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theblueeyedfirebender · 8 months ago

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Fanfiction Masterlist.

(Updated 12/5/24)

The following are my works over on AO3, in no particular order. Mostly FMA/Royai, with some SxF/Twiyor and ATLA/Zutara.

Bon appétit ❤️

The Counteroffer

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 2.7K

On the eve of Mustang’s inauguration as Fuhrer, Riza Hawkeye submits her resignation.

(love confession, light angst with a happy ending)

Hourglass

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 1.6K

Riza Hawkeye never intended on living past age thirty-two. It wasn’t that she wanted to die. She simply did not expect to live.

Written for Royai Week 2024, Day 5: Gift

(angst with a happy ending)

Death and Taxes

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 5.4K

“You’re proposing we marry,” Hawkeye responds, slow and dangerous, “for tax purposes?”

Something prickles beneath Mustang's shirt collar. He resists the urge to tug at it, instilling his voice with an even coolness as he pretends to examine his cuticles. “A mutually beneficial arrangement, wouldn’t you agree?”

(mutual pining, marriage of convenience)

The Art of Living On

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 3.9K

She has never done this. Has avoided it at all costs. Because she is unfit, she tells herself. Her hands are made for firearms and filing office paperwork, not soothing fussy babies. Her edges are too sharp, too jagged to provide comfort to anyone. She is scarred and bloodied and barely knows the love of a mother herself.

But the baby wails, pleading.

Written for Royai Week 2024, Day 2: Appreciate

This story was adapted into a podfic (audiobook, but make it fanfiction) by @klainelynch. Listen here.

(domestic fluff, light angst with a happy ending)

Threads

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word counts: 2.8K

She listens to him pull in a breath, his voice taking on the sharp edge of alarm. “Lieutenant?” Warmth runs over the back of her hand. Down her forearm. “Lieutenant, is everything alright?”

She can hear the downward turn of his mouth, the ridge that forms as his dark brows draw together. She knows the way his spine pulls straight, his hand gripping the phone receiver with knuckles blanched.

Shadows are beginning to fray the edges of her vision. A terrible weakness is sinking into her, heavy and bone-deep. She needs to hold pressure. She needs to sit down. “Colonel,” she says again, weariness and panic threading through the syllables.

Something drips from the bend of her elbow.

A gift for @shuboxx ❤️

(angst, hurt/comfort)

Uncle Zuko

Katara x Zuko

Rating: T

Word count: 2.6K

Of all the things his hands have held - from dragon eggs and ancient texts to the element of Fire itself - this is by far the most precious, the most powerful: a new generation, one born into a world without war.

Zuko is forced to hold Sokka's baby, and feelings happen. I published this story years ago on FFN under a different title. This is the updated/revised version. I haven't written much of them lately, but Zuko & Katara are, and will always remain, my otp.

(domestic fluff)

Forts, Flashlights, and Forgery

Loid Forger / Twilight x Yor Forger / Thorn Princess

Rating: T

Word count: 5k

And like climbing a rooftop, disarming a bomb, forgery is essential to espionage. An ability applied not only to paperwork and documents, but one’s very self. To smile and lie and feel no remorse, to shed one’s outer layer and replace it anew. To cut ties, change faces, and walk away, again and again, morphing into whatever - whomever - deemed necessary to the success of the mission, the safety of the collective, regardless of personal cost.

It is a talent which has defined him, erased him. A fraud. A fake. A shadow.

(domestic fluff, light angst)

The Bookshelf - WIP

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 2.3K

“It has a ladder.” Falman remarks, impressed.

(Or: Fuhrer Mustang gifts Hawkeye a bookshelf, and the rest of the Team starts to figure things out.)

(fluff, humor)

Strong Whiskey and Slanted Light

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: G

Word count: 908

His team is alive. The Elric brothers have their bodies back. Havoc can walk again. And from her place in the driver’s seat, Riza Hawkeye - alive and breathing - glances sharply in his direction, brows raised in a rare moment of removing her attention from the road ahead. He doesn’t miss the way she winces at the sudden movement of her still-healing neck. “Sir?”

“It’s just a question, Lieutenant. I’m curious.”

Written for Royai Week 2024, Day 1: Curiosity

(light angst, mutual pining)

Incandescently

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 999

“And how are you this evening, my dear?” he murmurs, the playful formality simmering between them. His bowtie has gone missing, Riza observes. As well as his tailored jacket, and the top few buttons of his collared shirt are undone. Suspenders hang loose around his hips, and the scent of his cologne - a blend of tobacco, leather, and vanilla - drifts to her, freshly applied despite the lateness of the hour.

“Very well,” she responds over the rim of her wine glass, wondering if the darkness is enough to conceal the heat creeping into her face. Likely not. “Only I wish you wouldn’t call me ‘my dear’.”

(fluff; formerly titled Mrs. Mustang)

As You Were

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 2.4K

Maybe it’s the fact that she’s dropped his honorific.

Maybe it’s the fact that they are somehow both alive. Maybe it’s the fact that he can see her, when he’d believed with such certainty that he never would again. He can see her and she is beautiful, and for once he doesn’t understand why he ever chose to banish that thought from his mind when it is so clearly the truth.

(angst)

The Flame Alchemist's Daughter

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 6.4K

The ink is a burden. The knowledge is a curse.

Disclaimer: I wrote this before I fully understood the mechanics of Mustang's flame alchemy (I literally finished the series in March 2024; I'm new here, so my bad). I realized later that some of the implications here would not make sense in canon. That said, I still love this story. I'm proud of it and it's freaking fanfiction so who cares.

(angst)

Checkmate

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 1.6K

In the wake of his election victory, Roy Mustang makes a very important visit to Fuhrer President Grumman.

Prequel to "The Counteroffer."

(fluff, light angst)

Four

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

Rating: T

Word count: 2.2K

Each time he has laid eyes on Riza Hawkeye’s tattoo, the course of Roy Mustang’s life has been permanently altered.

(angst with a happy ending)

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honelle56 · 1 year ago

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Mpreg hc: dream is on a mission to buy every single pregnancy and parenting book available but he gets way too overwhelmed to actually sit down and read them so george helps him make an excel sheet with the important parts of each book and then they read for 20 min together every night

Let's jump on the mpreg train, shall we? Small drabble:

“Dream, you know I love you a whole lot, but this is getting ridiculous.” George stared at the dozens of books stockpiled on their coffee table. He could’ve sworn that there was already a visible dent in the table from where the books have been amassing over the past few weeks, ever since he took that pregnancy test.

“Huh?” Dream asked when he came back from answering the door. Presumably to accept another order of books if the big box in his hands was anything to go by.

“When do you even want to read all of these? You are aware that the baby is going to be here in six months, and I sincerely hope that you did not plan on spending every single second until then reading every book there is about pregnancy and babies.”

Dream visibly paled at that, letting go of the box and starting to pace through the living room. “You are right, fuck. Six months is not enough time to figure out everything I need to know. Maybe I can learn to read faster? Or- or I could start listening to audiobooks while reading, you know, multi-tasking. And maybe the baby will arrive later, giving us some more time, do you think you can hold them in for a bit longer? I am sure-“

“Dream.” George interrupted, getting up from his perch on the couch to stop his spiraling husband. “Sit down with me?”

Dream still seemed restless but after taking a deep breath he followed George to the couch and sat down next to the smaller who was cupping his small baby bump.

“What is this about, honey?”

Tears filled Dream’s eyes at George’s soft voice. “I-” he tried, willing himself to not freak out. This was George, his husband, soulmate, he wouldn’t run away over some insecurities.

“I guess I am scared to mess this up. I feel like I am flying a plane without a license and blindfolded and I am terrified of being a bad Dad, so I guess I just want to know everything there is to know before the baby gets here. But there is so much to learn, and I don’t think I will ever be fully ready for this.”

Gentle hands cupped his cheeks, willing him to look at George who looked at him with eyes so soft they could only be described as lovestruck. A soft kiss was pressed onto the tip of his nose.

“Thank you for telling me. For what it is worth I think you will be the best Dad, simply because you have a heart so big that I know this kid will be the most loved baby to have ever been born. And yes, we will probably mess up but then we will learn and improve. These books can only teach us so much, I fear the rest will just be learning by doing.”

Dream chuckled, softly caressing George’s belly. He couldn’t wait until he could finally feel them.

“If it makes you feel better, let’s make a deal. Let’s math this out.” George proposed. “No more books. Today we look through the ones we already have and find the important parts. We plan for 20 minutes every evening where we read something about pregnancy and babies. Then we can make an Excel sheet and plan what to read in which order and when.”

Dream didn’t think he could love this man any more than he already did if he tried but every day, he proved him wrong. He would never understand how George just got his brain better than he did himself, but it was in situations like this that he would be forever thankful that they had found each other in this world.

“Let’s do it.” He smiled, pressing a kiss to George's forehead and grabbing two books for them to skip through.

#mpreg #dnf #pregnancy #I wrote this on the train and I sincerely hope nobody saw me type this #gognancy #not sure if this is the right tag lol did we already settle on one?#Honelle drabbles

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soisaidfine · 8 months ago

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Bruce Springsteen / Ethel Cain: 'Our story'

Bruce: 'I fought my whole life, studied, played, worked, because I wanted to hear and know the whole story. I wanted to understand in order to free myself' Hayden: 'Everything in my whole life has been leading up to finishing this record. I like to think of this album as a cautionary tale of what would happen if you don’t free yourself'

They are daughters of Cain, and Bruce Springsteen got a date with the preacher's daughter.

Ethel Cain wearing a Bruce Springsteen T-shirt:

audiobook, Bruce Springsteen:

Bruce Springsteen: “I fought my whole life, studied, played, worked, because I wanted to hear and know the whole story. My story. Our story. And understand as much of it as I could. I wanted to understand in order to free myself of its most damaging influences, its malevolent forces, to celebrate and honor its beauty, its power. And to be able to tell it well to my friends, my family, and to you. I don’t know if I’ve done that, and the devil is always just a day away, but I know this was my young promise to myself, to you. This, I pursued as my service. This, I presented as my long and noisy prayer, my magic trick. Hoping it would rock your very soul and then pass on, its spirit rendered, to be read, heard, sung and altered by you and your blood, that it might strengthen and help make sense of your story. Go tell it.” (Born to Run, 79)

Hayden / Ethel Cain: “Ethel Cain is kind of my dark, evil twin. She’s not evil, per se, but we have both been through similar situations. If I didn’t choose to heal and forgive and forget, I would be ultimately destroyed, which is what happens to her. She is the mirrored version of what my life would be like if I chose not to get better. It’s this all-American girl who crumbles under the weight of God and country. The American Dream is unachievable — being a perfect daughter, a perfect Christian, all of these weights that are put onto young American people are impossible. I like to think of this album as a cautionary tale of what would happen if you don’t free yourself from these imaginary chains, in terms of religion, family and expectation. Everything I have done has been working up to this album. Everything in my whole life has been leading up to finishing this record.“ (Billboard)

Terrence Malick: 'You are just like I am. Can’t figure your life out? Can’t put the pieces together? Just like me. A pilgrim on this earth.' (Knight of Cups / The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan)

Photo: polaroid of Hayden (Ethel Cain) from back in may 2023, by @/bgoldmanphoto. Wearing a Bruce Springsteen Shirt 'Born in the USA World Tour '84-'85’.

#ethel cain #bruce springsteen #mothercain #music #springsteen #terrence malick #artist #art #malick #hayden anhedönia #songwriter #writer #storyteller #ethelcain #southern gothic #musician #preachers daughter #cain

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bethanydelleman · 2 years ago

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I'm listening to Emma as my falling-asleep audiobook right now and I'm thinking a lot about Harriet. The movie adaptations very often have her remaining friends with Emma after the end, but the book says their relationship sank into mere acquaintances after that. Is that a personality thing, do you think, or is it a class thing? And why the difference in the adaptations? I have my own thoughts but I'd like to hear yours.

It is definitely a class thing.

I think one of the reasons Emma can be unpalatable to modern audiences is because it ends with a restoration of a social order that we find repulsive today. How is it fair that Jane Fairfax, born as lower gentry, gets to marry into Enscombe but Harriet Smith, the natural daughter of a tradesman, 'deserves' only Robert Martin and is basically ejected from membership in Highbury's gentry class? And that's a good thing? The adaptations maintain the Emma and Harriet friendship because the way the book ends really appalls a lot of modern readers.

(Also, never really talking about the age difference between Emma and Knightley was a great choice in Emma 2020 because that is not people's favourite either.)

I think the most charitable way to look at it is that Harriet always wanted Robert Martin. She loved staying there over the summer, the family was extremely kind and loving towards her, and her status as a natural child would be largely ignored. Emma's interference gave her ideas above her station... ug, veering into territory I don't love again... but then again, could Harriet have ever succeeded at marrying into the gentry? Probably not on Emma's sponsorship.

There are only two characters that a member of the gentry tries to move from "middle class" (I know it's not really the middle class) to gentry, George Wickham and Harriet Smith. Both attempts are disasters. Captain Wentworth, Fanny/William Price, and Jane Fairfax are all born into the lower gentry and they climb higher, which seems to be fine. There are a bunch of characters who go from extremely wealthy trade to gentry, the Jennings (Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton, and Charlotte Palmer) and the Bingleys. They seem to be fine, Charles Bingley at least is portrayed positively.

I don't know what the message is there. The Gardiners are presented as gentleman-like but have no apparent intentions of jumping class. Does that make them good? As someone raised in Canada whose worldview is rooted in The American Dream Lite, it's hard for me to appreciate the upholding of a classist system. Jane Austen herself was clinging to gentry status by her fingernails, so why does she write a novel that glorifies almost everyone staying exactly where birth placed them? Jane Fairfax can improve herself and be worthy of a rich marriage but not Harriet? I guess Harriet never improves herself much though, but she hasn't had the same opportunities as Jane F...

But then the very next novel, Persuasion, seems very anti-classist!

Something about hubris...

I actually feel sorry for Emma at the end of the book. She got a husband, sure, but she loses a friend. She has Mrs. Weston still, but she'll be busy with her baby, she loses Harriet, Jane Fairfax is gone (again), and she's still stuck in Highbury, which has become worse because Mrs. Elton is there now. She just remains as much trapped and limited as she was before...

Anyway, that is my long and rambling answer. I'm not very happy with the ending of Emma. If someone who does like it wants to defend, you are more than welcome.

(I do think there might be something to like, this is how the class system could work well if everyone actually did their jobs. Knightley is the perfect, model landlord. Cares for the poor, lives at his estate, involved in running it etc. Emma does her duty to the poor, everyone seems to do well under their United management)

#emma #emma woodhouse #the end of the novel #harriet smith #punish those who dream above their station #I guess? I donno

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flicklikesstuff · 4 months ago

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Flicker! Hiiiii

Want to give some rambles about Epithet Erased or any of your other fandoms (summary, top ten great things, etc.) for some totally other people (not me ofc) who want to get into the fandoms their friends love?

OMFGJKSKSKKSKSKS SRSLY??

Other people (who are totally not you) want to get to know my current fandom????!! 💖

Personally, I think it’s more fun if you dive into the episodes blind but I can give you a quick run through of what to expect for Epithet Erased.

Quick Summary:

In this world, 1 in 5 people are born with rare powers called “Epithets.” A word inscribed into their soul that allows them to use magic they associate with that word. The only limit here is your creativity.

The main character, Molly Blyndeff, is one of those gifted people. Unluckily, she accidentally finds herself in the middle of a scuffle for the “Arsene Amulet” that has the ability to steal anyone’s epithet. As multiple people race for the artefact, would Molly escape? Or would she get her epithet…erased?

*ahem* may have gotten dramatic there-

Now my thoughts:

First off, the artstyle and character design is SOO pretty and just overall SOO fun to draw! I love how much you can so much as glance at a character and have some idea of who they are instantly.

The animation in here has a unique sort of tabletop style that I personally instantly found creative and charming. And GAWD, don’t even get me started on the legendary voice-acting. Along with the music, these all make up for the lack of smooth animation that you’d typically find in other indie shows. (Pls pls pls pls don’t immediately judge it for its animation style-)

But in certain special scenarios (fight scenes) where it DOES get animated, it’s just entertaining to watch again and again. Especially the Redwood Run Arc. My favourite :)) The special effects used are utilised heavily to make for just beautiful cinematography.

The story is mostly comedic but knows when to dial it down for wholesome and touching scenes. The characters all have strong distinct personalities (which I adore) that bounce off of others in many entertaining ways. It’s very likely to find multiple dynamics you grow to get fond of.

………

Though, this may just be me and my personal thoughts. You might have different taste but I do highly recommend checking it out! Currently, the animated series has a playlist here on YT and its sequel is a book that I think you can find on a pdf for free somewhere.

Though, if you really grew to love it, I suggest buying the sequel’s audiobook as well for an immersive experience (and to support future books incoming!).

Enjoy and let me know what you think Bo! <33

(Oh wait- Not Bo. Obviously)

#btw hello not Bo #my bestie buddy chum pal amigo friend #it’s been a while from me sorryyyyyy #missed you dear #<333 #flicker’s rambles #epithet erased #ask

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ofliterarynature · 3 months ago

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TBR TAKEDOWN: GOODREADS, WEEK 12a

The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre (The Two Princesses of Bamarre #0) by Gail Carson Levine

I'm trying to trim down my tbr list(s) and I'm asking for your help! Descriptions and more info under the cut. Please reblog and add your thoughts!

* * * * *

In this compelling and thought-provoking fantasy set in the world of The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Newbery Honor-winning author Gail Carson Levine introduces a spirited heroine who must overcome deeply rooted prejudice--including her own--to heal her broken country.

Peregrine strives to live up to the ideal of her people, the Latki--and to impress her parents: affectionate Lord Tove, who despises only the Bamarre, and stern Lady Klausine. Perry runs the fastest, speaks her mind, and doesn't give much thought to the castle's Bamarre servants, whom she knows to be weak and cowardly.

But just as she's about to join her father on the front lines, she is visited by the fairy Halina, who reveals that Perry isn't Latki-born. She is Bamarre. The fairy issues a daunting challenge: against the Lakti power, Perry must free her people from tyranny.

Date added: 2018

Goodreads: 3.96

Storygraph: 3.88

PRO:

The Two Princesses of Bamarre was my Gail Carson Levine of choice growing up 💕

Available from the library in my preferred format (audiobook)

CON:

Couldn't tell you the last time I read The Two Princesses

tbh after reading the description I don't think I have much interest in this in its own right.

#bec posts #tbr takedown #poll #book poll #booklr #bookblr #the two princesses of bamarre #the lost kingdom of Bamarre #gail carson levine

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poppitron360 · 11 months ago

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Okay so @green-tea217 requested that I share this fanfic based on this post that I made.

I never usually post my fanfics, but I’m feeling brave. This one isn’t finished, but I’ll post the first chapter ‘cause I’m really proud of it. I’m working on the other fanfics that were requested, but I’m posting this one first because I’ve worked rlly had on it.

Summary: Kind of an OC/FanChild fic about my hcs for Percabeth’s kids. VERY Leo/Nico heavy bc they’re my two favourite characters, particularly Leo.

TWs: Swearing, lack of smut (she is a teenager)

Disclaimers: I was still reading SoN when I wrote this chapter, and I am currently on HoH, so if I’ve missed anything that gets revealed later, that’s why. Also I listened to the audiobooks, so if I spell a name wrong, that’s also why, either that or I’ve spelt something the British way.

Chapter 1:

Olympia hated stories.

She hated telling them. She hated hearing them. She hated the way they were often twisted and bent to contain some kind of message. She hated the theatrics of sharing them around the fire, the hushed voices and dramatic tone. And she hated how every story she heard was almost always about her dad.

Olympia Grace Jackson-Chase.

Of course.

For as long as she can remember, people had told her stories about her parents. About her and her birth. How she had been born on Olympus. How Apollo himself had delivered her, and named her “Olympia Grace” so that it would rhyme with her last name. That wasn’t entirely true. “Grace” was the last name of her Auntie Thalia and Uncle Jason. She hated the stories about them too- about all her parents’ friends. They were myths and legends in the eyes of the other campers, to her they were just people who babysat her sometimes. The Cabin 9’ers had been shocked when she’d told them that the heroic son of Hephaestus who had saved the world from Gaea and her evil forces was actually just Little Uncle Leo, and the first Fire User in three and a half centuries isn’t very mythical and legendary when he’s running in from the kitchen, waving a tea-towel at the fire alarm and yelling “Oh shit, the guacamole’s on fire. I set the guacamole on fire. Don’t tell your mom.”

People never wanted to hear those stories. Only the exiting and dangerous ones.

“Percy Jackson fought the Minotaur when he was only ten years old!!!”

“Percy Jackson keeps insisting I tidy my room.”

Suffice it to say, she was sick of it.

“Dad,” she asked, approaching the kitchen table.

Perseus Jackson, the man, the myth, the legend himself, looked up from his comic book and ginned at her.

“What is it, dolphin?”

“Can you… like… not send me to camp this year?”

Her dad frowned, put The Amazing Spider-Man down on the table and leaned back in his chair.

“Why? What’s up? Are the other campers not nice to you there?”

“It’s not that… in fact, it’s the opposite. The attention is getting too much. I wanna learn to fight, but… I’d rather you just teach me yourself. You can show me how to use my water powers.”

“Oly, I know it’s hard, especially as you’re one of the first Legacies at Camp Half-Blood. I can absolutely arrange for you to not go anymore if you don’t want to… but there’s only so much I can teach you on my own, particularly with your mother’s workload. I want to make sure you’d be protected. Could you maybe give it a try, please?”

Olympia was pretty sure she’d been “giving it a try” for the last 14 summers, but she didn’t want to argue with her dad.

“Fine,” she said.

“That’s my girl,” he beamed, “Now, remember to pack your armour for Capture the Flag, I don’t want to have to drive out there and back just ‘cause you forgot it again.”

She sighed and left the room.

She just wished that he had stayed in the car when he’d dropped her off, but no. He insisted on walking with her to the Big House, saying hello to Chiron and generally being a huge embarrassment. It didn’t take long for the crowds of campers to form around them, whispering behind their hands. She hugged her dad, and said goodbye to him as quickly as she could.

She dumped her things in the Poseidon Cabin. She was allowed in both her mom and her dad’s old cabins, but she preferred to be alone to sleep. She did her activities with the Athena kids though, she didn’t want to stand out any more than she already did.

Olympia sat alone, perched on the edge of the Athena table, when suddenly a kid shuffled up next to her. She looked about twelve, with the same grey eyes of her mother.

“What’s your name?” The girl asked.

“Olympia Jackson-Chase,” Olympia sighed.

“I’ve noticed you doing cabin activities with us, but you don’t sleep with the other Athenians? What’s up with that?”

Olympia took a deep breath, and began to explain, “I’m a-“

“Wait. Jackson-Chase?” The kid gasped.

Oh, here we go, Olympia thought, preparing for the usual swooning and/or geeking out.

“Your mother was Annabeth Chase?”

Olympia was slightly taken aback, “Usually, people talk mostly about my father. I’m always “The daughter of Percy Jackson,” never “the daughter of Annabeth Chase.””

“Oh but she’s a legend! She re-designed Olympus! She led our cabin in battle against the Titans! She even held up the sky! I mean, I know your dad did that too, but-“

“She did it for longer. She was under that thing for over a day, he only held it for at most 20 minutes.”

The girl laughed.

“And, if you ask me, she was the one who did all the work when it came to defeating Kronos. Dad did jack shit, just handed a knife to a guy.”

“Exactly! Just because he was in the Prophecy-“

“Nah, it’s a lot simpler than that,” Olympia said, “It’s because he’s a man.”

They sat in silence for a bit.

She never blamed her dad for overshadowing her mom. He didn’t mean to. In fact, he openly hated the stories that didn’t recognise her for all she did. They were so in love, it was sickening.

“I can’t believe she’s, like, my sister.”

The girl gasped, and grabbed Olympia’s arm, “Wait, does that make me your aunt?”

Olympia shook her head, “Don’t bother with family trees, man, otherwise you get into the whole “my dad’s dad is my mom’s mom’s uncle, which makes me kinda my mom’s second cousin, and my dad her cousin-once-removed”- it’s just too much to get your head around.”

She looked directly into the girl’s grey eyes, “My advice, kid, believe whatever bullshit they tell you about the Gods not having DNA, and just try not to think about it.”

The girl’s face fell. “Oh.”

Then she looked exited again, “Did you come out of her tummy or her head like I did with my mom?”

And there we go, Olympia thought. Geez, they didn’t hesitate to ask the really invasive questions, did they?

She took her three-pronged fork out of her pocket, and fidgeted with it, twirling it in her fingers. Instantly, she realised her mistake.

“Why do you carry a fork around and never eat with it?” The girl asked. More questions.

Might at well get it over with, she thought.

“Gift from Grandpa,” she replied.

“A gift from Poseidon? What does it do?”

She sighed again, and dangled the fork over the girl’s glass of orange juice, and let go. It dropped into the glass with a satisfying plop, and then rose to the surface. No, it wasn’t rising. It was growing. It’s shaft elongated, and the prongs stretched to become longer and way more deadly. Intricate designs started carving itself into the metal. Olympia stood up, and grabbed the shaft of the fork just as it finished growing. A three-pronged death skewer of pure celestial bronze. A Trident.

The surrounding campers gaped at her, open-mouthed.

“Woah,” said one of the Hephaestus campers, clearly someone who hadn’t seen the spectacle before.

“OLYMPIA JACKSON-CHASE! NO WEAPONS AT THE DINNER TABLE! CAMP RULES! YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT!!”

“Sorry Chiron,” Olympia called. She twisted a little ring of metal around the shaft of the trident, and it shrank back into a fork. She sat back down.

“It responds to water,” she explained, “get it wet, and boom, Trident.”

She had named it Blue. It was her first word, after all. Or at least, that was the story. Poseidon had given it to her on her second birthday, and she had just looked at it, holding it in her tiny fist, and cried “bloooo!” It was probably just baby babbling, but Dad said it counted.

“So what’s Poseidon like? Do you have water powers too? Can you get me your mom’s autograph? Is your dad really 7ft tall?”

She ate the rest of her lunch in silence, only answering the onslaught of questions from the young camper when she had to.

Cabin 3 offered a pleasant respite from the crowds and the people. She dropped her armour and weapons from the day’s activites by the door and kicked off her shoes.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

(Drawing of Olympia: Art by me)

Her curly black hair, which she’d dyed the tips of blonde, was pulled back into a messy ponytail. Around her neck hung a necklace of leather chord, fourteen different coloured beads threaded onto them, each painted with a different design. Her broad shoulders and thick muscles bulged through her plain navy-blue tank top. Her skin was tanned from spending long hours training in the sun. She had a battle-hardened look to her that meant people often mistook her for a daughter of Ares. But her eyes was what made her stand out most- one grey, like her mother, one green, like her father. Her parents had told her how her birth had ended the centuries-long feud between Poseidon and Athena for good, and she had been given those eyes as a way of symbolising that. Another story. It felt like every part of her body had been attached to a story about something her parents had done. Why couldn’t she just be herself? She had spent 16 years living under the shadow of her parents, she was homeschooled from an early age, and had been going to camp since before she could even hold a sword- the demigod life was all she’d ever known. Someday, she’d get away from it all. She’d sink to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and just study the fish, and she wouldn’t have to worry about people or monsters

Suddenly, she felt something tap her on her shoulder. Quick as lightning, she grabbed Blue and spun around. Blue, still in fork form, was about a centimetre away from the neck of her intruder, who held up his hands in surrender.

“Whoah there!” He said.

When she saw who it was, she lowered the weapon and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Leo!” She cried.

“Hey, how’s my favourite cousin? Or… whatever.”

She looked at him and smiled. Despite him being old enough to be her dad, he was about half her size. With a thin, wiry frame and very little meat on his bones. His wild, curly brown hair framed his pointed face and elfish features. His dark skin was covered in a thin layer of motor oil and grime of unknown origin. He tapped her cheek affectionately, leaving a grubby handprint on her face. He walked over to her bed and leaped onto the top bunk, his legs dangling off the ladder.

“You need to stop growing,” he instructed, “You are getting too big, it’s not fair.”

“You need to stop being so short,” Olympia retorted, then her face broke into a huge smile, “I feel like I never see you anymore!”

“I know, you’re too old for me to babysit now, kiddo,” He complained.

“Well that always ended in disaster anyway. There’s still burn marks on that wall.”

“Did your mom find out?” He asked.

“Nope. Dad told her he just wanted to hang more pictures up. And then he went on a long speech about how nice she looked in that wedding photo, and then took her out for ice cream. I think she bought it.”

“Good.”

They stayed in comfortable silence for a few seconds, and then she asked, “So… it’s great that you’re here and all, but… why are you here?”

“What, I can’t come and visit my favourite partner in crime every now and then?”

“Leo…” Her tone was firm.

Leo’s face was suddenly dark and serious, he paused before speaking, but said, “I think I have news about your brother.”

That was Chapter 1- if this post gets… let’s say… 30 notes, I’ll post Chapter 2.

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queenie-ofthe-void · 3 months ago

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Tagged by @wheneverfeasible Thanks for including me!! <3

Last song: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

Favorite color: Dark Pink or Black

Last book: Never Whistle at Night horror anthology but I also kind of count The Magnus Archives podcast, since it's fiction and is taking the place of my audiobooks

Last movie: Nosferatu (2024) and holy damn was it good

Last TV show: X-Files switching back and forth with Hannibal

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Savory and umami for sure

Relationship status: live-in partner

Last Google: Stardew Valley Gifts I ran out of teardrops, sashimi, and coffee for Seb

Looking forward to: Daredevil: Born Again and the new season of Drive to Survive

People I’d like to get to know better: Since I can’t “@ everyone”, if you don’t get tagged but want to do this, please consider yourself tagged! I'm a little late to the game on this one so sorry if you've already been tagged <3

@runninriot @runraerun @thewickedkat @estrellami-1 @ataliagold

@mugloversonly @just-my-latest-hyperfixation @sadisticaltarts @bramble-berries @hotluncheddie

#no pressure tags!#i love my mutuals #moots game

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linklethehistorian · 6 months ago

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Linkle’s Fazbear Frights & Lore Insights #1: Into the Pit (Original Version)

Hi! If you’re interested in reading this, please consider reading the updated version instead! :D It’s much better! You can check it out here: [link]

[Read the general disclaimer and important notes for this series of articles here.]

[View the Masterlist of all completed articles here.]

Some Into the Pit specific notes:

I will be discussing the game version of this story to a limited degree, which as per ‘Frights Fiction’, would be a video game in the in-universe canon, based on the book by the same title, just as it is in our world. If you don’t want spoilers, stop here.

I will (mostly) be dismissing any Easter eggs throughout the game version that do not have a crucial part in the story, as per Frights Fiction these merely exist because the game was made in context of all of the various fictionalized stories born out of a desire to discredit the true canon, unless they do not conflict with the games’ canon and would genuinely bring something of value to the table in terms of discussion. There are two in particular I want to knock out of the running for very specific reasons, but discussing individual Easter Eggs is spoilers, so it will be saved for the actual discussion instead of thrown out here.

Apart from where I feel it relevant, I won’t be doing a deep-dive into the changes between the book and the game, since they are both fictional media within the FNAF universe, and thus the retcons and changes mostly have no value in the discussion of the lore or canon. If someone else wants to scream about how they got so much wrong because they feel the book was done dirty or something, I absolutely encourage you to go write your own article! But this isn’t about that.

Now with that out of the way, let’s get below the cut and get talking! This is your last spoiler warning for Into the Pit (both the book and game), so if you want to turn back, do so now.

Overall Impressions

The Book:

I mean, I liked it. I had been waiting until after I finished playing the game to read this, and it was technically my first in the series (I had seen the comic version of Fetch prior, but not read the actual proper written story), so getting used to the formatting of the books was a bit…unusual, I’ll say.

There are some things about the book that are not to my particular tastes, writing style-wise, such as the constant use of ‘said’, but thankfully, when you’re consuming it in the form of an audiobook (which I did), you can usually tune it out and not notice it as much as you would if the word was staring you in the face all the time.

As for the story itself, I really enjoyed it. Oswald is a very likable kid on the whole with sympathetic plights, his mom is cool, and his father seems like a good and surprisingly not one-dimensional character, for as little time as he’s actually physically present in the book. We get a very good feel for his family and who they are, how much they care for each other, yet are struggling because of the slow death of the town they live in and their inability to move, and no character feels out of place or unnecessary in the book.

I admittedly do feel that having Oswald immediately find his father with minimal trouble once he got to the ballpit again, the day after he was kidnapped, was a bit of an anticlimactic thing — at least, considering what I was expecting, having just come from playing and finishing the game earlier that day.

At the same time, though, the book makes phenomenally more sense than the game because of this choice, and raises far less difficult-to-answer questions, so it probably just comes down to a matter of personal preference — especially when the two are so wildly different.

I think, overall, I do like the book version the most, in terms of story, but I appreciate more what new things the game brought to the table in terms of lore relevance (which I’ll discuss in the ‘lore relevancy’ section, obviously).

They’re both good in their own ways.

The Game:

I don’t have a lot to add here in terms of characters or their personalities, since, for as many differences as the two have, a lot of this particular aspect of the story is the same as in the book. The only one that I’d say somehow feels both slightly more irrelevant and slightly also too relevant in the game version is Dylan Cooper, the bully at Oswald’s school, and the lack of inclusion of any mention of Oswald’s best friend, Ben, removes some of the feeling behind why Oswald is so frustrated with his life situation and his Dad, which I think is a bit of a shame after reading the book.

The added ability to pick up the Dad’s items and view little stories about Oswald and his family is a really nice touch that I appreciated, and Oswald thinking in one of them about how much his Mom losing her husband would devastate her was heartbreaking. As for some of the other changes, I have very mixed feelings; although I did think it was cool to have the search for Oswald’s Dad extend for a few days and give us a longer glimpse into the past in doing so, as mentioned before, it also raised many more questions in terms of why there were several additional kids that Oswald had to rescue, whether the kids in the Party Room at the beginning of the game were dead in that version because it was only strongly suggested but never fully confirmed as opposed to the book which was explicit about it, and also the actions of Spring Bonnie (or the Yellow Thing™️, as it is called in the book) throughout, which I could get into, but I feel might warrant an entire mini-article itself. (If you’re interested in that, maybe drop me an ask and I’ll write about it sometime.)

Also, all the random Easter eggs are super cool, but I feel like anyone who still somehow thinks the books and games based on them are actual 1:1 events that happened and not just in-universe books and games are going to use tons of them to go wild with theories about retcons and all sorts of stuff that is just…clearly not the case, so…meh. I’m divided.

As for gameplay, it’s good! It’s the first FNAF game to have different difficulty settings at the start of the game (except UCN), which is awesome, though I feel like quite honestly, it’s the easiest game of them all, as well. I have no difficulty whatsoever beating it on Frightening mode (the normal mode), and can barely tell the difference from Creepy (easy mode). I haven’t played the other modes yet, so I can’t comment on those, but I suspect I could easily beat the hardest one with minimal issue.

Lore Relevancy

In what is an extremely ironic turn of events, despite this story — out of all of the four I’ve listened to thus far at the time of writing this, at least — having the most blatant connection to the game’s canon lore, I honestly think that this will probably be one of the books that I have the least to say about in terms of breaking down the lore and going over it, mostly because I feel that it being so heavily tied to a specific part of the canon we know a lot about from the games just….really makes it blatantly clear which parts we definitely can’t trust.

So, most importantly, I guess let’s start with some examples of the one advantage Into the Pit has over literally every other book in the series that I’m aware of thus far: the things it tells us that we can know aren’t true.

The Lies and Half-truths

Funnily enough, the thing we know we can absolutely discard the most is any of the details of the murders that happened in 1985 — at least, in the way Into the Pit presents them.

In the book (and perhaps the game? The image isn’t clear enough to be sure), there are six victims (plus the game version adding a whole potential four others whom he tried to kill and failed thanks to Oswald), but we know for a fact that, while William had six victims total when we’re including Charlie Emily, there were only the five others at most who died during that year. So can we trust the number of victims? No.

Can we trust the method they died in, then…? Also no; in both the book and its game adaption, we are painted a scene of families and kids running and screaming in terror from a monster that was mass nabbing and killing kids, but we know for a fact, from multiple canon games both old and new, that William lured the children into the back before killing them covertly and was never actually seen doing it except in costume via cameras, and that this must have happened one by one and not all at once, contrary to what Into the Pit purports, as the order in which they died is brought up several times in the more recent canon games as being in some way worthy of mentioning, which it would not if their deaths only varied by a matter of seconds or minutes at best.

So what can we trust in and rely on about the MCI (Missing Children’s Incident) murders? Well, honestly, just that it takes place in 1985. That’s literally it. That’s all that’s definitely relevant to the canon of the main games from this story in any way, when it comes to the MCI itself.

Now, that’s not to say there’s nothing else in the story that’s of note at all, though; there’s actually a lot that I think is worth paying attention to and speculating on, it’s just that very little of it actually has to do with the crime that was committed, as most of that is, unsurprisingly, heavily played up, exaggerated, and sensationalized; after all, that’s the entire in-universe purpose of these books and games existing — to discredit and make light of the real events by turning bits and pieces of them into spooky fictional stories.

Before we get into what I think is of value, though, let’s just rule out two more things from the game version of Into the Pit that I think we need to firmly take off the table — namely, the toy airplane from the FNAF movie, and the photo taken from the Silver Eyes trilogy of Henry beside a fully mascot-costumed William, which was placed in the shadows on the wall in the hidden room where Oswald’s Dad was being held captive.

These are literally just Easter Eggs referencing alternate universe stories with no relevancy to lore.

How do I know this? It’s very easy, actually.

With the airplane, there is literally no way that this has any implications on the lore, because Garret — the one whom the plane belonged to — was not one of William’s victims within the canon of the main games; he was William’s son, who died tragically from an accident that occurred during one of Michael’s pranks, and became the catalyst for everything that William did in FNAF in the first place.

And as for the photo, we actually have an in-game, acknowledged and recognized photo picked up by Oswald and crucially used in the true ending which depicts William and Henry — both in black and white within the in-game and out-of-game trophies achieved when picking it up, and in color in the unused data — looking entirely different from how that alternate universe portrays them, with Henry maintaining his design from the official Encyclopedia, and William possessing a (as far as I am aware) mostly new and unique design of his own. There is no reason to assume we should trust something barely visible on a random wall over something that actually has plot relevance to the game itself and is required to get the true ending.

The Truths and the Likely-Truths

So, we’ve talked about the lies, but what about the story do I think does have relevance to the lore of the main canon? What do I think the story is trying — or could be trying — to tell us?

Well, first of all, as I said before, that the MCI takes place in 1985, and we have a canon William and Henry design for the main game universe through the plot-relevant photo in the game version of Into the Pit — YAY! — but I think these ones are pretty on-the-nose. I don’t think anyone really needs convincing of those facts, and, if they do, me pointing out the obvious again probably isn’t going to be the big thing that convinces them, so…moving on, let’s see what else we can glean or make note of from the story that seems like it might have some connection to a canon event or phenomenon and could be useful information to take away regarding it:

1: We can infer, looking at it from the perspective of Frights Fiction, that since these stories are being made for the people of the main FNAF universe, and the story references many IPs that exist in our own world, that these IPs also exist within the main FNAF universe.

Not really a big deal, but it’s a pretty cool little side note for those of us interested in the details of the greater world-building of FNAF.

2: We can reasonably assume that the building the MCI took place in likely looked a lot, if not exactly, like the 1985 version of building we get to visit in the game version of Into the Pit, back in its heyday. We can definitely confirm, if nothing else, that some of the posters and drawings were real, because they were in some of the canon main games, too.

3: It’s likely that this confirms that Foxy had already been temporarily retired in 1985 in preparation of making the failed Toy Foxy that became Mangle, since it’s mentioned in the Into the Pit game (I can’t recall in the book if it was the same) that he wasn’t in use and would be gone for awhile, and there’s no reason in particular to doubt that this is true, as it doesn’t conflict with any known information.

4: The way that Spring Bonnie goes unnoticed by everyone but Oswald in the story is….interesting, I’ll say; I definitely feel that the cause of this is an illusion disc and that this is Scott once again drawing us back to this concept to remind us that it exists, especially since it seems highly likely based on FNAF 4 and UCN that the Nightmare Animatronics were, in fact, the FNAF 1 animatronics effected by illusion discs. (If you’re interested, I recommend checking out GiBi’s long FNAF video here.)

Having the privilege of having listened to a few stories already at the time of writing this, I can say that this is something that is present in at least one other story so far, too, even within the very same book. Just something to note, I suppose.

5: Speaking of things that seem to keep coming up, even though there’s no point in the main games yet where I can say there’s been a clear example of this happening, I do feel that there’s definitely something going on here with the concept of someone’s will being able to shape reality to some extent, and not just in the Fazbear Frights books, either; even in the alternate universe in the Silver Eyes trilogy — which is entirely separate from Fright Fiction, as far as we know — there was an element of this, too, with Henry’s pain and sorrow, and even later his anger, over Charlie’s death having the power to essentially bring her back to life in the form of a living doll, through his own tears. I don’t know quite yet exactly what is trying to be said here, but I know there’s something being said. It’s important in some way, or it likely will be. I just don’t know how yet. I have some….theories, but I’ll get to those another time, elsewhere.

6: For those who believe in the concept that Gregory is an advanced robot of Garret a la the Silver Eyes trilogy, one of the Bad Endings in Into the Pit’s game adaption — in which Oswald appears to have been turned into an animatronic, yet retains his child form — is certainly food for thought. I don’t know how much stock we can put in it, but it is worth noting.

7. In the game version of Into the Pit, there’s also some implication that Oswald’s dad may very well have been the Freddy Bully, one of Michael’s friends, who participated in the prank that led to Garret’s death. Considering Oswald’s Dad’s unwillingness to talk about what happened in regards to Freddy’s in the book, and the fact that Help Wanted 2 strongly implies Cassie’s father is Bonnie Bully, this makes it very likely that we are now being given information in some form about Michael’s various former cohorts when he was a teenager, and how William seems to hold a grudge against all of them in some shape or form, and they frequently meet bad fates. Obviously, the events of the story couldn’t have played out as they did in the main canon, because of the numerous impossible discrepancies we’ve already discussed, but it does make me wonder if Oswald’s dad really did in some way meet a terrible fate or have a brush with William in some context, at some point in his life, or not.

8. This particular entire book — including Into the Pit, To Be Beautiful, and Count the Ways — for reasons you’ll see going forward as we review each story, definitely have a theme going on of “Feeling unlovable, unwanted, and like life is meaningless in its current state”…. This will come up eventually in a future post. I promise. Just bear it in mind for now.

9. Saving the most in-depth and (to me) most interesting for last, I…kind of want to talk a little bit about potential parallels here. After listening to several stories by now, something that’s kind of stood out to me is the idea that a lot of these books could actually have something important to say about — or, even when not exactly about, at least posses a strong and important connection to — one of the Aftons or the Emilys.

Obviously, this is going to rely a lot on personal interpretation, and I know there are going to be a lot of people who disagree with me on this, but…to me, I think Into the Pit — and actually the entire book it’s in as a whole, minus the Stitchwraith — is actually sharing insight about Michael, and his relationship with his family and with himself.

I know there are plenty of people who probably think that if anyone’s a parallel to Oswald, it’s Garret, and if anyone’s a parallel to To Be Beautiful’s Sarah, it’s Elizabeth, but I couldn’t disagree more; there’s actually very little alike between these characters at all from how we know them in the game’s canon.

I’ll get into explaining my thoughts on To Be Beautiful later when the time comes to discuss that story, but as far as Oswald and game canon Garret, they only really have three common threads, and even then, that’s only if we dig super deep into things: he’s scared of a golden animatronic, he (in the case of Garret, thinks that) saw something at the Pizzeria that was terrifying, and he has a bully that sometimes bothers him.

One of these connections, too, is also extremely surface-level: while we could at least make the argument that Garret likely thinking he saw a person being eaten by an animatronic when they were being put into a plush mascot costume and growing to fear Fredbear from it has at least some vague similarity to Oswald seeing the Yellow Thing™️ murdering kids and then fearing it, Oswald’s bully is less of an active tormentor in his life (especially in the book, which is the original version of the story), and more just a general, constant annoyance when he goes to school who has no real connection to the rest of his plight. It’s also important to note that, not only are bullies a common issue to come up for children, but in the FNAF series, so are animatronics doing scary things and killing people, and the main antagonist in the series famously is a golden one, so it’s really not like this is some big smoking gun.

Meanwhile, let’s look at the parallels between Michael and Oswald in the actual main bulk of the main plot itself, rather than random attributes:

While Oswald on the whole does clearly love and care about his family, he and one particular family member frequently get into arguments and get on each other’s nerves because they are around each other constantly. This culminates one night into him deciding to play a cruel prank on that person and scare him, only for that prank to go horribly wrong, resulting in a golden animatronic taking that family member away from him (and, I might add, also a sustained head injury by said family member).

This is already literally the plot of FNAF 4, according to both it and multiple other games, and that’s not even taking into account the more controversial stance I personally take that the main night sections of FNAF 4 are actually William testing out his illusion disc technology on Michael by attaching illusion discs to his FNAF 1 style animatronics and setting them loose in the home a la The Twisted Ones (as supported by UCN), which we can connect again to Into the Pit and Oswald, as Oswald is, after his prank which ultimately took his family member from him, henceforth tormented by a version of Spring Bonnie extremely reminiscent of the nightmare animatronics, and has to set out on a journey throughout the rest of his story to right his wrong in whatever way he can, just as Michael dedicates the rest of his life to helping his lost brother and sister and the other lost spirits (which the game adaption of the book connects to further, by having Oswald save several children throughout many nights). It is also interesting to note that the game version choosing to make Oswald’s father one of Michael’s teenage friends also adds yet another connection to Michael and the incident that I suggest Oswald’s story parallels.

And not only that, I would also like to draw attention to one specific line Michael canonically wrote in the Security Logbook, when asked to list his favorite characters from movies, books, and television who showed bravery in the face of extreme obstacles, and talk about how he can relate their heroic journeys to his current experiences, he answers, “Clara, from The Immortal and the Restless, because everything about this place is crazy, and nobody seems to notice except me.” This is a direct parallel to how Oswald is stated to feel about his Dad and his current situation numerous times throughout the book, as he is told by everyone around him that everything is normal and no, there is no giant Yellow Rabbit around and his Dad isn’t missing; that is his Dad right there, even as he sees clearly that it is not.

Okay, so…let’s say it is possible to interpret this as being an intentional parallel to the incident of the Bite of ‘83 and Michael, as I purport; what, then, could the story be trying to tell us about him? What is it trying to get people thinking about that we don’t already know?

Well, firstly, as I said, I believe that every story in this particular Frights book has a strong connection and relevancy to Michael, so I think that the blatant parallel to his situation existing in the opening tale was placed there on purpose to get your attention and get you thinking about all of it, but I do feel it’s also trying to say something about the incident, as well — about part of Michael’s motivation for escalating his pranking towards his brother to the point of the incident which accidentally caused Garret’s death, and a potential glimpse into his general state of mind at the time.

In the book, Oswald had been growing increasingly frustrated with his home situation in general — feeling bored, entirely ignored and abandoned and displaced, and that his father had essentially chosen their entire town and Oswald’s grandma over Oswald himself — when his now-long distance best friend contacted him to coincidentally tell him by contrast how well his own life was going. This led to Oswald and his father getting into a fight in the car on the way to Jeff’s pizza about how much the boy’s life sucked and implying how little he felt his Dad cared about him and his well-being by comparison to everyone else, and once Oswald had been dropped off, this argument was the final straw in making him decide that he was going to actually act out in order to force his father to finally, truly acknowledge, put effort in, and show care for him, by hiding in the ballpit and making his dad worry about where he was.

By figuring out what the obvious parallels are here between Michael and Oswald, I feel that we can get a fairly clear and easy picture of what it would say about Michael:

Even if for something of opposite reasons, William and Oswald’s father both would have been very busy with their jobs — with Oswald’s Dad doing it because of their family’s financial troubles, and William doing it because…well, he was a co-owner and crucial worker and performer at a highly successful, award-winning, up-and-coming restaurant and that sort of job is just naturally demanding.

Combine this with the fact that it’s very clear based on the main games’ canonical lore that Michael was the least favored child of the Aftons in at least Williams’ eyes (no, the Silver Eyes’ lore does not count, as that is an alternate universe story, and, as I will later get into in the post about To Be Beautiful, Elizabeth being ‘unloved’ and/or borderline abused was very clearly not something that carries over from that universe into the games’ lore), and that the (accurately translated) UCN cutscenes very clearly imply that just as Michael turned a blind eye to how serious Garret’s suffering was despite how good he seemed to have it, Garret also didn’t pay enough attention to realize that Michael was suffering in his own way as well, and they thus both took out their frustration on each other in their own ways, and it becomes very clear that Michael’s feelings about his own Dad were likely the very same that Oswald felt about his.

From Oswald’s perspective, his Dad cared more about the town and the inconvenience his grandma would face at having to travel to the next town to visit if they moved than he cared about Oswald and how their current lifestyle was causing him to suffer.

From Michael’s perspective, his Dad cared more about his business (and the town by proxy, as they were the ones bringing in his success) and paying attention to and doting on his other two children than he cared about Michael and how forgotten and sidelined he felt as the oldest sibling.

And just like Oswald had a friend, Ben, from whom he heard about Ben’s obviously ‘better’ life and parents, and whom he complained to about his own, Michael very clearly also had several friends to tell him about their potentially ‘better’ lives and more attentive parents, and whom he likely told about his troubles and how his younger siblings stole the spotlight from him, with Garret being the ‘worst’ culprit of them all, as not only did he prank him back and they got on each other’s nerves from time to time, but he was also William’s ‘favorite’ Afton child.

Putting two and two together, then, it’s fairly clear that the conclusion we come to is, while the two boys did prank each other and annoy each other already, each turning a blind eye to the other’s suffering, it was Michael’s feelings of being the unloved and forgotten child of the family that caused him to start acting out further, believing — like Oswald — that the only way to make his Dad remember he existed was by being a troublemaker (an “any attention is good attention” mindset) until William was finally forced to take notice of him.

That is what, at least according to my own understanding of the novel, I personally believe Into the Pit is trying to say, at least on a deeper level beyond the surface level non-conflicting information, like the year the MCI took place.

Taking it a step further with the William = Oswald’s Dad parallel, we could even say that in a way, Oswald’s Dad preferring in the book to refuse to acknowledge that their dead town was a lost cause and pack up and move on with his family is also a quite interesting and fitting metaphor to William’s later refusal to accept Garret’s death and move forward by focusing on the family and children that he still had left…

However, I believe I myself have said all that I wanted to say on the story by now, so I will just leave you with all of these thoughts to ponder on your own time.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you look forward to the next installment, which will be To Be Beautiful. :) I’m not sure when I will get to it just yet, as I’m currently not at home and don’t want to push myself too hard when I have many other projects on which I’d like to get a little work done, but I’m sure it won’t be so terribly long.

Until then, take care, and I love you all. 💕

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 months ago

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Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 3)

Picks and Shovels is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.

This week, I'm serializing the first chapter of my next novel, Picks and Shovels, a standalone Martin Hench novel that drops on Feb 17:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels

The book is up for presale on a Kickstarter that features the whole series as print books (with the option of personalized inscriptions), DRM-free ebooks, and a DRM-free audiobook read by Wil Wheaton:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/picks-and-shovels-marty-hench-at-the-dawn-of-enshittification

It's a story of how the first seeds of enshittification were planted in Silicon Valley, just as the first PCs were being born.

Here's part one:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/09/the-reverend-sirs/#fidelity-computing

Part two:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/10/smoke-filled-room-where-it-happens/#computing-freedom

And now, onto part three!

The logo for the Computing Freedom was a stylized version of an inverted Fidelity Computing logo, colored magenta, just a few shades off of the mauve of the Fidelity family of products.

Their catalog was slimmer than Fidelity’s, omitting the computers themselves. Instead, it was filled with all the things that went with the computers: printers, ribbons, paper, floppy drives and disks, RAM and modems. Unlike the Fidelity catalog, the CF’s catalog had prices. They were perfectly reasonable prices, maybe even a little on the high side.

“Our computers, they’re a system,” Bishop Clarke said. “We provide everything, and guarantee that it will all work together. Our customers aren’t sophisticated, they’re not high-tech people. They’re people who organize their lives around their faith, not chasing a fad or obsessing over gadgets.”

“We hold their hands,” Rabbi Finkel said. “There’s always someone who’ll answer the phone and help them, whatever problem they’re having. It’s like a family. One of their computers breaks, we send them another one! That way, they can keep working. We know the system is important to them.”

“It’s not cheap,” Father Marek said. “That kind of customer service isn’t cheap.”

“We filed suit as soon as we found out,” Bishop Clarke said. “We didn’t want to.” He looked sad. “What choice did we have.” It wasn’t a question.

CF managed to fly under the radar for a couple of months. They started with sales calls, cold calls to their old contacts, their best customers, explaining that they had created a new business, one that could supply them with high-quality, interchangeable products for their Fidelity systems. The prices were much lower than Fidelity’s, often less than half.

“Sure they were less than half,” Father Marek said. “When you don’t have to pay a roomful of customer-service people, you don’t have to charge as much.”

The customers were happy, but then a San Antonio stake president was invited to dinner at the home of a local prominent businessman, the owner of a large printshop who relied so heavily on Fidelity systems to run his business that he kept one at home, in his study, with a modem that let him dial into the plant and look at the day’s production figures and examine the hour sheets and payroll figures.

The president noticed the odd-colored box of fanfold printer paper behind the congregant’s desk, feeding a continuous river of paper into the printer’s sprockets. He asked after the odd packaging and the parishioner gave him a catalog (CF included a spare catalog with every order, along with a handwritten note on quarter-sized stationery thanking the customer for his business).

The president assumed that this was some kind of new division of Fidelity, and he was impressed with the prices and selection in the catalog. Naturally, when he needed a new box of floppy disks, he asked one of the girls in his congregation for a box of the low-cost items—

“Why would he ask a girl in his congregation? Didn’t he have a Fidelity sales rep?” I’d filled much of my little steno pad with notes by this point. It was quite a story but I wasn’t quite sure where I fit in with it.

Bishop Clarke started to answer, but Father Marek silenced him by clearing his throat in a loud and pointed way. The priest stared at me for a long time, seeming to weigh me and find me wanting. I can’t say I liked him, but he fascinated me. He had such a small bag of tricks, those glares and noises, but he was a virtuoso with them, like a diner cook who can only make a half dozen dishes but prepares them with balletic grace.

“Mr. Hench,” he said. He let the words hang in the air. “Mr. Hench,” he said again. I knew it was a trick but he performed it so well. I felt a zing of purely irrational, utterly involuntary anxiety. “We don’t have a traditional sales force. The sales groups are small, and their primary role is Empowerment.” He leaned so heavily on the word that I heard the capital letter.

“Our sales groups travel around, they meet people in each place who know their communities, people who have the knack for technology, who need a little side business to help them make ends meet. The sales groups train these people, teach them how to spot people who could use our systems, how to explain the benefits to them. They use their personal connections, the mutual trust, to put our machines where they can do the most good.”

Bishop Clarke could see I wasn’t quite following. “It’s like the Avon Lady. You know, ‘ding-dong Avon calling’? Those girls are talking to their neighbors, helping them find the right products. Their friends get the best products for their needs, the girls get a commission, and everyone is happy.”

I got it then. Fidelity was a pyramid scheme. Well, that was a waste of time. I almost said so, but then I held my tongue. I didn’t want to get into an argument with these men, I just wanted to leave.

“We’re not a pyramid scheme,” Rabbi Finkel said. Had it shown on my face? Maybe rabbis got a lot of practice reading people, hearing the unsaid words. “We follow the rules. The Federal Trade Commission set the rules in 1979 and we’ve always followed them. We are a community-oriented business, serving faith groups, and we want to give back to them. That’s why we pay commissions to local people. It’s our way of putting some of our profits into the communities that depend on us.”

“That’s so well said,” Bishop Clarke said. “So well said. Perfect, in fact.”

“Perfect,” Father Marek said, with a scowl that made it clear he wasn’t happy to have been interrupted.

Check out my Kickstarter to pre-order copies of my next novel, Picks and Shovels!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/11/socialism-for-the-rich/#a-lighter-shade-of-mauve

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