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warriors-rewritten-chaos · 1 year

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Major Arc 4 Changes/General Summary

The Arc That Made Me Stop Reading Warriors (Because I Thought The Story Was Over)

Oh how wrong I was...

So Hollyleaf is probably dead, which means the Three are now Two. This is a problem for everyone, but mostly for StarClan, who somehow can’t see in the tunnels to know if she’s still kickin’. So the Council of A-holes (as dubbed by the constantly exasperated and outraged Yellowfang) makes a decision: just make a new Third Cat. Yellowfang tries in vain to stop them: “Look, if the DF is training living cats to fight, why can’t we do that but for the good guys, why do we have to put the fate of everything on some poor kits every single damn time” and the Council just says “How do you keep finding our secret meetings”. Tallstar looks away slightly when they ask and tries to hold his laughter, but no one notices

So Dovekit and Ivykit are born. While Ivykit seems to be perfectly healthy and fine, Dovekit has... problems. Lots of problems. She’s sensitive to literally everything: gets sick at the drop of a hat, can’t stand any sound louder than a whisper, and just being downwind of the Medicine Den makes her feel ill from the smell of herbs and sickness that permeate the air. Ivykit becomes her sister’s devoted protector, but even she can’t protect her sister from Destiny Bullcrap

The two become apprentices, with Jayfeather and Lionblaze keeping an eye on Dovekit because of her extreme sensitivity. Ivypaw realizes he isn't entirely a molly and comes out as bigender. Ivypaw continues to protect her sister but is sidelined entirely once Dovepaw is officially revealed to be the New Third Prophecy Cat and is taken to stop a drought. He is not okay with this. Muddyhollow and Tigerstar take notice of his jealousy and Ivypaw starts her Dark Forest training. Dovepaw and the ShadowClan Warrior Goldenheart begin to have a secret romantic-friendship thing. Unbeknownst to Dovepaw, Goldenheart also trains in the Dark Forest with Ivypaw. After seeing how good Ivypaw is at fighting, Goldenheart dreads the day that Ivypaw finds out that Goldenheart is romantically involved with Dovepaw

A tree falls in the ThunderClan camp. It would've crushed Briarpaw to bits, but Mistlefur sacrifices her life to save the young apprentice. However, she isn't able to completely push Briarpaw out of the way and Briarpaw’s hind legs are crushed by the tree and she becomes paralyzed. While Snowflight mourns the death of his sister, Millie mourns what she believes is her daughter’s ability to have an independent life. Sensing the negative emotional effect it’s having on Briarpaw, who is already upset due to the loss of her legs, Jayfeather tells Millie to shut up and stop the pity party. “Your daughter is paralyzed, not dead! Do you think Longtail became less of a Warrior after he was blinded, or I’m any less of a Medicine Cat because I can’t see? Is Snowflight inferior to the other Hunters because he can’t hear?” No, no, and no again. “Then why is Briarpaw any different? She may not be a Warrior the way you picture it, but she’s going to have a long, fulfilling life doing something that makes her happy just the same.”

Briarpaw is still depressed, but feels a bit better with Jayfeather and Longtail helping her out. Longtail is especially helpful, as his circumstances were similar to Briarpaw’s once upon a time, and as such he can empathize with her and help her come into her own and her life. Briarpaw eventually becomes a Warden and earns the Warrior Name Briarlight alongside her siblings when they receive theirs, but we’ll get to them soon

Millie is still a bit overly doting on Briarpaw, but nowhere near as bad as canon. Blossompaw still thinks her parents love Briarpaw and her older step-siblings and nephews more than her, despite all evidence being that they love her just the same. This is partly due to being an angsty teen, and partly because the Dark Forest has already gotten their claws into her and have started manipulating her to hate the Clans. Bumblepaw develops a crush on Dovepaw, which she isn't sure if she reciprocates or not. He’s a little bit creepy and obsessive about it...

After Lionblaze accidentally kills Russetfur in the battle against ShadowClan, Blackstar names Rowanclaw as the new Deputy. Rowanclaw is only Deputy for a few days before they realize that they cannot put up with Blackstar’s crap and step down for the sake of their mental health. Tawnypelt, having been mentored by Blackstar after her first mentor and father Tigerstar died, is able to deal with him just fine and remains Deputy permanently

Dovepaw and Goldenheart become even closer. In ThunderClan, Cinderheart, Icecloud, and Lionblaze start to have serious talks about their relationship. When Cinderheart starts to be afraid that the three of them can’t be together because of Lionblaze’s destiny and powers, Lionblaze counters with “remember my grandpa?” because everybody knows that Firestar was like the OG Prophecy Cat and he has three whole mates and it’s fine. Cinderheart is still a little insecure about it, while Icecloud is concerned that the Prophecy might end in Lionblaze’s death, so nothing’s fixed, but it’s a little better than it was

Ivypaw gets lost while Dark Forest training and meets two spirits who seem to be hiding from the others. She asks them what they’re doing, and they introduce themselves as Frecklepelt and Snowtuft. They tell Ivypaw that he needs to get out while he still can, and that the Dark Forest’s intentions are not as noble as “helping Warriors train and the Clans become stronger”. But Ivypaw doesn't listen and continues training, although she doesn't tell her Dark Forest mentors about the two almost kind spirit cats or their warning. Ivypaw regrets the decision, however, when his father Birchfall, another unwitting Dark Forest trainee, is killed during training by the WindClan Warrior Antpelt. And Antpelt is praised for doing it. And Ivypaw sees the entire thing happen from start to finish. She kills Antpelt in a fit of vengeance-fueled rage and is praised and fawned over by Muddyhollow and Tigerstar, who are just so proud of Ivypaw and how far he’s come...

When Ivypaw wakes up, he vomits and cries uncontrollably. Even more so once it is confirmed that Birchfall has apparently died in his sleep. And that in WindClan, Antpelt has as well. But Ivypaw knows what really happened to them both. She can’t be quiet anymore. He tells his sister, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather the whole truth and becomes a spy in the Dark Forest for the Clans. He also enlists the assistance of the two friendly Dark Forest spirits he’d met prior, Frecklepelt and Snowtuft, to try and show the other trainees what is really happening and try to get them out of there. The operation begins!

Meanwhile, Jayfeather and Flametail of ShadowClan go out on the ice together to play a game to lighten the mood. Flametail suddenly falls through the ice and Jayfeather fights desperately to save him, not wanting to lose another friend. However, Rock intervenes, since it is Flametail’s destiny and time to go, much to Jayfeather’s rage. Dawnpelt, having come looking for her brother and seeing the broken ice and flailing limbs and bodies underneath, drags Jayfeather out of the water alone as he begs her to let him go, he has to save Flametail! Dawnpelt tells him that she doesn't see Flametail’s body and they both collapse sobbing on one another as they mourn his tragic passing. Jayfeather wonders aloud if it’s possible to kill fate. Dawnpelt responds that if he ever finds a way to do so, she’d like to help. Jayfeather is not accused of murder because Dawnpelt knows he didn't kill her brother and defends him from the accusations and the two become friends

Jayfeather begins to have visions of the future of the Clans, and it does not look good for them. Meanwhile in the Lunar Feles, Stoneteller’s successor is chosen. Jayfeather receives a vision from Lady Half Moon, showing him the tunnels and that Hollyleaf is still alive down in them. She is accompanied by a ghost of an Ancient named Fallen Leaves. Jayfeather begs to be shown a way to get to her, to see her again and tell her to come back, but is instead shown an eclipse...

As heralded by Jayfeather’s vision, Sol shows up again and tries to manipulate Onestar and WindClan into attacking ThunderClan this time around. It doesn't work, mostly because the Clan cats all remember Sol making ShadowClan implode on itself and attempting to destroy the Clans. Also, Hollyleaf emerges from the tunnels to beat him up and drive him off for good. She is tackled by her entire family who are overjoyed to see her again. Leafpool and Squirrelflight forgive her and apologize for their past actions, and Hollyleaf apologizes for hers

Also, Dovewing, Ivystrike, and the rest of the apprentices earn their Warrior Names

So now there’s Four Prophecy Cats. But it’s best not to get too cozy, because the Dark Forest has been working in the shadows and is preparing one final strike to destroy the Clans for good (minus SkyClan because they don't know about them). While some Dark Forest apprentices have been converted back to the Clans’ side, they cannot stop training or reveal this, because they will be killed for their betrayal (as seen with Beetlewhisker of RiverClan when he tries to leave). As Dovewing starts to grow closer with Bumblestripe, Bumblestripe is revealed to be receiving advice from a Dark Forest cat... But it’s “offstage”, so to speak, so none of the canon characters know this is happening, only the readers do. Wonder how this is gonna turn out...

The final battle begins. Birchfall’s spirit is seen with StarClan, as he was a good cat who was duped into his role and Snowtuft and Frecklepelt snuck him out of the Dark Forest and into StarClan before he could be forced to become a Dark Forest spirit. Speaking of the two of them, they are unable to join the Clans in the final battle out of the risk of retaliation by the other Dark Forest cats. While Dark Forest and StarClan cats cannot be killed in their respective domains, simply reforming if anything happens to them there, they are able to be destroyed for good if they are killed in the mortal realm once more. This happens to many Dark Forest and StarClan cats over the course of the fight

Brightheart’s body chooses the exact worse time to start kitting and she goes into labor during the battle. A group of Dark Forest cats attacks ThunderClan’s Nursery upon hearing her cries. Snowflight, Dustpelt, and Ferncloud make the decision to lay down their lives to protect the monarchs and their kits. They rise as StarClan spirits and keep on fighting

Longtail and Mousefur are also killed in the battle but reanimate. Longtail, Lynxswift, the now adult StarClan version of Swiftpaw (now Swiftfire), Cinderspark, Mistlefur, Speckletail, Smallears, Lionheart, and Goldenflower all square up and the whole family joins the brawl together. Purdy and Mousefur join in too, with Purdy being asked about his heart condition and if he’s okay to fight, and he says that today is as good a day as any to die

Leafpool is saved from being killed by Mapleshade (who goes after her because she thinks they are alike) by a trio of StarClan cats who tell her to run and that they’ll handle their mother. She doesn't see any of those cats, including Mapleshade, again for the rest of the battle

Brokenstar is battled by Ratscar, Swampbloom, and Oakfur, the last three surviving apprentices from his reign in ShadowClan. Yellowfang and the adult StarClan versions of the kits and apprentices Brokenstar killed show up to help take him down for good

Mudclaw, still as stupid and reckless in death as he was in life, goes after both Onestar and Tallstar at the same time and obviously loses the two-on-one battle

Thistleclaw’s spirit is torn to shreds by Snowflower, Bluestar, and Spottedleaf, who all work together to end him

Muddyhollow squares off against Ivystrike. She nearly kills him before being accosted by Darkheart, Brambleflower, and Hollyleaf. She is overwhelmed but manages to escape, vowing her revenge. And getting a fatal blow on Hollyleaf, who dies in the embrace of her mother, aunt, and siblings who all rush to her side when Jayfeather senses her dying

Finally, we have Firestar versus Tigerstar. Good versus evil. They fight fiercely, but since Firestar is mortal, his body tires while Tigerstar’s doesn't. As Tigerstar stands gloating over Firestar, he is stopped from killing him by a harsh blow to the back from... another Dark Forest cat? Wait, is that? Yep, its Scourge, who upon his death ended up in the Afterlife. While he wouldn't normally have cared about the Clans dying (and would really have been quite happy about it), he wasn't going to let Tigerstar be happy ever (and was also pissed that he was still around in any way shape or form). He deals a few more blows to Tiger and leaves, telling Firestar to finish this properly. And Firestar does, but it takes the last of his strength. While he dies, he names Brambleflower his successor (at some point in this arc Brackenfur steps down from the Deputy position because he doesn't want to be Leader and Brambleflower is chosen as the new one). He ascends to StarClan surrounded by his family

The Clans say goodbye to their fallen friends as they go to StarClan and decide to put the Dark Forest trainees on probation instead of just executing or exiling them thanks to Ivystrike’s efforts

And that’s where the story of Firestar ends...

#scourge is one of my favorite characters in warriors #of course he had to show up again #also I was inspired by theanoninyourinbox's longstar/brightstar au to make frecklepelt and snowtuft more prominently involved in the story #who is the DF cat talking to Bumblestripe? you'll see in a later arc...#Warrior Cats #warrior cats rewrite #timeline #plot changes

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fearfully-fiction · 3 years

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St. Albans Pt.4- Dakota Laden x Reader

word count:3625

warnings: Fluff/comfort. PaRaNoRmAl aCtiViTy *insert spongebob meme*

Summary: Based on season 1 episode 4 of DF so all credit to the crew, the show, and the channel! Coming back together after separation reader and Dakota have a comforting conversation before deciding where to sleep alone.

part1! part2! part3!

(not my gif!)

The doors opened and you took a deep breath of fresh air. Dakota went to film with Alex and you went to talk to Tanner.

“Hey Tanner.” you greeted your friend. “Hey (y/n)? You ok?” he asked you. “Yeah, I’m ok. I just wanted to say sorry for overreacting earlier. It was really silly of me, and I hope you know I would never actually mean that.” You apologized. He looked down at you with a smile. “I know (y/n), it’s ok. I know you just want to protect him and I do too. C’mere.” He said and opened his arms to you. You wrapped your arms around him and held him tightly. “I want you safe too Tanner, I want all of you safe I hope you know that,” you said to your friend. “I know that, and I want you safe too we all do. We’ll keep each other safe.” he said and let go. You nodded your head in agreement. "Of course.”

Dakota walked over to you both and you could see his eyes looked a bit glassy. Your heart sunk he walked straight to you and wrapped his arms around you. Tanner walked away letting you both have a moment.

“What happened my love?” you asked softly as his head rested in the crook of your neck.

“I swear it doesn’t want us down there. I’m so nervous about this. I really don’t want anyone going back down there. I don’t want to go back down there.” he admitted to you.

You held him tighter and kissed his head. “I’m so sorry babe, I don’t want you down there either. I can’t stand the thought of you down there by yourself,” you said and he pulled away. You placed your hands on his cheeks. He looked at you with those beautiful eyes that you loved so much. You could see the fear glimmer in his eyes, and it caused a frown to form on your face.

“If you get the basement/bowling alley, I don’t want you to go alone. I’ll go with you ok,” you reassured him. “No, I don’t want to bend the rules because I’m scared. You’ll have your walkie close?” He asked you. “Of course I will, but are you sure you don’t want me with you?” you asked him just to make sure.

“I’m sure,” he answered you. You nodded and let your hands slip from his face and down to his shoulders. Rubbing his shoulders gently trying to calm him down a bit. He leaned down and pressed his lips to yours letting his hands grip your waist, your hands moved from his shoulders and to the back of his neck to play with his hair. He sighed into the kiss held you tighter. Your lips moved together slowly as if trying to memorize the feeling.

“Hey! If you guys would stop making out I’d like to get this night over with!” Alex called over to you. You broke away and took a breath before letting a smile fall on your lips and dropping your head onto his shoulder. He let out a chuckle, something you haven’t heard all night and it made your smile brighter. “I guess we should appease the crowd huh?” you asked with a raised brow.

“I think it would be best,” he said. You let go of him and were about to grab his hand and walk back to the group but he pulled you back to him and pressed one more short kiss on your lips just to annoy the group. You heard aggravate groaning and it made you giggle against his lips. You pulled away once more and dragged him toward your friends. “Alright, alright, we’re here. Sorry.” You jokingly apologized. Chelsea shook her head and bit back a smile.

“Alright. So, right now, we are going to sleep separately. This is gonna raise our fear levels, and hopefully, ramp up the activity in the sanatorium.” Your boyfriend informed the audience.

You rolled your eyes. “I totally hope that happens.” you retort sarcastically. “I know right.” Dakota shot back. You glared at him playfully.

“So, we should agree on the five scariest locations. We already kinda have,” he said and looked at you all. “Yeah. we know it is definitely the bowling alley.” Tanner said.

“Bowling alley for sure is the worst one,” Dakota said.

“The electroshock therapy room.” Chelsea put it out there as well.

“Absolutely the electroshock therapy room, so many people were tortured there,” you said.

“And then the suicide bathroom for sure.” Tanner threw that on the table as well.

“Suicide bathroom it’s on the third floor you’re so far away from everyone else. So yeah the three that we have are on this building.” Dakota said. “Someone should be in the east building in that creepy winding corridor.” Tanner also suggested. “Yeah, the basement.” you piped up.

“So, we did a walk-through of the east building earlier, and nothing happened, but when we were down in the basement that’s when it felt like we were not alone,” Dakota explained to everyone.

“We also have the boiler room, which really fucking creeped me out,” you said and a shiver ran up your spine at the thought of having to sleep alone down there.

“Right yeah,” Chelsea confirmed.

“So Tanner’s gonna now write these five locations out on paper and then we’re gonna draw out of a hat and decide where we sleep for the night.” Tanner placed all of the locations in the hat, and you clenched and unclenched your fists nervously.

“Okay, you got it?” Dakota asked him.

Tanner held out the hat toward Chelsea first and you could tell she was nervous.

She quickly grabbed one and showed the small crumpled ball of paper to the camera with a nervous smile.

“Alright Chelsea, where are you sleeping?” her brother asked her. She looked right at him.

“I don’t even want to tell you,” she said and you chuckled.

You looked at her paper over her shoulder and cringed.

“Ooh. Electroshock.” All of you cringed at the location. “That’s the second-worst one, you said.” She relays.

Dakota moved the camera forward to get a good look at her paper. “Chelsea got the electroshock therapy room. I think Alex should draw next.” He suggested with a grin.

“Alex.” he held the hat out for him, he reached his hand in and pulled out a paper to unravel his location.

“Suicide bathroom,” he said with disappointment dripping from his words as he showed the camera.

“Not to scare you anymore Alex but you are three whole floors above anyone else,” Dakota said, and you placed your hand on your best friend’s arm in a comforting manner. “You’ll be ok Al.” you smiled at him reassuringly.

“Ok babe, you’re up. It’s between the east basement, bowling alley, and the boiler room,” he said and gave you a grin.

“I better not get the boiler room or I’ll be pissed I swear.” you shook your head as you reached in to grab a paper. “Hey, at least you won’t be three floors away from anyone else,” Alex said. You gave him a sarcastic grin. “Yeah, that makes me feel great Al.” he chuckled at you.

“Alright, let’s see what you got,” Chelsea said while looking over your shoulder as you unraveled the paper.

The minute your eyes scanned the paper you immediately dropped your arms to your sides in exasperation. “No way. No way in hell!” you exclaimed.

“She got the boiler room,” Chelsea explained to everyone. “I got the damn boiler room.” you sighed before holding up the paper to the camera.

Alex threw an arm over your shoulder and pulled you into a side hug. You leaned into it and sighed.

You grabbed Dakota’s camera and began filming for him while he and Tanner chose.

“I hope it’s not the bowling alley because I feel like I’ve been picked on this whole night.” he ran his hands through his hair out of anxiety. “Ok, whatever. I’m just gonna do it. I’m just gonna do it” he tried to muster the courage and reached into the hat when Tanner did. When both of them had their paper.

“Open at the same time. Don’t look.” Alex said.

They both unraveled their paper at the same time. “Bowling alley.” your boyfriend read off and your stomach lurched. “No!” he exclaimed loudly while Tanner jumped in excitement and relief that he didn’t have to sleep down there. While you were happy for him you were extremely worried for your boyfriend seeing as he most definitely was being messed with down there. Dakota had a smile on his face but you knew just how scared he was of that place and it broke your heart.

“Dude, I got touched down there. A handprint showed up on my back,” he said. You looked away because tears were collecting in your eyes. “I’m scared for all three of us,” Chelsea said and looked at her brother.

“Honestly, the bowling…” he cut himself off. “Can we redraw?” he asked.

You sighed and turned away from everyone else preparing to go get your things for the sleeping arrangements. Your boyfriend noticed that you had gone completely silent and looked over at you. Your back was turned to him, and he could practically see you trying to not breathe too hard.

He could tell that you were about to cry and made his way over to you.

The others were already grabbing their things.

“Hey,” he said trying to get your attention. You didn’t turn around and so he tried again this time walking around to face you. “Hey, babe look at me,” he said and you released a shaky breath before looking up at him. He could see the shine in your eyes from unshed tears and sighed.

He pulled you into a hug and you held him tightly.

“We can trade places. I know the boiler room still sucks and it’s super close, but it would be better than the bowling alley,” you suggested though it was a bit muffled by his chest seeing as you buried your head there.

Though your voice was muffled he heard you and pulled away from you. “There is no way, I would ever let you sleep in that bowling alley. Not after what happened tonight and to Chelsea last time. I’ll be ok, we’re close together ok. If you scream for me I’ll be right there, and I know you’d do the same for me. We’ll be ok babe, I promise you.” he said and kissed away the tears that fell down your cheeks. He nudged your nose with his gently and placed a kiss on it. It brought a small smile to your lips, and he smiled as well. “We’ll be ok,” he reassured you both one more time before grabbing your hand so you could both gather your things and head to your locations.

You all walked Alex up to the third floor and helped him set up. You made sure to give him a big supportive hug before leaving. “Love you Al!” you called while walking away. “Love you (y/n)!” he called back.

You made your way down to electroshock to drop off Chels and help her set up before giving her a hug as well. All of you said your I love you’s, getting the same response back. The next stop was Dakota, you and Tanner help him set up and Tanner wished him luck. You walked over and kissed him. “I love you, Kota. Just walkie me ok, or scream whatever you think will work better.” you joked a bit. He gave you a soft chuckle before kissing your cheek. You began to walk away with Tanner and sighed when you reached the boiler room.

You set your stuff down and Tanner helped you set the camera up before giving you a hug and wishing you luck. “Hey, wait,” you called after him. He turned back around with his flashlight in hand. “You ok?” he asked. “Yeah, I just wanted to know if you wanted me to walk with you so you aren’t alone,” you said to him. He gave you a warm smile and shook his head. “No, no I’ll be ok. Plus if I ever said yes to that here I’m pretty sure Dakota would kick my ass.” he joked which made you laugh. “I guess you’re not wrong. Well if you need anything just walkie me alright,” you said and he nodded. “Night, Tanner, love you!” you called and he responded the same.

You sat yourself on the ground and sighed heavily knowing you were not even going to be able to shut your eyes that night. “This is gonna be a night from hell…” you spoke to yourself.

“So, I am in the boiler room which is right next to the bowling alley actually so me and Dakota are very close to each other. Which is really strange because none of us have been this close in a location before but hey, I am not complaining about it,” you spoke to the camera. “At least I’ll be close to my boyfriend if I die here,” you said with a sigh.

As soon as the words left your mouth you hear what sounded like faint laughter. Your heart dropped as you shone your flashlight throughout the room. “That was a laugh, I just heard a laugh.” you began to panic. “Shit, I hope the camera caught that,” you mumbled to yourself.

The night had just started and you already felt more unsafe than before.

You picked up your walkie to get a hold of Dakota to ask if he had heard it too. Seeing as you were practically right next to him he had to have heard it.

“Kota,” you called.

“(y/n), what’s up?” he asked with a concerned tone.

“Did you just hear laughter? Or did you maybe laugh at all?” you asked him anxiously.

“What? No, I didn’t laugh. You heard laughter?” he asked in a panic.

At that moment you could just tell you were screwed.

“Yeah, it was very faint but I heard it. I’m not sure where it came from but I swear on my life I heard it,” you explain to him. “We’re not even 20 minutes in, and this is already frickin sick,” you said in a frustrated huff.

“We’ve got this, only a few hours left ok.” his voice crackled through the walkie.

“Alright Kota, you know what to do if you need me,” you told him.

“Got it see you soon.” he ended.

You went back to just sitting in the dark just waiting for something to come out at you. You knew for a fact that you were not alone in the room. It made your skin crawl at the feeling of someone or something watching you.

You sat there in the dark making sure to listen for Dakota if he yelled for you or if something happened. As you sat there you still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Seeing as you were so focused on listening you suddenly heard something go by you. It wasn’t like walking more like the sound of shuffling as if someone were to crawl across the floor. It made you freeze in your place your breath got caught in your throat and you felt completely helpless. You wanted to walkie your boyfriend or even just yell for him because you were so scared but you didn’t want him to worry more than he already was. You knew that something wasn’t willing to let up and it scared you more than you had been at any other location.

You finally let out a shaky breath, “I just heard something literally crawl past me I swear on my life. I know I’ve been like a baby this entire night but damn…” your voice broke. You hated feeling weak but tonight you just couldn’t help it. You were extremely emotional and it most definitely wasn’t helping your situation. You needed to pull yourself together for your sake and everyone else’s. “Ok, I’m pulling myself together. I’m gonna be ok, Dakota is gonna be ok, we’re all gonna be ok. We’re stronger than this thing.” you spoke to yourself as calmly and confidently as you could. After saying this you once again heard faint laughter and it made you jump and turn your flashlight on to scan around the room. Still, you saw nothing but knew you would always feel something watching you. You took a breath and kept the light on for a few more seconds before turning it off and trying to push the events to the side. You just tried to focus on everyone else and it seemed to help slightly so that’s what you kept in your mind.

It was about an hour later when you began hearing noises again. You heard what sounded like tapping, “what the hell?” you whispered.

Then you heard your boyfriend from the other room.

“What the fuck? Ok. No. No.” your head snapped in his direction.

“Dakota! Hey, are you ok?!” you yelled. You heard him gasp. “Shit” he mumbled.

“Did you not hear that?!” he called to you. “The tapping?!” you asked. “No, the loud scratching noise!” he shot back. Your eyes widened, and all of a sudden things felt really heavy.

“No, I didn’t! Are you ok?!” you yelled hoping to get a good answer back.

“Fuck that was loud.” you heard him say. “Red if you’re down here, please leave me alone.” he pleaded. Your heart wrenched at the tone of his voice.

You got up from your spot as quickly as you could and grabbed your camera and flashlight. You made your way out of the room and into the bowling alley where your boyfriend sat with his head in his hands.

“Kota, hey. I’m here are you ok?” you asked softly trying not to startle him. He looked up at you and his eyes flooded with relief.

“(y/n), crap you should’ve heard it. It was frickin terrifying, and it was so loud,” he said as you sat down next to him letting one hand rest on his back while you set the light on the floor next to you.

His tense muscles relaxed at your touch and he sighed.

“I’m so sorry. Is there any way that Chelsea may have made the noise? I know she’s above us but maybe she did it.” you suggested. “I’ll check right now,” he said and picked up his walkie.

“Hey, Chelsea,” he said into the walkie.

“What?” she asked sounding exhausted.

“You’re not moving at all upstairs?” he questioned his big sister.

“Not moving at all,” she answered. You could tell that she was ready to be done with this place just as much as you were.

“You have to hear this. What I just heard.” Dakota said to her.

“Thanks for sharing your fear. Now I’m fricking wide awake,” she responds.

He sighs heavily. “Fuck.” you said in exhaustion.

“What was that?” he asked.

“I believe you. We know you’re down here.” he talked.

“I’ve heard you. You’ve talked to me, she heard you laughing earlier. I get it. We get it. Please leave us alone.” Dakota spoke into the dark. You both knew he was there, and it was even scarier that he didn’t respond, and knowing the things that had happened earlier in the night to you. You decided not to mention it in fear of making his fear worsen and his panic rise even more.

You turned to face him. “Do you need me to stay with you Dakota?” you asked him with sincerity floating around your words, quietly hoping he would ask you to stay, as you didn’t think you could handle that room alone.

He let out a heavy sigh before looking at you with disappointed and fear-filled eyes.

“Honestly, please. I really don’t want to be, I can’t be here alone anymore,” he responded and you set down your camera to wrap your arm around him and sit close to his side. “Then, I’ll stay. Just like I said. I’ll stay.” you told him and rested your head on his shoulder. Letting out an internal sigh of relief. He placed his head atop yours and let your presence be a grounding force for him.

“I’m sorry I made us do this.” you heard his voice, it was small and sounded so apologetic.

“Hey, it’s ok. Look at us, hell yeah we’re scared, and rightfully so but we’re together and we’re close to the finish line and then we can leave and never have to come back.” you tried to relieve his fears.

“I never should have brought us back here,” he said and put his head in his hands once again. You switched your positions so you were sitting in front of him. You took his wrists in your smaller hands and pulled his hands away so you could properly look at him. You could see guilt forming in him and you understood why, but you also understood why he had done it. He wanted to conquer this building because they didn’t before.

“Listen to me, Dakota. You came back here, to conquer the challenge that you quit last time. Now here you are hours and hours in. You’re here, we are all here and we won’t let it win. We can beat this. So let’s do it together huh.” you said and tried to smile though it was barely visible in the darkness.

“Together,” he said. “Together,” you reaffirmed.

Taglist: @jaziona92

@beautybyfire

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sleepymarmot · 6 years

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Twilight Mirage liveblog 5/5 (finale & post-mortem)

64-67

Found a new shortcut to my heart: announcing your finale is going to be a mashup of The Quiet Year and Firebrands

Why is it surpising that the Qui Err Coalition allies with the Waking Cadent? That was my first thought when Iota was making her speech! The Qui Err thinks the humans should leave, the Cadent thinks the humans should leave, sounds pretty compatible to me.

What's the logic of “When Crystal Palace arrives, we will blow up this system”? It's not a bomb! But it will be in danger if a bomb goes off right next to it!

Oh no, Ali is doing the classic “shoot yourself in the foot on purpose” move

I don't get how Grand Magnificent got promoted from “got paid once to retire” to “is trusted to do actual missions for Advent”

Why the hell does Gig want to kill Ballad

The players keep underestimating how “horny” the scenes in Firebrands are and Austin is increasingly exasperated

I would like to thank Jack from the bottom of my heart for choosing dance as a framing for making contact with Grand. Also I completely lost it at “there are talons on my shoulder”

I must have missed something, what's so bad about the Splice and Our Profit that everyone's so excited to fuck them over? The Mirage is made a renewable resource, right, so the Splice isn't a drain on anything?

The Echo-Ballad scene is so frustrating that I can't even feel appropriately bad about it! Come on Echo, just help Grand go back to Advent as an undercover spy, it doesn't have to be a competition this time!

I still don't understand Independence II… How do you send your new very conspicous and recognizable design to friends in rival factions without blowing your cover

The timeline here is really weird… Echo rescues Grand and brings Ballad with them, Ballad calls off his people, Grand sends out his new mech design… And a week later, Grand's still on Qui Err territory having a friendly lunch with its leader? If going back is still an option, how is that going to look without making Advent seem like total idiots? Ah, it's only a day after? Okay…

I'm very glad the Volition problem was solved so peacefully!

5 minutes later: “Quire could die!” How about no??! I was so busy preparing to mourn Volition. I am completely unprepared to lose Quire just like that.

Memorious was alive and also an axiom worm this whole time? Wut

Fuck, do we need another opportunity to kill off Ballad?! This list of NPCs is making me very nervous, I don't want any of them to die… As soon as they said “tactical skirmish” I started screaming internally and likely won't stop until it is over… Wow, Ali, that was cold Oh no, Keith is really on a mission to murder Ballad

Grand how could you bring a bomb to Christmas dinner what the hell RIP bird leader / avian boss, he had an amazing unique voice and, in my head, a really cool cartoony design

Thanks for 9.5 hours of fun. Now I guess it's time for the 4 hour long brutal and heartbreaking final boss encounter

Full offence Gig, but I wouldn't log off even the real internet for lawn games

Signet fucking saved everyone single-handedly, twice. Two biggest threats. Incredible. What is the rest of the game even about

Seriously, do the players know something about Advent that I don't?! Otherwise please stop calling your cheesy space mafia “nazis”

I've been waiting for Even and Cascabel stealing time together since the beginning of the finale! For 11 hours! Finally! This finale is in dire need of more romance content I like that everyone immediately starting dragging all Bioware games at once

I don't see how a secular virtual reality is more of a “weird cult” than an augmented reality in which people maintain an actual religion worshipping the union of human and synthetic life for 30k years. Can we not do the hypocrisy again please. Why is it okay for the Divine Fleet to build their own take on utopia but when the NEH does it's portrayed as a threat and all characters treat it with suspicion and contempt

OK all these ideological debates are fine and dandy but people really should ask more practical questions like “you don't have to rush, why don't you just go back to the previous eco-friendly methods we have previously agreed upon” Glad Fourteen won, but ideologically, as you can guess from this entire liveblog, I'm with Our Profit

I don't like how Tender started with the intention of attacking Our Profit / the Splice but very much like how it somehow turned into her offering to help them and solve everyone's problems in one move

Grand Magnificent building a pseudo-Divine to blind the Crystal Palace with the power of bullshit is the ideal happy ending for him

Good on everyone for doing the best possible things with the Divines, except for the DFS for managing to do every possible bad thing simultaneously!!! My dislike of that faction is vindicated but at what cost Oh god it's even worse

“Echo Reverie, who knew well both the value and the cost of violence, and who dreamt powerfully of peace” is such a beautiful and concise summary of their character arc God I just love how organically Echo and Gig's arcs led them to help a decolonized society lead independent, peaceful and joyful lives

A new Fleet with a healthier relationship between the Divines and everyone else is nice, thank you Signet

Oh my god, the ending titles are Gig interviewing everyone, that's so sweet!!! Really the perfect sentence to end this campaign with.

(I feel like a jerk mentioning it but… Whenever there's music overlayed with the voice track, it's almost always too loud and I have to strain my ears to hear the words… It's been like that since season one. Am I really the only one with this problem?!)

Whew! Hard to believe this long, long listening experience is over. I have mixed feelings: sometimes it was exciting or inspiring, sometimes it was fun but I felt I could as well be doing something else, sometimes I listened to the outro and thought “this music and the montage for it in my head right now make me feel so much more than the episode I just heard”, and sometimes the ideology of the narrative or characters'/players' opinions and actions clashed enough with my worldview enough to poison the entire experience. What's new is that, unlike the previous arcs, I didn't have an urge to shake my friends and yell at them “you absolutely must listen to this!” and that made me sad. But that might be just me getting used to this show and taking its good features for granted.

Post-mortem

Oh god, the production of the final sequence sounds like absolute nightmare

Thanks for validating me with the speech about the Fleet's lack of engagement with its “original sin”, Austin

Thanks, Janine, I hate it! This religion didn't need to get any creepier!

Yes tell us how many ears Tender has! I need to know!! Tender's fursona is the Russian food cat?! Amazing The livestream practically starts with googling animal pictures. Classic

Honestly Echo's disability was barely noticeable to me as a listener… There wasn't a lot of visible difference between the way they accessed the mesh and other PCs did, and after the nanites did activate, I don't think it was ever brought up again…

Yeah I'm genuinely upset that Tender and Fourteen didn't get together, by the way! Or at least have an overt romantic storyline! Give me that sweet sweet PC/PC romance my soul is starving Like I get what Jack is saying about the value of depicting friendship and normally I'd be on his side but 😭 😭 😭 On the other hand I didn't know Echo/Grand was a thing (And now feel kind of bitter it got more official endorsement than my ship that has more canonical foundation) This universe is actually about Austin inventing NPCs who have crushes on Keith's characters and then Keith pointedly avoiding the subject How could anyone forget about Tender's wild fangirling over Waltz lmfao

Austin calmly talking of all these things I screamed about above like “yeah that's what I intended”. Like on the one hand I'm glad, but on the other why couldn't you make it less frustrating to listen to

The rehabilitation theme is another thing that is present thematically but was not discussed on screen enough imo. One thing my mind kept returning to re: Contrition's Figure was the question of forgiveness for serious crime, personal boundaries and principles, and the policy of not disclosing the inmates' crimes. I imagine a survivor of rape or abuse wouldn't want to share space with someone who did the same kind of crime that hurt them. Even if they wouldn't be made to interact, of course, but what if that person believes those kind of people don't deserve rehabilitation at all? What if they reject that system on principle? You often encounter seemingly serious statements like “abusers/rapists/nazis should die”, especially lately. I've heard that about “fascists” (which is a separate issue) in this very campaign. Where do people with these opinions go in a utopia? Do they not exist? Do people who commit horrific crimes not exist either? Because I was listening to that arc and thinking “What if one of those undisclosed crimes was csa or serial murder or something like that? Would I be expected to shake hands and play chess with that criminal? How could I rehabilitate, heal, re-socialize, learn to trust in a space where anyone I meet could be Shrodinger's rapist?” And that leads to the bigger question of what a utopia is. Is it a better society – or better human nature? If latter (and Austin said so) – then to what extent? Because the theoretical people who are so much more advanced than us that they are, en masse, incapable of extreme cruelty, must also differ from our generation with their entire psychology. And a psychology so different would be unimaginable, unplayable, and would not provide necessary dramatic conflict or antagonistic characters. Which is why most alien characters in most stories, including this one, are just humans in silly costumes or prosthetics.

Oh dear god, that must be the heaviest personal story yet… But I understand better what Declan's Corrective was about.

Oh I've been definitely thinking about static utopias vs utopias of process while listening! When I wrote at some point that they made me stop and consider what a utopia is, it was one of the things I meant.

Yeah, sure, in our world the Splice would be terrible because of the existing power dynamics. But that's a Counter/weight story! Twilight Mirage and the Divine Fleet have been about the technologies and ideas that could have been, or were, used to terrible ends, but miraculously, we got to see them used in good faith with genuinely good intentions and good results. Divines have been all kinds of threats over the ages, and yet the Fleet managed to build a community around them that was a small paradise for 30,000 years. So why do the NEH and the Splice not get the same benefit of the doubt? Why is narrative not treating them with the same respect? Why are they always a threat? Why isn't there a major, likeable NPC whose life was enriched by the Splice to the extent that it is central to their identity, who could be our advocate for that point of view? Why are some powerful and potentially infinitely dangerous things, like Divines or religion itself, shown as more valid than others? And don't tell me that our player characters are from the Fleet – none of them are Qui Err either, and yet by the end it is a respected, lovingly portrayed player faction.

Oh, and also, speaking of the Splice's dangers, and what would have made it dangerous in the real world – one of the things that bothered me about it was that these dangers weren't actually described and addressed in the show properly! Probably at least in part because this techology is so magical it's hard to codify how it works. If it gives an indefinite amount of time, how do you sync up all these infinite amounts of timelines? Whenever anyone logs in to visit Tender, how do they know if it's been a day for her, like in the real world, or a hundred years? (Oh and by the way, I waited in vain for the explanation for these strange duplicities and possible time anomalies; what was going on with Ache and Acre?) If opposing the Splice and the NEH were about solving specific problems with the Splice, I would be all for that!

But yeah, I really do appreciate “processes that self-regulate and address their own issues”, how the story and specifically the finale were about the work of building a better world. I like the finale especially because it shows the social processes more clearly; TM's lack of a faction game and its focus on “bigger picture” was palpable, so I was happy to see again that aspect of the show I think is really good and unique. At first I thought it was anticlimactic that the main threats of the finale were solved so easily, early, and pretty much single-handedly. And, indeed, in a tv show that would have looked pretty strange (and require some rewriting, because with how it went down, Signet should have been the sole protagonist from the start lol). But on the other hand, it gave a lot of space and focus to what the whole story has been about: building a better society and future. Not just saving it from an external threat and drawing the curtain on that – but making sure the world we won is the one we want to live in. Preserve the environment! Decolonize the land! Shut off the tyrannical prophecy machine! And that's a good thing, and from my perspective very characteristic of this show. Before it, I didn't even know there were games about building and preserving communities and addressing civil issues! For years I thought “Well, stories of adventure are fun, but they don't address the real issues”, but turns out, there are people and systems that at least try to combine both. And that's a thought I can find comfort in, even if the specific choices of this campaign make me frustrated sometimes.

“I also tried to move away from violence this season and ended up making an arms manufacturer”

Somehow the end of the post-mortem feels sadder and more final than the end of the show proper

#friends at the table #blah blah blah

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