#Cassidy has no clue how it actually happened

[incorrect-fnaf-quotes]

Every once and a while, the spirits would return to the safe room after the springlock failure—at least before joining up with Puppet, and leaving.

Typically, it’s only Cassidy, but one of the others may join.

One day, Cassidy went to the safe room again, only to discover Springtrap was gone—although, the spirit was unaware of where he went, or how he got out.

The people who found him+brought him to the attraction were never seen by Cassidy.

[hotpinkstars]

GIRL DAD OR BOY DAD? - sunday, boothill x reader

- or more clearly, to what gender would they want to have more, and general headcannons of them as papas ☺️

- brainrot brainrot brainrot BRAINROT AHHH... i love these guys and i can do a part 2 for others later but godd theres absolutely not enough dad stuff for these men (especially sunday... if there is its all yandere) so never fear novas here! ahem anyways enjoy

- warnings none! pure fluff!!! wc 711

Sunday is so a girl and boy dad.

Reason why I say this is because he likely needs an heir to take over his position when he gets too old to do so, but he also wants a baby girl he can spoil as well.

Don’t worry! He loves both of his kids the same! They’re the greatest things that have probably ever happened to him and he cherishes them with his whole life. He thanks the stars above every single day for the opportunity he received to be a father to multiple beautiful children, and thanks you for granting him the chance. 

Dunno, but I could see this man wanting a handful of kids. He wants at least one girl and at least one boy, but I could see him shooting for 3-4. Will he be around to care for them? Not all the time, but he tries his hardest (and he definitely has the resources to care for that many).

Considering they’re half halovian and half human, they look pretty much just like their father! Some have your eyes, but they all have his hair. His hair and his gorgeous wings. They have your features though, such as your face, body type, etc.

His favorite part of the day is when he gets to collapse on your shared bed, his kiddos following behind him to cuddle their dad, and most of the time you all fall asleep together. Normally, you wake up just you and him because he’s good about putting them in their own bed once they fall asleep.

Once his kids get older, he’ll teach his son(s) combat and good form. He wants them to protect, and wants to raise them to be strong and independent. With his daughter(s), if they ask to be taught combat, then he won’t see much of an issue with it. He also wants to teach them independence, but in a more subtle form. 

Just expect that his children as teenagers are going to be the prettiest kids around holy shit. They’re obviously enrolled in a private school due to their fathers high status but they always come home and list the compliments they’ve received that day. Thankfully you two have raised them well enough for them to realize that it’ll be bad if all of these get to their head and stroke their ego too hard…

Supportive father asf! All I’ve gotta say here

Don’t play Boothill is SO a girl dad hello have you met the man

He’s so excited when his little girl is born ahh he’s always dreamed of being a father to a girl and his dream has officially come true!!

Obviously, if you had a boy, he’d love him the same. He just wants children of his own tbh lol

His daughter knows western culture fresh out of the womb my friend. It’s like she was born for little cowboy boots and the cutest little cowboy hat. She’s even got a western name, he brought it up and you liked it, so the name you two settled on was Cassidy.

She has his hair! It’s absolutely gorgeous once it starts coming in- a pearly white color with little black streaks stemming from the roots. She has your eyes and your face, and his slimmer body type (before he was turned into a cyborg. This isn’t canon I actually have no clue what he looked like pre cyborgification lmao).

Oh lord, your daughter is so spoiled. On every mission he goes on he’s always bringing something back for her. It could be a super fancy necklace or even just a little trinket he picked up from a street vendor, but she has a whole shelf full of the things her daddy gives her.

She thinks it’s so cool he has a metal body. She asks about it alot but she’s really fascinated with it tbh. She likes to call it “daddy’s special feature!” and he always melts to that sentence gosh

He probably teaches his daughter how to use a gun when she gets older. He, similar to Sunday, wants his daughter to learn self defense tactics and learn how to fend for herself when necessary.

She totally has his accent. Change my mind period.

[wisteriaiswriting]

𝔻ℙ𝕊 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟𝕤

Type of date | Location | Are they romantic? | How much money will they spend | What happens after | Blurb

Words: 3161

𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕖:

Due to Ashe being, well Ashe. You’d think she wouldn’t do dates or much romance, but surprisingly yes! Much preferring calmer and simple dates.

Has set up your private room at her base, [Whether you live there or just visit] so she’ll set up in there.

She has very little experience, but with you she tries, and often succeeds. Flirts a lot, but you get all her real attention.

During her Deadlock days she’s gathered a pretty penny, and she’s willing to spend plenty of that on you. Even if you deny her, it won’t stop her.

Absolutely adores when you cuddle up to her, holding you back and closer. All the while making sure both of you are comfortable before falling asleep herself.

***

Ashe’s day was rough, and returning to you made the world around her seen non existant. Able to fall into your arms and the many, many blankets. Tugging you closer into her arms as she got under them.

Quickly enough she noticed your breathing evening out, looking just in time to see your eyes shut. Only able to chuckle at that, she just arrived and you were already out like a light.

Leaning down to leave a gentle kiss on your forehead, pulling away, and in the dim lighting was barely able to see the mark she left. Her thumb brushed over it as she thought.

It didn’t take long for her to do it again. And again.

ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕪:

If he’s being honest here, he had and still does, no clue what to do. But likely he found something, and that was heading out for a drink and maybe some food.

Mostly takes you to some bars and a few pubs when hungry.

He tries, and comes off real smooth yet kinda awkward. (He hasn’t done this in a while.)

Has very little to his, nothing legally. So he won’t spend much of the little he still has, but he will steal anything for you. (Be the distraction, please.)

Still awkward, but now he’s calmed down a bit. He’ll walk you to your residence before asking for a second date.

***

“C’mon now darlin’, don’t let this old dog down.” There he went again. You weren’t sure what would happen if he had a few drinks, but definitely not a flirty drunk. But luckily enough he stuck with you no matter what.

Also meaning you were subjected to all his flirting.

“Cassidy, again, you brought me here.”

“Did I? I mean why wouldn’t I, a catch like you with me, obviously.”

𝔼𝕔𝕙𝕠:

She’ll adapt to what you enjoy, but if she was given the choice it would be a movie.

While she would prefer staying at home or base, wanting your time together to be, well together. Although she wouldn’t be against the movie theatre.

Has no experience. But throughout your time together and even before, she’s always learning, especially what you prefer.

It’s likely Winston finds out and gives her the money. Using that on snacks and tickets if needed. Otherwise most of it is spent on you.

Will walk you to your room before leaving, finding Winston or Mercy to talk about it.

***

“Echo!” Turning around to find Winston making his way closer, one hand was closed, holding something likely for her.

“Oh Winston!”

“I was informed about the date, and was able to gather these.” He dropped the things into her open ones, revealing plenty of money. Especially more than enough in notes to pay for anything needed.

“Thank you, I’m sure Y/N will also appreciate the help.” With that she floated off, on her way to your room. Now she had this, all she needed to do was confirm with you.

𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕚:

He’ll drag you to a nearby arcade. But if you’re up in Japan he’ll bring you to one he frequented as a child / teen.

Either place will be loud, bright and flashy. Unless you become uncomfortable with anything he’ll actually enough the kids.

Hasn’t really lost his spark, but due to his death and scarring he might need some help.

Has a bit more than needed, so he’s paying for the whole night. Please don’t try to argue with him.

Afterwards he’ll take you out for food, your choice.

***

Compared to the cold winds outside Genji’s metal hand felt warm, likely from your own heat. Never changing or letting go when you entered the arcade, only pulling you around the place.

And you’d think someone who fights for his life almost every day would be able to win at a basic claw machine, right?

Well you’d be wrong. You watched as he failed time after time before almost giving up, before he finally caught one. It was small and simple but he beamed at you while holding it towards you.

It was a cute [Favourite animal] that held a heart, and there were plenty of other animals inside. Once he realized, now not focused on yours, he was determined to have a matching one.

ℍ𝕒𝕟𝕫𝕠:

He’ll much prefer something calming but able to be sentimental, like painting together.

Depending on the activity you’ll either stay home or go to a private studio for the time.

Has very little experience, he tries by giving you gifts. (Please let him know it works.)

He will spend plenty of money on the tools and wood, willing to get anything for the date and you.

You’ll be walked back to your house / room, and when he gets back to his own he’ll place all your gifts onto their dedicated shelf.

***

The day was spent just silently hanging out together. He sat across from you doing his own thing, which used a few tools. All had been brought in a small bag. While you continued doing your own hobby.

About an hour goes by before he moves from his spot. Turning around to gain your attention, using his empty hand to open your own. As he did his face became red and he looked away slightly.

Only looking back to place the item in your open palm. Which turned out to be a small wooden bow that he just carved. But before you could pull your hand away he also placed a few more things next to the bow.

Revealing them to be smaller, also carved arrows. Each one had either your names or your initials engraved.

This man would be the death of you.

𝕁𝕦𝕟𝕜𝕣𝕒𝕥:

He’ll drag you into his workshop, whether you join him or watch he doesn’t mind.

As a criminal he can’t go very far, so you’ll stay in his workshop.

He fully believes he’s romantic, tries but ultimately fails. Has no clue what he is actually doing.

Jamison has almost none, but he can’t use it anyways.

Being secretive the whole time pays off, even if he almost blew it many times. Showing off his project while beaming.

***

For the first few hours you willingly stayed with Jamison in his workshop. But after a while it was clear he wasn’t going to let you see, so without him noticing you left. The rest of your time was spent sitting outside the room while you heard him working away.

Before you knew it he had left the room, almost rushing past you. Luckily turning around in time.

“Oi, why’d you leave?”

“Takin’ to long Jami.”

“Well don’t do that…” He started pouting while reaching into his pocket, pulling out a small box. Placing it into your hands.

“Go on, open it!” Which you would, except there was no way to. Spinning it around until you heard a ‘click.’ The lid opened revealing a small heart rising and spinning, made of scraps and crappily coloured in different shades of red.

“So?”

“I love it Jami.” Leaning over to give him a quick kiss.

𝕄𝕖𝕚:

She focuses on getting to know you rather than an activity or certain place, wanting you to do the same.

You’ll spend that with each other and away from the others, likely at her place or a nearby yet kinda private park.

Due to, you know, being frozen for years, she doesn’t have much experience, even before that but she tries.

The most she spends is on any food and drinks, but is willing to spend more if needed.

Not much, but she won't let you go until you accept the snacks she made for you.

***

It had been hours since you arrived at Mei’s place, and it was finally time to leave. But it was clear she didn’t want you to leave yet, though she wouldn’t stop you. Surely you have plenty of things to be doing.

As she watched you walk off she suddenly remembered her gifts, the cookies!

“Y/N, wait!” And you did, letting you grab what she needed before rushing out. In her hands were a container, only able to see when she got closer. It was full of cookies.

“I made these earlier, almost forgot.” She giggled as she spoke, flushing red.

“Thank you.”

ℙ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕙:

She much prefers simple and calmer date ideas. Turns out building Legos is a good idea, one she should’ve done earlier.

She’ll have you both sitting in the living room, making sure you’re both comfortable as possible. With enough lightning and the tv as background noise.

Work has always gotten in the way of any romance she’s ever tried, so the only things she knows are from asking Ana. But she still tries, even if they cause her to flush red.

Is absolutely willing to spend plenty on different sets. She makes sure you can finish any set you want.

Helping you find the best placement for them. When you leave she takes pictures and sends them to Ana, fully prepared for any teasing from her.

***

When you entered the first thing you saw was another Lego set, it was from the botanical collection. Specifically the Orchids. All built and setting in a [favourite colour] vase. Footsteps pulling you from the scene.

In the doorway stood Fareeha, frozen while her face quickly became red.

“I can explain,” Stepping forwards as she spoke, taking your hands into her own. “I am aware we built some yesterday, but I saw these and they reminded me of you.”

ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕣:

Everyone assumes it’s a meeting, unaware (Except for Sombra) of what is really happening. Just you two spending quality time in silence doing your favourite activities.

He’ll have it set up in a private meeting room further down from the others, or invites you to his room.

Has plenty of experience (Had a wife) so he has learnt his love languages, being acts of service and quality time, although only with you.

Doesn’t need to spend any of his money but will buy anything you want or need for your hobby.

He’s a knitter, so before he leaves he’ll hand you the item he made. Please find him later for thank you cuddles, he will melt, literally.

***

A hand dropped onto your shoulder, if you weren’t a Talon agent it would’ve taken you down. But the metal claws gave away who they belonged to.

“Meeting room 6.” Smoke covered the area as he left, not wanting to stay around longer than necessary. Listening, you also left the area, everyone quickly became quiet.

The room's lights were off, the only light being a lamp behind him and the curtains pulled slightly open. Across the table sat Gabriel, gauntlets removed and thrown next to the yarn.

He was part way through knitting something, a stack of already finished squares. Just next to them sat the items for [activity], seemingly ready for you to start. And start you did, both of you sitting in silence for the next few hours.

𝕊𝕠𝕛𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟:

She’ll spend a few hours setting up the perfect movie night, snacks, blankets and a selection of movies or shows.

All this will be set up in your shared bedroom so neither of you will have to walk far for any reason.

She’s aware she’s trying to be romantic, just unsure if it’s succeeding. (It has been for a while.)

The only money she’ll need to spend is on the snacks, buying all your favourites.

Likely one of you two will fall asleep during your bingeing, with the other following soon after.

***

You were both on your 3rd movie after finishing a while 4 seasons of an old yet interesting tv show. But by now your eyes started to hurt from all the lights, and your eyelids were starting to shut.

You knew you couldn’t prevent yourself from falling asleep, especially when you were so comfortable. Vivian had set up everything, so she was aware this would happen and was prepared.

She let you lean onto her, wrapping her own arms around you. And when your eyes finally shut, breathing evened out she leaned over and gave you a quick and gentle kiss. Finally following shut, letting the movie play as background noise.

𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕖𝕣 𝟟𝟞:

He enjoys simpler date ideas, the chosen one being a walk in the park. Managing to find a quiet and pretty empty day.

While the majority of your time is spent in the park, he’ll take you to a nearby food place. Ice cream or anything else you might crave.

He doesn’t have as much experience as he lets on due to work, he knows what to do. Just a little awkward about it.

For the chosen dates he won’t need much but is willing to splurge a little during so.

If it’s late enough he’ll take you out to lunch or dinner.

***

The air gained a slight chill whenever it passed you, causing Jack to lend you his jacket, sticking close even then. Without realizing the end of the trail arrived, letting both of you stand outside the park.

He looks up before down at his watch, looking for the time. Apparently it wasn’t late enough to finish just yet, so he invited you out for lunch.

“How about lunch, I’ll pay?”

Of course you accepted, free lunch and time spent with Jack. A win-win situation.

𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕓𝕣𝕒:

She tries as much as possible to keep you away from Talon, so she takes you to a concert of your choice.

The stadium is large and unsurprisingly loud, but she makes sure you feel comfortable during all of this.

Is much more flirty rather than romantic, but can be romantic if either of you feel like it.

There’s no need for money when she has everything at her fingertips, although if you really want to she will.

She’ll ‘book’ you two a shared hotel room, putting off returning to Talon. Also wanting to spend time with you.

***

“Ángel~” Her voice would’ve shocked you if she didn’t already blind you with her hands over your eyes. “I have a present for you, and I know you’ll love it!”

The air became cold but only in parts around you. Although she didn’t move it seemed everything else had. The once silent air changed, people talking, walking, even cars were driving.

Her hands were removed revealing the new location. It was a stadium, but not for their normal sports game. Banners and posters showed your favourite band/singer, as they were playing here, today!

And Olivia brought you here, you needed to thank her somehow.

***

Ángel - Angel

𝕊𝕪𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕒:

She plans everything for a fancy dinner date, willing to compromise for something just as fancy but smaller for your comfort.

As long as the place is fancy to a certain degree and has food you both eat she’s willing to have a date there.

Her romantic won’t be noticeable to others, if so won’t be taken as romance. But she prefers acts of kindness, helping you with work and grabbing you things.

While she’s willing to spend a lot on you and your hobbies she does have a limit, although it is pretty high.

Afterwards she’ll have someone drive you both to your place, making sure you’re able to get inside before asking for a second date.

***

As the car slowed to a stop her hand lifted off yours, holding it during the ride. You knew not to open the door, quickly finding out her habit of opening it for you. Only doing it for you though, but neither of you would change that.

When the door was opened she reached for your hand, gently helping you out. Again, her hand didn’t let go of yours until you stepped inside.

“I hope you enjoyed tonight, as I want to ask for another.”

Of course you agreed.

𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕣:

She’ll take you to the movie theater to watch a movie of your choice.

Will go to the theater but also enjoys having home movie nights.

Often enough she’s interrupted by giggling, but she can and has been romantic.

She lets you see the amount, being enough for popcorn, drinks and the tickets.  Before surprising you by buying you both some candy.

On the way home she’ll be ranting about the movie whether it was good or bad. When you both get home she’ll continue on while making sure you’re listening, that’s by trapping you in a cuddle session.

***

“C’mon Love!” Her hand had slipped and was holding onto your wrist instead, but she didn’t let go. The line was surprisingly short, only being a family and a few teenagers so you got to the counter quickly.

“What do you wanna watch?” A quick glance at the options revealed a few good ones, except one stood out.

“How about [Movie]?”

“Yeah, two tickets for [Movie] please!” She continued ordering, getting popcorn and drinks. At first you thought she wasn’t going to get candy, only after she ordered everything else did she get some. Both of you getting cups to choose your candy.

“C’mon then, can’t miss any scenes!”

𝕎𝕚𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕣:

As she is a known criminal she won’t be able to take you very far, but will go stargazing with you.

The chosen hill is far enough from the Talon base but still safe enough, especially when with her.

She tries to be romantic, won't ever be the best due to her transformation but she tries for you.

For any date there won’t be any need for money.

If you’re not part of Talon she’ll make sure you get home safe, if so then she’ll walk you to your room.

***

The air has grown cold, but never becomes freezing. Staying at a comfortable kind of cold, the kind Amélie had grown used to over the years so it didn’t bother her. Yet it affected you, you shivered slightly as if trying to hide it from her.

You should know better by now, when it comes to you she won’t miss a single detail. Wrapping her arms around you, pulling you closer. When you shivered ceased she let you return to watching the stars.

And instead of doing the same her eyes never left your figure. To her you seemed to shine brighter than those stars.

[warcats-cat]

You say people can tell you about hyperfixations so be prepared to hear about 1964-1966 Addams Family tv show >:3

First: common misconceptions about the Addams Family-

“They like murder” they don’t! They do not condone violence, or anything non-consensual in their house. They may enjoy certain torture devices to relax, and the kids can chase each other around, but if someone doesn’t like it, it has to stop, and they don’t condone violence against monsters being presented as heroic, as seen in episode one

“They hate normal people!” Incorrect, they simply believe that they, as Addamses, are the epitome of normalcy, and that they seem to have a habit of running into “odd” people, like Mr Hilliard (a reoccurring character who is terrified of the Addams’). In fact, they happen to try their best with every “normal” person they meet, though it often fails comedically

“Gomez and Fester are brothers” no!!! That became cannon in the 90s! In the 60s Fester was Morticia’s uncle, and the twin brother of her mother, Hester Frump. Of course this makes Fester not an Addams, but his actual surname is unknown

“Wednesday is an outcast in her family and out” I genuinely have no clue how this came to be. Wednesday was the most Addams of the kids. While Pugsly was still very distinctly Addamsy, he had tendencies that lent more to the normal side. He was the blond haired, bright eyed kid of the Addams, and even in one episode went through a “normal” phase (joining the Boy Scouts, adopting a puppy, calling his parents mom and dad instead of mother and father, etc). Wednesday, however, is extremely Addams

Now, onto fun factssssssss

The actor for Lurch (Ted Cassidy) also was the primary actor for Thing! He only let someone else do it if Thing and Lurch were in a scene together.

Cassidy actually switched from left to right for Thing, to see if anyone would notice, so now there’s inconsistency between episodes.

Morticia and Gomez met when they were in their twenties, as their mothers were arranging a marriage between Gomez and Morticia’s older sister, Ophelia. Gomez was a sickly, cowardly man at this point, and Morticia wasn’t exactly taking the lead role we see her in for the rest of the show. They brought out the best in each other :3

Morticia’s iconic dress is her wedding dress!

Wednesday has a black widow that she named Homer, for its tendency to roam and explore

Pugsly has an octopus named Aristotle (though, in 2019 the animated movie renamed it Socrates for unknown reasons)

Unlike more recent adaptations, Wednesday was the youngest, at 6 years old, and Pugsly’s age was very inconsistent, but fluctuated between 8 and 10.

Their eccentric house decor was based of off the apartment of Addams family creator, Charles Addams

That is all for now :3 thank you ^-^

How did you know I love the Addams Family? This is delightful 😍😍😍

I remember watching the TV show with my dad when I was younger and just being in love with it. Even now, when I run tours at the store I work at, I have a couple of Addams Family themed jokes. (It's this place called Jungle Jim's, it's a massive eccentric international grocery store. We have a case for "exotic meats" and occasionally we do actually sell Yak burgers. I have not tried one though, because I don't like the texture of ground meat...)

I knew a few of these, but I have to say I'm really surprised that people thought Wednesday was an outcast?? I would never assume that???

Have you seen the Addams Family musical? 😍😍 That is sort of about Wednesday *feeling* like an outcast because she's fallen in love with a very "normal" boy from a "normal" family. Now the info about that misconception makes me wonder how the script writers came up with the show 👀👀

Also having twins named Hester and Fester had to be terrible if someone in the house had a cold and couldn't hear right 🤣 I'm already terrible with names, I'd never keep them straight.

Thank you for all the info 😍😍😍 I love it all!

[ruvviks]

im holding you at gunpoint. hearts section for cassidy right now or perish

HEHEHHEHEEH. HEHEHEHHEEE. >:] tee hee >:] got lost in the sauce with the answers so sorry about that

💓 BEATING HEART - what gets their heart racing?

if you would ask this to him directly he would tell you "nothing" because he genuinely has no idea <3 and then he turns around and his heart nearly beats out of his chest because he heard his crush laugh or someone he's comfortable with sits down very close to him or someone he cares about says his name and smiles at him. it doesn't even have to be romantic for him to nearly lose his sanity about it tbh though if he's in Love then it will. definitely be. so much worse SGHFDJHGD he's going through a lot rn

💘 HEART W/ ARROW - what traits do they look for in a relationship? do they believe in love at first sight?

cassidy is mostly looking for stability and trust. he needs to feel comfortable around someone and not intimidated by them, and he needs to know they keep him around because of who he is and not just to use him and then ditch him the moment he's no longer of use to them

the "stability" one is a bit tricky because of him being an assassin and all that. like. there's gonna be a LOT of unpredictable shit happening all the time always but that's EXACTLY why he needs his relationship to have as little of that as possible. no surprises no shocking events just. straightforwardness. good communication. a constant in his life so to say. he likes that :]

he doesn't really believe in love at first sight because he really needs to trust someone first before he can fully love them. he might be 👁👁 when meeting someone he Might be interested in but it still means very little to him at that point. basically going through a mental checklist before he can put the label Love on it all

💗 GROWING HEART - if they have a crush, is it noticeable? what changes when they're in love?

when cassidy has a crush he generally has no facking clue what to do with it <3 SGHFJDGHDJ he's very much convinced he's unlovable and would rather die than make a first move, so instead he just suffers in silence and hopes the other person will do something at some point aha xoxo

i think it would definitely be noticeable though because he IS doing things that could be considered Flirting. that are Usually considered Flirting. but he's a master at talking himself out of it. justifying it to himself first ("surely buying flowers for them occasionally is a Normal Friend thing to do") and then the person in question ("these are for you :] to liven up your desk a little :]") and he manages to say it in such a way everyone directly involved is smiling and nodding. everyone outside his 5ft area effect radius is onto him tho

❤️ RED HEART - their love language(s)?

physical touch and acts of service and both make me facking insane actually let me elaborate

generally speaking, physical touch quite literally hurts cassidy :) his nervous system is pretty fucked since an incident in his childhood and even the lightest touch on his skin can be painful as hell to the point he tends to avoid it. yet at the same time :) he wants a hug so bad :) luckily for him the more he starts to trust someone the easier it gets to get used to their touch and also whenever HE initiates it himself it's a lot easier as well, because he can prepare himself for it; anything unexpected can still hurt so he would need to See the other person and it generally helps if they move slow or even ask permission to touch him, and then it's fine <3 once again. trust. very important. i'm gonna throw up

as for acts of service, cassidy ties his worth as a person directly to how useful he can make himself. he feels like as soon as he's not doing anything he's essentially worthless which in the past has resulted into him doing the absolute most at all times in hopes that people would like him. backfired immensely because it gave people (his superiors at militech, maxtac and kang tao mostly) insanely high expectations of him and the moment he wasn't meeting those anymore they got upset, which obviously didn't help cassidy's case and sent him further down into that spiral

nowadays he's no longer like that. most of the time at least. he sometimes still feels like he has to Provide something but now it's no longer to make people like him, but it's because he CARES about others. which is also making me insane because for the longest time he refused to care about people because it hurt him so much many many times. and now he's doing so many things for people because he loves them and he knows he doesn't have to do it but he still does because. well. why wouldn't he?

on top of that some other love languages: cooking and remembering things. he likes to cook food for the people he cares about or just bring them their favorite snacks and that immediately ties in to the second one, he memorizes a lot of things about the people he cares about so he can. get them their favorite snack from the store. or leave them a card on their birthday. stuff like that :]

💙 BLUE HEART - do they miss their s/o easily? how do they act when their s/o isn't around?

cassidy misses his partner VERY easily but also doesn't let it get to him especially when he's got a job to do. he'll regularly find himself looking for them but other than that he mostly manages to make it through their time apart without feeling too :(( about it all. it helps that he has a very logical approach to things so he can very easily tell himself "if i continue working now it'll be over soon and then i'll see them again" or something like that and it'll make his brain shut up for a few more hours at least <3

when his partner isn't around he's a lot more like how he used to be before meeting them which is basically the equivalent of the standing man emoji LMFAO he's a lot more reserved and professional again (unless he's with friends. well. even then still to a degree but much less than when he's out alone in public or something) but as soon as his partner is back he's just :D !! <3 the entire time <3 i love him

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

it really depends on the situation. sometimes cassidy needs attention and sometimes he just needs to be left alone :( he still finds comfort in solitude and really needs his alone time on occasion in order not to go completely insane, but in other cases he just needs to be held while he tries to take a nap or something like that. he loves it when his partner plays with his hair <3

💖 SPARKLING HEART - are they a subtle or a showy lover?

cassidy isn't scared of PDA because he is blissfully unaware of other people looking at him and his partner <3 SGHFJDGDFJGD he really doesn't give a fuck about what other people think, if he wants a kissie in the metro then he's stealing a kissie in the metro and everyone is just gonna have to deal with that <3

💌 LOVE LETTER - do they like love letters? what kind of messages do they leave for their partner?

cassidy would NOT know how to write a love letter but sometimes the texts he sends his partner come very close to it. sends many many many blue hearts because blue is his favorite color. occasionally needs to let his partner know just how much he loves them and gets a bit lost in the sauce with it. he could be a poet. he probably doesn't know what poetry is

he also writes his partner a LOT of reminders, not in an "i don't think you can remember this by yourself" way but an "i need you to know that i care about you and i know you probably already remembered yourself but i also remembered it for you in case you needed the reminder and also i love you so much" way. he needs his partner to know that too he's very serious about it

he also writes down one thing he loves about his partner every day :] does this in his own little notebook but. well. that could be a love letter. who knows what he'll do with it

💔 BROKEN HEART - what could their partner do that would absolutely break their heart?

ditch him or act disinterested around him <3 or make him do things he doesn't want to do <33 or force him out of his comfort zone while trying to justify their behavior by making him feel guilty for having a comfort zone in the first place <333 the usual

another thing that would make him a bit :(( is hearing his partner tear themself down for whatever reason about Anything. appearance wise. skill wise. you name it. as soon as they go "i suck so facking bad at this" he goes NO!!!!!!! ;-; and then he won't shut up about how amazing they are until maybe one day they'll also believe it themself

oc asks!

[vastiitas]

god, i will never shut up abt his names, but also yikes bc there is sm to dismantle bc i dont ever shut up abt his names--

jesse mccree is a name he plucked off of the unknown history of strangers: a gravestone, a forgotten sign. This blog will always be about people, in a way, the scrappy interconnectedness of humanity and :skull: this name isn't an exception.

There's a shit load of irony in the name Jesse meaning "son of God" when it's the day that he guts himself of his faith and abandons himself (i call it doomsday, sometimes judgement day- bc it is in this visceral rawness of loss - when War comes crashing in from the sky and people are dying all around him - that he is both the furthest and closest to the notion of God, the all mighty, holy fury; and i could actually go off on a tangent here about how deserts are also a place of exactly Just This: spiritual dispossession while also being places of distilled clarity and abstract manifestations of which include the sacred.)

McCree is also funny pick, in the scheme of things, when you find out it means luck; and you could chalk up his survival as a case of it being good or bad. Cole's life can be summarized as the wheel of fortune tarot; tumbling perpetually in mercurial fortunes.

He, ofc, has no fcking clue abt this at the ripe age of 11 when he grasps them off of rotten monuments and only finds the whole thing funny as hell in this private humored way, this wry and wrung-out-dry way, when he finally does find out.

As for his original name's meanings - I will never be normal about Cole - because its English origin is coal; unrefined thing, black and lumpy, but it's potential packed in something unsuspecting and dismissable, all requiring just a spark. Pair this up with his former partner in crime, Ashe, and im vomitting up blood, sobbing, because it's the predecessor of fire and its aftermath. They come hand-in-hand for the chaos they drove in together. Ofc w how i've written my timeline, there's no lining up with him going by Cole during his Deadlock days, but it still makes me sick regardless because He knows even if nobody else does. But tangent aside, it really sums him up in his Blackwatch days. Something to be overlooked, until someone realized he could be used to keep others warm.

Cole also means Victory of the People when you look into its greek origins and :weary: god. It suits his inability to walk away from people in harm's way so very well; that he is of the people in the way he has stumbled through the ups and downs of humanity. That, in his younger ages, he did have a healthy appetite for winning.

Cassidy comes with the meaning of clever, and if there is always one thing I like to reference from his youth and how he was raised, it was that Cole always found his way into trouble, by his own hand or not, and his mother, exasperated, would frequently tell him while picking up the pieces of the aftermath that if he were going to cause trouble, that he should be clever about it. (In other words, she at some point knew her child would keep finding these situations, erring more on believing him more often than not the cause, and that if she could not stop it from happening, she could encourage him to be better about being caught or slipping between the fingers of authority.) She was a bearer of folktales and carried enough on tricksters, but Cole will always be a fan of Zorr.o, funnily enough, as was his father who capitalized on that Clever namesake with his manipulations.

But at a larger scale, his names have also always been a keystone in representing his relationship to himself in past, present, and future-- running from yourself only to find that you've gone full circle, turning around to face your own shadow in order to greet the breaking dawn, etc etc- i don't get to use his Jesse name often, but it's just so important bc his 'birth', his 'baptism', is the thing that came first in all the narrative when the blog first started-

For the longest time this imagery was the root of my blog; Just this hunched figure of a child rising from this primordial earth of a desecrated town and his chest is heaving, animal. He is slathered in dust and ash and everything is so damn quiet and he is so shell shocked and filled with fury that he has regressed to this based thing, distilled to silence, body trembling in the ruinous wake of a war.

Jesse McCree is caked in grime, caked in dirt and dust and blood. He is some heathen thing that desolation itself wrung to life. Jesse McCree, baptized in fire, doused in gunpowder and gasoline. Jesse McCree, wild and angry, eyes hollowed into something deep and dark and black.

Cole Cassidy is a reminder, a damnation, a shade of the past rippling like A DESERT MIRAGE. he is lanky and too weak, hands trembling adrenaline-burdened on a gun he can't shoot STRAIGHT. Cole Cassidy is the boy who let his parents die beneath the strike of IRON. As far as JESSE MCCREE was concerned, Cole Cassidy didn't deserve to survive, either.

Cole Cassidy, buried in an unmarked grave on an obliterated land with no one left to grieve him.

:weary: Cole Cassidy is rot in his mouth; unwieldy and burdensome like a corpse forcefullly stuffed betwen his jaws. There is so much hatred and scorn and disgust he carries for it, for the weakness it represents, coalesced in his grief and survivor's guilt that the abandonment of his name acts as self-murder and he is so very violent to himself in that regard. It's why he gets so nauseous as a child in the verses where he's not allowed to break free from it, because this is, in a sense, a child's attempt at locking into control when he doesn't have any.

It is his way of jamming his teeth into the threads of his own fate; hauling himself crawling through the desert and stampeding forward with spite buzzing down his arms and into his fists, spiking the light in his eyes as he glares down the hand that was given to him--

That said this is his perception of cole cassidy because he packs all of his weakness into that name, stuffs that failure to shoot true into that person like he's haphazardly pawing in clothes into an overburdened suitcase, but this compartmentalization is not a thing of separate identities as it is simply, a narrative break with him digging his fingerpads against the wheel. in reality, he has always been a bit of a trail blazer, an independent wanderer, a kid with a penchant for trouble and all of this PERSISTS past doomsday with the caveat being there's a lot more PTSD involved in the aftermath.

And, honestly, Cole does grow out of all that anger because he simply does not look back. Jesse let's him throttle forward without the baggage and his eyes are perpetually locked onto the horizon. Because there is nothing to turn back to or go back to if Cole Cassidy is dead, resting with all the other ghosts in a town that's been levelled to nothing.

He rides into maturity as he lives out his years and i could go on about the timeline of it, how it unfolds and all the elements that drive into it since this current portraiture is bleak and somewhat feral, but then i'd be getting really off topic, but :skull: The gist of it is that a lot of these emotions are when he's 11 and he's got a fuck load of time between then and the start of Deadlock Rebels (15) and he doesnt even have to think about Cole Cassidy.

By the time he reclaims his name, he is, amusingly, back in the desert after having left BW/OVW, back to where it all started. He is well into his 30's. Something to be said about the circular nature of everything, time is a flat circle, the return to the start in the third act with a new contextualization etc etc. Dispossessed by yet another belief, made anon in a ghost town after narrowly escaping death and still on the verge of it. (And, god, He cant help but find the whole damn thing morbidly amusing, in a fucked up way, in the same way he found out about the meaning of Jesse. Because he knows that kid he'd been would be losing his absolute shit for coming back to this place that had both made and unmade him after Everything; the idea of it all being for nothing. But he's older, and he's changed, and he can swallow this rut of shit circumstances with a laugh because of course it'd be like this, and by now he's learned to roll with the punches because his life has just been Defined by it-)

Exhuming Cole Cassidy is a survival tactic because it is a name just as lost to time as the effigies that he plucked Jesse McCree from (the latter being of no use anymore with bounty hunters and enemies alike crawling everywhere searching for him), but it is also a return to home. Smthing smthing, sucking the dirt out from under your nails just to taste where you came from . He says it with a certain tired humor when someone first asks his name as he comes to, after a moment's worth of consideration for the circumstances that has brought him here. It feels like a private joke and it feels strange on his tongue, because as used to as he is introducing himself by some false name for BW coverts, this is not a true lie; but then, also, saying it outloud for the first time in years and he realizes the lack of scorn, the lack of self-hate. These things that he hadn't realized he'd been subconsciously expecting/had so severely associated the name with.

He makes the choice to commit to it while determining his next moves in this back-watered town with only a single arm left. Reclaiming his name is self-forgiveness. It is reminiscence and self-reflection that there was no real difference between jesse and cole; that jesse was still strung along by different forces and influenced by them and that there is no newfound invulnerability to the name as he once needed it to be when he was just that 11 yr old. It is self-acceptance and consciously acknowledging that he was a child when he murdered the name away, that all that self-hate and scorn was unfair to himself and that he had stopped holding himself to his personal failures a long time ago (though he isn't sure when; just knows he stopped; and it's a culmination resulting from his steady self-assurance in his abilities to protect others within a reasonable margin, tested and proven over and over again thru BW/OVW, on top of having long understood that collateral happens and not everybody can be protected-)

He packs jesse away, let's the name rest and return to oblivion to their original owners despite how much he's made it his own. In terms of story-telling, reclaiming cassidy is a circle reclaiming its starting point, intercepting the past in order to make way for the grounds that denote the future, etc etc, All the shenanigans i was mentioning earlier that the shadow must be faced in order to proceed to the morning.

Most stories like this end with Death as the next act, but ahckntjt ig we thank the fact that this is an rp blog and not a story-

[partnersatfazbear]

I actually don’t really have a lot to say at this point? But I figure yall wanna hear my thoughts, especially after my disappointment with Security Breach.

I’m very pleased they are releasing free DLC-- this is the first part of what I hoped SW would do when I purposed how to rectify the situation over SB’s lackluster characters and story (animatronics aside, at least). Now, they just have to fix the plot. I think even those who love everything about FNAF were disappointed in William’s half assed comeback when we were all expecting Glitchtrap-William to have a more looming but not physical prescence. I hope this still returns here, especially since I’d imagine the Afton ending is canon (I mean it was the only one that got animated... still pissed off about how lazy the “cinematic endings” were--my irritation over the comic book aesthetic being overused and irritating aside--but I won’t go into a rant about Persona 5 here either lol)

Not much to speculate from the image. The broken statue looks like the one from the Afton ending IMO--and the girl (also IMO) could be Cassidy or one of the other missing children. Perhaps the missing children were together at some point and when Gregory presumably goes missing based on this teaser / the ending, this kid may have found clues and gone to investigate.

I refuse to believe Elizabeth is involved whatsoever, as it’s pretty lazy writing. I don’t believe in Gregbot either. This is a new character.

My first instinct upon seeing her was, however, “Dear god, another NEW character? Couldn’t we have developed the others?!” BUT that was a gut reaction and I’m actually looking forward to seeing one of Gregory’s friends, or even another new unrelated kid, try to take part in whatever the plot thinks is happening (I think William, through Vanessa, was kidnapping children and experimenting with their souls using the puppet-bots [I don’t remember WTF they are... staff bots?] which explains the sticky notes and the, well, the puppet-ness / cryingchild-ness of the deformed staff bots. This could be one of those kidnapped children that has escaped, maybe from another part of the Pizzeria we didn’t see before... or maybe she was underground somewhere and the ending’s explosion let her out.)

This is all theory of course. My hopes are the old cast before SB are least-involved as possible. Obviously I wouldn’t be upset about William (he is the main villain, even if I’d prefer Vanessa to have taken the role or a Glitchtrap-posessed Vanessa). I’d love to see Henry, too, but not sure what we could do with his character (still gonna headcanon GlamHenry over here...) I’ve expressed my irritation with Elizabeth being reused in the FF novels after having a good, foil role to Charlie in the trilogy--having her in this game is going to be overkill. Just don’t do it.) I want William to go out in a literal blaze of glory and not the rehashed trash we saw.

I guess that’s all I can say. Just fix the plot, SW. I could give a shit about graphics/bugs, just make me give a damn again.

[senacal]

hi hi hi i LOOOOOVE your erik stuff and i hope u don’t mind me requesting and requesting because i think you’re an amazing writer! i was hoping to see a erik x female reader fluff:) i’ve always wanted to read a jealous erik fic when he has a crush on the reader ya know! i’ve always pictured her to be a mutant professor at school and all:)

Exceptional

Request:  By malfoys-demigod

Pairing: Erik Lehnsherr x Fem Reader

Prompt: hi hi hi I LOOOOOVE your Erik stuff and I hope u don’t mind me requesting and requesting because I think you’re an amazing writer! I was hoping to see an Erik x female reader fluff:) I’ve always wanted to read a jealous Erik fic when he has a crush on the reader ya know! I’ve always pictured her to be a mutant professor at school and all:)

Warnings: Is jealousy really a warning? IDK but jealousy

Author’s Note: I won’t mind you requesting lol, I love getting requests 😊  Thank you so much for enjoying my writing 💖 Again, I am so sorry for how long this took for me to write 😬 

Erik always prided himself on how well he was able to control his feelings. Sure, he used to let them control him; however, he always hid them well. One look at him, and no one could tell how he was truly feeling. The only people able to read his feelings were empaths, or Charles (but Charles used his telepathy, so that was cheating). 

When Erik had met (Y/N), he wasn’t sure what to expect. At first, he thought of her as any other person, irrelevant. He didn’t know her, so why should he care for her? But then she was always there. He later found out that Charles had employed her at his school for the gifted. It was with a great obligation that made him get to know her. Charles liked to hold dinner parties for the staff and his friends to mingle outside of school hours. Erik would always try to get out of it, but, he always manages to get roped into those engagements no matter what he said or lied about. It was as though Charles would use his powers to get Erik to attend. It tempted him to use his helmet again to block him out, but maybe he’s just overthinking it. 

It was at one of these events that Erik first spoke to (Y/N). She was standing near the refreshments, so really, it wasn’t like it was completely out of his way to talk to her. She had smiled kindly at him, the first person to do so. It was no secret that he had a troubled past and many of the professors employed under Charles never seemed to let him forget. So it was refreshing to know that someone wasn’t holding his faults over him. He was immediately enthralled by her. They spoke nearly the whole night. He found himself enjoying the sound of her laugh and the way her eyes lit up when she spoke about the things she was passionate about. Erik never believed in love at first sight, and really he didn’t think this applied either, but he knew from that moment on, he would make it his duty to keep the smile in her eyes and that laugh in place. 

From then on, Erik didn’t argue with Charles over attending the dinner parties, and he didn’t bother making excuses when (Y/N) needed his help with her class. Whatever she wanted, he made sure she would get without any troubles. They soon became best friends within no time. He was fine with that too because then he knew he would always be in her life. He was the one she went to when she had a problem,  and the one she went to when she had good news. Life was suddenly going his way and he had no fucking clue what to do from there. He supposed he could continue like normal, talk to her, laugh with her, but there was a part of him that wanted more. She was an amazing girl. Who wouldn’t want to be with her?

Which was the problem. He knew there were people interested in her, he wasn’t completely oblivious. He would usually spot them from the distance whenever he wasn’t with her. There would be another professor talking to her, trying to get her to laugh at some stupid joke he made. Erik would clench his jaw, and he swore one of the metal benches was crushed near him. He couldn’t be too sure that was him though. He brushed it off at the time as a fluke. There was no way she’d fall for that cheap trick. So the next day when it happened again, Erik couldn’t help but insert himself between (Y/N) and the other guy. 

(Y/N) instantly lit up in his presence. Erik was a great guy and anyone who didn’t see that was an absolute idiot. Getting to know Erik was her favorite thing to do. Being a part of the school gave her insight into his past, sure, but that didn’t mean she knew who Erik actually was. If growing up in a half mutant, half-human family taught her anything, it was that people can change. She found out that her mother was taught to hate mutants but then she met her father. So no, (Y/N) wasn’t going to let Erik’s past block her judgment. Erik turned out to be the most genuine man she has had the pleasure to meet. Sometimes he would show off his powers to her, so she would talk him into demonstrating for her classes. She always looked forward to the days he would help her with the younger mutants. 

Sometimes she could swear that Erik might like her back, but who was she kidding? She wasn’t anything spectacular. Her powers weren’t anything extraordinary compared to her co-workers, her powers were rather boring. (Y/N) used to enjoy the fact that her powers were quite mundane, she could easily manipulate a person’s choice, but it would only last a moment. Now she wished she had a power that was worthy of Erik. She knew he had a hatred towards humans at one point, so she was nervous that maybe he would be appalled about her half-human family. 

(Y/N)’s thoughts were once again interrupted when she felt someone touching her arm. She looked up to see Professor Cassidy smiling at her. He had a boyish charm to him and she knew that he liked her, but she didn’t feel the same way. She was finding it harder to let him down gently. 

“So? What do you say?” He asked nervously.

“Uh, about?” (Y/N) furrowed her brows. 

“A date? With me?” Sean ran his hand through his hair nervously. This was not turning out how he imagined. For one, Erik wasn’t there glaring at him when he imagined asking (Y/N) on a date. 

“I…” (Y/N) glanced from Erik’s stone expression and back to Sean’s nervous smile, “I uh, I have plans, I’m sorry Sean.” (Y/N) lied, “Erik promised to help me with uh, a thing,” She winced internally at her crappy excuse.

Erik smirked, happy to hear her turn Sean down. Sure, Sean wasn’t a bad guy, but he’d be damned if he started dating (Y/N). She was too good for him, She was too good for anyone.

“Oh, uh, okay, no worries,” Sean looked back at Erik one last time before leaving the two mutants alone.

“So I’m helping you with a thing?” Erik asked smugly.

“Oh shut up, I panicked, okay?” (Y/N) bumped her shoulder against his side, “He’s a nice guy, but I only think of him as a friend.”

“Ouch, even that hurts me,” he laughed despite his words.

“Hmm, so what brings you by?” (Y/N) wondered.

“What do you mean?” Erik avoided her gaze. 

“I think you know,” She raised her brow, she was tempted to ‘persuade’ him to tell her the truth, but Charles made a rule not to use their powers against anyone’s will unless absolutely necessary. 

“Nothing, I just saw you over here and thought I’d say hello,” He shrugged. 

“Okay… now that you’ve said hello, what now?” (Y/N) leaned against the wall beside her.

“Maybe we could do a thing?” Erik smiled.

“Haha, very funny,” (Y/N) rolled her eyes. She may have liked Erik but she didn’t appreciate being teased.

“I’m serious,” Erik lifted her chin so their eyes could meet, “Let’s do something together.”

(Y/N) stared into his eyes, looking for any hints of insincerity, “Like what?”

Erik shrugged, “anything you’d like.”

“As friends?” 

“Well I- I was hoping maybe as more than friends?” Erik cleared his throat. He hasn’t felt this nervous in… ever. He has never felt nervous like this before.

“Okay,” (Y/N) grinned, “But don’t tell Sean just yet.”

Erik’s eyes narrowed, “Why not?”

“I just turned him down, I don’t think he’d be too pleased to hear that I’ve agreed to go out with you,” (Y/N) tucked a strand of her (H/C) behind her ear.

“So?” Erik couldn’t help but scoff.

(Y/N) tilted her head, looking at him quizically. “You were jealous,” She laughed.

“What? No, I wasn’t! I was the opposite of jealous. Why would I be-” Erik looked at the amusement clearly written in her eyes, “Don’t tell anyone.” He begged.

“Only if you don’t say anything to Sean, at least not yet.” (Y/N) bribed.

Erik sighed heavily, “Fine.”

“Awe, such a romantic,” (Y/N) laughed. She kissed Erik’s cheek softly, “Now about that thing we’ll be doing?” 

Erik’s heart fluttered in his chest. This was all new to him, but as long as (Y/N) was by his side, he would do whatever he could to keep her happy. It was also nice knowing no other guy would be able to take her out on a date now that she agreed to be with him.

[wefoundloveunderthelight]

Mystery Of Pixie Hollow by GleefullyCaptainSwan Chapter 2/11

Read on AO3: | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Or on FF

Stacy's Tortured Crew: @teamhook @kmomof4 @stahlop @lfh1226-linda @ilovemesomekillianjones @itsfabianadocarmo @mariakov81 @qualitycoffeethings @zaharadessert @jrob64 @jonesfandomfanatic @natascha-ronin @tiganasummertree @xarandomdreamx @therooksshiningknight @batana54 @superchocovian @onceratheart18 @ultraluckycatnd @snowbellewells @karlyfr13s @the-darkdragonfly @xsajx @deckerstarblanche @jonesfandomfanatic

Chapter 2: Shared Experience

“Mom.”

Emma ran through the halls, slamming her fists against the glass, breaking each mirror in front of her as she searched frantically.

“Mom.”

Her heart was pounding, each space behind the mirror was a deep black void.

“Mom.”

Arms were grabbing her, pulling her into the void, dragging her deep into the blackness.

“Emma.” She jerked awake, her eyes squinting against the light shining through the window. “Bloody hell, what are you doing sitting in front of an open window? Where’s Henry?”

Emma jumped up from her chair. “Henry.” She said frantically, staring out the window toward Pixie Hollow. Her mouth went dry at the empty lot staring back at her. It was all gone. Everything. He was gone.

“I got your texts this morning, my damn phone must have died while I was working, but they didn’t make any sense.”

“Henry, we were at the park, I couldn’t find him.”

“What do you mean, you couldn’t find him? Where’s he at?”

She sunk down on the floor below the window, sobbing. “Gone.” She cried, wrapping her arms around her knees, and rocking softly back and forth as her head made contact with the wall behind her.

“Gone where? Emma you aren’t making a lot of sense here.”

“We were in one of those fun houses, you know the kind with the mirrors. Henry loves those.” She started rambling. “He was playing, he always thinks its funny when I can’t find him. But then he was gone. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I heard him call for me, but he vanished, Will.”

“Vanished. Well surely they had a lost and found, or…”

“No, they didn’t care, they acted like he fucking ran away.” She shouted. “The police told me to come back in 24 hours, but they’re gone, the whole thing is fucking gone.” She screamed, pointing toward the parking lot where the fair used to be.

“Get up, we’re going to talk to the cops. This is bloody ridiculous. Henry isn’t a runaway. No one could believe that for a second. This doesn’t make any sense.”

Will was pacing the floor in front of her before he turned and grabbed her by the hand, pulling her to her feet. “Come on, let’s go find our boy.” He said softly, guiding her to the car as he drove them to the police station.

When they arrived at the busy precinct, the man at the front desk barely acknowledged them, waving them off to wait in the seats by the door. After twenty minutes, Will was tired of waiting, pushing past the front desk and demanding to talk to anyone who would listen to him.

“I want to talk to whoever is in charge, my boy is missing and I’m not going to stop until someone bloody listens to me.”

“Please have a seat.”

“How about you have a seat, Mate.” He said, squaring up to the officer who approached him. Emma stood from her chair, rushing to his side to stop him from doing something stupid.

“Will…”

“Ma’am, I’m going to need you both to step back behind the desk.” The man warned.

“Look mister, my little boy is missing.” She held up the photo of Henry to his face, “He’s all alone, and if you don’t find someone who gives a damn about that, I’m going to stand outside this station, talking to every news outlet that will hear me, until someone pays attention to me.”

“Emma Swan.”

She spun around to see the officer she had spoken to last night and she tugged on Will’s arm to follow her in the direction of the man. “Henry’s still missing. You told me to wait 24 hours, and I know it hasn’t been that long, but the carnival is gone. And he didn’t run away.”

“Someone better tell me they are looking for Henry, or I’m marching out of here to meet with Channel 3 and tell them the Storybrooke police department doesn’t care about the safety of our young citizens.” Will barked and the officer gestured the two of them toward a corner office.

“Wait in here, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“If one more person tells me I need to wait…” Will threatened.

“Sir, I promise you, I will be right there. I just want to get my partner.” Officer Nolan stated calmly.

“Fine.” Will relented, stepping into the office as Emma followed him.

Will sat at the steel table while Emma paced the back wall. “I can’t believe this is happening.” She said anxiously. “He’s never been away from me for this long. He must be terrified.”

“I had a bad feeling about this.” Will mumbled. “I told you not to go without me last night.”

“Don’t you blame me for this. You’re the one who bailed on Henry’s birthday last night.” She yelled angrily.

“Emma, I had to work.”

“You abandoned us. And now Henry is gone.” She screamed, and Will shrank against the table, hanging his head into the palms of his hands. She knew she had gone too far. This wasn’t Will’s fault, but she had to blame someone, Henry was gone. But she knew blaming Will was wrong. This was her fault. “Will, I’m…”

The two men walked into the room, interrupting their discussion. “Miss Swan?” Officer Locksley asked as he entered.

“Yes, that’s me.” She replied anxiously.

“Have you heard from Henry since last night.”

“Would I be here if I knew where my son was?” She quipped sarcastically.

“Ma’am, we’re just trying to help.”

“Sod that, if you were trying to help you would have done so last night.” Will stated emphatically. “From where I’m sitting, it appears you’ve done bloody nothing at all.”

“You must be the boy’s father.”

“Not in the biblical sense, but yes.”

“I’m sorry?” Officer Nolan asked in a confused tone.

“The boy isn’t biologically mine, but in the ways that matter, he’s my kid.” Will said almost proudly and Emma felt a pang of guilt for attacking him earlier.

“Have you been in touch with the boy’s actual father? Perhaps he’s with him.”

Will laughed ominously. “You think he ran off with Neal? Bloody idiot of the year! Not fucking likely.”

“Sir, I can sense some tension regarding the boys father. Do you talk that way in front of the boy about his father?”

Will stood angrily. “Are you serious right now?”

“Perhaps the boy took offense, we’ve seen it happen, home life isn’t always the greatest, kids venture out to find out about the other parent that their live-in parent admonishes.”

“This is ridiculous.” Emma suddenly spoke, she was tired of hearing this crap. They apparently had no interest in helping them find Henry. They were wasting valuable time.

“Does he have contact with his father?”

“I can assure you; it would be a cold day in hell for Henry to be anywhere near Neal Cassidy. He wants nothing to do with Henry.”

“Do you know where we can find him? Perhaps you’d let us do our job and confirm he doesn’t have the boy.”

“I haven’t a clue where he’s at. Why don’t you take care of that, you’re the police. In fact, if you find him, let him know he owes me about five years of back child support.”

Emma grabbed Will by the arm and yanked him out of the station, she wasn’t going to waste a single second more on people that were doing nothing more than judging her. She needed to find Henry.

~*~

“Who’s that?” Henry asked his new friend, Alice. The short haired woman who brought them lunch always seemed nice, if not a bit anxious. Something seemed off about her, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“That’s Tinkerbell.” Alice said and Henry burst into laughter.

“Like the fairy from Neverland?”

“Yes. She helps Pan. She’s the one who brought you here. But I’m sure you don’t remember any of that. They always make sure the kids don’t remember.”

“You’re serious about all of this. Tinkerbell, Peter Pan. I must be dreaming.”

“I wish you were. I wish we all were.” She said sadly.

“How long have you been here?”

“I lost count years ago.”

“Years?” He said wide eyed. “You’ve been here years?”

“Has to be four or five years now. But I’m not really sure. It’s hard to keep track of the days when you don’t see the light all the time.”

Henry couldn’t imagine not seeing his mom in the next day, much less years. Suddenly he felt the tears start to fall as he thought about the possibility of never seeing her again.

“Please don’t cry, Henry.” She wrapped her arm around his back, pulling him into her side.

“I miss my mom.” He cried softly.

“I know. I miss my papa, but I know one day I’ll see him again, just like I know one day you’ll see your mom again.”

“You really think so?” He sniffled, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

“All I have is hope, you can’t let go of that Henry. The moment you give up hope, Pan wins.”

He sighed, resigning himself to that fact that he was stuck here. But, he knew his mom would find him, he remembered the story his mother told him of when he was two years old and wandered off in the department store, his mother searched everywhere until she found him, crying in the middle of a clothes rack. If anyone could find him, it was his mom. She would never give up looking for him.

~*~

Emma sat in a darkened room, the only light coming from the screen of her laptop. She had spent the last few weeks researching the Pixie Hollow Amusement Park and the information she had found was creating even more of a mystery than she could have imagined. Since the inception of Pixie Hollow seven years ago, more than thirty children had gone missing during their stay in the towns they visited.

Based on the news articles, the children were usually from families of single parents, or children on field trips to the park. Most were chalked up to runaways, and the ones that were investigated were still open cases. A few showed that the parent was under investigation for the disappearance, but so far no one had been arrested in connection to any of the missing children.

Emma had collected names of various families she had found and was spending countless hours trying to track down the parents of the missing children. First she began calling the ones she was lucky enough to get information on, but she was always met by an angry voice on the other end of the line that told her to stay out of it and hung up on her.

Emma knew she needed to face these people, plead with them to talk to her about anything they knew. Maybe if they shared their stories, details would start to add up, it might give them a chance to solve the mystery if only she could get someone to listen to her.

The next morning, she woke up with a new determination, today she was going to get something, anything that she could to find her son. He had been missing for three weeks now, and Emma was going crazy.

The only thing the police had come up with was that they had located Neal Cassidy in Tallahassee Florida, but he had no interest in discussing Henry, nor did he seem to have any information on his whereabouts.

No shit Sherlock, she had basically relayed to the officers before hanging up on them.

She looked down at the paper in front of her. Three names were written from the night before. The family members who’s addresses she was able to find through a Google search. Parents with shared experience.

Ashley Boyd – Portland, Maine

Leroy Little – Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Killian Jones – Boston, Massachusetts

“Emma, you can’t just drive all over the coast grilling grieving parents about their missing kids.”

“Tell me something better I should be doing, William!” She yelled into the phone as she slammed the door of her yellow bug shut.

“All of this started because you went off on your own, nothing good will come of this.”

“Don’t you dare blame me for this.”

He sighed, “I’m not blaming you, Emma. I just…” He paused. “There’s nothing I’m going to say that’s going to stop you, is there?”

“No, I don’t need your advice Will, I just need you to support me until I find him.”

“Emma…I will always support you, no matter what you do. Just…” He sighed again and Emma could just see him now, running a hand through his hair. “Be careful and keep me updated today. Dammit, I wish you would have waited for me to come with you.”

“I’ll be fine, I’ll text you all day. I should be home tomorrow unless I find something.”

“Please be safe, we don’t know what’s going on here. Just…just be careful with how you approach these people.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She hung up the phone and looked at her GPS, her first stop was nearby in the town of Portland. She set the GPS and began her drive to Ashley Boyd.

It was a long drive from her home, a few towns over and she reached the small white home of Ashley Boyd. She had read about her daughter Ella, disappearing from Pixie Hollow two years ago, the police determined that Ashley’s ex husband had taken the child and left the country. The man vehemently denied any involvement in the disappearance but refused to return to the United States for fear of being arrested.

Emma climbed the short stairs to the front door and knocked on the white wooden frame. She waited until she heard yelling on the other side of the door and a small child peered through a crack.

“Hewwo, who are you?”

Emma bent down to introduce herself when a woman appeared, yanking her child up from the ground and shielding her protectively.

“Chelsey, I told you never to talk to strangers.” She looked at Emma, “Who are you, what do you want?”

“Hi Ashley, my name’s Emma Swan.”

“How do you know my name?” She asked nervously.

“I wanted to talk to you about Ella.”

“Who sent you?” She responded anxiously. “Get out of here.”

“Wait, look my son, Henry…” She held up a photo of her son. “He went missing from Pixie Hollow a month ago.”

The girl’s face crumpled before she quickly returned the mask to her face. “I’m sorry for your loss, the sooner you get over it the better. He’s never coming back.”

The woman turned and slammed the door in her face. Emma sighed, writing her number on a piece of paper, and sticking it into the door before she returned to her car.

Emma looked at her GPS on her phone. It would take her an hour to get to Portsmouth. Her next stop on her trip. Her contact was the father, Leroy. His son Stewie had gone missing four years prior during a trip to the carnival. He had been under investigation for years until he was cleared six months ago.

The entire drive she thought about Ashely’s reaction to her. Seeing her with a young child, she could tell that the woman was overprotective, nervous around strangers, distrustful almost. She had given up hope of finding her daughter. Emma never wanted to get to the point that she gave up trying to find Henry. She couldn’t imagine the dark hole that would swallow her up if she allowed herself to get to that place.

She looked up at the tiny shack on the edge of the water that belonged to Leroy Little. It was run down, almost unsafe to live in. Definitely not the place you would ever have a child.

She walked across the uneven planks that lead to the front door, the porch creaked when she stepped foot on it. She heard a noise on the other side of the door.

“Don’t know who you are, lady, but I’ve got a shot gun pointed at you, so get out o’ here before I shoot.”

Emma froze, “My name is Emma Swan, I just want to talk to you about Pixie Hollow.” She put her hands in the air.

The door creaked to a crack. “You a cop?”

“No, I’m just a mom. My son went missing too.” She said pleading with him. “I just want to talk to you.”

He opened the door, the rifle in his hands. “Ain’t nothin to talk about, sister. The kid’s gone. You can stop looking, the more you look, the harder it’s gonna be for you in a few years.”

“You can’t really believe that.”

“Ain’t got no other choice, less I want to go back to jail.”

“Where do you think Stewie is?”

He looked to the ground, then back at her face. “Don’t matter what I think. Now get outta here, I got nothing to say to you.”

He slammed the door in her face, the second time in a few hours. Emma left her number, feeling disheartened and sat in her car and cried.

She was half tempted to just go home, but she needed to finish what she started out to do today. It would take her about an hour and a half to get to Boston, perhaps this Killian Jones would talk to her.

It was harder for her to get information on his case, his daughter was one of the ones who had been missing the longest. Alice Jones had disappeared five years ago. The information she had found only said that he was a single dad, he had taken his daughter to the carnival because of her love for fairytales. She had gone missing that night and Killian was the first person of interest on the case. He spent months in prison while they investigated the girl’s disappearance, only releasing him when they found no evidence that he had anything to do with his daughters’ case. The trail went cold after that. There had been no news at all about his daughter since.

When she got to the address, she looked up at the harbor, she must have typed the wrong information. There were no houses at this location, she was at a boat yard. She got out of her car and wandered to the pier, trying to figure out why her GPS took her here.

A man was standing at the end of the pier, tying a rope to a boat that was docked there. “Excuse me.” She flagged the man down and sped up her steps to get closer to him before he disappeared into the boat. “Sir, I just need to ask you a question.”

The man noticed her, and he tensed, standing still at the end of the pier. “How can I help you, lass?”

“I’m looking for an address, but I think I wrote it down wrong because there’s no house here.”

He laughed, “You are very perceptive, love.”

She handed the paper to him, and he scratched the back of his ear. “’Fraid you aren’t looking for a house, Ma’am. But you did find what you’re looking for.” He paused and stared her down, “Care to share why you were looking for this boat?”

“A boat? I don’t understand. I’m trying to find the man at this address, Killian Jones.”

His jaw tensed. “Is that so? And what business do you have with Mr. Jones.”

“I need to talk to him about his daughter, Alice.” Before she could react the man turned feral, reaching into his back pocket and with a flick of his wrist, brandishing a knife in one hand as he took a step forward and pressed it into her side, twisting her around until her back was to his chest.

“Who sent you? Was it Mills? Just who the bloody hell are you?”

[beatriceeagle]

What do you think of later Veronica Mars seasons? Any advice for Rob Thomas? And (I guess about all VM seasons) anything you would change? Thank you

This got extremely long. I didn’t get into things I would change, and I didn’t give any advice; nevertheless, I have a lot to say about Veronica Mars.

The long and the short of it is that a lot of people discuss Veronica Mars as though it is a noir TV show, but it’s not solely or even primarily a noir work. It’s certainly noir-inspired; many of its characters are drawn from noir archetypes; it’s cynical enough about the status quo to be noir; you might say that it’s in conversation with the noir genre. But although noir detective fiction has plenty of hardboiled detectives (Veronica), dirty cops (Lamb), and femme fatales (Logan), where in noir do we place Wallace? Where do we put Mac? Where does Keith go? What about Meg? What about Duncan? (Poor, poor Meg and Duncan.)

By the time it exited its first season, Veronica Mars was just full of too many bright, funny, fundamentally likeable characters—characters who you fundamentally could not suspect of murder—to be classifiable as fully noir. Moreover, the central mystery that it left dangling at the end of the first season wasn’t about murder, or corruption, or betrayal; it’s about romance. Who is at Veronica’s door?  By the season one finale, Veronica Mars is first and foremost what it perhaps inevitably was going to become, when it aired on network television: an ensemble character drama.

Can an ensemble character drama be noir? Well, sure. Veronica Mars is. But in a long-term ensemble character-based show, the needs of the characters have to be served before the needs of the noir. People watched season one of Veronica Mars because they enjoyed the mystery (and the quips, and the romance). They kept watching because they connected with the characters.

Season one balanced those two needs nearly perfectly; that’s why it’s often held up as an all-time great season of television. Season two remains pretty noir (it is, after all, the season of the acquittal of Aaron Echolls), but the construction of its mystery gets overly complicated, and the personal plot—the character drama—tends towards soapy. It still balances well enough to be enjoyable, but it’s undeniable that there are problems with season two of Veronica Mars, and I think they come from trying to figure out how to incorporate the characters into an ongoing noir storyline. Wallace is simply not a noir character, but he gets sucked into a dead-end story about his missing father and a hit-and-run on a homeless guy for half a season. Duncan, once you establish that he’s not going to kill anyone in a blackout rage, is basically a bland, quiet, nice guy, and not in any way a noir character. So he has to go on the run with Meg’s (also not a noir character, therefore killed off) coma baby halfway through the season.

The basic construction of season two of Veronica Mars is that the cast from season one, now cleared of all suspicion in Lilly Kane’s murder, encounter a new noir mystery, populated by new noir characters: Woody and Gia Goodman and Jackie and Terrence Cook on the one hand, and Felix Toombs and the Fitzpatricks on the other. The main cast are organically enmeshed in this new noir set-up to varying degrees. Logan (who is perhaps the most naturally noir character of the show’s early seasons, above even Veronica) is fully integrated in the murder of Felix Toombs; he’s an obvious suspect, and although we don’t believe he did it, it’s understandable why everyone else thinks he did. Logan’s drive to clear his name (or at least stay out of jail) takes him to believable, if unlikeable, noir depths—which the show engages with! If the murder of Felix Toombs were the main focus of season two, it would probably be a pretty great focal point. But it’s not. The main mystery only touches Logan’s storyline for about one episode, where it’s a red herring, and the rest of the time Logan and the Fitzpatricks mostly operate in a parallel track, at best distracting from and at worst confusing the real plot.

The rest of the cast are involved in the main mystery, but their involvement is a tricky thing. Most of them weren’t on the bus when it crashed, or before it crashed. Most of them aren’t directly connected to the Sharks, or to the mayor’s incorporation plan. (Wow, season 2 has a lot of plates in the air.) Their connections are, by and large, second-hand. Wallace is dating Jackie. Mac is kind of dating Cassidy. Keith and Veronica just really like solving mysteries. And also Keith is running for sheriff I guess?

The thing is, those second-hand connections work to keep the show in the realm of noir. We don’t need Wallace to get involved in a hit-and-run, okay? He can just have a tempestuous and heartfelt but ultimately doomed relationship with a girl with a mysterious past. Duncan probably didn’t need to go on the run with Meg’s coma baby; he could’ve just like, gone to boarding school in Connecticut.

Season two is very aware that some of its characters are noir and some of them are not, because it leverages that fact to make the mystery work. Cassidy is on the bus, and then leaves before it crashes; Cassidy alone of the main cast is heavily connected to the incorporation storyline; Cassidy basically has a big red arrow pointing at him for five episodes leading up to the finale saying, “Hey, SOMETHING’S GOING ON WITH THIS GUY.” But Veronica never seriously considers him as a suspect, and the only reason that the viewer doesn’t (if they don’t) is because... it’s Beaver! Beaver’s not a murderer! Beaver’s not that kind of character. It’s kind of like how season one shows you Aaron Echolls beating a guy half to death, but plays “That’s Amore” over it, and you don’t realize you’re looking at a clue—or how The Good Place hid its first season twist simply by being a sitcom. If you don’t know what genre you’re operating in, it’s hard to be genre savvy.

But there’s a risk that comes with that kind of writing: No one was invested in Aaron Echolls, but I can imagine that someone might’ve been invested in Cassidy. I wasn’t, but someone might’ve been. He was in the main credits. He was dating Mac. In order to make season two’s mystery noir, and meaningful, and keep it connected to the main characters, they had to burn a character with some real work invested in him, and do so in a way that potentially broke faith with viewers who really liked that character and his relationships. (And that’s not even getting into the really unfortunate implications of the specific motivation and backstory they gave to Cassidy.)

Season three is just kind of a mess, for a lot of reasons. It’s not particularly noir; they’ve lost the overarching mystery, as well as the show’s central setting; they lean heavily into the character drama, but although Veronica Mars is an ensemble character drama, it’s not just an ensemble character drama, and it can’t and shouldn’t function without a mystery to sustain it. But more importantly, everyone’s a little out of character, so even if character drama were enough, I wouldn’t be all that interested in watching almost!Veronica get in her fifth fight with almost!Logan. That said, I think that leaning into character drama is a safer way to jump the shark than leaning into noir; at worst, the show is going to get messy and boring, which is basically what happens. And the ending of season three is a pretty bang-on noir ending, and falls out naturally from the weird, messy character drama. It’s not a good season of television, but there’s a reason that it didn’t destroy fans’ love of the show.

This is ~*unconventional*~, I know, but I like the movie, both as a fan and, when I try to step back and approach it somewhat objectively, as a critic. It is extraordinarily fanservice-y; I don’t think that’s a bad thing. There are, perhaps, fanservice moments that I find a little over-the-top. (One of them, alas, is the repetition of the “lives ruined, bloodshed” speech; Logan was drunk the first time he gave that, he doesn’t remember it, and that’s half the point!) But on the whole, the movie gets it. Logan and Weevil (and Gia, may she rest in peace) are inherently noir characters who you can insert into a mystery or a story about corruption or cynicism, and although we don’t want them to have done the big bad thing, they will operate smoothly within the confines of the system. Wallace and Mac are visitors from another genre; the make connections, they comment, their lives are sometimes affected, but they are not noir, and their stories should not be noir. Veronica and Keith are the pivot, constantly drawn into Neptune’s seedy network of crime, trying to root it out.

It’s basically the Logan-and-Fitzpatricks storyline from season two, but updated so that a) Veronica and the rest of the cast is actually involved, and b) Logan is a much more likeable person. And it turns out that that’s a totally solid engine for a movie! And because it’s so fanservice-y, we spend time with all of the characters, even the ones who aren’t really entangled in the noir plots. Mac gets stuff to do. Wallace gets stuff to do. Piz... gets... poor Piz.

Season four leans heavily on the noir. So heavily, in fact, that the characters who aren’t natural noir characters are virtually nonexistent within the season. Wallace doesn’t have a storyline; Mac doesn’t appear because Tina Majorino refused to be in the season, since she wouldn’t have a storyline. Weevil, whose noir tendencies have put him on the outs with Veronica in between the movie and season four, has a story, but it’s not one that’s heavily tied to the main plot, and he’s not around much.

Structurally, season four is similar to season two, in that the main cast encounters a new mystery full of noir characters: Patton Oswalt, Matty the mini-Veronica, that politician and his family, those cartel hit men, Veronica’s bartender friend Nicole. The difference is that in season four, the main cast has functionally been pared down to three people: Veronica, Logan, and Keith. Oh, and Dick. Dick’s still hanging around, I guess.

Because of that, we spend virtually all of our time in season four with Veronica. Sometimes a little with Logan, sometimes with Keith, but mostly Veronica. We see her making friends with Nicole; we see her taking on Matty as a protege. We see her fight with Weevil; we see her fight with Logan. 

Oh boy, do we see her fight with Logan. Because there are so few subplots to distract from it, Logan and Veronica’s relationship is, in many ways, the story of season four. For a show trying so desperately hard to cling to noir and run from character drama, season four isn’t really about corruption; it isn’t about power; it isn’t about cynicism or brutality or the ways that Neptune has been and always will be bad. It’s about a relationship, and what happens to it when one person (Logan) is trying to move on to a healthier place, but the other person (Veronica) is still stuck in old, toxic patterns of behavior.

Nearly everything in season four is in some way about the Logan/Veronica dichotomy, or about their relationship with each other, or about the way that Veronica is pathologically stubborn and guarded and suspicious, and how that kills her relationships. It’s the thematic underpinning of the Matty storyline; it’s what the Nicole storyline turns on; it is, whether the show understands it or not, the devastating backdrop of the few scenes in which Weevil appears.

This is all fine and noir, but again: It comes to its fullest fruition, it finds its highest stakes, the season’s arc reaches its climax, in a romantic relationship. Which the season is, fundamentally, devoted to the psychological exploration of. And when Veronica decides that she can commit to marrying Logan, that is a key moment of character development, in a show that has historically been an ensemble character drama, in a season of television that has been, at least for Logan and Veronica, at least partially a psychological character drama.

And then Logan blows up.

And look, I am not opposed to killing characters. I’ve defended the death of Lexa on The 100 on this here very blog. But Logan’s death is 1) stupid, 2) at a stupid time, and 3) for a stupid reason. He dies moving the car across the street, just at the culmination of a major psychological arc about toxicity and moving on and opening yourself up to others... so that Veronica can stay toxic and guarded, I guess?

It renders any character development we’ve seen from Veronica in season 4 pointless. It cuts the character development we’ve seen from Logan for over a decade tragically and meaninglessly short. And it does it all in the name of taking a hard turn into “pure” noir, so that Veronica can go investigate mysteries in other towns, unencumbered by a troublesome cast that viewers are unwilling to suspect of murder.

The problem is that that cast is a lot of what’s good about the show. Maybe there are people who watched season four of Veronica Mars and came out of it thinking, “Ah, yes, what this show needs is even less of the ensemble cast,” but I was not one of them. The Veronica of season 4 is not a particularly likeable person. Veronica, on her own, was never all that likeable; what she was was funny, and understandable, and righteous, and decent. She had people around her to be likeable, to provide you with an entry point into her mind, to show interesting sides of her you might not otherwise see, to call her out when she crossed a line, and to give the show a lightness that made it fun. The bomb that blew up Logan may have made the loudest noise, and had the most final impact, but it wasn’t what killed season four; that happened when the writers sidelined Wallace.

It is, I’m sure, difficult to balance being an ensemble character drama with being a seasonal noir mystery. (Jane the Virgin ran into similar trouble, in the long run, balancing being an ensemble character drama with being a telenovela.) Nevertheless, Veronica Mars is both of these things, and blowing up the ensemble to service the noir is inevitably going to alienate viewers, because viewers have a reasonable expectation that the shows they’re watching will continue to be the same general kind of show. And because many viewers were drawn to Veronica Mars at least as much for the characters as for the mystery.

So my very, very longwinded opinion on the later seasons of Veronica Mars is that I think the show has an identity crisis, and I don’t think it’s going to resolve it any time soon. It may not be resolvable; honestly, television might not be the best medium for ongoing Veronica Mars stories at this point. But I have very little interest in watching any further seasons produced, so it doesn’t matter much, from my point of view.

[slapshot-to-the-heart]

Flatbush & Atlantic: part iv

And here’s part iv! I’d love it if y’all would reblog, this is a work I’m really proud of and the more people it’s shared with the better! My inbox is always open, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, even if it’s just “AAAAAH.” Enjoy!

part i part ii part iii

part iv

December 12

Cass grimaced, looking over at the tab on her laptop that had the Islanders game open. They were down 3-1 late in the third, and it didn’t look like they were going to be able to pull it off. It was the last game of a ten day roadie, and they had lost all but one against the Red Wings right at the beginning. And the Wings were 10-21, so it wasn’t even a confidence booster. To make matters worse, Mat was on a points drought; he hadn’t gotten an assist, let alone scored, since the first game of the trip, a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jackets. They also were playing a few players down, an MCL sprain and the ever-vague “lower body injury” kept the team from being at full strength. 

As the game came to a close, she didn’t even know if Mat wanted to talk to her. His relentless dedication was one of her favorite things about him, but it also led him to take things way too personally and be way too hard on himself even when  — especially when  — the situation didn’t call for it. He was probably beating himself up as the boys headed back into the locker room, being short with his teammates and trainers and whatever poor sports reporter had been sent to ask “how they planned on snapping this unfortunate streak” in the post-game interviews. He’d never be deliberately mean or unkind to anyone, but just like anyone, her boyfriend got stressed and overwhelmed and didn’t always know how to deal with it. I saw the game, she texted him, I’m proud of you. Call me if you want. 

Dec. 15 (wed)

Mat had barely spoken to her since the return from the roadie, and it was starting to get on her nerves. Texts were responded with single words, if they were answered at all. They were supposed to have visited the Met yesterday , but that hadn’t happened either. He had cancelled, saying that “some team thing came up” and he wouldn’t be able to make it. Barely apologized. And what pissed Cass of more than almost anything was that she wanted to help, she wanted so badly for him to just talk to her, she wouldn’t judge him or make him feel like he was a shitty player or a shitty person, but she couldn’t do that if he wasn’t even picking up her damn calls. Who do you talk to when there’s almost nobody in the world who understands the position you’re in? 

Maybe that was just it. She’d go to the people who did understand. Paige had added her to the WAGs Whatsapp group the week prior, and from everything she had gathered so far, it was exactly the sort of place to go for advice. Cass pulled up the chat, torn between not wanting to seem like she was oversharing but not really sure what else she could do. Hey, guys, she started. Mat’s been taking the losing streak pretty personally (as I’m sure a lot of your guys are) and seems to be pulling away. Any advice? I don’t want to push him but I know it’ll get worse if he just keeps it all bottled inside. Clicking send, Cass sighed, leaning back in her desk chair and trying desperately to study for her Environmental Law final. 

At some point after midnight, she closed her books and laptop with frustration. The test wasn’t until next week, but she wasn’t going to get anywhere trying to study as distracted as she was. She grabbed her phone, heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth and check the group chat. No fewer than six of the women had written back, some of whom she hadn’t even met, with long, sympathetic paragraphs overflowing with advice. She read them all, touched by the time, effort, and care that everyone has put into making her feel just a little less anxious. But the overwhelming message was clear. Find balance, but don’t let him blow you off. Be a support system, but you’re not his therapist. And repeated again and again, Talk to him. 

She tapped out a message before she turned her bedside lamp off, hoping that with morning would finally come a proper response from Mat. Can we meet for coffee tomorrow morning? You know as well as I do that we need to talk. I’ll be at Donahue’s at 8. 

Read: 12:23 AM

Dec. 16 (thurs)

Her foot tapped nervously, hands clasped tightly around the cup in front of her and beanie pulled over her head, curls poking out from under. He had read the text, but Cass had no clue if Mat was actually going to show up or not. He hadn’t responded. It was ten past eight, and Cass was just about ready to give up and head to school early. She had just put her laptop back in her bag when she caught Mat out of the corner of her eye. He gave her a small smile, equal parts nervous and almost  — bothered? “Hey,” he said softly, unzipping his puffer coat and sliding into the chair opposite her. “You said you wanted to talk?”

Suddenly, the whole elaborate speech Cass had prepared, about letting her in and supporting him and communication, left her mind. “Yeah.”

“So, talk,” Mat said, with a slight edge to his voice. 

She looked down at her cup. “I get that you’re disappointed about the losing streak. I get it and I’m sorry that you’re not doing as well as you hoped —”

“I don’t think you do get it, Cassidy —”

She cut him off. “Let me finish, Mathew. I’m sorry that you’re not doing as well as you hoped, and I do get how shitty it is when you know you’re putting in the time and effort and practice and it doesn’t seem like anything’s working, but you’ve barely talked to be about any of it.”

“‘Cause I don’t want to,” Mat mumbled. 

Cass leaned back in her chair. “And I get that. I get if you don’t want to talk to me. But you’re not talking to anyone. You’re not talking to Tito, I asked him and he said you’ve been just as closed-off with the team. You’re not talking to any of the other guys. And I’d bet you’re not talking to your parents or your sister either.”

No one gets it!” Mat said in frustration, a little louder than was necessary. “I go through so much shit and have so much pressure on me and…” He trailed off for a minute. “I don’t want to disappoint the team, I don’t want to disappoint the fans. I don’t want to disappoint my family. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Everyone had their ups and downs,” Cass started.

“And I get that,” Mat said, holding his head in his hands and looking down at her coffee cup. The same white-and-blue one he had gotten her two months earlier. “But it’s hard. It’s hard when I’m feeling like the fans aren’t getting what they deserve when they come to games, and like I’m not worth what they’re paying me right now. I know you want to, but you don’t get it.”

Cass looked away, turning her eyes to the street. The sidewalk was dusted in white, turning to slush every time someone walked past. It was the first snow of the year. “Then help me to.”

He breathed out, finally relaxing a little. “It’s not that easy.”

“I want to help you,” Cass said, leaning over the table and clasping his hands in hers. “But you can’t keep freezing me out like this, chou. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to me.”

Mat closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. “I just don’t want this to become your thing too. You shouldn’t have to deal with this. I know right now kind of sucks for me but that’s just how it is sometimes, you know? It’s just how it is and I have to get over it. I have to get over myself.”

“Mat, your well-being and mental health isn’t something you can just ‘get over.’ Or even something you should. I’m not a professional, and if you need one that’s something we can find,” Mat wrinkled his face, and Cass was pointedly reminded how often men’s mental health was ignored, “but I’m here for you to talk to. Whatever you need, I’m here for you.”

He ran his thumb over her hand. “But you didn’t sign up for this.”

Cas shook her head. “Mathew Barzal. This is exactly what I signed up for. I’m pretty smart,” he cracked a smile, “and I knew what I was getting myself into. Dating someone with such an unconventional job and schedule can be stressful, and frustrating, and confusing for everyone involved. But I chose it, Mat. I chose you.”

Dec. 21 (mon)

For once, Cass wasn’t headed straight home after work, or headed to a game, or — God forbid — back to the library to study. Her last final had been that morning, and she was free for three blessed weeks until the New Year. Which meant that she didn’t have to worry about turning in another essay or memorizing another case, which meant that she was more than free to go to the team Christmas party with Mat later that night. He had somehow been coerced into hosting, and Cass had promised to get to his apartment early to help set up. He was mostly done by the time she got there, so “setting up” turned out to mean setting up the bar and putting out snacks, Cass mixing up an enormous pitcher of her favorite sangria, a signature standby from her sorority’s Wine Wednesdays. 

Mat had even put up a proper Christmas tree, and Cass smiled at the piney scent as she headed down the hallway, bag in hand. “Cool if I change in your room?” She shouted down the hall at Mat, who was currently engrossed in pouring a bowl full of chocolate-covered pretzels. “Yeah, go for it,” he called back. Cass didn’t have a lot of excuses to dress up, but liked taking advantage when the occasion called for it. Her dress was short, red satin with a slit on one side and silver embellishment on the other. She used his bathroom to touch up her makeup, swiping her burgundy lipstick on and double-checking her brows. Cass shoved her work clothes back into her backpack, tossing it onto the plush armchair in the corner of his room. 

She walked down the hallway, which was pretty much bare save for a few pictures of his friends from home and one with his family on the day he was drafted. She was kind of surprised that Mat owned a single picture frame. Cass sat on the couch in his living room, looking at the Christmas tree. There were one or two Islanders ornaments, a paper Santa that she assumed had been a kindergarten art project, a photo of his family around the fireplace that looked like it had been taken a year or two earlier. Mat wrapped his arms around her, hugging her from behind. “Whatcha looking at, babe?” 

She smiled. “Your ornaments. They’re really pretty.”

“Not  as pretty as you.”

The door rang, Mat kissing her quickly before walking across the room to open it. A group of the younger players piled in, mostly rookies and call-ups from Bridgeport. One of them had brought along a keg of beer, and Cass had to fight back a laugh while showing him to the kitchen and setting it on the counter. He was just out of college, she’d stake her life on it. By the time she’d secured the keg and started getting people set up with drinks, the living room had started to fill up. “What can I get you?” She asked Paige, who had left Tito with the boys by the tree and made her way over to Cass. 

“What are my chances of getting a Moscow mule?” Paige asked. “I don’t want to be a difficult guest, but,”

“Very good,” Cass said, turning around and grabbing the vodka and ginger ale. “We don’t have the proper mugs though, so don’t be complaining.” One shot of vodka. Half a can of ginger ale. Squeeze a lime. She had bartended for a little over a year when she first moved to New York, and it was still one of her favorite things to do for friends. Mixing herself a whiskey sour, Cass wandered back over to Mat and Tito. 

---

It was well past eleven and the party was nowhere near stopping. While everyone was conscious of the noise level — for the most part, she had seen a few of the guys being reminded to use their inside voices — the conversations were still going and the drinks were still flowing. Cass had passed the tipsy point somewhere around 10:30, though she was nowhere near as hammered as some of the team. Or their dates, for that matter. She was cuddled up against Mat on the couch, heels long having since been abandoned and nursing what she was pretty sure was a vodka sprite with way too much vodka and way too little sprite. Whatever, Cass thought ruefully as she tipped the last of it back. It gets the job done. 

Mat was a touchy drunk, Cass had learned, and one hand seemed to have taken up permanent residence at her waist while he sipped a beer with the other. “What do you think Christmas will be like for you?” Cass asked softly, tilting up her head to look at him. “Since you won’t be with your family.” Mat knew it was a possibility, but he was still pretty upset when he looked at the schedule and realized that his family wasn’t going to be able to fly out to spend the holidays with him, and he didn’t have enough time to go back out to Vancouver. 

Her parents had extended the invitation for Mat to spend Christmas with them when she had been back up for Thanksgiving; he couldn’t make Christmas Day, but was able to carve out two days to visit. He smiled at her, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. “You’re cute when you’re worried, y’know that?” Cass scrunched up her nose. “It’s not like I’m going to be alone. I’m doing Christmas with Beau, since Paige’ll be out of town too, and some of the guys usually plan a nice dinner thing for anyone who’s not with family.”

“That sounds nice,” Cass noted, still feeling a pang of guilt. 

“Hey,” Mat said, noticing her distraction. He sat up, turning her face to look towards him. “I’ll be fine. I’m a grown-ass man.” 

Cass cocked an eyebrow. “Sure about that?”

Mat giggled. “Okay, okay, fine. Point taken. But yeah, it would be nice to have my family, but I kind of do, y’know?” He said, nodding around to the guys. Cass could have sworn that in that moment, her heart melted. “And I want you to spend time with yours. I’d be kind of a shitty boyfriend if I didn’t want you to.” Mat leaned in, and his lips brushed against hers so that they were almost touching but not quite, hesitantly. Cass pressed against him, her fingers finding purchase in the baby hairs at the nape of his neck. She loved that he was letting his hair grow out. He tasted like whiskey and tequila and some cheap beer that she was pretty sure was Natty Light, but she couldn’t have cared less, just like she ignored the not-so-subtle wolf-whistles from the teammates. 

Everyone started clearing out around midnight, a few staying to help stuff cans and bottles into trash bags that were left unceremoniously in the kitchen to be dealt with the next morning. Cass yawned, rubbing her eyes. She had sobered up some, but was still well past the legal limit. “Whatcha doing?” Mat asked, seeing her about to order an Uber.

“Calling a ride?” Cass questioned.

“Why don’t you just stay?” Mat asked haltingly. “If you want.” Cass had obviously been over to his place before, multiple times, but hadn’t stayed the night yet. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, because she did, but it was something that was a big step for her. That meant a lot to her. But it was late, and she was sleepy, and Mat did make a really good pillow. “Okay,” she conceded. 

Mat smiled, taking her hand and leading her back to his bedroom. He rummaged through his dresser, grabbing an old Thunderbirds t-shirt and athletic shorts and handing them to her as she walked into his ensuite. “I don’t have stuff to get your makeup off, but there is soap?” He offered. 

Cass laughed. “I brought some wipes, but thank you. That’s really sweet.” She changed and took her makeup off, finding a spare toothbrush in one of the drawers and brushing her teeth. She popped out after a few minutes. Mat was already changed, dressed in pyjama pants and a comfy-looking heathered grey top. “The red toothbrush is mine now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, cracking a smile. A few minutes later, she had claimed the left side of the bed and he had come back from the bathroom. They were lazily kissing, Mat’s hand just barely brushing the skin on her waist from where the shirt had ridden up. Cass was still tipsy and she knew Mat wouldn’t try anything, not like this, but God, it was nice just to feel close to him. After a few minutes he pulled back, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear that had fallen out of the loose messy bun she had thrown together. “What’s running through your head, babe?” He murmured. 

Cass looked down, biting her lip. She was usually good with emotions, good with communication, but something about Mat made her heart skip a beat and brain go into overdrive all at once, and somehow she was convinced that it was the best feeling in the world. “I’m just really happy right now,” she breathed. “It’s Christmas, with our friends, and you...It’s everything I could want.” 

Mat gave the softest smile. “You, with me, right now? That’s all I could want, Cass.”

Dec 22. (wed)

Cass zipped her suitcase shut, double-checking that she had everything she’d need for her two weeks in Connecticut. It wasn’t a big deal if she forgot something, there was probably some stuff left in her old dresser, and her little sister Eliana was about the same size. Mat had just texted that he was almost there. Cass grabbed her backpack and suitcase, stopping for a moment to pop out the final few chocolates on the Advent calendar her mom had sent down. She closed her bedroom door, wishing a harried goodbye to Ryanne and Stella, and ambled down the stairs as fast as her bags would allow her. She didn’t want Mat to have to double-park and risk getting a ticket. 

True to his word, Mat was just pulling up when she came out of the building, waving one hand and double-checking the street was clear before flipping his hazards on and hopping out to help her put her bags in the trunk. Kissing him on the cheek in thanks, Cass slid into the passenger’s side, giving Mat a very pointed look when she saw that the first song on his playlist was Justin Bieber. “Don’t make fun of me,” he mumbled, blushing. 

“Who said I’m making fun of you?” Cass said lightly, trying and failing to hide her smile. 

They had decided that Mat would make the drive, since he was only staying two nights they had figured it would make more sense. The directions had been plugged into the Bluetooth system, and they had just made it out of the city when Mat looked over at the passenger’s seat, furrowing his brow when he saw Cass’s expression. Something was bothering her. “What’s up, babe?”

She bit her lip. “Nothing.”

“C’mon, we both decided we weren’t going to do this anymore. You don’t have to tell me if you really don’t want to, but I think you want to talk.”

Cass looked down at her lap. “I got a letter from the company that’s handling my student loans.”

“I thought you didn’t have any debt?” Mat asked quizzically.

She let out a single, humorless laugh. “That was for undergrad, and that was only because I was really, really lucky. I got some money from the school and I worked some, but that only covered about half of my costs? A little less?” 

“Which leaves you with how much?”

“A hundred and ten thousand dollars, give or take. They were sending me the payment schedule, I have to start paying it back late next year.” 

Mat breathed out. He knew that Cass didn’t come from money, but being from Canada and not having gone to college himself, he wasn’t really aware of just how debilitating student debt could get. “Do your parents know?” He asked gently.

Cass picked at a loose thread on her scarf. “Yeah. They helped as much as they could, but there’s three of us and they’re not made of money. “I, uh,” she paused briefly, “I told you I went to private school, yeah?” Mat nodded. “Catholic school doesn’t come cheap, so I was actually on work-study at my high school, which helped a lot. But I hated it.”

“Your school?” He questioned. 

She shook her head. “No, I loved my school. It was great. I just hated feeling like a charity case. My school’s in a pretty well-off neighborhood, so most of the families there had money, and some were like proper ‘old money’ New Englanders. I had some great friends and nobody ever really outwardly was an ass about it if they knew, but still…” She trailed off.

“You felt like you never quite fit in.” Mat finished.

She nodded. “It was hard and it sucked sometimes, but that’s just how it is, I guess,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. 

Two hours later, Mat pulled into Manchester, following Cass’s directions down the winding roads and corners of her hometown. “Do you think they’ll like me?” He asked nervously, eyes flitting between Cass and the road in front of him. 

Her brow furrowed. “Who? My family?” Mat nodded. “My family’s going to love you. You’re kind and you treat me with respect. That’s all they’ve ever wanted for me. And my brother already worships the ground you walk on, practically,” she added with a smile. 

“He’s a junior, yeah?” 

“Mhm,” she responded. Cass’s younger brother Noah was a junior in high school, and one of the best players on his club hockey team. Hockey didn’t run cheap and he had been lifeguarding the past few summers to pay for it, but it was all starting to pay off and he was having some interest shown by college scouts. 

Mat pulled up beside the curb in front of her house, killing the engine and shoving the keys back into his pocket. Cass popped the trunk and took her backpack, while Mat got his duffel and her suitcase. She reached for his hand as they walked up the driveway, giving it a reassuring squeeze as she rang the doorbell. 

“Cass!” Eliana squealed, hugging as much of her sister as she could manage around the bags. “Put your bags by the door, Dad’s grilling out back and I think Mom’s making your bed.” Mat had had an afternoon game and the two had left not long after, so it was dinnertime and Cass was ravenous. “Grilling in December?” She questioned. 

Eliana shrugged, closing the door behind them. “You know Patrick, you go be the one to tell the man he can’t make burgers in the winter.” She turned to Mat, also greeting him with a hug. “You must be Mat, Cass talks about you a lot.” 

Cass swatted her. “El!”

Mat chuckled. “Yeah. Mat Barzal, nice to meet you. Good things, I hope?”

“Only the best,” Eliana said, leading them through to the back porch, where her dad was grilling on the patio while Noah was doing sprints up and down the lawn. He almost fell when he spotted Cass and Mat, causing Mat to have to hide a laugh behind his hand. Her dad turned around, setting the spatula down when he saw them. Mat swallowed, sticking out his hand for a shake. “Mat Barzal, sir.”

“Call me Patrick. Good to meet you Mat, go get settled and we should have dinner ready in a few, okay?” Mat nodded. “Noah, pick your jaw up off the floor and go help them with their things, okay?” Noah ducked his head, brushing the dirt off his shorts before jogging over to where Mat and his sisters were on the porch. 

“Do I hear my Cassidy?” Cass could hear her mom inside, walking down the hallway with Noah and Mat before she ran into her by her old bedroom. “It’s me, Mom!” Cass said excitedly, hugging her mom. Mat initially went for another handshake, but she shooed it away, embracing him. “We’re huggers in this family,” she said by way of explanation, pulling away after a moment. “Ysabel Cabrera, so nice to finally meet you, Mat.” 

Mat smiled. “It’s great to finally meet you too.”

Ysabel pointed down the hall. “Noah’s got bunk beds, so you’ll be with him in there, it’s the last door on the left. Cass, I trust you still can find your room.”

“Yes, mamá,” Cass said, rolling her eyes. “See you in a few, chou.” He kissed her on the cheek, under the watchful eye of her mom, and followed Noah down the hall. 

---

Two hour later, Mat and Cass were cuddled together on the living room couch, his arm slung around her as they half-watched reruns of Parks & Rec. “D’you just want to do presents now?” He asked, looking down at her. “Because I know we’ve got plans tomorrow, and I don’t see how it really matters if we’re not going to be together Christmas Day.”

Cass looked up. “Uh, sure, if you want?” 

“Meet you back in a minute,” Mat said, hopping off of the couch and disappearing down the hall. Cass rolled her eyes, walking into her room, grabbing the envelope, and returning to the living room. Mat got up when she entered, proudly handing her a surprisingly well-wrapped present. 

“You look very pleased with your work,” Cass noted, laughing. 

“I watched a Youtube tutorial,” Mat admitted, “but did you know that there’s so much that goes into folding neat corners? It’s practically an art!”

“I’ll take you word for it,” Cass said, handing him his envelope. “Open yours first.”

Mat sat back down, running his thumb through the flap and pulling out a coupon. He looked at it quizzically for a minute. “Beer delivery?”

“Craft beer delivery,” Cass corrected pointedly. “Because I don’t want you to have to resort to Natty Light ever again. I saw your fridge, it’s actually the worst. You need taste, babe.” Mat snorted. “And they deliver to Canada, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on the offseason.” 

“I love it, pretty girl,” Mat said, kissing her. “Now open yours.” Cass carefully popped the corners open, unfolding the wrapping paper. My Beloved World - Sonia Sotomayor. “You said once that you really admire her, and I didn’t see it on your bookshelf, so I thought you’d like it.”

“I do, I love it. I love that you remembered even more,” Cass added. 

But Mat wasn’t done. “Open it,” he said expectantly.

Confused though she was, Cass opened the cover of the book. “It’s...signed? She said softly, reverently tracing her fingers over the inscription. 

“Yeah.” Mat went on, explaining, “I found it in this little bookstore in Brooklyn, and knew I had to get it for you. Knew what it would mean to you.”

“It’s incredible. You’re incredible. I can’t believe you’d do something like that for me.” 

Their foreheads touched. “Why wouldn’t I?” Mat whispered. “It’s for you.” 

And in that moment, there was nothing anyone could do to take away how happy that made her feel. How happy he made her feel. 

[purplebunniboy]

Retrograde AU

Can I summarize this,,,let’s find out. This has been a rough WIP since 2016. Boy has it been a Process.

Before I start let me just state for the record that this is an AU it exists in it’s own universe and ties in aspects of both books and games as well as headcanons that I Know not everybody will agree with! Hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

Warnings before reading: This AU does contain spoilers for the book trilogy, there are some heavy and dark themes mostly involving physical and emotional abuse as well as blood and gore.

This AU is split into 2 parts: pre-scooped and post-scooped. The first is his childhood and early adult life where he is known as Michael Afton leading up to when he got his insides scooped out. The second half is an older adult, when he got a whopping load of amnesia immediately after being scooped and is known as Mike Schmidt.

Pre-scooped:

Michael grew up in the same town Fredbear’s is located in, a few miles out of Hurricane (same place Charlie lived in the books.)

Michael is the older brother from the 4th game’s minigames. The younger brother/ crying child is Cassidy Afton. Cassidy witnessed Charlie’s murder and was absolutely traumatized but no one would believe him. William was really the cause of the bite, needing the kid to keep quiet about the whole thing, but staged it to be an accident to shift the blame on to someone else.

There is 2 seperate bites, Cassidy being the Bite of ‘83 victim. Michael was still the accidental cause of both.

His friend group consisted of the bullies from the 4th game--Bear mask kid is Michelle/Mitchie, bunny mask kid is David/Davie, chicken mask kid is Christopher/Chris. Some basics about them:

Mitchie is a girl, though a total tomboy, and is strong enough that the others know not to mess with her. She has a superiority complex, always feeling like she Has to prove she’s the best. She has a younger brother.

Davie is the bigger kid and designated meat shield of the group. He doesn’t put himself in bad situations but the group tends to throw him into them anyway. 

Chris is a bit of a runt but like to run his mouth a lot. He’s the type to always feel the need to put his two cents in even if it adds nothing to the conversation and is mostly just him being a sassy smartass.

Michael is of course the kid always picking fights. He’ll throw the first punch at the drop of a hat and almost always sports a bruise or a cut somewhere on his face. Some have even turned into scars.

When he was especially younger, Michael got along really well with his dad, drawing up doodles of characters that would eventually become the Funtimes, and always claiming he wanted to be just like him. William would often bring him into the workshop and teach him the basics of how animatronics work, carefully avoiding the subject of springlocks altogether. Obviously as he grew older, he realized his dad was a major ass and grew distant and hateful of him, taking his anger out on those around him rather than actually deal with the problems. 

Michael built his fox mask himself and included a few added feature such as moving/turning ears and fancy lights. His friends demanded he make them some as well to which he happily obliged. 

The Afton and Emily families were good friends! This was before, you know, William decided to remove Charlie’s alive rights. There were nights where all the parents would go out and Michael would get stuck with babysitting all of them at once and chaos ensued. Charlie, Sammy, and Elizabeth were the same age but Elizabeth was a bit of a brat so she didn’t get along very well with them. Charlie and Cassidy, despite age difference were good friends. Charlie and Sammy were a tag team and rarely did you ever see the two of them apart from the other.

After the accident and Cassidy’s death, everyone turned away from Michael except Elizabeth, who Michael swore he would be a better brother for. He continued developing his robotics skills by building her little toys just like Henry did for Charlie. Though unlike Henry’s, the toys were in no way technologically advanced and the most impressive thing he could do was add a wind up music box in them.

William finds old drawing of Michael’s and uses them as inspiration for the Funtime Animatronics which of course eventually lead to the accident with Elizabeth.

After so many years it finally comes together that Michael realizes his dad is actually a psycho murderer. He runs away, trying to figure out ways to set the spirits free. As he travels, continually changing his name, he does eventually find Henry and enlists his help. He is ultimately unsuccessful as he follow the trail into Circus Baby’s and is eventually scooped.

Jeremy Fitzgerald also has a minimal part in this AU. He and Michael met in early adulthood, he eventually tries to help Michael in his task to help set the children free. They go to what is the fnaf 2 location in an attempt to put them all back together but something goes terribly wrong and Jeremy is the unfortunate victim of the bite of ‘87 and loses his frontal lobe in the process. He is the same Jeremy from the VR games.

It is William and his manipulative tactics that convince Michael to go into the underground in the first place, knowing that his sister will be there. With the promise that he can find her and the others and put them all back together.

Post-scooped:

Immediately after the events of the underground, he’s visited by Cassidy’s ghost who warns him he’s going to forget and tells him to “come find him when he remembers.” He wakes up in Hurricane with barely any memories. He’s told his name is Mike Schmidt, as stated by records found mostly in his car. Clay Burke takes him under his wing and helps get him back on his feet, basically becoming like a father figure to him. It’s through this interaction that Mike meets Carlton and becomes part of that whole group.

While the main events of the books did not happen, the friend group is still there and there are certain elements that remain the same. The group is obvi older than they were in the original canon source. 

Henry still moved to Hurricane and built the four closets but instead of offing himself, he saw them to completion, dropped them on Aunt Jen, then disappeared without a trace. So it is still the same that Charlie “moved away” and the group stayed connected through letters they sent back and forth (Though mostly it had been Aunt Jen writing them.)

Instead of Charlie coming back for the funeral type celebration like in The Silver Eyes, she went back specifically to reconnect with friends to see them graduate. As they got older, letters turned to email and live chat rooms. Charlie still went with Jessica to college and the two continue to live together. Charlie has a degree in robotics and programming, Jessica has a degree in anthropology. Charlie and John maintain a long distance relationship as he lives and works out of state. Carlton also left town for college, got his degree in performing arts and moved back to Hurricane. Marla is happily married but still keeps up communication with the others and visits occasionally. 

There is a separation between alive robot Charlie and dead child Charlotte, since The Puppet is still a present figure. Charlie is content with the fact that she is actually a robot, having discovered that years ago. John is the only other one who knows.

Mike and Carlton have a thing going on. 

Mike works at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza as is shown game 1. He works there not only out of desperation but because he feels a connection to the building and wants desperately to know about his past.

He found Springtrap in the back saferoom and since then, the rabbit does not leave him alone. He acts as Mike’s helper buddy, assisting in keep the animatronics away for the most part. He is completely silent though if you were to listen really really close you might hear motors running, a fan or two kicking on, and raspy breathing. 

Helpy is another helper to Mike but is more of a portable buddy rather than a work only buddy. He found the little bear as barely more than scraps in a trash heap, took him home and enlisted Charlie’s help in building him into the lovable little pink and white robot.

Most dreams/nightmares Mike has have to do with reliving past memories though generally he doesn’t remember what they were about once he’s awake. When he’s at the pizzeria he sometimes sees the spirits of the children who help lead him to clues about his missing memories. What would seem like hallucinations to most people, are actually clues from the spirits. But Springtrap tends to chase off any that appear when he is also there. 

Will hopefully post designs of the characters soon! And I’m in the process of writing an actual coherent story for this.

[danlusional]

08 - our moment

book: Platinum pairing: M!Avery Wilshere x Cassidy Lowe warning: none word count: 1,704 summary: after finishing up their world tour, Avery and Cassidy take a break to talk about their past, present, and future

As her fingers grazed against the sheet of the bed, she found nothing aside from the crinkles and folds of last night’s remnants. She tried once more, reaching as far as she could without opening her eyes, but still nothing. Cassidy sat up and rubbed the sleep off her eyes before looking all over the small, quaint room from left to right. He wasn’t there. 

This wasn’t the first time she found him missing from their bed, but usually, she would’ve had a lead to where he was. A humming, a gentle melody playing on the piano, or anything. Unfortunately, they weren’t in his New York townhouse or her apartment. The lovely Bed and Breakfast his sister owned offered nothing but peace and quiet, something they needed — and now, something Cassidy wished had a piano lying somewhere to give her a clue. 

She walked over to the window, overlooking the lush field with the sun peeking from behind the trees far on the other side of it. As her eyes lowered from the view to the bench in the backyard, she found him. Cassidy couldn’t help but to smile and quickly get dressed to embrace the cold weather of the morning, not wanting to miss out on the view as well as the answers to her burning curiosity.

“You gave me a scare, mister.”, she announced her arrival with her arms wrapped gently around his shoulders from behind. “Leaving me in bed alone.”

Avery only chuckled before turning his head to plant a tender kiss on her cheek. “You looked like you needed the sleep, love. You did sleep well, right?”

His voice, his smile, and his overall presence could warm her from the inside out. How did she get so lucky? “I did, but I also don’t want to miss out on the experience of Blackawton’s sunrise.”, Cassidy walked around the bench to take her seat next to him, snuggling up to his side as their eyes fixated on the view. 

The morning fog was thinning with each passing minute and she could hear birds chirping from a distance. After wrapping up their joint world tour, Avery thought it would be great to take some downtime by visiting his hometown once more. This time, staying a little longer. It was an idea Cassidy took instantly. Aside from meeting his family and getting to know more about where he grew up, she thought they both needed it. 

The media attention and schedules were a circus. Despite them sharing a bed anywhere they went, there were nights where they just didn’t exactly meet. They still had good and bad days as a couple. They still had the pressure and gravity of being celebrities.

“What are you thinking about?”, his voice was only a whisper as he tightened his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer when a cold gust of wind breezed through them. “You have that pensive look on your beautiful face.”

“Always the flatterer.”, Cassidy rolled her eyes in jest before tilting her head to look at him. “Have you ever looked back? I mean, this is our quiet time… Did you think about the tour? And… I don’t know, do some self-introspection?”

Avery stayed quiet for a few moments, trying to compress almost a year of traveling into one conversation. It was challenging, especially doing it as an artist from a newly-formed record label, only riding on his and his artist-slash-girlfriend’s popularities. They pulled through, and they made it, but he couldn’t lie by saying there weren’t times that made his relationship with Cassidy as a chip on the gambling table. 

“I do, and that’s why I came out here this morning, actually.”, their eyes met. Neither of them could get used to it; the jolts and the sparks when they looked at each other. Cassidy still had disbeliefs she could see his face, in real life now, not just as an audience in his concert or from the posters in her room.

As for Avery, after meeting all the beautiful people in the world, this girl was still the most beautiful one, the one his heart soared for, and the one he wanted to sing all the love songs to. “I thought about how we worked hard… How lucky I was to be able to do all of this with you… But also, the troubles we faced.”

She closed her eyes, feeling the nerves bubbled in her gut, but she let him continued with her hand reaching to his free one to hold. The rumors about their alleged breakups, photos of their discourse that happened here and there on tour, and how the media kept insisting they only sold the relationship as a publicity stunt (something that still made Cassidy scratched her head, confused) were enough to rock their boat a couple of times.

Fiona tried to keep the sharks at bay but the media were getting even more brutal with Avery and Cassidy’s popularities climbing to the peak of stardom.

“What do you think we should do…? Do we need to change anything?”, she asked him quietly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful ambiance around them. The sun was already out, showering both of them with golden light. Her eyes opened once more to look at how Avery’s golden hair gleamed, the rays kissed his skin so perfectly, and how enchanted he looked whenever his blue eyes made contact with hers.

“I love touring with you but I also don’t want to trouble you. You still need to grow and expand the record label, you still have so many things to do as an artist. I don’t want to be a hurdle in your path.”

“Nonsense!”, his eyes widened, surprised that she could even think of herself that way. “Cassidy, I love you and you’re an amazing artist. I’m not saying that because we’re dating or you’re under my label, but it’s the truth. Did you remember your interview with Tim Schenectady? Even he was impressed by your passion for your music. You are not and will never be a hurdle.”

Their gazes locked for a little before Cassidy let a grin blossomed on her face. “You have such a way with words, Mr. Wilshere.”

“All those interviews Fiona put me through has its benefits.”, he laughed softly. 

“So, what should we do once we get back to the States? We only have a few days left of—“, her hand waved to their surrounding before chuckling. “All of this.”

“We still need to finish your comeback album. Don’t think I forgot about that.”, a little smirked decorated his lips as Avery gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I heard you only need one more song.”

Cassidy bit her bottom lip, preventing the grin to made its appearance once more. “I do and… I was wondering, if you would sing with me again, as an official collaboration.”

Not counting the songs he invited her on stage during the tour or their Indio Music Festival performance, they haven’t had an actual collaboration. Cassidy held back the question ever since she wrote the song during the tour. Watching him on stage night after night as a fan and his lover brought so many emotions in her as he dazzled her and thousands of other people like it was the first time she had seen him perform. 

“Are you sure? I mean, I’ll be honored to.”, he showed her his brilliant smile as he pulled her in for an embrace, wanting to show her all the love and support he had for her. “When were you planning to actually ask me about it?”

“When I finished the song, but… Since it’s a collaboration, not just a featuring, I want your words in it too.”, Cassidy smiled encouragingly when she pulled away. “I know you can do it.”

There was a pause from him. Despite not being under the Overknight rules anymore, Avery still had reservations about writing his own songs. This was something they argued about before, and Cassidy didn’t know how he would feel about it. “Do you remember the song you made back then? The one I strongly thought you needed to put in the album?”

“It was an experiment, Cass. Even after everything he did, Ellis had some things right. What if I’m not cut out as a songwriter? Just a pretty face with a voice to sing other people’s words?”, he avoided her eyes, averting his gaze to the dewy grass on their feet. 

She sighed. Knowing him, he would bury this insecurity talk behind a smile if she relented. Cassidy stood up and walked back in, leaving Avery agape in surprise. He didn't know what to do. Did she have enough fo this private side of his? The one who was self-conscious and unsure of branching out to try new things? 

Before he could self-deprecate any longer, his girlfriend returned with her trusty acoustic guitar. "Maybe hearing what I have so far will trigger that beautiful brain of yours.", Cassidy sat back down and smiled, fingers already softly strumming the strings.

"Every time you look at me, you have me on my knees... I wanna say I love you, baby, in every lifetime and my dreams...", she sang with her eyes never leaving his. "Anywhere I go, I want you there with me, 'cause now I know, you're the only one I need."

Without missing a beat, Avery finally joined in, much to her relief. His voice sounded like the morning they were having; the warm sun, the fresh air, and the coziness of home. "My home is where my heart is... And baby, my heart is with you... Thank the stars and the galaxies, you're my dream come true."

The melody ended, and they relished the moment with their eyes still locked on one another. Their breathing and the distant muffled sound of other people in the Bed and Breakfast were the only ones filling their ears. "Avery... That sounded beautiful."

"Only because I have a talented partner and inspiration.", he leaned in and pressed his lips for a chaste kiss on her forehead. It was then, Cassidy realized, they could withstand anything. 

[myhockeyworld87]

Nervous Regrets - Tyler Seguin - Part 24

Word Count: 4226

POV: Tyler

Warnings: Language, NSFW, Smut

Notes: Sorry this has taken so long to post, life just kind of got in the way. Also, it was a bit hard to concentrate today. I hope you all enjoy this and it at least makes you smile a little bit. Happy Reading! And if you read these notes at all go out there and hug the ones you love tonight. Sending all of you hugs!!

Since you’d asked (Y/N) to marry you, it seemed like you couldn’t stand to be away from her. Not that you didn’t have this feeling before, it just seemed to intensify now. So when you walked through the door of your house, there was almost a sense of relief that washed over, knowing that you’d get to have (Y/N) back in your arms. There was only one problem, you couldn’t seem to find your fiancé anywhere in the house. She wasn’t in the kitchen, your bedroom or any other room in your house. You even checked the outside to see if she was by the pool or out on the basketball court, though you couldn’t imagine her being out there by herself.

After about a fifteen-minute search, you gave up and decided to call her. “Hey, Ty. Did your plane land yet?”

“Babe, I’m home. I’ve been home for a while. Where are you at?”

“Huh? What time is it? Oh shit, sorry. I’m on my way home now. I guess I didn’t realize it was so late. I should be home in less than ten minutes.”

It was somewhat disappointing that she wasn’t here now. You’d gotten used to her being home ever since she quit her job. “Ok, but where are you?”

“Oh, I was at the mall doing some Christmas shopping. Do you know what you want to get your mom this year? I found some great things for Candace and Cassidy as well as my family, but I’m stumped for your mom.”

“Ummm. I hadn’t given it much thought.” You truly looked around at the house then, when you’d been searching for (Y/N) you hadn’t paid much attention to all the decorations around the house. The Christmas tree was up in the living room, lights twinkling and inviting, though you saw a box of ornaments that hadn’t been hung on it yet. In all your preparation for your proposal, you’d put the holiday season out of your mind. Thankfully (Y/N) hadn’t. “I’ll talk to my sisters and see if they have any ideas. By the way, the place looks great.”

“Thanks, but the decorator did most of it. I had her save some ornaments so that we could put them on together.”

“That sounds great babe. We can do that tonight.” You rummaged through the kitchen, looking for the cookies you knew she baked. “Baby, where did you put those sugar cookies?”

“Somewhere you can’t find them.” She laughed softly.

“That’s not funny (Y/N) you know that those are my favorite. I know you had to save me a couple out.” Opening the pantry door, you started moving around containers looking for the cookies (Y/N) had hidden.

“Tyler Seguin, if you mess up my pantry; I’m going to kick your ass.” It had taken (Y/N) a full week to organize the room to her liking. It had become a little game where you would move something out of place just to see if she noticed.

“Well, I wouldn’t have to mess anything up, if you’d just tell me where my cookies are.” The garage door opened and the pups rushed over to the mudroom door, to greet their mom.

“If you help me bring in these bags, I may give you one or two.” With that, she hung up the phone, and you rushed out to help her.

“Jesus woman, did you buy the whole mall.” She literally had the SUV stuffed full of bags and boxes. She was still getting out of the driver’s seat when you walked over and pulled her into your arms; your lips finding hers immediately. The last eight days had been hell not being able to touch her and feel her. Now that she was back in your arms, you didn’t want to let her go. You molded your mouth to hers and drank her in. Hands roaming down to her hips, you pressed her body into yours only to notice her bump stopped you short. You broke the kiss and looked down at her baby belly. “When did this happen?”

“Well duh, it’s been happening. Though I guess it just kind of popped out over the last couple of days.” It seemed as though you were missing everything on these long road trips, and while (Y/N)’s bump hadn’t grown that big, she finally looked pregnant. A huge grin broke out across your face as your hands roamed her tummy. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“What? I’m just happy. I love this. Do you know that?” She just shook her head at you. “I’m serious. You are so fucking sexy to me right now, you have no clue.”

“Oh stop!”

“It’s true (Y/N). And maybe if you don’t believe me, I’ll just have to show you right here.” You pushed her back up against the vehicle, your erection pressing against her so she knew how badly you wanted her; as you devoured her mouth again. Nibbling your way down her neck, you told her. “Can’t you feel how bad I want you, baby.” A moan escaped her, as you let your hands slide up her shirt and cup her sensitive breasts. Her head lulled back against the car as she gave herself over to you.

“Fuck Ty, I missed you so much.” Moving your thigh between her legs, you felt her grind down on you and your cock grew harder.

Her hands went to the waistband of your pants and she slipped the button free as she unzipped the flap. You stopped her from going further with your words. “Wait, babe, let’s go to the bedroom.”

“No.” She panted out as her hands reached inside your waistband to free your cock. “Here. Like this.” God, you loved this woman. Her words lit a fire inside you, and you pawed at her legging, stripping them off her in a frenzied pace.

“Wrap your leg around me.” She did as commanded and you thrust your cock inside her. Her pussy was warm and wet and felt absolutely delicious; so much so that you didn’t want to move at first. “God I missed you.”

“Please Ty.” (Y/N) pleaded with you and you rotated your hips into her. She whimpered in response, the sound going straight to your cock buried inside her. “Fuck, Ty, stop teasing me.” This time you flexed into her, your dick sliding deeper into her causing her to moan.

“You feel so good, baby.” You pulled halfway out, then thrust back into her, the two of you building a rhythm, and soon the garage was filled with moans of pleasure from you both. You nibbled on the exposed area of her neck, the spot that always drives her insane. You start pumping into (Y/N)’s pussy faster, and she shifts her leg, changing the angle you’re driving into her. Her legs start to tremble, and you gripped her hips to keep her upright, as her orgasm starts to hit her. She’s screaming out your name and with a few last thrusts, you’re following her. It takes a few minutes for you both to come down from the high you were just on; your forehead just resting on hers as you try to calm your breathing.

(Y/N) starts placing soft little kisses to your lips. “God I needed that Ty.”

“Mmm, me too baby.” Your cock starts to soften and you slide out of her slowly.

“What is it about this garage lately?” She giggles and suddenly, you feel your cock twitch back to life.

“I don’t know babe, but I guess we can say we’ve officially done it, in every room of this house.”

“Nope. We still haven’t done it in the nursery.” (Y/N) bent down to put her leggings back on, as you tucked yourself back into your boxer briefs.

“It just seems wrong to have sex in there.”

She raised an eyebrow at you. “It’s not like we’re doing it in there while the baby is sleeping or anything. The crib isn’t even in there yet.”

“So you’re saying you want to.” She shrugged her shoulder at you.

“Maybe. I mean if the mood hits and we’re in there.” You still weren’t sure how you felt about it, for some reason you considered it sacred ground. “But seeing as we’re in the garage now and this car isn’t going to unpack itself. We’ll save the nursery sex for another time. Now grab some of these bags will ya hun?”

You saluted her. “Aye, aye Captain.” Then went and grabbed half of the bags out of the SUV. She went to grab more than she should be carrying, and so you stopped her. “Babe, I’ll come back and get those.”

“I can carry some you know.” You gave her a look. “What do you think I do when you aren’t here?”

“Well, I’d hope these guys would help you.” All three dogs were surrounding you as you walked into the house from the garage. “Well, maybe not Gerry. He’d probably just make a bigger mess.” (Y/N) just rolled her eyes at you. “So these are all Christmas presents?”

“Yes. We have to buy for a lot of people.”

“Where do you want them?”

“Can you put them in the dining room? I have a wrapping station set up there.” There were a few rolls of paper, along with tape and scissors laying on the table. She had over a dozen packages wrapped in bowed in the corner. How you had missed all this, was beyond you. Heading back out to the garage you grabbed the rest of the packages before you joined (Y/N) in the kitchen, where she had a plate of cookies for you.

“And where did you find those?”

“I’ll never tell, but since you’ve been good; you can have a couple.” She pushed the plate over to you but grabbed a cookie for herself as well.

“Oh my god, these are delicious.”

“Thanks, babe.” She grabbed you both a glass of milk. “So, I was thinking.”

“Oh no, how much is this going to cost me.” She grabbed the plate of cookies back. “Hey!”

“With comments like that, you’re not getting any more of these.”

“Awe, come on babe, you know I was just kidding. So tell me what you were thinking about.” She slid the plate back to you, and you quickly snatched two this time before she could take them away again.

“Well, I thought that maybe you could call Jamie and I could call Jenna and we could all go out to dinner tonight. You know to try and hook them up.”

Your mouth was full, but you still answered her anyhow. “I think they’re already going to dinner tonight.”

Her head whipped back around to look at you. “What did you just say?”

“They’re already going out tonight. Jamie told me. I actually think he’s going to take her to the holiday skate tomorrow.”

“Why am I only hearing this now? And from you instead of Jenna? How do you know this?”

“Easy woman. They started getting close helping me plan your engagement. I think they went out a few times, basically under the premises to go over stuff for the party. But Jamie did tell me he’d called her a few times while we were away and asked her out to dinner tonight. I assume she said yes.”

“OOOO I’m so excited, but why hasn’t Jenna said anything to me?”

Grabbing one last cookie, you said. “I don’t know babe, she’s your best friend.”

“Well, I’ll just have to ask her tomorrow at the skate.”

“Mmm about that.” Grabbing the glass, you took a long swig of milk, before continuing. “I don’t think we should go.”

“What, why?”

“Well, I don’t really feel like going out there and skating by myself while you sit on the bench and all that. I cleared it with Monty, so we can just stay here.”

“Why do you think I’m going to be sitting on the bench? I have my skates all ready to go.”

She looked angry, like so angry she could spit nails at you; or worse. “Well, you can’t skate in your condition.”

“Yes, I can.”

Three words, that’s all she gave you; you waited for her to say more, but she remained silent. “Well, what if you fall.”

“I do know how to skate.” Her arms were folded across her chest and you’re pretty sure you could see steam coming off of her. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to go to the holiday skate, you were just concerned for her and the baby’s welfare.

“Babe, I skate every day and I still fall.”

“You’re also flying down the ice, chasing a piece of rubber to put into a net.” Ouch! That comment hurt. “We’re not discussing this anymore, Tyler. I’m going with or without you.”

“Babe…can you just….” She started walking into the dining room, opening up the packages she bought.

“Ty, I said we’re done talking about it.”

You tried one more time. “But…”

“No buts. I’m going and I’m going to skate. End of story.” You sighed heavily. There was no sense in trying now, not when she was in this kind of mood, maybe later, when you had her in bed; she’d be more willing to listen.

“So whatcha doing then?”

“Wrapping presents, or am I not allowed to do that either?” Ok, now you really knew you were in trouble.

“Umm…I was just going to see if I could help you.” Maybe helping would get you out of the dog house with (Y/N). Picking up a roll of wrapping paper, you twirled it around resisting the urge to use it as a megaphone.

“Have you ever wrapped a gift in your life,” she scoffed.

“Of course I have.”

“Really? Because everything you’ve ever given me has either been in a gift bag or wrapped from the store.”

“It has not.” You started wracking your brain going over gifts that you bought her in the past. The necklace you just bought her was in a gift bag. “What about the Louis shoes?”

“In the box with a store bow on them.”

“What about that purse?” Even though you asked you were pretty sure you didn’t wrap that one.

“Nope, it was the same as the shoes.”

“Oh! I got it. I totally wrapped your jersey.” You could vividly remember going to the store and buying the wrapping paper.

“Nice try, but you had Cassidy wrap that one.”

“I did?” That part you didn’t remember at all.

“Yep, she told me she did it when you weren’t in the room. She said she came in when you were wrapping it and it was a disaster, so she volunteered to help you out.”

Damn, she was right. “Ummm…well, I can still try. I mean I can’t do the pretty bow thingy that you do, but I can try and wrap a box.” At this point, you’d do anything to make her smile at you. She handed you a box that said LOL dollhouse, it was a bit long but you thought you could handle it.

“That’s for Rylynn, she’ll get a kick out of it; if I tell her you wrapped it.” She put the finishing touches on her picture-perfect gift as if she was on some wrapping competition. Taking the box, you headed down to the opposite end of the dining room table to begin your wrap job. You watched her grab the next box in her pile, roll out the paper, then place the package on it to start wrapping. It didn’t seem that hard, so you did the same. Only the paper went rolling all the way down to her end.

“Oops, sorry.” It wouldn’t quite re-roll back onto the tube, so you just cut it and then pulled it over the top of the box. There was a lot of extra paper, what the hell were you going to do with it all? (Y/N) folded the paper all neat on the edges and then brought them up to tape them. Simple enough. Or maybe not, you tried doing the same, but the wrapping wouldn’t fold right. You finally felt like you had it ready to tape, but how were you supposed to get the tape? If you let go, the paper would go flying; so you placed your elbow on the box and reached for the tape with your free hand. There we go. You pulled the tape from the dispenser and about three feet came off. Your eyes went wide and you quickly looked to see if (Y/N) was watching. Thankfully she wasn’t.

There was no way to get rid of it, so you just stuck it on the box; then moved on to the other side. It ended up working out the same way as the other; only with a little less tape. Once you were done you turned the whole thing over and surveyed your work. It was bad, like really horrible. “So babe, how big can you make a bow?”

“I don’t know? Why….” She burst out laughing, at least she wasn’t mad anymore. “Ty, that is the worst wrap job I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s not that bad.” She raised her eyebrows and just laughed some more. God how you loved that sound. “Alright, maybe it is not the best. Can you fix it?”

“It may be beyond fixing, hun.”

“How are yours so perfect?” She truly had a knack for doing this. All the presents were going to look amazing under the tree, as long as you didn’t help.

“Years of practice.” She handed you another gift. “So start practicing.”

“But babe, look at this. It’s terrible. I think I should just leave the wrapping to you.”

She scrunched her nose up. “So I guess I’ll be wrapping all our child’s gifts.”

“Well I don’t think he or she will care when they’re super little, but they may start questioning things when they get older.” Leaning down, you grabbed the empty tube of paper and stuck the one end up to your ear and the other end on (Y/N)’s belly. “What’s that? Oh, right…I’ll tell mommy. HeShe says you’re a much better wrapper than me and wants you to do all their presents.”

This garnered you another laugh. “Well, then I guess you’re just going to have to be in charge of putting all the toys together.”

“Now see that, I can do. So how about we call it a day on wrapping and just go snuggle.” You went and enveloped your arms around her. “I’ve missed you.” You were pretty sure you were out of the dog house by now, but for extra measure, you started raining soft little kisses all over her neck.

“Well, I could use a break.” With that, you headed into the living room, cuddled up on the couch and threw on a movie. Things were perfect until the following day when (Y/N) grabbed her bag and was waiting for you to go to the arena for the family skate. “Ty, are you coming or am I going alone?”

“Babe, do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Ty, nothing is going to happen. Can we please just go?”

There was no point in fighting with her, you knew when she had her mindset, she wouldn’t be changing it anytime soon. At least if you were there, you’d make sure she wouldn’t fall. “Alright, let me grab a hat.” In no time you were at the arena, (Y/N) laughing and chatting with all the other players and their significant others. “Babe, want me to help you put your skates on.”

“Sure.” At least this way, you could be sure they were on properly. You laced her up and made sure the ties were double knotted so she wouldn’t trip over them. Then reached for her hands and helped her up off the bench. You made sure to hold on to her as she made her way to the ice.

“Here, let me go on first and I’ll help you until you get your footing.” You’d done the same for her last year, though she’d been more accepting then. Thankfully she didn’t argue with you, and as soon as she stepped on the ice, you wrapped your arm securely around her waist so she wouldn’t fall. The two of you were gliding around the arena and you saw a smile break out across her face. She looked so carefree, yet your heart was racing. What if she tripped, or someone knocked into her and she went into the boards? A million things were running through your head.

“Ty, you can let go now.”

“I like holding you like this.” While it was true, you also wanted to be sure nothing happened to her and this was the easiest way.

“Oh my god!” Her voice made you stop both of you, dead in your tracks. You felt her slightly wobble, and your arm tightened around her waist immediately. She seemed unphased as she said. “Look, there’s Jamie, and Jenna’s with him. Oh wow, they look so cute together.”

“Jesus (Y/N), you just scared the hell out of me. I thought you were going to fall.”

“Would you stop worrying and just enjoy this? Look everyone is laughing and having a good time.” Looking around the arena, you saw it through her eyes; all your friends laughing and smiling, most couples holding hands, some ladies even trying their hand at hockey. Everyone looked so carefree. “Let’s just have some fun.” Relaxing your grip on your fiancé, you decided that you could ease up a bit. “I promise not to let go of your hand if that will make you feel better.”

“I guess I can live with that.” You chuckled back at her.

“Good. Now let’s go skate over to Jamie and Jenna. I’m dying to know what’s going on.”

“Now who needs to relax. They just got out on the ice, let them have some fun on their own.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes at you, but you grabbed her other hand and started skating backward with her not too fast, yet it caught her off-guard and made her focus on you instead of your best friends.

“I suppose you’re right.” You glided her around in the face-off circle, several times until she threw her head back and started to laugh. She looked so beautiful, her cheeks a ruddy shade of red, a combination of the cold ice and your little one growing inside her. As you spun around, you pulled her closer to you, so that you could wrap your arms completely around her. Her hands locked behind your neck, and you bent your head to kiss her lips.

“Get a room you two.”

You looked over and saw Jamie and Jenna skating towards you. They were holding hands, something you were sure (Y/N) would take notice of. “Hey, we were keeping it PG.” You chirped back to your best friend.

“So Jenna and I were talking about having everyone over after this. Maybe order some pizzas or something. You guys interested in coming over?”

(Y/N) made a move to break out of your embrace, but you held tight to her, still somewhat reluctant to let her skate on her own. “We’d love to.” She answered your best friends. “Besides, Jenna and I need to catch up on a few things.” Jenna started to blush but then so did Jamie; which only caused you to laugh, which earned you an elbow to the ribs from your fiancé.

“Oof, hey that hurt.”

“Anyway, what time are you thinking?” (Y/N) said overtop of your whine.

“This is over an hour, so anytime after that.” Jenna chimed in.

“Great! We’ll be there.” (Y/N) told them.

“Ok well, we’re going to go spread the word. See you around the rink.” With that Jamie tugged Jenna’s hand and skated away.

(Y/N) twirled into your arms, shrieking quietly in your ear. “Eeekkk! They are so cute! I can’t believe they are having a party together; do you know what this means?”

God, you loved her enthusiasm, but she was jumping way ahead of the game here. “Alright matchmaker, cool your jets. They just started dating.” She rolled her eyes at you as if you were being the impractical one here. Just then you spotted the Bishop’s taking the ice. Ben’s newborn son strapped to him in some backpack type contraption in front of him. “Hey babe, check them out.” You pointed over to where they were taking the ice. “That’ll be us next year. We’re going to need to get one of those backpack thingies.”

“You mean a baby carrier or sling.”

“Well, sling doesn’t seem right, we're not going to be shooting our kid out of it, but yeah one of those carriers. Because I totally want to skate around with our kid.”

“But what if you fall? Or something happens?” Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

“Alright smarty, I see your point.” You placed your hands on her belly as you skated up behind her. “Now how about the three of us go enjoy this family skate.” (Y/N) nodded in agreement and the two of you set off enjoying the rest of the party.

[tysonbaerrie]

it don't always go the way we planned it

For my hockey babes @bisexualtylerseguin, @blameitonmyjuuse, @ohstarlings and @austonandersen who never fail to make me smile and are always ready to flail over Bennguin and come up with ridiculous, dramatic theories as to why they aren’t hugging. Title is from “The Bones” by Maren Morris. 

It's the last night that Tyler's in the Bahamas that it happens. They've all gathered for dinner when Jamie and Katie walk in hand-in-hand, beaming and happy and so in love that it makes Tyler's stomach hurt. They haven't even sat down when Jessie gasps, pointing to Katie. That's when Tyler sees it, the unmistakable sparkle on Katie's left hand. 

"About time!" Jordie exclaims as Katie leans into Jamie, his face quickly growing red. 

The table explodes with congratulations and good wishes, and Tyler stays frozen in his seat. He hadn't told Tyler that he was even thinking about proposing, and what did it say about the state of their friendship that Tyler hadn't known? They were best friends, linemates, the face of the franchise and Tyler hadn't known. 

He watches as Katie flashes the ring, beautiful and classic and so very her. Jessie and Kate and the other women at the table ooh and aah over it and Jamie stands by her, looking increasingly uncomfortable at the attention but also staring at Katie as though she's the center of his universe. Tyler can't stand it, having the last bit of his hope dashed. He feels his heart cracking in his chest, and he feels both hot and cold at the same time, and it's hard to breathe in the way it feels when he takes a particularly hard hit to the boards. He pushes away from the table without a word, not even a glance to Kate, his mind scattered and frantic but sure that he had to leave that he had to be away. 

He turns his phone off and doesn't lift his head from underneath the blankets when Kate returns to their room. She's silent and the air is tense around them as she changes clothes and climbs in next to him. She's still and quiet and Tyler can feel the change when she sags down into the bed. 

"Ty?" She tries, and he knows that she knows he's awake but he can't answer her. "Ty, I like you, but when we get back to Dallas...I think we're done."

Tyler expects it to hurt, but the only image that comes to mind is Jamie, and Jamie and Katie, and the ring on her finger. Kate being the brave one and ending things between them brings only relief. 

The next morning, Kate meets the girls for one last breakfast while Tyler showers and packs, preparing to head straight from the islands to St. Louis for All-Star weekend. Before, he hated that Jamie wasn't going with him, but now he's not ashamed to admit that he's looking forward to some space from his best friend. A knock on his door pulls him from his thoughts, and he's surprised to find Jamie standing on the other side, hands in his pockets as he stares at him. 

"Hey." Tyler greets him, and he feels ashamed at the crack in his voice. 

"Hey." Jamie replies. "Can we talk?"

"Sure, yeah, come on in." Tyler steps out of the doorway to allow Jamie in, and he watches Jamie scan the room. 

"Kate's at breakfast with Jessie and a few of the other girls."

"Yeah, Katie's there too." Jamie replies as he starts pacing the room. Tyler finds himself wringing his hands, waiting for Jamie to tell him what he came here for. He just paces though, running his hand over the back of his neck and then scratching his fingers through his beard. The face he makes is one that Tyler's seen countless times, when he's struggling to find the right words in the locker room when they're down and out after the second and he needs to say the exact right thing. 

"What's up, man?" Tyler finally cracks, trying to sound casual as Jamie freezes. 

"You ran out on dinner last night."

"Yeah, sorry, I just wasn't feeling well." Tyler knows it's lame, but it's the best he's got when Jamie turns his gaze to him, his eyes wide and full of hurt. 

"You ran out as soon as Katie and I walked in."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Quit saying you're sorry. I know you don't like Katie, but..."

"I like Katie!" And the truth is, Tyler really does. He likes her, he thinks she's great, but then there's Jamie and she's the one who gets to have him and for a moment he hates her. Jamie gives him a disbelieving look. 

"Okay, but we just got fucking engaged and you just walked out. So what am I supposed to think?"

"It's not...I..." Tyler tries, feels the panic rising and his breathing quicken. "Jamie, please."

"Please, what? I just don't understand. You've always been distant with her, at first I thought...I don't know, but it's been years and now we're getting married and it's...I just wish you could be happy for me."

"I am, Chubbs, I am happy for you. If Katie's what makes you happy-"

"She is." Jamie interrupts, and Tyler sighs. 

"Then that's enough for me."

"Then why are you acting like this?" Jamie looks at him and Tyler wants to laugh, cry, grab the other man by the shoulders and shake him. "I just don't understand why you aren't happy about this." And he looks so genuinely confused and hurt that Tyler finally does let a harsh laugh escape, collapsing onto the bed with his head in his hands. 

"You know why." He finally whispers, so quiet that he's not sure Jamie hears him. "You have to know why."

"What?" Jamie finally asks, sitting next to him. "Do you...do you have feelings for Katie?"

"Oh, god." Tyler groans, wishing it were that simple. "No. Not Katie."

"But...oh."

Yeah. Tyler thinks. Oh.

"But you never said..." Jamie begins, and Tyer scoffs.

"Why would I? I knew you didn't feel the same. Why put us both through that kind of embarrassment?"

"Ty, I..."

"Please, Jamie. Don't. Don't make this any worse." Tyler jumps up, grabs his bags, and leaves the room without looking back at Jamie once. 

All-Star weekend is a disaster. Tyler's distracted, and heartbroken, and he has to put on his media face and be the happy-go-lucky Tyler Seguin that everybody knows and loves. He loses to skills competition to Patrick fucking Kane, and then they're knocked out in the actual game and just like that, his weekend is over. He's on a plane back to Dallas with absolutely no clue how he's going to deal with the fallout of his hotel room admission. 

He goes straight home, ignores the calls and texts on his phone except for one from Cassidy mocking him for losing the shooting stars competition. He replies with a series of middle finger emojis before locking his phone and collapsing onto the couch and losing himself in Netflix. 

There's no texts from Jamie. 

They have practice the next day, and Jamie is distant and quiet, only talking to him when they're on the ice and only about hockey. Tyler doesn't try to joke with him, avoids looking at him except when absolutely necessary. He's terrified of what he'll see there. Anger or disgust or - worse- pity. He hasn't seen anything on social media announcing Jamie and Katie's engagement, but he assumes they're waiting until perhaps the offseason when there's less attention on them. It doesn't make it hurt any less, because it's still real and it still feels like Tyler's losing Jamie in every way possible. 

When Jamie scores that amazing goal in OT against Tampa Bay the next night, Tyler's so lost in the euphoria of the win that he spreads his arms for Jamie without even thinking, waiting for the other man to crash into him in celebration.

It doesn't happen. 

Instead, he skates past him into Comeau, Perry, and Pavelski. Tyler stays on the periphery, watching as the team celebrates their victory as the crowd screams around them. 

Later, Jamie talks to the media and Tyler uses the extra time to shower and change and leave the arena before anyone has a chance to talk to him. His house is empty, but blessedly quiet, and he pulls a beer from the fridge and chugs half of it in one go. He'd always feared that Jamie would distance himself from him if he ever found out about Tyler's feelings, but he had never expected that it would hurt quite this much. He feels like he's lost everything in one go - his best friend, his linemate, the man he loves. He feels truly alone for the first time since he left Boston so many years ago. 

The pounding on his door is not a friendly knock. 

He briefly considers not answering, but the pounding continues with an intensity that tells him whoever it is isn't going anywhere. He checks the video on his doorbell and feels his stomach clench as Jamie comes into view. He pulls the door open and finds himself face to face with the other man. He's wearing a loose-fitting black t-shirt and well-worn jeans, his hair still slightly damp from his post-game shower despite the frigid temperature outside. 

"Jamie?"

"How long?" Jamie asks, and for the first time in years, his face is unreadable to Tyler. 

"How long what?"

"How long have you had...feelings for me?"

Tyler stares at him, shaking his head. Did Jamie really come all the way to his house to hash this out again?

"Come inside." Tyler finally replies, opening the door wider. He shuts it firmly, leaning his forehead briefly against the closed door before turning to face Jamie. 

"Why do you want to know, Jamie?"

"I just...please. I need to know." Jamie looks lost, and hurt, and it's something that Tyler never wanted to see on his face. He never wants to be the cause of any of Jamie's pain. 

"I don't know." Tyler finally admits, running his hand through his hair as he paces in front of Jamie. "I was attracted to you since we first met. It just...grew, I guess. I couldn't pinpoint an exact moment." Tyler hesitates for a moment before deciding that, if he's going to fucking himself over forever, he might as well do it right. "I feel like...at this point, I feel like I've always loved you."

Jamie turns away from him at that, casting his eyes to the ceiling, and Tyler knows that this is it. This is the moment that Jamie tries to let him down easy. Tries to be kind and gentle in breaking Tyler's heart. 

"You should've told me." Jamie finally tells him, rubbing his hands across his face. "You should've told me years ago."

"Why would I do that? It would have changed anything."

"It would have changed everything!" Jamie snaps, and just like that Tyler freezes, the anger in Jamie's voice something that he's only seen directed at other people. Never him. "Everything! I wouldn't have spent years trying to get over you, wouldn't have forced myself to move on, to try to find something who made me feel a fraction of what I feel for you!"

"I...what?" Tyler can't speak, can't think, because this...this is impossible. "You...had feelings for me?"

"Of course I did!" Jamie's pacing now, his eyes frantic and looking everywhere but at Tyler. "But I thought...I thought there was no way you felt the same. So, finally, I tried to move on. I met Katie, and I thought 'hey, maybe this could work. Maybe I'll finally get over Tyler and have a shot at being happy.' And I was! I was happy, I was going to marry Katie, and then you tell me that this whole time - this whole time - you felt the same!"

Tyler catches the past tense at was going to marry and freezes. He feels a small flicker of hope flare in his chest. If there was a chance, no matter how small...

"Jamie...are you engaged to Katie?" Tyler asks, and Jamie goes silent, stops pacing, the only sound in the house their heavy breathing. 

"Not anymore." Jamie finally admits, his shoulders sagging as the fight leaves him. 

Tyler kisses him. 

He feels Jamie freeze against him, but it only takes a moment for Jamiet to grip Tyler's waist, pulling him closer and changing the angle of their kiss. Tyler feels like he's going to explode out of his skin, the only things keeping him in one piece are the places where Jamie's touching him. It's chaste, as far as kisses go, but it makes Tyler feel more in one moment than all the lust-fueled kisses he's ever had in his life. It's everything that Tyler's ever wanted, and he honest-to-god whimpers when Jamie pulls away. He rests his forehead against Jamie's, breathing in the shared air between them. 

"I'm sorry." Tyler finally whispers, and Jamie pulls away to give him a questioning look. "I know you care about Katie. She didn't deserve to get hurt because of this."

"She gets it. I told her once, about you. I mean, she's mad as hell, but...she gets it."

"I love you." Tyler slides his hands up to cup Jamie's face. Jamie's smile is kind, gentle, and Tyler knows in his gut that this is it for him. 

"I love you, too." Jamie replies, and Tyler takes that as an invitation to kiss him again, this time with more fervor. Jamie groans when Tyler rubs against him, and it only makes Tyler more curious about the sounds he can pull out of Jamie. 

"Not that this isn't super romantic and shit." Tyler pulls away from Jamie, dropping kisses along his jaw and neck. "But will you please take me upstairs and fuck me?"

Jamie laughs, turns Tyler around, and shoves him toward the stairs. 

[lily-of-the-eyrie]

🎓🔍 Scene Commentary: Colonel Edition ②

Here comes part 2 out of 7 of the Scene Commentary thread, covering Shay’s adventures at Fort Arsenal in  [SQ3-2] A Long Walk and A Short Drop [vid over here]. 

This time we’re gonna talk about the next step in the Colonel’s process of getting to know Shay/winning him over, and also extensively pick apart the hidden plan of how he directs Shay into serving the Templars’ interests. 

This round’s highlights: 　❗️Gist’s Hanging: A Staged Interaction? 　💭 A Staged Interaction: Tinfoil Edition

🌟 Thanks again to the-colonel-who-cares for beta reading help!

Okay, let’s get going with the show:

[SQ3-2] A Long Walk and A Short Drop Shay returns to the Finnegans' residence and hears about a friend of the Colonel's getting into trouble.

　After renovating the church, Shay decides to go back to update Barry and Cassidy about his gang-busting activities, but found upon his arrival that the Colonel had beaten him to it. It's like he knows Shay's gonna come back home right away... Hm.

　By this time, we see that Shay and the Colonel are on friendly terms―Shay shows no particular sign of tension throughout their conversation here. In fact, when the Colonel quickly asked him to help out a friend of his, he readily accepts.

　The Colonel mentions that said friend, Gist, had run into trouble investigating "a nest of criminals". Said criminals are likely about to execute him for snooping around their base if someone doesn't go there and save him, which honestly sounds like quite a bomb to drop on a guy you literally just met earlier that day. 

　Still, despite how unbelievable this might sound, the Colonel wasn't randomly throwing requests at Shay to see what sticks―he likely knows that Shay is more than capable of rescuing Gist on his own, and, more importantly, he sounds like someone who would want to. After all, he did just see Shay take down a whole gang hideout by himself, and the ex-Assassin's recent actions show that he's the kind of guy who has a strong desire to protect the people victimized by the gangs (ie.-the Finnegans). Shay then proves this hypothesis correct when he declares that he won't let the outlaws have another victim.

　As for why he doesn't go there and save Gist himself, the Colonel mentions that he has "urgent business in Albany". This isn't explained in any of the subsequent scenes, so we never really know what this "urgent business" is actually supposed to be. It could be anything from military duties to a Templar meeting...or, if you want to go full-on conspiracy theory mode, it might even just be an excuse to sit this round out to see how Shay would go about saving Gist.

❗️Gist’s Hanging: A Staged Interaction?

　This scene plays out naturally enough as a something to move the plot along, with the Colonel pointing us towards the next story mission, but I've got the strong suspicion that the whole "saving Gist" incident was staged.

　The setup of the situation is particularly fishy: given that Gist's day job as a surveyor/merchant/landlord doesn't exactly entail sneaking into gang hideouts, it's likely that he's there specifically on Templar business. As a fellow Templar active in New York, the Colonel must've known about Gist's current task at Fort Arsenal, so no surprises there... But how, in a time before instant messaging, did the timing work out so well that Gist literally just got caught as Shay and Monro are having that conversation at the Finnegans', cutting it so close that the poor man was literally in the process of getting hung as Shay arrived at the scaffolds? And the weirdest part is that the Colonel seemed to know that that was exactly what was going to happen.

　On one hand, it could all be coincidence. The Colonel might just have told Shay to go check up on Gist because he's worried about the worst case scenario in his Fort Arsenal operation, and wanted Shay to help out in case Gist ran into trouble; if no trouble occured, well, that's great, but you know, just in case.

💭 A Staged Interaction: Tinfoil Edition

　On the other hand: what if the episode was staged? Considering what we know from when the Colonel confessed the truth after Fort William Henry―that he'd known all along that Shay was an Assassin―it's reasonable to assume that everything before Fort William Henry is likely a false reality of sorts, created and maintained to keep nudging Shay into "demonstrating his loyalty and resourcefulness to the Templar cause" (albeit without his knowledge)...which pretty much means it plays like a microcosm of the grand New World Order that the Templars were trying to create. 

　In this light, though, how can we frame the events of this episode? One take I can think of is that the Colonel, who had grown an interest in Shay's personality during their meeting at the Greenwich gang HQ, may have told Gist to go Fort Arsenal and deliberately get caught, creating a situation where he can (1) test the goodness of Shay's character and the extent of his skills, and (2) use Shay’s inclination towards kicking criminal ass to take out the Assassin-affiliated gang members roosting at Fort Arsenal.

　Let's go back a little further up the timeline, to when the Colonel first found Shay. From his perspective, there are only two things about the man that are certain:

1) He's an Assassin, because he has a hidden blade; 2) He has the manuscript with him

　Notice that this includes nothing about what Shay is like as a person, given that he's completely out of order until earlier that morning.

　Now (1) is pretty straightforward, but (2) is where interpretations can get fuzzy. After all, the Templars have no clue what went down at the Homestead―all they know is that this guy has a very important manuscript stolen from Wardrop, one of theirs who got assassinated the previous year, and for some reason he wound up half-drowned on New York's shores with a bullet in his back. Was he an Assassin courier caught in a fight with enemy soldiers? Was he attacked by bandits? Maybe one of the Templar affiliates chased him down and took the shot? All in all, the situation's unusual, and would’ve raised a lot of questions for the Templars who found him. If they managed to ascertain that it wasn’t one of theirs who did this, this may be the point at which the Colonel might've gotten the hunch that Shay turned his back on his former Brotherhood.

　Assuming that he had turned traitor to the Assassins though, the logical route for the Colonel at this point would be to somehow direct Shay into working against the Assassins, preferably in ways that benefit the Templars―as someone who was once an Assassin, there would be a great many things Shay presumably knows that would give him an edge as an Assassin hunter over a regular Templar (eg.-Assassin skills, details of Assassin operations, where the Brotherhood's hideouts are located, etc.), making him a very valuable asset. However, there's a clear hitch―even if it's true that Shay did betray the local Brotherhood and is now hostile to them (seeing him hack the Assassin flag off the Greenwich gang HQ's flagpole should make this extremely obvious), there's no guarantee that this means he's not equally hostile to the Templars, who were indeed his old enemies...and might still be. So clearly, the Colonel couldn't just walk up to Shay and ask him to blow up Assassin bases for the Order, and given that he might still kill Templars on sight, this makes the mere act of keeping him alive a risky venture. Given that the continued presence of an Assassin is literally an issue of life and death for the Templars, it's not surprising if the Colonel's plan of sparing Shay to see what he can do with him is met with resistance from a chunk of the Order, notably from William Johnson. Still, he managed to get that plan going, but evidently steering the potentially hostile Shay into serving the Order's goals is going to take some creativity―and a good helping of scrubbing any hint of Templar affiliation off of the Templars dealing with him.

　All this discussion of what to do with Shay presumably got wrapped up before the man even woke up, given he was bedridden for a couple of months, so naturally, the discussion revolved around how to put him to use as an "ex-Assassin pawn" and took none of his personality traits or motivations into account. Due to the events at the Greenwich HQ incident, though, the Colonel learned a few definitive things about Shay—chiefly of the "he's a lot like Finnegan Jr." strain. Considering how important Finn Jr. is played up to be for the Colonel in terms of their shared goals (Doing Good By The People™ and all that jazz), I think it's more likely than not that this encounter affected how he viewed Shay, and by extension his strategy of how to treat the ex-Assassin afterwards.

[Speaking of Finnegan Jr., I wonder how he figures into all this. It’s highly likely that the boy's death happened by Assassin hands because this is Assassin’s Creed™ and not Random 18th Century Colonial Sim™, so I'm not sure the Colonel's feelings are exactly neutral when it comes to his hooded nemeses (even if he's less explosive about the A-word than Johnson was). Whatever was in his head when he first fished Shay out of the waters and saw the hidden blade strapped onto his arm, it probably wasn’t pretty 😂 Still, if the Colonel did indeed have an axe to grind with the Brotherhood and still managed to behave so calmly around Shay, that’s some top grade emotional regulation skills.]

　So, going back to Gist―by setting him up as the victim to be "rescued" by Shay, who had to effectively take out the gang members in Fort Arsenal and therefore dislodge the Assassins from that location in order to save him, the Colonel had essentially pulled a brilliant strategic move to remove the Assassin presence in the area under the guise of protecting an "innocent civilian", all without lifting a finger himself. But Gist probably wasn't a passive actor in this scenario―if this scene really was set up as a Templar plot, then he'd have worked together with the Colonel on the script. Given that he's good enough at acting that he could even teach Jack Weeks how to "mimic people of various social status and origins", and that he was the one Templar who had to stick right beside Shay for a whole year without blowing his cover, pretending to be a civilian in distress is going to barely be a challenge for him.

　Of course, given that Gist was really hanging by a rope when Shay arrived at the scene, it's a rather risky plan; if Shay didn't manage to save him in time, there's a very real risk that Gist might wind up really choking to death on the scaffolds... Unless the Colonel accounted for that too, and had posted, say, Weeks nearby as backup, because even if we assume that Gist and the Colonel worked so well together that Gist would consent to risking his neck like that upon request, leaving your subordinate to probably die like that is just irresponsible leadership, which, knowing the Colonel’s dynamics with people working for him, just sounds unlikely.

　Whatever the truth of the event though, if the Colonel's aim was to prove that Shay is worth keeping alive to the rest of the Colonial Rite, his success at taking Fort Arsenal should be a pretty good piece of evidence in his favour.