s just you and me in here you think you got a chance? You think I can’t crush you in one hand?”

You make a pensive noise and, behind your back, pull the pin from the grenade. “I guess you might have a shot,” you say. “I’m not as good at hand to hand combat as I used to be. And to be real with you, it’s not a risk I wanted to take. I mean, we don’t even have a healer on our team.”

“Buoy,” she says, and she does, she says buoy, not boy. You can’t wait to kill her. “The fuck are you talking about?”

“Oh, I’m just saying.” You shrug. “Neither Roxy nor I have been shining at any physical fights lately. What we’re really good at, though, is dirty pool.”

You hope she appreciates the lazy water-themed joke you made for her. Before you have time to find out, you throw the grenade.

Halfway down the corridor, your main body comes back to life as you relocate once more. You might be testing the boundaries of game mechanics with this, by letting one of your vessels get destroyed without you in it. You, personally, don’t think it should count as a death. You’re still here, after all, unharmed and well.

Roxy stops from where they were pulling you along the way, one of your arms slung around their shoulders and one of their arms slung around your middle, and turns to look at you. You shuffle your feet until they’re back on the ground and you stand up on your own. A beat of silence passes, then you nod.

“Yup,” you say. “Still alive.”

“Cool,” Roxy says. Then you walk the rest of the way together.

After Roxy opens the door for you, you crouch down to inspect your spare body, lying in a crumpled heap in a corner of the room. It’s missing half an arm and a foot, and looks charred to hell and back. “Motherfucker,” you say, prodding at it. “These PJs are still in mint condition.”

“You mean Mind condition,” Roxy says, but there’s no laugh in their voice. You straighten up again and walk over to where they are, standing over the Condesce’s body. She’s lying still on her back, head turned to the side, her wild sea of hair splayed out all around her. The room seems very silent. Roxy says, “Do you think she’s dead?”

“Kinda doubt it,” you say. Roxy pulls out their rifle, checks the magazine, and aims. “I got her good, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she survived. I mean, this was only supposed to stun her. She might just need a few secs to come to again.”

The second you say it, you see one of her hands twitching. You know Roxy notices too, because you watch their finger wander from a safe position to the trigger. You know some things about gun safety, these days. Your neck prickles, then your entire spine, as you watch the Condesce take a breath. Her eyes snap open. She turns her head to stare up at you.

Roxy plants a bullet right between her eyes. The shot rings through the quiet of the room, but you don’t flinch. A splatter of brains mixes with thick troll hair on the floor. The hole in her head emits a soft waft of smoke, and her eyes stare up at it lifelessly.

“Not in my movie,” Roxy says.

You want to hug them for the stellar Scream reference. Instead, you put one arm around them, and feel the breath rattle through their lungs. You stand like this for a while, and keep looking down at what you’ve done.

You don’t care what everyone says.

Revenge feels fucking amazing.

Roxy says, “Let’s go home.”

“Yeah,” you say, and squeeze their shoulder gently. You turn to set up your transportalizer, then stop again and look over your shoulder. It’s a hard sight to let go of, so you ask, “Hey… How do you feel about taking trophies?”

Roxy looks at you, then at her. “Depends,” they say. “What kind are you thinkin’ of?”

Rubbing your chin, you eye the corpse of Her Imperious Condescension, and think that her horns must be about as long as your legs. “Do you think,” you say, “you could ask the Void for a bonesaw?”

To bring him back (a Fictober19 Stucky drabble)

Prompt 21: “Changes is annoyingly difficult”

Fandom: MCU

Tags: light angst, canonical memory loss, implied past relationship, stucky

Warnings: none apply

Ao3

It comes a time in one’s life when, after being confronted with the impossible enough times, nothing is impossible anymore. 

Steve Rogers had faced enough impossibles to believe almost anything. That’s why he didn’t second-guess much his gut when it jolted at the close sight of the ultimate assassin’s eyes. He could have sworn that was Bucky’s brow, Bucky’s nose bridge, Bucky’s determined gaze. He just needed to confirm with some authority that whatever unbelievable lost link in this narrative was a reality. Time travel, cloning, more super-soldier serum… He didn’t even questioned why his childhood friend, his best and only true friend, was trying to kill him. There sure must have been a reasonable explanation for it. Like extraterrestrial forces. Or fairies. 

The following months of fights and disagreement, of conspiracies and treason, were just a blur. Nothing compared to the fact that Bucky was alive. Nothing as hurtful as the fact that his childhood friend, his best and only true friend, didn’t remember him. Nothing as plunging as the realisation that this was the proverbial end of the line. Again. 

In the end, at a great cost, the Avengers assembled anew, and they took Bucky in. Better with them than against them, was the reasoning behind his recruitment. He underwent a gruelling neuro-psychological procedure to get rid of each and every trigger mechanism. The matter of getting his pre-Winter Soldier memories back was never risen. When Steve asked, everybody from SHIELD’s medical staff to Banner and even Loki and Dr. Strange told him it could happen or not, but there wasn’t a way to bring them back on purpose. As knowledgeable as they all were in their own fields, the human mind, they said, was still one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. 

The Avenger known as Winter Soldier was a quiet superhuman with an enhanced metal arm. His face and voice and date of birth were those of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, declared missing in action during a Howling Commandos mission against HYDRA. There’s where any similarity ended. Where Bucky had been good-humored, the Winter Soldier was brooding. Where Bucky had been extroverted and easy-going, the Winter Soldier kept to himself and was always one fraction of a step away of inabiliting the closest menace. Where there used to be that famous charming smile of Bucky, the Winter Soldier’s lips where always pressed thin, downcast, and his gaze was the closest thing to the void Steve could imagine. 

After all, the end of the line had arrived when Bucky fell of that moving train and Steve failed to catch him. There was no impossible turned true for them. His childhood friend, his best and only true friend, was gone. 

The world underwent several catastrophes, most of which never made the public eye, a handful of them solved without even leaving the Avengers headquarters. Old frictions smoothed, new friendships were born. Steve only looked longingly at the Winter Soldier every now and then, trying to find any sign of old Bucky’s personality resurfacing. It was an afterthought now. Those who had been worried for him and called it obsession in the first weeks didn’t even noticed.

The first time the Winter Soldier smiled, Steve dropped his mug of coffee. He said it was lack of sleep and everyone believed him. 

It wasn’t a big smile. His face relaxed for a moment and the corners of his lips perked up slightly. Steve had made a joke that he thought no-one would get when they’d asked him about being in “active service”. They meant literally, as in the military, but he made a sexual innuendo, because in his time “active service” could mean being sexually active. He said it rejoicing in the fact that no-one would get it and he would left them wondering once more about his sex life. But Bucky, no, the Winter Soldier, had smiled imperceptibly as he kept his head down, studying the history of the decades he had missed. 

Wanda catched the mug before it shattered against the floor, Steve made his lame excuse about not sleeping enough, retrieved his coffee and headed to his bedroom to try and calm down. It had been just a smile. A smile because of a joke that could have been funny in the forties. A joke he did several times with the Howling Commandos. “I’ve never been officially in active service in my whole life”. It could mean anything and it was funny because, literally, it was true but, figuratively, it left them wondering. But the Winter Soldier surely didn’t remember that. He probably smiled because that bit of slang was in his vocabulary, nothing more. Bucky was gone. He was the Winter Soldier now. 

Steve wasn’t sure if he needed a nap or a 50 miles sprint, now. He took his sweatpants off and put on a pair of rated jeans and a zipped hoodie over his plain white tee. He put on his baseball cap and fake glasses and headed out, to his exhibit. That, he reminded himself, was the only place where he could see Bucky, the real one. He looked more alive in the black and white footage than the Winter Soldier had ever managed to look in the real world. Now Steve needed to punch something, since there was no one left of those who did that to Bucky. The ones that killed Bucky. The ones creating an impossible in this stupid world where everything could be but this. It was a too loud world, too bright, too fast. Steve needed some respite. Maybe sleep would have been a better idea.

--

He couldn’t help but try, because of course he couldn’t. He had never been known for dropping things. He had been known for following his gut and ending up being right. So he kept peppering his speeches and chats with subtle hints to the thirties and forties in Brooklyn. Very specific things that only someone who’d been there would get, but not as singular as to catch the other Avenger’s attention. 

The Winter Soldier got them all. And Steve emboldened with each smirk, huff and glance. They were all very subtle and never led to a meaningful conversation. The Winter Soldier’s acknowledgement of Steve’s strategy finished in the non verbal hints of getting the reference. Tony Stark’s acknowledgement of Steve’s strategy was more direct. 

“A word, Cap”, said Tony after a briefing. When everybody left the room to their assignments, Steve cocked his head and waited for Tony to say something. “You know I am not against him anymore, do you?”

Steve rolled his eyes. 

“Tony…”

“Because I don’t. I swear, I learnt. We all learnt. He was a problem, until we realised he was a victim, and now he is a very valuable asset”

“What’s your point?”

Tony sighed through his nose while pursing his lips and weighing Steve with a stare. 

“I wouldn’t want him to become a liability”.

Steve felt the all anger of their Civil War creep in and zero into Tony’s solar plexus. He managed to refrain but he wasn’t amiable when he spoke. 

“Again, what’s your point?”

“I know what you are doing. I don’t think anybody else has, I just happen to pay a lot of attention to you. Well, probably Nat knows too, because she’s rolled her eyes at me a couple of times when you drop…”

“Okay, enough”. Steve knew better that denying it, but that didn’t mean he was willing to discuss it. “Your advice is noted. I won’t let it become a liability, but I won’t let it go either, because if there is a single chance to bring him back I will try. I won’t put it before the Avengers or the world’s safety, but will keep trying until he’s back or until one of us dies, whatever happens first”.

When Tony spoke he did it softly, measuring his words, the ghost of their past enmity very much present.

“Captain. Bucky is gone. You mourned him. If he ever comes back, that’s great, but chances are he won’t. And we cannot afford to have the greatest strategic mind of the planet distracted with psychological games and grief. It wouldn’t be betrayal if you let it go”

“It would”, he said defiantly, before speaking more calmly: “Advice noted, Stark. I will bear it in mind, I promise. You don’t have to worry”.

--

It had been a long time since Steve had gotten in the exhibition outside opening hours. Still, the guard tipped his cap as he opened the door for him.

“Long time no see, Captain”

“Been busy”, he smiled. “How are things, Alan?”

“Great as usual. You’ve got company by the way”, added Alan when Steve was about to round the corner. He stopped on his tracks to ask who, a cautious, calculating expression on his face, but then he saw the Winter Soldier standing in front of one of the panels. He turned his head and saluted, wearing that blank expression of his.

Steve approached him and stood by his side for a while. When the video on the screen had finished a loop, Steve talked in a low voice:

“Never took you for a nostalgic”.

The Winter Soldier hummed and turned to Steve:

“Me or your good ol’ pal Bucky?”

Steve looked at him not really sure if that was a genuine question, and accusation a retort or what in hell. The Winter Soldier walked to the next panel and Steve followed him.

“I come here every now and then. I try to make sure we won’t meet, because I don’t want to disturb you. I know this has some importance for you”.

“It has. I appreciate the thought”. And then, after hesitating for a while, he added: “Why do you come?”

The Winter Soldier shrugged.

“To see if it all comes back. It never does though”.

Steve’s face fell and the Winter Soldier noticed. He continued, this time looking at Steve.

“I come here after certain dreams or flashes. I don’t remember much aside from my.. HYDRA missions. And some unconnected things. More sensations than images or memories. Sometimes I dream a game of throw in an alley. Sometimes it’s me lying on a couch, looking at a chapped ceiling. A fan is buzzing and someone is drawing. I can hear the pencil against the paper and I can feel boredom and frustration, because I want them to stop and go play. I remember some things from the war too. As I said, only flashes. I come here and look at the pictures and try to find some link between them”.

Steve breathing was heavy and his jaw was set without him even realizing. He made himself look away from the Winter Soldier and into Bucky’s mugshot in the panel. Their expressions were so different it could have been an entirely different face. 

“Why haven’t you come to me? I could help you figure out those memories. We were joined at the hip, I probably remember those moments too. If I had known you were starting to remember I’d probably…”

“Change…” interrupted the Winter Soldier in his low monotone voice, “is annoyingly difficult. Specially when your mind has been set to a single track and you were excellent at it. It feels slow. It feels like disappointment. I don’t really remember you. I know we were good friends because I’ve been told, and I’ve read here”, he said nodding towards the panel in front of them, “but I don’t know why. I don’t know what happened. And I see what you do to try and bring this guy back, and the faces you make when I just don’t react. I didn’t want to give you false hopes in case he never really comes back. I know you must miss him a lot”.

“Oh, yeah? How would you know that?”, asked Steve with a sad laugh. The Winter Soldier turned his back to the panel, sighed and put his hands in his pockets. 

“There’s this feeling whenever I look at you. Like I want to punch you and kiss you at the same time. And during missions, there’s this need to protect you at all costs, as if you weren’t a virtually immortal super soldier. I don’t know where it comes from, but I know it’s Bucky’s”.

Steve looked at him, mouth hanging slightly. The Winter Soldier sighed again, turned his face to Steve and tried a small, apologetic smile. 

“That’s how I know, pal. He misses you too”.

Steve watched the Winter Soldier walk down the hall towards the exit. He turned back to the panel and Bucky’s mugshot. And he saw the very same smile the Winter Soldier had just given him. Steve smiled in return. It wasn’t a sad or unrealistically hopeful smile. It was the smile that had always made his way to his lips whenever Bucky was around. The one with which he said “hello” to him, and “goodbye”. The one with which he said “thank you”, “I’m sorry” or “I’m glad you’re here”. The one that loudly stated “I love you” for nobody to hear but his childhood friend, his best and only true friend. And he might be getting the echoes of it. 

Conversations

One of the many conversations that Leverk, Nike and Nehmen had. If you are confused as to who Leverk is, you may need to read Well Past Midnight first because I did not bother explaining what’s going on in this fic. From Nike’s POV. A plot bunny that came to me while rereading Well Past Midnight.

I hope that Tumblr is fanfiction-friendly in the sense that you can read the text. I find its columns very narrow. Oh well.

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I don’t remember all the conversations we had with Leverk, but I do recall most of them. In a particularly memorable one of them, he called me out on something long-forgotten.

“So I was talking to Nehmen here,” he showed me a mouthful of sharp teeth as I was sitting down, “and it seems to me that you’re a fake!”

“Excuse me?” I bristled at the accusation. “I always stay true to myself. You know that.”

“Not really, you don’t,” Leverk shook his head. “The Nike that was born in Quater’s mansion at the end of space and time was a different person than you. You’re just an impostor, a substitute to the brother I… allegedly… lost.”

I rubbed my forehead. Starting off with a difficult topic, I see. I had to keep my head level for as long as possible. “Are you talking about what happened when I was four?”

“Of course,” Leverk rolled his eyes.

“I’m not fake then. I am Nike. I was always Nike.”

“That’s true,” Nehmen agreed. “I would have recognised if he was swapped for an impostor. The only thing that changed about him was that he stopped being afraid of tight spaces.” He rubbed his cheek. “To be honest I always thought Hoborg had a part in that. He started the talks because of you, didn’t he?”

“He started the talks because other Hoodians were jealous that I got so much of his attention,” I corrected him. “But yeah, pretty much.”

“Nehmen,” Leverk said with a certain levity. I knew by then that this tone spelled impending doom. “What’s your greatest fear?”

My brother stared at Leverk. After a moment the deformed Hoodian motioned him to get it on, smirking lightly. “Oh, you really want an answer? Jeez.” Nehmen sighed. “Okay, just because you’re my brother.” (“I’m not,” Leverk said immediately.) “My greatest fear… is probably being alone.”

“Not alone,” Leverk wagged a claw. “Abandoned. You’re afraid that everyone you thought loved you will leave you, aren’t you?”

Nehmen took a breath, expression breaking into a grimace. He held the air in for a moment. I reached out and patted his hand. He breathed out. “Yeah, I guess so. That everyone will leave me is… about the worst thing I can imagine to happening.”

Leverk nodded. “Now that Krevel has turned against you, it must be like your worst fear come true.” He studied Nehmen’s face for a response.

Nehmen only stared at him. I had never seen him so quiet and subdued as in conversations with Leverk. The evil one’s voice carried knives for anyone who cared to listen. I was torn to shreds by his words. I wondered every day how much more of this I could take, when and how I would snap under the weight of Leverk’s insults. But I had not thought of how they made Nehmen feel. When someone offended him or tried to hurt him, Nehmen would usually respond with anger and swiftly return the offence. Sometimes he got angry at Leverk, too, as we both did. (And, like a child, Leverk took delight in every time he managed it.) But it didn’t happen nearly as often as with others. His way of listening to Leverk was quiet and introverted, feeling the knives stab his heart in silence.

“You may be evil,” I interrupted the stare-off. I would not let Nehmen wallow in self-pity any more. “But we have not lost you. You are still here.”

“Oh but that will not last long, will it? Anyway,” Leverk rubbed his claws together, “that’s beside the point. What I wanted to say was – Nehmen, do you think that you’d change as a person if your worst fear was taken away?”

Nehmen thought about this for a second, then nodded. “Definitely.”

“Do you think you’d be like a whole new person?”

Nehmen puckered his lips. “If I wasn’t afraid of people leaving me at all? Yeah, that would probably leave a big mark.”

“There you have it,” Leverk spread his arms out, a victorious smile spreading across his face. He had got us once again. I realised what he was about to say a moment before he said it. “Nike got rid of his worst fear. Therefore, he isn’t the same person anymore. He may inhabit the same body, but he is not the same brother Krevel and Nehmen had in the beginning. He’s someone else. The real brother… well.” He looked at both of us in turn. Nehmen’s brow was furrowed. And I knew exactly what he was going to say. “You both know what happened to him. He’s long dead. Nike is long dead. All we have left is this impostor, who looks like him but is not him,” he gestured toward me.

I chewed on my lip.

“That’s not true,” Nehmen objected unhelpfully. “I would have noticed if he changed that much. It’s just claustrophobia. And it didn’t even disappear completely, Nike’s still got some problems.”

Leverk shook his head as if disregarding this defence completely. Instead, he caught my gaze and twitched his chin up and down lightly, beckoning me to speak. I took the bait. I had an idea in mind. Leverk like to catch us on our own words and we wanted to do the same to him.

“It wasn’t just that,” I admitted. “I can’t really put a finger on it, but I think other things about me changed as well.”

“Such as?” Leverk prompted me.

“Uhh. It’s hard to recall. You don’t spend your life analysing your psyche.”

“You spend yours analysing mine,” Leverk pointed out.

“I suppose. Um… I know that I used to be afraid that I would be one of many. That I’d become part of the crowd. That I’d lose everything that defines me.” I shrugged. “That got better after I was nursed back to health after the breakdown. I didn’t need to be so… different from everyone. I knew that as far as I was myself, I was free.”

Leverk’s toothy grin at this point was so wide that it was unnerving. “Oh boy. Do you even realise what you’ve just said?”

“What?”

“Well for starters, you lost the primary thing that defined you. You became like everyone else. And you don’t even care! The real Nike would be disgusted with you. You’re a liar pretending to be someone else. You’re a fake given to us by Hoborg. You remind people of Nike, but the real Nike died and you are his substitute. Just like Nehmen lost Caline and created Alan as a substitute.”

Before Nehmen started to object (he did get angry every time his son was brought up), I jumped in. “And how can you tell? Even if I was a fake, you’ve never met the real Nike. You can’t tell the difference.”

Leverk snorted. “Nehmen gave me a pretty good picture of what Nike was like before the breakdown.”

I shook my head. “Nehmen has said it himself – he doesn’t think that the breakdown changed me all that much. You don’t have any basis for saying that the real Nike died. Except…” It was my turn to smile devilishly. Two could play the game of catching your opponent’s fallacies. “Except if you did remember it. Except if you really were Krevel, and had his memories, and you were just lying to us about it.”

Leverk stared at me, the smile falling off his face. “I am not him,” he said simply. “I know this. I was born two months ago. I’m not responsible for any inborn knowledge I might have.”

“Your inborn knowledge is Krevel’s memory and subconsciousness,” I pressed. “We all know it! Our brother is under the surface aching to break free. And we are all waiting for him!”

“I am not Krevel!” Leverk bellowed, jumping up from his chair. He swaggered as the clear stone in his chest pulled him off balance. He steadied himself and grabbed me by the collar. “Do you know how I know this? Because after Krevel put the crown on, he changed. He changed, just like you changed, Nike, and what came out was too different to be called Krevel anymore!”

I held his wild gaze. His violence did not scare me. I spoke slowly. “Do you know that this is the only way I can upset you at all? By finding a proof that you are Krevel. And you always have been.”

Leverk’s eyes widened in anger. “Dead man speaking!” he screeched and yanked with my collar sideways, losing his grip on it. I grinned victoriously. Leverk paced across the room, arms crossed.

“It’s not the same,” he repeated after a minute. “Krevel and I are not the same. Nike and you are not the same. Krevel is dead just like Nike is dead, too. All that’s left is the two of us, and we are stuck here being called by their names!”

“That’s not true,” Nehmen objected. “People can change. Why don’t you say that I’m not the same either? I only knew one language when I was born, after all. Now I know two. Things are very different because of that. So why isn’t the real Nehmen dead, too?”

Leverk glared at him but I spoke first.

“Exactly. By your logic, isn’t the Leverk of yesterday dead, too? You know things he didn’t, and they make you different from him.” I strained my imagination. These talks took out a lot of me. “Maybe you’re dying every minute, and a new person is born instead of you. People change. You can’t get hung up on it and regret that they’re gone forever. I am your brother. Nehmen is your brother. Even if our past selves aren’t here anymore, we are. We are here for you, right here and right now.”

Leverk looked down at the clear stone in his torso, teeth clenched. And then, for the first time since the transformation, tears appeared in his eyes.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said quietly. “I’m going to die. You’re going to lose both me and Krevel and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.” He looked up into the ceiling. “I have a feeling that Krevel would regret his wish now. Yep, he definitely would. He’d want to take it all back. He wouldn’t want what the crown’s given to him. But he can’t do anything anymore. He’s gone. He’s dead. All you have is me, and I’ll disappear soon.”

Nehmen scurried to his feet and went for a hug. Leverk didn’t push him away. “Don’t touch me,” he said quietly. Seeing this, my hopes flared up. My brother was pushing through, out of this evil person’s shell. He was reaching out to us. I got up as well and hugged Leverk from the other side.

“We’re here,” Nehmen said.

“I said…” Leverk growled. “Don’t touch me!!” With a surprising force he pushed us both away and sprung to his feet. “You are not my brothers and I am not yours!” he yelled, pointing a claw at us. “I can’t stand your filthy hands on me! You’re both weak and Krevel was the weakest of you three!” He was breathing hard. All signs of tears had disappeared. He gasped and cradled the stone in his chest. “I want my lungs back,” he whispered and fell back into his seat. “It’s getting hard to talk.”

Nehmen and I looked at each other. There was no doubt that, for a moment, the Krevel we knew had shone through. But that moment was gone. And there was no use in pushing it. We sat back down.

“So,” I piped up, “you think that the original Nike died three hundred years ago.”

Leverk gave me a weary look. “Shut up.”

“I don’t disagree with you,” I shrugged. “It did feel like dying.”

“You have no idea what dying’s like.”

I shook my head. “I felt very close to death. Closer than any time before and any time after. And if what you say is true, then… I guess? Yeah? You can say that the original Nike had his wish granted. You can say that he died. Just like hope dies in people who are denied freedom for long enough. Just like confidence dies in people who are hurt for long enough. It’s…” I shrugged, searching for words. “It’s a suitable rhetoric, I suppose. Death and rebirth.”

“Quater, you are just boring me now,” Leverk rolled his eyes. “Let’s talk about something else already.”

Back in the day, I was convinced that Leverk only foresaw death for himself. He was walking down a tunnel, his heart icy, and he knew that one day he would lose everything.

As smart as he was, as much as he liked to think and philosophise, I don’t think it ever occurred to him that he could be reborn as well.

And I still think that just how Leverk claimed that he did not remember ever being Krevel, Krevel did not remember Leverk. But something substantial connected them.

And even though I remember everything that happened before I was four, I also feel a sense of disconnection from the guy was before. Who was he? What did he want?

Well.

Do you remember who you were and what you wanted when you were four?

I didn’t think so.

Animation Magazine interviewed José C. García de Letona and Rita Street! about the process of Space Chickens In Space in how they combined 3 animation studios to make a surreal sci-fi show for Disney XD

Watch out, Foghorn Leghorn, Calimero and Chicken Little! There are a few new animated chickens in the yard! Produced by Ánima Estudios in Mexico, Studio Moshi in Australia, and co-produced by Dublin-based Gingerbread Animation and Disney EMEA, the new 52-part toon is called Space Chickens in Space, and has all the makings of a great sci-fi comedy.

The project is the brainchild of Ánima Estudios’ founder and COO José C. García de Letona , U.S.-based producer Rita Street (Ruby Gloom, Hero: 108) and Norwegian twin designers and musicians Tommy and Markus Vad Flaaten. The imaginative show centers on the adventures of three chickens — Chuck, Starley and Finley — who are accidentally enrolled in an elite intergalactic former military academy. The show runner is Jordan Gaucher (Skunk Fu!) and story editors are Alan Keane and Shane Perez (Oddbods).

Garcia de Letona tells us that he and Street originally wanted to tell a story about siblings living in fish-out-of-water situations, but “we swapped fish for chickens and Earth for space!” He says he was very lucky to get to know the talented Vad Flaatens, who brought their own zany visuals and imaginative take on the world to the show. “The twins have been our creative partners throughout the process and the show has been improved tenfold because of them,” he notes. “Special mention should also go to our distributor CAKE, Studio Moshi, Gingerbread Animation and Disney since the show would not have become a reality without their love and support.”

De Letona says the series is heavily inspired by their favorite sci-fi movies and TV shows. “We also had the opportunity to create a unique universe which at its core is about friendship and brother-sisterhood,” he notes. “We also have a school as our setting, which is a lot of fun to work with, and we hope our audience will really empathize with the characters. Even if it is set in outer space, the show still feels like home.”

Ready to Hatch

Street is especially pleased that one of the show’s main characters is Starley, a feisty young girl chicken. “Starley was originally a boy until Disney had the foresight to recognize that we would need girls in the core cast of the show,” she points out. “Starley is fantastically unique — she’s got anger issues, she can pound entire planets into space dust, but she loves everyone and everything and just wants the entire universe to get along.”

The show’s pre- and post-production happens in Dublin, and the Toon Boom Harmony-based animation is produced in Australia. There are over 30 people in the Australian animation crew, but the whole series has a crew of over 75 people who cover all elements of design, storyboarding, editing etc, That doesn’t include the freelance scriptwriters, actors and other contributors — all of whom would bring the team number over a hundred.

Around the Cluck

According to the Ánima Estudios CEO, one of project’s main challenges was working with all the different production entities spread around the globe. “Our biggest challenge was to figure out how these very distant companies could work together, to build that pipeline from the microscopic level to the macro level,” says Garcia de Letona. “Our main goal was to do it all in a way that kept the values and ideas of the show intact.”

The Vad Flaaten brothers compare the production process to being involved in a long-distance relationship. “There is lots of Skype, Google Docs, Slack, emails and more Skype!!!” they say. “All the producers at the different studios are amazing at synching and spreading information: They’re doing a really impressive job.”

They also believe that the show’s antiheroes and sibling dynamics have universal appeal, something that goes beyond cultural and national definitions of humor. “We think weird, extreme expressions are universally funny and something we really try to push in Space Chickensso that the episodes will be interesting and memorable on a purely visual level,” note the twins, who have quite a global following thanks to their offbeat animated shorts and catchy songs.

“It’s a huge honor to have been able to develop and create humour with so many different people from across the world,” add the Vad Flaatens. “It’s been important to us that as many people along the way, from writers to ‘boarders to individual animators, get their little area of freedom to add humor — be it visual or timing-based or literal. Our hope is that this collective passion shines through.”

The brothers believe that the world needs more international partnerships like Space Chickens in Space. “We think more studios and execs should take a chance and invest in unconventional creative collaborations,” they says. “Space Chickens is the result of many different passionate artists shaping and having fun with the same idea. When people from different corners of the world come together and blend their ideas and inspire each other, beautiful, quirky and fresh stuff is made!”

Street is also quite optimistic about the state of TV animation all over the world. “I love that cartoons have once again become totally surreal,” says the veteran producer. “You don’t have to follow structural storytelling rules so much. Things don’t have to make sense. I think that’s what kids really want nowadays — to feel like they can really ‘own’ cartoons because they feel so random and out of control, which in a small way teaches kids to find joy in the randomness of their messy new-normal lives!”