#and i think in regards to kids some of the source is passed on but not all of it
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Welcome + Rules
Welcome to the Tumblr Found Family HQ! Here, we present your blorbos to the masses to have them vote upon whether they should be added to the collective tumblr found family or not. Submit your blorbos here:
See which blorbos have already joined the found family HERE!
To avoid seeing the results posts, mute "ff results"
The rules are:
1. Play nice; be respectful to others
2. Blorbos can be of any age, since a found family can be just that. So feel free to submit a one-day old infant or a ten thousand year old tree, if those are your blorbos
3. No Harry Potter (or other titles associated to this series or the author)
4. No real people (might make an exception if it's funny)
5. "No real people" includes no individual tumblr users, youtubers or streamers (this might seem obvious, but there were still a lot of them submitted)
6. No OCs. All your OCs are great and I'd feel sad if they got rejected from the found family
F.A.Q. under readmore:
(No one has actually asked any questions, but these are the ones I'm anticipating) Some of these questions have been asked now lol
Q. How does this work?
A. A post featuring a blorbo shall be made, stating who they are and their source material. A poll will be attached set to one week, asking if the blorbo shoulf join the tumblr found family. At the end of the week, based on the result, I will announce if they blorbo has joined or not
Q. What is a found family?
A. A found family is a family you find for yourself. It is a term often used in fandom to describe a group of characters who aren't related by blood (although a few members might be) but have come to think of each other as a family through circumstance. Alternatively, they might not be officially recognised as a found family in canon, but wider fanon regards them as such
Q. Is this a tournament bracket?
A. Nope, blorbos aren't competing against each other, they're only here to be judged by you. We are here enternally submitting blorbos (at least until I run out of steam or pass away lol)
Q. I'm not sure if my blorbo counts because of ___ reason?
A. If it's not any of the reasons mentioned in the rules, then feel free to send an ask. Or just submit them anyway and I'll decide
Q. I submitted a blorbo and they haven't been posted. Did you get them?
A. Again, feel free to send an ask. I don't have a regular schedule for posting these. Somedays there'll be batches of polls, others there'll be one or none
Q. My blorbos are a duo/trio/etc., who cannot be separated. Can I submit them as a group?
A. While I would prefer to stick to individual characters, if you have some who absolutely cannot be separated, I might make exceptions. Most likely, I'll make a poll asking if they should be judged as a group or individually, since there's a lot of media I won't be familiar with
Q. My blorbo got ditched on the roadside! Fuck you!
A. Friend, as a fan of Theseus from Hades Game, I understand what it's like to have your fave hated by fandom. Anything decided on this blog can never affect your personal headcanons, so go in peace with your middle finger held high
Q. What are your icon and header?
A. The icon is of the Pokemon Bouffalant and Natu, based on a series of trading card art where Bouffalant finds two Natu and rescues them - the true spirit of found family. The header is a group of characters called the Black Ravens from the Professor Layton series - a group of ragtag working-class kids who make a black market together
Q. I wrote some propaganda on the submission form, can you post it or send it back to me?
A. Submissions are deleted as the polls are posted, so I can keep track of how many I have left to post, which means I can't do this. Please save your propaganda for the post and not the submissions form
Q. Did you know you used fan art on ___ poll?
A. Unless I'd mentioned getting permission from the artist, then please assume that I did not know and let me know. I hate art theft and wouldn't want to partake in that, but I'm just not familiar with a good 80% of the series submitted, so sometimes it might slip through the cracks
Q. Can I submit a character who isn't my blorbo?
A. Also fine! I enjoy it when people submit controversial characters to see how they'll do
Q. What happens if there's a tie?
A. The blorbo in question becomes an occassional family member who appears with our found family for some important cutscenes, but isn't officially considered part of the found family
Q. No, but seriously, my blorbo got ditched. Do they get another chance?
A. At the beginning of each year we host a Redemption Event, where any past blorbos who were submitted get another chance. Because of the high volume of ditched characters, to be included in the event, your character will need to be submitted with propaganda via a form that will be released about a month before the event
Q. I think the image used is a big reason why my blorbo got ditched. Why did you use that image?
A. If an image hasn't been submitted, I will just grab one from an image search result in most cases. You know your blorbos best, so if you have a specific (non-fan art) image that you think shows them in their best light, please do submit it when you submit them
Q. Did you mean the book version or movie version of that character?
A. Whichever version of the blorbo that gets submitted, that'll be the one I use. If no specific version is mentioned, I'll just post that blorbo in general and use whatever image is most common when I look them up, unless an image has been submitted or a book cover has been requested to be used
Q. My blorbo is a character played by a youtuber and/or streamer, not the youtuber or streamer themselves, is that okay?
A. If it's a character, then it's fine. But please mention this on the submission. Because if I look them up and the result looks to be just some real person, that won't be included. I am largely unfamiliar with these kind of fandoms and will always err on the side of caution about their inclusion
Q. What counts as a "sweep"?
A. Any character who gets 90% or higher in either joining or not joining is counted as a sweep. This doesn't give them anything extra, it's just for bragging rights
Q. What counts as a "close call"?
A. Any character who's poll results are within the 49%-51% range for join/don't join is counted as a close call
Q. How many characters can I submit at a time?
A. There's no hard rule, since the form doesn't track emails, but please be considerate to others and try not to submit more than 10 characters per submission period. See next question for more details
Q. How many characters from the same series can I submit at a time?
A. Four (4) characters per series per submission period. I'll be lenient for if they've been submitted by multiple people, but from my experience running this blog, it's only the current Hot New Thing that'll be submitted by multiple people and anything else is usually one person submitting one character after another. I used to allow more, but people took this for granted and submitted 50+ from the same series, so now 4 is the cap
Q. You missed a tag from that poll! Can it be added?
A. Sure! Tags are either provided by the submitter or where left blank, I'll use my best guess. At minimum, you'll get the name of the character and series as they've been submitted. If you know more, let me know and I'll add them to the post during the voting period. Please note: The polls themselves cannot be edited after being posted, only the tags
Q. I don't understand what this blog is
A. Don't worry about it, friend. Just keep driving and whatever you do, don't wind down the window. We'll be safe soon :)
Q. Didn't think blog used to be called the Found Family Adoption Agency?
A. It was, but I were made aware that the language used on the blog could be seen as potentially harmful to real life adoptees, so I changed the name of the blog and made some edits to try to avoid using such language. Posts made prior to 5th May 2024 will still contain references to adopt/ditching, so tread with caution on older posts
#tumblr found family#found family#found family hq#pinned post#welcome#rules#FAQ#signal boosts appreciated
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Bloodstains in the Snow
Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.
Pairing: Billy Russo x F! Reader
Warnings: Violence, swear words (I think), little fluff.
Word Count: 1.5K-ish
Summary: After a late night job, Billy wanders through the snow, figuring out how he feels about you.
A/N: I wrote this pretty quick but I actually think it’s pretty good, maybe even one of the best things I’ve written. I love writing fluffy Billy but every once in awhile I really enjoy violent/unhinged/unapologetic Billy. But he’s still soft for the person he loves. I hope you like it and hope you all enjoy your holiday season! ♥️
As always, thank you for reading! I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕
The late night city sounds were muffled by the heavy flakes of snow as they fluttered quickly to the ground. After the job was finished, he just wandered along the sidewalk looking down at what looked like a carpet of cotton beneath his feet.
His leather and black shearling coat collar pulled up to block the snow from touching the hot skin of his neck and his black beanie covered his ears to protect him from the savage wind that assaulted him from all directions.
He closed his eyes and remembered how much blood was spilled tonight.
He passed bar patrons that had ducked outside quickly for a few drags on their cigarettes before running back inside to get away from the bitter cold.
The scent of ash mixed with the fresh scent of the snow occupied his sense of smell even after he walked past that strip of bars. Stifled music coming from inside the bars was only clear when someone would open the door and muted again once the doors were closed.
Sometimes the desert overseas would get cold at night, but it would never get New York City winter cold. Blood looked brighter against the colorless shroud of snow than on top of the desert sands but spilled blood was spilled blood and it all came from the same source…evil.
Overseas, he spent some nights trying not to die and he flirted with death on more than one occasion. He had wondered if he would die never knowing what it’s like to be truly loved by someone and would he ever have what his best friend Frank had…a loving wife and kids.
“Only the dead have seen the end of war” and Billy Russo wouldn’t go down without fighting. He had done it his entire life…he was a survivor and a fighter. He fought for his life and for his country in wars at home and war overseas but he still didn’t know if he was worthy of love.
If he deserved love, then why did she leave him? Why did she abandon him? He was just a little boy. Did she love him at all? He didn’t know the answer to that and he would never know. Now, he wondered if anyone could love him for who he really is, even with all the things he has done.
Maybe you could be the one to love him.
The picturesque snow drifts were a perfect white under the glow of the city street lamps, his mind then flashed to ribbons of red running through the snow cradling the bodies of the would-be assassins. They had come for the state representative Billy and his team were protecting.
His last thoughts had been of you when he had the large arms of a mob boss wrapped tightly around his neck before Frank put a bullet in between his eyes.
Billy didn’t think twice about killing them all, no regard for any of their lives. He didn’t know if any of them had families or children and he didn’t care. All he knew was he had a job to do and he wanted to go home to you.
The goon had said something in Billy’s ear that caused his muscles to stiffen and his face to flush with rage. “You gotta real pretty girl, Russo. After we’re done with you, we’ll pay her a visit at your penthouse.”
They had threatened you.
It wouldn’t have bothered him if he wasn’t attached to you like he was. Billy was very much in love with you although he didn’t realize he was until your life was endangered.
What if they had taken you away from him? He couldn’t live with himself if that happened. Billy Russo didn’t lose fights and he would fight off the entire world just so he wouldn’t lose you.
The hollow cold stung his lungs as he inhaled the mid-winter air and let out a long exhale when he glanced down at the blood on his hands from the scum who’s throat he had just ripped out. Blood poured out quickly; it could not be contained. That man was now lying in the snow gasping for air he would never get. Billy saw nothing but red until they were all dead.
The rage burned like white hot fire in his veins as he sliced them all from groin to sternum, spilling their insides, disrupting the blanket of white underneath them and then it was over.
A devilish grin extended across Billy’s mouth, his doll-like eyes shined against the stark white snow as he watched their lives fade away forever into the cold; he enjoyed killing even though he knew he shouldn’t.
As he continued to walk against the powerful wind, his lips curled up into a slight smile. You were safe and warm back at his penthouse…probably sound asleep.
Billy didn’t want to think about it but he wondered what it would be like if he never got to sleep next to you again, or you reaching for his shirt collar in your sleep so you could nuzzle into the crook of his neck to keep your nose from getting cold.
When he had nightmares, you didn’t get scared. You were only scared for him and hoped you were doing enough to comfort him. It was more than anyone else had done for him and he welcomed it.
But what if he never got to hear you laugh or see your beautiful smile again? He was never going to give those up; he was never going to give YOU up. Billy started to walk faster into the large snowflakes falling quickly from the sky toward Anvil to get his car.
The walk to clear his head was done and he was ready to go home.
Finally, he was inside the car and out of the smothering cold, he looked at his hands as they grasped the steering wheel. Wind burned and blood stained, it was difficult to not look at them as he carefully drove home.
The snow-covered streets were nearly empty as the clock on the dashboard flashed 2 AM; he drove slowly, being extra careful not to slip and slide all over the road. Billy didn’t survive a night of mob bosses and thugs just to be taken out in a car accident.
When Billy arrived home, he inhaled sharply, unlocked the door and stepped inside. As he closed the door behind him, he exhaled forcefully and removed his boots.
The chill in his bones lingered until the hot water from the shower pelted against his skin, and the scent of your shampoo still hung inside the confines of the shower doors. It was silly but he loved to wash your hair and his mouth went tight with anger when he realized he didn’t get to do that for you tonight.
His tension eased however when he remembered that because you were safe, he would be able to do it the next time. It took a little effort but Billy removed the blood from his hands and from underneath his fingernails; they returned to their normal color and his long skilled fingers, along with the rest of his body, were no longer cold.
He could not wait to hold you.
The soft orange glow of the salt lamp illuminated your face just enough for Billy to see you were fast asleep. You stirred slightly when he pulled the blanket back and let a low whimper escape your lips as he carefully inched closer; he did not want to disturb your sleep.
You were wearing one of his old Marines t-shirts when he reached for you, his hands slipped under the blanket to touch your bare thigh, and your warm skin was soft from the lotion you applied earlier.
The tip of your nose touched the base of Billy’s neck and you wrapped your fingers around the collar of his shirt. The bristles of his beard brushed your shoulder as he pressed his lips against you.
He had never been more relieved to be home.
“I don’t deserve you, sweet girl. The things I’ve done…” He said in barely more than a whisper.
But he did. Billy did deserve to be loved, he was worthy of the love he craved and desired. He had to fight and kill to survive, to live; that didn’t make him a bad person. And now he had another reason to do what he does best…for love.
He did love you, he was sure of it now. “I love you.” Said Billy, softly against your ear.
And you loved him.
As long as there are men like that out there, Billy will always have a war to fight. He will make it his mission to destroy any evil that could take away the love he’s wanted his entire life.
As the snow continued to fall outside your window, the dreamlike picture below outshined the carnage shed outside on the streets tonight.
The tomb-like silence was music to his ears as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep while the blanket of white piled up high, cloaking the red stains left behind. “They won’t be missed.” He said to himself.
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” -Plato
Tag List: @wheresthesunshinesblog @rafaelakelley @idaoftheburningmind @snowkestrel @fakehappy27 @music-indie-tv @fictional-hooman @kayhi808 @munsonownsmyass @gijos @celestialams @k-marzolf @nutmeg17 @rosaleenablack @vaguekayla @qu1etwolf @danzer8705 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes
Others that might enjoy: @itwasthereaminuteago @fluffyprettykitty @jvanilly @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend
If you’d like to be added (or removed from) my tag list(s) for the ever so handsome Billy Russo, just let me know and thank you again for reading! 💕💕💕 If I tagged you but you didn’t want to be, just let me know and I’ll never do it again.
#billy russo#billy russo x reader#billy russo fanfic#billy russo imagine#billy russo x female reader#billy russo x you#billy russo x y/n
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Aiden BPD headcanonsssss because my dad is being weird and I feel weird too
(Most of these are based on my experiences living with somebody who has bpd, and maybe myself but we won't talk about that haha)
Tw for all the things bpd tends to cover (self harm, abuse, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation, brief mention of cannabis in a medical context)
-definitely a big source of trauma is his parents basically abandoning him for long stretches of time
-Prone to splitting regarding them. When they're not around its so much easier to be like "Whatever, fuck them, I don't care." But when they *are* around, they're always so affectionate, a lot of "it's not their fault they're busy", "they don't mean it", kind of thoughts...it's okay Aiden, people can still love you even if they treat you badly :/
-y'all know he's self destructive. Yall KNOW. He's been in 7 different go-kart "accidents", once broke his hip trying to impersonate Tony Hawk, and he WILL be crashing his car into a tree after binge drinking.
-Self harms as a form of stimulation sometimes. He just gets SO bored. Usually will slam his head on the nearest hard object or cut himself with his compass.
-has been to a "wellness center" (mental hospital) after an episode where when his parents were on a trip, they returned and found him catatonic on his bed, he hadn't gotten up for almost 8 weeks and his mattress was stained with urine. Not to mention he'd gotten extremely sick after eating only Ramen. Called this a "blip" and hasn't done anything like this again, but only cuz he hated the hospital so much :/
-not really good at managing his anger. He gets pissed off easily (his jaw starts clenching), but has definitely eased off with the yelling and picking a fight with the person. May say some things he may or may not regret later :/ might like kick the wall or smth too-
-his feelings of emptiness and boredom get really exacerbated when he tries to sleep, so he just doesn't sleep until he passes out from exhaustion.
-extremely rare, but if he cries its almost never the appropriate time.
-his favorite person (and I mean this in the bpd way not just the usual way) was Ben, now it's Ashlyn. She asks Ben for advice sometimes on how to understand him better. Is trying to get better, but he just wants all of her attention all the time. He could make a soliloquy of all the things he loves about her. She's the one who pushed him to go back to therapy and told him "hey, I think you have somethinh"
-Weirdly protective but in a hands off way?? Even tho he really doesn't handle himself well? He knows his friends can take care of themselves but it doesn't stop him from running through the worst case scenario. Freaks out if people are late, especially if they're punctual. Also really defensive of them, they do no wrong in his eyes (except when they do :/)
-used to push people away to avoid disappointment or abandonment, especially because they needed to move so much. All his relationships were very superficial. Ghosted people a lot.
-Has chronic pain as an adult because of all the injuries he suffered through as a kid, not to mention his shitty posture. He takes painkillers, but they leave him zoned out and with even worse insomnia so he doesn't take them a lot. Sometimes uses medicinal weed if the pain is really bad. Ash tries to help by rubbing his back, though she says she's not that useful. He always feels better afterwards tho ❤️
-Smokes if he is really stressed, but he's ashamed about it and tries not to do it too much. Picked it up after stealing some of his mom's cigarettes when he was younger.
-his inner voice is extremely negative and he is generally under the impression that everybody hates him. Tries to act like this doesn't bother him and acts like a nuisance because if everybody hates him why even bother filtering his thoughts or actions?
-why were you even born? Who'd love a screw up like you? Your own parents didn't even want you.
-rejection sensitivity and gets really depressed if he's upset one of his friends. Will usually self harm to cope because he think lashing out will make things worse and he just doesn't know what else to do.
-he loves deeply and he's fiercely loyal. He's good with children. He's a wonderful artist. And he is so very incredibly kind. His bpd does not define him as a person.
I don't know if anybody needs to hear this, but, having BPD is not a death sentence. You're not doomed to be a bad person or an abuser, and I say this as somebody who was abused by someone with BPD (my own father). People with BPD are scared, they are struggling, and most of all, they're tired. If you or somebody you care about thinks they're have bpd, try to contact a doctor or specialist and seek professional help.
I'm gonna go cry in the shower now :)
#back with another round of: guess what my dad did!#bonus points if you figure out what *i* did#sbg#school bus graveyard webtoon#sbg (webtoon)#school bus graveyard#aiden clark#headcanons#ashlyn banner#aidlyn#tw abuse#tw self h@rm#tw substance abuse#is weed still like#controversial in the us?#i have no idea#tw self harm
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What majors 'Attack on Titan'characters would have in college AU (part 2):
Source: My Majors
Word count: 1.1k
(part one)
11. Sasha: Crisis/Emergency/Disaster Management
• Sasha was first admitted to a college with the major Culinary Science, along with her boyfriend, Niccolo, but left the course after a month
• I want to eat food not study it was what she retorted to everyone, but in reality, she just felt she would not be contributing enough to the community
• As the major took out for a lot of field work, she signs up for all, and even joined internships from the first year itself, regarding the same
• A procrastinator; crams on the night of the exam, while Niccolo is cooking her assortment of dishes and gets super groggy on examination mornings :')
12. Connie: Graphic Design
• His mother was extremely proud of her son getting into the college; so much that she had told every other person passing on the streets how Connie will be a genius, in whatever tech stuff he is doing
• Opted for a college far away from home, because he wanted to experience life to the fullest by living alone, and learning to fend for himself
• Teaches basic computer science to two kids, and works as a freelancer digital artist, along with juggling his classes
• Loves his subject and puts effort behind it quite regularly, but call him for a party he'd be there with two extra beer bottles, ridiculously shimmery clothes and a party popper!
13. Jean: Architecture
• Look me in the eye and tell me that Jean doesn't look like a dreamy arch student, always carrying his sketchbook along with him and sitting down to draw the building or monument designs that seem to intrigue him
• Was in eighth grade, when Mikasa told him that the way he draws the buildings are very clean. Boom, and he wants to draw them for the rest of his life
• For some reason, his mother did not approve of his subject choice, until one day she found a few building designs doodled in placards sprawled over his desk and reconsidered her opinion
• Loves a good party once in a while, but really wants to work behind the subject so sometimes, calls a rain check
14. Erwin: Intelligence
• Ever since Erwin can remember, he wanted to be in the army, fighting for his motherland. That was what he had wanted all his life, and he had every quality to enlist himself for it until he sustained incurable injuries on his right arm trying to save an elderly couple from an accident
• Intelligence major was a piece of cake for Erwin, for he was a natural leader, acing all his classes with ease. He loves spending time in the library a lot, and his favourite book is rumoured to be 'Crime and Punishment' by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• He is equally loved and lusted by the women in his university, but apart from occasional casual flings, he does not want to engage in a relationship because it 'fuddles his mind'
• His room is speck clean and he likes working out regularly and eating healthy (cooks his own food and is distrustful of the canteen meals)
15. Zeke: Law
• In school, Zeke was reprimanded a lot because according to his teachers, he was 'always quipped with a brash follow-up question, with no regards to authority'. In college, he encashed it by enrolling himself in a law major programme
• He is a big believer in practical knowledge and quickly networked to find internship opportunities to practice and observe lawyers alongside his regular studies
• With an absentee father, he worked two side jobs as a cashier at Starbucks and a private tutor
• He participated a lot in debate competitions and moot courts to enhance his critical thinking and analytical skills
16. Marco: Film Studies
• Always a sweet and dreamy guy, Marco chose film studies because he passionately believes films influence people a lot
• Ask him, and he will name the most obscure movies just to seem like a film student with a mysterious air, while in reality, his favourite movie is Mean Girls
• Likes people watching and tries to do all his college work sitting in a cafe, with 'coffee, coffee, coffee!'
• Has tried making short films, and although the themes and plots have been pretty good, he is yet to get real recognition for them
17. Porco: Aviation
• Ever the cocky guy, Porco took aviation because it made him feel like he was on top of the world
• Scored average in theory but was very skilled in practical knowledge
• His professors have often recommended he enlist for the air force, but he doesn't want to; he wants a low-key life without stress (staning a king who knows the importance of mental health!)
• Flirts A LOT with his fellow classmates, and 10/10 uses his charm to get his homework and assignments done
18. Pieck: Inorganic Chemistry
• Pieck's main goal in life is to see more women in STEM, and thus, her major
• Has excellent mathematical and statistical skills and uses them efficiently to excel
• Straight A student, has the special lucky glasses that she wears while taking her exams
• Very humble and soft-spoken, she is often forced to help others even when she doesn't really want to
19. Gabi: Marketing Research
• Gabi originally wanted to become a footballer and had once run away from home because she felt her parents did not approve of her career choice
• While football is still her passion, she has a newfound love for marketing
• Immense persuasive skills and great essays make her one of the toppers of her batch
• Feels stressed trying to juggle studies and football, but she loves both and can't live life with one without the other
20. Falco: Art History Criticism and Conservation
• Falco loved visiting art museums as a kid, and this love of his followed well into adulthood
• His favourite artist is Monet, and his core memory of college is their field trip to the Sistine Chapel
• Loves art, any art in any form, and appreciates every art he sees; is passionate about learning more and has inculcated the skill of finding beauty in everything
• His dorm room is filled with paintings from roadside artisans that he fell in love with, and on Sundays, he tries painting himself (and fails miserably, but is the happiest)
#aot#snk#attack on titan#shingeki no kyojin#aot college au#college au#aot headcanons#anime headcanons#sasha blouse#connie springer#jean kirstein#erwin smith#zeke yeager#marco bott#porco galliard#pieck finger#gabi braun#falco grice
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i can't take it anymore,
if you are not going to put any amount of effort into researching the experiences of actual mixed race people, please do not write about your white half-elf dnd/bg3 character as an oppressed minority
"not accepted by elves or humans" is such a vague statement, it's basically meaningless!!
even if you don't have a backstory fully formed in your head, your character does not live in a vacuum. "not accepted" by WHICH elves? WHICH humans? especially if they live in a sword coast city -- why would those elves and humans they pass on the street have any care in the world about their existence as a half elf??
is the character going in to elven grocery stores, speaking in elvish only for the proprietor to give them a weird look or a hard time about their accent? are random humans doing double takes before asking, well where are they really from?
(actual advice below (from a biracial person if that needs to be said))
half elves are really, really not that uncommon. even if they're a rarity in their individual community, that alone isn't a reason for them to be discriminated against. elves aren't a marginalized group in most generic dnd settings or Forgotten Realms! Not human =/= oppressed!
instead, think about what the character's upbringing would have been like and what cultures they were exposed to rather than shaping them on basis of race. a biracial character isn't just someone who doesn't "fit" within a binary system, there are a hundred other factors at play, too.
let's say their elf and human heritages are opposite sides of a riverbank. if they grew up on one side primarily (raised by the elf OR human parent), did they ever get a glimpse of the other side -- whether that was sun, moon, wood elf cultures, or any number of human cultures? what did it look like? did they care about it enough to learn more on their own, or were they content to turn their back to it and stay on the side they were at? maybe they never had an opportunity to learn more!
plenty of people irl have no connection to parts of their heritage. it's up to you to decide whether that is a source of grief, shame, anxiety, etc., for your character. there's no wrong answer, but it's important to explore.
if the character grew up separated from one "side," did they ever get a chance to cross that river? how? was it on a makeshift raft, undertaken at their own peril? did they have regularly scheduled ferry trips, wherein crossing that gulf was a pleasurable or hopeful experience? why did they seek to return or visit in the first place -- was it out of curiosity or filial duty?
if they're seeking a "home" to return to because they've felt out of place in other parts of the world, do they find that there? what about these cultures resonates with them, especially if they were not exposed to it as much from a young age?
can they even speak the language of their predecessors?
diaspora creates so many different environments for people irl -- some kids of immigrants never visit their parents' homeland, while others have the wealth and resources to return regularly. different amounts of grief and obligation are felt by everyone involved in both situations. many of those who leave the community are expected to send back money, clothes, supplies, etc., if they left for a "better life"; and despite their best efforts to maintain their ties to the community, they often end up estranged from their own culture and language over time as they assimilate into their new home. it's a devastating situation especially with the history of colonialism across the globe.
but with regards to fantasy cultures of elves and humans, the possible scenarios are just as endless! a half elf character could have easily been raised by a happy couple who made an effort to share their culture, languages, and histories with their child. conversely, they could have been raised by an elven parent who, still mired in grief at the loss of their short-lived lover, raises their child with resentment borne from that grief, or an overbearing, overprotective nature to keep this "living memory" of their love alive.
maybe the character was raised by a human parent who knows nothing about the elven culture their partner came from -- maybe they feel guilty they can't share it with their child, and maybe they don't. an inherent talent for magic from fae ancestry etc. could be at play here as well, which the parent might or might not be familiar with. something else to consider is that the human parent may only live for a fraction of their child's life even if they die of old age. (this is true in real life as well, obviously, but of slightly different significance here)
tl;dr you can play a half elf like they're a human but with darkvision, it's fine. but if you're wanting to explore how their mixed heritage would shape them, especially for backstory trauma reasons, consider in what ways they're an outsider -- and to whom.
#bg3#dnd#idk i'm just shouting into the void#but genuinely hope this is helpful in any way to someone somewhere#one day i'll get to the weirdly polarizing focus on drow and colorism i've been seeing recently#sometimes i look at my tl and feel like i've been transported back to 1910#and it's just about ELVES
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Heey, back again with Chapter 6 :) Nothing too major goin on here, really. Nothing actually important happens until later. @itsberrydreemurstuff, @bibooby, and @laegume, I saved you all seats. (Also, @andyssilly, thought I might tag you in case you don't see this.)
Uh, before I start our little performance, I have a few lil things I'd like to say reaaal quick. The first is thaaaat... *brp bada brp brp brp boooo (that was a trumpet noise if you couldn't tell)* I have a tag for the fic now! I tagged all the chapters under the title "Where the Stars Don't Shine", so if you type it into my lil thing, it should come up! I'll probably pin a post with a the chapters linked eventually, I just keep forgetting to do it. And the second thing is slightly less important, but thought I might put it here anyways. Guys, I post polls sometimes that help me make decisions on things regarding the chapters. Nothing major, of course, just small tidbits and whatnot, but I'd really appreciate it if more people could vote on those. It's cool though, I don't mind.
Anyways, that's all for now, I guess! Soooo...
On with the show!
Word Count: 1,514
The day thankfully passes by without much issue, though truthfully you were in a daze for most of it. All you remember is the lights being unusually bright (you thought nothing of it) and a puppet show. Sun hadn’t spoken to you since your wake-up, which was a bit of a relief.
Cleaning had been a bit slower on your end. You think Sun had mentioned it at some point, though you could be mistaken. You know for a fact that he told you not to bring your pills to work on account of the kids getting access to them after you took one to ease the sharp throbbing in your head that had not let up after your nap. Strangely, you felt worse afterwards. You were sorely tempted to put in your earbuds, if only to block out that awful buzzing. You refrained, however; you really didn’t need Sun chastising you for the third time today.
You said good night, getting no response, and left. You don’t remember getting home, but you do remember trying to find something to eat in your nearly bare pantry. You found some eggs and semi-decent bread, made french toast, and passed out.
The pounding is not evaded today, either. Your head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton, and it takes effort to keep your eyes open. You splash some water on your face as a temporary fix, drink a bit of cough medicine to fight back your sore throat, and head to work.
You head straight for the desk, not bothering to say good morning to the animatronic in charge this time. Your bag hits the floor with a hard thunk, and you open it. You hope you thought to pack a lunch earlier, though you seriously doubt it with your frazzled state.
Evidently, the source of the noise is actually a brick. You’re not even sure how you managed it, but it does explain why it felt so heavy to lug around. You assume it’s Moon’s work and think little else of it, placing it off to the side before Sun spots it and accuses you of vandalism or burglary or something.
From the things you actually packed, most are your typical. Laptop, two books instead of one, earbuds, keys, your phone, and a second set of clothes. No lunch, though you weren’t expecting that one. You do find a granola bar instead, and tuck it in your pocket for safekeeping. Maybe you could eat it on the break you never used.
You interest yourself in the books you brought. You’d already read (book) from cover to cover a dozen times over, but one more couldn’t hurt. The other was one of your additions for the children, and something you were hoping Moon would approve of as well. You hadn’t seen a copy of Brambly Hedge anywhere, but you’d love’d it when you were growing up. They’d liked the Peter Rabbit copy you’d put in, so with any luck, this one would garner a similar reaction.
You remind yourself to bring something for your coworker some other time. Moon may be a prick, but he seemed to get pretty bored when the children fell asleep. Perhaps something to keep him occupied would help, and maybe even get him off your back when the lights cut. What kind of books would he like, though? He’d stolen one of your Sherlock Holmes novels in your first month of work, and you’d caught him peeking over your shoulder on several different occasions when you’d brought your gothic horrors and dystopians, which also tended to mysteriously disappear. You couldn’t just walk up to him and ask, though. Asking either of them for something hardly ever went well.
You brush off the thought and remind yourself to actually request some funding for an idea you’d gotten some time back. The Daycare, action packed and entertaining as it was, didn’t really have much reading material outside of little kiddie books featuring corporate’s mascots, and while you weren’t opposed to donating your old children’s books, some newer ones would probably be more appealing. You’d noticed that Moon also seemed to enjoy the greater variety. He tended to gravitate towards classics and fables for naptime, though you made sure to only plant a few at a time do as not to arouse suspicion. You were pretty sure they thought it was the higher-ups’ doing, and you weren’t going to be the one to correct them.
You whip around, scanning the Daycare for any sign of the animatronic before taking off with the book in hand, shelving it among the other books you’d brought. You walk back to the desk, feeling almost proud of yourself, until a voice pipes up behind you. “Friieeend, what are you dooing?”
For the record, despite what the security cameras captured, you did not screech and trip over nothing.
You flip over and jump back up onto your feet, hastily responding to fend off any conclusion he’d make about this. “Who’s doing something? Me? No, I’m not doing anything, nothing at all.”
Yeah, that didn’t sound suspicious at aaaall, nice going.
Sun’s faceplate turns, static grin growing wider with each click. “Reeeally now? Because it seems to me like you were trying to sneak something from the shelf.”
Great. Now he thinks you’re a thief.
You shake your head frantically, crossing your arms to further prove a point. “No, no I’m not, promise.” Yeah, that’ll help, Y/N, way to seem like a criminal.
His face reverts to its normal position, and you think you’re in the clear (until) he speaks up again. “Glad to be wrong then! Still, I think I’d rather be safe than sorry. You wouldn’t mind if I checked, would you?”
This smug little- You shoot him a strained smile and a thumbs-up that does not display your panic in any way. “Nnnnnnope, go right ahead!”
His own smile stretches. He stoops down to your height and surveys the shelf, default smile forming an unreadable expression that you’re not sure you want to uncover the meaning of. He speaks after a few moments. “This wasn’t here earlier.” He taps the spine of the newly added Brambly Hedge on the shelf for emphasis.
You swallow, arms locked at your sides. You question whether you’d prefer him accusing you of thievery or stupidity.
He pulls it out and flips through the pages, gaze snapping back to you quizzically.
“How did it get here?” He muses out loud, putting you on the spot with a look that makes you freeze.
Your brain races to find an acceptable response other than the actual truth, and lying will only get you in more trouble.
You pause. Moon can’t know.
“Is Moon listening?” you probe.
He pauses, rays doing a half-spin before he responds, “Not at the moment.”
You seriously doubt that, but it’ll have to do.
You’re so screwed.
You fiddle with the hem of your shirt, rushing what you want to say at speeds that leave your lungs gasping as you stumble over your words. “I noticed the older kidsandsometimesMoon get bored so I thought I could bring some booksforthemfromhome but I haven’t asked management forper-permissionyetIwasgonnadothatintoday’sreportsorryandthekidsreallylikedperterrabbitsoithoughtmaybethey’dlikethisonetoopleasedon’ttellmoonormanagementIcan’tlosethisjob.”
Your eyes are tightly screwed shut by the end of your tirade, hands clenched into fists. You peek an eye open to find Sun not in front of you, but on the other side of the room.
Yep, you are so dead when naptime rolls around.
—---------------------------------
Sun was at a sort of standstill with this new information. You were the one responsible for those books mysteriously piling up on their shelves, out of your own pocket, and you hadn’t thought to ask management?
He hadn’t been lying when he told you Moon was absent: his brother was never active when Sun was out, preferring to stay offline unless called upon.
He should tell Moon. This was probably something he’d want to know, something that could possibly get you fired.
He paused. Would it get you fired? On one hand, you were required to report everything, including any changes you requested. On the other, you were the one paying for said changes, which meant the company didn’t have to do it themselves. If anything, they’d probably just issue you off with a warning and make you pay for everything.
Besides, while the Daycare was practically perfect in his humble opinion, he did have to admit he appreciated the new additions, and he wasn’t going to refuse the benefits, even if they were from you.
Sun had a feeling his brother wouldn’t agree.
Another lightbulb flickered on in his head. You’d bought the books. He wondered what else you’d brought under the guise of management.
He sighed, conflicted. You were right, the kids did like Peter Rabbit, along with every other book you’d brought in.
He supposed he could keep this little revelation to himself. Not for you, he reasoned, but for the kids. And speaking of the kids, a handful of them were already entering through the doors now, signaling the start of the day.
-------------
Aaaaand that's a wrap! Hope that was up to standard :) Y/N seems to be getting a little worse, hehehe...and I suuure hope Moon doesn't find out about all this, that would make for an interesting confrontation...But yeah, the Assistant's basically been funding most of the stuff for the Daycare at this point. They buy groceries when Management forgets to, restocks for emergency supplies and cleaning stuff, and buys new things for the kids sometimes.
#sorry to bother#don't mind me#fnaf sun x reader#fnaf moon x reader#Moondrop x reader#Sundrop x reader#fnaf moon x y/n#fnaf sun x y/n#Where the Stars Don't Shine
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WHY DOESN’T HARRY WANT HIS CHILDREN TO PAY FEALTY TO HIS FATHER, THE KING? WHY ARE THEY ‘PRINCE’ AND ‘PRINCESS’, BUT THEY DO NOT HAVE TO SWEAR AN OATH TO THEIR MONARCH?
Hello to all You Lovely Readers!
Before we begin, I just wanted to thank all of you for your love, support, and comments! I may not get the chance to reply to all of them, but I cherish every single one. Time is the most valuable resource, and readers are the most valued asset to a writer! This author has by far the BEST READERS!
Now, let’s begin with something that has been on my mind lately.
Why wouldn’t Harry and Meghan want their children to pay fealty to their grandfather, the King? I understand Meghan not doing it, as she is an American citizen and never became a dual citizen. But her children are, from my understanding. They want the children to use those monetary – oops, I meant hereditary- titles… but they don’t want them there? This tells me everything about this whole fiasco regarding the invitations.
People like Harry and Meghan can’t help themselves. There is absolutely no situation where a narcissistic psychopath (or sociopath) would pass up an opportunity like this… UNLESS they got something more valuable in return for staying home. Especially since it’s their “first child’s birthday” the same day.
The media suggests that Harry will be in and out and home by dinner. Then why go? He went because there was a trade-off most likely. Neither would ever desire the time away from one another for fear of weakening the control links. She let him go over there to try and face-to-face pressure him a couple weeks ago when he showed up for a court case he didn’t need to be there for. Her kids on the balcony was worth more to her than him potentially cheating on her with an ex or getting de-programmed.
ANY TIME a narcissistic psychopath or sociopath risks the deprogramming of their mark from an outside source, they either will benefit more from the risk, or they are making moves to move on.
The CDAN blinds suggest he spent an hour talking to an ex on another person’s phone. Why? They also suggest a half-in-half-out scenario where Harry will work alone as a half-timer for the Royal Family… I don’t buy that, and it would shock me. I’m not bashing CDAN, as I read them often. I am questioning the intel sources.
Here’s what everyone forgets. A narcissistic psychopath will believe in himself regardless. I appreciate some media personalities saying Meghan has a fear of being irrelevant, but that is not how these minds work. They have no fears or shame. They believe they are above it and everyone else is beneath them. They won’t cave like you think.
Meghan most likely wasn’t ever invited to the Coronation. The media suggests she refused the invite, but she’s only pushing that via PR to save face with the Sussex Squaddies. Remember, she keeps the Squaddies in the divorce. They are already talking mad crap about Harry right now. Everyone says a divorce will take a while, and it may. BUT…
People like Harry and Meghan are irrational thinkers who are inherently impulsive. We saw this with Megxit. They could’ve probably had their cake and eaten it, too, had they been patient with Her Majesty. But Her Majesty wasn’t afforded the luxury of compromise, was she?
The Royal Family has been planning these upcoming changes for a while now, and Harry could’ve been the perfect guinea pig to see how people would accept a half-in scenario for other working royals one day who may be children now. He could’ve been an asset, but the impulsivity ruined his chances. Not his wife. She just exacerbated them.
With Meghan now in California, she has an absolute zero chance of changing minds or whittling away at anything. Robert Johnson tells us that the Queen was so concerned about leaking because of Meghan and Harry, that she had the Sandringham library swept for bugs. Meghan couldn’t attend via Zoom because they didn’t trust the line. Charles and William made a pact to never speak to Harry alone.
DO YOU REALLY THINK THESE PEOPLE WILL EVER BE ALLOWED BACK INTO ANY PALACE TOGETHER? WITHOUT the Palace taking an offensive approach to stop leaks? They aren’t trusted. They aren’t wanted. I bet Harry agreed to go and she stayed in exchange for saving face because she was never really invited anyway, that the invite only extended to him either way.
So if that is true, why wouldn’t the King want his grandchildren to come with Harry? It would suggest that they either had no choice, or they knew something that would make that decision less hard to make (i.e. why invite a stranger with no blood ties to a wedding?) Yeah, they are too young to be apart of the TV nonsense and behavior plays a roll and all that. But for them to not come at all? His birthday would be the best day to see his grandfather.
It makes the rumors regarding Meghan photographing Catherine and William’s home (and children) seem even more true. Which brings me to this thought…
What if the whole ordeal of Megxit was a culmination of several events, with the straw-breaking moment being the pregnancy announcement? Think about it. We all know the oddities surrounding the pregnancy. Meghan probably planned to do it that way so she could sow an excuse out of the clues. She planned to create strife to excuse their presence so she could hide the truth in America. Claim racism, run to the US, and nobody is reminded of the oddities. That’s definitely one theory…
Or, they found them out and told them that they would be phased out if they didn’t take full responsibility. When they refused, they decided to try to get ahead of it all by launching that now-worthless website, Sussex Royal. The Royal Family will NEVER allow them to look compliant if there were shenanigans regarding those children. They’d be just as responsible.
Meghan let Harry go alone so she could start the next phase of her own plan. He’s probably double-crossing planning, too. They are two sides of the same coin. Harry could easily go back to his family and say, “Let’s throw her under the bus. Let me expose her for who she is. People already believe that she’s to blame. Let her be.” The Firm could work with that, for a way back for Harry alone. But…
I don’t believe these excuses they paint that Harry was lovestruck and besotted to stupidity. Yes, it is possible. I know firsthand, everyone. FIRST HAND. At the same time, people miss things because they excuse them. If we stop excusing Harry’s actions and start looking at them, we see his MO.
He cares more about destroying the Monarchy because he feels wronged. Remember, psychopathic/sociopathic narcissists don’t find fault or fear in anything regarding themselves. They aren’t scared of not being loved or in power because they assume it is already theirs. They assume everyone else is just slow to come around, and they just need to be shown the way, the truth.
If it sounds cultish, it is because it is. These two deserve each other, and they will only self-implode. Deepak Chopra already revealed that Harry and Meghan are struggling. Meghan has aligned herself with people that could care less about right or wrong if they see a way to monetize the drama or interest. These people want Harry, not her. But if he is not willing to play the role or walk back some of the statements made… they will ensure he is part of the problem instead of part of the victim gang.
EVERYTHING Meghan leaks to the US press is used to stage her next moves and plans. Awards stroke the ego and keep her in the press. Conflict keeps her in the press. Anything to keep her name on the lips of all of us.
If we really really wanted to end them, we’d abandon them both and never mention their names again. We would pick up on other noteworthy Royals and talk about them instead. They need us. Remember, the majority of the Squad are paid influencers. They get no money, they have no reason to stick around. Only the fanatic die-hards will stay put.
If I were Meghan, I would turn this into a phoenix rising moment. She has to stick to her guns and lies about the racism and drama, or she loses what little credibility she has left. She could catapult into stardom by taking a “stand” if she really wanted to convince people.
Sorry this is long and a little uneditied, as I am packing a suitcase in between thoughts. Don’t buy into this narrative that she refused the invite. Those chances are slim. Cons always work best in person. It takes skills she is lacking to be successful virtually. They are both lacking those skills, best believe that.
ALL OF THIS IS MY OWN OPINIONS AND SPECULATIVE BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCES. I’M NOT A PROFESSIONAL, AND I DON’T MIND IF YOU THINK I’M FULL OF IT. DON’T TAKE WHAT I SAY FOR GOSPEL. DON’T TAKE WHAT ANYONE SAYS FOR GOSPEL.
I love you all, and I will be writing again soon!
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babe get off ur high horse you don’t know the reason why anyone chooses to be in or out of a relationship because you run an anonymous hockey blog. maybe auston isn’t equipped for a real relationship or wasn’t treating her correctly? Or maybe Megan’s camp prefers to not say anything bad about him so that’s what’s being passed around? your tone has gotten negative regarding her recently and she’s legitimately done nothing to you or anyone who writes in im sure of it. Telling people not to be assholes over hair and then proceed to be one about another female whose hair you literally were an asshole about…. it’s giving hater
all I was trying to say is maybe they are keeping the real reason behind their on/off situation to themselves because the “focus on his career” doesn’t seem believable to me. If that was the reason, why did she hang around him during the playoffs last season? Why was she there during the regular season? That doesn’t add up.
I think there are likely some bigger, deeper issues and that’s caused them to be on/off throughout their time together but because they know of gossip blogs, twitter, Reddit, and so many other platforms that discuss them, they are trying to keep that aspect of their relationship private. It could be Auston isn’t ready for a serious relationship, he may not be in a place to think about his future (marriage, kids, etc), he cheated, she cheated, she doesn’t want to move to Toronto, there are so many reasons why their relationship is so hot and cold, but they may not want everyone to know the real issues within their relationship. It’s a lot easier to say “they are busy with their career” than to admit the truth.
and this is an anonymous gossip blog, meaning the people who send stuff on here are also anonymous. So many people claim to have “sources” and so many are wrong. I remember Megan’s birthday in 2022 an anon swore Auston wasn’t in napa with her, she was with a sponsor, they had a source - hours later he posted pics from Napa.
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here's a fun question that i haven't thought through yet but could be fun
a giant mecha monokuma slammed through the ceiling right
mass destruction on people who were not suspecting it
of the three people who were there, one of them is still conscious (kyoko, the answer is kyoko, she's the pov character, i needed her conscious), one of them is dead (which was not intended but fits, i think, with the whole), and one is unconscious. definitely with a head wound, but probably no lasting head trauma.
here's the question.
should the character who is currently unconscious with a head wound, by nature of being closest to the epicenter of the landing monokuma, maybe also have some sort of spinal injury. re: paralysis.
like maybe they should be the one that isn't dead and the other person should be paralyzed (which actually would make sense, but there's a different sort of. impact. depending on who dies)....
you know what, spoiler talk under the cut, i actually want to crowd source this and talk this through and have thoughts.
right now hina is dead. done. gone. dead.
this currently leads to a potential conversation between kyoko and junko (or ryoko post-memory recovery - i'm not sure how much is still junko at that point, i'll get there) about whether junko knew hina would die and if she did, then why didn't she tell kyoko because hina was right next to kyoko and kyoko could have saved her.
i like this potential conversation in terms of 1) junko trauma (if i go with what i'm currently planning re: chiaki, the lasting impact of good people die saving people becomes its own theme - chiaki dying saving junko (when they were kids! so i guess more chiaki dying saving ryoko); makoto dying saving junko; junko choosing to die (sort of) because that's the proper ending (and also saves everyone else from her); kyoko doesn't get the option to die saving hina because kyoko would have died instead) and 2) the limits of junko's ability - she could predict that mikan would come save her, she could even predict how mikan came to save her, but she can't predict where all of the debris landed or where everyone was standing when the debris landed (she could guess at that, at least), and so couldn't have predicted who got hit where/how and so couldn't have known that hina would die to tell kyoko in the first place (not that she would have told kyoko anyway).
but.
byakuya could die instead.
he was at the epicenter of the monokuma landing by proxy of being right next to junko. the monokuma could literally have landed on him and crushed him.
...but i think actually being at the epicenter would protect him because they would need to make sure that junko wasn't hurt when they came to get her, so it's likely he shouldn't be hurt too terribly bad either.
and also byakuya dying would lead to a whole thing with toko/jack, which would lead to even more wanting to murder junko, but anything that hurts byakuya could do that, just not on necessarily the same scale. permanent lasting damage would have a similar effect. especially if he's paralyzed from the waist down.
(this would also lead to toko hovering around byakuya even more than before because she would be trying to help him with the wheelchair and etc. which he would hate. but she would absolutely try to play nurse with him. which would feel really gross but would also be very much in line with danganronpa and would also parallel mikan's treatment of ryoko. for all that we love mikan, there are definitely elements of yeah, but going on with her treatment of ryoko. particularly regarding yasuke. what she knows and says and keeps to herself. what she tries to control with regards to ryoko.
the idea of this injury also being worse because toko tried to move him. like - that's something you instinctively do, right, or maybe she would, seeing byakuya passed out and surrounded by sparking wires and potential more falling debris - it's pick him up, get him out - but like. there are very clear moments when that's a bad idea and you let the professionals do it (but they wouldn't know that professionals were on the way at all!) - and the effects of trying to move and help and save someone who's hurt who was better off not being moved because of things you did not know - how interfering can sometimes make things worse is also a good. parallel with mikan and junko in this situation.)
....
which means i've maybe talked myself into hina stays dead and yes, byakuya paralysis, but.
still taking thoughts if people have thoughts? would like thoughts.
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Chapter Thirty — Infamous
“Well, sometimes if you have someone listen to something they haven’t heard before, they might notice something you didn’t.” Zeke patted the top of a sealed ammo case. “Gain a new perspective. I have a buncha dead drops I’m gonna have to listen to, and I need a conduit’s opinion.”
5k words | 20 min read time | TRIGGER WARNINGS: more goddamn lore and links (i love you guys but it's messy work /s), references to death, disease, catastrophe.
Zeke eventually came back as we finished organizing the papers, taking a moment to crack his neck before looking down at us. “Y’all look about done,” he commented.
Brent nodded. “Nearly, but I don’t think there’s anything here that’ll help.”
I couldn’t help but agree. There was a ton on Celia taking out less-than-desirable people, and while I wasn’t sure yet how to feel about the death of those guys, I knew it wasn’t enough to lead us anywhere.
“Yeah, that’s how it goes sometimes,” Zeke sighed, moving back into the kitchen. “But keep an eye out and an open mind — sometimes things connect in ways you weren’t expecting. Now, your pops is making a call, trying to connect with someone that might have some old info we passed to her years ago. I’m sure when he comes back he’ll go over everything y’all found and see if something stands out.”
I stood, grabbing the little empty mug of coffee and moving to the kitchen with the intention of getting some water, letting the stream run over my hand for a few seconds to take in that peaceful feeling that always came with draining. I screwed my eyes shut and tried to let the calm wash over the anxiety in my chest — and nearly screamed as it jump started my heart and sent it soaring when I opened my eyes to see Zeke standing inches away on my side, arms crossed.
“You good?” He asked me.
Other than nearly having a heart attack because he snuck up on me? “I’m…okay.” I answered. “Just worried. What if all of this is useless, you know?”
“We’re just covering our bases, kid.” He said heartedly. Cheerfully. Way too happily for it still being nine in the morning. “We find nothing here, we’ll just go lookin’ somewhere else. Now,” he raised his voice a bit so it would flow over to Brent, turning so he could regard us both in his sight. “If y’all are done with those files, I could use some fresh ears on some things I have.”
Brent cocked his head a bit, glancing between Zeke and I. “What do you mean?”
“Well, sometimes if you have someone listen to something they haven’t heard before, they might notice something you didn’t.” Zeke patted the top of a sealed ammo case. “Gain a new perspective. I have a buncha dead drops I’m gonna have to listen to, and I need a conduit’s opinion.”
“You want…our help?” I asked.
“Why not?” Zeke shrugged. “Figured it’s the best crash course for y’all — you’ve gotta learn what really happened with the Beast and First Sons and all that, anyways. Figure it’d be better to have sources.”
So we started helping set up Zeke’s desk, moving piles of papers and magazines Zeke threw his hand over and insisted were nothing to make room for this weird little device he seemed to pull out of thin air. “What’s that for?” Brent asked, somehow managing to hold a printer like it was a weightless purse.
“This? Just a little doohickey I made to listen to the dead drops. It’s either this, or I hunt down equipment that’s older than y’all two — and I’m not usually lucky in bidding wars on eBay.”
“You made this?” Brent balked. Excitement quickly overtook his eyes, and I knew he was about to demand to know everything about the gadget as he soaked in the ingenuity. He’d be an inventor if he had the patience to fail.
I let the two ramble on about technical words that escaped me as I finished cleaning off Zeke’s desk, grabbing the ammo case he had brought over and opening it. There was a dank smell that wasn’t at all pleasant, the dozens of little chips in it settling with the same sound LEGOs in a bin did. When there was a lull in conversation, I looked to Zeke, asking, “Why haven’t you uploaded these to a cloud or something? It would make storing them easier.” And it would smell less like swamp, too.
Zeke, though, scoffed. “What, put them online where anyone could claim them? Where the government probably has a backdoor and could delete ‘em for good? Absolutely not.”
He turned to hook the device up to the computer, giving Brent the chance to look at me and shrug.
Dad came into the room just as Zeke finished hooking up the device, and looked between the three of us. “I’m gonna go talk to Eugene, and then I’ll be back down here to help.” He glanced at the papers on the ground. “You guys organize everything?”
We both nodded. “There’s one pile of random stuff I couldn’t really link together, but yeah,” Brent added.
Dad hummed. His eyes breezed over the room but didn’t really seem to settle on any one thing. “Alright, I’ll be right back,”
He disappeared from the room as quickly as he came.
“He seems distracted,” Brent muttered to me.
“Hopefully in a good way,” I added.
“Hopefully in a way that gets us more food. I’m starving.”
“You just ate!”
“Yeah — eggs.” Brent complained in a whisper. “You think that’s enough?"
I shot him a glare just before Zeke turned back around. “Alright, I think the thing’s set up. Pass me a chip, Jean?”
I nodded, grabbing one randomly and laying it in Zeke’s outstretched hand. “You’re sure this will work?”
“Well,” he popped his mouth as he inserted the chip and opened something on his computer. “It either works or explodes.”
“Explodes?”
“Yeah. So you two might wanna step back for a moment till we know which is which,”
Brent and I listened without another word, moving into the living room. I couldn’t help but notice how Brent stood in front of me, arm twitching like it was ready to grow a shield as Zeke finished pressing some buttons and breathed deeply before switching the machine on, flinching as he did so.
No big boom came, though; there was a shrill trill of static, a sort of vibrating tone like it was calibrating, and then the most shocking noise — a British voice.
“Audio report. Final.” The British voice says on the recording in between bursts of loud bangs. “The door won't hold them. I've done what I could to reverse the damage I've unleashed on the world. After Bertrand took control of the First Sons, I chose to stay on and I committed further acts of horror up under his twisted leadership. His resources allowed me to finish the RFI. That is all that matters. My God, I hope it works.” There’s another loud bang, loud enough to make me jump in place. “I hope it exceeds my wildest expectations and put an end to the Plague—”
There was this huge screeching sound as metal itself was broken, clinking against the floor.
“Forgive me Kuo,” the voice rushes to say, “I wish I could've warned you—”
It cut off as the sound of a chair scraping against the floor raked through the static, and then there were punches. That same British voice huffed out in pain until the recording became muffled and then forcefully turned off.
We both stayed silent as Zeke seemed triumphant with the success of the device. “Who was that?” Brent eventually asked, the first to shake off the stupor of what we just heard.
“Sebastian Wolfe,” Zeke explains, turning his chair slightly so we were in his eyesight. “He was one of the head First Sons scientists.”
“He was trying to end the plague?” I asked.
Zeke leaned back in his chair, biting on his tongue for a moment. “He…he was. Or, did,” He began. “That’s what the RFI was for,”
“What’s an RFI?” Brent asked.
Zeke didn’t get to answer; Dad was coming back down the stairs, standing at the foot of them and leaning against the frame of the stairwell. “It’s what stopped the Beast.”
I cocked my head to the side, looking between Dad and Zeke. “I thought…I thought Cole defeated the Beast?”
“He did,” Zeke rushed to say. “He did. But it wasn’t like in the stories where David knocks down Goliath and wins. He had to make a hard choice.”
“The RFI purged ray field energy.” Dad took over. “Cleared it, and that included what was in the magnetic field at the time. Taking it away killed the Beast, but it’s also why almost every conduit died. None of us can survive without it.”
“So that’s….that’s what the mass death was?” I asked. “People said it was because of the Beast dying—”
Dad scoffed, sounding rather annoyed at the idea. “We aren’t minions to something bigger,” He said. “It’s not like we can’t survive without the Beast. Obviously we can — he’s gone. But think about it for a second; if the truth was told, and everyone knew there was a device to kill Conduits — you think there wouldn’t be certain people trying to use it?”
Brent and I glanced at each other; no, it was very likely there would be someone trying to remake the device. And I didn’t like that idea at all.
“I’ve been hiding the notes on the RFI for years so that no one would have that sorta power,” Zeke said. “It didn’t work the first time — it just caused pain. I don’t want it to cause any more.”
My brow knit, and I realized something; the Beast happened in 2011. But Dad…Dad was older than that. “Dad?” I asked. He looked at me, raising an eyebrow in a silent prod to continue. “How did…how did you survive?”
Dad rubs the scruff on his chin. “Don’t know. None of us do.”
“Everyone’s been wondering since they started comin’ back,” Zeke said. “Or, when some didn’t die. It was supposed to work.”
“It was supposed to kill Conduits.” Brent said flatly beside me. “That sounds more like genocide than saving.”
Zeke looked over at Brent with a surprising fire in his eyes. “It would have killed either way. You know how many people would have died if Cole didn’t use the RFI? The plague wasn’t just killing regular humans, kid—anyone with the plague was dying. Conduits included.”
“Inactivated Conduits,” Dad corrected. “Which means I would have died, too, if I caught it.”
Brent had the foresight to at least look remorseful at the fact. “So if you weren’t activated or had the gene, you were just fucked?”
“Brent—”
“C’mon, Dad—”
Zeke interrupted. “Yep. No powers…no survival.”
That silenced the room. No powers, no survival. Cole was literally stuck having to choose between the needs of the many, or the needs of the few—there were even less Conduits then than there were now. Imagine killing off the entire population just to save, like, 7% of it.
I couldn’t imagine how he felt making that choice, no matter how right it was.
Zeke eventually sighed, saying, “Hand me another chip, please.”
I nodded, looking down at the case in my hand and picking one at random. Zeke took it from my outstretched hand and wiped down its surface with the hem of his shirt. He takes a deliberate amount of time hooking it up to the device, long enough that Dad leaves to look at the files Brent and I organized and Brent moves to sit back on the couch.
There was another harsh burst of static before the audio of the next file came through. “Audio surveillance file X76,” that same British guy, Wolfe, said. “Meeting with John White and Lucy Kuo.”
“I wanted to, eh,” a really deep and really grainy voice came on the speaker, “Advise you of a recent incident. Kessler’s plan is unclear to me, so I’ll just stick to the facts: Kessler kidnapped MacGrath’s girlfriend, Trish, and dangled her off of a rooftop.”
“Holy shit,” Brent murmured as my hand came over my mouth.
“He said MacGrath had time to save her. But there was another rooftop with six doctors about to die. MacGrath had to choose.”
Dad shook his head from his place on the floor. Cole had to choose between six innocent people and his girlfriend? That had to be horrible!
A feminine voice, clean and disgusted, simply said, “Sick!” while Wolfe responded with “Madness!” in his best impression of an aghast 1800s European settler.
That grainy deep voice came back on. “He…tried to save his girlfriend. I dunno, maybe he was selfish, but…” he inhaled deep enough for the recording to catch it, “I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same.” Then he scoffed. “Kessler killed them all anyway.”
“Of course,” the feminine voice muttered.
“Evidently he wanted to toughen up MacGrath before the Beast arrives.” The deep voice said. “And who knows — maybe he succeeded. MacGrath definitely seems tougher than I’ve ever seen him.”
The dead drop beeped, signaling its end and leaving us all with so many questions.
“Who was Kessler?” I asked first before anyone else could speak.
Zeke sighed, rubbing a hand over his eye like it was too early for a conversation like this. Maybe it was. “He was the leader of the First Sons.” Zeke started. “Took over the position from some guy he overthrew, I forget his name. Robert? I dunno. I know his son’s name was Alden Tate,” Zeke paused, turning his chair to face all of us. “Kessler wanted Cole to be the one to fight the Beast.”
“So he killed his girlfriend to get him to do it?” Brent asked, incredulous.
“It was about the choice,” Dad realized from the side. “Be selfish, or worry about the greater good.”
Zeke nodded. “And he picked the wrong answer. They all died.”
“How is saving your girlfriend the wrong answer?” Brent demanded.
I ran a finger along the texture of my cast. “It isn’t exactly caring about the greater good…” I murmured. “The doctors probably…they would have been a lot more helpful in Empire City, if it was as bad as Zeke says.”
Brent glared at me. “So you’d sacrifice someone for that? If it was me or Dad or—”
“I didn’t say I would!” I shot back, rolling my eyes. Brent could be so short-sighted, it was annoying.
“Guys,” Dad said off on the side, glaring at us both pointedly. His eyes flicked over to Zeke, who looked like he was going through the five stages of grief as fast as he possibly could.
“He was going to propose to Trish, later that year,” Zeke said, more to himself than anyone. “He wasn’t…he didn’t want to lose that. It had broken him.”
I think it would have broken anyone.
“Was that the idea?” Dad asked Zeke. “Make him get used to making those hard choices?”
Zeke nodded. “Yeah. That’s what Kessler told him, anyway. He needed someone that would be able to make the decision, in the end. That could fight the Beast and have nothing to lose.”
“That’s messed up,” Brent uttered. “He basically groomed MacGrath.”
“Messed up ain’t even the half of it, kid.” Zeke said. He sighed hard, and then motioned silently for me to give him another dead drop.
Wolfe’s voice crackled on. “Audio surveillance of Agent John White, file D102.”
That same deep voice was back, but crystal clear this time. That must be the guy, John White. “I was carrying the Ray Sphere out of the lab when Kessler stopped me. It was...it was strange. He said that I had an important destiny, that I'd accomplish great things.”
Wolfe hummed. “I used to be a skeptic, but many of his predictions actually do come true.”
The guy, John, hesitated to answer. “I don’t know…the way he looked at me? Made me want him to be wrong.”
The dead drop ended there, the most useless one so far.
At least, I thought so. Dad, however, felt otherwise. “Who was John White?” He asked Zeke.
Zeke hesitated. “He, uh…he was an NSA agent. Him and Kuo, they were both supposed to infiltrate the First Sons and get more information on them.”
Dad’s brow furrowed. “I thought…I thought that the government funded the First Sons?”
Zeke threw his head side to side as he tried to figure out how to explain this to Dad. “Well, yes, but they didn’t know they were. The woman in charge of DARPA at the time had a deal with Kessler on the side. You know, under the table, ‘you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours’ sorta stuff. She knew of the First Sons because of their investigations, and then she found out about the Ray Sphere.”
Dad scoffed. “Hear about some magic eight ball that can give you powers, and of course you’ll be interested.”
“Exactly.”
“But why would Kessler think that this White guy was important?” Brent asked from the side. “What, could he see into the future or something?”
Zeke didn't answer that immediately. His eyes sorta traveled off like Dad’s always did when talking about his past, when he was reliving memories that left bad tastes in his mouth, and he inhaled deeply. “John helped us in Empire City, during the quarantine. He tracked down the Ray Sphere and him and Cole destroyed it.”
After a breath, Zeke added. “It also killed him. At least, we thought it did.”
A shadow seemed to come over Zeke’s face, and from where I was, I could see the grip he had on the arm of his chair tighten. “What happened?” I asked softly.
Zeke’s next breath was a bit shuddered. “It activated him. John was the Beast.”
“Oh, shit.” Dad murmured. Brent was too shocked to throw in his own curse words. "So Kessler made the Beast,” Dad scoffed. “Glad to know the First Sons have been the root of every problem.”
“None of this makes sense,” Brent murmured, head in his hands.
I couldn’t help but agree with Brent; my mind was reeling. Not only was there some group with science advanced enough to activate Conduits, but they managed to make the Beast. They created the creature that killed millions and practically turned the east coast into a wasteland.
Zeke had us listen to more dead drops, explaining things along the way; Kuo was another agent tasked with collecting intel at the New Marais First Sons’ base, and Dr. Wolfe was recording these dead drops behind both her and John White’s backs to send to the NSA so they could make sure there was no backstabbing going on. Other recordings featured Joseph Bertrand III, the guy I knew from our history books as the Alt. Right businessman-turned-politician that people contributed with starting the ‘small government’ movement that led to his easy fascist takeover in New Marais. Apparently racist rhetoric and anti…well, anything he deemed sinful wasn’t enough, because he was the head of the First Sons’ New Marais base as well, in search of power. He took the First Sons’ assets the moment Kessler died and used everything to fund his fascist army, the Militia, passing Dr. Wolfe human test subjects to play with along the way.
Those test subjects are what caught Dad’s attention, especially as Dr. Wolfe recorded himself speaking to one.
“I paid a visit to the First Sons' dorms where the Vermaak men were housed.” Dr. Wolfe said into the mic. “Subject 881 approached me and we took a walk. The recording follows.”
“You seem…” the accented voice hesitated. “Agitated, Doctor.”
“I figured out what Bertrand has in store for you. He's going to use the Transfer Device, isn't he?” Dr. Wolfe demanded.
881 sighed. “Sorry, you know I can't say.”
Wolfe wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Do you know who the Conduit is?” he demanded.
“I just... can't comment on this.” 881 talked over him, and I could only imagine the head shake that came with it.
Dr. Wolfe switched to pleading, saying, “You need to know something. The transfer procedure was never designed to split abilities among multiple recipients. I don't know what it will do.”
“You…” 881 drew off, “Just got my attention.”
Dr. Wolfe continued, “Theoretically you'll all be ‘over-clocked,’ so to speak. You'll receive a portion of the true Conduit's power but your body will wear itself out trying to sustain it! You may go insane.”
There was a pause, and then the Vermaak soldier asked, “Why are you telling me this, Doctor? Bertrand, he wouldn't like it.”
Dr. Wolfe sighs hard. “I'm not a brave man, but if I'm right and you and your men lose control, then I'll have far more to fear from you than Bertrand.”
“Did he…” Dad asked the moment the dead drop beeped, signaling its end. “Did he say the Vermaak?”
“Yep.” Zeke swiveled in his chair to face Dad. “Bertrand took out a contract with this private military group and used those guys to make Conduit soldiers. He planned to sell ‘em overseas.”
“I know that name.” Dad hums. “Vermaak 88. They were like some version of green berets from Africa, I think. Reggie worked with them on his tour in Iraq. They were…pretty ruthless, from what he told me when he came back.”
“Yeah, that’s why Bertrand hired them originally — for protection,” Zeke hummed, already digging in the ammo crate for another chip he deemed worthy enough to listen to. “At least, that’s what everyone thought. Turns out, he was being paid under the table to make superhuman soldiers for a buncha war lords.”
“So he was hired, not the other way around?” I asked, Zeke nodding in response.
“Yep. Only guy in the world that had a power transfer device before Brookie and her government funding walked into the picture.” Zeke held up a chip, examining it close. “One on one, the transfer worked damn near flawlessly. Cole only was out for about four minutes when he did it—”
“Woah, wait,” Brent hummed, holding out a hand to pause Zeke’s tangent. “Cole was a forced Conduit?”
Zeke let the hand holding up the chip fall, chuckling a bit. “No, no — well, if you don’t count the Ray Sphere as forced. Jury’s still out on that one. But Cole had gotten another power from someone. Kuo, actually.”
Dad’s head tilted slightly. “You mean…he had more than one power?” he asked, eyes betraying how much the statement confused him. I couldn’t blame him; there wasn’t any other Conduit I knew that had more than one power. Anyone but him.
Zeke seemed to realize this as well, saying, “Yeah — he wasn’t as strong in the other power as his electricity, but he could use both on a whim. Sometimes even combined the two, that was always cool to see.”
Dad’s confusion grew, and something else played in his eyes: betrayal, maybe? “He could use both at the same time?” Dad asked, almost disbelieving.
Zeke nodded. “Yep. Sorta together, more than anything. Like he needed some of his electricity to work the power.”
Brent’s brow furrowed. “That’s nothing like how you do it,” he muttered, looking at the floor before glancing up at Dad.
Dad’s eyes were now off of Zeke and facing the wall, boring a hole into the wood as he chewed on his cheek. “It’s not.” He agreed, seeming to hate the fact that he did. He glared at the grain a bit longer, like the patterns would shift and give him the answers to his unasked questions, before slightly shaking his head, refocusing on Zeke. “He used a power transfer device for that? Like the one Augustine had?”
Zeke nodded. “Well, similar. Couldn’t tell you what the old one was like, considering it blew up before anyone else got a chance to play with it. I wasn’t even there when Cole hooked himself up to it.”
“So he was the only one to use it?” I asked before Dad could.
“Well, him and the Vermaak.” Zeke replied, bringing up the corner of his shirt to try and polish the dead drop chip in his hand. “You heard Dr. Wolfe — Bertrand had him use the device on multiple people at once. Dunno how, and they all escaped before we could find out more. So we were stuck not only fighting the Militia, but a bunch of half-sane ice soldiers while trying to prepare for the Beast—”
Everyone’s heads snapped around to look at Zeke so fast that he nearly dropped the ammo crate in surprise. “Ice soldiers?” we managed to chorus, only half a beat off from each other.
“Y–yeah?” Zeke stuttered, looking between the three of us. “They were transferred ice powers from Kuo, after she was activated. Cole too.”
Brent and I both glanced at each other before looking at Dad, who was staring at Zeke with a blank face before it cracked. His hands came up to press into his eyes. “Fuck,” he said, beginning to pace, “Fuck!”
Zeke was absolutely bewildered. “What, uh…why does that matter?”
I sighed hard on the side. “I was frozen by ice soldiers, in the fight with Augustine.”
“Oh, shit,”
“You know,” Brent deadpanned, leaning back on the loveseat. “Seems like everything comes back to the First Sons,”
“Always does,” Zeke huffs.
Dad was still pacing, arms crossed now. “Bertrand was in charge here,” he muttered, a hand coming up to rub his face. He lifted his head, raising his voice slightly. “The ice soldiers were here. We’ve got to find their old base, maybe there’s something we could find that connects them to Archangel—”
“Delsin, this was some twenty-odd years ago,” Zeke said. “There’s a very small chance there’ll be anything left, between the military and any sorta urban explorers.”
“And they didn’t know what we do now,” Dad snipped. “There’s got to be something that can help us” He stopped, spinning in place to face Zeke. “Do you know where it is?”
Zeke hesitated. “I…I don’t. At least, I don’t remember. But one of these dead drops gotta have something that’ll help us,”
So we were stuck listening to more: of John White, telling the others how six blocks in Empire City were blown to bits when it was activated; of Bertrand, convinced he was doing something to honor God by gathering prisoners to test his own Ray Sphere on.
There was a crackle, and then that same British voice again, far less panicked this time. “Audio surveillance of Agent Kuo, file G27,” he said.
“I got my hands on an Echelon phone transcript the day Kessler detonated the Ray Sphere. He requested a very specific bike courier for the job.” She began.
“Do you mean Cole MacGrath?” Dr. Wolfe asked. Brent’s head snapped around to look towards Zeke and his speakers now.
“There’s more,” The woman, Kuo, says. “I–I may have found some important new insight on Kessler, but I can't make it out. Kessler knew Cole MacGrath had the conduit gene, that's pretty clear, but I can't find his name in the First Sons database.”
“So…” Wolfe hesitated, “How did Kessler know Cole MacGrath had the gene?”
“Exactly.”
“Do you think they’re related?” Wolfe almost immediately asks after.
Kuo hesitates on the tape. “Huh…you know, I can try to find that out.”
The tape immediately goes dead, as if it was edited to the end of that exact statement. Dad was looking up from a file in his hand to where Zeke was, asking. “So who exactly was Kuo in all of this?”
“NSA Agent Lucy Kuo,” Zeke said, spinning his chair to face Dad. “She found us in Empire City and told Cole she had a way to make him powerful enough to fight the Beast.”
“And she was the ice conduit?”
“Yep.”
Brent was up himself now, having too much pent up energy. He was matching Dad’s steps earlier, pacing around the room. “How did he get more powerful to fight the Beast?”
“Blast cores,” Zeke says simply.
“Did the NSA know she was a conduit?” Dad interrupted before Brent could ask what the hell a Blast core was.
Zeke shakes his head. “Just that she had the gene. Bertrand’s the one that activated her, actually.”
I raised a hand like I was in class; this conversation was cool and all, but none of it was related to the very big piece of information in the dead drop we just heard. “Wait,” I started. “So — Kessler; he was in charge of the First Sons, right?” Zeke nods. “Okay, but then…how did he know Cole was a Conduit?”
Zeke had put on his glasses at some point, trying to mark each chip with a little code to signify what was on it. Now, though, he took them off, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “If I told ya, you wouldn’t believe me.” He said.
What kind of an answer was that?
Dad seemed just as perplexed. “What do you mean? We need to know everything we can if we’re going to figure this out—”
The stairs creaked, and Dr. Sims came down into the room, sighing hard. “Decoding that journal is gonna be harder than I thought,” he started, looking at Dad. “But I did get the emails,”
He said that last bit with that tone of voice Dad would use when he told us he got a message from our teacher when we were bad at school: We need to talk about it.
“Kessler was a piece of shit, who knew too much for his own good,” Zeke responded, completely ignoring Dr. Sims’ intrusion. “It would be easier if we just left it at that.”
“But why choose Cole?” Brent asked, bewildered. “I mean — no offense to, you know, your old friend — but he was just an electricity Conduit. Why not pick someone stronger to fight against the Beast? Like Dad?”
Dad ignored Brent’s praise to glare disapprovingly at Zeke. “You can’t hide something valuable like this,” he protested. “It could be exactly what we need to figure out what the hell is going on.”
Zeke opened his mouth to respond when Dr. Sims interrupted. “Zeke,” he called gently. “They need to know.”
The argument in Zeke’s chest died on the tip of his tongue, and he made a weird noise as he deflated. He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair as he chewed on his tongue, seemingly debating how to start this. Whatever he was going to say looked like it stressed him out to even think of.
And I definitely wasn’t prepared for what came out of his mouth next.
“Kessler was Cole. He traveled back in time after the Beast destroyed the world to try and stop it from happening.”
#infamous second son#infamous#infamous 2#infamous erosion#delsin rowe#cole macgrath#fanfic#Zeke Dunbar#fucking. shit do I put everyone?#Kessler?#John White#Lucy Kuo#Sucker Punch Productions#'suck my titties' came up when i was typing that and i'd love to know why#heyo inF2 overview my beloved#this chapter was originally 12k words I just have to wait to add the others in two weeks#god i hate it here (lying. she will do this again)
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I didn’t want to be a hater of the new Peter Pan remake before it even started, and I’m not hating, but as someone who cherishes the original book and various adaptations of the story, I do have some things I need to say regarding the Disney remake.
Firstly, I’ve seen people complain about the diversity - namely Peter and Tinkerbell. I don’t have a problem with non-white actors playing any parts - I think Yara is beautiful as Tinkerbell and I’m intrigued to see what Alexander Molony brings since the trailer didn’t really showcase much of him as Peter. The Lost Boys especially being a diverse group makes sense to me as they’re “lost” - they should all look different; I welcome the casting of non-white, disabled etc boys in the gang. Anyone complaining about “wokeness” just because they’re not all pasty white kids is just racist; I’ve even seen people complaining Tiger Lily isn’t white, which…? Hello??? She has NEVER been white, she and her tribe have always been Native Americans.
Having said that, the Lost Boys should all still be boys - “girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams”, and the fact that Wendy is the first girl they meet and they see her as a motherly figure because the only girls/women they’ve ever known have presumably been fairies, Tiger Lily (who is a princess in her tribe) or the distant memories they hold of their own mothers. Supposedly you could argue that “Lost Boys” is just the name of their gang, regardless of whether it’s boys or girls in the group, but still… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I don’t particularly agree with this change. But honestly, it’s not the end of the world, I can get over it.
“Wahhh they’ve made Wendy the main character and not Peter Pan!!!” — my guys… the original novel was LITERALLY called Peter and Wendy. The book literally opens with this paragraph:
“All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather de- lightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, “Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!” This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.”
This is literally Wendy’s story that ends with her deciding to go home and grow up; we meet Peter through her eyes, not the other way around. If you’re that mad that Wendy is being given a big part, you clearly haven’t bothered to read the source material and you’re just mad because you don’t like the idea of the female character being the protagonist.
If you want to take an issue with casting/characters, look at Hook/Mr Darling: how they’ve made Hook look aside (although… mmm, yikes), Disney has decided not to have the same actor play Hook and Mr Darling - Hook is Jude Law and Mr Darling is Alan Tudyk. I have nothing to comment on either of them as actors: my issue is that it’s a tradition for the same actor to play both of them that originates back to when the story was a stage play and has carried over to other media adaptations of the story. Having the same actor play both parts adds extra layers to the story (the relationship with the father vs fighting Captain Hook, parallels between the two characters, the subtext between Wendy and Hook as she’s on the cusp of adulthood etc).
My main issue though? The colour palette of this film - and all the Disney remakes, in fact.
I think the current colour palette of dull greys and muted greens could have worked for the London scenes because then the contrast between it and Neverland would have been even more striking; Neverland is a magical place where the children don’t want to grow up. Barrie wrote in his book that the Neverlands are found in the minds of children; although each is "always more or less an island" as well as having a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John’s Neverland had "a lagoon with flamingos flying over it," while Michael's had "a flamingo with lagoons flying over it." Neverland should be magical and colourful to reflect this, because a child’s imagination is limitless.
This just looks… dull. Like they’ve put a filter over it to make it look gritty.
In comparison, this is how the original animated film looked:
“But it’s live action, of course it’ll look less colourful” - wrong. The 2003 live action managed to make Neverland look twice as colourful as this new film, and that was released two entire decades before:
It’s not just this remake: it’s most remakes quite frankly - The Lion King, Little Mermaid, etc.
I don’t want to hate on the film when it’s not actually out yet, and I’m going to reserve full judgement until it does release, but I feel like people are claiming anyone with criticism is just being racist when there are genuine critiques and concerns. As I said, I don’t have any issue with the casting or in diversifying the cast, my issue comes from the colour palette of the film, the changes from the source material where there don’t need to be changes, and also the fact that Disney (and most other companies for that matter) should waste less money on pointless remakes and spend more resources producing original content.
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I listened to this Dutch podcast where they ask why the reading skills of children in The Netherlands are so poor according to international testing (waarom lezen Nederlandse kinderen zo slecht?)
it's a question that's often posed in Belgium as well, where kids also suck at reading, both in the Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south, so it's not a question of Dutch being inherently hard to wrap your head around
there are very practical factors that can explain differences in performance between countries
for instance, the UK scores high in those tests, in part because children simply start learning how to read earlier (4-5 years old vs 6-7 elsewhere)
but beyond that, an argument that I've heard from various sources is that the method being used to teach pupils is at fault
one thing that happens is that there's a total disconnect between what research on cognition says is a good teaching method, and which methods schools actually implement
you'll have older teachers that keep using the method from the good old days even though it's been shown to be ineffective
and you'll have plenty of teachers who are terrible at their job and should never have picked that profession, which is a big problem given how crucial the competence of teachers is to the process (more important than the size of classrooms)
in the podcast, they also point to the fact that reading in a school context, where you're constantly interrogated about what you're reading, encourages a superficial "scanning" for information instead of a deep meaningful immersion in the text
so because the teacher is likely to ask some dumb shit like "what color is the cat in the story?", kids develop a habit of picking out the factual details to answer such questions, instead of aiming for a more holistic overview of the meaning of what they're reading
and the fact that there's a strict reading technique being taught at all, that they're told to think mechanistically of the structure of sentences, and to break them down into components, actually sucks the fun out of reading, and leads to an aversion in children, who end up never reading at home, thus never improving
I love how exemplary this reading problem is of the way schooling turns pleasurable activities into chores, how it walls in curiosity by imposing a one-size-fits-all technique, and how it teaches kids to just... pass the test, with little regard to a greater purpose
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I've recently been gaining this theory. Severus Snape is commonly regarded as the one who flounces in the HP fandom despite being serious and a bit scary, yet is also a drama queen. Which leads me to my question for you:
Is Director Krennic the one who flounces in the Star Wars Universe?
An answer would be appreciated, but not required!
Hello! Thanks for the ask! ^^
I must say that I don't know anything about the HP fandom, although I was under the impression that Snape was well-liked (I might be wrong). From what I remember from the first movies that came out when I was a kid, he was supposed to be more laconic and sarcastic than going around flouncing buuut again that was again my impression.
As for Krennic, another disclaimer, I have yet to read Catalyst (it's been sitting on my bookshelves gathering dust for a few years now but no time, no energy) and what I'm about to say about him is just my awfully personal view.
In Rogue One we are firstly introduced to an Orson Krennic that has a manner of cool and sarcasm about him. In when he recaptures Galen Erso, he commands the scene with a sense of self-reassurance. He dictates the pace and the events. The future is bright, and there is a long road ahead. I see little flouncing in that scene tbh. As for dramatic, well... I guess some would point that his cape is overly dramatic but I'd say that capes have not been something unheard of in certain real life military corps so... I personally don't see anything dramatic there xD
Then we skip quite a few years and once again we meet him. This time, he's a Director, and everything has changed. Krennic is under an incredible amount of stress, more than ever before. As more and more time passes, the greater his certainty that, despite his position, despite the Death Star being a successful project (ESPECIALLY after that), he is replaceable. He knows that his life is on the line unless he makes himself indispensable. He has all the cards, skills and authority to make it out alive, if he plays them well. But he slips more and more, to a boiling point, a couple of times (notably in three moments: 1s, when yells for the officers to fire the Death Star; 2nd "this is my achievement" line; 3rd, when he yells at the officers to deploy their troops in Scarif). Despite being terrified through the entirety of the film, I'd say he keeps his cool rather well except for some outbursts here and there, considering the extreme circumstances surrounding his whole arc. Take the way he keeps it together when he first meets Tarkin, his brooding mien in his shuttle, the sheer coldness about him when he deals with the traitor situation in Eadu. Oh, and his reaction when they test the Death Star in Jedha for the first time. Rather refined, I'd say, despite Tarkin's constant goading. He simply smiles and walks out, letting actions speak for themselves (probably thinking "suck that and come back for another"). It's only when it's taken from him when he explodes.
Soooooo after all this rant that I didn't know I had to get off my chest, is Director Krennic the once who flounces in Star Wars?
The short answer is that fandom works in mysterious ways. Sometimes it's fun to focus on certain aspects of a character, for the sake of crack or lighthearted content, and that sort of stuff is most times quite self-conscious. Just people that are aware of what they are doing: having a good time, and that's what fandom, imho, should be about. Sometimes though, this goes a bit out of hand and the anecdote is turned into the norm, if you know what I mean. Taking a character and putting them in a box with a label, reducing their overall personality to said label against all evidence found in canon sources (in this fandom I use the term canon in an expansive way to both new and legends/eu stuff btw) . And it would seem that Krennic is sometimes indeed reduced to flouncing drama queen in settings beyond "just having my silly good time with my silly little meow meow".
I hope this answer was satisfactory, or at least congruent!
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I have guessed that Lady C was laying some serious breadcrumbs in her videos lately. She basically implied Parliament/Government being involved re: Sussexes legalities. I figured it had something to do with the kids, it involved constitutional parameters/scope of parental rights perhaps. So divorce watch is definitely on, and as Lady C said Meghan wants a lot but she won’t get as much as she demands or what she thinks she deserves re:the children.
I don't listen/watch Lady C's youtube channel. According to a reddit user, she said the following in her video today:
Well My Dears I have some interesting news. The King has been taking soundings in Parliament. I will not specify which house because I must protect my sources, so I will be mysterious. The King has been taking soundings about the custody of the children in the event of a divorce. I was told that the relationship between Meghan and Harry is dire. It is “inevitable” the relationship will collapse. Evidently, Harry began to see past the mask when Meghan insisted Harry delay the release “Spare” to two weeks before the Coronation. Harry, to his credit, said absolutely not. He refused. I am not asking for a free pass for Harry for all that he is done, but in the interest of fairness, Harry is not the same as Meghan. I think Harry will begin to experience regret and perhaps already is.
[...]
It would appear these stories of Harry calling in the lawyers and the marriage being in trouble were not pie in the sky. It sounds like it is only a matter of “when, not “if.” And the mere fact that the King is taking soundings from Parliament is telling. You see, there are all matters of state regarding the custody of the children. There are political reasons also. The King cannot be seen to be taking two children from their mother, especially when she is American born. No matter how crass and ghastly a person is, once they marry into your family, you will do everything possible to cover up their dreadfulness. The Royal Family will do everything possible to maintain dignity. There is more to come.
youtube
I still have my hopes that the divorce will be announced by the end of Venus' retrograde period.
#ask#reddit#Lady Colin Campbell#King Charles III#2023 sussex divorce#won't somebody please think of the children?#prince harry#that dumb prince's stupid wife
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aita for causing the apocalypse? (largely based on fanon/concept notes/small bits of lore from original media)
I(young ish; same exact size of the protagonist in game often described as a kid or a child) am regarded as the leader of my kingdom. i proved myself by passing through a set of trials to receive the trust of my people, among other of my kind, and survived, which led to my crowning as the 'prince'! i crowned several others(adults most likely) to reign over the slices of our kingdom. i helped our kingdom grow and survive, using our flame and the help of our god. it was perfect.
but…then, we found a new stone-like material that could push us even further through the form of processing into diamonds of significant power…which, in hindsight, had….detrimental effects. it absorbed our flame, our light, and corrupted it.
creatures (considered sacred on some occasions) attacked, as the unearthment and production of the diamonds irritated them, the beings made purely of light, which sparked a war between us and the creatures; however, we won, and, with our egos bloated, we….grew to heights never before.
the leaders of our civilization grew powerful, godly, under the influence of crowns or masks created from the stone material! though, it corrupted us further. we built more and more, greedily, leading to the construction of a magnificent source of energy, a power diamond, charged by the stone material of course. however, this diamond was overused, evidently, and though me and the other leaders tried to stifle the damage at first, it exploded, killing about everyone, transforming the land into a desolate breeding ground of darkness-the same darkness-which….formed the stone used in our power diamonds.
i think everyone is dead, and im trapped in an endless void alone, probably forever…
..aita?
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Sticky Washington my beloved
Ok so I have many thoughts on George "Sticky" Washington.
Like first off I wonder what his middle name is. Now that may seem random, but do you really think he is going to go by Sticky as an older teenager or adult? And I kinda feel like George was made more uncomfy because of Mr. Curtain always referring to him as George, so perhaps instead he might go by his middle name, though I have no clue what it is.
Another thing I appreciate is that he has a complicated relationship with his parents. Like him running away initially was what I wanted to do as a kid (haha don't think too hard on that one), particularly from the pressure to be the golden child (though he is an only child so it doesn't create added tension in sibling dynamics).
Additionally, though he does run away after a misconstrued comment he overhears from his parents talking, but it wasn't solely from that alone. However much he loves them and they love him, they still put that pressure on him in the first place, and did not realize his emotional needs were not being met. He was still a kid and shouldn't have had to be in that position.
Now I know there is further nuance to their situation, particularly due to class and race that I may not be able to address fully, and the Washingtons had struggled financially, especially with Mrs. Washington's disability. This could have seemed like the ticket for Sticky to have a happy, successful, and intellectually stimulating career path - something to set him up for life. His parents wanted the best for him, which is evidenced in how they completely change their approach once he goes missing. They spend all their money trying to find him and go into debt again (which probably felt even worse after having a taste of better financial standing), and once they meet him again at the end of the first book, they say they don't expect him to compete, assuming he doesn't want to. They want to give him the chance to just be a kid, albeit one who is "gifted" and probably neurodivergent (plus mental illness - definitely anxiety). This time, it is easier for them to meet his needs because of the additional assistance of Mr. Benedict, his friends, and the whole crew as an added support system, which he would not have even gotten if not for a set of bizarre happenstances.
On the other hand, I personally do not think things would be all sunshine and roses. Before he ran away, he felt like they didn't really know him, and yes, they are trying to build a better relationship, which is genuinely great. But I wonder if he ever feels stifled. Since he went from a highly managed schedule with a disconnect in regards to his interests, to them encouraging him to be a kid for a bit longer, does he feel they think he doesn't know how to be an adult? Does he feel coddled now? Don't get me wrong, he should be able to be a kid, but I can definitely relate to the possible source of frustration. Maybe he resents that his parents weren't the ones to help him find his ground, even if he understands that they tried. Maybe he has to remind himself to be open with them, or maybe he feels like he still can't be because they still need to rebuild that trust
Then in the second and third books you get him grappling with pride versus ego (taking joy in himself versus him just knowing a lot of things and seeing that as better, which is definitely something I had to struggle through too), and he starts to find a balance of sorts. I wonder how long it takes him to truly find independence and begin to explore his identity more.
Anyways, I love these characters so much, and I may be projecting a little onto Sticky (lmao). Again, there are some things I kinda only mentioned in passing, but I think this is a decent attempt at analyzing his character.
#sticky washington#mysterious benedict society#mbs#character analysis#headcanons#mbs spoilers#why cant writing essays for school be this easy#can we also appreciate trenton lee stewart for actually including diversity in multiple forms and nuanced depictions of family#also please don't take this as me hating Mr and Mrs Washington#family can be difficult sometimes and I think this is a beautiful nuanced portrayal#particularly in a coming of age story of sorts#lmk if i should make more of these for other mbs characters
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