What bothers me about the passage of time is that there will come a day when I am no longer guaranteed to outlive the horrible politicians in charge. I'm young, and almost every person in a position of power today is a dinosaur who will die in my lifetime. I am almost certainly going to live to see Bush's and Trump's and McConnell's funerals, but then you have the relatively young ones, the ones in their 40s and 50s today, who very well could outlive me just by the luck of the draw. If I die at 70, they could still be alive in their 90s, and that's just not fair.
I mean, nobody is "guaranteed" a single second. I could have a stroke right now and die within the hour, but barring that minute possibility, it's likely I have several decades left in me. The Old Guard will soon be gone, but what bothers me are all the up-and-comers, the next generation of leaders, the New Guard. They're all my age now; the children and grandchildren of the powers that be; legacies coasting their way to the tops off their family names; students who will soon become lawyers or businessmen at their daddy's firm, then handpicked by the party leaders for safe seats they're guaranteed to win; the next rungs on the self-perpetuating dynastic ladder. They will eventually replace the dinosaurs, and I'll probably die at the same time as- or more likely, before- any of them (I'm dirt poor, but they'll have the best insurance our taxdollars can buy).
I don't know if I'll live to see Ted Cruz or Ron DeSantis or Marjorie Taylor Green lie in rot in the Capital Rotunda on national television for a week before being buried six feet deep, and that bothers me. I am motivated to live a long life out of spite and spite alone, just so they don't win! They don't even know I exist, I mean nothing to them, never have, never will, but I can't let them win!
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cass and varian's choice
"we can find a way to fix all of this, the rocks, your dad, everything, i promise you, i promise. just, this is not the way."
"...sorry, princess. but i know first hand how well you keep promises."
"so before another line gets crossed and everything we've had is lost, just wait."
"wait? no, i won't wait."
can we just talk about how similar those two moments are for a second cuz i just.
how both times, neither of rapunzel's betrayers have done anything unforgivable yet and would likely get a pardon, and how both times, they almost turn back, knowing that if they go through with their betrayal, there is no going back to the way things were.
how with varian, rapunzel's trying to mend broken trust, and with cass, raps is trying to get her to listen.
but then she said the wrong word, and then cass and varian just snap.
how varian stole the sun, and cassandra stole the moon.
how right before their betrayals, both cassandra and varian are acting weirdly nice, but the weirdest part is how sometimes, they both seem to mean it.
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thinking.
thinking about Dave and his thoughts on Jack pre-Everything (in my headcanons, obviously)
like, the way i view Jack pre-Dee's Murder is that he's still rather blunt and rude, but he could still be rather sweet to others when he wanted. like the whole "kind, but not nice" type of thing.
(also, note that Dave mentioned, while talking to Dee, that he was never fine with Henry murdering her, and that he even tried to talk Henry out of doing it. there's also a Henry Tape where Dave sounds like he regrets what had happened to Dee, mentioning to Henry that he "knew this was a bad idea," and even sounding like he doesn't agree with them framing Jack for the crime. all in all, it's one of the few times we get to hear Dave go "Henry, I don't like what we're doing, and I don't feel comfortable helping you with this." so me writing Dave in this to regret Dee's murder and be generally uncomfortable with what's happening is not technically out of character.)
(this also turned into a bit of a fic whoops-)
thinking about Dave deciding to talk to Jack because...well, he seems kind of approachable. if a little...blunt at times.
he didn't hesitate to talk to Dave about whatever while he worked on animatronics. sometimes it was just complaints about his coworkers from other jobs, sometimes it was his past.
but a lot of the time it was about his siblings. he spoke rather highly of them, especially his sister.
Jack was oddly concerned about him, and the sheer number of scars that littered his body. he was nice to Dave, treated him like an actual human and not a freak (Jack would "jokingly" laugh it off when Dave would bring it up, saying something along the lines of "Well, I mean, a lot of people consider me to be a bit of a freak too, so I guess I understand a bit, man." Dave tries to ignore the sadness in his eyes as he says that, about how it's clear that Jack's had that particular insult slung at him more than once himself, albeit for...different reasons than Dave).
Dave will admit...maybe he got a bit infatuated.
Jack certainly didn't hesitate to let people know what he thought, that was for sure. as Dave had noted early on, he was blunt. he didn't even have much restraint with Henry, his boss. sure, he never said anything that would get him fired, but there were times where you could've convinced Dave that he stepped right up to that line.
sure, Dave could understand a bit why Henry might not have been particularly fond of Jack.
it was when Henry brought up killing Dee that Dave had tried putting his foot down a bit. he tried bringing up every excuse in the book (besides legality, because Henry clearly didn't care about that at this point) to keep Henry from doing it: they wouldn't have a place to hide the third body, Dave was worried about getting cold feet (definitely not because he'd grown close to Jack. definitely not), but, most of all, because it was likely going to piss Jack the FUCK off.
(it had come up during a conversation one afternoon.
"So, Old Sport...you said you were willing to die for your sister once-"
"Oh, fuck yeah, I'd give my life for her's in a heartbeat, Will."
"And...what if someone ever tried to hurt her, like seriously hurt her-?"
He didn't even hesitate.
"I'd tear them limb from limb where they stand.")
Dave had hoped that Henry would've dropped it by the next day.
he definitely didn't.
(Dave had to restrain her while Henry tried killing her. it took a while, given that she kept kicking right at Henry's arms, scratching and biting him. she didn't go down easy, that was for certain.
Dave kept telling Henry not to do this, that he couldn't do this. can't they just threaten her not to say anything? they don't have to kill her. c'mon Henry, please-)
they took her scarf. Jack said that their mom had made it for her before she and their father died. even Dave felt a little bad about that.
Jack came back that evening, and he started looking around for her. Dave couldn't help but feel pure guilt over what had happened. he had to console Jack as he ran around the restaurant, screaming for his sister, saying things like "C'mon Dee, this isn't funny! Come out, Kiddo!" and "Dee? Dee?! Where are you, please!" he had to console Jack during a breakdown where the only words Jack was able to get out through his sobs were "Peter's gonna fucking kill me." he couldn't help but feel shame, remorse as he was practically forced to lie to Jack's face, saying "We'll find her, I'm sure she's alright."
they sent Jack home for a few days, just to process his grief. Dave continued to do his job. it felt like his guilt was eating him alive over those few days.
(he feels eyes on him. he hears whispers. he notices the animatronics getting aggressive. things are moving around.)
Jack comes back, eye bags darker, his eyes still red from crying, but with a determined look on his face. he's rather short with Henry, clearly suspicious of him, but he goes off to do his job.
Dave never sees him...alive after that.
Henry acts weird after that. the hauntings get worse.
after a few days, he decides to finally confront Henry about everything. to try and put his foot down once more.
it doesn't work. but he does learn a few more things.
Henry's building a vessel for Dee. and Jack is dead.
they're framing him for murder.
Dave tries to protest; this isn't what he wants!
Henry shushes him again.
"You wanted this."
Dave goes back to talk with the cops. he still doesn't like this.
Henry promises to show him what happened to Jack later that night.
and when the restaurant closes that evening, Henry tries to take him back to show him after they waited for a bit in the office to make sure that Fredbear and Springbonnie wouldn't move too much and potentially kill one of them. they did hear some movement, but it didn't last long. Henry tries to take him to the Saferoom to show him Jack's resting place.
the suit's empty.
Dave doesn't think he's ever seen Henry legitimately scared before. they both head out into the dining room, where they discover something they failed to notice earlier, and probably the source of the noise.
a trail of blood across the tile floor, leading to the door, where the trail turns into footprints.
it doesn't seem like Jack's dead anymore.
Dave doesn't remember much after that, just that he must've taken a nap or something and woken up sometime around 5:30 in the morning.
(why does his head hurt?)
Henry seems annoyed, taking Dave outside to look at something.
Henry's car has been scratched by someone, the word "LIAR" scratched into the door, and the windshield smashed. it was Jack, it had to be.
Henry had apparently also caught Dee, and put the Puppet on strings. something of which really seemed to piss her off.
(that thing kept staring right into his soul, almost shaking in rage at the sight of him. he keeps his distance)
Peter sued them at one point, and also won. Dave doesn't like thinking about it much, it brings The Guilt back up.
over the years, he felt his mind get more and more scrambled. he felt less remorse, and...even a little bit of his memories got screwed up.
he didn't recognize the name "Jack Kennedy" anymore (oh, but Jack can sure recognize him).
at some point, Henry either vanished or died, Dave's not sure which, and he was left alone again.
but...it wouldn't be for long.
(Colorado. Dave heard the Saferoom door open, and he turned to see...an orange man, no, a zombie.
he can help Dave with his plan!
"Hello there, Old Sport!"
in that moment, for a reason Dave can't understand, the new employee looks at him with a look that can only be described as a mix of annoyance, mild fear, and...pity.
...wait.
why does he look so...familiar?
has Dave met him before?)
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