#Freddy is maybe too trusting for his own good

[chloesimaginationthings]

Freddy never questioned Gregory's actions in FNAF..

[monsteractiasluna]

So I'm a massive fan of demon aus and stuff so i ummm made my own demon au 👉👈

I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to write a fic or not for this,, I plan on maybe writing a few chapters, see if I vibe with it, and then post it or leave it in the abyss depending on how I feel when I'm done.

You are a freelance demon hunter with an odd relationship in regards to the demons you hunt. You allow those who kill criminals or the scum of the Earth to go free but hunt and kill those who harm the innocent. You never thought that your work would follow you home, and you certainly never thought that your work would wake you up every morning with pancakes and waffles. Who taught these demons to work a stove?

Some fun facts about the characters and stuff below the read more :)

-Y/n was raised by a demon, hence why they have such an odd relationship with demons. Y/n views them more as people who can make mistakes and less like evil creatures from hell. Y/n allows demons that kill horrible people to live because their Mother was one of those demons, often targeting abusive spouses and partners.

-Sun and Moon used to be one entity but had split decades ago due to a disagreement. They hadn't seen each other since the split until they both broke into Y'n's house.

-Y/n has lost several limbs during their hunts; but since they're on good terms with multiple demons they are always patched back up and made "whole" again. Y/n's mother is constantly on the verge of tearing their face off from stress.

-Since Sun is a plasma demon his body runs extremely hot. He has to maintain constant control of his body temperature or he risks burning everything around him. He also has to control the brightness of his body as if he gets too excited he WILL blind people. Sun smells like ozone before a lightening strike.

-Moon is a demon made entirely of frigid cold water, so just like Sun he has to work to control his body temperature. His natural temperature is extremely cold but if he gets too upset the water that makes up his body could solidify turning to ice. He can freeze the water in the air around him easily. He smells like the ocean during winter.

-Y/n is one of the only demon hunters capable of locking demons into objects. If they cannot kill a demon they will imprison them into an object and keep them in a locked room inside their house. They often put Sun and Moon inside a plasma ball and a snow globe when the two start fighting. Gay demon jail.

-Y/n is capable of using their mother's demonic magic, which is how they are so proficient during hunts. Mother's magic is plant based and helps Y/n control roots, vines, and other flora in their surroundings. The bracelet they wear signifies the bond the two have and Y/n can communicate with their mother through that bond. The bracelet can only be removed if the bond is severed, either through one party dying, both parties agreeing to sever said bond, or a strong enough desire to break free of the bond in some cases.

-Bonds between a demon and a human can come in a few flavors, romantic bonds are symbolized through the demon's solidified magic turning into a ring, familial or friendly bonds are symbolized with a bracelet, and forced bonds are symbolized via a collar around the victims throat.

-Vanessa is Y/n's protegee, after Y/n helped save Vanessa from a forced bond from a demon Vanessa decided she wanted to become a demon hunter to get revenge on the demon who enslaved her. Vanessa doesn't fully believe that demons aren't just evil creatures from hell, but does trust Y/n's judgement.

-The other animatronics are also demons! Y/n is friends with most of them :) Roxanne is a demon that specifically hunts human traffickers, Chica is a demon who hunts people that dump waste into the environment illegally (and then proceeds to consume the dump to ensure the environment isn't too badly effected), Freddy and Bonnie hunt down child abusers and often work as a team to do it, and Monty hunts poachers and exotic animal traffickers.

-Moon falls for Y/n first and falls fast. The minute y/n kicked his ass the first time he was down bad. He makes himself a nuisance to Y/n because he isn't entirely sure how to process these feelings and decides to makes it everybody else's problem. Sun originally just wanted to be friends but as time went on he realized he was falling for Y/n too. While Moon fell in love with you for your ferocity during hunts, Sun falls for your kindness and understanding towards those affected by other demons. Sun absolutely adores your passion and need for justice and it literally makes him swoon.

[rammystar]

More people saw my Freddy Riley posts than I thought they would so I thought I'd throw some non-selfship stuff out there for fellow Freddy fans :D I eat sleep and breathe Inverse Mercury now and I wish they weren't so vague with essence lore sometimes cause I want to know everything about him... I have some headcanons of my own that I'll put under the cut :3 And if anyone has ideas of their own or something they disagree with I'm very curious to know!! These are very loose ideas and I think I could be easily swayed on some things

💠 I got the idea stuck in my head that he shares some loose similarities to Shang Tsung from MK1, so in my mind now I feel like Inverse Mercury had a similar upbringing. Freddy wasn't raised in a particularly wealthy part of the realm, but very early on he realized how to skillfully wield his greatest weapon– his words– to his advantage. Much like one of his deductions in the game says, he needs to "seem" hard-working, because those are the kind of people that others put their trust in. And as Shang-Tsung is described in his wiki, he is "Too lazy for hard labor and too shifty for honest work". I think Freddy, growing up, valued his own wits above all else, and thought he was too good for the life he had. He strived to be more, but at the time he had to settle with being this snake oil salesman.

💠 Because of how vague the lore is presented I can't tell if Inverse Mercury is still technically related to the law and acts as an attorney? If this is the case then I imagine he used a lot of his downtime burying his nose in books, having an insatiable thirst for knowledge because he knew his intelligence would be a great shortcut into achieving a lot of his goals. And also maybe he studied law in particular to be able to find loopholes to protect himself from getting into legal trouble LOL

💠 Now I don't really know how he came into a position of power, to the point where he had people groveling at his feet like in the trailer. In Shang Tsung's case he got his power from a 'mysterious' benefactor (who turns out to be an alternate version of himself), which I don't think is likely to happen in Freddy's case. For now I just choose to believe the nature of his job and his passion for reading brought him to the ancient books that he familiarized himself with, and used to his advantage. I also think he was probably more well off than Shang Tsung was at the very least, so he probably had easier access to these powerful texts.

💠 Finally the dynamic that Freddy has with Eli in this essence reminds me a lot of the dynamic between Shang Tsung and Syzoth (assuming I interpreted the essence lore correctly). In summary (also referenced from the wiki), Shang Tsung once asked to study Syzoth for his unique ability, and when he refused, Shang Tsung threatened his family– effectively manipulating Syzoth into working for him. Eli similarly seems to have been deceived or manipulated in some way, and we know something like this would definitely not be below Freddy Riley (as much as I love that man).

These are all the ideas I have so far 🫠 I'm so normal about Inverse Mercury I promise (this hasn't even touched on how I wish I could insert my sona into the narrative, but this was supposed to be Freddy Riley centric because I felt bad posting so much about the two when I also just want to show my appreciation for him alone. I did have a little oneshot for them that I wanted to write, but I thought maybe I'd turn it into an x reader despite the very little demand I see for stuff like that because I wonder if maybe people would prefer that instead JDNDJD who knows... )

[fishermanshook]

NOW PLAYING…

🏹— hello hello people of Tumblr! So I’ll address this first, I’m so sorry for that long ass hiatus that came with NO warning 😭 legit feel into a depressive episode along with writers block AND a crap load of tests…I’m sorry 😣!

under the ‘keep reading’ tag is almost every single fic that has been set up and at least started. I suggest looking through especially if you’re trying to request something. there are a lot of repeats here, so don’t be surprised if you see something you’ve already seen before.

—KEY.

💔 - haven’t started yet

❤️‍🩹 - has at least been started/set up

🕸️ - half way through…

🏹 - coming very soon!

🪽- it’s out!

💌 - request

📮- a fic of my own

WIPE YOUR TEARS, DOLL 💌 🪽

ASK: Hi! I'm relatively new on here and wanted to ask for a gn reader x Naib and Ganji (separately) comforting the reader after seeing them with eye bags from excessive crying and absolutely dead inside look. My apologies if it's too much, saw that the requests are open and decided to shoot my shot🙏🏻 Thank you very much either way!

GIVING INTO CLICHÉ. 📮💔

IDV characters as romance tropes.

DATE NITE! 💌🪽

ASK: hi! i couldn't find if requests are open, sorry if they're closed rn. can i request some composer, orpheus and painter x fem/gn reader fluff?

A PUPPET TO ALL IS A PUPPET TO NONE.💌 🏹

ASK: Yan! Andrew, Matthias, and Luca with a reader that's weak and a people pleaser, please? :')

CAMERA SHUTTER. 💌❤️‍🩹

ASK: alice deross x fem reader nsfw hcs? only if ur comfortable with it 👍

ONLY YOURS. 💌❤️‍🩹

ASK: Hii! Yan!Sonetto x Reader please?

DRUNK ’N STUPID & DRUNK ‘N DUMB[ER] 📮❤️‍🩹

You’re not very good with your alcohol intake, what happens when you forget who your boyfriend/girlfriend is?

“TRUST IN ME!” 💌🪽

ASK: Hi:) if you feel like it how do you think ganji norton and naib would react to reader saying they feel safe with them?

AN ARTISTS GLORY. 💌❤️‍🩹 🏹

ASK: Could I request Edgar Valden with a Gn reader that's also an artist but wants to try to get along with Edgar because of his art?

JUSTICE. 💌🕸️

ASK: From your lovely Anon, May I ask for more yandere Joseph? This time in his judge costume? I feel like that costume would be very mean and almost sadistic. And of course some more amazing smut.

CAPTIVATED BY U! 💌🕸️

ASK: Hello cupid! This is my first time ever requesting a fic TT w TT. I would love a yan!Ganji with a smaller and more innocent reader! (I would also like to antagonize the lawyer). You can scrap this but i would like the reader to be freddy's daughter! Its ok if you make this gender neutral by the way! (and maybe if you make it a smut by the way)

UNWANTED AUDIENCE. 💌🕸️

ASK: Can I request continuation of platonic journalist with a ballet dancer reader. The thing is yandere Novelist and yandere nightmare are in love with reader.

PAPER HEARTS. 📮❤️‍🩹

Boyfriend!Novelist to Fiance!Novelist to Husband!Novelist.

IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT. 💌🕸️

ASK: HI HELLO could u maybe write something 4 ithaqua..I'm starving

note: if you do not see your request or a fic I said I was going to write then it most likely has been discontinued. I’m very sorry, thank you for the request anyways 🙏

updated: 07/07/24

[theteasnake]

Ghostface: The Bitch

He is the Entity's golden and problem child and gets the most privileges than the others. Being on friendly terms with him tends to reward you with similar luxuries. The Entity also speaks to him the most, although it's mostly just him having a one sided convo with himself until the Entity replies.

Before the Game showed up, he was offered his own cabin on the outskirts of the survivor camps. It's still there and is mainly used as his stalking hq.

He's quicker than most to catch up on modern slang. Half the time he hates it and half the time he finds it amusing to confuse the other killers with it.

"I'm a murderer, not a monster!" - whenever he's accused of any crime that isn't a murder, even if it's as small as stealing.

If put in the same area as Freddy Kruger, it's on sight. He hates the burnt man with a passion.

I don't think he has a canon age, I couldn't find one, but I'd say he's around 21-22. He only visited a handful of towns and lays low between each one, and assuming he killed his father at 16-17, I think 21-22 is a good estimate.

He has conflicted feelings about his father. He both loves and loathes him.

Narcissistic? Mayhaps. ADHD? 100%.

He's got a celebrity crush on the Trapper. Nothing will come of it, but he will fanboy about Evan.

I feel like he'd enjoy Fallout Boy, especially American Psycho. Along with unhinged modern pop like Joyride.

Chaotic bisexual with no preference. Maybe a hint of demiromantic. Idk, you gotta be really interesting to prevent him from murdering you but you'll just end up with him unhealthily obsessing over you.

This man is an asexual and you can't change my mind. He's probably tried but gave up ten seconds in cause it's not as thrilling as murdering. Plus, why would he do something that's just cheap adrenaline when he can get pure adrenaline from killing?

Adrenaline junkie.

Isn't allowed to try gambling, drugs, or anything else that can turn into an addiction. He gets addicted very, very easily.

He smoked for a very short time before he was taken. He quit cause he didn't want to fuck up his lungs. He picked it back up when he was taken, cause why not? He defo thinks it's hot.

Not fond of alcohol, it clouds his judgement and he doesn't trust himself to not kill on a whim while under the influence.

Thinks the simp survivors are funny. But will cut a hand off if they try to touch him inappropriately.

Best way to seduce him as a survivor is to just be good at kiting. He loves a good challenge and if you manage to stay alive for a good period of time, he'll let you live as a reward. Plus, he loves his final girls.

People tend to think he's a dog person, they're obedient and man's best friend. He's actually a cat person, they're much like himself. Stealthy hunters. Dogs are too loud and clingy.

Has never hurt an animal outside of hunting. He has no reason to, humans are more fun to go after.

Probably enjoyed Deadpool comics before being taken. He also shares the same humor as DP. Add in a sprinkle of puns and bad dad jokes.

Has a collection of secret photos of his favorite killers.

Has attempted to kill fellow killers just for fun.

The definition of "fuck around and find out".

You know that meme of how guys won't bat an eye if they're injured but act like they're dying when they have a simple cold. That's Danny.

Very expressive and dramatic with his movements. Mainly cause you can't see his expressions behind the mask.

Would be a theater kid if he would've been allowed.

He's got trauma. This man has trauma. I doubt it would've been easy to be raised by a military dad. Plus, I doubt his mother was in the picture or very involved.

Isn't allowed to cook or make food for others. He's attempted to poison and drug people various times. Just cause.

Is very fidgety and stims a lot. Taps his fingers, chews on pens, humming and whistling, leg bouncing, etc.

Occasionally pretends to be a friendly killer just to down them all. He likes to see the betrayal in their eyes.

Views the Legion as a group of little shits. Doesn't care for them but they try to follow him around whenever he's not at the Game.

Don't leave him in the same room as the Trickster. It could end in either a bloodbath or Danny coming out confused and dressed head to toe in merchandise.

He knows he's not allowed to harm the survivors outside of the trial, but that doesn't stop him from scaring the shit out of them.

Sometimes he'll pretend he's a survivor to gain access to the survivor camp.

Doesn't like Tapp, and thanks whatever being out there that he didn't have someone like him in his world.

Very judgy.

Mori pictures of his favorite survivors are kept in his wallet.

Ya'll need to stop trying to justify his kills. You treat him like some vigilante trying to clean up the streets, when he wouldn't even touch fellow criminals with a 10 inch pole. It'd be a boring story if the resident aggressive drunk is murdered, but the well loved waitress, on the other hand, would make a great headline.

Probably dreads office and water cooler talk. Unless it's gossip. He's always down from some gossip.

Names almost every inanimate objects after his favorite subjects/victims. He's got bad emotional attachment to the objects. Like really bad.

Touch starved. Probably has never been hugged.

Does not do well with heat. Every time he ends up in warmer states or working in the summer, he's like "why did I do this to myself?"

Self hatred? Nah. Can't hate yourself if you don't know who you are.

Anger issues to the max.

Once accidentally broke Philly in a fit of rage and almost drove himself off a bridge. He fixed the camera, don't worry.

If he does choose to be friendly (to spice things up) and the survivors still run from him or keep stunning/blinding him, he'll tunnel them. He does not have patience.

Stabbing is his love language. He's currently being taught that that's not healthy. It's a work in progress.

Gift giving is his other love language. Though, it's mainly dead bodies and mori photos. Like a cat leaving dead mice for their owner.

Gets disappointed when other survivors don't join in on the photo. They're labeled boring and get tunneled.

He's got so many scars from his subjects fighting back. They're like trophies to him.

Isn't allowed to have caffeine, especially in the Entity's realm. Last time he had it in his world, he almost murdered a whole family in one go. When he had it in the Entity's realm, he had so many trials lined up but the high didn't wear off afterwards and he attempted to break into other killers' trials.

The type of pet name he gives you is determined by how he feels about you, regardless of gender. Princess is mainly applied to whiny and bitchy people. Babygirl is used sarcastically or affectionately depending on the scenario. Dollface or doll is saved for those that has peaked his interest or people he deeply cares about. Then you have your usual; cunt, bitch, mother fucker, asshole, dipshit. Sweetheart and toots are reserved for Amanda.

He swears like a sailor.

Is a natural night owl. Make him wake up before 11 am and he'll stab a bitch.

He used a voice modifier in his world, but he has no use for it in the fog. He still has it. It's named Roger.

He makes so many references to so many horror movies. It doesn't matter if whoever he's talking to has seen it or not.

Saw someone headcanon him to be autistic. Yeahhh. That's all I gotta say. Yeahhh.

Very common for him to not eat for days. Only because he forgets to eat. Same thing happens with using the bathroom. He just forgets.

Probably had fangirls in his world. He planned to kill one just to see what would happen. Never again. Just. Never again. The horrors he found in their bedroom could never be removed from his brain.

Depression? Can't be depressed if you're high on adrenaline 24/7.

Is a college drop out. He only started it as one of his identities. It was... boring.

Frat parties or parties in general is the bane of his existence. It's hard to stalk someone if they keep blending in with the crowd. But it's a good place to off someone, if he can keep his eyes on them.

Don't let him have access to anything that can start a fire. The Entity learned that the hard way.

[moonlit-dreamers]

*falls through the ceiling*

hey fuckers. im gonna talk about an au i havent talked about on tumblr yet bc iivvee been very focused on stl au lol (and i also just dont post often 💀) BUT! IM HERE!!

i came up with this au a while ago and i did kinda briefly mention it a while ago but that. doesnt fucking matter.

this is an au for the sun vanished! its a story on twitter that i became absolutely OBSESSED with (and still kinda am even after all this time). listened through the whole story from a ytuber nate at night. hes pretty good and i recommend you check him out

but a basic sum-up for ppl who may not know what the sun vanished is: one day the sun randomly vanished and never came back. it starts off with tsv (we dont know his real name) trying to reunite with danyon, his friend. we then also meet tucker and nat who are also trying to meet up. a lot of shit happens that i. honestly cant remember the proper order of. "dark water" is some kinda.. weird water that fucks with your body and mind. theres also "we the people" who is an organization that tries to "work with" the "invaders" by using dark water to make themselves invisible. later on tsv, tucker and nat join a group that is very much against wtp. that... should be all thats needed to know to partially understand this au >.>

so here we go! first up, nobody in this animatronics. with a lot of the events (especially with what happens to tsv) it wouldnt work the same if they were animatronics. so theyre mutants! bc i refuse to ever make them humans!

for who is who: sun is tsv with moon being danyon. while i will say that tsv and sun do differ a lot in personalities it just.. makes more sense with the situation. especially with sun being so desperate to meet up with moon despite all the red flags.

im constantly debating if tucker would be eclipse or solar. his behaviors is like a weird mixture of the two. more aggressive than solar but nicer than eclipse. but either way hes best friends with lunar (who is nat). he is.. very overprotective and lunar is frequently frustrated with his behaviors. while, yes, lunar is a kid (14 at the beginning), he still hates being treated like he cant do anything by himself. eclipse also despises moon and never trusted him in the first place. think he tried to kill him at one point tho i. cant remember >.> (its like 1am im half asleep cut me some slack)

jack would be theseus (previously known as half-crop). jack is a kid they (the other group) brought in and kept in captivity since they were unsure if he was infected or not. with the help of lunar being a persistent lil shit they managed to get proof that he was fully conscious (since he never talked). jack only has one functioning eye, the other eye seems to be... messed up in some way. but it isnt pretty. he mainly covers it with his hat (for his own comfort). hes semiverbal and selectively mute, only talking around lunar and maybe eclipse if hes lucky.

im thinking that wtp could be the creator council? or at least ran by a creator. maybe they somehow caused the sun to vanish and let the "invaders" in freely or maybe they want to study it and thats why theyre nonhostile (towards the invaders, that is. not to other ppl lol). that would also make it suck more since moon was converted/manipulated into joining them ;-; meanwhile the other group could be others from the plex, like roxy, chica, monty, freddy, etc. theyd be really minor characters (theres actually not many names mentioned anyway lol) so i havent thought about it much *shrug*

but i have. SO many thoughts about this au man. theres so many scenarios i imagine with them. like eclipse first finding lunar in his basement staring at the dead bodies of his parents (that he had to kill himself). sun drinking too much dark water and hallucinating that moon was with him and begging him to come back and that hes sorry. lunar finding a video sun took of him and eclipse dancing together. sun sending his last message to moon about how he hates him and that neither of them turned out to be the ppl they promised they would be then ending it by saying he loves moon and hopes he never sees the message.

idk man. kinda unwell over this

[ghxstlly]

Semicolon

586 words, Attorney AU

TW: Non-violent suicide attempt

Occurs roughly 1 month after Ego Death

—

Ira,

I don’t know if you’ll ever see this. I know you said you wanted me out of your life, so when/if this reaches you and you don’t want to read it, that’s okay.

I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen after tonight— it’s not something I can plan for, but I think I can safely say that you won’t be hearing from me again. I think that makes this a pretty good time to clear the air.

Meeting you was the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me. 

We were a disaster waiting to happen. I should have known better. I should have listened to my instincts. I don’t know why I didn’t— that wasn’t like me at all. I guess I wanted you bad enough to try and be something I’m not.

I just had no idea it could hurt so bad. It isn’t at all like people say, or how it looks in movies or books. It isn’t beautiful, or sweet. It is raw and ugly and awful, like being eaten from the inside.

Is that how it’s supposed to feel? Or did I do it all wrong? Maybe I was never meant to feel this way about someone. Maybe I'm not strong enough for it. I guess I’ll never know.

But despite all that, something I realized in the time since we last spoke is that I would gladly do it all over again if I could, even knowing how it ends.

I don’t regret knowing you. Not even a little.

You have the most integrity of anyone I've ever met. You’re fierce. You’re brave. You’re everything I’m not.

You deserve to be happy. You deserve someone strong like you, someone you can trust. Someone who won’t let you down. I wish it could have been me.

And even though I know I was stupid for feeling the way I did about you, I think I’d be more stupid not to. I love you, and I miss you, and I hope that someday you might miss me too, even if just a little bit.

I’m aware that sounds kind of pathetic, but I suppose there isn’t any point in being anything other than honest right now.

That’s all. Thank you for being a part of my life.

I’m sorry I had to complicate things.

—Freddie

—

In his trembling hands, a small mound of white pills sat like pearls. He looked at them for a long time, counting them, thinking about nothing.

He brought them to his mouth, paused, wavered, and drew away. 

It’s not going to hurt. There’s nothing to be scared of.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted his eyes.

In front of him, a blanket of sticky notes hid his reflection, crowding the mirror, the bathroom wall, the medicine cabinet, their messages scribbled in shaky blue pen, desperate, fearful.

You'll get through this.

Everything will be okay.

One step at a time.

Though they begged and pleaded, they could not reach him where he was, now, suspended in a moment of eerie calmness, of detachment, and soon the pills were back against his lips, but they would not pass. 

He gagged. He choked. His mouth refused them, again and again and again.

No matter how many times he tried, he could not swallow them. A terrible, frustrated sob tore from his throat, his vision blurring with tears.

He felt his lips moving, saying, I can’t, I can’t, but he couldn’t even hear his own voice.

[deduction-substitute]

Friendship /familial hcs for Lucky? Enemies too maybe kekw

SURVIVORS

Due to being closer in age and being the youngest of the group of veterans, Emma and Lucky get into loads of shenanigans that make the other three stressed as hell (Two, maybe. Kreacher is also a little shit, so...)

LUCKY AND FREDDY R CLOSE...DON'T PISS ME OFF!!! Freddy's sense of humor is being sarcastic, exaggerated, and smug as hell. It's not a huge hit with the other survivors, but Lucky LOVES Freddy's jokes. It reminds him of his own friends joking around with each other in his time

Lucky is Emily's assistant...I swear....when more survivors started to appear, Lucky asked Emily to teach him the basics of medical aid so that they could split the workload: Emily tending to the patients with more serious wounds while Lucky dealt with the more minor ones

Kreacher and Lucky have made it a game that by the end of the week, the former has to successfully steal the latter's glasses. Lucky wins most of the time because he always wears it (duh), and because Lucky somehow knows every single time Kreacher's about to make an attempt

Since Lucky never met them in their game, he was able to help them mend their relationship (No bias!!) when it was just them 5 in the manor. They still fight, and there's definitely a LOT of things they need to work on, but they care for each other very much and they make me sick I hope they die

CHARLES AND LUCKY...I already made a post b4 but Lucky's dream of reaching the stars being understood by Charles. Lucky trying to get Charles to give him a try at his jetpack while Charles looks like he's going through a war flashback

Him and Helena are besties ☹️ Freddy is the lowkey cunty uncle who's forced to watch over them because they decided that Freddy's office was the best place to relax and hang out

Sometimes he works out with William and Ganji. Theyre more than happy to help Lucky exercise, but theyve had to cut a lot of sessions short because of Lucky's asthma (he's just like me fr!!)

Qi, Naib, Ganji and William compete on who can rescueLucky the most (None of them are #1 by a long shot. The veterans hold that title)

He's completely soft for Memory. Loves styling her hair and reads her stories from his time

I like to think...that Lucky makes letters to greet the newcomers...he's the second person to have given Victor his own letter

SURVIVORS

Even though Joker is only Smiley Face's survivor identity, Lucky still isnt comfortable around him. They'll work it out soon, but not now

Due to being an enigma, there are many rumors and gossip about who- or even what- Lucky is. Andrew isn't fond of gossip, actively avoiding it and the subject himself

More crack, but Servais doesnt like how he dresses up. If you gave Lucky his old closet back Servais would faint/lh

Orpheus doesn't trust Lucky because he doesn't remember inviting him to the manor. It makes him go crazy trying to think of an explanation. He likes being in control because it gives him a sense of security. Lucky is a complete outsider that he can't figure out

Also crack, Florian getting upset with Lucky during matches because he ends up stealing most of Florian's rescues due to his lucky nature. Outside matches however, he treats Lucky like normal

Edgar doesnt like the fact that Lucky's "luck" is good enough to be considered a skill in the first place. Youre telling him he just prays in front of a crate to get an item he wants? What a stupid "talent." (He's going to fall in love with him and the realization will feel like a ten ton truck coming at him with maximum velocity and speed, hitting him and making him crash into a brick wall RAHHHHH EDLUCKY)

I probably have a LOT more, but the brain isnt braining. Also, the post is getting too long for me lol. Ill make one with the hunters tomorrow! If I. Remember. I probably won't 😭 Someone's gotta remind me

[funnyp3rson]

Shooting Stars-Part 2

Maybe:

She couldn't sleep that night. Her face pressed up onto her pillow in an attempt to greet sleep, she was exhausted but couldn't shut her eyes. So she cried. Cried until her eyes were red raw. Eventually, these tears dried as she drifted off.

The computer lights threatened to consume the girl, who was vigorously tapping away at her keyboard. She groaned in frustration. She was too late. She saw everything, yet, failed to see the misery engraved into their faces. The other boys would be heartbroken. Just the same as she was.

He was gone.

Thomas ran towards the girl he cared about deeply. Caressing her face to try and slow the tears. "It's okay." He recited the phrase like a prayer. He was worried about her, his muscles tensed before relaxing when she shoved her head into the crook of his neck. This made him feel more guilty for what he was going to do. He saw what they were doing to those kids, and to their families. The pain, the torture.

The forgetfulness.

The way she trusted him to keep her safe crumbled the boy. The safety was false, though his heart said otherwise. He predicted the jump, in fact, he saw it. But he also saw the broken look on her face as she moved the beetle blade closer to 'the glue'. The five stages of grief flickered through her eyes in seconds, until she settled on sadness and heartbreak.

Her head flew up from her pillow as she panted. The betrayal of the boy in her dream felt so real. What made her confused was that she could recognise the boy. The shaggy dark hair, to the bridge of his nose, to his plump lips. His eyes as they met hers, just felt so real.

Maybe it was.

She shook her head. No, they're just maybes. She would've remembered anyway, wouldn't she? Sighing, she pulled her attention away from her thoughts and to her ceiling. The wood weaved into one another, tied with cleat hitches. The smell of wet cloth and blood flooded to her nose. She looked out of the window to see the sun had risen just above the walls.

It was gorgeous. The way the sunlight flowed against the grass, the way the walls seem so innocent in the midst of the turmoil of emotions she was feeling.

She decided to get up, knowing if she didn't someone would come looking for her. It was nearly ten o'clock in the morning and Alby said to meet him at homestead at eleven. 

So she got ready before setting off to find Freddie who she, admittedly, didn't want to see.

He was lent up against a tree, wiping the sweat of his brow as he lugged a pot of fertiliser around the glade. He looked to his right to see Newt, whom he hadn't seen since before the new greenie arrived.

"Hey Newt." He greeted with a warm smile.

"Hey Freddie." The blonde boy answered, returning a smile of his own. "I heard about the greenie." The brunette boy just nodded. "Yeah, she's a she."

The blonde smiled, but he quickly returned to his thoughts. Why was there a girl glader now? Why did they send her? Was she important? What was with his dream last night? Who was the boy and girl? 

These thoughts swirled inside his head, curiosity getting the better of him, until he had to shake them off as Alby called his name.

"Okay then, uh, I'll be off. Bye Freddie."

"Bye."

The blonde limped away, something Freddie had questioned and had got the sad answer too. To pass time, he wandered around the glade where he found the greenie, resting against a tree. He could see her exhausted frame which made him wonder what she was up too.

"You good?" He asked, while moving to sit next to her.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I've spent at least fifteen minutes looking for Alby."

"Why?"

She stared at him, already annoyed.

" I don't know where to meet Alby."

He nodded in realisation. 

"C'mon I'll show you." He sighed, reluctantly holding his hand out for her to take.

She pulled herself up and dusted her pants off, before following him towards a large, crooked tower made of wood and rope.

The wind in her hair calmed her down. She was excited to finally get her questions answered but was still scared of the knowledge the others may hold. For example, what if they'd figured out that there was nothing outside the walls? Or that the maze was endless? There was no exit? No hope?

She told herself to calm down before she started hyperventilating. So, she caught up to Freddie.

"Just know I don't usually give tours to Greenie's." He said,

The blonde boy, Newt, walked towards them with a basket full of, what looks like, blankets.

"Alby said to give it to you." His thick British accent laced his words. "Thought it'll be best to make it more homely in the med hut. It just smells like blood and bleach in there." He chuckled.

"Anyways, here you go." He said passing her the basket.

"Thanks-?" She looked at him expectantly.

"It's Newt."

"Ah. Well it's nice to meet you. Newt." She smiled warmly at him.

"Nice to meet you too." He looked at her before remembering his jobs. "But I've really got to get going. Those tomatoes aren't going to de-weed themselves."

He waved at the two before heading off.

"He seems nice."

"Obviously, it's Newt." Chuck scoffed from behind her.

She glared at the boy, not noticing that he was behind her.

"Right lets take these to the med hut then? Hmm?" He replied awkwardly, avoiding her gaze.

She laughed before leaving with Chuck while Freddie walked over to the other gladers.

Alby watched from a distance at the greenie's interactions.

"She seems nice." The blonde spoke up.

The older boy's eyes narrowed. "Still don't trust her."

"Alby, you don't trust most people."

"Just think about it Newt. Everything was fine. We started finding letters in the maze. Then, all of a sudden, a girl, a shucking girl, comes up from the box. That's got to mean something."

"We'll monitor her behaviour. Hell! We'll put her in the slammer if we have to. But, we can't make assumptions."

"Fine." The boy sighed in defeat, before walking off.

The blonde's mind flew at the different possibilities of the appearance of the girl. Maybe she's going to help. Maybe she's there to ruin it.

But again, they're all maybes.

[five-nights-at-fujisakis]

FAQ Time

(This is all OOC, obviously)

What's the premise of this blog? The idea is simple: Danganronpa's Chihiro Fujisaki (aka the Ultimate Programmer, aka Precious Hacker Child Who Has Never Done Anything Wrong) has moved to the United States and by a stroke of bad luck has ended up as the night guard for the newest Fazbear storefront, "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and Playplace", located in Magna, Utah. What starts as the typical FNAF formula soon starts to escalate as more and more animatronics arrive to make Chihiro's job even more of a living hell.

When does this take place, in reference to canon? Chronologically, this story takes place as it is being posted, in real time (which as of this post is late 2024). This fits neatly with the original FNAF series canon timeline, to an extent. FNAF 1-4 and Sister Location all happened as they did in canon. FNAF 6, however, has NOT happened. It's theorized that FNAF 6 took place in late 2023/early 2024 in canon, so the events of this blog can essentially be viewed as taking that game's place in terms of its role in the overarching FNAF plot. Post-Pizzeria Simulator stuff like Security Breach is currently up in the air, I include elements from it and the movie as I so desire. As for the Danganronpa side of things, this Chihiro is currently 24 years old. He and most of the rest of Class 78 graduated from Hope's Peak Academy 5-6 years ago (I haven't yet figured out the exact math). There was no Tragedy, and none of the mainline series games occurred like they did in canon, but the characters all still exist and SOMETHING happened the year of Class 78's graduation that caused the school to close down permanently, with massive negative repercussions for the Main Course Students, including Chihiro. V3 characters are in the same boat as post-FNAF 6 stuff, I include it however I want.

Is this an askblog? How does the roleplaying in this blog work? I have no idea if this counts as an askblog, since the focus is on Chihiro's overarching story as he copes with his circumstances. But by all means keep asking Chihiro questions, they help me flesh out the story and worldbuilding more! Plus they're a great motivator! Bring on all the questions! The vast majority of asks will be responded to in-character as Chihiro. This includes stuff from other roleplay blogs, even if directly contradicts the stuff in this particular story. Chihiro does not necessarily believe anyone when they say they're from a different universe or whatever the framing device is, but he's too polite to not go along with it, if that makes sense. The guy is too nice for his own good, and chalks up most of the weirdness to "tumblr being tumblr" and doesn't ask questions (So he's not really breaking the fourth wall). And if your asks are roleplaying in ways that go along with this blog's canon, then I'll happily try to integrate them into the story as best as I can. (The tags are usually OOC though) While I'm going to TRY to have everything answered in-character, there are exceptions. If an ask tries to break the fourth wall and talk about the Danganronpa or FNAF video game serieses (or this blog's own fictional nature) they'll most likely go unanswered or be answered OOC. And if you're going to ask for donations or petition signatures or advertising, this ain't the place. Such asks will be deleted on sight. This is a roleplay blog only. Oh, and if you're being deliberately offensive or discriminatory in any way, it should go without saying that such behavior is NOT WELCOME HERE and will lead to being blocked IMMEDIATELY.

What other characters aside from Chihiro will appear? Due to the way the backstory has been set up, most of the other DR characters are largely restricted to Chihiro's text messages with them and comments in past-tense. Yes I'm aware that their texts should probably be in Japanese, but I don't trust Google Translate so like. Maybe they're all just trying to be supportive of Chihiro or something? The FNAF side obviously is getting considerably more representation. Vanessa is already present as Chihiro's boss, and most of the animatronics aside from the three ones original to this specific storefront are the same as from canon (Cody, Harper, and Dessa were created to spice things up a bit, but they're essentially just palette swaps of Foxy, Bonnie, and Chica respectively). Quite a few familiar faces are gonna be showing up as Chihiro's life gradually becomes less FNAF 6 and more Ultimate Custom Night. As for whether our favorite scooped Night Guard will also make an appearance... wait and see! Other major characters include OCs Kellen and Marta, the two Day Shift Security Guards for the place, who were created largely so that Chihiro could have a couple of coworkers to interact with, without having to come up with some more bizarrely improbable cameos. They're named after Glamrock Freddy's and Gregory's VAs respectively from Security Breach.

What's this blog's take on Chihiro's gender? I'm aware of how controversial this subject is, and am trying to not have it affect this blog too much. But considering how much of Chihiro's character revolves around his gender identity in official DR material it's kind of unavoidable, so let's just get this out of the way: this blog's version of Chihiro is a cis male and uses he/him pronouns. If you have different headcanons about the character and their gender identity then that's completely fine and valid (especially considering how messy the writing in the original games is when it comes to this subject) but this was the interpretation I felt best aligned with canon Chihiro as written. That being said, if you want to refer to Chihiro with other pronouns in your asks or comments then that's totally fine, the most you'll get from this blog is a polite in-character correction, if even that. As far as Chihiro's concerned, dealing with murderous animatronics is a much greater concern than being misgendered on the internet. Ultimately this blog's purpose is to have fun, not make a statement. (Incidentally, while we're on the subject, this blog's version of Mangle uses ALL the pronouns. Mangle stole all the pronouns and left none for Chihiro. How dare.)

Shouldn't Chihiro have logically died by now? Night Guards in FNAF usually don't last this long. Yeah, probably, but if that were to happen the story would just end sooooo that's probably not gonna happen. Either some of Makoto's Plot Armor Luck rubbed off on him, or Chihiro looks just enough like a minor that the animatronics are going slightly easier on him. IDK really. Just repeat the MST3K Mantra to yourself if you have to.

What's with the "all lowercase letters" thing going on in most of the posts? Mostly it's just a way to add flavor? It kind of felt right for Chihiro. Not only does it sort of reflect his timid nature, but it also makes a small amount of sense to me that a native Japanese speaker could type English this way. Japanese doesn't have uppercase and lowercase, so I feel like there's a logic to Chihiro sticking to only lowercase. (Obviously this doesn't mean native Japanese speakers can't use normal English capitalization. This Chihiro is obviously perfectly fluent in English and you'll see him using proper capitalization from time to time, especially when he's texting his boss and trying to seem professional. Again, this is mostly just a way to add some characterization to the medium of the blog.)

Any Trigger/Content Warnings? It's FNAF and Danganronpa, so if you're familiar with those then you know what to expect. Though since the story is contingent on Chihiro's survival, ironically all the blood and guts and murder is probably going to be a lot less prevalent than in the actual stories. Still got plenty of potential nightmare fuel, though! Additionally there could be a chance of religious themes since (like the Silver Eyes novels and FNAF 6) this story takes place in Utah and Latter-Day Saints infest that state like moles infest my parents' backyard lawn. Since part of this blog is Chihiro comparing and contrasting his former and current places of residence they're bound to come up once in a while. But that shouldn't be very often, especially since this Chihiro doesn't really care that much about religion.

How often does this blog update? Whenever. I'm trying to keep the posts coming pretty regularly to continue the idea that Chihiro is running this blog in real time, but I have a life, sooooooo...

Who made this blog's profile pic? The pfp is "Disappointed Chi" by @mishja, (admittedly slightly cropped so it could be properly centered) and it was NOT created or commissioned specifically for this blog. I just liked it, thought it fit the vibes of this blog's story, and asked the artist what their policy on using their art for pfp's. They said it was fine as long as they were credited in the description, which I have done so both in the blog description and here in this FAQ. All credit goes to them, and if they ever tell me to stop using it I will do so, no questions asked. Artists have a right to credit and authority over what is done with their art. Speaking of, you should go check out their art! It's pretty good! Go check it out now! (And mishja if you're reading this I'm really sorry for whatever notification you got due to me trying to tag you)

Who's running this circus of a roleplay blog, anyway? Me! Hi, I'm @maspers! I had a crazy idea and decided to bring it into reality. Do I have any idea what I'm doing? No :D If you have questions or concerns about this blog (or you want to add to the roleplay fun, like some askers already have), feel free to reach out to me either here or on my main blog. DMs are always OOC, and any of my other comments will usually be clearly indicated as OOC with parentheses or something else similar.

Thanks so much for giving this blog the time of day! It's a small project and I'm not expecting much to come of it, but I'm having fun and that's what's really important. Hope you all enjoy!

[virginmiri99]

Insider anon calling in, here with the show and trusting Tommycrit & Co with it

To start off very general I had a great time, it was very genuinely entertaining and there wasn't a moment where attention or energy was lost. On the technical side it was well paced with a followable structure and characters you did get invested in as silly they were. The audience energy was good and well commanded, and though there were some issues with people staff did get involved. I feel like the way I'm going to describe it won't do it justice obviously because live shows are live for a reason and my memory is awful, but here's the skeleton of it all

(There were two acts, the first act ends after the explanation of the events during the doxxing and the second act starts off with them dealing with it. I'll split the asks to keep the doxxing story in one piece.)

The First act! (- doxxing story)

Slimecicle introduced the show over a video montage, with the joke that he was being held at gunpoint to praise Tommy in absurd ways, it was a great build up to Tommy's show 'character', which entered on stage soon after (surprisingly he was the only one who seemed different in person, or at least seemed smaller than I thought). His character in this is the grandeous, egotistical money-focused persona he tends to draw on hyped to the max (an insane amount of stage presence and full use of his body and exaggerated expressions, I feel like no matter where you sat nothing was lost in translation). The entire show is initially presented as a step-guide on how to be rich and successful and sexy like him - aka. you have to be him, and the steps are consequently a life story (the actual meta reason and purpose of the show does get stated out loud later on). There's alot of crude humour throughout the show and I'd say most of it landed for me personally. There was never a joke in general didn't receive a good response which is great for such a heavily packed live show where there's usually one or two that miss the mark, but seeing certain parents faces in response to the joke poking at Christians was funny in its own right.

As you can imagine, the life story starts off in the, that's right, the womb, where he was planning his potential and success, only for Jack, playing his dad, to come in and tell an unsurprising, embarrassing birth story. Jack's 'dad' character is also the same old man persona he uses alot, the one haunted by war crimes in 'Nam and ever disappointed in his son, so, nothing like Iain at all (maybe the comment about Tubbo being Tommy's boyfriend came from a real place). The running bit in the show being his refusal to hug Tommy (Tommy's actual dad being on the sidelines of the stage the entire time and having helped write the script added to the experience in retrospect). The dad character sort of plays the 'realist' and the downbeat character, with alot of dry humour and directly addressing the audience while also being just as exaggerated as Tom's - got most of the parents laughs.

Then we get the wonderful introduction of Binda, as played by Freddie Badlinu, who is the character of a literal stuffed dog Iain bought when Tommy was a baby and back when they were genuinely pretty poor (also alot of humour about wealth and class which landed great with a British audience, it'd be interesting to see with an American one). Binda as a character is very childlike, and is bullied by the other characters for it, often being sent off stage (much to the audience's sympathy and 'aww's). Pretty much a metaphor for childhood and innocence in the show, being the angel on Tom's shoulder and a great contrast to the two other characters. There was an introduction song (Freddie does have a brilliant singing voice!) and a dance sequence as is theatre requirement (it stretched a few beats too long but nothing too painful).

This continues with a few more stories (these stories are presented as 'oh woe look at these hardships it took to get where I am!' before cutting to an entirely minimal and embarrassing childhood story), how he had to be his own bully because he was a lonely child (Jack, also playing Tommy's mum throughout this with a simply longer wig), how he fought off a monster aka. Betty (A massive two-person puppet of a hound was used before the actual photo of Tommy and Betty as a puppy was shown, it was a genuinely an amazing puppet prop) etc. I'm not doing this part much justice in description because there was a fair amount and it played 'build-up'.

From this it leads onto the introduction of minecraft in his life, and the story of the hammock collar-bone breaking incident, as preformed by puppets in a prerecorded video! (Tommy suits puppetry concerningly well.) He goes on to explain the switch from Twitch streaming to YouTube after being inspired by YouTubers such as Captain Sparkles and DanTDM (big applause, though Technoblade got the biggest) and then the downfall after being told he had to study for GCSEs (there's alot of humour of Tommy being rude to his parents and it going poorly, being either physically threatened or threatened in the 'British mum' way, which the mum I was sat next to found very funny in particular).

And then we get Covid! This part landed very well humour beat wise and the photo shown of the moment Tom and Sarah found out GCSE's were cancelled was borderline renaissance (elation vs. horror-shock.)

YouTube goes great (as we know), dsmp mention (not as big a portion of the show as one might expect, barely mentioned after this) and the shows leads onto the first time Tommy goes to Brighton, again in a prerecorded puppet video and song! Puppets of Tom, Iain (?), Wilbur, Niki, Fundy, Philza, and Kristin were the main ones used, and all of them bar from Fundy and Iain sung a part in the song! Tommy's singing voice sounds incredibly young I will say, not as in unpracticed or unskilled at all, just generally young like some of his older singing clips - for some reason I thought it'd changed more.

There's also a part talking about lawyers and the wacky things such as having to copyright his own face, which lead to another song as by Freddie Badlinu in a Better Call Saul inspired outfit (my favourite of the songs Freddie sang, very familiar to another production but I can't put a finger on which one).

Up until this point the story arc of the show has been on a solid positive incline which no really conflict, and the tone has only been humourous if not absurd. At this point Tommy alludes to things going to shit and to the point of wanting to quit, and the title card behind Tommy begins to decay in a block by block fashion. This is the start of Tommy's character dropping the act and instead acting desperate and upset, as he begs vaguely for what is happening to stop (leading onto the doxxing part of the show...)

[PART 1]

Maybe I'm just on my period but this first part to the show is legit making me tear up rn this sounds so well put together and a great experience I'm genuinely impressed just reading your TLDR of it. It sounds like it blends together seamlessly and I'm just honestly proud with what they managed to create. Awesome.

[angelofrainfrogs]

Break My Mind: Ch. 4

~Coauthored by @zeitghest~

Fandom(s): Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Description: Gregory must be dreaming this time. No sooner had he come to accept this strange reality where everyone is alive and well, than he’s sent back through time and space to the weekend he got trapped in the Pizzaplex. He’s supposed to help his family get on track for a better future, yet… didn’t he already succeed in his own timeline? Confused but relieved, Gregory drops back into his new life in the mega mall. In fact, who should be waiting for him but Michael, clad in a security uniform and searching for his missing family! Only—the night guard seems a bit more withered than when Gregory last saw him. Not to mention that cold look in his silver eyes…

Rating: T

Read on Ao3

William had let a toolbox drop loudly on the table as he heard Henry’s stark explanation. If Michael hadn't made the eye roll-inducing, incredibly stupid mistake of shoving his Remnant father inside what was essentially steel armor, he might've protested the choice of killing his son. Still, the same boy he used to feed and tell stories to—the boy that people had compared him to for years was a monster. One he should have rid their lives of long ago.

Charlie might not care much for William. Not since his drunken incident... But she was still a bleeding heart. Running a hand through her short and choppy hair, she quietly asked: “You alright, Will…?”

“—Fine. I'm fine,” he insisted, stepping away from the workbench to quickly avoid the discussion. “Let's not speak of it. Gregory, come here, my boy. We should wrap your wrist before the bone sets strangely. Henry? Be a lamb and help me unroll this gauze. My fingers are too round...” Will spoke with a smile in his voice as he tried to focus on the silliness of the situation, pushing the deep-set anxiety and fear of his son far down in his blackened heart.  

Will was good with kids. There was a reason Henry had decided to open a children’s entertainment venture with him, after all. He just… wasn’t the best with them all the time. Especially his own.

“I’ve got you,” Henry told him, coming over to assist trying not to dwell on how he’d repeated that statement at nauseam over the years.

“Henry, will you take a second look at these blueprints for me?”

I’ve got you.

“Hen, we need to order more supplies; our stock’s run low.”

I’ve got you.

“Old sport, do you think you could watch my little ones for a bit? I have to get these designs finalized by tomorrow…”

I’ve got you.

“Henry… I-I’m so sorry, I… there’s been an accident…”

I—

I can’t stand you anymore.

That was when it had all ended, their relationship torn apart and never fully repairable. But now, sometimes, flashes of the old William came through… and it was those moments Henry clung to that let him know the good friend he remembered hadn’t always been a figment of his imagination.

“Here, Greg—” With the gauze sufficiently unrolled, Henry glanced to the boy watching him with that intense, silver stare. “—Will’s going to hold your wrist while I wrap it. This’ll hurt, but try not to yell, okay? Bite your shirt or something if you need to scream. We don’t want to attract attention.”

As Charlie, independent as she was, worked on her arm alone, she watched her dad and uncle interact with Gregory. William carefully kneeled as the child trusted the flat of his palm to his fuzzy grasp. The Puppet intervened to help Charlotte, diverting her attention. Her leg springs certainly needed tuning, but for now, Puppet got to work on setting Charlie’s arm back into its own joint. Her friend’s mind just seemed to be in a different state; the last thing Marionette wanted was for her to accidentally severe another connection by accident.

All Charlie could think of was a simple question with no easy answer: why was it so easy for William to be this good person now?

One fateful day it had to be her that he took his anger out on. Sure, she’d be the first to admit that maybe she'd overstepped and made her former uncle mad.

But she thought he loved her like family.

Her gaze was far-off and distant as she observed the tender way that William worked with both her father and their new friend. When Gregory looked as if he was about to cry, a hand shot up to caress the boy's cheek.

“Gregory—I don’t know if you know this, but the last time I got hurt, I told my dog about it,” William began, successfully getting Gregory’s mind away from the pain as Henry wrapped his tender wrist. “Yep—you know what the mutt said to me? He told me: ruff.” He spoke in a deadpan as the tears dissolved in Gregory’s eyes, pain replaced by laughter.

It was so strange how William operated sometimes. As if his own body was haunted by the person he once was, in moments of hardship supporting their little group, only to turn and become cold-hearted the next minute...

The sheer ridiculousness of the joke made Henry snort, though he was quick to correct when William turned that cheerful rabbit face on him.

“I’m not laughing because it was good, I’m laughing because it was so dumb,” Henry insisted, though that sort of stupid humor seemed to be just the thing Gregory needed right now. Will had successfully curbed the tears before they came, and soon Henry was putting the final piece of tape on the gauze to hold it in place. He gave Gregory’s hair another ruffle and stepped back. “Alright, kiddo—all done. Just try to keep pressure off that wrist and it should heal up nicely.”

Turning to check on his daughter, he was pleasantly surprised to see Charlie moving both arms now.

“Oh, fantastic job, sweetheart!” he praised, coming over and lifting her arm to make sure all the joints were functioning properly. “Look at you—a natural mechanic. Makes me a proud papa bear, I’ll tell you that.”

He sniffled loudly and wiped a metaphorical tear from Freddy’s grubby face. Even the forlorn Henry Emily could be funny when the time called for it.

...Henry was a bad liar; always had been. That was why William handled PR and customer service at the diner back in their heydays. Will knew that dumb puns were some of his favorites, even if Emily would never admit to it.

Charlie was distracted momentarily in her work as her father approached her. It was a good thing too; she was going to snap the screwdriver in hand using if she didn’t calm down.

“I learned from the best,” Charlie reminded, side-eyeing Henry with pride. She redirected her anger into something productive—something she could physically fix and see the change in. “Mike really whipped Puppet around badly. She was completely missing screws for her leg joints…”

How Michael was still so fucking resilient after all these years, Henry had no idea. With all the things his rotting body had been through, it was a wonder he still had all his limbs intact. Henry would hate to see the state of him under all those bandages, especially if that glimpse of his face earlier was anything to go by…

“Sorry we let him get you, Puppet,” Henry apologized, his heart going out to the ever-protective robot. In a way, by this point she was like another daughter to him—silent and watchful, the Marionette kept tabs on her big sister’s whereabouts and made sure she was safe. Peering closer at Charlie’s handiwork, Henry gave an approving nod. “Looking good, though! You’ll be back on those legs in no time.”  

The Marionette just gave a little shrug. It was her job after all. It didn't matter how many times she broke for the people she loved. As long as they were all collectively okay, then the robot considered her mission successful. Were it not for her and Charlie's unintentional fusion all those years ago, maybe she would've given up—accepted long ago that her purpose had long-since been rendered obsolete. The Puppet waved her lanky hand, attempting to tell Henry not to worry as Charlie found another replacement bolt for her thin joints.

Gregory inspected his bandages, wiggling his fingers experimentally. The swelling had gone down, but with his wrist still immobile, it left Gregory to wonder how long it’d take for the Remnant to help fix the break. Reasonably, it’d only been an hour since his incident with Mike. But Gregory was impatient.

The more he ruminated on Michael's violence towards him, the more his resentment was beginning to grow for the man. Especially as he saw what Mike was doing to the people around him.

What made the Aftons like this? Gregory was far from any armchair psychologist—even he knew that some things like violence just run in the family. Still, though... it hurt to see it happening to someone he loved so fiercely in other circumstances.

“You look mad—are your bandages not tight enough?” asked William, pulling Gregory from the rage he seemed to be stewing in. 

“Huh?” the boy asked before actually being able to process what he'd been asked. “No—No, they're great. Thanks for helping with that... I'm just still pissed that Mike tricked me still.”

He was surprised when William placed a careful, plush hand to his shoulder. “Good. Use that anger. Learn from it. Don't let him trick you again.”

“But don’t let it fester,” Henry had to add, sparing a glance over his shoulder. He hadn’t meant to listen in, but they were in a small space after all. Moving back to Gregory’s side, he gently rested a paw on top of his head. “Use the anger, yeah—it’ll help get you past any hang-ups when it comes time to face him. Just… don’t get too lost in it, alright?”

The last thing they needed was another psychotic Remnant-infused kid on their hands….

Henry could see William shifting out of the corner of his eye, but before he could say anything there was a loud bang on the sealed door. Everyone whipped around to stare at the thick metal as a familiar voice came through, muffled but insistent.

“Guys, come on…” Michael sounded half-tired, half-amused. “I’m impressed you tricked Freddy, I’ve got to admit… but there’s only so much you can hide. He’s a smart bear, after all. Now will you open the damn door and hand over the kid?”

“Shit!” Henry hissed, instinctively snatching Gregory into his arms. “Damn it—we need to get out of here now.”

The way they came in was clearly out of the question—who knew how many robot lackeys Michael had by his side. But hopefully that would mean the back way through the stage lift was uninhabited…

Charlie had run out of time to fix her Puppet. There were still so many weak points in her legs. It wouldn't be long until Michael figured out how to bypass the door—being a security guard meant he had unfiltered access anywhere.

“Keep him busy—” Charlie whispered harshly to the others, trying to buy time with money they didn't have.

Gregory's eyes widened at the intrusion. He thought they would be safe here, but Michael turned out to be a much more active enemy to have. It was a shame there was no room for compromise in his heart.

William stood up, moving towards the door as he would say with a roll of his eyes. “What makes you think we have the kid?”

Gregory knew they had to do something. Maybe... Maybe that room was still here; the unused storage space that Vanessa and William bastardized in his own timeline. He scampered to the far side of the room, looking for that fake wall behind the mostly barren shelving unit, pulling manual after manual off the shelves looking for the false one that would open the door.

Michael was busy patting down his pockets in search of the access card he needed. The Master Key would be able to unlock any door, no problem—he just had to find it first. The sound of William’s voice made him pause to let out a scoff.

“Father, please—do you think I’m stupid? I know you’re not letting that little Evan-clone out of your sight again until you’re decommissioned.”

Which Michael would very, very much like to do once he got this damn door open…

“Fuck!” the guard shrieked in a sudden bout of rage, throwing his hands in the air only to slam them hard against the door. Turning to Glamrock Freddy, who was watching him with a concerned tilt in his brow, Michael gave the bear his instructions. “I left the fucking key in my jacket; I’ve got to run back to the office, but you start trying passcodes on the keypad; I don’t remember the stupid code. Do not leave this spot until either I get back or you get in—understand?”

“Yes, Officer Michael,” Freddy replied, nodding his head in deferment.

With an annoyed click of his tongue Michael sped off, shoes pattering against the tiled floor of the Pizzaplex. As asked, Freddy immediately set to work cracking the code for Parts & Service. There was a child inside who needed his help, and he was going to reach him—along with that false rabbit who dared take on Bonnie’s likeness.

William laughed to himself, hands on his stomach as he felt his disintegrating rib bones bend at the effort.

“No, Michael, I know you're stupid—” He'd say as he heard Mike speeding off, as that was something he himself could see him doing. Going towards Gregory, who'd been frantically throwing books and manuals off one of the shelves, he placed a firm hand on the kid's shoulders.

“Calm down,” William intoned, seeing how worked up he was getting. Those few extra seconds spared to them might help in the long run.

“There was a room here! I-I thought maybe....” Gregory attempted to explain, upon seeing the lost look in William's tired and milky stare.

“Son...,” William began, wincing when Gregory began to look desperate. “You can't run from all your problems forever. Sometimes, you have to face them head on. Even if it's scary.”

Before Gregory could protest the idea of fighting Michael, Charlie closed up the Puppet's fabric outer lining, shouting to them that she was all done.

“The stage lift!” Henry exclaimed, frantically pointing in that direction. “If it still works, we can take it up and give them another runaround—buy us some more time!”

Freddy heard the shout, redoubling his efforts to crack the code. He should be able to figure it out with no problem due to his logical processors, but there was this haze in his electric brain that made it hard to access that feature. It seemed Michael’s need for total control had some downsides.

“Do not go anywhere!” he called, blue-tipped claws working tirelessly punching in one number combination after another. “You must come with me, superstar—I only want to keep you safe!”

“Ignore him,” Henry snapped, ushering the group forward. Now that Puppet was functional, she could speed along with Charlie and offer some extra help to guide Gregory on the right path. “If the stage lift works, we go. If not…” His bear face grimaced with all the emotion it could.

If not… they’d have to strong-arm their way past Freddy.

Freddy's voice was convincing, genuinely upset that he couldn't get to him. It broke Gregory's heart to tell the bear “no” when it sounded as if he only had the best intentions for him. Gregory knew by now that this was a mirage, a trick orchestrated under Michael's tyrannical rule.

“I-I'm sorry Freddy!” Gregory called, William scolding him to be quiet as he snatched him up into his arms. “I don't trust Michael—”

“Change of plans—run. We're running now,” Will corrected, looking back over his shoulder as they stepped onto the platform. “How the hell do we get this thing moving, then?”

Charlie knew this would probably be a bad idea; the standing controls were over past the workbench. Abandoning her group, Charlie raced for the controls as William and Henry stepped upon it. It was all ready to launch. All she had to do was slam the button...

Charlie smacked the giant green button with her palm. A pneumatic hiss jolted the platform and sent them at a measure pace above. Far too fast for her to sprint and jump onto it, she watched her family lift above.

“I'll find another way!” she assured them, much to every member of their party’s protests.

“Charlie?! Charlie, god damn it!” Henry shouted, reaching out to grab her. He was stopped from going over the edge at the last second by William's firm grip on his arm, and Henry could only watch as his daughter shrunk out of sight. He shook his head, muttering as he paced towards the center of the platform. “Damn it, she's going to be with them alone! I've got to go back for her; we can't leave her with Michael when he's so pissed...”

As if summoned by his name, the other door to Parts & Service opened with a sudden hiss. Michael was back with the access card, practically shoving Freddy out of the way in his haste to get to the others... but his efforts were in vain. He let out a growl of frustration, seeing the stage lift already slotting into place above. Again, they'd just barely escaped his reach.

Well... not everyone, it seemed.

“Hello, Charlie,” Michael sneered, fixating on his former friend-turned-robot. He'd forgone the mask now, seeing no point in wearing it since Gregory had already gotten a clear view of his rotted face. He'd given up the amiable convincing angle of recruitment—now Michael was hell-bent on brainwashing the kid by force using any means necessary.

And if he could take out a big piece of the competition right now, that would help his cause greatly.

***

The Puppet looked about ready to jump off the platform after Charlie. The fall would ruin any chance of her landing safely without breaking a second time, so Henry was quick to snag a spindly arm while she writhed on the floor, reaching for the person she couldn’t grab as Henry lamented her departure. When the platform slotted into place up top on the main floor, the moment Henry’s grip eased Puppet shot off like a bullet without a word. Their group was scattered, and William growled impatiently.

“Why the hell did she do that?! We could’ve fought them together! DUMB—” William fretted, holding the worried Gregory tightly as he jumped from the stage and into the food court. “Stupid... UGH! We have to get Gregory to safety.”

“I'm not leaving without Charlie!” Gregory hissed, looking back to the stage, fighting William's hold on him as they both struggled for dominance.

“Like fuck you will; Henry, let's go!” the rabbit snapped harshly. The child clearly still didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. Charlie's body may be broken, but in the end, her soul would still be here. Gregory could be lost to them forever should they go back to save Henry's daughter. It all felt like a catch-22, as refusing to save either made William feel...

Well—like a murderer.

Henry was nearly beside himself with conflicted thoughts. William’s line of thinking was valid: Charlie's soul was forever tied to this place so long as Michael was still around to cause chaos. But the thought of seeing his daughter's broken, lifeless body again just—

“...Let's go. We have to keep moving.” He made the decision with a hardened gaze, brushing Gregory's hair as he sped past to take the lead in a quick attempt to soothe. “Puppet's going to help her; she'll be alright. We need to find cover before someone else spots us—I don't doubt Michael will call for backup as soon as he realizes we're gone.”

William couldn't help but feel as if he was failing the Emilys once again with his actions. He tried to tell himself that this was the necessary course, despite how it made him feel.

“Charlie's going to be alright. Alright?” he tried to assure the last two remaining members of their little party. Quickly, he followed Henry, their path unknown. It was merely a matter of moving undetected now.

Gregory didn't care how badly these strange-looking suits smelled. He buried his face away in William's chest to chase away the sight of potential Glamrocks coming to harass them further. Henry told him he was brave... And Gregory wouldn't scream if he didn't actually see any danger heading their way.

If Henry remembered correctly from their previous forays through the Pizzaplex, there was a small storage room behind one of the food stalls on the first level. It wouldn't provide much in the way of protection, but the sheer amount of stuff in there should give amble cover to hide out a little while. Henry led his companions there, only spotting another animatronic at the last second when they rounded a corner. It looked like a flash of grey fur, though he couldn't be certain—and he wasn't going to stay and find out.

Once the trio were inside the room Henry shut the door, shoving a broom through the handles for good measure before ushering them to the far back. Only then did he sit heavily, taking a second to process as he put his face in his paws.

Charlie would be alright.

She was strong, and so was Puppet—together, they were unstoppable.

***

Charlie whipped around as the door swung out of the way. Squatted in a defensive position, she was ready to break into a run at a moment’s notice.

Michael... She had mixed feelings on the guy. Roughly, he was on the same metaphorical par as his father in terms of how much she wanted to punch their lights out. Repeatedly.

“Mike...” Charlie was unsure of the fate that might befall her now. She doubted Michael missed her—hell, he barely missed his own brother after his untimely passing. Though she’d much rather have backup to dole out revenge, it might be necessary to act on her own here and now to save Gregory. She would not let another child die on Fazbear property, no matter the cost.

“Look, Charlie,” Michael began, crossing his arms and slouching slightly to one side. “I don't know why you're still involved in all this—William got an even more tortuous death than you and he's going to rot in that suit for eternity. I made sure of that.”

There was a hint of a truly deranged smile curling the edges of his lips now, those eerie silver eyes locked onto Charlie's own.

“Why don't you just rest? Give up the ghost, so to speak.” Michael let out a soft chuckle at his off-color pun. “I don't want to hurt you again... but I will if you keep getting in my—Freddy, will you stop fucking pacing?!”

Michael suddenly snapped his head to the side, staring down the Glamrock who'd frozen in his tracks. Wide-eyed, Freddy clasped his claws in front of his torso and hung his head, hating that he'd somehow annoyed the guard yet again.

“I am sorry, Officer Michael—I am simply worried about Gregory,” he confessed, and though his words seemed genuine there was a hint of something dark in his eyes. “I do not trust those older models—they are broken, and I fear they cause a great threat to his well-being.”

“That's so true, Fredbear!” Michael replied, sounding as if he was talking to a small child. “Which is why we're trying to get rid of them. And I need your help again—hold Charlie back while I get a head start, will you? They can't have gotten far.”

Freddy was more than happy to comply, nodding as he turned his full attention to Charlie and started towards her with arms outstretched.

Charlie couldn't get a word in edgewise with Michael's psychotic monologuing. She screamed and nearly ran in place as she tried to avoid Freddy's once-gentle arms.

“Don't! We're not your enemies!” she said, though there was no convincing the well-meaning bear. He nearly knocked the unneeded wind out of her with his grasp, her back now pressed against Freddy's chest as he hoisted her into the air.

“MIKE! Please! Please don't do this to Gregory—he's just a kid!” She nearly sobbed from the futility of it all. “Don't hurt him anymore! This can all end tonight if you just—” Charlie pleaded, but her chest plating felt it might burst if she kept struggling and talking in vain. Freddy's grip was like an iron vice, clearly seeing her as a threat at Michael's command.

“I won't hurt him if he stops being a little shit,” Michael responded simply. Satisfied that Freddy had her, the guard turned and began walking off, taking the long way around to the main floor. As the bear followed obediently, Mike lifted his Fazwatch to his mouth—it'd been specially altered to connect to all the Glamrocks so he could control them more easily. “Everyone, the kid's somewhere in the main atrium. I want him captured and brought to me now—use force if necessary.”

There was a chorus of responding growls and affirmations, causing Michael to smirk as he lowered his arm. No way was the kid getting away now.

In Freddy's custody, an annoyed scowl stretched across Charlie’s face as Mike led the two of them towards the surface.

“Could you tell your teddy bear to stop squeezing me so hard?” Charlie joked darkly. “Feels like I'm being strangled again—it's not like I can go anywhere even if I slipped out.”

“I am sorry—”

“Freddy, don't apologize,” Michael snapped, cutting the bear off. “You're not actually hurting her, she's just whining.”

Freddy fell silent, though he did loosen his grip just a tad. Not nearly enough for Charlie to wriggle lose, but enough to not risk crushing some metallic ribs.

This was all for Gregory's benefit, he kept reminding himself. Michael was a guard and had the child's best interests at heart, despite his... abrasive nature. Surely that had to be the case—why else would he be doing all this?

“You're such a bastard, Mike,” Charlie groaned, head hanging forward as she felt less claustrophobic without the unneeded grip around her chest. Now that she could take in more simulated breaths, she tried to goad him into talking more—the best option was to waste his time in favor of buying her friends some instead. “You're wasting your energy, too. We're going to get Gregory out of here. Just you wait...”

Suddenly, there was a skittering ahead; the sounds of something quick hitting the ground in a short run. Whatever it was had darted out of sight, disturbing their walk for just one moment. Charlie felt her mechanical heart kickstart—but, in rare form, not from fear.

“Oh... Oh man, Mike, you fucked up now,” Charlie warned, cryptic as she smirked to herself. She just prayed her hero would be quick, hopefully learning her previous lesson when dealing with Michael Afton...

“What?” With narrowed eyes, Michael peered through the darkness for the new foe. He’d heard that sound far too many times to have any doubt as to what it belonged to.

“Ugh, don’t tell me you got that hunk of junk working again…,” he groaned, slowing his pace ever so slightly and unhooking his taser from its holster. The Puppet caught him unaware last time, and he’d nearly gotten his own limbs ripped off in her frantic scramble for power. She might look skinny and harmless, but she was really fucking tough.

“Freddy, don’t let Charlie go no matter what happens,” Michael said, not even bothering to turn around. He knew the bear heard and would do as he was told. Freddy trusted him implicitly, after all—Mike had made sure of it.

Charlie hung limp. There wasn’t a thing she could do in this cramped hallway. There was a chance she may be able to force Freddy’s arms open, but there was an equivalent chance he could snap her in half like a dry pizza crust first. Before them, the hallway tapered open into a row of costume racks and stacked crates blocking their path. This made Charlie laugh; Puppet was fucking with him. She wondered where the animatronic had gone, but even she could hardly predict her longtime friend.

“Oof—” Charlie said out loud, looking at the tall stacks of abandoned crap blocking their way. She snickered to herself, hoping the inconvenience would piss Mike off the way that his existence did for her. “—Looks like you’ll have to go a different way. You know, unless you feel like crawling over all that shit. Or, maybe Freddy’s huge ass could crush the crates.”

“Shut up,” Michael snapped, grinding his jaw and balling his hands into fists.

Great. Just great. Yet another fucking inconvenience.

It’d take just as much time to clamber over the blockade than it would to turn back and use the stage lift like the others. It’d surely reset by now, and with the other Glamrocks ordered to the atrium Michael would have his choice of robotic backup when he left Freddy behind to hit the button.

…Then again, this could be just what Puppet wanted. Either way, Michael knew he was about to get even more annoyed no matter what path he took.

“Ugh—come on,” he said, shoving past Freddy and his captive as he marched back to Parts & Service. “I’m going the other way.”

“But, Michael—”

“I don’t want to hear it, Freddy!” The guard let out an annoyed huff. The bear was seriously starting to get on his already-fraying nerves. “Damn, did they have to make you so fucking pushy?!”

Charlie began to snicker at him again. This was rich. After so much torture at the hands of the rogue security guard, she really needed to see her former friend’s annoyance in person. In a way, his incompetence was lifting her spirits.

“Wow.” She laughed out with hard roll of her bright green eyes. “Even your lackeys disagree with you. So—are you ready to admit you don’t have any clue what you’re doing yet?”

Charlie knew that this might be poking the bear, more literally than figuratively. She couldn’t care less. He had it coming, and it was her turn to rub dirt in his eyes over this whole debacle. She swore that she could even see Mike sweating in the dim emergency lighting of the backrooms.

“I have a plan; you and your stupid friends keep messing it up!” Michael sneered, stopping in his tracks to point an accusatory finger at her. This was all supposed to go the way he wanted, and yet those springlocked bastards had to show their faces again after Mike thought he'd done away with them for good...

Not only that, Henry somehow made an android for his supernaturally-inclined daughter before he'd gotten skewered, creating two annoyances for Michael to deal with now that the Puppet was back online.

No more, though. He was getting weary of the chase; his body wasn't what it used to be, after all.

Finally, he reached the stage lift, angrily slamming the button to call it back down. He remained in contemplative silence as it returned, only speaking when he walked up the small ramp to get on the lift as it ground to a halt.

“Freddy, listen to me,” he hissed, glaring at the bear. “Keep. Her. Down. Here. You got that? I don't care what it takes. If I find out she got away from you, I'm going to have to reconsider your position as my top friend...”

“You do not have to worry, Officer Michael,” Freddy responded quickly. There was no way Mike would actually follow through on that should he fail this task... was there? He was Freddy Fazbear—he was meant to be number one.

Without further prompting he pressed the button, sending Michael up top while he remained with Charlie down below.

Charlie scoffed; she wasn’t going to stay here for long. For now she was just being hugged too tightly for her liking by one of Michael’s walking murder machines. Charlie heard Freddy claim that he only wanted to keep Gregory safe, but she wasn’t so sure about that. It wouldn’t be a risk she would take otherwise.

There was a moment of silence as she was left with Freddy, as uncomfortable and tense as it was awkward. The bear seemed to take his job seriously. After all, in his mind, kid’s lives were at stake here. Freddy’s naturally good nature was being taken advantage of with whatever faulty program that Mike uploaded to the Glamrocks…

It gave Charlie an idea. Though she doubted it would work, she still had to try.

“…Friends don’t do that, you know,” Charlie put out there gently. She knew it was a long shot trying to convince Fazbear that he was being used. It took Charlie years to figure it out herself, and she wasn’t even brainwashed!

—To her knowledge, at least.

“...I do not know what you mean,” Freddy said tersely, keeping his grip tight and secure as he walked Charlie back to the middle of the repair room. “And I do not think I should be speaking with you, as you are a bad influence, like the others.”

(Oh, if only the poor bear knew how wrong he was.)

***

Up in the main atrium, the stage lift ground to a halt. Michael immediately hopped off, grimacing when he landed a bit too hard for his liking on the tiled floor. Looking around, he was relieved to spot an “ally” stalking nearby.

“Monty!” he called, summoning the gator over with a wave. Excellent—he managed to find the best muscle and the one that fought back the least. “Has anyone seen that kid yet?!”

“Heeeey, Mike!” the gator drawled, walking over with an apologetic shrug. “Nah, sorry—we've been lookin' but we think they're hidin' out somewhere...”

“Of course they are.” The guard huffed, starting off in a random direction. “You, come with me. I need backup now that Freddy's preoccupied.”

“Ooh, Fredbear's in trouble...,” Monty sang, then snickered as he followed along obediently.

Michael simply rolled his eyes. Despite his tendency to provide unnecessary commentary, at least the gator wasn't going to question his decisions.

***

In the world above, Gregory and his new-old friends were making do with the limited resources they had. Gregory had come to realize how little the original suits could do compared to the shiny Glamrocks. Their spring-loaded interiors made them tough enough to stand the test of time—but they stunk like sin and were slow to boot. Luckily, Gregory was used to being around gross things in his life by this point. Even right now, he was surrounded in a dimly lit kitchen dry-storage area with various spoiling foods knocked down in an attempt to barricade the door to get in. It wouldn’t stop the stronger animatronics, but it would give all of them time to prepare…

Things were looking grim, but with a lack of anywhere to go, Henry’s idea of storing themselves away inside the pantry for the time being gave Gregory an opportunity to relax. He felt on edge, but reminded himself that no matter what happened, at least it wouldn’t kill the boy. Unfortunately, there was a chance that he could turn into some emaciated, oxygen-deprived corpse before he hit fourteen.

As he ate chips and cold queso, Gregory sat across the floor from his current guardians. Both were tense and silent; if a few things were still the same as in his original world, Gregory could infer why they weren’t speaking to one another. He wondered how either could stand to be in the same room after the things he found out. 

“I think Charlie’s fine right now.” Gregory broke the silence, trying his hand at optimism. “Michael’s probably too busy looking for me… She’s smart; I bet Charlie’s already figuring out how to find us.”

“For sure,” Henry said absently, as if he was just responding for the sake of giving Gregory an answer. Then he blinked, sitting up a bit straighter after if suddenly realizing where he was.

He couldn’t afford to get lost in his head right now. Gregory needed his protection, and while he did trust Will to try and keep the kid safe at this point, with the old Brit solely relying on supernatural power to move his suit it made him less than ideal in quick situations. Henry needed to keep his wits about him—and he also needed to make sure Gregory didn’t get pulled into their depressing aura.

“Yeah, I’m sure she’s just fine,” he tried again, injecting a smile into his voice for good measure. He reached over to gently pat Gregory’s head, nodding to his snack. “How’s the food? I know it’s not The Ritz, but hopefully it’ll give you some energy for a bit.”

“It’s got… flavor,” Gregory answered with a lopsided grin, a stringy, coagulated strand of cheese stretching from the chip to his mouth. “…I don’t know if it’s good or bad. But it’s a flavor for sure.”

William was looking far-off to the door. At first, Gregory hated feeling bad for this man. Yet even if he had somewhat of a sordid past, the amount of times Will had already tried to protect him in this timeline made it very hard not to sympathize. It was impossible to forget the hell William had put him through in his own space-time, but it was quickly growing clear how all these small details added up to change his perception.

“Will?” Gregory called, earning his attention with a slow blink in his direction. “I was wondering if you guys went to the basement a lot…” Looking to Henry, he directed his question openly. “Have you ever seen more ghosts? You know… other than Charlie?”

William’s eyelids fell halfway, as if he was furrowing eyebrows that no longer were attached to the outer layer of the suit.

“Have you…?” William asked, almost accusingly if Gregory didn’t know better. 

“I asked you both first.” Gregory was firm, willing to be stubborn if it meant getting the whole truth from them about the resources they had at their disposal. He wasn’t going to play these games with the rabbit.

“Uh…,” Henry wasn’t sure how to respond at first. God, how he wished he could save this kid from all the horrors this multi-layered Pizzaplex had to offer…

If only they’d gotten Gregory out, busted a damn wall open if they had to just to set him free. But it was far too late for that now. Maybe if he’d still been human, Henry would be less forthcoming with information. The less Gregory knew, the less traumatized he’d be at the end of all this. Now though, with those silver eyes staring sharp and inquisitive at him through the darkness, Henry realized the kid didn’t have that luxury.

“…There’s no point hiding anything, Will,” he murmured, fully resigned to delivering unfortunate information. So far, to Henry’s knowledge the only “ghosts” Gregory interacted with were himself, Will, and Charlie—none of them technically “children” when they died, though Charlie was pushing it.

The ones in the basement though… they were a different sort of entity altogether.

“To your first question: no, we don’t go to the basement a lot,” the bear went on, not quite able to meet Gregory’s gaze. “The reason being the answer to your second ask: unfortunately there are other ghosts down there. Three, technically, and… something else.” He glanced side-eyed at Will, not really sure what they should categorize Ennard as. Letting out a sigh, he added: “They’re… not nearly as friendly as us, though. In all honesty, we don’t feel very welcome down there, so we tend to stay away.”

Gregory's mouth twisted in a frown. None of the ghosts wanted to see them? It was a stark contrast to how excited the kids were to break the monotony of it all reuniting with their old friends in his original world. 

“So you haven’t tried asking them for help?” Gregory asked, William’s eyes snapping to attention at the kid.

“No. And no, we won’t be leaving this pantry until we’re sure the coast is clear,” William replied, shutting down the idea fast.

Gregory wiped the crumbs from his hand and protested. “But we’re flailing out there, Will! And they have Charlie!”

Gregory and William stood now in a stand-off. The looks that they sent one another were haunting reflections of the past. It was like William was speaking to his own kid, the same challenging look he would give his kin over little disagreements, if not just a slight more measured when observing Gregory.

“Charlie will be fine. I—we can’t lose you, Gregory! I won’t do it again…” William sounded increasingly more upset. It wasn’t rage, as he never raised his voice, but his raspy cadence cracked with the strain in it. “Sit down and eat your crisps. We’re not asking poltergeists for help while you’re still hurt.”

Gregory crossed his arms and parked his butt on the hard floor.

“They’re chips…,” he grumbled; the tough love was new, especially coming from William Afton.

“Greg, have some compassion—Will’s British, he can’t help it,” Henry remarked, his tone surprisingly unbothered for such a tense conversation. He’d only been half-listening to the bickering, the gears in his mind turning as he mulled over their circumstances.

As usual, the kid had a point. Besides the fact it was driving him crazy to sit in this room doing nothing while his daughter was out dealing with who knows what, it would be a good idea to recruit others to their cause…

“…Look,” Henry began after a heavy silence, and he could feel the scathing look William’s emaciated face was giving him under that bunny mask. “I’m not saying it’s a good idea—and lord knows they’re not going to be happy about us bothering them, but… we can’t stay in this pantry forever. Sooner or later, one of those animatronics is going to bust down that door, and I’d much rather at least be trying to get ahead instead of being sitting ducks for Michael’s amusement.”

He looked to Gregory then, gaze serious as he rested a paw on his knee. “Greg, you’ve got to understand—these spirits are angry. It’s might not be easy trying to hold a civil conversation with them, let alone asking them for help… although at least they all hate Mike as much as the rest of us, so it’s possible. No matter what happens Will and I will protect you, but it might be rough down there—do you think you can handle that?”

Gregory’s long frown at being told “no” flipped upright at Henry’s joke. William had heard it all before—this was just a reused quip in Emily’s comedy repertoire. Though, he couldn’t lie that it may have made him smirk internally.

When Gregory processed just how pissed these ghosts might be, he remembered his first encounter with Cassidy. She was a spitfire who only managed to calm down a fraction once he got to know her.

“I can handle it; promise,” Gregory said with certainty. He capped up his jar of fake cheese and tossed the bag of chips aside.

William was compliant, though he really didn’t like this plan at all. If he had it his way, they would all be sitting barricaded in this room and pretending as if a manhunt for their blood wasn’t going on in the outside world. Yet here he was lumbering towards the makeshift wall he made and grumbling. “I think you’re both nuts.”

But then again, these little luck-based plans were getting them progress. He begun to move aside the barricade, tossing things out of the way and placing the wire frame shelving upright again to free their path.

“Took you this long to figure that out?” Henry quipped, standing to help William move things out of the way. This was good. Everyone was on the same page now, and they had a semblance of a plan. They were going to get through this.

Unbeknownst to the hopeful trio, the manhunt for Gregory was far closer than they wanted it to be. The sound-proof pantry may have kept them hidden, but it had the unintentional effect of blocking sound for them, too... and with Gregory not hooked into this Pizzaplex’s camera system, they had no way to tell that their presence had been noticed.

“Mike—” The gator stopped in his tracks, placing a hand on the guard’s shoulder and cocking his head as he spoke in a low whisper. He wasn’t on par with Roxanne, but even Monty’s advanced hearing could pick up on such noise from just around the corner. “—I think I hear somethin’… like heavy stuff movin’ around.”

William looked around, peering into the kitchen area with a cautious glance. He then held the door for his party to move through. Looking to Henry specifically, he told them: “Age before beauty; after you Hen,” in a playful manner. He may not be the best one to stay optimistic at times, but he wasn’t going to bring down Gregory’s excitement for his new plan.

Gregory had already been in front of Henry, closest to William. He rolled his eyes and told them with a teasing laugh: “You’re both old as hell!”

He came through the doorway and into the kitchen prep area… Only to freeze at the shadow peering at them from behind the door.

There were in fact two shadows, but the smaller one was near-impossible to see with Monty’s hulking frame backlit behind him. Only the dull, incandescent silver eyes gave any indication that their worst enemy was standing directly in their way.

“Hello again,” Michael remarked in a tone as casual as if they were discussing the weather.

“No, no, no!” Henry hissed, instinctively throwing Gregory behind him. Sandwiched between the two first generation springlock suits, the boy was surrounded by fuzzy-coated layers of pissed off steel and bone.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Michael mocked, taking a step forward. He paused when Henry slouched in a more defensive pose, raising his palms half-heartedly and speaking in a deadpan tone. “Oh no, someone’s angry…”

Then he spit out a laugh, lowering his hands to his hips. “If it’s any consolation, Charlie was still functional when I left her; I didn’t feel the need to ‘kill her’ again for no apparent reason—she’s already been through that enough.”

His glowing gaze flickered to William, evil and taunting. Michael knew he should just grab the kid and go before they got any ideas, but he couldn’t help rub salt in old wounds. Besides, it’s not like his father could hurt him from that death trap of a suit.

Gregory was beginning to hate the semi-decomposed smirk of Michael Afton, and just when his fear of Monty had finally ebbed, he was reminded of how formidable of an enemy the gator once was. Squished between his only remaining friends, Gregory watched as William glared hard at his son.

“You spiteful little shit…,” William growled, likely not making their situation any better. Sure, Michael was laughing now, but William had an edge he didn’t know about. “Did you come here just to be a smarmy jerk? Or are you going to give up?”

William always considered himself good at bluffing, even despite being dealt a bad hand and backed into the corner of the kitchen. Gregory peeked out behind Henry, grasping onto his grungy fur as William backed them further, putting space between them and the enemy.

“Mike—please just leave me alone…,” the boy begged.  

“No can do, kid,” Michael replied with a shake of his head. “You’re just too good of an ally to pass up—so if you’re not going to join me willingly, we’ll just have do it the hard way.” He lifted his Fazwatch to his mouth. “Roxy, Chica—the child is by the first floor kitchen. Get here asap.”

“Michael!” Henry snapped, as if his harsh tone would actually do anything to sway the guard’s mission. As expected, Michael simply turned his head towards the old bear and scoffed.

“Come on, Henry—you think I’ll listen to you? I don’t even listen to my real dad. Monty?” Snapping his fingers, he pointed to the little face peering out from behind the springlock bear. “Get him.”

Henry growled, reaching an arm behind him protectively when the gator started forward.

“Hey, I don’t wanna hurt ya, buddy,” Monty said with a demented grin, claws outstretched as he stalked towards them. “Just gimme the kid and we can aaaaall forget this and play a game of golf together—how’s that sound?”

“Fuck off,” Henry snapped, totally at his wits end. This made Monty pause, but only for a second before moving again with a raucous laugh.

“My profanity filter’s disabled too, dumbass; you don’t scare me!” His gaze dropped to Gregory, red eyes peering through his dark shades. “Get over here, little guy…”  

William knew he was in between a rock and a hard place now. He could push Monty off and choose to fight him, but that would give Michael the perfect opportunity to strike with his taser. If he attacked Michael in the hopes that Monty would pull back to help his “friend,” he risked leaving Henry and Gregory open for attack…

It was too late; the choice was being made for him. The once-passive bunny lurched forward to give Monty a hard push at his shoulders, aiming to knock him into Michael with the hopes of incapacitating him long enough for their escape. Paws collided with thick shoulder pads as William forced his limbs to move unaided by long-rusted mechanisms.

Gregory couldn’t bear to watch it all; he yelled and buried his face into the disgusting fur-suit holding him protectively. “NO! I don’t want to go!”

Michael was expecting something to snap the tension like a twig, so he was able to avoid Monty ramming into him when shoved back by William’s surprise attack. He had to jump out of the way though, which gave Henry just enough time to snatch Gregory up and book it. They rushed through the kitchens, out into the main atrium where they could head for—

There was a snarl to Henry’s left, and he only had a split-second to react before a lightning-fast grey and red blur slammed into his side. With a shout Henry practically threw Gregory into the air, not wanting to crush the poor kid as he went down heavily on his stomach.

Damn these old suits—they were so much more effort to maneuver than the sleek Glamrocks.

“N-No—no, Gregory, run!” Henry yelled, trying to shove off the wolf who was doing her best to rend his suit to pieces with her sharp claws.

But it was too late.

Before the kid could even think about abandoning his guardians, there was a fizzle of electricity and Gregory crashed onto the floor in a heap. Michael stood above him, a sneer on his face as the taser crackled in his hand.

“You fucking bastard!” Henry shrieked, painstakingly trying to right himself. Michael let out a short laugh and hooked the weapon back into his belt.

“I didn’t kill him, relax,” the zombie said with a roll of his eyes, bending down to pick Gregory up and roughly throw the kid over his shoulder. “He’s just taking a nap. No time to chat, though; we’ve got things to do. See you around!”  

Giving the old bear a jaunty salute, Michael turned and sped off towards the Fazerblast office with his prize, leaving Henry on the floor trying vainly to fight off Roxy. He could hear Will still struggling with the huge gator inside the kitchen, and it sounded like Monty was winning. Henry could help, get them both free so they could find Gregory together…

But just when Henry thought he might be getting the upper hand, Chica appeared and forced him back into submission on the floor. With a deep, gut-wrenching drop in the pit of his stomach, Henry realized they might have lost yet another child to Michael Afton’s madness.

Gregory didn’t even know what happened. The pain from the taser left him blacking out as soon as the metal barbs shot into his skin. Now in the not so gentle caress of Michael’s shoulder, he slept with his startling silver eyes open at attention. It left him staring blankly after his friends—those who still fought to get him back.

“MICHAEL! Don’t do this!” William called, his fists locked with Monty’s as the gator set on bending his wrists back. He wasn’t going to be enough—William did his best to plant his feet as Gregory and his son vanished from sight.

“Gregory!” he called pitifully, glancing sidelong to see the state of Henry being shredded by Roxy’s claws. It was then when he saw his former best friend being dismantled before his eyes that William’s courage wavered. He was pushed onto his back, now parallel to Henry on the ground.

They might not make it out of this one unscathed…

***

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Looking for more? Check out the Chapter Masterlist on Tumblr!

Or check out the entire Wires that Bind Us Series on ao3!

[naffeclipse]

Hoooooooooooooo boy! That chapter huh! So here we go!

(Oh god I'm looking at my notes and I'm already afraid of how long this is gonna be fgkdjhñjgf they're usually like half of this)

Ok, ok so! I was already hooked before even starting to read because of how last chapter ended! The way they were all mostly silent as they fled from the motel. That certainly was a situation for everyone involved. Aaah I was having so many feelings at seeing the boys shaken by what happened with the seal! And so was y/n since they were concerned and wanted to reassure them that they would protect them from being taken away.

(As a sidenote it's a bit funny but heartwarming too, because for so much of this fic the hunter has made an effort to calm them whenever they (mistakenly) thought the boys were scared and now that there is a situation where they are actually anxious about something, they can genuinely do just that. Say they will protect them.)

And ooo the boys are very confident that FEI wouldn't be able to control them, but it seems a bit reckless to be dismissing the hunter's concerns so quickly given the spook they just went through. I'm sure their experience as an ancient being has made them sure of certain things, but just like y/n's recently got upside down and all their convictions shaken, maybe they shouldn't be so quick to discard the possiblity that FEI has some more tricks in their sleeve. If there's a seal that can prevent them from touching it, what else could be out there right?

And ohoho, we got a bit more info on the salt's effect! Of course, I already know what happens at the end of the chapter, but I'll still put some of my thoughts as I read haha. And here I was wondering if by learning of Sun's inability to cross the salt, but Moon being able to, then a possible loophole for the vow could exist. Because technicaly they can cross the salt, just not all the time, and so they would be able to go there by technicality. Although that's a bit irrelevant now kjfhgfjds

But speaking about vows and trust, aaah the way they wake them up! Because they promised they would not leave them wondering again! Though ouch, when the hunter pleads with them not to go after the hunters. It must hurt a bit, having their vow being questioned like this, but they understand why that is. And y/n understands that it must hurt, because they apologize quickly. It makes sense though, since the constant lies from before must be a nagging thought even if it is unwanted.

I gotta say, I love the bit of wholesomeness you threw at us right before crap hit the fan XD Freddy’s description was so sweet. He certainly has that politeness about him and the fondness with which his chapter was written is plain to see. Henry really had a good time hanging out with Freddy! Also I love that this gives y/n ideas to study their own demon later on, like using the voicebox to hear their real voice. They want to know if there is something they have been saying that they haven’t been able to hear and that’s pretty cute X3

And then…

Oh, as soon as that brief call from Vanessa ended I had a suspicion of what might happen next. The boys were gone, specifically to eat a heart, the hunters were in their mind, and the sounds through the receiver were terrible. Doubts, doubts, doubts. Of course to us readers it’s plain to see that it wasn’t the boys even before cutting to their perspective. We know Vanessa has been possessed and now the hunter highly suspected it too. But stuff has barely had a chance to calm down, the book mentioned the ability of demons to be cunning and play the long game, and though y/n desperately wants to trust the boys, there’s been a salt shaker full of doubts accompanying them since after the reveal.

(Sidenote: “Your lovely, tired face” You know you overdo it constantly when tired is added to the list of your descriptors gfkjhdñs)

Ahhh Eclipse’s brief section makes the ones that follow hurt so much more. They’re reflecting how y/n will trust them. Does trust them. They’re so hopeful and tentatively happy hhhhhhhhhhhh So when they see all the signals that something is wrong. That they are being regarded so carefully, just ouch. The “What are you afraid of?” Pain. Pain because just last chapter y/n assured them desperately that they weren’t afraid of them. But now it feels like they are, but Moon asks because they remember that, and it must be confusing and that fear that their heart is scared of them lingers.

And oh gosh, not surprised that no hunters survived that but darn it, of course Singh is the first one to be found. Since the trio’s appearance I had a small feeling that oh no something will happen, but I had the hope that after last chapter’s escape maaaaybe they would get to walk away (mainly Singh, sorry I got attached gfdhsgñ). But oof. What a gruesome end for all of them. Cafaro even was dismembered and a hundred percent sure that happened before he killed her. It really highlights how sadistic the cornfield demon is.

But ooooough, the heartbreak of what happens next! I have to wonder how orchestrated it all was, because dang, that notification calling attention to the phone though. Right were all the ugliness of the consumed hearts is on display, basically triggering a bad flashback for them. All factors combined made such a recipe for disaster. And how could it not? Reading Henry’s book, it would seem clear that each demon seems to specialize on eating a single type of organ and so far none of them have been repeated. It’s Eclipse’s word against the evidence, and given their history their word doesn’t hold up to much yet. (But it will after this, I think. Even when everything points at them, the truth is the truth.)

And oh. Oh, I say!

“a warning echoes your name in betrayal” That right there? Hurts. 

Because god. Y/n is so sure they have been betrayed again themselves. They’re feeling used and stupid and gullible. They think the boys are trying to save face to continue fooling them (even if they actually cared a little). And so they fool them right back. Y/n thinks they are playing along with the demon’s game, and use their care (which they no longer think is genuine) for them to trick them. And what a way to do it! They know when they are vulnerable, the boys’ response is to comfort them. And I just knew they were scheming when they admitted out loud to being scared. Because, if I remember correctly, they’ve never done that before. Yes, they have expressed that they do feel fear when they hunt, but always they try to put a brave face during the fact. They hate looking weak and incapable. They’re always the one swearing that it will be fine and they’ll take care of things. And internally that’s their mindset right now. They use what they know about the cryptid to set a trap. They bait them and they trap them.

And oh!! I know it’s a tense moment but I felt a bit validated when they pointed out precisely what stood out to me when they killed the hunter back then. The fact that it was right after they got told about their encounter with the other demon. It does seem like a very damning detail after all. And they plead that they never meant for this to hurt them, but the hunter is now panicking with hurt and trauma induced panic and definitely not in a place to want to listen to them.

(Sidenote: “You are abysmal” oooo that seems like such a low blow because it’s precisely the word the boys have used before. When they asked to stay and prove they are not. That they are not a complete monster. And right here y/n tells them that no, they are)

So! What I said last time about them fearing being the hunted ones, huh? They did get to experience it in the end. And in such a raw way. Unable to flee or fight back even if they wanted to. A paper and a couple of words away from ceasing their lengthy existence. Helplessness in a way they have likely never experienced, even with the seal, because then they could still move their vessel. Sun and Moon stared at death in the face and it was crying.

But hhhh if it was their lies and casual violence that nearly brought their demise, it was their love that spared them. In every act of caring, in every moment they spent together with the hunter. Because they love them back. As much as it makes them ashamed right now they do. And it must be such a conflicting realization when they were this close to an exorcism, but I can only imagine what they saw in their face. Grief at the idea of killing them? Their steely look suddenly falling apart as soon as they looked at them? Aaaaaagh! And then the warning 

(Sidenote: oh I’m just thinking of how long they’re gonna have to sit there with the corpses! I know it’s probably not much to them, and their mind is mostly occupied with worrying about how to fix this mess, but I can’t help being curious about it. They probably never lingered long around any other victims, theirs or otherwise. Admittedly, half a day is not long for a demon who has lived as long as them, but as the hours pass I wonder if they’d turn their thoughts to the fallen hunters for a bit.)

(Sidenote to the sidenote: Now they sit in a heartless room. Both physically and metaphorically :( )

Oof, and then we cut back to y/n. Facing the nightmare, but in no shape to do so. But they are very objective oriented, and so when Vanessa is right there and she needs help and they can do something about it, they push everything aside to focus. They find their strength in that. But oh gosh. Their kind heart might be one of the things that saved the boys, but right now it’s what betrayed the hunter. They saw Vanessa in distress and couldn’t resist running to her aid even when they were not finished with the incantation.

And then, after the episode triggered by the photo, now they see what was supposed to remain just a nightmare become a reality right there. And of course the nightmare recognizes them back. Aaaaaa when he licks the scar!!! Like, I didn’t know it was possible to rub salt over a closed wound! But then again, it never really closed in a way, did it? And now as they stare at their night terror in the flesh, now instead of (or added to) the regret of having failed as a hunter in their own eyes, there is also the regret of what they did to Eclipse, right at that moment when there is nothing they can do to fix it.

Ahhh, I was always so sure that in that first encounter the demon meant to possess y/n!! The way you describe it if I remember correctly, was that they felt trapped by those eyes and it seemed to me more like losing themselves rather than being about to die. Of course it could be he was just prolonging it, but I wonder if there is a certain affinity that would make a demon consider a human a good vessel.

(Sidenote: again very tense moment during the possession, but I was also so excited to see the reference to Help Wanted, with the locked door and the chains and the darkness as they were possessed. Even the bit about everything turning purple when it happens in game!)

Ok, ok, I also just have some rambling about predictions and stuff about the future! That seal is definitely not gonna stay in that pocket just doing nothing. I wonder if they would use it on themselves to trap the demon and guarantee an exorcism where it can’t escape, or maybe the cornfield demon somehow learns about it and uses it against the boys to hinder them when they eventually arrive (though this one seems less likely to me). And following that train of thought, I’m wondering how the exorcism might go (if there is one) to free y/n. They are certainly strong-willed, but also very quick to deem themselves as expendable to get the job done. (Twice regarding the vampires for example, willing to let the vampires drink from them to kill them with holy water even if it could kill them and also when they talk about finishing themselves if they were to turn into a vampire. Also once when just after the reveal, they contemplated not letting Eclipse have a fresh human vessel.)

Also, I’m just so unsure about what might happen to Vanessa! She has spent the most amount of time with this demon. He might kill her, but it’s just as likely that he would abandon her there. She’s dehydrated and famished, and physically weak. If he were to leave her there, it would likely be with the hope that she will die to the elements. Though it would certainly provide a moment for the boys to find her. And Vanessa has a lot of valuable info on this demon’s modus operandi.

And ahhhh I’m also just thinking about the aftermath! Y/n probably desperately wants to apologize to them. But with their self-doubt and how they told them to stay away, they might think they will not come for them. So when everything is said and done, when Eclipse does come for them, I can see a lot of teary exhausted apologies and maybe, just maybe a new vow being made. 

This last part was so scattered but gjkdhñg lots of thoughts as always hehe

Awesome chapter as always, Naff! Thanks for the pain, looking forward to more! X3 

And that’s it from me! I am so excited for the resolution! I can’t believe we are almost there!

Chaotik, I am spinning you around, ahhh! I have been rereading this over and over, and I am smooching your big brain *mwah*

One thing I have to talk about because you pointed out (and so far the only one to have done so) is the moment Y/N said "I'm scared" because as you put it, "...they have expressed that they do feel fear when they hunt, but always they try to put a brave face during the fact. They hate looking weak and incapable. They’re always the one swearing that it will be fine and they’ll take care of things."

That really is them using the boys' care against them, as at this point, Y/N intends to use it to play along, letting the boys' think Y/N is still so gullible and frail (much to their own chagrin) and distracting Sun with their sudden need for comfort. Y/N has never admitted to being scared in the middle of an encounter or otherwise gruesome scene. This was entirely about trapping a demonic cryptid in a salt circle.

I'm really happy you noticed that! Y/N is still a cryptid hunter and they are intelligent and cunning when it comes to their craft. Of course, they were oblivious to their dear friend being a cryptid, but now that there's little doubt in their mind that Eclipse just slaughtered fellow cryptid hunters? Y/N can't let them go. Y/N was on the hunt, they just couldn't finish it ;-; (and for the best, it would turn out hehe)

Thank you so much! I look forward to your comments and I love your analysis! I'm so excited for the ending ♥ Thanks, babe!

[harleiquina]

All TV series I've ever seen II

Let's see how many I remember from this time period.

1940 - 1970

1980 - 2000 (this post)

2010 - Now

1983 - V

Aliens have come to Earth but they are nice and willing to help us... or so they say.

Everybody remembers Diana eating rats, the dramatic face reveal of any reptilian, Freddy Krueger beeing a good guy (this time) and I'm sure Stephenie Meyers wish that Reneesme/Jacob had the same level of acceptance than "the child from the stars" (name given in Latinoamerica, don't know if it was also used in the original show) and whats-his-name.

Saw it on TV but we also bought the bootleg DVD because my mom and aunt never saw the ending of the show as kids.

1985 - Amazing Stories

I hardly remember anything (I was too young when it was played on TV) but I do remember beeing traumatized by Christopher Lloyd's severed (and reattached) head.

It was created by Spielberg, some stories land better than other ones. Maybe I should try and rewatch some?

1986 - Sledge Hammer

Is he sexist, violent, gun-lover and conservative AF? Yes... but he's also hilarious! This is satire people! Don't be like the NRA that gave somekind of award to this fictional character because they have the same level of comprehension than a brick.

Saw it on TV but it is also available on Youtube.

1986 - ALF

Alien finds himself on a typical american family house and chaos begins.

Do you live under a rock? Don't you know who ALF is? Just go watch it.

It was on TV when I was growing up, I'm pretty sure you can find it anywhere.

1989 - The Simpsons

I will keep on saying it, we argentineans speak in 3 languages: Spanish, Lunfardo (a Buenos Aires dialect but each province has their own as well) and Simpsons' quotes (latin spanish obviously, everyone agrees that it's the definitive Simpsons). Earlier seasons are better, we all know that... they kind of lose us when the original latin dubbers were replaced (it would seem that Disney brought them back but I hardly watch TV now, so I don't know)

1989 - Eureeka's castle.

I don't remember a THING about it but my family says that I was obsessed. It's a Muppet-style show of a young witch apprentice and her friends.

Upon further looking, it was co-written by R. L. Stine? So I didn't got into Goosebumps as a child but got this... who knows?

1989 - Agatha Christie's Poirot

I haven't watched everything just yet (it's been on for 20 years, people!) but I do like David Suchet's Hercules Poirot (my family disagrees because for them Poirot will always be Peter Ustinov). Hey, at least it's not Albert Finney!

1990 - Caloi en su tinta (Caloi in his own ink - Argentina)

It wasn't a series properly said... it didn't have a story to follow. Caloi was a very important artist in my country (his character Clemente became a staple in our comics just like Mafalda) and he had this TV show where he curated animations of all kinds, from all over the world. I remember seeing a stop-motion version of Barber of Sevilla and I think that I also saw Queen's Innuendo videoclip for the first time in here.

Some stories were funny, others melancholic, elegant or grotesque... but all of them were Art, with a capital A.

1990 - Twin Peaks

I don't understand the hype around this show. The only thing that I though was cool was to have a season and a half to find the killer.

Before someone tells me "you have to think how ground breaking it was in the time it came up" or "it's high end art, open your mind to it" trust me I can do that... it doesn't change the fact that I don't see why so many people like it so much.

I'll grant it a few points for showing us David Duchovny as a trans woman FBI agent that saves the day on the episode she shows up. I did like the character.

1993 - The Nanny

What would happen if instead of María taking care of Von Trapp's children in the Alps, we had a jewish it-girl from Flushing, Queens? That was Fran Drescher's pitch, the rest is history.

I got to confess I usually get bored with sit-coms but this is the only one that I can watch over and over again (and the final episode still brings single tear in my eye). Yeah, the whole plot of Fran trying to get pregnant was dragged for too long, but still it's like 3 or 4 episodes, no biggy (unless my memory fails, it's been a while).

1993 - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

For whatever reason a alien (?) race decided that teenagers are the appropiate warriors so they choose 5 Angel Grove locals to kick Galactic-Witch Rita's ass. Monsters that grow size but still look like rubber suits, the Rangers use spandex but for whatever reason they release sparks when a blade touches them. Still sweet little 4 year old me loved this show.

I checked a few episodes on Youtube not too long ago and I was pleasently surprised by the fact that each monster represented a struggle the Rangers where having on their civilian life... so facing and defeating them actually helped these kids in their ordinary life. A nice message that I completely forgot while self-convincing myself that this show was a lot dumber than I remembered.

Oh! By the way when it was on TV I watched -maybe- up to season 2. When the movie came out I was shocked that Jason, Trini and Zack were not in it.

1993 - The X Files

The most recognizable tune ever, the OG monster-of-the-week format, a skeptic + a believer, some comedy, another bit of drama and , in ocassions, straight-up horror = one of the greatest TV shows ever made.

Regardless what people think I preffer Agent Dogget (there, I said it!!) to Mulder, but of course that sunflower-seed eater, porn aficionado, spooky guy will always be loved either way.

Of course I didn't watched on TV (my mom and aunt had that privilege, I was literally a baby) but I got the whole series on bootleg DVD.

1993 - Frasier

I only watched a few mixed up episodes and I have the first 4 seasons on bootleg DVD but it was my aunt who liked it the most.

A psicologyst with a radio TV show has to live with his dad and his brother visits very often.

You might recognize them as Sideshow Bob and his brother as well.

1994 - Friends

Watched it on cable when I had it, mixed up as usual but still... for whatever reason sitcoms bore me... and this is not the exception. Again, I don't understand the hype.

1995 - Xena: Warrior princess

Ancient Greece, a female warrior... my (probably by the time we got it in Argentina) 6 year-old self loved this show. Until certain fling with Hercules... I didn't liked romance then (or now, but I'm a little more tolerant as an adult) and it ruined the show for me.

Yes, now I see certain undertones that my youngself didn't. I get it. Leave me alone!

1995 - Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Yeah... I didn't liked Hercules but I watched a few episodes either way. I always liked a good fight on TV.

1996 - Sabrina, the teenage witch

Who didn't wanted to have magical powers growing up becuse of her?

I can't really tell how many season I've watched because, as I said, in Argentina you were lucky if the TV channels bought more than 2 season to repeat on end. Still... I didn't quite liked it as much once she left for collage. Kinda lost its magic *wink, wink*

1996 - Millenium

The year 2000 was upon us and the promise of the end of the world, so Chris Carter decided to play a little bit with it.

Frank Black is a retired agent that has a peculiar way of getting into the mind of the criminals (the audience is the only one that knows that he can see what the criminals see... live) so he is called over an over again to help on different cases.

It ended too soon (got cancelled I believe) but it has its final episode in season 9 of The X Files (if I'm not mistaken). It deals a lot with religion (mostly Christianity) and its a lot darker than Mulder & Scully's adventures (with the exception of that one episode where 4 demons get together in a coffe shop -desguised as old men- and tell their latest works done).

1997 - Meego

I got to be honest with you... I hardly remember anything from this TV show. It was basically ALF but with a human playing an alien instead of a puppet. Still we remember it fondly at home so I guess it was good enough?

1998 - Charmed

Argentina beeing Argentina, I saw a few seasons... maybe... I do remember that I liked more the original 3 sisters.

It's fun... sometimes cheesy... as any tv or film of that time.

1998 - Will & Grace

As I said, sitcoms end up becoming boring and repetitive. But that doesn't take away that sometimes jokes are good... some are very 90, but ah, well...

2000 - Dark Angel

Maybe I saw 2 season on TV but I was obsessed.

Typical supersoldiers experiments developed this superhuman creatures that got tired of beeing an experiment and broke out the facility when they were children, so now as grown ups live in our society. The lead Max (Jessica Alba) has a job as a courrier but every now and then steals, that's how she meets Logan a journalist with vigilante tendencies that needs someone to do the dirty work.

2000 - CSI (later known as Las Vegas)

Have I ever watched a show just to laugh at it? Yes, and it was called CSI, the original (I saw a lot of Miami as well).

I had a few glimpses here and there from this procedural that were the definition of Deus-ex-machina and later I decided to give it a shot just to see if, within this universe, it made sense. And nope.

If one of mom's doctors dissed House for his nearly-impossible diagnosis... I'm pretty sure some forensics did the same with Grissom's team.

Side note I really love Ted Danson, that guy is awesome.

2001 - Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

At first I thought it was a yet another The Brain + Person that explains him like many others... but Goren and Eames are the best detective duo. PERIOD.

You get to see them investigating (so Goren, mostly, doesn't know everything off the bat... he does go to the library, kids) and Eames is not just a blank space for the audience to jump in and have Goren explain everything to her. My favourite moments are when she can add up to his theory by just having the female side of things.

Goren isn't the typical I-only-think kind of detective (like, let's say Poirot) he can -and will- get into dangerous situations when needed.

You have to watch for D'onofrio's performance.

I like Jeff Goldblum as well... but his season was kinda... meh

2002 - Los Simuladores (The Pretenders - Argentina)

What if there was a group of people to solve any kind of situations? And what if this situations are quite basic, borderline stupid, like meeting the in-laws, giving a hard exam at the end of the year and such?

This is it, that's the plot.

This was a huge hit back in the day but it took me a decade (almost) to watch because if you knew argentinean tv and film as I do... you wouldn't believe that there are actually some good ideas burried very very deep in the mud.

2002 - Monk

A detective with OCD is soooo good at his job but cannot be a detective again because of it (it got worse once his wife died in a attack). Fun and wholesome... maybe it did dragged for too long.

And no matter what... we are Sharona stans in this house!

2002 - CSI Miami.

Just like CSI I watched it just to make fun of it (and because in cable they will put all CSIs together in one afternoon so it was easier to compare them).

At least this one didn't take itself too seriously!

2003 - Tru Calling

Med student has a weird ability where dead people can reach her and make her repeat the day to try and save their lives.

It ended too soon on a great cliffhanger that we will never see resolved. Damn it!

2004 - Lost

We all know Lost... it started great... and it ended.

Luckily for me the TV channel where I was watching it stopped after season 4 and I never bothered to try and catch up again.

2004 - House MD

Sherlock Holmes goes to med school and instead of solving crimes, he solves impossible diagnostics.

Gotta give it to Hugh Laurie for beeing a lovable a-hole the whole time.

It did lasted too long for me, I didn't watch the final seasons but I did watched a few mixed up episodes in cable so I kinda know what happens after, lets say... season 4? (the final one I've watched, maybe).

2004 - CSI New York

Same as the others. Just watched for Gary Sinise and Edward Furlong's guest appearence.

2004 - Miss Marple

I was never a fan of Miss Marple in writting... but on TV she is less annoying.

How come she is never suspicious? She's always around when a crime happens!

2005 - Invasion

Does anybody else remembers this TV show set after the Katrina hurricane that, apparently, also uncovered a race of aliens living underwater that have a body-snatching way of taking over the world? It's only 1 season, got cancelled I believe and I watched it on TV at 6 or 7 AM while getting ready to go to school. Ah, old times!

2005 - Mosca & Smith (Argentina)

(Mosca can be translated as "Fly" -the bug- but in this case is the character's Last Name so I'll leave it as it is)

Buddy cop with two overly eccentric characters. A silly comedy with some really in-depth meta humor of argentinean justice system. Some jokes are in poor taste... and I think it got raunchier in it's second season (I didn't watched it because one of the leads was replaced and the 2nd actor didn't had the same punch)

2005 - Bones

A forensic anthropologyst helps the FBI to solve crimes.

This is the BrainTM taken to an extreme. Dr. Temperance Brennan just can't be good at eeeeeverything. This kinda changed as seasons passed but still... who says smart people is always entirely clueless about how to be a normal human? And why so egocentric? (Most truly smart people are usually super-humble because they know that there is a lot more to learn).

In any case, it is fun. Watched on TV (earlier seasons) and continued on bootleg DVD.

2006 - Ugly Betty

The main reason why I didn't listed Betty, la fea in here it's because it is a telenovela (soap opera) everybody in Latinoamérica watched it. Some things are not so good (maybe I'll write about it one day) but overall it had a good story.

Those dubious things got changed in the U.S version... and it changed the whole story. It was easier to create something new than trying to bring people on board using a name that is well beloved to a certain ethnicity... just saying.

2007 - El Hombre que volvió de la muerte (The man that came back from Death -Argentina)

Think of a mash up of The Count of Montecristo and V for Vendetta.

It was a remake of a TV show done in the 60s... 70s? By Narciso Ibañez Menta, a Spanish actor that was naturalized as argentinean and was our very own mix of Boris Karloff (with his love for make up) and Vincent Price (he did a lot of Edgan Allan Poe stories as well). The original story was about Elmer Van Hess, who was subject to different experiments. The lab caughts on fire, he's inside and survives. For whatever reason his organs end up being given to other people so he embarks on a quest to retrieve them.

The remake also had Elmer Van Hess who was a happy fool about to get married, his boss and associates set him up and ends up in prision for fraud. Not happy with that, his boss strikes a deal with a Doctor so Elmer can be his human guinea pig (in order to do so, he asks other inmates to torture him while in prision so his only escape would be to go with the Doctor). He's experimented on as results he gets superhuman strenght and, of course, the chemicals affect his brain turning him into a very dark and blood-lust creature. The lab is set on fire, everybody thinks he died but he comes back 10 years later ready to take revenge on all of them. He was very cruel and his idea of revenge was very Saw-like... but deep down he's still in love with his almost-wife and she's the only one that can sort of ease him in the worst moments.

For an argentinean fiction it was very good.

2008 - Fringe

The X Files but even crazier? You got it.

Mom and I did got lost after season 4... but we still have the bootleg DVDs, it's just that we should start all over again and we don't have a lot of time 😝

2008 - The Mentalist

A guy is so good at reading people that decides to ripp them off saying that he's a medium. He got the wrong guy, this guy kills his family so now it's personal!

Patrick Jane's quirks might be amusing in the early episodes but after a while you, just like everyone else on the show, will want to punch him in the face.

From my little corner of the Earth I scream: Justice for Cho!! He also deserved a happy ending!

2009 - Doll House

A bunch of people got their memories wiped and now they receive other memories (fabricated sometimes) to take on dangerous tasks.

Dubious consent galore... but overall the premise was engaging. It lasted 3 seasons, the third one included a time-jump... the end didn't quite landed for me but... meh! It's entertaining at least.

2009 - Flashfoward

The entire world fainted at the same time. Everybody had visions of the future... so now some things need to be prevented for whatever reason.

Only one season, got cancelled. I don't remember a thing except the tribute to one of Jorge Luis Borges stories (El Jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan/ The garden of paths that bifurcate) and another to David Bowie's song Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. That's all I remember, I swear.

2009 - Modern Family

Sitcom that broke some barriers on what a typical family looks like. It's fun...but yeah, it also bored me.

Note to everybody: not all latinos sound like Sofía Vergara... not even Sofía Vergara sounds like Sofía Vergara the whole time.

[cetaitlaverite]

oc masterlist

introducing you to my babies. you can find links to all of their fics here.

anything to anywhere

stella finley

stella is a ferry pilot for the air transport auxiliary. she's good at her job and knows it, and will stop at nothing until everyone else knows it too. she loves things that fly, especially birds, and hates her own prettiness, which has only ever slowed her down. if a man is going to force her into a conversation she is absolutely going to manipulate it so they’re talking about whatever she wants to talk about (most often whichever bird she’s interested in at the moment). she's fiery, passionate, and talkative.

why all this music?

wilfrieda ‘freddie’ leroy

freddie is a classical pianist at heart but a wireless operator by necessity. almost immediately after the outbreak of war she joined the WAAFs and she’s been there ever since. the greatest loves of her life belong to her past, but her closest friends like to think she’ll find some new ones soon - or maybe just one new one, a certain someone who won’t take her rejection at face value. freddie has a heart of gold but doesn’t like to let people know it. she finds comfort in playing the music from her childhood, talking to the stars, and benny demarco’s dog meatball.

millicent ‘millie’ harlow

millie has known half-hearted love a thousand times over but, a romantic at heart, she’s always dreamed of finding a man who will properly steal her heart and give her his in return. she would never have guessed that man would come in the form of a pilot she cannot stand when they first meet. she’s a wireless operator with a big heart and a sharp tongue, always a shoulder to cry on and a safe space for her nearest and dearest.

the spirit of the corps

charlotte ‘charlie’ lancaster

charlie is the main character of ‘the spirit of the corps’. the daughter of wealthy parents from lancaster, new hampshire, she graduates college early and heads overseas at 19. she’s shy and naïve, but brave and resolved to help. she loves books, pink roses, and chocolate chip cookies, and blushes an awful lot more than she’d like to.

mabel ‘mabs’ edison

mabel comes from a big family, filled to bursting with boys. when all of her brothers end up spread across the world to fight in the war, she leaves dallas, texas in an effort to save lives where so many are being taken. she loves boys, flirting, and is an excellent mathematician. she’s guilty of calling everyone ‘darlin’ in that thick accent of hers.

violet ‘boo’ hollister

violet, affectionately nicknamed boo, wants to put as much space between herself and her family as possible, though she’s tight-lipped as to why. she’s desperately shy but effervescent with those she trusts. she loves dancing, music, and the colour yellow.

autumn vogel

autumn is something of an enigma to those around her, though no less loved because of it. she has a mysterious past and a reckless fire in her eyes. the way she talks about life hints that she doesn’t plan on taking it for granted. she loves jigsaw puzzles, photography, and her friends above all else.

henriette ‘henry’ maddox

henry is the commanding officer of the 23rd field hospital nurses. initially, she’s cold, ruthless, and strict, but when she learns to trust them she opens herself up a little. something about her hints at loss and a reluctance to let anyone close. unfortunately for her, those around her will never cease trying.

all things nice

josephine ‘posey’ ‘duckie’ wells

posey leaves london for boston as an evacuee during the blitz, but with a brother in the raf and a mother at risk of being bombed she soon decides sitting idle across the pond won’t do. accompanied by her trusty childhood best friend, a teddy bear named teddy, she cuts off all of her hair and disguises herself as a man. she laughs loudly, swears a lot, and is terrible at holding her alcohol. those who love her would describe her as a whirlwind. those who don’t would describe her as fearless.

the shadows duology

juliette chevalier

juliette was born in bordeaux, france and moved to london, england when she was eleven. initially a code breaker, she was quickly recruited to work for the special operations executive as a spy. she’s as affectionate as a puppy and equally as enthusiastic with her hugs. she loves art, reading, and, eventually, life.

juliette’s boys

the boys in juliette’s team are tom, will, martin, and alexis. a patchwork of personalities, she loves them all dearly and would do anything for them. her best friend, however, is tom, a platonic soulmate in its truest form. no one understands her like tom and no one ever will. they’ll never be in love but will always be attached at the hip. the team has been through everything together and are more siblings than colleagues. they laugh at, sob for, scream at, and fight with each other, but they never doubt how much they’re all loved.

[angisam]

Chapter 1

Summary:

Each new owner who gains custody of you is stupider than the last, but it was The Old Drunkard who sealed your fate of remaining trapped in a disgusting piece of sludge they call a tank. You would have given anything to have it be your own claws and teeth who stole his life in retaliation, but it was the no-humans who took that honor. Now you have new owners, new eyes full of curiosity interested in you. You don’t like it, that was never a good thing. But maybe, just maybe, you can take this new change of ownership as an opportunity to meet the sea again. Just never forget: You can’t trust anyone. Not again [History of Siren Y/N meeting the animatronic crew led by Sun and Moon etc]

Chapter 2: The Beast fights

You don't know how long you've been sleeping, no enough, definitely not enough, but you wake up by the sound of them tearing the ship apart.

As tired as you are, you can't sleep with such a bloody racket. You're sick of so much noise and you just want to smash things to get rid of some of the frustration that keeps piling up on your shoulders, unfortunately for you, that kind of fun is only available to those other beings. So you can only settle for staying inside in the privacy of your hollow trunk, thinking while you watch them work.

As far as you can see from the little ruts and holes the battered trunk gives you, there's not a human in sight. Not even someone from Old Drunkard's crew.

You don't need many clues to deduce what has happened to them, you feel neither pity nor glee at not seeing those people again, but you really would have liked to have personally taken care of The Idiot.

The bastard died in combat and not drowned in his own vomit. You would have liked to have seen it, and the disappointment put you in a worse mood.

Now, to the interesting thing, you thought two Unsouling together was weird, but six?!... You didn't know what to think about it. The Loudmouth was a cocky cretin, the possibility that he was lying about the 'expensive creatures' was taking a lot of chances.

However, as much as you would like to believe that they were simply things that anyone could get, you had a feeling that they were not, and that he didn't lie to you. The man was many things, and for better or worse he seemed to be completely honest when he spoke.

Which meant that the possibility that you were now in the possession of a rich and powerful human made you very anxious and the very thought of it overwhelmed you. Actually you always felt nervous when you changed ownership, you never knew what to expect.

You decided not to think too much and live in the moment now.

At least you can feel the warmth of the day for the first time in a long time. Soaking up the clean oxygen after an eternity in the muck. The water barely covers half of your body, crawling along the ground ignoring the diseased scales, thorns and other debris. The world comes to a standstill for a few seconds and it's just you with a hint of happiness.

The dark wooden cap over your head had vanished, making you remember those times where you rested on the shore of a beach.

You close your eyes and breathe.

It was good that your kind could breathe air for a limited time. You don't know if that information was known for them or if it was simply fortuitous for both.

As much as you would like to ignore the presence of the pesky earthlings and go on with your happy fantasy, though, the creatures were still destroying the cursed ship, plundering it until they could squeeze out the last drop of usable utility they could get it.

They were literally ripping up chunks of wood, not just plundering whatever resources the crew had... you have no idea why they would do something like that but it's clear they wouldn't stop until they left a shell floating adrift.

You glanced around at the heads hovering around. Six was the number of crew you had seen so far. You had only met a single being like them in the past, so you didn't know what to think as you watched them work so coordinated.

At first you were alert as you watched them install what they called a pulley system to lift the tank, after they made the roof disappear. You were terribly tempted to start unbalancing the tank as they lifted you up, but your common sense reasoned that it was too much effort in the face of the possibility of dying among broken glass.

You were glad you had conserved that energy for a better use.

"UUHHGG, Stop messing around already!" The greenish-colored, stretched-mouthed Unsouling quickly pushed his broom away saving himself from being split by your powerful chomp.

"Please...make things easier for us" Another Unsouling, with a mop and softer and rounder face, features spoken in a tired but calm voice.

You weren't going to make things easy for them. You were having too much fun.

The crewman with the mop saw your intentions as he noticed how you were getting ready to pounce, pulling his tool away just as you were about to strike.

Both beings were making a great effort to clean their part of the tank while you were making a great effort to prevent it.

You had lost a lot of strength and speed during all these years of being a prisoner of humans. A little voice reminded you with every gasp and pause that you were degraded, weak and sick, but you tried to shake it off convinced that in reality this big guy just possessed impressive reflexes.

The thrill of the "hunt" was also a great way to not overthink things and just release some frustration.

Despite your games, they were doing a great job. At least the Big Guy was getting it done without too much trouble. You had chosen as your main focus this greenish Unsouling to annoy.

Because, frankly, it was fun.

You stand with your back to the Greenish Unsouling pretending to keep an eye out for the Big Guy's mop while you wait for time to pass to find your opportunity. Fool your prey, make sure he diverts his attention away from you. Make him feel confident and secure.

Wait for the right moment while 'trying' to catch the Big Guy's mop with clumsy and silly movements.

You wait.

Wait.

Come a little closer.

Wait more.

He's not looking.

NOW!.

"HEY!" You thrust your whole body in a single leap. The sound of something breaking along with the sensation of sharp shavings in your mouth felt heady, watching out of the corner of your eyes as the remaining piece of wood keeps you company floating in the water.

Greenish stared in shock and immobility at his now useless handle.

"AGAIN!" The splintered stick was being pointed accusingly at you, who remained grinning mischievously and spitting chunks of wood proudly.

You can still do it

Listening to the tantrums of this cranky Unsouling is making the day wonderful. He looked easy to anger, easy to tease, it was entertaining to get such an effusive reaction to you and apparently, he couldn't do anything but suck it up and scream. That was the fun part. Feeling like you could handle it somehow.

Quite a contrast to his partner. He is much patient or at least does a great job of ignoring you or not getting annoyed by your attempts to stress him out. Sometimes you get the feeling that he is able to read your moves before you make them.

He was no longer of interest to you if he didn't bother, let alone create major frustration for you.

It made you feel vulnerable

There was nothing wrong with them trying to clean up the mess you hated so much. In fact you were looking forward to them doing it, internally you appreciated it immensely but it would be stupid to waste this moment of fun that was so rare.

Greenish hissed at you, squinting his eyes, tired of your games and you hissed back politely with a harsh laugh as you watched him squeeze the handle until it burst into tiny splinters under his fist.

This 'hunt' besides being a casual entertainment, you hoped it would also help with your image of 'being just a dumb, wild animal', as you had little desire to interact with them or that they would have any interest in educating you or anything like that. You preferred the freedom of unconsciousness.

"You think you're so funny? You wouldn't be laughing so loud if I went down there and-" Another broom whacked into his face without warning. Neither he nor you saw that attack coming. Greenish almost fell inside in an attempt to grab the thing as he juggled to keep from falling off his tall ladder, almost keeping you company inside the tank.

You looked at where the new broom had appeared from.

"You're going to fix that later" announced another one of those beings. This one reminded you more of the one you first met but with silver hair and more stripes. And more blunt.

It was quite striking and you didn't know what to think about it.

Three of them were currently tearing apart the Old Drunkard's ship, the other three were with you, but only the Silver one stood apart from the group and therefore away from you without doing much more than looking at his strange green claws.

You respected that She stayed away from you, so you ignored her presence until she decided to attack his companion.

"Make sure you don't break this one. It's the last one." As soon as you heard her speak you got the feeling that her character was smug, somehow it reminded you of the Loudmouth.

"YOU'RE supposed to use THIS" One of his fists hit the edge of your tank throwing a vibration throughout the structure. The blow made you flinch in surprise. These beings were brute force, maybe with a little luck he would break the glass.

You failed in your multiple attempts but maybe Greenish could.

"Why should I? You know how I hate the smell of fish and that smells like weeks old rotten fish. I don't want to smell that disgusting stench for the rest of the trip" You almost gasped in offense but the truth is she was absolutely right, you had simply gotten used to the smell of rotten.

You could tell how the handle of the new broom was starting to give in to the abuse.

You began to like the idea of seeing a fight between the two of them, when you heard small cracks forming in the wood.

"AND YOU THINK THAT-"

"Monty!" The Big Guy's reprimanding and firm voice dryly snuffed out any complaints. he even made you jump in surprise again when you discover that he could actually shout "Monty, just keep cleaning up, it's not worth arguing with her about this" The resignation was palpable in his words, as if it wasn't the first time these two had argued like this.

Greenish, Monty, ignored his partner and continued their discussion as if he had never heard anything.

"We were put in charge of taking care of the damn fish and I'm not going to do all the work because you don't want to smell like fish, get over here and clean up the muck!" The Silver one simply looked at her nails disregarding any reproach, blatantly averting her eyes for more mockery .

"Like I said, I prefer not to smell like rotten fish, like you already do, thank you" You looked at Greenish very interested in his reaction.

"We're in the middle of the sea, you already smell like rotten fish, you always have! Get your ass over here and get to work!" biting that stick was the best decision you ever made.

"HOW DARE YOU?" The Silver One came striding over to where the Greenish was standing. Who just glared at her angrily from the top of the ladder knowing she wasn't going to get her broom back.

Her neck lengthened more with each step only to keep her sour, scowling gaze on her companion.

"Take that back right now or I'll rip your tail off and throw it into the sea!"

"HA! I would but that would be discarding a FACT" You heard a sort of rabid roar and next you see how the Silver one threw a kick at the ladder.

By now you were tense-shouldered, tail wagging and excited by what you were seeing, you were about to witness a fight between two brutal beasts. With a little luck you would not only have fun but they would break your prison and you could escape from there.

The probabilities were low but you didn't rule out any chance of escape no matter how small.

Babbling indecipherable curses between hisses, The Greenish recovered from the fall and with a single gesture threw his head next to the forehead of The Silver One.

You could see the clenched fists and hear the dangerous clicks, The Silver One showed no fear, undaunted by his threats.

It was strange the passivity The Silver One showed in the face of the clear threat, you turned to look at the Big Guy to see what he thought of all this. He was no longer cleaning up, he was still watching and studying the evolution of the fight with concern but at the same time... annoyed? tired? you weren't sure how to read that look exactly.

"Take it away I stink" The words sounded as smooth and lethal as a harpoon.

"After throwing me against the ground? What I'm going to take back is your damn mop-like scalp!"

"Take it back!" you widened your eyes excited for what was coming as you heard the clear last warning.

"You'll still stink of waste" they both shot a step back and pulled your claws out in front of each other.

"Monty, Roxanne! Stop this, there's no point" You heard the Big Guy's concerned and alert voice but what made everything stop wasn't his voice.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO SUPPOSED TO BE DOING!?" you twitch in fright at the rabid shout and shoot your head around to discover Captain Blue on the gunwale of the other boat, very upset and about to tear off the wood clenching his hands.

"Were you just going to stand there and watch!?" his head was looking up, where the Big Guy was cowering a little guiltily at the top of the stairs.

"...I didn't feel like going back to the bottom of the sea" It was a firm but somewhat unsure answer that he could offer as an excuse.

You hear a thump, along with several tinkling sounds, as if a multitude of things were colliding but didn't have much room to move. On the other side of the ship, next to Captain Blue, a heavy looking crate was placed. Some hands prevent it from escaping overboard into the sea, it is another of the Unsouling, Whitey, which reminds you too much of a rare seagull because of its particular face.

"I remember that day. It was quite a bliss that we were near an island, picking him up from the bottom would have been a problem."

"Don't remind me..." You saw the interaction between the Odd Seagull and the Big Guy, you didn't quite understand the problem but you understand that these beings don't swim very well. The idea never occurred to you. You hide your smile between your shoulders imagining these beings slowly sinking to the bottom and walking to dry land.

"This brainless brute says I stink!" The broom flew shot towards The Silver One and before you knew what had happened, she was gripping the tool with both hands, snarling and practically slamming her forehead into her larger rival's as they shot hateful glances at each other.

"Not enough yet, clean the goddamn tank!" hissed Greenish, pushing her forehead forward even more.

You back up a bit not wanting to be anywhere near their fight, broken and cutting glass is not what you want on top of it in case they started fighting. The silver one screams in protest pushing her partner, not taking off their heads. Surprisingly the broom remains intact between 4 fists, as they seemed to concentrate all their strength on pushing each other with their faces.

You look at Captain Blue and you can see him stroking his head with both hands, as if he has an unbearable headache as he looks out to sea begging for patience. You don't envy him when the Odd Seagull strokes his back to help him relax somehow.

Captain Blue's fists scream stop when they suddenly dig in fast enough and hard enough to make the splinters in the wood jump.

"You two have got me fed up with your foolish bickering! I don't care who started it this time, all I care about is emptying this ship and cleaning that fish tank. You two get on with the cleaning, I want that tank full by the time we get back. Roxanne goes with Chica and loads the stuff onto the boat. I don't want to deal with this now" Those were his last words before turning to leave without giving a chance to hear complaints or reproaches.

"Fine" With a gesture of arrogance and pride, The Silver One, Roxanne, turned away from the Greenish not without first giving him a shove and pushing him out of her way. In one leap she moved on to the other boat without bothering to look back. The Odd Seagull had to quickly pick up her crate when she saw that she was falling behind when the silvery head of her companion disappeared through one of the hatches.

You look sideways at the Greenish waiting for some reaction or response and in fact , there is one there. The broom hits the glass in front of you so unexpectedly that you jump away in sudden surprise, but quickly recover and watch a little unsteadily as he trembles with his eyes closed and his fists clenched as if he's holding something back.

The scene becomes, well, interesting when he starts kicking and punching the air, turning in on himself and mumbling incomprehensible sounds.

He's having... a real tantrum.

You recoil again when you see him spinning around very close to you, though you notice he's not paying you the slightest bit of attention, too busy with his imaginary fight.

You hear a long, tired sigh behind you. The Big Guy has started down the stairs. You stare at it unsure what it's going to do is it going to leave and abandon you with its crazy partner? but instead it just stands at a safe distance from its partner's random jiggling, waiting patiently for him to cool down.

The Greenish spent quite a while fighting against nothingness and it started to get uncomfortably boring, giving way to thrashing, you couldn't figure out what it was doing, until something clicks in your head and you realize: it's actually holding himself back. Every time he tries to kick something solid he stops, grunts and turns to punch the air again.

Earthlings are weird, each and every one of them without exception and these freaks are even weirder, though you suppose that seeing the splinters on the other ship where Captain Blue's fists left their memory, it's probably for the best for them to have some self-control.

You wanted to annoy them, you had no expectation that they would do anything, but the thought of them breaking the glass and being able to have free access to you no longer seems tempting.

"How do you feel?" The soft words that come out of the Big Guy when the other seems tired of his tantrums.

"I'd be better off if you all would let me smash something, there's a nice ship in there that no one will miss" A palm lands with moral support on his shoulder. You can't see the Greenish's reaction because their backs are to you but you think he didn't expect it the way he jumped.

"You don't need it.you are doing great. Good job" That's the first animated thing you hear from the Big Guy. He genuinely seemed proud for some reason you don't understand.

"It would be easier if she didn't have to do HER job!".

You generally ignore other people's conversations but you're curious enough to find out about their problems, who knows maybe you can glean some useful information.

"she gets bad when you mess with her looks" You heard an indignant 'tsk'.

"Get over it, we're pirates now, surrounded by water and mold!" The Greenish is shouting again and you can tell how the Big Guy is trying to calm him down by waving his hands as if he can calm his anger.

"Monty, I know but customs are hard to-"

"Overcome?" she interrupted him "She's still having trouble adjusting because she refuses to change, however, I must 'forget my habits' without having a choice."

The Big Guy's shoulders slump at her words and you don't need to see his face to know he's disappointed with what he's heard "Your habits are called Anger Control Problems, and unlike Roxanne's insecurities, yours are destructive and involve a great deal of expense to maintain, expense that-"

"yeah yeah, shut the fuck up already" The greenish one looked away. You can sense some resignation, you're not sure if you also notice embarrassment or annoyance at his partner's scolding.

It bothers you not to be able to see their faces, you are better at reading terrestrials than understanding them, so you try to move to one side and the other to find the right position to spy on them, but they decided to turn their backs on you completely. Surely they did it on purpose, somehow they always seek to annoy you.

You leap when you see the Big Guy turn to you and for a moment you try to dissimulate believing that you caught his attention. However, all he did was pick up the abandoned and battered broom.

"It's still annoying" You heard the Greenish speak again, still annoyed and you can notice that 'not forgiving' tone to the subject.

"I don't dispute that" The big guy agreed with you and offered the tool. His partner reluctantly accepted the broom.

"Let's finish cleaning up, filling the tank again is going to take all day and it's best not to waste the light we have."

The scene is over and you both head to your respective positions to continue the interrupted tank cleaning.

You see the Greenish pick up the abandoned ladder right in front of you, so you inevitably cross glances.

"Get lost" He whispered spitefully to you waiting for you to walk away without complaint to continue cleaning what area he had left.

You looked at him definitely but changed your mind very quickly and backed away slowly without turning your back on him until you entered the hollow log. You know when to stay away from murky water.

And you thought it was merciful to let them finish anyway, because they thwarted your mood to continue bothering them.

You would have preferred to take advantage of the sunlight and relive the feeling of its warmth that you had been missing for so long, but you liked privacy better and you were used to not getting what you wanted.

You never really appreciate things until you are stripped of everything. You smack your forehead as you remember unwanted moments but it's too late, you remembered Him, your first owner.

The Bastard Hunter, he was the one who snatched you from the sea. He left you in a rectangular tank without much space and with nothing but four walls, a roof and a glass floor. You never knew how long you were stuck in there, only that you went crazy enough that time meant nothing to you and banged your head in a desperate attempt to escape outside to fade away from that hell.

The Loudmouth rescued you at your weakest moment, maybe that's why you thought you could trust him so much.

You shake your head and even start to beat yourself up. You don't need to relive those moments in your life now or ever. That was sand from the past.

***

**

*

Blue. It was all you could see around you, becoming clearer and clearer as you moved forward. You felt a continuous feeling of insecurity as small lines of light filtered through. However, despite the growing insecurity, curiosity and intrigue kept you on the path.

Two figures resembling you hit you from behind in their race to reach their shared destination. You find no eyes or mouths on them but no fear in their presence either, you know they were excited and encourage you to keep going as you swim around them before disappearing into the opacity of the sea.

From your side something much larger invades your field of vision. It was like a much larger and sturdier version of yourself that looked at you with silver, afflicted eyes, encouraging you not to be left behind with its gentle smile. As with the smaller versions the larger figure was disappearing into the opacity of the sea but you weren't worried because you knew it wouldn't be long before you saw them again.

A rise of land began to appear in the distance.

The blurry faced but familiar figures were waiting patiently for you, at least the larger version, the two smaller ones were swimming around you and pushing you when you finally reached them. You swam further and further towards the rise of land and felt dread when you saw the film of water that separated you from the world you knew, a world you felt safe in despite its dangers. You stood firmly and backed away, while the other two figures continued onward through the layer of water.

You saw their tails disappear from the water and you had come here to accomplish the same goal although you were not as eager to accomplish it as they were.

A delicate paw wrapped around your back and pulled you forward, when you looked into those eyes you knew you were safe with them. You were emboldened and swiftly swam forward to avoid thinking things through.

The feeling of heaviness was the first thing you felt but it was quickly buried when you opened your eyes and looked around you, you couldn't see the details around you there were empty, blurry gaps. You coughed some water out of your mouth as you unconsciously started to breathe. The two more energetic versions of you were playing with each other rolling in the wet dirt that clung to their scales, ignoring your arrival.

You hear the quiet splash of something else coming out of the water. The larger silver-eyed version crawled up to stand next to you, its gaze showing pride before it lay down and closed its eyes to rest and enjoy the warmth that reached its scales.

You didn't know what else to do so you followed his example and lay down with your eyes closed, a feeling of quality surrounded your back and you discovered you quite liked it.

It didn't take you long to fall unconscious knowing that you would be safe under those silver eyes.

***

**

*

You wake up slowly blinking in confusion as you stretch your stiff and sore muscles. You massage the dirt under your toes. It's been a long time since you've slept this well. Your eyes narrowed as in front of the log exit an orange beam of light filtered through the crisp water.

You came out instantly.

Everything was in order, clear, crystal , nothing floating in the way of your vision.

Finally.

Instantly you began to swim briskly around the tank, the water cleansing your contaminated and inflamed gills with a healing sting. You had forgotten what it was like to breathe clean water, it felt like an unheard of luxury to you. You really needed it.

You vaguely studied your surroundings with no real interest at the moment in where you were. All you could think about was how good it felt not to bump into any rotting particles. And also not to smell of stagnation.

You continue to swim along lively and carefree until the small light blinds you as you pass over it.

The light was coming from above. They had kept the lid of the fish tank off or perhaps didn't bother to put it back on. You could see the sky already falling a beautiful orange, you were near the cargo hatches.

Boxes, barrels and things you didn't care about surrounded you scattered all over the place but your focus was on the small light coming in. You closed your eyes in an attempt to feel some of the warmth but you could only settle for the fantasy knowing that you would not get warm down here.

For a beautiful moment no one but you and your happiness exists in this cruel reality that you have had to live, something so simple brings you an innate happiness and pleasant sensations from your breaks on the beach.

"No one should deprive any creature of sunlight" You stiffened instantly convinced that you had been left alone, abandoned in the cargo part until you reached your new destination. You slowly turned your head to where you thought you heard the voice. There, reclining on some crates and with his feet propped up comfortably on others was Thorns. The corners of your eyes crinkled and you bared your teeth at him though it didn't take you long to realize he wasn't even looking at you, he was too busy carving something between his hands.

"I'm sure that drunk Dinkis lived with a hangover every morning, I bet he never bothered to open the windows" He still didn't look up from whatever it was he was carving, you couldn't make out what it was his big hands covered the object as small pieces of wood kept falling to the ground.

You had no real interest in what he was doing but it always irritates you when you are not left alone. You found anger just thinking that he was watching and controlling you. You started circling the fish tank in annoyance taking big frustrated strides and churning the water with the wagging of your tail.

Thorns suddenly got up from where he was lying and by instinct you lunged in his direction, slamming yourself against the glass, painfully and ignoring that miscalculation on your part while showing your teeth in a cry of aggression. You really wanted to motivate them to leave you alone.

This seemed to catch you off guard but after a moderate surprise your shoulders returned to a normal state of calm.

You kept growling at him, glaring and waving at him as if you could pierce the glass at any moment, you would give to have that ability. Thorn's face still maintained its stern and calm attitude unconcerned by your clear attempts to kill but his smile showed sympathy.

You didn't like that they weren't afraid of you, it wasn't a good sign that he was so confident with you. That kind of arrogance is not good.

You still kept snorting but decided to tone it down to a complete stop, there was no point in continuing to waste your energy on something unproductive. He smiled as your shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Do you like it?" you could finally see the object in his hands. It was the carving of a siren, he had carved you. You turned your head without realizing it, wanting to see the details of the carving, you didn't know what to think that you were able to recognize yourself, there were certain scars on that little figurine.

He had quite a bit of detail, it gave you a shiver. Either he had a surprisingly good memory or he had somehow spied on you while you slept inside the trunk. Either way it didn't give you any sense of security.

"It's a welcome gift, I can think of one thing, give me a moment" He commented casually ignoring your gestures. He walked away from you and vanished into the walls of boxes surrounding you. You waited for him for a few seconds before circling your clean fish tank again taking it for granted that it would take him a while to do whatever it was he wanted but he returned within minutes of disappearing and you pretended you hadn't seen him.

"Maybe you can see it better that way" Out of the corner of your eye you raised your hand as if throwing something. The splash was almost expected. You had no intention of looking at what he had thrown inside, though if the alternative was to look at that smile in front of you...you finally gave in.

On one side of your tank a little bag was half sunk but that was not what caught your attention, the wooden figurine was bobbing in the water as if it was swimming with you thanks to the little bag tied as ballast. You slowly approached it as you watched the figure of yourself enjoy its clumsy swim.

"I hope you like it" You sucked the figurine between your teeth and shook it as if trying to pull its guts out. The pouch quickly dropped to the bottom as you cut the rope and spat the piece of wood out of your tank with contempt as you spun. The Unsouling shrugged as you turned your back on him without looking very affected or surprised.

You don't want gifts from anyone.

"I'll make it better the ne-"

"Sun, you better not get attached to them" From above the cargo entrance, half leaning out you find Captain Blue looking disapprovingly at Thorns before taking a step into the void and falling into the hold with the two of you.

"You know they'll be gone soon and we'll never see them again" You put your ear to it immediately, that sounded like something important, you continued to slowly swim around him so as not to be so obvious with your interest and feign indifference.

"It's just a little company, it's no big deal" Capitan Blue wasn't very convinced and you watched him pick up the piece of what was your gift and put it in front of his partner's face.

"What? You know I like crafts" It was striking to see him joking while being scolded. Isn't that a big deal? Maybe you were wrong and it wasn't Captain? No, he had to be, you were sure. Thorns surely didn't respect his authority.

"A little courtesy never killed anyone but if it makes you feel any better, I'll tell Freddy that..." Moon began to smile a soft laugh before it sounded like a forced laugh.

"And Chica will be your relief won't she?" He stopped laughing as his partner's gaze glanced annoyedly at the ground. Captain Blue sighed.

"Look, we've already made it clear that it will be Monty and Roxanne who take care of everything regarding the siren. There's nothing more to say, you kind are..." Seemingly trying to think of a more appropriate word as he turned the hand holding your wooden self"...too close and melancholic" Sun intensified his gaze, now annoyed but not wanting to debate the issue.

"I know it. Still, I highly doubt Roxanne is going to work well at this. We've already had one mishap this morning and Monty still needs to improve his little tolerance problem" The Captain shook his head and you see how inside Thorn something about her fight went out.

"I know, but Bonnie is indisposed at the moment and I refuse to make things more difficult for the crew. Leave this to us, we can take it."

"You kind could take it 'better' but it doesn't imply it will be easy for you."

A hand landed on his shoulder to reassure him. "Sun, everything will be fine. In two days we'll finish the deal, get enough and ship back to the island. And we'll all be back together to start the cycle all over again. See how everything will be taken care of." Sun smiled at him with a strained, still unsure smile.

You have no idea what mess these beings are in but that wasn't what interested you in the whole conversation.

Two days, that was how long you had to escape before they got rid of you.