#and another one where Cassidy gets to suffer too | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

underratedandoverit · 3 months

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It's Not Your Story To Write

~4,4k words orangekip (orange cassidy/kip sabian)

angst, (emotional) hurt/comfort, but with a more content ending. set post january 26th rampage

poured this out of my brain a couple of days ago with everything thats been going on and then some. just trying to make sense of most of my own thoughts and feelings with this tbh, and i like reflecting through making kip suffer so. theres that

also cause the ending of that four way match on rampage really fucked with me at a time i was extremely sensitive to that kind of a disappointment and kip was a disgustingly upset and sad little creature.. yeah. theres a part of that too

@midnightpretenders0 @stormbornpirate

on ao3

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Rolling onto the apron, Kip winced as he pulled himself together for long enough to sit up. The music he was hearing was most definitely not his own, once again much to his utter disappointment. The crowd was cheering, though obviously for the fan favorite winner of the match, but instead in Kip’s fractured mind, this was a targeted, hateful attack on him and they were happy about his loss more than anything else.

Kip watched as his friends retreated from the ringside, without him, more focused on one another, as if he truly was the villain in this story. Maybe in a sense he was, after all Kip had been the one to start trying to win the match for himself, despite forming a temporary alliance in a match where there were effectively no teams. Maybe he deserved this, maybe their actions and reactions were justified.

All Kip knew in the moment though was the pain all over his body, and the disappointed looks glancing past him towards the ring, clearly more upset that Butcher hadn’t picked up the win either than the fact that Kip had been the one getting pinned.

For better or worse, soon enough his mind was wiped clean from the hazing thoughts of pain though, as Kip watched all of a sudden the International champion stride down the ramp very unceremoniously. Just like his friends, Cassidy acted like Kip didn’t exist, eyes only locked inside the ring where his next challenger for the following night was currently holding his victory celebrations.

Kip averted his eyes, hanging his head in shame. The crowd’s cheers for their champion were more like bloody screeches in his ears. All he wanted to do was leave, get out, get up and walk away. And yet he stayed, just a moment too long, stealing a glance towards Cassidy as he pulled the title belt out of that cursed backpack of his.

That’s when it became too much.

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“Hey.”

Kip ignored the voice, only continuing to pack his gear away. He was more or less working on autopilot, just going through the motions, trying his best not to think about anything. He just wanted to get the night over with, to return back to the hotel, to get some sleep, and fly home the next morning. That’s all he wanted, nothing more and nothing less.

Unfortunately for him, the way the hand brushed up against the small of his back made his shudder against his will, leaving the breath stuck in his throat.

Kip wanted to scream. Inside his head he already was, but there was no way for him to verbalize it at the moment. He didn’t want to cause a scene, he didn’t want to let his emotions get the better of him at a time and in a place like this. The hand tried to gently snake its way around his waist, only for Kip to almost too masterfully dodge it as he leaned down to zip up his suitcase, eyes finally, although briefly, landing on Cassidy for the first time since he had entered the locker room as Kip stood back up.

“I’ll see you at the hotel.”

He didn’t give Cassidy a chance to reply, picking his suitcase up and kicking it on the move, footsteps almost too hurried for the rest of his body to keep up with as Kip basically dashed his way out of the locker room. On one hand he was surprised, maybe even a little bit hurt, that Cassidy didn’t even try to stop him, but on the other, it was nice to have a little bit of breathing room again, at least for a little while.

He knew eventually he would have to face Cassidy about his behavior. Not that it was probably going to be that much of a surprise what was going on in his head if Kip was being honest, he was rather easy to read, but that didn’t mean he was looking forward to it. Quite the opposite, actually. While talking with Cassidy had admittedly become easier for him over time, at the same time sometimes Kip just wasn’t quite sure what to expect from him. What kind of a reaction, what kind of words.

Especially so when it came to highly emotional situations such as this.

He was able to breathe a little bit easier as Kip sat behind the wheel of the rental car in the parking garage of the arena, taking in the deafening silence for a while. For the first time since he had entered the building that night, it finally felt like time was standing still around him, and Kip was able to relax a little, even if only for a few seconds. The pressure on him to do well tonight, and then failing that simple goal at the end of the night, was admittedly getting to him, forcing Kip to stop for a moment to just sit there and try to steady his breathing.

Maybe he was used to being the one that made others look good. Maybe he was used to doing as he was told, to give his chances to others that people deemed better deserving of them than he was. Maybe Kip had worked himself into a corner where he could do nothing but keep repeating the same loop, over and over again, without finding a way to exit it anymore. Maybe even if he would have gotten to that title match, he would have just lost it all over again, as seemed to be the destiny for him by now.

If only he had gotten that far. If only.

Kip didn’t even notice he was shaking until after he had stepped inside the hotel room. Time around him was a haze, he could barely remember the drive back from the arena. Maybe he shouldn’t have left all by himself, it was probably a small miracle he managed to get himself here in one piece.

Kip closed the door behind him, staring at the bed across the room. Queen size. Made for two people.

A very familiar lump was back in his throat when he thought about who he needed to share that bed with tonight.

He left the suitcase in the middle of the floor, not really caring about it as he headed to the bathroom. The lights flickered on, Kip trying not to pay attention to them as he ran the faucet, pooling cold water on his hands, watching it drip over the edges of his palms. He could barely feel it, everything outside his skin felt alien. It had never gotten this bad before, he had to admit that to himself, and even scarier than that to him was the fact that he wasn’t entirely sure what was causing it.

Pushing the thoughts to the side for a split second, Kip splashed his face with the cold water, only to lift his face up to meet himself in the mirror. The smudged makeup he hadn’t had the time to remove before leaving was slowly running down his face with the cold droplets of water, making him wince. It wasn’t an unusual look for him, but tonight it felt like it was filled with much more unwanted emotions than the nights before. Kip quickly looked away, leaning down to fully wash his face, making sure to get rid of every brush of a makeup pen that had made him the Kip Sabian that was inside that ring tonight.

After he was finally happy with the results, Kip shut off the faucet, stopping to carefully listen as he dried off his face. It didn’t sound like Cassidy had gotten back yet, a fact that Kip confirmed as he walked out of the bathroom a moment later, finding the hotel room still occupying nothing but an empty bed and his suitcase. The silence was both a welcomed friend at his time of need, but also a grim reminder that eventually he would have to face the music. Kip knew Cassidy wasn’t just going to let him walk this one off, try as hard as he might.

Sitting at the foot of the bed, Kip intensely stared at the door, like he was mentally trying to will it open. Maybe getting this over with sooner than later was the solution he needed to his problem, but the wave of relief washing over him as nothing seemed to happen and nobody walked through the door during the time he sat there, being swallowed by the silence and his own thoughts, was telling him a whole different story. Kip finally broke eye contact with the closed door, proceeding to strip himself down only to his underwear to prepare for bed; getting properly changed was requiring energy that he just didn’t have at hand.

Plus, in the end, what did it really even matter?

Kip didn’t remember crawling into bed and under the blankets, but he had apparently done so and fallen in some sort of a state of sleep, as he came to as the bed shifted underneath him carefully. He could hear the blankets shuffling, a familiar warmth suddenly so close to him, a breath almost tickling his exposed neck, that he had to hold himself back from wanting to lean away from it.

“…Kip?”

The voice was a whisper, but Kip recognized it immediately. Not that it was hard for him to know who was sneaking into bed with him in the middle of the night, but having that confirmation felt at least a little bit nice. If for nothing else, than to confirm that Kip was awake, and this wasn’t a worse nightmare than the one he was trapped in in the real life.

Then again, maybe it being someone else than Cassidy would have been better.

As Kip didn’t respond, trying to pretend he was still asleep, Cassidy settled down on his side of the bed, Kip now being way too aware of how close he was. He could feel the body heat coming off the other man, even with the blankets between the two of them, soon enough feeling a soft tuck of the edge of his blanket as Cassidy’s hand snuck underneath it, obviously trying to get that comforting feeling of closeness that they usually had in this kind of a sleeping arrangement.

Only when the fingers brushed against Kip’s side, he flinched away from them on instinct.

Time froze inside the hotel room, Kip staring into the darkness with his eyes wide open, feeling like his heart was going to stop from the volume it was beating right there and then. He didn’t intend to make Cassidy aware that he was awake, let alone give him signals like this. The hand didn’t try to reach for him again, but Kip heard him shuffling a little bit on his spot, feeling the weight on the bed shift again as Cassidy sat up. Kip could feel the eyes staring at the back of his head, trying to burn holes into it, trying to gaze deep into the depths of his mind to figure out what was going on. He was biting his lower lip so hard to stay quiet, afraid he might actually bite through it. He could taste the iron in his mouth, fearing the red blood droplets that might fall and stain the pure white hotel room pillow cases.

“Kip?”

He still didn’t respond, this time being out of words. He couldn’t explain it to Cassidy, not here, not now. He didn’t want to, he probably couldn’t have even if he tried. All the disappointments of the day, the pain, the suffering, the humiliation. It was all too much to put into words that he could simply say in the middle of the night in a dark hotel room he was sharing with his boyfriend.

“Hey. It’s okay.” He knew that tone, Kip had heard it a million times before. As comforting as it was, as it was trying to be, it made him want to throw up. The anxiety rising in him, Kip knew what was coming next, him not being able to hold back his words no matter how hard he tried.

“Don’t touch me.”

Despite not seeing it, Kip could feel the hand that reached out for him freeze in midair, trying to decide whether to respect his request or to follow through with an attempt of comfort. Kip was waiting for it, a hand to land on his shoulder, give it a rub, pull him closer, tell him it was okay. They had done this dance multiple times before, Cassidy knew him, he knew Kip might have said one thing but meant the other.

But something about tonight was different. Maybe Cassidy could feel it too. Maybe there was a method to this madness, a truth to those words as Kip heard him moving again. Kip didn’t turn around to observe, he only listened, trying to put the pieces together as the bedding was shuffled around, the weight of Cassidy leaving the bed, the familiar warmth disappearing from his side. He fully expected Cassidy to walk around the bed to confront him, but much to Kip’s surprise nothing of such happened. Instead, the sounds died down after a while, forcing him out of sheer curiosity to glance over his shoulder, as if he was able to see anything in the dark room.

All he could see was the blanket covered shoulder and back of Cassidy’s who had now taken a spot on the couch.

Kip carefully settled back down, trying to steady his breathing as he was slowly calming down, at the same time both enjoying and despising the space he had been given now. He pulled the blanket tighter against him, wrapping his own arms around himself as he slowly curled up, hoping being in his own company would bring him the comfort he needed right now.

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Kip jolted up as the hotel room door slammed shut, scaring him awake. The wide eyes scanned the room around him before finally landing on Cassidy standing awkwardly by the door, a clearly apologetic look on his face, obviously having not planned on being so loud it was waking him up. Kip relaxed a little at the unhurried look the blond was giving him, knowing this wasn’t someone trying to throw him out of the room for sleeping in, but at the same time him registering Cassidy standing there brought the lump back in his throat as the memories of last night quickly flooded his mind.

He quickly looked away as he registered the soft smile lingering on Cassidy’s lips, feeling like he didn’t deserve it after everything that had been said and done.

“You slept so deeply I didn’t want to wake you up.” Kip just nodded a little at his words, hugging the blanket against his chest tight enough to make his arms tingle with pain. From the corner of his eye he saw Cassidy moving, walking up to him but focusing on something on the side, Kip eventually seeing him put a cardboard cup of coffee and a sandwich on the nightstand next to him before he moved away again. “I got you breakfast. They had your favorite.”

He wanted to say ‘thank you’, he wanted to reach out and apologize. To do or say something, anything. Instead Kip just watched Cassidy walk away from him, leaving him to stare at the food left at arms reach for him. It was a small gesture, a simple thought, and yet it made Kip feel like he didn’t deserve it either.

“Here.” Kip jumped a little, eyes shooting towards the voice, watching Cassidy hand a shirt in his direction. Kip looked at it for a moment, but as he didn’t move, Cassidy just slowly lowered it on the bed next to him. Kip’s eyes followed it, brows slightly furrowing as he didn’t recognize it, knowing he didn’t really own white shirts and hadn’t packed those for this trip at all, Cassidy easily catching onto his confusion. “I couldn’t get your bag open, so it’s one of mine. I just… Think you might want to be more dressed for this conversation.”

Yeah, the lump was definitely in his throat again. Kip knew exactly what he meant, he could feel Cassidy trapping him in the mental corner with this, knowing he wasn’t going to leave this room, let alone this bed without finally telling the other man what was going on with him.

Slowly Kip reached for the shirt, untangling it and pulling it over his head. A small smile tucked the corner of his lips as he glanced down at it as he straightened it down. An Orange Cassidy shirt. He wanted to laugh, but maybe that would have been inappropriate.

The bed shifted next to him, soon after Kip felt a hand landing on his leg that was hiding underneath the blanket. His eyes moved onto it, watching as Cassidy gently rubbed his thigh through the blanket, giving it a small, comforting squeeze. He knew that was a thing that usually helped Kip calm down, to signal to him that everything was okay or at least going to be okay, no matter what.

Usually Kip believed him, but in this very moment that just felt impossible to him.

“This is about last night, isn’t it?”

Kip just stared at his hand, watching Cassidy’s fingers gently tap against his leg. He quietly continued as Kip didn’t answer back to him. “…Or more importantly, it’s about tonight.”

Kip didn’t even need to say anything to confirm it, they both knew how correct Cassidy was. Maybe Kip didn’t talk about his disappointments that often, but Cassidy saw how it was eating him alive, getting progressively worse over time as things kept repeating. Loss after loss, and especially so when Kip lost a match that might have led to the two of them facing one another, be it for the title or not. Those were always the nights Cassidy saw him having the most difficult time adjusting, and combined with how he saw Kip at ringside after the match last night specifically despite seeming like he wasn’t paying him any attention, it wasn’t too hard to put two and two together.

“You really wanted it to be you. And I wanted it to be you, too. I really did.”

The breath Kip took in was so much shakier than he expected it to be that it almost scared him. He wasn’t sure if it was a result of Cassidy seeing through him so easily, his feelings being ripped out of him and hung up on display for both of them to see, or something completely different. All he knew that everything Cassidy had just said, even if it wasn’t a lot, was correct. Whether he wanted to admit it or not.

“You just --”

“Stop.”

Cassidy’s hand stopped, Kip not daring to look up at him. He could feel the confused look given to him, he could hear it in the way Cassidy’s steady breathing changed. The second squeeze given to his thigh didn’t feel comforting anymore, it was more confused than anything else.

“I…” His voice trailed off, Kip trying to find a way to arrange his thoughts into something that made sense. Cassidy was right in what he was saying, the things he was assuming, but it went deeper than that. Deeper than just wanting to be the one challenging for the title tonight. He just wasn’t sure at all how to explain it, the things he was feeling about this, about all of this.

“I… I did want it to be me. I really did.” He swallowed thickly, closing his eyes for a moment as Kip could feel the tears stinging already. He was surprised it took this long for them to start forming, that he hadn’t shed them last night while he was alone, be it in the car or the hotel room. “I-I. I just don’t think it’s meant to be.”

Cassidy watched him, simply just observed. It was slightly uncomfortable for Kip to be stared at like that, even if he wasn’t returning the look, feeling the pressure of continuing to talk now that he had started. Obviously he had more to say, more words to explain himself, his feelings, the situation, but it was still hard to make it all make sense, even for himself.

“I try so hard.” Before Kip could stop it, he felt the first tear roll down his cheek. He inhaled sharply, but resisted the urge to wipe it away. Cassidy had already without a doubt seen it, so what was the point of trying to hide it. “I-I try. And it’s never enough.”

The second tear rolling down his cheek made Cassidy reach out, his hand gently cupping Kip’s chin, lifting his head up. It was still forceful, but Kip managed to finally look directly at him, opening the floodgates even more upon seeing the equally sad smile crossing Cassidy’s lips.

“You’re always enough for me.”

“That’s not the point.” Kip didn’t intend to snap at him, but he couldn’t stop the words. His eyes shot away, head turning to the side, feeling Cassidy’s hand slowly disappearing from his face as Kip bashfully returned to staring down at his lap. “That’s… I love you, but that’s not good enough for me. That’s not what this is about.”

Kip sniffled quietly, breaking the suffocating silence before it had a chance to fully settle in the room. “I’m… I’m just stuck. It feels like I’m cursed. Cursed to never succeed, to never do anything meaningful. My career is at a standstill. I want to do more but I… I can’t. Every single thing, no matter how small, always fails.”

Cassidy nodded a little. In a sense he understood it all, having not only seen this from the sidelines happening for pretty much as long as he had known Kip, but also in his own way having to deal with similar things himself. He remained from saying it out loud though, giving Kip the space he required especially now that he had started to verbalize those tormenting thoughts that had pushed him so far away from Cassidy and his shows of affection last night.

“Seeing everyone else be celebrated and getting those opportunities just… Gets to me, sometimes. A-And,” Kip stuttered a bit, biting his lower lip as he tried to compose himself, already feeling the tension and hurt his words would bring up, but he was forcing himself to speak them out loud. He had to, if he ever wanted to clear the air around this topic. “And seeing… You. I’m, I’m just…”

Cassidy leaned closer, arms wrapping around Kip. He didn’t pull him closer, he didn’t exactly hug him, he just held the Brit close as Cassidy buried his face into his shoulder. Kip allowed the action this time, feeling one hand carefully rubbing his back, finally finding that touch comforting again. Cassidy had this kind of an effect on him, try as hard as Kip might to not let it get to him when he didn’t want it to.

“I don’t want to hate you,” Kip whispered, his voice shaking, Cassidy just nodding against his shoulder. “A-and I don’t. But sometimes it’s just… Really hard to be the lesser one.”

“I hate it too,” Cassidy mumbled into his shoulder, Kip nodding in turn. “I don’t want you to feel this way. I’m sorry I can’t do anything to change it.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Kip could feel Cassidy finally giving him a little squeeze, pulling him just slightly bit closer to himself. Kip gave in to the feeling, the comfort that was finally settling between the two of them now that things were being said out in the open, letting his arms wrap up around Cassidy’s waist as well, letting him closer to close the gap between them. Feeling Cassidy against his chest finally increased his heart rate, but for once Kip didn’t mind. It wasn’t a sound either of them was unfamiliar with.

“I wish I didn’t feel this way.” Kip leaned down to Cassidy’s shoulder, using it to wipe the freshly formed tears from his face. “You don’t deserve it. I-I mean my feelings. You deserve what you have. I--”

“Shh.” Kip could feel a hand run from his back into his hair, Cassidy gently brushing through it as he hushed him, lulling Kip into the most comfortable position he had been in the past day at least. He fully leaned into the touch, finally allowing himself to melt against the other man, the feelings of warmth and safety along with the words he had for his feelings bubbling out in a series of sobs from him. “I understand. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t even need to apologize, they both knew it, they both knew it wasn’t Cassidy’s fault. But they both just accepted it, those two little words making dealing with everything just a little bit easier in the moment. It gave them the understanding that they were mutually dealing with this, even if only one of them was suffering, but how it was still hurting them both. Maybe Cassidy more through Kip’s actions and feelings, but neither of them dared to say it out loud. It wasn’t a conversation to be had here, maybe not ever.

“I love you,” Kip finally broke the silence that was filled with nothing but his sobs for a while, feeling Cassidy lift his head up from his shoulder. Kip pulled away slightly, for the first time initiating eye contact on purpose, seeing the soft smile playing on the blond’s lips. “I-I love you so much.”

Cassidy brushed his hand through Kip’s hair again before leaning closer, pressing a gentle kiss on his lips. Kip didn’t try to dodge it, this time he was fully ready for every touch Cassidy was giving to him, almost craving them and the comfort they brought to him now. He was still slightly hesitant to reply back to the kiss, but eventually did so, letting them both stay in the moment a little while longer before Cassidy broke it apart, leaning his forehead against Kip as he caught his breath with a few sobbing hiccups.

“I love you too,” Cassidy offered him a smile, feeling Kip’s head nodding. “We can do this. Together. I promise I’m not leaving you behind. Ever.”

#fic #character: kip sabian #character: orange cassidy #ship: orangekip #aew fanfiction #wrestling fanfiction

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radiance1 · 6 months

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Just a random thought I had, won't even be canon, probably could be picked apart extremely easily and has probably been thought of before, but I have this kinda small theory.

What if William's hell isn't actually Hell?

Now, I'm no major nerd about the Lore, I only really know the surface level, but here me out at least.

It'll probably get pretty wishy washy with the details, but when have this not in this fandom tbh?

Okay so, what if UCN isn't an actual physical place, but just a dream?

Taking something from The Man in Room 1280, where The Man is being kept alive by Andrew, dead spirit kid wearing an alligator mask.

This min-theory will also have to involve the Golden Duo, which it obviously has to include Cassidy, C.C's involvement will be both a minor yet key role I believe in this.

So, we know Cassidy.

Vengeful kid with a MASSIVE (which is still an understatement) bone to pick with one William Afton for murdering her. In a case, we can believe she died in a particularly gruesome way, far more than the other kids, which is why she's so angry.

Either that, or she's just an extremely petty little ankle biter who can hold a massive grudge for a long time.

Carrying on.

So, we know she has already killed him once, via the springlock suit, and then every other kid done went and passed on. But Cassidy, probably, wasn't satisfied with William's punishment being just death by her, Charlie, and the missing children's hands.

So she stays around, probably assuming that William Afton is still alive, and that's enough to deny her rest.

So, cut forward a while later, and we have another brat that was killed by William Afton, cause we know he killed a lotta brats. This one, is Andrew, who hasn't been able to rest because he doesn't have the knowledge that his killer isn't, well, you know, fucking dead.

Probably also was unable to get his revenge because he was never able to find the fucker.

So, Cassidy tells Andrew that William Afton is still alive and Andrew? Well, how would he be able to tell if she's lying or not? Hell, Cassidy doesn't know for sure if William is alive, but if she acts like she does, shares that she too, was murdered by William and seeking her revenge, and has a noticeable amount of anger behind it.

Who can say what she says isn't true?

So, they strike a deal. Find William Afton, make him suffer for all he's done to them and the other children he's murdered.

I would believe that they would further convince themselves that they aren't doing this just for themselves, but for the other children who was unable to seek their own justice for being murdered.

So, let us assume that Cassidy and Andrew both arrive at the location in FNAF 3, finding the burnt corpse of one William Afton. They then do some fuckery with Agony and the place burning down to create some kind of body that they place him into or whatever.

Said body, made mostly of Agony, is highly unstable and could be easily taken out.

Which is where Andrew would come in.

He keeps William Afton perfectly fine and dandy in the physical world while Cassidy crafts the perfect hell for William Afton. It takes some trial and error, which she gets better and better at crafting it which would cause it to get harder and harder as time goes on.

But, alas, she hit a wall.

She doesn't have enough power to do what she wants, and her ideas are running out.

So she goes to the afterlife.

Not to rest, no, to ponder on how the hell she can make William Afton's dream hell even worse. Leaving Andrew to take control of William's torment, which he gladly takes too.

There, she meets Old Man Consequences, who obviously tells her that she needs to rest and to let go of her hatred because she's dragging this out for longer than it should've been and he already had his punishment yada yada.

Cassidy then laves to wander and ponder.

There, she meets a familiar face.

C.C.

There it was, the perfect piece of the puzzle!

C.C's agony was, and she means it, stronger than her own. His sadness, fear, and well, despair proved to make a far more potent source of Agony than her own fueled by anger and vengeance.

So, she manages to convince him to come back to the living world with her, she needs him, needs his power and she would like to have one of her few friends back and standing at her side.

How could C.C say no, after just a little more convincing?

However, C.C's own recognition of his power and how to use it is, well, certainly far lacking than Cassidy's own. But C.C didn't need to do anything, she just needed permission to tap into his power, and she'll take care off the rest.

When they returned to the living world, Afton's purgatory got worse and worse, changed a bit by Andrew's design, more difficulty, then molded even further by Cassidy's newfound power and C.C's own experiences with the nightmares he's had throughout his life.

Cassidy was the main architect of William Afton's personal hell, Andrew was the one who guarded it's gates and C.C was the source of power making this entire thing possible.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Andrew or C.C couldn't pitch in with new ideas here and there.

===

Okay! That's it!

Basically a mini-theory but honestly? I don't even know if this counts as a theory since I have like, not much understanding of FNAF lore as a whole lmao.

Just a brainfart I wanted to expand a little more about I guess!

Honestly? Seems more like an au not gonna lie.

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #fnaf cassidy #cassidy fnaf #the crying child #c.c.#c.c afton #andrew fnaf #fnaf andrew #william afton #Mini-theory that seems more like an au lmao #Brainfart more likely just want to expand on it

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searchingwardrobes · 2 years

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Scarborough Fair: 6/?

Finally, another update, and just in time for Halloween! Which is fitting because here’s where everything gets weird and crazy. So strap in, folks, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Oh, and I apologize for not linking to previous chapters on Tumblr. This site is being annoying, I’m tired, and it’s a weeknight. I’ll make sure there’s a master post at the end. But here’s your link to Ao3 if you prefer reading over there (which I do!)

*Reminder that this is an M rated fic that includes rape/non-con, and later, dubious consent of a magical variety.*

Chapter Six

Killian wiped his arm across his sweaty brow as he slid the last can of paint onto the shelves of the garage. Next to him, Liam was red-faced with the heat and utterly apologetic.

“You’ve been working on a construction site all day, and before you can even take a step into the house, I’ve put you to work again.”

Killian waved him off as he lifted the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe his face more thoroughly than his sweaty arm could.

“It’s okay. We’ve been putting this chore off too long.”

While Ingrid had loved the new arbor in her flower garden, she hadn’t loved the mess they’d left in the garage from building it. She’d been on them since Mother’s Day to clean up the mess. It was rare for Liam to leave a mess behind, especially where Ingrid was concerned, but he’d gone straight from finals week to teaching a summer school course.

Killian was just about to head inside for a much needed shower when he heard a rattling in the corner. He turned around to see Liam wrestling with a familiar, rusty shopping cart.

“This is still in here?”

Killian reached out to spin one of Mary Margaret’s whirligigs. “Yeah, I put it in here pro- you know, that night?”

“Oh, that’s right . . .” Liam’s voice trailed off.

Emma’s rape had made Killian completely forget about the drama with Mary Margaret, but now that he saw the cart with all of her things, it came rushing back.

“Is she still in jail?”

Liam shook his head. “No. Ingrid called to check. Since no one pressed any charges, they had no reason to hold her. Ingrid’s beside herself, though, because they just let her walk out and back onto the streets.”

Killian’s brow furrowed. “It isn’t like her not to come back for her stuff, right?”

“No, it isn’t, and that’s got Ingrid worried. As if we don’t all have enough weighing on us.” Liam’s expression turned uncharacteristically dark. “If I could go back in time and change things, I would. I should have made them go in the limo with the group.”

Killian held his brother’s gaze, and understanding passed between them. No one had yet voiced the regret, and Killian was relieved to hear his brother confess it.

“I should have gotten to her sooner.”

Liam’s eyes turned to slits of rage as he studied Killian. “No. Neal Cassidy should have driven his car into that river on his way here.”

“Or one of Mary Margaret’s glass bottles should have sliced him through the jugular.”

“I hope he suffered in that river.” Liam’s jaw was in danger of cracking, he was clenching it so hard.

“I hope he’s burning in hell.”

“Like a pig on a spit.”

The venom in Killian’s voice was matched by Liam’s and his voice cracked when he confessed the full depravity of his fantasies.

“I imagine torturing him in a thousand ways, Liam. I want him to suffer the way Emma has suffered. No, worse. If you only knew what I think about sometimes, the rage I feel -”

“I wouldn’t be shocked. I promise you.”

Killian let his breath out in a hot rush and muscles he hadn’t even known had gone rigid relaxed. He blinked, trying to clear the burning behind his eyes. Liam grasped his shoulder and squeezed in understanding. Killian was alarmed to feel a lump rise in his throat and as a quick sob escaped, Liam yanked him forward into a brief yet fierce hug.

“This family is strong, little brother.”

Killian nodded as he pulled away, clearing his throat, slightly embarrassed, though he knew he shouldn’t be. Liam returned his nod, his eyes shining with tears of understanding.

“Well,” Killian said, voice scratchy, “I better get a shower.”

Liam gestured to the shopping car. “I’ll hide this somewhere.”

Looking at it once again, Killian suddenly remembered something else from that night. Something that was upstairs in his desk drawer.

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

Emma set aside her dog-eared copy of A Wrinkle in Time to massage her brow. She’d been having headaches a lot lately. Her therapist said it was a common physiological response to stress. Headaches were also sometimes a side effect of medication for anxiety, so there was also that.

It wasn’t the book, though. Reading about Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace was a balm to her soul. She especially loved Aunt Beast, which was the chapter she was reading right now. She would love to have a giant, soft, and furry creature to hold her and heal her jagged inner wounds. She was re-reading all of her favorite childhood books. They were like comforting, old friends. In their pages, she could be rocked to sleep by Aunt Beast, tumble in the grass with Aslan, or fly away to Neverland.

“Hey.”

Emma looked up at the sound of Killian’s voice and his swift knock upon her door frame. The sight of him shouldn’t have made her heart flip over the way it did. Not when he was absolutely filthy.

Or maybe that was exactly why her mouth suddenly went dry at the sight of him.

His face was beaded with perspiration, and his damp, dark hair was tousled. His thin, white t-shirt was so damp with sweat that it clung to every muscle of his torso. He noticed her staring, and glanced down at his shirt, which was stained with dirt.

“Oh, sorry, I know I’m disgusting.” He pulled it swiftly over his head, causing his hair to stick up even more crazily than before.

Yeah, that didn’t help. At all. Now she could feel her cheeks burning as she tried not to stare at his bare chest. He balled up the shirt and used it to rub at the back of his neck. The motion only made his muscles even more noticeable.

Emma cleared her throat and picked up her book, hoping it wasn’t upside down, or something equally embarrassing.

“So take a shower,” she snapped. “You stink.”

Killian just laughed. “On my way, I promise.”

It didn’t stop him from striding all the way into her bedroom. She schooled her features into one of indifference as she glanced up at him.

“I’m trying to read, and now I can smell you even more.”

He reached into the back pocket of the Wranglers he had bought for work. Wranglers should not in any universe be sexy. They were loose fit, which wasn’t Killian’s style at all, and they were that actual denim blue, which hadn’t been in fashion since the OK Corral. And yet . . .

They hung low on his hips, which did decidedly uncomfortable things to her pulse, and damn if that shade of blue didn’t light up his eyes. She was so distracted by this very obvious display of masculinity, that she almost didn’t see the slim book that he was handing to her. He had to wave it a little bit before she took it.

“It’s Mary Margaret’s,” he told her softly.

Emma ran her hand over the faded green cover. “Wh- where did you get this?”

“The night of the prom, it fell out of her shopping cart. When I saw what was written on the inside cover, I kept it. I thought you might like to have it.”

Emma flipped it open and read, To my daughter, Emma. I hope you understand one day. Love, Mother. She snapped her gaze back up to Killian.

“I didn’t read it,” he assured her, lifting both hands in surrender. “I just completely forgot about it after . . . everything.”

Emma swallowed nervously as she flipped through the pages. She didn’t register any of the words, but the handwriting was neat, the cursive looping and elegant. Not at all what you would expect in the journal of a crazy woman.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to read it if you don’t want to,” he assured her.

Emma just nodded, her emotions on a roller coaster. Did she want to know what her mother had to say? Would these words reveal a slow descent into madness? Or for once could she understand the person her mother once was? The sweet friend Ingrid remembered?

Killian left the room quietly, and she scarcely noticed. That proved how much her mother’s journal had shaken her.

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

Killian meant it when he told Emma that she didn’t have to read her mother’s journal if she didn’t want to. Killian also felt that it was a private matter, so he didn’t ask her about it, nor did he mention it to the rest of the family.

If he were in Emma’s shoes, if he somehow found a letter or a journal from his dad “hoping Killian would understand one day,” he wasn’t sure how he would react. He might burn it without a second thought. Nothing could make sense of a man abandoning a woman sick with cancer. Killian would never forget the day he sat in a social worker’s office, the day after his mother passed, and saw Liam’s imposing frame fill the doorway. At seven, he had a difficult time understanding that this big, superman was his brother. Half-brother, technically, though Liam never liked that term.

“We’re brothers, end of story,” was what Liam always said.

Not many twenty-three year olds, especially those just starting graduate school, would consider taking custody of a baby brother they never even knew existed. But that was Liam Jones.

In a way, he supposed, he was blessed. Liam was a better father than Brennan Jones had ever been or ever could be. Nothing the man could ever say would make Killian want him back in his life.

So yeah, if Emma had taken a lighter to that journal and watched it burn, he wouldn’t judge her.

It was for that reason two weeks passed before Killian gave the journal another thought. He was also just too plain exhausted to bug Emma. The contractor he was working for was fair, safe, and honest. Nevertheless, the hard physical labor had Killian wearily ascending the stairs to the attic every night for a much needed shower, followed by a quick dinner and then collapsing into bed. The money was good, though, so he couldn’t complain.

Killian had just stepped out of the shower one night at the end of June when his phone buzzed on his nightstand. He was surprised to see that it was a text from Emma.

I need you.

She didn’t have to say another word. Be down in a minute he texted back, and then rushed to throw on a pair of pajama pants and a clean t-shirt. When he got to her room, he found her sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her mother’s journal lay on the comforter in front of her, and she was staring at it as if it might bite. He paused in the doorway, and she looked up at him with a stricken expression on her face.

“Shut the door.”

He nodded and did as she asked. She scooted over as he neared the bed, and he sat down beside her. He couldn’t help eyeing the journal as he did so.

“Did you read it?”

She nodded her head. Then she looked at him, her expression pleading. “Do you remember that day we got ice cream?”

“Of course.”

“Do you remember what you swore to me?”

Killian nodded. He would never forget that day. “That you would never lose me.”

“Yes, that, but the other thing.”

Killian rested his head on the headboard, thinking as he looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, you mean that I would never think you were crazy?”

Emma picked up the journal and handed it to him. “Remember that.”

Killian looked down at the journal, then back at Emma. “You want me to read it?”

Emma nodded, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Her eyes were wide as she watched him open the slim volume. A sense of dread snaked through his veins, but he began to read nevertheless . . .

My dearest, precious daughter Emma,

I found out today - officially on the ultrasound - that you’re a girl, and my heart broke all over again that your father isn’t with us. When we talked about baby names, we always liked Emma for a girl. I want you to know first of all how much your father and I love you. David was so excited when I found out I was with child, and he went to the market the very next day and bought an obscene amount of stuffed toys. His absence is not by choice. Of course, I’m getting ahead of myself . . .

I’m writing this because I fear that time is running out. The future is uncertain, and I want you to know the truth. It will be difficult for you to believe, I know that. I just hope and pray that my words are enough. Believe, my darling daughter, even when it seems impossible.

The second thing I want to say is this: I am not insane. I am writing this with full mental capacity. The woman you likely know now as your mother is not who I am as I write this. However, I fear madness is a curse I can not outrun. Some may tell you to ignore this journal as the ramblings of an unstable woman. That, I promise you, is not the case. Ingrid will tell you that during my pregnancy, I was completely sane.

Speaking of Ingrid, it brings me great relief to have met her. She doesn’t understand when I talk about it, because she knows how much I want you and has no reason to believe I cannot care for you. However, she has promised to raise you if I cannot. She is a wonderful woman and a dear friend. I know you will love her, too.

Well, I suppose I shall get to the point. You will grow up in a world, Emma, which does not believe in magic or fairy tales. However, that doesn’t mean they do not exist. The world you will grow up in, the world I find myself in right now, even has magic. Most people just aren’t aware of it.

This is not the only world there is, however. I’m not talking about space aliens, don’t worry. Or perhaps you’ll think it’s worse. I’m talking about other realms.

I am from a place called the Enchanted Forest. It should have been your home too, Emma. My name is not Mary Margaret. It is Snow White. I know that sounds crazy to you because since I arrived in this strange realm, I have discovered that my family, my friends, almost everyone I know, are considered nothing but stories here. It sounds impossible, but it’s true. I am Queen Snow White of the kingdom of Misthaven and your father is my Prince Consort. Yes, my Prince Charming. I actually do call him charming - it’s a silly nickname, really.

But that’s a story for happier times. Hopefully when we are all reunited.

Just like in the fairy tales you’ve heard about Snow White, my mother died and my father remarried an evil witch - the Evil Queen. She murdered my father shortly after the wedding, and I had to flee for my life. It’s a long story, but your father helped me win the kingdom back. (And yes, a poisoned apple was involved, but again, that’s a story for another time.)

We were young and knew little about battles or politics, especially when we were up against an evil queen. We made a grievous mistake. The Dark One, also called Rumplestiltskin, came to our court offering his help to defeat the Evil Queen. We knew The Dark One’s motto - “magic always comes with a price,” however, his deal sounded so simple.

The Evil Queen was drafting boys as young as eleven into military service against the ogres. The Dark One’s own son was among them. If we accepted his help, our first royal decree must be to absolve the draft. It seemed perfectly reasonable. After all, we found the law despicable ourselves, sending innocent children into battle.

Rumplestiltskin brought us victory, his son was spared, and all seemed to be well. Or so we thought.

Unfortunately, the ogres weren’t routed so easily. We continued to battle their terror across the realm. Finally, in the fifth year of our reign, the ogres were finally defeated in a decisive battle. Shortly after, I discovered I was pregnant with you, Emma. It seemed like we finally had our happy ending.

We were feasting, celebrating our victory, when thunder and lighting descended upon the banquet hall. Red smoke filled the room, and when it cleared, The Dark One was in our midst.

His manic, high pitched voice is seared into my memory: “I warned you, Your Majesties, all magic comes with a price!”

We abolished the draft, but when Rumplestiltskin’s son came of age, he joined our army against the ogres after all. Just in time for that last battle.

“I held my bleeding son in my arms, with death all around me!” Rumplestiltskin shrieked. “You promised me my son’s life!”

We pleaded our innocence. After all, how could we control his son’s life? His choices? Your father expressed his deepest condolences to The Dark One, and that’s when things became most bizarre. Before our eyes, Rumplestiltksin seemed to split in two, like another being was fighting to come out of him. For one moment, his son Bealfire stood before us! Baelfire pleaded with his father to let him go, let him die an honorable soldier, then he began to writhe on the floor as The Dark One battled with him. Then Rumplestiltskin, and him alone, was before us once again! The Dark One had absorbed his son with Dark Magic, keeping him alive - or at least, in a way.

Then the Dark One pronounced his curse upon us:

“Your entire kingdom will be ripped away, trapped in a realm where there is no magic and no happy endings. None of you will remember who you really are. Except for you, Snow White! You will be separated from your love, and you will know it, with all your memories intact. You will wander alone in this strange realm until you give birth to a baby girl. Yet you will only hold her for a moment before madness descends upon you. She will be taken from you, and she will detest you for the rest of your days.”

I nearly collapsed with the cruelty of this curse, and your father fell upon his knees and begged the Dark One for mercy. He gave that eerie little giggle of his and practically danced with glee.

“Mercy? I don’t do mercy. I do, however, love games. So I’ll tweak the curse just a tiny bit. I’ll give you a riddle, in the form of a song. Solve each riddle and perform the three tasks by the time your baby is born, and the curse will be broken.”

My royal lineage overtook me, and I stood to my full height then and vowed that the true love I felt for your father would help me conquer this riddle. Little did I know that The Dark One’s sadistic cruelty wasn’t finished.

“Well,” he squealed, “if you don’t solve it, perhaps your daughter will. When she is seventeen years of age, I will find her, my son will woo her, and she will give me another child to replace the one you took from me.”

“Our daughter will never be wooed by the son of the Dark One!” your father thundered.

Rumplestiltkin’s answer rattled the windows. “Then he will take her by force!”

Emma, my heart grows sick to think that The Dark One will find you. I pray that you read this in time. He’s here, Emma! I’ve seen him! He taunts me, sneaking around and showing up in the most random places. I’ve seen his son too, and after months of sharing body and soul with his father, he has become dark and twisted as well. He’s no longer the heroic boy he once was. Beware of him! He goes by the name Neal Cassidy in this realm.

Killian stopped reading then, his face pale, his hands shaking. Emma rested a slim hand on his leg.

“You saw his name, didn’t you?” she whispered.

He couldn’t answer, he could only shudder, his hands gripping the journal until his knuckles turned white.

“Keep reading,” Emma ordered gently.

I have tried to solve the riddle Emma, but I can’t even figure out how to complete the first task! How does one make a shirt with no needle or seam? There are two other tasks. The second is to find a town that no one knows, and I am certain that’s where your father is. If I do not succeed, Emma, it will be up to you. Solve the riddles, complete the tasks, find us, and break the curse! I know it’s overwhelming, but also know this: In this family, we always find each other. If I can’t break the curse, I know you can.

If The Dark One has found you already when you read this, then also know this: if you do not break the curse by the time your baby comes, you will also descend into madness, and all of The Enchanted Forest will remain cursed forever. Here is the riddle:

“O, where are you going?" "To Scarborough fair,"

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;

"Remember me to a lass who lives there,

For once she was a true love of mine.

And tell her to make me a cambric shirt,

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme,

Without any seam or needlework,

And then she shall be a true love of mine.

And tell her to find the town which no one knows,

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme,

And reunite the lovers there with a kiss ,

And then she shall be a true love of mine

And there she must sow an acre with but one kernel of corn,

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme,

Upon the seashore before the tide comes,

And then she shall be a true love of mine

All my love, my darling daughter, and may hope and truth be yours.

Love,

Mother

Killian snapped the journal closed and dropped it on the bed. He turned his head to look at Emma, seeing for the first time that she looked a bit sick and green.

“And you believe this is all true?”

“How else do you explain his name being there? And remember what I told you? How Neal changed? And he said the same thing my mother wrote about! All magic comes with a price.”

Killian felt sick. Sick with the certainty that it was all true. He knew it like he knew his own name. There was just one thing . . .

“But Emma, you aren’t pregnant.”

Her face was stoic as she reached under her pillow and pulled something out. She pressed it into his hand. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see at first, but then he looked down.

A white stick with a tiny pink plus sign rested in the palm of his hand.

Tagging @snowbellewells @teamhook @kmomof4 @jrob64 @xhookswenchx @thisonesatellite @welllpthisishappening @spartanguard @ohmakemeahercules @tiganasummertree @sparlecorn93 @sals86 @pirateprincessofpizza @xarandomdreamx @zaharadessert @huntressandlioness1 @jamif @undercaffinatednightmare @onceratheart18 @sparlecorn93 @sals86 @pirateprincessofpizza @xarandomdreamx @zaharadessert @huntressandlioness1

#cs ff #captain swan ff #captains swan fanfiction #cs impossible au #cs au #lieutenant duckling au

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kidsforeverr · 9 months

Text

Hey there. My username says KidsForever, but you can just call me Kidd or Chime until I can think of something more original.

I have recently returned to the FNAF Fandom as it is the only fandom that has not yet failed me. And because FNAF is awesome, lmao.

Most of my stories/OCs will probably contain the missing children/ spirits/ the kids in general because they're honestly my favorite aspect of FNAF.

Here, I will probably post headcanons, art, and small stories for my FNAF AUs

I have 2 OCs currently, Myra

And Maisy

I might use Maisy a lot more than Myra, but I love them both equally. Also, I may or may not change Maisy's name. I'm also working on a third OC named Mari Afton.

Myra is Gabriel's younger sister. She is very protective of him and will actually maul anyone who dares to hurt or even threaten him. This would prove to be a little problematic for Gabriel, as people would be afraid to approach him because of her. She has since toned her aggressiveness down.

She wasn't with Gabriel when he was killed and was instead in the bathroom suffering from a sugar coma. She woke up and figured he went home without her.

When she realized he was missing, she returned to the pizzeria to investigate and found William Afton. When she connected the dots, she was pissed.

She attempted to actually kill a grown man (with the help of Maisy) and almost permanently crippled him until she (and Maisy) ran out of energy and were overpowered and killed, possessing Sam and Willy respectively.

Maisy is Cassidy's younger sister and was also not present when Cassidy was killed. When she found out William Afton was the perpetrator, she was on his ass immediately. William eventually was able to slit her throat when she got on top of him in a desperate attempt to throw her off.

Fritz saw the whole thing and was just like 👁👄👁

They were both very adamant on not letting their older siblings find out about their current condition, as they were sure they would've got haywire, and they wanted Gabe and Cass to rest peacefully.

This is only in the teen AU. In the Children AU they get slaughtered along with everyone else.

They also aren't necessarily bound to the animatronics themselves. What I mean by this is that their spirits did possess the animatronics, but after a while, they were able to exit the animatronics. They can't be too far from the bots, though.

I also have this SL OC

FNAF AUS (First Game)

Children AU

Teen AU

Spirit Shenigans

Sad and Supernatural

Something with Gabriel and Myra smh (Sibling Shenanigans??)

Living AU (They're alive in this one I swear-)

And another where they're actually animals I believe.

(Second Game)

They're just toys..right...?

(FNAF SL)

Find their location

(Afton Family)

Fake Family

Oh yeah, a lot of the AUs consist of them being teens. Around 13-16.

Back to me I guess lmao.

I am an avid Roleplayer (Sometimes, C.AI just doesn't work for me, skkskskskksksksk)

My birthday is in 2 days so, slay 💃

I'm not just into FNAF but it would take me actually centuries to list out of the fandoms I'm in/Might return to.

I'm a very odd and anxious person so please don't judge me ]:

Anyways, that's all I have for now, bye bye [: 💃

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slaughterlocked · 3 months

Text

[ tag drop 1: CANON VERSES. descriptions under cut. ]

( weaned on poison: default i. )

The making of a man. Spanning twenty two years from birth to college graduation, William’s childhood verse finds him resentful, ambitious, and uncertain about the kind of man he wants to be. While prickly and eccentric, William doesn’t hide his insecurity or true self as much as he wishes he could: the people that meet him in college see him transform into someone who has perfected the delicately crafted persona he begins creating during this time.

( hungry dog’s logic: default ii. )

The happiest years of William’s life, from the opening of the diner to the birthday party where it all goes wrong. MORE TBA.

( house haunted by shame: default iii. )

After Evan’s death and the incident with Suzie, it’s safe to say William spirals, just a little. From the bite of ‘83 to Elizabeth’s death (in ‘90 — though this is dependent obviously on who I’m writing with too!). William at his most unstable. MORE TBA.

( still left with his hands: default iv. )

Elizabeth’s death leaves William stricken with grief and the crumbling discovery that he can’t outrun the misfortune that is plaguing his family (mostly at his own hands). Left only with Michael, his need to fix everything, and the crippling loss of his family, it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say William is MORE stable: but perhaps less likely to murder. Between ‘90 and ‘92 (or whenever Michael ‘dies’: again dependent on writing). MORE TBA.

( just to be alive: default v. )

Entirely alone, this last human verse spans the two years between Michael’s ‘death’ and William’s own springlock incident in ‘94. MORE TBA.

( first clear thought in years: default vi. )

Get springlocked idiot! Takes place any time in the thirty years before Springtrap is discovered (1994–2024). William’s memory and sense of. well, being ‘William’ drifts further and further as time progresses as his fury and agony grows. MORE TBA.

( tomb that won’t close: default vii. )

F.NAF 3 to F.NAF 6! More monster than man but still unbearably human, it has enough of itself left to recognise its son & old friend. That doesn’t stop it wanting to ruin everything in its path. MORE TBA.

( what is the difference between science and god?: default viii. )

Sometime before Elizabeth’s death, William infuses his remnant with a computer in another effort to prolong his lifespan. It results in Glitchtrap: a virus that both is and isn’t William. Glitchtrap, emerging thanks to the game it infuses with, has only one goal — revive himself properly to continue the work he started decades ago. See this post (link tba) for more Glitchtrap information. MORE TBA.

( obsessive replay: default ix. )

Ultimate Custom Night time!! After the events of F.NAF 6, William actually dies, and his soul is transported elsewhere. Turns out, hell is the neverending nightmare that a little kid dreams up for you. William suffers, screams, schemes, and looks for salvation at every corner. It never seems to come. More TBA.

( alive while a name is spoken: default x. )

Glitchtrap’s goal succeeds, and William is back in the land of the living! Trouble is, the virus hadn’t predicted its true self facing decades of torture at Cassidy’s hands… or its true self’s inability to fully adapt to the modern world. Torn between an inability to move forward and a desperate need to not look back, William is finally honest with himself, and tries to run from things one last time. Adopting a role at the Pizzaplex unassumingly and trying to live out the rest of his life in (relative peace), he naively hopes that everything is over. Of course, he's never been more sorely mistaken. MORE TBA.

#( weaned on poison: default i. )#( hungry dog’s logic: default ii. )#( house haunted by shame: default iii. )#( still left with his hands: default iv. )#( just to be alive: default v. )#( first clear thought in years: default vi. )#( tomb that won’t close: default vii. )#( what’s the difference between science and god?: default viii. )#( obsessive replay: default ix. )#( alive while a name is spoken: default x. )

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nitewrighter · 2 years

Note

After Volskaya, what is Cassidy's reaction to finding out that Gabe is alive?

Oh you know I really appreciate this ask, because Volskaya to this day is one of my favorite fics I've ever written for my Overwatch continuity, but at this point it also represents a significant divergence from canon, so it's really encouraging to have people asking about one of the things that makes my fic continuity my fic continuity, you know?

----

Cassidy had only been back on the watchpoint for about 17 hours, 9 of those hours sleeping off jet-lag and residual exhaustion from his own mission, when the call came in. Winston had been the first one to receive the call, of course, and had summoned Cassidy in to his office. Winston definitely preferred the lab to the office, so that was the first thing that told Cassidy shit may have gone sideways.

“I’ve just gotten word from Tracer,” said Winston, steadily typing at a small holo-monitor, “She and her team are en route back from St. Petersburg.”

“How’d things go with the rogue robot?” Cassidy scratched at his stubble.

“Svyatogor,” said Winston, his eyes not meeting Cassidy’s.

“Gesundheit,” said Cassidy, moving forward and taking his seat.

Winston’s eyes finally flicked back up to Cassidy’s, and those three extra seconds where it was clear Winston was carefully choosing his words made any instinct Cassidy had to joke to cut the tension evaporate. “Something happened,” said Cassidy.

“The mission got… complicated,” Winston adjusted his glasses.

“Complicated how? We didn’t lose anyone, did we?” anxiety prickled along Cassidy’s neck. They were just getting started! They had so little manpower and so few resources as it was, any loss would be devastating.

“No,” Winston said. The muscles in his face tightened, “Doctor Ziegler was severely injured, however.”

A gruff exhale fell out of Cassidy. The doc had taken her fair share of beatings before, and he knew her well enough to not be too worried about her bouncing back from nasty injuries, but as medic she was a vital safety net for the rest of the team, and if she was going to be out of commission for a while, that would make doing their job and keeping the team together that much more difficult. Not to mention the fact that Genji was probably losing his mind.

“She’s currently stable, but will be in need of further observation when the team arrives,” Winston went on, “She was attacked by Reaper.”

Cassidy’s mouth twitched. “Reaper was there,” he said, leaning back in the chair, “So… the Sveo–Svata–the robot attack… it was sabotage by Talon?”

“According to what text debriefs I’m getting now, it would seem so,” said Winston, “But… Cole, what I wanted to speak to you about was… in the fight, Doctor Ziegler ended up shooting off Reaper’s mask.”

A short snort fell out of Cassidy, “Good for her,” he said.

“Reaper is Reyes, Cole,” said Winston.

Cassidy blinked a few times. “Come again?”

“The Talon agent we know as Reaper is former Blackwatch commander Gabriel Reyes. It would seem he suffered significant disfigurement from the Zurich explosion, but he survived,” Winston’s nostrils flared, “And now he’s…”

“With Talon,” Cassidy slumped back in his seat, pressing his lips into a thin line.

“I just… thought you should know as soon as possible,” Winston said a little sheepishly.

“Yeah–that’s…” Cassidy trailed off and then huffed, taking his hat off and running the fingers of his organic hand through his hair. “Merce… did she get hurt from the robot or from–”

“Reaper,” Winston wasn’t making eye-contact.

Cassidy drew in another long breath through his nostrils before giving another short exhale.

“Do… you need a moment?” Winston asked.

“I’m–I’m fine. I’ll be fine. You know me, Winston… nothin’ if I ain’t adaptable, right?” Cassidy forced a chuckle, “Plus, I’m glad you’re the one tellin’ me. This way he won’t be able to pull a damn Star Wars ‘I am your father’ bullshit on me. Not that he was ever like–You know what I’m saying. I’m just glad you’re takin’ that away from him,” he huffed, “Dramatic bitch.”

“Cole–”

“It’s fine. I get it. You said it was complicated. That is complicated, but I can handle complicated,” he readjusted himself in his seat, “So do we have an ETA for the team? What should I get prepped?”

“Cole,” Winston said a bit more firmly now, “That’s not all of it.”

“Oh–okay, well… I’m willing to get the debriefing at the same time as everyone else–”

“What I mean is, Reaper–Reyes–isn’t the only one we thought was dead who…isn’t.”

Cassidy’s brow crinkled. “What are you saying?”

—–

The Orca landed about two hours after the conversation. Twilight made the tarmac look more purple than gray. Pharah was standing, stone-faced and arms folded, the stoic expression only mildly shifting to concern as Mercy was hurried off of the orca on a hover gurney with Genji running right alongside it. Mercy was conscious but her voice was taut and hazy–overlapping with Genji’s as she tried to instruct him about what infirmary machinery to operate and Genji pinballing between trying to tell her to rest and anxiously asking her what the hell she was talking about with regards to the infirmary. They just whisked right by Cole, their own little hurricane of panic, and there was a brief moment where Cole reflexively wanted to hurry after them both, give them an extra pair of hands, but instead he heard more footsteps on the Orca’s landing ramp and turned around.

Tracer, and a decidedly-not-dead Jack Morrison stepped down the orca’s landing ramp first. Tracer’s eyes were veiled by her goggles, but Morrison, his own mask off (of course he had to do the whole alter-ego thing alongside Reyes, predictable as hell, those two) gave him a brief glance.

“Cassidy,” he said. More than five goddamn years and all he had to say to him was a half-grunt of his own name.

“Commander,” said Cassidy.

“I’m not the comm–” Morrison started, and then sighed. “We’ll talk later. I promise. Just… right now, I need to speak to Winston.”

“Mm-hmm,” was all Cassidy replied with, with a mild glare at the back of Morrison’s head.

Then Aleksandra Zaryanova stepped out behind them. Take a beating, get some muscle, Cassidy supposed. Guess the Talon threat on the mission was enough to convince Zarya she was needed here, or maybe something had happened where she had decided that here was where she needed to be to protect whatever interests she had back home. Needless to say, despite how harrowing the mission was, there wasn’t a lot of time for catch-up, at least not yet. Tracer made eye contact with him as she and Jack stepped off the ramp.

Ana was the least surprising of the not-dead trio. Pharah had mentioned getting a letter from her a couple months back, but there hadn’t really been word since, and she had bitterly muttered something about the letter sounding like a good-bye. Still, it was nice to confirm. Ana looked… smaller than she had in her captain days, more tired. But then she met his eye and a familiar shrewd half-smile tugged at her mouth. Cassidy glanced over his shoulder to see Pharah, staring up into the orca, staring up at her mother. Pharah turned and walked off the tarmac. The hurt that rippled across Ana's face made Cassidy's gut sink. He didn't really want to antagonize Pharah by stepping up, but at the same time, he always respected the captain, and old habits died hard.

“Ma’am,” Cassidy offered her an arm to step off the ramp.

She gave an amused, “Hmph,” in response and accepted it, definitely more out of exhaustion than any attempt at being a lady to his gentleman. She ended up steering him towards the infirmary rather than towards Winston’s lab and office. “It’s good to see you again, Cole,” she said, walking with him.

“You as well, Captain,” said Cassidy.

A long pause passed between them.

“…is Fareeha all right?” Ana asked quietly.

“Yeah she’s…” Cassidy huffed, “She was pretty much one of the first ones to show up when the recall went out.”

“I see she's... very busy with helping get this place up and running,” Ana said hesitantly.

“Of course. She’s… busy,” Cassidy said, itching behind his ear, “But she’ll be around.”

“Right…” Ana said, clearly still trying to compose herself as they kept walking.

Cassidy wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with this, this immediate vulnerability of someone who, up until her supposed death, was one fo the few people able to knock him into shape just as much as Reyes. One of the few people able to put the fear of god into Reyes.

“You look well,” said Ana, clearly trying to pivot the subject.

“Yeah, well… more regular showers will do that to ya,” said Cassidy, forcing a chuckle into his voice.

“…somehow I knew you’d answer the call,” said Ana.

“Eh, couchsurfing instinct,” Cassidy shrugged, but Ana gave him one of those knowing side-eyes, and he just glanced off smiling, “What can I say? I like an underdog.”

Ana gave another amused “hm,” and then drew in a steadying breath, “Cole, I think… I know there’s enough to deal with as is just between Jack and I and everything that’s happened on this mission, but… I thought if you had to hear it from anyone–”

“Reyes is Reaper?” Cole guessed and Ana blinked a few times.

“Some uh… preliminary debriefs were sent over,” said Cassidy.

Ana huffed. “Look at you, finally paying attention to debriefings.”

“I know, right? Character development,” Cassidy gave a magician-like flare of his fingers with his spare hand and Ana chuckled.

“So…” Ana’s voice trailed off.

“So…?” Cassidy tried to pick up that thread of a question.

“How… are you taking it?” Ana seemed to be realizing that the question was even harder to answer than it was to form, as she was forming it.

“Well, I mean…” Cassidy shrugged, “I guess I’m happy for him. He got his wish and now every day is Halloween.”

“Cole,” Ana said with a hint of warning in her voice.

“Look, I don’t know. Right now, I’m just riding out the shock. Maybe I’ll scream and punch a hole in the wall and chug a handle later, don’t know what order that’s gonna happen yet, but for now, y’all need me. So that’s gotta wait.”

Ana smiled, a small fragile smile that made Cassidy’s guts twist up even more. She was supposed to be the strong one. She was supposed to be the one telling him to get his shit together. It wasn’t together. He was so scared. And everything hurt. And he hated it. The world was rotten, but it also wasn’t rotten. But also one of the few people who managed to convince him that he could be more than a piece of shit scrabbling for everything he could get his filthy mitts on had now gone full fucking Satan and had nearly killed one of the best friends Cassidy ever had and had been killing Overwatch agents since the fucking Zurich explosion and–and–

Cassidy drew in a sharp breath through his nostrils, and steadied himself.

“Cole?” Ana said again, a question in her voice this time.

“I’ll figure it out,” Cassidy said on reflex, his voice stiff, “I’ll figure it out as I go along. Like I always have.”

Ana pursed her lips, her one eye staring up at him. “I know you will,” she said gently.

#overwatch #cole cassidy #gabriel reyes #gency

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nightingaelic · 3 years

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Fallout new vegas companions taking the courier's place in lonesome road (+ cut companions if that's cool with u) (thanks!!)

The problem with trying to adapt Lonesome Road to another character's experience is that so much of its story hinges on the courier's missing past and the former Frumentarius' struggle to make them understand what happened, why it caused a shockwave across multiple lives, locations and generations, and whether to avenge or let go of the harm that was unknowingly done to the Divide. So if you bring the companions into the mix instead of Courier Six, you either have a long-running story of mistaken identity (a hilarious concept, Ulysses being absolutely positive that the companion is the one who wrecked his dream home while they have no idea who this angry, verbose man is), or a drastically different history for the companions themselves. I say let's give that second option a shot, it seems fun and headcanon-y.

Arcade Gannon: While I don't think Arcade would be directly responsible for the destruction of the Divide, I think he would pale at hearing Ulysses' message searching for Enclave agents and would set out to confront the angry courier on behalf of his hidden family. The Enclave remnants are already hunted by the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel, and the last thing they need is to be chased out of yet another home over something they didn't personally do. He'd accept ED-E's help wholeheartedly and consider turning back every time he ran into marked men or tunnelers, but his own resolve to save his loved ones would urge him to persevere. I think his determination would intrigue Ulysses, enough to engage the young research scientist in conversation if he arrived at the end of the road in one piece, and the courier might even let go of his vendetta if Arcade revealed that he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart rather than a sense of duty. Arcade would cancel the nuke launch, but would seriously consider blowing up the Legion.

Craig Boone: We know the NCR and Legion were fighting over the Divide before the ICBMs leveled the area. But what if that was by design, rather than by accident? Maybe Boone has more skeletons in his closet than just Bitter Springs, and he was part of a strike team that used old Enclave technology to surprise the Legion forces and seal off an access route, a decision based on math and made by men who had never met the people of Hopeville and Ashton that they sentenced to death. It's yet another weight on the sniper's conscience, and yet another debt he feels obligated to pay, so when Ulysses' call goes out, he answers. The usual dangers of the Divide wouldn't slow him down, but the turbulent weather would irritate him to no end. Upon arrival at the temple, Boone wouldn't mince words because he already knows he's guilty of the charge and he knows Ulysses used to walk for the Legion. If he survived the encounter, Boone would take the opportunity to rain the same destruction down on Caesar's troops.

Lily Bowen: There are about 119 years of Lily's life as a super mutant that are unaccounted-for, and we know she suffers from schizophrenia like many other nightkin. Perhaps it was Lily who discovered the Enclave package and unwittingly left it in the home of America's missiles: Perhaps it was Leo. I'm inclined to think it was Leo, who was probably searching for a cache of Stealth Boys in the old military installations across the desert, and who simply didn't care when a new hole in the earth opened up behind him. Lily, on the other hand, cares deeply, and would set out after Ulysses in the interest of making amends where she could. More so than any other companion, I think Lily would be disturbed by the tunnelers and would go out of her way to crush them wherever they popped up. The marked men would earn her sympathy and she would do her best to knock them out without killing them. After doing the same to Ulysses, Lily would cancel the launch and weep over the subsequent loss of ED-E. She would likely bring the little eyebot back to the Mojave and search for a way to fix it.

Raul Alfonso Tejada: We already know that Raul goes to extreme lengths to avenge the people he cares about, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to mix his backstory into the story of the Divide. Following the murder of Claudia in Tucson/Two Sun, Raul chased Dirty Dave and his brothers across Arizona and into the town of Ashton before killing them. Unbeknownst to him, Dirty Dave had a package with him that could speak to the nuclear missile silos hidden in the Divide, and the earth crumbled behind the vaquero as he made his way back home. Though he'd heard of the devastation, Raul didn't put two and two together until Ulysses sent out his summons, and because he didn't have anything planned that week, the old mechanic decided to answer the call. He would put up with Ulysses' messages like a good sport until he encountered the man in the temple, where he would refuse to fight until the two talked things out like civil people. I think Ulysses would be surprised at the revelation that the ghoul he had cast as a villain was following his own quest for vengeance and unaware of the package, and would come away somewhat amused by the situation. They would most likely team up to fight off the marked men, and Raul would cancel the launch and take a wrench to the machines to prevent any more "misunderstandings."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: Let's say one of Cass' caravans delivered a package back in the day. Let's say that package accidentally buried the caravan crew and an entire community along with it. Let's say Cass knows, and that's one of the reasons she drinks. While Courier Six walks the Divide out of curiosity about their missing past, I think Cass would do it as a form of penance in and of itself, with a little desire for self-destruction thrown into the mix. The journey would start out as a bender fueled by self-loathing and the fanciful notion of giving her missing caravan a proper funeral, and by the time Cass runs out of whiskey she's already halfway through the Cave of the Abaddon and punching holes through the tunnelers with her shotgun. She would largely ignore Ulysses' cryptic messages and holotapes, but she'd grow fond of the little eyebot that took a shine to her and would tear after it once the mysterious courier repossessed it. Following the final battle, Cass would cancel the launch, but only at the very last second, just to revel in the fleeting feeling of control.

Veronica Santangelo: I just can't see Veronica knowingly or unknowingly waking up a nuclear arsenal with a careless application of tech, but I can totally see her stumbling upon the aftermath of something her old mentor is responsible for. Father Elijah already has a tenuous grasp on the consequences of his own actions, and we know that the prototype tech that controls the Divide's weather is a Big MT project. Maybe Elijah paid Hopeville a visit to check it out and took his investigation a little too far when he discovered the nukes. This would explain Ulysses' directions to the old man to find the Sierra Madre, sealing his doom inside the casino. But where does that leave Ulysses? Along comes Veronica, following her mentor's trail of destruction, and the courier can't help but guide her along the path, show her the meaning of the wreckage and the danger of pre-war technology when left to the discretion of those with old-world values, like the Brotherhood. Along that line, I think Ulysses would try to test her like he does Courier Six, and would schedule a launch to see what she does. Veronica would cancel the launch and resolve to never tell her brothers and sisters in Steel about the secrets of the Divide. She might dump some water on the consoles for good measure. More importantly, I think she might finally realize that the unchanging family she clings to can only die out, or go down the same path that Elijah did.

ED-E: Given that ED-E is a robot, I think Ulysses would be hell-bent on finding whoever sent the little guy rather than consider that the eyebot saw a package with Enclave markings on it, picked it up of its own accord, and deposited it wherever it next encountered old American symbols. Through its communication with the other eyebots in the Divide, I think ED-E would get the picture about the courier's quest for the responsible party and play dumb for as long as possible. The other ED-E would help conceal the mistake to save its new friend, but Ulysses isn't stupid and would eventually figure it out. But how do you effectively punish a robot? Maybe he would set the nukes to target the Divide again, to send any remaining eyebots to the scrapyard for good, but it's a long shot. If he did, ED-E would cancel the launch, but would join its override system capabilities to its counterpart's and use the combined decryption power to ensure that both eyebots make it through the ordeal unharmed.

Rex: This good boy would never even consider entering the Divide. Seriously, what dog in their right mind would go in there? What cyberdog? No thank you. Still, the idea of a dog being responsible for the nukes and Ulysses continuing to hold a grudge is beyond funny. Maybe Rex was part of a mission for the Legion when he still belonged to Caesar, part of the group that leveled the Divide on behalf of the Bull. Maybe that's why Antony says he was "lost in battle," and maybe he's the only surviving member of that squad. I don't see why Ulysses would hang around the Divide waiting for the dog to look upon the hell he'd wrought, and he would more than likely seek the canine out himself as soon as he heard about the King's new pet. From there, the story turns into Courier Six investigating an assassination attempt on a goddamned dog, and the events of Lonesome Road play out pretty much the same way they were written - plus plenty of asides about how Ulysses is going to way too much effort over a creature that can't comprehend what nukes are.

Benny Gecko: Few people know that Yes Man was actually one of two securitrons that Benny managed to incapacitate and reprogram, and while the head of the Chairmen hid his favorite in the Tops for safekeeping, he sent the other out into the world for some recon and experimentation. Imagine his surprise when Yes Man was able to remotely hack into a nuclear missile silo and wipe out a budding trade community. And who would've thought that test run was going to come back to bite him in the ass, right after he was sprung from the Legion camp? I think Benny would do everything in his power to avoid entering the Divide, but I also think Ulysses would have little patience for him and would actively force the disgraced city boy into walking the Courier's Mile by blocking any other path out of the Mojave. Benny would form an attachment to ED-E, similar to Yes Man, but would complain the whole way and confront his tormenter with little remorse. He would also nuke both the NCR and the Legion if he came away alive, probably with some snarky one-liner about "letting the chips fall where they may."

Vulpes Inculta: Vulpes already has a few scorched-earth badges on his Pioneer Scouts belt (Nipton, Camp Searchlight, etc.), so eliminating the Divide is just another tactic in the grand strategy playing out between the Bull and the Bear. All he needed to do was leave a certain package in town, and the problem basically solved itself. Unfortunately, that deserter of his wasn't buried under the wreckage, and now Caesar has ordered him to assassinate the renegade. The fool keeps announcing his whereabouts every few hours or so, making tracking an easy task, but by the third time he feels eyes on the back of his neck and turns to find nothing there, Vulpes can't help but wonder whether the student has surpassed the teacher. The final showdown of Frumentarii would be something for the ages, a clash of philosophies and loyalties with plenty of verbal sparring between the bullets. If he survived the encounter with Ulysses, Vulpes would definitely nuke the NCR.

Ulysses: This cut companion can't very well face off against himself, can he? Unless... he was the courier who accidentally brought the Enclave detonator that sealed the Divide's doom. Given the weight of this grief, I think Ulysses would similarly force himself to walk the length of the Divide, take in the utter destruction that his own actions had wrought, and reflect on the meaning of one man changing the course of history. When it came down to the final room, the final decision, our disillusioned courier would activate the launch as a way of testing himself, testing his own resolve. Like Cass, he would stare at the machines shuddering to life around him until the very last moment, before shutting the system down for good, smiling under his breathing mask and walking away forever.

Victor: The robot cowboy doesn't really know what the angry man on the eyebot keeps talking about. He certainly doesn't remember delivering a package to a place called Hopeville or Ashton. Why would he? Mr. House is very good about covering his tracks, particularly when it comes to eliminating business rivals. Really, it could have been any old securitron. Nevertheless, Victor rolls merrily along in search of the courier who summoned his master, letting his own optics passively take in the devastated wasteland left behind by bombs that launched 200 years too late. Because of his robotic nature, I think it'd be a lot easier for Ulysses to get the drop on Victor and disable him at the temple, then wait until House sent another envoy or came himself. House would probably lose interest as soon as he got his data, which I don't think would stall Ulysses much: Once he figured out the Strip's owner isn't coming, he'd find some way to get inside the Lucky 38. If, however, Victor prevailed in the final struggle, he would nuke both the NCR and the Legion on behalf of Mr. House.

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liloelsagranger · 3 years

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Night shift - finally a new Rocketshipping-fanfiction

My dear friends,

it’s been a while since I last posted an entry. Let me tell you why and what, besides Covid-19, made me pause from publishing fanfictions over the last couple of months. Of course, Switzerland was very affected by the pandemic and still is today. We had numerous lock-downs or as Swiss people call it “slow downs”. My mother got very sick last year, I almost lost her. The doctors said she would only live two or three more days, but my mom is a fighter. She had to stay at the hospital for months, she endured countless medical examinations, had to take meds and slowly learned to live again. I’m so proud of my mother that she was strong and determined to get better. When she turned back home, I started to take care of her and I hate to leave her on her own, even if we’re talking about half an hour or less. Right now, she’s doing quite good, actually, we’re on vacation and she makes a great effort to participate in life in Italy. She’s my role-model! She will never be the same as before, but she won’t give up, she wakes up every morning to make progress. I prayed for her and her well-being, I prayed every single night she might get another chance and now we’re here at the beach and dining in fancy restaurants. It’s been a horrible year for everyone, a year full of sorrow, tears and desperation, a year where I was constantly afraid, the hospital would call me with some bad news, but she did it! She survived and she fights for her life! So proud! Good news is: I passed my doctoral exams and I’m officially allowed to call myself Dr. phil. des. Melanie C. but that won’t ever stop me from loving Team Rocket so here it is - a brand new Rocketshipping-fanfiction for you guys. LOVE YOU! Night shift

Chapter 1:

It was past ten o’clock when that miserable looking guy entered the diner. He inconspicuously sat down in the farthest corner of the café and immediately hid his face behind the menu card. Nevertheless, Jessie the waitress could make out the pathetic expression on his face, how he was cowering like a whipped dog. She had seen quite a bit in this diner. Drunks, thugs, addicts and other needy people who asked for a sympathetic ear, compassion and understanding, but that guy was different. He suffered terribly, but did not dare to communicate, instead he hid from the world so as not to attract attention and quietly endure his fate. Jessie had to do something about it. Of course, she didn’t want to play the Good Samaritan. She knew the tricks of the men who entered this diner. Most of the time, they told the waitress tall tales, hoping to be comforted, whatever they meant by that. But this young man did not make a shady impressionHe was well dressed, looked well-groomed, and Jessie was especially struck by his bright emerald green eyes, the only thing in his face that had not yet been veiled by grief and sorrow. She decided to do something about his displeasure.

“Did you have a rough day?” she asked while disinfecting the table.

He looked briefly into her eyes and nodded. “That’s one way to put it,” he answered, the gaze immediately lowered again.

This would be a taciturn conversation, but Jessie didn’t give up easily, she was a natural at making even rocks talk.

“Listen! No matter what happened, I’ve seen or heard some things. If I can help you in any way, my name is Jessie and I’m in charge of this table today. Let me just get the gum out from under your seat and get you a cold drink. What would you like?” She pulled a spatula from her apron and rubbed away the remains of the spoiled brats that marred her diner.

‘Wow,’ the young man thought to himself. ‘A strong, self-confident woman who lends a hand herself and who’s not above cleaning up dirt.’ Their eyes met briefly, and he forced a wry smile.

“You know, kid. You can’t rely on anyone. If you want to get everything done, do it yourself and don’t trust anyone. This world doesn’t give you anything for granted!” She briefly wiped the back of his chair before disappearing behind the counter and pouring the young man an ice-cold Coke.

“I have rarely seen you so concerned about a customer. Normally you show yourself aloof and only take the order, so as not to get involved in embarrassing conversations. Must be a really great pike, this pathetic creature in the far corner. Could it be that you’ve got a tiny crush on this guy?” For Eddy, teasing his best friend was the greatest pleasure. He didn’t know her like that. Jessie usually resisted any kind of small talk. This was due to her dark past, when she had repeatedly fallen for advances from men who were never looking for a steady relationship, but for a quick fix. Eddy had witnessed this bad time of his friend, how her heart was broken, how she was badly played with, and how she was simply dropped like a hot potato. Jack was the worst example of them all. While Jessie was already hearing the wedding bells ringing, he was making love to the women of the Strip and deceiving Jessie night after night with other broads. Jessie was devastated when she found out Jack was cheating on her. She was furious, not even at her lying boyfriend, but at herself for having been so stupid as to trust a man.

Jessie gave Eddy a light pat on the head. “Don’t be silly! That time is over. I can take care of myself, I don’t need male support for that. I’m a big girl, I make my own dough, and I keep my head above water pretty well. No, not a chance, I’ve sworn off flirting.” Nevertheless, she caught herself as her gaze wandered to the young man in the corner. “Oh yes, this time is definitely over,” Eddy smirked.

“Jessie, could you bring us a side of fries, please?” Misty’s order echoed throughout the hall. The twenty-year old waved her hands. She was used to speaking loudly, almost shouting, to attract guests to her daily water Pokémon show. Sometimes she walked up and down the streets of the Strip all day in the blazing hot sun, trying to win people for her underwater attraction. As an excellent student, she could have taught at any college, but she had decided early on to get into show business and make her living doing what she really loved, joined by Dewgong and Starmie. Her parents had not agreed with this decision at all, it was wasted talent, they had claimed, and had summarily turned Misty out the door. Since then, she had been struggling through life on her own, but could always count on Jess, the diner and her two best friends, Ash and Brock, young people who were also not favoured by fate.

“Temper your voice, twerp!” Jessie couldn’t help but grin. She spread the ketchup bottles around the table, hoping Ash wouldn’t spill on himself and the diner again. His constant companion Pikachu immediately hopped on his shoulder, grabbed a fry and popped it in his mouth. Ash and his Pokémon were carnies. He had trained his friend well and attracted many spectators with his performance. Most of them felt sorry for the guy and tipped generously. That’s why Ash was able to invite his friends to the diner every night, a place that gave them hope where they could experience security. They were convinced that nothing would ever disturb this idyll and that fate, for better or worse, had taken its course.

“Who’s that guy over there?” Brock wanted to know. He had barely sold chocolate and roses tonight. The others held back, but they were certain that their friend was just too pushy with women and that’s why he only collected rejections instead of green bills.

“I’ve never seen him here before. Must be from another area. I can’t tell you for the life of me why he’s wearing a suit at theses temperatures, he looks pretty pathetic to me anyways,” Jessie replied.

“Maybe his car has stalled,” Ash suggested, “and now he was forced to wander through the desert until the tasty aromas from your diner brought him back from his delirium.”

“Or,” Brock interfered, “he had to flee his own wedding because his wife is a real pain in the ass, unlike our sweet Misty,” Brock oohed at his friend. “Forget it, Brock! You and me, this will never happen!” She gave him a gentle poke.

“Enough now with your naïve speculations! Just let him enjoy his drink. We’re closing soon, so get going,” Jessie dismissed their absurd ideas with a wave of her hand, but at this point no one knew how right Brock was.

Dark thoughts hunted the young man. He knew what he would face at home if he was late. Beatings, torture, rebuke, harassment, were just a few words to describe his failed relationship. Unconsciously, he stroked his scarred arms.

“Can I get you something to eat?” Jessie pulled him out of the maelstrom of bad thoughts, of course she had noticed the wounds, but maybe he had gotten those injuries at work. The young man rummaged some coins out of his pants and let them jingle on the table. “Is that enough for a cheese sandwich?” Jessie hated small change, but she would make an exception for him. A friendly smile, a quick nod, and she passed on the order.

“Something’s wrong with this guy,” she whispered to Eddy. “He’s scarred, bruised and pays with penny coins. Possibly a vagrant.” Eddy couldn’t help but grin. “That guy’s been keeping you busy all night, Jess. What’s the matter with you? Are you getting weak?”

The young man could not overhear the conversation between the waiters, but he was sure they were talking about him. He sure made a rather frightening impression, but that was a private matter and not something you shared with a waitress in a diner.

His gaze drifted to the daily paper, which had two faces emblazoned on it: Butch and Cassidy. He had never heard of this odd couple, but according to the news, theses two were causing quite a stir and were terrifying the Strip.

“Oh, so you’ve already spotted them, those two knuckleheads! They keep the Strip in suspense, and heads roll when the taxes don’t add up,” Jessie served him the cheese sandwich and gave him a slight smile.

“Can I get you anything else?” He thanked her and took a hearty bite of his dinner.

The last half hour flew by and the remaining guests left the diner to spend the night on the Strip, as very few had a roof over their heads. Jessie set about cleaning up and Eddy checked the register.

The young man stood up and made his way towards the door. But before he left the diner, he glanced back at Jessie for a moment. A sigh escaped him. What if…?

Jessie returned his gaze and watched him go until the young man disappeared. She walked right up to his table and found a little note on the receipt.

“Thanks for treating me like a human being, James.”

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underratedandoverit · 1 year

Text

the moment

~2k words

set in the belt corruption arc. since its part of a match, its wrestling-type physical contact. maybe digs a bit deeper mentally. hints of anxiety, unreality is present. kip says fuck a couple of times. can be read as shippy

@midnightpretenders0

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He slapped him. Maybe a little bit harder than intended, he wasn’t sure. The adrenaline running through him, the exhaustion of the past fifteen minutes starting to finally settle in, he wasn’t in full control of his body anymore, not aware of the strength he was capable of using.

All Kip knew was that the open palm of his hand collided together with Cassidy’s face, making him drop down to the mat as a wave of boos from the crowd washed over him.

But it didn’t matter. This was exactly what he wanted, no outside interference was going to change his mind about that. Kip stared down at the man laying face down on the mat, his back raising steadily with the heavy breaths he was taking in, trying to get air into his lungs to help him keep going.

A smile crossed Kip’s lips as he nudged the defenseless man on the mat with the tip of his boot. This was exactly what he had wanted since the beginning. Watching Cassidy crawl at his feet, asking for help that he wasn’t going to get from anyone but his mortal nemesis, it was bringing him so much joy it made Kip feel ecstatic. Despite the crowd around them obviously being on the side of the current champion, it didn’t matter to him. To Kip the sounds of the crowd didn’t exist, all he could hear in his head was his own cheers and approval.

He had wanted, hoped, prayed for this moment for so long. And he was finally getting it. And it was all his own doing, he had made this happen, he had been the one to throw down the champion.

And he would be the one to dethrone him.

As Cassidy stirred on the mat, hand reaching for Kip’s boot, he quickly kicked it away with a chuckle. Cassidy had been dominating most of the match, but that had been his plan all along; tire the champion out, play his own games with him to frustrate him, lure him into a false sense of security by giving him space and chances, but ultimately turn the tides against him when he least expected it. And now Kip was the refreshed party in this battle, having the upper hand, knowing there was no way he could lose this now.

He couldn’t lose this. This was destiny, he was meant to win this one. It was meant to be, Kip hadn’t gotten this far to leave all this to just be a dream, an unachievable goal. He had Cassidy right where he wanted, it was only a matter of time.

But Kip wasn’t going to let him go that easily. No, he didn’t deserve that kind of an easy way out. Just like Kip had been, Cassidy deserved to suffer for everything he had done. For everything he hadn’t done. For everything he had caused Kip to feel, to experience, to go through. All the sleepless nights, the jokes, the insults hurled in his way, the pain. The pain.

The pain.

Kip slowly kneeled down as Cassidy stirred some more, his hand traveling up Kip’s leg, trying to find a steady grip on his boot to help steady himself. Kip just chuckled at him as he felt a slight tug of his boot as Cassidy got a hold of it. Kip allowed him time to adjust himself, another hand struggling to find something to grab a hold of before Kip helped him by grabbing a hold of it himself, forcing the champion in a position where he had to look up at him, coming face to face with the devilish grin.

With his free hand, Kip carefully yet forcefully grabbed a hold of Cassidy’s jaw, tilting his head up. He was so in control of the situation there was a very brief, quiet voice somewhere in the back of his head that told Kip that it was almost too good to be true. It was very quickly silenced though as he watched the International champion squirm literally in his hands, being entirely overpowered by him, in a situation where he just couldn’t win anymore, no matter what he tried. Cassidy was barely even fighting back, he was physically tired, mentally exhausted, and Kip could read every single emotion on him just from his face alone.

Cassidy was alone, he had been alone for a long time now. The friends had vanished from around him one by one, by what magic, Kip wasn’t entirely sure, but he took great pride still believing, no, knowing, that he had his hand in that happening. The champion might have been dominant in his reign, but mentally he was destroyed. Cassidy had been broken down, he was tired, he was miserable, he didn’t have anyone else to turn to except his enemies. And Kip had seen how Cassidy treated those enemies, the ones that went for the title before him. How he was just as brutal to them as he had been to his friends, or so Kip had heard.

Kip smiled. It was sincere, but layered with so much hatred, loathing, disgust that it was impossible to tell.

“Oh, Clementine,” he whispered as he leaned closer to Cassidy, pressing their foreheads together as he inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet scent of inevitable victory. “If only there was someone who loved you.”

Letting go of his hand, Kip released his face from his grip as well, shoving Cassidy away from him. Without resisting the man fell back to the mat, Kip shaking his hand off from his boot as he stood up again. He couldn’t even register the crowd reactions anymore, all he could hear in his head was the voice telling him to finish this. That he deserved this. That this was his moment, that nobody was going to take it away from him.

Not the crowd. Not the referee. Not Cassidy, not his friends, nobody.

Kip Sabian was going to be a fucking champion.

Leaning back down, Kip grabbed a handful of Cassidy’s hair, forcing the other man up from the mat. He didn’t need him to stand up, just be a bit closer to pull him up on his shoulders. Setting Cassidy up for an easy hit of Deathly Hallows, the jolt of satisfaction shooting through him physically shook him a little as Kip felt the champion crash down to the mat by his hand once again. He couldn’t count in his mind how many times he had only imagined doing this exact thing, in this exact same scenario, but it must have been somewhere in the thousands by now.

All the sleepless nights and painful thoughts were finally paying off. And it all felt so good.

He rolled Cassidy over on the mat, but instead of going for a pin that probably would have been the obvious choice at this point, seeing how weakened the champion already was, Kip sprung up on his feet fueled purely by his spite at this point, picking Cassidy up for the second time. The negative crowd reaction was so strong this time it momentarily pierced through his confident cover, making his head snap up towards the crowd as Kip froze for a second.

But if they all thought this was wrong of him to do, why did it feel right? Why did it feel good to do? Why was him winning making these people so angry? Why --

“Do it!”

Kip’s eyes widened at the familiar voice he had entirely blocked out during the match, eyes shooting to the side, catching the glare of his wife standing on the ringside. Her hands banging the mat as she tried to get his attention, she was screaming at him to put Cassidy away, for good.

If Penelope agreed with him, the rest of the people had to be wrong, right?

…Right?

“Come on, Kip, do it!”

Right.

He finally lifted Cassidy back on his shoulders, despite the little detour and distraction he hadn’t regained his will to fight back. It was an easy hit of another Deathly Hallows, this time Kip rolling him over for an easy pin.

…

…3.

Kip slowly let go of the limp leg of his opponent, letting Cassidy fully fall to the mat. He didn’t move, he didn’t try to resist, he didn’t try to get away after the defeat. Kip sat there next to him, watching as Cassidy’s chest moved along his very heavy breathing pattern, almost glossed over eyes staring up at the ceiling as he was frozen in place. There was something different about him now, but Kip brushed it off with the thought that this was the first loss he had seen the man suffer in singles competition since obtaining the International belt.

…The belt.

Kip’s eyes turned up towards the woman walking up to him, Penelope holding the title belt she had snatched from the hands of the referee just seconds earlier, obviously wanting to be the one to present his new shiny prize to her husband. She kneeled down in front of him, a wide smile crossing her entire being as she handed the treasured prize to its new owner. In almost a too hurried fashion Kip snatched it from him, not noticing the slightly taken aback look on Penelope’s face; Kip was far too busy staring at the new love of his life, giving it a quick polish with what was left of his wrist tape, a proud grin taking over his face as he could see his reflection from some of the even surfaces of the belt.

Getting up on his knees, his eyes drifted from the belt to Cassidy, who was still laying still on the mat, staring at the ceiling and the bright lights on it. He had started to blink, which was a good sign, maybe, but Cassidy most definitely still wasn’t making any moves to get out of the ring.

Kip leaned over his face, making sure to establish eye contact with him, his grin turning malicious the second he was sure Cassidy was looking straight at him.

“All alone, Clementine. No friends. No title. Nobody and nothing that cares about you.”

He leaned closer to Cassidy, pressing a little kiss on his forehead, followed by a chuckle.

“Absolutely fucking worthless.”

Kip pulled away, watching as Cassidy finally stirred a little, but still barely moved from his spot. Putting up on his feet, Kip stood up, Penelope grabbing a hold of his free hand before holding it up, letting the official new champion celebrations to begin.

Kip couldn’t feel any of the negative crowd reaction. His hands were tingling as he screamed with joy, the left hand holding the belt more so than the other in the hand of his wife. All he could hear was his own voice, the theme song playing over the crowd in a loop as he stood there taking it all in, finally, victorious, knowing that he deserved it all.

He deserved it. All of it, and so much more. It might have come with the prize of Cassidy’s friendships and part of his sanity, but Kip didn’t care. He wasn’t responsible for half of that, and the other half was nothing but a game plan to him.

He looked at the belt, the new shiny toy in his hand, his absolute pride and joy. The one thing he had been craving for since forever, the one thing that had brought him so many sleepless nights, the one thing he didn’t have to look at with jealousy and rage deep within from across the room anymore. It was in his hands, finally, as it was always supposed to be. He was the promised one, he was finally the one in charge.

He deserved it. Kip deserved it.

Kip Sabian was finally a fucking champion.

#fic #setting: belt corruption arc #character: orange cassidy #character: kip sabian #character: penelope ford #aew fanfiction #wrestling fanfiction

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goat-yells-at-everything · 2 years

Note

Fnaf Anon: I stopped really interacting with Fnaf lore after fnaf pizza simulator.

Ok! Thats good!

SO.

(note: 90% of the following is, technically, a theory. A GOAT THEORY)

(Also note: you asked for a run down of the lore theories. You asked for this giant wall o text Nony. ;D )

So, first point. Despite the popular idea that the books have no baring on the games, the books have a SHIT TON to do with the game lore. Maybe not directly, but as MattPatt has said, there are holes in the various series but the holes are different in each series. By reading into each one you can start to fill in a few of the holes in the sister series.

So I’ll reference the books when I need too. My opinions on some things differ from Matt when it comes to what the books are saying about the games.

So lets get started here!

After Pizza Sim we had Ultimate Custom Night. Just a big Smash Bro's style Brawler, right?

WRONG

Its basically been confirmed that UCN is Afton in Hell being tormented by one of the souls inside Golden Freddy.

"One of?" you ask? Why yes. Golden Freddy had 2 souls inside him! But we’ll have to look at a few things before we get there.

The soul in UCN is NOT the crying child. This soul is one of the children of the OG missing childrens incident. We’ve got a few things that points to this. First, the og game had 5 missing kids and 5 animatronics. Yes, the roster has been filled out since then but Scott very clearly intended for one kid to equal one bot. Second, in the Silver Eyes series there are 5 children killed by Afton with the last, Michel, inhabiting Golden Fredbear. THEN, in the Fazbear Frights novels we learn about a man in a hospital who the staff keep trying to kill cause they beleive he’s literal Evil. It turns out the ghost of one of his victims is keeping him from dying because he wants to see the man in as much pain as possible, see him suffer like he made the boy suffer. Later, this soul ends up in an animatronic body WITH ANOTHER SOUL who is much less angry.

In UCN, there is an Easter egg when you play against Old Man Consequences (a character from FNaF World) where he tells Golden Freddy to “rest his soul” and “leave the demon to his demons”. If you get a perfect score in UCN you get a cut scene of Golden Freddy just sitting there, twitching. Taking all of that plus the stories in Fazbear Frights we can assert that UCN is the story of the soul in Golden Freddy tormenting Afton. Not in literal Hell, but possibly while he’s in a hospital being treated for the severe burns he got when the Freddy’s in Pizza Sim burned down with him and everyone else inside.

We even know the name of the soul in GFred, its Cassidy. That comes from another book, the FNaF Security Log Book activity book. Just… go with me here lol. The Security Log Book is haunted. At one point the ghost in the book asks “do you remember your name” which lead people on reddit to figure out a convoluted secret code that they put into the word search that got us the name “Cassidy”. In the Silver Eyes novels, one of the 5 MCE kids is also named Cassidy (though she isn’t GFred in the books, more likely she’s regular Freddy but the names are being reused throughout the different series’s).

What about the second soul? That IS the Crying Child. Going back to Fazbear Frights, the second soul in that endoskeleton is an innocent kid who died young in a hospital. In FF he died from an illness but it directly parallels the Crying Child who dies in a hospital after the bite of ’83. Both of them died young, yes, but they weren’t killed in an intentionally violent way. CC was hurt in a violent bullying incident but his brother never intended to kill him and was likely with his little brother in the hospital, sitting with him until CC died.

So, after UCN the original games are “over” according to Scott. Considering he’s said that before, after FNaF 4, we can kind of bet that isn’t true.

So this brings us to FNaF 7, FNaF Help Wanted.

Help Wanted starts with a coaster ride down a hallway where an announcer explains how Fazbear Entertainment has been the victim of a “lunatic” who put out games that were filled with mostly lies. It says that, yes, some of the stories are based on some truth but the majority were made up by this guy to smear the good name of Freddy. We go on to learn, however, that the company actually hired the indy developer to make the games so they could make light of the actual horror show that is Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

The company decides to make its own game that pokes fun of those older games and stories so they can try to rebuild themselves. Except there is a problem. Fazbear Entertainment gave a small game company circuit boards and hard drives from the old animatronics and “other things” so the data could be used to make the new VR Experience. One of these boards or drives has a virus on it thats infecting the game companies systems. This leads to “tape girl”, one of the developers/testers, to create audio tapes as she tries to figure out what they thought was just a glitch. In the end, she ends up putting together the bits of code that ends up making Glitchtrap and, ultimately, releasing him into her own body.

Its my belief that “tape girl” is Vanessa from Security Breach. This kind of screws with where SB fits in the timelines people have been developing, though. I think I have a theory on how it fits but I need to re-rereview all of the books I’ve got (finish reading the last 3, too), and do some more reading about Help Wanted and Security Breach (and, maybe playing the last two myself) before I can make anything definitive.

So anyway.

One of the big questions since Help Wanted dropped was “so the games Scott made were fake?” and it seemed like that was true at the time, but now many people aren’t so sure. Back in FNaF 2, Scott started putting in the 8 bit mini games after you died and later between nights, too. Well, in Help Wanted the mobile port we got a new 8/16 bit mini game, Princess Quest, that takes the place of the audio tapes and the games main enemy are glitching purple bunny people you have to run away from. At the end the Princess walks down a long hallway to find a giant purple glitchy bunny with some screwy text that, when decoded, says “I always come back.” Thats when people started to make a connection back to FNaF 3’s 8-bit mini games where the final play through you are a purple glitching bunny that hops between the various games.

This is the first time we see Glitchtrap. This is the virus that went on to infect the new VR game. And, looking back at the old games; excluding FNaF 4’s “mini games” which weren’t really games but just flashes of memory; there are 16 mini games, the same number of tapes/lanterns in PQ/pieces of Glitchtrap.

I had to check my copy of the Fredy Files to be sure but its true.

FNaF 2:

-Save Them

-Take Cake

-Foxy Go Go Go

-Give Gifts Give Life

FNaF 3:

-BB’s Air Adventure

-Mangles Quest

-BB’s Air Adventure a second time (because you had to get the cake from Mangles Quest)

-Chica’s Party

-Stage 01

-Shadow Bonnie

-Happiest Day

FNaF SL:

-Baby’s Ice Cream Game

FNaF PS:

-Midnight Motorist

-Fruity Maze

-Security Puppet

FNaF UCN:

-Old Man Consequences Pond

THESE are the games that the “rouge indy developer” created to “smear” the Fazbear name. Except they were really games FE paid for so they could make light of the horrific past they have. These are the drives that they gave the new game studio that caused the Afton Virus to be released.

The main gameplay of the games? That was the real story that FE wanted to cover up.

So that leads us to Security Breach and, other than knowing the killer is Vanny and she’s being partially controlled by Afton, there isn’t much theory that I’ve read just yet. I think people are still trying to get all the little bits before they make any concrete theories.

I’m thinking of going back and making some notes of my own theories starting from the first game and going through all of the lore I can get my hands on. Yes, including re-reading ALL the books. ;^;

Hope this was kinda sorta helpful to you anon!

#goat yells at animatronics #long post #fnaf

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gwynposting · 3 years

Text

All Along the Watchtower (Ch. 3)

This story takes place after the “All Along the Watchtower” ending of Cyberpunk 2077, so spoilers ahead.

NSFW chapter ahead~

AO3 Link | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2

Panam was never one for being able to hide her emotions, and the attempted smile betrayed by the rest of her cringing features gave testament to it. Cassidy, on the other hand, looked upon V with amusement.

“Yeah, uh,” V started with an awkward cough, “guess the rockerboy part of Johnny didn’t overwrite my brain yet.” She stared down at Cassidy’s borrowed guitar with a tinge of blush on her cheeks before handing it back to him.

“Well anytime you want to start learnin’, give me a holler,” Cassidy said with amusement as he set the guitar in his lap and plucked away at an idling tune.

V smiled in appreciation and turned to Panam, “So, what’s the plan for tomorrow anyhow?”

Panam leaned forward, the fire in her eyes sparking. “We’re meeting up with a contact of ours that’s worked with us and other Aldecado families in the past - Bryce Bane. We’ve used Bryce as our point of contact for operations in the Tucson area in the past - we figure it’s a good idea to help get general intel as well as see how we can help solve your problem.”

V nodded along, “And we can trust this Bryce?”

Panam scoffed, “Could you trust Rogue?”

V grimaced in recognition. “Only after convincing her a 50 year old terrorist from her glory days was trapped inside my head.”

“So unless you got another cyberpsycho inside your noggin’, I wouldn’t get too friendly with them.” Panam could see the disappointment creep along V’s face - she was rather decent at hiding it, but the subtle quiver of the lip always gave her away. “But,” she resumed, “with all the gear we’ve gotten from the Arasaka raid, it’d be hard to say no to a fresh load of biz coming their way.”

“Right…” V hesitated. “Okay. So - who, when, and where?”

Cassidy let out a chortle, “Mitch wasn’t kiddin’ about you city slickers.”

V smirked, giving her forehead a few taps, “I blame the ticking time bomb in my head.”

Panam broke in, “We’re due to meet them around noon, on the western side of the city outskirts. Now, I don’t have reason to suspect they’ll pull anything, but it never hurts to come prepared. V, you’ll be accompanying me to the meet while Cassidy, Mitch, and Carol provide overwatch.”

“All eggs in one basket, hmm?” Carol interjected, sizing up the roster for this mission.

“More like this is our first meet with this city and I need to make sure we get off on the right foot. And that means no itchy or jumpy triggers. I know I can count on the vets for that.” Panam looked around the table to mixed reactions. “With that being said,” she continued, “I want to perform some reconnaissance of the area so we can set up 3 separate areas of vision around the meeting place. That means we’ll be setting out early tomorrow - around sunrise - to set up.

“Mitch, V?” she gestured towards each respectively, “You two are going to drive out today and use the drone to do some recon. Note the terrain in the area and try to find overlooks that give a good view of the entire meeting sight as well as any paths to the area.”

V and Mitch made eye contact and nodded in agreement. “We’ll set out right away then,” Mitch said.

Panam smiled and nodded in affirmation, “Excellent. We’ll reconvene later tonight when you two return and go over the finer details.”

“Preem. Anything else?” V asked.

Panam shook her head, “Nope, that’s it. Just lemme know when you two get to the site.”

“Yes, mom,” V smirked, and Mitch failed to suppress his own smile. Panam shot her a deadpan look of annoyance.

Mitch and V broke off and made their way over to the mechanics station. The Aldecados had set up shop in an abandoned warehouse of some sort - its floor had been picked clean so there hadn’t been much cleanup required at all. But now, it housed the mighty Basilisk, along with the plethora of other vehicle repair necessities.

Mitch pointed to one of the corners, “Drone case is over there. I’ll grab a couple battery cases just in case.”

“What for?” V asked.

“Well, never know if we might need to use the active camo when we get there. And if we do, I’d rather we be able to get a full scan of the area. Not cut corners, y’know?”

“Good thinking,” V said with a huff as she lifted the hefty clamshell in her arms.

Mitch made his way back over, battery packs slung around his shoulder, and together they set off to their ride.

“How well do you know this Bryce?” V asked.

“As well as you know any fixer in Night City, really.” Mitch responded with a gruff. He was set to leave it at that, but looked over to V’s expectant face. “We didn’t have a particularly contentious past, it’s just been quite a while, and well... we’re runnin’ blind right now. A lot can change in 3 years.”

V felt the gnawing of doubt creep back into her mind, despite her best efforts to keep it suppressed. The last thing she needed right now was to fall into despair before they even tried their first option. But even the existence of those lingering thoughts sent worry through her, every setback felt so severe and her mental health so weak, like fractured porcelain held in place by glue. A vace drifting through the air in slow motion, desperate for someone to catch her before she reaches the harsh and unyielding floor below.

Mitch seemed to be able to read the apprehension of V’s face, “But hey, we worked with some great techies back in Tucson. If they don’t know what to do, then they sure know someone who will.”

A shaky smile formed on her face, but hopeful words did little to soothe her anxiety. But she didn’t have much time to ruminate over her thoughts as they pulled up to Mitch’s ride. They took turns loading their equipment onto the bed before climbing inside the cabin.

“Alright then, let’s get this started,” Mitch stated with finality.

V slung the canteen over her shoulder and let it rattle to the floor with a clank. She whinged at the sharp sound but was far too tired to react. It felt as if her entire body had a layer of dirt, like a second layer of skin. Yet all in all, it had been a very uneventful day, and she liked it that way. Though, she couldn’t say the same thing for tomorrow, whatever that would hold. V had been used to working with fixers in the past, but this time it was different. She wasn’t some solo anymore, money and fame the only thing on the mind. She was part of a family once more, her clan. When things went wrong, everybody had to suffer the consequences for it, whether physical or emotional. She had everyone else to think about. She had -

Judy. V smiled as she saw the soft hue of blue light bleed through the cracks of the garage door. She shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack, pausing as she flexed and stretched her stiff limbs. In a similar fashion she shuffled off the boots from her feet.

V made her way over to the garage to poke her head in, but stayed silent as she saw Judy sitting in her desk chair, BD wreath wrapped around her head. But something caught V’s eye - many things, really. Judy’s hands clenched the armrests of her editing chair, her thighs pressed together as her legs writhed small motions back and forth. Her chest rose up and down with deep breaths, and the skin visible from the cut of her shirt was painted a deep blush.

V was about to raise an eyebrow in concern, but was interrupted by a soft mew that escaped Judy’s lips, followed by a much lower moan. V chuckled in response, Couldn’t wait for me it seems, she thought to herself. Deciding it wasn’t the best for her to interrupt Judy’s alone time while filthy, V made her way to the bathroom to wash away what she imagined were kilograms of sand and dirt from her body.

Of the few comforts she had gotten used to in Night City, hot water would have been one of the highest. The Bakkers had raised her through the traditional nomad lifestyle, but clearly she had softened up in a few ways. Shivers shot down her back as the cold water began rushing over her body, washing away the caked dirt and leaving goosebumps behind.

V was meticulous when it came to cleaning, especially with her cybernetic implants. She gave extra care to clean the creases and ports of her mantis blades. She had never had a problem with them so far, and she planned to keep it that way. It had been a recurring fear of hers that some mechanism would fail her when she needed them most - whether they failed to open properly, or extended on their own without command. In those moments she could almost hear Panam rage at her tombstone for being stupid enough to let something like routine maintenance lead to her downfall.

Just as she finished rinsing the suds from her hair, she heard the bathroom door open and close. She turned her head to see Judy rolling her panties down her legs, bra already discarded on the floor. Without a word, Judy climbed inside and pressed V against the shower wall, capturing her lips with her own. Her hands betrayed her neediness as they traveled along V’s skin and down to her ass, roughly taking hold of each cheek. V yelped in surprise at the onslaught, but quickly gave in. V’s hands, momentarily idle, found new life as they began to roam up along Judy’s curves, coming to rest upon her cheeks.

Judy paused and broke away, leaving both of them panting for breath. They looked into each others’ eyes, lidded and wanting. “Didn’t hear you come home,” Judy breathed.

“Didn’t want to interrupt your fun,” V smirked, “plus, I felt gross.”

Judy’s hands began shifting, creeping around V’s front, “Probably woulda jumped your bones anyways.”

V’s response was cut short by her own sharp exhale as Judy ran a hand along her hardening shaft. Judy bit her own lip in smug satisfaction as she felt V’s desire manifest within her grasp, before leaning back in, breathing warmth on chilled skin, and taking V’s lip between her teeth. The two came together once more as their lips interlocked, broken apart only through momentary calls for air or teasing bites. Judy’s hand began tender strokes, back and forth, along V’s length. Judy couldn’t help the butterflies that poured through her as she felt V’s hips begin to thrust ever so slightly - signs of a woman too pent up for her own good.

But Judy also felt that need, and it was quickly tended to. V’s curious hands traveled downwards until they reached Judy’s waiting sex. Her fingers teased along Judy’s entrance, lightly brushing over her clitoris. Judy flexed under her touch, her thirst finally given life. But V, not one to tease at the moment, deftly inserted two fingers and began to give slow, languid thrusts. A flare of pride rushed through V as Judy began to push into her grasp, grinding her clit against the palm of V’s hand.

Each needy thrust and flex spurred the other on, as they fed off each other's need and want, pressing into each other, grasping, thrusting, their pace increasing with every shaky breath. Their kiss became sloppy and unfocused, disrupted through their descent into pleasure. The drone of the shower head and the cool of the pouring water faded into the back of their minds - all that mattered was their touch.

Judy hovered over V’s lips, to whisper, “V-” as if but a gasp. V closed the distance once more and captured Judy’s lips as she came undone beneath her. Shivers radiated through Judy’s body as V’s fingers coaxed her through her orgasm. V’s free hand brought Judy closer, pressing her against V’s body for support as she came. Judy broke their kiss and slumped her head into the crook of V’s neck, her moans becoming muffled.

But her comedown didn’t slow Judy’s pace - if anything, it increased her fervor. As she regained her footing, Judy changed tactics. Instead, she focused along V’s erogenous zones, kissing and leaving love marks along V’s jaw and neck to below her ear, stroking to the tune of the heady thrusts that met her hand.

V was holding on, prolonging her suffering, until she heard Judy plead, “Please V -” and she came undone. With each stroke V shivered, her hips spasmed unpredictably and unpracticed, almost fucking the hand wrapped around her throbbing length. Each release brought haughty gasps that sent fire through Judy.

With one final languid squeeze, V nigh collapsed on top of Judy. “Woah there,” Judy helped lean V back against the shower wall.

V returned the smile, albeit weary, before leaning in to give Judy one last kiss, “Couldn’t stop thinking about this all day.”

“My my, what a pervert~” Judy floated.

V snorted, “Says the one sending me nudes mid-op,”

“Details V, details,” Judy reached for the soap once more. “Think we need to get cleaned back up, hmm?”

“And then we go straight to bed,” V concluded.

“Right. Bed.”

#cyberpunk 2077 #judy alvarez #judy x v #v x judy #female v #AATW

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vonholten · 3 years

Photo

welcome aboard, eden von holten, student #30. we are excited to set sail with you ! has anyone told you that you look like elle fanning? according to our records, you hail from linz, vienna, prefer preferred she/her, are cisfemale, and are here to study astrophysics. we also see you received a spot on the ss university because of money — we won’t tell anyone. during your first few weeks here, other students said you were + warm, + loyal, but also - approval-seeking. it sounds like you spend most of your time at the arcade. upon checking your luggage, we noticed you packed a pair of earrings brought from home. hopefully your roommates don’t steal it!

ooc info

hello, my name is ana (she/her) from gmt+1 and i’m happy i found this roleplay because it looks amazing! okay so i’ll stop talking about myself and get onto eden’s bio. if you wanna plot feel free to send me a message or ask for my discord.

stats

NAME: eden viktoria von holten

NICKNAME: e

GENDER: cis female

PLACE OF BIRTH: november 9th,

DATE OF BIRTH: july 6, 1998

AGE: twenty-two

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual

MAJOR: astrophysics

information

eden was born and spent the first ten years of her life in linz, austria. her father is an architect while her mother is a former housewife turned real estate agent.

the von holten last name was a distinguished surname back in the day as they were part of the austrian nobility. however, eden never really enjoyed the lavish life of being part of royalty as her part of her family is known as the descendants of ‘bastards’.

this meant that while her family could carry the von holten surname they didn’t have access to the family’s wealth, except for a trust fund to cover college expenses.

despite this, eden had a rather comfortable life as her father was a young promising architect that through his hard work managed to provide a good life to his family.

when eden was ten years old, her parents divorced and her father decided to leave austria to work in the england.

her father eventually remarried and eden would spend her time between england and austria.

many would think that eden had it easy, no event in her early life was enough to cause what would happen in the following years.

at sixteen, eden made the decision of finishing her schooling in new york, against her parents’ wishes, but being the supportive pair they were, they had no choice but let their daughter move to the big city.

tw eating disorder

something changed in those first weeks in new york, maybe it was being surrounded by the royalty of the city or the constant bombarding of slim models that prompted a switch in her.

at first it was not obvious, she reduced calories and signed up to the gym but as the months went by her obsession with calories and exercise only increased in an alarming way.

the teachers at school were the first to notice. and when they told her mother, she became very angry as she didn’t want to accept the fact that she had a serious illness and needed help.

the summer before starting at columbia, her parents took her to the doctor where she was given an ultimatum, either she gained weight during the summer or would be sent to an eating disorder clinic but that didn’t change anything and eventually was sent to the clinic, causing her to lose her first semester.

eden pushed herself to fight her anorexia, not wanting to be hospitalized and manage to be discharged before the start of the semester. despite her parents’ reluctance to let their child alone again, she started studying astrophysics at columbia.

for the next three years have been difficult for her, many times she has relapsed but on her own, she has managed to pull through but the increasing anxiety only gets worse, especially in finals time.

end of tw

at one point the stress got so high that her parents just made her drop out and go back to vienna. she did and spent a year working at her mother’s company before she made the decision to give university another chance.

she took the decision to attend seas because her step sister was here and this is her first semester

she’s doing a lot better now and she sees this as her chance to prove herself that she is healthy now.

headcanons

from a young age, eden has felt a fascination for stars and space. she never thought of studying anything related with that until she was interned in the clinic and spent most of her time reading books about the subject

speaks fluent german and she still has a slight austrian accent as she speaks in that language with her family

loves Pomeranians, and if you see her Instagram is filled with pomeranians blogs

she’s been to fourteen Elton John’s concerts, the last one a few days before her birthday. safe to say she is a fan

fan of any hgtv show

she has 'bought’ stars for herself since no one does it for her lmao

betelguese is her favorite star

actually believes in horoscope

favorite song: freaking tiny dancer ofc

has watched the theory of everything too many times

used to firmly believed she was anastasia as a child, now she is happy watching the movie or musical

connections

former best friend of cassidy silva

step-sister of student mack gallagher

childhood friend with minjun "micah" jin

wanted connections

best friend; if you are her best friend she’ll name a star on your behalf and also look what it could be: x or x

enemies: i mean she’s not one to create them but she cannot be liked by everyone and i need someone to get out her sassy side bc it’s probably rusty from being nice

roommates: self-explanatory

first love; maybe it happened during her first year, you know i’m a hoe for angst so we can make it angsty af

friends with benefits; but really they would be very good friends that ended up sleeping together because she would need that sort of emotional connection to do it

awkward date; they went on a date that was so awkward that now they avoid each other

unrequited love; she could either have a crush on your character or viceversa, but lemme tell you that my girl can be shy so she probably just suffer and admire your character’s perfection from afar

tutor or study buddies; someone that helps her in some of her classes or the other way around

#seasintro #tw eating disorder

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lucarioisinthevoid · 3 years

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What would everyone think of king Afton?

After many years of the animatronics killing nightguards, they finally caught William and killed him. But as you know from my ask about Goldie and Cassidy, Cassidy lied saying it wasn't him. When humans found out the animatronics were sentient, they locked all animatronics underground, including all the nightguards that were stuffed. Which meant Afton was still around to mess with the animatronics and the dead kids. When animatronics started getting the hang of having a society, springtrap (as how he went by in his suit. It became common among stuffed humans to make up names for themselves instead of using their human names) became the town nuisance. He basically caused trouble just get reactions, everyone just ignored him and pissed him off.

A few years later, about a week after Golden Freddy's and Cassidy's death, the guards were waiting for orders from king Fazbear, Bonnie was subcoming to guilt and depression seeing the situation with Goldie and Cassi as his fault, the Marionette was mourning the death of another child in her room, and Freddy was in his palace thinking. He honestly didn't know how to feel in the moment of their deaths, so he just kept thinking about it knowing the should feel something, like sad or angry.

Springtrap snuck inside the palace, almost too easily. When he was sneaking in, a human fell down. Freddy went to investigate, with springtrap following behind in the shadows. The human that fell sorta looked like Cassidy, except she had gold blonde hair, but that was the only difference. It was like the world wanted to play a joke on Freddy, "hey look!!! A little girl that looks like both of your now dead friends!!! Isn't that funny?!!?!" How dare the world. Before he could even think, all the feelings he should have felt flooded through him, the sadness of loosing the people he loves, the guilt of being unable to prevent their deaths, and the anger towards humanity for killing people he held close to his soul. Without thinking, he projected his anger towards humans on the child, and mercilessly killed her.

He was brought back to his senses when William started laughing and applauding the show before him. Freddy then attacked him, nearly killing him before realizing in this moment he was no better than him. After this realization, he declared war on humanity. The Marionette ran away back to the ruins never to be heard from again, and springtrap was made into the new royal adviser. Freddy hired him as royal adviser in hopes that maybe Afton could teach him to be more merciless.

The only reason why he was so merciless as a killer was because Chara made him think he was insane, and he was a player's puppet. He lived his own life so many times, why would it matter if he killed people if he knew they were going to be fine when he wakes up yesterday? Now Chara became dormant, and the players stopped controlling him. Kinda ironic how he's now feeling powerless despite now having complete control of his body.

He began to feel regret for everything his done. The many people he's killed, the many people he let stay dead. He was no longer above his actions. He was no longer above consequences. This made him fall into despair and depression.

After years of being royal adviser, Freddy gave him a title of king, trusting him enough to rule beside him as brothers. After he was crowned, him and Fazbear became closer, like actual brothers.

But they had disagreements, like all siblings do. Except their disagreements had to do with life and death. Freddy would argue with Afton over killing humans, he'd say that he needed to kill humans and collect their souls in order to set them all free. Afton would argue saying that everyone had already suffered enough, and that more children didn't deserve to die. When ever human children fall down and leave the Marionette's protection in the ruins, he would try and protect the children from Freddy, in hopes that he might be able to talk him out of killing them. Usually the kids flat out give up and let themselves be killed. Afton stopped trying to protect the kids after a 5 year old gave up her life to Fazbear.

King Afton, with the help of doctor Bonnie, removed his suit, and rebuilt Springbonnie and Fredbear. Fredbear remembered how Afton used spring for murder, but thankfully Springbonnie didn't remember how he was used. He didn't even remember the surface, he just knew who he was, who his brother Fredbear was, and that Afton was one of the people that made him. Afton talked with Fredbear privately about how times had changed from 1987 to now, when Fredbear was shut down to when he was rebuilt. Fredbear didn't remember the bite of 87, and his memories of the surface weren't any better. All he remembered was kids, the layout of the diner, and the stars he'd look at out the window.

Once Afton explained everything, leaving out the bite incident, Fredbear to forgive the poor corpse for everything he's done. He didn't trust him, he just forgave him. Fredbear and Springbonnie then left Afton's room where they were rebuilt and started living their own lives.

This Afton is a more forgivable, and melancholy version of Afton.

What would everyone in your AU think of King Afton?

First up, very interesting take, though now all the pressure of the “why did you kill” are put on Chara. The concept of Afton getting EXP from stuffing children into suits is wrecking me with laughter to be fully honest- this man must be buff- Everyone is a big number, but I can give you three main people, I think.

Marionette hates him- like all Williams. He doesn’t believe in redemption; he doesn’t believe in the concept of regret. Nobody ever regretted what happened to him, thus regret must be a hindering emotion at best- a liability at worst. Useless and hurtful. This William is pathetic! How can you go around killing children because of some fucking spirit?! And then being all regretful about it, as though it makes a difference?! Devaluing these murders even MORE! How much must he hate these children that he admits openly that his murders were pointless and soulless and now after decades something he would be taking back?! HOW DOES THAT HELP?! WHO?! HE DOESN’T DESERVE PITY. AND YOUR FREDDY, HE SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM FOR GOOD! SO WHAT IF YOU ARE “EQUALLY” AS BAD?! IF TWO WRONGS MEET AND ONE KILLS THE OTHER, THEN WE HAVE AT LEAST ONE RIGHT! There is nothing more appalling to him than regretting the evil deeds, because then you say you did those evil deeds out of weakness and selfishness and nothing else came from it. Marion doesn’t regret killing the guards. Marion DOESN’T regret killing the guards! (My Marionette would make a much more ruthless ruler of the underground than both William and Freddy combined…) Fredbear is actually somewhat happy. He feels terrible for everything that happened until then and that the Marionette had to leave home because of William returning and becoming an advisor- and of course, he’s agonizing about the fact that another child had to die. But in the end, there’s some reassurance in William just being another puppet, suffering the circumstances and now working for redemption. The children are still here in some way after all, with this new technology- once it is perfected, everyone can live the life they wanted. All he hopes is that William will be a force of good this time around and for good this time. He shouldn’t have crumbled to the timeloop, but… … things like that are mindbreaking, certainly. Not being yourself is extremely scary. And how can you be sure you ARE yourself? If he would have the chance to say anything to Afton, then it’s to not give protecting the children. They need you. They need someone to stand up for them. No matter how pointless it seems or how often you fail, continuing to try is what matters. Stay determined. You owe them this after all- you have proven your ability to use what’s inside of you for destruction, make sure that it will become good permanently. You need to wake up every morning and choose to do the right thing. They need you. Both the living and the dead. Old Sport thinks he’s a funny fucker. As someone in the same shoes as him- well, without that evil spirit thing, but still- he sees his acting out and then doing a 180° as pretty hilarious. Like, sure, you go dude, reinvent yourself as this regretful somebody who wants to help, Old Sport gets it, he has done stuff like that too- but being all mopey and melancholic about it? Just move on! If you were in a loop, what does it matter? Reset and restart. You didn’t feel bad doing it, right? So why feel bad now? What’s the point? Genuine question. You did the deed, you committed the crime and that was okay. And then you stuck to that timeline. Sorry, not sorry, you have nobody to blame but yourself. And that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to move on and change and make peace, that’s totally fine, but the way Old Sport sees it from the outside, there’s a lot of misplaced guilt. This is a story, right? … … even if Old Sport doesn’t like, part of him feels jealous. Afton lacked control over his body, but at least he had a soul, right? At least he HAS a kind of personality and sense of self. He can make himself into a consistent character, unlike Old Sport who has to pick and choose and never knows what to do- In his opinion, Afton needs to get a grip and be less ungrateful for the things he actually DOES have. Save the kids, kill the kids, whatever, protect your sense of self… but then at least be satisfied with your choices that came out of that sense of self. Guilt is a choice. Either regret and act or don’t and stay back.

#NOT my AU

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elbracco · 4 years

Text

LiS2 Fanfiction recommendation list - updated

I updated the ff list I made a few months ago. As before, if anyone has any suggestions to add, I’m all ears. I divided the stories into three categories (Post-ending, AUs and Missing Moments) and all the ffs on this list are either completed or still actively updated.

POST-ENDING

Blood Brothers: To Puerto Lobos - And Beyond! by SerratedCucumber, in progress. It starts as the brothers break into Mexico and follows them as they try to build a life for themselves. I swear that I hear Gonzalo and Roman every time that Sean or Daniel say something: the dialogue is that good. 11,000 words for now.

Lone Wolf: The One You Feed by zeldanerdster, in progress. This work follows the "Lone Wolf" path immediately after events unfold at the border. Following that, it will chronicle Daniel's experiences for as far as they take him in an effort to reconcile the various open-ended resolutions of Life is Strange 2. Because LW didn’t break our hearts enough. 20,500 words for now. Lone Superwolf by Dreamprism, in progress. The ff begins with Sean’s death at the border and aims to show how Daniel got from the car to the “six years later” scene. The fanfic is written from the perspective of Daniel Diaz, similar to how Sean shares his internal thoughts with the player throughout Life is Strange 2. 17,000 words for now.

Parting Ways: After by koldtbold, one-shot. Sean gets to Mexico, Daniel doesn’t. Sean has a lot to do and think about. What I love about this story is that there’s much bitter and little sweet, but like in the game there’s an undercurrent of optimism, a feeling that tomorrow can still turn into a better day. 6,000 words. When There’s Nowhere Else to Run, by Autumnyte, in progress. It begins right after Daniel yeets himself from the car and follows Sean as he tries to build a life for himself in Puerto Lobos. I told Autumnyte that this story feels like a blanket: it’s warm and comfortable. No matter what issues Sean has to deal with, there is a pervasive undertone of "tomorrow will be better" that I think really captures the spirit of the game. He is done running, and he can now start to look to the future with hope. 31,000 words for now.

Redemption:

The Bravest Wolf in the World by RoodAwakening, 2 chapters left. Ask anyone for reading suggestions, and they’ll inevitably point you to this story, for a reason. Sean finds out he can use his sketches to time-travel, much like Max did with her photos, prevents Esteban’s death, and has to deal with the consequences as he tries to navigate the new life he made for himself. Wonderful characters, a realistic depiction of trauma, and golden dialogue. I love this Sean, I love the people in his life, I love his interactions with all the characters. 160,000 words (!) for now. A Howl in the Night by Bracco, one-shot. Sean is in prison, and Daniel is free: it’s everything that Sean had wanted when he surrendered. That means he can be happy… right? 28,500 words. Tomorrow's Horizon by AlariOdonell, in progress. A mysterious stranger recruits a post-bay Max Caulfield with the promise to bring Chloe back to life and to right a few wrongs along the way, like those suffered by two brothers. I am very partial to this story because it ticks every box in my list of narrative kinks: a well-written OC, an incoming threat, superpowers, misfits teaming up, IC characters, action and fuzzy feelings... 52,000 words for now, updated bi-weekly. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by DarkJaden825698, one-shot. After his sentence, Sean reconnects with some old friends and says some things he didn't get to say when he had the chance. This story is a warm, fuzzy thing where everything goes well for a change. I may also be very partial to the title: that song is tied to some of my fondest memories, so extra points to the author. 4,000 words. Spirit Realm: Road to Redemption by Sombraguerrero, completed. Sean has served his sentence, abbreviated by a lack of success on the authorities' part to attain burden of proof on the supposed major crimes. The public has run out of patience and has allowed Sean and Daniel to try and pick up the pieces, with as much help as they can get along what is once again a rough road. 21,000 words. Stay Strange by DarkJaden825698, completed. Dr. Bright is assigned to Sean Diaz as his therapist in prison, and walks him through his trauma while trying to find him a lawyer to challenge his sentence. Crossover fic between LiS2 and The Bright Sessions podcast - you don’t know anything about the podcast? Me neither, and it’s not an issue. 32,000 words.

AUs

And All These Empty Streets by Riona, one-shot. After the apocalypse, Sean and Daniel have a run-in with Joel and Ellie from TLOU. I think that this is the story that made me realize how I love Sean and Daniel so much that I’m willing to read the weirdest AUs and crossovers so long. It flows really well and it feels natural. 2,000 words.

Riona has written a lot of stories that start from an unexpected premise and draw a little vignette. They are all different from each other and I loved them all. Check out her AO3 profile! Can you give me a hint by Idnis, completed. Teenage Daniel/Chris. If you like “mutual pining” and “dumb idiots in love”, this story will make your day. It’s just... fluffy and sweet and innocent, a tiny bit of teenage drama that Daniel and Chris deserve after everything they’ve been through. 22,500 words. Closer to the Heart by darkjaden825698, in progress. After the shooting, Sean waits for the police to arrive. He’s cleared of all charges and sent to live to Beaver Creek, where he must come to terms with what happened and rebuild a life for himself. A teen drama where nothing bad happens to the boys and they get to live normal lives? Hit me with it. 4,000 words. Double exposure by Riona, completed. It draws inspiration from *Your Name*: Max and Sean begin swapping bodies at random. If the premise doesn’t turn you away, it’s a beautiful bittersweet story about two people trying to help each other while their own worlds are falling apart. 11,000 words. Faithless by HollowK, in progress. Six years after the failed heist, Sean wakes up from his coma and has a brother to find. Exactly: oof. 6,500 words for now. I Took Both Roads, series by owlmug. AU where Esteban isn’t shot. Sean/Finn (with some Sean/Cassidy in the first story). It’s a coming of age story, and I really loved how the author mirrored some situations that are found in the game by giving them a new twist. I won’t lie, these stories hurt, because they made me think about what could have been. The characters are spot on, and the interactions of the Diaz family are golden. Bonus points for having Sean behave like a teenage brat at times, because the boy deserved to have temper tantrums and getting into fights with Esteban over stupid stuff. There are also a lot of beautiful images across the series, a lot of lines that feel raw and powerful, and a lot of healing. At times it’s like having a heart-to-heart with the author. Sometimes I felt that the sex scenes were too long, and some of them I found unnecessary, but that’s just my personal taste. I really liked all the four stories, but the last one is my favourite for sure because it follows Esteban’s point of view and it’s *chef’s kiss*.

1. A Way to Reappear (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19096837), 18,000 words. Sean’s POV

2. A Piece of the Puzzle (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19386670), 26,000 words. Sean’s POV

3. A Little left Behind (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19852561), 24,000 words. Finn’s POV

4. (I’ve Been Going Through) a Change (https://archiveofourown.org/works/20562086), 28,000 words. Esteban’s POV.

If I Lay Here by owlmug, completed. Diverges from canon after episode 3. Sean and Finn try to track Daniel down. Sean/Finn, 46,500 words. I can repeat here most of what I wrote for the earlier series: wonderful characterization, beautiful imagery, touching themes, characters that find themselves along the way. Something that makes you go “Please, sir, can I have some more?” at the end of every chapter. i just don’t know how i’m doing (i’m so curious about you) by Larrymurphycansteponme, one-shot. Another High School AU, another wonderful coming of age story for Sean. I wish I could make it justice without repeating everything I said about owlmug’s series: spot-on characterization, a beautiful narrative about growing up and finding one’s way, wonderful imagery. It’s the story of what Sean deserved to have, and one of my favorite ever. 28,000 words.

MISSING MOMENTS

A Night With Misty Mice by That_one_internet_lover, completed. It follows Sean and Lyla’s concert night that is mentioned in his phone chat in ep.1. It’s the first fanfiction I read after my endgame heartbreak: it gave me all the happy Sean I wanted, and even a bit more. The dynamic between him and Lyla is exactly what I pictured from their interactions in the game, put into words by someone who knows what they’re doing. 10,000 words. Astray by Riona, one-shot. Daniel leaves Sean behind after the events of Wastelands. It’s probably more of an AU than a Missing Moment, since it was written before Faith came out and so it’s not entirely canon-compliant, but it’s still a very good window on Daniel’s state of mind after the heist. I’m eternally grateful to Riona for filling some of the gaps that the game left in the development of these wonderful characters. 1,500 words. Fire and Floods by Riona, one-shot. Sean and Daniel go on the run, and this fic covers the first day of their journey. A spot-on dissection of Sean’s feelings after the shooting. 1,500 words. life is strange 2 poems by Spotsuns, an ongoing collection of one-shots. These stories have all the oooffness of the game. The stories in here hurt. In the good way, but they hurt nonetheless. Beautiful character studies, and some heavy-duty, post-ending feel unpacking. 11,000 words. Never Stop Shining by CorazonDesnudo, in progress. During his stay in Away, Sean receives a letter from Finn with an offer to help him and Daniel cross the border. It’s a chance to come to terms with a lot of things he didn’t really process before. 11,000 words for now. Torchbearers by Riona. Ep.1’s Sean and Daniel run into Max and Chloe among the ruins of Arcadia Bay. I can definitely see this story being a moment of quiet in the game. 2,600 words. What Remains of the Diaz Family by That_one_internet_lover, completed. Lyla sneaks into the Diaz household after the brothers have disappeared. Heartbreaking oofness ensues as Lyla walks through their memories and faces her own pain. 6500 words.

#life is strange 2 #lis2 #life is strange 2 fanfiction #lis fanfiction #sean diaz #daniel diaz #i'm terrible with tags

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